Oh, man. I got better reactions out of last chapter of this fic than I did out of chapter eleven of More Than A Legend. XD I had you guys stumped, huh?

Anyway. Stuff is explained in this chapter, so you guys won't be left hanging anymore…for now. Spot a reference to Demyx Time and you win a cookie.

Quick shout-out to two of my reviewers, one of which is going to closing night tonight of his/her performance and the other of which is going to Japan tomorrow! Good luck to both of you!

Chasing The Truth

By FlikFreak

Chapter Twenty: Explanations


Sora gawked, not sure whether to look more at Neku or at his look-alike. Axel was the only one who didn't seem all that surprised, but his eyes did widen. Neku was the first to speak. "Why am I looking at myself?" He said in near deadpan.

"This isn't possible," Riku exclaimed. "There can't be two Nekus!"

"And Neku was never a heartless," Sora added. "Who…who are you?"

The boy looked away. "My name is Xenuk. I'm a mammet created by Zarxilt."

"A mammet?" Shiki echoed.

"It's a fancy way of saying 'puppet'," Xenuk replied, his face twisting in disgust. "I was supposed to be replica of Neku so that the Zoners could carry out their plan without having to track him down. They sent Xsoh to gauge Neku's power in the Reaper's Game by using Minamimoto's heartless."

"So why didn't they use you?" Riku asked. "Why'd they go after Neku instead?"

"I don't have a real heart," Xenuk explained, "So I'm technically a nobody. A heart is what holds real power, and since mine isn't the real thing, I don't have the same strength as Neku. What we do share is a downright hatred of being used. Even if they could use me, I'd probably revolt like Neku would have."

"And you did," Axel said. "What're you going to do now?"

Xenuk shrugged. "Not much I can do. I'm still the Traitor. What I'm worried about is you, Neku."

Neku blinked. "Me? What for?"

"Now that you've proven you're not the energy source they need," Xenuk began to explain, "And since you got rid of Zarxilt, The Zoners will want to kill you."

The words were a shock to everyone. "Kill me?!" Neku exclaimed.

"Yep," Xenuk replied. "Though, I have to admit…you've got to have a crapload of power in you to be able to revive a replica like Axel. Aside from Xemnas, only Roxas was more powerful than him."

Axel looked away briefly.

"You're lucky that Ventus decided to unlock you," Xenuk continued, "Otherwise Meyxours would have had to hijack your power out of you, and it wouldn't have been pretty."

"How were they planning to 'hijack' me, anyway?" Neku asked.

Xenuk glanced at Rhyme. "They were going to use her."

Sora blinked. "Rhyme? What does Rhyme have to do with all this?"

"Search me," Xenuk said. "They think she's got the power to see into people's hearts or something along those lines. I'm not sure myself; all we know is that there's something special about her."

"Otherwise she wouldn't have survived the resonance," Riku said, echoing Aerith's message to them. "A normal person would die."

"Speaking of which," Neku said, crossing his arms. "Sora, why haven't you told them?"

Sora froze. He knew what Neku was referring to, but he absolutely refused to believe it. He rubbed his neck innocently. "Erm, told who what?"

Neku wasn't amused. "Riku and Kairi. The Reaper's Game. Your entry fee."

"So you were hiding something important," Riku grumbled, crossing his arms.

No use hiding it anymore, Sora.

Figures. Sora sighed. "I didn't want to tell you before because-"

He was interrupted when a familiar white figure charged into the room, skidding to a halt in front of them. Recognizing it as Bolt, Sora knelt down. "Hey, boy. What're you doing here?"

"He's got something in his mouth," Shiki pointed out.

Sora's gaze turned to the pouch that was clutched in Bolt's mouth. He removed it, opening it and pulling out a small phial. "What's this?" he asked.

As though to answer, Bolt sprinted over to Rhyme's comatose form and barked. It pained Sora to look at the girl – he had more than clearly remembered how it was to look at Kairi when her heart was not with her – but he did anyway, and glanced at the bottle.

"Rhyme's remedy, maybe?" Shiki suggested.

"Guess so," Sora replied, striding up to the girl and kneeling down. "Looks like it's time for me to repay the favor."

"Repay what favor?" Riku asked.

