Last time on TIWTW: Zane goes missing. Somehow, finding him only makes everything worse.
Yeah it's been half a year since I uploaded, what of it? We're getting towards the juiciest part of the fic - what all of this buildup has been for. I'm so excited and I hope you guys are too :3
That is Where They Wait, as of this year, is officially 10 years old! If you read Helpless or Snow White Queen, please celebrate TIWTW's birthday with me by reading and leaving a comment! First time you're hearing of this fic? I'd appreciate you stopping by and letting me know what you think! š
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Last time on TIWTW: The spirit comes in to finish what it started with Cole and Jay the night before. The group does their best to hold out, but things are looking grim.
Last pre-written chapter up! I'm on my own with writing and outlining at this point haha. Reader and friend feedback has been so vital to making me want to continue, so please check it out and comment if you can! We've got horror, we've got time magic shenanigans, we've got character angst, we've got color-coded silly dorks, we've got Jayngst on the horizon, we've got war and cycles of trauma and parallels ...?
If you've read Snow White Queen or Helpless and liked what you read, please consider reading and leaving your thoughts!
[so funny story I actually posted this on FFN and ao3 forever ago but not here. oops. but posting here is a hassle, in my defense. hope everyone is doing okay? also check the notes for some Haha Funny Jokes because I don't want to add them to the. actual post.]
Perhaps the way to answer the present is with the past.
The metal of the hinge was cool under his finger, intricate design branching onto the actual door. It should've been smooth, but instead it was rough and red.
Rust.
Kai frowned. Rusty metal was usually brittle ā but the door hadn't come down, even when he and Karlof rammed into it repeatedly. That plan of ripping at its hinges and hoping it came down was starting to look flimsy.
Ech. Well, they had to keep trying and hope for the best. It wasn't like they could stay in the small, dark room much longer. Kai had cobbled together a makeshift flame with pieces of rope and cloth from his gi, but it would definitely not last much longer.
Plus, he was getting really antsy, and it'd be just plain stupid to be so isolated when they weren't safe. When he'd asked about Lloyd and found out he was, in fact, both inside the mansion and unaccounted for, he had been about ready to knock Karlof's helmet off of his head.
ā¦ In hindsight, maybe he'd been a little forceful.
But hey, in return, he'd informed Karlof about everything they knew on the mansion and the spirit so far. So he didn't feel too bad about it.
"Psst." He went over to where he'd left Karlof and poked. "We gotta go."
No response.
Ohhhh,Ā perfect. The guy had to go and fall asleep on him. They'd already spent so much time staying put! He was itching to get moving again, and Lloyd and Skylor were still out there, who knew where! Not to mention, if the others woke up and noticed him missing ā¦ (It occurred to him, a little belatedly, that they might blame Jay for that. Another twinge of guilt. But he could apologize for that when they went back.)
But it had been an exhausting trek just to get here. Karlof had endured that, and no sleep to recharge afterwards ā¦
Kai sighed, seating himself next to him. Yeah, they weren't going anywhere until Karlof finished his beauty sleep. But then there came the issue of having nothing to distract himself with. Already he could justĀ feelĀ himself tiredly debating whether to indulge the pessimistic trains of thought forming in his head in all their bleak glory.
Abruptly, something slammed against him. Okay, so it didn'tĀ slamĀ into him, but it definitely felt that way, becauseĀ oof!Ā It was heavy. Kai squirmed briefly, but a moment later, he realized he shouldn't even bother. Instead, he hissed an irritated puff of air through his teeth and tried to pull an overly-cuddly Karlof off of him. Why in the name of the First Spinjitzu Master was heā
An exposed part of his bandaged arm made contact with Karlof's for a second, before Kai drew it away and grimaced at how cold it was.
ā¦ Oh.
The way Karlof's arm was draped on him, Kai couldn't reach his face with his hand. He settled for a drawn-out groan instead. Just because he was the human toaster ā¦ and now he couldn't move!
Oh well. If nothing else, he could totally hold it over Karlof's head later. Blackmail material or something. But what was he supposed to do now?
Kai tried to debate the point a little longer, but as it turned out, he was pretty tired. Too tired to properly argue with himself, and before he could, he'd already fallen asleep.
The tiny flame winked out and left the room engulfed in black.
Lloyd wrapped up a summary of the search he'd just gotten back from.
Considering that depressingly little had changed since the last time they'd looked, it didn't take very long. The ever-encroaching cocktail of panic and despair clawed at his guts and his chest, made his throat tight, and he could feel it radiating off of Jay and Cole near him, optimistic as they tried to remain. At least Skylor had gotten some work in on fixing her bow while they'd been gone, although she hopefully wouldn't be needing it anytime soon.
The light trickling from the windows had become thin, silvery moonlight and long, fragmented shadows streaking across the floor and cutting into each other. Cole glanced at everyone in the room and declared that it was probably about time they slept; both searches had taken quite a while, even with how much of the mansion was still closed off to them. It didn't seem likely that much more would happen that day.
Zane took in everything they said solemnly, then pulled something out from beside him.
"It's disheartening to know that the two of them are still missing. But perhaps I can offer something else to think about before we rest for tonight?"
On closer inspection, it appeared to be a faded eggplant-colored satchel.
"I found this on the mantle while you were investigating in the tunnels. I didn't want to look through it without you ā¦"
"Can I?" Lloyd reached out, opening the bag and peering into it for a moment. Then, as the rest of them watched, he stuck his hand in and, one by one, set its contents onto the floor for better examination.
On the carpet, there currently sat a small black inkwell, a quill stand, a bound book, a faded set of folded purple clothes, an assortment of large and small weapons, and a few loose pieces of parchment with writing on them. Maybe it all belonged to the person that owned the place, ages ago?
Evidently, they were all wondering a similar thing.
Lloyd set aside the empty bag and stared at the various items he'd placed down. "Hm. They were carrying weapons ā¦"
"Whose stuff is all this?" Skylor finally voiced the question.
"It likely dates back to the Serpentine war," Zane said. "The antiquity of all the items would fit."
"Well, then, we should find out, shouldn't we?" Jay grabbed the book, slowly teasing open the binding and riffling through the pages. Lloyd caught a glimpse of inky letters over paper lightly yellowed with time; all things considered, it was pretty well-preserved.
"Careful, Jay, that looks heavy. Wouldn't wanna pull a muscle lifting that thing." Cole's mouth twitched up in a smirk, Jay briefly peering over the book with narrow eyes.
"ā¦ I mishandle an empty packing crateĀ one time."
"Yeah, well," Lloyd huffed. "You nearly dropped it right on my foot. I still get splinters from that crate when I'm not watching my step."
"Thanks, Lloyd!" Jay looked supremely offended. "I didn't ask!" Still a little sullen from the disappointing results of the day, Lloyd didn't bother sassing him back. He scoffed when he noticed Jay looking helplessly at Zane ā they all knew full well that never worked, so when the nindroid minutely shook his head there was hardly any surprise.
"Silly zaptrap," Cole shook his head andĀ tsked.Ā "Once is all it takes on this team. You of all people should know better."
