"Tai, I love you," Matt told the boy as he looked away.
"What! Matt, I'm not gay! I hate you, get away from me!"
With that Tai ran off into the woods. With a sigh and biting back tears Matt ran after him.
"All right, you made your point but we still have to stick together! It's the only way we'll find the others," Matt yelled after Tai.
"I'll find the others on my own, you fairy!" Tai yelled over his shoulder.
"Watch where you're going!!"
Tai tried o stop but his momentum send him tumbling forward and he pitched head first over a cliff.
"TAI!" Matt screamed. He ran to the cliff and carefully looked over to see how bad it was.
It wasn't much of a cliff, five feet underneath Matt there was a swollen river. The water looked cold, Matt could see chunks of ice floating downstream.
"Where's Tai?" Agumon asked scaring Matt so badly he nearly tumbled into the waters below him. The two digimon had come running when they had heard Matt's last scream.
"You two get a fire started somewhere where I can to onto the bank," Matt instructed.
"What are you going to do?" Gabumon asked as he watched Matt strip off his clothes.
"I'm going in after him."
Matt dove into the river and began his frantic search.
The digimon gathered up Matt's clothes and started looking for a spot to set up camp. They saw a bridge in the distance and hurriedly made their way to it.
Matt surfaced in the river, looking around for any sign of Tai. He let the current carry him downstream a little bit before diving again.
"Tai! T-tai!" Matt yelled, his teeth chattering from the icy bite of the frozen waters.
Matt forced himself to quit thinking about the cold and slipped under the waters.
On the bank Agumon and Gabumon were watching Matt reappearing time after time, going back under seconds later. There was never a sign of Tai. Gabumon looked on worriedly as he patted Agumon's shoulder. He had started crying silently.
They had been watching Matt search for fifteen minutes now.
"Matt! Come back, he's gone. All you can do now is get yourself sick," Gabumon called out as Matt's head reappeared.
Matt heard his concerned digimon but ignored him, he had to find Tai, he had to.
When Matt was swimming underwater his hand came in contact with something but he was forced to back up for air. As soon as he could he swam back to the spot, grabbing Tai's limp figure.
It took Matt a minute to untangle Tai from the branch that had snagged his clothes, but he soon hauled the boy to the surface.
"Tai!" the digimon yelled as they saw that Matt had him. Quickly swimming to shore he laid the lifeless boy down near the blazing fire.
Shivering violently Matt struggled to find some life in the blue tinged boy.
"Matt, he was down there too long." Again Matt ignored the voice, too wrapped up in his thoughts to even give it a name. His mind scrambled for an answer, what could he do? Suddenly the CPR course from health class popped into his mind.
Matt tilted Tai's head to clear the airway and breathed into him three times. He waited a few seconds and did it again before doing five chest depressions.
Then three more breaths. Matt was sobbing as he worked, it wasn't working. It wasn't working!!!
Matt lent above Tai about to do some more breaths and saw that his tears were tripping onto Tai's face, making it look like they were both crying. Three more breaths. Matt counted his heartbeats, holding his breath. *One* He felt horrid, he was crying to hard to be able to breathe on his own properly. *Two* let alone well enough to help Tai anymore.
*Three* He started on the chest depressions. *Four* *Five* Tai still wasn't responding. *Six* Matt did the depressions once more. *Seven* *Eight* There was a gurgling sound that came from Tai's throat by Matt must have imagined it. *Nine*
Suddenly Tai started coughing up the water in his lungs and began breathing weakly. Nine heartbeats, nine had always been Matt's lucky number. It was almost as if it were an omen.
But for good or bad?
Tai was still unconscious and Matt didn't know how to help him. Still crying softly Matt brushed some of the wet clinging hairs off Tai's face. Tai was ice cold.
"Why isn't he waking up?" Agumon asked. "Why is he blue?"
"Hypothermia," Matt croaked out the word as he realized it. "Help me get him out of his clothes and dry."
The digimon did so and also helped get Tai into a sleeping bag. Ten minutes later he seemed even colder to the touch then before.
"Can't we do anything for him?" Agumon wailed afraid his friend was dying.
