A/N: This was so much fun to write. I absolutely love jumping into a character's head and writing a story out in that character's POV... It's just so powerful to step into the character's thoughts, emotions, personality, etc., etc. And I believe that Rai really did have a lot going on in his head after trapping Wuya in the puzzle box. And though, I do believe this probably isn't the greatest fanfic out there, I'm still pretty damn proud with how it turned out. XD So... without further ado...

Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters. If I did... well, there'd already be a fourth season and Rai and Kim would have kissed by now. ;D

Never Again

I hadn't entered the temple grounds since I snuck into the vault to steal the Serpent's Tail, and even though Dojo had landed in front of the entry gate, I refused to enter. I had betrayed them, all of them… it didn't feel right going back onto the exact premises from which I strayed and stole. Nothing felt right anymore, what with the feeling of Wuya's cheek touching mine, her delicate yet dangerously strong hands around my arms, her long red hair brushing across my forehead…

Kimiko, Omi, and Clay had all rushed into the temple and hadn't hesitated in bringing Master Fung back out to where I still stood, facing away from them. The elderly monk told me exactly what I know I did – did he have to make me hear it again? – and then I could hear the others pleading with him about how I had saved their lives. But wasn't I the one who truly jeopardized their lives in the first place? I raised my arms, without turning to face them, and told them to stop trying to prevent something that needed to happen. I admitted to my mistakes, finally turning to face them all, and said that anything I could do, I would do it to make things right again. Anything.

Master Fung stepped forward as I hung my chin against my chest, and the last thing I would have expected him to do in that moment, he did. He was holding up a piece of blue fabric, his old eyes twinkling in expectation of me to take it from him. The sash of a Xiaolin Apprentice, he said it was when I asked, and then he told me that it was mine. But… I wasn't ready for that yet. I had betrayed them all for riches and glory, exactly what Master Fung had said I had done! I voiced my opinion, and received a warm smile in return from my sensei. Omi gave me a wide, toothy grin and a thumbs up when I told him I would need his help to become ready, and Clay patted the bald kid's head a couple of times while his body shook with laughter.

Master Fung stepped to the side, hanging the sash across one of his arms and wrapping his other arm around my shoulders. "Come, Raimundo," he told me. "Leave your mistakes in your past and look to the future." I allowed a grin to come to my lips as the old man gestured towards my friends, standing at the top of the gateway stairs, waiting for me to return. Master Fung let his arm fall from my shoulders, and I tentatively took a step forward. A couple more steps later and I was climbing the stairs, and before I knew it I was in passing through the open gateway right into my friends' arms. Kimiko wrapped her arms around my waist, Clay pinned my arms to my sides with his bear hug, and I could feel Omi's little arms around my legs, locking them together as well. We all laughed together as Master Fung climbed the stairs, and when he passed through the gateway I was released and took in a large breath of air, playfully punching Clay in his arm.

"I do believe this is cause for a celebration!" Omi chimed, pointing his finger towards the sky. Clay let loose a loud "Yeeee-haw!" while Kimiko laughed and shouted "Yeah!" I watched as they all started towards the kitchen, took one step after them, but when a sudden gust of wind blew my hood against the back of my neck, I suddenly felt uncomfortable and… wrong. None of them had hoods to pull over their heads, drape their faces with shadow, and make them look like they were evil. I could almost feel my hood around my ears, covering my spiky brunette hair, shadowing my forest green eyes. It made me feel evil, as though Wuya would pop up any second and convince me to join her again.

I turned and took a step in the direction of where our cubicles were located but was stopped by a familiar voice. I turned to see that Kimiko had stopped while the other two boys had continued on with Master Fung. The Japanese girl looked at me with concern, the wind blowing her pigtails to the side softly. I had never noticed before how beautiful she was, her cheeks tainted in a shade of light pink, her jet black hair pulled back into two adorable ponytails on either side of her head, the way her blue sash tied tightly around her waist showed off her curves…

"Are you okay, Rai?" she asked me again. I had heard it before, many times in fact, but for some reason when Kimiko called me by my nickname I felt shivers go up my spine.

"I'm fine," I told her. I was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable standing in what I was wearing – could Kimiko see the evil in the hood behind my neck? – and I was suddenly tempted to just turn and run. But I held my ground, staring over at her. "I just… I need to take care of something."

