Wind shuffled uncomfortably in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked out over the ruined foyer. The carnage wrought by the battle would not soon be erased. He had half a mind to leave it be, to serve as a warning for the next batch of recruits. All around him were reminders of Liza’s monumental failure to follow protocol— but amidst his rage, there was an unshakeable feeling that it had been his failing too.

He watched as Tim and Petra scanned the entrance, making sure the door was fully functional. He watched as Squid walked back and forth, sweeping up trace data from the slaughtered Digimon. He watched as poor, wounded Bella and her Gazimon walked back and forth, shoveling material back into pitfall traps to prevent any future accidents. And finally, he turned his head to his wounded partner.

"This must trouble you greatly, Wind." Kaus Gammamon said, his voice as steely and calm as ever.

"It does."

Then there was nothing more to say. Many of their conversations ended in this manner, with stilted sentences and simple observations. He valued his partner deeply, but it was a bond of convenience more than anything. Today, he felt like pushing it just a little more.

"Hey."

Kaus Gammamon turned his snout towards him.

"Is all this… Because of me?"

The words hurt to even speak. They wound his pride heavily, but he can’t help but consider their veracity after the massive failure to safeguard his subordinates.

"You must be thinking of what Astamon told you."

"Yeah. Is it true?"

"There is no objective metric for this. While I admit that he had a point, in that it was a misallocation of-"

"No. Let me rephrase the question. Not 'is it true', I want to know what you think."

"I do not understand."

"I want your opinion in particular, Kaus Gammamon. Do you think I messed up there? That all of this is because I didn't take her behavior into account?"

His partner paused, deliberating on his words carefully, before finally nodding.

“Ugh.”

Wind buries his head in his hands, his mind a mass of roiling thoughts.