"Two Faces, One Mask"
8. 'My sold soul'
"Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits' well.
Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.
Lie to me,
Convince me that I've been sick forever.
And all of this,
Will make sense when I get better.
But I know the difference,
Between myself and my reflection.
I just can't help but to wonder,
Which of us do you love.
So I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe no more."
'Breathe no more' Evanescence
Ken yelled out as a white-hot pain shot through his neck. But it only lasted a second and all that remained was a dull throb.
He brought a hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed the spot. He scowled deeply and knew something was wrong in the world. He wasn't sure how, or what, but the Dark Spore was extremely sensitive to any change in the Digital world and Real world.
Ken heard someone knock at the door, and his train of thought was momentarily broken as he walked over to it, shaking and feeling unable to keep himself up. He opened it, still a little distracted with his pondering and saw Davis and the rest of the group, minus Yolei standing there.
Ken meant to step aside and let them in, but instead he felt all the blood drain from his face and his eyes rolled back into his head. Davis gasped and caught him before he hit the ground.
"Help me get him to the couch." Davis said quickly to TK.
The tall blond threw one of Ken's arms over his shoulder and helped Davis carry him to the light blue couch. They laid Ken down and Kari felt his head.
"He's burning up." She gasped.
Wormmon scuttled onto the couch and looked down at his friend, "It's like that day he first got infected with the Spore."
The group turned sharply to Wormmon and Davis asked, "What?"
As if on cue, the barer of the crest of Kindness yelled out in pain and began to shiver and shake.
"What do we do?" Davis asked desperately.
"We need Gennai or someone." Cody advised, "We should get him to the Digital world, maybe even to Mae's house. There might be some potions that could help him there." He added the last part with slight hesitance.
"Good idea Cody, I'll go open the portal." Kari yelled as she ran to the desk where the computer was.
Again Davis and TK carried Ken over to the computer and they were all deposited in the Digital world forest, a few miles from Mae's log cabin.
Then to everyone's amazement, Ken opened his eyes and dropped to his knees. He gasped a few times and he looked flushed, but at least he was conscious.
Davis dropped to his knees with his best friend, "Ken! Are you alright?"
Ken nodded and swallowed a couple of times, trying to catch his breath, "Where are we?"
"In the Digital world." Wormmon answered, "We thought that maybe some of Mae's potions might help heal you."
"No time for that." Ken muttered and got up.
TK and Davis were ready if he passed out again, but he seemed to be stronger now.
"We have to go to the Sever Desert." Ken said with urgency.
"Why, what's there?" Cody asked.
"The Emperor."
------
"Get up!" Daemon roared at the Emperor when he crumbled at his feet.
The darker side of Ken lifted his heavy head up enough to look Daemon in the eyes. Sweat beaded on his brow and he felt his body was racked with fever.
"I can't." he pleaded and collapsed again.
Impatient with the Emperor, Daemon reached down with his clawed hand, made a tight fist around the Emperor's cape and dragged him across the sand, under the hot sky of the desert.
The Emperor felt his vision go in and out of focus. He also felt the heat coming off the sand and burn him through his clothes.
Finally Daemon came to a stop and dropped the cape. Feeling considerably better, the Emperor slowly and shakily got to his feet, but he had to lean his hand upon the large wooden stake that he knew Daemon was going to tie him to.
In a flash Daemon had increased his size, standing as tall as the stake itself, which reached quiet high into the sky. He bent down to pick up the Emperor and held him against the poll. Then he proceeded to tie a rope around the Emperor from his chest to his knees. Satisfied with his work, he shrank again and laughed madly at the sight of the Emperor bound there helplessly.
He hung his head with shame, feeling like he deserved this and all he wanted was to disappear.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a group of angry Digimon of various types, standing below the stake.
"Now Digimon Emperor!" a Gotsumon yelled, "Lets see how you like to suffer!"
------
The Sorceress licked her lips hungrily at Gennai, and before she could bring her foot down on his face, he grabbed her ankle and pulled her down again.
"Damn it!" she hissed.
Gennai quickly climbed on top of her and held her arms above her head.
She smirked, "Hmm, so you like it on top, do you?"
"Shut up." He growled and looked around himself again, "What's here?"
