I don't own digimon and it is very unlikely that that will change.

Chapter 5. Read it. Warning, slight hints of suicidal thoughts.

I didn't believe in destiny,-

C4) Friendship -------

narration----

No, I wasn't nearly as calm as I acted. Most the time I was trying not to run away screaming or breakdown in tears. At several points I almost started laughing, the only reason I didn't is because I knew if I started I wouldn't be able to stop.

Brent-

Brent was lying there half asleep, wondering what he had been dreaming. Every time he woke up anymore he knew that he had had a dream, a vivid one, but couldn't remember any of it. It was a little odd because he could usually remember his dreams better than what happened daily.

He wondered if he should get up off the sofa, lately every time he got out of bed he would end up in it again hurting. Fay had waked him briefly to move in on the sofa so the rookies wouldn't bother him when they woke. Right now his pulse was drumming in his ears, skipping a beat every few moments. "WAKE UP!" Brent leapt from the sofa and drew the wooden sword, not sparing time to wonder why he had it with him, and leveled it at Renamon.

Her eyes where wide and she was probably very pale under her fur. "… Not a morning perzon are yose." Brent blinked at Veemon standing at the other end of the sofa and then realized what he was doing.

Sheathing the sword with an ease that surprised him Brent tried to act as if he hadn't done anything weird. "So how are you all doing?" his hands betrayed him as they moved without his consent and belted the sheathed sword at his side.

"They will be fine in a day or so." Brent spun around again, thankfully not drawing the sword this time. Fay stood in her doorway rubbing her eyes, "I thought I told you two to stay in bed and not bother anybody."

She shooed the two rookies away, her cased tail thumping the ground as she walked. "Fay what's going on? I have a feeling that you would be skinning me alive for what I did to them."

Fay froze at his words while Veemon and Renamon slipped from the room. She slowly turned back to Brent, "what do you remember?"

Brent sat down on he sofa again, shifting the sword so it wouldn't trip him. "I was picking fruit and Veemon popped out and scared me. I fell and then the others showed up and tied me to a tree. I lost it and used some weird attack that sucked their energy and when I released what I had done I tried to save them. I'm not sure what I did next but I remember their fractal codes glowing in my hands before passing out."

"You're lying. Your not saying something so spill or I will skin you." Fay sat on the edge of a chair and glared at him. Brent looked into her amethyst eyes and felt all the tension he leave him, tension he didn't even know he had.

"I was talking to a voice in my head when I fell out of the tree. And later the voice told me how I could save them and I tore peaces of my own fractal code out and used it to mend theirs." Brent slowly leaned backwards, relaxing more and more as he looked into her slightly pulsing eyes.

"Who is the voice Brent? You know who the voice is and you want to tell me. If you tell me I can help you, we all can help you." Fay stood up on her chair so as to keep her eyes level with his.

"I, I… the voice is…" Brent sat up again as the tension returned threefold. He thought to himself, 'I wasn't going to tell anyone about the voice.' Sitting up again he clenched his fist, "there isn't any voice."

Fay leaned closer to Brent, their faces only inches apart. "Yes there is Brent. Relax and tell me who the voice is. You want me to know and you want to know. Tell me who the voice is."

Brent clenched his fists until he could feel the stylized eyes pressing into his palms. "I don't know who the voice is. There is no voice and I don't know who it is either." His head began to ache and he could feel his temper starting to stir.

"Brent you must tell me who this voice belongs to. Who is this voice speaking to you? Tell me Brent." Fay pressed her command into her voice.

"NO!" Brent lashed out. His boot rising and catching Fay under the chin and sending her flying back over her chair to crash against the clock sitting on the mantle. Fay and the shattered clock fell to the hearthstone but Brent was already moving.

He burst from the living room and pushed past Alex and the five Rookies and out the front door. He started to run then, past surprised digimon and pushing aside those that got in his way. He didn't know what he was doing or why he was running only that he had to go somewhere and think.

A while later he opened his eyes and looked up at the sky through leaf heavy branches, he had climbed up to the observation deck running around the crown of the great tree. He had been lying there for a long while now and no one had come to bother him sense he had shouted at a Gargomon.

