EPISODE 14 - CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE
“Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
Damien frowned, looking away from his phone and up at his partner.
He’d been so focused on whatever was going on with his digivice (vibrating and beeping in a pattern he’d never seen before, screen glowing white, ultimate evolution) that he hadn’t even thought to pay attention to his own partner - the one currently glowing the brightest white that Damien had ever seen.
He was glad he had his sunglasses on, but even then, they weren’t doing much to help.
A quick glance over at Moxie revealed that she, too, was struggling to protect her eyes, one hand shielding them from the light and the other firmly grasping her digivice.
Resuming his attention on Bumble, Damien gritted his teeth, lifting an arm to shield his eyes even through his glasses.
He wasn’t upset about this. Far from it. He was absolutely elated that this was happening. It was just…
He just hadn’t been expecting it, that was all.
He’d had no reason to expect it. This hadn’t ever happened to them. Sure, they’d evolved to champion before, but never ultimate.
And Damien sure as hell didn’t predict it would happen now.
Oh, yeah, I was so optimistic about this whole endeavor just ten seconds ago, wasn’t I?
But it’d been a lie. A lie for Moxie’s sake.
Because he’d seen the look on her face when he threw the entire weight of his body into her, shoving her out of the way of the Aegiochusmon’s attack. He knew what that expression she’d been wearing was.
Helplessness. Fear.
Despair.
I didn’t believe a single word I was saying. I thought this was hopeless, too. As I usually do.
Guess I was wrong, huh.
It was happening, and it was happening all too quickly for his liking. If everything could slow down and chill out and stop for just a moment, maybe he could actually process the damn situation.
But…
Despite the overall confusion and general… overwhelmingness, Damien couldn’t help but feel a little bit excited.
This was it. This was everything he’d ever hoped for. Everything he’d ever wanted.
Well, maybe not everything.
The light had subsided from both of the evolving Digimon, and as Damien lowered his arm to his side, clenching his hand into a fist, he lifted his chin to stare up at them. Or down, in Pop’s case, as she had landed on the ground - but his gaze was fixed on Bumble, hovering in the air between him and the two Aegiochusmon.
At his side, Moxie - whom Damien had almost forgotten was even standing next to him - let out a long, loud breath.
“
“
Damien’s digivice buzzed in his hand, and he lifted it up to stare at it for a second.
Looking back up at Bumble, the digivice began to speak.
“CannonBeemon. Ultimate level cyborg Digimon. The gigantic arms container on top of it boasts an innumerable amount of loaded ordnance, and with its ‘Sky Rocket’ technique, it can completely cover a vast amount of enemies.”
Bumble’s ultimate form was not much larger than his champion form had been, only about less than twice the size. His head remained the same, with blue eyes peeking out from underneath two antennae, but his entire body had changed into something brand new. His stinger was much longer and now pointed out in front of him, with a bright blue glow emanating from the end. Four white wings tipped in black fluttered out behind him, beating at such a high speed that they looked to be a whirl of gray.
And this was to say nothing of the giant container of sorts on his back, with sections divided into hexagon shapes - almost like a beehive - and rockets on the back.
Damien exhaled, and was subsequently cut off by Moxie’s digivice giving its own spiel.
“Silphymon. Ultimate level beast man Digimon. Due to its tenacious leg strength, its leaping power is said to reach great heights, and it is able to fly by leaping high into the sky and soaring using the feathers on its arms like a glider.”
Although there were clear similarities, Pop’s ultimate was much different than her previous form, just like Bumble - and unlike him, she hadn’t gotten bigger at all, remaining about the same size as she had been as Aquilamon.
The biggest difference was that she was now bipedal. Her lower half was a soft pink, much like the feathers of her champion and rookie stages, and her lower legs were those of a bird’s, with giant claws to match. Her torso and arms were white, an array of feathers tipped in pink spreading from her elbows. A sort of silver armor adorned her chest, shoulder pads holding it in place.
Her face was humanoid, but covered by a silver visor circling her head and a helmet the same pink color as her feathers. Two white ears poked out from behind the visor, tipped in pink, and an array of wild brown hair flowed from her head.
“Ah,” Moxie said.
Damien tipped his head toward her, still focused on Bumble, hovering in the air and staring down the Aegiochusmon. “How you feeling?”
Moxie was silent for a moment, and he looked over at her to catch her glaring at the Aegiochusmon. There was a determination in her eyes that Damien wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before -
…Wait. Yes, I have.
She’s felt like this before.
Moxie inhaled sharply, nodding once before taking a step forward.
“Give it all you’ve got, Pop!”
And so have I.
Damien shook his head before cupping a hand around his mouth to shout up at Bumble.
“You too!”
Bumble and Pop glanced at each other for a split moment, nodding at each other - and then they leapt back into battle.
The Aegiochusmon said nothing - funny, considering how talkative they’d been mere minutes ago. They didn’t even say anything about the sudden evolution, though Damien could tell they were thinking a whole lot about it from the look on their faces.
They knew they were up against equal forces now. The battle could go either way.
And neither side was willing to give up just yet.
Bumble was - of course - the one to start things off, zipping high into the sky and pointing his stinger down at the Aegiochusmon. The holy Aegiochusmon was keeping both eyes on Pop, as if daring her to come closer, so it came as no surprise that it was the one of the two to be more startled by Bumble’s sudden attack.
“
Except for… the holy Aegiochusmon didn’t pay attention to its partner at all. Aegiochusmon Dark was caught outside of the barrier, and as such, took the full brunt of Bumble’s attack.
And this attack seemed to do significantly more damage than his previous form’s.
Well, duh.
Aegiochusmon Holy dropped its defense immediately upon seeing its partner blasted backward by the laser. “
Bumble staggered backward, trying his best to dodge the bolts, but Pop did the exact opposite, leaping straight up into the sky. She seemed to float for a moment, spreading her arms wide before diving straight down at the Aegiochusmon.
“
She crashed, feet-first, directly into the dark Aegiochusmon, but the force of the impact was enough to send even the holy Aegiochusmon - standing several feet away - sprawling.
Pop hopped backwards, rolling her shoulders back and giving a thumbs-up to Bumble hovering above her.
Okay, great. Things were going considerably better than they had about fifteen minutes ago.
And yet…
They had to end this soon. They couldn’t afford to waste their whole day away trying to fight off infected Digimon they didn’t stand a chance against.
Especially not with Alex still -
“
Pop, still looking up at Bumble with a smile on her face, whirled around to face Aegiochusmon Dark just as it struck out at her.
Moxie - still standing by Damien’s side, still not leaving him - sucked in a breath and clenched her fists.
He’d… almost forgotten she was there.
Pop struggled to her feet and took a few steps backward.
Damien inhaled sharply, shaking his head out.
They weren’t getting anywhere with this. Sure, Pop and Bumble had evolved, but all that had seemed to do was make the fight evenly matched, rather than having the odds tipped in the favor of the Aegiochusmon.
And with everyone else’s partners out for the count (as far as Damien could tell), it didn’t seem like these new evolutions would be much help after all.
Great. Just like always.
“
Damien lifted his head a fraction of an inch, just in time to see Bumble shoot another laser at the holy Aegiochusmon.
If they couldn’t beat them… even with two newly-evolved ultimate levels of their own…
“
Running away might be their only option.
“
But we’ve already come this far. We have to speak to Piximon. We need answers.
…Wait, hold on a minute, what?
A loud bang snapped Damien’s attention back to the present, and he grimaced as he saw the dark Aegiochusmon swiping out at Bumble with one of its scythes. It glanced off of Bumble’s armor, but he was knocked backwards anyways from the sheer force.
We? Who is this “we”?
Oh, no. Was Damien… getting invested in this whole adventure he’d been dragged along on?
Was he really, genuinely hoping that - if only by a sliver of a chance - he would finally get some answers…?
Nope. Not thinking about that right now.
But then when would be a better time to think about it?
How about never. Never would be a wonderful time to think about the fact that Damien, of all people, was actually starting to take an interest in finding out whether or not he had a reason for being in this world.
Somehow, through his rising panic, Damien caught sight of the two Aegiochusmon approaching Bumble and Pop, the two of which were helping each other up from the ground (they must’ve been knocked down while Damien was lost in his own world).
Neither of them were focused on their enemies.
“Hey!” Damien shouted, waving a hand around wildly to try to get their attention. Bumble’s head snapped up immediately upon hearing his partner’s voice, and Damien wasted no time in pointing directly at the Aegiochusmon, only a few feet away from them by this point.
Bumble nodded once. “
The covers on his containers opened up and a blast of air shot out, aimed directly for the Aegiochusmon. They struggled against the force for a few seconds, arms braced in front of their faces and feet scrabbling to keep them upright, but Bumble’s attack did not relent, and soon enough they had both lost their footing. They were sent flying backwards, crashing into the front of the marble building they had been so desperate to protect.
Protect?
…Hm.
The Aegiochusmon were back on their feet within seconds. Bumble’s attack did not seem to have done much damage.
“
The holy Aegiochusmon recoiled, while Aegiochusmon Dark took a step forward, bringing its own claws together to summon its own dark red energy.
“
What usually happens when two opposing forces of energy meet (at least in movies)? Especially if the two energies are heading straight into each other at several hundred miles an hour?
They explode.
And that was exactly what happened when the two attacks collided.
Instinctively - just as he had not ten minutes ago - Damien threw his arms up to shield his face, taking several steps backward just in case the explosion decided to destroy his entire body instead of his vision.
A few long moments passed, during which Damien’s eyes were still squeezed shut and his heart was pounding louder than he’d ever heard. Slowly, he lowered his arms, cracking an eye open to see if it was safe.
