In case you saw the fic updated and automatically chose the last chapter, you need to go back to chapter 38. I posted two chapters this time.
HEING MEH
Chapter 39
Uncle's words made everyone freeze and then, slowly, the mortals turned to look at the demons.
"There are no other demons. It must be one of them," Tohru said.
"Not me!" Bai Tsa snapped immediately.
"This is confusing indeed..." Tso Lan admitted and rubbed his chin.
"How can we ever find out?" Po Kong asked.
The mortals weren't doing any better. For a while they had thought that the fight was over and everything well again. Now it looked like they would have to start everything from a scratch.
"I can't believe this," Jackie said rubbing his temples. "This is like a nightmare!"
"Unexpected, at least," Uncle said.
"There has to be some sense in this! We have the legend of Heing Meh and what Chow learnt in Sha Fuju! This square didn't appear here for nothing!" Jade insisted. She was infuriated at how complicated everything had become.
"How can we find out who Heing Meh really is? Whose blood do we need?" Xu Lin asked and Jade sighed.
"What do we know about him?" she asked and pondered it for a moment. "He is the demon of Nothing, the reason magic has mostly disappeared, part of this world and can't be destroyed without taking the world too..."
"It can't be any of them, then," Viper pointed out and nodded at the arguing demons. "They can't have done anything about magic and they all have their elements."
"But there are no other demons!" Uncle snapped. It made Jade blink.
"True..." she muttered and a thought started forming in her head. It couldn't be... It was frightening to even her, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
"That's it! It is all over, the blood has already been spilled!" she exclaimed suddenly, making everyone's eyes turn on her.
"What are you saying, you stupid girl?" Shendu asked. Jade was so excited that didn't even bother snapping back. Instead she pointed farther away where the familiar statue stood.
"Origami was Heing Meh? Jade, that makes no sense," Jackie said and Jade cursed it how slow everyone else seemed to be.
"No, not him. At least directly. Don't you get it? Origami was a human and humans aren't demons. We don't control elements, but we can be just as cruel as real demons. So, in a way, we are demons of Nothing!" she exclaimed and hoped that someone would get her idea.
Surprisingly, it was neither Uncle nor Tso Lan, but Tohru. "And throughout history humans have done their best to root out magic and old religions. The modern world is so filled with technology that most of us have lost our ability to sense magic and see mythical creatures," the Japanese continued.
"Humans destroyed magic," Uncle said. Jade smiled now that everyone seemed to understand.
"And there are so many of us and our technology is so strong that in order to kill us all, the whole world would have to be destroyed!" she said. "Heing Meh is not an individual being. The name means the entire human race!"
"Unbelievable," Tso Lan breathed. The moon demon looked at Jade in a way that made the girl feel smug.
"So, now that Origami is dead... What's going to happen?" Black asked.
"I don't know," Jade had to admit. She hadn't thought of that.
"Chow said that some of the damage can be repaired when Heing Meh's blood colours the Square of Ze Zeng," Uncle said. The old man thought about it. "It has happened, but I feel nothing special. Perhaps..."
"Yes, that does make sense," Tso Lan admitted and the rest had to watch in confusion how Uncle and the moon demon understood it all before them.
"What?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah, what now?" Jade wanted to know.
"Nothing," Uncle said. The others would have gasped if they weren't already used to shocking surprises.
"Unless we do something about it," Tso Lan added. The demon almost sounded like an eager child.
"All of us aren't as smart as you," Bai Tsa said dryly. "It would be nice if you explained it!"
"Everything Chow said has come true. Without Origami's death we wouldn't have understood the truth about Heing Meh this fast. Now we have time to do something and start bringing magic back," Tso Lan said. The other demons didn't look very enthusiastic.
"Bring magic back? Doesn't sound like fun," Xiao Fung stated.
"Mortals don't deserve magic!" Shendu snorted. "And that reminds me, I still haven't had my revenge!"
Jade opened her mouth to warn Jackie, but thankfully the situation never got as far as the fire demon wanted. Before he even got close to the archaeologist, Dai Gui had stopped him.
"What are you doing? Defending a mortal?" Shendu asked in shock and turned to his siblings. "We don't need them anymore! We can kill them!"
"As lovely as that sounds, I think we should wait a little longer," Bai Tsa stated, but at the same time eyed Jackie in a way that made Jade nervous. If the demons even tried to hurt her uncle...
