Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Digimon Adventure 02
Title: Captive: Chapter 10: Overnight
Characters: Ken, Daisuke
Word Count: chapter: 2,312||story: 21,925
Genre: Drama, Friendship||Rated: PG
Notes: This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It's also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.
Summary:[10/20, Ken & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.
Daisuke stared up into the dark shadows and tried to see through them. He didn't have much luck. When Ken turned the lights off, he didn't leave anything that could be seen by.
Well, why would he? The re-chained Chosen grumped to himself. He's not in here, and he's the only one who matters. To him.
He wanted out of here more than words could say. He wanted to be curled up in his own bed, with Chibimon next to him, hearing Jun chattering to her best friend through the walls, while his parents watched television and talked to each other, probably about how Jun needed to talk less on the phone.
He closed his eyes. It remained dark. He opened them. The shadows didn't change. He sighed. Sleeping would probably be the best idea; there wasn't much else that he could do anyway, other than sit here and stare at nothing, but he couldn't sleep. He tried. He'd already laid there for half an hour, or so he thought, with his eyes closed, and nothing at all happened.
Ken hadn't even bothered to leave the screens on showing the disastrous encounter with the Chosen. That would've at least been something to watch, even if he didn't want to.
He could hear a few faint noises outside, but since he was once more chained to the table, he couldn't investigate them. They were likely guards on him. Why Ken put guards on a chained prisoner was beyond Daisuke, but it was something he would probably do. Ken clearly didn't make a habit out of making sense anyway.
Daisuke sighed again, lifting his head and slamming it back down. He couldn't even get a decent headache out of that. He squinted down at his arm, to where a second Ring rested. Ken had left it there before he'd gone off to bed, ordering him not to hurt himself to the point of actual damage. So he could bang his head once or twice, but that was about it. And he couldn't struggle to the point he bled.
Ken took all the fun out of being a prisoner. Really.
At least Ken hadn't told him to go to sleep. If he had, Daisuke knew he wouldn't be laying here being annoyed because he wasn't asleep.
He wondered if that was why he couldn't sleep, because Ken hadn't ordered him to. He eyed the Ring suspiciously, but it gave away nothing. At least this time he could move around a little. He wasn't sure of how different it was from the last time, since he wasn't putting that much effort into trying to fight it. There wasn't any real use, not without any of the others around.
Too soon, he'd be seeing them again, and with a Spiral clamped around him this time. That sent a shuddering kind of not-thrill all through him. He wanted to see them. He did not want to see them with a Spiral on, having to do whatever it was Ken told him to do.
What would Ken tell him to do? He sighed again. At least this time the others wouldn't take him for granted when he showed up. They'd be careful. They'd be on the watch.
They'd be ready to...to hurt him to save him.
As much as he'd done what he had to in order to save MetalGreymon, the thought of all of that firepower being turned on him if it was necessary sent an entirely different kind of shudder through him.
He thought maybe Ken was counting on that. It didn't make falling asleep any easier.
"Absolutely not." Yamato shook his head. "I did that once already. I'm not getting into it again."
"But, Yamato - " Takeru wished he were young enough to give his brother a simple look and get what he wanted out of him. That time had passed, unfortunately. "This is really important."
Yamato sighed and shook his head again. "Takeru, the last time something like this happened, Jun wanted me to go out with her."
Takeru knew that; Daisuke had mentioned it before. He wasn't sure if Jun had actually succeeded in getting his brother on the date or not, but he knew that she wanted it. "So maybe she wouldn't want that this time? But we're going to need some kind of help to clear Daisuke for tomorrow."
The blond drummed his fingers on the back of the couch, eyes closed as he thought over the problem. "I know." Knowing didn't mean he liked it. Takeru knew how that worked out very well.
He thought about sneaking back into the Digital World and not coming back until he found Daisuke. He knew darned well that Daisuke would gladly do the same thing for any of them if they'd been caught like this. Only that was the problem: he wasn't Daisuke. He wasn't going to plunge himself in like that without covering all the bases back home first.
Which meant right now, he needed to figure out a way so the school wouldn't try to call the Motomiya household and thus Jun or their parents would figure out that something strange was going on.
He'd thought about showing them the Digimon and explaining what was going on with the absolute truth, but that wasn't such a good idea either. While a few non-Chosen humans did know a little something, all of the Chosen agreed that it wasn't a good idea for anyone who didn't already know to get told. Not yet, anyway. Maybe someday in the future they could manage it, but now wasn't that time.
Even if the thought appealed more and more with every passing moment. Especially since they had to do something.
"Actually, I think I might have an idea," Yamato said suddenly, straightening up. "I'll need to talk to Koushirou about it, but I think he might have something to adjust the sound of my voice over the phone. I can pretend to be Daisuke's father and tell the school he's sick or we're going on a family trip for the day or something."
"Sick," Takeru said quickly. "We kind of don't want anyone trying to compare notes and find out that Jun wasn't on a 'family trip'."
"Right." Yamato nodded, rising up to his feet. "I'll call Koushirou and see what I can do about that." He hesitated for a moment, looking down at his younger brother. "Are you going to be all right?"
Takeru twiddled his fingers together, not meeting Yamato's eyes. "Sure. I'll be fine." He wondered how much of a lie that was. Probably more than he wanted it to be.