Neku glanced at Riku only briefly. "Rhyme saved Sora's life in Shibuya," he said. "Well…sort of. Sora's just doing the same for her, right?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah." He swallowed nervously, not sure how to go about doing this. After all, when Rhyme had saved him, he was lying on a couch. This room had no couch to be seen. The only way he could get Rhyme in a suitable position was to hold her head in one arm…or in his lap.

Oh, for Walt's sake, Sora. Even Demyx was better with girls.

Quiet, you.

Luckily, Roxas was the only one that even bothered to tease Sora about his clumsiness. He set Rhyme into a lying down position and rested her head in his lap while he pulled the cork out of the phial. Then, holding the girl's head in one arm, he pried her mouth open and poured the contents of the glass into her mouth with his free hand.

The moments of quiet seemed to take hours to pass, but finally Sora saw a reaction from Rhyme. Her eyes twitched, ever so slightly, and then they opened, no longer blank like they were before. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out for a good five minutes before she finally said, "…Sora?"

Sora couldn't stop himself; he pulled Rhyme into a close hug. "You're okay," he muttered. "You're okay…"

Whoa, slow down, Sora. You sure you're not overreacting?

He barely heard Roxas. Tears were streaming down his face. If it wasn't for Rhyme I wouldn't be here right now, he remembered. And neither would anyone else…

They finally pulled away, and Rhyme gave Sora an awkward smile before looking away, blushing. "Sora…?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Feeling his own face flush red, Sora stood. "Come on. Let's get back to headquarters."


"Zarxilt has been eliminated."

Meyxours crossed his arms. "I see. Have you anything else to report?"

Naxeyv nodded. "Yes. It seems that Neku also refuses to oblige. He managed to circumvent Zarxilt's telepathy and awaken Axel's replica. What's more, they have managed to revive the girl."

"As expected. It seems that we underestimated Neku's cunning. We will have to turn to our other power source."

"I must protest, Lord Meyxours," Jaxuk said. "You know that it has a strong connection to-"

"I am aware," Meyxours interrupted. "And it will call them to it if it is in danger. That is why we will eliminate them first."

"How, sir?"

"Simple. We lure them. After all, the savior of worlds can never abandon his duty, and that will ultimately be his downfall…"

Jaxuk grinned, pushing a strand of silver hair behind one of his ears. "So, who is to take the opening act of this performance?"


To say that Beat was ecstatic to see his sister awake again was a vast understatement. Half of what he said was highly unintelligible, but Rhyme seemed to be able to make sense of it all and was constantly reassuring her brother that yes, she was indeed real. Bolt was just as happy as Beat must have been, because he didn't hesitate to jump in when the hugging started.

"It's good to see you awake," Aerith said.

Rhyme, having finally been released from her brother's arms, smiled. "Thanks, Miss…um…"

Aerith took a moment to realize why Rhyme was hesitating. "Oh, yes…I never introduced myself. I'm Aerith. I've been taking care of you while you were asleep."

"Yeah," Rhyme replied, nodding. "I saw you a few times when I tried to wake up but I never got your name. Thanks, Aerith."

"We're just glad you're alright," Kairi added.

Nodding in agreement, Rhyme looked around curiously. "Where's the other girl?"

"Other girl?" Shiki echoed. "No one else has been here."

"Unless you mean Yuffie," Riku pointed out.

"Or Tifa," Sora added offhand. "Was anyone else in here, Aerith?"

Aerith shook her head. "No. Yuffie would come in from time to time to make sure nothing happened when I had to check things in the castle, but other than that…"

Rhyme looked disappointed all of the sudden. "But I heard this other girl," she said. "In the white place."

"White place?" Sora echoed. What does she mean, white place?

The door opened and Leon walked in, dragging a very reluctant Xenuk by the ear, Axel following behind with a disgruntled yet guilty look on his face. "You guys mind telling me what these two are doing sitting outside headquarters?"

"Will you let go already?" Xenuk protested. "That hurts!"

"Axel!" Aerith cried. "But I thought he was-"

"Dead," the Axel replica replied. "Yeah. I know."

Leon finally released his grip on Xenuk, causing the traitor to stumble a bit before righting himself. He rubbed his ear and grimaced, giving Leon a glare. Sora saw Neku rub his own ear subconsciously before quickly pulling his hand back down at his side. The group left Beat and Rhyme to themselves and approached. "I'm pretty sure some explanations are in order," Leon stated. "Anyone care to fill us in?"