He was lying on his back add watching the wispy clouds drift by slowly. "Cats eye hypnotism. That's what she was doing." He sat up slowly. "Why was she hypnotizing me? Did she already suspect I was going nuts? Oh and what a great way to show you aren't, talking to yourself at the top of a tree."

"I thought you where talking to me. Oh well I guess I'll just act as if it is normal to ignore a mega so you can talk to yourself." Brent spun up and around drawing the wooden sword, knowing fully well who was there this time.

"What do you want Beezlamon? Please tell me it's to fight, I could use a good fight right now." Brent shifted the grip on the sword hilt as Beezlamon slowly stood from where he sat against the tree trunk, the trunk being little more than a few feet around so far up.

"No I'm afraid I haven't. I came up here to tell you Fay is fine. You didn't have the spirit filling you so your kick wasn't very strong. She will have a headache for a while but it is her own fault for trying to hypnotize you." He stretched his neck and back, wincing as his back cracked and popped. Brent hadn't released until then just how worn Beezlamon looked.

Brent looked at the green sap clinging to the blade of the sword before sliding it away in its sheath. "At the moment I would rather she felt worse than a headache." He was lying and they both knew it, he had grown strangely attached to Fay.

"Brent I was commanded not to tell you anything but I don't have to fallow commands if I don't wish to, its one of the few great things about being a virus digimon. That voice you have been hearing isn't insanity, it's a super powered spirit that lives within the armor of Fate. Those gauntlets made it a part of you the moment your touched them and the crest around your neck is what makes you hear it." Beezlamon let it all spill out in a single breath.

Brent was looking at the wooden platform beneath his feet from Beezlamon's first words. Still staring at the wooden planks he asked, "Is there some way to get rid of it, the voice I mean."

Beezlamon crossed his arms and watched Brent with all three of his eyes. "No. There has never been anyone who has escaped the spirit before they die. The armor might leave you but the spirit will always be with you until you die. And after you die your soul will be drawn into it and become a part of it, giving it all your strengths and power, stealing your memories."

Brent didn't move for a long while, trapped in a mix of fears and thoughts. "Why me? Why did it choose me, me of all people? I can fight sure as rain, even without the gauntlets making me faster and stronger. But why me, I cant kill anybody. I have never even killed an animal on purpose. I cried for days when I dropped my friend's cat and broke its leg. I can't kill anyone."

Beezlamon shifted his stance, thinking that maybe he should have let Alex come talk to Brent. "You don't have to kill anyone. But you do need to save this world, that's why you are here. You chose to come here and save the world so that it and countless others wouldn't suffer the same fate and the corruption spread. You chose to…" Beezlamon grunted as Brent slammed him into the tree trunk.

Brent glared up into Beezlamon's eyes and squeezed his fists where they griped his jacket, tearing the leather and cutting the skin beneath. "Choose? Choose! I didn't choose this. CHOOSE! I didn't want to be here and nearly dieing every other day. I had no Chouse! The only chouse I had was to come here or to come here. Take your chose and leave me ALONE!"

Brent twisted and flung Beezlamon out over the short guardrail, watching with smoldering eyes as the mega fell. Beezlamon smashed through several limbs before he caught one and hung there as leafs fell around him in green swirls. He looked up once and seeing the smoldering hatred in Brent's eyes began climbing down.

Brent waited until Beezlamon was out of sight before slumping down against the rail and start to cry. He just sat there staring out over the digital world and sobbed, finding that no tears would come. "Why me…"

Fay ---

Fay sat up, only to fall back as her head began to spin. She opened her eyes and squinted at ceiling. "Somebody tell me I'm still asleep." She had expected Alex or somebody sitting nearby but when nobody answered her she made herself sit up.

"Ohhh, hell. What did Brent hit me with?" she griped her head between her paws as it was trying to spin on her neck.

"He kicked you." Fay brought her head up only to moan as the room wobbled and a jolt of pain shot along her forehead.