JayĀ hmphed and nearly went back to skimming the book he'd picked up, but his head popped up curiously when Skylor spoke.
"Isn't it kind of late? If we're going to look at anything, maybe we should read one of the loose sheets instead. I feel like trying to get into something that long when we need to sleep isn't the best idea. I want to stay in-the-know, but I'm not sure how much longer I can pay attention toĀ anythingĀ right now ā¦" She shrugged, looking a little self-conscious. "Sorry."
Oh, right. It was usually Lloyd's job to be one of the voices of reason.
Looking around, he was certain that last sentence didn't pertain to just Skylor, though. The banter was being tossed rather lazily and there was a sluggishness to everyone's movements, even Zane's. As for himself, the temptation to just plonk onto the next piece of bedding he picked up while cleaning up the aftermath of the pillow-and-assorted-accessories fight and sleep on it right there had been overwhelming.
"It's quite alright," Zane reassured her. "You have a point, at that. Perhaps something like this would suffice for tonight?" He held up a messily rolled piece of paper, and pulled it open. Lloyd eyed it and nodded; seemed interesting enough. Most likely, they could learn a thing or two, discuss, and then go to bed without too much further ado.
"Looks good to me," Cole said. "Let's see about this person, then."
Zane's eyes fell to the paper for a few seconds before freezing, glowing ever so faintly brighter, and doing a funny skip between Lloyd and the paper before settling back on the paper. Lloyd frowned, unsure he liked the new furrow in Zane's brow.
"What is it, buddy?"
Zane coughed awkwardly. Amazing how even nindroids did that when they were nervous.
"This appears to be a letter addressed to Garmadon."
Lloyd's eyes widened, breath hitching. Abruptly his heart felt less like it was beating and more like it was trying to break itself out of his chest.
Dad.
It had been, safe to say, a little while since he'd thought about his father. The same father he'd gone through hell and back to finally have by his side, only to banish and then drown for good.
He'd kept himself good and busy, helping the team move base to the abandoned Temple of Airjitzu. Warded off the lingering pain fromĀ remembering,Ā during the Day of the Departed, pretty well with dusting and heavy lifting and organizing what needed to be packed.
Lloyd had always done his best to draw strength from his father's memory. Like he'd told his mother during Day of the Departed: "Sometimes it feels like he's still with me."
It sure didn't feel like he was with Lloyd now.
"Lloyd?"
He blinked.
"Lloyd, you good?"
He looked over. Cole and the others were all watching him with concern, trying to gauge his reaction.
Quietly, he took a deep breath. He was supposed to have gotten past this. It wasn'tĀ supposedĀ to still sting so much when he'd moved onto something healthier, more bittersweet than the more raw, consuming pain he'd known for a while.
Maybe the mansion's atmosphere was digging deeper than he'd thought, ripping open old wounds on top of slashing new ones.
"Yeah." Then, to ensure they couldn't press him about it, "Are you sure, Zane? Lemme see." Zane obliged, handing him the letter. Lloyd took it and held it up to the firelight, careful not to wrinkle the aged parchment, and skimmed it silently, feeling everyone's eyes still on him.
Having caught his reaction to Garmadon's name, they were probably a little surprised when heĀ chuckled.
"What is it?" Skylor tilted her head. "What did they say?"
"It's just the first paragraph. Listen to this!" Clearing his throat, all too glad to focus on the letter, he read it, the ninja going from attentive listening to confused snickering as he did.
"MyĀ dearest friend,Ā Garmadon, it seems fitting to start with the most important subject hereāthanks a lot for letting me blunder into that whole mess, you absolute withered honeysuckle. I was delayed two whole days trying to firstly explain how IĀ accidentally deposed a chieftess, and then restore some semblance of normalcy to the village. I don't," Lloyd had to catch his breath, barely managing to stop snickering long enough to finish the sentence, "I don't even know why we're still friends."
"What in the world is thisĀ talkingĀ about?" Cole wheezed.
"Absolute withered honeysuckle,"Ā Jay mimicked, cracking up himself.
"Well. They were friends, we've learned that much," Skylor stated, desperately trying to regain a straight face.
"Absolute chums, from the sound of it. Just the best of buddies. Like you and me, huh, Cole?"
"If this whole 'accidentally deposed a chieftess' stuff is anything to go by," Cole said, still laughing, "they wereĀ even better."
"I wonder what they got up to if this was forty years ago." Zane set about tidying up the remaining letters and the bound book earlier held by Jay, probably figuring he might as well get it over with while they were all distracted. "Or who this was, to be so evidently close to Garmadon."
"Uh, am I the only one wondering what a honeysuckle is?"
Metaphorical crickets, much to Jay's chagrin.
"Just me? Okay."
A sigh. "They're flowers, Jay."
As the room got quiet enough to hear the crackling fireplace again, Lloyd went back to skimming the letter. The little smile that had lingered on his face fell flat again as he took in the words.
"What's the holdup?" Jay complained after a moment.
"Honestly, with the way this is written, if I read it verbatim you'd probably fall asleep," Lloyd muttered over the page. "Shut up and let me summarize."
"I ā¦ okay."
Lloyd squinted at the words. "This is an awful lot to take in. What's a ā¦ Shhh ā¦ Shuuuuravansha?"
"AĀ what?"Ā A confused chorus met his ears; evidently the rest of the room only knew about as much as he did.
"Maybe the word comes from the local language," Cole suggested. "I did hear a lot of the villagers speaking something I didn't recognize."
"Probably. Zane, you wouldn't happen to have that language in your databases or anything, would you?" Jay asked.
"I'm afraid not," Zane said apologetically. "What is the rest of the sentence, Lloyd? Perhaps the proper context will make it easier to guess."
"'I spoke with the Shuravansha and revised the contingency plans based on the information I got from them, as well as reports from you and our spies on the Serpentine's movement.'Ā How do you evenĀ sayĀ that?"
"I guess the jury stays out on that one," Cole replied. "But I don't think that's a person. It says 'theĀ Shuravansha'. I don't call Jay 'theĀ Jay'; it'd be weird."
"So a group of some sort?" Jay suggested. "The word 'the' implies more than one."
"But it could be a title," Skylor pointed out. "Like 'the chief' or 'the sensei'."
"Either way, it reveals little about the nature of this Shuravansha," Zane said. "All that sentence gave us is that they had information about the Serpentine relevant to the author of this letter."
"Whatever it is, it's probably important," Lloyd muttered, rubbing his eyes and going back to the letter. "But maybe we'll find more clues about them later."
"Then we should remember it," Skylor muttered. "How do you spell that?"
He spelled it out and kept reading. The room went back to quiet anticipation, until Lloyd sputtered, squinted at something on the page, then looked up at them.
"What theĀ heck,Ā Cole?"
"Huh?" All eyes were now on a flabbergasted Cole. "Wh-what'd I do?!"
"I, it's notĀ you,Ā it's just ā since when was the last master of earth a traitor?"
"Whoa whoa whoa,Ā what?"Ā Jay piped up. "That's kinda a heavy accusation to just bandy around!"
"What is this coming from, Lloyd?" Zane asked.
"It literally says right there, 'Earth went traitor on us'!Ā There's only one way to read that!"
