Cole's lungs burned with a fire that would rival anything Kai could ever conjure up.

"Maybe… running wasn't such a good… idea…"

Idiots. Why are we always idiots?

Beside him, Jay fought to catch his breath. "It was your brilliant idea!"

"Hey, you did it too!"

"You challenged me!"

With a roll of his eyes, Cole pushed himself off the ground and forced his screaming legs into a stretch. "Yeah, well, next time I challenge you, just say no and let me win by default, okay?"

"Right," his friend gasped, "like I'd ever let that happen. Who won anyway?"

Cole was a bit miffed to find he didn't know. A shrug was the only reply he could give Jay, who let out a heavy groan.

"You mean we ran all that way… for nothing?"

"It wasn't for nothing. I mean, it got us this far, right? And it was fun." Wasn't it?

Jay didn't seem to see it that way. "Sure. But it's not fun now."

"Well," Cole said with a sigh, "not everything can be fun, I guess."

"You can say that again, and let's never do anything like that again."

"So," Cole began, unable to keep the slight smirk off his face, "you're never gonna run again?"

"Not over a freaking mountain!" And with that familiar coin-flip personality that made Jay Jay, the blue ninja hopped up and joined Cole on the dirt road. "Well, where to next?"

"Don't you mean, where to first!"

"That monster of a hill was first. What's next?"

Cole shrugged and surveyed the vast landscape. Rolling hills covered in tall grass and blooming flowers surrounded them on nearly all sides. To the north, he could just make out the faint skyline of a village.

"There." He pointed, then watched as Jay's gaze followed his outstretched finger. "That's a good place to start looking for Master Wu as any."

He would've been a fool not to notice the dreary hush that fell over the two of them, then. Well, we can't just avoid saying his name until we find him, right?

Still, he didn't miss the dull glaze of sadness that snaked its way across Jay's eyes.

"Hey," Cole said, forcing a smile despite the way his insides twisted at the mere thought of their aging Master, "we're gonna find him. It's going to be okay."

"I know," Jay replied, his voice unusually soft. "I know we'll find him. We have to find him."

Some sort of or else hung in the air, but Cole didn't have a chance to coax it out of his normally talkative brother's mouth. Because Jay was moving again, driving himself toward the distant village.

"You're done catching a breather already?" Cole called out as he hurried after Jay.

"We have to keep moving!" Jay returned with a quick glance over his shoulder. "Master Wu won't find himself, you know."

"Jay, that doesn't even make any… Oh, nevermind. Just wait for me, will you? I don't think I could run again even if my life depended on it!"

As he caught up, he noticed the corners of Jay's lips twitch upward. "What if your reputation depended on it?"

"My reputation is the last thing that would ever convince me into another mad dash like that last one."

"All right, what about a slow jog?"

Cole's tone held the tiniest hint of annoyance. "Jay…"

"A fast walk? Okay, not a mad dash, but how about a sane sprint?"

"No. No running. Period."

Jay's melodramatic sigh heightened his already soaring suspicions. "Oh, well, if you're not going to finish our race, then I guess I'll win by default!" Then, in a flash of blue, he was booking it down the road. "How's your reputation gonna handle that?"

With no choice but to follow, Cole sucked in a breath and raced after his friend.

And for the first time since their departure, he couldn't imagine making this journey alone. Sure, he'd been alone when Zane had died, and that had been all right. But now… Now, he was beginning to realize just how very lonely he'd been back then. For a brief moment, he wondered how the others were doing so far.

Zane.

Kai.

Nya.

Lloyd.

They weren't meant to be separated. They were a team. The team. It just didn't feel right.

It's gonna be all right. We just have to find Wu. That's all.

Yeah. Cole felt his lips twitch downward. That's all…

Catching up to Jay proved to be a more difficult feat than he'd anticipated, but Cole shoved the intrusive thoughts away and let Jay think he was winning—at least for a little bit.

"All right," Cole said through a heavy sigh, "I think that's enough running for now."

"I don't get it." Jay swiped the sweat off his brow. "I thought we were in shape. What happened?"

"We're stupid, that's what happened. I mean, who runs non-stop over a hill and then runs again?"

"Well, you were the one who challenged me!"

"Hey, you challenged me, too. But let's not go into all that again. Let's just get to the village and find Master Wu, okay?"

"You don't have to tell me twice. But…" A cloudy expression fell over Jay's face as they continued on toward their destination. "Do you really think anyone there has seen him?"

Cole's easy shrug hid the stiffening of his muscles. "I don't know. But we have to start somewhere, right?"

Right…?

He didn't waste any more of his precious time and energy wondering what would happen if they never found their Master. It was far too early in their journey to allow for those kinds of thoughts.

