Story: Fade In, Fade Out||Chapter: The Silver Collar
Chapter: 11-15||Words: 4,613||Total: 50,872
Characters: Daisuke, Kaiser, Chosen Children||Ship: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Genre: Drama, Romance||Rated: PG-13n
Summary: Daisuke awakens to find himself at the feet of the Digimon Kaiser. Strange voices invade his mind, reality alters at a whim, and all he wants is to find his way home.
"Daisuke!" The word echoed in his mind repeatedly, but he didn't pay any attention to it. As much as the voice felt like someone's that he should know, he couldn't bring himself to really listen to it. "Daisuke, no!"
Another voice slithered into his mind, cool, calculated, and calm. "Come to me, Daisuke. This is where you belong, where you've always belonged. You know that more than anyone."
Yes, that was true. He belonged with that speaker, with the Kaiser. Who else knew him so well, inside and out? Who else called to his soul the way he did? No one. No one at all. Just the Kaiser, Ichijouji Ken.
Ken... His footsteps faltered a little, and he started to look behind him. Ken knew him that well. Maybe even better, because of all the times they'd shared over the years.
There it was again, something that couldn't be tearing into his mind. He pressed his hands to his temples, trying to make some sort of sense of it all. He'd heard something that made sense once, and he had to get that back. Warmth had been all around him, caring and friendship, commitment and loyalty, that all had for everyone, and that everyone had for everyone. The words didn't make sense to anyone but him, he knew. That was what mattered, though. He was confusing himself more than whatever was going on outside his head was confusing him.
"Daisuke." The Kaiser's voice came again, commanding him to hear and obey. "Daisuke, I don't want to wait for you much longer. You will obey me."
He started walking again, becoming more and more aware of the corridor he was going down as he did. This was the Kaiser's fortress. No other place looked remotely like it. He couldn't help but wonder why he was expecting to see something different, though. One hand drifted up to touch the collar around his throat, familiar and unfamiliar. He hadn't had this days earlier, but like so much else, there was a contradiction to it: he couldn't remember not having it. His life had really begun to suck over the last few days.
Then the corridor vanished from around him, replaced by a throne room. It was different from the last few times he'd been here. Instead of a simple chair with the screens everywhere, a much grander seat was placed upon a pedestal, with five steps leading up to it. Each step had a different design on it, and he stared at them, trying to figure them out. Then he knew.
The first step held the Crest of Hope carved into it, with the second having the Crest of Light. Then on the third were the Crests of Faith and Knowledge, and the fourth, the Crests of Love and Purity. The Crests of all the other Chosen...except...
There was one more step. He slowly lifted his eyes to it, catching a glimpse of the Kaiser's cloak briefly. He was quite certain the throne had been empty when he'd first seen it. Just another example of how his mind wasn't something he could really count on right now.
There were the final symbols: Courage and Friendship, carved right over where the Kaiser's feet rested, as if he were standing firmly on them. Not to let them support him, but showing his dominance over them, how he had crushed them. Daisuke raised his head just enough to see the confidant gleam of violet eyes behind those glasses, then he was crumpled on his knees beside the throne.
"So glad for you to have rejoined me, Daisuke. You were getting quite out of hand out there. You might've upset my plans a little." That hand was on his head again, and what thoughts he'd managed to collect scattered to the winds as the Kaiser's fingers caressed each individual strand of his hair. "You wouldn't want to do that, would you?"
Daisuke couldn't get his brain cells together enough to answer anything, but the Kaiser didn't really appear to be waiting for one. He stared downward, the cold silver of his collar still against his fingertips. He hadn't even noticed that he was still touching it.
"Such a piece of work." The Kaiser's other hand tugged lightly at the collar. "Or should that be two pieces of work?" he mused. "Your mind and this collar."
The cinnamon haired boy took a long breath, forcing the words he wanted to ask out of his mouth. "What...is that thing? The collar?"
"So you can still think." There was a trace of displeasure in the tone, and Daisuke could feel words of apology rising to his lips. The last thing he wanted was the Kaiser angry with him. He was responsible for everything in his life, and he had to get on his good side. Did the Kaiser have a good side? "The collar. A device of mine, I'm sure you realized that."
