Chapter 10: Necropolis
Koushiro found himself sitting on a chair in front of a table covered with a white sheet with rose drawings. Across from him, there was another Koushiro, who had his face and upper body tainted red by his own blood. The other boy smiled gently and waved his hand above the table. Two tea cups appeared, one in front of each boy.
Koushiro looked around, trying to make sense of where he was. It seemed to be a dark chamber, badly illuminated by a chandelier above the table. It was not possible to devise anything beyond the mobile. The boy felt an air current at his back and inferred that there should be a door or a window in that direction.
"Don't be shy; it's our favorite flavor." The other Koushiro said, indicating the cups of tea, from which a delicious scent came.
"This is a dream." Koushiro murmured. "I saw you in the mirror…"
"That tends to happen when the time approaches. That nightmare of you running away and being chained to the chair, however, was new." The boy soaked in blood explained, sipping on his cup. "That was the murderer's doing."
"What murderer?" Koushiro questioned, fearful.
"My murderer, of course. Although, I suppose he counts as yours too." The other replied calmly.
"What are you…" Koushiro was shaking. "How could I have a murderer?"
"You have a murderer because you were murdered." The other stated the obvious.
"I WASN'T MURDERED!" Koushiro shouted, standing up. "I'M ALIVE! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
"Suuure." The bloody boy said with sarcasm. "Obviously, living people usually have chats with alternative versions of themselves."
"I'm just dreaming…" Koushiro muttered, walking backwards and finding a knob. He opened the door and crossed it. What the teenager found at the other side was the bakery he had visited to buy something to Tentomon. He could see his past self hiding his face under a hood and sitting at the table behind the one in which his parents and the boy who had introduced himself as Katsura Shinsuke were talking.
"Do you remember this?" The Koushiro soaked in blood asked, standing by his side.
"How can I remember this from this angle?" Koushiro could not understand.
"Because it's how I saw the scene unfolding." The other explained.
"You were there?" The first teenager asked, surprised.
"I am everywhere, all the time." The bloody child affirmed with no sentiment, getting close to the couple. Koushiro followed him.
"I did as the Merchant instructed me." The boy with brown hair murmured in shame. "I killed Lilithmon and because of that the digimon under her protection were massacred. Right now, those two devils are destroying the Digital World. The Society and the chosen children will fight them and I'll take the chance to sneak into the Citadel and destroy the machine in the sacrificial chamber. I can't tell how many will die because of what I did."
"Are you having doubts, Makoto?" Izumi Masami asked.
"No!" The teenager stated. "I'll sacrifice everything to have my family back!"
"We know." Yoshie held the boy's hand gently. "And we'll support you through everything, son."
"No matter the cost, we want our child safe and with us." Masami affirmed.
"Thank you, Mom, Dad…" Makoto said, beginning to cry.
Koushiro still remembered how confused and devastated that conversation had made him. He watched his parents and the teenager leave the place and went to where his past self was sitting. He saw a horrified expression on his pale face and tears accumulating in his eyes. Then, a man in a black coat and fedora sat across from the boy with the hooded coat. The man took the hat off and placed it on the table. He was young and had gray hair and blue eyes.
"I see that you have met your big brother, Koushiro." The man spoke. His voice was immediately recognized and the Koushiro from the past looked up to him, in shock.
"Merchant?" His voice was almost inaudible. "So you were human all along."
"This will be the last day we'll see each other, Koushiro. I may introduce myself properly. I am Sorachi Shinsuke, only survival from the original chosen children."
"He's telling the truth." The boy covered in blood whispered in Koushiro's ear as they watched the interaction between the man and the Koushiro from the past.
"How did you survive?" Past Koushiro asked the Merchant.
"This is not what you should be curious about." Shinsuke said, raising an eyebrow. "Come on; make the question that is torturing you."
"Who's that boy?" Past Koushiro inquired, after a couple of seconds of hesitation.
"His name is Izumi Makoto. He's their son who came from a parallel universe in which he did not die right after being born." The Merchant explained.
