Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: This chapter is a bit longer thenthe others in this ficand it has sporadic bursts of this world's history here and there. You're still gonna have questions and possibly even more of them by the end of this chapter. On the plus side, I reveal a fair number of things so have fun putting it all together. As for me, I'm going to sleep.
In the underground parking lot, Renamon stood over the boy's body, looking down with a glazed look in her eyes. It was her attack that had killed him after all. The boy's Digimon was laying a little way away from the boy's body. He had felt the force of Renamon's attack as well and was slowly being deleted.
Above all though, there was blood. Enough blood to stain the ground crimson. And in that moment, she felt a little part of herself die.
Groaning, Ruki opened her eyes. Raising her hand up towards the ceiling, she stared at its back for a little bit, the lingering traces of the dream playing through her mind. She had not thought about that boy in such a long time. It had all happened when she was eleven. A pretty young age to become a murderer but that was what had happened. She had ordered Renamon to destroy the boy's Digimon but the boy had rushed out in front of the attack.
Shaking her head, Ruki banished the dream from her mind. There was no point in reliving past horrors. She had other concerns to deal with right now. Her thoughts traveled back to the events of two days ago. The one thing that stood out in her mind was that he had shot at her. The bullet had only grazed her shoulder though and she did not know what to make of that. It had gotten even more bizarre afterwards. She had the feeling that Victor definitely knew more then he was letting on.
And why was there no pain in her shoulder?
That thought made her sit up in bed. Slowly, she reached over and undid the bandages wrapped around her right shoulder. The wound had literally disappeared. What had Ryo done to her? Another thought suddenly occurred to her and she rolled out of bed quickly.
After the incident yesterday, they had only bandaged her up. Yet, she had not been infected with the virus. Whatever Ryo had done to her in that short little while had blocked the effects of the virus. So, why had they not done more tests on her and come up with an antidote?
These thoughts rushing through her head, she threw on her clothes and took of for Victor's office.
I awaken to soft white light shining in my face. There is a certain grim humor to the moment. Squinting, I rise to my feet and run a hand over my chest. All of the wounds inflicted upon me are gone. So then, time to take stock of the situation.
One thing is readily apparent; I am inside a holding cell. Walking forward, I examine the bars for any signs of weakness and find none. The lock for the cell door appears to be mechanized and impossible to open from this position. There really is nothing I can do but sit and wait. Having come to this conclusion, I turn around and lie back down on the small pallet set up for me inside the cell.
Closing my eyes, I think back to when this all started. It had been on my seven hundredth year when my life had finally ended. But what had happened after that? Had I found her or not? She had said that she would wait for me. What had happened? Was the real me still out there somewhere? More importantly, was she still out there waiting for me?
Yawning, I break that line of thought. There are too many questions that I have no hope of answering. They had to be using the neural net I had finalized right before my death. As such, it contained no memories of what had happened after. Chuckling softly, I shake my head, if such memories actually exist. Even with all I know, I cannot be sure that there is life after death.
The sound of a door opening in the distance causes me to open my eyes. Who could this be? From the footsteps, I can tell there are four people escorting a fifth between them. Perhaps they are bringing another prisoner in. I don't have to wait long for answers as the first guard comes into view several moments later. Seeing the prisoner, I grin; raise my hand and say, "Yo."
Ruki Makino's eyes widen slightly in surprise before her lips purse in annoyance. And then she has moved past my cell. I can hear them open the cell door beside mine and usher her inside. Locking the door, they take their leave.
There is silence broken only by the pacing of the woman in the other cell. She is probably trying to find some way out. After a long while, her pacing gradually tapers off. She has probably come to the same conclusion I have.
Looking up at the ceiling, I say, "Do you remember what I said when we first met?" There is no answer so I continue. "I said tails, we go out on a date. I guess this is a pretty sad place for a date."
Still there is silence. Undaunted, I keep on talking.
"Why are you down here anyway? Not that I am complaining but I thought you were making nice with the administration. Did curiosity finally kill the cat?"
"Who the hell are you?" Her voice is oddly subdued.
"Why are you here? That seems fair doesn't it, an answer for an answer."
"From the way you talk, you seem as if you already know everything about me. Would I be telling you anything you don't already know?"
"Probably not."
"Who are you?" She seems to be genuinely puzzled now. "I know I have never met you anywhere before and yet, you managed to knock Ryo down. Are you like him?"
"Somewhat. Ryo and I have something of a history together. Tell me, has he told you what he is?"
"Yes."
"And you still chose to follow him here."