Daisuke wanted to say he wasn't that stupid, but it was taking all he could do just to focus on the fact the Kaiser was even saying something to him, answering his questions. He listened intently, soaking up every scrap of information he could. It would all be useful, to someone, if he could just get it to them.
"It doesn't really control you, you know," the Kaiser toyed with Daisuke's hair again, but the words stood out as nothing else could have in his distracted brain. "It has an effect on you, but that's not it." The Kaiser rather enjoyed boasting about himself and his greatness. "As long as you wear this collar, and you will always wear it, then your reality is mine to sculpt in any way that I choose."
That explained quite a bit right there. So that's why things just fade and change the way they do. That's what he's been wanting to happen. Daisuke could feel his mind stirring again, but he didn't move an inch away from the brain-numbing touch.
"I doubt it will do much harm to tell you anything I choose now." Gloved fingers caressed over and over, and Daisuke could feel his brains aching to scatter all over again. "In the words of countless failed villains, there truly isn't anything you can do to stop me. And those who might have a chance...don't, because I've already won."
Daisuke had no idea how many villains had said things like that, but he was pretty sure if you counted all the anime, manga, television shows, books, and such things in the world, the number was fairly impressive. And as far as he knew, they'd always failed. Which meant this guy was going to be doing the same thing. All that he had to do was figure out just how spectacularly he was going to help the pretend-Kaiser screw up.
"I can almost imagine what you're thinking," the Kaiser murmured, his hand lifting from Daisuke's head to toy with a keyboard before him suddenly. The room shifted around them both, becoming something a little different. There was still a throne, and still a keyboard there, but it wasn't quite like Ken's old base of operations, or what he'd just seen. "You're wondering just what it is I'm planning."
Actually, if the truth had been known, Daisuke was wondering just what kind of psychotic mind kept changing things all around himself like this, but he wasn't all that particular about what the enemy wanted to babble about. He just remained where he was, ears pricked up and listening for all he was worth.
"I have many plans, Motomiya. Only an idiot has only one thing on the fire." Daisuke definitely didn't believe that. One of the first things Ken had enjoyed about not being under the Spore's control was the ability to single-task instead of multitask. He'd really liked not having to worry about two dozen or so things all at the same time. Daisuke remembered hearing him say that more times than he could conveniently count.
He froze ever so slightly, his mind forging a connection. I remember talking to Ken after he's not the Kaiser. I remember being his friend after that. Best friend. There was another dimension to that, something more that he wasn't getting yet, but he'd take things one step at a time. And if that meant catering to this guy's ego, then he'd do it. He would've balked at this when he was eleven, but he was quite certain of something else now: he wasn't eleven any longer, no matter how many memories he might've lost. And that was exactly what he wanted to find out.
"How...are you doing this?" There was no pretence in the pauses between words. It ached to talk, and he had to quite nearly drag each word out from his lips. "Why can't I...remember?"
The Kaiser, which Daisuke decided he would call him until he could remember some other name to call him by, laughed a little, one hand being placed on Daisuke's back. "You've done it to yourself, in a sense. I only offered. You were the one who took the offers. Every time, I might add."
Daisuke closed his eyes, gathering his strength. There had to be a single word to sum all of this up. He didn't know if he could really get himself together enough to spin a sentence that was any longer. Wait, he knew it. "Offers?"
"Have a mushroom, Daisuke?" The Kaiser's voice caressed his name, possessively and with a hint of pride. "Surely you remember." A cold, cruel laugh. "Of course you wouldn't. Because of what they are."
Mushroom...mushroom...something Koushirou had mentioned, hadn't it been? Or someone else? Taichi? Takeru? He couldn't think of which it had been. Somewhere in the center of his stomach, something was churning and squirming, as if a knot of worms was in there and wanted out. He had to remember...hadn't there been something in some of the visions about mushrooms? Mushrooms of what...
Another laugh, and he could quite literally see the image of a bowl of mushrooms floating in front of him. "See the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness, Daisuke. They'll remove all your memories if you eat one. And you've had quite a few since I brought you to me. In some form or another." The image vanished quickly, and Daisuke blinked. Unusual day, to say the least. "If you really want to know, I'll need something from you."
Daisuke blinked; how had he ever thought this guy was anything like the real Ken. When Ken was in control, he'd never had that half-sexy, half-insane edge to him. He'd just been insane most of the time. Of course, looking back, he had to admit the tight fitting digital spandex looked damned good on the blue-haired overachiever, and he'd wondered time and time again how to bring up the question of Ken trying that on again, or some variation of it, anyway.
