IMPORTANT STUFF: Digimon does not belong to me, and Squaresoft owns the Final Fantasy series.
A Digimon & Final Fantasy Tactics
Fusion
DIGITAL FANTASY: LEGEND OF THE TWELVE DIGI-CRESTS
written by K-chan
Characters of Fate: WIZARD
"Memories of Shadows"
He sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly at the bowl of soup before him. With the spoon between his fingers, he prodded the pieces of vegetables swimming in the liquid as if he was doubting the taste, but his mind couldn't care less about food. Shifting his gaze from his meal, he looked around the dining room attached the kitchen, where his mother was content in the household chores.
Nothing seemed to have changed much from his mother busying herself with the house to his father working at townhall. Nothing at all... except for the fact that their family no longer consists of four members, but three instead.
"Ken? Is something wrong?" his mother asked, having turned around to find him staring off into space. He looked at her, blinking his thoughts away. "You've been very quiet today," she said, walking over to him. She laid a hand on his forehead for any signs of health problems. Her eyes dropped onto the uneaten soup. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie? You haven't touch the food at all."
He shook his head, giving her a faint smile, and finally took a spoonful of the soup to ease her worries. "I'm just not hungry," he said, gently squeezing her hand to reassure her of his healthy condition.
She nodded, and he watched her clear the table away. "It's good to have you here, sweetie. You should come home more often!"
"I know, mom, but sometimes I'm stuck at the academy with too much work," he explained. He regretted those words when his mother paused shortly in her trek to the kitchen counter with a soft sigh escaping her lips. The mention of Millain Academy brought back sad memories for the family, but he didn't want to think about it.
"I haven't had your homemade pie in a month, mom," Ken tried to cheer her up, "Do you think you could..." She twirled around and gave me a sweet smile, but behind her eyes were all the tears and sadness she held inside.
"Of course, sweetie! I'll just have to head to the market for the ingredients!" After she set the bowls and plates on the counter, she began to take off the apron. "Why don't you join me? We could visit the old places--some have changed quite a bit."
"Maybe another time. There's still a few things I have to do before I leave tomorrow." She only nodded, knowing that he would rather be alone than conversing with the townspeople.
After she disappeared from sight and the front door closed with a squeak, Ken left the kitchen and quietly walked around the house, slowly reminiscing on the old days when his older brother was still around. It wasn't any good memories to begin with since the two never got along, and contempt for each other just filled their hearts. At least that was one thing they would admit of having in common besides being related, and also being young, talented mages.
Ken would've never thought of following his brother's footsteps and become one of the best black mages of Millain Academy if he hadn't died five years ago. When he was still alive, his presence loomed over everyone, making them feel inferior to his intelligence and power. And even in death, he left quite a huge impression on all of them, mainly in Ken who was now left in the deceased man's shadows to fulfill the void in his parents' lives.
He sighed, trying to shake the ghostly images of the young man from his mind, but it would never work as if his spirit was attached to him. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at his empty hands, like they weren't his own. His dark eyes widened like he had just realized something or had awaken from a deep sleep, and he shook his head, clutching his hands to the side. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!!" he shouted like a madman and rushed up the steps.
The house was empty of all persons except for him, yet there was a haunting aura lurking about. Was it the ghost of his brother missing his home? Or was he still around to torture Ken endlessly? Or was it just his imagination from the fear in his heart? Fear... Fear of becoming the person he hated all his life.
"No... I'm Ken," he mumbled, leaning against the door of a bedroom, "Not Osamu... Ken... Not... Osamu... Ken... Osamu..." He continued the confused mantra, lost in his own identity. Since the day of the news of Osamu's death, Ken's life had ended right then because he had no reason to live in hate. But the guilt of hate was unbearable like it had been his own fault for his brother's death. And that very day, he had accepted Osamu's personality, dreams, and life... becoming a stranger to himself.
