Digimon Adventure 07: Virus

by YukiraKing

Moments after the last story ended we find our heroes in a situation that there may be no possible solutions to. They find themselves in situations and locations that test the very fibre of their beings and force themselves to limits they have yet to see, all for a common goal that the world promised them: Peace. [took out the humor genre because there's nothing funny about death.]

36. The Best Day

Y/N: This chapter is full of random adventures. I don't know what else to say. Everything that happens is kind of important I guess, but I don't want to spoil anything, obviously.

Title: Digimon Adventure 07: Virus

By: YukiraKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 3: Land of Dreams and Witchenly

Chapter 36: The Best Day

Rei Saiba:

I was sitting alone in Terra's garden. There was a wooden cup in front of me holding the most delicious beverage I'd ever had the chance to partake in, but I couldn't bring myself to drink it. I was at my wits end. I couldn't believe I was living with two such childish boys. I'd had to deal with Pal and Pul and Agumon before being trapped here, but that was different. They were playful. Willis and Kiyoko weren't messing around. Kiyoko was honestly furious at Willis for winning the challenge that Terra had set for them. Willis in turn was beyond angry that Kiyoko was messing with the rules of this world. It was one of the only rules we'd been given too, so I sort of saw Willis' point of view. But if I was honest, I was also kind of on Kiyoko's side, because it really wasn't fair to make the Wizards move out of their homes just so the Fallen Angels could move into them.

Yes, the Fallen Angels lived in an abandoned church that was far too small to fit them all. Yes, they had to sleep outside under the night sky in the church's grounds. Yes, those grounds were dead and barren. But the Wizards' home wasn't much better. It was just dirt with fire pits scattered about. They'd made the huts that they lived in from mud and grass. The Fallen Angels could have built houses of their own easily. And if they'd managed to get alone with the Wizards, they could all work together to do it as a sort of community project.

In a perfect world, that's what would have happened.

Instead, Kiyoko felt that Willis and I betrayed him by leaving his new friends out on the street, and it was giving him bad flashbacks to a time when he was homeless and lived on the streets. I could have pointed out that it was worse for Kiyoko than the Wizards, because he'd been possessed by Sigma and was otherwise alone, but I somehow didn't think Kiyoko would really appreciate the comparison. He was heartbroken at our supposed betrayal.

I couldn't help it though, that Willis' music box was more interesting and amazing to me than Kiyoko's roller skate had been. The chess game was nice, but I'd seen dozens of chess boards in my life. I had one back at mine and Taichi's house in the Digital World. Or I did have one, I guess. I didn't know if anything was still there or not. I hadn't put up a shield or anything. I should have done that, or at least ensured that Taichi did, but it was too late to worry about that now. We were fine. I obviously didn't have any actual confirmation for that, but Willis seemed sure enough, and I was going with his gut. He had more experience with this sort of stuff than I did. He'd been to a couple of different worlds at least.

The cup was staring up at me, begging me to drink it, but I was far too upset to drink my liquid sunshine. I didn't want to feel it warm me all the way down to my toes. I didn't want to feel it leech away any of the poisons my body might have created within itself since the last time I'd drank it. It wouldn't make me happy, and I didn't want to risk tainting my memories of the wonderful experience.

I just wished the boys would stop being so childish. They were fighting in a way you'd expect from children. They were playing the silent game. They wouldn't look at each other, or talk to each other. Most of the night, Kiyoko had hid himself away from view so that neither of us could see him, and he wouldn't have to look at us. And then breakfast this morning was a total disaster. Neither Willis nor I really ate much of the food supplies Kiyoko had with him when the virus had struck. It was good, on a survival level. Kiyoko would have food longer this way, and Willis and I ate the fruit that Terra provided us with. The fruit filled us up for longer periods of time. We didn't need to eat nearly as much in order to get the amount of calories we'd need for the day.

But Kiyoko was a stubborn one, and he refused to so much as touch Terra's fruits. He had a cup of hot tea and a bowl of instant oatmeal every morning, trying to tempt us with the smell of it. It did smell good, but I was never hungry enough to want it. We sat with him at the table anyway. I was trying to promote togetherness, but this morning it wasn't working.

"Rei, tell Willis to pass the sugar," Kiyoko has said pointedly. I looked to Willis, hoping he'd play the part of a grown up, but he legitimately pretended he hadn't heard Kiyoko speak at all.

"Willis, can I have the sugar?" I asked, impatiently.

"What do you need it for, you're not even eating," Willis said with a shrug. He didn't pass me the sugar. I looked at him, trying to best him in a match of wills, but it was no use.

"Don't make me crawl over there," I pleaded. I couldn't even walk over to get it for Kiyoko, but I also knew Kiyoko was never going to get it for himself—and he couldn't stand oatmeal or tea without sugar. When he didn't eat, he got grumpy, and if this was how he was going to be today, I didn't want to risk making him into even more of a grump.

"Fine," Willis snapped, sliding the sugar bowl across the table. It slammed into the side of Kiyoko's bowl and dumped over, pouring far too much into his oatmeal.

"He ruined it," Kiyoko cried, trying to salvage his breakfast. I gave Willis an I-do-not-approve-of-your-methods look, but he ignored me, choosing instead to get up and disappear into our Laundromat, pretending that he heard the dryer go off, even though there weren't any clothes in the dryer at all.

I didn't know how much more of their behaviour I could take. I wasn't their mother. I wasn't a mother at all. I didn't even hang around any mothers on a regular basis. The closest I got was Momoe and Kurayami, and neither of them were what I would consider close friends. I didn't have experience dealing with squabbling children. And I wasn't old enough to deal with it either. Momoe might've been ready, but I was not.

"Not thirsty?" Astamon asked, startling me out of my musing. My face flushed. I was embarrassed around him a lot. He was always carrying me to Terra's garden and back to the cave we called home. It was embarrassing and a little condescending to have to be carried everywhere. I would've given anything for that wheelchair to have worked, but it didn't. I just wanted to be able to move around on my own without having to resort to army crawling along the forest ground. With a wheelchair, I was under my own power. It wasn't ideal. I'd grown accustomed to walking around in the Digital World, but I did visit Earth, and on Earth I needed a chair. I could still handle one.

I wished I'd thought to make Kiyoko carry one in Mask Square.

