Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

68) Centerpoint of Catastrophe

Iori invited Takeru inside as soon as the two of them were able to get a grip on their shock, and Takeru wasn't surprised to see Armadimon had been not far from where Iori answered the door. In the end, they decided to retreat to Iori's room to talk about everything, and when the door tapped shut gently, Takeru bit his lip to keep from letting out a heavy sigh. He didn't know where he was supposed to start when it came to all of this, but he knew they were going to have to work that out sooner rather than later. 

"So..." Iori began to say, looking up at Takeru as he sat down on his bed. Armadimon clambered up before sitting on the mattress next to his partner, and Takeru sat beside Iori as well, still holding Patamon tightly against his chest. 

"I think we have a lot to talk about," Takeru said next. It was simply restating the obvious, but he couldn't think of any other ways to move the conversation along. At least he was trying, right? That had to count for something. 

Iori nodded vaguely. "Are you feeling better?" he questioned, referring to Takeru's panic attack from their last battle even if he didn't specify. 

Takeru nodded. "Yeah... I don't think I ever thanked you for that properly," he said. "I don't know what happened if you hadn't been there, but I don't think it would have been good. Thank you, Iori."

"You're welcome," Iori replied simply. He looked down at the ground for a long moment before speaking once again. "I've been worried about you. I don't know what's going on inside your head, but... You don't have to face all of this alone, you know. You haven't ever been alone when it comes to this."

"Yeah... I know," Takeru told him softly. "I didn't see it at first, but... I do now. I've been blocking out everyone else for too long, and I think it's time for me to speak up about it." He paused for a long moment, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say next. "I... I was scared."

Iori looked up at him at that, silently prompting Takeru to continue. The blonde did so after a few more beats of hesitation for him to catch his breath from the brief yet impactful admission. "I'm still afraid, if I'm being honest. I don't want to lose any of you to Devimon. I don't want Patamon to die because of him, but... It goes deeper than that. I don't want any of you to get hurt because of him. He's so much stronger this time because of the power he's been given, and... I don't know what to do about all of that. We have to keep fighting if we want to save the Digital World and Earth from everything he could do, but I don't want him to do anything that could hurt you," he said. The words came out much easier than he would have ever expected, but he wasn't at all objecting. He knew it was something he had to say sooner or later, so he may as well get it over with. 

"We won't let that happen," Iori assured him confidently. "We're there for each other because we're not going to let each other get hurt. I'm not going to allow him to do anything to hurt you, Patamon, or anyone else. Everyone else will do the same for me, and they'll do it for you too. That's what it means to be part of our group, right?"

Takeru nodded with a light smile. "Yeah," he murmured breathlessly. The two fell quiet for a long time before he let out another sigh. "I wasn't just scared of Devimon though... I was afraid of doing anything that might hurt you or anybody else. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about my problems with you guys given the circumstances. I didn't want to put any unnecessary weight on your shoulders because of all you've been dealing with as of late. It didn't seem right for me to do something like that."

"We would never think something like that of you, Takeru," Iori pointed out even though everyone in the room already knew he was right without him needing to say it. "We're here to help each other through difficult situations. That's what I said before, isn't it? Look at everyone else; they allowed themselves to lean on others, and I think it did them all a world of good."