•San Francisco•
Almost two weeks had passed since Alex lost the Rat Talisman, and things had been surprisingly quiet, no dark hand, no travelling around the world, no getting into needless and rather odd situations..
"Alex, phone for you!" Uncle said, which prompted the younger man to get up from his chair and walk to him, grabbing the phone and putting it up to his ear.
"Hello?" Alex asked, the voice on the other end speaking for about a minute or so before the man spoke up.
"Translations? Um..can't Jackie..?" The man said, before a realization hit him, and it was that Jackie was in Honduras on an archeological expedition, and wouldn't be back till the end of the week at the earliest.
So, knowing he had no choice in the matter, he inwardly sighed and bit his tongue.
"..When can i pick them up?" Alex asked, his foot tapping against the floor.
"Ok, i'll be there this afternoon, good day to you as well." The man said, hanging up.
"Well, i'm screwed-Ow!" Alex said, before Uncle flicked him in the forehead.
"You are not screwed, Uncle will help!" He said.
"Uncle, you can't do the work for me, they'll know-Ow!" The man said before he got flicked again.
"Uncle isn't doing work for you! He is going to teach you how to read it!" The old man said.
The younger man rubbed his forehead for a moment, the sting fading after a few seconds. "Wait, you would teach me?" Alex asked.
"Of course uncle would!" Uncle answered, heading into the backroom, and a few minutes later coming back out with his hands full of leatherbound, dusty books, setting them on the front counter.
"..And here i thought my university textbooks were too much.." the younger man said to himself.
"This will do for now, Uncle will be waiting for when you get back." He said as he headed back into the backroom, leaving the young man by himself since Jade was currently at school.
And as if to speak of the devil, the phone rang again, so he picked it up, answering it.
"Hello? Oh, hello Mrs. Hartman." Alex asked.
The woman's voice spoke on the other end, shuffling what seemed like papers on her desk.
"..Jade got into a fight? With who?" The man said, though he wasn't surprised, given this wasn't the first time she got in trouble, though this was the first time she got into a fight, at least that he heard of.
"A meeting? When?" Alex said, his foot tapping against the floor again, hand in his pants pocket.
'2:30..well, if i hurry i can pick up the translations the university wants me to do on the way..good thing i had my truck shipped here..'
"I'll be there, where do..oh, the principal's office, ok, then i'll meet you then, thanks." The man said, hanging up, and letting out a sigh.
Alex checked his watch, seeing it was 1:30pm, left the shop and headed around back, stopping once he saw a graffiti covered garage door, thankfully still locked, as he quickly pulled out the key from his pocket, unlocked it, and opened it, revealing a light green 1950 model 3100 chevy pickup truck.
"Just as pretty as the day I bought ya.."
The man smiled warmly as he then unlocked the truck, getting in and shutting the door and starting it, driving out of the space and then getting out to shut and lock the door back, before he got back in the truck, shutting the door and then driving off.
•At the University•
"Thank you so much for this, Alex, I know Mr. Chan is usually the one who does this, but given the circumstances.."
"It's alright, i don't mind helping out, dean woodsworth." Alex said as he grabbed the bag with the inscriptions that needed to be translated.
"Give my regards to Jackie once he returns, if you would?" Woodsworth asked.
"Of course, sir." The younger man said, heading out.
•At Jade's School•
"Nostalgia is certainly not on my side right now.." Alex said as he got out of his truck and walked down the concrete walkway that lead into the building, pulling open the metal door and walking inside.
He shivered abit as he stepped in, a loud noise in the ceiling above him indicating the a/c unit was on, likely on a high setting, but the man tried to ignore it as he headed to the principal's office, signing in and being directed to a small office, where Jade and Mrs. Hartman were waiting.
Alex sat in the seat next to Jade, who gave him a small smile that showed she was glad to see him.
"Good afternoon, mister greyson, i'm glad to see you could make it." She said.
"Good afternoon to you as well." The man said.
"Now, as i explained over the phone, Jade has gotten into a fight with another student-"
"He called me a shrimp!" Jade said, cutting her off.
"Jade!" Alex said.
"Misses chan, please do not interrupt me." She said, before she began speaking again.
"As i was saying, she got into a fight over, as she said, over another student calling her a name, giving him a bloody nose and a small concussion when he hit the ground." Ms. Hartman said.
'Oh dear lord..i'm gonna have a meltdown by the end of the day, aren't i?'
"She isn't gonna be expelled is she?" The man asked.
"No, but she will have detention for a week because of this." She answered.
Jade 'aww'd' beside him, but he was sure inwardly she was happy that she wouldn't be expelled.