"Get into the sleeping bag with him. In health class I think they said that a person with hypothermia has completely lost all body warmth, so you have to share body heat until their bodies can start regaining the heat.
Matt got back into his clothes and sat shivering by the fire. He couldn't help but notice Tai wasn't even shivering his body was so cold.
"Why don't you get in there with him?" Gabumon asked sitting next to Matt. "You'd warm him up better and faster because you are more his size then we are.
"I doubt Tai wants to wake up and find both of us naked in a sleeping bag."
"So keep your clothes on."
"It doesn't work as well that way," Matt explained. Suddenly sobs overtook Matt and he buried his face in his knees and knotted his hands in his blond hair.
"Matt, it's all right. You saved Tai, he is going to live now," Gabumon said thinking that was what was upsetting Matt.
"That's not it," he muttered thickly after a minute.
"Then why are you crying? TK and the others will be all right as well you know." Matt shook his head and got up from the clearing and went to lean against a tree.
"Matt, tell me what is wrong," Gabumon said softly lying a paw on Matt's bare upper arm. "Come on, you are almost as old as Tai is." He pulled Matt back to the fire.
Matt lay on the ground, staring into the flames, still shivering uncontrollably and trying to stop the tears. He wished he didn't feel so cold, and he didn't believe it came entirely from his polar bear swim.
"Matt, get into the sleeping bag with Tai, you'll both be able to warm up," Gabumon suggested again.
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Tai wouldn't want me to."
The digimon sighed and went to talk with Agumon. Tai was still out cold.
After a few minutes conversation the digimon switched places and Agumon went to talk with Matt.
"Matt, you should go lay down with Tai."
"No."
"Why not?" 'My doesn't this sound familiar' Matt thought scornfully to himself.
"He hates me!" Matt said painfully aware that tears had started slipping down his cheeks.
"Tai doesn't hate you. Just because you two fight a lot doesn't mean anything."
"I know he hates me because he told me so," Mat informed the digimon.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it."
"I sure he did. He yelled at me that he, he h-hated me and to get away f-from him be-fore he ran off and, and fell in the river," Matt choked out between sobs.
"He was upset, he only said those things because of that. You are his best friend Matt, he didn't mean it."
"We aren't friends any longer," Matt muttered darkly forcing his tears to stop by sheer will.
"Matt you have to help him keep warm, we're too small to do it." There was a long pause. "Matt I'm afraid Tai might die if he doesn't get warm. Please help him," Agumon said choking on tears.
"Please Matt, he's so cold," Gabumon pitched in from where he lay next to Tai.
With a sigh Matt sat up and mechanically stripped to his boxers. Then ever so carefully as to not touch Tai he slipped into the sleeping bag after Gabumon scrambled out.
Matt was exhausted from fishing Tai out of the water and fell asleep in minutes.
The digimon talked to themselves, keeping watch over their friends.
"I wonder what they were fighting about, that it hurt both of them so much," Agumon said. Neither of them said anything for a while, trying to see what could have been so upsetting.
"I don't think Tai knew how much his last words were going to hurt Matt so much. He wouldn't have said them otherwise," Agumon said, unable to believe that Tai who was always so happy could be so cruel.
"I think he did. I think Tai knew exactly how much they would hurt, that's why he said them. I wonder what Matt did to upset Tai so much."
The pair didn't talk after that. By the time they had gone to sleep Matt had woken up and was keeping 'watch' from his spot in the sleeping bag.
Half an hour later Matt was staring up at the stars crying freely, unafraid to show his tears now that everyone was asleep.
*~&~ / / / *~&~ / / / *~&~ / / / *~&~
Tai looked through slitted eyes at the painfully bright stars above him. His head was throbbing, that was the first thing that he noticed. The second was that he was freezing.
Why was he so cold? And why did he have the feeling that he was slowly warming up. Tai held back a sigh, he didn't want to move, but he didn't want to get up. He wondered vaguely where the others were.
Oh, that was right. They had been separated, but he had met up with Matt and Gabumon. Matt who had told him….
