Recalled to Life
part two: A Search for Home
by volta arovet
As Joe's dark eyes met the deep green eyes of the other person, he knew who the stranger was. "C-Cody?" he asked, his voice cracking on the last syllable.
The boy nodded his head silently in affirmation. Izzy's eyes widened in shock.
"Where's Upamon?" Izzy asked, not knowing what else to say.
Cody shook his head sadly, tears welling in his big, green eyes.
"What happened to you?" Joe asked somberly.
Cody shook his head again, stuttering, "I…I…" He threw himself into Joe's arms, squeezing him more tightly than was comfortable. "I never thought I'd make it back here," he sobbed. "After all those years, I thought I'd be stuck in the digital world forever."
Instinctively, Joe's made soft, soothing sounds, his hand reaching up to stroke Cody's hair. This seemed to be the comforting touch Cody needed, as his sobs slowly quieted. Over Cody's shoulder Joe mouthed the word, "How?" to Izzy.
Izzy shook his head in confusion, then froze in sudden comprehension. He flew to his laptop, fingers typing at a phenomenal speed, muttering the words, "Time conversion."
"Aha!" Izzy yelled triumphantly, startling Cody and Joe. Cody seemed much more calm now. He looked at Izzy expectantly. A moment later, Izzy frowned, peering at the screen. "No, wait, never mind. Hm. If the two worlds are still synchronized, then how…" he trailed off.
"Hey, Izzy!" Yolei's voice rang from down the hallway. Cody froze at the sound of her voice. He seemed more frightened than he had been before. "The coast is clear!" Yolei continued from behind the closed door. "You better not have already opened the portal. You promised us you'd wait for us."
In one swift movement, Cody crossed the room and locked the door. "Who's out there?" he asked in a quiet voice, still facing the door.
"The rest of the younger generation of digidestined and their digimon," Izzy answered succinctly. "Why did you—" Joe cut Izzy's question off with a sharp signal of his hand. Cody had turned around to face them. His face was disturbingly pale and his body was shaking violently.
Joe quickly closed the distance between them, putting his hands on Cody's shoulders. He looked Cody in the eyes and asked, "Are you all right?" It was a stupid question, he knew that, but he had to say something to get Cody to respond.
Cody shook his head, his eyes closed tightly. His body was still shivering.
Someone tried the door handle. Cody instinctively jumped away from the door, body tense and ready for action.
"Hey, it's locked! What gives?" Davis yelled.
"You're turning it the wrong way. Let me try," came TK's voice. The door handle jiggled again.
Joe examined the expression on Cody's face. Slowly, he asked, "Do you want to see your friends?"
Cody seemed torn between longing and fear. Finally, he shook his head back and forth.
"It's all right, Cody, we won't make you do anything you don't want to," Joe said soothingly. "If you don't think you're ready to see your friends yet, you don't have to."
Joe's words seemed to calm Cody down for a moment.
"Izzy, you are going to be so incredibly dead if you don't open this door by the time I count to ten! That goes for you too, Joe," Yolei yelled through the locked door. She then started counting in an irritated manner.
"Please," Cody said in a broken voice. "I don't think I can face them. Not now. How can I, I can't, I…" Cody trailed off, starting to panic again. Yolei had already reached the number four. "Please," Cody whispered again.
"If you're going to do something, I suggest you do so quickly," Izzy advised. Yolei was on six.
Joe held his hand to his chest, wincing slightly. The moment past, he surveyed the room. "Out the window and down the fire escape," Joe said quickly, motioning to Cody. Yolei counted the number seven. "I can give you a ride on my moped."
Cody nodded, opened the window, and jumped through it with athletic ease. Joe hurried after him, but as Yolei counted eight, Izzy caught Joe by the arm. "Wait, Joe," he whispered urgently. "How do we even know that this is Cody? It could be some trick by an evil—"
Joe cut him off. "I know it's really Cody."
"But how—"
"I'll explain later," Joe said as Yolei shouted the number nine. "Cover for us. We'll deal with this later."
With that, Joe awkwardly scrambled through the window. He looked down and saw Cody jump off the last level of the fire escape and land on the ground with the skill of a trained gymnast. "He's not even out of breath," Joe muttered to himself, already panting.
"Ten!" Yolei shouted. "Time's up! Go for it, Veemon!"
