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ninjago-happens-here · 3 years

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@ninjago-angst-week sorry I'm late!

Day 6: Anger

Kai hates the universe for everything. Surprisingly, his teammates don’t agree.

Or 5 times where Kai lets anger control him, and 1 time he doesn't.

Word count: 13,944

- Nya - It’s been 6 days. Kai has spent all his time at Wu’s Monastery doing nothing but training and passing out from exhaustion. The only reason why he kept going was his love of his sister- and his spite against the universe. First Spinjitsu Master, why had Lord-fucking-Germadon take his sister as a hostage? He was just a poor blacksmith, trying his best to make ends meet and to get a proper education for his bright, 14-year-old sister. But the universe has decided to throw another curveball at him by forcing him to become a ninja and complete this stupid course-

“ARGH!” Kai shouted in frustration as he was thrown off by the training course, again. “Failed,” Wu said and took a sip of his tea. Punching the obstacle course, with another shout, Kai seethed, seeing the colour red dancing all over his eyes. What did the old man know about saving people anyways? Why can’t he just fight Wu and be done with it? Graduate his class, be finally given the location to where his sister is, and end this chapter of his life- because he was all for it.

Looking for his tormentor, Kai noticed that Wu has slipped away, with all the stealth that only a ninja master has.

Taking deep breaths, Kai balled his fists even tighter, nails pressing indents into his palms. Tomorrow. There still was tomorrow. And by god was he going to pass because he won’t let his sister spend another day in captivity.

All he needed to do was complete the training course before Wu finishes his tea.

He had done it. Of course, it took a well-timed sword throw to technically pass, but he was done sitting around and waiting for some unknown force to rescue Nya. Master Wu told him to get a goodnight’s rest as they were going to leave in the morning. Yeah right. As if he wasn’t going to spend this night tossing and turning around again.

He didn’t spend the night staring into the ceiling of the monastery. Rather, he was rudely ambushed by 3 men dressed in black, who actually weren’t as much of a challenge that Kai thought they would pose. Huh, maybe the training Sensei Wu put him through was pretty useful after all.

All praises for the cryptic old man were thrown away once Wu revealed the 3 men to be his students. Seriously? Didn’t Wu just tell him to get a good night’s rest? Kai barely kept the snarl inside him when Wu did his spinjitzu thingy and he suddenly was in an entirely different get-up.

Hey! Kai thought angrily. What’s the big deal? The garment was loose-fitting and a solid shade of red, and whilst red may be Kai’s colour, the garb was still drab-looking and overall, not something Kai would have picked out for himself..

Wu then gave a quick introduction of the 3 men who attacked him, who were probably called Jey, Zain, and Coal. Hey, don’t look at him like that! It’s not like he had the time to go to school and learn Maths and the Ninjago Alphabet. Anyways, they were all, apparently Elemental Masters? Of lightning, ice and earth nonetheless. Now, Kai can understand Earth. And Kai of course can give a testament to fire. But what do lightning and ice have to do with the elements? Shouldn’t it be Air, Water, Earth, and Fire or something along those lines? What was the FSM thinking, naming these the elements of creation?

Just as Kai was about to head back into the monastery and actually catch a few Zs, Wu called to them telling them that they have to protect the 4 weapons of spinjitzu in order to beat Garmadon to them, for the Skulkin must have taken the map that Wu had hidden in the Four Weapons.

“And rescue my sister,” Kai stated, daring anyone to challenge this non-negotiable mission.

“We’re rescuing a girl? Is she hot?” The ninja in blue (seriously, why blue on a ninja? It really does not help his stealth) just straight up asked Kai if his sister was hot. Kai’s first instinct, of course, was to punch Jay hard in the teeth, followed by an elbow straight to his gut. But if he was going to be teammates with this guy, he had to control his urges and only glare at him through the convenient slit in his mask. The blue ninja chuckled nervously as Kai’s eyes bore holes into him.

“Does she like blue?”

“Back. Off.”

“When we find the weapons, we will find your sister. We rise at dawn to look for the Scythe of Quakes in the Caves of Despair,” Wu concluded the impromptu meeting at night, which diffused the tension between Kai and Jay. The fiery anger he felt pooling in the balls of his hands started to dissipate. In fact, most of his energy was gone too. Kai felt like he was sagging under the weight on his shoulders and immediately headed for his room, where he collapsed immediately upon reaching the soft, inviting mattress. It was the best sleep he had in possibly years.

Of course, Sensei Wu upheld his promise of rousing them at dawn to go collect the first Golden Weapon. What he didn’t warn the ninja beforehand was that he was going to use them to be his literal slaves, and Kai spent the morning running whilst pulling a carriage like a horse. This has to be illegal, Kai grumbled to himself. He was starting to be seriously short on breath. Luckily, his teammates seem to at least have some strength and endurance training, so whilst he was stationed at the easy middle, Cole was at the front spearheading the charge whilst still holding conversations like it was no big deal.

“So…huff, how did Sensei find you guys?” Kai panted, wanting to learn more about his teammates.

“Let’s just say if it wasn’t for Sensei Wu, we wouldn’t be seen together.“ Cole started

“I was testing my limits,” Cole gave a brief description of how when he was rock climbing, he found Sensei Wu already at the top of the mountain, drinking tea and offering him a cup.

“I was testing my inventions,” Jay also panted out, and tried to ramble about how he was testing a flying machine and crashed through a billboard (what?) before seeing Sensei Wu, was also drinking tea and offering him a cup. He couldn’t really talk too much, because at this point he was getting tired too.

“And I, was testing myself,” Zane said, whilst recalling how he was practicing to hold his breath underwater for even longer periods of time when he found Sensei Wu sitting next to him at the bottom of the pond, still somehow drinking tea before offering some to him, which immediately led Zane to choke.

“You’re right, if it wasn’t for Sensei, none of us would-” Kai said before Wu shouted at them to stop. They were here.

Immediately, everything felt more real to Kai. The drowsiness that he felt clouding his mind was cleared as pure adrenaline shot through his veins. He couldn’t fail now. Not when Nya’s life was on his hands. All he has to do was to collect 4 Ancient Weapons that have powers and he would be able to face off with Lord Garmadon. Jumping into action, he weaved through the Skulkin that were strolling and working in the area, body moving in autopilot and mind focusing on only one thing: Get the weapon.

On his way to the opening of the cave, Kai spotted Samurai reading the map to the 4 Golden Weapons on a watchtower. Kai immediately took a detour and climbed up onto the roof, where he could see Samukai reading the map.

“What’s the matter with you,” Jay whispered, hitting Kai on the head. Kai shushed him, before returning to watch Samukai laugh menacingly whilst holding the map upside down. Kai wondered how incompetent he was one week ago to have let this guy kidnap his sister. “The Golden Weapon is near,” Zane observed, before taking out a shuriken with a rope attached before looking at Cole for confirmation and then throwing it done, landing squarely in the middle of the map before pulling it back, holding the prize squarely in his hands.

There was no time to waste. Kai immediately backflipped off the building before climbing to the outcrop where 2 guards were stationed. Picking up a convenient lamp head, Kai carefully snuck by the 2 guards before ducking into the cave system. Kai began to start pushing the rock blocking the path to the weapon. But no matter how much he exerted himself, it didn’t move one inch. He felt like he was trying to make a sword again, doing everything he could but still failing. Grunting and groaning, Kai gave it his all.

Not soon enough, Kai heard the footsteps of his teammates.

“Hey, before you race off again, you gotta remember that we’re a team.” Cole’s patronizing voice made Kai stop his futile attempts at trying to push the boulder on his own. Kai looked at the 3 Ninja before sighing. “Yeah, whatever.”

The white, black and blue Ninja gathered around him and they all started to push, actually managing to shift the rock. Giving the rock his all, Kai did enough on his part to be suddenly be blasted by a golden light, shining from the cavern behind the rock. As his eyes got used to the sudden brightness, Kai spotted the Golden Scythe, sitting on top of a weird creature’s head.

“Woah, that is SO COOL!” Jay exclaimed, and his voice reverberated throughout the entire cave. Kai cringed from his volume. Here’s to hoping that the entire skeleton army outside won’t discover them. Cole shushed Jay again, before pulling out the Golden Scythe and jumping back down onto the cave floor. Wrapping it in a sheet of canvas, Cole once again reminded Jay to not be so loud.

“Oh, don’t be paranoid!” Jay brushed off the sentiment. Kai couldn’t believe that this guy was his teammate. “We’re totally on the other side of the caves!”

“Zip it, okay?” Cole admonished the blue Ninja whilst handing the wrapped Scythe of Quakes to Kai. It’s okay with him. As long as he can make sure that this weapon is safe which in turn ensures that Nya is safe, he’s alright with taking the Scythe. “Now that we’ve got the Scythe, let’s sneak out whilst the boneheads are still busy.”

“Alright team, everyone sticks together. Way out is right around the corn-“ Cole suddenly came face to face with Samukai. All Kai could think at that moment was Fuck the blue guy. Because seriously. Now he was going to have to fight these guys. And alright, honestly- Kai was more than happy to throw hands with the skeletons that captured his sister. In fact, he’s been waiting all week to do so. But come on, this guy was supposed to be a ninja? Pulling out his sword, Kai stayed in the middle of his teammates for a bit as they tried their hardest to protect the Scythe, but quickly they were drawn by enemies elsewhere and the red ninja was left in a precarious situation.

“Kai! Throw it here!” Thank god for Zane. Honestly, he took back what he said about how this guy takes things a bit too seriously, now that he was in the heat of battle and could feel every beat of his heart. Kai heaved the heavy weapon to Zane. Immediately, the heat was taken off him and Zane had to pass the Scythe to Cole as he was dog-piled by 3 Skulkin in seconds. Cole made it past a long line of skeletons before catching the Golden Weapon, but Kai could see 5 to 6. no, 9, 10- argh, who cares! Either way, there were too many enemies.

“Let me handle it!” Jay shouted, taking out a couple of enemies quickly, before exclaiming, “Hey! Guys!”

“It’s just like the training course! Over the planks, dodge the swords- here comes the dummy!”

Kai heard multiple enemies being defeated before a bright blue light shined through the caverns as this guy did spinjitzu. What. The. Heck. Kai’s level of respect for him instantly rose.

“Jay! What’s the key?” Kai waved at his teammate desperately. He had to do spinjitzu too- if he ever was going to see Nya again.

“Hehe, I’m just going through the motions! This is what Sensei must have meant when he said we already know it!” Jay laughed from inside his tornado as Kai watch him take down 4 enemies in one second. Kai contemplated this for a moment, before relying on his muscle memory to dodge a couple of Skulkin.

“Over the planks, dodge the swords- here comes the dummy!” Spinning in a beautiful vortex of red, orange, and yellow, Kai saw the world around him slow down as he moved with enhanced power and agility, taking down enemies with incredible ease.

“RETREAT!” Samurai shouted, and Kai could hear the screams of the skeleton army mixing with the beautiful chime of his team’s spinjitzu. Slowing down, Kai stopped his spinjitzu and surprisingly, didn’t feel dizzy. Man, this spinjitzu thing is really cool.

“Hah! Guess they didn’t want a second serving of these babies,” Cole flexed his biceps as Kai and Jay both shook their heads in dismay. “Good thing they didn’t check out the merchandise on the back!”

From the corner of his eye, Kai watched as Cole turned around to emphasise his point. Alright, 2 can play at the end game. Raising the Golden Weapon of Spinjitsu, Kai cheered and high fives Jay. That dude has many faults, but he would be able to have Kai’s back in a moment of need, and Kai vows to watch his back too.

“Uh… guys?” Cole stammered. Kai and Jay rolled their eyes. What was Cole trying to get at now?

“Didn’t Sensei say there was a guardian protecting the weapons?” Zane recalled. Kai tilted his head to the side, before turning to his right AND WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT.

“Is that- a..a, that’s- not what I think it is, isit?” Cole blubbered, his voice an octave higher.

“Y-you mean a dragon?” Jay stammered.

“Uh, that sure looks like a dragon!” Kai panicked, his voice on the edge of a scream.

“I sense that we won’t be able to spin our way out of this one,” Zane stated with the calmest out of any of them.

Out of the blue, the dragon breathed out a breath of earth, and Kai was suddenly flung to the side. Screams filled the cavern as his teammates landed from their dodge. getting up on his feet, Kai immediately started to run towards the exit, clutching the Golden Weapon tightly. Unfortunately, they were cornered, and Kai did the only thing he thought he could.

Removing the canvas, Kai moved to use the weapon but was stopped by Jay, stating something about how Sensei told them not to.

“Well you better keep your mouth shut,” Kai growled as he ran towards the otherworldly creature. Nothing was going to stand in his way from reaching his sister. Cole shouted something at him, but he raised the weapon high above his head and brought it down to the earth in front of the dragon, causing a split in the ground like a fault line and the cave started to shake. The dragon was temporarily rendered stunned as a large piece of rock fell on his head. It reacted too late, for Kai and his team were getting out of here.

“We gotta escape!” Kai said frantically. Looking up, he and his team saw the caverns opening up to the skies. “We’ll use spinjitzu!” Cole proclaimed, and Kai spun into his tornado, finding that the boost in speed and strength was exactly what he needed to make through the opening in the ceiling of the cave.

Landing on the ground in front of his sensei (on both feet, take that Zane and Jay!) Kai immediately devolved into cheering and celebrating with his teammates, because who wouldn’t after such an adrenaline high? They were 1 weapon closer to finding Nya, and Kai had learned the amazing art of Spinjitsu, and he had just escaped from a dragon.

“ENOUGH!” Sensei Wu shouted. Kai immediately felt his mood sinking. “I told you not to use the scythe!!” Of course, Jay, then Cole, immediately threw Kai under the bus.

“Using it was my only option!” Kai said, starting to get frustrated with his teacher and teammates. Couldn’t they see it that was a matter of life or death? He just saved all of their sorry asses!

“And what makes you think that you’re more important than your team? Huh? Huh!?” Wu got closer to Kai’s face, and he was not happy. Not happy with this at all.

“They took my sister, remember?” Kai stated angrily. Who did the old man think he was? Nya was everything to him, and losing her- Kai did not want to think about losing her.

“There are still 3 weapons left. Maybe next time, you can do it right,” Wu admonished him, and Kai could only watch as his teammates follow in their master’s footsteps. Whatever. It’s not like he needed a team. Hoisting the scythe onto his shoulders, Kai swore that nothing, not even the First Spinjitsu himself, would stop him from saving Nya.

Over the course of the next few days, Kai learned of a technique called the ‘Tornado of Creation’ as they journeyed all over north Ninjago and found 2 of the remaining 3 weapons. Just before they headed to the Fire Temple, Wu made them all rest, for some reason he was unwiring to share. Kai privately thought that it was for them to recuperate their energy because his sister was going to be the one they rescue next, and once he got his hands on the Sword of Fire, nothing would be able to stand in his way, his team included. If he was being honest with himself, Kai was grateful that they had time to celebrate his past achievements. They had been through so much climbing, exploring, and journeying these fast few days and they have beaten Garmadon’s Army too many times to not do something about it. His mood was so great that he even invited Sensei Wu to dance with them as Cole played the bongo drums that they had stolen from the skeleton army at one point.

Kai didn’t know when he fell asleep, but what he did know was that he was roused awake by a voice whispering his name. At first, he was groggy with exhaustion, but the second time Nya called out to him, Kai was wide awake. Looking at the source of the sound, Kai saw his sister standing directly at the edge of his camp. Immediately, Kai felt a great wave of relief wash over him. His sister looked, at least in the dark, fine and free from any visible injuries. He was just about to get up and reunite with his sister when she suddenly stated that she had to go, and started to run away from him.

Kai immediately shot to his feet, alarmed. There was definitely something wrong. He followed her as best as he could through the dense forest, calling out to her, but not receiving a reply. He was led to a temple sitting right next to a volcano. Ghostly whispers of his name reached him as he saw his sister’s vague figure entering the temple.

“Nya?” In a heartbeat, he arrived at the front of the temple. Fully pushing open the doors, Kai was blown away by the cavern and the inviting, welcoming warmth of the lava that slowly cranked up the further he went. In fact, it was slowly stifling, and Kai wanted to grab Nya and get out as fast as he could. Looking all over the place for her, Kai saw the image of his sister appear right in front of the Sword of Fire.

“Nya!” Kai said with a smile, running towards the platform. He was praising FSM for this miracle when suddenly, he skidded to a halt as Nya transformed into a large shadow that laughed menacingly. It was Garmadon. And he- was dangling Nya, wrapped in iron chains, on top of a pool of lava.

“KAI!!” Nya shouted desperately. The red ninja called back to his sister, as Garmadon taunted him, stating that only by removing the sword, could he save his sister. And as much as Kai hated the fact- Garmadon was right. There was nothing he could do but take the sword and save his sister. Nya begged Kai not to listen, but the chain had suddenly lowered her even more, and the screams of his baby sister were too much for Kai to bear. Taking a deep breath, Kai did a series of acrobatics pulling out the Sword of Fire and doing spinjitzu on the walls in order to get to Nya, and then to get her to safety on the other side. Landing o the warm rock, Kai pulled his sister up and told her to stay close.

Then Garmadon appeared directly in front of him, and Kai changed his mind. Not long after, he was getting beat up by a shadow- a shadow of all things! Then, Garmadon played extremely dirty and duplicated himself, and in no time at all, Kai lost the sword and Garmadon picked it up. Tired, out of breath, and running on a combined 18 hours of sleep this past week and a half, Kai collapsed and couldn’t move any further.

Just in time, Sensei Wu arrived and started to use his shadow to properly fight Garmadon. As Kai could only sit and watch, he saw Sensei Wu’s incredible usage of shadows, and his respect for him rose even more. But soon, the feeling of calmness turned into panic as he remembered his 3 teammates who were probably out like a light.

Nya gave Kai a hand to stand up, and they both moved to be closer to Wu. Soon, they were assaulted by Garmadon showing them that the Skulkin has taken Kai’s brothers and 3 of the 4 Golden Weapons.

“My brother must not unite the 4 weapons. We must keep them apart!” Sensei Wu commanded, to which Garmadon responded by rousing the dragon guardian. With a swipe of its flaming hot tail, the Fire Dragon blocked the entrance of the Fire Temple. There was no way out.

“He’s taken away all our options!” Kai said, starting to panic even more as the Fire Dragon breathed on them.

“All but one.” And soon, Kai lost his Sensei to the Underworld. Feeling terribly guilty for not being a better student and teammate, Kai collapsed on his knees. However, he was soon confronted with greater, immediate danger.

Luckily, he seemed to be able to talk down the dragon that was guarding the sword. They reached an understanding that they were trying to protect the weapons from Garmadon, and just in time too. He heard his teammates outside the temple and Flare did too, opening the temple dramatically. Too soon, he had to split from Nya again. But he would return in no time at all, with all members on his team.

Through a great load of traveling by dragon, managing to use the Tornado of Creation, and watching Samurai get vaporised whilst Garmadon passed into a portal to another realm, they eventually returned to Ignacia, and Kai could finally feel safe again. Of course, he immediately slept for 3 days straight after making sure that Nya was doing alright and that she could take care of herself for the next few days.

This was not the first time he was fuelled by only his fire, and unfortunately for his body- it would not be the last.

- Lloyd - The next time that Kai could say with 100% certainty that he hated the universe was when Garmadon decided that it was a good idea to turn them into all children. They then had to be saved by Lloyd, his baby brother, but in return- he had grown. Too fast. Way too fast.

And Kai had to look at his failure, his inability to protect Lloyd because it falls on his shoulder to at least stay beside the green bean whilst he deals with the fact that he was older now. And whatever fallout was happening with his body. Because whilst Lloyd can try to insist that he’s fine for the 100th time, Kai is not letting him get out of bed whilst he has a 40 degree fever.

So whilst Kai stews angrily at the edge of Lloyd’s bed, he reflects on all the things he’s going to punch the First Spinjitsu Master for. Honestly, he did not know where the thought came from, but today was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Kai will be honest- he hadn’t always been this friendly with Lloyd. In fact, if he saw someone else doing what he did to the kid when they first met, he would sock them in the eye, no questions asked. (In fact, he wanted to do that to himself now.) But then he got close to the brat. He saw himself in the kid, just- lost without an anchor as Kai had in Nya. And the ‘demon spawn’ became ‘kid’, and ‘kid’ became Kai’s baby brother. Kai’s baby brother who he lost at the arcade just because he was too focused on his ego, going after the damned Samurai who turned out to be his baby sister. Seems like Kai can’t do much protecting at all.

After Kai had rescued Lloyd from the volcano (Fuck you Pythor), it was revealed that Lloyd was the Green Ninja, and would, in turn, have to fight Garmadon And whilst at first Kai felt elated that the search for the Green Ninja was long over, he then felt horrible to see Garmadon and Lloyd falling out as both knew that they had to fight each other. Kai could see Lloyd’s lip tremble as his father released the hug, and almost start to cry when Garmadon disappeared after having saved the Ninja and the fang blades.

He knew that Lloyd had it especially hard, seeking his father’s approval and attention, yet not getting it as Garmadon tried his hardest to delay the oncoming final battle, but furthered it instead. He saw Lloyd look incredibly small in their tiny apartment, and wished that he had just earned more money, or that he had somehow managed to defeat the Great devourer instead of Garmadon.

Yet all he could do was comfort Lloyd when he opens up about Darkley’s (boy, wasn’t that’s something they’d have to unpack in the future) before they returned to the accursed school, or treat Lloyd’s sore muscles before the kid has to inevitably wake up at 5 AM tomorrow to do an insane amount of training.

He hates how all the pressure in the world is hoisted by the shoulders of his baby brother, and he would do anything, anything to give Lloyd a good childhood.

Now, he can’t even do that. Unless the element of time exists, all he could do was count the numbers of a good childhood Lloyd had on one hand. And goddamnit. All Kai really wanted to do was to give Lloyd the childhood didn’t have, not the incomplete one he had given Nya that ended with a kidnapping. Was that too much to ask for?

A drop of a hot tear escaped Kai’s eyes and rolled down his cheek. Quickly snapping his head towards Lloyd, he saw that he’s fallen asleep. Okay, thank FSM for that. Kai did not want Lloyd to see his big brother cry. Now, Kai didn’t want to be a bad brother. But he wasn’t Lloyd’s only family left. He’ll just ask Zane to watch over him as he runs the training course at Dareth’s dojo.

Or maybe not, Kai thought as he sat on the roof, hidden by water tanks and billboards as he had a meltdown. He didn’t even know why he was crying! All he knows is that suddenly, he can’t stop the water flowing from his eyes, even as his own body heat evaporates them as soon as they are shed. His head was still stuffy even though the night air breezed past him. All he wanted to do was to shout, screen- anything to release the tension he’s been building up in his body. Now that he’s reached his breaking point, he was ready to release like a coiled spring.

But he couldn’t. They were living in the midst of Ninjago city, not on the Destiny’s Bounty. And they would get kicked out of their cramped apartment if Kai just shouted at the night skies. So Kai hissed, growled, and wrapped his hands around himself, and squeezed as much as he could. He wanted to fight anybody, be it serpentine, skulkin, Garmadon, or even the First Spinjitsu Master himself.

The air around him got even more suffocating as his fist couldn’t find anything to connect to.

And suddenly, the roof hatch opened suddenly, scaring the living hell out of Kai Smith. Jumping into action and getting into a ready stance, Kai immediately felt the tension dissipate as it revealed that it was just Cole.

“Wow Kai, you must be really wounded up to be spooked like that,” Cole commented whilst giving Kai a smirk. Kai glared back at his team leader before futilely trying to wipe his face clean. Ah well. He tried. Cole snorted. “I always knew that you were a big softy.”

“Got any reason why you came up here?” Kai grunted. His ego had taken enough bruising these past few weeks.

“Of course buddy. I needed to spar with someone at full strength, and since Zane is looking after Lloyd and Jay won’t be able to effectively take my hits, I had to find you.”

“Psh, whatever. You’re in luck that I need to let off some heat too,” Kai shrugged off.

“Cool. Race you to Dareth’s Dojo?” “You’re on.”

In a few minutes, Kai would come to regret his decision. Hey, it wasn’t his idea to race with the idiot who got himself dehydrated via crying. Still, falling in only just a step behind Cole (It’s been 80 years, Coke joked), he grabbed the energy drink Cole held out to him and take an unprofessionally huge gulp. Man, was he going to feel that later. Still, a promise was a promise, even if it was a verbal agreement. He watched Cole do his warm-up stretches before settling into his own normal routine.

Too soon, they rolled out the sparring mats, and Kai had a fleeting feeling of vertigo. Why had he agreed to this again? Oh yeah. Lloyd’s life is shit, and I can’t do anything. Balling his fists tightly, he started to bounce from on the balls of his feet.

Too soon, he ended up on the mat. And then again. And again. When he was defeated for the 4th time, Cole called for a break and sat down next to Kai, who was lying on the mat and just staring straight into the sky.

“Why did destiny make him grow up so fast?” Kai’s voice was trembling too hard for even Cole’s liking. “It’s not your fault-“

“IT IS MY FAULT! My fault, that I couldn’t protect him! Not from the serpentine, not from Garmadon, not from destiny!What’s my worth as a protector if I can’t even defend the one destiny said I must?!” Kai wailed out, enraged with everything. After his anger outburst, Kai breathed out deeply as his whole body sagged, the tension broken. They sat in silence as Kai contemplated what he was going to do next.

“You know Kai? Maybe you should talk with the Green Bean about this. But just so you know, no one is blaming you for what Garmadon had to do, and in turn what Lloyd had to do in order to save all of us,” Cole responded and stood up. “Thank you anyways for agreeing to spar with me.”

He offered a hand, to which Kai grabbed and was pulled upright.

“You go ahead. I’ll go wipe down the mats here,” Cole stated. It was a regular schedule that they had made up in order to reduce the amount of traffic using their tiny bathroom, and Kai gratefully accepted the chance to go first. If he was going to talk to Lloyd, he had to at least get his spikes up to regular Kai standard.

After doing the bare minimum amount of cool-down stretches, Kai took a swig of the energy drink as he jogged back home. After showering and gelling up his hair, Kai was ready to sit down with Lloyd and just- talk. He finished his bottle and prepared some sandwiches as the sun rose on Ninjago City, showering the apartment in fragmented light.

Just on time, Lloyd returned from his morning run, this time accompanied by Zane. Kai patiently waited for him to be done with his shower before Lloyd sat down right beside him and took out a peanut butter and jam sandwich from the small pile on the plate. Zane gave Kai an acknowledging nod as he went to grab his work bag before going back out the door.

“Hey, bud. How’re you doing?” Kai started tentatively. Lloyd, having just taken a huge bite of the pb&j, looked mildly alarmed at the confrontation, but still answered after finishing the bite.

“…honestly Kai? My bones don’t feel on fire anymore and Zane has said that my fever had gone down through the night. Still, I don’t regret what I had done,” Lloyd responded earnestly before taking another bite of the bread. If Kai didn’tknow better he would have thought that the kid had faced starvation before, because he was still eating as if the food could be taken away at any moment. Keyword: thought.

Kai really wanted to continue the talk after Lloyd had his fill, but knew that Lloyd’s busy schedule didn’t allow for such talks. So, he pushed down all the instincts that screamed that he was a bad brother and gritted his teeth.

“I know that that wasn’t your choice-“

“It was my choice!” Lloyd cut in even though he was still chewing. Gulping down another mouthful of food, Lloyd continued. “… because if I couldn’t even consider that my choice, how much of my life can I say that belongs to me?”

Kai was stunned into silence. In his mind, he didn’t think that Lloyd had thought of throwing the tea like that. He wondered how much Lloyd had been holding in inside of him, how much he had to endure being told by people that he hadn’t had a choice. Thinking back to the time where he couldn’t save Nya without listening to others on what he had to do, Kai felt even worse. Cole was right- he wasn’t at fault for this specific action that Lloyd did, but he was at fault for not being understanding enough, or even approachable enough.

