Chapter Text
Jabber seemed surprised, staring at Zanka in shock.
Why would Zanka WANT to be poisoned?
This was the same guy that had swore to kill Jabber the first time he had poisoned him.
What changed? Oh, yeah. The poison he used changed. But what changed about Zanka!?
There was only one reasonable explanation as for why.
What he had hallucinated. There was no other reason Zanka would want to be poisoned with the exact one he had used earlier a second time. It had to be something he saw when he hallucinated.
Jabber could make quite a few guesses, having had known him since they were young teens. There was no guarantee that he was right though, after all.
Choosing not to dwell on it too much, he turned back to reality. He realised he had probably just been staring at Zanka. Oops!
“Alright then! Give me your choker blood, so i can tell you when we can meet up!!”
Zanka hesitantly complied, drawing blood from his thumb and holding it out to Jabbers choker. Thinking of the consequences of the chances a Cleaner would see them, he didn’t notice Jabber pressing his own thumb against Zanka’s choker.
“Tsk. Don’t call me unless I call you first, don’t wanna risk getting caught talking to a Raider,” Zanka hissed, pushing past the Raider to the items he was here to buy. If it were to be anything else, he would’ve walked straight out instead of being in the same area as him. But it was for Lovely. He couldn’t handle going any more days without treating her.
He looked through a few of the products, and after finding the perfect ones for Lovely's wood and metal, he proceeded to the checkout. Jabber was already gone, not that Zanka cared.
He realised he had taken far longer than expected in the single store, rushing to the candy shop. As he had expected, Rudo was in there, eyeing a lollipop.
“Rudo, do you want the lollipop?”
“YEAH!!!!!”
“Do you have lollipop money?”
Rudo looked like he was ready to grab another plunger and run at him. Zanka was NOT risking that. He walked out of the store, heading towards the car parked not too far away. Gris would be waiting in there, so he didn’t worry about not having the keys on hand.
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Jabber sat in his apartment, staring at the scattered chemistry notes before him. ‘Replicating the same poison as earlier will be easy enough,’ Jabber thought to himself.
He did have an obsession with Zanka since they were kids training together, but he never expected to see him again after That Day. The coincidence that they had joined rival groups was funny in Jabber’s eyes.
He thought back to their ‘conversation’, most of it being Zanka yelling at him, and about how Zanka remembered him after all these years. He didn’t think he would recognise him after how much he had grown.
His heartbeat rang in his ears, forcing him to focus on his surroundings again. Right, he needed to create the poison again. What hallucinogen had he used the last time…?
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Just as Jabber was about to fall asleep from boredom, he got a ping from his choker. It was from Zanka. Answering the call, he held the choker up to his mouth.
“Mr. Bad Attitude! Thought you’d never call!”
“Shut up. Where are we fighting.”
“Chill, dude! Who pissed in your cereal, jeez. Eh em, anyways..” what had Zanka asked again? Oh, right! Where they were going to meet! Jabber hadn’t thought that far, if he was being completely honest. Thinking of places he had fought others in the past, he came up with one good answer. “There’s an abandoned old warehouse at ________. Meet ya there!” Cutting off the choker connection, Jabber stood and stretched his limbs in a way that couldn’t possible be healthy.
‘Well, time to go!’
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Jabbers location he had said was thankfully only around 20 minutes walking time away from the Cleaners HQ. ‘With Enjin’s driving it would be 3 minutes..’
Zanka grabbed Lovely Assistaff, walking out of his room. Careful not to cause any suspicion, he tried to look as casual as he possible could. He walked past a few people he knew in the hallways, thankfully none of them being Riyo. She would’ve known something was going on instantly from Zanka’s look in his eyes.
If anyone else thought he looked suspicious, which they hadn’t, they didn’t mention it. The streets of the Ground, in the area Zanka was in at least, was much more peaceful around the night. Well, he had called Jabber at 12AM after all. ‘I’m not surprised that crackhead was still awake..’
Reaching the agreed destination, Zanka pulled out Lovely Assistaff. Jabber would most definitely try to sneak attack Zanka, his wall jumping skills unsurprisingly impressive.
Great. All he had to do was fight Jabber till one of them lost, and he’d get the sweet, amazing hallucinations he so desperately longed to be real. He was pathetic. You could consider him an idiot, who wanted hallucinations of their own family? He’d probably agree.
Hearing giggling close by, he knew Jabber would be near. Approaching the sound carefully, not wanting to alert Jabber of his presence, the sight he walked in on was..disturbing to say the least. The maniac stared at.. the floor?
Jabber had a deep wound in his arm, clearly from Mankira’s claw. Had the freak poisoned himself?! Zanka stood there for a minute, not knowing what to do. Who would know what to do in a situation like this?! Any sane person would instantly walk out, but Zanka was not sane. He stared down at Jabber for a long time, rethinking his decision he had made earlier.
