Part 06 – Truth
Daisuke
walked down the gloom corridor slowly, moving through a long series of twisting,
never-ending hallways leisurely, with a seemingly calculated cat-like grace. The
fairly too high ceiling and the cold walls were fused and drowned in the
gloominess, overlapping and melding, so that he was moving cloaked in perfect
darkness. So wrapped up in his own thoughts, he was only dimly aware of the
figure following him as silently and faithfully as it could.
Was it
Chibimon? Or was it Veemon? Or the Kaiser's digimon, maybe?
Daisuke
didn't know and didn't want to either. At that point such details had lost
all their intrinsic meaning –if they ever had any- in the light of what had
happened and was about to.
He moved
through the shadows as one of them, knowing the depths of this castle and its
every corner and shadow too well to really need to watch where he was going. He
couldn't pay attention to nothing but his final destination; his heart settled
on fire by some unknown feeling that he couldn't understand logically. Later
he'd think that he was so nervous because he knew what was about to happen,
but if that's the truth it's a question I'll leave you to ask and answer.
His
stroll coming to a silent halt in front of a huge door chiseled exquisitely,
Daisuke placed his palms on the wooden surface, the geometries and patterns
chiseled all over it tickling his palms and marking his soft flesh. Cracking the
door open, he limped inside the dimly lit bedroom with a firm step, the digimon
following him quietly. Taking a moment to inspect his surrounding, his russet
eyes -now nearly black for the immensity of the pupils- fell, hypnotized, on the
ray of pale light leaching through the half closed window and caressing softly
the deep mauve/black silky sheets on the huge bed. Billionths of little dancers
floated in the golden radiance, iridescent particles of dust carried around by a
soft, imperceptible breeze.
Smiling
softly, as a old man who has just see the sweetest child accomplishing one of
those gestures of deep love and clear inexpertness they only can perform, the
brunette moved toward the bed even slower than before, seeming happy and at
peace. Once he reached the bed he knelt down, eyes never leaving the dark sheets.
Making himself comfortable on his knees, Daisuke caught the digimon staring at
him with this sorrowful look breaking its otherwise strict countenance at the
corner of his eyes. Big ruby eyes narrowed and their owner leaned its back
against the cold rock wall as Daisuke ran an exploring hand over the silkiness
of the bed. Once satisfied by its little quest, the hand came to a rest and was
soon joined by its sister and by the soft pressure of Daisuke's head resting
over its back.
Still
smiling, Daisuke allowed his auburn eyes to close out the world and, sighing
softly, he began his silent waiting, a content statement playing over his
features. It wouldn't take the Kaiser too much to awake. He just had to wait.
Wait and wait… until it was time.
* * * *
*
Koushiro
Izumi was known for the swiftness his fingers could hit the keys of his laptop
with, but never before he had reached such an extreme speed. Driven nervous by
the looming danger the second child of Courage and Friendship was in right now,
he was typing frantically, quivering droplets of sweat tracing down his temples
from time to time. At his side, reading over his shoulder and drinking eagerly
every single word, was Ken, doing his best to restrain his own worry and be
helpful. That was something the redhead was really grateful for, and every now
and then he would look up and smile reassuringly at the amethyst eyed boy who
was squeezing his shoulder as if that contact was his only link with sanity.
Sitting
in a corner, legs drawn to her chest and arms wrapped around them, was Miyako.
Her head was ducked down, her hair cascading down her shoulders and laying on
her neck, arms and legs as brushes of violet. Her face was hidden between her
knees, but by the way her shoulders heaved with every jagged breath she took,
and by the soft sobbing coming from her direction, it was quite easy to guess
she was still crying. The bearer of the crest of Love and the bearer of the
crest of Light were at her sides, gently patting her back and sharing helpless
looks. Not so far, sat the second child of Reliability and Knowledge, big
emerald eyes hooked on the shivering form. Next to him, with his back against
the wall, his head tipped skyward was the brunette child of Courage and, slumped
in chair at his side, was the blue-haired child of Reliability. Both had their
eyes closed, one in evident worry and the other to hide this worry of his behind
a cold façade.
"KUSO!"
Every
pair of eyes in the room but Miyako's shot up to alight on the sight of a very
pissed ex-leader of the chose children with a fist enveloped in his other cupped
hand, an angry grimace twisting his fine features. "HOW MUCH WILL THIS TAKE,
UH?!"
"I'm…
not sure, Tai." Koushiro replied slowly, his eyes falling back on his computer
screen. "I've been working on this program for days… I'm nearly done but…"
he left the sentence hanging, in hope he would catch the hint.
"KUSO!"
he screeched louder, coffee brown eyes narrowing. "I've had to do it your
way and wait!! And what's the result?! MORE WAITING!!!"
Miyako's
head snapped up at this and she noticed Taichi's usually tan face had paled
visibly, and she could also see the clear worry rippling the boy's eyes.
"Daisuke…"
she began, but her voice faltered and she stopped turning to gaze mutely at the
ground. "…you… … …wanted to… … …go save him?"
"Hell,
yeah!" the brunette replied harshly, and the other children winced, expecting
the rude tone of his voice to cause Miyako to start crying again. Anyway,
relieved sighs excited those chose children's lips as she just shook her head.
"I
though… I was the only one… who cared enough…"
"Me
too." Taichi admitted with a nod, a small smile tugging up his lips. "I
wanted so bad to just burst into the Kaiser's base and beat him till he would
beg, but I couldn't…" his smile dropped and so did his eyes, aligning at
last on his hands, hanging loosely at his sides. "…because we needed a
plan…"
He
paused for a moment and then looked up, clenched fists coming closer to a
grinning face. "But now we're going to give him a lesson for taking away our
Dai, right?!" His companion exploded into a loud cheer without a second
thought and, despite herself, Miyako let out a little giggle, wiping her tears
away with her sleeve. Then she locked eyes with Taichi and smiled, nodding him
she had understood. With her hand still laying on the soft curve of the slight
older girl's back, Hikari smiled softly, before her eyes clouded. She let out
a sight, lowering her head to face the floor.
"What
happened to us?" she whispered soulfully, breaking suddenly the brief moment
of happiness. "We drifted apart… left him alone… never considering him
before…and now… we could lose him…"
"Hush…"
a soft finger was placed on her lips, and Hikari immediately straightened her
shoulders, looking up in a pair of gentle hazel eyes. "…we'll tell him how
sorry we're and how much we love him as soon as we'll have him back… does
this sound good?" Sora whispered soulfully.
Mutely,
the brunette nodded, a smile spreading over her cheeks.
