Whispers in the Dark-Epilogue

By: CrystallicSky

Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it.

Warning(s):This story entails a continuation of a romantic relationship between two males in addition to more extreme corniness. If either of these bother you, turn tail and run now, because frankly, I'm not going to be happy if there's a 15-page comment about how sick and wrong it is after I've quite clearly warned you what this in black and white. If you're still here, good then, I hope you at least walk away from this without having wasted any of your life if not having enjoyed it to some degree.

Notes: Lil' Pup suggested a bit of a sequel to the first part, so I decided, "What the hell? I may as well write it!" and so, here we are, the epilogue to "Whispers in the Dark", enjoy!

All in all, Jack was having one of the best days of his life.

He had finally managed to perfect his new device, just a little bit of offensive weaponry for his arsenal, and in addition to that accomplishment, had developed a way to keep it with him at all times without it being painfully obvious or awkward that he had it. Currently, it was in safe-mode, a thick, metallic bracelet clasped tightly on his right wrist. It didn't look like anything more than a punkish fashion statement, something no one would be suspicious of, whether or not they knew Jack, but at a moment's notice, well...let's just say anyone who messed with Jack would be in for some serious pain. He had managed all this in a matter of only three hours, a feat he had never before accomplished with something as complicated as this was! He could only assume that he was a bit more inspired lately than he usually was, which made a lot of sense. After all, he was finally dating, or whatever it was considered that they were doing, the man of his dreams.

And if anyone doubted him for a moment that he was with Chase Young, it would be no difficult matter to point out just a few of the scratches and bite marks that currently littered his pale skin. What could he say? Chase seemed to like marking him.

That aside, though, Jack could easily say he quite liked belonging to the draconic overlord so far, and Chase could say likewise for owning his new pet.

Speak of the devil, or in this case think about the devil, because Jack found a reason to pause in the addition of the last screw to his 'bracelet' when two powerful arms coiled possessively around his waist and a sharp pair of fangs nipped gently at his ear.

Jack flushed, giggling almost like a school-girl as he questioned, "Chase? What are you doing here? I'm busy."

"Is it wrong to want to see you now? I rather thought you liked my company, Jack. At least," the teasing smirk in his tone was nearly palpable, "that's what you expressed last night."

Jack's pale cheeks reddened even further. "Wh-I-you...It's not like I don't want you here or anything, it's just I-" An amused laugh cut him off, and the red-head found himself spun around and fiercely kissed by the older man.

Pulling away, Chase spoke, "You really are cute when you're flustered, you know." Any further embarrassment on Jack's part was prevented when the other of the two grabbed his wrist, carefully examining the steel encircling it. "So what is this?"

Jack gave a proud smile. "Oh, just something modern science said couldn't be done."

"Hm." Chase had obviously been hoping for more of an explanation than that, and didn't hesitate to point it out. "Care to elaborate further?"

The boy shot his lover a coy look, admonishing, "If you're patient, you'll find out soon."

Chase, not one who enjoyed being in the dark about anything, decided on a new tactic to get what he wanted.

Jack suddenly found himself the target of a heated gaze, fingers trailing lightly down his chest. "Jack," the man moved closer until the point where their noses were just barely touching, "lovers don't keep secrets."

Just before he lost himself in the pools of molten gold, the red-head pulled back, just a bit more than irritated at the tactic Chase was using. "Oh, no, I'm onto you! You're just trying to trick me into telling you!"

"True enough." he shrugged off the accusation. "I would have thought for sure that would-" He froze in mid-sentence, staring off into space for a brief moment.

"Chase? Are you okay?"

The concerned query caused Chase to lightly shake his head and state, "A Shen Gong Wu has just become active." He gave Jack a challenging look. "Would you like to come along?"

Jack smirked a bit, running his fingertips over the cool metal of his new contraption. "Sure. I can't wait to give this a test run!"

And in a snap of Heylin magic, they were gone.

