Continuing heavy topics, please be mindful!

I actually had this one ready quite a while ago, but then I was like, yeesh, not the kind of stuff to be posting just before Christmas . . .

SpiritDragon: Yeah, it does possibly get somewhat worse. :S Hope it's not too much! I don't want people to be scared of updates, gosh. ^_^''

Rick Riordan1: Um, you're . . . welcome? Sorry. ^_^'' As to what's wrong with Lloyd, we'll see . . . or we won't.
I think Nash would disagree with you strongly on that point. :P Given that he's Nash, and all that.

Jens: I hope it doesn't get over to you while you're reading! I figure some fictional angst is usually a good thing, but not when it starts to bring you down in real life.
You're telling me. :S
The aliens are being sidelined a little bit now, given that there's so many crises going on. They don't like it much. But never fear, they still have a job to do!

Oct 21

7:42 AM

Status conditions: Kai with broken wrist, Cole generally iffy, Lloyd pretty much unstable

They had stayed down in that forest until Lloyd mostly calmed down—which meant they'd stayed down in that forest for altogether too long. By the time they got back to the Bounty the sun had almost risen, and everyone kind of just collapsed on or around the sofa and dozed. Lloyd fell asleep as well, mercifully.

Jay awoke only an hour or so later, being shaken by Kai.

"Whaaa—" he slurred, only for Kai to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"Lloyd's asleep," he whispered. "Keep it that way. The rest of us need to talk."

Jay blinked up at him blearily, but finally rolled to his feet and followed Kai into the kitchen. Nya and Zane were up too, their faces a mixture of anxiety and exhaustion. Nya was making coffee for all of them. Jay froze momentarily, realizing that he was yet again forgetting that Lloyd shouldn't sleep alone, but when he looked back to the living room he saw that the aliens were huddled up to him. Hopefully that would be enough.

"Where is everyone?" he asked cautiously.

"I asked Skylor and Sensei to sort of keep them distracted," said Nya. "So we could talk more privately. They understand."

"How's Misako taking it?"

Nya only grimaced.

"Okay," said Kai, slumping against the counter. "Okay, we need to suss this out. Jay, you were there first. What the heck happened?"

Jay hesitated, then reached gratefully for the mug of coffee Nya held out to him. He normally didn't drink it black and bitter, but now he took a resolute gulp, letting it scald his tongue to distract him from his nerves. He wished Cole was here. He would've been the first to temper the freaking-out that was about to happen.

"Um . . . " Jay forced down another swig of coffee. This one took out his throat as well. Ouch. "So, uh. He was . . . last night I mean, he was . . . opening the Cursed Realm."

"Oh FSM." Kai sank lower against the countertop. "I knew it."

"He tried to Curse you?" Zane looked at Jay with frightened eyes. Jay shrank over his mug and stared at the coffee jittering up over the rim.

"Himself."

There was a thick silence. Kai guttered as if intending to swear but unable to speak. Jay kept staring down at his coffee so he wouldn't have to watch the others slowly shattering at the news. FSM, he really wished Cole was here. He needed a freaking hug.

"So . . . the spell took over?" said Nya.

"I don't know." Jay shrugged helplessly. "He was definitely acting strange, like—like he was in a trance or something. He was just sitting there staring at the portal, he couldn't hear me or anything, and when I touched him he freaked out and fell."

"Fell?"

"Yeah. Off that cliff thing that was there, remember? But I grabbed him."

"And the portal was . . . ?"

"At the bottom."

The others said nothing. Jay squirmed.

"I don't think it was on purpose, I don't think—I mean—I mean maybe it wasn't?" he blurted, trying to fill the silence. Still, Zane leaned over to peer through the door to the living room, checking if Lloyd was still on the sofa. Satisfied that Lloyd was still asleep, he drifted into a position where he could keep watch.

"But neither way makes sense," said Nya. "Why would he . . . do that on purpose? But if not on purpose, why would the spell suddenly take over now?"

"I don't know." Kai had slid to the floor by now, and was moodily drilling circles into his forehead with his fingers. "I can't make the story add up. I mean, yeah. I get that he saw some really messed-up stuff and was freaking out about Cole getting hurt. But was he freaked enough to try Curse himself?"

"That's why I'm saying, maybe it wasn't on purpose," said Jay hopefully. "Just the spell taking over. I-I mean, not 'just' the spell, that's still bad, really bad, but—" He broke off, swallowing. They were standing here trying to reassure themselves that a dark-magic incantation had stolen their baby brother's free will and tried to kill him, because that still looked better than the other option. Talk about sicko.

