Waiting For A Star To Fall- chapter 7
Disclaimer: I don;t own Samurai Jack, Fosters or any of it's characters. This idea came to me when I rewatched Don;t Eat The Pictures, a Sesame Street Special. Unlike Genndy I give credit where credit is due.
Sorry for the long delay in the story. Someone else was supposed to be writing this chapter but he never did it, and I got busy with another story.
Everyone watched as Odin stepped forward from the fog. He was a bit shorter and stouter than Vishnu, but just as imposing. His skin was golden and shining and he was wearing bright white armor. His helmit consisted of two huge horns that jutted out from with side and in his hand he carried a trident topped with bright white spokes.
"Ashi, only surviving daughter of Aku," he began. "You have passed your first test successfully. Prepare for your second one. The Test of Judgement. If you pass this than you may move on to the final one." Ashi nodded her head. "This test will determine if you truly have the Spirit of Rightousness inside of you. Weather you took the Samurai's Teachings truly to heart and now fully believe in all he stood for."
"She has," Frankie spoke up. "She definitely has, we know it."
"Nonetheless," Odin said, "She must prove herself by passing this test."
Ashi nodded, "I'm ready, Odin."
"The point of this test is to see if you can perceive that something isn't how it always seems," Odin nodded to his left. They turned around to see a sword that was leaning against the wall. "Pick up that sword, Ashi." Ashi moved over and did so. "You must make a decision as to the right thing to do in a given situation. Pass, and you may move on to the final test. But if you fail, you must repeat this test again and again like you have with the first. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Odin then disappeared from view. Frankie, Wilt, Mac, Bloo, and Coco looked at each other, confused.
"What happens now?" Mac asked, but he didn;t have long to wait to get his answer. Soon a harsh voice filled the room.
"Ashi?" Ashi's body then stiffened and her face had a look of anger and horror on it. Slowly she turned in the direction of the voice, as did the others. There right in front of her was a taller and what seemed to be an older version of Ashi, but it was hard to tell because her face was hidden by a hideous mask. She was clothed head to toe in pure black and her arms and legs were fixed to the wall by heavy chains. "Ashi?" the woman said again.
Ashi stared daggers at this woman, her hand tightening on the sword in her hand. "Mother?" she finally said.
Frankie, Wilt, Mac, Bloo, and Coco reacted with surprise at this. Frankie's eyes were the size of saucers. "THIS is your mother?!" she asked.
"She is," Ashi admitted. "I wish I could say she wasn't."
"The same Mom that brainwashed you and made her henchmen beat you when you disobeyed?"
"The very same."
Bloo then stared forward, his own fists clenched. "You damn bitch!" he cried out. Frankie held him back. "Lemmie go, lemmie go!"
"No, Bloo, this is Ashi's test."
"Ashi?" the vision called out again. "Daughter? Please...help me."
"HELP you?!" Ashi said angrily. "You dare to ask ME to help you?! After everything you put me through?! After depriving me of what I needed the most in my life!"
"But Ashi...I did it for you. I knew you were the strongest and most capable fighter among them. With your skills and your talented we could have teamed up with Aku and ruled this world together, as a family."
"A FAMILY?! What do you know about family? What do you even know about motherhood?!"
"Ashi, listen. These things that you claim you needed? Love? Compassion? They're all weaknesses. Think about it, what has this love really brought you? Nothing but heartache. If it wasn;t for this so-called love you wouldn;t even BE here in this museum. You would be alive, in the great world, being the right hand Daughter of Aku. Think about what you could have had? Riches. Power beyond your wildest dreams! Aku would have given you all of that and more. You don;t need love, NO ONE needs love! Love just slows you down and makes you make foolish choices!"
"Why should I believe that?! Why should I believe ANYTHING you say?! EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER TOLD ME WAS A LIE!
"Hooray!" Wilt cheered happily, though he was immidiately shushed by Frankie.
"As usual, weak little Ashi," her mother's vision taunted her. "So strong, yet so clueless about life..."
"If I AM clueless in any way at all, it's because YOU made me that way, MOTHER!"
"I was trying to make you stronger! Stronger! Powerful! Fearless! Why do you need love? Why do you need compassion? Compassion slows you down! As long as you don;t concentrate on anything and anyone but your overall goal, that's all you need! That's all any of us need! That's all you need to succeed for years and years!"
"You're WRONG, Mother! You've always been wrong, and you're wrong now! I did need love in my life! I needed compassion! I needed everything I couldn;t get from YOU!And my time with Jack was the most wonderful time IN my life! He made me feel things I never felt before! He made me feel wanted! He made me feel like I truly mattered. He made me feel important and like I was worth something other than a weapon! He listened to me when we talked! He never said a bad word to me! He never raised a hand toward me! He treated me better than I've ever been treated in my life...even better than YOU! My own mother! HE gave me everything YOU could NEVER be bothered to give! He made me know what he felt like to be a human! And if THAT'S weakness, Mother...THAN I CHOOSE THAT!"
"AND LOOK WHERE IT GOT YOU! Faded and becoming an essence on your own wedding day! That was much better!"
