This chapter is finally finished after being hindered by illness, business, and writer's block, but it's finally here! Great thanks to all of you for keeping with me, as I honestly couldn't bring myself to finish this without readers/reviewers. You are incredibly appreciated.

Without further ado, the conclusion (finally) of The Last Voyage.

I can still hear the water.

It presses on the edge of my consciousness, the sound, the feeling of inhaling the ocean in scorching fire, of forgetting how air tasted- I can't breathe- why couldn't I breathe- there's so much water just everywhere and I feel so cold-

It won't stop rushing in and this time, there's nothing for me to hold onto, no one coming to my rescue, just water and sound and nothingness that terrifies me and turns my stomach to a swirling tempest of nausea and absolute fear and-

"Hey, Ash? You doing okay?"

What?

My eyes open and suddenly I'm not drowning anymore. Instead I'm in bed, Lloyd's bed I remember, and I'm lying in my soggy clothes that crack and shift with every movement as my ragged breath stirs salty strands of hair from my face. That's right. The storm left and Jay and I were given a chance to breathe-

I amend that thought. We'd been given a chance to rest, except my room was still flooded with water, so Lloyd lent me his sleeping space in the meantime and Jay and I had turned in for a couple of hours. At least, it was supposed to be a couple of hours.

I take a glance around the room and realize the other beds are empty, and a familiar, concerned figure stands in the doorway.

I sit up in a shatter of salt-cracked clothes. "Uh, hello, Cole," my voice splits with rawness as I struggle to speak, lancing pain straight through my lungs. I cough a couple of times to clear my throat. "How long have I been out?"

"Just a few hours," he approaches a little tentatively. Understandable given my history of bursting into flames when I'm not feeling 100%. "Jay just got up a little while ago, said you were fidgeting, so I thought I'd check up on you. Zane made some dinner if you want anything."

I shake my head, balking as the motion makes stars explode in my vision. "No thanks. My throat still feels like crap."

A frown twitches against his lips. "Did you… did you dream about the- uh-"

I swallow, and he grimaces. The ship lilts to one side, but neither of us speaks.

My lips crack with a tiny smile that doesn't spread to the rest of my face. "What, you're not going to ask if I want to talk about it?"

I don't mean to sound bitter, but his expression shifts from careful to wary. "Why, do you need to-?"

I shake my head. "No. Honestly, I'd rather forget it ever happened."

"Then why should I ask?"

I blink up at him, and his gaze shifts away. He takes a deep breath. "The others are starting to bail out water from the lower decks. That hole the starteeth ripped in the hull isn't getting fixed anytime soon, but at least it's given us a better way of draining what came in."

His coffee-colored eyes focus back on me as he approaches. Carefully, I notice. "Come on, some fresh air might do you some good," he offers a hand, and I accept it as my back strains and cracks. Whether from the dried salt or my aching muscles or even both? I don't know. "If it makes you feel any better, the sun is out now."

Makes me feel any better? I let that slide and manage a smile. A little forced, but it seems to do its job. Cole relaxes slightly and lets go of my hand once I've gained my footing. "Well, when you put it that way." I spark a little fire around my wrist, watching Spitfire swirl in a halo of greenish-blue flames from the salt still caked around my fingers. One of my fingernails is split and cracked with blood that runs down the side of my hand, and I wonder morbidly if it's even mine. My smile flickers. "How is Jay?"

"Better," Cole answers. "He started helping out and won't shut up, so I'm guessing he's pulled himself together."

I laugh splutters from my cracked lips. "Sounds like Jay."

Cole leads me out of the room without much else to say, and together we make our way to the room that still haunts my nightmares, its door saturated and warped beneath the weight of phantom water. I struggle to shake the dark thoughts aside as Cole pushes open the door and releases a new slosh of water that pools our feet.

Someone grumbles as my vision slowly adjusts to the light beaming in from outside, through the gaping hole that had nearly killed me and Jay. I blink a dozen times and refocus on Kai's silhouetted shape and his frustrated scowl.

"Ugh, this is hopeless! Now that we have no rudder, we've been drifting aimlessly and we'll never get to the Dark Island!"

Misako struggles to sort through an armful of damp scrolls, holding them up to the sunlight in an attempt to either dry them or read their slightly foggy script. "We only know what is foretold to happen. Not when it will happen."

"That doesn't mean we won't starve to death or sail off the edge of the earth," Jay gripes as he smears his nose with a soggy sleeve. "Not that I'd get any more wet if that happened."

