The Return home: Tale of Survival
A/N: I'm back people, sorry about the super long hiatus. I am sad to report that some stories like, "our brother, our friend" from my digimon creations would not continue, and would probably be torn down, due to lack of ideas and inspiration. While I was gone, I became a US Marine. Upon hearing the accounts of the marines in my unit who've been to Iraq, it has given me some idea to what it was like. Obviously it wasn't pleasant and shouldn't be taken lightly. Disclaimer, I do not own digimon.
Summary: This Fanfic is set in an alternate universe, where the digidestineds (Post Season 2) have moved to the United States during the last few years of high school. The majority of the older boys are in the Marine Corps and were involved in Iraq. Upon returning home, they suffer through flashbacks of the war as their friends and loved ones back home help them through their troubles.
Chapter 2: Homecoming
24 hours before the boys are sent aboard their plane home
Sora hadn't slept those two days, with Tai's well being on her mind. It has been quite hard for her, as she eagerly waited for news about Tai, yet she dreads to hear it as well. The poor girl's eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep. She sniffled as she sat on the foot of her bed, wiping the occasional tear that would stream down her cheeks. "Tai…I really hope you're okay." She said to no one in particular as she thought about him. Biyomon had walked into her room and jumped up beside her. "Sora? You have to eat. You haven't ate anything since you found out about the ambush." Her digimon friend said with concern. "Don't do this to yourself. I'm sure Tai's fine. You know that. We all know that. Remember the adventures we were all in years ago? All the dangerous areas, Tai still continued to trudge through." She tried to comfort her friend. Sora just sniffed a bit, wiping away another tear. "I know. He's really brave and well…lucky." She said as another thought brought more tears to her eyes. Biyomon sighed and said, "C'mon! Snap out of it. You're acting like he's dead! Brighten up! How do you think he will think when he sees you like this?" "I know, Biyo, I know! But I'm afraid…I can't imagine what I would do if he doesn't come back…" Sora said as she buried her face into Biyomon's shoulders, as she started sobbing again. The digimon just closed her eyes briefly as she tried to comfort her friend. "Tai, I really hope you're okay. I don't think Sora can handle the news if you are killed." The digimon thought.
Mimi was pacing back and forth in her living room, staying a good distance near her phone. Sora had called her two days ago and filled her in on what happened to Tai. She too was worried. Not only is she sympathetic of her friend's pain, she was also concerned over her own loved one. "Could Izzy be in that attack? Was he safe?" Mimi was however stronger on the inside. She knew she had to be. "God is watching over them, He won't let tragic things happen to them. I must trust in God that they are in good hands." Mimi thought as she waited for a phone call from Sora or anyone that might fill her in about the boys.
Some hours passed, as Sora woke up. She found herself in her bed, apparently she cried herself to sleep earlier. She was still sad, but she heard what Biyomon had said, and she knew she had to stay strong. True, his health was unknown but she decided that it would be best that she doesn't see things negatively. She smelled something from the kitchen, as she walked towards it. She saw Biyomon was making a meal. The digimon saw her and smiled, "Feel better after that sleep? C'mon, come eat." She said as she placed some food on a plate and placed it on the table. Sora partially didn't want to eat anything, but her hunger was too much to ignore. She sat down and started eating, bringing a smile of relief to her digimon's face. While eating the phone suddenly rang. Sora sat up as she heard it. She quickly swallowed and picked up the phone. "Tai? Tai?" She answered. "Its Kari, Sora. You okay?" came on the other line.
"Tai and the others are alive. They're been injured, but they're alive, that's all the marines told us. They said they're been sent home for home side health care." The word 'alive' brought instant relief to Sora's heart as she listened. "I'm concerned for my brother's health, but as far as we know, there's still hope and that's relief. Their plane is due to arrive in 6 hours, I thought you might want to come along to…" Kari didn't get a chance to finish when Sora said she would definitely be joining them to pick up Taichi and the others. The young woman said goodbye and hung up the phone. Her boyfriend was actually alive. She felt a little bit relieved as Biyomon came in and spoke. "You look like you heard some good news. I told you Tai doesn't die easily." The bird digimon chirped as Sora smiled slightly at the comment. Sora immediately called Mimi and informed her of the good news. Sora heard her friend utter same words of relief. They agreed that they would go together to see the boys return.
