Storm Before The Calm (Kuu)

Normally, Elliot would've been far more careful about listening for people near his room. What teenage boy wouldn't? However, today he was far more focused on the dial tones echoing through his room. This meant that Kuu was perfectly safe in his hiding spot, sheltered behind the door. What he wouldn't see was the look on Elliot's face, which fell a little bit harder for each new ring. 5. 6. Would his dad ever pick up? Slowly but surely Elliot moved his finger over the hang up button, ready to discard his stupid idea. Already he was starting to regret it. What would be the harm in cutting the call?

That was when he heard an unmistakable voice. "Hey, El?"

That was Terrence. It had to be. Equal parts relief and terror washed over Elliot as he walked over to his door. If the call got downstairs, who knew how much drama there would be between his parents? That's why for good measure Elliot decided to shut it even more tightly, leaving it far too muffled for his mother to hear. Of course, this wouldn't do anything to stop certain interlopers from hearing through the door, but even Kuu would hear a slightly muffled version of what was going on. Hand trembling with anticipation, Elliot raised his phone to his ear. "Hey, dad. How've you been?" he asked, swallowing nervously after he finished what he had to say.

"You know, hanging in there." Elliot's dad wasn't too much of a talker, it seemed. "What about you? You don't sound too great. Move been stressing you out?" he asked. He also had the annoying tendency to cut right to the point.

Elliot took in a deep breath, trying to think of how to word his thoughts. "I just need your help with something," he said, trying to keep things vague for the time being. "You have time?"

"You know I've always got time for my boy," Terrence said. Elliot could practically feel the winning smile coming from the other end of the phone. "What's got you down? A project? A game?"

Elliot sighed. There was no way he could avoid it any longer. "It's about Isaac."

The line practically went dead. When Terrence did start speaking again, his voice was completely different. "I swear, if that boy did anything else to you . . ." he growled.

Slowly, Elliot's nerve returned to him. Hands that were once shaking like leaves had now steadied themselves, and in a voice so loud it didn't even belong to him he shouted "Dad, please! He's not "that boy." He's Isaac. He's my brother!" He wasn't quite sure what came over him, but Elliot didn't stop there. "For once in your life, would it kill you to use his name?"

The line went quiet again, and Elliot wondered if he had crossed a line that he shouldn't have. Faintly, he could hear his father counting to ten. "You know he's given me nothing but grief," Terrence finally said, breaking the silence. "And after putting a roof over his head and dinner on his plate-"

"And have you given him anything but grief?" If Elliot had surprised himself before, he had astonished himself now by cutting off his own father like that. "You've always belittled him, and acted like he's not there, and treated him like he isn't part of the family, and-"

"I was doing him a favor!" Elliot nearly dropped the phone in surprise. He had forgotten how terrifying his father sounded when he raised his voice. "And he should've been thankful, because he's-"

"I know he's not your son." Elliot practically heaved as he said that. For the first time he noticed tears streaking down his face, but he couldn't be sure if they had started now or minutes ago. "But he's my brother. And I love him dearly. I don't care if only half, because he's the only brother I could ever need. And he really needs me right now. So please, if you really care about me, could you just put all this aside and help me help him?"

The line went quiet yet again. Elliot could hear faint, weary laughter. It was almost uncomfortably close to his mom's. Of course they laughed in the same way. "You know, it's never been easy for me," Terrence said when he returned. "Every time I looked at him, all I could see was when she-"

"That's no excuse," Elliot interrupted. As the tears finished flooding out, so to did any warmth these past conversations had welled up in Elliot. All that was left was cold accusation. "Every time he looks at me, he has to see you."

Elliot pulled the phone away from his ear. His phone hovered over the hang up button, and he was prepared to smash it down with extreme prejudice until a voice cut through the line. "So, what can I do?" it asked. The tone was far less larger than life than it was at the start of the call. Was it because Elliot had finally let that pedestal clatter to the ground?

Slowly, Elliot pulled the phone up to his face again. "Something bad has happened to Isaac. He's going to be away for a long while. And it isn't anything mom can do anything about, so I don't want her to worry," he explained. "So could you just tell her you took Isaac back home with you? At least until I can get him back? Please?"

"She'll never believe you," Terrence said. "This just isn't going to work."

"I know," Elliot said, trying to swallow down his doubts. "But I don't have any other options. This is all I have left. Please, can't you just try? It'd mean more than all the gifts and games and other stuff you could ever send me."

