Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was raining the day Wu gave them the mission, setting a somber mood for the days to come. The rain a hard lashing against the windows in the main hall, a steady rhythm against Wu’s voice. He droned on about the vault, an ancient storage unit for weapons and items of immense power. The boys, of course, were barely listening to him. They’d done enough fetch quests that they knew the drill, blah blah get me this thing, blah blah, very important, blah blah blah. Lloyd seemed to be the only one ever really paying any attention, always all ears for his uncle, be it for missions or wisdom.

“So as I was saying,” Wu accenting his words with a loud rap of his staff against the floor, getting the ninjas full attention. “You will be collecting an ancient scroll from the vault, if were to fall into the wrong hands it could be the end of Ninjago.” They all shared a look, everything always seemed to be the end of Ninjago. If one of them even sneezed wrong it seemed to spell doom, typical Wu.

Jay seemed to be the only one who saw the irony of this mission. “Uh Sensei?” He interrupted, “if this thing is in a supposedly highly secure vault, why are we going to take it and put it in something probably less secure?” The rest of the group murmured in agreement, this mission seemed very counterproductive.

Wu paused for a moment, seeming to mull over Jay’s statement before he continued. “No more questions, you have your mission, now get to it,” once again providing no answers. The rest of the ninja shuffled off mumbling their complaints, leaving Lloyd with his uncle. “You have something on your mind, what is it Lloyd?”

Lloyd looked to be lost in thought. “I don’t know it’s just…” he trailed off, “I just have a bad feeling I can’t shake…” Looking out the rain battered windows, an uneasy feeling settled like a weight in his stomach.

Jay tightened the belt around his waist, the rest of the gang around him suiting up for the new mission that was graciously bestowed upon them by their Sensei. “Don’t you guys think this is kinda pointless? I mean… we could just leave it there...” he pondered out loud.

Cole snickered as he buckled his boots, “you’re just lazy, besides, what Sensei says goes!” Cole smirking smugly at Jay while the rest of the team laughed at his expense.

Jay took full offense to the incredibly accurate comment, “I am not!” he squawked. The other ninja only laughed harder.

“I sense we are getting close to our destination, is everyone ready?” Zane spoke above the laughter filling the room, as calm as always.

“You’d be correct in that assumption buddy,” Lloyd said, appearing in the doorway of their quarters already suited up and ready to go. “C’mon up, we have some planning to do,” he motioned for them to follow. Leading everyone up onto the deck of the Destiny’s Bounty, where Pixal already had the vault plans up.

“Hello everybody, it seems we have an easy mission today,” Pixal greets them. She taps a few buttons on the keyboard, zooming in on the map. The screen showed the main chamber of the vault with a few offshoots along the main hallway. “This is where our target will be, it is imperative we collect it now.” A few more strokes of the keyboard and a police report comes up, “there was a recent report of someone entering the vault. Though strangely- there were no signs of forced entry and it seems like no one left.”

This news didn’t sit right with Lloyd, it set his teeth on edge and made the weight in his stomach grow. Nevertheless, they still had a mission to do. Lloyd spoke up, “that’s something we’ll have to worry about later, just remember the plan and we’ll be out of here in no time.” That put the discussion to rest for the most part, using the remainder of the time to map out a route to the scroll. Before they all knew it, they had arrived. Nya eased the Bounty down in front of the entrance, a great stone door set into the side of a mountain. The door was intricately carved with a language none of them could read, there was also no visible way of opening it.

No one was, rightfully so, pleased by this news. “Are you serious?” Kai griped, “we came all this way just for the fucking door to not open.” His frustration rolled off him in tangible waves of heat, causing Cole and Jay to step back. Zane taking the initiative instead to handle their hot-headed friend.

Coming up beside him to place a cooling, gentle hand on Kai’s shoulder. “We do not know that just yet friend, if there were intruders already then the door must open somehow.” The air around Kai slowly returned to normal temperature, a good sign for what it’s worth.

“Yeah okay,” Kai sighs, “well let’s figure out how to-“ The deep groan of the door opening cutting him off.

Nya gave a shout from a few yards away, “found it!” She returned to the group once the doors had fully swung open, revealing the dark, foreboding entrance. “For a supposedly ‘impenetrable vault’, that was stupid easy to open.”  Nya gave the boys a shit-eating grin, “you guys would do things faster if you didn’t stand around and talk so much!”

