Author's Note: Each chapter will focus on one of the Chosen as he/she deals with the situation. Because of that, the days/timeline kind of jumps around a bit. I'll post an updated timeline at the beginning of each chapter.

Day 1: Taichi is paralyzed following a battle in the Digital World. Jyou brings him to the hospital and has to explain to him his condition. When Yamato arrives, he sees Sora waiting outside Taichi's hospital room and they both enter.

Day 2: Mimi visits Taichi and finds him depressed and angry. She decides to throw a picnic to cheer him up.

Day 3: At the picnic, Taichi's still distant. He gets angry when the rest of the Chosen start talking about their future plans. Yamato calls Taichi a baby. Taichi leaves with Hikari running after him. Jyou explains why Yamato's insult was so offensive to Taichi. Sora makes Yamato chase after Taichi to apologize. Mimi doesn't understand why her picnic failed and Jyou told her that Taichi just needs to remember that his friends care for him.

Day 4: Mimi delivers a present of her home-made pork buns for Taichi, along with a note telling him that she's there for him. Taichi responds later via text to thank her. Yamato continues to try and apologize to Taichi, but Taichi doesn't answer any of his texts. Sora says that Taichi thinks his life is over because of his condition.

Day 5: Yamato finally gets through to Taichi and gets him to agree to a meeting at a local basketball court. At the court, Yamato tries to convince Taichi that he can still do what he wants with his life. Taichi agrees to go into politics and, after some tough love from Yamato, starts to think about joining a physically disabled basketball team.

Fragments

Chapter 4 of 8

Sora

Day 1

Sora had been visiting some friends from school when she got the phone call from Jyou. She hastily said her goodbyes and was out the door when she got the call from Yamato. "You heard from Jyou?"

"Yeah," she said, her heart already in the grips of anxiety, "How close are you to the hospital?"

"Not far," he said, "I'll be there in about an hour."

She checked the map app on her phone. "I'm going to see where Hikari is first. If she's on the way, I'll grab her and head to the hospital. If not, I'll probably be there before you."

"All right. See you there."

Hikari told Sora over the phone that her parents were visiting her grandparents out of town but that she was leaving right away. Sora met her just as she was leaving her apartment building.

"Did Jyou tell you anything more?" she asked.

Sora shook her head. "No, nothing." She hesitated and then squeezed Hikari's hand. "Taichi's strong, he'll pull through, no matter what."

"I hope so," Hikari said.

They continued to the hospital in silence. Though Hikari seemed to be doing as well as Sora could expect, she noted that the younger girl seemed paler than normal. This only grew worse when they entered the hospital waiting room.

Jyou was checking his phone in the corner. Hikari raced up to him. "Where is he?" she demanded.

"He's still recovering right now," Jyou explained, "I was talking to him before but right now he's asleep. The pain medication's pretty strong."

"He's that bad?" Hikari asked. Her eyes were shimmering, tears were already starting to form.

Jyou bit his lip and turned his head. "Jyou?" Hikari asked.

"Yes," he said, turning back to face them, "Really bad."

Hikari's lip started to tremble and Sora squeezed her hand. "Can we see him anyway?"

Jyou nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's okay. Follow me."

The two girls followed Jyou into the elevator and rode up to the fifth floor. They walked through the halls but Jyou slowed as they reached a room at the end of the hall. "He's probably still asleep," Jyou said, "As I said, the medication's pretty strong."

Hikari nodded and Sora gestured to the door. "Jyou, why are you stalling?"

Jyou swallowed and nodded. "Just...prepare yourselves. Taichi's suffered extensive damage to his lower spine."

Hikari gasped, "You mean he's…"

Jyou nodded and opened the door. Sora held tight to Hikari as they stepped through the doorway. She would be a rock for the younger girl.

Sora breathed in upon seeing Taichi lying in the hospital bed, tubes and sensors riddling his body. She felt Hikari's hand squeeze her own and then weaken before slipping from her grasp.

"Hikari!" she cried.

She reached for the younger girl's hand but Jyou leaped behind Hikari. He caught her in his arms. Sora could see her eyes wobble and her limbs looked like dead weight.

Jyou shouted for help and two men in green scrubs ran inside. They hoisted Hikari into their arms and maneuvered her out the door.

Sora started after them but Jyou put his hand on her shoulder. "They'll put her in a room and get her on some oxygen." He gave a weak smile. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

He dropped his smile and sighed. "I should have realized that was gonna happen."

Sora shook her head. "No, it was my fault. I should have come in first or something."

She turned back to the hospital bed. Taichi's eyes were still closed. "He's still asleep?"

Jyou nodded.

Sora studied her friend. "He's really…?" She could not finish.

Jyou nodded. "Yes."

"For the rest of his life?"

He nodded again.

