The uneven status quo holds for a while. Jayden's starting to believe he really is sleepwalking, or at least pretending to. Jarrell hasn't done anything to unnerve him for a while, and Antonio or Emily are always with him when he wakes up. There are nights when Jarrell doesn't emerge at all.
The others stop looking worriedly at him. Even after battles, there's no excess concern. Jayden enjoys it. He doesn't like having them worry over him. In fact, he thinks they're starting to forget about it.
Until Master Xandred starts calling him again.
Jayden ignores it at first. He knows what it sounds like now, he knows to avoid it. If he drifts, sometimes, when the group is together – they're used to that. He's always been introspective.
Master Xandred gets louder, and more demanding. Jayden has to devote more energy to fending him off. He finds it's easier to deal with him if he doesn't completely ignore him; a little interaction, even if it's just to argue or deny him, seems to satisfy Master Xandred more easily than ignoring him. It makes it harder to hide from the others, though, especially as Master Xandred seems to make a point of yelling for his attention while he's with them.
The worry starts to creep back in. Jayden ignores it, pretends not to know what they're talking about when they ask if he's ok. Ji asks him point blank what's happening; Antonio brings it up a couple of times. Jayden refuses to tell them, insists he's all right.
Jarrell tells Emily, in the end.
They're eating cupcakes in the kitchen. Emily makes a point, every few days, of introducing Jarrell to something new; a new food, a piece of music, something on the TV. He's never said whether he likes them, but he plays along, and she takes that as a win.
This morning they're trying different flavours, rating them on a made-up scale, when Jarrell says abruptly, "My master's been talking to him."
Emily freezes for a moment. They never talk about Master Zandred, or even really about Jayden; Jarrell listened solemnly while Emily told him about them, about Jayden's childhood and about the team, but he never brings any of it up himself.
"Has he?" she says finally, putting down her current cupcake. "Too sweet," she says when he frowns.
He swipes it to try himself. "Loudly. And getting louder. Hasn't he told you?"
"Not a word. Is that why – he's been distracted..."
"Trying to fight him off. Idiot," he adds absently. "You're right, this is sweet."
Emily leans forward, watching him. "How do you know? You don't remember the things he does."
"It's echoing in here." He gestures vaguely towards his head. "He'd be dreaming it, too, if I weren't here."
"Are you helping him?"
"Not on purpose." He grimaces at the look on her face. "Why do you think I'm here, Em?"
"I don't know. You won't tell us."
"I told Antonio, the first time he realised it was me – I've always been here, in one form or another. At first I was just the bits of him he didn't like; I kicked against training all the time, I wanted friends and a life outside the House. But the Red Ranger, the first son of the House of Shiba, doesn't do those things. We're all about honour and responsibility and obedience. So all the bits he didn't like went into a corner of his mind, where he could ignore them. And when we did those things under Master Xandred he couldn't face them; that's not how a Ranger acts. So all that went into the corner too, and I had a name." Emily has a hand pressed against her mouth and Jarrell smiles grimly. "Your Red Ranger's about one minor incident away from a breakdown - and my master's been whispering for a long time, pushing, weighing on him. No normal human can stand up under that. But – Jayden – he never actually broke my master's control, you know, the triggers. He overcame them, to remember, but they're still here, pushed away into a corner. And since they are still here, so am I. Trapped in here, because he can't face what we did. And when Master Xandred started to call him, he pushed the call away here as well. He woke me, dragged me out to protect his mind, and he doesn't even know he's done it."
"But you don't remember. You don't know anything he does."
"I'm the bits he doesn't want. He keeps his memories. I get all the scraps."
"I'm sorry if it's hurting you," Emily offers.
He studies her for a long moment. "You mean that," he murmurs.
"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I'm loyal to your enemy."
"You keep saying that, but you haven't done anything to prove it. You're helping Jayden, and you haven't done anything to hurt us."
"Do you want me to do something to prove it?" he grits.
"If you were my enemy, it wouldn't matter to you what I wanted." She reaches across the table, laying her hand over his. "Does it hurt you?"
He turns their hands so their fingers lace together. "It's easier with a distraction...Emily?"
His whole bearing changes in an instant. It's the most abrupt wakening she's ever seen. Instinctively she tightens her grip on his hand, grounding him. "Jayden. It's all right."
"What's going on?"
"It's fine. We're in the Shiba House; it's just us, you and me. Are you awake?"
"I...yeah..." His hand tightens on hers. "What's..." He studies the table, frowning. "Cupcakes?" he says at last.
Emily doesn't answer. It feels like a betrayal of Jarrell, now, to deny his presence.
Jayden doesn't press, just squeezes her hand again and stands, starting to tidy up. "Go and get some rest. I won't sleep again tonight."
"Jayden." Emily rises. "You – you said some things."
"Sleep talking? Could have been anything."
"You said that Master Xandred's been talking to you."
He fumbles the dish in his hands, almost dropping it. "Emily..."