The look Yamato gave him spoke rather eloquently of how much his older brother didn't believe him. Takeru didn't have to look at Yamato to know how he was being looked at himself. He could feel it in his bones. But he still continued to find many more sights so much more interesting around the Ishida apartment. Neither his brother nor his father were that interested in cleaning beyond the basics, not with Dad's interests being in his work and Yamato's either in schoolwork or his band. Normally Takeru found that more than a little annoying, but right now, since it gave him a pile of laundry to stare at, he didn't care that much.
"I should probably go home. Mom's going to wonder where I'm at." The idea of the walk home, with only Patamon to talk to, and knowing that one of his friends was trapped somewhere else, was not a pleasant one.
Yamato, as always, seemed to know something of what was going on through Takeru's mind. "You could stay here if you want. Dad's not coming home until late."
Never let it be said that Takeru wasn't tempted. One quick call to his mother would've exempted him from the need to walk home, and he could talk to someone who knew much more about what the Digital World and the Digimon Emperor were like than Mom did.
But even as he opened his mouth to agree, he knew better. "I can't. Daisuke's parents think that he's at our place, and if they try to call there, and Mom picks it up without knowing..."
Both of them sighed in perfect unison at that. Takaishi Natsuko would certainly help them if they needed some kind of back-up story, but Takeru wanted a chance to explain it to her in person. You never could be too certain who else might hear something over the phone anyway.
"All right, then. I'll get in touch with Koushirou and let you know how that comes out tomorrow, then." Yamato ruffled Takeru's hair, a breath of a smile on his lips. "Let us know how everything comes out, all right?"
"You got it," Takeru said, finding a smile and planting it firmly on his lips. He glanced down at the small lump in his pocket, then over to the counter where Yamato's own Digivice rested. "Do you think that will help again?"
"It has to. Remember what happened with Leomon?"
Takeru nodded; that was what had sparked his original use of the D-3 anyway. He held back another sigh. Hours and hours until they could get back to the Digital World and see what Ken had in mind for Daisuke, and for the rest of them. And every one of them full of people who might want to know more than they really needed to right now.
With Patamon snugly on his head and a reminder in his ears not to worry himself to death, Takeru set off for home. He knew they would have to rescue Daisuke tomorrow. If they didn't, he didn't want to think about all the lies they would have to spin, or how all of those could blow up in their faces.
The Digimon Kaiser's mobile fortress seldom remained in one place, except under two circumstances: if Ken himself ordered that it be so, or when he slept. He didn't like the idea of not knowing where he was during those limited times when he allowed himself to rest, so whenever he finally slipped into bed, he found a suitable defensive place and had the fortress remain there until he woke in the morning.
Wormmon always woke up before Ken did, having trained himself to do so over the course of the last couple of years. Now that Ken lived in the Digital World, he used the time to make certain his master had a good breakfast awaiting him, and reports on any powerful Digimon in the area who might be worth enslaving were always ready.
Wormmon knew he would complete his morning tasks as he always did. But tonight he had a special job awaiting himself, one that the Kaiser knew nothing about.
He slipped out of the fortress with ease; he'd gone in and out of it ever since Ken built it, after all. He knew more ways to get through it than even Ken himself did. It wasn't easy, but Ken never questioned any bruises that turned up. In all likelihood, he thought he'd inflicted them himself. Wormmon did not choose to enlighten him.
"I wasn't sure if you were going to be here," Wormmon murmured as he wriggled up behind the Digimon he'd been looking for.
V-mon glanced over at him, and Wormmon wasn't surpriesd to see worry written all over his features. He would have worried to, if somehow their positions had been reversed. "I couldn't go back, not without Daisuke."
Wormmon wasn't sure what life in the human world was like, but it wasn't something he wanted to face without Ken, and he thought V-mon felt the same way. "He's asleep right now. Or he was when I looked in on him, anyway."
V-mon started to open his mouth, and Wormmon already knew what he was going to ask. He shook his head before the blue Digimon could say anything. "I can't get you in there. Even if I could, you can't evolve without him, and there are too many guards and locks in the way for you to get to him."
V-mon drooped almost at once. At least he didn't question Wormmon's word on it. Wormmon wasn't lying; the guards would recognize him, but not V-mon, and the locks were keyed to open at Ken's spoken command. Even he couldn't get through some of them without the Kaiser there.
"What's the Kaiser going to do with him? Do you know?" V-mon asked instead. Wormmon lowered his head.
"He hasn't really said much. All I know is that he does plan to use a Spiral on him. He thinks that's going to make it so that your friends can't get rid of it." Wormmon wriggled nervously. "He might even be right."
"No!" V-mon was on his feet in a heartbeat, staring at Wormmon. "We're going to get Daisuke back!"
Wormmon couldn't bring himself to argue about it. He didn't want to get V-mon mad, but he knew how dedicated Ken was to keeping Daisuke as well. "I hope you can." Maybe, just maybe, if they did, it would help get the old Ken back somehow. He wanted that more than he wanted anything in all the world.
V-mon settled back down, though Wormmon saw from the tightness in his shoulders that he wasn't all that calm. He inched closer, doing what he could to comfort him.
He would've taken V-mon to the fortress if it would have done any good. He would've brought Daisuke out with him if he could. But ever since Agumon's escape, the security procedures had been increased, limiting what he could do.
Neither of them said anything, but remained close by one another, until light began to flicker across the eastern horizon, and the second day of Daisuke's captivity began.
To Be Continued