"Yes." Her voice is quieter now. I begin to feel just a little bit guilty about putting her through this.
"Loyalty is an admirable trait but do not put your own life at risk just to satisfy it."
"It is not just that. I..." She trails off and I wait for her to continue. "How much do you know about Ryo?" She questions after a long moment.
"I know enough."
"But what is it that you know? He trusted me with his secrets. If you don't know what he is then this conversation ends now."
I sigh softly. "Akiyama, Ryo is a creation of the Elders. He came to your world at the beginning of the D-Reaper incident and helped you, Katou, Juri, Shioda, Hirokazu and Kitagawa, Kenta. From what I understand, you four were the last line of defense and you were failing before he showed up and helped you. After that there was the problem with the Order of the Dark Path and then the Great Crisis. Your Earth would have been rubble a long time ago if it had not been for Ryo Akiyama."
"You know everything, don't you?"
"Yes, it's as you said, the more that I know, the shorter my life gets. It is actually quite sloppy on their part, letting me have all this information swirling around in my head."
"Who sent you?"
"The IDCF. They were behind my rebirth."
"You mean that you are like Ryo?"
"I'm sure that they designed this body using the principles that the Elders used to create the Chosen. However, the information I have inside my head is from one of the Chosen. In fact, this whole personality seems to be his."
"Which one were you? I seem to vaguely remember Ryo telling me something about the Chosen a long time ago. I think we even had a television show of your exploits on our world."
"Oh really?" This is something unexpected. I had no memories of Ryo ever mentioning this. "How did the show end?"
"You lot had managed to turn the Digimon Emperor back to his normal self and then beaten Belial-Vamdemon. I think there was some other plot thread left hanging too. Sorry, I wasn't much of a fan. The show was cancelled after the second season but there was a prologue that showed what happened fifty years later or something like that."
"Do you remember anything from the prologue?"
"Bits and pieces. The world was full of Digimon and all of you were living happily ever after with children of your own. Something along that fashion anyway. Like I said, I was not that big a fan."
I chuckle loudly. "It was a show for children, I take it."
"Yeah, it was fairly popular among the junior high kids."
"I suppose it is better that they didn't show you what actually happened after Vamdemon. It got a whole lot more violent for one. Do you know that I killed my very first person when I was fourteen."
"I've got you there. I murdered a defenseless boy when I was eleven. It was before Ryo found me. I was so angry back then over the most trivial things. That boy wasn't even at fault either. I forced him into an impromptu fight and he was only trying to protect his Digimon. I can still remember his body lying broken on the floor and I remember thinking that I had done this."
"How did you deal with it?" I am glad she has finally decided to open up to me. Perhaps now, I can learn what I need to know.
"I ran away. How else do you think an eleven year old would deal with it? I even lost myself for a time, denying that I had ever committed the act. All that disappeared the day I learned his name. Matsuda, Takato, that name haunted me for a long time until I ran into Ryo. He was so kind and gentle despite everything I did to drive him away and then one day, I realized that he had found a place in my heart." Ruki sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I wanted to know who he was since he surrounded himself with so much mystery. I remember learning the truth and thinking what a lonely existence he had. He had been alone since his birth and the only thing he had known was fighting but still he had such a gentle soul. I wanted to save him like he had saved me."
"You are in love with him?"
"I... don't know. I just know that I felt things with him that I've never felt before. It tore upon my heart. Have you ever felt that way about anyone?"
"Yes," I whisper quietly. "When I was young, my family was murdered. I think I went mad for a little while. I killed and killed and killed, and with every murder, I lost a part of myself. I was so consumed with getting revenge over what I had lost that I forgot I still had someone I cared about and who cared about me. I made a promise that I would come back to her and I ended up breaking it because I didn't think she could love me after the monster I had become. I hurt her terribly but she broke through every barrier I put up. In the end, after all I had done, she forgave me."
"What happened to her?"
"I don't know. She died but I can remember her saying that she would wait for me on the other side. I remember believing it. If there was anyone that could accomplish something through sheer determination, it was she. Sadly, my memories come to an end the day I died. I have no idea if the original me ever found her."
"She sounds like an extraordinary woman. Who was she?"
I laugh softly. "You did not think she was quite so extraordinary when she was trying to destroy your home."
I hear a gasp from the next cell. "You're talking about..."
"Yes." I can't really keep the grin from my face.
"But that would make you..."
"Yes. It is funny, isn't it? Here I was trying to pump you for information and I end up giving myself away. I guess I just needed to talk. I never did well with loneliness."