Howling arctic winds whipped through the air, sending a chill through Jack's body. Nearly shouting to be heard over the powerful gusts, Jack asked the inevitable question. "Where are we, Chase?"

The answer was immediate, curt and simple. "Somewhere in the midst of an arctic tundra."

"No, really?"

Chase gave the black-clad youth a look. "Sarcasm isn't necessary, Jack."

Jack merely nodded. "What exactly are we looking for anyways?"

"It's called the Crystal Teardrop, and it has the power to transform whatever it's used on to solid ice."

Jack whistled appreciatively. "Neat." Chase nodded, though it was doubtful he would have described it with the same terminology.

Red eyes scanning the blanket of white, Jack stopped on a spot of glowing, bright blue. "Chase," he gestured to the out-of-place color, "is that it?"

Chase immediately recognized this as the desired object, laying a hand on his companion's shoulder and squeezing lightly. "Good eye, Jack." he complimented.

Smiling at the praise, he stayed where he was as his older lover moved towards the crystalline object.

"Not so quickly, Chase Young!...And Jack Spicer!" Oh no...that voice could only belong to one little idiot, and where that little idiot was, there was bound to be his mismatched posse.

"Oh, gawd, the Xiaolin losers..." Jack muttered to himself, pressing a hand to his face. And he had been having such a good day until now, too!

"We won't let you have that Wu!" screeched Kimiko, who happened to be sporting, surprise, surprise, another outrageous hair-do, this time in the form of a pale blue Mohawk. Oh, no, this girl didn't have problems at all.

"Oh, really?" Chase challenged, calm as ever. "Well, I say that Jack and I will be walking away with this particular Wu."

"Pffft, the hell you wil-Jack?" Raimundo's words had become confused at the realization that Chase was not only here with Jack and not attempting to hurt him at all, but also at the fact that he had specifically referred to him by his name." Since when do you use his first name?"

As this fact was pointed out, the monks, and Dojo, realized that this was more than a little odd, and turned questioning gazes towards the dark-haired man. Chase merely scoffed, pointing out, "That's really none of your concern."

"Ugh, whatever, then!" Kimiko snorted, most likely tired of being here where the freezing snow could ruin her new parka or something just as frivolous as that. She darted forward towards the Shen Gong Wu, clearly planning to challenge Chase to a Showdown. Well, Jack was not going to allow that; not when he was quite sure he could prevent it and test his new bit of technology while he was at it.

Raising his wrist, he quickly twisted the middle of his 'bracelet' to the left until a definitive click was heard, cogs whirring and machinating in reaction. Metal plates swiftly shot up his arm until his shoulder, a defense against the powerful backlash that the rest of the contraption would soon provide. The front of the 'bracelet' then extended into a tube which would serve as a barrel for the weapon it was making out of itself, and when a rod protruded on the inside of the thing, just below Jack's fingers, he gripped it tightly, index finger positioned on a switch and thumb on a button at the side and top of the handle-like object respectively. Jack then took the initiative to flip the switch, causing the barrel to retract slightly before returning to it's former position, clicking as it did so in the manner of a cocking gun.

The boy genius felt the heat through his knuckles as the electric charge geared up for when the trigger was to be pulled, and aiming carefully, he pressed the button hard, watching as the weapon fired.

Jack's inner-scientist practically squealed with joy when the charge went off perfectly with a nearly-sonic boom just in front of Kimiko, sending her flying back at least a hundred feet. The monks gaped in total shock, looking back and forth from him to their fallen companion, all except for Clay, who had run off to verify the girl's safety. She wasn't severely injured, but Jack hadn't meant to actually hurt her, and that shot had only been a warning. Even Chase was giving him an utterly and undisguised look of surprise.

Almost hysterically, Jack laughed for a moment before exclaiming, "It works! Ha, my plasma cannon works! Take that, impossibility!"

Having regained his composure, Chase smiled wickedly as he grabbed hold of the crystal object half-buried in the snow. Aiming directly at the Xiaolin monks' feet he called, "Crystal Teardrop!" And with that, they were completely immobilized, their legs encased in ice from the shin downwards.

