Disclaimer:

This story is based on the cartoon 'Samurai Jack'. I do not own Samurai Jack or anything associated with the show. That honor goes to the folks at Cartoon Network and the shows creator, Genndy Tartakovsky. The only things I do own are all the original characters portrayed in my story. So to recap, Samurai Jack and all related characters and places © Genndy Tartakovsky and Cartoon Network, All original characters and storyline © Adriana Limon (Nanas, IceDancer).

Notes

Soo, I'm finally back to finally button up and get down to work to finish this story.

A short chapter, but it's necessary to keep the story going along. Enjoy, more to come.

Unclouded Truth: A Tale of Fate

By: IceDancer

Chapter 13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Samurai…."

"What? Who is there?"

"Samurai…"

Jack looked around, trying to figure out where he was exactly
He found himself in a place of nothingness. A place where no matter which way he turned he could not see a hill, a town, or even the ground that he stood on. It was a place that could not possibly exist, but somehow Jack was there, and now he was not alone.

"Samurai…"

Jack turned and found himself face to face with the Oracles. The three women who had rotted away before his eyes were now the way they were when he had first seen them.

"How can this be?" He said, even more confused.

"You are strong, Samurai." The three of them said, "Stronger than even we could have seen. But your trials are far from over…the woman."

It was then that Jack realized that Ikaya was, like his surroundings, nowhere to be seen.

"Ikaya?! Where is she?"

"Did you not see, Samurai?

Jack said nothing, trying to decipher what the Oracles were talking about.

"Did you not see…at the top of the quarry. Did you not see?" The three women repeated.

Jack looked at the women, still unsure what they were trying to tell him. He searched through his memory of what had happened while they were in the quarry.
The battle, the drones, Ikaya, and now Aku, standing atop that wall, being unaffected by the power that emitted from Ikaya down below.

Jack looked at the oracle, he said nothing while his mind struggled to make sense of what they were trying to tell him.

"Yes, Samurai…" they whispered, "the truth is close to revealing itself to you."

"But what does this mean…how was he able to endure such power?"

The three women began to float away from Jack, until they disappeared into the distance of the nothingness.

"Wait!" He yelled reaching toward where they had been?"

"Wake up Samurai…" the Oracle whispered, "Wake up."

Jack slowly awoke from the dream he had been having. Everything ached, even opening his eyes seemed to be a harder task than it normally would have, but he somehow managed. His eyesight was blurred, but Jack could make out the brown of a wooden ceiling above where he lay. A soft song was playing near him, being the only sound he was able to make out. Jack reached his arm up to his head, which was pounding, and pushed himself into an upright position. His body ached with each movement and although he still couldn't see straight he was able to notice the bruises on his body that looked as if they might had once been worse than they now were.

"Thank the heavens you decided to wake up. You had us worried, Jack." a familiar voice whispered from the other side of the room.

Standing near the doorway was Almay, placing some clean linens and clothes onto a chair.

"A-Almay?" Jack whispered, surprised at who he was talking to.

"Yes?" the old woman said, walking over to him.

"How is it that…how did I get here?"

"A music box merchant from the city brought you." she said, "You were talking in your sleep and that's how he figured out where to bring you."

Jack looked around the room, it was then that he noticed the music box on the small table next to him. He reached over and picked it up, it's song was quieter than he remembered and one corner had been singed, but the flower was still as clear as it had been when they had first seen it at the old merchants stand.

"How is Ikaya? Is she hurt?" he said after spending a few moments looking at the music box.

Almay stopped what she had been doing, she turned to look at him before quickly looking away.

"Almay, where is Ikaya?"

"The merchant found you out in the quarry alone, the only sign of Ikaya he found was her bag a few feet away from you, thrown behind a pile of rocks."

Jack looked down at the floor then moved toward the edge of the bed slowly trying to make his way off.

"Jack, please you shouldn't be moving around too much, you haven't healed yet." Almay said, reaching over to try and stop Jack.

"No Almay, I must do this, I can not just lay in a bed while Ikaya is out there somewhere."

Jack stood up and took a few steps forward before faltering and slowly falling toward the floor. Almay rushed to him and helped him make his way back to the bed.

"I know you're worried about Ikaya, Jack. Willem and I are worried too, but what is best right now is for you to heal."

Jack laid back into the bed, aggravated by the fact that he wasn't able to get up and walk off after a battle like he done so many times before. He wasn't sure what was worse, knowing that he couldn't just get up and move, or the fact that he was laying in a bed while Ikaya was missing. She could be anywhere and was most likely in worse shape than he was.

Ikaya heard scurrying around her face when she slowly began to open her eyes. Her movements startled the mice that were around the room, making them scurry toward their holes.

"Mice…" Ikaya said, almost like she was talking to a small voice who had asked 'what was that' in her head.

She shifted her body so her back was lying flat on the ground. Every inch of her was so weak, and ached to a point she had never felt before. Ikaya looked around the room and realized that she had no idea of where she was.

"Hello…is anyone there?" she said, but nothing but her echo spoke back.

The room she was in was dark and damp. Water fell down the back wall of the room she was in, collecting into a small puddle on the floor before disappearing out a fist size hole in the wall, and had it not been night, would have been the only source of natural light in the room. Which at the moment was lit by candles.

Ikaya forced herself to make her way up against a sack of rice near where she was laying, fighting the urge to just drop back onto the floor. Once she had accomplished her task she looked down at her body and noticed that the bruises she had weren't healing like they would have normally, and that she had a massive bruise on her chest around her jewel. She had never seen anything like that before, she reached up and touched her chest wincing at the amount of pain it shot through her body.

'Where am I?' she thought to herself, 'how did I get here?'

It was then that a man entered the room she was in. He walked across it and began to search through a box in the corner. He was wearing a cloak that covered his head, making it impossible to see his face.

"Sir, can you tell me where I am and how I got here?" she said.

The man continued to search, ignoring her completely.

"Sir, please, how did I get here?"

Nothing from the man.

Ikaya began to get annoyed, it became obvious to her that this man was going to be no help.

"I must warn you sir, I am not a helpless damsel who will lay back and wait for a man to save her!" she said, standing up from where she lay, using what little strength she had to hide the pain this caused her.

The man raised his hand and gestured for her come at him without looking at her, inviting her to attack.

Ikaya began to run toward him, getting ready for battle when she was stopped by an invisible electrified wall, right next to where the man was searching. She winced back away from the wall before collapsing onto the floor again.

She looked up just in time to see the electrified wall return to an invisible state like it had before.

The man meanwhile had finally found what he was looking for and exited the room.

Ikaya, still feeling the added pain from the wall laid her head back onto the floor, and even though she fought hard to keep herself awake, slowly blacked out.