A/N: I would have written a ton of things differently if I owned LEGO Ninjago...That's why I'm writing fanfic :)

Life is dragging this story out! Blame it, not me! Second-to-last chapter here because of the rarity of time and length of story. One more coming up soon...

The first part of this regards some post-traumatic stress from Arwyn's past. If you've read Turning-Points, you'll understand right away. Definitely rated 'T' for this reason, although it is in no way explicit.

Read and review :)

Chapter 25: Reconstruction, Part II

DESTINY'S BOUNTY

While waiting for the shower to warm up in the bath she shared with Nya, Arwyn pushed aside a matted lock at her temple and gazed into the lavatory mirror. The newest scar ran out of the hairline onto her forehead for only about an inch.

The painful, jarring blow which had created it flashed to mind as a mental snapshot of Cole bearing down on her in assassin-mode.

Blinking with a frown, she willed it away. He got in a lucky swing. No big deal. It'll usually be covered by my bangs, anyway. Not like my nose and the Serpentine souvenir on my cheek. Too bad the Tears couldn't have taken care of the old stuff…

Tilting her head exposed her neck to the overhead light. The Tears had left scars, but had taken care of all of the bumps and bruises suffered by her, Cole, and Kai, including the ones she knew had to have been produced when Cole was trying to strangle the life out of a Venomari.

She knew there must have been bruises before she was given the Tears because there had been plenty of bruises the first time a man had gotten his hands around her neck.

'C'mon, baby…you just said you loved me.'

She froze in front of the mirror. The voice had not been heard in a long time, and the reflection now staring back was three years more naive.

'Why wouldn't you want to? There're lots of girls out there who would do it with me in a heartbeat.'

'It's easy. Just relax. I'll show you how to do everything.'

'Don't you dare push me away! You're my girl!'

His fingers had collared her in a flash.

'I can take whatever I want!'

'Stop fighting!'

And then, out of nowhere, the impact.

'Got-dam! Why the shit are you bleeding like that?! Is it frickin' broken?!'

'I didn't mean to hit you that hard, I swear!'

'I'm sorry, okay?! Just stop crying! I'll never do it again! I promise!'

'You'd better not tell anyone about this, it'll get me kicked outta law school!'

'Arwyn, come back here!'

'ARWYN!'

"Arwyn! What's wrong?! Hon, why are you sitting on the floor, why are you crying?!"

Nya? The fog of the past cleared as with a gust of wind from the present.

"Are you okay?" From a hook on the wall, Nya yanked a towel and covered her unclothed friend before reaching into the stall and shutting off the shower. "I've been hearing the water running, but it didn't sound like you were in it, and when I called, you didn't answer. Sorry to barge in, but then I find you like this!" Dropping down beside Arwyn, Nya wiped her face with her bare hand. "Tell me what happened, why you're so upset!"

"I…don't know." It was easier to say that than to reopen an old wound. Arwyn wrapped the towel tighter around her torso, trying to regain her composure as well as a bit of dignity. "I'm okay. I guess everything…just finally hit me. Kinda all at once."

"I understand. Jay said things were pretty bad in the canyon, that Cole really tried to hurt you, although he didn't mean to! You know that, right?"

"Of course…" Never in a million years would he deliberately do anything to harm her. She wasn't afraid of him—she never would be—and she'd never feel the need to make him pay in a painful way for what he'd been forced to do. Not like she'd done with the other one.

"Do you wanna tell me about what happened? You can talk, and I'll sit and listen, as long as you want."

Explaining that what had happened with Cole wasn't the problem, only a trigger would open up more a can of worms than she had the energy for right now. "I think I'd rather just wait, if that's okay with you."

"Are you sure?" Nya prodded. "I mean, I know fighting with him had to kinda freak you out. When they're going for the jugular, the guys can be awfully scary, and he's already kinda big…"

"Maybe later…"

"…Okay, whatever you want to do." When Arwyn stood, Nya followed her up. "I guess you oughta finish your shower. It might help you feel a little better. Ya know, metaphorically washing stuff away and all that."

Although the last thousand showers hadn't made things better, Arwyn nodded agreement. The short time she and Cole had been together had actually done so much more…

"And Sensei will be done with Cole soon." Nya knew she was going on, but she wasn't totally convinced she ought to leave just yet. "Getting back with him will make you feel tons better, right?"

