Disclaimer: Digimon, its plots, characters and concepts are not mine. They're belonged to such people as Toei Animation, Bandai and Saban. All are being borrowed and will hopefully be brought back as they were. No profit is being made, so please don't sue. Any quotes from the Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux aren't mine either. The Ghost Roads idea was borrowed from the Buffy Trilogy, The Gatekeeper I think. It's not mine either. Any original characters and this fic are mine.
I hurt, was the first thing that went through Daisuke's mind. Ow. After several moments of blinking his eyes, the redhead finally managed to haul himself up to a sitting position. He found himself blinking again, partly due to the fact that his vision had gone double. He reached up to rub his head and groaned. There was definitely a headache beginning in his head. Great. He was in the middle of rubbing his eyes when the scream ripped through the air.
What? Daisuke's eyes snapped open and he looked around to see something that chilled him to the bone. For Takeru was on the ground, frantically reaching for the cross a few feet away, and still trying to fight off a most unhappy Erik from tearing his throat out. The blonde was fighting not to panic, but it was obvious from his expression that he was very near hysteria.
A faint moan came from beside Daisuke and he looked over to see Ken rising to his knees and looking slightly dazed. "That really hurt," the dictator muttered, rubbing his head and looking sincerely pissed off.
"Uh, Ken?" Daisuke murmured, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked at him with questioning blue eyes. Daisuke wordlessly pointed at the struggling Takeru.
Ken followed his finger and his gaze landed on the blonde and vampire. "Shit," he hissed, struggling to his feet and holding out a hand for Daisuke. The redhead took it with a surprised look and Ken pulled him up effortlessly. Seemed like he wasn't tired at all. Or maybe he was just good at hiding things. Yeah, that seemed likely.
"Okay, not to sound as stupid as I feel... but what do we do now?" Daisuke asked. "Not to be selfish or anything, but I really don't want Erik anywhere near my throat again." But he kind of wanted Erik away from Takeru -- away from all of them in fact -- fast.
Ken was frowning and looked to be in one of his infamous 'thinking stages'. Daisuke waited impatiently, tapping a foot repeatedly on the ground. At last, just when he was about to scream in frustration, Ken spoke. "I have an idea." Without saying anything else, he held out his hand to Daisuke. The redhead stared at it for a moment, before shrugging and putting his hand in Ken's. He gasped when sparks flew from his hand to Ken's and back again.
He stared at Ken, at a complete loss as to what was happening. "Uh... explanation?" His voice sounded amazingly calm as he said this and he allowed himself a brief moment of pride for his achievement before getting back into things.
Ken, on the other hand, seemed pleased and staisfied, a faint smile tinging his lips. "It's just as I thought," he said, making no sense whatsoever. "We can defeat him together." His smile was broad this time.
Daisuke gave him a doubtful look. "Are you sure?" he asked, sounding very unsure. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been run through the mill so to speak and I have just come back from a near death experience. Although," he added, glancing at the now-snarling Erik, "he hasn't exactly been having a smashing time either."
Ken nodded. "Exactly. And unless you want us all killed, I'd advise you to work with me." For a long moment Daisuke thought Ken was going to act like his old self again, but then the smile that quirked Ken's lips had changed to a mildly shy one. "Besides," he added softly, "you gave me quite a scare back then. I thought I'd lost you."
It was the perfect time for a kiss. Unfortunately, at the time there was a raging vampire on the lose trying to kill Daisuke's best friend, so a kiss couldn't exactly be given. Instead Daisuke vowed to kiss Ken plenty after this was all over and they approached Erik and the frantically-dodging Takeru carefully.
This also might have worked, apart from the fact Takeru managed to look up and see him. And judging by the fact Takeru had almost been out of his wits worrying that he might die, he naturally, had a reaction to Daisuke walking and being alive. Unfortunately it was at the wrong time. A very wrong time. "Daisuke!" he cried, his eyes lighting up. "You're all right!"
Daisuke fought the urge to groan as Erik whipped his head around. The vampire looked... well, bad. Daisuke found himself grimacing in disgust before he could help himself, and then realised a moment too late that Erik took things in offense very easily. "Shit," was all he managed to get out, before he went flying onto the ground to avoid Erik lunging at him, his emerald eyes wide and rolling.