The
relative silence was broken when Yamato punched the wall angrily, gritting his
teeth so hard it seemed he was about to break them. "And do you think I was
happy to just sit down waiting for the right time to take action, uh?! If he has
touched a single hair of his brown head…"
"He's
one of us…" Joe sighed and, taking off his glasses, massaged the bridge of
his nose. "I was so worried I could barely sleep at night… me and Izzy came
out with centuries of possible plans to repair the damaged files and discover
the truth about the Kais--"
"Files?!"
Ken whipped around abruptly, nearly throwing Koushiro on the ground because of
the grip he still had of his shoulder. The bluette grimaced, and rubbed his face
harshly with both of his hands. "*What* truth?!" Ken almost shouted, purple
eyes darting around to land on four shocked expressions he could just guess to
be mirrors of his own.
"The
truth about the Kaiser." Koushiro amended slowly. "Is all here in my
laptop."
"Basically."
Yamato spoke next, his ocean eyes burning the wall. "We have the file, but we
can't access it."
"B-But…"
"Yeah,
Ken." Taichi crossed his arms across his chest and nodded firmly, nibbling
angrily his bottom lip. "We couldn't risk making our move without consulting
this file. Not after last time."
"We
don't know who he is…" Sora said softly, eyes not quite meeting Ken. "If
he's a human, or a digimon… or an entity completely different, like
Gennai… and…" she paused for a moment, reaching out for a lock of russet.
"…we don't know if he's an evil tyrant or a blameless victim."
Ken
winced at the last comment, ashamed by his own blind rage that had veiled to him
the possibility that the Kaiser himself was only a confused boy entangled in
something bigger than him. A similar realization made fresh tears well up in
Miyako's golden brown eyes. Not only she was fighting with blind anger someone
that wasn't proved to be an enemy, but she had accused without a reason her
companions to care not for Daisuke, too. Wiping the tears away bravely she stood
up, walking up to Koushiro's side. "What are you working on right now?"
The
redhead raised a finger toward the screen, pointing a blinking dot running
happily through the screen. "That's the file Gennai sent me to upload me
about the Kaiser's plan and true identity. But it is coded, and it has been
damaged because halfway through the transmission someone I suppose to be the
Kaiser intercepted my connection and disturbed it." Miyako nodded slowly, one
finger moving up to slide her glasses up her nose. "I'm nearly done
repairing and converting it. The only thing we can to do is wait."
Again
the violet haired girl nodded, but this time she moved her hands toward the
keyboard. "What if we do this…?"
Koushirou's
obsidian eyes widened considerably and he nearly fell backward for the surprise.
"GOOD! We're devoting everything to file decoding and repairs... It will still
take some time, but this will reduce it considerably!! How come I didn't think
about *that*?! It's *so* obvious!!"
Flashing
him her best grin, Miyako posed for her friend her trademark 'bingo' pose
and was pleased to see him grin back at her proudly.
This
induced Ken to take his time to look at the girl closely. She was smart –as
she had just proved; full of life, stubborn and sweet all at once. She had a big
heart and was ready to help her friends… or pester them to death if it could
be of any use. She was kind and obviously attached to Daisuke. And, just to add
her points, she was very, very pretty. Coming from someone who, like Ken, never
cared enough about girls to take note of their aspect, that was a big compliment;
big enough to multiply the jealousy-not-jealousy still lurking at the bottom of
his stomach. He forced one of the corners of his lips to curve up in a small
smile when she beamed at him contently, eyes glassy and cheeks flushed. She was
pretty. No doubt Daisuke was happy she loved him. Possibly, he even reciprocated
her feelings. And if he didn't he was surely about to.
Sighing
heavily, Ken's attention diverted from Miyako's soft eyes to one of his
hands.
//I've
lost.// He thought, and after a moment his head snapped upward. Shocked by how
he couldn't understand this stranger thought flowed into his mind and how
resigned it had sounded, he looked at his hands once again. What had he lost?
And shouldn't he fight to have it back? But fight for what?! What in the
digiworld was wrong with him?! Closing his eyes, the purple haired boy shifted
his weight on his heels, tipping his head backward. It wouldn't take
Koushiro's program much to repair the damaged files. He just had to wait. Wait
and wait… until it was time.
* * * *
*
His lids
fluttered upward, and he regarded the unlit room with usual sparkling eyes
refined by the sleep. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as his dark eyes looked
into the twin pools of crimson pleading up at him, waving with confused emotion.
He blinked leisurely, relishing in the almost unreal perfection of that single
moment. Then…
"Daisuke?"
Daisuke
smiled softly, closing is eyes and nuzzling his cheek against the silky sheets
his head and hands were tangled in. "Yes…?"
The
Kaiser pressed his forehead against the mattress, allowing a faint smile to tug
upward the corners of his lips. "You're back…"
"Of
course!" The other replied, placing his chin on his twined fingers.
"…welcome…"
the Kaiser whispered, still swaying in a dazed sleepiness, looking with half
lidded eyes at the same ray of light that had fascinated Daisuke so much when he
had first entered the bedroom. The smile on his lips had a short life, though,
and when reality flowed over him it was replaced by an impudent smirk.
"Worried about the centuries of things I could do to your friends if you
didn't come back, right?"
At first
Daisuke didn't say anything, just staring at the blurred spot of dark wine
which were the sheets, too close to his eyes to be on focus. Only when he
noticed the Kaiser's hand clench desperately to the dark silkiness, he finally
spoke.
"No."
he said slowly, letting the word roll down his tongue and slide out his lips in
a shooting whisper. "I'm back… because I promised."
Another
pause followed, during which the Kaiser's fingers wriggled, looking like he
was rasping invisible mud. "…you're here… for me, then?"
Daisuke
swallowed, disentangling his hands from the sheets to lay his elbows on the
mattress, and rest his chin in his cupped hands. "…I think… I am."
The
Kaiser licked his lips, eyes cast downward. "…why?"
"I
promised."
"No…"
he shook his head slowly, brows furrowed and lips pressed in a line, as if that
simple gesture needed to be pondered carefully. "…I mean…" he shook his
head again, eyes filling with billionths of dark shadows. "…you promised
because I forced you to, right? So what's the point in proclaiming you're
back for me, uh? I suppose you can stop your little game of charades, for I'm
not as gullible as you seem to regard me as." His voice was cold and even; the low hiss of a venomous snake. His eyes
narrowed for a moment, and in that same moment everything went still. Him, his
beloved, the digimon watching silently the whole exchange, the air… the world.
Then, the doors of his connection with Daisuke banged open and torrents of
secreted emotions flowed though, filing the Kaiser with awe. His eyes widened,
as the most intense emotions of all those hit him full force. Compassion. Pity.
Sympathy. Friendship. And… and… consideration? …Lo…lo…ve…?
When the
implied immensity of what was happening hit him with all the force of a slap,
wedging itself deep into his being, he actually reeled backward, jolting up to a
kneeling position, as if hit by a physical bow… as if hurt… as if mortally
wounded.