Taking advantage of Kai’s speechlessness, Lloyd finished up his sandwich before reaching into the pile and taking out another, this time picking out a Nutella and cheese combination.

“It’s not just that. Now, I can finally go on missions with you guys. Now, you guys don’t have to hold back on me, and I can train for longer amounts of time. The Final Battle will be on us whether we’re ready or not, and I too would feel much safer if I am prepared to… to face my father,” Lloyd said before continuing to stuff his face with breakfast.

Kai’s brain began to work again, and he formulated a good enough response. “…Alright buddy, but just so you know, you’re still not going on missions with us.” Lloyd’s face immediately formed a pout and Kai grinned, rubbing his blonde hair. “Also, since when did you start speaking like that? ‘The Final Battle will be on us whether we’re ready or not.' Wow, such language. Much eloquence.”

“That’s because you guys gave me 2 hours to spend studying Uncle Wu’s books every day,” Lloyd huffed in annoyance, having finished another mouthful of bread. “But seriously Kai, please don’t be angry for me. It really isn’t your fault.”

Kai mused over those words as he watched Jay trained Lloyd with his acrobatic abilities. Of course, the kid was still getting used to his taller and larger limbs, but Kai could see him improve at an incredibly fast rate. Lloyd was right, in a sense. He didn’t really have the legal right to worry over Lloyd’s physical and mental wellness, but still- he was Kai. Master of Fire, protector of the Green Ninja, and he should be allowed to feel the fuel of his anger at any time he so pleases. If it happens to be an injustice to his trainee and well- who can blame him?

He accidentally fell asleep during Lloyd and Jay’s training, having to catch up to last night’s lost sleep, and boy was that a bad idea. He forgot one of the most important rules within the Ninja’s family: Do not fall asleep when with Lloyd and Jay, because those two can pull some terrible pranks.

Kai didn’t notice anything wrong until he passed Dareth’s trophies and saw that his beautiful hair was not spiked. Kai swore that when he sees those two again, he would chase after them until they begged for mercy because Kai cannot be seen in public with hair like this! Feeling his eye twitch, Kai wondered if Lloyd was going to be the cause of him popping a blood vessel.

Years later, Kai would realise that indeed, Lloyd would give him his first grey hair at 19. That damned brat.

- Zane - When Zane… left the team, all Kai could feel was a sense of numbness. He floated through a fuzzy reality as nothing seemed real to him anymore. His family was in shambles, broken pieces that were scattered without their missing piece completing them. The fact that Zane was gone didn’t really register to him until they had asked Lloyd to do a speech honouring the titanium ninja. Lloyd, face as pale as the gi Zane used to wear, couldn’t say any words, so he volunteered to step up for his brother. Lloyd looked at him with thanks, before disappearing off to whatever world he was in just moments before. Kai joined him, staring aimlessly at their ceiling, before having to get up and pen down words that he was going to say, to honour Zane.

He realised that he couldn’t, really couldn’t. The words just wouldn’t come out of his ink pen, even though he was pretty much literate now. He could only manage to jot down a few words that summarised what Zane was to him. A brother. A teammate. A fellow Ninja. Built to protect those who cannot protect themselves. But words can't do Zane justice. How could he capture Zane's cool-like grace, his calm calculation when it matters most? Zane's amazing cooking, his incredible kindness, and all-around sweet nature? How could he describe his first time meeting him, first time working with him, when he discovered his true potential and saved all of their sorry asses? How could he do all that?

Hot, angry tears dribbled down from Kai’s eyes as he hunched over their kitchen table. No, this wasn’t going to do. Kai decides that he'll just have to wing it.

As soon as he had finished his speech and paid proper respect to Zane, Kai left his family and just wandered around aimlessly, going from bar to bar to drink and inevitably get into fights.

Having been thrown out of almost all bars in Ninjago city for ‘disrupting common services’, whatever that was supposed to mean, Kai soon found himself standing in front of Yang’s Tavern. From what he heard, this place was run by quite a few Serpentine and they had a ‘Slither Pit’. Whatever that meant. What Kai needed to do was to feel his fist connect to something flesh-like, and he will be okay.

Months passed, as Kai found himself falling deeper and deeper into Ninjago’s criminal organisations. Under the name ‘The Red Shogun’, he would remain the undefeated champion, all whilst working for different kinds of bosses as ‘security’. Kai knew that he shouldn’t be doing this, that he shouldn’t be helping criminals get away with their criminal activity, shouldn’t have let human merchandise go under his nose. But he couldn’t bring himself to care. Nothing really mattered after Zane’s death. Nothing had mattered at all. Kai was stuck down in the pits of hell, drinking himself to half-death before the barkeep regulated his intake just so that he could bring in the cash that Kai made through betting, before receiving poor attempts to reach out by Lloyd.

Somehow, the kid had gotten the number of his burner phone. He even sent mail to the bar, to which Kai and his bar buddies had laughed at. Kai didn’t feel too bad for ignoring the kid. Zane’s death was partially his fault anyways. (Nromal Kai would have been horrified to hear him think this.) Kai was angry. Angry that Lloyd didn’t try hard enough. Didn’t try hard enough to defeat the Overlord, when he had a clear shot. Angry that Lloyd had apparently failed to defeat the Overlord 100%. Angry that he had been captured whilst literally wielding the power of God, only for the Overlord to use its incredible power to construct a new body. Angry that Lloyd didn’t try hard enough to keep the team together, to reach out to him, or even to speak at Zane’s funeral.

But above all, Kai was angry at himself. Angry that he had made fun of Zane for his passions and clothes. Angry that he did not try hard enough to train Lloyd, and ultimately failed to be with him in the ‘Final’ battle. Angry that he couldn’t have done his job as a ninja properly, getting captured and tied to a rocket ship which only made them have to try rescuing him instead of stopping Project Arcturus. Angry that he couldn’t do anything when Zane took on the Overlord by himself again.

And Kai was angry at Ninjago. At the world. At the universe. At the First Spinjitsu Master, who had no right to decide that his family had to face the world like that. Angry, and wondering why he was being put through this kind of torture: not being able to live, and yet not willing to die. Kai was a man of action and he had to stay in motion- so his knuckles split. So he goes ‘home’, to the hotel room in Yang’s Tavern, covered in bruises and sometimes even blood- just not his. So he has to take part in crimes, never rising above the level of a security guard, all whilst feeling terrible. He did not know how to get out of this state and feared that if he did, he would collapse into a lump of uselessness.

He fought all day and night, and in the moments where he wasn’t fighting, he was drinking. His sleeping schedule has shifted to between 6 AM and 2 PM. All whilst he kept grieving over a death that was not deserved.

After a year, Lloyd somehow inexplicably showed up on his doorstep, telling Kai to not drink too much ‘juice’ (he rolled his eyes at that and smiled fondly at Lloyd’s innocence) and asked him to show up at Chen’s noodle house where he was holding a meeting with his other teammates.

Unexpectedly, this led to a discovery that instantly brightened Kai’s mood before dampening it slightly. Zane was alive! But they had to fight through… an elemental tournament to get him? At this point in time, Kai was alright with doing anything, anything to get Zane back.

Just 2 weeks later, Kai would hesitantly retract his statement. Sure, they had gotten Zane back, but in exchange, Lloyd had to lose Garmadon to the Cursed Realm. Kai wonders if they’ll ever be able to make it through a fight with everyone intact, but today wasn’t about him. He felt a familiar spark of rage burning brightly through his chest as he watched Lloyd trying and failing to smile. From the corner of his eye, he saw Zane approaching him.

“Kai, can we talk for a moment?” Oh, dear. What is this about now? Was it about how Kai had almost killed their baby brother over a stupid staff? Or the fact that Kai had very stupidly fallen for the Criminal Mastermind’s daughter? Did Zane find out about his criminal activity?

Well, it wasn’t everything that Kai had thought would happen, although the topic had come stupidly close to the last point. Zane confronted him, making him open up about his ‘feelings’ or whatever, before telling Kai that the alcohol content in his body was too high and that his livers were on the edge of failing. Well. Good to know that Zane is still regular old Zane who’d scan you without permission.

“Kai, all I’m saying is that you are free to tell me anything. To just let it all out -“

“I can’t let it all out!” Kai shouted in annoyance. What did Zane know about grieving- Oh wait. Doctor Julien. Well, what did Zane know about Kai’s specific method of dealing with his issues? He was fine.

“Why not, Kai?” Zane asked with a bittersweet smile. Kai looked around, desperately searching for an answer that he doesn’t have.

“Well- I can’t tell you that! Just know that it’s okay for me to feel angry!” Kai stated very, very eloquently. Zane just gave him a look that said ‘bullshit’. “It’s also okay for you to be sad, and to cry.”

“You’re-you’re wrong!”

“And you’re a hypocrite, Kai. You can’t make Lloyd do the right choices if you aren’t gonna do them yourself.”

“Well- Lloyd’s just a child! A teenager at best, really. Me? I’m a fully legal adult! I can make my own decisions!” Kai seethed. Zane looked sad for a moment, before straightening up and doubling down.

“Whilst according to Mill’s Harm Principle, you’re free to do anything that could harm yourself without damaging others, might I remind you that you’re still a role model for Lloyd, Nya, and even Jay? Please, Kai. If you can’t do it for yourself, at least do it for them.” Zane pleaded. And damn it. Whilst Kai wouldn’t lift a finger to save himself, just the thought of Lloyd doing what he’s done sent a shiver down his spine. Zane was right, as always. He had to be the big brother, and being the older brother means that he has to display healthy habits more. FSM knows that Lloyd would need it. So he sucked up his pride, arrogance, and ego, then threw it all away, metaphorically off the Bounty

He knew that they would always come creeping back to him later, but for now, Lloyd needed a functional older brother, and Kai was going to be exactly what he needs.

“Thank you, Zane,” Kai stated. Grinning, Zane waved Kai on to go save Lloyd, who now looked like he was drowning from some invisible force.

“Lloyd? Lloyd buddy, you there?”

- Cole - Of course, Kai couldn’t stop his blood pressure from reaching a boiling point. How could he? This month had been the worst month for his health since- well, since forever! Who would’ve thought that Wu’s dead first student would escape the Cursed Realm just to possess Lloyd in order to exact an act of stupid, grand revenge because he didn’t get the title of the Green Ninja?

Kai had to fight his baby brother, lose the staff of the First Spinjitsu Master, fail to defeat ghosts, bargain with a stupidcrook for some weapons that were actually effective to ghosts all whilst looking for the scroll of Airjitzu, who guess what? Turns out Ronin had it all along. And he had just handed it to Morro, which caused all of them to go to this cursedtemple, which was designed to be a terribly haunted house, because it just amplified Kai’s fear of water a 100 times more, and all that culminated in a stupid idea where they tied themselves together to not lose track of the other, which caused Cole to lose valuable time when the scroll of Airjitzu was dropped right as they were at the door to the temple.

Spinning around to check on his teammates, he saw a pale green sheen. Just as he was about to raise his weapon, he heard Cole’s voice calling out to them that they had the scroll. And oh. Oh no. No, Kai couldn’t deal with this anymore. He watched Cole realise with horror that now, he was technically dead, and wail.

Kai’s blood vessels were very, very close to popping. Being an alcoholic had not helped with his anger issues, and having faced too many setbacks, all whilst not having any powers or any victories, Kai was prepared to curse the entire 16 realms.

As Nya parked the bounty right next to the floating temple of Airjitzu, Kai could see her face widen in shock and horror at Cole. Fists clenched the tightest they had been in a while (and that was saying something, given that he had failed to protect Lloyd again) Kai could only take over the lead as he herded his teammates onboard the ship.

Cole’s a ghost now. So what? He can deal with that later. For now, they had to beat Morro to the Cloud Kingdom and the Realm crystal if he was going to have any chance of having Lloyd back.

Well, that was a lie, Kai thought to himself after the heat of the moment. Their ship was now charted towards the Wailing Alps, trying to make it as the Blind Man’s Eye passed over the top so that they may use Airjitzu to get the Sword of Sanctuary. And that meant they had time. Whilst Zane and Jay were working on some mechs to help them traverse the mountains, Nya was training with Sensei Wu to unlock her true potential faster, and Misako was packing them supplies. That meant that Kai and Cole were left in the bow of the ship. The air just felt denser than usual, even though by all logic, it should have been lighter due to their high altitude.

Kai watched Cole trying to tap a button on the control board, but couldn’t manage to get his hands to temporarily appear solid. He saw the frustration on Cole’s face grow as he gave up and slammed his hand on the board, accidentally touching on several buttons. Immediately the ship started to list onto the left side. So bracing himself Kai rushed to the position and immediately undid the damage Cole had done.

Cole then let out a scream of frustration. “All I wanted to do was to view the stupid GPS! Why. Can’t. I. Do. Anything. Right?” Cole angrily shouted, punctuating each word with a kick aimed towards the control panel, but never managing to connect. He immediately sunk onto the floor and held his face in his hands.

Kai sucked in air through his teeth. He wasn’t everyone’s go-to when comforting them from anger, but it seems that he had to step up this time.

“Hey, Cole?” Kai started gently. “Yeah?” Came a muffled response.

“I know that I’m not the best person to do this, but I just want you to know that I hate the universe as much as you do, and it’s alright if you wanna just shout and spar with me-“

“Hah! As if I can do anything good with this. Stupid. Body!” Cole replied, voice tense with frustration. Kai frowned.

“I’m serious Cole. And you will get better at using this body. Remember how Morro’s ghost friends had beaten us? Imagine them, not realising that we actually have a pretty powerful member right in their midst. Think of the recon missions you can do as a ghost! Imagine how satisfying it would be to just punch Morro in the nose without feeling bad for hurting Lloyd!” Kai picked a direction and resigned himself to it, smile getting more manic as he realised that hey! Cole’s new body is actually kinda cool. Cole snorted.

“Imagine all the pranks I’ll be able to pull on Jay. And imagine me possessing Mr. Cuddlywump-“ Both of them dissolved into laughter after this thought, each imagining Jay’s terrified expression as Cole’s voice comes out of the teddy bear that he thinks nobody knows he hugs every night.

“Hey- you know that being a ghost would be incredible for your stealth right?” Kai ribbed Cole gently, finding delight that it actually connected. Cole scoffed. “Oh, don’t remind me Mr-I-blew-up-2-trucks-filled-with-jet-fuel-and-thought-that-I-wouldn’t-be-noticed.”

“Hey! It was just one time.” Kai defended himself. “Seriously though, imagine all the cool shit you can do now.”

“Too bad that I won’t be able to eat anymore,” Cole said mournfully. Kai raised his eyebrow. “Nah, this just means that you can eat as much as you want and wouldn’t be scolded by Sensei Wu. Also, don’t we have Hungry Ghost Month right before Day of the Departed?”

“Holy shit, Kai. You’re right! You know, maybe being a ghost isn’t so bad after all,” Cole said with a hearty grin. With a grin of his own, Kai thought to himself that really, being a ghost is no big deal. We have a nindroid as a brother after all! Besides, at least Cole is still with us in, heh, spirit.

Too late did Kai consider the cons of being a ghost. As Cole watched helplessly from the banks of the river that Lloyd was drowning in, Kai had to bite his own tongue to stop himself from screaming as he plunged into the water to save Lloyd from drowning. Too late, after the defeat of the Preeminent, did he see Lloyd flinching from Cole’s touch, which led to a very heartbroken Cole and an extremely apologetic Lloyd. He saw Lloyd trying his best to just endure and adapt to the change, and his heart was filled with anger again.

It wasn’t as bad as his breaking point at Yang’s temple, but he now has a grudge against Morro that runs through the core of his being, like how ‘Nya is my Sister’ and ‘Lloyd is my baby brother’ are the code of his being. Still, victory tasted bittersweet as he gets to finally pat the golden head of hair his brother has.

Kai would be okay to go through anything, as long as he had his family with him.

- - Jay - Family. That’s what Kai’s life has circled back into, hasn’t it? He had fought skeleton armies for his sisters, fought snakes with his brothers, trained the youngest to fight the literal embodiment of evil, went through an entire tournament for one of his brothers, fought with Wu’s student to save Lloyd, and now destiny decides for him to face another whiplash.

His parents. His good-for-nothing parents. They had left Kai when he was 6 and Nya when she was just 3. It had been absolute hell, making sure that they had enough to eat, enough to drink, and enough to wear during the winter. Kai had to start working at the blacksmith shop when he was just 8, trying to find some independence from the goodwill of his neighbours. And whilst he was working odd jobs, being a stable boy, an errand boy, doing some house chores for the minimum wage- he also had to make sure that his baby sister could attend school properly.

He had properly started to work at the forge when he was 12, having sold most of his father’s previous work. Soon, he found ease in making spear tips, armour, and samurai-style helmets. He had been working on doing a good sword when his sister was kidnapped, and his entire life changed as he tried his hardest to bring her back. Since then, he hadn’t gone back to his old home in Ignacia.

But he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Looking at the smithing symbol on the inside of the Vermillion Warrior’s helmet, Kai had to take a quick journey back to his old home, back into his past. Picking up a decade-old helmet, Kai’s worst fears were confirmed.

“I knew it,” Kai said humourlessly as the puzzle pieces began to construct a monstrosity that he never wanted to know. In a fit of anger, he punched his father’s symbol, to which a secret hatch just suddenly opened. Curious, Kai took a look at the basement of the shop, only to see a double-edged blade as well as some old armour. What was he making? Kai wondered, before shaking his head. It doesn’t matter now.

With single-minded determination, Kai took the blade, old, and a new helmet, then immediately headed to someone who he knows would understand.

10 minutes later, Kai was sitting at a booth in Chen’s Noodle House, venting out all his frustrations to Skylor, who, bless her, had offered him free noodles as he spilled out his feelings. Of course, Kai didn’t feel much better after doing so, but at least he felt like he wasn’t suffocating anymore. Just as Kai was summarising his rant, incomes Nya, proclaiming something about how Skylor was the mysterious and new Samurai X. Kai’s stomach suddenly started to churn and he gulped. He had to break the news that their parents were still alive to Nya. And whilst that was mean, what Kai learned throughout his years as being a Ninja that being honest with your teammates was the difference between life and death. Funny, he remembered a weird dream that was focused on this exact point. But Kai didn’t have time to reminisce now. All he could do was think of ways of breaking the news to Nya.

Too soon, Kai Smith, no not Smith, Kai had to think of a better surname after this was all over. Anyways, their team has decided upon infiltrating Krux and Acronix’s secret base, which also meant that they will find his traitorous father. Instantly, he felt a searing hot pain radiate from within his ribcage. teeth clenched, fists tightened, he and Nya arrived at the swamp.

He had a single-minded focus on finding his parents and nothing could stop him.

“Kai, I don’t see anything. Give me the map,” Nya whispered. “Hmmm, what even makes you think that Acronix and Krux will be around here?”

“I honestly don’t even care if they are,” Kai said noncommittally and looked around his surroundings. In the distance, he saw a building, right where the blacksmith shop was situated on the map. Heart pounding, he raced up the planks leading up the shop.

Kai was in too deep to stop now, to have second thoughts. Seeing his father’s blacksmith symbol on the door, builds up his resolve to kick the door open.

“I knew it!” anger, like how lava flows down a volcano, seeped into his bones as his father stared at him like he was some kind of stranger. In all fairness, he was. Because what kind of ‘father’ was Ray Smith for abandoning Nya, for abandoning him, all those years ago?

“Who are you? What do you want?” Those words cut deeply into Kai’s heart, etching all kinds of feelings that Kai couldn’t process. Because all he could see. Was red.

“I WANT JUSTICE!” With a war cry, Kai drew out the double-edged blade that his father had watched. But this time, he wasn’t fighting to disarm, to defeat, or to stun. He was fighting to kill.

Running towards the blacksmith, Kai jumped to plunge the blade into his father’s chest, only for him to dodge, Raising another strike, he missed and hit the edge of the forge. Spinning around, his next shot was parried by his father.

Blocked by his father again, Kai gave his old man a chance to explain himself. But what was said was, “You’re red like a Vermillion Warrior. But you’re no snake.”

“No, I’m not, BUT YOU ARE! TRAITOR!!” Kai broke out of his father’s block, spinning the weapon before clashing it with his father’s hammer again. His next few strikes were dodged and a kick sent Kai sprawling over the anvil. Getting up again, Kai swung the weapon wildly, getting dodged before being thrown back by a well-timed shot from his father.

“You messed with the wrong blacksmith, my friend,” Ray said, standing over Kai’s body. hearing those words sent a hot shot of seething fire down to his free palm. Building up a fire in his hand, Kai stood up and spun the double-edged blade.

“Fire power…” Ray thought out loud. Shocked, he could only get out of the way as Kai threw a fireball at him.

“No… you’re certainly not a guard. You’re… my son!” Hearing those words made Kai pause. He didn’t know why, he just couldn’t move. Too many emotions were battling in him, and he could only focus on his father’s next few words.

“Kai! You’ve inherited my elemental power!” his father had actually said that. In joy. Suddenly, his fire was rekindled.

“That’s the only thing I’ll ever inherit from you!” Kai started to move, to continue the fight when suddenly his baby sister screamed for him to stop from the front door.

“He’s a traitor!” Kai explained through gritted teeth.

“He’s still our father,” Nya begged Kai to reconsider.

“Whatever it is you think, I can explain-“

“Yeah… BET YOU CAN!” Kai threw back his left hand, ready to unleash another fireball at his father when a jet of water put his element out.

“Kai, let him speak!” Nya pleaded. “There’s no harm in hearing him out!”

Kai then moved to throw the double-edged blade at his father, who had dodged out of the way. sensing that Nya would just put out his fire again, Kai pounced on his father and dragged him hip by the collar of his clothes, and began to wrestle with him.

“It ends here! NOW!” Overpowering his father, he managed the wrench his left hand free, and pulled it back into a punch.

“Kai, you don’t know what you’re doing!” “I DO NYA! I ABSOLUTELY-“ “I’m not your sister, son.”

Kai suddenly stopped. His mother… was alive?!

“Huh? M-mom? I-I don’t believe it!” Kai released whatever he was holding as he turned around, trembling.

“That makes the 2 of us,” Maya stated sweetly, and suddenly all the memories that Kai had been oppressing came back- he could see the woman who cared for him, hear the lullabies she used to sing Nya to sleep, smell the floral shampoo and scent of mountain springs that hung around her. He remembers the taste of the food that she had made, and the warm, slender hands that held his own. As Kai watched his mother fuss over his baby sister, his resolve to fight, to seek revenger, crumbled away into pieces.

Removing his hood, he threw his arms around his mother, still smelling the scent of mountain springs, feeling the her skin, folded and cut in several areas, but still warm and firm.

But suddenly, he remembered the snake helmets and of Sensei Wu, and immediately pushed her back.

“Why, she’s as guilty as he is! They’ve been helping Acronix and Krux for years!” Kai seethed. “They’re the enemy!”

“Is that what you think?” Maya reproached. “We are not your enemy.”

“Then how do you explain this?” Kai took up the vermillion warrior’s helmet and showed his father’s symbol to his biological family. “Dad’s blacksmith stamp on every piece of Vermillion armour!”

“They forced us to work for them! Part of their revenge…” Maya rebutted.

“For what?”

“For creating the time blades,” Ray shook his head and creased his forehead. “It goes back a long tie, then Acronis and Krux were still Elemental Masters.”

Ray recounted how Wu had asked them to forge blades made of a chronosteel, a sort of metal that suctions your elemental powers away permanently if you used them to their true potential on the metal.

“We had worked for days and nights. At the end of it all, we were so exhausted, that we could not participate in the fight. But Wu had told us the results of the fights, about how he and Garmadon had sent the Time Twins and the Time Blades into a Time Vortex, essentially having them lost to time.”

“Yet, immediately after the portal has closed, Krux had gotten away. And he had gotten a glimpse of the Blimp too. He now knew that his brother was being sent to the future without him.”

“Now, he had decades to scheme and plan. He adopted the persona of the kindly Dr. Sanders Saunders. He had begun making the first batches of Vermillion out of the Great Devourer’s eggs. And his army would need weapons. Armour. Vehicles.

“So he went looking for us, and we had built a cordial relation with the old man.”

“One day, he suddenly revealed his true colours and held you two at sword point, stating that if we did not cooperate, he would not hesitate to kill you,” Maya said, eyes glistening with tears. “What could we have done?”

Kai didn’t know how to react. He stood there shell-shocked. His parents.. they weren’t traitors after all? The fire of anger fizzled out. “Okay, but what about the stamp?”

“I stamped every piece of my work, hoping that one day, someone would figure it out,” Kai’s father admitted. “So that together, we can stop Krux and Acronix’s plan.”

“What is their plan?” Nya asked. Ray shook his head and creased his eyebrows in fear. “To control all of time.”

That revelation shocked Kai into speaking again. He looked at his father, bruised, dirtied, and tired from their fight before. The feeling of guilt bubbled in his stomach, and Kai had to immediately right the wrongs.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Kai began, wincing internally at his bad apology. But Nya- blessed Nya, had saved him by asking about Krux and Acronix’s plan to control all of time.

“They made me design the Iron Doom, a machine capable of transporting the Vermillion warriors through time,” Ray explained, rolling out a blueprint of the iron doom.

“So you built a Time Machine?” Kai asked incredulously. Ray huffed. “No, just the shell. I’m afraid the Time Machines are bit out of my skill set.”

“But Cyrus Borg was forced to design a power source capable of powering the machine by using temporal energy from the Time Blades,” Maya said whilst rolling out another piece of blueprint next to Ray’s this time of some sort of machine.

“Oh no! That must mean that the pause we felt earlier… that must mean that there are 3 blades in the present!” Nya exclaimed. Kai thought out loud that if Krux and Acronix got the blade, there will be only one left. “And if they get that, their time traveling mega armour will be fully operational!”

Kai stared dumbfoundedly at the smile shared between his parents. “Sorry, full operational is… good news?” Man, if his parents could just pick a side already!

“They’ll never get it,” Ray said with a smile. “Master Wu found it shortly after Acronix disappeared. Turns out it had the power to reverse time. Wu knew it was too dangerous to keep, so we hid it, buried deep in a location where only a combined elemental power of Fire and Water can reach.”

“And since you inherited our powers-“ Kai’s mother gasped sharply. “You must leave. Now!”

Ray looked downright alarmed. “You’re right. If Krux and Acronix knew you were here, they could-“

At this moment, the door burst open and time stood still.

“Could force you to retrieve the Time Blade for us? Excellent suggestion,” Krux said with a menacing smile.

“No way! We’ll never retrieve the Reversal Blade for you!” “You tell him, brother!”

“You will! Or your parents will face the same fate that they tried to protect you from.” Krux countered, his smile stretching impossibly wider.

“We’re done serving you, Krux. Bring your worst!” Ray shouted, charging towards the Time Twins. Kai watched in horror as Krux used the Pause blade to stop his father’s momentum immediately, before giving him a hard kick in the gut.

“DAD!” Kai shouted, watching his father still frozen in place, bouncing on the hard floor.

“Look what I found,” drawled the voice of Commander Machia, wheeling in-

“Master!” “Wu!’

“You know, it occurs to me that the Reversal Blade is the only way to undo Wu’s Time Punch.” Acronix grinned.

“I…I’m afraid that’s true,” Kai’s father said, having gotten out of the pause effect.

“If you want to save your master, you’ll have to retrieve the 4th blade.” Krux walked even closer to Kai, before snatching away the double-edged blade. “And I’ll take that.”

Lightning flashed over the skies, creeping in tendrils and thunder boomed, rocking the ship. Kai and his family were stuck on a ship, not able to help his other family back at the swamp to fight off a whole swamp’s worth of snakes! And to top it all off, he had to retrieve the 4th Time Blade for the Twins, directly enabling Krux and Acronix’s plan!