Tai's thoughts were interrupted as he heard a quick intake of breath from right beside him and saw Matt lying next to him, in the same sleeping bag no less.
"You're awake," Matt stated in a cold tone.
"Get away from me."
"My pleasure," Matt said as he quickly escaped the sleeping bag.
"Why are you only wearing your boxers?" Tai asked in a suspicious tone.
"It doesn't matter." Tai slowly sat up and realized rather quickly that he was wearing less then Matt.
"What happened to my clothes!" Tai demanded. "Did you do anything to me while I was out of it?"
"Keep quiet!" Matt snapped angrily. "You'll wake up Gabumon and Agumon, they need their rest. You feel in the river, so your clothes were wet. You remember what I told you, but not nearly drowning," Matt said disgustedly.
"I remember falling, I must have hit my heat before I hit the water," Tai shot back. Tai started to stand but he couldn't even get to his feet.
"You should rest," Matt said. "Continue getting warm."
"How'd you know I was cold?" Tai asked feeling a little shocked. He managed to get to his knees and start inching away from the small clearing.
"You have hypothermia. You were underwater for about 15 minutes."
"Shouldn't I be dead?" Tai asked.
"I guess. I'm not kidding Tai, get back in the sleeping bag before you get even sicker."
"I'm doing fine on my own," Tai said stubbornly still crawling. Matt stayed where he was standing and watched the slow progress.
"Tai! Agumon yelled happily rushing over to his friend. "You should really stay near the fire." Agumon managed to tug Tai back to where he was supposed to be but Tai just started crawling away again. "What are you doing Tai?"
"I have to go somewhere," Tai muttered flushing a bit. Matt raised an eyebrow and threw a branch on the fire, reviving the dying flames.
"You can't go anywhere Tai," Agumon said.
"I have to," Tai snapped, frustrated that Agumon was trying to keep him at the camp. "I'll be back."
"No Tai, you can't go anywhere, not when you can't even walk," Agumon said trying to help Tai to a kneeling position.
"Oh well," Tai said. "I'll crawl if I have to." Agumon frowned as he watched his friend struggle to leave the camp. He wished he could do something to help him.
Tai finally made it to the edge of the forest in about twenty minutes. It hadn't been ten feet and Matt had watched every inch Tai had went although he pretended not to. He threw another branch on the fire, causing flames to leap up.
Tai sat leaning against a tree panting and shivering. He was so tired, all he wanted to do was get back to the sleeping bag and not wake up for a week. But first he had to get back there which was a task in itself. Tai steeled himself and started crawling back.
Matt sighed and quickly crossed the short distance and offered his hand to Tai. Tai looked at the offending hand scornfully and continued to crawl.
"This would be so much easier for you if you would just accept my help."
"I don't need any of your help," Tai spat out.
"Obviously you do," Matt said. He scooped Tai into his arms despite the protests and carried him to the fire.
"Let go of me you fag!!" Tai yelled struggling to get out of Matt's grip.
Matt literally dropped Tai when he reached the sleeping bag and Tai hit the ground with an 'oomph!' Matt gathered up Tai's now dry clothes and threw them at Tai.
"Don't worry Tai, you wont get any more help from me."
Tai grinned in a barbaric fashion and quickly pulled on his clothes dispite the difficulty of not being able to raise him self off his knees.
"I'll take first watch," Matt announced. "You three can sleep now."
Ordinarily Tai would have protested, saying that he was perfectly capable of taking first watch, but this time he was just too tired. Agumon and Tai crawled into the sleeping bag and were asleep in minutes.
"Matt, please talk to me," Gabumon asked sitting near the fire, his paws raised to the fire's heat. "Tell me what's going on between you and Tai?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"All right, but at least tell me what a fag is. I've never heard the word before."
"Just never call anyone it. It's really offensive."
"Then why did Tai call you it."
"Because he's mad at me. I thought I said I didn't want to talk about this," Matt said pointedly.
"Sorry. Are you really never going to help Tai again? He's so sick," Gabumon said unable to keep himself quiet.
"I will help him when he asks for it, and an apology would be nice too," Matt assured his friend. "Now go to sleep."
Matt stated into the depths of the not so distant forest for the rest of the night.
