chapter title is from 2NE1's song of the same name
DEUX
"You really scared us there, Henry. Calling us up at this hour."
A tall, lithe young man, in his twenties, stands in the middle of the main Hypnos control room, staring at the blue screens displaying a map of… something. His face is taut with a mixture of stoicism and anxiety, and he fiddles with the front of his green t-shirt. On his head, rests a small, tan bunny-like creature, peering at the control room with big eyes.
An older man, with blonde hair and wearing a suit and dark sunglasses, stands in front of him.
The only thing breaking their silence is a clicking noise from a lighter in the older man's hand.
"Sorry, sir," the boy, Henry, says, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I-I wasn't expecting him to come back! It's been sixteen years…"
The older man hums in response, clicking his lighter aimlessly. He looks over at the little rabbit digimon, staring at it with a curious expression.
"How'd you come back to the real world?"
"I don't know," the little rabbit digimon says, peering at the older man. "One second I was in the digital world, minding my own business, next second, I was being pushed into this big vortex with a bunch of other digimon by some force! After that, I blacked out."
The man swallows painfully.
He had always feared this. That somehow, there would be a hole or leak of digimon that would lead to their return.
A headache stings between his eyes and the man rubs at it with his index fingers.
"There must be some reason for this…" the man mutters to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Our two worlds are supposed to be separate from each other, ever since the Juggernaut program sent them back…!"
The man's eyes flit back to Henry.
"Have you spoken with Takato?"
Henry shakes his head.
"I haven't spoken with him since he graduated college," he says nervously, running a hand through his dark hair. "I think he's still in Tokyo, though."
"We need to go talk with him, immediately," the man commands, walking forward. "If what Terriermon says is true, that means that there are more digimon on the way."
"And we don't know how dangerous they could be."
"It smells awful here!"
Lunamon squirms in Camille's arms, hitting her stomach repeatedly with their stubby arms. The woman sighs through her nose, adjusting her hold on the… digimon as she walks down the street, metal scaffolding surrounding the sidewalk, caging them in.
"I hate to break it to you, but it always smells here." she sniffs, peeking up through the bars. The the dark form of the almost complete Technology Center leers high above them, a large yellow maintenance tower on its side. Camille sighs sadly, shaking her head. This whole digimon thing is causing her to lose her fucking mind, leading her away from her apartment instead of towards it. There's plenty of good restaurants by her complex, and yet she's going here?
The people who walk around her don't really seem to care that Camille is carrying a squirming living plush toy with the voice of a seventy-two-year-old man. They just glance at her from the sides of their eyes, as if she was just holding a weird bag or something. Camille doesn't know if she wants to feel happy that she's not hallucinating a talking rabbit digimon, or afraid because she's not hallucinating a talking rabbit digimon. Lunamon stares back at them, a frown on its tiny little face, but thankfully it keeps its mouth shut.
Camille crosses the street, and walks towards a large rectangular skyscraper, the Comcast Center, and pushes her way through one of the revolving doors, into the building.
Once it is done staring at the door in confusion, Lunamon kicks and squirms in her arms.
"Ow!" she shouts, trying to steady the squirming creature. "What the fuck, dude?"
"Lemme down!" the creature squeals. "I wanna walk, lemme down!
Camille relents, placing it on the gray floor. It stretches its little arms with a groan, and waddles forward with Camille, looking all around. She feels the incredulous stares of business people, walking beside them and glancing up at Camille, as if she could explain why an anthropomorphic bunny was walking amongst them .
"Why are we here, exactly?" Lunamon asks, turning to face Camille with a frown.
"I need to eat something," she grunts, trying her best to ignore the stares of the people around her. Anxiety tugs at her throat, and she knows that she needs to take her meds soon or else. "I can't concentrate on whatever you're going to tell me if I don't eat."
Lunamon makes a humming noise, peering at the surrounding stores with a cautious expression. Camille watches it walk over to one of the stores, peeking through the window, before shaking its head and walking back.
"This place is stupid," the rabbit digimon huffs, crossing its arms. "Couldn't you eat elsewhere? Somewhere… nice?"
"Fuck off, man," Camille growls, running a hand through her hair. "This is a nice place! Besides, you're distracting me."
