There was, in the southern-most parts of Ninjago, a predatory animal with no true name, for it could not be accurately identified even by the most prestigious scientists. It was too elusive — slinking in the shadows and emerging with no warning, scattering frightened herds and picking them off when they were vulnerable, one by one.

As Zane concernedly ran over the details of what had just happened, it came to mind. His face twisted into a wry expression at the parallel.

He had to find the other ninja.

They'd come to find Shade, who had vanished without contacting anyone for weeks, from a lead pointing them to the mansion, and they would have to carry through. But as it were, they were not going to manage anything — their medical supplies would quickly deplete if the injuries such as the one Kai had sustained were to become a common happening. The best course of action would be to leave, quickly recover, re-enter, and continue their search a little more aware of what they were up against. But of course it wasn't possible to just leave Lloyd's group stranded. Although they did seem to be a little sparse ...

Just as he'd promised Cole, he had tossed an explosive shuriken or two to distract the spirit before throwing the fight to it and dashing off in what looked like the direction at least one of them had gone. He had perhaps made a mistake in staying on the first floor and holing himself up in a study, however. (At least he'd gotten a key from a desk in the study. It could likely prove useful later.) He'd stayed until he was certain it was safe, and then, on alert, crept out and searched the floor, but he'd found nothing but a trail of blood, no doubt Kai's.

The blood formed a small pool right at the foot of the stairs, and each step that he could see held at least a few drops of blood beginning to darken. Upstairs it was, then.

The wooden banister was elegant and intricately carved into, but age and neglect had worn away at it, and deep marks were gouged into the wood. It was telling how old and marred with scuff marks everything was — the doors, the walls, the floor, and really anything he set his eyes on. Each step he climbed on creaked softly when he stepped on it (taking care to avoid the wet spots), and even knowing that the stairs were most likely safe to walk on, he winced at each one. All they had managed to learn of the building he was currently roaming, from Sensei Wu and the people of the surrounding villages, was that it had once been used as a shelter for refugees from said villages during the Serpentine War. Briefly, he wondered just what had happened then, between these same walls.

Small wonder that the surrounding people never tried to wander inside and investigate.

The lock on the large double doors was rusty and broken, rendering it useless, Zane noted with interest — judging by the slightly ajar door pulling at the lock's chain, these doors had been opened already. With a little tug, the lock snapped clean off, allowing him to open the distressed doors with ease.

Mindful of the bits of glass strewn everywhere and the fact that the scuffed, damaged wooden floorboards were likely more fragile than they were on the first floor, he took careful steps towards the center, awestruck. The room he was standing in had to be one of the finest galleries he'd ever laid eyes on; grand paintings of many different sizes, depicting landscapes and people that one could only ever hope to see in black and white photographs, lined every stained wall; many of them were scratched up, faded, stained with brown patches, spotted with white discoloration, or otherwise damaged, but they were striking all the same. Sculptures and busts of people lined both sides of the room, magnificent in their age.

All the same, the room itself felt rather off. PIXAL, who usually did all the scanning and left his attention free to focus on other things, didn't scan it when he asked, so he initiated it himself, alarmed when the dark stains splattering and spotting the walls and floor were revealed to be old blood.

Well, if no one knew the fate of those who had hidden here, here at least lay a distinct clue.

But he couldn't let himself get distracted, even by old bloodstains — and the blood he was interested in following would be much fresher. His footsteps echoed a little as he walked through the room, briefly scrutinizing the incredible range of art and the entire room for anything that looked strange. One painting in particular caught his eye — it seemed to be a family portrait, showing a young married couple and a little girl, presumably their daughter, all dressed rather well and looking outwards with content expressions. But the painting was tilted extremely-off-kilter, to the point where it was about to fall off the wall. When he cautiously tried to right it, a small portion of the wall rumbled ever so slightly and moved aside, revealing a smaller, darker room. Huddled in the farthest corner from the entrance was a wary mass, who, with the limited light and his technology, he recognized as—

"Cole?"

The figure tensed for a moment, before relaxing and standing. There was definitely a hint of thick dark hair and skin illuminated in the glowing blue light his eyes cast. "Z-Zane? Zane!"

"Cole!" he cried, relief overtaking him as he confirmed who he was seeing.

