Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Another Myself – Chapter 99 Part 1
Originally Written: Thursday, October 19, 2017 303AM to 424AM
Song: Ramses B - Beside You
. . . . .
"I assure you I'm fine enough to step outside without disappearing." Albedo frowned at Fridge, Swamps and Hugh. The trio didn't dare let him out of their sight after his quiet outburst. He looked down at the thermos filled with some kind of juice or other. The dark liquid tasted like berries, but he couldn't figure out what kind. He sat in a chair in a small house missing its roof in the same village they had originally been in before the attack.
"Y-you won't be long, r-right?" Hugh questioned.
"It depends..." He shook his head and stood. "No." He set the thermos down on the table and walked towards the door. "I'll be right back."
He wasn't sure what it was, but being back so close to home. Being back in a Digital World he was actually supposed to be in. Surrounded by his allies who were his allies for something more than being Eon's enemy or Ryo's friend. He found it suffocating. The stifling attention was really no different than what it previously had been, but it felt so much worse now. Almost as though it wasn't something he even deserved. It left him feeling weighed down, while he waited for Takato and Jeri and the others to get informed of the situation.
Ryo didn't...
He shook his head and exited the house, if one could even call it such. He walked through the village, pulling at his shirt sleeves. Various Digimon asked him questions, mainly concerning his health, and he nodded and responded automatically, his brain wondering why they bothered with him.
He put them in danger. It was he who put Ryo and the others in danger. It was him who even got Rika in the position to be utterly traumatized. Who put Jenrya in the position to be as angry and unstable as he was when he first met him. The only difference now was he was controlling, hiding it better. Cyberdramon seemed to be thinking way more than he was used to, and that too was his fault. Cyberdramon not growling or huffing like Beelzemon in a permanently bad mood created a stifling silence that reminded him of the stillness of young Ryo's body...
He wrapped his arms around himself. He smothered his tears and sobs. He was the cause of all this. He certainly didn't deserve to cry about it.
He found Ryo sitting just outside the village, speaking softly to Jenrya. Cyberdramon stood off to the side, towering over his tamer.
"Stop." Ryo snapped, "Just fucking stop." He clenched his fists.
Jenrya looked down. "I was-"
"I know. God I know." Ryo ran a hand through his hair, "But if you make me start, I don't think I'll stop. We'll wind up with unnecessary injuries and casualties because I was no good to anyone. So just," he sighed and kicked at the ground, "leave it alone, okay?"
"Alright." Jenrya nodded, "I understand."
"You tend to be one of the few who do." Ryo looked out towards the desert, rocking on his feet. Kazu and Kenta walked around further away from the village, patrolling the area. Rika and Renamon stood next to Beelzemon. It seemed so calm, so peaceful, yet he knew it was anything but.
Jenrya walked up to Albedo and hugged him tightly. He felt Jenrya's worry and anger and relief and concern and everything so strongly. He couldn't think of anything else to do except return the gesture. Jenrya leaned his head on his shoulder for a little while. Then he separated, and walked past Ryo and Cyberdramon with purpose in his stride.
Albedo took a seat on a nearby rock. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out the lit orange D-Arc. He rested his forearms on his legs. He held the device up with his fingers, and stared at it for a long time. Ryo looked at him for a short while, but he didn't pay much attention. The device's screen pulsed and shined. It was not strong enough to be noticeable unless one was paying close attention in this daylight, but it seemed blinding to him.
His thumb hovered over the D-Arc's buttons, shifting from button to button as though inputting a command. He lowered the device and looked out into the distance. He watched Rika and Jenrya hold a conversation.
"Ryo." Cyberdramon spoke in that calm voice that made Albedo wary. He knew the digimon couldn't help it, but after what he had seen, he couldn't help but view the digimon in a different light.
"Hm?"
"Am I a bad digimon?"
Albedo ducked his head, forcing his attention back on the orange D-Arc.
"Am I evil?" He asked
"Do you want to be a bad digimon?" Ryo asked. Albedo thought his voice sounded strained.
"No." Cyberdramon quickly replied.
"Then you are not a bad digimon. No matter who says otherwise."
"It can't be that simple."
"It can be."
"You..."
Albedo looked up as Cyberdramon paused in his thoughts. Ryo stood next to his digimon, posture stiff, his back straight, and his fingers shifting from tightly clenched fists to lightly tapping his legs.
"You hate me."
Ryo looked at him. He shook his head. "No I don't. I hate what you do."
"They are the same thing."
"No."
"Does one's actions not define who they are?" Cyberdramon continued looking straight ahead.
"Yea, they do," Ryo shook his head again, "but that's not the only thing."
They fell into an eerie silence that left Albedo unable to concentrate. Ryo placed his hands in his pockets. Cyberdramon kept looking forward. Albedo shook his head. His mentor wasn't one for such conversations either.
He looked down at the D-Arc. "You're not evil, Cyberdramon. You're selfish." He looked up just long enough to see that both digimon and tamer were looking at him.
Ryo's eyes were wide, as though he were debating on telling Albedo to shut up. Albedo wondered if Ryo thought Cyberdramon would try to kill him. A verbal attack was still an attack, and Cyberdramon didn't take being attacked well. Cyberdramon glared at him, but there was no anger or offense behind the act.
"You expertly hide the selfishness behind appearing as though you care for Ryo, but you do not care for him. You care only for Ryo's strength, Ryo's health, only some portions of his well-being. Meanwhile Ryo cares for you one hundred percent."
"Explain." The digimon snapped.