"We want to help you, Jayden. Please let us."
"No," he whispers, and it takes her a moment to realise he's not talking to her. "I won't."
"Jayden," she says firmly.
His attention snaps to her. "Yes."
"Sit," she orders, and he obeys. She fills a glass with water, puts it into his hands, and leaves the kitchen.
She wakes Mentor, and Antonio, and tells them briefly what's going on. Mentor sends her to wake the others. She practically has to drag Mike out to join them, scrubbing sleep from his eyes and tripping over his pajamas.
Jayden locks his gaze on the empty glass in his hands while he's telling them what's been going on. Kevin, predictably, is angry he didn't tell them earlier. Mia wants to know how they can help. Antonio leans against the wall behind Jayden, arms folded. Mike takes longer to catch up; they have to explain the sleepwalking part a couple of times.
"You should have told us," Kevin says for the fourth time.
"Kevin, that's not helping," Emily points out. She's sitting closest to Jayden, she can see how tightly he's gripping his glass. "He's telling us now."
"Yeah, now that he doesn't have any choice. I thought you trusted us, Jayden."
Emily reaches over to take the glass away from Jayden. He jerks in surprise and it shatters in his hands, sending shards of glass everywhere.
"Oh!" Mia jumps to her feet, running for the first aid kit. Mike's on her heels, returning with a towel and a brush to clear the floor. Mentor takes the kit from Mia, kneeling to study Jayden's hands.
"This will hurt," he warns him.
Emily wraps her hands around his arm; on his other side, Antonio rests a hand on his shoulder.
"Tell us what Master Xandred is saying," Kevin says.
Jayden's eyes slide closed as Mentor begins to clean his hands. "Mostly, variations on 'come back and join me, all is forgiven.' "
"Mostly?" Kevin repeats.
"He – wants me to do things. I'm inside the wards, here, where no Nighlok can ever get. He wants me to take advantage." Jayden's voice is steady, but Emily can feel how tense he is.
"That's reassuring," Mike murmurs.
"I'm not planning to," Jayden says dryly; it turns into a hiss as Mentor starts wrapping a bandage around his hand. "He can't actually make me do anything. But he's loud and he's always there."
"Right now?" Kevin asks.
"No. Not right now."
"There." Mentor carefully folds Jayden's hands into his lap. "Be careful."
"Thank you, Ji." Jayden stands. "I'm going to rest."
"I'll come," Antonio offers.
"I'm fine," Jayden insists. "What time is – everyone go back to bed. We have to be up in an hour or so for training."
"You won't be training today," Mentor tells him, ushering him out of the room before he can object.
"You should have told us what was happening," Kevin says.
"He didn't want you to know and it wasn't ours to tell," Antonio tells him.
"We need to know..."
"What? His sleepwalking hasn't harmed the team, and it hasn't hurt him. It wasn't something you needed to know. Emily, I need to talk to you, please."
"More secrets?" Kevin demands. "I suppose this isn't something we need to know either?"
"If you needed to know, we'd tell you," Antonio says shortly.
"Antonio..." Emily says uncertainly.
"No."
"You guys, stop," Mia says patiently. "We're all worried about Jayden. Yelling at each other isn't going to help. We just all need to take a deep breath and calm down, ok?"
Antonio turns away. "Em."
She follows him, glancing apologetically at Kevin. Outside Antonio paces for a moment before coming back to her.
"Are you all right?" she asks.
"Tell me what he said while he was asleep."
"You mean Jarrell." She says it deliberately. "What did Jarrell say."
Antonio shrugs impatiently. "Whichever one of them was talking, Emily."
She thinks for a moment, trying to decide how much to tell Antonio. She doesn't want to lose Jarrell's trust, and she knows Jayden would hate them knowing this, but it's important. "He says that when Jayden overcame Master Xandred's commands and controls he shunted them all into a corner of his mind. Jarrell was all tangled up with them. When Xandred started calling Jayden pulled Jarrell out somehow to protect his mind. Jarrell doesn't think Jayden even knows he did it."
"But Jarrell is loyal to Xandred. How does having him here help?"
"I don't think he is, not really. He hasn't hurt us, and he could have. He told me about Master Xandred and he didn't have to do that, he could have just let Jayden self destruct under it." She shrugs at Antonio's look. "I don't know how it helps exactly; I think it's like having a layer around his mind, between him and Master Xandred. He said he told you."
"He said something like that," Antonio mutters. "How'd you get him to tell you?"
"I've been nice to him. You keep treating him like an enemy and you're going to force him to be one, even if he doesn't want to. And I really don't think he does. He's had plenty of chances to do something."
"You trust too easily, little Emily."
"And you trust too little, big bad Antonio. Don't his actions speak for him?"
"Yeah." Antonio smiles ruefully. "Maybe. I just – I don't want Jayden to be hurt."
"I know. I think it'll be all right."
"I hope so," he murmurs.