Skylor was scribbling like mad.
"Whaāwell, don't look at me!" Cole said. "I don't know anything about this!"
"Maybe that's not all there is to it." It was difficult to see Skylor's eyes behind the shades. "My father turned the Anacondrai and the other tribes against humans to start the whole war in the first place. Then he turned the elemental masters against themselves."
"Maybe that was the case here too. Is there anything else about the master of earth, Lloyd?" Zane spoke up.
"Full sentence is 'The Constrictai among them can burrow, and ever since Earth, the weasel, went traitor on us, we lost our best protection against that tactic.'Ā So they're really still talking about the Serpentine."
"Hmm."
"Mmmaybe we should go back to the rest of the letter?" Jay said tentatively.
"I dunno. I kinda wanna hear about this." Cole curiously poked his head closer, wanting to get a look at the letter. Lloyd drew back and immediately felt bad when Cole regarded him a moment before scooting back, hiding a yawn behind his hand.
Right. It was late.
"I mean, there isn't anything else in the letter about them ā¦ just the one sentence."
"Fine. What's the rest of it say, then? We really don't have the rest of the night here."
He had a point. Lloyd was pretty ready to be done with the letter and get some rest, by now.
"Wait a sec," Jay said. "'Went traitor onĀ us.' Who's 'us'?"
"Oh." Cole's eyes widened. "Oh my god, you actually have a point. Yeah, that sounds an awful lot like ā¦ they called him 'Earth', not his name."
"How do you know that's not his name? Maybe his mom had a weird taste in names."
"... I'm pretty sure that wasn't his name, Jay."
"The word 'us' does seem to suggest camaraderie," Zane mused. "Given that and their knowledge of elemental power, perhaps they were acquainted with the elemental masters, or worked alongside them in some manner."
"That makes sense," Lloyd agreed, not looking up from the paper he held. "Or maybe they evenĀ wereĀ a master!"
"There's nothing to confirm it yet ā¦" Skylor pointed out. "I'll just write down that they probably knew about the elemental masters. I think that's a safe conclusion."
"Fair enough," Zane said. "I think we should hear the rest of the letter now, before it gets much later. Lloyd?"
"Okay, so. Basically, my dad sent this person, whoever they are, info about Serpentine movement in the area. There were more loose gangs causing trouble than anything, they were just harder to predict because they weren't associated with the Anacondrai commanders. But according to them, the Southern Woodlands were in too strategic a location to riskā"
"Southern Woodlands?" Jay interrupted.
"That's probably what this forest is called. The villagers called it that on our way here."
"Yeah, I think I remember hearing that from someone," Cole said.
"Anyway. Like I was saying." Lloyd coughed pointedly and continued. "The Woodlands were too risky to leave unprotected because the thick plant life would give the Serpentine a naturally-sheltered base to recover and hide in. And they didn't have a lot of time left because ā¦ wait." The loopy handwriting in thick black ink cut off abruptly near the middle of the page, the last sentence never to be finished. "It just cuts off mid-sentence."
"Why did I ever think I'd have an easy time of this." Skylor sounded disappointed. "There wouldn't happen to be a name or anything at the bottom, would there?"
Lloyd shook his head. Of course there wasn't; that'd be too easy for them, now, wouldn't it?
"So why didn't they have time, exactly?" Jay said.
"An abrupt end of that nature would suggest some kind of interruption, would it not?" Zane said. "They never had the chance to finish writing this letter."
"If this is from the same era as everything else we've been seeing, then there was aĀ warĀ on. I imagine that'd do it," Cole said.
"Okay, but there's no signs of a fight in this room," Jay pointed out.
"... Ah. That is. Also true."
If he were a little less tired, Lloyd would've chuckled at Cole being caught off-guard without even a witty defense.
"I wonder what they were expecting not to have a lot of time for ā¦" Lloyd wondered. "There's no signs of a fight here, but it's super messy everywhere else, especially downstairs. Maybe something happened there."
"And maybe it's related to the spirit." Cole ran a hand through his thick, messy hair, eyes dark. "There's no way something like that came out of nowhere."
"Given what we know, it is still impossible to gauge exactly what took place in this mansion," Zane said. "It does seem likely that the Serpentine activity this person mentioned had something to do with it, though. The only way to know for sure would be to find more information"
"So we don't know that, either," Jay muttered. "Write that down as a solid 'maybe', I guess."
Skylor nodded. "Anything else I should put down?"
Lloyd shook his head, and Skylor gratefully flipped the notepad closed and set it aside. Her words had actually begun to slur together with tiredness, so even if there were, he wasn't about to put her through writing it.
"Well, if that's all, then." Cole yawned, again. "Let's call it a day. How long's it been?"
"My internal clock is completely frozen," Zane sighed. "And PIXAL says she can't start it up without any connection to the outside world. But according to my timer, it's been approximately 15 hours since Jay woke me and Cole up to inform us Kai was missing."
Yep. Definitely time to wind down.
The mood dipped briefly at the mention of Kai, but Cole determinedly moved on to the topic of keeping watch, and whether they should do it tonight.
Eventually they decided that it definitely needed to stay, but split it up into two equal shifts. Two of them weren't even options to be considered. Lloyd offered to take shift, but given that he'd gotten out of a tough scrape with the spirit earlier and gone on both search expeditions, everyone else refused to let him, arguing he needed the rest. That left just Cole and Jay, but Cole, having gone through the mansion both times, was tired too. Jay would have to keep watch first.
Then came sleeping arrangements, which also worked themselves out quickly enough. Zane, for whatever reason, stayed in a corner to recharge, Skylor was on one bed, and whoever wasn't on shift would be sharing a bed with Lloyd.
"Alright, Jay, don't do anything stupid this time," Cole ribbed Jay, who was shifting around burnt kindling and trying to keep the little bit of fire left alive.
Jay stuck his tongue out.
"You have sooo much faith in me. Come on, I've learned my lesson here."
"Your timer's working, right? Make sure to wake me in ā¦ four hours?"
"Four and a half," Jay corrected him. "And yeah, I will."
"Cool. Night." And with that, Cole left him to his current task: striking a match onto a pile of kindling and hoping for a fire big enough to last.
Soon enough, everyone had bid each other goodnight and settled down.
Lloyd pulled his blanket a little closer to himself, still feeling a residual chill seep into his bones. With nothing to keep preoccupied with, ugly thoughts about the mansion, the horrors of its obscure history, their current conditions, his own utter incompetence, the way he'd just let Karlof get lost,Ā KaiĀ came creeping in far too readily. He tried to push them away.
Not now. Couldn't think about all of those things now or he'd never rest. Even tired, falling asleep was a challenge with sore limbs and unceasing nerves scratching away at him and a bitter resentment towards it all beginning to sink into his bones.
Lloyd closed his eyes regardless, trying to empty his mind. He could faintly hear Jay's breathing under the familiar crackle of the flames that were only too reminiscent of their missing piece.
