We…we…we're fighting Jaxuk already?! IS THE END TRULY THIS CLOSE!? …or is it?
This chapter is kinda...shorter than I hoped it would be. Just like the last one. But oh well...I'll be making up for that anyway. (mischievous grin)
Kuja fans, don't worry…and I won't tell you why not to worry. You'll see in a few chapters.
Chasing The Truth
By FlikFreak
Chapter Thirty-Six: The Elegant Reaper
The music in his mind cried out in pain. Neku had to mentally chain his arm down and away from his head, strongly resisting the urge to clutch his skull in pain. Something was terribly wrong here; how could this man be tampering with Shibuya's music? What's more, how could he hear it when he wasn't even in the UG?
He had no time to contemplate the matter when a sudden strike to his side sent him skidding to the pavement. Jaxuk readied another attack but Beat intercepted, his trusty skateboard at the ready. Flaming chakrams missed Jaxuk by inches, but Kairi quickly amended the miss by slashing toward the nobody in a dance-like step.
He couldn't keep dodging forever, so Jaxuk took an offensive shortly after the first strike had been made. He leapt into the air, sending a swift kick toward Zidane. The tailed man began to dodge, but the hit still connected partially, sending him flying backward at an odd angle. Sora fired off a healing spell, only for it to fizzle out. "What the…"
Riku, meanwhile, had attempted to fire off several dark fireballs, only to have them fade as well. "What's going on?"
"Your magic won't work against me," Jaxuk explained calmly. "In fact, none of your magic will work?"
"Why not?" Neku grumbled, not expecting an answer but asking anyway.
Joshua, however, was not crippled. Three tones later, Jaxuk was dodging a falling bicycle by inches. It cost him when a chakram struck him from behind, embedding itself in his leg. Axel grinned, calling his weapon back to him. "Feel like giving in, now that you can't walk properly?"
Jaxuk sneered, picking up the fallen bicycle and hurled it through the air. Its target was unclear until the victim yelped in surprise, having been pinned to the ground.
Beat's eyes widened. "Rhyme! Yo sis, you okay?"
Rhyme winced, sitting up and removing the bike from its place on top of her. "I'm fine," she insisted, although it was clear that she would be feeling that hit for at least a few days.
Zidane spun on Jaxuk. "Some things never change, do they?" He snarled.
"Of course," Jaxuk replied, smirking as usual. "Defenseless targets are the most fun to pick on, don't you agree?"
Neku froze as the music around him shifted, abandoning its dischord and entering a state of angered frenzy. Zidane began to glow with an ethereal energy, his eyes blazing with fury. "You will pay!"
As they watched, Zidane snapped his swallow blade into two shortswords, his body flashing with a bright red light. His movements became so fast that he was nothing more than a blur. Though Jaxuk was able to keep up with his movements, he was still having a hard time. Only when Zidane paused did Neku catch sight of him did he notice that his appearance had changed as well: his entire body was tinted a light shade of red, his eyes flashing an even deeper blue than before. The way he looked now, it was almost as though he were a different person altogether. What happened to him?
"He entered trance," Xenuk explained, as though he had heard Neku's thoughts. "It's a state of immense power that someone enters when they experience extreme levels of emotion. I've seen Freya do it, too. I'm not surprised that Zidane can use it…"
"How do you know about it?" Neku asked.
Xenuk shook his head. "Learned about it from Jaxuk when I was still with the Zoners. He was pretty bitter about it."
"He can't take Jaxuk on his own!" Shiki cried. "We've got to help!"
"No," Xenuk replied.
"Why not?"
"It's too dangerous. You don't want to be caught in the crossfire."
"He's got a point," Riku admitted. "The last thing we want to do is get hit by our own teammates."
Zidane didn't seem to notice that his friends had stepped back in either shock or concern for their own safety, and it certainly didn't slow him down. He clasped his daggers into their double-bladed form again and threw them like a boomerang toward Jaxuk. For a split second, Neku could see the wind around the blade twisting into a tornado. There was no avoiding the strike; Jaxuk was hurled backward into the Udagawa mural, a sickening crack accompanying his impact. Several chunks of concrete spat out of place in protest, and Jaxuk slowly slid back onto his two feet, clutching a gash on his arm.
