A wicked set of laughter behind him alerted him to the Overlords fake Dr Julien, Cole placed a hand over Zane's eyes keeping his pure husband from seeing what happened next. The five ninja found themselves riding their dragons with Zane in Cole's lap as Birchwood forest burned behind them all.
"Cole! Is he alright?" Kai appeared beside the earth guardian, Cole looked up, "I don't know, I will speak to him once we get somewhere safe".
"We can't return to the Samurai X Cave, Saffron just sent me a message. It's been taken over by Pixel and a group of recently revived nindroids" Nya informed them all.
"Where do we go?" Jay shouted only for Cole to sigh, knowing shell beach was nearby which meant so was his father's. He gestured down towards the village below. Jay and Kai shrugged with Lloyd remaining silent as they landed in front of the house. The dragons then transformed into hatchlings, connecting with their protectors. Kai smirked patting his hatchlings head when it curled around his neck.
Cole wrapped Zane up in his arms, into a bridal carry since the storm king was unresponsive. Lloyd lingered nearby while Jay pressed the obnoxious doorbell that made them all cringe. The door took a while to be answered but when it opened, Lou was in shock seeing the ninja, especially his son.
Lou didn't have a chance to invite them in as Cole walked past him and into the living room, to put Zane down.
"Can I offer you any drinks?" Lou asked only to meet the blank expression of his son.
"No thank you but do you have a phone we can use?" Nya asked in her polite tone, Lou nodded, directing them over to it. Jay and Nya quickly got to work leaving the others in the living room.
"What happened?" Lou asked, looking at his son who held his unconscious husband in his lap.
"The overlord attacked the city and almost got control of Zane" Kai answered in a blunt tone. Lloyd nodded watching Cole try and wake Zane who remained asleep.
"Father, leave him. He must need the sleep otherwise he would have woken up by now" Lloyd patted Cole's shoulder in comfort, the master of earth nodded, running his hand through Zane's blond hair.
"Cole! Morro and Cryptor need help! Zane should be fine here but the Overlord has started attacking the schools. He is getting desperate trying to draw us out!" Jay ran into the room only to startle Lloyd who had been snoozing beside Lou.
Cole sighed looking down at his husband.
"Cole, I will watch over him and ring you if anything happens. I know we don't see eye to eye but I can assure you, I will protect him…"
"If anything happens to him, If you hurt him! God help me"
"I won't, Cole I know how much he means to you all, let me redeem myself"
Cole could only nod pressing his lips to Zane's forehead, he walked out the door hardly acknowledging his father. Kai on the other hand didn't feel it was right to leave his counterpart behind but after Nya's insistence. The five ninja left unaware of what they had just done.
"Oh how it's so easy to trick a bunch of kids" Edana's voice broke through the room. Zane didn't even move as Lou's body shape shifted into Mira's, the overlords wife.
"What did the overlord need again?" Mira turned to look at Edana who had dragged the chained up Lou out of the cupboard, so he had front row seats to his son-in-law's demise.
"A feather, a hair strand, oh and his blood caked in this sword" Edana answered with a smile, Lou shouted in a muffled tone over the tape across his mouth.
"Shut up! At least we will leave him alive, good luck for the future for Cole ever speaking to you again" Mira laughed as she shot her powers at the angel. As she thought on instinct, Zane shifted awake as his wings appeared. Lou gasped seeing them refixed.
"Oh how the overlord will love to break them when the time comes" Edana teased as she violently pulled a feather out, Zane sluggishly tried to stop them only for a dagger to stab straight into his side. He gasped in agony as he was violently thrown to the floor only to land beside Lou, who moved to grab him when the two enemies laughed, vanishing from sight with what they had.
Zane with the last of his strength pulled the tape off Lou's mouth, who gasped out, the older man instantly grabbed the nearest thing he had and pressed it onto Zane's wound. The storm king cried out in pain, he inwardly cried more only to receive comfort from Cole who was in shock at feeling Zane's pain. Zane knew his husband was on his way.
"I'm sorry Zane, I have failed both you and Cole. I know now I will never be part of your lives, since I can't even keep you safe from the enemy" Lou said in a sad tone, he put more pressure on the wound hoping help was on its way. However time wasn't on their side, as the house went up in flames.
Mira and Edana watched with smiles as the house burned in front of them.
"Lou…please…"
"Zane, what is it?"
"Neuro…the earth…lurcher…"
"Zane, you're not making any sense? No! Stay with me! Don't you dare shut your eyes! Zane! Keep your eyes open! Cole will kill me!" Lou cried out, he looked all around only to see smoke, with strength he found inwardly. He picked Zane up in a bridal carry and threw his body through the window, protecting Zane's from the glass.
