Sometimes, being a Digidestined could be very, very lonely.

Oh, there was always a digimon partner to ease it, but there are many forms of loneliness, Sonya thought idly as she looked at her sleeping Patamon. Sometimes, like now, the digimon could be in her arms and yet she was lonely still. Russia was a place, she mused, for thinking. Or at least, it had been ever since she became a Digidestined. Ever since she found out that in some places, there were whole teams of digimon and humans who protected their country, and yet there was only three in her own country.

Well, no, Sonya thought, her brown eyes contemplative, there were more, in Siberia. But they were thousands of miles away. It had taken two years after they got their digivices to figure out that their Siberian Digidestined were not a myth.

Sometimes, somedays, Sonya, Yuri, and Anna were so busy that there was no time to feel lonely. Those were the days, Sonya thought with a flip of her long blonde hair, that would never be again. Now that the secret was out, now that the world knew about digimon, those days were just gone. The days of hiding their digimon in their backpacks and making inside jokes were impossible now. The Japanese Chosen had decided to open up the digital gates and let everybody through. And true, the world was working a lot smoother with digimon partners. But now, people mobbed the Digidestined in the streets.

"HOW do you get your digimon to digivolve?"

"Is it true you got your digimon when you were five!"

"Children should not carry such dangerous creatures!"

School was even worse. Sonya had once been fairly popular – well, she had lots of people who she counted as friends, anyway, though there was always that clicky group that hated her. But now, she had to deal with two things she'd never had to before: A group fangirls and a group of serious haters. Yuri had it worse than her; the other boys avoided him like the plague, and nearly every day some girl was knocking on his apartment door. Half the time, he just pretended he wasn't there. Anna had it the very worst. She was both blonde, blue eyed, and digidestined. The whole school was against her. Viciously so, even. And that was when the loneliness set in.

When had they changed, Sonya wondered. When had they become so… mature? Back when they first got their digimon, the three Russian digidestined would have killed for this big a following. So when, over the course of time, had they figured out that there was more to life?

Sonya sighed. She knew when it had happened. Really, it was hard not to. The day they had met Sora and Yolei, the day that they'd fought off the darkness, suddenly things had changed. They'd always known it was serious, yes, but now it was life-or-death. And suddenly things were put in perspective.

That was when Sonya had become lonely. To know that she had fought off something so evil, even with help, was amazing. Never before had she appreciated the power that the purple digivice on her hip represented, or the power that the symbol of Love on there really held. Sometimes, it left her breathless to think of the possibilities. She, Yuri, and Anna. The protectors of Russia. The Digidestined.

There was a sense of difference between her and normal people now. A sense of 'they don't know what its like' mixed with a sense of 'I wonder what that's like?'. In a crowd, Sonya could still not escape the stares. The soft uttering of "That's her, that is Sonya Veferoff." Even in the over crowded places of Moscow, she could not hide. And to think, some people thought that in big cities, there was no sense of identity.

It was like being inside a glass box on display. The looks, the stares! Not a one of the haters knew what it was like to fly three hundred feet in the air at breakneck speed, following orders given by a girl who did not speak the same language. It was as if suddenly, Sonya had grown up even as she broke down. Why had she ever found insulting others fun? What good was fretting over clothes, anyway? But the more these thoughts made sense to her, the less it made to the other kids. They shunned her; they worshiped her.

Thank God for Patamon.

He was her little light in the dark. Now that he could be out in public, he always flew to meet after school. Sure, he couldn't dispel all the problems of the day, but he made things bearable. Lighter, even. Somehow, the cold of the glares and the chill of the wind were gone the second he perched on her head. Patamon was there for her. When she was in trouble, when things were good, or when things were just plain weird, Sonya always had her partner.

So maybe, she wasn't really lonely.

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Author's Note: Wow. This turned out really weird, and it makes no sense. I just thought that the international digidestined needed more coverage.

Anyway, if you like it, review, if you don't, flame correctly – good grammar isn't required, but spelling is! XD

Never saw the point in grammar, anyway…