A/N: Don't own Ninjago DX

I know this is a shorter chapter than I've been doing, I just felt it needed to end where it did. Kinda the mood I'm in. This is definitely not a light-hearted one.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter! I truly enjoy hearing from my readers! Please continue!

I know Ninjago is Asian-themed, but it's also pretty eclectic. I really like medieval European castles, so the Castle of Poisoned Dreams is based on Harlech Castle in Wales, but it's not in as bad a shape as the actual one. :)

Hope you like this gut-wrenching (for me) drama. Please review!

Chapter 38

CASTLE OF POISONED DREAMS

**Arwyn's POV

Lloyd and I were being held in what I could only assume was a castle tower. The floor and ceiling were of ancient-looking wood with gaps here and there where it may have rotted through. Patches of sky were visible through the holes in the ceiling, so we must have been on the highest story.

The cool, damp walls were of several different types, sizes, and shades of stone with four tall and narrow windows set at what were probably the four cardinal directions. Little light came from the windows, so several torches set in iron wall brackets burned around the approximately twenty-foot-diameter room.

Sick to my stomach and addle-brained from the anesthesia, hurting like hell from the beating, and trembling with fright from what I had thought would be my certain death, I lay sprawled on the old floorboards, watching the heads of the Venomari and Constrictai tribes slink into the room through the huge, arched, wooden door from the landing of the staircase. Well, hell. What will I have to deal with now?

With the entrance of the high-ranking Serpentine, all I really felt like doing was helplessly giving up, lying there, and letting them do whatever they had planned for me. But I knew that was not what my proud and fearless ninja brothers would do. It certainly was not what Cole would have me do.

Cole. Why is he not with me when I need him so badly? He had said time and again that only one thing would keep him from being with me. The alarming thought that something horrific may have happened got slammed to the back of my mind as fast as possible.

Summoning every ounce of strength and energy I had left, I pushed aside the nausea and the pain in my back and arms and forced myself up onto my hands and knees, praying I wouldn't lose consciousness in the process.

While I endeavored to stand, the poorly-lit, circular room was silent, save for Lloyd's tearful appeals to the serpents to leave me alone. Acidicus and Skalidor patiently watched me, probably thrilled at the picture of one of their enemies literally down on her knees.

Once I had made it to my feet, I took a faltering step back toward the wall and casually placed a hand on it, vainly hoping the four Serpentine couldn't guess that the rough-hewn stones behind me were probably the only things keeping me erect.

Lifting my quivering chin, and looking Acidicus right in the eye, I tried to appear as brave and defiant as I figured my brothers would be. Nevertheless, there was no sense in evading the issue. In practical terms, Lloyd and I were prisoners of war, which could mean serious maltreatment.

"If you're intending on engaging me in any other…unpleasant…activities, please take Lloyd to another area. He doesn't need to be exposed to anything else."

"How sensitive of you!" The hideous green snake drew closer to me as he responded patronizingly to my request. "However, that will not be done. It appears that he is beneficial as an incentive for you to be on your best behavior, therefore, he will remain within your sight."

I shifted my shoulders uncomfortably, noting my lack of chrome-plated armor and scabbard and the presence of my halter-style leather vest. My thin undershirt adhered to the newly-created lacerations on my back as the Venomari general halted in front of me. "Also, I had no intentions to mistreat you…excessively," he hissed after noticing my wincing. "But it seems that my assistant's list of options by which to keep you under control may have been limited. My apologies." I knew he didn't mean it.

Lloyd was still being held with the knife to his throat, fighting back tears as he tried to be brave for both of us. Why the frick was this young boy being used like this? "Get the knife off of him. You don't need it."

Acidicus' daunting yellow eyes studied me. Deciding I was probably not going to act up as long as Lloyd's safety was in question, he motioned to his henchman who sheathed the blade and shoved the boy away from him. "Of course. Besides, I saw what our venom did to you." That was not a pleasant memory. "I suppose we have more ways of encouraging you to do as you're told than I originally counted."

