EPISODE 16 - BAD IMPRESSION, BAD ADVICE
Ryan had not been having a particularly good time over the past few days.
Really, he was never having a good time with anything, but it had been a whole lot worse recently. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, to be honest, especially with everything that was going on, but a small part of him had hoped that things would calm down and he’d be able to feel at ease for once in a very long time.
He wasn’t sleeping well. He never slept well - of course he didn’t, how could he ever - and it had only gotten worse in the recent weeks (even just saying “weeks”, plural, made him want to throw something), but even aside from that it had been especially worse ever since they’d arrived in Starwoods.
It wasn’t because of Starwoods, no. He thought the place was quite nice, actually; a rare opinion from him to be sure, but certainly a welcome break from all the other forests they’d had to traipse through.
Except for the monsters.
The root of all his problems, and most importantly the very specific problem that was making everything so much worse recently. Of course they were. What else could it be? If you’re trapped in a world full of very angry, very dangerous monsters, what the hell else could cause a problem so horrible that it was eating at his mind and body every day and night?
He couldn’t even distract himself from this problem the way he usually would, which was by reminding himself that people around him had it worse off than him, so he shouldn’t feel too sorry for himself. Because it wasn’t true this time. This time, he was certain that he was the only one who was dealing with a situation such as he was.
(Or, he hoped he was certain.)
There was a bit of a somewhat-maybe good thing that had been happening recently. And by somewhat-maybe, it was that he wasn’t quite sure whether it was actually a good thing or not, because on one hand it did seem to be a good thing, but on the other there were some very interesting thoughts that it had been drilling into everyone’s heads.
The thing was this: the Digimon attacks had subsided.
They weren’t entirely gone, of course - Ryan was positive that they would never be entirely free from fighting, not with the current state of the world - but they had at least managed to lessen out, equaling about one fight a day if they were really lucky. It was a nice change of pace from being faced with multiple different enemies at multiple different times each day. Definitely a lot easier on the Digimon, the only ones who were actually affected by the situation.
(Well. He supposed not entirely.)
But the downside to the situation? The thing that made him and everyone else wonder if the benefit of the fewer attacks was really worth it in the end?
All of the Digimon they had been fighting were manic.
ALL of them. Every single one.
It didn’t matter where they went in the forest or how far away they were from the last place they’d been attacked. Every time someone new came along to ruin their day, they were manic.
Maybe he shouldn’t be calling them that, actually. He’d done a pretty good job of not saying it out loud near anyone other than Dare, the only one who called them that as well. He just… wasn’t quite ready to bring it up to the rest of the group. Granted, he’d already been using the term for a week or two, ever since they’d started to get the idea that maybe these Digimon actually had something else going on than a virus, but still…
It was a weird thing to bring up, and he’d never really found a good time, and it didn’t really matter in the end. Manic or infected, whichever it was, it didn’t change the fact that there was something going on with these Digimon.
Maybe sometime soon he’d tell them.
After he got his current problem sorted out, of course. Or maybe before he had to reveal what was going on would be best, because then they’d actually listen to him. Probably. Hopefully.
Dare was aware of it, of course. How could she not be? She was like a parasite he’d contracted. Always with him. Messing up his life. Would probably freak out 90% of the general populace if they ever found out about her.
In fact, she’d been there when the problem had become a problem. At the exact moment, even.
(A small, angry part of his brain said that it was her fault that it’d happened, her fault that he was in this situation now - but whenever it did, the more familiar part of his brain, the one which was usually so fond of sneering at him, told him that it wasn’t anyone’s fault, not even his own.)
(It was the first time in a long time that that voice had been kind to him.)
It’d been a few days already, and nothing was improving. He’d been trying his best to keep on top of it - taking care of it as best as he could, making sure to hide it from the rest of the team, not letting on to Dare just how much it was affecting him.
She saw through his lies and excuses anyway, though.
She’d wanted him to just tell everyone else about it and not try to hide it from them. She’d been ridiculously adamant about it, in fact, and though she hadn’t pressed further when he’d told her (well, snapped at, really) that he wasn’t going to, she still made it a point to bring it up at least once a day, if only to keep him on his toes.
He didn’t listen to her.
Maybe things would have been easier if he had, though. He was almost going to, actually, until… well…
Until Alex got put in the same situation as him.
He’d heard about what he’d said to Harmony; she’d told him about it when she’d come back to camp, unaccompanied by boy and dragon, looking like she was about to cry. She’d begun babbling on about it, the words not seeming to come out of her mouth as fast as they were running through her brain, and he’d listened, of course, of course.
And the worst part of it all was that he’d understood Alex.
He wished he hadn’t. Who would want to relate to someone who’d gotten pissed at someone who was just trying to help them? Who would want to be able to say “I see where he’s coming from”?
He didn’t say it out loud - he wasn’t that much of an idiot. He tried to shove it down with every other horrible thought he’d ever had.
It didn’t work. It never did.
So he’d just listened, and nodded along, and offered reassurances when Harmony was finished.
She’d smiled at him, thanked him for listening to her, and left.
And that was when he realized he could not tell her about what was going on.
Alex had had quite a story to tell when he’d come back to camp later that night, Castor following close behind and looking quite proud of himself, even through his traditionally unreadable expression.
It was only a small victory, really, but just the fact that one more of their group could evolve to ultimate was enough to assuage at least two or three of their worries.
He’d listened to their tale, not too concerned with the details but wanting to hear them out just in case there was anything else important that had happened.
Nothing. Though Ryan did notice the way Alex’s eyes shifted over to Ezra, lingering there for much too long a moment for him to just be staring off in space, when he mentioned that Castor had defeated WarGrowlmon.
Hm. Maybe he’d ask about it later.
And then, as he was inclined to do whenever one of them was injured, Ryan had stepped forward to tend to Alex’s wounds.
He had to. He certainly wasn’t going to have Harmony deal with him any more than she already had that day, even though she was looking a bit better now, and he certainly wasn’t going to just let him bleed out.
Sure, the blood flow had stopped, but the thought was there.
And…
Seeing Alex like that, trying to shoo everyone away while clutching at his chest, waving them off and insisting that he was fine, that he didn’t need any help -
It was hitting a little too hard for him to ignore.
They were in such similar situations that he’d almost laughed. Both pretending they were doing better than they really were. Both insisting that they didn’t need help from anyone. Both trying to keep it together for the sake of the team.
The only real difference between the two of them was that Alex was getting better, and Ryan was getting worse.
“You should get it checked out soon.”
Ryan scrunched his eyes shut, placing a hand over them and rubbing his forehead gently. Dare, curled around his neck, tapped his cheek a few times, then pointed down at his left leg.
He’d wrapped the jacket that was in his backpack around his waist, and had been doing so every day for the past few days. It wasn’t the best cover-up, he knew - maybe if this stupid world had given him a pair of actual pants instead of fucking jorts - but it was better than nothing. Better than someone seeing what he was trying so hard to hide.
“It’s fine,” Ryan said, at the same time as he tripped over a rock and lurched forward, hissing through his teeth. Dare leaned back in her position, doing her best as a counterweight, but Ryan righted himself quickly enough, shaking his head out as he fell back into pace again.
“Oh, really,” Dare said, her voice flat. Ryan rolled his eyes, bumping his knuckles against her interface, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
“I appreciate you trying to look out for me,” he continued, his voice low, “but I’m fine.”
“Isn’t that what Alex says every time he gets a new life-threatening injury?”
Ryan snorted. “If my injury was life-threatening, I would know. Trust me.”
Dare sighed, flicking an ear. “Just because you know a little bit of first aid doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to tell whether or not it’s serious.”
“If it gets to be really bad,” Ryan said, slowly, to drive home the point that he wasn’t looking to argue anymore, “then I will consider talking to someone about it.”
“Someone like who,” she said, in a tone of voice which suggested she knew exactly who.
“Who the hell do you think,” Ryan shot back, catching on to her insinuation. He was not exactly in the mood to humor her, especially not with how much worse his leg was feeling after he’d tripped.
Dare giggled but did not respond, slinking back to rest her head on his shoulder. Ryan exhaled, rolling the opposite arm backward for a second before letting it drop to his side.
He hadn’t lied; it wasn’t that serious of a wound, all things considered, but the fact that he was only able to tend to it when everyone else was away or asleep, combined with the fact that he had to continue on like everything was fine, combined with the fact that it was probably the worst injury he’d had in his entire life, made it a bit trickier to “man up and press on”, or whatever the hell his dad would tell him to do if he was there.
That’s a really fun thing to think about, the annoying voice in his head said. Yeah. Go ahead and waste all your time wondering what your father would think if he saw you in this situation instead of planning the next time you’ll be able to take care of it.
Ryan ignored it, as he usually did, and if the voice was a person he was certain it would have rolled its eyes at him, but he ignored that too.
It had been three days since the Filmon attack, which meant three days since Ryan had had a very bad run-in with the specific Filmon who had given him his injury. It wasn’t that he had been in its way purposefully; he had enough common sense to stay out of the way during battles, unlike certain other people.
But the ambush had been so sudden, and Ryan and Dare had struggled quite a bit with leading their own Filmon far enough away from the rest of the group, and by the time Dare had actually managed to evolve…
Well, the Filmon hadn’t been entirely focused on her anyways, and Ryan was too busy with both keeping an eye on Dare and letting the rest of the group know that they had one of them under control that he hadn’t stopped to check if they really did have it under control.
It was the first major injury he’d sustained in the three or four weeks they’d been there, and he was finally able to understand just what Azure and Alex and Harmony had been through.
