Spiritual Insight of a Different Sort (Elliot&Isaac/Alicia)

"Come on. You can't tell me you never get curious."

"Curious about what?"

Elliot and Isaac kept their conversation somewhat quiet as they walked down the street, not wanting anyone unsavory to overhear their conversation. Then again, even savory characters likely shouldn't hear about the Digital World without proper preparation first. It simply wasn't a place to introduce the uninitiated to carelessly. Nevertheless, whichever topic they were discussing, Elliot seemed far more interested in it than Isaac was.

"At this point you've seen so many spirits, and you seriously don't have any questions about them? What they are? Who they were? You've never thought of that?" Elliot asked again, more insistent this time.

"I mean, they're spirits. I don't even know if ours are alive. They sure haven't let us know anything on that front," Isaac responded. "And I doubt us learning about them would change anything. They're just artifacts now."

"Sol and Kisara aren't just artifacts."

"They're different-"

"And even spirits not like them seem to at least . . . influence, you know? I mean, you were talking about how once he started using Kinkakumon Asher started throwing himself at you-"

Isaac could've sworn he heard Elliot mumble "lucky bastard," but either ignored or chose to ignore it. "You're hoping if we do this, we'll find out Gargoylemon's deal, aren't you?" he said, somewhat bluntly. Judging by how Elliot looked down at his feet, Isaac had hit gold. "Well, if this makes you feel better, than we're doing this. And I think I already know what your plan is, knowing you."

"To Alicia's house!" And with that, Alicia's house would just be a journey and a rung doorbell away.

Elliot eagerly pulled both Alicia and Isaac into a big hug, the grin on his face infectious. "Good to see you too!" he said, cheering before promptly making his way indoors. "How've you been doing lately? Doing good, I hope?"

Isaac followed shortly thereafter, giving a somewhat relieved smile that this was helping Elliot feel better. "Hey there, Alicia. Oh, and thanks for always just taking us in on short notice like that. I know we've kinda barged in on you, like, at least three times by now." He sounded somewhat sheepish, a bit less confident about their interruptions being okay. Sure, Alicia didn't mind, but he knew Elliot's excitability could sometimes turn into thoughtlessness.

Elliot was the first to answer about why they were here while nestling into the couch. "Well, I was thinking," he started, trying to find a way to politely breach the topic. "Like, you have Sol and Kisara, but we really don't know anything about our spirits. At all. Like, not who they are or what they are. So I was just kinda wondering if, you know-"

"He was hoping you guys could help us figure out more about our spirits," Isaac finished, helping Elliot stop beating around the bush by cutting the bush down entirely. "I know, this probably isn't the most relaxing visit, but its been eating him up all day. Do you think you could do us that favor, please?"

"I haven't been spending too much lately!" Elliot protested. Maybe it was obvious to some people, at least, but Elliot tended to miss the obvious sometimes. What he lacked in street smarts he made up for in book smarts, but that didn't stop him from being such a social ditz. "Isaac, though . . . "

"Hey, I've got good reasons," Isaac retorted, shrugging. "Anyway, c'mon, focus. You've got your questions to answer, right?" Isaac really didn't want to have to answer for his budgetary choices, especially when 99% of them were about finding gifts or buying more cool clothes for himself. Thankfully, a dragon and an ice mage appearing helped distract him from this line of conversation. "Sol, Kisara. Good to see you guys," he said, smiling.

Elliot was much more animated with his response, waving cheerfully. "Hi!" he chirped as the duo emerged. However, after a few seconds' pause, he asked "Wait, ask about what? Its just a phrase, right?" Hopefully, this would reassure Sol that Elliot missed his delightfully corny catchphrase about hell and devils.

"You're more of an expert than we are, at least," Isaac said as Kisara admitted her own lack of expertise in this situation. "Elliot and I have been flying blind this whole time, really. At least you've experienced it enough to be able to give a solid perspective on it."

