A/N: I do not own Ninjago.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the awesome reviews for the last chappie! I SO appreciate hearing from happy readers, and I'm SO glad I was able to make you that way! I hope everyone likes this chapter, as well, and I would love to hear from you again!

Jaydog, hope you enjoy Jay's interaction with A-Cappella, even though he can't keep him!XD

Read and enjoy!

Chapter 37

**Zane's POV

With the room cleared and quiet, I settled into a small, upholstered chair by the window on Cole's side of the bed. From there, I was better able to monitor his cardiac rate and rhythm. Kai was even able to relax somewhat and concentrated on warming our stalwart friend without scorching the sheets.

Progress seemed slow, but after twenty minutes, Cole began shivering, which was a good sign. This was an indication that his core temperature had reached a point where his neurological and muscular systems were attempting to take over generation and maintenance of normal body temperature.

I rose and placed a hand on Cole's neck, catching Kai napping. His head jerked a little when I cleared my throat, waking him. Blinking rapidly, he mumbled, "I was just resting my eyes."

"Um, hmm." I smiled indulgently. "Cole's core temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and respirations are all improving. Your efforts are greatly benefitting him."

"Hmmph," was his only response.

Taking up my watch in the chair again, I did not have much longer to wait before Cole's shivering increased a few minutes later, and he began to moan and murmur incoherently between chattering teeth, Arwyn's name being the only comprehensible sound. Kai poked his head up to look hopefully at me over Cole's shoulder, dropping it dejectedly when I held up a hand for him to remain patient.

The human heating pad was atypically tolerant and cooperative until Cole's reddened eyelids parted. "A-Arwyn?" He groggily turned his head toward Kai and leaned back, reaching behind him under the blankets to grope the ninja of fire's hip.

Kai's reaction was swift as he pulled away from Cole, distancing himself from his grasp. "Oh-kay! Enough of that!"

Bleary-eyed and shivering, Cole extended his arm once again. "W-Wha-? A-Arwyn?" It was more than Kai could abide.

"No! Not Arwyn! Not even close!" Kai corrected him hastily and shoved back the quilts, striving to exit the bed.

I undertook to postpone his escape, coming to my feet and reaching across the bed to clasp his shoulder. "Kai, please remain until his core has attained at least ninety-eight degrees. It is still only ninety-seven point three."

"But, he's awake!" he argued, gesturing to our patient who now lay on his back, squinting in the light as his body quaked.

"And he is still cold," I pointed out. "It will only take a few more minutes."

Looking around the room, Cole aimed his first question at me. "A-Are we back at D-Dad's house?" Groping around under the blankets, he suddenly stopped, his eyes opening wider. After feeling over his abdomen and pelvis a time or two, he grasped the top edge of the bed linens and peeked under them, evaluating his birthday suit.

Pushing himself up onto his elbows with great effort, he looked a little disoriented. "Wh-Where are m-my clothes?" I opened my mouth to explain, when he spotted Kai still sitting on the edge of the bed without his shirt, and his expression became stupefied.

"K-Kai? Wh-Why am I in b-bed with you? And y-you're half-n-naked…And I'm n-naked…" A sense of realization and apprehension shone in his face as he traded looks quickly from me to Kai and back.

Bolting up from the mattress to stand at the bedside, Kai defensively pointed a finger at Cole. "It's not what you're thinking! I'm just warming you up!"

"B-But, I'm n-naked…" Cole repeated weakly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Shaking the same insistent finger at me, Kai cried, "Because he had to freeze you, and he's been here with us the whole time!"

Facing Kai across the bed, I folded my arms over my chest and regarded Cole seriously. I honestly could not stop some devious part of me from saying what came out of my mouth next. "Actually, I only just reentered the room. Kai asked me to leave you two alone over half an hour ago."

Cole's countenance took on a horrified appearance as he gaped at Kai and pulled the bedclothes up to his chin.

His jaw dropping open, Kai sucked in enough breath through his wide-open mouth to deplete the room of all of its oxygen. "Zane Julien! You're a big-ass, stinkin' LIAR!"

It took a lot not to smirk.

Shuddering with revulsion, Cole looked back and forth between Kai and me, asking timidly, "Wh-What did you d-do, Kai? Ha-have I been…vi-violated…in any way?"

