Chapter Eight: Fin de Vie
Joker Mood
Disclaimer: None of the Klonoa characters belong to me, they belong to Klonoa Works/Namco.
Kero Guardian: …..I should give you hug! (Hugs Joka.)
Joka: Yeek!
Garlen: I wish I had a bigger part…
Chapter Eight: Fin de Vie
Joka shuttered violently, his face against the hard, rocky grounds of Volk City. He pushed himself upwards, and coughed strongly, hands stained with his own blood, "Indeed?"
BGM: Elfen Lied - Lillium (opening)
He raised his face slowly upwards and laughed ineffectively. "I cannot have been defeated…cannot have lost, cannot have given up…" His thoughts recalled his waiting superior, and he coughed more fiercely.
His blood ran from his cuts, the bruises ached from the explosions, and the bullet wounds burned into his body. "And cannot have failed…" There was not enough strength left within him to teleport back to the rocket, and that meant not being able to see his sweetheart anymore. 'What will Janga-chan do with her...? I would have liked to have given her the music box...'
"Well, I have some questions for you!" Pango reached out for a first aid kit, to stop the bleeding which flowed freely from the fiend's body.
Guntz leered proudly, "We've finally shaken the truth out of you, correct?"
Joka quietly chuckled to himself, for he knew even though he had lost the battle, nightmare would still take effect if Garlen and Janga succeeded after his death. His eyes met with the medical kit, and he grinned again. "This is quite correct…certainly you who have won, deserve to know the truth…therefore, I will only tell one secret…" He sat up gesturing them to move closer for his voice was fading, "We plan on reviving the Legend of Nahato…"
'Legend of Nahato…?' Klonoa repeated the name again and again, for it seemed so familiar to him, yet he just couldn't determine where he knew it from. "! Ghadius the Dark Spirit-"
But before Klonoa could question him, Joka had already stood up and was now glowing brilliantly. Pango was the first to recognize the light, seeing that it greatly resembled the shine of an explosive, "Look out, everyone! Leave him, immediately!" He grabbed the two confused companions and drew them farther away.
"Wait, Joka! That will not do!" Klonoa blurted, throwing a gaze to the first aid kit then back at the clown.
The Servant of Chaos grinned, raising his hands towards the heavens, "Goodbye, everyone! I was very happy." He had no intention of allowing them to heal his wounds, he would die here, even if it meant committing suicide. For a world full of nightmares would surely come, and he did not wish to be one who experienced the bad dreams. "I am satisfied…because I am not interested in the result…" His mind flashed back to Lolo, and he shut his eyes in sorrow.
"What world is this…without my sweetheart…? It must be happy to pile up the block. Take care not be led by the nose by the block piled up at most." A tear ran down the side of his face and with one last grin, he let loose a loud…
"POP!"
Guntz and Klonoa ran to the remains of the clown as soon as Pango released them. Out of the rounded form came party strings and confetti. "Was it just a bluff?" The wolf asked, poking the deflated Joka with a gun. "And yet he truly is dead…finally."
Pango stepped up beside the duo and sighed, "He said insolent things even to the very end…" His consciousness pondered over the things Joka had said, everything at some points sounded completely ludicrous to him. 'And yet…something is definitely at a miss here…' But the armadillo figured no matter how hard he could work to understand the fiend, it would be all too pointless. Yet, it seemed that there was something more to Joka than a bumbling fool that served under the duty of chaos….
And so, one day after Lolo was taken away, the three heroes borrowed a rocket from Volk and headed to the moon. For their adventure was far from over…
Epilogue
"Thank you, High Priestess of Sadness…" Lolo bowed apologetically, "I am sorry for worrying you, I was not strong enough to stop myself from being captured by the Moth Conspiracy…"
"It is all right, Lolo…" The older woman smiled forgivingly, "After all, everything is well now. It is thanks to everyone's dreams that the Legend of Nahato was stopped." She closed the heavy eyelids and sighed, resting her head backwards into the seat. "However, I cannot understand why those three would ever want for something so terrible to be done to others…a world of nightmares." Her smile was replaced with a disagreeable frown, reopening her eyes to gaze at the still bowing child through thick eyelashes.