He winced as he hit the ground painfully, instinctively rolling out of reach. Struggling to his feet, he bolted to where Takeru and Ken were, the Kaiser coldly calming Takeru down and shutting him up from his hysterical ramblings. Although Daisuke couldn't blame him much -- Takeru was completely human without a drop of magic in him. Put him face to face with a starving, mad, power-hungry vampire and the guy was bound to go hysterical.
"Okay... now that Plan A backfired, what do we do?" he asked, panting slightly. Great. He came back from the dead and he was sent running at the first opportinity. Then his panting became more painful as Takeru enveloped him in a bear hug.
"I can't believe you're all right!" the blonde cried, looking... very near hysterics and exhausted. It was then Daisuke realised it was early morning and Takeru was probably shattered. Too much adrenaline was coursing through himself though, so hopefully it would keep him from collapsing until Erik was sorted out.
Daisuke gave the seething Kaiser an apologetic look and patted Takeru on the back. "Yeah Takeru, I'm okay. Sorta."
"He'd be a lot better if you weren't trying to block out his air pipe," Ken muttered icily, folding his arms across his chest and successfully managed to look pissed off and jealous all at once. Takeru pointly ignored him, still squeezing Daisuke. It appeared their momentary truce was well and truly over.
Aw, he's jealous over me, Daisuke thought in amusement, watching him. Never thought I'd see him doing that. Takeru possibly would have continued hugging him for far longer, unless a warning snarl from Erik hadn't rung out, tearing the two apart, Takeru looking terrified. Daisuke tossed a panicked look at a grim Ken.
With a heavy sigh, Ken intertwined his fingers with Daisuke's, keeping a tight hold on Daisuke's hands. "Calm down," he ordered the redhead, who was clearly nervous. "If you don't keep calm we won't be able to do this." How the hell did Ken manage to keep calm so well?
"But what are we doing?!" Daisuke yelled at him, forgetting Takeru and Erik for the moment. "You won't tell me a damn thing! In case you've forgotten I was your student once!" In all honesty it had only been yesterday, but so much had happened tonight it felt like an eternity ago.
Ken growled in annoyance. "It'll take too long to explain! That's why I'm not telling you! Can't you just do what you're told for once?!" Takeru snorted in amusement.
"You shoukd know me better than that!" Daisuke snapped and Ken made an exasperated sound. Takeru, for his part, was trying not to burst out laughing.
"Uh.. guys?" he asked at last, and cringed at the furious looks Daisuke and Ken both sent at him. "As funny as your arguing is... that very angry vampire is charging at us again." Daisuke blinked. It seemed Takeru was now sort of calm, or perhaps their arguing had helped him to calm down a bit. Either way, he wasn't in hysterics anymore. And then his sentence finally hit Daisuke. Erik was coming! He and Ken looked at each other and Daisuke sighed and took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Automatically, he closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing, as Ken muttered words under his breath. Whatever it was, Ken still knew more than he did. In other words, it was Daisuke's job to shut up and do whatever the boy genius told him to do.
A warm feeling blossomed inside him, spreading through him and making him feel extremely comfortable. Daisuke smiled, his eyes still closed. This felt nice. Then, gradually, the warmth became hotter and hotter and soon it was burning fire that hurt! Daisuke yelped and tried to pull away, but Ken kept an iron-tight grip on his hands. "What's happening?!" the redhead yelled, fighting not to do anything stupid.
Ken didn't reply immediately, and Daisuke figured he was trying to keep whatever was happening under control. Typical. Then his voice entered Daisuke's ears, calm and under control, as always. "Why don't you open your eyes and see?"
It seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Feeling slightly like a fool for the amount he had over-reacted, Daisuke opened his eyes, having not prepared himself at all for what might face him when he did. When his disbelieving eyes finally focused on what was happening before them, Daisuke resisted the urge to start screaming his head off.
Ken had been teaching him in the ways of magic for months before all of this had happened. As a result, Daisuke had seen Ken do some pretty freaky things in the last few months. But nothing could compare to this. Perhaps it was because this time, he was being included as well. Either way, he still wanted to scream.