"What! Matt, I'm not gay! I hate you, get away from me!"
With that Tai ran off into the woods. With a sigh and biting back tears Matt ran after him.
"All right, you made your point but we still have to stick together! It's the only way we'll find the others," Matt yelled after Tai.
"I'll find the others on my own, you fairy!" Tai yelled over his shoulder.
"Watch where you're going!!"
Tai tried o stop but his momentum send him tumbling forward and he pitched head first over a cliff.
"TAI!" Matt screamed. He ran to the cliff and carefully looked over to see how bad it was.
It wasn't much of a cliff, five feet underneath Matt there was a swollen river. The water looked cold, Matt could see chunks of ice floating downstream.
"Where's Tai?" Agumon asked scaring Matt so badly he nearly tumbled into the waters below him. The two digimon had come running when they had heard Matt's last scream.
"You two get a fire started somewhere where I can to onto the bank," Matt instructed.
"What are you going to do?" Gabumon asked as he watched Matt strip off his clothes.
"I'm going in after him."
Matt dove into the river and began his frantic search.
The digimon gathered up Matt's clothes and started looking for a spot to set up camp. They saw a bridge in the distance and hurriedly made their way to it.
Matt surfaced in the river, looking around for any sign of Tai. He let the current carry him downstream a little bit before diving again.
"Tai! T-tai!" Matt yelled, his teeth chattering from the icy bite of the frozen waters.
Matt forced himself to quit thinking about the cold and slipped under the waters.
On the bank Agumon and Gabumon were watching Matt reappearing time after time, going back under seconds later. There was never a sign of Tai. Gabumon looked on worriedly as he patted Agumon's shoulder. He had started crying silently.
They had been watching Matt search for fifteen minutes now.
"Matt! Come back, he's gone. All you can do now is get yourself sick," Gabumon called out as Matt's head reappeared.
Matt heard his concerned digimon but ignored him, he had to find Tai, he had to.
When Matt was swimming underwater his hand came in contact with something but he was forced to back up for air. As soon as he could he swam back to the spot, grabbing Tai's limp figure.
It took Matt a minute to untangle Tai from the branch that had snagged his clothes, but he soon hauled the boy to the surface.
"Tai!" the digimon yelled as they saw that Matt had him. Quickly swimming to shore he laid the lifeless boy down near the blazing fire.
Shivering violently Matt struggled to find some life in the blue tinged boy.
"Matt, he was down there too long." Again Matt ignored the voice, too wrapped up in his thoughts to even give it a name. His mind scrambled for an answer, what could he do? Suddenly the CPR course from health class popped into his mind.
Matt tilted Tai's head to clear the airway and breathed into him three times. He waited a few seconds and did it again before doing five chest depressions.
Then three more breaths. Matt was sobbing as he worked, it wasn't working. It wasn't working!!!
Matt lent above Tai about to do some more breaths and saw that his tears were tripping onto Tai's face, making it look like they were both crying. Three more breaths. Matt counted his heartbeats, holding his breath. *One* He felt horrid, he was crying to hard to be able to breathe on his own properly. *Two* let alone well enough to help Tai anymore.
*Three* He started on the chest depressions. *Four* *Five* Tai still wasn't responding. *Six* Matt did the depressions once more. *Seven* *Eight* There was a gurgling sound that came from Tai's throat by Matt must have imagined it. *Nine*
Suddenly Tai started coughing up the water in his lungs and began breathing weakly. Nine heartbeats, nine had always been Matt's lucky number. It was almost as if it were an omen.
But for good or bad?
Tai was still unconscious and Matt didn't know how to help him. Still crying softly Matt brushed some of the wet clinging hairs off Tai's face. Tai was ice cold.
"Why isn't he waking up?" Agumon asked. "Why is he blue?"
"Hypothermia," Matt croaked out the word as he realized it. "Help me get him out of his clothes and dry."
The digimon did so and also helped get Tai into a sleeping bag. Ten minutes later he seemed even colder to the touch then before.
"Can't we do anything for him?" Agumon wailed afraid his friend was dying.
