*Awkwardly laughing* Hahaha...did I say I'd be quicker than last time?...hehehe - Whoops! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Really I've been having such a kafuffle with my working life and I basically forgot all about the next upload. Then Foxchick1 messaged me last week and reminded me - which also reminded me how much of a shit author I can be sometimes! Apologies, my friends!

Anyway, thanks to Foxchick1 for this chapter being uploaded quicker than it probably would have been!

Enjoy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!

*~ The Darkness Inside ~*

*~ Chapter 25 ~*

The soft breeze had slowly ceased to flow but the chill had plummeted to a deadly cold. I shivered as I looked around at all of them, just standing there watching me.

Ravi, the twenty-first century bearer of light, stood right next to me. He was looking down at me and I could feel such intensity in his gaze it made me wonder how much he remembered from our pasts together. We were clearly close - I could have figured that out even without his little explosion earlier.

My eyes then travelled over to Chase who stood a few feet behind Ravi; the evil lizard man standing with such confidence and assurance that it made me feel uneasy. He was smirking at me too, like he knew exactly what I was thinking and that added to the hard lump that was forming in the pit of my stomach.

I turned my head then to the Oracle of the Sun, standing slightly turned toward the other Oracle who was still partially hiding. The Sun wore no smug expression like Chase nor any kind of interest or adoration like Ravi. Instead she looked at me as if I was in her way - an obstacle.

Finally my eyes landed on the woman who hid beneath the trees and even then beneath the hood of her cloak. The Oracle of the Moon. Strangely her gaze was just as intense as Ravi's. Her eyes so bright it was as if they were glowing despite not being in any direct light source. They were orbs of amber piercing in to mine...they were familiar.

Goosebumps rushed over the surface of my skin as my mind raced. They clearly weren't all here just to meet me. So then why were they here...and did I get any say in the matter? Something told me, no.

"So...I take it this isn't some sort of," I shrugged, "'How do you do?' huh?" I watched their unchanging expressions and nodded, "I see."

By the looks of them all I stood no chance of victory in escaping but if they thought that I would be going down without a fight, they were sorely mistaken.

In the next instant I spun and launched myself towards the forest, "Then I'll be going!"

I chose to take the cover of the woods as the trees would help me to hide and escape plus all of the shadows would be there for me to use immediately, if need be.

At least that was the plan but I didn't quite make it in to the cover of greenery. I had just reached the treeline when a huge ball of blue flames came hurtling toward me from the side. I saw it a second too late and it hit me causing the sleeve of my white jumper to be singed and crumple up exposing the skin of my right arm as it burned and sizzled as I was thrown off of my feet.

I fell on to my left and yelled out. A searing excruciating pain shot through my entire body, like nothing I had ever felt before. I grit my teeth realising that I didn't have any time to waste, however unbearable the pain was, and I rolled on to my feet.

I risked a glance down at my burnt arm through the huge crisp hole in my sleeve before glaring at the Oracle of the Sun with her hands alight with flames licking and flickering about her palms and fingers. The skin on my right arm was red raw and bleeding in places. It would definitely scar.

This woman had scarred me for trying to run. A new sense of fear swept over me. Whatever this was...it was serious.

I looked back at the forest just a few feet away from me but then the crunch up pebbles under feet drew my attention back to the witch with her flaming hand outstretched toward me and a foot forward in a readying stance. I frowned; she seemed to be one step ahead of me.

I jolted to the side to appear as though I was going to chance running but really it was just a hop. Sure enough a blue ball of fire was flung and went whizzing past my head blowing a few loose strands of my hair.

Without hesitating I reached up and snatch the Tangle Web Comb from atop my head and held it out in front of me. As my hair fell around my face in dark waves, I yelled with confidence, "TANGLE WEB COMB!"

The fingers of the comb shot out lightning fast and snapped themselves around the oracle, covering her from her ankles to her mouth and muffling her cry.

As if not even fazed, I heard Chase mumble sounding bored already, "I knew Spicer would lose the Shen Gong Wu at some point."

As Ravi ran to the Sun's side, I looked over at Chase and corrected him while glaring, "He didn't lose any of them. He just gave me this one – as a gift."

Chase just stared back at me for a moment that was slightly too long and unnerving, then finally purred as his smirk returned, "Really?"

Before I could ask what he was all smug about I was distracted by the sound of angry curses and shouts. I turned my head just in time to realise a blue flame hurtling toward me. I lunged forward ducking as the flame went soaring overhead bursting behind me.

"Please calm down, you know we need her," Ravi mumbled, as he walked beside the now free oracle who was advancing towards me with her eyes alight with fury and her nostrils flaring.

As I dodged another fire ball it occurred to me that the boy was acting different in the presence of the woman. Normally he seemed loud and full of life, but now he seemed timid and quiet. Despite the situation, I found myself wondering why.

"Zaira, you should stop before you hurt her," the Moon snapped.

"Hurt me?" I repeated incredulously. My left arm was scorched, still stinging and dripping with blood. Was she blind?