Kai felt anger in the many hot drops of rain the fell onto his skin. But he couldn’t afford to lose himself here, he and Nya would have to work together, get past all the challenges and get the time blade, save Wu and get out of here!

Yet, once he and Nya had returned to the ship, the blade was immediately knocked out of his hands and his father took another Time Punch. Just as he was about the throw hands with the Time Twins, he was hit with a jet of brilliant red light, trapping him a Pause as he could only see the ship moving away from underneath him. They barely had the time to pull up their fusion dragon before heading back to the swamp.

Upon their arrival, they saw the Time Twins enter a temporal vortex. They had to follow them. There was no other choice.

A long, tiring battle in the past 40 years ago had taken its toll on Kai and Nya. They had managed to reverse the Time Punch on Master Wu (though Kai wonders if maybe Nya used a bit too much) and they had managed to drive Acronix and Krux back into the Temporal Vortex, this time actually sneaking aboard the ship and trying to remove the Time Blades from the engine of the Iron Doom.

Unfortunately for Kai, he just couldn’t lift the Reversal Blade, but Sensei Wu had. Throwing the Time Blade to him, Kai almost didn’t register Wu telling them to use the blade of Ray before throwing both of them out of the time stream and back into the present.

After had used the time blade on his father, Kai and Nya were tasked with Master Lloyd’s command to return the Reversal Blade to its place in the Boiling Sea. Of course, Kai had complied, adrenaline still fuelling his body. And yet when all was said and done, Kai collapsed upon reaching the Temple of Airjitzu.

The days after Kai and Nya returned to the present without Sensei Wu were some of the worst. Kai felt like he was over bursting with emotions. Guilt, grief, and anger clouded his mind over the loss of Wu. Joy, confusion, and deep-seated anger clouded his heart over his parents. Kai didn’t know how to deal with everything. He couldn’t really talk with his previous confidence, he couldn’t move without double guessing himself, and his decision-making skills were in pieces, grounded into a fine dust.

Does he reconnect with his family or not? What could he do the aid the search of Sensei Wu? Are Nya and Lloyd doing alright? Cole seems to be the hardest hit out of all of them, maybe he should go check on him?

Lying on his bed in the Temple of Airjitzu, Kai couldn’t muster his strength to well, do anything! He just needed some time to just… process, everything that had happened in the past month. His parents, of course, had given him some space, and just said that when he’s ready to contact them. Kai thinks that they also didn’t know how to deal with his situation and just took a cop-out. Or maybe they just wanted to breathe fresh, non-swamp-sewer air and tour Ninjago after being in captivity in 10 years. Honestly, who knows?

Lloyd had walked in and provided a brief source of relief for Kai, but too soon had he walked away, going back to his training. Kai saw his baby brother’s eyes sporadically turn green, infused with his element, in just 3 days. Kai would have joined him too, doing whatever hellish program he had set up for himself, if he wasn’t just ambushed by his feelings whenever he tries to get up, wondering if that was even the right choice. He certainly felt that it was his fault that he lost Sensei Wu, and now his kid brother had trained so hard that his eyes became green just to find Sensei again.

Nya was dealing with her own reconciliation with his parents and sometimes offered Kai a shoulder to cry on. Mostly, she was by herself, as Jay had told Kai to ease his worry. Still, his worry for Nya is topped only by his worry about the future.

Cole had also been hit hard by the loss of Sensei Wu and was shutting himself in. Zane was still trying to spend time looking for Pixal throughout the Bounty and any of our other bases of operations, trying to tracer her down.

That left Jay, who really, was as much of a help as a hindrance to Kai. Hanging out with Jay meant that Kai soon developed a terrible sense of humour, an arsenal of horrible puns, and way too many prank ideas. Jay had made sure that everyone was fed, watered, and in some cases- slept. Of course, being the responsible one for once meant that Jay had to bully his most stubborn teammates into taking a break, or having some food.

“MOOOORRRRNNIIIIIINNG!” Kai was once again woken up by Jay’s terrible screeching. Turning to face the wall, Kai pushed a pillow on top of him just so he could remain in the land of sleeping for longer. No such luck.

“KAAAIIIIII! GET UP!” Jay, screamed as the door to his room flung open. Aw man here we go again, Kai grumbled to himself.

“So what would you like to have this morning? Eggs and bacey? Toast with jam? How about-“

“How about you shut up and leave me alone!” Kai shouted, irritated by the perky tone that Jay has adopted. Watching Jay’s smile become less bright and more forced, Kai couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. Sitting up and rubbing the base of his neck, Kai apologised for his outburst. “Sorry, Jay- it’s just that I need some time, alone.”

Jay nodded solemnly, before sitting down at the edge of his bed. Kai watched as Jay took a deep breath before saying his piece.

“I know Kai, but… Nya… she needs you. You have got to fix your relationship with your parents, or at least start on the first step. I’m going to be honest: I’m not good with people like you are. I don’t know how to get Lloyd to rest, because he’s going to break his body this way. Don’t get me started on Cole, who won’t open up to me at all. And I can’t out logic Zane. He keeps saying that since he’s a robot, he doesn’t need rest as we humans do.”

Kai stayed silent for a while, mulling over Jay’s words. Truth is, if he could, he would have done so already. What did Jay know about these kinds of relationships, anyways? In fact, when compared to everyone else on the team, Jay has the best relationship with his parents. So what was the point of this? Kai felt his hands curl up into a fist, bunching his bedsheets. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he breathed out to calm himself down before he could impulsively do something he’d regret.

“No can do, Jaybird. I don’t even know where to start,” Kai said regretfully. Kai honestly expected for Jay to slink out of his room, to go pester Nya to try or to get Lloyd to see sense, or to even get his best buddy to open up about his troubles. Kai did not think that Jay seemed to double down, taking several huge gulps of air, and one the edge of hyperventilation. He saw Jay’s hands tighten into fists before he spoke in a trembling voice.

“Kai… did is something that I really, really don’t want to share. It’s something that I keep wanting to erase out of my memories. But I can’t, because no matter how much I try to see it as just a prank- it’s the truth. I’m… adopted,” Jay finished in a hushed whisper. Immediately, Kai sat up straighter. He hadn’t heard this before. “Please, please, keep this a secret, Kai.”

“…so, when did you find out?” Kai whispered back.

“It was at the height of our popularity craze right after stix. A letter had come in, about how my father had died. Immediately, I went off to my Ma and Pa’s scrapyard, but it turns out that I had been adopted, and that my biological father was… Cliff Gordon,” Jay’s teeth had begun shuddering as tears came leaking out of his eyes.

“Oh,” That’s all Kai could really say. I mean, how were you going to reply to that?

“Of course, I felt all sorts of different emotions at first. Relief that my Pa didn’t die, confusion at why I was abandoned on my parent’s doorstep, realisation why neither of my parents had elemental powers, and eventually gratitude because my biological father had written me into his will.”

“But Kai, you don’t just easily forget the feeling when you thought that your parents died. I’m sure that if Cole was himself right now, he would have knocked some sense into you.” Jay stated with a small smile. “Our lives as Ninja are really, really dangerous. Yesterday, we lost Sensei Wu. Tomorrow… well, let’s just say that as a Ninja, you have to cherish time with your loved ones. Don’t put off tomorrow what can be done today.”

And Kai seriously was lost for words. Jay was… 100% right. There were no faults, no counterarguments. Danger was a Ninja’s job description, and too soon he could leave this realm without patching things up with his parents- his parents had almost done so too when his father had been struck by the Forward blade. If he couldn’t do it for himself, and his parents- well, he could do it for Nya’s sake.

Suddenly energised, Kai stood up.

“Thank you, Jay.”

And off he went to call his parents, checking in on them, holding a conversation that had a semblance of normality. They had talked about safe topics, about interesting areas Ray and Maya had visited, about Kai and Nya’s adventures, and about Kai’s team, Sensei Wu- anything, really.

Tears of joy fell down his cheeks before he decided to barge into Nya’s room, throwing open her curtains and rousing her from her slumber.

Because now, they had a chance. They could reconcile.

And then they can find Sensei Wu.

- Kai - It was their first machine in 6 months, and Kai had managed to lose his powers. Again. This time, however, the warmth and fiery spirit that Kai could always cling to were gone as well. He had always felt utterly powerless without his fire. But without his anger? Kai was more than useless. He couldn’t even defend the civilians from the fire snakes, because he was out of shape as well and had to rely on Jay to save him. Jay!

Severely discouraged by this fact, he told his team to just ‘go ahead without him'. He would not be of any help to them anyways. He would only add more onto their already full plate as they would have to focus on defending him too.

Slumping next to an overturned car, Kai hid his face in his hands. What if he never gets his powers back? Would they hate him? Forget him? Maybe he could become The Red Shogun again, maybe pilot a mech as Pixal does.

Kai’s jumbled thoughts were interrupted by a kid (seriously, how many disasters have Ninjago faced to let people carry on their normal lives whilst it’s raining fireballs?) handing him a journal, stating that Kai was his favourite Ninja and could he please, please sign his notebook?

“Sorry kid,” Kai huffed out. “I’m not really a ninja without my powers.”

“Well then, why don’t you go help your teammates?” The kid, Max asked.

“Because, I’m useless, that’s why!”

“Well- if you don’t help the ninja, I will!” And with that, Max stormed away and started to head for the scene of danger. Kai called out to him futile to come back and resigned himself to his fate. Picking up the notebook, Kai saw a cartoonish sticker of him in his ninja mask at the front, before coming to an epiphany.

His teammates didn’t like him for just his fire. Nor did the Ninjago citizens. He carried everyone’s hopes and dreams on his back and he can’t just turn around now and leave him to face the enemy alone!

What was he thinking?

Immediately, Kai rushed down the street to the Ninjago Museum of ancient artifacts.

Kai didn’t always have to run red hot. He didn’t need to perpetually be angry. Sometimes, it’s okay to mellow out. But now is not the time. Now, he has to save his family from one crazy snake lady who was fuelled only by revenge.

Kai couldn’t just be fuelled by his anger. Facing off with Aspheera taught him that. Being angry all the time was exhausting when he inevitably turned off the switch. Anger clouded his thoughts, made errs in his judgment, caused him to be impatient- all whilst ignoring the important parts of his life- his family. And from now on, Kai would only tap into anger when it was absolutely necessary. What matters the most to him isn’t feeling invulnerable, like nothing could hurt him, especially if he was protecting his teammates. Rather, it was the job that Kai had to do. Emotions in battle are a tricky thing, but all the times he observed Lloyd setting aside his feelings for the greater good had made Kai realise that emotions can be easily goaded. Manipulate, by enemies such as Chen and Harumi.

In a life or death situation, Kai couldn’t just rely on his feelings. He had to embrace his moral code, the values that he holds dear, and act upon them, even though it may seem impossible at times. And he shouldn’t get frustrated with his team.

Kai may be angry, but the only time he’ll properly deal with his emotions will be when the battle is all over, and then he will learn how to compartmentalise, how to sort through his emotions. Maybe he’ll take up blacksmithing part-time again.

All Kai knew that was in this instance, he refused to let his life be ruled over uncontrollable feelings, mostly of rage. He was the master of his own emotions.

And nothing will stop him from helping out his team.

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365days365movies · 3 years

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March 21, 2021: Orlando (1992)

Tilda Swinton...confuses me.

Like, in a good way. Because Tilda may be the most versatile actor working today. I mean, look at the goddamn filmography, and you’ll see what I’ve mean. I’ve seen Tilda Swinton in a lot, surprisingly, and I don’t think anything I’ve seen was bad. For example, I am an ARDENT defender in the portrayal of the Ancient One in the MCU.

I understand the controversy here, but I actually think this is excellent casting. Especially considering...being comic book-accurate would NOT have been a good idea with this role, if we’re trying to AVOID controversy. But Tilda Swinton FUCKING KILLED IT in this role, and I will always be happy for this choice.

Let’s see, there’s Jadis in the Narnia films, as shown at the top, there’s Snowpiercer, as Mason (an amazing character, and an acting job that Swinton disappears into), Moonrise Kingdom as Social Services, The Grand Budapest Hotel as Madame D., and Gabriel in Constantine. Which is a good segue to the next talking point...

Gabriel is pointedly androgynous, and honestly, Tilda Swinton kind of is as well. You may have noticed that I haven’t used any pronouns in referencing to Tilda Swinton, entirely out of respect. Gonna be a little hard to keep up with, so I’ll be using she/her from here on out, only because those are the pronouns that Swinton’s most recently promoted for herself. She’s also referred to herself as queer of some variety, as well as being famously gender non-conforming.

Which is fitting, given that a lot of that public image began with today’s movie, one of her first big roles. I’ll be revisiting Swinton in the independent movie scene in a couple of months, but this may be a good introduction. Instead of spoiling anything off the bat, I’m gonna jump right in. And so, I present: Orlando. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

We begin with a young man named, well, Orlando (Tilda Swinton), a young man with a feminine appearance and a good upbringing. His name means power land and property, but all he really wants is company. He writes and rests by a tree in the day, but falls asleep by mistake. When he wakes up, he runs back to where he’s meant to be, with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp) playing in the background. And that’s a REAL song, by the way, actually sung in the 1600s for Elizabeth! Very neat.

A title screen flashes, reading “1600: Death”, and we see where Orlando is meant to be. He speaks poetry for the Queen and her court, but is interrupted by the aged queen, who asks whether or not his poem is appropriate for her presence, as the poem is about youth, and Queen Elizabeth is not that. Orlando’s father (John Bott), who is serving as host to Elizabeth, intervenes on his behalf. However, it doesn’t seem to matter to the Queen, as she invites Orlando back to England to serve as her “favourite”. He accepts, and soon lives alongside the Queen. She quickly promises Orlando much land and property, for him and his heirs, but on one condition: that he does not fade, wither, or grow old.

The same wish cannot be applied to Elizabeth herself, nor to his father, as both grow old and die soon afterwards. Fast forward 10 years, and it’s a cold winter in England. Visiting Orlando’s vast estate is a woman from Russia, named Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), and Orlando quickly falls for her. This is to the dismay of Euphrosne (Anna Healy), his fiancée? I’m not sure, to be honest, but they’re definitely involved, and she’s definitely upset.

However, this is also a scandal for everybody else as well, not just because Orlando’s already engaged, but also because Sasha is Russian, during a particularly poor economic period for the country. Euphrosne angrily throws his ring back at him, and Orlando speaks directly to the audience, telling us that a man must follow his heart. The two go to his private cottage, and they start to make out, when Orlando suddenly comes down with intense melancholy.

Because this is such great happiness that he feels, but this happiness too will one day end. Which is, like, the most emo-shit I’ve ever heard, but I’m kinda here for it. And yet, that happiness does indeed end, when Sasha is forced to return to Russia, despite Orlando’s pleading for her to stay. He asks her to meet him at London Bridge, so that they may elope together.

Later, Orlando happens upon a performance of Othello, noting to us that it’s a terrific play. This is as the death of Othello is being played out, so that’s probably foreshadowing, right? Anyway, Orlando leads two horses through the thick fog, waiting for Sasha to arrive and come away with him. But as a storm sets in, there is no sign of Sasha. And Orlando stands there in the rain. Said rain, though, soon becomes ice, underneath his feet, floating away down the river, along with his hopes of a happy future with Sasha. The treachery of women, according to Orlando.

Over the next week, Orlando languishes in his bed, asleep for the entire time. Increasingly more servants are brought up to try and rouse him, only for him to remain asleep, no matter what they do. But then, he wakes up, noting that he can only conjure three words to describe women, none of them worth explaining.

Forty years later, and the title screen cries “Poetry”! And Orlando looks exactly the same. Guess he really took that whole “don’t grow old” thing from Elizabeth to heart, huh? He speaks to a poet, Nick Greene (Heathcote Williams), and gushes about his poetry, which is a pursuit that he loves greatly. But Nick is...well, Nick is kind of a dick, to be honest. Orlando wants only to share his love and his poetry with him, but Nick’s only in it for the money. Not a true artist, and he mocks Orlando’s poetry, which he reads only after Orlando offers him money. And then, he writes a poem mocking Orlando further, which angers Orlando...but doesn’t stop the money flowing to Nick.

Orlando moves onto his next pursuit, in 1700, in the next section: Politics. Now over 100 years old, Orlando becomes an ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and travels to Constantinople. There, he receives a somewhat rough and awkward greeting, which Orlando is not helping with. They share some Turkish coffee, Orlando has trouble drinking that Turkish coffee, they drink a LOT of Turkish coffee, and they toast to multiple things, including the “beauty of women, and the joys of love.” Orlando pauses at this, and reveals that he is still suffering quite a bit of heartbreak. His Turkish friend, the Khan (Lothaire Bluteau), bonds with him about this.

After 10 years, Orlando has fully retreated into life as a Turkish man. This is interrupted by a British emissary, sent to bring him news of a new appointment and power from the Queen. However, something goes wrong when the Khan arrives and takes Orlando hostage. The city is under attack, and the Khan asks Orlando if he will help against their enemies. Orlando agrees, and gives them arms, and heads to help himself at the walls. There, he witnesses a man dying, and it shakes him greatly. And just like before, he sleeps it off for seven days. And then...she wakes up.

YUP. WHAT.

Yeah, um, Orlando is now a woman. Like she says: “Same person, just a different sex.” Which is a very interesting premise, not gonna lie. Looks like Orlando now has to live life as a woman, which is going to be...difficult in 1700s Turkey. Or England. Or anywhere. Or any time.

Still, Orlando approaches this new life with aplomb, and without really any needed caution. Parading in some awesome dresses, she greets fellow nobility as the lady Orlando. However, the emissary from earlier, Archduke Harry (John Wood), begins to recognize her as similar to the lord Orlando.

In speaking with a group of poets, however, Orlando learns EXACTLY what men think of women in this society, and it’s not even a little bit good. She leaves, enraged and embarrassed. Harry also speaks with her, assuming that she was a woman all along. However, Orlando’s in EVEN MORE shit, as she’s quickly served with papers that are an attempt to take away all of her property and titles, because Lord Orlando is legally dead, and Lady Orlando is a woman, which one of them says is basically the same thing. FUCKIN’ YIKES, BRUV.

Ah, but Harry tries to help by proposing to her ON THE FUCKIN’ SPOT. He believed that Orlando was perfect as both genders, and is happy to do it. However, Orlando understandably refuses, and after Harry tells her that she will die as a spinster, alone and dispossessed, she runs into a nearby hedge maze. And while in the hedge maze, time passes, and her outfit changes to match the period accordingly.

Forward 140 years now! The year is 1850, and a new chapter begins: Sex.

And as she runs from the maze, she runs into who else...but Shelmerdine (Billy Zane), a man who...Shelmerdine? SHELMERDINE? What fuckin’ witch cursed his entirely family line to have THAT name? That’s the kind of family that was named AFTER a bridge, not the other way around! WHAT KINDA NAME IS FUCKIN’ SHELMERDINE?

Well, I’ve looked it up now, and it is apparently a real name. So, if any Shelmerdines are reading this...I mean, I’m sorry, but also, FUCKIN’ SHELMERDINE? OK, back to Shelmerdine. He’s twisted his ankle falling off his horse, and Orlando is now taking care of him. She reveals, in the process, that she’s about to lose everything. The reasons for that aren’t quite said, but Shelmerdine offers a place at his side, back to the great free land of America.

After having a conversation about the roles of men and women in the world (which is interesting given the context of the film in general), the two fulfill the chapter’s imperative. And we never see the act, but we do get some interesting angles and hand-holding. But the next morning, this post-coital reverie is interrupted by the lawyers from the Queen. The lawsuits have been settled, and Orlando has been legally declared a woman, meaning that unless she has a son, all of her possessions will be lost.

Shelmerdine (I swear, every time I say that name, a fairy gets chlamydia) leaves as well, with the southwest wind. As he heads back to America to fight for freedom, Orlando stands in the rain, facing an uncertain future, and broken fully by the politics of the time period.

And then...the sound of planes overhead. Looks like a new time period once again, heading into the periods of World Wars, and Orlando is now...heavily pregnant. OH. FUCK. Welcome to the next chapter: Birth.

We jump past the period of World War II, and to the 1990s! Orlando is presenting a book to a publisher, and he believes that the book will sell. With her young daughter in tow, she finally goes back to her old mansion, now finally able to go back after losing it 100 years prior. The narration from the beginning repeats, recontextualized for Orlando’s new life. She is over 400 years old, and finally, FINALLY...she is happy.

youtube

And that’s Orlando! I think I loved it. Real talk, this was a fascinating movie, and I’m into it. I’m very much into it. I’m sure there’s more to be gleaned from this film, but I’m glad I watched it regardless. More in the Review, though! See you there!

#orlando #orlando 1992 #sally potter #tilda swinton #billy zane #lothaire bluteau #john wood #virginia woolf #orlando film #fantasy march #user365 #365 movie challenge #365days365movies #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #mygifs #my gifs

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tchallasbabymama · 4 years

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Gone

Hey y’all, here’s Chapter 6 of Playlist. Check out my masterlist HERE to read the other chapters if you haven’t already, and check out my other stories too!

CW: alcoholism

Word count: 4894

Two months had passed and T’Challa was still not taking it well. He was still internalizing the guilt he felt for putting Ashanti in harm's way, and it was all he could think about. He felt numb most days, and when he felt anything at all it was grief over losing his love. Whenever he wasn’t working he hid away in his chambers, staring at the walls and playing sad music. Today his favorite song to wallow to was “Gone” by N*Sync. He laid across his bed sipping from a bottle of whiskey with the song playing on repeat as tears ran down his face.

There's a thousand words that I could say

To make you come home

Oh, seems so long ago you walked away

Left me alone

I remember what you said to me

You were acting so strange

and maybe I was too blind to see

That you needed a change

Was it something I said

To make you turn away?

To make you walk out and leave me cold

If I could just find a way

To make it so that you were right here

But right now..

I've been sitting here

Can't get you off my mind

I've tried my best to be a man and be strong

I've drove myself insane

Wishing I could touch your face

But the truth remains..

You're gone..

Baby you're gone

Girl you're gone, baby girl, you're gone..

You're gone..

You're…

He barely spoke to his family anymore. Not even N’Jadaka could get anything out of him on their occasional walks when he would visit from Oakland. The king was a steel trap of emotions, and nobody could get in. His cousin could tell something was off, and began to worry about his health so he and Shuri decided to confront him about it. They knew it wouldn’t go well, but they never expected him to insult their intelligence.

T’Challa had been able to hide his drinking from Queen Mother, but it was hard to get anything past the other two. N’Jadaka had seen friends go down a similar route and he knew the signs, and Shuri had overheard the kitchen staff talking about sending three bottles a night to the king’s chambers. When he was scheduled to leave for a mission with the Avengers she was scared out of her mind that he would get hurt, so right before he left she and her cousin confronted him. He lied to them, for the first time ever, and straight up denied the accusations. Shuri was hurt to her core knowing her brother was in such a bad way that he would stoop so low, but N’Jadaka expected his response. When he left they saw him off as usual, but Shuri broke down in her cousin’s arms after the Talon took off. Ramonda quickly became worried for both of her children when Shuri told her of the burden she had been carrying for her brother. They both internalized too much, and Ramonda had Shuri start therapy immediately. She also had a grief therapist and an addiction counselor on standby for T'Challa's return. She would be damned if she lost her son to his depression.

The Avengers had also noticed a change in T’Challa’s behavior, so much so that even Sam of all people was concerned for him. Thor had tried to lighten the king’s mood with their usual banter, but nothing changed. Wanda tried to regale him with her physics-defying powers to no avail, and Natasha couldn’t get anything out of him in their sparring sessions. Eventually Steve and Sam took it upon themselves to do something, Steve as a friend and Sam as a former counselor.

“Catman, let me holler at you real quick,” Sam interrupted T’Challa’s brooding on the couch. He rolled his eyes, but reluctantly got up anyway. Sam led him into the kitchen, where Steve was already seated at the large table. Sam pulled out a chair and turned it around before sitting and resting his forearms on the back.

“Ok, talk. You’ve been moping around the entire time you’ve been here and you’re bringing the energy down-”

“I think what Sam is trying to say is that we’re your friends and we can tell something is wrong... come on, man, you really think I haven’t picked up on your new drinking habit?” he asked in all honesty before trying to lighten the mood a little. “You know, for a cat, you’re not that sneaky.”

T’Challa closed his eyes and sighed. He had hoped nobody else would notice before he could get it together. When Shuri and N’Jadaka confronted him before he left he lied to their faces. He had never done that before, and as soon as the words left his mouth he was filled with shame and had to leave quickly to avoid them prying any more into it. When he looked out the window of the Talon after taking off he saw his baby sister break down in tears, and his heart broke. He decided then and there that he would stop drinking, but it didn’t exactly work out that way. Here he was, a month later and still no improvement. He was doing his best to keep it under wraps, but for once his best wasn’t good enough.

“Problems at home?...Is it about Ashanti? I haven't heard you mention her in awhile.” Steve continued, trying to get something out of him.

A lump formed in the king’s throat and he nodded before averting his eyes to the table.

“She left me.”

He proceeded to tell them the whole story and watched their faces twist in disbelief.

“Wow, that’s...wow,” Steve couldn’t believe it and his heart went out to both of them for what they went through and for what T’Challa is putting himself through now. “You know, for the longest time I blamed myself for what happened to Bucky. It ate me up inside, but you gotta let that stuff go, man. If not, you’re gonna start spiraling out of control, and nobody needs that.”

“He’s right, T.”

T’Challa and Steve looked at Sam in shock, he never referred to him by his name or anything close to it. It was always “Catman” or whatever cat joke he could come up with at the moment.

“You need to talk to someone before this gets worse,” Sam said in earnest.

He thought back to his mother’s words shortly before he left Wakanda, “I’m worried about you, unyana wam. You have not been your usual bright self.”

T’Challa sat forward, placing his elbows on the table. He decided then and there that he couldn't keep doing this to himself. He was a king, he was a warrior, he was a superhero for Bast’s sake. He couldn’t afford to be a drunken shell of himself anymore, it was going to start catching up to him. He couldn’t keep blaming himself.

“You’re right.”

-------

After the incident, Ashanti moved back in with her parents so they could care for her. Kwame and Binta were over all the time, and Shuri even made a visit to bring her the new pinky she made for her. It took some getting used to how it felt on her hand, but she eventually got the hang of it.

At first, Ashanti was scared to leave her parents’ home, so they found a therapist that made house-calls. It took some time for Ashanti to trust her, but eventually she did and Jamila was able to convince her to go outside for the first time in two months. They stayed in her parents backyard for a few sessions, before Jamila gradually got her to move further and further from the home. After about 6 months, she was able to go to the bazaar on her own. She still wasn’t up for running Taj’s, so she let her new employees Zina and Jafari handle it. So far they had been doing a great job and she wasn’t too worried about getting back to it just yet. She took some time to find herself again, painting for the first time in almost a year and spinning clay at her pottery wheel whenever she felt the need. She caught up on the books she had been meaning to read, and she slowly got back into the habit of running in the mornings.

Ashanti surprisingly had no problem with moving back into the house with Binta and Kwame. She missed the twins more than she could verbalize, but really did need her time away. Eventually, things went back to normal and it was almost as if the chapter of her life that included T’Challa never happened at all.

After a few months the twins pushed her to get back out there and she started dating a River tribe guy she met on her run one morning. She had tripped over a root and ended up falling flat on her face, but luckily another runner saw her fall and came over to help. He was a hot doctor named Zane. After he checked her ankle, he looked up and was captured by her beauty. He asked her out then and there, and three months later they’re still going strong. He was sweet, and smart, and funny, and all the things she wanted in a partner...but he didn't automatically know her favorite flower, and she didn't feel electricity from his touch. His kisses didn’t ignite a flame, just a little spark. He was a great lover, but the passion wasn’t there.