She frowned and suddenly shivered, as did Gennai.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Something's changed." He said absently. Then he brought his attention back to her, "What is here?"
"What are you talking about?" the Sorceress asked, an irritated tone to her voice.
"How come this area of the digital world is not in ruins like the rest of the places you have touched?"
"Oh," she began and even giggled a little, "Well, I needed this land, to re-create the Emperor's base. He is quite brilliant and I felt that the only way we could truly take over the Digital world as well as the real world was with that Base and so I advised him not to attack this area."
Gennai sighed with disappointment, "Pity, I thought there may have been something important here that you were trying to protect. I was going to use that as a bargaining chip, but now I'll have to revert to my original plan."
She frowned, "And what plan was that?" she giggled again, mocking him.
He pulled out a shard of dark ring that he had taken off Mae only moments before she had died and brought it to the Sorceress's neck.
"You wouldn't." she narrowed her eyes at him, but her voice was full of worry.
"Wouldn't I?" he said and before she could try to defend herself he rammed the shard into her gut. She screamed in pain and as he pulled it out again, the wound began to bleed, staining her dress.
Then he scooped her up into his arms and opened a portal to Mae's home.
------
"I can take you to the Sever Desert." Osamu said as he materialized in front of Ken and the others.
"No," Ken answered, "You should go find Gennai. Tell him where we are and that we might need his help, since…since we don't have Mae with us anymore."
Osamu nodded and looked at Ken closely, "Are you sure you'll be alright till then?"
Ken looked up at his brother with a pale face. Beads of sweat began to run down his face and his eyes looked drained and lifeless but he nodded determinedly at Osamu and added, "I can make it."
"If only we could Digivolve!" Gatomon growled, flicking her tail irritably, "Then we could fight and-"
"It wouldn't matter anyway Gatomon, even in your Ultimate forms, you're still no match to Daemon." TK said bluntly.
Kari nodded defeated, "Remember last time we faced him?"
Suddenly Ken spoke up. His voice was strained and quiet, but he was heard, "If push comes to shove, I think I'm going to have to open the gate to the Dark Ocean again."
Davis shook his head with his eyes wide, "Ken no! That's not an option now. In the current state you're in, opening that gate could kill you."
"What? Sooner than I was going to die anyway?" he snapped bitterly.
And then Davis did something he hadn't done in years; he hit Ken. Not in the face, but on the arm, "Dude Ken! You are not going to die! We are going to save you and then we'll think about dealing with Daemon."
Ken rubbed his arm where Davis had punched him and hung his head, muttering, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so negative."
A few seconds of uncomfortable silence rolled by before Osamu finally said, "I'll go find Gennai."
"Lets go." Cody said and began walking in the direction of the Sever Desert.
------
The Emperor shut his eyes tight and waited for the impact he knew was coming. As the rock attack impacted with his face he did not yell, but swallowed his punishment like a man, with dignity. He could already feel the welt forming on his cheek as it throbbed.
Then an Elecmon stood ready to attack him and sent out waves of electricity towards the young man on the wooden stake. He gritted his teeth together as the strong current passed through every nerve of his body, setting it on fire.
After the electricity had subsided, he looked down at the now blurry figures below him and waited for another attack, while Daemon laughed with enjoyment.
As various attacks came hurtling at his face and body, he shut his eyes and after a few more, he began to scream. The pain in his body had become so overpowering that he knew he would die if it did not stop soon. He could taste the metallic taste of blood in his mouth and felt a sticky liquid running down the side of his head. He knew that his ribs were bruised or even broken, for when he took in a breath, it stung and a sharp pain pierced his lungs. His visors had flown off his eyes a while ago, showing his bruised eyes to the digimon who wanted justice below. It didn't matter to him anymore. He was going to die, he knew it, he felt it. But there was something else he felt too. It was as if a part of him self was being completed. But he didn't understand this, for he knew he was only half now. He hung his head in defeat and waited for the final blow, giving up on any hope. Who would want to save him?
------
Gennai placed the Sorceress gently on Mae's bed and looked out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mae, but there was none and it made him feel foolish.
The Sorceress sat up gingerly; holding one hand over her wound that was slowly healing its self.
"You're a fool Gennai." She hissed, "You really think this silly wound would stop me?"
"Not stop you," Gennai said absently, "slow you down."