"How did they bring you back?"
"Before I died, I created a neural net. It was supposed to be a recording of my memories, of everything I have experienced and done. I never imagined that they would use it in this type of fashion. Careless on my part, I suppose."
"And they sent you to track down Ryo. It makes sense. Get a Chosen to fight a Chosen."
"I doubt it is that simple. Tell me, why did they put you in here?"
"When I first came here, I met a man named Victor that I recognized. He took me in and explained that something had happened to Ryo and he had run away with a deadly virus. The story never made complete sense to me and I doubt it was true. After the fight yesterday, I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I saw that the passengers on that train we were on had been exposed to the virus. Somehow, I had been spared. I went to Victor's office this morning to ask why they had not started doing tests on me. It was obvious that Ryo had given me the antidote to the virus. The quicker we worked that out, the closer we would be to resolving this situation. However, when I got there..."
"Ms. Makino, you cannot go in there." The annoying little secretary intoned yet again as Ruki marched purposefully towards the closed office door. She pulled it open, stepping inside and paused as two men turned to look in her direction.
"Gennai." Ruki blinked at the old man. "When did you..."
"Only a little while ago." He smiled at her, walking forward and taking her hand. "I am sorry to hear about Ryo," he cast a somewhat annoyed glance at the man standing behind him, "finally. We will do everything we can to find him."
"Yes, well," Ruki pulled her hand out of his, "I came to talk about something else. It occurred to me just now that I never asked about an antidote to this virus. Is there one?"
Gennai was about to say something but Victor beat him to it.
"Yes, there is an antidote but Ryo took that with him as well."
"Then, is there a reason why you have not started examining my blood yet? People were contaminated with the virus on that train I was on yet I survived. Ryo has obviously given me the antidote."
"It makes little difference at this point," Gennai said, his tone darkening a little. "We would only be wasting manpower by trying to come up with an antidote now when we should be trying to find Akiyama."
"But the people of this planet don't know anything about this conflict. They are just innocent bystanders. Furthermore, if this situation worsens, we will only be calling attention to ourselves. We need that antidote not only to cover up our involvement but also to force Ryo's hand."
Gennai sighed. "There is no way to dissuade you from this?"
"There isn't." Ruki shook her head. "You two are hiding something from me. This situation only confirms it. If you don't comply I will take this straight to the Council of Worlds. They will be very interested to learn of these unofficial operations you have going here."
"I see." Gennai snapped his fingers andshe felt something press into her back.
Rukimentally cursed herself for forgetting about the secretary. She was almost sure that it was she that was holding a gun to her back.
"Have you called the guards?" Gennai questioned.
"Yes sir, they are waiting outside," the secretary responded.
"Good, have them escort Ms. Makino to the holding area. We will decide what to do with her later."
I close my eyes as Ruki finishes her story. "I expected as much," I sigh. "Gennai is behind this whole ordeal. I just wish I knew what the man hopes to gain by doing this."
"I think it is time you told me what you know about this whole situation."
"It is a long story," I caution.
"Do you have somewhere to go?"
I chuckle at the minor quip. "A woman of humor. I like that. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you everything now. You are in it as deep as I am." Clearing my throat dramatically, I begin. "The roots of what is happening now were planted several millennia ago. That story is far too long to tell but it did lead to the event which everybody calls the Great Crisis. The basics you need to know are that the Chosen were created by a race of being called the Elders. This race is quite old and from what I understand, they are unique in that they exist in only one dimension. They are not as widespread as us humans. Another thing of note is that they are powerful telepaths.
This race created the Chosen to battle against a being of Chaos. The group of Chosen I was a part of, were the ones who were finally charged with killing that particular being. Afterwards, I was cursed with eternal life for certain crimes I had committed that were unforgivable. Gennai is another person with eternal life although it came about because of a bargain he made with another Chosen a long time ago.
In any case, on my seven hundredth year, Ryo came to visit me. Through a little bit of bargaining on his part, I was pulled into the Great Crisis. Now, I assume you know that this event was caused by an Elder?"
"I do. He came to my planet and caused a lot of destruction. We are still trying to recover from the aftereffects."
"Yes, I would imagine that it would take the citizenry a while to recover. The Elder that came to your world was unique in that he was the beginning of the next stage of evolution for his race. His powers far surpassed those of his brethren and because of this, they could not control what eventually happened.
That particular Elder went mad. His telepathic powers were so powerful that he somehow became tuned to the subconscious thoughts of humanity. It was through this that he decided that humanity wanted an end to its existence and he took it upon himself to ensure that."