"NO! He lying!" Kai shouted right away, shaking his head forcefully and imploring to me, "Tell him, Zane!"

I considered how long I could get away with this and what the consequences might be. After a brief pause, I decided it would be worth it to take my chances and shrugged, "I am not certain what Kai may have done after I left." I might have gone too far with that one.

"ZANE!" Kai's face was a mixture of emotions. 'Angry, horror-struck disbelief' was the best way to describe what was plastered on it as he bounded up onto the mattress and soared over Cole to tackle me against the wall.

Sliding down onto the floor as we grappled, my desperate and irate brother shook me by the collar of the borrowed shirt I wore as I gasped for breath, laughing harder than I had in quite a while. "Tell him!"

"HEY, HEY, HEY!" I was pulled to my feet by Kai as he was pulled backward off of me by Jay who had a determined grip on his waistband. "What the hell is wrong with you two?!"

Still clutching my shirt, Kai demanded with a growl, "Tell. Him."

Catching my breath, I glanced over at Cole and choked out, "I-I am only…I think the term is…'pulling your leg'!"

Satisfied that an assault and battery was not being perpetrated, Jay released Kai who released me with a grunt and hiked up his pants before walking around the bed to retrieve his shirt and jacket. "For the ice ninja, that was not cool, Zane!"

Cole closed his irritated eyes and flopped down onto his pillow with an audible exhalation. "Hhaaa…Zane…"

Wiping my eyes, I stepped over to him, grinning. "Yes?"

"Don't d-do that. E-Ever again."

Right after that, what I had been dreading most occurred, and I readied myself for the clashing of the titanic continental plates which was certain to follow.

With sudden awareness, the earth ninja pushed the covers off of his chest and sat bolt-upright in the bed, peering frantically around the room and at the door. "Arwyn! Why am I n-naked?! Where's Arwyn?! L-Lloyd? We were ambushed by S-Serpentine! What the frick happened?! Where is she?!"

"Well, I guess he's warming up on his own now!" quipped Kai as he donned his undershirt.

**Cole's POV

My eyes stung, I was still disoriented a lot, shaking with cold, and my head spun when I sat straight up, but a chaotic rush of memories had come flooding back to me. Arwyn and Lloyd running into this crummy building, clouds of powder, hissing everywhere, orders to capture my love and her little cousin, slamming against the wall, and then dreamless oblivion.

Pressing my temples hard with my fingertips, I tried to stop the whirling vortex as I stared up at Zane, repeating anxiously, "W-Where is she?!"

Zane placed a hand on my shoulder, saying soothingly, "Slowly, Cole. One thing at a time." After taking a deep breath, he looked me straight in the eye and said in a measured tone, "I encased you in a slab of ice to protect you and defended us from the Serpentine. Nevertheless, they were successful in kidnapping Arwyn and Lloyd. I could not stop them."

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard, blurting out, "YOU WHAT?!" Then something else came back to me, and my anxiety was replaced by anger. "I ordered you to l-leave me, to get her out! Why d-didn't you?! WHY?!"

Flinging back the bedcovers in a rage, I pulled a quivering leg over the edge of the bed, struggling unsteadily to get out of it, struggling to simply get my stupid, stiff muscles to respond to my demands.

I heard Kai's short gasp to my right, saw Jay behind Zane hastily avert his eyes from my nudity. I didn't give a damn what they saw. I wanted up and out, I wanted control.

Irritation shone on his face as Zane stopped me with his hands on my shoulders, shoving me easily back onto the mattress, while Kai quickly covered me up to the waist with the quilts. My father had appeared in the doorway, taking in the whole scene with an anxious look.

"Get your h-hands off of me!" With only half my usual strength, I tried to block Zane's wrists away with my own, while fear for Arwyn and fury at him irrationally rose to the surface of my consciousness.

"Valerio Cole! Stop this!" I heard my father's sharp reprimand to me as he stood gripping the foot of the bed, his heavy brows leveled, but I didn't care.

I knew something was clouding my judgment, that I wasn't thinking clearly, but I only stormed ahead like a crazed bull. Again I started to fight my way out of the restrictive bedding. "I have to g-get up! We have to get started l-looking for them!"

Pissing me off even more, Zane pushed me back down once again. "You are not yet in a condition to do anything—"

That was it. The filter between my brain and my mouth totally malfunctioned as all the frustration, helplessness, and resentment welled up and spilled over.

