EPISODE 51 - ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
A howl shook the air, rattling the earth below Damien’s feet as he ran. He was moving as fast as he could, but with each step he took he could hear the mechanical beast behind him drawing closer. It made sense, because it was the size of a fighter jet and nearly as fast, but he still felt a distinct sense of irritation as he turned a corner.
“Couldn’t have picked someone else to ambush, could it,” he bit out, remarking sidelong to Bumble, hovering just above him. “Had to be me, of all people. Like I haven’t had enough of -”
“
Goddamnit was the only word that came to mind as Damien threw himself flat on the asphalt. The blast of icy energy shot over his head and froze the road just in front of him, coating it in a sheen of hard frost. Damien wasted no time in getting to his feet and taking off again, making sure to run around the mini ice rink so that he wouldn’t slip and fall on his ass and break all his bones. The MetalGarurumon unleashed another metallic howl, still unrelenting in its pursuit of boy and bee.
Well, wasp, not bee, because Bumble was evolved right now (to mega, at that!), but that didn’t really mean anything when he wasn’t able to fight back properly. MetalGarurumon - originally a WereGarurumon, and originally a lot easier to deal with - was three times Bumble’s size and possessed far more brute strength than he. Whenever he tried to attack, MetalGarurumon was able to shake it off like it was nothing, or if not then it was at least quick to return the favor and freeze him against a building before turning to focus its arsenal on Damien.
It had, indeed, ambushed them, right after they’d finished up with what they thought had been the last emergent in their section of the city - a Fumamon, some sort of stealth ninja thing that reminded Damien a little bit of Zanmetsumon, which wasn’t really relevant but still something he’d noticed. He and Bumble had been on their way back to the others when the tall jorts-clad werewolf had appeared out of nowhere and immediately gone straight for Damien. Bumble, of course, was quick to evolve and intercept, but WereGarurumon hadn’t been a fan of that, and in turn, it had evolved. To mega. Somehow.
Kind of worrying that emergents could just randomly evolve to mega now, but that hadn’t really been the biggest concern at the time, and still wasn’t, really. The fact that its sheer strength made fighting it as they were nearly impossible was the biggest concern.
Couldn’t have picked someone else, couldn’t have stayed an ultimate, and couldn’t be easy to deal with once it did evolve, Damien thought bitterly, spinning around another corner and only narrowly managing to avoid tripping over a fallen street lamp immediately in front of him. It wasn’t the only obstacle in his way; as he ran, wrecked and flattened cars littered the street, broken up here and there by piles of bricks and glass from the lining buildings. Guess someone else has been here recently. Bet things went better for them.
“
“Shut up!” Damien yelled, stumbling to the side to avoid the attack instead of ducking and risking falling flat on his face. The ice spread across the road just a few inches to his right, but he didn’t have time to focus on that. Not like he would have even if he did have the time, but it would’ve been nice to have the option available.
“
That hadn’t happened so far, which was why Damien was still fucking running.
It was a miracle he was even able to speak in the middle of it, considering his lungs felt like they were going to burst at any moment. “We’re going to have to figure something else out,” he called out, looking upward at his partner, flying backwards and focused mostly on MetalGarurumon. “I’m not really interested in seeing how long it’ll take for your plan to actually work.”
“Any better ideas?” Bumble shot back, but it wasn’t actually sarcastic or annoyed, and Damien smirked a little. “Unless you would like me to try to fight it head-on again.”
“Nooooo thank you,” he muttered, pausing to take another corner. Not far enough behind him, MetalGarurumon dug its claws into the ground to get some traction as it turned to follow, ripping the asphalt apart with a horrible metal screeching. Damien grit his teeth and looked around, trying to see if there was anything along the street that would help. If we could get it somewhere where it can’t move, Bumble might be able to corner it or pin it or something, so that he’s able to attack without having to worry about -
Something dark flashed in his vision, and he turned to see a thin, short alleyway, maybe only twenty or thirty feet long, in between two tall buildings.
Without even thinking, he jolted to a halt, then spun on his heel and darted toward it.
MetalGarurumon howled again, a familiar frost spilling from its jaws as it lunged toward Damien. It was coming at an angle, having turned slightly as soon as it saw Damien change course, and was likely going to reach the alleyway as soon as he did - but if he was able to get there even a second quicker, then it might -
Something grabbed him from behind, and for a second, he panicked, body tensing to prepare to struggle free; but the hands wrapping around him, each one engulfing his waist entirely, were decidedly not giant robot wolf paws, and he eased up as Bumble held him tight and dove into the alley.
Behind them, MetalGarurumon let loose another howl, leaking ice from its open mouth, and Damien twisted around in his partner’s grip just in time to see the wolf slam into the alley entrance and trap itself between the surprisingly sturdy buildings on either side.
Bumble landed with a thud on the stone paving, sending a dumpster careening toward the fenced-off end, where it crashed into the chain links with a ringing echo. MetalGarurumon twisted and growled, reaching its paws toward Bumble ineffectively, unable to free itself from its brick-walled prison.
Immediately Bumble set Damien - completely uninjured, thankfully - down on the ground, and drew both his swords from their holsters on his back. Damien scrambled to get behind a different dumpster, just in case MetalGarurumon decided to attack anyway - which it sort of looked like it was going to.
“
It was, of course, aimed at Damien, just like the rest of MetalGarurumon’s attacks had been.
“
Good thing Bumble already had his swords out and was ready to parry, because wow that missile was quick. One sword slashed out to deflect the missile, and the other came up to cut right through it, shattering it instantly with a shower of ice crystals. Bumble’s attack carried on, though, unsatisfied with simply guarding; he leapt for MetalGarurumon and sliced both swords across its (now reformed) chest, earning a pained snarl and a swipe of one paw to shove him back.
That’s all it can do right now, huh. Launch an attack and push him away. Much better than completely overpowering him.
MetalGarurumon’s jaws were already beginning to frost over in preparation for another Cocytus Breath, but just like Damien, Bumble was already well aware of this tell, and he spun his blades around as they began to glow brighter. “
One more howl, and MetalGarurumon split its jaws open, the ice slowly fizzling away as it canceled its attack. This was precisely what Bumble wanted (or at least, what Damien assumed he wanted), and with another rather unnecessary flourish, he pointed one sword directly at the back of its mouth.
“
The bullets poured forth to shoot down its mouth, disappearing into the darkness of its throat or against the roof of its mouth with flashes of light against the steel. MetalGarurumon made a noise as if to growl, or roar, or something, but all that came out was a guttural hrrk, choking on the bullets and unable to vocalize.
Bumble lifted his head in something like pride, and his swords began to glow once more. “
When the beams struck MetalGarurumon’s chest and snout, the beast gave one final howl, cut off short as it exploded into sparkling pixels that rained down in the alleyway.
Damien let go of a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and slumped down against the dumpster.
He fought the urge to stand back up and watch the pixels fade away. There was some nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him to make sure it was really gone, that Bumble had really defeated it, that it wasn’t going to revive from the dead or something. He already knew that it wouldn’t. Not here in this world. It was gone forever. Whatever his brain was on, it was completely unfounded paranoia.
Maybe it was just some lingering annoyance at Ordinemon’s dumb distractions, of trying to get them to focus on the emergents instead of him. That was what it was, wasn’t it? Especially since they were all focused on the humans now, instead of just getting to Ordinemon, like they had at first? Now the group was pretty much forced to deal with them.
Bogging us down with other shit so that we can’t focus on taking him down. Having to make sure the city doesn’t get totally destroyed and that any remaining civilians don’t die and that we don’t die. Fuck off with that. Coward shit.
