PLEASE READ: Everyone! Come to my profile page to vote for who should fill the seventh spot in the Ninja's Crusade! There's a list of characters to choose from—and choose wisely, my friends!Some rather good points have been made by some specially chosen NFAN fans as to who should take up that spot, and the competition is getting tough! Vote now, or forever hold your peace!


6. Secrets, Lies, and Traumatized

ZANE AND KAI had come to a mutual, silent agreement that telling the boys the bad news tonight perhaps was not the best of decisions. Jay, Cole, and Nya skirted off to bed with happy grins upon their faces; the depart between Jay and his beloved best friend was difficult to pry when he had to go to the other end of the Bounty 2 into the infirmary's enclosure. Nya was perhaps just as worse. Kai had watched with a ghostly grin on his face, and Zane knew, like every pleased human and droid aboard this recreated ship, that Kai was happy.

The happiness for his team was all Zane could've asked for. What beauteous glows could be marred by gloom so roaring tonight? Surely, he'd never find a shadow in its untamed glimmer. They followed Cole into the bedroom he assumed they had never seen before (when, really, they both had, though not in corporeal formats) that would now be claimed as the Ninja's bedroom, minus an injured Jay. Zane had come to re-meet Dani Mirandawright with a fond warmth in the back of his head. It was peculiar a feeling to encounter these people he'd only ever experienced last eras ago—whom he now could finally admit he remembered, for in death, he knew everything—as animated as he'd abandoned them. An hour had passed since the Ninja had laid down to fall asleep, yet he knew as well as the next guy that none of them truly had reached sleep yet. On the bottom bunk he found himself staring into the rungs of the mattress above him without actually visually accepting them. There was too much to run through his mind to be able to focus on something as blissful as sleep.

For instance, the excitement coursing through his heart. Zane couldn't get over that, not only was he alive and well beside the crusade of his fellow friends, but he was also human. It was a dream to have back into his hands at, of all people, an angry Elemental Leader, but gratitude was most brought back into his heart. He would not hate the Leader for exiling him, for that action transported Zane's blood back to reality to pour through real veins under real skin. Admittedly he knew he would miss being a nindroid. It would take plenty of qualities of time to get used to maneuvering through humanity again, but he was sure he would be able to make it. But at least now, he could grow old, and he could die along with his friends. In his future, there were children, a lovely wife, perhaps even a chance at attending that fancy technological college Jay had suggested he join a year ago under the circumstances that there was no evil to fight. There were truths in his future now, opportunities Zane had never been offered before. He was truly excited to begin his life. After he overcame all these obstacles, of course.

But, no matter. Zane scratched his wrist because of an actual itch. He grinned into the darkness. Humanity. He could taste it on the tip of his tongue, scouring his taste buds with its pungent bittersweet flavor.

There was a creak above him. Kai was restless.

"I'm not falling asleep," he said at last, aloud. Zane rolled his eyes. He knew that it would be Kai to break the silence first. "Is anyone else really disturbed by this?"

"No," Zane responded. "You are naturally a hyper person. Your primitive distribution of hormones and endorphins wakes you up."

There was a soft chuckle from the next bed over. Satisfaction, an existent emotion, floored through Zane's still body. "I love how you're human, but you still talk like a nindroid," Cole said lazily, rolling to his side. His elbow propped him against his pillow in the gloom, helping him face Zane better. Zane could see the faint illumination of Cole's silver eyes glowing through the haze of night in their bunkroom. "I also love that you just called Kai primitive."

"Nope," Kai said from above. "I'm not primitive."

