Part 1a, AU Digimon Story
Tuesday, August 12th, 2003 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsaikoFirst part can be found here.
While on vacation I did an initial edit of the first part. Basically, fixed some awkward sentences, clarified some points, added some details, and made it flow a little bit better. I have no idea how long these two parts together are. Currently, I have them as part one and have started on part two. If I stick this in MS Word and find out they're incredibly long, I might break them up.
Not happy with how things rush towards the end. I love the underwear scene though. You'll see when you get to it.
Same warning as first: I am typing this in notepad since this computer has no MS Word or other word processor with a spellcheck/grammar check. It's also only had a rough proof done on it. I'm going to run LJ's spellchecker on it before I post.
Security was tight at the institution at night. Cameras, controlled by a central computer system, monitored every angle of the hallways. Alarms barred the doors and windows to the patients' rooms. As an added deterrent, thorny bushes had been planted under each window and guards patrolled the floors every hour, on the hour, alert for signs of trouble. There was only one flaw in the system.
Everything was geared towards keeping the patients in. Nothing was geared towards keeping people out.
At 1:18 in the morning, just after the guards had returned to their posts in the control room, the system was hacked. The security system was state of the art: all of the cameras recorded to a digital format rather than traditional cassette tapes. The little red light blinked out for a few moments and then came back on. All the screens began to replay the last hour of footage.
A green light on the control panel shifted to red. The alarms had been disarmed. Having been on shift since 10:30pm and expecting to be on shift for another five hours, the guards' attention had already drifted from their duties. They never noticed.
The three of them came in through the back door at precisely 1:25am. Izzy had told them that they had 35 minutes. According to the records he had hacked into last week, the boy they were looking for was on the first floor down hall one in room 112. It would have been closer had they gone through the front door, but Matt had deemed it too risky.
"Did Izzy say what to expect with this guy?" Tai asked as they went down the hall. Their footsteps echoed eerily off the bare walls and tiles floors. "I'd hate to have hurt this guy when we're trying to help him."
"His name is Motomiya Davis, Tai. Not 'this guy.' He'll be drugged, but the notes seemed to indicate the drugs weren't working too well." This from Sora. She glanced back over her shoulder at the two guys following her. "His file said he had bouts of violence, some depression, suicidal tendencies, black outs. Let's hope they have him so strung out that he won't be aware of what's going on."
"Keep it down. We don't want to tip the guards off with our echoes or wake up any of the patients," Matt said. Sora nodded in agreement while Tai grinned. Matt gave Tai a look which showed that he was not amused. Regardless, they remained silent as they made their way to the room which held their target.
Matt tried the knob. It was locked. He shrugged and moved aside, letting Sora at the lock. She put her hand over it and softly hummed, a run of notes in a pentatonic scale. The air seemed to thicken and crackle a bit. When she tried the doorknob, it turned under her hand.
Tai went in first, hand on the hilt of a knife strapped to his side. Everything was dark in the room. The night was moonless, but a streetlight from outside bled through the small window. It was enough for him to barely make out the figure lying asleep on the bed, the position of a dresser and a small door which probably led to a bathroom.
"You can hit the light, Tai." Sora reached in and pushed the light switch. Bright light flooded the room. Tai blinked, momentarily light dazzled. "Izzy has the tapes set on replay." Matt came in the door, his hand on his sword.
The boy lying in the bed didn't so much as twitch. He wasn't asleep. Tai could see that his eyes were open, but it didn't appear that Davis was looking at anything in particular. "Creepy," he whispered.
"It's probably the drugs." Sora looked unconvinced even as she spoke. Tai reached out a finger and poked the boy in the arm. Still no response.
"Creepy," Tai whispered again.
"Tai, don't poke him. Let's get him up and get him out of here. I want to be gone well before anyone notices anything is wrong," Matt said as he pulled the sheet off the boy. No reaction. Davis was wearing the loose white gown the institution gave all its patients. It came down to his knees, but was thin and conspicuous.
