Disclaimer: You know da drill; I don't own da show….

In this chapter, Blaise is in the new room and reveals everything about Chase to Omi.

The Paintings of a Rat

What… Where am I?

Wind rushed through Blaise's hair. Her eyes were closed, her limbs useless. She was falling down and down into blackness, but her body seemed to want to fall. She opened her eyes and the ground rushed to her face at an incredible speed.

Her whole body jerked awake. She tried to move her arms but they were caught in something that felt like metal, as were her legs. She couldn't tell whether she was lying down or not. She was held in a star shape by the metal and her waist was held into place by more metal. Her head was swimming, still disorientated from the falling dream.

What is this?

She gently shook her head and half opened her eyes. Everything was blurred and she tried to raise her hand to rub her eyes but they were still caught in the machine.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

She could hear some soft tapping followed by a beeping sound and then a large grinding sound. She could feel the vibration of something behind her, or beside her, she couldn't tell which. It rotated and with a loud chink it stopped. Gently opening her eyes, she could see the room in front of her. It was all metal and machines. The one she was on held her hands and feet in separate metal cylinders, there was a vice around her waist that was attached to the wall and a circular machine around her. She could see Chase standing next to a part of the machine that jutted out. He pulled on a lever and suddenly Blaise felt even weaker and more helpless than before. Tiny bolts of electricity could be seen flowing around the cylinders on her hands and feet.

"This is new," she muttered, "I've never seen this place before."

"That's because it is new. I did it just for you." Chase had a wide smile on his face; his sharp fangs glinted in the artificial light. Blaise tried to focus and use magic, but she just couldn't do it, her head wasn't in it. It was like she forgot how to use magic.

"I wouldn't bother trying to cast, this machine will stop all that. It's about time you told me the truth"

Blaise just breathed in and out slowly, lost for words.

"So how long have you had the bracelet?"

She stayed silent, still trying to focus.

Chase pulled down on another lever and a huge electric shock jolted through her body. It was worse that being stabbed with one hundred white-hot knives at once, unbearable pain shooting through her body. Her muscles clenched and her eyes widened to it, screaming in agony and then it stopped, leaving her even weaker than before. Her fragile body smoked for a second and a tear ran down her face.

"How long, Blaise?"

"… A-about a year after y-you went looking f-for it…" She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. Her heart still pounded fast from the shock.

"That long huh? And all these years you were just playing little-miss-innocent. Why did you do it? Why bother hiding it from me?"

"I hid it from you," she said slowly, so weak from the shock and whatever was holding her from her magic, "because I knew that you would get hurt."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" He spat.

"It's true!" she cried. "We all had to watch when you were beaten! You always got the worst of it. Do you think that after all that I would sit there and watch you die?"

"Who said I would die?"

"If you use the bracelet, someone will stop you, the people of the earth would rebel, no matter how much control you had. You would be killed and it would be all my fault for not protecting you!"

Chase pulled down on the lever again. She screamed as the charge jolted all her muscles and her heart.

"Your fault? YOUR fault! Why would you blame yourself? Since when is it even your job to protect me?" She cried as he shocked her again. "I don't need anyone to watch over me, especially not"

Shock.

"Someone,"

Shock

"Like,"

Shock.

"YOU!"

"STOP IT!" She wailed, her body was quivering from the electricity and the heat rose in wisps of smoke. The tears rolled down her face as she hung limply on the wall. The rancid smell of burning hair and flesh was consistent throughout the room.

"E-even though you u-used me, I will n-never tell you w-where it is, because I p-promised myself that I w-would k-keep you safe. You c-can't have it." She stuttered, her body quaking with effort to speak. "N-never!"

Chase looked at her for a long time, having an internal argument with himself. Eventually after deciding, her pressed a few buttons on the machine and walked over to her, looking straight at her and holding her face up with his hand. Her skin felt clammy and hot and her sea blue eyes were blood shot and worn out. "I envy your belief." He breathed into her ear, taking in her earthy smell before walking away. As he walked back by the machine he pressed a big red button and the machine that held her there pulled Blaise back. The wall slid by for a second to reveal another room no bigger than a cupboard and Blaise was held in place by metal poles on her wrists and ankles in a sitting position. A thick glass slid down in front of her and trapped her even more so in the room. The lights went out and she was left in pressing darkness, her faint cry barely perceptible.