Zane folded his hands over his stomach. Cole didn't argue, but instead his eyes fell half lidded. Zane didn't have to acquire a sixth sense to know that the vampire boy was exhausted, for reasons both obvious and deeper beyond Zane's understanding. He could feel Kai understood this, too, knowing well into factors but unable to dig so far downwards into Cole's mind. Zane was proud. Very, very proud. His friends were growing up, and too fast, it seemed. Jay was going to be a father; Kai was losing his childish edge; Cole was finally beginning to understand other people's emotions over his own; and Lloyd, though absent, was becoming more responsible than he had been upon Zane's first meeting him. It showed that time was passing quicker—how long ago had it been that they were just a bunch of rowdy kids attempting to learn the art of Spinjitzu and beating up skeletons? It seemed, in his own internal clock, only few days ago, but time served bigger purpose. He blinked sullenly into the dark.

"Why'd you do it?" Kai asked suddenly, jarring Zane from his memories. He blinked. Cole's eyes snapped wide open, and this time, they were glowing to their utmost potential, slick silver orbs piercing through the night. When Cole blinked it seemed as though the sun were blocked for a purposeful, abysmal moment, but redeemed quickly once he opened them again. If Zane were not used to his friend, he would've come to the conclusion that he was afraid of this instantaneous, impulsive predatory instinct. Cole's eyes snapped upwards towards where Kai lay over Zane's head.

"Do what?" He asked, but Zane knew Cole understood just what Kai was referring to.

"You know. Make Nya forget you and everything." There were responsive squeaks to Kai's movements. "I mean…That took a lot."

Cole looked away. He rolled onto his back to stare at the bottom of the bed above him. "I did it for Jay," he said. His tone ended in a final note.

But Kai pressed on. He was an unseen entity speaking from an invisible focal point above Zane. "Not just him," he said, "you did it for more than him. I had no idea that you…" There was a swallow in the pause. "Loved her so much."

Cole remained expressionless. "What was I going to do, feel guilty the rest of my life? I did it for her, and I did it for Jay. It was wrong of me to butt in like that. Besides, they're happier together."

Kai made a noise. "I don't know. I mean…I guess so. It's just that she seemed so happy with you too, I thought—"

Cole cut him off. "It was a phase," he said lowly. "It wasn't going to last forever."

"You were turning her into a vampire."

"I wasn't thinking," Cole closed his eyes. Zane could feel him trying to swallow his sorrows. It made him feel immoral. "I was just scared of being alone by myself forever. But whatever. It's gonna happen anyway. Might as well suck it up."

Zane uncomfortably squirmed, taking the place of everyone else as they used to think of the poor nindroid. Now he assumed there was no denying Cole's vampirism. What was done had already been done; undoing it was part of the categorized list of the impossible. It got partially awkward from there. Boys weren't naturally into long, deep talks about their feelings, especially about women; but the unsaid needed to be rested aside. Zane made it a mental goal to help Cole feel better, but for now, while attention was gathered and wounds still pulsed raw emotion, he decided a subject change was in order.

"You're very secretive," Zane told Cole. He had so many questions. "We were never aware that you were a vampire. Or that you had a sister."

Cole sighed. "Not many people do," he admitted.

"I thought we knew each other configuratively well." Zane blinked. "I was surprised to find out of what you had become, brother. Enlighten me: Why did you not want to reveal to us this? It seems you are the one with the most backstory."

Cole's neck arched backwards. He shut his eyes. "It's not easy telling you I'm a dancer. It's a million times harder to tell you I'm a vampire."

"But the sister thing isn't so bad," Kai added from beyond. "I would've thought that would be one of the first things we knew about you."

"Yeah, but…Seiko's got a bad rep." Cole's voice sounded tentative. They were walking on crisp ice now, ready to shatter at any given point in time. There was no telling what wrong step they took could lead them to bone-chilling temperatures made of the earth's anguish and torment. "I know that sounds kinky to you, but that's the truth. There're some pretty screwed up things about my past I'm not proud of. I ran away because… Well, I wanted to forget it all, put it behind me, move on. I never intended for anyone to know of any part of me I've kept hidden. The dancer thing isn't as bad as…everything else." His voice ended on a strange note. Zane listened closer.

Kai cracked his knuckles out of habit. "Why not?" He surged. "You could've trusted us with anything. We didn't hate Zane or think less of him because he was a robot. We accepted him, remember? We felt stronger knowing we knew him as best as we could."