"Right." Arwyn smiled and put an arm around the other woman's shoulders to rest her mind. "Thank you for worrying about me, but you don't have to. I'll be okay, Nya. Really."

"Hmm." She had her suspicions that Arwyn was evading an issue, but she couldn't force her to bare her soul if she wasn't up to it. "If you say so." Backing out of the door, she surrendered, "But I'll be just across the hall. Holler if you need me."

"Thanks, Nya, I will." Dropping the towel after the door had closed, Arwyn stepped back to the shower and started the flow of water again. But what I really need is to chop off the ugly, rearing head of the past, burn it, and bury it, once and for all.

By the gods…what did I almost DO?!

From between Kai's feet, the large, circular, reddish-brown stain on the floor of the shadowy room in the hold glared up at him, pulled him into its darkness, and swallowed him, mind and body.

At least he wished it would.

Disappearing into a void—or anywhere—would cover up all his failures along with the horrible deed he'd come so damn close to committing. He submerged himself in the dried pool of Cole's blood and the past.

Five years ago, things had been so different. He had been a normal teenager with a mother, a father, a sister, worrying about passing classes, getting dates, doing his share in the family blacksmith business, and still finding time to catch up on the latest video games. Then his parents had disappeared almost halfway through his senior year of high school.

They'd saved up for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday to celebrate their twentieth anniversary. Just the two of them. Reports were that the plane they'd chartered to take them to a sparsely-populated island off the southern coast had never arrived at its destination. There had been no distress call during the short flight and only minimal amounts of what could have been wreckage were found washed up on the shore. After days of fruitless searching by the coast guard, the couple and their pilot were declared lost. Dead.

Kai had been just seventeen, Nya, fifteen. They had no immediate family to offer help, and the next year had been hell for them. He'd struggled to finish school and graduate, struggled to keep 'Four Weapons' going, struggled to keep himself and Nya from drowning in the depths of grief and depression. Somehow they'd been able to squeak by.

Then their lives had taken another unforeseen turn, and they'd closed the house and blacksmith shop to humor an odd, old, martial-arts teacher, move to his monastery, and check out what his outfit was all about. It was meant to be just a temporary break from reality, something interesting to do before Nya started her senior year and he went back to the ol' forge and anvil. But it wasn't quite what he'd expected.

He'd been used to being his own boss, used to looking after himself and Nya without interference. He didn't need to be told how and when to do things, neither did he care to be a link in a chain. He could take care of things just fine in his own way and in his own good time and still play his part in the new ninja gig.

Although Nya seemed happy enough to settle in and become a cooperative and productive part of the group after only a few days—spending more time than he liked piddling around with the dorky, self-proclaimed mechanic and inventor in blue—he tended to keep to himself when not sweating through Wu's torture sessions. Otherwise, the only times he really joined in with everyone were at meals, video-gaming, and 'lights out'.

Early on, when it came to following instructions and rules relating to training, missions, and daily activities, he'd butted heads with everyone more than once. Zane and Jay quickly learned to avoid confrontation with the 'combusti-bull', and their master only rarely dealt with personally handing out directives and administering disciplinary measures. That left Cole as the one to square off with Kai on a nearly hourly basis.

Mostly, their 'debates' about what he ought to be doing and how he ought to do it were verbal, with Kai's yelling being heard from one side of the monastery to the other.

Cole's responses were usually calmly and quietly delivered, although his limits were more often than not strained as he let the flame-thrower flare up and burn himself out. Occasionally he was pushed over the edge and decided that stopping, dropping, and rolling was warranted, however, neither ever let it escalate to a hate-filled fistfight.

About a month or so into their new alliance—at the end of another challenging day for everyone—Kai was sitting on the second step outside the monastery's gates, wondering why the hell he'd come there and whether or not he should continue on the current path when Cole butted into his thoughts.

"Kai, I've been looking all over for you—"

"Yeah, I heard you yellin'." He bristled immediately. "Whaddaya want now? To stick me with another crappy chore, I bet." Stubbornly glowering down the steep staircase of rock, he refused to give Cole the upper hand by looking up at him. "Don't you ever get tired of bossing us around? Who abdicated and made you frickin' king? You can't tell me what to do!"

