Chapter Text
Coming back was a weird transition, like having the entire world go through a 24 hour cycle in only 30 seconds. Jack Spicer blinked and he was back home, at least he hoped it was truy home and not some kind of messed up alternate reality.
At one moment he was in a lit interior of the temple with its walls caved in, night breaching in and now he was in the dark interior of his lab.
The lights were out, but Jack knew the layout like the back of his hand. He knew where the scraps of trash were, his tools, his tables, the mechanisms to build the bots, where he put his cars and his desk with his supercomputer. As he slid across the wall, Jack felt on edge, as if something were in the room with him, waiting for the lights to be turned on.
Jack’s hand found the switch and he found himself wincing as the shock of bright light turned on, showing the sterile and untouched lab.
Everything seemed to be in order, the head of a Jackbot he was repairing on a counter, the charging station for his bots were set up, his jacket was still hanging off his computer chair, nothing seemed to be destroyed or stolen. It’s like he wasn’t even gone, taken back to the exact point where he was missing.
He sighed, letting out all that bottled up tension that ultimately refused to leave him.
His knees caved in, sliding down with his back against the wall in relief and defeat and catharsis and pain. Jack was home.
Jack knew he eventually had to get up. When he finally did, it made Jack aware of his own body again, rather than the world around him and he suddenly really hated the clothes he was wearing. The monk garb, the kind that screamed Xiaolin, even from a different time. Clinging to his white mandarin collared shirt, Jack knew who he should spy on to see if anything had changed.
Booting up his computer and typing a few commands brought out his spy view on the Xiaolin Temple- current time- with his monks. A window opened up to a view of the temple, it seemed so different from the one in ancient times, though that might’ve been a given.
The camera in the form of a spider had already been focused on the current Xiaolin monks in question, as per orders.
Raimundo, Omi, Clay and Kimiko were sitting around a table eating together. It was a minefield of amazing food, better than the one in the past, it seemed they were having Dim Sum based on the buffet style platter of dumplings, buns, meats, veggies, rice, tea and much more. Each of them looked the same as they ever were.
Jack tried hard for his ears to stop buzzing so he could actually listen in on the conversation. Despite the robotic spider placed on a window sill right across from the monks it felt like they were being heard from another room.
“-Still seems fishy” Raimundo had just finished saying something. He clacked his chopsticks impatiently, reaching over and waiting for Omi to finish piling veggies onto his plate so he could get some.
It seemed like a casual conversation, whatever it was. They were all dressed in their robes, all four of them now Shoku Warriors at this point. Jack’s nerves resurfaced.
“Can’t do much about it now, I suppose.” Clay responded. He tipped his hat to his friend and went right back to scarfing down on his rice, amidst a pile of a litany of other food he grabbed from the spread.
In between Raimundo and Clay was Kimiko, back turned to the spy bot, so she was the most unreadable.
“The waiting game, our favorite.” Kimiko said snidely. One hand held chopsticks with a dangling piece of meat on the other end while she tried to discreetly look at her phone from under the table.
Jack tried to get the spider bot to zoom in to hopefully glean any more context, but the image wasn’t clear enough, making him audibly groan and squint his eyes to no effect.
“Stay calm, my friends.” Omi spoke up. “Patience is a bitter plant, but its fruit is sweet.”
There was a pause, one even Jack took as the other three exchanged confused expressions.
“I got nothing,” Raimundo shrugged.
The monks ate and exchanged meaningless small talk with each other; none of it was useful and in fact watching them just have this moment of peace together made Jack angry for a reason he didn’t understand.
Jack watched on as they ate, heart speeding up and growing impatient. He couldn’t believe nothing had changed. Jack had been gone for weeks and he met Wuya and Guan and Chase before he was Chase only for everything to be the same as it ever was.
Oh no. Chase.
Chase had seen Jack, or at least he saw Jian prance around the temple for a bit before running off to plot with Wuya once he got his senses back.
