Thank you for all the reviews, everyone! You have no idea how much each and every review means to me. Please keep on giving your feedback on both my fanfics as it makes me so happy. I have a sad face on when I don't get reviews so keep the smiley faces on and keep reviewing!

Chapter 8

Matt had various thoughts running through his head as he and Tai headed towards Davis Motomiya's house. While Davis was definitely one of his friends, he wasn't as close to him as Tai was however it worried him seeing the usually cheerful gogglehead so upset like that. He wished T.K. had told them what happened so he'd know what to say in order to help the younger boy. Somehow, Tai seemed to sense what he was thinking and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Matt?" Tai said softly. "Don't think into it too much. Davis may have never asked us for guidance before but I think something big happened. I don't know what but Davis doesn't lose confidence easily so we should do our best to get him back on track." His eyes met with his best friend's and Matt smiled a little, nodding. He knew he was making himself nervous by worrying about it and Tai was right. Instead of coming up with different solutions on his own, he should wait for Davis to explain and open up to what had gotten him so upset in the first place. The two of them headed towards Davis's apartment. Tai knocked on the door which was soon opened by none other than Davis's sister, June Motomiya.

"Matt?!" June squealed happily, ecstatic to see her crush at her doorstep. "You came to see me?!" Her eyes were shining and Tai had to bite back a laugh as Matt flushed.

"H-hi J-June..." Matt said nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

Normally, Tai would have found it amusing to see his friend becoming so flustered but right now, he was more worried about Davis.

"June, no offence and not to interrupt, but we came to see Davis," Tai said slowly looking at her. "Besides, Matt's taken anyway."

Perhaps it was the way Tai had phrased it, even though he meant Matt was taken by Sora that June blinked and gaped at him for a moment.

Matt sent Tai a grateful look and a part of him wished he had brought Sora along as well but knew he couldn't have. His girlfriend may know how to handle June but Davis might not tell them anything if Sora was around so it would have caused more harm than good.

"What?" Tai asked, snapping Matt out of his thoughts and he noticed that June was looking at them with an odd look in her eyes.

"I never knew..." June whispered and suddenly tears filled her eyes. "I never knew you felt that way for Matt, Tai." She hung her head, a few tears prickling down her cheeks. "Davis is in his room, I'm sorry for getting in your way. I hope you and Matt will be happy together." Inside, she felt like her heart was cracking into various pieces but she managed to hide it fairly well and ran into the house.

"Wha...?" Tai turned a deep red colour and Matt turned red as well. The two of them glanced at each other, causing Tai to hang his head. How had he managed to get June to assume something like that? He scratched his head and glanced over at Matt. "I didn't mean it like..." He blushed further. Why was he even blushing?

Matt couldn't believe Tai had run his mouth again and tilted his head to the side as Tai spoke, noticing him still blushing. He did look kind of cute blushing like that...wait, what was he thinking? He was with Sora for heaven's sake! He pushed these thoughts out of his mind and smiled at Tai.

"It's alright," Matt said honestly. "At least it'll help June move on. Anyway, let's go talk to Davis."

Tai nodded a little too quickly and headed inside, Matt following him.

Davis lay on his bed, his head buried in his pillow. DemiVeemon was sleeping, exhausted from the fight. Everytime he looked over at his partner, the guilt increased itself ten-fold. A tear dropped, then another, it felt like someone was crushing his heart with their very own fist. He didn't know how to face anyone, a part of him felt maybe he should give DemiVeemon to Ken or T.K. after what he had caused.

'I don't deserve him' Davis thought miserably. Before he could ponder more, he heard a knock on his door.

"Davis, it's Tai, can we come in?" Tai's voice echoed through the room and Davis winced. He thought for a moment. He needed to talk to someone and he couldn't talk to his parents or June about something like this and the others were probably much too angry at him to listen.

"Sure, come on in!" Davis called out, sitting up on his bed as Tai pushed the door open, entering the room with Matt.

His predecessors and guides took a seat in the room before Tai looked at him.

"What happened, Davis?" Tai asked softly. "You seemed pretty upset."

As Tai said that, Davis felt the guilt make itself know once more. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked over to DemiVeemon before hanging his head.

"I've done something terrible," Davis whispered. "I used Veemon to heal my personal pain and ended up...I hurt him really badly."

Tai and Matt exchanged a glance. Tai was getting a bad feeling about this. His thoughts drifted to SkullGreymon and he inadvertently shuddered. Matt grasped his hand, squeezing it as he guessed what his best friend was thinking of.

"What happened, Davis?" Matt asked looking to the younger boy. "I mean, DemiVeemon seems fine even if he does seem exhausted."

"He's not fine!" Davis protested loudly before lowering his voice as not wanting to disturb his partner from sleeping. "I made him dark-armour digivolve you guys! He...he almost killed Daemon because of my anger!"

Tai and Matt both paled at that. Tai bit his lower lip. He knew he should have been a better guide to Davis and taught him to exert better control in situations like that but did he know any better in that?

"We all make mistakes, Davis," Matt said earnestly, managing to compose himself seeing Tai unable to talk. "The good thing is you realised what you did wrong. I know this is hard for you but you need to forgive yourself. Anyone can make that mistake and lose control of their emotions." As he said this, he glanced over at Tai who wasn't looking at him causing the blond to frown and turn back to Davis. He would have to talk to Tai about this later.

"But I messed up," Davis admitted. "I was so upset at Daemon hurting Ken so badly that I got really enraged...he means a lot to me, you guys. I just wanted Daemon to suffer retribution and..."

