Ch. 1: Tragic Start

Hatred For His Family, Love of His Sibling, Birth Of An Anti-Hero

Disclaimer:

Digimon is owned by Toei Animation and Bandai Co. Ltd.

Hello, and welcome to my new Digimon fanfic, and for the first time, I'll be doing a story that features one of the main characters of the Digimon anime, which is Digimon Savers. While I watched all of the seasons of Digimon, Savers seemed to be sort of a different approach compared to the rest due to the character designs, which looked almost realistic, and that it was much darker than Digimon Tamers, yet the story is okay and that most of the characters have deeper backgrounds and a rather tragic beginnings.

Now then, you're wondering why this fic has a title like that...well it's because one of the characters, Toma Norstein, was sort of a tragic character due to the circumstances involving his family bloodline and this would put him at odds with his paternal family though he do love his younger half-sister, Relena. Among other things, I came up with an idea on how to turn Toma into sort of an anti-hero due to his tragic past and how he would deal with situation involving himself and Relena against those who are against him.

To those who are reading this fic and avid fans of Digimon Savers, this fic is sort of an AU - Alternate Universe, in which the setting of this story is placed on the Digimon Xros Wars universe, though other characters form various Digimon series appear here, though Toma will act as the main character here, and others, such as Masaru Daimon, would act as support characters though there will be little resemblance to their interaction unlike in the anime.

And lastly, this fic serves as a side story to my current Kamen Rider Gaim fic, "Digimon Xros Wars: Armored Warriors of Fate", in which the next chapters will tell you why (hint, hint).

Well, That's the summary I can tell you right now, but you'll soon see where this would lead to, so here is the first chapter, so read and enjoy!

Ch. 1: Higeki-tekina Hajimari

Yokohama...ten years ago...

Toma Norstein was seven years old when living in Japan with his Japanese mother, and he is living a happy, normal life despite not having his father, later revealed to be a full Austrian named Franz Norstein, yet he is happy to be with his mother, who loved him unconditionally, yet at times he mentally questioned himself as to why he couldn't have a "complete" family as he gets to see other children going around with both their parents while Toma's mom is with him while Franz is in Austria. Of course Toma's mom explained to him that his dad's work is based in Austria yet he seemed to be fine as long as his mom is with her.

However, tragedy struck as his normal, childhood is abruptly stopped upon witnessing his mother's death in a horrific accident in which she was killed by a speeding truck, which she pushed her son out of the way to save him yet she herself was run over, and the truck driver speeds away instead of stopping. Despite getting the plate number of the truck, authorities at that time were lax, lazy and lenient, and the truck driver was never prosecuted, and this caused Toma to become resentful and vowed that one day he would swore revenge.

-x-

At a funeral a week later, most of his maternal family members are at attendance, yet they seemed to be ignorant of Toma because it was later revealed that he is an "illegitimate child" and thus "shamed" the maternal family and this resulted in not one of the relatives bother to bring him in for adoption and was even excluded from the burial, and Toma was emotionally crushed by this as he is sent to an orphanage, where he spent a few years living in misery despite the kind caring that the orphanage staff gave him.

In the years that passed, the orphanage managed to tame the still-traumatized Toma and with a help of a local volunteer, he was able to study via a home study tutoring and to the volunteer's surprise, Toma was able to pass some of the elementary-equivalency tests, hinting that he may be a genius-level prodigy yet she has to make sure so she tried teaching him high school-equivalency tests and he passed them, now sure that Toma is indeed a genius. She then told the orphanage officials about this and they are wondering what to do with him as it would be a waste if he spends his life here in the orphanage with a talent like that.

"Really...? That boy is a genius?"

"It's sad that he lost his mother...at such a young age..."

"But...why wouldn't anyone want to adopt him...?"

"I heard his mother's family refused to take him in...maybe because his father is a foreigner...?"

"I hope he doesn't give in to despair..."

"Let's ask the social department if they know someone who is willing to take him in..."

"Yeah..."

"A genius like him shouldn't suffer like that..."

Toma was 11 years old at this time, yet he felt that his childhood is doomed to end until his father, Franz arrived after learning of what happened to Toma and his mother and needing a son to represent the Norstein family, he went to Yokohama to find the woman whom he impregnated and resulted in the birth of Toma. Having found him, Franz took care of the papers and other documents so he can claim Toma and have him brought to Austria, and while Toma at first felt that he might have a family who can love him, little did he know that this is the start of his rather harsh life living with his paternal family.

-x-

Two years later...

Toma's life was a mixed of living a normal life and a harsher life due to the environment he is living in, as Franz was soon proven to be a cold person due to his aristocratic upbringing, and that his paternal grandmother hated him for not being born a "true" Norstein, being half-Japanese, an illegitimate child and not having a mother who was an elite member of society, revealing that Toma's mother is not married to Franz and he mentally began to resent his paternal family for treating him like an outcast.

