Cole tried not to bristle, a task easier said than done. Isn't everything these days?

The sea breeze was so refreshing and the salty air so lovely that it should've been hard to stay mad at anything, and yet, Cole couldn't shake his anger.

You promised you wouldn't argue with him anymore, Cole.

Pft. He started it. It's not my fault Jay always has to make a big deal out of literally everything.

As the sky changed its pallet from soft pink to a starry evening black, Cole leaned against the ship's railing and sighed.

He started it…

Sure. Real mature, Cole. Real mature.

Whatever happened to iron sharpens iron? Brother sharpens brother…?

Frustrated, he swept a hand through his hair and was hardly surprised when it came out with a light coating of sand.

Sand.

Memories of Jay splashing sandy water at him slowly began to resurface the longer Cole stared down at his open palm.

"At this rate, you're gonna give Nya a run for her money! The new Master of Water!"

Cole could still feel the misty spray of water; the laugh that bubbled up in his throat as he willingly faced his fear.

"Wait till I tell her you said that."

Another splash from Jay. "You wouldn't dare!"

"You so sure about that?"

"You won't be able to." The sight of Jay's fists full of clumpy wet sand was still clearly branded in his mind, almost as if it was a memory no more than five minutes old. "Not after I bury you in a heap of sand!"

"Hey, I thought we were just throwing water, not—gah!"

"Somethin' wrong with your hand?"

Startled out of his musings, Cole turned to find the first mate standing beside him.

"What?"

The man jerked his head downward. "You kept grinnin' at your hand there."

"No," Cole replied quickly. "It's fine. Just sandy, that's all."

"Well, if nothing's wrong with your hand," the old pirate said, his tone knowing, "is there something wrong with your head?"

Unsure where he was going with this, Cole shrugged. "There shouldn't be. Unless the sun fried it back there." The chuckle that escaped his lips sounded so forced, it made him sick to his stomach.

With a grunt, the pirate continued, "Anything wrong with your heart, then? That's the one that always seems to cause folks the most trouble."

Cole fixed his gaze on the darkening horizon again. "You can say that again… But no, I'm fine. My heart's fine."

"If you say so."

"Why?" Cole glanced back at the first mate, whose name continually escaped him. "What would you say, then?"

"I'd say you've been trying to engage with the crew for the past few hours on deck, even though you're obviously exhausted from who-the-heck-knows-what and you clearly don't want to be up here."

"Uh… ouch?"

"You've got a perfectly good room down there. Why you keep dragging your weary corpse across the deck is beyond me."

For a long moment, Cole couldn't even pinpoint why he felt offended. "Hey! I'm not a corpse!"

"You look like one."

"Thanks a lot. You know, at first I thought you might've come over here to help me, not insult me."

"And I thought you would've been down there helpin' your friend by now."

"Who, Jay?" Cole scoffed. "He made it very clear that he doesn't need my help."

"But you're still worried about him, anyway." It wasn't a question, so Cole didn't answer, choosing instead to purse his lips. "Or aren't you?"

"I'm not worried," Cole mumbled, flicking the sand off his palm with a little more force than necessary. "I'm mad, I guess."

"At yourself?"

"No, at Jay. Were you even listening?"

An odd expression captured the pirate's face then, and he shook his head. "I don't think I'm the one you should be asking that. And you're not mad at your friend. You're angry with yourself. Don't ask me what for," he quickly added when Cole opened his mouth, "that's a question only you can answer. All I know is that your friend was actin' mighty strange earlier—even before he boarded. I've only seen wary eyes like that a few other times in my life and they never mean anything good."

"Eyes…?" Cole repeated, running his past few encounters with Jay over in his head. It was all such a blur, but now that the first mate had mentioned it…

Cole bit back a curse.

"Well, I've got stuff to do. Not all of us can be passengers." With a smile, the man patted Cole on the shoulder. "It's about to get awfully chilly up here. It'll be warmer below deck, just sayin'."

"Thanks," Cole replied, pouring everything he'd wanted to say to the sailor into that one word.

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't, I'm busy."

Cole chuckled despite himself, then hurried below deck.

A pep talk from a pirate was the last thing he ever thought he'd have. And yet, the aging seafarer had been right. Cole wasn't angry at Jay—not really. He was worried, and mad at himself for not trying harder. For not finding some way to help his brother.