Cole sloshes over to the assembly line as Jay throws another bucketful of water through the hole in the wall. The edges are jagged and splintered, grimly reminiscent of bite-marks- a forbidding reminder of just what destroyed it and nearly the rest of the ship. A small chill creeps down my spine.

"We don't really have another choice," Nya says, offering a small smile as I join her off to one side. "We can't exactly run repairs in the middle of the ocean."

"But we can't just stand here and do nothing," I fold my hands under my arms to warm my fingers. "The longer we're out here, the more desperate our situation is going to get. And there's no guarantee those things won't come back."

Something clatters to the ground loud enough to make me jump. What the hell-?

"What is it, Zane?"

"Zane?" his name cracks my voice as I take a quick, calming breath. It isn't another storm, it isn't the starteeth returning, it isn't the water coming back and forcing its way down your throat until you can't breathe anymore-

"I sense something," the white ninja's careful voice pierces my panic as he approaches the hole in the wall, peering outward with narrowed, ice-blue eyes toward…?

"Is it the falcon?" Cole asks.

Jay's eyes widen, flickering with a sudden, inexplicable terror. "Is he alright?"

"No," Zane shakes his head. "It's so-"

His expression suddenly explodes with fear. "Something else! Brace yourselves!"

"What!"

The Bounty explodes with violent, splintered sound, toppling Lloyd off his feet and sending me crashing to the ground beside him as the room bursts with intense tremors and wild, panicked screams- a few coming from my own lips. Just as suddenly as it began, the attack stops, and I lift a burning face scraped and streaming saltwater mixed with blood. I wipe at it with a grimace as an arm appears in my vision to help me to my feet.

"What the hell was that?" I manage to cough as Lloyd's own bedraggled face meets mine.

"We crashed into something," he answers, grey eyes flicking to the wall where Jay scrambles to look outside.

The blue ninja stares outward at where I can just see a strip of white, billowing sand. His expression scrunches. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure," Zane answers. There's a long, jagged slit across the leg of his pants he must've opened in the crash, or maybe even last night, and it flashes scraped skin as he approaches Jay and the hole. "But I'm going to find out."

"Wait, Zane-"

The white ninja doesn't stop, completely ignoring Kai as he leaps out of the hole without another word and disappears.

Jay looks back at the rest of us, worry puckering his face. "Is anyone else a little scared? The last time he acted like this, we found out he was a nindroid."

"We can't let him go alone," Cole says. He approaches the hole, a signal for the rest of us to follow.

Nya falls into step beside me. "Feeling okay?"

"Of course," I clear my throat with a swirl of dragon around my wrist. "Dry land will do me good."

"The sooner we get off this ship the better," Jay grumbles in agreement as Kai drops onto the sand. It isn't that far of a jump, and the sand looks plush enough to absorb any impact. "I think I've had enough sailing to last a lifetime."

I land on the beach with a crack of my salt-soaked knees. Lloyd drops down beside me as I shuffle forward, the sand caking to my legs in thick sheets as I approach Zane.

He stands just a few feet away, his gaze fixed on the looming, mountain-like rock that spears the sky before us, gouged with countless stairs that lead up to a tall, weather-born tower. He approaches it as if in a trance, his blue eyes transfixed on the tower high above us.

Lloyd pauses as he takes in the structure before us. "Who would build a lighthouse way out here?"

"It's not a lighthouse," Zane says, offering a shake of his head without even looking back at us. He steps onto the first set of stairs. "It's a prison."

The word hangs in the air for a few stunned seconds, allowing Zane to get several steps ahead of us before we even start to follow. A prison? For what? The thought makes me shudder.

"Who would be locked up way out here?" Kai muses as we begin to climb.

I swallow the lump in my throat. "To be honest, I'm not sure I want to find out."

A warm hand presses against my back, and I look up to meet Cole's softened eyes.

"Just keep climbing."

A few minutes pass of silence, of all of us collectively holding our breath as the tower looms ever closer. At some point in time, I realize I actually am holding my breath, and have to shudder in air through a ragged breath that spooks Jay and nearly sends the rest of us tumbling down the stairs. Not once does Zane pause.

We're about a quarter of the way from the top, our legs cracking and wobbling with the strain of so many stairs, when the entire island shudders in the rumble of a low, grumbling roar. We all stumble to a stop, exchanging terrified glances as Spitfire tightens in a panicked vice grip around my wrist.

Jay moans. "Oh, I should've brought an extra pair of underwear."

"Mysterious," Sensei breathes, his dark eyes flicking across the ocean that continues to lap innocently at the beach. My hands tighten in a burst of warmth as he turns back to us with a hardened gaze. "We better keep going!"