An eerie
feeling of deja-vu threatened to overwhelm him. All of a sudden, he was
submerged again in the sticky hug of too familiar pity, lost in a plethora of
disembodied skeletal hands reaching out to him… Pity… the feeling he hated
to receive and yet elicited the most, was back to haunt him.
Pity.
Pity. Pity.
//I'm
not pitiful! I'm the might Emperor!!//
Pity.
Pity. Pity.
//I'm…
I'm…//
Pity.
Pity. Pity.
//NO!!!//
Pity.
Pity. Pity.
//…no…//
Pity.
Pity. Pity.
//…onegai…//
Pitiful.
//Onegai…//
His
breath came out in ragged gusts, and Daisuke himself widened his eyes, adding
immense concern to the centuries of feelings already flowing from his heart to
the Kaiser's. Suddenly, the boy stopped, as if petrified. Then, his head
snapped downward, like the one of a broken doll. His trembling hands moved
toward his face, where wide eyes shone, gibbering, the pupils so tin to be
nearly invisible, drowned in a dark sea of sheer insanity. A low, strangled
chuckle trusted out his lips, and then it shifted, boiling up to a sickening
crescendo, and soon the Kaiser's whole form was shook by insane laughter,
which resounded in the darkness in a maddening echo… a fly of crows hunting
for mortal souls.
* * * *
*
Ken jolt
up from the comfort the old chair was giving him when he heard Miyako's
frustrated shriek. Or at least, that's how it looked like. In reality, the
distant sound of a sickening sneer what was had alerted him, and his mind would
realize only with a significant delay the predicament the child of Love and
Sincerity was in. Keen eyes quickly scanned the dim area, looking for any sign
of whatever had been laughing so disturbingly and sounding so close to give him
the impression of warm breath moistening the back of his neck. Reaching out his
hand for the cradle of the long-dead dark seed, he ran his eyes back over his
environments again, and this time something caught his eyes. Miyako was
screeching loudly, banging her fists on the table where Koushiro's laptop
laid, still beeping indifferently. He narrowed his eyes at the unusual sight,
brown kneading in thought.
"Wh--"
He was
pulled forward roughly and forced to swallow the rest of his sentence when the
girl turned toward him and grasped the collar of his shirt in two tight fists.
"Why is it taking all this =damned= time, uh?!"
"W-w-what?"
He blinked, taken aback, before being throttled by the overwrought girl.
"You're
the genius of the group, right?! So do something!!"
"But
Miya--"
"Don't
'but Miyako' me!! Do something! Anything!!" A tear streaked down her face
and he looked at it in fascinated horror. "Don't you care for Daisuke?
You've been sitting here for God knows how much, doing nothing but staring at
empty air!!!"
The
purple haired boy lowered his eyes shamefully, not able to bear the silent
accusation which burned in the girl's hazel eyes.
"I
do… I care, but… what can I possibly do other that try to be out of the way
and let the program do its work?"
The girl
shook her head, lowering her gaze as well. "You're right… I guess I'm
just… overreacting. Sorry."
"No…"
he smiled softly, placing his hands on each of her shoulders. "I supposed
I'd react exactly like that if I was in love with Daisuke…"
Miyako's
eyes widened and so did Ken's when they both grasped the faint innuendo
lurking deeply in that sentence. The girl gulped soundly, looking straight into
Ken's wide eyes.
"You
don't, then? You don't love him?"
It would
have been so easy for the former Emperor to take the way out she had so
skillfully settled in front of his eyes. He just had to say a simple 'no'
and everything would be fine. He would be back to his usual, *straight* world,
and she would be satisfied and relieved all at once. But if saying it was so
simple and so right, then why that little word refused to escape his mouth? What
was the thing that was holding it back, and that was invisible even to Ken
himself?
Battling
this inner confusion, he dropped his hands and shook his head slowly, hoping the
girl could accept that as an answer. Unfortunately, she didn't. She wanted
answers, and she wanted them *now*.
"This
means you two are not in love? That Daisuke didn't trap himself in the digital
world out of love? Love for you?" Ken's eyes widened even more if that was
possible. The kisses… his sacrifice… his clear turmoil… his pain… was
that… love?! Was Takeru right, then? Daisuke need him like *that*?! And was
the Kaiser right, too? Did his best friend love him? And he *did* want him as
much as the Kaiser did? Ken opened his mouth, but words failed him and he could
just look, bewildered, as Miyako kept on asking feverishly, her voice hitting
notes higher and higher with each word. "The Kaiser was wrong when he
insinuated that you want him, right? And he was just lying when he said he loves
you, right?! Right?! But when he said you don't love him, he was sincere! He
was, wasn't he?!" she screamed, the shaking in her arms increasing.
"Right?! There's no possible way that he loves you!! It… can't be!!
Why… why would he fall for a boy? Am I not enough for him?"
Ken
could only stare at her, mind miles away. "OR AM I?!" She shrieked, shacking
him by his shoulders.
"CALM
DOWN!" Pale hands had grasped both her wrists in a tight hold, and the girl
stumbled a step backward, looking at Ken doing the same. Then she blinked,
looking up into hungry obsidian eyes. "What has gotten into you two, uh? Stop
fighting! We're a team! We need to cooperate! Daisuke's safety is more
important that this foolish cat fights!!" Joe shouted, before lowering
carefully his tone to a soothing whisper. "You'll take care of this later,
is this fair enough?"
Mutely,
Miyako nodded, shooting Ken an apologetic glance. Before either of them could
say anything, though, Kouishiro erupted in an excited cry.
"PROCESS
COMPLETE! WE CAN ACCESS THE FILE NOW!!!"
* * * *
*
The
laughter clawed its way up the boy's throat, boiling and burning in his mouth
to echo back at him from the walls, like if the unmoving rock couldn't bear
such a disgusting caress as the one that voice was performing sickly over it.
Then, the laughter quieted, as the eruption of Volcano coming to a hesitant halt
that still holds the power and fury of the first bursting, but keeps it hidden
under a layer of quickly hardening rock. Soon the only noise in the room was the
one of the Kaiser's ragged breaths.
"…Kaiser…?"
Daisuke asked timidly.
The
Kaiser stiffened visibly, his whole body seeming to go erect. When he opened his
lilac lips to speak, his voice was clear and steady.
"Daisuke."
"What…was…that?"
He managed in a gasp, dazed by the battling emotions streaming through his whole
body for the contact with the Kaiser's heart.
"Me."
"…no
kidding."
Despite
his great exhaustion, the Kaiser chuckled, but the sound escaping his lips was
far from his usual evil and derisive gurgle. "That's the truth. That's
what I've in my heart, and being what you've deep inside what defines you
then, necessarily, what you felt was me."