Once again, the monk talk had become white noise as Jack braced against his desk, barely being able to think from the panic. He got to meet Chase Young, his previous evil-hero, now current fallen titan before he turned to the Heylin side. Jack always thought he drank the Lao Mang Lone for an ambitious power grab, but being there when Chenfeng’s world got turned upside down with Master Hsu’s betrayal, it all made sense.
To see Chase as Chenfeng, to have gotten to know him, to train and even sleep beside him. He felt he knew more about Chenfeng in the weeks they spent together than knowing Chase for four years.
The warlord probably preferred it that way.
He looked around his lab, suddenly feeling eyes on him, but no one was there, not at the moment at least.
Jack felt the urge to flee again, though he knew he’d run out of spots at this point. What he really needed was answers.
Instead of freaking out where he stood, Jack headed off to his jet. The list of people who could give him any information was slim, but one trustworthy person did manage to come to mind. If he was still a part of the timeline.
Jack didn’t know what was worse, if he didn’t change the future and Chase ended up torturing Jack as revenge for his time as Jian, or the future did change and now he had to deal with a crazier flavor of the dragon man.
A heavy sigh left the pale youth as he opened the hatch to one of his jet planes and climbed inside. Closing himself in, he prepared for takeoff, turning knobs, flipping switches and opening the runway of a garage door for a proper lift off.
Looking outside as the garage door slowly crept open, Jack saw the vast expanse of middle of nowhere China as the sun died down for the end of the day. Golden hour, shining down upon the earth like a halo.
It wasn’t tough to see through the golden rays however, as rolling storm clouds began to blot out such light. The outside showing signs of previous rain showers, Jack might’ve taken this as an omen if he cared about such things.
The jet catapulted itself into the sky like a bird in flight, the clouds helping and hindering his visibility. A roll of thunder surrounded him, but Jack kept his eyes on the navigation system as it pointed him directly to Guan’s temple.
Jack had barely visited, only once for some scheme involving fake Shen Gong Wu or something, but he remembered enough that the only thing he needed to worry about was the rough higher altitude.
Thunder began crashing and raindrops set upon the glass windows.
“Swell” Jack muttered. “Just swell.”
He found himself bracing when lightning struck near the vessel, planes could handle being struck by lightning, but it certainly didn’t seem like it when actually piloting.
Jack exhaled in relief when he saw the peaks of Guan’s temple, a vast amount of land spaced out between the mountains. A clumsy person could easily fall over the edge and vanish into the fog below; that brought back memories of Chase’s Citadel in Nowhere.
“Christ, get a hold of yourself,” Jack snapped at himself for remembering anything about Chase fondly.
He touched down at one of the many courtyards, not wanting to waste time climbing the stairs. The pale youth nearly slipped and fell out from the water that was now drizzling from the sky. Thunder and lightning abound, close enough for Jack to cover his ears from it.
There was so much water, the torches were completely overpowered, it didn’t seem like anyone was around regardless. He walked to get under the arches for relief against the storm.
Jack shivered, cold and wet from the rain, finally able to put his goggles back over his head as he walked under an archway. He tried looking into the octagonal window, but it was dark, not that he had any qualms with breaking and entering.
A chill ran down his spine followed by a voice.
“How interesting to run into you all the way out here” Chase, ”Out of all the places to run, you turn tail to a Xiaolin Temple.”
Jack spun around to see Chase Young, in the flesh. He always looked the same to Jack’s resentment, beautiful and terrifying. Long black hair and golden cat-like eyes. It was hard to believe he and Chenfeng were one and the same. They looked nothing alike to Jack.
“Chase,” Jack was startled, but still tried to keep his cool. “Look at you, all the way over here. What’s the occasion?”
The warlord tilted his head to the side, a face of scrutiny whenever dealing with Jack Spicer.
“Oh, so it is going to be like that I see.” Chase said in a low voice. “Talking around the subject over and over until I force an ounce of something useful out of you. I thought your little trip would tire you of such a thing.”
Maybe Chenfeng did look at him like that, when Jack first arrived at the temple as Jian. But, this expression was laced with much more malice and buried under it all was hurt too.
“Y-you know.” Jack was wide eyed. He was leaning against the window like he could’ve slipped through it and away from this difficult conversation.
