A/N: And now, welcome to the world of Whisper.
Empty Eyes
"Would you just be quiet?" Lloyd hissed. Jay laughed, and Zane rolled his eyes.
"What?" Jay inquired, sniggering. "Is Lloyd afraid of the little spider?"
"No!" Lloyd said angrily. "Of course not! I'm the green ninja, for crying out loud! A little spider won't scare me."
Having said this, though, he swallowed and inched away from the plant.
"That sounds a lot like self-deception to me," Cole remarked placidly. Lloyd glared at him and folded his arms.
The Ninja were walking home from the movie theatre. They would have called on Nya to pick them up, but Nya would not stop by the movie theatre when they could just walk the two miles from NinjaGo City to the Destiny's Bounty, which was parked just outside the city's outskirts in the Badlands.
Jay leaned down to the plant that was growing out of the crack between the pavement and the concrete wall of the alley. "Aww, look, it's so cute," he said, and put his finger next to the spider that was crawling quickly over the summer leaves. The daddy longlegs moved onto Jay's finger. Lloyd looked repulsed.
"You know," Jay began, grinning at Lloyd in the dim light that reached the shadows of the alley. "Daddy Longlegs are one of the most poisonous spiders in the world."
"N - nuh-uh!" Lloyd stammered. "You're just messing with me because you think it's funny!"
"You are correct, Lloyd," Zane said. "There is no reference to any pholcid spider biting a human and causing any detrimental reaction. No information is available on the likely toxic effects of their venom in humans, and there is no scientific basis for the supposition that they are deadly poisonous, furthermore there is no reason to assume that it is true."
"See?" Lloyd said, relieved. "They're not poisonous, Jay. You couldn't fool me."
"Oh." Jay looked disappointed. Then he brightened. "Well, since it's not poisonous, do you want to touch it?" he asked, holding it up to Lloyd's face.
Lloyd gave a yelp and stumbled backwards into the other wall. The Ninja all laughed.
"T-that's not funny!" Lloyd protested.
"Oh, right, right," Kai said, snickering. "The Ultimate Spinjitzu Master is afraid of a harmless spider you guys, stop laughing at him."
Lloyd growled, and Cole and Jay laughed even harder as they continued walking.
"Ooh, that tickles," Jay said, and giggled as the spider crawled over his arm and onto his shoulders. The daddy longlegs made its way up his neck and over his chin, nose, and forehead. Jay tittered helplessly.
"Okay," Cole admitted. "I have to agree with Lloyd, that's a little bit creepy."
Jay just laughed all the harder.
Kai halted. The others stopped, too. Kai was blocking up the path.
"Hey, Kai, what's the deal?" Jay said, gently removing the spider from his hair.
"Shh! Don't you hear that?"
The Ninja listened. But the alley was still.
"I don't hear anything," Cole said.
"I'm telling you, there was something!" Kai hissed. "Something up there. . ." He pointed up at the two rooftops of the buildings that closed them in. The Ninja all looked up.
They heard a scuffling noise.
"I heard it!" Jay whispered.
"Footsteps," Zane said warily. "And yet. . . not quite footsteps."
"Whatever it is, it needs to be dealt with," Cole said. The Ninja all went back to back, ready to attack.
There was nothing.
Jay leaned over to Kai's face, keeping his hands raised to defend himself. "Uh, Kai, are you sure there's something out there? I mean, uh, it's-"
"Shh." Kai squinted ahead of him, trying to separate shadows from darkness. "I'm sure something is there."
Jay looked skeptical. He leaned over to his other side, and spoke into Zane's ear. "Hey, uh, Zane, what did you mean, exactly, by footsteps, but not, exactly, quite footsteps?"
"Quiet, Jay," Cole ordered harshly. Jay bit his lip and reassumed his ready stance.
There was still nothing.
"But Cole -" Jay began.
"Seriously, Jay! Shut up!" Lloyd snapped quietly.
There was a silence. Jay felt the daddy longlegs still crawling over his ear, and it sent shivers over his spine in the tense darkness.
"Guys," he whispered. "I really don't think there's anything out -"
"Jay, shut up!" Cole lost his patience and leaned over to flick Jay's ear.
Nothing moved.
"I guess it really was nothing," Kai said reluctantly, and relaxed. Cole glanced at him, but he relaxed, too, and they kept moving.
"Guys," Jay whispered. He was still tense.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you were right, I was wrong," Kai said sourly, waving his hand. "Get over yourself already."
Jay stared ahead into the darkness, and he felt more than just the spider crawling down his spine. "Guys," he mouthed, unable to speak. His legs collapsed beneath him, and he fell to his knees.
"Jay?" Zane asked, and turned around.
