(author's note – dated October 31, 2003: For all of you who have read this before, there's an extra scene I had on my comp and never put in the story but was meaning to. It's here now. For all of you who haven't read it, just read it! It's cool. =D)

Thank you, thank you so much for your kind words. Man! 7 reviews in 2 days, I feel special. =D So, by popular demand, here is the next installment for my story. And a few comments before I go on…

-In this chapter, the explanation about the Digiworld and stuff sucks, only because I am not really interested in the Digimon. LOL. [So this would become an AU fic. =D] But I bet all you know the story anyways, so it doesn't really matter. Sorry in advance.

That's all. Now, here you go… enjoy!

~*~

Together Again: Chapter 1

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

          The tensome was silent as the shock hit them. Suddenly, all the noise of the dining hall—kids screaming, plates breaking, cups falling, trays being slammed onto tables—increased tenfold and Dawn realized it wasn't the place to discuss such things. And it looked like everyone was done eating anyway.

          "Hey, guys?" she said, breaking everyone out of their catatonic state. "How about we go to the rec room and talk about this there? I think it would be better. And I have a bigger and better picture up in my room, so I'll go get that before we meet up again."

          "Yeah…" Hope said absentmindedly. "I have a picture I want to get too."

          "Okay," Dawn agreed. "Meet in the rec room in ten minutes."

-POV: Hope-

          Dazed, I walked back to the room with Mari. She had a few pictures from her dad, and so she wanted to get them too. My head was spinning as I took in all this information—if that girl in the picture was my mom, and if that's Aaron's mom, too, then that means that Aaron's my brother? And that Mari and Karina are my cousins too? And that Ray is Aaron's cousin? This was just a bit too much for me.

          "Hope?" Mari said softly, jolting me out of my thoughts. "We're here."

          "Oh." I had been standing blankly in front of our dorm door for a few moments. "Well, we'd better go in, huh?"

          Mari laughed. "Sounds good." We walked in our room and while Mari searched in her designated drawer, I took out my special folder with all my important stuff in it. I nodded as I pulled out the picture I loved, stolen from one of my dad's drawers: it was of my dad and my mom, taken the day they were married. Whoever took the picture got it when they weren't looking; my dad is kissing my mom on the forehead, his hands are cupped around her cheeks, her hands are resting on his forearms. It's just the cutest thing I've ever seen. To think that my parents were that much in love… and now…

          "Hey, Hope, let's go. I think I have it."

          "Cool." We headed out of our dorm and back to the rec room.

-POV: me! [3rd person all knowing omniscient narrator]-

          When Mari and Hope entered, the rest of the group was sitting around a big poster. It was an enlargement of the picture that they had seen in the dining hall, and it was a better quality one, too. Everyone was busily pointing out their parents and aunts and uncles. Steve saw the twosome come in and announced, "They're here!"

          Dawn twisted around and smiled at them. "Come on, guys, take a seat. Hope, you get to sit in the center with Aaron, 'cause you guys are special."

          "Um, okay," Hope conceded. She sat down next to her "brother."

          "I wanted to tell you the story of this picture, because our parents shared a great bond, one that deserves telling. Now, a long, long time ago, back when our parents—" she gestured to the twins, Raymond, Steve, Aaron and Hope, "were younger than our age, they went to a summer camp not unlike this one. They got these weird devices called Digivices, and got to go to the Digital World and got Digimon. Now I don't know too much about that stuff, so I'll tell you about that later. But, they all had crests. There were eight original Digidestined: Tai, Sora, Matt, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, TK, and Kari. They finally achieved the purpose as to why they were there, so they all went home and led normal lives. Now, a new threat arose about four years after the original Digidestined left. TK and Kari were the youngest of the original Destined, so they still worked with the new Digidestined: Davis, Yolei, Cody, and later Ken. They were all great friends; a team. And though they weren't needed to fight the Digimon anymore, they still got together once in a while, especially for big events. And this one was one of them.

