(A/N): Happy Halloween, guys! I can't believe I'm actually uploading two chapters in the same month …

I'm gonna attempt some form of NaNoWriMo for this thing ... so 1,666 words a day? I'm gonna keel over dead halfway through, I just know it.
Although this fic is already something I stay up unhealthily late writing ...

I have a guest review to respond to!
RandomDragon: Thank you very much! Kind words are appreciated. 3 And lucky you, here ... is more! Don't expect me to always be this punctual, though. :')

"Man, this sucks. What kinda doors do they make that can resist being slammed into that many times?" Cole groaned, tugging on a metal bar blocking a window and careful not to cut his hand on the glass lying around the sill. "And none of these bars are budging, either. Just perfect."

They'd regrouped in the gallery again, and now that that all hope of leaving and resting was gone, they had to talk about what to do next.

"We have to spend the night? That's it. I hate this place," Jay huffed, dramatically dropping himself cross-legged on the floor. "Although these are some pretty neat paintings …"

"Well, wherever we sleep, it can not be here. We've got to find another room." Kai scratched absent-mindedly at his bandages and looked idly at a window, noting the darkened sky and lack of much light coming into the mansion's interior.

"Hold on," Cole interjected. "Didn't Zane find you in a bedroom or something?"

"Yeah, but I got blood all over the bed. And the only clean mattress is in a crib. If you wanna sleep on that, be my guest."

"... Oh."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Down that hallway, took a left … there's a room! You think this one'll be usable?"

"Well, there's only one way to know." Before anyone could stop him, Kai had turned the doorknob and opened the door.

Inside was a sight for sore eyes: two plain beds that stood near each other on one end of a room, and a fireplace on the other end. The beds were bare, but they had sheets and blankets and pillows to use, so it wouldn't be a problem. And since they had regained some use of their powers, the fireplace was useable. Zane closed the door behind him and turned the creaky lock. Best to make sure, after all.

"There's a fireplace," Kai noticed. "Sweet." He seemed all too eager to set something alight. Considering how dark it was without any windows, and a quick check of the temperature showed an average of 11.4 degrees Celsius, it was understandable.

Kai stared into the empty pit for a second, considering something. Then, much to Zane's surprise, he ripped off the already-torn left sleeve of his gi and tossed it into the fireplace, atop a pile of small twigs and sticks. "Since I won't be needing this anymore …" He summoned a small flame, barely large enough to illuminate his hand, and held it to the shredded cloth, waiting for it to catch fire.

He must have sensed everyone else watching, because he turned around, looking bemused. "What? That was bothering me all day. I don't really need it anymore, and I've got spare clothes. And this way, we can preserve some of our kindling."

"Well, considering how stupidly cold it is, a fireplace is good," Cole said approvingly, eying a bed. "And this'll definitely work for the night!" He happily dropped his backpack on the floor and stretched his arms and back. With satisfaction, Zane noted that he seemed much less tense than he had been earlier, now that they at least understood the conditions they were under.

"Ah, we should probably check to make sure the beds are safe to sleep on, taking into consideration how old they are—"

"Ahh, I love you, sweet soft heaven," Jay sighed, sighing blissfully as he leapt onto the rightmost bed and slowly sank into it, oblivious to Cole's cry of "Hey, watch it! One of us is gonna have to sleep on that thing!"

Zane sighed, and then after a moment, let himself be amused. So much for that, but at least he knew now that the beds wouldn't collapse under their weight. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Kai was injured, Jay looked worn and nervous, and Cole was so tired by this point that it was slowly overtaking his anxiety from earlier. And now there was a chance to rest, finally. They all needed it, even him …

Ah, yes. That reminded him. He would have to completely power down.

"It's for your own good, Zane," a level voice reminded him, nearly surprising him. "Otherwise, you would completely lose your reserves."

"PIXAL! I … I know. But that doesn't mean I like it. If anything happens overnight, how will I know? I'll be no use at all, and I can't detect what's happening around me like I can in sleep mode."

"Then just ask someone else to stay alert, Zane."

"They are tired. Do you not see them? They have to sleep if we're going to continue on like this tomorrow."

"You know, Zane, if you don't want us hearing you, you shouldn't be having your conversations where we can." He was startled out of his conversation by Kai coming up behind him, face pulled into an amused smirk. He'd found a small closet of sorts and changed into a spare gi. "One of us can keep watch, it's really no big deal."

"I told you so, Zane." PIXAL said smugly. He ignored her.

"Well, it shouldn't be you. You need to rest if you want your arm to properly heal."

"Alright, alright, geez. I guess everyone taking shifts to keep watch is out, too?"

"You will absolutely not be doing that. No one will be well-rested if we do it that way."