Whenever we got back, I was going to make sure he always had one with him, just in case we ever ended up in a situation similar to this one again. I wasn't a child either, and I didn't want to be carried around like a helpless infant. I was twenty seven years old. I was far from a baby.

"Not yet," I said, answering Astamon a little late. I hoped he wouldn't hold it against me. My mind was just so full today. I wouldn't have come out at all, preferring to stay inside and not need to be toted around like an adult-sized baby, but I could not be around Willis and Kiyoko anymore, and had come to see Terra out of sheer desperation to get away.

"Too bad," he said. "Terra has a present for you, she wishes to know if you will accept it. If you'd rather not, I will tell her."

I wondered if it was a new beverage, since he seemed focused on my drink. I thought about it, but knew that I would accept, and nodded to him. He looked pleased, as he slipped into the solitary door in the garden. It led to Terra's personal chambers. I'd never been inside them, but I didn't feel the need to pry either. She was a mysterious woman, but she was good. And I trusted her. She wouldn't hurt me.

Swirling around my liquid sunshine, I sighed. I couldn't help but let my mind wander back to the Digital World. That was my home. It had been for the last three years. Taichi and I had made a life there among the digimon, and they'd accepted us so easily. It hurt me to know that the humans couldn't be nearly as accommodating as the digimon had been. They had decided to attempt a mass genocide of the digimon race, and let loose a virus that was meant to kill us all. Taichi had been out in that virus too. I just didn't know if he had a key that could help him escape, or if he'd been close enough to a barrier that he was okay. But Willis thought he was. So I tried to do the same.

It was Neo that actually was getting to me the most. No one knew where he was before the virus hit. I didn't know what world he was in, I didn't know if he was safe, or captured. I didn't know anything.But Neo was a survivor. He would survive this. He needed to. I didn't know what to do without my big brother. I missed going out to the bar every week. I missed watching him go up to the pretty bar tender and chat with her. He always pretended he'd just ordered a drink, but I'd seen Hideto do the same and it never took as long. I wondered if I'd ever get the chance to watch that friendship flourish into something special. He needed friends at the very least that weren't involved in all of this digidestined stuff. I worried about him all the time. He was too much of a recluse. He needed to get out there and find people interested in the same stuff as him—though preferably without the desire to rebuild the Digital World. I kind of hoped Neo had grown out of that particular desire.

"Rei," Terra greeted happily. "I'm so glad you agreed to this. I've been looking forward to seeing your face. You won't be sorry."

"I'm sure I won't," I agreed, though I didn't know what was going to happen. She set a steaming wooden cup full of liquid in front of me. It was a mossy green and looked rather gross, but I wasn't going to tell Terra that. She was so excited to share this with me. I couldn't disappoint her. I took a breath, and gulped it down in one, two, three swallows. It tasted like dirt and grass, and I shuddered as it went down. I couldn't get rid of the taste on my tongue. "That was...sure something."

"I'm afraid I couldn't change the taste," Terra said, laughing at my disgust a little. It was nice to see her acting relaxed. With the Wizards and the Fallen Angels around, she had to try and act the way they expected her to, and it wasn't possible to be that way all the time. It was a treat that she let loose around me. It made me feel trusted and like a valued friend. She could be herself around me. I smiled at her and laughed despite the gross taste that still remained.

"What was the surprise?" I asked. "The taste?"

"No, no, no," Terra assured me, calming her laugh down to a giggle. "There was something you said once, about the different digimon that lived in this world. I finally have a completed location to show you. I've been working hard on making this just right, and I want you to be the first to visit. But, before we go, we must wait for your legs."

"My legs?" I asked, but now that she'd brought attention to it, I could sort of feel a tingling in my toes. I tried to ignore it. There was no point getting my hopes up. Chances were it was a phantom feeling that I'd developed through sheer desire. But the tingling spread from my toes to the arch of my foot and then to my heel and up to my ankle. Soon the tingling spread from my ankles to my knees and up to my hips. It started out as pleasant, but then it grew painful. I gripped the sides of the table, trying not to scream out in agony, but it was the most painful thing I'd ever experienced. It felt like my bones and nerves were moving about at the base of my back, and were trying to right themselves.

"That would be the nerves reconnecting," Terra confirmed, and I tried to look at her through the tears that had swarmed my eyes. I couldn't understand what she was saying; my ears were too full of the sound of my heart pounding and blood rushing through my veins.

But then, all at once, the pain stopped.

I let out a sigh of relief, taking a few cautious breaths to see if the pain would return. It didn't. Terra and Astamon both looked happy for me, and I couldn't resist the temptation. I wiggled my toes in my mind, and my toes followed the mental order. I rolled my ankles, and my foot did as it was bid. I pulled myself onto my feet and didn't fall down to the ground instantly.

"Oh my god," I gasped, spinning in a circle. "What did you do?"

"I should think it was obvious," Terra said looking at my legs. I grinned, and did a couple of stretches. It had been two months since I'd last been able to move of my own power. My muscles were getting weaker, and I knew I couldn't overdo it. I needed to pace myself. I wouldn't be running marathons anytime soon. But I could walk a short while, I was sure. I was too excited not to.

"Thank you," I gasped while I bent down and touched my toes. My back was a little sore with that particular stretch, but otherwise I was pain free. I wanted to do some cartwheels and do a little jig, but I couldn't bring myself to risk it. I didn't want to end up hurting myself and ending up back in a chair—though in this world the chair didn't work, so I'd be scooped again.

There was a clattering sound, and I realized it came from within Terra's personal chambers. The door was closed though, and both Astamon and Terra were with me. My confusion must have shown clearly on my perplexed face, because Terra was quick to offer an explanation. "That's just Phelesmon. He's a suck up and he wants to clean for me, so I let him."

I laughed. "I could clean for you, if you want. I need to do something to thank you. You gave me back my legs."

"No, no," Terra said quickly. "You don't need to do that. Just come with me to see the digimon, and tell me what you think of the home I built for them. Be honest. I don't want you to sugar coat it. Can I trust you to tell me the truth?"

"Always," I assured her. It was so weird, feeling my feet again, even after just the two month hiatus. I'd never wanted to go through that again, but no amount of wishing could have prevented the virus. I was happy we'd ended up here. I really liked hanging out with Terra and Astamon. They appreciated a good conversation, and they didn't fight like little children. It was a nice change from the boys. "You know, I think you're just about the most amazingly talented woman in the history of the worlds for giving my legs back to me."