In short, Ashanti was faking it, but she was too scared to break his poor little heart.

Even her parents and roommates could tell she wasn’t really feeling Zane, so they sat her down to talk some sense into her.

“Why does this look like an intervention?” Ashanti joked when she walked into her kitchen and saw her family seated around the table, all looking up at her.

“Because it is, girl. Sit down.” Kwame pulled out the chair next to him and she tentatively took a seat.

“Sithandwa,” Bisa started , “you know we love you-“

“What’s this about?” she cut her off, nervous and ready to cut to the chase.

“Zane.” Binta and Kwame stated, matter of factly.

Ashanti knew what was coming. Each one of them had pulled her aside at some point to have what was sure to be the exact same conversation.

“Honey, you’re playing with that poor man’s heart. We can all see you don’t want him, he’s the only one who can’t.” Kwame reached out and grabbed her hand in his.

Ashanti sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. She hated being called out on her bullshit, especially since it didn't happen often. She knew they were right though, she was wrong for stringing him along.

“He’s a good man, I know, but you both deserve to be with people who want you the way you want them,” Bisa added,

“I know,” Ashanti let out a sigh before hanging her head and collecting herself. “I know, I just- he’s a great guy so I just keep hoping he’ll grow on me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Everyone seemed to look at each other out of the corners of their eyes without Ashanti noticing. They knew exactly what the problem was.

“Nothing is wrong with you, intyatyambo. You are just still in love,” Chidi cupped her face with his hand and she stared at him in shock.

“No, it’s been over a year. I’m past that now,” she tried to dead the conversation before it went somewhere she really wanted to avoid.

“Are you?” Binta asked. “Because everytime you see his hologram on the news you smile a little without even realizing it.”

“And don't forget when you ducked into a random bathroom and texted me panicking because you saw Dora Milaje in the bazaar and thought he might be there.” Kwame added.

“I-I just didn’t want to see him, that’s all.”

“Mhm, then how come when I called you were you primping in the mirror?”

“I was not!”

“Sis…” he gave her the look.

Ashanti hung her head again.

“Fine,” she gave in. She knew why she wasn’t feeling Zane and why her palms still started to sweat when she saw pictures or holograms of him and why her heart almost beat out of her chest that day in the bazaar. She still dreamed of him. Her body still responded to the thought of him. Hearing his voice still sent chills down her spine. She still loved him, but she never wanted to admit it.

“Fine?” Chidi asked as he and his wife shared a hopeful glance.

“Yes, fine, you’re right. Happy?” tears came to her eyes, and as hard as she tried to keep them from falling she eventually lost the battle. She hadn’t allowed herself to feel the loss after the breakup, and it was all catching up to her right there in front of her family.

She sobbed on Bisa's shoulder and Chidi wrapped them both in an embrace while Binta rubbed circles on Ashanti’s back and Kwame held her hand. All four of them were relieved to see her finally come to terms with her emotions. They had been concerned that she seemingly blocked out that whole chapter of her life, not sure if it was due to the trauma or the heartbreak or both. Her time in therapy had focused on getting her through the trauma of what happened to her, and barely even touched her breakup. All she had done was lock her feelings in the basement and throw away the key, but they were still there and just as strong as ever.

After a few minutes Ashanti pulled herself together and looked at the people around her.

“I love you all so much,” she was able to get out through her tears and snot. Chidi grabbed some tissue and wiped her face.

“We love you too,” they all responded.

_______

After that day, Ashanti found herself thinking about T’Challa a little more than usual...ok a lot more than usual. Everything she saw reminded her of him, and it was starting to weigh on her. She still felt the same way about being with him, but she missed him more than she could say. Eventually she got the idea to give him a call. She talked herself out of and back into the idea for several weeks, and one day just said “Fuck it” and pressed his contact on her beads. She never got around to deleting it.

The trilling sound that followed filled her with dread. What if he didn’t pick up? What if she’s blocked or he changed his beads?

She didn’t have time to go too far down that rabbit hole because the trilling stopped and her ex boyfriend appeared in the palm of her hand. They both stared at each other in silence before T’Challa spoke.

“Miss Ashanti, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

She was saddened by his formality but stunned by the smoky timbre of his voice. She had missed it so much.

“H-hi, how are you?”

“I am well, how are you?”

“I’m doing ok.”

“Just ok?”

“Yeah, just ok…” Ashanti trailed off, leading to a long silence between the two.

“Ashanti, is there something you need?”

“Oh, um, no not really. I just-,” she sighed, “You crossed my mind a couple times and something told me to reach out so I did.”

A small smile appeared on the king’s face.

“Just a couple times? I’m disappointed.”

She laughed, a sound he hadn’t had the pleasure of hearing in over a year, forcing his crooked smile to grow larger.

“Ok maybe a few times,” she said, while smiling back.

“But seriously,” her voice softened, “how are you T’Challa?”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when she said his name, but he wasn’t surprised she still had that effect on him since it happened every time he thought of her. He wanted to answer her honestly, he really did, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her about his drinking problem and stint in rehab a few months ago. He went back and forth on the decision for a few moments before making up his mind.

“I am well now, it has been an uphill battle.”

“I know what you mean,” Ashanti replied before they both just stared at each other in silence for a moment. “Well, I um, I know you're busy, and I didn’t really want anything so I don’t want to keep y-”

“We’re going to be late, baby,” Ashanti was cut off by a gorgeous woman in a red dress entering the room behind T’Challa. She hadn’t even noticed that he was talking to anyone, barely looking up from her beads as she walked back out of the room. T’Challa cleared his throat.

“Unfortunately you caught me at a bad time, tonight-”

“That’s ok! Uh, have fun!” she panicked and ended the call.

“Why would you just hang up like that?” she asked herself out loud before flopping back onto her bed.

After that embarrassment, she doesn't know if she’ll ever be able to talk to him again. Of all the different ways she imagined that conversation going she never accounted for the fact that he could have already moved on to someone else. She knew it was selfish and hypocritical since she had been with Zane, but something about the idea of him with anyone else made her blood boil and tears come to her eyes. She let a couple fall before getting up and going on about her day.

Late that night as she laid in bed scrolling through her social media she came across an article about the king’s 30th birthday celebration on the 9th. It was open to the public, and for a moment she considered going, but then she remembered the silky, high pitched voice emanating from behind T’Challa and decided against it. She’d rather not have to feel that embarrassment in public. Ashanti shut off her beads and closed her eyes, letting sleep take her for the night.

-------

The drummers were extra hype today, playing their hearts out as all of Wakanda danced and celebrated their king’s birthday. As they partied into the early morning T’Challa spent the whole time glued to his girlfriend Tamala, the Mining tribe princess. She had a habit of being clingy and wouldn’t allow anyone else to steal a dance. Around 1 in the morning, he had finally had enough and excused himself to go to the restroom. Making his way out of the venue, he caught the eye of someone he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Kwame?”

“My king,” he saluted T’Challa, but he waved him off.

“Please, you know me.”

“Better safe than sorry. Happy birthday man!”

“Thank you, thank you. Are you here alone?” T’Challa’s eyes scanned the crowd.

“No, I'm here with the usual people,” Kwame said, smirking in the king’s direction.

“So Ashanti is…”

“Over in the back corner avoiding you and the aggressive supermodel on your arm,” he took a sip of his rum punch.

“I can understand that,” the king and Kwame stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to continue the conversation. “It was good seeing you Kwame.”

“You too!”

The two quickly parted ways and Kwame ran straight to his friends at the table they had commandeered in the back. He sat down on Omar’s lap and told Ashanti of his interaction with the king, leaving out that he told him where to find her. Ashanti noticed Omar’s hands make their way around Kwame’s waist and she wished she could feel the king’s arms around her like that one more time.

“I knew I shouldn't have come here, why did I let you two talk me into this? He has a girlfriend already.”

“Because your man knows how to throw a damn party!” Binta slurred a little, very obviously teetering between tipsy and drunk. Ashanti rolled her eyes at her ‘your man’ comment but agreed, looking around at all the happy partygoers. She sighed, wishing she could enjoy herself like they were.

On his way to the restroom T’Challa was stopped by not one, not two, but three separate elders commenting on how good he and Tamala looked together and asking about marriage plans. T’Challa knew the council was anxious for him to get married and produce heirs, but no matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn’t see it with Tamala. She had everything he was looking for, but she was missing a special something. More like she’s not that special someone. She’s not her.

For the rest of the night, T’Challa avoided the elders and slyly kept his eye on Ashanti and her friends. He was mesmerized by her colorful curve-hugging jumpsuit and her natural hair that had grown much longer in the year they’d been apart. Her shoulders seemed to glow and her deep purple lipstick drew his eyes to her lips. His eyes travelled down her body, noticing that she had kicked off her shoes and he smiled fondly, remembering her disdain for heels. She looked up and caught him staring more than once, but he just couldn't stop. Everytime she caught him she’d quickly look away, too embarrassed to hold his gaze. His staring angered Tamala who also caught him staring more than once.

“Do you know her?” Tamala asked with an attitude, standing in his line of vision. T’Challa rolled his eyes because he sensed another argument coming. Tamala was a lot of wonderful things, but jealousy was her worst quality, hands down. He had never been one to have a wandering eye when he was with a woman, so normally her jealousy annoyed him to no end. However, this time he understood where she was coming from.

“Yes, I do. She’s an old friend.”

“A ‘friend’ huh? Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Tamala, please, not here. This is a celebration, try to be happy. For me, please.”

The Mining tribe princess rolled her eyes and stormed off, shoulder checking Prince N’Jadaka on the way.

“Yo, me and your girl are gonna fight fight one of these days. Like, for real,” he said as he walked up to his cousin.

T’Challa chuckled as he sipped some more of his non-alcoholic ginger beer.

“Let's go for a walk in the gardens,” he requested and the prince obliged. N’Jadaka pulled out a pre-roll and lit the tip, passing it to his cousin. “She’s upset because Ashanti is here.”

“Oh! She is, huh? Interesting...I’m surprised she showed.”

“I’m not,” he handed the blunt back to the prince, “she called me the other day. It was a very short conversation but...I still felt something and I think she did too. She looks good, really good. She asked how I had been but I couldn't really tell her the truth... She seems like she’s gotten so much better since the last time I saw her.”

The two walked in silence for a couple minutes passing the blunt back and forth before N’Jadaka broke the silence.

“So you still love her?”

T’Challa didn’t even have to hesitate.

“Of course, I never stopped.”

---------

The next day, Ashanti and her roommates were all laying in the living room nursing hangovers while they half watched an old classic Wakandan movie. Ashanti was sick to her stomach, but she couldn't tell if it was from the alcohol or the sappy love story she was forced to watch. After it was over, Binta pulled up the news and right as the meteorologist finished explaining the upcoming weather patterns, a huge picture of T’Challa and Tamala kissing took over the screen. Bile rose in her stomach as Binta scrambled to change the channel. Before she could, Ashanti heard the anchor say the very words she dreaded hearing, “Could there be a royal engagement on the horizon?”

Binta turned the hologram off altogether, and the three of them sat in silence for a while until Kwame couldn’t take it anymore.

“Are you ok?”

“I will be, it’s just rough right now. I’m happy he found somebody though, they look happy.”

Neither twin wanted to pry so they left it at that and changed the subject to food.

“I’m hungry, but I don’t feel like cooking.” Binta said in a huff, throwing herself back into the couch..

“Mood,” Kwame and Ashanti replied.

“Ooh how about I grab some food from my parents? They’ve been wanting me to stop by,” Ashanti offered.

“Bast bless you, my child.” Binta grabbed her hand and kissed it.

Ashanti threw her shoes on and was out the door in no time flat. She needed to get out of the house and clear her head. They looked so happy…

She was on autopilot when she reached the restaurant, barely even shooting a glance towards Taj’s before immediately heading back home. Chidi and Bisa could tell there was something bothering her, but chose not to pry.

Almost a week passed by with her being forced to see the new “it” couple everywhere she turned. It was starting to get to her so she called Jamila for a session, which turned into Ashanti seeing her on the regular. After a couple more months she no longer felt weighed down by her seemingly unrequited feelings for T’Challa and was genuinely ready to move on. She even downloaded a dating app on her beads and started meeting new people. Nothing really came of it, but she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Ashanti threw herself back into work, mostly focusing on her commissions while her employees handled Taj’s. Princess Shuri had spread the word about the artist after she received her necklace and since then Ashanti’s business had been booming. Everybody from farmers to nobility was knocking down her door for a custom piece. She even made a necklace for Shani, Chieftess of the Jabari. thAll was going well in Ashanti’s life and her therapy sessions were working, so when she saw the news of the royal engagement she allowed the grief to wash over her before shaking it off and going on about her day. On the other side of Birnin Zana, King T’Challa sighed as he watched the media coverage. He knew she was out there somewhere having to see it and he pushed back against the feeling of guilt that often tried to overcome him. He had to do it, though. He had been pushing the council to allow immigration into Wakanda and they just wouldn’t budge, just like he hadn’t budged on the issue of betrothal. It wasn’t until he announced to them that he had plans to marry Tamala that the council started to see things his way. This way everybody would be happy. He would be able to open up Wakanda more to the Lost Tribe, and they would have a queen and hopefully, soon after, an heir to the throne. A week later the news leaked to the press somehow and it quickly became all anyone could talk about.

During his weekly visits to the Merchant tribe T’Challa tended to avoid the Bazaar for fear of running into Ashanti, but this time he decided to venture in. People greeted him as he walked through, perusing the merchandise, and stopping periodically to chat. This is why he loved coming there, everyone was always so cheerful and bright. He had crouched down to talk to a nine year old girl who wanted his attention, and on his way back up he saw a woman in a purple headwrap walking out of a storefront, going in the opposite direction. He would’ve recognized that walk anywhere. T’Challa wanted to call out to her, but didn’t want to embarrass her or start a scandal. He watched her turn the corner and disappear from his sight. The king said goodbye to the little girl and her baba before heading off in the same direction she went, almost leaving his Doras in the dust. When he rounded the corner he stopped abruptly at the absolute vision staring right back at him. She was in shock, obviously not expecting to run into her newly engaged ex.

“T’Challa, h-hi.”

“Hi,” he said back, wanting to kick himself for not being more articulate.

“Um, congratulations on your engagement. I saw the news, well, everywhere.”

“Oh, uh, Thank you.”

“What brings you down here?”

“Just my usual weekly rounds.”

“Oh yeah, I remember those.” She smiled at the memory and his heart thumped a little louder in his chest at the sight. “You always looked forward to Mondays just for that…”

“I still do.”

They both awkwardly stood there, neither one of them saying what’s on their mind.

“Well, I uh, I have to go open up the store. I’ll see you around T’Challa.”

There was so much that he wanted to say, but he just couldn’t get it out. Being in her presence again after so long had him freezing up, something he never did.

She saluted him and winked before turning around and heading towards Taj’s. He couldn’t help but watch her hips twitch as she walked away and something told him she knew he was watching. She did.

Next Chapter

Taglist:

@maddeningmayhem, @theblulife

#cecewritessometimes #black panther fic #t'challa x oc #t'challa #playlist #black!oc

55 notes · View notes

rosiehunterwolf · 3 years

Text

For the Romping and the Roaring- Part 5

My submission for Day 5 of @serpentfever's Inhuman Event!

It's the last chapter of this fic, guys. I'm sad to see it go, it was such a fun time to write. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, it's been a really fun ride :,)

Link to read on ffn.net (Recommended if you are on mobile or haven't read the previous parts yet)

Preview:

“Kai,” Nya choked out, sounding like she was moments from passing out, “If they leave here without finding us, we die. You have to keep going, you have to be louder-” She broke off into a strangled scream, writhing as she tugged at the collar.

“Take that off and it’ll kill you,” Borg yelled.

Nya’s fingers darted away, and she choked on her sobs, saliva bubbling at her lips as she, with great difficulty, turned her gaze up to meet his. “Kai-”

No, no, no, he couldn’t do this, Borg would kill them, and then it would be all his fault-

His gaze met Borg’s, the man’s eyes livid with a ferocity ten times anything Kai had seen before. He knew for certain, in that moment, that Borg would kill them, slowly and painfully, if they didn’t get out of this.

Nya was right. If they didn’t escape now, they never would.

(Full chapter under the cut)

Prompts Used: Acceptance, Comfort, Safe (haha went all out on this one)

Word Count: 8,008

Rating: T

Trigger Warnings: Dehumanization, Torture, Attempted Murder, Mentions of Racism/Speciesism

Cole clicked the flashlight in his hands.

On. Off. On. Off.

Jay glanced over at him. “You okay?”

Cole sighed, setting the flashlight down. “I don’t know. I’m just scared. What if we’re too late?”

Jay was silent, adjusting his sling. “But maybe we’re not. If there’s even a chance they’re still alive, we need to take it.”

“Yeah, I know. I just am terrified of walking in there and finding them already gone.”

“Me too.”

The police car slowed to a halt, and Cole looked out the window.

They were here.

“You ready for this?” Grey asked them, turning around from the driver’s seat to look back at them.

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Zane murmured, from where he sat in the passenger’s seat.

The four of them exited the car, and met up with the other police officers who were gathering outside of Borg Tower. As the officers headed through the doors, Cole paused. This was the place he had been trapped in for twenty-one years, his whole life up until a few weeks ago. Did he really dare go back inside?

He had to. His friends needed him. This was no time to get selfish.

Besides, they had a whole squadron of police protecting them. Borg wouldn’t be able to get them again.

Taking a deep breath, Cole stepped through the doors.

The scene around him resurfaced the memories he had been trying to bury. The employees bustling around, the sterile scent that hung in the air, and the thick, restricting white walls. He suddenly felt like he was coming back from one of his monthly outings again.

Jay stumbled backwards beside him, whining softly, and Zane put a hand on his shoulder.

“Remember why we’re here. As soon as we get them, we’ll leave.”

Jay swallowed, nodding, and the three of them trailed after the police officers.

All around them, people were sharply turning to look at them, panicked whispers among them. Although most of them had gazes on the cops, there were a fair amount of eyes on them too- some with shock and fear, but a few with sharp interest- those ones, Cole recognized as caretakers and trainers. One raised a walkie-talkie to her mouth and spoke into it. Cole bit his lip. They were surrounded. If Borg didn’t feel threatened by the police, then… well, they didn’t stand a chance.

The police Commissioner marched up to the front desk, her gaze expressionless. The poor young receptionist stared at her with wide, terrified, blue eyes.

“Can… Can I help you?”

“I need to speak with Dr. Issac Borg immediately.”

“Um, he’s not… he’s busy right now, ma’am. Is something… has something happened?” The girl was literally shaking by this point.

The Commissioner sighed, obviously realizing that she wasn’t going to be any help. “Get me the highest-up superior you have available right now.”

“Uh… yes, yes ma’am, I’ll be right back-” the girl practically bolted from her chair, scurrying into the back room.

As they waited, Zane elbowed him gently. Cole turned to him, expectant, but Zane just gave him the slightest shake of his head, tilting his head slightly towards something behind them.

Trying to look casual, Cole glanced back to see that several Borg security officers had entered the scene, subtly lurking among the crowd gawking at them.

Nudging Jay gently, so that he saw, too, he whispered, “Be ready.”

Jay gave him an incredulous look that probably said something along the lines of “are you crazy, we can’t take them all on by ourselves,” which was true, but what else were they going to do? Surrender? There wasn’t a way out, now, with a guard standing in front of the door, so running again wasn’t an option. Besides, they had come here for one reason, and Cole didn’t intend to leave until they had succeeded.

He just hoped the police would be enough to protect them.

The receptionist hurried back, a man in a suit storming after her.

“What is the meaning of this?” he barked at the Commissioner.

“Sir, we need to speak with Issac Borg now.”

“He’s not available at the moment.”

“Well, he better find a way to clear his schedule, because his corporation has been accused of some pretty serious crimes.”

The man’s eyes widened, before he quickly hid his shock in a scowl. “You can’t be coming in here without any warrant!”

“We can if we have a good enough reason!”

“Yeah? What kind of reason would that be- you!” he hissed as his gaze found Cole, Zane and Jay. “You little brats been telling lies about us again?”

“We have been given strong evidence to believe they’re not lying-”

Cole’s attention was snapped from the Commissioner’s argument with the man when Jay gave a startled shriek from behind him. He whipped around to see that a Borg security officer had wrapped his arm around Jay.

Hissing, Cole lunged forward and kicked him in the shin. The officer pulled back with a sharp cry.

Cole pulled Jay closer to him, holding a fist up towards the guard. “Don’t you dare touch him again.”

The guard scowled, reaching towards him. “I’m gonna have to ask you to step away from-”

Cole shoved his arm away and punched him in the shoulder. The guard lunged for Jay again, and Cole darted in front of him, raising an arm-

His feet were swept out from under him as the guard tripped him, and he fell to the ground, his chin slamming against it and causing him to accidentally bite down on his lip, busting it open.

“Cole!” Zane cried, and as Cole quickly struggled to his feet, his friend streaked past him and punched the guard in the face. He turned away, gasping, but the rest of the guards quickly advanced on them.

“Stop!” Grey snapped. “Fighting us will do no good. You will face consequences for disobeying officers of the law.”

“Not if we win,” a security guard snapped.

“You are outnumbered, and are fighting a losing battle-”

“Uh, Grey?” Jay interrupted in a soft voice.

“What?”

Jay pointed behind him, and everyone followed his finger to see a squadron of security officers hurrying towards them.

Cole swallowed. This wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

The two groups just stared at each other tensely for a few moments. Both sides had hands resting on their guns, although no one dared to shoot. Cole held his breath. Maybe they could-

Ducking low, Cole spun around suddenly and kicked the legs of the guard with the gun aimed at his head, sending him to the ground before he could pull the trigger.

Cole stared at him in disbelief. He had almost died.

Apparently his movement had been all that was needed to start the fight. Shouts broke out around them as the blue of the police uniforms clashed against the gray of Borg Security. Cole, Jay, and Zane backed up against each other.

Guards were going after the police, keeping them busy, but more were heading towards the three of them, alongside a couple trainers, holding chains and ropes in their hands. Cole backed away, growling, and, immediately, Zane transformed into a falcon and soared past their heads, swooping at them with outstretched talons as he passed.

Several guards turned to deal with Zane, but it wasn’t all of them. Many were still heading towards Cole and Jay. They were going to have to fight.

“Cole, what do I do,” Jay whimpered. “My arm’s still injured. How can I fight like this?”

“Follow my lead, you’ll do fine. And stay close to me, I’ll protect you.”

As Cole covered Jay’s injured side, the two fought in sync, striking down the guards as they approached. Their most dangerous ploy was still their guns, but, even with his injured arm, Jay’s speed was knocking them out of their hands before they could shoot.

It was only a matter of time before he missed one, though. And the longer they kept fighting, the greater those chances were.

As he continued to fight the guards, Cole found himself using his strength in a way he never had before- fierce, accurate, unrestrained. He had wanted to try out these battle moves for so long, but now that he actually was… even though these were the same people who had hurt and kidnapped his friends, Cole wasn’t enjoying this nearly as much as he thought he would.

Maybe it was the thought of what it would be like if the tables were turned. His strength, Jay’s speed, Zane’s cunning and elusive flying, all working for Borg- it was a scary thought.

He wasn’t a fighting machine. None of them were. Just because they had these special abilities, didn’t mean that they should be used, like tools. Cole didn’t want to spend a life beating up other people, no matter whose team he was on. He just wanted to have a good, long, happy life with his family.

And if he wanted that, he reminded himself, he was going to have to fight one more time. Kai, Nya and Lloyd were somewhere in this building, scared and upset and counting on them. He had to press on, for their sakes. It would only be after they were reunited that they could find peace.

By this point, many guards were lying on the floor, some still struggling to their feet, while others didn’t get up. There were police officers on the ground too, but not as many. They were close. Just a few more guards, and-

“Cole…” Jay whispered.

Cole whipped towards him, feeling dawning horror spread through his body as he caught sight of what Jay was warning him about.

More guards were advancing on them, these ones equipped in heavier armor. The initial benefit of the element of surprise had worn off, with these guards having time to prepare after their colleagues had warned them.

The falcon flapped over their heads, and Zane reappeared with a flash, panting as he fell into a battle stance on Jay’s other side.

Cole himself was also growing tired. How long could they keep this up?

As the fresh wave of guards came upon them, Cole drew closer to his teammates. “Pull together, gang. Whatever happens next, we’re not going down without a fight.”

---

Thump. Thump.

Kai groaned softly at the sounds, putting his arms over his head and trying to bury his face deeper into the mattress.

Thump.

“Kai,” Nya whispered, “Do you hear that?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think’s going on?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

Lloyd yelped suddenly, and Kai sat up, looking over at him. He was sitting on his bed, head tilted and ears rotating.

“What is it, bud?” Nya asked.

“Someone’s here.”

“Who?”

Kai waved a hand, shushing her, and pricked his own ears. But after so long cooped up in this little room, his senses felt muffled. He could detect that the thumping noises were coming from somewhere above them, but that was all he could hear.

They both turned their gazes to Lloyd, watching anxiously as he adjusted his ears, trying to pinpoint the sounds.

“I think people are yelling,” he murmured after a moment. “Maybe fighting.”

“Why would they be-” Nya’s voice cut off abruptly, her eyes widening as her gaze met Kai’s. “You don’t think-”

Kai felt his breath catch in his throat. Was it possible? Was it really possible that someone had come to rescue them?

Kai jerked to his feet, immediately falling down as his legs gave out beneath him. He gripped the bars, panting.

“If someone’s here, they're never going to find us down here,” he whined.

“We can’t let them leave without finding us,” Nya insisted. “This could be our only chance. We can’t pass it up.”

“What are we going to do? There’s nothing down here to help us, no way out-”

“Make noise! If Cole, Jay, and Zane are with them, then- well, none of them have as good hearing as you two do, but if we’re loud enough, maybe-”

“They can follow the sounds! Genius, Nya!”

“The compliments can wait. We have to hurry!” Turning to the wall, Nya began to pound on it. “Help!” she screamed. “Jay! Zane! Cole! Somebody! We’re down here!”

Kai joined her, screaming even though his throat was dry and raw, grabbing the door of the cage and rattling it so that the brassy sound echoed through the room. Even Lloyd began to help, screeching and chirping loudly.

There was a jiggling near the door at the far end, and Kai whipped his head towards it hopefully. It had worked! Their friends were here to save them!

Borg burst through the door, storming into the room as two trainers firmly locked the door again behind him.

Kai shrunk back fearfully as the tall man seized the bars of his cage, spitting down on him as he spoke.

“Shut up! Shut up, the lot of you! What do you think you’re doing? I am this close to getting everything I want, and I’m not going to let you pests take it from me! Is that clear?”

Kai met his gaze, the man’s dark eyes glinting with malice. He knew Borg meant it when he said he would stop them- he had never purposely not made good on a threat before.

What they were doing wasn’t working. If they wanted to be rescued, they were going to have to do something else, and fast.

Kai jerked away from the bars, throwing back his head and roaring. The sound echoed through the room, loud and fierce and desperate.

“Stop him!” Borg cried, and electricity jolted through him as the collar was turned on. They didn’t waste any time on the lower settings, the pain coming in so fierce and quick that Kai lost his footing. His voice faltered for a moment, but he kept on. He couldn’t stop. The moment he gave up, they died.

“He’s not going to listen to that, don’t you see?” Borg snapped. “He’ll die if it means they get to go free! You have to turn on theirs, too!”

Shrieks of pain sounded from the cells behind him, and Kai whipped around to see Lloyd and Nya crumpling to the floor.

He stopped roaring, darting to the bars, but Nya screamed at him. “Don’t stop, Kai, we can take it!”

With a reluctant glance over at them, Kai roared again, his throat aching. Come on, guys, where are you?!

