A/N: Did I mention that I really love Jack Spicer? Well I really really love Jack Spicer. So much in so that I conjured up well, this. Mostly Jack-centric with Chack. Hope you enjoy.
. . .
How To: World Domination
Arise ye outcast of darkest night,
So that you may take the light and extinguish it.
Your determination is admirable,
Yet you know not of what you want.
He called himself the Evil Boy Genius... but if he were really honest with himself, he had no idea what the fuck he was doing.
Because he was a genius, Jack Spicer should have known the exact way he wanted to go about making sure every living thing was under his control. He should, by logic, have a very detailed and distinct plan that was complex and incomprehensable to a simpleton. It should have been a plan so carefully orchestrated that no one could have seen it coming and it would have left anyone in astonishment but also in horror. Just think, the world in the hands of an eighteen-year old boy who was still naive but smart enough to take the world by storm and have everyone eating out of his hands as if he became some sort of god whom no one could live without. They would have no choice but to follow the boy no matter what sort of judgement he handed.
It should have been that, but it certainly was not.
Jack Spicer was a fan of the term "winging-it."
He thought he could just up and take over the world without any type of plan and that is the exact thing that made everyone think he was well... stupid. Didn't make it any better when he started working with Wuya (he came to the god-awful conclusion that it was a mistake) and came to the idea that betrayal is a good thing. Betray, betray, betray! Place your loyalty with the most powerful until they are weakened by another, then place your loyalty with that person! If there's one thing that Jack learned from his endeavors with her, it was that the ill method she used was not helping him out, so he stopped. He completely cut off Wuya, wanting nothing to do with her. She was getting to be quite the thorn in his backside. No more forgiving, no more second chances—that isn't Heylin standard. She was very confused as to his sudden change in behavior but didn't even take the chance to think more on it. She left, leaving him to his own devices as he once were before.
Arise ye outcast of darkest night,
So that you may take the light and extinguish it.
Let your mind cast decision until it do you part,
And when it does you part, you replace it with your heart.
Jack changed. He didn't linger when it came to Showdowns and getting Wu. He didn't boast—or rather he did boast, he just did it in a way where it would not cause him to "suffer a most humiliating defeat" as Omi would so elegantly put it. He started to win more Showdowns, which surprised not only the Xiaolin but also the more powerful ranks of the Heylin. Even Wuya asked to become partners with him once more but he immediately declined, saying he didn't need her (and he did not, not ever) and threw her out, once again. Jack loved to be alone. Had he been alone with his plans, he would have been much, much better and he would have actually gotten somewhere. The monks actually had trouble fighting him and needed to work harder to defeat him and his robots. Yes, Jack loved loneliness. It gave him an advantage. Loneliness meant he could not betray himself. Loneliness meant he did not have to worry about failing anyone.
Jack Spicer was alone... and he loved that.
Right now the Evil Genius (he finally felt he was deserving of the title, despite calling himself such for a long time) was working on some destroyed robots (he's yet to make them resistant to telekinetic elemental manipulation), carefully mending their wires and giving them bodies once more. The roboticist would never give up his creations. Though their bodies would constantly be destroyed, the genius made sure their identities stayed intact by having an indestructable microchip embedded into the motherboards of the robots that contained every function of the robot, and the names Jack gave them. His hands are graceful in their movements of reconstructing the robots, though his hands themselves are worn and torn from vigorous hours of work, but Jack Spicer does not take breaks, not when it comes to his beloved creations.
However, he would be forced to when a green flash blinded his eyes for only a brief second. He flinches only slightly but his eyes after the flash began to focus once more, forming a figure. Only the table in which he was working on in front of Jack and the figure separated them, but the separation was futile.
"Hello, Chase," Jack says calmly. "What brings you over to a poor, pathetic worm's burrow?"
The man in question takes a bit longer to speak, eying the boy, almost predatory. Jack stares while Chase's eyes roam Jack's body. He never lets his eyes off of Chase, for he feared something bad could happen if he did.
"You've changed," He says, and Jack laughs.
"Was there something humorous, Spicer?"
Jack puts down a wrench he was using to fix his robot.
"I'm just thinking you're here on Wuya's behalf. She's wanted to partner up with me and I keep saying no. Can't think around that hag, you know?"
Chase stares at him, almost as if he's said something foreign.
"I am not here on her behalf, but rather on my own. I've noticed you've matured and I would like to offer you-"
"No." Jack cuts him off, turning his back.
"Excuse me?" For once, Chase Young is in shock—and the man rarely is shocked.
"You heard me. I don't want anything you're offering, but I'm sure if you coerce Omi enough, you'll get what you want. He's too oblivious for his own good. Just lie and say Raimundo is coming to our side again and the only way to save him is for him to do the same. I'm sure he'll believe you."
