Chapter 32: Echos in the Dark

Cliff Cole and Zane didn't think they could get any more lost than they'd been after the cave-in.

They were wrong.

Now they were absolutely lost, and couldn't find their way back to the caved-in tunnel even if they'd wanted to.

At least Cole was feeling up to walking again, though he still felt dizzy if he turned his head too quickly. Not that there was much for him to turn to. It was pitch black in the tunnels, and the Master of Earth couldn't see a thing. It was only his hand on Zane's shoulder and the Nindroid's occasional warnings of uneven terrain ahead that kept him from bumbling around in the dark.

"You know, for being the Master of Earth, I sure seem to have bad luck when I'm underground," Cole said conversationally, trying to keep his mind off the oppressive blackness. "First Rocky tries to eat us back when I was scared of dragons, then we had to go to the Underworld and saw Sensei G escape it when he was evil, and, of course, can't forget the time an entire city was dropped on me. And now there's this."

"Yes," agreed Zane. "We have had quite a few adventures underground, and not all of them have been… pleasant."

"I'll say," Cole agreed. "Brutal is more like it."

"That is an accurate description," said Zane, he then glanced back at Cole. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Just a headache," said Cole, rubbing his head ruefully. "Nothing some healing tea won't fix. We just need to get out of here and get to it."

"I believe it will take several more steps to achieve that goal than simply getting out of here, but yes, you do need healing," said Zane.

Cole was quiet for a long moment after that, then, "How do you think the others are doing?"

Zane sighed, that question had been on his mind as well. "I truly cannot say, though I have been running probabilities. Unfortunately, odds are very high of Luh-Loyd being captured after we were separated, and Clouse most certainly saw you using your element against him in our attempt to escape. It is impossible to say if DJ managed to maintain his cover after that, and if he were discovered, Lloyd and Kai would have a hard time maintaining their innocence. It is possible that Cyan is the only one still in the running for the tournament if she has not been caught in the lie as well. And who can even say what has happened to the Hidden Team? It's possible that Chen has discovered everything by this point."

Cole grimaced at that bleak prediction but stayed determined. "Then we'll just have to rescue them. We'll get Taffy to take us back to Other Ninjago, get Freckles, Pep, and Penny, and all of Luh-Loyd's dragons and Meowthra together to launch a rescue. And call up MK and Mei while we're there," he said, already planning their next move. He then thought of something, and added, "Oh, and your brother. Echo's over there too, right? With his exosuit, he's good to have in a fi-"

Cole was cut off when Zane suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and the Master of Earth walked straight into him.

"Zane!" asked Cole in confusion.

But Zane only stared ahead unblinking. "... Do you see it?" he finally asked in a very quiet voice.

Cole squinted his eyes against the darkness and tried to peer ahead. Maybe Zane was seeing an exit and wanted him to confirm it.

But all he saw was black.

"I can't see anything," Cole admitted. "It's too dark."

Zane remained as frozen as his element. "The ice dragon," he said, still in a low tone. "It's right in front of us. I can see its tail just around the corner."

Hearing that, Cole looked ahead again but still saw nothing. "It's here?"

"Yes," said Zane, sounding unnerved. "Even if you can't see it, can't you hear it? It's growling. I fear it is angry."

That threw Cole for a loop. "What? Growling?" He strained his ears to listen but didn't hear anything else. "I don't hear anything. Are you sure you see it? Maybe the tail is just Noodle coming back. Maybe he can show us a way out."

"Cole, it is right in front of us! Yes! I see it!" Zane said, slowly sounding more and more freaked out. "And Noodle's tail isn't white!"

Cole still saw and heard nothing, but knew saying that was the last thing Zane needed with how freaked he was. So instead he kept a firm grip on Zane's shoulder and waited, hoping the Nindroid would come out of whatever trance he seemed to be in.

Zane, meanwhile, was gathering his courage. The dragon was Right! There! All he had to do to see it was peer around the corner. It was the closest it had been to him since the moment he first glimpsed it.

And yet he found himself frozen, unable to take those last few steps to see it fully. What if it really all was in his head? What if there wasn't a dragon? What if there was just something wrong with him?

But then, Zane saw the tail begin to pull away, and realizing his chance was slipping away, he bolted forward with an alarmed cry.

