A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 52: His Symbol
"KUGA!"
Mogami glanced over his shoulder to see the agents from before now with Jin in the hallway. The boys claiming to be Yuma's teammates. It made sense that they were the ones he had sensed making their way here. He knew they weren't just going to stand by and let him go after their teammate, but it was faster to retreat from fighting with them. It was only natural that they would follow after him once they regrouped.
Mogami smirked at the group and shifted Yuma on his shoulder to make a point. "Really going to try to attack me when I have your friend?" He turned around to face them completely but backed up a step closer to the edge of the elevator that led to the outside. "I might just drop him in my clumsy attempt to defend and with the state he's in, even being in a Trion body won't save him from this fall."
It was a bluff. It had to be just a bluff. Jin could not believe that his mentor would actually threaten a life. He kept doing it to bluff against Jin's side effect, but with Mogami knowing how Jin's side effect worked, he knew he had to make it real. That was why Mogami attacked the engineers earlier. He knew he couldn't bypass Jin's side effect without actively attacking. That was because of Mogami needing to get pass Jin earlier. That wasn't the case this time.
Jin did not, could not, believe his mentor would threaten a child's life like this.
In fact...
The windows of the future began to appear for Jin again. So many options available to him. With him being the only person who could see the future, it was constantly on him to decide the course of action for Border to take. He saw the paths that would lead them to the best outcome and set the agents on that path. After that, it was up to the agents to achieve the results in the path he set them on that would lead them to their best future.
Perhaps it was presumptuous of him to decide all on his own what the best future was and what everyone should be doing, but this was the role that Jin had chosen to take on after Aristera. It wasn't that he assumed he knew everything since he did rely on others. He talked to his friends to discuss plans and they came to him for advice on what to do when there was an attack happening. They trusted him just as much as he put his trust and faith in them to achieve the goal.
And sometimes, Jin had to make the tough calls. The future they fought for wasn't so easily achieved without sacrifice and putting his allies in difficult positions.
"Why are you taking him?" Osamu demanded. "I thought you and Kuga-san only wanted the Black Triggers."
"In a sense, you could say Yuma is a Black Trigger." Mogami replied. "He and his ring are so closely tied together after all."
"He won't make Kuga-san real though." Osamu retorted.
"Perhaps not, but it's not like you can save him anyway." Mogami replied. "All he's been doing is slowly dying while you all accomplish nothing."
Osamu gritted his teeth in frustration. It wasn't for lack of trying on their part, but Yugo was making this next to impossible. There was nothing they could do to stop Yugo from draining the Trion from Yuma's Black Trigger and weakening him. It did feel like a constant stream of failures on their part for the whole week.
This was so annoying. With Mogami standing on the edge with Yuma in his grasp, Hyuse couldn't attack. If only they hadn't messed up earlier and let Mogami get away from them then Yuma wouldn't be in this situation. And why wasn't Yuma reacting at all? Did he really go and pass out again? Yuma just insisted on making this much more complicated for him.
An Escudo popped in front of the broken elevator doors to separate the Border agents and Mogami, surprising the boys at the sudden barrier in their way.
"Hmm, ready to go, Yuma?" Mogami asked, turning his back on the Escudo that was blocking the agents from reaching him. He had more important things to do than to entertain the agents who he didn't want to fight anyway.
A pained moan came from Yuma in response.
"That pain is your own fault. You shouldn't have forced your seals to activate." Mogami scolded even though Yuma hadn't said a word to him.
*Mimics*
"I am getting so sick of his Escudos." Hyuse snapped, slamming a fist into the shield that was in his way. He was tempted to just slice it down with his Senku right here and now. Even if he managed to break through it, what would be the point? He didn't have a clue of how to attack Mogami without putting Yuma in even more danger.
While Hyuse poured his frustrated glare into the Escudo which couldn't return the same ferocity since it was an inanimate object, Osamu turned to face Jin, frowning at the relaxed expression that Jin was wearing. He knew that Jin was always collected and put on the air that he was in control all the time, but was now really the time? Yuma had just been kidnapped by Mogami and Jin wasn't acting panicked at all. Osamu didn't see this as the time to be all calm. Yuma's life was barely hanging on and now he's been taken away by someone who could kill him in an instant! Osamu was one step away from having a panic attack.
"How did you not see this coming?" Hyuse whirled around, anger radiating from him as he glared at Jin. "For such a great power elite that can see the future, how the hell did you let something like this occur?"
"The future has infinite possibilities. Every action that each person takes is their attempt to blow us onto a different course to the future. All we have been doing is trying to gain control of that flow to choose the future we want, but Kuga-san and Mogami-san haven't been making it easy." Jin replied, turning his back on the two younger agents. He closed his eyes briefly as he scratched the back of his head. "And until they got hold of the Black Triggers, I couldn't see Mogami-san or Kuga-san's futures. Tonight was the first time I saw Mogami-san since he got his Black Trigger and his future began to form in front of me."
"Bullshit." Hyuse snarled.
Jin turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at Hyuse and Osamu. "It's not as easy to manipulate the future as I make it seem."
"No, but you at least usually act faster than this. You couldn't see Mogami's future, but you knew Kuga's future and you knew something was going to happen tonight." Hyuse retorted. "You really didn't see us losing Yuma?!"
"Yuma's future has been hazy to me for a while now so I couldn't see it clearly and I didn't know Mogami's future until I saw him. I didn't see him getting taken before now." Jin admitted. "I told you, the future has so many possibilities. I can't possibly see every single one in time."
As much as Jin could plan for the future, when he couldn't see someone's future, it made it hard to know where their path would take them. The closer Yuma was to death, the harder the future was to see for him because it become more and more clear with each day that he wouldn't have a future. Everything Jin was doing was to get Yuma's future back and to stop Yugo and Mogami's legacies from being ruined.
And sometimes the choices he had to make to get there weren't easy to make and weren't easy to accept.
As much as his allies trusted in his fortune telling to lead them to the future, there were times when they didn't like what he had to say or didn't want to do what he said. Like with Karasuma and Miwa back in Aftokrator's invasion. Neither wanted to accept what he told them, but in the end, things went exactly like he said they would. Jin couldn't always explain his reasoning for the course of actions he chose, and some of those options he had to choose couldn't be revealed in the moment. Everything would come to light as long as they remained patient.
