Beetho: BAM! Back with an epilogue!!

Epilogue: 1400 Years Later

She ran as fast as her petite legs could carry her threw the woods. The growing growling behind her kept her going. No branch was too high, no branch was too low; no puddle of water or mud was too wide for her. She leaped with grace and seemingly glided over and under it all with ease. After all, it was all a game to her. She repeated his words in her mind as if it were a chant: Wǒ ài nǐ, Mèimei. I always have and I always will. I would do anything to keep you safe. Sometimes she wondered if he forgot about his promise. Sometimes, like now, she wondered if he would dare break his word. If he really did love her and would do anything to keep her safe, one stolen spell book would be nothing, and once he retrieved it without violence he would let her go and forget she ever even attempted to steal it.

“SHANNEL!” he shouted. His little sister grinned to herself. She loved it when he was angry with her. When he was angry with her, he was angry with himself, bound by his word not to harm her; to keep her safe. “Return the book to me this instant!”

“What was that, Gēge? I can’t here you with all this wind in my—AH!” He tackled her to the ground, teeth bared, growling, eyes like saucers and flashing. They tumbled for a moment until he was on top of her, glaring down at her. He held her down with one hand and grabbed the spell book with the other. Shannel wouldn’t let go.

“Do not call me that,” he raged. He twitched with furry, not sure whether he should chang to his Form and teach her a lesson or not.

“Why not? You are my big brother and there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t choose your family, Chase,” Shannel said sweetly. He growled. Removing himself from her, he hauled her up by the book she held and sneered at her.

“If I hadn’t let you get a hold of my spell book last time you would be dead.” Shannel frowned.

“What happened to ‘I would do anything to keep you safe’?” she inquired. Chase rolled his eyes, still trying to pry the book out of her small hands.

“Idiot, you would have died of old age. I am a man of my word. I can do nothing to harm you,” he growled. Shannel smiled. “And for the record, I cannot do anything to keep you safe if I don’t know if you are in danger. Why do you think I’ve spent all these years trying to avoid you? I want you dead. Out of my life.” Her smile vanished.

Shannel titled her head up and stood on the tip of her toes to peck her brother’s nose. “I don’t believe you want that . . .” she said softly. Chase’s eyes widened slightly at her gesture and the Dragon within him roared. It made her jump.

“There you are!” Chase turned, still holding onto his sister and his spell book. Lao Meng stood there, whip in hand, hissing. His brown bangs draped his eye patch and his left eye gleamed. He cracked his whip for dramatic effect and his forked tongue lolled out as he advanced on the siblings.

“Lao, why are you here on my domain?” Chase inquired, irritated. His fellow Heylin jabbed a finger at his sister.

“That conniving vixen—”

“Stole something of yours?” Shannel stifled a giggle. “I assure you that I will return it to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, leave.”

“No, I want it back now!” Lao took several more steps and lashed his lightning whip at Shannel’s arm. Chase moved her quickly out of the way and growled at his ally.

“Lao, I’m asking you to go home. I will bring whatever she took from you once I retrieve my spell book.”

“No.” He tried to flick his whip to the side of Chase, but he stepped in the way again and let the metal wrap around his armor. Being made of metal, his armor acted as a conductor to the electricity and he winced in pain. Lao pulled back on his weapon, dragging Chase slowly with it. Both Heylins exchanged deadly glares and growled at one another. Shannel backed away from her brother, wanting to run, but she couldn’t leave him here; even if he was capable of taking care of himself, she didn’t want to abandon him. “Chase, get out of the way. She is Xiaolin. Why are you protecting her?”

Chase wound his forearm in Lao’s whip several before using the Heylin’s strength against him to uppercut him square in the jaw. Lao hissed and dropped his whip, brought his other weapon from behind his back, and swung it at him in one fluent move. Shannel screamed without meaning to. The spiked wooden ball on a chain went centimeters from Chase’s face and he tripped back on a piece of debris to avoid getting his face rearranged by it. She thought about going to help him up, but Lao picked back up his whip and ran toward her, cracking it back, readying to strike her.