"What's this about keeping watch?" Cole asked, curiosity drawing him over once he was finished haphazardly laying their pillows and blankets on the beds. "Good suggestion; I was about to mention something like that myself. Except you can't do it, Zane … So I guess I could do it?"

"Now hold on," Kai replied. "Considering trying to fall asleep's just going to make me roll onto my arm at some point, I doubt I'm doing much sleeping tonight either way. I can do it, Zane."

Poor Zane looked comically uncomfortable with this idea. Of course, it was necessary for someone to keep a look out while everyone else slept, but with the condition they were all in, he didn't have to like it. But before he could protest, the only voice they hadn't heard so far spoke.

"I'll do it." Jay had been plugging in all of their phones to portable chargers, but now he also approached them, expression earnest. "After all, I just ran away earlier instead of helping out. I gotta make it up to you guys somehow."

"You're forgiven, ya know. And you did help fight it off later," Cole said, leaning back against a wall and crossing his arms. "But I mean, if you really want to …"

"Speak for yourself," Kai snorted. At Jay's slightly crestfallen expression, he added "I'm joking. But yeah, if you wanna do it, that is more than okay with me."

"I'm not that tired; I can handle it. And after that, it's only fair."

Zane frowned, almost imperceptibly. But after a second, he nodded. "Fine, but be careful."

"Relax, Zane!" He most certainly was not going to do that. "It's not like anything's going to come in here. The door's locked."

He was going to have to completely power down, and he couldn't watch anything going on overnight. Could he really be blamed for being nervous over it?

"If that's decided," Cole butt in, "we should probably eat now."

"Ah, right!" Zane said. "We haven't eaten since this afternoon." 'We' didn't really include him, of course. Since he'd been rebuilt, he hadn't really had the ability to actually eat.

"You'd be surprised what gummy worms can do for an empty stomach if you eat enough of them." All the same, Kai unwrapped a sandwich and tore in. Cole joined with a sandwich of his own, eyeing Kai's meal and muttering something about "sandwiches don't need to be spicy, Kai". Soon afterwards, Jay pulled out a small meal of his own. He really didn't seem eager to eat it, nibbling away at it instead of chowing down with any real vigor, like he would've normally been doing any other time he was this tired. It didn't go unnoticed.

"Uh … are you not hungry or something?" Cole asked.

Jay looked up mid-bite, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"I'm just asking. Because you're barely even eating it."

"Honestly? … Not really. Guess my appetite got … spooked off."

"Funny, Sparky," Cole groaned. Kai facepalmed next to him. "But seriously, you doing alright?"

"Uh, yeah? I'm just not that hungry." Jay made a face. "Honestly, my stomach kinda hurts."

"Ouch." Cole winced sympathetically. "Yeah, that's rough. You're doing the right thing, though. You might not be hungry now, but you never know how you'll feel tomorrow."

They were silent for a few moments. Then Jay spoke up, listlessly swallowing a bite. "Hey Kai? Whatever you were doing that burned up your phone's battery life, you might wanna avoid it tomorrow. … I betcha ten bucks it was Chirp."

"Why are you always so quick to assume I'm on Chirp? I haven't been on it that often. And what do we even need our phones for, if they're completely pointless?" Kai groaned.

"You never know, we might still be able to use them for something. They'll make pretty handy lights if anything happens to our flashlights, you know," Jay pointed out.

"May I just bring your attention to one thing. Most recent activity for Chirp account Kai Giang-Smith: six hours ago."

"Wh-how did you know that, Zane!?" Kai sputtered as the others burst out laughing. "We don't even have any connection!"

"Hah! Busted!" Jay cackled. "I want my ten bucks when we're out!"

"Doesn't a true ninja never reveal his secrets?" Zane looked the picture of innocence aside from the smile on his face.

"What does he spend so much time doing on that thing, anyway?"

"A splendid question. Maybe he's telling all the fangirls about his intricate routine in the mornings."

"I do not —"

"Huh. The amount of time he spends on it checks out, anyway."

"— and even if I did, I'd just be flattering them with my knowledge —"

"I mean, come on. Really. Take the hair, that's gotta be like … a half hour, in and of itself. You have to wonder how many chirps he's made about just that."

"Oh, I'll guess … ten?"

"Really, Cole? You're not counting high enough. You know how many times I've almost missed sunrise training because of Kai? Take that number and double it, and then maybe you're talking. Did you see him this morning? We're in the middle of a forest and he still —"

"Hey," Kai interrupted, trying to seem disgruntled and just looking flustered instead, "you realize I'm standing right here?"

Zane just blinked, faintly amused, watching Jay and Cole exchange silly jabs at Kai between morsels of food. It seemed, in Lloyd's stead, they had decided someone needed to tease him. The two just smirked and kept at it.