…Truth be told, he was kinda getting a bit fed up with it, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it other than grit his teeth and deal with it.
“At least it’s dead now,” he said aloud, half to call Bumble to his side and half to change the subject in his mind. As expected, Bumble devolved and quickly flitted over to him, sitting down beside him with a twitch of his antennae. Damien lifted a hand to place on his head, but made no move to stand up from where he rested against the dumpster.
With his other hand he dug his digivice out of his pocket, and was relieved to see there were no more emergents within radar range. He wondered idly why he hadn’t heard the ping of WereGarurumon entering the range, whenever that had been; if he had, maybe it wouldn’t have been able to startle them like that. Then he realized it probably had gone off, but likely in the middle of one of the other fights, against Fumamon or Azhdarmon or Ghilliedhumon. (…The latter of which, Damien remembered, completely irrelevantly, had also reminded him of Zanmetsumon. Huh. Connected species, somehow? Whatever. Again, irrelevant.)
“Anything?” Bumble asked, the first conversation he’d initiated since… well, since long before they’d come across even the first emergent they’d fought. Damien frowned, for a couple reasons, then shook his head.
“Nah. Thank fuck. Just wanted to make sure we wouldn’t get jumped again. Not in the mood for another impromptu marathon.”
“Do you want me to carry you?”
Damien tilted his head. “You just devolved. And you’ve been fighting for hours.”
“Evolving to move is much different than evolving to fight.”
Damien’s fingers, still on Bumble’s head, curled inward slightly, and he took them off before they could clench into a fist. His partner wasn’t looking up at him; his eyes were closed, but he knew if they were open, they’d be focused on the fence at the end of the alleyway, where the other, discarded dumpster still lay.
“You got nothing to say about the fight?” he prompted, changing the subject, but he wasn’t really expecting much. As predicted, Bumble simply tapped one claw against the ground, his equivalent of a shrug or shake of the head. Again, Damien frowned. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” Bumble said; his tone and response time indicated he was telling the truth. That was good, at least. Still, Damien felt sort of… uneasy, maybe? It was a feeling he wasn’t overly familiar with, which he was glad for, because it wasn’t entirely comfortable. Something about Bumble’s laxness…
That was something that was familiar. Bumble had never been much of a talker, even when it was just him and Damien; normally, this suited them fine, since Damien also wasn’t much of a talker. They were both content with, and usually preferred, silence. They were partners, after all - they didn’t really need to talk to know how the other was feeling.
But typically, whenever Damien prompted a conversation, for whatever reason, Bumble was happy to oblige. Unlike Damien, he didn’t dislike talking. He just didn’t usually see a reason to. Damien actually had always had a feeling Bumble liked having an excuse to talk, aside from the sarcastic remarks he’d put in during larger group conversations. On the rare occasions Damien needed to say something aloud and actually have someone respond, Bumble was more than willing to humor him.
So the fact that right now, he wasn’t… it worried Damien in a way he wasn’t accustomed to. And that just made him even more uncomfortable.
Something about the fight, maybe? Concerned about the fact a random manic Digimon managed to evolve to mega? Maybe just that MetalGarurumon was stronger than we expected?
Jeez, could he give me something to work with?
Pushing him wouldn’t do any good. Damien knew that well. If something was bothering him, he’d bring it up on his own time, when he was actually ready to talk about it. Damien would just have to live with the discomfort for now. Which, you know, not really anything new, he was already pretty uncomfortable literally all the time, but still.
Sighing, Damien pushed himself to his feet, zooming out on the map to orient himself according to the others. The MetalGarurumon detour had taken them way off course; they were just under a mile away from the street it had first ambushed them on, while the camp that the others were situated at was another couple miles south. He did the math in his head as he stretched himself out and Bumble lifted up to hover next to him; it shouldn’t take more than an hour to walk, maybe even less if he was willing to go at a brisk pace. (He wasn’t, so that was irrelevant.)
For a second, Bumble’s eyes narrowed in thought, and Damien perked up, waiting for him to speak - until he did, and his words weren’t anything he was hoping for. “You’re sure you want to walk?”
“Yeah,” he said after a second of hesitation, of thinking maybe Bumble was going to add something, but he didn’t. He sighed again, shaking his head and starting to head out of the alleyway. “Won’t be that long. Kinda wanna stretch my legs anyway. You’ve been carrying me all night.”
“Day,” Bumble corrected, and Damien cracked a smile, some of those nerves he was feeling slipping away at even just one offhanded quip. “Sunrise was a few hours ago.”
“Yeah, but it was night when you were carrying me, so I’m right.”
Bumble just rolled his eyes, unwilling to argue any further, and Damien smirked again. I win.
He tried to leave Bumble alone as they walked, picking their way through the city and drawing ever closer to their ragtag group, but he just kept thinking about it and it kept making him less and less happy. The bee was, as expected, entirely silent. Damien wished that this wasn’t anything odd, and in a sense, it wasn’t, but he’d have thought by this point that Bumble would have something to say. Something about the fight, or the emergents, or Ordinemon, or, hell, even Elijah, who - just like Damien - Bumble was not a huge fan of. Even if he was just going to say how frustrating he found Elijah, and not mention anything about the (presumably) gaping bloody hole in his chest, there should be something going on in his head that he’d be willing to share. Not of his own volition, no, but - but Damien had prompted conversation twice already, and neither he nor Bumble were subscribers to Azure’s “two’s a coincidence” bullshit.
But… fuck, man, maybe they are right. Maybe I do gotta give it one more try and he’ll talk. Or, alternatively, I give it one more try and he shuts down even further.
God damn. World’s most taciturn Digimon and world’s most antisocial human. Truly a match made in hell.
Bumble was silent, eyes on the city around them and only rarely glancing over at Damien, usually only when he breathed a little too loud or they had to turn a corner or something. He said nothing and asked nothing. He didn’t even offer to carry him again when Damien had to take a short break to rest his legs, just hovered next to him with a slight bug-like frown on his mouthless face. Something was definitely going on, but Damien left him alone, and didn’t press.
Or, well, he tried to, at least.
Bumble had said once - years ago, at this point, but it was fresh in Damien’s mind - that he simply didn’t see the importance of sharing his thoughts with others. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to change anyone’s minds, and he was so frequently contrary to popular opinion that it would likely just result in useless discourse, so he kept his feelings to himself unless directly asked. It was something Damien had never been able to relate to - he loved nothing more than running his mouth and starting shit just for the sake of starting shit - but he’d always brushed it off as just how Bumble worked. If he didn’t want to share all his deepest thoughts and feelings, that was fine. Damien of all people was not going to push for that. Their ways of communicating suited them just fine.
But right now, they couldn’t afford that. Not when there was so much going on. Not when you took into account what everything going on was.
Fuck it. Azure… you better be right about this shit.
“What’s up?”
Bumble didn’t look over at him - expected, really - but he did speak, and Damien had to bite back a sigh of relief at even just that. “What do you mean?”
Alright, he wants to be difficult. “You know what I mean.” Bumble did not reply. Damien raised an eyebrow. Extra difficult, okay. “You’re being quiet.”
“I’m always quiet.”
“Well, there’s the first indication that something’s up,” Damien said, and Bumble finally met his gaze, looking a bit confused. Damien smirked. “Normally you’d say some shit like, ‘I’m not quiet, I’m reserved’. Which is true. You can be very loud when you want to be.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be right now.”
“Why not?”
Bumble looked away, antennae twitching slightly. He was probably a bit miffed - after all, he’d never really been prodded on something like this, so it was a new sensation - but even if he wasn’t sharing what was going on, it seemed Damien had gotten the ball rolling enough to keep him talking. “I don’t feel like it.”
