Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ South Digimon Diaries ❯ Parental Counseling ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

South Digimon Diaries

The story of the Digi-Destined from Argentina.

By Persona

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to TOEI and Akiyoshi Hongo, and used without

consent.

The Diaries Universe belongs to Lord Archive, and is used with consent. All

rights reserved.

Okay now, on with the story.

============

Chapter twelve: Parental counseling.

============

Last chapter:

"Wait here, I'll go get some clean bandages to replace the ones on your

shoulder." Said Julia with a smile.

Julia stood up and walked to the door, when she opened she saw her mother

standing there.

"Huh? What is it Mom?" asked Julia.

"Julia, could I have a talk with David?" asked Mrs. Martinez to her daughter.

============

All three stayed where they were in silence for a second. Finally, Julia spoke

first. "Hum... okay..." she turned her head back to look at David, "I'll be

right back." and then walked past her mother and out of the guestroom. She knew

that, because of the current circumstances, it was not a good idea to argue with

her mother.

When Julia was out, Mrs. Martinez entered the guestroom and closed the door

behind her. Then walked over to the bed and sat on the chair next to it, facing

David. Mrs. Martinez looked at David for the first time ever, she had only heard

about him from Julia, and according to her daughter, David was older than she

was. Now that she met him, she tough that he didn't look older physically, but

his demeanor was of someone many years older.

David didn't know what to say, how to react, or what to expect. Julia didn't

talk much about her parents while they were in the Digital World. He never knew

why, but he guessed that it probably was that she felt guilty for having a

family, and knowing that he didn't. And also David hadn't talk to a grown up for

three years... actually he hadn't talk with another human being, except Julia,

for the last three years. All he did was remain in silence, telling himself over

and over not to screw up.

The two of them remained in silence for about a minute, until Mrs. Martinez

finally broke the silence. "So, you're David. I'm glad we can finally meet."

David nodded, "Hum... likewise."

"Julia has told me a lot about you." Mrs. Martinez replied.

This actually worried David more, "Huh... the good things or the bad things?" he

asked.

Mrs. Martinez smiled lightly at David's nervousness, "A little of both." she

replied.

"Oh." was David's flat response.

Another small period of silence, then Mrs. Martinez spoke again. "David. I'm not

going to judge you for what you did, it's not my place to do that. Anyone would

change after going trough an experience like yours." she replied, "I know that,

somehow, I have." She added in a low tone of voice, so low that David didn't

hear her.

"Thank you... I guess." replied David, "you're worried about Julia, right?" he

asked.

Mrs. Martinez smiled lightly, "is it that obvious?"

David shook his head, "Not really. But when you're in my line of work, you learn

to read people's faces."

"I see." Mrs. Martinez replied, "It's not just that I'm worried about her. It's

just that ever since this started, she has... changed."

Hearing Mrs. Martinez talk pained David. He knew what she meant. "I'm sorry.

Julia won't admit it, but she knows she has changed too... I don't think there's

a single Digi-Destined in the world who's life remained the same after they

received their Digimon partner."

Mrs. Martinez nodded, "I understand. It's just that... she's worried... I know

she is... and she won't tell anyone... she just says that everything is okay...

but I know it's not. I would rather she admit her pain than to fake happiness."

as she talked, Mrs. Martinez eyes were staring to get glassy with tears.

Seeing Mrs. Martinez reaction pained David even more. Julia was a very lucky

girl to have a mother that worried about her so much. "Believe me. If I could

spare Julia from pain by suffering it all by myself, I would do it without the

shadow of a doubt." said David in a very serious voice.

Hearing this, Mrs. Martinez smiled lightly. "I know." Mrs. Martinez put a hand

on David's unhurt shoulder "David. You might not be the most perfect guy in the

world. But you care about Julia, I mean really care about her. You would do

anything to see her happy, anything. And that alone is enough for me. You're a

good boy David."

David also smiled, "Thank you Mrs. Martinez. That means a lot to me. It really

does."

Mrs. Martinez smiled even more, "Please, call me Maria."

David nodded, "Okay, Mrs. Marti... I mean Maria."