"Jay, did you hear something?"

"Huh? Nah. Why, did you?"

"Yeah, I could've sworn … just now …"

"Weird. Maybe it's the voice of the fly on the bathroom wall that died waiting to be released because Kai never actually comes out when he's supposed to!"

"Alright, now you're just being unfair," Kai protested.

"Unfair? Your turn's always like, twice as long as everyone else's!"

"If I remember correctly," Zane chimed in, "we attempted a petition for Kai to have his own bathroom while we were still on the Bounty."

"Yeah, and it never flew, because there's no way you actually got Ronin and Dareth to sign it," Kai muttered pointedly. "And I don't take that long. You try having hair like mine and see how long it takes you!"

"I'm pretty sure my hair's thicker and longer." Cole idly moved a few strands of said hair out of his face. "And I still don't take nearly as long."

"... I still say you forged them! Or something."

Jay and Cole glanced at Kai, then at each other, and started to laugh. At the expression on Kai's face, Zane had to laugh, as well. Kai spread a hand over his face, exasperated, but then started chuckling as well.

"You guys are the worst," Kai grumbled, socking Jay's shoulder and then Cole's and smirking at their yelps. (He would've likely punched them both at the same time, except he really only had one useable arm.) "If you really wanna know what I was doing, I was spreading rumors about some underwater cryptid. Except really the cryptid's a Lloydfish, but the people of Ninjago don't need to know that."

"... A what now?"

"Don't ask. That's too many levels of inside joke to explain."

"Okay, anyway!" Cole then tried to broach another topic, having finished his sandwich. "Moving on from Mr. Porcupine there! Check-in before we tuck in for the night. Kai, how's the arm feeling?"

"Like I skewered it." He grimaced. "Hopefully it'll be okay, though."

"Acceptable answer. And no one else is hurt too badly?" Heads shook.

"Alright, great. Next topic: what's the plan for tomorrow? We're done for if we just wander around like we did today."

"Aw come on, Cole, who cares," Jay whined. "I don't wanna think right now. No one does! Can we just go over this when everyone else wakes up tomorrow?"

"But—" A jaw-splitting yawn cut Cole off, and he shot the simpering Jay a defeated glare. "Okay, fine, Zaptrap, you win. Tomorrow. But let's at least go over what we learned. And for that, you get the honor of starting us off."

"What? Aww, fiiine. Okay, so … there's magic everywhere and it's messing with our devices," Jay ventured.

"Heh. Guess you could say there's magic in the air," Cole said, chuckling ruefully and thinking back to the last Day of the Departed they'd had. "But that's a start. What else … same magic's screwing around with our powers."

"This magic is also affecting how efficiently our bodies function." Zane piped up. Remembering what he would need to do soon, the others nodded.

"So also making it harder to fight, by extension," Kai added sourly. "And we're trapped with no way out."

And there was the reality they'd hoped not to think about for the night. He got a round of tired stares.

"You're going about this optimistically."

"Well, it's true, isn't it? Wouldn't wanna forget."

"Trust me, no one's forgetting," Cole huffed. "Now, where were we?"

"We came here in the first place for Shade, and he's not even here!" Jay said, crossing his arms.

"Which is concerning. But right now, our biggest concern should be escaping. We can't hide here indefinitely."

"Yeah, okay, Zane, but we still don't know where Lloyd and the others are," Kai reminded them. "And honestly, that's worse. With that spirit roaming around, who knows what could happen."

"But we killed it!" Jay protested. (He'd finally finished the last bite of his food.)

"Indeed, we watched it disappear." Zane agreed. "But perhaps we should be cautious anyways. If one unexpected thing can happen, so can another."

"So ... we should focus on finding the others, then hightailing it outta here." Cole said with an air of finality.

"But just one question. Sensei told us before we left that this place was once used as a shelter from the Anacondrai during the Serpentine Wars, right?"

"Oh, yeahh. Man, I can't believe we forgot to bring that up." Cole scratched his head for a second, thinking. "You think it has something to do with all of this?"

"If the Anacondrai were involved, probably," Kai said. "Those snakes have always been trouble magnets; first the war, then Chen trying to bring them back."

"It might explain why everything's such a wreck around here," Jay chimed in.

"Well, whatever the correlation is, we can look for it tomorrow."

"Hopefully, we'll be better rested then than we are now."

"Cool. Is that it for the night? Because I'm getting kinda tired." Jay fiddled with a small blue clock and replaced its batteries. "I'm gonna set this to eight hours from the time it's showing. Hopefully that works …"

"If it doesn't, my internal timer and alarm are still working," Zane assured him.

Once the last buzzes of wind-down activity and unpacking for the night were finished, it came time for all of them to get some shut eye.