"I agree," Astamon said with a smirk.

"You guys are too much," Terra said seriously. "I was just doing whatever I could to help a friend. And I really do think of you as a friend, Rei. I haven't known you very long, but that doesn't change anything. This place needed another woman. I was getting so tired of being only one of three. The other two don't come by for conversation you know. They just come by when the Fallen Angels are fighting with the Wizards. It's so nice to have a woman to talk with that doesn't want me to solve all of her problems."

"You did solve my problem," I pointed out.

"But you didn't ask," Terra told me. "And I appreciate that more than you know."

"Oh," I said, flushing red again. I was so easy to embarrass it was ridiculous. I missed the days when Kiyoko was the one that was always blushing. Hanging out with Gravimon had cured him of that for the most part. I didn't like Gravimon and the amount of influence Kiyoko allowed him to have. It was unsettling to say the least.

"Now, let us go and see the digimon," Terra suggested. "They'll be waiting for you."

She led me along, wrapping one of her arms securely around mine, while Astamon took the other. They were letting me walk on my own, which was nice, but it might've been more freeing if they weren't holding me so closely. I wasn't going to fall. I was going to be careful, but I also supposed it was kind of sweet that they were protecting me from my own two feet.

We passed through the dead trees of the forest, and I kept my eyes open, looking for Gravimon, waiting for him to jump out at us. He took pleasure in scaring others, and it was the one trait I was hoping Kiyoko wouldn't pick up from him. I wanted Kiyoko to remain the sweet, adorable guy that he'd been before. I understood that he was going through a life changing time. He and Gravimon were working through his fears, and he was finding confidence in himself. He wasn't so afraid to speak during the Wizards' group bonfires anymore. It was cool, I guess, to see him grow into the man he wanted to be, instead of the remains of the man Sigma had turned him into. But it might've been nicer if Hideto, Mari and Neo could have been around to see the changes happening too. Maybe they would've been able to help him, and he wouldn't have had to be around that terrifying digimon all the time. It was strange to think that Alias III could be a better influence than anyone but in this case, I was sure it was true.

Soon enough, though, the dead trees began to show signs of life, and still Gravimon hadn't shown his face. The ground beneath my feel became softer and I looked down to see moss and grass growing in abundance. The trees grew more lively the further we went on, and I saw a clock tower in the distance.

"That's where we're going," Terra informed me. "That clock tower was actually once a part of a different world too. Neverland, is what it was called. Most of it has scattered through the other worlds, from what I've learned. It has always struck me as strange that just this clock tower came here to Witchenly, when this is the land of lost things."

"You're right," I asked, finding it funny. "You'd think most of it would come here."

"Things happen how the universe wants them to," Terra sighed. "It would be nice though, if more had come here. It is such a beautiful clock tower. There are so few beautiful things in this world."

"Oh, I can think of a few," I said, sending her a wink. She flushed prettily and Astamon laughed as we continued moving towards the clock tower. When we reached it, the first thing I noticed was the small clearing at its base, where colourful cloth tents were pitched sporadically. I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of digimon, but I couldn't see them. Terra laughed at my desperate search.

"Come out my friends, Rei is here to see you!" she called, and small blue dinosaur digimon came racing out of the tents to greet me. I nearly fell to my knees at the shock of seeing so many of a familiar face. They were Veemon. There were at least a dozen of them, probably more.

"I thought they were next to extinct," I gasped, covering my mouth when I realized it was probably a touchy subject for the digimon to talk about. They didn't seem to notice my slip though. They were more focussed on dragging me around to give me a tour of their little village. It was very sweet and cozy, and I told them as such. They were all very pleased with my assessment. It was so nice to be surrounded by digimon that didn't look like they were seriously debating on how to kill me.

I spent the entire afternoon seated in a circle with the Veemon scattered about me, telling stories of a very brave Veemon who often got into trouble that was too much for him to handle, but it was okay, because he always had his best friend Daisuke with him to help save the day. They were particularly impressed with the way that Veemon had managed to reach his mega level, and kept asking me to describe him. It was hard to come up with different descriptions, since I'd only seen him a couple of times at best. But it was nice to share some of my friends' stories, and to give these Veemon someone they could really look up to. I was sure Veemon would blush and sheepishly kick at the ground if he found out about how much I'd been talking him up, but I didn't care. I needed to talk about the friends we'd left behind, and I knew I couldn't do it with Willis—who seemed adamant that it wouldn't matter as soon as we found a way out of here—or Kiyoko—who was likely to break into tears if the topic was ever brought up in his presence. It was very cathartic, and I spent a lot more time sitting on the ground than I would've liked, just because I couldn't stop talking about Veemon.

But, eventually it was time to go, and I nearly cried when they told me not to go. I needed to, but I promised I'd come back to visit them again. I had a lot of other digimon friends I could tell stories about, and I had one other Veemon gem that I'd saved back. The story of Veemon bravely working together with Taichi when Daisuke was unconscious and Agumon was left an egg while they faced off against Arkadimon. It was a scary story, but it was also a true testament to how close of friends the digidestined and their digimon had all become over the years. Veemon trusted Taichi to give him the strength he needed to keep fighting. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes, it was such a beautiful thought.

I hoped Pal and Pul trusted Agumon and Taichi that much while I was away.

I shook the sad thoughts away. I could walk again. That must be enough to stop the boys from fighting anymore. At the thought, I hugged Terra and then Astamon—who generally just seemed annoyed by the attention.

"You don't need to bring me home today," I pointed out with a smile.

"Are you sure you can make it?" he asked, sounding concerned. I winked at him. I wasn't going to let him carry me, no matter how concerned he sounded. He nodded his head at me, and stepped back. I stuck my hands in my coat pocket, and felt the heavy key to Witchenly press against my hand. Kiyoko's doodad was in there too. I felt guilty, keeping it away from Terra. She'd just given me back the use of my legs. All she asked in return was that I trusted her. And I did. I knew that she'd been looking into ways out of this world. Sure, Kiyoko might be able to get us out, but he hadn't been collecting data as long as Terra had. I knew it was the right choice to make, and I pulled out the key and Kiyoko's prize.

"Terra," I called. "I found something; I thought you ought to take a look at it." I trusted Terra but I knew Kiyoko didn't, so I did keep back the origins of the doodad. I didn't want him to get in trouble. It would only give him another reason to continue disliking Terra—even though his reason seemed nonsensical.

