Scythe of Doom

NOTES: I'm a bit hungover, apologies for errors. A hell of a lot happens in this chapter, some stuff will be explained soon if it seems a little WTF here.

WARNINGS: Vague suggestions of oral.

Jack made his way to Raimundo's bedroom, his exhaustion finally catching up with him. What with his nightmares – nearly all of them containing Kimiko in some way – he'd barely had a wink of sleep in the past weeks. And with his chores and his training, he was being driven to fatigue.

Pushing the door open, Jack was startled to see Kimiko asleep on the bed. Raimundo was sitting beside her, and he paused in the act of stroking her hair when Jack walked in.

"What's going on?"

Jack took a step back at Raimundo's tone of voice. Wasn't that supposed to be his line?

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You forced Kimiko to talk to you using shen-gong-wu! She was really upset, I found her crying in the hall."

"I had to know why Katnappe had a vendetta against her!" Unlike Raimundo, Jack's voice was loud. He didn't care if he woke up Kimiko, he wanted her out.

"You could have asked her!"

"I tried, she wouldn't tell me."

"Then you should have known that it was private and she didn't want to talk to you about it. Not everything is your business, Jack."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, his stomach churning. He hated fighting with Raimundo. In the only other relationship he'd had, he'd submitted willingly and unerringly, and when Raimundo got worked up at him, he felt a need to do the same again.

"You're always trying to know everything! Everyone's pasts, everyone's secrets, but you're never giving out your own! You know everything about us but how many people in the Temple really know you, Jack? It's like you don't trust us. I trust Kimiko to let us know important stuff when it's necessary. You should do the same."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jack shouted, verging on hysteria. Raimundo seemed to pick up on that, his expression losing the anger.

"Jack…"

Before he could comfort his boyfriend, Kimiko started to wake, because of Jack's shouting. She rubbed her eyes and sat up yawning. Raimundo's appreciation of the cuteness was not lost on Jack, and his red eyes glared murderously at his distracted boyfriend.

Kimiko smiled weakly at Raimundo, then saw Jack. She bit her top lip and put her face in her hands, as if she was crying.

"Oh Jack, you must hate me so much! You must think I'm a monster!"

Raimundo put a hand on her shoulder. "Sssh Kim, nobody thinks you're a monster. You're still her friend, aren't you Jack?" The look he shot his redheaded boyfriend suggested that a positive answer was the right answer.

"Oh please Rai, don't tell me you're falling for that crap? She's worse at acting than Omi!"

Kimiko wailed like a shot banshee and ran out of the room bawling. Raimundo's jaw clenched and he jumped out of bed. "Get out."

Jack felt like he'd been knifed. "What?"

"Out. I have to go find Kim, make sure she's okay after your spite. And funny enough, I don't feel much like sharing my bed with you tonight." Raimundo dragged Jack roughly from the bedroom and shut the door behind them. Without another word, he ran off down the corridor.

Jack felt numb as he made his way to his own room, just down the hall. It was the beginning of the end, he knew it. Maybe he should quit before he lost, go back to evil. But he'd been such a useless villain. He had learned a lot though in his time at the Temple, it would be nice to turn it back on them.

But Master Fung would be hurt at his treachery. And he would have to fight against Omi and Clay. He'd grown rather fond of Omi's chirpy optimism and determination, along with his inability to master language. Clay was like his best friend, and he'd been there for Jack on the occasions that Raimundo was not. They'd even kissed once, not that Jack had ever mentioned it to his Brazilian lover. Rai could be possessive, although never as much as Chase.

Clay had offered Jack an alternative in the days he'd been pining after Raimundo while the boy was attached. He'd offered solace. Jack had politely and regretfully declined the offer. Raimundo was his love. It was touching that Clay was in love with him then, but Jack couldn't use him like that. So they were still great friends and Clay had never mentioned it again. Jack wondered if maybe he was just a masochist, always falling for the worst possible male.

As he was going into his bedroom, somebody shoved past him and dragged him in. His first thought was Raimundo, but the body was too large… it was Clay. Jack watched in confusion as the cowboy slammed the door shut behind them.

"What's wrong, Clay?"

"Jack, you are a silly boy."

The accent was off, like Clay couldn't get the hang of his own Texan drawl. That or he was trying to sound like someone else.

"Um… are you okay?"

Clay's blue eyes widened manically as he looked at Jack. It was enough to make the already-shaken up genius sit on his bed and slide as far away as possible.

"I'm fine Spicer, apart from being dead."

Having reached his shock-limit for the day, Jack's only reaction was to raise his eyebrows. Apathy was a friend to the traumatised. 'Clay' didn't seem to find this under-reaction a problem, just continued moving closer to where Jack sat at the top of the bed.

"Oh I bet you thought you'd never see me again, didn't you?"

Jack blinked. "I didn't think I'd see you before breakfast. Did you hit your head, Clay?"

'Clay' turned to look at Jack's mirror on the wall. "Damn. I was rather hoping my lizard eyes would help you recognise me, but I have to put up with the cowboy's baby blues. Damn it all."

Quickly grabbing Jack's chin hard, 'Clay' forced their mouths together roughly. Jack squirmed and tried to pull away, but the grip on his jaw was too strong. When he was released, Jack wiped his mouth angrily.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

'Clay' straightened his back and stood in a familiar, regal pose. He smirked darkly.

"It's me, Chase."

Jack looked at the stance and the mannerisms. His genius mind quickly assessed the situation. Feeling sick, he leapt back from the bed so that it was between them. He willed himself not to shake. He'd faced worse than this. "The Ouija Ankh."

"Indeed. The fool did not think to enquire about it's potential before putting it on. He believed you about Kimiko, he wanted to find out what happened from the dead. And I told him. I also stole him."

