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spinchip · 9 months ago

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NEVER THE DARK

CHAPTER 14

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Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13

the girls are fightingggggggg

WHEN IS A MONSTER NOT A MONSTER? /// OH, WHEN YOU LOVE IT.

“We have to think about this objectively,” Cole insists, “These people may not have our best interests in mind.”

Kai paces up and down the length of their room, clenching and unclenching his fists as he ruminates, “Lloyd is strong,” He says aloud, ignoring Cole, “If Birdy were to try anything, Lloyd would be able to fight him off.”

Jay picks at his fingernails, worrying at his cuticles as he watches Kai, “Do you really think Birdy would hurt Lloyd?”

“No!” Cole bursts out, “He’s shown us he won’t hurt us- he had several chances to do something way before we got here.”

“We can’t rule anything out.” Kai says grimly, once more dismissing Cole's words.

Cole is on his feet before he has time to think, “Will you listen to me for once!?” He doesn’t shout, but he raises his voice- and he never raises his voice. Maybe it’s this place effecting his mind, bringing him to his breaking point- maybe it was because Birdy acknowledged that he spoke when his own boyfriends wouldn’t- maybe he was just sick of never getting a word in edgewise. Kai’s stopped pacing and they’re all staring at him with wide eyes. He takes a deep breath and brings his voice back down to a reasonable level, “Ever since we first met Birdy-“

“I have been listening, Cole,” Kai interrupts irritably, “But everything you’ve been saying- Everything you’ve been saying- ugh, everything you've been saying is just a bunch of-“

Cole’s mouth drops open as he recognizes Kai’s repetition- it’s his tell for when he’s had too much to drink, “You’re drunk!” He accuses sharply, pointing a finger in Kai’s face.

Kai shoves his hand away, “I had one drink-!”

“Okay, Stop!” Nya’s voice cuts through the argument sharply as she shoulders her way between them. She separates them both with a firm hand on their chests, “That’s enough. This argument is getting us nowhere!”

“Birdy wouldn’t hurt Lloyd.” Cole says confidently.

“But you heard what everyone’s been saying,” Jay butts in, “Even Ila admitted he murdered Farley, that’s what you said, and she’s the only one that seems to have a soft spot for him.”

“I heard that from a woman who works for a tyrant with a grudge against Birdy.” Cole shoots back, “They obviously weren’t being truthful or- or they were twisting the truth.”

“Samira is afraid of Birdy!” Kai immediately retorts, “She told me he’s dangerous!”

“We. Are. Her. Prisoners!” Cole enunciates every word, “Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t trust the woman who’s trapped us in her palace dungeons!”

“These are too nice to be dungeons.” Jay comments.

“Is that really what you’re focusing on-“

“Boys!” Nya shouts and the room goes quiet. She lets out a stressed, pent up breath, “We can’t let this divide us- no matter what, we have to be a team. We have no guarantee that Birdy will harm Lloyd,” She looks firmly at Kai with that, “But there’s also no guarantee that he won’t.” She shoot Cole a meaningful look this time.

Tension leaks out of the room slowly. Cole sits back down, and Kai resumes pacing.

Jay looks over at Nya, “What do you think?”

“I don’t know.” She admits, playing with the water in her glass. She sighs and lets the little globe of liquid plop back down with a splash, “Kai’s right in that they all have the same story- even Ila, who’s shown favoritism towards Birdy, described his actions against Farley as the work of a monster. Cole’s right in that these people have nothing to lose bad mouthing Birdy, and everything to gain. If they can convince us Birdy is a bad guy, then we’re vulnerable and desperate. We’ll need them.”

“I’m with Kai,” Jay says quietly, even if his heart winces at the thought. Birdy warned him to take off his watch… Birdy talked to him… but Birdy hurt people, “He was sent here for a reason, right? Maybe people like him… just don’t change.”

“He’s a good person,” Cole says softly from where he’s laying on his cot staring up at the ceiling.

No one says anything for a long moment.

“How can you be so sure?” Jay asks, voice vulnerable.