…And the instant his arms were down at his sides again, the holy Aegiochusmon summoned another Lightning Shower, barely giving Pop - who’d collapsed on the ground, presumably knocked back from the explosion - enough time to recover.
She lifted her head up, staring at the daggers headed her way, and sprung to her feet.
Bumble moved to shield her, getting to her side as quickly as he could, but -
Pop shoved him out of the way with such force that Damien could practically feel it, from all the way across the clearing.
The bolts of lightning hit the ground, as well as Pop, still standing with her arms outstretched.
She fell to the ground once again.
“Pop!” Moxie cried, making as if to dash to her partner’s side, but Damien swung an arm out to stop her in her tracks before grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her back.
She struggled against his grip, turning to stare at him while she wrestled to pull his hands off of her. “Let me -”
“Do you want to have another near-death experience?” Damien hissed, tightening his grip.
“She needs me,” Moxie said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Damien narrowed his eyes, looking back out at the battle. Pop was still kneeled down, one knee pressed to the dirt and the other hiked up to her chest while the opposite hand steadied her against the ground. Her head was bowed, and Damien could see the faintest of frowns upon her lips.
Bumble dipped down next to her, and Damien saw Pop shake her head before pushing herself up.
She was a little shaky in her movements - being bombarded by powerful attacks twice within two minutes wouldn’t be good for anyone - but she got to her feet quickly enough, standing upright to face the Aegiochusmon.
“You know we’re not going to give up, right?” she managed to get out, wiping a hand across her mouth and giving the Aegiochusmon a smirk. Bumble swooped low, hovering a little bit above the ground and facing down their opponents just as Pop was.
The holy Aegiochusmon drew itself up taller, while the dark Aegiochusmon readied its scythes.
Great. Okay, so it seemed like Pop wasn’t willing to back down so easily.
And though Bumble hadn’t said anything, just one look at his partner told Damien everything he needed to know.
But this wasn’t going to end. Not unless one side either surrendered or… You know. Died.
And Damien would really, really like to avoid having his partner die.
Something needed to happen, and fast.
“Hey,” he heard a voice say, and he cast a look over to the side, directly at Moxie.
She smiled at him. “We’re going to get through this. It’s like what you said earlier, right? We just have to give it our best shot.” She shifted her gaze to look over at Pop and Bumble, still staring down the Aegiochusmon. “Just like we did last time.”
Damien blinked. What the hell was she talking about? Last time? What did she -
Oh.
Oh. Okay.
That wasn’t what he’d been referring to earlier (though to be fair, he hadn’t been referring to anything; it was all a bluff to keep Moxie’s spirits up - not like he’d tell her that). But if that was what Moxie had taken from his words, and if it had motivated her to keep going, then…?
“It doesn’t matter how long it takes,” Moxie continued, and Damien huffed quietly. “We can’t give up. Not when we’ve come this far.”
Damien frowned. That was almost word-for-word what he’d been thinking to himself earlier.
And, okay, maybe she was right. Maybe, just maybe, they needed to see this through and not give up after coming this close to getting their answers.
There it goes again.
Maybe. Probably. Most likely.
But they had to know when to cut their losses. If they were fighting a losing battle, and wasting valuable time which could be spent taking care of, you know, Alex, who was still lying on the ground in Ezra’s lap -
“
Damien sighed.
It wasn’t his battle anyway. If Bumble and Pop wanted to keep going, then so be it. Who was he to stop them?
I can’t do anything to help anyways.
The holy Aegiochusmon brandished the gears on its arms to shield itself, and Pop’s attack hit it straight on. Letting its arms drop to its sides, the Aegiochusmon frowned, stepping forward toward Bumble and Pop.
“Why are you trying so hard?”
Bumble faltered in midair, lowering himself closer to the ground - closer to Pop, who was, likewise, staring at the Aegiochusmon with as much of a confused expression as she could with her eyes covered.
“What?” Bumble said.
Aegiochusmon Dark came forward to stand level with its partner, smiling as it did. “You should give up. You know you’re not going to win.”
“You’re wrong.”
Damien’s eyes widened as, next to him, Moxie stepped forward, holding her digivice in one hand as she stared directly at the four opposing Digimon.
The Aegiochusmon exchanged glances before the holy one tilted its head down at her. “This isn’t your fight. You can’t do anything.”
“I know,” Moxie said, shrugging her shoulders. “But they will. Because I know they can do this.” She inhaled slowly before shaking her head. “And even if we can’t beat you, we’re going to keep trying until we can’t try any longer.”
Damien’s eyes drifted away from his sister towards Bumble and Pop, and he barely saw them exchange nods before beginning to move, the Aegiochusmon entirely unaware of what was coming their way.
They have a plan.
It was clear enough from the way they moved that they knew exactly what they were doing. Had they really come up with all this in the short span of time when the Aegiochusmon were giving their monologues?
Or were they just winging this?
“
Pop wasn’t going to stand by and be left out of the action, though, as she quickly hopped into position once the Aegiochusmon were down. Stretching both her hands in front of herself once more, she shot out a bright yellow energy blast with a cry of “
…And then another, and another, and another, until she was in a pretty good rhythm, firing off an attack about once a second, aimed directly for the collapsed Aegiochusmon. All they could manage were cries of anger, as whenever they would try to stand back up, they would immediately be hit with another blast that sent them tumbling down again.
Once Pop was satisfied with her explosions, she leaped high into the air, close enough to give Bumble a high-five if she wanted (and Damien could tell from the grin on her face that she really, really wanted to). She hung there for a split second before shooting downwards, feet outstretched and mouth open to call out “
The holy Aegiochusmon had managed to get to its feet while she was up in the sky, but was promptly clocked in the jaw by a giant bird talon as Pop plummeted to the ground. She hopped backwards once she’d hit her mark, shaking her feet out and clenching her hands into fists, readying herself just in case either of her enemies wanted to strike back.
They did. Aegiochusmon Dark did, at least, as it - from its position half-knelt on the ground - managed to gather its wits together for long enough to yell “
Pop jumped upward, the attack sailing beneath her. She landed on the ground again lightly, cocking her head down at her attacker.
Another “
This one was shorter, though, and it was quickly apparent why.
Bumble swooped lower, though still high enough above the ground to allow for enough room for Pop to stand beneath him.
Pop waved up at Bumble, and he nodded back. The two of them fixed their attention on the Aegiochusmon, both of whom had managed to stand up straight but were not making any movements otherwise.
Pop gave Bumble a salute and smiled.
In that moment, Damien could swear that if he’d had a mouth, Bumble would have smiled right back.
“
“
The two attacks - blue laser, yellow energy - combined into each other and shot straight for the Aegiochusmon.
The clearing burst into light for the third - fourth - whatever - time that day, and as per usual, Damien slammed his eyes shut.
When he opened them, Pop and Bumble were posed at the ready, and the Aegiochusmon were…
Still… standing.
Damien’s shoulders slumped, and beside him he could feel Moxie exhale sharply.
“Great,” Damien said, his voice strained. He could barely get words out.
This really wasn’t going anywhere! Wow!
How the hell were they supposed to win this?
He really didn’t want to look over at the Aegiochusmon - didn’t want to see the smug smiles on their faces, the glee of victory shining in their eyes - but he did anyways, if only to reassure himself that they were not attacking his partner.
They were not.
What was even more curious was that they were standing completely still, neither of them making a single move towards either Bumble or Pop. Instead, they had their heads dipped together, each of them keeping an eye on the two Digimon still squared up and ready to fight, while they spoke in hushed tones.
Why?
What could they possibly be talking about?
“Are you going to give up now?” Pop called out, and Damien wished he could smack some sense into her. This was not the time to be goading on the enemy.
Aegiochusmon Holy cast a dry look over at her, and she visibly deflated.
The two Aegiochusmon strode away from each other, sticking close enough to be able to leap to the others’ rescue if the need arose, but far enough apart where they could no longer whisper to each other.
And… still they did not move to attack Bumble or Pop.
“Interesting,” the dark Aegiochusmon said instead, eyes narrowing into thin white slivers. “We have learned much today.”
…What?
“Excuse me?” Damien said, not to anyone in particular but more as an exclamation of surprise (unusual for him, but this was an unusual circumstance).
Aegiochusmon Dark grinned. “You know how futile your efforts are, and yet you refuse to give up. We did not expect this.”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Damien said, feeling his heart rate accelerate. “What do you mean you’ve ‘learned’?”
He took a step forward - a brave move for him, he admitted, and also unusual (but, again, unusual circumstances).
“Do not come any closer,” the holy Aegiochusmon said, swinging a hand out to stop him in his tracks, and Damien obliged.
Twenty minutes ago, Alex had not listened when told to stop, and now he was lying on the ground bleeding from a gaping wound in his chest. It would be in anyone’s best interests to heed the warning of this Digimon.
And yet something burned under Damien’s skin. If he hadn’t experienced firsthand what a Digimon attack could do to a human (and he was not thinking of Alex’s injury), perhaps he wouldn’t have stopped. Maybe he would’ve stepped closer despite the Aegiochusmon's warning.
And then it hit him. That was why Alex hadn’t listened.
Well. Hopefully he would know better now.
Damien shook his head out. Not the time to be thinking of that.
Not the time to be thinking of anything, really.
“You have shown your dedication to your task,” Aegiochusmon Dark continued, crossing its arms across its chest. It glanced down at Damien and Moxie with a distasteful look on its face. “Despite the fact that some of you have no reason to be here.”
Damien gritted his teeth but did not move.
“Thank you for your demonstration of strength.” Aegiochusmon Holy raised a hand to its chin. “We have learned more about you than we could have ever hoped.”
“And in return for that,” the dark Aegiochusmon picked up, “we will allow you to live another day.”
The clearing went silent again. Damien didn’t dare say or do anything.
