Happy Sweet 16, Jack! Yes, 16 years ago, our beloved samurai found his way onto our screens and into our hearts, and this year he made his way back to the past, even if he had to break our hearts in the process. God Bless You Genndy Tartakovsky, Phil Lamarr, Mako, Tara Strong, Greg Baldwin, and all the cast and crew that poured their hearts and souls into this amazing show, and a shoutout to all the awesome people I've ever met over the years because of this wonderful show. The Scotsman's particular sentence came from whoohoo dot co dot uk slash scottish-translator dot asp So stupid, I had to use it.
Ashi knelt on the bank of the pond, staring at the reflection of her face in the still water. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come. "Sam—Samurai Jack," she called out, her voice breaking with emotion, tears welling behind her eyelids. The surface changed, now reflecting the image of her love, moping as he rode a horse through the woods. Her heart tightened in her chest; his hair was never loose when he wore his gi, unless she pulled his hair tie, undoing the top knot that he took such pride in. She loved teasing him probably as much as she loved his long, flowing hair.
"It is expected of me to wear it this way," he argued as he redid his top knot with practiced speed and efficiency.
"Since when do you care about expectations?" She teased, undoing his top knot yet again and ran her hand through his mane. "How many social rules have we broken already?"
"Too many to count," he laughed. The servants loved to gossip about their unconventional prince and his consort, but being together was far more important.
"I did this for you. I made sure you went home. Don't mourn me, Jack; live your life!" She shouted, knowing full well that he couldn't hear her. He never once responded, no matter how impassioned her calls.
But he couldn't move on. Weeks passed, and he was still as miserable as ever. Ashi bit back a cry of pain as he sat beneath a tree, their tree, the one he had proposed to her under.
Ashi smiled widely as they walked through the forest hand in hand. When they had arrived in the past a few months ago, the trees were husks. She feared their life had been sucked out long ago but with careful care, they began to thrive again, erasing Aku's destruction and desolation from the land.
"It's beautiful," she said, placing a hand on the nearest tree trunk. She closed her eyes and concentrated, hoping to feel the life stirring inside.
"Yes," Jack agreed, covering her hand with his, "all thanks to you."
She opened her eyes and smiled at him before shaking her head. "I know so little of botany. The farmers did all the work. I just helped carry out their instructions."
"They wouldn't have had the opportunity to do so if you hadn't opened that time portal. You are the true hero of this land, Ashi."
"It was a team effort," she argued, fighting a blush. "I'm not the one with the only weapon that could defeat a great evil."
"When you found me after I ran away from the prison ship, I was standing at the grave of a time portal guarded by the greatest warrior I have ever faced. I thought, surely a man like that could survive Aku and keep his treasure safe, but even he fell to Aku's wrath and the portal was destroyed. I resigned myself to forever be stuck in that time. If I couldn't free my parents and my people from their fate, I could at least ensure future generations onward weren't born under Aku's thumb. But you, you made a time portal, you brought me home. Now, billions of people will be born into relative peace and prosperity, and I was able to fulfill my promise and protect my homeland. All of this," he motioned with his free hand at the thriving forest around them, "is because of you."
She surrendered to the persistent blush and let it dominate her face. What could she possibly say to something like that? She tried to look away, to free herself from his intense gaze, but he wouldn't let her, cupping her cheek and forcing her to look at him.
"Ashi, you saved me from the horrors of my life, from the horrors of my self-loathing, and gave me gifts I never thought I was worthy to have."
"An—and you saved me, Jack, from such a blind and hateful existence, made me realize that I was so much more than just someone's tool. That I could make my own choices, plot the course of my own life, and be forgiven for the evil that resided in me for so long." Tears welled in her eyes from this sudden emotional confession, with one brave drop falling down her cheek, only to have Jack kiss it away.
"Will you marry me, Ashi?"
"Yes!" She threw her arms around him and kissed him with a passion that rivaled their first kiss after defeating Lazarus. He returned it with a desperation to show her exactly how much he loved her.
