Binding Hope

Chapter 7

Well, well, well. I have come back. Sorta… I didn't really have as much inspiration for this chapter so it took a while…and yes, I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes at me. ANYWAY… I guess this is what it has come to. School starts in a couple days for me and I wanted to crank out a chapter before then. So… everyone on the entire earth knows I don't own digimon…including me. Well, enjoy.

"""""DGM"""""

Salamon prowled down the hallway in silence. There was no way she was going to sit still any longer. That stupid excuse for a partner and his digimon were NOT going to keep her out of the action. She'd mulled it over long enough. She stayed silent as a giggling group of girls walked right past her.

"Oh, aren't you just adorable!" she heard a high pitched squeal. Salamon turned to see a blond haired girl staring at her maniacally. Backed into a corner, Salamon growled. Apparently, the girl wasn't able to take a hint as she began to advance.

"One step closer and you'll be my next tuna dinner," Salamon finally said darkly. The girl's wild grin dropped like a two ton hammer and she froze in her spot. Taking her advantage where she could, Salamon raced out from between her legs and down the opposing hallway.

"Get's them every time," she whispered with a smirk. A familiar scent found its way to her nose.

'You better protect those pretty faces,' she thought, as she went to go find her two new scratching posts.

""""""DGM""""""

This traffic was horrible. His friend stared out the passenger window with the same expression he had held for six years. Tai groaned, wanting to hit his head on the horn and startle the semi-silence all around him.

"I knew we should have taken the bus," he muttered angrily. In his head, he imagined laughter from his companion.

'It wouldn't have been any faster, buddy. You just picked your poison,' the reply might have been said in some universe where none of this happened. Tai averted his eyes a moment to glance at his blond friend. Sure enough, he hadn't moved. The response, as usual, was from his own, slightly unstable, psyche.

'Maybe I should go have my head checked? Didn't that British wizard movie say that hearing voices is a bad thing?' he considered, remembering something about snakes and bushy brown hair that nowhere near rivaled his own in size.

'Maybe you should. It'd be about time you become a certified wack-job' replied the voice that sounded eerily like his best over at said best friend, he assured himself that no…he hadn't said that either. He repressed the urge to scream as the traffic came to another standstill. At this rate, they'd never get there. Kari had wanted it to be a surprise…

'Surprise! Your dear older brother died from highway-destroying Decipticons that he couldn't escape from because the traffic was TOO SLOW,' he imagined a government official explaining slowly as they pulled his miraculously undamaged body from the smoking vehicle. In his head, the voice returned in full blown laughter.

'Dude, get a new hobby' it said. He looked over at the blond, who's even breathing never could have sustained such boisterous hysterics. His second thought was of the four shelves of Blu-ray and DVD's that he had accumulated over the last couple years.

'Shut up´ he thought, returning his eyes to the road and scowling ever so slightly. With a quick flick of his hand, he turned the radio on. Heavy guitar and drums poured out of the speakers, making it nearly impossible to hear himself think. Over in the next car, an older woman frowned in obvious disgust at his musical taste and volume. Admittedly, he didn't like it much either. But, it filled the silence and likewise killed the voice in his head.

'Do you want to go deaf by 30?' he could remember Sora commenting one day, a couple years ago.

'Considering my roommate, it doesn't matter much. Does it?' he now thought ruefully. Whatever Kari had caught at college, he sure as hell hoped that there was some to spare for Matt. In the passenger seat, said boy was staring off into the sun. Suddenly an action, that would have shocked his brunette companion into a multi-car pileup stupor, happened. Unknown to him, the corner of his lips turned upward ever so slightly.

"""""DGM"""""

'I'm so sick of sitting here,' thought a certain digimon as he stared out the window. It was yet another day where there would likely be some sort of attack that shook up the school, but was basically ignored by the local and general news.

'Of course, that's the only time I ever get out of this room,' he moved around the small enclosed space. It was a good thing that the window ledge was the same level as the desk. College life proved to be much more uncomfortable than all those websites led on. Of course, the last time he had looked at those websites had been when his partner was still in school. Considering the alternative…

'I don't know what we would of done if you hadn't been smart enough to get into college,' he shuddered at the mere picture of a small hole-in-the-wall apartment and a fifty hour a week job. He could hardly picture his partner in the hot dog hat that would have probably been part of his uniform.

