He was all by himself now

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Matt finds out more things about the friends in his mind, and his real friends find out something that might say that Matt didn't just fall into a comma all by himself and that the person who did this to him could be one of them. That's basically the chapter.

I do not own Digimon.

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He was all by himself now. It was mind numbing and had pushed him to the point of talking to himself. They were silly conversations. He felt weird talking and replying, but wasn't that what he was doing when he was talking with Tai? Or Akemi? Or Istu? And his brother? They were just him in different forms. Though, it still seemed better talking to a familiar face that his mind had created for him. It was all too weird without those fake little creations.

"So, what do you want to do later?" he asked the nothingness.

"I don't know. Maybe the others will come visit me again," he replied to himself.

He was still in his apartment; still in the same spot he'd been in before. Akemi, Istu, and Tai had left hours before. They just disappeared into thin air. He blinked and they were gone. Pretty soon after that he fell against the wall and had been sitting there ever since. He hadn't gotten hungry yet or hadn't had the need to use the facilities. He just sat there. Bored as hell.

"Maybe we should get up and look around," he suggested.

"Yeah, I suppose. It seems like a better idea than just sitting here doing nothing," he replied.

He pressed against the wall and pushed himself up, sliding up slowly. He looked around lazily when he was completely up. His hair fell into his eyes, but he didn't care and groggily pushed off the wall. He wished his apartment looked like this all the time. It was so clean. So nice. So perfect. Like Tai's apartment. Kari was always cleaning, every time he went over there.

'Tai…'

Tai loved him. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him (he'd come to accept the idea that he was trapped in his own mind and had to fight his way out). Yet, he still got the sense that he had known that all along. He had grasped the fact and thus chose to ignore it. Like he didn't want to believe that. He could never hold it against Tai though. Tai was his best friend. He couldn't stop being friends with Tai because Tai was…

'I need to think about other things.' Matt thought, frowning. He glanced around to find that his apartment had disappeared. He was now at the school, in the back rooms where he and his band practiced. Puzzled as ever, he wandered around the room. How had his mind triggered this from Tai? Tai was hardly back here.

"Hey Matt. Should we practice?"

Matt spun around and brightened. "Akemi! Toshiki! You're here! You're here!"

The two smiled. Matt ran to them and practically bounced up and down with excitement. He grabbed Toshiki's hands and danced around in circles. Toshiki laughed and let Matt do this. Matt soon let go of him and ran to give Akemi a hug. Akemi dodged him and ran over to Toshiki, laughing.

"I don't do hugs," Akemi joked.

"He does everything else though!" Toshiki snorted. He promptly received a whack on the shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're here! I'm dying of boredom!" Matt bubbled. The two looked at him with odd expressions, making him blush slightly. "Sorry. I'm bored to tears! It's overwhelming! Really!"

"He looks like he's smiling," Akemi said.

"How can you say that? He looks dead…" Toshiki replied softly.

"No, I'm serious. He looks like he's smiling," Akemi persisted.

"I wonder what's going on with him. This is just too weird. I think something has happened." Toshiki shook his head disappointingly.

The two stood in silence. Neither of them had any idea what to say, for once. What if whatever had happened to Matt was serious? Could he possibly die? They didn't realize how long they were standing there in silence until Toshiki felt a hand come down on his shoulder, surprising him. He whirled around and his eyes met up with Tai's, who was supposed to come over an hour after him and Akemi. Toshiki glanced at his watch and cursed softly.

"Akemi, we gotta go. It's late," Toshiki said, dragging Akemi from his shocked trance (Toshiki didn't think he could be thinking, or at least not too deeply). Akemi nodded and headed towards the door. Toshiki started after him, but hesitated. He glanced at Tai. "You're in love with him, aren't you?"

Tai jumped. "What?! NO! He's my best friend!"

"Come on Tai. I'm not Akemi. I see the way you look at him in school," Toshiki said. He smiled softly and murmured, "And the way you look at him now."

Tai twitched. He frowned, but ended up muttering, "Please don't tell anybody."

"I wont."

Akemi faded away and Tai emerged from nothing in his place. Matt cocked his head sideways. Why did Akemi leave? They'd been having so much fun playing on the slides. He glimpsed towards Toshiki to make sure that he was still there, but Toshiki was fading too. Matt frowned unhappily and frantically thought of ways to keep Toshiki there. Except it was too late. Toshiki was gone in a few seconds.

Matt sighed. He heard Tai walk up to him; the fall leaves crunching under his feet.

"Why are you sad Matt? Do you not want me around?" Tai asked delicately.

"It's not you, Tai. I just wanted to talk with Toshiki and Akemi more. I was so happy when they got here because I wasn't lonely anymore," Matt explained grimly and plopped down in a swing. He rocked back and forth and sniffled. Tai walked up and grabbed the chains and stopped Matt. He looked down at the blonde affectionately and tried to smile.

"But you're not alone now either. I'm here." Tai's voice was filled with hurt. Matt knew that that was what his mind would think Tai would sound like, but he still felt bad and looked towards Tai with smiling eyes.