An
amazed gasp escaped Daisuke's lips and he stood, completely still, marveling
about the depths of the Kaiser's heart. Despite that sheer darkness that
dominated them, the insane fears, the overwhelming needs unknown even to the
Kaiser itself, they were comforting in a way. Embracing that darkness was like
coming back home for Daisuke.
"…why?"
the brunette finally asked.
"Why
what?"
"Why
did you do it?" he frowned at the memories now playing untarnished and clear
in his mind.
"And
you?" the Kaiser asked, lowering his head at last. His eyes fell on
Daisuke's wrists and there they remained. "Why did you cut your wrists? Did
you do it because you wanted to die, or rather because you wanted to live?"
"To
live?"
"There
are many ways to live, my Daisuke. So much that one human mind can barely
consider them all. And their number overwhelms the one of the ways to die." He
paused, dropping his hands at his sides and leaning back against the bed. "And
I did what I did to live."
"Tell
me." Daisuke asked softly, and yet his voice held an unmistakable hint of
demand.
"Look
deep inside myself, Daisuke. Deep down the story of this world, at the dawn of
time. And there you'll find me, my beloved. The real me."
"Tell
me." Was all he said.
"I've
been her since the start. I've seen cities burn in miasmas of flickers that
reflected in the sky and the streaming waters… I've seen death and life
battle over a simple valley. I've kissed Death on the lips and she has pulled
away. I've the memory of the pits of hell burned in my mind with liquid
fire." Once again the boy paused, and Daisuke shifted, crossing his arms on
the soft mattress and laying his head over them, asking mutely his captor to go
on. As if promising him he could take as long as he wanted because he would
never get tired. Never grow impatient. As if he could, by showing mutely this
endless confidence of his, made the prospective of a painful remembrance a
bittersweet new memory to share.
"It
all started… when I was still nothing but a child…"
* * * *
*
"Look
at this." Izzy began slowly, tapping a key on they keyboard. A buzzing sound
flickered in the now thick air, dense with worry and unspoken questions, and a
faint ray of light erupted from the screen, iridescent little dots dancing
quietly around it. Then, the center of the column of light flickered and waved,
and a three-dimensional hologram of an eleven years old Digimon Kaiser made its
proud appearance in front of the digidestined.
"…This
is… me… right?" Ken asked just as slowly, if not even slower, his throat
gone dry.
"No."
Izzy stated quietly. "This is the *real* Kaiser. The one that came to life
along with the whole digital universe."
"C-c-come
again?" Stuttered Miyako, while Ken now wide stare scanned deeply the wavering
image.
"Let
me explain." He pressed another key and the image shifted, to a spiky haired
boy, -6 or 7- hugging protectively a blue bundle, a little lizard digimon. His
amethyst eyes were huge and glassy… kind and lonely… betrayed but still
innocent… and yet… distant, lost. The digidestined only shared a confused
look, but Ken's reaction was thousand times more devastating. He shot up,
straightening his shoulder after a cold shiver shook them. His huge eyes widened
even more and he opened his mouth wide, inhaling air with a loud gasp. His knees
didn't support him for long though, and he reeled forward, pressing his hands
on the desk for support. Still gasping, looking like a shipwrecked person
panting on the shore after a seemingly endless fight with the unforgiving
tsunamis, he looked up to the wavering image of the child, eyes watering and
voice dying in his throat.
"O…O…Osamu?"
He chocked out at last, flashing the redhead at his side a sorrowful look.
"Wrong
again." He shook his head slowly, attention diverted completely on the
hologram. "This is the Kaiser… before being the Kaiser." He explained
almost sadly. "I suppose you boys all know about the Castle in the eastern
continent, right?"
"ShogunGecomon's
castle you mean?" Hikari asked gently. "I think we stumbled across it
once."
"…Yeah."
T.K. agreed slowly. Mulling over his own words.
Once
again Koushiro nodded slowly, looking like he was mulling over and calculating
even such an easy movement. "At first, at the creation of the digital world I
mean, that Castle was nothing but the residence of its creators. They
self-proclaimed themselves Landlords of the world they had created and took
residence in that Castle to prove their authority to every digimon foolish
enough to contradict them."
Miyako
pointed at the screen, where now the image of the Kaiser projected on the ray of
light was paired with one of the above-mentioned Castle. "So this is where
Dai's held, right?!"
"…no.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll go there gradually, now let me
explain." He pressed a single key and the image of the castle immediately took
the place of the Kaiser's in the light screen. "As I was saying, here was
where the Creators lived. A whole team of scientists and geniuses of computers
and robotics occupied the Castle, but two were the ones holding the power."
Again Koushiro pressed a key and the glimmering image of a wonderful woman
wavered quietly where once stood the looming image of the castle. This was a
very beautiful woman, her fair skin seemed to glow and her shining raven hair
held an undertone of velvet purple that just added magic to her already
appealing figure. She was smiling, and even if the gentle emotion curving her
lips didn't reflect itself in the depths of her turquoise eyes, that didn't
disturb the quite waves of kindness her whole form radiated. "Tzarina
Yasashiino Hotaru." He paused for a moment and then pressed another key, so
that the image of the purple haired child and his lizard was beside the
woman's "…and her only child, the Zarevitch Tenshi"
* * * *
*
"…a
wonderful woman and a lonely child tangled in the illusions and weighted down by
the pressure of a role of endless powerfulness. What a fantastic scenario,
isn't it? Just… the plot for a fairy tale. The idea for a legend book."
The Kaiser smirked, eyes clouded with what seemed pain. "But how different
life is from fables… in reality what's evil will always be evil and what's
good isn't always strong enough to resist darkness."
Daisuke's
finger contracted around the sheets for an unconscious reaction, trying to block
out the sorrow and painful sarcasm flowing from the Kaiser's heart straight to
his. Noticing his beloved's uneasiness, the Kaiser took a deep breath in,
willing his emotion to be tamed. Daisuke smiled gratefully at that, a gesture
that only elicited a low snicker form his captor.
"I was
the first human to be born in the digital lands. Half real, half digital. A
being half of human flash, half of data. I was a miracle to the eyes of some
Creators, and an interesting guinea pig and delicious challenge to the eyes of
others." He smiled bitterly then, loosing control of his emotion and letting
them flown into Daisuke's mind to elicit another shiver. "Imagine… a
child, the only one in that world of chimeras and fantasy animals, regarded as
an object, used as an excuse for acts otherwise never forgivable, acclaimed as a
miracle and venerated as a ruler. Alone always and everywhere, until one day, to
add more glory to his legend, he was able to synchronize with a native of the
digital lands –a digimon- an elicit in him the dormant capacity to
digivolve."
"Raymon?"
"Raymon."
* * * *
*
"Raymon?"