“I just am. I can feel it.” He’s not sure how to articulate it- how does he tell them that he feels a connection with this man? That when Birdy raised his hand to tuck that strand of hair behind his ear, when he thought he might kiss him, Cole had leaned in? When Birdy looks at him, the weight of his gaze feels familiar, “He listens to me.”

“I listen to you.” Jay claims with a frown.

“Yeah.” Cole says, rolling over onto his side, “I’m going to sleep.”

He misses Zane in the pit of his chest so deeply it aches. He’s been thinking about Zane a lot, recently. Since they arrived in the Realm of Madness. He always thinks about Zane- one of the loves of his life- but after three years he had been able to put Zane away. He could go in the kitchen without bursting into tears. He could smell oil without his heart aching. He could catch snowflakes and only cry a little bit. These past few days, Zane is all he could think about. He was there in the back of his mind during every second of every day, even if Cole tried to gently close that door.

He wonders, maybe, if Kai and Jay are right. If Birdy really is this bad guy who wants to hurt them- and Cole is too blinded by his love for Zane and can’t see what’s right in front of him.

Because the truth is, Birdy reminds him of Zane. The sound of his laugh, his dry humor, his manner of speaking- even the way he moves his hand when he gestures. All of it is a facsimile of Zane. Maybe Cole is ascribing trust to Zane, not Birdy- but Zane is dead, and Birdy is a murderer.

His eyes are wet.

He wishes he could ask Zane what he thought about all of this. He can almost hear his voice.

We should be on our guard… But everyone deserves a second chance.

He wipes away the tears on his face.

Would Zane still think that way, after Aspheera killed him? Would he still have that kindness in him? Would Zane think Birdy is a monster?

He falls asleep before he can think on it any harder.

Morning comes and they're still divided, a chasm opening up between them. Maybe it had been there a while. Cole is exhausted despite his long rest, and he barely manages to pull himself together when Wox comes to escort them to the grand hall.

Samira smiles at them all kindly when they arrive. She’s once again seated at the long table and there are piles of food around her, a sweet smelling screen hanging in the air. The room is full of other residents of Oasis, all at the tables lining the walls, eating and drinking as well. Barath is sitting quietly in his place on the Dais, scribbling in his notebook again. The other seats at Samiras table are empty and she beckons them towards herself invitingly, “Would you like breakfast?”

Cole picks the seat farthest away from her. Kai sits directly to her right. The food on the table is so sugary it makes Cole's stomach turn- his favorite food may be cake, but these buns and jams and even strips of unknown-animal bacon are painfully sweet. He chokes down a roll so he has something in his stomach and pushes his plate away. No one is talking.

Samira finishes her food and leans back in her chair, picking up her cup to swirl the not-water they’d been served with breakfast, “They are late.” She announces grimly.

Cole clenches his eyes shut and looks away.

“Late?” Jay asks nervously, “Was this mission timed or something?”

“I know how long it takes to get to the mist and back in this stage of the evershift. They should have been back by now.”

Kais face is cold and hard, “We should go after them.” He says firmly.

“I’m afraid I cannot let you do that,” She says apologetically, “It’s in all our best interest to give them more time... if Birdy feels rushed or cornered, I fear what he might do.”

Kai scowls at his plate before pushing it away and standing from his chair. For a second, Cole thinks he might try and leave anyway- but Kai just starts to pace again, walking up and down the hall with an intense, frustrated look on his face. Nya and Jay eat on quietly.

They stay here, in the grand hall, waiting. Kai keeps pacing. Samira moves back up to her throne at some point, and thanks Ila when the woman brings her a glass of wine. Cole thinks, in any other situation, he might have been bored to tears. Here though, he’s lost in his thoughts, ruminating over every aspect of this nightmare of a trip and examining everything. He feels like there’s something he’s missing- some piece of the puzzle that hasn’t revealed itself yet. He feels wrong-footed and out of sync but… at the same time, he feels whole. It doesn’t make any sense.