*Mimics*
Arafune put a hand up to his ear, ignoring the explosion on the other side of the training room as the agents put the final touches in finishing off Yugo's Trion Soldiers. If he was going to surrender, he could have at least called off his Trion Soldiers. "Thanks for the assist, Maki, Fuyushima-san. Is it okay for you to leave Toma alone in the field though?"
"It's not like Fuyushima-san was doing anything besides sitting around HQ while Toma was on defense duty." Maki replied.
"You don't have to be so mean, Maki. I'm just an old man. I can't keep up with these youngsters in the field." Fuyushima protested. "I'm of better use in situations like this."
"Tch, you could have offered help sooner so we could have had the chance to fight Kuga before he made the decision to surrender." Yoneya whined.
"We do not want to hurt Kuga right now." Izumi enunciated with a few slaps to the back of Yoneya's head. "It will hurt our Kuga. Can you please remember this?"
"I never said anything about injuring Kuga. I just want a chance to face off against his Black Trigger." Yoneya protested.
"Then fight Yuma-senpai in the training rooms later." Shun replied, glancing towards the doorway where Kazama, Tachikawa, and Murakami had disappeared through to escort Yugo away from them. "I'm sure you'll have more fun that way than against his father."
Yoneya's expression shifted as the jokes washed away so he could adopt a more serious attitude. "We took his father as a prisoner, Midorikawa. Kuga's not going to be in any mood to want to have fun. He'll probably be distracted with his father."
"I don't think it's a good idea to let those two meet." Shun muttered. It was less of 'think' and more of he knew it would be a horrible idea. Yugo had hurt his son every time they have come into contact this week and that was leading to severe stress and anguish from Yuma. Every time Yuma saw his father, he came out worse and worse from the encounter. They had only just managed to get a smile from him tonight. He didn't want his friend to lose that again.
"That's not for us to decide. That is something Kuga and the higher ups have to discuss." Suwa said. While the incident with the Mimics was a war with Border, it was truly a real problem for Yuma and Tamakoma. It was personal for them and when things got personal, it was them who had to come to terms with it. Yugo may be hurting Yuma physically and mentally, so it was up to him to choose to either avoid Yugo or face his father.
*Mimics*
"YOU LOST MY YUMA?!" Konami snatched Jin's jacket in her strong grip with the only reason she didn't slam him into the wall being that Reiji had a hand on her shoulder to pull her back. "You said you would keep him safe! I trusted you to do that!"
"Konami," Reiji applied more strength in his hold on her shoulder, pulling her back slightly but not enough to force her to release her grip on Jin. "This isn't Jin's fault. Mogami-san was just a few steps ahead of us."
Jin looked off to the side to avoid the rageful look in Konami's eyes. Konami was always going to be the most vocal about this mess up. Despite her behavior of acting arrogant and being superior with her strength, she was truly loyal and protective to her friends. If she knew...
Konami glanced at her captain for barely a second before she was whirling back around on Jin. "Why the hell did you guys come back here? You should have chased after Mogami-san!"
"It would have been a useless effort." Jin replied.
"Because your side effect said so?" Konami snapped. "Then you disprove the future you see. You don't just walk away from a friend," She rounded on Hyuse and Osamu with fire in her eyes. "Or a teammate in need."
"What would chasing him achieve?" Osamu asked softly. "You didn't see Kuga, Konami-senpai. His injuries...Mogami-san had him in his arms. If we attacked him, we could have hurt Kuga and it looked like taking one hit will be all it takes to kill him. He was basically a human shield that Mogami-san had that we couldn't get around."
"He would have put him down eventually when he got to wherever the hell he was going." Konami retorted. "And now, we don't know where that is going to be. Yuma could be dead right now for all we know."
"I don't believe Mogami-san will kill a defenseless child." Jin retorted.
"Our Mogami-san wouldn't." Konami snapped. "But this isn't our Mogami-san we're talking about. It's a Mimic that has been our enemy for days."
Jin tilted his head towards the ceiling, humming softly to himself. It was a valid concern after what happened in Research and Development earlier. "I believe Yuma will be fine."
"Is that what your side effect tells you?" Osamu asked, trying to latch onto even the smallest bit of hope that they could possibly get.
Jin dropped his eyes to meet Osamu's. "It is. I don't know what is going to happen, but it will turn out fine."
"Yuma won't die this week?" Reiji asked.
"That hasn't been determined yet, but we haven't lost Yuma yet. We can get him back." Jin glanced back over at Konami. "You've always trusted in me before, Konami, so please, keep trusting in me. I haven't abandoned Yuma. It just wasn't ideal for us to chase after Mogami-san right now to get him back."
"But we will?" Konami asked, refusing to turn to look at any of them again.
Saving Yuma wasn't one hundred percent guaranteed, but nothing in life was ever fully guaranteed. They always had to fight for the future they wanted. Inaction was the cause of people not getting the desired outcome. If the outcome wasn't fought for, then how could they complain when it didn't work out in their favor? That was why all their allies were giving it their all constantly these past few days. This wasn't a battle that they wanted to lose. Losing was only fully guaranteed when they didn't try at all.
"Yes," Jin promised, even though that future wasn't yet set in stone. He would do everything in his power to make that future come true so it wouldn't be a lie, but there was enough stress and worries on everyone's shoulders already without Jin making it worse by adding on all the possible paths they could be pushed onto.
Hyuse glared at the back of Jin's head. Something about this just didn't sit right with him. Perhaps it had to do with the simple fact that he didn't trust anything that Jin did or said. Unlike the agents of Border, he wasn't just going to blindly trust that everything Jin did was for the best for his allies. At the same time though, as much as he disliked Jin, he didn't see the guy as the type to abandon his friends. He had been doing too much and exhausting himself all week for Yuma. He wouldn't just stop now.
*Mimics*
Shun stared in disbelief at Karasuma, collapsing to the ground since he didn't have the energy to want to stand anymore.
