Greetings. Quick background of why after so long I'm posting this short story. My good friend is struggling with depression right now. I wrote this for her. Warning though it's a bit depression and mentions of death and depression. Rated M because I don't know there might be stuff that will offend people. But there's no sex or violence. Just some dark talking.
Chase was in his bed, staring at his dark ceiling. 3 am and still no sleep. Just like last night, and just like the night before. The prince of darkness had never felt this kind of sensation before. His normally calm, focused brain was buzzing full of thoughts. Everything he tried just didn't feel right. Meditation didn't work, he had no appetite to eat, and no energy for training. He knew all of his enemies would think he was planning something big. They would probably come around his palace sometime soon, either to just spy or barge right in and start rummaging around. Something that seemed to be quite common, especially with Wuya. The dark haired man sighed as he rolled onto his side, staring at his wall. If anyone did come in, what would he do? Probably nothing. He had no energy to do anything.
"I wish these thoughts would get out of my head!" Chase screamed in his mind loudly. Not loud enough to cover his thoughts, though.
"I should just talk to someone. Someone that I know will keep their mouth shut. Someone who would be up at 3 am anyway…"
Jack Spicer was happily snoring at his work desk. He had been up all night building robots, as he often did. After all, at the rate his precious creations get destroyed, he would probably run out of them in a day. But the work was tiring and repetitive and the redhead ended up drifting off on the bench where his robots were, head snuggled cosily in his arm. But unfortunately this night his sleep was disrupted by a firm slam of a dragon lord's first on the table. Jack shrieked, jumping up and falling backwards off his stool. Sitting himself up, he could see his evil idol standing in the light of his work lamp.
"Ch…Chase! Wha…what brings you to my lab…so…late…"
The prince of darkness grabbed the boy by his jacket collar and pulled him to his feet.
"We're going for a walk."
Jack rubbed his hands together. The night air was brisk, and his little body didn't produce much heat. He kept looking over at Chase. The man looked a bit different. Usually he emitted a feeling of dominance and strength. But that feeling was gone. He looked almost vulnerable. The moonlight reflecting off his skin gave him a pale, sickly looking glow rather than his usual healthy one.
"Spicer, stop staring at me."
The albino averted his eyes, scanning the dark for something else to look at. Chase was the last person he wanted to upset. Especially out in the dark on a walk to who knows where for who knows why.
An awkward silence lasted for a good ten minutes until the dark lord looked up and sighed.
"Do you know how old I am, Spicer?"
"Well…uh….you look like, super young…."
"I'm 1,624"
"Wow." The youth exclaimed. "That's pretty old."
"It's only old in comparison to an average human life. In comparison to the age of the earth, it's virtually nothing."
Jack wasn't sure how to respond to the answer, so he just stared blankly at his idol.
"Most people would take immortality in a heartbeat. And the first hundred, maybe even thousand years might be nice. But then what? There's no end. Just an existence of trying to find ways to spend your time. Sometimes it can be awful. Even if I did take over the world, then what? I make the streets flow with lava, I shoot people out of catapults, I enslave an entire army of humans. Eventually that will get boring. And the only people around will be Wuya, Hannibal, and probably Master Monk Guan. Even though I haven't a clue how he has been alive this long. But I hate all these people. The idea of spending an eternity with them sickens me."
The evil boy genius wasn't quite sure what was happening. This was a lot of information. He didn't even think Chase had thoughts like that. He just thought the man would be thinking about martial arts, or drinking soup or something.
"But I've been thinking…" Chase continued. "Am I really even immortal? My potion is a potion of eternal youth. Not immortality. So I can't die from age. And I haven't been close enough to losing a battle with anyone to truly test the limits of my mortality. I mean, I feel pain. If I get stabbed I bleed. Maybe 1600 years is too long for a being with an advanced state of consciousness to live. Life gets boring when there's no end. It's like playing a game of chess where no one wins or loses. It just keeps going on and on until eventually you don't see a point in playing anymore."
It was silent for a moment. Chase stopped walking and so did Jack. The silence was too painful for the goth boy.
"What…what are you saying?"
"I'm saying I think I'm done playing my game of chess…"
It took a few brief moments for the sentence to sink in to the boy genius. But when Jack finally understood the metaphor, he gasped.
"Chase…are you saying you want to…to…die?"
"More like 'I don't want to live anymore.'"
"That's like, the same thing!" The boy protested. "Chase you can't die! There are so many things in the world worth staying alive for! Like, what if something really really cool happens. Like….they invent a new species by mixing dinosaur DNA with a cat or something and then everyone can own a dinosaur cat!"
The prince of darkness blinked a few times. "No…I'm quite sure I wouldn't care about that."
"Well that's just ONE example. There are plenty of things worth living for! Just give me time to think about it."
"I'll give you until sunrise, worm. If you can't show me some reason for my continuing existence in this world by then, then my life is devoid of all meaning."
"Alright! Let's go find something you'll like!"
