The Balance in Love, Lies and War
Chapter 19:
Breaking the Watery Mirror…
Wuya tried to lift her head. After a few minutes of trying, her sluggish brain decided it wasn't worth the effort. Sleepily, she wondered how long she'd been asleep. Had it been hours? Days? Years? Did it really matter? Chase had probably forgotten about her, it was highly unlikely she'd ever even see the light of day again. She tried to sigh but her lungs wouldn't expand enough so she settled with simply rasping out little gasps painfully.
How pathetic. There was once a time when she had ruled over these lands, mortals quivering at her feet. For a time she even had the mighty Dashi obeying her every command! And now look at her… She couldn't even breathe properly. She felt Chase's magic forcing her heart onwards, squeezing her lungs to make her breathe. But the rest of her had given up. Her skin, which had once been a deep golden brown, now looked grey, the blue streaks of veins visible in her flesh. The red hair that had once shone and crackled like fire was now lank, hiding her thin face.
Chase may be keeping her alive but meanwhile she was wasting away…
Suddenly, the sound of sobs lanced right through her ears and into her heart, her blood moving according to her own will, chest constricting in fear. The sound of a lover's agonising cries will clench the coldest of hearts, especially if said lover had been as close as Chase had to Wuya, although it was many lifetimes ago. The surprise of it actually hurting her would've made her gasp, but alas, Chase's magic only allowed a certain amount of individuality from her body.
Although she fought it, soon her heart rate grew sluggish, her eyes too heavy to open, her hands dead, numb. There wasn't much point in trying; all she had left to do was give up.
The candle Chase had placed to give her some false light suddenly flickered out of existence, a trickle of smoke leaking up towards the cavernous ceiling. Wuya would've shed a tear of sorrow but her body would not let her. So instead she just hung her head and willed herself back to sleep so she could escape this terrible world where the man she loved, the father of her only child, not only loved someone else, but cried over them so painfully.
The Heylin witch, although she had little to hope for and even less to look forward to, was certain that there could be nothing worse in the world than the torment of sitting here, alone, while Chase moved on. As her mind sunk into an oily pit of sleep, black fluid slipping down her throat, suffocating her; her lips twitched a little as she thought about what she'd do if Kaida was actually stupid enough to fall for Chase. With a little sneer, Wuya almost laughed, thinking there'd be little point in ending her life right there and then; Wuya didn't have enough of a life to end.
"Hey, Daichi, Daisuke? Isn't that Raimundo?" Adrastos, with his sandy blonde hair and dusty freckles, was leant against the window looking mildly puzzled. Daichi, a tall dark haired-boy stepped over and looked out as well; pushing his glasses back to their resting place on his nose-bridge.
"Yeah, that is Raimundo, wonder what he's doing on the roof?" Daisuke's head snapped round and he bounded towards the window, landing straight on Adrastos' knees.
"Gosh, that's worrying! I haven't seen anyone from the Xiaolin Warriors in days and now Raimundo's on the roof in the middle of the night! In a storm no less! Golly, I hope everything's alright…" Adrastos patted the little boy's shoulder comfortingly as they stared up at the warrior who sat listlessly, letting the rain pour down his face and soak into his clothes.
"You know what I heard," Daichi whispered, leaning in closer towards his friends, "that they were going to war! Bella even waved them off!" The other two turned round and gasped.
"No way! That's just insane!" Adrastos cried, looking over to the Warrior sat in the rain with renewed interest.
"We haven't heard from them for days… Maybe… something went wrong…" Daisuke's voice was hushed and frightened and the two older boys looked at each other worriedly. It was true, they hadn't heard from the Xiaolin Department in days and Raimundo sat on the roof in the middle of the storm was extremely suspicious and the sky was just so dark that a foreboding mood had sneaked it's way in…
It was more than likely something had gone wrong. But with one look at that eleven-year-olds face, both of them knew that they couldn't possibly tell the poor boy; he was terrified, wide dark eyes starring up into the chaos of clouds and rain and lightening.
"It'll be alright Daisuke, you'll see." Daichi said, patting the boy's shoulder. Adrastos smiled warmly down at him too, pulling him into a hug.
"Yeah, it'll be ok." Daisuke hugged his friend back, his little hands holding as tightly as they could.
