Lucky to Have You

madjack89: Hey, everyone! I've had this sitting on my computer for a while now because I wasn't sure whether to upload it or not, but there's no harm in giving you guys a little treat until I update my other stories, right? So here's a short little oneshot I wrote one day about what happened directly after the gang saved Kouichi from dying. You can consider it a prelude to F2HF, if you like! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape, or form!

—

"Um, excuse me," said a young nurse, stepping into the waiting area of the hospital.

There were only five people there at the moment. They had been there for at least two hours, all waiting for news of the condition of their friend.

Takuya was sitting in one of the available chairs, arm slung over the shoulders of Tommy, who was fast asleep. JP and Zoe were trying to coax an anxious-looking Kouji into eating at least a candy bar.

All their heads shot up when they heard the nurse's entry. "So?" Takuya asked after a tense moment of silence.

The nurse smiled. "It's okay. Your friend is going to be fine. We weren't sure if he would make it for a while, but he's made a fast recovery. He's resting now."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we see him?" Zoe asked.

"Well," she said, "I wouldn't suggest all of you to go in at once. Maybe one or two at a time for now?"

"Fine, we'll wait," JP grumbled, mocking annoyance. "Kouji, you better make this quick," he added, grinning at Kouji.

Kouji smiled back. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, getting up and following the nurse out the doors as Takuya was gently nudging Tommy awake.

Kouji followed the nurse down some hallways until they stopped in front of one of the doors in a particularly long hallway.

The nurse gestured for him to enter, smiling in a reassuring way. Kouji slowly pushed in the door, peeking inside the artificially lighted room. He smirked. Funny that I should notice something like hospital lighting before anything else.

"Kouji?" Kouji turned his attention to the recipient of the white-washed hospital room's lone bed; his twin brother. Kouichi sat up in the bed, propped up by a couple of pillows.

"Hey bro," he said, walking to the side of Kouichi's bed. "I expected worse. You know, wires and cords and crap strapped to you or something."

Kouichi smiled. "You're letting your paranoia get the best of you, Kouji."

"Yeah," he agreed, chuckling half-heartedly. Then his face grew more serious. "No one else is in here, right?"

"No one is going to overhear us if we talk about the Digital World," Kouichi confirmed, gesturing to a chair next to the bed. "You can sit down, you know."

He lowered himself into the chair. "Kouichi," he said, staring at his hands. He tried to find words for what he wanted to say, but none came to mind.

"How did everything go?" Kouichi asked, breaking the silence. "I mean, after I…"

Kouji smiled. "I thought you'd be curious. Actually, thanks to you, we managed to form this whole other warrior with the power of all the legendary warriors combined. With it we finally managed to beat Lucemon."

"Thanks to me?" Kouichi asked, a surprised tone in his voice.

"That's right," said Kouji, smirking at Kouichi's surprise. "When you gave me the Spirits of Darkness, it triggered some sort of hidden power that we never knew we had." Kouji paused. "You're a hero, Kouichi."

Kouichi looked down, slightly embarrassed. "I wouldn't say hero," he mumbled. "But I had a feeling that giving you the Spirits would do something."

Kouji frowned. "You mean you planned that?"

"Not from the beginning," Kouichi said. "But after I saw what Lucemon could do by combining light and darkness, I thought it could work for us, too."

Kouji glared at Kouichi, suddenly seeming angry. "That doesn't explain why you sacrificed yourself."

Kouichi shied away from his brother's glare. "Kouji…I thought I was dead. Every time I thought about what Crusadermon said to me; when I thought of the way I had gotten to the Digital World, I always came to the same conclusion. I was dead, and Cherubimon had somehow taken my soul from the afterlife to fulfill his own purposes."

"You aren't dead," Kouji growled softly.

Kouichi smiled. "No, I'm not. But I assumed I was, so I made a split second decision. I wanted to get the Spirits to you and protect you. So I shielded you from Lucemon's attack, figuring I'd rather go down valiantly."

Kouji sighed, calming himself down. "Light and darkness are powerful things," he muttered thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Kouichi agreed. Kouji still seemed a bit depressed, so Kouichi said, "You know, Patamon once told me that light and dark are brothers."

"No kidding," Kouji said sarcastically.

"Seriously, Kouji. He said that one can't even live without the other." Kouichi paused. "What would you have done if I had died?"

Kouji stared at Kouichi for a moment. Finally, he said, "I don't know. I don't even want to imagine that."

"I feel the same way," said Kouichi, "and that's why I saved you. Because without you, I'd lose my light."

Kouji smiled. "Well without you, I'd lose my darkness."

"And that's a bad thing?" Kouichi asked, cocking his head.

Kouji chuckled. "Like you said Kouichi, light can't live without darkness. And darkness isn't always bad, as you've demonstrated yourself."

Kouichi smiled slowly. "Thanks Kouji. And by the way, is everyone else still here?"

"Do you really think they'd leave without making sure you were okay first?"

Kouichi chuckled. "We're lucky to have them, too."

Kouji nodded. "Very lucky."

Suddenly the door to the room opened and Takuya, JP, Tommy, and Zoe rushed in, looking anxious.

Kouichi smiled, raising his hand. "It's okay guys, I'm fine."

They all seemed to let go of their tension at once. "Guys, what happened to coming in one at a time?" Kouji asked.

"What no one knows won't kill them," Takuya said mischievously.

"The nurse said she'd let us all come in because we seemed so worried about you," explained Zoe, glancing at Kouichi. "So you're really okay?"

"Yeah," Kouichi said, bringing his hand up to his face to hide his acute blush.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," said Tommy happily.

"Me too," Takuya added, smiling in relief.

"Yeah man," said JP. "That was pretty tense back there."

"Thanks guys," Kouichi said. "I'm glad you're all okay, too."

"That's right," Takuya exclaimed. "We still have to tell Kouichi all about the battle with Lucemon!"

"This is a good one, Kouichi," JP said, nudging Kouichi's arm.

"Sounds good," said Kouichi. "But…"

"What?" Takuya and JP asked at the same time.

"Well, the hospital of course had to notify my mom that I was here. They had to leave a message at her workplace, but she'll get it eventually, if she hasn't already gotten it by now."

Everyone turned to look at Kouji. He closed his eyes, saying, "All my life I've only known my mother through pictures and Dad's stories. And now that I get the chance to meet her, do you really think I'm going to run away?" He glanced at Kouichi. "I want to meet Mom."

Kouichi smiled. "Glad to hear it. You can distract her from me."

Everyone chuckled, glad that it was all finally over.

Or was it?

—

madjack89: Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!

Kouji: Read Frontier 02: Home Frontier to see how Madjack tortures us further.

Kouichi: Particularly the two of us.

Kouji: ESPECIALLY the two of us.