"So, he looked into man's subconscious and found that all we wanted was self extermination? That doesn't make any sense."
"Doesn't it? Tell me, have you ever been afraid of what the future might bring? Haven't you ever had the desire to freeze things just the way they are if circumstances are going right for you? Your whole relationship with Ryo must have had a few moments, which you have fixated upon. The future at some point scares all of us and this was why all of us were nearly wiped out. The only way to bring peace to everybody is through death."
"All right, I'll buy that. What happened next?"
"Well, Ryo brought me to your planet and you know most of what happened next. Did Ryo ever tell you what happened at the very end with that Elder?"
"No, he didn't. I asked him but he always found some way to divert the issue."
"Well, what happened was that he and I came up with a plan to stop the Elder. My body was almost like a battery. It absorbed and retained energy from various different sources and that was what kept me immortal. When the Elder chose to unleash all of his powers and abandon his semi-mortal body, I was there to absorb all of the energies that were unleashed. However, there was a tiny piece that escaped. Ryo absorbed that piece into himself. We both knew that we could not keep that power within ourselves. There would come a time when the Elder's thoughts would manifest themselves and we would be driven down the same path that he had taken. That is what is happening with Ryo now."
"H... how did you deal with it?"
I can hear her voice catch. However, that does not stop me from saying, "I died."
There is silence for a long while.
"Tell me why he would need a virus?" She questions.
"Have you noticed the fact that when Ryo and I were fighting on the train, he never used his powers?"
"That had occurred to me. I wondered how you were able to knock him down so easily."
"He must have locked away the full extent of his powers. We can be grateful for that small favor at least. If the Elder had full access to all of Ryo's powers, we would not be alive right now."
"That does not explain why he would need the virus though."
"It has to do with death. When I first came to your world, I had a lot of power at my disposal. I can't say that I gained that power through any noble means. The four gods of my world ran afoul of me and to pay them back, I slaughtered six million people. The deaths of those people leant me the power I needed to bring about the end of those four gods. I can still see the look on Azulongmon's face at the end." I pause, thinking back on that particular event. "Anyway, for the Elder to ascend, he needs the energies released during death. It will lend him power to break down the block's Ryo put up as well as grant him enough power to stand up against the strongest demon or god of any dimension."
"And this doesn't bother you? How can you talk so coolly about this?"
"Death lost all meaning for me a long time ago. Ryo and I shared a destiny together. All that matters now is that I be there at the end." Yawning, I close my eyes and lay back on the small pallet. "That should be enough information to keep you happy. I suggest you get some rest now. Who knows what surprises will come our way next."
"Can you stop him if he does ascend."
"Me," I scoff lightly. "Even when I was a Chosen, I could not match Ryo Akiyama. His aspect is unknown to me. There was only one person I have known who was strong enough to challenge him and as I explained earlier, she died."
This time when the silence falls, it does not go away.
Random memories flit through my mind as I lie still. So much of my life has been shrouded in darkness. I hated the darkness once, hated it with all my soul. I vowed that I would destroy it completely. I ended up nearly destroying myself when I saw that it had consumed me. Perhaps it would have been better for everybody if I had died then.
Of course, I know what she would say to me if she saw me now. She would probably hold up a fist and threaten me with bodily harm if I did not quit with the self-pity. That was the type of woman Yagami, Hikari was. It brings a smile to my face.
From a long distance away, there comes a sound of a door opening.
"Salvation or Damnation, the next few moments should decide our fate," I mumble loudly enough so my next-door neighbor can hear.
She grunts but is otherwise silent.
A few moments later, a man walks into my line of sight. He has a slender build but the way he moves shows that his entirely youthful looking face hides quite a deadly potency underneath. He stares at me for a bit and then reaches into his pocket and withdraws a small pendant. Holding it up to the light, he tosses it in my direction. I catch the thrown object in midair and examine it closely.
"It is about time," I grin. "Adessy Special Forces, unit two. That's Black Ops, isn't it? I was beginning to think all of you had passed away."
The man bows his head. "Lord Houshi. My name is William Storm. I will have you out in a few minutes."
"The woman in the cell next to me is coming with us," I say authoritatively.
William bows again and gets to work. Moments later both Ruki and I are free and staring at each other face to face.
"I suppose I should reintroduce myself," I grin, bowing theatrically. "Lord Takuma Houshi, Hero of the Multiverse Federation, Hated foe of the Dark Path and various other meaningless titles I would repeat but we have little time. You, however, can call me Takeru."
Review please.