Nya and Jay are talking in low tones, just audible enough that Cole can catch snippets of their conversation.

“I know.” Nya sighs dreamily, “I miss the garage too. What I wouldn’t give to be in the basement fixing up a mech right now…”

“I wonder if Prime Empire has released any new updates…” Jay says just as longingly as Nya.

Cole shelves his brooding thought to join their conversation, “I’m most looking forward to a hot bath.” He says with a short laugh, running fingers through his grimey hair as he sticks out his tongue and pulls a disgusted face.

“Oh, don’t even get me started on a shower…” Nya exhales, pillowing her cheek on her hand. “I wonder what Pixal is up to…”

Jay winces, “Oh, she's definitely working herself to death trying to figure out where we went.”

“Maybe Skylor is helping her- she'd come out of retirement if Pix was the one to ask, I'm sure.”

“What is wrong with you all?” Kai snaps irritably, stopping by Jay's shoulder with a scowl.

Cole blinks, taken aback, “What do you mean?”

“You’re sitting here just-” He makes disdainful, jerky gestures with a tense hand, “gossiping when Lloyd could be in serious trouble!”

“Kai, calm down.” rising from her chair, Nya reaches out a hand to steady him.

He flinches away from her and glares at the floor, “No, I am not going to calm down. Lloyd is out there with a murderer and I am powerless to help him.” His breathing picks up and his hands start to shake as he works himself up, “I promised myself I would never be this helpless again- but look at me! Standing around doing nothing!”

Cole stands up too, finally understanding. Kai had lost his elemental abilities when Zane died. “Kai…” He starts quietly.

“Kai?” another voice chimes in, this time from the mouth of the cave.

Lloyd stands there in all his unharmed glory- well, unharmed may be the wrong word. The edges of his clothes are discolored and curled up and he looks like he’d been rolling around in the dirt, and there’s a few scrap pieces of fabric rolled up into his nostrils that are brown with old blood.

Kai spins on heel and his whole body relaxes at the sight of Lloyd, safe and back under his watchful eye.

That moment of bliss vanishes the moment Birdy comes around the corner behind him.

Jay jumps to his feet while Kai wastes no time throwing himself towards the two. He grabs Lloyd's arm and yanks him around so Kai can get in between them, and the moment Lloyd is clear Kai draws his sword in a wide, dangerous arc.

It’s only Birdy's paranoia that saves him. He reacts automatically, whipping his staff around to deflect Kai's sword before it can sink into his thigh and incapacitate him. He shoves it down and Kai’s swing slides off the staff's blade with a hiss of clashing metal. Kai leans into the move, turning his hand to try and bring the sword blade-side-up in another attempt to fight off Birdy.

“Kai!” Lloyd repeats, shocked, “What are you doing?”

Jay manages to stop Lloyd from charging into the fight with a hand tangled in the back of his suit, “You don’t understand, Lloyd!” He pleads, pulling him backwards.

Jay doesn’t have the strength to stop Cole, though, and he takes advantage of that to barrel past them to shove Kai away from Birdy. “Lloyd is fine! I told you-”

Kai bares his teeth, “Fine? Look at him!” He gestures of Lloyd's bloody nose before he swings his sword around to point the bladed tip at Birdy's throat, “He’s hurt, and this is all your fault!”

“That’s enough-” Nya shouts, trying to intervene, but Kai is having none of it.

“No! We know what he is!” He snaps, “He’s not going to just walk away from his crimes scot-free!”

“What am I?” Birdy asks, and though his voice is bewildered Cole can feel the looming sense of dread at what the answer might be.

Glaring at him, Kai mustered up all his distrust towards the man and nearly spits out his reply, “A monster. You are a monster.”

The words sink in.

Birdy loses all will to fight. His staff goes slack in his hand.

“What?” Lloyd asks shrilly, eyes wide with disbelief.

“My warriors,” Samira’s voice breaks through the moment with an amused, dangerous smile, “Surround them.” She orders politely, lounging back on her throne with a satisfied air around her.