The pain shot up abruptly, and Nya’s scream ripped through the air, broken and nightmarish. Lloyd’s cut off altogether, and Kai whipped his head towards him to see that he was lying limp on the ground, convulsing like he was having a seizure.

“Stop!” Kai screamed, “They’re not as strong as me, you’re going to kill them!”

“Then you better be quiet,” Borg demanded.

“Take that off and it’ll kill you,” Borg yelled.

Nya’s fingers darted away, and she choked on her sobs, saliva bubbling at her lips as she, with great difficulty, turned her gaze up to meet his. “Kai-”

No, no, no, he couldn’t do this, Borg would kill them, and then it would be all his fault-

Nya was right. If they didn’t escape now, they never would.

He just hoped she was right about her and Lloyd’s abilities to take the pain, as well.

Kai roared, roared like he never had before, even as tears blurred his vision, even as he fell to the ground. He couldn’t stop. He was stronger than Borg’s stupid gadgets.

“Why isn’t it working!” A female voice cried, one of the trainers. “You said he would stop if we shocked the others!”

“Why won’t you stop,” Borg hollered. “Lloyd’s already out, Nya not far behind! I thought you loved them, why are you doing this to them?”

Kai’s heart skipped a beat, and he mustered the strength to crane his neck in Lloyd’s direction. The boy was unconscious on the ground, completely still except for the slight vibration of the electricity.

Kai squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to look away. No! That was what Borg wanted, to make him think he was the one doing this to them. It was Borg who was responisble, not him. None of this was Kai’s fault.

“This isn’t working,” Borg spat. “He’s not going to stop. Turn it up, all the way.”

“Sir, are you sure? That’ll-”

“I know perfectly well what it’ll do. If it’s the only way to shut him up, so be it.”

Before Kai could even register their words, indescribable agony shot through his body, and his roar broke off, replaced with a bloodcurdling scream.

Kai’s brain stopped thinking. His limbs seized up, his vision blurred as colorful spots danced in his eyes. The only thing that registered was pain.

What was this, he felt like his body was being ripped inside out, surely this couldn’t just be electrocution, he felt like he was going to be shaken to pieces-

Something, through the haze of pain, seemed to grab at his attention. He… he was meant to be doing something, he was meant to be-

My friends. They’re here, just above me.

Fighting back the scream, fighting back the froth in his mouth, he roared.

Slow, weak, at first, but quickly, it got louder, stronger, more powerful. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, fueling him and the roar to be louder than ever before.

But his body was faltering, failing, and Kai fought to keep consciousness, fought to keep roaring-

“Stop it, Borg! You're going to kill him!” The scream sounded warped and faint, as if Kai was underwater. He thought it was Nya, maybe.

Was she right? Was he dying? He didn’t know what dying was like, but he had thought it wouldn’t hurt this much.

And there was no relief, no end. No break, just constant, agonizing pain.

Without stopping his roar, Kai began to cry. He just wanted this to end, to be over.

Where was Jay? With his lightning fast speed, he could knock the remote out of Borg’s hand. Or Zane, who could swoop in, steal the keys, and get him out of this wretched cage. And Cole, who could lift him up with strong arms, and carry him far, far away from here and make sure he was safe.

He just wanted to be safe.

Kai choked on his sob. Where were they? He needed them, he needed his family, he just needed-

To his horror, Kai realized his voice was giving out, his roar dying in his throat. No, no, no they were so close, they couldn’t- he couldn’t-

Oh gosh, he needed that remote. He needed that remote or he was going to die-

He knew he couldn’t get it from Borg, but he didn’t care, he just needed to stop it. Lurching to his feet, they immediately gave way beneath him. Kai tried desperately to recover his balance, instead tripping over his own foot and falling, his head slamming against the ground.

Nya’s screams were the last thing he heard before his world was pitched into black.

---

Jay whipped around as Cole and Officer Grey walked up to him and Zane.

“Anything?” he asked breathlessly, hoping that his voice didn’t sound as desperate as he felt.

Cole shook his head. “Nothing. There’s no sign of them anywhere.”

“They have to be here,” Jay wailed. “The security guard said so, back at the jail! And they fought so hard to keep us from entering!”

“Tell me about it,” Gray muttered, shaking his head as he cradled his injured arm. “It wasn’t easy to take them all out. They were definitely defending something.”

“But we’ve looked everywhere,” Cole snapped, sounding close to tears, “and they’re not here! We can’t have gone through all of this and they’re just gone!”

“Maybe Borg moved them,” Zane proposed. “Maybe he found out we were coming and took them somewhere else.”

“But how?” Jay whined. “How would he have found out soon enough to get them away safely?”

Grey put a hand on his shoulder. “We won’t give up. We’ll send out search parties, put rewards on their heads. Both Nya and Lloyd are eligible for an AMBER alert, as well.”

“But what if it’s too late?” Jay whimpered. “What if they’re gone? I just wanted to come here and see them, we’ve never been apart this long, and now I don’t even know if they’re alive-”

“Jay, shh!”

He jerked his head towards Cole, hurt- but his friend wasn’t even looking at him, his gaze glued on Zane.

Zane’s head was tilted, staring off at nothing as the feather tufts near his ears shifted slightly, angling back and forth. His brow was furrowed in concentration.

“Everyone, quiet!” Cole cried, gesturing to the police scattered around the room, most of whom were tying up and chaining the Borg security guards.

The room seemed to hold its breath as the three hybrids froze, ears perking as they listened for the sound Zane had heard.

There- a muffled sound, something familiar, sort of like a yell, but louder, wilder, kind of like a-

“It’s Kai!” Cole cried. “I can hear him roaring!” “It’s coming from below us!” Zane squawked. “There must be some sort of basement down there!”

“There’s no basement in Borg Tower,” Jay protested.

“How else do you explain this? The sound’s definitely coming from below us.”

“Borg must’ve been keeping it a secret,” Cole agreed. “Which means the entrance is probably hidden, too.”

“But where? Why wouldn��t anyone have found it when we were looking for them?”

“It’s over there,” Zane said suddenly, pointing towards the elevators on the far wall.

Jay blinked at him. “What?”

“That elevator. It always had that out-of-order sign on it when we came down here for our outings. No one ever went to fix it. It has to be there.”

“Great thinking, Zane,” Cole told him, and the three of them, along with Grey and a handful of other police officers, rushed over.

“It looks like there’s some sort of panel here,” Zane observed. “For a passcode, most likely.”

“Well, we don’t know it, and we don’t have time to figure it out,” Jay barked. “Cole, you think you can get this door open?”

Cole eyed it uncertainly. “I dunno, maybe if I had something to push on…” He turned to the police officers. “Do any of you have a crowbar?”

“No, but maybe you could use a baton,” Grey offered, handing Cole the metal rod.

Cole wedged the end of it in between the elevator doors, then shoved on the rod. They held their breath, waiting, until a screech of metal sounded, and the doors pried open a couple inches. The police officers quickly grabbed the doors and, together, pulled them back.

Jay peered over the edge. There was no elevator inside, just the shaft. Pointing to something in the wall, he remarked, “I bet that’s a sort of staircase that pulls out when someone puts in the password. But since we didn’t…” he stared at the elevator cable, swallowing.

A police officer shone her flashlight down. “It’s not that far, I’d guess about forty feet. We can climb down the cable.”

“Let’s go,” Cole grunted, not even wasting any time as he reached out and started descending.

“I can’t go,” Jay yelped, waving at his arm in the sling. “Or do you expect me to do it with one arm?”

“Do you forget I can fly?” Zane smiled. “I’ll carry you down.”

“I’ll stay here,” Grey told them. “I don’t think my arm is safe enough for climbing, either, and I don’t want Zane to have to stop and come back for me.”

“Alright,” Jay nodded. “If all goes well, we’ll be back soon. With our friends.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

“Ready, Jay?”

“I guess,” he sighed, and Zane picked him up before jumping down the shaft.

Jay bit back a scream as they fell, and Zane spread his wings, catching their fall and allowing them to flutter safely to the ground.

The officers switched on their flashlights, revealing a long hallway with several doors on either side.

“Seriously?” Cole groaned. “We don’t have time to search all of these!”

“You forgot, you’ve got me!” Jay reminded him. Breathing in the air around them deeply, he let the scents around them wash over him.

Lloyd’s scent was immediately apparent, and Jay felt his tail wag.

“You smell them?” Cole asked.

“Yes. It’s weird, Lloyd’s scent seems to be out in the hallway too, while Kai and Nya’s are staler. But they’re all originating from over there.” He pointed to the door at the end of the hallway.

They hurried towards the door. Jay’s heart was pounding in his chest. What would they find behind it?

Cole jiggled the handle. “It’s locked.”

“Here,” one cop said, holding up a battering ram. He and another cop held onto it, slamming it against the door- wham after wham after wham- until it finally burst open.

The group filed into the pitch black room, many clicking on their flashlights. The light reflected against metal bars making up prison cells.

“Don’t take another step.”

Jay froze.

Issac Borg was standing in the room, a gun pointed at them.

“Borg,” Cole growled, his voice dripping with so much venom that Borg actually faltered for a moment- which was all the time Jay needed to dart forward, knocking the gun from his hand.

“Surrender!” the Commissioner barked. “You have nowhere to run. Hands in the air!”

Borg blinked at her, fury in his eyes, but as he glanced around at the police officers closing in on him, on Jay, Cole, and Zane’s smoldering gazes, and his only weapon trapped firmly under Jay’s foot, he scowled, raising his hands above his head. Handcuffs were clicked on as the police hauled him back.

“Who else is in here with you?”

Borg was silent.

The Commissioner shook him. “I said, who else is here?”

“Two of my employees,” he growled. The flashlight was shone on two caretakers, who slowly lifted their hands up as the police rushed over to them. “And… the prisoners.”

Jay felt his heart skip a beat. Borrowing one of the flashlights from the officers, he jogged down the hallway, shining the light into cell after cell, each one empty, until-

Jay froze.

The girl scrambled back from the beam of his flashlight, hissing. Jay blinked at her. She was so different from the last time he had seen her- long, black hair a tangled mess, eyes wide and scared, a gaping cut on her forehead, crusted with dried blood, and her movements skittish and jolting- but there was no denying it was her.

“Nya!” he cried, rushing forward to the cell, yanking on the door.

Nya’s bared teeth unclenched slightly as recognition flitted across her gaze.

“...Jay?”

“I’m here! We’re here to rescue you!”

To his surprise, moisture welled in her eyes. “Stoppit, go away,” she mumbled, crawling into the corner.

“Nya? What’s wrong?”

She pulled her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. “This isn’t real. I’m imagining you. This is a dream.”

“No! It’s not! I’m really here!” Desperately, Jay yanked harder on the door. “Ugh! Just open, already!”

A police officer came up behind him. “We got the keys from Borg,” she told him, handing him the one to Nya’s cell. “It’s the only way you’re getting through.”

Jay shoved the key into the lock, nearly dropping it in his haste. The door swung open, and he hurried in, the officer close behind him.

“Jay!” Nya screamed, scrambling back into the corner and pressing herself against the wall. “Behind you!”

“Nya, it’s okay,” he soothed, crouching down next to her. He reached for her hand, but she flinched away, and he hung back, giving her space. “The police are on our side. They’re not going to hurt you.”

“They want to kill us,” Nya gasped, her eyes wild. “Borg said-” “Borg was lying,” Jay said. “As usual. They’re here to help us. If it weren’t for them, we would’ve never been able to find our way to you.”

Nya fell silent, watching the female officer with wide eyes. The officer’s gaze was gentle and sad. “It’s alright, honey. I just want to help you out.”

Nya took a slow breath, nodding, and the officer leaned forward, using the keys to unlock her cuffs and the chain around her ankle. Nya moved her arms around, looking at them carefully in a way that made Jay’s heart want to break. She had been down here way too long. They all had.

Suddenly, Nya was launching herself into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. He hugged her back, fiercely, stroking her hair and whispering that he would never let her go again.

When Nya finally pulled back, wiping at her eyes, she caught sight of his sling. “What happened to your arm?”

He waved her off. “Ah, it’s no big deal. I’m fine.”

She frowned, sniffing, looking as if she was about to question him further, but, this close, Jay could see the exact moment the color drained from her face.

“What?!”

“Kai.” The murmur was barely off of her lips before she was racing out of the cell, and Jay hurried after her.

In the cell across from hers, a police officer was pulling the door open, and Nya darted past him, skidding to a halt inside and falling to her knees next to a figure on the floor.

Jay felt his stomach drop.

By the time Jay reached her side, she had Kai cradled in her arms, weeping over him as she brushed sweaty strands of hair out of his eyes.

Jay watched his friend’s face in horror. It was pale, expressionless, unmoving. Even in sleep, Kai had always been restless, but now, he was absolutely still.

“What happened to him,” Zane cried, running over to them and dropping down next to Kai. Jay whimpered, leaning over to angle his ear above Kai’s mouth. He caught the sound of his breathing, but it was shallow and uneven.

“They… electrocuted us.” Nya’s fingers traced the collar around her neck, shuddering. “We heard you fighting, and he tried calling out for help, so Borg turned it up…”

Jay felt fury flash through him. “Let’s get that stupid thing off of you,” he growled, reaching for the collar-

“No!” Nya yelped, flinching back. “You can’t take it off, it’ll… it’ll kill me.”

“It’s okay, Nya,” Zane assured her, rubbing his fingers across the back of her hand gently. “We powered down the system. It won’t hurt you anymore.”

Nya swallowed, her fingers reaching for the buckle. She hesitated, looking up at Zane. He nodded reassuringly, although there was a pained sadness in his eyes.

Nya clicked the buckle, and the collar fell to the floor.

“We need to get him to the hospital, right away,” Zane insisted, using the key to unlock his chains, then hoisting Kai up into his arms. “He’s still alive, but barely. We don’t have much time.”

“Neither of them do,” Cole grunted from outside the cell, and Jay’s gaze darted to his arms.

Lloyd laid there, limp and pale. Cuts decorated his body, dried blood crusting on his clothes. Jay tried not to gag at the bloodied, mangled leg that Cole was carefully supporting. What had Borg been doing to them?

It was then that it hit him- really hit him- how close they had come to losing their friends.

And they still weren’t out of hot water yet- Kai and Lloyd needed to get to the hospital, fast. He wasn’t about to come all this way to save them only to lose them again, anyway.

“C’mon,” he called to Nya, letting her put her arm around his shoulder so that he could support her as she walked. “Let’s get you all out of here.”

---

“Ha! A plus two, take that, Cole!”

“What if I stack it?”

“What? Jay, now I have to draw four and Cole’s going to win!”

“I didn’t know he had that card, Nya! If you’re so smart, why don’t you stop him?”

“I can’t, nitwit, because you played that reverse card a few turns ago!”

“How was I supposed to know-” he cut off, sucking in his breath. “Zane! Did you seriously just give me a plus four? I know you have yellow cards!”

“Yes, but I’m pretty certain that Cole does as well. I needed to change the color.”

“Choose wisely, feathers.”

“...Blue.”

“No! He’s smiling, change it back-”

“I can’t, that’s against the rules-”

“He said blue, zaptrap, so zip it-”

Kai groaned, blinking awake at all the noise. He sat up slowly, rubbing at his eyes. What kind of weird dream was this, Cole, Jay and Zane were-

Here.

Kai’s heart skipped a beat. They were here, across the room from his bed, sitting at a little fold-out table, throwing Uno cards at each other and laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe. Nya was with them too, bandages wrapped around her head as she ducked a card from Jay. Lloyd, who was lying on the bed behind them, bandage-ridden and an IV snaking along his arm, snatched the card out of the air, giggling triumphantly.

“...guys?”

Five gazes whipped towards him, the room going quiet.

“Kai!” Nya cried, practically leaping over her chair and running over his bedside, throwing her arms around him. “You’re awake!”

He squeezed her back, his brain still trying to catch up with him. “What… what happened? Where are we?”

“You’re in the hospital,” she murmured, pulling back, although she didn’t let go of his hand. “That damn collar almost killed you.”

Instinctively, Kai’s hand darted to his neck, but there was nothing there. It was gone. “I don’t understand, I…”

“You saved us, Kai. It worked! The others were above us with the police officers, and Zane heard you. If it weren’t for you, we’d be dead by now.”

“I… he…” Kai stopped, swallowing. He turned his gaze to the others, who were gathering behind Nya. Cole was helping Lloyd pull his IV pole over so that he could come see Kai, too.

“He’s gone, Kai,” Zane assured. “The police arrested him. Borg Industries is under lockdown as the employees are being questioned to figure out who was involved.”

Jay reached out, putting a hand on top of his. “It’s okay, Kai. You’re safe now. We’re here.”

Kai felt his vision blur, and launched himself into their arms, sobbing. Arms wrapped around him- Jay, Zane, Nya, Cole, and even Lloyd’s little fingers gripping him somewhere in there. For the first time in a week, Kai let himself relax, melting into their warm, safe embraces.

He didn’t know what was going to happen next. He didn’t know what they were going to do, or what challenges still laid ahead of them. But he knew that everything was going to be alright, because they were together again.

---

Epilogue

“Nya, come on, we’re going to be late!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” She ran out of the hallway, slipping the pack of crayons and the notebook into the green backpack he was holding. “It’s not my fault you guys didn’t do this last night when you got home from work!”

“Fist to Face 3 just came out yesterday, are you kidding? Jay and I preordered that months ahead of time, you couldn’t expect us not to play it!”

“You didn’t have to spend five hours doing it! And on the last day of summer, no less! Zane, how’s that lunch coming?”

“All ready!” The falcon hybrid hurried over, slipping the Starfarer lunch box into the backpack. Pointing a finger at Lloyd, he reminded, “Don’t eat that until lunch time, okay? If you eat it all in the first five minutes of class, you’re not going to have anything to eat for lunch.”

Lloyd hardly seemed to hear him, bouncing excitedly on his feet as Kai zipped up the bag and slipped it onto his shoulders.

Lloyd scurried for the door, tripping over his own shoelaces, only saved by Jay, snatching the back of his hood in the nick of time, as Cole intercepted Lloyd and tied his shoes before he could escape Jay’s grasp.

“Don’t worry,” Kai laughed, clapping a hand on Zane’s shoulder. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”

“I know. It’s just hard. He hasn’t been on his own since…”

“Hey, Nya and I did some research. This is a really good school, okay? He’s gonna do good here. And it’s super close, so if anything goes wrong, we’ll be right there. If this isn’t the place for him, nowhere is. We can’t spend our lives hiding, Zane. That chapter of our lives is over.”

He smiled at him. “It is, isn’t it?”

A purr budded in Kai’s chest. “We’re our own people now.”

It had been nearly a year since they had been freed from Borg. Charges had been pressed, and Borg Industries had been shut down for months, until it had been bought under new ownership and rebranded as Julien Industries.

As for them, the Ninjago City Government had provided them with a house and had offered jobs to Cole, Zane, and Kai, and they alternated shifts so that someone could always be with Lloyd. Jay and Nya had enrolled at the local high school, and had been working hard to catch up with their peers. Fortunately, both of them were very bright and planned on pursuing careers in mechanics and engineering. Kai, Cole, and Zane were taking night classes, as well, so that they could eventually work their way up to a job that they were more passionate about.

Through it all, though, they always made sure to have family time every day, where they would just relax, play games, and laugh. It was a life far different than anything Kai had experienced before, and took some adjusting- but he wasn’t complaining. For the first time ever, there was no weight on their chests, no doors locking them in. They were free.

“Are you two coming?” Nya hissed at them, her, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd already halfway out the door. “We’re going to be late for Lloyd’s first day of school, don’t make me leave you behind!”

“Hold on, we’re not missing that,” Kai cried, running after her before she could close the door. He felt a warmth in his chest as he passed the hat rack without grabbing anything. They had nothing to hide anymore.

They caught up with the others a little ways down the sidewalk, and Kai cracked a grin as he saw Lloyd, skipping alongside Cole, holding his hand and babbling about something that sounded like Starfarer- the kid had been obsessed with the show recently, there had been a fair number of tantrums trying to get him to stop for bedtime. Jay and Nya walked a few paces behind them, Nya holding out a homework sheet as the two argued over one of the problems, Zane hurrying over to help them before it got too heated.

Kai bounded over to Lloyd and grabbed his other hand, smiling down at him. “You excited for your first day of school, Lloydster?”

“I can’t wait!” he yelped. “Nya says I’m gonna do so many things! I’m gonna color, play with toys, meet friends- she says they even have play-doh! I only got to use that once before, and it’s really squishy-”

Kai glanced up as Lloyd rambled on, catching sight of a couple walking on the other side of the road who was staring at them, whispering to one another as they pointed at the long tail unfurling from under Lloyd’s coat, swishing behind him happily.

Kai sharply turned his gaze forward again, making a point of flicking his tail as he walked on.

Life wasn’t perfect, now. Since their story had traveled the news, and they had stopped hiding who they were, many citizens were uneasy around them in public. And when one of them snapped playfully at each other, or yelled too loud, it was often enough to send people scurrying away. He would be lying if he had said there hadn’t been a few awkward confrontations from some particularly bold citizens, but… it didn’t bother him as much as he would’ve thought. What these people were doing to him was still a hundred times better than anything Borg had ever done. Kai had done everything he could to be kind and welcoming to people, and if they still weren’t going to accept him and the others just because they were different… well, that was on them, not him.

Besides, no one had ever promised that their life was going to be all cupcakes and rainbows now that Borg wasn’t a threat to them anymore. Life was never like that- it was messy, and that was just part of the fun. He and his family were safe and happy now, and that was the only thing Kai really cared about.

When they arrived at Lloyd’s school a few minutes later, they walked to the classroom Lloyd had been assigned, the boy watching the students laughing and chatting around them with wide eyes.

The classroom itself was filled with young kids, some looking as excited as Lloyd, others hiding behind their parents. Some were even bawling. Lloyd gripped his hand slightly tighter as they walked, but he didn’t shy away from his classmates.

As Zane and Cole went to speak with the teacher, Nya grabbed Lloyd by the face and kissed him all over. Lloyd squealed as he tried to pull out of her grasp, although there was a purr rumbling in his throat.

“You have a great day, alright bean? Behave well, and be nice to the other kids. Zane will be here to pick you up after school.”

“After dinner,” Jay added, “We’ll go out for ice cream and you can tell us all about your day!” Lloyd perked. “I’m gonna have the best day ever!”

Nya laughed. “I hope so, bud. You deserve it.”

“Lloyd,” he asked, pointing at the cubbies on the far wall, “should we go find your cubby?”

Lloyd hurried over, Kai following, as he checked each label printed above them. “Here,” he pointed, a little ways down, “Lloyd Garmadon. This one’s yours, bud.”

As he helped Lloyd out of his jacket and began to put his things in the cubby, Lloyd squealed, darting away from him. Kai whipped around to see that he had thrown his arms around a little girl, who was hugging him back tightly, a huge grin on her face.

“Lloyd, what…”

“It’s Raina! From the mall!”

Kai looked closer at the little girl and saw that Lloyd was right, it was the girl he had been playing with at the mall last year, before all the chaos with Borg had happened. Kai had thought they would never see her again.

“She’s in your class? How crazy!” “Raina, what are you doing, bring your coat over-” The woman walking up behind her, who he recognized as Jessica, Raina’s mother, froze as she saw Lloyd. Her gaze darted up to Kai, and their eyes met.

“You… you’re the ones we saw that day, aren’t you…” her voice trailed off, gaze flicking from Lloyd’s long ears to their tails.

Kai shuffled closer to Lloyd, placing a hand on his shoulder.

But the woman’s face broke into a tentative smile. “I can’t believe it, I had thought you would never call!”

“Yeah…” Kai’s gaze dropped, and he ruffled Lloyd’s hair gently. “We kind of had… other things to worry about. In all the chaos, I kind of forgot about everything, and I also had to get rid of my phone-”

“Oh honey, you don’t need to make excuses. It’s alright, I saw… I saw everything on the news…”

Kai felt moisture welling in his eyes, and turned his head, blinking hard. They had watched the news, too, for those first few nights, hoping to get some closure on the Borg case- but the pictures, the videos they had shown, had brought back unpleasant memories, and they had quickly stopped watching after that.

To his horror, he realized he was crying now, and quickly tried to wipe at the tears dripping down his cheeks.

Suddenly, Jessica was hugging him. Kai gasped slightly, caught off guard for a moment, before returning the embrace, allowing himself to cry into her shoulder.

In a way, it was humiliating. There he was, a young man, crying and clinging to a woman who was hardly more than an acquaintance of his, in front of a room full of five-year-olds.

But on the other hand, it felt good to be held. He had spent so long being the one holding others up, and… it was nice to be on the receiving end of that, for once.

It had been a year since Borg, and his emotional wounds were healing. But the scars were still there. Some days, more than others, but… they never truly went away.

“Sorry,” Kai sniffled when he finally pulled away, wiping at his eyes.

“You have no reason to be sorry,” she told him gently. “No one should ever have to endure what you did, especially not someone as young as you are. Sometimes, we just need a really good hug.”

“Thanks.” He smiled warmly at her. “Lloyd and Raina will have to meet up sometime.”

“For sure,” she agreed.

“Where are you gonna sit?” Lloyd asked Raina. “We should sit at the same table!”

“Let’s go over here,” the girl cried, grabbing his hand and dragging him away.

Jessica laughed. “We definitely will.”

As Kai walked over to the others, who were getting ready to leave, Nya shot him a glance. “You okay, bro?”

“I’m fine. Are we ready to go?”

“Wait! Don’t leave yet!”

He turned to see Lloyd running towards him, and the boy launched himself into his arms. Kai laughed, hugging him back tightly.

“I’m gonna miss you,” he mumbled.

“Me too. But you know what? You’re gonna have so much fun here with Raina, that it’ll be time to go home before you know it, and then we’re going to have an awesome night of ice cream, Starfarer, and videogames.”

Lloyd smiled, burying his face in Kai’s shirt. “I like when things are like this.”

“Me too, bud. We all do.”

The others crouched down around them, hugging Lloyd too, so that the boy was sandwiched in between them, causing him to squeak in surprise.

Everyone laughed, and they hugged him tighter. A warm, tingly feeling spread through Kai’s chest, and, right then, despite everything they had been through, he felt like the luckiest person on the planet.

As they unfurled from the hug, the feeling still remained in Kai’s chest. As they walked out of the room, the school, even as they took their separate ways for work and school, the feeling never went away.

It was the feeling of love. Undeniable, unbreakable love.

Because no matter what happened, from here on out- as they all grew up, as life changed in the turbulent matter that it did- one thing was always going to remain the same, and that was the love they had for each other.

Family was forever, and Kai’s family was the best one there was.

#fdddfdsogohwrohos #that's it guys #that's the end #aww R&R im gonna miss you :'(#hope you all enjoyed #thank you so so much to anyone who read the whole fic #i know its a lot of dedication to read something so long #your support means so much to me #and thank you times infinity to everyone who left comments or submitted asks #it made my week no joke #ninjago #NinjagoInhumanAuWeek #For the Romping and the Roaring #R&R #Part 5 #rosie writes #my fic

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anotherdirtylaferte · 3 years

Text

- Chapter II -

The family was gathered around the fireplace as Zane and then Miguel walked into the house. Their conversation stopped and everyone in the room turned to face them. The boys’ Father got up out of his chair and made his way over to Zane.

“Where the hell have you been?” He asked incredulously, a look that said: ‘No matter what you say I won’t believe you’, on his face.

His hand was like lightning as it struck the side of Zane’s face. Zane staggered but kept his footing. The stinging pain came quickly and all at once. Zane’s eyes watered but his face stayed stoic. There was absolutely no way he was going to show weakness around his Father.

He took deep breaths to ease the pain. Zane wasn’t even upset about this; he had known it was coming.

“Dammit Zane…” his Father paused; “I’m sorry for striking you but…” he trailed off and looked back at Zane’s Mother. He faced Zane again, “Do you really want to end up like your Uncle Charles?” he asked.