Zane and Lloyd are the first to reach the top, and as Zane steps within arms' reach of the tower, a small camera whirrs to life just above the door.

"Uh, should we smile?" a nervous quip trembles from Jay as the camera swivels to take in the entire group before focusing completely on Zane.

"Creepy," Kai breathes beside me as something crashes behind the door. A dozen other noises follow, moving and scraping and slamming that makes me, for a split second, wonder how fast I can make it back to the Bounty before the handle turns and the door finally creaks open.

"Zane!"

Everyone shuffles back as an old man emerges from behind the door, nearly swallowed in a rumpled lab coat that slumps on his wiry frame as he reaches to fix his smudged spectacles. His face is a glowing beacon of absolute bewildered excitement as he takes in the white ninja, who stares at him as if he's seen a ghost.

"Is it really you?" the old man breathes as he reaches forward with trembling hands to touch Zane, his fingertips finding the white ninja's arm before he's suddenly pulled into a wild hug. "You found me!"

Found him?

"Uh, do you know him?" Lloyd asks, his confused grey gaze flicking between the old man and Zane, who softly returns the hug with sudden reverence. What the hell is going on?

The old man laughs almost hysterically as he pulls away from the white ninja, still keeping him within arm's reach. "Of course I know him! I built him for heaven's sake!"

Built him? He built Zane? But that would make him-

"You're Zane's father?"

The revelation breathed from my lips seems to snap the entire group into wide-eyed realization, staggering all of us back a step as we take in the father and son before us- the weathered old man and the tall white ninja- the resemblance between the two suddenly striking as they stare at each other with the same blue gaze.

"Holy shit," Cole breathes beside me.

"But my memory tells me that you have passed," Zane speaks to his father in a voice almost drowned beneath the whispering waves. He seems calm, but his clenched hands and desperate eyes tell a very different story. He almost wobbles on his feet.

"Ah," his father smiles almost bitterly. "You found your memory switch."

The island rumbles with another, louder roar that cracks the air around us strong enough to pop my ears violently. Zane's father fidgets, tugging his son closer to him as he stares at the ocean behind us. "Hurry, it can't know you're here," he whispers, blue eyes wide and terrified as he ushers us to follow him. "Or else there'll be dues to pay."

Jay gulps. "It?"

"I'll explain everything inside," Zane's father says. His gaze flicks to his son. "Including why it is that you thought I was dead."

We step into the dark, damp entrance of the tower, and Nya pauses, casting a dejected glance backward at the mutilated ship.

"Well… the Bounty's sailing days are over."

"Come, Nya," Sensei hurries her in as Zane's father hastens to the door. It swishes shut and we are immediately enveloped by the smell of saturated wood and… tea? I inhale another lungful of the scent as a long wooden staircase greets us from the dimness, the stairs spiraling up the wall like a creaking ribbon toward the top of the tower, which looms at a dizzying height above us, hidden by a ceiling of thick wood boards. This set wouldn't be out of place in an old horror movie, except for the smell of warmth and comfort and the modern surveillance station huddled just beside the door. Zane's father finishes barricading the entrance and shuffles toward it, aiming a camera down at the Bounty, which looks even more mutilated on-screen.

He breathes a sigh of relief. "I think we're safe," he turns back to us with a smile. "This way."

We follow Zane's father up the stairs, which creak and groan beneath our feet as we make our way toward the small, square opening to the top of the tower. The higher we get, the more I huddle against the wall and keep my eyes squarely focused on the steps ahead, my already churning stomach lurching a little more at the thought of falling so far to the bottom.

The room we arrive at is a far cry from the rest of the tower- brightly lit with windows on all sides beautifully overlooking the crystal-faceted ocean. I can't help my amazement at the brilliance as I step farther into the room, ushered by Zane's father.

"Please, please, have a seat," he smiles warmly as the group files in from below. "You must be thirsty."

My salt choked tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth at the thought of drinking something real, fresh, though with a glance around the room I don't see anything resembling a kitchen, much less a dining area. Just a few scattered mechanical objects.

"Seat?" Zane echoes with a scratch at his head, where a clump of salt clings to the roots of his white-blond hair. "Where?"

His father gives us a knowing look as he reaches for a lever behind him, tugging on it sharply and sinking a section of the room with a motorized whir. A table and seating area replaces it, clicking into place seamlessly without a single shudder or line to show where it came from. Jay's breathing hitches beside me.

Zane's father beams. "There, of course!"