Chase slammed the door behind him and walked towards his white room to do some damage, but had to stop for a second to wipe the tears off his face.

(-)

Life as a cat isn't that hard. Omi had chatted with a few of the other cats, and they had all swapped their heroic yet tragic battle stories with Chase that had cost them their human lives. Of course, many of them greatly exaggerated their tales, including one lioness that "seduced" Chase into her bedroom until he took her freedom away from her. He had heard nearly everyone's story when the cats suddenly scattered in fright as Chase walked out of a room and slammed the door viciously. Omi watched as he stopped for a second and held his face in his hands, pushing his black hair back with his fingers and continued walking along. The cats slowly shuffled back, hissing at Omi to move away from Chase quickly. Omi ignored them and walked over to the room that Chase had just exited. The cats frantically hissed and spat at him, urging him to back off as Chase was near, but Omi jumped up and turned the handle. A machine swung down and monitored him. It then beeped and let him through.

The room was pitch black, but as he set a paw in the lights came on and Omi gasped at the room revealed. He expected something like this to be in Jack Spicer's basement, not here in Chase's home. The door closed behind him and he jumped slightly, his padded feet making a slapping noise on the silver granite floor. He looked at the glass wall in front of him. He could make out the metal and something blonde and green, but the rest was a blur. Walking closer, he realised that it was Blaise.

Her body shook a little and the tears flowed down her face like a waterfall. Omi frowned at her. Usually, she would be bright and happy and bouncy, but she was paler now, her blond hair was lank and it just seemed to hang to her head. Her posture was bent low and a cold sweat drenched her forehead. Even her clothes seemed to droop with the weight of her heavy heart.

She sniffled and looked up for a second to acknowledge that she had seen Omi in the room and went back to looking at the tears that cascaded on the floor between her legs.

He knew she would be in here. Omi didn't really know anything abut Chase, and who better to question than the very person who knew him the longest?

He watched her for a couple of seconds, just crying without making a sound and allowing her tears to flow. She couldn't have stopped even if she wanted to. Her arms and legs were strapped in place with metal poles and vices; movement was hopeless. He wanted badly to dry her tears and make all the pain go away but the glass wall prevented him from even touching her.

"Is there something you want, Omi?" Her voice was muffled from behind the glass. He could detect how thick her voice was, her mouth was dry from crying.

"Well… I was just wondering," He thought of something to help take her mind off of her situation, "If you could tell me a little more about Chase when he was younger. I know nothing of him before he became evil."

"Are you asking me that to take my mind off my situation?"

"Well, yes." Omi scratched his ear with his hind leg and looked at Blaise hopefully.

"Well, it's not a very good question to be asking right now…"

Omi frowned and hung his head.

"But I suppose I have nothing else to do." A slight flicker of a smile passed over her lips and she looked at Omi, breathing in as she began to tell Omi Chase's story.

"Where do I begin? Hmmm. I suppose from the start would be a good option. Well, Chase and I first met at a Xiaolin Temple when we were thirteen years old. He was the first person to ever talk to me there. I was sitting down sketching the other students, and he was the only one who greeted me. The others ignored me, they thought I was a bad omen because I was a girl… then again so did our masters at the temple. In fact, I think that temple still exists today. Some guy called Fung runs it, I dunno."

"Master Fung? That is the temple that I train at!" Omi said happily, knowing that part of him would be included in the story. He lay down and gazed at her with his glassy eyes.

"Wow, I can't believe that it's still there after… well we'll get to that part of the story in a second. I was invited to train at the temple after I was thrown out of my old one when they found out I was a girl. I spent ten years putting on a male voice and going by the name Chè instead of Blaise. But eventually they found out when I started "developing". Anyway, the new temple knew I was a girl and didn't feel right about having me around, but they took me on anyway."

