Hahah, I kinda went AWOL for a while there. Sorry guys!
Quick warning here, folks, this is going to TEAR OUT YOUR HEART AND STOMP ON IT. Not this chapter, though. Be patient :)
The first time Chase Young met Jack Spicer, he had not yet become immortal. 1515 years, seven months, and three weeks ago, not that he'd been keeping track, of course. This was also the first time he had encountered Hannibal Roy Bean. As one might imagine, he had... mixed feeling about this occasion.
On the one hand, he had been kidnapped and held prisoner by the very same... er... thing... that had ruined his life, but on the other, Jack, or as he was known in those days, 'slave', or 'you there', or occasionally, if Bean had been in a good mood, 'boy'.
He remembered it very well for something that had happened so long ago. He could, in fact, recall every detail as if it was happening right now. The murky lighting of the room, the irritation the coarse rope had caused, Jack's screaming... that last part, especially.
He had woken up rather disoriented, in a strange place and having no idea why he had been brought there. He thought he was alone at first, but something -Hannibal- laughed rather menacingly, which had of course drawn the eight-year-old's attention.
He scowled, irritated at not only being hit on the head and taken who knew where, but of being taken lightly. Having lived with Dashi and Guan, however, it was a feeling he had become used to. He swore he would be good enough to help them, one day, when he was bigger.
"What do you want? I live at the Xiaolin Temple, and the monks don't have money."
He could only make out very few details: crooked, yellowed teeth, a large, bulky shape that clearly wasn't human, and whip-like appendages where arms should have been.
"Master Tao said that they don't make enemies, either."
At this, he laughed again.
The boy's glare deepened. "Why'm I here?" He demanded, pulling at the rope that tied his hands and feet together. They were ancient, frayed and rotting, but he wasn't strong enough to break them.
"Poor, poor little boy... they really didn't tell you anything over at the temple, did they?"
He stopped testing his restraints and payed more attention to the figure. "What do you mean?" His voice lowered. -he had tried to sound threatening, but as he realized much later, coming from a child, such a tone was laughable-
"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, Jùnrén ." -Ah, yes. He had been called 'Jùnrén' until he'd rebuked all that he had been taught for the promise of power, and by the same creature that had assisted in Jack's first death, no less- The thing motioned with one of its vines to a figure that had previously gone unnoticed by the captive, which stood and came forward uneasily.
The other boy was almost half his size. He was probably five, maybe six at the most. He was colored weirdly, Jùnrén had thought, with white skin -dirty and marred by bruises, as well as several painful-looking cuts-, red hair -it obviously hadn't been cut or washed in a while, greasy strands of it hung in his face-, and red eyes -they were strangely vacant, and obvious dark circles had appeared beneath them-. He had been incredibly skinny, as well -He could have counted his ribs easily if he'd chosen to do so-, and wore only a pair of filthy-looking trousers, which had been torn and patched together again countless times.
"Boy, why don't you get our guest a little something to eat?"
He scurried off, returning a few seconds later with a small wooden bowl of rice, and a pair of chopsticks. The thing left as soon as he came back.
"I'm not hungry." He'd said. He had been hungry, starving, in fact, but the boy obviously needed it more than he did. "You eat it."
This had clearly been the wrong thing to say. The previously blank face now held an expression of pure terror.
"N-no, I- please-" He held out the food in offering, begging him to take it.
Jùnrén couldn't have if he'd wanted to, seeing as his hands had been tied together. "Eat." The boy commanded, and in a gentler voice, "I won't tell."
The red haired boy looked down at the rice in wonder, then at the older boy with a grateful smile. Jùnrén decided he was much lovelier when he was happy.
He ate as though he hadn't had a decent meal in days. Given his circumstances, it was not unlikely that that had been the case. The bowl was empty in a matter of seconds.
"Thank you," the strange youth got up and left hurriedly, eyeing the area the monster had disappeared into nervously.
Of course, he picked that moment to come back.
"I trust you enjoyed your meal?" He asked.
"Y-yes." He mentally cursed himself for stammering.