"It's because of you, because of what you did to me! Why didn't you frickin' listen to me and do what I frickin' told you to do?! You were supposed to leave me and protect her!" I pounded my fist against my chest. "I'm the leader! You're supposed to do what I frickin' say!"

I was screaming up at Zane, but he didn't back down. His anger matched my own as he met me head-on, leaning in closely and shaking a finger in my face. "You were not in charge at that point, I was, and I could not let you die, you idiot! They were ordering your assassination! They were not planning to hurt Arwyn or Lloyd! I had to make a choice, and I damn well was not going to turn my back on you and have you murdered!"

He took a calmer breath, staying in my face. "You say you are so concerned with Arwyn's happiness and keeping her from harm! Just how happy do you think it would have made her had I chosen to neglect your safety and sacrificed you to those butchers?!"

I felt like he'd just slapped me, knocking some sense into me. She'd already told me how she'd feel if something happened to me.

Straightening, he reached for the amulet hanging outside of his shirt, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger, returning to his usual mild demeanor. "I can better deal with your temporary wrath and yelling than her permanent grief and tears."

Kai's hand rested on my shoulder. "I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but you've gotta get a grip, Cole. Zane's right. There's a time to lay down your life for your friends and loved ones, and a time to live to fight for them later. I know you know the difference."

My head swam as I closed my eyes and sat cross-legged in the bed, still trembling, now more violently. Resting my elbows on my knees, I lowered my head into my hands, clenching my fingers tightly in my hair. Why did I do that to him? What was wrong with me?

As cold as I was, I felt a sweat break out over my exposed body as my spasming abdominal muscles contracted even harder. "C-Could everyone p-please l-leave? I th-think I'm going to b-be s-sick."

Like the family they were, they ignored my request. A moment later, my father was pulling the top quilt from the bed and wiping my face with a wet cloth as Zane's cooling hands on my neck and forehead helped relieve the remaining nausea.

"This is simply a side effect of the anesthesia and hypothermia." Zane eased me back onto my pillow. "Take slow, deep breaths and try to relax. Mr. Montanaro, perhaps you could make some ginger tea for him when you are able."

"Of course," my dad answered, putting a hand on my upper chest to pat me before I heard him leaving the room.

After taking a few shaky breaths, I opened my eyes a crack, surprised to see Zane still at my side, although I could still feel his hand on my forehead. "S-Sorry about that, Z."

He nodded once, his eyes gentle. "It is forgotten, my brother."

Closing my eyes against the sting once again, I whispered, "Wh-What did they d-do to her? D-Do you th-think they're okay? …Please, t-tell me everything."

"When you have recuperated more and can better understand. Just know that Jay is tracking them on his monitor. We will rescue them soon, when you are able to lead us again."

XXXX

Arwyn…Dressed in her uniform, with her helmet on, but without her mask, she smiled contentedly at me, caressing my cheek as she whispered something I couldn't make out. Yearning so badly for her, I put out my arms to draw the woman I adored to me, but she shook her head and pushed away, her cheery smile fading to a sad frown, her evergreen uniform suddenly turning yellow, almost golden in color.

Confused, I blinked, finding myself facing a Hypnobrai warrior from out of nowhere, his red eyes boring into mine. Reaching for my scythe, my hand grasped nothing but air. Shocked, I grabbed for a katana, a tanto, a kunai. I had nothing. I was unarmed. Crouching into a battle stance, I realized I wasn't even wearing my uniform. No gi, no armor, no shirt, nothing but my pajama pants.

Hearing Arwyn's cry for help from behind the Serpentine, my heart raced as I pounced for him, ready to tear him apart with my bare hands to get to her. With a disinterested swipe of his arm, the Hypnobrai demon cast me to the side when I got within his reach, as if I were a frail and impotent child.

Stunned, I lay on my back as I watched the snake take her, as she struggled and screamed my name. I tried to rise, but found myself restrained, my wrists pinned to the ground. No matter how hard I fought, kicked, and pulled, I could only watch them disappear.

"Arwyn!" I squeezed my eyes shut and yelled louder for her. "ARWYN!"