" … I should power down for the night, I suppose."

"Yes," PIXAL urged. It seemed she was starting to become impatient. "You are running quite low because of how quickly you are draining before your power source can recharge itself. It needs to happen soon. When you are ready, I will start."

"Soo. How're we gonna do this … since Jay's keeping watch …" Cole thought a moment. "Some of us might have to share, since there's only two beds. And you and I probably won't fit in a bed, so … Kai, do you mind sharing?"

"I don't need a bed as much as you do," Zane protested. "I'll just take the floor."

Kai sighed. "Come on, we'll just trip over you when we get up or something. I don't mind sharing with you, Zane."

"Sharing a bed would be unconducive to preventing your arm from being crushed, as you brought up earlier. Nor would it do any good for Cole's habit of turning in his sleep. I'll just stay near the side."

"Are you serious — we'll be fine! Zane." Kai pushed, ignoring Cole's miffed "Hey!"

Zane by this point had already settled himself into a corner near the front of the room. Kai sighed and dropped his forehead square onto his palm.

"Ooooor, that works too. Good night, I guess. Talk about stubborn."

"I would not be talking about stubborn if I were you, Kai. Goodnight, all of you."

"Night, tincan!" Another yawn. "And everyone else. And Kai, at least eat a mint before you go to bed." Cole was asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow. Kai, after another moment's exasperation, shook his head in Zane's direction and absently grabbed two tic-tacs, tossing them into his mouth. Jay hopped off and started rummaging through his bag.

"Hey, Zane." He glanced over at Jay. He was holding a small toolkit in his hand. "Can … I check your circuitry real quick? You know … electrical impulses might've done something. I wanna make sure for myself that it's just the power source causing problems and nothing else."

The request seemed odd, considering that PIXAL had already run a similar diagnostic. But then, PIXAL had mentioned difficulties accurately reading some parts because of the aforementioned magical interference. Letting Jay go through and double-check that everything was alright couldn't hurt. All the same, he was feeling a little hesitant about it …

He pulled open the latch that granted access to his chest panel, and Jay set to work. Once he was finished, Zane shut the panel.

"You're all good to go," Jay reassured him. "Those are all the checks I can do without any other tech to back me up, but everything other than the power source looks fine."

"Thank you, Jay. Goodnight, and be careful."

"You keep saying that," Jay huffed. He was smiling a little, though. "Night, Zane! Rest up."

As Jay walked off, PIXAL flickered back into his vision, evidently wanting to talk about something.

"I detect concern?"

Zane held back a sigh, and input an answer. Interfacing out loud wasn't promising for his privacy, even though Jay was the only other person awake.

"Everyone has been … strangely quick to lose resolve. Cole has been quite anxious all day, Kai's temper is wearing thin, and Jay seems very distracted when he thinks no one else is watching him. It's an unusual situation, definitely, but we are also trained ninja and it's concerning that we're coming undone so quickly."

PIXAL was quiet for a moment before she responded.

"I detected more than just concern. Perhaps even traces of fear?"

"What are you …"

"I detected high amounts of magic unevenly distributed throughout this mansion, but I also detected it elsewhere." She paused, maybe to let it sink in. "Namely, I felt it surrounding Jay."

That was enough to startle him into silence for a moment.

"But Jay has no knowledge of magic," he said feebly. "Are you sure you've read this correctly, PIXAL?"

"If you're so quick to doubt me, I can check again and show you myself."

"I … that won't be necessary." He mulled it over for a moment. "Are you implying that I should be afraid of Jay?"

"From what I can see, you already are. Or at least, you are afraid of the magic surrounding him."

"I remember how it feels. From … from Chen's Island. From Clouse. It was highly unpleasant." Suddenly he remembered what had been brought up earlier. "PIXAL, do you think … that this magic could originate from the first Serpentine War?"

She didn't respond immediately.

"It's a possibility. But this place was a refuge from Serpentine during the war. Where does magic come in?"

"Perhaps Clouse himself did something …?"

"Why go to that much effort for one shelter? It is not strategically sound."

"Or, perhaps another master of dark magic. Clouse cannot have been the only one. But it's nothing that can be proved …" Zane sighed. "Then it remains a mystery for now."

"Wherever it came from, it has the potential to be harmful. Zane, you must say something."

"I don't know if it would be a good idea to. After all, we are all already stressed over being locked in here; this sort of information could only alarm everyone more …"

"This is magic that we are dealing with! I understand you wish to avoid upsetting anyone, but he could be in danger and endangering everyone else without even knowing."

"... I'll try if there is an opening. But what if it only worsens matters?"

"Zane —"

"All of the magic we have seen so far has only brought bad news. If they know it's surrounding him ... they might not take it well."