“How could I not? It feels as if it happened…” Chase trailed off.
“Just now” Jack finished in a terrified whisper.
Jack’s stomach dropped when Chase stepped up to him, shoving him away from the wall. Then he began circling him like a predator; the other youth followed him, not letting his eyes off of him.
“That look in your eyes, I can see you know exactly what I’m speaking of. Though I wonder who will answer me, Jian or Jack.” Chase said.
“You actually remembered me, I’m flattered, I’ll be honest.” Jack managed a hopeful look that was snuffed out by Chase’s glare. “It wasn’t like this was some half-brained scheme of mine, you know that.” Jack clutched at his chest.
There was still one question on Jack’s mind, if Chase could remember Jack with perfect clarity that means there couldn’t be any changes to the timeline. He wouldn’t be able to tell otherwise.
“No actually, I can’t believe you remember, it feels like the timeline should’ve shifted a teensy bit here and there.” Jack said.
Chase studied him for a moment, his circling getting closer and closer to the pale youth.
“How utterly green of you, Spicer” Chase stopped, looking straight at Jack, analyzing and tearing him apart with only the golden gaze of his eyes.
The eye contact made Jack gulp.
“You really do look so much like Jian. When I first met you I almost thought you were possibly his next incarnation. Sent to haunt me for one reason or another. That is until I got to know you.” Chase’s voice was low and sharp as he delivered his speech.
“Feels like you treated me like shit from the get-go.” Jack said without thinking.
In an instant, Chase was face to face with him, all of Jack’s nerves alighting with rigid tension. The dark haired man was fast, he always was. Warm breath waved over Jack’s face, the warlord was seething.
“You cannot claim you were undeserving of it.” Chase all but whispered.
That’s when it clicked for Jack, it didn't matter to Chase if Jack really was Jian or not. He still served as a constant reminder of the former compatriot. When Jack grew up it just confirmed Chase’s suspicions that the two men were one in the same.
Chase’s stance shifted, eyes of a predator darting all around Jack’s form that made him squirm under their scrutiny. Jack recognized it as someone lost in thought, something that he always thought the more focused man would be immune to.
“To go from living as a monk to succumbing to the darkness, tell me is there any other life that you craved?” Chase asked rhetorically. Jack opened his mouth to respond anyway, but he was cut off. “There’s always something in you that causes unrest is there not?”
“Chase-”
“That’s why you always return like the cockroach you are, why you always threw yourself at me. You thought us kindred spirits of some kind. Indeed, mayhaps, we could very well be, you remember the alternate timeline.” Chase spoke over Jack.
Jack shivered at the mention, that timeline where Guan drank the Lao Mang Lone soup instead of Chase. Where he and Chase and the monks all lived on some dilapidated farm, struggling but together, while the forces of evil rose to power.
“I-I mean, who’d want to live on that shitty farm anyway? I have a goals, Chase, it’s not like I chose all that nastiness.” Jack retorted.
“I could have guessed. You and I could have lived on a farm happily in obscurity in another life, but we are both too ambitious for such things.” Chase said.
“I can’t believe you knew this entire time and didn’t say anything. This was all just to work out your shit.” Jack said under his breath, suddenly infuriated.
“I’ve moved onto far more practical matters, I assure you.” Chase grabbed Jack’s wrist in a vice grip.
Jack struggled to wrench free, but Chase wouldn’t let go, tightening his grip enough for Jack to feel his own bones through his skin.
“Hey, cut it out!” Jack screamed.
“Did you really think you could run away from this easily? To Guan of all people? There is not a force alive that will allow you to go far from me.” Chase’s eyes grew intense.
Through tears in his eyes at the pain, Jack raked his other hand over Chase’s torso, a desperate attempt for freedom. The scratch dug into Chase’s ever pristine armor, creating four claw marks that serrated the armor, but didn’t break the skin.
A rough shove sent Jack to the floor, Chase above him. The dark curtain of his hair enshrouding his features for a moment. Jack was barely able to recover before Chase bent down and rammed his fist into Jack’s gut.