…Well, somewhat. Damien shook his head. “You always feel like it. You just don’t usually have an excuse to be. But I’m giving you one right now. So. What’s up.” He folded his arms across his chest and waited for a response, perfectly willing to be as patient as Bumble would make him be.
Bumble exhaled quietly, still quite obviously uncomfortable. “…It’s nothing in particular. It doesn’t really matter.”
“Maybe you don’t think it matters, but I do,” Damien said. “You can be honest. I’m not gonna judge you or anything. I wanna know what’s up.”
Bumble did not respond. Damien waited, and watched, and listened, all while they continued their trek, but his partner did not speak again, nor give an indication that he was going to. Even once that became obvious, Damien waited still, unable to let go of the… not hope, but expectation, maybe?… that he would say something. Anything. Even if it was just to tell Damien to shut up and leave him alone…
But he didn’t get even that much. Bumble stared straight ahead, mouth shut tight and eyes nearly unblinking, and did not speak.
Something in Damien’s chest ached, and he elected to ignore it.
“Hmm. Alright,” he said instead, shrugging as casually as he could and averting his own gaze, looking instead at the darkened city around them. He’s not gonna give me what I want? Fine. Then I’ll give it to him. “Well, I, for one, am real tired. Not just sleep tired. I’m tired of waiting for Ordinemon. Waiting for him to retreat, or attack, or do something. I mean, I guess he’s attacking right now, but you know what I mean.” He gestured out into the distance, where he knew Ordinemon was even if he couldn’t see him at the moment. “We should be over there. Right now. We should be fighting him. All of us. I don’t care what Quinn wants or what Alpha thinks or any of that bullshit. We’re -”
He cut himself off before he could finish his sentence, jaw snapping shut with a hiss. It took all his willpower not to shove his hands into his pockets like a toddler throwing a fit.
Why, even four months down the line, was it still so hard to acknowledge the others as anything more than acquaintances?
It wasn’t that he hated them, or even disliked them. What they’d been through was enough to prove to him that they were… reliable. Trustworthy. Honest and steadfast and all that other good guy bullshit. They were his companions, and teammates, and… and that was it.
They should be more than that. By this point he should be able to call them his friends. But he couldn’t get the word out of his mind and into his mouth, because if he spoke it aloud then it’d be true, and he didn’t know if he could handle that.
But Bumble was looking at him, and paying attention, and actually listening to what he was saying, and he knew he had to continue.
“…We’re… a team,” he settled on instead. Good enough. Technically true. “We’ve only made it this far because we’ve had each other.” Also true. “None of us can defeat Ordinemon on our own.” Even more true.
Damien held his breath and clenched his fists, scraping his nails against his palms. “Why… why can’t Quinn and Alpha see that?”
Bumble tilted his head, and something on his face softened. “They probably have a reason for it.”
Damien couldn’t even bring himself to care that his partner had finally said something. His fear and hesitation had turned into annoyance and some mild form of rage with the more he’d said. He shook his head again and dragged a hand through his hair. “I don’t give a shit. Their reasons don’t matter when what they’re doing is just throwing themselves into danger. They’re going to get themselves killed if they keep doing this. If they can’t realize that they need help -”
Bumble interrupted with a huff, and Damien’s brows shot high up onto his forehead - laughter? “Mm. And you, yourself, have never been in that situation before, either.” His voice was laced with sarcasm, a common flavoring for him, but it was still unexpected - and, alright, a bit relieving.
“I haven’t -” Damien started, reflexively jumping to defend himself, before he processed Bumble’s words and the situation they were in; he bit his tongue and squeezed his eyes shut. It was a lie, and they both knew it. “Okay. But I’m not doing it now.”
“Because you’ve realized it’s not conducive,” Bumble said with a nod, and Damien scrunched his face up.
“Whatever that means, yeah, I guess.”
Bumble wasn’t satisfied. “All of us need each other. You’re not exempt from that.”
“Never said I was. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna do what they’re doing.”
“Maybe not. But you’ve still done similar things. Zanmetsumon wasn’t that long ago. I’m sure you remember.”
Damien barely suppressed a wince, acutely aware that Bumble noticed it. He shrugged it off with a literal shrug, kicking his feet against the pavement as he walked, a bit put on the spot. “Yeah, sure, I’ve done dumb shit before. Probably gonna do a lot more dumb shit in the future. But I’m not gonna run off all on my own to fight something like Ordinemon and refuse everyone’s help. I’m not that much of an asshole.”
“You think they’re doing it to be assholes?” Bumble asked, but he clearly already knew the answer.
And so did Damien. He sighed, crossing his arms again and staring down at his feet. “No. I’m just saying. Doesn’t make them assholes, but it is an asshole move to try to run off and play the hero.”
Bumble was silent for a while, enough that Damien started to wonder if he was done talking - if he’d had enough once again and was now going to clam up until Damien said something else stupid or mean or whatever. But his eyes were narrowed in thought and his antennae twitched every so often; Damien switched between observing him in suspense, to glancing down at his digivice just to make sure they were headed the right direction, to looking at literally anything else around them.
Eventually - just as he’d hoped - Bumble spoke.
It was exactly what Damien had expected him to say.
“I don’t think that’s why they’re doing it.”
Now it was Damien’s turn to fall quiet, to avoid the gaze of his partner and think deeply to himself, thoughts battling for the right to be spoken aloud.
He knew well that Bumble was right. He hadn’t even believed himself when he’d said it aloud. He was still correct, of course - it was a dick move to play the hero - but that wasn’t what Quinn and Alpha were doing, and so it was irrelevant.
Damien wasn’t stupid. Even if he didn’t know how to put it into words, he knew why they were so determined to do it themselves, to keep the others away, to deal with everything alone. Maybe it was because it was just that obvious. Maybe it was because Damien himself knew exactly how they felt.
I’d probably do the same thing in their position.
He saw too much of himself in Quinn. Or maybe there was too much of Quinn in himself. Who could tell?
He didn’t have to say anything for Bumble to continue, tone a bit softer than before, which sort of irritated Damien, but he didn’t say anything.
“Maybe they’re being stubborn. Maybe they are going to get themselves killed. Maybe they do need our help.” He paused, looking down at his claws. “But they’re not doing it for glory, or so they can be lauded as heroes. And you know that.”
He did. That also irritated him. Damien shook his head. “It doesn’t change the fact that -”
“Never said it does,” Bumble said, turning Damien’s words right back around on him. “But standing around complaining about it isn’t going to fix anything. If you think they need help, then help them.”
Damien snorted, half in surprise and half in disdain. That’s his solution? “I’m not gonna run in and rescue them like some self-righteous white knight. That’s almost more of an asshole move than what they’re doing.”
He chose not to examine why that was his (supposed) excuse for not doing it - that he didn’t want to be an asshole. When had he ever cared about that? Being an asshole was part of his daily routine.
So then why was he trying so hard to convince Bumble (and himself) that he just… didn’t want to be one?
Even if Bumble didn’t fully notice it, he at least picked up on that hint of hesitation in Damien’s voice. “It doesn’t have to be. If you’re this concerned about them, if you truly think they’re going to get killed… helping them out is more important than being obedient or polite.” He glanced over at Damien finally, head tilting ever so slightly, and Damien - almost a moment too late - frowned.
“I’m not worried about being obedient. You know damn well I don’t give a shit about that.” So then why do you think that’s the reason? said a voice in his head, one he ignored the best he could. It was not content to be ignored, though, and was louder and more forceful when it spoke again.
You know the real reason. Come out and say it. You want Bumble to be honest with his feelings - so lead by example.
