A/N: Wonder how much it costs to buy a whole franchise… Too much! I don't own Digimon.

Back to the Norm.

Ken Ichijouji

With reluctance, Ken stepped off the trolley. After saying good bye to the Digimon, probably forever, he still didn't want to leave. All the others were the same, standing around him as they watched the trolley disappear into the sky. The Digital World disappeared from view, leaving a clear night sky.

"Taichi!" A woman's voice tore through his thoughts. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brunette friend cringe, tears quickly building up in his eyes. How was he supposed to tell his parents Hikari was gone? He wondered how Taichi's parents would even begin to understand what they had seen. Ken didn't understand what he had seen either.

Taichi's mother wrapped her arms around him. "Taichi! I'm so glad you are OK! We were so worried about you seeing that terrifying thing in the sky." She sobbed. The older woman looked around and faced Taichi. "Where's Hikari? Where's your sister?" She cried. "Hikari?"

His mom looked in between the kids as if she might be playing hide and seek. Everyone had their faces covered. No one could say anything. "Hikari! Where are you?!" She shouted frantically looking around. "Why is she not here?!" She grabbed Taichi and shook him. "Why didn't you protect her?! You promised!" She cried hysterically. Yuuko buried her face into her son's chest crying.

Taichi let out a sob. "She's gone." He said desperately trying to talk through his tears. "She was taken by something and we can't get to her." He said shaking. "We… can't save her… Or do anything!"

"The Darkness took her." Takeru cried. "The Darkness took Hikari-chan." His blond friend was just as distraught as Taichi. Was something else bothering him?

"I'm sorry, Mom. I couldn't protect her." He cried into her shoulder.

"No!" She cried in horror. "Hikari! My baby!" She fell to her knees still clutching to Taichi's shirt.

The group burst into tears. He collapsed onto the ground as all the other parents ran to their children. His parents had not come. Nor his brother. He really didn't think about it at the moment. The main concern was that at least everyone else was safe.

The cobalt Chosen Child made his way over to Takeru who was in the arms of his mom and dad along with Yamato. He rested his head against Takeru's shoulder, and to his surprise, Takeru's mom brought him into the embrace.

"I'm glad you are safe." She sobbed. "It must have been so scary to have traveled here alone." She brought him into a tighter hug.

He shook his head. "I had my friends." He sniffled. "My precious friends." He cried wrapping his arms around Takeru and Yamato.

"Mom, I'm so sorry I made you worry." He heard Sora cry. "I love you so much." She had her arms wrapped around her daughter in a warm embrace.

"I love you too, Sora." Her warm reply came. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Oh, Sora." Her mom said softly. "You never did anything wrong." She hugged Sora tighter.

"I don't know what I want to be yet. But I know that I can't bear to see people suffer." Jou forced out. He held his older brother in an embrace.

"You always have time." Shin replied in a shaky voice.

"Mom and Dad. I love you." Koushirou mumbled into his parents shoulders. "Always."

"Oh, Koushirou!" His mom cried.

Everyone was so shaken up that it seemed like time had stayed still. They were all in an embrace for so long. It seemed like all was broken, could they be fixed? Could anything fix this?

With time, the others pleaded to go home. To get away from this area. They had landed in the area that the others fought VenomVamdemon. It was like a memento what tragedy had happened. They all wanted to get away.

Koushirou was the first to leave, then Mimi, Taichi, Sora, and Jou. That left him with Yamato and Takeru. Sora and Taichi left in a tight hug. The girl was doing her best to comfort the other.

"Onii-chan, you should go too." Takeru said in a monotone voice. His eyes were red from the tears and his voice raw from crying.

"I want to make sure you get home OK, Takeru." The blond said with worry in his eyes.

"I'll be fine. Mom and I can get home just fine." The young boy didn't make eye contact.

"That's not what I mean…" The older blond looked away.

"I know what you mean, Onii-chan." He gave him a hug.

"I should go too." Ken said quietly.

"I'll go with you, then." Takeru took his hand. "I don't want you to be alone."

"Takeru-kun…" His eyes sparkled.

"Then why don't we all go together?" Yamato's dad suggested. "Then everyone wins."

All three of them stayed silent. "Fine." Takeru said. "Where do you live, Ken-kun?"