Then he decided to go for an attack.
Raising up Assistaff behind Jabber and swinging down, he used all of his force. The crash echoed through the empty area, blowing dust up which temporarily blocked Zanka’s vision. Once the smoke cleared up, all he saw was grey. Devoid of any purple. Turning back, he of course saw Jabber there.
“Damn, you really think i didn’t notice you?”
Jabber suddenly swung his hand forward, slashing Mankira directly into Zanka’s leg. He didn’t dodge in time. Damnit! 3 chances he had gotten to beat Jabber, and he didn’t succeed in any of them! Well, now that he thought about it, this forbidden fighting could benefit him in future battles. He could potentially win against Jabber one day!
Bright coloured blurred his vision, red hair being the first thing to form, alone with a face and body. Kyouka! Zanka never thought he would be so happy to see his sister. Ignoring the fact it was a hallucination, he desperately tried reaching out for her.
She smiled, stepping forward to embrace Zanka in a tight hug.
Zanka mourned the family he could’ve had. If only such high expectations weren’t pushed onto the Nijiku children.
Maybe then he could’ve had a normal, loving family.
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Waking up from his high, Zanka looked at his surroundings. He was.. in his bed? How did he get here.. The last thing he remembered was..What did he remember?
Sitting up in his bed, his head immediately started pounding. Right, he remembered now! He fought with Jabber, got high and somehow ended up…here? How would he get here from where they fought?
Calling Jabber on his choker, he hoped that none of the Cleaners had found him and brought him back. That would be embarrassing.
Jabber answered right before Zanka was about to give up ringing, the smile audible in his voice as he spoke. “Yo, Zanka! You already wanna fight again?”
That’s when he felt it. The pain in his leg.
“No. How did i get all the way back to the Cleaners HQ?!”
“Oh! Well, you were passed out, and i decided to be nice and carry you back!”
“WHAT?! DID ANYONE SEE YOU GO IN THE DAMN DOOR? WAS SEMIU THERE?”
“Nah, i just climbed the windows until i came across a room that had a picture of you in it! It also had bang bang braids and spherite boy, but i decided to risk it and put you in there anyway. You might wanna get that leg checked out, by the way.”
Zanka felt like he wanted to kill Jabber. Well, he’s felt that since their fight in the trash beast, but he felt it more now! He had risked Zanka getting caught by Riyo or Rudo! ‘This idiot..’
Cutting off the connection in annoyance, Zanka decided to go to Eishia. She could help with his leg.
Walking through the hallways, he tried to cover his slight limp. He failed miserably. Well, nobody he knew was there anyways, so he would be fine!
All he had to think about was what to tell Eishia…
How could he explain a slash with poison also in it?! It was clearly Jabber, any idiot could recognise that. Except Eishia wasn’t an idiot, of course.
Maybe he could say..he was encountered him while on a midnight walk? That could work..
Zanka was terrible at making excuses, wasn’t he?
Whatever. He’d just tell Eishia that he just saw the Raider while on a walk at night which turned into a fight. That couldn’t be suspicious, right?
Opening the door to the clinic room, Zanka was greeted by Eishia. He showed her the injury, using the excuse he had come up with earlier.
Eishia looked skeptical, but chose to believe it anyways. There wasn’t much she could do to make Zanka tell her the truth, after all. Eishia suggested staying in the clinic for longer to recover properly, but Zanka couldn’t risk anyone seeing him. He said he’d rest in his room, knowing he would be training anyways.
Eishia let him leave, a pang of worry still remaining on her face.
As Zanka traveled through the halls, he realised he hadn’t seen Rudo, Riyo or Enjin there today at all. He hadn’t even seen Gris and Follo either, and they were always somehow everywhere he went.
Where could they have gone? Reaching for his choker to call Riyo, he froze midway through. He could just ask Semiu, not wanting to risk bothering Riyo when she could be on a mission. ‘Won’t want to make myself more of a bother than i already am..’
At the front desk; he asked Semiu where the others had gone. From what she told him, he gathered that Riyo, Rudo and Enjin were out chasing the information broker. Why hadn’t anyone told him this sooner?! Why were they even chasing the information broker at all? Whatever. Zanka would probably just weigh them down if he went anyways, so it wasn’t like he cared either way.
Heading to the gym section of HQ, he started his daily workout routine.
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Jabber had a realisation strike him.
If Zanka wanted the poison so he could hallucinate, couldn’t Jabber add something else into it? Zanka hadn’t suspected it the first time, so why would he suspect it the second?
Zanka wanting the hallucinations were the only reason they ever even contacted each other, but what if Zanka no longer wanted the hallucinations? What if he got over them? Jabber couldn’t let than happen. He wouldn’t let that happen.
