Chapter Text
The screams and cries of a village of hybrids drowned out any senses he had. The ropes that were tight around his wrists dug into his skin, leaving it raw. His eyes stung as tears continues to roll down his face and fell hopelessly to the wood floor beneath him. His ears were flat against his head, and his bushy tail was tucked between his legs. The only thing stopping him from crying out with pain and terror would be the muzzle that was clamped around his mouth.
Kai had no idea where he was anymore. Him and his sister were bound and thrown into a covered wooden wagon. There were no windows, and the only light was coming from the cracks in the doorway. The wolf mutant could tell they were still moving from the jostle of the rocky road underneath them. He attempted to scoot closer to his younger sister, but the rope around his neck held him in place. It was attached to a hook on the corner of the wagon by the door. Nya was unconscious, far out of his grasp on the other end of the small wagon. He was utterly helpless to help her. He was helpless to help them…
The image was still burned into the back of his mind, Nya was lucky enough to have already been knocked out when it happened. The hunters… they invaded the village. They stole the valuable trades, burned the houses, and… Killed the hybrids.
His parents were right there, fighting them off when the net came crashing down on him and his sister. They tried to free them, they told Kai to take his sister and run but…. It was too late. Both of kai’s parents, Ray the fire fox, and his wife, Maya the water wolf were surrounded. Ray had been the first to go… He had jumped in the way of a blade that was meant for his wife, who soon fell not long after.
Their blood had stained the roads and the rain carried it throughout the village.
Kai wanted to cry out for his sister to wake up, but his words were restrained just as much as his wrists were.
Was she hurt?
Would she wake up?
What if she doesn’t wake up?
What if she does? Would the fate the hunters have for them be far worse than to fall asleep only to never awaken?
Finally, the jostling of the wagon halted in a sudden fashion that lunged Kai forward, choking him for a few seconds as the rope restricted him.
A few gargled voices came from outside of the wagon, their disgruntled language foreign to Kai. He started thrashing around in his restraints with false hope that they would magically come loose.
The wooden door flung open noisily, the bright light of midday temporarily blinding the young wolf. Suddenly hands were grabbing at him and pulling Kai out of the wagon, untying the rope around his neck. With eye’s shut tightly, Kai continues to thrash and squirm in a desperate attempt for the hunter to loosen his grip.
Nya was pulled out of the wagon, being help up by her collar bone almost like you would a cat. This made Kai indescribably angry. The thrashing had finally payed off as he could feel the ropes on his wrists wearing thin. It hurt like hell, but Kai put all his strength into pulling his arms in different directions to rip off his restraints. Obviously this surprised the hunters giving Kai an advantage.
Without even thinking, Kai immediately began charging at hunter after hunter using his claws as his weapon. Aiming for the face and throat, he managed to take at least 2 of the burly men down before a wooden plank slammed into his side, an explosion of pain erupted in his chest not seconds after he was on the ground.
Kai panted and was clawing at the ground to get back up but all the air in his lungs were gone, leaving him a gasping mess. He had time to look back up as the hunter swung the plank at him again full force.
A Splintery explosion of pain erupted Kai right out of his dream.
“AAaHH!” Kai grunted sitting up straight as he threw his sheets to the ground. He looked around wide eyed and frantic for a few seconds before recognizing his surroundings.
A dream….
It was only a dream…
He took a few moments to catch his breath and listening for any sounds that indicated he awoke another hybrid on the Bounty. When he was certain that, no, he had not rudely awoken anyone with his stupid dream, He got out of bed. When his feet touched the cold wooden floor of the ship, it sent a shiver through Kai’s already shaking body. The sheets that were launched halfway across the room were torn to shreds, no doubt from Kai’s claws.
Gotta remember to replace those…
Kai took a second to ground himself, looking throughout his room.
He was safe.
He’s in his room, on the Bounty.
There are no hunters here.
But the lingering smell of blood in his nostrils told his reflexes otherwise.
He had nightmares sometimes, but they weren’t very often. Usually it was always the same thing, so Kai knew what to expect. The recent situations of hunters is probably what triggered it… yeah totally not because Kai has unresolved trauma that’s for sure. He was just being a wimp, the others probably weren’t sleeping well either, he wasn’t some special case. He was being stupid, just calm down already, jeez.