The woman jumps down the steps, the little rabbit close behind, and opens a glass door. A large, orange food court spans out in front of her, stone floors and loud noise from the TVs around the room. Camille's eyes scan over the large, lit up signs of the various stores. Produce. Chinese food. Pizza. Indian. Ramen. A dizzying amount of options that end up almost causing her to dry heave out of stress, and she stares blankly and unmoving, trying to gather some sort of calm. Lunamon stares at her with an incredulous expression on its face, grabbing one of her fingers in its claws and leading her forward.
Camille finally clears her mind of stress, as the creature leads them to a sushi shop, and grabs a container, pressing it into her hands. Peering at the 'tuna special', Camille sniffs and shrugs, taking it in her hand.
At least that little creature got her sushi that she likes...
Lunamon grabs itself a container, hopefully nothing expensive, and they walk forward in line. Camille spots one of the chefs, a short, stocky woman wearing white slacks, staring at Lunamon with shock on her face. The little digimon's face contorts in a mixture of annoyance and some form of amusement. Before the little rabbit can make a smart remark to her, Camille ushers it forward, smiling fakely at the chef. She gets the two of them bottles of chai tea from the fridge by her side and a Japanese snack that looks like some sort of pancake, which the label proclaims to be 'dorayaki'.
As they finally reach the cashier, a pretty looking girl in her early twenties with dark hair and red glasses, Camille picks Lunamon up, and places it on the counter as she gathers their stuff together. The cashier's face visibly lifts when she sees the little bunny, and grins at it.
"How cute…!" she chimes, gingerly reaching a hand over to the little bunny. Lunamon sighs, and walks closer, letting her pet them. "What's her name?"
"He," Camille says shortly, glancing at the bunny, who is smiling smugly now. "His name is Frank."
Lunamon opens its mouth in protest but abruptly shuts it when Camille places a finger across her lips.
"Frank," the cashier repeats, a tone of wonder to her voice as she fiddles with the cash register. Camille quietly pays, fumbling with her wallet, and the cashier bags up their food. "What a cute little thing you are… Well, have a nice evening, you two."
Camille responds in the same, picks up a squirming Lunamon, and walks over to the nearest table, far from anyone else. After setting down their dinner, the digimon crawls from her arms across the table, and into the metal chair across from hers. It's head is the only thing really visible above the table. With a stubby arm, it grabs its sushi, chopsticks, and drink, gingerly dragging them across the table. It cracks its chopsticks apart, pulls off the top of the sushi container, and picks up a California roll gingerly, like it's some sort of fragile bird, before eating it.
Camille watches the bunny digimon eat its food with a blank expression, before wiping her sweaty face with her hands, and rummages through her bag. She twists open a container of Seroquel, places two oval, wheat yellow, pills in her palm, and downs them with a swig of her tea.
"So," she says, grabbing her chopsticks as well. Lunamon glances up at her. "Are… Are you really a digimon?"
Lunamon snorts and rolls its eyes.
"No, I'm a fucking rabbit named Frank," it snarks, fangs visible in its tiny mouth, and Camille glowers at it. "Yes, I am a digimon! What did you think I was?"
"My meds acting up," Camille says flatly, biting into a tuna roll. "Anyways, now that that's out of the way…"
"Why are you here? You live in the Digital World… right?"
"I was sent here, on a mission," Lunamon sniffs, grabbing the gigantic bottle of tea, uncapping it, and taking a sip from it. "By a group of digimon called the Sovereign."
Camille's eyebrows furrow at the digimon's vague explanation.
"Why were you sent?"
"Well, that's a long story," it says, eating another piece of sushi. "A very long story."
"I have all the time in the world." Camille deadpans, placing her hand against her cheek.
"Okay, okay," Lunamon sighs, shaking its head. "If you insist… I'll start from the beginning."
"Sixteen years ago, digimon started appearing in this world, through a small breach in between the Digital World and this one. Most of these 'bio-emergences' were centered in Japan, where the main breach was located, and most of them were of weaker and smaller digimon, so I doubt you'd know of them."
"It's all news to me," she says, eyes wide in shock and amazement. "I-I'd only heard of rumors."
"Huh. Well, eventually, through human meddling, the breach between worlds became bigger, able to bring larger and more destructive digimon through it."
Lunamon's expression turns bashful, and it scratches its fringe nervously.
"Admittedly… most of the destructive digimon were sent by the Sovereign… B-But that's because they thought that digimon could become powerful through defeating humans!"
Camille's face contorts in anger, and her hands shake at the thought of working with some group like that, but before she can scream at Lunamon to leave her at once, it interrupts her.