Jack knew it was risky to talk to such a powerful man like Chase, whom could kill him at any time he wished with little effort on his part. As much as it killed him to reject Chase, he had to. He could not allow himself to slip up just because he harbored feelings for the man. He had to hide that, as well. Feelings didn't do good on the Heylin side.
Once again, Chase Young is reminded of his ill attempt at bringing Omi to the Heylin side by someone who developed a backbone in the matter of days. It was not one of the warlord's proudest moments and it is certainly something he will not forget and has already learned from. He walks closer to Jack only to see the boy actually go into a fighting stance, red eyes glaring at gold.
"I'm not afraid of you, Chase," He says.
Chase smirks, he knows his attempt the first time around will end in failure but he has proved something to himself.
Jack has changed. He has matured. He knows what he wants.
He is perfect.
"All I ask is that you think about it."
Chase disappears.
Arise ye outcast of darkest night,
So that you may take the light and extinguish it.
Take their smiles and make them yours,
No one deserves happiness if you are not happy yourself.
The time came for yet another Showdown and Jack was already flying via his heli-pack to the scene. The particular Wu activated, called the Oyster of Revelations allowed the user to voice the wants of the person it was used on—all of them. Jack couldn't allow the Xiaolin to use that on them! They would know every private detail about him, even down to his feelings for Chase. He could not allow that. The genius appeared to the sight of the Wu and found there to be no monks just yet, which was suspicious. Usually them flying on that giant gecko they called a temple guardian would be much faster than that of Jack travelling on his heli-pack, so the fact that there was no sight of them worried him.
Jack looked for the Wu, figuring he had an advantage over all of the belligerents of the Xiao-Hey conflict. He needed to find it quickly and leave before anyone came. His Wu tracker stopped him at a stone where the Wu should have been, but only the imprint (in the shape of a oyster that could fit in one's hand) was present.
"Fuck!" Jack quickly turned around, realizing it was a trap.
Sure enough, behind him stood Chase Young.
"You-"
Before he could finish, he was cut off by Chase exclaiming the name of the Wu and making a white smoke surround Jack.
"Wuya was nice enough to distract the monks so they don't know of a thing that goes on between you and I here. I intend on getting answers from you, Spicer."
Jack hissed, trying to back away from Chase but to no avail. Under the effects of the Wu, Jack was not allowed to move, not allowed to escape, not allowed to save himself.
"What... What do you want...? I'm not of any use to you... Just leave me... leave me..."
Those became Jack's last words of free will before the Wu fully took him over.
"Simply perfect," Chase says, eying the sight. "I believe I may very well take back my stance on Shen Gong Wu being entirely useless."
Jack gasps as Chase traces his cheek with his finger, slowly moving to his lips.
"How do you truly feel about my offer?"
Jack instantly speaks. "I wanted to accept it."
"So why didn't you?"
"I don't trust you anymore."
Chase removes his finger, chuckling. He knew the next question he wanted to ask. It would firmly confirm something that has been plaging his mind.
"How do you feel about me?"
No, no... not this... I can't. I was doing so good. Why did this have to happen.
Chase sees Jack struggle, trying to keep his mouth closed. Sealing his eyes shut but it is to no avail. There is nothing he can do to prevent his words from escaping his mouth.
"I want you. I want all of you. There isn't anything I want more than you."
"Oh really, Jack?"
And Jack's breath hitches. Chase downright purred his name and Jack knows he shouldn't like it as much as he did.
Chase grabs him by the front of the shirt and pulls him out of the effects of the Wu, growling.
"Then why do you deny me!"
Jack seized the opportunity and snatched the Wu out of Chase's hand, quickly shouting the name and enveloping Chase in the same effects.
"How... How did you-!"
"Guess it's my turn, isn't it, Chase?"
Jack pretended to think for a moment before speaking. "So, do you really want me to be your apprentice?"
"Yes, I want it. I do not want anyone to have the position other than you."
Jack walked back and forth. Knowing Chase wasn't lying for once did please him, but he wouldn't give in so easily.
"What will you do knowing about my feelings for you?"
"Fufill them," Chase responds instantly.
Jack smirks for a minute before answering. "Well then, you can have fun trying to do that while you're here."
Jack lets the Wu slip down to the grass, activating his heli-pack and flying off, leaving Chase there still under the effects of the Wu.
Chase Young had never wanted to wipe the floor with someone as much as he wanted to with Jack Spicer.
Arise ye outcast of darkest night,
So that you may take the light and extinguish it.
Forget not your boundaries,
The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows himself to be the fool.
