"He's waking up again."

Cole's dreary mind slowly rises out of the haze, the voice sounds familiar. Lloyd. Why is it always Lloyd?

"So he's going to be ok?" Jay. He'd recognise that voice anywhere. Something cool clicks around his ankle.

"Is that really necessary?" Lloyd again. Cole delights in hearing their voices. Something familiar, something comforting. Something he recognises without wading through the pounding in his skull.

"It might be Yang." Yang. I was just talking to Yang…

"Nah, it's Cole. It has to be."

Cole drearily opens his eyes, trying to make out the faces of his friends. "Loud…" he mutters. He lifts his right hand towards his head, pausing when the movement triggers some pain. He stares at bandages wrapped from his wrist to his elbow.

"Sorry!" whisper-yells Jay.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Lloyd grabs at his other hand, drawing his attention. "What's your name?"

"What kind of question is that? You just said his name!"

Lloyd sighs in frustration, "Well, maybe he didn't hear me? Zane said I have to ask it when he wakes up."

Cole can't help but laugh, a small chuckle bursting through his lips, which he quickly tries to subdue as pain shoots through his chest. "Ow. Damn. What happened to me?" His voice is rough. He lowers his arm gently back onto the bed. Lloyd fumbles for a button, and the bed starts to elevate, letting him see his surroundings more clearly. Lloyd and Jay share a worried look. Lloyd is the one who loses the silent staring match. "You have a deep laceration on your arm. You've broken at least one rib. Thankfully no damage to your internal organs… A few burns, but nothing too deep. Probable concussion…"

Cole frowns, that didn't sound great. Is that why my head is pounding? "Ok, but why? What happened?"

"There was an explosion." says Jay.

Cole leans back against the pillows and stares at the ceiling. An explosion? He doesn't remember an explosion. "Is that how you hurt your head?" He looks over at Lloyd, head still wrapped in bandages.

Lloyd drops his eyes, unable to maintain eye contact. "Um, no. I wasn't anywhere near the explosion." Cole frowns. Then what? Lloyd wrings his hands nervously. They were hiding something.

"What do you remember?" asks Jay, pulling attention off Lloyd.

Cole turns to stare at Jay blankly. He reaches for his recent memories and finds…

Darkness

Cole lifts his good hand to his head. It was throbbing, pounding. "I- I, why can't I… Shit."

"Hey, hey. It's ok. You got rattled pretty bad." Jay clutches at his bandaged hand, trying to offer comfort. "Some memory loss is actually pretty normal. And it might come back. Don't worry about that now. The important thing is that you're awake. How's your head, is it hurting?"

Cole stares at Jay for a moment before nodding. Why was it everything they said took so damn long to process? Why was it important that he was awake? How long had he been not awake?

"Pixal, can you get Zane in here?"

"Of course Lloyd." A gentle feminine voice comes from the ceiling.

"Zane's the only one trained on the IV." says Lloyd by way of an explanation.

Wait where even am I? Cole's eyes dart around the room, cognitive dissonance ringing as he sees walls matching the temple, but a large quantity of hospital equipment. He was in a proper bed, but the floors were tatami. There was an IV stand, but open wooden shutters, letting in a warm breeze. He scrunches up his face in confusion. "Is this not a hospital?"

Lloyd shakes his head. "You can't leave the temple remember? Because of the curse? We had to bring the hospital to you."

The curse. That's right, he was cursed. And it had something to do with Yang. His eyes flow down to the cool sensation on his leg. It didn't feel good. Cold. Draining. A cuff, with yellow lines… vengestone? He freezes, thoughts jumping back to the earlier conversation.

'It might be Yang'

"Yang cursed me, he's in my head…" That's why he had been talking to Yang before.

Jay nods encouragingly. "Yes, that's right."

Cole continues to stare at the cuff. It was new. He was sure they hadn't cuffed him before. So what happened? What had changed? Cole lifts his eyes to Lloyd, his bandaged head, and was there a faint line on his neck? A bruise that was healing. What would cause an injury like that?