It was just as well that he didn't bother asking just what it was this new Kaiser wanted. Shaping the question would've been hard enough, much less focusing enough on the answer and thinking of just how to ask what the Kaiser wanted.
"Don't think I actually do something as silly as love you, though." The Kaiser half-hissed as he pulled Daisuke onto his lap, twisting his head around to stare at him. "This is just a means to an end, just like everything else." Yeah, definite villain material. He talked too much. "But I am going to have you. The math is simplistic enough even for you to follow. When you are mine, then you're not his. One of his greatest possessions will be taken from him. I believe you can understand that, can you not?"
Confusion had to be this guy's middle name. In fact, it should probably be his only name. "No..."
"Of course. I shouldn't expect that much of you. Pretty fire, that's all you are." A low, twisted laugh came out of him. "Tamed fire, of course. But that's really all you are." There was a quiet pause. "But I'll tell you anyway." More than a hint of smugness filled his tone, and Daisuke ground his teeth lightly.
Only reason he's saying anything is because he can take away the memory with more Mushrooms if he doesn't like how it comes out. It was just as well that Ken had never tried those things on all of them. He would've won in no time flat if he had. Maybe that was why this guy had been on top of this situation for so long. If you couldn't remember, you couldn't fight.
"I've extracted the juice of the Mushrooms and combined them into different levels of strength, and been able to refine them with repeated applications. Thus, I've been modifying your memory over the last few weeks." The Kaiser drummed his fingers against the arm of the throne. "It took a while to get everything sorted out, really. But you're an excellent test subject, Daisuke. You react so unpredictably...predictably."
Huh? Oh, genius talk for the way he himself didn't know from one second to another what he was going to do. Good to know it had a name, other than driving almost everyone around him crazy.
"I found a point in your life where you would believe the images I wanted you to, and erased everything after that. I'm sure you've noticed a few discrepancies in your memories, though." The Kaiser's fingers kept on drumming. "The process isn't perfect yet. I'll keep on working with it, though. It shouldn't be too much longer before I have your mind shaped just the way I want it. Then he'll have lost you forever, and I'll be one step closer to the victory I want."
"What...kind of victory?" That came easier than he'd thought it would. Maybe whatever it was that was sapping his strength and active brain cells was easing off? The Kaiser hadn't actually touched his head for a few minutes, after all. That was a plus, it seemed. "Over who?"
"My dear, there's no reason to tell you everything, even with a dose of the Mushroom Elixir to remove the information afterwards. If you missed it, the formula isn't perfect yet. You'll remember things I don't want you to, and I'm not yet ready for him to even have a hint of the full extent of my scheme." A sly smirk lay underneath the words. "But if you can figure it out for yourself, I might let you keep the knowledge. For a little while, at any rate."
Daisuke felt the weight of cold eyes on the back of his head, clouding his mind. Who could it be?
If he'd had a hand to spare, instead of both of them keeping him somewhat supported on the floor, he would've hit himself in the head. Of course he knew who it was. He didn't need all of his memories to figure that one out. "It's as plain...as the glasses on your face, Kaiser. Or whoever you are. You're trying to take what you can away from Ken."
Did that mean in the memories he couldn't remember, he was more to Ken than just a best friend? After all, stealing a friend wasn't nearly as devastating as stealing someone who was much more than that. His fingers worked slowly across the marble floor beneath him as he battered against the gray fog twirling its way across his mind. On the other side of that were all the memories and all the life he could have ever wanted, and then some. If only there were a way through it...
"Well done. You're not quite as stupid as I'd thought you were." The voice seemed to be changing a little, getting deeper, becoming more of an adult's voice than a child's. "Then again, I'm not entirely certain if that would be possible. Yes, Ichijouji is the one that I want to crush so completely that even a memory of him won't exist in this world or on Earth. He took something that I valued more than anything in the world, and I won't let him get away with that."
Raw fury was written into those words, and Daisuke winced, pulling away as he did. "You shouldn't let revenge run your life," he murmured quietly, lifting his head to stare into eyes of richest brown. "It never works out in the end."