"Raymon"
Koushiro repeated, pointing the lizard buried in the young Kaiser's arms.
"The rookie form of the Mega digimon we already met. His first evolution
activated the dormant data that activated the digivolutions. In fact, it seems
that, until he first digivolved, digimon were trapped in the form they were
created in."
"And
why did he first digivolve, may I ask?" Miyako said, eyes hooked on the gentle
face of the kid, marveling on what could have occurred to him to change someone
so naïve-looking into an heartless tyrant.
"Actually,
that's the best question you could have asked Miyako." Koushiro said,
shifting in his seat, while every other Digidestined bowed closer to his laptop.
"It seems that a fair amount of fights was born between the Creators and the
figure of the Tzarina. And the differences kept growing day after day,
until…"
* * * *
*
"…they
challenged her, my beloved. The wonderful woman whose unrepealable rights had
made her drift apart from her reality to elevate her in a world of power and
responsibilities where not even her own son was allowed. They challenged her.
And she fought for, as she said, I was hers and hers alone. They had no rights
over me. And so they killed her, and the wonderful woman was transformed into a
broken doll drowned in a torrent of crimson blood. It spotted my cheeks,
confusing with something I've been told is called 'tears'. She smiled,
then died, her bloody corpse falling on top of me to enclose me in that hug
I've waited for all my lifetime. And then…"
Daisuke
lowered his head in the sheets, warm wetness streaming down his cheeks to die in
the wine silkiness. It was too much… just too much… the memories playing in
front of his eyes… the shouts echoing in his ears… the feeling of blood
covering his hands and features… her last, only true smile… the tortures
they inflicted on her before letting her exhale her last breath… and then…
* * * *
*
"And
then…" Koushiro said slowly, his eyes widening at the images and words
appearing on his screen. "…they… took him."
* * * *
*
"…they
took me. And since then my world was nothing but pain. And who had always
considered me nothing but a rare and interesting guinea pig had his dream come
true. Many types of probes where injected in my body and the experiments
started. And so did the pain." Daisuke buried his head deeper in the sheets,
shaking it desperately, but the Kaiser raised his head, eyes closed and breath
even. "But no experiment went as they expected. The power drawn out of me,
regardless of what they did to me, escaped their comprehension and hold, and
this just enraged them more. And the pain grew."
"I
tried to fight, but it was all in vain. And one single word seemed capable to
escape my trembling lips. 'Onegai'." He closed his eyes, biting his bottom
lip. "Onegai… onegai… onegai…" He paused again and then Daisuke nodded
slowly, allowing him the now so needed permission to go on, open his heart and
let him in. "But I couldn't endure the pain much longer… at first the pain
elicited fear… then tears… and then… I was dominated by hatred. Burning
hatred that rushed inside my veins and boiled at the bottom of my stomach until,
unsurprisingly, it turned into destructive impulse to destroy. Destroy
everything. The Creators, the earth, the digitalworld..." Once again he
paused, smiling sadly at Daisuke's tiny attempts to put up a façade of
braveness that fooled their link not even for a second. "Finally they noticed
my violent behavior, so unusual for a child of my age, but it was already too
late. I was completely different from the child who loved tales of angels and
fairies and despised violence and weapons that they had captured. My body was
broken ...and my mind was too."
"I
freed my power, twining it with Raymon's to digivolve him to the supreme form
of Imperialmon, the mega digimon. Countless creatures died before my eyes. Men,
women, 'mon and 'womon, innocent bystanders and guilty tormentors… A
variety of emotions -suffering, grief, fear- wedged inside my earth… and I
smiled, my Daisuke. My eyes dead, my face pale, I just smiled. Not the smile of
child. But the smile of a insane, broken doll." He opened his eyes again,
feeling Daisuke's compassion glide inside him. But this time he welcomed it,
almost warmly, and a smile wormed its way on his lips. "I was free. I was
finally free."
Daisuke's
head fell weightlessly on the mattress, his cheek landing on the wetness his
tears had created. He managed a mute nod, his eyes glassy but now emptied of the
tears that had traced the sticky rivulets now drying on his tanned cheeks.
"And since then, the Zarevitch ceased to exist. Tenshi was no more. Since that
moment defined by that insane smirk, I've been the Kaiser."
* * * *
*
"Oh my
God…" The child of light brought her hands up to her mouth, as if she was
sick. Her cheeks burned and seemed to be wet, but it took her a minute to
realize she was crying. "They… tortured him?"
"Repeatedly."
Koushiro agreed with a nod. "For years."
"Oh my
God…" Takeru whispered, recoiling a step backward.
"But…
he was a child!! He was only a child!!" Miyako shrieked, whipping around to
face the redhead who, once again, nodded mutely. "My God…"
"They
ran experiments, tortured him physically and mentally, starved him…"
"Stop…"
Ken pleaded, grasping the screen in two shaking hands. "…please." Koushiro
nodded again, his eyes moving from the screen to the purple haired boy and back.
"That's
why he seeks revenge?" Miyako ventured to ask.
"It
seems so." Koushiro agreed in a steady voice.
"No."
Ken shook his head, bringing his head up to look at the redhead in the eyes.
"What he's doing is not taking revenge. Not only that, anyway." He turned
back slowly toward the screen, purple eyes softening for a moment in a sad
smile. "He's living the childhood he 's been denied… he's
playing…" then his looks darkened, and he straightened his back, snatching
his hands away from the screen as if burned. "But this doesn't justify what
he'd done to us or to the digital world. We've to stop him." He looked up
at the other chosen children and was glad to see them nodding their agreement.
"Good." He said firmly. "We're taking Daisuke back!" He said through
gritted teeth, raising a clenched fist. All his companions nodded again, and
when he nodded back, they all brought their respective digivices and D3 out
their pockets. It was then that Miyako gasped, looking at her D3 with an oddly
dreamy stare.
"…Ken…?"
she said tentatively, lowering her D3 –already over her head- in front of her
face. "Could you… give me… Daisuke's D3? Please… I'd like to be the
one to give it back--" the lavender haired girl was turning slowly toward him
as she spoke, but her words died in her throat, her smile fading into a frown,
when she noticed Ken's horrified look.
The
purple haired boy looked pale, even paler than usual, and his red eyes hinted to
the tears welling up in their depths but never to be shed. "Ken?"
One of
his hands rose, shaking, to press against his mouth, wide eyes looking at the
ground and yet not seeing it. "I… don't have it…" Miyako gasped
loudly, but before she had a chance to utter a single syllable, the boy's wide
stare was focused on her, troubled and shocked. "Daisuke's D3… never did
it through the digiport…"
"…he's
never been trapped… there…then?"
"What?!"
Taichi took a firm step toward the now slightly shaking boy, teeth bared and
gritted furiously. "What are you saying?! This is nonsense!"