Raimundo didn't actually know why he was on the roof. He certainly hadn't meant to sit there, not in this weather. But he didn't seem to have the capability to move right now. So he stayed there instead, hunched up, starring into the black clouded skies, nothing running through his blank mind. Although, somewhere in the deep recessions of his shaded subconscious, Raimundo registered that there seemed to be a certain lack of guilt and compassion in his heart. The silent boy barely noticed though, he just sat there, rain dripping down his face, the skies compensating for the tears he would not cry.
Deep inside his prison, the Wind warred against the constraints Athanasius had set up, roaring with gales of fury at the teenager; although any watching could see how furious the storm was with him, Raimundo paid not the slightest bit of attention.
And in the end that's all that mattered.
When Kaida woke up she was still slumped against the window. It had stopped raining now, the world covered in a dewy sheen. The moon shone little in the dark night. All was quiet.
Her fingers brushed against the cold glass. Shards of pain shot through her fingers. The girl stood up; her thin legs shaking and she looked around. There was nobody with her. Even Atalante was silent. The eerie quiet invaded every second of space.
Casting it's unnatural light on the world, the moon painted Kaida's world in monotonous blue. It seemed strangely unfamiliar. Nothing seemed right. Nothing seemed like it should've done.
She stepped down the corridors. Her feet felt lighter than air, bandages trailing behind her. Her bones felt broken. Her skin felt callused. Kaida's mind felt like it was slowly shattering.
The sound of thunder seemed to crack far off in the distance and yet instead of wincing the girl carried on walking, oblivious to all. Before she even knew it she was on the roof of the hospital building, her bleeding and bound feet subconsciously leading her to the beam that ran through the middle. Her head lolled about her shoulders, her balance shuddering as the clouds swirled high above her.
And still, further and further her feet led her until she reached the very edge. There she paused, lifeless eyes starring up at the maelstrom far above, wind blowing her hair up.
The clouds were circling, the sky splitting in two, half red, half-blue; circling round and round above her head, their wispy trails of colour streaking the strangely lit sky. The moon seemed to have disappeared; the stars were bleak. Comets suddenly streaked across the skies, scorching contrasting tails in the vortex of broken fate.
Her bandages fell away from her limbs, her torso, the cloth slashing against the wind as her arms stretched out, a strange magic filling her being. Light sparkled around her. Flashes of tiny droplets of molten sunlight glistened around her torso and forearms, scars filling with a numb sensation. Black magic surrounded her scars, white around her wounds, constantly spiralling, spiralling…
The world jutted in two for a moment, Kaida's perspective suddenly twisting, left eye blue, right eye red; her path suddenly stopped before her.
Perilously perched on the very edge, tremors shook her fractured soul, energy pouring from her mismatched eyes, her hands twisting. Her eyes rolled back and as her very soul snapped in half, the balance crumbling inside of her, the scales split down the very centre; the sky roared as Kaida stepped off the roof, the balance broken in half.
Instead of crashing to the ground in a mass of broken bones and blood, Kaida sank slowly like a feather, stumbling as her feet touched the icy cold path. Sparkles still hovering around her nervously, she half stumbled and half fell into a nearby pond, fish scattering as the cool liquid splashed at her waist. She held her face in shaking hands; legs turning weak as the cool water chilled her to her very shivering bones. In her reflection she saw her eyes were red.
There was a distinct ripple. And another one. Looking up, Kaida saw another Kaida emerge slowly from the water, hair dripping wet, almost stuck to her skull. Her eyes consisted of icy blues and she wore a dark expression.
There was a silence, destined to break like all else around them. But which one would raise the hammer to the glass first?
Blue eyed Kaida, with her frosty expression and sarcastic, disdainful heart, laid down her attack first.
"This isn't my fault." Her voice was darker and colder than the water she was drenched in. Red eyed Kaida shrugged, not looking at her other half.
"Did I say it was?" Blue Kaida's eyes narrowed to a pinpoint, ice clogging her vision.
"You were thinking it, I know, I'm you. Your better half in fact." Red Kaida rolled her eyes watching the clouds dissolve into the sky.
"You just keep telling yourself that." She seemed quite innocent but there was a hidden sharpness in her tone. Blue eyed Kaida didn't like it at all, her eyes twitching a little as she stepped closer.