"Oh, and before I forget, we are going on a field trip in a few weeks, and we need chaperone's, we already have a few, of course, but if you would like to volunteer I have a few forms for you to fill out." She said, handing the man some papers.
"It's mostly just basic information and the like." Ms. Hartman said.
"Thanks, Miss Hartman, i'll look these over once I get home." Alex said, folding them up and putting them into his pocket.
After a bit more conversation, Alex and Jade left the office, heading to his truck and got in, and once he made sure she was buckled up, he started it and drove off.
"Alex, are you-?" The young girl asked.
"Yes, i'm gonna have to tell Jackie, he deserves to know." The man said.
"And I know you're sorry Jade, but you must learn that violence isn't the answer." The man continued.
"But what do i do? They always come after me!" The girl said, crossing her arms.
"Here's what you can do, one, you can ignore it, or play it off as if you didn't hear them." Alex said.
Jade nodded.
"Another thing you can do is laugh it off." He continued.
"Laugh it off?" The girl asked.
"Like, for example, someone calls you shrimp, you just chuckle or laugh." The man answered.
"Like i found it funny?" Jade asked.
"Yes, cause what they want is for you to get angry and retaliate, like you did, if you give them neither of those things, eventually they'll stop." Alex answered.
"..Were you ever bullied, Alex?" Jade asked, looking up at him.
Of course he was, he was different on many levels, and others didn't hesitate to point that out, the athletic kids cornering him in the hallway or the locker room, crushing his glasses and shoving him against the lockers till someone, usually the coach, walked in, but he never did shit about it, as he cared more for the football team than actually doing his job.
Then there were the "popular girls' ' always making snide remarks about him and other's, but they found him their favorite target of their verbal tirade's.
He felt his blood boiling as his hands gripped the leather wrapped steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"..People can be cruel, Jade..especially if you're not what people define as''normal ``.." the man answered through gritted teeth.
Jade flinched back out of instinct, taken completely aback by the man's outburst of anger, as, he normally wasn't the type to get angry.
However, after a good minute or two, Alex took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling, his grip on the steering wheel softened, removing a hand from it for a moment to fix his glasses.
"Sorry you had to see that, Jade. I normally don't lose my temper like that." The man said, turning his head towards her, and seeing her eye's widened.
He felt a tug of guilt in his soul as he turned his head to back on the road, though the man's green eyes glanced back at her.
"..Guess we both need to control our tempers, huh?" Alex said, giving a light chuckle, though it did nothing to relieve the tension between them.
Jade nodded in silent agreement as they soon arrived back at the antique shop, the older man parking his car in the garage and them both heading inside.
•Uncle's Rare Finds•
"Uncle, we're back!" Alex said.
After a few moments, the oldest of the chan clan came out of the backroom, fixing his glasses as he did so.
"Good, Uncle has everything ready for us to begin our lessons." He said.
Jade walked past them both, heading upstairs, as the two men's conversation continued.
"Thanks again for this, Uncle." The younger man said.
"It is no problem, now, let us get to work." The older man said as he set several things on the desk at once, which made the man gulp.
'What have i gotten myself into..?' Alex thought.
It was hard to tell exactly how long had passed, but one thing that the man could tell was that he felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, as almost half a book's worth of paper stood stacked on one side of the desk, the inkwell next to the stack of papers empty, but had drops of ink running down the sides and onto the desk itself.
"..I can't feel my hands.." the man said, the appendages feeling like they were jelly.
"That is enough for today, go and get some rest." Uncle said as he turned towards the younger man, however, he saw that they had passed out, head laying against the desk as what sounded like snoring was coming from him.
The older man picked up a small blanket from the couch in the backroom, taking it and gently laying it onto Alex, making sure it covered him from the neck down before he quietly went upstairs, leaving them alone.
•Meanwhile..•
Shendu let out a sigh, his red eyes glowing for a moment before they returned to normal, and if it were possible, he'd be drumming his claws in boredom right now.
While yes, he had television to keep him occupied, it could only do much to keep his attention, especially with what mortal's had called 'reruns'.
His thoughts drifted to the mortal, whose face he hadn't seen since they got back from India, likely out of fear of the demon's reaction when he learned they lost the talisman, but Shendu did not tolerate failure from anyone and he wasn't the type to show mercy either.
'I should go see what they're up to..'
Using the power of the sheep talisman, his spirit exiting it's stone prison, phasing through the vault door and out of Section 13, he headed for the shop he once called home.
