[fanfic] Time To Rage
None of them properly remembered much about where they’d been or what had happened. They remembered being called to the Digital World, but couldn’t have said by who or what their reason was. They remembered Alphamon’s attack, and Miyako wouldn’t soon forget hearing the screams as their Digimon all fell against the supremely powerful Ultimate. They’d done their best - they’d all done their best.
And for reasons that none of them knew, it hadn’t been enough. Her glasses shattered, she’d been in too much pain on the ground to move, unaware of where Hawkmon or any of the others were. Then darkness enveloped them, and when she knew anything again, they were here in the hospital.
And it was later. So much later. Bit by bit they put the pieces together - that they’d vanished, that the others hadn’t noticed or done anything about it, and no one else had either. Not their families or their other friends or anyone else.
It hurt. It hurt in ways that Miyako had never known anything could hurt. As if something had sliced a huge part of her heart out and nothing could ever replace what was now missing.
Mimi and Sora had both dropped in - sort of. Every one of the older Chosen who’d arrived left after a handful of minutes, and their eyes showed clearly that they still didn’t know who they were talking to or why. She suspected that once they weren’t there anymore, their older friends wouldn’t have known their names or anything else about them.
She wasn’t the only one who felt like this. She could see it in Iori’s eyes after Takeru left, and again with Daisuke. She’d never thought that he would throw those goggles at someone, let alone Taichi-san. There hadn’t been any sign whatsoever of Yamato-kun either. She’d noticed that Ken didn’t watch the door anymore.
None of them did. What was the use? No one else was coming. The doctors and nurses didn’t come much either. Meals were brought in and empty plates - or full ones sometimes - were taken out, and the beds were changed regularly. But no one seemed that interested in them as people anymore.
She ran her hands over the blankets. That emptiness inside of her didn’t seem to want to go away. It got worse whenever she thought about Sora or Mimi. She remembered what it felt like when Sora first took her hands or the first time that she’d seen Mimi in person. Both of those times she felt as if she’d made a friend that she’d always have.
Only that wasn’t true anymore. She didn’t even have Hawkmon anymore. Exactly where their partners were, no one could say.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the cool crisp pillows. If they’re what being Love and Purity is like, then I don’t want it. A tiny cold core centered itself inside of her. She didn’t like feeling like this, but what could she do? What could any of them do?
Find what you’re missing.
The words whispered so soft in the back of her mind. Miyako jerked up, eyes flashing open, and stared at the others in the room. Ken and Daisuke looked back at her, and both nodded. Iori and Gennai didn’t seem to have heard it, but that didn’t matter.
“We have to get out of here,” Miyako said, the words tumbling out of her. “We have to do something to fix this.” There was so much that needed to be done and she had no idea of where to start, but nothing could be done if they just sat around in the hospital moldering away.
One by one they began to stand up, legs wobbling, holding onto the beds as their strength grew, and Miyako slowly forged her way to the nearby closet where she dug out the tattered clothes she’d been found in. Her glasses were still broken, so the world was a little fuzzy around her. She forged forward regardless.
She picked up her D-3. Everyone had theirs - except Ken. No one knew where his was, but while the others had theirs and had torn clothes, his had just vanished.
“We need to go to the Digital World,” Daisuke said. No one argued that one; they all knew it as well as he did. Miyako tilted her head, thinking.
“We’re going to have to find a gate, then. Got any ideas?”
Iori raised his hand briefly. “I suggest we get out of the hospital and then start looking for one. Our best chance is with our families.”
“Good idea.” Miyako agreed, and the small group staggered towards the door. As they got more used to walking, their gaits became smoother, and Miyako looked forward to getting something actually done. They were better. It was time to fix all of this. Somehow.
The door to the room swung open and a nurse stood there. All of them stopped, and Miyako couldn’t help but wonder if she were going to send them all back to bed. But a faint hint of a smile touched her lips as she looked at them.
“So you’re ready to go?”
Miyako shifted forward, taking the lead. “We have a lot to do. Do we have to sign anything?”
The nurse’s lips twitched for a single breath, her warm brown eyes going from one of them to another. “I’ll take care of it. I wish you the best of luck.”
Ken politely cleared his throat. “You wouldn't be able to help us find a computer of some kind, would you?”
The cruse tilted her head to the side. “Unfortunately, not one that could be of use to you. But if you go down to the ground floor and follow the signs to the exit, you’ll find the way out. I trust you can find yourselves the way from there.”
Daisuke held his head as high as he could. “Thanks, ma’am. Uh - Nurse - ?”
She shook her head and stood to the side, gesturing for them to leave. “Leave this all to me. You do what you need to.”
All of them started out once more, and this time managed to shuffle all the way down the hall and to the elevator. Three nurses and two doctors passed them, but didn’t seem to see them at all, or didn’t react if they did. It was more than a little surreal.
As they walked, Miyako couldn’t help but consider, just a little more, what love and purity might mean to her, if the ones who’d started to show her what it was like didn’t show it anymore. At least not by her standards.
So if I don’t know what it is - I at least know what it isn’t. She would find her own way. She would absolutely do whatever it was she needed to do to be herself - to not be the kind of person who’d forget others. To be the kind of person she’d always thought they were.
But another thought slipped in - what if they were the kind of person she’d thought? They didn’t know what had happened, but a few newspapers had been delivered, even if their D-Terminals hadn’t been, and they’d put together at least a few things about what happened. It wasn’t entirely impossible that some evil Digimon had done something. Was still doing something.
Then we’ll stop it.
They were the Chosen Children. And in this time and this place, for those who she cared about the most in all the world, for the harm done to herself and those she stood with, those who remembered her and those who didn’t, Miyako chose to rage.
The End
Notes: Sora and Mimi weren’t being very loving or sincere/pure in Tri. Not with the whole “don’t know/don’t care about our friends being missing” and “sure, rebooting the Digital World only matters to us. It’s not like there are other Chosen that Takeru talks to or anything, let alone ones we haven’t seen in months.” But we are never getting answers for that in canon, since future canon seems to want to pretend Tri never happened and I won’t let that slide. Honestly, it’s delicious fanfic fodder - that I wish didn’t exist.