"Here goes nothing," Veemon slurred happily. "Vee headbutt!"
Izzy opened the door before Veemon could destroy it. "You know, the destruction of property isn't exactly conducive to keeping a low profile," he chided gently.
"Where's Cody?" TK asked.
"Where's Joe?" Kari asked, peering about the room.
Izzy laughed nervously and wished that he were anywhere else but where he was. Mentally, he prepared himself: he was Koushiro Izumi, computer genius extraordinaire and bearer of the crest of knowledge. He could use that great intellect to create a plausible excuse…right?
Joe ran over to his moped, where Cody was standing. Cody seemed much more collected than before; the exercise had revived him somewhat. Joe, on the other hand, was slumped over, still trying to catch his breath.
Wheezing, Joe straightened up and climbed onto his moped. He rubbed the handlebar affectionately as it purred into life. With one hand, he scooped up his helmet. With the other one, he patted the seat behind him. "Hop on. Sorry I don't have a helmet for you. Do you remember the drill?"
Cody half-smiled for the first time since his return. "Hold on tight and don't let go?"
Joe nodded. "Right." Cody hopped onto the bike and put his arms around Joe's chest. Wincing, Joe adjusted Cody's arms so they lay a little lower. He reminded himself that he really needed to talk to Cody about the scar, once Cody was feeling better.
"You doing all right back there?" Joe asked once they were underway. Cody, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing through his long hair, hummed a positive response. "Good. Eventually, we're going to come to an intersection. At that place, we could turn right and go to your apartment," Joe felt Cody's arms instantly tighten around his chest. "We could go left and you can stay at my house. We could go straight and get you a hotel room so you can have some time to be by yourself. Or we could turn around and go back to meet your friends. It's your decision."
Joe drove on in silence, leaving Cody free to consider his choices. Much as he wanted to offer advice, Joe didn't want to pressure Cody in any way. Eventually, Joe said, "We're at the intersection."
Cody started to stammer. Joe shushed him and told him not to worry. The light was green; Joe drove straight through the intersection. "You can have more time to decide, if you like."
"Thank you," Cody whispered gratefully, memories returning to him.
Okay, Armadillomon, it's time to go home.
All right! You still owe me that chocolate cake. I haven't forgotten, you know.
I remember. Now hang on!
Er, Cody, why are we still here?
I'm not sure. Digiport, open! Open!
Uh, Cody, I think it's broken. Lookit the TV, it's all static-y.
I guess we'll have to find another one. I hope the others don't get too worried if we're a little late.
They rode on for some time, but eventually Joe maneuvered his way back to the same intersection. "Same choices," he announced gently. "Right: home, left: my house, straight: hotel, or we can turn around and see your friends."
Cody didn't answer, so Joe drove straight through.
It looks like this one's broken too, Cody.
Right.
Have you been able to email anybody?
I can't get it to work, either.
Well, cheer up, Cody. We're bound to find a working TV sooner or later. I think there's another one real near by, just to the north of here.
Again, they traveled around Odaiba, enjoying the ride. Cody had already recognized some of the more familiar landmarks, but he had only just begun to reacquaint himself with the city. He was dreading the moment when Joe would come to the intersection again. He just wanted to ride forever like this. While they rode, the wind could blow all of the memories he didn't want to keep. When they stopped, Cody knew that there would be so many questions people would ask him, questions that he didn't want to answer.
This one looks like it's broken, too. It's gotten pretty dark, Cody. I think we should get some shut-eye and keep looking tomorrow.
Don't you recognize this place?
What's that, Cody?
This is the first TV set we found. This is where I was supposed to go home.
We've got to keep on looking. Tomorrow, let's circle around south. Maybe we'll have better luck with that region. We should look for some of our friends, too. They could probably help us. What do you say, Cody?
We've been searching for four days. We've been searching for four days, and we're back where we started. Digiport open!
We'll keep looking until we get you back home. Don't worry.
DIGIPORT OPEN!
Cody…are you crying?
OPEN! PLEASE? Digiport, open. Please. Open.
You should lie down, Cody. You must be tired. Yeah, that's good. We'll just rest right here.
Open. Open. Please, please, please, please, open….
He didn't want to face the questions, but at the same time he didn't want to be alone. As Joe reached the intersection for the third time, Cody said in a strong voice, "Turn left."
