A/N: Here we are again with this week's chapter.

Please, to those who are reading this I desperately need reviews. Otherwise I can't tell if I am doing right or wrong, and quite frankly if I don't get any more reviews I will cancel this story. No reviews could easily mean no readers, no readers means no point in writing. So if there are any readers and you do want me to continue this, leave a review please. I'm almost begging here...

Anyway, here's this week's chapter...


Digimon Tamers 2: The Rise of Zero

Chapter 28

Zero awoke feeling heavier than usual, his breathing felt slightly restricted as well. He couldn't move himself or feel much of his body. He wearily opened his eyes to the sight of his immobility.

Renamon was laying directly on top of him, surprisingly heavy at the moment. Usually she is quite light, often shown in her combat movements deftly leaping around as if she weighed nothing. Now she felt like a lead block laying on his body, smothering him and depriving him of oxygen. He struggled to remove her from himself and after a few minutes succeeded in rolling her off to the side. Unfortunately, he underestimated just how much force he needed to roll her away, and how much space remained on the bed in the direction he rolled her in.

A rather loud thump was heard to Zero's side as Renamon's sleeping body met the floor after a speedy descent. Shortly after, Zero heard groaning and a few muffled curses. He decided through best thing for him to do was to fall back asleep before she fully woke up.

Renamon's sleep was abruptly halted as she felt a heavy impact to her body, or rather her body heavily impacting with something hard. She opened her eyes to be greeted with the floor. She glared up at the bed but didn't see Zero. She slowly rose, wincing at the ache in her body from hitting the floor, and observed him as he slept.

He looked peaceful, sleeping soundly, oblivious to through fact she had fallen off the bed. She imagined her impact must have made a considerable amount of noise, but he appeared to have slept through it. Or so the casual observer would see. Renamon however could tell he was awake, the slight smirk on his muzzle betraying his amusement.

"Very funny, fox face!"

It took a lot of his self control not to burst into laughter at she spoke. He could practically feel her resentment of falling off the bed. He may have gotten away with it if she didn't punch him in his shoulder, breaking his concentration and bringing him awake again.

"Uh. Hmmm, Renamon? What are you doing out of bed already?"

He put on his best sleepy voice and hid his earlier smirk. Renamon wasn't buying it though.

"Why don't you tell me? After all, you pushed me out."

"Mmm? No, I don't believe I did, seeing as I was asleep. It's not my fault if you slept on the edge."

"You know full well where I was sleeping, I have never fallen out before now. And that smug look on your face means you have something to do with it."

"I think your getting delusional. I was asleep, you fell out. That's all there is to it. I'm even doing you a favour by not laughing at your expense. If I had pushed you out, wouldn't I be amused?"

As much as she wanted to blame him, she couldn't help but admit he was right. With a sigh she settled back down next to him and pulled herself closer.

"Fine, but if it happens again I'm blaming you anyway."

Zero gave her a look. "You're the one who punched me for no reason."

His lips were suddenly met with hers, surprising him pleasantly.

"Is that a good apology for you?" Renamon asked as she broke away.

"I suppose it will have to do." Zero responded with a slight smirk. Renamon gave a mock angry glare before embracing him again. They remained like that for a few minutes until Zero's thoughts returned to that which he had last night.

'Dark digimon. Why here? Why now? And, more importantly, why did I only now think it was strange that one came across. I suppose it's not all bad, I did delete that little shit. It's the least I could have done after what he did to me.'

He turned to Renamon and voiced his thoughts on the dark digimon's presence. Her reaction was just to stare at him blankly until she processed what he had said.

"Dark digimon, those who have fallen from the Sovereign's grace and have become corrupted with greed, coming through to this world. I'll admit it's a worrying concept, but I don't know what we can do to stop them. All we can do is delete them if they come over. That one you fought may have just been a fluke."

Zero laid back as Renamon finished voicing her opinion. It made sense for it to have been a fluke, but it didn't sit right with him. There seemed to be deeper reason to it, something he wasn't seeing.

"Zero?"

Renamon's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked over to her to gaze into her sapphire eyes.

"Yes, Renamon?"

"Back when you were in a coma, I was thinking about things. Me and you, us in general. And I realised something."

Zero paled slightly. He had heard of this sort of thing before, when things don't quite work out. Her face bore no expression and her voice seemed neutral, all the more reasons to worry about her next words. Was she really going to give up on them? His world ground to a halt as he realised this. She was going to end it. There was no other explanation for the way she said those words. His heart sank before shattering, this was the end of him.

He got out of bed in one movement, slightly shaking as he fought with his inner emotions.

"You don't need to continue that. I know where this is going."

Renamon became confused, unseen by Zero as he was facing away from her, unable to look her in the face now.

"What are you talking about Zero? All I was going to saw was-"

"It doesn't matter. I already know." He cut her off, not wanting to hear her say the words he dreaded. "I'm not going to change your mind, it's your decision to make and I accept that. So with that said," Zero choked slightly, forcing the words from his mouth, "goodbye Renamon."

With those final two words said, he phased out through the door and ran.


Zero ran across the rooftops in a vain attempt to clear his mind, but he kept thinking of everything he had just lost. She was everything to him. She was the one thing he cherished in his miserable life, and now it was gone. He really did have nothing now. No family, no home, no life. Once more he was Zero. It was all too much, he couldn't stand it.