Geez! Neku observed. One guy can do all that?
Jaxuk sneered in anger. "That power…Trance…it should belong to me!"
"You gave that up when you became a Nobody," Zidane said, his voice unnaturally calm for his enraged state. "Besides, a power that destructive doesn't belong to someone as twisted as you, whole or not."
Hearing this, Jaxuk's angry expression became almost feral, exposing what appeared to be fangs. "I've toyed with you children for long enough!" He bellowed, summoning an enormous wave of heat and sending it toward them. The air itself ignited on fire, ripping through the air toward them…
…where they promptly vanished into thin air.
Sora stared, wide-eyed, as the deadly flames failed to strike them. "What…?"
That's weird, Neku thought. His magic isn't working, either?
Jaxuk didn't seem fazed by his own attack fading, and began charging another spell. Ignoring this, Neku ran in for another attack, but Sora beat him to it. The brunette keybearer was a blur as he zoomed by, interrupting Jaxuk's focus. Mr. Mew flew in from the left, knocking the nobody back and directly into a line of flames courtesy of Axel. Rhyme remained behind Beat, whom was once again wielding his skateboard as a shield against any and all attacks. Kairi was waiting for her chance, keyblade at ready, and Joshua had his phone flipped open.
Another spell fired off, and once again fizzled away. Sora laughed. "Looks like your tricks aren't working, Jaxuk!" he taunted.
"But neither are ours," Riku pointed out, leaping back. "Watch your back!"
Jaxuk smirked. "Foolish boy…did you think I had gone into this battle recklessly like those before me? Unlike Zarxilt and Naxeyv, I have a script for my performance; namely that stone that your dear Composer is carrying with him as we speak…"
Neku's eyes widened. Of course! Joshua still had the Nethicite! On top of that Jaxuk knew that Joshua still had it, but he was firing off spells anyway. That could only mean… "Joshua! Get rid of the Nethicite!"
Joshua responded without a word, plucking the stone from his pocket and hurling it in Jaxuk's direction. Unfortunately, the nobody anticipated the Composer's movement and caught the stone. Rhyme began to scream as the Nethicite began to glow brighter and brighter.
"It's gonna blow!" Axel cried. "Everyone duck and cover!"
Shiki turned back momentarily. "Neku! Run!"
But Neku was paralyzed. His feet were stuck to the ground, his limbs failed to respond to his desperate plea to get away from the dangerous explosion. He could only watch as the Nethicite gave a sickening, high-pitched whine and turned white with heat. Somewhere behind him, Rhyme let out a blood-curdling scream.
What happened next took only a fraction of a second but felt like an eternity. A dark, familiar shape ran in front of Neku, reminding him strongly of the time that Joshua defended him from Minamimoto's Level i Flare. The explosion sounded with a loud bang, engulfing nearly everything in scorching hot mist, the flame-like apparitions hanging in midair as they flung themselves outward. The heated wind that blew past Neku knocked him off of his feet.
And then it was over.
Neku pushed himself to his feet to see Jaxuk lying on the ground, his breath shallow. He gave a chuckle. "Pity…I was hoping to take you with me, proxy…"
"Too bad," Riku replied, teeth clenched. "Looks like your plan failed."
To their slight surprise, however, Jaxuk only laughed. "No…this is perfect…the scene…has been set…and all of the actors are in place…" There was a slow swirl of black, and Jaxuk vanished.
"Mind games to the very end," Axel commented. "He gets points for that, at least."
Shiki stepped forward hesitantly. "Neku…? Are you okay?"
Neku nodded. "I…I think so…but I'm not sure how."
From nearby, Kairi gasped. "Guys, look!"
