"Gettin' mighty crowded." Clay's gaze was directed at the odd trio in the distance, a frown on his face. Kimiko and Omi sat with him, watching Jiayi and Raimundo set up a sort of canopy over the Sphere of Yun. Pacing further in the distance was Wuya, who sent Jiayi a glare every so often. "So why-?"

"Chase Young trapped Jack in the Sphere of Yun," Kimiko replied, turning her gaze to the phone in her hands. "Master Monk Guan went with Jiayi to get the Reversing Mirror from Jack's so they could free him, but they think that Chase took it so now Master Monk Guan is trying to find him so he can get it back."

There was a brief moment of silence, which was broken by Omi asking the question that everyone was thinking. "What will happen if Master Monk Guan cannot retrieve the Reversing Mirror?"

Kimiko bit her lower lip in slight worry. "Well, air is getting into the sphere somehow, but there's no way to get food or water to him so…"

"He might die," Clay finished for her. They saw Raimundo walking toward them now as Wuya joined Jiayi and Jack beneath the canopy. "Awful way to go."

"Just think of Jiayi, having to watch that happen. She tried to break it open herself, but it's a shen-gon-wu. It's pretty much impossible to get him out without using the Reversing Mirror."

I can hear everything that you're saying. Jiayi slouched beside the sphere, crossing her arms over her chest. She was trying her best not to think of what might happen, but had some idea of what she had to do. Chase is setting another trap. He'll make me face him in order to get the mirror. He won't actually let Jack die. Even for an arrogant sociopath, he seems to have some sort of integrity.

"I've never seen someone trapped in the sphere for this long," Wuya remarked, tapping the glass with a sharp nail.

"Hey! I'm not a goldfish! Don't tap the glass!" Jack snapped at her. He frowned when Wuya cackled. "How long is it going to take for him to find C.Y.? My stomach's growling so hard that it hurts."

Jiayi, without really thinking about it, pressed a hand to the glass. "If he doesn't find him by tonight…I might search for him myself," she replied.

"Oh, really?! How selfless of you to sacrifice yourself to rescue your precious boyfriend! We both know what this is really about!" Wuya snarled.

"…do you even realize how delusional you are sometimes…?" The blue-haired young woman resisted the urge to punch Wuya's face and instead flicked her forehead. "You. Are. Insane. Why are you here anyway? You act so…jealous. If you like Chase Young so much, why don't you search for him yourself instead of using me as bait?"

The redhead rubbed where Jiayi had flicked her face. "You act like this is the first time we've worked together."

"You stalking me is not considered 'working together'."

"You worked together before?" Jack glanced from Wuya to Jiayi.

"…I don't want to talk about it…" Jiayi stood and stretched her arms over her head, yawning. "Well…I have things to do. Don't poison his mind with your lies, Wuya." She walked to where the monks were and paused for a moment to look at each of them. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"Might be a while," Clay answered, lifting his eyes to meet her sharp catlike ones. "Thinkin' about going after Chase Young yourself?"

Omi beamed. "We can go with you! Together we will be stronger-!"

"No. This is something I need to do by myself." Her gaze shifted to Raimundo and narrowed into a glare. "…I do need to talk to you though…"

He followed her out to the edge of the forest and sat beside her when she settled on the ground. Since leaving the Land of Nowhere, they had barely spoken to each other. Jiayi had determined that the Reversing Mirror could help and when it was evident that someone had taken it, Raimundo had determined that the sphere could be kept at the temple until Jack was freed. What made him worry, what made his heart pound almost painfully, was what Chase had said. Though Jiayi had yet to mention it, he was certain that it was her reason for pulling him aside. "So what's up? Don't you need to eat?"

She bowed her head, locks of dark blue hair hanging over her eyes as she chewed her bottom lip. "You know…I'm not stupid. Just because I lived mostly alone for centuries…doesn't mean that I don't understand human nature. What that arrogant fool said before. It does make me wonder. Everyone that I have ever come in contact with has had an ulterior motive for interacting with me. Everyone except for Guan. So tell me…what's your motive, Raimundo?"