"Instead of looking for a culprit, why not a reason, I'm sure you have plenty to offer."
"Maybe he got bored of your cold personality." Once again, red eyes sounded innocent, but there was a sinister fire in her ruby red eyes. Blue Kaida smirked, sarcasm dripping from her lips and freezing the droplets of water.
"Maybe he got tired of your childish happiness." Red snorted a little, unprovoked. Blue decided to step it up a little. "Maybe he figured you weren't worth his time since somebody else has already marked you as his." Red Kaida splashed a little as her arms crossed, a half pout, half frown replacing her lips.
"Nobody will like us anymore, they'll think we're a monster, just like last time!" It was Blue's turn to roll her eyes.
"It's not as if we acted any different than expected." Fires burning, Red leaned forward, anger bubbling,
"You're the cold one, you're the one nobody likes!" Blue sneered at her; their contrasting eyes locked in combat, fighting for the upper hand.
"It doesn't matter who likes who more, bottom line, Raimundo still threw us away." Red Kaida's eyes sparkled with tears.
"Maybe if you weren't so nasty." Blue Kaida just snorted in disdain. Her voice was ice cold.
"Maybe if you hadn't bored him so much."
"Maybe if you had been nicer instead of being so cold and pushing him so far away he'd-" Before Red Kaida could finish her spiteful sentence, Blue eyed Kaida's hands found her throat, squeezing as her ice battled with Red eyes' fire.
"Maybe this! Maybe that! Shut up maybe! All these maybes mean nothing! We are definitely broken and Raimundo definitely broke us! Nothing else matters!" Red eyes choked, hands shaking in the cool water, the fish darting around her nervously.
"B-broken? We're broken?" She questioned; looking deep into her other half's icy eyes.
"Worse than ever before, look at us!" Red eyes did look at them, screaming as Blue Kaida's hands started to melt into her neck, the colours in the sky melting back into midnight purple, the comets tearing through the divide.
"Get off! Get off me!" Red eyes screamed, trying to push her other half away, but her hands began to melt into Blue Kaida's shoulders, the two becoming one once again. Blue eyes starred into her fearful red irises with icy disdain.
"Bloody broken world, what's the point of even being alive if all you're going to do is break!" Red eyes screamed, but their time had run out.
And with a flash of power and a throttling hum reverberating through the night air, the two halves became one. And that was it. The balance, the world and Kaida may have been righted for now, but deep within them all there was an unnoticeable crack that was slowly getting bigger and bigger.
The three were all as broken as the other, and there was nothing they could do.
"Well that's... nearly everyone…" Clay looked around the hospital wing, noting everyone down in his mind. Several monks had tried earlier to make him rest, but after plastering his wrist Clay found no comfort in lazing around. With Master Fung still weak after Raimundo's attack, Clay had taken charge. He was weak too, his scuffle with Raimundo had led to a broken wrist and various other minor injuries, but right now he was the only one who could be strong for everyone.
Kimiko and Omi stood behind him, their faces pallid, arms bruised. It had taken them a long time to escape their prison and now they were tired and worried. And there were still some very important things to take care of. Raimundo had been easy to find, he was sat on that rooftop unmoving, blank and lifeless. He was the least of their worries in all honesty.
When they found Jack he had been beaten as cruelly as Master Fung, bruised broken and miserable, he had been left to rot in his lab. Barriers had been set up all around the temple, stopping the other students from entering the Xiaolin Warrior section. For those few hours they had been puppets in Raimundo's string theatre. But why had he let them go so easily?
The answer could only be answered by two particular people; one of whom was sat on the roof in the rain and the other whom was no where to be found. Clay closed his eyes, tired.
"We'll get Rai down from th' roof. Then we'll find Kai." Kimiko looked up at him with wide eyes; protests already teaming in her mouth but they quickly died and slipped away. Clay's face was hardened, almost as if he had aged, dark circles underneath his half-hidden eyes. "We gotta trust Kai to be ok Kim, else we'll never get this sorted." The warrior of fire swallowed her rebellion and nodded her head in agreement, unable to do anything else.
