9. The Darkness Rises

"There is no room for error. Be wary of your mission, and do not hold back."

He took off.

Heart pounding, ears slamming with his heart, Zane's feet drummed against the cobblestones of the monastery's courtyard, his body swift enough to move quicker than could be seen. Traditional ninjas carried the same ability. From the tops of the wall surrounding the mountaintop hideaway, forms began dropping quickly, leaping over the length of it from the other side, infiltrating the sacred home. Their hands were home to many weapons: guns, knives, switchblades, brass knuckles—anything and everything that an undesirable would carry with them in the pits of their pockets. There were at least twenty of them hoarding themselves over the wall, and even that was such a scanty number. All acquired the same target: Zane. And they would not yield.

He ducked the first brass-knuckle-wielding hooded figure, deciding to take to the legs with his own, swiping it down so that the perpetrator's own were knocked clean out from underneath him. The next was already waiting for him with several standing at his back, swinging the baseball bat in his hands towards Zane's skull; he quickly maneuvered his body out of the line of direction before bringing himself up again, taking his own fist and slamming it into the face underneath the hood. Like his training told him to, Zane used a backward attack to knock out the other two who were coming upon him with knives. Kitchen knives, too. Zane was vulnerable out there to serious injury; one misstep, and he'd become sliced cheese on the ground.

But watching him be crowded with hooded figures, Sensei Wu had no worries about him. Out of every student he once had, Zane was the only one he had left, the only student still working to graduate from ninja college and earn him the highest ranking out there. Wu had only begun "rankings" because he knew Zane needed some motivation—although the energetic young man had enough of it as it was—to continue through with his training without the heat of his brothers nearby him. The training course took on a whole different level from what Wu had used so long ago with his Masters of Spinjitzu. Now, the training course for Spinjitzu was hardly ever opened. He used it to train Zane against not skeletons and snakes, but against his own brothers and sisters, the Clockwork Army.

Many of the robots inside of the castle were often gone unseen, staying only in places they knew that they wouldn't exit unless needed. Wu decided to put all of them to work with knowing none of them had any real aim in life, using them as Zane's learning experience instead of people he'd never met before; most of them were light to the idea of helping Zane, once their leader, become a tougher subject. Some, like Yuki had once been, were not so friendly to the idea, but couldn't decline the request from Master Wu. And if they did refuse, they had to speak to whom most called "General Rikku" for his high status in the Army, after which the conversation must have scared them into agreeing with Wu's terms.

Thus far in his training, albeit a little sick but not afraid to continue, Zane was what Wu's ninja textbooks called a chūnin, which was the second to last high ranking you got. Zane was working harder than ever to become a jōnin, the highest ranking. In truth, Wu already believed Zane was a jōnin, but he didn't want to say so, for he did not want Zane to lose motivation and drop the entertainment that Wu provided.

He watched Zane fight lithely through the throng, using shurikens to stun the robot warriors and physical attacks to take them down. He worked through the twenty pretty quickly, although due to their programming and the orders given by Rikku, they kept attacking despite their "injuries," which most of them were not affected by. Wu stood upon the steps of the porch and watched this masquerade continue. Zane's dance-like movements were quick and graceful, his leaps bounding and finishing kills classical without mess. At the base of the steps, Rikku stood with his hands on his hips and eyes trained towards the horde of battles happening across his line of vision, expression almost angry, but Wu knew well that it was only Rikku's observant face. He could sense something wasn't right with Rikku—that something was bothering him—but wasn't going to ask just yet, when their focus should be trained on Zane and making sure he didn't get wounded. The point of the weapons was not to actually harm him, only to provide a learning experience.

"On your feet!" yelled Rikku towards one of the robots that had fallen back. The robot crawled back to its feet, as commanded, and returned to the innard of the mob.

Wu smiled when he saw Zane use a white tornado as his next attack to give him space from the crowding fighters, his Spinjitzu still pulsing with the life it had the day he first used it. Many robots were thrown back onto their shoulder blades beyond, skidding over the cobble, stunned. Zane then used this opportunity to run for the handle of the monastery door, which was sort of like the captured flag in this lesson, but the robots knew they were not supposed to let him touch it, for he would then win. They leaped upon him before he could reach it.