"Don't tell me what to do, Matt. I'm the one in charge of this." Tai searched the drawers as he spoke, looking for personal effects. In one drawer he found a stack of jeans and T-shirts, a few pictures of what had to be the boy's family. Another drawer produced underwear, socks, shoes, and a small clay lump which might have been a sculpture of some kind.
"Then start acting like you're in charge and do something."
"Stop acting like an asshole and telling me what to do."
"No fighting. We don't have time you two." Both Matt and Tai glared at each other for a minute longer. Then they went back to what they were doing. Tai grabbed clothes, pictures, and clay object out of the drawer and brought them to the bed. He handed the pictures and the small clay object to Sora. He kept the clothes. Matt got an arm under Davis and made him sit up.
"Is it time for more drugs?" Tai jumped, Sora gasped, and Matt looked ready to kill someone at the words Davis spoke.
"No, Davis. It's not. We need you to get dressed," Sora said softly. She had been looking through the photographs, pictures of happy a happy laughing family which included Davis's parents and an elder sister, when Davis spoke. She quickly put the pictures and clay object into a hidden, inner pocket. Davis looked at her, really looked at her with eyes that didn't seem vague or confused.
"Dressed? Is Ken coming back?" Davis asked. He struggled to get out of bed, but didn't have the strength to do it without Matt's help. He held onto the older boy when he got to his feet.
Sora looked at Tai. The question was clear. Did she lie to Davis and tell him that Ken was coming, or did she tell him the truth? On one hand, she didn't want to lie to someone like Davis. On the other hand, they only had a limited amount of time and if lying got Davis to cooperate, all the better. Tai nodded once.
"Yes, Ken is coming back," Tai said as he handed Davis the clothes. "But we need to hurry. He's going to be here soon and you need to be dressed by then."
"Okay." Davis looked at the shirt, jeans, and socks. "I need underwear."
Tai blinked. "You need underwear? You mean you're not wearing any?"
"I can't see Ken without any underwear!" There was a definite whine in Davis's voice. He began to struggle and Matt was having problem holding him. Not because he was particularly strong, but because holding on to him was like holding onto a greased pig.
"Okay, okay, okay! I'll find you some underwear. Hold on." Tai scrambled in the drawer while Sora tried not to laugh. "Here. Underwear."
Davis put it on right there, hiking up the thin white gown to do it. Matt stared at ceiling. Tai whistled, wandered back over to the dresser and pretended to be interested in whatever was in Davis's drawers. Sora looked out into the hall. It didn't take long for Davis to get both underwear and jeans on. Once his pants were on, he stripped off the gown and pulled on a T-shirt.
"Ready?" Matt asked. Davis nodded and swayed. Tai moved around to grab his elbow, taking over Matt's role as support for the younger boy.
"I'll help him," Tai said. Davis's arm was painfully thin under Tai's hand and his weight was next to nothing. "Matt, you go on ahead. Sora mind walking with Davis and me? Just in case." Sora nodded. If Davis understood what was going on, his once again blank expression didn't reveal it.
Tai kept up a low running patter of words as they walked. It seemed to help keep Davis calm and docile. Sometimes he even responded, like when Tai brought up the subject of soccer. Other times it was like talking to a walking doll.
Everything was going fine until they walked past the recreation room. "Davis, stop! We're not going in there. We're going this way."
"Ken's in this room. He's always in this room," Davis said. Somehow he managed to jerk his arm from Tai's grip and headed towards the door. He rattled the doorknob loudly, trying to get into the locked room.
"Wait! Davis... uh... Ken's waiting outside. Outside the building. He wanted to walk around the grounds with you," Tai said. Matt hissed something under his breath but Tai waved his hand at him. Everything was fine and Matt worried too much. Davis blinked. Sora carefully lead him away from the door.
"Outside?" Davis repeated. "Ken's never met me outside."
"He figured he'd be different this time. It's okay. We'll talk about soccer with him," Tai said as he once more supported the other boy.
"Ken likes soccer. He plays it. We use to play each other in school," Davis said enthusiastically. Then he paused for a moment. "I accidentally kicked the ball into his crotch once during a game. He didn't like that."
"I'm sure he didn't," Matt muttered under his breath. "We have about fifteen minutes. Let's get out of here."