"Oh my," Terra gasped, looking at the white stick Kiyoko had been sure was important. She looked to the key to Witchenly and then up to me, curious.

"That's the key that brought us here," I said. "I never even thought to give it to you, even after you told me about your research. I didn't think it would be much use, since it only leads to here, but you might as well take a look at it, right?"

"Thank you, Rei," Terra told me, her voice full of awe as she looked over both items I'd been protecting. "For you to give me this, even just to look at, is amazing. This could help move my work along exponentially."

"I hope so," I said with a smile. "I'd like to get out of here too. The world we left was in chaos, and we really need to get back to fix it."

"You have a good heart," Terra told me. "Thank you again."

"Not a problem," I assured her. Then I went home, walking back through the forest, sighing when the lively trees drifted into the dark, depressing dead ones. It was actually a long walk back to the cave. There was a moment or two that I thought I wasn't going to make it. My muscles were just too tired to deal with more walking, but the looks on their faces when I walked right in to Mask Square was the motivation I needed.

The scene that was waiting for me in Mask Square was not the happy one I'd been envisioning. During my time with the Veemon I'd managed to forget about their fighting, and was very disappointed to find out that they were arguing when I got there.

"Just give it to Terra, Kiyoko! I want to go home," Willis shouted.

"You're a genius, Willis, and so am I, we could do it without her! We don't need her," Kiyoko yelled back.

"Yes we do," Willis insisted. "We don't know anything about world travel."

"Speak for yourself," Kiyoko snapped. It occurred to me that he might know a little about travelling between the worlds. Sigma sure knew a lot, and some of it had to have rubbed off on him. If only I could get him and Terra talking. Maybe we could get out of here a whole lot sooner. It was just too bad he couldn't even say her name without grimacing.

"Stop being so childish," I yelled at them. They paused and looked to me. Disappointingly they didn't even gasp at the sight of me walking again. They just glared at me for interrupting their argument. Kiyoko looked away from me pointedly, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing.

"Are you ready to give my stick back?" he asked with a falsely calm voice.

"I can't," I said, realizing how foolish my impulsive gift to Terra really was.

"You gave it to her, didn't you?" he asked coldly.

"I did," I admitted.

"Why is it that you always pick the Taichi over the Neo," he wanted to know. I was confused, so I couldn't answer. He decided to explain. "You chose Taichi over your own brother, and here in Witchenly, there's Gravimon that you won't even give the time of day, but he's so much like your brother its crazy, and then there's Terra, who's so happy go lucky all the time and everyone looks to her for advice even though she'd not technically in charge, but she is, because everyone says she is. She's the Taichi of this world. And you chose her over Neo."

"To be fair, I chose Taichi when Neo had kidnapped me and locked me in a prison," I pointed out. But I did understand what he was implying. Neo had made a bunch of mistakes, and had been really threatening and scary for awhile, but he was my brother, and he managed to redeem himself when given the opportunity. But I loved Taichi, I was literally in love with him. Terra didn't really remind me of him. Her situation in this world was disturbingly similar though. "You're right. I haven't been fair to Gravimon. I should give him another chance, but I don't understand the rest of it. If Terra is this world's Taichi, why is it bad that I gave her that stick and the key?"

"You gave her the key too?" he groaned. He slammed his head against the wall at my supposed stupidity. "Shouldn't these things be a unanimous group decision? Shouldn't I get any say in what we do here? You can't just follow Terra blindly. The last thing I know for sure that Taichi did was start a war with Earth. You've got to be careful."

"So I should trust Neo more than Taichi?" I guessed, thinking it sounded ridiculous.

"One of them always tells the truth," he reminded me. "No matter how hurtful it is to hear it. You'll never catch me abandoning Neo. He's Alias III. He's my family. If he didn't trust Taichi, I wouldn't work with Taichi at all."

"Does Gravimon not trust Terra?" I asked, confused.

"He does," Kiyoko muttered bitterly. "But not explicitly. He only trusts her to keep the Wizards and Fallen Angels out of his woods. If she goes back on her word, he won't trust her again though."

"This is all pointless," Willis interrupted. "You're analogy doesn't make sense, and I get that you're trying to piece it back together, but it got lost in the transition from your brain to your mouth. Rei already gave Terra the key and the doodad. It's too late."

"Just ask her to give them back," Kiyoko insisted, looking incredibly hurt that no one was buying into his story. "She can't have them. I don't like it. She's...she's...she just reminds me of someone okay."

"Like who?" Willis asked, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know," Kiyoko cried. "I think maybe it's my mom."

My heart sank. Of course Kiyoko wouldn't like Terra if she reminded him of his mother. His mother was never very good to him. She was good to other people outside of her family. She was the perfect housewife to the neighbours. I know she showered him with affection when she thought he was the perfect child, complimenting him for following the strict rules and guidelines set by his father, for not having any thoughts that were his own, for wanting only what his parents wanted him to want. It was such a secluded and trapped childhood that he'd had, and it was sad to think that he viewed playing host to Sigma as a brighter point in his life. With Sigma he'd at least got to do interesting things. He's actually told us that once, when he'd had tried a couple of drinks at the bar. He liked his time with Sigma better than with his parents. It was heartbreaking.

But Terra wasn't his mother. It wasn't fair to force him to like her if she reminded him of her, but it wasn't fair to Terra to aim all his anger and frustrations his mother had created at her.

"She did the right thing, Kiyoko," Willis said gently.

It was the wrong thing to say. Kiyoko screamed in frustration—literally screamed—and then stormed off again. He was too frustrated to form words anymore. I knew that he'd been trying to make a point with the Neo and Taichi comments, and I wished I knew what it was. He sometimes had trouble forming his thoughts into words. He couldn't always convey the idea in a way that made sense. I wasn't as good at understanding what he meant as the rest of Alias III was.

I wished they were here with us now. Maybe they could talk some sense into him and Willis. But I was done with it for now. I was going to go to bed, and I hoped one of them might realize I was walking in the morning. It was just depressing that neither had bothered to mention it.