The sound of the shoji sliding open behind him made Wu turn around, seeing Yuki following outwards with a familiar blue teapot in hand. Yuki's face was uncharacteristically impassive, handing over the cup and teapot to Wu without so much as a comment that normally would've been given by the only emotional robot in Dr. Julien's creations. Light worry skipped over Wu's features. "Everything alright?" he asked Yuki. Over time, Wu had become fond of the robot, often making visits to the infirmary and asking him if he'd like to chat, just because he seemed like an awkward little man who had a hard time fitting in with the others. To sense the deep wrongness in him was almost a stab to the chest.

Yuki's eyes fell on him blankly. Focused. Unfocused. Then: "I am fine."

No, he did not sound fine. His voice was monotonic. It did not change. It sounded like the voicemail bot whenever you went to leave a message for someone as she told you how to leave one. It didn't change, it didn't waver, and it certainly held no emotion. Yuki's voice was supposed to move; it was the one voice out of everyone's that sounded like a real person's when it came to speaking. But this time, he sounded like a real robot. It startled Wu out of his sandals.

"That is not correct." Wu was aware that he should be paying attention to Zane, just as he was a minute ago when thinking he should ask Rikku what was bothering him, but this was a matter at hand that he was very, very afraid of. Yuki didn't look like he had the interest to stay long enough for the end of the fight to allow Wu to ask a question; he must pardon his previous mindset for now. "What is the matter, Yuki?"

Yuki's eyes followed routine. Focused. Unfocused. "There is no matter in need of attention." His voice, stoic, empty, blank—it made Wu feel lightly uneasy. He saw Rikku, arms crossed over his chest, take turn to twist his hips slightly so he could look at what exactly was going on behind him.

Wu frowned, stroking his beard. "Yuki—"

"Master Wu," said Rikku. Wu looked beyond towards the icy blue eyes of Zane's brother, his own face impassive, but that was characteristic of Rikku's personality—Yuki, on the other hand, was polar opposites of him, when not ridden by this strange difference. Wu blinked at Rikku to go on. "It is not Yuki's fault. There was a…minor complication."

"With what?" asked Wu.

Rikku turned back to the fight, but continued to speak. His eyes followed Zane. His voice was crisp, hard, and tart. "As you know, Zane has been working on the droids much like Father. His interest has been working on the broken robots we have in storage and returning them back to full function, although that takes quite a while to accomplish. Recently, Akamatsu here experienced a little function issue, and turned to him for help, but Zane accidentally slit and broke the rig attached to his emotion switch, and is unaware of how to fix it. So, Yuki's emotion has been stolen by the dysfunction with the rig, and though we're trying to figure out how to get it back to working states, it's not exactly an easy task."

Wu stared. Yuki's emotion switch was broken? "I sense you're not happy with this."

"Absolutely not," snapped Rikku without looking towards Wu. "It terrorizes me."

"How so?" Wu glanced at the still-present Yuki, whom didn't give way to the knowledge that he was being talked about. His eyes instead observed the fight going on beyond Wu's long hat without recognition of anything.

"Yuki's function is to feel. We just robbed him of that because of one little mishap when all he originally came in for was a sore wire. So of course it pisses me off."

"Is that why you are acting so bothered?"

Rikku didn't flinch. "For the most part."

An implication that there was something else wrong. Wu opened his mouth to inquire of what could possibly upset him more than his minor feelings could, when there was a sharp hissing sound coming from the courtyard that stole his attention. Everything in the courtyard stopped; the fight, the movement of knives, all stopped in question of what was happening. Zane frowned and looked up at the sky, apparently where the source of the snake-like hissing was coming from, before trying to find answer in the faces of his opponents, to no avail. Wu felt his body tense uncomfortably. He could sense this was definitely, definitely not normal.

Rikku became rigid. As if he weren't icy enough before, a look of anger and hatred zipped across his face long enough to be seen momentarily before he took off like a rocket across the courtyard. Zane saw his brother moving for him the second there was a loud sound of electricity zappingthat shot through the air. Sounding like something had just been exploded by the touch of two bolts together, but no sign of anything of the sort was visible. All of the robots scattered; Wu watched Rikku bowl into his brother, knocking him aside the danger, as the exact same second, there was movement of black shadows skirting across the wall.

