Nya's P.O.V.

I snapped.

When Lloyd died, I was devastated. When Zane and Pixal died, I was numb. When Skylor died I was conflicted. Now Kai died.

And I'm angry.

I fought back at Cole, but I couldn't even get near him without being knocked over by that strange force field. My brother bled to death on the floor and I couldn't do anything to help him. I've been too passive! I've let Cole do so many horrible things and not even lifted a finger to stop them. But this ends now. I won't sit back and watch the carnage like I have been! And I sure as heck won't let Cole kill Jay.

Fury is coursing through me. I'm going to end this now. I am done. DONE. There's no more sympathy for Cole left in me. He had his chance to prove to me that he was still in there somewhere. But now I know the truth. The real Cole would never do that to Kai, whether he was possessed by a demon or not.

I could die. Fighting Cole, I could go down. I intend to go down. I never got to say goodbye to Lloyd, Zane, Pixal, Skylor, or Kai. I have to find Jay. He's been gone, out of sight, for days, but I know he's still alive somewhere. We haven't talked. I want to make things right. Jay is the last person left in the world that I care about, and I won't go to my death without saying something to him.

I have been laying here on the floor next to Kai for two hours. It's late now, a moonless night. It's been time to collect my thoughts, figure out how to lure Cole into the open, and imagine the wonderful sensation of my dagger piercing his chest, plunging into his black heart. I imagine it would hurt him. Cole deserves to hurt. He should feel the pain he's inflicted. Cole is going to suffer.

I will finally have revenge. And then I won't have to live with myself anymore.

Abruptly, I stand. My vision is a tunnel. I'm on a mission and nothing will distract me. I'm going to my room to get my twin knives, small and sharp, ready to cut. I haven't trained lately. But I have a sure sensation that I'll be able to take Cole. He's never taken me seriously. That was all an act. He'll never see me coming.

I have my daggers now. I'm holding them in exactly the right way. I've never killed anything before. But Cole picked it up quickly, didn't he? I am focused, my breaths in perfect rhythm with my heartbeats. Plan. I have a plan. What will I say to Jay? How can I explain everything going on in my head in a singular sentence, perhaps even word?

First I have to find Jay. He's not in anyplace someone has died. I can't blame him. The bodies are still there, we didn't know what to do with them. But they haven't started to decay. They are in some sort of suspended animation. The blood on the floor hasn't even dried. At last, I check in the training room. There is a boy in blue, sitting on the floor. Scattered around him are papers, I can see the cramped, messy scrawl of his handwriting in the margins. It's Jay.

So many things going through my mind. What I never said but I always wanted to say. The words are tickling my tongue, just three small words in total, three syllables. But I can't say it. It doesn't matter anyway. All I can tell him is what I came for.

"Goodbye." I say to Jay.

Jay looks at me, blue eyes sparking with surprise, confusion, and then-awful realization.

"You're going to kill yourself?" He asks. I silently curse myself. Of course Jay would say something back.

"No, I'm going to kill Cole. But I'll probably die with him." I say, with complete honesty.

Jay's P.O.V.

Nya came.

I know Kai died. I heard her screams, but I didn't come. It wasn't out of cruelty, anger, or hate. I was too focused on my project.

Now Nya is here. Her clothes have so many different people's blood on them that she might as well be a walking blood drive. Her hair has gone without brushing for days, and also has dried blood in it, making it be clumped in strange ways. Her face seems to have aged decades in weeks, her mouth set into a permanent line of worry. But the biggest change is in Nya's eyes. Where I saw life, light, and hope just a few days before there is only a coldness that's hard to describe. Sadness. Hopelessness. Regret. Most of all, a burning desire to kill. I have only seen that look once before, and it was in the eyes of Cole.

Nya is dangerous. I've promised myself that I would stay away from her more times than I can count, yet I keep being dragged back. Even now I'm drawn to her, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. But maybe now I can help Nya.

Nya is struggling to say something. I don't know what I was expecting, but when she finally speaks, I know it was not this.

"Goodbye." She says almost blankly.

