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Surprisingly 'Evil'

Eight-year-old Jack Spicer fell to the concrete ground. Blood dripped from the newly added scrapes on his palms and knees. He turned his head back to glare at his older cousin, the tears that he tried to hold back fell from his pain filled crimson eyes.

"Aww, the widdle demon boy is crying." The older boy said with a sneer. His two buddies laughed as they held back an angry ten-year-old girl. Said girl, who was also Jack's cousin, wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of the three bullies. She would have already had the three crying for their mommies if they hadn't got the jump on her first. Jack threw a quick glance in her direction just before his attacker pushed him back down to the ground. He vaguely heard the girl scream something at the older boy.

The boy scoffed and glared back at the girl, "Shut up, it's not like anybody wants him around. Even his own parents don't want him anymore."

"That's not true!"

"Is so, my father said it himself. That's why he has been living over at your house, am I right?" The girl grit her teeth, otherwise she stood silent. She looked down at the ground, not wanting to outright admit the real reason Jack had been sent to live with her and her parents. The older boy sneered at her while she avoided his glance.

"I thought so," he turned back to Jack, "your parents finally had enough of you? What was it that your dad called you? Oh yeah, a disgrace. You're nothing but a disgrace!"

Without thinking, the little red head launched himself at his attacker, wanting nothing more to shut the older boy up. He landed a few good hits on the other, yet a solid punch to his jaw sent him sliding against the concrete, adding more cuts and scrapes to the list of injuries.

Jack just laid there on the ground. The jeers and cries from the others had fallen silent to his ears. At this point he no longer cared what they did to him. His older cousin was right anyway. Nobody wanted him anymore.

He was nothing but a worthless child…

'Tsk tsk, such hurtful words should not come from a despicable child as that boy…' Jack froze at the sound of that voice. Very slowly, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He looked down at his shadow outstretched before him. He trembled slightly as the shadow began to ripple. He knew that he was here.

To his horror a ghost like hand sprouted from the shadow. Although it looked like a human hand, there was something utterly wrong with it. The 'fingers' were much too long, much too slender. It looked as if thin, pearly white daggers were attached to the hand instead of actual fingers. Followed by the hand was the rest of the ghost white arm. After the arm, a head and a pair of shoulders emerged as well. The ashen hair fell down past the being's shoulders. His bangs fell over his face, shielding his eyes from view.

The creature reached out his hand towards Jack. While Jack was terrified of the creature, he knew that who…whatever this thing was would not harm him. The creature placed his hand against Jack's cheek. Gently, he moved his thumb under his eye, wiping away the boy's tears. Jack could feel the other's eyes on the scar located under that very same eye.

'You poor child, you shouldn't have to suffer like this. Not by the hands of these pathetic mortals.' The creature moved his hand away from the boy's face and placed it over a much smaller hand. Jack watched in silence as he did this. The next thing he knew a dark aura sprouted from the creature's hand and engulfed his own. Altogether his feelings of self-loathing were replaced with a sheer burning rage. The sudden change unnerved the boy, but only slightly. His main concern at that moment was that this 'person' was right. He didn't deserve to be treated like this, by his family no less! It wasn't like that he asked to be different! Yet they never cared what he thought. All they cared about was causing him pain however they pleased…

And he was sick of it!

The creature cocked his head to the side, a wide wicked grin spreading across his features. A set of fangs were clearly visible. Through a curtain of hair Jack gazed at the silver eyes that shown with a strong sense of insanity.

'I believe a punishment is in order, don't you agree dear Jackie?' Jack nodded once; slowly he rose to his feet. He blinked and just like that the creature was gone. His shadow was back to normal. It was if that person wasn't there to begin with. Though, Jack could still feel a dark power coursing through his hand and an anger that had yet to be released.

"Would you look at that? Looks like Jackie hasn't had enough! You ready for another go, brat?" His cousin mocked, oblivious to what had transpired mere seconds ago. It no longer surprised Jack that only he could see the shadow creature. It only would have made everything all the more complicated if his cousins could see that being talking to him. They already thought of him as a monster; what more proof would they need from that?

Thinking back on all the times they had tormented him caused Jack's rage to grow. The aura reacted to his emotions, twisting and curling up his entire arm as his anger grew. Jack, while he faced away from the bullies, watched in satisfaction as his arm changed to resemble that of the creatures. He turned to the side-making sure to keep his arm out of sight- and scowled at his cousin from over his shoulder. His eye's darkened at the sight of the smirk on his cousin's face. The same smirk he wore that day before Molly… Jack growled low in his throat.