Stumbling to me, Lloyd quickly hugged me around the waist, making me wince again. Rubbing his shoulder with my free hand, since I still held up the wall with the other, I tried to allay his fears in a quiet voice. "We're gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be alright. Just sit tight for a bit, and zip your lip, while I talk to…him." I didn't need him to say anything the snakes didn't need to know.

Bringing my attention back to our captors, I thought of how Kai and Jay would be likely to come up with some acerbic and smart-assed remark, but all I could do was try to control my shaking. Adopting what I hoped seemed to be a glib and bored attitude, I tackled the issue.

"Let's get down to the nitty-gritty here. This is my first kidnapping, so you'll have to pardon my naiveté, but isn't there some protocol for this? Lloyd's been through this before, but he seems a little more apprehensive than I'd have expected."

The image of Garmadon's son sitting by my feet hugging his knees made me even more ill at ease. "Which leads me to believe that this time is kinda different from the last few." The damned reptiles stood observing me with sickening arrogance, making me feel less threatened and more like I wanted to punch their snouts to the backs of their skulls.

I was already sick of this. Gesturing with my hands, I started rattling off questions, though not really expecting answers. "So why are we here, and what do you plan on doing with us? Where are our friends? Have you contacted them to negotiate a ransom? How did you get out of jail? How did you even know we were in Castor and plan something like that so quickly?"

"Well, aren't you a nosy one!" The black-and-orange Constrictai general spoke up spitefully. "Like we have to explain anything to you! You're in no position to ask questions! You're just a kunoichi to be used as we see fit!"

"Don't call me that!" I pointed at him and spat with Kai's heat in my veins. I hated his attitude and the older connotations of that term. "I live, train, and fight beside my ninja brothers! I am a ninja, and I will not be used by the likes of you!"

I had taken an unintentional step toward the offensive slitherer before Acidicus had stopped me with the head of his golden staff on my chest.

"That is where you need educating, girl." Pushing just enough with his staff, he forced me backward against the wall. "Have a seat next to Garmadon the Younger, and I will be more than happy to tell you all there is to know." I had little choice, or strength, to do anything else.

The yellow-crested serpent began to slither back and forth in front of us as though pacing on the wooden planks. "Let me begin by crushing your hopes of returning to your pitiable group. There will be no negotiating, and you and the boy will be used however we like. I will take all that I desire. I want—" he cast a sidelong glance toward his brutish associate. "I mean, we want control of Ninjago and the Serpentine army."

"Lloyd will be held hostage in an effort to encourage Garmadon to relinquish any plans he has to take over the land. We aim to retrieve the Fang Blades before Pythor and depose him, thwarting his aspirations. With your command of all of the elements of the Masters of Spinjitzu, you have the potential to wield a great deal of power, and we intend to take full advantage of that."

My laugh was dry and derisive from my spot on the floor against the wall. "Well, I have news for you, because I've just really begun my training. Without my brothers to instruct me—"

"Don't interrupt me," Acidicus warned. "And I'm sure you can be encouraged to continue to hone your skills without their tutelage." He viewed Lloyd meaningfully, making me hug the boy closer to my side.

Skalidor moved forward impatiently, bumping against Acidicus' elbow. "We can begin by having her feel the bite of the Fangpyre! We have them here now! She can start to serve us today as a Serpentine!"

Acidicus made a show of brushing the grubbing general's grime from his arm. "Actually, I believe she will be more useful to us in her present form after one of the Hypnobrai has convinced her to be more supportive of our cause."

He edged away from his partner. "Metamorphosing her will only ruin the chance of using the art of deception. Imagine how understandably grateful Wu and his ninja will be when their valuable teammate is returned to them unharmed, and how unsuspecting when she then murders them in their sleep and recovers the Fang Blades for us."

"You didn't mention these plans before…" grumbled Skalidor.

"You did not ask," the clearly-in-charge snake returned curtly, nodding to me again. "To continue, I…we can then employ you and your elemental powers to help keep Ninjago under control. Or at least whatever is left of it after the Great Devourer has gorged himself until sated."

Outwardly enjoying the telling of his story, the green general slid to the center of the room. "You asked about my…incarceration. I was out in less than three days, thanks to the negligence of the authorities, who were imprudent enough to house me on the ground floor." He bowed slightly toward the other Serpentine chief in the room. "The Constrictai are skilled excavators, after all."