"Wow, that's pretty smart," Nya whistles appreciatively.

"A technical wizard," Kai adds with a look of reverence toward the old inventor.

Sensei is the first to move toward the table, taking a seat between Lloyd and Misako as the rest of us fill in. I slump down near Cole, at the head of the table, where I can just see a strip of sand give way to the glistening ocean. Jay is last to sit as Zane's father clicks a button on a nearby dashboard, summoning a small robot carrying a tower of ceramic cups in a clamped hand. His son remains standing, watching the robot with interest.

It clicks toward us on several rickety wheels, pausing just beside my elbow to hop onto the table. It rattles around to each of us, placing a cup before each person, then jumps off the table to retrieve a teapot from Zane's father. It returns to the table and dispenses an equal amount of steaming tea into each cup, but as it reaches his side of the table, a curious look crosses Jay's face. He moves his cup away from the pot's spout just as the robot begins to pour, and it immediately corrects to the cup's new location. A smile quirks Jay's lips as he moves it again, and again, and again, until the robot is jarring to keep up with the circling cup. Finally, the robot just spills a stream of hot tea directly onto Jay's hand.

A laugh explodes from my lips as Jay leaps up with a wild scream, nursing his burned hand as the rest of the table bursts with laughter. The robot finishes its round as if nothing's happened, pouring its final cup, mine, before hopping off the table to head back toward its resting spot. I take a sip of my tea as the laughter begins to die down, flooding my mouth with an incredibly sweet, warm flavor that makes me blink a couple of times. I take another, deeper drag.

"Father," Zane's careful voice quiets the remaining laughter as he turns toward his father, tracing a blueprint just in front of him with a tender hand. "I don't… understand. I saw you pass."

"Yes. You did," his father's blue eyes cloud with memories. "And believe me when I tell you I thought I was kaput!"

A wistful smile pulls at his lips. "But as you know in Ninjago, the past is the past…"

"And the future-" Misako adds.

"Is the future," Sensei finishes with a slow nod.

"Yes," Zane's father says as he turns back to his son. "But after I turned off your memory switch, what you didn't see is Bonehead Samukai reviving me with a special elixir. He wanted me to create state of the art war machines for their army. He said if I did, then I would be able to see my son again."

He swallows. "And to make sure I didn't escape, he chained a leviathan to keep guard."

"A leviathan?" Lloyd echoes with wide grey eyes. "That's what we heard in the ocean?"

"Yes," Zane's father nods. His gaze flicks back to Zane's. "When Samukai didn't return, I thought I would never see you again. But as so much time has passed, I started to question if you would ever want to see me again. I was afraid if you found what horrible things I've created, you would think I was a… a monster."

My grip tightens around my empty cup as Zane places a careful hand on his father's shoulder. "We will get you out of here, father. Now that we are together, perhaps we can invent a way off this rock."

Jay's face suddenly lights up as he lets go of his injured hand and clatters to his feet, instead using it to gesture out the window where the Bounty sits far below. "Could you repair the rocket boosters on our ship?"

Zane's father shuffles toward the window, peering outward before grasping the sill excitedly. "That sailing ship has rocket boosters?"

Nya joins the two with a slight frown. "Well, the rotors and gears are shot…"

"Ah, pish posh!" Zane's father waves away the negativity with a grin. "No matter! I'll have your ship air-worthy by dawn!"

Something rumbles outside and the entire tower suddenly convulses, sending things tumbling from high shelves as the room becomes a blur of wild tremors.

"It's an earthquake!" Kai shouts as he grasps franticly at a few rattling cups that threaten to crash to the floor.

"No," Zane's father breathes in absolute, pure terror as his gaze focuses on something outside. "It's much worse."

He whirls toward us. "He's here! Everyone hide!"

Everyone scrambles, scattering around the room and down the stairs as I spot an empty spot on the shelf circling the ceiling and quickly pull myself onto it. I flatten myself against the wall, my heart racing in my throat as the entire tower shudders in the force of another roar, and suddenly Jay appears, trying to squeeze onto the shelf beside me. I tug him up as Zane's father sits at the table, his entire body shaking as something slithers against the window below me and Jay.

"Nobody make a sound," Zane's father whispers as the sound reappears, even closer. He plasters on a wide, forced smile as he turns to face… whatever it is beneath me and Jay. I swallow a shudder. "If it isn't my old chum!"

The thing squelches against the window and a thick shape suddenly appears in another window- a long, blue tentacle dotted with eyes the size of dinner plates. Jay gags beside me, and I shoot him a look.