Present Day
"IED! IED!" Tai heard as the truck he was riding on was hit by an explosive device beneath them. The force flung him off his seat and onto the street. He winced as he grabbed his right arm, his breathing a little raspy as he tried to shake off the shellshock as he tried to comprehend what is going on. He examined his right arm, realizing its just a minor injury, found his rifle and looked around, surveying the area. Insurgents were rushing down towards them as he aimed his rifle, firing a round or two, taking down a couple enemy guerilla fighters. Finding Izzy, he saw his friend trying to crawl out of the wreckage he was stuck in. As he watched, he suddenly saw Izzy being struck down. "No! Izzy!" He said as he ran to his friend. Checking for a pulse, he found none. An enemy round had instantly killed him. "No…No!" Tai cursed out loud as he got up a bit later, unable to save his friend. He saw Matt was taking cover behind his downed hummer, occasionally popping up to take shots with his rifle at the enemy.
Tai wanted to go to his friend but before he could do so, he watched in terror as Matt too was struck down with enemy fire and laid on the ground bleeding. Tai popped from cover and fired a burst of rounds before rushing to Matt's side. He saw Matt clutching his chest, bleeding profusely. "Matt, stay with me, you're going to be okay." Tai said worriedly as he frantically tried to stop his friend's bleeding. Matt looked like he was about to give in. "I'm so sorry Tai, I made a promise to Sora that I would watch your back, but I can't even watch mine." Ishida said, as he coughed up some blood. "Matt, you're going to be okay. Stop talking like that. You are not going to break that promise. Stay with me!" "Sorry bro…" "Matt! Damnit! No!" Tai yelled, as tears streamed down his face. He couldn't believe his eyes, seeing another friend slip thru the jaws of death. Anguish and anger came over him as he took a grenade, flung it towards the direction of enemy guerillas. Waiting for the explosion to pass, he then got out of cover and started charging towards the enemy, screaming at the top of his lungs, and firing his weapon at every enemy he can. He winced as a round struck him in the leg, but he kept charging on and firing his weapon. He then got shot again, and again, bleeding from almost every area of his body. He kept trying to push on, but wasn't able to continue. He dropped to his knees, trying to squeeze off another round before the pain claimed him. Lying on his back, his breath raspy and erratic as life was slipping away, he heard what seemed to be Arabic being spoken near him. He watched helplessly as an insurgent, his face covered by a cloth mask, started to approach him. The enemy cursed at Tai in Arabic before raising his AK 47 and aimed towards Tai's face. Tai closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable. "Pop."
Tai woke up with a start, covered in sweat. He felt all over himself with his hands, finding he was actually okay, except for his wounded leg. He checked his surroundings and realized he was on the plane. He let out a sigh of relief as he realized that it was just a nightmare. He looked over to his right, and found Matt and Izzy sleeping peacefully in their seats. He looked out the window to his left with a sigh. "Man, I'm glad I'm out of there though. But those other marines back there. I hope they will be okay." He thought as he watched the dark sky outside as the plane soared above the Pacific. He looked at the on screen monitor at the GPS, and noted their position. They had switched planes earlier between a few stops across Europe and Asia. The plane wouldn't be due to land in San Diego for a few more hours. He remembered the day they moved there with most of the gang, most of them going there to study for school. It wasn't a bad city at all. He liked it, reminded him of Odaiba. He sighed and tried to go back to sleep. After a few minutes, he slipped back into sleep, as the plane gradually closed the gap to home.
Sora sat in one of the seats in the van they rode in. Takeru had rented it, to help carry the passengers who wanted to go see the boys are they returned, as well as guaranteeing that they will have room for Tai to get sit, if he could. Takeru drove the van towards the airport, after picking up Mimi from her house. He turned and got on the interstate, jumping into the carpool lane. "I hope they're okay." Takeru said, particularly worried about his brother. Kari just smiled at him from shotgun. "I'm sure our brothers are fine. They're coming home by commercial flight…that's got to mean they're doing pretty good." "I sure hope so." Sora said from the back. "Well, we're almost there." Takeru said as he took the exit and drove towards the main entrance, passing by the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. The training depot was literally just next door to the airport. Quite literally, a fence separates the facilities.
After a few minutes of finding a place to park, the group moved towards the arrival terminal. They waited there as Takeru checked the monitor. "They're on time. They're landing in a few minutes now." He said as he held Kari's hand. "Stop worrying so much, they're going to be fine." He said as he tried to comfort his girlfriend. Kari leaned into his shoulder as they watched the entrance way. Sora and Mimi shared the same look on their faces as they anticipated their arrival, gingerly looking at every person that walked out from the gates into the arrival lobby.
