Summary ::

Once, there was an AI researcher named Shinkai Denemon and his partner, the super AI Minerva. Hinted Yuuharu

Shinkai Denemon had no idea where he was.

His surroundings were blinding white. Waving a hand through the air revealed some kind of fog, pixelated along the edges, if that made any sense.

So why did it feel like home?

'Creator.'

Immediately, his chest tightened. That was a voice he never thought he would hear again.

He was proven right when he turned around, the familiar electric blue of an owl. There she was, like she had not been wiped out after that final battle.

Minerva blinked at him.

Denemon grinned, tears forming at the corner of his eyes.

"I thought I lost you." Quiet wasn't a common word used to describe Shinkai Denemon but at that moment, his voice was all wistful, mourning. "I thought…"

It was like Minerva tilted her head, in a quick flutter much like how a real bird would, but in actuality she never moved. Neither did she say anything, as though as waiting for Denemon to gather his thoughts.

And all Denemon could think was the tightness in his chest at the sight of her, the squeezing of his heart that she was here now but she won't be after.

'As long as you are around,' her voice smoothly broke his thoughts, 'I can be rebuilt.'

She was right.

He knew her every code, her every logic, her every being. He still have her papers, the very papers he had poured his life into bringing her to the world. He could make her again.

Shinkai Denemon knew this.

.

Yet,

.

When he closed his eyes, Denemon could see Haru.

Haru, who had more sleepless nights than a boy of his age should have, tirelessly finding a way to bring his best friend back. Haru, who came back one day with his friends, the brightest grin on his face when he announced that he managed to salvage Yuujin's data and all they need was a body.

Haru, who clutched onto a computer monitor as Yuujin's words scrolled across the screen, the only way they could communicate for now but -!

Haru, who's best friend was a living, sentient AI.

Denemon reached out and brushed his fingers at the edge of Minerva's wing.

.

If Oozora Yuujin was something to Shinkai Haru, what was Minerva to Shinkai Denemon?

.

It wasn't a terribly difficult question.

He remembered standing side by side with Minerva, fighting against Leviathan. The days before the Appli Drivers were chosen, the days when he had built the Appli Drivers and Minerva creating the parameters, the logic, the what do we need? for it.

That horrifying moment when Denemon fell sick and at last, Leviathan got his chance.

He remembered as Minerva fiercely took his mind with her, diving deep into the Net Ocean, weaving in between the Dark Net, hiding in every nook and cranny and was his greatest protector until it was the right time.

Haru and his friends weren't the only ones who lost someone that day.

"I've missed you," Denemon murmured.

Minerva blinked.

A soft fire lit in his gut. Denemon hadn't felt this alive in ages, his mind made up. "I'm getting you back."

Minerva blinked again.

Then the world around them started to shatter, the white crisscrossing to blacks. Denemon stumbled back, hand reaching out for Minerva but the AI didn't move.

He closed his eyes but not before seeing what seemed like a smile on Minerva's beak.

'I've missed you, too.'

Denemon woke up with a start.

He sat up straight from where he had fallen asleep on his table. Papers upon papers upon papers, messed up and some even crumpled from his sleep but among them all, something blue peeked out from beneath.

Carefully, Denemon pulled that one piece out.

A wide grin spread across his face. His heart swelled in his chest and despite having aching limbs ever since he materialized back in the real world, Denemon was swift when he gathered back the relevant materials and stuffed them into a folder.

He's taking his partner back.

- I went with the angle that if Appmon are AI and technically a kind of variant species of Digimon, that meant Minerva was Denemon's Digimon partner. (That sacrificed herself ouch)

- Totally headcanon that Minerva was so feared in the Dark Web because she was protecting Shinkai Denemon's mind that he uploaded. Also that the world where they met Denemon in the series is the world Minerva has isolated the best she could to preserve him.

- Minerva totally adored Denemon.

- Which also meant I HC her to feel terribly guilty (especially if we're going with the AI are living beings angle) because Leviathan is technically her evil twin.

This drabble kind of just exploded to be honest, but now I'm full of feelings that I have no idea what to do with.