~Reflection~ Disclaimer: I don’t own Digimon, so don’t sue. You wouldn’t get any money from me anyway. (G: What about that $20 stashed under your--? *gets duct tape slapped over her mouth*) G: *rips off tape* YEEEOUCH!!! Man, if you’re going to treat us that badly, maybe you should just get new muses. How about Ken, since you like him so much? Gaia: *whips out mallet and bops G over the head with it* I would, but he’s been too many other authors’ muse—not to mention that most of those authors have traumatized Ken beyond comprehension. *points to a huddled up Ken shaking in a nearby tree* G: Oh. (mumbling) D’oh! *** Chapter 3 The first thing that Ken noticed was that he was surrounded by darkness—a darkness so thick he could probably cut it with a knife. That is, if he could find a knife, or his hands for that matter… ‘Where am I?’ he thought to himself. ‘I’m surprised that you haven’t figured that out by now. Oh, that’s right…you aren’t the genius Digimon Emperor anymore.’ "Who’s there?" Ken called. ‘That voice—it’s the same one I keep hearing. I knew I wasn’t imagining things! But it sounds so familiar; it’s as if I’ve heard it before yesterday,’ the Digidestined of Kindness pondered. ‘I should sound familiar. You’ve known me for quite some time.’ "You can read my thoughts?" Ken asked in surprise, just noticing this. ‘My, don’t we catch on quickly?’ The voice dripped with sarcasm. Ken could feel anger welling up inside of him, but he did his best to suppress it and merely snarled into the blackness, "Who are you and what do you want?" ‘Oh, you’ll see soon enough.’ The voice said slyly. ‘However, you wouldn’t even have to ask had you the cleverness of the Digimon Emperor…or at least the intelligence of your brother, Sam." That was the last straw; Ken had heard enough from whoever this guy was. "Shut up! Don’t you dare drag Sam into this!" ‘Why not? Don’t like the sound of your brother’s name? You know, Sam was the true genius; he didn’t need a Dark Spore to become smart. That’s why your parents always loved him more than they did you.’ "NO! That’s not true!" ~~~ "Ken? Ken, wake up!" pleaded Wormmon, shaking the dark-haired boy. Seconds later, Ken sat bolt upright in his bed. He was astonished to find himself panting and drenched in sweat. "Wormmon?" Ken managed to croak out of his surprisingly parched throat. He looked down into the two sky-blue eyes of the distressed digimon "You were having a nightmare, Ken, and it isn’t even night yet," Wormmon explained. "What time is it?" Ken questioned, jumping down from his bed and looking out the sliding glass door. "7:00" "Already?" Ken watched the sun sink slowly into the horizon. "Shoot! And I was hoping I could get started early on my homework today." He abruptly turned away and quickly headed for his bookbag. Just as he reached down for it, he heard his mom’s saccharine voice call out from the hallway, "Ken, dear, you have a visitor." "Darnnit!" he cursed to himself. Then out loud he called back, "I’ll be out in a second." Ken took his bookbag and put it down unceremoniously on his desk. Turning to leave, he asked the caterpillar-like digimon, "Wormmon, could you please boot up my computer for me while I step out for a minute?" "Sure, Ken, anything for you!" Wormmon said as he crawled down the ladder to Ken’s bed, glad that he had a chance to do something for his partner. Ken gave him a smile and a quick "Thanks" before disappearing out the door and hurrying down the hallway. As he neared the front door, he saw that his mom had left it open slightly, indicating that his visitor was probably still out there waiting for him. Ken threw open the door, a little more forcefully than he’d intended, and his indigo eyes rested on a pair of scarlet eyes framed by glasses. The boy gasped and inadvertently took a step backwards. "Yolei?! Wh-what are you doing here?" The lavender-haired girl simply smiled as she stood there, holding a strange, pink paper bag in one hand. "Hi Ken!" she greeted cheerfully. "I got your e-mail saying that you weren’t feeling well, so I came over to see how you were doing." "All the way from Odaiba? That was really nice of you, Yolei, but you shouldn’t ha--" "Here!" she cut him off, shoving the pink bag in his hands. "I saw this in the window of a store on my way here, and it was so pretty I couldn’t help but buy it. And then I remembered that you were feeling sick, so I thought it might cheer you up." While she told him this, Ken opened up the bag and pulled out an elaborately decorated silver mirror shaped like a horizontal oval and adorned with two smiling angels. "And see," Yolei rambled on, "it has these two angels on the top that will always watch over you and be by your side every time you look in the mirror." She beamed at Ken, who simply stood there speechless. Finally after a long pause, he managed to sputter out, "Th-thank you, Yolei. You really shouldn’t have." He couldn’t bear to look into her shining eyes, so instead he looked down at his shoes. "I don’t deserve this." Before he could make a move to give it back to her, she shoved his hands along with the mirror playfully into his chest and said, "Nonsense! For helping us save our world and the Digital World, you should get a medal or something." Looking at where her hands were and blushing slightly, she let go of his hands. "Besides, it didn’t cost me much, and it was the least I could do for a hunk like you." At Ken’s shocked look, Yolei realized what she had said and turned even redder. "Oops! Did I just say that last part out loud?" she blurted. Laughing nervously with her hand behind her head, she said quickly, "Well, you’re looking better already, so I should be going now." As she turned to leave, Ken looked down into the mirror. Indigo eyes stared back at indigo. Slight frown met slight frown. Ken’s face only took up half the mirror, leaving an empty space to the right of his reflection. He couldn’t help but feel an incompleteness as he drew his attention to the vacant spot. All of a sudden, without thinking, Ken yelled after her. "Yolei!" The still-blushing girl, who was halfway to the elevator, halted in her tracks and slowly turned around at the sound of her name. ‘What the heck am I doing?’ Ken thought to himself. His mind racing, Ken frantically tried to think up an excuse for why he called out to her. "Uhm, it’s kinda late…Do you want to stay and have dinner with us?" Yolei instantly brightened at his invitation, and she had just opened up her mouth to accept when she suddenly remembered something. Ken saw her face visibly sadden. "I’m sorry, Ken," she said apologetically, "but I promised my parents that I’d watch over the store tonight." "Oh." Ken’s face fell, too. "Well, then maybe some other time." "Yeah, thanks anyway. Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow after school, right?" she asked hopefully. "Tomorrow…? Oh, yeah, of course." Ken remembered that they had all agreed last Sunday to play soccer tomorrow after school, just the six of them and their digimon. "Great! Hope you get better by then. Without you there, Davis is liable to go up against the rest of us by himself. You know how modest he can be." She flashed him a playful smile, causing Ken to smile, too, in spite of himself. After a few minutes of them exchanging cheerful looks, Yolei called back to him, "See ya later then!" With that, she waved and dashed off happily down the hallway. Ken watched until she disappeared into the elevator before closing the front door. He continued to smile as he strolled back to his room, even though he had yet to tell his parents about his barely passing test. *** G: *rereads middle of chapter and blinks* What was with all the euphemisms back there? Gaia: Huh? G: *points to where Ken is supposed to curse because he isn’t given a chance to do his homework* Why the heck didn’t you let Ken cuss? Wait a minute, why the heck can’t I cuss?!? Gaia: *shrugs and points over her shoulder* So she’s a combination grammar check and censor. There’s not much I can do about it. G: *glares at Gwen* What the freak is wrong with letting the gosh darn characters cuss? Gwen: *blinks* It’s not nice. G: *face faults* A/N: But seriously, I absolutely refuse to cuss, though I do tolerate it when other people cuss and sometimes get a kick out of it. Don’t like? Then don’t read.