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The final battle. Cherubimon wasn’t defeated, but they were more united than ever.
”Leave it to me!” Takuya said and Kouji turned to Junpei.
”Are you okay with this?”
Junpei didn’t exactly hesitate, but there was a bit of pain in his eyes.
”Whether I’m fine with it or not doesn’t really matter”, he answered with a smile. ”There really isn’t anyone else who can fight Cherubimon except KaiserGreymon and MagnaGarurumon.”
Kouji’s face softened. He wasn’t used to people putting such absolute trust in him. Junpei blushed and walked up to him.
”However…” he hit Kouji’s stomach with his fist before throwing his arm over Kouji’s shoulders. ”...don’t you dare lose!”
”Of course!” Kouji promised with a smile. He wouldn’t lose. He couldn’t let himself lose when people put this much trust in him, in his abilities. He would make sure they won. He and Takuya walked towards the battle, their spirits fusing with the spirits the other lent them and their digimon forms appearing. The others ran after them, shouting words of encouragement, and there they were. Face to face with Cherubimon. The final battle, the one that would bring peace to the digital world. This time they would win!
Everything hurt. MagnaGarurumon’s gaze couldn’t focus. He tried to find KaiserGreymon among the debris in the sky, but to no avail. There was a constant ringing in his ears and he couldn’t hear what went on with the battle any longer. He clung to consciousness, because if he lost it he wasn’t sure he’d wake up again. Someone landed on the ground infront of him. The hazy blurb was the size of KaiserGreymon. MagnaGarurumon strained his ears to hear beyond the ringing in them.
”Are you okay?”
He didn’t want to waste his energy on answering stupid questions. He ignored KaiserGreymon’s question and tried to look towards the other, tried to get his brain to cooperate long enough to find out what happened.
”Did you... do it...?”
”Yeah.”
”I see…”
He allowed the darkness to take over his mind, his head fell back as consciousness slipped away. He held his promise to Junpei. They had won.
The happiness KaiserGreymon felt over their victory quickly disappeared as MagnaGarurumon fainted. He moved closer, watched as digicode danced over him and his shape disappeared.
”Kouji!”
Kouji didn’t move, didn’t wake up. KaiserGreymon could feel Takuya’s panic rising in his chest and made room for the boy, once again became the spirits housed in Takuya’s digivice. Takuya sank down to his knees, placed his hands on Kouji’s shoulders and shook him slightly.
”Kouji?”
No response. Takuya’s hands fell down onto his lap as he watched the other. Kouji’s chest rose and fell slowly. He was still alive, he’d be fine. He tried to ignore the panic clawing in his stomach because what if he wouldn’t? Would it be his fault if they lost Kouji? How would Kouichi feel, having come all this way just to see Kouji slip away? Takuya shook his head and swallowed. They had all been injured in battle before and it always got better after a bit of rest and some food. Kouji just needed time. Takuya got to his feet again.
”We should probably head back to the others.”
He leaned down, struggled a bit but managed to get Kouji onto his back. Kouji let out a pained groan, but still didn’t wake up. Takuya took a shaky breath. It would be fine, everything always turned out fine in the end. He started the walk back, careful not to disturb Kouj too much. The others were cheering as they got closer. The happiness over the victory filled Takuya again and he straightened his back with a smile. Kouji started slipping down, he let out another groan and the happiness disappeared again as Takuya shifted his grip.
”Hang in there, Kouji. We won. Everything is fine now.”
Kouji’s breath against Takuya’s neck was the only sign he was still alive. His skin was cold, he still didn’t wake up. The smiles on his friends’ faces disappeared as Takuya came closer. Izumi and Junpei ran up to him.
”What happened?” Izumi asked.
”We won”, Takuya answered because they had won, Cherubimon was defeated.
”Takuya-oniisan always wins!” Tomoki said and Takuya’s chest felt warm. He did always win, he was pretty great like that. He straightened his back again, causing Kouji to start slipping again. Junpei was there in an instant, caught Kouji and lowered him to the ground with some help from Izumi. Kouichi took some careful steps towards them.
