Jambo :)
I hope you enjoy my story that I have re-done. I hope this time to go through with it completely. Also please do not flame me, but of course helpful critique is always welcomed. :) Other than the obviouse fact that I do not own Xiaolin Showdown I would like to thank my amazing beta-reader FluffleNeCharka. You Rock!
Well that's that. I bid you all farewell , and Happy Readings ;)
History Lesson Xiaolin: Fire to Ash
Lesson 1: The Beginning
The sky is dark, the air is thick and grey, it smells of death everywhere you turn, the trees and grass are blackened and wilted. Nothing is alive. Their world is dead, as so many worlds have died before it. But then again this is the nature of demon magic. It sucks living energy out of a world, until all you have is ash to the ground.
This is what had come to Cydonia, he whispered to himself looking outside his 'home'. The palace he lived in was never truly a home to him. Nor was it home to his younger sisters. It was just a place where they ate and slept, learned and lived. It was nothing more than a roof over their heads, which had once showed off their flashy titles as Prince and Princesses. Inside the palace, it was almost as quiet as it was out in Cydonia. The halls are dark and dimly lit by red orbs that float next to you when you would leave a room. The portraits in the halls would monitor your every move, retreating back to their master.
He clenched his fist; and looked down at his sleeping sisters. Fraternal twins that each had received the gifts his father had hoped for. After all he couldn't rule every world with a son that could only see a person's aura.
"Bane." His youngest sister Annelise had whispered through the dim light.
He didn't turn around. He needed to be alert, he couldn't miss their exit.
"Yes Annelise?" He whispered back, his hazel eyes darted toward a shadow that had made a sudden movement.
"Where are we going?" She asked, he could imagine how she would pull gently at her curly orange hair as she rested her pale face on her hand.
"You are going with an old friend of mother's." he replied, covering his mouth as he yawned.
How long has it been since I've slept, he wondered quietly.
"Why?" it was Maryl whom spoke this time.
"Have you both learned Chinese yet?" Bane had asked, ignoring their questions.
He was banking on their tiny attention spans, that way he wouldn't have to answer their questions just yet. But you only had so much time in between dodging a question and actually answering it when your younger sisters where either a highly skilled young witch or a Clairvoyant five year old. Combine the two of those together and there's never a moment's piece.
"Yes. But Annelise is having trouble writing and reading it still. But I can read and write." Turning around he had caught sight of Annelise pulling at Maryl's red hair.
"Ouch!" Maryl hissed, she was getting ready to slap her sister in the face.
"Enough the both of you!" Bane snapped, his overgrown curly red hair getting in his eyes.
"She pulled my hair! How come you don't yell at her!?" Maryl whined, she had glared at him crossing her arms over her chest.
Rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache he sighed loudly. He only had so much patient for the both of them.
"Annelise don't pull Maryl's hair! There isn't anything wrong with not being able to read and write in Chinese. You've only had three months to learn. Besides all you need to do is speak Chinese." Tearing his gaze from Annelise' pale brown glare, he looked toward Maryl. She was playing with her long wavy red hair, something that she always did when she knew she was in trouble. Shaking his head he continued. "And Maryl, do you honestly need to provoke your sister?"
She had only shrugged and proceeded to lay back down on the floor. This is what his life had been like for the five years he was with them. Acting as the parental figure he hoped his sisters would follow. He used to be the referee in fights, the consoler in the middle of the night when they had nightmares and the story teller before bedtime. But of course this was not surprising when your father is an evil overlord and your mother is high off of demon magic and "love" to even pay enough attention to their children.
He could have left them in the care of Hannibal Roy, whom was in his father's debt for eternity. The demon would do and did anything for King Adek. But that was the last thing Bane would have done to his sisters. He wouldn't have done anything different, last thing he wanted was Maryl and Annelise to be watched over by a demon.
Of course this was only part of the reason for him having his sister's flee to China. Not only did they risk being manipulated sooner or later by someone from the Heylin, but their world was dying then. He couldn't just wait for them to be shipped off to another world, which they would have been if they had not fled. Bane was surprised that his father hadn't done it sooner. After all it was what his father needed. Then and now he needed Annelise and Maryl at his side.
That familiar gut twisting feeling had crept into his stomach. The feeling that everything was about to go terribly wrong. A flash of green, blue, and yellow had caught his eye.
Could that be him? He wondered.