"At the temple there were about two hundred students, all boys and then me, the only girl. I still trained twice as hard as any of them, but nowhere near as much as Chase did. He was amazing, the best fighter there. He worked so hard and still found time to study. Everyone liked him at the temple, except the Masters. Our sensei were allowed to beat us then if we did something wrong, and Chase… he always got the worst end of it. He worked so hard; so much was expected of him. He always gave a hand to everyone. He was the sweetest person you could ever meet, but the sensei didn't agree with that. At our temple we were taught all forms of martial arts, including the heylin way. Everything from curative spells to the blackest magic, we were taught how to fight fair and how to win by any means possible. Chase only ever fought fair and won all his matches even then. The sensei wanted him to be good, but they thought he was too pure, to good to be a person."

She stopped to look at Omi's surprised face. He had his fuzzy eyebrows raised and his elongated jaw hung open, not daring himself to believe it.

"You should have seen him then. He looked completely different. He didn't wear all the armour, just black combats and his grading sash. He still had the black hair, but it was shorter and the back and sides were shaved off, so he just tied it back with black string at the back of his head. His eyes were always the same, lizard yellow, but he smiled so much then. He always smiled, even when he was sad because he worried so much about everyone else over himself. He was so handsome, still is. But back then he was so happy all the time. So gentle, caring and he always knew the right thing to say. He helped me so much when I came to the temple because I never knew how to use the heylin styles or a lot of the ordinary styles either. Chase trained with me day and night until I got every move perfect so I wouldn't be beaten for getting it wrong. He even got the other students off my back because I was the only girl there, but…"

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Tears spilled from her eyes again. "No matter what he did… how perfect he was, we still had to watch as our sensei beat the living daylights out of him. '"It will train him"' they said, '"Teach him to be strong,"' but he never need it. Our masters were very strong and old so Chase would never fight them back; he never stuck up for himself because he didn't think it was right hitting his elders. Those people made us, the students; watch as they beat him around the temple… they whipped him, punched him, kicked him when he was on the ground and slashed him with their swords… Chase still has the scars on his back and chest to prove it. Chase was so strong then. He tried to not let it bother him, he tried to take it in his stride and make it seem like he deserved it for not doing what he was told. They… made-us-watch!"

She was crying as Omi hung his head. He could just picture a kid who looked vaguely like Raimundo with black hair being punched to the ground and kicked repeatedly in the stomach.

"They left him to me every day. They beat the shit out of him and then left me to take care of him. I had to stitch his cuts and mend his broken bones, take the shards of wood out of his skin, wipe the blood from his mouth. Every day… you know? I never minded having to take care of him, it got easier after I learned how to use magic, I just… watching him like that, spitting up blood, bleeding profusely… it… I… didn't want to see him faced with death almost every day. It didn't bother me that I had to take care of him, it just bothered me because he being beaten so much."

"And you know… even then, he tried his best to smile all the time. He tried to help me so I wouldn't end up in the position that he was in. He was the best there, and he got the worst of it all… I look back now and think how hard it was for him, how much it cut him up inside to feel hated and mistreatment all the time. All of us were beaten in front of each other, but Chase was always the one who got the worst of it, and he never even did anything wrong. After a while… he started to use the heylin way… stated following it and still following the side of good. The masters praised him for this, for the first time in his life. He was still beaten of course, but not as much."

"Was this when you noticed that Chase had started to turn evil?" Omi interrupted.

"No…" she shook her head, "it was much later than this."

"In our last year our sensei taught us how to unleash the power that is inside us… or the beast if you will. It just means that you can take on a form of a ferocious beast to become more magically powerful. Of course, Chase knew exactly what to do, but none of the other students at out Aratai level did. Chase taught us that to do it you have to find all the bottled up hate and anger inside, you had to look deep inside yourself and dig out your worst fear, what makes you crazy, basically the worst things in your life and throw it together to make you feel a hate so bad that it gives you a sense of power in your heart. '"When you feel that," he said, "then you will know yourself what to do."' And he was right. It worked and I know it sounds a little crazy but it's a very hard heylin spell to use. Most of us got it on the first try. Others it took a while."

"What was it? Do you become the thing that you fear? What was your beast?" Omi was very interested in this particular subject.