"So, we switched Kugas?" Yoneya said. "I'd rather have our Kuga. I like him more." He was way better than the person who was supposed to be his father. The evil version of Kuga Yugo was no fun at all.
Karasuma shrugged in reply as he just felt so disheartened at the moment. Yuma had been right there. He had given Karasuma a seal to help him get to Kido. He could either save Yuma or Kido in that moment and Jin told him to go for Kido. He trusted Jin's orders, but perhaps he should have questioned things more. Yuma was always the target so he should have thought things through more, but Jin always guided them down the right path before. If Karasuma focused on Kido, Jin and the others could focus on Mogami and Yuma. That was the idea at least.
A loud slam got Shun and Yoneya flinching before they were looking over their shoulders to see Kageura kicking one of the training room walls. "That damned idiot. How much trouble can one person get into in one week? It's like he just attracts trouble to him."
Suwa bit down on his cigarette, sighing to himself. "Getting mad isn't going to help." He said, though they could all feel frustrated at the situation. Mogami Soichi. It seemed that Suwa had marked the wrong Mimic with his starmaker. If he had just chosen Mogami to tag, they could get Yuma back right now.
Kageura snarled at Suwa. It may not help, but it surely gave him an outlet for his anger. What the hell had Osamu and the others been doing? All they had to do was get out of the area. How did Mogami even find them in a base this big?
"Does Jin-san have a plan? And what about Kuga-san?" Shun asked.
"I don't know anything about Kuga-san, but I'm sure Jin-san has a plan or is working on one." Karasuma replied. "Too much happened all at once so I think he and the directors need some time to figure things out."
Arashiyama glanced over at the group talking before looking away. "Did you get all of that, Ayatsuji?"
"Yes, I've alerted the squads on defense duty of what happened. They'll keep an eye out for Mogami-san, but I'm not sure we'll have much luck with this. Mogami-san will avoid our agents to get away." Haruka replied.
"I'm sorry, Arashiyama-senpai." Kitora's voice came over the comms. "I asked to go with them to help, but we didn't manage to accomplish anything in the end besides delaying this outcome."
Arashiyama shook his head, though his team couldn't see him from their squad room. It was more towards himself at this point. Kitora was always so hard on herself so she took it hard when she failed. In the end, it only made her stronger as with each failure she learned something and worked on improving herself. "It's not your fault, Kitora. We all know that we can't win every battle we enter."
"Except we've been failing all week." Tokieda replied.
"It wasn't a complete loss. We did capture Kuga-san. We now leave it in the hands of Shinoda-san and the others."
*Mimics*
"Where did he take him?"
Jin leaned against the wall with crossed arms, staring out the window of Kido's office as he would prefer this sight than the one of the distraught Shinoda and Rindo sitting on the couches nearby with Kinuta. Since he was looking at the window, he could see Kido in the corner of his eyes, rubbing at his eyes in a tired manner. Or perhaps it was the stress getting to him as well. This was the second time the Mimics had attacked HQ and the third time it was one of their bases being attacked.
"You saw both of them. You have to know where Mogami-san took him." Shinoda said.
"It was a very generic location I saw in my vision. It doesn't tell me anything." Jin replied.
"Kuga and Mogami chose to separate when they attacked us." Kido said. "They had no way of contacting each other and with how big the base is, there was no chance of them reuniting to escape together so they had to have a location to meet up at planned out."
"Do you really think Kuga-san is going to give up that location that easily?" Rindo asked. "He surrendered to us because he knows we can't hurt him or do anything to him without hurting Yuma. The only thing we've done by taking custody of him is prevented him from attacking us again."
"I don't trust him." Kido replied, leaning back in his chair. "When have you even known Kuga to surrender like this? He gave up his swords, but he still has access to the Black Trigger abilities. If he wants to, he can break out of his cell easily."
Shinoda rested his elbows on his knees and interlocked his fingers so he could lean forward and rest his forehead on them as he thought. "According to Kei and Kazama, he surrendered because he learned of how close Yuma-kun was to dying. With each seal he used, he hurt Yuma-kun. Without those seals, even he couldn't survive taking on all those agents at once."
Kido scoffed. "Kuga hasn't let the fact that his actions were hurting his son concern him all week. Why the change of heart now?"
"I don't know." Shinoda admitted.
"Yuma did say Mimics didn't work as weapons because of this. Attacking family and friends goes against the original purpose of a Mimic because of the love that is there." Rindo said as he pulled out his lighter to light his cigarette. "That got overridden by the new programming in them, but perhaps there is some resistance in there."
"Things changed when they got a hold of their Black Triggers." Jin commented offhandedly. It wasn't just the fact that Yugo surrendered the fight earlier instead of trying to escape the agents. It was in the way Osamu said that Yugo didn't try too hard to get the Black Trigger back from them when they stole it back earlier. It was in the fact that Yugo let Suwa live earlier. It was the fact that Mogami went easy on Arafune and Miura until the end. It was in the fact that Mogami and Yugo were getting futures that Jin could see.
The Mimics from Meraki were supposed to manipulate and deceive the agents while doing everything in their power to achieve their goal of getting their Black Triggers back and then returning to Meraki to be their soldiers.
And yet...
There was always some type of resistance in them to their orders, but the Black Triggers that were full of their Trion and their life force had been powering them from the moment they were born. It was their life force giving them the strength to fight. Once the Black Triggers were physically in their presence, that strength to resist only got stronger.
At this point, it was only a matter of time. Which side would win the war raging in them? The Mimic side or the transformed side?
"What do you see?" Kido asked.
"Mogami-san and Kuga-san are going back and forth on us because their resistance isn't as futile as we thought it would be." Jin said.
Kinuta was the one to scoff this time. He was finding that hard to believe after Mogami just tried to kill his engineers, but he was going to attempt to push what happened out of his mind for now to avoid having a biased assessment on this. "According to Kazama, in the final moments with his brother, he said that he felt real to him. Like he was actually there, despite being made from a weaponized Trion."
"Shin didn't have any Trion to draw from to keep himself around here longer." Rindo said. "If we go with the theory that their life force from the Black Triggers are influencing them to their real selves, how would that explain Shin?"
"Mimics are imperfect." Jin decided.
