Cari: Hey all. Looks like im hosting this chapter by myself seeing as how Kitty is on a killing spree. No worries though, she's off killing writers block. You should see her notebook, absolutely filled with potential oneshots and chapter ideas. Anyway, im not one to ramble on and on, unlike Kitty, so here's the newest chapter, so enjoy.
As dusk descended on the temple grounds, Lilia leaned back against the trunk of the tree she was sitting in. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and sipped at her cup of coffee. This was her second night staying up all night in the tree, three days after teh black dragon had appeared on her arm. That first night had been brutal for Lilia. She had suffered from horrible nightmares, each worse than the one before. Visions of darkness and despair had invaded her dreams, so much so that she awoke in the morning with a scream locked behind her lips.
Lilia let her gaze wander for a while before letting it rest on the dragon. As she stared at the dragon, she felt the hate rising in her, working its way through her body. Until the stupid dragon had shown itself, her life had been good. A peaceful life as a Xiaolin Monk, the occasional Wu alert, the world's most perfect boyfriend (at least in her eyes), best friends who were always there for her. Now, every night she was plagued with fears and uncertainty. In the day, she wasn't focused, she was always tired. Omi, Clay, and Emeline had commented on this, but just her angry glare had let them know not to press the issue.
Lilia barely noticed as her coffee cup tumbled down below, the dark liquid splashing onto the grass. Her eyes flashed angrily and she felt the blood pulse in her head. Her breathing accelerated and her hands balled into fists.
'The dragon. It's the dragon's fault. I need to get rid of the dragon.' she chanted in her mind, over and over. A red haze clouded her vision, so consumed as she was by hate and anger. Without even thinking about it, she raised a trembling hand to her left arm, dug her nails into the skin, and slowly dragged her arm downward. The shock of the pain suddenly drove the haze from her mind, and she stared in shock at the blood coursing down her arm. She then turned her horrified gaze to her hand, stained red with her blood. Tears filled her eyes and she had to bite down on her tongue to keep from screaming.
'What's happening to me?' she thought, her tears mingling with the blood dripping onto the tree branch.
Far away, Hannibal Bean watched this, a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Ying-Ying, I think tomorrow would be a perfect day to take over the world, don't you think?" Hannibal drawled. Ying-Ying just cocked its head, staring at its master.
Even farther away, on a secluded island in Tahiti, Raimundo suddenly turned his head to the east, his eyes widening in alarm.
"What's up?" Kimiko said lazily, tracing circles on his bare chest with her index finger.
"I don't know. For some reason, I just got this really bad feeling." Rai frowned, trying to sort his thoughts. Kimiko lifted her head and stared quizzically at Rai, the corner of her mouth turned down.
"You're not going all paranoid on me, are you? 'Cause if you are, we're gonna have some serious problems." Kimiko said, earning a smile from Rai.
"Nah. The feeling's gone now. Maybe I am being paranoid. Besides, if something were wrong, the others know I'm just a phone call away." Reassured, Rai then turned his attention to Kimiko, and pretty soon all bad thoughts had left his mind.
"Hmmm." Wuya tilted her head curiously. Then, an evil smirk crossed her face.
"Looks like we're in for 10,000 years of darkness." she contemplated this revelation.
"This should be very interesting."
"Lilia?" a small voice called out from the darkness. Lilia's head snapped up, the look on her face ferocious. Omi stepped out of the shadows, surprised at the look on her face. When she saw who it was, Lilia's face softened. She was in the infirmary, wrapping bandages around her arm.
"Hi Omi." she gave him a small smile before resuming her work. Omi cautiously approached her, then laid a hand gently on her arm.
"How did you get injured?" he asked worriedly.
"Oh, I just scraped my arm on the bark of the tree I was sitting in." she lied smoothly.
"Ah. Would you like some help?" Omi offered.
"No, I'm almost done. Thank you." Lilia said stiffly, wanting nothing more than to be alone.
"I'm going back to bed. You should get some sleep too." Omi advised.
"Yeah, I'll be going back soon." Lilia said, not intending to go to bed at all. Omi lowered his head sadly, knowing that she didn't intend to go back to bed. He walked to the doorway then hesitated. He turned around and stared at her, admiring the way her long red hair shone in the moonlight.
"I love you Lilia." he called out. Lilia froze in surprise. She turned her head slightly towards him, and Omi could've sworn that he had seen tears glinting in her eyes. But then she lowered her head and hid her face from view.
"I love you too." she said, the tears spilling over and coursing down her cheeks. With a heavy heart, although he was not sure why, Omi trooped off to bed.
Me: Hey peeps, I'm back, and my writer's block is completley dead! Yeah baby! So did anyone else think that the dialouge was really choppy in this chapter? I dunno, you tell me. Alrighty, so that was some more character development, next chapter is when the real action begins. Review!