Just then, Mrs. Martinez noticed that David's injured shoulder was still

bleeding from time to time. "Oh my... you're bleeding." she stood up and walked

towards the door, "I'll go see what's taking Julia so long to bring those

bandages."

Mrs. Martinez opened the door before David could say anything and walked out of

the room, closing the door behind her. Mrs. Martinez found Julia standing just

in front of the guestroom door, holding a bag of bandages.

"Mom... what did you and David talk about?" asked Julia.

Mrs. Martinez smiled and shook her head, "Nothing important." walking away, she

turned her head to look at her daughter "David is a good kid." and with that she

walked away.

Julia blinked a few times in confusion, then remembered why she had gone to get

the bandages and quickly re-entered the guestroom.

"Got the bandages." said Julia to David as she closed the door behind her.

Julia sat in front of David like before, and was about to take off David's shirt

so she could bandage his shoulder, when David stopped her.

"What are you doing?" asked David.

"David, I can't bandage your shoulder if you're wearing your shirt." replied

Julia, as if the answer were obvious, which it was.

"Oh... are you sure you can't do it with my shirt on?" asked David.

Julia blinked a few times in confusion. "David? Are you embarrassed about me

seeing you with your shirt off? You shouldn't, I mean, I have already seen you

with your pants off."

David shook his head, "I know, but you never saw me with my shirt off...it's not

that I'm embarrassed... it's just that..."

Julia didn't understand exactly what David meant, "David, there's nothing under

there that would make me love you any less." she reassured him.

David looked at Julia's eyes and saw nothing but concern in them, so he just

nodded and allowed her to remove his shirt.

Julia removed David's shirt very carefully so as to not move his injured

shoulder too much. She gasped in surprise when she looked at David's uncovered

torso.

It was covered with scars, all of them had healed but had left a mark to remind

their owner of the battles he fought. Many of them were little scars, and some

others were pretty big. Panjamon's stab was only one more injury for the

collection.

Julia put a hand over her mouth and her eyes started to get wet with tears. She

knew that David had suffered a lot from battling in the Digital World all by

himself, but this was the first visual proof that she had of what David's

suffering and pain had been like.

David saw Julia's expression, and it pained him to see her sad. "It doesn't hurt

anymore Julia, please don't cry, that's why I didn't want you to see them in the

first place. I don't like to see you cry."

Hearing David's words, Julia looked up at his face. It was incredible, he was

the one covered in scars, and yet he was more concerned about seeing her cry.

Julia raised her head and kissed a surprised David in the mouth for almost a

minute before she pulled away. "David, I'm never going to let you go through

more pain by yourself. I swear it!"

David wasn't all that happy to hear Julia's words, sure, he was glad that she

worried about him, but he didn't want her to get in any danger. It was just like

he told Julia's mother just a moment ago: He would rather suffer by himself than

to see Julia come to any harm. He wanted to say something about it, but figured

that this was neither the time nor the place.

Both Digi-Destined remained in silence as Julia replaced the bandages on David's

injured shoulder.

=====================

Julia's mother walked into the dining room, passing by Pyocomon and Candmon who

were talking there.

She felt much better after talking with David, but she was still worried. From

what she saw, David had some serious injuries, and he wasn't in any shape to go

back to the Digital World any time soon. She knew that her husband was not going

to be as understanding as she was about David staying here.

After just a few minutes, Julia also walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Martinez,

Pyocomon and Candmon all looked up to see Julia.

"How is he?" asked Julia's mother.

"He's asleep, he was tired." replied Julia.

Candmon yawned. "I'm tired myself, I think I'll go join him for a nap." said

Candmon as he walked out of the dining room, in the direction of the guestroom.

"How was he?" asked Julia to he Digimon partner, referring to Candmon.

"He had a few bruises here and there, but nothing major. A little rest and he'll

be just fine." replied Pyocomon, "and David?" asked the Digimon.

"His shoulder injury re-opened and he twisted a ankle. Besides that, he's

basically okay, except for a few bruises here and there." replied Julia.