The tail vanished around the corner only moments before Zane could reach it, but when he rounded the corner himself, there was once again nothing there. Just more tunnels stretching on into the darkness."

"Impossible!" Zane gasped. There was no way a dragon that big could have run out of sight so quickly.

"What's impossible?" asked Cole, who had been left behind when Zane ran and was now fumbling his way through the dark towards the Nindroid's voice.

Seeing he'd left his brother high and dry, Zane quickly walked back over to help him with a defeated slump to his shoulders.

"It's gone again," Zane admitted. "And there is no possible way for it to have run off that quickly… It truly is all in my head," he finished with a sigh.

"Oh, that's not good," said Cole, stating the obvious.

"Indeed," said Zane morosely.

Cole frowned thoughtfully, trying to come up with a way to cheer up the Nindroid. "There has to be some reason you're seeing it, right?" he said. "Some kind of trigger. Do any of the times you've seen it have something in common?"

Zane reviewed his memories of every time he'd seen the dragon in recent days, trying to find the pattern.

'Or maybe have a ninja pile with Pep Zane and the Echos next time he slept over (if his brother wanted to, that is).'

"And that's admirable," said Zane. "But the outcome of this match matters not. We are brothers, and brothers don't abandon each other."

'He had told Kai brothers don't abandon each other, but they had abandoned Jay. Just like he had abandoned Ec-'

"How… How did you and Master Wu become so estranged?" Zane asked. "How could you have prevented it?... Towards the end, he could barely remember Echo even existed if he were not right in front of him, and after our father died we had an argument and he became… distant."

"Oh, and your brother. Echo's over there too, right?" said Cole. "With his exosuit, he's good to have in a fi-"

Zane's eyes snapped open in epiphany. "Echo!" he shouted, the name echoing off the cave walls around them.

"What?" asked Cole, wondering what Zane meant.

"It's Echo!" said Zane with a manic edge to his voice now that he had the answer. "Every time I saw the dragon before, I was talking or thinking about Echo!"

As if summoned by the name, there was a flash of white before Zane's very eyes and the dragon reappeared, bearing down over the Nindroid and making him fall back with a cry of fright.

Cole, who still couldn't see a darn thing, grabbed the hammer Luh-Loyd had made for him and looked around wildly. "What? What is it?"

"I believe I just proved my theory," Zane said weakly, still staring up at the snarling dragon above him. A snarling dragon that Cole clearly couldn't hear or see. "Though the dragon does not look pleased about it."

Despite not being able to perceive it, hearing Zane's voice sounding so scared had Cole stepping in front of him in a protective stance, glaring unseeingly in the dragon's general direction. "Well, if it has a problem with that, it can go through me!" he said.

The dragon only growled louder at that declaration.

"You are making it angry," said Zane in concern.

"I don't care!" Cole declared. "This thing's stopping you from talking about or even thinking about your little brother! And just when he needs to be in your thoughts the most! That's all kinds of low!"

A part of Zane marveled at the growth the brother before him had gone through since they'd met. In the beginning, Cole used to be terrified at the very thought of dragons. Now he was boldly standing up to one he couldn't even hear or see coming. He should be terrified, but instead, he was angry at it for Zane's sake.

However, while a small part of him was impressed, the rest of him was terrified on Cole's behalf as his words only seemed to rile the icy lizard up even more.

To Zane's horror, the dragon raised one of its claws to swipe at the Master of Earth.

"DUCK!" Zane shouted.

Cole did so, but he didn't duck low enough, and the sharp talons went right for his head…

And passed right through him harmlessly.

Zane could only stare.

"Do I need to keep ducking?" Cole asked from his still crouched position after a long moment of silence.

"... No," Zane said quietly. "It appears it cannot touch you."

Cole immediately stood up again. "Oh, that's good at least." He then glared in the general direction of the dragon again. "Now then. Hey, you! Phantom Dragon! Leave my friend alone! He's got enough to deal with without you butting in whenever he worries about his brother!"

The dragon hissed at him.

As relieved as Zane was that Cole wasn't hurt, and appreciative that he was standing up for him, the Nindroid felt they still needed to get to the root of the problem.

"Why?" he asked aloud, drawing the attention of both the dragon and Cole.

"Why do I keep seeing you?" Zane asked the dragon directly. "Why do you appear whenever Echo is brought up? Why is this happening?"