However, his life was able to be "balanced" when introduced to his younger half-sister, named Relena, in which she is shown to be semi-bound to a wheelchair, but despite this she is cheerful and seemed to be getting along with Toma, and there the "black sheep of the Norstein family" found someone who accepted him for who he is, and soon became a loving half sibling and strives to protect her. Ever since she was born, she had a rare disease that, at the time, could not be treated. She is seen most of the time in a wheelchair and can walk, but barely. She is very kind and loves to be with her brother, and seemingly able to keep her father and grandmother from further verbally abusing Toma, which worked most of the time.

Wanting to see Relena recovered, Franz tells Toma that he is to study abroad so he can make use of his talents to learn as well as try to find a cure for Relena, in which Toma objected at first, but Franz, as well as Toma's grandmother, orders him to do as they say with the threat of "banishing" him from the Norstein family, in which Relena protested but Toma's grandmother sends her granddaughter to her room while she slapped Toma hard and tells Franz to do something about Toma.

As Toma clenched his fist in anger, Franz slapped his son harder while reminding him of his "place" in the Norstein family as well as claiming that his studies abroad will dictate the chances of curing Relena of her disease. Though angered at how his father and grandmother are using Relena, as well as placing their aristocratic status as more important, Toma too wanted to help and protect her so he reluctantly went along with his family's wishes and departed immediately for Stockholm Royal University of Science which is located at Sweden.

-x-

In the next two years Toma spent his time at Sweden to pursue his studies and got high marks due to his natural talents though he still hasn't forgotten his childhood trauma as he always remember his vow of avenging his mother's death in bringing the killer to justice yet his current situation makes it impossible for now and had to put up with what he is having due to his vow to help and protect Relena, and despite being in Sweden, he also has his share of trouble in his current environment.

While heading home from school, he came across some unruly muggers who are looking for trouble, and seeing Toma passing by them, the muggers decided to pass up the time and began to harass the teen by shoving and taunting him but Toma wisely tried to avoid confrontation until he is surrounded and began to taunt him by stealing his wallet and discovered the picture of Relena and uses her to provoke Toma into fighting them.

"Hey...I got his wallet...let's see how much dough he's got..."

"Whoa...look at this..."

"Wow...that's one cute bitch..."

"Let's ask him where she lives..."

"I want to "do" her..."

"Me too..."

"I like blond bitches..."

"Heh-heh-heh...that boy's starting to get pissed..."

"I bet this chick is his girlfriend..."

Toma was starting to get irritated at how they are using Relena just to provoke him yet he held on in not giving in, but then one of the muggers kicked him from behind and threatens to head for Austria and "make a move on Relena", which finally causes Toma to snap and began to lash out against the muggers, beating them mercilessly and overpowering them before reclaiming his wallet, and by then a passing police car happened to pass by and saw the commotion, and ordered Toma to surrender though he explained to them that he was being mugged yet his alibi wasn't accepted and he ended up getting arrested.

At the Swedish Police Station, Toma had to put up with an arrogant police chief who insisted that Toma is the true troublemaker and is now processing to file charges against him and the teen stood up and verbally lash out at the police chief for "doing a lousy job" in not protecting its citizens from the muggers, only to get slapped hard and is being restrained harshly by the other cops until the superintendent arrived and orders the cops to release the teen while the police chief is informed of his demotion after receiving mass complaints about the muggers harassing people and remained scott-free due to the police chief's negligence and Toma was eventually cleared, and allowed to go home.

Soon word reached the Swedish media about how Toma's action resulted in the capture of the infamous mugger gang and how the incompetent police chief getting sacked and Toma was given recognition for his actions, and his "sudden recognition" reached Stockholm Royal University of Science, and in two more years he graduated in high honors, yet his fellow schoolmates are baffled as to why none of his family members came to his graduation rites though he knows the reason why.

In the next several weeks he is set to return home to Austria and hoped to see Relena again and prepares himself for another verbal confrontation with his father and grandmother assuming they know of his incident with the muggers. He went to the embassy to have his passport ready, and though his good deeds are known to some, others are unappreciated yet some wonder why he is living alone and some asked why he came to study here instead of his native Austria.

To Be Continued…

Okay...I hope you readers enjoyed this chapter as you get to see how Toma's "life" was changed...from a normal, happy childhood to a rather harsh preteens and adolescence. Though he graduated at age 13, his innocence was already tainted due to the tragic passing of his mother, and upon meeting his paternal family, he got worst than what he had hoped for.

And while this is somewhat similar to the situation Toma had in the anime, the rest is still AU as in the next chapters he will get to interact some of the other characters within the Digimon universe.

Preview:

The next chapter highlights some of Toma's teenage years and the hardship he had to put up while striving to help Relena in her current physical condition before moving back to Japan...specifically in Kyoto...