The cell door slammed shut and the Fallen stormed away.
"You think he's getting frustrated?" Kai managed with a weak smile.
Garmadon helped him up to a sitting position. Cole just groaned from his corner.
"Yes, if the severity of your wounds are any indication." Garmadon said as he moved to help Cole.
"New technique today, did you notice?" Kai went on. "He's never done it to us at the same time."
Cole just curled into a ball. Garmadon and Kai shared a look. For the first few weeks of their imprisonment, Cole has managed to keep most of the Fallen's efforts on himself, despite Kai's fervent protests. The Fallen had easily complied; he had seemed to think that a focus on Cole would crack him. Kai was starting to think he had been right.
Garmadon put a hand on Cole's shoulder and murmured encouraging words. Kai grit his teeth to see his friend so helpless.
"You two are remarkable." Garmadon said after Cole had fallen asleep. "The fact you haven't given up your elements after all this time astounds me."
Kai looked out to the hallway.
"I know, we're impressive." He said. "But we can't keep doing this forever."
He turned and looked into Garmadon's weary eyes.
"What happens when we finally give up?" Kai asked.
Garmadon met his gaze.
"Then the Fallen becomes that much more powerful." He said and leaned forward. "But Kai, I doubt you are capable of 'giving up.'"
He looked back down at Cole.
"If I know you, you'll die before you give up."
The sessions the Fallen spent with them grew shorter and shorter as time. Neither Kai nor Cole could withstand much of the torture before it became a real threat to them. Garmadon often had to call out before the Fallen went too far.
The constant near death experiences were taking their toll. Cole was hardly conscious anymore; he slept almost every moment the Fallen wasn't there. Kai's verbal abuse of the Fallen had become mostly non-verbal. Kai barely had the energy to speak, though he tried his best to communicate his contempt through his eyes.
Garmadon did his best to keep them distracted. He told them tales of snake people and demons and of when Ninjago was young. Kai still felt odd about the old man helping them so much. It felt unnatural, but not in the stomach stabbing way the Fallen did.
Cole was getting weaker by the day. The Fallen did seem to be focusing his efforts on him still, no matter how much Kai screamed at him.
Garmadon had to catch Cole after the Fallen's latest session for fear of him hitting his head.
"You'll kill them if you keep this up." Garmadon rebuked. "Give them time to recover-"
"So they can resist me more?" The Fallen snapped. "They're close to breaking. If they would just give me their elements, this could stop!"
His dark eyes moved to Kai, slumped against the wall. Kai couldn't speak at the moment, but he raised a hand and extended the middle finger. He was pretty sure it was an offensive gesture from before, though he might have been wrong. When the Fallen saw it, he didn't seem more angry. In fact, a small smile flitted across his unnaturally pale face.
Kai determined that the next time the Fallen got close enough, and Kai had enough energy, he would punch the Fallen in the nose. They'd see if he was still smiling then.
"It would end if you'd just give them up." The Fallen told him. "For both of us."
With that he was gone. They sat in silence for a while. Kai was regaining his strength, Cole was regaining consciousness, and Garmadon was lost in thought. Cole finally stirred with a soft groan.
"How are you feeling? Garmadon asked.
Cole's eyes were still closed.
"I don't understand." He said.
His voice was ever so slightly slurred.
"He got through, he should have gotten it." He went on. "But he couldn't."
Kai took 'it' to mean the element.
"He couldn't take it?" Garmadon repeated. "You weren't able to fight him away, and yet he couldn't remove your element?"
Cole shifted his head up and down as a stilted nod. Garmadon's brow furrowed.
"Then why-"
Garmadon's eyebrows shot back up his face. He released a long breath in an almost triumphant way.
"He can't take them." He said. "You won't have to fight him anymore; he will never be able to take your elements."
"Why?" The question was out before Kai could stop it, though he knew it was useless to ask.
Garmadon looked to him with shining eyes. He had more life in him than Kai had seen in the previous weeks.
