Heartsong

By Amayaa

"We met up with Arukenimon and Mummymon again. Boy, they put up a tough fight! We were nearly done for until we found a gateway..."

Davis's words from that day echoed in Tai's mind, and he rolled over in bed. It was so stuffy in his room. The humidity gave him a whiff of nostalgia, of a day gone past. The feeling of summer, and the feeling of the Digital World.

He frowned. "...Until we found a gateway..."

That fateful summer, four years ago... He wanted to remember it like it was yesterday, but the memory was fading. He wanted to recall that sense of love, that bond that existed between them all. But they were slowly drifting apart, and it was harder and harder to remember his friends as they once were.

"...A gateway..."

They hadn't had gateways back then. They were trapped in the Digiworld, seven young children left to their own wits to save two worlds... It seemed ridiculous, really, now that he thought of it. As well as survival skills, they had to deal with being away from home, missing their family...

They had never had the option to run when the going got tough. They hadn't had an older, wiser generation to rely on for help. They were completely unprepared and without knowledge of any kind.

The Digidestined of that generation had been forced to rely on one another and themselves. They had to find those special qualities deep within themselves that pulled them together and made them strong. There were fights, and doubts, but that usually had to do with self-confidence, and once that hurtle had been jumped, they were stronger than ever.

Tai hated to think it, but the new Digidestined were too... soft. TK and Kari were already forgetting what they had learned back then. The whole group could escape when necessary, and they didn't seem as close as the old team had. There were still doubts about Ken, jests made towards Davis... It wasn't right. That wasn't the kind of relationship that came to mind when he heard the word 'Digidestined.'

He missed fighting alongside his friends, the feeling of magic beyond their comprehension at times, the determination... And when the going was tough, and they were desperate, they were at their closest.

Tai jumped at the sound of the telephone. A glance at his digital clock told him it was one-thirty am. He struggled out of his twisted, hot covers and crossed the room to answer. "Hello?"

"Hi, Tai, it's Matt. I had a feeling you'd be up."

Tai blinked. "How did you know?"

There was a pause at the other end before his former Digidestined friend replied, "I miss you guys."

Tai smiled and twisted the cord around his hand. "Me too, Matt," he answered softly.

There was another long silence, but one neither felt the need to fill. Just listening to one another breathe and know the other was thinking the same thing was enough.

"Tai..." Matt said hesitantly. "I know it sounds weird, but I have a feeling that right now we can create another memory to hold in our hearts like we do that one summer. It'll be different, and it will still ache to remember four years ago, but the new memory will be just as sweet as the old one."

Tai thought about this for a moment, then nodded in the darkness of his room. "I think you're right, Matt..."

"I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"You betcha."

Tai thoughtfully replaced the receiver in the cradle, then returned to his bed. "A new memory to gold in our hearts..." He soon fell asleep.