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Zane's eyes flicked open and the words across his vision disappeared. His body seemed to be moving of its own accord. His fingers and toes twitched, his eyes flicked all around, and it took a minute before he inhaled deeply. Then his body relaxed and he was in control again.

He bolted upright.

Where am I?

Just a moment ago he had been in the Corridor, under attack from the ninja's Ultra Dragon. Now, he suddenly found himself in a room he didn't recognize. It had been constructed in a traditional style, with wooden walls but no windows except for a dim lamp on the bedside table.

He must have lost consciousness, but he had no idea what could have happened while he was out.

He took another glance around the room. Too simple for Chen, he thought. Had Chen won the battel? Were they still allies with him? More and more questions began to pile up, but he pushed them aside to focus on the matter at hand. Right now he needed to figure out where he was.

Zane's chest tightened with the horrible realization that he may have been captured. However, the quaint little bedroom didn't look like a prison. Either way, he couldn't sit there and wait to find out.

He remembered losing his shurikens before he was knocked out, and they were nowhere to be seen, now. Zane slipped out of bed and crept towards the door. Kneeling beside it, he pressed his ear against it to listen. No sounds came from outside. When he tried to slide the door open, it was locked shut.

Prisoner, he decided.

He fashioned himself a lockpick, unlocked the door, and silently crept into the hall. As he closed the door behind him, he saw the corridor, too, was surprisingly more home-y than he had expected. Whoever had taken him in clearly wasn't prepared to hold captives. Lucky for him.

With footsteps as soft and silent as falling snow, he slunk down the hallway, clinging to the shadows at all times. Even in the hall, there was no light coming from outside, indicating that it was late in the evening. He didn't have to travel far before he heard voices from further in. They sounded happy, their laughter drifting through the hall like a summer breeze. For a moment, he felt a slight glimmer of hope that it would be his brothers. But as he drew nearer and the voices grew louder, he recognized that the voices were different. Ahead, he could see a patch of light that spilled into the hall from an open doorway.

Trying to remain cautious, Zane slid next to the doorway. From the sound of it, his captors were too preoccupied to be watching for escaped prisoners, so he took a risk and peeked inside.

By now, he wasn't surprised in the slightest by what he saw. It was apparently dinner time, as Garmadon was seated at the head of a long table with his wife and son on either side of him. Quickly, he scanned over the others, wondering if one of Garmadon's ninja would be guarding the grounds. He saw Seliel, gesticulating wildly as she told a story that held everyone's attention. He was surprised to see Skylor, apparently no longer affected by her father's spell, but completely human again. Again, he wondered how long he must have been out.

He recognized Kai's sister, Nya. And across from her was another man that he did not recognize. He had dark hair and wore thick pair of glasses, as well as a glove on one hand. A moment later Zane realized that the man was sitting in a wheelchair. Not a ninja, not a threat.

Just then, the man sat back in his chair, and Zane's breath caught in his throat.

Pixal sat amongst her friends, wearing a smile that radiated light and joy. And, quite literally, the warm evening lights gleamed on her silver skin so that she appeared to be glowing. She was so calm and demure next to her companions that most might overlook her amongst the commotion. And yet, that was precisely what made her stand out. She carried herself with such elegance that she couldn't help but turn every eye to her.

With a pang of regret, Zane's most recent memory of her came back to him. She had been so angry at him, and yet, she had still tried to help him escape the dragon. Her just couldn't understand her. At times, he could swear that she felt the same way about him as he did about her, but then she would push him away and insist that there was nothing between them. His heart ached to see her and know that she would never be his. Zane was too distracted to notice how far he had leaned out into the doorway until a pair of sharp eyes met his.

Zane and Skylor's gazes locked onto each other, and for a moment, they were both too dumbfounded to move. Zane shot away from the door at the same time that he heard her shout, "He's awake!"

He didn't pause to look back, but he could hear the commotion as they leapt from their seats to give chase. He sprinted down the hallway, eyes open for anything that looked like an exit.

He should have stolen away when he had the chance. Footsteps pounded behind him and he swerved around a corner, telling himself that he only needed to outrun them. If he could get outside, he could hide or fight back or keep running, but as it was they had their elemental powers, and he was unarmed –

Zane was suddenly yanked to a stop, as if he was tied to the end of the string. A single, panicked thought flashed through his mind. Not again!

His body was slammed against the wall, pinned like a dead butterfly mounted for display. He was only half surprised that it was Skylor, not Pixal, who ran up to him, her hand extended to hold him in place.

She wore a haughty grin as her teammates and sensei fell in beside her. "I thought that would work. You just love to make it easy, don't you, Icepop?"

As far as Zane knew, Skylor still didn't know why Pixal's polarity worked so well on him. He had asked Pixal not to reveal his secret to anyone, and he was fairly certain that she would keep her promise. But as long as Skylor knew that it worked, she didn't have to understand why, she always used it to her advantage. He cast a glance at Pixal, but her expression was unreadable.

"Let me go!" Zane demanded, for words were all he had.

Seliel folded her arms. "Look who finally woke up from his nap. We were starting to think you'd be out of it for good."

"So now that he's talking," Nya said, "What are we going to do with him?"

"You will let me go if you know what's good for you," Zane retorted. He tried to sound commanding, but it was a bit of a tough sell.

"Big words coming from a man hanging from the wall," said Seliel.

"My master will come for me! If you don't let me go, he will find me and my brothers will come tear this place down just to free me!"

The girls exchanged looks, and he got the impression that they knew something he didn't. "What?"

Well, we thought the same thing for a while," Nya said. "But the thing is . . ."

