Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

40) Divided by Obsidian

The first thing that Daisuke noticed when he next woke up was the pain that had bloomed dull and hot across his stomach. 

The second thing that he noticed was the fact that he was on something that felt sandy in texture. This was the opening fact that prompted him to determine the truth behind what had happened for this confusion to occur to begin with. He was in the Dark Ocean, and he had been there for much of the day. He had been hit by an attack from Dagomon just like the rest of the group, and the cliffside that they had been standing on was completely destroyed in the process. After that, Daisuke's memory had gone completely dark, and it was easy enough to assume that this was where he had lost consciousness. Everything had faded away from him after the attack made contact, and judging by the fact that he was just starting to wake up, it had been wickedly awful. 

"Daisuke! Daisuke!"

A familiar voice cut through the cloud of fog that had come to rest over Daisuke's mind, and he groaned as he forced his eyes open. Everything was fuzzy at first before the details came into view with striking clarity. It was Ken that had called his name, and the dark-haired boy was sitting off to one side as he leaned over Daisuke with concern in his eyes. Ken's hair had fallen free of its regular ponytail, and the band sat abandoned to the side of Ken's knee a few inches away. 

Daisuke groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. The ache across his stomach returned with renewed brutality when he did so, and he instinctively wrapped an arm around the injury. He had done what he could to make sure that the wound healed itself, but he supposed that there was nothing that he or anyone else could have done to know that he was going to be attacked by a giant monster intent on nothing short of complete destruction. That was something that his body hadn't been ready for. It would have been damaging to anyone, but given Daisuke's recent state of injury, it only made the problem worse. 

Daisuke looked down at his stomach carefully, not wanting to look at the injury in detail if he could avoid it. He didn't think that it had reopened, not that he feared such a thing to begin with. He doubted that such a thing was even possible without something truly awful taking place, but Daisuke was still marking it down as a positive for the time being. 

With this realization, Daisuke remembered the fact that Daemon was gone. The one who had caused such an injury to appear in the first place would no longer be causing any problems for him. Daemon had been defeated thanks to GrandisKuwagamon combining his power with the rest of the Digimon in the party, and from there, Daemon was left to spiral into the sky as little more than data. In a way, it was a relief to Daisuke, but there was still something uneasy at the core of his stomach. Perhaps it was because he knew that even if Daemon was gone, there was still something dangerous that they had to deal with. Dagomon was hardly going to be defeated easily if their first encounter was anything to go off. 

But that could wait. Ken brought Daisuke back down to earth with a heavy sigh of relief, and he practically threw himself into Daisuke's arms. Daisuke wondered if the sudden liquid that peppered the shoulder area of his shirt was caused by tears or perhaps water from the ocean that was lapping nearby. "Thank goodness you're alright," Ken murmured under his breath. He remained close with Daisuke for a long moment, allowing Daisuke the chance to return the gesture with the one hand that wasn't nursing at his injury. He applied as much pressure as he could to the source of his pain without making it too obvious that he was doing such a thing. After all, that would undoubtedly frighten Ken, and that was the last thing that Daisuke wanted to do given the circumstances. 

"I'm fine," Daisuke muttered into Ken's shoulder. His eyes fell shut, and there was a tempting urge at the back of his mind to roll over and go back to sleep. His body was nothing short of completely exhausted, as if it was going to give in under even the slightest amount of pressure. Daisuke knew that he was stronger than that in all truth, but he didn't feel like it in that moment. His fall to the beach from Dagomon's attack had seemingly left him bruised from head to toe, and Daisuke didn't know how to make the pain go away. He doubted that there was even an easy way to dispel the ache as long as they were in the Dark Ocean. It wasn't as if they could rest in a bed or take medication for pain as long as they were in another world.