"Get into the sleeping bag with him. In health class I think they said that a person with hypothermia has completely lost all body warmth, so you have to share body heat until their bodies can start regaining the heat.
Matt got back into his clothes and sat shivering by the fire. He couldn't help but notice Tai wasn't even shivering his body was so cold.
"Why don't you get in there with him?" Gabumon asked sitting next to Matt. "You'd warm him up better and faster because you are more his size then we are.
"I doubt Tai wants to wake up and find both of us naked in a sleeping bag."
"So keep your clothes on."
"It doesn't work as well that way," Matt explained. Suddenly sobs overtook Matt and he buried his face in his knees and knotted his hands in his blond hair.
"Matt, it's all right. You saved Tai, he is going to live now," Gabumon said thinking that was what was upsetting Matt.
"That's not it," he muttered thickly after a minute.
"Then why are you crying? TK and the others will be all right as well you know." Matt shook his head and got up from the clearing and went to lean against a tree.
"Matt, tell me what is wrong," Gabumon said softly lying a paw on Matt's bare upper arm. "Come on, you are almost as old as Tai is." He pulled Matt back to the fire.
Matt lay on the ground, staring into the flames, still shivering uncontrollably and trying to stop the tears. He wished he didn't feel so cold, and he didn't believe it came entirely from his polar bear swim.
"Matt, get into the sleeping bag with Tai, you'll both be able to warm up," Gabumon suggested again.
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Tai wouldn't want me to."
The digimon sighed and went to talk with Agumon. Tai was still out cold.
After a few minutes conversation the digimon switched places and Agumon went to talk with Matt.
"Matt, you should go lay down with Tai."
"No."
"Why not?" 'My doesn't this sound familiar' Matt thought scornfully to himself.
"He hates me!" Matt said painfully aware that tears had started slipping down his cheeks.
"Tai doesn't hate you. Just because you two fight a lot doesn't mean anything."
"I know he hates me because he told me so," Mat informed the digimon.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it."
"I sure he did. He yelled at me that he, he h-hated me and to get away f-from him be-fore he ran off and, and fell in the river," Matt choked out between sobs.
"He was upset, he only said those things because of that. You are his best friend Matt, he didn't mean it."
"We aren't friends any longer," Matt muttered darkly forcing his tears to stop by sheer will.
"Matt you have to help him keep warm, we're too small to do it." There was a long pause. "Matt I'm afraid Tai might die if he doesn't get warm. Please help him," Agumon said choking on tears.
"Please Matt, he's so cold," Gabumon pitched in from where he lay next to Tai.
With a sigh Matt sat up and mechanically stripped to his boxers. Then ever so carefully as to not touch Tai he slipped into the sleeping bag after Gabumon scrambled out.
Matt was exhausted from fishing Tai out of the water and fell asleep in minutes.
The digimon talked to themselves, keeping watch over their friends.
"I wonder what they were fighting about, that it hurt both of them so much," Agumon said. Neither of them said anything for a while, trying to see what could have been so upsetting.
"I don't think Tai knew how much his last words were going to hurt Matt so much. He wouldn't have said them otherwise," Agumon said, unable to believe that Tai who was always so happy could be so cruel.
"I think he did. I think Tai knew exactly how much they would hurt, that's why he said them. I wonder what Matt did to upset Tai so much."
The pair didn't talk after that. By the time they had gone to sleep Matt had woken up and was keeping 'watch' from his spot in the sleeping bag.
Half an hour later Matt was staring up at the stars crying freely, unafraid to show his tears now that everyone was asleep.
*~&~ / / / *~&~ / / / *~&~ / / / *~&~
Tai looked through slitted eyes at the painfully bright stars above him. His head was throbbing, that was the first thing that he noticed. The second was that he was freezing.
Why was he so cold? And why did he have the feeling that he was slowly warming up. Tai held back a sigh, he didn't want to move, but he didn't want to get up. He wondered vaguely where the others were.
Oh, that was right. They had been separated, but he had met up with Matt and Gabumon. Matt who had told him….
Tai's thoughts were interrupted as he heard a quick intake of breath from right beside him and saw Matt lying next to him, in the same sleeping bag no less.