He steeled himself, hoping to calm his racing heart. "No one in normal circumstances would stay around you after seeing you eat a member of their own species just to hide the evidence that you killed that individual. Especially not after they begged you not to attack the deceased in the first place. Most would call you a murderer, a monster, and run from you after the first offense. The brave would try to kill you. But Ryo didn't do either. He stayed with you. Only asking that you stop."
Ryo ducked his head.
"When have you ever considered what Ryo wanted? When have you ever really listened to him? Ryo had to leave his home, permanently, to save two worlds, something no one asked if he even wanted to do." He clenched his fists, "And he found another place where he worked his ass off to find the little acceptance that he had. And then he found you, and he chose to give that all up to travel to another world. He could have just left you, and traveled where ever he chose, even if he had to do so for the rest of his life because you wouldn't stop following him." He frowned, blinking quickly. "But he didn't, not because it wasn't best for the people around you, but because it wasn't the best for you."
Cyberdramon looked at him. His clawed hands twitched, and red torn wings fluttered in the breeze.
Albedo wondered if he should continue speaking. Ryo wasn't looking at either of them anymore. "Let me ask you something."
"You can," he replied.
"Eventually Ryo will be too old for you to drag around as you have been. He will be too weak. If you make him follow you around as you have been when he reaches that stage in his life, you will kill him. Will you ditch him then? When such time arises that he can't follow you anymore?"
Cyberdramon glared at him.
Albedo flinched under the gaze, but held firm. "Will. You. Ditch. Him. Then?"
"Ryo is my tamer. I am his Digimon."
"Then understand this. I don't care how long it takes you to do so, but come to understand it. You can continue as you have been, easily. However, when Ryo dies, you will be hunted, and taken down like the selfish digimon you've been all these years. You'll be forced to pay reparations for your actions against those you've hurt in Ryo's name." He ticked off the general list on his fingers, "Every person, every digimon, every crime. You'll be forced to pay for with the rest of your life. You can fight them, sure, but I'm certain you would lose in the long run. If a digimon you angered doesn't kill you, something else will. Humans with advanced technology are certainly capable of it, and aliens are even more capable at this moment in time. Your selfish actions have probably amassed an army, if not more, of angry, scorned people that you couldn't hope to successfully fight without Ryo's help. And Ryo will not be there to protect or help you. No matter how much he wants to be.
"It's a rightful shame that it's you of all beings who's hurt Ryo the most, though Eon is making quick leaps in ranking, I'm sure. I think Ryo wants to like what he does. I think he wants to feel as though he's making a difference in this new world full of people that gave him a chance to live a life as normal as he can get. Yet you chose to be part of why he hates it so much, and that hurts him the most, because even if a Digimon drags their tamer around to their whims and wants like a rag-doll, that bond between Digimon and Tamer still exists. It may be weaker, but it's still there. Even when you lose yourself, he's still right there. So, at the very least, show some appreciation dammit!"
He wasn't sure when he stood, or when he had started clenching the orange D-Arc in his hands, but somehow, he felt lighter, and he supposed that was a good thing.
Cyberdramon turned away from him.
Ryo looked at him, shoulders shaking and eyes shining, and lips trembling.
Albedo took a deep calming breath, "Wait!," he called as Cyberdramon took a few steps forward, away from the village.
Cyberdramon looked back at him. His eyes looked different, far from the nonchalant, content to travel the worlds looking for strong opponents to fight, look that Albedo was used to.
"Despite all of that," he spread his arms, as though motioning to the entire list of things that made Cyberdramon selfish, "you're not evil." He dropped his arms. He saw genuine confusion in the digimon's eyes. "You had to ask. There's a general rule that if you have to ask, you have some resemblance of a moral compass that points to the general direction of good, or at least farther away from evil. Selfishness and evil are not mutually exclusive. Evil people are selfish, but selfish people are not necessarily evil."
Cyberdramon looked away from him. "I see."
"You're welcome," he nodded.
Cyberdramon walked forward. Albedo rolled his eyes as Ryo followed, hands in his pockets.
"I wish to be alone."
"I'm your tamer," Ryo grinned at him, "and you're my digimon."
Cyberdramon stopped walking.
Ryo partially turned around and looked back at Albedo, "We'll be back soon. We won't go far." He waved a two finger salute as he turned around and started walking once more.
Cyberdramon soon resumed walking, and the two fell in line easily enough.
Albedo closed his eyes, only to jump as Rika's scream echoed through the area.
"Ryo!" Her scream was loud, and she drew out Ryo's name in a long note that made Albedo wonder if she was going to start singing. "You're a hero Ryo!"
He stood and looked at her with wide eyes. She repeated her shout, screaming to the heavens. Jenrya joined in. Terriermon, Takato, and Guilmon joined soon after. Then Kazu, Kenta, and Guardromon and MarineAngemon. He was certain they were cheering for the wrong Ryo. Beelzemon looked at Jenrya and Rika, while leaning back from them as one would when coming across someone who suddenly appeared to not be in the right state of mind.
The digimon villagers joined in too. He heard Jeri's voice mixed in there as well. All screaming and cheering for Ryo the Hero. Ryo and his digimon continued walking, as though everyone around them hadn't just started shouting and screaming and cheering.
Albedo didn't understand why she had started. The child couldn't hear her, could he? Ryo...He was so young...Destined to have a simple, boring, normal life. He put the orange D-Arc back in his bag, and cupped his hands around his mouth. He took a deep breath, and shouted.
