Yes, yes, that's the one! Azn Angel's story was what inspired this! Don't worry though, this one's been changed so it's all mine! And, in response to ArchAngemon's request… My muse never stays put, she just runs in every now and then, eats all my pudding, gives me some story to make me happy, then disappears again. Weird, huh?

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, never have, never will.

Once Was Blind…

Chapter 2: Darkness

Tai, Kari, Cody and Yolei burst into the hospital waiting room an hour later, breathing hard. A nurse looked up. "Can I help you?"

"Our friend was just brought here." Cody panted. "He was hurt in a fire, we'd like to see him."

The nurse was very stuffy, checking her lists with a huff. "Yes, there was a young man brought in here a little while ago." she sniffed. "A Mr. Takaishai…But, I'm afraid it's a family-only situation at this moment."

"But Miss!" Kari gasped.

"I'm sorry, but that's how ER works." the girl put the forms away haughtily.

"But we have to get in there!" Tai insisted.

A familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind the nurse: "Tai? Kari?"

The kids looked up. A blue-haired person, older than them but younger than most doctors, stood next to the desk in a white coat, holding a clipboard in his left hand. He wore glasses, pushing them up his nose.

"Joe!" Yolei exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"

"This is where I have my internship, remember?" the med student looked between the four kids. "You guys are here to see T.K., right?"

"That's right!" Kari leaned forward. "But they won't let us in! Is he…?"

"He's fine." Joe laughed reassuringly. "In fact, he just woke up. Come on, he'll be glad you're here."

Kari and the others grinned at each other excitedly, and quickly followed after him. Yolei stuck her tongue out at the receptionist, then hurried after the others.

Joe stopped in front of the door numbered 132. He put his hand on the knob and turned back to the others. "His mom's already in there." his faces wore a look of deep concentration. "I've gotta warn you, he won't be able to tell who you are just by looking at you."

"Why not?" Tai asked.

"He sustained several burns to parts of his face." Joe muttered, then opened the door.

T.K.'s bed had been adjusted so that he was sitting up-right, talking to his mother. His right arm was in a sling so he wouldn't move it, wrapped tightly in white bandages. And his eyes and the top half of his head was wrapped completely in the same white gauze, his ears being the only thing above his nose unwrapped, although there were a few large tuffs of blonde hair sticking up out of the top. Patamon was curled up beside his partner, fast asleep.

"T.K.…Ms. Takaishai." Joe called. "You've got some more visitors."

Both turned. "Oh, hello, kids." Nancy said, smiling with relief.

"Hey. Who's there?" T.K. seamed alright, all things considering, and he was actually smiling.

"Uh…" Joe glanced back at the others. "Tai, Kari, Yolei and Cody. Yeah, I think that's it."

"Are you okay, T.K.?" Kari asked, moving forward. "You look awful."

"I can't see, and I'm not allowed to move this arm, but hey, I'm still in one piece, so I'm not complaining." T.K. finished his sentence with a laugh, but a bit of a forced one, obviously meaning that he was just thankful to be alive at this point.

But the laughter felt good. It spread from T.K. to Kari, and from Kari to Tai, and from there it spread to everyone in the room, making them all feel better about the whole thing.

Soon the group was gathered around the bed, all talking and telling jokes and laughing at how bad the jokes were. About five minutes later, they heard running footsteps and the door burst open.

"I came…as soon as I heard…" the figure panted, brushing his blonde hair back.

"I'd know that voice anywhere." T.K. laughed, looking up without looking up. "Hey Matt."

His brother stood there a moment, then hurried over. The others spilt off and let him through to the bedside. "Good Lord…T.K., you look…"

"Awful?" T.K. finished, still smiling. "Yeah, I get that a lot. But it's okay, really. The bandages will be off soon, then everything'll be back to normal."

Matt turned to Joe. "How long?" he asked in an undertone. "How long is it gonna take?"

"He'll have to stay here about a week or so, until the burns heal." Joe shrugged. "Then there's just some preliminary tests to finish so we're sure he can still use that arm, and he'll be free to go."

"Just a week…" Nancy sighed. "Thank goodness."

Joe glanced up at the clock, then hit his head so hard he nearly knocked himself out. "Oh, dagnamit, look at the time!" he exclaimed. "Guys, I'm sorry, but visiting time is over for the day. You'll all have to leave."

A group of groans and 'aw, man's came from the group, but they separated from the bed and began to leave. Ms. Takaishai leaned over and kissed her son on the forehead. "Sleep well, sweetie." she whispered.

T.K. nodded, then looked around. "Hey, Tai?" he called, hoping his friend was still there.

"Yeah?" Tai turned back. He had almost reached the door with his sister, but paused a moment at the younger boy's call.

"Before you go…I wanna thank you." T.K. was smiling a bit sheepishly, the same way he always had looking up to Tai during their original trip in the Digital World. "You saved my life."

