You are (not) Complete (Alicia, Spirit Hunt)

Alright. So this wasn't just a dragon spirit. This was a sci-fi computer ghost dragon spirit. Cassandra nodded along as she got the basic gist of what Sol was saying. It sounded like some kind of children's card game, but whatever. Apparently it existed now, and she'd just need to live with it. It was a little bit harder to have such a blase attitude when proof of it was literally opened up in her house, though. That got her leaning out of her seat, peering at the portal in confusion. Yep. That was a werewolf, alright. And he seemed very irritable about his taxes. "Okay. Wow, yeah. Really hard to argue with that," she said, somewhat breathless. If Sol was proof enough, this was just an insufferably thick layer of icing that made the cake properly overwhelming.

"So, I'm gonna guess this is where the boys go after school," Cassandra found herself saying. Now she was starting to really put two and two together. "Explains why their bed times have been so awful lately. Kinda wish I was around more, so I knew something was up. God, why did this move have me so busy . . ." She was really more talking to herself than Sol at this point, the unsettling nature of the current reality settling in for her. She may not have run screaming at the sight of Sol, but she sure as heck wasn't taking this as smoothly as her sons did.

It didn't help when the truth about the D-Scanner was described. Cassandra blinked, rubbing her eyes as if trying to confirm that Alicia had just completely changed. Sure enough, Alicia had gotten a lot bigger and scarier looking. That was how the D-Scanner worked. That was how her son's devices, where or whatever the heck they were, worked. "My sons turn into monsters," she said, breathless now. This crash course sure as heck was causing Cassandra to crash by now. "Every day they go there. And fight. And risk getting hurt. They're just kids . . ." Were those a few tears gathering in the corner of her eyes now? God, this was way too much for her to take in.

This was their destiny now. This was their fate. To spend their lives fighting monsters in a fantasy world, where the threat of death was real, present, and oh so dangerous. What about school? What about jobs? What about their lives? Their home? Cassandra was getting dangerously pale as she considered all of this, trying to wonder just how the heck the brothers were supposed to have anything resembling a normal life.

"They . . . they've been safe, right? Please, please, at least tell me that," she said, voice growing increasingly small.

"No," Cassandra admitted outright. At this point there was no sense beating around the bush, because apparently after going to sleep today Cassandra woke up in crazy town. If she didn't understand what was going on, she'd damn well say it. "I just figured the move took a big adjustment out of them. So did starting a new school year at a brand new school. I mean, hell, when I was Isaac's age you could barely find me back home before 2 AM." Jeez, Mrs. Sunderland knew how to party! Maybe she and Maia's mom would be able to bond over that common ground. It'd probably leave everyone besides Cassandra involved mortified, though.

That said, she got the sense Sol was trying to sugarcoat things again. Her eyes narrowed a little as she focused on his sightseeing statement. "You opened the window for a second and I saw a werewolf that looked buff enough to suplex a school bus," she said, matter-of-fact. "Be honest. How often do those start as sightseeing trips and turn dangerous?" If it was an entire alternate world, she didn't doubt that it had some pretty sights. But if it was an alternate world where people could just turn into dragon knights, she was a little loathe to believe that everything went on without a hitch.

And look at all the hitches that were arriving now! The second Sol indicated that the bros weren't safe in the slightest, a dark look appeared in Cassandra's eye. "Not well how," she said, more a demand than a question, before Sol could even finish speaking. "Tell me everything you know. Every detail. I know you're trying to go easy on me, but we're talking about my son's life here. And I'm not going to leave until I know what can be done for him." Maybe the answer to that was nothing after all. However, Cassandra wanted to hear that first, god damnit! "Not surprising Isaac kept it to himself, though. It was always like pulling teeth trying to get him to talk about what was on his chest. If it wasn't trying to keep it from Elliot, it was trying to keep it from Terrence . . ." she mumbled. The gentle, understanding tone when describing Isaac's interactions with Elliot and the almost disgusted tone when talking about her ex husband made it clear that they were two different forms of hiding.

Wait. What the hell was that time difference? Immediately, Cassandra clutched the couch. "So you're saying he's been suffering there for way over a month now," she said, somewhat breathless. How long had it even been since Isaac hadn't come home now? Two weeks? God, to Isaac it's been over a quarter of a year! ""He's been suffering for god-knows-how-long, and even if I did know there's nothing I could do about it. Oh, Elliot . . . I knew you were hiding something, but I never could've imagined this . . . "

Speaking of Elliot, it seemed eerily quiet upstairs right now. If Alicia and her advisers listened closely, they'd notice that not even the sound of his breathing could be heard.

It was a small relief to know that whatever world Isaac and Elliot kept going to wasn't as dangerous as it seemed. Only mostly dangerous. "Cities can be more dangerous than you think," she reminded Sol. "All it can take is a turn down one bad alley. Trust me, I've lived in cities my whole life. At least a monster outside you can see coming." There was definitely some bitterness and experience tinging that statement. After all, you don't come into a brand new city, barely able to speak the language without ending up in some threatening situations in return. Some were mere mockery. Others were nearly getting ripped off due to different understandings of a "sale" price. In a lot of ways, that had to have made it even worse for Isaac. He was small. And vulnerable. And in a world that, while he may have understood somewhat, he didn't completely. Was he getting mugged over there? He was probably getting mugged.