"It's been two months," Skylor said. "Without so much as a single threat."

"Months?" Zane echoed. Just how long had he been out? What all had happened in that time? Were his brothers okay?

Garmadon cleared his throat and took a step forward. "Perhaps it's time we fill our guest in on all that he has missed."

Zane sighed and hoped that humility would work where threats had failed. "Fine. I know when I'm beaten. I'll cooperate if you tell me what's happened." More than anything, he really wanted to be put down. He didn't appreciate being thrown around so easily, having his natural weakness exploited.

To his relief, Garmadon nodded to Skylor.

"But Sensei –" Seliel started to object.

"We have little to fear from our guest," he assured her. "Four against one is already unfair odds. Zane seems smart enough not to test those odds."

Skylor released her hold on Zane and he dropped, stumbling when his feet hit the ground.

"Come," Garmadon said, and began to lead the way back down the hall. As Zane and the girls followed, he could sense their hostility all around him like a thick fog. All except for Pixal, who refused to even look at him. Her unease was even more suffocating than their suspicion.

Garmadon brought them back to the dining room. Misako, Lloyd, and the other man were at the door and watched curiously as Zane was escorted in. Lloyd especially stared at him with wide eyes.

The man that Zane didn't recognize wheeled himself forward and held a hand out to Zane. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm Cyrus Borg, the uh, doctor that's been treating you while you were unconscious."

Zane's eyes flew to Pixal, his eyebrows arching in question.

She had busied herself with stacking some of the plates on the table and clearing up space amongst all the food and dishes, but she seemed to feel his eyes on her. "He's a good friend of mine," Pixal said evenly. "He's the most qualified person I know to look after you."

Zane looked back at Cyrus and tentatively shook his hand.

"With all that running, I'd say you appear to be doing just fine, but I'll want to check on you in the morning just to be sure. For now, I'll leave you to . . . um . . . catch up." He nodded to Garmadon and to the girls before taking his leave.

Misako nudged her son after him. "Come on, Lloyd, it's time to go."

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm still too young to play good-cop, bad-cop."

"Actually," Garmadon said. "I think Lloyd should stay. This isn't an interrogation, but you could still learn something."

Lloyd's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes, but you must not interrupt."

Lloyd nodded and ran to sit beside his father. Misako had a disapproving look, but said nothing as she turned to leave.

Zane was directed where to sit, and the girls settled around him so that he was as good as surrounded. Only Seliel remained standing, close to the door. He was already at a hopeless disadvantage, but they just had to make sure he really felt it.

The atmosphere in the room was strikingly different now than it had been just minutes ago. Zane almost felt bad for ruining their evening. But then, they were holding him hostage.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Garmadon said. "So I'll start from the beginning. What's the last thing you remember?"

Zane thought back to the very last thing he remembered seeing before he woke up. "I was running from the dragon, in the Corridor." He didn't think it was necessary to mention the weapons that he had so foolishly lost.

"Hmm. Good memory." Zane only just realized how odd it might be for him to remember everything up until the last second, but he couldn't tell if Garmadon found it suspicious. Zane reminded himself that he needed to be more wary if he was to keep his secret. Then again, he had never been so careful before he knew what he really was, and no one but Pixal had ever figured it out.

"You should know that your friends did bring you to safety," Garmadon continued. "But they had to make their escape when they realized that they were outnumbered."

"They left me?" Zane said in disbelief. Why would they leave him behind, then not even come to rescue him?

"We have not seen them since. After they vanished, Skylor defeated her father, who was promptly taken into custody."

Zane looked to Skylor, impressed. Was Garmadon saying that she had fought Chen one-on-one, or did he mean to imply that she had defeated his entire army? Was that possible?

"The whole army," Nya clarified for Zane, as if reading his mind. "With one blow." She looked very smug, almost as if she had done it herself.

Skylor leaned back, rolling her eyes. "That's a bit of an exaggeration."

"She unlocked her true potential!" Lloyd added. Zane didn't know what that meant, but Garmadon stopped the conversation there.

"That in itself is another story. But after the battle, we brought you here because you were seriously injured. Pixal and Cyrus have been nursing you back to health ever since. We weren't sure that you would ever wake from your coma." Now Garmadon looked at Zane very sternly. "Now that you're well again, you will remain with us as long as I see fit."

Zane wasn't the least bit surprised. "And when you no longer want me here?" he challenged. "What will you do with me then?"

"That is entirely up to you. If it comes to it, we may have to turn you over to the proper authorities."

"I see."

"We're not going to hurt you, Zane. You may be a prisoner here, but you will be safe."

Zane didn't entirely believe him, but it didn't say it out loud. It hardly mattered when he didn't even know where in Ninjago he was, or where his teammates were, or why they seemed to have abandoned him. He was outnumbered, surrounded, and powerless. He would have to depend on himself to escape, but for now he needed to play his cards right. He let silence be his only reply.

"I think we are all very tired," Garmadon said, despite the fact that Zane had just been unconscious for a good few weeks. He stood. "Skylor, Nya, please escort Zane back to his quarters."

Zane stood, and for the first time that night, Pixal met his gaze. "I will see you in the morning."

Just looking at her striking green eyes sent a jolt through him, and Zane was as much anxious as he was eager to speak to her alone. He still had questions, so many questions, and it took everything in him not to take her hands and apologize for everything that had gone wrong the last time they spoke.

Instead he forced himself to look away, and followed his escorts back to his room. His mind still reeled as he wondered where his brothers had disappeared to, and why they would not have come for him yet. He feared they could be in great danger. Even as trapped as he was, he would have to find a way to break out. He had to find his brothers, and he had to know that they were okay.