And he had meant to tell the group about it! But then he’d had that talk with Harmony and realized it was actually a really bad idea. It wasn’t like he had to defer to anyone else for medical attention anyways; he himself was one of the only people in the group who knew how to take care of injuries, and he figured it would be easier to lay low and not let on just how big of a deal it was. Or that it was any sort of deal at all, big or not.
Besides. They were already being held back enough by everyone else’s issues and injuries. He didn’t want to add on to that pile and drag them down even more.
They still had ground to cover, after all. They were almost to Under Forest, Damien had told them last night; just a day or two more and they’d be there. Ryan wasn’t sure if he was looking forward to it, honestly. Even from name alone it sounded like a much worse place to be trekking through than Starwoods.
“Also,” Dare said, nearly giving him a start from the suddenness of it, “there’s something else we should talk about.”
Ryan gave a noncommittal noise in response, shoving his hands in his pockets as he waited for her to continue. She did so, swishing her tail back and forth in excitement, and he batted it away from his nose.
“I think Ember is hiding something.”
That gave him pause. Ryan would have come to a halt if not for the concern that his leg would start acting up if he fell out of rhythm. “The hell do you mean?” he said when Dare did not elaborate.
“Wellllllll,” she said, drawing the syllable out long enough to be annoying, “obviously I don’t know exactly, because if I did I would have told you. But,” and she clapped her paws together here for maximum effect, though the sound was muffled from her paw pads, “I have a theory. A thesis, if you will.”
Ryan had to physically restrain himself from rolling his eyes again. “Get to the point.”
“Gladly,” she said, practically bubbling over with said gladness. “So you know how he and Ezra were with Alex and Castor and all them when we were fighting the Filmon?”
Ryan winced upon hearing its name, managing to hide it in the nick of time by shrugging his shoulders. “Yes. So?”
“So,” Dare continued, spreading her paws out, “something happened during that fight that they haven’t shared with us.”
Here Ryan did stop in his tracks for a split second, if only to allow him to crane his neck around to stare Dare straight in the eye, giving her his best “what the fuck” face. She smiled back, arching her own eyebrows at him in her own expression of “I’m not done yet”.
“Again, I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’d guess that it has something to do with the Filmon. Specifically the fact that they were manic.”
“Okay,” he said, getting a little tired of all her pauses and cues for him to prompt him further, but he did as she wanted anyways.
That didn’t stop him from being irritated at her, though.
“And your point is?”
“I mean, I know you’re not exactly Mr. Observant,” she said, winking at him, at which he groaned. “But ever since then, they’ve all been acting a bit weird whenever we fight a manic Digimon.”
“Haven’t we all been,” Ryan said, but his mind was already drifting elsewhere. If it really was something to do with the manic Digimon… why didn’t they just tell the group? Didn’t Castor, specifically, remember the last time they had hid important information from everyone else?
Do they just not care about us? Do they not think we deserve to know?
If it’s something that can help us figure out what the hell is going on in the Digital World, shouldn’t we all know about it? Not just a select few?
“Are you even listening to me?”
Dare’s voice snapped him out of his trance, and he shook his head out as if to clear the thoughts, but, as they ever did, they stuck to the edges of his mind, refusing to be swept away. He sighed inwardly, resolving to just ignore them for now, and he nodded at Dare to continue (or, rather, repeat what she’d said).
“What I was saying was basically that ever since that fight, all of them - Ember, Castor, Alex, Ezra, Harmony, Ren - they’ve all been way more invested in the battles than usual, and not in the way you’d expect them to be.” She stopped here, frowning slightly, before she shrugged. “Well, maybe not Harmony. But still!” She flared her wings out here, practically clocking him in the back of the head, and he jostled his shoulders to shove her away. “They’ve been acting weird. Particularly Ember.”
“Why Ember specifically?” Ryan said, more as a general musing than a question towards Dare, but she took it as the latter anyways.
“Well, he’s the worst liar,” she said immediately, as if she’d expected him to ask. “Other than Harmony. But again, she’s not really acting like he is.”
Ryan nodded, trying to remember if she’d been behaving differently at all recently. She hadn’t, as far as he could remember; even her worry and anger from her encounter with Alex had been in character, considering just how far Alex had taken things.
Strange indeed.
“Anyways, Ember seems to be pulling his punches when he fights.”
“Hang on,” Ryan said, cutting in, and Dare tilted her head toward him. “What do you mean?
"Ember isn’t much of the ‘plan every move out’ variety, and usually just goes with the flow of battle, hitting the enemy where they’re weakest and when they’re least expecting it. But ever since the Filmon fight he’s been holding back.”
“Doesn’t seem like it to me,” Ryan mumbled, and Dare shook her head.
“Well, of course not to you,” she said, and he wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not. “You don’t ever pay attention to him anyways.” Fair point. “And it’s only ever at the end of battles. Once we’ve worn them down enough where we can make the decision to… you know.” He did know. He gritted his teeth. “Which is so weird, right? Like, if anything, why wouldn’t he be more cautious at the beginning, before we know if we’re going to be able to win or not?” Also a fair point.
“And your conclusion is what,” Ryan said, tilting his head back to stare at the tree branches passing by overhead. He sighed, refocusing his gaze ahead of him so he didn’t trip again.
Dare was silent for a moment - a moment long enough for Ryan to feel the need to look at her to make sure she wasn’t dead, or at least passed out. She was not; she looked deep in thought, a very rare expression for her, and Ryan would have said something if not for a sound from up ahead.
“Is it infected?”
Ryan froze dead in his tracks.
What, was the first thought he had, immediately followed by who the hell found out about my wound? How do they know that it might be bad enough to be infected?, followed then by it couldn’t have been Dare. Could it? She wouldn’t tell anyone. Would she?
And then logic took back over, forcing him to shake himself out and focus on whoever it was that had asked the question, standing about ten yards ahead and looking… decidedly not at him.
Miguel, gripping the sleeves of his jacket, was staring off into the trees, his expression distant and worried. Flip was practically wrapped around his legs, his ears pinned back and gaze fixed in the same direction Miguel’s was.
Ryan followed their line of sight, taking a few steps closer to the two of them. Around his neck, Dare’s fur bristled, and she lashed her tail slowly as they looked off into the trees.
About sixty, maybe seventy feet away, was the vague shape of a Digimon (obviously. What else could it be?). It appeared quadrupedal, looking almost like a dog, though the distance and the foliage in the way obscured it enough where Ryan wasn’t going to make any hard claims.
“Considerin’ every Digimon we’ve met over the past few days has been infected,” said Azure, from behind Ryan, nearly giving him a heart attack, “I’d assume so, yeah.”
“It’s not moving, though,” Dare pointed out. “Just looking at us.”
It was indeed. It didn’t even appear to be breathing, which greatly concerned Ryan, but, again, bushes and trees and render distance and all that.
Which also meant they couldn’t really see its eyes, and thus had no way to tell for certain if it really was manic. Sure, there was the option of waltzing right up to it and checking it out up close, but no one really wanted to do that, just on the off chance it was manic.
And even if it wasn’t, it was still possible it would be aggressive.
“Well,” Flip said, sounding a bit like he wasn’t sure what he was saying, “if it’s not running over to attack us, I’d say that’s a win.”
“What if it’s just waiting for backup?” Miguel said.
Not entirely out of the question, true, but also definitely not a fun thing to think about either way.
“No use in standing here staring at it,” Ryan said, tearing his gaze away from it long enough to look further up the line, where Alex and Castor had stopped in their tracks as well. “We should definitely avoid it, for sure, but we’re just wasting time here.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Dare said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice, and Ryan scoffed.
“Let’s keep moving,” Alex called back to them from up ahead, and Ryan gave him a half-assed salute as he started walking again.
Instant regret, of course - his leg did not like sudden changes in movement, he had come to discover, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it except power on and try to ignore the searing pain up his thigh.
He cast one last glance back over his shoulder a few moments later, at where the Digimon had been standing - and where it was still currently standing, still looking straight at him.
Ryan shivered and looked back ahead.
Dare did not explain what her hypothesis on Ember’s recent hesitance had been; when Ryan pressed her about it, she’d shrugged him off, saying they could discuss it later. Very odd behavior from her, to be sure - quite ironic - but Ryan let it go anyways, though he did make it clear they would be talking about it later.
She’d nodded and jumped down from his shoulders to walk alongside him.
They stopped to set up camp for the night a few hours later near a small stream, a strange tension hanging in the air, no doubt from whatever it was that the strange Digimon had been doing. Ryan quickly excused himself, saying he was going to go get some fresh air away from everyone else downstream, and dragged Dare along with him.
So there he sat, his back up against a tree just out of sight and earshot of the larger group, his backpack laying open next to him and Dare staring down at his leg with a mix of concern and disappointment.
Ryan hissed as the cold water from the washcloth trickled down his leg, coalescing with the blood from the wound and dripping onto the ground beside him.
“How is it?” Dare asked, her voice quiet and tinted with something else Ryan couldn’t quite discern.
“Fine,” he said, lying through his teeth as he wiped the wound gently, before turning the cloth over to see an unfortunate amount of blood. He exhaled, shaking his head out, and went back in for another wipe.
“You’re lying.”
“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,” he grumbled, setting the towel aside and reaching for the dry one he had.
“No need to bite my head off about it,” she said, curling up into a ball with just one eye peeking out from over her tail. “Are you ever going to tell -”
“What does it matter to you?” Ryan said, unable to hide the annoyance in his voice. “I’m taking care of myself better than anyone else would be able to. Seems like a decent plan to me.”
“Harmony,” Dare said under her breath, so quietly that Ryan wasn’t sure if he’d heard her right at first.
He blinked, pausing for a moment, before giving her a dead stare. “She is the exact reason I’m still keeping this a secret. You know this.”
Dare huffed a laugh, one ear twitching back. “What, because she’d insist that you take care of yourself and not just push through it?”