He rolled across to the muddy ground, coating himself in muck as the rain beat down harder. His head was spinning, stomach feeling caved in as the pain trickled through the rest of his body. Chase was still unsatisfied as he started to stalk forward.
Jack saw this and reached a hand out on instinct and formed a fist.
“Metal” He grunted through the pain.
The workings of Chase’s armor, his arm and leg bands, his pauldrons, what was left of his chestplate, concaved. It tightened itself around the warlord's body, cutting off circulation as he was restricted by the very armor he used to protect himself.
Walking became labored, Jack saw through the rain that Chase’s expression turned livid. The other man threw himself onto the pale youth, pinning Jack’s arms apart, straddling his waist in the process.
Chase leaned over again, something mad in those golden cats like eyes, teeth pulled back in a snarl. The warlord’s body began to shift into its more monstrous form, Jack being crushed under the weight of the green and black striped drake form on Chase. The power he sold his soul for.
He roared in Jack’s face, the sound nearly deafening him more than thunder ever could. New sets of tears rolled down the youth’s face, his only source of warmth besides Chase’s monster breath.
“Chase” Jack struggled to say. “Stop!”
All Chase did was continue to cry, like an animal. It was like the other man could no longer understand speech anymore, only the instinctual violence of the beast within.
Jack closed his eyes trapped under it, whimpering and hoping for a quick death.
“Repeal the beast!”
Chase was thrown away from Jack, several feet until he crashed into Jack’s jet; it crushed under the weight of him.
Jack couldn’t stand up from the still sizzling pain, aching even as he turned his head to the source. Guan arrived on the scene, finally hearing the fight that was going on as it broke through the rain.
Guan and Jack exchanged a look, one of them unexpectedly running into a figure from your past thought to be long gone.
They both turned to Chase when they heard his roar from across the yard.
He had recovered from the forceful shove, getting back on all fours to take an aggressive stance. The more mutated dragon form let out a series of growls and trills, as if struggling to say something other than a howl.
“Curious” Chase finally managed to say.
It was rough and forced and not at all like the silky stoic tone he was known for.
“Curious.” He said again, like he was trying to get used to speaking again. “That you side with the Heylin side so easily before and not now.”
Guan stepped in front of Jack, protectively. He raised his voice to be heard clearly through the pouring rain; Jack even angled his head to prevent from accidentally waterboarding himself.
“This is no place for you, force of evil.” Guan demanded, voice sharp as stone. “Leave at once.”
Chase’s drake form let out clicks as he sized up his new opponents. The rain wetted his skin so that his green scales shimmered like precious jewels. His gold eyes never blinked as it decided what to do.
He brought his hands to his head, a noise of agony left him before he began to shrink back to his dark haired, tan skinned self.
Jack thought Chase had no right to still be beautiful after what he just did to him.
“This is far from over.” Chase declared.
A flash of lightning and he was gone. Leaving Guan and Jack in the cold and pouring rain to pick the pieces up.
Guan shocked Jack when the former instantly moved to gently cradle him in his arms. Jack wanted to struggle but he was far too weak for such a thing, letting himself be carried to the interior of the temple.
As they passed through the threshold proper, Jack heard Guan say, “This reminds me of our first meeting.”
Chase reappeared in his temple, wet and angry. He knew he let his anger get the best of him, but echoes of his past seemed to bring it out of him. The interior of his citadel was the picture of paradise with its white pillars, arches, sea foam colored walls and stained glass. Only the warlord felt no pride moving in this space.
His sight went from Jack and Guan to his own throne, apprehended from one of his many victories. A monolith or a metaphor for all the things he had become; from a poor and homeless orphan to the might that rivals an emperor.
An angel without angelness.
He made his way across the room, entering the hallway, too tired to notice a pair of green eyes track him from the shadows as he did so.
Climbing up a flight of stairs and down a few passageways led the centuries old Xiaolin traitor to his room, a tiger laying out in front. It instantly stood to attention, to which Chase ignored.
The grand bedroom was as big as any other room in the citadel, decorated in rich reds and trinkets from all over the world; all over time even.