"Let me finish, please!" the digimon insists, and Camille sighs deeply, trying to expel her anger. Her therapist's vice follows her, chastising her for categorizing people in black and white again. That she's being too judgemental, that she needs to hear with an open mind. "The reason why the powerful digimon were sent to attack humans and become stronger, was because the Sovereign wanted to defeat the D-Reaper!"
Anger leaves Camille like air rushing out of a balloon, with shock replacing it. It's a weak excuse, but she'll try to be forgiving. The D-Reaper attacks was sixteen years ago, maybe they've changed?
"The D-Reaper?"
"Yes!" Lunamon nods. "And besides, the digimon were defeated before they could kill anyone. Anyways, the enlarged breach posed a greater problem to this world than the digimon sent through it."
"The breach allowed the D-Reaper to emerge in the real world, and wreak havoc on humans. Are you aware of the D-Reaper?"
"Yes," she nods, a feeling of dread stirring in her stomach. "It made news where I lived. I was… about eleven-years-old, and I..."
(she remembers watching, eyes wide and glued to the television as a sea of red flowed through tokyo, remembers screaming at the ticker as it read 'MULTIPLE CONFIRMED DEATHS IN TOKYO ATTACK", a howling, painful noise that burned through her lungs as she remembered it all
"...appa?"
…
"-it's no use jujun, no use, no use... oh no no no no non non non…!"
...)
Camille comes back into reality as her chopsticks clatter to the table. She's hunching over the table, panting, sweat running down her face, her shaking hands covering her eyes, digging painfully into her skin, and her glasses are visibly fogging up. Subconsciously, her fingers countdown from five, and at 'zero', she straightens up, grabs a cloth from her bag, and wipes down her glasses before putting them on again. She takes a few consecutive deep breaths, in and out, in and out, before she feels she's calm enough. Lunamon is staring at her with concern in its eyes, and Camille feels a pang of disgust at herself for having an attack in the middle of a public place.
"Sorry," she says, trying to sound as unemotional as possible. "I wasn't there… but the D-Reaper… it brings back some traumatic shit for me."
"Alright," it says, but Camille can tell that it's not entirely sure that she's okay. "The D-Reaper was eventually defeated by a group of humans and their digimon."
"Wait," she interrupts, her eyes widening. "I thought it was the Japanese government? It… wasn't?"
"Well, it was like… one-fourth those 'government' folks, three-fourths us digimon!" Lunamon says triumphantly, and Camille has to rub the base of her nose. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Camille nods, before smiling a little. "Just… I don't think you have any idea of the sheer insanity of what you just said. It's like… saying the Iraq War was fought by faries. I just… just have to wrap my head around it."
"Well it's the truth, so jot it down!" Lunamon shouts, visibly indignant. The rest of the cafeteria turns to look over at the two, and the digimon waits for them to look away, before continuing. "I don't know why you haven't seen that digimon helped destroy the D-Reaper!"
"I don't know!" she hisses, between bites of sushi. "Maybe those government people wanted to keep digimon a secret because of how destructive you said they were, to prevent hysteria or something! All I know, is the D-Reaper was shown, and the news here said it was some 'government task force' that defeated it! Who knows, man…"
"Anyways, as I was saying before you so cruelly interrupted me," it continues, and Camille rolls her eyes. "The D-Reaper was defeated, but, the breach was sealed up, and all the digimon went with it! Therefore, the worlds were separate from each other once again."
"But, you're here. So they aren't."
"That's true. The worlds were separate for about sixteen years," Lunamon explains, taking a sip of chai tea. "But, in that span of time, humans created more and more technology, and expanded the Internet more and more…"
"And?" Camille asks, wiping away some rice from her cheek.
"As more and more expansions were made," Lunamon says, crossing its arms. "The walls between the worlds were whittled away, slowly but surely…"
"And now, there are barely any walls left."
A chill runs up Camille's spine at Lunamon's tone.
"Digimon will start bio-emerging again, and humans have the technology now to be able to reproduce or create digivices, similar to yours," it says, very grim. Camille grabs the grey-and-orange device from her pocket, and looks at it. "Some of them will either wreak havoc, or find partners that will make them wreak havoc, and it could end with both worlds being destroyed."
"That's where you come in."
"Me?" Camille asks, pointing a finger towards herself. Distantly, she can hear 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' start up, and it takes her best restraint not to burst into song.