"Giving you borrowed time for what?" she asked harshly.
"I wanted to kill you, but then I realized that I need you to find and destroy Daemon."
She barked out a laugh and got up off the bed to stand by the door, "And what's stopping me from just leaving now? This little pain in my gut is almost healed and-"
In a flash, Gennai was in front of her, holding the shard up against her throat. He had a strange glint in his eye, but she seemed to ignore it, or challenge it.
"You wouldn't."
Gennai pressed it harder to her throat, cutting off some air to her windpipe, "Wouldn't I?"
"No, you wouldn't." she choked out, "Because I know that you love Mae and you wouldn't do anything to kill any part of her, even me."
It was Gennai's turn to laugh at her, "I am not going to kill you."
"I knew it."
"Because I can't kill you. You're immortal remember? You got that when you got her powers. So no matter what I do to you, no matter how much pain I inflict to your body, you will not die. I could slit your throat right now and in a few hours of discomfort, you'll be fine and then I'd just do it again. Chilling isn't it?"
She sneered at him and sat back down on the bed.
"You've changed Gennai." Then she added with a giggled, "I like it."
"I knew I'd find you here."
Gennai turned to see Osamu standing in the doorway looking rather distressed.
"Osamu! Where is-?"
"Headed towards the Sever Desert. Apparently Ken can sense that that's where Daemon has taken the Emperor and that's where we have to meet them."
Gennai looked down at the Sorceress, "That works well."
------
Ken fell to his knees and spat blood on the white sand. He coughed a few times again before wiping his mouth on his cream sleeve. Davis fell to his side and tried to look into his face, but Ken had contorted it into a ball of pain.
The young genius yelled out in pain again and clutched at his sides as he fell to the sand in a fetal position.
"He can't walk anymore!" Davis yelled out, "Veemon, you up to it?"
"Always!" the little blue digimon yelled enthusiastically and prepared to Digivolve to Raidramon.
"Digi-armor Energize!" Davis yelled and after the light had vanished, the strong digimon stood ready to carry Ken on his back.
Armadillomon looked up at Cody while they resumed walking on the hot sand, "Shouldn't we digivolve to carry you guys? It would be faster."
The wise young man shook his head, "No, we need you to conserve all the energy you can, so you can fight Daemon, if necessary." He looked at the horizon, "I just hope it doesn't come to that."
A few minutes passed where no one said anything, but kept focus on the path ahead of them. That is until Davis, who was walking at Raidramon's side shouted to the rest of the group, "I see something up ahead!"
Kari squinted and held her hand over her brow to shield the sun and sure enough there was something there. It was Gennai, Osamu and the Sorceress. But as she walked closer and the sand dune began to sink out of view, she noticed there was something else behind them. When she realized what it was she gasped and ran forward.
The rest of the group followed her lead and met up with Gennai and the others. Then they saw what she had seen and reacted in the same way.
Ken looked up and blanched. He had been here before; he had seen this vision before. But that was years ago and that was all it was, a vision. It wasn't real. He climbed off Raidramon and stumbled forward, staring at the sight in front of him.
It was identical. The sky had turned a swirling gray and under it was a long wooden stake, tied to it was the
Digimon Emperor and below it were angry digimon looking for revenge.
As he stepped forward again, he felt something under his foot. He looked down and noticed he had stood on the yellow and violet visors the Emperor always wore. He bent down and picked them up. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"
Ken turned to see Davis standing there with his brother next to him. He nodded dumbly and looked down at the visors again, when a sharp cry was heard from behind them.
All of them turned to see the Sorceress looking strained at the Emperor on the poll. She tried to run forward, but the wound in her side slowed her down and Gennai grabbed her.
"Let me go!" she yelled, struggling to get free, "I'll kill him! I'll kill Daemon for hurting him like that!"
In an instant, Daemon was in front of them, his eyes glowing wickedly.
"I wouldn't kill me if I were you, Sorceress."
"Why not?" she hissed.
Before anyone could register what was happening, a purple and black portal had opened up underneath Ken and the Emperor and they had slipped through the portals and vanished in a second.
"NO!" Everyone screamed and the Sorceress wrenched herself free from Gennai and ran at Daemon.
"See, if you kill me, you'll never find them." His low growl of a voice rang in their ears.
