Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon
A/N: This is a warning to you all. This series will be dark and kind of OOC.
Broken
'I'm ugly.' She stared at herself in the spotless mirror.
"You haven't suddenly sprouted horns or wings," that Tera girl called from her bed. She sat in a tangle of white crisp sheets reading. The pure disarray of the things around her didn't seem to bother her as her mind drifted into a world of nonsense and make-believe that she found in her books. The girl in front of the mirror had once been that, but things change.
'Now Tera's pretty,' she thought to herself. She watched the girl as she read for she had given up watching the mirror obsessed girl and returned to her book upon her high throne of a bunk bed. The 'mirror girl' studied Tera's pastel skinned face. She looked into her eyes, which were brown for they changed daily from brown to green or sometimes just sat between the two colors. Her brown hair was forced back into a braid that for a moment reminded her of a gator tail. Just not as long. 'In a nonchalant way, I suppose. She doesn't seem to care.' Tera was a true blue tomboy who had her moments of girliness; they were just hard to catch.
"Why do you keep staring at me?" Tera asked artlessly although she did not look at her book. "Are you bored? Or I am the one who sprouted the horns and wings instead of you?"
"Get your head out of the book and into the real world. There's nothing like that anywhere," The red headed mirror girl snapped.
She did finally look up from her book. "Maybe not of this world," Tera grinned. The grin disappeared. "Or have you forgotten?"
Sora ignored her and turned away momentarily glancing at the mirror. 'I'm ugly,' her mind repeated before she walked to her own neatly made bed.
There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Tera called.
The door opened and Natalie stood in the doorway. "Dinner's ready."
"Okay, I'll be down in a minute," Tera replied.
Natalie shut the door and Tera buried her head in her book again. The door opened again. "Oh, and Tera. That doesn't mean come down in fifteen minutes. Get your head out of the book and downstairs."
Tera laughed. "Okay." She set the book down and in one leap jumped over the railing of the soft wood bunk bed and landed on the hard wood floor with a hollow thud. Natalie let out a small gasp.
As Tera sauntered over to her Natalie gave her a swift smack in the arm. "Brat, you scared the hell out of me!" Tera continued to grin and walked out of the room. Natalie looked up at Sora. "Come on." She held the door for Sora. Sora hesitated before walking out and down the stairs.
Natalie watched as Kari stood up and began to clear the table. It was her turn tonight. Her older brother stood up to help her. The rest of them withdrew into the living room for the wide screen TV that sat pushed back against a far wall. Natalie sat on the floor, beside Elijah and his jet-black wheel chair. He placed a hand on her shoulder, as he had done so many times before. It was his way of making sure she was really there and a form of unspoken thanks for being sitting with him. Even after their two years of romance, he still feared she would leave because of the way he was.
Tera took a seat on the couch, cuddled up next to Aaron. On first sight of those two, it looked like they were boyfriend and girlfriend. But that was not the case. They may be all over each other, cuddled up and all, for which Elijah was not happy, but they were nothing more then best friends. They cared for each other beyond normal friendship bonds. They may not have saved each other when they had originally come to this DigiDestined half-way house, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they had kept each other from trouble.
Taylor sat down beside Tera. "Taylor, why don't you go pick out a movie?" Aaron suggested. The younger girl stood up and walked over to a shelf that held a row of movies. She pulled off one and stuck it in the VCR. Natalie couldn't see it from where she was sitting. When the TV screen went from a blur of gray and white snow to pure black Taylor went back to sit down. She turned around only to find Matt had taken her seat on the couch.
"Get out of her seat, Matt," Aaron ordered softly.
"No," was all he replied as he stared forward at the TV.
"Come here, Taylor," Natalie called to her. Natalie held up her arms and Taylor sat down in her lap. "He's a jerk," she whispered into Taylor's brown hair that covered her ear. Her hair was actually closer to blonde then brown, which Taylor held back with a simple white headband.
Taylor nodded, but didn't say a word.
Natalie sighed as her arms wrapped around Taylor. She still barely talked to her and it was only when she absolutely needed to.
As the movie began playing, which was Pleasantville; Taylor's personal favorite, Natalie could feel Eli start to play with her hair. He did that unconsciously when he was trying to lose himself in something. Taylor rested her head on Natalie's chest and watched the characters.
The Yagamiya siblings emerged from the kitchen and into the darkened room. They sat down on a small love seat where Sora had curled up at the end. Sora looked rather distressed by the sudden company, but did not move or speak to them. Tai glanced at her, but neither teen paid each other any other heed.
