Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

37) Kindness Forgotten

Ken hadn't been talking much since the group stopped to rest, and Daisuke was worried. 

That was the simple way of putting it, at the very least. Daisuke hadn't been able to get rid of the awful feeling that had manifested in his stomach ever since Ken fell completely quiet, and the mere idea of Ken bottling so much inside was starting to make him feel sick. He could tell that Ken wasn't thinking of anything positive based on the stony look that had manifested on his face. Daisuke knew that he had to do something, but he had no idea what he was supposed to say. Then again, when had understanding a situation ever come close to stopping him before? The answer to that question was 'never,' and Daisuke wasn't about to start letting that become an issue. 

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Daisuke questioned as he scooted a bit closer to his Jogress partner. He started to pull his knees up to his chest at first, but when a phantom pain spread across his stomach, he stopped in his tracks. Daisuke's injury was healing quite well, but it seemed as if he couldn't escape the lingering traces of the sensation that had been left behind by Daemon's attack. He did his best to not let it show on his face though, knowing that it would only dissuade Ken from opening up. 

Ken looked over at him with eyes that were so vulnerable and torn apart that it was terrifying. He stared at Daisuke for a long moment before he shifted his gaze back down to the ground, and from there, he spoke softly and solemnly. "You shouldn't even bother with trying to help me," Ken murmured. "I'm not worth the trouble in the first place."

Daisuke felt as if he had been punched in the stomach when he heard those words. "What are you talking about?" he asked weakly. His mind took him back to the events that had taken place in a sandy reason of the Digital World three years prior. Ken felt as if he was being torn apart when Daisuke begged of him to live and make a difference. It was those very words that had sparked their initial Jogress that formed Paildramon, and Daisuke couldn't help but feel awful at the idea that he might have to repeat something so important to keep Ken from tipping over the edge. 

"That isn't true," Taichi suddenly cut in, his voice so full of force that it caught even Daisuke by surprise. The group fell silent immediately, and the rustling of food wrappers seemed to draw to a close as soon as everyone registered just how intense Taichi was on this subject. "What are you talking about?"

"It's my fault that Daisuke got hurt to begin with," Ken whispered, though he seemed to have realized that he had made a mistake by speaking his initial words to begin with. The entire group was staring at him with appalled sympathy, a dose of attention that Ken hardly wished for. Daisuke could see it in his eyes. 

"No one person is responsible for what Daemon did," Taichi told him, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Ken. "We all look after one another here. That's part of what it means to be part of this team. You aren't the one who hurt Daisuke. Daemon was the one who caused all of this. It isn't your cross to bear."

"Ken, you don't need to be thinking like that," Daisuke agreed with a nod. He hated hearing Ken blame himself for something of this nature. Daisuke had made the decision to intervene and save Ken of his own free will. He had made that decision to make sure that his team was cared for, and he would have done it again in a heartbeat. He knew that Ken wouldn't be able to take a hit like that again after what had already happened over the course of the fight, and so, he had intervened. Ken had no fault in it at all, though he somehow doubted that Ken was going to be accepting such a fact quite so easily. Ken was clearly struggling through an emotional spiral, and Daisuke didn't think that he alone would be able to fix this. It had taken the combined efforts of every member of his team to pull Ken free of his doubts the last time, and Daisuke suspected that all of that and more would be needed this time around as well.