Notes: .TRI SPOILER ALERT! This story takes place after Digimon .tri! Please don't read it if you don't want it to be spoiled. This is a one-shot. Please take note of the rating as this story features catastrophic injuries and gory imagery.
Recommended tracks: The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses; Weezer – Only In Dreams
Lying in the hazy sun, Ken took an inventory of his body, testing movement and feeling for pain and strain. The only injury he could be certain of was a concussion, his head reeled with a dull, oppressive pain and his stomach roiled with each hesitant movement. The last check would be to open his eyes- ah, yes, a concussion for sure.
Even dimmed by the fog and smoke dulling and tinting its light an eerie blood red, the digital sun bore into his eyes and the resulting thrill of pain made him moan and clutch at his mouth. He heard a hiss and a whispered, "Ken's awake!"
Swallowing hard and counting his breaths, Ken ventured, "Miyako are you ok?" The girl moved heavily and slowly over to him before placing a trembling hand on his head to try and feel out the bump near his temple. A naturally shy person, he longed to lean away from the intimate touch but couldn't afford the movement.
She spoke and he was startled to hear how raspy her voice was, "I'm all right, I just got thrown into some rocks. I think my windpipe is bruised, hell my whole body is a giant bruise, but the worst part is my glasses… they're, they're broken and you know my vision is shit. Ken, I can't see anything! I can't find the others!"
Hearing worry creeping into Miyako's voice, Ken reached an unsteady hand to grasp hers. "That's all right, we'll figure something out. Is Alphamon gone?" She took a deep breath and spoke quickly, "I think so, but the Digimon are too, I mean, I think they're dead." And here her voice broke and he didn't have to open his eyes to know she was crying.
He had known because he didn't have the safe, warm feeling he had when Wormmon was around. Still that knowledge hurt and he didn't stop the tears coursing down his dusty cheeks. Wormmon, not again…
Miyako spoke again, her tone urgent and uncertain. "Iori needs help; his leg is in a bad way. He said it was broken and I think he passed out from the pain of it." She broke off and pulled her hand away. Ken forced his eyes open despite the dangerous curls of nausea and needling pain. "Where's Daisuke?" A hand grabbed at his shoulder, whether to help him steady himself or her, he wasn't sure. "Oh Ken, he's hurt, he's got to be really hurt because I've been calling for him but he hasn't said a word…"
Slowly, slowly he pulled himself up, calling on the Kaiser's clinical nature, every moment honing his control and will in Judo, even the emergency drills at school that taught a cool head was more useful than an emotional one. Ken stood up, Miyako with both arms around his shoulder. He turned to see his friends behind him. He looked first at Iori, whose bangs were slick with sweat and mud; his face, drawn and grimacing even as he rested. His leg had been propped with rocks to keep it as straight as possible.
Slowly he turned to see his Jogress partner only to see a pool of red and feel his stomach drop and breath catch. For a moment he saw Osamu vividly stepping off the curb and heard the crunch of the car and a red stream coursing into the gutter. He closed his eyes and slowed his breath. His pulse thundered in his ears. Why couldn't he hear Daisuke's? Ken let his body acclimate to standing and listened and there it was. Faster and lower than he had heard it before. He clenched his fists and forced himself to move despite the pain. Miyako tottered along with him, unable to see anything except a blur of colors.
Ken came to a halting stop near Iori, first checking his breathing and pulse, then moving his hand to the leg to gently probe the injury. The small boy's leg was starting to swell and there was a very small but deep cut near the middle of his right femur. Pressing on it, there was a clear break which caused Iori to whimper quietly. If they didn't treat it soon, it could cause a lifetime of problems or worse, a dangerous infection.
"Miyako, sit here in case he wakes up. We need to move to shelter soon. Without our partners, we're too vulnerable to rogue Digimon and if Alphamon comes back…" Ken broke off suddenly, swallowing a wave of hate and fear. The girl nodded pressing him into a long hug, "Pray that he doesn't… You know, before the battle I thought I saw caves in the rocks to the east, maybe a kilometer away." The boy genius looked and nodded and said, "You're right, they're our best option at this point. But let me take care of Daisuke now and then we can figure out how to get there."
He squeezed her tight, out of character but this situation had frightened and devastated them. Alphamon had killed their partners and tried to kill them without hesitation, something children shouldn't experience, Chosen or not. He stood again and swallowed to stop the churning in his stomach. His head hurt past anything he'd ever experienced and he felt his reactions were slower and less fluid than before. Oddly ironic that Alphamon had hurt his brain, the one part of himself he always relied on.
