Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Entrapped (my version with permission) ❯ One-Shot

I don't own Digimon. Toei Does. I don't own the original idea for this fic. The Empress of the Eclipse does. And I am eternally grateful to her for letting me write and post this. Please go and read the original fic by her as well.

This fic does stand-alone but it also constitutes a prequel to "Remembering to Burn". A fact which won't come as a surprise to those of you who have read that story and seen how often I plugged the Empress of the Eclipse's version. Just in case it's escaped anyone's attention I reiterate that I DO have permission to post this.

---------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------

Entrapped

By Firebird (with thanks to the Empress of the Eclipse who wrote the original which you should go and read.)

Daisuke knew that his teachers thought he was useless. He didn't know why he found it virtually impossible to understand when they explained the lessons but he was certain that he wasn't stupid. After all he'd been reading since before he could talk. The written word was no problem. It never had been. He loved words. They didn't even have to be Japanese words. When he was six years old he'd scared the wits out of Jun by reading the English textbook of her first boyfriend out loud… perfectly. This was creepy not only because the book was written in romanji but because even now he didn't understand a word of English.

The spoken word was no longer the mystery at had been when he was a toddler. Back then he had nearly been put in an institution because the doctors thought he was autistic but it still caused him problems in both comprehension and expression. Especially when it came to complex ideas.

Today's Chemistry lesson was a case in point. Nakata-sensei's explanation of Oxidation and Reduction had sounded like gibberish to him. She'd been quite patient but everyone else had seemed to have no trouble understanding it and in the end she'd told him to read up on it. She'd even given him a book reference. Unfortunately the school library didn't have a copy. Which was why he was on his way to Tamachi library instead of joining the rest of the team immediately. They had to write up a project. He was determined to turn in the best piece of work his teachers had ever seen. That would prove he wasn't stupid. He'd promised the others that he'd join them, either in the computer lab or Digital World if they'd gone there, after he'd collected the book so he wanted to get in and out as soon as possible.

He went up to the desk and the assistant smiled at him. She knew him quite well from his multiple visits. "Konnichiwa, Motomiya-san." She said. "How can I be of service?"

"I need to find this book." He showed her the piece of paper Nakata-sensei had given him. She looked at it and nodded.

"The Chemistry textbooks are on the seventh floor. The desk clerk there will be able to tell you where exactly."

"Arigato." He said aloud before muttering. "Oh, great! Seven flights of stairs."

"We have a lift." She told him. "It's just over there." She pointed to the silver doors.

"L-lift," Daisuke said. "I should have thought of that." From the strange look she gave him she must have heard the slight tremble in his voice so he gave another smile. "Arigato." He said again and headed resolutely towards the doors.

This was not going to be fun. Jun was the only person who knew he was claustrophobic though he thought his parents suspected. He hadn't always been. It had started about three years ago and he had no idea why. Not that it mattered really but the few times that he'd been a lift since had been his definition of hell and here he was about to inflict it on himself voluntarily. {I can do this.} He thought. {I don't have time to climb all those stairs. I can do this. I must be able to do this. The Digital World hasn't given me the Digimental of Courage because I'm a coward. I can do this.} He pressed the button and tried to stop himself hyperventilating while waiting for the lift to arrive. {I'm not a coward and I'm not stupid and I'll prove it! I can do this.}

The door slid open and Daisuke blinked. Ken Ichijouji was standing in the lift. An odd expression crossed the blue haired boy's face as their eyes met unintentionally. He looked just as surprised to see Daisuke standing there but just for a second there was something else. Something Daisuke couldn't identify.

He felt frozen in place and not just by his fear of the lift. Once again he felt as if knew Ken from somewhere. Felt that they should be friends. He'd felt it the first time that he saw Ken on TV and even more strongly at the football match. Of course this feeling was quickly replaced by a very different one. {Oh great, not only do I have to get into a lift but the Digimon Kaiser is in it? Which god did I offend?} His stomach felt like the bottom had dropped out of it at the mere thought and not just through fear. When he'd got home after the Deltamon incident, after discovering that Ken was the Kaiser he'd totally trashed his room while howling with frustration. He'd been so angry that someone he'd admired, someone he felt destined to be friends with should turn out to be his worst enemy. {Yep.} He thought. {I've definitely offended someone.}

"Are you planning on standing there all day or are you coming in?" Ken asked icily. The question shattered Daisuke's train of thought. "Some of actually have things to do." His lips curled. "Of course you probably want the Children's section. It's over there."

