Disclaimer: I don't own xiaolin showdown. If I did, Chase would be groveling at Jack's feet.

Warning: Chase x Jack and probably bad grammar. English isn't my first language. If there's any mistakes, please feel free to let me know.

AN: Sorry for the long wait and thank you for reading.

Summary: The real Jack Spicer wasn't what they expected.

Existential

X

Over breakfast the next morning, Chase couldn't help but glare across the table. He met the returning narrowed eyed glower straight on and animosity flared between him and the spirit; their tempers igniting the way a dry piece of wood and a spark would once they touched. There was just something about the spirit that sets Chase off. Something that he can't put his hands on. There was a certain type of negative energy around it. Powerful. Dark. Something that leaves a bad taste in the back of this throat.

He doesn't bother hiding his contempt for the thing floating above their heads. It was painfully obvious from his expression (and the feeling was mutual) that he would rather be on the opposite end of the temple, the world even, but Guan insisted on providing breakfast for Jack and where Jack was, the spirit followed. Dashi, in turn, had grabbed Chase by the collar and hauled him to the table before he could escape.

That's how the world's most awkward breakfast came into being.

Chase crossed his arms.

"Chase," Guan gently admonish.

Meanwhile, Jack shook his head at his spirit and a 'humph' later, the spirit pointedly ignored everyone.

"We hope you don't mind the food," Dashi commented. He made a point of ignoring the tension as he set down a bowl of plain congee on the table in front of Jack. "I'm afraid our diet is very strict here."

"This is fine," Jack said. He picked up the spoon and cautiously dipped it into the bowl. "Thank you for the meal."

To his credit, Jack's expression didn't change when he took his first bite. Chase grimaced on the inside, almost in solidarity. All meals at the temple are made with nutrient in mind, not taste. The plain congee, Chase knew from experience, tasted on a good day like liquid sawdust.

This was not a good day.

He ate his own breakfast mullishly.

"What are your plans after this?" Dashi asked.

"We'll be on our way to find our friend," the boy answered.

"Do you need us to show you the way down?" Dashi questioned. Testing. Dashi was subtle at least. After the admittance of being lost, what will the pair do now? If they say no, it was as good as lying. If they say yes, they will be escorted down the mountain with a chaperone watching their every move. Either way, the pair lose.

Chase watched as a brief flash of a calculating gaze came into the spirit's eyes before it shuttered close behind an annoyed expression.

"We could use the help getting down the mountain," the spirit hmphed. "We're lost after all."

Jack said nothing.

"Very well," Dashi nodded. "Chase, please help escort them after breakfast."

Chase scowled.

"Him?" the spirit sounded disgusted. She turned to a serene Guan. "You sure you're not available? "

"I will be indisposed after breakfast, " Guan beamed. He seem pleased to be the first choice. "I'm sure Chase will make sure you get down the mountain safely."

The spirit mutters under her breath, but doesn't make any other objections.

Interesting, Chase thought. It doesn't escape anyone's notice that she didn't ask for Dashi to be their escort. She obviously loathed Chase, but she rather bear his presence than Dashi apparently. What kind of history do you two have?

Dashi stared at the spirit thoughtfully, eyes studying.

The spirit flushed at the lingering stare and determinedly chose to look at only Jack.

"Hurry up," she snapped at Jack. "We need to be on our way."

A short time later, Chase strolled down the mountain path with Jack next to him and a displeased Ashley flying above them. From the corner of his eyes he observed.

Jack walked with a careful, awkward gait. Like he was unuse to his own body. As old as he looks, Chase wondered if maybe Jack just hit his pubescent period. That might explain why he looked so unease as he moved. His footsteps were ginger as one long coltish limb moved carefully in front of the other. He walked with the type of gait usually found in shorter people. Unexpected growth spurt? Chase narrowed his eyes. Or maybe his shoulder wasn't the only thing that was injured.

"How is the shoulder?" he asked. Guan had set the injury yesterday. It had to be sore, but Jack never complained or show any distress when he heaved the strange looking pack over one shoulder when they had set off.

Jack turned to him, face impassive. "Its better," he answered.

Chase frowned. Why was it that every word out of Jack's mouth was cautious and carefully crafted? Every reply and every answer uttered with the type of care that said as little as possible as it can get away with? The interrogation from yesterday had already confirmed to Chase what type of personality that Jack had. Now, with this response, it proved that every word that came out of Jack was purposable. That every word was deliberately contrived to best control any situation. Chase knew of only two other people who spoke like this.

Dashi.

Hannibal Bean.

Chase doesn't know who Jack resembled more in that moment, but either option made him wary. "How did you get injured again?" he asked.

"I fell," Jack intone.

"Another interrogation?" Ashley sounded indignant. She floated down and forced Chase to move away as she wedged herself between them. She stayed by Jack's face (like an oversized blob bodyguard). He watched as she unconsciously nuzzled Jack's cheek.

A dead girlfriend?

It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Jack and Ashley had an ill-fated romance that transcended beyond death. That would explain the almost jealously type behavior and the clinginess.

Then again, Ashley could easily be an older sister or an aunt based on the over-protectiveness. Not mother, though. He banished that thought. There was no maternal instinct that he could find in her.