'We were in the streets long enough'. Frequently, when there was nothing to do, his mind would revisit the years he and his human partner spent running…. Or maybe it was called hiding. They had to live off of whatever they could find in their colorless prison. They would run across the occasional companion. But usually anything that got sent there was killed or rescued within a day or two.

'You can't save a person from their own fear,´ he pictured one digimon they had run across. In its own panic, it led itself straight to the beach.

'Never go to the beach if you want to live.' Again, he could see the small cave that housed the desperate eels. They cast off a scent of rot, fear, and pure horror. It was mainly how the duo of hope tracked down where each attack was.

'It helps that he tries to keep the same classes as her.' It was true. They only attacked where she was.

'Obviously, they wanted her as their queen,' he remembered their original task from that day in middle school. She had been fading in and out, and that was one of the first times that his, then innocent, partner had confessed some of his feelings toward her. Of course, those feelings had been obvious.

'They still are obvious,' the rookie rolled his eyes and his one wing twitched in annoyance. Even so, she still didn't seem to get it. Out on the grounds, Kari, "Kero", and "Takeru" all walked to the next class. She was blind to the obvious tension between the two. Strangely enough, it reminded the little guy about two wolves, competing to be the alpha male in a pack.

'Wow…wolves. Ironic, considering his brother,' images of the blond-haired, blue-eyed destined of friendship floated up without warning.

'I wonder if we'll get to see him before we-' he let that train come to a startling and screeching halt. He didn't want to think about that. It was practically an unwritten rule. You didn't think about that. After a moment, he let his rigid posture fall back to his practically engrained, semi-battle-ready state. Another moment later, he let out a sigh.

"I wonder if he would be able to tell who the fake is…Matt that is," this time, he said it aloud. Takeru and Kari looked like they were laughing at something while Kero smirked. He didn't want to guess the real, and violent, thoughts going through the heads of the blond and brunette males behind their pleasant exterior. The show was all for her of course. One, to protect. The other, to mislead. That's the way with everything, isn't it? He blinked a moment as the three walked off to the next building.

'I wonder,' he thought wistfully.

""""DGM"""

'I wonder' thought Kari as she completely and utterly embarrassed herself. She looked at the roaring laughter of Takeru, and even the chuckling of the, usually, stoic Kero.

"Hey, don't make fun of me! I'm being serious," she countered back, though she couldn't contain the grin that accompanied it.

"Pink or green?" Kero repeated after her. She clutched the little picture to her chest, blushing red.

"Well it isn't like I have anyone else to ask," she muttered through another fit of hysterics.

"It's just… really?" Takeru said as his laughter started again.

"Well would they?" She asked, glancing at the dresses. Kero finally seemed to trust himself to answer as he cleared his throat.

"Just go with the pink one," he said, before his smirk took a more malicious turn.

"And no, Light, neither of them make your butt look big," he said, finally addressing the original question she had asked. Her face turned bright pink as both boys started laughing again.

"I really need some girlfriends," she muttered to herself. Kero took a huge breath and sighed loudly.

"Don't we have class?" he asked, his face finally settling down to a more natural look.

"Chem 111" Kari sighed. She glanced over at Kero before looking back at Takeru.

"You'll be my partner, right?" she said. The brunette grinned widely.

"Of course," he said, holding his arm out to her.

Disgusting.

Looks like you're failing your little mission, aren't you?

To most people, they could have cut the tension that sprang up with a knife. Kari smiled as she looked at Kero.

"Same building, right?" she asked. He nodded and grabbed his Biology book off the lawn.

"Yeah, I'll walk with you," he said, offering a quick glance up at the one window where he knew he was being watched. Takeru, noting his look, smiled slightly.

Looks like you got eyes in high places… too bad bats can't see.

Slither back to your tide pool, you pathetic excuse for seafood.

Oh, not so friendly, are we?

I'd rather rot for years in that pit of an old movie you call an ocean.

Be careful what you wish for.