"This is absurd!" Past Koushiro did not want to believe in that. "This is one of your plans! You're trying to trick my parents! Why?!"
"I have simply brought a lost boy to a different world so he could have his family back. What I'm telling you is exactly what he told me."
"LIAR!"
"You don't believe me?" The Merchant sounded amused. He opened his coat and took a small backpack from an inner pocket. The man opened it on the table and showed what was inside the backpack: his white mask.
"This is the mask of omniscience that once belonged to Lucemon. It was made from the same material of a helmet said to be bounded to Homeostasis and, therefore, it shows you anything you want to know."
"And you're just giving it to me?" Past Koushiro found the other suspicious.
"There's a price for it, obviously." The Merchant told him, closing the backpack and smiling with malice. "Once you touch the mask, you'll do as I say."
"What would that be? Something awful, I assume." The boy questioned.
"Not gonna give you spoilers." The Merchant smirked, standing up. "My carriage will be at the park from yesterday, for when you come to me."
"I won't put on this mask! Neither am I going to be a pawn to you!" Past Koushiro stated with cold rage.
"Oh, Koushiro, you're so wrong." The Merchant mocked him.
Koushiro saw himself again at the table in the dark chamber, with the same cup of tea in his front and the bleeding version of himself sitting across from him.
"He was talking about the helmet that killed me." The other Koushiro explained. "It pierced my brain and uploaded my mind to a program my murderer had developed. That program is called by different names depending on the universe I go. I believe you know it as Homeostasis. I'm bounded to the helmet and I'm connected to all of you."
"What are you saying? What do you mean by 'all of me?'"
"All of the different versions of you who exist in all the different universes. After I was created… or killed… my murderer took me to the beginning of a different universe and there I existed until its end. I have gone through this cycle at least ten times. Billions of billions of years… but during those I felt alive for a few decades. I experienced everything from Koushiro's birth to his death… even if from a distance." He spoke with nostalgia.
"This is ridiculous!" Koushiro refused to believe in any of that. "This is a nightmare!"
"Only the living have nightmares, Koushiro."
"I AM ALIVE!"
"Then, why are you not breathing?"
Until that moment, Koushiro had not realized it. He put the fingers of his right hand in front of his nose and no air came from it. He also was not able to pull air in. The boy put his left hand on his chest and tried to feel his heart. But there was no heartbeat.
"I-I'm alive…" The trembling teenager let the tears fall from his eyes. "I have to be…"
"Remember what else happened. You went home, with the Merchant's backpack. Your parents were already there. Jyou-san was talking to Tentomon. When he saw you, he said that Taichi had called everybody from the group because something had happened in the Digital World and Wizarmon had a shocking revelation. You asked Tentomon to go with him and said that you'd follow them soon… but first you had to talk to your parents."
"NO!" Koushiro had a pleading tone. "I don't want to remember that!"
But the memories took over his mind. He remembered being in the kitchen, alone with the couple. They looked at him anxiously.
"What is it, Dear?" His mother asked, visibly nervous.
"This is very serious and I need you to be honest with me." He asked. "What did that boy tell you, exactly?"
"What boy? What are you talking about?" His father tried to act as if everything was alright.
"I'm talking about Makoto." Koushiro said, watching as terror filled his parents' eyes.
"What do you know?" Yoshie had urgency in her voice. "How much do you know about his objectives?"
"Please, tell me that you don't believe in that nonsense about him being your deceased son from a parallel universe." Koushiro pleaded. "He's working with a vicious man called Merchant to bring devastation to the Digital World! You're being lied to! You're being manipulated!"
"We know what we're doing and what he's doing!" Yoshie protested. "Makoto is telling the truth and we'll help him to achieve his goal, no matter what!"
"What goal, Mom?! What could justify you being accomplice to the assassination of digimon?!"
"You don't know." Masami sounded relieved. "You have no idea why he's doing that."
"From what I heard, he wants his family back and you want your son with you…" Koushiro felt deeply hurt.
"It's not what you think!" Yoshie tried to explain but Masami held her by the wrist and gave her a disapproving look.
