A/N: There's a really, I think, note at the bottom so this'll have a small one. This is a Joe fic, small hint of Mimato (as much as it pains me), Takari and Taiora. And I mean a small speck of a hint. I think this is angst, maybe not, but it should be a little sad, at least. There's a small song at the end of the fic.
Disclaimer: Hmm…maybe……hmm…..uhh…nope! I don't own Digimon and there's so few ways left to say that! (I'm pretty sure I copied that disclaimer from someone. In that case I don't own the disclaimer either!) I also don't own The Beatles or Eleanor Rigby. Enjoy!
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Loneliness. That one word which was worse than any allergy in the world. Unless, of course, an allergy that caused death. It was sad, really. Not a single person would expect such thoughts from Joe. Good old reliable Joe. Yet in a way, he was surprised no one did connect the words lonely and Joe. I mean weren't they like twins?
Since the Digiworld, he'd been apart from them. Physically, academically, and mentally. Slowly, bit by bit, he detached from the group. He became like Matt, a loner. Only Matt wasn't a loner anymore, he fit in. He had friends.
Not that Joe didn't have friends, he had those he counted on. But they weren't the friends that had kept and assured him in the Digital World. These, he couldn't talk to about old times. But then again, he couldn't talk to his old friends about old times either, could he?
This feeling had welcomed Joe when Mimi left. After all, in the Digiworld she was mostly the only one who paid attention to him. Perhaps it was because he stayed with her? Or maybe because she pitied him? But no matter what the reason, Mimi talked to him and Joe began to feel more confident. Mimi no longer mattered, though. She was far away and no longer needed him. Joe didn't need her either. As a matter of fact, he didn't want her!
It was always like Joe wasn't needed. As the new group came together, it was always Izzy, Tai, and Matt who helped them! When Diaboromon visited, Izzy researched while Tai and Matt defeated it! Oh and don't forget TK, the child of Hope. Not only did he hold a major key when Joe was a Digidestined but he was revived as a Chosen Child, too, when the next group of Digidestined came along. What was Joe good for with the new Digidestined? Cody! Once or twice that was the only reason he was needed. One child!
You really think all Joe would care about is studying? It was his father's dream that he become a doctor. They say one of the main reasons children are friends are because of school. Apparently the Odaiba High School wasn't smart enough for him either. The middle year of Junior High School, Joe was separated.
Memory
"But Papa I don't want to go!" the blue haired boy complained.
"Of course you want to," his father replied.
"Why are you making me?"
"It's for your own good. Both your brothers went."
"They had the worse time of their life," Joe snapped.
"But they're smart because of it. And you'll gain even more knowledge." Mr. Kido persuaded.
"I'll learn just as much at any public school."
"But this looks better on a college application!" he argued
"What about my friends?"
"What about them? You'll make new ones and you'll be glad you did," he retorted.
Joe sighed, a little worn out from the conversation, but started to argue back anyway. "No! I don't want new friends, I want the ones I have right now."
"You know Joe, you can't just hang out with the same people forever. If you don't want new friends, you can have zero friends." Mr. Kido said crossing his arms.
"Papa, I'm not going to be a loner like you were. You didn't turn out that great. Look at what you're doing! Look at how you're treating people!" Joe exclaimed.
"Kido Jyou, Junior," Joe's dad practically screamed while Joe turned and gave him a very surprised look. No one ever called him that. No one was supposed to know that he was named after his dad. Mr. Kido, seeing he had the attention he needed, continued, "you will go to that school! And you'll learn to love it too! You'll make great, intelligent friends that'll actually know what you're talking about. Maybe you'll even be lucky enough to find some pretty smart girl, too. Joe, you'll understand these things some day. Anyway, I don't want you to hang around with those bad influence street kids! Now go to your room and study."
Joe gave his father a nasty look, then turned around and stomped off to his room. The white door slammed behind him, trapping Joe in a hot, dusty room in the middle of summer.
End Memory
That's how his father referred to his "friends"! Stupid kids who'll rub street ways onto him! But they were his friends and they cared about him. Or at least they did at the time. Now…well it was hard to know if they knew he was alive!
Mimi came back for a visit once; there was a reunion. A picnic, naturally! So of course, Joe was invited. He was a Digidestined after all!
Memory
The white and red checkered cloth lay out on the green grass right in the middle of the park. Mimi sat as she unloaded clear containers of food onto the cloth. A small pink blush crossed her face as Matt, who was sitting beside her, whispered something into her ear.
Across the blanket was Tai. He gazed at he food in front of him. His mouth noticeably watering. Sora was next to him, giggling slightly, as she was providing the food that Tai was staring at.
The rest of the digidestined were scattered throughout the area of the blanket. All were laughing and having fun.
Joe was standing a couple yards from them, watching them. He knew he wasn't needed, with him there no one would have fun. He turned his back and walked away. Unfortunately, for him, Mimi noticed the blue hair on the back of the man. "Joe, hey!" she called. She got up from the blanket and Matt and rushed towards him, wrapping her arms around him. Joe blankly hugged her back. Mimi brought him to the others. "Look who I found." She pointed.
"Welcome Joe!" Izzy greeted.
"Glad you could make it, man," Matt said while shaking hands with Joe. Other responses came from the group, all of them seemed happy to see him. However, they had a bad way of showing it.