It darted quickly. Wu only glimpsed its great movement. It was a small, quick black mass that darted across the courtyard, too quick to be visually marked; the lenses in Wu's eyes struggled to catch it, as there were not many places to hide in the barren courtyard, but the mass seemed to dissipate the second that it came to the other side of the courtyard. It did not stay gone for long. The hissing sound grew louder.

The black mass materialized and shot again across the yard, but this time was aimed for the small dragon statue that Wu had sitting beside the porch. Too quick for his eyes, it knocked over the golden interface and somehow managed to hit the button underneath it before shooting over the area again, this time hidden by the Spinjitzu training course that sprouted up from the ground instantly, pushing over many robots and flinging others into the air. Zane was lifted to the top of the spinning-dummy trap.

The course was not acting correctly. It was all spinning too quickly. The wooden baton poles began spinning so fast they smacked into the robots, the sound of electrical breakage screaming in Wu's ears, their bodies falling motionless on the ground as their panels were destroyed by the too-quick, momentum-propelled poles. Wu had only time to step down from the porch when the mysterious black mass, a shadow that moved across the courtyard and carried the scent of Death in its wake, manifested at the front of the steps and shoved him down.

Wu cried out when something colder than ice, colder than water underneath it in the wintertime, engulfed him, centralizing in his chest where his panel lay. The intense freezing was enormous, horrifying at its scariest, for it was like someone had gripped him with Death and was holding him captive for longer than it need linger. Wu couldn't move. He felt his system begin to react; a shutdown was being initiated. Cannot sustain temperatures greater than negative thirty; system power down. The mechanical voice in his head whispered. Wu gasped for air he didn't need, frightened by the overload of his body being attacked by too many icy temperatures. The feeling wrapped around his jaw and throat. Engulfing him. What was this? What was this strange black mass that was attacking his home, overtaking the equipment, and harming everyone in the monastery's courtyard? What…was…it….

System overload. Powering down.

Rikku was pinned to the ground by the slam of one of those damned poles in his chest. It had hit him too hard for him to handle, and now he was pretty much stunned out his wits, clapped to the ground because something in his chest was being taken over by being hit too hard. Since when did Rikku ever fall victim to this type of treatment?

He tried to sit up, but his chest was tingling too badly to work, along with what Rikku believed was a broken wrist. Something inside of his panel was broken. He could feel ticking gears trying to work together but not operating correctly, some part of his wires dancing with open electricity, little shots of lightning sparking over him. His eyes could see there were movements of it licking over his shirt, scorching it wherever it touched at the heavy, overpowering glimpse of lightning. Beside him, stowed over the ground, completely damaged robots that had once been part of a helping cause were now destroyed, useless, completely broken without ability to act. None moved.

This wasn't good.

Rikku looked up as Zane was flung off the top of the spinning dummy pedestal, being chucked over the air and across the courtyard at great speed. Rikku hopelessly tried to get up, but the electricity dancing on his broken stomach shot across his body, pinning him back down. I need to move for Zane! He thought. His little brother was going to be slammed into the wall or something—and whenever he did, he was going to break something and most likely die, because he wasn't a robot, and he freakin' couldn't be fixed. Rikku ground his teeth. By the time he got up, Zane would already be dead—Damn you, Zane—

A silver form shot across the courtyard towards his falling brother. Rikku caught a flurry of white streaming behind it, but this form didn't look anything like the black mass that was terrorizing this place, some supernatural whatnot that was disrupting the peace. This form looked like a human.

Zane was falling from the air. That moment was captive to the silver form, jumping into the air to catch the one human in this whole place that was valuable. If Zane died, Rikku wouldn't want to live. But this silver form wasn't about to let any of that happen.

Arms wrapped over Zane's falling body, safely pulling him to the ground in the arms of the savior that landed neatly on his feet without mess. Zane was safe and not a splattered egg over the ground. He was alive. He was okay. He was saved by—

A bolt of electricity zapped over Rikku's eye, making him cry out in pain, his head slamming back against the cobble. What the hell was going on? What was happening? He couldn't answer, and no longer could see has vicious bouts of the dangerous blue and yellow lighting shot across his face, submerging him by the minor dance it had once had exclusively in his panel, but was now a travelling band. Rikku cried out again as it tore into him, a bolt shooting up his back and exploding in his head—it ate him alive. He screamed in pain.