"It doesn't matter how you program them, when asking a Trion Soldier to steal the memories of a loved one to transform and asking them to manipulate the person the memories came from, you can't avoid the emotions." Shinoda said, digging his fingers into his knuckles. "It's easy to say be clinical about the act and ignore the emotions, but when the Trion Soldier is seeing all those memories, it's impossible to avoid the love, happiness, sorrow, fear, despair, anger. It's going to influence them at some point and the longer they're here and getting that life force that belonged to the real them, it's going to make them want to resist just that more."
"And Kuga found the perfect way to resist hurting his son by stealing the moment to get himself locked up." Kinuta said. It wasn't a solution though. It just prevented him from getting near Yuma, though that didn't matter since Yuma was no longer inside HQ.
"For the time being." Shinoda replied. "If it's about control, then how long can he resist going back out there to get the ring back? Yugo-san has been going back and forth all week. He pulled back for now, but Kido-san is right. He can break out of the prison with the Black Trigger seals whenever he wants and go after Yuma-kun again."
Kinuta grunted softly to himself. Letting himself be captured to protect his son? He could avoid using the seals for as long as he could resist the programming telling him to get the Black Trigger, but just being here was still going to hurt his son. They needed a permanent solution to this problem. Perhaps, while he was still in control, now would be the time to get more information about the Mimics from Kuga Yugo. He was the one who knew the most. Maybe there was something more that he didn't tell his son. Something he could give them that would help them kill him while saving Yuma's life at the same time. If Yugo truly was trying to fight against the programming for Yuma, then surely he would want to help them find a solution. Yugo already chose Yuma's life over his once before. Just like how any parent would do for their child so surely he was willing to make the sacrifice a second time.
"We will have agents take shifts guarding him as well." Kido decided. "We also need to locate Agent Kuga."
"If it's about guarding Yugo-san, it has to be top B-Rank agents and above." Shinoda said with a sigh. "But all of our agents have been working nonstop for days now. They're going to be exhausted."
"I understand." Kido sighed, dragging a finger down his scar. He had always known Yugo and Mogami appearing would be hard on them, but there was no way that any of them could have realized just have truly complicated the whole situation would become. The Black Triggers being used against them had been a slap to their faces as well. The constant attacks coming out of nowhere meant the agents couldn't truly get the chance to relax and most of them hadn't gone home in a couple days since they were waiting for the next attack to happen. Now with Yugo being in one of their cells and their friend missing, he doubted any of the agents were going to truly relax. "Please, try to work out a rotation where the agents are on defense duty, guarding Kuga, and a chance to have off time so they can rest. We will pay the agents double for all the work they've put in this week."
Shinoda nodded, but didn't lift his head off his hands. He could ask Sawamura to assist him with that when he finished here. He didn't even know who to ask to take the first shift. All of the agents had to be tired from working so much lately. "I'll get on that."
Kido nodded and turned his attention back to the agent still staring out the window. "Jin, do you see an end to this in sight?"
"It will be soon." Jin replied, an almost resigned, exhausted tone to his voice. "I would say about twenty-four hours, but I can't be sure. It could be more, it could be less. The time frame is still too high for me to get an accurate tell on what will happen."
"And how effective is that if you couldn't even see your friend being captured?" Kinuta asked.
Jin's hands gripped his forearms tightly as he refused to uncross them and turn to face his directors. He had to trust in the future that he saw. This wasn't the time to be doubting himself. "Yuma is still alive. With the state he was in, there was no reason for Mogami-san to take him if he didn't have a plan in mind. He could have easily taken the Black Trigger and left Yuma there, but he didn't. I don't know what he is thinking, but if he didn't kill Yuma earlier, he's not going to kill Yuma now."
*Mimics*
There was a glazed look in that single eye that stared up at him. It had only been a couple days since he first saw Yuma the other day. He hadn't expected Yuma to get this bad in just a couple days. Mogami understood that it was because of Yuma's life being tied to the Black Trigger and his Trion was being drained because of Yugo, but the escalation of his injuries seemed so severe.
Mogami set Yuma down gently on the bed. It seemed that as out of it as Yuma looked, his survival instincts didn't allow him to be in a vulnerable state near Mogami. As soon as Mogami's arms were off of him, Yuma shifted on the bed so he could sit up and put his back against the wall so Mogami could only be in front of him.
Mogami crouched in front of the bed, smiling at Yuma. "Ah, did you recover a bit on the trip here? You couldn't even move before."
"Where...?" Yuma's eyes flickered around the strange bedroom they were in.
"Ah, just a house in the Restricted Zone." Mogami replied. "No one should find us in here. Even with Jin's side effect, he can't locate such a generic place he's never been to."
Yuma's eyes landed back on Mogami as he didn't dare let himself ignore him for too long since he had no idea of what his game was. He caught sight of the Kogetsu and Fujin that were both stored at his waist so he knew he wasn't going to get attacked immediately at least. "Why didn't you just take my ring and leave me there?"
"When I told Yugo I would take the Black Trigger from you for him, it was with the promise I wouldn't kill you outright just to get it." Mogami explained, eyes roaming over Yuma's face and bare arms to take in every crack and the missing eye he had. "You left yourself open to your enemy just to focus on helping your allies. It was a very foolish move. I'm sure Yugo gave you enough lectures about that, but truth be told, he values loyalty and protecting his friends too, but at the cost of his life? What good are you to anyone if you throw your life away while trying to save someone else?"
"I'm not so altruistic." Yuma retorted.
Mogami blinked in surprise before leaning forward to reach towards Yuma who had nowhere to go with his back against a wall, but Mogami just poked him in the forehead. "I just saw you selflessly put Kido before yourself. You left your back to me to focus on him. You were willing to take the hit."
"What?" Yuma scoffed, dislodging Mogami's finger from his forehead. "Did the selflessness resonate with you enough that you chose kidnapping over murder, Mogami?"
"Mogami...?" Mogami repeated, looking so aghast. "What the hell is that?!"
Yuma stared at Mogami strangely. "Your name?" He knew Mogami was a Mimic, but they were still going by the names of the ones they transformed into.
"Not even an honorific on it though? How exactly did Yugo raise you?" Mogami demanded. "I should at least get called Oji-san."