Opening my eyes, I was sitting up in my old bed at Dad's house. The shadows slanted at a different angle. The room was empty and so were my arms. Feeling the bed beside me was useless. I was alone. Arwyn was gone. Kidnapped.

A dream…Oh, God, where is she?

I dropped my face into my hands for a few breaths, then rubbed hard, pushing my hair back with a sigh.

My shivering had stopped at last, and my head wasn't spinning as I sat there. Two plusses, but how much time had I wasted sleeping when we could have been out looking for Arwyn and Lloyd?

I spied my clothing draped over the chair by the bed. My cleaned armor, helmet, weapons, and boots lay on the floor nearby. Sliding gingerly out of the bed, I made it to my feet without passing out and began dressing.

Pushing aside the curtains once I had pants on, I saw Jay trotting through the garden with a little white-and-tan puppy on his heels. I frowned a little. Dad doesn't have a dog…

"Cole! I thought I heard you call! How are you feeling?" My father was walking into the room with a delighted smile when I turned away from the window.

"Better," I smiled back. "Not as shaky. Eyes and throat're a little scratchy. Everything else seems okay."

"Thank goodness! You had me terribly worried when Zane and Jay first brought you in! You looked like something the cat had dragged home!" He laughed nervously, and I could see the residual concern behind his eyes. "If you need any of your toiletries, Zane also salvaged your overnight bags."

He pointed to the dusty duffels on the floor at the foot of the bed. I froze for a moment. Resting on top of one of them was Arwyn's hooded helmet.

Walking quickly to the bags, I retrieved her headgear and held it with both hands, gazing at the sulphur-coated frontal crest. My heart ached with fear, anger, and guilt. Here I was safe and surrounded by family, while Arwyn and Lloyd could be hurt and were in the hands of the Serpentine who were doing who knew what to them.

"Oops, I forgot to clean this one! I'll just take care of that right now." Dad started to pull the helmet from my grasp, but I held on, my finger pressing against something small and rigid in the side of the hood.

Separating the folds of the fabric, I uncovered something unexpected, and a frisson coursed down one side of my body. Snagged in the material was one of Arwyn's ruby-and-amethyst earrings.

Staring at it in my palm after prying it from the threads, it took all the strength I had in me not to collapse to my knees crying like I had when I'd realized my mother did not wish to return to us. I guess my dad saw that.

With a comforting hand on my forearm, he tried to reassure me as he steadily pulled the helmet from my hand. "She'll be alright. You'll get them back soon. I know you will." He stood by me uneasily for a few heartbeats before turning toward the door and heading out. "Besides, she gives me the impression that she's not exactly defenseless. Now finish dressing, and meet your friends in the kitchen. They're having merende."

As I watched him walk out, I wrapped my fingers around the gemstones that were supposed to have signified protection, love, and courage. It came to mind that I had failed her in that first one.

I hopelessly sank down onto the edge of the mattress, and, with my bent elbow on my knee, thumped my forehead down onto my empty palm, curling my fingers in my hair and pulling until the pain made my eyes water and my teeth grind.

What good was I to her? I hadn't protected her. I couldn't keep her from getting kidnapped. I wasn't up to par yet strength-wise, feeling feeble and nauseated. I didn't even have a rescue plan together. And here I sat.

Where was Arwyn at this moment? Oh, God, what had the Serpentine done to her? Was she even still alive?

When would I see her again, hold her in my arms? I had been a lonely soul. I had only just begun to really feel alive again these last few weeks. I had only truly been happy these last few days. And now she had been taken away from me. For how long?

My dearest heart, I'm so sorry… If it takes a thousand years, I'll get you back… I refuse to think that I won't.

Other, less-important thoughts soon pushed their way to the front of the crowd of worries, making me more downhearted. Her parents are waiting for her to call them when we get to the Bounty, to let them know she got back okay. Her call to them was already about two hours late.

Then there were her father's parting words to me. I'm trusting you. I had failed them, too. I was going to have to bite the bullet and contact them at some point.

And then there was Sensei…

I felt like hurling again by the time Zane walked into the room. "Your father told me you were up. I thought we would start you off with some ginger tea and see how well you can tolerate that." He held the steaming cup within my field of vision, not waiting for me to lift my head first.

I took the mug he presented without looking up at him. "Thanks."