"Tell Jay, at least! He deserves to know what's happening, even if you just wish to observe and see what happens from here on."

"I'll do it if I find an opening. I get the feeling that any confrontation otherwise will just make the tension worse." Maybe it was a remnant of the sixth sense he'd lost after being rebuilt kicking in again, but it was a strong feeling ...

Once again PIXAL paused.

"I cannot say I'm pleased with your decision. But I understand. Shall I start the shutdown now?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Initiating," she obeyed. "Complete shutdown of power in 3 ... 2 … 1 …"

Everything went dark. Jay's eyes flickered somberly as he settled uncomfortably into a chair near the door, the room cloaked in a darkness only pierced by the softly crackling fire.

An angry twinge abruptly shot through his arm, and Kai was rudely snapped out of his sleepy daze. With a pained hiss, his eyes flew open, and he rolled over, vainly grabbing at it with his free hand and waiting for the sharp throbbing to recede.

Blast it. He'd been so close to actually sleeping tonight.

Blowing hair out of his face, Kai let out a low, cross moan. He'd felt on edge all day, like he was walking a tightrope and falling off meant the dominoes started to tumble with no hope of righting themselves, and even now his mind was alert, whispering how things could still get worse. But his eyes were leaden and his limbs were slow and he'd almost managed to relax enough to fall asleep. Until his stupid arm got in the way.

On the other bed was Cole, out like a rock and snoring softly — Kai was a little envious. His eyes wandered; there was Zane, with the light of the flames reflecting off of his metallic surface; the fireplace, crackling and warm but losing strength with the hour; and there, sitting in a chair near the entrance, was Jay.

He was pretty quiet, not softly whistling to himself or tapping his fingers on the nearest surface or doing anything else to preoccupy himself like he usually would be — he was barely moving at all, really, just staring at the door. It almost looked tranquil, but he looked so broody that it was a bit disconcerting.

So maybe he'd been a little harsh towards Jay earlier. But they couldn't face every single thing that was scary to them by running off, now, could they? And he'd gotten a sliced arm while Jay had gotten off scot-free physically, save a little tiredness. Still, the faint flicker of firelight sharpened the shadows on his face and made the stress of the day more prominent, and remorse started to poke at Kai. He was hardly blind to the fact that he was hard to be with when he got snappish, and when all of them were so anxious, it probably felt even worse to take.

… Eh, it wasn't like he was about to actually get any sleep tonight. Taking care that he didn't accidentally squish his arm again, he pulled off his blanket and placed his feet on the floor. At the first noise, Jay's head turned, and wordlessly, his eyes keenly followed Kai as he got up, walked over, and pulled over another chair from the table.

He sat down, waiting for a reaction. Anything besides just being watched. And then Jay spoke.

"Why're you up?" His voice was low, and flatter than he'd expected.

Kai shrugged.

"Can't sleep."

"But … aren't you tired?"

"Aren't you?" Kai retorted. Jay's stare lingered on his face for a moment more, before he returned to looking at the door. Kai felt himself suddenly unsettled, and not quite sure why that was the case.

"Nah. I'm pretty good."

Right. Like the word 'tired' wasn't just written all over his face in big graffiti letters.

They were both quiet for a moment. And then:

"Go."

"Huh?" Jay blinked, perplexed.

"I'll take it from here."

"H-Hold on, what? No, go back to sleep —"

"Look," Kai sighed. "Forget what Zane said about resting my arm, or whatever. It hurts too much anyway and I can't fall asleep," he admitted. "So I might as well stay the rest of the night. Go get some rest." Jay was about to argue, and normally Kai would've been happy to oblige, but he was too exhausted to properly get into the spirit of it, had been all day. (And yet, not exhausted enough to sleep.) Before Jay could make a sound, he kept talking. "Seriously, you're not fooling anyone. Zane just let you take the shift because of my arm. Go."

"Alright, alright!" Moving his hands up in an "I surrender!" motion, Jay got up from the chair and walked off. "Night," he muttered. "Have fun staring at the door all night long. And now it's on me to explain why I even let you do this in the morning."

Kai only lasted a second staring after Jay's back before the persistent pinprick of malaise became too much and he had to say something.

"Hey, Jay."

Jay stopped mid-step and straightened. "Yeah?"

"Um …" Of course, now that he'd started to go through with it, he was fumbling. "I dunno, you just seem kinda … off? Is it about earlier, because uh, I'm not actually that mad about it, I was just annoyed, and I might've gotten a liittle mean—"

Jay turned around, and now Kai could see that he was flashing a wan grin at him. "Heheh, no, that's not it. Even then, I kinda earned it. I guess you're right and I am tired … or this place just has me too creeped out to think straight. But, uh … thanks."