Yuma blinked, feeling utterly confused as to what was going on. What did any of this have to do with what they were talking about? How was what he called Mogami even important? Surely, he knew he was a Mimic and it didn't truly matter. "But...you're not my uncle?" He said. Seriously, first Jin with the brother thing and now the uncle thing from Mogami? None of them were blood related! The people of this world were so weird.
"So?" Mogami dug his hands into the bed and leaned forward to be closer to Yuma. "Yugo and I have been friends since early childhood and have always been really close. We were practically brothers in all but blood so that would make me your uncle."
Going by that weird logic, that would make Jin his cousin and not his brother, but they weren't going by that weird logic. At least, Yuma wasn't. "Mogami, I–"
"Oji-san." Mogami corrected.
Yuma could truly be at HQ right now dealing with Hyuse yelling at him for being so stupid and Osamu being a caring demon and hovering over him in concern, but instead he was in a weird kidnapping. "Fine." He sighed. There were better things to discuss than spending the time arguing about a name. "Oji-san."
The blinding grin he got Mogami reminded him a lot of Jin when Jin was having a great time. Just like Yuma hasn't been happy this week, neither had Jin. Neither of them had been smiling much this week.
"Better." Mogami replied before he was standing up fully.
"What is it you want from me?" Yuma asked, shifting slightly on the bed which caused him to wince when he felt the cracks on his back push against the wall. This wasn't the most comfortable spot to be in, but he wasn't showing his back to Mogami.
"I told you, I was supposed to take the ring from you without directly killing you, but with the state you're in, I would have killed you by doing that so instead, I took you." Mogami explained as if kidnapping his target was the most logical option when the first objective didn't work out. "I figured that since I couldn't take the ring then I might as well take you so I could meet my adorable nephew properly."
Still not blood related, but Yuma was going to ignore that for the time being and focus on the important parts. "Then, you're meeting Dad here?" He asked, glancing out the window in the room.
"Hmm, nope." Mogami said cheerfully. "Our meet up location was far away from here."
Yuma's head snapped back to Mogami in surprise. Mogami and Yugo were supposed to be working together so why was Mogami making moves against Yugo and Border right now? "So annoying. Could you just speak bluntly and tell me what you want? People beating around the bush annoy me."
Mogami chuckled lightly. Just like Yugo. He always wanted to get to the point. Maybe it had something to do with their side effect. "Okay then." He turned back to Yuma. "Want to team up with me to save Yugo?"
Yuma gaped in disbelief at Mogami. "Huh?"
*Mimics*
Even in a cell without his swords, Yugo looked as relaxed as ever. Though, considering his resistance to using seals when he found out Yuma would die soon, Jin was doubting that Yugo was as calm as he was making himself look to be.
Tachikawa and Kazama glanced at Jin as he came in, but Jin only gave them a nod in greeting as he stepped up to the transparent blue wall of Trion that acted as the cell's bars. The purpose of a prison made with Trion walls was to make it resistant to any attempts by the prisoner to escape. Against attacks from a Black Trigger though, Kido was right in saying the walls would not hold up. At this point, putting Yugo in a cell was more of a statement from Border and perhaps a way for Yugo to feel comforted in the fact that something was trying to stop him from getting to Yuma.
"Kuga-san." Jin greeted the man he was lounging on his bed with his back pressed against one of the Trion walls.
"Ah, Soichi's kid." Yugo greeted.
"Jin Yuichi." Jin introduced himself politely, getting a snort from Tachikawa. He glanced over his shoulder at his friend who held his hands up in a peace offering and just leaned against the wall. This was all Jin's. He and Kazama were just here to guard him until Shinoda could figure something out.
"And what can I do for you, Jin?" Yugo asked.
"I suppose I just wanted to meet the man who raised Yuma without us trying to kill each other for once." Jin replied.
Yugo narrowed his eyes. Not quite the truth, not quite a lie either though. "It's a shame you didn't bring my son with you."
Jin's smile twitched into a frown before he forced it back into his polite smile. Talking to someone with a side effect that detected lies was quite difficult when they didn't want to let Yugo know certain things. "Yuma is quite injured right now. Your attack left him in dire states."
"But he's still alive?" Yugo asked.
"Almost sounds like a desperate father who actually cares." Tachikawa said which was followed by a smack. "Ow! Kazama-san!"
"That did not hurt you. You're in a Trion body." Kazama snipped at him.
"It's the principle of the matter." Tachikawa retorted.
Jin chose this time to come down here to talk to Yugo since it was best to come in here when the guards knew about Yuma being a Neighbor, but he should have foreseen Tachikawa making this harder than it needed to be.
Yugo glanced at the two agents who chose to attack him with his son's health over using weapons earlier. Fight smarter, not harder, was it? "You guys did very well with Yuma. I didn't think he would ever have this many friends." He said, closing his eyes briefly as he recalled each agent he met that showed him anger and the need to protect their friend.
Jin shook his head, recalling the few times Yuma told him about his childhood. "You constantly took him from one country to another, never staying in place for long. A child that only knows constantly moving doesn't know how to connect with people properly because all he knows is that he will be leaving them behind soon to never see them again. So, why, when knowing he would he have to leave them behind, would Yuma want to continue trying to make friends that he would never see again?"
Yugo opened his eyes back up to meet Jin's cold stare. "I know I didn't give Yuma the childhood that he deserved." Moving from one country to the next, training all the time or fighting in wars, infiltrating counties to get military information, what kind of life was that for a kid? All Yuma knew after his mother died was learning how to survive. Was it truly living when all he was focused on was just trying to keep himself alive? "It would have been so easy to move to Japan and live here again or drop Yuma off with Soichi here and then go back to the Neighborhood, but I wanted to continue to live in the Neighborhood and learn more about it and keep my son with me. I couldn't bear to leave him behind like that. So, I chose to take him with me and it led us to where we are now."
Jin's expression softened ever so slightly. "I know Yuma loves you very much. I'm not saying you were a bad father to him. It's clear how much you loved him. You taught him to protect himself and then gave up your life for him. You did what you could for the situation you were in. I'm saying, Yuma is a very straightforward kid. It's easy to get Yuma to give this kind of loyalty when you give him what he wants."
