Wow, guys…I honestly had no clue that Xenuk was that well-liked. I kinda feel bad for getting rid of him T.T Anywho, here's the next chapter. Hopefully it'll clear things up, and the final boss fight approaches rapidly! ZOMG!
I was going to put Ven's explanation in here…but I decided to save it for later.
Chasing The Truth
By FlikFreak
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Final Road Opens
Sora, what's gotten into you? I'm supposed to be the quiet one.
Yeah.
Come on, I'm not just a voice in your head. I'm your Nobody.
I know.
Which means I. Am. You. Now come on! Tell me what's wrong, or you'll have some sense knocked into you and you won't like what I have in mind.
Roxas…I just don't know. Neku doesn't seem like the type to…well…
But he was. Neku knelt there, staring silently at the spot where Xenuk had lay just moments before. His eyes were darkened, barely visible from under his bangs. His arms were trembling very, very slightly. Shiki stepped forward, placing a hand on Neku's shoulder, and the boy didn't bother shrugging it off. Instead, he stood slowly, one hand curling into a fist. Then he looked up. "It's crying," he muttered.
"What is?" Riku asked.
"Everything. I don't know if you can hear it, but I can."
Joshua nodded in understanding, but Sora wasn't sure if it was in mere sympathy or if he actually knew what was going on.
Rhyme bit her lip, stepping forward. "Neku, are you okay?"
Neku ignored her question. "He's gone, isn't he?"
Silence.
"Is he?"
The answer came from Rhyme. She closed her eyes momentarily, and when she opened them, they were glazed over. They provided enough of an answer without words.
Neku remained completely silent. Then, almost carefully, he lifted his headphones and placed them on his ears, walking away without a word.
Shiki began forward, but stopped after a few steps, unable to say anything. She turned back, glancing at Joshua, whom only shook his head. "Not now. He needs some time to think."
Zidane, whose appearance had reverted back to normal shortly following the explosion, watched Neku as he left. "He gonna be okay?"
"Course he will," Beat insisted, standing. "He's Neku."
Wow…that's kind of rare, coming from Beat.
But he has a point. Still…I think I'm going to go after him.
"What about you?" Sora asked. "Jax…Kuja's gone. What're you going to do now?"
Zidane sighed. "No idea… I don't have a home to go to, thanks to him. I guess I'll just help out the committee with Freya." He turned around. "Shibuya should be calming down. Until then, I'm gonna see if I can clean up any more of the mess around here." With that, he left.
"Zidane wasn't acting like himself," Kairi commented.
"How do you know?" Sora replied. "We haven't known him for that long."
Kairi shook her head. "Well, when we first met him, he was a lot more cheerful. Something must have happened…"
"Freya said he was 'out for blood' when he left," Shiki said, "As though that wasn't like him at all."
Axel crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Sora cast an odd look toward him. What's up with him?
He's always like that when he's uneasy.
Uneasy? Should we ask him what's wrong?
Nah. If it's important, he'll tell us.
"We should keep moving," Riku stated hesitantly. "We've gotten rid of the source of this mess, but there's still one more Zoner out there to take care of."
Sora nodded. "Yeah. I'm gonna go look for Neku."
"Do you even know where he is?" Joshua asked.
"No," Sora replied, "But I have a pretty good idea."
He's gone.
What happened?
Took the hit for Neku…now I'll never get to see him again.
Ven…you going to be okay?
Yeah, just gimme a sec.
I'm going to go find Neku. I'll let you know when I spot him.
Okay.
And Ven?
Huh?
…it'll be okay.
I hope you're right.
"Hey, Phones…why the long face?"
Neku didn't answer, and instead fingered his mug. He normally didn't drink coffee, but today he'd settle for it. Hanekoma gave him another concerned look and shrugged. "Well, cheer up. J's got every last Reaper making sure that Shibuya is put back together."
He said he had someone taking care of Shibuya while he was gone, Neku thought. Obviously whoever he picked didn't do his job.
"I thought you were with the others," Hanekoma said. "Aren't they worried about you?"
He remained silent. Hanekoma was just trying to make him talk so he'd cheer up. Too bad. He didn't feel like talking. Instead, he just shook his head.
Hanekoma saw past it. "Alright, what's wrong? I'll listen."
No use hiding it…I can trust him, anyway. "Everything," Neku replied. "Joshua had been telling us that Shibuya was in good hands. When we got here, everything was falling apart. People were screaming, nobodies everywhere…the town itself was just…crumbling. Then we ran into Jaxuk, and we managed to beat him, but he took Xenuk with him."
"Xenuk," Mr. H echoed. "So you knew him, too."
He didn't have the energy to be surprised, so Neku only nodded. "Yeah. How do you know him?"
"Josh told me about him," Hanekoma explained, taking a seat. "Artificial nobody created by one of the Zoners…apparently they didn't create him perfectly, so he's more like a replica if you ask me. He's not the first of his kind, either."
Neku blinked. "He's not…?"
Hanekoma shook his head. "Riku had a replica of himself once. That one's long gone, though. Riku himself saw to that." He sipped his own mug of coffee. "Xenuk was supposed to be a puppet for Zarxilt to manipulate, but they all considered Xenuk a nobody because his heart was fake, just like the rest of him. The main difference between Riku's replica and Xenuk is that Xenuk wasn't bent on killing you…and he was on your side."