A long pause came from the appointed leader of the newly-assembled ninja team. "…'Abdicated'. That's a fancy word from someone more concerned about stacking chips on his shoulder than learning anything new…Like how to be a team player."

"'Team player'. Pfftt. Whatever."

There came a sigh. "Well, since you started it, I guess we oughta go ahead and hash this out one last time." On the edge of Kai's vision, Cole's bare feet spread apart like he was readying himself for an assault. His tone of voice was composed, but firm. "As if you don't already know, I'm captain of this Wu crew, so I can give you orders."

Kai coughed. "You're Wu's little pet, you mean…"

"Seriously?" Cole raised his gaze to the heavens for a second. "If you haven't noticed by all the crap he puts every one of us through, our sensei doesn't play favorites, but, if you think he does, and you wanna swap, have at it! Just, FYI, the head honcho made me leader since he figured I was the only one willing to take the fall for all our stupid screw-ups, as well as pass out the little gold trophies when we win."

"Hmph." Kai tossed a pebble to bounce down the steps. "I don't remember getting any trophies yet."

"There's a reason for that, smart-ass. We all have jobs to do and rules to follow, so I'd appreciate it if you'd make my job a little less of a pain in theass and frickin' do yours. I need you to straighten up your act, cuz I've got surprising news for you: You may be the master of fire, but you're not masterless.You're a genin {novice ninja}, like the rest of us. The respect you feel entitled to has to be earned."

"Yeah, well—"

"Eh, EH!" Cole stopped Kai's retort right away. "I'm not done yet! In the heat of battle—as good as you are—you're not some invincible super-warrior, you're gonna be just another target to kill, nothing special to the enemy, and I'll be right beside you. Neither of us will be coaching it from the sidelines, that's Sensei's place. I want to be able to go on a mission with you knowing you've got my back and Zane's back and Jay's back, cuz we're gonna have yours, and I want all of us to get back home in one piece…every time."

Cole expected a sarcastic remark, but was pleasantly surprised when he got none. "We're all in this together, man, trying to be the best we can be while we defend our world and everyone in it. Capisce?"

Since he couldn't dispute the truth, Kai kept his mouth shut, training his gaze on the winding way off the mountain.

Heading back into the courtyard, Cole had only one thing left to say. "By the way…Supper's ready."

Later that evening Kai had made his decision about his future. Yes, some of his flaws had been highlighted, but it had been done diplomatically, and Cole had even acknowledged at least one of his good points. He was the only one who'd been persistent enough to stick with trying to bring Kai into the fold. The only one who seemed to care enough. Not long after that, he was the first of the team to earn Kai's grudging respect, yet, annoyingly, the last to return the honor.

From then on, Kai had worked harder to do what was expected of him and to make himself an indispensable part of the team. In the earth-shaper, he'd found the older brother he really could have leaned on after the sudden disappearance of his parents. Still, he couldn't help but give Cole a little lip and yank his chain once in a while, because…well, it was just in his nature.

Since that time, they had been through a lot together, had developed a strong mutual admiration for one another. Granted, they were each a little envious of the other's strengths and accomplishments, yet they also boosted each other's weak points through their constant competition in everything they were and did. The two were friendly rivals who could ask anything of the other.

And Cole had.

And Kai had almost killed him.

For the first attempt with the kunai, he couldn't fault himself. He'd reacted purely out of instinct to survive, the need to breathe. Besides, he'd paid for it when Cole had blocked it and broken his dominant arm.

But for the second attempt…He'd known when Cole grabbed her by the throat that Arwyn didn't stand a chance, because she'd have to seriously injure him to free herself—something he suspected she'd never bring herself to do. And he couldn't let her be hurt.

In the moments that followed, he'd forced himself to stand and retrieve his sword, and—unable to come up with any other way to save her—had thought out how he'd take his brother's life, free him from the spirit.

He'd actually planned it!

Aiming for the neck would make it as quick and painless a kill as possible. He'd ignited the blade so it would cauterize as it went in the hopes there would be minimal blood spilled and spattered—a vain attempt to lessen the trauma to Arwyn.

