Chapter 8
The nun chucks against the blade of the sword made a loud clash; and it stayed there, ringing in everyone's ears. Jay pushed back against Kai, defending Cole. His legs struggled to stay up, and slowly, Jay was getting weaker.
Cole turned around and saw Lloyd standing against Zane, Pixal, and Nya. Zane gripped his shurikanes, his eyes narrowing on Lloyd. Nya was standing in front of Pixal holding her sword in front of her, ready for battle. Cole looked to Lloyd, his hands flexed around the hilt of his sword.
He looked back at Jay who was fighting to pull himself up. Cole grabbed his sword from the side and stood up by the Jay, pushing with him.
Kai's eyes widened. "Why are you helping him?" He pushed harder but Jay and Cole were as completely solid.
"I know exactly what dream you had; I know how you feel, Kai. But I would never kill someone whom wants me as a friend… just please, stop," Cole said in a hoarse voice. The force against Kai's sword began to loosen.
"Not until you're gone! I've seen what you can do! I won't trust anybody like that! Especially you!" He hissed and stumbled backwards but kept his balance. "Fight me then, just you and me."
Cole widened his eyes. He raised his sword by his side and charged at Kai. Jay shielded his eyes, Not a blood bath… please not, he said to himself.
They clashed swords and met their gazes, holding it there. "Stop it now, Kai!" Cole snapped. Kai's eyes flashed with anger.
"You surrender and I'll stop! You don't know this, but I've seen the future, once Dust's gone, you'll be the most hated in the village! Surrender now!" Cole hopped back and Kai's sword shot for the ground in between them. "Jay, you shouldn't trust this guy! He's evil!"
Jay stared into Cole's brown eyes. "Are you really?" His head began to cloud.
"Jay, snap out of it! All of you! Can't –" Kai kicked his stomach. Cole clutched it and landed on his back, groaning. Pain seared through his body. "Kai… those dreams are fake!" he coughed, "Would I ever kill someone?"
Kai looked at Lloyd; those dreams turned them against each other. "Lloyd!" Kai yelled at him. The blonde stopped and turned to face Kai. "We need to stop! These dreams… we're just tearing us further apart!"
"I know what I'm doing, Kai! Just finish him off!" Lloyd yelled back at him.
The blacksmith pulled his sword from the ground and held it up to Lloyd's neck. "Look around," he said through gritted teeth.
Lloyd's eyes stared back at Kai with fear. "Do you mean… why are we fighting? This isn't right," he threw his sword to the ground and helped up a fallen droid.
"I'm sorry," Kai confessed, rubbing the back of his neck, "I don't know what came over me. I think I'll give you a chance, Cole."
Nya walked up to her brother and asked, "Well then, why did you have similar dreams?"
Cole blinked his brown eyes. Similar dreams… toying with minds… "Dust; He set you three up to kill me, but why?" Kai slid his sword back in its case. "He took me when I was little, why would he want to kill me?"
Silence drowned in until Lloyd spoke up. "My mom has many scrolls, in fact, that's basically what our library really is!" He patted Cole on the back. "And, we should've known it was him, Kai and I just thought that either way, those things would come true; that you really were a bad person."
Cole gazed into Lloyd's green eyes. "Anyone can change."
Then, from the corner of his eye, Cole caught a glimpse of Pixal wrapping something around Jay's arm and (just one) finger. He walked towards them and checked out the bandage. "You okay?" He asked Jay. The teen nodded.
"He was cut twice – on the finger and very close to the elbow; no deep wounds, just cuts. He is fine," Pixal told Cole and hooked arms with Zane.
"I'm afraid of those dreams…" Jay suddenly said softly.
Cole looked at him. "Why?"
"What if they become real? I'm not ready to leave my life yet… And, I just made a new friend," he said, half a smile forming on his lips. Cole looked down.
Suddenly, Cole gripped his shoulders and looked straight into Jay's eyes. "If anything happens, we'll be there for you. Especially me… I just made a new friend, too," he smirked. Jay smiled.