"Yes, you! The humans and digimon who saved your world and ours from the D-Reaper are still around, but they only live in one part of your very very big world!" Lunamon exclaims, banging its chopsticks for emphasis. "If something happens elsewhere, in this city perhaps, they can't reach it in time!"
"So, the Sovereign chose ten people, gathered ten digimon to be their partners, created ten digivices, and ten bracelets, like the one on your wrist."
"But, why me?" Camille asks, fidgeting her fingers. "I'm just some Inuk girl with two shitty jobs and frequent panic attacks, what's so interesting about me?"
"The Sovereign told us that our partners were chosen because of their strong moral conviction. Someone who knew right from wrong, and could stand up for it."
Camille opens her mouth to object, but she frowns, and rests her chin on her hand, thinking a bit about her actions before. Lunamon did have somewhat of a point.
"O...kay…" she says slowly, unsurely. "I… I guess that's right. But, why the bracelet?"
"The bracelet turns you into a human-data hybrid, called a reaper," Lunamon says bluntly, and Camille feels like she's gonna fall over. "Normally, humans can't do shit to digimon, but as a reaper, you can!"
"Like… what kind of transformation?" Camille asks, horror and curiosity battling it out in her stomach. "Like… Power Rangers transformation, or like… Sailor Moon transformation?"
Lunamon stares blankly at her, a scowl on its little face.
"I have no fuckin' idea what you're talking about."
"Whatever," she says quickly, face beet red. Shaking her head, she grabs a dorayaki and opens its plastic packaging. "So, now what?"
"Well," Lunamon says, leaning back in its chair. "We go back to that park, and you try out transforming into a reaper!"
So, Camille found herself standing in the middle of Rittenhouse Square, standing around aimlessly, when she could be sleeping or playing video games. The park is almost completely pitch black, and Camille can barely see her own hands. Frustration and exhaustion churn in her head, and she blinks blearily at what she thinks is Lunamon.
"Okay," she snaps, crossing her arms. "I'm fucking exhausted, we're here in Rittenhouse, and I'm about to transform in front of the five homeless guys sleeping on the benches by the path…"
"What do I do next? Do I shout 'DIGIMENTAL UP' at the top of my lungs, like some sort of asshole? Do I strike some sort of pose? Please, fuckin' tell me!"
"No need to act like such a bitch, Jesus," it growls, and Camille sees it walk over to her. "Just hold your arms out in front of you, to start."
Camille complies, swinging her arms out in front of her. She's not sure if it's just her mind playing tricks on her, but she sees the gemstone glow bright orange.
"Good, good, good," Lunamon says, nodding to itself. "Now, say 'Sovereign, grant me your power!', and say it loud!"
"Oh, so I am going to humiliate myself in the middle of Center City!" she sniffs, clenching and unclenching her fingers. Lunamon groans loudly. "Okay, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it…"
Time to get this over with, she thinks to herself.
Hopefully, it's quick...
"Sovereign, grant me your power!" Camille shouts, feeling her face burn painfully.
The transformation starts instantly, with Camille's body glowing a bright orange, and all her clothing dissolving away. Mournfully, she watches her shoes disappear, thinking about the two-hundred dollars she blew on them. The Sovereign better pay her back for her lost clothing, she grumbles. After her clothing disappears - basically causing Camille to stand nude in the middle of Center City - she suddenly feels a surge of confidence surge through her. Like she could fist-fight a lion, or something stupid like that.
Some sort of ribbon (computer data?) wraps around Camille's body, neck, legs and arms, and before the pain of something wrapping tight around her flesh sets in, it's gone. Replacing it, is a long, black dress that reaches to her ankles, with some sort of stockings underneath, long, puffy sleeves ending in bright white cuffs, and white gloves covering her hands. She feels long strands of hair whip around her face, before there's an abrupt, painful pulling sensation, and then Camille feels two masses of hair against her back.
The transformation ends, and Camille finds words that she would never usually say bubbling their way out of her mouth.
"I am the Sovereign's warrior, the Reaper Jasper!"
There's complete silence in the park as Camille tries to gather her bearings, the sensation of her… pigtails (?) moving in the wind and tight, constricting gloves on her hands frightening her. She feels her hands begin to shake, and her stomach flops painfully, sending a pang of nausea.
Then, a raspy voice of an older man, shouts from another part of Rittenhouse Square, about a foot away:
"No one fucking cares who you are, lady!"