"Stop laughing!" Maryl hissed shrilly, as Annelise' clear laughter echoed across the empty room.
"What is it this time?" Bane asked not bothering to turn around, and far to deep in thought to tell his sisters to quiet down.
He had been waiting for the signal.
"Where is it…..what is it?" He muttered to himself. Slowly losing confidence in his plan, he couldn't believe he had forgotten to mention to Derek what the signal should be.
A dim white orb floated into the sky. Biting his lip he cursed silently in his head. That was the best signal he could come up with! Surely the Heylin would see that! His thoughts screamed.
"Bane! You aren't listening! Annelise thinks that me changing my name to Wuya is funny!" She turned had turned back to her younger twin whose face was contorted in order to conceal her laughing. Her green eyes were flashing with anger. "It's not funny!"
"It is!" Annelise snapped. Even then her eyes held very little emotion other than annoyance. "It's silly. We don't need to change our names just because we are going to China!"
She suddenly stopped talking. Marly gave her a smug look .
"So you know?" Bane asked, gathering his sister's belongings, not sounding the least bit mad.
"Annelise saw something funny yesterday. We were….somewhere different with a bald boy. We figured it was China. I mean you had us learn the language…" Maryl replied her smug grin was plastered on her face still, but was slowly ebbing away.
"Well then. That's that. Less for me to explain. Let's go." Was all Bane said as he held two bags made of gold with Cydian drawings painted in a pale opal color. "Grab your cloaks."
They did as they were told then began moving out of the empty room quietly. Silently hoping that nothing would go wrong Bane followed his two sisters out. They where concealed with shadow cloaks, specially designed to have the wearer blend in with the shadow, of course they worked better in a crowded room. Bane didn't really understand how the orbs worked or the paintings but he had been sure that the cloaks would be enough to concreal them.
But they weren't. No sooner than when they had stepped outside of the room a dim red orb had landed above their covered heads. The girls stopped moving and looked up. The dim red light began to glow a violent bright red and was flashing repeatedly blinding the three temporarily.
Annelise moved toward Bane, her eyes closed as she latched onto his arm.
"Bane we have to go!" She hissed, as he regained his sight.
In unison all of the paintings that had cluttered the grey walls no longer stood motionless. They had opened their mouths and where releasing a horrible wailing sound. All of the paintings that cluttered the grey walls, had opened their mouths and where letting out a loud wail. Covering her ears Maryl pushed her sister back toward the empty room they had just left.
"Crap." Bane had muttered as he followed them, covering his own ears.
But the room was no longer empty. Bane's heart stopped as two pairs of glowing red eyes starred abck at him. Hannibal Roy stood there, his pulsing black aura mixing with his sister's red and blue aura's. Bane had clenched his fists remembering as he always did when he saw Hannibal. A black aura ment death for a human but it also meant inhuman. Hannibal's tan hands held Annelise and Maryl both in an iron grip.
"Bane!" Maryl had screamed, when she saw him, only to have her foot stomped on by Annelise.
Shooting her twin a meaningful look and nodded toward her brother Annelise had stood still as a statue her eyes going off into the distance. Bane stood there, his eyes darted from his sisters to Hannibal.
"Bane…this doesn't surprise me." The demon spoke in a low voice, the red glow of the orb gave his hair a pink tint.
"Am I so predictable that you already knew what I was planning?" he snapped, his voice wavered slightly.
"No...not really." Hannibal smiled shaking his head. His white sharp teeth bright against his tan skin. "No more so that only you would come up with such a dimwitted plan such as this. Did you really think your father wouldn't hear of your plan?"
He squeezed Annelise' shoulder. Bane shook his head, he knew neither of his sister's would never have told his father. They knew what it meant to keep secrets. They knew….or did they….
"I was hoping he'd hear it once they were safely…..in Albania." Bane improvised, in his mind he hoped that the location remained unknown.
"Well well Albania?" Hannibal had rolled his eyes. "What a dreadful place to send them. Well I have strict orders from your father to send all three of to bed. In the morning you shall pack your bags for you will be sent to Lydonite. I'm sure you know of our army base."
He had starred at Hannibal, for the first time his face did no waver. He would not let them send him to Lydonite. He wasn't about to get sent away to a Heylin Army base. Vowing to himself he would get his sister's out of this he smiled.
"Please don't put up fight. It'll be pointless for the both of us. I'll have wasted my time and you your energy. Besides I have a prisoner to attend to; an old friend that you so kindly brought to us." Hannibal smiled once more, an evil smile.