"They're not his anymore." The older man whispered. "Before all this, you and the others depended on him for your elemental powers. He was a crutch. Somehow, the same spell that blocked your memories has severed that connection and you were able to develop them on your own."
Garmadon absentmindedly rubbed the chains holding them down.
"He can't take them back because they've never been his. This is a waste of energy for him!" Garmadon triumphed. "We must keep this from him for as long as we can."
Kai grinned for the first time in weeks.
"So I can cause trouble for him without doing anything." He said. "I'd love to."
Cole just sighed, long and deep. Kai could hear the relief in it and he could relate. While the Fallen's attempts to take their powers would still be excruciating, it was the fighting back that had been the hardest part. Now all they had to do was endure.
Kai blinked.
"Garmadon," he said slowly. "If he can't get the elements, but he doesn't know that, he won't stop. Ever."
Garmadon looked down at the now gently snoring Cole he was still supporting.
"Yes." He said. "I'm afraid, barring a miracle, this is your fate."
"You don't think he'd go back to your caves, do you?" Nya asked.
Zane cocked his head.
"Perhaps." He said, tapping his chin with a finger. "I will ask the Falcon to search these areas."
Nya smiled to herself. Not send the Falcon, or order the Falcon, Zane would ask the Falcon. It was so typically Zane.
Just as the loud grunting and muttered wisecracks were typical of a training Jay, being proudly displayed a short distance away.
Xavier had insisted on being a part of the search for Cole; Jay had insisted on bringing back regular training. Zane, true to form, had created the compromise.
"Volume down!" Nya called to the sparring pair.
Jay looked up from his attempted headlock and scowled.
"We're sparring Nya!" He protested. "How quiet do you think we can get?"
"Xavier's pretty quiet."
"Xavier is a mute!"
Xavier was so overcome by silent giggles he stopped struggling and Jay overcompensated and lost his balance. They crashed into the floor, a little too close to their makeshift research station. A few maps fluttered off.
"Please, be careful!" Zane scolded as he ducked to pick them up.
"Okay, mom." Xavier signed with a sarcasm born from spending too much time with Jay.
Everything froze. The questions that Nya had forgotten for months crept back in. Questions Xavier was suddenly able to answer.
"Xavier, who-" Nya started.
Xavier slashed his hands through the air while shaking his head.
"Please." He signed. "Don't ask me."
Nya bit her lip, though she was willing to let it drop. Zane, on the other hand was not.
"What was your name?" He asked.
Xavier's response was jerky and stiff, far removed from the fluidity he had developed.
"My name is Xavier."
Zane opened his mouth but Jay interrupted.
"This is training time," Jay said. "Not personal backstory time."
Xavier nodded and edged back to Jay. Zane met Nya's eyes and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head once. He sat down.
"Come on, let's work with your weapon again." Jay urged.
Xavier brightened and bounded away. He had shaken off his gloom like only an eight year old could.
"Nya, he can tell us what happened to him now." Zane said as soon as Xavier and Jay clashed.
"You saw how he reacted. Maybe one day, but not now." Nya replied.
She brought forward the map that displayed the area where Jay had been found.
"There is pain there." Zane said. "I want to help him."
Nya nodded.
"But we can't help him if he's not ready to talk." She pushed the map to him. "It's not life threatening. But Cole might be in danger."
Zane's eyes lost his far away look and focused on the map.
"Yes." He said. "We must focus on Cole."
"Jay!" Nya snapped. "Xavier!"
Xavier looked at her upside down from the middle of their table and gave a dazed grin.
"Sorry!" Jay fussed. "I didn't know how fast he was going when I dodged!"
Nya hurried to gather up the scattered papers. Xavier maneuvered himself off the table.
"This is pointless. I guess you guys can't train without creating a war zone around you." She muttered. "Zane, let's move back to Engineering. This isn't-"
Zane stood up. Nya glanced at him. Had he lost his temper after the five interruptions?
"Jay, allow me to demonstrate how to spar with minimal collateral damage." He said.
Was that a twinkle in his eye?
"What-" Jay started.