"Then what is it? What is your explanation?" Koushiro insisted.
"We can't tell you! You have to trust us!" His father told him.
"How could you just believe in that guy?" Koushiro felt like crying. "It only took a random boy to say that he's your dead son to make you buy that story?"
"He didn't need to tell us anything! We knew who he was from the second we saw him!" Yoshie stated. "We felt it! He's our son! Our little boy!"
"I don't believe it!" The boy said, shaking.
"I guess it's not something you can understand!" Masami lashed out. He seemed to regret it right away. Koushiro did not stay to listen to their apologies. He ran from them, crying.
Without noticing it, the boy had come to the park and found the carriage. He remembered about the mask in the backpack he was still carrying but resisted the urge to take it out. He would not allow the Merchant to manipulate him like he had manipulated his parents.
"Makoto is still here." The Merchant said, coming out of the carriage. "Have you given up on getting your answers?"
"I won't ever forgive you for fooling my parents!" Koushiro spoke with rage. "I'll make you pay for it! I'll make you suffer!"
"I know." The man said, stepping aside from the entrance of the carriage and letting the boy in. "The last door in the corridor."
The teenager crossed the saloon and gained the corridor, going to the door the Merchant had indicated. When he opened it, he saw Makoto's back. The boy wearing the white jacket was revising a map on his desk. Koushiro closed the door behind him. There was a bookshelf nearby.
"Shinsuke-san, I believe the best way to get in the chamber is through the south. Are we ready to go?" Makoto asked without turning around.
"What did you call me? 'Shinsuke?'" Koushiro asked, bitterly. "Was that not the name you used to introduce yourself, Makoto-san?"
Makoto turned around slowly. When he faced the redhead, he was livid and terrified.
"Why are you here?" The other's voice was almost inaudible.
"Tell me who you are, what you want and why you're tricking my parents!" Koushiro ordered, coldly.
"Shin-" Makoto was about to call when he stopped midsentence. "MERCHANT!"
"Oh, stop it! I know who he is! Who do you think brought me here?!" Koushiro roared.
"I… I don't understand…" Makoto was confused and mortified. "He told me you couldn't know… he told me everything would be pointless if you found out! Then why did he bring you here? What do you know?"
"What was I not supposed to find out?" Koushiro's voice almost broke. "That you want my parents to believe that you're their dead son?"
"I am their son!" The other boy stated vehemently. "I am Izumi Makoto!"
"Really?" Koushiro wanted to stay skeptical but it was becoming harder. Now that he was staring at the teenager, he could notice many traits that the other boy shared with Masami and Yoshie. He had his mother's eyes and hair, and his father's nose and chin. Even the way he moved his hands and how his voice became higher when he was nervous were similar to how his mother acted. It was painful to look at him.
"Please, go away." Makoto asked. "I have work to do but you need to stay out of my way."
"You want me out of your way?" Koushiro murmured, disgusted. "I see… you want to take my family from me…"
"What are you talking about? It's nothing like that!" Makoto had a shocked expression.
"THEN WHAT IS IT?!" Koushiro demanded to know.
"I CAN'T TELL YOU!" The other insisted on keeping the secret.
Koushiro lifted his hands above his head in frustration and leaned against the bookshelf. Soon, he had sunk to his knees.
"You didn't understand anything." The boy covered in blood told Koushiro from across the table, bringing him back from his memories. "You called Taichi-san, desperate, but he didn't even let you finish your explanation before cutting you off."
"Taichi-san was busy with his mission in the Digital World… a diversion the Merchant had planned to allow Makoto to sneak into the Citadel…"
"Which was a diversion created so Makoto wouldn't anticipate what that child's true plan was: to make you confront each other and force you to touch that mask." The other Koushiro replied. "You really were losing yourself. You even broke your phone when Taichi hung up."
Koushiro remembered doing that. Right after, he stood up and made one last attempt to know the truth from Makoto.
"You can't be their son!" The boy with red hair made an affirmation. "My parents are the kindest and most loving people I know! Their son would never help a maniac to kill innocent digimon! You have to be an impostor! Who are you?!"