Rope.

The thought pops into his head, along with the image of his hands holding rope around Lloyd's neck. He lifts his hands in front of him, ignoring the pain this causes in his right arm, seeing a few red splotches, healing injuries, watching as they start to tremble.

"Cole? What's wrong?"

Something wet falls onto his forearm. Am I crying?

"Cole? Cole? Say something?"

His head pounds.

Lloyd lying unmoving on the floor.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

Screaming, pounding on the door of that fuzzy temple.

"Cole! Breathe!"

His hands, pulling a rope around Lloyd's neck.

No! Stop it! Get off him!

"Cole! It's ok. You're ok, I'm ok!"

The feeling of his fist as it collides with Lloyd's head.

I did that… I hurt him…

"Cole!"

Warm hands clutch his own. Holding him tight, pulling him back towards reality. A stuttering breath as he finally remembers how to breathe. Vision blurring as he blinks away tears. Blue and green clad arms, holding him tight.

"Yes, good, keep breathing, we've got you."

"I- I, your head…" Cole stutters.

The green arm doesn't pull away, instead gripping him tighter. "Yang did this, not you."

"But I- I, couldn't stop him…"

"We know. It's ok. Lloyd's ok."

A new voice joins the fray. "I heard he is awake."

"Yes, and his head is hurting."

The blue hand vanishes, and Cole immediately regrets its absence. Zane's face suddenly fills his vision, scanning him with a blue light. He still isn't breathing right, each breath full of panic, a pain flaring in his chest around his injured rib. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Cole stares, dumbfounded at Zane's question, my pain? Nevermind me, I hurt… I hurt… he squeezes shut his eyes. He can't keep up, even with his own thoughts. His head pounds. Is that why Zane is asking me about pain?

"Yes." Cole mutters, an answer to Zane's question.

"Dude, he said pick a number!" Jay sounds so distant.

He can't focus, I can't…

Voices continue to babble around him. There's a cool sensation in his arm, and everything fades away.

…

He's back in the dream temple.

This time he at least recognises it for what it is. The deep black scars still scatter the walls and floor. What happened here? There had been an explosion. But surely an explosion wouldn't affect the inside of his mind?

Cole turns his attention away from the walls, scanning the room for Yang. Finding him immediately, sitting in the same statue-like position as before.

Rage boils inside him. "You hurt Lloyd."

Yang looks up, meeting Cole's piercing gaze. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Cole scoffs. "You expect me to believe that?"

"No. I don't."

If Cole didn't know any better, he would say Yang sounded sincere. But he knew better. He wasn't falling for it again.

"I'd never used your powers before. I didn't mean for it to go so far."

"Right. So you're not sorry. You meant to hurt him. Just, not quite so much." Cole crosses his arms. He would be throwing punches at Yang right now, if he weren't a ghost. If there was any chance of them actually connecting.

"It was my last chance."

"At what?"

"Freedom."

Cole pauses. There were still gaps. He doesn't know everything that happened. He doesn't know what Yang tried to do. Lloyd was an obstacle, not a target. He doesn't want Yang's side of the story to be how he finds out.

Cole turns his back on Yang, speed walking to the doors which he thrusts open with ease.

…

Cole opens his eyes, head feeling clearer than before. Still in the comfy bed. A soft light filters through the window, either dusk or dawn. He isn't sure which.

"Oh, hey." A new voice. Kai.

"Hey." replies Cole, as something cool clicks around his ankle.

The draining sensation radiates up his leg. Reminding him of something… but he can't place it.

He grabs around the edge of the bed, looking for the controls. "Here." Kai passes him the controller, and Cole elevates the bed. Cole looks down at the cuff, jiggling his leg to see if there is a more comfortable position. It doesn't help.

"Sorry. We thought it might interfere with your healing, so we only put it on when you wake up. If it's bothering you, I could ask about taking it off?" He sounds so guilty.