But no matter how much Kai would mentally scold himself, he could not in fact calm down. So instead he opted to going out and making himself some tea. Then maybe rough up a punching bag still the sun comes up.
He creaked open his door and silently stalked to the kitchen where, obviously, nobody was there. Making sure to be as quiet as possible, he turned on the stove and set the kettle on the burner. While he waited for the water to heat up, Kai went over to the sink and splashed the water on his face in hopes to get rid of the chill that was still clinging to his spine. When he turned the faucet off, Kai grabbed a hand towel that was hanging from the stove and dried off his face.
“Kai?” Kai jumped at a soft voice behind him and turned his head so fast he might have given himself whiplash.
Zane then jumped as well, as he hadn’t meant to scare the wolf hybrid. They both just stood in stunned silence for a few seconds before Kai let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“It’s like 3:00 AM shouldn’t you be asleep or something?” Kai hadn’t meant to sound so harsh.
The flinch Zane gave was already enough to make Kai feel guilty. “I could be asking you the same thing?”
Kai turned off the stove and poured himself and Zane a mug of tea. “Just couldn’t sleep. Y’know, nocturnal instincts and all…”
Zane accepted the mug that was handed to him and went to sit down at the table in the connected room with Kai.
While Zane obviously knew that wasn’t the case, but He wasn’t one to pry on personal matters. “As for me as well I guess. I was just wandering the halls, it helps clear my head, when I spotted you.”
Kai grunted in acknowledgment and made no effort to continue their conversation. He didn’t mind the company though… It was… comforting.
Anyone else probably would have bugged him though. Jay would be too talkative, Cole would ask to many questions and Nya would be such a worry-wart and send him back to bed. Zane at least understood. Nobody really talked about it, but it wasn’t exactly a secret that the bird has had his fair share of bad nights. Like probably tonight now that Kai thought about it.
“I was thinking on going for a walk, would you like to accompany me?” Zane broke the silence as he finished his mug.
“Sure, why not.” Kai desperately wanted to go for more of a, run until you can’t stand anymore™
Both Hybrids made sure to bind back their animal traits before going out of the Bounty. Even though it was 3 am they couldn’t take any chances, not in the city that never sleeps.
They just took the sidewalk, not really having any destination in mind. Of course, the streets were never empty, even at 3 am, there were cars driving to and from. Not many people were out on the sidewalks, but every so often a citizen would pass by. Unintentionally they had wandered into the “ghetto” part of town, subconsciously scouting for crime. It was ninja instinct.
The whole time they were out, neither of them said a word. Instead they just listened to the many sounds of the city.
Kai’s ear twitched from underneath his hood as he picked up on a faint scream a few blocks from here. Zane must have heard the loud shriek too, because the both looked at each other, nodded, and ran off towards the direction of the distress.
Arriving at the scene, Kai and Zane quickly observed the situation. There was a young lady with her dog, cornered in an alley. A few street punks with bats and crowbars were surrounding her, insisting she give them her purse. A simple robbery, something that could be quickly dealt with. However, the one concern Zane had was the man in front. He was holding a gun fixated to the woman’s head. One wrong move and someone could end up in a morgue tonight.
Zane and Kai both were hiding in the shadow of the building, while sneaking up to the group of muggers.
“Please! I didn’t do anything wrong- I’ll give you everything I have please just let me go!” The woman cried out, terror laced in her voice.
Kai doesn’t remember exactly why but this triggered something in his memory. The scene was suddenly different, and the young lady was now a teen hybrid back from his village, and the gang were the hunters who invaded and took everything from him.
Something snapped in Kai and rage consumed him. He shot off from his hiding place using his claw to slash one of the muggers across the face.
The young woman being robbed cried out again in terror hugging her small dog closer to her chest, while the muggers turned their attention to Kai.
Zane jumped out from the shadows now as well, Kicking the nearing one in the chest, sending him flying into a brick wall. Another one came at him with a crowbar, only for Zane to duck under the swing and punch him in the gut.
Kai was fighting brashly, clawing at one’s neck before throwing him over the wolf’s shoulder. The one that Zane had kicked got back up and rushed at the wolf hybrid with a baseball bat. Kai met him head-on punching right through the bat, shattering it into splinters. The look of absolute terror that had flashed over the mugger’s face, before Kai punched it, was amusing to him.