"But if freaking out triggered the spell, then why did it wait twenty-four hours?" said Kai. "Why not right away?"

"Maybe it took some time to sink in," said Nya.

"Mmh. Or . . . something with Cole?" Kai folded his arms. "He stayed behind to talk to him yesterday, that kinda seemed a little odd."

"But why would staying with Cole a little longer do him any harm?" said Zane. "If anything, I would have thought he would feel better after seeing that Cole is more stable."

"Maybe it reminded him too much of last night? . . . " ventured Nya, not sounding too convinced.

"No, seriously." Kai shook his head. "I don't buy it. Yeah, there was a lot of blood. He's seen a lot of blood before. Yeah, one of us almost died. We've thought Zane was actually dead more than once by now. Heck, the kid sent his own father to the Cursed Realm and barely batted an eyelid, what in heck could happen now to make him cry half the night?"

"Whatever it was, it was probably just the final straw," said Zane. Jay nodded miserably.

"I did get the feeling he was working through a really long backlog. Catching up after his dad, and like . . . everything else."

"But still, something pushed him over the edge first," said Nya. "Just Cole?"

They stewed for a while.

"I wish he'd just tell us already," said Kai. "I mean, what kind of game is he playing here? What's he gaining from not talking to us? Is this, like, some kind of weird control thing, 'ha-ha, I choose whether I talk or not, I can make everyone else worry all I want, it's a power trip'?"

"I mean. Gosh knows everything else in his life is kinda out of his control," said Nya. "I could buy it."

"Well, it's stupid," said Kai. "It's really, really stupid. We're trying to help here! Why is he trying to stop us?"

"Maybe accepting help would wound his pride," said Zane. "Or maybe he is afraid."

"Afraid of what, us? Do we look like we're out to stab him?"

Zane said nothing for a moment, jingling a spoon through his coffee. As a Nindroid he didn't respond to caffeine, so presumably he was just taking it for the taste. Or to feel included. After a long pause he shrugged and put the mug aside.

"What do you think happened at Darkley's to children who cried?"

The others flinched in new understanding. Kai groaned and sank back against the cabinets. After a moment, though, he looked up to eye Zane resentfully.

"Okay, fine, but do we look like Darkley's kids? We've only known him for years. He hasn't figured out that we're not gonna hurt him?"

"Consciously, I'm sure he has," said Zane. "Subconsciously . . . that kind of learning is hard to undo."

"So in other words, he doesn't trust us." Kai waved a hand bleakly. "Peachy. I love it."

"Don't make this about you, Kai," said Nya.

"I'm not. I'm just done with this, okay?"

"Well that's very helpful of you."

"Whatever." Kai sank his face into his hands and disengaged from the conversation. Nya muttered something. Jay shifted from foot to foot, miserable as he watched his family fall apart. Weren't they supposed to come together in times of crisis? Apparently not. Apparently adrenaline crises were fine, but slow-burn misery like this broke them like toothpicks. He didn't want to make this about him either, but he felt somehow betrayed.

Zane was fidgeting as well. After fiddling with his coffee for a while, he looked reluctantly at Nya and Jay.

"Unrelated," he said quietly. "Do we know anything about Nash's status?"

Kai groaned from behind his hands. Nya had wilted at the question, but she still summoned up the energy to toss an exhausted glare in Kai's direction. Then she turned back to Zane.

"They caught him for a moment," she said. "But he got away. They haven't been able to find him since."

"Ha!" said Kai from behind the counter. "Great."

Nya gritted her teeth.

"Anyway." She tried to keep her voice steady. "He was several hours away at the time, but he might be almost here by now. I . . . we have to do something."

"Ha," said Kai again.

"The two guards by Cole's room are insufficient," said Zane. "I've spoken with the police about additional guards, but they say they're already having a hard time sparing these two officers. The drug dens we routed are giving them a lot of trouble."

"Ha!" Kai apparently wasn't to be satisfied until he'd made somebody snap.

"I think our only option now is to guard the hospital ourselves," said Zane. "They would not let us stay in his room full-time, plus it would leave the patients and staff in danger, so we'll have to watch from the outside. Between all of us, we should be able to guard the entire exterior. If we see Nash entering, hopefully we could get to him before he causes damage."

"Ha," said Kai darkly.

"Kai, that is not helpful," said Zane, sharp but calm. Kai growled, irritated that he couldn't incite a screaming match and/or physical altercation. Zane muffled a sigh, while Nya rolled her eyes disgustedly.

