justonetruth | Directed at [damaged

Entry tags:

Directed at [damaged_dove]

"I think this is it," Leormon said, leading the way down a hall.

"Good. Keep following it," Conan said, keeping a hand on Leormon's back, watching behind them for any sign of movement.

"Huh? Hey, this scent...." Leormon said, looking up. "He smells like that place..."

"Who? Kaito?" Conan said, looking forward.

"No, that Conan smells like that Island we went to for a day," Leormon said, gesturing down the hall.

Where another, younger Conan was, illuminated by a red butterfly. He slowed down as soon as he saw the other two, watching as the butterfly hovered outside the door of a room, trying not to let his wariness show. "Hi. Ah, that's my room," he said, pointing to the door.

Conan's eyes narrowed. "...Leormon?"

"Yes," Leormon said.

"And do you...?"

"Only you and him in the area."

"Is that really your room?" Conan asked the younger one.

Conan paused, looking over what the two said before answering. "He's Leormon?" He asked, pointing to the Digimon.

"...what about it?" Conan asked.

The younger nodded. "Just checking, he said, moving to the door to open it. "I was sent by the locator," he added, pushing up the door and following the butterfly inside.

The older paused, but followed when Leormon moved in. The Digmon didn't smell or hear anyone else nearby except the two Conan's, and the blood he was pretty sure was the Kaito they were looking for. Conan closed the door behind them before calling out, the trio illuminated by the butterfly. "Kaito?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Leormon made a surprised noise, but didn't move away. He stayed still, letting Kaito cling to him since he couldn't easily return the gesture, especially without hurting Kaito's arm. Besides, it seemed like he needed something to hold onto.

"That's what friends are for," Conan said, pulling out a pocket knife to cut up strips of the sheet. "I'm going to need to make you a proper sling."

"I said I'd help. I wouldn't go against my word," the younger said.

"What did you mean by escape route?" Conan asked.

He paused. "Ah, the golden butterflies. That's a sign that he says I can get us away. A sort of...teleportation trick."

"Good. I can't use my Digi-soul, so we'd be no chance until the Mansion returns power. Leormon might fight, but he can't evolve," Conan said.

"I'm not ready to fight yet," Kaito whispered, his body still shivering lightly. However, something in his tone was different. It held more promise than before, like saying he's not ready now, but he will be.

His eyes flickered briefly to the butterflies, showing he was listening even though he didn't respond.

Glancing at older Conan over the golden fur, the magician nodded his head in understanding. "I did what I can for it the past day, but there's only so much I can do with one arm. He splinted it for me before I came here, but when I met him again in the Mansion, this version took it off."

The younger relaxed upon hearing that. Not now, but later...that was good enough. "Then I'll keep us away from him."

"...this version?" Conan asked, moving over to Kaito. "Let me redo your arm, all right."

"You can hold onto me if it hurts," Leormon said, nuzzling his shoulder.

"Thanks," Kaito said, although he hadn't let go of the large feline to begin with. He shifted his body such that his left arm was free and no longer blocked by Leormon.

"He's older. He said... he said he was from my future." Kaito's eyes looked to younger Conan for a few seconds, believing he would understand past and future the best out of everyone here, and quickly looked away.

What Absinthe told him still haunted him badly. His arm around Leormon tightened.

"Older...?" The older Conan murmured, working on Kaito's arm. He glanced at Kaito's face. "He-"

"He said something bad has happened," the younger said. "Whatever he said...it implied you broke and lost, doesn't it?" Oh, he knew this game. He knew it well.

Kaito face buried into Leormon's fur and he gritted his teeth silently. It was impossible to tell whether it was in response to the words or his arm being shifted, but the silent tears he cried into the yellow fur was confirmation enough.

The older Conan didn't have a chance to say anything.

"It doesn't have to be that way," Conan said. The older glanced at him and after a moment, returned to focus on the splint, letting the other speak. "Time isn't set in stone. If the older me is where he is, that itself is absolute proof of this fact. You aren't beaten yet. Not by a long shot."

Kaito grimaced slightly at the splinting and used the pain as a focus to draw himself back. "I know..." he murmured, not completely confident but at least not denying it.

"I'm going to fight him here... I don't know what happens, but I know I have allies here." He lifted his head, his eyes still a bit reflective but no longer welling in saline pools. "Right, Leormon?"

Leormon nodded. "That's right! We're here for you."

"Then the first things first," said the younger Conan. "Tell us everything you know about this Shinichi and we'll defy fate."

The older chuckled. "Looks like you got a pretty good ally here, Kaito."

Kaito pulled back enough to give Leormon a near smile and uncurled his arm to ruffle the digimon's hair.