Sora's gaze drifted to Taichi's legs, buried beneath the white hospital blanket. She didn't think of him running on the soccer field or trying to play basketball with Yamato and Takeru. She wondered how he was going to get into his apartment. The elevator in his building wasn't very wide; could it fit a wheelchair?

The world started to sway and her head wobbled. "I...I need some air." She held her forehead and stumbled out of the room. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes while filling her lungs. She needed to be strong.

Day 2

Sora went to see the Yagami's a few days later. Though she saw Taichi with her own eyes, her mind still refused to believe it; her heart told her that Taichi would be fine, that he would recover. Her illusionary desire shattered when she walked around the corner of the Yagami's apartment building and saw Taichi exit the main doors, seated in a wheelchair.

She froze at the corner, watching as he started down the sidewalk in the other direction. She braced herself against the building in an attempt to stop the world from spinning. Too much! This was too much!

She began to walk back the way she came. What would she have said anyway? What false words of hope could she give?

She had only made it to the street corner before she stopped. She berated herself for being selfish as she turned back around but Taichi had already vanished into the crowd.

"Sora, what a surprise," Hikari said as the redhead walked into her room.

She bit her lip. Should she tell Hikari how she just watched like a coward as Taichi left? "I wanted to see how you and Taichi were doing."

"Well, he left a little while ago. I'm not sure when he'll be back."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "So, you don't know where he is?"

Hikari shrugged. "No. I'm sure he'll be back soon, though. I, um, think he may have been a little annoyed with me and Mom before."

"Why's that?"

"Mimi wanted me to invite him to a picnic on Saturday. He didn't feel up to it, and Mom overheard us, and she kind of ordered him to go."

Sora blinked. "Mimi's having a picnic?"

"For everyone," she explained, "I'm sure you'll get an invite soon."

Sora nodded. She wondered if she should ask again how Hikari and her family were doing. How many people have asked Hikari that over the past few days? "I'm always here if you want to talk."

Hikari nodded with a smile. "Yes, I know. Thanks, Sora." Her face lit up and she pulled a fashion magazine from the top of her desk. "I saw this design the other day and I thought maybe you'd want to try making it."

Sora studied the multicolored dress worn by the model in the photograph. "Maybe. I'd have to get more fabric."

The two chatted until they heard the front door swing open, followed by loud grunts and the door swinging shut again. Sora turned to Hikari. "I guess Taichi's home."

They walked out of the room and saw Taichi trying to lift several shopping bags off his lap to put on the kitchen counter, which was almost a foot taller than his waist. Hikari reached for him. "Let me help you."

"I've got it," he snapped.

Hikari winced and Sora opened her mouth to reprimand him, but the younger Yagami smiled. "Sure, Taichi, I know you can handle it."

Sora waited but Taichi ignored them. He continued to try and slide the bags onto the counter without much luck. He dropped his arms and cursed beneath his breath. Hikari again stepped forward with her arms outstretched. "Taichi, let me…"

Taichi pushed himself away from the counter and dropped the bags onto the kitchen table. Hikari swallowed. "Um, where did you go?"

"The store," he said, removing cans from the bags. He turned to the two girls. "You gonna stare at me the whole time?"

Sora felt her cheeks turn hot. "Sorry," Hikari said, "We don't mean to stare, but Sora came to see you."

He rolled himself into the kitchen and shoved the cans into the cabinet. "Well, here I am," he said. He opened his arms. "Now you've seen me."

He wheeled past them and into his room. He slammed the door closed.

Sora saw Hikari's lip start to quiver. She pulled her into a hug."Oh, Hikari, we just need to give him time."

She expected a quivering voice and some tears. What she got instead was Hikari staring at Taichi's door and saying with a shrug. "Yeah, I know. He's been through a lot."

Sora stared at the door and inhaled. She needed to be strong.

Sora left a short time later. She had just stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall when she heard the sound of wheels rolling along the wooden floor. She turned and saw Taichi round the corner. Their eyes met. He stiffened and she thought she heard him gasp.

Sora held open the door but Taichi grabbed his wheels, coming to a stop. They continued their staring match until the elevator beeped. She held the door open for too long.

She thought that would get him to move. It didn't. "Are you coming in or not?"

He looked around the corner and then back at her.

"Well?" she asked.

He grumbled something beneath his breath and then pushed himself into the elevator.

Sora let the door close. "Heading out again?" she asked.

He grunted again but nodded at the same time. "Yeah," he said in a low voice, "I need a new charger for my phone. It's dead."

"Why didn't you borrow Hikari's?"

He shrugged.

The silence that followed was almost painful. She twisted her purse strap in her hand. She shouldn't be anxious; she shouldn't be…, well, scared. Taichi was her friend. She knew him longer than Yamato than Mimi than any of the others.