The young man frowned and felt his face turning pink. "I don't have an ulterior motive."

Her small, pale hands went to the ground beneath her, nails absently sinking into the dry earth. "Don't lie to me. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's liars."

"I thought the one thing you couldn't stand would be Chase Young." He saw her bare a sharp fang and he let his shoulders droop. "I'm serious! I don't have an ulterior motive!"

Jiayi drew a deep breath and stretched her arms in front of her briefly. "Alright…fine. But I know their reason. Kimiko, Omi, Clay. They want me to join you. They should know what a terrible idea that is. I attract such troublesome fools." She glanced over at him and for a brief moment, she could almost imagine her first love in his place.

"Okay, well maybe I do want you to join us. Maybe not." Again, Raimundo found himself recalling her evil, feral expression from when she fought Chase Young. It sent a pleasant shiver throughout his body. "If you won't join us, then can we-?" He realized that she was staring at Guan, who had suddenly appeared alongside the young monks at the temple. Just as he began to wonder what exactly her relationship with Guan was, the girl was moving to join the other immortal.

Jiayi knew instantly that she would regret asking. It was clear that nothing had been accomplished. Nothing that won't result in me hunting down that arrogant fool and tearing him apart. She halted in front of the veranda where the young monks were sitting and pushed her hands into her pockets. "Guan…any news?"

His brow furrowed and he moved to pat her shoulder, but then seemed to reconsider. "I am sorry, Jiayi. I was unable to locate either of them."

Just as I thought. The young woman sighed in frustration and ran her fingers through her hair. "Alright so…I suppose we know what must be done."

"You will not use yourself as bait to draw him out." Guan saw her shoulders droop, her mouth opening to protest. "I will not risk you having a relapse and returning to the Heylin side."

"Do you really think so lowly of me? You think I am so weak that I will relapse? I am stronger than I was back then!" Her hands curled into tight fists and her face began to burn with embarrassment. Everyone is looking at me! Absolutely humiliating!

"I do not think that you are weak, but he is determined. You must understand the danger that everyone would be in if you returned to the Heylin side, Jiayi Xun."

Her nails were digging into her palms now, her amber eyes burning with rage. "I would never join him! You know that I would never join him so why are you treating me this way?! Hasn't it always been like this? You…claim you have my best interest, but do you really? Is it not that you just care more about everyone else? These past centuries, has it just been some sick form of martyrdom for you to look after me? Well I don't need this! I can take care of myself from this day forward, Guan! You don't need to trouble yourself!" Jiayi turned to go and snarled lowly when he grabbed her arm.

"You will stay here and wait! He will come in search of you and that is when we will strike. Do you understand now?"

The corners of her mouth curled up in an unsettling manner and she pulled out of his hold. "Yes. I understand perfectly now. Either way…whether I look for him or stay here…I'm still bait, aren't I? Oh yes. I should consider myself so lucky…so special that I can be used to lure that sociopath out of hiding…thanks so much, Guan." Jiayi stormed back to where Jack and Wuya were waiting, settling beside the Sphere of Yun with a scowl in place.

"You really let him have it," Wuya remarked.

"…shut up…I feel drained…" She looked into the sphere and saw that Jack had dozed off. With a slight smile, she realized that his eyeliner was becoming smudged.

Hours passed. All the while, Jiayi sat beneath the canopy with her two companions. Wuya talked endlessly; mostly complaining. Jack continued to sleep. Jiayi spent the hours staring at Guan, who stood near the temple building and stared back at her. Of course, I can't help but wonder now. Why am I everyone's go-to bait for Chase? As far as looks go, I'm not prettier than Wuya. I've been stuck in a seventeen-year-old's body for centuries. My hips never fully filled out and neither did my chest. My hair is always tangled. My chest and arms are covered in scars. And my personality…I know I'm pretty rotten.

"What does he even see in you?!" Wuya sighed in frustration, finishing her rant.

"Yeah…I don't know," Jiayi admitted. She blinked, her eyes beginning to hurt from staring for so long. Her mind started to wander, reflecting on her fight with her nemesis. Multiple fights, she reminded herself. Their last fight had been different though. He had shed his armor and let her injure him in an effort to get closer to her. He's out of his mind. That's it. That has to be it. Her eyes narrowed on Guan again. "I'm not evil."