Without listening for a reply, I turned and continued on to where the four of us stayed. I could feel her sapphire blue eyes boring into my back as I walked, but the feeling of her intense glare could not match the feeling of my hood on the back of my neck. No… this hood wasn't mine – it was Wuya's. With this realization, I hastened my feet and barely noticed when my eyes narrowed in determination.

I tore through the chest at the head of my cubicle until I found my discarded robes and then turned to leave. I caught myself just as I was pushing past the curtain at the entrance to my cubicle, realizing that I needed something else. I turned and grabbed it up off the floor before running out of the temple and across the temple grounds. I ran past the obstacle courses and training equipment and shot a gust of wind at the ground to push myself over the surrounding wall. I ran through the trees of the outlying forest, never stopping to catch my breath. After what felt like only fifteen minutes of nonstop running, I slowed my pace and eventually stopped in a small clearing that looked like it was only twenty feet in diameter. I swallowed three huge gulps of air, trying to slow my heart rate, before scouring the surrounding trees.

It took me only ten minutes to find a good pile of twigs, broken branches, and leaves. I left them in a pile in the clearing before moving into the trees once again.

I ripped the two orange-red wristbands from my wrists, throwing them to the ground, not caring when the dirt clung to them. I kicked off my red shoes, making sure they flew off my feet and bounced off a tree trunk before hitting the ground. My baggy green pants were off next, and it felt better to be in just my boxers than to have those pants covering my legs. They, too, were thrown harshly to the ground and then were replaced by my white temple sweats that I was so accustomed to. I slipped my feet into the flat, black shoes we wore around the temple before tearing my white shirt over my head. I stared at it in my hands, trying to picture myself with that hood over my hair, shading my face, darkening my appearance. I shut my eyes and shook my head, tossing the shirt to the ground and rubbing it into the dirt. I threw my hand up to my throat and tore the string holding my medallion around my neck, but before I could throw it down with the rest of my clothes, I caught myself staring down at it. The little golden-yellow gem had been with me for as long as I could remember, having been given to me by my mother before she died.

Slowly, I tucked it into the pocket of my sweats, intending to get a new string, or even a chain, for it. Surely, I convinced myself, the necklace was not a part of my evil being. It had belonged to my mother, after all…

I slid my arms into my red robe and tied my black sash around my waist before balling up my dirty clothes and walking back out into the clearing. The pile of sticks and branches and leaves looked more inviting than ever as I made my way towards it. I dumped my clothes on the ground before getting down on my knees and beginning to construct a teepee structure with my gathered wood. I stuffed the leaves inside the teepee, observed my work, and then pulled out the box of matches I had grabbed at the last moment before fleeing the temple grounds. I pulled one match out, struck it across the box, and threw it into the leaves. They lit up instantly but I threw another couple of matches in to help get the wood burning.

I had a fire going only a few minutes later, and I almost put it out thinking of how Wuya had had a green fire always burning behind her throne in her palace. I stared into the orange flames before me now, but jumped back when I saw her face inside the fire. I blinked, and she was gone – just a figment of my frazzled imagination.

Shaking my head slightly, I lowered myself onto the ground and crossed my legs, feeling the fire against my face. I stared into the flames for only a moment longer before tossing one of my two wristbands in. There was a strange noise at first, but then the flames happily licked at the fabric, destroying it. The flames grew with the new fuel, and so I tossed in the other wristband, smiling as the flames devoured it completely. Next were my shoes, though I almost wished I hadn't when they gave off a disgusting smell.

I ran off the find more wood as the fire ate at my shoes, and came back to see the flames almost completely gone. I hurried over and dropped the newly collected twigs and branches onto my makeshift fire pit, lighting another couple matches. I looked up and used a gust of wind to blow the rising smoke down into the trees; I didn't need the temple seeing smoke coming from the forest or have the monks come to investigate.

My pants went in next, and I felt one small tear prick at the corner of my eye. Why, in the name of Dashi, would I be crying? I was happy! It felt good to be doing this – to be getting rid of the worst mistake I ever made in my entire life! Why in the hell were tears poking at my eyes? I wiped it away as it slid down my cheek and stared as my pants were quickly destroyed, and then had to wipe another tear away as well. This wasn't right, I shouldn't be crying… I did not regret leaving the Heylin side!

Or… did I?

