Disclaimer – Familiar characters, locales and whatnot belong to WB and Christy Hui. I'm just taking 'em out for a spin.
A/N – I've been meaning to write about this subject since I saw the finale, but it wasn't until I challenged myself to change the format that I actually got off my bum and did it. These are a series of drabbles (100 word ficlets) that go together to form one continuous narrative. Writing this way is fun and stimulating, and I'd recommend it to anyone suffering writer's block or insomnia (or both, if you're multitasking).
Continuity – Just before, during and after the last scene in Time After Time, Part II.
Feedback – Yes please!
Friends and Enemies
© Scribbler, April 2006.
"Tell us what it is, dangerous
Friends and enemies, I find it's contagious
And they're spreading through your system like a virus
Yes, the trouble, in the end it makes you anxious"
-- from Safe From Harm, by Massive Attack.
1.
It was strange, the wounds left by a world that didn't even exist anymore. Raimundo had never run into that fight, Omi told himself. He had never really kicked Chase Young in the head, had his spine scored by Master Monk Guan, or been set upon by Wuya's gargoyles. Kimiko hadn't really slammed into the stone archway hard enough to crack a rib. Clay hadn't really wrenched his elbow, or dislocated his shoulder dangling from the Lasso Boa-Boa. They hadn't really been in that showdown.
That world didn't exist anymore. The temple infirmary was just patching up phantom injuries.
Sure.
2.
For about an hour after the schism resolved itself, Omi felt oddly disjointed and removed from reality.
His memories were whole up to a point, but then they diverged, taking on an echoey quality, like someone shouting into a giant brass bell. Everything existed twice in his head – the way he knew they'd happened, and the way his brain insisted they'd happened. He knew these were the memories of the other Omi – the Omi who had worked with Chase Young as an ally.
He also knew that he should try to exorcise them, but that seemed like killing a friend.
3.
Omi couldn't stay to watch when Raimundo had his hand bandaged. Rai's knuckles were bruised and swollen, a token of the beating his other self had taken. Still, things could have been much worse.
Old Raimundo's knuckles had popped and crackled when he laid a hand on Omi's shoulder. His grip had been quite firm for an elderly man, his brain still razorblade-sharp. It was thanks to him that they'd made it through Spicer's fortress. Omi could see that now.
He could also see the body after the robot lifted its foot.
Yes, things could have been much, much worse.
4.
"Master Fung wants to talk to us," Clay said from the doorway.
Omi stopped balancing on his head and cricked a few vertebrae back into place. "All of us?"
"Some kinda meetin'." Clay shrugged.
Master Fung hadn't been in that other place. He'd vanished from it long before the schism, so all he could remember was the inside of the Yin-Yang World. The young Dragons had already debriefed him on what happened before they had their injuries tended. He'd nodded, like he did, not looked at anyone in particular, and then sent them away.
Omi wondered what he wanted now.
5.
"Okay, spill. You've been looking at me like I'm an alien ever since … y'know." Raimundo folded his arms. "What's up?"
Omi wondered what to say. How could you tell one of your best friends that you'd seen him murdered? Omi had never seen anyone die before. His parents weren't even hazy blurs, and Master Fung seemed ageless as Dojo. Even though it had occurred in a far-flung future that would now (hopefully) never exist, he knew he would never truly rid himself of those last events before the Sands of Time whisked him away.
"Nothing. Master Fung is waiting."
6.
Raimundo was good leadership material – maybe a little rough-edged and cocky, but he cared (in a gruff sort of way), and could strategise a fight like nobody else. The other Dragons could look to him and absorb his confidence. They could believe in him to make the right decision for the good of the team – and the wider world.
He'd been prepared to sacrifice his soul so they could defeat evil.
Omi wondered whether he'd have snatched the bowl like Chase did, and … he couldn't answer. Not completely honestly.
Tears in his eyes, he bowed. Yes, Rai deserved this.
7.
Evil's Army (as Kimiko later dubbed it) also remembered the other world. Some of them had been more attached to it than this one.
Omi flipped backwards to avoid one of Pandabubba's underlings, narrowly avoided a claw-swipe from Katnappé, and brought up a wall of foam to block a dozen Jack Bots. The robots crumpled, giving Omi a kind of grim satisfaction. He imagined they were their larger future counterparts, pounding at them mercilessly – viciously.
"No quarter for an old ally, Omi?" Chase Young's smile was sharp, like a knife blade.
Omi swung at him with pain in his heart.
8.
"So… we're cool?"
"Like the other side of the pillow, my friend."
Rai blinked. "You're stealing my lines, dude." Then he leaned back on the grass and linked his hands behind his head – wincing a little. The fight against Evil's Army had replaced phantom injuries with real ones. "But I'll let it slide this once, 'cause I'm just that generous."
Clouds scudded overhead.
"Omi?"
"Yes?"
"In the future, am I… was I still leader?"
Omi considered this. "You led us to victory upon my arrival."
"Oh. Good." Relief. "So I didn't get anyone killed." Teasing. Joking.
Ha ha.
"Whoa – dude!"
9.
"What did you do to him, Rai?" Kimiko's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Nothing, I swear! We were just talking, and then –whammo! Suddenly he's bawling."
"Here, lil' buddy, drink this." Clay pressed a cup of water into Omi's hands, which he sipped gratefully.
"Thank you."
"You want to tell us what's wrong?" Kimiko's voice turned gentle as she stroked his head. She had deceptively soft hands.