Allow them to live? Allow?
As in… if they wanted, they could - ?
Without another word, the Aegiochusmon turned away from Bumble and Pop (who both tensed upon seeing them move) and began to walk away.
Damien stared, dumbfounded, for a few solid seconds before the situation fully settled in his head.
Oh. Hmm.
…Interesting indeed.
“What?” Ezra called out suddenly, his voice sounding weak. “We’re just going to let them get away? Just like that?”
“We have bigger things to worry about,” Damien started, glancing over at where Ezra and Alex and Castor were -
Damien blinked.
Castor was not there.
A flash of white and red at the corner of his vision drew his attention, and he snapped his gaze over just in time to see Castor lunging for the dark Aegiochusmon, his cape fluttering behind him and his eyes ablaze with fury.
“
(If Damien had had a chance to stop him, he wasn’t sure he’d have taken it.)
Castor launched himself at Aegiochusmon Dark, raking his glowing red claws down his back, digging in as deeply as he could.
The Aegiochusmon stumbled, falling to the ground as Castor hopped away. It reached one of its hands around to its back, letting its fingers drift over where Castor’s attack had made contact while the scythe attached to its arm shifted slightly.
The Aegiochusmon turned around to stare down at Castor, who stood still where he was, breathing heavily with his chin lifted upward.
“That,” he said, in between breaths, “is for hurting my partner, you piece of shit.”
For a long moment, neither of the two Digimon moved. Damien could have heard Castor’s heartbeat from across the clearing if he’d listened hard enough, so quiet were his surroundings.
And then the dark Aegiochusmon shoved itself to his feet, bringing its hands together as its pure white eyes widened in rage.
“
Damien’s breath stilled to a halt.
Castor was at point-blank range right now. If he was hit by Aegiochusmon’s attack - an attack from an ultimate level - then, combined with the fact he’d already been tossed around quite a bit today, that would leave him -
“Castor!” Damien shouted without thinking, and then the burst of energy from Aegiochusmon’s attack exploded into red light.
Damien’s heart shattered in his chest.
When the light cleared, Bumble was floating in between Castor - who was crouched on the ground several feet behind him, seemingly unharmed - and the Aegiochusmon.
The dark Aegiochusmon glowered at Bumble, its arms still raised in its attacking position.
“If you’re going to leave, do it,” Bumble said, refusing to move from where he stood. “And don’t come back.”
Aegiochusmon Dark smiled wickedly. “We cannot promise that.”
And then, just as it had before, it turned straight around and walked off into the forest.
Damien stared at the gap in the trees it had disappeared into for a very long time.
Two intense flashes of light brought Damien back to the present, and he squinted over at where they’d come from.
Bumble and Pop laid on the ground, devolved to rookie stage and completely exhausted.
Damien was, of course, at Bumble’s side in an instant, wasting no time in crossing the expanse of dirt to kneel at his partner’s side and check him over for any injuries. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow, but at least he was breathing.
Only a few feet to his right, he heard Moxie mumbling words to Pop as she did the same for her own partner.
They were okay. They were okay, and they were alive, and they were never, ever going to be as stupid as they had been today.
Around him, the world went quiet as Damien stared down at his unconscious partner - his partner who had been so ready to risk his life for people he barely knew.
He could have died today.
And then the moment was over, and sound rushed back into Damien’s ears, not unlike the first time Bumble had evolved to champion, all those years ago.
Damien’s eyelids fluttered shut.
Breathe in, breathe out.
He was not the only one rattled by the encounter.
“Jesus Christ,” Ezra said, in a tone completely devoid of emotion, and Damien couldn’t help himself from looking over at him.
Something about the way he said it.
…And Damien was immediately glad he had looked over, because Ezra - still holding Alex close to himself, still staring straight down at the gaping wound in his chest - suddenly stood straight up, turned around, walked a few steps away from Alex and Castor and Ember, and screamed.
It was possibly one of the most ear-bleeding screams Damien had ever heard, and he had heard quite a few screams in his lifetime.
Don’t think about that. Not right now.
Everyone in the near vicinity immediately slapped their hands over their ears, hunching their shoulders up as added protection against the sheer volume of Ezra’s rage. Ember, the one closest to him, jumped back in fright at the suddenness, but instantly reached a paw out to tug at Ezra’s pant leg, possibly in a vain attempt to quiet him down.
A couple very long seconds later, Ezra had finished with his outburst, and stood still where he was, visibly shaking, his head tilted down to stare at the ground again.
No one in the clearing said a word. Damien inhaled slowly, and by his side, Moxie leaned back slightly.
Ezra wasn’t done yet, though.
“GODDAMNIT!” he shouted, clutching at his hair and falling to the ground. “GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! CAN WE HAVE ONE DAY WITHOUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING?”
“Ezra!” Harmony yelled, rushing forward to him. “Calm down!”
“Calm down?” he retorted, whirling around on his knees to face her. “Don’t you fucking dare tell me to calm down. I have every right to be freaking out right now, and it’s insane that YOU are NOT.”
Harmony stopped in her tracks, hands clenched into fists at her sides as she stared at him. Damien gritted his teeth, feeling his own fingers twitch as he watched the two of them face off.
Though she had stopped moving, Harmony was not done talking. “You shouldn’t be so loud. We don’t know if - if maybe there’s anyone nearby who -”
“Who what?” Ezra laughed, placing a hand on his forehead and tipping his chin back to gaze up at the tree branches above. “Who’re annoyed? Who’re disturbed? Well at least they’re not BLEEDING OUT in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!”
“You need to take a deep breath right now,” Azure barked, coming over to stand next to Harmony. “This is ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?” Ezra echoed, a dry smile spreading across his face. “This is not ridiculous, this is justified. This is a normal response to your best friend being attacked by a fucking bloodthirsty - demon angel… thing, and - and being -” Ezra took a few quick breaths, his hands waving about wildly as if trying to accentuate his point. Did he know what he was saying? Did he even know what he was thinking?
“Alex - Alex is - he’s - I don’t even know if he’s - if he’s alive -”
Sobs suddenly wracked Ezra’s body and he lurched forward, palms falling flat on the ground to keep him upright. He squeezed his eyes shut, pressing one hand to his temple as he tried to calm his breathing, tears falling down his cheeks onto the dirt below.
Ember, who had been standing a few feet behind Harmony, not wanting to get in the path of Ezra’s anger, was immediately at his partner’s side, placing a paw on his shoulder in reassurance. Ezra gasped, reaching his own hand up onto Ember’s, the other still firmly planted in the dirt.
Harmony and Azure knelt down, but made no move towards or away from Ezra.
Damien’s head was ringing, Ezra’s scream still echoing in his ears. Everyone around him seemed so far away. Was he even really here at all?
This was too much right now.
“He’s still breathing,” Castor said suddenly, and though he hadn’t raised his voice, it was still too loud for Damien’s comfort. A glance over at the dragon revealed that he was sitting next to his partner, one paw lightly tracing his face. “Unconscious, but still breathing.”
Damien blinked, trying to snap back to the present. If he looked closely at Alex, he could just barely notice the rise and fall of his chest - but he could also notice the dark red, almost black pool of blood seeping from his chest through the hole in his shirt, spilling onto the ground below.
Yeah. Not good.
If only we had a healing Digimon.
Damien looked back over at Ezra, still crouched on the ground.
Ezra nodded a few times, eyes firmly shut tight, and he took one deep long breath.
“Okay,” he said quietly, but he did not move. “Okay. Okay.”
Castor cleared his throat quietly. “…Though I don’t think your yelling did him any good.”
Ezra nodded again.
This was all too much for Damien to bear. He didn’t want to admit it, but Ezra’s reaction to the situation - the screaming, the shaking, the crying, the pure, raw rage… it was…
Hitting a little too close to home.
He knew what it was like. He knew this feeling.
Wish I didn’t, but can’t change the past.
“…Piximon,” Moxie said quietly.
Damien blinked over at her. “Hm?”
“Surely he’ll have a - a doctor,” she said, her voice slowly rising and her eyes fixed on Pop laying in her lap. “Someone who can help him - we can’t just leave him like this -”
“We’re not going to,” Damien said softly, reaching a hand out to hold hers. “He’ll be okay.”
She closed her eyes, taking a quick breath and dipping her head.
He would be okay.
Yeah? Right?
Everything would be fine?
“Everything is going to be fine,” Castor said. “Hallowed Hall must have some healing Digimon. This is - this is Yggdrasil’s forest. Of course they’ll have…”
“Well then, let’s hurry up,” Ryan said, his voice softer than Damien had ever heard. “Or do we want him to bleed out?”
Ezra’s face contorted as he clenched his jaw, but he held his tongue. Ember patted him on the shoulder and he exhaled again, closing his eyes.
“Okay,” he said once more, slowly pushing himself to his feet.
“Okay,” Damien echoed absentmindedly, looking down at his own partner, still passed out.
Alex would be okay. It would all be okay.
Damien shook himself out, picking up Bumble and standing up. Moxie did the same, resting Pop over her shoulder as she reached out to steady herself on Damien, who let her do so.
Damien turned around from the clearing to face the giant marble building at the base of the tree.
Cradling his partner in his arms, Damien walked toward the door and knocked.
Perhaps it would have been best if Damien were not the one to announce their arrival at Hallowed Hall.
It’s not that he had been rude. Or at least, it’s not that he had been any ruder than he usually was to strangers. But he’d never been the best for diplomacy, especially not when his and his sister’s partners were knocked unconscious, and especially not when a friend of his was rapidly losing blood.
Friend?
Damien shook his head.
The good news was that the one to open the door (and be subjected to Damien’s frustrated ranting) had not been Piximon, which was probably for the better. The bad news was that the one to open the door had been a tall fairy Digimon by the name of Lilamon, who - Damien discovered not quickly enough - was the resident doctor.
