I'm sorry.
Disclaimer: I don't Xiaolin Showdown, any of the characters or any of the Shen Gong Wu. They all belong to Kids'WB.
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Chapter 21
Clay sat in the center of his small done. He didn't dare try to escape from the barriers, for he was very weak already. Alydia had given him pity about an hour ago, and had removed the blue strings that bound his hands. In Clay's head, he had about a million questions that he wanted to ask Alydia about her past. He felt that he might have gotten killed for asking, or saying anything. He was slightly lucky to be alive. Clay knew perfectly well that Alydia was capable to kill him if he bothered her, or insulted her. Heck, if he lifted his foot in a wrong manor, Alydia could fry it off. But he tired anyway.
"Hey, Alydia?" Clay asked in a tone, like he was addressing Master Fung.
Alydia paused from holding an iris in her hands and turned her head slightly. She brought the iris to her nose and breathed it in. When she was finished taking in the wonderful smells, she set the iris back down next to the others. Somehow, it grew right back into the dirt.
"Can you spare me a question?" Clay asked again, making sure that she acknowledged that he was there.
"What?" she practically whispered. Clay could understand if she was feeling a bit emotional by this point. He had no clue how many people knew about her past. This was the real story too. It wasn't just something historians put in books, or things that Master Fung told them. This was the absolute truth.
"Did you…did you actually love Master Dashi?" Clay asked, felling it necessary to be formal. "Or did you only marry him because you had to?"
Alydia slightly turned to him and gave him a look. It wasn't much of a look however, because she stared blank at him before shutting her eyes and letting out the absolute smallest smirk in known history.
"Back in those times…" Alydia trailed off. "A woman's only duty was to marry a good husband to honor the family. And produce sons."
Clay sat and listened. He enjoyed listening to what others had to say, and he was particularly interested in hearing this.
"Love barley had a meaning." Alydia said, saying those words like they meant nothing, like she was reading from a book. "But, in some occasions, life gets the better of you. In those times, it didn't matter if you loved the man you were marrying, because it was arranged. That's why they set these arrangements ahead of time, so we could get to know each other. Women sat there and looked pretty as our futures were being set in stone."
"But did you love Master Dashi?" Clay asked again, to have her get to the point.
Alydia was silent for a second. "I did."
"Even before the marriage?"
Alydia said nothing but walked over to where some other plants were. At that moment she was examining a rose. It was as red as her lips were at that moment, and was as delicate as a child. She carried the rose over to where Clay was and tossed it through the shield, with managing to not destroy it during the process.
"You can think of that question like that rose." Alydia said.
Considering all the whacky things Clay had said, for once, had no idea what Alydia meant by that. His arms were still captivated with the ropes to he could only stare at the lone rose.
"Pardon?" Clay asked her.
He was answered by the silent night time winds from outside. Alydia had walked to the upper level and went down a hallway.
"Hey!" Clay called. "Are you just going to leave me here?!"
"Yes." Alydia said back before she vanished out of sight.
--
"But how do we enter with out Alydia knowing?" Kimiko asked while sitting on her mat. Raimundo and Omi were sitting outside her cubicle with their mats brought over from their own cubicles.
"We could try through a sky attack." Rai suggested.
"Oh yeah!" Kimiko said, with a hint of sarcasm. "Let's enter through the burning lava!"
Raimundo sighed, knowing the teasing that would come.
"Yup, you're a regular mastermind, Rai." Kimiko said, finishing.
"You done?" Raimundo asked.
"Yes."
"Okay." Rai then said. "So what do we do then?"
"I know!" Omi exclaimed. "What if we cut a hole in the side and enter that way? We can make sure that we get to the main part, where Clay is most likely trapped."
Kimiko thought about it. "It…sounds like it could work…"
"Yeah, that way we don't have to search through the hallways again." Rai pointed out.
"But…" Kimiko started. "What if Alydia uses some freaky Heylin voo-doo and changes our position or something?"
"Be optimistic?" Raimundo suggested.
Kimiko punched his left arm playfully.
"We need to discuss it a little more though." Kimiko said. "I mean, do we need any Wu, when should we go and stuff."
"We need to bring Shen Gong Wu." Omi said automatically. "And we should leave A.S.A.Q!"
"A.S.A.P" Raimundo corrected.
"You are most correct!"
Needless to explain, they continued talking about their plan for hours. They had finally decided on leaving that Saturday afternoon, so they could have time to get there while they were still awake. They were allowing for rain. They would bring only five Shen Gong Wu with them, and they were the only ones that could possibly help the gang get out alive. They would bring the Two Ton Tunic for safety precautions, the Shard of Lightning, the Moby Morpher, the Orb of Tornami and the Lasso Boa Boa.
Master Fung had done nothing but meditate since telling the monks the old 'legend' of how Alydia became evil. Dojo was mostly in the hall with him, because he claimed that he needed to build his chi. Raimundo, being Raimundo, accused him of making excuses for not wanting to come along to rescue Clay. It was unfortunate that Dojo admitted he was scared, because now Raimundo had a reason to tease him.
By the time is was Friday night, the three of them had joined Master Fung and the others in the meditation hall to build up energy. They all spent a good three hours in the hall, until Kimiko left first, Raimundo left second, and Omi left last. Omi had stayed in the hall for an extra hour.