She wondered if she should ask about the picnic. No, not with the way Hikari said he reacted. Better to stay clear of that. "Um, so, Hikari told me that you're working out?"

He didn't answer but she did note that he flexed his muscles slightly.

"Because I can tell."

His lips twitched and she could see a slight red in his cheeks. "Yeah, I am."

He didn't sound as angry as before but she could sense a buffer, almost like he was a mecha emanating an energy field. She turned away; if he didn't walk to talk, then fine!

She closed her eyes and exhaled. She was going to be strong. Sometimes that meant making the first move.

"Taichi, I'm sorry for what happened to you but I care about you. I just want to make sure that you're doing okay and I'm always here-all of us are here for you. So please, stop being so cold to everyone."

She held her breath, waiting for an onslaught. Instead, Taichi looked up at her. "Y-yeah, I know." He looked back at his lap and muttered, "T-thanks, Sora. And I-I'm sorry."

Another silence hung in their air, though, out of awkward embarrassment rather than cold tension. The doors opened. "Well," Sora said, "If you're heading for the electronics store near the Rainbow Bridge, I need to go that way anyway…"

Taichi turned to her and then sighed, a slight smile inching across his face. "Yeah, sure."

Sora grinned as she followed him. It wasn't perfect, but at least it was a start.

Day 4

Sora knocked on the door. "Taichi? It's Sora."

No answer. She knocked again. "Taichi! We've got to talk about what happened at the picnic yesterday."

Still no answer.

She dropped her school bag and pounded with both her fists. "I know you're in there! Open up or I'm coming in!"

The handle turned and she snatched up her bag. The door swung open. Taichi glared at her from his wheelchair. "I'm just here to talk, okay?" she said.

"If it's about your boyfriend, don't bother."

Sora sighed and tried not to roll her eyes. Whenever she stepped in between Taichi and Yamato's arguments, it was always your boyfriend. "Taichi, of course, I'm here to talk about Yamato. He's your friend."

"Well, he's got an f-ed up way of showing it!"

He was right, of course. She and Mimi had worked so hard to show Taichi how much they cared for him and her idiotic boyfriend almost ruined it! But Taichi was stonewalling any chance Yamato had of fixing it. It was Yamato's callousness up against Taichi's stubbornness!

She did feel like a mother parenting her two boys...her two immature boys.

She squeezed the handle of her bag and breathed deep. She was here to talk and that meant staying calm.

Taichi must have realized she wasn't going to take the bait. He waved to the living room and she walked over to sit on the couch. Taichi rolled up beside her.

"Yamato wants to apologize," Sora said.

"Good for him," Taichi mumbled.

Sora narrowed her eyes. "Taichi!"

He winced and then rubbed his eyes. "Fine," he sighed, "I'll talk to him next time he calls, okay?"

Figuring that was as good as she was going to get, Sora nodded. "Thank you." She glanced around the apartment. "Got the place to yourself again?"

"Dad's at work, Mom's shopping and I don't know where Hikari is."

Sora glanced at the clock on the wall. "She's probably at Photography Club." Why did she know that and not him? "She's still doing it, right?"

Taichi shrugged.

Sora wanted to say more but she noticed the pile of university catalogs and brochures in the trash. "They're a pain, huh? I've got so many that I think our mail carrier is getting back pains delivering them. Did you figure out a place to go yet?"

He shrugged again. "Nowhere."

She stared. "What?"

"What's the point in even looking at them?" he asked, gesturing the trash, "Not like I'm going to university."

She stared, unable to believe what she heard. "T-taichi! Plenty of people in your, um, condition, have fulfilling lives. Why do you think your life's over? You can still do whatever you want."

"Like what? All I wanted to be was a soccer player."

She hesitated, gathering her thoughts to say them in the correct way. "Taichi, I know that's what you wanted, but did you really think that was ever really realistic?"

He opened his mouth and Sora's mind raced, trying to think of something, anything, to suggest. "What about…um…leadership?"

He blinked. "What?"

She shook her head. "No, that's not the right…um…I mean politics. You could be a politician. You know how to be a, um, commander."

He stared at her, his mouth flapping. Finally, he sighed. "Damn it."

She crossed her arms. "What?"

"You always guilt me into doing the right thing."

Sora grinned. Maybe she did have that effect on him and Yamato. He strummed his finger on the armrest of his wheelchair. "Politics, huh…"

Day 6

Sora met Yamato for lunch outside the school, humming as she skipped down the stairs. "You're in a good mood," Yamato commented.

"Of course," Sora grinned, "We helped Taichi realize his life wasn't over yesterday. I'd call that win."

Yamato nodded and Sora noted the expression on his face. "What?"

"I just got this text message from Takeru," he said, "He's a little worried about Hikari…"

End Chapter 4 of 8.