me: i have werid dreams...

Thorn: no way! Only i do!

me: about your best friends cousin who's 10 having a full gray beard and mustache?

Thorn: okay... i stand corrected. Thats REALLY weird.

Chapter 10: Can of worms (Inherit)

(Lloyd's P.O.V)

I grabbed my brother and pulled him out of the room. He looked up at me, and in unison we spoke, "Kai with videogames, Cole with cooking, Zane with clothes, and Jay with his inventions!"

He disappeared and came back with Kai's suit. He ran off to put it in with Zane's laundry. I grabbed a sledgehammer I saw and went to find Jay's sparring robot.

I opened it and smashed some off the controls. I shut it and put the sledgehammer away. I met up with Thorn in the kitchen. He pointed at the soup, and then he pointed at some of the seasonings. It was really high up. He stood on my shoulders and reached for some of the spices. We heard a voice, "What are you doing? I told you to prank them." Thorn nearly fell, "We are! We just need to grab this." He reached in and brought out a spice. He grabbed a few more and handed them to me. I put them on the counter and he jumped off. He reached to grab the lid of the soup and Uncle grabbed his wrist, "You shouldn't touch a hot pot with your bare hands." Uncle used an oven mitt and opened it for us.

We poured some of the spices into the soup and watched it bubble. Thorn stirred it in. Uncle put the lid back on and asked, "What else do you two have to do?" Thorn thought, "Um, we did Jay, we did Zane, we did Cole and now we're off to rig the videogames!" Uncle nodded and Thorn went into the game room. He turned on the game and asked, "Which one is Kai's favorite?" I pointed to Fist to Face 2. He put the game in and held out his hand.

Some shadows appeared and he told them, "Beat all of Kai's high scores and put it as Cole!" The shadows nodded and grabbed the controls. They immediately began to play epically.

Thorn clapped, "Yay! We finished! I guess we did inherit that skill." I nodded and put the stuff in a closet. He pulled out pink laundry stuff and added it to the collection. I smiled at him and he just stared. "Why aren't you smiling?" Thorn frowned and stared at the floor, "It never did me good. I know the true pain of a smile." I was confused. He sighed, "Let's just say, if I smiled, Samukai would be the smiling." I still didn't understand.

He reached up and I picked him up, he was still pretty small. He put his head on my shoulders. He fell asleep and murmured something about fire. The shadows came out of the room and whispered to us, "We have finished! Now we must go, you know." They faded away and Thorn seemed to tense. His eyes shot open and he looked around. He looked behind us and I turned around. I saw Kai, "Hi Kai, what's sup?" He glared at us, "What are you two up to?"

Thorn yawned and I came up with something, "We were just taking a look around. Uncle says we're gonna stay here. Might as well know our new home better. Then Thorny got tired." Kai snickered, "Well, then Thorny should be going to sleep, the baby needs his nap." Thorn growled, "I'm not a baby!" Kai just laughed again, "Poor little Thorny is tired."

Thorn squirmed out of my grip and poked Kai. Kai frowned, "What?" Thorn started poking him faster, "Poking fight!" Kai frowned, "But I'm not playing! Go do something else, I don't have time to play with little kids, go play with Jay." Kai pushed Thorn away. He walked past us and Thorn looked up at me, "I wanna play a game!" I smiled and grabbed his hand. If only he would smile back.

I pulled him out onto the deck where Jay was. He was chatting with Zane. Thorn shouted out, "Jay! Nya and Cole are going out!" I burst out laughing, Thorn had no idea what that even meant. Jay frowned, "THEY WHAT!?" Thorn shrugged, "They're going out!" I couldn't stop laughing and Thorn glared at me, "You ruined the prank idiot!" Jay narrowed his eyes and took a step towards my brother. I pulled Thorn away from Jay, "It was just a joke Jay. He's just a little kid!" Zane nodded and put his hand on Jay's shoulder.

Jay took a deep breath, "What do you want?" Thorn clapped, "Kai said that you would play with us!" Jay's mouth dropped open and Thorn gave him the puppy eyes. Jay tried to refuse, but he couldn't, "Alright! What do you wanna play?" Thorn poked Jay, "You're it!" Jay shook his head and looked at me.

I smiled and he ran after me. I ran the other way. I dodged around Cole and Jay tackled him. "You're it!" Jay jumped off and ran in the other direction. Cole raced after him, "When I get my hands on you!" He smashed into Thorn instead. Thorn cried out as the ninja landed on him.

Cole stood up and reached down to touch Thorn. Thorn flinched as he touched him. Cole wrapped his hand around Thorn's wrist and Thorn cried out. He jerked away and clutched his wrist in great pain. Thorn mumbled, "I never get to have fun… stupid curse."