Nya jumped as Zane launched himself over the table and barreled into Jay. Jay caught him with a loud grunt and the two tumbled to the ground. It was less sparring and more a wrestling match.
Xavier stared at them with his mouth open. Nya, overcoming her initial shock, smiled at him.
"They used to do this all the time." She whispered.
"They don't do it now." Xavier countered. "Especially not Zane."
"True." Nya responded.
Xavier had only known the somber and overprotective Zane of today.
"He seems happier lately, don't you think?" She asked him.
Xavier nodded.
"Ever since I told him about Cole." He signed.
He looked up, suddenly looking his young age. His curious green eyes were large in his round face.
"It used to be like this?' He asked. "All the time?"
"Yeah." Nya said with a smile. "Things were a lot happier then. We had each other."
Xavier studied the wrestling pair.
"Ow ow ow!" Jay gasped. "You're gonna break my arm!"
"Please do not exaggerate." Zane replied. "The hold I have you in will not cause any permanent or significant damage."
"I want this." Xavier signed slowly. "Us to be happy, all the time."
He studied his ring.
"That's why I'll fight him." He signed. "So we can be happy all the time."
Nya hugged him, making sure he couldn't see her face. Her chest was aching. How could she tell him how unlikely it was? How could she tell him that even if they defeated the Overlord, happiness would still be a far off dream?
She held him until he tapped her shoulder. She realized she'd been squishing him.
"Sorry." She said as she released him. "Should we get to work?"
Xavier was already studying the maps with a determined expression.
"Do you even understand those?" Nya asked.
"Not really." Xavier admitted.
Nya started pointing out the different features of the map when a slithering noise reached her ears. Jay and Zane froze. The doors opened and Skales slid in, followed by a nervous looking Jiro.
"General Skales, Captain." Jiro announced.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Skales said mildly.
"No," Nya said and stood. "I just wasn't expecting you so early. What's going on?"
"We have made an interesting discovery." Skales said. "I thought you'd like to know it asss soon asss possible."
Jay and Zane migrated over. They both looked the worse for wear after their bout. Jay's gi was rumpled with one side of the robe hanging loose over his arm. Zane's prim hair was disheveled and he had dirt on his nose. Nya gestured for Skales to continue.
"I've been sending scoutsss out to see if there isss a safer place for my people." Skales said. "One of the placesss we were investigating was Kryptarium."
Nya felt Xavier shift beside her.
"The old prison?" Nya asked.
"Seeing as it isss the only place I know of with the name Kryptarium, yesss." Skales said dryly. "The point is, there is a huge massss of the Golden Master's servantsss there."
Xavier tugged on Nya's arm.
"Not now, Xay. Let Skales finish." Nya murmured.
"Aren't there Lordings in masses everywhere?" Jay piped up.
"It could be a large group that settled there for a while." Nya agreed.
"That isss what we thought at first. We've been watching it for weeksss." Skales said.
His tail was swishing back and forth in the sand. Nya ignored another tug.
"No Lording ever leavesss the place." He continued. "They are more organized, like they are guarding something."
Skales looked directly into Nya's eyes. She repressed a shudder under his scarlet gaze.
"The creature isss there." He said. "The Golden Master'sss pet."
Nya caught her breath. Jay and Zane exchanged nervous glances. Xavier's brow was furrowed.
"Does he ever leave?" She asked.
Skales shook his head.
"We've only now caught sight of him. That'sss why I came early. The scout came back with the newsss only a few hoursss ago."
Nya bit the inside of her cheek.
"So he lives there. We've never been too interested in the place; the area's a prime Lording migration spot." Nya mused. "But why not live in Ninjago City?"
Xavier yanked on Nya's sleeve. She finally looked down.
"Cole is there!" He signed rapidly.
Zane gasped softly and Nya's throat tightened.
"Did he say what I think he said?" Jay asked. "Cole is in the one place that we do not want to go?"
So we got a lock on Cole! Poor Cole, I bring him back and then literally just torture him. I hurt who I love.
Anyway, wear your masks, remember to review, and have a great week!