She gritted her teeth in anger and ran forward, sending waves of electricity through his body before Gennai and Osamu grabbed her arms and held them behind her.
She panted in their arms, defeated and hissed at Daemon, "I will find them, and when I do, you will be in so much pain, you'll be begging me to kill you."
Daemon was about to respond when the sky gave an earth-shaking roar. Everyone looked up and noticed the entire sky was a swirling gray colour and crimson clouds had formed over head.
Davis swallowed and asked nervously, "What's happening?"
"I don't know." Gennai confessed and then pulled his hands into fists. He looked down at them in a puzzled expression as if they had done that on their own, "But I think the powers of good and evil have shifted."
"Great," TK sighed, "in who's favor?"
------
Ken and the Emperor fell face forward onto the cold stone floor. They pressed their hands against the damp ground and slowly stood up. They turned to face each other and grimaced.
"Great," the Emperor growled, "of all the people I could be stuck with, it had to be you."
He coughed and grimaced as the pain in his ribs reminded him of his torture.
Ken folded his arms, "Well, I hate to break this to you, but I'm not exactly thrilled about this situation either." He turned and looked around, "Where are we anyway?"
"Daemon's dungeon. This is where he kept me before taking me to the desert."
Ken barked out a laugh, "You mean, someone took you prisoner? That's priceless."
Without thinking, the Emperor flew at Ken and grabbed his throat and began to pummel his face, spilling out death threats while he beat his fist against Ken's cheekbones, ignoring the pain beginning to swell in his own face.
"Are you trying to kill us?" Ken yelled and threw the Emperor off him, sending him across the room.
The young tyrant hopped back onto his feet and charged Ken again, who met every punch, every blow and every kick with his own, each time blocking him from making contact. He stepped back and panted, feel incredibly drained.
Ken shook his head, not believing that the Emperor hadn't figured it out yet.
"You're me." He stated matter-of-factly.
"Liar!" he spat, "I'm nothing like you!"
"Exactly."
The Emperor frowned and leaned against the wall with folded arms. He raised his eyebrow, "I think I killed one too many brain cells Kenny-boy, 'cause you aren't making much sense."
Ken sat down on the floor and felt one of the fresh whelps on his face; "You're nothing like me because I created you to be like that. Like it or not, you are a part of me, a part of me that I created so I could handle all the pressure of living as someone else. I created you to harbor all my pain and all my hurt and all my hate. I didn't understand until a few hours ago. I thought you were just some monster living inside of me but when you took over and did those things, you did them for me. It was a way of getting rid of some of that pent up anger. I'm not saying that what you did was right, but I understand now why you did it, why I did it. I understand why you are there, now. You serve a purpose, whether I like it or not."
The dark Ichijouji stared at Ken for a long while, trying to digest what he had told him. Eventually he began to laugh and shake his head, "Now you come up with this revelation? Just when I was beginning to resurface in your life again!"
"I don't understand."
"Who do you think it was who was driving you to complete that project you were working on? Who was the one pushing Yolei away? Who was the one giving you all those ideas?"
"I was the one who was doing that." Ken said firmly.
"NO! That was me!"
"You ARE me!" Ken yelled, "We are the same person! Just different sides! You may have been thinking that you were becoming a stronger influence in my life, becoming dominant again and maybe you were, but now…now it's different, because I know. I know not to fight you anymore. I know that there is a difference between thinking of doing something negative or bad, and doing it. That's how we'll be able to work together, to become whole."
"How very touching." He remarked sarcastically. "Either way, I get squashed down inside you and denied to exist when I did all that for you."
"I'm sure you'll survive." Ken raised his eyebrow.
"Like I have a choice."
Ken grinned and stood up again, but instantly regretted it. As before, all the blood drained from his head and his world blurred around him. He leaned against the wall and began taking deep breaths.
"Are you okay?" the Emperor asked.
"I'm dying, what do you think?" he turned to his dark side, "How come you aren't getting weak?"
The Emperor sighed and hung his head, "I think I'm getting weak in a different way, in a mental way. I thought for a while back there I was going crazy."
"Hmm," Ken mused, "so I get the physical pain of it, and you get the psychological pain. Either way we are both dying." He turned to the door; "We should start looking for a way out of here."
