DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).


CHAPTER 18

Her Daughter


REAL WORLD

Shinjuku General Hospital

12:55 JST

4th July 2010

"Mari?" DarkRenamon asked, materialising on the roof of the hospital. Mari leaned on the concrete barrier around the edge of the roof, the glum gray dull block not heightening her spirits at all. DarkRenamon walked over to her partner as she glanced up, displaying the few tears running down her face. "Are you okay?"

"No…I'm not…" Mari answered sadly, looking down to the streets below. "I've…I…I've never really felt like I've belonged anywhere since my parents died, and then there was Ryder, and I suddenly felt I had someone to belong nowhere alongside…and…I was happy…and then fate has to come and take that away from me…I would do anything to stop him dying…"

"Bargaining…" Dr Imai muttered, as she walked from the roof building across to the girl, frowning. The girl glanced up to her, sadly. "You're going through the five stages of grief…Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance…" she informed, standing next to the girl on the other side to her partner.

"Great, so there's a system now…" Mari muttered.

Dr Imai frowned, Mari was descending quickly into the next stage, and this was always a worrying one. Particularly since they were standing on a roof. She looked to the girl, considering her history. She acted so…out-of-place…like she was in a foreign world. She did seem American and hence a significant distance away from home, but she seemed far more out of her depth. Hospitals left most people out of their depth though, so her mood wasn't completely unexpected.

The girl's shoulder-length red-brown hair was ruffled by the gentle wind whipping across the rooftops, she wiping it away from her eyes as she continued to stare out glumly on the city, the one that it seemed that Ryder would die to protect, as he had always seemed to act. But he hadn't had to die to protect it, it had been but a mere twist of fate, a cruel show of destiny's true forces, despite its human (well, close enough) persona in Rey.

Dr Imai frowned, leaning on the same concrete barrier as the teenager and looking out on the city herself, the muffled sounds of cars and a thousand voices talking below.

"I'm not going to pretend to understand your situation…it probably has about a thousand things in it that you can't tell me for some reason or another but…I think…you just need to talk it all through with someone…I could arrange you grief counselling, but I think one of your friends would be a better option in your case…"

"Hmm…" Mari pondered sadly, looking to the older woman. "Who exactly?"

"I am not sure…"

Mari frowned, looking down at the road again, a small traffic jam building up. She glanced to the woman next to her, unsure whether she wanted an answer to her next question. "Dr…"

"Call me Fumiko, okay?"

Mari nodded, looking back to the woman. "Fumiko…be honest with me here…do you think he's going to survive?"

Dr Imai paused, considering how to respond. On the one hand, she could lie; tell her that she thinks he was going to survive, doubtless of the truth she knew from reading the chart, and from her own observations and experience. Ryder had taken not only torso damage, but also head trauma and he'd broken bones in his legs to boot. Even if he were to awake, he could've lost all his memories, or be in hospital for a few weeks yet until his injuries healed. Doubtless, she knew that upon leaving the hospital, he'd need crutches for at least a few weeks.

But…she had this girl's trust. Even despite her own doubts that she would take the news well, she knew that she couldn't break that, be the girl a patient or not. The girl looked curiously to her, nervousness also in her features, as Fumiko paused in thought.

"No…"

Mari frowned, looking back to the street. "Thanks…for the truth…" she said sadly, beginning to turn, before feeling something weigh down on her hand and pausing, looking back to the doctor.

"Mari…look…you really need to talk someone…because…you can have all the hope in the world he'll survive, and frankly, you're right to hope that…but…if that hope is crushed…you need someone there for you…"

Mari frowned, looking down to the concrete roof. "I thought I did…I had Ryder…but…you're right…I'm just not sure who to talk to…" she answered, turning to lean on the concrete wall facing the roof building, ignoring the slight pain as she pressed her palms into it. Fumiko turned to match, frowning. She'd only seen a small selection of Mari's friends, and she wasn't really sure who she would be best able to talk to.

Rika? No…she had her own problems right now, and she'd probably unfortunately end up making things worse, particularly with her mood swings.

Takato? Maybe, he did seem to be able to reassure Rika earlier on down in her surgery, but it could be too much to weigh on him, particularly since he would currently be preoccupied with thinking about his oncoming fatherhood.