"No at
all." Koushiro murmured quietly, and whiting seconds Taichi's burning gaze
was on him.
"What?"
he hissed.
The
computer genius's dark eyes flicked up, and he looked at their newly
re-nominated leader through his eyelashes. "You see, the D3s are synchronized
with their owner, in a way completely similar to the synchronization between a
digimon and their human. The only difference is that –if there isn't an
adverse forced working against them- a D3 will never leave its owner's side,
no matter what." The redhead nodded at his, taking his chin in two pale
fingers, in a pensive pose that gave the impression he was processing something
inside his head. Then he nodded again, satisfied with the results of this
research oh his. "A proof of what I'm saying is the way the D3s
automatically passed through the digital portal to reach their owners once
Taichi's touch brought them to life."
A rather
uncomfortable silence covered the digidestined, and no sound other than their
breathing could be heard in the lazy brilliance of the late afternoon's sun.
"What
are you saying…?" Ken murmured at last, blinking his purple eyes quickly.
"That… all this time… Dai was…"
"Was
really free to come back?!" Miyako incredulous shout ended for him. "But
this is impossible!! This is =insane=!! He'd have come back to us, wouldn't
he?!"
"If he
=could= Miyako." Koushiro said, his usual calm not wavering at all. "If he
=could=" He said with a nod, and the girl could do nothing but nod back,
understandingly.
"That's
how Daisuke came back here today? Using his digivice?"
"Yeah."
"But…"
Tk stepped forward, holding his digimon a little tighter. "Chibimon said the
Kaiser used =his= digivice…" The red head shook his head, dropping the hand
still gripping his chin.
"Probably,
he mistook Daisuke's D3 for the Kaiser's. After all, he was present when
Daisuke threw it in the dimensional gap, wasn't he?" He shot a glimpse at
Ken, who nodded, biting his bottom lip in thought. "And then again, the Kaiser
is not a digidestined." A pause. "Even if we =know= he's powerful enough
to build up his own digivice literally from thin air."
"ARGH!"
Taichi threw his hand in the air, shattering the silence that once again had
fallen. "Mulling over this is no use! Let's go and do =something=! Daisuke
needs us!" He said feverishly, burning chocolate brown eyes narrowing. The
others hesitated a little, and with an angry growl, the brown haired leader
stomped over to Koushiro's laptop and shouted at the top of his lungs,
"DIGIPORT OPEN!!!"
The
all-too-familiar blue radiance overflowed from the tiny screen to inundate the
whole room, enclosing everyone in a soft halo, and the brunette in a warm hug.
Taichi closed his eyes and then opened them after a spilt second, his anger
dissolved into sheer determination. The light seemed to feel it, since it
started to spin wildly around him, tugging at him to let him fall toward the
dimensional gap; something that –however- happened between seconds. And where
the brunette stood was now only a faint glimmer, little lights dancing and
flickering in the bluish glow.
The
first child of Friendship shook his head, closed his eyes resignedly, and
stepped in front of the monitor, murmuring something that sounded like "Always
the same, ne Taichi-kun? Never thinking about what you're doing." And with
that, he held out his digivice and disappeared too. The bearer of the crest of
Love followed him almost immediately, her cute features scolded in a look of
cold determination. "We're coming Dai. We're taking you back." Was all
she said before the streaming fingers of light caught her too, dissolving her in
digital data. Moving with almost perfect synchronization, the bearer of the
crest of Hope and the bearer of the crest of Light stepped forward, usually
gentle eyes narrowed and lips set in a thin line, every muscle of their bodies
tensed up in anticipation. "We'll make the Kaiser realize his errors…"
Hikari whispered quietly.
"We'll
help him tame his grief…" Takeru added in a voice softened by the
compassion.
The
bluette bearer of the crest of Reliability, the redhead bearer of the crest of
Knowledge and their heir, the emerald-eyed young boy who inherited their traits,
followed closely, also determined to save a friend they felt like they had
betrayed and failed in the first place.
"And
we'll amend to our errors, Daisuke…" he whispered softly before being
swallowed by a light so dense it seemed he could feel its touch against his
skin.
Once
alone, the second child of Love and Sincerity and the child of Kindness eyed
each other nervously for a moment, fogged in a strange silence.
"Well,
let's go taking Daisuke back." The lavender haired girl said with a smile
that, strangely enough, only managed to make the child of Kindness wince. The
young woman's eyes focused on the glowing laptop screen and took a few tentative
steps toward it, crossing her arms beneath her chest, as if feeling cold. He
brow furrowing together as she came to an hesitant halt in front of it, pressing
her lips together nervously. It troubled her to no end that her friend… her
leader… her confident… the boy she looked up to... the boy that she *loved*
for crying out loud, was lost somewhere in a world that wasn't his, alone with
a enemy that cared for him in sick way that worried her more that the usual
hatred 'villains' seem bound to feel for the 'good guys'. She knew he
was fighting a personal battle too; an internal conflict she couldn't help him
fight. But what burned, what *really* burned was the fact that maybe Ken could.
Was the fact that after leaving him on his own after all that time, she was
claiming his as hers only when she was risking losing him. That after days,
weeks, months, spent ignoring him, she could be losing him forever.
Ken laid
his hand down on the girl's tensed shoulder, a look of sympathy crossing his
pale features. "Don't worry Miyako…" he said softly, not sure if he was
sounding reassuring, but surely doing his best. "Daisuke's strong. He never
gives up. He fought and defeated the Kaiser once. The fact he needs our help to
overcome him again doesn't mean we're going to lose. Or to lose him." he
said evenly.
"No…
maybe we're not going to lose him, but…" She murmured, turning around to
face the purple haired genius fully, and even if he couldn't tell it behind
her glasses, the boy was almost sure she was crying. She shook her head slowly,
before dropping it. "I'm going to lose him, though." She said and,
swirling around, hopped forward, disappearing in the wavering light. Left alone,
the purple haired boy let loose a long, labored sigh that left him breathless
for a second. Then, confused and yet determined, he let the light swallow him as
well.
* * * *
*
Daisuke
was looking around with half-lidded eyes, his face blank of expression, despite
the rivulets of tears drying on his caramel cheeks. Slowly, his watery eyes
alighted on the digimon standing still in the dark corner. As their gazes met,
Daisuke cocked –or better yet, dangled- his head to a side, then to the other,
eyes half closed and clouded. The digimon lowered his head, eyes never leaving
Daisuke's, scrutinizing the young boy. Something passed across his
countenance: sheer determination, mixed with an expression of veiled sorrow.
But, upon meeting the boy's eyes, the look in those crimson eyes turned hard,
a dark, intent expression rising to his countenance again. He opened him mouth
only to close it close afterward, and they stood, gazing at each other in a mute
discourse. Then, the Kaiser blinked, licking his lips with a look that was
almost like pain in his eyes.
