Chapter 5: Broken

Henry knelt down besides his digimon, cradling the other so gently as if one wrong move would break him.

"Terriermon...please say something...anything." Henry murmured, seeing the digital blood made by Impmon's scratch marks on his ears made his heart ache. Terriermon opened his eyes, but quickly moved away.

"Don't...don't touch me! You'll make yourself filthy and tainted!" Terriermon cried, his whole body trembling as tears rolled down his cheeks. Rika bit her lip looking away, she couldn't stand watching this. Takato felt his fists clench, seeing Terriermon cry like that was a painful sight, if that had been Guilmon...he inwardly shuddered at the thought. Henry moved forward pulling Terriermon into a gentle, yet firm hug in an attempt to stop the shaking.

"You're not filthy. Nor tainted. Whatever just happened none of it is your fault." Henry said biting his lower lip. He had never wanted to hurt a digimon so bad as he wanted to with Impmon right now. Terriermon had never done anything to deserve such cruel torture. Terriermon finally managed to stop trembling, for the most part at least.

"Henry...can we go home now?" Terriermon said practically begging and Henry nodded, trying to give his digimon a small smile. Guilmon moved forward.

"It'll be okay Terriermon. You're still our best friend." Guilmon said trying to cheer Terriermon up and went over moving to put a hand on his arm but this caused the bunny to flinch backwards and bury his tiny head in Henry's shirt. Henry gave Guilmon a sad and apologetic glance though Guilmon looked confused and was about to come forward again. The indigo-haired boy seemed to shoot Takato a glance, considering Terriermon with all reason of course was fairly jumpy right now.

Takato nodded in understanding, moving forward resting a hand on his digimon's shoulder.

"It's okay Guilmon. Of course you guys are all still friends, Terriermon just needs some rest okay?" Takato told his digimon gently not wanting his best friend to scare the poor traumatised digimon more than he already was.

"Will peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cheer Terriermon up?" Guilmon asked Takato causing the brown-haired boy to give a weak smile.

"I don't think that will make it better, buddy." Takato said softly though wishing it somehow could but he had a feeling it would take more than some delicious food for Terriermon to heal after this. Henry then stood up, with Terriermon still in his arms.

"I'm going to head home." Henry told his two fellow Tamers before turning to Rika, his eyes locking with hers, a deep regret in his blue eyes as he looked at her.

"I'm sorry Rika. Maybe if I had listened to your warning more closely and kept myself on high guard, then Terriermon would still be..." The indigo-haired boy trailed off and Rika was taken aback by the guilt in his eyes. The redhead sighed.

"Goggleheads, Jeri if this goes anywhere out of here then you guys are going to get your butts kicked." Rika said to the others before moving forward and touched Henry's shoulder.

"Look Henry, I know you're smarter than that. You were on your guard. Impmon..." As soon as Rika mentioned the name, Terriermon whimpered and Henry took hold of his digimon's paw holding it in a supportive manner as Rika continued.

"He planned using the element of surprise. Of course, if it looked like he helped us why would we remain on guard? I will admit letting your guard down that quickly was a mistake, but that still doesn't make it anyone's fault but his! Look, we all screw up sometimes that's just the way life goes. Now, you can go on thinking 'its my fault' and be down on yourself, but right now don't you think there's more important things than feeling sorry for yourself? How is that going to help Terriermon? Listen Henry, your partner needs you now more than ever." Rika said, sounding slightly harsh but sometimes a little tough love was needed sometimes. She then lowered her voice so Terriermon couldn't hear "Just look at him. Impmon's broken him, Henry."

Henry blinked, then bit his lip knowing while the girl's words were harsh, they were definitely true even so it did not stop him feeling guilty for what had just happened. He glanced down at Terriermon who was still shivering lightly and just looking at the terrified digimon made him want to burst into the waterworks. But he held it in, just nodding to Rika giving her a half-hearted smile as he headed home.

Once he got home, he made an excuse to Suzie that she couldn't play Pwincess Pwetty Pants with Terriermon right now and headed up to his room. He closed the door behind him and put Terriermon on his bed gently before going up to his draw and getting out some bandages. He put some antiseptic cream on Terriermon's ears causing the bunny to wince.

"Hey, it's okay. I know it stings a little but it will help you heal." Henry said gently. Terriermon sighed.

"What's the point, Henry? The physical scars may heal, but the emotional bruises and scars might never. Henry maybe...you should get a new partner. I'm too damaged...and broken." Terriermon said his voice breaking as tears rolled down his cheeks. Henry frowned, his eyes widening slightly at what Terriermon had said. How could Terriermon ever think he was going to replace him? At the tears in Terriermon's eyes, Henry almost wanted to break down himself but pushed them back.

"Terriermon...I know you're hurt both physically and emotionally and I'm sorry. If I hadn't let my guard down you'd be okay right now." The indigo-haired boy said, feeling shame and regret well up in his heart before shaking it off as he added "But...even if I couldn't protect you, you are not damaged nor broken. I am going to help you heal. I don't want any other partner." He sounded determined at this last part, even though his voice cracked a little. Terriermon sighed, not responding and Henry couldn't help but notice that his digimon's eyes were so empty.