"Yeah, but that's a robot. How would you like to walk up to your best friends and say, 'Hey, guys, just so you know, I'm a bloodsucking monster from hell. I eat people to survive.' I'm pretty sure at that point, you would've had some issues."

"You are not a monster," Zane said distinctly. Cole turned his head to look at him with his informally handy eyes. "No matter what you are. We do not think you are demonic, nor evil, nor any other insipid creature that may roam this earth. You must know that."

"Zane," Cole said slowly, measuring every beat of his voice to draw out the amount of seriousness in his words, "I drink blood. Doesn't that scare you?"

"It's creepy, sure, but so was Zane when his head turned in a three-sixty," Kai countered. "Cole, you're our brother. We were honest with you. I just don't understand why it was so difficult—"

"Because I'm not proud of who I am, Kai," Cole said in a pained tone of voice. "How can you not get that? I have killed to feed my own survival. I hate living with it. I didn't want you guys to know about it any more than you would've liked to be told that I was Lord Garmadon. Think about it. Am I really any better?"

"Yes!" Zane said matter-of-factly. "You are. I prefer you."

"Nice to know," Cole mumbled.

"Or what about Seiko?" Kai pressed. "Why so against her?"

"I'm not against Seiko," Cole groaned. He picked at a loose string attached to his green comforter. "I love her more than anything. For a long time, she was all I had, since my mom died. She was just unstable, and I didn't want you guys making some kind of relation between me and her being of the same mental accuracy."

"Unstable?" Zane repeated curiously.

"Insane. Whatever. She's not stable." Cole clenched his fists. "I didn't know she was in an asylum."

"How did you not know that?"

"No one told me, okay?" Cole pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Long story. I only figured it out when I read Misako's mind earlier. She's poorly misunderstood, and wherever the hell she is, she's probably so completely destroyed that I can't help but blame myself. If I'd watched her closer, I could've saved her. I'm her protector. I'm supposed to watch out for her, but, as it would seem, I suck at being a brother. So, there. No more questions." Cole rolled to his side, back barricading him from Zane and Kai, like that would stop them from being inquisitive about the disturbing past the Mitsuhides had smarted through. Zane watched him tug his comforter closer to his ears. "Now shut up and go to sleep."

All fell silent after that. There was no movement in conversation beyond Cole's jagged note. Within minutes, Kai was fast asleep; his soft breathing came rhythmic in a beat Zane listened to in relaxation. But Zane was not as gratefully fortunate. He didn't fall asleep at all.


Rikku stepped out of the bathroom, attached to the bedroom, wearing clean clothing and a better sense of how this generation preferred to dress. It was actually a huge variation between what he'd last seen and what had become of the world now. There were blue, crinkly trousers now with no suspension wraps whatsoever that Carolyne—excuse him, Caroline—referred to as jeans. The button downs traditionally worn by men were now reduced to sleeveless, tight, sheep-induced coverings called T-shirts that had ridiculous logos plastered across their fronts. They exposed his muscled arms too much for his taste. He eyeballed the thick text in the mirror. Cannonball Chocolate Factory, it said over a creepy grinning yellow smiley face. The eyeballs peered through the slanted lettering, observing in the O's in chocolate. He plucked at the words nervously.

Caroline stood behind the full, body length mirror, a smile on her face. Her long hair fell in bouncy curls down her shoulders, covering her own long sleeved button down, something women would've gotten slapped for wearing in Rikku's day. "You look very handsome," she complimented. "I like your hair."

"I do not." Rikku missed his long locks, usually conserved by an elastic band at the nape of his neck. Caroline insisted on making him look more modern, in terms of these dreadfully underscored years. Rikku had stopped her from hacking off anything above his ears, so now his brown waves fell to his chin instead. He felt extremely naked.

Caroline laughed. She patted the mirrors encrusted edge of golden trim. "You'll get used to it," she said. "That may take some time, but you will definitely get used to it."