Cole frowned, "I am so sorry." Thorn growled, "Sorry doesn't help!" Cole mumbled something and picked up Thorn. Thorn's foot banged into the wall and he cried out again. Cole brought Thorn to his room and put him on his bed. Thorn cried out as his foot was pressed into the bed. Nya looked at Cole, "What were you idiots thinking?" Cole pointed at Jay, who had just entered the room, "It was his idea!" Jay looked offended, "Was not! It was the little monster's fault!" He pointed at Thorn and Thorn started crying.

I punched Jay in the stomach, "Stop being such a jerk to my little brother!" Cole smiled, "Whoa, somebody's not happy!" I whirled around and punched him too, "That was for hurting him!"

Cole nodded and rubbed his side, "You punch hard." I nodded and looked back at my little brother. He was looking at me with happiness in his green eye; the red eye was filled with pain. Nya looked at his foot, "You dislocated your ankle. Your wrist might be broken." She pulled out her wrist aid kit and lifted his wrist. She turned it a little and he let out another small cry. She put a splint on it and wrapped it up. The cast was black.

She looked over at me, "This is gonna hurt him a lot." He gulped and looked at me with fear. I sat next to him and held his hand. Nya grabbed his foot and got it back into place. He cried out and squeezed my hand. Nya wrapped up his foot and stuck a pillow under it. She patted his head, "There you go! You'll feel better soon!"

He nodded and sighed, "Stupid curse, I never get to have fun…" I smiled at him. He just stared until his eyes shut. He fell asleep amazingly fast.

I ruffled his hair and left his room, now to do what Uncle had asked. First I walked up on deck and saw Zane doing his laundry. He smiled, "Hello Lloyd, what brings you here this fine morning." I smirked, "Kai told me to get his ninja suit, he said he threw it in with your whites! Later bro!" I grabbed the ninja suit and put it back into the ninja's room.

I went over to Cole next. He took a sip of his soup, "Hi Cole. I saw Jay spicing things up, he said your cooking could use it!" I left to go find Kai.

"Hi Kai, you should've seen Cole beat your high score earlier. It was pretty spectacular." He laughed, "You must be talking about Sitar legend! This is Fist to Face 2! No one beats me on my game!" I shrugged, "Could be wrong, later." I walked away laughing.

I went onto the deck a while later and saw Jay ready to fight his robot. "Hi Jay! I saw Zane trying to fix the sparring bot! I told him not to, isn't that your expertise?" I walked away and went into Thorn's room. He was softly singing something.

Those who are dead

Are not dead

Their living…

In my head…

Wow, that song seemed like it was magic. He looked over at me, "Hi Lloyd!" I smiled at him and he sat up. Squeaks flew over to me and landed on my shoulder.

The shadow bird nuzzled my cheek and flew back to perch next to Thorn. Thorn petted the bird's chest and it nibbled his finger. Thorn looked at his ankle and winced as he moved it a little bit. He laid back down and rubbed his wrist, "Nya said, I'm not allowed to move… but it hurts when it just stays there!" He pouted and I cracked a smile. He shouted, "It's not funny!" I couldn't wipe my smile away though.

He looked at the cast on his wrist and frowned. "I hate being helpless…" I rubbed his head, "You're not helpless! Why don't you tell me about yourself? I never really got much out of you before." He nodded, "Sounds okay."

He sat back up and I sat next to him. "How about if I just ask?" He nodded again.

"Favorite colors?"

"Dark grey and maroon."

"Mine's green…Favorite animal?"

"Umm… wolf or panther."

"Mine's a dragon…Favorite food?"

"Pomegranate!"

"I don't really know mine…Least favorite animal?"

"A snake… or one of the ninja."

"Least favorite food?"

"Anything that isn't fruit."

"Least favorite fruit?"

"Grapefruit."

"Isn't that the same thing as a pomegranate?"

"Nope! Completely different!"

"I can't think of anything else!" I stood up and left. I knew he wasn't happy about me leaving him like that, but Uncle needed me. I snuck into the closet where all the stuff was. The ninja were all arguing. Uncle slid the closet open and Thorn had a pair of crutches. They were small. He limped over to me. I started laughing and the ninja all looked at me. They all gasped and in unison shouted, "YOU TWO DID THIS!?" Cole beat his fist together, "Boys, I get first dibs!" Thorn sneered, "Like you'd fight me." Uncle shouted, "NO DIBS! I put them up to this for today's lesson! To teach you about the destructive power of rumors!" Thorn raised his hand. Uncle sighed, "Yes Thorn?" "Does that mean I still get my reward?" Uncle shook his head, "No!"