“That,” he said, “and I am afraid that it would just turn out like it did last time for her.”
“For fuck’s sake, Ryan,” Dare said sharply, exhaustion evident in her tone, “it’s not going to kill her if she has to tend to someone’s wounds again. That’s what she’s best at. Taking care of people.”
Ryan did not respond immediately, instead finishing up his incredibly shoddy maintenance job and shoving both the washcloths deep into the bottom of his backpack, underneath his clothes and phone and the few bags of food he still had left. They were starting to run a bit low, and the group had been conserving their resources over the past few days, which had meant only two meals a day.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they really started to dip low; the Digimon were insistent that they could start foraging if they had to resort to it, and even aside from that they’d been picking up digitakes and fruits that they came across during the day, just as extra insurance.
Besides, they were only a week away from Northern Pier, where they would finally be able to restock.
And where I can grab a few secret medical supplies to keep to myself. Just in case.
“I’m done,” he said, zipping up his backpack and standing up fully, nudging Dare with his foot to get her moving. She stretched both her arms out, her wings flapping behind her, and shook her whole body before nodding at him to head back.
It wasn’t too bad, really, having to do this. It was almost laughable how easy it was. He just had to slip away for a couple minutes once or twice a day and make sure that his leg wasn’t going to fall off.
Makes you wonder if there’s anyone else in the group who’s been doing this.
“Oh,” Dare said as they stepped through into the clearing where the rest of the group was, patting Ryan’s leg and pointing just a few feet away. “Look. Now’s our chance.”
Ryan frowned, setting his backpack down where he stood, and headed over to where Dare was looking, where Ezra and Ember were talking to Damien and Bumble.
“You should be able to find some, just -” Damien lifted an arm and gestured vaguely in front of him, then swept it out to the side with a shrug. “Anywhere you look, I guess? It’s a forest, there’s gonna be branches everywhere.”
“Got it,” Ember said, clenching his fists. “I’ll be sure to grab the best of the best!”
“Just make sure you don’t head back in the direction we came from,” Bumble said, hovering next to Damien and staring down at Ember. “Don’t want to run into whoever that Digimon was.”
“We’ll keep it in mind, thanks,” Ezra said with a nod, then finally seemed to notice the two newcomers. “Oh, hey,” he said, raising a hand halfway in greeting, while Damien and Bumble turned to face them directly.
“Are you getting firewood?” Dare said, leaning forward slightly and perking her ears up.
Ryan frowned. He knew where she was going with this, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he liked it, but who was he to stop her?
Besides, he was still curious about whatever she had noticed. If Ember was really holding something back, and if she thought maybe Ezra was in on it too…
It couldn’t hurt to ask, right? And anyways, it was a good thing to go along with the others sometimes. Bonding experiences! Growing closer with the group! Making friends!
Ryan almost gagged.
“Yeah,” Damien said, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Well, they are.” He nodded at Ember and Ezra. “You wanna go with them?”
“We don’t really need help,” Ezra started, but Dare had already pounced on Damien’s offer.
“Sure!” she said, sounding nonchalant enough, but an astute eye would recognize the mischievous glint in her eye as she grinned over at Ember. “Wanna make it a contest? Whoever gets the best firewood wins?”
Ember lit up, pumping a fist in the air and laughing. “Yes! I’m gonna win so hard, just you watch!”
Ryan crossed his arms, dipping his head toward Ezra, who appeared to think to himself for a moment. “Sure,” he said finally, holding his hands up in resignation. “Would be nice to let you get some energy out anyways.” He looked down at Ember here, who gave him a vigorous nod in response.
“Take care,” Damien said, his gaze lingering on Ryan for a moment before turning around to walk over to Moxie, Bumble following suit.
That was a bit weird.
Is he hiding something too?
“C’mon,” Ezra said, following after Ember, who’d already raced ahead with Dare. Ezra passed by him, not pausing to wait, and Ryan heaved a sigh, moving to follow.
They headed upstream rather than downstream, which Ryan was silently thankful for. He’d done a decent job of covering up any blood he may have left behind when he was tending to his wound, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
They walked in silence for a bit, Ember and Dare already worn out from running, now in stride with their respective partners. Ryan looked down at Dare from time to time, waiting until she would catch his eye and then giving her a pointed look, and she would always shake her head before resuming her attention on finding good sticks and branches to show off to Ember before turning around and handing them up to him to carry.
Ryan was almost certain she wasn’t going to say anything at all, until, out of the blue, she spoke up.
“Ooh, that’s a good one,” she said as Ember proudly presented his newest find, a branch almost longer than Dare was from head to tail. It wobbled slightly in his grasp, obviously much too heavy for him to carry, but he grinned through it, just barely masking the shake of his shoulders.
“Do I win?” he asked, looking first at Dare and then up to where Ryan and Ezra were standing - not exactly together, but much closer than Ryan would have ever expected himself to be to Ezra.
It had just felt natural to come to a stop next to him like this.
“I think you do,” Ezra said, smiling down at his partner, then tilting his head at Dare. “What say you?”
“Agree,” Dare said, and Ryan knew that through the joy plastered across her face, she was a bit miffed inside at being one-upped.
“Might be a bit too big to make for good firewood, though,” Ryan said, just under his breath enough to not be purposefully antagonistic.
Ezra heard it, though, and shrugged a shoulder in response, shifting the weight of his sticks to the opposite arm. “We can break it in half.”
“No!” Ember wailed, setting the stick down and stepping over in front of it to place himself between it and the humans. “I won’t let you! I found it and I say we don’t break it!”
Ezra lifted his hands in acceptance, casting a sidelong glance at Ryan. “Okay, all good,” he said. “I’m not carrying it back though. That’s on you.”
“Good,” Ember said, picking it back up and hoisting it high above his head. “Do I get a prize for winning?”
“You get my unconditional, undying support,” Dare said, “for the rest of our lives, in anything and everything you do.”
Ryan furrowed his brow here, staring down at Dare to try to pick apart her expression, but she looked completely genuine, her mouth turned upward in delight and eyes sparkling.
“Well,” he said, turning to face Ezra directly, “it seems like we have enough for now.”
Ezra nodded. “Good work, you two,” he said down to Ember and Dare, who beamed up at him, pride etched on their faces. “We got good stuff today. Let’s head on back.”
So they did, Dare and Ember leading the charge as they made the slow trek back to camp, making sure not to drop their cargo. Ember had stayed true to his promise of carrying his branch by himself, and was doing an admirable job at it, though he did veer off track every now and then when it tipped too far one way.
He should have seen it coming, really, what with how much Ember, right in front of him, was stumbling over himself.
Ryan tripped.
It must have been a rock he hadn’t seen, or a branch that was in the way - whatever it was, Ryan hadn’t noticed it, and he tripped right over it.
He stumbled forward, arms dropping the load of sticks he was carrying and reaching out to catch his fall. Ezra, next to him, yelped in surprise, leaning down to try to grab him before he hit the ground, but he was too slow.
He landed right on his injured leg.
Instantly a jolt of pain shot through him, and he cried out, scrambling to right himself and cover his leg before Ezra or Ember saw it. He pulled his leg closer to his body, reaching for his jacket tied around his waist to move it over the wound, but he fumbled as he moved, his body still wracked with hurt.
Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck.
“Ryan!” Dare squeaked, bounding back over to him and doing a marvelous job of positioning herself between him and Ezra.
…Ezra, who was looking down at him with something like… confusion? Concern?
…Irritation?
“He just tripped,” Ezra said, his voice seeming distant. “He’s going to be fine.”
Dare opened her mouth, her ears flattening against her skull as she turned to Ezra, but she snapped her jaws shut, focusing back on Ryan, who was not doing so hot right now.
It felt like the Filmon was stabbing its claws back into him all over again. No doubt he’d reopened the wound entirely, undoing any progress it had made in sealing itself back together.
Just one wrong move had completely erased everything he’d been working so hard for the past few days.
And now someone knew about it.
“I’m fine,” he said, pushing himself back up to his feet, but his leg buckled out from under him and he sank to the ground once more, though this time with a bit more grace.
“I think he got the breath knocked out of him,” Dare said, still standing in front of his injured leg, and he had never been so grateful for her stubborn, insistent nature, always taking care of him when he needed it and not taking no for an answer.
Where would I be without her?
Dead, the voice in his head told him, and he shoved it away.
“Then what’s wrong with his leg?” Ember said. He’d dropped his branch a few feet away, having turned around to look at Ryan when he’d fallen, and was currently pointing right at the exact spot where his wound was just barely visible under his shorts.
Fuck indeed.
“Must have scraped it on his way down,” Dare said, but her voice faltered slightly, and she shifted her feet nervously.
“On what?” Ezra kneeled down next to him, his eyes unreadable, and he reached a hand out hesitantly towards Ryan’s leg. Ryan, of course, smacked it away, glaring at him, and Ezra retracted it, but refused to look away.
“I’m fine,” Ryan repeated, forcing his words out past the lump in his throat, and once again he made to get to his feet. He wobbled slightly as he stood up, his leg still displeased with its rough treatment, but he managed to right himself without even having to lean on anyone for assistance. Big win for him.
“You’re bleeding,” Ezra said, and Ryan closed his eyes, sucking a breath in.
He hadn’t even noticed at first, but sure enough, small trails of blood were making their way down his leg, stopping just below his knee. Of course that had to happen too.
“It’s fine,” he said, grabbing his jacket and tying it more tightly around his waist. “It does that sometimes.”
“That’s not good,” Ember mumbled, rubbing his arm, and Ryan turned unamused eyes upon him. The little lion cub shied away, stepping behind his branch, and he stared back up at Ryan owlishly.