Seeing as they were in no physical danger from the dragon, Cole turned his full attention over to Zane. "Well, the others and I didn't want to pry, but… something happened between the two of you, didn't it? I don't think I've seen you be in the same room together since, er," he paused knowing it was still a painful subject. "Since the funeral," he finally said.

Zane let out a sad sigh, as Cole was right. "Echo is mad at me," he admitted. "And I do not blame him."

The dragon growled low in its throat.

But Cole only looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

Zane grimaced, but if he could discuss this with Lord Garmadon, he could confide it in Cole. And likely would get better advice as well.

"As you know, my father was having difficulties with his memories, especially towards the end. He always remembered me, but he would always forget Echo," said Zane, and the dragon hissed at his words.

Cole nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I remember. But that's not anybody's fault. It's just how that tea that brought your father back worked."

"We understood that," said Zane. "However, any jealousy Echo may have felt because of that situation is also understandable. And he was always trying his best to work through it and not let it show."

"So what changed?" asked Cole, knowing there had to be more to it than that.

Zane's face fell and he bowed his head. "Father died."

Cole sucked in a breath, but said, "There's no way Echo would blame you for that either."

"For Father's death, no," said Zane sadly. "But… for keeping Father's final words from him… I think it was the final straw."

Cole's eyes widened. "What? Why? That's…" He paused and took a breath to steady himself. "I know you, Zane. You gotta have a reason to do that, but I feel for Echo if that's the case. My own mother… her last words…they meant a lot to me. They shaped a lot of who I am today. If someone tried to keep me from knowing them, I'd be ticked."

Zane let out a humorless laugh. "I can confirm Echo is, indeed, ticked."

As if to confirm that, the dragon roared above them.

Zane flinched at the noise and was silent for a long moment before saying, "Father's last words… They would hurt Echo. I wanted to spare him the pain, but I fear I instead only caused him more."

"Sometimes not knowing can be a worse pain," said Cole sagely. "You should talk to him. Give him the truth. Give him that closure. Trust him to understand that whatever your dad said isn't your fault. Even if it's not something he'd be happy to hear, he at least doesn't have to wonder."

The dragon above him rumbled as if in agreement.

Hearing that, Zane looked up at the dragon in surprise. "I think… I think the dragon agrees with you," he said.

Cole glanced behind him, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to see the dragon. "It does?" he asked.

But Zane's focus was on the dragon. "You… want me to talk to Echo, don't you?"

The dragon finally stopped snarling and gave an unmistakable nod.

Despite not seeing it, Cole also looked like he approved of that plan.

Seeing this, Zane finally stood back up from the cave floor and resolved himself. "Very well. I will. I'll talk to Echo. I'll tell him everything."

Cole's face lit up. "That's great!" he said. He then frowned. "But you can't do that if we stay stuck in this cave."

Hearing that the dragon reared back and let out a triumphant roar, before turning around and darting farther down the tunnel. Just before it was out of sight, it stopped and looked back at them as if it was waiting.

"It seems the dragon knows the way out," said Zane.

"What-? How-?" Cole started to ask as if the dragon was in Zane's head and Zane didn't know the way out, why would the dragon know? But he knew saying that would be rude, and it wasn't as if they had any other options.

So instead, he placed his hand on Zane's shoulder to guide him and said, "Let's go."

With that, the two Ninja took off through the tunnels after the dragon.

A/N This is going up a night early in celebration of Lloyd's birthday. Totally has nothing to do with the fact I have to get up early for a family reunion. Not at all. Happy Birthday, Lloyd, even if you're not in this chapter.

Anywho, Zane finally worked out what was up with that dragon. It's all tied to his unresolved issues with Echo, poor Nindroids. Now he's found his resolve to actually talk to his brother rather than let it go unsaid. Oh, to answer any questions about how the dragon knows where to go, the dragon is part of Zane's psyche and is borrowing his sixth sense to work out the way out. And of course, throughout it, Cole is just the best. You know you've got a great brother when they're ready and willing to fight an invisible dragon for your mental well-being, especially when they used to have a phobia against them.

Thanks as ever to my beta reader Kay Hau for helping plan and grammar checking this chapter. The Echo issue being tied to the dragon was one of our planned ideas. She's recently started moving her fics to AO3 if you'd like to read them there.

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Next Time: Red Nya and DJ Cole run into some trouble while searching the jungle.