KRW fic: The Melancholy of NEVER (1/2)
Title: The Melancholy of NEVER
Fandom: Kamen Rider W
Character: Philip, Katsumi, the rest of NEVER
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warning: spoilers for KRW: Forever A to Z movie.
Summary: In which Philip totally fails at being a prisoner.
A/N: Just a reminder, NEVER are:
Daido Katsumi - Eternal
Izumi Kyosui - Luna
Hanehara Reika - Heat
Domoto Gozo - Metal
Ashihara Ken - Trigger
.
.
i.
The moment Katsumi is seen entering Fuuto Tower with Philip in his arms, a mighty scream is heard in the tower’s control room.
“What, dammit, what?!” Gozo shouts, accidentally breaking open the doors in his haste to get in, his long Rod at the ready. “Did those pests finally manage to get through our defense?!”
When Kyosui turns to him, Kyosui’s face looks completely shocked, with his eyes blown wide and his mouth frozen open. “Katsumi-chan is… Katsumi-chan is-“
“What, did that asshole get caught?! Dammit, I told him not to get too cocky!” Gozo mutters, flexing his shoulders muscles, while his free hand already dialing Ken’s number. “A great fighter, my ass! Who chose him as our leader, anyway? I sure as hell didn’t! Hello, Ken? Get back to the tower immediately! Katsumi is-“
“-has finally reached puberty!”
Gozo’s phone clutters to the floor.
A pause, as Gozo tries to make sense of that statement. “…huh?”
“Just look at that!” Kyosui exclaims, gesturing frantically at one of the monitors-which currently tracking Katsumi’s progress as he slowly makes his way to the control room.
Gozo frowns. “What about it?”
Kyosui lets out an impatient huff. “See what he has in his arms!”
“…what…about it?”
“He finally brings his lover to meet us!” Kyosui claims excitedly.
Another pause, as Gozo’s brain tries to process that particular leap of logic.
“Moreover, Katsumi-chan carries his lover bridal style! How romantic!”
“…did you actually notice the part where the person Katsumi’s carrying appears to be unconscious? And therefore, Katsumi might have no choi--”
“As expected of our great leader!” Kyosui keeps exclaiming breathlessly. “Who would have thought he would have such a gentle soul hidden deep beneath all those awful personality and terrible manne-ARGH!”
There’s a loud crack sound as Kyosui’s body hits the wall-hard, making considerable dent on said wall, before gravity pulls him back to the floor in a boneless heap.
“Oh dear.” Katsumi says, planting his foot-firmly-on Kyosui’s unmoving back, most probably breaking several more bones in the process. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?”
“A-as expected of o-our es-esteemed lea-leader,” Kyosui says, voice muffled, “y-your s-surprise kick is great as a-always, Katsumi-chan!”
Gozo sighs. “Katsumi, what is that?” he asks, gesturing to the thing (person?) Katsumi’s still carrying about.
“Ah.” Katsumi says, looking down at the dead weight in his arms, not quite smirking, “this is our Main Program, the infamous original Data Human: Sonozaki Raito.” He frowns. “Or Philip, as he prefers to be called.”
Gozo stares. Then he opens his mouth-
“Also, he’s off limit.” Katsumi interrupts him. “Lay a hand on him-lay a hand on him, and I promise the retribution won’t be pretty.” Then he smiles, displaying way too many teeth, before he walks to the center of the room and lays the kid down, oh-so-carefully.
“Huh.” Gozo says.
And then, with a last warning look at Gozo, Katsumi saunters back out of the room.
“Oi, Kyosui,” Gozo kicks Kyosui’s foot, “Did Katsumi just warn me over another person? Katsumi, that self-absorbed asshole?”
“Mmpffhh.” Kyosui says from where his body’s still mending itself back on the floor.
Gozo scowls. “You’re no help.”
“Pfth.” Kyosui says.
ii.
“He’s cute, though.” Kyosui says for the nth time.
“So not the point.” Gozo barely refrains himself from scowling outright.
Standing watch over the kid, Gozo with his arms crossed, Kyosui with one hand under his chin, they both stare at the kid’s prone form. They’re also careful to keep at least one meter distance from the kid, just in case Katsumi-
Just in case.
“Considering Katsumi-chan only forbade us to lay a hand over this kid,” Kyosui says with a mischievous smile, “that means we could touch him-so long as we don’t use our hands. Right?”
Gozo frowns. “That doesn’t sound… illogical.”
“So if I’m wearing gloves,” Kyosui says excitedly, putting on said gloves, “that means my gloves are the ones touching him, and not my hands, right?”
Gozo frowns some more. “That…doesn’t sound…illogical.”
“Yosh! Here I go!” Kyosui exclaims, his foot crossing over that one meter distance and-
“How can you be sure Katsumi’s not having this room monitored?”
They both instantly turn to the source of the new voice; there, lounging at the doorframe, his face as emotionless as ever, is none other than Ashihara Ken.
“Ken-chan!” Kyosui exclaims. Then promptly throws himself at the newcomer.
Ken sidesteps him swiftly.
“Mou~ Ken-chan!” Kyosui pouts from where he’s crashed to the floor, “How cruel! Why did you dodge?”
Ken glances down at him, an eyebrow raised slightly. For such an emotionless bastard, his eyebrows sure are expressive, Gozo notes. And then frowns. “Ken, aren’t you supposed to be at the northern area of the city right now?”
“Kyosui’s Masquerade Dopants already took care of it.” Ken says, his attention already at the kid’s still form, not even sparing Gozo a glance. “Huh.” Ken says, doing the creepy-stare thing again.
“Considering it’s Katsumi who went to fetch him, I thought the kid would be beaten to a near-death! Yet here the kid is, looking unharmed! Except for a few cuts on his cute face!” Kyosui says in a weird-sounding baritone, his usually fluid gestures awkward and stifled.
Gozo and Ken stare at him.
“I… have this strange feeling he’s trying to imitate you.” Gozo tells Ken, looking rather disturbed.
Ken’s left eye twitches. “…unacceptable.”
“Hey!” Kyosui protests, “I can so imitate Ken!” and then he proceeds to show what he obviously thinks the way Ken moves.
Ken’s left eye twitches some more.
