It's weird being back in the Digiworld, the group of them all clustered around, nervous, anxious. The last time Andre had been here, he'd almost died. He thinks. It's all foggy, distorted. He only remembers afterwards, Thea and Duke and how fretful and worried they'd both been. But now... well, now, either of them barely want to talk to him just because he was trying to protect Thea in the real world in ways he couldn't in the Digiworld, and...
Anyway. Fuck it, it's all just noise in his head that no one cares about anyway. He stands straighter, he looks around and watches as the NXT Digidestined cluster around, baby digimon in their arms. They're all so new to this, so inexperienced. And most of the ones who were experienced have moved on to the main roster, leaving them to fend for themselves. It's terrifying, he's not sure how to feel, or what to think, or-
"Hello."
Andre recognizes the voice, but he still jumps, startled. "Don't do that," he snaps at the man who'd appeared a few feet behind him. Luke, if he recalls correctly.
To his credit, Luke looks guilty. "My apologies," he says. "I didn't mean to frighten any of you. I merely wanted to come, introduce myself properly since we've only had a short amount of time together since all of this began. My name is Luke." Andre feels some satisfaction of at least getting that much right, before Luke resumes speaking. "I am the guardian of this world, and I assist Digidestined such as yourselves in helping to maintain order."
"We saw you," Thea speaks up and Andre glances over at her, glad to hear her voice after weeks of her angry and quiet, too frustrated to bother being her usual cheerful self. "After the Dark Ocean. You were there, and a woman."
Luke nods. "I was. The woman is my companion, she will be assisting the Raw and Smackdown Digidestined. Her name is Louise."
Thea nods, distantly. "How are we supposed to do anything with our Digimon so young and defenseless?" The bluntness surprises and hurts Andre as he watches her partner flinch at the- hopefully inadvertent- insult.
Luke, to his credit, handles it calmly. Merely walks over, resting a hand over Torikara Ballmon and lightly pets her. "They will grow," he says. "Quickly too, as long as you bond with them and take care of them. When you need them, they will repay it. You'll see." He smiles kindly at her before walking back to where he'd originally stood. "We will discuss this more, but what do you say we start you all off with a simple mission? Get you acclimated to the ways of this world?"
Andre decides to step up, take control. All of them, after all, are starting at the same spot here, and someone needs to do it. So why not him. "Yes," he says, surprised eyes moving to rest on his back. "What do you need us to do?"
He has a lot to make up for, both with Thea and after everything that happened in the Dark Ocean. He figures this is as good a place to start as any.