Then Julia turned to look at her mother. She had something she wanted to ask,

but she really didn't know how to ask.

Mrs. Martinez could read Julia like a book, she knew what she wanted to know. "I

have no objections against David staying here, if that is what you were

wondering."

Julia smiled a little and nodded, "Thank you, but that wasn't the only thing I

wanted to ask."

Mrs. Martinez nodded, "You wanted to know what your dad will say about this."

Julia nodded.

Mrs. Martinez sighed, "I'm not going to lie Julia. He's not going to be very

happy about it... actually, he's going to be down right angry."

"I was expecting as much... but we have to convince him. David can't go back to

the Digital World now. Even less in the condition he's in." replied Julia.

Mrs. Martinez nodded, "I know Julia, I know. Let's just confront him together

when he gets here, and hope for the best. Okay?"

Julia smiled, "Yes. Thank you mom."

===========

David opened his eyes lazily. How long had he been asleep, it felt like an

eternity.

He must have been very tired, since he had been lying down on the bed while he

slept. And he always slept sitting, never laying down, it was a vulnerable

position.

David sat up, wincing as he felt the pain of placing weight on his injured

shoulder. Looking around, he saw that Candmon was also in the room. The fire

Digimon was asleep, laying down on the carpeted floor.

David was suddenly startled when he heard someone yelling someplace in the

house. He didn't recognize the voice, but he could deduce by the tone that it

had to be an adult male.

David got off the bed, and shook Candmon awake.

Candmon opened his eyes and sat up on the floor. "Huh? David? How are you?"

"I've been better. And you?"

"A few bruises here and there, but I'm okay." replied Candmon. Then he turned

his head to the door, "Who's yelling like that?" Candmon was also able to hear

the yelling.

"I don't know." replied David, "let's go check it out." he added.

After that, David walked out of the guest room. Limping slightly from his

twisted ankle. Candmon followed him soon after.

==============

Following the voices, David and Candmon reached the house's living room. Digimon

and Digi-Destined peeked inside.

Three people were standing at the living room. Julia, Julia's mom, Maria, and a

man that seemed to have the same age as Julia's mom. David guessed that he had

to be Julia's dad.

They were having an argument.

"...but dad..." said Julia.

"No! And that is final!" answered Julia's father, his arms crossed over his

chest.

"Raul, he has no place else to go, he needs our help." Maria tried to reason

with her husband.

"What about his family?" asked Julia's dad, Raul.

"He doesn't know where they are, I told you that already dad!" replied Julia.

"Dad, he's badly injured, he can't go back to the Digital World like that, he'll

get killed!" she added, tears starting to come out of her eyes.

"I don't care!" was Julia's dad's answer.

Julia started to cry even harder.

"We're sorry." a new voice came from the living room's door. The three of them

turned to see the source.

David and Candmon were standing right at the door. David was hanging on the

doorframe with his good arm so as to keep his injured foot from touching the

floor.

From were he was standing, Julia's dad could see just how injured David was. The

kid looked like he had fought an entire army by himself, and lost.

"David..." Julia started.

"No, it's okay... he's right. I should have never come here... We'll go back to

the Digital World." David cut her off.

"But... you can't fight like that! Ice Devimon's mercenaries will kill you in an

instant!" Julia cried.

"I'd rather have that than to see another family get destroyed because of me."

was David's answer. He looked down at Candmon, "let's go." the Digimon nodded

and the two started to slowly walk away from the living room.

"No! David please, wait!" Julia cried out, then turned to look at her dad once

again, "Dad! Please! Please let him stay! I'll do whatever you want! I'll never

ask for anything in my life! But please, please let David stay here! Please!"

Julia's tears were flowing out of her eyes like a waterfall.

Julia's mother moved in to hold Julia into a hug, Julia immediately buried her

face in her mother's shirt, soaking it with her tears. Julia's mother looked at

her husband with a disappointed look, as she stroked Julia's hair trying to calm

her down, with little success.

Raul looked at her daughter cry, at the way his wife was staring at him, at the

limping David walking away.

Finally, he sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Fine, he can stay."

