Chapter Text
Usually, Kai would wake up to the smell of fresh breakfast that Zane had just made, loud noises filling the monastery, Sora and Frak arguing about another ridiculous topic in the kitchen and Cole banging on the bathroom door, because Jay was always taking too much time in there with his hair curlers. Rolling to his other side he would usually hear Wyldfyre and Arin complain about Lloyd waking them up too early and wait until someone storms into his room to wake him up before training.
But this morning was different. The monastery was completely silent, Kai couldn't smell Zane's pancakes from the kitchen or even hear Jay's loud music that he listens to while dealing with his hair and doing Nya's makeup. When he opened his eyes, everything in his room seemed normal, his hairgel bottle by the mirror, just how he left it, even his gi that he changed from to go to sleep was just thrown on the chair, just how he did the night before. And no Lloyd or Pixal was complaining about his mess or no Wyldfyre wanted him to do her hair. Something didn't add up and he had to find out what was going on.
After having changed to his casual clothes, he came out of his room to see whether the rest didn't just decide to prank him that day or maybe it was supposed to be a day off but he just forgot about it.
The kitchen and the living room were clean, no signs of a fight or anything, even the video games were put where they're supposed to be, he checked the rooms and no one was there as well, he even checked the place where the dragons were sleeping, but Wyldfyre wasn't there and Rontu said they didn't notice anything. When he went downstairs to the Samurai X cave, none of the mechs or vehicles were missing and he run through Pixal's stuff to see if she had left a note, but she didn't.
He couldn't believe what he saw (or should I say: didn't see). People don't just disappear like that overnight without a trail. He was too shocked to feel anything about it. Very soon, he started spiralling. He knows well that the thing he's most afraid of is his friends (or how he sometimes calles them - his family) getting hurt.
What if something happens to Wyldfyre? She has very stupid ideas at times, so he's never sure she's not gonna get herself killed. He knows she's just his student, but he loves her like his own daughter.
What if Zane will have to die again? Or like almost die? Kai knows for a fact that it happened a lot and even though he knows well that every time he was being rebuilt or brought back, it was still a frightening experience that they both would rather not go through again. He would never forgive himself if he let something bad happen to his closest friend again.
What if Nya or Lloyd would get hurt? He swore to protect them, first Nya - when their parents got kidnapped by that psycho and then Lloyd - when he unlocked his true potential. They're both grown responsible adults, but in his heart, they're still his little siblings he's just worried about.
And what about Jay and Cole? Jay is still slowly regaining his memories and probably isn't in his best form, if something had happened to him, Nya would be so broken. And Cole went through so many terrible things. From turning into a ghost and litteraly fading away, through falling into the cloud from the Bounty, to having his soul sucked out of him. If anything more happened to them, Kai would freak out.
And Pix? She deals very well with everything, from fighting, saving all of the ninjas' butts and building vehicles to fixing or bringing back to life her boyfriend, but what if she gets destroyed? She was scrapped before and if it ever happens again, it would break Zane and Kai wouldn't have that happen.
What if something happens to Sora, Arin or Frak? Sora is basically Nya's kid at this point and he promised her to take care of her multiple times. Cole once told him he feels as if he had adopted Frak, just like him and Geo adopted the Finders. Arin is very important to Lloyd in a very similar way that the other younger ninja are to Kai, Nya and Cole. Kai feels responsible for his entire ninja family and if anything bad were to happen to any of them, he would be terribly mad at himself.
He heard someone opening the door, the thought maybe it's one of the ninja with an explanation to whatever in all the merged realms this was or at least mr Frohicky with his everyday groceries in the crossroads. If this was the second one, at least maybe he saw one of them.
"Hello, Master Kai," he heard mr Frohicky entering the kitchen with his bag filled with all the things he had bought in the morning, "Why are you up so early?"
"Early?" Kai responded surprised, "usually everyone is already up at this hour and is getting ready for training".
"Yes, everyone but you. I meant it's early for you, not everyone, Master Kai".
"Okay, you're right, Mr Frohicky, speaking of everyone," Kai took a deep breath and tried his best not to panick, "Have you seen anyone except for me? Maybe leaving the monastery or in the crossroads or in a different part of the city?"
"I haven't," mr Frohicky started unpacking his groceries and putting them in the fridge, "usually when i leave for the groceries, everyone is still asleep, so I haven't noticed anything strange, did something happen?"
"Well, I'm not sure, I'm still trying to figure it all out, but when I woke up, everyone was gone, maybe you know where they can be," Kai's voice started breaking a little when he was speaking, "and i looked everywhere for notes they could've left or some clues, but i found nothing, there's also no sign of a fight or even a break-in".
"Try to calm down, at least a little bit," mr Frohicky sat Kai down on the couch and started making him tea, "I don't know whether I'm able to help, but at least I can try"
Kai tried drinking the tea, but he evidently wasn't feeling any better. He was crying, his hands were shaking and sweating and his skin was burning a little (like it usually does when he's panicking). Mr Frohicky knew that in this emotional state, only Zane was able to calm him down, but he wasn't there. Mr Frohicky didn't want the monastery to burn to ashes, so he stood up leaving burning Kai in the living room for a short while. Kai was getting more and more stressed, but soon mr Frohicky came back carrying Zane's pink hoodie. Kai made it for him for his birthday one time and it was his favorite gift of all time, because it reminded him of his best friend.
"Master Zane is not here now, but maybe things that remind you of him could help," he gave the hoodie to Kai, who was no longer a fire hazard to the monastery, though he was still shaking and tearing up. He put on the hoodie with Zane's symbol and name written on it and reached to the coffee table for the cup of tea.