(A/N) sorry it took so long for me to update. After I finished TDD I decided to take a break until after me graduation. that was a couple weeks ago and I wish I couldve updated sooner, but my dog was sick and I was so preoccupied with him that I couldnt really consentrate on my writing. We ended up having to put him down and I burried him myself. anyway, I distracted myself by finishing this chapter today (and listening to the same song in a continuous look for hours on end. Fallen Angels by Black Veil Brides. great song). So Id like to dedicate this chapter to my dog, Rocky. Rest in peace Rocky Dog.
Chapter 7: The Present: Subconscious
A few days had passed since the monks and their friends had taken refuge at Master Monk Guan's temple, and for the time being all had remained peaceful. Lilith and her forced had remained quiet and Wuya had yet to show her face again since her encounter with Guan. Still, while the eleven youngsters and their dragon had taken this opportunity to relax, they were very much on edge. Besides the usual ways of relieving stress and distracting themselves, the group had taken to getting to know Ino and helping her know them. Omi and Guan had started training Ino in martial arts, and found that she was a very quick learner. She was already twice as far in her training that Rai, Clay, and Kim had been within three days of their training. Everyone else had started teaching her a few tricks of the trade in the fighting evil business, including but not limited to: always watch for suspicious behavior in friends, never trust a smiling stranger, and the enemy of your enemy is still your enemy.
What very few had noticed, however, was that Ino had become particularly close to Clay. She was still very much grieving over the loss of her mother and, to a lesser degree, her so called father. At first she'd been completely inconsolable. Clay, being the nice guy that he was, was there when she needed a shoulder to cry on. By the second day he was the only person that was able to make her smile and even laugh. He wasn't coming onto Ino, and she knew this having seen how very much in love he and Saya were. Unfortunately, her emotions and common sense didn't seem to be connecting as she quickly developed a crush on the Texan. Luckily she had enough sense to control her self, only going as far as some very, very casual flirting while they were together. The last thing she wanted right now was drama.
Why not take him for yourself? The voice in her head questioned. A true warrior takes what they can and gives nothing back; and with me as your guide the Dragon of Lightning would be no threat to you.
She ignored the voice. It had spoken to her a few times since her Showdown with Rai, Chase, and Dark Rai but she always ignored it. It had been a huge help during the challenge, but now it was trying to turn her into something she didn't want to be. As much as she wanted what the voice offered, she couldn't give into it… at least not now, and not for this.
"You okay, Ino?" Clay asked as he approached her.
She jumped a bit against the tree she was sitting against as she heard his voice, so deep in thought that he'd startled her. "Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Just… thinking about my mom." She lied.
Clay sat down next to her. "C'mon. Let it all out. Ain't healthy to keep that stuff bottled up, you know."
Ino mentally scolded herself over and over again in her head as she made retold him how great her mother was. He's not single, he's not single, he's not single, he's not single…
On the other side of the court yard, Elena and Saya sat a picnic table, sipping tea and watching Clay and Ino from afar. "So you're completely okay with all of this?" Elena asked her friend. "You're not worried at all that she's going to pull a move on Clay or that he might respond to her advances?"
"Of course not." Saya said. "I know Clay would never betray me like that. And as for Ino trying anything, well… if she did, Clay wouldn't let anything happen. There's no doubt in my mind that Clay is completely faithful to me."
Elena shrugged and sipped her tea. "I guess." She agreed. "All I'm saying is that I'd be a little touchy if it were Julia she was trying to flirt up. Then again, I'm a bit of the jealous type."
"Well clearly Julia isn't." Saya said. "All of the girls and guys I've caught you taking quick glimpses at, either Julia hasn't noticed or she trusts you enough that she doesn't worry."
"She has nothing to…" she paused, thinking about what Saya had said. "Wait a minute, what do you mean girls and guys?"
"Don't try to deny it." Saya chuckled. "I've seen the way your eyes linger a little on Rai and Clay when we all hit the beach. You may only have eyes for Julia when it comes to girls, but clearly boys do something for you too. It's obvious to me that you swing both ways."
Elena stood up and glared at her blond friend. "You've got some nerve, thinking you know that I like better than I do. The only way I swing is Julia's way. Is that clear?"
"Crystal."
"Hey, Elena. Saya. What's going on?"
Elena looked to her girlfriend as Julia approached them. "Oh, hey Baby." Elena greeted her, pulling Julia into a kiss in plain view for Saya to see. The blond girl just chuckled and shook her head. "We're just talking about something that Saya clearly had no clue about. C'mon. Let's go get something to eat. Bye, Saya." The two girls walked away, arm in arm, but Elena took a quick look back over her shoulder. Saya just sat there drinking, not making eye contact with her.
"Maybe I stepped over the line a little." Saya said under her breath once Julia and Elena were out of earshot.
