A/n: Hey guys! It's been a while but not as long as last time! Hehe. I hope your 2013 is going well, and the first half was great. This project has been a fun ride, and I've made many friends during the course of this story. I love you all. Thank you for supporting me during this very long journey in my life. I hope that next time won't take quite as long, but let's face it, it's only looking up from here :)

Pain was a frequent visitor in Jade's life – and of course, it was to be expected, ever since she had proven herself to be an ever-constant companion to Uncle Jackie. However, when she finally became a secret agent of her own, pain became more of a permanent houseguest that wouldn't leave instead of just an overly friendly visitor. Nonetheless, she had never experienced quite the pain like the whip was making her feel. It was almost an otherworldly experience has he lashed her back again - number eight. She had fallen on the floor at number two. He deftly maneuvered the weapon, and at least, she noted with a streak of dark humor, he hadn't made any of the welts overlap. So far.

There was a dull ringing in her ears and the world had lost some of its color when the door burst open. Why did doors seem to be bursting open all of the time, lately? She swung her head with a supreme burst of will and dimly saw her friends rushing in the door, minus Jackie. Where on Earth would he be at a time like this? This was definitely his thing, with his niece in trouble. That was about as normal to him as the world being in danger, but it still hadn't numbed him to his need to help.

So where was he? With dark humor, Jade realized that she wasn't that worried about her back being quite literally torn open. Some of the concern, she was reluctant to admit, was for her Drago, who was also missing.

A few hours earlier, secluded in a corner outside of the house, Tohru and Uncle were frantically adding ingredients together in a vial to get the spell ready. Small notes were scattered everywhere – pieces and tidbits saved from various times, old "recipes" and their results, clips from magazines, books, and other media. Tohru and Uncle had long ago learned to steel themselves to their surroundings to do emergency research. They had developed a system during what Jade liked to call the "glory days" – when she was a young secret agent still in her teens and Jackie was still agile enough to beat her at her own game, most of the time. Tohru, though more than capable of defending himself and others, preferred more and more to help Uncle with the "magic defeating magic" part of their many escapades Uncle was getting on in years and Tohru knew he would still have a few good ones left, but wanted more and more to take over for the aging man. Uncle should retire, Tohru would always say.

It was always Jackie's and Jade's job to protect them while the pieced together what they could and improvise a spell in the field. Dangerous work sometimes, but it had to be done. Uncle in fact had been just about to retire for good, but the old man couldn't resist his beloved Jade (however gruff of a relationship it appeared to be) being in mortal danger, especially from Drago. It seemed like the story of Drago had never quite been solved. He didn't belong in this time, not really. Uncle had a theory that the dragon was living on borrowed time.

It was a theory that he was hoping was right, in order for the quite ingenious spell that Tohru had helped him come up with. Tohru did all the reading of the small print nowadays, and had almost managed to make it all on his own. It only required a bit of fine-tuning: narrowing the time margin to which the demon would be sent back to. Uncle knew that it was just as well that Tohru virtually didn't need him anymore, because the younger man would be acting alone, one way or another, after this escapade.

It was even more of a reason for him to hope it would work.

Jade's stomach flipped, and not from pain. It was from fear, even more fear that she didn't think she could feel. She looked drowsily at the form of Tohru on the floor. Was he taking a nap? This was an odd time for naps. Uncle was backed into a corner, as the maniacal Drago stood, stock-still aside from the regular twitching of his tail.

It came to Jade in a jolt – she had just seen Drago knock Torhu to the floor, but he had been moving so fast she couldn't follow it. It certainly didn't help that she was delirious with pain.

The door burst open one last time and Jackie and her Drago were through, looking ready to kill. She didn't know how they'd managed to team up, but it was possible that Jackie decided to take things one step at a time. Kill the present Drago for harming Jade, then kill the future Drago for molesting Jade. Sounded about right to her.

Drago took seeing his future self well and hardly missed a beat. Uncle knew the moment was now or never, before the two got entangled. He summoned all his strength and casted the spell.

And nothing happened.

Drago looked at his future-self with loathing, and wished with every fiber of his being that he'd never become the demon standing in front of him.

"You've gone soft, old man. Falling for a human girl?! I mean, she is attractive, for a human, but that's no excusing her filthy blood-"

"That woman," his self hissed, "is amazing, and more of a hero than you'll ever be." Drago didn't know that he could look so fearsome, and was simultaneously appreciative and annoyed. "And I know," his future self-replied with a chuckle.

The present Drago smiled quite literally in spite of himself. "I suppose you would. But still. Who is to say your future is mine?"

Future Drago frowned. "I don't know."

"Okay, is anyone else confused here?" Jade piped up from the floor, wincing at the pain sucking in a deep breath.

The mood in the room darkened instantly, congealed into something palpably unpleasant. Reminded sharply of his love, future Drago leapt for his old self's throat, murderous rage in his eyes.

For a few moments, it was all the present Drago could do to keep from being choked, but then he had his other self's throat in his iron grip. "Don't pretend like this timeline isn't rejecting you. You and I can both feel it. You're getting weaker. Your time is up, paradox. It's sapping your strength because now is the time I'm supposed to be introduced into Jade's life – not when she hasn't even got boobs yet!"

Future Drago writhed. "Don't you look at her boobs!"

His younger self smiled. "I'm you, and I can do what I want. Anyway, you're toast." He sucked in a giant breath, preparing to breathe fire…

WHAM

A spell smacked into the future Drago, and within a few moments, he was gone. Tohru had risen to his knees, pointing a smoking blowfish at the space where the other demon had just been, and it dawned on Jade that he hadn't just been watching the bizarre display like the rest of them – he'd actually done it. Now whatever that meant for the Drago now still in the room –

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrragh!

Yup, just like she guessed, not happy. Jade saw that he had kept the fire in, nostrils smoking, looking around confusedly. "Why'd you do that, big guy?" He whined at Tohru. "Just when I was about to have some fun."

He turned to Jade in a haze of anger. "You're the cause of all this," he growled, muscles bunching to pounce. Jackie started to run over towards the pair of them, but she knew he would be too late.

The dragon demon had just launched himself in the air, hurtling towards Jade across the room, when she saw something change in his eyes. A torrent of emotion ensued: Confusion, fear, lust, ..love? Hate, anger, betrayal, shock. All of these flickered behind his glassy orbs in just a few nanoseconds. But Jade knew she had seen it. She also saw a new dawning on his face.

Understanding. Clarity. And, no, she wasn't dreaming anymore: Love.

A/n: So that's it for this epic adventure? But now I hope to continue writing, for this site too, though not JCA anymore. Keep your eye out for some of my new stuff.

I hope you liked it :) It's probable that I'll write an epilogue to follow, especially considering how abrupt the ending was. Please review and tell me what you think! I'm kind of relieved, proud, nostalgic, and sad that this whole thing is over. I love you guys more than you know.