For just a moment a cold fury overwhelmed even Daisuke's phobia. Ken might share the world's misapprehension that he was stupid but he was damned if was going to look like a coward. He stalked into the lift and leaned against the opposite wall from where Ken was standing. He folded his arms and tried to look nonchalant but was pretty certain that it didn't work. "Floor seven." He said. It was meant to sound chilly but came out stressed. All the same he was rewarded by a startled glance from Ken. When the other boy didn't press a button he realised that that was where Ken was going as well.

He swallowed as the doors shut and began to sweat. The burst of anger had passed and his phobia was reasserting itself. Managing his borderline terror wasn't made any easier by Ken's presence beside him. He could feel the other boy watching him. It made him nervous so he resolutely looked anywhere but at Ken. He settled for watching the numbers light up as each floor went past.

The fifth floor light had just come on when everything started shaking and the lift stopped. A second later it dropped suddenly for what he later guessed was half a floor. At the time it seemed like forever.

"Kami-sama!" Daisuke heard himself yelling. Then it stopped. He looked up. The lift's main lights had gone out and the emergency lights were on.

"Shit!" He heard Ken hiss.

"What happened?" He asked aware that he was squeaking. Ken gave him an odd look.

"A minor earth tremor I think. The power seems to be out but since we're still alive I'd guess it wasn't a big quake."

"So how do we get out?" Daisuke asked as Ken stalked over to the phone.

"We tell them we're in here and they get us out eventually. I really do not need this!" He pressed the button and spoke quietly into it. The only bit he heard was when Ken said no one was injured. "We're going to have to wait a while. Somebody is concussed in the other lift so they're rescuing them first."

"They aren't coming?"

"They are just not right away."

"They aren't coming." Daisuke leapt to his feet and began hammering on the lift door. "Let me out!"

"Stop that! You stupid boy. It won't help!" Ken grabbed him from behind. Daisuke didn't even think he just lashed out at his attacker seeking anything to distract him from the fact he was trapped. Of course Ken's superior Judo skills meant it was a very short distraction. There was a blur and the next thing he knew he was sitting in the corner of the lift.

Ken watched Daisuke carefully in case the boy attacked him again. Only once he was sure the boy wasn't going to move did he give into his thoughts. This was ridiculous. The Digimon Kaiser should not get stuck in lifts with Digidestined brats. Having said that he guessed that he should be glad it wasn't the inane witch with the purple hair. What was her name? Oh, yes, Miyako. He was definitely glad it wasn't her. If he had to be stuck in a lift with one of the Digidestined he supposed Daisuke Motomiya was the one he'd pick. The red haired boy intrigued him. The minute he'd seen him he'd known… what had he known exactly? He wasn't sure. That the boy would hinder his plans, certainly. That he was worthy of his attention when the other children were just annoyances, definitely. But there was something else. Something he couldn't put his finger on. Why did he feel like he knew the boy when he'd never laid eyes on him before he came to the Digital World. Ken dismissed the thought and concentrated on more rewarding memories like making Daisuke grovel on his knees. Maybe he could get him to do that again. A whimpering noise from Daisuke's direction made him look up and he realised that he probably wouldn't have to do anything to get the boy to grovel by the looks of things. He was curled up in the corner shaking and weeping. {Is he that scared of me?} Ken thought in amusement. "What is wrong with you?" He let his contempt drip from his tone.

"Get me out of here." Daisuke's voice was little more than a pitiful whisper. "Please. Get me out of here." He crawled towards Ken who was completely confused. "I'll do anything! I'll… I'll be your slave! I'll help you capture my friends and their Digimon. I'll do anything you want. I really will. Just get me out of here." He was all but howling now. "Please, Ken, Please!"

Ken looked at him for a moment the slapped him. "Stop it! I can't get you out." He paused. "And my worthy adversary is not supposed to have bouts of hysterics."

Daisuke stared at him blankly. He was still crying but the immediate hysteria seemed to have passed momentarily.