His answer, when he gave it, was directed to the young Conan. "Nothing much has changed... you guys might still know more about him than I do." He took a shaky breath and tried to think back to their brief encounter in the infirmary.

"He's older... I will say by two to three years. He remembers this," he touched briefly on his splinted arm, "and claims it was many years ago for him. He's definitely new to here, so we have home grounds advantage."

Like how well that turned out back in his bolthole. Kaito shuddered and tried to shake the feeling away. He wasn't alone in the Mansion.

Leormon headbutted his shoulder lightly, beaming at him.

"And he immediately tried to resplint it..." The older Conan murmured.

"That is odd. Especially if he did it from the first time," the younger said.

"Which implies something changed," Conan said. "How was he acting when he found you? Was it at all different?"

"I don't know if he was trying to resplint it," Kaito corrected with a distracted frown. He was thinking hard back to their meeting, and trying to reanalyze what he remembered then with a critical eye rather than through panic induced hysteria.

That was when he remembered, "He called himself Shinichi. Almost insisted upon it." Kaito turned his eyes to the older Conan, "That never happened before."

"He changed," Leormon said, a moment later surprise appearing on the older Conan's face.

"Just because of the name?" The younger one said questioningly.

"Precisely because of the name," Conan said. "With me, with the one who lost Ran..."

"He insists on Shinichi with Ran because he hates being called Conan. It hurts him," Leormon said. "And then there's Dove..."

"He wants distance from Absinthe," Conan said.

"But he said..." Kaito bit his lip, not wanting to think about the other things the agent said, except...

"I think you might be right." He blinked, remembering what he thought were only idle words at the time but possibly meant something in this new light. "I said he doesn't have the Black Organization to back him up here, and he replied that he doesn't at home either."

He looked hopefully at the two Conan's. "Do you think it's possible they cut him loose?"

"He'd be killed," both Conan's said at once.

"The Black Organization doesn't 'cut people loose.' You're in it until you're dead," the older Conan said.

"If there was any reason they'd have him leave rank at his age, it's something they'd definitely kill him for," the younger said. "And to say that...he wouldn't admit to it. It's something to still mess with you, having them behind him. That's how he can threaten your school and everyone. Mad bombers aren't nearly as scary as just having that number behind him."

"If he doesn't have their backing, that means he left," Conan said. "And then-" he paused as a butterfly landed on his shoulder. He looked at it, staring at it for a few moments. "...right," he said. "Leormon, you're gonna have to hide for a while. Anyway, he's still possessive of Kaito. And my bet is, those two are related."

"He is Absinthe. He said so himself. I thought he might be someone else too, another psychopath I mistaken for my own when I woke up disoriented in the Mansion, but he..." a flashback to the words, the scene, and Kaito looked a bit unwell under the butterfly light. "He called himself Absinthe."

He stopped, disturbed by Conan's abrupt non sequitur with Leormon. "Why does Leormon need to hide?"

"Because he's a possessive bastard who will try to kill me and I'm not going to advertise myself just yet," Conan said calmly, finishing off the splint.

"...ah, because he knows Leormon's name," Conan said.

"Maybe I'll room with ghost. That'd be fun," the older said with a chuckle.

"Or the other yous and Dove!" Leormon chirped.

"Maybe even better. Especially when that one me is very twitchy about anyone associated with the Black Organization," Conan said thoughtfully, acting like he WASN'T possibly being pursued by a psycho. "Maybe we can bring you along," he said, looking at Kaito.

"That sounds like it'd end up in a cuddlepile," Leormon said.

Conan laughed. "Well, considering my sleep in the Mansion ALWAYS sucks, it might be a good idea."

"What are you two talking about?" The younger Conan said.

The older shook his head. "I'll tell you later. Anyway, about Absinthe, he told you to call him Shinichi. He probably just confirmed who he was for you, but it seems....yeah, he might just be letting you. Hmmm, we'll have to have the Conan confronting him tell us how it all goes," he said, waving at the butterfly on his shoulder. "If we really need too, maybe it'd be better if I just approached him myself..."

"He knows Leormon's name--" Kaito barely had time to feel guilty over that before he was taken in by the quick conversation between older Conan and digimon. His attention ping ponged between the two, feeling as confused as young Conan sounded.

When it finally settled back to Absinthe, Kaito looked uncomfortable. To suggest that he would get into such a close relationship with his torturer was--

"There's a Conan confronting Absinthe!?" The thief jerked around, glaring at the older Conan. "Haven't a thing I've said sank in?!" He waved at himself, "Aren't I example enough already!? He's dangerous!!! No you're NOT going near him!!"

