Disclaimer: I do not own anything here but the plot and original characters.
A/N: This fic contains elements of "What I Like in You", but you don't have to read that one to understand this story. Jade is eighteen years , Jackie and Viper are married and have a son called Jack, the demons are free, and there's a romance between Jade and Hsi Wu, although it's practically not showed here. The rest of the other fic doesn't matter. There are some references, but they are not important. This first chapter is a bit too sickly sweet and sad, but the next chapters won't be like that.
A New Hope
Hsi Wu stood up difficultly. He raised his glance and all he could see was panic, terror and destruction. Nobody else could say that there once had been Hong Kong, because it was in total ruin now. Cadavers were everywhere and the ground was covered in blood. Including his siblings' blood. Only Tso Lan was still alive, though not for a long time.
Hsi pressed his hand against his wounded shoulder and walked slowly towards his brother. He was Hsi's favourite sibling; they had always spent a lot of time together. When the sky demon approached, he saw that his brother was almost dying. He knew he should say something, but he was not sure what to say.
"... Tso... Lan..." Hsi murmured and the moon demon opened his eyes.
"Hsi Wu... R-Run away from here. She will come back at any moment..." Tso Lan said in a low voice and Hsi knelt down.
"Run away? Where to? It does not matter where I go, she will pursue me for all the eternity," Hsi said bitterly and saw Jade running to him, holding Jack by his hand. They approached the two demons and Hsi hugged her. "It is impossible to destroy Apocalypsium," he continued and Jade began to cry, looking at Jackie, Tohru and Uncle, who were lying on the ground.
"Go on, child. They are still alive," Tso Lan said and Jade looked at him in surprise and fear.
"Tso Lan! No!" she yelled, crying more and more as she knelt down.
"Listen to me... Y-You must go to the oracle and find out who was responsible for her release. That human... called Valmont... had the key... Destroy that key in the past... and destroy her releaser..." Tso Lan said, trying hard to stay alive but when finishing the phrase, he could not continue.
"Tso Lan! Tso Lan!" Jade cried and leaned her head against Hsi's chest. The sky demon also let few suppressed tears fall. He had just lost his favourite sibling. Jack just watched them; he was actually more worried about his father.
"Dad!" Jack yelled, running to his father, who was still unconscious.
"Jack! No!" Jade warned, but suddenly the boy was hit in the stomach by a kind of energy. "Jaaaaack!" Jade screamed and she and Hsi Wu turned to see the obvious; Apocalysium had returned. She was floating in the sky, her arms crossed, and smirking evilly.
Apocalypsium had a very pale grey skin and red eyes. She was wearing a long white dress with several blue strips and had dark blue hair that was longer than her own body. When she was not floating, which was rare, her hair reached the ground.
At that moment, Tohru woke up. The first thing he saw was Jade being held by Hsi Wu and Apocalypsium smirking at them. Jade then noticed that he had woken up.
"Tohru! Save Jackie and Uncle! They're still alive!" Jade yelled and Tohru hesitated.
"But... But Jade..."
"Don't worry about me! Go now! I'll take care of her!" Jade continued and Tohru reluctantly nodded. He took Jackie and Uncle and ran away, sometimes looking back. Jade glared at Apocalypsium and clenched her fists. She knew she could not defeat her, but somebody had to distract her to avoid that she tried to kill her uncles and Tohru. "Damn you! You'll pay!" she shouted.
"Jade! Don't do that! You're the only one I have now!" Hsi said holding her arm and Jade turned to face him.
"I'm trying to distract her, okay? Fly away and tell the others what must be done to avoid this whole catastrophe!" Jade whispered and got away from the demon.
"Jade! I won't let you die!" Hsi Wu yelled and before he could do anything, Apocalypsium pointed at Jade with her finger and threw another ray of energy. Jade did not even notice her move with her human eyes, but Hsi Wu did and flew as fast as he could to save her. He got it on time, but the price was a mortal wound close to his heart. He gathered his remaining strenght and flew away carrying Jade. Apocalypsium just watched them, her arms crossed again.
"You can run... but you cannot hide..." she said and her eyes glowed. "Nobody escapes from Apocalypsium!" she announced triumphant and teleported to some other place.
Jackie and Uncle were sleeping in a cave that they used as a hiding place. Tohru was beside Jade, trying to comfort her. She was staring at Hsi Wu, holding his hand. The demon was seriously wounded and had used all his last strength to take Jade to a safe place.
"Tohru, have you already told Jackie and Uncle what we have to do?" she asked.
"Yes. They said that we'll do that tomorrow when they're feeling better. We have to let Jackie recover from his son's death," Tohru answered and Jade nodded slowly.