Tears poured down his face as he ran, the wind drying his face even as they wetted it. His fur was ruffled from sleeping, the wind pulling it around as he ran, yet he didn't care. His appearance was hardly top priority at the moment. His tail whipped around as he sped along, never once looking back for fear that he might stop.

His eyes gazed wildly, his sight blurred from his tears, as he searched for something. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he found it in the shape of HYPNOS's towers. The place this all started. The place they came clean with their feelings shortly before they became mates. That was where he was heading, but why he didn't know.

He teleported himself onto that same tower again, barely registering the irony of him being here again to solve a problem he had with her. He looked out across the city in the morning light, slightly marvelling at the sight of the sun rising. Clarity entered his mind as he watched the sun climb out of the horizon. Every day the sun did this, only to sink below it again at the end of the day. Yet it carried on. It always rose each morning, even though it knew it would fall again in the evening.

He took the sight in, consciously aware this was the last time he would see it. He couldn't live like this. Not without her. Even if he wanted to, the pain was simply too much. Even now he was being torn apart by it. Head never felt so alone.

He stepped onto the edge of the building as he held the sunrise in his vision. Just one more step and he would be free from the pain. One more step to be reunited with his parents. One more step...

He lifted his right foot and brought it out in front of him. All he needed to do was push his weight forwards, just a little, and allow gravity to claim him. He would belong to it as the last thing that owned him before his release. All he needed to do, was let go.

"Zero!"

Renamon's voice sounded behind him, but he pinned it on his mind playing one last desperate ploy to keep him. He knew he couldn't live this life anymore, not after this morning. He focused on his last step, exhaling his last breath on this tower. He cleared his mind to stop any further interruptions and shut out his senses, focusing on the peace the silence brought. Slowly he transmitted his weight forwards, onto his leg in the air. Slowly he began to pitch forwards. Calm acceptance flooded through him, this was the right thing to do. Slowly he went forwards, into the void that was the air between him and the ground. Soon he would be there, walking with his parents once more.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back, breaking his calm composure. Such was the sudden, unexpected motion he slammed down onto the roof on his back. Quickly regaining himself he bolted upright, the minor ache in his back forgotten as he attempted to find the reason for his drastic change of direction.

Standing in front of him was Renamon, looking slightly pissed off by the looks of it.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Yeah, she's pissed.

Zero just stood there. She was the last one he would have thought to ever see again. He was relieved, yet hurt. Was she here to amplify his hurt she previously inflicted to him? Rub the proverbial salt into his wounds so to speak? He didn't take her for the petty type, but he had been wrong about her before. Was it because he beat her to what she was going to say earlier, and she was here to seek one last chance to inflict one last scar on to him before he continued where he left off? Or was it worse than that? Was she here to simply stop him releasing himself of his hurt so he could suffer for longer? To make him live his miserable life for as long as it pleased her?

He didn't get much of a chance to decide which of these was the most likely.

"Aren't you going to answer me?"

Zero didn't respond. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of hearing just now broken she had made him. His resolve was in pieces, and he imagined his voice was no better.

"Well? Or would you like me to answer for you?"

He still gave no reaction to her words.

"So that's how it is then, huh? You were going to throw yourself off this tower with no regard for those you would be leaving behind. You don't even know what I was going to say! You just assumed you knew and took action based on your own poor judgment. Do you not care what I think, what I feel?"

He could see her eyes glistening as she spoke. Was she crying? No, that was a trick in his eyes. She couldn't possibly be upset after all this. He watched as her tears began to roll down her face, no mere trick. She was crying. But why?

"Do you really think after all we have been through, that I would just leave? Did you forget my vows I made to you? Did you forget this?" She pointed to her mark. "This symbolises us. Me and you. You gave me mine just as willingly as I gave you yours. I was hoping you knew that I would never leave you, I've stuck by you through situations that most others would run at. You are my life Zero, I could never do without you."

Zero's mind processed each word with painful scrutiny before he formulated a response.

"Why? Why do you want to end us?"

Renamon looked at him with a confused look through her tears.

"I never wanted to end us. You just assumed that."

Now it was Zero's turn to be confused.

"Then, what were you going to say?"

"I was trying to say that we hadn't spend much time together outside of fighting of dealing with other issues. I was going to ask if you wanted to spend some time away from all that, just us two. Then you go ahead and assume I'm leaving you and try to jump off this bloody tower!"

Zero flopped onto the roof as the weight of his realisation struck him full on. He realised just how close he had come to never seeing her again. He had completely misjudged what she was going to say, and almost ending himself for reasons that didn't exist.

"Renamon... We... I didn't..." He couldn't even form a coherent sentence anymore. The pain he felt now dwarfed his earlier hurt. He had almost lost everything and had only himself to blame. He broke down again, unable to control himself any longer.

Renamon dropped to his side and wrapped herself around him, her tears joining his on the roof. They both stayed like that for a good half an hour as they vented their own versions of emotions. Renamon's hurt of almost losing the one she loved, again. Zero's pain of almost giving up on everything based on a wild assumption.

It was Renamon who spoke first after they calmed down.

"You really are a stupid fox, you know that right?"

Zero grinned weakly.

"I had a good teacher."

This caused Renamon to smile slightly as she embraced him again.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer though, it would be nice to get away from things for a while." Zero concluded.

Renamon nodded in approval. "How about we go back home. I'm starting to dislike this roof. Too many memories of falling."

Zero nodded as well before they both began to make their way home.