“Obviously not,” Ryan said, trying to remain patient but feeling himself slipping, “but I have to make do with it.”
“Have you considered seeing someone about it?”
Ryan whirled on his heel to face Ezra, all cordiality and respect out the window now. Ezra faced him evenly, his arms crossed over his chest and one eyebrow raised.
“Of course I have,” Ryan growled, taking a step towards Ezra, who did not move. “And I decided against it. I can take care of myself just fine.”
“Gee,” Ezra said, his voice flat. “That sounds awfully familiar.”
“This is different!” Ryan shouted, and that gave Ezra a bit of a start, shattering his perfectly composed illusion. Ezra took a wary step back as Ember took one forward, fists raised and ready to defend his partner if need arose.
No. I’m not going to attack him.
Do it, the meaner voice in his head said. Channel your inner Digimon.
Not funny.
“At least I’m actually capable of tending to wounds,” Ryan continued, trying his damn hardest to hide the increasing shakiness of his words. “At least I know what I’m doing. I know how to take care of myself. Maybe your stupid boyfriend doesn’t -”
“He -” Ezra cut in, face immediately flushing red, and he broke off, turning to the side and covering his mouth with a hand. At his feet, Ember cocked his head, looking between Ryan and his partner with some vague bewilderment. “We - I’m not -”
“Ryan,” Dare said from behind him, and he tilted his head back toward her but did not look at her directly. She came around to his front, planting herself at his feet and staring up at him, warning evident in her eyes.
“I just - don’t see why you kept this to yourself,” Ezra blurted out, his words coming out much too fast and jankily for Ryan’s taste. “You would have been able to… recover faster, if you had told us. So that we could take things slowly while we wait for -”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything,” Ryan said. “I don’t want to bring the rest of the group down because of a personal problem.” Ezra frowned here, but did not say anything. “I didn’t want to worry anyone. Or have them think I’m - ” He cut himself off, looking to the side, not sure what else he could say that would convince them any further.
The four of them were silent for a moment, the Digimon exchanging nervous glances with each other while the humans faced off against each other, not wanting to say anything else.
Until, of course, the silence was broken.
“You don’t ever have to keep things secret just to protect the rest of us,” Ember said quietly, wringing his paws out. “We won’t mind, whatever it is.”
“Oh, really,” Dare said, her tail brushing against Ryan’s legs. “That’s fun to hear from you.”
Ember’s eyes narrowed, his nose wrinkling in indignation. “Me? What have I been doing?”
“Leave him out of this,” Ezra said. His voice was cold, his eyes harder than Ryan had ever seen from him. “He hasn’t done anything.”
“You’re hiding something,” Dare said, ignoring Ezra entirely in favor of pouncing on Ember. “I know you are. I’ve seen how you’ve been holding back in fights recently. Against the - infected Digimon.”
A pause. Ember looked up at Ezra nervously, his eyes wide, and Ezra grimaced, crossing his arms together.
“I knew it,” Dare said when neither of them spoke. “You know something that we don’t and you’re hiding it from us.”
“What are you talking about?” Ezra asked, with the air of someone who knew exactly what she was talking about but didn’t want to acknowledge.
Ryan sighed, rubbing his leg gently and stepping back. Ezra and Ember weren’t focused on him at all anymore, instead staring right down at Dare, who stood with her tail lashing and brows furrowed.
“Ever since the Filmon fight,” she said, beginning to pace in a small circle, tapping her chin, “you - Ember - haven’t been acting the same. You’ve been pulling your punches in fights, which is weird from you, especially since we’ve only been fighting infected Digimon lately.” She stopped walking, leaning towards Ember and getting as close to him as she could without driving him away. Ember, for his part, was doing a grand job at not letting her get to him, but the quirk of his lips was enough indication that he wasn’t happy about it.
“And I know you,” Dare said, her voice dangerously low. “I know you wouldn’t do that without good reason.”
Ryan glanced over at Ezra, still looking down at Dare with a frown on his face, and then at Ember, still putting up with Dare’s invasion of his personal space - but who knew how long that would last.
“What are you hiding?” Dare asked, each word louder and fiercer than the last.
“It’s nothing important,” Ember mumbled.
“Then tell us!” Dare cried, startling everyone present with the ferocity of it. “You can’t keep hiding things from the group! Do you want this to turn out like last time?”
She didn’t outright say what she was referring to by “last time”, but she didn’t need to; Ezra and Ember, and Ryan as well, of course, understood it fully, and Ryan sucked a breath in.
Ezra and Ember exchanged looks, the latter of the two hunching his shoulders up, and then Ezra sighed.
“Okay,” he relented, holding his hands up. “Okay. Fine. We’ll tell you.”
Ember’s eyes darted up towards him, a frown forming on his face, but Ezra just shrugged and then turned a somewhat apologetic smile to both Ryan and Dare. “You’re right. We can’t keep secrets anymore. We’re in too deep by this point for that.”
Dare nodded somberly, her ears perking forward a bit. Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose, but waved Ezra on.
“Just -” Ezra sighed, tapping his foot nervously. “The day of the Filmon fight, Alex and Castor came and found Harmony and Ren and us. We were struggling with two of the Filmon, and they helped us defeat one of them, but then - the second one, it -”
He didn’t seem able to finish his sentence, gesturing with his hands wildly and looking around at those gathered around him. Ryan nodded, trying to signal him to continue, but he just sighed again and slumped forward, arms dangling low.
“We should have noticed it sooner,” he mumbled, and Ember patted his leg consolingly. “I did notice it sooner. With Ogremon, the first night we were here, and then with Cyclomon, and then Lynxmon, and even Harmony said that Ninjamon had it happen too, god knows who else has seen it -”
“Get to the point,” Ryan said, and Ezra winced.
Ember was the one who spoke next, though. “Castor attacked the last Filmon and was about to defeat it, but then… its eyes weren’t white anymore.” He fell silent, clasping his paws together and staring down at his feet, and Ezra kneeled down next to him for a moment to rub his head.
Ryan exhaled shakily.
“What do you mean,” Dare said, her own words sounding quivery. “Like… it wasn't infected anymore?”
“I don’t know,” Ember said, shaking his head. “It only lasted a few seconds. One moment its eyes were white and the next they were… normal. Blue irises and a pupil. And then they were back to white again and it went to attack Castor, so I… jumped in to save him.”
“Well, I’d say that’s an important thing for the group to know,” Dare muttered, and Ryan nudged her with his foot gently. She didn’t seem to acknowledge it, instead continuing to press Ember. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“We didn’t want to bring it up without more information. Telling the group wouldn’t have done anything when we don’t even know why it happened.” Ember at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed, though it was hard to tell if it was from the secret he’d been keeping or from Dare hounding him like she was.
“Hiding it isn’t going to help us either,” Dare pointed out, her voice rising, but she made no obvious move to quiet down. “We’re a team. This isn’t like the beginning of our adventure. We can’t keep lying to and hiding things from each other.”
“Yeah, this of all things -” Ryan broke off, staring into space for a moment while he articulated his thoughts. “I think this is one of the most important things you could have possibly told us. If the Digimon we’ve been fighting aren’t permanently manic, then maybe we don’t have to kill them.” Maybe we can save them.
Ryan had never been one for the “hit it until it dies” tactic when it came to dealing with… well, pretty much anything, really, but especially manic Digimon. Whether it was a virus or something else going on, the facts had always been that manic Digimon were not in their right state of mind, and (for the most part) were incapable of rational thought - meaning that the manic Digimon were not aware of their actions while under its influence.
Which then meant, of course, that killing them while they were in that state, where they weren’t even aware of what was happening, was akin to killing a sleeping person. Or Digimon. Whichever.
And Ryan had always hated it, that the rest of the group was so keen on just fighting until their enemy died or ran away. Granted, managing to drive away an enemy was not necessarily bad, and Ryan would much prefer it if that was what they did for every Digimon who attacked them, but very few others seemed to agree with him.
It isn’t right. It never has been and never will be, and now that we know that maybe there’s a way to save them, we need to think long and hard about that fact.
Ezra, Ember, and Dare stared at him for a long time.
“What?” they said in unison.
Ryan held his hands out palms up, exasperation creeping its way onto his face. “What do you mean ‘what’? It’s perfectly logical!”
“What the fuck does ‘manic’ mean?” Ezra exclaimed, throwing his arms out and blinking rapidly at him. “Where did you get that from?”
“Oh,” Ryan said.
Two things, his mind chimed in. You’ve slipped up on two very big things today. Good going.
Yeah. Good going.
“That’s what we’ve been calling the manic Digimon,” Dare cut in, taking over for Ryan while he was figuring out how to proceed. “Because we don’t think it’s a virus anymore, so calling them infected feels wrong.”
Ezra nodded. “Okay, fair -”
Dare didn’t let him finish, though, before she herself was rounding on Ryan, a fire ablaze in her eyes.
“What the hell did you mean ‘maybe we don’t have to kill them’?”
Ryan stared at her dumbly, his mouth hanging open. “Huh?”
Dare breathed out heavily, looking at him like she wasn’t sure whether to go on or not - but she did.
“They’re dangerous, Ryan. We can’t just - ‘not kill them’. You’ve seen what they’ve done. Ninjamon, Cyclomon, Meicoomon, the Aegiochusmon, the Filmon -” She closed her eyes here, rubbing her interface slowly before looking back up at him. “Everything we’ve been through. We can’t just turn over and show our bellies now.”
“That’s not what this is,” Ryan started, but Dare shook her head.
“We can’t save them. They’re too far gone already, and if we leave them unchecked, we’re putting others in danger too.”
Ryan barked a laugh, running a hand through his hair. He couldn’t believe her. All this time, Dare’s nonreluctance to fight had been a good thing, especially when his or someone else’s life was in danger, and he’d thought that was the only reason for it - Dare was fighting to protect them, nothing more.