The plane had landed finally. Tai woke up when the plane hit the runway. He was first wondering where he was at again. The captain came on the intercom a moment later, and informed the passengers that they have landed in San Diego airport, and are now getting off the runway and towards the gate designated to them. "Home." He said to himself as he watched Matt and Izzy awake in their seats. "Slept well?" Izzy said as he noticed Tai was awake. "Yea, sorta. How you'd sleep?" "Not very well, the pain meds wore off for me. My leg started hurting a few minutes ago, kept me awake. "We'll get you some soon man. Don't worry." Matt said to his friend as he then looked over to Tai. "We're finally home. Just some time ago, we were here, taking off to Iraq." Matt said as he looked out the window. "Yea, I know. I didn't expect us to come home like this." Tai said. Izzy interrupted suddenly, "Beats coming home in a box!" he spoke with a sigh. Tai was about to say something, but Izzy interrupted him "I know, I'm sorry, it isn't something to joke about…I guess the stress got to me." Tai just sighed, "That's okay Izzy, we're all on edge after what happened. At least we should be thankful we're okay."
Tai got some help into his wheelchair again and rolled out of the gate. He turned the wheel chair around and watched Matt pushed Izzy around in his wheelchair and off the plane. "I wonder if our families are expecting us." Tai said to the other two as they came closer to him. "I don't know, but I think they are. Let's go." Matt said, pushing Izzy towards the exit. Tai followed in his wheelchair, rolling it forward beside Izzy. The trio was finally home.
Sora watched anxiously as person by person walked through the exit area. Finally, she caught eye of someone familiar. It took her some time to recognize him as Matt. He was so tan, and he looked so rugged. She noticed that he was pushing someone in a wheelchair. She gasped to herself, as she wondered, is that Tai in the wheelchair? She looked that way, and saw someone else in another wheelchair, rolling himself towards the exit. She felt her heart ache a little as she recognize him. Poor Tai was in a wheelchair, she felt sad and yet relieved at the same time. At least he's not in any worse of a condition. Or so she thought. She called out, "Tai!" As she ran towards the exit area, while the others were alerted to the trio's arrival and followed her.Sora saw Tai more clearly as she got closer. He looked really tired, and he looked like he's seen a lot of things happened around him. "My poor Tai. What happened to you?" She thought as she called out his name again. "You're okay!"
Tai was quite pleasantly surprised when he heard his name being called. He saw Matt look up from a conversation with Izzy as they moved down the hallway when they heard Tai's name being called. Tai looked towards the direction where it came from to see a tear filled Sora running towards him. "You're Okay!" came out of her mouth as she kneeled quickly beside his wheelchair and wrapped her arms in an embrace with him, lying her head against his chest. "I was so worried, Tai! I didn't know if you were alive!" She cried out, tears of relief flowing down her cheeks. "Sora…" Tai spoke softly as he returned the embrace with his arms, kissing her softly on her forehead. "Sora…" he muttered again, unable to find the words to say, as emotion overwhelmed him as he closed his eyes and held her in the embrace, cherishing the moment. A small tear began to stream from his closed eyes as he held her, enjoying the reunion with the one he loved. "Baby…don't cry, I'm sorry if what happened scared you." He managed to utter a moment later, while running his fingers through her hair as she remained in the embrace.
While Tai and Sora were together, Mimi had also ran over to Izzy's side and was sharing a kiss with him. The two of them broke the kiss as Mimi started to shed a tear. "I'm just glad you're back safe. Honey, what happened, how are you feeling?" She asked as she brushed aside her hair as she took one of Izzy's hands and placed it against her cheek. The young red haired boy could only smile as he reassures her that he's going to be overall, all right. "It just hurts every now and then." He said, seemingly ignoring the pain in his leg, despite complaining about it without end just minutes ago. Izzy pulled Mimi back in for another kiss. Stopping the kiss, the two enjoyed their reunion with the others.
Matt watched the pair of couples share their tearful reunions and saw his younger brother walking towards him with Kari in tow. Matt smiled and walked over, pulling his brother into a hug. They let go a moment later as Matt then hugged Kari for a second. "How has TK been treating you?" He said, as he released from the hug a moment later. Takeru just smiled sheepishly as Matt asked that question. Kari just blushed. "I take that as 'great' then." Matt said as he laughed with them. Matt looked back at Tai, watching him continue to run his finger's through Sora's hair as he held her. "I promised you I watch his back and bring him home in one piece, Sora. But it seems that he brought me home alive and safe instead. He does deserve you to be by his side." He thought as he then smiled contently.
A/N: And that's the end of the Chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next chapter, as the boys began their transition back home, overcoming the first hurdles of recovery. James Out!