Makoto held Koushiro by the face and forced the smaller boy to look into his eyes.
"I realize that you have never met me before." He had a heartbreaking tone. "But you're still him in a way so I need you to understand! I'm not doing these horrible things because I'm some demon! It pains me to take those lives but I'll do everything necessary! I don't care if I'm going to burn in Hell! I'll tear universes apart if I have to because that's how powerful my love is!"
"Love for my parents?" Koushiro asked in low voice. Makoto smiled at him as two tears dropped from his eyes.
"Love for my brother." He answered, caressing the smaller boy's face.
Disturbed, Koushiro walked away from him.
"Lies… you're lying to me…"
"My brother Koushiro was brutally killed by a digimon who used him as a guinea pig! And that monster is still out there, killing different versions of my brother! Torturing him in uncountable universes!"
"Madness!"
"That monster came here telling stories about an Enlightened who would grant someone the power of God if sacrificed! He gave power to the Demon Lords and the Sacred Society, he used and discarded Shinsuke-san and the other chosen children and all of it was for you! He wants to kill you and after he's done with it, he'll go to another universe and kill you again! He'll do that forever! I'm trying to stop him! Kou…" Makoto was now crying profusely. "… I'm begging you to believe in me. Everything I'm doing is to save you!"
"You didn't want to believe in him." The Koushiro covered in blood accused. "Onii-san had opened his heart and sacrificed so much but you didn't want to believe in him!"
"It couldn't be right… I couldn't accept it…" Koushiro tried to defend himself.
"You couldn't bear the weight of his love!" The other spoke with contempt.
"Who would believe in that?" Koushiro questioned, hiding his face behind his hands. "Who would believe that someone would go that far for me?!"
"What happened next was entirely your fault." The bloody one stated. "You opened the backpack and reached for the mask. The second you touched it, Homeostasis was forced to inhabit your body. Your heart stopped instantaneously. Right now, your body is a puppet corpse burning from the inside out."
"Corpse? N-no… n-no…" Koushiro cried, more scared than he had ever been in his life. He fell on the floor and noticed that the chairs and the table had vanished. The bleeding boy stared at him with coldness and walked in his direction. Koushiro crawled backwards but did not find a door or any other way to escape.
"Human beings are such pitiful creatures, don't you think? The day the bearer of knowledge doesn't think things through, chaos unfolds." The other Koushiro kneeled in front of him. "And now it's up to me to clean your mess."
"I can't die like this…" Koushiro was in denial. "Tentomon was waiting for me… my parents and I departed on bad terms… this is not fair… I can't just die and leave them like that!"
The other Koushiro caressed his cheek gently and said.
"If it serves as consolation, you'll always exist in my memories. But it's time for your conscience to fade away. Your story ends here."
"NOOO!" Koushiro screamed before everything became completely dark.
In the room inside the carriage, Makoto watched in horror how Koushiro had started to scream in agony the second he had pulled the Merchant's mask from inside the backpack he had been carrying. White hieroglyphs appeared on his body at the same time that the Merchant opened the door of the room, with a triumphant smile.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Makoto asked in despair. "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO HURT KOUSHIRO!"
"Hurt him?" Shinsuke giggled. "That boy is dead! All there is now is Homeostasis! This is the moment our wishes will become reality, Makoto!"
"S-so much pain!" Koushiro exclaimed suddenly but there was something off in his tone of voice. He sounded annoyed. "I had already f-forgotten how horrible pain can be!"
"Homeostasis, you will do as I say!" Shinsuke ordered, enthusiastically.
"STOP IT!" Makoto begged. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"It's pointless." Koushiro sounded defeated, yet he gave Makoto a soft smile. His eyes were flooding with tears. "F-for as long as this body endures I am forced to do as he says… those were the terms of the deal he had made with the K-Koushiro from this universe."
Makoto froze. He sounds like… no… he can't be…
"Nevertheless…" Koushiro continued to talk. "It's fortunate that I can see you again… Onii-san."
Thank you for those who did not give up on this story and for those who reviewed it.