There wasn't a response. Elliot's frown deepened, brow furrowing somewhat in frustration. "Fine. I get it. Bye," he said, smashing the hang up button once and for all. When he was finished he tossed his phone aside, flopping face first onto his second-favorite pillow and letting out a muffled yell of frustration.

How could this day get any longer?

Elliot didn't even hear the door creaking open. He was completely lost in his own little world, or at least lost within the cool underside of his pillow. In fact, had Kuu not said anything, Elliot would have probably laid there for another five minutes or so. It was only once the pipe fox started talking that Elliot snapped out of the little funk he was in.

"No, no, I'm fine," he said, despite not even being asked if he was fine. This was a fairly obvious sign that he wasn't fine. His voice sounded hazy, and judging by his complete lack of surprise at hearing Kuu it was clear that Elliot was very out of it. "I just needed to get a little bit of stress off of my shoulders. I'll get up soon, promise."

It took a few seconds, but only then did he realize who he was talking to. "Wait, Kuu?" he asked. Kuu was not supposed to be there! Sure, he didn't mind seeing Kuu, but out of nowhere like this? Right after such a personal conversation, too. "You didn't hear all of that, did you?" he added, briefly very worried about what other people would think overhearing his provide conversations.

Slowly he pressed down on the bed with his arms. One of them was still stronger than the other, of course. His horrible arm injury inside the corrupted mind had translated to a near-complete disconnect between his brain and his arm, and even now he was only able to make it work at half of its normal strength. As he pressed he turned so he could face Kuu without actually having to sit up. "And what are-" he started, only to stop when he realized just who, or what, he was looking at.

Elliot's eyes widened, squinting somewhat as they tried to squeeze out all of the tears he had already shed. He trembled slightly, and the look on his mouth was one of equal parts confusion and hurt. Why did Kuu come to him like this? Why did he have to do that? He couldn't even bring himself to look at Kuu, yet he couldn't bring himself to look away either.

There were no words left to say. Elliot fell silent.

Elliot could still barely look away from the holosuit. The D-Reaper had already tormented him with a ghost of his brother. Did his own friend have to do it too? Sure, it was Kuu. He couldn't be expected to know better. For once, though, Elliot wished he would've. "No," he said, quickly shaking his head as he realized what just slipped out. "I mean, yes! I mean, ugh . . ." He looked down, wishing so desperately that he knew what to say.

"Not like this."

Immediately, Kuu launched right into talking about cookies. In any other situation these were the kinds of antics that would have put a smile on Elliot's face in a heartbeat, but with the weight currently pressing down on him it was hard to muster up enough joy for one. Rather than try and push the issue he simply lay there, trying his hardest not to re-establish eye contact with the holosuit. "They'd go stale by then," he murmured, as if that was the point of all of this. "That was my dad. He's all the way in California. And I don't think he's gonna be able to help no matter what I do. Although when it comes to him and Isaac, what else is new?" The call had left Elliot's voice almost painfully bitter.

He just sat there, staring at the wall, before finally trying to shuffle in position to look back at Kuu. "Has Maia been okay?" Elliot asked. "It's been a while since I've seen her." Well, more accurately, it had been a while since Elliot could work up the strength to see her. Since the last 10 days Elliot had been keeping himself as isolated as possible, avoiding contact with near anyone who could remind him of the Digital World. With how cramped Kuu had found Elliot's backpack, it was no secret that Elliot was trying his hardest to keep himself busy until then.

A shame that he was awful at burying his problems.

Bread in a bag? That sounded just crazy enough to work. Unfortunately, while Elliot would have written down that trick in record time on most days, today he was barely in a state to listen. He nodded and tried to seem engaged, but the glazed over look in his eyes was just as obvious as the dull tone in his voice. Had Elliot even gotten much sleep lately? The bags under his eyes were making a strong case for "no."

At least when Kuu asked what Elliot's father was supposed to do, he had an answer prepared. "I'm running out of excuses for why Isaac can't be here, so I was going to have dad say he took Isaac back home for a while. That way, I'd at least buy myself more time to come up with something," he explained. Shortly after his explanation he rolled back over, giving his head a light bump against the pillow. "Not that it was gonna work," Elliot grumbled. "I don't even know what I was thinking. The two hated each other, always. And mom was gonna ask for proof, and we'd be back to square one, and she'd be even more worried than before. I just . . .

I just really want Isaac to be okay. Even if just in some dumb made up story."