Rey? She did seem somewhat close to Mari, but also seemed distant in the way they acted towards each other. Both seemed concerned about Ryder, and there was some connection between them.

One of the two who had arrived earlier before heading away when they begun the surgery? She hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to them, they had had to leave pretty soon after, and they suggested that Mari had a large group of friends. She hoped that at least one of them would be suitable for the girl to talk to about this matter.

She glanced to her side again, noting the black Kitsune standing respectfully nearby, watching intently the proceedings, a look of concern oddly irradiated from her green orbs. "Maybe your partner…"

Mari glanced up, looking to DarkRenamon, who frowned and shook her head.

"I'm afraid that I would not be an aid in this matter…it is not my area of experience…I will stand alongside Mari however…"

Fumiko nodded, as Mari smiled weakly to her partner, the best she could do considering her turbulent emotions. Mari turned to Fumiko. "Thanks…" she said respectfully, turning and walking back towards the roof building, the doctor watching.

A thought crossed the older woman's mind, and she caught Mari's attention. "Mari…" she said, the girl pausing and turning.

"Yes?" Mari asked.

"Probably not my place to pry, but who exactly is Ivy?" she asked, immediately regretting her question.

Mari frowned sadly, unfortunately reminded of another problem she would have to rectify if Ryder were to recover. "I honestly have no idea…" she replied. Dr Imai nodded, watching as DarkRenamon bowed in respect and followed her partner into the stairwell.

Dr Imai leaned on the concrete wall, sighing and looking to the sky. She'd had to deal with plenty of problems in her time as a doctor, but this was the most concerning, and somewhat mysterious one ever. Questions, from who is Ivy to why did Ryder freeze up crossed her mind, her stress not helped by having to think about Rika as well.

She stood up, frowning as she walked across to the roof building. She was a doctor, and she'd have to help in whatever way she could.

She only hoped she could help at all.


13:05 JST

"Huh?" Kari pondered, as they arrived in the waiting room.

"Where is everyone?" Davis asked, looking around, frowning.

"Yeah, we don't know where the room is…" Veemon complained.

"You think they'd leave someone behind to tell us where to go…" Gatomon complained.

"Maybe they just got distracted by something?" Kari suggested.

Davis nodded, looking to the various corridors leading away from the room. "Yeah…but where do we go to look for them?"

Kari paused, looking around with her hand on her chin, as the other three in their group did the same.

"That way!" they all called, pointing in completely different directions, before sweatdropping.


13:07 JST

Takato breathed deeply, his oddly fast pace still being no match for the fox, the only reason he'd been able to keep up so far being a flash of her (well, he presumed that, maybe it was a boy…or maybe Renamon had shrunk…he wasn't sure why though, but madder things had happened to them) yellow tails as she whipped into another corridor, or down a stairwell. She also seemed to have a habit of running into medical trolleys, only slightly missing them on occasional, but it was enough to give Takato difficulty while he avoided the fallen over trolleys with the surprised medical personnel.

The fox panicked; somehow this boy was managing to keep up with her. It was what she least expected, even with the fact he doubled up as Chaos, a constituent of a God. At this rate, she'd never get to apply her perception filter before he caught up on her, and this hospital was full of obstacles to boot. She had tried to lose him by turning a corner many times, but to no avail.

Takato frowned as the fox leapt to one side, into yet another corridor, quickly following after. "Hey, stop!" he yelled, pausing as he noticed that she had stopped, alongside the vending machine Chaos had broken, as she carefully picked up a can in her mouth. "Um…can we talk?" he asked, bending down and trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

Fat load of good it did, as the Digimon turned and ran, Takato quickly pacing after, wondering periodically if chasing whatever it was was actually making the situation worse. He turned into another corridor, stopping as he recovered his breath. He frowned as the creature ran out of sight.

"She got away…" he complained, standing up again.

"Well done Gogglehead, you were beaten in a running race by a miniature version of my partner…" Rika noted, Takato noticing she was standing looking through a window nearby into another room, having turned her head only to face him.

"Well, both she and her clone are very fast…unless that is Renamon…" Takato muttered.

"Takato, it's not Renamon…" Rika answered.

"Oh…who is she?" Takato asked.

"No idea…" Rika replied, frowning and turning to look back through the window. Takato wandered over to her.

"What are you looking at?"

"Well, Rey…fainted…"

"Huh? Why?"