The Sun whipped her head round and screamed back at her, "I am not letting her get away and ruin the plan! We have waited too long for this!" She then glared at me and growled, "Besides, she'll thank us when it's all over."

"If I grant her such freedom," Chase commented, "Which is one of the agreements."

The Sun's eyes flickered over to him and she smiled this time, "Of course."

They shared a look that I didn't understand and by the way his eyes switched between them neither did Ravi.

I took this brief moment where she didn't have her eyes focused on me to make a move. I used my power to push Ravi's shadow slightly more to the left, closer to the oracle and darted behind a tree in the next moment.

Zaira – as was apparent of her real name – saw me move in her peripheral vision and shot her arm out without even thinking about it. But she hadn't seen nor expected the shadow to have moved, even less that it had become solid. She tried to take a step and in doing so tripped, throwing her fire ball in the wrong direction. It whizzed towards the Oracle of the Moon instead but she just side-stepped, without shock or panic evident on her face, and it missed her completely.

I was frozen for a moment because as the fire ball zoomed passed the Moon it illuminated her and I saw her face…no…

So shocked at what must have been my mind playing tricks on me I didn't notice him sneak up behind me.

"I'm really sorry to have to do this to you, Rachel," I jumped and whipped my head round to suddenly be blinded, "But we need you."

I screamed and clawed at my face with my free hand to find nothing there. All I could see was the colour white and nothing else. Ravi had shone a light so bright in to my eyes he had blinded me.

"You won't be needing this," I heard the Sun hiss from beside me as the Tangle Web Comb was snatched from my grasp.

"Let's go," Chase ordered, "We'll continue our search for the Spirits back at the palace."

"Okay, You! You place those blocks over there and you! You can go take a rest. You earned yourself an oil break," Jack had been working all day – or more likely bossing his robotic forces around all day. It had been this way for the three weeks that had passed since he started this project.

After wishing Rae a goodnight and almost running from his embarrassment the only thing to keep his mind preoccupied was to think of ways to better his Heylin reputation. That's when it struck him!

Chase had a palace! Even Wuya erected herself a castle when she returned the first time! If he was ever to rule he needed his own lair! So he had been building himself a structure that was huge and - if Jack could say so himself – magnificently evil!

He also had his robot army slowly advancing over the country of China, slowly but surely bit by bit taking over.

He was getting rather excited that his plans were actually working out lately. He couldn't wait to speak to Rae every evening to tell her what he had been up to each day and what achievements he had made during his time away.

Jack also missed her. Rae had become a friend that he enjoyed the company of – maybe the only true friend he had. He wondered if she was alright and how she was coping with her night terrors but she never went in to detail about them over the phone. She just said that she'd be alright. From all the mornings he had been there to calm her down he knew that wasn't quite true. But he knew that she'd be uncomfortable if he pried so he let her believe that he had bought her bravery. She was strong alright, but not entirely brave – not with her dreams and not with her shadows.

Jack sighed leaning against one of the pillars that was one of the first things to be built and thought about her. How was she doing now?

From what she had told him over the phone, Wuya was probably making her sick from all of the ghost lady's incessant nagging. He laughed quietly thinking about it – he knew how that felt!

Thinking about his closest friend while watching his army building his Heylin kingdom, made Jack feel more powerful than he had ever felt before. It made him feel like he was finally in control of something! Something big and important.

He stood up straight and breathed in deeply through his nose closing his eyes to relish in this moment.

In the next he was kicked in his mid-back, pushed round and punched hard in the face.

Such a shock the sudden attack was, Jack didn't even register the pain until he saw that Raimundo was stood over him clutching the neck of his jacket, holding him just up from the ground.

"Raimundo?" Jack wheezed. The kick to his back at knocked some of the air out of his lungs, he coughed.

"Where are my friends, Spicer? I'm not playing with you!" Raimundo warned him.

"Oh, yeah, thanks for clearing that up," Jack croaked sarcastically, "Cause, y'know, I wasn't sure if you maybe wanted to play Tag when you punched me in the face."

Raimundo grunted and punched him again and let go of Jack's collar. The goth groaned and clutched his face as he his head hit the ground.

"Where's Kimiko? Omi and Clay?" Raimundo demanded towering over the red head who was still clutching his nose on the ground, "What about Rae? What did you do to her?"

"Why do you assume I did something to her?" Jack grumbled, and leaned on his elbow. He looked up at Raimundo and although he may have been in the lower position, he glared angrily up at Rai showing that he was not afraid or weak today, "Yeah, I locked up the other monks, but you guys have never shown me any kindness! You kick my arse whenever you get the chance!"

"Never shown you any – we let you stay at the temple multiple times because you had nowhere else to go or because you were in danger!" Raimundo roared in anger, "How did you repay us? By repeatedly stealing the Shen Gong Wu and betraying us! You expect us to react kindly to that?"

Jack sighed deeply knowing that part of what the monk was saying was true but he didn't want to admit that to himself much less aloud. He averted his gaze and grumbled, "You wouldn't have let me stay if the old man hadn't said anything. You guys hated me, you always have."

"Yeah, cause you give us so many reasons not to," Raimundo snapped sarcastically and spitefully and kicked out at Jack.