No, no, I didn't! I didn't belong on the Heylin side! From the start, I was meant to be the Xiaolin Dragon of the Wind! Never was it said that I was supposed to become Wuya's partner or apprentice or whatever she liked to refer to me as inside her head. The hood that I now clenched in my fingers was never meant to be worn in such a way that it had been…

I didn't regret trapping Wuya inside that puzzle box! I wasn't evil, and she was… she deserved to be locked in there. She almost had my friends killed! But… she had been kind to me; she had kept her word and delivered everything I asked for. She had treated me like a son… and in some ways, she had been like a mother to me. I trusted her, and she trusted me…

Not anymore. She was evil; she was a 1,500 evil Heylin witch who took advantage of a weak chink in my armor. Never again. I glared hatefully at the shirt in my hands.

"Never again," I hissed, and then I threw the shirt into the flames.

"Alright Raimundo!" Kimiko cheered.

"Well done, partner!" Clay added.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Dojo chipped in.

"Raimundo, your performance in the Showdown was most impressive! And you are not even a Xiaolin Apprentice!" Omi said, smiling. I turned towards the three monks, the Reversing Mirror, Lotus Twister, and Golden Tiger Claws in my arms.

"You're right Omi," I replied darkly. "I'm not." None of them seemed to catch on to my tone as a wave crashed between the little rock island I stood on and the main shore where they stood. I turned, allowing a smirk to slip onto my face as I saw Wuya floating a little ways behind me. "So," I said to her, "where do you want 'em?"

"Huh?" I heard Omi gasp.

"What?" Kimiko exclaimed.

"Pardon me?" Clay said.

"Hey!" the annoying voice of Jack Spicer chimed in.

"Oh boy," Dojo sighed.

Wuya laughed as she approached me, coming up to hover a mere foot in front of my face. I had no fear of her now though – I was working with her. "Well done, Raimundo!" she praised me, and then we both turned as the Xiaolin monks moved over to get a better view.

"Rai… what are you doing?" Kimiko asked urgently. My smirk grew at the bewildered expressions on all of their faces.

"I'm done with this whole Xiaolin thing!" I told them, switching the Reversing Mirror into my right arm where I held the Lotus Twister. "From now on, you can find me on the Heylin side. Golden Tiger Claws!" With a slash of my arm, I tore open a swirling purple portal while my former friends stared on, unsure of what was happening. I turned and hoisted myself into the portal.

"So long, Xiaolin Warriors!" Wuya called to them, and then she joined me in the purple vortex and the portal in front of the monks' eyes closed and vanished.

"Never again," I whispered as I watched the shirt get eaten by the flames. Tears were streaming down my face now as I remembered the expressions on their faces as I announced that I was teaming up with Wuya – the exact expressions which had brought me such glee in the moment of. What had it been like for them to see a teammate – a friend – betray them and join the other side? What had each of them been feeling on the inside as I had hopped through that portal?

As the flames began chewing away at the hood of the shirt, I buried my face in my hands. That awful hood… it had given me a completely new identity. One of evil, one of greed, one of hate. One that would never be seen again.

"The Reversing Mirror is the key to our victory!" Wuya exclaimed behind me. I turned and saw her staring into the glass with a wicked smile on her face. "But to use it to its fullest effect, I need you to return to the Xiaolin temple… one last time." I heard the one word, and it set me off.

"No way, forget it!" I yelled at her, getting to my feet. "I'm done with the Xiaolin mook life style! Find yourself another chump!" I stomped past her and made my way towards the edge of the mountain we were on, but what she said next stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Did I mention your old professional soccer team?" I heard the one word, and it made me stop and turn back around.

"Soccer… team?" I asked, interested in where she was going.

"Yeeees," she replied, turning back around to look into the Mirror again. "Ever wonder what it would be like to drink out of the world cup?" I felt a smile come to my face as the gray clouds overhead suddenly threw both of us into a deep shadow.

"Okay," I agreed. "So, what do I do?"

Wuya laughed, turning to face me yet again. "All I ask, dear Raimundo, is that you go into the Shen Gong Wu vault and bring me the Serpent's Tail."

"Psssh, that's easy," I responded, reaching back to pull my hood over my head. I had never used the hood before, so I was glad it finally had a purpose. It made me look and feel more evil. "What's it for?"

"The Reversing Mirror reverses the effects of any Shen Gong Wu," Wuya reminded me. "And since the Serpent's Tail would turn a human into a ghost…" It took me only one second to figure out where she was going with this, and it widened my smile.