The other people in the room, the militia Samira had put together, rise from their seats and rush the ninja. Cole and Birdy are shoved into one gap, Jay and Lloyd in another. Nya and Kai are both alone when they’re surrounded by the mutated army. Almost instantly they are trapped and outnumbered. Nya’s hand twitches towards her throwing knives and one of the men beside her presses his sword to her throat.

“What is this?” Kai spins around to look up at Samira, shocked.

The woman doesn’t even stand from her chair, still sitting back relaxed in the cushions of her throne. She grins at him and it’s all teeth, “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘divide and conquer’?”

“Wox,” The wolf snaps his head over to look at her where he’s looming over Birdy, “The flowers.”

He nods briskly and goes to shove his hand into Birdy's bag, but the man beats him to it. For a moment Cole hopes he pulls something out of his bag that could fix all of this. C’mon, Mary Poppins!

But all Birdy does is wordlessly fish the bundle of flowers out and hand them to Wox with no resistance.

The silence hanging over the room is palpable as Wox brings the prize to Samira. She takes it from him with a brilliant smile and delicately unwraps the buds, running her fingers lightly over the petals. “I had my doubts, Birdy.” She says into the room, still staring reverently at the cure in her hands, “The flowers grow so deep now, I didn’t think even you would be able to make it back.”

She turns and passes off the flowers to Barath. He takes them eagerly and scurries off out of the room to get started on synthesizing the cure.

Cole looks at Birdy, pleading, “You have a plan, don’t you?” Birdy looks back at him dumbly, and shakes his head softly.

“Be quiet.” Samira orders sharply and the two redirect their gaze back up to her. She pulls the curved blade stabbed into the arm of her chair out with an easy flick of her wrist, dragging her finger over the blunted tip with a cold, satisfied smile on her face, “You completed the task, Birdy. Well done.”

“You promised you would allow us to pass through if I did.” Birdy reminds her, but his voice is empty and hollow.

“I did.” She nods graciously, but her eyes are sharp and burning when they sweep over the six of them, “But I gave you that deal before I knew the stakes. You kept things from me, and now our arrangement just isn’t fair.”

“Fair?” Lloyd echoes disbelievingly, “How is any of this fair to begin with?”

“You were working with her.” Kai accuses Birdy hotly, hands tightening on the hilt of his sword. “Weren’t you? You were working against us all along.”

“Are you serious?” Cole snaps back immediately.

Birdy is shaking his head, “I just want to help you.”

“Why?” Kai frowns at him, voice combative and challenging, “Why would you want to do that?”

“Because you are important to me.” Birdy barely chokes out, cringing away from his words.

“What?” Nya asks, confused.

“We’re… important to you?” Lloyd joins in, eyebrows knitting together.

“You… I am…” He can’t seem to find the words to explain himself. Cole’s holding his breath without realizing it- he can feel that puzzle piece sitting in the room with them, the piece of information that would make this all right again. Birdy is struggling to swallow it back down.

“Now Birdy, there’s no need to be shy for my sake!” Samira chastises, sipping from her wine glass again. She flashes a deadly smile, “I’ve already figured it all out. Really, you all made it too easy.”

Cole feels a cold chill sweep down his spine, “What?”

“He’s from Ninjago. Of course you’re important to him- you five are the elemental masters of creation, after all.” Samira lays out all her cards, and her eyes glitter like a lion who’s successfully downed an elephant.

It’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop.

Jay laughs nervously, “Wow, that’s- funny! That’s funny!” He laughs again and it is obviously forced, “Us, the elemental masters- hoo! Samira, I didn’t know you were a comedian!” His laugh this time is hysterical and infused with growing panic.

Samira doesn’t even acknowledge Jays words, “Three funeral flowers- that's just not enough payment for assets like these.” She says, almost apologetically, to Birdy, “Do you know what we could do with lightning alone? The luxuries we could have with fire and ice? The infrastructure I could build with earth?”

“How?” Nya finally asks what they’re all thinking, “Did… did Birdy tell you?”