What is she talking about, goodbye? Is she going somewhere? I eye the sharp dagger in each of her hands. Wait, she doesn't mean-

"Are you going to kill yourself?" I ask. I never thought Nya would do it, but it makes sense now. But again, her answer surprises me.

"No, I'm going to kill Cole. But I'll probably die with him." Nya replies. Her eyes are locked into mine, with the intense gaze I know so well. The expression that tells me Nya isn't playing. Before I can say anything else, she continues. "After I'm gone, you will be the last ninja left. You have to uphold the legacy. Become a sensei. Find the new generation of ninja and train them. Protect Ninjago like you always wanted."

I don't want to protect Ninjago. I want to protect Nya. Doesn't she see, the only reason I haven't crawled into a hole and died yet is because of her?

"What if there's another way to get rid of Cole besides going and killing him? As you said, it's still him in there." I manage to slip out. She needs to know what I found.

"Jay, don't you see? Cole could be a demon. He could be a human. I don't care anymore. He has to die, and I have to kill him! Don't you want revenge?" Nya is so quiet, so calm that it's much more frightening than if she screamed at me. "I hate Cole, Jay. I hate him more than I've ever hated anything else before." Her voice is slowly rising, getting angrier, more crazed. "And soon this will all be DONE. I wish things could be different, but they can't. So, goodbye."

Nya's warm breath is on my face now. She's moved in close as she was delivering her speech. I've never seen her like this before, and it scares me. Nya has snapped. She is different. Maybe she would prefer to just go try to kill Cole. But I still have to tell her what my research has yielded.

"Nya, you have to listen to me!" I say, breaking the moment. She opens her mouth to say something else but I cut her off. Talking is what I do best. Especially when it's something important.

"Do you know where I've been for the last few days? I haven't been hiding like you probably think I was. No, I decided to make myself useful. I found research that-the others-were doing before they seemed to abandon it. Judging from what they had written in it, they were trying to find things about demons. It was taken right before the dreams. From what I can tell, they didn't see a connection. But from what we have experienced, Nya, I think they were onto something. So I continued the research. And I found useful information. I know what's possessing Cole. I know how to get the others back. I know how to get the demon out, Nya. I can get Cole back! No killing, no death! In fact, I can even reverse the things Cole did to everyone. Hey can come back to life. Don't you want that more than revenge?" This pours out of me. I can save the day. I can save everyone. Most importantly, I can save Nya.

Nya looks shocked. Her daggers drop to the ground. The only thing she says is, "You did all that?" Nobody expects twittering little Jay to step up. Not Nya, and definitely not Cole. I guess I proved them wrong.

"I did all that, and I did it for you." I tell her. "You have to believe me. Please, don't do something you'll never be able to live with yourself for."

"Jay, I- I.." Nya is shaking her head, unable to speak. She's overwhelmed, I think. I get that feeling a lot. She settles on: "You're sure whatever it is will work?"

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life." I say.

"You've been helping? You were trying to look out for me?" Nya says. Something is changing in her eyes.

"Everyone could use extra protection, especially when there's something so ridiculously dangerous happening." I reply, the edges of my mouth curling up into a smile, such a foreign feeling these days. Nya blinks and frowns. The expression of rage is fading from her face. I don't know how, but what I said is working.

"Well, that's our life." She says.

I hold out my hand, palm up, to her. "If you take my hand that means you won't try to kill Cole. You won't take the easy way out and die with him. You'll use the better way, and we will both live. And hopefully get our friends back." I say. I don't know where this confidence is coming from. I've never been this empowered.

Nya looks from my face to my hand. Then she looks at her own hand as she places it on top of mine. "Since when did you get this smart?" She asks, blinking more as if trying to clear her head.

"I always have been."

And just like that, Nya snaps back into action mode. Her fingers tighten around my wrist and then she's pulling me over to the papers.

"We have no time to waste. You explain what you found to me, with complete detail, and then we act." She says. I smile a little wider. "What?"

"I missed you." I tell her. And then I jump into the long explanation of my theory.

We have hope again.

And hopefully, we'll win.