Chapter 13: Heart Ache

The remaining six students all gathered out in front of the arena, patiently waiting for Ed and Edna to come and open shop. When they did finally arrived, Jay thought everyone was surprised to see him armed with a shield and small sword, but he knew today wasn't doing to just be a walk in the park. Unlocking the door, they all followed the couple into the stadium. Ronin and Dareth were about to walk in when Ed turned to them.

"Now boys, it was very hard to pick between the two of you, so I've decided to kick you both out, maybe next year." He said and the brothers had identical looks of shock on their faces, but Ed shut the door never the less, leaving them outside. "Now on with the program." The teacher turned back to all the other students and they all stood straight and tensed, like soldiers going to war.

"This will be one of the toughest lessons yet, and if anyone were to die in this training it will be today." Edna cautioned and Jey felt his eyes widen and everyone else had the same reaction, even Cole. "Today, you duel a Poison Dragonblood, and I felt it was only fair to give you a warning." She added as Zane stepped forward, and Jay swore he was paler than usual.

"Mr. Walker, sir, I seriously doubt that anyone here is ready to fight a dragonblood that powerful." He said but the older man glared at him, who stepped back beside Jay.

"What does a Poison Dragonblood do exactly?" Jay whispered. He did partly know why a Poison Dragonblood was one of the most feared next to a Fire and Water Dragonblood, but it always reassured him to hear it from Zane, because with Zane it was straight from the book.

"A Poison Dragonblood emit a green mist-like substance, and somehow the fog gets into your head and makes your mind think that the dragonblood is whatever you fear most." Jay gulped, and Zane nodded. "It's all self-defense, you're less likely to engage it in battle and if it corners you you're too scared to fight back." He explained. They both looked back to the others and realized that everyone was silent, listening to them. Ed nodded, and for the first time ever Jay regretted talking.

"That was a fairly accurate description, and now you all understand why it's one of the final dragonbloods you duel; once I release the dragonblood you all have five minutes to try and defeat it, but if it gets too dangerous or you run out of time then my wife and I come in and finish it off before anyone gets hurt." He explained carefully so they all understood. One or two of them nodded solemnly, but Jay was too busy thinking of what he would see.

He wondered what his darkest fear was.

His mind flashed back to when he was a little kid and he shuddered. If he was lucky, his late mother wouldn't walk out of that cage and stay in his nightmares where she belonged. Ed walked over to a large silver cage, but unlike the others the walls were made of sheet metal as well as vengestone, leaving whatever was contained invisible to the human eye. His grip tightened on his shield and sword as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Get ready," Edna warned one last time.

The lock suddenly came off, and before Jay even had a chance to glimpse inside the cage the whole arena filled with green. Not a ray of light made its way through the fog, and Jay was lucky to even see his hand right in front of him. Everyone was silent, and a single pair of footsteps could be heard walking across the concrete floor. Something to his left whimpered, and he realized it was Zane, and he was right next to him. That meant whatever scared him so bad was also right next to Jay, if it was close enough for Zane to see.

The footsteps got closer, and Jay found himself looking in a different direction every two seconds trying to locate the source of the sound.

He heard running to his left, maybe to his right, he didn't really know.

"Jay look out!" Zane shouted as something pushed him over, and he just missed being hit by a sudden splash of what appeared to be acid. Sighing in relief, Jay looked into the nothingness but still couldn't see the beast.

"Thanks, Zane!"

"Just be careful!" He exclaimed as he looked around the darkness, starting to get paranoid with his lack of vision.

"Where are you?" He whispered into the shadows, talking to himself more so than anyone else.

"I'm right behind you Jay." A cold voice hissed and Jay's whole body tensed as he whimpered, looking over his shoulder and seeing the frighteningly familiar amber eyes. A hand reached out to grab him and he ran off into the green, a spine-shivering familiar chuckle ringing in his ears. He tripped over as something shifted in the fog, and crawled backward until his back came against a wall. The silhouette came closer to him, and even though the only visible feature was the eyes Jay knew what it was, or who it was.