Everyone's eyes turned in the direction of where Neku had been standing when the Nethicite went off. Lying there on the ground, slowly fading, was none other than Xenuk, looking peacefully at the sky, his arms wide at his sides. Neku's eyes widened considerably and he raced to the nobody's side. "Xenuk! What happened to you?"
"Did what I could," the nobody replied. "I don't have anything else left to lose, so…I thought maybe…"
Neku felt a chill go up his spine. "What are you talking about? What's happening to you?"
"Jaxuk planned it all from the beginning," Xenuk explained. "He knew that Joshua still had the Nethicite, so he intentionally got us worked up and then set it off himself in hopes of catching us all off guard and destroying you, even if it meant…well, you should know. I absorbed as much of the hit as I could, but I was worried that it would still kill you… I'm glad to see you're still in one piece."
The realization dawned on Neku, and he suddenly found speech to be a difficult task. "Xenuk…you took the Nethicite's hit for me?"
"Most of it, yeah. You might've gotten knocked back a bit, but you look okay."
"Why?" Neku asked. "Why save me?"
Xenuk's expression became stern. "Neku, I don't have much time until I'm gone, so I have to confess. I…only really helped you because I wanted to come here."
What…?
"When Zarxilt created me," Xenuk began to explain, "He told me about who I was supposed to be. I'm not your real nobody, so he tried to educate me about you. When I was still with the Zoners, I got to learn about their worlds. I even got to meet Xsoh when he was still around…and he told me about Shibuya."
Neku tilted his head. "He did…?" So Xenuk knew Pi-face's nobody.
"He was the only one of the Zoners that hadn't destroyed his own world. He told me about Shibuya all the time…he loved it there. The more he told me about it, the more I wanted to see this place. But then Xsoh would get bitter…he said the Reaper's Game was run inefficiently. I left the Zoners a little while after hearing Meyxours talk about how he was going to use me to revive the Organization. Xsoh wasn't too happy about my decision, and he kinda laughed at me…so I asked why."
"What'd he tell you?" Neku asked.
"He said I was acting a lot like you."
The statement struck a chord with Neku somehow. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came to him. For some reason, he suddenly felt guilty for defeating Xsoh. It sounded as though he and Xenuk had gotten along quite well. But Xsoh still wanted to screw over the Reaper's Game, he reasoned. He might not have been all bad, but I guess he still needed to be stopped…
Xenuk continued. "After I left, Ventus found me and said that Shibuya was in danger. He told me that if I helped you, I'd get to see Shibuya. I told him I'd go along with him, even though he must have known I wanted to see you, too…to see the 'real me.'" He laughed. "The irony…the first and only time I get to see Shibuya, it's falling apart. Serves me right for being selfish, I suppose."
"Xenuk…"
"I guess in the end I was only using you," Xenuk mumbled. "I wanted to see the real me, I wanted to see Shibuya…that was all I wanted. This is my reward for being selfish, seeing my true home falling apart in front of me. I realized that when I came here…so I guess this is my way of repenting for that."
"Don't say that," Neku insisted. "Because of you, Shibuya's going to get fixed right back up."
Xenuk chuckled. "I won't be around to see it."
"Of course you will!"
"Small comfort." Xenuk closed his eyes. "Oh, and one more thing…that pin of yours…"
Neku nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"
"You know how to use it?"
Joshua gave it to me without an explanation, what do you think? "…no."
Xenuk smiled peacefully. "You will, Neku. You will."
How can he be so sure…?
"Well, bye Neku… Apologize to Ven for me if you see him, will ya?"
Neku nodded. "I will. I promise."
And with one last smile, Xenuk faded completely away, leaving no trace of his existence behind.
Zoners:
The Deceptive Evoker, Meyxours (Chasing The Truth/Final Fantasy X)
The Elegant Reaper, Jaxuk (Chasing The Truth/Final Fantasy IX)
The Fallen Prince, Zarxilt (Chasing The Truth/Final Fantasy XI)
The Ruthless Emperor, Naxeyv (Chasing The Truth/Final Fantasy XII)
