Kai watched Lloyd and his father reconcile from afar, his heart panging with empathy, wishing that he could see his parents again, but alas, they were gone. While normally, he would keep his tears from falling, this time he could not. A choked sob escaped from his throat and he found himself curled up into a ball, his head buried in his knees.

Tears cascaded down his face in streams as he struggled to breathe properly. All the while, Kai couldn't help but wonder if it had been different if he'd been able to see them again. But no matter what, it didn't really change anything, did it? He still missed them desperately. His chest ached and all of a sudden, he felt pressure on top of him, holding him tight.

A gentle voice called out to Kai, "Is something wrong?" Kai's eyes shot open upon hearing the sound of a soft female voice calling for him. He looked up and found Lloyd's mother standing there, watching him, concern etched on her face.

Kai nodded his head in response, before staring down at the floor. "I just don't know how to fare without them, you know?"

"Well, you've come this far, Kai. I'm sure your parents are proud of the man you've become. And you're certainly doing great. You'll never be alone."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Now come, the others are waiting for you to help discuss what we're going to do next." As she said that, Lloyd's mother extended a hand towards the fire elemental. Kai took her hand and together, they walked to the rest of the group.

Yakunan sighed uneasily, gazing toward Xenudah. "What should we even do now? If we wait too long, then there's no chance that Kymika and Shiren will survive. That leaves only one option left... We fight."

"But father, I can't lose you..."

Yakunan placed his hand on top of his son's head and smiled kindly at him before he replied, "I'll be fine, my boy. Don't worry about me. Let's just make sure we get your wife and daughter home safe."

Xenudah trembled, clinging tightly to his father. "Dad, please...Is there another way? Any other way besides battle?" Tears brimmed in his eyes as he stared intently at Yakunan.

Yakunan gazed deeply at his son, his heart wrenching at the sight. He knew how painful losing his family must be for him. It was one thing for him to lose his parent, but his wife, his daughter… They must have suffered a lot more than he originally imagined. However, he wasn't ready to give up yet. They had to try. There was still hope for them, and he refused to let anything bad happen to them either.

"Father, I can't lose you!" Xenudah cried.

"Nor I, you... Oh, Xenudah... My poor boy..." Yakunan whispered sadly. The pair remained silent for several moments until Yakunan spoke again, "If there is no other option to save them then… Then we'll have to kill those who took them…"

Xenudah stared at Yakunan, stunned by his words. Did he mean what he seemed to imply? Kill people… For his family? How could they possibly do that?

"What?"

"We cannot sit here and watch them die, Xenudah."

"No... Father, I… I won't… We'll find a better solution. We have to find a better solution."

"How? The only people who can save them are us. If we don't take action, they may very well die. Do you want that on your conscience, Xenudah? Are you willing to live with that guilt?"

Xenudah bit his bottom lip in an effort to keep himself from crying again.

"Xenudah," Yakunan began, placing both of his hands on his shoulders. "I understand your fear, I truly do. But I am afraid that there's no other choice right now. Our best bet is to find a way to stop those who took your wife and daughter. They took a valuable asset of ours and we're going to get it back."

Xenudah was emotionally distraught, and it showed. His lips quivered as tears slipped down his face silently, and his breathing was shallow. He tried his best to swallow the emotions down. But they wouldn't leave him, his body felt numb, and he was struggling to remain in control. "Father, what if you don't make it?"

"Xenu… Please… Look at me. Just look at me for a moment. I need you to hold yourself together for me right now. Do you understand?"

Xenudah slowly turned his gaze upward at his father, tears still rolling down his face. Yakunan wiped away some stray tears with his thumb. "There will always be another way. Trust me, I'm trying here, but there's no way that we can save them now unless we fight the ones taking them captive."

Xenudah shook his head vigorously. "No... No! You're leaving me! It's just like last time! You can't do that again!"

"Xenudah, I love you... More than you can imagine. So much so that I'd die to protect you."

Xenudah shrieked loudly, turning away and fleeing from the group, too broken to even listen to his father.

"X-Xenudah..." Yakunan whispered as he stared at the spot where his child once stood. "Why must you be so difficult? Why do you have such a hard time accepting that I care about you? Why do you always reject me so fiercely? This hurts. So much. Do you have any idea how hurt I feel?" Yakunan cried, his voice breaking. The weight on his chest increased exponentially as he watched his son run from him, and he fell onto his knees, his body trembling with his sobs.

