Digimon Adventure: Continuing Evolution

7. Tomorrow

7. Tomorrow

"...And when I looked back, he wasn't there."

"Wow," Menoa whispered. It was the first time she'd spoken since Tai began his tale. They sat facing each other on crossed legs, she on her cot and he on the floor.

"I...think I lost myself for a while," Tai continued. "I don't even remember when Kari and Izzy found me and took me home, though they tell me that's what happened."

Menoa nodded sympathetically. "Yeah. It happened to me too, when Morphomon vanished."

Tai stared at a spot on the floor, eyes unfocused. "I've gotta admit...I can kind of see why you tried to do what you did, especially after so long without your partner." Tai caught himself, realizing how that sounded, and added, "Don't get me wrong. I don't regret what I did; I know it was the right choice. But sometimes I wonder what would happen if...if I was faced with it again. Would I make a different choice? I want to believe I could do it again if I had to. But now that I really know what it's like without him...I don't know."

"Tai!"

He was snapped out of his reverie by the anguish in the way she called his name, and he looked up to find Menoa struggling against the tears that pooled in her eyes until they—despite her best efforts—finally began to fall.

"I never wanted any of this to happen," she whimpered. "I never intended to steal all of those people's consciousnesses, I just wanted to find a way to prevent anyone else from feeling the same pain that I feel every day! When Eosmon's egg hatched after so many years of trying, I told myself I finally had the chance to save them all! Even if that meant..." She shook her head and exhaled heavily. "I guess I lost myself too. And I don't know if I can ever come back. Oh Tai, I'm so sorry!"

Menoa was sobbing openly now; Tai got to his feet in alarm, and before he quite knew what he was doing, he was holding the distraught young woman in his arms as she clutched the lapels of his suit jacket and cried into his shirt.

"Hey, hey! Shh, it's all right," he whispered, trying to calm her down.

"Why did you come here?" she moaned.

"I was worried about you," he answered. "I want to make sure you're okay."

"What do you care? It's my fault Agumon is gone! You could be with him right now if it weren't for me!"

"That wasn't your fault. It would have happened anyway, eventually. You said so yourself."

"But I forced you to fight! I made your bond break sooner! If you could stay with him for a little longer, even if it was for just an hour, wouldn't that be worth anything?"

Tai took a moment before answering. "Yes," he admitted reluctantly.

"Then why are you here, if not to take your revenge? Why should you care? You should hate me..."

Tai's reply was as simple as it was devastating: "Because you're one of us."

At that, Menoa broke down completely. Her legs buckled, and Tai followed her to the floor. He tried to console her and rubbed her back as she wept. Even in that moment he couldn't help noticing how soft her body was against his.

A loud bang startled Tai as a fist pounded on the steel door; Menoa's cries had reached the prison guards.

"Hey! What's going on in there?!" Groeneveld's muffled voice yelled from outside. "Don't make us come in there!"

Menoa pulled her head up from Tai's shoulder. "We're fine! Everything's all right!" she called, her voice shaking slightly.

"Uh, yeah, we're cool. Don't worry about us!" Tai added, hoping that sounded more convincing than it felt. He turned back to Menoa and whispered, "You've gotta get control of yourself before they throw me out of here!"