It's all your fault…

"I hate you…" Jack hissed, his body shacking with pent up rage. His cousin cupped his hand around his ear.

"Sorry, didn't quite hear that. I'm afraid I don't speak cry baby." The other two boys snickered as well while the girl just glared.

"I…" Jack turned to face his cousins completely, their expressions changed to pure horror by the sight of his monstrous arm. He took off towards the terror stricken leader. The other boys were frozen in fear. The girl was able to shake off her captives with ease.

"HATE YOU!" Jack hurled at the boy a second time, his arm raised to cut through his cousin with his newly formed claws. This time…this time…He would end it!

"JACK STOP!"

Jack jolted awake, his injuries causing him a great deal of pain as he moved. He hissed through clenched teeth and grasped his thin blanket tightly with his good hand. For a good few minutes he waited for the pain to subside, taking a few deep breaths in the process. He winced, highly confused as to why it hurt to breath in too deeply. Slowly, once the pain had become bearable, he opened his eyes.

Jack blinked a couple times to clear his vision. Glancing around the darkened room, he realized that he was somewhere unfamiliar. He felt his heart begin to race. Jack quickly tried to push himself up to a standing position. Once pressure was applied to his left arm he fell back, a cry of pain escaping past his lips. Jack glanced down at his arm.

He blinked in surprise at the splints and wrapping around his arm. His hand was also bound to the point where he could hardly flex his fingers. What…?

"Finally awake I see." Jack, startled by the sudden voice, whipped around to face in the direction of the voice. Sadly, the sudden movement sent waves of pain shooting through his chest and arm. He clutched at his chest while he let out another small cry. "I would be careful if I was you, little Jackie. You have some pretty bad injuries."

Jack glared at the one who spoken, "Gee, thanks for tip. Care to tell me how I got these injuries in the first place?" Yunxu sat against the wall in the farthest corner away from Jack. He was dressed much similar to Jack, who was still clad in his red shirt and black pants. His legs were pulled up to his chest while his hands were palms down on his knees. Yunxu was grinning at the boy, drumming his 'fingers' on his knees.

"Come now, Jack, don't you remember? Surly you would." Yunxu said with a wicked gleam in his eyes that automatically set Jack on edge. Suddenly, everything that had happened came rushing back to him. The island, the power of the wu, his sister, the fight, Kimiko…

Oh God…

"What...what did you do?" Jack asked with a shaken voice. He remembered, just for a brief moment, Kimiko was staring up at him with tears cascading down her face. She was begging for him to stop as his hand was around her neck, constricting… choking…

"I just wanted to have a little fun with your friends, dear Jackie. I must say, I am impressed with the monks,"He made a gesture towards Jack's broken arm; "They have great strength, given the right motivation. It will be most enjoyable to watch them die by my hands."

Jack's eyes grew wide but otherwise he kept silent. He looked down at his right hand. Your hands? You mean mine, he thought clenching his hand into a fist. Yunxu raised an eyebrow at the action. Coolly, he stood from his spot and walked over to the redhead. He crouched down next to the teen.

"What is wrong? You want to rule this world, do you not? Once you show these pathetic humans what you are capable of it will not take much effort for them to fear y-"

"No!" Jack's outburst caused Yunxu to drop back slightly.

"Excuse me?"

"No, I mean, yes I want to take over the world. But that doesn't mean I want to kill anybody! That is only what you want! You… you always made me hurt people. I almost killed several people because of you!" He bellowed at the ghostly figure.

"That was what you wanted to do, wasn't it? Those people who you nearly killed where always causing you pain. So you wanted a little 'payback', as you had stated. You wanted to stop them from tormenting you; I merely gave you a little assistance."

"Oh yeah? Well, thanks for the assistance! Now would you kindly stay the hell out of my life!? I don't need you trying to run the show and completely mess everything up like you keep doing! Just go back to the darkest corner of my mind and stay there, you psychotic son of a-"In an instant, Yunxu slammed Jack down against the ground. His hand pressed hard against the teen's throat. His silver eyes blazed with a rage unlike anything Jack has ever seen before.

"Watch your tongue, boy. You will not raise your voice at me in such a way again." Yunxu snarled in Jack's face. Jack, despite himself, smirked up at the other.

"Sorry… can't make… any promises…" Jack said as he struggled to breathe. Yunxu narrowed his eyes. For a long minute he continued to glare down at Jack. Jack was indeed terrified of what Yunxu was capable of but he knew that Yunxu wouldn't actually kill him.