"We know you're not." The answer came from behind her and it made Jiayi jump a little.

She turned to find Kimiko and Raimundo standing there, looking slightly amused at her reaction. "What? Why are you both standing there? How long have you been there?"

"Not long." Kimiko grinned. "You want to leave, right?"

"Don't tell me…you have a plan?"

"We can do this a few different ways. We have Omi and Clay ready to create a distraction if we choose that path. Otherwise, we can use the Shroud of Shadows to help you escape."

Jiayi raised an eyebrow, ignoring the way that Wuya glared at her. She already knew what the other immortal would say. "Why would you want to help me? Or Jack, for that matter? Didn't you hear what Guan said? If I became evil-"

"We know you won't relapse because we're going with you!" Kimiko answered cheerfully. "You can't do this alone. With us, you have a better chance of beating him, right? And in the worst case scenario, we can act as a distraction. We won't let you turn evil and if you start to look evil, we'll bring you back. I know how important Jack is to you and Raimundo agreed that we can't just let him die in the sphere so-!"

"We should probably get going instead of standing around talking about our plan. We're going with the Shroud of Shadows before Guan notices," Raimundo interrupted.

She was actually quite impressed with the way things went. Omi and Clay created a brief distraction as she donned the Shroud of Shadows and soon she was sprinting down the road with Kimiko and Raimundo. They're helping me, but what can they do if I turn evil? Are they strong enough to not get killed by me? When I was evil…I lost control. I ended people…destroyed villages…left fire in my wake.

"You know, even if you do turn evil again, you might just go after Chase instead of us," Kimiko pointed out. "You hate him, don't you? It would make sense if you went after him."

"You should see the way she took him on last time! Jiayi is almost stronger than he is!"

The young woman's face turned pink and she looked away. "Yes, well…at the time, I believed that he had killed Jack. I was determined to avenge him."

Shift P.O.V.

The distraction was complete, leaving everyone bored once Guan realized that Jiayi had disappeared. He was soon gone as well, determined to stop her. Omi and Clay glanced toward the two Heylin members. Jack had snapped awake at the commotion they had caused and Wuya looked outright bored.

"All you did was buy her a little extra time. Did you really think that you could stop him from following her?" the witch taunted.

"We couldn't just let Jiayi drive herself crazy," Clay protested. He tipped his hat forward to shade his eyes, struggling internally with his decision to help. On one hand, he did not entirely trust her. On the other, he had a bad feeling about what would happen if Jack did die. If the redhead died, Jiayi would certainly turn evil again in her quest for vengeance. It was better to help her than to hinder her in this case.

"You think she couldn't handle losing Jack, is that it?" Wuya smirked, watching Jack from the corner of her eye. He looked perplexed. Unsatisfyingly perplexed. "She's lost someone before. It didn't make her crazy."

"You never told me. How did you and Jiayi meet?" Jack finally spoke up.

For a moment, she looked indignant. "She didn't tell you herself? I'm surprised. Well, when you know that you're going to live forever, you seek out others like yourself. If you're going to live for an eternity, you want to spend that eternity with someone, right?"

Jack stared at her. "Wait. What?"

"Embarrassing as it is, you could say that we were best friends for a short time." Wuya's smirk returned when everyone appeared shocked. "It's true. You know that Guan couldn't be with her at all times so whenever he went off to do whatever he does, she and I would meet. For a short while, she even carried my puzzle box when I was trapped. And she acts as if our friendship was an embarrassment."

You just said it was embarrassing. Too afraid to point this out, Jack tried to act aloof. "You're annoying. Can you really blame her?"

"How dare you!" She knocked a fist against the sphere and cackled when he winced. "When she returns, I'm leaving. Honestly, I should have just gone with them."

"Do you think they will find him?" The question came from Omi.

The woman shrugged. "Probably not. He wants her alone, doesn't he? Besides, I'm sure Guan will stop her from getting too far."