The rest of the day Cole spent under the roof of Dust. Yup, he felt like he didn't even live there anymore. For now, he was just a prisoner with no way of escaping.
Just then, Dust knocked on the door. "What is it?" Cole snapped, hugging himself with the cloak. For all his life, he had been obeying Dust's every command, and now, he realized just how bad he really was and what Cole was doing to others.
"You want in on a little secret?" Dust said softly, sitting on the bed across from Cole.
Cole shivered. All this was strange. "No! Get out! I've had enough of your mind games! You almost had me killed… and why? I don't know! What? Do you just want to get rid of me?"
Dust tsked. "Oh no, Cole… but you see, that was exactly what I was going to tell you. Don't you want to know why what happened, happened?" Cole closed his eyes and nodded. "But first… I'll need a promise from you... never ever leave this place! I don't want you ruining my plans!"
"Then why are you telling me this!?"
"Oh… just so you know what's about to go down… that way, you'll be very aware of everything!"
Cole gazed down to the floor. Suddenly, he heard Dust snap his fingers. Cole stomach twisted in worry, what now? He looked down to find his wrists cuffed to a chair along with his legs.
"And, I'll make sure you get front row seats! I just know you'll enjoy the show!"
Cole squirmed. "Let me go you…" Cole jumped in his seat, pulling at the braces. "What is it you want with me? With… with the others?"
Dust fiddled with his fingers. "I realized as I set the others out to destroy you, how badly you wanted a friend. Then, I saw that your friend was really, really happy to make a friend like you – apparently, the others, well Kai and Lloyd specifically, weren't happy with it. When I saw how much you actually cared and how much he actually cared! Well, I – I had something different in mind.
You see, Cole, there was a prophecy. A prophecy that five teens from just an ordinary little village would stand up against me; of course, I wouldn't want that happening… I'm this close to ruling this village, and once that's over I'll head to a bigger population!" He set his hand on his forehead and massaged it as he groaned. "I just knew those five were you, Lloyd, Kai, Zane, and Jay. Well, I had to stop you somehow… and what better way than to turn you five against each other? Unfortunately, my plan failed."
"Is that it? Is that what you wanted to tell me?"
Dust snapped his fingers and a cloth tied around Cole's mouth. "That was when I thought of having them kill Jay instead. If I'm correct, with you out of the way and a stronger hold on the rest of them, killing Jay would be easy. After all, he does seem like the easiest target."
Cole's eyes widened. He tried to scream but with the cloth around his mouth they only came out as muffled cries.
But Dust knew exactly what Cole was trying to say. "Watch me," he said darkly. "And if you leave this room, you'll automatically want to kill him too. So don't even try…"
"You know, Zane, I've read many great books on Friendship and belonging… I think my life's becoming one!" Zane just nodded as Jay was fixing his wires. Pixal stood by the side, watching the surgery. "Hey, by any chance, do you know where Cole headed off too?"
"No clue," Kai said from behind. "It's like he just vanished. But Lloyd and I agreed, we have to stop Dust. That guy's crazy… Cole will break if he keeps living with him."
Jay pulled off his mask and looked up at Kai. "Do you even know what you're saying?" Kai nodded. "Well, I'm not in this plan… how are we supposed to stop him? He has magic and we don't! We're defenseless against him!"
Kai smirked. "I'm a blacksmith…" he picked up the nun chucks. "I think if I tinker more with these they'll turn out great!" Then he grabbed the shurkianes, "Same with these. Just give me until tomorrow and we'll all have amazing weapons… then, comes training. Under Lloyd."
Jay shook his head. "As you wish," he said sarcastically and got back to fixing Zane.
Originally, I was going to end Cole's scene at where Dust doesn't introduce his plan yet... but I thought I fit it in well.
So yas! An early update! I am doing this because I don't know why! I might do a second because I have a four day weekend this week. This Friday is LEAP day, so I have my Track meet on Thursday instead, and on Monday is Memorial Day.
Enjoy this two update week! (BTW, Pitch Perfect 2 is awesome!)
R&R
