Hey guys, Dr. D76567 here back with the first real chapter of the story. Thank's to everyone who reviewed the prologue (particularry Dark Qivit, for my first review), I hope that you like this chapter too! Before I go any further I realize that I didn't explain the universe of this story in my first A/N, so I'll do so here. It's the pretty much the same as season 2 except the "30 years later" segment never happened and neither did any of the Sorato scenes (dodges sharp metal objects thrown at screen from Sorato fans). Again, I don't own Digimon or the U2 song Stay (Faraway, So Close!) that I loosely based the story on and quote from for time to time. Okay, that's over with! So on with the story!

Chapter 2: No One Around

"Green light, Seven Eleven

You stop in for a pack of cigarettes

You don't smoke, don't even want to

I see you check your change"

It was 3 A.M. as Kari Kamiya lay on top of the covers upon the bottom of a double-leveled bunk bed. Her face was illuminated by the pale moonlight streaming in through the window, the late night sky speckled with the dots of far-off stars. Across her chest lay an open dull-pink book filled with pages and pages of her neat handwriting, slowly moving up and down in synchronization with her deep breath. It was this scene that her brother, Tai was viewing from his current position high above the illuminated skyline of Odaiba.

'That's my sister for you,' he thought to himself in mental response to her most recent entry in the pink book, the letter addressed to him. Slowly, a hint of a small, sad smile formed at the corners of his lips. 'Always one for drama.'

Taking note of the freshly formed tears on her soft, wet cheeks he reflected that this had been the third time this week that she had cried herself to sleep. It was not the least bit comforting to know that all of her problems (her lack of sleep, loss of appetite and complete and total loss of composure) along with everyone else's current woes were all because of him and his sudden unexpected death. It was even less comforting to know that there was nothing he could do to help them through these times. Back when he was the goggle-headed leader of the Digidestined, he always took it upon himself to feel responsible for what happened to the team, for better or for worse. Whenever they had a problem, they had each other to turn to and it always worked out right in the end. However, Tai didn't like the thought of being responsible for all of his friends' recent troubles and not being able to help in any way.

'Why'd it all have to turn out this way?' he mentally asked himself. 'Why did I have to leave everyone behind? Why do I have to be the sole reason behind everyone's problems and not be able to do anything about it? Why couldn't I have stayed just a little bit longer?'

"WHY, DAMNIT WHY?" Angry tears slid down his face. He hadn't meant to yell like that, but what did it matter? It wasn't like there was anyone around to hear him where he was. And even if there were, as far as he knew the only people who could hear the dead speak were locked away in yellow padded cells.

The hot tears drying on his face, he turned back toward his former bedroom, closed his eyes and remembered back to the fateful day that everyone's troubles had begun…

The golden sun shone through the beautiful, blue sky high over Odaiba. There were only a few white, fluffy clouds scattered across the afternoon summer sky, not enough to get in the way of the bright sunlight. Nearby, there was the steady hum of traffic flow coming from the busy intersections during the hectic 12:00 lunch hour. However, from where Tai Kamiya was lazily snoozing in the park in his favorite tree and whiling away the day, there was nothing hectic or busy about the hour.

Just as he had awoken and was considering getting down from the tall oak tree he had been perched in, along happened by a certain helmet-clad brunette who he knew very well.

"Hey Sor," he lopsidedly simpered as he clumsily made his way off of his large, fat branch and touched down on the ground. He grinned as ran his fingers through his messily spiked chocolate-brown hair.

"Hey Tai," she smiled. "What are you doing down here? I thought you said you hadn't finished your summer reading essay yet."

"Ah, well… You see… ," he started as he scratched his head.

"Ohhh, I understand." A playfully sly grin crossed Sora's face. "Old habits, eh?"

"What do you mean by 'old habits?' I'll have you know that I'm mentally preparing myself for the assignment."

"'Mentally preparing?'" she teased. "That's a new one."

"Of course!" Tai retorted, ignoring her last statement. " These things take great care and thought! You can't just blindly jump into these things without having properly conditioned the mind for such a task!"

Sora placed her hands on her hips in the classic "girls know best" stance. "Shouldn't you have been 'mentally preparing' yourself a couple of weeks ago instead of three days before its due?"

"Arghh, who do you think you are, my mother? Anyway, not everyone has to be an insane overachiever and start the day it's assigned!"

Sora put her hand to her mouth in mock disbelief. "What do mean 'overachiever'?"

"Nothing…" Tai muttered under his breath. "Anyway, you never told me what you were doing here," he inquired, quickly changing the subject.

"Oh, I was just on my way to meet Matt, Mimi, Izzy, T.K. and Kari for lunch. We were going to ask you along too, but I assumed that you would be too busy with the essay. And plus," she added, "I wouldn't want to interrupt your 'mental conditioning'"

"It's mental preparation," he nearly inaudibly grumbled. "And of course I'd rather eat with you guys than do some stupid English paper!"