That is Where They Wait Ch 13: This is Why Jayās Not Group Leader
previous / next
all chapters
AO3
FFN
[HAHA 13th CHAPTER ON HALLOWEEN, Iām a GENIUS. jk Iām just dead, sorry everyone, happy Halloween. hugs and kisses to the 5 (five) people that still give a damn about this fic]
resĀ·pite | /ĖrespÉt,rÄĖspÄ«t/ | noun | 1. a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.Ā
The shadows created by his tiny flame cut stark figures on the walls, the floor, and both their faces. They were far too sharp to be natural, too unsettling to be ignored. Kai was getting sick of the agitation thrumming under his skin.
This room they'd found was nice and all, especially considering the door had a lock, but they couldn't stand around and wait for safety forever. The longer they stayed put, the longer they risked getting well and truly lost. And seeing how Karlof had been lost when Kai'd found him cornered by the spirit, that was definitely a risk.
Kai twisted the knob and pulled.
The door stayed put.
Frowning, he tried again. And again, tugging more harshly. Still nothing.
They'd just gotten themselves lockedĀ insideĀ the room. Did it lock from the outside or something?!
Frustrated when persistently pulling at the door did nothing, Kai yelled and punched it as hard as he could. A moment later, hissing and rubbing his knuckles, he realized that was a mistake.
"Let Karlof try," the other man said, buckling up to attack and slamming the door with all the force he had. Both of his gauntlets hit the wood with an impressive, booming 'thud', but the door held. Kai squinted ā were there even any cracks on the thing?
"Uhh ā¦ do it again," he suggested hurriedly. "Maybe if you keep at it, it'll start to crack."
And Karlof did take a few more spirited swings at the door standing in their way. No good; somehow the door was still in one piece. Not even anything other than hairline cracked. (JustĀ howĀ did a stinking door manage to be stronger in the face of Karlof's punches than him, anyway? Ouch, his ego.)
"Doesn't make sense! How is door not broken already?" Karlof asked, absolutely dumbfounded.
"Great question! Wish I knew." Petulantly, he threw his leg back and kicked. Unsurprisingly, it did nothing, and he was left glowering at the door as his toe throbbed briefly. The last bit of the flame in his hand winked out as he lost his focus, and he had to generate a new one. (Blast their weakened powers.)
Okay, so this was an exasperating turn of events. But hey, they could find another way out. Kai's free hand flew to his chin as he thought about it. Maybe they didn't have to break the door ā¦
"Hey, Karlof. Maybe if you use your metal powers to rip off the hinges. You think we could get the door off that way?"
Karlof just stared at him for a second.
"Karlof don't particularlyĀ care."
Hold on, what.
"Walked all day just to get to stupid mansion, then ran around forever just to get away from ugly monster. All Karlof want right now is someĀ rest."
"Tell me you're joking," Kai hissed. "We can rest once we get back to where we were! Unless you wanna be wandering around lost."
"Breaking down door takes energy. Karlof don'tĀ haveĀ energy right now. Plus, if we can't go out, monster can't come in," Karlof pointed out.
He had a point. Kai remembered what the others had said about the magic surrounding everything. It leeched their energy, didn't it? Karlof looked pretty wiped. He was loathe to stay away from the others any longer than necessary, and he hated how everything about this place felt, but it'd be just mean to deny the guy a chance to rest. He liked to think he wasn't that much of a jerk.
Karlof grimaced after a moment. "Also ā¦ maybe pulled leg muscle while running. Don't know for sure."
"Oh, and of course you save that for last," Kai groaned. "Okay, fine. We'll stay in here a while. You're just lucky the door's locked."
"What I wouldn't give for a working camera right now, to capture the look on your face." Cole shook his head and chuckled.
No one had counted on the passage from the clock workshop taking them right back to the room they were staying in ā least of all Jay and Skylor, who had their first taste of the passages from a bewildered posse of ninja stumbling out of the wall. They'd both jumped nearly clear to the ceiling; poor Skylor had actually almost fallen off of the bed she was sitting on trying to scramble to her feet.
"Ohh, shut up! The wall just opened up out of nowhere and spit you out; what was I supposed to think?! You would've have been just as startled!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, zaptrap."
"ItĀ wasĀ pretty funny," Lloyd said, smile muted but genuine.
"Helpful," Jay huffed. "You wouldn't happen to have found them, would you?"
Cole shook his head and gestured at the empty space to his left. "What do you think?"
Jay sighed, expression dropping. "Thought so. ā¦ You guys mind explaining why the walls just spit you out?"
"Please," Skylor added. "If you're going to give me a heart attack, at least tell me why."
Lloyd turned to really see her, and noticed that she was fiddling with what looked to be the pieces of her crossbow. Then he did a double-take. Before he could say anything, Zane spoke up.
"Apologies for startling you, and hello, Skylor. It's good to see that you're ā oh my."
"Yeah, I know." Skylor grinned ruefully, eyes obscured byā¦
"Those are Kai's shades," Lloyd blurted out. "How come ā¦?"
"Ask Jay," she shrugged. "He had the idea of giving them to me in the first place."
"Hey, I couldn't dim the lamp or fireplace anymore or they'd go out, and I know Kai's always carrying a pair of sunglasses with him, so ā¦yeah."
"They really do help, though," Skylor said. "It's easier to fix this thing" ā she frowned at her broken weapon of choice ā "when I can keep my eyes open."
"Good to hear it," Zane said, ever the one to keep tabs. "But hopefully you won't be needing it too soon." Skylor frowned, but didn't respond.
It was hard to figure out how he felt about this. On the one hand, heh. OfĀ courseĀ Kai kept sunglasses on him at all times.
On the other hand, the fact that they were Kai's only pulled worse at something in Lloyd's chest. If they didn't find him fast, Skylor using his sunglasses was gonna feel more like a sick joke than anything ā¦
He expelled the thought quickly.
Kai would beĀ okay. He had to be.
Cole went around haphazardly patting different objects in the room until he knocked back a glass lantern on the mantelpiece shutting the passage entrance, meriting a few snickers at how silly he looked. Then he started telling Jay and Skylor how they'd discovered the passage system, but gratefully let Zane explain the uglier details. Lloyd jumped in to describe their surroundings in the open hallways and several rooms that had been explored as well, including some of the more eccentric details. Skylor, having evidently taken on the role of unofficial scribe out of sheer boredom with her current situation, reached for a notepad and started scribbling away, asking questions ever so often.
"You know what I think is going on here?" Jay said, after a beat. "We crossed dimensions walking through the forest and now we're in a horror video game. That's what happened."
"Jay."
"Listen, I'm right," Jay declared, with far more confidence than he had any right to have. "Think about it. Everything's too quirky. Too convenientlyĀ inconvenient."
"Jay, I swear to Lloyd's grandfather I will hurt you." The effect of Cole's words were mostly nullified by the fact that he was shaking his head in his hands. (And for the record, it was still weird when people swore on his grandfather.)
"Explain," Skylor said, openly giggling at the absurdity, and Zane looked as confused as he did amused.
Ahh, good ol' Zane.
Still, the fact that Jay was joking around when there were peopleĀ missingĀ rubbed him the wrong way.
"I'mĀ serious!Ā We just so happen to be stuck in here because the doors won't open,Ā andĀ they can't be busted down,Ā andĀ the windows are barred! Have you ever heard a more video-game thing in your life?"