“Argh! Stop it!” Gozo screams, throwing his fists into the air. “No you can’t, Kyosui! For one thing, you move around too much! Just look at him!” he points a finger in Ken’s direction, “just how many times do you think that guy moves in a day? All you had to do is pretend to be a statue, and you’ll imitate him fine!”
Ken sends Gozo an unimpressed look.
“What?” Gozo scowls. “It’s true!”
“I agree, actually.”
“See? Even he agrees with m-“ Gozo trails off as he realizes both Kyosui and Ken are on either side of him, and none of them had opened their mouths. “Eh? Eh?”
Slowly, so very slowly, they all turn around. And do a double take.
“Hello there!” the supposedly-unconscious-kid says, smiling and giving them a little wave of his hand, looking very much conscious and standing, totally unafraid.
What the hell.
“Hi!” Kyosui, the eternally happy guy that he is, immediately waves back and gives the kid a bright smile of his own.
Gozo smacks Kyosui’s head. And then pulls him aside. “This is no time for greeting, you moron!”
“EHH?!” Kyosui pouts. “Why not?”
“Think about our situation! We’re the kidnappers-we’re supposed to strike fear into our hostage! In fact, we should start by tying the kid up!”
“Gozo-chan! I didn’t know you’re into bondage!”
Gozo smacks him again. “Be serious! We couldn’t let the kid take us lightly!”
“But Gozo-chan…” Kyosui positively whines, “Ken-chan is already introducing himself over there!”
“Huh?” Gozo turns around. And blinks.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Ashihara Ken.” Ken tells the kid, shaking his hand without trying to crush it. “You could call me Ken.”
The kid laughs. The kid actually laughs. “And I’m Philip.” The kid keeps on smiling. “I remember you! You’re the one with T2 Trigger Memory, aren’t you? Oh man, Terui Ryu totally hates you, just so you know.”
“Nice.” Ken says. “Would you like some tea?”
Gozo elbows him aside. “What are you doing?!” he stage-whispers. “The kid is an enemy! An enemy! Have you all forgotten that?!”
Ken raises an eyebrow. “There’s no guarantee he would be alive after Katsumi’s done with him. What’s wrong with making nice with people who would possibly be no longer alive at this time tomorrow?”
Gozo stares. Parts his lips. Shuts them. Blinks. Frowns. “…he’s no people.” Even to his own ears, it sounds weak.
“Just like we’re not?” Ken actually looks amused. What the hell.
Gozo scowls. “Whatever.”
Ken gives him this look, like he’s measuring him or something. Then one corner of his mouth lifts up, forming something that’s not a smirk, and yet not quite a smile. As he passes him, Ken squeezes his shoulder lightly. “He,” just like us, “looks like human. It should be enough reason, don’t you think?”
And off Ken goes, to where Kyosui’s probably flirting like crazy while making a fool of himself in front of the kid.
Urgh, Gozo thinks, fisting his hands, How irritating~ How would anyone reply to such a statement anyway? Ken, that bastard!
“…and Mr. Scowling over there,” comes Kyosui’s voice, “is Domoto Gozo. He likes to think he’s tough, but the truth is, he’s actually a real softie on the inside.”
A vein appears on Gozo’s forehead. Slowly-very slowly, he turns around, his Rod at the ready. “KI. YO. SU. I.”
“Ohh, scary!” Kyosui makes a mock-afraid face. And then promptly runs as Gozo’s Rod comes a flying, followed by Gozo himself-leaving nothing behind them but residual dusts and the echo of Kyosui’s laughter.
“How interesting.” Philip says. “Is it always this… noisy?”
“For better and worse.” Ken says. “Now, how about that tea?”
iii.
“So,” Kyosui says, smiling a shark’s smile, “What would you do, Gozo-chan? Do choose wisely. It’s your soul at stake, after all.”
Gozo swallows.
“It’s okay.” Philip tells him lightly. “Just take your time. I understand it’s not easy to make a decision.”
Ken raises an eyebrow.
“Just pick one already.” Kyosui whispers gleefully. “Time is a running~”
“Argh! Fine! I fold!” Gozo claims, slapping his cards on the table.
A pause, as each of them examines the other’s cards slowly.
Kyosui clears his throat. “After counting all the cards, I declare the winner is… Philip-chan!”
“Yay!” Philip says, and then takes Kyosui’s hands before they both start jumping up and down in excitement, like the kids they probably still are.
“Wait a minute!” Gozo shouts, hitting the table with both fists, “Don’t you think it’s weird how he wins by having Royal Straight Flush five times in a row? He’s clearly cheating!”
“What a sore loser.” Kyosui says disapprovingly, hugging the kid to his chest. “When you lose, you should take it gracefully, instead of accusing the winner for an unfair play.”
“A-a sore loser?!” Gozo exclaims in disbelief.
“Philip-chan, try not to be a sore loser like him when you grow up, okay?” Kyosui tells the kid.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll try!” The kid promises, nodding his head, looking like he totally means it.
Ken turns his head away.
Gozo glares at him. “You totally snorted just now, didn’t you, asshole?”
Ken merely gives Gozo his who, me? expression.
“See? Even Ken-chan agrees!” Kyosui claims triumphantly, one hand still around the kind’s shoulders.
A vein appears on Gozo’s forehead. “Don’t you guys think something is very wrong here?! We’re the kidnappers here! We’re not supposed to play cards with our prisoner-of all things! And you!” Gozo directs his glare the kid’s way, “can’t you at least try to behave more like a prisoner?! We kidnapped you! You’re not supposed to act like this is just a school trip! Show a little worry or something!”
The kid blinks. “There’s actually a manual on how to become a proper prisoner?”
Gozo glares harder at him.
“What a bad temper!” Kyosui says, hugging the kid again. “Philip-chan, definitely don’t turn up like him when you grow up, okay? Or you won’t be popular with the ladies!”
Ken still has his face turned away, but now there’s a slight tremor to the set of his shoulders.
“And you!” Gozo turns back his attention to Ken, “Stop laughing, dammit! Are you guys even listening to me here?!”
“We totally do.” Ken says blandly, like he hasn’t actually been laughing until a second ago.
“We just choose to ignore it.” Kyosui says cheerfully. “Besides, it’s just a game! What’s the harm in lending Philip-chan your Gaia Memory for a second? I mean, he won square and all.”