“He needs your help,” Ezra cut in, shoving past Damien to show Alex - being supported on either side by Ezra and Ryan - to Lilamon.
Lilamon raised one eyebrow, and then another upon seeing the blood seeping from Alex’s shirt.
“Oh,” she said, her voice light and airy, as if she wasn’t really bothered, though her expression showed the opposite. “Of course. Right this way.”
Hallowed Hall was larger than Damien had expected it to be, from an outside perspective. It was more than a hall, as well - though of course the “hall” part of its name was for a reason, as it was one very long hall, the walls were lined with doors, each leading into a separate room. The doors were shut tight and unlabeled, so Damien was left none the wiser as to what lay behind most of them.
Key word being most, because there was one room they were shown into - the hospital.
And, yes, the hospital was one room, but it was huge, larger than the hall itself had been.
Damien felt a little unsettled. How did they fit all of this space into such a tiny building? Was this a “bigger on the inside” situation?
Or was Damien just an idiot who hadn’t noticed how large it was from the outside. That seemed to be the most logical conclusion, and checking in with Moxie gave him that same answer.
Well, he’d been focused on the fight for most of the time he was outside, so he supposed it made sense.
Alex was quickly taken care of by a group of small pixie Digimon by the name of Pucchiemon (Azure’s entire face lit up upon seeing them). He was placed onto a bed, where the Pucchiemon were able to examine him and hear the situation from Castor and Ezra, taking turns to describe what had happened. Lilamon, overseeing the procedure, nodded along sagely during the explanation, her expression somber.
“He’s going to be okay,” she said once she’d heard the full story. “It might take a while to heal him up, but he’ll live. I promise you that.”
Ezra looked like he was going to cry, but he nodded, biting his lip and placing a hand on Alex’s bed.
Lilamon and the Pucchiemon were also gracious enough to take in Pop and Bumble, both of them still passed out. They hadn’t sustained many injuries, thankfully, but they were both exhausted and could use all the rest they could get - and the hospital beds seemed to be the best place for a nap right now.
The hospital room was large enough for several stations to be set up, with curtains in between each mini-room to give patients a sense of privacy, but none of the other beds seemed to be occupied.
Which was a good thing.
Inside the hospital was also another small fairy Digimon named Tinkermon, who introduced herself as “sort of the second in command around here”. Damien had no idea what the hell she meant by that, but he decided to take it at face value to save himself from saying anything too scathing.
“We’re here to talk to Piximon,” Miguel said, holding Flip in his arms.
Tinkermon tapped her nose. “Really? We weren’t expecting guests today.”
Miguel deflated. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Tinkermon said, shrugging a shoulder. “I can check in with him. And even if he didn’t know you were coming, I’m sure he’d still be willing to hear you out. Doesn’t have much going on otherwise.”
“Oh -” Azure started, reaching out to stop her before she could fly away. “We were sent by Asuramon. That mean anything?”
Tinkermon’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping as she surveyed the group once more, this time with a completely different look in her eye.
Apparently so.
“Yes!” she spluttered, her calm demeanor completely out the window now. “Yes, it does! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“…Sorry?” Ren said, crossing her arms. “We were kind of busy making sure that someone wasn’t going to die from blood loss.”
Tinkermon waved her away with a hand, seemingly unfazed by the seriousness of the situation. “Well, now that I know that, I’ll be sure to talk to Piximon. He’ll be with you shortly, I’m sure.”
“We’re going to wait for Alex,” Ezra said, his voice firm.
Tinkermon blinked over at him. “Oh. Okay. …I’m still going to tell Piximon you’re here, though.”
“Whatever,” Damien muttered, earning a sharp glare from Moxie.
“What do we do now?” Harmony asked.
Tinkermon smiled. “Well, have you ever been to Hallowed Streets before?”
Nobody said a word. Tinkermon frowned.
“Okay, I’ll take that as a no. So, next question: do you want to go to Hallowed Streets?”
Again, nobody said a word. Tinkermon frowned even deeper.
“You guys are no fun,” she said, and Damien could swear he saw her stick her tongue out for a split second. “C’mon, the town is great! You should really check it out!”
“Town?” Azure said, as if they were sounding the word out for the first time.
Tinkermon beamed. “Yep! Central Forest’s pride and joy! If you haven’t been, you should at least go take a look! It’s not like there’s much to do while you wait anyways!”
“I’ll pass, thanks,” Ezra mumbled, rubbing his arm and glancing over at Alex’s bed, despite the fact that the curtains had been pulled shut to let Lilamon and the Pucchiemon work in peace.
Tinkermon sighed, her shoulders slumping, but she quickly pulled herself back up. “Alright, your loss. Once you’re done with whatever you need Piximon for, though, you should give it a look, alright? Chef’s choice!”
“That’s not how to use that phrase,” Damien said under his breath, and Moxie jabbed an elbow into his ribcage.
“If you need anything, I’ll be in the second room on the left from the entrance,” Tinkermon said, beginning to usher the group out of the hospital into the hall. “But if you’re not going to be going anywhere, then surely you won’t need me, right?”
Damien had to physically restrain himself from rolling his eyes by closing them for a few seconds.
When he opened them, he caught sight of Ezra, taking one last look over his shoulder at the hospital, his eyebrows pinched together and gaze full of something Damien couldn’t quite discern.
And now to play the waiting game.
It was all they could do. No one was particularly open to the idea of exploring the town, despite Tinkermon’s efforts to convince them. Sitting and doing absolutely nothing wasn’t much better, but Ezra was adamant on staying and waiting for Alex, and no one else in the group really wanted to leave him alone.
Not that they didn’t trust him to be alone, of course. Damien couldn’t care less about what Ezra would have gotten up to if he’d been left behind. Maybe he would’ve screamed again. Big deal.
But… no one wanted him to be by himself. Sure, Ember likely would have stayed behind with him, and Castor would have checked in on him regularly enough, but aside from that, Ezra would have been all by himself in a building full of Digimon he didn’t know, while he sat and wondered if his best friend was really going to be okay after all.
He will. He will be okay.
And speaking of Castor, he was the only one allowed in the hospital to see Alex. Ezra had begged and pleaded with Lilamon to let him in there - “I’m his best friend, he needs me, I need to make sure he’s okay” - but she hadn’t budged, insisting that only Alex’s partner would be allowed inside. Castor had promised to update Ezra regularly, and he’d relented a bit at that, but from the way he was still sneaking glances through the door toward the hospital down the hall, it was obvious that it hadn’t soothed all of his worries.
They’d been led into one of the other rooms in Hallowed Hall, one which… wasn’t quite a church, but it certainly felt like one to Damien. What with the large stage at the front of the room and the two distinct rows of benches running down the length and the tall pillars reaching up into the sky-high ceiling and the stained glass artwork all over the walls…
It made him a little uncomfortable, to be honest.
Tinkermon hadn’t said anything about it when she’d practically shoved them inside, simply telling them this was “the best place for them to be” before leaving immediately to go talk to Piximon. Damien hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now, sitting on the backmost bench with Moxie at his side, staring up at the ceiling and pointedly avoiding looking at the window on the front wall, he was starting to go insane.
Across the aisle, as close to the edge of the bench as he could get, sat Ezra, Ember just barely visible on the other side of him. One of Ezra’s hands was folded in front of his mouth to prop his face up, his elbow resting on his knee, while the other was tapping out a rhythm on the armrest, though every so often he would pause to flex his fingers for a while before resuming. His head was bowed, and Damien could barely see his eyes under his hair, looking dead ahead to the front of the room.
Ezra suddenly looked over at Damien, his eyebrows knitted together. “What?” he said, his voice low and eyes focusing straight on Damien’s.
Damien jerked backward, averting his gaze as quickly as he could. He’d been staring, and Ezra had noticed. “Nothing.” He paused. “You just seem…” Again, he paused, choosing his next words carefully. “Unusually worried.”
Ezra scoffed, dipping his head to stare at the ground by his feet. “Of course I am. Wouldn’t you be?”
Damien tilted his head to one side, looking back up at the ceiling for a moment. “I mean, I guess so. I just mean that it seems to be hitting you harder than it would most people.”
“He’s my best friend. Of course it’s hitting me hard.” Ezra bit his lip, still not meeting Damien’s gaze.
“Well yeah, but… I don’t know.” Damien sighed. “Compared to Castor, who’s considerably calmer than you, it seems a bit odd. I mean… isn’t Alex’s partner supposed to be Castor, not you?”
Ezra snapped his head up, his eyes locking onto Damien’s as he blushed a deep red color. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally letting out a single laugh. “What does that mean?”
Damien narrowed his eyes. Interesting reaction.
“It was a joke,” Damien said slowly, giving him a quizzical look.
Ezra blinked, ducking his head to the side. “It wasn’t very funny.”
Damien hummed to himself for a moment, still staring at Ezra for half a second. Maybe he would’ve said something more, but he was quickly distracted by Moxie standing up from next to him. He leaned back in his seat, looking up at her as she passed in front of him to the aisle, where she continued onward to the opposite row of seats, tapping Ezra’s shoulder to get his attention. When he looked up at her, she said something that Damien didn’t quite catch, and Ezra scooted over to allow her to sit next to him.
They talked for a few minutes, their voices too quiet for Damien to hear anything (he wasn’t necessarily meaning to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help from straining just a little bit to try to listen). Eventually he gave up, relaxing in his seat and looking back up at the ceiling, before realizing he’d already completely memorized the scratches and blemishes on it and instead opted to look around the room itself for the first time.