"Was," Neku corrected, sighing. "He's gone now."
"Gone?"
"Nethicite. He took the hit for me."
Mr. H took a deep breath. "Well…if it's any consolation, there's a chance that he might have…well, died instead of just faded."
"How is that any better?" Neku grumbled, looking away. "He's still gone."
"I can't be sure right now," Hanekoma explained, "But if he died, he's probably unconscious in the UG right now. He'll have to go through a game to come back, but if that's the case then he isn't gone for good."
Neku sighed. It's not a guarantee…but if it's any hope that I'll see him again-
"There you are. We've been looking all over for you!"
Hanekoma was the first to look up. "Hey, you two. Come on in."
Sora and Riku entered quietly. "The others are making sure the rest of the town is getting fixed up," Riku explained before looking around. "So this is WildKat…"
Neku shifted uncomfortably. "What're you guys doing here?"
"Sora was worried about you," Riku stated bluntly, choosing a seat near Neku, as did his friend.
"Why would you worry about me?" Neku asked.
Sora shrugged. "Because that's what partners do. We look after each other, right?"
He's reminding me way too much of Shiki. "Sora…that was ages ago. We're not in the Reaper's Game anymore."
"So? I'm still your friend; that won't change."
Riku smirked at his friend, but Neku stared contemplatively at his coffee. "Well, what're we supposed to do now?"
"You two hungry?" Hanekoma interrupted.
Predictably, Sora was easily distracted. "Could you make some pancakes for us?"
Unlike his friend, however, Riku stayed on topic. "Meyxours is still out there somewhere. If we don't find him, more people are going to get hurt."
"We don't even know where he is," Neku weakly protested.
Sora shook his head. "We'll find him. You'll see."
The sureness of the boy's tone caught Neku off guard. You'd think I'd be used to that by now but…he doesn't have any better idea than I do, and he's still acting so confident.
Neku…Sakuraba…
You again. What are you trying to tell me?
Go back…to the beginning…
Back to the beginning…?
"What are you talking about, Neku?"
The former proxy froze when he realized he had spoken out loud. "It just came to me. I don't know what it means."
Hanekoma walked around the counter and approached the group. "Pancakes'll be ready in a few. Neku, I got something for you."
Neku blinked. "Huh?"
In response, the man tossed a small pouch toward Neku and grinned. "Might want to open it outside, though."
"What is it, a bomb?"
Mr. H laughed and didn't answer. There was a familiar flashing sound and Sora jumped a bit, glancing at the hand he had on the table. Currently clutched in his fingers was Remembered Dream. He and Riku exchanged glances, and they promptly stood. "Hanekoma's right. Outside."
Shrugging, Neku exited, followed closely by Sora and Riku. He opened the pouch and reached inside, first pulling out a small scrap of paper.
Neku, I fetched this from your home before all the chaos began. Don't worry about your family; they're completely safe. Tenho and BJ saw to that ages ago. –Mr. H
"What's it say?" Sora inquired.
"Hanekoma got something from my house before the Nobodies wrecked the city," Neku replied as he reached into the pouch. After a few seconds, he managed to pull out an all-too-familiar object. "…why did he go through all that trouble to get my player pin?"
"That's a player pin?" Riku asked. "I was expecting something more…"
Neku shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I was kind of surprised when it first worked, too."
Riku crossed his arms. "Well, why did Hanekoma go through all the trouble of finding it, then?"
Their response came in the form of a bright flash as the player pin rose into the air, surrounded by a familiar glow. Sora glanced down at the keyblade in his hand, and nodded to Riku. "Neku, you might want to step back."
Deciding to question these events later, Neku backed up a few feet next to Riku. "What's going on?"
A light gathered at the tip of Sora's keyblade, followed by a shimmering glow on the ground in a shape suspiciously similar to the crown pendant Sora wore. The wind around him began to swirl and spin, causing Sora to squint, and a myriad of bright lights illuminated the area and dragged it into what appeared to be a different plane altogether. Neku's jaw dropped. Whoa…what is this?
The player pin hovering in the air flashed, a beam of light soaring into the sky and summoning a large keyhole-esque shape. Opening his eyes, Sora took only a single, brief look at it before he leapt back, aiming the keyblade's tip upward. The radiance that was there before gathered again, bursting upward and into the keyhole, prompting a clearly audible click and illuminating the area to a stark white before the strange and beautiful abyss faded.
The player pin clinked to the pavement, and Sora snapped out of his daze in time to dismiss the keyblade. Neku stepped forward and picked his beloved pin up off the ground (carefully, in case it decided to seriously harm him). "What just happened?"
"A new road is open," Sora announced, as though to answer him. "And I get the feeling that Meyxours is somewhere along it."
Riku crossed his arms and nodded. "We'd better go get the others. Neku, are you coming?"
Neku nodded. "Yeah. It's time to finish this."
It was then that Hanekoma peeked his head out of his shop. "Hey, your pancakes are done, you two!"
After a moment's hesitation, Sora grinned. "How about we have lunch first?"
Riku shrugged. "Sounds good to me. I'm starving."
How can he think of food at a time like this? Neku wondered, but he followed anyway.
Behind them, a vague, ghostly figure watched them. The moment they vanished into the shop's interior, it nodded in approval and flew away, disappearing around a corner.
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)