Jay, who had been staying on the sidelines in fear of all these lit fuses, finally plucked together his nerve and drifted over to Kai. He slid down next to the red ninja and waited. Kai had given him a brief glance from the corner of his eye, but now he pointedly kept his gaze away, his jaw tight. After a long wait with no progress, Jay cautiously reached up to pat Kai's shoulder.

"Get offa me." Kai shrugged him off. Jay withdrew his hand, but didn't leave.

"Get lost, wouldja?" gritted Kai. When Jay still didn't leave, he finally turned to glower at him. "What do you want?!"

Jay met his eyes steadily. On some level he was startled; normally his first impulse would've been to wince and look away. Kai was scary when he was like this. But then again, Jay had looked Nash in the face and just now pulled his little brother back from the brink of the Cursed Realm, he was used to this by now. Self-preservation be damned.

For a second Kai looked like he was about to verbally shred Jay to ribbons. The second passed, however, and Kai only turned away again, grimacing.

"Sorry," he spat. None too sincere, but still more than you'd expect from his current mood.

"You're scared too?" said Jay softly. He felt Kai shudder next to him, then go limp, defeated.

"Yeah."

Nash could hear the seconds ticking inside his skull. Each one chipped away a little more of his sanity. He had broken the cuffs on his wrists while escaping, but the leg cuffs were thicker. Although he could keep a pretty decent pace even with his feet shackled, it still wasn't fast, and he ran too much risk of getting caught. He'd slithered into an underground hollow, just a little horizontal crevice washed out between rocks, and waited for the search parties to pass him. Luckily dogs weren't the best at Serpentine scents, plus of course Nash knew how to cover his tracks. The only hitch was the swarms of officers who kept blundering through the undergrowth, forcing him to stay silent.

Still, it had been quiet now for many hours. He could probably move again. Bracing his back against the ceiling of his tiny cave, he yanked his legs against their shackles as hard as he could. The chain jingled and groaned, but didn't break. Twisting gingerly, he brought his jaws to the chain and bit. It barely gave.

A surge of rage overtook him, and he devolved into a whirling tangle of scales, thrashing and ripping at his cuffs, driving his teeth into the chainlinks, tossing his head as if mangling prey. Every second he lay here, the ninja kept on living. He knew one of them was in the hospital, almost dead, an easy target. He hadn't even had a chance to punish the utter idiots who had nearly killed that one, after he'd specifically ordered all the ninja to be left for him. He had even been denied the chance to take out his frustration on two of his landing crew, the little cowards.

Eventually his strength petered out, leaving him to sprawl on his side, panting. His ankles were bleeding where the cuff edges had dug in. His tongue flickered out to sample the metallic smell, then wearily he curled his body to lap up the dribbles of red. Even mid-swallow the taste seemed to change, morphing into a milder flavor, like human blood—how he imagined ninja blood must taste. His lips drew back from his teeth, and his brain lapsed into a roaring fuzz of static that left him nearly plunging his fangs into his own leg. At the last second he yanked his head back.

Heaving, he forcibly collected himself. He tugged his feet experimentally against the cuffs one last time. Still no chance of breaking them.

He blew a grim breath through his nostrils. Fishing into his utility belt, he pulled out a few small plastic vials and began to milk the venom from his fangs. His supply was probably still mildly depleted after chewing up his other two officers, and biting that one policeman. Plus of course his antivenin gland could handle a few self-inflicted bites, and would probably ramp up action once it sensed venom in his bloodstream. But still, he couldn't survive injecting himself with his own venom supply, and he was still just sane enough not to make that mistake. Once his fangs were dry, this would be safe. Or . . . as safe as this kind of procedure could ever be, anyway.

The chain wasn't about to break. His feet didn't fit through the manacles. One of the above was going to have to go.

The others kept Lloyd in sight the rest of the morning. He woke up subtly; one minute he seemed to still be asleep, then the next time Jay looked at him his eyes were open, heavily lidded and fixed on some hazy distant point.

"Hey kiddo . . . " Jay remembered at the last second to keep his voice down. No good creating a scene. Everyone else tensed up though, turning their attention to Lloyd. He shifted unhappily, lowering his gaze.

"How're you doin'?" asked Nya gently.

"Mm." Lloyd shrugged and cleared his throat. You'd think eye contact had just been declared an international felony. The others waited, silent. Maybe they could crack him if they didn't speak first.

Lloyd sensed their game. He fidgeted for a while, then sighed.

"Okay," he said hoarsely, forcing a smile. "So, dying of embarassment seems to be a pretty slow process. Don't suppose you guys could speed it up a bit?"

"Lloyd!"

"What?!" He jumped at Kai's tone, looking genuinely startled. At least he finally looked up, though.