Ken Ichijouji:

Takeru was worried about Hikari. He didn't seem to be able to go more than a single minute without reminding Koushiro and me of that fact. He was always biting his lip, and glancing back over his shoulder, as if he could still see her. I clenched my fists each time he did this. I tried to be objective. I tried to look at this from his point of view, but I was having a hard time bringing myself to feel any sympathy for him. Hikari was just staying at home. Hikari was fine. We knew she was physically fine at the very least. She was always smiling. She was always offering me an ear to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to lean on. She wasn't as weak as he was making her out to be. I was fairly certain she would actually be rather offended by his obsessive worrying.

"We should probably go back," Takeru said, talking more to himself than either Koushiro or myself. He stopped walking down the cobblestone street he'd wished up—he was always wishing them up, in case we wanted to bike some of the way—and nodded his head. "Yes. We're going to go back. We need to go be with Hikari. It's August first. We should all be together today. It's important."

"You know, Hikari wasn't even with us on August first. We didn't find out she was the eighth child until days later," Koushiro pointed out.

"That's irrelevant," Takeru said waving a hand in Koushiro's direction. "We need to be with Hikari now. We shouldn't be doing this without her. It's not right."

"You're going to have a romantic dinner with her later," I reminded him, trying not to feel like I was stabbing my heart with a large dagger of jealousy. What would I give to have Miyako with me right now? How far was I willing to go, for the chance to just know that she was okay? I was willing to do or give just about anything. And Takeru knew that. I tried not to take it personally each time he brought up the fact that Hikari was his girlfriend, that he loved her. I tried not to wish that it was Miyako that was here instead of Hikari. I actually liked that Hikari was here. She was really helpful. But there was always a bitter part of my mind that whispered horrible wishes. I would never be able to share them with anyone. They were too horrible. They were the reason I kept my bedroom door locked each night. I couldn't risk any of those secret wishes escaping. This world was equally wonderful and terrifying. Any wish could at any point become reality. And the Boogeyman—Akumu—was out there waiting to prey on thoughts like the ones I kept buried. He'd preyed on Hikari, creating an illusion of my wife. He'd created an illusion of my child, still a fetus, bloody and dead. It was the only image I had of my son or daughter.

It killed me.

Each night, every time I closed my eyes, I would see it. It haunted me. It always started a montage of horrible memories and fears. Each morning, I awoke drenched in sweat, shaking like a leaf, surrounded by a fog of darkness, smothering my screams and sobs into my pillow. I had to pull myself together before I could disperse the darkness. I waited five or so minutes, to ensure the darkness wouldn't return, before I unlocked my door and decided to brave the day.

Some days were better than others. Some days I could barely pull myself out of bed. Sometimes it took so long to disperse the darkness that Takeru would come up and knock on my door, trying the handle, only to find it locked. There was just so much pressure to keep it together, and I couldn't always live up to his expectations.

And I supposed I was bitter about that too.

He seemed so intently focussed on me and my wellbeing. I hardly ever saw him show the same concern for Hikari or Koushiro. I knew I was fragile, but it wasn't helping me to have such a dedicated cheerleader. I needed time to myself, to sort out my own thoughts, and to come to terms with what happened. I needed to form my own opinions, instead of clinging to Takeru's just because they made me feel better.

But the constant reminders that Takeru was happy here, and was with the love of his life, weren't helpful in the slightest. I couldn't tell him to stop talking to or about Hikari though. It wouldn't be fair of me. No matter how jealous I got, no matter how many painful thoughts got brought up watching them together.

No matter how much I wanted Miyako.

It had been two months. I should be getting better at this, but I wasn't. If anything, I was getting worse with each passing day. The darkness was just a little thicker in the morning, the nightmares were just a little more frightening, and each step took a little more effort.

I shook my head, ridding myself of the negative thoughts as if I was brushing away cobwebs. We needed to keep looking for Trust. It was our mission. I needed our mission. It was the only purpose I had to look forward to. It was the only reason I didn't let the darkness linger in the mornings.

"You should let Hikari have this time apart if you don't want her to get irritated with your ridiculously positive attitude," I told him slowly, trying not to sound too bitter. "If I didn't have each night away from you, I'm pretty sure I would have decked you by now."

"Rude," Takeru said, before snorting, and throwing one arm over my shoulder, and pulling me close to him. "But you're right. I should do as she wants. I can't turn into Taichi. She wouldn't appreciate it. It took her ages to get out of his overprotective shadow. I can't just shove her into my own. That's not fair. I know what it's like. Yamato was my Taichi, after all."

Koushiro and I stayed silent after that, both silently dreading the moment that Takeru's resolve would waver and he'd decide once again that we needed to get to Hikari. Thankfully, that moment didn't come. Instead, he summoned up a small telescope, and looked through it, scanning the distance, as though we were pirates out at sea, looking for land. He threw himself into the search, though we were no better off than we were before. It was expected by now that we would come up empty handed.

"You know," Takeru said when he eventually got tired of the silence. "Hikari thinks that my hope will be enough to find Trust. Isn't that sweet of her? I think it's sweet."

"That's not what she said," Koushiro told him, bursting Takeru's bubble. He looked to Koushiro, irritated, but Koushiro continued speaking regardless. "She said that she thinks we'll have a better chance without her negativity."

"Well, whose fault is that?" Takeru challenged Koushiro. I was confused, and I wasn't the only one. Koushiro raised one eyebrow questioningly at Takeru. "I'm always trying to keep everyone hopeful and positive and you, Koushiro, keep poisoning our mind with your "logic"."

"How do we know that it's not you that is poisoning our minds?" Koushiro argued, still looking as cool as a cucumber, despite Takeru's ire. "Perhaps it is you and your consistent, all consuming positivity that is the problem."

"I'm not totally positive all the time you know!" Takeru burst angrily. He threw his hands into the air exasperatedly. "I actually do have negative thoughts, but I push them aside because...what good are they? They only make people—including me—feel bad. If you think negatively it will exude out of you and you'll be a jerk and no one will like you." Takeru rubbed his hands over his face, and when he pulled them away, he looked so unlike himself I mightn't have recognized him if I hadn't been standing there staring at him the entire time. He was so withdrawn, his face was pale and there were worry lines on his forehead. His eyes were dull now, where they'd been glistening before. "I dislike so many things," he admitted, as though he were telling the world's biggest secret. I hadn't even once imagined that he liked everything. But it was actually nice to have him confirm it. "I don't like my dad's marriage."—he looked rather guilty and ashamed about this particular opinion—"I think it's weirdly codependent, but I love him and he's old enough to make his own decisions. I know if anyone thought negatively about my relationship with Hikari I wouldn't want them to tell me. It's none of their business because I'm happy. But that doesn't mean the thoughts aren't there. I just don't feel the need to share them."