Chase wondered how he let himself get carried away, only meant to intimidate Spicer so he'd crawl to the warlord’s side. Instead, the whole affair got messy quickly. He forgot how easy it was to lose control around the pale youth.
He wandered over to the equally large and luscious adjacent bathroom, looking more like a public spa for a group rather than one person.
His feet did the walking for him, his hands reaching for a drawer without him even noticing. Pulling out a locket, it was well kept despite being hundreds of years old, white with a decal of a spider lily on it. Pulling it open revealed a familiar lock of white hair that was given to him in what he considered another life.
Looking up, Chase finally saw his reflection. The immaculate, well put together warrior had been replaced by a haggard shadow of all the standards he held himself to. All thanks to one person who had such an effect on him.
A rough sigh escapes him, clasping the locket to throw it to the ground, to prove how little it affected him. But, despite everything he could not.
Chase kept the locket with the hair inside enclosed in his fist, raising it to keep it close to his chest. He stared at himself in the mirror, ashamed of himself for being so weak, for letting things get so out of hand, for failing despite giving up everything to succeed.
“Do you have any regrets?” Jack asked Guan. In his pocket he grasped onto the lock of black hair that had been given to him. The youth knew he should get rid of it.
Guan considered the question.
He paused as he poured tea for the both of them, Jack finally broke through the muted rain from outside to finally speak. The youth was finally put in new clothes- still monk robes- but at least these were black.
“I do not.” He finally answered. Guan’s back was turned to Jack, so the other man couldn’t see if that was the truth or not.
Jack still scoffed all the same.
“So, Master Hsu’s betrayal, Wuya’s war against the temple, Chase’s betrayal, Dashi’s death, your betrayal of the monks when the big bad dragon man stole your special spear, isolating yourself rather than helping said monks. You have no regrets on any of that, that’s fascinating to me and by ‘fascinating’ I mean I think you’re full of shit.” Jack’s words came out as harsh and hard as they could be.
But, still, Guan retained his stoic demeanor. Merely walking over with the jade colored tea set decorated with snakes and red date trees, looking well kept but obviously old.
“You are correct, I have made mistakes in my time, but one can’t toil with what-ifs, only what is right in front of us.” Guan said.
He passed the cup to Jack, wanting his guest to drink from it first.
“You and I have experienced that what-if before, an alternate timeline where I drank the soup of eternal life instead of Chase Young.” Guan stated matter-of-factly. “We all saw a future where evil nerely prevailed.”
“It seems like you’re just using the excuse that shit happens to justify yourself.” Jack looked down at the tea, the smell burning his nostrils. “I’m not thirsty.”
Guan brought his tea cup to his nose, taking in the scent before sipping.
“Nevertheless, it is there if you need it.” Guan said.
Jack rolled his eyes, frustrated with the amount of passivity from the Master Monk. He looked around the room, the kitchen was compact, lined with wood and marble and granite countertops. It felt warm, and way better than the outside at this moment.
He leaned into his seat, closer to Guan’s space, as if about to whisper a secret.
“Why can’t you just kill Chase? Is it loyalty issues, a suicide pact, what? What’s keeping you here with him?” Jack demanded softly.
Guan sighed.
“The reason I have lived so long is because of him. He is the Yin to my Yang as they say, my mere presence forces the universe to attain an eternal balance. The only way evil exists is if good people do nothing.” Guan explained.
“You ARE the good man doing nothing!” Jack snapped.
A thick pause filled the air, as thick as Jack’s desperation. Calling out to Guan like he was a lost child clinging to the first adult he could find; Jack had hoped Guan could provide answers, but it seemed like a dead end.
Guan cleared his throat when he set down his cup. Jack stared at the man, untouched by time except for his hair of course.
“I still think you’re full of shit.” Jack said. “You could’ve stepped in to help the monks more, but you didn’t. I can’t believe you’re more of a coward than I am.”
“It is not my fight anymore.” Guan said. “I have no element-”
“Neither does Chase I’m guessing.” Jack interrupted. “Another reason to sell his soul for a little bit of that power that was stolen from him.”