Right when Kai was about to turn around to help Zane with his portion, the sharp “BANG’ of a gunfire erupted from behind him.
A pain that blossomed in his shoulder sent Kai to the ground, as he could make out the sound of a gun hitting the floor.
Zane kicked the weapon out of the criminal’s hands, then jumped up on his shoulders, using a sort of wrestling move to bring him to the ground hard and fast. The mugger disgruntled from hitting his head on the concrete, was then swiftly jabbed in the neck with two fingers precisely to hit the nerve that knocked him out.
Kai was sitting himself up, holding his shoulder, where he knew he’d been hit.
“Kai are you alright?” Zane asked softly making sure there were no more hidden threats
“Yeah... yeah it just grazed me. I’ll be fine.” Kai grunted as he stood up and looked around at the 4 muggers that were all unconscious on the ground. He grimaced a little bit when he saw how torn up two of their faces were. He hadn’t meant to go so brutal on them…
“Ma’am are you injured?” Zane then asked the woman who was still looking in shock.
“N… No.. I-“ She stuttered out “You.. Saved me.. T-Thank you…”
Zane then retrieved the woman’s purse from the floor and handed it to her. “Call the police, they will take care of them” He gestured to the unconscious men on the floor. “And then get you home safely.”
“R-right!” The woman fumbled for the phone in her purse quickly dialing 9-1-1. She looked up again, stunned to see the two mysterious people who saved her life disappeared without a trace.
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Kai grunted as Zane tightened the gauze around his shoulder. “Geez man, ease up will ya?”
“My apologies.” Zane muttered as he got out the medical tape and secured the gauze. “This should be healed within a week or so. You are lucky the bullet didn’t go into your shoulder.”
Kai just nodded absent-mindedly. They were both sitting in what the team liked to call the ‘medical ward’ Really it was just a corner in Jay’s workshop where they kept the first aid kit. It was almost 6:00 in the morning and the sun was slightly shining through the window next to them. The rest of the ship was still asleep, the only sound being Zane rustling through the first aid kit every now and then to finish dressing his wound.
“So…” Zane started packing up the kit as he finished. “What was that all about?”
“Which part?” Kai huff out a laugh. “The clawing a dude’s face off, or getting shot in the shoulder?”
“Let’s just start with the first one.”
“Eh… Just for a second there… I thought I was somewhere else.” Kai hopped off the table where he was sitting and picked up a new shirt that Zane had brought him. The old one had to be thrown away, as it was now torn and stained with his and probably a few other people’s blood. “I’m not sure what triggered it… Just the way that girl was so helpless… Made me mad I guess”
“You know Nya is going to be very worked up about this.” Zane pointed out as Kai struggled a bit to get his shirt on without tearing the stitches.
“Don’t remind me.” Kai scoffed out. “She worries too much.”
“Maybe for a good reason.” Zane argued softly.
“Oh God not you too.” Kai sighed.
“Kai, she was younger than you, she doesn’t remember it like you do.” Zane took some disinfectant and wiped down the table where some blood had dripped. “She will never understand unless you let her.”
“I don’t need anyone to understand.”
“You can’t keep doing this to yourself. Your botting everything up until it over-flows. Then you lash out, open up just a tad, then slam shut again and continue acting like everything is fine.”
“Everything IS fine.” Kai growled, his ears perking forward.
Zane simply raised an eyebrow and gave Kai a look.
“It happened years ago. This shouldn’t be bugging me.” Kai sighed and finally slid back down onto a stool by one of Jay’s many work tables.
“You need closure, Kai.” Zane said, and continued when he received a confused look from Kai. “You feel guilty, you think it’s your fault. You never actually talked out how you feel with Nya, because your scared that she’d agree.”
“Maybe she should agree.” Kai didn’t meet Zane’s eyes. “I promised to keep her safe-“
“And you did.”
“She still got hurt. Our parents are still gone.” Kai’s tail twitched nervously. “And I just stood there and let it happen”
“Kai you were six.” Zane reasoned. “There was nothing you could have done for them.”
When Kai didn’t answer Zane continued. “You did what you could, and Nya is still with us because of it.”
It was silence for a few minutes as the falcon finished cleaning up. “You should go talk to her. It makes her sad when she sees you like this.”