          "Ever since they met, everyone knew that TK and Kari were destined for each other. Even Azulongmon (AN: sp?) said so—they had the special crests of Light and Hope. They were the most important of the Digidestined, and their crests had slightly more power than the rest of them. And by the time they were seventeen, they were engaged, and a surprise came along… which happens to be you, Aaron."

          "Oh, please, don't tell me things like this," Aaron moaned, covering his face with his hands. Everyone laughed. "Anyway," Dawn continued, "this picture was taken the day Aaron was born. All the Digidestined happened to be there, so they decided to take a picture. However, being the lovebirds your parents were, they weren't paying attention, so this is the result. I think, though, that it looks natural."

          All of them looked upon the picture again. "So… this means that Hope really is my sister?" Aaron finally said.

          Dawn nodded. "Yup. I mean, think about it, your name means light, hers means hope. It makes sense."

          Aaron nodded, then turned to Hope. "Hello, sister."

          She smiled back at him. "Nice to meet you, brother."

Later…

          "What do you think happened?" Hope asked sadly, looking up at the picture now hanging up on the wall of their room.

          Mari followed Hope's gaze and said, "Well, I remember Dad telling me that they started having problems when their careers started taking off. Also, they were really young when Aaron was born, so that took a toll on them too. I guess they thought it was too much for them, so they decided to split up and focus on their careers on opposite sides of the country."

          "I wish I didn't have to do that to them," Hope whispered. What Mari was saying made sense—her dad was a workaholic. And from what Aaron had told her, his mom—"well, I guess my mom, now, too," she thought—worked long hours. And then she remembered something Aaron had said to her only hours before…

*Flashback*

          "If it makes you feel any better, my parents are divorced too, and I don't really remember my dad," Aaron confessed.

"I'm sorry," Hope said, a note of sympathy in her voice.

"It's okay… it's not like it's your fault anyway."

*Real time*

          He didn't know, Hope thought. Maybe it was my fault. She looked up at the picture of her parents again and shook her head. "What a shame… a love like that should be able to overcome anything." She sighed sadly. "If only there was a way to get them back together again…"

-POV: Aaron-

          It was now the day before my birthday, and I decided I was going to go check my mail—Mom had said she would send me something today. As I walked into the hallway, I found Hope standing there, waiting patiently. "Hi," I greeted her, flashing my trademark grin. "You here to get the mail, too?"

          "Yep." Finally, the door opened to the room where students could check their mail. Sure enough, there was the package that Mom had promised she'd send me, right there. I grabbed it off the top shelf and looked over at Hope, who was still looking through the mail. I decided to wait for her outside, eagerly opening up the package as I did so. After sifting through a huge wad of tissue paper [that's my mom—she overdoes it on the tissue ALL the time], I found something. It was a keychain, a deep green one with a symbol on it, something that I didn't really understand.

-POV: 3rd person (me!)-

Hope sifted through the contents of the metal box labeled "T" and found a card from her best friend, Isabella, and a slip that said "package." A package? Hope thought. She looked up at the top ledge and finally found a medium-sized package addressed to her. Hope smiled as she walked out; seeing as the package was from her dad. She opened it up to find a card, a few pictures, a batch of Snickerdoodle cookies (Hope's favorite), and a small, wrapped box. Hope unwrapped the iridescent pink paper and opened the box gingerly. Inside the box was a necklace with a symbol that looked like the sun, against a backdrop of pink. Her father had instructed, in a small note inside the box, "Hope—Put this necklace on, and I'll explain to you tomorrow what it means." Tomorrow was her birthday… did that mean he was coming to visit her? She had to tell Aaron. As she turned to find him, a familiar green image met her eyes, and Hope gasped audibly.

-POV: Aaron-

As my keychain glinted in the sun, I heard a gasp, and Hope ran over to me, her mail in tow, breathlessly saying, "AaronohmygoshmydadiscomingtomorrowandthekeychainthatyouhavelookslikethatthingItoldyouaboutthatmydadhaswiththegreenanditsayshopeunderneathit!"