Of course, there were other people who needed to be checked in on too. Judging by what Kuu was saying, Maia was one of them. "I can't face her. Not like this," Elliot said, voice as heavy as his heart. "It'd end up coming back to the Digital World one way or another. And I can't go back. I just can't." Kuu may have noticed that Elliot's Digivice wasn't in his backpack. It wasn't on his desk, either.

That said, Maia not doing well wasn't good either. "She's angry?" Elliot asked, the self-pity in his voice immediately giving way for concern over his friend. "Why? Has she been keeping safe, at least?"

And then came the kicker. Kuu asked if Elliot would've been okay. He tried not to let the look on his face tell anything, but in his raw emotional state the word 'no' was written all too plainly. "I'll be fine," Elliot finally decided, trying his hardest to dance around the issue. "I promise."

"What am I supposed to tell her?" Elliot blurted, eyes continuing to try and squint out tears faster than they could be produced. "That one of her sons, the only family she has left, is basically gone forever because he's been fighting evil in another world? That her other son nearly died doing the same? That we've been going behind her back for over a year now with this kind of stupid, dangerous stuff? If she doesn't think I've gone insane, it'd break her heart knowing all of this was going on."

Kuu's rude remarks weren't helping. It wasn't because they were all rude, but because they were all true. At mention of his brother Elliot paled, casting a forlorn glance over to his closet. "I can't go back," Elliot said, voice steadily fading over to his closet. "I'm too scared. I've always worried that we'd get too deep and be unable to come back, and now Isaac's lost. If I go back, what if the same happens to me?

Besides, the one time I tried to go, I couldn't. My Digivice hasn't turned on since I left. The station won't accept it, and it's frozen to the touch." It seemed instead of real skeletons in his closet, Elliot merely had the skeletons of his time in the Digital World.

Was Maia another of those skeletons? Elliot tried to find a counter for what Kuu had to say, but there really was none. Even if Maia could turn to others like Alicia for most problems, something like this was really between the two of them, Isaac, and Scout. Nobody else could even understand what they were going through. Was he failing her by not finding the strength to approach her about it? He didn't want to answer that, or answer Kuu.

Yet Kuu just kept asking questions. Elliot's eyes were as dry as bones now, reddened quite badly from all of his prior crying. "I'm okay," he said, as quiet as a mouse. "I have to be okay. 'Cause you're right, people need me. But . . ." He thought back to all of the people that he had hurt through his inaction or lack of strength. Like not being able to visit Isaac because of his fear. Or not being able to face friends who needed him right now. Or hiding from the people that he could've relied on. Or keeping such a horrible secret from his mom for over a year now.

"I've really been failing them, haven't I?"

"I have to do something," Elliot said. His voice was continuing to fade away. It felt like if Kuu kept asking questions, Elliot would flat out stop being able to speak anymore. "I have to give her peace. Or answers. Or something. Anything! I can't just keep her like this. God, she has enough stress on her plate already, and I'm just making it so much worse . . ." The current status quo was unsustainable. It didn't help that, judging by their little chat, she was going to get a lot more involved in their lives. It was easy to maneuver around her when she was so distant and frazzled, but when she was actually trying? She was downright relentless.

At Kuu's mention of still having him, Maia, and Isaac, Elliot looked down at his feet. "I . . ." he started, voice fading away just as predicted. "I'm sorry, but I just don't think that'll be enough. I can't just leave the human world and everything I've done here behind that easily. Know what I mean?" He sighed as deeply as he possibly could. With his little air was in his body right now, it was more of a hollow wheeze. "Like this group project I'm working on. What am I supposed to tell everyone I'm working with? What am I supposed to tell my friends who don't go to the Digital World? What am I supposed to tell mom?" Since the beginning, his one requirement was that he wouldn't leave his humanity behind. He refused to let that happen.

He let Kuu's offer to come with them hang in the air. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to come back there.

That said, it sounded like Kuu was agreeing with Elliot's assessment. Or, rather, not agreeing. Elliot let out a huff at the "kind of," eyes continuing to fixate on his closet so he wouldn't have to look back. "If you think I am, you could just say it," he murmured, trying to work up the strength to argue. He was failing.

Of course, it sounded like he'd also have to argue with Maia. Elliot's eyes bulged when he realized what Kuu was saying. "You what!?" he said, trying to process that Kuu had totally just bailed on Maia. "Why would you do that? Why would you do . . . any of this?" he asked, showing the most emotion in his voice since this conversation started.

He nudged a little closer to his phone, looking at it and taking in a deep sigh. But before he was doing anything, he wanted answers. Elliot turned slightly, an accusatory, hurt glare locked right on Kuu.