The tentacle thing scrutinizes the room, its several gazes focusing on the table in front of Zane's father, which still holds the eight cups from earlier. They seem to narrow before Zane's father quickly overturns them and starts tapping on them with a pair of sticks and a hysterical laugh.

"Just marching to the beat of my own drum!" his voice cracks with forced cheerfulness that he quickly covers up with a light cough. His hands tremble almost violently. "You know, doing whatever I can to pass the time since I'm so, you know, alone?"

A dozen eyes blink in unison behind the pane of glass, and for a terrifying second I wonder if it's going to come crashing into the room after us, but instead the leviathan seems to accept the response and slithers out of sight. A relieved breath slips from my mouth as Jay and I begin to climb down from our shelf. Everyone else emerges from their hiding places as Zane's father puts down the sticks with his own sigh of relief.

"If we're going to make something to get out of here, we're going to have to hurry," Kai says. "Before it comes back."

Zane's father nods. "I'll just need copies of the ship's schematics if you have them, and whatever tools you've got. We'll get to work immediately and finally be off this wretched rock."

"One… two… three…" I count to myself under my breath, tugging each roll of thick, heavy fabric trapped under a low shelf into the open. The window I'd flown through to get in here lets in a breeze of cool, salty ocean air that sticks my damp hair against my neck and face, hindering my sight as I reach for the last roll in the deep corner. My fingers strain against my shoulder as I flatten myself against the shelf and just scrape the roll with my nails.

I let out a growl as I retreat. "Dammit," I grumble and angrily roll my sleeves up to reveal an also frustrated Spitfire. "Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

I crawl to the ground and shuffle under the shelf, almost inhaling a scatter of dust before I finally grab my prize from the corner. I start to shimmy back out when I accidentally scrape my hand into a gap between the floorboards, screaming a curse as I immediately smack my head against the shelf in the recoil.

"Having trouble there?"

It's Zane's father. A lovely impression to make. I roll the rest of the way out and sit up, nursing my damaged hand as I drop the roll with the others. Zane's father watches me with an amused expression on his face.

"I've got it," I answer a little curtly and examine the side of my hand. Tiny droplets of blood well up among the shredded skin, and I frown as more appear with every passing second.

The tiny smile disappears. "Looks like you nicked yourself rather well," Zane's father hurriedly approaches, crouching down beside me. "Let me take a look."

"It isn't that bad. It just hurts," I say, though let him take my hand. He holds it gently in his own, nearly swallowing it in the loose, wrinkled, yet still incredibly warm grasp.

"You seem to have ripped right through the first couple of layers of skin. That's where all the nerves live, so that's why it hurts like the devil," he chuckles softly to himself. "Here, I'll go find something to dress it."

"Thank you, but I think I'll be alright," I take my hand back as he releases. "Scratches like this don't last very long."

"Ah, yes," he pushes his spectacles farther up the bridge of his nose, revealing a few deep-set freckles. "Monarchs of Ninjago do heal rapidly. Still, it wouldn't do for you to contract an infection before it heals. That is possible, especially while you're working."

I blink as he gets to his feet. "How do you-?"

"Know that? I've had a lot of time on my hands, so I've done quite a bit of reading," he chuckles a little to himself as he shuffles off to grab a bottle off another shelf. He grabs a cloth from a basket beside it. "The history of Ninjago's rulers is quite interesting, one of the better catalogued compared to other details of the past. Of course, it's no substitute to talking to the real thing."

"You might know more than me at this point. I've learned more combat training than history lessons."

He laughs softly again, a sound so familiar it's hard to believe Zane isn't his biological child. He returns to me, dabbing some liquid from the bottle onto the cloth. "This may sting a little."

"That's fine," I hold my hand out to him, biting back a flinch as the alcohol burns my hand. Spitfire swirls uncomfortably. "Thank you, by the way. I tend to forget I'm human from time to time."

"Don't we all," he says with another smile. "I've always enjoyed the company of machines myself. Though, in the end, we're all mortal. Even machines wear away if they're not properly cared for."

My hand goes comfortably numb as Zane's father finishes cleaning. I lick my lips. "He's been doing really well. Zane, I mean. Spectacular, actually. He's helped all of us more than we can ever repay."

A wistful smile crosses his face. "As he was programmed to do. Though I have to admit he's exceeded any code I could have placed in him. He's very…"

"Human."

He nods. "I am elated to say the least. I've always considered him my son, even though he wasn't created organically."

"Mr. - ah-"

Another smile. "Dr. Julien, please."