It felt a little bit like betrayal, really, to find out that all along, she’d actually wanted to kill them.
Or maybe not want; maybe she was just saying things wrong, getting her point across poorly. Maybe it’s not that she wants to kill manic Digimon, but just… doesn’t see an issue in it?
Let’s hope that’s the case.
Dare wasn’t finished, though. “They are a danger to us and we need to make sure they can’t be a danger to anyone else.”
Ryan opened and closed his mouth a few times, still lost in his own thoughts. “By what? By killing them? When they’re not even aware of what’s going on? We’re no better than them if we do that!”
“We are defending ourselves!” Dare shouted, stamping a foot on the ground. “We can’t let them attack us! If we don’t teach them a lesson then they’re just going to keep coming after us! They might even hurt someone else!”
“It’s not teaching them anything!” Ryan yelled back, gesturing with a hand to accentuate his point, though he wasn’t sure if it was actually helping or not. “They don’t know what they’re doing! They’re not in their right frame of mind, of course they’re not going to be acting rationally!”
“Meicoomon,” Dare said icily, and Ryan clenched his jaw. “Nohemon. The Aegiochusmon. They all knew what they were doing. And what they were doing was going after us.”
“They’re not all like that,” Ryan insisted, but he knew he wasn’t going to get through to her. Not like this.
Not with Ember and Ezra still watching the both of them, their gazes flickering between them warily and their mouths drawn thin, as if afraid that any wrong move or word would shift the anger towards them.
“Maybe not,” Dare mumbled, her tail thrashing wildly, and Ryan closed his eyes. “But the ones who are? I don’t have an issue with killing them. That doesn’t weigh on my conscience in the same way it might yours.”
“Don’t fucking bring that up,” Ryan snapped, and he would have went off on her again if not for Ezra placing a hand on his shoulder. He glanced over at him to see his eyes wavering, mouth pulled into a frown and other hand held close to his chest.
Down near Dare, Ember was doing much the same to her, holding both his paws out as if to drive her back from Ryan, and she huffed, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air.
“Obviously,” Ezra started gingerly, his voice soft but far from kind, “this isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The sun, however -” he swept his opposite arm out “- is. And fast.”
He was right; Ryan hadn’t even noticed, but from the few minutes they’d been standing there yelling at each other, the sun had gone from just barely setting to now almost fully gone, and the forest - Ryan had also failed to notice - was responding in kind by growing so dark he couldn’t see more than a few feet away.
Surely, by now, someone back at camp had noticed how long they’d been gone.
“Fine,” he sighed, leaning down to pick up the sticks he’d dropped, and Ezra - who had placed his own down in a neat pile a few feet away - did as well, after a moment or two of watching Ryan.
“Sorry we hid all this from you,” Ember said, reaching to grab his own branch, the fire at the tip of his tail sputtering weakly. “I promise not to do it again.”
“Ember,” Ezra said gently, but his partner shook his head, eyes shooting toward Dare for a split second before falling down by his feet again.
“It’s fine,” he whispered.
Ezra’s shoulders slumped, but he took the lead heading back downstream toward camp, at least having the mind to wait for Ryan and Dare - neither of whom were paying much attention to each other - to follow him as well.
They arrived back at camp about fifteen minutes later, by which point the sun had fully disappeared and the forest had been enveloped in darkness, swallowing up the trees and the entire group. Ezra and Ember had made sure to apologize upon their return for taking so long, Ryan and Dare each muttering their own sorries as well, but fortunately nobody was too upset at them.
Also fortunately, neither Ezra nor Ember brought up Ryan’s wound to anyone else, or at least not from what Ryan could tell. They did go over to sit near Alex and Castor during dinner, and he could see them speaking in hushed tones the whole time, but none of them turned to look at him, which he took as a win.
Dare didn’t either.
Throughout the entirety of their dinner - which was short-lived, thankfully, as they didn’t have much to eat anyways - neither Ryan nor Dare said anything. They still sat next to each other; Ryan was, at first, a bit… worried?… as to whether Dare was going to want to be near him at all, but she’d settled down next to him just as she always did, though he couldn’t help but notice she sat a few inches away from him than usual.
He hadn’t lingered on it for long.
She’s upset with me, and I’m upset with her too. A little bit.
I think I have a right to be, though. She’s being unreasonable. We have to be more considerate about these situations. We need some kind of plan other than just killing every manic Digimon we come across.
Especially now that we might be able to help them.
Would she even want to do that, though? he realized, and he sighed. Or would she still insist on fighting to the end? Would she see that as a sign of weakness, if we decided to help the manic Digimon instead of fight them?
Would he -
Well, maybe he’d lingered on it for a bit. No matter.
They went to bed not soon after dinner, their meal already having been delayed enough where they wouldn’t be able to sit around the fire afterwards and chat like they usually did - like they’d been doing ever since they arrived in this world. Ryan had gotten a bit used to it, to be honest, and he hadn’t really expected to be this upset over it.
Whatever.
“Ryan,” a whisper came from beside him just as he was about to lay down, and he nearly jumped.
Waiting for his heartbeat to slow back down to normal, he shifted in his position so he was sitting facing Dare. “What?”
He couldn’t see her face; the dying fire was behind her, shrouding her face in darkness, and only a few rays of moonlight broke down through the trees, nowhere near enough to illuminate her expression. She was silent for a moment, and when she finally spoke, her voice sounded distant, like she was a hundred worlds away.
“Come with me.”
Ryan frowned, but Dare didn’t wait for him to respond or even move before she was walking past him, stepping over his makeshift bedding and heading into the woods.
Might as well.
Ryan pushed himself up to follow her, reaching down into his backpack first to grab his phone and jacket.
Following her was easy enough; the faint red pulsing of her interface showed him the way, though he did fumble around in the darkness quite a bit, fending off bushes and low-hanging branches that he wasn’t able to dodge. He managed to avoid tripping, at least, and that was all he needed to consider his navigation of the darkened forest a success.
Dare led him into a clearing, having him crest a small hill, opening up into a ring in which no trees grew. The moonlight, free from having to wrestle its way through branches and leaves, shone upon the ground in a way that it didn’t seem like it should - too bright, too convenient.
Stopping in her tracks in the dead center of the clearing, Dare sat down and motioned for Ryan to come beside her.
He did, setting his phone down on his side opposite from her and lifting his jacket up to shove his arms through. It was much colder out here than he’d thought it would be; he was glad he’d brought some source of warmth with him. Wouldn’t be very fun to freeze to death.
“Is there a reason you dragged me here?” he said quietly, shuffling slightly.
Dare didn’t respond at first, letting go of a very heavy breath and curling up closer to him, her wings fluttering against his arm gently.
“Look up,” she murmured, and he did, because when could he ever say no to her?
And he saw the stars, fully, for the first time since they’d been in Starwoods.
Hundreds - thousands - maybe even millions of them, speckled through the sky like droplets of rain, flecks of paint on a pitch-black canvas - except not black, because there were hints of blue and green, teal and violet, spread in a wash across the sky. The stars twinkled in and out, shining brighter than Ryan had ever thought anything could shine, and then he understood why the clearing had been so bright.
It wasn’t moonlight; it was starlight.
Ryan felt like the breath had been stolen out of his lungs.
“Oh,” was all he could manage to say, his voice weak.
Dare huffed a laugh from beside him, stretching an arm out up at the sky - at a specific spot in the sky. “Do you see those six stars circling the big one?”
He followed her direction, peering up and trying to discern the specific stars she was pointing out through the countless numbered in the sky. “I think so.”
“That’s the Valdurmon constellation,” she said. “The bigger star is its head and the six ringed stars represent its wings.”
“Valdurmon,” Ryan repeated, turning the name over in his mouth. “I think I remember hearing about that. When we were in Hallowed Streets.”
Dare nodded, shifting her arm to the left slightly, crossing in front of his chest. “Those ten stars, four on either side of two bigger ones. That’s the Omegamon constellation.”
“What’s an Omegamon?” Ryan asked.
Dare shrugged, letting her arm fall to her side again. “I’ve only seen them in photos and paintings. It’s some sort of legendary knight Digimon. It’s got the heads of MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon as its hands.”
“Interesting,” Ryan said, and Dare lifted her opposite arm to point far off to the side.
“That one,” she said, “is Seraphimon.” Her words were stiff, sounding like she’d tried practicing the lines but hadn’t quite mastered them, and she lowered her arm again. “Five stars in a cross shape like the star on its helmet.”
They were easy to discern among the others, sitting apart from the larger clusters, and Ryan found them easily. “I don’t know that one either.”
Dare did not answer at first, tucking both her paws in, her head tipped up towards the sky. “An Archangel,” she finally said, the word nearly knocking the breath out of Ryan.
He didn’t know why. He’d never concerned himself with matters of angels or demons. Religion was always a far-away thing for him, never brought up at home, and he’d never bothered with it in his own time.
That’s weird.
He frowned. “That sounds important.”
“They’re not,” came her reply, almost before he’d finished talking, her voice surprisingly frigid. She groaned, rubbing her forehead gently, and Ryan shifted so she was leaning against him more. “Sorry,” she mumbled, dipping her head. “The Archangels were horrible and awful, and then one day they all just disappeared.”
Ryan wasn’t entirely sure if he should press her - it seemed like a touchy subject for her, and he was never one for pressuring people to open up. If she wanted to tell him more, she would have. That was how they both did things, and it had worked out for them both so far.
“Is there a reason you took me out here, though,” Ryan said, an attempt to change the subject but keep Dare talking. “Other than to stargaze?”