"No idea, but she's got your uneasiness clearly…I've never fainted…"

"Really?"

"Okay, maybe once or twice, but that's besides the point…"

"Oh…"

Rika frowned, looking into the room where Rey lay unconscious on a bed, a single nurse checking a few things as she wandered around.

"Well…she did pick the right place…" Takato noted, Rika nodding as she continued to stare on at the girl. The striking resemblance between herself and Rey was clear enough, she was their daughter.

But at the same time, she just couldn't really conceive it. It felt far too surreal, beyond madness and insanity, to a complete and total dream world which even Takato, probably the person most with their head in the clouds she knew, couldn't conceive. And it was real; she was dealing with her real daughter who had fainted in a hospital in her own time before she had even been born.

"Is she really our daughter?" Rika asked, looking to Takato who paused at the question, before answering with the obvious answer, he clearly stumped by the oddity of the question.

"Yeah…"

"I mean, I know that she is our daughter, but it just seems so strange…when she fainted, I really felt like I cared for her, and that is really strange, because that emotion came from nowhere…"

"Uh…huh…" Takato responded, unsure how to reply when he himself was still surprised by the prospect of fatherhood.

"Is this what parenthood is all about?"

"I have no idea Rika…I guess we'll…just find out as we go along…"

"Yeah, but I don't want to screw it up badly…"

"Well, looking at Rey, I'd like to bet that we don't, but I know what you mean…"

"Another thing worries me…she said that we had left her for a year because of this war…even in a war, what would make us desert our daughter?" Rika asked, frowning when Takato shrugged, unable to contemplate. Rika frowned, looking back into the room.

"Maybe it could be…no…I mean…we are Gods and all, maybe it's something we don't know about yet?" Takato mooted.

"Yeah, I guess…it's strange though, she said she'd been in a war, but at times, she seems so cheery…"

"Yeah, kinda like Jeri don't ya think?" Rika glanced to Takato curiously, nodding as she got his gist. "She is cheery, even with her experience with the D-Reaper…Kari too, even despite all of their adventures…"

"Yeah…maybe we're all doomed to lead lives like these…"

Takato looked to Rika, as a frown crossed her face. He put an arm round her, as she leaned into him and closed her eyes. "We can all change our destiny…" he comforted, pulling her close as her head rested on his neck.

Rika opened her eyes and looked to the floor below, sadly contemplating the truth. "Takato, you know yourself that the only ones here who can truly change things are currently both unconscious…"

Takato frowned himself, before looking back up through the window. "I don't care about that, no-one is telling me that I'm not real, or that I'm not free…" he said, an odd flash of determination crossing his eyes. "And even if we're not, what's to say we don't win 'The War' in the end? I mean, whatever we do face, we're Gods after all, like it'd be that hard to win in the end."

Rika nodded sagely, looking to the unconscious redhead once again. "Then why is she here?" she questioned, bringing up the question of why Rey had come to the past in the first place if they would win anyway.

Takato stayed silent, shrugging and pulling Rika into a comforting kiss as footsteps approached, pausing.

"Um…we'll come back…" a female voice said nervously, the pair glancing up to see Henry, Jeri and their partners, one of whom was currently preparing a joke.

"Do you want us to come back; we seem to be interrupting something?" Terriermon noted. "Unless you want to continue…it is getting interesting if you're planning to do what I think you're doing…"

Henry sighed, Terriermon's research had yielded the pain of him having knowledge that he simply shouldn't have. He was about to complain, but he expected Rika to deal with Terriermon via her own methods first.

Surprisingly, this never happened, as Rika glanced to Takato, an invisible message running between the eyes of the couple.

"Um…Henry, Jeri, do you think there is somewhere more private we can talk?" Takato asked, as the couples faced one another again.

"With or without the bunny?" Henry asked, glancing up to his partner on his head.

"Hey, you can't get rid of me, I'm irreplaceable!"

Rika cracked her knuckles. "Good…" she muttered, Terriermon gulping in response.


13:09 JST

Ryo frowned as he walked up to his ever-eager partner, growling occasionally at an unknown source of aggravation. He frowned, Cyberdramon was always looking for a battle, even in the real world, and Monodramon always seemed temporary, always to be replaced by a forced digivolution back to his feral ultimate form.

