Hey guys. We're back with another chapter. Well, kinda. Think of this as part 2 of the last chapter. I know I promised a longer chapter this time around but a lot of stuff's been happening and my co-writer, who's in charge of breaking up the story into chapters, was sick and is still recovering as we speak. Kind of an awkward break I know but you work with what you get, right? Now I know this might not be much but once she's better I'll talk to her about maybe doing a double chapter or something along those lines. Till then I hope this will get you through the next week.
"The Keepers of Worlds"- Glad you enjoyed the small chapter my friend. I hope you enjoy this one too. FernClaw and I had a lot of fun writing this part.
"I have a dictionary here"- Well, you're pretty good with your assumptions as you will see as the story starts.
"the-ice-cold-alchemist"- Yeah, FernClaw and I get a real kick in torturing Takuya. It's like our favorite sport. Glad to know you enjoyed the small chapter and hope you enjoy this one too.
"eltigre221"- Well, up to chapter 25 things should be back up to speed and full detail again so I hope to hear from you then.
"Fanime-club"- I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. We appreciate the fact that you enjoyed it and are looking forward to seeing what you think of what we put up next.
"Digidestinedkid6"- Well, the chapter was cut kinda awkwardly. What you're about to read was probably supposed to be attached at the end of that but it might take a while still before anything can happen. Everyone's first priority is trying to help Takuya recover from the shock from what just happened. Just be patient with us and you'll see what happens.
"LightFire"- Well, it's great knowing you enjoy Secrets so much. I'm glad we left that good of an impression on you. As of right now though, we only update every Wednesday but we are thinking of doing up to two updates a week in the future so there is that. Just gonna have to be patient.
"Lucas H. Garrett"- Thanks for the feedback friend, helps knowing what issues you have with the story so we can make edits as we prepare these chapters for you guys. Sorry if the angst bugs ya, we kinda tend to write on the angsty side (What with my cowriter, who is more experienced than I, being used to writing angst for the site). I will promise you though, Takuya will get better eventually. I mean, with friends like his, who wouldn't?
So let's get to reading shall we? And again, I'll get to work on making that extra long chapter happen.
Chapter 19 part 2:
Kouji woke long before Takuya did, and ventured downstairs. Satomi was in the kitchen making breakfast. "Good morning dear," she chirped happily, "sleep well?"
"eh... Not really... Takuya kept waking up from nightmares..." Kouji admitted softly.
"Oh..." She grimaced, "It'll get better, you'll see."
Kouji tilted his head again, "What are you talking about?"
Satomi turned, "Kouji. I know exactly what Takuya is going through." Kouji looked skeptical. "I was about you age, my brother finally told our parents- they reacted badly at first but it got better with time and age."
"...Are you implying something?" Kouji asked bluntly, completely lost.
She gave him a quizzical look, "Isn't Takuya gay?"
Kouji's eyes widened, "What?!"
"Oh, I just assumed that's why he showed up out of the blue so upset. I mean, my brother ran away from home when our parents reacted negatively... "
Kouji just stared at her speechless, for once in his life just completely astonished at what his step-mother was telling him. He was not expecting her to come to that conclusion.
"Kouji?" Satomi was puzzled with Kouji's expression.
The boy shook his head to clear his mind. It took a moment before he could compose himself with an answer. "Look, Takuya's not gay. Trust me."
"Really?" Satomi still seemed like she was trying to figure out was going on. She thought she had everything pegged what with how close Takuya was to her step-son. Especially as of late during the break and the school fire episode. "So he's not gay?"
"Nope." Kouji answered simply.
"And neither are you?"
The boy nearly spit up his breakfast when she asked. "Mom!"
"So you're not gay."
"NO!" Kouji replied, thoroughly flustered. This conversation needed to end. Now.
She paused, "What about Kouichi?"
"MOM."
"Okay okay." she let it drop.