"If we want to bring back even some of the magic that used to flow in this world, we need to work together as a family. That means you too, Shendu. It would be stupid to kill the mortals who can help us," Tso Lan said. Shendu opened his mouth to object, but the moon demon continued, "No, I am not going to team up with them again. We won't be working together anymore and after this day we won't even see them again. However, they will be working for the same goal and right now we're not in a situation in which revenge is more important than that."
Uncle nodded. "It has been interesting to work with you, but it's obvious it can't go on. Since you're not going to kill us now, we can let you go without trying to banish you. But only this time. If we ever meet again, I trust everything will be like in the beginning," he said.
"Understandable and natural," was Tso Lan's reply. "This square will disappear once we leave. We will be taking our brother's body with us and take care of it. If you want to do something about the dead thief, there shouldn't be a problem."
"This has been quite an adventure," Black said a couple of minutes later when the demons and mortals had split into two groups.
"Yes, and I'm happy it ended so well," Jackie admitted. "Or as well as it could. I didn't lose anyone, but the dead meant a lot to others," he added.
"True, but things like that were to be expected this time," his friend stated. He turned around to take a look at the surroundings. "Where did Valmont go?"
"Perhaps you should let him be this time?" Jackie suggested.
"What? Don't be stupid. I've been hunting him all these years!" Black said.
"We let the demons go. Why not Valmont?" Viper asked.
The bald man only shook his head. "Sometimes I think he's worse than them..."
The rest of the day was quiet for the heroes. They brought Origami's body back with them and Black took it as his mission to find out if the thief had any relatives who might want to hold a funeral. Everyone else returned to Uncle's shop, though Viper would be going to her hotel soon enough.
"And life returns to normal, huh?" Jade asked. For the first time in her life she was not sorry to see the adventure end. This had been rough for everyone, but she had suffered the most. Dying and being revived would have been enough, but she had also had to witness that Hsi Wu was not the dear friend she had thought.
Jackie smiled tiredly. "As normal as our life can be." He was in his thoughts for a while. "Jade, I think you should travel to your parents for a while. It's been long since you last saw them."
"Yeah, maybe," Jade said. She had to admit that she missed her parents. She could take Xu Lin back home at the same time.
Valmont poured himself a drink, gulped it down and closed his eyes. His head ached, but he had no intention of going to sleep yet. He still had a few things to take care of.
He felt incredibly relieved. The demons were finally out of his life and he could try to go back to his normal routine. Though he'd have a long holiday before that -- perhaps he'd find out where Sharon was living and go and give her a heart attack -- and spend some time living like an ordinary person.
At the moment his bedroom felt like the safest place in the world and he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. The Brit lay on his bed, eyes closed and recalled the events in his mind. His body hurt everywhere and it would only be worse in the morning. Yet he could taste victory in his mouth and he might have laughed if he hadn't felt that exhausted.
Hak Foo had already contacted him and demanded angrily why he hadn't been included in the fight. News of strange events had spread fast to the entire country and the Chinese warrior was smart enough to guess what he had been left out of.
He should be glad he wasn't there, Valmont thought. His thoughts turned to his Enforcers who hadn't been there either. Loathing the task beforehand, he grabbed a phone and dialled Finn's cell phone number.
They had found a cheap hotel as far away from Isabelle's place as possible and decided to spend a few days there. Finn was still expecting Bai Tsa to come after him and he didn't want to inflict any greater danger on Isabelle.
Chow's condition had turned for better during the day, but their friend was still asleep. The Irishman thought it was good. He had always thought that Chow slept too little.
They hadn't really talked about their future. There had been a silent agreement about discussing it only after Chow was in full condition.
Would they go back to Valmont? It was the most natural option, but Finn didn't really like the idea. To the Brit they were only a way to get more money faster. He had never expected him to regard them as friends, but he was sick of the way they were being treated.
His cell phone started ringing and a quick glance at the screen told him who the caller was. For a moment he considered not taking the call, but eventually he did.
"Yeah?"
"What took you so long?" Valmont asked.
"We're a little busy," Finn replied. As if you'd understand.
"Well, I hope you already dealt with whatever problem you had and can return to work. Do you even realise how long a holiday you had?" Valmont asked.