Ken was afraid to turn around, to look at the red all over his leader but he did it anyway. And he made lurching steps towards him… it was harder without Miyako to steady him. Daisuke looked terrible. At first glance, he seemed okay if a little bruised, but once more than his profile was visible, it was clear that he was badly hurt. During the attack he had raced to push Iori out of the way of one of the Digimon's shattering attacks aimed at Armadimon and had taken the full brunt of it on the left side of his body. There were deep gouge wounds from his left temple down his body, with a concerning dark red stain around his abdomen. Despite his tanned, ruddy skin tone, his face was pale and pinched and his head was pointed up, shoulders arched slightly off the ground. Worst of all, Ken could hear his friend's ragged breathing, fast and shallow. These were all signs of danger, if his memory served him right.
Finally, he made it to his best friend's side. The boy pulled off his jacket to tuck around Daisuke's stomach and apply pressure. The world blurred for a minute but not because of his concussion. He allowed himself one minute of tears and fright. These wounds were not something he could handle alone. This was beyond him. And with Iori unable to walk, Miyako unable to see, and Ken himself barely able to think straight, they didn't have any way to find help. The boy stared through his curtain of dark hair at the blood dripping steadily into the dust below. Osamu, he thought, desperate, please help me Osamu. I can't lose him too.
"K-Ken? Are you ok?" His eyes widened and his vision swam as he wrenched his head up to find Daisuke's eyes half open but so brown and warm that Ken couldn't help crying again. "Oh, I'm so… so glad you're all right." Every word caused the redhead to stutter and gasp a little as he spared energy and breath he didn't have. "What's g-going on? Where are, ah, the others? Is he still around?" That last question was said so viciously that it was obvious who boy was referring to.
Ken didn't want to stop staring into those brown eyes and face reality. He could barely look at all of the blood. But for Daisuke he would do or say anything. "Alphamon is gone and the Digimon are dead. Everyone's hurt, I have a concussion and we somehow need to move to shelter before anyone else comes along. But I don't know how to do that and..." His voice was trembling; despite the calm he had projected earlier, the fact that Wormmon was dead and Daisuke so severely injured had shaken him to his core.
A dusty hand covered in dried blood pressed a finger to his mouth in such a familiar and annoying gesture that he couldn't help a panicked giggle. Daisuke had opened his eyes all the way and they blazed with a courage Ken felt he would never know. "Calm down. You can do it. Just go slow and take the others. You can come back for me after they're safe."
The genius wanted to protest that there was no way he would leave him even for a moment but as he mulled over the logic of the plan, he knew that there wasn't another good option. The caves were not far and there was nothing blocking them so he could still see his friend if he walked the others to the shelter. Rather than argue when he knew Daisuke had cut to the heart of the matter, as usual, he simply pressed a hand to the side of his splotchy and swollen face and got up.
"Don't worry, Ichijouji, I'm not going anywhere," the redhead muttered with the faintest hint of a chuckle. Ken couldn't bring himself to laugh and focused instead on his partner's erratic heartbeat in his chest. Fighting the pain in his head and in his heart, he walked towards Miyako and Iori.
"Ken, you need to rest, you're shaking and you haven't had any water since you carried Iori here," Miyako spoke in a rush, harsher than usual. Without her glasses, she felt useless and vulnerable. Now in a shallow cave, her vision was almost completely dark and shadowy. Anxiety bubbled in the pit of her stomach. The dark-haired boy said, "Miyako, I'm going to put my hand on your shoulder and move you to the back of the cave by Iori. There's a small spring back there coming from the rock." "But I-" she cut herself off. She couldn't see anything except shapeless blobs now anyway so even if her vision went entirely black, it wouldn't be that much different. Hawkmon, she thought wretchedly, I wish you were here.
"But your head! Ken, you said you had a concussion, what if you collapse on the way back? How will I know if it's you coming in here?" Miyako hated herself for the panic in her voice but without Ken, she and Iori were completely helpless. She should have been the one to protect the littlest, not Daisuke. Iori was like a brother to her and now their leader was…
"I'll call out to you on the way back and I'll knock on the rocks when I come in. My head feels fine," Ken's voice trembled with the lie, "and I'll walk slowly. If I could carry Iori, Daisuke won't be a problem. He's not that tall." The two walked slowly towards the back of the cave where Miyako pulled the little boy's head to her lap. His hair was damp from the moisture in the cave but he seemed well aside from that. "Just be careful Ken and don't rush yourself. Daisuke won't be any better off if you collapse." She was surprised to feel two large rocks being pressed into her hands. "I'll come as quickly as I safely can. Just be prepared for anything." And then the Chosen Child of Kindness took a sip from the tiny spring, silently thanking Osamu for the help, and left.