The start of a new life, so rudely cut short. After all he suffered through, all he endured, he deserved so much better than this. But he still needed to know that she was alright so he could move on. She had some influence over the mortal realm, but speaking directly to mortals was impossible. She scanned the area, desperate to find a way that Jack would know it had to be from her—a ladybug! She told Jack the story of how the insect had helped convince her to give his words about Aku a chance. Surely he would remember; he seemed so good at remembering random things she said only once just to turn around and please her with something.
Arm extended, she pointed at the ladybug, and smiled as its legs and antenna stiffened, ready for a command. Simple mind, easy to manipulate. She guided its path to Jack, making it gently land on his finger. She waited anxiously as he acknowledged it, her eyes burning with the tears that could not be shed as a smile graced his face for the first time in weeks. He stood and let the insect fly away, looking over the land of his youth with a mix of pride and sadness. Maybe now he could move on and enjoy the land he fought so hard for.
If only Ashi could say the same as she clutched the grass beneath her palms, ready to tear it out by the roots. As soon as she entered the time portal, she knew her life would be cut short as the timeline eventually fixed itself. She told herself it was worth it after his speech over dinner in the desert, and the joyful glee on his face as they traveled through it. Still, as selfish as it was, she wanted to be next to him, experiencing all this with him.
"Why do you do this?" A soft voice from behind her asked. "Why do you torture yourself like this?"
Ashi ended the vision with a frustrated wave of her hand, and the water surface went back to its usual still state. "Because I love him; I want to be with him."
A pause, and Ashi's sensitive ears heard hair moving back and forth as if the head was being shook from side to side. "You were always-"
"Weak?" Ashi finished for her sister as she stood up and turned to face her sister, fists clenched and teeth bared. No matter how hard she tried to get past it, that word would always be a trigger for her.
"Different," Ami corrected, unaffected by the sudden change in attitude. She patted her sister on the shoulder and walked away.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out at you!" Ashi called out but Ami kept on walking. Her sisters were the first to greet her when she entered the afterlife, but she wasn't sure what to make of their relationship. Thanks to Jack, she was comfortable in expressing herself openly, but her sisters were still constrained. They simply didn't know how to express themselves. A pat on the shoulder was the most emotional response she could get from any of them, but it always felt like a caring, positive response.
Jack was certainly a difficult subject to breach. No one was eager to talk about him but they did not seem to hold her affection for the samurai against her. Ashi didn't blame Jack for her sisters' deaths, but she didn't know how they felt. The subject was often ignored, and Ashi let it go. Building a sisterly bond that should have nourished from the start was more important. One day they'll meet him, and then they're understand.
Ashi sighed and walked back to the castle. The Scotsman had created his own version of Valhalla, and built his clan's castle from memory to house his massive family while they waited for the mortal realm to catch up and they would be reborn into their previous lives, untouched by Aku. Her soul had somehow gravitated toward his castle, perhaps because of the strong bond he also shared with Jack? The sisters somehow followed her soul here as well, but they refused to talk about their time before she arrived.
"Ashi, hoo is yer brammer cheil daein'?" The Scotsman asked as she reentered the castle. Ashi just stared at him like he had grown three heads. She was getting more and more accustomed to their language but this went beyond all words.
"How is your lovely man doing?" Flora translated. "Don't mind Dad. His Scottish gets mighty thick when he's drinking," her father interrupted with a long and loud belch, "which is often."
"Miserable," she answered honestly, stumbling over to her. One of the few good things about the afterlife was that all the affection could be felt from the Scotsman family hugs, but none of the spine-breaking pain. Flora happily obliged. "He's so lonely and distracted. What can I do to help him?"
"I don't know, lass; I don't know," the giant woman admitted while sitting down and pulling Ashi into her lap, rocking her back and forth while stroking her hair. "But we'll find a way. We always do."
Ashi smiled as she settled into the comforting embrace. Jack was fond of telling her the same thing whenever things became difficult. She came to swear by it. "Jack…" she muttered before giving in and falling asleep in her friend's arms. Sleep wasn't a necessity in the afterlife, but a great way to shut down one's mind and relax.