Jack Spicer felt himself a satisfied man. He knew how to turn the game in his favor. He knew what it meant to be truly evil. Whatever doubts anyone had about him being true Heylin could be immediately evaporated once they found out about the little predicament he put Chase in. Jack had no doubts that the punishment he'd receive would not be a pleasant one, but Jack thought it was so worth it to see the look in the warlord's eyes once he flew off. That rage in his eyes and that growl was all too pleasing to Jack. If he lived to tell the tale, he'd have to do it again. After all, the genius was a risk-taker.
"Ahah... This can actually be fun..." He finds himself saying to himself.
"Fun to ridicule me?" A new voice chimes in, and Jack laughs, not even phased.
"Hello, Chase. What brings you-" Chase covers Jack's mouth, pushing him up against the wall.
"You devious, conniving little worm! How dare you even think you could get away with such insolence!"
But all Chase gets out of him is a muffled chuckle. Chase removes his hand, glaring.
"Are you upset, Chase? Good. You don't like it when someone uses your own tactics against you, now do you?"
Before Chase can grab him again, Jack moves away, assuming a fighting stance as he did before. Jack knows he cannot defeat Chase, but that doesn't mean he's just going to let the warlord do whatever he wants to him.
"I cannot even be truly angry with you, Spicer, but I fail to understand why you have confirmed you wish to be my apprentice, yet act as if you are dubious about the whole thing."
"Because, Chase, you'll just throw me away when I'm not up to your standards. I want you, yes—and I'm man enough to admit that, but I need you much like a mouse needs a cat around them. I'm not stupid, Chase. To you, I'll always be a pathetic worm, but no more. I'm Jack Spicer, I'm a freaking genius and I am alone. That is who I am, so if you'll kindly leave, that will be nice."
Chase, for once, doesn't know what to say, and leaves.
Arise ye outcast of darkest night,
So that you may take the light and extinguish it.
What is passion if it is not able to be shared?
What is loneliness but a means of self-abandonment?
Jack did not have any confrontations with Chase since the last one. He went on winning some Showdowns, losing some, and just doing what he did best as if nothing happened between the two. Something about it made Jack feel uneasy, but he figured Chase was never coming back. If there was any chance he had at gaining some recognition from the warlord, it was lost. Jack knew it should stay that way. Forming any partnership could eventually destroy whatever growth he had gained in the first place. Still, he could not help but to feel there was no closure, no nothing. He didn't want... their talk to end like this, but he would not be the one to approach Chase. A part of him did not want to find out what would happen to him should he show up to Chase's citadel (there was some sort of magic charm on the fucking door that crushed him on impact, anyway. Talk about being hostile.) and try to fix the situation.
Jack felt... bored. It wasn't a very suitable emotion that he should be feeling at the moment, but nonetheless, that is how he truly felt. He'd tried to cure it by making more and more robots, until his whole lab was filled with Jack-bots. When that wasn't enough, he'd even devised a plan to steal all of the Xiaolin's Wu, which actually turned out to be effective as he stared at the stolen bag of Wu on the table, but yet seeing the horrified faces of the Xiaolin as he flew away with basically every Wu they had did not quell the boredom he had. It felt like Jack was missing something, and he did not want to admit to himself that he knew exactly what he was missing. The genius needed to be alone. No one understood him except himself. He would be the stereotypical boy in school that skipped two grades and had no friends all because no one understood him. This is what he deserved and this is what he would take.
...But Jack didn't like it anymore. What was thought to be boredom was actually sadness. Sadness at the fact that being alone is the only thing that made him function right, the only thing that was able to turn him into a worthy adversary to the Xiaolin. The only thing that gave him a backbone, that gave him the will to take what he wanted without any regrets. He'd built the perfect defense, or so he thought. He recalled the confrontations with Chase, and cursed them. He wished Chase never showed up! That the man would have left him alone and just went on to thinking he was worthless. That would have made things so, so much easier. Without Chase, his emotions wouldn't be jumbled up. Jack decided it was all Chase's fault. He hated him for messing up his wall, for making him admit things he never wanted to come to fruition and hated him for still being the object of his thoughts and hated him for making him want him even more.
What was sadness turned into anger. Anger at himself, anger for showing a compassionate side. What was anger turned into sorrow. Jack sank to the ground and buried his face into his hands, and he cried.
To the one who looks as if you have been crying every day,
Fight back with all the force that you've been laughed at in the face!
And in the end you'll find, it's neither bomb or knife,
That will be the strongest when you carve your way.
"Spicer."
The one voice Jack does not want to hear sounds, and he looks up, glaring as tears run down from his face. "Go away! Just go, Chase! I don't want to hear it! I'm not worth anything to anyone, so just go!"
From this moment on, let's promise that no matter what it is,
You will not put a price tag on the fact that you exist.
Although it seems that now, we're just playing around,
It is much too soon to throw these ideas out!
"I am not here to ridicule you, I swear to you," Chase comes closer, making Jack curl up into a ball. Anything to protect himself. Anything to keep away from Chase.