Even at 3:30 in the morning, the streets in the downtown near Jack's house was still a bit busy. Most stores were closed but there were places that were open. The first stop was at one of the youth's favourite western style fast food restaurants. Grease covered meat shoved between two buns with a side order of overly salty fried and an extra-large thick creamy milkshake. The two males sat down in the small little restaurant area on uncomfortable chairs. Jack licked his lips at the sight of his favourite meal.
"Oh man Chase this is the best food. Totally worth living another 15 or 16 hundred years for!"
Unfortunately, the dragon lord didn't have the same enthusiasm as his eating partner. The food looked incredibly unappetizing. The redhead grabbed a handful of fries and shoved them into his mouth, slurping it down with the milkshake.
"Mhm….Eat some…" He said, muffled by chunks of food. Not having much to lose, the man grabbed one of the fries and bit off one end. The taste wasn't pleasant at all, and Chase grimaced, putting the other half of the fry down.
"This isn't what I would exactly call 'good food', you insect. Your taste buds are awful."
"No…this is so good!" Jack moaned as he grabbed the hamburger. "Here, just try this. It's got pickles on it but if you don't like pickles you can just take them off. I'll eat them later."
The overlord tasted the second piece of food with the same result.
"This food is garbage. It all has a disgusting greasy feeling and the seating is far from comfortable. I can't believe people actually enjoy this."
Jack looked at the man across from him.
"Really? Usually people love this place! You gonna finish your burger?"
Chase shook his head and pushed the meal away. The albino boy grabbed it happily.
The two continued walking down the street. Jack still has a box of fries in his hands.
"Mmmm…how about the shopping outlet? It's open 24 hours! I LOVE shopping for new things. Maybe if you buy something you'll feel better!"
The mall was not so busy that time of night, and some shops inside were closed. But one of Jack's favourite stores was open. A dark, grungy looking place with rock music playing. Black cloaks not unlike the one the boy was wearing hung on racks and shirts with different bands and sayings on them hung on the walls. There were all sorts of pop culture paraphernalia everywhere that Chase had no concept of. But the redhead loved every piece of it.
"Ohhhh isn't this stuff just so cool?!" He squealed to his shopping partner. "This is where I buy all my clothes!"
"Shocking." Chase muttered sarcastically.
The youth began rummaging through a stack of shirts, picking each one up to read.
"Hah, Chase look at this one. It says 'Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman'. That's so funny! Oh my God Chase you should make one but instead of Batman it would be you! Then you could sell it!"
"That's a stupid idea, worm."
"Oh and look at this one with a bunch of cats on it! You like cats, eh? You have like 20 or 30."
"They aren't just cats…."
"I'm gonna go try this on." Jack interrupted, grabbing a few shirts and a pair of pants. "I'll be right back! Keep looking and find something you like!"
The Heylin warrior stared at the wall. Most of the shirts were jokes the man didn't get. The rest were just uninteresting. There were so many overpriced objects in the store, all similar looking things with different brands. All pointless in Chase's eyes. He couldn't figure out what Jack found appealing about anything in the place. An associate wearing dark goth makeup and piercings in most of the skin on his face approached him.
"Hey, do you like, need any help with anything?"
"No." Chase snapped.
"Well okay then if you need anything I'll be like, over there and stuff. By the way I love your outfit. Metal. Hardcore to the max."
The dark haired man looked down at his armour. The metal coating that helped keep him alive, preventing injury from sharp objects. His mind started to wander to his death again. How would he do it? Would he just take his armour off and stroll into the den of his enemies? Or would he not want to give them the satisfaction? Either way his armour would soon be useless, a garment that took him years to craft.
Jack came running out of the dressing room with a black cloak on, tight black jeans, and a green shirt underneath with the chemical composition of caffeine printed in white.
"Check it out, Chase, doesn't this look so cool on me?!"
"You look virtually no different to me."
The evil boy genius's face dropped. "But look! My shirt's different!"
"Still the same to me."
"Well I happen to like it! Have you picked out anything yet? I'm buying! As long as it isn't like, too too much."
"I really have no interest in any of these things."
"Really?! There has to be SOMETHING you like! How…how about this jacket? It's so cool looking it would look awesome on you!"
But the persuasion didn't work. There was nothing the dragon overlord could be convinced to like. Purchasing his new shirt, the two left the dark store back into the lit mall.
"I know you didn't like the food, but this mall has a great little bubble tea place we can go to! I've seen you drink tea before!"
"Bubble tea?" Chase had never heard the term before.
"Ohhhhhmygod it's like the best thing ever! It's like tea and a dessert at the same time!"
The little shop was a bit of a distance, but the boy enjoyed pointing things out to his partner. The pretty lights, jewellery he liked, a store that he got kicked out of one time. Eventually they arrived. A small, cute girl with short hair greeted them.
"Hi can I get ummm…" Jack turned to the dark prince.
"Chase whatdoyouwant."
"I don't really want…"
"He will have a regular bubble tea, I will have a taro slush with tapioca pearls!"
When their drinks were ordered and received the two sat down on a bench outside the tea shop.
"So you just stab the top of the drink with your straw, and then you suck up the tapioca with the drink!"