"Yes. You're here."

Matt and Tai walked around doing nothing for a long time. To Matt, it felt like he was going uphill the whole time. The park they had been in changed to the digital world and he could see several digimon dashing about. He wanted to see Gabumon, but his friend never came. He sighed inwardly and continued to look about. The digiworld looked different in his mind than it did in real life, but he knew that it was the digiworld.

"What's the matter Matt?" Tai asked, then started giggling. "Matter Matt!"

Matt looked at him and grinned. "You're silly Taichi."

"You're Matt-erific!" Tai laughed.

"You're bizarre!" Matt exclaimed.

"I'm mega whacked! I'm wicked cool! I'm everything that you wish you could be! HA! I'm the one who knows you deeply, yet you have no idea who I am! I'm-"

"Being stupid."

The two boys twisted around in surprise. How long had Sora been standing there?

"Excuse me."

The doctor tapped on the doorframe. Tai and Sora looked up from Matt's bedside.

"Where is Mr. Ishida?" the doctor asked.

"He went to get some coffee," Tai explained. The doctor nodded and left. He soon found Matt's father gulping down cup after cup off black coffee.

"Mr. Ishida? We have your son's blood tests results. I'm afraid they aren't very good."

"Sora!" Matt yelled cheerfully and ran to her. He caught her up in a hug, squeezing her tightly. Sora laughed, but hugged him back. He released her and took her hand, skipping back to Tai and pulling her along with. As soon as her eyes met Tai's, the smile on her face turned into a scowl. Matt looked back and forth between the two, confused. "What's wrong? Are you two mad at each other? I don't understand."

"Don't worry about it Matt. All your lovely blonde hair will fall out," Sora said. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. Tai snorted, and she shot him a disapproving look. "I wish your hair would fall out. It's so nasty and repulsive. Do you try to look that bad or is it natural? You're nothing compared to my Matt."

"You're Matt! HA! Since when was he your Matt?!?!" Tai yelled.

"Since you were a pompous idiot!" Sora shot back.

Tai growled. "You'd better back off Sora…"

"Oh yeah?" Sora laughed. "What are you going to do? Have Agumon burn me?"

"I just might," Tai threatened, his voice glazed with iciness.

"I bet!" Sora scoffed. "Face it Tai! You can't have Matt because you're—"

"STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!"

Sora and Tai instantly turned to Matt, who was staring at his feet. He lifted his head, glaring icily at the two. "Stop it right now. I don't understand what this is about, but it's driving me crazy. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not yours Sora (Tai smirks). And I'm not yours either Tai! I don't belong to anyone! And right now I'd rather not have to put up with you two fighting."

"Sorry," Tai and Sora mumbled.

Matt sighed. "Let's try to find something to do."

"Quoicleryn Trimethalyn Dioxide? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"Mr. Ishida, please keep your voice down. It's a chemical element that we found in your son's blood—"

"You've already told me that! Now tell me what it has done to him!"

"Mr. Ishida!" the doctor glanced around at the people who were staring. "It's a medicine used to help treat the mentally insane. But if enough of it gets in the blood, it can kill the inhabitant. Luckily Matt didn't get that much and has only fallen into comma, but we're still not sure he'll live. Now, what we need to know is where your son could have gotten this into his blood stream."

"I don't know!" Mr. Ishida ran his hands nervously through his hair.

"Please try to think."

"Uh… well, I know a couple of his friends work at the asylum," he said.

"What friends might those be?"

"Um… Taichi Yagami and Sora Takenouchi, I think."

"Where are they now?"

"In the room with Matt."

Matt shivered. It was so cold. He was in between Tai and Sora, mostly to keep the two from fighting, and also because of warmth. They seemed unaffected by the chilling cold. Tai smiled at him and they continued to walk through the darkness. Matt didn't like the darkness. It always made him feel sad and afraid. He remembered the darkness from before… from when it tried to take him away…

"I-It's s-so c-cold h-h-here!" Matt chattered.

"I'll warm you up!" Sora offered.

Tai sniffed. "Over my dead body!"

"Stop!"

The three walked in silence some more. Matt shrank against his friends. He felt like he was being watched. They were walking down a long white pathway, but they couldn't see but a few steps ahead of themselves, and the pathway was only so wide. Matt was glad to be in the middle, but was afraid of pushing Tai and Sora off (actually secretly wishing one of them would so they'd stop fighting).

Two red eyes suddenly appeared in front of Matt. He stopped immediately. Sora and Tai looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?" Tai asked.

Matt shivered again. "Don't you see them?" he whispered. Tai shook his head. Another pair of red eyes appeared in front of them. Matt took a couple of steps back. "What do you mean you can't see them?! The eyes! They're staring right at us! At me! Oh Tai! Sora! I'm so afraid! Tell me what they are! Tell me what they are!"

Tai shrugged. "It's your mind. What do you think they are?"

"I… I don't know…" Matt replied shakily.

"Think about it Matt," Sora encouraged. "We don't see anything because we're not you."