"You are alone," Chase says. "You cannot go on like this. You cannot go on thinking that loneliness is the key to victory."
"It is all I have!" Jack screamed. He stood up, backing away from Chase. "When I joined the Heylin, I had to suffer and take orders from Wuya and suffer through her words that dehumanized me just because I failed—and it didn't end there once I met you and the rest!"
And today, standing there on the railway,
All alone at the station's end,
Tomorrow's me is surely waiting helplessly,
To take orders from a rather dumb and selfish scum dictator again...
"I admit I saw no appeal with you when I first met you, Sp- Jack... but that does not mean I will not be willing to start over."
There is a softness to Chase's words that calms Jack, if only slightly. He wipes his face and looks down.
Even if there comes a day that cars are flying in the sky,
Even if there comes a day where robots talk like you and I,
As for the things you say to me instead of what comes easily,
Try to fix the pieces of my heart oh won't you please?
Jack is pulled closer to Chase and it takes a few minutes for him to process he is being embraced by the man. It is hard to read Chase's expression, what he would be thinking or what he is going to do next. Jack... does not want this moment to cease. He likes how soft Chase feels. He likes how Chase has his arms wrapped around him tightly, as if he doesn't want to let go and wants to keep Jack from any harm that may come upon him.
If a missle comes and flies across this kind of sky above,
If I were to take the chance to pray for happiness and love,
I would have to reassure myself,
I could still find compassion hidden 'side of me...
"I do not understand... I cannot understand. For once, I am at a loss. You have somehow found a way..." Chase trails off. He looks at Jack, lifting his chin. "You... What have you done to me..."
Jack smiles. He lifts his hand to caress Chase's cheek. "Something good. Something good in the sense that it'll benefit us, and no one else."
Hey, I'm sure that even if you choose to lift your eyes,
There is no way to see shit if there isn't any light,
Whether I'm all by myself, or with somebody else,
I will still fall into the same trap of loneliness.
Chase leaned down and finally gave Jack what he'd wanted for so long. He no longer cared if it was a means of distracting him, a means of trapping him. He was no naive human. He knew right from wrong... and what he felt around this enigma he now called Jack Spicer was nothing he felt he needed to be wary of.
As I stay right here, singing songs about suicide,
The depth I've fallen to feels just like if I'd died,
But I've come to see, even with these thoughts inside of me,
The words I say from day to day – they bear no weight no matter what I do,
I can't see them through!
Every negative thought Jack felt about himself was pushed away to a part of his mind that he would never unlock again.
It happened in a haze.
He could not stop kissing Chase and didn't want Chase to stop, either. He loved the attention to his body, how Chase took his hands and roamed every inch of body, touching everywhere he pleased. Though Jack was shy at first, he eventually allowed himself to do the same thing to Chase, getting a very pleasing reaction by Chase pressing himself even closer to Jack.
He can't even see himself growling, taking Chase's hand and practically pacing to the bedroom.
He can't even remember pushing him down, and climbing on top of him, and telling Chase that he wants everything and please don't hesitate, I need you, Chase...
It happened so fast but it was so relieving. If Chase was an addiction, you could consider Jack effectively addicted with no way of turning back even if he wanted to (and he definitely did not).
And today, standing there just like everyday,
All alone in this fake reality,
Tomorrow's me would be better off not existing,
But I hear the nagging whistle of the train as if pulls up to me...
They are lying in Jack's bed, panting. They look at each other as if they are trying to come to the terms with the fact that yes, they did have sex, and yes, it was absolutely amazing. Jack curls up next to Chase, who simply wraps an arm around him and rests his head against his.
"Do you really want to be with me, Chase...?"
Such a shy creature...
"You gave yourself to me, and I the same. I would not do such a thing if I did not want to be with you, Jack. I am certain of the things I want, and this is no different."
"Then this is real," Jack says. "I can... accept not being alone if it's with you."
"And I can accept the fact that you have made me feel something I have not in centuries," Chase responds, leaning down to take his lips once more.
They truly did find compassion with each other.
Even if I try to tell myself that love is just bad luck,
I know that I will regret it when my conscience catches up,
Won't you take a look at my face,
This is the way that I'll stay,
Because annoying pricks like you I really, really hate!
.
If a missle comes and flies across this kind of sky above,
If I were to give away my life because I've had enough,
I would have to reassure myself that I could still find compassion in me,
I would have to reassure myself that I can still be saved
Before my heart turns into stone...
. . .
A/N: First songfic! The lyrics are from Sirhamnet's version of How To: Sekai Seifuku which can be listened to here: ( watch?v=YiqRo_tRo94) Please support them!
Again, I hope you all enjoyed. Reviews/constructive criticism appreciated!
The little poems in the fic (Arise ye outcast of darkest night, and so on) are my own works.