Rikku sighed. Then, from the bathroom behind him, the door swung wide, revealing Ming in her fresh outfit that Caroline hand-picked from her wardrobe. Her face was a mask of true horror. The Chinese girl's brown eyes were rimmed with some kind of thick black marker of some sort that defined their almond shape more than before, with equally as heavy lashes to provide for it. Her shiny black hair was a waterfall over her thin shoulders. And Ming's dress was extremely…improper to someone like Rikku who knew women also would've been slapped, had they exposed as much skin he observed on her long legs now. What Caroline called a jean jacket—obviously of same material as his pants—covered Ming's arms, but beneath was a mid-thigh black dress that hugged her form tightly. Rikku actually wasn't sure if it was a dress or a shirt. It was too short to be of any dress he could consider in mind, but there were no pants beneath it, only a pair of high, pointy shoes he was sure could hurt when exercised as weapons. Still, he had to admit she looked attractive.

Ming stared in horror at her reflection. She touched her high cheekbones with her thin fingers. "Carolyne!" She howled. "What have you done to me?!" She gasped. Ming whirled on the girl.

Caroline poised her hands on her hips, unfazed. "It's Caroline," she started, "and I made you look like someone of modern times. You can't go walking around in public wearing a long dress and a bonnet, Ming. That's not how it works in this world."

"This is how people dress?!" Ming turned back to her reflection. She tugged on the end of her short dress insecurely. Caroline nodded, hand on the edge of the mirror. Ming shook her head in disgust. "So women dress like prostitutes and men look like slobs? Oh, Caroline, I don't like this at all."

"Deal with it," Caroline rolled her eyes. She let go of the mirror's rim to walk towards the closet. It was substantially larger than any closet Rikku had ever experienced. It held years and years of clothing Caroline had saved through eras and phases mortals went through pathetically. They bored themselves too easily. "We're going out, and like I said, this isn't a Renaissance fair. We're going to look as normal as possible."

"Where are we going?" Rikku asked enquiringly. He hadn't been warned of this plan. Caroline was wearing a determined expression as she removed a heavy stack of cash from some hidden space within her closet, piles and piles of dollar bills that made him gape. Never in his life had he seen so much money in one place! Caroline counted them as she walked across the room to slip on a pair of what she christened sneakers. They weren't very sneaky, however; Rikku still heard noise when she walked.

"That is classified," Caroline said almost absentmindedly, "until we arrive."

Ming held out her hand as Caroline took a thick stack of money she'd counted, passing it into the girl's thin palm. Ming's eyes widened as she played with its rough green paper in her hands. Caroline held out a similar wad towards Rikku. He took it hesitantly. "That's two-fifty for each of you," Caroline announced. She shoved her own hoard in the pocket of her "skinny jeans," which hugged her legs as tightly as Ming's dress hugged her voluminous body. Rikku peered at the crisp, new mixture of valued money before doing the same. Ming looked queerly between the two.

"What am I supposed to do with mine?" she asked. "I don't have pockets."

Caroline bent to grab something beneath her bed. "Stuff it in your bra," she said. Her voice muffled as she disappeared from Rikku's view. Ming's cheeks reddened.

"Why?" she cried.

"That's what girls do now."

Ming awkwardly tried to shove it down her cleavage. Rikku glanced away to find the auburn curls once more, surreptitiously avoiding watching his fellow sister operate a very challenging task. Caroline reappeared with a long, thick black box in her hands. It was half as tall as her. Immediately after its release, Rikku was hit with a blow of energy and power that radiated from the mysteriously cased object. Whatever was inside was strong, powerful, and meant for control. His brows furrowed.

"What have you got?" He nodded towards it. Caroline secured the clips holding the box shut, then dialed in a special code into the lock that held it together.

"That," she heaved it into her arms, "is also classified. Now, come on, let's go before anyone decides to wake up for a midnight call."

