He woke slowly, his mind still trying to come to terms with the fact it had been inactive for the past three hours and needed to boot up so he could start the day.

His head hurt and his neck was on fire and out of habit, in response to his burning neck more than his head alone, he rolled to the edge of his bed, grabbed a few tissues from the nightstand, and proceeded to cough, or more like hack and wheeze, into the tissues. This kept on for about five minutes until the burning went away and he threw the tissues, that were now blackened by some thick unnatural substance, into the bag he kept under his bed, and out of sight, that was already half filled with used black tissues.

Rolling back onto his back for a moment, he allowed a sigh to escape his lips. It was miserable, it happened at least once every day, but life had to go on as he kept having to come up with clever ways to hide his illness from everyone.

Especially his friends, and his digimon, and most of all Ken.

The bag under his bed for his morning tissues, or really just any he filled with the black gunk at home, was an old dark shopping bag from a store he went to often. It would be tied and shoved to the bottom of the rest of his trash on trash day so no one would notice it. At school, and out in public, that's where he had to get clever if a coughing attack was about to hit.

At school, if he wasn't in class he would just slip into the bathroom or an unused classroom and use the tissue pack in his pocket or a paper towel if the area had a dispenser, then he would either shove the towel or tissue in his pocket and wait until he could get to his locker and, unseen, put it in the bag he had there. If he was in class, however, he would attempt to get a restroom pass and hope he could make it out of the room before the attack got bad enough to worry anyone. If he couldn't he would 'trip' on his way back to his desk, as he always walked up to the teachers desk when asking for a restroom pass rather than raising his hand, and the teacher would let him out to see the nurse. Only he would have his attack in the restroom first, and then go to the nurse so he wouldn't get in trouble, who would deem him fine and send him back to class.

If he was in public he would try to find an ally, or anywhere unseen, to have his attack. If he couldn't go unseen he would go to a trashcan and hack it up as if vomiting, and if someone asked if he was okay he would say he just had a bad lunch and move on.

Now the lucky part of these attacks is that for some reason he has never had one in the digital world up to this point. So he's never had to ditch his friends or partner to hack up the black gunk. That doesn't mean he's not on edge and ready to come up with some excuse to get away for about five to ten minutes, but it does gave him a little break from the attacks for the moment.

He dressed like normal, made sure he had a pack of tissues in his pocket, and grabbed his bag for school. He was getting less and less hungry by the day, so he didn't bother with breakfast.

School went by slowly, Kari and TK were in his first period class but after that he didn't have any classes with his friends, which he was grateful for as that meant that they were less likely to view one of his attacks or see him trying to get out of class before one started and question him on it later. During his free period, however, he got a call from Tai who had found out he had quit the soccer team.

"Davis!" The older boy says over the phone. "Why would you quit soccer? You love it!"

He sighed, told Tai that he didn't have time anymore between the digital world trips and his family wanting him to study more, and hung up when he finally got Tai to understand that nothing was going to change his mind. Really it was only half true what he told Tai, the digital world trips did take up time and got in the way of practice sometimes, but his parents weren't home enough and didn't pay enough attention to his grades to want him to study a lot more. The thing that really got him to quit the team was when he almost had an attack in the middle of a game, lucky for him they called half time and he made a mad dash for the restrooms, but it had been the second time it had happened during soccer and he had been to close to getting caught for comfort.

It had upset him greatly when he had to quit the sport he loved, but what else could he do? He spent the next two days after quitting the team at home sulking in his room, he called in sick at school, said it was a stomach bug, which was probably the closest he had come to telling the truth since this began. The he came back, as normal as he could manage, and when the coach asked him if he was sure he wanted to quit the team, that it hadn't just been his stomach bug talking, he hesitated for a moment before letting the lie roll off his tong that he was sure, that he just didn't have enough time anymore.

After that he made sure to do whatever it took to look as healthy as possible and never miss another day of school. He didn't think he could handle any more questions over his well being. So he suffered through the sickness alone.

It was about six months after the sickness began that the one person he didn't want to find out about it more than anyone else found out.

He had been invited over to Ken's place to celebrate the other boys birthday. The others had been invited to, but had one reason or another not to go, he would have bailed to due to his sickness, but he didn't want Ken to be alone on his birthday either. So he decided he would stay for an hour, walk away for a fake phone call from his parents, and then say he had to help his parents with stuff and leave.

He didn't get that far in his plan.

He had been taken to Kens room to play some games with the other boy while Ken's mom finished making the cake.

They decided to play go fish when the attack hit without its typical warning.

Ken asked him if he had any fours, he shook his head, but before he could say go fish he started coughing.

He couldn't stand, his legs to weak while he had his attack, and by the time he had his hand in his pocket to fish out his tissues the thick, cold, black, tar like substance was in his mouth. It tasted vile, and it was already dipping out of his lips as he hacked, and wheezed, and coughed, and tried to expel the darkness from his body.

Ken, frightened by this new turn of events, asked what he should do.

He shook his head, there wasn't much the other boy could do. He just had to ride this out like normal.

Ken helped him to the restroom, where he was able to spit the gunk into the toilet and wipe off his face. And after fifteen minutes it was finally over.

"What was that?" Ken asked kneeling next to him.

He had his head on his knees and his arms draped lamely over his head. He let out a breath and looked up pitifully into his best friends eyes.

"I've been sick like this for a few months now. Every so often it gets worse, but since it's a digital virus there's nothing human doctors could do. I didn't want to worry anyone, so sorry you had to see that. I' fine now, and it would probably be best if you just forgot about this and didn't tell anyone." His voice was strained as he spoke, raw from the attack just moments before.

Ken shacks his head at him and puts a hand on his shoulder when he tries to stand.

"Davis, I can't just forget about this. What did you mean when you said it's a digital virus and it's getting worse?"

He can't lie this time, and he feels trapped, but he can't stay quiet forever. So he answers.

"I got hit by a dark spore."

Hey guys, I'm back. So what do you all think of my new story? I think I finally got past my writers block! Anyway, should I be evil and just end it like that or continue the story? What was your favorite part? Ideas? Suggestions? Reviews and amazing things!