Of course he'd taken into account that she would see it. She'd see him behead his brother, the man she loved, be covered in his blood. And she would hate him for it. HATE. HIM. For the rest of her life. With every fiber of her being.

All those sickening thoughts had gone through his mind in the few seconds before he'd yelled for Cole's forgiveness and taken the swing, and to make matters worse, he wasn't certain which one upset him most.

He was still sitting on the chest where Cole had sat, staring down into the gruesome stain. Elbows on his knees, forehead in hands, he let himself surface from his self-inflicted hell, but only to a degree.

Oh, blessed kami {gods}! Why are you testing me like this? There must have been another way, if I had just stopped to think! Why didn't I try something else? They'll all think I'm the lowest of the low, and they'll be right! I'm horrible! I can give the excuse I was only trying to carry out his wishes, to do my duty to protect her, but was that really all it was?

He'd never be able to admit to anyone what had happened, the others could never know. And he'd never be able to face Cole again, never be able to face Arwyn…

"Kai?"

He jerked around toward the door. She'd come up on cat feet, just like she'd been trained, so he hadn't heard Arwyn's approach. Fresh from the shower, she had changed into a short-sleeved tunic and leggings which covered the reminders of more things he could have done differently.

"I'm sorry! Didn't mean to spook you, just wanted to see if you're okay. May I come in?"

"If you're sure you want to." His shoulder rose and fell as if he didn't care either way, but he was glad to see her foot cross the doorsill. Quick on the heels of that, however, came a little flutter of disappointment when she went past him to pull up another trunk just within reach, instead of waiting for him to move over and offer her a seat.

As she sat down across from him, it was impossible to miss the stain on the floor, but she acted like she didn't notice, thinking only that it happened to be the same color as Kai's dark hair. Her hand went to her chest. "Wow…From the heat I'm getting, I thought I was gonna have to run in here with an extinguisher!" The attempt at levity was met with sullen silence. Giving up on starting the conversation, she faced him with hands tucked between her knees and put the ball in his court to talk when he was ready.

Shifting on the trunk, he tried to look her in the eye, but couldn't. "So…you told him?"

"Zane?" She well knew what he meant, but wanted to let him bring it up. "Told him what?"

"How I tried to murder my brother." The words were bitter and hard to push out.

For her, they were like a slap, yet the non-judgmental mask didn't fall. "Kai, you didn't…" In midsentence, she stopped. She'd be lying if she finished it, and he wouldn't feel any better about it anyway. "But, no. I didn't tell him or anyone else what went down in the canyon. That's between you, me, and Cole."

Thank goodness…

"But why did you try it?"

He choked up. "…I…" The bloodstain became a demanding focal point. Was she going to believe him when he told her it was what Cole wanted? How could he explain so any answer didn't sound so lame even to his ears?

The reply was too long in coming when she hoped she already knew the answer. "It was something he asked you to do to, wasn't it?"

Eye contact was still nearly impossible. "…He…He thought I was the only one capable of doing something…so terrible."

"No. He trusted you. I believe he figured you would be stronger than the others, and he trusted you to help him if he couldn't help himself. He wanted to be sure you'd step in and fight for me because he also assumed I wouldn't—or maybe couldn't—fight him…And…he was kinda right."

Relieved that she seemed to understand Cole's part in it, he rubbed at the back of his neck with trembling fingers. "I didn't want to do it! I didn't even want to fight him! But when I knew Onryō had taken over, I thought we wouldn't be able to get him to take in the Tears…I couldn't think of it ending any other way! I couldn't think of anything else to do!"

With the heels of his hands, Kai pressed his closed eyes hard. "GAH! I can't believe I actually almost did that! I keep saying how important my family is to me, how I'll do anything for them, and I almost did that! The girl in the woods was right! He's like my own blood, and I turned against my own blood!"

His element was raging, searing Arwyn from within like a small bonfire. Just like in the canyon. There, she had watched the two brothers attacking each other as though they were sworn, bloodthirsty enemies, literally trying to kill each other. The sight of it had hurt then. The simple thought still hurt now.

