…
I walked down the hallway with heavy steps, a low humming sound ringing in my ears. My heart was beating as hard as my anger wanted me to punch something until it was reduced to pulp. I knew I couldn't exactly do that, given the circumstances, but I really needed something to vent my frustration on; normally, I would have gone to beat up some Digimon in the middle of the desert when Sora wasn't looking. But it wasn't like I could do that here.
How silly.
I allowed myself to close my eyes and take several deep breaths until the ringing in my ears subsided enough for me to think clearly. I ran a hand through my hair, pondering what the hell I was supposed to do now.
Vamdemon, Cards, House.
I frowned, resignedly accepting that these three things were connected to each other, almost as if they were tied together by an invisible string. But hadn't it been that way since we arrived in this world?
Devimon, Gears, Home.
Etemon, Emblems, Home.
Vandemon, Cards, Home.
Always the same pattern, always repeating itself, but never reaching Home. It was frustrating. And, honestly, I was tired of all this crap. I didn't want to fight anyone else, mainly because I felt that fighting was getting us nowhere.
In fact, we lost friends because of fighting.
But what options did I really have?
Not fight and be trapped in this world forever?
Fight and risk seeing one of us die?
In the end, there was no good option; I just had to decide which of the bad ones was the least worst.
The sound of footsteps coming up behind me made my shoulders tense for a brief moment before I forced myself to relax and turn around. I was greeted by a familiar blond-haired, blue-eyed child who looked at me with doubt.
I remained silent for a moment, until I realized that TK wasn't going to speak. "Is something wrong?"
"Um..." TK stammered for a moment before gathering his courage and speaking firmly. "Why did you have to yell at Gennai? That wasn't nice!"
I blinked twice before crossing my arms, feeling the ringing in my ears grow slightly louder. "We can't trust Gennai."
"And how do you know that?"
I didn't answer right away, instead letting out a deep sigh. "Because we've encountered him before, right after defeating Devimon on File Island. This is no different from that time, warning us of a danger but not giving us all the details about it; how are we supposed to face this 'great threat' if our supposed friend keeps us in the dark about important details?"
TK hummed thoughtfully as he brought a hand to his head and began to scratch it lightly. "So, if you didn't trust Gennai... why did you come here? I mean, to this continent? Wasn't it for the Emblems and Tags?"
"I wanted to come here for you. I didn't know if it was you who was in the Continent Server, but it was my best bet at the time." I frowned angrily as I remembered our stay on the continent. "What I didn't know was that a crazy, almost immortal, super-powerful monkey would be following us with a knife pointed at our necks! If it hadn't been for Noah at that moment, you would have been the one in Etemon's hands!"
TK's gaze seemed to waver at my anger before he took a small step forward with a determined look on his face.
"But that was before, and now I'm strong! I can take care of myself!" TK exclaimed, pouting and pounding his chest with his hand, as if to prove he was as strong as he said. "Besides, it was Noah and Herissmon who saved me from Etemon!"
"And that's exactly why I don't want to put us in danger," I said with slight frustration in my voice. "I don't want to depend on someone I just met. I can't hand you over to a stranger and hope everything will be okay. Imagine... What if Noah had decided not to help you? What if he had left you to fend for yourself in the middle of nowhere? Then what?"
That seemed to deflate TK, as my words sank into his head, forcing him to think about that situation. I knew, of course, that Noah wasn't a bad person and wouldn't hurt TK, but I needed my brother to understand what I meant, even if that meant being more blunt than usual.
"Look, I know I can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but..." I rolled my eyes at TK's reaction to my words. "...you don't have to look so surprised..."
"Sorry," my younger brother said, sounding a bit embarrassed.
I suppressed the small smile that threatened to form on my face and instead kept my expression stone-cold.
"… I'm not upset with you or Noah. That would be silly. I just want you to understand that we can't trust just anyone who is nice to us," I muttered quietly, feeling my lips dry slightly. "Gennai is a stranger, and he hasn't given us any reason to trust him."
TK fell silent, processing my words.
"To maintain a friendship, both parties need to have a minimum level of trust in each other. But there's none of that here, just a mysterious old man throwing us into battle while we're desperate to get home," I muttered softly. "This isn't our battle. We didn't even know who or what Digimon were a couple of months ago. Why fight for people we don't know? Why risk my friends and family for strangers? It's stupid and pointless, but what choice do we have if we want to get out of here?"
I know it sounds mean, but that's how I felt, and I wasn't going to change my mind, not here and not now, with TK in the middle of all this. It wasn't my battle, my fight, or my problem; as far as I was concerned, this world had only brought us trouble, setbacks, and death.
I wasn't going to fight for the good of the world, or to defeat the darkness or whatever Gennai had in mind.
If I was going to fight for anything, it was to go home and bring TK with me. Not for the greater good, nor because this world needed it.
Screw that. And if I had to fight some evil Digimon and play into the hands of a mysterious old man to achieve that, so be it.
"I... understand, I think," TK murmured softly.
I nodded slightly before turning away.
"But I still want to help," the blond boy replied with determination, stopping me in my tracks and turning my gaze back to him. "I want to help the Digimon! This is Patamon and the others' home! What kind of partner would I be if I didn't help protect their home! Besides, we're like heroes to them, right? What kind of hero would I be if I left them to their fate and took away all the hope they have in us!"
I stared into TK's eyes; although similar to mine, they were clearly rounder and less slanted, a trait he undoubtedly inherited from Mom. His eyes shone with determination and pure resolve, almost making me look twice before realizing that it wasn't an impostor standing in front of me.
It was TK, my younger brother.
'Damn...' I let out a deep sigh. 'At least he seems to understand what I mean.'
"...Fine..." I said reluctantly, as if I were sucking on a particularly sour lemon. "But promise me you'll keep your eyes open, okay?"
"Yes!" my brother exclaimed before turning around and running down the hallway with a smile.
As I watched TK walk away down the hallway, a thousand thoughts raced through my head. I looked at my gloved hand before clenching it into a fist.
My brother... had grown up.
...
A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! The university is just kicking me in the ass. I hoped they'd fix the problem they had last semester by making the semester too short, but they haven't. So, yeah, expect much, much slower updates.Btw, this chapter was written quite a while ago, but I forgot to post it. It's set after Matt told Gennai to fuck off before he apologized.
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