Water splashed down upon her. Warm, lovely water, spraying down, washing away her pain. Her eyes opened; she was in the showers, standing under the hot spray, night gown abandoned at the door. For a moment the warrior panicked, how had she got here? Did she walk? Why couldn't she remember?
The bandages trailed around her, dripping off her skin like blood, crimson mixed in with the gloriously wonderful warm spray. The baffled girl looked down at her shaking half-bandaged hands only to find that her vision was blurring into a swirl of crimson blood and blue walls. She reached out for said walls for support but stumbled, vision clearing to see the blood dribble down her legs.
Vomiting, Kaida could barely contain her disgust, and it wouldn't stop. Retch after retch until there was nothing left in her stomach and yet the nausea wouldn't stop plaguing her so she carried on coughing up nothing, blood seeping down her porcelain skin.
She tried to reach for the curtain but it slipped out of her fingers, her skull dashed against the corner of the stall, unconscious before she hit the floor. Blood pooled around her, seeping from between her legs, her head, the bandages turning red in the wet pool Kaida wallowed in.
If she had been conscious Kaida may have huffily thought that this was happening to her far too much for her own good.
Raimundo was sat in his room, or, rather, his cell. He made no movements. He made not a sound. If it weren't for the fact Kimiko could see his chest move as his lungs continued working, the warrior of Fire would have assumed he was dead. When they brought him down from the roof he made no attempt to escape, no sadistic or cruel comments escaped his lips. He might as well've been dead. Because her mind was so preoccupied with this, it took her a few minutes to realise that someone was in the shower.
She must've walked past it at least four times without noticing, but her concentration broke and she heard the pitter patter of water against the cool blue tiles. And there was only one other person who used these particular showers. Rushing in, heart pounding, Kimiko was not expecting what she saw at all.
She would've broke down into tears from sheer horror and stress, but Kaida's heartbeat was so faint that if she had waited another second, Chase may have had to save her soul from death's grasp again.
Are you happy now? Atalante thought silently and bitterly to nobody in particular. She was curled up around the wilting Cherry tree, dark scars carved into it's frail trunk. The dragon sighed. Her fingers traced the petals that were dying in the grass, eyes sore from crying.
"Extremely." Came the reply. Furious, Atalante roared, tearing the grass in her claws, ripping up the soil and baring her teeth to nobody. The voice didn't come back. Silence took over Kaida's mind again. Snorting in anger, dying petals flaring around her, the Dragon of Balance settled back down and waited. She wasn't a particularly patient being, few truly are, but Atalante controlled her temper for now.
The Demon King could invade Kaida's mind and provoke her all he liked; in fact, he could do whatever he damned well pleased! Atalante knew that even if it took her a while to stand back on her feet Kaida would be there, opposing the creep every step of the way and absolutely nothing would ever be able to stop her once she found her true power.
You won't be happy then, will you? Atalante thought huffily, once again to nobody in particular, although, this time, nobody stayed rather silent.
When Kaida's eyes finally opened it had been a week since they had last gazed upon this bleak, broken world. It hadn't really improved much. At her side sat Kimiko and Master Fung, the girl gasping in delight as her friend awoke.
"Kaida! Kai! Oh god, we've been so worried! How do you feel?" Kaida's head turned slowly, fresh bandages wrapped around her wounds, bruises tainting her skin with hints of blues and greens, some vile purples still remaining.
"Utterly rubbish. Is Raimundo here?" Kimiko noticed how cold and emotionless her friend's voice was, but answered her anyway, feeling a little… afraid…
"Of course not! We wouldn't let him anywhere near you, not after what he did to you!" She tried to sound as neutral as she possibly could but she couldn't help portray how she was offended that Kaida would even ask such a stupid question.
"Don't remind me what happened. I'm going back to sleep. There's someone I need to talk to." And with that the recovering warrior turned onto her side, shutting out the Fire Warrior and her Master.
Kimiko's mouth dropped open, unable to tear her eyes away from the stone cold wall her 'best friend' had just created between them. More protests tried forcing their way out of her mouth, Kimiko had to bite her lip to stop them spilling out. Instead she looked to her master for advice. He was silent for a moment until a shaky finger traced the line of Kaida's spine.
