The Soul of a Dragon (Xiaolin Showdown Fanfic)

Choices

The other boys eventually fell asleep and Rai continued to look at the ceiling thinking about the three options he had come up with in regards to Chase Young. "I never thought I'd be faced with three options, all of which will have some sort of negative repercussions. My three options are letting Chase Young have his freedom, take his freedom away or... well, I guess there are four options as out right killing him is in fact an option. However, the forth option is as good as death for him from what we know."

"Giving him his freedom would make him our enemy again and he's really someone we could use as an ally against the Heylin side. On the flip side, what I know of Chase makes me feel that would kill him simply because his freedom has been taken away. Killing him is out of the question as killing him is wrong and would make us just like the Heylin."

"On the positive side of things, giving him his freedom back is the right thing to do. Not giving it to him means that we would have a strong ally and he would help us stop Heylin from turning the world into a living hell. And killing him means that I don't have to think about him anymore, so I'm scratching that completely because I'd obviously be doing that for self centered reasons."

Rai let out a deep sigh as his mind came back to the forth idea. "As I've previously though, the forth idea is most likely going to kill him, so I don't want to think about it. But, I have thought about the positives of the other three as well as the negative, so I should be thinking about the positives of destroying his soup and forcing him to go cold turkey."

"While it is true that it may very well kill him, as I've told Master Fung, we do not know if it will kill him. If it doesn't kill him, not only will we have Chase back to the guy we remember from the other time line, but he'll also have his freedom, not just from us but also the soup that has him under his control. If I was in his situation I'd want the others to try everything they can in order to get me back to my normal self."

Rai took a deep breath before nodding off to sleep. He woke up as Omi bounced on him, causing him to startle away. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"We have to wait for Dojo to come back with Kimiko so we can go see Chase Young."

"Aye take it then that ya came to ya decision Rai?"

"Yeah, but chances are the rest of you aren't going to like it."

"Meaning?" Clay frowned at the boy.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do when Kimiko gets back." Rai waited patiently for the two others to get back.

A few hours later they came into the room. The young female had a smile on her face and Dojo spoke up. "Katnappe does a really fine job with the pedicures and nail polish. I am very refreshed."

"Good, because we're going to Chase Young's lair." The dark skinned youth stood up while dusting off his pants.

"What! No! I hate that place!" Dojo bemoaned.

"So... you've come to your decision the?" Kimiko's mouth twisted up into a frown.

"I've decided we need to destroy Chase's soup."

"Hold on a second. If he doesn't have the soup then he's going to die." Clay shook his head.

"The thing is, we don't know if he is going to die." The female frowned at them, folding her arms across her chest.

"Are ya sure ya didn't let ya dislike of Chase get in the way of making this decision Rai?" The husky male pulled his hat down to cover his eyes.

"I don't want Chase to die."

"Look... the other options aren't any better." Rai leaned back where he was sitting. "Killing him outright is wrong. Taking his freedom from him is also wrong despite the fact it does mean we'll have him on our side. Giving him his freedom means we'll have another strong enemy. But this option, in the long run whether he lives or dies he really will have his freedom. Because I got to thinking about it, as long as he is drinking that soup its controlling everything he does."

"That is very philosophical." Omi nodded his head in agreement.

Kimiko frowned. "I'm not going to go with you guys. I know that you have good intentions Rai, but just thinking about it makes me ill. I need some time to think about this."

Clay watched as Kimiko got up and left before speaking up. "Are you sure we need to do this today?"

"The sooner we get it done the better." Rai stated, pushing himself up from the ground. "That also said, if you guys don't want to come either then that is fine. I get it. The whole thing isn't nice business, but I think this is the right thing to do. And this time I'm not letting my feelings get in the way. Honest."

"So you don't care about Chase at all?" Omi blinked a couple of times.

"No..." Rai took a deep breath. "What I meant was I wasn't letting my feelings for one of you guys get in the way and I'm not letting my distrust of him get in the way. Though I do admit that my admiration for the Chase Young of the other time line may very well have helped me form my final decision. If we can get him back, that's a good thing, right?"

The small figure folded his arms across his chest. "I'd think that Kimiko would want to get him back more then any of us. So why is she so upset?"

"What do you mean she'd want..." The dark skinned youth suddenly frowned before shaking his head upon realization. He could feel the corner of his mouth twist up slightly as his throat tightened. "No. I get it. I'm not sure why it is that way. But if it is the way that I think it is, I think the best way to put it is if she is the one who wants to get him back the most, she is also the one most likely to not want to lose him."

"Again very philosophical." Omi bowed his round head to Rai. "I am sorry I ever doubted your ability to lead."

Rai took a deep breath. "For some reason I figure I deserve that one."