28. Can’t Go Back
Can't Go Back
“But I want the Superman ones! Why do you gotta take the stuff I want all the time?!”
Dustin chased after Chris through the aisles of the children’s clothing store, nearly tripping over his untied shoelaces as he went.
It was the first time their mom was letting them pick out their own outfits for their trip to Bartholomew Pier, and the moment Dustin laid eyes on those Superman overalls he knew he had to have them.
But of course, Chris swooped in and grabbed them instead.
“Heh, just twust me,” Chris defiantly replied, outpacing Dustin with ease.
“Just give them back already! You freakin’ bully!” Dustin finally caught up to his brother, fully prepared to tackle him into one of the clothing racks… but then he stopped cold. Chris was standing proudly, hands on his hips and a big smile on his face showcasing his missing front teeth.
On the rack behind him was another pair of overalls, almost identical, but with a large bat-symbol patch on the front pocket instead.
“Told you to twust me! I saw those ones and it’s perfect for you, riiiight?” Chris beamed, “let me take Superman, and you can have the Batman! We can be same same but different!”
Dustin’s frown quickly melted into a wide grin… and then he tackled Chris anyway, both of them laughing like madmen as they rolled around on the floor.
The harsh sound of a throat clearing ended their fun immediately, sending them both scrambling to their feet as their mother towered over them.
“As happy as I am that you two aren’t fighting, I’ll remind you that we’re in public,” Charlotte said, leering down at them, “Dustin, I expect better from you than to participate in antics like this,”
Dustin’s shoulders fell and he hung his head.
“S-sorry okaasan,” he sniffled, before turning his glare on Chris, “you always get me in trouble,”
Chris’s lip quivered and his gaze dropped to the floor… but he didn’t respond.
“Dustin?”
“Do you think he can hear us?”
“I’m not sure? Dusty, if you can hear me, you’ve gotta open your eyes,”
Dustin’s eyes snapped open with a gasp; light and feeling suddenly flooding his senses.
He had to blink a few times to fully process everything, but he seemed to be…
in some sort of bath? Or hot spring perhaps?
Warm water was lapping against his naked body as he floated there on his back, and it seemed to soak through his skin, right down to the bone, healing him from the inside out.
The scraped-up skin on his arm looked like the injury had never happened at all.
He turned to float upright, allowing him to better see the space he was in; a tiny alcove that looked to be part of the Palace of Radiant Clouds, with its silver moonrock walls, and high windows letting in starlight.
A small tree stretched overhead, with roots growing down into the water, large enough for Bailey, Chloe, and James to sit on as they looked him over.
“What happened? Where is this place?” he groggily asked.
“Sima Yao called it the Celestial Grotto. The water here has special healing properties,” Chloe explained, rolling up her sleeves to show her burn-free arms.
“So, we can connect with him again?”
As if responding to his query, the mist rising from the water swirled along the surface; rising and taking shape until Sima himself appeared within it.
“Not with the same ease as when the five of you were awakened and in harmony, Second Master Ying. But now that the Fire Ring is free of Qin Shi Huang’s corrupting influence, I can at the very least transport you all here once more,”
“We asked about what it means now that Chris isn’t wearing the ring anymore,” James spoke up, his voice small and tentative, “it’s kinda better for us? Kinda worse…”
“Based on what I have been told about Qin Shi Huang searching for artifacts from our time, I believe he was searching for two things; his ceremonial sword, and the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. The sword contained more stolen dragon scales and fiercely amplified his power over storms, and the seal was shaped from magical jade that allowed him to exert his will over his subjects with absolute authority. With them in hand, he will not only be able to exert full control over Master Ying, but he will become a far more dangerous opponent. However, hope is not lost. With the five rings in our possession, we can potentially bond the Fire Ring to a new host,”
“Wait, what?!” Dustin immediately blurted out, “we should be fighting to save Chris, not finding a new host!”
“Dusty, just hear him out, okay?” Bailey assured him.
“All five elemental energies exist within all living beings. Each of you, as with all people, have a single most dominant element that governs which ring you bonded with, but you have access to the others as well,” Sima Yao began.
“Wait… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Second Master Ying, I believe the best course of action is for you to assume temporary control of the Fire Ring, so that you may command its power to free your brother.”
“Wait, is that even possible? And why ask me to do it? I’m not… I can’t be fire. I can’t be like Chris,”
“To wield two elements simultaneously,” Sima paused, a contemplative look taking over his face, “it is certainly a risk. One that I do not ask you to undertake lightly. I understand the potential threat to your body... and yet, I cannot imagine another solution to our dilemma. As for your other hesitation, I do not ask that you become your brother. I simply ask for you to step into the version of yourself that blazes with the same ease that you embrace fluidity,”
Those words felt like an explosion to Dustin. The idea that his old self and his new self could co-exist? The flamboyant Colorful Trauma frontman and the disciplined star swimmer… the two Dustins that existed entirely separately in his psyche.
Fire and water. Within him at once. It was liberating… and fucking terrifying.
“If you can pull it off, and I know you can pull it off, it might give us the edge we need to make sure part two of our plan works,” Chloe said, fidgeting with the zipper on her cropped hoodie to calm her nerves. Clearly whatever ‘part two’ was didn’t have her full confidence.