"What's the matter with you?" Ken's voice softened slightly. They might be enemies in the Digital World but this was the Real World and it would take some sort of monster to be so interested in a game that they didn't care if they saw a rival so obviously suffering. At that moment Ken didn't realise that most of the time he was that sort of monster. He didn't even notice how different he felt. All his attention was focussed on the petrified child in front of him.

"I…I'm claustrophobic." Daisuke croaked. "Please, get me out."

{Claustrophobia? Of course, genius, that should have been obvious.} Ken thought to himself even as he wondered why he felt that he was to blame for Daisuke's condition. He hadn't caused the earth tremor that had stopped the lift and he certainly wasn't responsible for the boy's phobia. So why did he feel like he was? {This is stupid.} "Don't start again, please." Ken knelt down beside the other boy. "I don't want to have to slap you again. They'll be here to rescue us soon."

It appeared that soon was not soon enough for Daisuke in his current state because he began to sob harder. "Please! It's killing me! I have to get out."

Ken's stomach wrenched with pity. He'd never imagined he'd see his enemy so scared. "Come here." He said gently as he pulled Daisuke towards him. The boy was shaking violently but offered no resistance at all. "I can't get us out but I'll try to help. Put your head in my lap and close your eyes." Daisuke obeyed and Ken stroked his hair. "Just relax. You aren't closed in."

Daisuke kept his eyes closed but he was still weeping. His tears were soaking Ken's trousers. "I'm trapped…"

"No." Ken said in a soothing tone. "You aren't trapped. You're safe. We're…" He searched for inspiration. His first thought was to describe his base but he wasn't sure Daisuke would stand for that. Instead he decided to describe a place he dreamt about on the rare occasions he had pleasant dreams. "We're in the Digital World." Ken quickly covered Daisuke's eyes with his hand when the boy tried to open them. "We're in the Digital World. It's an Oasis at the edge of the Server Desert. The trees are beautiful and green, and you can hear the spring tinkling down the rocks until it forms a pool. The sky above is blue, cloudless and goes on forever. Wormmon and Veemon are playing in the pool." Ken paused in surprise. He'd never noticed that Veemon was in his dream until that moment. There was another little digimon playing with them as well.

"Is anyone else there?" Daisuke asked. He still sounded scared but there was an odd tone to his voice as well.

"There's another little digimon, it looks a bit like Veemon but isn't, and his partner -- another boy. He's older than us and looks a lot like you but it isn't the Kamiya boy. His name's… I'm afraid I don't remember his name."

"I can't remember it either." Daisuke said quietly. Now there was just that odd tone and no real fear in his voice. His tears had stopped and he was just lying there with his eyes closed. "Are we really safe?"

"Safe and happy. It's a lovely place to stop isn't it." Ken kept stroking Daisuke's hair. "You'll always be safe as long as you're with me."

"Promise." Daisuke sounded so trusting that Ken blinked momentarily before smiling.

"Of course I promise." Ken replied. He felt strangely content in this moment. He had the sudden sense that if he could get Daisuke on his side they'd be an unstoppable team but he doubted it was possible. All thought of the possibility fled his mind when he heard banging and scraping at the top of the doors. He froze for a second then pushed the other boy away as the pain that seemed to plague his neck suddenly came back. He hadn't even noticed it had abated. He scrambled to his feet and straightened his clothes.

Daisuke whimpered as he had to get used to being in an enclosed space again. Fortunately within moments the doors opened slowly to reveal a group of people staring at them from the top of the door where there was a gap. Daisuke threw himself up the wall and through the gap before anyone could even move to help.

"Are you alright?" The engineer asked.

"Claustrophobic!" He replied. "I am never going one of those things again." He looked around for Ken but the boy had already gone and no one seemed to have realised that they'd rescued a famous boy genius.

Ken was furious with himself as he made his way home. What the hell had happened back there? He could very likely have used that situation to reduce Daisuke to such a wreck he'd be of no use to the Digidestined and no threat to his plans. Instead he'd comforted the child. What was wrong with him today? When he unlocked the door to the flat in his parents were out. Good, all the more time to get ready to leave. It was time to quit this world of insects not worthy of his attention and focus on conquering the Digital World.

And once he'd done it he'd make Daisuke pay… and if the boy ever mentioned this…. He'd find out that there were much smaller and less pleasant places to be trapped than a lift.

---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

Thanks again to the Empress of the Eclipse for letting me write this. (go read her original --its on FF.net)

R&R