After a minute Kai finally nodded. His throat felt tight and dry. He didn’t want his baby sister to be sad, but he also didn’t want her to worry. He figured he might as well get it
over with, Zane was right, if he kept bottling things up like this he was bound to break eventually. He might as well decide to do it on his own terms.
“I’m going to go start on breakfast. I’m sure Sensei will understand if you and Nya skip training today.” Zane got up and silently left, leaving Kai alone to his thoughts.
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Kai paused for a second before bringing his hand up all the way and knocking softly on the door in front of him.
“Just a second!” Nya’s voice was muffled behind the large wooden door and instantly Kai regretted this. She sounded like she was in a good mood today, he couldn’t ruin that. Kai was about to walk away when the door swung open and the fox hybrid revealed herself, already dressed and hair combed for the day.
As soon as Nya’s eyes met Kai’s her bright smile fell into worry. “Kai what’s wrong?”
“Actually, this is a bad time, I’ll just come back later.” Kai swiftly muttered out before trying to walk away. He ruined everything… look how happy she was today… those bright smiles are rare now-a-days.
“Kai!” Nya grabbed his arm before he could even take a step away from the door. She pulled him into her clean and organized room and closed the door. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything-“ Kai paused for a second. “No… It’s not. I know that now.”
Nya looked at him with a sad smile before steering her brother over to her bed where they both sat.
Kai simply just hugged Nya and poured out all the anguish he had felt for years. Even when he had stopped talking they just sat there in each other’s embrace.
Of course, it had gone exactly as Zane said it would. Nya refused to believe everything was his fault, Even gave him a bop on the head for it. Nya gave Kai the reassurance he never knew he needed.
After their long talk Kai felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. He felt… happy.
After sitting on the bed for a while, the sibling’s dried their tears and went out to the dining room for breakfast, or at least whatever was left of it.
To their surprised everyone was actually still in the Dinning room by the time they go there. And Zane had shoo’d Cole away from the pancakes he saved for them.
“Morning sleeping beauty.” Cole huffed out in amusement before shoving another forkful of pancake into his mouth.
“Joke’s on you I haven’t slept since Tuesday.” Kai laughed, with Nya elbowing him as they both sat down at the table.
Conversation at the table went on like usual, Jay babbled on about some project he was working on, while Cole and Zane gave their input every so often. Kai just watched on with a genuine smile.
While Zane was trying to explain why copper wouldn’t work for his conductive to Jay, Cole turned towards Kai.
“Somethin’s different about you today…” Cole gave an approved smile. “You look happy, Kai.”
Kai huffed out a laugh. “Actually feel happy this time too.”
“What are these secrets we are sharing over here.” Jay said in a mocking whisper to mimic the way Cole and Kai were speaking. “Something that Nya wouldn’t approve of?”
“Hey!” Nya wacked the back of Jay’s head.
“What? No.” Cole smiled in amusement. “Definitely not about that time Kai set a clothing rack in JCPenney’s on fire.”
“YOU WHAT?!” Nya turned towards Kai.
“It was fine! I even payed for the clothes that got damaged!” Kai shrugged while stuffing a pancake into his mouth. Dang these were good.
“So, what about the time Kai fell off the roof cause he was trying to do the worm for a tik tok?” Jay asked.
“Kai!” Nya shouted again in disbelief as everyone laughed.
“It went viral, the dislocated arm was worth it.” Kai laughed at all the fond ‘don’t tell Nya’ memories.
“Please, I don’t think anything could beat the time he fell into the cheetah exhibit at the zoo during that field trip.” Zane let out a tiny laugh as Cole buckled over in laugher. One of the kids recorded all of it and that one went viral too. How did Nya not know about these?
“A cheetah seriously?” Nya pressed two fingers to her temple as if she had a headache, but she was still smiling. “Anything else you wanna tell me?”
“I got shot in the shoulder last night while Zane and I stopped some lady from getting mugged.” Kai said casually as he took another bite of his syrup covered pancakes.
The entire dinning room went silent for a spit second.
“YOU WHAT?!”
Sensei wu laughed fondly from his room, right bellow the dining room as he heard the eruption of laughter through the floor. Today was a day of healing for one of our ninja, perhaps he could let them all skip training… just this once.