Ken had just pulled up in front of Tai's building when something caught his eye; Tai was putting a suitcase in the back of Matt's car. Pulling in behind Tai and jumping out the first words out of his mouth were "Where you going?"
Startled, Tai hit his head on the lid of the trunk as he turned around to see who it was that was talking, "Oh, Ken...christ did you have to scare me like that?" he asked.
" Sorry, didn't mean to scare you but why the suitcase?" asked Ken leaning on the hood of his Acura.
Tai closed the lid of the trunk and took the keys out of the lock, "I'm going away for awhile, I need to take care of some things." Said Tai, his eyes giving indication that he didn't want to talk.
"Where to?"
"Just somewhere."
Ken crossed his arms and analyzed Tai's body language, "He's going to leave the country, he is going to run." Thought Ken as Tai nervously looked around.
"Well I've got to know how to reach you in case I find anything out so is there a way I can contact you?" asked Ken trying to set up a small snare trap in his mind for Tai to fall in.
"I have my cell phone, you know the number." Said Tai pulling the compact phone from his right pocket and showing it to him.
"Right but if you go outside the calling area?"
"It's a satellite phone, you know that." Said Tai
"Damn he knew what I was going with it," thought Ken nervously laughing. "Oh yeah I forgot about that, you and Matt sure are becoming like Izzy in your techno-fetishes."
Tai looked down at the sound of Matt's name, "Yeah we are."
Ken looked over this change in his demeanor and noticed the immediate reaction to Matt's name. "Sorry Tai I..."
Tai interrupted, "It's okay Ken, listen I've got to go and you've got investigating to do so we better split."
"Okay, well listen if I hear anything or find anything I will let you know as soon as I can okay?" said Ken as he thought about how to track Tai's movements without actually doing it himself.
"Okay." Said Tai walking to the driver side door and unlocking it, "Ken?"
"Yeah?" asked Ken as he went to pausing as his car door.
"It wasn't me." Said Tai in a plain tone as he opened the car door and got in.
Ken stared for a moment as he watched Tai start the engine and take off down the busy road. "It wasn't me? Does he know I suspect him?" Ken thought to himself as he got into his car and headed off towards the police station.
~*~
Tai thought about it all through the drive to the private airfield where Matt's private jet was stationed. "I've got to get this done just right without raising any questions, but I don't have that kind of skill like Matt did." He thought, cringing at the use of past tense at the end.
He pulled the car into the parking area beside the hangar, turned off the engine and took the keys out of the ignition. He closed his eyes and put his head down on the top of the steering wheel, tears forming in the gentle curves of his eyes gliding downward slowly.
"Taichi, when you think of me I want you to know in your soul that I my love is forever eternal and burning as the sun. When I am not by your side I want you to think of what I said and wipe those tears, I will always return to your side no matter what stands in my way. I love you Yagami Taichi, forever my heart is yours never to be led astray."
Tai looked into Matt's blue eyes, the mesmerizing deepness inside bearing his soul to him. His words so beautiful and so comforting, the tears in Tai's eyes dried to nothing but a puffiness of fresh tears. Holding him tightly but gently as only he could Matt embraced the brunette, his boyfriend, his lover and his true love.
"I know you can't hear me nor see me right now Yama, but I feel you by me every bit as much as that day. I will be strong and right now you need me, I won't fail you, my dear love, I won't fail." Said Tai, his head rising from the rough blue rubber body of the steering wheel.
Tai looked in the mirror and composed himself, wiping away the tears from moments ago and strength renewed, "It's time." He thought to himself as he got out of the car and went inside the hangar opening.
~*~
Matt's eyes eased open as he was being moved down a long corridor, a single pair of footsteps and squeaky wheels were all he heard against the echoing stone surroundings. His mind raced with questions as to the reality of this but soon he found that it was all too surreal to be a dream. He tried to lift his head only to find he couldn't move it, his arms and legs wouldn't respond to his commands to move either. He tried to open his mouth but it was as though he was completely paralyzed, his jaw now of stone it seemed.
His ears began to pick up a faint noise ahead in the direction he was being taken, metallic and humming. "A...machine?" he thought to himself rhetorically as a set of double doors was heard opening in front of him.
A blinding light enveloped him, his eyes instinctively shutting in response to the stimuli. He opened his eyes to see something written on the wall as he was wheeled past, "Trenton Asylum for the Mentally Insane".
A voice boomed behind his head out of view, "Do you like it? I did all the repairs to the place myself and you've just become my patient as so many others."
Matt's eyes grew wide as he was wheeled past a sign with the word "life" written on it in blood. Again his arms did not respond to the commands his mind was giving them, as though they were dead. The bed he laid upon hit into two bloody double doors and he was wheeled into the center of the room.
"Don't worry Mr. Ishida, I won't kill you yet, I am a man of my word." Said the voice in a reassuring tone as the footsteps walked away. Water was heard running somewhere from a faucet as well as humming from somewhere out of view.
The footsteps came closer to where he lay on the bed unable to move, "I think it's time to put you back asleep, I don't want you to feel the pain...no wait...yes I do." Said the voice ending in laughter as the lights went down and a bright light hit Matt in the face.
"I can't see!" yelled Matt's mind as his vision was obscured by intense light directly above his head. His heart began to race, as a shadowy figure loomed over him in medical scrubs, in his latex gloved hand was a silver scalpel.
"Now you might feel slight pressure on your arm as I do this." said the figure lowering the scalpel to Matt's right arm. Intense pain coursed through his arm as the blade sliced through the skin and muscle, "Aww...you're a bleeder, well that means I have to rush..." said the figure again slicing into Matt's arm, his mind was screaming, though his voice box remained silent as ever.
As the scalpel struck the hard bone Matt's mind screamed it loudest before his eyes closed. The shadowy figure whispered, "Best watch how I do this one, he will die before everything is in place." It was with that final statement that Matt passed out from the pain, the void of unconsciousness a welcomed guest to his mind.