Kouji pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm honestly not even sure about Kouichi..." he muttered under his breathe, continuing to eat his breakfast.
Takuya didn't make an appearance until Kouji had washed his dish and put it aside to dry. "Hey Takuya... How're you doing?" he asked, trying to start a basic conversation.
The boy didn't reply, the look in his eyes told Kouji he still wasn't ready to talk just yet. Satomi, sensing the tension between the boys left the room to go about her business. Kouji placed a plate of food before Takuya. The brunette picked at it, barely eating.
"Come on Takuya, you need to eat. You're getting really thin- I can tell."
Takuya sighed and tried to swallow down his breakfast to appease his friend.
"It's a start I guess." Kouji muttered with a sigh.
The two sat in silence for a while; Kouji just waiting for Takuya to want to talk to him and explain what had happened yesterday.
"Hey Kouji?" Takuya asked, albeit softly. "Thanks… for letting me stay here."
His friend nodded. "No problem Takuya. I'd like to help if I can. What happened yesterday?" He saw the look on his friend's face and decided that maybe it'd be best if they waited for Kouichi to come over; give Takuya time to try and come to terms with everything. "You don't have to tell me right away. You can wait until Kouichi gets here or whenever you're ready. Take your time okay?"
Takuya nodded gratefully and went back to eating in silence.
Kouji sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again. He saw Satomi peak into the kitchen and sighed again remembering their 'discussion' from earlier. He made a mental note to tell Kouichi about it.
After Takuya had finished, Kouji took the boy's plate and washed it before moving into the living room. He had Takuya sit down on the sofa while he sat beside him. A long silence lingered between them. Kouji observed the boy, who just stared at the ground, hands folded in his lap.
This was so unlike Takuya. Kouji grimaced, wondering what could be going through the boy's head right now. Given everything that had happened up til now, his theories weren't very pleasant ones.
Kouichi arrived a short time thereafter, armed to the teeth with medical and first aid equipment. He immediately went to work, examining the scratches on Takuya's face which had begun to heal, and the bruise on his arm that had begun to fade.
"Has he been quiet the whole time?" Kouichi asked worriedly, pulling Kouji aside to help him gather his things.
"Unfortunately, yes."
Kouichi sighed sadly and looked back to their suffering friend. Takuya had been compliant with his treatment but just at the bare minimum. "Did he tell you what happened?"
"He wasn't ready to tell me. Whatever happened, it was really traumatic." Kouji answered. "I was hoping he'd tell me when he woke up but he just kept quiet."
The twins debated on what to do next. It didn't seem like a good idea to force Takuya to talk just yet. That might just make things worse. They could try calling Zoe but there was a possibility that it would go bad as well.
Kouichi sighed with their lack of results. "Well, we need one of them to talk to us. We need to know what happened yesterday."
Kouji decided to pull out his cell phone. "Well, Takuya's not going to talk to us so we might as well try Zoe." He offered and dialed up the blonde.
"Hello Kouji." The blonde greeted. Her voice was soft and hoarse, like she'd been crying extensively.
"Are you okay?" Kouji asked, taken aback by be demeanor. Kouichi raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
Zoe hesitated, "Yeah... I'm fine."
"Zoe. Whatever happened between you and Takuya-"
"I never said it had anything to do with him!" she snapped.
Kouji huffed, "Zoe. He's here. He's a disaster. What. Happened." His tone was deadly serious, not willing to deal with her defensive attitude.
"Takuya... He.. .We... We saw IceDevimon yesterday at a store- Taku... He dark Digi-volved again." Zoe answered, her voice hushed, "We argued... I left him alone at his house..."
"And his parents found out." Kouji said flatly, "He's a wreck and won't talk to us- me or Kouichi."
"Oh my god… That… that's terrible…"
"We took care of his wounds but I'm not sure what else can do for him right now." Kouji admitted. "Zoe, if you can give us any details that you think could help?"