…He didn’t want to, but…
He closed his eyes, clenched his fists where they rested in his pockets, and sighed deeply. “But… you also know I’ve been on the receiving end of unwanted help before. It always just makes things worse.”
What I want is for you to be okay.
Bumble was quiet for a couple seconds, whether to let the words sink in or give him some space or think about what to say, Damien couldn’t tell. They turned down a side street, and further ahead, Damien could make out the faint figures of some of the others in the lot they’d co-opted as camp; he hadn’t realized how close they’d gotten during their talk, and he bit back a sigh
“Does it really?” Bumble asked eventually. “Or does it just make you feel worse?”
And if you’re not, I’m goin’ to try my best to make sure you are.
Damien bit his lip instead of replying with any of the snark he usually would.
“Those situations didn’t end up worse than if you’d been alone,” Bumble finished softly. “You know that well.”
We’re all in this together, you know.
You’re part of our group.
It wasn’t annoying anymore, that gentleness in Bumble’s tone. If anything, it was… refreshing, almost. Better than him saying nothing. Better than the silence between them stretching into unease and tension.
Damien did not respond. He knew that, by staying silent, that was as good of an answer as if he’d actually said something, but anything he said would be incriminating anyway, so he chose instead to keep his mouth shut and eyes down as they drew closer to the chain link fence.
Neither of them said anything as they entered the lot, even as some of the others offered nods or words in greeting. Most of the group was there, milling about or eating or sleeping or speaking quietly. Moxie and Pop were not present, and so Damien instead angled straight for where Azure and Ko were sitting in one corner, still saying nothing as he knelt down in front of them.
Azure blinked up at him, mouth half-full of whatever they were eating from the bag in between them and Ko, and they swallowed and picked it up to hold it out to him. “Hungry?”
“No,” Damien said, but the ache that instantly shot through his stomach betrayed him, and he didn’t bother correcting himself verbally before grabbing a handful of chips and shoving them rather inelegantly into his mouth. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten something, really, and the more he chewed, the hungrier he grew.
Azure didn’t seem to mind, and so the four of them sat together and ate, in complete silence save for the crunching of barbecue chips. Ko procured a bottle of water from the bag behind him, and Damien took it with a nod of gratitude.
Even once they’d polished off the bag of chips (with Ko making sure to collect all the crumbs, too), they didn’t immediately speak. Azure watched Damien carefully, but they didn’t say anything, even though he could tell they desperately wanted to talk. They simply sat there, Damien with his eyes closed as he listened to the sounds of those around him, the only noise to break up the silence of the world. In the distance, black feathers fluttered by, carried by a nonexistent breeze.
One day, I won’t have to see them anymore.
He didn’t bother asking Azure how things were, how they and the rest of the group were doing. The answer was obvious anyways: bad. Just as bad as they had been six, twelve, twenty-four, a hundred hours ago. Maybe worse. Certainly not better.
So instead he asked the only thing that really mattered.
“What’s next?”
Azure took a deep breath in before they answered, during which Damien finally glanced over at them, only to notice they were staring at the ground instead of him. At their side, Ko reached a hand over to place on their shoulder, and they relaxed a little.
“…I dunno,” they said, lifting the opposite shoulder in a shrug. “We’re sorta just… waiting, y’know?” They gave a humorless, lopsided smile, which slipped off their face just as quickly as it’d come. “Not much else we can do at the moment, really.”
Damien exhaled through his nose, leaning back on his hands. “Great. Awesome. Glad to hear it.”
“Dunno what else you wanted from me,” Azure said, but they didn’t seem upset - and Damien wasn’t either, really, no matter what his tone or words implied.
“I’m just… fuckin’ sick of waiting. You know?” He curled his hands into fists, driving them into the ground below, caring little for the gravel that dug into his knuckles. “Been enough of that recently to last me a lifetime. I don’t wanna sit around and just wait for shit to happen.”
“You’re not the only one,” Ko murmured, and Bumble - hesitantly, and almost imperceptibly, but still noticeably - nodded his own agreement.
Damien held back another sigh, shifting his gaze off to the side. “Then why does it feel like it? Fucking nobody is doing anything about this shit. We can’t let them handle everything on their own.” He didn’t bother clarifying who he meant, but he wouldn’t have needed to anyway, because he could practically feel the shift in the air between the four of them as soon as he said it. “They’re not the only ones involved in this. They shouldn’t be. We’re a team, for god’s sake. All of us were chosen to save the world. Not just them.”
Azure and Ko exchanged glances; Bumble tapped his claws against the ground slowly, keeping quiet. Eventually Azure shook their head and held their hands out in defeat. “…I know. Trust me, I’m not happy about it either. None of us are. But… right now, all we can -”
Damien pushed himself to his feet and turned to walk away.
Azure and Ko called after him, but he didn’t deign either of them with a response, nor did he acknowledge Bumble as he flitted up to follow him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock in his way, sending it crashing into the chain links a couple yards away.
He didn’t know where he was going, but it didn’t matter. Just… somewhere. Anywhere. Anywhere other than here.
He caught sight of Elijah just as he was about to exit the lot, and he faltered in his stride. He hadn’t noticed him earlier, so focused was he on just sitting down and talking to someone, but now that he had, it was hard to look away. He hadn’t seen him in… god, it must have been hours at this point, right before he’d left with Ezra and Ember to confront Ordinemon.
Damien’s eyes swept down to take in the blood staining his front, then back up to meet Elijah’s gaze.
Neither of them said anything, and Damien continued onward.
He didn’t have a destination in mind. He just needed to be alone. Alone, save for his partner, of course, but that was basically the same as being alone, since Bumble was right back to that silence he’d been giving Damien all day. Right now, though, he was perfectly fine with that, because it allowed him to talk to himself, and try to figure out what the fuck was going on and what he could do about it.
He knew that Bumble was right, and that the only real solution was to just go and rejoin the fight. Sitting around and talking about it wouldn’t accomplish anything - they had to actually do something about it, or Ordinemon was going to finally kill Quinn and Alpha, and then they’d really be fucked. But he also knew that he and Bumble couldn’t do it alone, unless they also wanted to get themselves killed, which wasn’t new to Damien, but they should probably try to save the world first before he thought about killing himself for real.
Even if they had Moxie and Pop with them, pretty much the only people he knew for certain would come with him if he asked, that still wouldn’t be enough. How many would it take? Half the group? More than half?
…All of us. Every single one. We need to do this together.
That’s the whole damn point of us being a team.
If even I of all people can realize that… why can’t anyone else?
Turns out that not having a destination (and not knowing where the fuck he was anymore after having taken so many turns, just mindlessly following his feet down the sidewalk) didn’t really matter, because before long Damien nearly ran smack into the exact person he’d been looking for earlier.
But he wasn’t looking for them right now, and he immediately backed up and made to turn around before they could say anything, but he wasn’t quite quick enough, and Moxie grabbed his arm tightly before he could get away.
“What’s up,” she said, implying no question mark. It was a demand, not a question, and though Damien briefly considered leaning down to bite her hand to get her to let go, he gave in after just one look at the expression on her face.
“I’m mad as fuck,” he said, completely unhelpfully, and she raised an eyebrow. “So unless you want me to take it out on you, go away.”
“Yeah, cause your lame fucking threats have ever held any water whatsoever,” Moxie shot back. Damien grit his teeth and she released his arm, but fixed him with such a hard stare that it was like she was still holding him hostage. She folded her arms across her chest and glanced down at Bumble. “I asked you a question. Are you gonna answer or do I have to force it out of you?”