Jay made an indignant noise, “hey! I mean you’re right, but hey!”

They didn’t have much time to stand around and argue before Lloyd was ushering them into the vault; eager to get this over and done with. Unfortunately, the vault was pitch black. Permeated by a deep cavernous darkness that moaned with the rush of the wind. “You know what guys I think I should stay with the ship and not go into the horrible, pitch-black, death-trap.” Jay had barely started to turn back when Cole clamped a hand down on his shoulder.

“Oh no you don’t, you stay right here with the rest of us.” Cole glanced over at Kai, “hey, you think we could get some light?”

Kai smirked back at him, taking a couple steps forward and cracking his knuckles. “I think that can be arranged.” With a flick of his wrist, his hand was ablaze, fighting back the ever-present darkness.

"Thanks, Kai. I'm so glad we can always count on you,” Jay grumbled. Tossing his head to the side when something on the wall caught his attention, causing him to look up. “Hey is that a torch holder up there?”

Kai held his hand up, taking a closer look. “So it is,” he mused, “let’s light it up.” Off shot a ball of fire from his finger, the decaying wood so easily engulfed by the flames. The fire seemed to cause a chain reaction, one by one the other torches on the wall burst to life, illuminating the main hall. The full scope of the vault finally became clear, and the ninja couldn’t help but gasp.

They stood in the entrance of an architectural undertaking that demanded to be marveled at. The ceiling soared above them, reaching so far that the torchlight below couldn’t hope to illuminate it. Massive stone support columns stretched upwards, going down the length of the hall. The dark, reflective stone that made up everything around them was a sight in itself. Veins of gold and silver, running like rivers along the walls. “It’s gorgeous,” Cole breathed, the most enamored with the setting around them.

“Cool place, still spooky,” Jay mumbled, utterly intent on being a pain in the ass the entire mission.

Lloyd clapped his hands together in quick succession, grabbing the groups attention, “guys focus! I wanna get out of here as soon as we can.” He was already paces in front of the rest of the ninja, standing a ways down the main tunnel. Zane snapped to attention and gestured for the group to follow, Nya, Jay, and Cole close behind.

Kai trailed behind the group, lazily bringing up the rear. He let his mind wander, not nearly as alert as he probably should’ve been on such an important mission. That’s when he heard it.

“Kai."

He stopped and looked around for the source of the voice, hearing only the whisper of the wind passing him by. None of the other ninja seemed to be addressing him with the rest of the group having pressed on. He almost brushed it off as a figment of his imagination, until--

“Come to me, Kai."

His head felt heavy, like someone or something else was there with him. He couldn’t move, everything looked out of focus. A full body numbness swept through him. No matter how hard he tried, no thoughts formed as he felt himself drifting away, lost in a sea of static.

“Kai!”

He snapped back to the present, turning to look at the source of the voice. Lloyd and everyone else was looking back at him, expressions a mix of concern and annoyance. “Are you okay?” Lloyd questioned, “You zoned out on us there.”

Kai glanced around once more, “oh uh, yeah, yeah I’m fine, sorry, thought I heard something,” he chuckled nervously, “must have been the wind.” Lloyd gave him a more concerned once over, with the rest of the ninja deciding to shrug off his strangeness. Kai jogged over to catch up with the group, brushing off Lloyd’s lingering concerns.

Lloyd didn’t look convinced but he let the subject drop for now to lead the group deeper into the vault, making sure to keep everyone together. The blueprints didn’t do the place justice, the main corridor seemed almost endless; going and going, winding deeper and deeper into the heart of the mountain. They passed by treasure and trinket alike, many of which looked ancient and undisturbed. A thick layer of dust coated practically everything and cobwebs sprouted from every corner. Jay hated every second of it. “Could this place get any creepier?” he complained loudly, sticking close to Cole for comfort. Who, to his credit, only rolled his eyes in response to Jay’s antics.