"Yeah, but still … sorry." A beat. "Okay but really, how did you and Zane beat that thing? I tried fighting it and I just got," a dramatic wave of his bandaged arm here, "this."

"Of course you did. What did you do, charge it head-on?"

"..." What was he supposed to say to that.

Jay barked a laugh, then noticed how loud it was and lowered his volume. Now there was something he was used to. "Typical."

"Hey now," Kai replied defensively, "You're hardly any better. And I wouldn't be talking about 'typical' behavior if I were you." Oh no. He regretted the words almost as soon as he'd said them. Maybe that was a little too mean, after everything else he'd said today.

Jay blinked for a moment. Then:

"Okayy, that's just low. I, at least, actually fought it." Thankfully, he seemed to understand the jibe was in good nature and wasn't taking it too harshly. Which was great. Because Kai really didn't want to have to stutter out another guilt-fueled not-quite-apology-and-inquiry-as-to-wellbeing-rolled-into-one.

Tentatively, he kept teasing. "Do you mean you fought it or you ran around it screaming while Zane hit it?"

"HEY, I'll have you know I finished it off!" Jay's proclamation came in a ridiculous whisper-yell and an indignant finger to Kai's chest.

"Oh yeah? … Wait, did you?"

"Whaaat, you weren't listening when I explained this before?" Jay frowned, looking a little affronted, before talking again. "I jumped off the stairs and hit it on the head super hard! And then I just kinda … shocked it without remembering that we didn't have our powers. But hey, it worked!"

"Wow."

"Yeah. So hopefully we don't have to worry about anything tomorrow! … Unless a vampire shows up."

"Oh boy," Kai groaned, remembering his joke from earlier. "If that happens, then we're in trouble."

"Hmm. I wonder what we taste like to vampires."

Kai just looked at him for a few seconds. "Jay, what the heck."

"Whaaat? It's a legitimate question! Consider it. We're Elemental Masters! Definitely not the average Joe."

"Let's just hope we're not their normal cuppa Joe, either."

"... Kaiiii."

"What? You started this stupid train of thought in the first place."

"That I did," Jay conceded, grinning and determined to keep the inevitable trainwreck moving. "But does the taste differ based on element? Oh man, I bet it does."

"Oh no, what if vampires like their meals extra-warm?" Kai groaned. "Then I'm toast."

"Eh, you probably taste like charcoal, if anything. Sizzling-hot charcoal, delicately seasoned with juice extracted straight from your brain," Jay said, voice giving away his amusement. "Hardly a vampire delicacy and certainly not for the faint-of-heart, only enjoyed by those most seasoned gastronomers."

"Wow." Was he supposed to feel insulted or amused? He wasn't sure. "What about you, huh, you think you taste much better?"

"I have no idea. For all anyone knows, lightning masters are the vampire version of Blue Razz Pop Rocks."

Kai snorted. "Pop Rocks are terrible."

"Riiiight, right, that's why you shoved 5 packets of the red ones into your face once. Clearly I must've imagined it." Jay had the world's worst poker face. Right now, he was doing a spectacularly poor job trying not to snicker.

"O-oh, for— shut up. We don't talk about that." He'd downed them with hot sauce, too.

Between him and the toilet, he was very glad he lived to regret that decision. The incident was right up there with the other unspeakable incidents he'd caused. There was the hot tamales incident, that one time with the exploded phone batteries …

After a moment of quiet, Kai took a moment to wonder at them — tired, not doing particularly well, up at an unholy hour, and stuck in some place they had no escape from — debating the specifics of how vampires found the taste of Elemental Masters, and started laughing into his hand. Evidently, Jay found it just as ridiculous, because he started snickering, too.

It felt … good. It was definitely the lightest he'd felt all day. But once it faded, the same deep unease came back with a vengeance. Kai sighed.

"Okay. That was … just go to sleep, Jay."

"Fiiiine." Jay was quiet for a second, and the playful petulance on his face fell back into something more sincere. "... Night, Kai. Be careful, okay?"

Well. That was a weird question to ask. It seemed everyone was reminding each other to be careful today.

"Alright." A beat. "You'd better switch the blanket. If I catch you using mine …"

"Okay, I will," Jay chuckled. "But you better be prepared to hunt around for your stuff in the morning."

"Fine. Night, Jay. And actually get some sleep; I didn't give up that bed for nothing."

As Jay blearily kicked his blanket out and pulled it up to his shoulders, Kai caught himself with a faint smile briefly pulling at his face. Then he remembered he'd just resigned himself to keeping watch all night and sighed.

Well. It was worth it, for the people snoring away on the beds — and the stubborn powered-down nindroid in the corner. Him too.

