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Kai’s power came from the heart.
No, not his physical heart, though it pulsed in time with the thrum of adrenaline in his bloodstream all the same. Rather, it came from the heart in a way emotion came from the same place. Burning anger, passion, love, they shared the same space as the flames in his chest, but not from the never ending thu-thump thu-thump of his left breast. The heart and the heart were vastly separate entities, though one could not truly live without both.
The others felt their power in the buzz of their fingertips or the weight across their shoulders, but Kai was different.
He had always been different.
Perhaps that’s why Kai thought he was the green ninja, before Lloyd found his way back into his arms. Perhaps that’s why he sacrificed his happiness at such a young age so that his sister could live a normal life while he earned calluses on hands that were supposed to be soft and smooth. The love for his family and the anger he felt towards those who would dare harm them pumped oxygen into the flames. This is what he meant. It comes from his heart. It comes from his passion, emotion, his need to protect, before everything was ripped away from him again.
Sensei had told him once that fire burned brightest when he had everything to protect-
-and everything left to lose.
“Kai!”
Perhaps that’s why the glow turned blinding as he jumped in front of that spear.
This is the height of his power, he thought as he listened to the tune of Lloyd’s cries. He could taste the smoke and ash under his tongue. He could smell the burning flesh, his flesh, as his heat caused the wound to cauterize around the spearhead. He could see the wreckage of the streets around him, and the wicked grin of the villain from another far away rooftop who had dared to hurt his little brother.
His other senses dulled in comparison to the rising heat. No, that couldn’t have been the right word for the inferno in his chest, it was much too tame a word for that. The feeling of flames burning their way down his arms, forcing himself open as a conduit, was agony, yet his tears had long since evaporated. The glow spider-webbed its way over his shoulders, up his neck and across his lips.
What this what Nya had felt like, drawing upon the waves until she became one with them? It couldn’t have been, not with how the power begged to be released, not accepted. Flames were not like water. Flames did not mold their shape or fit into containers. Flames burned until there was nothing left to hold them.
Kai wrapped his hands around the wooden shaft of the spear and let the heat set it alight.
He turned behind him and whispered to his brother, as soft as a prayer, “You should run, greenie. This powder keg’s set to explode.” His eyes crinkled with a sad sort of fondness.
Lloyd, dear, beloved Lloyd, shook his head, “I’m not- I’m not gonna leave you!” Kai could almost see him, the little imp in black who came running to his bedroom at night covered in snot and tears so that his fire could chase away the darkness and night terrors, “C’mon- P-Pixal can fix you-“
“Lloyd.” His voice wasn’t as lighthearted now. The flames pulsed quicker, like a countdown on one of the video games they all enjoyed. He could see his reflection in his brother’s glassy eyes; with eyes glowing white-hot amidst the sizzling orange skin, “Let me have this. They need you.”
“I need you!” Lloyd was crying full force. He tried to tug on Kai’s gi, but was met with a blast of heat that could melt him like wax, “I can’t- I need you!”
But Kai needed to do this, though it’s not like he could have stopped it if he tried. Their enemy was too quick, too strong, too smart to be taken down by any other means.
So with a smile and an expression that would have held tears if he had water left to spare, he croaked, “Take care of Nya for me, will you?” And the melted remains of his uniform shoe met Lloyd’s chest, sending him off the edge of the building they stood upon.
Kai turned back to the vile man across the rooftops and flashed a gleaming grin. He opened his arms, and let the flames burn free.
(He would never learn how the explosion leveled five square blocks, which had been mercifully evacuated. He would never hear the anguished scream Lloyd made as he fell, only to be caught in Jay’s jet and shielded from the blast. He would never be able to tend to the burns he had caused to Cole’s skin, or comfort Sensei Wu as he tossed his incense in a cabinet and threw anything that could make fire overboard. He wouldn’t be able to help Zane through the grieving process as he fought to not flick that switch and make all of the pain go away, or to keep Pixal from throwing herself into her blueprints to find where she had went wrong, what she could have built better.)
(For Nya, the worst part was that she couldn’t even leave a candle burning for him. She felt she couldn’t mourn properly.)
(The flicker of fire, which used to bring such comfort, only made her heart ache.)