”Kou...ji…”
”He’ll be fine”, Takuya said. ”We’re always fine.”
”We’ll set camp here”, Izumi smiled to Kouichi. ”Give Kouji some time to recover.”
”There’s better places to set up camp”, Takuya protested. ”This place is too open, there’s no food or water nearby and…”
”We are not moving Kouji if we don’t know how injured he is”, Junpei said and that was the end of the discussion.
Kouichi sank to his knees next to Kouji, pulled off his shirt and folded it before putting it under Kouji’s head. He glanced at Junpei before looking at Kouji again.
”It’s… generally not a good thing if someone’s unconscious for this long…”
Junpei put a hand on Kouichi’s shoulder and squeezed it. He didn’t know what to say, but Takuya filled the space as usual.
”He’ll be fine. He’s been hurt before and he’s always been fine after a while. There’s nothing to worry about.” He gestured at Kouichi. ”Kouichi’s even been the one to injure him a few times.”
Kouichi blushed. Izumi put her hands to her sides and glared at Takuya.
”That was uncalled for, Takuya.”
”Well, it’s the truth”, Takuya said and crossed his arms over his chest.
”He’s not wrong…” Kouichi whispered and Junpei squeezed his shoulder again.
”Still uncalled for”, he said. ”You’re already forgiven for that.”
Izumi shook her head and grabbed her digicontroll.
”I’ll go look for some wood and food”, she said.
Kouji’s and Takuya’s digivices lit up as the borrowed spirits returned to their rightful owners. Digicode gathered around Izumi’s hand and Fairymon replaced her. She glared at Takuya again.
”You’re coming with me.”
Takuya rolled his eyes and grabbed his own digivice.
”Yeah sure, I can’t do much around here any way. Tomoki, are you coming with us?”
Tomoki nodded. Takuya digivolved to Vritramon and grabbed Tomoki before following Fairymon away from Cherubimon’s destroyed castle. Patamon landed on Kouichi’s head.
”Kouji-san will be fine, right?”
”Yeah…” Kouichi sighed. ”Takuya’s probably right and he just needs some rest.”
”We’ll make sure he’s comfortable while resting”, Junpei said with a smile and Kouichi nodded. The only thing they could do for the moment was to wait.
Junpei was the only one awake. The fire was still burning and the others were sleeping around it. Kouichi was lying next to Kouji, hand reaching towards Kouji’s but not grabbing it. Kouji hadn’t woken up yet and Junpei stared at the flames. Was it his fault? He had told Kouji not to lose. He put a meat apple over the flames, mostly to have something to do while waiting for time to pass until he could wake Kouichi up for the next shift. Kouji let out a groan and slowly opened his eyes. Junpei was instantly on his knees next to Kouji.
”You’re an idiot”, he said.
Kouji blinked, his face was tense and riddled with pain. Junpei glared at him.
”When I said ’don’t you dare lose’ I didn’t mean ’please sacrifice yourself’.”
Kouji closed his eyes again.
”We… won?”
”You did.”
”We did.” Kouji looked at Junpei. ”Couldn’t have… without you.”
”Still.” Junpei reached for the water. ”How are you feeling?”
”Sore.”
Kouji tried to move, but pain flared up in every part of his body and he stopped. His fingers grazed Kouichi’s hand and Kouichi grabbed them in his sleep.
”He’s been worried”, Junpei said with a soft smile. ”We all were.”
He put a hand under Kouji’s head and lifted it just enough so he could offer him some water. Kouji took a few sips before shaking his head and Junpei let him down again before putting the water away.
”Sorry”, Kouji whispered.
”Just don’t make a habit out of it. Are you hungry? There’s a meat apple waiting to be eaten.”
”Maybe later.” Kouji closed his eyes. ”Tired…”
”We’ll be here when you wake up. Get some sleep.”
Kouji was asleep almost instantly. Junpei let out a sigh and sat down by the fire again. Kouji would be fine and then they could go home. He smiled. The final battle was over, Cherubimon was defeated and peace would reign again. And they’d finally get to return home.