The Young Prince had fallen ill. The Doctors all told the Emperor that he shouldn't be; that this disease only affected the elderly.
The Prince seemed unfazed by it all but no one knew why.
In his final moments, The Prince asked his mother and father to forgive him for taking so long. At first, they were horrified that he would say such a thing, thinking that he thought himself a burden to them.
He finally revealed the truth: "You don't understand. It took me 50 years to defeat Aku."
And then, the Prince's eyes closed.
When he opened them again, he found himself surrounded by the cosmos. Stars and clouds in shades of dull orange and pink surrounded him as far as he could see.
He felt that he wasn't alone. He knew someone was behind him.
That someone spoke with a familiar, comforting female voice, and he froze.
"Well, this is disheartening. I did miss you but I hoped that you'd be able to live your life for a while longer."
It's a voice he thought he would never hear again.
He turned, cautiously, and his heart skipped a beat. Standing before him was a petite, young woman wearing a white gi similar to his own.
"Ashi!" He ran to her, embracing her in his arms and pressing his lips against hers. She reciprocated, happily returning his kiss with her own.
He pulled away for moment, releasing tears of joy.
"Please don't cry, Jack," she said softly, brushing away the the tears on his cheeks with her fingers.
"I thought I'd never see you again," he responded, holding her hand in his. "I missed you so much."
Ashi smiled sweetly and gently kissed the corner of his mouth. "I missed you, too," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. Jack kissed her forehead and gently pulled her closer to him.
They weren't sure how long they just stood there holding each other. They could have stayed so until this day had they not heard three celestial voices say their names.
They broke their embrace to face the three Gods: Rama, Odin, and Ra.
"Ashi, do you consider your wish granted?" Rama asked her.
She turned her head to face Jack with a small smile and tears in her eyes. She then faced the Gods again. "Yes. Thank you for giving me this moment."
"We will send you home in a moment," he replied.
Jack was confused but before he could ask what was going on, the Gods directed their attention to him.
"You have sacrificed so much to rid the world of a great evil," Odin said.
"You both did," Rama added.
"For that, we have decided to grant you both a single wish," Ra explained.
"This woman's wish was to wait to see you one last time, before we had to send her back to her own time," they continued. "She will be reborn in the rewritten future, the one the two of you created with Aku's death. As we said, you've both earned a wish. So, what would you like, Samurai?"
Jack faced the Gods and then he looked back at Ashi. He then took her hand in his and a smile graced his lips.
"I wish... I wish to go with Ashi to her time and live with her."
Ashi wrapped her arms around Jack, with the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face.
"So be it."