Reaching out, physically and emotionally, she gripped his knee in support, her heart aching for him. "I don't think you meant to turn against him! You just proved how dedicated you are! And maybe I could have done something differently. Something to keep you from having to try that, something to keep you from getting hurt so badly. Maybe I should've run when you told me to—"

"No!" His hand fell on hers and clung as if for dear life. "If you had run, the Tears wouldn't have been uncovered, and only one of us would have walked out of that canyon. And if it had been me, not only would we have lost him, but you'd have hated me forever." Desperation and gratitude mingled in his eyes when he was finally able to bring them up to hers. "I'm surprised you don't now. I thank the gods you pulled him outta my way! If you hadn't…"

"Let's not think like that! We can't! Even if you had…" Merely suggesting it made her shudder. "…I'd have no right to hate you. I'd have to respect that you'd had the strength and loyalty to do what he wanted…as hard as that would have been for you. I'd have to accept it and understand." Even if it made me want to die. Ruefully, she added, "I'm still working on cracking that seriously unreal 'code of ninja brotherhood' y'all stick to…"

His shot at a chuckle was meager, but she rewarded it with a gentle smile anyway, sensing the firestorm was cooling down to a low burn. Wanting to stroke the forehead that had been severely bruised, to tell him it was all gonna be okay, she opted instead for giving his hand a light squeeze.

"Oh, sorry!" Taking it as a hint to let go, he dropped her hand, hoping she wouldn't be offended that he'd held it for so long, as if he had a right to. And, dammit, how could he have had this stupid breakdown in front of her, a woman he was supposed to stay stronger than?

Why did I do that? WHY?! Face flushing with shame, he hopped up and took a few restless strides around the cluttered room.

She bit her lip and watched him, wishing she could do more to help, knowing deep down that this incident with Cole was going to stick with him longer than he'd ever admit. In fact, the three of them had weathered a huge storm together, one they weren't likely to get over for quite a while. "This is certainly gonna be fodder for a few nightmares of mine. Do you want to talk about it a little more?"

"No, no, I'll be okay!" He nodded vigorously. Turning back to her, he noticed with concern that her eyes were red-rimmed, a detail he'd failed to catch during his meltdown earlier. "But what about you? Are you alright? He got really rough with you back there."

With a little shrug, she tried to downplay his worry. "Oh, yeah, I kinda had a little adrenaline crash or something while I was in the shower, but it's all good, I'm done." She didn't think he needed to know about how she'd apparently curled up and cried for several minutes on the bathroom rug.

Ready to change the subject if he wasn't open to more therapy, she took a quick look around. "Wow. There's a lot of junk in here. We need to do something with this room. It can't stay like this."

He cast an eye around the place more carefully, not sure what she meant. "Why not? It's just a storage area."

Refusing to let herself look down, she stood, crossed her arms, and gave the room a brief appraisal. "No, it's the room where Cole…hurt himself. It can't stay like that. I need to think of some way to change this space." With a glance at her comlink watch, she checked the time. "Crud! Not to run out on you, but I also need to get everything Chichi asked for before he's yelling for it."

"That's okay, take off." Pretending an antique oil lantern on a stack of dusty crates was worthy of inspection, he waved her off. "I need to hit the shower, anyway."

Taking him at his word, she started to head to the door, but had second thoughts on the way there. Detouring back to where he stood, she surprised him by throwing her arms around his neck in a warm embrace. "Thank you, Kai, for doing everything you could for Cole and me."

Recovering quickly, his hands readily slid around her waist, and he hugged her close, soaking up the soul-soothing tenderness and understanding she offered that he so badly needed.

All too soon for him, Arwyn was backing away, ending the hug. "Jeez, you're like a Pop-Tart straight out of the toaster!"

Cute and cocky, a genuine grin sprang up immediately. "You'll be begging me to wrap myself around you, come winter."

Another real smile was brought forth by the flirtatious remark. "I certainly won't be running to Zane!" She patted his cheek before turning away. "If you need to talk again later, I'll be available. And, remember, I still love ya, hot stuff."

When she had exited the room into the hallway, Kai ran a hand through his scruffy hair and sighed, owning up to something he'd long been smothering. "Maybe…but not the same way I love you…"

A/N: Before anyone goes off about the way this chappie ended, calling it 'Mary Sue' or something, let me say a few things. 1) People who share traumatic experiences tend to develop special bonds. 2) People who find others compassionate towards them can develop feelings for those people. 3) Kai had an attraction for Arwyn from the beginning.

Later!