'Milleniummon's curse…' Ryo thought, as he looked up to his partner. "Cyberdramon, down!" he ordered, as the beast reluctantly sat down on the grassy verge outside the hospital. Real world or not, Cyberdramon was itching for a battle, and his attempts to track down a bioemergence the previous day had failed, at the same time missing any chance to participate in the battle back in Shinjuku, leading to one very angry Cyberdramon.

Ryo considered Ryder's actions of the previous day that he had been told about, and frowned. By the sounds of it, Cyberdramon would have a lot more to deal with sometime soon.

A miniature version of Kyubimon darted out of a fire escape nearby as Cyberdramon turned, growling towards it as Ryo looked on confused. Kyubimon was never that small, what was going on?

A look of fear crossed the fox's features, almost making it drop the soda can carried as it panicked and ran the other way, Cyberdramon about to follow before Ryo restrained him with an energy whip from his D-Arc.

"What did I tell you Cyberdramon?!" Ryo asked.

Cyberdramon growled, sitting down once again. Ryo breathed a sigh of relief, tinged with the fact that something really strange appeared to be going on here. What was that mini-Kyubimon thing?


13:12 JST

Suzie frowned, glancing to the sick and dying in rooms and the doctors and nurses either racing or pacing by them, the only tinge of happiness in the place being the sight of a newborn baby. She looked back to Kristy as they dodged a medical trolley, the rabbit Tamer catching up.

"Are you sure that this is really such a good idea? I think we're getting in the way…" Suzie asked the older girl, albeit only by a single year.

Kristy paused, turning to her. "Not really, but I don't have any better ideas…"

"It is likely that whatever it was could have fled the hospital by now…" Kudamon noted, formal as ever.

"Or it could be right behind you!" Lopmon exclaimed, pointing behind Kristy, the older girl turning and eyes widening.

The chibi-Kyubimon frowned once again; breathing a sigh of frustration through the soda can in its mouth, before turning and running once again.

"Hey, come back!" Kristy yelled, racing after.

"Hey, wait up!" Suzie called, quickly pursuing and trying her hardest to avoid all obstacles before running headfirst into Kristy, the pair of them and the person who Kristy had run into groaning and all collapsing to the ground, Kudamon and Lopmon falling down nearby

Kari breathed a sigh of annoyance as Davis rubbed his sore head, standing up. It was going to be one of those days.

"Hey, look where you're going!" Davis complained, as Kristy and Suzie stood up.

"Sorry…" Suzie apologised, Lopmon mouthing a similar sentiment.

"We were chasing this mini-Kyubimon thing, we were too distracted…" Kristy asserted.

"Huh? Mini-Kyubimon?" Kari asked, an eyebrow rising at the idea.

"Yeah…there's a chibi version of my sister's champion form running around this hospital!" Kristy answered. "And thanks to the dunderhead here, we've lost them!"

"You and Rika are so alike, it doesn't surprise me that you're sisters…" Gatomon noted. "Where did this chibi-Kyubi run anyway?" she asked.

"No idea, thanks to you…" Kristy complained.

"Everyone is looking for it at the moment…" Kudamon added, as he leapt back onto his partner's shoulders.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go catch it!" Davis cheered, Veemon cheering likewise.

"Davis, do you have any idea how to find it in the first place?" Kari asked, her voice vexed.

"No, I just normally get lucky…" Davis answered.

"He does seem to have a knack for miracles…" Veemon added.

"What are we wasting time here for, let's at least keep looking…" Suzie suggested. Kari nodded.

"Right…"


13:15 JST

The Kyubimon frowned, as she continued to run. This was getting far too risky, she'd managed to meet far too many of them, and they were now all looking for her.

But a perception filter would be far too painful to maintain all the time. She had to figure out where she had gone. Then she could finally complete the task she had been assigned.

TO BE CONTINUED…


It's really interesting stretching this all out, the way it is working allows me to explore things in far more detail as the plot progresses. Please review, and this is far more than just filler in the plot, trust me.

Fumiko is the name of Ruki's voice actor in the original Japanese version of Digimon Tamers.

Next time…

What is this chibi-Kyubimon's assigned task? Will Takato and Rika ever cope with being parents? How will Henry and Jeri react to the truth?

Find out in 'His Princess', Chapter Nineteen of Dimensions Book Five: Demons.