"And what is it that he wanted?" Yugo asked curiously.
"When you died, Yuma was left to fight in a war for three years with people who wanted to manipulate him so he would stay by their side to fight their war for them. He went through hell for years and ended with only Replica by his side before he came here. A child like that only wants acceptance and love, to be able to trust others who won't hurt him or just use him. Someone to not only fight with him, but also for him." Jin explained. "And Osamu gave that to him. And then I gave it to him, and from there, he began to learn to trust people again and to open up to us."
Yugo knocked his head back against the wall. War was not easy on anyone. It only made sense that Yuma would learn distrust and how to be wary of everyone else after being in a war for three years. Yugo had been sure that Raymond would be there to look after Yuma after he died, but that was only while Yuma was in Calvaria. He had known that some day Yuma would leave Calvaria and he would be alone. If he did what Yugo asked of him and came to Japan, he would surely find allies, but that was if he made it through the Neighborhood to get to Japan. It wasn't easy or safe to travel alone through the Neighborhood. That was why Yugo made Replica for Yuma. He would look out for Yuma as much as possible.
*Mimics*
"Why would I want to do that?" Yuma demanded. "Dad isn't himself. I don't want to save him. I want to kill him!" His voice softened. "To stop Meraki from making him a pawn."
"Yes," Mogami kneeled down by the bed again. "To save him."
"I don't understand." Yuma said, staring back at Mogami. Mogami who looked so calm and relax right now. He should be more focused on getting Yuma's ring for Yugo and getting out of Japan, not trying to 'save' Yugo, whatever that meant. "And why would I want to help here? Your presence here is hurting Jin-san and Konami-senpai and all your old friends! You've attacked my friends so many times and then attacked HQ tonight!"
A reproachful look crossed Mogami's eyes, but he didn't turn to hide his shame from Yuma. "You may not have known me when I was alive, Yuma, but you knew your father. Do you really think we wanted to do any of this? Each time we fought you guys, the guilt has been eating away at us. Yugo and I love Border so much, but our programming doesn't allow us to let you guys kill us."
"And yet, you're not doing anything to me. What changed?" Yuma demanded.
Mogami looked down at his hand. "Ever since I took Fujin from you guys, I can feel my control getting stronger, but I doubt I will ever have full control, which is why I need your help."
"What do you think I can do to help you?" Yuma asked, only going along with this because his side effect wasn't activating. Mogami was being completely honest with him. He raised his hand to Mogami. "Have you seen the state I'm in? I can't fight. If you wanted someone to help you, you should have gone to Jin-san or Konami-senpai or even Shinoda-san or Rindo-san."
"They can't give me the help I need, sadly." Mogami replied and reached forward to grab the hand that Yuma rose, the one with his Black Trigger on it. Once his hand was grabbed, Yuma tried to yank it away, but Mogami tightened his grip and pulled Yuma's hand closer to him. He turned over the broken hand as he examined the Black Trigger more closely. It was hard to see in a dark room that was only being lit by the full moon outside, but he see the miniscule cracks starting to form on the ring. It was just like the cracks he had seen expanding on Fujin that he chose to ignore. He and Yugo were going to destroy these Black Triggers by simply being around and absorb their abilities into them, making them powerful weapons for Meraki. As much as it felt like he was getting control of himself back, the Mimic was still in here, demanding his return to Meraki, and who knew what would happen when they returned there. Would their programming be readjusted so they couldn't fight back and resist like they were right now?
Mogami reached down to his side with his free hand and grabbed Fujin. He felt Yuma tense under his grip, but he didn't loosen his grip on Yuma's wrist to give him the chance to escape, not that Mogami thought he could get far away if he did try anything. "Trust me, Yuma."
And for some reason, Yuma did. Maybe it was the goofiness of Mogami demanding to be called Oji-san which didn't match the enemy that had been attacking them for days. Maybe it was the physical aspects of the sunglasses and slicked back hair that reminded him of Jin. Or maybe, it was Mogami looking up from Yuma's hand with such an earnest look on his face and a smile similar to the one Jin gave Yuma the day they met that said he meant no harm to him.
But, Yuma chose to trust in Mogami and felt himself relax on the bed as Mogami activated Fujin. The Wind Blade that was a weapon that belonged to his side didn't strike any fear in Yuma even when held in the hands of the enemy. Yuma simply kept his eye locked on Mogami who was focusing his attention on Yuma's hand now.
"Temporary Trion link established."
Yuma watched in amazement as a blue link formed over Mogami's hand and wrist and connected to Yuma's hand and arm. The link twisted around his ring to avoid it as the Trion began to flow through.
A comforting warmth washed over Yuma, sending him in a relaxed state that had his eye sliding shut. Mogami looked up at Yuma with a soft smile as every crack on his body began to seal shut and his eye reformed. Even though it was just a Trion body, as the cracks healed, it was like some color, some life, returned to his young face.
"I want to help Jin-san, to give him the gratitude he deserves for all that he has done for me this week to try to save me life." Yuma said without opening his eyes as he just wanted to soak in the feeling of strength returning to him. "I want to kill you, Oji-san, because you being here is hurting him, even if he refuses to show it."
Mogami's grip on Yuma's hand tightened ever so slightly at Yuma's words as he fought the urge to kill this child for the 'threat' he just gave to his life, but Mogami gritted his teeth and did his best to push it back. It was only a word. Yuma had made no action against him yet so he could push back the urge to retaliate. "I would want nothing more." He said softly. "I told you, Yuma, that Yugo and I don't want this anymore than you do. As much as I would like to be alive and be with my friends again, how can I when this urge to return to Meraki is occupying my mind and I am prepared to kill anyone who gets in my way?"
"It can't be that bad if you can choose to heal me like this." Yuma murmured.
"You're not my target." Mogami admitted. "You never made a hostile move against me so I can resist any hostility in return, but if Yugo were here, he couldn't say the same."
"He wants me dead."