The room grew eerily quiet.

Zane’s Father continued, “We love you Zane, but when you have total and complete disregard for rules and not even the decency to inform your Mother and I as to what your intentions may be, well��. you put us both in a tough position.” He turned back, towards the rest of the family.

Mother sat there, her eyes puffy and swollen as though she had recently been crying. MaMaw, Zane’s grandmother, sat across from Mother. Her knitting needles were feverishly flicking back and forth in her hands. She was partially paying attention to the situation, darting her eyes up at the boys every now and then from what appeared to be a scarf-in-progress in her lap.

Next to her, sat a stranger.

The old man, next to Grandmother, wore a cloak covered in archaic symbols and seemed to be emitting a blue Aura. He was silent, watchful. His under-robe was of the same bluish hue and covered in ancient amulets. Zane recognized a few of them from books Uncle Charles had shown him, books of a time that had existed before The War.

Father Time had not been kind to this man, nor his features.

His hair and hastily trimmed beard were paper white. His skin was as gnarled and as wrinkled as the bark of an old elm. Scars and scratches crisscrossed his grim face, and his eyes… his eyes saw everything.

He was looking right at Zane who squirmed under the stranger’s intense and unnerving glare. It was almost as though the stranger could see straight through Zane.

Father was still talking to Zane. “-and that is why he is here tonight,” he finished.

Miguel had been behind Zane during all of this and now came forward, to stand by his side. Zane looked back and forth, from his Father to the old man on the couch. He hadn’t heard any of what his Father had just said because he had been so distracted by the newcomer. Zane’s Father kept darting his gaze from Zane to the stranger, almost as though making sure the things he was saying were accurate. It almost seemed as though Zane’s father was looking for consent from the complete and total stranger. Zane found it difficult to see his Father answering in such a manner to someone that was such a complete…. mystery to Zane and the rest of his family.

“Zane,” the old man said as he rose to his feet, “you have just entered your twenty-first-year cycle. Is this correct?” he asked, as if making sure he had his facts right. The old man rummaged through his pockets.

The man was a lot taller than Zane expected him to be. His cloak went all the way down and barely touched the ground.

“Um…. yes?” Zane said sheepishly. He quickly cleared his throat, “Yes, why?” he said more clearly.

The old man crossed the room and stood before him with such incredible speed that Zane was bewildered by how such an elderly man could move so quickly. It almost seemed that the stranger had been in one spot one moment and in front of Zane the next. As he came to stand in front of him, an almost imperceptible breeze ruffled Zane’s clothing.

Goosebumps crisscrossed Zane’s body.

Unexpectedly, the stranger reached out and gripped Zane’s face in his hand, with a vice-like grip. He tilted Zane’s head up to his face and looked directly into his eyes. Zane became uneasy again, like before, when the old man was seated but still looking at him. But this time, Zane felt uneasy in a different manner. An anger, that was not his own, was welling inside of Zane. A look of concern flitted across his face and he felt heat surging rapidly through his veins. His thoughts began to race. He had no idea of the source of this rage but the power Zane felt flowing through him was poisoning.

Yes, he was perturbed that a complete stranger was touching him like that, but he didn’t think he would have been this upset about it.

The old man released a quiet snicker and let go of Zane’s face.

The anger he had been feeling dissipated as quickly as it had begun. The old man then turned away from Zane and briskly made his way back to their Mother and Father. He whispered a few words to them, but Zane couldn’t hear any of them.

Miguel nudged him and leaned closer to his ear.

“What in the actual heck is going on here,” he said quietly. Zane shrugged his shoulders and motioned for Miguel to look back at their parents.

Their faces had taken on an expression that made it look as though they had just woken up.

The old man turned back to the brothers.

“Zane,” he began in a deep, yet quiet tone, “You need to come with me.” His voice was so quiet the brothers had to lean forward to hear him.

Miguel took a step forward and stood between the old man and Zane.

“You have exactly thirty seconds to explain yourself, stranger.” Miguel took a defensive stance in front of Zane. From where he stood, Zane’s view of the old man was now partially blocked by his brother. “Who the hell are you and why are my parents just standing there like that?” Miguel demanded.

Zane peered around his older brother.

A look of agitation raced across the man’s face.

“I do not have the time nor the patience to tell you bedtime stories, boy.” The man’s voice was quiet but now had a tone that conveyed he could easily back up any threats he made.

“Miguel,” the man said in a dull but condescending tone, “The Council has matters concerning your younger sibling to discuss with him. I am here to collect him.” His tone was matter-of-fact, as though confused that Miguel even had the gall to question him.

“Oh, we’ve heard of your kind before.” Miguel replied. “If you’re with The Council, then that means I won’t see him again.” Miguel flicked a thumb back, over his shoulder, towards Zane. ”My brother isn’t going anywhere with you!”

The man looked on as though amused by this show of defiance.

Zane, from his vantage point, could see that Miguel had adjusted the back of his outer coat. His older brother had his favorite hunting knife tucked into the small of his back. The clasp on the sheath had been undone. Zane had not seen Miguel get the knife ready.

But Zane had seen Miguel use a knife like that before. He was very aware of how skilled Miguel was with a knife of any type.

“My poor child,” the man chuckled, “You couldn’t even imagine the likes of me.” He crossed his arms.

Behind the man, Zane and Miguel’s Mother and Father stood motionless, as though dazed.

Then, without warning, Miguel charged the old man.

The thirty-three-year-old, young man, only made it three steps before the old man sprang into action. The man took one step towards Miguel, seeming to slip into the new space he occupied and brushed away at the air in front of him.

Zane looked on in horror as the old man pulled his hands from inside his cloak and raised them towards Miguel.

What seemed like a flamethrower of blues and purples erupted from the old man’s hands. The blueish-purple flames hit Miguel in the very center of his chest and he froze in place.

As though the man had frozen him in time, Miguel was mid-stride and in a position where he should have fallen over, but he stayed upright.

The flames crawled all over and engulfed Miguel. His eyes darted around the room; it was clear that he was in a panic.

Another flick of his wrists and the man sent Miguel flying, still engulfed in midnight flames, across the room. Miguel crashed into the far wall with a very loud THUD and crumpled to the floor. He lay there motionless.

The flames stayed on the wall from the impact and then, like liquid, dripped down upon Miguel below. The flames grew smaller yet brighter as Miguel lay there.

“NO!!” Zane screamed out.

Without a second’s thought, Zane grabbed a large, metal paperweight from a nearby table and threw it, with all his might, at the man in the blue cloak.

The man made no effort to avoid the projectile but rather, let back his head and released a laugh.

‘He should not be able to move as fast as he is moving, at his age’ Miguel thought to himself. The man flicked his hand another time and the paperweight changed direction, mid-air.

It flew away from the man and lodged itself in another wall, to the left, with a muffled THWINK. The man seemed to quickly become translucent and became a blur.

He instantly appeared in front of Zane.

Having no time to react, Zane instinctively raised his arms to defend himself. The old man brushed them aside with ease. Zane braced himself for the blow.

The man quickly and gently placed his hand on Zane’s chest and time seemed to stop.

With a sound like the rush of a wind, Zane was picked up off his feet. His clothing seemed to cling to his body as though wet. Zane could feel needle-pricks all over himself. He realized he couldn’t move his fingers, or any other part of his body for that matter.

He was encased in a blue film as Zane’s feet came off of the floor.

Almost as though in slow motion, Zane saw that he was flying through the air. He, too, was tossed like a rag-doll.

Zane saw the couch that MaMaw was sitting upon rush beneath him. She was looking off into the distance with a blank look upon her face.

His body spun twice in the air before it met resistance.

He crashed into the wall behind the couch, shoulder first, and felt the all too familiar sensation of it dislocating from the socket. Zane let out a yell and fell to the floor. He was still engulfed in the jelly-like flames as he vainly tried to grab his shoulder, burning in agony, he winced in pain. Having lost sight of the man due to the couch being between them, and him being on the floor, Zane struggled to break free from the blue substance on him.

The blue hue dissipated from his vision and Zane tried to crawl to a safer place.

He needed to hide.

Clearly, he was outmatched and outgunned.

The old man stepped around the side of the couch. He smiled down at Zane. The look of joy on the man’s face was startlingly unnerving.

He raised his left hand towards Zane, turned his hand, palm up, and blue flames shot towards Zane once more.

He closed his eyes in anticipation of the burn, but none came. His throbbing shoulder caused him to open his eyes.

Everything around him had a bluish tint, as though peering through a blue looking-glass. Zane looked down. He was about three feet off of the ground, pinned against the wall by some unseen force. He tried to look around but could only move his eyes.

The old man walked, casually, over to a side table with some fruits upon it. He helped himself to the bowl as though he lived in the house.

He looked back over his shoulder towards Zane.

“Are we done with this foolishness?” he asked with a hint of irritation in his voice. The man bit into the piece of fruit he had picked up.

Zane couldn’t move; he was completely immobile.

He tried to speak but only a whimper came out.

The man went on, “I truly don’t have time for this, and I’m not here to hurt you. I have my orders and I will complete my mission.” He waved his hand dismissively, at the same time the world around Zane lost its bluish hue.

Zane dropped down and landed on all fours.

Slightly panting, Zane stayed on the floor a bit longer, trying to get his bearings. “What power is that?” He asked, between breaths, without looking at the stranger.

The man completely ignored him.

“My name is Arlen. I am the Last Hunter.” he said as though Zane should have known what he was talking about. There was an awkward pause. “I have come tonight to safely escort you to The Council. Your guardian figures will all be fine within the hour for I have only dazed them.”

Zane tried to get a word in but Arlen continued. “As for your elder sibling,” he paused and looked at Miguel’s motionless body, “he should be up and about soon enough. He’ll be sore and his ego smaller, but he will live.”

He turned and looked Zane straight in his eyes. “Now it’s up to you whether we do the rest of this the easy way or the hard way.” He motioned back towards Miguel again. With a chuckle he finished, “Either way is easy for me, but if you want to keep control of bodily functions and not risk temporary memory loss, I suggest you choose the easy way too.”

From the floor, Zane looked at his parents. His Father’s eyes were bloodshot and his skin had taken on a pale tint. Mother was humming the familiar tune of one of her cradlesongs, still staring off into the distance. Miguel was still a motionless heap. And MaMaw was mentally not there. This man had single-handedly shut down his entire family with simple flicks of his wrists.

“Yea. We can do this the easy way.” Zane replied.

#my writing #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #poetsandwriters #aestehtic #artists on tumblr #artwork #art #original art

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lovemollywho · 4 years

Text

Bitter Rivals - Two

Previous Chapter

AN: Sorry this took a lot longer than anticipated! Originally I didn’t think that everyone was going to want a continuation but now I have more of a storyline in my head so there will be more chapters after this! Enjoy!

The following week after Aelin’s little present passed in a blur, but every so often Aelin would think back to the look on his face when he read the words on the chocolate and smile. However, she did have to find a new hiding spot for her sweets other than the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet. Rowan had sent a couple of emails to Aelin throughout the week, setting up meeting dates and mentioning similar past cases but she wanted to be a step ahead of Rowan at all cost, so she picked up the phone and got to work.

-------------

“Mr. Whitethorn?” Rowan picked up his head from his computer screen to see his secretary stand in the middle of his door frame holding a box of case files that he had requested. It looked heavy so Rowan got up from his desk to help.

“Thank you Remelle,” Rowan said, placing the box on a coffee table, opening the contents, and shifting through the files. “Will you let Miss. Galathynius know that I would like to meet up sometime tomorrow around lunch if she has the time. I want to split these case files before the meeting with Mr. Havilliard.” Remelle pulled her iPad up to look through both his and Aelin’s calendars.

“Miss. Galanthynius cannot do tomorrow sir.” “Today then?” He asked. It was last minute but if she wanted to be petty about the chocolates he could be petty too.

Remelle shook her head. Rowan could feel himself getting frustrated with the beautiful blond woman. He really hadn’t meant to eat her chocolate but it had been a long day and while Rowan usually wasn’t one for sweets he had an intense craving. Seeing the bitter dark chocolate in the glass container wasn’t going to do the trick but if he had known that this was how she was going to act over something so trivial then he wouldn’t have bothered.

“Okay, well she’ll feel foolish when I walk into the Havilliard meeting with amazing suggestions, then the partnership will be good as mine. Remelle can you confer with Miss. Galanthynius’s secretary and set up a meeting sometime next week, and can you send for Miss. Lochan as soon as she can. Thank you.” Rowan continued to look through the box of files when he saw Remelle still standing in the doorway.

“That will be all,” Rowan said but Remelle shifted slightly from foot to foot looking nervous. Rowan narrowed his eyes. “What is it?”

“Sir, the reason that Miss. Galanthynius can’t do a meeting today or tomorrow is because she already has lunch dates with Mr. Havilliards team today and a meeting with Mr. Havilliard himself tomorrow.” Rowan saw red. He marched out of his office to the elevator, people in the hallway moved out of his way knowing that he was a man on a mission. He all but threw the door open to find Aelin standing, hunched over her desk writing something on a legal pad with her phone to her ear. Despite the loud noise that Rowan had made opening the door she never glanced up, continuing to write and even smiling at whatever was said by the person on the line. When she finished writing she looked up to Rowan, eyes flicking to his briefly before she turned her back on him to face the window.

The absolute nerve of this woman. Rowan was furious, he was angry. All this attitude over chocolate? Rowan decided then and there that she was nothing more than a spoiled child “Alright, but I don’t want Judge Zane see if we can switch to the judge that was on the Kozack case.” She nodded her head in agreement. “Alright I will see you Friday then?” She paused. “Great, bye.” She hung up the phone and turned to face Rowan placing a bright smile on her face.

“Yes, Mr. Whitethorn?” Her tone was light and it only added to Rowan’s frustration. Aelin started gathering things that she needed, checking her phone before looking up to Rowan waiting for an answer. She raised an eyebrow and Rowan was caught momentarily off guard at how good she looked. She was wearing a white vest with a long gold necklace that only highlighted her cleavage, with tailored white pants that fit the curve of her hips so well, ending with red suede stilettos that matched the matte red lipstick she was wearing. She wore her sexuality like a weapon that she had mastered, taking no prisoners as she dived a knife into your heart.

“Were you planning on telling me about your lunch meetings?” Rowan asked after a second too long.

“Oh that.” Aelin said, brushing past him to place the things she gathered into what looked to be an expensive tote bag. “They wanted to meet as soon as possible and you didn’t have anything open until at least two weeks from now. I took the initiative and set up the meetings.”

“We’re supposed to be working together Miss. Galanthynius.” Rowan said, trying to release some of the tension in his jaw. Aelin smirked. “Which is why I told Clarisse and Arobynn that you greenlit the meetings after we discussed your very busy schedule and workload. Poor Clarisse was worried that maybe you were taking on too much, but I told her that I had everything handled and that you would catch up when you could.”

“You did what?” Aelin smiled and shrugged. “If you’ll excuse me Mr. Whitethorn I have a lunch meeting to get to.” She left him standing in her office, a cross of anger, confusion, and amusement dancing on his face. This game wasn’t over by a long shot.

-------------

The meeting with Dorian Havilliard’s team went as well as could be expected but it was the lunch meeting today that had Aelin bouncing in her seat with excitement. True to her word she had sent an email to Rowan updating him with the notes that she had taken but hadn’t received an email back. That was fine with her, she had the high ground so far, and as long as she kept it the partnership would be hers. He had looked sexy storming into her office, but she had long perfected her poker face and wouldn’t let the sight of him phase her. There was a ping from her computer notifying her that she had received an interoffice message.

RWhitethorn: Thank you for catching me up. I’ve marked some of the case files you mentioned with notes that are attached. Let’s set up a meeting together to go over it before we meet with Dorian Havilliard again next week.

AGalanthynius: Perfect. I’ll look over it before I head to lunch with Mr. Havilliard. Monday work for you?

RWhitethorn: 10 am?

AGalanthynius: Perfect. I’ll put it on my calendar.

Aelin looked over Rowan’s notes and had to admire the information that he offered. If they weren’t up for the same promotion Aelin would have loved to sit down and ask Rowan questions about his past cases. He clearly was talented and attractive but that wouldn’t distract Aelin from the goals that she had in life. She made her own notes for the meeting before glancing at the clock and realizing that she had to leave if she was going to make it to her lunch meeting with Dorain on time.

-------------

“Mr. Whitethorn I have a lady here from Snowleapord Bakery.” Rowan smiled before getting up from his desk and buttoning the front of his suit jacket. Standing before him was a beautiful woman with dark brown hair and striking green eyes. She was dressed in a white shirt and jeans, the kind of casual chic that you see celebrities wearing that every woman tried to pull off. She was holding an iPad typing something in when Rowan stepped up to her.

“Rowan Whitethorn I presume?” The woman asked. Rowan nodded his head and offered her a smile, one that had been known to charm the pants off of most people. The woman smirked and offered her hand. “I’m Lysandra.” Rowan took her hand and shook it. “Oh I didn’t know that the bakery owner was going to deliver the order herself.”

Lysandra went back to typing something on her iPad. “My best friend works here and usually orders things for the office. I figure I would drop off your order and then go say hi.” She offered the iPad to him. “I just need you to sign here and then I can unload everything.”

Rowan took the iPad from here. “Who’s your friend?” He signed his name and handed the device back to her.

“Aelin Galanthynius. In fact she ordered chocolates from me for a coworker. Was that you?” Lysandra said and Rowan felt his shoulders stiffen but tried to brush it off with a smile.

“Yes, they were delicious, thank you.” Lysandra looked at him for a couple of seconds smiling pushing her tongue to the top of her teeth. “Uh-huh.” Was all she said, clearly knowing that Rowan was lying but played along to help him save face.

“Anyway, I’ll just go unload this chocolate buffet of items that you bought and then go say hi to Aelin.”

“Miss. Galathynius isn’t here I’m afraid.” Rowan said, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Oh? When is she coming back, do you know?”

“Sometime after 2pm I think.”

“Mr. Whitethorn, you told me the treats were only needed from noon to 2 pm, am I to understand that Aelin will not be here to enjoy the things I’ve made?” Rowan brought one hand out his pocket and rubbed his thumb on his bottom lip. Lysandra huffed out a small laugh, “You know I have to at least tell her what she’s missing right?” Rowan sighed and nodded.

“I didn’t know you had close ties with her, or else I would have asked another bakery.” Lysandra laughed a little, placing a comforting hand before pulling out her phone and walking away.

-------------

Aelin’s phone buzzed on the table slightly right as Dorain Havilliard walked up to where she was sitting. He was handsome in the way that anyone with dark hair and blue eyes was always handsome, but his smile made Aelin’s heart squeeze, there was beautiful and then there was breathtaking.

“Miss. Galanthynius?” Dorian held out his hand for Aelin to bring her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on the back of her knuckles.

“Mr. Havilliard, thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” Aelin said, offering him a smile and gesturing for him to sit down.

“No, thank you. I understand that Mr. Whitethorn won’t be able to join us, I know that this meeting was last minute.” Aelin’s phone flashed with a notification but when she saw it was from Lysandra she turned the ringer down and placed her phone in her bag.

“So, Mr. Havilliard do you have any recommendations?” Aelin asked, picking up her menu.

-------------

The meeting with Dorian went as perfectly as Aelin could have planned. As the son of one of the most profitable export companies, the case between father and son was complicated, intriguing, and fascinating. She had mentioned some of the notes that Rowan had given her and was surprised at how well Dorian followed along. Surprisingly enough, Aelin couldn’t wait to tell Rowan everything that she had learned, wanting to get to work as soon as possible as she had a really good feeling that they could win this case together. Granted she knew that there were things that needed to be finessed but between her and Rowan she wasn’t too worried. Aelin got out as her driver pulled up outside of the building and remembered that Lysandra had sent her a text before her lunch meeting.

Best Bitch: Don’t get mad, I didn’t know you weren’t going to be in the office today Best Bitch: Also why didn’t you tell me how HOT Rowan Whitethorn was?!?!?!?!? Best Bitch: As your best friend I feel obligated to tell you that if I wasn’t happily dating your cousin I would want a date with that man ASAP Best Bitch: that jawline though Best Bitch: a n y w a y Best Bitch: Like I said I didn’t know, I thought he was waving the white flag

?????????????? What are you talking about?????? Also, he can’t be hot! Hes the ENEMY!

Aelin walked into the office super confused. Lysandra had yet to text her back but when she walked into the office kitchen to get something to drink she froze.

“What the fuck?” she whispered under her breath. The kitchen trash was overfilled with Lysandra’s green boxes, some were stacked on the side empty, the remains of a chocolate fountain on one of the tables. At least a 100 boxes were in the kitchen alone but Aelin knew that people would take boxes of Lys’s baked goods back to their offices to enjoy them later.

She grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge and pulled out her phone to send a text to Lysandra.

What the F U C K?!?!?! HOW MUCH DID YOU BRING? THERE’S NOTHING LEFT LYS!

Best Bitch: I’M SORRY! Best Bitch: I already have some brownies with your name on it at my apartment! Best Bitch: Come over after work? Best Bitch: I’ll kick Aedion out and we can get wine drunk?

Aelin sent back a GIF of someone raising a wine glass and headed back to her office. She couldn’t believe that Rowan had bought the entire office a sugar feast filled with chocolaty goodness and she hadn’t even been a part of it. That fucker knew she would be out of the office, this wasn’t a coincidence, this had been planned. When Aelin walked into her office, sitting on her desk was a green box with a white ribbon wrapped around it. Aelin felt some of her anger resign as she placed her bags down and went to her desk. He had left her something, maybe it was time for a cease-fire. After all, promotion or not she should still try to get along with the buzzard.

Aelin opened the box to find chocolate bark, the same kind that Rowan had eaten in the first place. Perhaps this was an apology for eating hers the other day. Aelin turned on her computer with a smile on her face, ready to shoot an email to Rowan thanking him. While she waited for her computer to load she grabbed one of the pieces of chocolate and took a huge bite out of it only for bitterness to explored in her mouth. Aelin spit out the chocolate and took a giant swig of her water. That fucker!

Inside the box was a folded up piece of paper, Aelin unfolded it to see two words written on it.

Game on.

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#Bitter Rivals #Bitter Rivals 2 #rowan x aelin #rowaelin #throne of glass #Throne of Glass series #My writing

58 notes · View notes

crystalgirl259 · 4 years

Text

The Flame and the Dragon Ch 7

Chapter 7: The Master

"What the hell were you thinking!" A voice rang in Nya's head as she felt herself slowly regaining consciousness. She tried to shake the weariness from her mind and focus on the different voices echoing around her.

"Well, we weren't leaving them to freeze to death out in the rain all night." A soft voice argued.

"Yeah, and it's hard to ignore two people who suddenly dropped on your doorstep." A third voice with a laid back, casual tone to it added. The first voice shrieked in frustration.

"I don't care! I understand you guys wanted to help the poor things, really I do, but think about home! What do you think he's gonna do when he comes downstairs, finds us taking care of two strangers who are currently sitting on his favorite couch, after having trespassed! He isn't going to consider you're good deed!"

"Then don't tell him, Zane." A fourth, female voice entered, heavy with a hissing sound.

"Don't encourage them, Tox!" The first voice, Zane, scolded the woman, Tox.

"Come on Zane, we can't just leave them out in the storm? I mean we could just..." The soft voice argued timidly, pausing as if to ponder his options. "Just let them stay here the night and let them leave before he wakes up? The Master will never know."

"Jay..." Zane addressed the boy to who the diffident voice belonged too. "Look me in the eye and tell me you actually believe that will work?"

"Oh for FSM's sake, Zane." The unidentified voice howled, followed a stomping foot. "What do you suggest we do?" He challenged. Silence soon followed, allowing Nya time to recover and force her eyes to open. Haziness filled her vision as lights suddenly filled them but she blinked them away and sat up. Relieved to find Lloyd next to her. He was fast asleep, breathing normally, and wrapped in a warm blanket, and his clothes, hair, and skin bone dry.

She couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked sleeping.

She looked down at herself, not only to find she was no longer on the cobblestone path but a soft leather couch, covered by a thick fur blanket. The rainwater has been stripped to the last drop from her clothes, hair, and skin, much to her shock, though she refused to complain. Nya shook away the last waves of sleep and turned to thank their caretakers. But when she turned to the source of the voices she found not people, but four creatures standing in a circle.

One was a troll, one was a white yeti, and one was a green naga.

The last was a creature she didn't recognize. Its body was composed of lightning and with the form of a white and blue fox. Lloyd stirred awake, cutely rubbing his eyes, and shook his head adjusting to the light. The blue fox gently strolled over to Lloyd. It started climbing up the couch like a cat and perched itself on the headrest before cutely holding out a small paw for the boy to shake.

"Hi there, I'm Jay." It smiled and Lloyd's reaction was that of a wound-up spring. The small boy screamed and jumped and fell backward all in one motion, his hand missing the couch and fell into nothing causing him to crash to the floor in a heap. His eyes bulged out of his skull when the furry creature looked over the edge of the couch.

"You okay?" Jay asked.

"A talking fox?" Lloyd muttered from the floor, his voice speaking automatically, shaking. Nya was clearly frozen from shock.

"I'm not a talking fox! I'm a raijū!" Jay stomped his foot, rising to his feet insulted. He growled when he heard the troll and naga snickering, threatening to burst into laughter. Lloyd repositioned himself onto his knees just in time to meet toxic green eyes. The green naga smiled brightly.

"Hey! Name's Tox, what's yours? And before you ask, I'm a naga."

"I'm... Lloyd." He replied, momentarily forgetting to breathe, but answered nonetheless, before turning his he'd to his sister. She was frozen on the couch, with Jay floating around her head on a ball of electricity, waving his blue paws in front of her face.

"Hello? Is she mute?"

"She's in shock, you idiot!" The troll howled. "I'm Ronin, by the way."

"So who are you?" Lloyd smiled at the quiet yeti.

"I am Zane, a yeti with the power to control the element of ice," Zane explained, holding out a clawed hand to Lloyd. Lloyd shook the yeti's claw.

"I'm Lloyd and that's my big sister Nya." She smiled at his elder sibling. Though shock was evident all over her face, Nya held up a hand and waved.

"Oh for the love of FSM." Ronin smacked his forehead before a brilliant glow surrounded his body. A second later, the troll vanished and the light expanded until a tall human man stood in its place. He had wavy brown hair, dark brown eyes with the beginning of a beard on his face. He wore a dark cyan jumper with light brown pants and a large red hat. His arms crossed over his chest as he turned to the siblings.

"Is this better?" He asked but Nya fell out of her seat, still in shock.

"Perhaps this will help?" Zane suggested and a flash of turquoise and in place of the slender, white yeti stood a tall, strongly-built boy, around Ronin's height. He had platinum blonde, almost snowy white, hair that stood up straight in something like a crew cut and bright icy blue eyes. He wore white pants and shoes with a long-sleeved, cyan blue shirt under a navy blue knitted vest. The newly turned man offered a hand to the youngest Smith who was still on the floor.

Lloyd took it without thinking unable to take his eyes off the white-haired man standing before him.

Lloyd's eyes darted to Zane, then Jay, then Ronin and Tox. Tox and Jay looked at the other and smiled, before answering his unasked question. Jay landed on the floor, bathed in a navy blue light, before the blue fox he once was transformed into his true form. He was a young man with reddish-brown curly hair with brown eyebrows and light freckles. He usually wore a blue jacket with a white stripe over a white t-shirt and blue pants with an orange wooly scarf.

Despite his mature features his large, dark blue eyes and mischievous smile radiated innocence and youth.

They all looked to the naga. Tox smiled and a light green flash was the only warning anyone had before in the green naga's place stood a small, petite, almost delicate girl who was around Nya's age. She had long green hair tied back into a ponytail similar to Nya's with sickly, pale, yellowish skin and bright green eyes. Around her neck was a black, studded choker. She was wearing a ripped green tank top that was cut short to reveal her stomach and black, torn-up jeans.

