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Pain is the gateway to enlightenment. Nikko's fairly sure that he read that in some crappy novel about Native American culture. He's been giving the theory some practical testing over the last few hours, and he's about ready to share his refinement of it with the world.
Pain hurts. Words of wisdom from Nikko Zond.
Words that the world isn't going to hear if he doesn't get out of here. He wants his freedom so bad he can almost taste it, except that most of what he can taste right now is his own blood. If he believed in omens, that would probably be a bad one.
He misses his family so much. He misses his dad, who looked ready to tear this jail apart stone by stone when he saw him. He misses Vincent, who'd find some way to do it. He misses Juliet, who's probably blaming herself for him being dragged away. Hell, he even misses Calvin, who's probably just relieved that Nikko isn't hassling him.
He knows that if he wants to get out of here, if he wants to see them alive again, he's going to have to put their lessons into practice. Vincent has taught him if he lets the pain get to him, he'll only get knocked on his ass more painfully. Calvin has taught him that if he focuses on the problem, it will get solved. And Vincent's teacher has presented him with one hell of a problem.
There's something about the poem that they don't understand, and it's going to kill them.
Vincent's teacher, now there's another thing. Vincent thought the old man was dead, otherwise he really would have pulled this place apart. Nikko is mildly surprised that he isn't. Nikko has been in this place for a few hours, and he can already feel himself fraying at the edges. The monk has been here for years, and he's probably the person in the world who least deserves it. Nikko knows that adversity is supposed to be character-building, but frankly he could live without having his character built that much.
And yet despite all that, Gyatso's only concern is that Nikko's dad is walking into a centuries old trap thinking he has the right answer. He has told Nikko to get out of this prison somehow, anyhow, otherwise it's all going to blow up in their faces.
Hence Nikko's current problem.
So Nikko pushes the pain aside, focuses past it, and turns everything over in his mind. Once he does, it's remarkable how quickly it all falls into place.
His dad doesn't know that there's one last secret to unravel. Nikko does, but he doesn't know what the secret is. Gyatso knows the secret, but he can't tell Nikko without being overheard, at which point the authorities have no need to keep any of them alive because they can recover the Wheel on their own. That said, there's no guarantee that they will hand Nikko or Gyatso over even if they do get the Wheel.
There is only one solution that works. Nikko's going to cut a deal all right, but it's a deal to send Gyatso after the team. Then at least the monk is free, and his dad's alive to keep coming for him, and maybe Nikko has learned something from this whole experience after all.
There are more important things than his freedom.
Now if it only didn't hurt so damn much.