He stumbled into the room in a dazed state, no longer able to take on the false image. He couldn't run from the truth and hide behind a dead persona to avoid what wasn't his fault to begin with, but his parents' sorrow was a reminder of the past that he couldn't let go.
He looked around the tranquil room, absorbing every single detail from the various sized textbooks on the shelves to the wrinkled covers of the bed. The curtains were drawn back to allow the sunlight in, even though the owner of the room would never return again.
Ken climbed to his feet and slowly walked over to the desk in the corner and hovered over it like he was the dead Osamu visiting his room for the last time. He lightly caressed the wooden surface with his fingers, brushing a trail through the heavy layer of dust that had accumulated over the years. He had been right: the room was left exactly the way it was five years. It was just too painful for his parents to enter the room, and he never bothered with it either... until now.
His eyes wandered over to the pile of books to the right side of the desk, appearing like something had interrupted Osamu in the middle of his studies. For some reason, Ken reached out to the books and carried them over to their rightful places on the bookshelf. One by one, he put them up as if he was under some sort of spell, but his eyes soon unglazed when the letterings of a book caught his eyes, standing out from the other texts about black magic.
He flipped through a few pages, finding the material and words very ancient, and in between two of the pages was a thick envelope without its contents nor the name of the sender or receiver (but it was most likely Osamu). He held the envelope tightly between the fingers as his expression became very grave, frowning at the item in his hand.
Ken was quite young when his brother left home to study at Millain Academy, so during the times he didn't come home, he was assumed studying at the academy. But here was the young Ichijouji holding onto an empty envelope with a broken seal of royalty on the back. Their family had no ties with any royalty nor high officials, so why did Osamu have something from the king or the royal court?! It just didn't make sense... unless there was more to the young man than he and his family knew about.
He glanced at the envelope and then at the text in his other hand, beginning to doubt the message given them five years ago. "He died," he spoke just about a whisper, "and we just accepted it..." So many questions cycled in his head about the past, but there was one that shocked him the most, concerning his brother, "... without a body..."
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Waaaai!! I'm back again?!! Oh puu, I was hoping to upload this in the same day as Miya-chan's chapter, but oh well. Why Ken-chan as a wizard? I'm not really sure... but there's something mysterious about a black mage (despite the appearance of one), and the whole idea of black magic being rather powerful... well, just give that power to Ken-chan aka the ex-Digimon Kaizer... And once again, he's powerful and mysterious. And the whole job fits in perfectly with his chapter!
Hehee, and I added a mystery for Ken-chan to solve! (Hey, he does become a... detective at the end of the show!)
To digitalized... WAAAH, I HOPE YOU'RE OKAY!!! Err, I really hope that falling off the chair wasn't uhh... [giant sweatdrop] the reaction to Miyako's job or chapter... And gomen, Sora-chan isn't a swordswoman either.Two left!!! YAAAY!! But if no one gets the right answer in for Sora's job before the chapter comes out (I still don't know when yet), then I'll try to think of doing something else special instead...
To Digital Wonderer... Thank you! I hope you enjoyed Ken-chan's chapter! I pretty much tried to stick to their original background. And Sora-chan's chapter is the next one (and Koushiro's last)--oh, I just put up a little 'guess Sora's FFTactic's job' contest in chapter 8 (Jyou's) for some fun! Don't worrie about it... Ya know what though... with some of the medieval fics out there, I don't understand how Sora-chan is made into a princess when it's SO obvious that Mimi was practically one. [shrugs] Even if the sole purpose was to make it a medieval romance for Sora-chan, there's really no need to make her and whoever of royalty and such. But I guess I'm pretty picky about keeping their personalities, backgrounds, etc close to the original ones.
To Kenyako Divination... Thanks for the names!!! I just have to know 'cause the Gennai Royal Family is involved, ya know... from the mention in the first chapter. But now I think I have to come up with more names... Hmm, any suggestions, minna-san?? (All the names I usually come up with are Japanese... Heh heh.)
K-chan, who may need her coffee soon... or just some sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep... =¬.¬,=