And then, there was nothing.

"RIKKUUUUU!" Zane screamed bloody murder, jumping out of his savior's arms and across the courtyard towards his brother, whose body convulsed hazardously over the ground, bolts of electricity dancing over his body. He shook, shivered, but even from here, there was no light in his eyes.

Yuki watched Zane run away from him. He still held out his empty arms, as if he was still holding Zane from where he caught him, watching the emptiness for a second before letting them droopily fall back to his sides. Destruction had befallen the courtyard of the peaceful monastery, things ridden by ruin, broken pieces and people lying aloof in no real connection to the world anymore. Yuki had sensed such dangers beginning to happen. He'd sensed something like this was bound to become. But it still wasn't very pretty to see firsthand. The equipment was overridden by some power—a Power that Yuki had felt, a shockwave shooting over the world an instant before the black mass, the unidentified Death, had an apparition in the world. That thing…

He saw it out the corner of his eye. It manifested over Wu's body. Immediately, Yuki flashed his attention to Zane, who seemed to be its target, who it seemed to want. The brother was screaming for his own, crying, wailing at the death that could easily be fixed. Somehow. Yuki watched the black mass rise and become larger and larger, a shadow ball that changed shape becoming something out of nothing, sensing that it was going to do something to Zane that would end up hurting him. Possibly killing him. He couldn't let that come to be.

The black mass shot towards the grieving ninja.

Yuki, somehow, by some chance, was faster.

He jumped in front of the black thing just seconds before it hit Zane. He didn't know how he got there. Had no CLUE how he'd gotten there so fast. But he was here, and he couldn't feel anything but the desire to protect Zane—Zane, who this monstrous thing wanted, who it targeted. The Zane that caused Yuki grief—but the Zane he couldn't let die.

The mass slammed into him, as whole and real as a real person. He skidded back a few steps, awaiting a malfunction that happened to Wu and to Rikku, but could feel nothing destroying him just yet; with his voice still functioning, Yuki yelled, "Zane! GO!" He wrestled with the mass, that was forcing itself against him, like it was trying to shove itself into his chest with no chance of ever getting in there. It was freezing cold. His hands went right through it. But inside it was the coldest black ice he'd ever felt. He'd get frostbite if he were human.

Zane's tear broken face stared at him in shock. "GO!" Yuki yelled, being shoved against the wall by this thing, his head cracking against it. "GO CALL ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS OR SOMETHING DAMN IT! DON'T YOU HEAR ME?!" Yuki hadn't ever spoken like that before. It was this demonic mass, this chilly cloud that was turning him angry, spiteful, even though he shouldn't be feeling anything right now. It was making him mad. Making him want revenge against Zane for killing Mitsuko. Killing his happiness by just the stab of her heart that would've been saved by the healer if it wasn't for that stupid, reckless, emotionless robot who thought he was king of everything. That robot that deserved to die—

"No," he growled, teeth clenched. "I won't let you take me over. I won't." Zane was gone, said his peripheral vision, but this thing was still trying to take Yuki. He grabbed at its cold mist, hoping he could latch onto it, chuck it over the cliff or something, something useful, but the monster that could hurt him was only solid when it came to attacking him. It appeared only to be solid when it was acting, but when others acted against it, it was nothing but cold air. Yuki bit down hard on his teeth and tried to shove back against it, hoping it would unpin him from underneath its lead grasp, failing to be able to lay hand on the mist. He heard something in his panel squeak under the force. Oh no. It was starting to bend.

"No!" Yuki growled again. He felt his muscles tense. His foot slammed against the ground. "Get—off—me!"

And then, the strangest peculiarity that ever became of this earth happened.

