Even When You Win

A Samurai Jack ficlet by YT

You know the drill: Samurai Jack was created by Gennedy Tartakovsky and the show airs on Cartoon Network. I'm just writing this story for fun, so please don't sue me.

I would like to dedicate this story to Kambei, one of the characters in Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, because he sort of gave me the idea. It's hard to explain.

This story takes place just after Episode 7: Jack and the Three Blind Archers

Jack had gotten back to the Great Khan's warship half an hour ago. He sat at the same table he had occupied when he had overheard the tale of King Osric's Well, eating the same rice and vegetable dish that he had before.

Another false lead. Another failure. Another metaphorical punch in the gut. He had lost count, and he was losing hope.

He was looking down at his empty bowl at the time, but he sensed it when someone sat down across the table from him. And he sensed that the person was watching him. He looked up, into a pair of curious blue eyes.

"I guess it didn't work out?" she asked. Jack's brow furrowed as he took a closer look at her. She had very fair skin and dark-brown hair, which was pulled back into a braid. At first glance she looked to be a little younger than he was, but her eyes were very old. Her hands, their long fingers interlaced, were folded on the table before her.

"Excuse me?"

"The wishing well. They said you went there," she explained.

Jack looked down again. "Yes, but I did not accomplish my goal."

"Couldn't get past the archers?"

He looked up at her again. "I defeated the archers. In truth, they were suffering under a curse; they had asked the well to turn them into great warriors, but in doing so it enslaved them to its service." He paused. "I might have been able to wish my way home without a curse, but then others might have suffered because of it. So I used my wish to destroy the well instead." He put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "My quest continues," he said in a near-whisper.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then: "You did the right thing," she assured him. "Even though you lost a lot for it."

He was surprised by this, took his hands away from his face and looked at her again. She smiled at him. "That's the problem with being a hero," she explained. "You lose even when you win. But you also win, even when you lose."

Jack blinked. "I am sorry, but I do not understand."

The woman stood up. "You will, in time." She smiled at him again, but gave him no clues or explanations. Only a parting, "Just keep trying. You'll get there someday." She winked at him, then moved to another table.

He looked down at his bowl again, trying to figure out what she had meant by her words. There was something important in what she had said; he just had to find it. He glanced upwards again, trying to find her at the other table, but she was gone. Jack never saw her again.

But he never forgot what she said, even though he never managed to understand it, either.

~The End~