Nya POV: I really wanted to talk to Kai as we were washing the dishes because it was clear that something happened last night. But Lloyd was still here, helping us clean up a little, and I couldn't say anything yet. He wasn't talking either, so we were all stuck in this awkward silence. Kai didn't seem to mind it, but I was never a fan of being quiet like this. I need some sort of noise while I'm doing something, especially when things are already awkward. So someone please say something soon.

"So… Do you guys have any plans today?" Lloyd said. Thank you so much.

"Not really… I might just hang out today." Kai said, but he rubbed his wrist a little as he talked. Which made me a little concerned.

He's done that before, and I never thought much about it. However, now knowing about his scars, I couldn't help but wonder what he's thinking.

I quietly cleared my throat and asked him, "Actually, did you mind coming with me after this?"

Kai glanced at me and slightly nodded. I think he knows what I'm trying to do. But I was a little surprised that he wasn't being stubborn about this. Though I will just take it since it's rare.

"I'll check on the others in the meantime." Lloyd suggested, and we both said okay in response.

Since some of us hadn't eaten yet, we didn't have much to clean up. After Lloyd left to find Zane, I took Kai back to my room. We sat on the bed, facing each other. He was a little uncomfortable because he knew what I wanted to talk about. But I wasn't going to interrogate him. He didn't deserve that, nor did I want to do that.

"Okay… Zane told me about the scan results when he got back." I started off with, getting straight to the point.

He didn't answer, he just shifted a little in his spot. Eventually he said, "And now you have more questions, right?"

"I do, but right now I just want to know where you really were that year." Of course I wanted to know more, but that was the most important thing.

Again, he was rubbing his wrist again. I didn't say anything, but he slowly started to hug himself instead of answering. Like he was struggling to decide whether or not to say anything. That made this so much worse for me. It was making my imagination go crazy over this.

He still wasn't talking so I said, "I'm just worried Kai. You've held this in for so long and now it's seriously hurting you. I hate seeing you like this, and I just want to understand."

He looked at me without saying anything at first. Finally he said, "I… it's hard to explain, Nya. I don't even know where to start."

"It's fine, I'm not going to push you. But I do want to know more." I quickly responded. However, I don't know if that was enough to get him to talk.

He hugged himself tighter and, again, wasn't saying anything. I kept my word and didn't push him to talk, even though the silence was killing me on the inside.

But then he said, "... It was a dark place, with a weird dim light that barely lit anything. Plus there were too many sharp rocks that cut my feet so many times."

He was talking. Actually talking, and I kept my mouth shut.

"The darkness of that place made everything worse. The… creatures of that place used that to their advantage more than once. I could barely get my bearings and I got… caught off-guard more than once." He was starting to shake at that last part.

"What… Where were you?" I was about to ask about the creatures that he mentioned, but I had a feeling that would be too much at first.

He just shook his head and said, "I don't know. At first I didn't want to know. But after traveling to different realms I started to wonder. I never found anything that matched though."

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. That would drive me insane. I can't imagine how Kai must feel about that.

"I didn't even know that a year had passed while I… was there. I just knew that I was gone for a while before I got out." he continued, looking down at his knees. Which he pulled up to his chest to hug.

"How did you get out?" That question made him pause to take a small breath.

"Honestly, I don't really know. All I know is that I ran into a thick fog, and I was back in Ninjago. It took me a couple of days to believe that I was out of there." he explained, thinking about it as he was talking.

That made me think too. I've never heard of anything like that before, and I wondered how that worked. Maybe Sensei Wu would know more about that, but it wasn't important right now. Though I will ask later when Kai was ready for that.

Now it was time for the difficult question, "What about the creatures?"

He hugged himself tighter when I asked that, like he was trying to hide from it. And he avoided looking me in the eye, which made me afraid that he would shut down because of it.

But instead he said, "I never saw most of them clearly. And the ones that were close enough… I was too distracted to get a good look." I felt like he was lying about that, but I let it go for now.

"But they cause your injuries?" I knew the answer to that. I just wanted to confirm it.

And he nodded without saying anything, while keeping his grip on himself. It was like he was trying to keep himself together. I'm sure that was healthy at this point.

"So they were trying to capture, or destroy you? Why? It's not like you're an invading army." I asked, but he slowly started shaking more when I said that. Did I say something wrong?

"That's not what they wanted…" he responded, almost mumbling.

I was confused and asked, "What?"

"They were mindless monsters, Nya. Mindless creatures in a place that only had ash. They only had one goal." he said, trembling really hard and on the verge of tears a little.

But I was still confused. What else would mindless creatures want with a kid? And what does the ash have anything to do with …

It clicked…

I felt my heart drop as I realized what he meant and whispered, "They… wanted to eat you?"

He just hugged himself even tighter, which I didn't think was possible, and hid his face in his knees.

That told me everything I needed to know.

I felt my tears fall down my face, and I could hear him crying a little. It's no wonder that he didn't want to talk about this, and why he doesn't want to be reminded either.

Without saying anything else, I crawled over to him and gently pulled his arms off his knees. And before anything else, I pulled him into a hug. He froze for only a second and hugged me tightly in response. My shoulder got wet fast, but I didn't care.

Now I know what's causing my brother pain. And I'm going to do everything I can to make this better.

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Zane POV: I eventually got Cole to go and eat with Jay, but I stayed out on the deck to think of a plan. I believe that I can convince Kai to do more tests. More so, if I explain that to help him heal more physically. However, I was more worried about his mental state. He basically shut down as soon as the scars were exposed, which he has never done before. I have a lot of medical knowledge at my disposal, but in this field I don't.

"Zane?" Someone asked behind me. It was Lloyd.

"Yes? Do you need something?" I asked, unbothered that he was there. I was deep though anyway.

"No, but are you okay? You usually don't space out like that." he responded, coming over to stand by me.

"I'm alright. I was just thinking about other things. Nothing to worry about." I tried to reassure him, but he clearly didn't believe me.

"Zane, if it's about Kai, then it's too late. Is it?" he said, leaning against the railing.

I suppose he does have a point. Then again, I did promise that I wouldn't go into too much detail. So I'll have to go with the more vague details.

"It's nothing to worry about. Kai is fine, physically. I was just thinking about how to ask him to do more tests." He liked that more than before, but he still seemed to be upset.

"And that's it? Nothing more that I need to know?" he asked, very obviously wanting more information.

"If there is anything more I will tell you. But at this point I don't know more than you, Lloyd." I said, also leaning against the railing.

He sighed and said, "And that's the frustrating part. I hate being kept in the dark. I want to help too."

"I know how you feel. Hopefully though, he will tell us soon. But we can't force him when he's not ready. That will only do more damage." I said, looking at him.

He sighed again, letting his head drop as he said, "I know that, but it's really hard to be patient in all of this."

That I couldn't completely disagree with.