"You're okay! I was worried that thing out there got you and I'd just left you to it! I was worried you were going to fight it like you promised not to! I—I … " Cole trailed off, voice shaky, and cautiously leaned forward with his arms raised, silently asking permission. Zane tilted his head in tacit approval, letting himself be enveloped in a crushingly tight hug, and wrapped his arms around Cole in return. (There was a slight tremor in the arms clinging to his back. Cole's heartbeat pounded hard and quick against his metallic fingers and chest.)

"I'm fine, and I kept my word," Zane reassured, once Cole began to let go. "But are you alright? You seem anxious."

A nervous (embarrassed?) chuckle. "Yeah, um. I'm feeling better than before, but uh ... still gonna need a little more time before I can get back out there, ya know? But you can stay here! It's pretty safe, as far as I can tell, even if it does stink; just push a switch on that wall there, and it closes back up pretty neatly. And … and then we can go look for everyone else. Probably shouldn't … be wandering around on your own, you know, it wouldn't be safe—"

"It wouldn't be safe to just leave the others to the mercy of that spirit, either," Zane interrupted, silencing Cole with a hand on his shoulder. "I can keep searching."

"No you can't!" He protested. "You'd be all on your own if it came back. Zane, don't do this, please."

"It's fine, really," Zane insisted. "I can try to stay out of its way again. And look," he said, digging through his drawstring bag, "I found a key to a room. If I need to, I can lock myself in a room for safety until the monster leaves. I promise I'll be safe, Cole. You can stay here and collect yourself until you feel ready to come back out. But we can't leave Kai and Jay on their own."

"... Fine. But speaking of keys, if you really have to go on your own..." Here, Cole dug through his own bag and quickly pulled out a key of his own. "I found this on the first floor while we were looking around. While you're at it, you could try to find out what this key's for?"

"Of course. I will be back with Jay and Kai." Or so he hoped.

He turned and walked out of the gallery, only pausing for a moment when the wall forcefully came shut once again.

Almost all the other doors on the second floor were locked, with neither of the keys he had on hand working. But at last, one of the doors opened to a somewhat large bedroom, that, aside from the tattered bedsheets and walls, was in surprisingly good condition for its age — especially when it was compared to the rest of the mansion. (He made a note to remember this room — it could be a good spot to hide.)

All he found was, surprise, yet another key. Zane sighed as he put it into the side compartment of his bag where he'd kept the other keys. He hadn't yet found out what Cole's key opened, as it had been his key that opened the door, and were it not for the fact that he was Zane, they might have become hard to keep track of.

From the next room, just a little ways over, he began to pick up the sound of a voice muttering quietly; as he came closer, however, any muttering stopped.

Seeing as the door hung slightly ajar, there was probably someone in there. Figuring it might be a good idea to confirm his theory, he switched his vision to thermal and looked around to track down a heat signature. He found it pretty quickly — and from the slightly-higher-than-average heat emanating from the room, he guessed it was Kai. Which was great; this made for two down. And it was a massive relief, as the blood trail had stopped abruptly right at the top of the stairs and left him with nothing to follow Kai. This way, he could help treat the bad gash in Kai's arm from the encounter they'd had with that spirit.

When he looked down, he picked up warm wet spots interspersed throughout the carpet. He had the suspicion that it wasn't anything they'd packed to drink. Switching back to regular vision revealed large dark smears in the scarlet carpet that an ordinary person could have easily missed, and his concern only grew. Losing enough blood for it to spill all over the carpet was not good, although honestly, it was amazing that it hadn't gotten all over the rest of the floor. Kai must have managed to stop it for a while — a smart move, if the aggressive spirit from earlier had caught wind of the blood downstairs.

Cautiously, he inched his hand closer to the doorknob, but when he touched it, he winced and drew back. There was a very strong aura of fear radiating from the room, and Kai was very impulsive and acted on initial instinct. If he mistook Zane for the spirit coming back to finish him off, nothing good would go out of entering without announcing himself.

"Hello … Kai? Jay? Is anyone in here?"

A moment or two of silence. Then:

"Zane? … Come in; the door's open."

He did so, shutting it behind him — then it occurred to him that the key he used for the last room could work here as well, and he inserted it. It went in, locking away the outside world with a clean 'click'.