Flustered, Ming watched Caroline walk for the stairs. Her money had been safely tucked away. "But, Carolyne, shouldn't we tell Julien first, so he doesn't worry?"

Caroline rolled her eyes irritably. Rikku felt a frown come to his lips. Her emotions were most impatient, a sign he wasn't taking extremely lightly. She grabbed the handle of the door and yanked it open harshly. "Trust me, we're the last thing on his mind. He's too busy losing it over Zane's reanimation. He's obviously experiencing a serious case of parental denial."

Ming rubbed her hands together uncertainly. She pressed her lips into a thin line. "What do you mean?" She asked quietly, whispering through the danger of the hall so they could not be heard. She crept slowly on her heels through the dark wood of the hallway, trying with difficulty not to make noise with her ridiculous shoes. In the end, Rikku wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground, for she was miserably failing. It took Caroline the trek up the staircase and to the edge of the resting boat before she could actually answer.

Across the horizon was a town they'd met, docked neatly in the water outside its borderline village. Rows of dreamy, happy houses spanned the length of miles that Rikku could observe. Every light was dim with the honor of sleep for the humans resting unknowingly on the battlefield they laid on, unsure of their heritage or the tragedies that had once occurred there. Rikku felt overwhelmed with memory still burning holes in his rickety database. He was not comfortable here.

"He was already half-mad when Zane died," Caroline whispered. She stared into the roads leading from the dock they tied to. "Then, all the sudden, poof, he's back. It's not exactly fluttering like a little butterfly in his brain."

Rikku looked into the darkness at the shape of a car waiting for them in the parking lot before them. It was the shape of something designed to make quick escapes, something lingering in the darkness like a predator stalks its skin. Rikku sensed there was far more to the story that Caroline classified as confidential. He didn't want to leave her alone to accompany this journey with only her own company, so naturally he would comply with his gentlemanly heritage. But there was that single noise in the back of his head that warned him perhaps it was not the best of ideas to follow through with this plan.

Rikku had no choice but to ignore it. He would see to that of Caroline's safe return from wherever she was taking them. She placed her foot on the high railing to hoist herself up over the edge. It was a free fall descent all the way down.

She landed neatly on the dock. Rikku and Ming peered cautiously over the edge. With the black box still strapped to her hand, she waved at them to come down, move quicker than their pace. Rikku placed a hand on Ming's shoulder. "I shall go first," he said. He did.

Rikku landed noiselessly beside Caroline. She remained expressionless as he beckoned Ming to repeat their movements. The dainty Chinese girl with long legs seemed weary to involve herself in such actions, but momentarily complied, hurling herself over the edge in those unstable heels. A moment later, and she would've landed miserably, if not for his realization of poor choice in footwear. Ming gratefully squeezed his hand. "Thank you," she whispered, and followed Caroline down the wooden dock.

The moon above was only half visible. Stars aligned in such a blaze that Rikku could pick out no visible constellations. He would not have time to stargaze, however. Their mysterious journey continued while Caroline made her speech, "From this point, we'll be chauffeured to Ninjago City, which is about seven miles away from here," she explained. "In two hours, this driver will come to pick us up exactly where we're dropped off." They reached the car's slick, glossy black body works, a car that was completely shocking to two people who hadn't seen such incredible handiwork yet. Rikku and Ming had no time to gape. The windows were like black fortresses stopping them from looking inside, but Caroline tapped on the back door, allowing her a moment to turn back to them with a stern glare. "And just so you don't make any stupid mistakes, let me do the talking."

The door popped open. Caroline stepped back, waving her hand elegantly towards the car's carriage. Rikku exchanged a somnolent glance with Ming. He wasn't so sure he was enjoying this trip anymore—not that he had ever started. She looked equally as unconvinced. Their gazes came back to Caroline, who stood there with her hand on the car's door, impatiently tapping in a rhythm to its metal shield. She raised her eyebrow at them and waved towards the car's elegant black interior again.

"After you."