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On the day the earth split in half, Jermaine was sitting in the back row of geometry class. When the vinyl floor began to quake, the sky turned red, and distant skyscrapers tumbled, the other students screamed and panicked while he hollered at his classmates to stay calm. He’d seen this type of chaos before, less than two years ago, when the sky had turned black and every army in the world had fallen to a risen Heylin witch. Most importantly, he knew who had saved them all then, and he knew who would save them now. The Xiaolin Warriors would fix this.
For two days, the world burned. Then, in a rush of light so swift that Jermaine could have blinked and missed it, the smoke and fire disappeared. Entire buildings sprang back upright like they had never collapsed in the first place. Car horns and tourist prattle and all the other familiar sounds of New York City rushed into the air like a flock of pigeons, drowning out the deathly silence that had hung there merely moments ago. Jermaine opened his bedroom window and peered down at the people strolling down the sidewalk as if they had forgotten the past two days completely. He was less surprised this time around. Most people had forgotten Wuya’s reign, too.
Though the logical part of his brain knew the Xiaolin Dragons were almost certainly still busy wrapping up whatever battle they had just won, Jermaine still snatched up the little sheet of paper on his desk with Kimiko’s phone number, ran downstairs and grabbed the landline.
Drumming his fingers against the wall, he waited through Kimiko’s cheerful little voicemail. At the beep, he said, “Yo guys, what up, it’s Jermaine— Just so you know, I’m gonna be calling you guys every day ‘til you fill me in on what just happened out here. I know it was you guys because everyone’s already acting like they forgot about it, and you dawgs told me last time about Xiaolin magic resetting world balance and… just call me back, alright?”
Two years ago, the first time Jermaine had frantically called Kimiko’s cell phone after the planet had restored itself, Omi had called him back within a few hours. The little monk had gushed about his grand adventure, weaving a tale about Raimundo’s betrayal, Jack Spicer’s time machine, and a Xiaolin Showdown against Grand Master Dashi himself. Jermaine had listened with his mouth hanging open and eventually going dry while Omi had explained his mooooost clever plan to freeze himself under a rock to return home, and the monk had gladly answered all of Jermaine’s awestruck questions.
So when no one called back this time, Jermaine wondered what had changed.
Despite what he’d threatened in the voicemail, he waited three days before he tried calling again. Maybe the monks were still too busy. Maybe his friendship with Omi had taken too hard a beating after their stupid spat at the Xiaolin temple. Maybe Omi just didn’t want to talk to him… Or maybe something was still wrong.
Before he could fret any further, Kimiko answered the call. “Hello?”
“Kimiko?” Jermaine sat up straighter in his kitchen chair, trying to keep his voice low enough to not wake his parents. “Hey, it’s Jermaine! Is Omi there?”
“Omi? Oh! Yeah, he’s somewhere. Lemme go find him—” Jermaine heard some shuffling at the other end of the line. “I’m thinking of getting him his own phone. We need to make sure we can find him whenever he wanders off on his own, especially if he’s gonna keep going to talk to… Uh, never mind.”
Jermaine raised an eyebrow. “You guys gonna fill me in on what happened this week?”
“Yeah, I figured that’s why you were calling— I know you and Omi usually send letters since that’s a lot cheaper than international phone calls, but uh, I’ll let him tell you, okay? Omi? Hey Omi, Jermaine’s calling, you wanna talk to him?”
Jermaine bit his lip, trying to hear the short, muffled conversation between the two monks. Were they arguing? A few seconds passed, and then Omi’s voice hit his ear, far louder than Kimiko, “Hello, Jermaine!”
Jermaine smiled. “Hey, dawg! You alright?”
“I am quite well! How are you?”
The tension in Jermaine’s shoulders eased a bit. Though Omi seemed a bit louder than normal, which usually meant he was hiding something, he at least sounded cheerful. Jermaine leaned back in his chair and said, “Aw, you know, other than New York City crumbling down for a couple days, I’m pretty chill.”
“You—” Omi’s voice turned quiet. “It hit New York City?” He let out a horrified gasp, and Jermaine had to pull the phone away from his ear when the monk hollered, “Are you alright? How many people were hurt? Did anyone—? Oh no, I am so sorry, Jermaine, I did not know—!”
“Hey, it’s all good, dawg,” Jermaine said, waving his hand dismissively. “Everyone’s fine. It’s just like last time. All the damage just kinda reversed itself, and all the people that got hurt were fine again, and now it’s like everyone forgot it even happened.” He glanced out the kitchen window. “I guess the only reason I remember it is because I know you guys exist…?”
