Another Time: Eleven Misplaced Times That Became Different
1.
Dashi stumbled away from the smoking building like a man released from a trance, and almost fell backward down the steps. He remembered his best friend's eyes, flashing green with Heylin magic as she practised, and shivered. Whatever that was, he didn't want any part of it.
Something soul-deep told him that he didn't belong there. Wuya could easily integrate herself into a circle or conversation, but when he tried the same with a green-haired boy and his muscular friend, he'd just received dirty looks.
He wished he could leave, but Master Jung said learning here would be good for them. He sighed.
2.
"Dashi!" Wuya screamed, struggled and bit at her captors. "You can't do this, he's my son!"
"Our son, and I can't risk that you might influence him to evil. I'm sorry, Wu... But it's for his own good."
He was already stepping away through the time-rip as he spoke, and when he was gone Wuya wrenched away from the man that held her and hugged herself.
Dashi re-emerged, rubbing his eyes. "It's done." Wuya furiously threw herself at him. "Restrain her!" Dashi called to the panicking fire dragon, who conjured up a trapping ring.
Wuya's glare was unyielding. "I hate you."
Sadness. "I know."
3.
Turn Good.
The words echoed in her head, arriving at the front of her mind during the oddest times. Scrubbing clothes over a rock by the river left her mind empty and her thoughts free to ponder the implications.
Turn Good.
That the dragon had said such a thing would imply that not only was 'good' something desirable to be, but it was something that she was not.
The dragon had looked a little like Dashi's dragon.
Wuya bit her lip, a plan forming.
Later on, she would whisper to her neighbours thusly: "Did you hear what happened when the Tiger Temple fell? Because I heard..."
4.
Chase glared at the ground before him, letting the goodbyes of Wuya and Master Monk Shea wash over him, willing her and her news gone. The time-traveller's interventions had ruined his life, let alone their concerns over the endurance of Time!
He felt a touch to his knuckles, and looked up to see Guan's concerned face. The time-traveller had said that they would become bitter enemies, a mere shadow of the horrors now expected of him. He twisted his hand over and captured Guan's fingers before he could pull them away.
This was something he could not afford to lose.
5.
Wuya was rather bedraggled when she returned to the Xiaolin Temple in the pouring rain, but Dashi didn't lower his guard.
The tears didn't help, either.
"I had Master Shea seal my magic!" she cried suddenly, shocking him.
"Why?" he asked, wavering between suspicion - this was Wuya, after all - and a sudden need to hold her close and pretend that the past few years hadn't happened.
"To prove I was serious," she said quietly, looking everywhere but his face. It was that more than anything that did it - Wuya was never uncomfortable, just like she never apologised. He let her in.
6.
Chase walked woodenly into the clearing, and set the bowl down on the ground. Guan was immediately on his feet and beside him.
"Was it...?"
"It was exactly as the small one said." Chase covered his face with his hands. "I feel as though I am trapped between two sets of manipulations, and that whatever I decide to do will be wrong!"
Guan pulled his friend close. "I will stand by you," he whispered. Chase' hands dropped to Guan's shoulders as he pressed their foreheads, then their lips, together.
"You cannot," he replied sadly, starting toward his destiny.
"I will," Guan resolved, and stepped forward.
7.
Omi was eight years old when his mother made the connection between her son and the Time-Traveller. The thought gave her pause for a moment, but she shortly dismissed her reservations - if Time would have been injured by the Time-Traveller being removed from the future before he could meddle, they hadn't seen an ill effects yet and so most likely would not.
Still, plans would need to be made. If Guan or Chase Young positively identified him...
She would simply have to make use of Shea's support while she had it, and act quickly before it could be withdrawn.
8.
Wuya turned to her partner with a misleadingly soft smile. "Let's make sense of these allegations, shall we? Would you repeat it?"
"No! I told you, that was the worst-
"Heylin Truth Spell!"
Dashi's head jerked up as if tugged by a noose. "Yes!" his throat barked, "I would!" He fell to his knees when Wuya ended her spell. "Why... There's no such-"
Wuya wore a look of disappointment. "There is your evil," she said to the crowd. "What should I do with him?"
"Traitor," Dashi whispered, realisation dawning in his eyes. He held out a former mudball, daring her to use it.
She dared.
9.
Even as Chase sealed Hannibal Bean away in the Yin-Yang world, there was part of him that really did feel some satisfaction. Who was Shea to deny me my position based on what the Time-Traveller said? it asked. He shoved it away, focussing his anger on Bean. Perhaps he had been too hasty in dismissing the creature. Too lenient.
The temple still burned. He heard Guan crashing closer, but didn't turn around.
"I'll show you what happens to those who destroy Heylin Temples!" a furious voice shouted, and then he turned. Too late.
Wuya chuckled as she walked away, juggling the two puzzleboxes.
10.
The young Dragon of the Wind bit his lip as he made his way through the room. The Water Dragon had left a year ago, but Kimiko was still flying ahead... He was holding her back.
This was the only way he could think of to catch up so that they could both progress. Three little boxes on the shelf, each containing a great warrior. Surely one of them would teach him? She always spoke well of Chase Young and Master Monk Guan. Besides, he'd only be able to open it if he was meant to.
He tried, and it worked.
11.
Fifteen hundred years.
Wuya paced the Heylin Leopard Temple grounds. If Time was to be unravelled, it would be soon. Omi had been temporarily present at the Xiaolin Temple a few years back - she'd left before that, but her successor could be relied upon to pass these things on - so his counterpart in the timeline that he'd travelled from would be about the right age.
If he returned, expecting whatever changes he'd hoped to affect, she at least had a story ready - the same version of events that she'd told the Wind, Water and Fire Dragons of the past.
&o&o&
A/N: I've got some extra bits that didn't fit in my LJ, if you're interested...