"He does not." Mogami promised sharply enough that Yuma opened his eyes back up, feeling a form of exhilaration at having his full sight back. "It's not as easy as saying what he does or doesn't want. Everything in us is getting all twisted around because of the Mimic programming and the personalities we have taken on. Our minds are getting warped from all of that, but," Mogami held up the activated Fujin, staring at the glowing blade. "Our Black Triggers can clear that fog."
Yuma looked down at his arms, amazed to see all the cracks gone. Completely healed with power flowing through his veins that took the pain away. "How were you able to heal me?"
"Your body is created by a Black Trigger's Trion. I simply used my Black Trigger to return Trion to you, but I didn't heal you." Mogami picked Yuma's hand back up and turned it around to show him his ring, or more precisely, the tiny cracks in that had started to form on it. "This isn't my Black Trigger, it's Yugo's. I can't fix it, but I can temporarily give you Trion from my Black Trigger to keep you from dying too fast. Your life is still tied to Yugo's, but you won't die in the next few hours or if you decide to recklessly use your seals again." He chuckled softly as he dropped Yuma's hand back to the mattress and backed up from the bed. "Jin must have seen this outcome coming."
"What do you mean?"
Mogami looked up at Yuma, catching his eyes. "I'm not the one who created those Escudos to block your team off from me."
*Mimics*
"There are certain choices we have to make that aren't easy to choose." Jin said. "And sometimes, you don't have the time to think about what you decide to do. You have to trust in your gut instinct and act. When you found Yuma dying, you didn't think of the consequences of that action or what kind of life it would give him because there was no time. Sometimes a split second to decide on a course of action is all we're given."
"But not for you." Yugo replied. "The fortune teller of Border."
Jin ignored the snort behind him that came from Tachikawa. Jin preferred the title of Power Elite, but Fortune Teller seemed to be a nickname that he could not get away from. "So, Mogami-san told you about me? My side effect does allow me to see the future, but the future is ever changing. There are some things I can't get an accurate read on if the time limit to that future is too high. In that amount of time, things can change so much. And sometimes, I don't catch the future that is coming fast enough and I don't have enough time to properly plot out the course to the future for us." He said with no fear of it being used against him. Mogami already knew everything there was to know about Jin's side effect so it's not like Yugo didn't know or had no way to get information on it.
Yugo sat up straighter and planted his feet on the ground, having eyes only for Jin. While the agents behind him were entertaining, they weren't pertinent to this conversation. "So, tell me my future, Mr. Fortune Teller."
Jin stared back at Yugo, crossing his arms as he watched the windows of the future pop up in front of him. With Yugo so far along of draining his Black Trigger of life, he was getting a clearer picture of his future and with him trapped right in front of him, he had more time to read his future. "There's many paths that you can walk down. The future isn't so linear nor is it decided by only you. Everyone around you can affect the path you are walking down and change the course through their actions, their words, the own paths they decide to walk down. Each person who affects you can make you change your mind and you may end up choosing a different decision that pushes you down a different path. With that being understood, the brightest future I am seeing right now is you surviving to become a soldier for somewhere else and Yuma dying."
It was subtle and hard to see because of Yugo being so far from him, but Jin saw the hint of distress on Yugo's face before he wiped it clear away. That was understandable. Yugo didn't want to be read by anyone. It was how Jin was when he was in combat. He kept his facial expressions neutral so his enemies would see nothing in him that they could try to use against him.
Jin took a step closer to the prison wall and planted his hands on it. "You made the choice before to die for Yuma, and clearly you hate what you are doing right now and how much you are hurting your son. You being here is killing him. Using the Black Trigger is draining him of the Trion he needs to keep his Trion body. Us injuring you to stop you is hurting him. So, while you are still in control of yourself, you need to tell us. How can we kill you without killing Yuma as well?"
*Mimics*
"Jin-san did it?" Yuma asked shocked. Maybe some would feel like they got betrayed by Jin for him cutting off his allies, but if Jin saw Mogami healing Yuma, it made sense. Mogami couldn't save Yuma's life completely, but he could buy him time, and right now, time was what they needed.
"Do you think I should be flattered by the trust he put in me by letting me take you?" Mogami collapsed into the desk chair that was by the window, but kept his eyes locked on Yuma. "It's certainly a surprising decision he made after I just tried to kill a bunch of your engineers."
Yuma's eyes narrowed at that. His eyes flickered momentarily to the desk where Mogami had put Fujin down on before moving back to Mogami. "You tried to kill engineers and then immediately turned around to save me? Where is the logic in that?"
Mogami smirked, spreading his arms wide. "Haven't you realized by now, Yuma? Mimics are completely illogical weapons. My control keeps snapping in and out of place. Earlier, I was focused on the mission to steal the Black Trigger and I was doing whatever it took to get that done, but now I'm focused on you." He leaned back in the chair, taking in the boy who looked too young to truly be a fifteen-year-old, but that was what happened when getting trapped in a Trion body at a young age. "Memories are quite powerful. Even those that seem unmemorable as they are from a completely normal period of you just hanging out with someone and you share a smile. Even such a simple moment can be powerful."
Yuma scoffed, unbelieving of this nonsense. "What? Like memories are magic to give you the strength to fight back?" He truly couldn't fathom what was going on in Mogami's head right now. He was making it sound like Mogami was reminded of something which caused him to change his course of action earlier. "This isn't some fairy tale nonsense where you can just wish it be and try to remind your loved one of the times you shared together and suddenly they will have the power to resist their programming."
"Why can't it be?" Mogami retorted though there was no heat in his voice. "Memories are what created us. Without them, we can't exist."
"And you've had those memories from the moment you transformed and it hasn't stopped you guys from attacking us." Yuma argued.
"Memories give strength, but they are not a solution." Mogami replied. "Because nothing can rid us of the Trion Soldier programming that is controlling us."
"Do you have a solution? You guys aren't easy to kill." Yuma asked, but when he got a smile from Mogami, he found his brow twitching in annoyance. "Something realistic. No fairy tales."
A light laugh came from Mogami. The sassy attitude was all Yuma. Getting the chance to meet the kid and see who he was with the differences from Yugo was refreshing. "Honestly, I don't know, Yuma. I only just learned about Mimics the other day from Yugo. He didn't give me any ideas of how to defeat us. Just having us get beaten and killed would be enough. The problem is your life getting twisted with Yugo's. We need a work around from that. You were with Yugo in the Neighborhood so do you have any idea?"