Omi did not respond for a while, and when he did, his reply was quiet. “That’s… good.”
“So are you gonna tell me what went down out there? It wasn’t Wuya again, right?”
Again, Omi hesitated before he answered. “N-no, Wuya does not have her powers. It was m— It was Chase Young.”
“My old teacher?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Jermaine screwed his eyes shut and grimaced. The fact that he still instinctively referred to Chase Young as his “old teacher” and not “a clownin’ evil Heylin wannabe kidnapper” was something Omi would probably notice. In an attempt to breeze pass his faux pas, he said, “But how? The guy’s a major pro at martial arts, I know that, but— I mean, there’s no way he could have set the whole world on fire by himself, right?”
“N-no, he, um…”
Jermaine frowned, wondering what could make Omi so reluctant to tell him the truth. “It wasn’t because of me, was it? I don’t remember telling him anything he could use against you, other than how we were friends—”
“No, no, no, it had nothing to do with you. I believe he has forgotten all about you, to be honest.”
Jermaine decided to not let that statement offend him too much. “So… what was it, then?” Omi didn’t reply. “You really don’t want to tell me, do you?”
“W-what do you mean?”
Jermaine’s expression softened. “I dunno, man, you seem a little out o’ whack. Is there something bugging you?”
The answer was instant and loud. “No!”
Jermaine rolled his eyes. “Dawg, you don’t have to lie to me. You suck at it.”
Faintly, he heard Omi mumble, “That is not true… I mastered deception…” Jermaine studied the tiles on the ceiling while he puzzled over his clues. The clock in the living room ticked for about a full minute before Omi finally spoke again. “The world did not end because of Chase Young. It ended because of me.”
Jermaine snorted. “Right. Like how Clay losing a Xiaolin Showdown against Cyclops was your fault because you didn’t show up on time? Or how Raimundo getting possessed by Shen Gong Wu was your fault because you couldn’t babysit him 24/7? Dawg, you need to quit taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong; it’ll make people think you have a big ego or something.”
“No, Jermaine, you do not understand! Chase Young was not alone; he had… help…”
Jermaine’s smirk dropped. “Was it Raimundo again?” He’d heard enough about the Dragon of Wind to doubt the guy’s loyalty to the Xiaolin side. He still remembered the way Omi’s voice had cracked when he had explained Raimundo’s betrayal years ago. Jermaine had been furious to hear that Raimundo still lived at the temple; how could anyone hurt his homey like that and still be allowed to return?
“N-no, it was not Raimundo,” Omi mumbled. “I told you, Raimundo is good. He defeated Wuya. He saved us.”
“Yeah, after he put you in danger in the first place.”
“He has seen the error of his ways, I think…”
“Has he, though?” Raising an eyebrow, Jermaine launched into the same rant he’d had before. “The guy snuck off on his own to fight that Shen Gong Wu monster Mala Mala thing, and he put you all in danger, and then he got mad at you guys and ditched you like it was your fault, and he brought back an ancient super-powered Heylin baddie and caused the end of the world—grinning the whole time, you said he was— And while you dawgs were doing everything you could to fix it, he didn’t do a single thing to help you, not until the last possible second, after you’d done all the hard work!”
He took a deep breath through his nose. “Omi, doll, I know you’re real big on seeing the good in people, and he may have been chill when I met him, but I don’t know how you forgave him. I know I won’t, not after the way he hurt you.” He rubbed his forehead and waited for Omi’s rebuttal; sometimes the monk would defend his teammate, other times he would agree with Jermaine completely. It usually depended on Omi’s mood, and whether or not Raimundo had done his chores that week.
However, tonight, Omi said nothing. Jermaine frowned when he heard a strange, muffled noise. He pressed the phone harder against his ear. “Omi…?” He heard a wet hiccup, and then his heart dropped at the young monk’s unmistakable sob. “Omi?!”
“M-m-maybe you are right, Jermaine…” Omi’s voice was broken and hitched. “M-maybe s-someone who hurts his friends and causes the w-world to end should n-not be forgiven…”
Knowing he had somehow put his foot in his mouth, Jermaine stammered, “Dawg? Omi, I’m sorry, I was overreacting, it’s cool—”
“It is n-not cool! I tried to kill them!”
Jermaine stared blankly across the kitchen table, mouth open and eyes unblinking. “Huh?”