They left the building with little trouble. Tai, Matt, and Sora breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped into the warm, muggy night. Crickets and frogs called from the darkness. Matt released his grip on the hilt of the sword and visibly relaxed. Tai grinned at Sora.
"Where's Ken?" Davis asked. There was no kind words. No half smile. No polite voice. Ken was not out here. Davis knew it on an instinctual level. In a much softer voice, Davis spoke again. "He's not here."
It was all the warning they got.
Davis went ballistic. He screamed, throwing himself away from Tai and slamming into Sora. Matt turned around in time to see Davis and Sora go down in a tangle of limbs. Sora brought her arms up to defend herself, feeling the younger boy's fingernails dig viciously into her arms as he ankle turned beneath her. His fingers caught on a bracelet she wore. The clasp gave with a snap.
Matt grabbed Davis and hauled him off of Sora. The younger boy screamed and kicked hitting Matt in the knee. He turned as Matt stumbled, biting him in the arm hard enough to draw blood. "Son of a bitch!" Matt said as he let Davis go.
"Davis? Hey Davis, it's me Tai. How about you calm down and we talk about soccer? I'm not going to hurt you. We want to help," Tai said. He spoke in the same soothing voice he'd use on a spooked horse.
"You lied! You said Ken was out here and he's not. You lied to me. You lied. You lied." Davis ran. He stumbled once, but kept going. Tai stared after him not understanding how someone so weak and thin could move so fast. Maybe it would be easier if they just waited for Davis to wear himself out and then go get him.
"Tai, Matt get the bracelet from him!" Sora yelled just as Davis disappeared into the night. "It's got a gate spell keyed to it."
"What? WHAT?! Dammit!" Both of them raced after Davis as the magnitude of what Sora had said sunk in.
Tai got smacked in the face by a stray branch in the darkness. It left an ugly line of welts down his cheek. He could hear Matt cursing as briars ripped at his clothes. They were running blind in the darkness, hoping that they were heading in the right direction and that they would find Davis before something happened.
"Wait. Wait. Tai hold on a second." Tai stopped, panting as hard as Matt. "We can't just keep running blind. We need to listen for him." He had his mouth open to respond to Matt's words, to demand the other guy stop telling him what to do, when the night exploded with a wash of blue-white light.
"That would be the gate. It came from that direction. Hopefully, the guy hasn't gone through it yet." Tai headed in the direction of the light with Matt close behind him. They saw the gate through the trees long before they saw Davis. It swirled with the colors of a soap bubble: blues and reds and golds and purples. "Davis!"
"I didn't do it. It just happened. I didn't do it. I didn't." Davis was on the ground in front of the gate. He was rocking back and forth hugging himself, the bracelet still clutched in his hand. Tai could see that the stone in it was cracked. "It just happened. I'm good. I am."
"It's okay Davis. We know you didn't mean to," Tai began. Davis jerked his head up. Matt winced as he realized that Davis hadn't ben talking to them, but had been talking to himself.
"Tai, you're making it worse."
"Shut up Matt, I'm trying to get him away from the gate."
"You lied. You said Ken was going to be there and he wasn't. You lied. You're... you're... you're bad. You lied!" Davis yelled. He got on his feet slowly backing away from Matt and Tai. And towards the open gate.
"Yes, we lied to you." "Matt, what are you doing?" hissed Tai. Matt ignored him. "This Ken guy isn't here. We were trying to keep you calm so we could get you out of this place."
"You were trying to get me out?" That seemed to calm Davis down. He blinked. "I could leave?"
"Yes," Matt said. "You could leave with us."
"What if I don't want to leave with you? I want to leave with Ken." Davis took another step back and then another. One more would take him through the gate. Tai lunged, Matt shouted, and Davis took the third step. The look of surprise on his face when he went through was truly comical.
The gate collapsed as soon as Davis was through in a flash of blue-white light.
The bracelet, the trigger for the gate, was still in Davis' hand.
"What do you think the likelihood is that Sora remembers exactly what world that gate was keyed to," Matt asked.
"With the way our luck has been this night... none at all," Tai said as he dragged a hand through his hair.