“The fuck’s gotten into you,” he muttered, and her gaze sharpened like a knife. He held out for a couple more seconds, before he groaned in defeat and rolled his eyes. “Fine. It’s Quinn and Alpha. They’re pissing me off and I can’t tell if I wanna go beat them up or go and help them beat Ordinemon up. Maybe both.”
To his complete and utter shock, Moxie relaxed completely, closing her eyes in relief and unleashing a heavy breath. “Oh, thank god, cause that’s what I’m thinking about too. We were looking for you so we could figure something out together.”
As if on cue, Pop swooped down from on high to land on Moxie’s shoulder. She nodded at Damien and Bumble, who returned the greeting, then glanced to her partner. “Well, we’re all together now. Time to figure it out?”
“What can we do?” Damien said before Moxie could reply. He crossed his own arms and scuffed a foot against the pavement, something bitter working its way into his mouth. “It’s not like two more Digimon are gonna be some monumental help against that fucking thing. Better than Alpha doing it all on his own, yeah, but three against one isn’t much better than one-on-one.”
“Well, I wasn’t really planning on it being just us,” Moxie said, and she smiled faintly when Damien quirked a brow. “I meant all of us. The whole group. We’re a team, yeah? We all need to be there.”
“Do any of them even -” he started, but Pop cut him off.
“Yes. Believe me.” She lifted her head to look out in the direction of their camp, her face hardening. “I’ve spoken to Ren, and Ember, and Dare, and so many of the others. I think… I think we’re all willing to fight again.”
“If it helps,” Bumble added quietly, lifting up to be more eye-level with the other three, “I’m also ready to put an end to this.”
Damien bit his lip, eyeing his partner carefully. His eyes were firm and determined, shining bright blue even in the lack of light above them.
It was the same way he’d looked at Damien so many times in the past, whenever he’d put his life on the line. It sort of terrified Damien to think about that, about the possibility of his partner dying, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was that Bumble was just as ready as Damien was, and that he was going to do whatever he could to make it happen.
“You sure?” he asked anyway, because he couldn’t help himself.
Just in case.
“Don’t make me second guess myself,” Bumble muttered, eyelids lowering halfway, and Damien couldn’t hold back a grin.
Even despite his smile, he rolled his eyes and affected defeat, holding his hands up in surrender. “Alright, fine. Everyone else better be in on this too or I’m gonna be even more pissed.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they are,” Moxie said much too cheerfully, but Damien didn’t have time to be suspicious before she took hold of his hand and dragged him along as they started back toward the lot.
She opened a group call on their way back, leaving only Quinn and Damien out of it (since he was right next to her, and they didn’t really have anything to talk to Quinn about just yet), asking everyone to gather in the lot at their earliest convenience. She didn’t have to say much for the rest of the group to understand what she was getting at, or at least guess at it, and they all agreed.
They had something important to do. Something that had been a long time coming.
It’s about damn time.
They reached camp just in time to see Alex and Castor arriving, the last ones to return from fighting emergents. Castor set his partner down and devolved in a flash of red; Alex nodded resolutely and followed the four of them into the lot, where they gathered with the others in a rough circle in the center.
All eyes were immediately on Damien, Moxie, and their partners; Moxie herself looked to Damien, and he realized that she was expecting him to say something, make some grand speech to everyone.
Great. Thanks. Good job making me of all people do it.
He shuffled his feet and stared down at them, but a flicker of yellow in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he met Bumble’s gaze a little uneasily.
His partner did not say anything; he didn’t even really look at him in any specific way, or at least not any way that Damien could discern. He just watched him, hovering in the air beside him, waiting for him. Waiting for something. Waiting for Damien to say what had been on his mind all day long.
…Alright, he conceded silently, dipping his head a fraction of an inch, and Bumble blinked in response. I’ll give you what you want. But only for you.
He took a deep breath in, counted for a couple more seconds, then looked back up to face the group.
“We can’t sit around waiting for something to happen,” he said; he saw no need to lead into what the point of all this was. They all knew why they were here and what was about to happen. Even so, the tension in the air tightened, some of the group standing up straighter or fixing their gazes harder on him. He didn’t falter under their stares, and carried on the best he could. “We’ve waited for too long. We need to do what we’re supposed to be doing. The world isn’t going to save itself, and… well, even if they think they can, Alpha and Quinn can’t do it alone.”
He shook his head and raised a fist, some sort of fire overcoming him more and more with each word he spoke. “We’ve rested and we’ve taken care of everything else in the city. All that’s left now is to rejoin the fight. Ordinemon isn’t invincible, no matter what he says. I think it’s time we go kick his ass again. I’m sick of waiting.”
I’ve spent too damn long being patient and waiting for the right moment.
It had been so long since he’d met Bumble. During all that time, through every countless day he had spent with him, he’d always wondered when he’d be able to do something with the gift they’d both been given. Even if he hadn’t always wanted it, even if he hadn’t always been sure it would ever come… he’d still held onto that hope.
Nearly six years of having his partner. Three months of trying to figure out how to save the world. Less than a week of knowing exactly what they needed to do.
Waiting is not an option anymore. Our time is now.
“We do this together,” Alex said, nodding at Damien and facing the rest of the group. “All of us. We have each other for a reason.”
“No one gets left behind,” Bumble confirmed, and around him, the rest of the group raised their voices in agreement and assent. Every single one of them cheered, or nodded, or clenched their fists in determination, and every single one of them gave their approval.
For not the first time, and not the last, they were united.
We’re all ready.
Damien lifted his head and smiled. “We’ve got a world to save. What are we waiting for?”
They mobilized much quicker than Damien would have expected, collecting what little they had and checking each other over one last time and making sure they were all ready. They were, of course, but it didn’t hurt to ask. Most of the Digimon evolved, standing with or carrying their partners as they prepared to set out. Castor and Bumble stood at the forefront of the group, with Damien watching everyone gather themselves, a strange sort of pride welling in his chest.
There was some part of him that felt a little ill at ease when he thought too hard about what they were doing; he had no particular desire to fight Ordinemon and put himself and everyone else in the most danger they would likely ever be in, but it was what they had to do. They couldn’t just sit this out because they were scared or nervous. He’d been worried about this the whole time; he couldn’t give up now.
Not like I’d want to even if I could.
Through the gathering of humans and Digimon in front of him, someone pushed their way to the front, aiming straight for Damien, and he furrowed his brow as they practically stumbled to a halt in front of him. “The fuck are you doing?” he hissed, reaching out to steady Elijah, who had one arm wrapped around his midriff.
Elijah blinked up at him, somewhat dizzily. “I… I want to come. Please. Let me join you.”
“Do you want to get yourself killed?” Damien asked. He let go of Elijah, leaving him to stand on his own, which he was just barely able to, and crossed his own arms. “You’re already nearly dead. If Ordinemon sees you’re still alive, who’s to say he won’t try to finish you off?”
Elijah visibly paled, and for a second Damien felt sort of guilty, but the older man quickly shook his head, using his other hand to push his glasses further up his nose. “I know it’s a risk. But… I can’t just stay here. Pallas is still my partner. I’ve been with you through all of this, I can’t back out now -”
Behind Damien, Bumble knelt down, sheathing his swords and tilting his head at Elijah. “It will be very dangerous,” he said quietly, voice low and direct. Elijah looked to the ground, and Bumble reached a hand out to place gently on his shoulder. “We will not be able to protect you. There is no guarantee that this won’t simply be a repeat of the last time you saw him.”
Elijah opened his mouth, then snapped it and his eyes shut, breathing a long heavy sigh. Damien felt it in his own lungs, and had to restrain himself from absentmindedly mimicking him.