Palmon came into the room and took a cloth from a basin, ringing it out before pushing Fay back and placing it over her eyes. "You shouldn't have tried that, he is stubborn. Even Veemon is easier to deal with. He isn't going to admit anything to himself, not even who he talks to under his breath."

Fay pushed herself up again, ignoring the pain in her head. "You knew what I was doing?"

Palmon tapped the side of her head, "I don't really have a chouse." She pushed Fay back down again and replaced the cloth. "He is afraid. And that isn't something he is used to so he dose what he always dose, strike out and act tough."

Fay waited for Palmon to say something else but she remained silent so long that Fay felt the need to break the growing silence. "How are you dealing with the whole 'bond' thing? I cant imaging what its like and I don't think I would want to."

Fay felt Palmon hop up onto the bed beside her. "It's strange… I'm not sure how to explain it but it's like having a thought tickling the back of your mind. Sometimes I can feel a strong emotion, like right now he is long past mad, but the rest of the time he is just this little ball of sensation that I could forget if I tried to."

Fay shifted a little, trying to get comfortable. "Have any clear thoughts come through? I mean like what he is thinking."

Palmon re-dampened the cloth and dabbed at the lump forming on Fay's head. "Only little pictures that I don't understand. Some woman, forest trails." Fay felt a tremble in the bed as Palmon gave a shudder. "And there are images of digimon as they are torn apart by a pair of gauntlets."

Fay sat up, forgetting for a moment the pain in her head to wrap her arms around Palmon. "Its ok Palmon. Brent wouldn't do that to anyone, he cant stand to see someone die. He would kill himself if he ever did."

Palmon griped Fay back as tears started from her eyes. "But it isn't Brent." she buried her head in Fay's fur, muffling her words slightly. "It was Fate. He wants to kill. I'm scared of him, I don't wanna die."

"Hush. It ok Brent would never let Fate do that and neither will anyone else." Fay held Palmon and let her cry into her fur. Even if she meant the words she couldn't help but wonder if Brent would be able to stop Fate if it wanted to kill anyone.

After a while Palmon fell asleep and Fay gently tucked her under the covers. After making sure she was asleep Fay crept out of the room and closed the door gently. She was planning to check on the other rookies as well, and hope they were handling it to some degree.

She stepped into the clinic and found total chaos. Alex was wrapped so thickly in bandages that he looked like a Mummymon. And everywhere the rookies where jumping around tossing water balloons at each other. Fay took a step forward to deal with this when a water balloon struck her, drenching her. She blinked the water from her eyes and snatched up the latex glove that had been the water balloon. "STOP THIS AT ONCE!"

Every eye turned toward Fay and a collective gulp was heard. They had gotten a cat digimon wet, and now had no way of escape. Almost as in answer to their silent prayers the door opened and Beezlamon stepped in. the four rookies shot out the open door like a horse from the starting gate.

Beezlamon thought of fallowing them but decided to face the enraged cat, after all it was better than facing Brent. "So you woke up before noon. I guess I owe Alex twenty bucks. Where is Alex anyhow?"

Alex fell over with a great crash as he tried taking a step. Fay stepped over and slashed the bandages with her claws, enjoying the yelps of pain as her claws pricked over skin. "Sorry Alex. I just haven't had time to do my nails lately."

Alex stood and started brushing tattered bandages from his body, ignoring both Fay and the slight scratches she had given him. He turned to Beezlamon, "Brent?"

Beezlamon sat down on a cot, only to stand again because it was wet. "He is sitting up at the top of that giant tree in the middle of town. I think we should leave today, tomorrow at the latest."

Alex adjusted his helmet, "what are you not saying brother?"

Beezlamon started to sit down again but remembered the cot was wet. "He didn't choose to come here. He says he didn't have any chouse at all. He never wanted to come here, he didn't want to save the world."

Beezlamon stood in the silence for a while as they tried to understand what he had told them. Finally he slumped down on the cot, not caring about it being wet, "something went wrong. Every legend and history I have ever seen or heard said that only willing humans could enter the digital world. If Brent is here without wanting to it might not have been just Fate calling him."