“That’s why I’ve been asking you: why are we betting Gaia Memories on a poker game? Why can’t we just use something else like normal people? Like money. Or clothes.”
Kyosui leers. “Aww~ Gozo-chan! If you want to see me naked, you could just say so~” and then he starts unfastening his jacket.
The glare Gozo sends Kyosui’s way could totally level a mountain. “Go die in a fire. Painfully.”
“I also don’t see the harm in you lending Philip your Memory.” Ken says. “It’s not like Philip has a Memory connector planted.”
“Um.” Philip says, drawing their attentions, “Actually, I could use a Gaia Memory without having a connector.” When they all stare at him, he adds, “some parts of my body are mostly constructions of data, remember? And Gaia Memories are… well. Data, but in a very advanced form.” He looks rather sheepish, strangely enough.
“…interesting.” Ken says.
Gozo turns to Kyosui with a near smirk. “See? That’s why we shouldn’t lend him our-”
“Philip-chan, catch!”
Philip does. When he opens his hand, Gozo could see a silver and a yellow colored Memories in his hand. “Ehh?!” the kid says excitedly.
“You’re welcome!” Kyosui salutes cheerfully.
“…Kyosui.” Gozo says, his temper barely in check, “when did you steal my Memory?”
“Well.” Kyosui says with an infuriating grin, “five minutes ago, I think? When I asked you to hurry up and decide already?”
Gozo smiles sweetly. And then activates his metal Rod. “Prepare to be chop off into bits, you sorry excuse for a team member.”
“Eep! Ken-chan, save me!” Kyosui hides behind Ken’s taller form.
Gozo glares at them both.
“Oh look! The kid’s glowing.” Ken says unexpectedly.
Gozo turns around automatically. It’s hard to ignore the voice of reason when the voice of reason is usually always right-even when said voice of reason acts like an emotionless bastard most of the time. And Ken’s right; the kid’s body is glowing. Eyes closed with his left hand holding the two Gaia Memories, and his right hand lifted up, palm up, there really seems to be something glowing about the kid. It looks, judging from the shadows and the course of the illumination, like it comes from the floor, from around the kid’s feet. And yet there’s nothing there.
Gozo continues staring.
“Think we should shake him off of it?” Kyosui asks worriedly.
“Let’s just wait.” Ken says. “We still don’t know much about him to judge what’s this…light thing is. Might just be an effect of the Gaia Memory.”
“I told you we shouldn’t lend him the Memories.” Gozo mutters irritably.
A few moments later, the light fades, and they all watch as the kid opens his eyes slowly. The kid blinks, looking a bit disoriented, seeming like he doesn’t know where he is. Then his eyes fall on the two T2 Memories in his left hand.
“As I thought,” the kid says, seemingly to himself, a frown on his forehead, “the Eternal Memory is really the only one with the capability to control other Memories.”
“Huh?” Gozo says. Then looks at his team members. Kyosui shakes his head. Ken shrugs, but he still presses a finger to his lips. Wait.
“Ah.” The kid gives out a surprise smile, looking like he finally comes to himself and notices their presences, “there you are. Thank you for these!” and then he sends the Memories flying towards them-which Gozo and Kyosui catch, of course.
“Ne, ne, Philip-chan? What was that just now?” Kyosui asks wonderingly. When the kid gives him a questioning look, he adds, “that light! You were, like, glowing or something. And you also really looked out of it.”
The kid laughs. “…glowing? I don’t know what you’re talking about. But just now, I was looking up some things in the Planetary Bookshelf.”
Ah. So that was what-oh crap. Gozo, Ken, and Kyosui exchange a look. Definitely *never* tell Katsumi about this. Ever.
“Ehh…! So that’s how you *always* look when you’re visiting that Planetary Bookshelf?” Kyosui grins excitedly. “The light surrounding you is so pretty, Philip-chan!”
“Really?” the kid looks mildly confused, Gozo notes. “Shoutarou never told me what it was like for the outsiders when I was in a look up mode…”
“Really! Really!” Kyosui nods, taking the kid’s hands in his. Then he turns toward Gozo. “Right, Gozo-chan?”
Gozo glares at him. “No, I wouldn’t know about that, since no male should know or use the word ‘pretty’!”
A pause.
“…what a bad character.” Kyosui mutters, hugging the kid. Again. “Definitely don’t grow up to be him, Philip-chan!”
Ken’s shoulders are already shaking. Again.
Gozo stares at them all hatefully. Sometimes, he wishes he could just drown his teammates in a lake. Scratch that. No, most of the time. No, make that always.
“…what are you doing?”
Gozo’s head turns toward the entrance so fast he nearly gets a whiplash. And then when his eyes fall on the figure standing by the doorway, he instantly-
“Katsumi-chan!”
Gozo blinks. It wasn’t him who just shouted out that name, right? Besides, why did it sound kinda… strangled? He turns toward Kyosui, and. Blinks. Right. Kyosui still has his arms around the kid, and Katsumi’s order has specified them not to-
Oh crap.
“What?” Katsumi says, a slight smirk on his lips. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Philip blinks. “You know,” he begins, "considering the requirement to be a member of NEVER is you’ve got to have been dead for at least once, that statement is actually rather accu-”
“AAH! Katsumi-chan, you look rather cheery!” Kyosui shouts, drowning out the rest of the kid’s words, “has something good been happening?”
Katsumi merely raises an eyebrow at Kyosui. “Sort of.” Then his eyes sweep over them once more, and linger on the kid-still being held in Kyosui’s arms. “Why, aren’t you getting along well together.” He smiles.
Gozo feels a shiver run down his spine. He tries to (discreetly) warn Kyosui to let go of the kid, but clearly this isn’t Kyosui’s lucky day.
“We are, aren’t we, Philip-chan?” Kyosui directs a big grin at the kid. And then looks at Katsumi challengingly.
Huh. Maybe Kyosui’s not as oblivious as Gozo believes him to be, after all.
Katsumi just-shrugs. “Fine, then. I thought I was just going to see how you’re doing.” Katsumi says, his half-smirk still in place. He’s enjoying their discomfort, that bastard. “Especially you.” He looks straight at Philip, “I didn’t hit you too hard, did I?”
