Legends of Ninjago Book 1: Brotherhood (Ninjago AU, Cole, Jay, Zane, Kai)

Chapter 5: Fire

* * *

Moonlight poured into Kai's eyes and he looked around the strange bedroom with terrifying mixture of confusion and anger. He had no idea where he was or how much time had passed, but he knew that he needed to find Nya.
Without thinking, he leapt to his feet and burst out of the room where he found himself in a hallway that led to a flight of stairs. He looked around for a weapon, but all of his belongings had been taken from him, further adding to the sense of violation and confusion which was growing rapidly. None of it mattered, though, as long as he could get out of here, so he bolted for the stairs and began sprinting through the hallways and chambers, knocking over various objects as he went.
An alarm bell sounded in the darkness of the early morning and Kai felt panic rising in his chest.
Once he had reached a room with many large, open doors and lit candles, a girl, maybe a few years older than him, brandishing a bo staff, leapt in front of him. "Stop right there!" she cried. Kai knew he couldn't beat her without a weapon, but out of the corner of his eye he could see an open courtyard through the door on his left. He ran for it, listening for the sound of her footsteps growing closer behind him.
There was no gate that led outside, so he threw himself through one of the paper doors of the building in front of him and continued on frantically. There was another hallway, another room, another door leading to the outside world. Then—
THUD!
He fell to the ground hard! There was someone on top of him, and he barely had time to look at their face as he began to wrestle with them. He knocked their heads together, and in the split second that his attacker was confused, he kicked at him with enough forced to knock himself loose.
He got up on all fours, but felt a hand grab his ankle and pull. Kai looked back to see the attacker lunging again. This time, though, he was ready, and before he landed, Kai rolled out of the way and punched him in the stomach before making another break for it.
"Oh, no you don't!" Kai thought he heard him say.
Something hit him in the back—hard! He fell, but only for a second. He might've had enough time to escape if someone else hadn't tackled him from the front. It was the girl from earlier. She had her bo staff pinned against his chest, and had her knee pressed into his stomach.
"Let me go!" Kai shouted. He didn't want to fight, he just needed to get away. But if he needed to, he wouldn't pull his punches.
He put all of his strength into pushing the girl away from him, and managed to get his torso upright after some strain. She pulled back right as he was about to over power her, and came at him again with a smarter move.
She raised her bo staff, got to her feet at the same moment that Kai did, and—THUD! Someone else—a very large someone—had tackled Kai, landing them both in another side room, filled with early morning darkness. Two large arms wrapped around him and lifted him up. He thrashed and kicked and shouted, but Kai was thoroughly immobilised.
"I came as soon as I heard!" yelled another boy, who came running in wearing a blue bath robe over blue pyjamas.
"I told you to stay upstairs, Jay," said the guy who was holding Kai.
"Yes, and I believe I told you to stay upstairs," said another person who was coming down the hallway, clutching his stomach.
"Well all of you shouldn't be here!" The girl snapped. "I had this under control."
"Sure looks like it to me," said the first boy. The girl glared at him.
"Let go of me!" Kai shouted again. He kicked some more, but whoever was holding him was strong. "I need to get back to my sister!"
"Ann, who is this guy?" asked the man holding him.
"My name is Kai Rayson, and if you don't let me go, I'll—"
"You'll what? Shout us into submission?" The boy in blue asked.
Kai felt a deep, burning anger rise in his chest, and his breathing quickened. Heat began radiating from his neck and his arms, making him sweat a little. His fists were clenched and his eyes were fixed on Jay. The heat grew bigger and bigger, a heat he had felt before, but usually kept under control. But now, he let it run wild, and it shot through his veins and down to his fingertips.
"LET. ME. GO!!!" Kai shouted. He yelped as he felt those big arms release him and he fell to the floor. He barely even realised what was happening.
"Ow! How did he do that?!"
"Fire!" Jay yelled.
Kai shook his head and looked down at his hands which were literally on fire. He screamed and fell back a bit, waving his hands in the air to extinguish the flames, but only spread the hungry fire.
"Don't move!" The girl shouted. Then, in a split second, Kai was drenched from head to toe in water, which was thoroughly unpleasant after the warm flames.
He looked down at his hands, which were back to normal, but shaking, then he looked up. The girl had a spear made out of some sort of shimmering material pointed straight at him. It took him a moment to realise that the spear was made of floating water. He stared blankly and could neither speak nor move—neither could anyone else.
"Get up," said the girl. "Slowly."
Kai didn't argue. He didn't say anything. He just stared at the floating spear as he rose on shaky legs. The others were staring at her, too.
"That... that was, like, crazy! With the—and then you—but then he—a-and the splashing, and... how did you do that?!" Jay exclaimed.
Ann seemed to be at a loss for words, same as the rest of them—well, except Jay.
"And how did he do that thing with his hands?!" Jay went on. "He was, like, all—SHOOM, SHOOM! Help me! Fire everywhere!"
"Yes, we get the picture," said Cole, dryly. He and Zane seemed to be a little less shocked than Jay.
Kai looked down at his hands again. How had he done that? It felt so natural, too. It reminded him of being in the forge.
"Perhaps I can be of some assistance."
Everyone turned suddenly to see Master Wu standing in the doorway next to Keaton, who was dressed in her nightclothes and holding a candlestick. Wu was still and calm as a lake, and that calmness seemed to spill from him, easing a bit of the tension in the room.
"Sensei Wu, I—" Ann began.
"No need for apologies, Ann Jing. They would have found out sooner or later," said Wu.
"Found out what?" Jay asked.
"In fact, I believe some of them already know," the old man chuckled. He shot a knowing glance toward Cole and Zane. Then, he walked over to Jay and yanked off the bath robe he had on and moved over to Kai, who up until this moment, had not realised that he was shirtless. He gladly took the robe that Wu offered him, as the water had left him shivering. "Come now. There is much to discuss."