The ninja of ice sat on the chair a couple of feet from me, leaning back and resting his right ankle on the opposite knee, crossing his arms over his chest. "He also said you found Arwyn's earring in her helmet. I suppose it was pulled from her earlobe when I jerked her first abductor to the ground, and her head hit the floor."

I looked up at him fearfully. "Was she hurt?"

He shook his head. "I do not believe so. But I was unable to get to her before another snake did. I…had my hands full."

Staring blankly into the cup of spicy-smelling tea, I entreated him, "Tell me everything."

By the time he was done, I had finished the tea and was feeling like a complete heel for yelling at him earlier. I had to apologize again. "I'm sorry for laying into you, Zane. You did everything you could. You did everything I would have done for you."

He nodded back in acceptance. "I am regretful that I had to do what I did to you and that I could not do more for Arwyn and Lloyd. I would consider us even."

I tried to smile at that.

He zeroed in on me. "Correct me if I am wrong, but, knowing you the way I do, you are at this moment feeling responsible for this whole thing and guilty as hell that they could be suffering."

I looked away glumly and didn't answer him.

"Well, stop it. Although obviously planned to some extent, I believe this attack was a serendipitous opportunity for the snakes and could not have been foreseen or avoided in any way. There was no way for you to fight the effects of the chemicals, and you could do nothing about the state you found yourself in afterwards." He paused in his lecture. "Especially once I took over."

I continued to hang my head.

He sighed heavily. "Were she here, what would Arwyn be liable to do or say to you right now?" His sudden question had me looking up at him thoughtfully.

I recalled times she had tried to get information from me or pull me out of a funk. "Probably punch me, tell me to suck it up, then smother me with kisses." Soft and warm… The idea finally made me smile.

"You can forget about me smothering you with kisses, but I am about to punch you, if that will help." Sitting forward, he placed both feet on the floor. "Now suck it up. Get your shirt, and come to the kitchen with me."

He was right. My spirits lifted somewhat as I stood with a grin and picked up my padded-leather vest. Tucking the earring into the little pocket I had sewn behind the left breastplate, I felt past my metal ID tag and pulled out the small photo I kept there.

Now a little damp, it was one of Arwyn with Sofiya which had slipped from a photo album when we were packing things at Arwyn's. I'd found it on the floor after she'd left with the box and had felt a little guilty as I slipped it into my vest, but looking at it over the past few weeks had gotten me through some really low moods and a lot of restless nights.

I extended it to Zane for him to take a look. He smiled wistfully at the two glowing women. "Sofiya has a framed copy of the same photo in her living room. They were spending a weekend on Arcadia Island." Maybe we could all do that in the near future. I would love to see her in a bikini…

Returning the vest to its spot next to my armor, I placed the photo on top of it to dry and grabbed my shirt from the back of the chair. Pulling it on, I laughingly brought up a random question. "You were in the room with Kai and me the entire time he was warming me, right?"

Standing and walking toward the door, he answered over his shoulder, "Of course…Although, I was quite exhausted. I may have dozed off for a few minutes."

"Zane, I'm gonna turn off that funny switch." I threatened as I followed him out.

"It's not on."

In the kitchen, we found Kai at the table having tea and munching chocolate biscotti and prosciutto-with-mozzarella-and-peppers panini. Jay sat on the floor and shared his snack with the puppy I had seen earlier. Through the window, I could see my father in the garden, dead-heading spent rose blossoms.

"Well, if it isn't Sleeping Beauty!" Kai ragged me with a leer as I walked around the table to an empty seat. "Or, should I say…Vah-LEH-rio!" He rolled the last syllable expertly.

My eye twitched at the sound of my name, and I wondered for a split second how he had found out, then vaguely remembered my dad yelling at me when I was losing it.

Oh, have I got something for you…

Barely breaking stride, I passed up my chair and continued to Kai, leaning over and hugging him around the neck and chest from behind.

Although he resisted, I held him tightly so he couldn't get away, running my open hands over his upper body and saying breathily in his ear, "Thanks for the hot time in bed, stud! I'll always remember it! Maybe we could do it again soon!" You'd have thought I was sticking him with a sizzling poker.

Wrenching himself out of my grasp, he bounced out of his seat with a shudder, rubbing his ear and neck vigorously. "Ah, man! Don't do that! Ya do a brother a solid, and he pays you back like this?"