"That's it, we're taking you to the emergency room—"

"The what—wh-why?! What did I say? I was kidding—"

"That's kidding? The morning after you try to Curse yourself?!"

Lloyd froze, his eyes wide. Kai also stiffened, looking stricken. If Lloyd had been amnesiac about the whole thing and Kai had just reminded him, the fire ninja would never forgive himself.

After a second, though, understanding dawned in Lloyd's eyes. An unreadable sequence of emotions flashed across his face, then he shook his head, again breaking eye contact.

"N-not on purpose."

"What do you mean, not on purpose?" Kai was subdued now.

"The spell took over." Lloyd watched his fingers twining and untwining. "I wasn't thinking, I just . . . "

"Tell us exactly what happened."

"I don't know." Lloyd's eyes clouded, and he swallowed hard. "I only remember pieces. I woke up, and all I could think was that I had to say the spell. I've never felt it that strong before. But I knew there were so many of us on the ship, I had to fight it, but I couldn't. So I tried to get myself away from everyone else. I don't remember how I got down. All I remember is Jay waking me up and the portal was already there."

"So it was all the spell," said Kai.

"Yeah." Lloyd's voice cracked. He was tearing up again, although it wasn't clear whether it was from remembering last night or because he sensed the faintly skeptical undertone in Kai's question.

"But what happened before that?" Kai was trying to ask as gently as possible. "Why was the spell suddenly taking over?"

Lloyd shrugged.

"I dunno."

Kai chewed his lip silently for a moment.

"We really should take you to the hospital," he said at last.

"No!" Lloyd was on his feet in a split-second, looking panicked.

"Just to get you checked out—"

"No!" repeated Lloyd. "It's bad enough that everyone knows Cole is in the hospital, if they hear I was in there too it's gonna look even worse. They're gonna—they're gonna think I'm unstable or something."

"Are you stable?" asked Nya quietly.

"I'm fine." Lloyd set his teeth.

"Could you at least tell us what was bothering you last night?"

"Nothing. It was nothing."

"Lloyd . . . We just want to help . . . "

"I'm fine!" Lloyd abruptly whirled away and strode off, into the kitchen. The others exchanged despairing looks.

"Lloyd, please." Zane was the first to follow. In the doorway he came up short, grimacing. Lloyd was sitting at the kitchen table, shuffling through a welter of papers Zane had left there. He'd been working all morning while Lloyd was still asleep.

"Now is not the time . . . " began Zane, but Lloyd ignored him. He turned over a few drawings, his expression intent. After a moment he looked up to Zane.

"These are overhead views of the hospital. Blueprints."

Zane gave a reluctant nod, then moved to take the drawings away. Lloyd shifted them pointedly out of reach.

"Nash. He's loose, isn't he? So . . . these are plans for how to guard the hospital."

Zane didn't respond a moment, looking miserable. Lloyd turned back to the drawings and studied them again. Some were crumpled, some were crossed through. Others were intact. Wordlessly Lloyd traced a finger over the four dots stationed around the hospital in one of the drawings, each with dashed angles representing field of vision. That was one of the crumpled drawings.

The others had crept into the kitchen as well, but they didn't say anything. Zane was standing numbly now, looking away. Lloyd finally found a drawing that hadn't been crumpled or otherwise rejected. He counted the number of dots. Five.

"It's going to take all of us," he said, looking up to Zane again. "Right?"

Zane winced, aware that everyone was now spearing him with their eyes.

"The hospital has a difficult shape," he said softly. "And the surrounding buildings aren't ideal for cover. I've been trying to find a configuration that would allow four people to stay hidden but also keep the entire hospital in someone's line of sight . . . but . . . "

"There's gotta be a way," said Kai. Zane shook his head miserably.

"See? It takes all five of us," said Lloyd. "I need to help."

"We're not sending you out into action like this," said Kai, in a tone that brooked no denial.

"You don't have a choice," retorted Lloyd, in the exact same tone.

"Forget it. The fifth person can be Sensei."

"Still not enough. You need someone placed in Cole's room too, as a last resort. That means you actually need six people."

"Then we'll bring Skylor."

"You're going to drag her into this?" said Lloyd flatly.

"It's still better than dragging you!"

"I'm. Fine." Lloyd bored his eyes into Kai's. "And I'm a trained ninja. It's my job to protect Ninjago, not hers. She's good, but she doesn't have elemental powers, and she doesn't have any obligation to deal with someone at Nash's level. Let me do this."

Kai gritted his teeth.

"Then you're the one who's gonna be in Cole's room, as the last line of defense."

