Set/Theme: Set #2 (Substitution); Innocence (Three of Twelve)
Rating: Rated T, for slightly dark themes.
Genre(s): Character-sketch; vaguely angst-flavored
Warning(s): Slightly dark.
Word Count: 984

Disclaimer: Xiaolin Showdown © WB/Christy Hui.

Summary: He already knows all the answers to the questions he asks, as he fingers the ring in the palm of his hand.

- - - - -

He fingered the ring, smooth beneath calloused fingers. He rolled it around on his thumb, slipped it on and off is ring-finger several times. Its weight was minimal yet heavy. It was a tangible object, a small tangible object that fit snug in the crook of his palm. Yet, he had begun to suspect, it was driving him to the brink of madness. Although, he reasoned, the ring by itself should be harmless enough. It caused him to wonder if it was actually he who wreaked his own inner turmoil.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Whatever the case, and no matter how one cut it, split-personalities were rarely a healthy sign of mental security.

So, he wondered what would happen were he to choose one disposition over the other. He had the option of obtaining a life that would quickly settle into normalcy. He could be the vision of the perfect son, bright and cordial. A spring in his step, eyes shining, and dressed snappy—when wasn't he ever? But that aside, security was within his reach should he choose and he knew it would be enough to eventually put his wanderlust at an end. Just like that, the strife that he knew would be quickly extinguished in the blink of eye; It would be liberation, in a sense, but he would never be content. It seemed more like an easy way out.

Then, there was the darker course of action. Draw his own Innocence out and kill it cold. He could choke it, cut it down, incinerate it, make it suffer as it died. He could be rid of it and progress unhindered towards the means to his ends. It had been what he'd craved for so long, ambitions borne and real and present for as long as he could remember. Except that his own insecurities, his own fumblingly reluctant Innocencemade him falter, made mistakes knowingly before they even happened.

He might've been surer about killing his Innocence if certain others hadn't unwittingly appealed to it.

If only he, if only they all, could've just disregarded Innocence's existence. Then, maybe, it wouldn't have come on as strongly as it did. Maybe he could've been able to ignore it so completely that he wouldn't be bothered by such insecurity. If he could've ignored it, maybe his insecurity never would've emerged as it did. But then, he wouldn't be stuck with this problem to begin with. He could've avoided this little problem altogether if he hadn't let his Innocence get in the way. It and it alone gave him doubts about cutting loose from naivety, and maddeningly enough he wouldn't have doubts about anything at all if such notions hadn't been so prominent. It was almost inescapable, unless he was to go through with it and put an end to it all.

He murmured and there before him stood the faintly opaque apparition, his mirror-image twin. "I could kill you, and no one could call it murder."

No, the apparition flickered as it mouthed it's reply silently, No one could call it murder, but I'd call it suicide.

Jack blinked, unbelieving that his Better Half had actually said that, being that his sprightly little duplicate was normally so benign and childlike. The first thing that occurred to him after the initial shock had worn off was the thought that self-preservation was maybe more prevalent than he had originally thought. Which meant that this evanescent boy before him might've been more spilt from him than a mere split-personality. Of course then, he realized, that his Better Half hadn't actually meant those words. He'd heard his thoughts and only his thoughts.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

You already told yourself all the answers, remember?

He glanced down at his hand and let in a breath as he realized the ring was still sitting neatly in his palm. He quickly lifted his gaze upwards only the find the apparition gone, leaving him unsure if the ring really had so much influence regardless of whether or not he wore it. Maybe he did wreak his own inner turmoil, needlessly so.

In the end he put the Ring of the Nine Dragons—and the Monkey Staff, the only other of his last two Shen Gong Wu—away. His Better Half and Innocence were unrelated, as it turned out. After all he didn't exactly have Innocence anymore, he realized, if he could think like that.

- - -

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.

-- Confucius

Additional Author's Notes: There's more monologue than actual dialogue in there, even if Good!Jack is separate from Jack in some ways. In other ways, they're still alike. So of course Good!Jack could comprehend everything that makes and motivates himself.

This oneshot is actually almost too serious for Jack's personality. At least, that's the thought that hit me after I went through it again upon completion. But, hey, it's essentially about naivety and innocence and the question of whether or not this Jack might still have it. For all you know this version of Jack could be a handful of years older, maybe slightly wiser. Or he could be hardly a day past the series finale. The former is more likely given that I mentioned that he has only two Shen Gong Wu left; in actuality he only had one Shen Gong Wu left at the end of the series. Just a minor detail I wish to clarify that, yes, I did that on purpose. He he.