"Fuck."
While on vacation I did an initial edit of the first part. Basically, fixed some awkward sentences, clarified some points, added some details, and made it flow a little bit better. I have no idea how long these two parts together are. Currently, I have them as part one and have started on part two. If I stick this in MS Word and find out they're incredibly long, I might break them up.
Not happy with how things rush towards the end. I love the underwear scene though. You'll see when you get to it.
Same warning as first: I am typing this in notepad since this computer has no MS Word or other word processor with a spellcheck/grammar check. It's also only had a rough proof done on it. I'm going to run LJ's spellchecker on it before I post.
Security was tight at the institution at night. Cameras, controlled by a central computer system, monitored every angle of the hallways. Alarms barred the doors and windows to the patients' rooms. As an added deterrent, thorny bushes had been planted under each window and guards patrolled the floors every hour, on the hour, alert for signs of trouble. There was only one flaw in the system.
Everything was geared towards keeping the patients in. Nothing was geared towards keeping people out.
At 1:18 in the morning, just after the guards had returned to their posts in the control room, the system was hacked. The security system was state of the art: all of the cameras recorded to a digital format rather than traditional cassette tapes. The little red light blinked out for a few moments and then came back on. All the screens began to replay the last hour of footage.
A green light on the control panel shifted to red. The alarms had been disarmed. Having been on shift since 10:30pm and expecting to be on shift for another five hours, the guards' attention had already drifted from their duties. They never noticed.
The three of them came in through the back door at precisely 1:25am. Izzy had told them that they had 35 minutes. According to the records he had hacked into last week, the boy they were looking for was on the first floor down hall one in room 112. It would have been closer had they gone through the front door, but Matt had deemed it too risky.
"Did Izzy say what to expect with this guy?" Tai asked as they went down the hall. Their footsteps echoed eerily off the bare walls and tiles floors. "I'd hate to have hurt this guy when we're trying to help him."
"His name is Motomiya Davis, Tai. Not 'this guy.' He'll be drugged, but the notes seemed to indicate the drugs weren't working too well." This from Sora. She glanced back over her shoulder at the two guys following her. "His file said he had bouts of violence, some depression, suicidal tendencies, black outs. Let's hope they have him so strung out that he won't be aware of what's going on."
"Keep it down. We don't want to tip the guards off with our echoes or wake up any of the patients," Matt said. Sora nodded in agreement while Tai grinned. Matt gave Tai a look which showed that he was not amused. Regardless, they remained silent as they made their way to the room which held their target.
Matt tried the knob. It was locked. He shrugged and moved aside, letting Sora at the lock. She put her hand over it and softly hummed, a run of notes in a pentatonic scale. The air seemed to thicken and crackle a bit. When she tried the doorknob, it turned under her hand.
Tai went in first, hand on the hilt of a knife strapped to his side. Everything was dark in the room. The night was moonless, but a streetlight from outside bled through the small window. It was enough for him to barely make out the figure lying asleep on the bed, the position of a dresser and a small door which probably led to a bathroom.
"You can hit the light, Tai." Sora reached in and pushed the light switch. Bright light flooded the room. Tai blinked, momentarily light dazzled. "Izzy has the tapes set on replay." Matt came in the door, his hand on his sword.
The boy lying in the bed didn't so much as twitch. He wasn't asleep. Tai could see that his eyes were open, but it didn't appear that Davis was looking at anything in particular. "Creepy," he whispered.
"It's probably the drugs." Sora looked unconvinced even as she spoke. Tai reached out a finger and poked the boy in the arm. Still no response.
"Creepy," Tai whispered again.
"Tai, don't poke him. Let's get him up and get him out of here. I want to be gone well before anyone notices anything is wrong," Matt said as he pulled the sheet off the boy. No reaction. Davis was wearing the loose white gown the institution gave all its patients. It came down to his knees, but was thin and conspicuous.
"Don't tell me what to do, Matt. I'm the one in charge of this." Tai searched the drawers as he spoke, looking for personal effects. In one drawer he found a stack of jeans and T-shirts, a few pictures of what had to be the boy's family. Another drawer produced underwear, socks, shoes, and a small clay lump which might have been a sculpture of some kind.