Jay coughed. He couldn't breathe. Something was cutting off his oxygen. . . something that seemed to be crushing his lungs and throat. He went down on all fours, coughing and shuddering until he had no energy to cough at all.
"Jay!" Kai shouted.
He couldn't take the crushing nothingness any longer. The Master of Lightning fainted.
The Ninja were horrified. "Zane!" Cole said, backing up with everyone else. "What is that thing?!"
"I'm searching my entire systems - but no identification is coming up! It seems to be a. . . a. . ." Zane searched for the word in vain. The Ninja's eyes were wide.
"Jay!" Kai said. "Jay, get up! Oh, no, Jay!"
Their foe was not recognizable at all. Darkness. That's all it was. Darkness. . . and a pair of empty eyes.
Kai launched an attack on the shadow, expecting to tumble through the black mist, but was blocked by something huge and dark that clanged loudly. Kai fell backwards, and Zane darted forward and caught him.
"Woah," Kai said. "What is that?" He pointed at the sharp claw that had blocked his blow. It was an immense, black, four-fingered hand that was easily as large as Kai himself.
"That is this creature's defense and offense," Zane said, helping Kai to his feet. "And a quite good one at that."
"You can admire our enemy's advantage later," Cole barked. "For now, duck!" He pushed down on Zane and Kai's heads, forcing them to the ground, and Lloyd ducked as the creature made a lunge at them. The meter-long, heavy claws sliced through the air above their heads.
Kai stared at the blue lump on the ground that was Jay, and felt anger bubbling up inside him. "We have to get to Jay," he told Cole. Cole nodded.
"Lloyd, Zane and I will distract it. You grab Jay."
"Got it." The Ninja all stood up, then jumped backwards immediately as a second hand made a swipe for them. The blank eyes that peered through the dark mist of the creature narrowed in anger, and the creature spoke.
"Death to the Five," it said. Its voice was bone-chilling and worse than anything the Ninja had ever heard. "Death to the Five."
"W-what does it mean, death to the five?" Lloyd asked.
"I've no idea," Zane said. "Except that there are five of us."
"Wonderful," Cole said sarcastically. "Death to the Five. We're so hooped."
The creature attacked again. The Ninja ducked.
"'We're so hooped'?" Kai repeated. He edged around to one side of the creature, trying to find an opening for him to reach his brother. "Sounds like something Jay would say."
Cole groaned. "Oh, no, did I actually say it?" He jumped forward and attacked the claw like Kai had, but he missed - the creature brought its hand sharply upward and brought it down on Cole's back. Cole yelped in surprise as it thrust him violently to the ground. "How -?!" Cole said, his voice squeaking.
"Cole!" Zane shouted.
Cole coughed. He struggled underneath the hand, managing to shift his position - he was now back to the ground, belly up. "I don't - it's somehow - I can't breathe - help!"
The creature pressed down harder on Cole's chest. Cole coughed blood.
"Cole!" Kai said. The Master of Earth clenched his fists and tried to breathe, but no air would come.
What can we do? Kai thought frantically.
Then something red slashed through the creature's fist. The hand dissolved, becoming nothing, and the creature let out a terrible roar of pain that filled the Ninja's ears. Cole's lungs released and he could breathe again.
Kai's vision was suddenly blocked by a long, black, flowing cloak. A tall man had appeared out of nowhere, bringing a cold wind with him. The man's finger was to the wall of the alley - Kai noticed lit up markings on his hands, and a thin line of red light spread from his pointer finger into the darkness that was the creature. In the red light, Kai saw his face; stony, dark and silver-eyed, with flyaway white hair, that trailed behind him and into his winter cloak's hood - he was unlike any Ninjagian Kai had ever seen.
The darkness moaned in agony, and Kai covered his ears. It was like a million voices screaming for help.
The figure seemed unaffected. He kept his hand on the wall and took a step forward. He held out his hand. "One," he said. The creature kept screaming. It seemed to be imploding on itself. "Two. . . three. . . . four. . ."
The mysterious figure took his finger off of the wall and replaced it with his knuckles, punching the concrete. The light flickered, then burst in a thick wave towards the darkness.
"Five," the man said definitely.
The darkness gave one last deafening, million-voiced shriek, then flickered and fizzled out of existence.
A tiny white glow remained, different from the white of the empty eyes - a calming blueish-white. But it had disappeared before Kai could identify its figure.
There was a silence. The man lifted his fist from the wall and the red line disappeared.
Kai came to himself first. "Jay!" he said, and crawled over to him. He couldn't tell if his friend was breathing. Jay's face was pale and his skin was cold.
The man strode forward to Kai and Jay. Kai scooted backwards to let the man approach him. There was no sense in fighting a man who had rescued them.
"Is Jay. . .?" Kai asked, feeling nauseous. "He's still. . . or is he. . .?"