It felt like they’d been walking for hours when they finally reached their destination. The ornate glass case sat against the wall, housing the scroll inside. “Alright,” Lloyd sighed, relieved to have finally found the damn thing, “Sensei Wu gave me instructions on how to open the case, but it might take a while.” He gestured vaguely in a direction “you guys go sweep the area and see if you can’t find any clues. Nya you stay with me, Zane and Cole you guys go together. Kai and you’re with Jay, I’ll give a shout when we’re done.”

With that the two teams set off, Zane and Cole wandered in the opposite direction as Kai dragged an unwilling Jay along. “C’mon you scaredy cat, faster we scope out this place, the faster we get out of here.”

Jay began to catch up with Kai, nunchucks in hand ready in case trouble decided to rear its head. Kai was uncharastically cautious, the earlier event sitting uneasy in the back of his mind. His eyes shifted left and right sparing a momentary glance at his partner who looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. Jay’s vulnerability lead to an absolutely awful idea, some small part of him almost felt bad. He waited until Jay relaxed slightly, letting him fall into a false sense of security before silently closing the gap between them. He leaned down right next to his friend’s ear, “ boo.”

Jay launched himself into the air, shrieking like a little schoolgirl. Kai meanwhile, went into an absolute fit of laughter. “Kai!,” Jay snapped, “what is wrong with you, I could kill you right now!”

His squawking only made Kai laugh harder, causing him to double over. “Sleep with one eye open tonight you bastard!” The blue ninja stormed off only to stumble upon something even worse.

Kai heard Jay scream somewhere further down the dark corridor making his blood run cold. “Jay?!” He yelled, racing off down the hall to find his partner toppled over staring at a gruesome sight. Leaned against the nearby wall were the charred remains of some unlucky soul, nothing remained except mangled bone. “Oh fuck…” he breathed, taking a moment to collect himself before offering Jay a hand, “hey, you okay?”

Jay took the offered hand and let Kai haul him up, “fuck, yeah I just… wasn’t expecting that…”

The two sat in silence for a second before the other ninja came rushing in. They all screeched to a halt once they realized what had happened. Lloyd spoke up first, tone grim, “guess we know what happened to our intruder, we don’t know what did that so I wouldn't touch anything.”

Jay was still visibly shaken, seeing bodies didn't get any easier after the first time. “Yeah, fuck that looks like bad news-” he paused, remembering his hand was still holding onto Kai’s. Pointedly glancing down, “dude, you can let go of my hand now.”

Kai yanked his hand back like he’d been burned, face turning a bright red. “Oh! Ha, sorry bout that,” he wondered if he sounded as embarrassingly loud as he thought he did. The silence that followed hung heavy with awkward tension.

Cole with his ever perfect timing came to pull the two of them over to the group, “ok I think that's enough burned bodies for one mission let's get the scroll and get outta here.”

Kai pulled back waving him off, “you guys go-- I’ll catch up in a sec, I wanna look around a bit more...” He didn’t know why but something told him to stay, trying his best to return the quizzical looks of the others with his most convincing smile.

“Alright,” Lloyd huffed, expression unreadable, “but don’t take too long.” Kai gave a thumbs up and watched as the rest of the party made their way back down the hall, Jay giving him a lingering glance before following the others.

Kai turned back to examine the corpse, crouching down so he was eye-level with the body. Whatever had done this had burned the dude pretty bad, strangely enough leaving everything else untouched.

“Kai.”

He jerked his head up, sure now that he heard a voice calling his name. One quick look around told him no one was there, he did notice however, a sword laying next to the body. It was unlike any weapon he’d seen before, and he had seen some really crazy shit. The blade was made of a reflective black metal, the torchlight bouncing off of it in a way that reminded him of burning embers.

“Take it.”

He felt it. Something pulled at the back of his mind urging him to take the sword. Everything that happened next passed in slow motion, fixed in a trance-like state. He reached for the sword, closing his hand around the handle and lifting it off the ground. It felt right. In an instant he knew this sword had been waiting here for him, waiting for the only person worthy of wielding it. He took great care in pulling his current sword out of its sheath, setting it on the ground and sliding the new sword in its place. A perfect fit.

“Kai!”, Nya calls from down the hall, “let’s go slowpoke!”

His sister's voice snaps him out of his stupor, “Okay, I’m coming!” He stood, giving the body one last pitiful look before making his way back to the others.

