Y'know, I think I nominate "We Dreamt Our Dream" as the official song of this story. Ponies and all. Link on my profile if you wanna give it a listen.

A big thank you to everyone who's been reading or reviewing so far! I know I promised the author's notes wouldn't be long, but this is review replying. That's a whole 'nuther ball game, folks.

Also, a thank you in particular to Team Guest Reviewers, Guest and GUEST05, for their spectacular tag-teaming skills! Between the two of you, the blog link was constructed. It was adorable. Thanks for that. X3

And yeah, I totally agree, those two got along great back in the old days. Such a shame that triangle had to go make a mess of things . . . the other thing is, Cole used to have a ton of fans, and then when the triangle started suddenly people hated him. Cryin' shame.

Now individually!

Guest: Thanks very much for the review! Glad you're liking it so far; updates every other day, so next time's Wednesday. ^_^

Heh, and thanks for the follow-up on the link. You and GUEST05 should get to know each other. :P

GUEST05: No worries! FFN has this system where I have to manually approve all guest reviews before they show up on the review boards, and I wasn't on the computer till now. That's why it didn't show up. :)

Thanks for the review! Haha, is serious but still crazy about puns . . . you know what, that reminds me of Leonardo from the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And he's the leader of his team too!

Heh, I guess a lot of people might like long chapters, but some wise guy I used to know said the proper range was 1,000-3,000 words. And I dunno how most people read fanfictions, but I usually read mine on a really tight schedule; mid-length chapters are my favorite because I can actually read them in one sitting. ^_^''

After a time, you may find that "having" is not so pleasing a thing after all as "wanting." It is not logical. But it is often true. - Spock, Star Trek

Cole squirmed back, trying to pull his foot out from under the dragon's heavy chin, but Rocky had always been an affectionate critter. Feeling the warmth of Cole's body, he sighed happily and nuzzled closer until Cole was nearly pitched over backwards. He was definitely quite securely pinned. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he opened his mouth to call out and let the others know he was here, taking the risk of waking the dragon.

Too late. Kai was already saying "It's about Nya, isn't it?" in a tone of resignation, and Jay was mumbling in a manner that indicated it most definitely was.

"I'm going to regret this," sighed Kai. "But go ahead."

Cole fought the urge to smack himself in the forehead. He couldn't just materialize now, the conversation was too far gone. Maybe it would be nothing important . . . maybe it would go nowhere . . . He wanted to cover his ears, but he needed both hands to cling to Rocky's head so he wouldn't fall over backwards. Stupid lunk of a dragon.

There was silence for quite a bit as Jay searched for an intro. Cole prayed fervently that he would just give it up, and probably Kai was hoping the same thing, but Jay was aiming to disappoint.

"I figured," he said at last, "that you kind of know Nya best, being her brother."

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know her at all," replied Kai glumly. "What goes on in her head is usually a mystery to me, honestly."

"But come on, you're related and everything," persisted Jay. "You talk and stuff, right?"

"Look, Jay, if you want me to put in a good word or something—"

"No, it's not what you think," interrupted Jay. "It's not that."

"Well, what then?"

"It's just that . . . well, I . . . ever since the Tournament of Elements, I've kind of been staying back. Cole backed off and all, and Nya knows that, but I haven't asked her out or anything. It just . . . I don't know. It was all too shook up, you know?"

Kai gave a noncommittal grunt.

"And I'm getting the feeling that she's catching on to that," said Jay slowly, weighing each word as he spoke it. "She keeps looking at me funny, like she expects me to say something. And I'm starting to think, if I don't say anything soon, she's going to ask me if I'm taking her on a date. And . . . and do you think it would freak her out really badly . . . if I said no?"

Silence from Kai. Cole gave up fighting the oblivious Rocky and sat down, stomach churning. He didn't like where this conversation was going at all. Not if he was going to have to bear witness to it. He shouldn't be here!

"You want to say no?!" said Kai at last.

"M-maybe."

"Huh." A pause. "Playing hard to get?"

"No!" Jay spluttered. "Nothing like that!"

"Oh no?"

"I mean, it—it crossed my mind," said Jay awkwardly. "But it's not the main reason. It's just that . . . well . . . " He sighed, and his voice dropped. "Nya and I were dating for more than two years. We seemed to be going steady, I thought it was kind of a given. But then—the Perfect Match Machine comes into the picture, and all of a sudden she can't choose. Two years of steady dating, and she still isn't sure if she even likes me any more than the next guy. If she had that hard a time making up her mind, well, I figured she didn't . . . " Jay's voice wavered. "Didn't . . . really love me. All this time, I'd been forcing her to hang out with me because I was so crazy about her, but she just did it for my sake, not because she really wanted to." He took a shaky breath. "And that's not fair. I can't pressure her into being with me if she doesn't want to. I have to back away."

" . . . You just now decide this?!" Kai's voice was full of disbelief and a little anger. "Now?!"

"I know, I know!" protested Jay miserably. "I should have realized that ages earlier, before I started fighting with Cole. I should have. But . . . it just . . . all I could think of right then was that I was going to lose her. And after that things just kept going and I never even thought of backing down. I couldn't take it; even now it took me ages to talk myself into this. I . . . I love her so much, Kai . . . "

More silence. Cole squeezed his eyes shut. You should not be here, his brain screamed. Should! Not! Be! Here! Briefly he wondered if selling his soul to the Overlord in exchange for teleportation powers would be warranted, but eventually he decided that might be a little extreme.