“What is it?”
“Well, Sima says that he can bring Chris back here, so long as all five of us are touching him with all the rings active at once. That’ll let him power through Qin Shi Huang’s influence, but once we get him here, we’ll need to get him into the Lotus Garden,” Bailey explained.
James nodded, clearly more into the idea than Chloe was.
“It’ll basically act like a spiritual purification chamber or something. It’ll split the emperor’s soul from Chris’s, and if we can reach him before Qin Shi Huang can take control back, it might just force him out of Chris’s body,”
“It is truly a desperate plan, but one I believe could work,” Sima Yao confirmed, “though I will need to take additional steps to fortify the Palace, to prevent the emperor from corrupting it as well. He will be much more powerful on this spiritual plane,”
Dustin’s stomach was a weird slurry mix of hope and abject terror. Sure, this was the closest thing to an actionable plan they had since Chris was taken over, but it was clear that there was no margin for error. If they fucked this up, his brother would be gone forever.
And it would be entirely his fault.
Not because he couldn’t save him. This wasn’t about managing Chris, not anymore. He’d been forced to do that his entire life and look where it had landed them.
No, it would be Dustin’s fault because he failed to reach Chris. To finally meet his twin where he lived instead of looking down at him as a problem to be solved, or an impact to be braced for.
He couldn’t fail this time. He wouldn’t.
“Give me the ring,” he said, voice trembling ever so slightly as he looked down into the water. Sima Yao closed his eyes, seemingly not in concentration, but something almost like grief. Another pillar of mist rose from the water, the bright red Fire Ring floating on top of it like an offering.
Dustin breathed deeply… and slid Chris’s ring onto his middle finger.
“Second Master Ying, you now command the power of fire. Ardent and enrapturing. Dazzling and creative. But take heed that your willingness to accept this new burden does not immolate your truest sense of who you are. Balance, young master, is the key to integration,”
Sima’s words faded out as Dustin’s surroundings shifted.
Suddenly he was standing alone beneath a complete torrential downpour; the intensity of the rain impossible to even see through.
But before he could even get his bearings… the raindrops became hotter. And then somehow even hotter. And then he realized it was now raining fire.
Dustin screamed and collapsed to the ground, trying to cover his head with his hands, but his bare skin was completely exposed to the flaming monsoon.
Was this what Sima meant? The two identities failing to coalesce cleanly, so fire was completely overtaking him?
Accepting water as an assignment was simple, he’d spent his whole life being defined by it both literally and in the abstract.
But fire? Maybe he needed to anchor it to something the same way water found its root in him without even needing to try.
That’s when the spotlight hit him.
The flames and rain were gone, and he found himself on an elevated stage in front of a roaring crowd; no longer naked, but instead wearing his favorite black mesh crop top that showed off the bellybutton piercing Chris talked him into getting sophomore year with a forged ID.
He recognized it immediately, Sophomore Homecoming. Colorful Trauma’s first big performance. The night Dustin realized his true potential for the very first time.
But even back then, he didn’t feel quite…
whole. While he was comfortable on stage, he still felt like he was performing.
The guy on stage wasn’t really him any more than the star of the Kochiyama High swim team was.
But that was the most “fire” he’d ever been, so anchoring himself in that energy would at least allow him to incorporate the ring’s power without burning himself alive.
As quickly as the scenery changed, he found himself floating in the grotto once more, but with both rings now resting on his hand.
“You have survived the bonding process to the Fire Ring,” Sima Yao breathed a sigh of relief, “I lament that you will not have more time to master it outright, but we must act decisively. The four of you should take this time to prepare for confrontation. Steel your body, hearts and minds for the battle to come,”
“And what will you do, Sima?” James asked, his voice tinged with worry.
“I will ascend to the Heavenly Plane and seek support in my effort to secure the palace. I am not… in favor with the Jade Emperor or much of his court. But I do still have some supporters among them. Perhaps Lu Ban will be willing to assist me; he built this place, and I doubt that he would be pleased if it were to fall, even if he does not care much for me,”
“Oh please, who wouldn’t love you Sima? You’re beautiful and cryptic, you’re like every girl’s dream,” Chloe teased, actually managing to make the ghost smile.
“If only everyone among the Heavenly Court shared your taste, Lady Li. Or, appreciated what the other Sages and I were attempting to accomplish in our defeat of Qin Shi Huang. Unfortunately, many of them saw our efforts as nothing more than a collection of foolhardy humans, wielding power they had no right to in a fruitless attempt to correct another’s sin.
That disdain was only calcified when our victory against the emperor merely resulted in the fracturing of his soul,”
Dustin shook his head in frustration; if anyone understood how it felt to be blamed for trying to fix something, it was him.
“Well for now, we’ll all head back home and do whatever we can to get ready for this,” Bailey said somberly, “we’re getting Chris back. No question about it,”
Sima Yao nodded, and intense mist rose around the group, obscuring the room.
Dustin glanced down at the red and black rings on his fingers, and his mouth pressed into a thin line.
There was absolutely no turning back now, and he wasn’t giving up until the Fire Ring was back with its rightful owner.