But Jack was just a tad quicker, "THIRD ARM SASH!"

The clawed arm of the material shot out from the cover of Jack's coat, where it had been hidden and grabbed hold of Raimundo's foot and pulled hard. Raimundo fell and landed with a harsh thud to the ground. Jack used this time to get back on his feet.

Now he was the one towering over the weakened. Jack was the one in control this time, and he would be staying in control, "Sure, you guys gave me shelter when I needed it but you never did that because you cared! You did that because it was your duty! To protect the needy – of which I was at those times of course! In need! But you didn't then have to beat me to a pulp for any reason you could come up with. Your friends are locked up but did I beat the crap out of them? No, I didn't! But I should have! So that they would know what it feels like! As for Rae, I let her stay at my place free to roam! She's free! We're actually quite close in fact!"

"You're lying," Raimundo grumbled, narrowing his eyes up at Jack. He knew that if he tried to attack or get up that Third Arm Sash would move so quickly he'd be back on the ground before his mind could even process the force of the hit, "Rae wouldn't take sides with the enemy and she'd come looking for her friends if she was free!"

Jack laughed manically, for he had the upper hand for once and he didn't even have to lie. It was all truth – so what, he was exaggerating a few things here and there but the main points were fact, "Sure you guys are all friends and you probably think she's kinda cute and all – what guy wouldn't? But you only knew her for a week. Was it even that?" Jack loved watching the turmoil on the monk's face that he was desperately trying to hide right now, "Yeah, she's worried about you all. But that's cause she's such a wonderful, lovely human being. So caring. I know that about her because I've known her for over a month or two now. I still don't know everything of course – but I know her a lot better than you do and she and I are friends. She's nice to me. She treats me fairly. She treats me like another person. Another normal person."

Jack paused, his eyes trailing away in thought at the revelation that no one besides his mother had ever given a damn about him. Then Rae enters his life with people that despise him and she's totally different. She laughs with him not at him and she smiles genuinely and chats with him about things. Normal things.

He wanted to smile at the thought but repressed it, now's not the time. He sighed and looked down at Raimundo as if tired, "Unlike you she got to know me first before she decided that I was Heylin therefore not deserving of even a little consideration."

"But that's the thing! You're Heylin!" Raimundo cried, "You don't consider other people before you decide to attack just so you can take over! How can you be such a hypocrite?"

"Shut up," Jack grumbled averting his eyes again and glaring at a wall just a little way off.

"You never had to be the bad guy but you chose that path because you're too lazy to try and be the good guy for once. Either that or you're so incompetent that you'd fuck up even if you tried to play the good guy!" Raimundo continued his voice rising.

"I said be quiet!" Jack snapped, clenching his fists.

Raimundo continued, "You wonder why you've never had any friends? It's because you don't work for it and you're not loyal to any one you know! You rat on people, sell out people before they get even a glimpse of whoever this 'real' you is. Okay, it was Master Fung's idea to let you stay at the Temple but who knows, we could be bros by now if you hadn't stuck two fingers up at us as you ran away with half the Wu!"

"I'm warning you," Jack growled directing a deadly stare down at the monk at his feet.

"You put people down a lot too y'know – when you don't even know them – and that's clearly because you're insecure. You have such low self-esteem that you try to push people below you so that you can feel better about yourself. How do you feel now, Jack, knowing that I've sussed you out? Knowing that after all this hard work you've done, everyone still knows that it's all because you're a sad, lonely, self-loathing coward!"

WHACK!

Raimundo's body went flying, his face instantly red from the impact of the punch.

That's when April came running in unaware of the situation, "Raimundo, I can't find them anywhere. Are you sure they're here?"

She froze when she saw Raimundo on the floor looking dazed with a bloody nose and a furious gothic boy standing a few feet away from him now glaring at her.

Jack's eyes widened, "You were distracting me while she snooped around! You bastard! How dare you lecture me about betrayals and trust and loyalty!"

Raimundo grumbled, "My excuse is retaliation, now we're even. What's yours?"

Jack took one step but couldn't move his other leg. Confused, he looked down at his left foot which was still planted on the ground. Why couldn't he move it? He struggled until he looked up and saw the unknown lady with her hand outstretched toward him.

"You're a witch?" he asked and then narrowed his eyes at her. He shouted, "Jackbots!"

Jackbots swarmed them, taking hold of April and binding her wrists together behind her back. They hauled Rai off of the ground and did the same to him. Then they carried them away while Jack still stood by the pillar, now fuming and angry rather than proud.

Jack knew that Raimundo spoke mostly truths but he also knew that, from a long time ago, he couldn't turn back after a certain point. He couldn't change the clock and pretend to be the hero.

Jack knew that he wasn't good enough to be good at something like…being good.

Please tell me if there are any bits that sound wrong/rushed, any grammar or spelling errors, any problems you may have and/or any questions you may have. Every review is worth the read, they tell me how to improve, they tell me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. I appreciate everyone that reads, favourites, follows and reviews! Thank you all so much. I'm sorry I'm a terrible uploader of late. I'll try my best to work on that.

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