"Splendid situational analysis skills right there, Jay," Cole responded drily. "A+. What do you propose we do to solve this?"
But then again ā¦ Cole had been tensed up and radiating apprehension, the entire time they were searching, to the point where it had started to make Lloyd nervous, too. He looked like he was beginning to lighten up again, as he poked at Jay's ridiculousness.
"Whoa, hey, I didn't ask for leader talk! Just saying. Not to mention, that ugly ghost clownĀ respawnsĀ when you kill it. That's some next-level malarkey right there."
"D-don't call it that," Skylor gasped in between laughs. Evidently the pain meds had kicked in.
"And why not, huh? Are you trying to tell me itĀ doesn'tĀ look like a clown and the Overlord had a really ugly baby?"
"Goodness," Zane remarked.
"Jay, do you ever think before you open your mouth?" Cole groaned, exasperated chuckles slipping out despite his best efforts. "Ever?"
"It's a personal point of pride to improv anything and everything I say," Jay said matter-of-factly. "Come on, you know this."
"This is why you're not group leader."
And since when was Lloyd the one to growl at any sign of fun when things were rough? He'd seen the way Jay's face had dropped when Cole announced that Kai and Karlof were still missing, and according to Zane he'd fought it before. If he was goofing off, it wasn't for lack of understanding the gravity ā it was in spite of it.
So he'd bite. He'd pick back up the pieces of the child left over from when he'd been too small for the green gi, and play along. When they went back out to search, it'd be easier to keep his morale up if he let loose a little now.
They needed this.
"You know, JayĀ doesĀ have a point," he chimed in now. When everyone's attention turned to him, he grinned and clarified, "About the video game thing. Also the things in here are so ā¦ weird, they might as well be props. Like the clocks! What wouldĀ anyoneĀ do with that many clocks?"
"And it does seem odd that there would be so many weapons on display ā¦" Zane murmured under his breath.
"Yeah, exactly!"
Jay beamed. "Finally, someone sees it my way! I would bet my hand that this is all because of that dumb discount survivor Kai got at the shady store across from Doomsday Comix. IĀ knewĀ there was something weird about it. You should never trust a shady discount game."
"Hey, Kai got that game forĀ you,Ā because he was sick of you bellyaching about the Temple being haunted!" Cole replied. "Think an awful lot of me, doncha? Won't even take the former ghost's word that there'sĀ no ghostsĀ in there."
"Uh, like I'd takeĀ yourĀ word for anything! Why don't you takeĀ this?"Ā Jay threw a pillow at Cole's shoulder, much to their shock. They held their breath and waited for their reaction ā¦ and Cole worked his jaw for a second, then promptly picked up the pillow and nailed Jay in the face with it.
"Whoa, hey!" Lloyd cried. They paused and looked at him again.
"... We don't have nearly enough pillows for this."
Jay only blinked for a split second before grinning, balling up his blanket and whacking Cole with that instead.
Skylor doubled over laughing.
Absolute mayhem ruled for all of five minutes. Zane had been unwittingly dragged into the pillow/blanket fight that had evolved, and Lloyd figured if everyone else bar the one person who couldn't was doing it, he wasĀ definitelyĀ throwing himself into the ring. It only lasted up to Cole and Zane ganging up on him and wrapping him into a blanket burrito until he was screaming uncle. Even if she couldn't participate, Skylor was absolutely living for the chaos; she was practically munching on popcorn, tossing stray bedding into the fray (from a safe distance) for the rest of them to pounce on.
When they eventually settled down and sobered up, the air settling down on their shoulders again wasn't as oppressive. The soft afterglow lingering after they'd laughed some of their stress out made everyone feel a little more like they would be okay in the end, like they could go out and search again and they'd find everything they needed to ā Kai, Karlof, and a way to escape this awful place and put it behind them for good.
But for right now ā¦
"So. What's next?" Cole fluffed a pillow and set it back on the bed he'd grabbed it from.
"We should go back out and keep looking," Lloyd stated, grabbing a blanket off the floor and pointedly folding it in an apologetic-looking Zane's direction. Cole snorted ā Zane might've felt a liiiiittle guilty about teaming up on Lloyd and accidentally knocking Jay down with a pillow, but he'd enjoyed every bit of that fight, and Lloyd knew it and he knew they both knew it.
"So soon?" Skylor asked. "You were gone for aĀ while. Maybe you should take a break or something first ā¦"
"Yeah!" Jay agreed, putting away his own blanket. "You were walking in secret passages and stuff! Aren't you tired? I know I'd be."
"If we do go out again, we should switch out who remains here with Skylor to prevent that," Zane said.
"Not 'if'," Lloyd said. "It's dangerous out there, and didn't you say Kai was injured? Karlof doesn't have any idea what he's up against if he bumps into it, either. Not to mention, we haven't even seen a trace of Shade around longer we wait, the worse our chances of finding them are. I say we keep looking a little longer."
Cole grimaced. He understood Lloyd's impatience, of course. He was worried, they all were, and nothing about their current situation looked good. And every second they spent trapped put him painfully in mind of another haunted building that had preyed on their fears and ended in nothing but trouble ā¦
But the green ninja's insistence on searching until they found their missing was beginning to look near-obsessive. And while he hadn't said a word about being tired, his group had been on the move almost constantly since before they'd even arrived at the mansion. He'd fought for his life once already, and the building's magic was persistently weakening them. He had to be tired. Cole knew he was.
For the kid's sake, Cole hoped again that they were alright. If they weren't ā¦
He shut the train of thought down before it could set itself off. He could do without losing his composure like that again,Ā particularlyĀ now that he wasn't as isolated.
"Ech. I was actually thinking we have lunch or something first. It's been a while since any of us ate."
"Lunch ā¦?"
Ohhh First Spinjitzu Master he could not be serious.
"Yes, Lloyd," he said dryly, "sometimes human beings need to eat food. You know, to survive and stuff."
"I know that!" Lloyd exclaimed. "But how do you know that it's lunch time, specifically?"
Cole paused to consider it. Usually, his appetite was the subject of a fair few jokes, but here he was using it as a surprisingly reliable indicator of when they should eat, sharpened with fatigue as it was. Because he was absolutely basing this off of his appetite.
A crinkle broke the quiet. Heads turned to see nothing else but Jay, teeth already sunk into a granola bar and blinking up at them.
"What?"
Cole sighed, rummaging through his backpack and frowning when it took a minute to find him anything worth eating. He unwrapped a sandwich as he said his next words.
"First trail mix at unholy hours of the morning, now this. If you're going to keep snacking precisely when it'sĀ notĀ time to eat, you can't turn around and wonder why you're never hungry. I mean, not to suggest there's ever a bad time to eat, but you know what I mean."
"But I'm not hungry enough to eat a full meal!" Jay protested. "Any more than this and ā¦ I dunno. Don't feel up to it. And aren't you a fine one to talk?"
"But he has a point," Zane said, concerned. "Your appetite is usually larger than this. Does your stomach still hurt?"