Aside from Damien, Moxie, Ezra, and Ember, the rest of the group was scattered across the room, some of them occupying the benches further up the row while others leaned up against the walls. Azure and Ko were speaking in low voices at the far end of the room, their backs to the stained glass window as they examined something Azure was holding. Ryan had opted to lie down on one of the benches in front of Damien, using Dare as a pillow as the two of them rested together with their eyes closed. In the other row, Harmony and Miguel were sitting close enough to each other where it was obvious they were sitting together, with Ren - on the other side of Harmony from Miguel - leaning against the armrest as if she were asleep, though from the way her ears twitched every time Harmony said something, it was obvious she was awake. Flip, presumably, was sitting next to Miguel - Damien couldn’t see him from his position.
And though he couldn’t see him, Damien knew that directly behind him, sitting smack next to the door, was Castor. It had turned into his “spot”; every time Castor returned from a check-up on Alex, he would sit right back down near the door, as if he were guarding it.
The lack of worry from Castor reassured Damien slightly. Alex was okay for now.
Damien was snapped out of his trance by Moxie returning from across the aisle, nudging his leg with her knee to get him to move back so she could sit down.
Damien blinked up at her, pulling his knees up to allow her to walk by. “What was that?”
Moxie gave him a look. “I wanted to say something to him. To be nice, you know?” She sighed, sitting down properly and leaning her head back on the seat. “He’s obviously dealing with a lot right now. And I know what that’s like.”
She suddenly stared right at Damien, something unreadable swirling in her eyes. “We know what that’s like.”
Damien ducked his head, gritting his teeth. “Got it.”
Should I have said something to him?
Maybe his joke was in poor taste. Maybe he shouldn’t have been staring.
Maybe he should’ve done what Moxie did and said something comforting. All great ideas, but he hadn’t thought of them in time to actually do anything about them.
He sighed. Next time, maybe.
Actually, let’s hope there isn’t a next time. No more life-threatening injuries would be our best option.
(And yet, deep down, Damien knew that that would not be the case.)
(Call it a hunch.)
They were safe for now, though, and that was what mattered.
It took only a few hours for Alex, Pop, and Bumble to be released from the hospital - only a few hours, and yet each second that had passed seemed to stretch for an eternity.
There was a knock on the door at one point, and Damien - who had definitely not been drifting off to sleep - practically jumped in his seat at the noise. The room had been dead silent for pretty much the entire time they’d been in there, so hearing some sort of noise that proved there were other people in the building was certainly an experience.
Damien turned around in his seat, one arm draped over the back of the bench, as the door slowly swung open.
It was, expectedly, Alex who had opened the door, but Bumble and Pop were standing about a foot behind him, both of them looking much better than before, and behind them was Lilamon, her hands folded in front of her as the four of them stepped into the room.
Castor was still sitting next to the door, so naturally he was the first one to get to Alex, and he greeted him by jumping up and almost knocking him over trying to give him a hug. Alex stumbled a bit and Lilamon reached an arm out to steady him, shooting a dark glare down at Castor, who sat back down on the floor, his head hung low but a smile on his face.
“Be gentle with him,” she said, her voice laden with warning, but she was cut off almost instantly as Ezra threw himself into Alex’s arms, his own hands coming up to cling onto the back of Alex’s shirt. Alex froze for a single second before clutching him back, resting his chin on Ezra’s shoulder as his eyelids slowly shut.
Damien set his own chin down on his arms, crossed in front of him on the back of his bench, his eyes fixed on Bumble and Pop as the two Digimon stepped around the two boys to approach their partners. Pop hopped up into Moxie’s arms immediately, and Bumble flew over to sit next to Damien on the bench.
Damien smiled down at his partner. “You good?”
Bumble nodded.
“I feel like I went through a washing machine,” Pop said from her position on Moxie’s shoulder. “And then a dryer. And then a dishwasher.”
“But other than that, we’re okay,” Bumble said as Moxie laughed.
Damien shook his head, running a hand over Bumble’s antennae before resuming his attention on the scene in front of him. Alex and Ezra had stepped away from each other, and Lilamon had finally managed to get out from between Alex and the doorway, currently standing on the opposite side of Alex and keeping a very watchful eye on him as he kneeled down next to Castor.
“You’re okay,” Ezra said quietly, clasping his hands together and raising them in front of his face.
Alex smiled, wincing slightly as he stood up. “Yeah. For the most part.”
“He’s doing as well as he can,” Lilamon said, taking a step forward and placing a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “But it’s going to be painful for a couple more days, and he needs to avoid reopening the wound.”
“Reopening?” a voice said from behind Damien, and he looked over his shoulder to see that the rest of the group had come forward closer to the door.
Harmony, the one to ask the question, raised a hand to her mouth in thought. “Is something still wrong?”
Lilamon shook her head out. “Not at all, but the wound needs to heal properly. He should take it easy for a couple of days until it scars over.”
“Should be easy enough,” Azure said, pressing their thumb against their cheek. “The town - Hallowed Streets. Are we okay to stay here for a few days while he recovers?”
Lilamon nodded, looking down at Alex. “Of course you may. You are guests here, after all. It would be rude of us to disallow you to rest here for as long as you need.” She went silent for a moment, looking over her shoulder towards the hall through the still-open door. “Piximon should be ready to speak to you shortly.”
“Thank you,” Harmony said, beaming up at Lilamon. Damien rolled his eyes.
“If you need anything from me,” Lilamon continued, looking down at Alex and then over to Bumble and Pop, “I will be in the hospital with the Pucchiemon. Don’t be afraid to ask for anything from us. And take care of yourselves in the time being.”
With that, she gave a small wave before exiting to the hall, closing the door behind her.
Damien exhaled, his eyelids falling shut as he turned back around to sit in his seat properly, but his moment of relaxation was cut short.
“Damien,” Azure whispered, reaching out to tap him on the shoulder. “Can we talk?”
Damien lifted his head to look at them, and they beckoned him with a finger, stepping off to the side. Damien sighed, patting Bumble and standing up from his seat to follow Azure, his partner following him.
“What’s up?” Damien said once he was close enough to Azure, next to the wall. Ko was standing next to them, and Bumble came over to sit by him, the two of them watching their partners intently. Damien paid them no mind, though he did nod down at Bumble.
“Something happened today,” Azure said, wasting no time in getting to the point, which Damien was both grateful for and irritated by. “Something that made you worried.”
Damien stared at them, not moving. “Yes. Alex nearly died.”
“Not what I’m talking about,” Azure said with a shake of their head. “During the fight, you and Moxie both looked… a way I haven’t seen from either of you yet. But I’ve seen it from the others before, and I know what it is.”
Why were they being so vague?
“Well, my partner evolved to ultimate for the first time,” Damien said cautiously, raising an eyebrow at them, careful not to say anything too revealing. “I think it made sense for me to be shocked.”
“Nope,” Azure said instantly, as if they’d expected him to reply with that. “I’ve seen what people look like when they see their partners evolve for the first time. And you didn’t look anything like that.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Point being?”
Azure spread their hands, palms up, and gave him a pointed look. “What do you think?”
“I’m not playing your guessing games,” Damien shot back. “Tell me what you want from me or I’m going to leave.”
Azure sighed. “My point is that you didn’t just look surprised. You looked scared.”
Damien’s blood ran cold in that instant. Azure was watching me? Watching me closely enough to notice that…
Damien himself hadn’t even realized that he’d been scared, and he was usually pretty in touch with his own emotions. How the hell did Azure figure it out before he did?
Damien swallowed a lump in his throat and shrugged. “It was a strange situation. I’m sure you were scared too.”
“I was scared of the Aegiochusmon,” Azure said, their tone sharp. “Not Bumble and Pop’s evolution.”
Damien snapped his mouth shut, glaring daggers straight at Azure, who returned his gaze likewise, but when they spoke next, their voice was unexpectedly soft.
“I just want to know if everything’s alright.”
Damien closed his eyes. “…You notice too much.”
Azure said nothing more; Damien opened his eyes, staring at them with his arms crossed.
He’d never been one for trauma-dumping; he preferred to keep his thoughts to himself, rarely sharing them with Bumble and even less with Moxie and Pop. He didn’t like telling others what was troubling him or weighing him down or causing him to lay awake at night unable to sleep. He didn’t want their pity or their sorries or their promises to make things better and then never following through with it.
How was he supposed to explain it? How was he supposed to tell them what had happened the last time their partners had evolved? Why he hadn’t expected it to happen again? Hadn’t wanted it to happen again?
And yet it had, and everything had been fine, and it wasn’t like last time, and their partners hadn’t nearly -
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t wanna.”
Damien averted his gaze from Azure, hoping that would be a good enough sign.
They sighed again. “Jus’ something I noticed. Sorry for asking.”
“It’s not you,” Damien mumbled. “Just -” He shook his head. “Pay less attention to me.”
Azure inhaled sharply. “Pardon?”
“Pay less attention to me,” Damien said, finally looking back at them. “I don’t know how you noticed... that, but it must’ve been because you were paying attention to me. So don’t.”
Azure laughed. “You know that we’re all a group, right? And that you were kinda the center of attention today?”
“Bumble and Pop are the ones who evolved,” Damien said, lowering his voice. “If anything, you should have been focused on them.”
“I was. But you’re Bumble’s partner, and I wanted to see how you were handlin’ everything.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Damien said, pointedly ignoring the fact that Azure hadn’t said a single thing about Moxie. “I can handle myself just fine without anyone worrying about me.”
“And what if it had been you?”
That caught Damien off guard. He scrunched his face up, tilting his head as he stared at Azure, their gaze unwavering. “What?”
“What if you had been the one to get hurt? Instead of Alex?”
Damien didn’t say anything, and Azure took that as an excuse to keep talking. “Alex didn’t listen to anyone else today,” they said, beginning to pace, Ko hopping backwards to avoid getting in their way. “When Moxie told him to stop, he didn’t listen to her. She was worried about him, and he thought he could handle himself.”
