As the ninja got ready for bed that night, they chatted lightly about the party, which had continued throughout the rest of the day. The chatter lasted them all the way to their beds, transforming eventually into a conversation about what they each looked forward to doing the next day by the time they were each settling in. They said their good nights to each other and Lloyd, as the one with the bed next to the light switch, turned off the lights.
The rhythm of breathing in the room slowed and steadied, and each of the ninja drifted off in the near silence.
Then, either minutes later or hours later, it was hard to tell, a soft sound.
Jay's eyelids rose up at the same time his mind rose up from sleep, initially confused. Was that- had that been what it sounded like?
The sound came again.
Yeah, that was exactly what it sounded like the first time. That was a sob.
Jay sat up and looked around the room, and in the darkness he could just make out three other figures doing the same thing from Kai's, Cole's, and Lloyd's beds. That had to mean-
"Zane?" Jay whispered, then, a little louder, "Zane, are you awake?"
A quiet cry was the only response.
"Lloyd, turn on the lights," Cole suggested, and a moment later there was the sound of a light switch flipping and the room flooded with light.
Hopping out of his bed, Jay trotted over to Zane's bed, secretly rejoicing at the fact that it was occupied once again, and peered down at the nindroid. "Zane?"
Zane's eyes were tightly closed, and he was very, very still for several moments. Then his lips parted and a soft whimper emitted from them.
"He's dreaming about something," Jay realized.
"No," Kai said darkly, striding forward toward Jay and Zane. "He's having a nightmare about someone."
Without another word, Kai placed a hand on Zane's shoulder and shook him, albeit much gentler than the way Kai would usually shook someone awake. Granted, normally Kai was waking someone to get them training, not trying to release someone from a nightmare.
Rocketing upward into a sitting position, Zane's eyes shot open. He looked around wildly, confusion and fear obvious on his face.
"You were dreaming," Jay said quickly when Zane's unfocused gaze fell on him. "Well, you were, nightmaring, really, but that's not a word, not really, at least not one that gets used a lot or is any dictionary, probably-"
"We thought we should wake you up," Kai interrupted. "I thought so, at least."
"Are you okay?" Lloyd asked, coming a little closer.
Zane turned to look at him. "...Not really."
"Is there anything we can do?" Cole asked.
"Not really," Zane repeated tiredly, wrapping his blankets around himself until only his head peeked out.
"You're sure?" Cole checked, also coming closer.
"I am sure," Zane told him. "Do not worry about me. I have withstood all that has been thrown at me so far, I should be able to withstand a few nightmares."
Cole looked unconvinced. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Lloyd, doesn't Sensei Wu have some tea that's supposed to be good for nightmares?"
"Yeah, I think so," Lloyd agreed. "I can go look for it."
"There is no need for that," Zane said quietly.
"That's a good idea," Cole stated. "Zane, could you drink some tea if Lloyd got it?"
"I do not want anyone to have trouble themselves," Zane insisted.
"Zane, could you drink some tea if Lloyd got it?" Cole asked again.
"It is not a big deal," Zane hedged.
Raising his eyebrows, Cole leaned forward and repeated, "Zane, could you drink some tea if Lloyd got it?"
"...Yes," Zane gave in.
Cole turned, probably to ask to Lloyd to go get the tea going, but Lloyd was already out the bedroom door.
"While Lloyd gets the tea going, do you want to tell us what you were having a nightmare about?" Jay suggested.
Mouth pressed in a thin line, Zane shook his head.
"You sure?" Kai asked, leaning not very casually against one of Zane's bedposts.
"I am sure," Zane stated firmly.
Kai opened his mouth to press further.
Jay beat him to the punch, saying quickly, "So, did Lloyd tell you everything that's been going on in the past couple of weeks?"
Looking grateful, Zane answered, "He began to, but I doubt he covered everything."
"Well, we haven't really been working on the academy, what with being super busy with preparing for the appeal, but we got a little done when we took breaks. You're going to love what Nya's got done in the kitchen, it looks so much better now," Jay rambled, trying to get Zane's mind off of what he had been having a nightmare about in the hopes that it would help Zane not to have another nightmare when he went back to sleep.
Jay talked about the academy for a while, with Cole and Kai chiming in as they realized, Cole quicker than Kai, what Jay was going for. That transitioned naturally enough into a conversation about who would be teaching what subjects, a topic that tended to get heated or at least tense very quickly but in that case stayed relatively calm without even any usual half-joking threats to battle each other for their subject of choice. Sooner than Jay had expected, Lloyd came back into the room with a teacup cradled carefully in his hands. Zane freed a hand from his self-made blanket cocoon and took the teacup from Lloyd, sipping from it as the conversation died off gradually.
After the few moments of amiable silence that followed the slow end of the conversation, Cole asked, "You going to be okay going back to sleep, Zane?"
Zane nodded, placing the now-empty teacup next to his bed. "Certainly. Thank you all."
"No problem," Kai dismissed.
"Any time," Lloyd agreed, going to turn off the lights.
They all lay down in their beds once more, getting comfortable. Jay closed his eyes and began drifting off.
Sooner rather than later, however, a cry rang out through the room again.
Jay sat up. "Zane?"
No answer.
"Zane, are you okay?" Jay asked.
"Please," Zane whispered in response.
"Guess nightmare-reducing tea doesn't work on nindroids," Kai sighed, and Jay could just see him sitting up and starting to climb out of bed.
"Should we even wake him again?" Lloyd asked.
Kai paused in his movements. "What?"
"I mean, is it better for him to keep getting woke up and all disoriented and stuff but not be in the nightmares, or is it better for him to get some sleep but have to dream about bad things happening?" Lloyd rephrased.
"Huh. Don't know," Kai admitted.
"I kind of think he should just sleep," Lloyd stated. "Didn't Nya and Jay learn that they were keeping him from sleeping a lot?"
"We did," Jay agreed, recalling what he had found out. "Something about seeing if lack of sleep would make him make mistakes or something sick like that."
"So he really needs to sleep," Kai realized. "Okay, yeah. We should let him sleep."
Kai got back into bed and each of the ninja remaining awake settled in, trying to get some rest despite the near-constant sounds of fear and pain coming from their brother's bed.