Reconcilation (Solo)

It was close to midday in Rosewood City, located in the eastern part of the Digital World. It was a very sunny and warm day, with a clear blue sky and white, puffy clouds hovering over the city. There, a familiar Hawkmon by the name of Hawkeye was sitting at one of the outdoor tables at the local Burgamon restaurant, reading a human world book he had borrowed from his partner Kaya. Every so often, the bird would look away from his book and look around, as if he was expecting someone to show up.

"He's late..." the Hawkmon muttered to himself. Closing his eyes, he sighed and closed his book. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."

Hawkeye's digicore skipped a beat when he heard that loud, somewhat obnoxious voice, but smiled nonetheless when he gazed his eyes on the one he had been waiting for: Shoutmon, a somewhat well-known face around Rosewood for the numerous good deeds he and his partner Adrian had done for the Digimon of this world. To Hawkeye, however, their relationship was far more... complicated than that. As together with his own partner Kaya, Hawkeye had made one of the biggest mistakes of his life... attempting to delete Shoutmon in the name of revenge for killing Hawkeye's original human partner, Eizo.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show," Hawkeye said to Shoutmon as the red dragon sat across from Hawkeye at the table.

Hawkeye's smile disappeared immediately. "I... figured that that would be the case," he said, his tone turning melancholy.

Shoutmon sweatdropped. "I probably shouldn't have brought that up, huh? Sorry..."

"No no, that's perfectly fine," Hawkeye said as he shook his head a bit. "It's merely a reminder that I have done a very, very unforgivable deed."

"It's not unforgivable if I forgive you for it," Shoutmon said, trying to sound reassuring. "Speaking of, I wanna know why you invited me out here for lunch today. I thought we made up, but ever since the Lux Harmony Festival, you've been weirdly distant from me."

The Hawkmon blinked a few times. "You... truly believed we completely made up in the one conversation after the fact?"

Hawkeye had a look of exasperation on his face before he let out a deep sigh, rubbing the bridge of his beak with his right wing. "You truly are an idiot sometimes, Shoutmon. What I did to you, to Hana, to Luna... that can't be fixed so easily. Kaya hasn't forgiven herself, I haven't forgiven myself, and here you are saying that you, out of everyone involved, are willing to forgive and move on?"

Shoutmon took a moment to think of why that would be the case, until he figured he had the best response possible. "It's because I don't like holding grudges. See, Omni's whole warpath started because of a grudge he had towards humanity, after his village was destroyed... and his best friend was murdered."

"...just as Kaya and I did with you," Hawkeye muttered. He let out a sigh as he buried his face in his wings. "I cannot believe I was such an idiot back then, Shoutmon... I am so, so sorry. For everything."

"Dude, I've long since forgiven both of you and Kaya," Shoutmon said. "I would've even let you fight me one on one back then if you had just asked. I do wanna know, though; why did you both go straight for the ambush attack?"

"We assumed you would have told us if you weren't trying to hide it," Hawkeye explained. "When Kaya first found out about Eizo, we had made a deal that we'd find his murderer and delete them once and for all. And when we did find out who it was, it came alongside a bunch of revelations, like that it turned out to be you, and that your son hadn't told her he was a Digimon, despite knowing she was a Tamer. Kaya is not a fan of being lied to, and she felt as if she wasn't trustworthy because of all the lies piling up. Quite frankly, the entire situation was a mess that I do not think could have gone much better."

Hawkeye paused for a moment. "I... I'm feeling a lot of things. Grief because of Eizo's death, anger at you for Omni's wrongdoing, regret for attacking you and practically losing any sense of credibility I once had, especially after hearing your story... they aren't feelings that are just going to disappear due to one or two heartwarming conversations."

Shoutmon was interrupted when Hawkeye raised a wing. "It's okay, Shoutmon. I know now that you may be Omni's reincarnation, but you are not the same being that killed him long ago."

"I missed being your friend, you know," Shoutmon told Hawkeye. "I enjoyed hanging out with you, Adrian, and Kaya back then, recalling our adventures to each other, me joking around with you, you telling me off... I wanna go back to how it was between the four of us so, so badly."

"I do, as well..." Hawkeye said with a smile, which vanished almost immediately. "But Adrian doesn't seem willing to forgive me in particular, and if your family were to see this, they'd step in and force me to leave. I just don't know if it's possible for our relationship to truly be repaired."

A moment of silence passed as the two of them sat at the table, wondering what else one would say to the other next. Hawkeye was right; this couldn't be resolved easily. But they couldn't just leave things as they were now, could they? That moment of silence was ended when Shoutmon's stomach growled loudly and abruptly. The two Digimon both snickered and laughed out loud at that moment of absurdity.

"Good grief, Shoutmon!" Hawkeye said to the dragon as he tried to stop laughing.

"Sorry, sorry! It was just a reminder about the other reason we came here: lunch!" Shoutmon said, hopping out of his seat. "I'm gonna go order for us. What should I get for you?"

"You got it," Shoutmon said with a wink as he walked off to the front counter.

When Shoutmon was gone, Hawkeye smiled and opened his book back up where he had left off, happy with how the meet up was going so far. He truly did regret everything he had done that day, and he knew Kaya had felt the same. He wanted to repair things with Adrian and Shoutmon both, as well as the others that had desperately tried to stop Kaya and Hawkeye that day. But aside from likely Luna, it was clear that the others weren't going to be as forgiving. A lot of people were hurt that day, and not everyone was as willing to forgive as Shoutmon was.

But Hawkeye had a feeling that if the very Digimon he once tried to kill forgave him, then there was a solid chance at him and Kaya both to redeem themselves. And maybe one day, the four of them could truly find a way to reforge the friendship that they once had with each other.

Hawkeye then heard what sounded like a piece of paper fall onto the table. He set his book down momentarily, getting a good look at what had just landed in front of him. It was a business card, one with bright and fantastical colors.