The Emperor walked to the door and kicked it open, using his skills from Judo. He turned into a dark hallway lit only by torchlight and Ken followed. They ran along the corridor until they came to a wooden door with black hinges and a black handle. Cautiously Ken turned the handle and opened the door. He peered inside the room and found it covered in wall to wall monitors. On each screen was a scene of his friends, which he guessed must have been during his Emperor days.
"I'm guessing another one of Daemon's torture ideas." The darker side of Ken muttered.
He picked up one of the remotes and pressed the mute button.
It was a scene where Yolei was only twelve and she was looking at a magazine. She mentioned that it had an article of Ken in it.
His ears pricked up at the mention of his name and he listened attentively.
Davis had grabbed the magazine and had said something that make Ken's stomach sink a little, but what Yolei said made him feel a bit better, "He doesn't look capable of such things."
The Emperor pressed the mute button again and silenced the scene, then he turned to another monitor of the same time and pressed the volume button and immediately heard Davis say, "That guy's rotten to the core!"
Ken looked down ashamed, but started when all the other monitors began to play their scene, at full volume. In the babble Ken could pick out phrases like, "Evil genius," "Monster," "Rotten to the core." And when Ken listened hard, most of the time it was Davis's voice saying these things.
Something inside him snapped and he narrowed his eyes at Davis. "He judged me before he even knew me!
He didn't know anything about me and he just wanted to take me out! And then he pretends to be my friend just after he defeats me saying I'm not an evil person!"
"Kinda two-faced isn't it?" the Emperor's smug voice said at his side.
"Yeah, it really is." Ken growled and stormed out the room.
------
Mae shivered and exhaled heavily, a cloud of mist escaped her warm mouth and froze on the air around her. Her whole body was cold from exposure and every time she reached up to grab a rock on the edge of the mountain, her arms protested. That was nothing compared to how her hands burned with cold when she latched onto the frozen rocks and how her feet felt as though they were on fire from stepping in the snow.
She pulled herself up onto a type of landing and sat there for a moment. She wrapped her arms around her legs and tried to stop shivering. She tried to push away the pain in her wounds as well as her hands and feet. She felt herself become drowsy and forced herself to stand up again. She could not fall asleep. If she did, she would never wake.
Suddenly she felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach and she knew what it was. She could some how feel Ken dying. With that feeling, she looked up at the rocks she had to climb and pressed on.
When she had pulled her self up she paused for a moment to get her breath back but was met with a shadowy creature. It looked like a black skeleton with a shadow for a cape. Her first instinct was to throw out her hand in front of her and yell a spell, but no power pulsed from her palm and she gasped. "Idiot, you're mortal remember."
The dark creature lashed out at her and she only just had time to dive out the way. Her body was stiff and cold and protested violently with each move she made but she dashed forward and tried to roundhouse kick the creature in the face. Fighting in this manner was clearly not in her nature. The creature wrapped its long bony fingers around her ankle and flipped her onto her back. She landed with a hard 'wumf' in the thick snow and every inch of her body screamed in agony.
Not allowing her time to get up, it picked her up with surprising ease and threw her against the cliff face. With the impact on the cliff wall, snow fell and crashed on top of her.
Knowing that she could not fight this creature, and that she would have to escape it, she tunneled her way through the freezing snow until she was around the corner of the cliff and emerged, gasping for air. The creature was no where in site and so she forced her tired legs to run, but a sharp, burning pain oozed through her back as the creature's long sharp nails ripped into her flesh. She screamed out and to her fortune, an icicle fell from the roof of the cliff and crushed the creature.
She turned back to look at it and fell to her knees, breathing hard. Fresh blood began to soak her black top and she felt miserable inside. She shivered again and became aware of the fact that she could no longer feel her feet or fingers. Her eyelids became heavy and she so wanted to sleep, but she stood up again and began to climb the cliffs again, her focus, always on the peak of the mountain…and Ken.
------
"Hmm," Daemon mumbled, "I think that's my cue to leave." And on that note, he slipped through a portal and vanished in a second.
"NO!" Davis and the Sorceress yelled together.
Gennai growled in frustration, "Where did he go?"
"I can't sense him." She stated bluntly, "He goes somewhere where I can't feel him. That's why I can't find the Emperor either."
