Lady of the Castle

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Once they left that village, the duo walked through the depths of the forest a little more freely. Looking for a safe spot, Buddymon (V-mon) and Lightnimon (Daisuke) stopped and set a camping tent there. Where did they get those things…? The power of the digivice and deepest desires, after all!

“... Why did you call me that?” V-mon asked, removing the hood from his head, “Why would you give me another name?”

Daisuke also removed the helmet, but didn’t look at V-mon. His eyes were glancing at that mask in his hands. If he were sane, he wouldn’t ever do something like this… But he was under a spell. V-mon knew it by how Daisuke’s eyes looked cold and lifeless -- Like Ken's eyes as the Kaiser. However, it didn’t feel like Daisuke was turning into a menace to the Digital World and the digimon… Which means V-mon wasn’t totally afraid of doing certain favors at the moment.

“Dai-- I mean, Lightnimon?”

Daisuke looked at him and frowned, “S-sorry, I had to think about something that couldn’t make anyone use you against me.”

“Huh?”

“Y’know everyone knows I have a V-mon as a partner, and we never saw another V-mon for ages… I’m not sayin’ you’re the last of your kind, I’m saying… I don’t want either of us to be discovered.”

“So that’s why you called me ‘Buddymon’ in front of those villagers?” V-mon tilted his head.

“Yeah… Like, wouldn’t it be too risky for you and Lightnimon to be together? So I said that. You get your own secret identity, we get saved from getting discovered.”

“Hmm… Yeah, if I was around Lightnimon they would notice you’re actually Daisuke…”

“And with this you get your answer.”

“But why ‘Buddymon’…?”

“Cuz you’re my bud, or do you think it’s a bad idea to call you that?”

“N-no, I… It’s not a complaint, It was like if you were back to normal for an instant…”

“Hah? ‘Normal’....?” Daisuke squinted his eyes.

“N-nevermind…!!” then V-mon whispered to himself -- Maybe not anymore…

“Anyway,” Daisuke shrugged, “We gotta get food for us, so switch back to Buddymon.”

“Right” V-mon nodded and put the hood on, “Wait you don’t plan to make me go all alone, right?”

“Nope! I’m going too,” and he got up from the ground, “It’s too dark outside so they might not see my face…”

“Wait, you’re going outside without the helmet!?”

Daisuke looked at him deadpanned, “... I can’t see very well with the helmet in the dark.”

“Then why is the purpose of using it!?” V-mon babbled, not understanding the logic of Daisuke’s words.

“I can use a bandit mask instead,” he mused, and then he used the digivice to create one and put it on, “Done!”

“That wouldn’t solve the problem if you get in a battle!! 💦”

“I don’t need to worry because you will protect me, right?” and he smiled, but V-mon felt that was different from his usual… That was not like the real Daisuke at all.

“Y-yeah, I will…!!” V-mon nodded, and they went off the tent looking for food.

V-mon wasn’t fond of the idea of hiding from everyone, and he didn’t like how Daisuke was doing. But he had no other option, he didn’t know how to snap Daisuke out of that brainwashing spell… All he had to do was to follow the script and pray that nothing would go south, no matter how tricky and dangerous it is. 

But deep down… He wanted to bring his stupid and enthusiastic human partner back.

“Is it Lightnimon right now…?” he asked the other, “So uhh, have you contacted Mimi to know how the others are doing?”

“Hmm… Not yet,” Lightni replied, shaking using the Lighdra-Glaive to reach the fruits in the trees, “We got no good news for her and Gummymon yet.”

“Are you worried about the others?” Buddymon catched the fruits and put them in a basket, “I mean… They… Are we all allies, right…?”

“You talk too much, and yet it’s always me who messes things up…!” Lightnimon pouted, he concealed the glaive and got down the tree, “They will be fine, They have each other. And I doubt they would agree with what we’re doing here.”

“So… Are we not?” Buddymon frowned, but only his eyes were visible.

“We’re… I can’t say enemies but their rivals. Besides, I work alone. You are the only exception here,” Judging by Lightni’s face… He wasn’t happy with those questions or even with his own answers. He had a pout, and when he lifted the basket, Buddymon could see his eyebrows frowning.

“Well,” Lightni said, looking at Buddymon, “Let’s go back and have a feast. We got fruits, herbs and fish,” he checked inside the basket, “Good for tonight’s dinner.”

“...”

“What is it now?” He stared at Buddymon. Somehow those lifeless eyes felt more like threatening “Don’t tell me this is sooooo important to you.”

“N-nothing, it’s nothing…!!” Buddymon babbled, shaking his hands.

They returned to the “camping site” they made. Being alone like this was making the poor digimon concerned about the future…

They cooked the food, ate and then went to sleep. But V-mon couldn’t sleep, he kept thinking if he didn’t do anything… Maybe he and the others would lose the real Daisuke. He put the hood on and went outside the tent. He looked up to the starry sky and the moon.

“How… How can I save him from himself?”

He muttered to the stars.

“It’s like if he had turned into another person, I don’t like this. I want the real goofy and idiot Daisuke back…!!”

He frowned, and then whispered to himself, “I understand how Wormmon felt now…”

“You’re awake?”

His heart skipped a heartbeat, Daisuke wasn’t asleep either.

“H-how long were you--”

“Just now,” the boy sighed, “I know what I’m doing is wrong but… We had no options left. I don’t want them to be hurt because of me.”

“Do you think you’re not hurting them now by doing this? Pretending to be…”

“I’m not dead, I’m just missing. It’s like playing hide and seek” he shrugged, “We have to find a way to not let Frostmon tell them that I’m dead or something like.”

“...”

“You… You don’t think I’m… gone, right?”

That was an odd question, it made V-mon gasp silently. Did he hear me?! -- V-mon thought.

“No, I don’t…! I didn’t mean it…!!”

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” he gave the digimon a pat on the head, his hand wasn’t cold at all…. “But I need to do this… I need to do everything differently from the usual ‘me’ for a while.”

So you really aren’t the same… --- V-mon frowned. The weird question and how Daisuke was acting kept worrying him… Until then…

“I’m not totally gone. I’m not going to turn into what Ken used to be.”

“...??”

“I’m super duper aware. But sometimes you have to do things differently, at least once. I don’t want to keep doing anything like this forever, but I have no choice. Something bothers me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno, instinct? Or maybe fear… But we… Have to face it or else we can't say we’re living life to the fullest, right?”

“You’re scared?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

So… He’s doing it because he was afraid of having the enemies using the others to hit him indirectly again… -- V-mon thought. This made sense and could explain why the heck Daisuke was acting so weirdly to the point that V-mon was afraid of losing his partner forever.

“... Alright” the digimon nodded, “I’ll help you make this plan work. But until we get back to the others.”