Fire curled around their joined hands, twisting, crackling and burning. And yet their gloves remained normal, not even having the barest hint of flame on them. It was more than a little weird. It was almost frightening. The fire didn't just stay in their hands either -- it had curled up his arms as well. A quick glance confirmed Daisuke of what he had been afraid of... the fire completely surrounded every part of them. And their joined hands kept it that way.
Part of him was tempted to jerk his hands away from Ken's, to just let this strange fire disappear. But he couldn't, for many reasons. While he knew Ken would most likely hurt him if he did, there was also the danger of Erik. They had to destroy him, now. If they didn't, there was a chance Daisuke would find himself back in the Ghost Roads along with Daiseus and Osamu. Osamu. Daisuke briefly wondered if Ken knew his brother's spirit wasn't at rest.
Gritting his teeth and profoundly aware that sweat was streaming down his temples, Daisuke held on, his fingers aching from the intensity of Ken's grip. "How.. do.. we... do.. this exactly?" he managed to get out, trying to ignore the fact that he and Ken, to all appearances, were on fire.
Before Ken could reply, an outraged roar got their attention. Both of them snapped their heads to the side to see Erik charging towards them. The vampire seemed to be almost psychotic, clawing at their fire cocoon and screaming when he couldn't penetrate it. Daisuke felt Ken tense, and saw his sapphire eyes had narrowed in anger.
"When I saw three... toss the fire at him," was his order, and Daisuke nodded, even if Ken couldn't see it. The Kaiser would know he would obey anyway.
"One..."
As Daisuke looked out at Erik, a hot rush of anger suddenly hit him. What right had he, to do all this and cause this much trouble for them? What right had he to control him and make him do things he normally wouldn't? And what damn right had he to nearly kill him?! Daisuke dimly felt his eyes narrow, as the fire around him churned with his own emotions.
"Two..."
The anger was barely controllable now, and Daisuke didn't even realise he was shaking because of it. All he knew was that he wanted Erik to pay, to pay so dearly that the vampire would regret the day he had ever decided to control him. He would make him pay...
"Three!" Ken's yell pierced the air, seconds before the fire lashed out from them to slam into the vampire. For a moment Erik didn't react at all, instead staring at the flames licking at his shirt for a few moments, almost as if he couldn't believe he was really, truly on fire. Then it hit him and he started screaming, batting at the flames frantically. The sound was high-pitched, continuous, and extremely annoying. Ken grimaced and Daisuke screwed up his face in annoyance. Takeru groaned and clamped his hands over his ears.
They watched, hardly able to take away their eyes, as Erik threw himself on the ground, trying to get the lethal flames out. But they were no ordinary flames from a match, and had spread quickly. Erik was doomed. Daisuke and Ken broke their fire link and both fell to their knees, panting from exhaustion and fatigue. Sweat dripped from them and trailed down their faces. The effort to make the spell work obviously hadn't been easy.
But something wasn't right. Even Takeru, with no magical ability, felt it, rubbing his arms to try and get rid of the goose bumps that had appeared on the skin, looking around nervously. It took Ken and Daisuke a few seconds later to realise something was up and they were instantly alert, sick and tired of everything going wrong. Erik was still panicking, but his cries weren't as loud now and they purposely looked away when he fell. He wasn't doing this, that much was obvious.
The air felt heavy, and it seemed like it should have been filled with fog, but there was none. Only the dark night sky stared down at them. Daisuke felt unease trickle down his spine and glanced over at Ken. The twilight-haired genius was looking around them, an annoyed frown tainting his lips. Clearly he wasn't pleased with what was going on.
Then it happened... or to be more precise, then it came.
At first, it was a slight breeze, only succeeding in ruffling their hair slightly. Then it got stronger. And stronger. Then it was a full scale gale. Daisuke lowered his head and dug in his feet, fighting to stay up with the wind blasting in his face. Did they usually get gales in the Digital World? He couldn't remember and he didn't think Taichi or the others had ever talked about gales. Although nothing that had happened in the past few days could ever be called normal.
Then the lightning came, only it wasn't normal either. Typical.