"I also went against a bug the size of a house and lived, thank you," Conan said.

"After nearly getting cut in half and only because of Yuuko," Leormon said.

"But I lived and this isn't near as one sided," Conan said. "Besides, Kaito, you saw what I could do. He won't know that. More than that, NO ONE here knows what LEORMON can do except for those who came from the Digital World," he said. "I just need a minute or two with him and I'll get what I need. After that, Leormon will get me out."

"How did you know that one was going after Absinthe though?" The younger Conan said.

"I read him talking to Kaito. He set you, but didn't offer to come himself? That's because he's confronting him himself," Conan said. "But he'll be fine. He's the source of teleportation right?"

"....yeah, that's right," the younger Conan said. "He can do it too. He'll get away if it gets bad. Though if he's really like Beatrice, it's likely Absinthe won't be able to kill him quite so easily. For one thing, he can probably get his normal body back anytime he wishes."

Kaito cringed at the memory of those ugly scars. Perhaps they were stronger than their stature suggested, but it still made him very uneasy.

"Then the one who is with Absinthe now is the future you?" Kaito's eyes were fixed on younger Conan. He was getting the hang of this doppelganger thing. "The one who said he is probably the closest to Absinthe..." The idea that two psychos confronting each other was enough to make him shiver, especially the image of two Shinichi's doing that.

"I thought he sent him because he knew I was more comfortable with him than him." Realizing how vague that sounded, Kaito tried again, "As in, I wasn't as comfortable around another self claimed psychopath. Although I'm glad to know he can escape if he has to."

The younger Conan nodded. "Correct."

"He claims to be a psychopath?" Conan asked.

"It's...a long, crazy story. He kind of is and kind of isn't. Either way, I've seen Beatrice take having a ton of lasers fired at her and finding a way to survive. I trust he'd find a way to make all this work," Conan said with a shrug, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"...still adjusting to the idea of magic," the older asked.

"Not magic," Conan muttered.

"Riiiight," the older said. "And no, it doesn't matter how uncomfortable you were, if he was worried about your safety, he'd come himself unless he was doing something like that," Conan concluded. "Anyway, we need to find a safe place and I think that would be the best place for us. Especially since...didn't he have a creeper too?"

"Yeah, he did," Leormon said.

Baffled again by the sudden change of conversation, Kaito held up his good hand. "Wait, what... who?" Was he just getting slow, or did these guys switch things around too quickly for him?

"Back up... where are we going?" He really wasn't all that comfortable with seeing another Shinichi at the moment, even if it could be confirmed that that one wasn't Absinthe. Looking like the agent was enough to make Kaito on edge at the moment.

"There's a room we might be safe. It's Kaito and two Conan's. One is an alternate timeline from me. I've already passed the point to become him, but he's not a psycho," the older COnan said.

"He's just really quiet and introverted," Leormon said.

"The other Conan and Kaito are from the same world. They..." Conan hesitated. "Kaito didn't have an easy life. He's a good guy, but he...well, he was on a route to maybe end up similar to Absinthe, but he was able to break free before it got to that point," he said. "You'd have to know Kaito REALLY well to notice anything to make you think he was a Kaito different from the fundamental norm."

"He's a good guy! And so is his Conan!" Leormon said.

"But it'd be a safe place for you and me. The Kaito and Conan from the same world have been avoiding assassins for a while now and the other me isn't a restful sleeper anyway. So even if Absinthe DID find us, it's not likely he'd sneak in undetected."

"That's..." Kaito considered, absently reaching his arm over to Leormon to run a hand along his fur. It wasn't feathers which greeted his touch, but it was still comforting nonetheless.

"If you all are vouching for him... And if he doesn't mind a crowd." He didn't like the idea of depending on a stranger though, even if that stranger was technically himself. The part where Conan said this Kaito was on route to becoming like Absinthe didn't reassure him, but everyone else seemed to be quite insistent that this himself was a good guy.

And, if Kaito was really honest, meeting another himself increased his scale of discomfort. His own face really wasn't all that different from Shinichi's.

"I assure you, if he was even the tiniest bit inclined to follow that sort of life, that me wouldn't trust him to the level he does. More than that, his Conan followed life to the fundamental normal until he found out about the assassins after Kaito BECAUSE he refuses to be like that," Conan said, standing up straight.

Leormon nodded. "He really is a good guy. He's been making that Conan smile though he always has a hard time doing it. A bad Kaito couldn't do that," he said.

"I'll talk to him about letting us stay," Conan said, heading for the door. "He'll agree. Not like him to abandon someone."

Directed at [damaged_dove]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)