Chapter Text

The sun was setting by the time they got back to the temple. The last golden rays clinging to the horizon as Nya pulled the Bounty alongside a small loading dock set into the mountain. The ride back had been quieter than usual, Kai had immediately gone below deck once they left and his strange absence left a notable gap in the conversation. He’d been the last one to leave too, trailing after the group like a zombie as they made their descent down the gangway. It was extremely unusual as Kai was normally the one most impatient to get back home.

After everyone unloaded the ship, they headed inside to deliver the scroll to Wu as promised. Lloyd, with treasure held carefully in his hand, presented it to his uncle. Sensei Wu took it and smiled proudly at the ragtag group of ninjas. “Well done, my students.”

The group stood in silence for a moment, soaking in the feeling of pride radiating from their teacher before Zane spoke up. “If you don’t mind me asking Sensei, what is written on the scroll?”

Sensei Wu held up a hand, pausing while he took the time to take a seat. He then poured himself a glass of warm tea and took a long drawn out sip. The ninja, meanwhile, were fixed in silence, anticipation swarming in their chests. Lloyd in particular was excited to hear a new legend about Ninjago or the Sixteen Realms and ever-so-slightly leaned in. Wu, satisfied with his cup of tea, spoke up, “written on this very scroll is… my favorite tea recipe.”

A beat of silence passed, no one said a word. Then the room exploded into madness.

Chaos descended as everyone began shouting over one another, all trying to give Wu a piece of their mind. Who, meanwhile, ignored their complaints. Jay and Nya were the most upset with the news while Lloyd and Cole struggled to accept the reality of the situation. Zane, to the best of his ability, was trying to get everyone under control, with mixed results.

The only one not adding to the commotion was Kai, seemingly lost in thought. He stared at the ground, an intense look on his face. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration as if he was trying to answer the hardest riddle in the world. Lloyd looked over at his friend, and upon noticing his dazed expression he called out to him, “hey Kai, are you okay?” There was no response, not even a sign of acknowledgment. “Kai, you there dude?” Lloyd reached out a hand to bring the red ninja back to the present by giving him a gentle nudge.

This stirred Kai from whatever thought he was lost in, “what do you want?” he snapped.

Lloyd put up his hands in defense, “just making sure you’re good, man.” Concern laced his words; Kai was known to be hot-headed and quick tempered, but this behavior was just melodramatic.

Kai winced as the realization dawned on him that he was being kind of an asshole. “Sorry Lloyd, I didn’t mean to yell at you,” he apologized.

“That’s alright,” Lloyd smiled, “I understand, it’s been a long day.” Kai nodded, grateful for Lloyd’s forgiving nature. He opened his mouth to say more before he was cut off by Master Wu.

“If you would all be so kind as to stop screaming at me so that I may explain myself.” The room fell silent once more, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. “I was, how you youth put it, pranking you,” he paused for effect to let the words sink in. “Which is why I think you all deserve a nice weekend off for a change, since you did go through all that trouble.”

A cheer rose up from the group at the mention of a vacation. The past few months had been rough for everyone and a much needed break was just what the master ordered.

The next day went by in a haze. Jay had left to visit his parents, Zane and Cole chose to use the time for a romantic weekend getaway, and Nya was applying new touch-ups to the various machines the ninja used during their missions. Lloyd and Kai had opted to stay behind at the temple, hoping to relax at home for once. Except relaxing seemed impossible for Kai.

Kai paced the training room, arms wound around his frame. Fire seemed to bubble underneath his skin and he swore his face was beginning to melt. Something inside him was begging to release all the pent up energy, to destroy everything, to leave only ashes. He felt as if he was bursting at the seams, like he was a powder keg about to explode; it was driving him crazy. Something was wrong. What if he was sick? The signs were there, but it had never been this bad before. He had to get whatever this was out. Now.

The training room was equipped to handle their elemental powers to great extremes. It had to be or else they would’ve destroyed the place a long time ago. He made a quick stop at the wall terminal to punch in his personal code, setting the training routine on the highest difficulty. The room hummed to life as metal plates slid down over the walls and windows, the floor getting the same treatment. Lastly, the dummy robots they used began to boot up. Nya had mentioned she made some upgrades to their systems. Guess now was a great time to test them out. Training in his loungewear probably wasn’t the best idea, but he wasn’t about to take the time change except to remove his t-shirt. It had been a gift from Nya for his birthday so, sweatpants would have to do.