This done, the evil warlord leisurely sauntered over to his lover's side, carding his free hand through the short, red hair. "Well done, Jack." he murmured before taking the younger's lips in an aggressive kiss. Knowing the monks were watching in what was probably morbid curiosity and shock, but not quite caring, Jack folded back the trigger he was holding, causing his now pride-and-joy plasma cannon to retract once more into the metallic 'bracelet' so he could easily lay his hands on Chase's shoulders.

As the two parted, Jack giggled and glanced at the monks, now either slack-jawed or wide-eyed if not both, before turning back to meet golden eyes. "You didn't tell me you were an exhibitionist, Chase."

To that, the man raised a defiant eyebrow. "And you didn't tell me you had a plasma cannon."

The red-head shrugged. "True. So let's see...we've got the Wu, I got to test out my cannon, and we've scarred them," he gestured to the monks, "most likely for life. I think our work here is done, don't you?"

"Yes, I believe you're right, Jack. Now, what do you say to a little...victory celebration, hm?"

"Ugh, is that all you ever think about?"

"I haven't had a new lover for years, Jack, is it so terrible of me to want a test ride or two?"

Red quickly spread over pale cheeks. "Chase!" The man's response to the embarrassed exclamation of his name was an entertained chuckle.

"So shy, aren't you? Well, don't worry, we'll work on that. After all, we'll have plenty of time for that in the centuries you'll be spending with me."

"Huh? Centuries?" Jack was utterly bewildered, now.

"Of course." Chase stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Now that I've chosen you as my mate, you will spend the rest of your days as such with me."

"Mate? Me?" If Jack thought he was confused before, that was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. "You mean...like...permanently?"

"Yes, permanently. Why? Are you opposed to this?"

"No!" Jack exclaimed, "No, I just...I can't believe you'd... want to be with me for that long..." The sentence trailed off with Jack staring intently at the frozen ground as he shivered lightly, just being reminded of the cold.

Chase pulled the smaller male closer to him to warm him as much as he was able at the moment. Getting a firm grip on his chin, the overlord forced red to meet gold in a nearly unbreakable stare. "Jack, I could do far worse than you in a lifemate, you know." Jack, still clearly unconvinced, gave a half-hearted nod, and Chase decided to try a different approach. "Case and point: Wuya." Apparently, this worked well enough to appease the red-head, because at that he laughed before laying his head on the dragon's armor, smiling softly.

"...Love you, Chase."

"And I, you. Let's go home, mate."

"Please, let's, the cold is starting to tick me off." The disgruntled statement essentially told Chase that Jack was feeling better, for which he was glad. And then the two were gone from the frozen tundra, gone to live out the rest of their days(which would most likely be the rest of eternity) evilly ever after.

While in the meantime, a blushing cowboy, a shell-shocked Brazilian, a baffled round-headed monk, a considerably stunned dragon, and an unconscious girl with a Mohawk were left to figure out what the hell had just happened and how to get unstuck from their current predicament.

A/N: Epilogue thing! Yay! I had fun with this one, too. It's even fluffier and cuter than the actual one-shot, but probably about the same length give or take a few paragraphs. I don't know about you, but under no circumstances should Jack be safely allowed near high-powered weapons. While writing this, I was on the phone with Matt, and he was saying that if Jack had a plasma cannon, because I had mentioned that part to him, that because he's been kicked around so much, he'd probably kill everyone with it. XD I acknowledged that he probably would, but I had still needed the monks around for a little bit at least, and then by the time I had it actually written, I decided there was no real way to kill them off without interrupting the consistency of the story. Ha, Matt was practically begging me to kill them, too. "Please kill them!" "No, I can't, I need them still." "Oh, come on, at least kill Omi!" "I'd love to, but I can't!" "Awww..." Well, that's the last bit of this little story, so the rest is up to your imagination from here on out!