Laughter from the side alerted him to the two enemies who stalked in their direction ready to end them when five roars of dragon anger had Mira and Edana vanishing. Lou gasped seeing the five ninja, who landed not far from them. Nya tried to put the flames out with Kai helping, leaving Cole, Lloyd and Jay to help Lou.
The older man turned to Cole only for the earth master to wrap his arms around Zane to heal him while Lou explained what had happened. Cole never voiced his opinion but his body did. Lou felt useless, his son didn't trust him. He looked off to the side avoiding the gaze of the others as he said the words Zane asked him to pass on, "Zane informed me to pass on, Neuro-the earth-Lurcher. I hope you know what that means" Lou spoke in a sad tone.
"Not got a clue but hopefully Morro knows" Jay pointed upwards to Morro's elemental dragon which landed and a furious father appeared only to kneel beside Cole and Lou. The two remained impassive watching as Morro checked over his unconscious son.
"Angelica said she would take him to heal but first…" Morro turned on a figure who lurked in the shadows.
Lloyd and Jay shared a look, Nya with Kai had finally joined them.
"Shade, I need you to pass a message onto Neuro" Morro spoke in a cold tone, Shade appeared much to the surprise of the others. He was dressed a little darker wearing a hood over his head.
"Go on" Shade bitterly said, keeping up his impassive look. Cole nodded at him, fully understanding what Shade was going through as he himself had gone through it in the past two Ninjago years.
"Tell Neuro to pass the lurcher to the earth kingdom when Kane sends it through to those above" Morro snapped, Shade could only raise an eyebrow vanishing into a mist made out of shadows. The message clearly had been passed on as a portal opened and Bullet appeared, the hellhound in its dog form. Morro patted it's head as Angelica appeared, her wings on full show as she took Zane off Morro, allowing Cole to kiss him goodbye for now before she and Bullet vanished through the now closed portal.
"What now?"
"Now, we take back our city" Morro said, creating his elemental dragon and flying back the way he came. The ninja were quick to follow with the exception of Cole who kneeled down in front of his father.
"Thank you for keeping him safe. I want to introduce you to your grandchildren after this so don't go dying on me, I love you dad"
Lou was in absolute shock at Cole who helped him to his feet.
"I would be honoured, I love you son. Defeat this evil and we will see each other very soon" Lou said, watching Cole climb on his guardian before taking off into the skies. A smile settled on his face, unaware of the dangers about to cause mayhem very soon.
Elsewhere…
Kane collapsed for not only the first time but third. Somehow, the overlord had breached the gates of hell, heaven and some of the god realms. The devil inside of him had come out four times to shield the home of the creatures of hell.
"Father!"
Casey's cry didn't go unnoticed, she was watching from Gales safe bubble in a realm unknown to them all. She watched him fall again. Gale only pulled her close knowing the devil wasn't only protecting hell but the storm and Ninjago realm too.
Kane grimaced when another attack made the shields shake. He glowed red as he sealed the place off just as a portal opened and Angelica fell out of it with an unconscious brother in her arms.
"Angelica! What have I told you about mortals…Zane?"
"Father, he was stabbed by a pure dagger. Mira took a strand of hair, a feather and some blood. Gale suspects the Overlord has almost everything. I faked to dad that you would be able to help Zane but I didn't know what to do" Angelica exclaimed holding Zane close and away from the hell grounds. Kane frowned, switching forms to his original self, he took Zane off Angelica giving her a chance to stand up properly.
"Okay, I can't do anything in Hell for him but we both know a siren who should be able to help. If I open a portal, can you get him to Neuro"
Angelica nodded, absolutely exhausted.
"He will be underwater, so be careful. All you have to do is reunite Arlo with Zane" Kane gasped out, pressing a hand to Zane's head making a mask appear on the angel's face.
Angelica nodded, accepting her own breathable mask as she took her baby brother into her arms. The portal opened, she went to leave when Kane wrapped an arm around her.
"Do not return here, not until it's safe. I'm not risking losing anymore kids and that includes you, Zane, Casey and Neuro. So remind everyone, even your stubborn dad that no one can return until I save this place" Kane said in his protective tone. Angelica could only nod kissing his cheek, she dived into the water as the portal closed. She felt the warmth behind her knowing her father had released the Devil out of hiding. The overlord had no idea what he was going up against.
Angelica swam, holding her brother close to her until her body gave in to exhaustion. She thought it was the end when two figures swam towards her, separating the two siblings. She fought back, catching one of the two figures in the face only for total darkness to take over her vision.
Stay Tuned for more chapters on the way very soon! :-)