"I believe you'll find that you're quite wrong, and I am quite right this time, Motomiya," the Kaiser ran his fingers through Daisuke's hair quite deliberately, watching intently to see what happened. "This is more than just revenge, this is justice. You believe in justice, don't you? In setting things right that were made wrong?"
Daisuke shook his head slowly, pulling it away from the maddening touch. "I believe in doing what's right, and hurting someone else isn't ever right!"
"You may have to rethink that. Or let me rethink it for you. I'm quite good at thinking for others. I've been doing it for Kondo for years." The Kaiser pulled Daisuke's head back to him and began to play again. "I'll have to think for you now. I have a feeling that repeated applications of the Mushrooms could have a very bad side effect or two."
"Like?" He pulled his head back again, only to hear a clink of chains. A length of steel had attached itself from the collar to the side of the throne, and it stiffened almost as soon as he looked at it. He wouldn't be moving again any time soon. "What kind of side effects?"
The Kaiser shrugged briefly. "Insanity. Total memory loss, leaving you as nothing more than a blank slate for me to program in any way that I choose. Perhaps even death, though I'd rather that didn't happen."
You're not the only one. Daisuke turned his head this way and that, but the unmoving steel kept him right where the Kaiser wanted him. At least he wasn't being petted now. That was something else he wanted to know about. He didn't think it was natural for just someone's touch to do that. Ken's never had.
"But whatever it is, I'll be careful with you afterwards. You'll be one of my most prized trophies." His gloved hand rested against Daisuke's cheek, and the captive tried to look at him, figuring out the differences between the real thing and this half-baked copy.
Where Ken had been elegance, refinement, and the very definition of a superiority complex, this person was restrained, but with madness glowing in their eyes that put anything Ken had experienced in the shade. Ken was like that because of his human emotions. Just kinda twisted and screwed up. But this guy... He didn't know how to describe it, other than the fact something was twisted deep inside of him, something that went far beyond the brotherly hero worship gone wrong that had been the keys to Ken's soul.
There were physical differences too. Ken had been lean and whipcord thin, tall for his age and with a near permanent sneer and intense, piercing violet eyes. This one was tall enough, but broader in the chest and shoulder, and with a more finished look, as he'd done more growing than Ken had when he'd been the Kaiser. Instead of spiky blue hair, there was neatly tamed brown hair. Daisuke definitely preferred the original model.
"What's your name?" Daisuke murmured, starting to reach for the other. A warm hand closed around his wrist, keeping him from getting too close.
"I could be incredibly cliché and demand that you call me 'master', but I see no need. My name is Mori. Mori Rokuro. Call me Mori." There was going to be no familiarity of the given name here, Daisuke could see. That was fine by him. He didn't really want to be that familiar with him anyway. "Now, there's something I need to know, Motomiya. You were speaking with some of your former friends before I called you back here. What did they tell you?"
Daisuke fidgeted a little, trying to figure out what he could get away with now that Mori was acting more like himself instead of the very odd parody of the Kaiser he'd been pretending to be. "A lot of things." There was no need to deny what he'd done, especially since he wasn't entirely sure if he could even answer the question. He was aware of the conversation, but all the details just kept escaping him. The gray fog hadn't done anything but wait, hovering in the back of his mind, keeping him away from what he needed more than anything: mental clarity and answers to everything.
"I'm sure." Mori's eyes bored into his, as intense as he remembered Ken's being. "I'm quite sure indeed."
Daisuke stared back at him, fire stirring where the worms had been an unknown amount of time ago, burning their fretting to ashes. "I suppose you're going to tell me that everything they said is a lie and only you have told me the truth?"
"Not at all. I don't doubt they told you the truth." A feral smirk resulted in the baring of fine white teeth. Like so much else, Daisuke would've preferred not seeing them right now. "They can tell you anything that they like, and you can believe what you like. Remember, your mind and your memories are my most favored playthings at the moment. You'll remember what they said only as long as I'll let you. Why should I worry about any of it?"
A thousand replies wanted to come boiling out of Daisuke's mouth, but only one actually made it through. "Because you're the bad guy and the bad guy never wins."
"And just who told you that?" Mori sounded far more amused than he did angry. Daisuke's instincts all stood in a line to scream that this was a really incredibly bad thing.