"This way, anything that actually wishes us harm can't come in," Zane said, concernedly appraising Kai's arm. "How did you get in here, if the door was locked?"

"It wasn't," Kai grunted. "It was open when I ran up here, so I just came in. Didn't really bother closing it because of …" He gestured to his blood-soaked sleeve. "This mess."

Said mess had clearly been tended to, even if it wasn't perfect. The sleeve of the red gi had been slashed off above the wound, and he'd attempted to wrap first the sleeve, and then the bandages from his bag around it. For only having one arm to wrap with, it wasn't too shoddy a job, but it still wasn't nearly as neat or tight as it should have been, and the bandages were already soaked through, meaning that he'd been losing blood at an alarming rate, maybe even from an important vein.

To address the blood covering Kai's hands, he pulled out a box of wipes, pulling out two and handing them over before rummaging to find the first aid kit in his bag. Kai took them, rubbing them over his hands and wrists to get rid of as much of the thick crust beginning to form over them.

"Hold still."

Kai looked uncomfortable, but obeyed as Zane came closer, holding out his arm for inspection. Zane unwrapped the soggy bandage and placed it in a compartment, to dispose of when there was a place to get rid of it. Kai had already cut off the sleeve at the wound, but some of the cloth was still wet with blood and slightly sticky, so he peeled that off the skin and chopped it off with the pair of scissors in his first aid kit. Then came cleaning it. (Kai's sharp inhale and tenseness told him he knew what was coming.) There was no way he would be able to get all of the blood off of Kai's arms, but a few wipes got most of it off. The alcohol swabs he used next must have been very painful, but Kai just grit his teeth and bore it.

Once the most grueling part of it was over, Kai relaxed a little. As Zane took out his own roll of bandages, he asked, "Find anyone else yet?"

"I have, actually." Kai murmured a small "oh" — no one else had come in with Zane. "Cole is in another room on this floor, but he is still there as he didn't want to come with me immediately."

"So nothing on Jay?" He winced as Zane applied dressing and the bandages he was wrapping around it started to become tighter.

"I'm afraid not, no."

"Figures that he just runs off and then stays missing. Probably got himself in trouble or something, just watch."

"Let's hope not. I'll keep looking for him and keep an eye out for everyone else, too."

"We'll keep looking. You did a good job with this; I can help look."

"No, I'll keep looking," Zane stated firmly. "You can't risk re-opening that injury. I already found Cole and I found you. I'll find Jay too, I promise."

Kai, now standing, looked him straight in the eye for a moment, looking ready to argue his point, before the smoldering defiance went out and he backed down. "Fine."

"Now, be careful with this arm and don't strain it enough to make it bleed again," Zane warned, as Kai shrugged his left shoulder and experimentally moved his arm around. "Once I find Jay and we get somewhere safer, I'll stitch it up."

"Okay, okay, I'll take care of it," Kai muttered. "Where is Cole?"

Zane briefly described where Cole had taken temporary shelter — the large gallery with the paintings and sculptures and the hidden door in the wall that he'd stumbled upon — and pondered for a second more. When he really thought about it, the room hidden behind the gallery wall was quite secure, tucked away and difficult to access as it was. Considering that there seemed to be no true lock, it wouldn't do as a permanent sanctuary, but it was certainly safe enough for now.

"... Considering the current state of your arm, I don't think it would be wise for you to stay out in the open any more than you need to be. I'll take you there."

"Okay, now, hold on; that's not fair, Zane, I can —"

"If anything stumbles upon you now, it will not bode well for you, considering you are currently incapable of fighting much of anything. Except maybe a fly."

"I —"

"You. Cannot. Fight. Anything. Like that." See, Kai? He could be stubborn as well. A moment later, just to be facetious, he added, "And did I not warn you not to dismiss any rumors of danger?"

"Okay, okay, don't 'I told you so' me," Kai grumbled.

"Whoa, this has got to be the most art I've ever seen in one room," Kai said, looking around. "This totally belongs in a museum or something. Get a load of this, Mr. Saunders —"

"I'm glad you enjoy the art, although I must admit I did not see you getting quite this excited over it," Zane remarked, amused by the enthusiasm. It was a display on Jay's level of excitement, and uncharacteristic as it was for Kai, Zane found it somewhat endearing. At the very least, Kai would have something to do, other than talk to Cole, while he looked for Jay.