A barricade—a wall of what looked to be thin tree roots shot up from the cracks between the cobbles, ripping them out their places, separating Yuki and the black mass by peeling them apart. The roots soared towards the sky, peculiarly ripping into the air, and out of their several-numbered natural cavalry, created a wall between he and the mist. Yuki watched them explode from the ground. He'd never seen anything like it before. Almost Jack-and-the-beanstalk-ish, but this was no beanstalk. They were tree roots for sure. They grew tall enough to stretch past Yuki's height, then curl outwards from his body in elegant arcs down towards the mist on the other side. He watched these strangely-appearing elements of nature, shocked out of his mind, create a cage over the mist, wrapping around it, more little roots stretching up from underneath the cobbles to help assist in basket-weaving the dirty air in. Yuki didn't have time to be stunned anymore—it was air, and air could leave that cage any second now. His mind went numb as he raced for the house, hearing the hissing noise strengthen in agitation behind him, to find Zane.

He ran into the kitchen that Zane went into. He found him at the phone, as he was told, sobbing into the receiver. "Please pick up, Cole—please! I need you! Please, brother!" He sounded terrified. Yuki glanced back at the howling entity, captured by the rescuing roots, that still grew to capture it. How that happened, what it was, he didn't know. But they did not have much time. The overwhelming urge, the compulsion, to get Zane out of this forsaken sacred ground was immeasurably frightening, bundling into Yuki's throat like something to be choked on. He knew then that he needed to leave behind everyone to get the human man out of this place, away from here, before he would worry about anybody else. It would be tough to leave behind everyone. But if either of them died, then there wouldn't be anyone left to fix their fallen friends. He grabbed Zane's wrist forcibly. "We have to run," he said urgently.

Zane's face, slick with tears, denied him. He shook his head, turning away with the receiver in his hand. "Cole! CALL ME BACK IMMEDIATELY!"

"He's not going to answer! We need to go! NOW!" Yuki looked back. The wind had picked up outside. The strange anomaly was beginning to command the sky into darkness, and the wind into making things outside creak; whatever the hell it was, it was not a happy camper. Yuki grew uncomfortable standing here while these weird roots were the only thing between a ball of black ice and their murder.

"But—but the others—"

"Zane, we don't have time," Yuki grabbed his shoulder. Zane looked so scared that it made him feel horrible for being so rough, but if he wanted to live, they needed to run. "We'll come back for them, but we need to get you out of here. It wants you."

Yuki had been feeling the infatuation with Zane crawl off this thing since it got here. It wanted him just as he said it would, but for what reason was still quite unsure to the lonely healer who strung beads for fun and the human who had too big a heart. The howls outside from the attacker grew angrier and angrier by the seconds they wasted standing here exchanging glances. Zane's face went whiter than ice. "Why?" he asked, whispering. Yuki shook his head.

"If I knew that, don't you think I would've told you?" Yuki grabbed his sleeve. Thankfully to the rescuer's relief, Zane complied to being tugged away, his feet slamming over the ground after Yuki's. The healer didn't understand where this whole strange mess of an afternoon had come from. He'd think about the catalysts to the battle later, turning to Zane to make sure the poor guy was okay enough to stand on his own two feet, seeing him react to the mysterious roots that were still jumping out of the ground and clamping over the atrocious thing hell-bent on capturing Zane. Something in Yuki's chest told him that he needed to protect him. Keep him safe, keep him from harm, and make sure he made it out alive, even if Yuki didn't. Zane whimpered.

Yuki grabbed the handle of the large monastery gate and yanked with all his might. It responded with a slow groan. Being so close to the problem, Zane looked to be having a near panic attack, his eyes bulging, chest raging, ready to explode over his eyes that were automatically drawn to Rikku's body. Thankfully, Rikku could be fixed when they got back, and wasn't dead forever—neither was Master Wu—but there wouldn't be hope of that if Zane didn't get out of here first. Yuki grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him out the small crack in the door he made. "Run!" he said. The wind was horrible out here, shaking down all the trees, in violence for hitting them all too. Zane ran against the wind that was storming. Yuki glanced, slipping out the door, at the roots. They would not hold it there for much longer.

"Down the steps!" Yuki commanded. Zane was running down them quick, being careful not to trip and make all this useless by dying or breaking something. Yuki followed. The hissing of the monster was even hearable from out here, over the loud gale. It sounded like it was…was saying something, now that Yuki listened hard enough…He focused his hearing, making sure that Zane was ahead of him, to the sounds of the hissing. He tuned it over the gusto that was knocking them against the mountain.