The group told Leon and Aerith what all had happened: what was contained in the computer, why the Zoners had been after Neku, and the battle with Zarxilt. Every now and then someone would divulge a few details that they had managed to pick up. The explanation for Axel and Xenuk came last, and was the hardest to get out. When Neku explained that he had revived Axel because he knew he'd be against the Zoners, Leon gave Neku an interesting look (Sora could tell he was impressed, but no one else had enough experience with the man to discern such a thing from him). Xenuk, however, was much harder to explain.

"A puppet created by Zarxilt?" Aerith questioned.

Xenuk nodded. "Yeah. I didn't have a real heart though, so they couldn't use me as a power source."

"But what do you mean by real heart?" Leon questioned. "Is there even such thing as a fake heart?"

Kairi's eyes softened. "I think they couldn't use Xenuk because he didn't have Neku's memories."

Sora blinked, knowing that it wasn't Kairi that had come to that conclusion. "Nami…?"

Nodding, Kairi continued. "Memories are one of the key components to any heart. If a heart loses all of its memories, it collapses. But the moment a heart is born, it begins gaining memories."

Riku crossed his arms. "I get it. Xenuk didn't have Neku's memories, so he didn't have Neku's power. That way, the Zoners couldn't use him."

Kairi nodded. "I think that's it."

"But there's more to a heart than just memories," Xenuk pointed out. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that it was more than just Neku's heart that gave him what they wanted."

"And now they can't have it," Neku added, looking away. "So they want me dead. Again."

"Again?" Leon echoed. "What do you mean?"

Neku turned his gaze to Sora. "I think you'd better get to explaining, Sora. You owe your friends the truth, anyway."

Sora bit his lip. He knew it had to come out sooner or later. "Riku, Kairi…I didn't want to tell you before, but in the Reaper's Game…in Shibuya…"

Neku looked away, while Riku and Kairi stared at Sora with concern. "Go on," the girl urged him.

"In Shibuya," Sora continued. "I…I died."

The silence was sickeningly loud. Leon and Aerith remained silent, having already known the fact, but Riku and Kairi were at a different loss for words. "How…?" Kairi began when she found her voice again. "But you're not dead. How could you have died?"

"The Reaper's Game was meant for those who died in Shibuya to test their worth and come back to life," Sora explained. "It's held in a sort of alternate Shibuya called the UG. In there, I could see everything in the real Shibuya, but they couldn't see me unless I went into shops or other stuff. There were heartless in the UG, and, well…"

"So you killed yourself?" Riku said, anger rising on his face. "Sora, you-"

"No," Neku interrupted. "The composer of the game did it."

"The leader?" Kairi wondered. "But why-"

"Shibuya treats death very differently," Neku continued. "When you die, you're not gone for good. You go to the UG to see if you're worth bringing back to life. It's only if you lose the Reaper's Game that you never see life again."

Sora nodded. "There was this guy called Sho Minamimoto…he was turned into a heartless, and there were a bunch of other heartless in the UG. The composer threatened to kill me, probably hoping it would give the guy second thoughts. It didn't, so I was sent to the UG and I partnered up with Neku to take down the heartless there. At first, I thought I had only passed out or something. It wasn't until the third day or so that I actually knew that I was dead."

"But you came back," Kairi stated. "Does that mean you won?"

"Yeah," Sora replied. "The composer knew I had the keyblade, so he sort of brought me in on a special order or something. On the last day, we took on Minamimoto and his Nobody, Xsoh."

"Xsoh," Riku echoed. "Wasn't he one of the Zoners?"

"He was," Neku said, recalling what they had been told before. "It wasn't easy taking him down. I thought we'd never make it out of there, even after we beat him. Sora used up the last of his energy to make sure I made it."

Riku chuckled humorlessly. "Why am I not surprised?"

Sora's looked away sheepishly.

"I remember all that," Shiki said. "You had blood all over you…I thought you'd never make it. Rhyme was the one that saved Sora from fading."

Hearing this, Riku turned to Rhyme, whom looked away shyly. "So that's what favor you were repaying."

"I still don't get it," Kairi said. "What about this entry fee thing? Sora always got all upset whenever we mentioned it."

"To get into the Reaper's Game you have to give up an entry fee," Neku explained. "Usually it's what's most important to you. You get it back if you win. If you lose, you not only lose your entry fee forever, but you usually don't come back to life." He turned to Rhyme. "Rhyme was erased at one point in the game, but Mr. H revived, even though she'd never get her entry fee back."

