Author's Note: Thanks SOO much for all the awesome, wonderful reviews guys! I'm sorry I've been dragging this out so long – I thought it was gonna move a little faster, so I kind of stuffed it all into this chapter. I hope I didn't rush it too much. But anyways, ENJOY!
Chapter 8
Kai's POV
My head hurt. It felt like my heart was in head, not in my rib cage where it belonged. I felt like I was somehow lying on a staircase. A high-pitched droning sound surrounded me. Did I fall somewhere on the Bounty? I squinted my eyes and could make out two lumpy figures hovering over me. I tried to part my lips to say something, anything! But my mouth was too dry and all I could do was cough. The two figures immediately leaned closer to me and one of them spoke, "Hey Cole! He's coming around! But he doesn't look too good." Was it Jay? Why hadn't he gone for help?
Another figure came into my altered vision. I tried to sit up but was gently, yet firmly, pushed back down to my slightly uncomfortable position on the stairs. "Kai, you need to remain immobile. We don't know how badly you may have been hurt in the explosion." That voice sounded like Zane.
Explosion? What explosion? I closed my head and tried to think. Right… Moana and the Serpentine. The crying girl and her trapped parents. Then there was a bright light and a loud noise. How long had I been out? Wait! What about David? I jerked up, despite my throbbing head. "What about David? Where is he? Did he get out?" I nearly shouted, finding my voice.
The three people in my cloudy vision exchanged glances. Then one of them, Cole, leaned over and I could see confusion and concern on his face. My heart nearly stopped at his words. "Who's David?"
I leaned back and moaned in both pain and despair. Everyone leaned a little closer. "David was that crying girl's father. When I found him he was almost unconscious. I managed to bring him down here, but I don't remember what happened during the explosion. He was probably blown aside too. Haven't you guys found him yet?!"
"Kai! Please calm down! We are trapped in this building and have been taking turns watching over you and removing rubble so we can escape here," Zane calmly informed me.
"Well if I help you guys, we can find David and get out of here faster," I said trying to get to my feet. But again, I was pushed down, but this time by Cole.
"We don't need you pushing yourself bro. Now that we know you're back to being yourself, we can just focus on getting out of here. And look for David too." He added the last bit hastily when he saw my eyes narrow. I reluctantly complied to our leader's orders and adjusted my position on the stairs so I was more comfortable. Then my brothers turned to resume work on trying to get us out of the building. I sat back and sighed, scanning the room for a sign of David. Now there were chunks of wall and ceiling everywhere and the air was thick with dust. The walls seemed to have collapsed around us, trapping us inside with no way out. I hoped the girl outside was doing better then us. At least she had her mom.
~Outside the building~
Lucy's POV
I rushed to give my mom a hug as she emerged from the ruined building. She hugged me back and I was so relieved I burst into a fresh wave of tears. "Hey sweetie! I'm okay! Just a few bumps and bruises is all," said my mother in an effort to comfort me.
Then out of nowhere paramedics were beside us. A female paramedic stepped forward saying, "Please allow us to take your mother to the nearest hospital. She could have sustained an internal injury or brain damage. We would like to check her out to make sure she isn't seriously hurt." The thought of my mom being seriously hurt like that scared me stiff, but I managed to nod in response.
Then my mom replied, "Better safe than sorry." With that, she was whisked away from my embrace and I was left alone, standing in front of the crumbling building. I turned around to look for the Ninja, but they were nowhere to be found. I kicked myself; I should have made sure they wouldn't go in. I stood in front of the building for several minutes, glaring at it. This one day had run downhill faster than a speeding bullet; first my parents were nearly killed and I now had four lives on my guilty conscience. Could this get any worse?
Suddenly there was a blinding flash and an almost deafening "BOOM" that shook the earth. My arms flew up to shield my eyes from the blinding light and to block the shattering glass from penetrating my face. When I opened my eyes, the building was half the size it used to be and rubble was piled in front of the door. Car alarms echoed throughout the town. There was no way the Ninja could have survived through this! So apparently, my day could get worse. Great.
~Back inside the building~
Kai's POV
Great.
I was stuck in a fallen version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, possibly injured, and I couldn't do squat. I groaned again, one of the things I could do. I removed my hood and ran a hand through my spiky hair. Finally, when I couldn't take not doing anything anymore, I burst out, "Zane! Why don't you just scan me with a body scanner thingy of yours so I can get up and help you guys?! 'Cuz at this pace the freakin' Overlord will take over and be conquered by the time we get out!"
Everyone stared at me while I glared at the slanted wall in front of me. Zane eventually ended the awkward silence by giving into my outburst and stepping towards me to perform a body scan. Jay and Cole hesitantly turned back to removing the rubble to try to create an escape route for us.
It was only seconds until Zane's body scan was complete. I looked up at him expectantly, only to find a blank expression on his nindroid face, but it could have been surprise. When it came to Zane, I was never sure. "What Zane? Please tell me it's nothing serious so I can get up!"
"It seems you might've fractured some ribs from being thrown against the stairs in the explosion. You might also have a minor concussion, but overall nothing that serious."
"Great!" I exclaimed getting to my feet quickly, but slowing down after wincing in pain.
"Kai, your ribs are fractured, which isn't good. Don't push yourself. We are doing fine without your assistance," Zane replied, unknowingly daring me to repeat my snide comment about the Overlord.
"Yeah, yeah," I said, standing. As I glanced around I flipped up my hood and noticed that my brothers had made good progress and it seemed we had the chance to evacuate sooner than I had expected. On the other hand, David hadn't made his presence known to us yet - no sounds made, no limbs visible. I didn't like to be pessimistic but I feared the worst for David. I took a hesitant step forward, and then winced at the slight pain in my chest. Zane was immediately by my side, but I waved away his offer of support. "I'm fine Zane. Really."