"Sssssseeeeeeee….rrrrrrrrrrrr…ssseeeeeeeeeeeee…rrr rrrrrrrrrrr….Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…aaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy….nnn nnnnnnnnnnnn…Yyyyyyy…oooooooo…caaaaaaa….nnnnttttt… ..dehh…feeeetttt…..mmeeeeeeeee…I...wiillllllllllll ….wwww….innnnnn…theeeeeeeee….Grrrrrr….aaayyyyttttt ….Baaaa….tttlllllll…Tttttteeellllllllll…..yyyyyorr rrrrrrr….frrrr….eeee…..nnnnddddssss…I….wwwwilllll… ..slllll….aaaaaauuuu….ttttttt…..eerrrrr…..yooooo…. ALLLL."

Yuki's body tingled with discomfort. One last statement could be made out from the hissing, one that made Yuki happy that Zane couldn't hear:

"Yyyyooooooooo…..kkkk…eeeeeeeeeeeee...Sssssss….eeee ….vvvv….eennnnnnnnnnnnnnn…"

Yuki glanced back in shock. The sound of the hissing turned to bloodcurtling screams. Zane froze, looking backward at the monastery, looking too scared to go on, but Yuki shoved his shoulders. He was now just as scared. It said my name. "Go. Just run, Zane. Just run!"

They ran.

…

In the garage at the base of the steps, Yuki tore into it, quickly finding Rikku's car without hassle, and jumping into the driver's seat. Zane stood in the doorway without motion of getting in, too, and stared at him. "Where are we going?" he asked, shaking his head. "There are still robots in there. Live ones. I can't leave them." He looked miserable from here. Yuki sighed, nodding at him. He got it. Zane didn't want to leave them behind. "What about Ming? What if the monster takes them?"

Yuki stared at him. His voice came out slit, hard, and irritated. I sound like Rikku, he thought of the apathetic brother. "I'm going to get you to one of your friends' houses, okay? I'm coming back here after, but I need to make sure you're okay and safe before I can think about the others. Rikku would do the same. Our purpose has always been to protect you and your friends; let me do my job. Get in the car."

"I can't leave them," Zane whispered, pained.

"Zane, if you don't get in here, I'm going to hit you." Yuki motioned to the passenger side. "Get in. I will come back for them."

"What if you're too late?"

"GET. IN. THE. CAR, dammit!" Yuki could sense it coming. It was free. The thing. "It's coming! If you DIE, then there's absolutely NO POINT in this, and I'll just get killed too, and then what? Everybody in that monastery dies and no one will be able to fix them! If you stay alive, you can fix them later! OKAY?! NOW GET IN."

Zane's lip bobbed, but he complied, getting into the car with more tears being his friends this time. Yuki hit the gas without waiting for Zane to buckle up, sharply turning out of the garage quickly, gunning down the dirt road, hands taut to the wheel. Zane fumbled with his seat belt. "I swear, if the others die…" he whispered to himself, unexpecting for Yuki to hear him.

"Then you can fix them." Yuki flashed eyes at the rearview mirror, seeing terrible things at the monastery, and tried to pick up the speed that Rikku had bought this black car for in the first place. Zane's face was pale white. Quickly turning the wheel, Yuki brought them onto a road that would lead them wherever they were going, desolate and for nothing. "Where?" He asked quickly.

Zane blinked. "I don't know where anyone lives."

"Oh, for crying out loud—"

"—I was going to say, go to Ignacia and drop me off there," finished Zane, throwing Yuki an irritated look. "I know that Kai lives there at Four Weapons. I think I can figure out where that is."

Yuki pushed harder on the gas. The outside flew by them quicker than Ninjago law said he should've been going. He automatically switched on the GPS in his inner system, hearing the voice in his head ask for destination, after which he gave aloud. Zane looked at him funny for speaking to himself until it was later explained. Rikku's sleek black car was useful enough to carry them quick and far from the monastery's destruction.