"Great." TK grumbled, "What now?"
"We should head back to Mae's house and regroup for a while. Something has happened to the powers and we should be ready for it." Gennai advised.
The group nodded and began to walk toward Mae's log cabin. Gennai restrained the Sorceress and moved her along.
TK noticed Kari rub her arms subconsciously.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
She turned to him and shook her head, "Something's happened to the balance TK. It's made me feel so empty inside."
Frowning, he held her close and put his arm around her shoulders, "It's going to be okay Kari, I promise."
"I hope so TK, I hope so."
------
Yolei entered her old room and closed the door behind her quietly. She sat down on her bed and pulled her pillow toward her chest and hugged it. She let out a choked sob and began to cry freely now. Poromon nuzzled against her but she lay down and curled up into a fetal position.
Her body shook with sobs and she tried to comprehend what she had just done. She had left the one man that she ever loved. It was as if she had killed off a part of her self. It burned and hurt so badly, so why had she done this to her self?
'I can't loose him.' She thought. 'If I do this, if I just let go of him, it won't hurt as bad if he dies.'
She bit her lip and tried not to sob anymore, but the tears kept flowing. Poromon hopped into her arms and asked her innocently, "Yolei, if breaking up with Ken hurts so much, why did you do it?"
"Because," she swallowed a sob, "I love him so much, so much that it scares me. I don't know what would happen if he died, so I want to not love him anymore, so it won't hurt as bad if he does."
"I don't understand Yolei." He confessed after thinking it over for a second or two.
"Me either." She choked out; "I'm just being stupid I guess."
------
"Do you know where we are going?" Ken asked the Emperor as they made a right turn.
"Not really no." he confessed.
"Great." Ken stopped suddenly and leaned against the wall. "Wait."
The Emperor turned quickly on his heel to face Ken, "What's wrong now?"
Ken began breathing deeply and felt his head swim for a moment. In a sickening lurch he felt his world spin until he retched and it stopped. With a shaking hand, he wiped his mouth and began walking again. "Let's go." He rasped.
The Emperor stared at him and began to catch up, "You're really not well are you?"
It was the first time Ken had heard compassion in his voice, even though it was his own.
Ken shook his head.
"How long?"
The indigo haired young man looked at the Emperor, "How long until what?"
"We die?"
Ken shrugged, "I don't know. But I don't think it's long now."
"I hate to admit this, but we need Mae. She's the only one who can heal us."
Ken continued to march ahead and kept his face as neutral as possible, "She's dead."
"What?" the Emperor gasped, "When, how?"
"A few hours ago and by the Sorceress."
The Emperor stopped walking and stared at Ken, who also stopped and turned to his dark side.
"We really are going to die aren't we?"
Ken nodded his head.
"How can you be so bland about it?" the Emperor yelled.
Ken shrugged, "Because I don't care anymore."
------
Mae reached up for another jutting rock and rooted her foot on a ledge just a few feet off the landing she had been on. Her arm shook with fatigue and she tried her hardest to grip the rock and pull her self up, but her body fought against it. She screwed her face up in determination but when her hand slipped, she fell backwards into the snow and lay there. She exhaled loudly, her breath freezing on the air again and closed her eyes. "I can't do it."
Her voice was only just audible over the howling wind.
Her body burned and ached everywhere, she was exhausted and freezing and her wounds felt as though they had been torn open again. She knew that if she fell asleep, she would not wake up again, but she didn't have the strength to carry on anymore.
'I'm sorry Ken.' She thought slowly and her eyes fell closed as she fell into unconsciousness.
------
(AN)
Sorry I didn't get a chapter out on Wednesday but with all the preparation going on for Christmas, there just wasn't time for me to edit and proofread the chapter. I'm sorry. If I can, I will try to get the next chapter out sooner. It's almost finished, so things are all coming to a close. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's one of my favorites, for some reason. You all know where the Emperor on the Stake thing came from, I wanted to use it because it would be very haunting for Ken. Mae and Mountain came from Samurai Jack as I've stated before, it was almost exactly the same. I give full credit there, but I just had to use it, it was very effective for this. However, the turn out for Mae will be different. (You'll only know what I'm talking about if you have watched that episode of Samurai Jack).
Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas/Yule and until next time…Blessed Be.