Chapter 45 : And Here We Terminate

Koushirou

There were footsteps pounding loudly on the pavement outside, the sound startled me awake like icy hands. I rolled over in bed without opening my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. After all, people ran around in the dead of night all the time, it wasn't anything to worry about. I seriously doubted Aymichi would make his approach so obvious anyway if he was on his way to me right now. He'd succeeded in catching us all by surprise so many times, why should I expect any different now? But maybe that was a trick? I expected him to be unexpected, and therefore he would be unexpected by being obvious? Ugh, it was way too early for psychology.

The noise grew louder, the thumping of feet accompanied by a murmur of voices below; shouts and hushed whispers alike. There seemed to be a lot of people in a hurry to get somewhere. I yawned and opened my eyes, almost fully awakened now by the noise outside. What was all the ruckus about anyway? I blinked sleepily at my clock, willing my mind to not think of Mimi, who died here in my bedroom. Red neon letters said 4:09 am. It was still dark outside, a midnight blue sky dotted with stars. I listened to the group of people move further away from my apartment, going to wherever they were going to, and I was about to go back to sleep when about set of feet ran past my window. "What the hell is going on out there?" I muttered, a bit annoyed as I climbed out of bed to look out my barred window.

A blurb of brown flashed down below and I did a double take. Tai? I glared down at the dimly lit streets three stories down, wondering if I had just imagined it. More people ran by. They looked suspiciously like Tai's parents. What the freak? I rubbed my eyes like a dazed traveler and looked again. Yup, it was definitely Tai and his parents running down the street. The possibility of me seeing things seemed more plausible than that though,...Who were the people that passed by before them? And where was Kari? Something was wrong...

I crossed my room and went for the door; I was surprised to find my mom in her nightdress seemingly wandering the hall. "Mom?" She jumped slightly and turned to me, "Did you see all those people run by?" I nodded, completely confused. My dad appeared from their bedroom, he had put on a jacket over his night clothes. "What's going on?" I asked, "Where was everyone running to?" Did they know something that I didn't? Had someone called and filled them in? Wouldn't I have heard that if I had heard people run by the apartment? My brain was having a hard time shifting from sleep mode to fully-functional-awake-mode. The flood of questions was slowing it down.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out. Grab a jacket and let's go." My dad said, flipping the number of locks on the front door. Wow. This has to be big,...otherwise they'd probably have told me to stay home within these barred and chained walls while they investigated. Maybe they weren't thinking rationally, I don't know. But I was grateful for the freedom to go with them to get some answers. I snagged a denim jacket from the hall closet and set out the door after my parents.

What was happening? What had Aymichi done now? Who had he killed? The fear crept through my mind. What else could have happened to lead us all out into the night? It had to be that psychotic freak,...what had he done? Somewhere in my mind, a voice said that it'd be really funny it it turned out to be a simple gas leakage or something. But it was countered immediately by another that asked why the Kamiya family would be here as well, after all, they lived across town. And we'd have smelt that wouldn't we? Was there a power outage? Who the hell would notice at four in the morning? It had to be Aymichi. It was the only logical answer.

Briefly, I wondered how big a factor the murderer would be to a computer. Out of all the things that could possibly be happening, what percentage would a machine issue to the Reaper of the Digidestined? I would have to try it later,...providing I survived and remembered...who knew? Maybe I would die tonight. Maybe we really were headed towards the killer, and we would find him, still uncontained, and he would drive a bullet through me before they could do anything? There were too many chances, variables. Hell, any programmer'd have a field day with this crap. What are the chances of little, nerdy Koushirou dying tonight? Fifty percent? Seventy-five? Ninety?

My parents and I jogged through the crisp night, listening to the footsteps and indistinct shouts in the distance. Would our footsteps wake up others in their beds and make them wonder? Sometimes I wished I could read minds, not to uncover people's unpleasant secrets, but just to see how they thought, what they thought, and all that. It was interesting,...and besides, maybe then I could understand this all better...most of my friends were dead. There was a reason for that. But I didn't know it. And no amount of computing knowledge could give me the answer unless I could understand how Aymichi thought. What was it like in the mind of a madman? I'm sure the psychiatrists of the world would love to be telepathic.