"Well, aren't you Mr Perfect," Koushiro muttered sarcastically. I sighed, remembering when he was bitter and mean towards me, and actually missing those days, because at least then we were all together, and I had Miyako to help me through his seemingly random hatred.

"I'm not perfect!" Takeru screamed, burying his fingers into his hair and pulling on it, looking rather wild. "I'm not. So stop pretending that I am. It makes me feel like crap. I'm positive because I have to be. People expect it of me, but I've never once pretended to be perfect."

"Yet you are allowed to force your opinions on people," Koushiro commented. "I'm not, because I'm negative, but not everyone wants your positivity forced on them. It's tiring. If I can't have my own thoughts and theories, don't share your opinions without being asked. Otherwise, you'll become a hypocrite, and wouldn't suit you."

"It's not a weakness to show emotions, Koushiro," Takeru told him. "Just because you're an emotionless robot that doesn't care how much the facts can hurt, how your impartial theories hurt, doesn't mean you should spread them around. They hurt people."

"The facts are concrete!" Koushiro argued. "They can't hurt anyone. How people perceive them is their choice. I find the facts to be perfectly comforting."

"Yeah, well, I show empathy," Takeru muttered far too quiet for Koushiro to hear—not that he seemed interested in continuing this conversation. "People actually like to be around me."

I doubted I was meant to hear him.

I couldn't help but wonder if he was stating a fact, which Koushiro was so fond of, or if he was reassuring himself. He was always trying so hard to keep all of us uplifted. He didn't want any of us to dwell on the past. He wanted us to be happy, no matter how impossible the idea seemed some days—most days, to be honest.

Regardless of his meaning, I was glad Koushiro had not heard him. I was tired of this fighting. I wanted to keep going on our seemingly endless—if not pointless—mission of finding Trust. The least I could do was locate the final digidestined. Meiyomon had trusted Michael and me with the final crests, and Trust was the recipient of the final one. I might feel better if I could finish that task for Meiyomon. It helped, to know that Summer was going to get us out of this world when we found him.

I simply couldn't let my mind wonder over what it was that we would find when we left. I couldn't bear to think about Koushiro's facts, but sometimes, focussing on Takeru's hopeful imaginings hurt just as much.

We continued walking along the cobblestones in silence. Takeru was still using his telescope, but I stopped looking too hard. In fact, I just started staring at the grass on either side of our street, trying hard to bring myself to wish a blanket of flowers into existence, but finding myself only able to conjure up white, puffy dandelions that had gone to seed. They weren't exactly the pick-me-up that I'd hoped for. The wind that Takeru wished up when he started to sweat under the heat of the sun blew the seeds off of their stems, and I watched as they fluttered into the distance, landing on cool, grey sand.

I blinked.

It was sand. My brows furrowed, and I looked behind us. There was sand everywhere. It reached back as far as I could see, and it stretched out for miles in front of us. The crash of the waves was loud, and I knew that there would be a large, black expanse of water to my left. I was almost too scared to look, but I did it anyway.

I was right.

Somehow we'd ended up on the beach in the Dark Ocean. A chill settled into my bones as I remembered my last encounter with this world. Daemon had taken my wife, and I'd gone to find her. I'd drunk the water, and experienced the tortures they conjured up for me. I had dropped my digivice into that same water, and the water had turned it into a D-3 and pitch black.

I couldn't be here.

How was I here?

"Ken?" Takeru asked with a shaky voice. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Not anymore," I admitted, unable to look away from the black ocean ahead of me. I was in a trance.

"Do you suppose it's Hikari?" Koushiro questioned.

"No!" Takeru yelled. "She's happy. She's fine."

"Is she?" Koushiro asked pointedly.

"She'd tell me if she wasn't," Takeru argued urgently. "She would. She trusts me. She'd tell me if it was this bad. She wouldn't let it fester. She knows she doesn't have to hide anymore."

"She'd do it anyway," I whispered. "It's not me, and she's the only other one in this world that is plagued by the Dark Ocean." I didn't like disappointing Takeru. I didn't like learning that I'd been reading Hikari wrong either. I'd thought she was so happy. She was always smiling, always helping me. But she wasn't happy. She was just pretending. I felt guilty, knowing that I was so wrapped up in my own issues that I didn't realize she had any of her own.

"Is that..." Koushiro murmured to himself. "There's someone out there."

"Where?" Takeru demanded. I knew from the urgency in his voice that he feared it was Hikari. I started searching myself. Knowing that someone was in danger was enough to snap me out of the trance the water had put me in. I knew now that I wasn't actually in the Dark Ocean. That was already a step in the right direction.

My eyes landed on a flash of gold in the endless black waters. It wasn't Hikari. It was Yume, the sandman. He was struggling. Why was he struggling? I strained my eyes, trying to see what was happening, and gasped when I realized what I was seeing. The sandman's arch nemesis—Akumu, the boogeyman—was holding him down with the help of several deranged, demonic spirit creatures. He couldn't hold off all of them at once. He needed help.

Before my mind could catch up to the rest of me, I was kicking off my shoes, and ripping off my socks. I was in the water before Takeru caught hold of me. It was only then that I realized he'd been shouting my name.

"KEN!" he yelled. "Don't do that."

"I need to help him," I snapped angrily. I swore to help people when I'd stopped being the Kaiser and when I took up the badge.

"You can," he said. He held out his hand, and suddenly planks of wood started joining together. I understood. He was making a bridge. It would get me there faster. I nodded to him, and raced along it, even though it wasn't finished yet. I knew Takeru was still on the beach, wishing up new planks as I needed them.

I was getting close. I was also getting slivers in the bottom of my feet. I could have wished that it was impossible for me to get them, but it didn't occur to me until after it had already happened. The pain didn't matter anyway. It was inconsequential compared to Yume's danger. The distance was shrinking. I could clearly see four creatures assisting the boogeyman. They weren't shadows—the creatures that inhabit the Dark Ocean—as I'd assumed they would be. They weren't anything. They were twisted, distorted shadowy demon creatures. Their limbs jutted out at odd angles, and there were an odd number of them. They didn't have just two arms; they had three, four, or five. Two of them had tails, one had horns on its head, and the other had spikes down its back.