"…Daisuke…?"
he asked tentatively, and the digimon looked down, retreating in the darkness,
as if sensing his presence wasn't required anymore.
"…yes?"
was the slow reply. At this, the Kaiser's eyes closed, and he turned his head
upward, licking his lips yet again.
"Are
you… happy?" he said slowly, as if the mere talking was painful to him.
Daisuke
lowered his head slowly, inspecting the dark carpet. His mind wandered to the
events of the previous hours almost on instinct, and his eyes squinted even
more, as if trying to see something in the far distance. It all unfolded before
his eyes like a tape running too quickly, flashes of images nearly blinding him.
And then it all slowed down suddenly, letting his mind focus on certain more
precious images. Miyako's hazel eyes bright with tears. The force of her smile
when she embraced him. Hikari's hesitant nod. Takeru's wavering grin and
watery ocean blue eyes. Taichi's tan face lit up with pride and Yamato's
paler one settled in a look of cool happiness. Iori's polite and yet warm
smile. Jyou's sigh of relief. Sora's eyes squinting for her sweet smile.
Koushiro's disbelief turning into a happy grin. Ken's warmth. The softness
of his lips. The flickers in his liquid purple eyes. Daisuke closed his eyes in
bliss, letting out a soft sigh. Here it was all he had always needed. Friends.
Love. People caring for him, worrying for him, loving him, crying for him. He
wasn't alone anymore.
"Yes."
He whispered soulfully, opening his eyes. "Now I am."
The
Kaiser closed his eyes yet again, refusing to acknowledge the burning moisture
quickly welling up in their depths. He choked in a strangled breath, before
cracking his eyes open. "I made you happy, my beloved?"
"Yes,
you did." Daisuke said peacefully.
"Then…"
yet again the Kaiser closed his eyes. "It's time for my repayment." Daisuke gulped, his shoulders tensing up at the sound of the Kaiser's
troubled whisper. A cold and even hiss, with something boiling underneath.
Regret maybe, remorse. Before he had time to ask anything, the Kaiser hushed
him, pressing his lips in a thin line before letting his low voice fill his ears
once again. "I gave you what you wanted. What you needed in order to keep on
living. I gave you happiness, the kind of happiness you've been seeking for
years." His eyes narrowed as his tongue darted out his lips, to lick the
suddenly dry skin. "You've to give me what *I* need, now. The obscure corner
of your heart, my beloved, where shadows dance and twist as a living creature,
is going to be my refuge and my home…and its voice, that sings broken nursery
rhymes to you while you sleep, will feed me. What I want, what I *need*,
Daisuke… is you. Your mind. Your soul. Your heart… your body."
Daisuke
blinked quickly, a frown slowly creasing his lips. His heart was beginning to
thump quicker, and sweat was forming on his forehead. He had known all along
what the Kaiser wanted back for giving him happiness, then why it suddenly
scared him? Why *he* suddenly did?
"Daisuke…"
the Kaiser lowered his eyes to the blood red carpet, his voice reduced to a
whisper. "What's inside your heart, my beloved?"
Daisuke
tipped his head to a side, licking his lips before answering carefully. "The
people I met, the feelings I had, the adventures I've been through. All this
made me what I am and it's carefully kept in my heart."
The
Kaiser's eyes closed as he breathed, "Had your parents made you what you
are?" A shiver ran down Daisuke's spine, like a current of electricity, and
he nodded hesitantly. A soft, black mist surrounded him slowly and then,
unbidden, the pain came. Daisuke fell hands and knees on the ground, the feeling
of someone squeezing his heart from the inside leaving him gasping for air,
bright spots flashing in front of his eyes. It felt like someone had curled
their claws around his heart and was now tugging madly to tear something away
from it. And when this something was ripped off his rib cage, Daisuke's mouth
shot open, but the pain was so terrible he didn't even have enough breath to
scream. The boy collapsed on the floor, forearms and forehead pressed against
the carpet, his chest heaving in jagged movements. The Kaiser had taken his
parents' memory from his heart, he realized with a shiver.
"Or
Jun did?" Daisuke opened his eyes in horror, barely strong enough to gasp.
"N-no…"
he managed in breath, but the rest of his sentence died in his throat under the
force of a mute scream, his eyes blank with blinding pain.
//How
dare you punch Daisuke! He's only five, you idiotic jerk! No one hurts my
Otouto and survives!!//
Without
warning, his muscles tensed up. Daisuke gasped, whipping his head back in a
sudden movement that made him jolt to his knees, his back arched, the soft
symmetrical lines of his amber throat exposed, eyes wide and lost, mouth opening
and closing in the effort of breathing.
//No,
Dai… mom and dad won't be at home tonight… but I… err… made… a
cake… Happy Birthday Otouto…"//
//She
laughed at you? Ah! She doesn't know what she's losing, trust me! Let that
girl alone, she's not worth your time!//
//Problems
with Math?! Dai, I *suck* at Math… ah, all right… come here, I'll try…//
Daisuke's
mind went blank. His whole body was ragged by shivers and two fat tears rolled
down his cheeks when another piece of his heart was cruelly torn apart from him.
Once again he collapsed, the pressure around his heart loosening momentarily.
"Or
was your loneliness, your pain… the desperation that led you to cut your
wrists, what made you what you're now?"
"NO!!"
Daisuke shouted, rasping the carpet madly. "NO!!!"
"You
won't mind if I take it away, then…" he whispered slowly, tasting each
word. Daisuke's eyes shot open, bright with tears, and he literally convulsed,
his lungs burning, his mind feeling numb and his body feeling like burning and
freezing at the same time. His throat dried as he inhaled air through his
wide-open mouth, and his convulsing get worse as the black mist floating around
him clawed its way down his windpipe. Once again the claws were curled around
his heart, squeezing and squeezing, until the memories of a whole life gushed
out the throbbing muscle. Once it was over, the claws disappeared and Daisuke
collapsed, mouth hung open and eyes dull, devoid of their usual sparkle. His
fingers were fidgeting madly, despite the lack of force and sensation.
"Are
you still Daisuke? Is your heart still not completely dark?" When Daisuke
didn't reply anything, the Kaiser demanded answers again, lowering his voice
to a dangerous hiss. This time Daisuke shook his head, unable to form sentences.
"Who are you?" the Kaiser asked slowly. "Are you still Daisuke?"
"Daisuke…"
the boy chocked out brokenly. "Daisuke… Daisuke…"
"What's
inside your heart, Daisuke? Who?"