"What was your entry fee, Sora?" Riku asked.

Sora shut his eyes tightly in hopes of avoiding the tears, but it didn't work as well as he hoped. "…you were."

"People can be entry fees?!" Riku cried.

"Yeah," Neku replied. "For Sora, his closest friends – including you two – were his entry fee. If he had lost the Reaper's Game, you'd all be gone forever, even if Sora was revived."

Kairi's eyes glossed over. Sora knew what she was thinking. He had barely been able to keep up his usual cheer when he had found out that they had gone missing, but it was that fact alone that kept pushing him forward.

A blip on the computer caught everyone's attention. Leon hurried over and checked the screen, wincing at what he saw. "Sora, you're not going to like this."

"What's up?" Sora asked.

"There are strong nobody signals all over the place. They're even at the King's castle."

"Holy…"

Not good.

You said it.

"Sounds like we'd better get moving." Riku turned to Axel and Xenuk. "What're you two going to do?"

Xenuk shook his head. "Not much I can do. For now, it'd probably be best if I stayed here in Hollow Bastion and lay low for a while. I'd like to help figure out that computer and see if there's another way to stop the Zoners, too."

"Traitor to the core," Axel commented, smirking.

"Speak for yourself."

"You've been awfully quiet," Sora commented, crossing his arms. "I thought you were more talkative than that, Axel."

The Flurry of Dancing Flames shrugged. "I was listening. Thought I might get caught up on whatever you've managed to drag yourself into if I'm going to be helping."

"You mean you're coming with us?" Sora asked, ecstatic.

"Better than sleeping or doing nothing," Axel replied, smirking.

I…don't know if I should be excited or worried.

Worried?

Long story, Sora. Long, long story.

"I'm going to stay here this time," Shiki said. "I want to help the committee."

"You sure?" Neku asked. "I thought you didn't want to be left in the dark."

Shiki shook her head and clutched Mr. Mew in her arms. "I don't, and I admit I'll be worried…but I know you'll be okay."

"I'll stay too," Kairi added. "There are a few…things I'd like to look into here."

"Like what?" Riku asked.

Kairi shrugged. "Well, this was my home and all…plus, I'd like to help with the computer. I'm sure they could use a key here, too."

"What if the heartless or nobodies attack?" Sora said. "Are you sure you can…?"

"I've fought before," Kairi insisted, brushing some hair out of her face. "You saw me do it, right?"

Sora chuckled nervously. "Oh, yeah…" In the Organization's stronghold. I remember now.

She's actually not half bad. She kicks butt and looks good doing it, too.

Quit teasing me, Roxas.

What? I know that's what you're thinking.

Yeah, yeah.

Axel grinned. "Like I said…you've got guts, Kairi."

Sora still felt skeptical (though he was probably just worried for Kairi's safety), but nodded anyway. "I guess that works. Alright, everyone ready to go?"

Riku, Axel and Neku nodded. "Okay, then. Looks like we're off to see the King."

"Say hello to him for me," Kairi said, smiling. "And please be careful."

"We will," Riku assured them. With that, they stepped through the portal with one last goodbye.


Looks like they're headed for the king's place.

And the Zoners are everywhere…at least Rhyme's awake. They won't be able to use her now.

We've all got bigger problems to worry about. The Zoners are baiting Neku to them so that they can kill him…but with Nobodies running around and hurting people, he has no choice but to go there. It's a lose-lose situation, and the only way to win is to wipe out the Zoners.

I'm pretty sure that's what Neku wants to do, anyway.

Then if he's going to go get rid of the Zoners, he'll need a bit of help from yours truly.

Hey, don't leave me out of the fun.

Of course not. We both have to stop by there, anyway.

Right. Time to see an old friend…


...not too sure about this chapter. Oh, well.

Characters met:

Xenuk, the Traitor (Chasing The Truth/The World Ends With You)

Zoners:

The Deceptive Evoker, Meyxours (Chasing The Truth/???)
The Elegant Reaper, Jaxuk (Chasing The Truth/???)
The Fallen Prince, Zarxilt (Chasing The Truth/Final Fantasy XI)
The Ruthless Emperor, Naxeyv (Chasing The Truth/???)