Waking up on the hard ground of the DigiWorld was never fun. Matt sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the palms of his hands. Taking a look around, he guessed it was about midnight.
"Awake sleepyhead?"
Matt nodded, turning around. "Couldn't sleep."
Tai smiled and laid down the firewood he'd just collected, tossing a few logs into the blazing fire. "I can see that."
"I'll take over guard duty," Matt replied, getting to his feet and stretching. He looked around at everyone, counting heads, not satisfied until he saw T.K.'s blonde tuff of hair among the rest of the DigiDestined.
"Nah, I can't sleep either." Tai leaned back against a tree, crossing his legs and getting comfortable. "Come on," he said, patting the ground next to him, "have a seat."
Matt shuffled over to where Tai was, but didn't sit down. "I think I'll stand, thanks," he said, leaning against the tree.
"Suit yourself," Tai shrugged, easily satisfied. He stared into the fire, imagining the faces of old Digimon friends that had helped them make it to this point. After a minute or two of silence he asked, "Do you ever think the DigiWorld will be safe again?"
Matt pondered the question, looking up at the stars. "Dunno," he finally said. "But I don't think the people who chose us to be the DigiDestined did a very good job."
"What'dya mean?" Tai sat up and looked at Matt, surprised. "You don't think we're good DigiDestined?"
"It's not that we're not good," Matt corrected, "it's just that we're young. We're conflicted. We don't know much about right and wrong, and we're easily swayed because of that. They should have chosen people with more life experience, with more morals to guide them." He shifted against the tree. "I don't even know who I really am."
"Aw, Matt, if that's all that it comes down to, then it's no problem." Tai relaxed again. "I bet we were chosen so that this builds our life experience, so that what happens here shapes us for the future." He glanced back at Matt. "Who knows, maybe you where chosen so you could find out who you really are."
Matt lowered his head to study his hands. "Maybe."
"Maybe-shmaybe. We were chosen for a reason, and I'll bet before we're done, you'll know everything about yourself. Maybe too much, in fact. So much you'll get sick of yourself!" Tai laughed, carefree. "Don't worry about a thing, old buddy!"
Matt squared in front of Tai, raising his fists. "That's easy for you to say! You already know who you are!"
Tai flinched back in surprise. "Hey, I didn't mean to get you all upset or anything. I was just trying to cheer you up, that's all."
After taking a few deep breaths, Matt finally lowered his fists. He looked away, ashamed. "I know." He sat down next to Tai, cradling his head in his hands. "I just don't know anything anymore."
"Hey, it's okay." Tai wrapped an arm around Matt's shoulders, patting him on the back. "No one ever finds stuff like that out easily. It just takes a little time, that's all."
"Yeah," sniffed Matt. For one long moment, Matt allowed himself to be comforted by his friend. Turning his back to Tai, he stood up and wiped his nose. "I'm gonna go get some more firewood."
Watching Matt's retreating figure, Tai snorted. "I just got some, Mr. Suave."
Hello, hello. First story. It's like 4 in the morning and after watching 12 episodes of Digimon back-to-back, I decided I needed to let the creative juices flow. And what better way to do that then to write a conversation between the two leaders of the Digimon pack! But in all seriousness, I really do wish there had been more scenes where Matt and Tai just talked. It seems to me like the only time they really interacted is when Matt blew up at him. Hmm, maybe if they had talked more, none of that would have happened? Just speculating! ^^