Thorn narrowed his eyes at Cole, "It was your fault! Wasn't it pebble?" Cole just stared confused, "What was the reward?" Uncle sighed again, "His favorite fruit." Cole face-palmed, "You mean the one I put on my BBQ ribs for tonight?" Thorn looked disgusted, "GROSS! You use fruit on flesh? How gross is that?" Cole looked disturbed.

Jay stepped up, "No offense Sensei, but today's lesson was lame. Why couldn't you teach us how to paralyze a man with one finger, or how to tell if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?" Uncle shouted, "Because not all lessons are about fighting! Besides, I have misplaced my lesson book."

I smirked and Kai looked at me, "You mean, this lesson book?" He grabbed it from my pocket. Thorn and I both spoke in unison, "It was the perfect plan until you had to come…" Cole slid the door shut. It cut us off and Thorn listened. Nya came over the speakers.

Kai groaned, "It's one thing to have the sons of your nemesis living with you, but my sister!? I thought this was a ninja headquarters!" Thorn growled, "I DO NOT LIKE TO BE DESCIBED THAT WAY!" Nya spoke again, "You do know we could hear you, right?" Thorn shouted, "Bones of the living yeah!" I stared at him, "What does that even mean?" He sighed, "It's something they say in the Underworld."

I guess it meant heck, hell, gods, and all that stuff. Sounded like a cool thing to say. Better than some of the normal stuff. Better than the Ninjago ways. That was weird, the Ninjago ways? I looked at Thorn; he was staring at me, his eyes filled with mischievousness.

I opened the door and Thorn struggled to walk with his crutches. He growled and threw them down. I picked him up and he spoke, "Wanna go see what the ninja are doing?" I nodded and carried him to the bridge.

(Thorn's P.O.V)

I hated having a broken wrist! I also hated having a hurt ankle! It really hurt, and the cast felt weird. The crutches were too big and were impossible to walk with. At least Lloyd was carrying me. I silently sang the song to talk to my Dad. I closed my eyes and the light seemed to fade.

I was swept into a dream that was more of a vision. It was where I had sent my shade. I looked around and heard footsteps. I spun around and saw my father, "Daddy?" His red eyes bore into mine and he choked out, "Thorn?"

I narrowed my eyes, "At least you still remember me! Did my shade tell you what I had done?" He nodded and I bared my pointed teeth. He took a small step back. I looked at my arm, the cast was still there. My ankle shot with pain. I ignored the burning pain and looked back at my father. He had four arms. "Seems like my prediction was true, you did get another pair of arms."

He stared at me. "How do I even know that you're really Thorn?" I sighed and banged my wrist against something hard. I cried out and grabbed my wrist, "What kind of proof do you need Daddy?" I pulled my hood down, "That enough?" He nodded, "Yes, I believe you now. Why are you here anyway? What happened to you?"

I shrugged, "I missed you…" He smiled, and I saw the pain behind it. There was always some kind of pain behind a smile, no matter what, and I could always tell what it was. I felt the ground shake and a rock bashed into my ankle. I fell over and saw a giant rock monster, a crackling.

It picked me up, and by my ankle at that. It hung me over its mouth and I concentrated. The shadows swirled around me, coming to my aid. They slammed into the beast like spears. The monster burst apart and the shadows caught me.

My head pounded and I felt more alive. I had been fully sent to this realm. I looked at my wrist and there was something on it. I pulled the charm off and looked at it, it was a spiral. It was black and purple. I stuck it in my pocket, wondering what it was. Dad pulled me up and helped me stand.

"What happened to you?" I spoke with sarcasm, "What? You didn't see that big monster right there?" He frowned and I rolled my eyes, "Kidding, tried to have fun, and one of the ninja fell on me…stupid clumsy beast…landing on me…breaking my wrist and dislocating my ankle…"

He sighed, "You know that you can't have fun. You are too uncontrollable with extreme emotions, including happiness. You can only deal with pain and sorrow." I knew he was right, but it just wasn't fair. I wanted to be a kid sometimes. Not just a freak with power over darkness. I wanted to feel something, not slowly turn into an emotionless monster, like I already was becoming.

Some of the shadows reached out to me and rubbed my cheek. I brushed them away and they gnawed on my cast. It felt really weird and I pulled away. They grew small fangs and continued gnawing on it. One nipped my skin and chirped gleefully. It latched onto my arm and tried to bite through my flesh. They scratched at my face and moaned like zombies. "Weee neeeed fleeesh!" These were not shadows. They were zombies in disguise.