That said, the monsters she was talking about and the monsters Sol was talking about were completely different entities. Sol's seemed a lot more literal, after all. Maybe she would've found D-Reaper corny in any other context, but right now the name left her heart pounding. "Infected," she said, paling. Oh god. He was sick. And alone. And scared. And there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing anyone could do about it, without risking getting infected as well. And Isaac would never, ever let them. He'd hide a scraped knee, no kidding he wouldn't tell anyone about a life-risking infection. Cassandra buried her head in her hands, trying her best not to let her worry show too much in her face. It still showed, of course, in her heavily trembling body, but she had to keep strong.

"There's a cure," she mumbled, voice muffled by her own hands. "There has to be a cure. There has to be."

Her quiet only made Elliot's pure silence stick out all the more. As Alicia bolted up the stairs she would notice that he didn't even care to close his door. Instead he just sat there, haphazardly sitting on the side of his bed. The angel statuette stood mounted on his desk, staring back down at him. Other than the slight swaying of his good leg as he sat, he was completely motionless. There was an emptiness to his eyes that made him look almost hollow. He stayed frozen like this for almost a minute straight, and judging by how long Sol and Cassandra had spoken for he had been doing this for a good while longer.

His hand, which was previously clutched over his chest, folded open. His Digivice was inside, the screen on it lighting up for the first time in half of a month. He looked at it, then at the statue.

And then he stood.

Each step was slow and ponderous. Even with his walking stick in hand, it was clear that his bad leg was hindering him. However, more than anything, it was the trauma in his mind that was hindering his approach. Nevertheless he stepped forward, slowly but surely, until the statue was within grasp. As he lightly brushed his fingertips against it, both he and the statue started to glow a radiant white. The two luminescent silhouettes began to draw towards each other until they were soon one and the same.

Elliot's arms spread wide as he started to float into the air, gently rising onto his tiptoes and levitating in that same pose. He seemed to grow taller, his hair descending to his back to match. Then he arched his back, and eight wings seemed to explode out from that point. Half of them wrapped around his body protectively, while the other half stretched outwards. Scrolls seemed to trace where his wings wrapped until soon his entire body was protectively webbed up. A large, gauntlet-like shield spread across his left arm, and a radiant sword stretched down from his right. Finally, a large, mitre-like hat settled atop his head, armored like a visor and covering his eyes.

As gently as he arose he started to touch down, the radiant light fading and revealing colors of white, gold, and purple. He didn't even seem to notice Alicia's intrusion, nor did he say anything. In fact, he was every bit as eerily silent as he was before his transformation.

Eh. Superpowered criminals. Superpowered police. In Cassandra's eyes, it all evened itself out. Sure, the crimes would be easier to get in order, but at the same time they'd probably be way more explosive before being resolved. That said, it probably meant that she was a bit reactive with her idea of the city always being dangerous. After all, it wasn't like every day in Shibuya was always deadly, either. "Fair enough," she said, not entirely convinced but at the same time not wanting to start a fight over a subject that she and Sol probably agreed on more often than not. Really, she should've just been relieved that things weren't as terrible as she might've expected.

Any peace of mind that Cassandra might have gotten from this was lost as soon as Sol gave her the details on Isaac's infection. Not only was there no cure, but Isaac was Patient Zero here. He was the first person to ever have to deal with what sounded like a very deadly condition. Anything that could present a cure would need to be just as experimental and deadly as the corruption in the first place. Isaac's continued survival basically hinged on him having both the knowledge and the willingness to find the right person, in the right place, at the right time. For all Cassandra knew, she had already lost a son.

Needless to say, Cassandra wasn't exactly saying anything right now. She simply buried her face in her hands, trying to hide the fact that she was starting to sob a bit. So what if there was little to be accomplished here? That meant there was almost nothing that she could do at all. "So there's nothing I can do? Oh, god . . ." she said, trying her damn hardest to keep strong. If not for Isaac, she at least had to do for Elliot. He'd been dealing with this himself for half a month now. She had to stay his pillar of strength, even if this was killing her just as much as it was killing him. "Y . . . you're right. I just . . . I need some time, please . . ."

Cassandra wasn't right behind Sol. Maybe if she knew what was going on, she'd wish she was.

Elliot didn't even seem to notice Alicia, or even Sol. He was lost in a trance as he turned to the mirror, seeing how he changed. He saw the armor tightly wrapped around his body, prepared to shield him from any danger. He saw the shimmering sword on his wrist, ready to slice through evil. He saw his warrior's build, almost superheroic in a sense.

And then he spoke.