For a few long seconds Elijah simply stood there, clutching his stomach, saying nothing. Bumble kept his hand on his shoulder; Damien watched him closely, discomfort brewing in his chest in a way that he couldn’t dispel.
Eventually Elijah met Bumble’s gaze, his eyes shining, and nodded once. “I know. I’m aware of the danger. I just…” He swallowed hard and shook his head out again. “…Please don’t leave me here.”
“We won’t,” Bumble said, before Damien even had the time to think, and Elijah smiled.
He knew he should say no. He should ignore Bumble and tell Elijah flat out that he could not come with them, that he was going to stay right here until they defeated Ordinemon, that he was undoubtedly going to die if he came with them. What other outcome was there? Was anybody truly stupid enough to think Ordinemon wouldn’t immediately lunge for his partner the second he saw he was still alive? He’d tried to kill him so many times already; why would he give up now?
There was almost no chance Elijah would survive if he came with them. Damien knew it. Bumble knew it. Elijah himself knew it.
And yet, when Damien looked into his eyes, saw that smile, he couldn’t find the strength within him to say no.
“Fine,” he said instead. “But you’re going to stay within the city. I don’t want you out in the open on the beach. That’s the best you’ll get.”
Elijah’s smile widened a fraction of an inch. “I can live with that.”
Damien nodded and turned away before that look on his face could make him feel any deeper emotions.
With their preparations complete, and the agreement that Elijah would come with them but remain within the relative safety of the buildings along the shoreline, they set out, following the black dot on their map and the black feathers in the sky and the black line of the ocean just barely visible between certain buildings. Damien and Bumble ended up falling to the back of the group, watching the other Digimon as they went, some walking, some flying, all of them carrying their partners and companions. They went as quickly as they could, caring little for maneuvering around the buildings in their way, half-ruined as they already were. They were in too deep to focus on completely avoiding property damage. What mattered most was reaching Alpha and Quinn.
“You know,” Bumble said, and Damien leaned to the side to get a good look at his face from where he was perched on his shoulder. Call him crazy, but from the look in Bumble’s eye, he had a feeling that he’d be smirking if he had a mouth. Preposterous. “This is exactly what I wanted.”
“To go kick Ordinemon’s ass?” Damien asked, raising one brow. “Yeah, me too. That’s why we’re doing this.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Damien frowned, and - finally, at long last - Bumble continued without being prompted. “This is what I wanted from you. Taking initiative. Refusing to wait any longer. Doing something.”
Bumble tilted his head, eyes reflecting the dull light above, and now Damien knew he was smiling. “This is the side of Damien I love the most.”
“Alright,” Damien shot back immediately, trying to ignore his burning cheeks as he shoved Bumble’s face away. His mandibles clicked together as he pushed back, and Damien rolled his eyes, resigning to simply averting his gaze instead of losing a strength contest with his partner. “Can’t say I feel the same. Smug Bumble isn’t my favorite side of you.”
“It’s not smugness if it’s true.”
“That’s the definition of smugness. You know you’re right and you’re rubbing it in my face.”
“So you admit I’m right?”
Damien huffed and crossed his arms, and Bumble hummed in victory.
Yeah, yeah, whatever, he thought to himself, glancing around at the group around him. They were all chatting and laughing with their partners and each other, too; it was like they weren’t about to throw themselves directly back into danger at all. For once, things were… simple. Despite what was to come, there was still some joy to be found amongst each other.
Ugh, that’s sappy.
But just like Bumble was right, so was that observation. That unease Damien had been feeling just a short bit ago was almost completely gone now that he was with his partner and sister and teammates. They still had a tough battle to come, he knew that.
For now, though, they deserved that bit of normalcy.
I guess everything worked itself out. Everything I was so upset about… I’m gonna fix it. I’m going to make sure everything turns out okay.
…And yet he still didn’t know how Bumble was doing.
“How’re you feeling?”
He wasn’t expecting an answer. He’d been so quiet all day long, keeping everything such a deep secret. Whatever was going on with him, he’d made it quite clear already that he wasn’t going to share.
So Damien was very surprised - but pleasantly so - when Bumble actually responded.
“Fine. Good, even.” Damien didn’t even have the time to be disappointed at the simple answer, because Bumble carried on immediately, as if unable to stop talking now that he’d started. “I think… determined, mainly. Perhaps it’s foolish of me, but I do feel confident about this.” He lifted his head, looking out into the distance. “Ordinemon can’t hold out against us forever. No matter how powerful he is, everyone has their weaknesses. We just need to find his.”
“Might be a little tricky,” Damien said, mostly to keep the conversation flowing, and Bumble nodded.
“Maybe. Or maybe we don’t need to, after all, and sheer perseverance will be enough. Only time will tell, I suppose. But, even considering that… I’m confident.”
Confidence…
He didn’t elaborate much further; he didn’t clarify what exactly he meant. Whatever he was confident in, he didn’t say, and Damien did not ask.
Just hearing that from him was enough.
As they drew closer to the shore, to Quinn’s dot on the radar, to Alpha and Ordinemon’s endless battle, the city around them grew more and more damaged. Buildings were crumbling, split apart by attacks and burning into ash from the miasma that had landed upon them. The road grew difficult to traverse, with the Digimon leaping from pile to pile of heaped concrete and brick or flying high above the rubble below. Ordinemon’s feathers, clearly, had managed to reach deep into the city - too deep for comfort. The ocean distraction tactic couldn’t last forever, it seemed.
They’d known this when they’d first led him out there, of course, but even so, it was still upsetting to see. Almost… sickening and painful, really. So much ruin, so much destruction… all for what? A pitiful attempt at resetting the world, all in the name of revenge?
The surrounding wreckage was not discouraging, though. If anything, it was the opposite. It only spurred them further onward, determined to do something to stop any more damage from occurring. In the sky ahead of them, a light shone brightly, followed by a surge of darkness. The sight was accompanied by a roar, muffled and distant, unintelligible from so far away.
They picked up the pace as the darkness flashed again.
Sounds of battle reached their ears as they drew closer, ragged cries from Alpha and Quinn melding with Ordinemon’s disturbingly quiet calls. It was like the ocean itself was rushing in their ears - after so long spent in such relative quiet, with only each other’s hushed voices for company, the noise of the fight was almost too much to bear. The shouts of attacks from both sides wasn’t even half of it, having to contend with not only each other but also the whooshing of feathered wings in air, the sea below churning with anger, the impact of light and miasma against the sand and bordering buildings.
When they finally reached the two battling Digimon, breaking out of the buildings onto the shore, they were nearly blindsided by another attack from Ordinemon. They scattered to avoid the beams of light; Bumble dove to the side, and Damien held fast to the spines on his shoulder, suddenly very aware of how stupid it was for him to be sitting on his Digimon while he fought for his life.
But it’s not like I’m gonna leave him all on his own, either.
Nevertheless, the team righted themselves in short order; the few Digimon that had not yet evolved did so as soon as they were in the clear, scooping their partners onto their shoulders or backs and turning to face the battle, Alpha still holding onto his mega form, Quinn still holding onto his shoulder.
They wasted very little time in rushing forth to join the fight.
Damien struggled to hold his position as Bumble moved around so quickly; he was rapidly regretting this choice of sticking with him during the fight, but it was too late to back out now, and he was sure he’d get used to it eventually. Probably. Hopefully. It wasn’t like he’d ever done this before, having been stuck on the ground while they’d been moving Ordinemon, and Bumble himself wasn’t exactly suited to carrying passengers, so -
“
Ordinemon flared his wings out, rising higher into the air, and glowered down at the new enemies he found himself faced with.