"They were nothing but power hungry, greedy, trouble-making jerks!" Popka startled the young priestess by his sudden exclamation. And she lowered her head further, hiding her eyes under amber bangs. "I mean, Garlen only wanted to take over the world, right! And those other two were just crazy! And they hurt Lolo!" His paw gently patted his friend in hopes of cheering her up, unknowing that his words only sliced further through her heart.
"Hmm…" A loud bursting sound of party ornaments, followed by the joyous cries of citizens interrupted the conversation and the High Priestess smiled once more, "Lolo…it sounds as though everyone is celebrating the Dream Traveler's achievement of becoming a hero. His medal is now gold, is it not?" She shifted her staff, gesturing towards the door, "You should go and join in the recognition, as well."
Lolo straightened herself, and looked indignantly at the teacher, but the action went unnoticed by the two, as it remained under her bangs. "I…am not feeling well. Please excuse me, High Priestess of Sadness…" Bowing again, she turned and left the room without another word, leaving both in bewilderment.
"Lolo…?" Popka wondered silently, "Could it be the effects of the sleeping illness…?"
-Outside of Volk City-
"I wasn't injured in the slightest…" Leaning within an abandoned alley, Lolo murmured untold secrets. "Is this the result of your dreams, Joka…? Are you now satisfied, wherever you are…for now no one could possibly understand you." Her eyes were still shaded under the amber hair, but two streaks of tears were clearly visible.
She felt alone, in the warm climate of Volk, yet did not wish to join in the clamorous victory bash. And so she simply slid down into a sitting position and shed her sadness. "I am not well…but I will recover…I must recover…I must…" Her hands wiped in an attempt to stop the crying. "I must…for the sake of my friends…"
"Are you alright, Miss Lolo?" If her weeping had not been controlled, Lolo would not have heard the soft and concerned voice of a father's. She glanced up to see Pango frowning with apprehension, his arms behind his back. "You are missed at the party." It came to no surprise to her that he was there, after all Volk was his home.
"I'm sorry…I will join them in a bit." She placed her hands on her knees which was raised near her chest, ignoring the uncomfortable position she sat.
They admired the silence shared between them, before Lolo began to ponder why the armadillo still stayed, "Mr. Pango…"
She stopped when an object was brought closely to her face, it blurred for a few moments until her eyes adjusted to its close proximity, "This…this music box…?" She looked up to the still frowning man, eyes wide in question. "How did you know…"
To be honest, Pango had no idea what to do with it when he found it lying near the broken body of the clown, but for some odd reason he felt compelled to deliver it to the girl in front of him. "I'm not sure, myself, but I just felt as though you should be its new owner…its former owner…kept it in top condition…"
"Thank you." Lolo did not argue, and she pulled it into her lap. Opening the box and allowing the small area to be filled with its tragic melody, but the music calmed her heart. "I will be with the others in a minute."
Both ended up feeling renewed: Pango let his mind relax, as Lolo accepted a delicate joy in her heart. "….thank you Joka, for being a dear friend…it was the paths we took that separated us. Thus I bid you farewell…" And with those words, both parted ways.
At another side of Lunatea, the King of Sorrow, raised his blood-red eyes, "For you have learned, if you never forget the sorrow of the moment, you will never forget your friend..."
Fin
Kero Guardian: (Sighs.) Sniff…sniff…
Chipple: Here? (Hands her a box of tissue paper.) You okay?
Kero Guardian: Waahh! The tragic and weird story of Joka's life from an alternative perspective such as mine, really has bummed me out!
Pango: Of course we can't be too sure he actually died in the end of Klonoa Heroes…(Sweat drop.)
Joka: Hey I come back in Namco x Capcom!
Janga: So do I!
Garlen: Does that make me the only one who died?
Kero Guardian: Um...DON'T KILL ME JOKA FANS!