The basic idea of the story that Master Fung told the monks were, that Alydia was evil since birth, but didn't discover her powers until later in life. Wuya and Alydia caused damage to every one, but Alydia was twice as violent and liked to kill people for fun. They both hated Dashi, too. But the monks believed every word that they heard.
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"A rose?" Clay asked to himself glancing down to the flower that was in the same position since two days ago. Alydia was sitting in a stool, knitting apparently, or something of the sorts. Clay looked up at her, who didn't even give a second glance. "You wanna give me a hint?"
Alydia was wearing something new to Clay. It was a dress that might have resembled a kimono of some sort. The dress she wore was long and a light purple, with white blooming flowers designed on it. She wore a white sash and was barefooted. Her brown hair laid in the same position, straight down her back.
"Thorns." Alydia said suddenly. Clay was surprised.
"Thorns…" Clay repeated. He thought long and hard. He thought about situations, people, items, or things that Alydia might have gone through. "Are thorns representing someone?"
Alydia gave a small nod.
"Wuya?"
"Correct."
Clay looked back down to the rose. If the thorns were Wuya, then was were the petals, stem and one leaf?
"Which are you?"
Alydia was silent as she drew a stitch into her work. "The stem."
"Can you just tell me?" Clay asked rather rudely. He held his breath for a while and didn't dare move, he thought that Alydia was going to be mad at his comment.
"This is the problem with you people now…" Alydia said not even glancing up. "I've been looking at the people around the world, and how it's changed. You people always look for the easy path instead of the harder one. You just give up too quickly. And the women, it's not fair how they have more respect now. Where was it back then, when I needed it?" she drew another stitch. "Thorns are attached to the rose, and somewhat cover it, and command it. Wuya would always cover over me, but not in a good sense. She would get in front of me, cut into my speaking and just make sure that I wasn't noticed. You need to climb up the stem to get to the rose, and the thorns will stop you. The leaves are sometimes bumps in a road, but in this case, the leaf is a diversion. Lifting your fingers up the rose, you'll stop at the leaf, and you know you will. Until you can reach the precious rose."
"So Wuya wanted to stop you from being with Master Dashi, who is the rose? And the leaf was someone else that Wuya used to try to get you with?" Clay asked.
"In the simple sense, yes." Alydia said.
"So, then you did love Dashi, even before the arrangement." Clay stated.
"That's right." Alydia said, continuing with her stitching. "I never let Wuya know, because she had told me she loved him when we were young. Wuya never got her way, so I figured that it would be the right thing to do. But when I did start to like him, I would just keep quiet so Wuya could be happy." Alydia gave a small hint of laughter. "Sometimes I guess I'm too polite for my own good."
"I can relate." Clay said smiling. "Can I ask something else?"
Alydia didn't answer.
"Did you end up having Dashi's child or not?" Clay asked, timidly. He didn't know if that was a very polite question to ask. "Because the way you explained it to me, was that you had a kid, but then you mistook and you were never pregnant…"
"That, is hard to explain." Alydia said. "I guess that it's my fault for telling it that way. I did have a child with Dashi. But shortly after the birth, Wuya then accused me of a murder. My in-laws had found out about all my murders and destructions too. Dashi's parents said that it was unacceptable, and wasn't honoring the family. When I left the house, his parents told everyone that my pregnancy was a mistake. The way that it was been passed down in history is wrong. This is the truth though. They called my child a sin."
Clay said nothing.
The one thing that Clay was surprised was that Alydia had told him so much.
"Are you really evil, Alydia?" Clay asked finally. "Or are you just pretending because you were framed?"
"You don't understand, do you dragon?" Alydia asked setting down her needle and thread, looking at the white fabric on her lap. "Yes I was framed, but I did kill people, and I did it with will. I regret nothing I did, and I liked it. I am evil and that will never change."
"It would if you wanted it too." Clay said suddenly. Alydia finally stood up and slowly turned her fabric around. It was a simple white square with a black rose in the center.
"This rose, is poison. If anyone touches it, they will be in grave danger." Alydia said. "I assume your friends will come soon to try and break you out, and when they do, I will make sure that you will have one less friend."
Clay's mouth dropped. If only there was some way to let them know. "But Alydia…"
"Silence!" she screamed. "Or do you wish to be the first to go?" With that question, Alydia left the room.
--
It was Saturday afternoon soon enough. The monks were on their way to rescue Clay, while Clay himself was just thinking about what to do. He had been spared another question when he asked why he was never hungry or having the need to shower or use the bathroom. Alydia had said that the shield he was in provided hygiene, nourishment and anything else without Clay knowing. He was slowly being fed but he hadn't eatin in days.
Of course, it was raining when the monks came, so that made everything more difficult.
The main problem was, that Omi, Raimundo and Kimiko would kill Alydia if they had the chance. But Clay wanted everything but that to happen, and Alydia didn't care either way. She knew she was too powerful for them to handle, and she knew that there was a higher chance of her killing them. In ways, it was every man for himself.
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I know perfectly well that I am a horrible, horrible person. So please don't tell me such. D: I am back though!!! Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know that this might not be a good idea to say, but I can almost assure you that someone will die.
vivi-raikim14