"Running right through that girl is a crack. She is more broken than we realised. I fear too broken to be fixed by our hands." Kimiko's heart sank. She looked at her master and then to her best friend, who was sleeping soundly already. Kimiko just wanted her best friend back, she'd waited long enough and they'd been torn far enough apart. But it apparently seemed fate wasn't so keen on the idea as it continued to tear the two further and further away from each other.
At the sound of someone entering his mind Chase jumped up, for there was only one person he had ever given access to his precious sanctuary. Of course, there were certain beings that had forcefully entered anyway, and could at any time with or without his knowledge, but Chase certianly didn't know that.
Kaida had only entered Chase's mind once before, and although it had led to terrible consequences, that hardly mattered now. Things could barely get any worse than this. So the girl entered the half-demon's mind with a single-minded fury that made her fists shake; in her mind there were no bandages, no broken bones, Kaida was just cracked at the edges.
Chase started to bow towards her, but a swift hook in the stomach made him double over forcefully instead.
"What did you do to him?" Kaida's voice was on fire, black and white lights surrounding her fists. Chase choked for breath, reaching out to his nutmeg tree for support.
"I never touched him, I swear it my princess!" he held up his hands in surrender, but Kaida's fury boiled far past reason.
"Don't call me that!" She screamed, her fist connecting with his arm this time. "What happened to him? What did you do?" Chase looked up at her with his amber eyes and saw a broken, rage-filled little girl. His heart ached in pity.
"Kaida, my dear, please, you must believe me, I never touched Raimundo." This didn't help the girl at all, her fist swinging towards him, narrowly missing his skull, her face scrunched up in emotion.
"Well what happened to him! Why would he do this to me if you haven't messed everything up! It was your fault last time, it must be yours this time as well!" Tears suddenly escaped her murky grey eyes, an uncontrollable sobbing taking over her wits as she dropped to her knees in the grass. Chase dropped down in front of her, utterly beside himself, hands aching to touch her, but she lashed out again. "What did you do! You ruined father; you must've ruined Raimundo too! What did you do!" Unable to even look at the half-demon, her shaking hands covered her face as her whole body shook in despair, the sobs echoing throughout Chase's mind.
He couldn't stand it any longer. Before he even realised what he was doing or saying he had buried the frail girl into the tightest, closest and warmest embrace he could possibly muster with his burning love for her; his amber eyes began to water as she sobbed into him.
"I'm sorry! I swear I never meant to hurt you My Princess! Kaida! I swear it, I swear I did not want to ruin your father and I swear I did not lay a finger on Raimundo! I'm so sorry my Princess! Please! Forgive me!" No words came out of her mouth, just sobs, quivering on her lips, shoulders heaving with grief. Her hands found his back and held on so tightly, arms wrapping all their way around him as he sobbed into her sweet-smelling hair.
The smell of nutmeg lingered in the air, the evergreen tree continuously fruiting in Chase's mind garden. The sound of sobs echoed throughout the space, the white mist standing far back from the scene. Two enemies, their souls twining into each other's, sharing a grief and despair that no one else seemed to understand; their embraces were so unfamiliar and yet they fit together tightly, it was simply surreal. They clung to each other for dear life, sobbing into his shoulder, her hair, hands clinging to this frail safety line desperately.
Although this strange solace would fade soon and life would return to being broken and wrong, they couldn't help but both acknowledge that the world they shared in this embrace was warm, soft and gentle, with no barbarous cracks to cut those unknowing.
"Get off of her." His voice was like steel. He rocked back and forth on his heels, eyes still blank and unseeing. His teeth ground together viciously, the rocking becoming frantic as his voice carried on, melting into molten metal, the anger hissing, burning and blazing through the air in his solitary prison. "Get off her! Get your filthy hands off her!" Suddenly he stormed up, roaring as he smashed the table against the wall, tearing off the shelves and crashing around the room, roaring louder and louder, a hurricane spiralling out of control, "Get your nasty, filthy hands off her you bastard half-demon!" Raimundo lashed out, his fist snapping into the glass of a window, the broken pieces smashing in shards on the floor.
Gales whipped around him, seizing his clothes, tearing at his hair, picking at his eyes and nostrils, mouth open in a maniacal, feral howl, Raimundo screamed and screamed into the sleepy sun, the new day just beginning.
His eyes smouldered crimson and emerald, the thin line separating them unable to be seen.