"Then start acting like you're in charge and do something."
"Stop acting like an asshole and telling me what to do."
"No fighting. We don't have time you two." Both Matt and Tai glared at each other for a minute longer. Then they went back to what they were doing. Tai grabbed clothes, pictures, and clay object out of the drawer and brought them to the bed. He handed the pictures and the small clay object to Sora. He kept the clothes. Matt got an arm under Davis and made him sit up.
"Is it time for more drugs?" Tai jumped, Sora gasped, and Matt looked ready to kill someone at the words Davis spoke.
"No, Davis. It's not. We need you to get dressed," Sora said softly. She had been looking through the photographs, pictures of happy a happy laughing family which included Davis's parents and an elder sister, when Davis spoke. She quickly put the pictures and clay object into a hidden, inner pocket. Davis looked at her, really looked at her with eyes that didn't seem vague or confused.
"Dressed? Is Ken coming back?" Davis asked. He struggled to get out of bed, but didn't have the strength to do it without Matt's help. He held onto the older boy when he got to his feet.
Sora looked at Tai. The question was clear. Did she lie to Davis and tell him that Ken was coming, or did she tell him the truth? On one hand, she didn't want to lie to someone like Davis. On the other hand, they only had a limited amount of time and if lying got Davis to cooperate, all the better. Tai nodded once.
"Yes, Ken is coming back," Tai said as he handed Davis the clothes. "But we need to hurry. He's going to be here soon and you need to be dressed by then."
"Okay." Davis looked at the shirt, jeans, and socks. "I need underwear."
Tai blinked. "You need underwear? You mean you're not wearing any?"
"I can't see Ken without any underwear!" There was a definite whine in Davis's voice. He began to struggle and Matt was having problem holding him. Not because he was particularly strong, but because holding on to him was like holding onto a greased pig.
"Okay, okay, okay! I'll find you some underwear. Hold on." Tai scrambled in the drawer while Sora tried not to laugh. "Here. Underwear."
Davis put it on right there, hiking up the thin white gown to do it. Matt stared at ceiling. Tai whistled, wandered back over to the dresser and pretended to be interested in whatever was in Davis's drawers. Sora looked out into the hall. It didn't take long for Davis to get both underwear and jeans on. Once his pants were on, he stripped off the gown and pulled on a T-shirt.
"Ready?" Matt asked. Davis nodded and swayed. Tai moved around to grab his elbow, taking over Matt's role as support for the younger boy.
"I'll help him," Tai said. Davis's arm was painfully thin under Tai's hand and his weight was next to nothing. "Matt, you go on ahead. Sora mind walking with Davis and me? Just in case." Sora nodded. If Davis understood what was going on, his once again blank expression didn't reveal it.
Tai kept up a low running patter of words as they walked. It seemed to help keep Davis calm and docile. Sometimes he even responded, like when Tai brought up the subject of soccer. Other times it was like talking to a walking doll.
Everything was going fine until they walked past the recreation room. "Davis, stop! We're not going in there. We're going this way."
"Ken's in this room. He's always in this room," Davis said. Somehow he managed to jerk his arm from Tai's grip and headed towards the door. He rattled the doorknob loudly, trying to get into the locked room.
"Wait! Davis... uh... Ken's waiting outside. Outside the building. He wanted to walk around the grounds with you," Tai said. Matt hissed something under his breath but Tai waved his hand at him. Everything was fine and Matt worried too much. Davis blinked. Sora carefully lead him away from the door.
"Outside?" Davis repeated. "Ken's never met me outside."
"He figured he'd be different this time. It's okay. We'll talk about soccer with him," Tai said as he once more supported the other boy.
"Ken likes soccer. He plays it. We use to play each other in school," Davis said enthusiastically. Then he paused for a moment. "I accidentally kicked the ball into his crotch once during a game. He didn't like that."
"I'm sure he didn't," Matt muttered under his breath. "We have about fifteen minutes. Let's get out of here."
