Okay so I realised why I was getting writer's block for this story by reading other stories and listening to some Digimon music, it motivated me. I swear, I need to improve my confidence.

10. Old Wounds, New Worries

Ken had decided to return home with Yolei although the two of them had practically forced the younger team to spend the night at their place since he knew it must be harder on the others right now because they were worried about their children, especially they were unable to be contacted. He wondered where Mirei was and decided to go call her to make sure she was on her way home. His eldest daughter picked up within a few rings.

"Hey Dad," Mirei yawned a little. "Sorry, lost track of time. Our group is studying for exams together but Ami will drop me off. I'll get home in the next few minutes, don't worry. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Ken said quickly before sighing. "Actually, not really. Please try and get home soon. Besides, you shouldn't be out this late, the doctors say it's not good for you."

Mirei rolled her eyes, glad her Dad couldn't see her. "I've taken my meds, Dad. Don't worry so much. I'll be home soon promise."

"Ok," Ken said gently, hanging up the phone and going over to his friends. Kari had her head in her hands and Davis had an arm wrapped around her. He could tell while his best friend looked confident, he was worried but masking that worry had become second nature to him, being one of the leaders and especially after their last adventure in the digital world. He walked over, sitting besides Yolei who was also trying to reassure Kari.

"Ken, Kari's really worried," Yolei said in a low voice, looking at him and Ken sighed.

"I don't blame her," Ken said just as quietly, wrapping his own arm around Yolei. "Either of them for being worried. I am too. Dai's as reckless as his dad can be after all."

Yolei leaned against her husband, resting her head against his shoulder. "Do you really think they're ok?"

Ken wasn't sure how to answer her. He wanted to believe all of their children would be fine, that this kind of thing would be in their blood but he wasn't sure. He had never been the most hopeful but the digital world had taught him that there would always be hope, even if it was in a place nobody thought to look. Davis, Yolei, TK and all of their friends had taught him that.

"The digital world is dangerous," Ken said honestly. "But we weren't exactly born, knowing what to do either and for some of us, it took us awhile to find the right path. I would feel better if we could contact them but even though we can't..." His expression turned firm as he looked at his best friend firmly, increasing the volume of his voice so he could hear. "Dai and the others will be okay. It's in their blood, Davis, Kari. And until we can get a hold of them, our partners will protect them no matter what. Have faith in them. Our families had faith in us when they didn't even know what we were facing after all."

Kari looked up, managing a small smile. "You've gotten stronger, Ken. Wormmon would be really proud of you for having so much courage."

"You really have," Yolei agreed, squeezing her husband's hand and Ken felt his face flush but smiled.

"All of you gave me courage," Ken said gently. "Davis taught me how to believe in myself and keep fighting no matter how hard it was. Wormmon saw the best there was in me and helped me embrace my true nature, no matter how long it took. Yolei taught me that even people like me deserve love, despite the crimes I've committed. You...all of you...you're my team, my friends." His expression wilted. "I couldn't save Sam...either of them but..." He trailed off. No one spoke for a small bit and the silence grew pretty thick until Davis broke it.

"You didn't fail Sam," Davis said firmly. "Either of them to be honest. Kari," He took his wife's hand and she looked at him. "I know all of this is scary. I'm worried about Dai and Yuki as well but I know Mikemon would protect both of them until Dai finds his own partner." He stroked Kari's hair gently. "Your Mom and Dad must have been worried about you back then. You were sick and you were only 8 years old. But they trusted Tai to protect you. Now, we need to trust that Dai and Yuki will protect each other. Besides, there's no proof that Erika's back right? So that's some reassurance." His voice shook slightly as he mentioned Erika's name and Ken could tell even now saying her name was hard. His own fists clenched a little at the name as he remembered the monster who had nearly destroyed Davis...bringing him out of that darkness had not been easy. It had taken all of their team and the older team to really help him through that.

He would never forgive that witch and a part of him would never forgive himself either for not trusting his instincts. Had he just trusted his heart then Davis might have not gone through all that. He was to blame for just as much as Erika was.

"Ken," Yolei's sharp voice cut through his thoughts. "You know Davis doesn't blame you. A lot was going on back then so you were distracted too."

"I know," Ken replied in a quiet voice. "But I'm his best friend. I should have protected him like he's always protecting me."

"You saved me, Ken," Davis cut into the conversation, having come over to the two of them. "You and Kari helped me move away from that dark place. If it weren't for you two and Veemon, the others might have never been able to pull me out. So please don't blame yourself anymore. If I'm here today, it's thanks to you guys to be honest."