I didn't take any longer to look them over, because I'd reached them, and swung my fist into the boogeyman's face, catching him off guard. He fell into the water, and I took the opportunity to pull on the one creature's horns, pulling him off of Yume, and shoving him into the water too. I kicked one of the monsters with a tail, and by that point, Yume was able to fight off the last two before the others got back. He shoved them away, and pulled himself onto the bridge, holding his hand out to summon his staff. Akumu the boogeyman came flying out of the water and Yume blasted him with a bright light.

He was so busy with Akumu that he didn't realize the other four had come to their senses. He was busy with Akumu, but I wasn't—and they noticed. The four of them came for me, and I high-tailed it out of there, racing back down the bridge Takeru had created. They smashed the boards behind me, giving me just enough motivation to not slow down. I kept running passed Koushiro and Takeru on the beach, having noticed Takeru's hands were out. He had a plan, and I was going to let him put it into action.

I turned back in time to see Takeru summon a glass box around the creatures. They didn't notice it, and crashed into the back of it, toppling over into a heap. It would've been hilarious if I was in any mood for humour—and they didn't look so disgusting.

Koushiro didn't look all that happy that Takeru was constantly wishing things into existence, but I was too happy that the danger was gone to care. Personally, I wished things up all the time as distractions, so I didn't have the same reservations that Koushiro seemed to. He never seemed to wish for anything—except the ability to simply not sleep.

I stared at the glass box of fallen creatures, afraid that they would escape. It wouldn't be hard. They simply needed to wish the box away. I wondered why they didn't. They didn't seem particularly smart though. Yume tossed a tied up Akumu on the ground next to the box, before tapping on it and grinning.

"Caught all the nightmares, did you? Excellent," he said. "I've got Akumu. Together we've foiled his latest plan! It's not every day you get a chance to help a genuine superhero take down his arch nemesis. How does it feel boys? Pretty good, I'd think."

"More than good," Takeru said eagerly.

"You're right," Yume agreed. "Obviously, I would have been able to do it alone, but it is nice to have help sometimes." It only occurred to me then that he couldn't possibly have been drowning. He didn't need to breath. He could also wish he was a fish if he wanted to. There was no possible way that Akumu would've been able to kill him. I felt rather foolish for rushing to his aid. I was far too used to the rules of Earth. If he'd been on Earth, I would've been a hero instead of a rash idiot. I kicked the sand, debating whether or not to put my shoes back on just so I wouldn't have to meet his eye.

"Who summoned these...creatures?" Koushiro queried. Takeru sucked in a breath, afraid that the answer would be Hikari. I was afraid it would be her too.

"Akumu did," Yume explained, as if it were obvious—as if we didn't have a friend that was a ticking time bomb of doom and destruction and sadness, without any of our knowledge. Well, except for Koushiro. He'd known. He always knew everything. It was kind of irritating. And depressing. It was hard to accept. His opinions on the fate of my wife and child weren't favourable in any way. "He collects these nightmares by setting them free of the dream bubbles in the field of dreams. It's something he does often, despite my best efforts to prevent it."

"Oh?" Koushiro asked, quirking his head. He was curious. I sighed mentally. We would be here for ages. He wouldn't rest until his curiosity was sated. "Would you be open to providing a more detailed explanation? I would like to understand this phenomenon. Perhaps that will help us in the future, should we come across similar creatures."

"That might be good," Yume agreed. "We don't know how long you'll be here before Summer can get you out. You could be back-up heroes. Not super heroes, mind you, but regular heroes."

"Yes, sure," Koushiro said, sounding entirely uninterested. He just wanted to understand the mechanics of it all. I didn't really care about that stuff. I didn't need any more information. I just needed to know that they would try to kill me—which was enough to keep me from letting them succeed in doing so.

Yume, however, seemed to be tickled pink at the idea of explaining his nemesis's various tactics and how exactly Yume was able to stop Akumu from succeeding with any of those plans. I groaned. When I was still, when I wasn't working towards finding Trust, my mind had a tendency to wander. I was afraid of what might happen when it did—especially being in such close proximity to the Dark Ocean, no matter how fake it was. It didn't matter that Hikari had accidentally—I hope—wished it up. It felt real. And it was still pulling me in. I was so scared of it, but my body wasn't listening to my logic. I wanted to walk into it, to feel the water rush over me.

Takeru tugged on my sleeve, and I followed him willingly—anything to keep me from giving in to the pull. He dragged me behind him, glancing back at Koushiro and the others every few seconds. Maybe he was hoping they wouldn't notice our disappearance, but I doubted they could miss it. It didn't seem to matter anyway, because he wasn't stopping.

"We're going to keep looking without Koushiro," Takeru explained when we got far enough away in his opinion. I was confused, and it showed on my face. I knew it did, because he looked at me and chewed on his lip anxiously. "The two of us have the best chance of finding Trust. If Hikari is right, then Koushiro is just holding us back, the same as her."

"And I'm not?" I asked him, just as confused as before.

"Of course not," Takeru protested. "You want this just as much as I do. You probably want it more. We need to find Trust in order to get back to Miyako and the others. No one wants that more than you. You're the perfect guy to take on this mission."

"Miyako?" I asked with a strangled voice. I could picture it as he said it. I could see us meeting up with the others, and running to my wife. I would take her in my arms and I would just hold her close for a good long while. I wanted to hear her voice, I wanted to talk to her, tell her the things I'd never thought to say before we'd been separated. I wanted to feel our baby wiggle and kick. I wanted to share that with her. I'd been absent for so much, and to hear Takeru offer this to me, if only I found Trust? It was perfect. It was like he'd said the magic words.

I sent all thoughts that weren't focussed on my absolute necessity of finding Trust away. They weren't helping. I needed to believe I could find him. I needed to want it. And I did. Now that I'd sent all other thoughts away, I didn't want anything else. I was really starting to believe that Takeru might've been right this whole time. Maybe all I really needed was to be a bit more positive. We could actually find him. No. We would find him.

Focussing my thoughts, I started walking down the beach, further away from Koushiro and Yume, who were still asking and answering questions next to the fallen form of the tied up Akumu, and his friends who were trapped in that glass box. Trust wasn't with them. I needed to move away. Takeru followed after me. I could hear him talking, but he wasn't talking about Trust, so the words sort of went in one ear and out the other. I might've felt bad, but I was too focussed on Trust to care at that moment.

