Feeling deep and depressing… I dunno.
Raimundo was dead. It was sad but true, and there was nothing that they could do about it.
Everyone had come to pay his or her respects. The church was decorated with white lilies and green vines. They were wrapped on the walls and around his coffin, giving the place a somber beauty.
The remaining Xiaolin dragons were the first to arrive. All dressed in black, all wearing identical faces of quiet remorse. The other Xiaolin monks arrived shortly after, bringing more lilies and more sadness. The Pedrosa family came in as well, piling on to the depressing atmosphere. And finally, to everyone's surprise, Jack Spicer walked through the doors.
Clay gritted his teeth and hissed, "Spicer."
"What are you doing here?" Kimiko snapped. Her eyes were red from crying, dimming down her usual threatening appearance.
Jack took a step back. "I-I came to… to say goodbye." He stammered. Clay and Kimiko still seemed suspicious.
Omi, however, took Jack by the hand and led him to a pew. "We are most humbled by your change of heart." He said softly.
Jack shrugged in reply and stared at his feet. He couldn't help but come, because it was partially his fault.
A girl walked in the room. Her red hair was cut just below her jaw and made waves to frame her face. Her green eyes were solemn and cold. She was dressed in black from head to toe.
She stopped in front of Mrs. Pedrosa and held out her hand. "I'm the musician here. Do you have a piano?" her voice sounded different compared to her features. It was soft and lilting and almost musical. Jack couldn't take his eyes off her for some strange reason.
Mrs. Pedrosa nodded and managed a watery smile. "Over there, by the vases." She pointed to a corning in the small church where the piano stood. The girl nodded and strode over to it.
Jack could've sworn he had seen her before, but he couldn't quite place where. He looked over at the dragons to see that they were also looking at her. He scooted over to their pew.
"Does the musician look-"
"Familiar?" Clay interjected. "Yeah."
The other two nodded, agreeing with them. "It's probably nothing." Kimiko said. "We might have seen her… in Russia or something."
The girl sat down and began to play. As soon as she did Kimiko started bawling, along with Mrs. Pedrosa and most of Raimundo's sisters. The song seemed to match everyone's moods perfectly.
Jack was the only one who felt no tears come. Instead, he felt that awful guilt again. It was my fault. He thought bitterly. It's my fault everyone's here. Crying and hurting. My fault. Now the tears were beginning to sting his eyes. His mind reflected on what had happened that day as the music quieted and the minister began.
It was another Xiaolin Showdown. Me against him...
And then, that horrible moment. I shoved him back… he started falling. I realized what was happening and tried to help him… but I couldn't take it back. He was falling.
But he stopped himself. He saw me up there, he asked me for help and then…and then he just slipped down. Like he was pulled or something. And I saw… I saw…
What had he seen? He couldn't remember, but maybe the others would.
After the service, everyone started out for a somber dinner at a restaurant down the road. Mrs. Pedrosa was in hysterics and it took her whole family plus the Xiaolin Dragons to get her out the door.
Jack was alone with the music girl.
He turned to her and stared as she packed up her music. "Aren't you going to dinner?" she asked without looking at him.
He started. "Uh… uh…" was all he could manage.
She smiled in the shadows of the church, and a chill ran through him. Outside, it had begun to drizzle. He looked at the coffin. Looking like someone was beneath that closed lid when no one had found the right body to put in it. He shuddered again.
The girl turned to face him, and her eyes pierced him. "You remember… don't you?" she chuckled. "Clever boy for doing so. And yet so stupid."
Jack took a step back. "I do remember… but-"
"How do I know?" the girl finished for him. "Because I know that look. Every once in awhile I get careless and let slip. But you're the first in awhile." She continued to smile and talk in that musical voice.
Jack was now shaking uncontrollably. "You killed him." He whispered. "You were the one who dragged him down. I saw you." He took a few more steps back. "And so did the others."
The door suddenly slammed shut behind him, making him jump. The girl was still smiling.
"It's the way things are I'm afraid." She said, never taking her frightening green eyes off him. "If one gets away, it's my job to see to it that his death is fulfilled. Because no one escapes death deary." She took a step closer. "It's a fact of life."
Jack shook his head, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. "And… and you were laughing." He whimpered. He could remember now. Her eyes illuminated in the darkness of the canyon below, her laughter echoing up at him and ringing in his ears.
She shook her head, the smile never leaving her face. "Dearest boy. I wasn't laughing at death. I was laughing at your foolishness. You were trying to help him evade us. And it's like I said before, no one escapes death." She reached out to him. "I'm sorry, but it's just my job."
"And this is my job." A deep gravely voice said from behind him. Jack spun around and a tall man with an indifferent face stared back at him. With one swift movement, he swung a knife into Jack's side. Jack crumpled to the floor, blood pouring out from between his fingers as he held the wound.
The girl and the man stood over him. The girl was still smiling, the man's face showed no emotion. The girl sat down and put his head in her lap. She started singing,
"Love you are foolish, you're tired,
You're sleeplessness makes you a liar,
The city is burning, the ocean is churning,
Our only chance is the lighthouse…"
Jack felt everything going black. He suddenly wasn't afraid anymore. He felt himself slowly slip into death as he listened to her singing and the sound of a far off piano. He took one last shuddering deep breath as she sang,
"We went in we,
Climbed up and looked out,
The door locked from the outside,
Three ghosts in a lighthouse…"
His last thought was that Raimundo must've listened to the same song as he went. And he drifted off into the blackness, towards the light… like a lighthouse…
And now, Jack was dead. It was sad but true, and there was nothing they could do about it.