"Hey, tit for tat," I laughed, settling in a chair and pulling the plates of biscotti and panini closer to me.

"If you had 'em, it wouldn't be a problem," he stated, taking his seat again as Jay rolled on the floor, and Zane grinned in the next chair.

Chuckling, I bit into a biscotto, then focused on Jay and his friend on the floor. "What's with the dog?"

He patted the pup's back fondly as it lapped up crumbs from the tile. "This is A-Cappella, the puppy Lloyd—" Stopping suddenly, he looked uncertainly at Zane.

Jolted back to the issue at hand, I swallowed the bite of sweet cookie with difficulty. I had been reaching for a panino, also, but lost what little appetite I had and withdrew my hand.

Zane saw me while he refilled my mug. "Eat, Cole. You need to build up your strength if you want to get them back."

Knowing he was right, and that feeling guilty wasn't gonna get Arwyn and Lloyd rescued, I forced myself to take a couple of panini from the plate and started planning our rescue mission. "Let's hear what you've got, Jay." I knew he'd probably already begun gathering information for me.

Living up to my expectations, Jay pulled a device from his jacket, and excitedly began tapping on the handheld tracking monitor he had put together several months ago. "I have Arwyn on our radar." He held it up so I could see her blip on the map.

My off-the-wall brother began rattling off what he knew. "She's been moving northeast since I located her not long after Zane called with the SOS. That was almost three and a half hours ago. After traveling for three hours, she stopped, so they must be at their destination now. They're just inside the Cairns and Fortresses region. It's—"

"I know that area!" The familiar name brought me to attention abruptly. "It was one of the first places I traveled after I left the Academy! It's craggy, rocky, and rugged, some canyons, pretty barren otherwise. There're a few castle ruins scattered all over."

Putting away his tracking monitor, Jay went back to playing with A-Cappella. "Yeah, most of them are situated on the Plain of Desolate Castles. That's what Luciano and I were able to learn after looking up information on the area." He looked up at the silence that followed. "What?"

Kai had the same questioning frown that I did. "You call Cole's dad 'Luciano'?"

"Well, that's his name." Jay lifted A-Cappella and held him close to his face, rubbing noses with the canine, saying in a high-pitched voice with a crappy, Italian accent, "Luciano. Loo-CHAH-no! Biscotti! Valerio! A cappella! It's fun to speak Italian!"

"Jay…" Zane shook his head when the fleet-footed ninja turned to him, bringing him back down to Ninjago. I was deadpan.

"Oh, right." Placing A-Cappella back on his feet, he assumed a more mature air. "Anyway, we're thinking the Serpentine may be using one of the old castles as a base camp in that area. Zooming in on satellite maps and comparing coordinates, it looks like they may have taken up residence in an out-of-the-way one called the Castle of Poisoned Dreams."

"Wow. Sounds like a really cheery place," Kai remarked as he talked around his bite of panino.

I could just imagine. Attempting to beat down what I hoped were unfounded fears for Arwyn, I sipped my tea in the calmest manner in which I was able. It was hard not to dwell on the fact that Arwyn and Lloyd were probably being held in uncomfortable conditions in castle ruins that were unstable and had no electricity, no running water, no heat, barely enough walls to stop the wind, no food, rats, bugs, snakes,…

"A castle, huh? Those things were really tough to get into, weren't they?" he asked as he continued to chew.

"These shouldn't be now," I informed him. "They're all centuries old and falling apart. I spent several nights camped out in some of them. Not much more than walls and rubble, although a handful are still mostly intact. I don't know about this one, though."

"I suspect it is most likely the best fortified of all of them," said Zane as he poured tea into his cup. "But we are ninja, so it should not be a challenge for us."

Jay nodded, then jumped to something else. "Just to bring you up to speed, Cole, I finally got that part for the boosters two days ago. Yesterday, Nya and I worked on the repairs—"

"Hey, don't forget I helped, too!" Kai interrupted him huffily.

"What? You held a flashlight for five minutes!" Jay dismissed him with a scowl as he fed the puppy more biscotto. "That hardly counts as 'helping'."

Kai was clearly pursuing kudos. "It was a helluva lot longer than five minutes, and you couldn't have repaired the whatchamacallit if you hadn't been able to see it, right?"

Jay rolled his eyes to show how impressed he had been. "Big whoop. I could've held it in my mouth and gotten the same results."