The girl trembled but tried to do what she could to answer her friend. "he was… really beating himself up after the fight with IceDevimon. It was like what happened with Ogremon all over again. I tried comforting him… but he wanted to be alone suddenly…"
The twins tried to absorb all the information. "Is that it?"
"It is… just… one moment he wants me to stay with him… then…" she tried her best not to cry again.
The whole horrible ordeal was still fresh in her mind and it still hurt. But she also felt so bad for the poor suffering boy.
"I see." He'd heard enough; "I'll call you if we make any progress. We'll get it sorted out."
Zoe hiccupped, "O-okay... Kouji?"
"Yes?"
"Please help him."
Kouji nodded, "We'll do what we can." He hung up, looking to his brother. "They fought. But that's not the worst of it. IceDevimon showed up."
"IceDevimon?!" Kouichi gasped, "That's... "
"A lot of trouble" Kouji supplied, remembering their encounter with the ice demon. He shuddered involuntarily.
Kouichi grimaced, "Damn... It took the combined power of four beast spirits to take him down..."
"I remember. He dark digivolved again..." Kouji stated bitterly, "Takuya just isn't strong enough to handle these high powered Digimon on his own... But this just isn't the way."
"He'll become something like Duskmon at this rate..." Kouichi added, pained that his friend would seemingly turn to such a force.
They didn't want to imagine their friend going through such a process. The mention of Duskmon still sent unpleasant shivers down their spines. For Takuya to have that kind of destructive power and to reek havoc in the human word… that would mean destruction of the world by fire.
"What're we going to do?" Kouichi asked and looked back at Takuya.
"I'm not sure… if this does turn out like Duskmon… we'd have to somehow purify his data…" Kouji theorized though didn't seem sure. "There's still so much we don't know…"
The elder twin sighed. "I wish we had more of an idea of what's happening."
"Well, our main priority is bringing Takuya out of his funk." Kouji replied to his brother's comment. "which we still need to figure out."
"I could try talking to him. If it's the dark digivolving that's bothering him then maybe I can help. I mean who better than me right?" Kouichi suggested with a shrug.
"If you think it'll work." Kouji answered.
Kouichi nodded, "I do. You guys were very supportive and accepting after Duskmon."
The younger twin nodded, "Alright then. He's all yours."
The elder smiled, he stood and went to try and talk to Takuya. "Hey Takuya." The boy looked up, distressed. Kouichi bit his lip. "How're you feeling?"
Takuya looked away as if debating with himself. He wondered what the point was in talking. He tried that before and even though it helped at first things always got worse by the end.
"Come on Takuya, please talk to me. I want to help you Takuya, we all do, but we need to know what's wrong." Kouichi told his friend.
Takuya bit his lip but decided he might as well get it over with. They were going to pester him about it until he told them everything. "Alright… I'll tell you everything… Zoe came over yesterday… she tried to cheer me up but… we were attacked by IceDevimon…"
"What happened during the fight?" Kouichi asked, concerned.
"He... He was terrifyingly strong..." Takuya mumbled, "He had me down in moments... And Zoe... He was going to kill us... And... he... he..." The boy cried softly. He trembled as he stared at his hands.
Kouichi made a face, "Takuya..."
"I had to kill him... If I didn't Zoe would have... I h-had too," the brunette choked out weakly. Kouichi laid his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"I understand Takuya... I know why you evolved with that dark energy- but that's just not the way!"
Takuya looked at him, taken by surprise "You think I was using Dark Digivolution?! I... I never... It wasn't my fault!"
"It wasn't mine either," Kouichi countered, not understanding Dracmon's involvement, "But I was able to overcome it!"
"It's not me! It was Dracmon! He's been controlling me!" Takuya shouted, shaking with anger. "He forced me to evolve like that! He forced me to evolve against my will- He made me de-digivolve in front of my parents after I almost beat him! It's all his fault that all this crap's happened to me!" Tears were flowing down his face.