“But you have yours now.” Guan retorted. “Now you must decide what you will do with it. There will always be a Chase Young in the world no matter what any of us will do.”
It may have been in Jack’s head, but he could have sworn he saw the chiseled strong features of Guan’s face sharpen just a fraction. His voice took on a more authoritative tone of Master Seng.
“I’m a lot of things before I’m the Dragon of Metal.” Jack said. “Which means I don’t have to get bogged down on the heroic call to action like the Xiao-shitheads.”
“If I am more cowardly than the likes of you, I wonder what lengths you’ll go to run before the sands of time run out for you.” Guan said darkly.
The conversation was brought to a halt.
Both men were silent, noise replaced by rushing wind as it combined with the rain to slam against the walls of the building. It was like white noise.
Red eyes stared into burning coals that never once took the route to look anyone directly in the eyes. There was a silent challenge to see who would blink first, who would be the more wrong out of these two.
“Why did Dashi die, huh? How come the death of the greatest Xiaolin monk didn’t make a difference?”
Guan didn’t look at him.
“He…played his part, as do we all.”
“Is that really all?” Jack scoffed.
Instead of answering, Guan shifted the conversation topic.
“You may stay at this temple for as long as you like.” Guan said. “It is the least I can do for a comrade.”
Jack could tell the honesty in his voice, even if his tone was rigid.
Jack’s heavy footfalls echoed in the hallway as he made his way to the guest quarters, silently remarking on the twist of fate of returning home, but unable to sleep on a real bed. Sliding open the door and leaving himself in darkness that switched to light the instant he shut the door.
He was surprised at first, thinking the light was automatic before lifting and twisting his head to the side, seeing another familiar face.
“Hey stranger,” Wuya greeted.
Jack made a face at her, like her presence drew in a sour note that offended his senses from head to toe. She crossed her arms at him.
“I thought I smelled shit.” Jack tiredly said.
“What a coincidence, you look like shit” Wuya tilted her head in a taunt.
She uncrossed her arms, looking completely unthreatening as she walked up to Jack; a clear contrast from her hours before- or at least Jack’s perception of hours before.
He flinched when she reached up, a warm claw-like hand reached up, her thumb wiping away the leftover smudges of his makeup that the rain did not clear away. Wuya cleaned his face like a mother cat cleaning her kitten, although there was no tenderness between them. One evil person making the other look presentable.
“Chase isn’t going to stand for what you did.” Wuya spoke softly. Her face was completely neutral, almost uncaring.
“He’s not gonna kill me, if he wanted to, he’d already done it by now.” Jack shrugged off Wuya’s hand finally. “He’d probably keep me to eternally torture or lock up or something. Indiscriminate killing doesn’t seem to be his style”
“You’re right.” Wuya nodded.
Now that she was finished with tidying up Jack’s face, Wuya took to walking around the room, but it was too plain to scrutinize.
“The only difference between then and now is your powers.” Wuya said. “It can’t be helped that you’re going to be hunted, at least now you have an edge.”
“A pep talk, swell. Let me guess, if I say no, Hannibal is gonna pop out to beat me up a little bit before I join you two out of fear. Then -something, something- going up against Chase to dethrone him only for that to end miserably and we’re back to square one.” Jack said.
Wuya turned her head to him, lips pursed in a disappointed frown at Jack’s defeatist attitude.
“Spare the dramatics, Jack, I didn’t come all the way here to goad you or pity you or any sort of emotional trivialities like that.” Wuya walked up to him, hands on her hips with an indignant stare.
They were barely able to be face to face with each other considering Jack was about six feet tall and Wuya could barely reach that height on her tippy toes.
Nevertheless, she commanded attention.
“You’re so blinded by all that you went through that you can’t see what’s right in front of you.” Wuya said. “Surely, you can see through your thick head what this all means.”
Her green eyes sparked something dangerous that shocked Jack, but he didn’t inch back.
“This little trip was… disjointing, sure, but no one is going to be able to help you through it. Anyone who can offer sympathies is only an outsider looking in.” Wuya said. “Despite everything, the universe keeps on going and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to be the hand of fate that actually changes something.”