Chase pierced the thin plastic film on top of his drink and put the straw in his mouth, sucking out a bunch of drink and two pearls. The taste was nothing like any tea the martial arts master had ever drank. It was much sweeter. And the tapioca was an odd texture. The two combined was not exactly a pleasant experience .
"Spicer this drink is…"
"Oh here, try mine! It's taro flavour!"
The dark prince thought it was odd to have taro as a flavour. He had eaten taro before and it was a pretty flavourless tasting root like a potato. But he tried it anyway. It was a bit nicer than his drink, but still nothing good. Nothing that gave him any feeling of life.
"Well? Isn't it soooo good?!"
"It all just tastes like sugar and rubber."
"What! This is like my favourite drink! Man you're a hard guy to please."
Chase looked down at his drink. His feelings still remained. The overlord almost regretted taking on this stupid challenge. His mind continuously filled with depressing and awful thoughts and nothing was silencing them. The longer he sat there the worse they got. The fiery redhead beside him looked over and saw his plans weren't working. Chase was still unhappy.
"Okay Chase, the sun isn't up yet! We still have to kept trying!" the young evil doer encouraged. "I'm sure I can get something!"
The mall didn't seem like a place with anything a half dragon, half man would like, so Jack decided to take his mission further away from the city into a park he used to go to as a child. The park was quiet and peaceful. The trees swayed gently in the cold night. Lamps lit up the small path that the two males were walking along. There was no one else around, and the sound of crickets could be heard all throughout the grass. The albino youth felt optimistic.
"Isn't this nice? Just us and nature. Trees and grass and the air and all the stars. This is a perfect thing to live for….right?"
When Jack turned his head he was disappointed. Chase still looked the same. No change. It was almost as if he was a zombie. Nothing made the dull expression on his face change.
"This….isn't working is it?"
"No." The prince of darkness said coldly. The two looked over and could see the sun just barely poking up near the horizon.
"Maybe we should just head back…" Jack said with a defeated tone. "I can't think of anything else…"
Chase returned Jack back to his basement. The boy walked to his bedroom and sat on his bed, placing his red haired head in his hands.
"I guess this…is goodbye." Jack mumbled through his hands.
"I guess it is…" The overlord replied. "Goodbye, Spicer."
As Chase turned to leave, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A book, covered up by a potentially clean pair of jeans. It was flipped open to a page, where the man saw an article about himself. Out of curiosity, Chase picked the book up, quickly flipping through the pages. It was all stuff about him. His martial arts moves, articles from evil magazines, pictures. All with handwritten notes beside them.
"Spicer, what is this?"
Jack looked up from his hands, tears staining his red cheeks.
"That's….that's my evil idol scrapbook."
"You have a book about me?"
"Of…of course!" The sobbing youth stood up from his bed and walked over close to Chase.
"It's everything I've ever found about you. When I was a kid I never had any role models. Everyone else always had a role model. Like a doctor or a singer or an astronaut. All the good people with goody two shoes role models. But none of them ever fit me…that is, until I learned about you. You were…are….my evil idol! You're the reason for me being evil! You're probably the reason I ever do anything! You know, I used to have sad thoughts too. Like why was I even born, and that I'm not good at anything. But you….you kept me going. Because I knew one day I wanted to be just like you. I would even save the times you and I worked together, see?" Jack turned the pages of the book to a photo of him and Chase. The evil boy genius was leading an entire army of monkeys with the monkey staff. The dark prince stood beside him, looking less than impressed.
"Oh oh, and here's the time we all got captured by spiders and you came to save me! And there's the day we first met and I fell into your arms and then tried to give you my Shen Gong Wu! Oh man, Wuya was pissed about that. And here was the time we…"
Jack stopped. "Well…um…I guess it really doesn't matter anymore, does it? I mean…this is going to be the last page of my scrapbook." Tears began to well up in his red eyes.
"You really kept all these memories?" Chase inquired. "Didn't they all end in failure?"
"Yeah but…I did them with you. And that's all that matters to me." The boy sniffed, tears plopping down on the book.
The overlord was stunned. He knew Jack looked up to him, but he had no idea how much his evil partner cared about him. Come to think of it, the whole night might not have been Chase's idea of a good time, but the whole night he was with Jack made it seem not so pointless. It was another memory for the youth to put in his book. With a surge of feeling flowing through him, Chase quickly laced his fingers with the albino beside him. Jack was a bit shocked and looked up at the dark haired man holding his hand.
"Chase you…"
"I think I found my reason to keep living."
Relief and happiness swept over Jack as he smiled, tears still streaming down his face. He jumped and hugged his evil idol, tightly wrapping his arms around the man's waist.
"Spicer…..alright let go of me."
Jack obliged, releasing Chase from his grasp.
"So you…wanna stay here and watch a movie and eat ice cream? The good kind of ice cream not the cheap stuff. I've got a whole brand new bucket in my freezer!"
"Fine, but I want popcorn too. Ice cream gives me headaches." The dark prince demanded.
"Whatever you want, Chase!"
The two sat down on the couch with a comfy blanket and a table of food. The dragon lord fell asleep about two minutes into the movie. But Jack didn't mind. Chase was there and that's all that mattered.