kai
Bedrest sucked.
Also, being stabbed sucked.
"Water, Smith?' Offered a glowering man who went by the name Joker. He openly hated Kai, but it was okay because he hated pretty much every teenager who was in the medwing right now.
"Thanks," Kai rasped, wincing as he slowly moved himself up to a sitting position. "How is everyone else doing?"
"Your girlfriend Skylor—"
"She's not my girlfriend."
"—your friend Skylor should be walking about by today. Nearly a week since they went...you know, but Obi's the one who really monitors elemental healing." Joker placed a plate with an omelette and some salad on his overbed table along with a cup of water. "Cole and Zane should be up at the same time as your friend, but Jay and Nya are still having their lungs looked at. Lloyd is already running around." Joker shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "Your dad, um, should be finished healing about the same time as you."
"So three weeks?"
"Bloody elemental healing, yes, three weeks Smith. Have a somewhat reasonable day."
"Thanks, I guess." Kai muttered, and began eating slowly. He swore as his pinkie lit itself on fire and it caught onto the edge of his napkin. He pushed the overbed table to the side and leant back in the pillows. Kai kept his gaze straight ahead for the door. Waiting for someone to come in.
Who he was waiting for was a good question.
It was frustrating being stuck in bed when he was itching to get outside and do anything. His injury wasn't fatal, but it had punctured his liver and he bled. A lot. His friends hadn't come by at all, Lloyd once or twice, but they were mostly confined to their own beds. Kai stared up at the ceiling morosely. These days, all alone, his thoughts were turning guilty quickly. He felt somewhat bad of the quick assumptions he'd made that had turned out to be wrong.
Still, he wanted revenge.
He wanted to see Harumi scream for what she'd done.
None of his friends even remotely liked her in the slightest, he was sure of that.
So no one would be sad. No one would mourn her, because Harumi had nothing to lose. Nothing she cared about. She was an artificial image, stone cold and relentless. If she had a weakness, Kai would find it.
nya
"Cafeteria?" Nya asked, hopping up from her chair and ignoring the soreness all over her body. Jay nodded and they set off quietly, her hand in his as they walked.
"Two bowls of tomato soup please. Oh, and bread." Jay said hoarsely, his voice still shaky. More so than hers. They collected their food and sat down at a table, wolfing down the food along with the side of bread. Nya flexed her fingers before she picked up her cup of water, determined not to have it swirl out of her reach.
Their elemental powers had done a 180 on them, from going to absolutely nothing at all to everything at once. Garmadon said it was because it had been bottled up inside of them for such a long time that it was boiling over. Anytime she touched or went near water it either sloshed away or towards her eagerly and it was getting annoying. Mostly because she was trying to ignore her powers after she saw the aftermath of the last battle.
Skylor, Jay and Nya's combined efforts with the water-lightning tactic had trashed the city in a soaking, electrocuted mess for over a week. The tripled power behind the shockwaves had nearly cleaved a building clean in half. But Wu was already fixing this, spry to contain the damage and have Ninjao return to his picturesque image as soon as possible.
She'd drowned people.
Nya felt it when she was taken over by that greedy surge of anger that flushed out all of her feelings into a torrent of rage that pummelled the city, the lost souls that collapsed to her power.
It felt good to release that energy, but she hated herself for it as well.
She knew Jay struggled with this too, that they'd both succumbed to the power and rendered many people numb for many days.
But they'd won, and in some messed up sense, Nya was willing to take whatever they got.
With her mother in Wu's clawed hands, anything, even if it reeked of death, seemed like somber victory.
cole
"Damn it!" He hissed, tumbling off the stack of stones. Stretching again, he attempted to cross his legs on there and stay balanced atop a stone. This time he managed to keep the position for nearly thirty seconds before he face planted into the training mats.
He groaned and rolled onto his back, heaving a deep breath.
Inner balance is just as important as your outer, Cole.
"I know, dad." Cole muttered to himself as he got to his feet to stare at the rocks. "Where are you?"
The inner, admonishing voice that was his father's reprimanding tone said nothing. It only conjured up what his brain thought his father would say, and in this case, there was clearly nothing to say. Cole packed up the training gear and then grabbed his climbing stuff, heading for the deep caves within the catacombs of the SOG base. It was nowhere near as good as climbing up high with fresh air and dizzy, gleeful heights, but it gave him a sense of calm.
He brushed off his hands, dropped his singlet to the ground and then coated his fingers in chalk before starting the bouldering piece in front of him. He hovered from time to time, trying to find a better hold on a crappy overhang and eventually found a slight crack he could dig his toes into. His sweaty hair fell into his eyes as he groaned and then stretched in a ridiculous split to reach his next point.
"Cole!"
"Fuck!" His fingers lost their grip and he fell onto his side with another curse. Getting to his feet, he spotted a SOG member standing by the natural arch entrance.
"Reaper wants everyone in the training room now." They said, and then walked off in the opposite direction to where he thought was the room. It was a crazy maze of rooms that served as their underground base and Cole's brain was already struggling to think properly these days.
"I'll be there," he sighed to no one. "As always."
lloyd
Love was a stupid concept invented by humans to fufill an empty hole their heart, Lloyd had decided.
And he had been all for that stupid concept which had filled his heart and made him feel safe and loved.
Except Rumi had been the one to fill the hole and then she'd taken a shovel, beaten, dug up and spat on the hole in heart.
"Is everyone here?" Astra said, sliding a huge pyramid of stacked macarons in the centre of the table. "Enjoy my lack of sleep."
