It's too easy to look the other way. Cries for help aren't usually sent through screams or distress calls or messages in bottles. They're subtle- words or behaviors that seem fine on their own but beg for a response when viewed as part of a bigger picture. A picture often filled with distractions. There are assurances that everything's fine. There are your own problems that are so easy to prioritize over someone else's, no matter how small they are by comparison. Even if you see what's wrong, there are the daunting challenges that come with addressing it, making it seem easier to just pass them by. Even so, at some point they invade.

Takeru had done everything he could to never give it a second thought. Every rationalization he had heard or concocted made sense. Every distraction thrown his way was another excuse to let his mind drift. Every ray of blind optimism convinced him that the missing four were going to be just fine. He wasn't worried about them. He didn't spend every day trying to engineer a way to reach them. Quite the opposite, in fact. In a couple of their most desperate battles, Takeru imagined Daisuke and Magnamon charging in out of nowhere and saving them. After the truth began to come out, Takeru had to work to deny how selfish it all sounded.

It was also too easy to be happy it was over. Takeru and his fellow Chosen had gone through hell. They experienced trials that tested the way they perceived their entire lives and battled enemies that tried to end them. They needed the peace they had fought for. They deserved it too. Takeru had little patience for stress in the following months. He was more than happy to hang out with Daisuke and Miyako, but he was in no position to recognize or address the struggle they were facing. When it became apparent they were not all right, ignoring it was the best way to keep his own guilt at bay.

When it spread to Hikari, he couldn't avoid it any longer. Now her worried looks at Miyako during lunch were obvious and frequent.

"It won't do any good dwelling on it," Takeru said. "They'll do what they need to do."

"But this is our fault." Hikari's gaze was still fixed on Miyako. "We have to do something for them."

"Look what happened when you tried. If they decide they want nothing to do with us..." Takeru looked over his shoulder quickly, then added, "We don't have any right to tell them how to think. It's not like we can explain ourselves."

She turned to him. "Maybe not, but we can apologize."

"What good will that do? Would it really help admitting that we didn't care about them as much as we should have? It's not like we did it on purpose. We just didn't realize how bad it was for them." He shook his head. "If we try defend ourselves, we look even worse."

Hikari nodded; she had already learned that. "But if we give up on them now, aren't we making the same mistakes?" she asked.

Takeru looked into her eyes. To his surprise, he didn't see kindness or sentimentality. She was focused. He thought he was being the mature one in the conversation, but only because others agreed with him. One look at her and he realized he was trying to avoid the problem again. They needed help, and as teammates they were responsible for delivering it.

Not that there was a simple solution. They weren't even aware of the breadth of their issues. Talking to Daisuke or Miyako didn't help understand Ken or Iori. That was the first step, and sure to be the most painful one.

When they proposed getting the six of them together to talk, Daisuke and Miyako were on board, despite some eye rolling from the latter. Ken was willing to trek to Odaiba as well. Iori didn't answer Hikari's calls. They needed to bring the meeting to him. Thankfully, Takeru was always looking out for symbolism.

"Three years and they still haven't replaced these monitors?" Miyako thought aloud as the five of them surveyed the elementary school computer lab. She, like all of them, felt the memories of the place. The original Odaiba Chosen had several places around town filled with memories of their adventures both good and bad. The distortion crisis added several new landmarks to the map. But for Daisuke and Miyako, this place was all theirs. Miyako held her D3 to a monitor. She wasn't sure if it could have actually done anything and she didn't try, but it felt natural.

Iori swung the door open, saw the five, and glowered.

"Have a seat," Takeru said. "We want to talk to you."

The youngest member of the team hesitated. Had it been any other room in any other building in any other world, he might have turned around and slammed the door. Not here. This place was special, and Iori could never dishonor it by running away. He slid the door closed and sat next to Miyako.

Hikari stood and addressed the room. "So... we can't take back what happened. I know there are a hundred things we would have done differently. But this is where we ended up. So what do we have to do?"