Joe had sat in the back right corner for the past two hours, alone. Although the digidestined had all welcomed him, no one had since said a word to him. Well, at least a conversational word, every now and then the kids would ask him if he wanted any food. He glanced at his brown watch it was three o'clock now. Joe got up, there was no apparent reason for him to be there, and he wasn't needed. Joe regretted coming in the first place. For the second time in the day, he stood up and was ready to walk away.
A small scream interrupted his leaving. Joe turned back to the site. He saw both Kari and TK lying on the grass holding their legs. Joe, being the doctor, rushed over to them. "What happened?" He asked.
"Well…you see…we were kind of playing around." Joe raised his eyebrow, the two may have been the youngest out of the original digidestined, but they were both older now. He guessed there was another story behind it, but it was the wrong time to ask. Now, he had to figure out what injures would make them scream.
Kari's hand uncovered her knee, letting Joe clearly see the scrape. An angry sigh escaped him. That over a scrape! But Joe didn't go too far, Kari may have been older, but what girl wouldn't be upset over a wound. Especially on a knee. And after some examination on TK, Joe figured he had twisted his ankle. Both kids were brought back to the blanket where ice and lots of toilet paper were wrapped around the injuries. (A/N: Hey it's all they had!) "How did this happen?" Joe asked them, with no cruel intentions implied.
"It's not any of your business!" TK shot back.
"We were just, you know, having fun," Kari said a little nicer.
"But perhaps Joe doesn't know the definition of that, eh?" Matt asked, jokingly elbowing Joe.
Tai laughed, "Yeah, all he does is study, study, study. Oh and then he does his homework." The digidestined laughed. Of course, Tai had meant it as a joke, but Joe took it personally.
"You guys should be thankful I was here to help!" He yelled.
"No offence or anything, buddy, but I think we could have handled it, right guys?" Tai asked as he turned to the group. All of them nodded.
Joe fumed, "Well, if I'm not needed then I'll be leaving. No more 'Good old Reliable Joe'! And no more free doctor appointments," he added harshly, before completely storming out of the park. The remaining seven gawked at his actions.
"What's eating him?" TK asked, breaking the silence.
End Memory
What was eating him that day? Because of what he did, it cost him his friends. Joe just didn't feel like their friendship was worth anything, anymore. After that, he had just locked himself up. Away from them. With all the studying and homework Joe had been doing, there was no way he wouldn't get into a good college. He could even get a scholarship. But what's the point of getting one, if you wouldn't get 'congratulations' from your friends?
Joe listened to the radio on his desk. It was proven that kids who listened to classical music while studying did better on tests. Or at least it was being proven. He threw his pencil down onto his desk and his pale fingers tore at his shoulder length blue hair. The nails gripped his scalp and he almost wrenched the hair out of its place. Need-less-to-say, Joe was very frustrated.
Slowly, he pulled his hands away from his head. Muttering he counted to ten, when he finished he felt somewhat relieved. To take his mind off the big test, Joe turned the dial. Midway to a pop music station a song caught his ear. Quickly, the station was put on and the music flowed into Joe's ears. His brows furrowed when he heard the words, wondering where this odd song had come from. His body went into complete relaxation as he become one with the characters.
"Ah, look at all the lonely people,Ah, look at all the lonely people!
Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice,
in the church where a wedding has been.
Lives in a dream.
Waits at the window, wearing the face,
that she keeps in a jar by the door.
Who is it for?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie, writing the words,
of a sermon that no one will hear.
No one comes near!
Look at him working, darning his socks,
in the night when there's nobody there.
What does he care?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people,
where do they all belong?"
Joe drummed his fingers on the wooden desk as the musical break, took place. He felt as if he could relate to Rigby and McKenzie. Their loneliness, was his loneliness.
"Ah, look at all the lonely people!
Ah, look at all the lonely people!
Eleanor Rigby, died in the church,
and was buried along with her name.
Nobody came!
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt,
from his hands as he walks from the grave.
No one was saved!
All the lonely people,
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all belong?"
The Beatles' song ended and Joe turned off the radio. He took a minute to ponder what he just heard. Would he be alone his entire life? Who would come to his funeral?
Sigh. It was never too late to try. Maybe…he could be forgiven. It wasn't worth it, proving your point if it meant losing friends. They would understand, wouldn't they?
His body controlled itself as Joe's hand reached for the telephone. It dialed a familiar phone number and someone on the other side picked up.
"Hello? This is Joe…"
~FIN~
All right, not the best ending. After the song, Joe was supposed to go on and keep feeling bad for himself. The last sentence was like "with a sigh, he returned to his schoolwork" or something like that. But I couldn't resist doing this ending. (I also wanted to add the term the 'lone glasses' into this, but I didn't get the chance to.)
I'm sure a lot of people have seen events in this story or a story like this. So I'm sorry if you think I took some ideas, I really didn't mean to.
Please, I'd like to know what you think of this story. So anything you'd like to say about this, review, e-mail, or IM me.
A writers is:
Someone who touches you,
Someone who brings you into their world,
Someone who you feel you know, even if you don't.
So if you see an author who you admire or like:
Let them know,
In any way you can.
Another small pathetic poem. All right, I've written long enough so write something if you want. It's your life and none of my business.
"Anything I have done, will do, or am doing to you – I'm sorry."