Ken smiled softly at that. "I would never give up on you, Davis. I can be as stubborn as you sometimes."

"Well, being married to Yolei, you gotta be," Davis teased.

"Hey!" Yolei said pouting a bit. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ken chuckled. "That between how reckless you and Davis are, Kari and I need to have wills of steel. Don't we Kari?"

Kari laughed. "Pretty much yeah."

Mimi wanted to relax but it wasn't so easy and even though having most of their older team staying over helped (minus TK and Kari of course), it didn't change the fact that both of her babies were in the digital world alone. Cooking did help relieve her stress a bit though but she had canceled the shootings for her cooking show because she could not focus on it although Tai was still going to work. Sora had decided to work from home on her new designs as did Matt who was writing some new songs for him to sing and compile into a CD. Joe had to go to work unfortunately while Izzy had gone for a few hours, promising to come back soon. Touko and Momoe were with them though as well, staying at home since Momoe was a housewife and Touko had not opened her bookshop today.

"Mimi," Momoe said kindly. "Go outside and sit with Sora. I'll handle the food ok?"

Mimi sighed and looked at her friend. "Are you sure?"

Momoe nodded. "Positive, now go."

Mimi did so and went to sit beside Sora at the dining table. Her best friend had a bunch of papers spread out in front of her and seemed to be concentrating pretty hard.

"You're really a lot more focused than me, Sora, even now," Mimi said with a small smile, her mind suddenly drifting back to the time when they were searching for the eighth child and it was too hot for her to even function properly but Sora was able to remain focused.

Sora looked up from the latest design she was mapping out and smiled. "I'm just trying to keep myself from going grey with worrying about Kaito. Otherwise..." She bit her lip. "If I lose it, whose going to keep Matt calm? But I really hope our children will be okay, Mimi."

Mimi sighed. "Me too. I just wish there was some way to find out how they were doing, you know. I know if I knew that Palmon and the rest of our partners were there then I wouldn't be so worried. Our partners protected us all the time after all and I know Palmon would never let anything happen to my son or daughter but I just hate not knowing. Tai's sure they'll be fine though. I mean, we were fine right? And we had no idea what we were getting into back then." This didn't mean she wasn't scared though but they had been taken to the digital world, without anyone to guide them on what was what and they had survived. Admittedly, it would have been better if they did have some guidance but they had one another and Hana and Tay were not alone either.

"Yeah," Sora agreed with a smile. "Kaito has his friends after all. I'm sure they'll all be fine. Besides, they must have their own digimon partners too. And we know how loyal digimon partners are to their humans. We've experienced it ourselves. I know Kaito's partner will take care of him just like Biyomon did for me."

Mimi agreed with that, but they didn't even know if the others had found their partners yet. Honestly, sometimes she wished Izzy would hurry up on certain things. She knew it wasn't right to put so much pressure on their computer genius friend but she couldn't help it! This was her children, after all. "I can't believe Izzy still can't figure it out." She huffed.

Sora made an amused noise. "Calm down, Mimi. Izzy and Touko are just as worried as we are. You know how much Touko worries about Kei so we have to have faith in Izzy."

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah and we have to give him time to work it out right? You sound like Tai now even though I know you're right. I just can't help it you know? No matter how old Hana or Tay get, they're still my babies."

Sora hugged her best friend gently. "I know. I can understand that sweetie. I feel the same way but let's put our faith in Izzy and hopefully he'll find a way ok?"

Mimi nodded. "Yeah. That's all we can do right now."

Mirei had finally arrived home, thanking her best friend for dropping her. She had long lavender hair that came a little below her waist and ocean blue eyes. Right now, she had her long hair tied in a ponytail as she headed inside the house.

"Dad, I'm home!" Mirei called out softly as she took off her joggers and headed inside to see Dai and Yuki's parents there as well. "Oh hi Uncle Davis, Aunt Kari. Where are Dai and Yuki?" While she wasn't as close to Dai as Nao was (who seemed to admire Dai for some reason), she did rather like Yuki and saw the girl like a little sister. Davis and Kari weren't technically her Aunt and Uncle, but since they were so close to her Mom and Dad, they were usually around a lot while she was growing up, so calling them Aunt and Uncle became sort of a habit.

"Sweetheart, why don't you sit down?" Her father said kindly as her mother looked a bit nervous about something.