"No. Leave it on. I deserve it."

"No one thinks that." Kai's voice is so tender, lacking the normal cocky confidence.

I think that, I hurt Lloyd. But he doesn't want to argue with Kai. "How long was I out?" Cole runs his good hand up over his chin, feeling the beginnings of stubble, mixed with the scabs of healing wounds. He traces one of the scabs down to his neck where there is a dressing that continues down to his chest.

"Well, it's been almost a day since you last woke up," Kai pauses, hesitating before telling Cole what he had really been asking, "and just over 5 days since the explosion."

5 days… Cole can't get the image of Lloyd out of his head. "What kind of head wound still needs bandages after 5 days?"

"The kind that needed surgery." says Kai glumly.

Cole feels like he's been stabbed. "Surgery?" he croaks.

"They just needed to relieve some pressure. Didn't actually cut into his brain. He's fine. Healing faster than the doctors thought possible. Might be related to his powers? Kid's a fighter."

Cole turns to face Kai, face aghast at the revelation, planning to explain what a piece of shit he was, but his eyes latch on a large plaster over Kai's eye, and another healing cut near his lip. One of his wrists is wrapped, but he can't see how far it goes thanks to the long sleeves. "What happened to you?" he asks with concern.

Kai pauses, and Cole's stomach drops. Did I cause this too? "I, um, I caused the explosion." says Kai guiltily. Cole frowns. He still doesn't remember the explosion. "I wasn't as close as you were, but I got hit with the shockwave and some of the debris."

Cole stares blankly at the revelation, searching his memory again.

Darkness.

He frowns. "I don't… I can't…"

"Right, they said you don't remember everything."

Cole sighs. "It's all there, I can feel it, but when I reach out… I get lost." That's what had happened, wasn't it? The darkness. He had gotten lost inside his own mind. Cole's head pounds as he lays back against the pillow. Not as bad as before, but Kai must have noticed something. "How are you feeling? How's the pain?"

"Mmm, I've had worse." Cole's eyes wander to the line coming out of his elbow, tracing it back to the bag. "Am I dosed? Is that why I'm so tired?"

Kai scoffs. "You're tired because you're recovering from some pretty serious injuries. The IV is mostly fluids, but Zane did increase your pain meds after last time."

Right. That made sense. Was probably the right move given how his head was feeling even with the meds. "Any seizures?" he asks nervously.

"Nope."

Cole sighs with relief, at least that was one less thing to worry about. Something was still missing. Something important. He allows his mind to ponder, working its way slowly through the thought. He looks back up at Kai again, seeing the bandage on his face. "Nya."

Kai raises an eyebrow. "What about her?"

"I haven't seen her yet, is she ok?" Was the reason he hadn't seen her because she was too hurt to visit?

"Oh yeah, no, she's totally fine. Didn't even get a scratch."

"Oh thank goodness." Cole gives a sharp exhale, then clutches at his chest where the broken rib was presumably hiding.

Kai looks on sympathetically. "Do you want some ice?"

Cole considers the offer. "Maybe in a bit. What I want is for you to tell me what happened." Cole looks up at Kai, whose eyes dart away. "Please."

"Fine." Kai grumbles. He was going to find out eventually. It may as well be now. That was why he had mentioned Lloyd's surgery.

"We were still having dinner after you went to bed. Lloyd came down to get some water, said you were resting in the top room. Odd, but whatever. We were just talking, about you mostly, we were worried. It turned into a bit of an argument, but then Jay is all like 'Stop! Everyone stop talking!' and we did," Kai pauses, demonstrating the silence, "he thought he heard something. A thud? You know Jay, always jumpy, always overreacting. I was trying to convince him it was nothing. Old buildings make weird noises, but Pixal backed him up. Said there was a thud, and she didn't have any cameras on the top floor. So Jay gets up ready to go check it out, but doesn't want to go alone. Zane offers to go with him. So they leave, and I roll my eyes at Nya, waiting for them to come back saying it was a spider or something."