Alpha barely noticed the change in demeanor; he lunged for Ordinemon, sword glowing bright in his hands, with a shout of “
But Ordinemon did not counter. He simply watched the rest of the Digimon as they continued to swarm him with attacks, slowly but surely shoving him further back over the ocean, leaving only him and Alpha motionless in the frenzy.
Alpha turned around, staring down at the team, and on his shoulder, Quinn mirrored his expression almost perfectly.
Shock. Confusion. A hint of irritation, a dash of guilt. But, above all, outshining everything else… relief.
Damien raised his own head and found a smile working itself onto his face. “We weren’t gonna let you deal with this on your own forever,” he called out, cupping one hand around his mouth.
Quinn blinked, frozen for a few seconds, even as the gems on Ordinemon’s wings began to glow.
She said nothing, simply nodded, but Damien swore he saw her smile, too.
“
The Digimon dodged the attack with relative ease, swerving in between the beams of light like they were nothing more than trees in a forest. A few beams clipped the edges of wings or talons or tails, and Damien felt a hint of pain well up in his lower leg as Bumble himself was struck, but when the attack ended they were all relatively unharmed, and completely ready to counter with their own.
“
“
“
I suppose, when he only has three attacks and can only rely on his brute strength to fight… it gets easier to predict his next moves.
Ordinemon shrieked and reeled back, using his wings to blow away the Digimon that were too close. Once more his wings flared outward, stretching as far as they could go, and he raised his head high to scrutinize the Digimon scattered below.
“How dare you,” he spat, voice quivering with rage. He’d never sounded like this before. “How dare you keep doing this. Running around, trying uselessly to stop me. If you would just give up and let me work, your lives would be so much easier. Everyone would be happy. No more pain or suffering in the world. No one would die.”
“A world where nobody dies,” Quinn called out, squaring her shoulders, “doesn’t mean anything if you have to kill everyone in both worlds to achieve it.”
Ordinemon regarded her coldly. “You still don’t understand.” He was calmer now, no more of that fury resonating in his tone. “That’s fine. You don’t need to.”
He paused for only a second, then spread his arms out wide, wings rippling behind him. “
Clearly, he was done talking; he and the rest of the Digimon jumped right back into battle as if nothing had happened. Bumble lunged forward to both dodge the attack and get close enough to deliver one of his own. “
The Digimon kept fighting, launching attack after attack up at Ordinemon. Most of them had no effect save for pushing him a little further away, or at least if they did damage him, he gave no indication of it. They worked together to the best of their ability, swapping positions and bolstering each other along and calling out encouragement and warnings when necessary. Ordinemon was still strong, of course, and every time he struck one of the Digimon their partner would wince in pain along with them, but by this point, they had grown used to it. A little extra discomfort here and there didn’t mean much in the long run. They had something far more important to focus on.
They managed to push Ordinemon out over the ocean slightly - not a lot, not as much as they had a few days ago, but it was better than nothing. Slowly the sand below gave way to foam, then proper waves, black as his wings and only half as fierce. He tried his best to target the humans, directing attacks at where they sat perched on their partners, but they had learned by now to not let that happen, and his aim was not as precise as it would require for him to actually strike them. They dodged and deflected and baited him left and right, unable to make much progress in way of defeating him, but a stalemate was better than a beatdown.
They’d figured him out by now.
And he knew it.
As they pressed on, refusing to back down or give up, Ordinemon’s frustration grew more and more obvious. He was trying his best, just as they were, but at this point he was unable to do much more than stun or disorient them for a couple seconds before someone else would swoop in to steal his attention.
What was it Alpha said the other day? Damien thought to himself with a smirk, watching as Ordinemon batted Ko and Dare away, only to be met with Flip’s icy morning stars and Bunny’s illusory moon. Fighting ten Digimon at once, even when all of them combined don’t hold a candle to your own strength… nobody could handle that.
Not even someone claiming to be invincible.
“
Alpha leapt forward, sword glowing bright, and slashed across Ordinemon’s collarbones, the trailing light swooping in an arc as it followed the blade. He darted backward and raised a palm at the angel before he could retaliate, firing a short burst of green energy. Ordinemon’s wings flickered behind him, preparing for a counterattack, but he was halted by a burst of flames from Ren and Ember, followed quickly by a flurry of attacks from Castor’s familiars.
In that time, Alpha summoned his sword once more, gripping it tight in both hands and brandishing it at Ordinemon. When the angel looked away, focused on Castor, busy trying to form a shield as defense, Alpha surged forth, raising the blade high above his head.
“
With the last of his remaining energy, or perhaps the reserves of a strength he’d been saving up until now, he cut clean down Ordinemon’s front, throat to stomach, and then plunged the tip of the blade deep into his chest.
Ordinemon screamed.
There was nothing for it to echo off of; the sound rang out hollowly, almost haunting in its lack of reverberations. It was louder than anything Damien had heard before, louder than any cry Ordinemon had unleashed in the past, and he hissed through his teeth as he clapped his hands over his ears to try to drown it out. The suddenness was enough to startle the group into relative hesitation, simply watching him as he slowly quieted down, breathing heavy, wings dipping into the water below.
He was not bleeding; he, just as much as every other Digimon, did not have any blood to spill. There was no indication that Alpha had even struck him at all, save for the ghostly look on his face and the ringing of his screech in their ears.
He lifted his chin a fraction of an inch, and his lips pulled back in a snarl.
“My patience,” he said, eerily quiet compared to the cry he had just given, “is waning.”
“
“
Alpha didn’t have the chance to finish his attack - Ordinemon unleashed a flurry of miasma in the blink of an eye, coating the sky black as the feathers shot for each of the Digimon below. Damien held tight as Bumble dove to avoid the cluster aimed for him, and looked over his shoulder to refocus on Ordinemon. Around him, many of the others had not been so lucky with dodging; shouts and cries of pain came up from several of the humans and Digimon alike, and Damien clenched his fists hard.
Bumble readied his blades as they began to glow bright, but just like Alpha before him, he did not have the chance to attack.
“
There was no time to prepare themselves. All they could do was try desperately to avoid the beams of light that shot in all directions, and they were not as successful this time. Damien bit back a shout as both he and Bumble were struck, his own pain mingling with his partner’s. Bumble was forced lower and lower in order to drop out of the line of fire, skirting just above the waves below, but that also didn’t matter much. Ordinemon attacked again, with a cry that Damien couldn’t really distinguish through all the chaos and panic that was setting in, only able to notice the bright flash that accompanied it.
Then there was another, and another. Shout after shout, light after light, attack after attack, Ordinemon gave them no pause. His first attack had separated them; the follow-ups divided them even further, sending them spiraling away from each other, alone and isolated. He was able to focus on them singularly now, even as they tried desperately to regroup and reorient. The partners were knocked down again and again, their humans struggling to hold on as they were thrown about the battlefield.
All they could do was endure the assault and pray they would survive.
It was the worst pain Damien had ever been in. He’d never admit it aloud, but it was almost torturous. Every time Ordinemon attacked, he felt double the agony, both his and his partner’s, both sources unrelenting. It took all his strength to hold onto Bumble and stay alert, conscious, and alive.
He knew, likewise, that it was taking everything out of Bumble to remain standing.
Time and again, they fell. They did not have the time nor power to fight back, or regroup, or do anything other than endure. Each time they were downed, they could do nothing but hope Ordinemon would tire soon, and allow them the chance to either recover or retreat. His onslaught seemed endless, his strength and energy infinite.
But no matter how many times they were struck down, how many times they fell to the water below, they got back up each time. They did not stay down for long, regardless of how hard they were hit or how far away they were thrown, taking only as much of a breather as they needed before they jumped back into battle, withstanding the barrage and launching weak attacks here and there and helping to steady and protect their allies.