Instead, he'd just given up. Who even does that?

And a little part of him had even been afraid. Because if I could give up that easily on Jay, what if I give up on Master Wu…?

Cole's stomach clenched at the thought. No. No! I promise, Master. I won't give up on Jay and I won't give up on you.

When he arrived at their cabin door only to find it securely locked, Cole felt some of his previous frustration crawl back up his spine.

"Jay?" Nothing. "Jay! I told you not to lock me out! Now, come on, open up!"

Nothing. As he continued to jiggle the handle, hoping it would somehow unlock itself, Cole pressed his ear to the door. Nothing.

Well, nothing but light snoring.

That's it!

"Jay!" He shouted, pulling harder on the handle. "Open up! This isn't fair! If you don't let me in right now, I'll break the door down! You know I can do it, too! And when the captain asks who ruined his perfectly good door, I'll tell him it was you! Did you hear me? I'll tell him it was—!"

"Need a key?"

Letting out a startled yelp, Cole spun around to face the voice that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was the kid who had shown them to their quarters earlier. And he was holding a large ring of iron keys.

"Actually, uh," Cole began, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck while he cleared his throat, "yeah. That'd be helpful."

"Here you go," the boy said as he unlocked the door with one swift turn of the key. "I can't actually give you the keys—captain's orders—but I can open stuff for you. Just let me know when you need something unlocked."

"Thanks," Cole replied, still wondering how much of his rant the kid had heard.

Come on, everyone heard that. How could they not?

Shut up, Cole.

As Keys shuffled back down the hall, Cole burst into the room, fully prepared to chew Jay out for locking the door to their shared quarters…

… And stopped short at the sight of his brother fast asleep on the bunk.

Well…?

Cole mentally waved his inner voice away as he quietly shut the door. Knock it off.

"Jay?" He whispered, drawing nearer to the bed. Come on, if all the shouting didn't wake him up, you really think—? "Jay?"

Then, he reached out and shook the young Elemental Master.

It was a light shake, and to be fair, Cole was fully prepared for the struggle of waking a deeply sleeping brother. So, when Jay sent a half-aimed kick sailing toward his stomach, Cole was grossly unprepared. It was a miracle he managed to dodge that blow and the next one, which was a feeble left upper hook.

It was the final blow that got him in the end. He was so concentrated on protecting himself against Jay's arms and legs that he'd completely forgotten about Jay's element. This lapse of memory earned Cole a quick shock of electricity to the chest and a stumble across the room. Only when he'd landed hard on the floor did Jay seem to come to his senses.

He hovered over the fallen earth ninja, sparking hands outstretched, eyes wide. "Cole…?"

"Hey," was all Cole could manage as he massaged his aching chest. He had suffered the wrath of Jay's lightning before, but that had been an accident and he'd walked away fine in the end. This time, however… This time felt different.

Jay had meant to hit him. Jay had been aiming for him.

Or someone…

"Cole!" Jay was wide awake now, the terror in his eyes having been quickly replaced with regret and concern.

But there had been terror. Cole saw it. Pure, raw terror.

And it scared him.

"Oh my gosh! I can't—I mean, I didn't—Gosh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Cole said, careful not to wince as he pushed himself up off the floor. "I'm guessing you didn't hear me yelling?"

"Uh, yelling?"

Cole nodded. "And pounding on the door?"

Jay mumbled some sort of apology with no excuse or explanation, but Cole's mind had already begun to wander.

The sheets on the bunk were a tangled mess and the pillow rested in a clump on the other side of the cabin. What could Jay have possibly been dreaming about that sucked him in so deeply he couldn't even hear Cole at the door?

What sort of nightmare could have triggered a reaction like that?

"Wait, if I didn't hear you," Jay was saying, "and the door was locked, then how'd you—?"

A small smirk tugged at Cole's lips. "I ghosted through the walls."

"Ha ha. Sure." Jay's twitching expression made it clear he wanted to find that joke funny, but couldn't. Why? "Come on, seriously now."

"That kid from earlier has a master ring of keys," Cole said with a shrug. "I guess he must've heard me." At least someone did…

"Wait, back up a second. He has a ring of keys?"