They left the building with little trouble. Tai, Matt, and Sora breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped into the warm, muggy night. Crickets and frogs called from the darkness. Matt released his grip on the hilt of the sword and visibly relaxed. Tai grinned at Sora.
"Where's Ken?" Davis asked. There was no kind words. No half smile. No polite voice. Ken was not out here. Davis knew it on an instinctual level. In a much softer voice, Davis spoke again. "He's not here."
It was all the warning they got.
Davis went ballistic. He screamed, throwing himself away from Tai and slamming into Sora. Matt turned around in time to see Davis and Sora go down in a tangle of limbs. Sora brought her arms up to defend herself, feeling the younger boy's fingernails dig viciously into her arms as he ankle turned beneath her. His fingers caught on a bracelet she wore. The clasp gave with a snap.
Matt grabbed Davis and hauled him off of Sora. The younger boy screamed and kicked hitting Matt in the knee. He turned as Matt stumbled, biting him in the arm hard enough to draw blood. "Son of a bitch!" Matt said as he let Davis go.
"Davis? Hey Davis, it's me Tai. How about you calm down and we talk about soccer? I'm not going to hurt you. We want to help," Tai said. He spoke in the same soothing voice he'd use on a spooked horse.
"You lied! You said Ken was out here and he's not. You lied to me. You lied. You lied." Davis ran. He stumbled once, but kept going. Tai stared after him not understanding how someone so weak and thin could move so fast. Maybe it would be easier if they just waited for Davis to wear himself out and then go get him.
"Tai, Matt get the bracelet from him!" Sora yelled just as Davis disappeared into the night. "It's got a gate spell keyed to it."
"What? WHAT?! Dammit!" Both of them raced after Davis as the magnitude of what Sora had said sunk in.
Tai got smacked in the face by a stray branch in the darkness. It left an ugly line of welts down his cheek. He could hear Matt cursing as briars ripped at his clothes. They were running blind in the darkness, hoping that they were heading in the right direction and that they would find Davis before something happened.
"Wait. Wait. Tai hold on a second." Tai stopped, panting as hard as Matt. "We can't just keep running blind. We need to listen for him." He had his mouth open to respond to Matt's words, to demand the other guy stop telling him what to do, when the night exploded with a wash of blue-white light.
"That would be the gate. It came from that direction. Hopefully, the guy hasn't gone through it yet." Tai headed in the direction of the light with Matt close behind him. They saw the gate through the trees long before they saw Davis. It swirled with the colors of a soap bubble: blues and reds and golds and purples. "Davis!"
"I didn't do it. It just happened. I didn't do it. I didn't." Davis was on the ground in front of the gate. He was rocking back and forth hugging himself, the bracelet still clutched in his hand. Tai could see that the stone in it was cracked. "It just happened. I'm good. I am."
"It's okay Davis. We know you didn't mean to," Tai began. Davis jerked his head up. Matt winced as he realized that Davis hadn't ben talking to them, but had been talking to himself.
"Tai, you're making it worse."
"Shut up Matt, I'm trying to get him away from the gate."
"You lied. You said Ken was going to be there and he wasn't. You lied. You're... you're... you're bad. You lied!" Davis yelled. He got on his feet slowly backing away from Matt and Tai. And towards the open gate.
"Yes, we lied to you." "Matt, what are you doing?" hissed Tai. Matt ignored him. "This Ken guy isn't here. We were trying to keep you calm so we could get you out of this place."
"You were trying to get me out?" That seemed to calm Davis down. He blinked. "I could leave?"
"Yes," Matt said. "You could leave with us."
"What if I don't want to leave with you? I want to leave with Ken." Davis took another step back and then another. One more would take him through the gate. Tai lunged, Matt shouted, and Davis took the third step. The look of surprise on his face when he went through was truly comical.
The gate collapsed as soon as Davis was through in a flash of blue-white light.
The bracelet, the trigger for the gate, was still in Davis' hand.
"What do you think the likelihood is that Sora remembers exactly what world that gate was keyed to," Matt asked.
"With the way our luck has been this night... none at all," Tai said as he dragged a hand through his hair.
"Fuck."