Mirei raised an eyebrow at her parents but did as she was asked. "What's going on?" She leaned against her Aunt Kari, feeling a bit exhausted from the whole day and her Aunt wrapped an arm around her.

"Mirei, honey," Yolei said twiddling her thumbs, which was rather odd for her to be honest since she was usually so confident. "Sam is alive."

Mirei thought she must have heard wrong, maybe due to the exhaustion which wasn't so bad, just made her sleepy. "I'm sorry, Mom?"

"Sam is alive," Yolei said this time a bit more confidently.

Mirei's eyes widened. She wasn't even sure where to start with the questions. Like her mother, she was naturally very curious and had to know but like her father, she thought before she spoke. She had been 8 years old when her little brother had been kidnapped and she still remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.

It was pouring, heavy rain falling on the rooftops of the school both Mirei and Sam went to.

"When are Mom and Dad going to pick us up?" Sam asked, leaning close to his sister and Mirei put an arm around him. She knew her little brother hated thunderstorms.

"It's ok, Sam," Mirei said gently. "Dad will be here soon to pick us both up and then we can sit with him and listen to his stories. Don't be scared ok?" She kissed his forehead. "I'm with you. I always will be."

"Promise?" Sam held out his pinky finger towards his sister and Mirei wrapped her own pinky around it.

"Pinky promise," Mirei said softly. "You and I will always be together. Forever."

Sam hugged Mirei happily. "Thanks Neechan! I have the best sister ever."

Mirei held him close, silently wondering what was taking her parents so long. Well, Dad did say that in heavy rains like this, the traffic was pretty bad. So maybe he got held up?

"Neechan, look at that pretty light!" Sam cried, snapping Mirei out of her thoughts.

"What pretty...Sam don't run out there alone!" Mirei cried as Sam had let go of her hand and sprinted into a run. The lavender-haired girl groaned. Honestly! Sam needed to stop hanging out with Dai, he was making her brother way more impulsive. She pushed this aside, running out after him but he had run off so fast that she had no idea where he had gone. Her breath started to get weary and she sunk to her knees. The doctor lady told her not to run so fast. They were talking to Mom and Dad about her having something called anaemia. She began coughing, trying to stand up as the pouring rain soaked through her clothes. Dammit, this wasn't the time. She needed to get to her brother but she couldn't stop coughing out small bouts of blood into her hands.

"S-Sam," she coughed weakly, forcing herself to move forward but struggled to. Maybe she could go back and see if she could find one of the teachers to help. She was about to head back, when her brother's ear-piercing scream cut through the air. Ignoring her own pain, she forced her feet to move and began running, ignoring how much her chest was hurting. Her vision began to blur and the last thing she saw was a strange, cloaked figure disappearing with her baby brother before her world went black.

"Mirei," Aunt Kari was shaking her and Mirei soon snapped out of her flashback, feeling drained all of a sudden. The memory of failing her little brother despite trying so hard brought tears to her eyes simply because of her condition made her begin coughing again.

"Sweetheart, are you ok?" Ken said immediately moving over concerned.

"No," Mirei croaked out, tears running down her cheeks. "I hate it...I hate having this sickness. I hate being anaemic. If I wasn't, I could have saved Sam back then. I promised him, Papa!" She continued coughing as she cried even as Ken pulled her into a hug, Yolei moving to stroke her hair as well. "I promised I'd always be there with him. I broke my promise. I'm a horrible big sister."

"Enough of that," Yolei spoke, cutting through what her daughter said. "That kind of thought isn't good for you, sweetie especially when it's not true either. Come on, let's get you some of your medicine and then to bed." Her voice softened gently as she kissed her daughter's forehead. "We'll talk about Sam in the morning ok? Ken, will you stay with Mirei tonight? I'll stay with Nao."

Ken nodded immediately, pulling Mirei even closer in his arms as Yolei let her go. "Of course. Davis, why don't you join me?"

Davis nodded in agreement. "Sure, Ken." He rubbed Mirei's back gently.

Mirei had managed to tone her sobs down to sniffles as she buried her face in her father's chest. "Sorry...I'm so sorry, Papa..."

"Shhh..." Ken gently stroked Mirei's hair, helping her stand and still holding onto her as he got the medicines out with one hand. He asked Uncle Davis something but Mirei could only hear muffled sounds due to her face being buried in her father's chest. She did want to sleep. She didn't want to think of Sam anymore or the failure of a big sister that she was back then. If it had been Hana, she would have beaten the crap out of anyone who kidnapped her brother or even tried to...

I'm so sorry Sam...you deserve so much better than me.