"Dad, there must be something we can do for her," Flora quietly demanded, not wanting to disturb the poor girl's rest.
"Hmm," the Scotsman racked his brain, hand on his chin, "Ah jus might have an idea."
She smiled as she leaned against the railing, watching the sun barely peak over the horizon. The first sunrise after returning to the past. No wonder Jack made this part of his daily morning routine. The view was stunning, even if the village below was in ruins. But that's what he came back for, to rebuild, to put the nightmare that was Aku behind everyone. It was worth it. No matter what happened in the future, that alone was worth it.
She walked down the hallway and quietly entered Jack's room. She didn't spend the night with him, out of respect for his parents' insistence that she take another room, but it was impossible not to follow when he took off running mid-conversation as they walked through the hallways, and then to see the pure delight on his face as he recognized the room of his youth. A smile dominated her face when she saw Jack, curled up on a bed designed for a child, and well-worn from neglect, but the smile on his face was so wonderful. She hated to disturb him, but after the story he told around the campfire, he needed to see this. "Jack, wake up."
His eyes burst wide open and he grabbed his sword, expecting the worst. Ashi jumped back. "Where are we?" Jack demanded, not trusting the setting around him.
Ashi felt tears well behind her eyes. After 50 years, he couldn't trust his senses and believe that his quest was finally over. "Jack, you're home, in the past, remember?"
"Home," he repeated in disbelief.
"Yes. Trust me, I want to show you something."
He slipped the sword into his belt and followed her out, still unsure what to think, and then he saw it: his homeland bathed in the soft sunlight of early morning. He truly was home. "Have you ever seen a more beautiful sight?"
"Yes, yes I have," Ashi said with a smile, watching him.
He turned to face her with such a mix of emotion on his handsome face: joy, love, amazement, pride. She was taken aback by his intensity, how he looked at her as if she couldn't possibly be real. "Ashi, you brought me home."
"I had to, Jack," no matter what happened, he had to know that she made her choice with conviction. "I couldn't continue to let you, your family, or your people suffer. Not when I could change it, when I could end your pain."
"Ashi…" he dropped to his knees and embraced her, burying his face in her waist. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"
"You did everything right, Jack; you did everything just right," she assured him, tears falling down her face as she ran her hand through his hair.
Ashi smiled at the memory, wishing she could linger a little longer in it, but the castle was getting a little too loud and boisterous, more so then the usual passionate clan of Scots arguing and laughing about their previous exploits. She woke up and was no longer in the dining hall but the bedroom that she had been given. It was such a small castle compared to Jack's, how did it fit so many rooms for everyone? The noise wasn't coming from the dining hall, but outside. A singular noise as opposed to the loud random chatter as usual, some kind of chant?
"Send her back, send her back, send her back!"
She looked outside her window and was aghast at the sight. Every inch of land was filled with strangers as far as the eye could see: humans of all shapes and colors, aliens, robots, even animals, all chanting the same thing, "Send her back, send her back, send her back!" Were they talking about her?
"Death, why can't you control your domain?" Odin bellowed as he, Ra, and Rama slowly hovered in the air above everyone, in their towering giant forms.
"They simply seek an audience with you, my lords, who am I to deny a million souls that right?" Death shrugged, quite amused by the whole scene.
"What do you want with us?" Ra demanded as he addressed the crowd.
The crowd briefly stared at the person next to them before repeating themselves as loud as they could, "SEND HER BACK!"
"Send who back?" Rama asked.
"ASHI!" the crowd shouted, with the Scotsman adding a few choice, untranslatable insults to the gods afterward.
"Jack sacrificed so much for us," a blue talking dachshund said, surrounded by other dogs who nodded their heads. "He deserves to be with the woman he loves."
"Countless time portals abandoned, just to save a stranger," a Shaolin monk added.
A blue alien with white hair closed her eyes and words appeared between the two antennas on her head, You don't even ask for his help, but he'd put himself in danger for you, regardless of what you can offer him in return.
A large strange blue creature with flowers growing out of his head happily nodded and grunted. Many more came forward with their own story to tell of how Jack had helped them, and how much he deserved his own reward in return.