They did not give up.
Ordinemon strengthened his bombardment, moving further inland, pushing them back onto the shore and into the city. Maybe he hoped they’d be more careful with buildings around, or maybe he just wanted to shove them around. It didn’t matter either way. The buildings along the beachside were already destroyed beyond recognition and salvaging, having taken the brunt of Ordinemon’s feathers and previous attacks. This wasn’t a matter of saving the city anymore; it was a matter of saving the world. It always had been, but it was more obvious now than ever.
They were going to have to make sacrifices, and buildings made better sacrifices than human lives.
A rush of miasma sent Bumble spinning away, falling toward the sand, and in the freefall, Damien caught sight of Elijah, still standing resolutely at the edge of the city.
They shared a look, and Elijah gave him a nod.
Bumble righted himself with minimal strain, even despite the pain that was coursing through his and Damien’s bodies. He aimed his swords at Ordinemon, then unleashed a series of slashes and a cry of “
The energy beams shot straight toward the angel, striking him in the chest, but he did not have the chance to react before Bumble shot forward (Damien held fast to his shoulder) and drove both swords into his stomach, just like Alpha had, not that long ago.
And, just as before, Ordinemon cried out, with all the force of a dying world, and spread his wings wide.
“
The attack razed the battlefield, too many beams shooting down too fast to dodge. The Digimon were sent plummeting to the ground, before they could even start to regain their bearings midair. Bumble took Damien into his arms as he fell, holding him tight and close to his chest, and Damien braced for both the impact and inevitable pain.
The two of them struck the sand only moments later. Damien wheezed a cough, spitting sand and dirt from his mouth as he wobbled on his knees. Bumble, crouched above him, straightened him out and then picked him up again; Damien was able to ignore the pain a little easier once his claws wrapped around his abdomen, and he closed his eyes, still a little stunned.
He felt Bumble stand up and turn around, likely facing Ordinemon and preparing to jump back into battle, but he did not move any further. Damien cracked an eye open, confused by his lack of action, and followed his line of sight toward the sky.
Even as the others around them stood up and clutched their partners and weapons tight, Ordinemon did not attack again, simply drifted backward over the water, putting distance between him and the group.
He’s… retreating.
Why? There was no way to know; he said nothing as he slowly but surely withdrew, and they certainly weren’t going to ask. For a few seconds Damien wondered if it was a feint, if he was just tricking them into letting their guards down so he could reappear and attack again - but as more and more of the Digimon cautiously crept forward, Bumble included, it became clear that it was not.
For not the first time, Ordinemon had surrendered.
…Maybe not entirely. He was still out there; he would undeniably attack again, whether that be in ten minutes or twenty hours. They had not won the war. But this battle, it seemed, had ended in their victory.
Not really a good sign if a victory for us just means nobody died, but…
Alpha’s voice rang out over the battlefield. “Let him go,” he said, sweeping an arm out to address the whole group. “I know it’s tempting, but his retreat is a good sign. There will be other opportunities. We must take this chance to rest.”
Damien finally realized that Bumble had still been following the angel, along with a few of the others. Bumble stilled to a halt, refusing to take his eyes off of Ordinemon’s receding form, but he did not proceed further.
They remained there, some still floating over the water, others landing on the shore. Damien shifted in Bumble’s arms, and the wasp loosened his grip on his body, glancing down at him.
Neither of them said anything, but they shared a look and a nod, then looked back up to watch Ordinemon until he finally disappeared fully into the fog swirling over the ocean.
“Do you think we’re finally wearing him down?” Alex asked, voice loud for all to hear, but it was clear he was not expecting a response. He, just like everyone, knew there was no answer to the question.
Even so, they all still looked to Quinn and Alpha.
“Are you excited?” Anna asked, tilting her head toward Damien, and he heaved a deep sigh.
They stood on the shoreline. Once it was clear Ordinemon was not returning anytime soon, they had regrouped, gathering together once more, but they hadn’t left. They hadn’t retreated back into the city; they’d barely even moved from where they’d each touched down, the Digimon setting their partners down and then devolving.
They stood their ground. There was no need to leave - Ordinemon wasn’t attacking, and none of them were particularly hurt. They felt fine, really. They didn’t need to run away.
Not anymore.
“The only thing I’m excited for is taking a nice long nap once this is all over,” Damien mumbled, kicking a foot in the sand, and Anna smiled faintly.
“I mean about… right now. Aren’t you excited about this?”
He raised a brow, vaguely aware that, on his other side, Bumble was mirroring his expression. “About… fighting the literal end of the world and having to pray to gods I don’t believe in that I don’t fuckin’ die? Yeah, sure, I guess that’s exciting…?”
“No, idiot,” Anna shot back, sticking her tongue out. “Not about having to fight. I meant excited about how close we are.” In her arms, Bunny perked up slightly, but did not open her eyes.
“Close to what?” Damien lifted a hand to shield his face as he glanced out over the ocean, ignoring the sunglasses perched on his head that could accomplish the same thing much easier. “The ocean? The city? The -”
“You’re being annoying on purpose,” Bumble said, jamming a claw into his ribs, and Damien bit back a grunt of pain. His partner stared at him with half-lidded eyes, clearly unamused. “You know what she means.”
Damien didn't respond instantly. Bumble’s jab (the physical one, not the snide remark) had reminded his body of just how much pain it was in, and he made a quick mental note to go check with Ren for some magical painkiller sigils soon, once she was done with the current batch.
The slice down his arm from the Devidramon a couple weeks ago had been torn back open, and he’d definitely landed on one of his legs wrong when Ordinemon had sent them all spiraling to the ground with that final attack. Not to mention all the other smaller cuts and bruises he’d earned from every battle he’d been in recently, not just this one… At the very least he was fortunate that Bumble devolving to rookie had eased all the pain from him.
What sort of sadist decided that we have to feel each other’s pain like that? What benefit does that serve either of us? He shook his head out and sighed again, coming back to reality and finally noticing Anna was still watching him intently for his response.
“…I guess,” he said, giving the most nothingburger answer possible, because he was afraid if he gave his real answer, he’d jinx himself.
Yeah. I am.
It seemed enough to satisfy Anna, as she gave a nod and leant back, squeezing Bunny tightly. “I don’t wanna fight anymore. I wish we didn’t have to. But… with each passing minute I feel more confident that we can actually do this.” She smiled, lifting her head toward the slowly-setting sun. “It’s kinda fun, y’know?”
“Not really the word I’d use,” Damien said, and Anna rolled her eyes.
“Then what would you use?”
“Inspiring,” Bumble suggested, his wings flicking. “Thrilling. Invigorating.”
“Comforting?” Bunny offered.
Anna nodded, dipping her chin to rest on Bunny’s head. “Uplifting.”
Damien shook his head, but found a smirk working its way onto his face. “Not quite. I was thinking more like…”
He closed his eyes, thinking deeply to himself - and then opened them again, staring straight out across the ocean, at where Ordinemon no doubt was lying in wait.
It’s funny that he’s the one running away now. We aren’t the ones retreating and licking our wounds. He always made fun of us all those times we did, but now… now, he’s the coward.
“…Alright, maybe exciting is a good word for it.”
Maybe they were getting closer to winning. Maybe they finally, after all this time, stood a chance against him. Maybe his retreat didn’t mean anything, and their hope was all for naught.
Whatever the case, they’d see in due time. For now, all they could do was wait.
Damien’s grin widened. “At the very least, the future looks promising.”
The end was near. He didn’t know when exactly it would arrive, how long it would take to come to fruition, but he didn’t need to. He could wait. He could be patient.