Nobody spoke. Iori looked at Miyako and shook his head. Ken kept his head down. Daisuke looked around, shuffling uneasily in his seat. Takeru and Hikari frowned at each other, but waited it out.

Miyako finally broke the silence. "Why are you asking us now?" She refused to make eye contact with anyone. "Did you finally realize it? Did the guilt finally get to you? Now you want to make it better?"

"Figured it out a bit late, didn't you?" Iori heaved a long sigh. "Seems to be becoming a pattern."

"Come on!" Takeru said, louder than he should have. "That's not fair. Do you really doubt us that much?"

"You doubted me," said Ken. He was calm, head lowered as he sat by the window. "I saw what you posted. I don't know whether you really thought that was me." He rose, staring back at Takeru, who already felt a shiver. "But you had doubts. Somewhere in your head, there was a little voice telling you that I might have gone back to... that." His head shook. "I don't care how small a voice it was. It was there. And you couldn't get rid of it." He looked at Iori and Miyako. "Don't tell us we're wrong about our doubts. Not after the doubts you had about me."

Takeru was speechless. No, he didn't believe it was really true, but he couldn't dismiss it either. They had been so lost and confused by everything going on that he refused to rule out anything. Even something representing an unforgivable lack of faith in a friend.

"Is that true?" Daisuke murmured, standing up. "You forget about us? You abandon us for how long and then... that guy shows up and you actually think it could be Ken?"

Takeru shot to his feet. "I never thought it was Ken! We just... couldn't say for sure it wasn't."

Daisuke took two steps towards Takeru, his voice getting louder. "So what, Ken doing all that stuff wasn't impossible enough but us being in real trouble and needing your help was?!" Takeru turned away. "It wasn't as crazy as thinking that maybe you should be worried about us disappearing for all that time?"

"Daisuke..." Hikari begged. She was surely worried now. "Please. We know we could have done better. But... we didn't."

"It's over," Takeru muttered. He stared down Daisuke. "Whatever happened... whatever mistakes were made, it's done. Now we're here. We're trying to help. So what do you need?"

Daisuke only huffed. His breath grew heavier, and louder, and his face grew more pained until he exploded: "We need the last year back!"

"You can't have it!" Takeru shouted. "It's gone!"

"And who's fault is that?!" Daisuke's arm shot forward and grabbed Takeru's collar. "We're not okay! We are lost and miserable and it's all because of you guys!"

"We didn't do anything!"

"You're damn right you didn't!"

Now Takeru clutched Daisuke's shirt. "We aren't the reason you ended up in there! We never did anything to hurt you!"

"And when something did, you didn't care!"

He saw Daisuke's hand ball into a fist. Takeru had so many things he wanted to say. He had so many denials, so much proof that Daisuke was wrong. But instead he released Daisuke, turned his head, closed his eyes and braced himself. Not because he was afraid Daisuke would become violent. Takeru just couldn't fight it any more. Those four had suffered, and his eight had disappointed them too much to deny them any longer. If the road to healing started with letting Daisuke unleash his frustration on him, Takeru was willing to accept it.

It never came. Takeru opened his eyes and saw Daisuke's fist raised, but shaking. Iori looked at them both with scorn. Miyako was completely disinterested. Ken was concerned, but he made no motion to stop it. Daisuke let go of Takeru, albeit with a light shove, and stood there, sobbing.

Takeru tried to speak, but a beeping stopped him. Miyako frantically checked her phone, turned off the alert, then shook her head, mumbling, "Don't know the number anyway."

"We went through hell," Takeru said. "Every one of us. All thirteen of us had to deal with the worst. And some of us could have handled it better. Some of us made mistakes. But the only reason we got through it was because of each other."

Hikari shook her head. "Nobody understands what we go through as Chosen. How could they?" She looked up at Daisuke, frowning. "And maybe that's the problem. We don't understand what you four are going through and you don't realize how hard it was for us. I mean... of course we cared. And if anybody's going to understand you, it really is us. We want to help."