Philip blinks, slowly. “Not…exactly.” The kid actually answers. Gozo’s heard the kid lacks common sense, but he never thought it’s actually true! “You hit me right in the solar plexus, and therefore managed to knock me out without damaging my body too much.” The kid frowns. “In fact, compared to when I fought you as Double, I could say you let me off lightly this time.”
That explanation sounds strangely… technical. Which Kyosui clearly notices, since he pulls away slightly and asks the kid, “But are you really okay? I mean, does your body still hurt somewhere? Do you feel some pain? Feel lightheaded, perhaps?”
Ken coughs.
The kid just blinks at Kyosui’s attention. “Not really. My body recovers fast, after all.”
Kyosui glares at Katsumi.
Katsumi looks at him coolly. “In case you forgot, I wasn’t the only one who fought him when he was Double. You all were there, too.”
“But I didn’t know the ones transformed into Double were actually that cute!” Kyosui exclaims, hugging the kid again.
“Ohmf.” The kid says.
A pause, as it turns suddenly awkward for some reason.
Ken coughs again.
Gozo just scowls.
“Ohmf.” The kid says again, muffled this time.
“Look,” Katsumi says, “I don’t care who, but could someone please pull Kyosui away from Philip? It doesn’t look like Philip could breathe.”
“AH! Philip-chan! I’m so soorrryyy!!! Philip-chan? Philip-chan! PHILIP-CHAN!!!”
Gozo watches the scene before him impassively. “Don’t you find it ironic,” he tells Ken, “that an innocent hug actually does more damage than a fatal hit to the stomach?”
Ken just coughs again.
iv.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” the kid says, “do you also think of your teammates as your makeshift family?”
Gozo chokes.
The all stare at Philip.
“What,” Ken says with apparent difficulty, while Kyosui giggling uncontrollably behind him, “makes you say that?”
Philip blinks. “What, you mean you don’t?”
“Look, don’t you see how Kats-“ Gozo coughs, “I mean, a certain someone here always try to kill the other members? So how could you even ask such a question even after seeing that?”
Katsumi looks at Gozo impassively. “…you’re totally about to mention my name just now, aren’t you?”
Kyosui giggles harder.
“You mean normal families don’t actually do that?” Philip asks, sounding a little surprise.
“Of course not!” Gozo scowls, totally not ignoring Katsumi.
“Well, it’s just that,” Philip says, “while Shoutarou and Aki-chan never tries to kill each other seriously, in my real family, my oldest sister always tries to kill my second sister on monthly basis. And then my oldest sister always ends up killing her male companions. While my father already tries to kill his wife and first daughter at least once.”
Silence, as they all stare at Philip.
“…just what kind of family did you come from?” Gozo says in disbelief.
Philip frowns at them. “I’ve always thought it’s pretty generic for a family member to try killing the other members, and Shoutarou and Aki-chan is just a special case.”
“No, seriously.” Gozo says. “Just what kind of childhood have you been living anyway?”
“Gozo has muscle for brain, but he’s right, Philip.” Katsumi says, taking Philip’s hands in his.
“Excuse me?” Gozo shouts in outrage.
“Real families do not *try* to kill each other.” Katsumi tells the kid, looking right into his eyes. “Real families *kill* each other instead.”
Silence.
Philip blinks.
“If you only *try*,” Katsumi continues, “then it means you don’t mean it.”
“…and just what kind of family did *he* come from?” Gozo asks, completely stunned.
Ken shrugs.
In the background, Kyosui keeps on laughing himself sick.
v.
“What,” Reika says, “is that thing doing here?”
A pause.
“Reika-chan!” Kyosui exclaims happily, “You’re back!”
Katsumi sends her an unimpressed look. “Did you forget our plan already? Especially the part about-“
“Which is why,” Reika says, gritting her teeth and glaring at the kid, “I ask: What. Is he doing. Here! Here, at the control room, and not the underground basement!”
Another pause. And then a jumble of noise, as Gozo and Kyosui jump to make excuses about their un-villain-y behaviors at the same time, complete with hand gestures (Kyosui) and Rod-swinging (Gozo), which only manages to irritate Reika further and-
“Actually,” Philip says, “Fuuto Tower doesn’t have an underground level.”
Yet another pause, as they all turn to look at Philip.
“Huh?” Gozo says.
Philip blinks. “Don’t you already know that? Fuuto Tower does have a basement parking lot, but it doesn’t have any underground level. There’s a room for maintenance tools in the second floor, water pipe control on the first floor, lights terminals on the third floor, and then CCTV cameras control room on the upper level, but they all could be monitored from this central control room-where all the systems running through Fuuto Tower overlap.” When they all keep staring at him, Philip adds, “It’s all in the Tower’s blueprint.”
He looks at them all expectantly, like he’s waiting for some kind of reaction. Or something (a praise).
Then Philip tilts his head to the side, in that confused gesture that’s alarmingly becoming quite familiar. “Surely you’ve seen the Tower’s blueprint? How else would you plan your attacks if you didn’t even know the terrains?”
Gozo puffs out his chest and knocks his fists together. “Who needs a plan when we could just-“
Katsumi shoves him aside. “Aren’t you a good boy.” Katsumi says to the kid, patting the kid’s head. “Now, tell me more about this blueprint of yours.”
Then, to the astonishment of the rest of NEVER, he gives Philip something close to-but not quite-a smile. Considering it’s Katsumi, he’s practically grinning.
Gozo blinks.
The scene doesn’t change: Katsumi’s hand is still on the kid’s head, while his lips still stretched into that near-smile thing; the fact Katsumi voluntarily touches another person without killing said person is quite a miracle in itself. Especially when the kid keeps beaming at him.
Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover it.
“Think Katsumi-chan’s finally gone soft?” Kyosui whispers right into Gozo’s ear. He sounds strangely happy.
Gozo sends him a warning glare. “DO NOT EVEN.”
“But Gozo-chan!” Kyosui whines, pulling at Gozo’s left arm, “Just look at them together! Maybe Katsumi-chan really does lo-“
BRUGH!
The next second, Kyosui is laying on his back on the floor, with his uniform jacket singed, face covered in burn marks, and the tip of Reika’s heel cutting off the air supply on his neck.
“Finish that sentence,” Reika snarls, her heel pressing down on Kyosui’s neck further, “and you’ll be the first to find out whether we would really come back when our heads are separated from our bodies.”
