Lula reached up and stroked the glass of the only family photo she possessed. It wasn't pretty, not very posh, but it was them; it was her family. They were arguing a bit in it; she had her hand on Jack's shoulder while his father tousled his spiked hair. Jack, only fourteen then, was reaching up to shove his hand away, his mouth open to shout that he had spent half an hour fixing his "look", as he had come to call it. His goggles were sliding down his forehead and covering his left eye. The sight had amused her late husband so much that he had laughed uproariously; she missed his laugh the most.

"What do you want, Chase?" Lula asked, not bothering to look up from the photo.

Chase smirked as he stood in the middle of her living room, his eyes inspecting ever inch with amusement.

"I never took you for the prim and proper, Lula," he said. "No wonder your son is so soft."

"Have you come only to spit insults at me? If so, leave."

"No, I came to give my condolences. I'm a little offended that I wasn't invited to Victor's funeral. We were very close after all-"

"Get out," Lula snapped as she put the photo on the end table and glared at him. "Get out now."

Chase's smirk twitched, then he chuckled and took a step towards her. Lula answered by stepping back.

"You know, your son looks just like you. If you shared personalities I would have put the pieces together long ago."

"Get out, Chase."

"But it appears he gained Victor's bumbling antics instead," Chase pressed, stepping towards her again. "Perhaps he'll fall off a bridge, too."

"Get out!"

The objects in the living room surged forward and flew at Chase as Lula's anger brought forth a twister. The arrogant war lord never batted an eye as lamps smashed against his armor, furniture sailed past his head, the rug wrapped around his feet. He only moved to pluck the photo from the air and examine it. Lula gasped and the tornado ceased.

"Give that back!" she ordered, her voice unable to mask her desperation.

"Why? It's quite hideous," Chase continued, that smirk still on his face. "Perhaps I should just..."

Lula shrieked and lunged forward as Chase let the picture slip from his hands. Luckily she reached it in time, but Chase reached down and wrapped a hand around her jaw, pulling her up to him.

"And here I thought you were done being a nuisance," he snarled. "But I guess the saying is true. Once a monk, always a monk."

He tightened his grip, satisfied when Lula's eyes teared and she whimpered in pain.

"I would keep that oafish son of yours close, Lula. Otherwise I won't apologize when he meets the same fate as your husband."

"Mom?"

Lula gasped as she sank to the floor; Jack came into the doorway and froze, taking in the disaster that was their living room.

"What happened?" he asked, coming over to her. "Are you okay?"

Lula swallowed hard, then nodded, trying to smile as he helped her up.

"I...I was just cleaning up..." she said, looking around the room herself. "I didn't do a very good job, I suppose."

Jack furrowed his brow; clearly she was lying, but by the shaken look on her face he didn't know if he should ask her about it. He cleared his throat and looked down at the photo in her hands.

"I don't know why we kept that," he said quietly, gently taking it from her. "It's a real mess."

"We're not exactly the neatest family anyway," Lula rationalized, heading for the couch. "I think it captured us perfectly."

"Yeah, I guess so," Jack said, watching her worriedly. "Are you sure you're okay? Something happened."

"Nothing happened, I'm fine."

"Mom-"

"I said I'm fine, Jackson!"

Jack's eyebrows snapped up. Lula cleared her throat and ran a hand through her hair.

"I-I'm fine," she said quietly. "Yes, something happened, but I'm fine."

He nodded, figuring that was the best answer he was going to get.

"Okay, well, I'll be downstairs if you need me," he said, setting the picture on the end table and kissing his mother's cheek.

"Have fun," Lula said, watching him start to the basement before looking down at her hands.

Jack paused in the doorway; there were so many things that he wanted to ask her, especially now that things were quieting down. He looked back at his mom, sighed, and went over to the couch. Lula looked up in surprise as he took a deep breath and turned to her.

"I wanna know about...about you," Jack started. "And Dad. I wanna know how you two ended up as Xiaolin los-monks, I wanna know why you left. I wanna know everything, Mom."

"Jack..." Lula sighed.