"I can't believe it," said Kai at last. "All that fighting. You put Nya through it, you put yourselves through it, you put the rest of us through it. You think it was fun for us, standing aside and watching you act like idiots? And now that Cole's bowed out and the fight is over—now you suddenly realize maybe you should back off?!"

"I'm sorry," said Jay softly.

"Ugh. No, it's . . . " Kai heaved a sigh. "Well, maybe it's not all right. But I kind of get it. Kind of. Two months ago I'd have said you were insane, but—heh—I guess I know what it feels like now. Being crazy for someone. It's not really something you can think logically about, is it?"

"Nope." Jay still sounded drained, but the note of relief in his voice was clear.

"Yeah, so." The faint shadows on the cave walls danced as Kai fiddled awkwardly with the flame in his palm. "Back to your point, I think it would be okay. If she asks you, go ahead and say no—if you can actually spit it out, that is. It might give her a little bit of a shock, but maybe she needs one."

"I don't want to hurt her," said Jay.

"And I'm not giving you permission to!" warned Kai, his voice balanced precariously between teasing and "try-it-and-you're-dead." "You'd still better be nice to my sis, Jay. But if you can turn her down nicely, more power to you. Having you two fighting over her went to her head; she could use a wake-up call." There was a beat, then he added a puzzled, "What?"

"That is cold, Kai."

"What is?"

"She's your sister!"

"So?" Kai snorted, twirling a little wreath of flame over his head. "It doesn't mean I can't notice when she's being a jerk. You and Cole were being stupid, but she wasn't really helping the situation with all her guessing games. Heck, she was making it worse, and I still don't know if it was on purpose or not. I tried to talk to her about letting you both off the hook, but she is not the kind of person you can talk to. I say one word, and she's all 'you're not the boss of me!' and 'what makes you think you can' and 'I'll handle my own decisions!'" He snorted again. "Like it would kill her just to listen to a bit of advice."

There was a muffled snicker.

"I already know, and I don't want to hear it!" warned Kai, which set Jay off completely.

"Yeah, yeah, so it runs in the family, look who's talking, pot calling the kettle black. Ha," Kai muttered, shoving Jay lightly. "You can shut up now."

"Sorry." Jay recovered, then sobered entirely and sighed. "Wow. So. If I can pull this off, two whole years about to go down the drain. And man it's going to be awkward afterwards. Seriously, I don't know if I can do this . . . "

"Well, can't help you there," said Kai. "But you never know, it might not be over after all. Maybe she'll still choose you." His voice softened. "It'll turn out for the best, Jay. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I think it definitely could be that she—you know, feels the same way. Just hang in there."

"Thanks, Kai."

"Any time." Kai punched him. "Now, are you done being touchy-feely?"

"I'm done," said Jay, sounding relieved but exhausted.

"Good. Because I'm going to bed." Kai stood up and stretched. "You coming?"

"Nah. I'll hang out here a little longer," said Jay. "G'night."

"Night," mumbled Kai, and shuffled off through the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Cole's heart had performed a spectacular leaping arabesque, followed by a rather painful fall downstairs (at least that was what it felt like). It would have been perfect if they'd both gone back to the Bounty; then he could just shove Rocky off himself and sneak back before dawn without issue. Now, however, he would have to wait until Jay was done visiting with—

—Oh lord. Cole's heart skipped the stairs this time and plummeted straight down one of Chen's trapdoors. Jay and Kai had been talking next to Flame's head, on the Ultra Dragon's far left, but now Jay would probably come over to check on Wisp—the dragon's far right—and directly next to Rocky. If he was in a habit of resting between Wisp and Rocky's necks the way Cole was . . . well, Cole did not want to think about that.

Once more he cursed his luck in general, and Rocky's lousy timing in particular. That was a conversation that should have stayed private. He could have done very well without hearing it, and if either Jay or Kai found out he'd heard the whole thing, they would probably never trust him again. How many times was he going to have to remind himself that he shouldn't be here?

Jay's footsteps pattered closer. Cole held his breath and didn't move . . . and mercifully, Jay moved onwards, to the other side of Wisp's head. The one good thing about Rocky's stupid sleep-squirming was that his head now blocked most of the space between his and Wisp's necks.

There was some shuffling from the other side of Wisp, and some muttering, most of it too low for Cole to understand. Somehow from the rustle of fabric he could tell that Jay had settled down on the floor with his back against Wisp's neck, right by the crest. He was probably stewing about the situation, half to himself and half to the sleeping dragon. Poor guy . . . Cole winced, realizing all this was at least partially his fault. He could have bowed out sooner. He could have ignored the blow to his ego when Jay first accused him, been the bigger person and not gotten dragged into the fight. Heck, he could even have told Nya to back off when she started hitting on him . . .

He could have seen sense much sooner. True, maybe it was a good thing for Jay to back away a little if Nya really did seem that ambivalent towards him—but this had to be one of the more painful ways of going about it. For all concerned.

Jay had gone silent quite a while ago. Cole was just wondering if the lightning ninja had fallen asleep, and if he should try sneaking out of here before he fell asleep, when he heard a soft sniffle. His heart snapped.

Should not be here. Should. Not. Be. Here.