“Erk.” Is Kyosui’s only reply.
next part
Fandom: Kamen Rider W
Character: Philip, Katsumi, the rest of NEVER
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warning: spoilers for KRW: Forever A to Z movie.
Summary: In which Philip totally fails at being a prisoner.
A/N: Just a reminder, NEVER are:
Daido Katsumi - Eternal
Izumi Kyosui - Luna
Hanehara Reika - Heat
Domoto Gozo - Metal
Ashihara Ken - Trigger
.
.
i.
The moment Katsumi is seen entering Fuuto Tower with Philip in his arms, a mighty scream is heard in the tower’s control room.
“What, dammit, what?!” Gozo shouts, accidentally breaking open the doors in his haste to get in, his long Rod at the ready. “Did those pests finally manage to get through our defense?!”
When Kyosui turns to him, Kyosui’s face looks completely shocked, with his eyes blown wide and his mouth frozen open. “Katsumi-chan is… Katsumi-chan is-“
“What, did that asshole get caught?! Dammit, I told him not to get too cocky!” Gozo mutters, flexing his shoulders muscles, while his free hand already dialing Ken’s number. “A great fighter, my ass! Who chose him as our leader, anyway? I sure as hell didn’t! Hello, Ken? Get back to the tower immediately! Katsumi is-“
“-has finally reached puberty!”
Gozo’s phone clutters to the floor.
A pause, as Gozo tries to make sense of that statement. “…huh?”
“Just look at that!” Kyosui exclaims, gesturing frantically at one of the monitors-which currently tracking Katsumi’s progress as he slowly makes his way to the control room.
Gozo frowns. “What about it?”
Kyosui lets out an impatient huff. “See what he has in his arms!”
“…what…about it?”
“He finally brings his lover to meet us!” Kyosui claims excitedly.
Another pause, as Gozo’s brain tries to process that particular leap of logic.
“Moreover, Katsumi-chan carries his lover bridal style! How romantic!”
“…did you actually notice the part where the person Katsumi’s carrying appears to be unconscious? And therefore, Katsumi might have no choi--”
“As expected of our great leader!” Kyosui keeps exclaiming breathlessly. “Who would have thought he would have such a gentle soul hidden deep beneath all those awful personality and terrible manne-ARGH!”
There’s a loud crack sound as Kyosui’s body hits the wall-hard, making considerable dent on said wall, before gravity pulls him back to the floor in a boneless heap.
“Oh dear.” Katsumi says, planting his foot-firmly-on Kyosui’s unmoving back, most probably breaking several more bones in the process. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?”
“A-as expected of o-our es-esteemed lea-leader,” Kyosui says, voice muffled, “y-your s-surprise kick is great as a-always, Katsumi-chan!”
Gozo sighs. “Katsumi, what is that?” he asks, gesturing to the thing (person?) Katsumi’s still carrying about.
“Ah.” Katsumi says, looking down at the dead weight in his arms, not quite smirking, “this is our Main Program, the infamous original Data Human: Sonozaki Raito.” He frowns. “Or Philip, as he prefers to be called.”
Gozo stares. Then he opens his mouth-
“Also, he’s off limit.” Katsumi interrupts him. “Lay a hand on him-lay a hand on him, and I promise the retribution won’t be pretty.” Then he smiles, displaying way too many teeth, before he walks to the center of the room and lays the kid down, oh-so-carefully.
“Huh.” Gozo says.
And then, with a last warning look at Gozo, Katsumi saunters back out of the room.
“Oi, Kyosui,” Gozo kicks Kyosui’s foot, “Did Katsumi just warn me over another person? Katsumi, that self-absorbed asshole?”
“Mmpffhh.” Kyosui says from where his body’s still mending itself back on the floor.
Gozo scowls. “You’re no help.”
“Pfth.” Kyosui says.
ii.
“He’s cute, though.” Kyosui says for the nth time.
“So not the point.” Gozo barely refrains himself from scowling outright.
Standing watch over the kid, Gozo with his arms crossed, Kyosui with one hand under his chin, they both stare at the kid’s prone form. They’re also careful to keep at least one meter distance from the kid, just in case Katsumi-
Just in case.
“Considering Katsumi-chan only forbade us to lay a hand over this kid,” Kyosui says with a mischievous smile, “that means we could touch him-so long as we don’t use our hands. Right?”
Gozo frowns. “That doesn’t sound… illogical.”
“So if I’m wearing gloves,” Kyosui says excitedly, putting on said gloves, “that means my gloves are the ones touching him, and not my hands, right?”
Gozo frowns some more. “That…doesn’t sound…illogical.”
“Yosh! Here I go!” Kyosui exclaims, his foot crossing over that one meter distance and-
“How can you be sure Katsumi’s not having this room monitored?”
They both instantly turn to the source of the new voice; there, lounging at the doorframe, his face as emotionless as ever, is none other than Ashihara Ken.
“Ken-chan!” Kyosui exclaims. Then promptly throws himself at the newcomer.
Ken sidesteps him swiftly.
“Mou~ Ken-chan!” Kyosui pouts from where he’s crashed to the floor, “How cruel! Why did you dodge?”
Ken glances down at him, an eyebrow raised slightly. For such an emotionless bastard, his eyebrows sure are expressive, Gozo notes. And then frowns. “Ken, aren’t you supposed to be at the northern area of the city right now?”
“Kyosui’s Masquerade Dopants already took care of it.” Ken says, his attention already at the kid’s still form, not even sparing Gozo a glance. “Huh.” Ken says, doing the creepy-stare thing again.
“Considering it’s Katsumi who went to fetch him, I thought the kid would be beaten to a near-death! Yet here the kid is, looking unharmed! Except for a few cuts on his cute face!” Kyosui says in a weird-sounding baritone, his usually fluid gestures awkward and stifled.
Gozo and Ken stare at him.
“I… have this strange feeling he’s trying to imitate you.” Gozo tells Ken, looking rather disturbed.
Ken’s left eye twitches. “…unacceptable.”
“Hey!” Kyosui protests, “I can so imitate Ken!” and then he proceeds to show what he obviously thinks the way Ken moves.
Ken’s left eye twitches some more.