"No!" Lloyd's ironclad expression shattered, flashing into a look of frank terror. It was gone in an instant, but even as his jawline hardened again, there was a light of panic burning in the back of his eyes. The others stared, startled.

"No," repeated Lloyd, more composedly. "Let's be honest, Uncle Wu is good, but he's not as nimble as we are. If we care about actually succeeding here, we need to send the right people for the job."

"So, not you," said Kai.

Lloyd said nothing, staring Kai down. Kai broke first, scoffing angrily and looking around at the others as if pleading someone else to step in and succeed where he was failing. Lloyd continued to sit defiantly, clutching Zane's blueprint.

"What is all this?" said Kai at last. "Are you planning to Curse Nash? Is that what this is?"

Now Lloyd averted his eyes.

"Only if you want me to."

"Oh, so you have control over it now?" snapped Kai. "Last night says something different."

"I'm better now. I got it out of my system," said Lloyd crisply. "I haven't even thought of saying the spell all morning."

"And how do we know when that's going to change?"

"I'll let you know if it comes back." Lloyd gave a frustrated sigh. "You know what, I'm done talking. I'm coming along, and there's no way you're going to stop me, okay? Not. Negotiable."

The others exchanged despairing looks again. Kai in particular kept begging with his eyes for someone to talk some sense into this kid. One by one, they each lowered their heads in resignation.

"I'm getting geared up, then," said Lloyd, and strode out of the kitchen. In the heavy silence following, Kai dug his hands into his hair.

"This is nuts. He thinks he's a better option than Sensei or Skylor? He's compromised!"

"But he's determined," said Nya. "I don't think there's anything we can do to stop him."

The others gave defeated sighs. One by one they began to drift away, to also start preparing.

"I'll check for any last-minute news on Nash," said Nya. Meanwhile Zane sat down in the chair Lloyd had vacated and began to listlessly shuffle through his drawings. Kai gave him a baleful look.

"Could you really not have figured out some plan that only took four of us?"

"I'm sorry," said Zane, looking away. Kai sighed, then drifted over to study Zane's final blueprint. His eyes flicked between the various dots and angles sketched out around the hospital. It didn't take a Nindroid to see that you really couldn't guard every face of the hospital with four people. After a moment Kai's eyes narrowed, and he jabbed a finger at one of the dots.

"That one. Why is it farther away than the others?"

"There is poor cover on that side of the hospital," said Zane. "That is the closest hiding spot I could find."

"Then Lloyd's going there," said Kai. "At least he'll be farther from the action."

"No, that one has to be my spot," said Zane.

"Ohhh, what now—"

"It really is far away. I'm the only one with vision that works at such a distance. And I have a broader field of vision as well, if anyone else took that position it would leave gaps in our coverage."

"Screw that, at least we can—"

"Kai. You are grasping at straws."

Kai looked like he was going to snap back for a second, but then he groaned and slumped into a chair next to Zane, propping his head up in his hands.

"I'm sorry," said Zane again.

"'s not your fault." Kai sighed. "I just . . . something's wrong. He just tried to Curse himself. I can't tell if he's lying about it all being the spell's fault or not. He just spent the whole night crying and he won't tell us why. And did you see his face when we mentioned putting him in Cole's room? He's a trainwreck. And he's hiding something."

"I know," said Zane quietly.

"We should be taking him to the emergency room and getting him put on suicide precautions, not sending him out to fight a raging psycho."

"I know," said Zane again. "But his mind is made up. And he is a ninja, Kai. He takes his job very seriously. We have to trust that he can put his personal issues aside when it's time to do his job. We have all been trained for that. I like it just as little as you do, but it seems we have no choice but to put that training to the test."

Kai groaned and buried his head in his arms. Zane gave him a regretful look, but said nothing. Eyes distant, he traced guilty circles around one of the dots on his drawing.

Jay poked his head into the control room, his stomach fluttering with nervous hope.

"Anything?" he asked Nya pleadingly. Maybe the police had caught Nash again. Maybe all their problems could be over, just like that.

"No." Nya sank back in her swivel chair. "No emails from the police. I just called the station, and they confirmed they're still searching. No idea where Nash could be right now."

"Oh." Jay bit his lip, queasy with dread. So this was it, then. Protecting Cole and the entire rest of the hospital was going to be on their shoulders.

"I guess there's one bright spot in all this," said Nya half-heartedly. "Looks like the news about Cole being hurt got around really fast. That email address we put in our PSA is getting flooded with people asking about him. Once this is all over with, we're gonna have a really good katamari."

Jay said nothing. The only thing he could think of saying was way too morbid. Nya must have read his mind, because she laughed bleakly.

"I mean, yeah. Assuming we survive."