"No more games, Hale," I growl, taking a few steps toward him. The sun's just coming up, casting the entire scene in a melodramatic glow. "Speak clearly or I'll slit your throat here and now."

He chuckles a little. "You're terrifying, really," he stalks closer, stopping a couple of inches away from me. His longbow is draped on one shoulder, resting against his quiver. I move my eyes back to him. "I'm just trying to help you, Ash. One friend to another. You scratch my back, I scratch yours."

"You're not my friend," I spit. "You're a slimy little maggot that I'm going to crush underfoot. You've been using me to do your own dirty work, and you know what? I've had it. I know who you are and I'm not afraid of you anymore."

"But what about your father, Ash?" he smirks, his gray eyes glinting with something I can't describe. "Break up with me and he's dead."

"My father's gone, I realize that now," I say, remembering Sensei Wu's words from last night. "Besides, even if you did find him, he would've destroyed you before you even got close to capturing him."

"Your father is a good fighter, I'll admit that," Hale lowers his voice a little, his gaze flickering over my shoulder. "But you forget my power, Ash. A finger is all I need to twist his mind to my advantage. And that's all I need to control you."

"You wouldn't dare," I let my hand drift to my belt.

"Wouldn't I?" he grins smugly as he reaches forward, grabs my waist, and presses his lips roughly against mine. I struggle against him and shove him as hard away from me as I can. I wobble as I push myself off balance, but I regain my footing and reach to pull out one of my knives. Hale gives me a look and another smile, before he motions his eyes for me to look back. I turn around to see Cole standing behind me, looking shocked, embarrassed, and most of all dismayed.

"Cole," I struggle to explain myself. "It's not what you think! Hale's been blackmailing me and-"

"Blackmail?" Hale arches an eyebrow. "How quickly you dismiss our love. I thought we had something, Ash."

"Shut your mouth!" I scream.

"I will, once you do as you're told," he says. "Kill him."

"Never," I growl back, brandishing a knife. He just laughs.

"I'm sure you will," he chuckles. "Especially after you hear this."

Hale reaches into his jacket and pulls out a slim tape recorder. He clicks a button on it and a bloodcurdling cry spews from its speaker. My blood freezes.

"Your daughter's looking for you, Desmond," Hale's voice says on the recorder as the screaming dies. "Why don't you say hello to her?"

Something crackles and my father lets out another agonizing wail that vibrates to the very core of my being.

"Please don't," he gasps as Hale's voice chuckles. "Iris."

The recording ends.

"What did you do?" I ask in a barely audible voice, my hands shaking so much my knife nearly slips from my grasp. "What did you do to him?"

"Enough," Hale grins as he replaces the recorder in his jacket. "And I'll do much more. That is, unless you do what I brought you here for. I just wanted you to have validation that he was still alive. For now, at least."

I stare down at my knife, my ears ringing with the echo of my father's screams. A dozen tears stream down my face as I tighten my grip and slowly turn back to Cole.

"Ash, what's going on?" he asks, looking from me, to Hale, then back.

"I'm sorry, Cole," I blink the tears from my eyes and take a deep, calming breath. "I'm so, so sorry."

I let my knife fly.

There's a loud clang as something deflects the heavy knife. I blink and suddenly the other three ninja appear, crowding around Cole as Zane picks up his shuriken.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Kai demands as Hale chuckles slowly behind me.

"I have to save my dad," I answer in a broken voice. "I'm sorry." I unsheathe another two knives and send them flying, scattering the ninja in every direction.

"What?"

"You heard the girl," Hale says as he leans back against the railing. He smiles. "She's going to kill you all."

"No, she wouldn't," Cole shakes his head and looks up at me with shattered eyes. "Ash, you…?"

I swallow the lump in my throat and blink back the moisture clouding my eyes. I raise a blade, ignoring the gold that glints on my wrist. "I wish I didn't have to, believe me. But this is my dad we're talking about."

"There has to be some other way!" Kai says.

"Sorry, but no dice," Hale grins. "She's mine now. Let's get this finished fast, alright Ash? We wouldn't want to keep your father waiting."

"Don't listen to him, Ash," Kai pleads. "We're your friends!"

My knife hisses past his head as he ducks, and by the time he stands back up I've already unsheathed another blade. Something smashes into me from the side and knocks me to the ground.