After a few seconds, Elliot started with the first question. "I mean, we know they were heroes in the past, but were they one hero fragmented into many spirits? Or was each an individual? I mean, we met the brother of Asher's human spirit . . ."

"You met him. I was locked in a cardboard box the whole time," Isaac interrupted.

"I totally kicked his butt at arm wrestling. That was fun." Was that a prideful grin on Elliot's face?

"Wait, Digimon can have trouble flying too?" Elliot asked, a mix of befuddlement and relief in his voice. "All this time I thought it was just kinda instinct for you guys, and us spirit users had to figure it out the hard way. Man, now I feel way less silly about having to learn how to walk with a tail throwing my balance off!" Sure, it might've mortified Sol a little bit more, but at least Elliot was also freely admitting his own moments of incompetence. "And don't even get me started on Isaac! I mean, you should've seen when we first got Devidramon. Practically flew right into the windows at the Trailmon Terminal . . ."

"Okay, that's enough, Elliot," Isaac interjected, blushing a little.
"Jeez, do you just keep a journal on all of our mistakes?"

"I mean, the adventure journal's not gonna write itself, is it? And it isn't like I can learn how to get better without going over what went wrong first," Elliot countered.

Isaac could only sigh in return. "I swear, I don't know how you have the time to keep up that silly thing," he muttered, shaking his head.

Of course, their banter was cut somewhat short as Sol started burrowing his way into their spirits' consciousnesses. Isaac was the first to stop, his hand practically shaking from how much wild energy was pulsing through it. Elliot's was similarly hard to keep a hold on, the shell of energy so smooth and flawless that it threatened to slip right through his hands. For each reason the bros released their Digivices, surprised to see them remaining airborne under their own power. Isaac's lashed out with all of the ferocity of a collapsing supernova, and Elliot's looked as smooth and perfect as a newborn star. Together, they were certainly doing a great job of lighting up the room, casting it in a soft, pale glow.

They listened intently as Sol spoke, an eager grin spreading across Elliot's face and a pale look of worry spreading over Isaac's. Parts of this story were hitting a little too close to Isaac for comfort, namely where they were brethren without being brothers. Briefly Isaac cast a worried look at Elliot, as if checking to see if his half-brother had come to the same conclusion, but instead Elliot was quite enraptured in their story. How could he not be? It was amazing!

"Don't you see, Isaac? This is so us!" That didn't help. Thankfully, Elliot was able to clarify. "Its like we complete each other, right? I keep you responsible, and you keep me safe no matter what, and together we can take on the whole world! I knew our spirits'd be like that!"

How could Isaac say no to that optimism? Slowly, a smile spread across his face. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right," he said. "And nothing'll be able to change that, y'hear?

Although I gotta wonder. Why did the two clash in the first place?" Isaac asked.

Even Sol didn't seem to know the specific reason why the spirits had their initial fight. Briefly Isaac turned over his Digivice, looking at the Impmon-styled face on the back in order to try and get a sense of what was going on. Its usual silly smile was replaced with a thin line, and its eyes seemed to be looking up in a state of confusion. Were their spirits just as lost as Sol was on this? Then again, they had to have been old by Digimon standards. Perhaps senility had just left them forgetting what was going on.

Nonetheless, all three of Sol's suggestions made sense. It could have been the two being played against each other, only for their shared struggles to bring them all the closer together. After all, they had certainly been through plenty of struggles together in life so far. It could have been insults, once made and now regretted. Isaac still felt guilt for his early resentment towards Elliot, after all, and it still hung over his head even as he tried to be the best big brother he could be. And territorial nature? Isaac could be quite defensive sometimes, and he could see himself lashing out if things important to him were put in jeopardy.

Elliot didn't think nearly as strongly on this. Instead he giggled at Kisara's description, finding it way too hilarious to ignore. "That's Isaac, alright!" he said once the giggles subsided. "I'd hate to ever end up on his bad side. But I guess we've never got to worry about that, huh?" Between Elliot and Alicia, two of the three most people in Isaac's life were sitting right here. If something bad happened, there would be hell to pay.