"Not if we hurry," the man said, and pulled a vial of translucent green liquid from the depths of his cloak. Kai jumped at it, but the man blocked his blow.
"What are you going to do?" Kai asked.
"Perform a simple healing technique. Don't be so suspicious." The young man glared at him. Kai found it extremely frightening to see just the man's silver irises, which caught the dim light in such a way that it made him seem catlike and threatening. "It's just concentrated peppermint extract."
Kai clenched his jaw, but allowed their rescuer to tip the liquid into Jay's mouth. The man removed his black gloves, and Kai took another long look at the tattoos covering his left hand. A series of thin, coordinated swirls and lines wrapped the back of his hand as well as his palm, running all the way up his pointer finger and gathering in a swirl on the tip of the digit. The ink was deep green.
The man closed his eyes, his neat white eyebrows furrowing in concentration, and he put both hands gently on Jay's forehead. Kai watched him rock back and forth on his knees, and his voice sounded constricted and soft. "Yesli mir pust' bedet, zhit'."
Kai, Zane, and Lloyd watched in fascination. The man kept his hands on Jay's too pale, cold forehead, and whispered, "Zhit'. Zhit'. Yesli mir pust budet, Zhit'."
Nothing happened. Kai felt his heart pounding loudly in his chest. Is Jay really. . .?
Then Jay coughed. He spluttered and trembled, red liquid - blood, Kai realized - spurting out from between his lips. The man lifted his hands from Jay's forehead and rubbed the teenager's shoulders and chest soothingly. "Hey, it's alright. You're alive."
Jay turned over onto his side, placing his hand on the pavement to support himself as he leaned over to let the blood exit his mouth. He took shuddering breaths. The man massaged Jay's back with his strong fingers.
He glanced over at Cole, who lie a little distance away, clutching his head.
"Hey," he said, and like a cat, leapt from one patient to the next. "You okay?"
"Y-yeah," Cole said timidly, sitting up. "A little - a little dizzy is all. . . and nauseous. . ."
"Have this." The young man handed him something small and white, with red stripes. "You'll feel better, trust me."
Cole hesitated, then popped the peppermint into his mouth. The color returned to his face almost instantly. "Wow," he said. His voice stopped trembling, too. "I do feel better. Thanks."
Kai stared at the man. "Who are you and what the heck was that?"
"You ought to be grateful that I saved you," the man said tersely. Kai ignored him.
"Who are you?!"
The man paused. "I'm afraid I cannot divulge that -"
Something buzzed.
The man sighed and stood up. "One moment, please, I must answer this." He pulled back the sleeve of his cloak, revealing a metal wrist communicator. "At your service, ma'am."
"Did you get there in time?" said a voice, which seemed to be coming from the bracelet.
"Barely. One of them was nearly taken, another on its way."
"Is he safe?"
"They're all safe, ma'am. But they're demanding my identity."
The voice paused. The Ninja listened all the more intently to the conversation.
"Send them to Base. You come, too. I. . . we have a lot of explaining to do. Give them your name and take them here pronto."
"Will do, ma'am."
The man ended the call and turned to face Kai. "I have orders to bring you five down to Base. Do not try to resist." The man pulled a small coin from his pocket and flipped it.
"Give us your name, first," Kai objected. The others nodded in agreement.
The young man swept back his hood, giving them a better view of his pointed features. "I am Gahiji," he said. "And I am your escort this evening." His tone suggested a humble escort, but Kai could see in his silver eyes - he felt far superior to them.
"Thanks," Kai said dubiously. "And where are you taking us, exactly?"
Gahiji grinned. It looked like it was meant to be reassuring, but appeared very sinister. "Down," he said softly. The coin in his hand glowed orange. "Everyone touch this coin."
"What will it do?" Lloyd asked. He helped Cole to his feet, and assisted Zane and Kai in helping Jay stand.
"It will teleport us. Put your finger on it."
All the Ninja hesitated. Then they put their fingers on it.
"I apologize," Gahiji said. "One of my comrades may have messed with the designs. Don't worry, you will all come through all right, but you may experience a tickling sensation."
The Ninja all exchanged nervous looks, but they didn't have time to object before they felt themselves decomposing. Slowly, yet too fast for their likings.
Kai gasped. Then he giggled. It felt like thousands of tiny hands were tickling him. The others were laughing, too.
"Well," Gahiji said. He wore a grimace. "This is a bit more extreme than I thought." His voice was constricted, as if he was trying really hard to keep from laughing himself.
Kai laughed at him.
"Here we go," Gahiji said.
Kai gave one last short, loud laugh, before they disappeared.
The alley was still once more.
A small spider crawled over the summer leaves of the plants peeking out of the cracks in the pavement.