Rolling up his sleeves, he began to work on the poison. His fingers moved automatically, like he had done this a thousand times. He probably had.
He hit flow state, perfecting measurements.
The finished product was a blueish, greenish (but not green enough) kind of colour. Jabber should try this poison on someone, already having the perfect test subject, who was Zanka of course.
All he had to do was wait for the next time Zanka asked for a fight. That would be easy, he had already told Jabber he would beat him in their next fight, meaning there WOULD be a next fight.
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In all honesty, Zanka started to feel like he no longer wanted the experience those hallucinations. He realised they just made it hurt more when he woke up. That wouldn’t help Zanka, but he knew something that would. Fighting Jabber. Fighting Jabber wasn’t particularly a hobby of his, more like in the sense that it helped him become stronger. One day he would be able to beat Jabbers ass. (maybe in more than one way..)
His room was pristine, his bed sheets perfectly done along with no particles of dust in sight. It was a habit he’d picked up from the Hell Guard since they would have weekly room inspections to search for unsafe or illegal items. They all knew that was just an excuse made to ridicule them for simply existing, since all they really ever scolded them about was based off of if the room was tidy or not.
There were many other things that the Hell Guards had done to impact Zanka’s life and fears. He list them if someone asked him to. Could, not would. A few from the top of his head were thunder or lightning, although it wasn’t as bad as others have it. It reminded him of the bullets Kyouka used to shoot at him when he was younger, how he had to learn to dodge them while getting shot in the process. If thunder DID occur, it would just be a slight scare.
Zanka’s hand drifted towards his choker, then back down at his side, He hesitated to call Jabber, because if he sounded desperate, it would be considered weak among the Hell Guards. He had left them already, why was he so concerned about what they would think of him? They already hate him, so who cares?
His mind flashed back to the night when he had first ever failed a test. The painful memory made him feel sick, even though he knew it was over already. Maybe if his family just looked at things from a new perspective, and let him correct his mistakes over time, maybe they would’ve praised him for the times he HAD passed, instead of only focusing on the times he failed. Maybe then they would praise him.
Zanka wanted to live a life from new perspective. If he constantly thought about his mistakes instead of the times he had improved, all that would happen was him getting worse in mental health.
But Zanka needed to prove himself.
All the things Kyouka said ran through his head, constantly mocking and insulting him. He couldn’t deal with it. The memories of her shooting at Zanka, not even caring when she actually shot him, and just pushing him to a doctor.
Praise became a lifeline for him, constantly pushing himself past his limits to impress Enjin. And nowadays, there was someone else on his mind he seeked praise from. He was a Raider.
‘Have i lost my mind..?’ Seeking praise from a Raider was beyond desperate. Enjin’s praise started feeling forced over time, he probably only said it because he had to. But Jabber’s praise felt real. Because Jabber had actually beaten him countless times.
‘I should be over all the butterflies..’ Zanka thought to himself, facepalming. Could someone count all the years Jabber and Zanka had known eachother? ‘After all this time..im still into you..’
Zanka’s heart ached, thinking Jabber would never return the same feelings towards him. Had Zanka officially gone crazy? Yes. Did he seem to care? No.
Zanka’s had a growing crush on Jabber over the years, him being one of the 3 friends he had. The other 2 didn’t consider Zanka as a friend, more like a way of trying to get favouritism. They were convinced Zanka was only as high as he was in the ranks because he was the son of the Nijiku family, even after seeing him training.
But Jabber was different. Jabber didn’t care that Zanka was in the Hell Guard Academy. Jabber didn’t care that Zanka was a Nijiku. Jabber had genuinely believed Zanka could improve. He believed Zanka was still holding back.
That’s when Zanka remembered exactly why he needed to get stronger. To beat Jabber.
Jabber would want that too.
Speaking of the devil.. he heard tapping on his window. ‘Probably just a bird,’ Zanka thought, making his way towards the curtains. Pulling them aside, he was met with the back of Jabbers head to him. Was Jabber swinging on the window ledge?! Wait, why was Jabber there at all?! He tilted his head, his hot pink eyes staring directly at Zanka’s light blue eyes. His signature crooked smile stretched across his face, as he signalled Zanka to open the window.
Pulling open the handle, Zanka let him in. He had Lovely Assistaff gripped tightly against his fingers, of course which Jabber had noticed.
“Chill, i ain’t gonna fight you. Well, in here at least,” Jabber said, giggling to himself. Zanka just simply stared at him in shock, annoyance and disbelief mixing into one. Why the hell was Jabber here, Zanka thought to himself. “Why the hell are you here?! How did you even get past Shikage?!” Zanka asked, his hand on his own forehead. “Gacha logic.”
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