They stopped in their tracks, whirling around to point at Damien. “That could have been you.”
“I’m not an idiot, though,” he snapped, his heartbeat picking up speed. “I wouldn’t have done what he did.”
“Okay, maybe not in that situation,” they said, shrugging their shoulders before beginning to walk again. “But what if the circumstances had been different? Close enough to what happened today, where you would have been in danger if you hadn’t listened.”
“What the fuck are you getting at,” Damien spat, his last shreds of diplomacy flying out the window. “Do you have a point to this ramble? Or do you just want to annoy me to death?”
“Hey,” Ko warned, stepping toward Damien, but Damien ignored him.
“You need to stop worrying about me,” Damien continued, refusing to back down.
Azure halted again, spinning on their heel to face him, their expression unreadable. “I just want to help.”
“I don’t need your help!” Damien practically shouted, balling his hands into fists. “I don’t know why you’re so adamant on getting me to open up to you -”
“Is that what you think this is?” Azure cut in, grabbing Damien’s forearm. “You think I’m tryin’ to get you to dump all your baggage on me? That is the last thing I am asking from you.”
Damien growled, wrestling his arm away from them, and they released him easily enough.
“What I want,” they muttered before Damien could say anything more, their voice just loud enough for him to hear, “is for you to be okay. And if you’re not, I’m goin’ to try my best to make sure you are.”
A ringing noise sounded in Damien’s ears, rising in volume till everything around him washed away into silence. Damien stepped backward, aware of the furious expression forming on his face but unable to stop it from happening. Bumble was quick to come to his side, reaching two claws out to steady him as he backed away from Azure.
…who, by now, was seeming to regret their words, though perhaps they were just unsettled by Damien’s sudden shift in emotion.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” they said quickly, reaching a hand out to place on Damien’s shoulder, but he brushed it off, and they let it fall to their side in defeat. “I didn’t -”
“You shouldn’t waste your time on me,” Damien said, surprised at how steady he managed to keep his voice in spite of everything racing through his head. “My wellbeing is none of your concern.”
Azure ducked their head, keeping their gaze fixed on him for a moment more before letting it drop as well. “We’re all in this together, you know. You’re part of our group, and that means I’m goin’ to try to make sure you’re okay.”
“But I’m not.” The words were out of Damien’s mouth before he could stop himself, and he instantly regretted what he’d said, but there was no going back now.
Azure leaned back, giving him a puzzled expression. “What?”
“You heard the Aegiochusmon.” His hands were shaking now, and he took a deep breath, trying to still it before it began to falter as well. “Bumble and Moxie and Pop and I. We aren’t part of your group. We aren’t part of your destiny.”
“Well I don’t believe that,” Azure retorted, their voice finally rising back to a normal volume. “I think you’re just as important as the rest of us.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think!” Damien hissed, his shoulders hunching. “The fact of the matter is that we are not important! We shouldn’t even be here! Hell, I wouldn’t be here if it weren't for Moxie!”
“Damien,” Bumble said, and Damien immediately closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. When he looked down at Bumble, his partner was staring up at him with worry and sorrow in his eyes.
Damien shook his head out. “I appreciate you wanting to check in on me,” he said slowly, looking back at Azure. He was lying. He didn’t appreciate it. “But your concern is not needed or wanted. Save your energy.”
If Azure wanted to say anything else (and Damien felt like they did, judging from the fact they started to open their mouth), they didn’t get the chance to, as they were quickly cut off by a bang and then a “Welcome!” sounding from all corners of the room.
Damien spun on his heel, his eyes darting about wildly, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise - his eyes drifted over the door, which was now wide open, probably the source of the first loud noise.
But the voice? Where had that come from?
Or, better yet, who had it come from?
Damien’s gaze finally settled on the stage at the front of the room; the sunlight was pouring through the stained glass window in a way it hadn’t been four hours ago. The day was winding to a close, and sunset was approaching fast.
But the window was not what Damien was interested in - rather, it was the ball of pink fluff and white wings, hovering directly above the stage, that drew his attention. It was, presumably, the one who had called out the welcome.
Damien heard Alex clear his throat, and saw him standing next to the frontmost bench and looking up at the Digimon, Castor and Ezra (who was holding Ember in his arms) on either side of him.
“Hello?” Alex said, caution edging his tone. “Who are you?”
The Digimon beamed, twirling a long stick around in its hands. “I am Piximon!”
Oh.
That was Piximon?
“What the hell,” Damien muttered, forgoing his paused argument with Azure to walk closer to Piximon, gesturing Bumble to come with him. Behind him, he could hear Azure and Ko following him, a few steps behind in order to not get too close.
Probably for the best.
“You’re Piximon?” Harmony said, she and Ren approaching Piximon just the same. In fact, pretty much everyone else in the room was heading towards the front of the room, stopping just a couple feet away from the stage so as not to intrude.
The pink Digimon smiled even wider. “Indeed I am!”
Piximon was, indeed, a small ball of pink fur, though his face, feet, and hands were covered in a shorter tan fur, a stark contrast to his huge, pitch black eyes. Two tattered white wings fluttered behind his back, patched up here and there with red stitches. In his hands he held a long staff, one end tipped in several wicked-looking silver blades, a red ribbon dangling from the base of the blades as if it was what was holding them in place.
It was this staff - and the pointy end, at that - that Piximon pointed at the surrounding humans and Digimon, sweeping it around in an arc before smacking his free hand against the rod.
“Welcome,” Piximon said again, his voice no quieter than it had been the first time, “to Hallowed Hall.”
A stunned silence washed over the group, though in Damien’s case it was more of an uninterested silence.
He had a feeling he wouldn’t like Piximon any more than he had Asuramon.
“Hi,” Ezra said, giving a small wave to Piximon, which was returned immediately. “Um. I’m -”
“Oh, I know who you all are,” Piximon cut in, casting his gaze over the group, his smile unfaltering. “There is no need to introduce yourself, Ezra.”
Ezra’s eyebrows shot up on his face, and he coughed. “What?”
“You should all take a seat,” Piximon said, using the (pointy) end of his staff to gesture at the front row of benches. “I have a feeling you will have a lot to ask me, and in turn I have a lot to tell you.”
Damien frowned, but heeded Piximon’s request, taking a few steps back to sit down on the bench. Bumble hopped up next to him, and Moxie - who he hadn’t noticed had been standing only a few feet away - sat down on the other side of him, giving him a pointed glance as Pop curled up in her lap.
Damien sighed. She’d heard his talk with Azure.
And, knowing her, she’d probably want to discuss it later, which he wasn’t looking forward to, but he knew it was inevitable.
Better savor my freedom while I can.
And what better way to do so than to listen to a Digimon he barely knew ramble about his “destiny”?
Or, should he say, “his” destiny.
“We have been awaiting your arrival,” Piximon said, his voice drawing Damien’s focus back to the present. “Or rather, I have been awaiting your arrival. No one else knew you were coming.”
“Wait,” Castor spoke up suddenly, seated on the bench opposite the one Damien was sitting at. “You knew we were coming?”
“Indeed!”
“If you knew we were out there,” Castor said, looking over his shoulder at the door to the hallway, though it was clear he was referring to outside the Hall entirely, “then why didn’t you help us?”
Good point.
Damien folded his arms across his chest, raising an eyebrow as he waited for Piximon’s answer.
Piximon’s smile still did not waver as he answered wholeheartedly. “It looked like you had it under control.”
Damien laughed out loud at that, and on the other side of Moxie, he heard Ryan do the same.
“Alex nearly DIED!” Ezra suddenly shouted, standing up from where he was seated to splay his hands out palms-up. “We did not have it ‘under control’!” Alex reached a hand out to tug on Ezra’s arm, and he sighed, sitting back down but still glowering up at Piximon.
“And yet despite the odds, you prevailed!” Piximon seemed much too cheerful, considering the current topic of conversation.
“Prevailed?” Ren mumbled, further down the bench from Damien. “Do you even know what we were up against?”
“If you had been in any real danger,” Piximon said, turning to stare directly at her, “I would have intervened.”
“I think ‘Alex nearly dying’ counts as ‘real danger’,” Ezra snapped.
Piximon turned to stare directly at Ezra now, though his gaze flitted over to Alex as well. “But he did not die. And though this encounter will have long-term repercussions, you will come out victorious despite it.”
“Yeah, long-term repercussions which you supposedly could have prevented,” Castor said, supposedly just as fed up with Piximon as Ezra was. “Wouldn’t it be better in the long run if one of our group members wasn’t seriously injured to the point of near death?”
“You need to trust in yourselves more,” Piximon said, unfazed by the hostility emanating from the entire group. “What hurts today will subside tomorrow.”
Damien snorted. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard.”
“We didn’t come here for you to make fun of us for getting hurt in a fight,” Ren started before Damien could say anything else. “We came here for answers. Do you have them?”
“I said I did, did I not?” Piximon was completely unbothered by the change in topic, and almost seemed to smile wider because of it. He winked, lifting his arms to imitate a shrug the best he could. “You have questions, I have answers. But first, I have some questions for all of you.”
Damien shifted in his seat. Questions for them? Was this a test? What could Piximon possibly need to know from them before they could ask him anything?
Piximon swooped lower now, getting closer to the front row of seats as he examined the group. “I need to know what Asuramon has told you.”
Ah.
Easy enough.
And easy enough it was - Damien let the others (mostly Castor and Alex) do the talking, listening in only because he had nothing better to do as they relayed the entirety of their talk with Asuramon - learning of the first group of humans, Asuramon knowing nothing about their futures, and finding out they did have a “destiny”. It didn’t take long for them to finish, thankfully, but by the time they were through with their recount, the sunlight filtering through the window on the wall in front of them had subsided, leaving the room in considerable darkness.