"It would turn a ghost into a human with the Reversing Mirror," I finished. Wuya laughed again, swirling around my body in glee.

"Yes, Raimundo, yes!" she celebrated, stopping in front of my face. "I will meet you here after you have successfully stolen the Serpent's Tail… and then, the world will be ours."

It was starting to rain now, but I didn't care. The shirt was nothing but ashes as I pulled myself out of the painful memory – it had been the first time I had pulled that hood over my head, and I was ashamed to say that it had felt good at the time.

The fire was out because of the rain in no time, and soon I was completely drenched. Despite the heavy rainfall, I stayed on the ground in the clearing, next to the ashes of my previous outfit, and allowed the tears to continue to pour down my face. Wuya was gone, she was trapped in the puzzle box, and now so was that accursed outfit that represented her.

"Never again…" I muttered through my tears.

I opened a second portal and threw my leg out, kicking the unsuspecting cowboy right between his shoulder blades. He grunted and the Serpent's Tail was thrown from his hand as I emerged from the portal and Clay started pushing himself to his feet.

"Air ball!" Dojo cried out, following the flying Shen Gong Wu with his eyes. Omi ran forward and jumped for it, but I waved my arms and used a large gale of wind to push me forward through the air. Both Omi and I flew towards the Tail, and I smiled when my hand closed around it and Omi went flying past me, his hands empty. I flipped once in the air before landing, satisfied with myself.

"Go boy!" Wuya yelled to me. "Use it! Hurry!"

I held the Shen Gong Wu up, closed my eyes, and cried, "Serpent's Tail!" I opened my eyes again and allowed the Shen Gong Wu to carry me quickly through the air as I felt my body disappear. I flew straight towards Wuya, ignoring the looks I got from the other monks.

"Stop!" Dojo yelled, jumping in my path and holding one of his arms up. "I can't-" I flew straight through him, a smirk on my face, and then looked at Wuya again. She was floating right in front of the Mirror, exactly like she said she would be, and I suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over me. My smile vanished as I got nearer and nearer, but by this time, it was too late. I didn't really care anyway.

"Reversing Mirror!" Wuya shouted, and we collided.

I hit my head against the ground roughly, cursing myself inside my mind. It had been such a stupid thing to do – what had I been thinking? Oh yeah, I hadn't been. I pounded my fist against the ground, splashing myself with water, before starting to slowly pick myself up. A streak of lightning lit the sky, and I decided that it was probably a good time to get back to the temple. I stomped my foot on the pile of ashes before heading off into the trees.

"Leave your mistakes in your past," Master Fung's words repeated themselves in my head, "and look to the future." That was exactly what I planned on doing. A small smile formed on my lips as one last tear slid its way down my cheek.

"Never again…" I murmured, reaching inside my pocket and fingering my medallion. "Never."

A/N: I made a huuuuge deal out of the hood because honestly, it's what distinguished Rai between his Heylin identity and his Xiaolin identity. It might just be me, but it really was his hood that divided his identities. I mean, think back to the episode 'Dream Stalker' - when Rai first entered the world of his dreams, he was in the room of luxuries that Wuya had shown to him on that mountain in Rio, and Rai is back in his first season outfit. He doesn't seem fazed at all as he starts walking around and is happy to see Kimiko there. But as soon as Kim turns into Wuya and the camera snaps back to Rai, his hood is on. That little part in that episode really speaks to how the hood was a huge part in Rai's Heylin personality. At least, to me it does. XD I don't know about any of y'all.

So anyway... this is just what I thought he did to that outfit, never wanting it to remind him of what he did to his friends again. I noticed that he was really the only one who changed outfits after the Heylin!Rai arc; Clay only lost his gloves and his neckerchief just got better animation, Omi never wears anything other than his robes, and Kimiko changes outfits every episodes. So... it got me thinking - why did Raimundo decide to start wearing something different? Then I thought about the hood on his white shirt and how it played a dominant part in his time on the Heylin side. And thus... this oneshot was written. :)

Enough with my babble! I hope y'all enjoyed! And if you didn't... well, please don't flame me, but I am open to criticism. :) And if you did enjoy it, please click that lovely little blue button down under this author's note and leave me a little review! I always love hearing from my readers! Feedback is the best thing an author can receive, really, so please give me some!

(( Claire ))