Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. All I own is my own original character Lain Auska X.

The song entitle Wind does not belong to me, but in fact does credit to the ending theme song of Naruto.

Digimon

VII: Runaway

Saga: The Child of Darkness

"Cultivate you hunger before you idealize. Motivate your anger to make them all realize. Climbing the mountain, never coming down. Break into the contents, never falling down.

My knee is still shaking, like I was twelve, sneaking out of the classroom, by the back door. A man railed at me twice though, but I didn't care. Waiting is wasting for people like me.

Don't try to live so wise. Don't cry 'cause you're so right. Don't dry with fakes or fears, 'cause you will hate yourself in the end.

Don't try to live so wise. Don't cry 'cause you're so right. Don't dry with fakes or fears, 'cause you will hate yourself in the end.

You say, 'dreams are dreams. I ain't gonna play the fool anymore.' You say, ''cause I still got my soul.'

Take your time baby, you blood needs slowing down. Breach you soul to reach yourself before you gloom. Reflection of fear makes shadows of nothing, shadows of nothing.

You still are blind, if you see a winding road, 'cause there's always a straight way to the paint you see.

Don't try to live so wise. Don't cry 'cause you're so right. Don't dry with fakes or fears, 'cause you will hate yourself in the end.

Don't try to live so wise. Don't cry 'cause you're so right. Don't dry with fakes or fears, 'cause you will hate yourself in the end."

"Why do you… Always sing such sad songs?" Matt asked stepping out of his room and into the living room where Lain sat on the couch alone. "Don't you having anything else happy to sing about?"

"I'd prefer it if you would stop walking in on me like this," Lain replied sighing. "I don't really enjoy singing with company in the room. I would like it if I was left alone at the moment."

"You sing when you're sad… Don't you?" Matt said walking over to the window that stood in front of Lain. He gazed down at Highton View Terrace that stood below him, watching the cars zoom down the road. Though it was only eleven at night the streets were still busy "Why don't you just talk about your problems?"

"You don't… So what's the problem?" Lain asked leaning back further into the cough as she sighed. "I can already tell how you are Matt. You keep you're problems locked up inside of you, like myself."

He bit his lower lip but didn't reply to what Lain had said. How could she already tell this about him? How could she tell that he liked to keep his problems to himself? She'd only been living with him for a week, but acted as though she had known him for her whole life.

"What are you thinking about Matt? What happened to bothering me about how I feel?" Lain asked laughing a little. "I don't really like if when you're quite. Kind of makes me nervous you know? Because I can't really tell what you're thinking. And besides, you're not even facing me…"

"Let's just go back to bed," Matt answered. "It's late and the gang wants to meet up with us tomorrow around noon. We've got to discuss our next plan, about what were going to do with the problem that has appeared in the Digital World."

"Oh…" Lain said sounding a little sad. "You guys know that you don't really have to get mixed up in all of this… It's more like a problem that I should handle. Considering that the Dark Empire is just after me at the moment, not the rest of you guys…"

"It's our problem too," Matt replied frowning, but didn't dare to turn around to face her. "The Digital World is our priority too, we have to look out for all the Digimon that live there. We are… the Digidestinds…"

"Where are they!?" Tai yelled out frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest. Him and the rest of the Digidestinds had been waiting at the front of Odaiba High school for Matt and Lain to show up.

"I'm sure Matt spent most of their time in the bathroom fixing his hair," TK said shaking his head in disgust.

"Well then he should wake up earlier!" Yolei said getting frustrated. "But I mean wouldn't Lain have showed up already!? She isn't exactly what you would call a girly girl. More like a tomboy."

"And what's wrong with that?" Sora asked frowning slightly at Yolei.

"Nothing," Kari said speaking up for Yolei so a fight wouldn't break out. "Nothing at all. Yolei was just wondering why Lain was taking this long. Since she doesn't really spend that much time in the bathroom deciding what she should wear and what make-up she should put on."

"You're sure right about that," Lain said laughing as she approached the group with Matt at her side. "I don't think I'll ever wear make-up! Just not for me!"

"We all know," Yolei said shaking her head. "But I'm sure that's all going to change by the time prom comes around."

"Prom?" Lain said gulping. "Don't tell me you're going to force me to go to that! I was lucky and managed to miss the first dance that this school had, but don't think that I'm going to change my mind and all of a sudden want to go to any more of them!"

"But prom is something you have to go to!" Kari shouted out looking a little hurt. "It's you last year in High School Lain! You might as well enjoy it!"