“Welcome Kai,” the training room system chirped, “your settings have been loaded in, are you ready to begin?” The cool metal of the floor hissed as he stepped onto it, shifting into a defensive stance. Every nerve in his body sang in anticipation, time seemed to slow to a stop and the sound of his heartbeat was the only thing Kai could hear.

Showtime.

“Begin.”

Fire burst from his fingertips, coating his arms in thick wispy flame. Kai was slightly surprised at his own intensity but surprise quickly morphed into ambition. He lunged at the closest dummy landing a quick blow before ducking under the counter-attack. Kai swung again, this time hitting the robot much harder, leaving a warped dent in the metal. It stuttered for a bit and then swiveled back, attempting to trip Kai. He moved out of the way just in time to send a twirling tornado of fire towards the machine, which dodged the flames. The tornado collided with the metal wall, leaving a charred smear in its wake.

Kai let out a grunt of frustration, not satisfied with his current performance. He lowered his stance and charged at the robot, fists ablaze. It dodged his first swing easily, pushing his arm to the side using the momentary lack of defense to deliver two quick blows to Kai’s side. The bot then shoved Kai aside, which sent him sliding backwards, arms thrown up defensively. It meant to take advantage of having put him off balance, too bad that he was properly warmed up now. It closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, swinging a leg up to try and deliver a devastating kick. Kai was faster, blocking the attack and sending the dummy twisting backwards. The pair collided, exchanging a whirlwind of punches each avoiding the other. That was, until, Kai got in a lucky shot. His fist carved its way through the bot’s chest cavity and exited through the back. “Ah shit,” he muttered as he yanked his hand back, the broken machine slumped to the floor, “Nya is gonna be pissed.”

He was stupid to let his guard down, as the next training dummy was oh so kind enough to remind him. The world flew by him until he was staring at the ceiling, having been knocked flat on his ass. The fall had disoriented him, but instincts kicked in and he rolled to the side. The metal floor made a sickening crunch as the second training robot’s fist crashed into the spot Kai had just been. Kai pushed off the ground, jumping back and pivoting off his foot to swing his leg around, sending a wave of fire towards the bot. It bent itself backward to avoid the projectile, the flames swept just over the top of its head.

The rapid sound of metal on metal was the only warning he had to indicate that the third bot was sprinting towards him. It lunged at him from behind, locking its arms around his neck. Instinct and years of training kicked in, he widened his stance and used the momentum of the attack to flip the bot forward, slamming it into the floor.

Alright, two on one, he’d faced worse odds. The second robot came back swinging, charging Kai while its companion picked itself off the ground. He launched himself backwards, springboarding off his hands into a multitude of flips until he’d put a good distance between himself and the robots; maybe there was some benefit to the gymnastics training Wu had put them through. For a moment the world stood still as the pair stared him down. A silent agreement seemed to pass between the machines in that moment and the two of them took off towards Kai. The three twirled in a string of contact as they met each other blow for blow. Kai could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, something inside him began to fester. A deep anger, a great fury, a blinding rage; it was all-consuming. It controlled every fiber of his being, calling for him to destroy everything in his path. And so he gave in to temptation.

With this new-found fire he shoved the robot to his right with all his force, sending it crashing back into the wall hard enough to embed it in the metal. The robot sparked before fizzing out and shutting down completely. Kai then turned his attention to the dummy on his left, giving it a sickening smirk just as he brought his leg up, foot connecting with its head and kicking it clean off.

He was finally down to the last training dummy, it stood on the other side of the room watching his every movement. Kai stared back at it, he probably looked terrible standing there hunched over, sweaty and covered in fresh bruises. A moment of understanding seemed to pass between the two of them as Kai straightened himself and began a slow pace around the room. The bot mirrored his actions, the two circling each other like vultures watching for any sign of weakness.