"Give Clay his body back," Jack said in a voice that sounded stronger than he'd expected.

"No. I need a body, his will have to do. Any body that allows me to do as I please will suffice."

"What are you going to do?"

Chase grinned, the smirk looking out of place on Clay's honest face.

"I'm going to rule the world. My time off of this plane of existence showed me how important power is. Before I only sought to destroy good. I now see that the best way to achieve this will be by dominating this pitiful planet. And to do this, I will need your help."

"What if I don't want to help you?"

Before he could run, Chase had jumped over the bed and pulled Jack flush against Clay's sturdy body.

"You want to help me." His voice was slowly becoming closer to Chase's, the Texan accent now just a slight inflection. "You will rule by my side Jack, the way it was supposed to be. I know this form does not please you, but I am certain I will overcome that with the correct magic. It is odd though, I do not appear to possess the magic in this body. I will have much work to do."

"Why do you need me?"

"You are going to help me hide in plain sight here in the Temple, making adequate excuses for my behaviour. I will attempt to play my role, but being a retarded Neanderthal will not be easy for me to continue perfectly."

"He's not a Neanderthal."

"I thought that was why you spurned his advances. That's certainly what he thought. He thought he wasn't good enough for you."

Jack winced at that. Clay was his friend, and had Jack not been in love with Raimundo, he would certainly have given more consideration to the other man's suggestion.

"Where is Clay now?"

Chase shrugged and waved a hand at his own head. "Somewhere in there I imagine. Don't worry about him. You have more important things to do."

"Like what?"

"You are going to use that clever little brain of yours to figure out how to regain possession of the Scythe of Doom. Then all our dreams will come true…" he grabbed Jack's throat. "And I won't be forced to make more marks on your pretty skin."

Now the trembling took over. Jack nodded quickly and went over to his bookshelf, grabbing a book on temporal disturbances and sitting down to read. He didn't actually see the page, he didn't need to, he'd read this book before a dozen times. He was using the time to try and figure out what to do. This was a pointless activity anyway.

The Scythe of Doom was under his bed.

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Jack sat at the breakfast table, trying to think through the suffocating sense of surrealism. Omi was chatting animatedly to Chase Young, and he didn't even know it. Chase Young was cheerfully chatting back, and nobody could see it but him. Rai and Kimiko were sitting by each other, being very touchy-feely, neither speaking to him. Jack felt like the whole world was falling down around him and nobody else had noticed. Chase had noticed, but Chase was Clay.

He swallowed some orange juice to battle the hysterical laughter that wanted to come out. He knew that he had to do something about Chase now, while he was weak, but it wasn't like the man was a kitten. He had Clay's strength and power over earth. He knew how to use it, which made him formidable.

But as tempting as it was to stand up on the table and shout 'don't give Clay anymore sausages! He's Chase Young!' it wouldn't be a good idea. He needed to do more research on the Ouija Ankh. After all, hurting Chase would hurt Clay, and Jack didn't know yet how to get Clay back. Chase would use that against them in battle.

Those were the practical reasons that he was putting off the fight against Chase. He didn't really want to consider the psychological ones.

"Jack, I need to talk to you after breakfast."

Jack looked up at Raimundo and nodded blankly. He continued to pick at his food. Obviously, they were just seeing his behaviour as a result of an argument with Rai, rather than anything more significant.

Jack stepped down from the pedestal of 'deep important thoughts' for a moment and looked at the way Raimundo was talking with Kimiko. It wasn't that he had a major epiphany at that moment, but he was feeling more than a little bashed around by circumstances. He wasn't about to give Raimundo the satisfaction of bashing him.

"You gonna break up with me?"

The table went silent as everyone looked at him and Raimundo. Jack was pleased to see Rai go red at the sudden unwanted attention. Omi, Chase/Clay and Master Fung all looked shocked. Kimiko looked awkward.

"Jack, we'll talk about it in private."

"Come on, I wanna know now. You're breaking up with me aren't you? For Kimiko."

"Jack…"

"Don't worry about it," Jack said, pausing to chew some toast. "I've been prepared." He felt quite light-headed.

Everyone felt too awkward to speak again for the rest of the meal, except for Jack, who was feeling a lot better. Although he was a bit annoyed with the way Chase was staring at him as though he'd gone mad.

Just because he had, didn't mean there was cause to stare. It was only a faint insanity.

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"I think Pedrosa is worried about you," said the rich voice as strong arms wrapped around his waist from behind.

"If he was that worried he wouldn't have broken up with me," Jack said flippantly, not showing his surprise at the accent change.

"I think they're all worried about you. I want you to act normal Jack, not draw undue attention to us."

"I haven't been normal for…well, ever."

"You seemed alright with Raimundo."

"Yeah, appearances can be deceiving."

Chase turned him around and Jack had almost been expecting to see the long dark hair and armour instead of the cowboy hat and large build.

"Then I expect you to deceive until we are in a position to beat them." He was gifted with a soft smile and a stroke down his cheek, before the hand on his hip clenched hard enough to bruise him. As Jack gasped with pain, Chase leant in to share his breath and whisper to him in a low voice.

"Don't think I don't anticipate treachery Jack. I know you. I know how you think. Just remember, it's them or me now, and Raimundo has clearly shown your place here is as a substitute." Chase put both large hands on Jack's hips and lifted him up, carrying him over to the bed and laying him down. "They don't need you here anymore." Jack closed his eyes as Chase began to untie his sash. "They don't want you here anymore." More swift movements left Jack naked. The boy opened his red eyes to look at Chase in Clay's body, kneeling between his spread legs. The man lowered his mouth to Jack's crotch.

"But I still need you Jack. I'll always want you."

Jack whimpered and sighed. And gave in.

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