Cole remembered this part. It was when he attacked Lloyd. He needed to know what happened next.

Kai sighs. "Pixal then tells us Lloyd is hurt, and you are missing? Jay and Zane have Lloyd, so myself and Nya, we start looking for you. We run outside figuring you can't have gone very far, what with the curse. Nya goes to look in the green building, and I take the blue one. As I get closer I see glowing from the windows. I yell something at Nya, but I didn't wait for her, instead rushing in and opening the door. You were standing there muttering and weaving the Yin blade over your head. It was glowing, your scar was glowing the brightest I've ever seen, there was a wind, but inside?" Kai shakes his head at the ridiculousness.

"What did you do?" Cole still isn't sure how this equals explosion.

Kai shrugs. "You know me and my limited problem solving skills. I threw a fireball at the Yin blade, and it exploded."

Of course he did. Cole lets his eyes trail away from Kai as he processes the end of the story.

"I'm sorry, I- I didn't know what else to do."

"You did the right thing." says Cole wearily.

"Are you sure? For a while we thought you were… you're hurt pretty bad… what was Yang even doing? Was he trying to leave? Did I ruin your chance to be free of him?"

Cole shakes his head. "I don't know… but if it was good, he wouldn't have needed to do it on his own, he would have told us…" Cole's eyes drift back to the cuff. The familiar numbness in his leg. Chains. Pulling him down, making him numb as he knelt in the dream temple. "Shit." he mutters, closing his eyes.

"What?" asks Kai eagerly. "Did you remember something?"

"I think he was trying to do his mind control thing, like he did with his students."

"Shit." agrees Kai.

"It was working. He was so close… So you did the right thing, ok?"

Kai nods. "I'm going to get you some ice."

Cole wakes to someone lifting his arm. "Hmmm…" He hums as he rolls over away from the touch.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you. The ice pack is warm."

Cole blinks open his eyes, finally catching sight of Nya. Kai was right, there wasn't even a scratch on her perfect face. "Thanks." he says, resting a hand on his side, it did feel a bit better after the ice. He must have dozed off before Kai came back.

Cole looks down to his unshackled feet. "Forgetting something?" he asks.

Nya sighs. "It's fine. We haven't seen Yang in days."

"Nya, please, it's ok."

"No. It's not. I'm not chaining you up, look at you!"

Cole sits up and starts leaning over, reaching for his legs, reaching for the chain. His rib doesn't like the bending, he does his best to muffle a pained groan.

"Cole stop! What are you doing?"

"I'll do it myself." he says through gritted teeth.

"Fine, stop! I'll do it, just stop ok?"

Cole leans back, the pain in his chest is worse, he clutches at his side. Nya obediently clips the cuff around his ankle. He hates it, but he needs it. That assurance that he isn't going to hurt anyone else. "I might need some more ice…"

"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before being an idiot." Nya sits back down on the chair, crossing her arms. Cole smiles, glad that someone was willing to be snarky with him. Treat him like normal. Like he wasn't on death's door.

His mind catches up to what she had said before. "You haven't seen Yang in days… so you have seen him, since the explosion?"

Nya's face pulls into a slight grimace. "Yeah. But not since you woke up. Unless he suddenly got very good at acting. He surfaced a few times, in the early days."

Cole fiddles with his hand, clenching and unclenching the good one, he can't bend his fingers on the right one much without his arm hurting. He's not sure how he feels about Yang waking up first.

Darkness.

While he was stuck in the dark depths of his own mind, Yang was what? Up here chilling with his friends? So the spell worked, Yang got what he wanted; a body free from Cole's interference. So then why was he staying away now?

'Kid, you need to get up.'

It didn't make sense, Yang dragging him out of whatever that was. But Cole wasn't falling for it. Wasn't trusting him again. Whatever Yang was playing at, he wasn't going to succeed.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Cole blinks, realising he had been staring off into space, knuckles going white as he forgot to unclench. "Oh, um. Do you know why he stopped?"

