Chapter 4
Ten years later
A young man walked past the graves to one lonely grave near the end of the cemetery.
A soft wind blew and lifted some of his bangs into his eyes, but the young man didn´t pay attention to the strands of hair as his brown eyes were fixed onto the small grave he was approaching.
His brown eyes were clouded in sadness and such pain that it was a miracle no tears were shimmering in them.
A trembling hand was lifted and gently traced the letters written on the tombstone for eternity.
The other hand took out a red rose and pulled the steed leaves off to let them fall into the letters.
It was like the earth around the tombstone lived up, many kind of flowers surrounding the stone like they wished to protect the one who should lay there.
The brown-haired man looked up as different kind of animals found their way their way towards him.
He knew they were coming to visit their missing friend too.
His love loved animals and flowers, was good for them and now they were good for him, even if they didn't know where he was.
Beauty searched for beauty.
Ten years ago, that's when his world had tumbled down.
When Izzy had been locked into the Digital World.
They had tried to search for their lost friend, but the Digiworld refused to give them access any longer.
After five years their friend was pronounced death and this grave made.
A body was never found, but that not matter to the government.
He could still see the reactions of Izzy's parents when the police told them that there was nothing they could do and their only child was unlikely to ever return home again.
The others of their little group all reacted differently. Ken, Davis, Sora and Mimi just went on with their lives.
T.K., Yolei and Cody all missed him but had moved on as well.
Kari and Matt were still upset like him, but even they had eventually let go.
Joe stopped caring and lost his interest in medicine and studying. He was like a lost puppy, waiting for his friend to come and take him home.
He himself had stopped living the moment that gate had closed, the moment he had lost Izzy.
After a while their group had fallen apart, all of them leaving in smaller groups or on their own.
He had been their heart and soul, the anchor that held them together.
Even if they had never truly noticed.
But he knew that Izzy still had to be alive and he would never stop searching and hoping for his return.
Brushing his hands on the side of his pants he rose from his crouched position and walked back the way he had come.
At the beginning of the path he turned once more before sighing and walking away again.
'Here lies Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi. Beloved son and friend.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Matt's P.O.V.
Ten years had gone by and he just forced to keep himself going.
Not trying to give a darn and just go on with his life.
Like most of the others did.
What could he do about it anyway, not much...except to not lose hope.
Although he knew very well that no matter what he did he wouldn't be able to get him back.
But he would never give up, he had sworn to help him and he had failed.
Not for himself, not even for the others, but for Tai.
He had never known and probably never would have found out if there hadn't been a big grey flag shoved into his face.
He was surprised about the fact that he'd never seemed to realise what was going on with the ones closest to him, until something happened.
Only now did he truly know it had been Izzy who had kept them grounded together all this time.
He had never known how much one person was capable of doing for so many people.
Izzy had done a lot of good in his young life; even if all Matt had ever thought him to do was sit behind his computer screen all day long.
He would never have guessed that the same computer nerd he thought he knew so well was also a big animal lover.
Or that he had special powers that only Gennai and Tai had known about, and refused to talk about.
Which made him think that the boy wasn't dead, but captured by Arukenimon for her personal gain.
But all he had was this theory and that was worthless to the police, for if he would ever reveal everything about the Digiworld, then he'd only be locked up.
So he held up a mask for the others, while inside he cried for the life lost.
Sora's pov
She didn't like thinking about it, not even for a second for she knew that if she let him into her thoughts she'd lose her sanity.
She saw what his loss did to Tai and Joe and she didn't want to go through the same thing, knowing she'd be unable to handle it.
Those two boys were in so much pain that it stopped their functioning.
She had worked too hard to get the life she had no to lose it, she couldn't afford it.
She just pushed it all down, knowing the others were ripping apart inside.
She'd just push it down, no matter what, it wouldn't get to her.
Ken's pov
He felt like he hadn't a right to cry as most of the others, for he hadn't known him well.
The short times they had truly spent time together was when Arukenimon and Mummymon had captured them all, and even that period was a gigantic blur to him.
He knew all the others from their many adventures in the Digital World, but Izzy never joined them.
He supported them from the outside, guarding the gate for them and having their backs so he could send out help when needed.
He hadn't questioned why he never came with them until it was too late.
It was his fault Izzy was gone.
If he hadn't called for help then Izzy wouldn't have been forced to come and nothing would have happened.
But even as that flashed through his mind, a small voice informed him he couldn't have prevented it.
At some point they would have found him anyway, no matter what.
And he had to keep that in mind, for he had no right to cry.
Mimi's pov
She did not cry, at least not in public.
Only in the shadow of the night when no one could hear her she would allow herself to cry her heart out.