"I'll think about it," Lain replied not wanting to hurt Kari's feelings by saying that she wasn't going to go at all. "But we didn't really come out here to just talk about dances now did we?"

"We sure as hell did not!" Tai shouted out. "What took you guys so long in the first place!?"

"Matt decided to spend forever on his hair again," Lain said shooting Matt an angry glance. "Though I don't understand why he didn't wake up earlier to do it all…"

"Hey! My alarm didn't go off like it was supposed to!" Matt shouted out in defense, though it wasn't really a good one. "And besides! I couldn't go out into public with bed head!"

"Yeah that's for sure," TK replied laughing. "He has a really bad case of it."

"TK! Shut-up!" Matt yelled out almost pouncing on his brother.

"So that's why you always get up before I do," Lain said laughing. "So do I but I don't care…"

"Do you even care about how you present yourself to the public?" Davis asked joining in on the conversation.

"No," Lain replied as everyone broke out laughing. "If I did then I wouldn't dress like this…" She looked down at the plain black shirt and blue cargo pants she was wearing. "But can't we just get to the real point on why we all gathered here to have this meeting?"

"Yeah Tai… Why did you ask us all to meet here?" Izzy said agreeing with Lain's words.

"Besides the boring day I'm having…" Tai began while everyone around him groaned at his reply. "We need to discus our next plans of actions. I mean now that this 'Dark Empire' is taking over the Digital World, we need to know how we are planning to defeat this new enemy. But more of a fact, what the Dark Empire really is." He turned over to Lain who was looking back at him questionably. "And I think Lain has all of the answers to our questions."

"So you just called me here so you guys could interrogate me right?" Lain said as she started to get angry. "So that you could just get information out of me!?"

"No…" Sora said looking at Lain worried. "That isn't the real reason why Tai asked as all to met out here. Right Tai?"

"Not intestinally," Tai replied. "It's just that I know you have all the answers. Though you're just not telling us about them… Lain?"

"I can't believe this!" Lain shouted out laughing. "Don't tell me that everything they said to me was true! Don't tell me that everything I thought was just a lie! Are you all really against me like they said? Are you all just using me for information!?"

"Using you? No…" Matt said looking at Lain questionably. "What are you talking about Lain? Who have you been talking to? Why would you think that we were against you in the first place?"

"You all… Just don't make any sense…" Lain said as she begun to back away from them. "I can't tell anymore if you are just lying to me, or if you actually care. I want to believe everything you guys are saying to me is true, but I just have that dought that it's all a lie."

"Lain… You're our friend… Why would we use you?" Kari asked looking extremely hurt. "How could you dought us? We are here for you Lain… We've told you this before. We are your friends, and we care about you…"

"I… I just don't know what to think anymore," Lain said backing further away from them. "I want to trust you guys, but I just can't. I've been betrayed to many times. He was right. I am the Child of Darkness, to forever remain alone. A solitary figure, not a shadow following you around…"

"What are you talking about?" Ken asked her. "You're not going to go back to being alone are you?"

"I don't know… I just don't know!" Lain screamed out as she threw her hands in the air. "I'm… I'm really sorry about his guys. I just can't handle things anymore!"

She turned her back on the group and begun to run away from them all. Leaving everyone shocked and scared at her actions.

"Why… Is she running away from her problems again?" Matt asked stepping forward a little as he watched Lain's figure fade out of sight before him.

Lain begun to slow down when she figured she had put enough distance between her and the rest of the Digidestinds. She sighed and then leaned up against a wall that was beside her to catch her breath…

Why am I doing this again? Why is it that every new thing that happens to me… I run away from. Why is it that I always seem to just… Run away from my problems? Maybe it's not just them that's bothering me, maybe it's myself. Everything going to turn wrong again if I don't stop acting like this. I'm going to create a problem for everyone, not just myself. They must really hate me right now. After everything I have put them through… I just turn tail and run every time a problem like this is brought up… Everything's my fault… It's always been this way. I am always the one who creates every little problem that affects me in the future…

She ran her hand along the brick wall she was leaning on and sighed once again. She couldn't go back to them now, after they way she had treated them all… She would be surprised if they even wanted to still be friends with her… Let alone cared about her anymore.

After pushing herself up away from the wall she put her hands in her pocket and begun to walk away. The people all around her seemed to be talking so loudly and the cars driving by made so much noise.

She shook her head to try and clear out all the noise but it didn't seem to work. Sighing once again she turned the corner of the street and begun to walk in the direction of the city park, in hopes that it would be quieter there so she could actually think about what she was going to do next.