Xenudah found himself in his room, curled into a tight ball as he cried heavily. He rocked himself back and forth, his arms wrapped around himself. The pain was unbearable and overwhelming; his breath hitched painfully in his throat, causing him to cough. His chest heaved as he held himself against the wall, sliding to the floor. He hugged his legs close to himself, burying his face into his kneecaps. He whimpered softly and hiccuped, sniffling as he squeezed his eyes closed. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed, but he forced himself to stay sitting. He couldn't risk having his father or anyone else see him like this, not when he was hurting so badly.

His breathing quickened at the thought of his family abandoning him. He never wanted that. He had already thought his father was dead for years. To hear that he might actually die for real scared him beyond belief. Tears flowed freely down his face as his mind raced with thoughts of what might happen to his father if he left him again. The feeling of loss overwhelmed him. He clutched his hair tightly in his fists as he gasped out sobs.

In an agonizing state, he wailed and rocked himself in agony for minutes on end, unable to control his tears as he clutched his knees and hair in pain. He sat still, frozen and motionless, unable to move. Not being able to do much else, he simply sat on the bed, clutching his head tightly as his mind continued racing through horrific memories, images, and feelings that kept returning, over and over again.

He shook violently as his cries continued to tear through his mind. He screamed desperately, as loud as he could, not caring in the least what anyone else heard of him. His body felt sore, weak, and tired. The pain of his grief consumed him. It consumed him so badly. He could no longer handle the pain in his heart anymore.

It was too much.

"Xenu…" Yakunan whispered from the opposite side of the door.

"Don't bother me!" Xenudah shouted angrily, his body shuddering in his misery. "Stay away! Leave me alone! LEAVE ME ALONE!" As his sobs grew in volume, he curled up tighter against himself and shut his eyes, attempting desperately to block out the image that kept haunting him, the image that brought back horrible memories.

"My child…"

Xenudah's screams were growing increasingly shrill, and he continued to rock himself in silence, not hearing his father call out his name again. Before he could yell at him, his father had already entered the room.

The sight of his young son—whom he cherished dearly—in pain so terrible, tore his heart in two. His child, whose entire life had been filled with so much hardship, was currently suffering. Yakunan couldn't help but feel guilty about leaving him behind in the past.

"Father, I told you–"

"Xenudah, why can't you just accept that I love you so much? Why are you fighting me all the time? Why do you insist upon staying angry? Why can't you see that you're hurting me too?" Yakunan pleaded, his eyes widening with shock as he saw tears flowing uncontrollably. He looked devastated at the sight before him, seeing his son in such pain. "You've always insisted on pushing everyone away. Why won't you just let us help you?"

Hearing his father's words made the pain worse. All of these feelings rushed through him like a tidal wave as tears flowed freely from his eyes. His sobs became uncontrollable. The pain of abandonment, of betrayal, and of anger consumed him in full force. Unable to contain himself any further, he burst into a fresh set of tears, the pain of his father's words becoming too much to bear.

Yakunan reached down to gently brush his fingers through his son's hair. "Xenu… Please… Don't make this harder than it needs to be... You need to let us help you… It's tearing me apart…" He began to sing softly to his child, a lullaby in ancient Ninjagian.

As his voice resonated throughout the room, Xenudah shuddered in his grief, continuing to cry quietly. He continued to shake in his sobs and tears as he listened to his father's soothing voice. After a moment his cries began to fade. A faint smile appeared on his face, as he leaned forward into his father's hand, allowing it to cradle his head as his father continued singing softly.

"Do you remember when I used to sing you to sleep, Xenudah? You liked hearing my voice, remember?"

Xenudah nodded, his tears subsiding slightly, listening carefully to his father's melodious voice.

Yakunan smiled softly, wiping away his tears. "I haven't sung you that in a long time… I know it hasn't been easy since I've returned, and you've been through so much… But I want to try and fix things between us…"

Xenudah lifted his head to peer at Yakunan.

"I know you're probably not happy with me right now, Xenudah. You think I don't know this? I should have realized that something was wrong as soon as you said you didn't want anything to do with me. I've been ignoring you because I thought that you needed space, and I was so focused on our plan that I forgot to give you some time to heal," Yakunan stated guiltily. "And I hope that by giving you time to heal, you'll come to forgive me. And then maybe someday we can talk things through, and work on fixing what went wrong between us.

Xenudah let out another shuddering sigh. "Father, when this is all over, can we stay together as a family?"