Kai shifted in the antique chair, slinging his injured arm over the back and trying to make himself comfortable. It would be a long night.

This time, it was his own jerking muscles that kept him from completely dozing off. With a start, Kai's eyes flew open and he hastily yanked himself upright, and then winced as his arm roughly hit the back of the chair and the angry throbbing started anew. If exhaustion had come that close to overcoming his buzzing mind, then he was going to feel absolutely lousy when morning properly rolled around. But there was no sleeping now. He'd signed up for this.

Judging by the much-diminished fire, he'd been swimming in and out of consciousness for a while now. Shaking off the grogginess the best he could, he carried his chair over to the fireplace and poked at a few scraps of cloth that hadn't yet burned through with a stick. At the rate it was burning, it wouldn't last another hour; he would have to use more kindling after all.

Kai lazily grabbed a fistful of wood pieces and flung them in. When the small, smoldering flames didn't immediately spread, he set his hand alight the best he could and strengthened the flames himself. Satisfied, he carelessly dropped himself back into the chair, (not bothering to sit comfortably or watch the arm, since it hurt anyway) and basked in the warmth, a welcome relief from the chill.

Now that he'd used his power a bit, his blood was flowing a little better. That, and the soreness, would ensure he wouldn't be nodding off again.

But now that he'd really woken up, he was all too aware of how quiet it was — his ears, ringing and sensitive from the silence, felt starkly even the softest noises. But they were masked by some louder ones, like his friends snoring. The fire had gotten comfortingly louder since he'd put kindling in it, the crackling intensifying as the flames licked at the wood. Kai watched the light, orange and yellow, dance off the walls and around the fire, and just breathed, in and out, to the flickering of the flames; he paid mind only to the sounds stirring the otherwise silent room: the popping and snapping of the fire he'd created and the soft whistle of his breath and the thudding of his heart and the snoring coming from the beds his friends were sleeping on. (Well, two of them, anyway.)

It was deceptively tranquil, was almost enough to make him feel better, but the scraps of comfort were fleeting and try to maintain his grasp as he might, they were still slipping away and leaving him to deal with thoughts that would do no one any good, as well as a stifling stillness that he could almost cut through with a butter knife.

All in all, it felt like there was a blanket wrapped too tightly around him and squeezing at the heart, suppressive and uncomfortable, and so suffocating that any attempt to do something about it died in his throat before he could even try. It was, even with everything he could hear, too quiet. There wasn't enough to distract from his spiking nervousness, and it only sent him more on edge. Sinister shadows lay at the edge of the very same flames that had been so calming only minutes before, and even the heat slowly seeping into his skin was only marginally helpful. With every sound he didn't recognize, his eyes darted around, searching for a source.

The firelight reflected off of Zane's titanium shell and made it glint, catching his eye.

Zane. Kai knew, of course, he'd be up and running again in the morning, but it did little to put the uneasiness pooling up in him to rest. Jay barely even looked asleep for how much subtle shifting and tossing he was doing, and Cole, while clearly asleep, still managed to look tense. One day and they were already ridiculously drained, with no sign of Shade or the other three people who were supposed to show, trapped with no exit. Were they really going to make it out, or would the spirit from today get to them first?

He shuddered at the memory of the cold, misty, razor-sharp claws tearing through his arm that afternoon. If it returned (and it would probably return — there was no way it had been finished in one battle), any fight they picked against it would be a difficult one. Their powers were back, but they were weak and incomplete. And speaking of powers … he'd been so sure earlier when he'd contradicted Jay's fears, but he was now having second doubts. Lloyd, Skylor and Karlof had gone before them. They'd even texted back that the mansion was in the right place and they could come! And suddenly they'd gone completely off the radar and there was a murderous abomination of a spirit-esque monster roaming the place.

And Shade was supposed to be alive after facing that for … over a month. Right. Of course. What even the Elemental Master of Shadow had supposedly come here for, it better have been a good reason.

Really, they should just call the mission off and leave tomorrow. Or today. The old pocketwatch his father had left him had gone completely haywire with all the other time-telling devices as soon as they'd stepped foot in the mansion, so who knew. Too bad they couldn't actually leave. They were stuck, and they'd have to find the other group. The hope that they hadn't run into anything they couldn't handle burned in his chest.

He could hear his heart pounding uncomfortably fast now. His fingers were tingling, and it wasn't just the cold. Unease strengthened and coiled tighter in his stomach, leaving room for frustration to well up. Dang it all, he'd been fine just a little while before, so why, even when there was nothing that could reach them now, was he so tense? Why did he feel so helpless, so …

Trapped?

They had to get out.

And now he was dwelling on the worst, as he tended to do. Miserable at their current odds, Kai pushed his bangs out of his eyes and ran his fingers through mussed brown hair.