"I…"
the boy squinted his eyes closed, lying his forehead on the carpet. And in his
blank mind, it all unfolded like a movie running on slow motion. Miyako's
hazel eyes bright with tears. The force of her smile when she embraced him. All
the times they spent arguing over nothing. Hikari's hesitant nod. The
beautiful smile that had once captured his heart. Takeru's wavering grin and
watery ocean blue eyes. Their friendship blossomed from their rivalry.
Taichi's tan face lit up with pride and Yamato's paler one settled in a look
a cool happiness. The innumerable battles fought keeping their advice in his
heart, trying to be worthy of their legacy. Iori's polite and yet warm smile.
The quite afternoons spent trying to make him open up more. Jyou's sigh of
relief. The times he offered him his disinterested help. Sora's eyes squinting
for her sweet smile. Her advices gave with her heart in her words. Koushiro's
disbelief turning into a happy grin. The long lessons he'd gave him to explain
him the digital world's principles. Ken's warmth. The countless nights spent
whispering over the phone. The games played against each other. The shared
looks. The longing touches. The softness of his lips. The flickers in his liquid
purple eyes. His smell. His touch. His smooth skin under his fingers. Him. Ken.
"…my…
friends…" he choked out at last. "My friends…"
The
Kaiser's eyes darkened for a second, rage boiling at the thought that –after
all they did to him- the digibrats were the only thing that kept Daisuke's
mind together.
"If
that's so…" he said slowly, and Daisuke's heart skipped a bet. His whole
body tensed up in anticipation of the pain he knew was about to come; his once
squinted eyes going huge. "No!" He yelled as the claws returned to crush his
heart "NO!!!" He tossed his head wildly, eyes shut down in
pain. "NO! Don't take them away from me!! NO! NO! NO!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Daisuke's shout of pain lost itself in
the huge castle, bouncing against each wall to echo in every corridor, to
cascade down every hallway, to inundate every room; broken and pitched,
bloodcurdling in all its intensity. And when the redhead collapsed on the floor,
his eyes dead, his breath ragged and his heartbeat dangerously slow, a stray
tear welled up at the corner of his eye, and trickled down his cheek to die on
the carpet.
The
second child of Courage and Friendship had lost his heart.
* * * *
*
Ken
drifted further and faster into the tunnel of blinding colored lights. And when
he suddenly felt like being seized around the waist by immense hands and roughly
pushed forward, he snapped his eyes open, the digital lands greeting his wide
gaze. He was sitting on a sandy dune, hands on either side of his body, and
Miyako was beside him, looking at the other digidestined, shouting to their
partners to digivolve, and organizing for the rescue mission. She was gazing
intently at the magnificent azure sky, head held high, her mind a million miles
away. The girl heaved in a breath and then carefully looked around, a soft halo
enclosing her slender shade, dark against the scorching desert sun.
"He
doesn't like me Ken, does he?"
Ken drew
in a sharp breath, his entire body stiffening immediately, hands clenching
around the dust. The girl few feet ahead of him suddenly looked tiny, a precious
little doll that needed to be treated with care or she'd break. "Miyako,
I…"
"No,
Ken." She sniffled, and after collecting herself a little, she looked up at
him. "I'm the child of Love, I must know those kind of things. Sure, Daisuke
likes me… but he doesn't *like* me. Not as I like him."
"Miya…"
"Not
as he likes you." The bright sunlight was bathing them in a warm brilliance,
and in that particular moment it hit her glasses with an angle that permitted
Ken's purple eyes to meet Miyako's hazel ones. And he was sure they were
watery. "I've been thinking about this for a while. Since Daisuke trapped
himself in the digital world to save you." Ken winced, but Miyako kept on,
oblivious. "But I *never* thought about it as the child of Love. Or as a
friend either." She admitted shamefully. "But only as the crazy fangirl I so
often proved to be." The girl sobbed quietly, her shoulders raising and
falling quickly. "But then… I took my time to think about it. *Really* think
about it. And albeit I didn't want to admit it, I saw it. And I actually
cursed myself for not seeing something so clear before." She placed her hands
behind her back, leaning forward a bit, head titled up not to tear her eyes off
Ken's face. "Daisuke likes you."
"Miyako…"
She cut
him off waving a hand, turning around and carefully rising to her feet.
"Don't Miyako me, Ken. It's no use. The child of Love can't be wrong on
these kind of things." She smiled a little, despite her mood, swirling back
around to face the boy again. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave
the scene without a fight! Hell, he might like *you*, but that doesn't change
the fact that I like *him*." As they looked at each other, her lips curved up
in a small smile. And it seemed it was her first true smile after an eternity.
"But if Daisuke ends up choosing you –something I'll try to prevent with
all my strength, I'm warning you- and you'll ever hurt him, or make him even
the least bit uncomfortable, I will pound you into a wall and beat you." Her
smile shifted to a smirk for a brief moment, and then it was back to its
original sweetness. It was less bright, and held a hint of sadness too, but it
was still warm. "He's very special. And I couldn't stand to see him
hurting. I hope you understand."
"I
do." Ken smiled, and one hand ran through purple silk as he spoke. "But… I
don't think Daisuke likes--"
The girl
hushed him with a quiet laugh, bending forward to hover above him. "How naïve
you can be, Ken-*chan*." There she took a pause to smile again, reaching a
hand out to him. "Wanna go?" The boy took the offered hand gladly, and let
her help him to his feet. Once upright, he doubled over, a hand on his chest.
"Ken?" the girl at his side panicked, hazel eyes going huge with fear.
"KEN?!" she cried, voice pitched in worry. "KEN?!"
Despite
how much the former Kaiser wanted to look up and smile at her, he couldn't,
his mind fogged by the throbbing pain clenching his heart. It seemed like sharp
claws were slashing it cruelly, roughly tearing a piece of it away. And
suddenly, in a flash of blinding realization he understood.
Something
*was* being ripped apart from him.
His
partnership with Daisuke.
The
caramel skinned boy's heart was being divided from his own.
And when
he screamed, clutching his chest in unbearable pain, his link with Daisuke
Motomiya was nothing but a memory.
=========================================
To be continued in part 07: In a Cage of Remorse and Peace of Mind
A/N =
No, I don't enjoy seeing Daisuke suffer, why do you ask?
A/N 2
=I said I'd end everything in the next chapter didn't I? *pauses* Well, maybe. I'm
not sure. I've the whole ending here *taps
her forehead* but I dunno how long it will be once typed down. Long I fear. Very
long. VERY long. VERY =VERY= long… *shrugs*
oh, well, with me and my muses you can never know………………. *pauses* *blinks* *realization dawns over her* *gasps* AGH! My favorite ficcie's about to end! Oooohhh… *watery eyes* my
precious little Kensuke…………………………………… ;_; *sobs* I'm about to
end a Kensuke series for the first time…………………….. *sobs*
aren't you proud of your Necchan?