Wuya looked at Jack, really looking at him. Reminding herself of the seemingly insignificant boy that released her from the puzzle box. How that boy exposed all his weaknesses to her in a way that made her feel disgusted. All the things that reminded her about her own youth and greenness.
“You heard the almighty Master Monk Guan say he can’t do what you know needs to be done and I hope you remember what I told you long ago about the limits of Heylin.”
She’s always been drawn to him in a way she didn’t understand. Wuya knows Jack will betray her time and time again and it will confirm all the things she ever thought about him. Yet, that won’t stop her from coming back to him, from him coming back to her; it seemed so contradictory to be attached to another that you couldn’t help hate. Darkness is addicting like that.
“You’ll know what to do when you’re ready.” Wuya said.
She started to walk out of the room, but before she did, she glanced back at Jack.
“The world won’t wait for you.”
Then she left, slipping out of the room before Jack could even get a word in. Leaving him lost in thoughts, all alone.
Jack had properly toiled on his sleeping mat, a candle light barely providing light as he heard the sounds of the storm finally letting up. Those hours were spent trying to decide what to do with his life.
It seemed so strange to meet the so-called heroic figures from the past, to live among them and find out they led just as complicated lives. Chase Young, Master Monk Guan and even Grandmaster Dashi didn’t have the answers to success. Even Wuya was a shadow of her former self. One monk fallen from grace, one faded into obscurity, one idolized into something beyond recognizable to be a poster boy.
He couldn’t be Xiaolin, he tried, he really did this time, but there was always something about him that dug clear lines in the sand. It wasn’t like Heylin treated him any better, but it was a lot more free on the rules.
Jack turned to his side, the only thing of note in the room was a watercolor painting on the wall depicting mountains. Looking at it gave him as much of an epiphany as the blank ceiling did. He knew one thing for sure, that he couldn’t go on like this.
Heylin, Xiaolin, powers or no, Jack was tired of running, tired of trying to fit into boxes people were forcing him in.
He wanted nothing more than to be that seven year old child again, at his Granny’s, learning to fly for the first time. Jack couldn’t help but wonder when this game stopped being so fun.
Jack got up and sighed roughly.
Jack thought of Guan and Chase locked in battle for all eternity, no real goals except a constant struggle and about fifteen hundred years of baggage. He wondered if his monks would grow up and repeat their fates or would they get happy endings.
He thought of Chengfeng, getting portrayed by people he trusted over and over until he signed a pact that would never let him get hurt again.
He thought of Chase, beautiful and terrifying, seeing a face from his past that seemed to only exist to torment him, to haunt the dragonlord. What else could a soulless isolated man do, but lash out? What tools did he learn to properly heal?
Chase probably met hundreds of Xiaolin monks over the years, how the centuries had passed but he was still fixated on the past still. How lonely it would be for the warlord, but he could never be vulnerable enough to say it out loud. Jack thought of that and for the first time ever, pitied Chase Young.
An idea came into Jack’s mind.
He checked his phone out of habit before getting up and quietly slipping out of his room. The rest of Guan’s temple was dark and quiet, though Jack was too tired to care at this point. He made his way to his jet to leave.
The world will always have Chase Young’s in it; that’s why Guan and the monks can’t ever rest. That’s why the only way out is to die like Dashi, live life despite hardships until the end. But, if Jack was the bad guy, that means they could both rest. It would mean Jack could give himself breaks and also his monks by proxy. For once, Wuya was right, his new abilities would also give him a spark of opportunity.
Approaching his jet, Jack held out his arms and flexed his fingers, calling his element. The machinery that was dented by a hulking demonic dragon was now being popped back into proper alignment.
Chase would give him hell, it was the only thing he could give now.
“The world needs a bad guy.” Jack told himself.
Then he hopped back into his jet, made sure everything was in proper order for a takeoff. Just in time too, the storm was finally letting up.
Jack Spicer, evil boy genius lived as number one on everyone’s shit list, he might as well give them a proper reason.