Darker Places (Ninjago)

2: Jay

You ever hear voices coming from the shadows in the darkest corners of your room? Yeah, I was having that problem. Except the voices weren't in corners of a room, but in the corners of my very own mind. I could hear whispers, I could hear someone calling for me. It felt weird. Even my elemental lightning felt strange to me, foreign, even.

So I ran into the sleeping quarters of the Bounty, sitting on my bed, my head in my hands. Cole, as I knew he would, found me about ten minutes later.

"Jay," He breathed. "There you are. You remember those orange things from earlier?"

I looked up at him, nodding.

"Well, one of them got on the ship and I just killed it I think but it wanted to know what element I control and..."

I didn't really listen to the rest of what he said. I tried to, I really did, but the voices in my head were getting louder. It was like storm clouds were forming in my mind, making my thoughts foggy, and the sound of the whispers were like thunder drowning out everything I thought, or whatever the heck Cole was saying.

I noticed that Cole's forearm had three claw marks on it, and they were bleeding.

"Your arm," I said, not meeting him in the eyes.

The voices in my head were getting louder and louder.

Cole said something, but all I saw were his lips moving silently.

Elemental Master of Lightning. The voices said. I will find him. And I will kill him.

I clenched my fist, my head pounding, my vision blurring. I tried to stand up, holding the beams holding up the bunk beds for support.

I need more power! The voice screamed in my mind. Power! Bring me the lightning!

I closed my eyes unwillingly. I could see lightning behind my eyelids. I could hear the worried calls of Cole, saying my name over and over again. I could hear laughter, cold and unfamiliar. I could feel the lightning coursing through my veins, I could feel the power going through me. It felt stronger than it usually did. It felt like it was connecting with something or someone.

And suddenly, everything stopped. The lightning disappeared, the voices stopped, replaced by a steady beeping noise, then silence. I felt normal. I opened my eyes.

"Jay? Hey buddy, you okay?" Cole was practically holding me up.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? You look a little pale."

"J-just a d-dizzy spell, I guess." Cole guided me to sit down on my bed.

"Good. You had me worried there for a second. Don't scare me like that."

I smiled. "Yeah, s-sorry."

Cole sat down on the bed next to me. "I want you to know that I'm not letting that Rajin creep get anywhere near you, Jay." He whispered after a moment. "He won't lay a finger on you as long as I'm breathing."

"I know. But it's not me I'm worried about."

Cole was silent. We stayed like that until Lloyd and Kai opened the door and came into the room.

"There you two are," Lloyd said. "We've been looking all over the place."

"Yeah," Kai looked at me. "You good, Jay? You look kinda sick or something."

"It's probably this new gi. I'm surprised you haven't noticed how 'sick' I look in it before." I said for the sole purpose of annoying the hot-head.