"Could you hold it in your mouth if all your teeth were loose?" Kai sneered.

"Boys, boys!" Flipping my bangs to the side with a fingertip, I wondered how they could get so off course so quickly. "You were saying, Jay?"

Making a face at Kai, our mechanic got back to his original news item. "I was saying that with Nya's help—and Kai's superior skills at illumination—," Kai nodded to the acknowledgement, "I was able to get the boosters on the Bounty working again. So, when we left the ship this afternoon, Nya and Sensei pulled up anchor and headed deeper into the Sea of Sand, away from all cover. They also gained altitude, in case the Serpentine make another grab for the Fang Blades."

I pressed my lips together, thinking about Arwyn's future reaction to the move. Sorry, my love. We couldn't stay near the forest forever. I was also wondering about Wu's reaction to the ambush and kidnapping.

Sitting back in my chair, I fingered the handle on my mug. "Good thinking. But I've got a feeling the Serpentine'll be calling for a parley now that they have something to swap."

Kai eyed me suspiciously. "I know you're not thinking of handing over the Fang Blades."

I gave him an annoyed glance. "Of course not. We're going to take Arwyn and Lloyd back, and the snakes can cram whatever aspirations they have up their asses! We don't negotiate." I stood from the table. "And we're leaving within the hour."

All three looked at me with doubt. Zane spoke for the group. "You have barely recovered from the worst of the effects of the anesthesia and hypothermia. You are only operating at about eighty percent of your normal capacity—"

"Yeah, well, my eighty percent is like Jay and Kai put together." That got me dirty looks from both of them. Maybe I shouldn't have put it that way. "And I'm feeling much better now that I've eaten and rested some, so I think I'll be okay."

Yeah, that was probably stretching it a bit, since I wasn't feeling all that okay. However, I couldn't stand to sit around another minute while Arwyn and Lloyd were in potential danger and the group waited for me to get stronger.

Jay looked at the time on his comlink. "You know it's after five-thirty, right? It'll take all your land vehicles running at top speed at least two hours to get to the castle, and by that time, the sun'll be down. It's gonna be hard for us to see to plan anything."

"We do our best work in the dark. Besides, I'll have two hours to think about all that, won't I?"

**Arwyn's POV

"What did you do to her, you stupid snake?! It's been hours, and she hasn't even moved!"

"Shut up, you annoying brat! It was just a couple of injections of more anesthetic. I didn't want her to get bored and try any of her tricks on a three-hour trip. Maybe you should've gotten some, too, just to keep your mouth closed!"

"Is she even still alive? I can't tell if she's breathing!"

"Quit your whining before I belt you! She's still breathing. Every now and then."

Something shoved hard at my hip, pushing me an inch or so across the hard surface on which I was lying. I was already being jarred as the floor moved, and I could hear a steady roaring in my ears. Was it an engine, or was my head about to explode?

I had never been drunk and hung over before, but from the way I felt at the moment, I was guessing the experience would be something like this. I groaned and coughed involuntarily a couple of times, barely moving my head and feeling the vertigo even as I lay on my back with my irritated eyes closed.

"See? I told you she was still alive! Happy now?" The hissing voice was giving me a headache. Or was it the anesthetic? Or the bouncing?

"Arwyn! Arwyn, are you awake? Please wake up! I gotta know you're okay!" Lloyd's voice was filled with worry.

My seemingly-thick tongue made it hard to get out a word. "Am awade." Was that me?

It seemed to satisfy him. "Whew! I thought you were dead! I've been awake since not long after we left Castor, and we've just been riding and riding forever! I never saw you move, and then he gave you a shot, and then—"

"Shut up! I may not be able to kill you, but the general said nothing about not hurting you! I've had enough!" I tried to raise my head to counter the snake's verbal attack on the boy, but I couldn't even open my eyes.

When I was able to open them later, I was being lifted from the hard, smooth surface and thrown over the shoulder of a Fangpyre trooper. The only way I could tell that it was one of the red Serpentine was because I could see his reflection in the puddle he crossed as he carried me over the hard-packed ground of a courtyard of sorts.

As he entered a darkened structure with stone walls and started up what must have been a thousand stone steps, I was hoping that the nausea wouldn't have me puking down the backs of his legs. But, then again, what did I care?