I was just beginning to run short of breath when I saw a small crowd huddled around the entrance of a dreary, run-down looking building. I didn't recognize it even though it was only a few blocks from where I lived. It was one of those places that just seemed to blend in with the background; it didn't appeal to your eyes so you just subconsciously ignore it. Its walls of slate and grey melted into the dark night, making it seem most unreal. But I couldn't concentrate on the oddness of the building for long, other things caught my attention. Like the number of flashing police cars, police, and other officials there were among the group.

I shoved my way into the crowd, trying to get a better view of things; yellow tape had already appeared on scene, fencing off the entrance to the abandoned warehouse. I spotted the Keeper of Courage among the police, his back was to me. "Tai!" I called out to him while constantly trying to maintain my position at the head of the crowd. My parents huffed in from behind me, also trying to push their way in for some answers. "Taichi!" He turned to me finally, and to put it simply, his face scared the hell out of me.

I had never seen him so,...stricken. His face was white, I mean WHITE,...a clown's makeup could make him no whiter. His eyes looked bloodshot and sleepless, and incredibly red. I could see his parents behind him, both crying. What was going on? What had happened? My brain screamed that Hikari was gone,...she was the only one missing from their family,...her presence strangely absent,...not there...she's dead...that must be it...What else could effect Tai like this? He looked as if,...he...god, there wasn't a simile that would work for this. There just wasn't. Courage looked ready to break down into pieces.

"Tai...? W-What happened?" I ducked under the yellow tape and made my way to my friend, afraid of the answer that had already predicted. He'd lost his little sister,...just like Yama had lost his little brother. Aymichi had gotten to her hadn't he? But my mind would not let any single answer stay and seem logical on its own. If Kari was dead,...why were they here? Surely her death had not been inside this warehouse? What would she have been doing here in the first place? And at four in the morning? It just didn't make sense. But there was an answer somewhere,..."Tai? Please, Tai, talk to me! What happened!?"

He shook his head, trembling. It was shocking to see the person I had once followed as a leader look like this...it was just...I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him, it was disturbing to see him like this...unnerving...if he couldn't take this news? How bad must it be? Several more policemen ducked under the tape and went into the building. I glanced uncertainly at the door, unsure if I wanted to know what lay beyond it. Torn between dying curiosity and fear of the truth. I looked again at Tai. He reminded me of Sora,...in her room, before we brought her outside and caused her death,...

Where was Aymichi? It was obvious now that he had done some harm,...but had he escaped again? Had they captured him at long last? There certainly were more police here than there had been at the other scenes...what made this case so much more special? Why were there more of them? "Tai...did someone else get killed? Just nod yes or no for me?" My voice was a whisper, cracking a little. How many had we lost already? How many more were we to loose? Was there any guarantee for tomorrow? Of course not,...Taichi nodded his head, confirming a dead...It had to be Kari...but...why were we here then? When they lived so far away? Was someone else dead...? Shit.

Realization came in slow and I turned towards the warehouse door. The hall beyond the door was dark, but there was light coming from somewhere within...I choked on my breath and bolted inside, dodging past the too-late protest of the officer that had been guarding it. It couldn't be,...it couldn't be,...it couldn't be,...could it...? The length of the hall was longer than I expected, and only added more to the insane suspense that was thudding in my chest. My feet scrapped against the dusty, bare cement flooring of the building as I ran through, finally bursting into the room. Police were everywhere, yellow-taping certain areas. Several masked people were dusting around corners and taking pictures of two bodies, side by side, one leaning against the wall, one laying on the ground. They looked the same at first, but a double take distinguished them from one another. Two bodies. I recognized them both. Two bodies.

One had brown hair. The other was blonde.

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© Kiriska