Nya shrugs. "I was kinda hoping you knew. Have you seen him? Like in your dreams or whatever?"

Cole sighs. "Yeah. I've seen him."

"Did you want to write it down?" Nya pulls out a notebook, his Yang diary, and passes it over.

Cole takes it with a sigh, but doesn't open it. "Not really." Yang didn't even say much, and what he did say, Cole doesn't want to write that down.

'I'm sorry.'

Cause it was bullshit. It had to be. The last thing he needed was his friends taking Yang's side.

Nya lets out a chuckle, shaking her head.

"What's funny?"

"See for yourself." Nya gestures towards the book, a grin on her face.

Cole tries using his injured arm to help open the book, but it hurts when he moves the fingers, so he gives up and wedges it between a leg, as he turns the pages with his left. Nya watches on with mild amusement, not offering to help. Eventually he gets past all the familiar parts and onto the days after the explosion.

Cole reads out loud. "Day 1 after the explosion: Yang expressed frustration about Kai interrupting his spell with many expletives that do not warrant permanent recording. Kai yelled at Yang, demanding to speak to Cole, and needed to be forcibly removed lest further injuries occur." The handwriting was obviously Zane.

Nya snorts. "We had to dose you after that. Your wounds were very fresh."

"Thank you." Cole sighs, both relieved and disturbed that it had to occur. He fumbles with turning the page, the paper gets stuck, and he has to go back after turning one too many. "Day 2: Yang is sulking, refusing to eat. Periodically calling us morons. GI tube advised."

Cole blinks. GI tube? He knew there was adhesive on his face, he thought they were all wound coverings. He runs his left hand up the right side of his face, he hadn't fully explored that side yet, due to his injured hand. There was a small tube making its way into his nose. "Huh, well that explains why I'm not starving after being asleep for 5 days…"

"It can probably come out now, if you don't mind being woken for meals?"

Food. He salivates just thinking about it. "Oh yes please."

"I'll let the chef know." Nya smiles.

Cole turns the page easier this time. "Day 3: Lloyd talks with Yang." Cole frowns. "That's it?" He turns the page, but the rest is blank. No further entries.

"Yup." Nya pops the P. "He didn't feel like writing it down either."

"What, so Lloyd is pro secrets now?"

"Right?" Nya gestures emphatically. "After making us spill our guts? The nerve." Her tone is only half serious. "We did ask him about it too, but no one felt like pushing him, not after what happened…"

"I'm surprised he even wanted to be alone with me."

Nya shrugs. "It's a mystery." She swings her leg, leaning on the back of the chair as she looks out the window. "Speaking of things Lloyd wants to keep secret…" She pauses, looking towards Cole, checking she has his attention.

Cole hesitates, Lloyd of all people he didn't want to upset right now, but he was so sick of being in the dark. He nods, asking her to go on.

"We found a couple books on you. Yang's old diary, and a spell book. Heaven knows where he got it from originally, but the point is, he knew. Cole, this whole time Yang knew how to separate you two, and he kept it hidden."

"What? Why?"

Nya sighs. "The spell, it doesn't free Yang, it banishes him. Sends him to the departed realm. He didn't tell us, because he won't survive."

Cole stares at her, processing the words. "Ok, so why haven't you done it yet?"

A frown flashes across Nya's face, then vanishes. "You're still linked, we're not 100% sure what will happen to you. You also needed to recover first. For a while we weren't even sure if you were still in there." A sadness laces her voice, and he hates Yang even more for putting them through that.

"Do it. As soon as possible."

"Cole… but what if-"

"It doesn't matter. We can't stay like this, I can't stay like this!" Cole gestures to the cuff. "He needs to go, we can't trust him. Don't worry about me, I'd rather take the risk." Cole flops back dramatically onto the pillows, eyes staring at the ceiling. "Just do it. Please."

Nya chews her lip, then gives a sigh. "I'll let the team know. We've already started with the preparations."