Before Julia and Elena had made it even half way to the kitchens, Dojo came flying outside in a panic. "Get everyone out here now! We've got a problem!" he shouted.
Once everyone was gathered outside, Dojo took his usual seat atop of Clay's hat and began to explain the situation. "Okay, so the Key of Anubis went and decided to become active just a minute ago. Lilith and her cronies could be here any second to try to take it. We've got to think of a way to at least stall them so that we can move the key when they get here."
"Agreed." Guan said. "In the meantime, I think it would be wise to hide the Key of Anubis in a more secure location. The vault is good enough in most cases, but the Key of Anubis requires extra care. Clay, I want you to see to the Key's security."
"But what place could be more secure than the vault?" Omi asked.
"I have an idea." Elena said. "You guys remember how there was that hidden garden beneath the vault at our temple, right? Do you think there's something like that here, Guan?"
"Indeed." Guan agreed. "But like yours it was sealed off long ago. Elena, go with Clay and try to get into it. The rest of you stay here and help me prepare the defenses."
As ordered, Clay and Elena split off from the rest of the group and headed for the vault. At the bottom Elena grabbed the Key of Anubis from its drawer and they began searching for the hidden entrance to the chamber they sought. When Omi and Mimi had found the one at their temple they had stumbled upon it by sheer luck, but finding it on purpose was proving to be much more difficult. After an hour and a half, Clay had resorted to hitting the wall in random spots with the Fist of Tebigong, hoping that it would just crumble away. It wasn't working, and Clay's temper was getting the better of him. "Dagnabit! Omi literally fell backwards into this thing but I can't find it when I'm looking for it!"
"Maybe if you said please." Elena suggested jokingly.
"Please!" Clay shouted as he punched the wall with the gauntlet once again. The wall didn't just fall apart, it shattered and its parts went flying. One of the bricks shot straight at Elena and she was barely quick enough to move out of the way, but she lost her grip on the Key of Anubis and it dropped to the floor. Light erupted from the ancient weapon, blinding the two teens. "Damn! It activated." Elena said once the light had faded, bending over to pick it up.
"Any idea what its secondary ability is?" Clay asked.
"No, but it doesn't seem to have done anything to us. We'd better go…" she stopped as she looked up to Clay. A strange but pleasant feeling filled her stomach as she silently gawked at him and she went red in the face. What was going on, she had no idea. She hadn't felt like this since she and Julia had first kissed. Could it be that she suddenly found Clay… attractive?
"Elena?" Clay asked, snapping his fingers in front of her face. "You there?"
"Y-yeah." Elena said, snapping out of her trance. "Let's hide this thing and go find Dojo. See if he knows what it does."
The inside of the cave they'd found was very different from the paradise that had been hidden under their temple, but beautiful nonetheless. There were plants, birds, and insects all the same, but the sky here was clearly the roof of a cave, and the light came from crystalline structures that jutted from the walls. They spent a few minutes inside there before picking a hiding spot and heading back up to find Dojo. Along the way Clay saw Ino working with Guan and Jack to set up some kind of magic security system. She spotted him and waved. When they made eye contact Clay went red in the face, getting the same feeling in the pit of his stomach that Elena had only minutes earlier. Oh crap.
"Dojo! There you are." Elena called as she and Clay finally spotted the serpent.
"What's up, guys?" Dojo asked as they approached him.
"We think that the Key of Anubis accidentally activated while we were hiding it. Do you know what its secondary power is?" Clay asked.
Dojo scratched his head for a second, trying to remember. "Well, if I remember correctly, Dashi said it takes subconscious thoughts or feelings in the target and brings them to the conscious mind, amplifying them to the point where they're a nuisance. It was supposed to distract his enemies during battle. Has anything like that happened to you guys?"
"Um…" Clay didn't know what to say, not wanting to Dojo what was going on. The dragon had a reputation for being a bit of a blabbermouth.
"Look! Asian go-go dancers having wardrobe malfunctions in a mud pit!" Elena shouted, pointing over Dojo's shoulder.
"Where?" Dojo demanded excitedly, turning to where she was pointing. When he realized that she was just trying to distract him, he turned back around only to find them both gone. "Sure. Get my hopes up. Jerks."
Clay and Elena had managed to slip out of sight while Dojo was looking the other way, hiding inside of the library of Guan's temple. "This is bad. This is very bad." Clay mumbled to himself.
"Why? What did the key do to you?" Elena asked.
"I suddenly… find Ino very… appealing." Clay groaned as he sat down. "Saya is going to kill me if I don't fix this. Since when do I even like Ino? I barely know her! I mean she's cute and all but—I'm going to stop myself right there before I say something stupid." He scratched the back of his head before looking up to Elena. "So what's your problem?"
"I suddenly find you very appealing."