Suddenly a beam of light shone through a crevice in the rubble. My spirits immediately lifted. I limped forward as Zane hurried to join Cole and Jay make our escape route bigger. Soon it was big enough for us to step through. Cole went first, carefully clearing away glass and other chunks of debris that we could trip over. I followed Cole carefully through the crude exit with Zane and Jay flanking me. As we stepped into the crude exit, I glanced back one last time for David, but with no sign of an appearance of his person I reluctantly headed out of the building with Jay and Zane on my heels.
The next few minutes were a blur. My head buzzed as cameras flashed and reporters and medical personnel shouted questions. But Cole had things under control. He politely answered a few questions and eventually the crowd thinned out a little. Zane managed to contact Nya over the com-link and told her to come pick us up, as I was injured. I grimaced, not liking the feeling of being helpless. As I looked around taking in the scene, my gaze fell upon a brunette with tear stains traced down her cheeks. At first I thought she was an overly-worried fan-girl, but when she looked up I recognized her as the girl I had seen earlier. Her eyes widened, but as we were overwhelmed by eager reporters, I could see that tears once again fell from her eyes. The pounding in my head resumed as the pace of my heart increased.
What could I say to her? We thought her father was dead and I was injured so we didn't bother to look for him because it was too dangerous? We were supposed to be the defenders of Ninjago, the citizens' heroes. Some heroes.
I sighed. We were gonna have to say something. Cole was wrapping things up so it had to be soon. I nudged Zane in the side as he finished up with a reporter and stiffly jerked my head towards the girl. I didn't know her name. "We gotta talk with her," I said hoarsely. Zane raised an eyebrow in my direction before nodding then leaning over to whisper something in Jay's ear. Jay's eyes widened, then a sly look appeared on his face. "This is gonna be good!" he mouthed to us. I swear he was rubbing his hands together in devilish glee.
The next thing I knew, Jay had a crowd of reporters circling him as he started giving a very colorful account of our time inside the crumbled building complex. As Zane started towing me towards the girl, I noticed Cole out of the corner of my eye. He stood open mouthed, shocked. But I quickly dropped it – I had bigger fish to fry.
Before I knew it I was standing in front of the crying girl, her face buried in her hands. Zane gently tapped her shoulder and when she looked up she nearly choked in surprise. I eyed Zane, while he seemed to cock his head. Then the girl spoke. "Is it really you? My eyes can't be tricking me right? You have to be real. But there's no way you could've survived all that. But if you got out okay my dad is okay too right? Please tell me he's okay!"
The girl looked close to tears and I didn't want to break this terrible news to her. I was the one who promised that her parents would get out safely. How come this had turned out so badly? My mouth was open, ready to answer when Zane came to my rescue, surprising me. He smoothly said, "After the explosion we were all thrown to the side. We all sustained minor bruises and our brother here got his ribs fractured. But your father was not in good shape. He told us to leave him in the building; he wanted us to get out safely. He said he lived a good life and wanted to make sure we had a chance to continue to help others. We tried to persuade him otherwise but he was unshakeable in his decision. When we were finally able to escape, we asked him one last time to leave and have a chance at medical help, but there was no response. And it was out of respect for his decision that we decided to part without him. We hope you aren't hurt or betrayed in any way, but when officials come to inspect the building, make sure to notify them." Zane was never one to mince words. "We feel awful about your loss, and offer our condolences, but we also hope there are no hard feelings."
The girl had listened attentively while tears welled in her eyes. But she had bowed her head and, I assumed, started crying again. There was a moment of silence while we let Zane's half-truth sink in. But she didn't need to know it was a half-truth; Zane might have just saved my skin and our reputations. So I threw him a grateful look. Then Zane said, "I think I will leave you two alone for a moment. Cole will let you know when we depart, I presume." He added the last part looking at me. My nindroid brother then patted me on the shoulder encouragingly then left to join the rest of our team. For a few minutes we stood there in awkward silence – me thinking of something to say and her drying her tears. Then we both began to speak at the same time.
"I'm sorry I couldn't bring your dad – "
"Are you injured badly?"
"Oh. You first."
"No. It's okay. Really."
"Okay then. Uhh well I'm sorry I didn't bring your dad back to you like I promised. I'm normally better at keeping promises like that."
The girl managed a soft laugh. "I used to have a good friend like that. That's something he always said. Anyways, I hope you're not badly injured."
I raised my eyebrow. "I've suffered worse. I'm just glad I can see clearly." My words seemed to alarm her a little so I hastily added, "But thanks for your concern."
We paused in our conversation, allowing Cole to call out to me. "Hey bro! We were thinking of leaving soon, so start wrapping things up!"
He raised his eyebrow at me. I would've stuck my tongue out at him, but my hood was up, covering most of my face. So I just turned back to the girl, who seemed a little more at ease now. "Thanks for everything tonight," she said, "I'm gonna go find my mom, but thanks." A little awkward goodbye, but as she started to turn away something pinged at the back of my mind.
"Wait I never got to ask you. What's your name?" I blurted.
The young woman stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to face me again. She eyed me curiously while I did my best not to show any "weakness". After a moment's consideration, she announced. "I'm Lucy. Lucy Anderson."
My heart stopped.
Eeeepppp! So finally the two of them have met! I hoped you all enjoyed this super-long chapter of mine (it was like 5 pages of Word)! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this chapter so please please PLEASE leave a review! Can't wait to hear what you have to say :)