Omi remembered the robot picking her up, pinning those hands and tearing her in half. She'd bled red – red as the heart of a fire.
"I… I cannot." More hot tears slid down his cheeks.
10.
"He won't talk to us!" Kimiko raged, throwing up her hands. "Whatever's wrong, it's eating him up inside, but he won't confide in any of us. We're supposed to be his friends. Master Fung, can't you talk to him?"
Raimundo didn't slouch, though his posture screamed that he wanted to. "Do you think… could he still be sore at me being leader instead of him?"
Master Fung shook his head. "Omi is proud, but not foolish. Most of the time."
"So it's something else. But what?"
"Ahem." Dojo was uncomfortable, as though telling a secret. "I think I might know."
11.
Omi looked up at the three shadows falling across him.
"We know," Kimiko said before he could speak. "We know about the rotten future you visited. And we know about us… y'know." She swallowed. "Dying."
"Dojo told us," said Clay. "But don't get mad at him. He was just concerned."
"We all are." Raimundo knelt down and looked Omi straight in the eye. "You can't blame yourself, dude. And don't even try to deny it."
Omi shut his mouth. "If I had been wiser - "
"Everyone makes mistakes. I'm living proof of that. Besides, we're here now."
"I…"
12.
Omi missed Chase unbearably. The other Omi had been very close to him. He could see vestiges of sparring late into the night, of Chase sitting at the same table, eating the same food, going with them to collect new Wu. He could remember being comforted after Master Monk Guan trapped Master Fung in the Yin-Yang World – the smell of Chase's shirt as he sniffled into it, the hesitant feel of a hand on his back. Chase wasn't good with children, but he'd tried his best whenever they cracked and proved they weren't the mini adults they pretended to be.
13.
"If I had been wiser, I would know less."
Not quite the answer they'd been expecting.
"Omi," Kimiko started.
Omi leaped to his feet. "I wish to forget! I wish to not know what happened in that other world, or in the future!" His fists bunched so hard his knuckles blanched. "I wish for things to be as before. That is what I wish!"
Raimundo stood up, but it was Clay who pushed forward. "You gotta talk to us, lil' partner. Why'd you wanna forget? You were a hero back there."
Omi stared as if not seeing him at all.
14.
Omi didn't see Clay and Master Fung die. They'd been enveloped by smoke, and neither had cried out.
Still, he looked at Clay and couldn't help but imagine those broad shoulders sagging. When he talked, Omi imagined him with barely a single tooth in his head.
His skull ached. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to look at the people who'd come to mean so much to him. He hadn't even liked them to begin with. They'd been interlopers, invaders of his territory. They'd mocked him and his inexperience, making jokes at his expense, playing pranks whenever they could.
15.
"We can't say we forgive you for what happened," said Raimundo, "because there's nothing to forgive. But buddy, bottling it up won't help. Dojo said things got pretty rough at the end."
It was difficult to imagine himself dying, especially the way Dojo had told it. Rai didn't want to die, but sometimes imagined going out in a blaze of glory. In those visualisations he'd always been youthful, with dramatic backing music.
To think he'd sit in a cell for decades, then dodder his way to a last-minute victory, only to be stomped to death by a toaster's evil cousin…
16.
When Master Monk Guan trapped Omi into being part of the Heylin, Chase had come to the rescue. Raimundo, Kimiko and Clay fought bravely, but Guan's army of warriors transmuted into insectoids had been too much for them. It was only after Chase arrived that they were able to rescue him.
Chase. Not Chase Young.
Chase Young was evil. He wore armour and ruthlessly manipulated people into the shapes he wanted.
Chase liked wontons crisped from being fried too long. Chase had sat on a rush mat, sighed, and offered to stick around even though he couldn't replace Master Fung.
17.
A burst of memory suddenly resurfaced in Raimundo's mind. It ricocheted off his cerebellum and quivered to a halt, clear as the horizon at dawn. It wasn't his.
"What on earth are you up to?"
"Uh, engaging in youthful high spirits?"
"That's funny, because it looks awfully like you're putting hot sauce in Omi's drink."
"Yeah, well, see… I have a perfectly good explanation… as soon as I can think of it."
"C'mon, hand it over."
"Aw, man. You're no fun, Chase."
"I'll remember that when I'm deciding who cleans the toilets."
"Do you enjoy making me miserable?"
"A little."
18.
Kimiko was just about to launch into another barrage of questions when Raimundo touched her elbow, shaking his head. Something about the look in his eyes made her stop. It was close to understanding.
He knelt down in front of Omi again. Even with Rai kneeling, Omi was shorter.
"I think I get it."
Omi's eyes snapped open. "Excuse me?"
"It's not just about us, is it? It's about," Rai spiralled his hand, "everything. This might sound dumb, Omi, but we remember him, too. And I think… I finally get why you always defend him. He was a good friend."
19.
Dojo perched on Master Fung's shoulder. The old man sometimes liked to watch his students when they didn't know he was there. He wasn't a voyeur – it was more like he was trying to check up on their well-being without destroying their self-confidence.
Right now Raimundo was leaning forward in an uncharacteristic show of emotion to hug Omi, whose sobs could be heard from way over here. There was a feeling in the air like after a thunderstorm – of great energies just expended.
"You think they'll be okay?"
Master Fung paused before answering. "The future has not yet been determined."
FINIS.