Dad pulled me away from the creatures and I could see the bite mark was infected. The skin around it was already turning into a shadow like substance. "Stay away from my son!" The zombies scuttled away, moaning in displeasure. I struggled to catch my breath. The mark seemed to slowly get bigger and it was starting to spread. It was numb and cold. I felt it and it felt kind of like slime, just not sticky. It was kind of creepy and cool at the same time.

I looked up at Dad and he was looking at the bite with interests, "We must get you back to Ninjago. We must hurry before it infects your entire being." My day couldn't get any worse now, could it? (NO THORN! Whenever someone says that, something even worse happens!) To my dismay, it did. (I told him so!)

Another rock monster came and it picked me up. "Let me go!" The monster just roared at me and shook me. Like I was a rattle or something. It threw me to the ground. It roared again and stomped away. I looked at my dad, "A little help?" He pulled me up and I looked around.

I looked at my arm; the infection was spreading like veins. I tried to take a step, but I fell. Dad caught my arm and pulled me back up, "We need to get you home." He didn't sound too pleased.

"But I can't walk." He sighed and picked me up. I would've smiled if I could, but my curse wouldn't let me.

Oh yeah, and my curse wasn't really a curse…

"Where are we going?" "The portal back to Ninjago is at the top of the mountain of madness." I so would've cracked a smile at that, "Like me? I've gone mad… must be my kind of place." He only sighed and continued walking.

We walked for so long. I hadn't said a single word and I looked at my arm. The whole lower half was the weird zombie shade skin. It was slowly making its way to my shoulder. It was really cold. It felt like metal with slime on it.

I was really bored, "Are we there yet!?" Dad just shook his head, "Almost, just a few more minutes."

It was 10 minutes.

I looked into the portal, "That looks like water… so, I just jump into it?" Dad nodded and I hopped in, "Bye Daddy!"

I think he shouted something, but I was already in the portal. It really felt like a whirlpool, water included. I landed somewhere in a field and hit my ankle. "Ow, ow, ow, that hurt!" I flipped myself over and sat up. I looked around and saw the bounty over Ninjago city. I looked back at my arm, the infection was inches below the shoulder. I guess that going through a portal made the bite spread.

"How am I supposed to get to Ninjago city with a hurt ankle, a zombie bite, and when I'm only five years old!?" I looked around, "Well Thorn, guess I'm gonna have to figure something out."

I saw that the bounty was getting closer, but it was too far away to see me. Well, it was worth a try. I waved my arms in the air, "NINJA! HELP ME!" I yelled as loud as I could. The bounty sped up a little bit. I looked back at the bite mark. It was covering my whole shoulder and was making its way up my neck and across my chest. The bounty turned and it veered away from me. I groaned and shouted again, "NINJA! HELP ME!" Why wouldn't they listen? "Screw this; I'm going shadow master style." I held out my hand and the sky went dark.

Wind swirled around the bounty and blew it towards me. I shouted again, "HELP ME!" The bounty came over to me and descended onto the ground. Kai jumped down first and walked over to me, "Where did you go!? Lloyd, Nya and Sensei were freaking out about you! You are in so much trouble!" He grabbed me and picked me up. "You're warm Kai…" He threw me down, "And you're a creepy freak!" He went back onto the bounty without me. Nya came down next, "What happened to you? Are you okay?" My neck was getting cold and numb. I shook my head. She picked me up and brought me back on deck and yelled at Kai, "Kai, you are such a hot-headed jerk sometimes! He's just a little kid! And he's hurt for Ninjago's sake!"

Her yelling made me feel better. Kai deserved to be yelled at like that. My face started to get cold and I pulled my hood lower, they still had yet to see my face. I felt vines of cold on my cheek and around my green eye; the one on my right. The one on my left was red.

I bet that it looked really cool. Nya took me to her room and put me down. My feet dangled off the edge of her bed and she asked, "Are you okay?" I shook my head. She asked, "What's wrong?"

I pulled up my sleeve to show the shaded zombie skin. She gasped and I showed my neck was halfway covered. I looked away, "If I show you my face, you'll be scared of me forever. I had to erase Cole's memory of it! He was traumatized!" She shook her head, "I won't be scared, I promise. I've seen a lot of things, I'm sure you aren't that scary… plus, I'm prepared."

She pulled my hood down and gasped. My ghoul white skin and hair showed. The shade was spreading across my face like vines. It went around my green eye. I opened my mouth a bit and exposed my fang-like teeth. Everything about me was white, tongue and all.

She blinked, "Wow… you look… it's not that scary when you're prepared. What's with the dark part?" I rubbed my arm, "I was bitten by a shade zombie. Those things spread their disease like a wildfire if they aren't kept under control. Uncle has something for it though." Nya nodded and left the room to find Uncle.