The bearer of hope couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to happen. The digimon repressed a shiver throughout his fake body. The hope coming off the boy was getting to be too strong, and the bearer didn't seem to realize it. For him… this couldn't bode well.

""""DGM""""

Salamon's heart leapt to her throat as she stumbled in her step.

'It's him,' she pushed back the waterworks that were threatening to burst forth. Her subconscious burst forth, unprepared as ever to face what she'd just heard.

'Maybe I heard it wrong,' she thought blankly, as she kneeled into the closed door. Her sensitive nose picked up no scent, and she couldn't hear anymore movement within the room. There was a barely audible sigh, followed by the skip of a heartbeat.

'Of course it's him. You'd know that voice sixty years from now, let alone six,' she argued with herself. She placed her front paw on the door, digivolving to champion as she did so. Just as her hand grazed the metal, she noticed something she hadn't before… A scent that not only covered the handle, but had been lingering around Kari ever since the first day of school.

'No,' she thought, as she looked up at the room number. She'd know it anyday. Kari's chart of phone numbers and addresses were taped boldly beside the bed, two written carefully in red and blue pen.

"Oh Myotismon… TK is-" There was a flash as the door flew open, and a paw covered her mouth.

"Don't say it," a voice said. Her whole body shut down the shine of a familiar metal caught her eye. Its symbols were blurred, as it was only an inch from her face. Flat on her back, she could do more that stare up at the face she had been longing to see for years. His eyes were serious, staring straight down in her soul until all she could do was nod.

"The walls have ears," he said, glancing down the hall where he knew the eel's room resided. She stared at him a long moment before her eyes began to blur with tears. He smiled, breaking his cold expression.

"Gato…don't do that," he said softly. All her fury forgotten, she could hardly form a coherent thought. His expression changed once again to something she couldn't decipher.

"I'm sorry," he said, before her world flashed once again. Salamon jerked awake with a startled cry. She could feel the tears leaking down her cheeks as she moved off of the pillow on the bed. She blinked a moment before the momentum of the situation hit her. A dream… She cried softly, burying her head into the pillow she had earlier rejected.

"Oh Patamon."

Inside another room, his wings drooped. Shaking his head, he tried to block out the sound of her cries. She shouldn't have come looking for him, no matter how much he had wanted her to.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry," he whispered, knowing that she'd never hear him.

"""DGM"""

"I know she's done with class at two," Tai said as he clenched a couple pieces of paper his left hand. The first had been an email…the email that led him here in the first place.

"Surprise" he heard the voice in his head whisper softly. Strange…that voice never whispered. He glanced over at his friend, who let out an inaudible sigh. The campus, while much nicer than his own, was larger and laid out in a series of complicated twists, turns, and tunnels. Suddenly, the prospect of the "surprise" visit didn't seem so appealing.

"Maybe I should have printed off a map," Tai pondered allowed, as he turned his head to one side and looked down a tree-lined sidewalk. There was a distinctive noise that sounded like a snort.

'Did he just roll his eyes?' Tai thought as he caught the uncharacteristic movement out of the corner of his eye. Uncharacteristic? Tai had to stop himself from laughing out loud. It would have been exactly like the old Matt to roll his eyes at him. That, or make some smart-alec remark that Tai would have had no hope to counter. He snorted at the irony of the statement. Hope? Like Matt had any of that left…

"Are you coming?" he heard someone say quietly. Tai shook his head at the voice, which he assumed, was also in his head. It just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"I need a psychologist," he muttered to himself.

"Why?" the voice asked.

"Like you don't know," Tai muttered back, no longer caring if he looked like an idiot or not. Out of habit, he looked up to his friend…and was surprised to see a pair of dull blue eyes looking at him somewhat expectantly. Tai blinked a moment and shook his head a little to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"D-Did you just say something?" he stuttered slightly over the question. Matt glanced down at his shoes before returning his eyes to Tai's.

"Yes." He finally said, after what looked like an internal debate. Tai sighed and waved his hand.

"Sorry, that's ok. I must be hearing th-" he abruptly ended his sentence.