He took one more step and flicked his wrist. In the nick of time, Chase reached his hand out to trip the villain. Shannel cried out as the lightning whip cut a deep line down her left forearm. She fell over her feet and braced herself against a dying tree. “Run!” Chase called back to her, crawling toward Lao and holding him down, straining his arm with the whip behind and across his back. “Go! Return the Xiaolin Temple; he won’t follow you there!” Dropping the stolen spell book and gripping her arm, she ran.

***

Shannel ran in a daze. This time the growling and hissing faded behind her; nevertheless, she couldn’t manage to apply the grace she fled with earlier. She tripped over branches, barely missed hanging ones, and nearly slipped on the muddy ground she ran on. Her mind was on her brother. Because she’s my sister! he replied to Lao before she ran off, thinking she was out of earshot.

Chase wouldn’t let Lao hurt her. She smiled. He was going to keep his promise, and that’s all she wanted to know. She had several nightmares of him betraying her, killing her like he had killed her lover. She dreamt of him hunting her down and doing terrible, unspeakable things to her. She only meant to steal his spell book to get him to follow her and test him. He was going to keep her safe whether he knew she was in danger or not. She knew now.

Shannel felt the compulsion to turn and look behind her, fearing the silent Evil that might be following her. As she did so, she rammed into something – someone. She looked up, still cradling her arm. Chase stood hovering over her. His expression was still a mask of anger, but his gold eyes seemed mellow. He held out his spell book to her. She stared at it dumbly.

“Here. You wanted it, didn’t you?” Chase let the book fall into her lap as his sister shrugged.

“I didn’t really want it . . .”

“Oh? Then why did you take it? Surely you must have thought it had some sort of importance to go through all that trouble to get it,” he said coolly, waiting for an explanation. She shook her head. “So then you are a thief? You stole it just to steal it?”

Unclenching his fists, he offered her a hand and she took it. Chase barely tugged and Shannel lifted up and bumped into his cold armor. She backed away wearily and tried to smile up at him. “I’m not a thief. I just needed an excuse to test your word.” He arched an eye brow.

“Test my word?”

“I dreamt you were hunting me down and killing me and breaking your word. You remember what you said don’t you? You said that you loved me and that you always would, no matter what you said or did. You said you would keep my safe and do anything for me. You said we were –”

“Yong yuan de peng yo,” Chase said quietly, losing all traces of anger on his face. He met his sister’s gold gaze. “Friends for life. I know what I said. That was a long time ago, Mèimei.” Chase winced, realizing what he just said, but it was too late. Shannel grinned up at him.

“I still love you, Gēge. You are a good and honorable man. You’ve always been.”

“How can you say that?” Chase replied, suddenly sounding angry. “I am Heylin. Have you not forgotten? I am your enemy. I’ve committed just as many wrong’s as Lao Meng. I killed—” Her eyes ceased twinkling. Her smile faded. “Shannel . . .”

“No. You don’t have to lie.” She smiled. “But it’s alright. You are still my big brother, I still love you, and the past is the past. If you would just . . . I’m willing to forgive and forget.”

“I’m not going back, Shannel. I can’t. I can never go back. I was destined to become a Heylin from the start. Lao knew it; after Wuya changed, she knew it; Dashi knew it. Eventually Master Yao found out.” He turned away from his sister and began to walk away. “Go home, Shannel.” She stood immobile.

Chase walked until he was out of the forest and could barely see Shannel through a small opening between some trees. He could see her slowly turn and walk away, clutching his spell book, head hung low.

“Yong yuan de peng yo . . .” Chase said to himself, shaking his head as if in disgust – at his sister’s faith in him or at himself? “And for the record, don’t think I don’t still love you, Mèimei.”

Beetho: Now finished. Tell me what you think please.