If the walk before had been arduous and slow with Miyako blind to the world and Iori relying on him taking slow steps, this one was a blur of headache and nausea and wind. Ken knew in his heart that he should continue slowly and steadily but couldn't stop himself from walking faster and faster, the fear blooming in him the closer he got. That familiar heartbeat was quieter than it ever had been and faltered in his chest.
Ken ran faster when he saw his friend and fell to his knees at his side, clutching his torso and listening frantically for a heartbeat despite the blood smearing crimson onto his undershirt and hair. "Oh, oh, I thought for a second," he bit his lip and just breathed for a moment, steadying himself. He looked up at the tanned boy to see him looking unchanged, pale and tired, his breathing still ragged. Daisuke was flashing a crooked grin and had a kind of guarded look in his eyes. "I knew you could do it, Ichijouji. Never doubted for a second." They sat like that for a few minutes, Ken collapsed on his friend as much as hugging him and inadvertently providing the pressure his wounds needed. Daisuke had loosely wrapped his arms around his Jogress partner, not having any energy left in him.
Finally as the sun developed that late afternoon glow it did before sunset, Ken supported Daisuke up and onto his back. His stomach churned when he saw how the movement had triggered new flows from the boy's many gouges and cuts. He struggled forward, the gogglehead was lighter than he had expected but his head was pounding now and he was starting to feel faint. Licking his lips, he prayed again for the strength to go on. For the first time he felt a piercing anger at Takeru, Hikari, and the older Chosen Children. Why hadn't they come to help? How could they abandon them?
As if reading his thoughts, Daisuke pulled his arms into a loose hug around Ken's neck and he settled his cold lips near his ear. For the first time his brash voice was thick with sadness and broke in the middle as he said, "Ken, I'm so glad you're here with me." But the genius refused to think about what he could mean by that. Instead he spurred himself on towards the cave, making his way there as the setting sun had begun to darken the sky into twilight.
"Miyako, I can't knock, but it's me." Ken panted, ragged with effort to walk steadily and not fall over or vomit. His head was so jumbled with pain and confusion that he instead focused on the near black of the cave and the familiar heartbeat that seemed to guide him towards it.
"She's asleep, I think she had an anxiety attack," Iori spoke in a low, strained voice, sitting up against the rock wall. "Is Daisuke all right? He-he saved me, you know." Ken waited for their leader to respond and when he didn't, twinges of fear raced through him along with an adrenaline rush. He sat on the ground near the others and leaned back to gently drop Daisuke onto the ground.
His head and body trembled with the need for water and rest but steeling his will, he launched himself forward to the other side of the redhead. The youngest Chosen Child gazed at their leader, fear apparent in his young face. "Daisuke-kun, Daisuke-kun, wake up, you need to stay awake."
The tanned boy tried to make a sound but all that came out was the smallest sigh of assent. His eyelashes fluttered as though he was trying to open them. Then, even time seemed to fade and the noises of the wind and the trickling water and his friend's voice all but disappeared. The only sounds Ken could hear were the slowing thud of his partner's heart and the crackling sound of his breath. "I-I have to go for help. Iori-" he said. He didn't want to see this. This couldn't be happening.
The Chosen Child of Kindness tried to stand when he realized that the rock was slick with his friend's blood now, not just the spring water and he fell again to his knees in shock. He stuttered tonelessly, "I'll go, there's got to be someone, a Digimon that can help. Or maybe our D-Terminals. I'll find help."
At that Daisuke finally opened his eyes. They were darker than normal and the pupils wide to catch the last rays of light. His voice was gravely and low with fear for the first time. "No, Ken, you can't leave me. Please- please don't leave me. You have to take care of the others and V-Mon and Wormmon later, but please don't leave me now. Ken." Ken looked up at Iori, disturbed that Daisuke thought the Digimon were there. The boy's green eyes seemed to express a grim acceptance of something he couldn't accept. Instead he lay down next to his friend, pillowing his aching head on his arm, and taking hold of the injured boy's hand.
As the redhead turned his head to look at his best friend, a ghost of his cocky smile crossed his face and he grasped the dark-haired boy's hand tightly. Ken drank some water Iori offered him from his hand but didn't turn away from his partner. And as he lay there and his throbbing headache slowly receded, the low thrum of that singular heartbeat faded away into nothing. Night had come and stolen away the most precious person to him.
He knew he should keep a level head and try to figure out a way to communicate with the others, he should try to help start a fire somehow; he should attend to Iori, who was crying without his typical restraint, and try to wake Miyako.
But all he could do was weep quietly into that outrageous bloodied bomber jacket and hold Daisuke closer than he had ever dreamed of in real life. All he could say over and over was, "But we're just children. This can't happen. We're just kids."