Tilting his head, he made a question of an obvious fact, "I suppose the police failed to contact your group about that?" I just kept my eye on him. "At any rate, after my rescue, we obtained a large amount of the chemicals to which you were exposed and were plotting to gain access to your derelict ship and gas you all as you slept, massacring your team, and taking you, Lloyd, and the Fang Blades into our custody."

I drew in a breath and shuddered slightly at the coldhearted and careless manner in which he related his heinous scheme as he went on. "However, that delicious plan was terminated when a scout happened to pick up your presence on your jaunt when you were nearing Castor. A squad of mine happened to not be far away, the plan could be easily diverted, and I thought, 'Why not strike while the iron is hot?'"

"You were heading toward the edge of town when you were spotted again, and my commander took the chance you would use a certain route. They got lucky, and, thanks to Lloyd, it all worked out wonderfully." His smug attitude was hard to swallow.

Shamefaced, Lloyd put his forehead down on his knees. I patted his back to let him know I didn't blame him for that while I glared up at Acidicus. "Where are the two brothers who were with us?"

Before answering, the Venomari handed his staff to Skalidor, treating him like his personal valet, then turned back to me, clasping his hands before him. "That is where this, personally, gets very gratifying! You see, for quite a while, I have been harboring a growing aversion for your leader, the earth ninja. Nearly every stratagem we have put into play has been spoiled by his intervention and that of his team."

Acidicus' hiss became low and was filled with hatred. "But I truly began to abhor him about four months ago during an encounter north of Birchwood Forest. I will not bore you with details of the entire battle." The tip of his tail was undulating agitatedly. "But I witnessed the black devil face one of my blood brothers, Malicicum, and watched him take my nest-mate's legs out from under him. Literally."

In a split second, he was suddenly raging, his voice ear-piercing as he came toward Lloyd and me. "With one stroke of that cursed scythe, he amputated Malicicum's legs at mid-thigh, leaving him bleeding to death on the ground as he turned his back on him and went to find another Serpentine victim!"

Reaching me, his clawed hand flashed forward, and, although I raised a forearm and tried to duck away, he seized a handful of my hair at the scalp just behind my ear. Hauling me up to stand beside him, he kept on with his rapid rant.

"My vendetta began that day, but became more bitter before I could fully plan my revenge! My remaining nest-mate, Loathicus, was on your ship with me a week ago! Again, I saw what the ninja leader did to him, also, crushing his skull against the mast with a violent, whirling kick, then coldly leaping over his dying form, all because of you, because he was intent on defending you!"

I could only grimace from the burning in my scalp and clutch at his arm as he shrieked and shook me, making me think the hair would be pulled from my head.

Yanking my face up to his, he forced me to stand on my toes and paused in his raving, giving me a chance to respond. "I agree with him…that the only good snake is a dead snake." That was probably construed as somewhat inflammatory.

Hearing his sharp inhalation, I knew what was coming, and straight away closed my eyes tightly and attempted to turn my face from his. His repulsive laughter rang out at my reaction. "You learn quickly, girl."

Becoming strangely calm, he dropped the volume of his speech several decibels. "But know this. That may have once been his opinion on snakes, but he has killed his last Serpentine warrior."

I was suddenly paralyzed, unable to breathe as the implications of his statement hit me full in the face. Cole. Oh, dear God… He can't mean…

Petrified, I stared into the narrowed eyes of my reptilian captor with my own wide and terrified ones. He drew my face closer to his as his malicious smile became even more dreadful.

"Do you realize how many of my soldiers your despicable leader and his friends have murdered, how greatly they are reviled by our tribes?" I had seen how savage the fighting between the foes had been on the Bounty. One by one, the snakes had been mercilessly cut down by the Masters, killed like the reptiles they were. I could imagine that the hatred on both sides was equally vehement.

Cole. No. No. No…He can't be saying….

Somehow, I found my voice. "B-But, we were all unconscious. They would have been h-helpless…"

The glow from the small flames of the wall torches in the darkened, stone-lined room glinted off of his scales. "So tell me, had the ninja come upon Serpentine in that state, do you think they would have hesitated to hack us to pieces?"