She looks almost insulted at the question, “I am not stupid, Nya. Birdy didn’t have to say anything. All I had to do was get you talking and you slipped up on your own.” She smiles again, “After all, There’s only so many Uncle Wu’s in Ninjago-” She looks pointedly at Lloyd this time, who’d dropped that tidbit of information to her unknowingly, “And considering your attire… Well, it wasn’t a difficult connection to make. You’re color coded to your elements.”

“No.” Lloyd whispers, horrified. He looks around at the situation- they were all cornered. There were too many enemies. Nothing was in their favor.

Samira had... beaten them.

“Let me guess,” She says with a playful hum before she points to each of them in turn, “Fire, Lightning, Energy, Earth,” She points at Nya last, a confident smile on her face, “And Ice. Ninjago will miss you, I’m sure, but three funeral flowers simply isn’t enough to allow people of your status to leave us. You’re going to stay here for a long, long time.” She nods at a few of the warriors surrounding them and chains are pulled out, fully intending on binding their hands and incapacitating them.

“You were close,” Nya plants her feet and snarls defiantly up at Samira, “Ice is gone- I am water.”

She throws her arms out and every drop of liquid in the room springs into action. The wine in Samiras glass surges up and splashes directly into her face, blinding her momentarily. She shouts in surprise, jerking away so hard she falls off her thrown into a heap on the floor. Juice, the realms equivalent of water, coffee (maybe?)- all of it explodes in the faces of the people surrounding them. There’s a string of curses thrown out as everyone flinches, scrubbing the wet from their eyes.

“Go!” Lloyd shouts, and the Ninja take off running.

They come skidding to a stop at the bottom of the hallway that leads out into town, more warriors posted there- with Ila at the head. She looks sad, but not sad enough. She draws her own sword, “Surrender.” She orders.

“Follow me!” Kai spins on heel and takes off up the hallway, splitting off down a branching hallway seemingly at random. They race through the halls frantically, the sounds of pursuit thundering after them.

“What’s the plan?” Cole shouts, sprinting next to Birdy.

“There’s an opening in the mountain, it’s where the jelly farm is!” Kai informs them, breaking right hard at a fork in the hall, “I memorized the way there!”

“We are too high up,” Birdy informs him seriously, “We could not survive a jump.”

“That’s fine, because we’re not going to jump!” Kai says cryptically as they burst into the wide cavernous portion of the palace that the floating jellyfish are caged in.

He zigzags around a few of the interconnecting beams, heading straight for the only Jelly that was floating low enough for the six of them to leap on top of.

“Catch them!” Samiras voice orders sharply, not far enough behind them at all, in Coles opinion.

It’s Cole’s turn this time, and he skids to a stop. He slams his foot down behind him and the stone beneath his feet groans then cracks sharply and loudly, ominous spider-webbing fractures forming. Samira doesn’t slow down, using the precious few seconds of stability the stone has to make it far enough so that when she dives over the path, she’ll make it safely to the other side.

Kai swings himself up and over the rope railing, landing feet-first on Miss Emma's bell. Immediately she bows a little lower, “Come on!” He snaps to the others. Jay and Nya join him easily with Lloyd right behind. Birdy grabs Cole by the scruff of his suit and hauls him towards the jelly, shoving forward so that Cole has an unobstructed pathway directly to the others. When Cole turns around, Birdy has stopped running

Heis back is to the ninja, staff held out hostile, and Samira is standing in front of him. Her knife is in one hand and her Sword is in the other.

“I will hold her off.” Birdy informs them tightly.

“Birdy…” Samira says it like a plea, “I cannot allow you to so openly defy me.” The threat is there. Move, or I'll kill you.

Birdy just holds his staff tighter.

There’s a curve to his shoulders, a defeated slump that’s been sitting there since Kai said the word monster. He knows she’s going to kill him. He’s… going to let her.