"Nah," Jay said dismissively, though he polished off the bar and didn't make a move to eat anything else. "I'm just not that hungry. Besides, I'll just save it for later."
Cole opened his mouth to tell him to eat at least aĀ littleĀ more, anyway, but the last thing he'd said made him think.
Because when he considered it ā¦
"We're starting to run low on food, aren't we?"
"Now that you mention it, I guess we are," Lloyd said, surrendering to the fact that they were eating now and pulling out some food. He didn't immediately eat it, though. "And we can't go get more, can we?"
"I have extra food in my bag," Zane offered, looking a little meek. "... The truth is, I kept storing food and snacks in it for missions and never remembered to take them out. It might not be all that much, but perhaps it could help us last a little longer."
"Right. We gotta think long-run," Cole said. "We have backup food, but there's ā¦" He took a moment to count. "Five of us. Seven including the missing two. And none of us are running on full strength. This stuff's gonna go fast. If Zane's stash runs out, we've got no way to get more from outside, plus there's no way anything in here would be edible."
"Blegh." Jay made a face. "Can you imagine what it'd be like? The mold probably has mold growing on it. No thank you."
"Keep it to yourself," Cole said. "Just becauseĀ you'reĀ not hungry doesn't mean you have to make sure everyone else isn't."
Jay harrumphed at him but didn't say anything else.
"We need to ration, don't we?" Lloyd said.
"I don't like that," Jay said. "That implies we'reĀ stayingĀ here."
"... Not that I like the idea," Cole hated it, in fact. "But again, we might have to start thinking long-term. Hopefully, Kai and Karlof aren't far, but who knows how long it'll actually take to find them. And that's not even taking into account how we'll find a way to escape ā¦"
"Okay, you've made your point," Jay moaned. Cole followed his gaze to Lloyd, who was eating his honey sandwich with dark eyes, and sighed, feeling another twinge of worry.
"Well, this doesn't bode well for me," Skylor commented. "I didn't think we'd get holed up this long."
"Is this about food? How much do you have?" Zane asked.
"Mm? Only about enough for a day and a half, plus snacks. And that's being generous," she admitted sheepishly. "I've only got a little more left."
"It's alright," Cole replied. "None of us were really expecting it. You can just ā¦ mooch off of Zane?"
"Well, geez." Skylor raised an eyebrow. It was pretty funny, paired with the sunglasses. "When you put it that way."
"Don't worry," Zane reassured her. "Feel free to take what you need."
"Pft. Alright," Skylor said at last. "Thanks."
"Glad we got that set straight, but what're we gonna do about water?" Lloyd brought up. "My bottle's nearly empty."
"He has a point," Zane said. "Having food is essential, but we cannot afford to dehydrate, either."
"Man, Nya'd be nice to have around for that," Cole sighed. "... But it's probably a good thing she's not here."
"It's been well over a day and we still haven't contacted her."
"Maybe longer, even," Jay sighed glumly. His eyes flickered with worry for a second. "You ā¦ don't think she'd come looking for us, do you?"
"Don't sound so hopeful, Jay," Cole warned him. "There's no way it'd end well if she did."
"It was bad enough whenĀ IĀ ran into it," Lloyd added. "If it stumbled into her before we did ā¦"
"Okay,Ā okay,Ā I get it," Jay whimpered. "Forget I said anything."
"But do we need a water master for that?" Skylor cut in. "We could try to melt ice and make do that way."
"PIXAL has the same idea. But that would be most efficiently done with a controlled heat source such as Kai's fire, and Kai isn't with us right now," Zane said. Lloyd's face darkened.
"I know, but once we find him. Because we are going to," she said pointedly.
"I suppose I could just set some ice near the fireplace and let it melt, even though it would still be slow," Zane said. "Until we find Kai, of course."
"Right," Lloyd answered before Cole or Jay could say anything. "We will." But the room felt tenser again, more quietly charged than it had before.
How much longer they could keep that conviction up remained to be seen.
[I have no excuse for this delay and Iām So Sorry, just I hope itās worth the wait and I thank you all for waiting]
The answers lie within the mansion, but they all wish they didn't have to find them.
"Ah."
The one syllable spoke well for all of them in the moment.
"Soo. There's more where that came from," Cole continued shakily. "Lovely."
"Just how many people died here?" Zane wondered quietly. The slight echo to his voice reverberated against the narrow, carved-out walls, rough and plain compared to the ruined grandeur and antiquity of the rest of the mansion.
"Well. If people were coming in from all those villages we passed on the way here ā¦"
"Hey," Lloyd tried. His throat had gone very dry. "We never know; maybe some of them survived. Could every single person that was here really have died?"
"I wanna believe there were survivors," Cole said. "But that implies that there were people who lived to tell what happened ā¦" He let the silence hanging in the air speak for itself.
Lloyd had realized that subconsciously, of course. Not a single villager would tell him exactly what had happened here; when pressed, they would furtively look away or change the subject. So it stood to reason that they didn't know. Or that they were too afraid to tell.
Either way, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Zane hummed, considering something.
"All of this is very chaotic."
"Yeah," Cole agreed. "Although, with how dark it is, it's a little hard to tell anything ā¦"
Zane stepped out a little farther, peering into the shadow-cast passage as if looking for something.
"The positions of the skeletons, as well as how scattered they are, suggests that either something disturbed them or that some sort of struggle happened here. Judging by the assorted weapons and items strewn about, I would guess that there was a fight, presumably between the Serpentine and those taking shelter here." He paused. "Analysis of the stains on the wall appear to be ā"
"I think that's enough," Cole interjected hastily, with a significant glance at their human flashlight.
Lloyd was still staring, transfixed, at the ground in front of him. A skull at his feet bored into his eyes with its sockets. He considered picking it up. He quickly decided against it.
"My apologies. I did not mean to cause discomfort."
"I-it's fine."
"We know so little about this place," Lloyd murmured, turning both of their attentions towards him again.
"You can say that again. Heck, here we are questioning what we do know." Cole agreed, turning back towards Zane from where he'd been eyeing the path on the right. "You look like you wanna say something."
"Ah, it's just that some of these bones appear to be ā¦ Serpentine."
On closer inspection, Lloyd noticed that he was right ā a couple of the skulls and hands had hooked fangs and claws that glinted in the light he was casting, their points still sharp ā and mulled on it a moment. Cole stepped cautiously away from the disorder back towards them, eyeing the dim path with unease and nervously tipping his head like he could hear something they couldn't. Lloyd wondered if perhaps the restless souls of the refugees, forty years fallen, were trapped in the bones and whispering their pleas for help to him.
All at once the thought that two of them were still missing struck him again.
He prayed again that they wouldn't be too late, wouldn't let the mansion take two more unprepared souls.
"But if the Serpentine got everyone who was hiding here ā¦ then what got the Serpentine? Or should we be asking who?"
"Perhaps the answer depends on how long the spirit has haunted these premises."
"We probably won't find out just sitting around and talking," Lloyd cut in, stomach churning at the idea of standing there any longer, with these skulls and their empty sockets boring holes into him; he could just imagine the skeletons reaching out with bony segmented fingers while his back was turned. "Maybe we'll find clues while we look, but come on, let's just go. Our focus is finding Kai."