I manage to shift onto my back and slash at Jay's throat. He recoils enough for me to shove him off and scramble back to my feet. I slam my foot into his face, sending him rolling away with a yelp of pain. He lies against the railing near Hale's feet, dazed and bleeding from his nose, but he looks alive. I catch movement in my peripheral vision and jump out of the way as Zane and Kai crash into each other in an attempt to grab me. Kai falls to the floor, clutching his head, but Zane stays standing and faces me.

"I cannot fight you, Ash," his clear blue eyes bore into mine as he raises empty hands. "Please, reconsider-"

I cut him off as I slam my foot into his chest, shoving him backward until he stumbles over Jay's semi-conscious body and over the railing. Hale gives me an approving smile that makes me sick to my stomach.

There's a loud cry behind me and I turn around fast enough to smash my elbow into Cole's face. He reels backward, shaking his head to disperse the stars that are no doubt exploding behind his eyes before he faces me again. I raise a knife to his chest but he grabs my arm in a vice grip. I struggle against him, but he disarms me with a jerk of his arm.

"Ash, listen to me," he pleads. "It doesn't have to be this way!"

I shove him backward and we both fall. He lands heavily on his back, head smacking against his unused scythe as I straddle his chest and pull another knife from my belt. I raise it before I realize he's stopped struggling.

"What are you doing?" I ask, feeling my arm tremble. Cole just looks up at me with pained smile.

"I won't fight you, Ash," he says. "If… if this is what you have to do, go ahead. I won't stop you."

"No," I choke out, feeling my throat tighten. "Don't make this so easy. Please."

"I can't," he shakes his head. "I can't hurt you, Ash."

"This is all rather touching, but I have things to do today," Hale says from behind me. "So if you'd finish him off…"

"Go ahead," Cole says, giving me another softened smile. His eyes drift to my wrist, where the dragon curls warmly against my skin. I turn and catch my reflection in the gold of his scythe. My own haggard face stares back at me, eyes pained and bloodshot. I see Hale's faint shape behind me, still leaning casually against the railing with a smug smile on his face. Something drops inside my chest and I feel my jaw set tightly.

"No," I whisper as I slowly get to my feet. "I won't."

I unsheathe a knife from my belt as I face Hale, who slowly shakes his head.

"I gave you the chance," he says. "But you just had to squander it."

"You gave me nothing," I spit back. "Whatever you did to my dad, I'm going to do to you right now."

"Threatening," he nods appreciatively. "But you know the deal. I'm going to spill your little secret to your friends. Let's see how they protect you once they find out what you really are."

"It doesn't matter what she is," I hear Cole get to his feet behind me. "She's our friend and nothing you say will ever change that."

"I don't have to say anything," Hale grins, white teeth glinting as he advances. My stomach drops.

"Run, Cole," I say as I take a step backward. "Now."

"No," he shakes his head. "I'm not leaving you."

"You don't understand, he's going to-" I start to argue with him when Hale grabs my arm and I cut off with a wild scream. A red-hot iron pierces into my skull, shattering every thought until it's painful to even breathe. My entire body shudders as I try to fight it off, but the burning pain shoves me back.

"I warned you what would happen," Hale's voice echoes between my ears, "and now you see the end result."

"Ash, what's happening?" Cole asks. His face is a blur of tears and agony as he looks between me and Hale and back again.

"Run!" I beg him, my own voice rattling painfully in my throat. "I can't- I can't control myself."

"Protecting them until the very end," Hale's voice explodes in my head. "How disgustingly heroic."

"Let her go, Hale!" Cole shouts as he grasps the scythe from his back. "Face us yourself!"

"Please," Hale snarls and shoves me toward Cole. "I would kill you as easily as I could smash a fly. I'd rather see you suffer at the hands of someone you love."

Jay lunges at Hale's legs, but Hale just kicks him aside, sending him rolling again. He gets to his feet, holding his nunchucks in his hands. Zane moves in on Hale's other side, but Hale just faces him with a smug grin.

"Not so fast," he chuckles, twisting his hand and sending another wave of agony through my skull. I feel my legs move without my say, shifting until I face the ninja. My arms move next, pulling another set of knives from my belt.

"Run," I beg them, feeling my throat tighten as Hale's control engulfs mine. "Please."