The halfway through the movie Natalie rubbed her eyes. It was getting late, around 10:30. "I'm going to bed," Eli whispered to Natalie. "I have work tomorrow."
Natalie nodded to him. "Me too. Are you getting tired?" Natalie whispered to Taylor. Silently she shook her head. Elijah maneuvered his wheelchair around the two and over to Tera and Aaron.
"Try to get to bed soon," he ordered Tera before he pushed his chair out of the room. Tera shrugged at Aaron before ignoring her brother's command and lounging on the couch once again.
But he wasn't the only one to leave the room. Five minutes later Sora made a quiet excuse before she got up and walked out of the room. Not that it made a difference whether she had an excuse or not. No one seemed to notice or care, other than Tai who watched her as she stepped out of the room.
She returned a few minutes later looking a bit paler then her normal skin tone. She walked in unsteadily.
"I'm going to bed," she whispered to Taylor. Taylor stood up and went to sit by Tera's feet. Natalie only shook her head as she walked out of the room, placing a hand on Tera's shoulder as she passed the couch.
She continued down the hall to her room. Unlike the other girls she got her own room, but only because she was older then them. It was the same for Eli. Actually for the most part he got his own room because he couldn't get up the stairs.
Natalie passed the downstairs bathroom. Inside she could hear the water running from the toilet. But that wasn't what caught her attention. It was the acidic smell coming from inside.
Natalie lay on her bed in her room with her headphones pulled over her ears. The music was soft, unlike her boyfriend's mind numbingly loud stuff that he allowed to flow throughout the house.
Someone touched her arm and she opened her eyes. Eli was looking down at her with soft gray blue eyes. His eyes were filled with concern and anger.
She pulled off her headphones and sat up. "Hey, what's up? Work get out early?" She glanced at her clock posted on the white wall. Actually it was pretty late in the afternoon.
"No, I just hurried home," he muttered. "I had to talk to you."
She grinned playfully. Leaning forward she whispered, "Oh really?" before she tired to kiss him.
He pulled away before their lips met. "No. We're going to talk." He was dead serious and not in a playful mood. He grabbed her upper arm and made himself sit on the edge of the bed facing her.
"Eli, you're hurting me," she said almost in a whisper.
"Good, because then maybe you'll listen." He looked straight into her eyes. "Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?" She snapped in distrust.
"I heard you last night."
"What? You heard me sleeping?" His anger was beginning to rub off on her.
"In the bath room last night. If you're going back to your old habits then at least be quiet about it. I could hear you down the hall."
"I still don't know what you're talking about," she said honestly.
He didn't say anything at first. He stared at her, too serious and too angry. "I heard you throwing up," he finally stated.
"What? I didn't!"
"But I heard someone. You swear to me it wasn't you?" There was pleading in his voice. He didn't want to believe the things he was saying or what he was accusing her of.
"I swear, Eli."
He sat back in his wheelchair, letting go of her arm. She rubbed it and he realized just how hard he was holding her. He took her arm and examined it, seeing red marks that were close to bruises. "I'm sorry." She didn't reply. "I was just worried, I should have known better than to not trust you." He kissed her arm.
Natalie didn't listening. She didn't notice that he had kissed her arm. Instead her mind was somewhere else. It was stuck on the image of Sora when she walked into the living room last night.
Tai sat beside Aaron on the tall red metal bleachers of the baseball field. Sora sat in front of him with Kari beside her. TK and Matt were beside them and Taylor sat silently beside Aaron. Natalie and Eli had volunteered to go get drinks. Somehow Eli and Aaron had convinced all of them to go to Tera's softball game.
Tai watched Sora. She was laughing at something Kari said. Her laughter was light and mesmerizing. His eyes traced her face, wishing he could touch her beautiful and soft tan skin. Her red-brown eyes twinkled as she giggled.
"You like her don't you?" Aaron asked.
"Huh?" Tai asked snapping from his trance. "Uh…yeah I guess."
"You guess?" Aaron laughed.
"Leave me alone! What about you and Tera?" He countered.
"You know there's nothing there. But whatever," Aaron shrugged. For about ten minutes they sat in silence. "You should talk to her. Ask her out."
"Out where? I don't know any places here in town! Besides, we're not close anymore. She used to be my best friend, but things changed. We changed. We were never meant to be."