"You did what you did out of love," Matt said honestly. "You didn't do it because you wanted to hurt Veemon. You lost control because Daemon had harmed a person you love more than anything."

Davis blushed deeply at Matt's words, his heart beat speeding up.

"I don't..." Davis moved to deny but Tai finally spoke up, giving him a small smile.

"It's okay if you love him, Davis," Tai told the younger boy gently, trying to push the images of SkullGreymon out of his head and focus on his friend. "I think you should talk things through with him. From what we saw, Ken was pretty injured back there. He'll need his best friend."

Davis tried to calm down his racing heart. Did he feel anything for Ken beyond friendship or was everyone just reading into things? Sure, he was protective over him but everyone was protective over their best friends right? He glanced over at DemiVeemon and knew he should visit Ken. Maybe he would be more willing to forgive him than the others even if he didn't deserve it. He picked up DemiVeemon as the little digimon woke up.

"Davis?" DemiVeemon said blinking and Davis pulled his partner closer to his chest.

"I'm sorry!" Davis whispered, looking into his eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"I already know that, Davis," DemiVeemon said smiling. "Please don't take what the others said to heart, I know you were only upset at what Daemon did to Ken. We'll convince the others together ok?"

"We'll help too," Tai assured Davis, his expression a little distant. "I'm sure T.K. will definitely be sympathetic, don't worry."

"And Ken will definitely understand." Matt chimed in, placing a hand on Tai's shoulder to let him know he was there for him as well. Tai gave Matt a small smile albeit didn't say anything.

Davis smiled, his heart feeling lighter.

"You guys..." Davis breathed, relief evident in his tone. "Thank you."

Minomon was worried. Even though, the doctors had given positive news, Ken still hadn't woken up. He hoped his partner would be okay. He should have been there when Daemon was torturing him. He should have protected him from what was happening. Mr. and Mrs. Ichijouji had brought Ken home from the hospital and he was sitting besides Ken's bed while his parents were outside, crying.

Ken stirred then, his eyes fluttering open. His head was killing him and he felt dizzy. At first instance, he thought he was still in Daemon's cage but realised he was on something warm, opposed to the cold, hard ground. He blinked, when he caught sight of Minomon.

"Ken-chan!" Minomon cried, happiness soaring through his voice. "Mr. Ichijouji, Mrs. Ichijouji, Ken-chan's awake!"

The two parents came rushing in. Mrs. Ichijouji rushed over, pulling Ken into an embrace, crying even more.

"Mom..." Ken said beginning to cry himself. He had thought he'd never see her or Minomon again. He had thought Daemon would win and get his hands on the Dark spore as well as torturing him. "I love you, Mom." He was shaking slightly and held his mother tighter. His father joined in the hug as well and Ken tightened his grip on both of his parents wanting them close to him.

After reassuring them and himself that things were alright, his parents moved away.

"You rest, sweetie," Mrs. Ichijouji said kindly. "I'll bring something for you to eat."

Ken nodded as his parents left the room and Minomon jumped in his arms.

"I was so worried about you, Ken-chan," Minomon said teary-eyed. "I'm sorry I failed at protecting you."

Ken shook his head, smiling at Minomon.

"You didn't fail me at all, Minomon," Ken promised. "You did rescue me from Daemon after all. Thank you."

Minomon frowned at that.

"You're welcome but Davis is the one that saved you," Minomon said softly. "He was really scared for you, Ken-chan and he was so angry at what Daemon did that he..." The little digimon shook upon recollection.

Ken smiled at first, hearing that Davis had been the one to save him from Daemon before frowning at Minomon's next words. A sinking feeling rose up to his chest and he looked at his partner.

"What happened, Minomon?" Ken asked softly. "Is Davis alright?"

"He made Veemon Dark-armour digivolve," Minomon admitted. "Magnamon almost killed Daemon but Kari and I managed to snap Davis out of his rage before more damage could be done. It's just the others aren't willing to forgive Davis for what happened."

Ken listened to Minomon and his eyes filled with tears although he blinked them back. Davis had been so upset about him being hurt that he had lost control. He wasn't worth that but Davis had always given him so much value. His heart ached at the thought of the team throwing Davis out of it. He clenched his hand into a fist.

"I forgive him," Ken said firmly. "I'll support him against the others, Minomon."

"Ken-chan, Cody, Yolei and Kari are really angry," Minomon warned him. "I heard them..."

"So, why isn't Davis taking Ken home?" T.K. asked Kari curiously causing the brunette's expression to harden and she turned away.

"After what he did," Kari said quietly. "I doubt even Ken will want to be his friend anymore. It's unforgivable to use the digimon to calm your own anger."

"I can't believe he was our leader!" Cody said furiously. "What was Tai thinking?"

"I think that he was like him," Kari said a little sadly. "I thought Davis was like Tai too but I guess not."

"He's more like Tai than you think," T.K. said sighing a little. "I think you're all being a bit hard on him. He was only upset about what Daemon did to Ken after all."

"I think even Ken wouldn't support him in this." Yolei said honestly and T.K. didn't say anything. He just hoped Davis could at least learn to forgive himself even if the others didn't forgive him.

Ken's frown deepened as he heard what Minomon told him.

"How could they be so hard on him?" Ken asked, astonished. "After all he's done for them, he makes one mistake and they all turn against him." He was glad T.K. was being somewhat supportive of Davis but even so while he had expected Cody to be hard on Davis, he would have thought Yolei and Kari would go easy on him.

"He needs your support, Ken-chan," Minomon said softly. "He needs his best friend."

"Of course I'll support him, Wormmon." Ken promised with a small smile. He needed to see Davis as soon as possible.