Piximon noticed this once he had finished listening, and with a clap of his hands, the room was flooded with light. Damien craned his neck to stare at the walls to see a line of sconces that he hadn’t noticed earlier alight with flame.
That was certainly handy.
“I see,” Piximon said, tapping a finger to his mouth in thought. “You know everything you can, it seems.”
“That is a goddamn lie,” Ryan started, leaning forward in his seat. “There is so much more we don’t know! Why are we here? What do we need to do? What is it that we’re up against? When do we get to go home?”
His voice hitched on the last word and he promptly cut himself off, but Damien noticed it.
That was right. Damien had nearly forgotten that, for them, it had been nearly two weeks away from their world.
And for them, who had never been in the Digital World before, never been gone from their homes for this long, stuck in another world, it was obviously going to hit them pretty hard.
He didn’t say anything, though.
“Please,” Harmony piped up, following up Ryan's outburst. “Anything you can tell us would be useful.”
Piximon laughed. “Ah, forgive me! Of course.” He winked at Harmony before looking back to Ryan. “To answer your previous questions: you are here to do the best you can. You need to do what you think is right. I cannot answer your third question, not out of refusal but because I myself do not know. And you will return home when you are ready.”
“That is so incredibly unhelpful,” Alex said, an obviously fake smile on his face. “Thank you!”
Damien hummed to himself quietly, tapping his fingers on the bench. At least he’s being honest about not knowing.
“There is also something I need to tell you,” Piximon said, ignoring Alex’s remark. “From the ones I see gathered before me, it is clear to me that you are not complete.”
Silence ensued. Damien raised an eyebrow.
Missing someone? Or multiple someones?
Was there another partnership they were missing?
Damien looked down at Bumble, curled up against his side, and then tilted his head toward Moxie and Pop.
Are we even a part of this?
Should I ask?
But what would the point be? Either I find out I’m right and we really aren’t part of the group, or I’m wrong and we do have to stick around and see things through.
…I’m not sure which would be worse.
“What?” Pop finally said, breaking the long silence.
“You are missing a crucial component to your group,” Piximon went on. “I do not know where this part may be, but I trust that you will find it eventually.”
Castor let loose a breath. “Are they a Digimon or a human?”
“You will see,” Piximon said with a smile.
“Probably whoever Meicoomon and Nohemon said we were missing,” Ryan mumbled, his tone surprisingly gentle. “But we don’t know anything about them.”
“So we just need to keep an eye out, yeah?” Flip said, shrugging. “I’m sure we’ll find them easily enough.”
“The Digital World is huge,” Bumble said, and Damien raised an eyebrow upon hearing him speak. “We could look for ten years and still not find them.”
“Um,” Miguel cut in, fidgeting with his hands as he looked up at Piximon. “Asuramon also said that we… need to go north. And that you would know… where, exactly, in the north?”
“Oh, maybe that’s where we’ll find this missing part?” Ezra suggested, sounding so hopeful it was almost pitiful.
“I am afraid not,” Piximon said, his wings drooping slightly. “Your missing component and the Catalyst are separate.”
The room went dead silent.
“Huh?” Damien said, unable to bear the silence anymore. “What the hell is a Catalyst?”
Piximon nodded, but did not directly reply to Damien, which irked him slightly, but he let it slide.
“You must head to File Island,” Piximon said, making Damien feel like he’d just been punched in the face.
Not in a bad way, of course. There was nothing wrong with File Island.
But…
That’s where we used to live.
“File Island,” Damien heard Moxie echo under her breath, and he peeked over at her to try to see where she was at. She was staring down at the ground, one hand absentmindedly stroking Pop’s head - who, for her part, was staring at Piximon with wide eyes and a gaping beak.
Bumble was less obvious about his surprise, but Damien could recognize it in his eyes regardless.
“Why there?” Damien couldn’t stop himself from asking, glancing up at Piximon. “Why do we need to go all the way across the sea to File Island?”
“I’m sorry, do you know what that is?” Ryan said, propping his chin up with a fist. “Would you mind sharing with the class?”
“Be nice,” Moxie muttered, but she nodded regardless. “File Island is a continent to the north of Server Continent - that’s where we are now.”
“File Island is where we grew up,” Pop jumped in, her chest feathers puffing out slightly. “It’s where Moxie and Damien lived with us until we came here together to Server.”
“We don’t know the continent very well,” Bumble said. “We lived in File City, and didn’t really leave all that often.”
“But it’s good that you’ve been there before,” Harmony insisted. “Better than if no one in the group knew where it was.”
Bumble hummed. “It’s not hard to spot. It sticks out like a sore thumb no matter which direction you’re approaching from.”
Piximon had been very patient during this side tangent, staying quiet while they discussed, but he cleared his throat now, presumably to stop any arguments from starting. “You must find the Catalyst. It is a crucial addition to your group; it will act as a guide to you, and will set you on the right path to victory. I do not know where exactly it is, only that it is somewhere on File Island.”
Rolling his eyes, Damien folded his hands. So now they were being sent on yet another search-and-rescue mission? On top of the one they already had? If the Catalyst and their “missing part” really weren’t the same, then that was at least two different things that they had to find.
And the fact that they were heading into unknown territory really added to the hopelessness of it all.
Bumble was right: even if they had one continent narrowed down for one of their searches, it could still take ages to find this Catalyst, and that was saying nothing of how they had absolutely zero clue as to the other one.
“Do you even have a clue where to start,” Damien said, his voice starting out low but slowly rising in volume until he was speaking directly to Piximon.
Piximon grinned down at him. “Unfortunately not! But you will find it! I am sure of it.”
…So now not only did they have to search an entire continent for just one thing, they had no idea where to even begin. This was just getting better and better.
Castor stared at Piximon with a blank expression. “Thank you,” he said, his voice empty of gratitude.
“Of course!”
“ …Is that it?” Dare said after a couple of beats. “Is there literally anything else you can tell us? Any useful information about what we’re up against? Do you know if it really is a virus that’s driving everyone loopy?”
“I am afraid,” Piximon said sadly, tapping his hand against his staff, “that I cannot answer those questions. Though I pride myself on my knowledge of the Digital World, it is impossible for one Digimon to know everything.”
“Just like Asuramon,” Ryan sighed, placing his hands behind his head. “I guess we’re supposed to figure that out for ourselves?”
Piximon nodded. “The answers will reveal themselves to you in due time. For now, all you can do is keep moving forward, and by forward I mean north, towards File Island.”
“So that’s our next destination, then,” Castor mused, tapping his chin with a claw. “I suppose it makes sense. We keep going.”
“Yeah, but this is, like, all the way on the other side of the world,” Ember whined, draping himself over the armrest. “How are we going to get there if fairy boy isn’t going to help?”
“If I could assist you, I would,” Piximon said flatly, startling Ember to attention as he grinned sheepishly. “All I can do is push you in the right direction, offer my limited knowledge of the situation, and hope that you can figure things out from there.”
Alex sighed. “Well, thanks for letting us know where to go, at the very least.”
“It is my honor,” Piximon said, taking a bow midair. He straightened himself up, flying down closer to the group. “I would recommend leaving for File Island as soon as you are able, but considering the circumstances, it may be best for you to stay in Hallowed Streets until you are all recovered. You may stay here as long as you need. We will do everything we can to support you while you prepare for the next leg of your journey.”
“Thank you!” Harmony cried, placing a hand on her chest. “This means a lot to us.”
“It is our pleasure,” Piximon said with a smile. “Do not be afraid to ask us for anything if you need us. We will be more than happy to help you in any way you need.”
He sighed here and slumped forward slightly, the first time Damien had seen him without a huge smile on his face. Piximon looked back up, his eyes almost sparkling.
“I have faith in you, chosen ones. Do your best.”
Gradually, everyone began to stand up, some stretching their arms out above their heads and others stepping towards Piximon to offer more personal thank-yous. Damien caught sight of Azure and Ko, on the other side of the room, and he quickly looked away before they caught him staring.
The group started to make their way to the exit, Alex and Castor at the front. Damien watched them leave, wanting to stick to the rear, before nodding down at Bumble and taking a step to follow.
“Damien,” Moxie said suddenly, reaching out and grabbing his sweater to pull him back closer to her. Damien yielded to her grasp, staring at her in confusion until she rolled her eyes. “Stick around. I need to ask Piximon something and I want you and Bumble to hear it.”
Damien raised an eyebrow but did not argue, instead turning back around to motion for Bumble to join the three of them.
They waited until everyone else had left the room - Damien caught sight of Miguel peeking over his shoulder at them as he left, a concerned expression on his face, but Damien waved him off and he exited with the rest of the group without saying anything.
Piximon, too, did not notice they had stayed behind, but when Moxie cleared her throat, he whirled around to face them.
“Ah! Hello!” He twirled his staff around in his hands. “Is there something you need from me?”
“Piximon,” Moxie started, speaking slowly as she tapped her cheek in thought. “I have… a question to ask you.”
“Ask away!” Piximon replied, grinning widely. “Anything you may ask, I will answer to the best of my ability.”
Moxie nodded. “Thank you.” She took a deep breath in, clasping her hands together. Pop, on her shoulder, nudged her slightly.
Damien eyed her curiously. What did she have to ask that she wanted him and Bumble around for?
“Are we… a part of this?”
Oh.
Piximon did not reply immediately. The smile slipped off of his face, replaced by a somber frown as he hummed to himself, holding one hand to his chin.
Damien squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.
He could feel Bumble press up against his legs, but he paid him no mind. He couldn’t, even if he wanted to. His attention was focused solely on what Moxie had said.
