Work Text:
The absence of sound hadn’t struck him as odd, not at first. It was pretty self-explanatory - he had sat in a bullet train and a plane taking off the ground before, so he knew the feeling of ear pressure all too well. It was a natural phenomenon resulting from changes in the surrounding air pressure, often experienced in high altitudes or at extremely fast speeds. At that moment, he was experiencing all of it, therefore he wasn’t alarmed by it. What he was alarmed by however, were the circumstances that put him in this situation.
Izzy’s hands were clutching Kabuterimon’s arms so tightly that he was sure he was going to leave permanent marks. But he didn’t dare loosen his grip ‒ his Digimon was currently about 30 meters above ground and although Kabuterimon was keeping him secure in two of his four insect-like arms, he felt more assured if he held on with his own might as well. After all, he wasn’t Kabuterimon’s only concern at the moment. He had to dodge Devimon’s relentless attacks all while trying to retaliate with his own in order to keep the devil Digimon at bay. The young Digidestined found himself in a highly precarious position. Sitting in the arms of a big target in the midst of combat hadn’t really been his preferred choice but it was better than dying. Which is what would have happened to him if his Digimon hadn’t scooped him up from the boulder that he had been standing on right before Devimon had destroyed it with a dark energy strike. If he was sure of one thing, it was this: He would not be letting go under any circumstances.
At first, the battle had been nothing but noise: His pulse beating loudly in his ears, the sizzle of lightning, the drums of thunder, the roar of fire, gusts of wind, yelling, shouting, screaming. Maniacal laughter. Attacks accompanied by indescribable sounds he had never heard before in his life. And weirdly enough, every now and then, sounds that vaguely reminded him of … a modem or his computer. Beeping, buzzing, whirring. Perhaps he was going crazy with all the senseless chaos currently surrounding him but he could have sworn that that was what he'd heard. Then, more shouting. Devimon at first, then Kabuterimon. An explosion. A loud ringing piercing through his ears, drowning out the noises of the battle for good.
He knew the fight was still ongoing due to the fact that he hadn’t been dropped. Izzy could still feel the comforting buzz and occasional rumble of Kabuterimon’s body as he was being held and the wind in his face, sweeping his red hair in all directions.
He had closed his eyes pretty much as soon as his partner Digimon had picked him up earlier‒both to protect his eyes from the wind and from what they would see should he dare to open them. If Devimon happened to kill him, he would very much like it to be a surprise. A quick death in blissful ignorance. Perhaps it was cowardly, but then again he was only 10 years old. Nobody had ever told him to prepare himself for a life-or-death-battle with the devil himself before entering fifth grade. So he hadn’t been prepared.
He flinched when heat whirled past his face and he pressed his lips together to stop himself from screaming. The rhythm of Kabuterimon’s buzzing changed ever so slightly, indicating that the Digimon was speaking. Who was he speaking to? He was too scared to open his eyes to check. Suddenly, Kabuterimon’s arms loosened around him and he felt a twinge of panic, strengthening his vice-like grip before immediately relaxing when he realized he was being lowered to the ground. Izzy’s trembling knees buckled underneath him as soon as his feet met the dirt, and he released an explosive breath. He opened his eyes and blinked away the stains in his vision to see that Kabuterimon was already returning to join the other partner Digimon in the thick of the battle.
He allowed himself another moment to close his eyes and soothe his trembling limbs. He was shaking like a leaf but after a quick inspection of his extremities, he was relieved to find out that, by some miracle, he was physically unharmed. He was completely fine . He opened his mouth to let out an incredulous laugh but it refused to leave his lungs. That was fine, too. He was alive. His bodily functions would recover and he would laugh and laugh and laugh as hard as he could once this was all over.
Human hands found his shoulder as soon as he got up, and he was whirled around by one of his friends. Joe’s face sprung into his vision before he was pulled into a tight embrace by the much taller boy. The side of Izzy’s face that was touched by Joe’s cheek vibrated slightly and he could feel a wetness trickling down his skin. Was he crying ? Izzy’s hand reached up to touch his own cheek and the yellow fabric of his gloves came away darkened by moisture. I’m crying too, he realized. When did that happen?
He returned Joe’s hug and patted his back a little awkwardly. After a few short moments, the blue-haired boy pulled away and held Izzy at arm’s length to give him a once-over. Satisfied by what he saw, he regarded Izzy with a happy smile which he gladly returned and said… something. Whatever Joe was trying to say came out in a muffled garble of sounds, as if they were underwater.