"Dr. Julien, then. Zane is an incredible, complex person, and the more I see the two of you together the more similarities I've noticed, even the unintentional ones. Zane is your son, and you are his father. There's no denying that."

"I look forward to spending time with him," Dr. Julien breathes. "To make up for all the time we've lost."

I pick up a fabric roll and stand up. "Then I guess we'd better get down to work. The faster we get this done, the faster we're on our way."

A familiar twinkle erupts in his ice-blue eyes. "Let's get to it, then."

"I have to admit I had my doubts, but this honestly looks really nice," Kai smiles as we look up at the towering, taut balloon above us, made of several dozen colors of different fabric. The Bounty seems to gleam with newness in the moonlight, though a barely careful glance shows its own patchwork of repairs. Still, having it back on its feet makes all of us swell with relief, especially Nya who hasn't stopped smiling since we started.

"I'm excited to finally get off this island," Cole stretches with a wide yawn. "I don't know how Dr. Julien kept himself together for so long."

"Hear, hear," Jay agrees with a yawn of his own.

"There are no limits for what a parent would do for their child," Sensei says. "Even in imprisonment."

My eyes graze the crystalline ocean before us as it sparkles in the light of the moon and rolls onto the pale sand, lapping gently at the ship it had nearly destroyed just a couple of days ago. It's hard to believe the same water could hold something so sinister, something that could kill all of us in a matter of minutes. I shake the morbid thoughts aside and instead take another deep breath of the crisp ocean air, savoring the way it fills my lungs so completely. "You know, minus the prison and the sea monster, this place is incredibly peaceful. And beautiful."

"It's a small wonder of the world tucked away in the middle of the ocean," Misako nods sagely. "I would love to return someday."

"Let's focus on leaving first," Lloyd slips a laugh trimmed with carefully-concealed anxiety. He must be in complete agony after being marooned for so long, so eager to get on with our journey and complete it.

Spitfire tightens around my wrist. Maybe that's why I'm so reluctant to leave.

"Everyone aboard! It's coming!"

Dr. Julien and Zane come clattering down the stairs in a panic, careening down the steep rock face with no sign of stopping.

It's coming? But the ocean has been so calm the entire time we've been working. How could a sea monster possibly sneak up on us-?

"It's here!"

I turn at the sound of Kai's voice as a screech rips the air over our eardrums, popping my hearing with a painful tear as it echoes over the entire island. The ocean lapping so innocently just seconds ago collapses around several impossibly monolithic tentacles blackened by the moonlight, dripping water and slime as they curl threateningly through the night air. It rips another scream.

"Get us out of here, Nya!" Jay tugs at his girlfriend, galvanizing her into action as we all scramble to board the ship. Nya takes off for the helm as the rest of us are left to face the dozen shapes that spear the ocean around us.

Jay trembles. "That thing is big. Really big."

"There's so many of them," Lloyd staggers back from the rail as a tentacle swerves too close to the ship, joined soon after by another long, dripping mass.

My stomach churns. "It's not going to let us go without a fight."

The Bounty rises with a sudden lurch, nearly toppling us off our feet as Nya twists the ship into the air at a jerking speed. The ship moves slowly, sputtering to stay afloat as Nya struggles to weave it through the maze of tentacles that seems to grow in size every second. She tugs us into a hairpin turn that flattens my insides to the base of my spine, but suddenly I can see a patchwork of dim stars ahead. Open sky.

"Hold on!" Zane shouts as Nya punches the engine, sending us screaming forward in a burst of fire toward the emptiness beyond-

I'm sent flying, rocketing backward as the deck pitches and the floor disappears beneath my feet. The world spins and turns and wheels around me as I struggle to get my bearings but I crash against the stern of the ship hard enough to jar my shoulder into my neck and blacken my vision for several terrifying seconds. The deck lurches again and I'm sent rolling back where I came from, except I can see where I'm going as the ship disappears in darkness and-

I fall. Downward. Into some kind of pit, except it's still dark and I can't see-

Something moves. No, someone, flooding the hole with light so I can finally see three shapes with general clarity. Blue, red, black.

"Hey, Ash!"

"You doing okay?"

A pair of warm, familiar hands find me in the dizziness of my vision and help me to my feet. I blink and it thankfully begins to clear.

"Hey, are you alright?"

It's Cole. I manage a nod that makes my head spin. "Yeah. Think I rattled my head a bit, but I'm alive."

"Good thing we remembered to close the door," Jay laughs almost hysterically, giving a small stomp to the wood beneath our feet.