At least, he couldn't physically…

Finally, after releasing Jack, Yunxu let out a dark chuckle. Jack lifted himself up and placed a hand against his throat, glaring at the ghost white form before him.

"Still trying to fight against me I see. Very well, I shall leave you to wallow in your own self-pity. However," He fixed Jack a wide grin, showing his sharp fangs to the teen, "do not think for one second that I will allow you to block me out any longer. I do not plan to 'run the show' just yet, I am merely curious as to what you will do for the time being." With that said, Yunxu faded away. Jack heaved a sigh of relief when he was sure Yunxu was actually gone. He lay back down onto his little mat and stared at the ceiling of the Xiaolin Temple (It's obvious now; the monks brought me here and helped me).

Jack placed his good arm over his eyes. He stayed still and silent, allowing his thoughts to wash over him. In truth, he was afraid what was going to happen to him now that the monks knew about his little secret. Would they think he was too dangerous and try to end him or would they take pity on him? Worse, what if Chase and Wuya found out!? There is no telling what they would do to me once they learn what I am capable of. I for one don't want to find out either!

He lifted his arm off from over his eyes to glance at broken arm. Even if the memory was vague, he could still see that look of fear in Kimiko's eyes. That look might have been directed towards Yunxu but at the same time it was directed towards him. It just wasn't right…

She should never look like that.

After he had laid on his mat thinking for who knows how long, Jack had come to the marvelous conclusion that, no matter what he does, his life just keeps getting worse. He had tried to keep his curse locked inside but even that plan of his has failed. Quite frankly, Jack had just considered his life one major screw up.

It's official… I hate my life.

With that thought in mind, Jack decided that it was high time to leave before the Xiaolin monks could remind him just how much of a screw up he was. Using some extra cloth he had in his bag, he created a sling for his broken arm. Once it was secure, Jack slipped on his shoes, his coat, and grabbed his bag, and then he was ready to go.

Jack peeked outside his door, checking to make sure that no one was out and about. He checked left then right. He was also straining his ears to see if he could catch any type of footstep or voice heading his way. Silence was all Jack received. Quickly and quietly, Jack started his way towards the temple doors.

The temple itself was almost completely dark. Jack figured it could have been early morning or late at night. Without his watch or his phone on his person (Seriously!?) he had no way of knowing for sure what time it was. Either way, it was easier for him to sneak out undetected. Simple, as long as no one here is actually up.

He let out a silent cheer as his way to freedom had finally come in sight. Jack made it to the door way without any confrontation, meaning that he was almost home free. Now all he needed to do was walk out of this door and-

"Leaving so soon Jack?" He literally felt as if his heart shot right into his throat as that voice pierced though the silence. He whipped around to see Master Fung walk in from the other side of the room. Dojo, who let out a large yawn, was resting on the old man's shoulder.

"So what if I am?" he said as calmly as he possibly could. His heart was still beating a mile a minute but he was pretty sure the old man did not mean to scare the hell out of him. It was just one of his natural talents! He watched while Master Fung walked towards him. He stopped when he was a couple feet from Jack.

"I assumed that you would try to leave once you had awakened. However, I did not expect to catch you in the act."

"Well, I guess I'm more obvious than even I realized. Now, I have this really awesome stroll I need to get started on to my house so if you excuse me…" Jack turned away from the old monk when Master Fung spoke again.

"Do you believe that you are evil, Jack Spicer?" Jack froze; his feet were rooted at the spot where he stood. He could feel the monk's eyes on him yet he couldn't make himself face the other.

"I would think that was pretty obvious. For the past couple years, I have been presenting myself as an evil boy genius. I work for Wuya at times, I have fought on the Heylin side since the beginning; I even stole wu from your temple! Doesn't that speak clearly enough?"

"It is true that you have done questionable deeds, but this does not make you evil. I will ask again, do you believe that you are evil?" Jack remained still for a few seconds, thinking over what the old man said. The older monk's words about his 'questionable' actions made him think about all the times he had used his power over the shadows. During these times, had Jack meant to or not, someone ended up hurt. But does that make me evil?

Jack turned to face the older man. He raised his right hand up towards his chest. Using just a small about of power, Jack was able to summon a portion of the darkness in the palm of his hand. The way the monk and the small dragon tensed did not go unnoticed by the red head. A sad smile appeared on his face.

"I honestly don't know anymore." Jack said staring at his hand as the wisp of shadows was weaving through his fingers. Master Fung watched the teen for a minute.