In fact, it was a deep, deep, glowing blue, even more startling then Ken's eyes, or Takeru's or Yamato's. True blue. It snaked across the sky, the thunder rumbling in their ears and causing them to go half-deaf. Out of the corner of his eye, Daisuke could see Ken managing to stay standing and was following the lightning with his eyes. So was Takeru, but his face had gone pure white. He looked sick, even though he wasn't.
Before he could even turn his gaze away from the blonde, blue filled his vision. Blue surrounded him, blue crackled up his arms and blue was him. He didn't hear Takeru's scream, nor Ken's cry of alarm. He didn't feel himself falling, but he did know when black replaced the blue.
At the time he didn't know that a bolt of lightning had hit him, because it simply hadn't registered in his mind. There had been taller trees around them, so if any lightning had come near them, it would have been more logical for it to hit the trees instead of them. But the lightning wasn't normal, and so it didn't do normal things.
When he opened his eyes, there were images in front of him. He didn't understand them at first, watching them in confusion, but as they flickered passed him, he understood what they were. Or perhaps something was silently telling him what they meant. They were connected to Erik, Erik who was now dead because he and Ken had burned him to death. Or was it his second death? Could vampires be considered dead?
He could see things that had happened in Erik's life, things that he had done. He could see Erik as he had been, a human. He could see the beautiful, dark-haired woman who had seduced him. Then he saw her biting him, draining him, making him one of her kind. He saw Erik wandering, always alone, always hateful, despising humans and those more powerful than him. He saw the little girl of a king, saw her becoming vaguely friendly with Erik. Then he saw the vampire tearing out her throat and splattering blood across her blue gown. He saw Daiseus, who looked like an older version of him, who had helped Daisuke return to the living. He saw him meeting Erik for the first time, still dressed in his warrior uniform. He saw Erik carefully woo him, earning Daiseus's trust, making the warrior fall in love with him. Then he saw Erik kill Daiseus ruthlessly. And then he saw the druids who had captured Erik, thrown him into his prison of magic, stone and earth. He saw the clasp the chains around his wrists, the same chains that had weakened over time. He saw them, dressed in their curious robes, with the hoods shielding their faces from view. He saw the eerie torchlight flicker over them, as Erik screamed and cursed as they imprisoned him.
He thought it would end there. There was nothing more to see, for everything after that had happened when Daisuke had unknowingly released him, without even realising it. But there was more, and what he had to see then was not comforting.
He saw Osamu. Osamu Ichijouji. Ken's brother. Osamu, who had met him in the Ghost Roads. He saw the once genius battle through life, trying to keep up to his genius and perfect image and inside feeling only loneliness and pain. Then he saw Erik sense him from the Digital World and send out his power, weak as it was. He saw the power surround Osamu, slowly corrupting him. Then he saw Osamu cross the street, his mind obviously on other things. Erik had been doing that to him. He saw a younger Ken on the other side, watching him with a concerned expression on his face. Then he saw the car come out of nowhere, and then he heard a horrible screeching of brakes and a dull thump and Ken's frightened screams. Daisuke felt himself shudder, as he watched it all, unable to look away because he didn't want to. Part of him didn't want to.
The next thing he saw was Ken coming to the Dark Ocean... yes, it was the Dark Ocean. The place where Hikari had gone to. He watched Ken dip his digivice (Daisuke noted his digivice looked like the old ones, like Taichi's) into the grey water and watched it change into the Black D-3. That was alarming enough, but that wasn't what Daisuke properly watched. He could see Erik's power surround Ken, corrupting him. The realisation was staggering.
Was Erik an Evil Force in the Digital World? Daisuke wondered, staring at the younger, corrupted Ken in horror. He must have been what corrupted Ken into becoming the Digimon Kaiser. Then a sudden thought hit him. If Erik is what influenced him... now that he's destroyed maybe Ken will turn good again! The thought was very inspiring. Then his hand brushed something cold against his jacket. Not recognising it, he frowned and looked down -- and froze.
It was the brooch he had found in the grass. Erik's brooch.
He gasped, suddenly realising how Erik had controlled him. Shit. Shit, shit, shit!! Horror spilled from him, as adrenaline poured through him, causing his nerves to go haywire.