"Wait," he paused hesitantly, "did you say yes?" Matt nodded his head slightly. Tai rubbed the back of his head, making the towering spikes shake.

"Oh…" he wasn't quite sure where to go from there. It almost unsettled him as to how Matt seemed to lighten up just by getting here. That is…if you called that "lightening up".

'At least this was a good idea' he thought to himself as he looked at the visual proof. He heard a snort.

'That's what you think,' Tai knew that voice was from his head. The blonde was still staring at him. To any other person, it would look like his expression was blank. Tai, on the other hand, was well aware that Matt thought he had lost his mind.

'Have I ever had it?' Tai thought, only slightly serious. Only a crazy person would room with a mute insomniac with some weird post-traumatic-stress disorder. Not counting all of the ordeals in the digital world, one had to wonder how he even made it this far.

'Courage' Tai thought with a mental snort.

'More like dumb luck' his annoying internal voice countered. They did say that people in silent, medieval jail cells went crazy… didn't they? Did his apartment even count? Tai's mind flashed back to the first dorm room that he and Matt had shared. With everything plastered to the wall just to make a small pathway, Matt, Tai, Koromon, and Tsunomon had quite the time that first year.

While Tai was having his internal monologue, Matt resisted the urge to tap his foot. Something was drawing him inside the campus, and only making it to the parking lot was doing nothing to help his case. Briefly, he considered what was wrong with him. He hadn't been this impatient since…. His thought process paused as he realized he couldn't remember the last time he had any drive to do anything.

'He'd be ashamed of me' Matt thought, thinking about a certain blonde haired and blue-eyed digidestined of hope. It was true he hadn't conducted himself in the best of fashions since that day… Matt wiped and further thoughts such as that out of his head. What's done is done.

"Well?" he asked finally. Tai seemed to jump out of his thoughts to focus on him. He turned a little red, and Matt knew that if his girlfriend were here, he'd be stammering and making a fool of himself.

'He must be talking to that voice in his head,' Matt briefly wondered if that meant he was crazy.

'He's always been crazy' he concluded to himself. Tai smiled brightly.

"Yeah, sorry. This way," he walked off with Matt following behind. Matt almost shook his head. He was well aware that Tai had absolutely no idea where he was going. This was going to be a long day… All the same, Matt couldn't help but feel that something big was about to happen…and it involved him.

"""""DGM"""""

He'd felt unbelievably antsy ever since he had gotten out of class. Kari, Kero, and Takeru all walked together as they headed back to the dorms.

"That homework she assigned is insane. How does she ever expect us to get it done?" Takeru sighed dramatically as he shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other.

"Maybe you should spend some time actually trying to do it. I don't get what you boys do that leaves you no time for homework," Kari said dismissively.

"Hey, I get mine done," Kero shifted his arm so his books wouldn't go toppling out of his hand. Kari rolled her eyes until she caught sight of something in one of the windows.

"Patamon?" she whispered, right after it vanished.

Well well, guess he isn't as sneaky as you thought.

Shut up.

"Did you see that?" Kari asked, pointing to the window. Kero and Takeru looked up briefly.

"No," they said together, glaring at each other right after. Neither were about to give away the other…that would give away themselves. The real one felt something tug at his heart for a split second.

"I-if…you say so," she said before turning her attention to the path ahead of her.

"Anyway, I think we-" she was cut off by an agonizing scream, followed shortly by another.

"Takeru? Kero?" she gasped, her books falling from her arms. Bother boys had fallen to their hands and knees. She was blinded as a bright light exploded around the area and shot into the sky. The light fell down onto a silhouetted figure before the person collapsed to the ground.

"Matt?"

"Tai?" she asked the same time as her brother. Tai looked up paled.

"Oh my god."

"""""""DGM"""""""

Dun DUn DUN! Haha. Anyway, there you have it. Do you know who is who yet? I dare you to try. Haha. I don't know how much I like that chapter, so leave me a review and let me know. Does anyone like where I'm taking this? Or should I redirect? Feedback would be lovely, even if it isn't happy feedback. I'm willing to take anything at this point. So that little button in the center of your screen is feeling a little lonely. Be nice to it. Until next time…