“I t-tried to—I was there, it was me—I tried to kill them— I was going to drown them—I wanted to do it—”
“Omi, doll, slow down, you’re wiggin' out—”
“My f-friends—They said it’s okay and I did not mean it because I wasn’t myself, but they are wrong— I was myself! I was there and I wanted to fight them—No one was controlling me—I was going to kill them both and if Kimiko had not s-stopped me in time…”
His voice dissolved into whimpering sobs that made Jermaine’s heart ache. Leaning forward in his chair, he would have given anything to be at the temple in person to give the poor kid a hug. Choosing his words as carefully as possible, he asked, “When… when the others say you weren’t yourself… what does that mean?”
Omi sniffled. “They m-mean I wasn’t whole. My good chi was in the Ying Yang World. I was trying to rescue Master Fung, but I only had the Ying Yoyo.”
Jermaine nodded slowly, having absolutely no clue what any of that meant. “Uh-huh.”
“And w-when I stepped back outside, something in me split apart. All I felt was anger. I did not care for my friends anymore, and I wanted to hurt them. S-so I left them and joined Chase Young b-because I thought he respected me. He promised I would rule the world at his side.” He sniffled loudly as if trying to take a deep breath, and then he suddenly snarled, “And after everything, he did not even keep his word! He turned me into a cat and stole my powers for himself! And when the Chi Creature attacked my friends, he snatched them all and forced them into servitude, too! They did not swear their loyalty to him! It was not fair!” Panting, he then gulped, and his voice lost its venom. “I trusted him. So not only am I evil, but I am far too stupid to belong here…”
“Hey now.” Jermaine leaned forward in the chair and rested his elbow on his knee. “Don’t go calling yourself stupid for trusting Chase Young.”
“Why not?” Omi muttered.
“’Cause then you’re calling me stupid, too.” Jermaine ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Look, dawg, I don’t really get much of what you said about all that Ying Yang stuff, but I know what it’s like to get tricked by Chase Young. That guy played me like a fiddle. The entrance to his lair is the most evil-looking thing I’ve ever seen, and he still had me convinced he was a Xiaolin master…” His hand covered his face, and he glared through his open fingers at his reflection in the toaster. “He knew exactly what to say to me, how I was gifted, and my skills were impressive… He was probably making it all up the whole time, huh?”
Pulling his hand away, he blinked. He hadn’t meant to make this conversation about himself. Before he could open his mouth to change the subject back around, Omi said softly, “He was not.”
“Was not… what?”
“Making it up.” Omi sounded calmer now, like he was relieved to talk about something else. “Your skills are most impressive. We sparred, remember? I have trained all my life, and I did not go easy on you, and yet you still defeated me. You are indeed quite gifted, Jermaine.”
“Oh.” Jermaine blushed, and he shrugged sheepishly. “Th-thanks.”
Bitterly, Omi murmured, “That is how he tricks you. He tells truths, and he grants favors.”
“Have you talked to the other monks about any of this? Is Kimiko still around?”
“No, I am alone. I climbed onto the roof for better phone service.” After an awkward pause, Omi let out a long sigh. “I am too… ashamed… to talk to the other warriors. They have forgiven my actions, but I do not think they would understand. Raimundo thought I was foolish for keeping my word to Chase Young.”
“Want me to come over there and kick his butt?”
He heard Omi’s weak giggle. “That will not be necessary.”
Smiling, Jermaine fiddled with the phone cord. “Well, if you don’t want to talk to the others, you can always talk to your number one homey, okay?”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, but let’s stick with letters, alright? My parents are probably gonna kill me at the end of the month when they see the phone bill. Speaking of which, you should come visit at the end of the month so I have some back-up when my parents try to kill me over the phone bill.”
“But… are you not bothered by the things I said? The things I did?”
Standing up from his chair and leaning against the wall near the phone receiver, Jermaine said, “Look, dawg, I don’t know a whole lot about Yin and Yang and all that other stuff you talked about, but I know you. Whatever you did or whoever you tried to drown or whatever, I know there’s an explanation for it, and I’m betting Chase Young was pulling all the strings. You’re not evil. You’re a Xiaolin Warrior, and you’re my homey. I got your back, okay?”
He heard Omi sniffle again. “Thank you, Jermaine. It is an honor to call you my friend. A-and I shall make certain your parents do not kill you.”
Jermaine beamed. “Good, ‘cause all my mad skills? Hereditary. Got ‘em from my mom.”
He heard another wet giggle, and Omi said, “Then I must visit quickly so I may teach you the moves to defeat her! But for now, I suppose I must peace in.”
“Out.”
“Everywhere! Farewell, Jermaine!”
Jermaine chuckled. “Talk to ya later, Omi.”