It was then Daisuke got jerked back to consciousness and found Takeru staring down at him, worry and concern filling his azure eyes. "Daisuke," he whispered, smiling down at him and brushing aside a few strands of red hair. "Are you okay?"
Daisuke blinked for a few moments, as he tried to remember what happened. Then he croaked, "I've felt better." Takeru laughed, either from relief or hysterics. Possibly both. Daisuke smiled slightly, and tried to ignore the pain that was everywhere. It was then that he heard the groans. It sounded suspiciously like Ken. Daisuke's eyes met Takeru's and he struggled up to a sitting position. When he saw the state Ken was in, panic flooded him and he crawled over to the Kaiser.
Ken was on his knees, bent over. He was groaning, his arms cradling his stomach. Sweat dripped from his face and his breath was coming in short, quick gasps. He looked about ready to be sick. For a moment Daisuke couldn't understand what was going on. Then he looked down and saw the ruby brooch glittering on his jacket. His eyes wide, he hissed, "I'm going to help you Ken." Then his gloved hands were fumbling with the brooch and it was off and he was drawing on the last reserves of his power... and then the brooch was dust.
Ken tossed back his head and howled, as he slumped forward, his hands catching him before he fell fully onto the ground. As Daisuke and Takeru watched, wide-eyed, Ken began coughing and shaking uncontrollably. As they watched, Ken's clothes merged and rippled, turning grey... back to the Tamachi uniform he wore in the Real World. Metal cuffs fell harmlessly to the ground and disappeared. They could only stare as Ken's hair changed from his spikes and fell as a dark blue curtain to his shoulders. An... ordinary Ken slumped to the ground, breathing heavily.
For a moment neither Takeru or Daisuke could say anything, only able to stare at Ken on the ground. And then the genius was groaning and rising to his knees. He stopped and stared at his hands in shock, his gloves gone. For a moment he froze, and then he was looking at them and Daisuke found pain and hurt in those sapphire eyes. He didn't know who spoke first, but their voices spoke together: "Ken" and "Daisuke".
Takeru had possibly gone into shock, but then a glow caught his eye and he looked down at the grass in front of Ken. Daisuke and Ken automatically looked down then and a glowing pink light burst from the ground, as something rose up from the grass and floated in front of Ken. Takeru recognised it as a crest. It was a crest. Ken had a crest. Wow.
As the seconds ticked by, they could only gawk at the glowing symbol, but then Ken had reached out with shaking fingers and his hand closed around the crest. "Mine," he whispered, sounding as if he could hardly believe it. "This is mine. My crest of Kindness."
Takeru and Daisuke balked at him. "Yours?" Takeru exclaimed, beginning to see Ken in an entirely different light. He looked so... different. Not only in appearance, but he looked so...vulnerable... frightened. So unlike the Ken they had known as their enemy. It was strange.
Daisuke opened his mouth to speak, but then the whispering of words overhead caught his attention and he jerked his head up to see two shining beings floating above them. He blinked, hardly able to believe this was happening. After everything that had happened to him, seeing two ghosts was something that put him in awe. Honestly.
They floated down to them and Daiseus smiled at him. "You did it Daisuke! You defeated Erik!" The warrior who looked so much like him beamed broadly, and Daisuke found himself grinning back. Daiseus's humour was infectious. He completely forgot about the fact that Takeru and Ken might have found seeing two ghosts slightly unnerving. Daisuke was definitely back to normal... sort of.
"Thank you," Osamu added softly, but his eyes were clearly on his younger brother. As he studied the second ghost, Daisuke realised Osamu had looked very like the Kaiser. Had this some significance? He put it to the back of his mind, turning to Ken. There, he realised there was a problem, and cursed himself for being so stupid.
Ken was staring up at his dead brother with wide eyes and a desperately pale face. His breathing was odd and to Daisuke's untrained eye, it looked he was going to start going hysterical. That wasn't good, that wasn't good at all. He mentally kicked himself for not helping Ken more. To see his dead brother in front of him as a ghost would have been far, far more than a shock. It was going to bloody traumatize him. Daisuke and Takeru watched him with wide eyes.
Ken looked at his dead brother and screamed.