"I barely know you. I barely knew Dad. Even before you sprung this on me, it was like I was raised by strangers."

The comment slammed down on Lula, and she visibly sagged under that weight. Jack saw this and stammered to say something better, but he couldn't think of a thing.

"...You're right..." Lula answered, to his surprise. "You were raised by...strangers."

"Mom, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's true. I'm so sorry that it's true."

Jack took her hand in his, a silent apology. Lula blinked back tears and forced herself to look at him.

"When Wuya and I first discovered our powers we were fifteen," she started. "There were some obvious differences between how we wanted to use them, and Wuya was more than slightly offended when Dashi requested that I join him in his fight against people like her."

"So, Grand Master Dashi didn't make the Shen Gong Wu?" Jack asked.

"He was given credit for them. And they were all of his design. But people like your father and I were the ones who made them the way they were, the way they are."

Lula chuckled sourly.

"I hear that the legend has been twisted ever so slightly," she said. "So that now people believe he made them for the soul purpose of defeating my sister. But this is not so. He had the thoughts in his head to create them even before Wuya's powers awoke. They were to maintain what he considered 'balance'. Imagine his surprise when he realized Wuya was immune to his precious trophies."

Jack nodded slowly, understanding a little better.

"So, what were the Shen Gong Wu for?" he asked.

"They fought monsters, sea creatures, ghouls of the like Afterwards they were meant to fight Hannibal Bean. Wuya was not a thought until it was too late and her powers had grown far too large for us."

"And by then you and Dad-"

"We had been monks for four years," Lula said, a sentimental smile passing her lips. "I was the Dragon of Air, your father the Dragon of Fire. We were in charge of making combat Shen Gong Wu like the Star Hanabi and the Sword of Storms. Although, you probably wouldn't..."

She paused and looked at Jack, who bent his head and winced.

"...Right...well," Lula started, trying to adjust to the fact that her son had every idea of what she was talking about. "When Dashi revealed that we were to create a Shen Gong Wu that could defeat Wuya permanently, I refused. Imagine my surprise when your father refused as well. We had already left when we heard that Dashi, Master Monk Guan...and Chase had trapped her in the very puzzle box I had created."

"You created it?" Jack asked.

"Yes, as a prototype. I had forged it in practice to prepare for a test. Apparently Dashi believed it was useful enough to utilize."

She tilted her head, reached up and stroked Jack's hair.

"It was a few years after that that your father and I married. We used what little Xiaolin magic we had left to slow our aging. We started to use it to search for the puzzle box...set Wuya free..."

She said this as if she were ashamed, but Jack was too focused on the fact that-a year ago-he had received the very puzzle box his parents had been searching for...from his father.

"And then we had you."

Jack's eyes snapped up as her brow knit together.

"We were so afraid," she said with a nervous laugh. "We had never heard of monks having children, especially not those of different elements."

"It...shouldn't have effected me..." Jack stammered. "...Right...?"

"...We were never sure...I still am not sure."

Jack appeared to wilt at this news. His mother stroked his cheek soothingly.

"...W-What could happen?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Lula shook her head quietly, then pulled him closer and placed her forehead on his. Jack touched his goggles around his neck nervously and squeezed his eyes shut. Things were making sense, but he didn't want them to now. He would rather have been left in the dark.

Dark...

"Well, your friends are waiting," Lula said as she pulled away.

"No, they're downstairs," Jack said. "Listen Mom, I-"

"No, they're behind the doorway. They've been there the entire time."

Jack straightened, then turned and watched Stryker, Entropy, and Cinder (once again) sheepishly enter the room.

"...Your mom's freaky," Stryker said. "Cool...but freaky..."

Lula gave him a small smile, then stood, gave Jack a kiss on his head, and exited the room. Jack heaved a sigh and stood too.

"You okay?" Entropy asked. "That was a lit to take in."

"'Specially if you have no idea what's going on," Cinder muttered, scratching her arm.

"Oh, right," Jack said. "Uh, I'll fill you in later, okay?"

Stryker patted his shoulder, then asked the question they all wanted to know.

"So...does this mean you have powers?"