Hsi Wu flipped idly through the pages of Jade's diary. At first, he'd felt guilty about it, since it was HER diary. However, she did leave it with him, so he presumed she meant for him to read it. Reading the entries she had made, he was surprised to see the slow shift of her feelings towards him. At the beginning, she had been afraid, just desperately trying to survive. Later, she had begun to pity him, as she could plainly see his suffering. He was surprised how many entries included a wish to ease his pain.
Slowly, it seemed, she began to have a sort of backdoor affection for him, although the way she refferred to it was something he was confused about. He would have to ask her about this, "Stockholm's Syndrome," at some point. He was unfamiliar with the term.
The entry regarding the discovery of her loss hit him the hardest, though. When it had happened, he had wondered why he had offered the comfort he did, why he left when he did. He knew now, of course, but...Jade wrote here that, if not for that comfort, she might have thrown herself from the tower to escape the pain. He didn't know what to think of that, and so he turned the pages rapidly.
Her comments regarding his song were illuminating, but hardly as disturbing as she had found them. Honestly, he wasn't surprised that the thought of manipulating him to help her had crossed her mind...and found how repugnant she'd found the notion to be confusing. Surely, if something is so important to you - such as attempting to raise/save her family and friends - you do anything to accomplish it.
But then, that was the question facing him now, as his song had expressed. He had to choose between his family - who would exist for all eternity, and whom he was slowly growing to detest - or Jade - whom he found he loved, but was mortal, and would live maybe another century. As old as he was - well over 1000, thought he hadn't bothered to keep track of the exact number in a long time - that time would pass so quickly...
What she'd written about her birthday party, though, left him touched. As much as she welcomed the gesture, and was beginning to grow truely fond of him...his comfort had kept her from seeking the end, but it was plain that the pain was killing her slowly inside. He...he couldn't leave her like that, could he?
Hsi Wu turned the last page of the diary...this last entry was the shortest, one she had written late last night. There was only one sentence.
'Midnight has passed, and today is the day.'
From the looks of it, she wasn't awake when she wrote it. The handwritting was slightly slured, which he recognized as half-asleep auto-writting. This - and what she had written about the vision of the other birthday - confirmed his oldest suspicions. She was fate touched.
The only questions left were...what would he do? And...what would she do?
Jade woke up the next morning and stretched carefully. Sighing, she slipped into her regular clothes...and noticed something on the desk. It was her diary, the fragment of the Book stuck in like a bookmark, with her watch on top. Going over to it, she slipped her watch on and slipped the rest into pockets. She would find out what Hsi Wu had decided, but as far as she was concerned, this was the end of deceit between them. She cared too much to let it go on.
This was not to say that she returned feelings identical to what he felt for her. She was really too young to think in those terms, and too much a tomboy to admit it even if she did. But Hsi Wu had definately managed to find a special place in her heart. Sighing, she climbed the stairs.
Hsi Wu stood in the center of the Tower room, gazing at nothing. Jade coughed quietly, and he blinked.
"Ah, Jade. You are awake." Without seeming to think about it, he nudged over a floating table with breakfast on it. "Eat. You will have a busy day today."
She ate, wondering where his mind was at. He didn't seem to want to talk just now.
When she finished eating, he gestured against the wall. "I'm going to be out for several hours, heading east overland." He pointed in the direction of the rising sun. "While I'm gone, I would appreciate it if you swept the Tower out." He pointed to the broom leaning against the wall. "It has gotten a bit dusty."
Jade nodded, not trusting herself not to snap at him, and seized the broom.
Hsi Wu glanced back at her as he went to the edge of the Tower. "Oh, I hope that is an ordinary broomstick, and not one of the flying ones I keep from the Immortals War days as a curiousity. Then again, even if it were, I doubt a 'slow-witted' girl would be able to figure out the magic words to use it...nor would she REMEMBER where the Book of Ages was kept...or know how to read the atlas for directions." He casually gestured to a book on a nearby table. "Of course, it's probably just an ordinary broomstick."
"...Hsi..." Jade started to say something, but Hsi Wu shook his head.
"I trust you will do what you know to be right, Jade." With that, he leapt off the tower and took flight.
Jade acted before he was even out of sight. Flipping open the atlas, she plotted her course. Once she knew where she was going, she made her decision. Mounting the broomstick, she tried to get it to work. "Giddyup!" No reaction. "Up, up and away!" No response. "Go?" Nothing happened. "...Please?"