Yakunan smiled softly and nodded, placing his hand on his child's head and carding through his son's raven black locks. "Yes, Xenu… Of course we can."

"Father, I'm so frightened… If I lose you, I'll never recover…" Xenudah whimpered. "I keep falling apart emotionally and I don't know what to do..."

"Oh, Xenudah...Come here, my son," Yakunan murmured, lifting his arms out toward his son. He pulled him into a warm embrace, hugging him tightly. "There is nothing more important to me than our family. I promise you: you will never lose me, not forever. I will always love you, Xenudah. Nothing in the world, nothing could ever take that away from me."

Xenudah buried his face into his father's shoulder, letting out a sob of despair. The pain and emotion within him continued to swell until he could no longer hold back the tears. He tightened his grip on his father's shirt as he cried against his father, holding him as tightly as he possibly could.

"Come here… Just cry… It's okay. Let it all out..." Yakunan spoke softly in Ninjagian, his voice muffled by his son's ear. He rubbed his back reassuringly, hoping that he could provide his son some comfort. "We'll get through this… We'll figure everything out together… Together… Together…"

Yakunan began to sing softly once more, trying to bring back those happy times long ago that they shared in the past. He would never leave his son, he swore to himself. No matter how hard it got for him, he wouldn't leave him. Never again. Never again would he abandon his son.

"X-Xenu…" Yakunan whispered after a moment. "You're my everything… There will always be a part of my heart for you." With each word that he spoke to his son, a new stream of tears poured free from his eyes, falling onto his son's cheeks and wetting his hair with them. He wrapped his arms around his boy's trembling frame and held him tight, wanting desperately to protect him from everything and everyone. He wanted to keep his child safe, even though in doing so, he knew it was futile. He loved him unconditionally. "I can't let you die… I almost lost you long ago... I'll never lose you again, Xenudah..."

Yakunan continued to whimper incomprehensible pleas in ancient Ninjagian, his voice breaking as he did so. Tears fell silently from his cheeks as he continued to weep. He held his son tightly, refusing to let him go no matter what.

He wasn't sure how long he would continue to hold his son. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, crying softly. He didn't care. The only thing that mattered at that moment in time was to hold his precious child and be with him. He refused to ever let go of him again, or ever leave his side.

"D-Dad…" Xenudah whispered.

His father stopped rocking and pulled back from him slightly, peering into his son's tearstained face. "Yes, Xenudah? What is it? Are you okay?" Yakunan asked.

Xenudah stared up at Yakunan, the agony still written clearly across his features. "I'm scared to...to let go..." He mumbled. "I'm afraid I might not ever see you again."

Yakunan closed his eyes for a few moments and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes, looking into his son's fearful indigo ones. He offered his son a gentle smile. "No matter where I am, wherever our lives take us, I'll always find you. I'll always be there to pick up the pieces, Xenu. Even if the pieces aren't very pretty anymore."

"It scares me, Dad…" Xenudah whispered.

"I know it does… I love you, Xenudah... You've never left my thoughts..." Yakunan replied, placing both hands firmly on his son's shoulders.

"I feel like if I lose you, I'll lose myself... I feel so lonely... So hopeless... So afraid..." Xenudah sobbed softly, leaning into his father's chest once more.

"I love you, my son... I always will. You mean everything to me. I will protect you and support you. I will always love you..." Yakunan reassured as he wiped away his son's tears. "Now, come here... Come lie down with me and rest for a little while." Yakunan coaxed as he held his son closer and laid back down on the bed.

Xenudah lay in his father's arms, cuddled against his chest, feeling safe and secure for the first time in months. He felt the warmth radiating off his father and relaxed, allowing the peace that had settled over him slowly but surely to envelop him. He allowed himself to finally drift off, trusting his father to hold him close.

Yakunan gazed lovingly at his son, twirling his boy's hair gently with one finger. "Shhh... Go to sleep, Xenudah... We will sort everything out in the future." His voice shuddered with emotion, and he pressed a kiss to the top of his son's head, before tightening his hold on his son.

"But, dad–" Xenu stammered.

"Don't worry about that now, Xenu. Sleep. Rest… I'll be here when you wake up," Yakunan whispered tenderly, kissing the top of Xenudah's head once more.

Xenudah hesitated, but he felt himself beginning to doze off as his body began to relax. He snuggled further into his father's arms, closing his eyes.

"My dear Xenu… I'll never leave your side again…"