I don't own digimon.

Character: The Author

Universe: Digitalverse

Notes:

A bit of a prequel to the final chapter of Tri Abridged and filling in a piece of the big picture of this mess.

Chapter 58

Those Days

The author still remembered those days.

While they had been filled with simpler things. They were not without their share of problems.

At the time, there was just two worlds: A place that would eventually be called Alternis v1, and his personal retreat. It was by all accounts a large villa floating amid a sea of black, held up by some unknown force that not even he remembered.

He had abandoned this place some time ago, sometime after the second chapter of Hunters went up. It wasn't for any security reason, but more so that he could keep a far better eye on the action happening in his growing multiverse.

Even as the author before the place he called home, a sense of unease seemed ready to overwhelm him. Butterflies fluttered all about his body, while queasiness waited its turn. Yet, he took a deep breath and grabbed hold of the doorknob, carefully making his way inside.

On the other side, the memories came rushing back. He felt a couple years younger now and felt filled with a sort of false confidence that results when one spends too much time being the only one ever actually reading their writing.

The living room was dark and dusty, having not seen a sign of inhabitance in the past couple years. A black leather couch was slowly falling apart while one of those box-shaped tv's waited for someone to turn it back on and enjoy its benefits. A lamp sat on a flimsy oak nightstand, waiting for someone to at least attempt to get the dang thing on. Which was what he attempted to do after these years. And while it took him a couple tries to get the dang thing on, he was surprised to find that it shined just as bright then as it did now. Now illuminated, the hardwood floors and the white walls that made up this particular room seemed to be in the same state that he had left them.

"Good they haven't come back here." the author thought and took a deep breath. In a way, he had hoped for the opposite outcome to some extent. It would have least showed that his former 'servants' had least some common decency in their attempts to get back at them. Heck, anyone capable of flying and/or teleporting to an exact spot could break into this place. Though, he was certain most people gloss over the stuff the truly 'important' things here and just get bored.

The author slowly made his towards the kitchen, giving it a quick pass through. While nothing really happened here, outside of people eating there.

Of course, as he passed through, he managed to slip on a sippy cup and fall on his butt.

"Even after you left, you're still causing me problems." the author whispered as he pulled himself up, making sure to put the cup will all the rest in the cupboard. "Never was sure if you were really telling the truth about those margaritas."

He made a quick glance towards the fridge, cautiously pulling it open. While the fridge looked 'alright', it would need to be checked for anything wrong and cleaned out. What appeared to be some sort of drink mix. As tempting as it would be to give it a taste, something told him that it was a good way to get food poisoning. Which was probably pretty pathetic for a mortal like him to go.

Back then, Death would probably go through at least one a day. She always seemed to be in a downer sort of mood, even during the happier times of Hunters. Occasionally, he would make an attempt at cheering her up, but to no avail.

He slowly made his way to the doorway, taking a deep breath in the process. The stairs were up next, each step a test of his own courage and willingness to remember.

It had started with him creating two new assistants: Usagi and Valia. In retrospect, he had chosen to not tell them until after the fact and use what happened in Odiaba as a test. Had he known the whirlwind of change that would result from there, maybe he wouldn't have done it that way. But when they had walked in on their creation, things had gone downhill from there. He could still remember their reactions, with Hera being the one who chose to strike. What followed, was a mix of a fistfight and a war of words on both sides. Many of which are truly unsuitable to be repeated in such a public forum. After all, you can probably find that sort of stuff easily on the internet in this day and age.

Afterwards, he sent them off to Hunter's End in order to decide their punishment. But considering that his attention span sucked at times, he quickly forgot what had happened. It was only when the hunters reached their own end for a second time somehow. There, he could've taken the chance beforehand to mend the bridges that he burned. Especially after getting Chaos back, it would've been the perfect chance to reintroduce the two back into the fold. Yet, that wasn't what he chose to do all those years ago. Instead, he decided to let fate do the work for him. But all that resulted from it were the death of said hunters via giant laser beam. It was probably here that they had chosen to switch sides. Not that he really blamed them.

"Here it is."

The final significant room of the villa was a makeshift bedroom/office combo. A 'brown' carpet lined the floor, contrasting with the mostly intact white walls. A table with figurines sat in the middle, where a variety of figurines stood in silence.

The author carefully made his way towards the table, only to find a note sitting right at his feet. He picked it up and shook the dust off, turning his attention to the words.

Dear Cody,

If you're reading this, Death and I stopped by but didn't find you. And while I have no clue when you might find this, I wish you the best of luck. Maybe you'll understand how we fill by then. After what happened in Slateport, I really don't anymore. While you may have created us, we still don't quite understand you or why you wanted to replace us. Maybe you had a reason then, but that now doesn't matter.

If you actually do give a fucking shit about us, show us. Prove to us that you actually give a shit about this mess you've created.

-Hera

Cody took a deep breath and mumbled something under his breath, grabbing the figurines and what appeared to be a pair of notebooks.

"Let's do this." he whispered as he teleported back to his 'main base', grabbing his messenger bag in the process. What followed was a hasty gathering of supplies as his assistants watched on.

"Uh… Where are you going?" Valia inquired and actually looked to be sober for once.

"A place where I can make amends." Cody whispered as he slipped a teddy bear in. Both Usagi and Chibi gave him a confused glance, but the author chose to ignore it. For the moment, his mind was focused on other things. "I can't guarantee what I do there will work, so I want you guys to hold down the fort."

They gave a nod, deciding it was best to just leave him to his preparations. While they trusted him to have some reason to be doing this, they weren't quite sure what their master had in mind.

"Phew." the author thought as he fitted the last of the supplies he was going to take, focusing his attention on his notebooks. He carefully attached them to the left side of his body, slipping his bag onto the right. "Time to make my choice."

With that, he teleported away...