Watching the stairs multiplying under us, I counted the landings through which the spiral staircase rose. I was on three before my jumbled brain finally formed a question. What is going on? Closing my eyes tightly, I strained to think. Eyes burning, smell of rotten eggs, drowsiness, Serpentine…CRAP! We were ambushed! Lloyd and I were kidnapped!

Der. That could be the reason my arms were tied behind my back. I stiffened my legs, attempting to kick out, but found that my ankles were also bound together. It didn't matter anyway. Trying to get away from my captor at this point, while being carried up a stone staircase with a wall on one side and no railing on the other, didn't seem to be the smartest move.

More memories came back as we ascended the worn steps. Ohmigod! Cole and Zane! Where were they? I couldn't remember hearing their voices when Lloyd and I were on the transport vehicle. I concentrated a moment and searched for any sense of their elements. Not a thing. No cooling sensation, no comforting pressure. Were they just too far away for me to detect?

"Lloyd?" My voice sounded throaty and anxious.

"I'm up here!" At least we were still together.

But where were we? This looked familiar, like something I'd seen in a movie. Was this a castle tower? Where the hell were there castles? Think, think, think…Damn, that made my head hurt! Or maybe it was being upside down and over-medicated.

Finally reaching our destination, the sixth wooden floor, I was unceremoniously dumped onto my side by the Serpentine. Now I had a chance!

Lloyd was being set down by the other Fangpyre when I swung my bound legs out to sweep my abductor off of his feet. He landed on his abdomen with a loud grunt and a solid thud on the ancient floorboards, just close enough for me to swing my legs back around to kick him hard in the face with both feet from a supine position.

Retribution was swift. The Serpentine who'd carried Lloyd sent me rolling onto my side with a kick to my flank. Another quick kick pushed me onto my abdomen, where he kept me by placing a firm foot on my pelvis just below my belt.

Fighting to roll myself again, I was suddenly screaming out in pain as I felt a sharp, cutting blow across my shoulder blades and upper arms, followed by a second and a third.

Biting down hard, my shock turned to fury when I heard Lloyd's frightened cries for the beating to stop. By the time the fourth blow was delivered, the ropes around my wrists and ankles had ignited in flames and were quickly being consumed. The weight of the guard's foot on my rear lifted with a shove.

Forcefully pulling my wrists apart, I rent the burning restraints and rolled onto my side, kicking away the ankle ties, and pushing myself onto my feet as fast as I could. I only succeeded in making it upright before staggering back against the nearest wall, knocking the breath from my body when I hit it.

"Ready to surrender, snake-hater?" The Serpentine I had tripped was sneering as he held the tip of his dagger against Lloyd's neck beneath the curve of his jaw.

Lightheaded, I caught Lloyd's terrified expression as my throbbing back slid down the rough, stone wall, and I landed on my knees, feeling seriously sick as a dog and about to blackout.

My attacker advanced on me, holding the loaded crop he had used to flay my back in one hand, a short sword in the other. Suddenly too weak to fight back, I barely raised a hand to fend him off when he discarded the crop and grabbed the lapel of my jacket, forcing me down onto my hands and knees.

"No! Don't hurt her anymore!" Lloyd's cry sounded far away.

Fully expecting to feel him sinking the sword into my back, I closed my eyes and made my last thought one of my precious Cole. I love you, my life's heart.

Imagine my surprise when he took hold of the back of my jacket and made short work of hacking out the embroidered snake emblazoned there instead.

Snatching the back of my collar when he was done, the reptile pulled me back up onto my knees, shoving the bloodied embroidery in my face and yelling, "Do you really think that this scares us, girl?! Do you?! It means nothing, nothing! We will use you to crush all of your friends, to vanquish Ninjago, to—"

"Enough!" The Fangpyre instantly released my collar, allowing me to collapse to the worn wood as the sound of something dragging along the floor followed the outburst.

Shakily turning my head to see who had interrupted the Fangpyre's monologue, I took in the Venomari general slithering into the room. Behind him, from the landing, followed the black-and-orange Constrictai general, Skalidor.

Acidicus' tongue flicked in and out of his leering mouth as he thumped the butt of his staff on the floor. "Do not ruin the surprises. I want to be the one to tell her everything."

A/N: Hope you liked! PLEASE review! Namaste!