"Are you kidding?" blurted Miyako. Everybody looked at her, but she wasn't responding to Hikari. She was reading a text. "That's been sold out for weeks." She looked up, surprised by all the stares. "Oh, sorry. It was from Meiko. She has an extra ticket for a concert Saturday. Asked if I wanted to go with her." She shrugged.

Ken narrowed an eye. "She just... happened to have an extra ticket to a sold-out concert? And invited you out of the blue? That's curious."

"Maybe..." Her eyebrows flared. "But I did kinda want to go to this..." She texted a response as Ken glowered.

"Look..." Takeru sighed. "You can blame us all you want, but that's not going to make anything better. So either you can push through this alone or you can lean on us. Whatever you choose, we'll be behind you."

"Either way, it's up to us," Iori said, eyes to the ground. "We've got to figure this out ourselves. You can offer to help as much as you want, and it doesn't matter why. In the end, this is our life now."

"Do you want our help?" asked Takeru. Iori lifted his head, staring at Takeru, eyes wide.

The response came from Ken: "We should accept all the help we're offered, shouldn't we?"

Takeru nodded. Hikari smiled and stood next to Takeru. "We're here. Tell us anything."

He expected an outpouring. Or words or emotions or some form of reconciliation. He felt the tension dying. Daisuke stood still, tears kept in check. Ken and Iori's faces had softened, seemingly ready to bare their hearts. Miyako had checked out completely, still texting away.

Iori stood and offered a short bow at Takeru and Hikari. "Thank you," he said, face neutral, before walking out of the room.

Ken followed him, only offering, "I should get going too." Just like that, two were out.

Daisuke watched the door. Hikari put a hand on his shoulder. "Daisuke..."

He only shook his head. "I don't know. It's harder than that. I know it would be easy just forgetting it happened, but... you guys still did what you did and we still got hurt like we did. It just... takes time." He heaved a sigh. "We lost too much time already to waste it."

He followed them out without another word.

Daisuke was right: it wasn't the instant fix Takeru and Hikari had hoped for. In fact, for the next few days it seemed like nothing had changed. It took another week for Miyako to join them at lunch again. Even so, she never discussed her problems. Daisuke would greet them in the hallways, but always answered "fine, fine" when they asked how he was doing. They didn't hear much from Iori or Ken. Hikari was tempted to get them together again, but Takeru refused. They had said everything they needed to. Whether or not they would ultimately be forgiven was out of their hands.

Still, it bothered him. Even weeks after the meeting, he couldn't be sure if he and Hikari would ever regain the respect of Daisuke, Miyako, Ken, or Iori. Perhaps the connection between the thirteen Chosen would forever be marred by that one ugly incident. But perhaps that was fate. Their inaction directly and permanently affected the lives of four people. Why should they ever be able to live that down?

In time, he thought about it less and less. He couldn't dwell on the past when he had his own future to worry about. He walked home from school, backpack filled with test materials for his high school entrance exam. It was time to get cracking and move on... until the text arrived from Taichi.

"Koushiro picked up some strange readings. We're meeting in his office ASAP."

Takeru texted back without missing a beat, changing course and abandoning his plans for the night. As he started running, he slowed and came to a halt. Before he let himself go any further, he relayed the information to Daisuke.

He didn't even return to a proper sprint before his phone went off again. After checking it this time, Takeru needed to pause and collect himself. He took a deep breath and smiled, staring at the response from Daisuke for a long time before reporting for duty:

"Taichi already told us. We're on our way."

Author's Notes
This was written as part of the Digimon Adventure Bang challenge on Tumblr. Visit graffiti-flower on Tumblr for artwork of every chapter.

While I try to keep the actual details to a minimum to account for numerous possibilities, this story makes many assumptions about what is happening in tri. and could prove to be totally wrong. In the interest of staying flexible, these assumptions will not be made explicit.