"Tohru, could you please leave me alone with Hsi Wu?" she asked and Tohru stood up and went back to Jackie and Uncle. Jade caressed the demon's face; he opened his eyes and also began caress her. "Hsi... I'm sorry..." Jade apologised sadly.
"Just... promise me that... y-you will... do what... brother Tso... said..." he murmured weakly and Jade nodded, kissing his hand and then his mouth. "... I love you..." Hsi Wu said smiling before finally dying.
"I love you, too..." Jade said as she cried even more and hugged him tightly.
The group was staring at the woman of the oracle. Her eyes were closed; she was in a yoga position and murmuring some incomprehensible words for quite a good while already. Uncle seemed to be the only person who understood perfectly what she was doing. When Jackie opened his mouth to say something, the woman suddenly opened her eyes and made a spookily face, which caused Jackie, Tohru and Jade to startle.
"I have a vision!" she stated aloud and slowly and Jade and Jackie looked at each other.
"And...?" Jade said, gesturing at the woman to go on.
"Here's the releaser!" the woman said, stretching her hand to a basin with a liquid that seemed to be water. Everybody looked at the liquid and it began to form an image of a person. It was a woman who should be about fifty years old. Despite that, she had a relatively young appearance. She had golden hair, blue eyes and was very elegant.
"This is the woman we have to destroy at any cost!" Jade said and Jackie sighed.
"I don't like to kill anyone, but this time that's very necessary," he admitted.
"Tso Lan said that she lives in the past. And Valmont had the key, so they should live near each other, right?" Jade asked and the woman pressed her fingers against her temples to concentrate.
"She lived... in England!" she affirmed and Jade snapped her fingers.
"I knew it!"
"How can we travel to the past? We don't have a time machine," Jackie pointed out shaking his head and Uncle snorted.
"Who needs a time machine when we have the old and good magic?" he said, standing up.
"You actually can take us to the past?" Jackie asked in confusion and surprise.
"Of course. But it is a very complicated spell. First, I need an artefact similar to a crystal ball called Lai Qiu," Uncle explained and the woman got up.
"I have that artefact. It was very numerous a long time ago, and it's not so hard to find it even nowadays," she said and Jade grinned.
"Cool! Thus we don't waste too much time!"
"And could you also help Uncle prepare the spell?" Uncle asked the woman.
"Sure. After all, the destiny of the world depends on that."
"Hii... Shou... Huai... Muo... Lian... Suu... Gao... Den..." Uncle and the woman slowly murmured. Everyone, except for the woman, was in the middle of a circle, and Jade was holding the crystal ball.
Suddenly, energy was emanated from the artefact and it quickly wrapped the group. Then, they stopped chanting the spell.
"I don't know what year you are going to be taken to, but I used chi enough for a date between 1980 and 1990," she said.
"It is all right. Certainly we will find her in any year of those," Uncle said.
"Good luck," the woman calmly said and the light around them intensified. None of them could see anything else and they began rotating and being pulled by a mysterious, invisible force. Jade closed her eyes and for a moment she did not hear or feel anything, or even think about anything. When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on the ground in an alley. Beside her, Uncle, Jackie and Tohru were still a bit stunned. Jade thought that she had probably recovered faster because she was younger.
While they all tried to get up, Jade took some steps towards the street and glance at her surroundings. She saw two-decked, red buses and noticed that the cars were on the left side of the street and had the wheel on the right side.
"We got it! We're in England!"
"Huh?" Jackie said in surprise and still confused. Everyone left the alley and watched the street and the people around them.
"It's true..." Tohru confirmed.
"C'mon! We can't stay here staring at the city! We have to find Valmont and that blonde woman!" Uncle reminded them, beginning to walk in the pavement, and the others followed him.
The group was in a square. Jade was marvelled at everything. She saw a man throwing a newspaper in the trash. She ran to it, took the newspaper and looked for the date.
"Fourth of August, 1983!" she read aloud and the elders approached her.
"Also, we are in London," Jackie said, reading the newspaper.
"But how will we find Valmont or that woman?" Jade wanted to know.
"Tohru, you used to be his henchman. Don't you know where he lived when was young?" Uncle asked and Tohru thought for a while.
"No, but I know where he studied," the Japanese man answered.
"Do you know where his school is?" Jackie asked and Tohru nodded.
"That's enough. Let's go," Jade said and began to walk happily as Jackie, Uncle and Tohru calmly followed her. Jackie was pleased and proud of his niece.
How good to see her like that... She recovered fast from Hsi Wu's death...
To be continued...