"Wait… Dracmon? There was another Digimon?" Kouichi asked, genuinely confused. He didn't know about this. "You're saying that the Dark Digivolution was caused by another Digimon?"
Takuya just nodded with a dangerous growl in his throat, trying to contain his anger. This had shed a much needed light on the situation in Kouichi's eyes. "So… this Digimon was behind what happened with Ogremon and IceDevimon…"
"I don't know how, he just did something to me. He was toying with my emotions… my anger… he made me snap at Zoe… I hurt her and…"
"Takuya listen." Kouichi interrupted, getting the boy's full attention. "I know what you're going through. I understand now. What this Digimon was doing to you… is what Cherubimon did to me. You were being manipulated."
"I know that." Takuya replied bitterly.
"But it also means that there was nothing wrong with you." Kouichi continued, his words having some kind of an effect on Takuya who looked up at him wanting to believe Kouichi's words to be true. "It wasn't your fault you Dark Digivolved. There was never anything wrong with you. Someone else was causing all of this."
Takuya glared at Kouichi, "You guys thought there was something wrong with me?"
"We were just worried about you Takuya,"" Kouichi replied, trying to reason with the high strung boy, "Bokomon mentioned something about Digimon losing it in the human world and we-"
"thought I was going crazy." Takuya finished with a huff.
Kouichi sighed with exasperation, "No! We-"
"Save it!" Takuya snapped, "You guys have all been treating me differently ever since I turned back into Flamon. I thought you guys would understand, and support me, but all you do is fear and take advantage of me!"
"Takuya, you need to calm down!" Kouichi begged the boy.
"That's enough!" Kouji intervened, shutting them both up for the time being. "Takuya, I know you're going through a lot of pain but we're not the enemy here. We're all trying to do our best to help you through everything that's happening. We were there when you were first evolving to Flamon, we took care of you when those DemiDevimon poisoned you and when you got shot…"
Takuya looked away from them as Kouji listed everything off. They really did seem to be there when he needed help; even right now Kouji's letting him stay in his home after his parents kicked him out.
"We worry about you Takuya. All of us do." Kouji continued. "I called Zoe earlier and she told me about the argument and despite it she's still worried about you."
Takuya's eyes widened in shock and he looked up at the younger twin. "S-she's worried about me?"
"Of course she is," Kouji answered curtly. "She cares about you."
"You need to overcome whatever it is Dracmon has done or is doing to you," Kouichi urged, "Your temper flared so fast... You're not fully yourself right now."
The brunette looked at both of the twins, ashamed of snapping at Kouichi and accusing them of doing him wrong. He groaned, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and hid his face. "God I hate this..." the boy muttered, upset again.
Kouji knelt in front of him, "Hey. I know this is tough, but right now the biggest priority is finding and destroying Dracmon. He's just twisting your mind and using you- just like Cherubimon did to Kouichi."
Takuya whimpered softly. Kouichi and Kouji stood by him, trying comfort the boy. "We'll be right there to help you Takuya," Kouichi reassured, "I understand what's happening to you- We won't give up, okay?"
The boy nodded slowly, on the verge of tears again. "It'll be okay Takuya, we'll help you. We're here for you." Kouji said softly, "You're not alone in this." Takuya just couldn't keep his tears back and hid his face in his hands as he cried. He just had to let it all go. All the grief and anger that had been built up inside of him just had to come out.
The twins looked to each other and sighed in unison. They were finally making ground. They could finally help their friend. The two sat with the weeping boy, letting him cry out all his anguish.
Takuya took a breath to calm himself and wiped the tears from his face. He didn't know how long he's been crying but he felt like he finally let it all out. He felt a little better, but he'd feel great as soon as he got rid of Dracmon once and for all. He'd manage for now though.
There you go folks. Hope to hear more from you again. The reviews are great inspiration for us to keep pushing this thing along. Later.