"Me?" Clay questioned, blushing. "But I thought…"
"Yeah, so did I. But it's not just you." Elena explained. "Rai, Guan, and even Omi… not Jack for some reason… God, what am I going to do? I love Julia but with everything that is going through my head right now… I should've seen this coming. I never did have an interest in girls be—"
The sound of shattering came from the doorway. The two monks looked up to find Julia standing in the doorway, a broken tea pot, cups, and a tray at her feet and tears rolling down her cheeks. Without a word she ran off sobbing as she darted down the hall. "Jewel, wait!" Elena called as she got up and chased after her girlfriend. Saya entered the room just after they left.
"What's going on?" she asked as she sat down next to Clay. "Dojo said you two were acting weird so Julia and I figured we'd bring you some tea to calm you down."
"They… might be having some problems." He told her, figuring it wasn't his place to talk about it. He didn't say anything about what the Key of Anubis had done to him either. He had no intention for Saya to find out about this before he figured out a solution.
~THAT NIGHT~
Omi couldn't move. He couldn't even open his eyes. He only felt something strange pushing all around him. Not squeezing or crushing, but whatever enveloped him was literally pushing him out as if trying to expel him. Soon he felt cold air on the top of his head, followed by gentle hands. Then his head felt free but he still could not see. He heard the pained cries of a woman along with the encouraging words of a man. "You're doing great, honey." He said. "Not much more now." Then Omi came to a realization.
I am being born?
He tried to speak, but the only sounds he could make were the cries of an infant. He continued to wail for some time until he was fully born and whoever had assisted in the birth handed him to the arms of his mother. "My baby." She said in a sweet, caring voice. He stopped crying and suddenly found the strength to open his eyes. Slowly, he moved his eyelids up expecting to see the smiling faces of his parents. But all he saw was a monster. His mother's face had transformed into something hideous. Gnashing, dagger like fangs filled her mouth; evil, blood red eyes gazed down at him; her hair had become a tangled mass of serpents; and her skin became decayed like a corpse. Laughing monstrously, she opened her mouth wide and brought him closer, ready to sink her fangs into his newborn flesh.
Omi awoke in a sweat, sitting bolt upright and startling Mimi who lay in the bed next to him. "Omi? What's wrong?" She asked as she brought him close and he buried his face in her shirt, still terrified. "Was it that dream again?" he nodded. "You've been having that dream for days now, Shorty. You need to talk to someone… why won't you tell me what it's about?"
Omi shook his head as he threw the covers aside and stood up. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to relive it…" he said. "I am going to get some water."
Mimi waited until Omi was out of the room before lying back down and sighing sorrowfully. "Why won't you let me help, Omi?"
In the kitchen Omi grabbed a glass and filled it at the faucet. He downed it once and filled it again before turning around to find a woman he knew all too well sitting at the table behind him. "Wuya!" He dropped his glass and took a fighting stance, ready to take on the witch. "Reveal your intentions at once!"
"Calm down, kid. I'm not here to fight." Wuya said.
"As if I would believe that."
Wuya didn't respond to his statement. Instead she took their conversation in a different direction. "Has anyone ever told you how I became what I am today?" she asked the boy.
"I know enough." Omi said, never letting his guard down. "Pride gave you your powers when you became the Sin of Lust."
"You know the how well enough. But what about the why? Has anyone ever told you that part of the story?"
"Should I care?"
"Perhaps… As you know, Dashi and I were once very much in love… But he betrayed me…"
Wuya faded into her memory, remembering that day as if it were still fresh in her mind. She was running, crying, not looking where she was going. She didn't care about anything; she just wanted to get away. Get away from everything, especially him. She made her way through the village, pushing her way passed anyone who crossed her path and even knocking one man to the ground. She soon found herself in the jungle, walking along the path that led back to the village. She stopped eventually and hid herself behind a shrine, sobbing as if she would never stop. "Why, Dashi… why would you do this to me… After everything you did for me… after all we've been through… why?"
"A man plays games with your heart."
Wuya looked up and found a man standing before her. Tall and dark with bawd shoulders, wearing a helmet in the shape of an eagles head. "You have been hurt." He said, offering his hand to her. "You gave him your heart and he stomped on it." She took his hand and he helped her to her feet, wiping the tears from her cheeks as well. "I can help you, m'lady. I can help you get back at the man who broke your heart. Love failed you… perhaps Lust would suit you better." And with that they both disappeared in a burst of green flames.
And so began Wuya's career as the Sin of Lust and a Heylin witch.
By the time Wuya had finished her story Omi had dropped his guard. "What did he do?" the monk asked. "What did Dashi do that hurt you so much that you would become the Sin of Lust?"
Wuya remained silent, turning away from him as she let out a soft sob.
"Perhaps I should tell him."
They both turned to the doorway, finding the blindfolded woman they both dreaded standing there. "But before we do this I do have some business to attend to." Lilith continued as Dark Rai, Chase's reptilian body, Rush, and Hannibal all appeared around her. "Now where is the Key of Anubis?"