She was silent for another moment, and when she spoke, it was everything Ryan hadn’t wanted to hear, not now, not ever. “Our fight earlier -”
“Right,” he said, nodding, not in agreement but rather resignation. “Right.”
Great.
“You’ve seen how dangerous the manic Digimon are,” she went on, paying no mind to his obvious displeasure. “How much harm they can do when left unchecked. We need to make sure they don’t hurt anyone else.” She hesitated here, fidgeting with her paws for a moment. “Or at least, I need to.”
“That’s just taking the easy way out.”
He hadn’t expected to say it out loud - the words were out of his mouth before he could consider their meaning, and Dare was just as surprised as he was to hear them.
“What?”
After a moment of internal debate (do I keep going with this, do I even know what I’m saying, am I even correct in all this? what if I’m just being stubborn for the sake of stubbornness?), he continued, albeit a bit inelegantly. “That’s too easy. We can’t just kill them because there’s no other way out. There might be. We might be able to help them.” He sighed, shaking his head. “We might be able to figure out what’s going on. But we can’t do that if we just kill them on sight.”
“No, Ryan,” Dare said, and Ryan felt a chill up his spine. “You’re taking the easy way out.” He sucked a breath in, his fighting instinct kicking in, ready to respond, but she continued before he could. “Sometimes you can’t do anything to help and you just have to accept that. You can’t waste your time trying to help people who are literally trying to kill you.”
“Fine,” he said, a bit snappier than he’d intended, but he didn’t care. “You’re the one who does the fighting anyways. It’s up to you in the end.”
“No, no,” Dare said, holding a paw out to stop him. “Stop that. Your opinion matters too.”
“Does it really?” he said. “Because it doesn’t seem like you care that much about it.”
Dare shook her head out. “When you’ve seen and heard the things I have,” she said quietly, “you realize that a lot of people are horrible, no matter what. Some people are beyond help.”
“But we have to at least try.”
Dare flicked an ear back, but did not answer. Ryan huffed and turned to look out in front of him, tipping his head back slightly to look up at the stars again.
Somehow, they didn’t seem quite as bright anymore.
Maybe she’s right, he thought to himself sulkily. Maybe they are beyond help.
It’s not like they’ve been willing to hear us out at all, even when we’ve tried to talk to them. Even when others have tried to talk to them.
What else is there to do? Should we keep going the way we are? Or do we need to change our tactics?
If we do, though, and someone else gets hurt because we’re not stopping them fully…
That would be on us.
“Okay, that’s enough,” he said, making to stand up, but before he could reach toward Dare, he heard a sound from behind.
It sounded… a bit like a laugh, deep and hearty, but it was decidedly not friendly, and Ryan shivered as he - against his better judgment and Dare tugging on his leg to stop him - turned around to face where it had come from.
Within the treeline stood a tall humanoid figure, holding a trident in its left hand.
“Hello,” it said, its voice low but loud enough to be uncomfortable.
Ryan frowned, pulling his phone out as surreptitiously as he could and activating his digivice.
Better safe than sorry.
Although…
“Ryan,” Dare said quickly, her voice hushed, “that’s a Phelesmon. Don’t talk to it.”
“What?” He blinked down at her, and she shook her head.
“They offer Digimon their deepest desires in exchange for their literal souls. Leaving them an empty shell, a husk of who they once were.” There was a strange sort of echo to her voice, as if she were reciting lines that she’d had ingrained in her for years.
“Then I won’t take its deal,” Ryan said, looking back up at the Phelesmon - who had not moved. It stood where it was, peering down at boy and Digimon with a bit of a curious expression, its eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“That’s the thing,” Dare said. “Phelesmon are especially convincing. They will stop at nothing to have their victim take their offer. Even if they have to resort to violence.”
“And this is based on what,” Ryan said sharply. “What you’ve heard from others? What you may have seen from one Phelesmon?”
“Even so,” she said quietly, “even if I’m wrong, it still isn’t exactly giving the best vibes.”
Ryan snapped his mouth shut, turning back to look at Phelesmon, who still had not moved from its position.
He sighed under his breath, raising his digivice towards Phelesmon, its analyzer option selected and ready.
“Phelesmon. Ultimate level fallen angel Digimon. It is shaped like an aristocrat, and in exchange for granting someone their desires, it is said that it will snatch away their soul.”
So Dare was right about that. Alright.
Phelesmon was about half the size of the tallest tree it stood near; its skin was a deep crimson color, with white markings on the sides of its head and its (exposed) chest. It wore various black leather garments - pants, boots, gloves, and a sort of large collar that circled around its head, covering its neck and collarbones as well. Two black bat wings extended from the collar above the shoulders, their membranes the same red as its skin. A mohawk of deep black hair ran down its head, in between the two large horns sprouting from its temples, and a demon-like tail flicked back and forth like a snake behind it.
It was bad news, for sure, and Ryan knew it - but there was, at least, one saving grace about its appearance that did set him a little more at ease.
Its irises - for indeed, it did have irises - were a vivid yellow, complementing the sky blue of its scleras, and though they did not have anything even akin to kindness in them, a wave of relief crashed over him upon seeing any sort of color in its eyes.
It kind of sucked that he’d gotten so used to manic Digimon that he’d begun to assume all Digimon were manic.
Though it was tall, and imposing, and demonic - everything that Ryan hadn’t wanted to see tonight, or ever, really - he was at least fortunate that it wouldn’t try to kill him right away.
But Meicoomon and Nohemon hadn’t either… and I guess Lynxmon could sort of be counted as well… and maybe the Aegiochusmon -
“What do you want,” Dare spat, stepping past Ryan closer to the Phelesmon. Ryan’s mouth pulled shut in a thin line, and he debated whether to pull her back or not, but before he could make a decision, Phelesmon laughed again.
“Oh, I’m not here for you,” it said, sounding almost - bored? Was that what that was? “I’m more interested in him.” It raised an arm, pointing one long claw at Ryan, and he clenched his jaw.
“I’m not going to take any deal you offer me,” he said, and Phelesmon smiled, shifting its hand around its trident.
“Oh, I know that. I’m not expecting you to. You’re too…” It trailed off, the smile slipping off its face in an instant, replaced by a thoughtful expression. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly say intelligent, but you’re at least smart enough to know what I am.”
“Hey, lay off him,” Dare said, her ears flattened against her skull. Ryan himself felt his face heat up, and he curled his hands into fists at his side.
“What do you even want, anyways?”
“I’m just here to talk,” it said, holding its hands up in faux innocence, and Dare’s eye roll was practically tangible, even from four feet away.
“You mean convince him to take your deal.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth,” Phelesmon muttered humorlessly. “I thought you were only like this towards your little… what was it.” It hummed to itself, tapping its claws along its trident, before smirking. “Manic Digimon?”
Ryan stared dumbly at Phelesmon for a moment, before his eyes flicked down to meet Dare’s, the same expression plastered across her face.
How does he…
“How do you know about that,” Dare murmured, more to herself than anything, but Phelesmon heard it anyway.
“Oh, I know everything,” he said, a sick delight creeping into his voice. “Everything I can. Everything I need to, to finish my job. To serve till the end.”
Finish his job…
It was hard not to be reminded of Meicoomon and Nohemon.
“Serve who,” Ryan said.
Phelesmon did not answer, much to Ryan’s boundless frustration. “Now, let’s see,” he said, tapping his chin lightly. “The one thing you want above all else…” He leaned down closer to Ryan, his eyes flitting over him like staying in one place for too long was damaging. “…I can’t help you with that.”
Of course.
Ryan swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. “Makes sense,” he said, his voice hoarser than he’d like it to be. “Can’t be easy to just… open a portal back home, right here and now.”
“Ryan,” Dare started, her voice more sympathetic than he’d heard from her all day. He couldn’t bring himself to look down at her.
Of course. The thing I want most in life right now… is to go home.
I never wanted to do this. I didn’t think I’d ever have to do this. I’m tired.
I can’t save the world. Not me. Not even with Dare.
“It’s fine,” he said, dipping his head low.
I have to stick through till the end, though.
“Oh, Ryan,” Phelesmon said, and Ryan’s brow creased. “No. That would be easy.”
He lifted his head to see Phelesmon grinning, drumming his fingers along his trident.
Hmm.
“Easy?” he echoed.
Phelesmon nodded. “Of course,” he said, his voice irritatingly smooth. “Well, easy for me. And only if I’m polite while asking for it.” He paused, staring off into the sky for a moment. “But it would take time. And a trip across the ocean.”
Ryan didn’t even have time to process this before Phelesmon was swinging the conversation around again, leaning closer down to him. “But that’s not what you want.”
Ryan kept his mouth shut - an admirable deed from him - and Dare, still crouched at his feet, did the same.
“You want someone to love you,” Phelesmon said, and immediately Ryan was taking several steps backward, holding his right arm - still clutching his digivice - out towards Phelesmon, as if it would ward him off.
He knew it wouldn’t.
Fuck.
Ryan had not expected Phelesmon to be so abrasive, so open and honest - it was one thing to be told that someone knows the only thing you want in life, and it was an entirely other thing to actually have it said out loud.
Especially in front of Dare -
Dare growled low in her throat, her fur standing on end as she approached Phelesmon. “Hey, asshole,” she snapped, raising one paw as if to pounce. “Ryan has plenty of friends who love him. Me included.”
“Is that so,” Phelesmon almost sang, his voice dripping with disbelief. “It hasn’t seemed like he considers anyone a friend. Why would anyone else think of him that way?”
“He’s never said that,” Dare said, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
It was just a hint, but that was all Ryan needed.
What was he supposed to do? Phelesmon was getting to Dare, and if they stuck around any longer, who knew what else he would say to trip them up and throw them off.
And even if he isn’t manic, who’s to say he still won’t turn on us -?