“Argh! Stop it!” Gozo screams, throwing his fists into the air. “No you can’t, Kyosui! For one thing, you move around too much! Just look at him!” he points a finger in Ken’s direction, “just how many times do you think that guy moves in a day? All you had to do is pretend to be a statue, and you’ll imitate him fine!”
Ken sends Gozo an unimpressed look.
“What?” Gozo scowls. “It’s true!”
“I agree, actually.”
“See? Even he agrees with m-“ Gozo trails off as he realizes both Kyosui and Ken are on either side of him, and none of them had opened their mouths. “Eh? Eh?”
Slowly, so very slowly, they all turn around. And do a double take.
“Hello there!” the supposedly-unconscious-kid says, smiling and giving them a little wave of his hand, looking very much conscious and standing, totally unafraid.
What the hell.
“Hi!” Kyosui, the eternally happy guy that he is, immediately waves back and gives the kid a bright smile of his own.
Gozo smacks Kyosui’s head. And then pulls him aside. “This is no time for greeting, you moron!”
“EHH?!” Kyosui pouts. “Why not?”
“Think about our situation! We’re the kidnappers-we’re supposed to strike fear into our hostage! In fact, we should start by tying the kid up!”
“Gozo-chan! I didn’t know you’re into bondage!”
Gozo smacks him again. “Be serious! We couldn’t let the kid take us lightly!”
“But Gozo-chan…” Kyosui positively whines, “Ken-chan is already introducing himself over there!”
“Huh?” Gozo turns around. And blinks.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Ashihara Ken.” Ken tells the kid, shaking his hand without trying to crush it. “You could call me Ken.”
The kid laughs. The kid actually laughs. “And I’m Philip.” The kid keeps on smiling. “I remember you! You’re the one with T2 Trigger Memory, aren’t you? Oh man, Terui Ryu totally hates you, just so you know.”
“Nice.” Ken says. “Would you like some tea?”
Gozo elbows him aside. “What are you doing?!” he stage-whispers. “The kid is an enemy! An enemy! Have you all forgotten that?!”
Ken raises an eyebrow. “There’s no guarantee he would be alive after Katsumi’s done with him. What’s wrong with making nice with people who would possibly be no longer alive at this time tomorrow?”
Gozo stares. Parts his lips. Shuts them. Blinks. Frowns. “…he’s no people.” Even to his own ears, it sounds weak.
“Just like we’re not?” Ken actually looks amused. What the hell.
Gozo scowls. “Whatever.”
Ken gives him this look, like he’s measuring him or something. Then one corner of his mouth lifts up, forming something that’s not a smirk, and yet not quite a smile. As he passes him, Ken squeezes his shoulder lightly. “He,” just like us, “looks like human. It should be enough reason, don’t you think?”
And off Ken goes, to where Kyosui’s probably flirting like crazy while making a fool of himself in front of the kid.
Urgh, Gozo thinks, fisting his hands, How irritating~ How would anyone reply to such a statement anyway? Ken, that bastard!
“…and Mr. Scowling over there,” comes Kyosui’s voice, “is Domoto Gozo. He likes to think he’s tough, but the truth is, he’s actually a real softie on the inside.”
A vein appears on Gozo’s forehead. Slowly-very slowly, he turns around, his Rod at the ready. “KI. YO. SU. I.”
“Ohh, scary!” Kyosui makes a mock-afraid face. And then promptly runs as Gozo’s Rod comes a flying, followed by Gozo himself-leaving nothing behind them but residual dusts and the echo of Kyosui’s laughter.
“How interesting.” Philip says. “Is it always this… noisy?”
“For better and worse.” Ken says. “Now, how about that tea?”
iii.
“So,” Kyosui says, smiling a shark’s smile, “What would you do, Gozo-chan? Do choose wisely. It’s your soul at stake, after all.”
Gozo swallows.
“It’s okay.” Philip tells him lightly. “Just take your time. I understand it’s not easy to make a decision.”
Ken raises an eyebrow.
“Just pick one already.” Kyosui whispers gleefully. “Time is a running~”
“Argh! Fine! I fold!” Gozo claims, slapping his cards on the table.
A pause, as each of them examines the other’s cards slowly.
Kyosui clears his throat. “After counting all the cards, I declare the winner is… Philip-chan!”
“Yay!” Philip says, and then takes Kyosui’s hands before they both start jumping up and down in excitement, like the kids they probably still are.
“Wait a minute!” Gozo shouts, hitting the table with both fists, “Don’t you think it’s weird how he wins by having Royal Straight Flush five times in a row? He’s clearly cheating!”
“What a sore loser.” Kyosui says disapprovingly, hugging the kid to his chest. “When you lose, you should take it gracefully, instead of accusing the winner for an unfair play.”
“A-a sore loser?!” Gozo exclaims in disbelief.
“Philip-chan, try not to be a sore loser like him when you grow up, okay?” Kyosui tells the kid.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll try!” The kid promises, nodding his head, looking like he totally means it.
Ken turns his head away.
Gozo glares at him. “You totally snorted just now, didn’t you, asshole?”
Ken merely gives Gozo his who, me? expression.
“See? Even Ken-chan agrees!” Kyosui claims triumphantly, one hand still around the kind’s shoulders.
A vein appears on Gozo’s forehead. “Don’t you guys think something is very wrong here?! We’re the kidnappers here! We’re not supposed to play cards with our prisoner-of all things! And you!” Gozo directs his glare the kid’s way, “can’t you at least try to behave more like a prisoner?! We kidnapped you! You’re not supposed to act like this is just a school trip! Show a little worry or something!”
The kid blinks. “There’s actually a manual on how to become a proper prisoner?”
Gozo glares harder at him.
“What a bad temper!” Kyosui says, hugging the kid again. “Philip-chan, definitely don’t turn up like him when you grow up, okay? Or you won’t be popular with the ladies!”
Ken still has his face turned away, but now there’s a slight tremor to the set of his shoulders.
“And you!” Gozo turns back his attention to Ken, “Stop laughing, dammit! Are you guys even listening to me here?!”
“We totally do.” Ken says blandly, like he hasn’t actually been laughing until a second ago.
“We just choose to ignore it.” Kyosui says cheerfully. “Besides, it’s just a game! What’s the harm in lending Philip-chan your Gaia Memory for a second? I mean, he won square and all.”
