Title: Road To Redemption

Description: Ken has a lot to make up for the mistakes he's made in the past. But gaining the other digidestineds' trust is not as easy as it seems and Ken is slowly losing faith.

Ratings: T for violence, swearing, and some trigger warnings. Some self-harm and depressing themes.

Disclaimers: I do not own Digimon or any of its affiliated characters, nor do I own any of the plot line. This is a darker take on Season 2, focusing on Ken's place after 'Genius of Evil' and carries on throughout the remainder of the season.

...

Ken sighed as he entered his small bedroom, glancing wearily at his laptop screen. A tiny squeak came from atop his bunk and Leafmon appeared, watching him.

"What's wrong Ken? You don't look very happy," he chirped sadly at his partner. Ken just shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I just ate too much," he answered quietly.

"That doesn't sound like you."

He shook his head in agreement. "I don't know. Mama and Papa are still worried about me. Three months of running away does seem to have that affect on parents. I just…I didn't want to worry them anymore," He finished, looking up at his baby digimon.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes slowly.

"Something tells me its bedtime," Leafmon squeaked again, bouncing excitedly on Ken's pillow, drawing a small smile from the boy.

Seeing the tiny quirk of the lips was enough to put Leafmon at ease for the time being. Ken was clearly still holding strong to his mistakes as the Digimon Emperor and the critter knew that he still blamed himself harshly for the crimes he committed.

For the first few days after Ken had broken free from the evil reign, he had taken refuge in his room and cried. He had cried so hard that his eyes became red and swollen and in those few days he had dropped some considerable weight that he was just beginning to put on again.

So Leafmon understood the worry that Ken described his parents of having. It was the very same that he felt. Ken was extremely fragile and it was going to take a long time to pick up all the broken pieces.

"I think you're right Leafmon." Ken changed into his pajamas and slipped quietly under the covers. "You would think that with all of the sleep I've had in the past few days, I would be wide awake."

Leafmon bounced on the pillow next to his head and nuzzled his cheek affectionately.

"I think you still need to give yourself more time."

Ken exhaled slowly as Leafmon's words ran through his head. For a baby digimon, he sure was smart. "Maybe you're right…"

They fell into a comfortable silence and Ken slowly felt a calm sleep overcome him. The warmth of Leafmon was right next to his ear and his eyes began to flutter close.

"Hey Ken?"

"Hmm?" The indigo-haired teen mumbled, trying to fight the fog that had settled in his mind.

"Are we going to go back to the digital world?"

Ken's eyes snapped open, the fog cleared away. He turned on his side so he could look at Leafmon. He was scared. Scared to see the disappointment in his digimon's eyes.

He knew Leafmon longed to go back but he wasn't sure if he could face those demons just yet. When he found Leafmon's eyes, the baby digimon was looking fondly at him, understanding and compassion in his big eyes.

Ken felt his chest tighten and he pulled the tiny creature into his arms and held him there. Leafmon seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say even though he couldn't get the words out and he nestled right beneath Ken's ribcage.

More silence enveloped the room and soon the two partners starting succumbing to sleep once more.

"I love you, Leafmon," Ken mumbled, tightening his grip around the small digimon as if he were scared he was going to disappear again.

"I love you too, Ken," Leafmon answered, cutting the quiet once more before they fell asleep together. "And I'm never leaving you…"

...

Click. Click. Click.

Ken shifted in his sleep restlessly. It had been one of the first nights that he had not had nightmares and he figured it was because of how close his digimon was to him. So close he could feel Leafmon's steady heartbeat.

Click. Click.

He groaned as a bright light cut through the darkness and he slowly opened his eyes and sat up, carefully avoiding waking the sleeping digimon next to him.

The light was coming from his laptop.

Click. Click.

And the clicking…

"Who are you?!" Ken demanded, wide awake now as he stared at the white haired stranger perched at his desk. It was clearly a woman wearing a strange purple and red hat that reminded Ken of witch hats that he had only ever seen on Halloween night.

"Sweet dreams, Kaiser?" A woman sneered, meeting his eyes.

"Ken, what's going on?" Ken glanced down and tucked Leafmon to his chest protectively.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" He demanded, his heart racing.

"Such a shame really. You had so much potential."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember?" She mocked, placing a gloved hand to her heart. "It doesn't matter now, does it Emperor?"

Ken felt his hands tremble violently. "I am not the Digimon Emperor anymore!"

"Even if you were, you'd still be just as useless. But I suppose there's not that much harm done. You've left us plenty of control spires to continue on our way."

Ken stiffened at the mention of the evil black towers. "What are you planning to do?"

"You'll just have to see now, along with all those other digidestined brats." She said bitterly. Then she cackled. A loud, screeching noise that made Ken's heart seize momentarily.

There was a flash and for a split moment, Ken witnessed her body transform, six more appendages sprouting from her abdomen and yellow fangs curling over her lips. Then she was gone and the screen to his laptop turned black again.

Leafmon peeked out from underneath Ken's arm, noticing his partner's shaking. "Is she gone?" He asked, snuggling Ken's hand in comfort.

The teen nodded slowly, pondering over the strange things she had said. What wasn't he remembering? And what did it have to do with his, no, the Digimon Emperor's control spires? And more importantly, what was she planning…

"And hopefully she's not coming back."

...

Ken barely caught anymore sleep for the remainder of the night. His mind was working at breakneck speed trying to decipher what the woman had meant.

It scared him. The menace and meaning behind the words made him tremble. Whoever that witch was, she was planning on using his own foul creations against him.