Unfortunately, Isaac wouldn't be at this gathering for long. In fact, it seemed like he was specifically being pulled away by Sol. For a second he looked back at the rest of the assembled company, as if to see whether they'd be okay with him leaving or not, before nodding and standing up. "Alright," he said, starting to walk away wherever Sol requested.

As soon as he entered, he turned to Sol. "You're hiding something from Elliot, aren't you?" he asked, a little to the point. "Was the way our spirits met a bit too violent for him?"

Isaac huffed slightly as Sol brought up the felfire incident. Or was it more like shadowfire? Hellfire, even? Whatever it was called, Isaac did not seem happy about it being brought up again. "That was different," he protested, less-than-enthused enthused by Sol's mild amusement. "He'd already been hit by that thing. Like it or not it was on his body. What was he supposed to do? Not know something that was right in front of his face? Something that could've killed him if he didn't know about it? This is different. What he doesn't know about our spirits won't hurt him, you know?"

Then, just like that, Sol brought up blood relation. Isaac's eyes bulged in shock as he did a double take, biting down on his tongue to hide his surprise. "What are you talking about?" he asked, far too excitable to be truly confused. In fact, if anything his denial made it transparently obvious. Nevertheless, he refused to buckle from his line of questioning. He defiantly looked Sol in the eye, and nothing Sol could say would motivate him to break that eye contact. Well, probably. Sol was a master of words, after all, and if anyone could break Isaac's blind insistence it was likely him.

Nevertheless, even as he refused to leave Sol's gaze, Isaac listened. He was defiant, after all, not unreasonable. It was a fairly intricate parable about two compatriots, one blinded and the other bearing all of the burdens as a result. After a while, the burdens accrued so heavily that even the blinded of the two could see the pain in the other's stride. By the end, the two were equally blind, and could either say their problems were truly solved?

Isaac wasn't great with riddles. In fact, he was quite terrible with them. Nevertheless, even he could tell that Sol was trying to tell him something. "I know. I put a lot on my shoulders for him," Isaac said, voice slow and ponderous. "And I know it hurts sometimes. But he really means a lot to me, you know? In a lot of ways, he's all I have. And I think it'd be worth it, even if I do become blind or get a limp or something like that." Clearly Isaac had missed the real point Sol was trying to hint at, but at the very least he was capable of putting 2 and 2 together to get 3.5.

"Besides," he continued, looking down at his feet with a nervous laugh. "I've caused him enough trouble anyway, haven't I? This is the least I could do."

Isaac grumbled slightly under his breath as he realized Sol wouldn't be helping him find the answer anytime soon. All he seemed content to do was give another wrinkle to the riddle, something about perception. "Well, of course Elliot's going to look out for me," Isaac said, thinking about the fact that Sol mentioned the blind compatriot's awareness. Was that supposed to represent Elliot keeping an eye out for troubles of Isaac's own? "He's a good kid. Better than I am, at any rate. He's always gonna worry, and I really hope he knows how much that all means to me."

Still, that answer didn't leave Isaac very satisfied. He looked up at Sol, remembering the part where he mentioned nobody confirming the answer for Isaac. "I'm guessing you're not going to help me with the answer, are you?" he said, huffing a little. "I don't see how it's important enough to take me aside, but not important enough to to just tell me. But hey, you've been alive for thousands of years. Guess you've got the right to be a little cryptic if you want to be." Despite the slight disgruntled tone to his voice, it was clear he was keeping this in good humor.

That said, it seemed like Sol left the floor open for more questions. "Could you tell me a bit about Gargoylemon? I know beast spirits can be a lot harder to handle than human spirits, but that thing's been a total nightmare for Elliot. I mean, I've got a few theories as to what's up with it, but I want to make sure we know what's going on before we risk going any further."