"Yeah… Isn't that what I just said?"

"So, anyone can just unlock that door anytime they want?"

Remaining cool and collected meant ignoring the slight edge of hysteria that rimmed Jay's tone—no matter how difficult such a task turned out to be. "I mean, it is their ship."

Jay's gaze flitted across the room, landing on the unlocked door. "Still, doesn't that unsettle you?"

"Maybe, if it took the time to dwell on it."

"I mean, anyone can just come in, anytime they feel like it!"

"Jay, calm down, I'm sure they won't. Actually, I know they won't."

"How? How do you know that—?"

"I just do, all right?" Cole snapped back, plunging the room into another heavy silence.

Jay said nothing. He simply clamped his mouth shut and went to lock the door.

A sigh deflated Cole. "Sorry. I didn't come down here to have a shouting match. But I spent the last few hours with the crew and I know for a fact that none of them will come in here if you lock the door. They'll be too busy sleeping to spy on us, if that's even what any of them wanted to do, which I highly doubt."

Jay didn't appear to be convinced, but that was fine. Cole wasn't there to convince him of anything, he was just there to talk.

Great start so far.

Shut up.

So, Cole went for casual and uninterested… and failed miserably. "Nightmare?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It was a nightmare, then?"

Jay just shrugged, a half-hearted confirmation of the fact, then made his way back toward the bunk. "What time is it?"

"The sun just a little bit ago. So, can we talk about why you're being so weird, now?"

Amazing tact, Cole. Right on.

Just knock it off, will you?

"I'm always weird," Jay replied, half ignoring Cole as he flopped back down on the bunk, his tired eyes clearly working hard to stay open.

"Yeah, but I'm thinking more specifically. Like, what was that all about?"

"What was what?"

"Nope. I'm not playing this game. You come at me like I'm your worst nightmare and almost take me down. All I did was touch you! That's what I'm talking about."

Jay continued his strike against eye contact as he straightened his blankets. "It was just a bad dream, okay? It's nothing out of the ordinary, so just leave it alone."

"Okay, then how about everything before that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Cole bit out a frustrated groan before pulling himself into the upper bunk. "I'm way too tired for this. I came in here to help you, but if you want to act like a child, that's on you, not me."

"I don't need your help. I'm fine."

"You're not fooling me, Jay. I'm not an idiot."

Silence.

But Cole was done talking. If Jay wanted to have the last word, that was fine. Cole was done.

It's too late for this.

That familiar hot anger bubbled within his chest again. Only, this time, he knew exactly who he was angry at: himself.

Because he didn't know how to help Jay; he didn't know how to get through to his friend.

He was lost and didn't know what to do.

Master Wu would know what to do.

That's why you've got to find him. Fast.

Deep down, however, Cole knew there was no way they would find Wu soon enough. Not soon enough to help Jay.

And he had to help Jay. Once he figured out how…

I'm just… not wise enough. Even Lloyd would know what to do.

"Cole…?"

Only when his eyes snapped open did Cole realize he'd been dancing along the edge of sleep.

"Are you awake…?"

No. His brain was foggy and his words slow. Though he'd open his mouth, nothing came out.

"Cole?" Jay whispered again, and something about the tone of his voice hinted at the fact that he didn't actually want Cole to answer.

So, Cole clamped his mouth shut and squinted his eyes as Jay tiptoed across the room.

What the heck is he doing? Silently, Cole watched Jay slide the great sea chest over the floor.

When he barricaded it in front of the door, Cole felt his heart twist. After checking the lock once last time, Jay slipped back into bed.

Cole swallowed, pulling the covers up to his chin. Though sleep still clawed at him, trying desperately to pull him under, he kept his eyes open.

Only when he heard Jay's soft, steady breathing did he let himself relax.

Something was scaring Jay.

Jay, who had taken down countless villains and monsters without batting an eye—though a few of his nervous pre-battle ramblings did come to mind. Villains they'd always fought together.

Now, something was scaring Jay.

Something Cole couldn't fight against.

Because he had no idea what it was and no clue how to pry the truth from Jay's tightly sealed lips.

The last thing he remembered before drifting into a dark void was feeling completely and utterly helpless.

And he fell asleep trying not to think about the rolling of the waves that carried them further and further out into the ocean.