"Lloyd, use your elemental powers!" Sensei shouts from somewhere above my head. I look up and see Lloyd scrambling to his feet, a bruise already staining his face.

"As you wish, Sensei!"

A furious grimace clenches his teeth tight as Lloyd gathers his power near his core, casting the ship in its crackling green light before he sends it crashing toward the tentacles that envelope the Bounty.

"Release us, you monster!"

The ship is sucked into a field of radiant energy, scorching the air with the smell of lightning and sulfur as the Leviathan recoils with an excruciating scream. The Bounty jerks forward again, engines roaring.

"Well done, Lloyd!"

Nya struggles to right the ship as we suddenly shoot toward open sky, pitching us in circles again as we attempt to reassemble ourselves back on the deck. I make my way out of the hole just as the entire ship screeches to a halt. I manage to stay on my feet.

"This thing just won't quit!" Lloyd growls. His power sparks angrily around his hands, cracking the air with bursts of electricity. I mime a deep breath at him despite my own hitching lungs, and he struggles to follow suit.

"The thrusters! I need to check on them!"

Dr. Julien suddenly rockets past, clamoring toward the back of the ship and out of sight as the tentacles tug us closer to the ocean. Zane clatters to the railing.

"We have to do something," Kai's jaw sets tightly. "Now. Before we're eaten."

Tentative fire ignites around my hand. "I'd go, but there's a chance I set the balloon on fire. The gas will explode and we'll be in even worse shape."

Cole's lips set in a grim line. "That's starting to look like our only option."

"It's chained!"

Zane stands at the railing, leaning almost completely over it as his eyes set on something in the water. They harden as he climbs onto the thin, trembling rail of brass.

"Zane!" his father shouts from the upper deck, appearing almost from nowhere in the dark beneath the crown of tentacles. "What are you doing?"

"The Leviathan won't let us leave!" Zane shouts back. His hands tighten at his sides. "I think I know a way I can help!"

"But you can't jump in!" Dr. Julien streaks in a panic toward his son, taking the steps two at a time despite the rumbling ship. "These oceans are filled with starteeth!"

"He's right, Zane!" Kai shouts as the white ninja turns almost wistfully back to the ocean. "You'll be swarmed before you make it back!"

Zane's eyes slide shut. "I know."

He disappears from the railing.

"Zane, no!" his father screams in absolute horror as the ship jerks again, toppling us into each other and keeping us from going after our friend.

Lloyd growls angrily as we crash into the railing. "Why won't this thing just let us go!"

"Better question is what is Zane thinking!" Cole bristles as a spray of slime explodes on impact with the deck and coats his back. "He's going to get himself killed down there!"

"We can't go after him," I shake my head as I stare at the murky, churning water beneath us that hides the tiny speck of white barely visible among the foam. "None of us can hold our breath that long."

"So what, we're supposed to leave him there?"

"Jay's right. We have to do something."

"We can't, Kai," my lungs heave. "Not without putting ourselves in danger. We just have to trust him."

The ship plummets another dozen meters, and I clutch for dear life onto the railing before my face is suddenly coated with-

Water.

"It's pulling us down!" Lloyd shouts as the deck pitches and we're sent sliding down the nearly vertical slope, barely slowed by our grasps to the railing as more water begins to crash its way onto the ship. I can feel my heart starting to scream in my ears as Jay trembles beside me and Lloyd disappears, dislodged by the violent lurch of the ship. Not this again. Not again. Please, not again-

The Bounty is plunged downward and I earn another mouthful of acrid saltwater, strangling a gurgled scream that explodes from my lips and scorches my throat as my psyche shatters with panic and my body is suddenly curling with green-blue flames that ignite the water- except it's still lapping at my legs and arms and I can't get rid of it- why won't it go away-?

Someone grabs onto me as the Bounty suddenly shoots forward, toppling me and whoever's grasping me to the deck as the ship finally, finally rights itself. My vision spins and distorts as I struggle to make sense of what's just happened, of why the floor beneath me is suddenly solid and straight and why someone is clenching onto me so tight I can feel it through my suit. Water spills around my head like a burning halo as my eyes slide shut and I extinguish my flames with one heaving, scorching breath after another. Slowly, slowly, as I realize I'm safe. I'm safe.

"You two okay?"

A distorted voice prods at my semi-consciousness, and I let my eyes open to Kai's concerned face, Cole's just next to his. Another breath.

"Yeah. I think."

The person next to me releases their vice grip on my arm, drawing my gaze to their hazy blue figure. Jay.