His voice was caught in his throat. "Tamachi… I live pretty far away." He looked away. "I'm sorry for being a burden."

"You are not a burden." Takeru slipped an arm around his neck. "You are our friend after all."

Ken nodded and wrapped an arm around the others waist.

"Tamachi is only a train ride away." Yamato's dad commented counting his money. "It won't be long at all."

Ken nodded. "Thank you." He gave them a small smile.

They went to the station and boarded the train. After a while, the others fell asleep, except for him and Takeru.

"Takeru-kun, is there something you are not telling me?" The cobalt looked to his blond friend but quickly looked away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry… It just looked like…"

"Something else was bothering me?" Takeru finished his sentence. The other had read his mind.

Ken gave a small nod and gripped his tan shorts.

"I made a promise with Hikari-chan. No one else knows about this except Patamon. It was when we were fighting Piemon." Anger flashed in his light blue eyes. "We had reached this balcony area that had a rope that went into the air. Hikari-chan was scared and I promised her."

He choked back his tears. "I promised I would always protect her and be there for her no matter what. I gave her my hat, as a sign we were all with her." He wiped his tears away with his sleeve.

"To go along with Sora-san had said." He sobbed, his sleeve covering his eyes. "I failed to keep her promise. Hikari-chan's gone and it's my entire fault."

Ken shook his head. "No, it's my fault too. I should have kept a better grip on her. But I was too weak and she slipped from my fingers." He held on to the other boy's arm. "I couldn't protect her either, and I was right there!" He cried softly.

Both cried onto each other's shoulder in an embrace. "We both failed her, Ken-kun." The blond choked out. "She'll never forgive us."

Ken buried his face deeper into the other's shoulder. The holder of Hope had lost his Hope. He wasn't sure what would happen. But Ken still knew they'd find Hikari someday. Right?

After arriving at Tamachi, the walk home from the station was a quiet one. No one had anything to say as they approached his apartment. The atmosphere was sad and sullen.

"I'm home." Ken said quietly entering the apartment. Takeru and Yamato stayed at the door. Three sets of footsteps could be heard running in their direction.

"Oh, Ken-chan!" His mother cried throwing herself on him "I was so worried about you!" She cried.

"Where did you go, Ken?!" His dad demanded. His face was a mixture of worry and anger.

"Ken, I'm so glad you are OK. After seeing what happened…" His brother's voice cut in. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. That device was obviously yours and I showed so much disrespect towards you." Osamu leaned down to hug his brother.

"It's OK Nii-san." Ken said softly. He couldn't believe his brother was actually apologizing to him. That hardly ever happened. "I'm sorry I yelled at you too. I'm glad you are my brother." They exchanged small smiles.
"I'm so glad you are OK. I don't think I could ever forgive myself if anything were to happen to you. After seeing that battle in the sky, I wondered how my little brother could ever be brave enough to stand up to that." Osamu gripped the younger boy's shoulders reassuringly.

Ken gave small smile. "I had help. I had wonderful friends to back me up." He glanced at Takeru who nodded.

Takeru and Yamato looked to each other with small smiles too. "I'm glad you are reunited, Ken-kun." The youngest blond patted him on the back.

They exchanged proper introduction and began to say their goodbyes. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." The two youngest boys waved to each other.

Time began to pass by. Days, weeks, months moved past as March finally came around. The family had decided to go on vacation to celebrate Osamu's amazing test scores.

Not a lot had changed. Things seemed to be looking up in the household, but it started to go back to normal. He still saw Takeru and the others from time to time. Wounds were slowly healing, but it wasn't what it used to be.

He had gotten word that Takeru, Yamato, Koushirou, and Taichi had fought some Digimon that was invading the internet. He hoped that meant there were leads for Hikari's whereabouts. But there were none. Gennai had searched the Digital World for human signals. None could be found.

It was finally May when they got a shocking bit of news.

"We are going back to the Digital World?" Ken gasped, a big smile spread across his face. "Then we can see our Digimon again!"

"Yeah, and maybe find Hikari-chan!" Takeru's enthusiastic voice came through the other end of the phone.

"How are we getting there?" He looked at the wall puzzled.

"Koushirou-san says we can use the computers now. Like how Onii-chan and Taichi-san went through the computers during the Diaboromon fight." Takeru explained.

"Oh." Ken clutched his Digivice. "That makes it a lot easier than falling from the sky."