Julia's mom smiled. Julia turned to look at her dad, her tear struck face seemed

to shine like the sun. "Really!?"

Julia's dad nodded, "Yes."

Julia ran towards David, who had stopped in surprise when he heard Julia's dad.

"You heard that David!? You can stay! You can stay!" Julia hugged him as hard as

she could. David winced a little since the hug was reminding him just how much

he was injured, but allowed Julia to hug him as much as she wanted to.

David and Julia looked up when Julia's parents walked towards them. "But while

he's here, he has to help out with the house's chores." said Raul.

David nodded his head, "Okay. Thank you very much."

+++++++++++++++++

To be continued...

+++++++++++++++++

Author's notes:

To understand better why Julia's parents are the way they are, I need to give

you a bit of Argentina's modern history. (Especially the late 70s and early 80s,

period where Both of Julia's parents were teenagers)

(Small note: remember that when I mention, Right, Center and Left I mean it in

the political sense.)

I'm not going into he full details as to just how or why Argentina was the way

it was during the 70s and 80s (it would take too long), I'm just going to

explain it:

From 1976 to 1983 Argentina was ruled under an ultra-right military government

(a.k.a. Fascism).

Thousands of people were abducted by the government because they were

socialists, or were just considered activists. Nobody had any constitutional

rights whatsoever. The abducted people were tortured to death in the most brutal

and terrible ways imaginable, then they were thrown into the sea from an

airplane where their bodies would never be found.

These abducted people are known today as the disappeared. People that are not

legally dead since there was no record of them being abducted, nor any death

certificate, nor any body that could prove that they are actually dead. In fact,

the government even abducted women who happened to be pregnant at the time, and

had their babies while in captivity. These babies are full grown adults today,

and they are still trying to finds out who they are, some of them don't even

known that they are sons of disappeared.

Now, Julia's mother was not originally from San Isidro. She was born and raised

in La Plata, a city located a few miles south of Buenos Aires city (La Plata is

Buenos Aires' (the province) capital, while Buenos Aires (the city) is the

country's capital), during the 70s she was a high school student in La Plata.

In 1976, high school students of La Plata made a demonstration for their right

to have student bus tickets (Note: Back then, if you went to a public middle

school, then you paid a reduced price for bus tickets, these teens of La Plata

wanted the same right for students of public high schools.)

The seven class representatives were abducted by the government because they

were considered "Socialist Activists", only one of them was seen again. These

kids were no older than 17 years of age. This was just one of the many

atrocities that happened during that time.

Now, in my story, Julia's mother was a good friend with this students (Julia's

mother is a fictional character of course) and even if she wasn't the one that

was abducted by the government, she still knew of the atrocities that happened.

This is what she meant when she said "I know that, somehow, I have."

This is the main reason why Julia's mother is a strong believer that nobody

should be judged by what they think, that everyone should be listened too in the

most impartial way possible.

Julia's father is another story: For starters, he lived all his life in San

Isidro. San Isidro, was (and still is) an upper-middle class neighborhood.

(People have money, but not enough to be considered rich). He had gone all his

life to private schools, and private universities. Also, being form there, he's

of the UCR, which is basically a center-right political party, and very old

fashioned in many of their beliefs (is also one of the most old political

parties of Argentina that still exists.) His experience with the military

government years were different with him. People like him knew of what was

happening, and knowing that there was nothing they could do about it, he choose

to ignore it.

These are the reasons why he acts the way he acts and thinks the way he thinks

regarding David, the fact that his daughter is a Digi-Destined and the existence

of Digimon.

++++++++++++++++++++

Other notes, regarding that note about Argentina's president having to be

catholic that I mentioned in the previous chapter's author notes:

There were some recent changes to the national constitution. And now the

president doesn't have to be catholic. He can be of any religion he wants to.

(Still, he has to swear "by God, by the country, and by the holy writings" but

it doesn't specify which holy writings, so it can be any religion's.)

In fact, we very recently had an elected governor of one of the provinces who

was of the jewish religion, and he was able to swear over a jewish bible instead of a catholic

one.