He flicked his tongue against my bloodless cheek and answered his own question. "I think not. I simply had my warriors do as the ninja would. As they slept."

"No, no, no…" Please, my God, let it be a lie! Please don't let it be true…

The excruciating pain in my scalp was suddenly replaced with an exploding pain in my chest. My face contorted with it, and I opened my parched mouth to scream, but no sound emerged. The rest of my body had become numb and icy.

From far away, I could just barely hear Lloyd wailing, "No, no, you didn't! You couldn't!"

My mind was a blank with nothing but Cole's name repeating itself over and over. The sound of keening grew steadily louder and louder in my ears. When I reached for the serpent general's face with my short fingernails, ready to tear out his gleeful eyes and stop his odious laughter, I realized that the howling was coming from me.

I wanted to shred his face, kick in his chest, do everything I could to make him hurt, to destroy him, to deny his every word, accuse him of lying. But essentially I knew that he spoke the truth. I knew that if the Serpentine had had a chance at retaliation by brutally killing two ninja, they would have eagerly taken it.

Acidicus tried to dodge my clawing hands by turning his head, yelling for his minion to secure Lloyd as he did so. Lightning arced toward his face, and he bellowed in pain and anger as he flung me to the floor by my hair.

I landed hard on my side, bruising my elbow, and feeling the bite of the Fangpyre's loaded crop across the backs of my thighs several times.

I didn't care what happened to me. There was no way they could hurt me worse than they had just done. My world had been destroyed.

Sobbing in despair, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps, my entire body shook as I lay on my abdomen, pressed my forehead against the filthy floor, and dug my nails into the age-softened wood.

Nothing mattered anymore. Cole and Zane were dead. Cole. My love… My life's heart had stopped beating.

Between my own sobs, I could hear Lloyd's pitiful crying from somewhere near me. "How c-could you? How could you d-do that? Cole and Zane were good guys! They d-didn't deserve that!" He was answered only by snorting, revolting laughter.

They were so wonderful…They were so loved…

As I lay with my face to the floor, unable to control either my bawling or the quaking of my body, I felt a painful, localized pressure on my back between my shoulders, perhaps the butt of the hateful snake's staff.

His voice came from close to my ear. "You are fortunate that Lloyd is useful to me. But, any more antics like that, and I may have to allow him to be abused."

"P-Please…J-Just k-kill me, and b-be done with it!"

"I am sorry, but I cannot oblige your request. You have too much potential for me to be so wasteful."

After taking a deep breath to slow the hiccupping, I turned my head toward him and spoke from between my gnashing teeth so only he could hear. "I could k-kill you right now. It would be s-so easy. Crush your h-head with my bare hands. S-Stab you through the h-heart with a spear of ice. Electrocu-cute or incinerate you…"

There was an evil sound in his deep chuckle. "Keep that fire in your belly, ninja, but know that if I am harmed, Skalidor will probably have Lloyd killed to punish you. He is not as intelligent or as farsighted as I. You will not die. You will continue to suffer your losses…and more. If I cannot find a use for the fire and lightning ninja—and I most probably will not—they, too, will be meeting their ends very soon."

The weight on my upper back increased a second before disappearing completely. Shutting my eyes as a fresh round of hot tears began, I didn't notice that Acidicus had had not gone until several moments later when the heavy, dragging sound of a scaly tail sliding across the floorboards came to me. The bastard had stayed there and basked in the sight of my grief.

Having been released by the snakes, Lloyd was suddenly at my side, crying my name and pulling on my slashed and bloodstained jacket. "You can't die, too! Please don't leave me!"

Pushing myself up on one arm and rolling onto my side, I pulled his smaller body closer as he fell upon me and released another deluge of tears.

"Oh, honey, I don't want to die…" My words were whispered against straight, blonde hair powdered with sulphur. "I just don't want to live without Cole."

The hefty wooden door banged closed as the last of the Serpentine exited the room, leaving my traumatized cousin and me mourning bitterly for our lost loved ones.

A/N: Ouch. I had to try to put myself in Arwyn's boots, and it was not pretty. Maybe that's why my mood is grey. Please review and have a great one!