"Aw…" Tai rubbed the back of his head, modestly, for once. "I didn't really do anything…"

"Sure you did." T.K. leaned back against the bed. "If you hadn't gone in and gotten me, I never would've gotten outta there. So…thanks."

Tai smiled. "No prob, pal." he whispered. "No prob."

~ * ~ * ~

As Joe promised, T.K. was scheduled in the hospital for a week. He had visitors every day, spanning from one or two of the DigiDestined to the whole 12-person group. Even Mimi came along, even if it was only by transmission via the Digiport. Sora provided some rather lovely and good-smelling flowers for the room, knowing he couldn't see them but could at least get the smell of antibacterial out of his nose.

The most common visitors, of course, were Matt and the younger DigiDestined. And to everyone's surprise, the one most likely to be there first was Davis. He had a really good nature about this kind of thing, and would often try cheering the patent up with his own hilarious renditions of the day-to-day school life. The more those two talked, the more they looked like old friends than 'romantic rivals' as the whole school had them labeled.

Ms. Takaishai, of course, who always worked so hard, took several days off work just to sit by her son's bedside. Kari, too, was also a frequent visitor.

"T.K.…" she asked about six days into the week, when it was just herself, the patient and Davis actually in the room. "What's the first thing you wanna do when you get out of this stuffy place?"

"Eat some real food, I'm guessing." Davis laughed, having bad memories of the meals from an appendicitis incident two years earlier. "The stuff's worse than cafeteria food!"

"Can't be as bad as my mom's stuff." Kari laughed a bit, and T.K. cracked up too.

The patient sighed, feeling around for his Digivice. "You know what I really want to do?" he said in a dreamy whispered. "When I get these bandages off, I'm gonna go straight to Primary Village, just to see all the colors. I mean…you have no idea how much you miss those bright colors until you're stuck in darkness for a week."

Ms. Takaishai sighed from the doorway, glad to see her son happy. Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to find Joe, a deep look of concentration on his face.

"Oh, hello, Joe." she said, a bit excited about whatever news he might have.

But the intern just sighed. "Ms. Takaishai…can I talk to you privately a moment?"

The mother blinked, but nodded. Joe pulled her into a small, empty room across the hall. There was a bit of silence, finally, he sighed, brushing back his hair. "Ms Takaishai…I really don't know how to tell you this…"

"What?" she gasped. "Is…Is something wrong? With T.K.?"

"I'm…afraid so…" he pulled a picture out of his folder. Nancy couldn't tell what it was, but he was examining it closely. "We took an X-ray of his burns…Don't worry, they're healing just fine, but…"

"But…?"

"But…there was serious damage to the lenses and retinas of his eyes that we didn't see before…" he let out a guilty sigh. "Even if we did, though, there's nothing we can do about it…"

"About what?" the mother exclaimed, stepping forward. "What can't you fix?!"

"Ms. Takaishai…" Joe took it very slowly. "The damage to his eyes is…it's irreversible…There's nothing we can do…Unless someone develops some miraculous new technique in the next year or so…I'm afraid he'll never see again."

Nancy clapped her hands over her mouth to keep from crying. She glanced back through the door, into the room of her son, still laughing with his friends. He wanted the colors…He wanted to see all those beautiful flowers that surrounded him…he wanted so badly to see again…but he never would, not anymore.

She put a hand to her heart. "When should I tell him?" she gasped.

"The bandages come off tomorrow." Joe sighed. "It's your choice of when."

~ * ~ * ~

"Honey…T.K., honey, wake up."

The boy stirred, reaching for his mother's hand in the darkness. "Hi mom." he smiled. "What's up?"

He heard his mother take a deep, deep breath. "I've got some good news, dear… but I've also got some…bad news."

"Okay, then." T.K. thought a moment. "What's the good news?"

"Well…" she hesitated. "…Your bandages come off today."

"Really?!" T.K. sat suddenly up, excited. He was so sick of the darkness, and it was almost over. "All right! When?!"

"That's the bad news…" his mother's voice grew quiet, scared. "They're already off."

T.K. froze a moment, the his hands groped up around his eyes. It was true, the cloth bandages were gone, he couldn't feel a thing. But this was wrong…

"Mom…" he gasped hoarsely, suddenly dizzy from the shock. "Mom…I can't see! I can't see!"

"I know, honey." she put her hands on his shoulders, steadying him. "I know…"

She moved to sitting on the bed, and caressed her son gently, running her fingers through his hair as she explained everything. T.K. sat there in shock as he heard the medical story, and his mind was filled with the images of the burning house…the last thing he'd ever seen, that horrible sight of the sparks flying into his exposed eyes. And through it all, his fractured mind kept repeating one thing over and over:

"I'm blind…" his brain sobbed, unbelieving. "I'm blind…I'm blind…I'm blind…"