Joe did his best to keep his expression neutral. Without answering, he veered left. He quickly arrived at his own house. Pulling his helmet off, he tucked an errant strand of blue hair behind his ear and offered Cody a hand. Not seeing Joe's gesture, Cody neatly hopped off, landing lightly on his feet.
"You can use Jim's old room," Joe said easily, as if Cody sleeping over were nothing out of the ordinary. He led Cody into the house, talking all the while. "My parents are going to be out all of tonight. They won't be back until tomorrow afternoon."
Joe opened the door to Jim's room. "Ah, here we are." He looked Cody over quickly. "You'll need a change of clothes. Wait here." Cody awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed as Joe rushed out of the room. A moment later, Joe bustled back in, his arms overflowing with clothes. He dumped them on the end of the bed, smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of one of the uniforms.
"You're about my size…now." Joe said, trying his best to maintain a casual attitude as the reality of Cody's age sunk in. Three days ago, Cody had been only as tall as Joe's waist, and now he was able to wear Joe's clothes. Joe shook his head to clear it and smiled nervously. "They might be a little big, but they should be fine until we can go out and buy you some clothes of your own."
Cody's fingers casually rubbed the edge of a gray flannel shirt.
"Those are pajamas for tonight," Joe explained. "You can wear my school uniforms during the day."
"Thank you, Joe," Cody said softly, still rubbing the fabric absentmindedly.
Joe shrugged. "It's no problem. I can only wear one outfit at a time, right? So I don't mind sharing what I'm not wearing."
"I don't just mean for the clothes. Thank you for everything, for being so nice and helping me when I couldn't…" Cody looked away, suddenly upset again.
Joe put a hand on Cody's shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
Cody seemed desperate. "But why can't I face them? I want to, but how can I… It's just too big," he finished miserably.
"You will be able to face them some day," Joe reassured. "I don't blame you for being overwhelmed. You've been through enough today." Joe stood up. "For now, why don't you change into some nice clean clothes while I get some things ready for you and make us some warm herbal tea?"
Cody nodded slowly. "It…it sounds good to me."
Joe clapped his hands and headed out the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Cody slowly lifted the soft flannel shirt and, hesitating for a moment, held it to his face and inhaled deeply. It smelled fresh, the laundry detergent reminding him of the smell of the digital grass after a rainstorm. He pressed the shirt against his cheek. It was so soft. He was used to the clothes the digital world had supplied him, coarse and threadbare from the numerous hand washings.
Carefully, almost reverently, he replaced his old clothes with the smooth flannel. Testing the bed, he was surprised at its lack of resistance to his touch. How could he sleep on something so pliable? He was used to sleeping on the firm, digital earth. As he thought about sleeping, the prospect of rest was becoming more and more appealing. The bed was too unstable for him to feel secure on it, but using a pillow would be nice….
A steaming mug of tea in each hand, Joe stood outside the room, talking at full speed. "Here we go: 10% herbal, 90% tea, just the way you like it. You know, I didn't think about it before, but maybe you'd like to take a shower before getting changed. That way you'd be completely clean before going to bed. Are you decent? Can I come in?" Joe paused. "Cody." Joe waited, but a response wasn't coming. "Cody?" he asked again, nervously peeking into the room.
Cody was asleep, curled up in a ball on the ground, a pillow propped under his head.
Joe set the mugs of tea on the desk, then pulled back the covers on the bed. Carefully, he leaned over, lifted Cody off of the floor, and gently placed him in the bed. He pulled the covers up over Cody's shoulders and brushed a stray strand of hair off of Cody's peaceful face.
Sleeping, Cody was finally recognizable as the young boy Joe had known. The shadows of fear and sadness that had haunted his thin face while awake melted away while he slept. An innocence only found in the young or simple returned to him while unconscious.
Not wanting to leave, Joe ran his hand across Cody's hair again and was rewarded with a sleepy murmur of appreciation. Not wanting to wake Cody, Joe breathed the words rather than saying them out loud. "I don't know what you've been through all of these, what were to you, years, but I'm sorry that I couldn't help you through them." He ran his hand down Cody's hair again. "I'll try to be there whenever you need me. I promise."
He smoothed Cody's hair one more time before moving away. Quietly closing the blinds before leaving, he sighed and wondered to himself how he would ever be able to focus enough to do his homework that night.