“Okay,” Ryan said, his voice sounding weak. “If you can’t help me” if he could, would I have accepted his help “then we’ll be taking our leave.”
Phelesmon smiled down at him again, though this time, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Of course. That makes sense.”
He laughed, louder than he had before, tipping his head up at the trees, and when he finally looked down at them again -
Well. That wasn’t good.
“I tried,” Phelesmon said, blinking soulless, pure white eyes down at both of them.
“Shit,” Dare said, really capturing the mood.
Phelesmon laughed again. “At least I can do something else right.
He said it so casually, so in tandem with the rest of his words, that Ryan almost didn’t register that he was calling out an attack - and it was only a few seconds after he noticed the attack, spires of black stone shooting out of the ground and aiming for both him and Dare, that he had the mind to try to get out of the way.
He wasn’t fast enough.
Fortunately, someone else was.
“Ryan!” Dare shouted, barreling into his side and knocking him away. The stone missed both of them, jutting up twice as high into the air just a few inches away before it splintered into tiny glowing red pieces.
They did not hurt as they landed on him, but there was an uncomfortable freezing feeling that sank into his skin - even through his jacket and shorts - where they hit.
He didn't want to think about what would have happened if the attack had hit them.
In a flash of bright purple light, Dare evolved, the digivice rattling off its mind-numbing warning as she did so, and a moment later, heavy paws landed on the earth, shaking him to his bones.
She didn’t waste a second in rounding on Phelesmon, who was twirling his staff around in its hands as if he wasn’t expecting her to do anything - but she quickly proved him wrong.
“
“Boring,” he said, stepping towards the two of them. Ryan hissed, curling away from him even as Dare stepped in front of him.
“I knew you were bad news from the moment I saw you,” Dare growled, lowering her head.
Phelesmon chuckled. “And yet you failed to stop me. Pity.”
“I didn’t want to make any rash decisions. I didn’t want to attack you before I knew I should.”
“Oh?” Phelesmon stopped, tilting his head at her. “And who’s to say you can attack me now?”
Dare halted, but did not speak; Ryan inched closer to her, kneeling by where her tail swished over the ground.
“After all,” Phelesmon continued, an appropriately devilish grin spreading across his face, “you’ve faced Digimon like me before, and Ryan here doesn’t seem to like it when you kill them.”
Dare bared her teeth. “I don’t take -”
She paused again here, visibly faltering, and swept her gaze back to meet Ryan’s. He blinked and gripped his digivice tighter in his palm.
Dare closed her eyes. “What’s the plan,” she said quietly.
Ryan frowned, exhaling slowly. “That’s up to you. You’re doing the fighting.”
“No,” Dare said, and was immediately cut off by Phelesmon.
“You can’t even work together,” he said, curling his lip slightly. “How do you expect to save the world if you can’t even come to an agreement between yourselves?”
“
“
Ryan winced, clapping his hands over his ears as the sound grew to an unbearable volume. Looking over at Dare revealed that she was having much the same reaction, her ears flattened against her neck and face contorted in a snarl.
The rings, thankfully, did not hurt as they collided, but the sound was enough to drive Ryan slightly mad, and even after Phelesmon closed his mouth and the screaming subsided, there was a faint ringing in his ears that he knew wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.
“You’ve been a pain in our side for far too long,” Phelesmon said a moment later, as if making sure to give enough time for the two of them to be able to hear him. “Running about, saving people, like you own the place. It’s getting annoying.”
“Oh my god, do you ever stop talking?” Dare snapped, and with a flap of her wings, she took to the air, hovering for a moment and looking down at Ryan. Waiting for him.
He hesitated for a few minutes, and then turned away, refusing to look her in the eyes. He heard her sigh, and he bit back the torrent of words trying to rush out of his mouth.
“Fine,” she said quietly, turning to Phelesmon. “
She dove forward, throwing her wings back open a few feet away from Phelesmon and sending whipping gusts of wind towards him. He struggled against them for a minute, pushing back against the current as he struggled to keep his balance, but it just seemed to hinder him rather than do any damage.
He huffed once the wind subsided, brushing himself off and looking none less for the wear. Ryan grimaced, stepping backwards as Dare landed in front of him.
“You really can’t do anything right, can you,” Phelesmon said to her, and she growled, visibly bristling. “A shame. It would have been so much more fun if you could -”
“
Another ball of metal shot towards Phelesmon, who rolled his eyes and sidestepped once more.
“Really, now,” he drawled, arching a brow at her. “You know, I was having doubts about… taking care of you, but now it seems like I’d be doing the world a favor. I mean, who expects someone like you to be able to save it?”
Ryan felt like he’d been shot. Multiple times.
And here I was, thinking to myself just a few minutes ago about how we can’t.
But - Dare can. I know she can.
It’s just… me.
“Ryan,” Dare said, snapping him out of his reverie. “I’m still waiting on you.”
“I -” Ryan started, taking a false step towards her and lurching forward, too much pressure on his leg sending another bolt of pain up his thigh. He swallowed, rubbing his wound gently and feeling something wet come away on his fingers (don’t look at it don’t look just keep your eyes on her), and breathed out slowly.
“Oh, so sad,” Phelesmon said, “can’t even come to a decision. Can’t even save yourself.”
Dare swung her head around and scrunched her brow up, her wings rustling gently. “Please.”
Ryan stared straight at Phelesmon - into his pure white eyes, the eyes which had been so normal, so… comforting not even five minutes ago - and did not speak.
He couldn’t. If he said anything - if he even opened his mouth - he wasn’t sure he’d be able to control himself, stop himself from saying the wrong thing, from hurting her, from saving himself -
“Ryan?” Dare said again, and he met her gaze, looking into the same eyes he’d seen for the first time four weeks ago and had instantly trusted, instantly loved.
Saving himself.
He blinked once. Then twice. Shivers coursed through his body as Dare - her gaze lingering on him, concern and hesitation and fear on her face - flicked an ear at him.
“Will you save yourself?”
Ryan exhaled.
That was the question that someone had asked him, completely out of the blue, mere days before he’d ended up in this world.
It had come from an unknown number, around midnight over the weekend. Ryan hadn’t paid much mind to it at first. It was probably a scam, or at the very least they had mistaken his number for someone else’s.
But it had plagued his mind.
He didn’t know why. It was a stupid question - save himself from what? How? Why had this random number asked him that? What was the point of it?
And why had he been so caught up about it?
He’d answered eventually, in between classes the next day. Yes. He’d told it yes, even though he hadn’t meant it. What was it they wanted him to save himself from? How could he save himself if he didn’t know from what?
Even if he knew, would he?
Why would he save himself when everyone else in the world was a thousand times more deserving of being saved than he was?
But when he looked into Dare’s eyes and saw the fear and desperation within her gaze… he understood it. He had to save her. Save the group. Save the world.
But he had to start with himself.
We can’t save everyone. We can try, but…
We need to save ourselves first.
He smiled at Dare, and all the worry slid off her face as if that one small action from him was enough to melt away winter itself.
“Go get him,” he said, and - still in his hand - his digivice began to beep and vibrate.
He blinked, lifting it up to get a better look at it, and when he looked back up, Dare was glowing white.
He did it.
He’d saved her. He’d saved himself.
At least for now.
“Ultimate evolution engaged,” the digivice said, and Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. “Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
“No,” Phelesmon hissed, turning his trident towards Dare, but a moment later he stopped dead in his tracks as the glow faded and Dare roared.
“
She was twice as large now than she was as Dorugamon; her entire body shape had changed, her neck growing in length as she stood on all fours. Her fur was a rich red shade, black stripes running down her back and legs, and the white ruff of fur around her neck was replaced by a mane running down her spine. Four silver spikes - two on each side - extended from her neck, the same shade as the wicked blade on the end of her nose. Two pairs of dark red-brown wings unfurled from her back, tipped in gold diamond-shaped claws to accentuate the ringed jewelry lining their edges and the large spike on the tip of her tail. Her signature interface still rested on her forehead, and she blinked her golden eyes - the same eyes that Ryan had always loved and would always love - down at him.
“Doruguremon. Ultimate level beast dragon Digimon. With its overwhelming stature, it can demolish any dauntlessly courageous Digimon, and it is highly intelligent, so it won't reveal its existence carelessly.”
“NO,” Phelesmon yelled, wasting no time in jumping back into the moment. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were supposed to have more time, he said we’d have more time -”
“Shut up,” Dare rumbled, her voice much deeper now, with a melodic ring to it. She glanced back at Ryan, tilting her head ever so slightly, before advancing towards Phelesmon again.
Phelesmon shook his head out, blinking rapidly, and - Ryan could have sworn he saw something, but he was far enough away where he couldn’t be entirely sure -
“
Dare growled and shoved herself into the air, her two pairs of wings beating in sync with each other as the golden ornaments lining them jangled in place. “I’m going to kill you.”
Phelesmon’s lip twitched downward as he clutched his spear, staring up at her and looking as if he wanted to follow her up - but his wings fluttered uselessly behind him, the fabric unable to propel him in flight. “You can’t,” he hissed. “He won’t let that happen.”
Ryan hummed to himself, quietly enough where Phelesmon wouldn’t notice, and turned his digivice around in his fingers.
Dare rolled her eyes. “We’ll see about that.” Twisting in midair, climbing higher and higher, she flared her wings out when she was almost to the treetops, hovering for a moment as she stared down at Phelesmon.
“
His eyes widened and he tried to scramble backward, bracing himself on a tree, but he couldn’t get out of the way in time before it crashed into him. It shattered into a hundred pieces when it made contact, each of them fizzling out instantly, and Phelesmon was sent flying backwards, slamming against another tree.
Dare flew down, landing much more gracefully than Ryan would have expected her to, standing in between him and Phelesmon.