Even though all of them were in human form they still had a few tell-tale signs that they weren't fully human.

Tox still had snake eyes and Ronin's ears were pointed and he had fangs poking out of his mouth. Zane still had a cold air around him and every time he exhaled the siblings could see his breath. Jay's limbs occasionally twitched with electricity.

"I'm sorry if I sound rude, but you three know they can't stay here! It's bad enough you even brought them inside!" Zane suddenly glared, dragged them back to the issue at hand.

"We didn't mean to intrude," Nya explained, "I just needed to find Lloyd shelter from the storm, we'll leave in the morning."

"Hell no!" Jay cut him off. "You're not intruding at all! Zane is just worried about the Master that's all, but he's asleep, just let us warn him quickly that you're here, and then—"

Suddenly an earth-shattering roar echoed through the castle shaking everyone within it to their knees. A tremor ran through Nya's body and Lloyd threw himself in his sister's arms, shaking in fear. The master was awake, and he was furious with the four creatures. A sharp gust of wind roared through the castle, silencing all the candles and shrouding everything in darkness. Despite the fear wracking their bodies the four creatures moved to hide their guests as best they could.

It was a vain attempt to hold their master's anger.

All four of them shook in fear. They knew full well the Master would never harm them, but just his presence alone was intimidating.

"Nya, I'm scared." Lloyd trembled as he tried to hide in his sister's coat.

"Shh, it'll be alright, I've got you." Nya soothed in a vain attempt to calm him down. But she screamed when suddenly a loud gust of wind like the beat of giant wings followed by the loud thump of someone landing behind him before the siblings or the creature could react, and then suddenly she came face to face with two blazing green eyes with black slits, not human, almost like a dragon's. Kai stories flashed in Nya's mind like old photographs.

Stunned mystification caused her eyes to bulge.

"That's not possible," She muttered as her mind began spinning and her body felt faint, but she stood her ground. She couldn't show fear with Lloyd in her arms. The master glared at her, those impossibly green eyes bore into her terrified ocean eyes like piercing arrows. Then he chuckled, a low callous laugh.

"Is that all you can do?" He spoke in a dark, humorous hiss. His green eyes aligned with the fire of hurt and rage that seemed so much older and deeper than his youth. "Stare at me, like I'm some kind of monster."

"It's our fault, not theirs! We're the ones who brought them here!" Jay, who had always been outspoken, tried in vain to defend them but the master's loud growl soon silenced him. Even Zane, who was one of the few who could speak to the master freely, shivered at his temper.

"We mean no harm," Nya replied. "My brother and I just needed shelter from the storm." She explained. The eyes left her and the moment they did, Nya felt as if some enchantment upon her had broken, until she realized the master has not even noticed Lloyd until that point. Before she could speak another world, Lloyd's screamed pierced the night, followed by Nya's when she felt Lloyd ripped from her arms. Something cold and metallic, wrap around her arm, prying them apart harshly.

"Please don't hurt my brother!" She screamed, without thinking. The master's eyes bulged in both horror and confusion before bitterness and humor once again filled them. Harsh laughter spilled from the master's lips shaking everyone to the core.

"Of course that would be your first assumption, too bad; I was going to be lenient, but since it seems you don't know how to hold your tongue, I suppose you'll need a harsher lesson." The master spoke arrogantly, in a tone that froze Nya's core, she couldn't see Lloyd in the darkness but could hear his tears and trembling. Each one ripped another piece of her apart.

"Zane, put them to bed, now." He ordered, glaring at Ronin, Jay, and Tox. Zane reluctantly nodded and obeyed. Eyes wide, the trio moved to flee, but Zane caught them before they could escape. In a flash of light, the boys and Tox human forms vanished and the three creatures fell to the floor. Again they attempted to make a dash for the nearest door, but the Zane caught them in ice before they could escape. They struggled if only to help their new friends.

The master simply snorted at their efforts.

"That's all they'll ever see me as." He muttered in a harsh voice, ceased all of their strugglings. The tone he said it in made it impossible to tell if he was speaking to the siblings or the other four creatures. "They'll only see me as a... a monster" He hissed in a voice of rage and bitterness, before scolding harshly at the trio's loud protests.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" He commanded before flying away dragging his thrashing and screaming prisoners with him, towards the tower. Guilt and remorse poisoned the four creatures. Even Jay could no longer struggle as Zane brought them upstairs to the room they shared for as long as they could remember. The guilt and harshness of their master's tone hurt more than the extremely light punishment ever could. Even worse were Lloyd's screams of terror echoing through the castle until the loud clang of the tower door slamming shut replaced it.

A gloom once again settled over the castle as their master retreated brokenly to his only sanctuary.

A silent shiver of hope was tearing thread by thread that they would ever be free. Or the master's true love would ever come to free their prince from the undeserving and unspeakable fate that was sure to come the following spring...

#The Flame and the Dragon #ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #ninjago nya #ninjago jay #parody #beauty and the beast #lavashipping

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autisticfangpyreclub · 4 years

Text

Gold stained hands, red stained teeth - chapter 3

sorry this took so long I was feeling kinda lethargic over the past few days but hopefully I’ll get back into the Writing Mood

“One hot cup of cocoa, coming right up!”

Lloyd laughed as Kai dramatically poured the chocolate powder into the mug. He was sitting at the table reading a book on engineering Jay had given him to keep him entertained. Kai was in the kitchen making himself a nutritious breakfast of instant ramen, while also making Lloyd a cup of hot chocolate. Zane would be upset if he saw how much of a mess he was making, but that was future Kai’s problem.

“You gonna be okay here while I’m gone?” Kai asked as he wiped up the milk he had split on the counter. He handed the warm mug to Lloyd, who accepted it graciously.

“Of course, I’ll be very quiet,” Lloyd said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate, “if anyone tries to come in I’ll just turn into a bat and hide.”

Kai took his ramen out of the microwave and poured it into a thermos. “I’m more worried about you getting bored cooped up in here…”

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. “I’m sixteen, I can keep myself entertained.”

Kai sighed, and grabbed his backpack off the coat hanger. “Maybe I should just skip…” he hummed, looking up at the clock that was swiftly ticking towards 11:30.

Lloyd put his mug down and shook his head furiously. “No, I’ll be fine here, don’t miss class because of me.”

Everyone else had already left for morning classes, leaving Kai and Lloyd alone in the dorm room. He only had one class today, but it was two hours long. While he didn’t want to leave Lloyd all by himself, Wu would kill him if he skipped for the third time in a month.

“You sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yes!” Lloyd grabbed a pillow off the couch and tossed it at him, “now get a move on!”

Kai squawked as the pillow hit him in the stomach. “ACK! Okay I’m going!” Kai shielded himself with his backpack, and darted out the door to avoid a barrage of pillow torpedoes.

Lloyd turned back to his book. He didn’t want to admit it, but reading about automobile engineering basics wasn’t exactly the most interesting, especially considering he didn’t even know what an automobile was. He closed the book, and laid his head down on the table.

It’d only been two minutes since Kai left, and he was already bored. It was rather pathetic, he was a centuries old vampire and yet a few hours alone sounded awful to him.

A shrill noise startled him out of his thoughts. It sounded like a distressed animal, and it was coming from outside. He leapt out of his chair, and ran to the kitchen window. He tried to peek through the blinds, but his eyes were burned by the flash of sunlight.

He hissed and drew back. The one thing he was asked to do was not go outside, and Lloyd didn’t want to lose the trust of the few people he knew in this time period. But… the pained cries were only getting louder, and he hated the thought of some poor creature being in trouble. It wouldn’t take more than a minute, surely…?

He grabbed his cape off the coat hanger, and draped it over his head. It wouldn’t completely block the sun, but it would be enough if he was quick. His eyes clenched shut as he opened the door, and stepped out into the daylight.

As he stepped out of the dorm, his attention was immediately drawn to the tree planted at the edge of the parking lot. That was where the noise was coming from. Being careful not to let his cape fly away in the wind, he ran over to the tree.

“Oh no!”

There was a small gray cat sitting high up on a tree branch. It was shivering and meowing sadly, clinging to the branch like its life depended on it.

“Are you stuck?” Lloyd called up to it, “I’ll get you down, don’t worry.”

It blinked it’s emerald green eyes at him, and meowed in response. Climbing the tree with a cape draped over his face would be a difficult task, but luckily for him, he had an easier solution.

Lloyd dropped his cape, and transformed into a bat in a puff of golden sparkles. The cat yowled in alarm, and sped further up the tree. It hissed and swatted at him as he flew up and clung to the branch. He tried to say something to soothe the cat, but all that came out was squeaks.

He gulped at the hungry look in the cat’s eyes. Bats did look an awful lot like flying mice…

The cat lunged toward him with its claws out. Lloyd transformed back in a panic, not thinking about how he was still hanging upside down from the thin branch. He heard a SNAP, and he and the cat were sent hurtling towards the ground.

In the split second before they both hit the hard ground, Lloyd caught the cat in his arms. It mewed softly, and nuzzled against his chest. His head was shaken a bit from the impact, but his powers healed any other injuries faster than he could notice them. He stood up, and held the cat up in the air.

“It’s very rude to eat someone trying to rescue you,” he scolded, “what do you have to say for yourself?”

The cat sneezed, and stuck it’s tongue out. Lloyd giggled and rubbed his face against it’s velvety fur. “Alright, I forgive you.”

“Meowthra!”

Lloyd jumped, and turned to see a woman running towards him. She had silvery gray hair, but she looked like a young adult. She huffed and leaned against the tree.

“Thank goodness, you found her,” she gasped, out of breath, “where was she?!”

Lloyd glanced away awkwardly. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. God, what an idiot he was. Now she was probably going to tell everyone he was here and Kai and the rest of them would get in trouble and it would be all his fault and-

“U-Um…” Lloyd stuttered, “she was stuck in the tree…”

Meowthra squirmed around in his arms. He let her go, and she bounded over to the woman and rubbed against her leg.

“Silly kitty…” the woman sighed, “I’m Pixal, thanks for your help.”

“Oh, um, don’t mention it…” he said quietly, trying to figure out a way to escape the conversation. He couldn’t go back into the dorm, not with Pixal watching. He couldn’t exactly walk off either, at the moment the shade from the tree was the only thing protecting him from the sun. “I’m Lloyd.”

“Are you a student here?” she asked.

“Uh, yes!” Lloyd replied without thinking, then mentally slapped himself.

Pixal scooped up Meowthra, and held her under her arm like a suitcase. “You must be in the drama program, that’s why you're dressed like that right?”

Lloyd looked down at his clothing in confusion, before remembering he was dressed for a totally different time period. “O-Oh, yeah, I was just on my way to class actually-“

He bit his tongue. Great, now he had an even deeper hole to get out of.

“Oh, that’s perfect actually!” she said cheerfully, “do you think you could help me move some boxes into the theatre?”

Lloyd blinked. “Theatre…?”

“The tech crew needs some extra cables, but the guy who was supposed to help me move the boxes bailed on me…” she explained, “and I haven’t even started yet thanks to this little demon,” she glared at Meowthra, who just yawned and twitched her ears.

“U-Uh…” Lloyd realized there was no way he could politely say no without having to say he lied about being on his way to class. Great. Just great. “Of course, it’d be a pleasure!” he said, hoping she wouldn’t notice how much he was sweating.

“Thanks so much!” she turned and walked towards the parking lot, “the boxes are in my car, follow me.”

Lloyd discreetly grabbed his cape off the ground and threw it over his head. He winced as he stepped back into the sunlight, already regretting this decision immensely.

It’d been many years since Morro had stood before the gates of Garmadon castle. Nothing had changed a bit. It looked just as decrepit as it had centuries ago.

“Why is the gate locked?!” Morro snapped, rattling the bars as if he could somehow yank the gate open with his bare hands, “this is ridiculous! What kind of arcane barrier is this?!”

Bansha sharpened her knife against a rock she had picked up off the ground, indifferent to Morro’s tantrum. “Probably because this is a tourist attraction now, I’d guess… and I assume the gate is opened with a button inside that box over there,” she said, pointing her knife towards the ticket booth.

The lady inside the booth was fast asleep in her chair. She had music on loud enough you could hear it blaring from outside the booth, and she had a sleeping mask on.

Bansha clicked her tongue. “Not very good at her job, is sh- HEY!”

Morro snatched the rock out of her hand, and stomped over to the ticket booth. He aimed the rock at the woman’s head, but before he could throw it the woman stirred. She pulled her sleeping mask off, and looked around groggily. “Huh? Is someone there?”

Morro hastily hid the rock behind his back, and cleared his throat. “Open the gate… please.”

The woman turned her music off. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of decay emanating from him, and she tried not to stare at his medieval looking clothing. “You mean you want… a ticket?”

“Yes, a ticket for the gate, because I would like inside,” Morro said stiffly, “please open the gate.”

Behind him, Bansha groaned and rubbed her temples. “Dear god help me…”

She nodded, and leaned down to open the safe tucked between her feet. “I’m surprised we’ve been getting so many visitors lately,” she mused, shuffling through the papers stuffed in the safe, “we rarely get two groups visiting in one month, much less in the same week-“

Morro frowned, his hand brushing against the dagger strapped to his belt. “There were people here before us?”

“Yeah, a couple of college students from NCU,” she explained, stamping two tickets, “they were acting kinda strange when they came out though… fortunately for them I don’t get paid enough to care if they stole anything.”

Morro exchanged a look with Bansha, who pocketed her blade and approached the ticket booth. “And just where is this ‘NCU?’” Morro asked.

“Downtown, just north of that big shopping mall, you can’t miss it really,” she said absentmindedly, sliding the tickets to them. “That’ll be ten fifty please.”

“Uh…” Morro gripped the rock he was still holding tighter, “we don’t have any money, but-“

“Enjoy your day miss,” Bansha cut him off, and pulled Morro away by the arm. The woman watched in confusion as she tugged Morro far enough away that they were out of earshot.

“What was that for?!” Morro sputtered, “must I remind you that I am the one in charge?!”

Bansha eyed the rock he had in his grip. “I feel I must remind you, our queen would prefer if we performed our mission… quietly.”

Morro scowled and tossed the rock aside. “I wasn’t going to kill her… I was just going to give us enough time to open that gate.”

“The castle is obviously no longer a reliable fortress for Lloyd,” Bansha said, crossing her arms, “I believe his new lair is that college she mentioned, NCU.”

“Then what’re we waiting for?” Morro stomped his foot impatiently, “let’s go-“

“Patience, Morro, patience…” she hushed, “do you not remember what I taught you when you were a child?”

“...A good hunter must always wait for the ideal opportunity before striking, I know…” he turned away from her, and stared up at the crumbling towers of the castle. It was poetic almost… a dying castle for a dead family. Soon to be completely dead, that is.

His attention snapped back to Bansha. “I’m not a child anymore, you don’t need to teach me anything,” he grunted.

She let out a raspy chuckle. “Don’t be arrogant, everyone can be taught something.”

Morro watched as she summoned a wisp of blue fire in her hand. She whispered something incomprehensible to it, and it floated out of her hand and disappeared into the forest. “A message for the others,” she told him, wiping the excess blue powder off on her coat.

Magic had always seemed to allude Morro. He had begged the preeminent many times for magic lessons, but she had always said he just didn’t have any potential. His queen always knew best. Still, he was bitter about constantly feeling inferior to his subordinates.

“I’ve been patient enough, let’s go.”

Bansha rolled her eyes as he sauntered back towards the parking lot. She followed behind him, putting an arm out to stop him just in time before he stepped in a large puddle of water.

“Water is our only weakness, remember?” she said in response to his confused expression, “if it touches you, your flesh will melt right off your bones.”

Morro shuddered, and lurched away from the puddle. “A horribly inconvenient weakness…” he murmured.

“Perhaps if you hadn’t failed to kill Lloyd, then we wouldn’t have such a weakness,” Bansha hummed, lifting her skirt so it wouldn’t drag along the wet ground.

“What?”

She stiffened. A brief hint of sadness flickered in her eyes. “It’s nothing,” she said, shaking her head, “let’s get there before it rains again.”

Class went by uneventfully. Kai didn’t pay much attention during Wu’s lecture, his mind was too preoccupied worrying about Lloyd. He didn’t fully realize how much he had spaced out until he looked down at the blank notebook page sitting in front of him. Whoops. He’d just have to ask Skylor for her notes after class.

“Please remember your assignment is due by the end of the month,” Wu announced, “see me if you need any assistance.”

Kai closed his notebook with a sigh. He was way behind on his history paper, he could thank his shitty adhd brain for that. None of the tips he was given on focusing ever helped, so he usually just did all his assignments last minute and prayed his professors wouldn’t notice. To his credit, they usually didn’t.

As he was wading through the mass of students exiting the classroom, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Wu standing behind him. “May I speak to you for a minute Kai?” he asked.

He beckoned Kai over to his desk. “I’ve noticed you’ve been having some trouble on your assignment.”

Kai stuck his hands in his pockets, and gave a half shrug. “Uh… yeah, a little bit, but I’m fine.”

Wu stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Nya told me you all visited Garmadon castle yesterday, yes? How was it?”

“It was… interesting,” he replied, suppressing a laugh. Interesting was a severe understatement, what went down yesterday was straight up fantastical.

“If you have yet to pick a topic for your paper, may I suggest you do some more research on the castle?” Wu said, “I’m quite… knowledgeable on it myself, so I could offer you plenty of help.”

Kai’s eyes lit up. Of course! Lloyd probably knew everything about the castle's history, he wouldn’t even need to do any research. Who needs google when you have a friendly vampire living in your dorm room?

“Yeah, that’s an awesome idea!” Kai cheered, “thanks Wu!” He waved goodbye, and ran out of the classroom.

Wu watched him go with a smile. His eyes drifted to the framed handwritten letter he kept on his desk, the letter he’d received from Misako just before Lloyd’s sixteenth birthday. He held the picture frame in his hands and read the letter aloud.

My dear brother-in-law,

I hope this letter finds you well. We’ve all missed you terribly while you’ve been away, Lloyd especially. He grows more beautiful and darling each year, like a blooming flower in springtime. He’s become such a charming young man. I wish you could be here for this momentous celebration, but I understand your business abroad must come first. Garmadon has planted a tea tree for you in the garden, if that entices you to return sooner. We could all sit and have dinner under the moonlight, just like we did in our youth. I know Lloyd would love that.

Adoringly, Misako.

It was the last letter he’d ever received from them. He’d spent centuries rereading it over and over, torturing himself with it as punishment for being the catalyst in their deaths. A teardrop landed on the glass as his shaking hands clung to the frame.

All these years, and he still wept every time he thought of them. Thought of how his mistake of taking in one child, caused the death of another.

Jay groaned and dropped the box of lightbulbs on the ground. “Y’know, we’d be able to get the lights fixed a lot faster if you actually got off your ass and helped.”

Cryptor didn’t look up from his phone. “Not my problem,” he said curtly.

“But you're the one who made half the lightbulbs in the damn theatre burst!” Jay snapped back at him.

The doors to the theatre slammed open. “Sorry I’m late!” Pixal cried out as she wobbled past Jay, carrying two boxes of various cords and cables in her arms. She set them down, and she leaned against them to catch her breath.

“Meowthra got out again and Cryptor bailed on me, so I almost had to move these all by myself- HEY!” she angrily squinted at Cryptor, “where were you?!”

Cryptor avoided her gaze. “I was… busy.”

“If by busy you mean making half the lightbulbs in the theatre explode, then yeah, you were pretty busy,” Jay scoffed. He grabbed a long cable out of the box, and swung it around like a whip. “I oughta hit you with this!”

“Please don’t,” Pixal chided, “how did that even happen?”

Cryptor shrugged. “Long story.”

The theatre door gently opened. Lloyd stepped tentatively inside, a huge stack of boxes in his arms. “Um, where should I put these-“

He locked eyes with Jay, and froze. Jay stared at him with his mouth agape, the cable he was holding clattered onto the floor.

Pixal gave them both an odd look. “Uh… what’s wrong?”

Jay sputtered, his eyes darting between Pixal and Lloyd. “Lloyd?! Your not supposed to be-“

Lloyd bit his lip and set the boxes down. He could feel his face heating up in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, I promise I won’t go outside again, please don’t be mad-“

Jay’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. “No no, I’m not mad!” he said quickly, “I was just-“

“Okay, I don’t care about whatever drama is going on here,” Cryptor interrupted, “what I want to know is how the fuck did you carry all those?”

“Cryptor!” Pixal snapped, “don’t be rude! He’s obviously just very strong.”

Jay glared at Cryptor, then grabbed Lloyd’s hand and led him out of the theatre. He scanned the hallway for anyone else, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw they were alone.

“Are you okay?” he asked anxiously, “you didn’t get burned in the sun did you?”

Lloyd shook his head. “No, well, a little bit… but not very much,” he replied, “I’m alright, I promise.”

Concern washed over Jay’s features. “Shit, don’t scare me like that kid… if anyone finds out about you we’re gonna be in big trouble.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Lloyd stammered, “I shouldn’t even be here, I should just go back to the castle-“

“Lloyd!” Jay grabbed him by the shoulders, “look at me.”

He tilted Lloyd’s chin up and brushed a stray lock of hair out of his face. A tear fell down Lloyd’s cheek. “I’m sorry-“

“Stop apologizing, it’s not your fault,” Jay told him, “we’ll figure out a better solution for you soon, don’t worry.”

Lloyd choked back a sob, and nodded. “Okay.”

“Speaking of which,” Jay added, “I think I might’ve found something you might like.”

He pulled out his phone, and showed him the tab he had open. Lloyd squinted as he looked at the screen. “Blood meal…?”

“Yeah! It’s dried blood powder, usually used on plants,” Jay said, pointing to the picture on the website, “I don’t exactly know how you’d eat it, but maybe you could like… add it to a smoothie? Or, I’ve heard that coconut water can be used as a blood substitute, so maybe-“

“I’m sorry, are you two talking about drinking blood?”

Jay whipped his head around to see Pixal standing behind them. She had her hands on her hips and one eyebrow arched. “What is going on here?” she demanded.

He shared a nervous glance with Lloyd, and then chuckled wearily. “Uh… hey Pix… you think you could keep a secret?”

#ninjago #lego ninjago #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd #ninjago jay #ninjago kai #ninjago morro #ninjago wu #ninjago pixal #ninjago cryptor #ninjago au #vampire au #ninjago bansha

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that-is-where-they-wait · 5 years

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That is Where They Wait Ch 13: This is Why Jay’s Not Group Leader

previous / next all chapters AO3 FFN [HAHA 13th CHAPTER ON HALLOWEEN, I’m a GENIUS. jk I’m just dead, sorry everyone, happy Halloween. hugs and kisses to the 5 (five) people that still give a damn about this fic] res·pite | /ˈrespət,rēˈspīt/ | noun | 1. a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.

The shadows created by his tiny flame cut stark figures on the walls, the floor, and both their faces. They were far too sharp to be natural, too unsettling to be ignored. Kai was getting sick of the agitation thrumming under his skin.

This room they'd found was nice and all, especially considering the door had a lock, but they couldn't stand around and wait for safety forever. The longer they stayed put, the longer they risked getting well and truly lost. And seeing how Karlof had been lost when Kai'd found him cornered by the spirit, that was definitely a risk.

Kai twisted the knob and pulled.

The door stayed put.

Frowning, he tried again. And again, tugging more harshly. Still nothing.

They'd just gotten themselves locked inside the room. Did it lock from the outside or something?!

Frustrated when persistently pulling at the door did nothing, Kai yelled and punched it as hard as he could. A moment later, hissing and rubbing his knuckles, he realized that was a mistake.

"Let Karlof try," the other man said, buckling up to attack and slamming the door with all the force he had. Both of his gauntlets hit the wood with an impressive, booming 'thud', but the door held. Kai squinted — were there even any cracks on the thing?

"Uhh … do it again," he suggested hurriedly. "Maybe if you keep at it, it'll start to crack."

And Karlof did take a few more spirited swings at the door standing in their way. No good; somehow the door was still in one piece. Not even anything other than hairline cracked. (Just how did a stinking door manage to be stronger in the face of Karlof's punches than him, anyway? Ouch, his ego.)

"Doesn't make sense! How is door not broken already?" Karlof asked, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Great question! Wish I knew." Petulantly, he threw his leg back and kicked. Unsurprisingly, it did nothing, and he was left glowering at the door as his toe throbbed briefly. The last bit of the flame in his hand winked out as he lost his focus, and he had to generate a new one. (Blast their weakened powers.)

Okay, so this was an exasperating turn of events. But hey, they could find another way out. Kai's free hand flew to his chin as he thought about it. Maybe they didn't have to break the door …

"Hey, Karlof. Maybe if you use your metal powers to rip off the hinges. You think we could get the door off that way?"

Karlof just stared at him for a second.

"Karlof don't particularly care."

Hold on, what.

"Walked all day just to get to stupid mansion, then ran around forever just to get away from ugly monster. All Karlof want right now is some rest."

"Tell me you're joking," Kai hissed. "We can rest once we get back to where we were! Unless you wanna be wandering around lost."

"Breaking down door takes energy. Karlof don't have energy right now. Plus, if we can't go out, monster can't come in," Karlof pointed out.

He had a point. Kai remembered what the others had said about the magic surrounding everything. It leeched their energy, didn't it? Karlof looked pretty wiped. He was loathe to stay away from the others any longer than necessary, and he hated how everything about this place felt, but it'd be just mean to deny the guy a chance to rest. He liked to think he wasn't that much of a jerk.

Karlof grimaced after a moment. "Also … maybe pulled leg muscle while running. Don't know for sure."

"Oh, and of course you save that for last," Kai groaned. "Okay, fine. We'll stay in here a while. You're just lucky the door's locked."

"What I wouldn't give for a working camera right now, to capture the look on your face." Cole shook his head and chuckled.

No one had counted on the passage from the clock workshop taking them right back to the room they were staying in — least of all Jay and Skylor, who had their first taste of the passages from a bewildered posse of ninja stumbling out of the wall. They'd both jumped nearly clear to the ceiling; poor Skylor had actually almost fallen off of the bed she was sitting on trying to scramble to her feet.

"Ohh, shut up! The wall just opened up out of nowhere and spit you out; what was I supposed to think?! You would've have been just as startled!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, zaptrap."

"It was pretty funny," Lloyd said, smile muted but genuine.

"Helpful," Jay huffed. "You wouldn't happen to have found them, would you?"

Cole shook his head and gestured at the empty space to his left. "What do you think?"

Jay sighed, expression dropping. "Thought so. … You guys mind explaining why the walls just spit you out?"

"Please," Skylor added. "If you're going to give me a heart attack, at least tell me why."

Lloyd turned to really see her, and noticed that she was fiddling with what looked to be the pieces of her crossbow. Then he did a double-take. Before he could say anything, Zane spoke up.

"Apologies for startling you, and hello, Skylor. It's good to see that you're — oh my."

"Yeah, I know." Skylor grinned ruefully, eyes obscured by…

"Those are Kai's shades," Lloyd blurted out. "How come …?"

"Ask Jay," she shrugged. "He had the idea of giving them to me in the first place."

"Hey, I couldn't dim the lamp or fireplace anymore or they'd go out, and I know Kai's always carrying a pair of sunglasses with him, so …yeah."

"They really do help, though," Skylor said. "It's easier to fix this thing" — she frowned at her broken weapon of choice — "when I can keep my eyes open."

"Good to hear it," Zane said, ever the one to keep tabs. "But hopefully you won't be needing it too soon." Skylor frowned, but didn't respond.

It was hard to figure out how he felt about this. On the one hand, heh. Of course Kai kept sunglasses on him at all times.