Ashi smiled and placed a hand over her heart, completely touched by everyone's stories. She only recognized a handful of faces in the massive crowd. Word must have spread that their beloved hero had found a woman he loved, and that was enough for them to gather around and demand their reunion. Jack touched the lives of almost everyone he ever met, and their stories of his heroism spread like wildfire. Jack, you really are quite the hero.
The gods barely changed expression as they heard all the stories, going so far as to silence everyone with a wave of Rama's many hands. "Do you really expect us to be so easily swayed?" Odin bellowed for all of them, his voice filled with disdain.
"Send her back," six voices said in unison. Her sisters.
Ashi gasped in surprise and then scrambled out the window and climbed down the castle wall. She had to hear this for herself.
All three gods stared at them: Rama with care; Odin with surprise; Ra with disgust. "How can you defend her? She gave herself to your murderer. She belittles your deaths."
Ashi skidded to a stop near her sisters, mouth open to protest but then promptly shut it. No matter how she argued her case, in the end, that's exactly what happened. All six looked at her briefly, their faces completely emotionless and impossible to read, and then back to the gods.
"Our fate was to kill or be killed. We do not hold our deaths against the samurai," Aki said.
"He and Ashi saved us from hell. Their fervent prayers for our redemption convinced Death to move us here. We do not understand why he did this, but we give him our thanks," Avi explained.
"We cannot begin to fathom what Ashi sees in the samurai, but he makes her happy, and she is our sister. We want what is best for her," Ami stated.
The other three nodded, "Send her back."
Ashi's eyes burned with the wish to cry as she stared in awe at her sisters. If they had lived, maybe they could have been redeemed. Maybe they could have learned to more openly act as a family, like Jack and his parents. At least this proved they cared about her and did not hold their horrible past against her. "I love you all," she cried as she embraced each sister individually, who all awkwardly stood there, feeling quite uncomfortable. Following Ami's advised gesture, a few pats on the shoulder made Ashi release them, thrilled to be shown a positive emotion in response.
"We have made our decision," Odin bellowed, and Ashi solemnly stood before them, trying to hide her anxiousness at what they had to say.
"Ashi, daughter of Aku and the High Priestess Azula of the Daughters of Aku clan, we hereby grant you mortal life once more. You are free to return to the mortal realm and live out your natural days."
The crowd let out a deafening cheer, praising the gods, Ashi, and Jack. Flora grabbed her and gave her a tight hug, and then Scotsman took up the challenge and gave her a tighter one. Ashi wasn't a mortal just yet, and was extremely grateful for the superman endurance to handle the ferocity of those hugs.
"You tell your brammer cheil we still love him, eh?" Scotsman requested, "and best of luck out there, lassie. May ye have many bonnie girls yerself."
"I hope so too," she agreed. "Thank you so much for taking me in, and I wish you the best when you are reborn. Flora and the rest will still be your daughters when the time comes, right?"
"Me and the missus are fated to be together, much you and Jack. I'll know it's true love the moment I lay eyes on her, and it won't be soon after until Flora and everyone else follows," he chuckled. "You're always be family, lass, same as your samurai."
"If you're quite finished," Ra cleared his throat. Immortal or not, he still had better things to do then spend time in Death's domain. "Dive into the water and keep swimming until you reach the surface in the mortal realm."
"The water is shallow," she argued, immediately regretting her statement as soon as it left her tongue. Of course it would change for her if she was granted this great gift.
"See for yourself."
She moved to the edge of the water, kneeling down. With slight caution and a paranoid fear that this wouldn't work, she dipped her arm into the water. Usually she hit a hard, flat surface when she was only elbow deep, but now she could bury her entire arm. She could go home! "Thank you all," she turned to address everyone. "You can't possibly begin to imagine how much this means to me, and especially Jack. We will never forget you and always honor you, I swear it."
They loudly cheered at their hero's name, and wished them both well.
