Chapter Twenty: Not Alone
Lloyd leaned against a tree, staying a good distance away from the others. They were all sitting around the Jaymobile, waiting for Jay himself to regain consciousness. Lloyd didn't exactly want that to happen. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen once he did. Lloyd knew Jay had strong feelings for Kai's sister, and Lloyd knew Jay would hate him for what he had done. The young Golden Master would have two of his teammates angered at him, and all because of a stupid mistake.
It was going to be a long trip to their next destination.
"I suggest we go after the Constrictai next. Their land is not so very far, and with the Jaymobile, we would be able to get there at a good pace. There is nothing left for us here. The longer we remain in this place, the higher the chance of us getting captured." Zane stated his opinion openly, somehow unaware of the uncomfortable atmosphere that hung around them all.
"What!?" Kai shouted a bit louder than he'd intended. "We can't keep fighting. We have to get my sister first! I am not leaving her behind with the Serpentine. I'm not going anywhere until she is safe."
"We're not getting your sister," Cole snapped back, staring Kai down with a commanding look. "It would be suicidal. It would be predictable. Pythor wants us to go get her. He wants us to follow our hearts blindly, without thinking about the situation. If we go get her, we'll all be fed to the Great Devourer. Is that what you want, Kai?"
The blacksmith bit down on his bottom lip tightly to prevent another unnecessary outburst, metallic liquid slowly oozing into his mouth. Deep down inside, he knew that both Cole and Zane were right. Everything was just a trap, a clever way to get them to make a mistake. Despite this knowledge, Kai wanted nothing more than to just kick down the door to the Anacondrai's castle and rescue his sister. His gaze drifted over towards Lloyd who had not spoken a single word since they had found him during all of the chaos. Part of the blacksmith wanted to just give the kid a quick apology about everything. Nya would have tried to protect Lloyd when Pythor came, so it could not be all his fault, but Pythor's words haunted him. He left this poor girl to take the fall for him, take his punishment. Kai tore his eyes away from the Golden Master and returned his attention to Cole.
"She's the only family I have left," he stated plainly, barely recognizing his own voice. Never could Kai recall sounding so defeated. The ground had just been pulled out from underneath him and he was tumbling down into an abyss of darkness. "I-I can't just let her be killed because of something I got myself into. None of this was supposed to happen. I have to make sure she stays safe. I promised my dad..."
Cole patted Kai's back, the harshness in his tone receding into a soft, gentle one. "We will get her. We just need to make sure we actually have a chance. If we go now, we'll be killed. You know that."
Kai sighed, not knowing what else to say. Tears burned in his eyes as the thought of everything rained down upon him. Cole's words were the only things that made sense around him, and maybe that's why they were so painful. He couldn't understand how such calm, reasonable words could be uttered at a time like this. He wanted chaos. He wanted everyone else to feel how he felt. It was a selfish feeling, but at the moment, Kai couldn't care any less. Even though the blacksmith would never admit it, something inside him had broken.
Lloyd knew he should say something, but the fear of being attacked by Kai again kept him rooted to the spot. You need to be a hero Lloyd. Not tomorrow. Not weeks from now; today, he told himself all this over and over, trying to gain the courage to step forward and speak. Saying something to Kai didn't seem very heroic, but Lloyd knew that a few kind words could make all the difference in the long run.
"S-She's not your only family," Lloyd said, hating himself for stuttering pathetically. "We're your family now too. We have the same purpose, and this whole life and death situation. It kinda makes us like brothers. I'm sorry for hurting you Kai, but even if something happens to Nya...you're not gonna be alone. Not...not anymore. Not ever again."
He turned his head towards the voice and felt his eyes widen. There was Lloyd, the Golden Master, trying to console him. Trying to make him feel better about everything, even after Kai had lashed out at him, said such terrible things about him. Kai watched as Lloyd shifted uncomfortably under the weight of his gaze. He should have been infuriated; he should have wanted to drag him back to Pythor and hand him over without even a second thought, but the blacksmith knew that Lloyd was right. Everything around him was changing now, but they were all still there. His friends. His brothers. Kai felt a sudden wave of warmth consume him and he held back more tears that were forming behind his eyes and just gave the boy a small nod before pulling him into a short embrace. "Thanks, kid," he answered concisely. Anymore than that and Kai knew his emotions would betray him. Now was not the time to just crumble into a heap. Now was the time to fight back harder than ever.