Phasing through the front door, his eyes laid upon the front desk, and the demon floated his way over to it, seeing Alex sleeping, their chest slowly rising and falling in a slow, rhythmic pattern like the time before.
'Let us see what his dreams may hold..'
•In Alex's Dreams•
Opening his eyes, Shendu noticed he back in the mortal's home, a calming, pleasent smell filling the space around him as the door opened and the mortal himself stepped in.
"..Sorry i'm late, i had to help wash dishes." He said.
The demon's expression remained neutral, as he floated over to the bed and laid upon it.
"It is alright, you were not gone for too long." Shendu said.
Alex smiled softly, sitting on the bed next to the demon, before he laid down upon it, letting out a quiet sigh.
"..i think my family really likes you." The man said, turning his head to the side so he was looking at the demon.
Shendu's eyes met the mortal's, a bright, bloody red meeting a light, calming green reminescent of jade, which made the demon's eyes glowing without him realizing it, but the mortal certainly noticed.
"Um..your eye's are glowing.." alex said.
Upon the man saying that, the demon turned it's head away, staring up at the ceiling.
"..I got that impression, especially from your, what you call, grandparents." The demon said.
The man turned his head back so he was looking up at the ceiling, chuckling softly.
"..so, what's your family like?" The man asked.
The question caught Shendu off guard, making his voice catch in his throat, as if some invisible force was squeezing his vocal cords.
"..they..they aren't the most sociable types..especially with mortals." He answered, his tone sounding very unenthusiastic and rather annoyed.
"Oh..i guess you don't like them very much?" Alex said, which made the demon grumble what was most likely a yes.
Shendu was glad his siblings were trapped in their hellish prison, as it meant that one, they were out of his way and could not bother him, and two, that when he enacted his revenge, the demon didn't have to share any part of the world with them.
"..well, it's a good thing you aren't like them, then." The man said.
"..What do you mean by that?" The demon asked, giving Alex a glance in his direction.
Alex shrugged. "Well, if you wanted to do something bad, you would've by now, but you haven't..so.." he answered.
Shendu again felt his voice catch in his throat. Of course he hadn't, since he didn't have all twelve talisman's, as well as his palace was likely buried deep within the earth by this point, but once he had all of his power back, he could raise it back to it's original glory.
"..i suppose that's a good point." The demon said, catching the sound of raindrops hitting the roof of the barn.
"Oh dear, looks like it really is gonna storm.." Alex said as he got up and went over to the window, peeking outside.
Shendu would've shrugged his shoulders if he wasn't in his astral form and had his physical form back. "At least we are not outside in it." He said.
A scratching sound at the door drew both of their attentions, the man going over to the door and opening it as a very large dog somehow managed to run between the mans legs and into the room.
"Reggie! Oh did you miss me, big guy? Is that why you came all the way out here through the rain?" alex said as he grabbed a towel from the bathroom and came back, beginning to dry off the tamed animal.
The animal came up to about the man's knee's, it's coat a dark grey that slowly went from that dark shade to white as it reached it's belly, a large, fluffy tail wagging excitedly behind it.
The demon watched the interaction, finding the connection the man and the animal had almost..admirable.
It brought back memories of the demon's own beasts he kept in his palace, each ferocious and larger than mortal's, but they obeyed his every command to the letter.
A very loud noise brought shendu out of his thoughts as he saw Alex holding an odd looking device in their hands, and had it pointed at the animal.
After a couple of minutes, the man turned the device off and Reggie looked to be very pleased as Alex went back into the bathroom before coming back out.
"You feeling better now, big guy?" Alex asked, kneeling down as the dog went up to him and began to lick and nuzzle the man's face, tail wagging even faster.
"I'll take that as a yes." He said, scratching behind his ears, which made the dog pant happily.
The man noticed the demon's interest in what they were doing, and couldn't help but smile.
"Oh, this is Reggie by the way, he's an Alaskan Malamute." He said.
"..i see." Shendu said.
Reggie's eyes were set onto the demon as it curled up on the man's bed, the dog tilting his head to the side in curiosity.
"Do you wanna come meet him? I promise he's a big softie." Alex asked.
Shendu seemed to be thinking about the man's question, taking a few minutes to decide before answering.
"..i believe i am..alright on that." He said.
"Oh..ok." The man said, as Reggie went over to a big bed laying on the floor near the bed, laying down and curling up in it.
Alex then went back over to the bed and laid in it, as he did so, another mist began to rise around them, indicating the man was waking, and for Shendu to make his exit.
Upon doing so, he made his way back to his statue body, his eyes glowing brightly as his soul reunited with it..
'This is almost too easy..'