Silence. The smell of nutmeg was sweet in the air. Kaida could taste it. Chase couldn't stop looking at her. His heart still pounded from their chaotic and intense embrace. But now, the fragments of their lives broke them apart, the glorious moment ruined.
"You can't ever see me again." Kaida's voice was cold, unfeeling. The icy darts tore through Chase's racing heart.
"No!" Kaida stared at him, her eyes filled with surprise. His were filled with hurt. "I can't live like that!" The girl's grey eyes narrowed.
"That was the deal, if I won the war you'd never bother me again." Chase hesitated, her words like a slap in the face. Defeated he slumped a little, head hanging.
"But I love you…" He said quietly. She snorted.
"I don't love you." He looked up at her desperately, hands clenching the grass he was sat on, face strained.
"I'll make you love me then!" Kaida stood up jerkily looking down on the half-demon with utter disgust.
"What, like how Raimundo did?" She moved as if to walk away, but Chase jumped up, grabbing her shoulder and twisted her round, apparently not giving up so easily.
"I would never!" Kaida pulled herself away from him violently, a sneer painted on her lips in cold ice.
"Good! Because I'm going to become the strongest warrior this world has ever seen and will beat down any man who ever tries to touch me again!" She turned away but Chase pulled her into another tight embrace.
"I'll wait for you then! I'll wait until you're stronger and I'll challenge you! It doesn't matter how long it takes, I can't live without your touch!" Kaida did not squirm and she did not struggle. Her voice was flat.
"I'll never love you." Chase felt the tears approaching as he clutched her tighter, eyes screwed up.
"I'll wait! I swear my princess I'll just wait until you do! I swear it!" A sudden flush of heat crept up her cheeks and the desire to hold him back was almost overwhelming. She pushed him away with all of her strength and ran back to the safety of her own shattered mind, shouting how he shouldn't follow her.
He didn't. He instead he collapsed to his knees and sobbed a little, calming his thundering heart. When his breathing had returned to normal, his hard amber eyes looked upward, determination sparkling in his deep irises.
"I'll wait for you to get stronger Princess, I wait and I'll wait, and then you'll be mine." By now, the half-demon was used to waiting, what was another year or so to him, one who had lived for so long? If it meant he'd finally be able to win his Princess's heart, the love struck half-demon would wait for all eternity.
Athanasius chuckled quietly to himself. Then the chuckle turned into a prolonged snicker. Then the snicker turned into short bursts of laughter until the Demon king had his eyes scrunched up in utter joy, laughing loudly, clutching his sides. He pushed a few stray stands of hair out of his eyes and chuckled under his breath.
This sort of behaviour was of course, suspicious, which was noticed by his Queen who hovered nervously behind him. Arachne had never seen her King laugh in such a manner, his laugh had always been malicious and sadistic, but this was actual laughter! She would've brought it up, but she remembered all too well what had happened last time she spoke out of turn. She needn't have worried; Athanasius was bound to gloat.
"Wondering why I'm laughing so much My Queen?" Athanasius asked, grinning wildly, fangs flashing. Arachne bowed her head towards him.
"Indeed my Lord." Athanasius began to chuckle again, laughing even harder. It was almost disturbing…
"You see my Queen, Kaida the 1st chose to wallow in her misery, Kaida the 2nd, within a week of being broken has already decided to become stronger!" Spontaneously, the demon burst into laughter again, whooping in delight, relishing in his glory. This girl was what he had been waiting for and she had just chosen the wrong path if she wanted a quiet life…
Arachne sighed. Things might be going according to Athanasius' plan, but they certainly weren't for hers.
Akakios Democritus watched his breaking world in despair, his ties to his people getting heavier and heavier. He saw his brother gloat with glee, his saw his creations wallow in their misery; it just made the poor angel wince. With a sigh, he wished it didn't have to be like this.
But it did, so that was that.
A/N: Xialoin Showdown and it's character are not mine!!! Kaida, Ath, Ara etc are though!
Thank you very much for everyone's support!!! I hope you like this chapter and look forward to the next one.
And, btw, I'm sorry if you don't like Athanasius (Can't see why haha) but I do so you'll be seeing even more of him! I can't wait!
Thank you for reading, let me know what you think!