Never Alone Again

(34) Xiaolin Showdown

"Gong yi tanpai," Aizel chuckled, leaning off the wall. "What's the game?"

"What do you think it is, tag?! We fight." Jeff growled, stepping over to Slender.

"Mm.. I think I like the first option. Unless, you want to hurt your girlfriend." Aizel tilted Y/n's head, and poked the side of her neck. "Better be careful."

"Coward." Jeff grimaced, crossing his arms in impatience.

"A coward? Oh I think that describes you far more than I."

"Eat shit, you mutt—"

"Are you both done? I would like to settle this, however strange a way of doing it." Slender once again would have rolled his eyes if he had them. Honestly. "What good is playing games? Leave the girl. For once, Jeffrey is right. You are a coward as you are, hiding inside of her like this."

"Very well." Y/n's eyes closed, and she sat on the floor, her mouth open. A black pointed thing stuck out from her lips, wiggling teasingly. A few more joined it as fingers griping her jaw as the demon crawled out. Jeff looked away, not wanting to see her like this. "There, I'm out—" The black figure smirked, although no one else could see.

"Good. Now I can actually do something!" Jeff practically threw himself at the demon, thrusting his knife into the thing's head.

"Nice blow, but it will take a hell of a lot more to kill me." Aizel chuckled, pulling the knife out of his head. Dammit this was going to be stupidly difficult. The demon threw Jeff his knife, caught hopefully in his fingers. "Whoever falls first, loses."

****

Zacharie sighed as he quietly banged his head against the wall. *thud, thud*

"Zack, you're going to kill all your brain cells if you keep that up." Mavis smiled at him, speaking for the first time since they got back from their walk. "Everything will be fine, okay. You don't have to worry."

"How can you be so confident she'll be okay? There's a demon living inside of her—!"

"So we've gathered." Johnnie laughed. "It's not that we're not worried. It's that we're so worried, we don't know how to say that we're worried. I'm scared, Zack, I am. But, hey, as long as I'm chained to this earth, I'll hope. She'll be alright, Zack." The boy slumped further to the floor, looking like a drunk.

"For her sake I hope you're right—!" A loud crash sounded from another room, surprising the three teenagers.

"Wonder what happened this time." Johnnie didn't really seem to care, nestling his head by the foot of Zack's bed. His icy eyes closed as if he were about to sleep, a small sigh escaping him.

"It probably isn't anything good. Or Maybe Jeff is back?" Mavis glanced over at the door, a smile playing at her lips.

The sound came again, a thud and grunt following. "Okay.. now I'm scared.." Zack wanted to roll his eyes, standing by the door. He peeked his head out, his dark orbs exploring the hall. Yet another thud sounded, and a crash, and... My god what the heck was happening? "Hey, Mave? Can you check what's going on?" Zack asked, afraid to do it himself.

"Pussy." Mavis floated out the door, and went to the sounds' source. She peeked around a corner, seeing another hall lined with doors. Mavis was worried that something had gone wrong, her ghostly breathes unsteady. Not that she needed to breathe, but, still. She slowed as she heard another thud, apprehension biting at her.

"SON OF A COW PIE!!" She heard Jeff's voice crack.

(What the hell does that mean?) Mavis smiled at the insult, and fazed her head through the door to Slender's office. What she beheld was the sight of a bleeding proxy, a monster with scrapes and gashes in his body, and a smoky-black figure standing casually. (I think I missed something major..) Mavis turned back down the halls, and reported to the two boys, now sitting across from each other on the floor.

"What do you mean? What black thing?" Johnnie have the girl a quizzical look, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, all I know is something bad is happening, and we need to fucking help. Now get off your asses!!" Mavis pulled the boys by their collars, dragging them to Slender's office.

Zacharie stumbled into the room, his dark eyes growing wide with confusion, and fear. Those eyes trailed to a lump on the floor, widening further as they recognized the figure. Y/n. Y/n lay crumpled against the wall, still looking as dead as she had earlier. His hands balled up into fists, his nails digging into the flesh of his palm. (What happened to you, n/n?)

He set his weight, turning to the black thing. It raised a distorted hand, and waved at the boy. "Welcome to the party, young reaper."

(Reaper? What am I reaping?) Zack stepped into the room, and readied himself for whatever pain that was coming. And he was right to do so.

The demon's arms stretched eerily towards Zack, his claw-like fingers lengthening too, ready to clamp down on the boy's skin. He froze, gripping his fists tighter. So tight, that he could now feel his own blood dripping from his tense fingers. The soft tap of a bead colliding with the floor sounded, seeming louder than anything else that the boy had ever heard. The sound echoed in his mind as he leapt forward.

(Since when am I such an athlete?) Zack would have chuckled if the mood had been right. His knee connected with the demon's chin, knocking him back some, before he could grab him. He landed clumsily, wobbling as he went over to Y/n.

"Please be okay for once." He muttered, standing in front of her, guarding her. He raised his bleeding fists, ready to punch something. The demon slumped in his discomfort from Zack's kick, a demented smile taking his lips.

"You're doing well for such a young one. Perhaps in another life, you could have been an asset in my plans." Aizel chuckled, standing up straight.

Jeff's knife thrust into the demon's back, the boy's grip on the handle growing weak. "That's enough talking!! I want you dead!!!" He screamed, his voice somewhat hoarse. He jumped on Aizel's back just above his knife, tore it back out, and stabbed at the demon's neck.

"My, my. Someone is sure pissed." The thing grabbed Jeff, and threw him off, his thin body crashing against the wall.

He made a strangled cry of pain, reaching for the knife he'd just dropped. His pale fingers stretched out to it, grazing the black handle desperately. His vision was dark and blurry, his eyes starting to give up. But that doesn't mean that he was about to. He was going to fight until his last breath was ripped from his lungs. He would fight until his death if it meant Y/n's safety. Safety from pain and sorrow. Safety from danger like demons and monsters. All he wanted at that moment was to hold her. Hold her close to his chest and whisper into her ear that he loves her.

But he couldn't.

Aizel kicked the knife away, the fading sound of it skidding across the floor torturing Jeff's ears. Slender took this opportunity to strike the demon again, using more force than he had previously. His tendrils pierced the smoky figure, shooting straight through it. Aizel retaliated, jumping onto the monster with his claws hammering down on his nonexistent face.

Zack stepped over the raven haired boy to jab at the demon, the small impact actually seeming to make a difference. He continued to punch the creature, only to be gripped by the throat. He squeaked, feeling the air be cut off from his lungs. His trembling fingers tried without success to pry the claws off of him.

Everything in the room was incomprehensible to Jeff, too dark, too distorted. Even the sounds of Zack's struggles and Slender's grunts of frustration sounded distant. The only thing he could see now, was the shine from his knife as it wobbled to a halt at the end of the room. His voice was barely above a whisper, croaking out as a tear welled up in his eye. He couldn't even hear his own voice.

"Y/n.."