Realizing that his ears still hadn’t popped, Izzy shook his head and motioned to Joe to wait a moment. He did what he always did to get rid of the ear pressure on bullet-trains and planes. He pressed his fingers into his ears and swallowed down his own saliva, followed by opening his mouth widely. He snapped his fingers next to his ear. Nothing. He pressed around in his ears a few more times and moved around his jaw but to no avail. Huh. That usually works. Strange.
Reluctantly, he dropped his hands and looked at them frustratedly, as if they were to blame for his unrecovered sense of hearing.
…
Was that red?
Izzy’s eyes widened as he inspected the dark spots on his gloves. There was no doubt. The fabric was stained with blood. Forcing himself not to panic, he stuck his finger in his auricle once more, just to make sure. More blood. He took a deep breath. Okay, that was new. But he would be fine . There was nothing to worry about.
He closed his fist in order to hide the specks on his gloves, hoping that Joe hadn’t seen anything that would needlessly worry him. He shot the other Digidestined an apologetic glance while shrugging sheepishly, as if to say ‘Sorry about that, let’s try again later’. Joe’s smile, however, slowly melted off his features as realization apparently hit, and a concerned frown took over. Which was slightly irritating. Izzy waved him off with another reassuring smile. It’s nothing to worry about. It happens.
But does it? Against his better judgment, his heart was racing. If there was truly nothing to worry about, then why had it suddenly become so difficult to breathe?
He forced himself to avert his eyes and focus on the fight. It was almost impossible to make out, but from what he could tell, their Digimon slowly seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Devimon’s dark energy strike was met with Greymon’s flame, which resulted in another explosion. He waited for the sound to reach him. That would surely pop his ears. But in the corner of his eye he could see Joe covering his ears with both of his hands and he realized the sound had already reached and passed them.
But surely, Joe was exaggerating. That explosion was too far away, it couldn’t have been that loud, he told himself.
It is, a treacherous voice in his head told him. You heard it yourself, right before the ringing began, when you were too occupied with hanging on to Kabuterimon to cover your ears.
Another pair of hands grabbed his shoulders again and forced him to turn around. This time it was Tai, his face a mask of worry as his lips were forming words Izzy couldn’t decipher. He didn't need a sense of hearing to know that Tai was yelling. Dark brown eyes moved from Tai to Matt to Mimi… all mirroring the frown Joe was wearing. He began slapping his hand against his ear‒maybe he could force himself to hear that way‒but Tai caught his hand and gripped his shoulder tightly. He moved his lips slowly, as if the problem had been that they had all just spoken too quickly and not his apparent complete hearing loss.
Izzy shook his head. He opened his mouth to tell them that he couldn’t understand what Tai was trying to tell him, but he couldn’t even hear himself. He made several attempts to form words regardless, which probably sounded pitiful, if his friends’ expressions were any indication.
Their pity frustrated him more than anything, his initial panic giving way to annoyance. Was this really the time and the place for them to worry about his hearing? Weren’t there more pressing matters? He wouldn't be the reason they lost this fight because his friends were too distracted by his problems to support their Digimon.
He lowered himself into a cross-legged position on the ground and slipped off his backpack. He opened his laptop, clicked on the text editor program and began typing a short message as quickly as he could, hoping to remind them of the other, bigger problem they were all currently dealing with.
Stop worrying. Focus on the fight.
His hearing may not ever return, but that didn’t mean he was a lost cause, right? He had his gadgets, his laptop, and most importantly: His mind. He would be fine. He would figure something out, he always did. He was good at that stuff. It was an annoying hindrance, sure, but in the end, he would manage. There were new things to learn, more forms of communication.
While the others reluctantly refocused on the fight in front of them, Izzy closed his eyes and tried to burn every sound into his memory as long as he could still recall it, determined to treasure it forever. The chirping of birds, the splatter of rain, the sound of thunder… his friend’s voices, Matt’s harmonica, Tentomon’s laughter. His mother’s singing.
While he was determined to remain positive, he couldn’t help but grieve for what he had lost. What he had looked forward to the most ever since entering the Digiworld was now unattainable.
Even if he ever managed to leave the Digiworld and see his mother, he would never be able to find comfort in her voice again.