"No, not your fear, just an other form you take one that reflects everything that is a pox on your life. I know it sounds cliché and a horrible thing to be, but it worked because it really did make us faster and stronger and more magically powerful. I was half snake, half human. I was deep red, with a tail instead of legs with snakes for hair. I can still do it today… but I don't like it. Chase changed all the time, when he fought in his matches and even when he was angry. The thick reptilian skin was useful for when the sensei were killing him-"

"Is this when you started to see him turn evil?" Omi interrupted again.

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, most of us were half monster half human, but Chase was a monster through and through. This worried our masters. He had so much hate and anger that it manifested into a true beast, and it was their entire fault. He was still the same Chase, just more powerful now."

"We finally left the temple when we were twenty one as Xiaolin masters and Chase was the happiest I had ever seen him, beaming from ear to ear. After we left I decided to travel and because Chase and me were the best of friends he came with me. We went all over the world for about three years before Chase noticed something about me…"

"And what was it?"

"I… never aged. From birth I was immortal. I was destined to stop someone from destroying the world, but that I would fall in love with him and then kill myself because I had to kill him. But when it finally came to the part where I had to die, Chase talked me out of it. He said that he needed me here as much as everyone else, that if I died the world would die with me for losing one of the few people who kept the world together."

"But what if it was really Chase you had to stop?"

"That's not possible."

"Why?" Omi look intently at her, dying to hear more. She sighed deeply.

"Chase doesn't love me back. It's that simple really. I love him… so much… but he will never ever love me. I think at one point he may have felt something… but that feeling is gone now."

Blaise stopped for a second and looked down. That night she could have sworn she heard a heartbeat in his chest, a gentle thump on the left side. It put her to sleep, the soft rhythmic beating and the heat of his pale skin. But when she woke up in the morning just seconds before he got up, the heartbeat was gone and she knew that he was gone too.

"Three years after travelling, Chase wanted to go back to India and I wanted to go to Ireland. We decided to meet halfway in Portugal four months later. When we met up again… something changed about him. Despite his beautiful new sun kissed skin, he was… he just stopped ageing too. I asked him what he did. He just replied that it was a spell. He was going to stay young forever as long as he returns to India when he is needed. After that we travelled more, just everywhere. We went to every country, spoke every language and stayed at every city. It was a good way to be."

She laughed a little.

"You should have seen us then. For money we worked menial jobs, like serving in restaurants. Ah… we were great, always doing little tricks and crap. Hah, you should have seen him in that black waist apron, he looked ridiculous! We just laughed our troubles off then… But then about ten years later Chase had to go back to India. I wanted to go with him, but he didn't let me so I went to Ireland again to see my family. When I saw Chase again in India…"

She hung her head.

"Have you ever met someone and known them for so long that you can always tell that something's wrong even though it doesn't physically show? With Chase it was like someone had cracked open his chest and left the contents exposed. It made me ill to watch him like that. Something had been ripped out of him… he didn't smile much after that and he just wasn't the same. I still treated him the same, but he seemed much angrier and… and serious."

"What had caused it?"

"I went to an abandoned temple after a tip off from the people in Jaipur. There is something in that temple that feeds on people's souls… It's a demon that can grant you the one thing that you want in the whole world, but at a terrible price. It's not evil, it's like an animal and it does what it has to to survive. I asked it what it did and it told me. It takes souls so it can survive. It told me that a warrior called Dashi had made a bracelet from its scales and horns. That bracelet could not only steal people's souls, but the person as well. The demon also told me about what a soul is. It said that a soul is the thing that balances your mind. It is everything pure, everything that makes you happy and good. Without a soul you become dark and cold, just like Chase did. It also told me that Chase was looking for that bracelet, but it didn't tell me where to find it. Chase… because all the good was taken from him the heylin spell worked on it's own so Chase was stuck in his reptile form forever, but the demon gave him a potion to give him his handsome self back. Now he is like this forever, and there's no way to bring him back. Sad, isn't it?"

"What was that about Dashi's bracelet?"

"It's called the Vermillion Bracelet. I found it in Africa on Mount Kilimanjaro. I hid it from Chase, but he found out a short while ago and now that's why I'm here, because he wants that bracelet."