She arrived at the park a few minutes latter, happy to think that it was much quieter here than out on the streets with all the cars and people. She sat on the bench that was closet to her and spread herself on it in a sitting position. She closed her eyes and just took in all the quite that were surrounding her. At least here she could think instead of being bothered, though she felt the many eyes of many people passing her by.

The bench jerked and her eyes shot wide open. She turned her head in the direction to where the bench had jerked to see a humanoid Digimon, Arcmon.

"Ah…" Lain said, this was all she could manage to make out in surprise of his appearance.

"Hello Lain, and what are we doing out here all alone. Away from the company of your friends?" Arcmon asked looking at the birds that were flying above the two of them.

"I kind of walked out on them…" Lain replied sounding sad as she lowered her eyes to the ground and sat up straight. "It's really stupid if you think about it. They were just trying to ask me something about the Dark Empire and I took offense. I was just scared that they were just using me… Like everyone else seems to be doing…"

"Is that what you really think they are trying to do to you?" Arcmon asked leaning over so his arms were on his knees and his back was curved. "From what I see you're just scared to get to close to them. To show them your real feelings. As if you think something bad is going to happen to them."

"Something bad can happen to them though," Lain said lowering her voice. "I mean after all the Dark Empire is ruining my life. Can't you tell? They took Black WarGreymon away from me, put me in debt. They really are the ones who are out to make my life miserable. They've ruined everything for me… They were the ones who made me kill all those innocent Digimon. I'm surprised I've actually made it this far in life as it is…"

"Suicide isn't the answer you know," Arcmon said frowning. "All it's really going to do is dig yourself a deeper hole than you are already in."

"I know… That's why I'm still alive. And I know Black WarGreymon wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had let anything happen to me," Lain said frowning at the thought of herself commenting suicide. "And I'm sure it would only bring joy to the Dark Empire if I would have done so."

"You do know that they want you alive. That's why you have not been killed yet."

"Do they really? But why… I don't understand. Whose side are you on? How do you know all of this information!?"

"I've already told you. I'm not with the Dark Empire. I'm on no one's side. Just a by stander doing what he pleases…"

"But how do you know all of this? You'd have to be with the Dark Empire to have all this information!"

"I do as I please…" He stood up and then shoved his hands into his pockets as he turned his back on her. "You should get back to your friends now. I'm sure they are worried about you, and I know that you feel bad about leaving them like that…"

Lain just starred at Arcmon as he begun to walk away from her. Was this guy really an "innocent bystander" as he claimed to be? Or was he someone else, someone who was trying to put her into a deeper hole instead of helping her like he claimed to be doing?

"So… Where's Lain at?" Mr. Ishida asked as he son stepped in through the door. "I thought she was with you this morning when you went to go and meet up with your friends."

"She went to hang out with Sora for a while," Matt lied out to his father. "She said she wanted some extra help in her math class and that she'd be home in an hour or so…"

"Will she now?" Mr. Ishida asked raising an eyebrow at his son. "Have her tell me next time in advance when she is going to be doing something like this. Since I am the fatherly figure here, I need to take that into consideration."

"Okay, I'll tell her that," Matt said sighing as he headed towards his room. He opened his door and then stopped halfway from entering to the sound of his front door being shut. Had his dad left for work already or had Lain come back?

He turned around to see Lain facing him from inside of his living room.

"Nice to see you've finally come back. Did you solve your problem?" Matt asked her sounding a little cold as he stepped into his room, closing the door behind him.

"Matt!" Lain shouted out frowning at him as she approached his door and then threw it open to see him sitting on his bed in the dark. Glaring up at her. She shut the door behind her as she entered and then sighed.

"Look Matt… I'm really sorry about what I did to your guys earlier," Lain said approaching him. "I know that walking out of you guys was not going to solve my problems. If anything it would just create more like it has already done now…"

"But still you walked out on us. With no consideration to how we would have felt." He rested his head on his hands, still glaring up at her. "You know Tai wasn't asking that much from you. He just wanted to know more about the Dark Empire. Since you of course seem to know of them much better then we do. Considering you used to work for them and everything."

"You know Matt… I have feelings too. You guys have to take into consideration that maybe I don't want to talk about that sort of stuff right now. That maybe I am trying to forget it since it was a bad part of my past. Maybe I just don't want to think about that stuff?"

"Well maybe we are trying to help you by getting rid of the Dark Empire. But it seems you won't tell us anything about them, so we can't help you one bit."