"Derek…." He murmured, as his heart began sinking.
That was it, he thought to himself. He in his mind all he could think was that he had ruined their last chance of freedom. In a swift movement Annelise had grabbed for Maryl's shoulder, as she forced her sister to duck, slipping from Hannibal's grasp as a knife came flying through the open door. It had only grazed Bane's shoulder, but hit Hannibal square in the stomach.
Squeezing his injured shoulder he saw a silhouetted figure stepping next to him. He could only hope it was Derek. That was the only logical person he could think of that would have attacked Hannibal. Unless his father had somehow turned good or his mother came to her senses, but those kinds of miracles didn't exist.
Dashing toward their brother as Hannibal yanked the knife out of his stomach, Annelise smiled truly pleased with herself. Black liquid began to spurt out of the wound. In the passing seconds it began to close.
"Come we must, go." Derek said pulling Bane with him.
"Ughn." Hannibal grunted as he darted forward grabbing Bane's arm he yanked him down, his head hit the floor with a loud thud.
Annelise and Maryl stood next to Derek they looked down at their brother in shock.
"Come we must get you two to safety!" Derek urged grabbing both of their arms, his small black eyes apologized to Bane.
"No!" Annelise screamed as she attempted to break away from Derek's grasp. A vision of bright lights and her brother all alone in a damp and dirty cell filled her mind. "Bane!"
Hannibal had lunged toward them after he had kicked the boy's body to the side. But Maryl had already finished a strange incantation she had been muttering. In a matter of seconds were hurled away from Hannibal's grasping hands, and where pulled into a series of blinding lights then pitch blackness. The air was knocked out of their lungs, and they were unable to breathe in anymore. They felt the pressure pulling them down, then a gust of icy wind pushed them forward.
Finally their feet had landed on solid ground. Blinking rapidly Annelise looked around, trying to catch her breath. They were in a room made of stone and wood. An odd fat man sitting cross legged made of gold stood atop a table, next to a smoking wooden stick that was releasing a strange smell.
This was the vision she had seen.
A small boy about a year or two older than her was starring at them curiously.
"Master Longwei." He had bowed, looking up at the two odd looking girls.
"Dashi…..you are still awake?" He asked catching his breath.
"I wanted to see who the new students would be….." the young boy replied.
Looking at him more Annelise wanted to burst into laughter. His head was rather large for his tiny physique and was an oval shape; he had black eyes, and yellow skin. She smirked at him, looking at her sister, who returned her smile despite the worried look on her tan face.
"What?" he had snapped, glaring at the two girls.
"Nothing." Annelise retorted, silently she was pleased with herself for being able to speak Chinese so well.
"Girls this is Wu, Dashi." Derek or now Master Longwei said.
"Dashi this is Phelan, Ahnli and Meiru." Annelise looked up at the names, she was confused.
Master Longwei quickly gave her a look that simply said notnow.
"That's a funny name...Ahnli." Dashi replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yes like Dashi is such a normal sounding name." Annelise (Ahnli) snapped.
"More normal then your big carrot topped hair."
"At least I have hair!"
"Anneli- I mean Ahnli stop it! You're being mean." Maryl (Meiru) hissed, before she turned back to smile at Dashi.
Ignoring her sister's remark Annelise continued.
"Not to mention my head is normal sized, unlike yours." She hissed. She was waiting for him to give a retort.
"Not like your hair! Which is an odd color...like carrots." Dashi repeated. He looked around at the room uncertainly. As if another insult would be hiding in the cracked floors.
"You already said that." This time Annelise smiled.
He wasn't so bad, she amended. Dashi returned her smile, and seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"I couldn't think of anything else." He replied shrugging.
"Well will you look at that Dashi, it seems you have someone who enjoys insulting other's as much as you do." Master Longwei smiled, thought Maryl was put-off by their sudden silent friendship.
Both of the children proceeded to smile brightly at each other.
"Well come girls. I will show you your rooms, since we have had a very long night and in the morning I will explain everything to you." He added, as he caught worried glances from both Maryl and Annelise.
He could have explained everything right then and there. But he needed time to gather his thoughts, he himself didn't know what had happened. The girls wanted an explanation and he didn't have on for them at that moment, but he would.
Annelise and Maryl looked at each other, wondering the same thing he was.
What had happened?