"No more water," he mutters with a heaving breath of his own. "No more. Ever again. Let's stick to flying without sea monsters."

"The Leviathan," I cough. "It let us go."

Kai nods. "Smooth sailing from here on out."

"Please don't jinx it," Jay moans as he starts to slump to his feet. I follow suit. "I don't think I can handle another episode like that."

"What happened?"

Lloyd clatters over from where he'd been assisting his mother to help a staggered Dr. Julien to his feet. The ugly grimace he'd worn since the fight started is gone, replaced by a beaming grin. "Zane released the Leviathan and now it's letting us go!"

"Zane did this?" I turn to the others. Cole nods.

"Kai and I saw the whole thing. He did something to cut the chain holding it," the black ninja answers. His face grows apologetic. "Guess you were right. We should've trusted him."

I manage a small smile.

"But- But where is my son?" Dr. Julien's voice twists with barely-contained panic just as a familiar white-blond head appears over the railing. Zane wipes a stream of saltwater from his dripping hair as he starts to climb over and onto the deck.

"I'm here, father!"

"Zane!" Dr. Julien's face grows slack with relief as he turns, his entire body humming with release as he watches his son straighten up, completely unscathed, on the deck between us. He runs to crush his son in an embrace, muttering his name wistfully as Zane returns the motion with eyes set tight and closed, his breathing growing slower and deeper.

Sensei approaches gently, offering a tender smile for the reunited. "How did you know if you freed it from captivity it would let us go?"

Dr. Julien pulls away from his son, his own eyes tracing Zane's face for an answer. The white ninja smiles.

"Because no one deserves to be held captive. Not even a monster."

Something rises from the surface of the water, twisting just out of sight as Zane turns back to the ocean. I approach tentatively, realizing with a hitched breath it's the single eyeballed tentacle that watched us in the tower. Zane smiles wistfully beside me as it blinks all of its eyes at its gathered audience before disappearing beneath the surface. It's glistening, sapphire shape shifts through the water before thrusting outward, into the open ocean, moving swiftly toward the hazy horizon of morning.

"Farewell, creature from the sea," Zane whispers as its shape disappears into the dark water. "Enjoy your freedom."

The sun breaks the horizon, setting the ocean on fire with glistening facets of light as the engines hum with sudden, rich power. I breathe the clear, fresh morning air to clear my throat still burning with the remains of swallowed saltwater, and try to clear my still spinning head.

"Hey, Ash?"

I look up as Jay approaches tentatively. Everyone else has moved away from the railing, shifting to fix or do something among our battered ship. I open up to him.

"Doing okay, Jay?"

His face flushes a little, the color distorted under patches of salt that cling to his face. He scrubs at it to reveal a light scattering of freckles. "Yeah, uh fine. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about for a second. If you don't have anything else to do, I mean, the Bounty did just take a beating-"

"Jay."

"Right," he gulps. "I just… I…"

He takes a heaving breath. "I'm sorry for freaking out on you. I think I grabbed your arm really hard back there."

My arm pulses with the reference. "It's alright. I panicked for a second there too. Did you get burned?"

Jay rubs a hand over a scorched sleeve. "Nothing permanent. I'm just glad we don't have to go through that again."

He pauses. "Hopefully."

"No, I hear you," I turn back to the ocean. "We nearly died, Jay. That memory isn't going to go away no matter what we do."

"But I don't want to get in another situation like that and panic again," Jay leans beside me. "I mean, I'm supposed to be a super cool, fearless ninja. And now I'm afraid of some stupid water."

"You're afraid of drowning. Big difference."

I can't help feel like I'm defending myself, and I take a calming breath as Spitfire's heat suddenly encircles my wrist. "Look Jay, we might not be able to change what happened or how we feel about it, but we can get better at reacting to it. I mean, we have each other, right? I have your back, you have mine. We'll keep each other safe."

For a while, the only sound is that of the ocean and the engines rocketing us toward the distant Dark Island, a gentle hum that that rocks my heart into a steady rhythm. Jay breathes.

"Yeah. That sounds good."

He holds a hand out to me, the ocean wind stirring his red-brown hair. For a second, he looks very stoic. "It's only a deal if we shake on it."

I give him a smile and take his hand. "Deal."

His face explodes in a grin. "Great. Glad we got that taken care of," he whistles out a breath and tugs himself from the railing. "I should go- uh- check on the- uh… the thing that needs checking."

A laugh slips from my mouth. "Go ahead, Jay."

He offers one last, grateful smile before disappearing, leaving me to admire the ocean alone.

I can still hear the water, but it's peaceful now.