"Who said anything about meant to be?" Aaron laughed. "Right now you're fifteen. It's about having a good time, not commitment!" Tai just stared at him. "Wow, it's a wonder you made it this far without going insane from being so serious. Meant to be is forever, man!"
Tai gave him a weak smile. "I suppose you're right. I was never really fond of meant to be."
"That's right. Come on, enjoy life."
"I guess…." Tai trailed off and went to watching the game, keeping his eyes from Sora. "Softball's kind of boring."
"Yeah, but Tera come to my games so I go to hers. It's too slow if you ask me," Aaron shrugged. "But don't worry. We only have about another thirty minutes."
"I take that as sarcasm." Sora laughed again and Tai's eyes made their way back to her face. "I'm going to go get something to drink. You want something?"
"No, but get Taylor a root beer." Aaron handed him a green dollar.
"Does anyone else want anything?" Tai asked as he stood up. Kari and Matt gave him their orders, but TK just shook his head.
"I'll help you," Sora volunteered.
Tai nodded to Sora as he heard Aaron chuckle. He smacked the black haired boy before following Sora down from the top of the bleachers. Aaron let out a grunt of pain, but just laughed harder. She followed him to the snack bar in silence, but before they got there Daniel stepped in front of them. Two guys backed him.
"Hey Tai, I haven't seen you in a couple of days." His toothy grin was pure evil. Tai backed away, grabbing Sora's wrist as an instinct. "Oh come on. We just want to welcome you." This got a few snickers out of the other guys. Tai turned and started walking away from them. He looked up only to find he had stepped the wrong way and was being herded by the other boys into a dark park.
"Can you not speak or something?" Daniel yelled in frustration. "Why won't you fight?"
"I'm done fighting," Tai muttered a reply. He tried to push past Daniel only to get pushed back.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You never started!" With one hard swift punch Tai was on his back in the dirt with a trail of blood coming from his mouth. Daniel kicked him in the side and Tai grunted in pain.
"Leave him alone!" Sora tried to push Daniel only to be grabbed by two of his thugs.
"Hello. You're kind of cute. What are you doing with a loser like him?" Daniel ran a hand down her face. She tried to wrestle away, but the other two boys held her by her arms tightly, snickering while they did.
Tai lay on the ground not wanting to get up, just watching as Daniel harassed Sora. He gripped the dirt knowing that it didn't matter; he had already been beat. 'How could he say that?! That bastard, how could he say I have never started to fight!' He closed his eyes. "But I lost. I can't do this anymore; I can't fight. I'm sorry, Mom, Dad! I failed you. Kari's lost and I'm not strong. I am so sorry.'
It was when Daniel tried to kiss Sora that Tai finally reacted. He jumped to his feet, forgetting his pity and self-doubt. With one straight swing of his fist he had knocked Daniel to the ground. He pushed the other two away from Sora. He turned his attention back to Daniel as he wiped the blood from his nose.
Tai grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him to his feet. Daniel stared into Tai's dull brown eyes and saw them flicker with hatred and anger. "How could you say that?! You bastard, how could you say I've never started to fight! I've fucking fought, you asshole! I have fought with my life, and I am not afraid of you or your idiots for friends. And I'm not going to sit back like everyone else does at this godforsaken ball park and let you push me around." Daniel struggled against Tai's grasp. Tai pulled him closer until they were almost touching. "If you ever touch her again, I will kill you. Leave me alone, because I am not fucking afraid of you." With that said, Tai kneed him in the stomach and then pushed him over. "I swear I'll kill you," he whispered.
Daniel staggered to his feet and ran from Tai. His friends had already fled from the scene. Tai reached down and held Sora to her feet. "Sorry, I didn't mean to knock you down. Are you okay?" She nodded.
She reached up and pointed to his chest. "Tai, your crest!"
Tai looked down to see his crest shining through his shirt.
She gripped the sink trying not to fall over. Her eyesight dimmed as she stared at herself in the mirror. Thoughts of self-hate filled her mind and weakened her grip. She couldn't concentrate on holding the sink any longer. Instead she reached for the doorknob and opened it, letting herself out into the well-furnished hall. Her footsteps sounded heavy in the hall and her head hurt incredibly. As well as her stomach.
She fell to one knee unexpectedly. Around her she could hear a voice calling her name, but it sounded far away. She gripped the green carpet as her eyesight dimmed till everything was dark. Then all the strength disappeared from her arms and she fell forward.
Okay, what did you think? Did it live up to your expectations? Sorry about the cussing, but I thought it fit.