Toxic thoughts. Thoughts that distracted Cole from the mission.

The mission. Right.

We're coming, Master Wu. We'll find you.

I promise.

"I can't believe no one here has seen Master Wu or knows anything about where he might be! Not one person!"

"Calm down, Jay," Cole said from the other side of their tiny room. "It's only the first day. Did you really think we'd find him just like that?"

The sharp sound of the earth ninja snapping his fingers went right through Jay, setting him even further on edge than before.

Crossing his arms, he threw his friend a look. "So, you already knew we'd fail before we even got here? You did, didn't you? Admit it! You were anticipating our failure!"

"I wasn't anticipating it!" Cole shot back, flinging his boot off with one final, irritated tug. "I was just expecting it, all right? Since when do things ever go right for us at the get-go, huh? They don't. Not ever. I was just using the past to think logically about the future."

"Stop trying to sound like Master Wu because you're not," Jay grumbled as he kicked his own boots off for the night.

"I wasn't—"

"Well, you did—"

"Then it's no wonder I was right."

Silence fell over the shabby room after that. It was one of those silences that Jay had always found to be particularly suffocating, and for a moment, he couldn't breathe properly—or, at least, it sure felt that way.

Breathe! Come on, you idiot! Breathe!

But he was breathing. So, why did it feel like he just couldn't catch a breath?

If he was honest with himself, he always felt like this whenever he and Cole—

A deflated sigh cut through Jay's thoughts. "I told myself I wasn't going to do that anymore."

"Do what?" Jay asked through a suddenly dry throat, already having a pretty good idea of what Cole was about to say.

"Fight with you." When Cole finally lifted his gaze off the floor, his eyes held a defeated sadness that cut Jay to the core. "That's not what this is about. It's about Wu, yeah, but it's about us too. I mean, we're friends, right?"

Jay's interjection was a barely audible whisper. "The best."

"So, why is it so easy for us to go at it like that?"

This time, all Jay could manage was a miserable shrug.

With a kick to his boot that was full of self-loathing, Cole trudged over to his bed and flopped down on it face first.

"That was stupid. And pointless," he said after a minute. "And I didn't mean to—"

"I'm sorry," Jay interrupted. "I'm the one who started and I'm sorry. You're right, that's not what this is about. I'm just… No." He shook his head. "No, there's no excuse. I…"

Shaking his head once more, Jay pulled his knees up close to his chest and leaned back against the small headboard.

It was all so wrong. They were all supposed to be together back on the Bounty… They were supposed to be with their teacher, their mentor. Wu's supposed to be here… Why can't he just be here?

When would everyone he loved stop leaving him? First Zane, then Nya, now Wu. Who's next?

Who's next…?

Just because the others eventually returned to him didn't mean Wu would—

"You're just what?" Cole's voice was soft, almost weary, but tinged with an undeniable hint of concern.

Jay shrugged. "Tired, I guess."

So tired. They hadn't gotten a real break since the Day of the Departed, and that seemed like an age and a half ago.

"Me too, but that's not what you were gonna say."

"How would you know." He hadn't meant it as a jab, and yet the edge was there all the same. Dang it.

Cole let out a light chuckle. "Because I know you."

Right.

Another shrug. "It doesn't matter. It's not important."

"Jay…" To ignore the warning in Cole's voice would be to open a whole new can of worms, so Jay found himself shrugging again.

"I know it doesn't justify starting a fight with you, but…" Jay flicked his gaze toward the ceiling. The aging wood beams didn't look sturdy enough to hold up all through the night, but what other choice did they have? It was the only inn the village had to offer and it was better than camping out in the woods. "I keep wondering what'll happen if we never find him. Just the thought of failing him when he never failed us makes me anxious and stressed, and I guess my best defense against the anxiety is to say whatever's on my mind at the moment and—" He sucked in a steadying breath, swallowing the end of the tangent. Because Cole didn't need to listen to all that nonsense.

Only… he was listening. He was lying there listening with that same concerned and weary expression he'd had when he asked the question.

And he was the one who asked…

"So… yeah." Jay shrugged again, unsure of what to say for once, but desperately needing to fill the space. "That's it."

"You sure that's everything?"

"Yeah."

Cole nodded, his face thoughtful, understanding. "Well, if there are times you just need to vent, I'll just listen, okay? I won't combat you, if I can help it." A smirk pulled at his lips. "Though, if something really biting or mean comes to your head, try to hold back, okay?"

Jay nodded, dumbstruck. Because no one had ever told him something like that before. No one had offered to just listen to him vent when talking was his coping mechanism.

Except for his parents.

And now, Cole.

A warm buzz filled his chest. He really shouldn't have been surprised.

After all, what else would one expect of their best friend?