She shouldn't care, after all she and Izzy had never actually been very good friends.
She hated how the boy could ignore her so thoroughly when absorbed in his computer.
She had never known that he was so much more than an ordinary computer nerd.
She also never knew about Tai and Izzy's 'bond'
First she had thought it was because she lived in America.
But she realised soon after that almost none of the others really knew Izzy either even if they saw each other so often.
Only Joe and Tai had been close enough to know him well, to know the real Izzy.
It made her wonder how they could still breathe.
She didn't want to feel the pain they had felt when they had lost him, which they were still feeling and ignored everything on her pad blocking out every single emotion that made her think of him.
She just went on losing hope and continued life like in a shadow.
T.K's pov
He wouldn't cry, he wouldn't, couldn't.
He had to be strong for Kari and Cody, to be able to dry their tears.
He didn't want to think about him, about the friend they had lost.
The pain was so great and he had to be strong.
Strong for those who were in more pain than him.
He shouldn't be allowed to cry.
For he hadn't known Izzy the way they had known him.
He had only seen a computer nerd, like most of the others.
Not the person he was in reality.
He had only seen the mask that the redhead had shown to them.
Joe's pov
The pain was so strong he thought his heart was going to be torn apart.
But there was no mercy like that.
He couldn't believe he wasn't there anymore.
It just seemed so unreal.
He shouldn't have been there in the first place.
He knew that there was a reason why Izzy never went with them to the Digiworld.
But he would never have guessed that the evil Digimon would want him so badly that they would try to kill everybody else just to lure him out.
He knew that his friend was still alive, somehow he just knew.
Sometimes at night he could hear him calling out to Tai.
Asking for help and forgiveness.
Forgiveness for not listening to him.
He called out to them and no matter what happened he was not letting his friend down.
He and Tai both knew Izzy was alive and they wouldn't rest till they had found him.
Cody's pov
It hurt to think about it.
It was so easy to blame Ken for all that had happened but deep inside he knew that if Ken hadn't called for Izzy they would have found another way to get what they wanted.
The Digidestined of Faith.
Only after he disappeared had they found out what Tai and Izzy were hiding from them.
For the protection of Izzy they didn't tell them, but still.
If they had known then Ken would have never called for Izzy to help them.
He missed the older boy so much.
It was like after losing his father he also lost his big brother.
Kari' pov
She wanted to grieve, she really did but somehow she couldn't get herself to believe that he was really gone.
It couldn't be.
Sometimes late at night she could feel Izzy calling out for help to her brother.
His pleads were so full of fear and pain.
Pleads that sounded like a broken record, like he wasn't even aware anymore that he cried out to her brother.
Calling her brother's name over and over again like he did not have the strength to say anything more.
He asked for forgiveness sometimes.
Forgiveness for not listening to him, for disappointing him.
She would go to Tai's room on those nights and listen to the sound of Izzy's voice she could somehow hear.
For she knew that as long as she heard his voice he was still alive somewhere and there was still hope.
Davis' pov
He felt bad.
So bad.
He didn't understand the way everybody felt.
How he felt.
He didn't like this feeling at all but he had no way to get away from it.
He knew some of the others still believed that he was alive.
Somewhere trapped but still alive.
He didn't understand how one person could mean so much too so many people.
For all he knew was that the redhead was just a boy like them.
Why did they want him so badly?
What power did he have that was so different from theirs?
Why…why was he so special?
He didn't know and he hated not to know how to help the ones he cared for.
He hated that he did not know how to help himself.
Yolei's pov
Why…why had it happened?
Why to someone she cared for.
Why not to some stranger, why not to her instead of him.
She knew it was foolish to think that way but she couldn't stop herself.
She continued to live but felt so lonely.
She had never known how much that one boy meant to her.
How much he had actually taught her while she never even realised.
How much faith he had given her in herself.
He was her best friend she knew now.
She lost her best friend and she didn't like it at all
Tai's pov
He did not know what to do with his live now that his love had been taken away from him.
He never even knew how close Joe and Izzy really were until this happened.
He never knew how much Izzy meant to all of them before this happened.
He never knew how much he truly loved the young redhead.
Or that he and Kari were such good friends.
But what he did know was he was still out there somewhere...alive.
At night he could see Izzy calling out to him in his dreams.
He would always run to reach his friend but would never make it.
He'd always be further away than he could run.
In daytime he could sometimes hear Izzy's voice calling his name too.
Izzy's pleads kept him going, the knowledge that he was still alive kept him going; to search for him was his only goal.
Never would he rest until he had found him.
No matter what happened he wouldn't give up.