“That’s why I’ve been asking you: why are we betting Gaia Memories on a poker game? Why can’t we just use something else like normal people? Like money. Or clothes.”
Kyosui leers. “Aww~ Gozo-chan! If you want to see me naked, you could just say so~” and then he starts unfastening his jacket.
The glare Gozo sends Kyosui’s way could totally level a mountain. “Go die in a fire. Painfully.”
“I also don’t see the harm in you lending Philip your Memory.” Ken says. “It’s not like Philip has a Memory connector planted.”
“Um.” Philip says, drawing their attentions, “Actually, I could use a Gaia Memory without having a connector.” When they all stare at him, he adds, “some parts of my body are mostly constructions of data, remember? And Gaia Memories are… well. Data, but in a very advanced form.” He looks rather sheepish, strangely enough.
“…interesting.” Ken says.
Gozo turns to Kyosui with a near smirk. “See? That’s why we shouldn’t lend him our-”
“Philip-chan, catch!”
Philip does. When he opens his hand, Gozo could see a silver and a yellow colored Memories in his hand. “Ehh?!” the kid says excitedly.
“You’re welcome!” Kyosui salutes cheerfully.
“…Kyosui.” Gozo says, his temper barely in check, “when did you steal my Memory?”
“Well.” Kyosui says with an infuriating grin, “five minutes ago, I think? When I asked you to hurry up and decide already?”
Gozo smiles sweetly. And then activates his metal Rod. “Prepare to be chop off into bits, you sorry excuse for a team member.”
“Eep! Ken-chan, save me!” Kyosui hides behind Ken’s taller form.
Gozo glares at them both.
“Oh look! The kid’s glowing.” Ken says unexpectedly.
Gozo turns around automatically. It’s hard to ignore the voice of reason when the voice of reason is usually always right-even when said voice of reason acts like an emotionless bastard most of the time. And Ken’s right; the kid’s body is glowing. Eyes closed with his left hand holding the two Gaia Memories, and his right hand lifted up, palm up, there really seems to be something glowing about the kid. It looks, judging from the shadows and the course of the illumination, like it comes from the floor, from around the kid’s feet. And yet there’s nothing there.
Gozo continues staring.
“Think we should shake him off of it?” Kyosui asks worriedly.
“Let’s just wait.” Ken says. “We still don’t know much about him to judge what’s this…light thing is. Might just be an effect of the Gaia Memory.”
“I told you we shouldn’t lend him the Memories.” Gozo mutters irritably.
A few moments later, the light fades, and they all watch as the kid opens his eyes slowly. The kid blinks, looking a bit disoriented, seeming like he doesn’t know where he is. Then his eyes fall on the two T2 Memories in his left hand.
“As I thought,” the kid says, seemingly to himself, a frown on his forehead, “the Eternal Memory is really the only one with the capability to control other Memories.”
“Huh?” Gozo says. Then looks at his team members. Kyosui shakes his head. Ken shrugs, but he still presses a finger to his lips. Wait.
“Ah.” The kid gives out a surprise smile, looking like he finally comes to himself and notices their presences, “there you are. Thank you for these!” and then he sends the Memories flying towards them-which Gozo and Kyosui catch, of course.
“Ne, ne, Philip-chan? What was that just now?” Kyosui asks wonderingly. When the kid gives him a questioning look, he adds, “that light! You were, like, glowing or something. And you also really looked out of it.”
The kid laughs. “…glowing? I don’t know what you’re talking about. But just now, I was looking up some things in the Planetary Bookshelf.”
Ah. So that was what-oh crap. Gozo, Ken, and Kyosui exchange a look. Definitely *never* tell Katsumi about this. Ever.
“Ehh…! So that’s how you *always* look when you’re visiting that Planetary Bookshelf?” Kyosui grins excitedly. “The light surrounding you is so pretty, Philip-chan!”
“Really?” the kid looks mildly confused, Gozo notes. “Shoutarou never told me what it was like for the outsiders when I was in a look up mode…”
“Really! Really!” Kyosui nods, taking the kid’s hands in his. Then he turns toward Gozo. “Right, Gozo-chan?”
Gozo glares at him. “No, I wouldn’t know about that, since no male should know or use the word ‘pretty’!”
A pause.
“…what a bad character.” Kyosui mutters, hugging the kid. Again. “Definitely don’t grow up to be him, Philip-chan!”
Ken’s shoulders are already shaking. Again.
Gozo stares at them all hatefully. Sometimes, he wishes he could just drown his teammates in a lake. Scratch that. No, most of the time. No, make that always.
“…what are you doing?”
Gozo’s head turns toward the entrance so fast he nearly gets a whiplash. And then when his eyes fall on the figure standing by the doorway, he instantly-
“Katsumi-chan!”
Gozo blinks. It wasn’t him who just shouted out that name, right? Besides, why did it sound kinda… strangled? He turns toward Kyosui, and. Blinks. Right. Kyosui still has his arms around the kid, and Katsumi’s order has specified them not to-
Oh crap.
“What?” Katsumi says, a slight smirk on his lips. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Philip blinks. “You know,” he begins, "considering the requirement to be a member of NEVER is you’ve got to have been dead for at least once, that statement is actually rather accu-”
“AAH! Katsumi-chan, you look rather cheery!” Kyosui shouts, drowning out the rest of the kid’s words, “has something good been happening?”
Katsumi merely raises an eyebrow at Kyosui. “Sort of.” Then his eyes sweep over them once more, and linger on the kid-still being held in Kyosui’s arms. “Why, aren’t you getting along well together.” He smiles.
Gozo feels a shiver run down his spine. He tries to (discreetly) warn Kyosui to let go of the kid, but clearly this isn’t Kyosui’s lucky day.
“We are, aren’t we, Philip-chan?” Kyosui directs a big grin at the kid. And then looks at Katsumi challengingly.
Huh. Maybe Kyosui’s not as oblivious as Gozo believes him to be, after all.
Katsumi just-shrugs. “Fine, then. I thought I was just going to see how you’re doing.” Katsumi says, his half-smirk still in place. He’s enjoying their discomfort, that bastard. “Especially you.” He looks straight at Philip, “I didn’t hit you too hard, did I?”