The thing chuckled. "Don't lie to me, Jùnrén. I saw exactly what you did." A frightening grin spread across its face. "Slave?" He called, "Come here."
The instant the pale form appeared, he was grabbed by the vines, one tightening around his wrist, the other just below his elbow. The boy fought to get free all the while, begging for the thing to stop, for Jùnrén, for anyone to help him as the vines actually bent his forearm.
The sound of bones splintering would haunt both of them for years afterwards.
The child screamed and screamed. After what seemed like an eternity, Bean release him, and his eyes rolled back into his head, body hitting the ground with a dull thump.
Jùnrén could do little more than gape in horror. He wasn't... dead, was he? He was too shocked to speak, to scream, he just stared at the unmoving lump, praying to the gods that wasn't the case.
Then he groaned, and Jùnrén released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
The thing turned his attention back to Jùnrén. "Now that that's out of the way, you're here for a reason, boy."
"What? Why would-!? How could someone-!?" He struggled to find the right words, settling finally on a simple "Why?"
"To tell you about your destiny. See, there are great things in your future, so long as you listen. You'll be powerful, more powerful than Wuya, Guan, Dashi, even Tao, not to mention immortal."
His interest piqued, he wanted to know more. "How?"
"It's simple, really. Just give me your soul." He held up a root-like appendage, silencing his prisoner before he began to protest. "Not now, 'course. When you're older."
"Then why am I here now?"
"I have my reasons." Came the smug reply. "Tell those monk-friends 'a yours Hannibal Roy Bean said hello."
Jùnrén could actually feel the dark magic clogging the room as Hannibal disappeared, the ropes that had an instant ago been tied securely around his wrists and ankles loosening until they fell to the floor.
Without wasting a moment, he was on his feet and running towards the pale shape on the ground. Jùnrén was immensely relieved to see the slow rise and fall of the boy's chest. His right arm, though, was disturbing. Not only had it been broken, but the bone had actually stuck through the skin.
He picked up the six-year-old, being mindful of the very damaged appendage. An agonized whimper alerted him too the fact that he hadn't been nearly as careful as he should have been.
With a determined expression on his face and an unconscious child cradled in his arms, Jùnrén set off for the Xiaolin Temple.
Dashi and Guan were sparring in the courtyard when Jùnrén finally returned to the temple. It had taken an hour of walking for him to realize he was going in the wrong direction, three more to correct his mistake and find a place he recognized, and two after that to trek up the hillside to the temple.
Jùnrén was exhausted, but he couldn't have cared less about that. The boy -he hadn't yet learned his name- had awoken briefly hours ago, but hadn't moved since, and frankly he was starting to wonder if the child had actually died this time.
At the sight of his missing friend staggering through the gates, carrying something pale and human and still in his arms, Dashi gasped and rushed to Jùnrén's side, narrowly avoiding a heavy kick from Guan.
"Wuya!" Guan shouted, landing and recovering quickly "Get Master Tao!"
The sparring abandoned for the time being, Wuya, who had up until then been watching the fight in the background, rushed to find the elder monk.
Dashi gently took the injured child out of the younger boy's arms, helping to lay him out on the ground. His injured limbs was jostled accidentally, and he cried out in pain, but still didn't awaken, which was worrying.
"What happened, Jún?" Ignoring his protests, Dashi inspected his friend, poking and prodding to make absolutely certain he was uninjured.
"I'm fine," He gave a reassuring smile. "really!" He frowned at the still figure at his feet. "He's hurt, though. Bad."
Dashi knelt beside the boy, fingers skirting lightly around the painful injury on his right arm. "What's his name?"
"I don't-"
"JÙNRÉN!" a deep male voice boomed from the doors of the temple. The owner of the voice, a heavyset man with a rough, scraggy beard and long red-brown hair, ran towards the previously missing student.
"Gaaah!" He tried to run, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid being pulled into a tight hug. "C-can't... breath!" He choked out, struggling in Master Tao's grip while the others laughed uproariously.
A huge smile splitting his face, Master Tao set the boy down. "I am glad you have returned, young one!"