Yuma shook his head. "I was only five at the time. Never saw Mimics when I left Tropoi. I only just learned that Meraki stole the design of them and morphed them into..." He motioned weakly at Mogami. "This."
A sigh escaped Mogami as he leaned back in the chair, shifting his attention to the ceiling. "I don't want to see that hurt face on Yuichi's face again. I don't want to see Yugo constantly at war with himself because of how much it is hurting him to hurt you like this. I don't want to fight my organization. This has been a miserable couple of days." Mogami snapped forward in the seat to look back at Yuma. "I wasn't joking about the memories, Yuma. The longer I've been here, the more memories I get and with those memories, I am reminded of my feelings towards my loved ones."
"Of course you are." Yuma said bitterly, jerking his head to the side to look away from Mogami. "They turned Mimics into a weapon, but they couldn't get rid of the core of them. When they form, the important memories are picked out to form them, but as they stick around, the little ones that seem insignificant are recovered. Since Mimics usually can't stay around for days, they usually don't recover that many memories. The purpose is to focus on those final moments and feelings that existed before their death. It's about the relationship you had with the person who the memories came from, but if you stick around long enough, you can remember them more freely." He looked back towards the desk where Fujin was sitting. "And then with the Black Triggers restoring your life force, you remember the others in your life and that begins to form the complete picture of who you are."
"For someone who hasn't seen Mimics since you were a child, you sure understand a lot." Mogami commented.
"My mom did create them and the past couple of days has helped us learn more and gotten theories flying around about how this works." Yuma replied. "But if you're asking me how to help Dad and you to stop you guys from doing what you will forever regret, we could only come up with theories."
"But you will help me?"
Yuma looked up at Mogami, trying to get a read on Jin's mentor. Mogami has been completely honest with him since they started talking, but he was still a Trion Soldier bent on stealing their Black Triggers and go to Meraki. There was no telling when Mogami's control would slip away and he would try to steal his Black Trigger again. Now that he has healed Yuma's wounds, he took him out of immediate danger so at any moment Mogami could attack him for it.
"Even if you didn't ask me, Border always planned to kill you and Dad. They've just been struggling to defeat you in combat and now Dad and me..." Yuma trailed off with a sigh. "Jin-san and I don't want to see you guys become pawns of Meraki and have to live with the suffering of what you've done against your friends and who knows what kind of horrible things Meraki would make you do."
"Yugo and I want to die too." Mogami admitted softly. "And neither of us would begrudge you guys for doing it. In fact, it sounds so freeing. I hate this feeling urging me to kill the Border agents that come after me and to do whatever it takes to get what I want. I want to stop, but I can't. My programming demands me to do whatever it takes to sustain my life. The same can be said for Yugo. For him to survive, he needs the life force from his Black Trigger which will kill you. According to him, that is why you have to die because the Black Trigger can only sustain your life or his, but for Yugo, he has been suffering greatly with guilt and regret about what he has done to you."
"Even injured, I didn't think for a second you would decide to hide in HQ during a battle, Yuma. You were always the type to run towards any fight." Yugo said.
Even with his father never stopping his stride towards Yuma, Yuma stood his ground. Yugo came to a stop in front of his son, lifting a hand towards his unflinching son so he could gently run his thumb over the cracks on Yuma's face that had spread up his face and through his eye.
Yuma gingerly touched his face, recalling the warm touch from his father last night. In that moment, it truly had felt like he was looking up at his loving father who was worried about his son's injuries which had quickly warped into a vicious enemy that was throwing his son through a wall. Was that really his dad shining through and not the Mimic trying to get Yuma to drop his guard? Kazama was convinced that it was about apologizing for not being able to stop himself, but Yuma had some serious doubts about that.
"You got my message, didn't you?" Mogami asked, taking in the confusion mixed with skepticism on Yuma's face.
"The one about Dad not wanting to hurt me and that he does love me?" Yuma asked as he recalled his conversation with Kazama and Tachikawa earlier that day. He glanced down at his hand to look at his Black Trigger, but even with his head tilted down, he could still Mogami's feet planted on the ground in his peripheral. If his feet moved, Yuma would be ready for anything. "Don't you know? Dad died because of me. Can love still exist after something like that?"
"Huh, I guess stupid questions do exist."
Yuma's head snapped back to Mogami, scowling in annoyance with a retort ready on his tongue, but it died down when he saw the understanding and love on Mogami's face.
"I'm not a father, Yuma, so maybe my take on it doesn't count but Border was my family. I had hoped to find the right girl for me and to start my own family, but Border took up so much of my time. Jin and Konami became my focus. It was like they were my kids inside my makeshift family. We trained them to be agents, but they were still my kids. There's nothing I wouldn't have done to keep them safe. If they got in trouble, I would do whatever it took to save them and it wouldn't make me hate them. We're only human, Yuma. We're not perfect. Mistakes will be made. That's no reason to make you hate someone."
"Even when it causes someone to make the ultimate sacrifice?"
"It was his choice, just as it would be my choice if I was in his position. You were the son he loved so much and he held more loyalty to you than anyone else." Mogami stood up from the chair and made his way over to the bed. "I know you share the same love and loyalty as Yugo so I know you understand what I mean. That night I arrived in the city, it was the first thing I saw. You tackling Jin out of danger and throwing a shield over you two to keep him safe while he was out of it. Or tonight, when you chose Kido over your own safety."
"I don't want to lose my friends." Yuma admitted. "Before coming to Japan, I can count on one hand how many people I truly trusted and thought deserved my loyalty, but now I have so many people by my side. I made the choice that I would protect them no matter what."
"And you don't hate them when you have to save them." Mogami replied. "So, why would Yugo hate you? He would be happy to know that he succeeded in saving his son."
Yuma pulled his hand up to his chest, curling it into a tight fist over his heart as he looked down at his ring.
Mogami followed the action to look at the Black Trigger on Yuma's finger. "Perhaps the existence of it confirms his death, but I see it as more than that."
Red eyes flickered up, a curious question in them.
"It's a symbol of his love."