"No," he whispered, MagnaAngemon's rich and inspiring voice sounding all so frail. "I don't want this." For a while he remained quiet. Then he pounded his gauntlet-clad hand on the bed, the gauntlet glowing white as it made contact. "I don't want this!" he said, loud to the point of his voice cracking. Tears streamed down his feet as he fell to his knees, keeping his arms wrapped around himself tightly. As he did so cracks of glowing white began to spread across his armor, light pouring out from them.

"I . . . I don't want to fight anymore," he said, voice soft as he tried unhooking the sword from his wrist. It didn't seem to disconnect at first, but after three tries it finally slipped off. As it did so it faded into light, small pixels of data trailing upwards from where it faded. Upon close examination his gauntlet was beginning to disintegrate in similar fashion, leaving what looked like a wire frame pattern behind in its place. "I don't want to hurt people anymore," he added, the gauntlet finally fading away into light for good. Now it was his armor starting to disintegrate. "And I don't want to be hurt anymore," he said, the armor breaking off and floating away as he did so. There in the sky it finished disintegrating, leaving only a wire frame pattern surrounding Elliot.

"I'm just . . . I'm just so tired," he admitted, unwrapping his arms from around himself. He bowed his head low as he sat there on his hands and knees, the golden scrolls surrounding his body sloughing off. They pooled around his feet, then too started to disintegrate. That was where he sat, letting his tears freely flow down his face and not even noticing that more of his body was wire frame than not. And then he started to glow yet again.

"Please . . ."

Elliot didn't seem to respond, but judging by the way he leaned very closely against Alicia he was very thankful for her presence. When Kisara arrived he let himself lean against her as well, now balanced somewhat between the two. As if worried more for their safety than for his own, he stretched out his wings and tightly wrapped them around the duo. With the current state he was in, it seemed like this was the most that Elliot could currently do.

He didn't look up from his sobbing, but it did start to quiet as he listened to Sol's words. It was fairly simple advice, although much less simple to act upon than it was to listen to; even in the face of everything, keep holding on. Right now, such words couldn't feel further from the truth. Elliot was literally finding it hard to hold on right now, as the wire frame body beneath the glow was indicating. Nevertheless, he tried to listen, even if right now he couldn't fathom picking himself back up.

"I don't want to have to keep pulling myself back together," he said, voice as soft as freshly fallen snow. "Why'd everything have to find me like that? Why couldn't it just let me go this time? Why?

It . . . it isn't fair . . ."

The glow around Elliot was starting to subside, at least. It darkened as the pixels that broke apart beforehand began to re-accumulate. Wherever they settled the glow faded, revealing that the spirit's body had reconstituted itself. Where it was once covered in radiant purple and gold armor, now it was clad in a soft-looking white robe. The armaments that were once layered atop his forearms were gone, replaced with feathered, layered sleeves. The ornate golden scrolls were gone as well, leaving the only splash on Elliot's person his straw-colored hair. Even his hat had lost its armored quality, looking far more decorative than protective now. If Elliot didn't want to be a warrior, fate seemed to agree with him that it would no longer be his purpose.

As if through sheer force of will alone, Elliot had reformatted his spirit.

It sounded like Elliot's fate already made up its mind for him. Sol was doing his best to try and comfort Elliot, but it wasn't helping too much. It didn't matter how many new powers he got, or how much fate was supporting him as it moved him towards his goal. It was still forcing him where he didn't want to go. It was still making far too many demands, sinking its talons in him and refusing to let go. Sure, now he was equipped to not die in the Digital World, but he didn't even want to go to the Digital World anymore in the first place! He was still hurting far too raw. Why did he even have to do this? Why couldn't he just go home and be a kid, instead of being saddled with some big, stupid destiny? Why couldn't the Digital World just . . . forget him already?

But it hadn't forgotten Isaac.

That's right. For all that he complained about his own fate being sealed, his brother's was locked away far worse. Elliot couldn't feel like himself anymore, but Isaac literally couldn't be himself. Elliot could barely find the strength to get up in the morning, but Isaac couldn't refuse to do so without putting his life in jeopardy. Everything that Elliot was dealing with, Isaac was probably dealing with twice as hard. And while Elliot shied away from company of his own will, Isaac literally had nobody to support him. Not Maia. Not Alicia. Not even himself, and all because he was too cowardly to step up to the plate.

He slowly rose, fists clenched. He hated what he would have to do, but knew that he would never forgive himself if he refused this call.

"I don't have a choice," he said, voice as fragile as glass. "This is what I have to do, isn't it? Even if it kills me." He stretched his wings back, trying to get a sense for how they felt. He expected it to be awkward, as he was dealing with a muscle group he had never experienced in humanoid form before, but for some reason they moved almost perfectly in tune with his thoughts. It was almost as if another presence was guiding him, trying to do its best to help him feel more at ease. He turned, examining himself, trying to see just what this spirit form was capable of.

That's when he noticed Cassandra in the doorway, her jaw agape as she saw what had become of her son. Elliot looked down at her, a sad sigh escaping him as he realized how much she had to be coming to terms with right now. He looked towards Sol, Alicia, and Kisara, equal parts broken-hearted at the trouble they caused and thankful for the help they had given him.

"Mom? We need to talk."