Although Lloyd wasn't sure what his terms were with her right now, the macarons looked unfairly good and he leant forwards to swipe one and nibble on the pale green dessert.
Astra stretched like a cat from her lazy position with her legs flopped on the Kade kid's lap and looked to the people around the table. Skylor, Nya, Jay, Cole, Zane, Pixal, his father and her sister. Troya, or Destroyer as they called her. The one Harumi had laughed about in her first speech, judging by the way she stiffly held herself inside her cocoon of bandages.
"Questions, queries?" She yawned, watching everyone eat with eagle eyes.
"What?" Nya asked in total confusion.
"We're having a Q&A. I know there's a lot of unsaid shit that's gone on and we need to clarify some stuff." Astra coughed inconspicuously and then looked to Cole who had cleared his throat loudly.
"Were the Sons of Garmadon behind any of the murders?"
"Nope," Astra replied cheerily, popping the 'p'. "All up to Wu."
"Who was Vance Spirdon, really? Wu said he was a double agent for us which is why I didn't suspect Wu behind this. Why would he kill his own spy?" Pixal mused.
Destroyer spoke up instead of Astra. "His name was Riptide, he was sort of a triple agent. He met Wu a few years back working in the guy's old tea shop but we don't know the rest. He was sent to babysit Astra at school posing as the replacement history teacher but that didn't go so well."
"How did Wu get our parents?" Skylor raised a brow. "And where's Ryu?"
"We don't know about Chen or Borg, but we were en route back with the Smiths when Maya ran off. She tried to take Ray with her but...yeah. Ryu's with our hounds. They're all very protective of the runt." Troya replied again. "We're looking for Chris and Evan Julien, Misako Garmadon as well as Lou Brookstone since you guys have made requests, but we didn't know if you just wanted to leave your, ahem, parents out of this, Walker."
Jay frowned to himself. "Ask them, I think. It's their choice since either way will endanger them because of me."
"Are we going to keep using our elemental powers?" Nya asked, her voice raspy as it usually was now.
Astra scoffed. "Of course. The only weapon we have against Wu right now is fear, and they fear elementals. So we use it, but we use it wisely. The shockers are a thing of the past, don't worry."
Astra's expression betrayed her though, when she flinched and her hands were momentarily cased in a purple glow. No one spoke about the moment when they thought Kade and Astra were about to die. They didn't need to, but they didn't want to either. It didn't help either that neither Kade or Astra knew how they'd survived a direct hit from Blast Sap and it had scarred them both.
There was silence as they contemplated this. Lloyd didn't really care since his powers had been less effective in battle than his messy strokes with his sabre. He knew the others hated the shocks that short circuited the powers that had 'won' them the final battle since it was painful and their elements, as his father had said, were boiling over from being stuffed up.
Except his. All Lloyd could do was make green balls that floated and were essentially anesthesia.
Nya took a long gulp of water and a macaron before she spoke again. "Were you the one outside the monastery window?"
Troya nodded simply. "We had to get the ball rolling. We needed you to be suspicious of something, at least. The Lord could sense something was up with Wu so I was sent to watch. You didn't see me after, did you?" Her last comment was almost proud, and if her face was uncovered from the mummy bandages, a smirk surely would have been there.
"I didn't see you after that, no."
Astra gave a macaron to Kade. "I'll go. Why was your brother trying to kill my sister?"
Nya considered the question and Lloyd let her take it. "We saw who we thought was your sister following me. Harumi tried to kill me once, and she followed us plenty of times and we got sick of it. The turning point was when she stabbed my father, and Kai...Kai hasn't got such a good grasp on his anger. He used to take it out in school fights but, you know."
"I uh, have a confession to make." Troya coughed into her hand discreetly. "Some of the time I was actually following you guys."
"Makes sense," Astra shrugged. "You always told me you were off to scout some siblings. Didn't think it was actually them, and half the time I saw you following me." She pointed a snapped piece of dessert at her sister. "You need to get better at that. I nearly beat your score in stealth. Thorn told me."
"Astra, did Garmadon ever tell you exactly where you got your powers from?"
"Answer the question, Cass."
"I...was following a pair of siblings." Troya repeated again, albeit more hesitantly and Lloyd sat forward in his chair.
"I was actually following you, Astra. And Lloyd. Because, you're, uh, twins."
astra
Her mind was nauseous with the conversation that had taken place just ten minutes prior, and Astra had made the semi truthful excuse of apologising to Kai Smith in the medwing.
Astra cleared her throat. "So. How do you feel?"
"Like I got stabbed." Kai narrowed his eyes accusingly.
Astra shrugged. "Your fault for trying to kill my sister."
"I told you already, I thought she was the one who tried to kill my father."
"I'm sorry, do you want me to get you a prescription for some glasses?"
"Fuck off, Harlow."
"I'm not apologising for something that isn't my fault."
"Then I'm not apologising for burning her."
Astra looked at him, at the burning anger in his glower. "Be glad she knew who you were. They don't call her Destroyer for nothing."
Kai was a strange person, she decided. A strange person with a suicidal hero complex. She'd had enough of this conversation already and she needed to go yell at her..at Cassie. She was halfway to the door when Kai spoke.
"You do know that you're not a hero, right?" Kai hissed in a last ditch attempt.
She laughed, pitying the sadistic glare in his eyes.
"Moral of the story, Smith. There are no heroes. Only villains in the making."
The End