Nya came back a few minutes later and almost my whole chest had gone numb and half my face too. Uncle looked at me in shock. He took out some tea. "It has seemed to spread far; I will need to see the full extension of the bite."

(Nya's P.O.V)

(I don't like doing Nya that much) Thorn looked like a ghoul, there was no denying that. But he was kind of adorable in a unique way. Sensei stared at Thorn and Thorn tried to take off his shirt. He couldn't get it off. I walked over and he looked up at me, "Need some help pint size?" He frowned and nodded. I pulled the shirt off and Sensei gasped at the full extension of the infection. His stomach was almost entirely black and he shivered.

Sense went over to his nephew, "This will taste bad and will hurt, but you must drink it! Nya, hold him down." I grabbed Thorn and he looked confused. He kept his mouth shut. "Thorn, open your mouth!" He shook his head. Sensei sighed, "Well then, I guess we'll just let the infection spread and…" Thorn shouted, "No! That's not fair un…" Sensei forced him to drink the cup of tea. Thorn tried to spit it out and I held his mouth shut.

He swallowed it and stuck out his tongue. Sensei poured another cup. He forced Thorn to drink it and this time Thorn didn't fight. His eyes were filled with pain and he felt really hot.

"It hurts!" Thorn tried to wriggle away, but Sensei made him drink more. Sensei nodded to me and I let the little boy go. Thorn fell to the ground and curled up. Sensei pulled his nephew back to his feet and I saw that his cast was ripped up and dirty. I grabbed Thorn, "You need a new cast."

He sighed and yawned. Geez, was this kid always so tired? I took him to the infirmary and took off his cast. His wrist was almost completely healed, which was really strange. I put a brace on it instead and pulled the Velcro straps tight. He looked around with curiosity and asked, "Why?"

I didn't know what he meant, "Why what?" He looked at me, his eyes piercing into my heart, reading my soul, "Why are you so… so…" He tried to think of a word to end his question. "Why are you so good to me?" That was a weird question, "Why not? You seem like a good kid. You're really young and you… you just got stuck with… with the…" He looked up at me, "With the wrong father?"

I nodded, "You just got stuck with the wrong father, that's all. You didn't mean to do anything bad; you were just doing what your dad said, like any kid would do." Thorn hung his head, "Well… I guess if you put it that way… even though that's the lesser reason."

This kid knew how to mess with my mind. I couldn't understand any of his answers, "Could you tell me what that means?" He glared, "you just want the flat out answers, don't you?" I nodded and he glared at me, "Very well, if you insists. Are you sure?" I nodded again and he sighed.

He spoke very fluently in a language I couldn't place.

"Immortalibus sum sub potestatem infinitam. Qui simul ascenderant cum me consilio unum genitor hoc volo. Hoc volui misero inferis surgere et regnum in tot partes frangi non poterat consistere. Sum damno meo et fratris mei contra imperium. Cum maxima imbecillitas alienae auctorem esse simul, non? Tam stultus puellam mortalem, si tibi fabulam dixi modo memoria, sciretis forsitan et communis oratio fatum vincere bello viridi induti patrem tenebris Dominus dederit locum eius ut praeesset inferis cum meis amens vias cruciatu, patiens, et terrorem, dolor, tristitia, et iacturam."

It only confused me even more. "What does that mean?" He sighed, "Why would I tell you? Now, Uncle wanted me to reveal myself to the others, eh…maybe after dinner."

He pulled up his hood and jumped down. His ankle was all better now too… which made even less sense. Had he been healed with that bite? At least it had faded away.

(Thorn's P.O.V)

I walked into Lloyd's room and he was holding a can of nuts. But it was full of toy snakes. "We gonna prank Cole?" Lloyd smirked and told me his plan. He had done Zane's laundry while I was gone… I was gone for a long time.

He grabbed the laundry and we walked into the dining room. Kai glared at me and Lloyd spoke, "Well, it took me 20 loads, but your suits are no longer pink Zane! And to show that we're sorry Cole, we got you a can of nuts!"

Cole stood up and laughed, "Don't think I'm gonna be fooled you two. When I open that, a bunch of snakes are gonna pop out, well no." He opened the fridge and a truck load of toy snakes flew onto him. Everyone laughed, but I just frowned, why should I smile? It never did me any good.

No good at all.

me: poor little Thorny cant smile...

Thorn: Kai is warm...

me: THATS DISTURBING!

Thorn: whats with the Zombies?

me: Zombies are cool.

Thorn: you're a crazy freak!

me: Thank you!

Thorn: REVIEW!