Phelesmon grunted, struggling to his feet and using his trident to prop himself back up. His breathing was haggard, eyes sunken and mouth shut tight.
“You,” he rasped, pointing at Ryan. “You.”
Me?
Phelesmon’s eye twitched, and he took a janky step forward, halting when Dare moved toward him.
“Stay away from him,” she snapped, and red energy began to gather around her entire body. She was consumed in the glow, and then a moment later, she reared up and ran full-sprint at Phelesmon with a cry of “
She crashed into him head-first, jabbing the horn on her nose into his chest and tossing him away again. He rolled to a stop at the same time as the glow faded from Dare, pushing himself back up on his feet again.
“I won’t go down that easily,” he said, slamming his trident into the ground. “
The stone shot towards Dare, and where it touched her feet, it began to grasp onto her, crawling up her legs towards her face. She hissed, trying to rear up onto her legs and break free, but she was bound tight, unable to move as the stone consumed more of her.
She was swallowed in seconds, her mouth still contorted in a roar and wings spread wide as if trying to take flight.
Ryan’s breath caught in his throat as Phelesmon focused back on him.
“I really only wanted you,” Phelesmon said, walking towards him casually, as if he had nothing more to worry about.
Ryan stared at Dare, his hands shaking, and he tightened his grip around his digivice.
“Dare,” he said, his words feeble and quiet, and Phelesmon shook his head, laughing.
“She’s trapped,” he said simply, shrugging one shoulder. “It’s just you and me now, Ryan.”
Ryan rolled his shoulders, trying to work some sense of feeling back into his body. “What do you want with me,” he said.
If I can stall him for long enough for Dare to break out…
And if I can get some answers out of him…
“Oh, I don’t want anything with you.” Phelesmon sighed, leaning on his trident. “I need, however, to kill you.”
Ryan’s gut lurched, and he steeled himself, willing his face to stay trained in its neutral expression, but he had a feeling he was failing miserably. “Why?”
“Well, if I told you that, then you’d be able to escape it,” Phelesmon said, showing off every one of his too-sharp teeth with a single grin. “And we can’t have that, can we?”
“If you tell me why, maybe I can correct whatever it is that makes you want to kill me,” Ryan said (Dare, his mind was screaming, please, I need you), “and then you won’t have to.”
Phelesmon chuckled. “I wish it could work like that. Really, I do. Unfortunately, I can’t let you get away. He wouldn’t be very -”
With a loud crack, black stone flew everywhere, each bit glowing faintly red and fading away soon after. Dare roared, shaking her entire body out, and turned the most lethal glare upon Phelesmon that Ryan had ever seen in his life, let alone from his partner.
“Bitch,” she spat, rearing up again and beginning to glow red. “
If Ryan could have taken a photo of the pure terror on Phelesmon’s face in that exact moment, he would be happy for the rest of his life.
Dare ran straight at him again, slamming into his chest once more and throwing him back - and then she ran at him again, and again, over and over, until Phelesmon managed to get to his feet and deflect her with his spear.
“
She growled, shaking her head, and once Phelesmon’s attack subsided, she jumped into the air, spinning around and crying “
As before, so was now; Phelesmon was unable to get out of the way before Dare’s attack hit, and he was blasted back further into the forest, hacking and coughing as he fought to right himself.
Dare landed and immediately ran at him again, glowing red again. “
This time, she hit him while he was still down, and he was flung into the air, landing behind her - further from Ryan - with a resounding thump, his trident clattering to the ground a few feet away.
He reached out to grab it, using his other arm to push against the ground, and managed to stand up straight, turning around to face Dare as she stretched her wings out, preparing to take flight.
“Wait,” Phelesmon shouted, lifting his trident up, and Dare - surprisingly - heeded him, lowering her head and wings.
“Please,” Phelesmon said, and then he blinked, and then…
Oh, fuck this.
Yellow eyes twinkled over at Ryan, something similar to regret flickering within, and he lowered his trident, holding his opposite hand out in surrender.
Ryan choked, clutching his chest and falling forward onto his knees. His fingers trailed along the ground, limp at his sides, and his digivice tumbled out of his hand, landing on the ground a few inches away.
Instantly Dare was at his side, positioning herself in a way where she would easily be able to jump in front of him if Phelesmon tried anything, but Ryan paid no heed to her, focusing his attention solely on Phelesmon.
“You fucking asshole,” Ryan coughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. Phelesmon furrowed his brow down at him, his mouth drawn in a thin line, but he did not speak. “You motherfucker.”
“Ryan,” Dare said, swinging her head around to inspect him, a frown on her face as well.
Ryan shook his head slowly, closing his eyes. “You were waiting for this. All along, you were waiting to pull this on us, so that you could get away without any consequences and so that I could - so I can -” He coughed again, digging his hands deeper into the grass.
“If I were anyone else, you would be dead where you stand,” Phelesmon said, and Ryan gritted his teeth, grabbing his digivice and pushing himself back up onto his feet.
“Because you’re a coward,” Ryan muttered. His fingers - his mouth - his everything was numb, and his digivice threatened to escape his grasp again, so he shoved it in his pocket and moved closer to Dare’s side. “And an idiot. If you want us dead so badly, then fucking try.”
“If you make a move towards him,” Dare said immediately, shifting closer to Phelesmon, who once more put his hands up, “I’ll put a hole through your skull.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Phelesmon said, but he looked only at Dare as he said it - and then he looked over at Ryan, his mouth twitching slightly. “I only needed to get him. And I still could, if -”
Dare snarled, stepping towards Phelesmon as bright red energy began to crackle around her, and she opened her mouth, eyes narrowing, zeroing in on Phelesmon -
Ryan felt his blood run cold.
“Dare, no.”
Instantly she halted, the glow fading and her jaws snapping shut, though she cast a glance back towards Ryan, disappointment and hurt etched upon her face.
He tried to ignore it the best he could as he focused back on Phelesmon.
“You knew this would happen,” Ryan said quietly, and Phelesmon’s shoulders drooped. “You knew I won’t let her attack you like this. And that’s why you waited until now.”
Phelesmon averted his gaze, turning his spear around in his hands.
Ryan shook his head again, turning the edge of his jacket over in his fingers. He still couldn’t feel them. It was hard to feel anything right now, other than anger and betrayal.
Pretty par for the course for him, really, but it was different right now.
“I didn’t know you were like this,” Phelesmon said, and Ryan breathed out slowly. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe -”
“You can’t change anything now,” Dare said, “if that’s what you’re going to say. It’s too late. You can't just…” She trailed off, flicking her tail behind her and pinning her ears back. “This entire time you’ve been trying to kill us, all for whichever god you think you’re working for. You can’t just disregard all of that now that you feel bad.”
“He’s not a god,” Phelesmon replied with startling immediacy, drawing out the last word as if it was foreign to him. “Though we serve him like one, he is far from it.” He paused, tilting his head here. “Perhaps… perhaps ‘angel’ would be more accurate.”
Ryan barked a laugh, instantly regretting it as Phelesmon turned his attention to him - but he pushed on anyway, not wanting to back down. “An angel. The one you’re working for, who wants us all dead, is an angel.”
“Yes,” Phelesmon said, his voice ice cold now. “You would be wise not to make an enemy of him.”
Ryan laughed again. “Sounds like we already have, if he’s so hell-bent on killing us.”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Phelesmon said sharply, looking over at Dare. “He has no quarrel with the Digimon.”
“He’s been trying to kill them just as much as he’s been trying to kill us,” Ryan said, but Phelesmon didn’t seem to hear him, still focused on Dare instead.
Ryan frowned, looking up at his partner, who was -
…What is that in her eyes?
As clear as Dare’s true emotions often were, as frequently as she wore her heart on her sleeve - he couldn’t tell what she was feeling now.
Why is she looking at Phelesmon like that?
“Leave,” she said, venom dripping from her words and causing Ryan to wince. “Don’t ever fucking come back.”
Phelesmon hesitated for a moment, looking at Ryan out of the corner of his eye with a frown on his face - but eventually, he bowed, closing his eyes. “Of course.”
He straightened up, stared at Ryan for a moment longer, and then turned around and walked off into the trees in the opposite direction that Ryan and Dare had come from barely half an hour ago.
When he was out of eyesight, Ryan sank to his knees once more, digging his hands into his hair and staring down at the ground as if he could convince it to rise up and bury him whole.
Purple light flashed at the corner of his vision, and a moment later Dare was Dorumon again. She stayed where she stood, tail lashing behind her slowly.
Ryan sighed, twisting to face Dare fully. Her eyes were hollow and devoid of their usual sparkle; she didn’t even look over at him as he reached a hand out to place on her back.
He tried to speak - he tried to say something, anything, along the lines of “I’m sorry” or “this wasn’t your fault” or anything to make her feel better.
It was my fault.
Nothing came out. He tried again.
“Dare?”
Ah, that was a fun tone of voice - scared and sad and everything he’d never wanted to be. Everything he couldn’t be.
“Are you okay?”
She did not answer; he could have sworn he saw a tear drip down her cheek, but she reached a paw up to wipe at her face before he could be sure.
She exhaled quietly, her ears flat against her skull, and turned away from Ryan.
Working around the lump in his throat, he tried to keep going. Anything to get her to talk to him, to tell him what was going on.
“What… was that?”
Still she did not respond - it was like she couldn’t even hear him. Ryan was almost convinced she couldn’t, until she sighed again and shook her head out, so slowly that he almost didn’t notice at first.
His heart slowly sinking, he crawled closer to her again, running a hand down her neck again, but she shrugged him off.
“…It’s not important,” she mumbled, turning and heading back in the direction of camp, not even waiting for Ryan to follow her.