"Better than anything you've ever dine for me. Better than growing up in a cave where I was never allowed to even go outside, to even look at the world! Where I was beaten up if I even dared to try to see what you tried to make me fight for!"
"Because you were the disobediant one! All your other sisters always did what I told them to do. You were the one with questions and you were the one who didn;t know your place!"
"My PLACE?! "Ashi said with her hand trembling on the sword. "My place was with JACK!"
"With our enemy!"
"WITH THE SAVIOR OF THIS WHOLE WORLD!"
"The one who turned you against your entire family!"
"HE was my family!"
"HE wanted this world changed.."
"Cause this world NEEDED to be changed!"
"How dare you address your mother like this!"
"And how dare you address ME like this! You treated that old statue better than you treated any of us! You tried to make us into nothing but weapons! Nothing but objects! Well, I am NOT an object! I'm a person. No matter who my father was, I'm a person! And I had a RIGHT to choose my own destiny! To make up my own mind! To be with whoever I want! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO DENY ME OTHERWISE!' She began to lift the sword in her hand.
"Yes, that's it. Kill me!" her mother said. "Kill your mother."
"You are NOT my mother! You were NEVER my mother! Mothers are kind! Mothers support you. Mothers RAISE you! Mothers LOVE you!"
"Go ahead and kill me all over again. You would be doing Odin a favor. He would never have to judge me!"
"Even if he does, I think we all know where ya stand," Bloo mumbled.
"Come, Ashi, speed up the process. Be like a god yourself, go ahead! Judge others and don;t let the gods judge. You have a right to do that! Go ahead!''
"SHUT UP!" Ashi raised her sword, she didn;t want to hear anymore from her.
"Wait, Ashi!" Frankie called out, running to stop her, figuring out what the test was all about. "Ashi, don;t do it! This isn;t your right. Odin is supposed to judge her!"
"Ashi, you don;t really want to do this again!"
"Yes, I do!" Ashi snapped angrily.
"No!" Frankie called out. "Ashi, this isn't the way you want to go! This wasn't even Jack's way, remember? He never just killed because of anger. The only humans he killed were in self defense, you told me so yourself. Odin is gonna be giving her a punishment beyond belief, don't you think that would be way worse?! This isn't your way, Ashi! Don't make it be!"
Ashi then hesitated for a moment. Her mother stared at her intently.
"Why are you listening to them, Ashi? You said you wanted to be your own person, didn't you? You wanted your own life, to make your own decisions? Why don't you do so? You want to kill me again...you know you do. Don't go and listen to any of them!"
"Yes Mother...I DO want to destroy you again, for everything you've done to me...but Frankie has reminded me of something else...something that Jack taught me," with that she dropped the sword in front of her. "I'm NOT you. And I never want to BE you, ever! As much as I hate you and always will, I'm not your judge and jury. That's Odin;s job, and I will leave it to him! That's what Jack would have done, and that is what I choose to do! Jack only killed in self defense and he believed in giving people a chance to prove themselves. He gave ME a chance, and I will always be thankful that he did. He saw something in me that you never did, and he didn't judge me. Because he knew he didn;t have the right to. So now Mother, I will leave you to the one who can judge YOU." With that Ashi turned around and walked away.
"Ashi...wait!" her mother cried out despirately as she began to dissolve before their eyes. "Ashi! You can;t leave me here! Ashi, I know you want to kill me! Do so, don;t leave me to Odin!"
"What's wrong, Mother? Are you weak?" Without even turning around she continued to walk away. "Well, I'm not, Mother. That's one more thing Jack taught me about. The true meaning of weakness. And it's NOT helping others, like you tried to install in me. It's not judging others! It's not killing out of pure anger. In fact, helping others makes you stronger! Teaching others to follow in the path of rightousness makes you stronger. But you'll never understand that! I leave you now to Odin, Mother. I leave you to the one who WILL judge you, and WILL deal his punishment to you."
"Ashi..."
"Goodbye, Mother. I hope to never see you again!" As Ashi continued to walk away, her mother screamed in agony as the last of her dissolved away, and Odin appeared in her place.
"Congradulations, Ashi. You have passed the next test, the Test of Judgement," with that Odin faded away.
"YAY!" Mac cried out happily, jumping up and down. "You did it, Ashi! You did it!"
"I knew you could do it!" Frankie said. "You're well on your way now!"
"Now you can go back to Feudal Japan and be with Jack again!" Wilt said happily.
Ashi's happy smile began to fade. "Now comes the hard part," she explained.
"The hard part?" Mac repeated in a small voice.
Ashi took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Ra," she cried out aloud, "I'm ready for the final test."
Immidiately the entire room began to shake. "Wha...wha...wha...what's happening?!" Bloo said
"Ra is coming!" Ashi said. "Everyone hold on!"
Frankie grabbed Mac with one hand and Wilt with the other. Bloo held on to Mac's other hand and Coco, jumped into Wilt's short arm. The room began to fill with smoke.
IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR ASHI'S THIRD AND FINAL TEST, BUT THIS ONE IS THE HARDEST OF ALL, AND THE FOSTER'S GANG WON;T BE ABLE TO HELP HER THIS TIME!