I didn't know how long we'd been walking. It could have been hours, days or just minutes. I couldn't tell. I was too focussed on my new mission. I was letting my desire to find him lead the way. I didn't know if I would get any favourable results, but I didn't think about it too hard before those thoughts were sent packing as well.

We continued walking until my trancelike state was shattered at the sound of a battle cry. Takeru was immediately on guard, and I was looking towards the water again, thinking someone else might be drowning. No one was there. Takeru tugged on my sleeve again, and I looked to him. He was looking at something with such excessive enthusiasm, that I needed to get a look myself. I was curious. What I saw was a young boy, fourteen, maybe fifteen at most, facing off against more of those twisted nightmares. He was using what I assumed was meant to be martial arts, but wasn't any proper form of it. It looked to me like he'd developed his own fighting style after watching a bunch of movies. It didn't matter how unpolished it was, because it was working for him.

His white and red running shoes crashed into a nightmare's chest as he performed a high kick. He was wearing cargo pants that were a deep olive green, and a grey long sleeve t-shirt. He had yellow gloves on his hands, which were curved into fists, and a red bandana tied around his neck. He was also wearing some sort of armor over his right shoulder that was strapped across his chest with black bands.

For just a second, my mind flashed to a different image. The same boy, but dressed in a blue shirt with those same cargo pants. He seemed younger. But the hair was the same. The same reddish brown spiked mess. And his eyes, his very blue eyes were familiar too.

But I blinked, and was brought back to the present. The boy kicked another nightmare, this time into a digimon's path. I'd been so focused on the boy, that I'd missed the presence of a digimon altogether. It was black with armor on his head, shoulders, and thighs. He had silver blades protruding from both of his forearms. He had four red wings that matched the boy's neckerchief. The digimon was familiar too. Not to the same extent as the boy, but I knew I'd seen him before...

No.

That was ridiculous. I'd have remembered seeing this digimon, and since I couldn't remember, I was making it up. The Dark Ocean was providing me with ideas that I didn't want. I stepped away from the water, trying to put distance between us. I wasn't helping. Memories of travelling across a desert were flashing through my mind. There was some giant monster that I needed to fight and pieces of...desire? I didn't understand what was going on with me.

The digimon shouted out "Cyber Nail!" and proceeded to slash at the nightmares with the blades on his arm. The boy scolded his partner.

"Don't hurt them," he ordered. "It's not their fault. They were perfectly happy dreams before the boogeyman got a hold of them. They can become dreams again."

"Sorry," his partner said sounding incredibly disappointed. He didn't try to slash them again though. He instead, decided to rally them up, separating each one from the herd, and protected the kid while the boy worked a little magic of his own, trapping the nightmares back into a dream bubble one by one. I was more than a little impressed. He turned to his partner and shot him two thumbs up when they'd finished returning each nightmare to their bubbles. And then he caught sight of us.

And he fled.

He and his partner both started running away from us. I didn't know if they thought we were the boogeyman or what exactly, but I didn't have time to chase him down again. Maybe he was trust, and maybe he wasn't, but this boy had something to do with my past, and I needed to know what and how.

"No, don't run!" Takeru shouted. "We need you! You're Trust. We've only been looking for you forever!"

The kid didn't stop, and neither did his partner. He was running away. If I waited much longer, he'd be gone and we'd be back to square one. I needed to do something. But what could I do? I didn't really know him. I had memories, but no answers.

"RYOU!" I yelled instinctively before he could escape my sight entirely. He skidded to a stop, and his partner followed suit. He looked back to me, his face contorted into confusion. He looked me head to toe, but clearly didn't understand how I knew him. I was a tad disappointed. I'd been hoping for answers, but they didn't matter too much. I needed him to come with us so that we could drag him to Summer, and tell her to get a move on and get us out of here already. "Ryou, I need you to come with me. If you don't, I may never get to see my wife again, may never get to meet my child. I might never even know if they're alive."

"That's not fun," the boy said. "We can't have that." I was confused now. He didn't even question the idea that I knew his name. He just changed his tune entirely upon hearing my sob story. "What do you think, Cyberdramon? We should help them, right?" His partner nodded. It was a Cyberdramon then. "Okay then, I guess we're going with you. Lead the way!"

"Are we sure he's Trust?" I asked Takeru, as we followed his lead back down the beach. He was the only one that knew how far we'd gone. I hadn't been paying attention. As it turned out, we hadn't gone excessively far at all.

"Yeah," Takeru said. "How many people actually live here?"

I had to give him that, and relapsed back into silence as we hunted down Koushiro and Yume. I couldn't wait to share the news of our discovery. Hikari had to take credit though. If she hadn't shared her theory, we wouldn't have ditched Koushiro, so we never would have found Ryou.

I wondered why it was exactly that I knew this boy's name.

We found Yume and Koushiro sitting on two armchairs in a collection around an open flame. I was more shocked to see that Koushiro was willingly seated on something someone had obviously wished into existence, than I was to see that Summer and Hikari had joined them. I looked to Takeru, and he seemed annoyed that Hikari was willing to spend time with Koushiro, but not with him. He didn't have long to sulk though, because Summer caught sight of us and jumped to her feet. She squealed and pulled Ryou into a hug.

"I knew you could do it!" she cheered. "You've found Trust. You've found the final piece of the digidestined puzzle. This is amazing."

"I told you," Hikari teased. "You could only do it without me."

"Yeah, we needed a complete lack of doubt," Takeru said dryly. I noticed that his eyes never once strayed from Koushiro's back. Hikari seemed to understand his train of thought and didn't appear to approve.

"Why do I know you?" I asked Ryou. He shrugged his shoulders, unsure. "I can't know you. You look the same as you did in my memories. You can't be the same kid. If these memories are real, then I knew you since I'd first encounter with the Digital World. That was sixteen years ago though, and you are clearly younger than that. You have to be."

"I can explain all of that," Ryou said with a shrug. "If you've got the time?"

"Sure we do," Yume said gallantly. "I would love to hear of how you managed to get into Land of Dream."

"But," I said, nearly whimpering.

"I will continue my work, while he talks," Summer promised. "Why don't you tell us your story dear?"

"Okay," Ryou said. "It started in the park, of all places..."

Next on Digimon Adventure 07: Ryou takes a turn telling a story and how he Never Grows Up. :)