I OWN EVERYTHING! in my dreams, of course. Digimon is still owned by whomever owns it... Chibikyuumon and Kyuuketsukimon are still mine... I'm still anti-Sora... Tai is still lost and clumsy... Thanks for reviewin' Xubose and Zephyr... I think?


I shouldn't be mad at him for being right.

But I am.

Matt knew that I wouldn't really appreciate being a vampire. To be honest, I knew it too. I knew that, cool as hypnosis and superpowers and shape shifting would be, I wouldn't be able to live with myself as a murderer. But it's the only way for me to stay with him. Those freaky looks he gives me- I can only shrug them off so long, I can tell he's changing. Putting on a bold face doesn't help around vampires. They can smell fear, unlike humans.

I don't want Matt to kill me. But I know he will if I stay with him, as a human. I just want to stay with him. That's all. I know I could find some way to cope. Somebody has to be strong for him. I know him, I know he won't be strong on his own. He'll turn murderous and suicidal, he's already being a bastard.

But then, he's being a bastard for my sake. Turning me down is probably his way of saying he cares. But I should not get my hopes up.

I should be more busy not getting lost. Last time I got lost, everything went to hell. Thankfully, I knew by the sound of rushing water where the nearest river was, and that was my destination in the first place. Why? I don't know. I just felt like I ought to come out here.

The woods smelled more woodsy than normal, perhaps because I was distraught, or perhaps because the bushes were all slightly trampled and smelled of slightly decayed plant-life. Interesting. Normally, things don't decay in the Digital World. They just explode into data, get sent away to be recycled into a new being. I suppose smells still existed, and dirt still existed, so perhaps plants really could decay here. Weird.

I wonder if Izzy ever noticed it. He's a genius, after all. I wonder if I'll ever see Izzy again. I wonder... if I even want to.

I reached the river, stumbled moodily over to the bank, and dipped my hands in the cool water. I was near a bend, making the water rush slower and calmer near me. It felt good. I considered hopping in and soaking myself silly, but who knew what spiteful Digimon were lurking in those streams? I'd settle for splashing it all over my face and hair. I put my big blue goggles to use for a second, sticking them over my eyes and dunking my head under completely. When I could feel for certain that no water was leaking through the sides of my goggles, I opened my eyes to look around in the water.

For a river, it was mighty clean. It always was, in the Digital World. I could see small bit of gravel in the bottom, the slight murkiness of the water, and- what was that? There was a dark object caught on a rock about six feet away from me.

I pulled my head over the water, checking the distance. Maybe I could reach it without getting dragged away. I decided to wade over, and if there was even a shadow of a doubt that I'd be swept off, I'd just jump back again. Simple.

I rolled up the hems of my long shorts until they became short shorts, knowing how much my pants weighed when they were wet. Too much. I cautiously waded out. Oh, curiosity killed the cat. I know. But I'm a dog person. I've got the crest of Courage.

Keep in mind that I'm an idiot. If you pissed in my ear and told me it was raining, I might believe you.

I was lucky. I reached the spot without a hitch, without tripping, without drowning. Without being killed like a cat. It was hard to feel around in the frozen water, but I found the dark object that got hooked onto a rock, and I pulled it up with inquisitive eyes.

It was a pale green hat, with bright lime trim, to fit a small circular head. There was a blue plastic bead, almost the size of my fist, in the center of the forehead. I knew this hat. It belonged to TK. It belonged to matt's little brother.

I was instantly washed over with panic. TK would never let anything bad happen to his hat. What if he had fallen in this very river and drowned? There wasn't a soul to be seen around the river. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the hat.

But when I flipped the hat upside-down, look inside it, I understood. My fist clenched around the soft material. A high whimper rose from my throat. I had to get back to Matt. I had to go back at that very second. He would just about die from worry and rage when he saw it. Hell, I might die from worry and rage, even if the blond doesn't kill me for bearing bad news.

On the inside of the hat, painted in blood that had frozen to the fabric, were the words "He is Ours". I could only assume the vampires got TK and had known I would find their message. But why would they want TK?

Maybe this goes back to them telling Matt they would "use him as bait to get Tai and TK". Well, crap. Maybe Matt will have a guilt trip if I show this to him. But shouldn't he know? Yes, yes, he SHOULD know. He has a right to know. God, he's going to kill me when he sees this.

No, really. He will.

I held the hat tight in my hand as I sloshed out of the water , heading back the way I came. I might be able to find the clearing with the tree well enough. Might. I was in such a state that I ran, looking desperately for a landmark, but seeing nothing remarkable. It was a forest, a forest of plain boring trees. Nothing more. There was no such thing as a fucking landmark. I was lost again.

And I was tripping on roots again, too. Not again. Not now. I had to reach Matt. Oh, this will kill him. Oh, he's gonna kill me. And here I am, tripping on roots, and probably walking in circles again. The sky was beginning to get cloudy again. Maybe, if it was cloudy, Matt could leave the shadow of the tree. Chibikyuumon and Kyuuketsukimon could walk around in cloud cover, after all.

"Matt!" I screamed out, after a few minutes of lost frustration. "Matt, can you hear me? I'm sorry! Where are you?" I didn't expect an answer, but I was praying. I tried calling out again. Nothing. With one of my dramatic sighs, I kept walking. And tripping. Can't forget tripping.

The next few minutes seemed to last forever. Between the tree roots, the steadily darkening sky, me being abandoned, Matt being a vampire, and the clues in TK's hat, my current life sucked dead monkey balls.

After tripping for the 37th time (yes, I WAS counting) I was so irritated that I felt no obligation to get up again. There was no reason whatsoever. I was lost, calling out wouldn't do shit to help me. I was lost, TK was in danger, and poor Matt must have been sulking in the shadows, angry at the both of us for being who and what we are. And by getting up and walking again, all I would do was prove that the world was really starting to get to me.

"Tai?" A soft voice whispered. It was female. Crap. That meant either one of the Tai-Hating-Digidestined or one of the Tai-Hungry-Digimon had found me. I didn't know which was worse. I didn't want to look up, because I knew I would be doomed anyway. "Tai, are you okay? He didn't… You have to be okay... Tai, please get up!"

It was high pitched. Definitely Mimi. I felt the tip of a leather boot poke me gently in the side. I flinched, but showed no other sign of being alive. I might have been holding my breath. I don't know why, but I just didn't want her to think for a second that I was alive. "Tai!" Mimi said, more urgently. Her leather gloved hand shook my shoulder fiercely. Oh, go to hell, Mimi. I closed my eyes, feeling slightly lightheaded from withholding my breath. There was another poke in my side, then silence. My chest began to hurt…

I heard the patter of feet running away from me, and Mimi was shrieking, "He killed Tai! The bastard KILLED TAI!"

I finally looked up, and saw that Mimi had vanished from sight. My breathe started to come naturally again. Now might be a good time to disappear. People would be pissed if they found me playing dead. Now that Mimi had totally lost her mind and cried wolf, a vanishing 'corpse' could do no further damage.

I stood, shook some dirt off, picked a random direction, and walked away from yet another one of my responsibilities.