"Ash-"

Hale cuts Cole off as my arm moves and sends a knife flying at his face. He ducks as Jay lunges forward, dodging frantically as my other blade nearly slices open his arm. The movement makes my head explode with pain and I bite down another scream, feeling my mouth fill with blood as my teeth cut my tongue.

"What is he doing to her?" Kai raises his arm to strike at Hale, pulling back when he moves me into his sword's path.

"My systems indicate that his power stems from his hands, namely his touch allows him to control someone," Zane explains, ducking to avoid my knife as the blade swings past his head.

"How are we supposed to fight him them?" Jay asks in a panic, sidestepping out of the way of another of my wild swings.

"Worry less about Hale and more about Ash!" Cole barely avoids another thrown knife. "There must be some way to save her!"

"Don't even bother," Hale laughs. "A puppet is a puppet until its master decides. There's nothing your group of pajama-clad friends can do." He twists his hands and I lunge forward again, a knife in each hand, and attack Cole head-on.

He blocks my attacks as best as he can, but he doesn't fight back. I can see in his eyes that he doesn't want to hurt me, and Hale's laughter behind me tells me he knows too.

"Fight back!" I beg Cole. "Please!"

"I won't hurt you!" His eyes are filled with soft tears as his scythe flickers between me and him. "I can't."

As soon as the words leave his mouth, the hilt of one of my knives smashes into his hand, sending his scythe spiraling off across the ship. Hale pushes me further and I shove Cole to the ground, where his head cracks against the wood. My arm comes up, blade glinting in the rising sun.

Everything runs in slow motion. The other ninja rush painfully slowly to Cole's aid, and Hale laughs maniacally behind me. All I can see is the sadness in Cole's eyes, and my own dark reflection.

"Finish him!" Hale yells, his voice vibrating wildly in my head.

My arm shudders as I fight against him, sending my own will crashing against his until it feels like every one of my bones is snapping into a thousand pieces.

"No," I choke out, tears running freely down my cheeks as I push back with all of my strength. "No!"

Everything shatters all at once as something in my head snaps and suddenly everything becomes clear. I turn on my heel and throw my knife directly at Hale's chest.

He ducks in the nick of time and the blade goes screaming over his head before disappearing onto other side of the ship. I gasp for breath as the pain in my head subsides, leaving only a dull ache where the fire was before.

"I underestimated you, Ash," Hale says as slowly straightens up. "You're stronger than I originally thought, but you're still not strong enough."

He pushes a hand forward, and my hair blows violently against my face as some sort of force field shoves Zane, Kai, and Jay away. I'm shoved back a few inches until I nearly topple onto Cole, who still lies stunned on the ground.

"I hope you know how much it kills me to do this to you," Hale shakes his head as he shrugs his longbow from his shoulder to his hand, testing the tension of the string with a lazy finger. "So I'll give you one last chance. Step out of the way now, and you can go free. I'll even let you see your father again. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"Maybe before," I throw aside my empty knife belt. "But these people are my friends, and I won't let you hurt them."

"So strong, but so stupid sometimes," he pulls an arrow from his quiver. "If that's your final decision, then so be it."

He knocks the arrow to the string and pulls back, the arrow tip aimed at the center of my chest. Something unexplainable flashes in his eye. "I'm sorry it had to end this way."

The arrow flies toward me in slow motion and I something shift inside me that I haven't felt in four years. It floods my veins and rushes through my entire body, collecting into my hands and fingertips with blazing heat. I close my eyes as its exhilarating energy crackles through my veins like electricity until I finally take a deep breath, open my eyes, and let it go.

I bring my arms up in front of me as tongues of flame erupt in a wide halo around my hands. I can already feel it jumping to escape my control, but I focus it on the dark arrow tearing through the air toward me. The fire responds and rushes forward in a spiraling column, obliterating the arrow and continuing straight toward Hale. He yells something in disbelief as the flames force him back, engulfing him in a blaze of fire. He lets out a scream as he runs wildly, crashing against the railing of the ship before he stumbles and falls into the air below, streaming flames behind him like a furious comet.

Blood trickles from my nose as I struggle to pull the flames back, feeling them snap against me like angry lions. My body aches with the strain of keeping them in control, and I feel the fire starting to escape from my grip. I tug against it, letting out a scream as my head explodes with energy. I use every ounce of strength left in me to pull them back, away from the ship and the people around me, but it's too strong. The fire blazes out of control as my vision explodes with black dots and I collapse.

The last thing I remember are my friends' screams.