Chase watched as a tentacle reached out to soothingly pat Jack's head. "Everything is going to be fine," she said firmly. "Just keep moving. One step at a time."

Jack nodded. He seemed to be mindful of Chase even as he spoke. "We'll start looking for Clay then?"

"I'm sure he's around somewhere," Ashley grumbled.

"And Clay's twin brother, Omi?"

Ashley seemed hesitant. "Omi has a delicate body. I'm not sure he could survive the trip."

"He's made of tough stuff," Jack mentioned.

"Tough stuff can bend and break," Ashley warned. "Especially under pressure. You should know this after what happened to your brother."

Chase watched as Jack looked down at the gauntlets on his arms.

There was an air of grief hovering between the two now. It showed more on the spirit's face than it does Jack, but there was no mistaking the heaviness in Jack's shoulder that had nothing to do with his injuries. Were they mourning Jack's brother or this Omi?

"What happened to your brother?" Chase asked, fishing for information.

There was a moment of silence.

"He died," Ashley finally answered. She looked tired suddenly. She didn't bother to even glare at Chase as if it took too much effort. "He died heroically saving an asshole who didn't deserve it."

The dead brother is a tragic self-sacrificing hero then, Chase shook his head. Saving someone undeserving sounded a lot like something Guan would do. He turned to the left to a group of wild bushes and ducked underneath the hanging branches. There was no trail, but Chase knew this path the way he knew the back of his hand.

"Where are we going?" the spirit asked suspiciously. "Is this really the way down?"

"It's a shortcut," Chase snorted. He led the way and they followed. "Tell me more about your brother," he said. Sometimes the best information is one willingly shared. The spirit and Jack shared a look before the Jack spoke.

"He looked exactly like me," Jack said.

"Twins?"

"Yes."

"Isn't your friend Clay and Omi also twins?" Chase raised an eyebrow. "Twins seem to be going around."

"Like you wouldn't believe," the spirit muttered.

"Yes," Jack nodded. "Clay and Omi are identical twins too." There was something in Jack's voice he couldn't discern. "They look alot like you actually."

Ashley snorted.

"Oh?" Chase smirked. "They're abnormally good-looking too?"

Ashley seemed to mock him. "They have better hair." She looked at how disheveled Chase's hair was from roaming through the mountain path.

Irritation raced through Chase at the derisive words. Admittedly, he has always cared about his appearance and his hair was a particular weakness of his. He eyed the spirit. It was a weakness that somehow Ashley managed to pick up on. Was it by accident? Or was she, as Dashi suspected, a spy sent by Hannibal to observe and find any weakness in Xiaolin? If she was a spy, that made Jack a spy too and everything said so far had to be taken with a grain of salt.

"This Clay and Omi. Were one of them the undeserving asshole your brother died for?" he asked, taking a gamble.

Chase could practically feel the winch as Jack recoiled slightly. So far he doesn't think that Jack Spicer has outright lied to him. He's sure, at least, that there really was a dead brother. The grief he witnessed in those few moments were real.

"Clay was," Jack admitted. "There was a battle. My brother took the blow meant for Clay."

"Your brother sounds rather noble," Chase noted. He tried to recall any recent skirmishes in the nearby villages, but nothing came to mind. With Hannibal growing more powerful and the different factions of Heylin popping up all over the place, it wasn't hard to imagine villages turning on one another for the dwindling resources.

War was coming.

Everyone knew it and was trying to stockpile and prepare.

Noble people like Jack's brother die all the time, caught in the crossfire.

"He was noble," Jack agreed. He seemed to want to talk, to speak about the brother he obviously put on a pedestal. Like a dam breaking, Jack spoke. Strangely enough, Ashley doesn't stop him. She seemed to listen, adding her own thoughts in.

Through the bushels, bushes, trees and woods, Chase listened as the two of them reminisced.

The picture they painted was of a lively boy who tended to try and befriend everyone he met. Even if the feelings weren't mutual (and apparently that was the case most of the time) it doesn't stop him from always being kind-hearted and helping when he could. He helped his friends. He helped his enemies. He seemed to help the whole damn world and Chase won't admit it out loud, but he actually wanted to meet this person who seemed to have a propensity for goodness that rival even Dashi.

Unlike Dashi realistic practical nature, this dead brother seemed almost naïve. Reading between the lines, Chase heard the untold words that also spoke about a boy who gets taken advantage of more often than not. A boy who was mocked and made fun of and toss around like trash (and that was the best case scenario). Between the lines, there's a story about a boy who was in love, who didn't get his love returned, but that didn't stop him from jumping in front of a killing blow to save this Clay, who from the stories sounded really like the asshole that Ashley accused him of being.

Chase wanted to snort.

How much of the words were real and how much of it was pure idealism? Memories of a person tended to get whitewash after their death. After death, sins are forgiven and only the good tend to remain. It was obvious that Jack and Ashley had made a saint out of this person in their minds. There was no way, after all the abuse, that such a forgiving person existed.

Before he knew it, they had made it down the mountain.

"What was your brother's name?" Chase asked before they left. Throughout the conversations he doesn't hear the name ever mention.

Jack turned around.

"His name was also Jack Spicer," he admitted. " He usually goes by Jack and I go by Jackson or Jackie."

With that, the duo turned and continued on, vanishing from Chase's sight.