"But why, he can easily steal people by turning them into cats. Why does he need the bracelet?"

"It's not about the bracelet, it's about the soul inside. At the temple, there was a horrid… I don't know if I should be telling you this but… there was a man at the temple. No… not a man, a monster. He was a disgusting, horrid, foul creature who called himself Nathaniel. His soul is in the Vermillion Bracelet thanks to one of our old masters and Chase wants it to control Nathaniel."

"Why does Chase want him?"

"If he gets his hands on that bracelet he can use Nathaniel to call fourth an underground army. Not really from hell and not really un-dead, but powerful and bloodthirsty creatures who live near the earth core. Once he calls that army, it's all over for earth."

"But why does he want the earth to be destroyed?" Omi wanted to know everything about this. It could come in handy.

"He doesn't want to destroy the earth, he just wants to control it. He has an idea in his head that if he controls the earth the all his suffering can go away because it's the world that makes him suffer so much. The people destroy him with their ignorance, their stupidity and lack of intellect, or so he says."

"Can he not just find another way to make him happy?"

"That's just it Omi… that's just it. When the demon took his soul away he forgot what happiness was. There was an empty feeling left in his heart, but it partly was filled when he cause pain. The pain didn't last for very long, so if he causes lots of pain then the happier he is. Imagine… worldwide pain to make you happy. Chase likes control because he likes to be able to plan his own fate, but he wants everyone to have the same fate so it is easier for him to control what goes on in his life. Argh, it's so hard to explain. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

Omi nodded. "You said you think he could have felt something once. Was this after he became evil?

"Yes it was. Let me explain something… Chase is empty right? After I had told him that I loved him and promised him that nothing could change that, I saw a flicker of happiness in his eyes. For the first time in many centuries I could almost see the old Chase. I came up with a theory that you have to feed him love. You have to give it to him in a way that he can understand, a way that everyone understands."

"What way is that?"

"It's so simple as a kiss."

Omi pretended to gag.

"I know, I know but it is true. I gave him love, fed it to him through a kiss and for the first time in ages I had the old Chase back. But it only lasted for a few short hours and to bring back a lifetime of love that went missing… that I just can't do. I can't give that much love and I don't think anyone can."

"Can you not go back to India and get his soul back?"

"No, I had asked the demon but to get Chase's soul back I would have to give up mine, as anyone else would have to give up theirs. We have to find another way. No… I have to find another way."

"Hey!" Omi growled. "I am part of this plan too. I must stop Chase even if it means my life."

"No Omi. You are still a child. If you gave up your life you would waste everything I ever stood up for. Please do not try! I beg of you, leave this to me!"

Omi became very upset and angry. Why should he stand down and watch as everyone else saved the world? Why should he leave it to the older people when he could just as easily do it himself? He concentrated very hard, his forehead glowed with his mark: the nine circles that were usually white are now tainted with red. Blaise noticed it.

"By the Gods!" She whispered to herself, her shining eyes fixed on Omi's head with awe. "I… I had no idea…"

"What?"

"Tell me what you are thinking." She commanded.

Omi wavered. This was a little odd, but he still said. "I was just wondering…" He was a little put off with the way she was looking at him. It was like she had never seen anything like him before. "If there is something that can take your soul and leave the evil, is there not something that can take your body and leave all the good?" He looked down and though that it was a very stupid question to ask.

Blaise looked at him, and then looked through him. "Yes, there is. Believe it or not but… you're looking at it. A creature that can remove all the bad, and leave just a soul is sitting caged like a rat. But it's not so simple. You would need someone so pure, a soul so perfect and…" her eyes fixed on Omi's head, "… and angelic almost. If you find someone like that then they may have the power to stop Chase when he gets the bracelet."

"You are going to give him the bracelet?" He cried incredulously.

"It's just a matter of time now. Please Omi, you have too much to live for now. Your heart is so pure at your age now and you need to be free again, while you still have that chance. I promise I will get you out of here… even if that means breaking another promise…"

Omi looked at her for a long time and realised what she was saying. He gave he a sympathetic smile and looked at the ground before muttering "Thank you" and walked out of the room, his shuffling feet slapping off the floor.