"Kai..." He whimpered. Jay made out a faint smirk on the silhouette's face, and even though his mind screamed to try and defend himself with his body wasn't listening, his arms refusing to raise his sword or shield. 'Kai' came closer to Jay and he made out the faint glow of the fire burning in the brunette's hand. Jay knew he was going to die. Before Kai could attack, however, a shield flew through the air and hit the dragonblood. While Ed attacked the beast Edna ran over to Jay and helped him up, before pushing him back into the fog so she could help her husband.

Jay couldn't see where he was going, but he heard the old couple and Kai fighting each other.

A yell of pain came from behind him and he kept running away. Though tears streamed from his eyes as he fought every bone in his body not to run back and help Kai. Suddenly something ran past him and, catching a glimpse of white hair, he grabbed at the owner's wrist. The green seemed to thin out the tiniest bit and Jay managed to make out a few of Zane's features, like his eyes that were threatening to overflow.

"No Jay! You don't understand!" He screamed as he tried to pull away from his friend and Jay felt horrible, already knowing what Zane was probably hearing.

"Zane, it's not really your brother..." He said solemnly as the taller boy stopped pulling for a minute and looked away as if trying to make sense of the situation.

"Yeah... I know..." He muttered and Jay lightly squeezed the taller boys' wrist when the lights turned on overhead and the room was no longer green. Jay looked around and held back a scream. Edna and Ed were carrying an unconscious Kai between and were about to throw him in the cage with solid walls. Jay made to run over but Zane had a sturdy grip on his arm.

"Jay...it's not real..." He said quietly. Jay's mind processed the information slowly and he found it hard to believe, but then he looked hard at the figure in Ed and Edna's grip it seemed to flicker like a mirage. Jay slowly relaxed and Zane let go of his arm. Something wet rolled down his cheek and he realized he was crying. Wiping the tear away, Jay noticed so was just about everyone else. Zane was, and Plundar as well. Ed and Edna weren't looking at the students, but Jay was sure they were.

Even Cole seemed to have watery eyes if someone looked close enough.

The longest five minutes of Jay's life played over in his head, and he ran out of the arena before he could completely break down...

Kai sighed in boredom as he stared up at the fluffy clouds, his mind making out all kinds of shapes. He was only joking before but he was seriously considering making daisy chains so that he wouldn't have to sit here with nothing to do. He was considering asking Jay to bring a book of something the next time he visited. For now, though, Kai would have to make his own entertainment. When he heard footsteps coming down into the valley he almost tensed.

He then turned to see Jay, looking down at the ground so his ginger curls fell over his freckled face.

Kai sighed, before jumping down from the boulder he had adopted as his chair.

"Jay, what are you doing here so soon?" He asked and the smaller boy jumped. Jay looked up at him, and Kai was confused when he saw the tears streaming down his face.

"Kai..." He mumbled before he suddenly ran over to the brunette and without warning, wrapped his arms around the dragonblood's waist. Almost immediately he started to cry into Kai's shoulder.

"Jay, what are you-?" He started but Jay held onto him tighter and Kai decided now wasn't the time to ask questions. He sighed and kissed all dignity goodbye, before rubbing Jay's trembling back. Kai couldn't help but grin. "If I could walk into Ninjago without everyone trying to kill me, I'd probably give those teachers of yours a piece of my mind." He said and Jay looked up at him, picking up on his little joke.

"Probably?"

"Well, I was raised to steal everything I see... so... might make a few stops." He shrugged casually as Jay grinned, before wiping his eyes with his sleeve and letting Kai out of his little hug. The dragonblood ruffled his hair and Jay pushed his hand away, holding back a laugh of his own. "You know what cheers me up?"

"What?"

"Flying... so if you're not in a hurry-" He laughed as Jay lightly elbowed his stomach.

"Curse you, Kai! I was starting to think you had a heart."

"Hey! I have a heart." He pouted, causing Jay to grin, and started walking off.

"You just choose not to use it." The shorter boy laughed and started to walk faster, breaking into a run.

"Jay get back here! I'm not finished talking to you!" He exclaimed as ran after the ginger-haired teen, who tried to run faster...