Yuki's emotional switch might not of been working properly enough to permit him to feel full-on worry for his comrades, particularly Rikku and Master Wu, but there was the slight ebb of it in the edge of his mind that wanted to arise but was suppressed by a broken function. He felt guilty for leaving them behind. Soon enough, he'd return to them after dropping off Zane where he knew he'd be safe from that thing, just so he'd be able to go back for the others. Just soon enough.

Don't ask Yuki how he knew of the paranormal mist's desire to consume Zane in the way it had sucked itself into the body of Master Wu before detaching itself with a frightening slick sound. He had the terrible sense that Zane was in danger minutes before hell broke loose in the courtyard. He'd been having this since the Popsicle encounter earlier that day. He wasn't feeling exactly up to par with the idea of letting his former leader be attacked by an angry glob of see-through black mist that had the consistency of ice on the inside, able to literally force against him with the strength of something real. Equally an anomaly to be confused by was the strange roots of the earth shooting from nowhere at random before helping Yuki and Zane escape. What was that? Where had that come from?

The sense that something far deeper than the eye's vision had happened was overwhelming. Yuki repeatedly scanned the event over and over in his mind to grab any details that would help him understand what happened, but to nothing did he get an answer to. He had simply just been cornered by air and saved by roots. As if it were that simple…

He took a sharp turn onto a new road when Zane started to whimper again. Yuki didn't glance over at him. He's probably terrified, he thought, his "heart" softening in the memory of his healer trainings, when he used to calm down the worried family members of someone who was sick or dying in his mother's infirmary. He'd coax them with kind words, things to take their minds off of their hurt loved one so they wouldn't suffer so much with sadness and fright. This was just like that.

Yuki knew what he had to do.

He kept his eyes on the road, but used his heart to help Zane in a way he knew he could. There was only help offered, reaching out to him with words. "Do you know what Four Weapons looks like?" He transitioned.

Zane sniffled, glancing over at him. "I suppose. I mean, I can read. So if there's a sign, I'm sure I'll know where it is…" He pulled his hands into his lap, looking at them sadly. "I can always ask if I can't find it myself."

Yuki nodded. They were almost there…Just a little further… "Have you spoken to Kai lately?"

"Not in five years."

"I'm sure he'll be excited to see you, then."

"Assuming he wants to see me."

"Well if he doesn't…" Yuki swerved down a desolate road, bringing down his speed limit as they neared the road where policemen usually patrolled during the day, quite certain that since Ignacia was only a few decimals away, his speed wouldn't matter anyway. He didn't realize how quiet and thoughtful his voice sounded until later on. "…Then he needs to be stuffed in a corner to think about what he's done."

Zane flashed him a weak smile. Yuki pulled to a stop just atop a large, green hill with a board stating that this was the Ignacia they were looking for. With a population of only 163 people, Ignacia didn't seem to be teeming with anything but farmers and antique shops, from just a slight point of view over the look of the small hill. Around the grassy curvature in the earth, the healer saw people wading through the waters, picking at wheat or something while they stacked it into piles on the shore of a pond that ran carefully around the pure green lands. Ironically placed just a few feet over a small cobble path from the pond was a tall building with dark shingles—and a reinvented sign with the words Four Weapons etched onto the wood. Guess Zane wouldn't have to be scavenging for Kai after all.

Yuki looked at him, offering a really small, empathetic smile. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he told the wary Zane. His former leader didn't appear to want to exit the car. "I promise. I have to go back for them now. Trust me…I only did this so you'd be safe." And I still have no idea WHY it is, exactly, that you have to be totally safe.

Tears fell over Zane's cheeks. His lip bobbed. "Thank you, Yuki," he whispered, before slipping out of the car into the afternoon's scary light. Yuki immediately shifted into reverse and hit the gas to the floor, jolting backwards over the road and spinning a turn before he could take off back home. Please, whatever lord listens to robots, he thought, hands gripping tightly at the wheel, let the others be safe.

So the bad stuff starts... You all knew it was coming. :(

Don't worry, like Yuki mentioned on multiple occasions, Rikku and Wu can be fixed. They're not dead, just disabled.

But hmmm...strange things like roots appearing to save Yuki and vengeful balls of black mist trying to kill Zane? Wonder what's going on...

Go have an awesome day/night