"Yeah, you're right," Cole sighed, already making his way towards the path that branched off towards the right. "I ā¦ let's not go that way unless we have to. If Kai found this, I don't think he would've."
"Nor do I." Zane fell into line behind him. Lloyd took his spot at the front and re-lit his fist.
And so they continued on.Ā
Any sense of novelty Lloyd might have felt from the fact that they were exploring secret passages was quickly tempered by every glimpse of bones. It soured completely once he tripped over a stray femur right into a skeleton pile and scrambled to get himself out of it, biting back a shriek all the while.
As they walked, he noticed something ā¦
The bones would shimmer green in the faint light and shift.
Even when he averted his gaze and looked ahead, even though he was surely just imagining things in the flickering shadows his light cast ā¦
It got hard to ignore them.
They were mostly quiet initially, their footsteps and breaths amplified by the narrow space. Lloyd cursed how ragged his breathing was. Zane, sensing they'd hit upon an important finding, began to mentally map out the layout of the passages, beginning from the gallery.
A while in, Cole suggested that they keep talking, so that Kai would hear them if he was nearby.
(Lloyd wondered if this wasn't broadcasting their location to the spirit as well, but dismissed the thought; Cole was right, and they'd all fought the spirit before anyways. They'd be fine ā¦ although hopefully, it wouldn't show up at all.)
They volleyed around theories as to why there was such an intricate passage system in a mansion, of all the places, for a while. Most likely, something to do with the fact that it had been used as a refuge, they all agreed.
But then, did they lead anywhere besides other rooms?
Or perhaps ā¦ outside?
It was an exciting prospect, but the conversation fizzled out after a while. Even if somewhere within the elaborate maze there were a way out ā¦ finding their friends was the bigger priority at the moment. There was no leaving without them, and the sooner they found them the better.
Zane stepped up next, explaining a theory that PIXAL had regarding the ever-elusive magic surrounding everything like a blanket. According to her, it could potentially be viewed as acting similar to radiation ā rather than fading like normal magic, it decayed, or "corrupted", into a twisted, progressively more unstable version of itself, with increasingly unpredictable effects. Of course, there was no way of knowing if all dark magic operated the same or if this version of it was just fundamentally different, considering the only magic PIXAL had ever been exposed to was Clouse's brand of sorcery, on Chen's island. And all that was ignoring any possible tie-in the spirit had to it. Lloyd listened with one ear and an iota of interest, grateful for a distraction.
By the time they were too worn out to do anything but call it quits, they'd learned plenty that was interesting enough to take note of. It turned out the passages actually held switches inside them leading to other tunnels ā so there was more that they hadn't seen. If Kai had stumbled into the passages the same way they had, he could've easily gotten lost within the labyrinth ā he didn't have the advantage of a path-mapping nindroid. Even with him though, they had to be careful ā as an added precaution, they dropped pieces of rope down every so often to mark where they had been.
Eventually, their roaming had them find a switch that opened to another room. There was a moment of initial surprise, but if they'd found the passages through a gallery room, it made enough sense that the same system would open up to other places throughout the mansion. Aside from the gallery, they'd found openings to two small, quaintly-decorated rooms that looked like children's bedrooms; one of them had dark, day-old stains on the bedsheets and floor that made Lloyd's stomach turn upon hearing that those were Kai's blood (reassurance that he'd been treated did little to calm the sinking feeling in his gut, but he didn't dare let on).
Upstairs, the only room they could find any entrance to was a grand, rustic-looking library that Zane recognized as the spot he'd found Jay in; there was only one other door on the third floor, and none of the keys Zane had picked up worked on its lock.
Back downstairs, a passageway spat them out into a small, study-like workshop, with cozy shelves and cabinets stuffed with assorted parts, as well as a couple clocks in various states of repair on the walls and in pieces on the floor ā the room Zane had found a key in. Barring that, there was also a smaller library, opening with a key that had apparently been found by Cole, as well as an untidy dining room, cabinets surrounding a large, unsteady table and weapons carelessly lying about. Not to mention, a kitchen that was barely recognizable as such under all the disarray and damage ā if he was to choose one part of the mansion that looked the most like it had been hit with a tornado ā¦
It was with a sinking feeling that they spotted more bones strewn about each room.
The reek of death and must clung to the air and the furniture, seeping into their nostrils, and wouldn't leave.
Several other doors just refused to open, regardless of how much muscle went into trying to pry them open, and just as many passageways dead-ended. Just like with the gallery, there was always some unassuming object in every room that made the passages open and close when moved.
Zane made note of each prop once they found it ā and he'd also found another key. Almost like he was looking to be a nindroid keychain.
Every so often, they'd go back out into the main hallways and roam around for a bit, calling Kai and Karlof's names ā didn't want to rule out the possibility that they hadn't found the passages, after all.
Lloyd kept his eyes peeled for anything worth noting, in the passages, halls, and elsewhere, though it was difficult with the state of disarray almost everything was in. Scuff marks, faded bloodstains, and distressed wallpaper were the prevalent adornments. Without the spirit on their tails, he could properly notice the decor that would have been impressive, once upon a time. Antique drawers, closets, chairs and tables sat in obsolete glory, intricate engravings peeking out from under wood rot and dust and jagged gashes ā almost like they'd been scratched, cut into, scarred and damaged. Over the washed-out pattern of the wallpaper hung faded tapestries and torn drapes framing the broken, barred windows.
Zane pointed out the occasional portrait or even vintage photograph, framed or hung ā most of them, according to Zane and Cole, of the family that had lived here: a man with glasses, a nervous face, and curly hair pulled into a low ponytail; a wiry woman with sharp, flint-like eyes but a genial smile; and a little girl, likely their daughter, with long black curls and a playful grin.
It was strange to think this place had once housed life between its walls. One had to wonder what had happened to them.
Clocks of varying builds carved so delicately they had to be handmade rested on the walls, with carefully-painted bodies and faces. Maybe they'd even been made here. Lloyd also vaguely remembered seeing similar clocks downstairs, resting on shelves or drawers in several rooms, so it would make sense.
ā¦ Wow, this was an awful lot of clocks for one place.
Someone must've really had a thing for punctuality. Or maybe they just liked clocks, who was he to judge.
With no small amount of interest, the group also finally noticed several weapons mounted on small hooks ā javelins, swords, smaller daggers and shields. To his trained eye, they didn't look like the kind made purely for display; the edges were sharp and only mildly blunted with wear and disuse, hilts and handles adorned with small beads and designs inlaid in shimmering stone. Briefly, the group discussed whether there would be merit to taking some to use for themselves, but decided against it ā between them, they had plenty of weapons; that wasn't their problem. Besides that, it just felt wrong, to disturb what hadn't already been touched by the hand of chaos.
The faint light filtering onto the floors in stripes got brighter as the hands on the clock ticked unevenly forward, but it did little to warm them or their spirits as it hit their gi and skins.
Through it all, there was still no sign high or low of either of the people they were looking for.
Worn down by disappointment and stubbornly-clinging exhaustion, Lloyd let out an irritated sigh.