His first thought was to alert the other Digidestined but he realized with a sickening pang that he couldn't.

He didn't know them. And all they knew of him was an evil, sinister being. He knew without a doubt that they would not believe them, nor would he ever get close enough to tell them in the first place.

Loneliness washed over him not for the first time. He was alone. Utterly alone and useless to do anything about it. Tears gathered in his violet eyes.

Leafmon didn't deserve him. He had kicked, abused, torn apart his partner. And he came back to him.

Ken glanced down at Leafmon, who had luckily been able to fall back into sleep, and was currently tucked underneath the pillow.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered brokenly, stroking the barely visible leaf on the creature's head.

He scrambled out of bed, quietly avoiding waking up Leafmon, and made his way to his bathroom. He stepped out of his clothes and twisted the shower knob to scalding hot water before stepping in.

He winced as the water stabbed his skin and he just sat in the tub, knees pulled to his chest, silent tears rolling down his face and mixing with the droplets.

He was evil. A terrible person. He had wished on his brother's death. Wish granted. Wished to control and master poor, innocent creatures. Another wish granted.

And now all he wanted was to disappear himself. But it looked like fate wasn't letting him go that easy.

Leafmon had to hate him. Had to. Everyone else did. Or maybe he just felt sorry for him. But Ken had no idea why. He had whipped his digimon. He had kicked, spat, and abused his partner.

Where was his repercussion? Self-loathing overcame him and he mindlessly stepped out of the still steaming water and rummaged through the bathroom cabinets.

Tears blurred his vision as he used his hands to feel through the contents until his hand came across a small pair of nail scissors.

Before he came to his senses, he was sitting against the wall of the shower again with three angry red slashes across his delicate wrist.

You're evil.

No, I'm not.

You tortured all those innocent Digimon for your own sick pleasure.

I didn't know better.

And now look at yourself. Pathetic. You have no friends. Leafmon, your parents, they all just feel sorry for you. You don't mean anything to them. Not your precious digimon, not your mommy or daddy, and not the digidestined. You are alone.

I'm alone.

Worthless.

I'm worthless.

You should just end it all here. Yeah, right there. The jugular bleeds the fastest…

"Ken?"

The small voice broke him abruptly out of his reverie and he gasped at the sight before him. Watered down blood ran freely from his now cold skin. Goosebumps dotted his arms and he realized that the water had long turned cold.

Scared of his intentions, he threw the silver weapon across the bathroom, disgusted with himself. He really was pathetic.

"Ken?" It sounded really worried now.

"Just g-go back to b-bed Leafmon. I'm f-fine." He gasped as he stood and turned the shower off. His wounds had already begun to scab over. He stumbled out of the tub and threw a towel around his shivering body.

He cupped his stinging wrist, applying pressure to the cuts and managed to arrange the bathroom to look as if this incident had never happened. He stored the bloody scissors deep in the back of the drawers.

Trying to control the shaking of his body, he opened the door and found Leafmon sitting outside of the bathroom door, eyes wide.

"I woke up and you were gone," the digimon whimpered. Ken frowned and picked up the larva and brought him to his chest.

"I'm sorry, Leafmon. I didn't mean to scare you. I couldn't sleep," He comforted his partner, trying to ignore the dull ache in his wrist.

"It's all right Ken. I was just worried about you."

"Why?"

Leafmon blinked at him. "Because you're my best friend, Ken," he squeaked. "I know you're upset about everything that has happened. But that doesn't change the way I feel about you. I love you Ken."

At his response, Ken promptly burst into tears. "You're too good for me."

Determined to prove his partner wrong, Leafmon bounced onto his shoulder and nuzzled his neck affectionately.

"Please don't cry, Ken."

Ken brought his injured hand up to hold Leafmon closer when the digimon caught a glance at the angry marks.

"You're hurt!"

Ken started violently and tucked his hand to his chest. "It was an accident, Leafmon. I just wasn't paying attention."

Leafmon looked at him suspiciously but didn't question him further. "Are you okay?"

The teen nodded dismissively and led them to his bedroom once again to lie down. He scooped Leafmon onto the bed and dried his body off.

His mind wandered again. The cuts barely stung but the intentions behind them frightened him. Had he fallen so far that he couldn't even fight anymore? He begged the villagers to forgive him and to find Wormmon's egg.

He was fighting to ignore the sickening feeling that he had every time he ate something so as to not worry his family. And now he needed to fight to keep Leafmon happy. His partner had forgiven him without hesitation and it was selfish to do this to himself.

Leafmon's words from earlier hit him hard, the digimon wondering if he would ever return back to the digital world. If this was what he needed to do to make Leafmon happier, he would do it.

Ken crawled back into bed and settled down for the third time that night. "Hey Leafmon?"

"Hmm?" The digimon once again made himself comfortable against Ken's warming body.

"What do you think about going back to the digital world? You know, maybe we can figure out what that lady was talking about with the c-control spires. Whatever she's planning, it can't be good," he said thoughtfully.

"I think it's a great idea, Ken. But we don't have to go back until you're ready."

Ken shook his head, determination to take care of Leafmon and to make sure that no one else used his evil creations to ruin the digiworld more than he had already.

He pulled the covers underneath his chin and with a newfound determination, despite the pain of confronting his past, the pain in his heart, and the ache in his wrist, turned to Leafmon.

"I want to go back tomorrow."

...

End of Chapter 1. Please review. It only takes a few seconds!