One day, a letter arrived at the Temple and it was addressed to Raimundo. He saw the postmark, grabbed it, and felt it was covered in tears. He stalked off to his room. Kimiko was nervous. Usually, whenever Rai got a letter from home, A) it usually came with a package and B) he always boasted and waved it in front of everyone's face. This time, he got almost a scared look in his eyes. He walked straight into his room, and opened the letter. She waited a little bit but then she thought she heard sobs. She peeked into his room, and he was crying. Tears were falling down his tan skin, and his emerald eyes were red, and the tears were covering the letter.
"Somebody cries in the middle of the night-the neighbors hear but they turn out their lights-a fragile soul caught in the hands of fate-when morning comes it'll be too late." Rai said, but he was singing. She'd never heard him sing before, but she didn't really want to see this. She couldn't see his face but she knew something had heartbroken him, devastated him. She'd never seen him like this before.
"Rai are you okay?" She asked, going into his room. He didn't hear her, he was crying too hard.
"Raimundo are you all right?" Kimiko said, starting to rub his back. (Her mother had done that before she died so she thought it could help.)
"Kimiko?" He gasped.
"Yeah it's me. What's wrong? What happened Raimundo?" She asked. He couldn't answer her, he just held out the letter with shaking hands. She eased it from his grip and read it.
'Dear Rai,
Sarah's dead. The house was burned to the ground with her still inside. The M.E. said she died from smoke inhalation, and was knocked out when it happened so she didn't feel any pain. The police think it was a gas fire but we think she accidentally set it with one of her machines. You know how much she liked to experiment. We want you to sing at her funeral, you know how much she loved your voice. So if you can come home, please do. We love you and know Sarah was proud of you.
Love
Aunt Nora
Kimiko was shocked. She hugged him hard, knowing how much it hurt to lose one of family. He didn't pull away from her embrace, he just kept crying. She wasn't sure how long they stayed there, Rai crying and her rubbing his back. Eventually, he stopped.
"Sorry." He murmured, turning away from her.
"No, don't be. It's fine." Kimiko said, putting an arm around him. He stood.
"I have to go." Rai said, starting to pack some of his belongings.
"Rai if you need anything…" Kimiko started.
"All I need right now is to go home." Rai said, his face dark. Master Fung was all right with him going home, and he got a ride from Dojo to Brazil. He didn't come back until a week later.
He had become depressed, lost interest in everything, and he stopped talking to everyone. Whenever he needed he needed someone to do something, he would do it himself, even if he got it wrong. He stopped coming out of his room, other than training, which he did alone. It took a lot of work just for him to eat and sleep. Rai spurned any help from the others, until he suddenly became interested in Shen-Gon-Wu.
A few days after that, a Shen-Gon-Wu appeared. It was the only thing that seemed to get him in a good mood. Everyone was excited to see him moving and somewhat happy, if you could call it that. He had the scroll Dojo had given him and was reading from it.
"This is called the Mask of Missing Sight. It makes the wearer invisible." Raimundo said energetically. Thankfully, it didn't take long to get there. The mask had been put on a statue in a now deserted garden. No one understood why though, the mask seemed plain, red with black trim. But they weren't alone. Jack Spicer was there with Wuya. Rai tore to the mask just as Jack reached for it. Because of Rai's sudden speed, they both touched it at the same time.
"Xialion Showdown!" They shouted.
"The game is balance. Longest to stay on, wins." Rai taunted. Jack growled and accepted it.
"I wager the Shard of Lightning!" Rai said, not bothering to shout.
"I wager the Third Arm Sash!" Jack yelled.
Then the two were thrown high in the air, landing on two wooden logs that were so small you could barely see them. There was a ledge right under their feet, as if that's exactly where they would land if they fell. The ledges were wide but Kimiko, Omi, and Clay could still see Raimundo if they looked in the right angle.
Knowing Jack would fall before Raimundo, Wuya decided to unleash her secret weapon. As Jack struggled, she floated up to him, right next to his ear.
"I can bring her back Raimundo. Sarah. You can see her again, hear her laughter, and feel her touch." She whispered and Raimundo seemed to listen to her.
"Rai don't listen to her! Think of what Sarah would want you to do!" Kimiko shouted, but her plea seemed to fall on deaf ears. Raimundo lifted a foot, as if to jump down.
"Sarah would be proud of you Raimundo. All you have to do is end this. Then she's yours again." Wuya whispered, which was her fatal mistake. Rai set his jaw, turned his face into anger, and balanced out easily(being the dragon of the wind will do that for you.)
Without a word, he shot the Shard of Lightning towards Jack, who was too busy trying to balance himself to dodge. Jack immediately fell off and ended the showdown. When Raimundo was back on the ground, he looked at Wuya in absolute hatred.
"You're wrong. Sarah would never be proud of that. Sarah was the one who convinced me to become a dragon. She wouldn't have me giving it up. Not for her." Rai spat, the Shen-Gon-Wu appearing in his hand.
"I guess I killed her for nothing then." Wuya said casually. She might have just said the sky is blue. Raimundo's eyes widened in shock.
"Y- you killed her?" Rai gasped.
"It was rather easy. All I had to do was possess one of her little machines and boom the whole house was on fire and she was dead. Her last word was your name. Raimundo." Wuya said, knowing she was destroying Rai. Rai's breaths came in gasps, he was hyperventilating, like someone punched him in the stomach. The other Dragons knew he couldn't take what Wuya was saying. They knew it was destroying him. So they did what any other friends who had been trained in martial arts would do. They started to forcibly chase Jack and Wuya away. Jack ran away screaming, with Wuya trailing behind. Rai had increased his hyperventilating by the time they got there and nothing anyone said could calm him down.
"Rai, you need to calm down or you're gonna pass out." Kimiko warned. But Rai couldn't hear her, he was stuck replaying in his mind what Wuya said. "Easy-possess one of her machines-boom-whole house was on fire-and she was dead-last word-Raimundo."
"Rai calm down!" Kimiko shouted.
In response, Rai's eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed, unconscious, and Clay caught his limp form before his head hit the ground. Kimiko cursed.
"Why did he-?" Omi started.
"Because if you breathe too fast, you don't get enough air and you pass out." She said in Omi terms.
They gently eased Rai onto Dojo's back and took him back to the temple. They moved him to his room and Kimiko waited for him to wake up, which was an hour later.
He woke with the words, "I'm going to kill them."
"No, Rai. I know how much that hurts but you can't." Kimiko said, putting a hand on his shoulder, and helping him up. Rai stayed silent but something had been bothering Kimiko.
"What did Wuya mean by one of her machines?" Kimiko asked,
"My sister was a pyrotechnic. She could make anything and everything explode. And she was good, I mean really good. She was gonna go to school in America." Rai said, his face turning dark, talking about what his sister would never do.
"I'm sorry. But you know as well as I do, revenge is not the way. What would Sarah say?" Kimiko asked.
"She'd hate me. Then she'd say she was sorry for hating me. Then she'd smack me for making her hate me and then apologize." Rai said laughing. This was the first time he'd laughed in just about a month. Kimiko smiled. He'll make it through this. Kimiko thought.