"They're dogs… Not friendly like Gabumon… I remember being hurt by them as a child…" Matt took several more steps back. "Don't let them get me! Don't let them hurt me Tai!"

Tai began to fade away, like Toshiki and Akemi had done before. And Sora too. Matt frantically reached for them, but withdrew his hands as the red eyes got nearer. Sora was gone now, but Tai was still fading. Matt began to hyperventilate. He wanted to keep Tai from leaving him in his time of need, but he was frozen in place. He was so scared.

"Please don't leave me Tai! Please don't go! I'm so scared! I'm so scared Tai! You can't leave me here! I need you! I need you! Don't leave me all alone! Don't leave me here by myself! No Tai!" Matt screamed. Tears ran down his cheeks as he watched Tai disappear and the dogs move closer. He fell to his knees and whimpered. "Please… don't…"

"Taichi Yagami, Sora Takenouchi, we would like to speak with you."

Tai and Sora looked up at the two police officers standing in the hospital room doorway and then looked at each other. Sora shrugged. "Okay. Speak."

"Not in here, ma'am," one officer said.

Tai glanced at Matt to see that the blonde was trembling. He shook his head at the officers. "I'm not leaving Matt."

The first officer whispered something to the second. He glared sternly at Tai. "We need the both of you to come with us. Now."

"Come on Tai. I'm sure they just need to ask us some stuff," Sora said softly.

Tai shook his head again. "No."

The two officers nodded at each other and both advanced slowly upon Tai. "Sir, please do not make this difficult."

"Why do you need to speak with us anyway? What is this about?" Tai demanded, getting out of his chair and backing towards the window.

As soon as Sora saw the officers advancing towards her and Tai, she'd gotten out of her chair and walked to them. Another officer was waiting outside the room and lead her away to be questioned. Tai still refused to go near the other two. One of them rested his hand on the gun pouch at his waist. Tai eyed this with a sort of fear and backed up until he was against the window. The two officers were really close to him now. Matt stirred in the bed, catching his eye, and the two officers jumped him, turning him around and slamming him against the window to cuff him. Tai didn't like having his hands bound together and struggled as they forced him out of the room.

"No! What's going on! What did I do! I want to stay with Matt!" Tai protested.

"Tai…"

Everyone in the room froze. They all turned around and looked at Matt. He stirred again and he had the most horrified expression on his face.

"No Tai! Please… don't…"

Tai had left him. Tai had left him to his worst nightmare. Tai had faded and left him. He was crying harder now and had his head tucked into his knees so he didn't have to see those red eyes… burning into him… into his soul… causing instant fear to take over his entire body. He was so afraid. He needed someone to be there for him.

"Why? Why! Why! Why did you leave me all alone! Sora! Tai! Akemi! Istu! Toshiki! TK! Why do all of you keep leaving when I need you the most? Why?" Matt wailed.

"You seriously whine too much."

'TK…' Matt's head snapped up. The white walkway and red-eyed dogs had disappeared, too. An empty mall was stretched out before him (Mimi's worst nightmare) and standing in the middle of it was TK. His brother was frowning contemptuously down upon him. Matt got to his feet and wiped away his tears, a slight flush creeping on his cheeks.

"I guess I do," Matt laughed. "I was just so afraid. I'm so alone…"

"Matt, as much as it aggravate me to hear you whine – you have no idea how much it annoys me – I want you to know that I do look up to you. I don't hate you. I just get agitated sometimes," TK said softly. Matt thought he saw a flick of emotion, but the TK went back to blank.

"I know TK. You're my brother. A cold and mean one, but still mine. I do appreciate you telling me that I whine because now I know what to fix so that I wont bother you. Why didn't you ever tell me that I bothered you with all my whining?" Matt asked. TK shrugged. Matt sighed. "Oh yeah. I forgot, if I don't know, then you don't know. This is getting rather troublesome."

"Then that's a good reason for you to get back to reality: you can talk to the real me and clear things up," TK said.

Matt smiled. "Yeah, it is. What do you say we start trying to get out of here?"

TK couldn't believe it. Why in Frith-rah would Tai want to hurt Matt? That wasn't in good logic. Tai was Matt's best friend. 'But TK, you are rushing things. Just because Tai works at the place that contains that stuff in Matt's blood and Matt had been scared to death of Tai in his sleep doesn't mean that Tai did anything…'

TK sighed. He couldn't convince himself. He'd always looked up to Tai, but now there was so much against the brunette. Tai had disappeared for about three hours the night Matt got sick, and refused to tell anyone where he was. And also the thing about him working at the asylum and Matt being petrified of him. Kari hated to admit it, but she had noticed that Tai had been snapping at Matt an awful lot lately, only saying he had stuff on his mind. Tai and Matt had always fought so much…

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Okay… so yeah. Tai is being accused of harming Matt! Oh no! Haha… I'm so evil. Anyway, the next chapter is going to include: Mimi, Gendo, Joe, and Izzy (plus the ones from this chapter, too). Thanks to the Empress for allowing me to use the band members. *squeals!!* I shall now worship the ground she walks upon… or at least the ground the band walks upon, heh heh. Tell me what you think!

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