Were they a part of this? Or did they really have nothing to do with it?
Because regardless of which one was true, it wouldn’t make him feel any better. If it turned out that he was destined for the same thing as everyone else… why did he have to wait so long to find out?
He’d known Bumble for years, and throughout all of those years, he’d always felt there was a reason he’d met him. But if this was the reason, and he was only just finding this out, this far down the line…
What a waste of time.
And on the contrary, if he found out that he wasn’t part of this group? What then? Did they have their own “destiny” to take care of, just the four of them?
Or did it mean that there wasn’t any reason he and Moxie had found the Digital World? There was no “fate” behind it, no “reason”, no “destiny”. It really would just be two kids who’d messed around on their computer and stumbled upon a parallel world. No bigger picture. That was it.
And Damien wasn’t sure if he’d be able to accept that if it turned out to be true.
This was why he hadn’t wanted to ask, earlier, when he’d first considered doing so. This was why he didn’t want to hear the answer. He didn’t want to know which one was true; whether he did have a destiny, or he didn’t, neither option was better than the other.
But that’s what’s great about it.
He paused, surprised by that sudden thought bulleting through his head. What? Why was that a good thing?
No matter which one turns out to be true, it won’t be the worse option of the two.
…But it also wouldn’t be the better option. As pessimistic as he was, Damien would much rather go through with whichever side would be better for them in the long run, and if they were both equal…
He shook his head out, trying to dislodge the thought from his head, but despite his efforts, it still clung to the edges of his skull, almost as if to taunt him. Sighing as quietly as possible, Damien slowly came back to the present, focusing on Piximon once again.
“If you don’t know the answer,” Moxie said quickly, “that’s okay. But I figured I would ask. Because… we’ve heard a couple of things, and… I’m not so sure about it anymore.” She sighed, her shoulders hunching up. “I don’t know. I thought, maybe, this was what we were waiting for. All those years, thinking there was a reason we came here… maybe this was it.”
“But now we’re not sure,” Pop continued for Moxie when she trailed off. “What Ryan said about Meicoomon, about the group missing someone… and him thinking it was us. But then what Nohemon said to us proved that wrong.”
Damien lowered his gaze to the floor. “And the Aegiochusmon earlier today.”
Moxie shook her head. “So… I just wanted to ask, just in case.”
The room was silent for a minute, seeming to stretch into eternity. Damien was about to turn around and leave the hall just as Piximon finally spoke.
“Do you want to be?”
Damien froze, his heart skipping a beat. What?
“What?”
Piximon smiled again, setting Damien slightly more at ease, but his next words stripped him of that feeling just as quickly. “Do you want to do this? Do you want to be part of this group? Do you want to embark on a journey the likes of which you could never dream of?”
He flew down closer to the four of them, making direct eye contact with each one before speaking again.
“Do you want to save the world?”
Silence. Damien swallowed a lump in his throat, not daring to speak lest his voice betray just how shaken he was.
“What - what do you mean, do we want to?” Moxie spluttered, waving her hands about as if to accentuate her confusion. “That’s… that doesn’t have anything to do with -”
Piximon cut her off with a giggle. “Oh, but it absolutely does.”
“…go on,” Damien prompted when Piximon didn’t elaborate.
Despite all the times he’d smiled that night, the one Piximon gave before he continued was quite possibly the one that soothed all of Damien’s worries in a way that the others hadn’t.
“It is up to you. Whether or not you are ‘destined’ for this journey does not matter anymore. The four of you have proven yourselves time and time again.”
Damien breathed out shakily as the room around him faded into a faint ringing noise. Piximon stared directly at Damien, his deep black eyes almost hypnotizing.
“If you want to do this, then do it.”
None of them dared make a single noise for a long while. Damien sighed as quietly as he could, shuffling his feet gently. He felt Bumble lean against him, and he shifted his weight to that side to support him better.
“So it’s up to us?” Pop finally said, her voice barely audible. “We get to choose?”
We get to choose.
Not exactly destiny in that we’re obligated to do it, but rather…
Our choice will determine our destiny.
“You get to choose,” Piximon echoed. “This is entirely your choice. Whatever you do, I trust that you will make the right decision. If you wish to go with them, then go. No one can stop you.”
“But we shouldn’t do it if we’re not really destined,” Moxie began to protest, but Piximon silenced her again with a shushing noise. Moxie leaned back, and Damien reached a hand out to place on her shoulder.
“Who cares about destiny?” Piximon said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Who says you need to sit back and watch everyone else save the world just because you specifically were not chosen for it?” He pointed his spear in turn at Moxie, then Pop, then Damien, and finally down at Bumble. “If your hearts are telling you to help, then listen to them.”
Moxie nodded but did not speak. Damien understood it. He was having trouble formulating a response as well. Even if he’d wanted to say something, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to.
If my heart is telling me to help…
“You should catch up to your friends,” Piximon said quietly, peering over their heads to the back of the room. “It is easy to get lost in Hallowed Streets if you do not have a guide, and I think they have taken our only one.”
“Thank you,” Damien said, because what else was there to say?
Piximon winked at him. “No, thank you.”
The four of them stood just outside the doorway.
They had not bothered catching up to their friends; Moxie was pretty confident that she’d be able to find them if they really had gotten separated, if only because humans in a Digimon town would leave a lasting enough impression on the locals for her to be able to ask where they’d gone.
They had a lot to discuss before they reunited with the rest of the group, after all, and it was not anything they wanted them to hear.
Namely:
“What are we going to do?”
That was Moxie, of course. She was currently leaned up against the wall, one finger pressed against her cheek as she stared directly down at the ground.
“Do we want to help or not?”
“Do you want to?” Damien asked out loud, in response to Moxie but directed at no one in particular from their tiny group.
Moxie heaved a sigh, but Pop was the first to respond.
“I do.”
Damien blinked over at her, and Moxie whipped her head up to stare at her.
“Really?” Moxie asked, her hand falling to her side. “You want to go through with this?”
Pop nodded. “Of course. It’s like I said a couple days ago. It’s been a while since we’ve been on a trip.”
“This isn’t just a trip, though,” Bumble pointed out, lifting into the air to be eye level with everyone else. “This will change our lives irreversibly. You heard Piximon. We can’t go back after this.”
“And that’s what’s going to make it so fun,” Pop said, tapping her forehead just below her headband.
“I want to do it too,” Moxie said quickly. “I need to. Ever since we met the others, I just - I’ve known that no matter what they need to do, I’ll do it with them.”
“Even if I hadn’t come with you?” Damien said, raising an eyebrow at her.
He meant it lightheartedly, of course. But he couldn’t help but wonder if she would have gone with them that morning, when Damien had tried to stop her, even if he hadn’t come along.
She said she would, but -
Moxie laughed, and Damien felt his body let go of a tension he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
“You didn’t come along because of me or Pop,” she said.
And he knew it was true.
No matter what he said, the fact of the matter was that even if Moxie had not gone, Damien himself would have.
Damien did not reply, instead cocking his head at Bumble. “What about you? Do you want to do this?”
“I’ll do whatever you do,” Bumble said, but Damien shook his head before the sentence was even finished.
“That’s not what I’m asking. Do you, Bumble, want to do this? Do you want to go with the group? Do you want to… do this whole ‘destiny’ thing?”
Bumble went quiet, his antennae twitching slightly. Damien waited patiently; his partner had never been the best about expressing his own wants or needs, but this was an important enough decision where Damien had to push him on it until he got a proper answer.
And he got one.
“I do.”
Moxie exhaled, stroking Pop’s head gently. “Okay. Okay.”
Damien nodded. “Well. Seems we have our decision -”
“Not just yet,” Moxie said sharply, turning on her heel to stand in front of him. She reached both her hands out to place on his shoulders, fixing him with a cold stare.
Damien furrowed his brow and Moxie shook him gently.
“We don’t do this unless everyone is in agreement. If even one person is having second thoughts, then we either say no outright, or wait a bit until they’ve made up their mind.” She closed her eyes, and Pop took over her job of staring at Damien.
“Do you want to do this, Damien?” Pop whispered.
It was much harder to answer that than he’d thought it would be.
Damien had done a lot of thinking about the whole concept of destiny in just one day to sustain him for an entire lifetime.
Even though, for the entirety of his life in which he’d known Bumble, Damien had had a feeling that there was something that drew them to each other, he still wasn’t certain about the idea of being destined to save the world. He was seventeen years old. He had his whole life ahead of him, and yet, at such a young age, he was being asked whether or not he wanted to join forces with creatures from another world to save that other world.
Younger Damien would have loved this opportunity. Younger Damien would have been delighted with the knowledge that he was important enough to be chosen to save the world.
Younger Damien would have said yes in a heartbeat.
(And, in a way, so would current Damien.)
He supposed he owed this to his younger self. If for nobody else, he would do this for the person he was five years ago, because though he was not that same person anymore, he had been definitively shaped by who he had been.
…But this wasn’t just for his younger self. Maybe that was one of the reasons, sure, but…
When he looked at Moxie - his twin sister, his best friend in the world - and when he looked at Bumble - his partner bound to him by powers unknown, his other best friend in the world - and when he looked at Pop - his partner-in-law(?), his other other best friend in the world -
He was doing this for them.
It was all for them.
Everything leading up until this point had been for them, and everything from this point on would be for them as well.
But it would also be for everyone else - the rest of the group, the friends they’d met on their journey, their two mystery companions who they had yet to find, and every single Digimon in the Digital World who was relying on their group to save them.
It was certainly a lot of responsibility for one teenaged boy and his bee companion.
But he was not alone.
If this world decided that I of all people need to save it, then surely no matter how badly I do, it’ll be enough.
Damien smiled.
“Yes.”