Fay sat down with a thump, a part of her mind noticing that her tail no longer hurt her. She stared at her feet, not seeing them as she tried to understand this, "the digital world kidnapped Brent? Just so it would have a hero?"

"I'm afraid it may be worse than that Fay." She looked up at Alex and saw the glint of something on his cheek before he wiped it away. "It could mean that Brent was the best that that other world had to offer. If he were the only chouse he wouldn't be given a chouse. He is the digital worlds only hope and we are his only help. If he fails there won't be another chance. Or maybe… I can't say it is too horrible a thought to utter."

Before Fay could ask what her meant Veemon came charging back into the room, bombarding Beezlamon with water balloons. Beezlamon laughed as he turned and ran after Veemon, laughing and acting as if he had not a care in the world. Fay found herself at the door, watching as Beezlamon was covered over in a flood of rookies. Every rookie in town, and a few adults, had been pulled into the water battle.

Fay found the sight sickly sweet as she thought of Brent sitting up at the top of the great tree contemplating the fate that Fate had forced on him. From the back of her memory came his words, 'I don't believe in fate.'

She looked up, trying to see Brent but only seeing braches and leaves suturing in the wind. She whispered to herself, "I'm sorry Brent but Fate believes in you." She turned and went back inside, not wanting any more happiness right now.

Brent ---

Brent gave a start; he hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep until laughter from below woke him. He looked down and saw glimpses of digimon running around far below, looking like small shapes from so far up. He stayed there watching them and trying not to think.

"So Beezlamon told you. I shouldn't be surprised really, viruses take it as a matter of principal to fallow orders by their own perceptions. So are you ready to admit you are a warrior?" Brent let his head thump against the rail, and then again, and again.

"Go away. I don't want to talk to you." he hit his head against the rail again, trying to strike the voice from his mind.

The wooden rail sudden split as Brent struck it harder than he meant, "stubbornness is a quality I look for in a host but not hard-headedness. Think it through man. I know you didn't chouse this but there wasn't anyone else I could use. That other world just isn't what it once was, fighters of any quality are often cowards after personal gain and most those that are not only want to kill and destroy."

Brent heard the sigh as it echoes around his mind. "You are the best fighter I could find. You don't flinch at pain or run from it, you embrace it as few warriors I have inhabited have. You seek out stronger opponents and challenge them until you are victorious. You fight with whatever is at hand and take any chance to secede. And above all you have morals, real morals. You don't like to fight anyone unwilling to and you fallow the rules until someone else breaks them. You think if ways to help people even at your own cost."

The voice paused for a long time and Brent only knew it was there because of the stuffed felling in his head. "You are a lost bred. I can't remember more than a few men to match you in all those regards. I need you to help save this world. Brent, help me save my home."

Brent stood and started pacing back and forth between the broken rail and the tree trunk. "No", he said it so silently that it didn't leave his mouth. He felt the voice readying itself for another pleading but silenced it with his own, "please. Leave me be. I just want to go home… I want to go home and be with my family."

The voice heard every soft-spoken word and would have shaken its head if it had one to shake. "I cant Brent. Until the world is safe again you are trapped here. You need to help me so I can help you. Even back in your world I will be with you until you die."

Brent stopped pacing, standing there looking down past the broken rail and many braches to the ground far below. "Death, The one thing I can't fight, the one thing I can't embrace because of fear. Death is my only freedom, freedom from Fate."

Brent felt Fate leave his mind, he had finally admitted that Fate had existed but he would never admit that fate controlled all. He began pacing again, back and forth as he ran over his thoughts and laughter was brought to him on the wind from far below.

Narration ---

This is where my journey actually began. Everything leading up to this was little more than adapting to my new life in the digital world. Tomorrow I will tell more of the story but I must rest now. Go my little friend we will talk more later…

Sorry for the shortness but I had a bit of trouble with this chapter, well more than I normally do. I find myself wondering whom the Narrator is talking to? I guess my mind will tell me sooner or later.

"Death, The one thing I can't fight, the one thing I can't embrace because of fear. Death is my only freedom, freedom from Fate." I love that line. Dose anybody know where it is from? I bet you don't.

Review. Please just give me something.