Finn's jaw dropped. "Holiday? We've been imprisoned by demons, travelled to ancient Atlantis, one of us went to Sha Fuju and almost died and who knows what else! You call that a holiday?" he half asked, half shouted. His shouting made Ratso come into the room.
"I don't have the time to argue with you," Valmont remarked. "When are you coming back?"
"I don't know if we will. You've treated us like shit lately," Finn said.
"How about a raise? A really minor one, of course," Valmont suggested.
Is he trying to buy us? Finn thought. Dude, he must be really desperate if he's ready to pay more!
"And... the demons and all the magic stuff?" he asked, not answering the Brit's question.
"They've been dealt with and they won't be coming back," Valmont said, sounding tired. Finn dared to relax his shoulders. He had got rid of Bai Tsa! The thought filled him with relief he hadn't thought existed.
"Well, are you coming?" Valmont asked again.
"We'll think about it," Finn said and cut off the call before Valmont had the time to say anything else. It felt good to do what he wanted for a change.
"It was Valmont, right?" Ratso asked and Finn nodded.
"Everything's over and he wants us back to work," he said. "He even offered a raise!" he added.
Ratso chuckled. "Are we going?"
"I dunno. We need to ask Chow when he comes around. I'm not too happy about the idea, but let's see what he thinks."
Far away in China, in a place where there had stood a magnificent palace in the ancient times, flamed a funeral pyre. The fire flared to the sky and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The stench didn't disturb the figures standing around the pyre, and they stood in silence and motionless, watching how the fire ate their brother's body.
This was the place where they had been born. Long, long time ago when their family had been mighty and feared, their mother had given life to them here -- with the exception of one.
Hsi Wu had no childhood memories of the place and he hadn't been born there. It made him feel like an outcast and he stood a little away from the others where the heat of the fire didn't reach him.
Thoughts were swirling in his head. The events of the day were a mess and he didn't want to try to organize it yet. Everything was so difficult and he didn't know what to do. So he just stood and watched how Den Qian's body turned into ash. Perhaps time would give him his answers.
All the other demons were thinking different thoughts. They remembered what it had been like to grow up there and each was recalling some event important to them.
They also remembered that this was the place the adventure had begun.
It had started with the death of a feather-winged demon. Exactly the way it had ended, too.
The End
Now that this story is finally finished there are several things to say. I'll try to make this as short as possible. If there is something you want to ask, do so in a review, leave an e-mail address and I shall reply. I'm grateful to all those who reviewed, but if I thanked all of you separately we would never see the end of this.
Firstly, you all probably noticed that I left all of the hinted couples very undeveloped. I originally intended to make them all blossom into full romance, but eventually I had to admit that I couldn't do that. While writing the story I grew severely tired of Jade/Hsi Wu. I like the couple and enjoy reading it, but I don't think there is anything left for me to write about them. I'd like to at least attempt an original angle when I write something, but that couple has already been done to death. There is nothing I want to add.
The second reason for that couple (and every other one) is that I didn't have the time to develop it properly. Come on, they were demon/human couples. I can't just throw those characters together without solving their problems first. Each of those couples needs an entire fic dedicated to developing it. I decided it would be better to leave things undeveloped than to force the characters together when they are not ready for romance.
There is also one other thing that I grew completely sick of. Ni Tang. He became a burden because, to be honest, I stopped giving a damn about him. Who really cares about Ni Tang? It's Valmont we love and I really, really wanted to have him be his true self in the last chapter. I somehow managed it, but it felt rushed even to me.
Also, you all must have noticed that the sequence in which Xu Lin and Shendu live the dream was different from Xu Lin's visions. Her dreams were written when I fully believed that I'd be able to get the two romantically involved, so I had to twist it in the final chapter in order to avoid a huge load of WTF-ness.
If I could change one thing now, it's that stupid Sue!Sharon. I have no idea what I was thinking when I included her. Also, I felt really sad about killing Shin. I know he never had much screen time in the fic itself, but in my head he has a real background and I just adore his children. It hurts me to think that I killed their dad. :(
I am happy to see this story finished. It turned out to be much longer, more complicated and confusing than I originally wanted. I'm sure I made many continuation mistakes and my characterization wasn't as good as it should have been. Thankfully I learnt my lesson; my future stories will be shorter, easier to understand and better. I hope.
And lastly, there won't be any more stories about Ni Tang. I'm sick of writing in this AU.