"Matt… I'd just rather keep these things to myself. It wouldn't have made much of a difference if I had told everyone in the first place much about the Dark Empire. I… I just don't want to talk about it that's all. I would just rather keep these things inside, where I know they can't hurt anyone…"

"You're just hurting yourself… Keeping all of your feelings locked up inside of you isn't going to help anything. You need to talk about them."

"How can you say that when you have the same problem Matt? You can't just expect me to open up to anyone just like that. Don't you realize that I've been hurt too much? So many people have betrayed me. I'm not just going to start talking just because you want me too."

"I have my reasons for not sharing anything. I choose not to consider that it's best they are left alone. I'm fine just leaving locked up."

"No your not. You're just going to turn cold and shun the world and everyone who cares about you out. It's going to happen Matt. I can already tell by the way you act. You've been hurt a lot too in the past and it's effected you greatly."

"Why do you act as though you know me so well? I don't understand! You've only been living with me for about a couple of weeks now and you act as though you have know me for your whole life!"

"You're just easy to read Matt. You're eyes tell me everything about you. They show all of the pain and suffering you have gone through."

"Then stop looking at them. I don't like it."

"I will when you stop covering up how you feel Matt. If you'd open up to me than I might open up to you too. I just have to have more trust in you. I already know that you guys seem to be here for me, but I still have that lack of feeling that you and everyone else actually care. I just have the feeling of guilt that everyone is just going to use me again and leave me dead for good."

"We've already told you Lain. We care about how you feel. Everyone looks out for you; we don't want anything bad to happen to you. I mean we even tried to come and rescue you when Kitsunemon kidnapped you. Isn't that enough proof that we care for you!?"

"I just don't know what to think anymore. My feelings are all mixed up inside of me. Everything is just changing to fast for me… I'm not really all that sure about what to think…"

"Well stop being so confused and figure out how you feel."

"Matt… You do realize that the Dark Empire wants me and everyone else dead right?"

She walked closer to him and then sat down at his side. She put her hands in her lap and then starred down at the ground. Might as well open up to him now. Maybe everything would be set right again, maybe he wouldn't be so mad at her?

"You're going to talk now?"

"I guess so. You do deserve some answers after the way I treated you and everyone else today."

"It's alright," Matt said pausing to sigh. "You were just confused and scared. It's not your fault."

"Maybe… I just don't know…" She laughed a little and got a strange look from Matt. "What?"

"It's just that we're getting all serious and you're over here laughing…"

"We'll this is just a little awkward. Talking about my feelings and all. I've never done it before. Not even to Black WarGreymon. It's just never come up. I'm just so used to keeping everything locked inside."

"I know the feeling…"

"But you know. The Dark Empire is just something you wouldn't really expect to be in the Digital World. I mean after all they are a band of humanoid type Digimon. I just don't understand why they are so obsessed with taking over the Digital World. They just want to destroy us, but for some reason they've had all these chances to destroy me… But they never did…"

"That's what I don't get either…"

"You know… I'm not even too sure about what the Dark Empire is up to anymore. I just thought they wanted world domination or something. But now that I look at it, it doesn't look like it at all. It looks as though they are trying to complete some problem. But it doesn't make any sense at all!"

Matt just furrowed his brow and went into deep thought. If the Dark Empire really wanted them all dead then why hadn't they already tried to kill Lain already? She has been working for them for quite a time now and they've had many chances to try and get rid of her. But yet here she is, still alive.

"Matt? What are you thinking about?"

"I want you to stay away from that Arcmon character you were talking about a few days ago. The one that helped you and Black WarGreymon escape from the Dark Empire. I'm betting he has something to do with what ever is going on here. We don't need to be taking risks right now either Lain. Just try not to go anywhere alone. I know this may seem annoying to you, but we all just want to best for you. And I'm sure if the Dark Empire ever had a chance to get a hold of you again they would make sure not to let you escape as easily as you did last time."

"Uh Matt…"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for being so concerned about me. This makes me feel a lot better in the sense that you guys really are my friends. Now I really know that I an at least trust you in the fact that you care. Maybe everything's has changed for the better. Maybe you guys aren't just going to betray me like everyone else."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Matt smiled at her and then lied back down on his bed with his hands behind his head.

"Just stop worrying about things okay, Lain? If you need anything just ask me. I'm here for you, now and forever."

"Thanks Matt. This means a lot to me…"

"Heh, don't worry about it…"

Lain just smiled at him and then lied down next to him, starring up at the ceiling with her arms crossed over his stomach.

Yep, end of this chapter. Tell me what you think!!