There was a soft groan and Jay blinked his eyes purposefully, noticing a vaguely familiar environment. He sat up quickly and regretted it as black dots crowded the edges of his vision. "Whoa..." he breathed, trying to get a grip on himself. This was the outskirts of town, he remembered now. Jay turned his head to see his brilliant contraption still in the same place he had left it, his friends scattered about near it. "Hey, guys," the puppeteer grinned, unsteadily getting to his feet and trying to walk over towards everyone, "what are we doing out here already? Don't tell me I slept for days or something!" Four pairs of eyes were suddenly trained on him and Jay tried to shrug them off. "You all look like you've seen a ghost or something," he chuckled lightly. "So, I got the staff and it looks like we're getting ready to head out already, but...would it be okay if I told Nya a quick goodbye first?"
Kai nearly flinched at Jay's words.
"What?" Jay said, still smiling, but his lips slowly shuddered back to their original position. He looked around to their friends. None of them would meet his eyes. "What happened?"
No one responded.
"Where's Nya!? She's okay. Tell me she's okay. You have to tell me she's okay." Jay's voice was shaking now, and tears began to swell up in his blue eyes.
Lloyd looked around him. No one wanted to tell Jay the truth. They knew it would break the puppeteer's spirit. His cloak of happiness was nothing more than innocence, and now that consequences had finally caught up with them, the cloak would be ripped away from him roughly. None of them wanted to be the one to tear apart Jay's reality. Cole's eyes were cast low, trying to speak up, trying to be a good leader, but coming up short. Kai's eyes were focused on something that wasn't there, and Lloyd knew he must have been on the verge of shattering into pieces. Zane remained silent, knowing it was not his place to deliver the news. In fact, the robot was staring right at Lloyd.
This was your mistake. Take responsibility. Lloyd could almost hear Zane's words inside his mind.
"She was captured," Lloyd finally said, surprising everyone around him. Everyone except Zane that is. "Pythor showed up at the house and they got her. He said he would release her if I surrendered myself, if I fought him, but I ran away. I'm sorry."
Lloyd bowed his head, ready to take whatever punishment Jay's broken heart would dish out.
Silence, it fell upon the group like an invisible blanket. Kai gathered up the nerve to look at Jay and recognized the flicker of emotions on his face. The puppeteer had fallen pale, that much was obvious, but Kai could see the gears turning in his mind. "Jay..." he started, finally gathering up the nerve to speak. He might be the only one that could comfort his friend in this situation. No one else could really understand. What exactly the puppeteer was thinking though was a mystery. "It's going to be okay, Jay. We're going to get her back. I know it and the guys are gonna make sure that it happens, but only after we take care of the other Serpentine first. I-It'll be easier to go after Pythor once we gain loyalty from the other kingdoms..." His voice trailed off as Jay shot him an icy glance that could have rivaled Zane's elemental affinity.
"You ran away?" Jay asked slowly, the color finally returning to his cheeks. Lloyd just nodded in response, recognizing the minuscule spark of anger that glinted in his friend's eyes. It was reminiscent of when his former master was preparing to punish him for doing something wrong. Instinctively, Lloyd took a step backwards before feeling a strong hand on his back. Kai gave the Golden Master a knowing look as Jay continued to approach. "You ran away and just let Pythor take her? She...she didn't do anything to deserve that, Lloyd. How could you just abandon her like that?"
Just when it seemed that Jay was about to pounce at the boy in green, the blacksmith took a stand. "Look, Jay," he practically growled, allowing his emotions to take center stage, "I'm upset too, alright? In fact, if anyone should be upset, it's me. She's my sister. My family. We gave her the task to watch Lloyd and protect him. Guess what? She did just that. Does Pythor have his hands on Lloyd? No, he doesn't. He has her instead. So maybe instead of getting all angry with Lloyd for being scared like any normal person would be, we should be mad at Pythor for playing dirty." Though this did not necessarily quell the fire burning behind the puppeteer's eyes, Kai could see that his friend understood. "Everyone made me realize that we still have a duty to attend to, but we will get her back, Jay. I promise."
Lloyd looked at Kai, his eyes filled with gratitude. The young boy's eyes threatened to fill with tears themselves. Kai had stood up for him. Even after all the mistakes he'd made. Even after what he'd done to his sister. It was...strange. The blacksmith might have seemed cold and unloving at first, but he really did care.
"Just...just," Jay stayed back, confusing thoughts flying all around his brain. With one look at Lloyd, Jay knew that Kai was right. He couldn't be mad at the kid. Less than a couple of days ago, he would have been beaten to death for disobeying one simple rule. The kid had been living in fear for his whole life. Jay couldn't blame him for what he'd done. And Kai was right. Nya had done her job. He should be proud of her, not spilling hate into the body of a fifteen year old. The puppeteer ran his hands through his hair, blinking away the few tears that tried to escape. He looked back at his teammates, a new, somewhat older, look etched into his face.
"Let's just go. The sooner we do this, the sooner I can kick Pythor's ass."