          What? I blinked and said, "Repeat, please."

          Hope laughed. "Sorry. My dad is coming tomorrow! And that keychain that you're holding looks like that thing I told you about—you know, the thing my dad has that's green and says hope underneath it? That."

          I blinked again, and then saw Hope's necklace. "Hope… where did you get your necklace?"

          "This?" Hope fingered the pendant around her neck. "My dad gave it to me. He said he'd explain what it means to me tomorrow. Which means he's coming!"

          "That… looks like the thing my mom has on her desk, the one that says light underneath it. It looks exactly like it."

          "So… did you get that from your mom?" Hope asked me, referring to my keychain.

          "Yeah. She said she was gonna come tomorrow for my birthday and explain to me the significance of this," I told her. Suddenly, something dawned on me. "If you are turning sixteen, and I'm turning eighteen… both really significant birthdays… your dad must be giving you something that belonged to Mom, and Mom must be giving me something that belonged to your—our—dad." 

          Hope nodded in agreement, then said, "Aaron, our parents are going to be here tomorrow! Don't you think we should let them know that we know about them?"

          "Nah." I had been formulating a plan that would make our parents' reunion so much sweeter… although it would take more time to carry it out. "I have an idea of how we should go about doing this."

          "Really."

          "Yeah. It keeps getting better and better the more I think about it." I paused in thought, going over my plan again in my head.

          "So… do you plan to let me know what your little plan is?" Hope ventured. I smiled elusively at her and began, "I may only have been your brother for a few days, but I think I know you pretty well."

          "Really," Hope repeated. "Your point being…"

          "What do you want more than anything—except Mom and Dad getting back together?" I asked. Hope's expression contorted a bit… I could tell she was confused. But she'd know everything soon enough.

          "Well, I want to be a singer more than anything," Hope replied, finally, after pondering the issue. I smiled. This was exactly what I was counting on. "So… you've heard of Stratus Records, right?"

          "Yeah… they're only the biggest record label in the country," Hope retorted.

          I nodded. "I know someone that works there, and I could probably get you a record deal," I said with a straight face.

          Hope's confused and suspicious expression turned to one of surprise and delight. "Oh, my God! How… that's awesome!"

          I smiled mysteriously as I watched her, waiting for the unspoken question that would tell her everything. I counted silently. 3… 2… 1…

          "Who is it that you know, Aaron?" Hope questioned.

          "Mom. She's a talent scout for them." Finally, the point is reached.

          Hope's eyes widened. "So… I send her a demo, and she likes it, I get to go to New York… with Dad… and they meet! Aaron, that's great!"

          She was outlining my plan perfectly… except for one minor detail. "Well, yeah. Except that I was hoping you could record your demo tomorrow so I can send it home with Mom."

          "Tomorrow?!" Hope shrieked, causing some other students to turn and look at us. Hope lowered her voice and whispered, "Is there a recording studio here?"

          I nodded. "Yup, and you have an appointment tomorrow morning."

          "But… how… Aaron, how did you pull it off? Isn't it hard to get a chance to record in there?"

          "Yeah, but Steve works there. He said he'd squeeze you in."

          "Oh, Aaron, thank you!" Hope threw herself at me, and I returned her hug. "Isn't that what big brothers are for?"

          She smiled up at me. "Yeah… I guess."

          "Besides, I'm not just doing this for you, I'm doing it for Mom and Dad, too."

          Hope nodded in agreement. "Well put. Anyway… I already have a song in mind."

          "Great. Bring it tomorrow and we'll work with it."

          Hope smiled widely at me, a sense of excitement about her. Our plan was set… I just hope to God that it works.

Will the plan work? Will TK and Kari run into each other for the first time in I don't know how many years? Will the crests of Hope and Light react to the presence of their owners? All will be answered in Chapter 2. As always… please review!