Metal met paint-covered wood as Zane rapped twice against the wall with his knuckles. He was met with silence until he heard something shifting and moving behind the wall and a voice saying, "You know, you could just open the wall yourself. The painting's right next to you."

The hint of laughter in his voice was relieving to hear; it seemed he was doing better.

Zane gripped the corner of the rectangular frame and pulled. "Of course, but I wanted to be polite."

Next to him, Kai blinked for a second, trying to take in the strange, dark room that had opened up in the wall. Cole came out of his spot in the dim room, with a cry of "you found Kai!", and barely hesitated before rushing up to Kai and wrapping his arms around him. Tightly. With a pained yelp, Kai pushed Cole off with his free arm and pulled away the best he could.

"The arm! Watch it."

"Oh, sorry!"

A beat.

".. I'm glad to see that you're okay." A cautious arm wrapped around Cole's shoulders in a one-handed hug, and he beamed, seemingly forgiven.

"Really, though, I'm sorry about the arm, I didn't hurt it again, did I? There's blood on that bandage, yikes, that looks bad —"

"It's fine," Kai sighed. "I don't think you did anything to it; that's just dried blood from before."

"Dried blood on your bandage, and all over the rest of you, it turns out. Geez, if I'd noticed it before, I'm not so sure I'd have gone for that hug." Cole smirked. Now he was just teasing.

"... Screw you."

"Alright." Cole turned to Zane, who was laughing under his breath, ignoring Kai's playful indignation. "What's the plan from here? Is Kai staying?"

"Yes. I'm worried about getting his arm stitched as soon as possible, but it will take time to do carefully, and I'm sure you'll agree that Jay also needs to be found as soon as possible. Therefore, I'm going to look for him. In the meanwhile, Kai —"

"Yeah, yeah, watch the arm, don't reopen it, I get it, Zane. Go on. And be careful."

"I will. And hopefully, all four of us will be in the same place again soon." He turned to leave, and Cole yelled a "good luck!" behind him.

The looming doors of the gallery came shut behind Zane with a deep 'thump', and he took a moment to reorient and remember what he had seen so far. Considering he'd searched both the first and second floors by now, the only way to go was up. From here, until he found Jay, he was on his own. And hopefully, it had not gotten to Jay before he could.

The door facing him immediately after he creaked his way off the last step of the staircase was unlocked. Cautiously, he approached and scanned for signs of life, knowing he could very well stumble right into the spirit he was doing his best to avoid, before stepping inside. He felt a little flurry of hope at what the scanner picked up, and walking in only confirmed it.

"Jay!"

A/N: No matter how many times I apologize for leaving this fic hanging well over half a year the way I did, it's not going to be enough. But I am deeply sorry. School, poor time management, and what I'm going to dubiously label depression are all really big writer's block. :,)
But I'm finished with this chapter! Hopefully I will be able to pick back up from here, although my specialty is disappointing people, so don't be too expectant.
I've watched Hands of Time, too, and arrgh. Oh boy. It throws a wrench. In some things. A lot of things. That I can't explain, because that would be spoilers. Geez, that's. Some bad timing. :/

Also tfw when Kai doesn't know who nice old Mr. Saunders is
Also also, consider: "secretly kinda wanted to be an art student" Kai. It explains why he's such a nihilist.
This joke makes sense if you know anyone who does art, I swear!

And now, responses to guest reviews:

Attack on MLG: Uh …. Thanks for the review? Pure isn't quite the word I'd use for it, though. And weird thing to mention there. Might I ask you not to bring anything like that up again - I'm not even going to be writing any real ships in this.

TheAmberShadow: Thanks for the review! I'm pleased because HoT confirms Cole had some initial difficulty getting used to being human again. And of course he brought gummy bears. They're delicious. Why wouldn't you bring gummy bears to a haunted mansion? And character development — ohhh my. Well. Yes. There is going to be lots of character development. Just not limited to Cole. ;)

Guest: Thanks for the review! I really wish I could've gotten back to you sooner, and I hope you'll still be reading, because I am going to attempt a more regular schedule here. And hopefully, you can get into it.