"I do not think that you are truly evil, young Spicer," Jack's head shot up to stare at the old man, "I believe that you are just a child who has been misguided for far too long. Perhaps, what you are in need of is proper guidance. If you are willing, you may be able to train with the other young monks."

"But… last time…"

"You had betrayed us. Which, I am willing to forgive you for by means of doing a number of chores for a set time. However, I believe that we will be able to teach you to control your power." He said which caused Jack to frown.

"Control it how?"

"Well, let me put it to you this way," Dojo started as he crawled for Fung's shoulder to Jack's shoulder, "from what I see, you already have figured out a way to keep Yunxu from taking over your life completely. We figured that with a little more practice, you might be able to use your power sparingly at points in time without having to worry about creepy little shadow voices inside your head or Yunxu trying to get you to hurt your friends." Jack blinked at the dragon. I guess he does have a point…wait a sec.

"How exactly do you know about the… you know…"

"Let's just say I know a whole lot more about your situation than you think." Dojo said while he fixed Jack with a saddened stare. Jack looked back at Master Fung.

"The decision is entirely up to you Jack." He regarded them both, not really sure about what he should do. Could they really teach him how to master his curse? Could that perhaps mean that he could find a way to be free of Yunxu after all? Maybe…

"Jack, do not believe that you can be rid of me so easily," He heard Yunxu voice sound from the back of his mind, but Jack chose to ignore it.

"I…I need to think it over. Can you give me until tomorrow to have an answer?" Master Fung nodded and Dojo moved back onto his shoulder.

"Very well, I will grant you this much."

"Ugh, I am never leaving my bed again." Jack said as he fell backwards onto his mattress. He had exhausted himself during the walk from the Xiaolin Temple to his house. Even now as the sun was starting to shine brightly through his windows (So it was early in the morning? Go figure...) he wanted to go back to sleep, this time in his comfortable bed.

Just let me forget that island ever happened. I don't want to think about dragons or monks or anything. Just…please let…me…

The ringing of his cell phone abruptly awoke Jack from his slumber. By this point, the sunlight had flooded his entire room. He winced at the light and threw his pillow over his head to drown out the noise. He could faintly hear the device ring a few more times until it suddenly fell silent…only for it to start ringing once again.

Leave me alooone, he thought, maybe if I ignore whoever it is on the other end they will give up and call at a different time.

So Jack waited patiently for the other person to just give up on trying reaching him. He waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, about five minutes of nonstop ringing had just about driven him insane.

"THAT'S IT!" He shouted as he bolted from his bed, out of his room, down the stairs, and into his living room. The infernal sound had maximized to nerve racking heights once he found it on his coffee table. How in the hell can it get this loud anyway!?

Without checking his caller id, he flipped his phone open and brought it to his ear.

"What!?" He snapped into the receiver.

"Hey there baby cousin!"Jack fought the urge to slam his head against the nearest wall as the female voice sounded from the other end. Of course, the only person he knew who was indeed this persistent had to be no one else but his cousin…

"Danni, do you have any clue what time it is!?" He asked clearly not happy with her at all. True, he didn't even know the time himself but he was too annoyed to care.

"It's about nine o'clock in the morning. Well, where you live anyway." Okay then, time to act like I knew that now.

"Exactly, it's nine in the morning. As in 'it is too early for me to wake up yet dammit'!" Though he did wake up much earlier in the day, it wasn't like she knew that.

"You sound like you're not happy to hear from me."

"Perhaps I would have been in a better mood if someone hadn't tried to call me for five minutes straight in the freaking morning! Seriously, if it was an emergency or something then I-"

"But I really needed you to answer the phone Jack! I need to ask you an important question!" Oh my God, if this is another of her stupid advice seeking questions I'm hanging up right now!

"Fine, what do you need?"

"Um, so you pretty much did just wake up. Does that mean that your home? Like right now?"

"….Yes…?"

A knock sounded from his front door. Jack turned towards the sound, letting his phone slip from his fingers. No. No way. There is no way! Why would she even…

Jack sprinted to his door and pulled it open. There standing on his door step, was his eighteen-year-old cousin Sandra Spicer, otherwise known as Danni. Danni fixed her eyes on him once he opened the door, grinning from ear to ear.

"Baby cousin," She cheered throwing her arms opened, asking for a hug.

...

SLAM!

"Wha-? Jaaaaack, open the door!"

"Never!"

Finally have a new chapter up! Sorry it it kind of sucks. I should have the next one done soon. Read and review please.