A/N: Should focus more on my other nano projects too...

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Wish Journeys 1.1
Three Brothers

Chapter 15/Kouji

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He really couldn't understand how someone could let themselves be strung along like that, but Angemon explained the possibilities and some of them were quite frightening. If he was weak willed – well, that was his own fault and his own problem. If he was heartbroken – unfortunate timing, and he could be a tad sympathetic there because his heart had broken too when he finally understood his mother wasn't coming back. And when his father had remarried. That was before he'd locked that part that always got hurt away.

And then there was the totally unhelpable part like he'd gotten really sick with something, like cancer, or into some kind of accident that affected his brain or anything vital. Or he was born that way. Though he supposed even accidents could be prevented to some degree. But not looking before crossing the road was a small sin that could have quite a large price to pay.

If it was an attempted suicide attempt, then no sympathy at all.

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He went back to Seraphimon's castle and retrieved the sphere of light as thanks. Seraphimon also told him that Ofanimon, the last of the trio, had given her sphere to the other warrior.

That wasn't really relevant information to Kouji. It wasn't a race because the only sphere he needed now was the fire sphere and the other warrior already had that one.

But trying to find a place that would have a sphere like that would be a pain.

Seraphimon couldn't think of anywhere off the top of his head, but he did suggest Mount Metorashi. Kouji, having no better leads, decided he may as well try.

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It was a trek back through that damn forest, but this time he avoided the burnt area. Nobody recognised him. They didn't seem concerned with a human passing through their midst anyway. They were rebuilding. And they seemed perfectly happy in their rebuilding.

Kouji listened and heard nothing of use. And he talked to no-one.

Especially not when he got to the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs. Because there was a duo there that sounded like they wouldn't be able to find their way out of bed.

But he finally found Mount Metorashi…on the other side of a desert.

It would be a long walk.

And it was midday. The worst time to start walking in a desert.

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He waited until it was evening before he started walking. He decided to sleep in that time, just in case the walk took all night. Mount Metorashi wasn't a volcano like the one in the Land of Fire, but it was barren like the desert and didn't sound appealing at the least while the sun was out.

But it also wouldn't be a good idea to cross after dark. Luckily, Kouji knew there was a village near the foot of Mount Metorashi. He'd hopefully get there before the desert was too cold, and then wait until dawn to walk again.

He arrived in the village as planned, and they were kind creatures. Offered food and a place to sleep…even if that place was in what looked to be a shipwreck. Kouji ate the funny green stuff along with what meat apple he still had saved, and spent the night with those strange pink birds.

When the sky turned orange, he headed out to climb Mount Metorashi, but already he expected to find nothing there.

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The things that called themselves biyomon bid him farewell. They were such simple creatures. They saw no danger at all. And maybe, for them, there was no danger to see. Just their own kin. Just the sparse visitors that passed their way. That was how big their world was.

In such a place, he'd expect loss to be keenly felt but the biyomon said creatures like them, digimon, didn't really die. He supposed he should have expected that as well. It was a dream land after all.

He climbed the mountain. And like he'd expected, he made it to the top before midday, before the sun burnt him to a crisp. And he met another molten zombie there, except this one was blue. And could talk. And said he'd never heard of the spheres, let alone seeing one inside the mountain. And he sounded so genuinely confused, Kouji didn't think to doubt him.

He sighed. It was another dead end. He asked instead for other places with a strong affinity to fire and received an equally blank look.

He turned around, and this time he walked down the mountain with the sun on his back.

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His armour was more or less enough to protect him, but he still had to soak in the biyomons' well to rid himself of the aches. It was careless. And still not realistic; he was sure he'd have blisters under the armour but instead there was nothing. Either they had never come or the water had taken them away.

It just confirmed the notion of a dream, and made him feel a little foolish, crossing this vast world looking for a sphere that probably wouldn't grant him what he wanted from it.

He wondered, where else could he go to find the sphere of fire?

Because…there couldn't not be another one. There just couldn't.

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He didn't see nor hear anything about the other two Chosen that day. He wondered if they'd gone back, through the Gate. Or maybe they'd found all five and had gone to stand before the Goddess of Fortune and demand their wish.

He didn't care. As long as they didn't get in his way again. And they shouldn't. They both had their fire spheres, unless there were more Chosen he hadn't met, and there probably were. His dream would throw a whole bunch of obstacles in his path, wouldn't it?

He arrived at a hotspring by that evening and he decided to spend the night there. Part of him wondered if there'd be a sphere there, but there wasn't. There was nice warm water, a different sort of break from the stream, and eggs. Eggs which looked and tasted perfectly normal, which was somewhat of a miracle in that world.

He made himself some scrambled eggs and ate dinner by the steam. It was a little bit lonely, but that was okay. He was used to loneliness. He didn't mind it. Until his father remarried, he'd eat alone when his father was busy with work, or the rare time he went out with his friends or on a date. Those were rare, because he didn't like leaving Kouji alone. It was laughable at times, because he was alone anyway. But in other ways it was touching. It was a sign that his father cared.

But still, he'd been alone. He hadn't bothered with friends because they had to move too many times. He didn't bother with Satomi either because, by the time he met her, he was used to being alone and she was just invading his space. Particularly when she married his father. He'd grown accustomed to not having a mother by then. And if he was going to have a mother, he'd take his real one and no-one else.

But even though he'd accepted his mother was dead, he'd never really let go of her. He only had one photo. No momentos. No memories. His father shared little as well; he said the memories were too painful. And maybe they were. Maybe his father's way of coping was to move on. But Kouji was too young to move on. And he…didn't want to move on.

He wanted, at some point when he decided Satomi was not like a mother should be and all the kids at school laughed because no-one came to him on parents day because his father was too busy and he didn't have a mother (this was before Satomi came along because she came to his parent days and he ignored her while she was there and then threw a fit afterwards), to meet his real mother. Maybe even live with her. Maybe have always lived with her and her father, like a proper family, settled down somewhere instead of half a family moving all the time and trying to put band-aids on something that was broken.

He could only get that wish in dreams, and that's why he chased it.

He moved away from the spring in the morning. He didn't have an idea yet, but hopefully the new day would give him a hint.