"Ahhh, chronic procrastination as always," sighed Sora as she teasingly rolled her eyes and started off toward where she was meeting the gang for lunch.

"Can we PLEASE talk about something else?" Tai pleaded as he followed in suit of his friend.

As the two friends continued through the park, they passed by what seemed to be hundreds of people blissfully enjoying the afternoon. At the pond, young children were tearing pieces of bread off of their picnic sandwiched and feeding them to the multitude of various ducks swimming in the cool, refreshing water. Passing by one of the park's many grassy hills, they saw some teenagers their age laying down, idly watching clouds blow by. Mothers were pushing recently born infants in baby carriages and bikers and joggers were enjoying this late summer day exercising. All this time, the sun was still shining through the orange-turning tips of the magnificent oak and maple trees, where birds sang out lovely songs as Tai and Sora lightly conversed.

"So why couldn't the rest of the group make it?" Tai posed.

"Well Joe couldn't make it because he said he had a summer class right now that he couldn't miss," Sora replied.

Tai sighed and mopped his forehead. "Figures Joe's the one to miss lunch so he can go to school in the summer."

"Hey, at least he cares about his education, unlike some people…"

Tai face dropped. "For crying out loud! Would you please get over that already?"

Sora smiled. "Sorry, couldn't help myself there."

"Rightttt…"

"Anyway, Davis was at soccer practice and Cody's still in France with his family.

"All right. But what about Ken and Yolei?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. Well we tried calling them, but neither of them were home. So we just assumed that they were off somewhere again."

"Yeah…" Tai pondered. "They sure seem to be together a lot lately."

"Hmmm…" was Sora's response. She, like Tai, appeared to be in deep thought about something.

For a minute, there was an awkward silence between the two companions filled only by the voices of the nearby people and the birds in the trees. It was broken shortly thereafter when Tai cut in with a question.

"Hey, what time did you say you were going to meet them there?"

"Around noon, why?"

"It's 12:15 right now!" Tai exclaimed with a bit of panic as he raced off toward the group's favorite café at which they ate regularly.

"Tai calm down, it's all right!" Sora called out uselessly as she dashed off after him.

"Reminiscing?" asked a voice from behind where Tai had dazed off.

"Huh, Wuh?" Tai asked as he awoke with a start. He turned around, facing a smiling handsome man draped in long, flowing white robes. From appearance, he'd be considered in around his mid twenties in Earth years, with short black hair and a seemingly impossibly lack of any trace of facial hair on his smooth, friendly face.

"You left a lot behind before you left, didn't you?"

Tai didn't answer, but turned back to where his younger sister was restlessly sleeping, tossing and turning on the bottom of his former bunk bed.

"It is understood that you left Earth very abruptly and didn't have time to tie up any loose ends. Also, it is noted that as a direct result of your death, the lives of your friends and family have been uprooted and turned upside down, am I correct?"

Tai slowly nodded, but continued to keep silent.

"Well it has been decided that you will be allowed to return to Earth for a short period of time, to help your friends through their problems and move on with their lives."

Tai was dumbstruck. "Wai… Wuh… What?"

The man in robes smiled. "You're going to return to Earth. However, not in your former physical self. For example, your friends won't be able to see or hear you. If they run into you, they'll pass right through you. However, you will be able to make things happen and to help them in some ways."

"Wait, hold on. What do you mean I'll be able to 'help in some ways' and 'make things happen'?"

"Oh, don't worry. It's kind of complicated to explain, but you'll get the hang of it when you're down there. You return to Earth tomorrow at sunrise. You will stay until either sunrise at this time next week or until you feel that you have helped all of your friends."

The robed man was about to leave when Tai stopped him.

"Hold on, but why are you letting me of all people do this?"

He paused and turned around to face Tai. "Oh, these things happen all of the time." An even bigger smile crossed his face. "Miracles don't happen on their own, you know." He paused again for a second. "Of course, it didn't hurt that you helped save the world at least twice. Good luck on your mission!" And with that the man in white robes disappeared to wherever he was to end up next.

"Thank you!" Tai called after him in all grins. This was the first time that he had smiled since after he had died. He turned back to Odaiba with a look of hope and content written all over his face.

'Looks like I might be able to help after all.'

"If I could stay… then the night would give you up

Stay, and the day would keep its trust

Stay, and the night would be enough"

Now I can just see the reviews right now: "What kind of crazy whacked-out religion is this, D?" and "Come back to Earth? what is this, a Wim Wenders film?" So before you start attacking the religion of sorts in the story (cough cough Vor cough cough Subwoofer), I just want it to be known that for all practical purposes I'm not going yo dwell into the details. All I'm really concerned about is moving the plot along, so that's what I'm going to do. But if any of you have any advice or suggestions besides that (spelling, ideas, anything) feel free to give them! So please review and I'll be back with the next chapter hopefully by Friday the 7th. So until next time!