Jùnrén bowed, and even the weight of the situation couldn't keep the smile off of his face. "Thank you, master."
"Hmm...!?" He had just noticed the newcomer. "What happened!?" With a surprising gentleness for such a large man, Master Tao scooped the pale boy up with his gigantic hands.
Dashi stood up, dusting himself off slightly. "He's alive, but it looks like his arm was broken, and he hasn't been eating," he turned and gave Jùnrén a questioning look. "What did happen, exactly? You've been gone for two whole days."
"There was this weird monster thing. I guess... the kid worked for him or something? He told me to say that Hannibal Roy Bean says hi." He frowned. "Master? What's wrong?"
Tao had gone rigid. There was hatred in his brown eyes, and to the children it was frightening and out of place. "Come inside," he said quietly. "CLOSE THE GATES!" He shouted to the other monks, who scrambled to do as he said.
"Who's Hannibal?" Wuya asked, afraid of the answer. If the mere mention of his name was enough to make Master Tao angry, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"He is an old enemy of mine!" He took large strides, mindful of the injured being he held, and the children practically had to run to keep up with him, although they were relieved to see he had gone back to shouting everything he said. "It would be best for you to avoid him until you have come farther in your studies, young ones!" The man stopped suddenly, causing Wuya to crash into him accidentally, and the pale one groaned in response. "Jún! You brought him, so he gets your mat until I can get another one from the village!"
Wuya giggled, and Jùnrén elbowed her in the side. She stuck out her tongue.
After the strange-looking child had been settled, looking for once more peaceful than dead, Tao left with Wuya to find a doctor in the village, leaving Dashi, Guan, and Jùnrén to take care of the boy. Guan had done what he could to scrub off the dirt and grime without doing further injury, and now they awaited the healer in silence.
After what seemed like an eternity, the doors to the chamber were opened, and a tiny, grey-haired old woman stepped through. Master Tao followed, holding Wuya's tiny hand in his own giant fist.
"Step back, step back," the Healer scowled, shooing the children away with her gnarled hands. She settled herself down beside the injured boy, leaning her cane against the thin wall separating Chase's cell from Dashi's. She took the child's damaged arm and deftly snapped it into place, ignoring the shrill scream that left the pale boy's mouth in response.
He still didn't awaken.
"Mhm, mhm. The cuts on his chest are healing fine... did he hit his head?"
"I-I don't think so..."
Producing two smooth wooden sticks, an obscenely long piece of fabric, and a small knife from the folds of her robes, and gods only knew where she had been keeping them, she wound the fabric around his arm a few times, then placed the sticks on either side of the damaged appendage, continuing until the entire arm from elbow to wrist was bound, then tying the fabric off and removing what was left with the knife.
"That should be alright for now. I'll be back in four moons, give or take." She grabbed her cane and began to hobble off. "And make sure he eats something!" She shouted before mumbling, "Honestly, all of you are much too thin, what do they do here, starve you to death?"
"Wait!" Jùnrén burst out.
"Whaaaaat?" The old woman groaned, turning to face the dragon-in-training.
"He-he still won't... wake up..." He trailed off, looking at the ground.
The Healer's expression softened. "He's been through a lot, by the looks of it. He'll wake up when he is ready, right?"
"Mm." He returned to where his companions were, sitting around the unconscious boy in grim silence.
The Healer jabbed Tao sharply with her cane. "Watch out for them, got it, ya bastard?" She disappeared through the door, presumably headed back to her home a short distance from the village.
"Young monks! Sitting here will not help in the least! Jùnrén, you need to rest right now, and the rest of you..." he stroked his beard thoughtfully, trying to come up with something that would distract them for a while. "How about fifty laps around the temple, then dish duty!"
Wuya, Guan, and Dashi groaned in synchronous, but complied nevertheless, and Master Tao followed them outside, leaving Jùnrén alone with the newcomer.
A small smile on his face, Jùnrén lay down on the wooden floor of the temple, and at last allowed his tired brown eyes to slip shut.
Thanks to moonheart13 for beta reading :)