"You're awake," Matt stated in a cold tone.
"Get away from me."
"My pleasure," Matt said as he quickly escaped the sleeping bag.
"Why are you only wearing your boxers?" Tai asked in a suspicious tone.
"It doesn't matter." Tai slowly sat up and realized rather quickly that he was wearing less then Matt.
"What happened to my clothes!" Tai demanded. "Did you do anything to me while I was out of it?"
"Keep quiet!" Matt snapped angrily. "You'll wake up Gabumon and Agumon, they need their rest. You feel in the river, so your clothes were wet. You remember what I told you, but not nearly drowning," Matt said disgustedly.
"I remember falling, I must have hit my heat before I hit the water," Tai shot back. Tai started to stand but he couldn't even get to his feet.
"You should rest," Matt said. "Continue getting warm."
"How'd you know I was cold?" Tai asked feeling a little shocked. He managed to get to his knees and start inching away from the small clearing.
"You have hypothermia. You were underwater for about 15 minutes."
"Shouldn't I be dead?" Tai asked.
"I guess. I'm not kidding Tai, get back in the sleeping bag before you get even sicker."
"I'm doing fine on my own," Tai said stubbornly still crawling. Matt stayed where he was standing and watched the slow progress.
"Tai! Agumon yelled happily rushing over to his friend. "You should really stay near the fire." Agumon managed to tug Tai back to where he was supposed to be but Tai just started crawling away again. "What are you doing Tai?"
"I have to go somewhere," Tai muttered flushing a bit. Matt raised an eyebrow and threw a branch on the fire, reviving the dying flames.
"You can't go anywhere Tai," Agumon said.
"I have to," Tai snapped, frustrated that Agumon was trying to keep him at the camp. "I'll be back."
"No Tai, you can't go anywhere, not when you can't even walk," Agumon said trying to help Tai to a kneeling position.
"Oh well," Tai said. "I'll crawl if I have to." Agumon frowned as he watched his friend struggle to leave the camp. He wished he could do something to help him.
Tai finally made it to the edge of the forest in about twenty minutes. It hadn't been ten feet and Matt had watched every inch Tai had went although he pretended not to. He threw another branch on the fire, causing flames to leap up.
Tai sat leaning against a tree panting and shivering. He was so tired, all he wanted to do was get back to the sleeping bag and not wake up for a week. But first he had to get back there which was a task in itself. Tai steeled himself and started crawling back.
Matt sighed and quickly crossed the short distance and offered his hand to Tai. Tai looked at the offending hand scornfully and continued to crawl.
"This would be so much easier for you if you would just accept my help."
"I don't need any of your help," Tai spat out.
"Obviously you do," Matt said. He scooped Tai into his arms despite the protests and carried him to the fire.
"Let go of me you fag!!" Tai yelled struggling to get out of Matt's grip.
Matt literally dropped Tai when he reached the sleeping bag and Tai hit the ground with an 'oomph!' Matt gathered up Tai's now dry clothes and threw them at Tai.
"Don't worry Tai, you wont get any more help from me."
Tai grinned in a barbaric fashion and quickly pulled on his clothes dispite the difficulty of not being able to raise him self off his knees.
"I'll take first watch," Matt announced. "You three can sleep now."
Ordinarily Tai would have protested, saying that he was perfectly capable of taking first watch, but this time he was just too tired. Agumon and Tai crawled into the sleeping bag and were asleep in minutes.
"Matt, please talk to me," Gabumon asked sitting near the fire, his paws raised to the fire's heat. "Tell me what's going on between you and Tai?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"All right, but at least tell me what a fag is. I've never heard the word before."
"Just never call anyone it. It's really offensive."
"Then why did Tai call you it."
"Because he's mad at me. I thought I said I didn't want to talk about this," Matt said pointedly.
"Sorry. Are you really never going to help Tai again? He's so sick," Gabumon said unable to keep himself quiet.
"I will help him when he asks for it, and an apology would be nice too," Matt assured his friend. "Now go to sleep."
Matt stated into the depths of the not so distant forest for the rest of the night.