"I hear you," Cole agreed, briefly leaning against a shelf before heaving himself back upright and continuing to half-heartedly paw around the books and papers. "We've been out here longer than an hour. Two, even! Still zilch."
They'd come back up to the second floor, finding a key that opened the door to a cozy workspace, larger than the more cramped one of the first floor. A small glass kerosene lamp sat on a desk. Laying on said desk was an assortment of mechanical-looking parts, tools, and papers, and there was more of the same to be found stuffed within the many drawers poking out from under it. Presumably, they were related to the several clocks hanging on the wall, as well as the unfinished ones lying around. When they'd first stumbled into the clocks, Cole had pondered aloud if they hadn't wandered right into the house of a clockmaker, but with the unnatural number of clocks they'd seen since then, they had to wonder if he was more on the mark than they'd realized.
Not to mention, they were literally in a room full of unfinished clocks and repair tools. That was only so open to interpretation.
Presently, they were rather experimentally feeling around for anything that might open up another passageway.
ā¦Kinda video game-y, if he thought about it. Darn Jay for planting that thought.
"Yeah, well then, we should just keep looking." A flurry of yellowed documents, elaborate sketch lines visible on them, flew out of a drawer; he vehemently shoved them away and swallowed an unwarranted wave of irritation welling up in his chest and bubbling up his throat. "There's other passageways we haven't found yet, or maybe we need to go back out and check from the hallways! Or ā"
Nothing was working, nothing was activating it ā
With a despairing groan, he moved back and dropped his face into his hands.
Cole and Zane abruptly looked up from their own scouring and exchanged a glance. Cole came up and clapped a hand on his shoulder; Lloyd turned and buried his face in Cole's gi.
"We'll find them."
He said nothing about what condition they'd be found in, Lloyd noted.
"It's been, what, a day? It's been a whole day now, hasn't it?"
"We have no accurate time-measuring device," Zane said, "but in all likelihood, it has been less. Still ā¦ I do have confidence we will find them."
"We've been looking so long, though! We've looked in so many places, and there's still no sign of them! Not even a bad sign!" Almost angrily, Lloyd blinked back tears. Where was his determination? Where was his resolve that it would all work out?
He was not about to cry and make it look even worse for himself. Cry and that meant that everything was already gone to pieces.
It wasn't.
It couldn't be.
They were all quiet, Lloyd desperately trying to regain composure, Cole rubbing small circles into his back.
"All of us got split up yesterday."
Lloyd waited for him to continue.
"We had this spirit hot on our tails. Kai was injured. We were so afraid we barely got our wits together." He paused, then laughed. Lloyd blinked at how self-deprecating it was. "Or at least, I was. My point is, we found each other again. A lot of it thanks to Zane, heh."
"I'm glad I was able to find everyone," Zane chimed in, sending them a small smile. "I believe it will be no different this time."
"Yeah! Besides, Kai's probably smart enough to avoid a fight if he's injured. And if he's found Karlof and they're taking safety in numbers, even better."
"... Probably?"
"Yeesh, if he hasn't learned anything from all these years, I don't know why he's still a ninja."
Despite himself, Lloyd chuckled.
"There ya go. Chin up. You've got it in you."
Lloyd took a deliberate breath and released it.
"Yeah, you guys are right. Guess I'm just not used to this place." He smiled gratefully at Cole. Cole smiled back, squeezing tighter before letting go of him and leaning against a bookcase.
"Not sure there's any getting used to this place. This is as good as it gets, bud."
Then, abruptly, he fell with a yelp as the case moved. On the opposite end of the room, part of the wall shifted, cleanly closing the gap in the wall that had been there seconds prior.
Cole pulled himself up, bewildered and rubbing his head, before staring at what he'd done. Then he burst into a grin.
"Well. I meant to do that."
Lloyd smirked a little as Cole carefully dragged the shelf back, confirming that it was the switch to the passage system in this room when the wall near the desk opened up. "I guess that's the passage for this room, then."
"Guess so." Cole brushed off his gi. "What do you say we go back and rest a little?"
"What? We haven't found Kai or Karlof yet ā"
"I know, trust me. I ain't happy about it either," Cole said. "But we're all tired, and we really stand a better chance of holding our own if we've actually got the energy to fight. We keep searching like this and we're liable to get ourselves lost."
"That is correct, and it would also be pertinent not to leave Jay and Skylor alone for too long. The door is locked, and Jay knows how to handle the spirit, but just to be on the safe side, we should return soon."
"Good point," Lloyd conceded. "Let's at least check out this bit of passage, then we can head back."
A beat.
"... Cole?"
"Oh! Right."
Cole pulled the shelf back again, opening the passage once more. One by one they crawled in.
[I was gonna post this sooner but I came home and napped until dinner oops
schoolās killing me dead Iām so sorry this is so short
and if I donāt post on the actual Halloween, happy spooky day, go get hypoglycemia from all the candy you eat]
Skylor canāt figure out for certain whatās eating at her about the mansion, but she knows one thing: somethingās very wrong.
I THOUGHT I WOULD UPDATE MORE NOW THAT IT WAS SUMMER BUT NOOOO.Ā
once again HUGE thanks to everyone who reads and leaves feedback, as well as to my beta park!Ā
also, Iām a year older! and for my birthday, an INCREDIBLE friend of mine drew me something which Iām gonna use as a cover on FFN! Iām putting it on the masterlist.Ā
Lloydās glad he found his friends. That doesnāt mean that everythingās okay, though.
previous / next
all chapters
AO3
FFN
thank you all for your patience and support, and a million thanks to my beta @artcanary who I could not do this without, as always! wanted to upload this before June ended, and Iām on time in my zone, heh. chapter 9, everyone!
A breath from the madness and a revelation.Ā
previous / next
all chapters
AO3
FFN
Iām so awful at staying consistent with updates ā¦ oof.Ā
decided to get off my butt and publish for @lloydskywalkersā as it is their birthday! they write super well and are super sweet go check out :D
cia I hope itās a good one, and there isnāt really any Lloyd in this chapter but I hope you enjoy anyway
I also appreciate peopleās patience with me, thank youĀ
Cole finds that being alone with your thoughts is never pleasant.
previous / next
all chapters
AO3
FFN
(the first few titles are awful and honestly they donāt get much better. Iām bad at titling. thereās a little blood/injury-treating stuff, but I donāt think itās too bad)
previous / next
all chapters
AO3
FFN
(warnings for a character (guess which one) having a panic attack. ouch.)
Cole had thought he was over his little ghost problem ā¦
āNever enter the mansionā¦that is where they wait.ā All the ninja want to do after the last crazy Day of the Departed is relax. But here comes trouble knocking at the door with a missing ally, and an old, abandoned mansion, and - what in the world is that thing?! Watch your backs, ninja. You will not scrape by so cleanly this time. Escape is not so easy.
(Going to go ahead and post my fic here, too! will just link the other two places too, and then create a masterpost of chapter links. organization! this takes place post-DotD but pre-s7 or the Dark Island books)
next
all chapters
AO3
FFN
EnĀ·ter | /Ėen(t)Ér/ | verb | 1. come or go into (a place).