Takeru laughed. "Doesn't it?" They both laughed.

Ken rushed to his room, but went to the living room to let his parents and brother he was leaving. "Guys, I'm going to the Digital World. But I'll be back in a few hours, OK?" He said coming around the corner. But they were too busy fawning over Osamu's science project to notice him. He frowned a little and went back to his room regardless.

He held up his Digivice to the computer. He wasn't sure what to say, but it let him in anyway. He disappeared in a flash of light.

He landed a bit rougher than he would have liked on the ground. "Ow…" He got up rubbing his butt.

"Ken-chan!" A familiar voice cried. "I've missed you so much!" His Digimon partner cried hugging him hard enough to almost make him fall backwards.

"Wormmon." He smiled tears forming in his eyes. "I've missed you too. You were right, they are great friends.

"I told you." He nuzzled his face into Ken's chest. "You've gotten so big."

Ken blushed rubbing his head. "Yeah…" He held Wormmon close and began to walk towards the open field that Wormmon come running from.

Approaching the field he was greeted by all of the others and their Digimon. Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Mimi, Koushirou, Jou, and Takeru were all there with their Digimon. He looked around and saw Tailmon was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was happy reuniting with their Digimon that he didn't want say anything to ruin the moment.

I wonder if Tailmon is all right….

A familiar older gentleman came up to the group. "Gennai-san!" Koushirou said happily. "It's been a while." He smiled.

"Indeed is had Chosen Children. I have called you all here today because I , no, the Digital World needs your power to strengthen its barrier. It was severely damaged from the Dark Masters as well as other dark Digimon and has had trouble healing."

"Of course old man, whatever you say." Taichi said in an unsure tone.

"We'll be powerful regardless, Taichi." Sora said giving him a smile.

"Thanks, Sora." He returned the smile.

"What about Hikari though? Have you…?" He looked at Gennai with desperate eyes.

Gennai was silent. He shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry."

Taichi cringed and covered his face.

"What about Tailmon?" Ken asked. "Is she OK?" He was worried about her being all alone.

"Don't worry. Tailmon's all right. We've heard stories and rumors about her." Patamon reassured him.

Gabumon nodded. "Stories of a lone cat searching for her partner…"

"Looking for allies too, apparently." Piyomon added.

"She might not be here today. But that only means she hasn't giving up." Agumon hugged his human partner and gave the others a smile. "You shouldn't either, Taichi!"

"I know, Agumon. I haven't. I know we'll find her." He seethed.

"Taichi…" Yamato's voice was worrisome and sad.

"Please. I will need your crest power…" Gennai cut in. It was obvious the older gentleman did not want to break the moment.

"But, won't they mean we can't reach Perfect anymore?" Mimi worried clutching Palmon.

Gennai nodded. "Yes, unfortunately. But do not worry. This is for the best."

They exchanged unsure looks, but Gennai hasn't been wrong yet.

They all got in a circle and held onto their shirts where their heart was. He closed his eyes and could see a light purple glow. His crest that he never did activate. Perhaps he wasn't kind after all. Envisioning the light covering the Digital World, the light got smaller and smaller.

He opened his eyes and looked around. The sky seemed brighter and the grass greener. Perhaps it was working. That made him happy. "The world looks brighter. I'm glad." He smiled.

The others nodded. "Let the light find Hikari…" Taichi stared at the sky.

"Young Chosen Children. I am sorry to say you will not be able to reach Perfect level anymore now that you have given your crest power. You can, but it would be very hard. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, Gennai-san. We will hopefully not need them in the future." Koushirou smiled. "At least we can get to the Digital World more often now. Only on occasion is seems…" He looked to Tentomon.

"We'll get to see each other more often, Ken-chan. Isn't that great?" His partner broke his thoughts and he smiled.

"Yeah. I'm glad I have such wonderful friends. I don't know what I'd do without you." He buried his face into Wormmon's head.

They said their goodbyes and left. At least this time it wasn't as heartbreaking, because therew was that glimmer of hope they would meet again. When Ken got home, he landed on his floor. He walked into the living room to let his family know he had returned. .

"I'm home, guys." He smiled waving. But they seemed to not notice him.

Nothing's changed… It's the norm.

He dragged his feet sulking back to his room.

Sometimes I wish I was an only child…