A moment later, he stiffened and suddenly righted himself, eyes wide and alert, heart skipping a beat.

What … was that noise?

You cannot easily set foot into that mysterious mansion near those villages.

Gravel and leaves crunched underfoot. Weak beams of light hit the floor in soft puddles through the dense foliage covering the sky above them.

"Well, it looks like this is it." Blond hair spilled out as the hood holding it down was removed. Wary green eyes swept over the battered façade of the mansion, and Lloyd was instantly struck with the sense that something was wrong. His stomach was churning uneasily, and gut instincts, especially when you were the seasoned green ninja, usually didn't fail.

Because if you anger its sole occupant, you will not get away lightly.

"Certainly looks like the kind of place people will warn you away from," Skylor remarked from next to him. "No wonder this mansion's just been left rotting around for ages the way it has, when all the villagers are so paranoid."

"I'm starting to wonder if they didn't have a point," Lloyd muttered. Ah well. No matter how unsettled he was, they had to keep going. It was the best lead they had on Shade, and if they left before even taking a look inside, they would be doing him a disservice. Even the few elemental masters who were friends with the usually-aloof Master of Shadow, and therefore knew his habits, had expressed concern at how he'd seemingly dropped off of the face of the continent. And if Skylor wanted to host an elemental reunion, it would be best if all of them could make it.

Besides, Lloyd had met up with his current companions that morning in the nearest village to this mansion, and they'd walked for hours through foliage so dense that summoning a dragon or trying any motor-fueled mode of transport was a hopeless endeavor, only able to stop at the interspersed clearings that housed small villages. It'd just be silly not to go in after all that.

"There's something very strange in the air …" Skylor said, eyes narrowed. "But I can't place my finger on what it is. Anyone else?"

"Oh, absolutely," Lloyd said, relieved that he wasn't the only one with misgivings.

"Feels funny. Too cold. And villagers are sure Shade come this way?" Karlof piped up. He, too, did not looked pleased.

"He has a point. Of all the places to disappear off to, why a former wartime shelter?" Skylor added.

"I mean. No offense to Shade or anything, but for the Master of Shadow, he's pretty conspicuous." Lloyd snorted. "If they recognized the description we gave them, then they probably led us the right way."

"Hm. And they were kind enough to give us a warning, too," Skylor added wryly.

"Speaking of warnings." Lloyd pulled his backpack to his chest, fished out his phone, and started tapping out a message into his group chat.

Lloyd [5:43 pm]: I think we've found the place they were talking about yesterday
Lloyd [5:43 pm]: but it's really weird

Lloyd [5:43 pm]: just be careful when you get here, okay

A bubble popped up under his message, and a second later, so did a reply.

Kai [5:44 pm]: nice
Kai [5:44 pm]: and right back u lloyd
Kai [5:44 pm]: keep us posted

Lloyd [5:45 pm]: I will

Kai [5:46 pm]: btw, what're his friends up to

Lloyd [5:46 pm]: they're too busy to trek all the way to an old mansion
Lloyd [5:47 pm]: so apparently they're just searching the area near his hometown instead

Kai [5:48 pm]: huh
Kai [5:48 pm]: good luck

Lloyd [5:48 pm]: thanks

Then he tucked his phone away and turned towards the waiting Skylor and Karlof. Kai and the rest of the ninja were still at the village Lloyd had come from this morning.

(Rest of the ninja minus Nya, that was. She'd sprained her ankle a while back on a mundane mission gone wrong, and while it'd almost completely healed, they'd decided there was no point in risking it with the amount of trekking through forest it took just to get to the destination.)

That confirmation of the mansion's location was the other ninja's cue to join up with them — and hopefully, if they'd already found Shade by then, they could just turn back around and call it a day.

"Well, what we still waiting for?" Karlof huffed impatiently, heading for the door. It turned out to be a lot heavier than anticipated and he put his weight into forcing it open. "Let's get searching over with. Don't like this place one bit."

"I hear you," Skylor grunted, moving to help him out. "This had better be quick. Something gives me the feeling we shouldn't stick around any longer than we need to."

Lloyd lingered a moment longer, taking in everything around where he was standing. The looming, grandiose building was awe-inspiring, and not in the strictly positive sense, either.

Something, indeed.

"Come on. I just hope Shade's alright." He walked in at last, and the door creaked shut behind them.

The little sunlight that made its way to the forest floor through the thick canopy winked out.

… Once you step inside, you will never return.

(A/N): Casual headcanon that Cole and Zane are … taller than Kai and Jay … so they wouldn't fit in the same bed ... yeah …

Also. kinda eventful chapter. They're well and truly stuck, guys. :3