The broom shot into the air, responding to her touch as she steered. "Magic words..." she mumbled, rolling her eyes. Setting her course, she shot out.
It was about an hour later - that was one fast broomstick - that she reached Australia, and she saw the fortress. She flew in through an upper floor window she noticed...and suddenly the halls swarmed with Shadow Khan.
"Crap!" she shouted, dodging around them as best she could. She managed to get some way into the fortress - she knew the demons would know something was up here by now - but was soon swarmed under. "Do something, please!" she begged the broomstick.
The broomstick suddenly flared with a green light and exploded, sending her flying head over heels as the wave of good chi banished the Shadow Khan. "Woah..." she whispered. "Thank you." She headed forward, running full tilt, and managed to find her way to the portal.
Once inside the chamber of the book, she ran up to the book and began to flip through the pages, looking for the one missing her fragment.
"Not so fast, child!"
She shivered. She knew that voice. Turning, she gazed upon the assembled seven Demon Sorcerers.
Seven? She counted again. Hsi Wu wasn't here.
Shendu spoke again. "I do not know how you found your way here, or why you came, or what you intend to do...but your foolish quest ends here!" He and the other Sorcerers raised their hands to point at her.
As they cast their spells, she threw an arm up in a futile attempt to shield herself, and screamed in fear, bracing for the end.
...the end never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw the spells deflected off a barrier, and Hsi Wu stood between her and his siblings.
"Brother!" Tso Lan cried in shock. "You would betray us? For her?"
Hsi Wu did not respond directly. "You all maybe have time to cast one more spell before Jade finds what she needs to undo the changes to the Book of Ages...and then it will be too late for all of you. But to hit her, you will have to go through me...and it will take all seven of your spells to make me move now. So go ahead. Kill me, and watch your world end."
Tchiang Zhu took the lead. "Very well...traitor! Know that when this time stream is undone, Shendu will not be the ONLY one facing the fate of traitors!" They gathered their spells.
Jade found the page covering this exact moment. It wasn't the one she needed to change the timeline back...but right now she had a more urgent need. She read the line that was forming.
'And Hsi Wu sacrificed his life for the one he loved...'
Seizing the quill, she desperately altered the line, hoping the change would be enough.
'And Hsi Wu was granted the power of Good Chi Magic, and knowledge of the spells of banishment, to use as he saw fit.'
As the demon spells flew towards Hsi Wu, he braced himself...and a flare of corruscating white light surrounded him, dispersing the spells seeking him. When the light faded, he stood there, clothed in a white robe, with the green light of good chi pouring from his hands.
The other Demon Sorcerers took a step back. Bai Tsa was the first to speak. "Brother, perhaps there has been some...hasty decisions. I'm sure something can be worked out..."
But Hsi Wu had had enough. "SILENCE!" he roared. "First you would kill me, then promise me a traitor's eternal torment...after eons of me being the one you knocked around because I was the smallest...and now, when I am a threat to ALL of you, you want to negotiate? I...have had...ENOUGH!" He crossed his arms. "Yiu Mo Gwai Gwaai Fai Di Zao...Yiu Mo Gwai Gwaai Fai Di Zao...Yiu Mo Gwai Gwaai Fai Di Zao...Yiu Mo Gwai Gwaai Fai Di Zao..." As he chanted, the energy gathered, and the seven symbols surrounded him. Gathering their power, he directed it.
As the beams of energy erupted, the other Demons screamed in impotent fury. The screams went on as they were sucked through the portal into the Netherworld, banished forever.
Jade stared at her savior. "Hsi..."
Hsi Wu looked down at his hand, thinking about what he had done. "...do what you must, Jade," he whispered, and took flight.
Jade started to go after him, but then realized why he was sad. When she fixed the book of ages, the timeline would be repaired, and it would go back to the old timeline, where her family was alive, Earth was ruled by humans...
...and Hsi Wu would be trapped in the Demon Netherworld forever, with his vengeful siblings who would remember his betrayal.
She walked back to the Book, and pulled out her fragment. Carefully, she turned the pages until she found the one missing a fragment...and paused. She glanced at the quill.
Maybe, just maybe...there was a third option...the happy ending she wished for.
Reaching for the quill, she wrote an addition to her fragment, the record of her life story. "Please, any power that is listening...let this work." With this final prayer, she affixed the fragment to the book, and time was rewritten.