On the other hand, the fact that they were Kai's only pulled worse at something in Lloyd's chest. If they didn't find him fast, Skylor using his sunglasses was gonna feel more like a sick joke than anything …

He expelled the thought quickly.

Kai would be okay. He had to be.

Cole went around haphazardly patting different objects in the room until he knocked back a glass lantern on the mantelpiece shutting the passage entrance, meriting a few snickers at how silly he looked. Then he started telling Jay and Skylor how they'd discovered the passage system, but gratefully let Zane explain the uglier details. Lloyd jumped in to describe their surroundings in the open hallways and several rooms that had been explored as well, including some of the more eccentric details. Skylor, having evidently taken on the role of unofficial scribe out of sheer boredom with her current situation, reached for a notepad and started scribbling away, asking questions ever so often.

"You know what I think is going on here?" Jay said, after a beat. "We crossed dimensions walking through the forest and now we're in a horror video game. That's what happened."

"Jay."

"Listen, I'm right," Jay declared, with far more confidence than he had any right to have. "Think about it. Everything's too quirky. Too conveniently inconvenient."

"Jay, I swear to Lloyd's grandfather I will hurt you." The effect of Cole's words were mostly nullified by the fact that he was shaking his head in his hands. (And for the record, it was still weird when people swore on his grandfather.)

"Explain," Skylor said, openly giggling at the absurdity, and Zane looked as confused as he did amused.

Ahh, good ol' Zane.

Still, the fact that Jay was joking around when there were people missing rubbed him the wrong way.

"I'm serious! We just so happen to be stuck in here because the doors won't open, and they can't be busted down, and the windows are barred! Have you ever heard a more video-game thing in your life?"

"Splendid situational analysis skills right there, Jay," Cole responded drily. "A+. What do you propose we do to solve this?"

But then again … Cole had been tensed up and radiating apprehension, the entire time they were searching, to the point where it had started to make Lloyd nervous, too. He looked like he was beginning to lighten up again, as he poked at Jay's ridiculousness.

"Whoa, hey, I didn't ask for leader talk! Just saying. Not to mention, that ugly ghost clown respawns when you kill it. That's some next-level malarkey right there."

"D-don't call it that," Skylor gasped in between laughs. Evidently the pain meds had kicked in.

"And why not, huh? Are you trying to tell me it doesn't look like a clown and the Overlord had a really ugly baby?"

"Goodness," Zane remarked.

"Jay, do you ever think before you open your mouth?" Cole groaned, exasperated chuckles slipping out despite his best efforts. "Ever?"

"It's a personal point of pride to improv anything and everything I say," Jay said matter-of-factly. "Come on, you know this."

"This is why you're not group leader."

And since when was Lloyd the one to growl at any sign of fun when things were rough? He'd seen the way Jay's face had dropped when Cole announced that Kai and Karlof were still missing, and according to Zane he'd fought it before. If he was goofing off, it wasn't for lack of understanding the gravity — it was in spite of it.

So he'd bite. He'd pick back up the pieces of the child left over from when he'd been too small for the green gi, and play along. When they went back out to search, it'd be easier to keep his morale up if he let loose a little now.

They needed this.

"You know, Jay does have a point," he chimed in now. When everyone's attention turned to him, he grinned and clarified, "About the video game thing. Also the things in here are so … weird, they might as well be props. Like the clocks! What would anyone do with that many clocks?"

"And it does seem odd that there would be so many weapons on display …" Zane murmured under his breath.

"Yeah, exactly!"

Jay beamed. "Finally, someone sees it my way! I would bet my hand that this is all because of that dumb discount survivor Kai got at the shady store across from Doomsday Comix. I knew there was something weird about it. You should never trust a shady discount game."

"Hey, Kai got that game for you, because he was sick of you bellyaching about the Temple being haunted!" Cole replied. "Think an awful lot of me, doncha? Won't even take the former ghost's word that there's no ghosts in there."

"Uh, like I'd take your word for anything! Why don't you take this?" Jay threw a pillow at Cole's shoulder, much to their shock. They held their breath and waited for their reaction … and Cole worked his jaw for a second, then promptly picked up the pillow and nailed Jay in the face with it.

"Whoa, hey!" Lloyd cried. They paused and looked at him again.

"... We don't have nearly enough pillows for this."

Jay only blinked for a split second before grinning, balling up his blanket and whacking Cole with that instead.

Skylor doubled over laughing.

Absolute mayhem ruled for all of five minutes. Zane had been unwittingly dragged into the pillow/blanket fight that had evolved, and Lloyd figured if everyone else bar the one person who couldn't was doing it, he was definitely throwing himself into the ring. It only lasted up to Cole and Zane ganging up on him and wrapping him into a blanket burrito until he was screaming uncle. Even if she couldn't participate, Skylor was absolutely living for the chaos; she was practically munching on popcorn, tossing stray bedding into the fray (from a safe distance) for the rest of them to pounce on.

When they eventually settled down and sobered up, the air settling down on their shoulders again wasn't as oppressive. The soft afterglow lingering after they'd laughed some of their stress out made everyone feel a little more like they would be okay in the end, like they could go out and search again and they'd find everything they needed to — Kai, Karlof, and a way to escape this awful place and put it behind them for good.

But for right now …

"So. What's next?" Cole fluffed a pillow and set it back on the bed he'd grabbed it from.

"We should go back out and keep looking," Lloyd stated, grabbing a blanket off the floor and pointedly folding it in an apologetic-looking Zane's direction. Cole snorted — Zane might've felt a liiiiittle guilty about teaming up on Lloyd and accidentally knocking Jay down with a pillow, but he'd enjoyed every bit of that fight, and Lloyd knew it and he knew they both knew it.

"So soon?" Skylor asked. "You were gone for a while. Maybe you should take a break or something first …"

"Yeah!" Jay agreed, putting away his own blanket. "You were walking in secret passages and stuff! Aren't you tired? I know I'd be."

"If we do go out again, we should switch out who remains here with Skylor to prevent that," Zane said.

"Not 'if'," Lloyd said. "It's dangerous out there, and didn't you say Kai was injured? Karlof doesn't have any idea what he's up against if he bumps into it, either. Not to mention, we haven't even seen a trace of Shade around longer we wait, the worse our chances of finding them are. I say we keep looking a little longer."

Cole grimaced. He understood Lloyd's impatience, of course. He was worried, they all were, and nothing about their current situation looked good. And every second they spent trapped put him painfully in mind of another haunted building that had preyed on their fears and ended in nothing but trouble …

But the green ninja's insistence on searching until they found their missing was beginning to look near-obsessive. And while he hadn't said a word about being tired, his group had been on the move almost constantly since before they'd even arrived at the mansion. He'd fought for his life once already, and the building's magic was persistently weakening them. He had to be tired. Cole knew he was.

For the kid's sake, Cole hoped again that they were alright. If they weren't …

He shut the train of thought down before it could set itself off. He could do without losing his composure like that again, particularly now that he wasn't as isolated.

"Ech. I was actually thinking we have lunch or something first. It's been a while since any of us ate."

"Lunch …?"

Ohhh First Spinjitzu Master he could not be serious.

"Yes, Lloyd," he said dryly, "sometimes human beings need to eat food. You know, to survive and stuff."

"I know that!" Lloyd exclaimed. "But how do you know that it's lunch time, specifically?"

Cole paused to consider it. Usually, his appetite was the subject of a fair few jokes, but here he was using it as a surprisingly reliable indicator of when they should eat, sharpened with fatigue as it was. Because he was absolutely basing this off of his appetite.

A crinkle broke the quiet. Heads turned to see nothing else but Jay, teeth already sunk into a granola bar and blinking up at them.

"What?"

Cole sighed, rummaging through his backpack and frowning when it took a minute to find him anything worth eating. He unwrapped a sandwich as he said his next words.

"First trail mix at unholy hours of the morning, now this. If you're going to keep snacking precisely when it's not time to eat, you can't turn around and wonder why you're never hungry. I mean, not to suggest there's ever a bad time to eat, but you know what I mean."

"But I'm not hungry enough to eat a full meal!" Jay protested. "Any more than this and … I dunno. Don't feel up to it. And aren't you a fine one to talk?"

"But he has a point," Zane said, concerned. "Your appetite is usually larger than this. Does your stomach still hurt?"

"Nah," Jay said dismissively, though he polished off the bar and didn't make a move to eat anything else. "I'm just not that hungry. Besides, I'll just save it for later."

Cole opened his mouth to tell him to eat at least a little more, anyway, but the last thing he'd said made him think.

Because when he considered it …

"We're starting to run low on food, aren't we?"

"Now that you mention it, I guess we are," Lloyd said, surrendering to the fact that they were eating now and pulling out some food. He didn't immediately eat it, though. "And we can't go get more, can we?"

"I have extra food in my bag," Zane offered, looking a little meek. "... The truth is, I kept storing food and snacks in it for missions and never remembered to take them out. It might not be all that much, but perhaps it could help us last a little longer."

"Hoarder."

"Hey, it's saving our hides now, isn't it?" Lloyd elbowed Jay. "Be nice."

"But I'm afraid it won't last us forever …"

"Right. We gotta think long-run," Cole said. "We have backup food, but there's …" He took a moment to count. "Five of us. Seven including the missing two. And none of us are running on full strength. This stuff's gonna go fast. If Zane's stash runs out, we've got no way to get more from outside, plus there's no way anything in here would be edible."

"Blegh." Jay made a face. "Can you imagine what it'd be like? The mold probably has mold growing on it. No thank you."

"Thank you, Jay, you're really doing wonders for my appetite." Skylor groaned.

"You're very welcome."

"Keep it to yourself," Cole said. "Just because you're not hungry doesn't mean you have to make sure everyone else isn't."

Jay harrumphed at him but didn't say anything else.

"We need to ration, don't we?" Lloyd said.

"I don't like that," Jay said. "That implies we're staying here."

"... Not that I like the idea," Cole hated it, in fact. "But again, we might have to start thinking long-term. Hopefully, Kai and Karlof aren't far, but who knows how long it'll actually take to find them. And that's not even taking into account how we'll find a way to escape …"

"Okay, you've made your point," Jay moaned. Cole followed his gaze to Lloyd, who was eating his honey sandwich with dark eyes, and sighed, feeling another twinge of worry.

"Well, this doesn't bode well for me," Skylor commented. "I didn't think we'd get holed up this long."

"Is this about food? How much do you have?" Zane asked.

"Mm? Only about enough for a day and a half, plus snacks. And that's being generous," she admitted sheepishly. "I've only got a little more left."

"It's alright," Cole replied. "None of us were really expecting it. You can just … mooch off of Zane?"

"Well, geez." Skylor raised an eyebrow. It was pretty funny, paired with the sunglasses. "When you put it that way."

"Don't worry," Zane reassured her. "Feel free to take what you need."

"Pft. Alright," Skylor said at last. "Thanks."

"Glad we got that set straight, but what're we gonna do about water?" Lloyd brought up. "My bottle's nearly empty."

"He has a point," Zane said. "Having food is essential, but we cannot afford to dehydrate, either."

"Man, Nya'd be nice to have around for that," Cole sighed. "... But it's probably a good thing she's not here."

"It's been well over a day and we still haven't contacted her."

"Maybe longer, even," Jay sighed glumly. His eyes flickered with worry for a second. "You … don't think she'd come looking for us, do you?"

"Don't sound so hopeful, Jay," Cole warned him. "There's no way it'd end well if she did."

"It was bad enough when I ran into it," Lloyd added. "If it stumbled into her before we did …"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Jay whimpered. "Forget I said anything."

"But do we need a water master for that?" Skylor cut in. "We could try to melt ice and make do that way."

"PIXAL has the same idea. But that would be most efficiently done with a controlled heat source such as Kai's fire, and Kai isn't with us right now," Zane said. Lloyd's face darkened.

"I know, but once we find him. Because we are going to," she said pointedly.

"I suppose I could just set some ice near the fireplace and let it melt, even though it would still be slow," Zane said. "Until we find Kai, of course."

"Right," Lloyd answered before Cole or Jay could say anything. "We will." But the room felt tenser again, more quietly charged than it had before.

How much longer they could keep that conviction up remained to be seen.

#that is where they wait #tiwtw #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago fanfic #ninjago cole #cole brookstone #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago karlof #ninjago skylor #skylor chen

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purplerose244 · 3 years

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My thoughts on Seabound!!! 🌊🌊🌊 (4/4)

Here we are! What a journey, and while perhaps this season wasn't at MoM level it was REALLY good, with great new villains/allies, great little throwbacks and an awesome story! 🤩

How to get this was very good to great? Give me a very good ending Seabound!! 💕💕

Alright, here we go!

GENERAL THOUGHTS

I genuinely got too much into this remaining four episodes and forgot to put any general thoughts 😅 So you'll see me rambling at the end, see you there 😉

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

This title really summarize my feelings so far, like, I'm seriously wondering how it will move on from now, but I do expect the outcome to be CRAZY 🤯

Aaahhhh, yep, the one in Shintaro is a fake 😅 I wonder when did the change happen? How did Kalmaar pulled that off, wow

I'M SORRY WHY ARE WE PUTTING THE TITLE SCREEN WITHOUT THE INTRO?? THAT'S A FIRST EPISODE STUFF AND IT HONESTLY SCARES ME??? It reminds me of Winds of Change too and that episode was WOW 😭😭😭

Heeeeyyy, it's youuuu... huh... *watch scribble on hand* google snake guy, huh... Glucose... yep, good old Glutine and everything 😅

Are we having a "I may have made a mistake being evil" with this guy?

Jay: ah, Prime Empire! I was in that game you know! I fought for my life and the ones of all of Ninjago and I've seen my best friends and the love of my life die before my eyes... good times 🙂

Jay and Nya having fun at DDR has to be one of my favorite thing, they are so in sync and so lovable ❤💙❤💙

DID THEY ACTUALLY PUT THE JAYA SHIP NAME INTO THE SHOW??? OMG GUYS THE FANDOM IS TAKING OVER THE SHOW AT LAST!!! 🤯🤯🤯 The electric Jaya, heeeyy, niiicee 😎😎😎

HOW CUTE CAN YOU BE

MY SHIP 💙❤💙❤ They even gave each other high gives... this is neat, and it means something awful will happen right 🙂

Commissioner: he's saying something about a giant snake... and the end of the world... didn't we already have something like that?

Okay yep, he did the trick while fighting Nya, dang Kalmaar is sneaky! Not too shabby... but I gotta say, the summoning of the Great Devourer was a lot more dramatic 🤣🤣 Props to the serpentine, still my favorite snakes 💪💪

Wojira seems to be a little smaller than the Devourer maybe? His head way bigger than the bounty, while hers is not that massive even in comparison with Kalmaar

I might be wrong but at first glance, I stand by my opinion and by the superiority of the OG giant snake 🤷‍♀️

Yep Glutine guy did have a change of heart, better late than never 🤷‍♀️

You're telling me that Jay doesn't do engineering anymore, okay... HOW IS KAI A BETTER SOLUTION??? 🤣🤣🤣 Lol look at the messy brothers, love Lloyd and Kai so much I miss them interact 💚❤💚❤

Thank you Kelly for the alert 😗

It makes me wonder if they actually do have simulations of evacuations often, it would be pretty smart considering the city 🤷‍♀️

OKINO IS THERE HI DUDE!!! 😍 I hope he's doing great! 🥰🥰

Gail Gossip! Been a while!

WOW, this is going Deluge like, my first Spinjitzu Master! 😱 How... how do we go with three episodes from here? Like, I'm guessing Nya will have to do what Nyad did before her (which TERRIFIES me), so are they going to struggle trying to find another way? IDK BUT I'M IN LET'S GO!! 🤯

ASSAULT ON NINJAGO CITY

Alright, pretty straightforward title, let's see what we got here!

Tourists?... that actually makes sense, I mean, I would want to visit all the places where history was made on this island 😍 Aww nice to see they remember the battle against Garmy of Hunted, also that it is known that Jay was the one who faced Unagami 👍👍

DARETH!!! 🤎🤎🤎

Where have you been you knucklehead, I've missed you! 💕 I think I've last seen him in a commercial from the Fire Chapter?

This is a terrible guide 😵 Not knowing the brown ninja? Owner of the dojo the Green Ninja had trained in? Brief commander of the Stone Army? Master of makeup and puffy potstickers? Unforgivable, someone fire this woman ASAP 😡😡

LOOK AT DARETH TAKING CHARGE!!! 🤩 He's right, he should get involved every once in a while, come on guys!

Ah okay good, I'm not the only one struggling with that google snake name 😂

Yay Bentho is fully integrated with the team! He is a great addiction, like, I know he'll probably take the throne at the end or something but I do hope we'll need his help again in the future! 💙

Sometimes I forget how much I love Kai and Zane interacting 🤣 The brainiac and the airhead 🤍❤🤍❤

Oh right, Cole came back from Shintaro! So... now in this extremely secret city there is a fake amulet hanging into a highly secured place... how is it always Shintaro the keeper of flukes? 😂😂

A bath as a boat but it has a whole 😂😂 I love this show's randomness

What ears are they supposed to cover 😅

I LOVE THIS ATMOSPHERE!!! 😍😍😍 Between the gray sky of storm and the sea underneath, this is the perfect scenario for Wojira and it's not even forced! I love how they are handling backgrounds for Ninjago recently, I really hope it gets as good as in the finale of Prime Empire 💙💙💙

AAAAAAHHHHHhhhhh okay for a moment I was scared Wojira was going to eat Jay 😅 After The Island this is already the second time Bluebell risks it... STOP

WHY THE CLIFFHANGER!?!?

NUUUUU WHAT NOW??? 😱😱😱 We have two more episodes, how is this going to end? I DON'T KNOW AND I REALLY WANT TO PLEASE GIVE ME A GOOD FINALE SEABOUND!!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

NYAD

I AM SCARED FOR MY WATER LILY OKAY

Daaaang she can just float on that? She got super good at controlling water! Now I want her and Kai just randomly flying around with their powers 😂😂 Kai got missiles in his hands come on 🔥🔥🔥

JAY CAN YOU LET ME WORRY ABOUT YOU GUYS ONE AT THE TIME??? 😱

What would Kai do? WHAT WOULD KAI DO?? DID YOU DECIDE YOU WANT TO DIE JAY WHY WOULD YOU THINK OF HIM??? ... although technically Kai is the only one with Jay who didn't straight up die before coming back to life in a dramatic moment... huh... Kai might be the most reasonable choice after all 😅

We grew up from Ninja never quit to NINJA AREN'T IDIOTS AND KNOW WHEN TO GET THE HECK OUT 😎😎 Even our motto got a character development 💪

JAY NOOOOOOOO 😱😱😱😱

BENTHO YAAAAAAASSSS 🥳🥳🥳🥳 Did I ever say that I love shark boy? BECAUSE I FREAKING DO!! 💙

Master prankster Wu once again, take that empty ship Calamari head 😎 Although the poor bounty doesn't deserve to get destroyed as many times as it did until now, it's my favorite ship... pun intended 😜

Ah more ninjajan, wait a moment

"Auto Pilot". Fair enough, although I was hoping for a "psych" or something 😂😂

NO WAIT NO WHAT THE HECK!!! I THOUGHT JAY GOT SAVED HE INHALED WATER??!? BLUEBELL NOOOO!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

But Cole running to his best friend immediately? HECK yes 🖤💙🖤💙

NYA CARRYING HER BOYFRIEND BRIDAL STYLE THIS IS THE RIGHTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!! ❤💙❤💙❤💙❤💙 Gosh this season gave me amazing Jaya moments, I've been fed 👌👌

Okay Lloyd pacing back and forth? Kai already mad at their enemies? All the guys eager to help Jay? MY FAVORITE NINJA FAMILY BABY!!! 😎😎

I NEED A MOMENT 😭

Oh... oh gosh I knew Nya doing the Nyad thing was meant to happen, but this way? My heart is melting already 😭

I remember a post that said that Jay told Nya that he loves her many times, while she never did. Tommy reponded that she lets her actions speak... boy do I see it now, I see all of her love 😢😢

I never felt such conflicting emotions for a villain like I do for Kalmaar, like, he caused so much pain to Nya... but he is voiced by Giles... but he is the reason Jay is hurt... but that startle gag 😂😂😂

Okay this? Is adorable?

What the HECK? The police in this city is generally not very helpful, but the Commissioner is very wholesome 💜

Nyaaaaaaa 😭😭😭😭 I didn't think it was possible to love her even more, she was ignored for so long during the show, but now we finally see all of her. She is an amazing warrior, a selfless person, and a real hero 💪💪 And coming from such a mature girl that doesn't like to act irrationally, this means so much more

Jaya grew up so much, it went through some very questionable phases yes, but what they have here? It's the result of all they had lived together 💙❤💙❤

I have chills, this is amazing so far, I'm legit scared of going further 😱

SHE SAID IT!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Okay this moment, everything, EVERYTHING, is absolutely marvelous. Nya said I love you without a voice, alone, showing again that she values the actions more, but still her feelings are 100% truthful. Then the transformation (THERE IT IS HER BEAUTIFUL WATER FORM 😍😍😍), Jay getting saved, the realization of what she just did from everyone... DANG IT IT'S ALL BEAUTIFUL HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO THINK OF THIS SCENE???

*slow clap for Bragi, Tommy, and the Ninjago crew*

Jay and water Nya with their hands together gives me big The Form of Water vibes... LOVE THAT MOVIE WHO'S READY FOR AN AU??

Jay wants to help her, I had no doubt 💙 They always help each other in these BOUNDs seasons 😍😍😍

Kalmaar: where are the ninja??

Commissioner: I don't know, they are ninja!

FINAL BATTLE INCOMING AAAAHHH I HOPE THIS WILL HAVE A GOOD ENDING OMG BRING IT!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

THE TURN OF THE TIDE

Oh, curious title? It feels a little vague, I don't really know what it could be

YES GIRL GO GET HIS CALAMARI BUTT HECK YES!!! Just how cool can you be for walking slowly while the attacks go straight through you? 😂

Hey Nya still recognizes Jay! 😃😃

HEY NYA GOT VAPORIZED WTH 😱😱 It's too early, I don't believe that's it!

WHOA JAY WENT BERSERK JUST NOW!! I don't think I've seen this before, this is the coolest thing! 💙💙💙 I just love when he shows how strong he is, you can be a comic relief AND kick butts 😎

FIGHTING ANIMATIONS MAN I LOVE THESE SCENES!! 😍😍😍

What the- was... was that a cameo of the lightning chicken? Ninjago what the HECK I love your randomness 😂😂

BENTHOMAAR TAGS IN!!! Showing off why he is best boy of the season 💙 These fightings are very cool but I can't help imagining Wojira just chilling while there are midgets getting very angry at each other onto her head 🤣🤣🤣

WHOA, CALAMARI BITE! Kalmaar got the Pythor treatment... might change color by next season if he returns 😅

(Please return I loved having Giles' voice in this season 💙💙💙)

NYA IS A DRAGON!!! I REPEAT NYA IS A DRAGON!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍 I was wondering where the dragon moment was, this is Ninjago after all 🤷‍♀️

Head empty, just Jay smiling softy at Nya because he loves her 💙💙💙

IT'S RAINING NYA, HALLELUIA IT'S RAINING NYA, HEYE!! ☔☔☔ This fight is MASSIVE! We had finales with big creatures before but now one of the ninja is big enough to face them and that's 🤯

NYA DID IT!!! 🤩🤩🤩 ... now onto the angst that I KNOW it's coming

Kai being unbelieving is tragic, and Jay's "don't leave me" broke my heart. Please end this misery, where is the deus ex machina that solves everything?

Wait she left?

...

WAIT SHE ACTUALLY LEFT??? WHAT THE HECK THEY AREN'T ENDING IT LIKE THIS

...

OH MY GOSH

ARE THEY?!?

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Omg the grief in this is beautiful, nice to see Jay and Maya so close to each other! Also Kai leaning onto his mom while Cole is comforting his best best friend? Amazing, they really do these scenes great 👌

EVERYONE SHOWED UP I LOVE THIS CITY SO MUCH 😭😭😭 Aww Ed and Edna, wasn't this such a sad situation I would be so much happier to see you guys 🥺

Master Wu even mentioned that she built Samurai X, you really want to make me cry now do you? 🥺🥺

MAYA AND RAY 😢😢😢😢😢😢

Omg look at Cole being there for his best friend, he is amazing 🖤💙🖤💙

I have such Rebooted vibes from this... is it hopeful? That Nya comes back like Zane? She's no nindroid but still... oh my gosh they got her symbol on the vase I just noticed, I need more tissues 😭😭

"In loving memory of Kirby Morrow". Always in our hearts 🖤🖤🖤

...

Wow

WOW

THEY ACTUALLY DID IT I NEED ANOTHER MOMENT 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 WHAT IN THE WORLD THIS IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE THEY DID IN A WHILE!!!

AND NOW WHAT??? 🤯🤯🤯

FINAL THOUGHTS

I'm speechless... like that's true, have A LOT to write over here 😅

This type of plot twist reminds me of our early seasons. Zane sacrificing himself, Garmadon giving up his life, those moments that made me so curious and excited about the following. I have no idea what will be the outcome for this, but I can't wait to find out

With that out of the way, AMAZING SEASON 😍😍😍 I think this finale beats MoM's, just because it was really unexpected and opens up a SEA of possibilities... yeah too soon 😭

I'm still shaken, my world, they did something HUGE and I do hope it will be a good shake to the entire Ninjago plotline. Nya is "gone", we still don't know about the person behind all that vengestone, we haven't heard from Garmy in forever, there are so many good ideas out there now that they've set the ground for more 🤩🤩

Voice acting was *chef's kiss*, not only for the villain which I already stressed enough about, I think Kelly reached a new level of emotional intimacy with Nya and I'm so happy she showed her skills 💜💜

Animation is TOP, there's little to no point into saying anything else since they showed it very clearly in the latest season ☺

This was the emotional, witty and engaging writing I was looking for! Good jokes, meaningful dialogues, emotional scenes, everything was really good and I'm gonna rewatch some scenes especially for that 😍

It turned out having Maya and Ray back was kind of a distraction to fool us all 😅😅 Well played actually, and it was very cool seeing them again in any case 🙋‍♀️

And now? Jay lost his love, I have no idea if the show will work on him getting over her or hold onto her memory (thinking of Jay probably the latter, although I do think that handling the first would be an interesting idea). KAI LOST HIS SISTER 😢😢😢 I have no doubt he's gonna beat himself up for it, like he did when Zane was gone too. Everyone lost their friend, she had become such a vital part of the team and now she is not here anymore it will be hard...

They are back with the four plus one green savior formation, I sincerely don't know how I feel about that 😅 I'm always happy when we get the OGs, but this is about going on without Nya... maybe Skylor will be called? Or Pixal will be more active? That could be interesting to see, who knows 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Gosh, how are they going to handle the next season? It will have to give A LOT of answers to the millions questions we all have right now. Man I can't wait, it could be anything!!! This is a Ninjago revolution!

But if I have to mention a little complain, and I'm a fangirl so I absolutely have to, Kai didn't show much of a reaction to Nya's "departure". Okay, she didn't straight up die like in Skybound (I'm gonna fear all BOUND seasons from now on 😱), but he's her brother and he loves deeply his family. Either we're gonna see him go all out next season, or the writers really did only focus on Jaya. A tiny bit salty... but you got me a fantastic finale so I'll move on 👍

Outstanding, I'm blown away. Whenever I think I'm used to this show they do stuff like this. I'm so glad and sad you guys 😅 But mostly happy that despite everything I still get very strong emotions while I watch this long time favorite show of mine 💜💜💜

What else can I say at this point? ONTO NEXT SEASON!!! 🤩🤩🤩

Thank you for reading me freaking out over LEGO spinning ninja as always! It helps me calm down but this time it might be harder thant the others... *sobs*

I need to lay down and process all of this, I'll be on my way 😂😂 BYE!!! 💜

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