"No one had to tell me. It's just what is. No one we've fought who was really evil has ever won. Heck, even the ones we fought who thought they were evil and weren't didn't win. Ken didn't win. Vamdemon didn't win. Demon didn't win. Oikawa didn't. I could really go on and on." There hadn't been all that many after they'd beaten BelialVamdemon, but the flickers of memory now surging and moving behind the fog, taking the occasional chance to flicker into his mind as a spark of knowledge, told him what he needed to know. Or at least random things that were fun to think about.
Mori's hand closed quite firmly around Daisuke's chin. "What makes you think I'm evil, Motomiya? Just because I'm wiping your memories and taking you from your boyfriend? Really, is that your idea of evil?"
"No. But you're trying to be." It wasn't that easy to speak with his chin being held, but he managed. "What did Ken ever do to you, anyway?"
"I told you all I want to for now." Mori released Daisuke's chin and leaned back in his throne. "Kondo, get over here. It's time for the next phase of my project."
Daisuke had time enough only to wonder if he'd actually be able to see or hear Kondo before a third figure joined them on the dais. Out of the corner of one eye, he caught a glimpse of two others waiting in a doorway. He couldn't quite get a good look at them, but one seemed to be a kind of angel Digimon. Since the only ones he knew he'd seen right offhand were Angemon and Angewomon, he figured this wasn't a rescue, what with them just kind of standing there. The Digimon did look a little familiar, but it was hard to recall much with the essence of Mushrooms of Forgetfulness running around in his veins still. The other one was easier to identify, being a Unimon. This one tossed its head lightly, visored gazed all on Mori. If Daisuke hadn't known better, he would've compared the attention to what Wormmon had given Ken back during the Kaiser days. Then again, maybe he is. If Mori's a Chosen, then his partner's got to be hurting as much as Wormmon is.
"What is it you need?" Kondo didn't appear to pay any attention to Daisuke whatsoever. He knew he wasn't the best judge of who was doing what right now, though, so he didn't let it bother him. Something about her, like so much else, was tugging around at the back of his mind. He'd figure it out later, once he had a later to figure it out in.
"Get his partner. I've got a new idea, and I'll need the little squirt to make it work properly." Mori turned slightly to the doorway. "Pidmon, I want you and Unimon to take Motomiya back to the lab. That's where Kondo's going to be taking V-mon once he gets here."
The two Digimon stepped a little closer, and Daisuke saw that the angel-like one was indeed a Pidmon. He wondered why they looked so much like Angemon, except for some different coloring here and there. Maybe he'd get the chance to ask someday. Unimon trotted closer, nuzzling briefly against Mori's arm.
"It's almost time for our ride, Mori," the deep voiced Digimon reminded him. "You're not going to bail out on me again, are you?"
The erstwhile Kaiser ran a comforting hand across his partner's neck and withers. "No, I won't. Once they're locked up, we can take the ride, and it'll be a doubly long one, to make up for missing the last time." Daisuke wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't heard it. He'd heard it, and he still didn't believe it. Mori actually sounded as if he cared about his partner. That went against everything he'd heard or seen about someone like him. Shouldn't he have been acting kind of like Ken, ignoring and being rude to his companion?
Wait, how the heck had Mori even gotten one? Only the Chosen were supposed to have Digimon partners. Maybe it was just a friend he'd made? But what kind of a Unimon, a Vaccine Digimon, would be working with someone who was doing what he was doing? It didn't make sense. Not that anything else had for who knew how long, but it had to start somewhere, didn't it? He just wished it would get around to starting.
"Mori..." You never learned anything if you didn't ask. The worst that could happen was that he wouldn't know, and since he already didn't know, it wouldn't be that much of a difference. "You've got a partner?"
"Kondo and I both do. Pidmon is hers." Mori seemed a little too caught up in petting Unimon to bother keeping secrets, if he did think this one was. "I don't see why you're so surprised. It's not as if its uncommon." He laughed suddenly. "Not that you remember that anymore, of course. But we both had ours long before it became as common as the possession of a cell phone or clothing or something of that sort. Almost like you." He turned to look at Daisuke, smirking a twisted sort of smirk before reaching into a pocket to pull out something that should not have been even remotely possible, as far as Daisuke could recall. It made him want to get those memories back as fast as he could, just to understand why Mori was holding what he was.
Where in the world had he gotten a D-3?
To Be Continued