Something within Kai snapped, like a spark had ignited within him. A sinister laugh ripped through the dead air. It made his opponent give pause, tilting its head in quiet confusion. Kai only laughed more as he sent a wall of tumbling flame towards the training dummy in front of him. A cyclone of fire encircled the bot, trapping it at the center of the swirling and howling firestorm. A tense few seconds passed before Kai clawed his way through the flames, pouncing on the robot trapped within and pinning it to the floor. There was no defending itself against his onslaught, piece by piece, limb by limb, he tore the robot apart. Lastly he ripped the poor things head off, holding it aloft to gaze into the empty sockets; igniting his hand he watched as the head began to melt. Metal plating and wires flowed out of his hand in a molten river that dripped to the floor. An image flashed in his mind for just a moment, that the head he was holding wasn’t the robots, it was one of his friends.

“Kai?”

All around him the fire extinguished itself, Lloyds voice snapping him out of whatever had just possessed him. Slowly he turned to look at Lloyd who stared back at him with a look of terror. “What the fuck are you doing Kai?”

Kai froze, the horror of what he’d done began to fully dawn on him as he sat there unable to move. He felt mortified, hot guilt and shame crawled up his throat choking him. Every word in his defense died on his tongue-- powerless to protect himself from the disappointment radiating from his best friend. “Dude, are you okay?” Lloyd took a tentative step towards Kai, “you’ve been acting weird all weekend.”

Kai leaped to his feet and dropped the deformed head of the training dummy. He frantically glanced around the room, taking in the carnage he had caused. The robots laid in broken disfigured pieces, parts scattered every which way. The stench of motor oil hung in the air. Kai felt lightheaded as a deep guilt sat heavy on his stomach, Nya had worked so hard on those robots.

Something urged him forward, a force pulling him towards Lloyd. Kai was aware that it was his own body moving, but somewhere deep down it didn’t feel like he had any control. It was as if he had let go of the reigns and only pure impulse was guiding him. For once in his life, his own potential scared him. The way he felt when he was fighting the robots was something he had never experienced before and the images he had seen frightened him even more.

“I’m fine,” Kai grunted as he made his way towards Lloyd, sparing him an apologetic look before exiting the room. The image of the burning dummy head haunted him the whole way to his room, because for just a moment it had been Lloyd’s head instead, and that scared him more than anything.

Lloyd had tried to get him to come to dinner later that night, but Kai couldn’t stand the thought of sitting in that awful uncomfortable silence that was bound to happen. So, he declined through the door and pretended he didn’t hear the disappointment in Lloyd’s voice. The hours crawled by as he tossed and turned in bed wishing for a sleep that refused to come. Finally around midnight sleep overcame him and he was whisked away.

He dreamed of fire and smoke, of a world choked to death on its own ash. “ You were always meant for greatness ,” a voice whispered to him. It filled his head with visions of a world born anew out of the embers, and stood atop it was Kai burning with glory. “ They saw your ambitions and feared you, so they snuffed you out. ”

The voice grew louder as it spoke, building to a fever pitch.

“ Son of Fire, keeper of the eternal flame, is this the life you wanted? Trapped by destiny and discarded by fate, you were never given a choice. ” The visions disappeared, replaced by a blinding, white hot anger that consumed him. “ You could bend the sun to your will alone if you wished. Those who are one and the same with the hearts of distant stars were never meant to bow to the whims of others. ”

Just as suddenly as they had come, the visions and the anger disappeared. Finally giving Kai the chance to ask the one question that burned in the back of his mind.

“Who are you?”

Hollow laughter filled his head, “ you already know the answer Kai, I am the cleansing fire that this world desires. Together we can fix this broken realm, and you and your friends can finally be happy. ” The voice trailed out, slowly fading away. The crackle of fire picked up as the flames surrounding him consumed every inch in sight. And then, darkness.

Kai shot awake, a thick fog clouded his mind as he launched out of bed, stumbling into his bedside table while doing so. Sweat covered every inch of him and brown hair clung to the sides of his face. He glanced in the mirror and saw his ghastly reflection; his eyes were bloodshot and dark circles had formed underneath. Kai staggered into the wall closest to him as he was suddenly aware at just how weak his legs were. It didn’t seem to phase him though, as he continued out of the room and down the hallway as if pulled forward by an unseen force.

His hand dragged alongside the wall and as if lit by a match, flames sprouted from his fingertips. For the second time in his life, Kai’s whole world began to go up in smoke.