Before Cole can get his bearings enough to leap back to Birdys side because, uh, we’re not leaving you! Lloyd is beating him to it. Lloyd’s dismount is ungraceful because of Miss Emma's soft, squishy bell, and he crashes into Birdy's side. Samira lunges the moment they both look off kilter but Lloyd is prepared for that. He uses his arm protector to deflect her sword- she shoves her knife forward then, and Birdy angles the two of them tangled together just right so the blade would crash into his side instead of Lloyds-

Where it just skitters off of, leaving his skin unharmed.

Lloyd strikes out at Samiras leg and she folds, crashing to the ground with a grunt. The second she hits the dirt Lloyd is pushing Birdy towards the others, and the two of them leap onto the jelly while Samira tries to get her bearings.

When Birdy sinks into Miss Emma's bell, she droops dramatically, lowering herself enough so that she can pass underneath all of the rock scaffolding surrounding her.

She proceeds to sit there and not move an inch.

“Uh, what was the plan again?” Jay asks, glancing at where Samira is being helped to her feet by Wox, who’d found an alternate route to the group, along with a gaggle of incoming warriors behind him.

Birdy spins to face Kai, “Jellys will chase warmth.” He says urgently.

Kai gets the message. He flops onto his stomach and presses his palms flat against the elderly Jellys bell. Heat pours into his fingers and Miss Emma immediately begins to lean into it, moving them closer to the exit at a snail's pace. “C’mon, Miss Emma!” He encourages, guiding her through the empty jellys pens so she wouldn’t accidentally run them right into another Jellys paralyzing tentacles.

Jay looks down at her fearfully, “Can’t this thing go any faster?” And no sooner than the words leave his mouth does he see the lines. Weak, fluttering things that web together under her bell, pulsing slowly in time almost like a heartbeat. He drops to his knees and presses his fingertips hard into her skin. Electricity. It is a heartbeat- and it’s too slow.

Jay had learned a lot about his element over the years, about the effect of electricity on the body. He knows with a great deal of certainty that a shock can be just as helpful as it is harmful, in the right situations. It can help the heart.

Like a pacemaker.

He shocks Miss Emma once, twice, three times, four- each time she surges forward a little faster, her heartbeat responding positively to the beat Jay had set. They’re moving faster, but already arrows were wheezing past them. They needed more space between them and the mob after them.

Birdy swings his satchel over and starts digging in the pack, rummaging around until he pulls out that seed he had scavenged in the desert earlier in the week. He rips off the wax wrap and hands it to Cole, “Crack it along the seam.”

Cole doesn’t hesitate, pressing it in his palms. He has to exert far more strength that he initially though, but the edge of the seed splits with an audible pop!

“It is not like a grenade,” Birdy takes the seed from Cole and spins around, “It is a grenade.” He throws it as hard as he can straight up. It flies into the midst of the stalactites as it reaches the apex of it’s toss- and then it explodes.

Miss Emma had already moved far enough away that the falling debris didn’t effect her. Samira and her warriors weren’t so lucky.

Finally, they reach the opening out into the realm, and Miss Emma eagerly shoots out into the open air. She flies them away from the nightmare behind them, and the ninja all take a collective sigh of relief.

Birdy stands at the back of the Jelly and looks out across the widening gap between them and Oasis. The smoke from the grenade begins to disperse, and Samira is standing at the bridge at the mouth of the cave, sword dropped by her side in defeat.

They’re looking at each other.

Samira holds her hand high in the air and slowly, carefully, as if she’s feeling out the letters and trying to find the truth there, signs four distinct hand signals at Birdy.

He goes still, body rigid.

“What did she say?” Lloyd asks from where he’s sitting on Miss Emma's bell.

Samiras hand drops, Birdy's silence all the confirmation she needed. She looks almost sad. She turns away, and disappears back into the caves.

“My name.” Birdy answers, voice heavy with dread, “She said my name.”

#ninjago #ninjago never the dark #zane julien #kai ninjago #nya ninjago #cole ninjago #jay walker #lloyd garmadon #ninjago oc samira #ninjago au #spinchip fic

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