She turned back to the water and steeled herself with a deep breath before diving in, swimming strongly as she traversed the water, going deeper and deeper as Ra instructed. She couldn't swim up now only to discover she was still in the afterlife, but how would she know when she crossed that line into the land of the living? She grunted as suddenly a sharp pain developed in her chest. Lungs anxious to breathe, she analyzed, that must mean! She looked up and saw a small light gleaming ahead where there once was darkness. I made it!
Jack sighed as he observed the sun. It was getting late in the day and his parents expected him for dinner. "Did you have a nice graze, my friend?" He patted his horse on the shoulder, smiling as his horse returned his affection. "Good, now it's my turn for a meal." He mounted and urged his horse to a slow walk out of the grove and around the edge of a lake. The horse plodded along, stopping as he saw the peaceful water surface suddenly disturbed with ripples originating in the middle of the lake. A predator waiting to strike? He threw his head back, anxious to run, but he was too trained to bolt without his rider's command.
"Someone's drowning!" Jack quickly dismounted and threw off his gi and sandals, diving into the water. He gained distance quickly and soon found the victim, a familiar face beaming love and affection at him.
"Ashi!" He tried to shout, but the water choked him and he lost his cool beneath the water. She wrapped an arm around his waist and made strong strokes to the surface, dragging his increasingly useless body along with her. Almost there! She cried out as she broke through the surface, her lungs taking painful breaths, celebrating every clench of muscle, every ounce of pain, every sign that she was mortal again. She held Jack's head above water as she swam to shore, relieved to hear him coughing and expelling liquid. He was still alive. She didn't want to try and find out how to kill a god if Jack died minutes after she returned to earth.
She carried his body to the shore, hovering over him as he lied on his back, spitting out the last of the water. Their eyes met, and everything went silent, both of them barely breathing, too scared to realize this was a dream and end the fantasy too early. She dared to make the first move, cupping his face and smiling widely when the illusion wasn't broken as her body rejoiced at the feel of him again.
Jack was the first to speak, averting his eyes from her. "Ashi, you're naked."
She burst into loud, joyous laughter, not thinking when she lowered her body onto him to support herself while she recovered from her raucous laughter. He tensed and gently pushed her upward, keeping his eyes averted.
"I come back to life and all you can say is 'I'm naked?' Don't ever change, Jack."
"'I love you' comes to mind as well," he smiled, leaning in for a gentle kiss. She returned it with a hungry passion.
As she promised, Ashi never failed to honor her sisters and everyone else that pleaded for her return. She hired the best scribe in the world to come and preserve Jack's stories for all time. The scribe wrote it as the history that it was, but the content was so fantastical that few could believe it had really happened. It quickly became legend and a favorite to tell around a campfire or a tavern to pass the long winter nights. Centuries passed, and "Tales of a Wandering Samurai" overshadowed Prince Shinjiro's accomplishments as Emperor of Japan. Few bothered to note that Samurai Jack and Prince Shinjiro were the same. The stories were practically required reading for many children: bedtime stories as toddlers, morality tales for children, a great way to emphasize the importance trust, honor, and staying true to one's cause.
"'Don't squash him, muffin; he's a friend o' mine!' The Scotsman shouted as Jack ran away from the terror that was his friend's wife." The reader laughed as he closed the book. "And that's why ye always mind yer tongue around the womenfolk. Especially yer mother, she'd have a similar reaction, only don't go around telling her I said that. Alright, me heather blossoms, time for bed."
"Aw, but Dad! One more tale?" Flora argued.
"Especially if the Scotsman is in it?" Isla added, trying to appeal to her father's national pride.
"That story is quite a long one, and I won't have ye falling asleep on it, not when the Scotsman goes into battle against the Sirens to save his best buddy."
His children's eyes couldn't get any wider, completely fascinated by the image he placed in their minds. "But we want to hear it now!"
"The sooner you fall asleep, the sooner I'll tell it to you over breakfast."
That did the trick. Their heads immediately fell onto their pillows, their exaggerated snores quickly becoming more natural ones. "Good night me dears," Fergus gently kissed the foreheads of his beloved daughters and quietly left the room, carrying the book with him so no one got any bright ideas of trying to read late into the night.