Philip blinks, slowly. “Not…exactly.” The kid actually answers. Gozo’s heard the kid lacks common sense, but he never thought it’s actually true! “You hit me right in the solar plexus, and therefore managed to knock me out without damaging my body too much.” The kid frowns. “In fact, compared to when I fought you as Double, I could say you let me off lightly this time.”
That explanation sounds strangely… technical. Which Kyosui clearly notices, since he pulls away slightly and asks the kid, “But are you really okay? I mean, does your body still hurt somewhere? Do you feel some pain? Feel lightheaded, perhaps?”
Ken coughs.
The kid just blinks at Kyosui’s attention. “Not really. My body recovers fast, after all.”
Kyosui glares at Katsumi.
Katsumi looks at him coolly. “In case you forgot, I wasn’t the only one who fought him when he was Double. You all were there, too.”
“But I didn’t know the ones transformed into Double were actually that cute!” Kyosui exclaims, hugging the kid again.
“Ohmf.” The kid says.
A pause, as it turns suddenly awkward for some reason.
Ken coughs again.
Gozo just scowls.
“Ohmf.” The kid says again, muffled this time.
“Look,” Katsumi says, “I don’t care who, but could someone please pull Kyosui away from Philip? It doesn’t look like Philip could breathe.”
“AH! Philip-chan! I’m so soorrryyy!!! Philip-chan? Philip-chan! PHILIP-CHAN!!!”
Gozo watches the scene before him impassively. “Don’t you find it ironic,” he tells Ken, “that an innocent hug actually does more damage than a fatal hit to the stomach?”
Ken just coughs again.
iv.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” the kid says, “do you also think of your teammates as your makeshift family?”
Gozo chokes.
The all stare at Philip.
“What,” Ken says with apparent difficulty, while Kyosui giggling uncontrollably behind him, “makes you say that?”
Philip blinks. “What, you mean you don’t?”
“Look, don’t you see how Kats-“ Gozo coughs, “I mean, a certain someone here always try to kill the other members? So how could you even ask such a question even after seeing that?”
Katsumi looks at Gozo impassively. “…you’re totally about to mention my name just now, aren’t you?”
Kyosui giggles harder.
“You mean normal families don’t actually do that?” Philip asks, sounding a little surprise.
“Of course not!” Gozo scowls, totally not ignoring Katsumi.
“Well, it’s just that,” Philip says, “while Shoutarou and Aki-chan never tries to kill each other seriously, in my real family, my oldest sister always tries to kill my second sister on monthly basis. And then my oldest sister always ends up killing her male companions. While my father already tries to kill his wife and first daughter at least once.”
Silence, as they all stare at Philip.
“…just what kind of family did you come from?” Gozo says in disbelief.
Philip frowns at them. “I’ve always thought it’s pretty generic for a family member to try killing the other members, and Shoutarou and Aki-chan is just a special case.”
“No, seriously.” Gozo says. “Just what kind of childhood have you been living anyway?”
“Gozo has muscle for brain, but he’s right, Philip.” Katsumi says, taking Philip’s hands in his.
“Excuse me?” Gozo shouts in outrage.
“Real families do not *try* to kill each other.” Katsumi tells the kid, looking right into his eyes. “Real families *kill* each other instead.”
Silence.
Philip blinks.
“If you only *try*,” Katsumi continues, “then it means you don’t mean it.”
“…and just what kind of family did *he* come from?” Gozo asks, completely stunned.
Ken shrugs.
In the background, Kyosui keeps on laughing himself sick.
v.
“What,” Reika says, “is that thing doing here?”
A pause.
“Reika-chan!” Kyosui exclaims happily, “You’re back!”
Katsumi sends her an unimpressed look. “Did you forget our plan already? Especially the part about-“
“Which is why,” Reika says, gritting her teeth and glaring at the kid, “I ask: What. Is he doing. Here! Here, at the control room, and not the underground basement!”
Another pause. And then a jumble of noise, as Gozo and Kyosui jump to make excuses about their un-villain-y behaviors at the same time, complete with hand gestures (Kyosui) and Rod-swinging (Gozo), which only manages to irritate Reika further and-
“Actually,” Philip says, “Fuuto Tower doesn’t have an underground level.”
Yet another pause, as they all turn to look at Philip.
“Huh?” Gozo says.
Philip blinks. “Don’t you already know that? Fuuto Tower does have a basement parking lot, but it doesn’t have any underground level. There’s a room for maintenance tools in the second floor, water pipe control on the first floor, lights terminals on the third floor, and then CCTV cameras control room on the upper level, but they all could be monitored from this central control room-where all the systems running through Fuuto Tower overlap.” When they all keep staring at him, Philip adds, “It’s all in the Tower’s blueprint.”
He looks at them all expectantly, like he’s waiting for some kind of reaction. Or something (a praise).
Then Philip tilts his head to the side, in that confused gesture that’s alarmingly becoming quite familiar. “Surely you’ve seen the Tower’s blueprint? How else would you plan your attacks if you didn’t even know the terrains?”
Gozo puffs out his chest and knocks his fists together. “Who needs a plan when we could just-“
Katsumi shoves him aside. “Aren’t you a good boy.” Katsumi says to the kid, patting the kid’s head. “Now, tell me more about this blueprint of yours.”
Then, to the astonishment of the rest of NEVER, he gives Philip something close to-but not quite-a smile. Considering it’s Katsumi, he’s practically grinning.
Gozo blinks.
The scene doesn’t change: Katsumi’s hand is still on the kid’s head, while his lips still stretched into that near-smile thing; the fact Katsumi voluntarily touches another person without killing said person is quite a miracle in itself. Especially when the kid keeps beaming at him.
Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover it.
“Think Katsumi-chan’s finally gone soft?” Kyosui whispers right into Gozo’s ear. He sounds strangely happy.
Gozo sends him a warning glare. “DO NOT EVEN.”
“But Gozo-chan!” Kyosui whines, pulling at Gozo’s left arm, “Just look at them together! Maybe Katsumi-chan really does lo-“
BRUGH!
The next second, Kyosui is laying on his back on the floor, with his uniform jacket singed, face covered in burn marks, and the tip of Reika’s heel cutting off the air supply on his neck.
“Finish that sentence,” Reika snarls, her heel pressing down on Kyosui’s neck further, “and you’ll be the first to find out whether we would really come back when our heads are separated from our bodies.”
“Erk.” Is Kyosui’s only reply.
next part