Cole sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. He was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The bed was rather uncomfortable, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. He had too much to think about. 

Jay was hurt. Zane and Lloyd were missing. Skylor also seemed to be missing. Master Chen had called an announcement early that morning telling everyone to watch for his daughter. Kai was... 

The black ninja sighed once again and rolled over onto his stomach. He grunted as the rock-hard mattress dug into his belly. What Kai was going through, he couldn't imagine. To totally lose yourself in anger and revenge and unleash it without realizing on one of your best friends. He had seen the red ninja totally break down after leaving Jay's room. He didn't know what his injured friend had told Kai, but it seemed to have connected with him. 

Cole swiped his black hair out of his eyes and thought back to that day. It had been almost three days since Kai's... incident. After the wild-haired teen had hurt Jay, Kai had woken from his trance. Cole had to make a split-second decision that Kai had meant no harm and reluctantly allowed him to help carry their writhing companion to his room. 

The black-clothed teen growled under his breath. They had gotten no help from Master Chen of his minions. Those blithering... Cole smashed his fist into the bed angrily. Kai and he had wrap Jay up themselves, hoping they weren't hurting him further in the process. They sat with him all night before deciding to do a shift. Right now it was Kai's turn to watch over the blue ninja. He had wanted to take a double shift several times, but Cole had refused. Falling asleep from sheer exhaustion wouldn't help their friend. 

His mind returned to Sensei Garmadon. He had not been seen since before Jay had been injured. He didn't know what had happened to the older man, but he knew it couldn't be good. 

"So many questions..." he whispered. "But when will they be answered?"

One thing he knew for sure. They had to find Zane, Lloyd, and Garmadon. Then they could find a way to get Jay back to Nya's base and get him cured. It was a strange sickness that had overcome the young ninja. He slept a lot, barely ate, seemed groggy. Something was playing with his mind. Cole wondered if it was an internal problem or the fault of the jade blade. In any case, maybe Garmadon, Wu, or Misako would know what was plaguing Jay. 

Nya wouldn't hurt either. 

Cole knew how important Nya was to Jay. If anything would help him, it would be her. He hoped they could establish some sort of contact with them. Currently, they probably didn't even know where they were. But right now, he had to concentrate on finding his lost friends. 

Suddenly a thought hit him. Zane would know what to do. He always did. If only there was a way to get to him...

The teen got off of his bed and started for the door. He needed to let off some steam. He checked the clock and blinked in surprise.

"Kai managed to get a double-shift after all," he grinned. Starting off at a sprint, he made his way to Jay's room. 

He was panting by the time he reached the blue ninja's door. Cole knocked on the door and let himself in. He spotted Kai sitting on a chair next to Jay. Kai looked almost as pale as the injured teen himself. 

"Kai? What's wrong?" Cole asked slowly, his eyes shifting from Kai to Jay.

Kai stuttered awkwardly, "Well... I was going to come get you, but... I didn't want to leave him alone and-"

"Kai," Cole demanded sternly. "What happened?"

The red ninja looked at the floor and shuffled his feet. He pointed to Jay's trembling black hand. 

Wait... BLACK hand?

Cole dashed over with confusion and fear planted on his face. Sure enough, the master of lightning's hand had turned a sickly pale grey edging on black. 

The black-haired ninja turned around with a frown on his face. Kai looked uncomfortable. 

"When did this happen?" he asked quietly. 

"Uh... erm..." Kai still wouldn't make eye contact. "I noticed it... well..."

"Kai..."

"Okay! Okay! I noticed it yesterday, alright?" He flinched as if he thought Cole was going to be furious.

Cole analyzed the situation quickly in his head. Yesterday. So it had taken only a few days for this to happen. 

"And... why didn't you tell me?"

Kai started blubbering, "Well, I meant to.. I just.. I was kind of mixed up and... I... I..."

Cole sighed inwardly. His friend had been under a large amount of stress lately. There were numerous ways to fix this, but since it was mostly emotional...

"Kai, it's okay. It's alright. I understand."

The red ninja looked up at his brother with pain in his eyes. Cole smiled willingly at him and held his arms to the side in a silent gesture. 

Kai smiled a bit and accepted the invitation. He was pulled into a big bear hug by the ninja of earth. Cole's arms were tightly locked around Kai's figure, and Kai dug his face into Cole's broad shoulder. The red ninja tried not to cry, but he ended up sobbing anyway. This was way too much for him. Maybe he wasn't as strong as he thought he was... 

They stood there in the embrace until Kai reluctantly pulled away, staring into Cole's deep brown eyes before looking down again. 

"....thanks, Cole... I'm sorry." Kai whispered. He had been terrified for the past few days that his friends wouldn't accept him anymore. It would be much harder to break their friendship than that, he realized. 

Cole just smiled and patted his brother on the back. 

"Go get some rest, bud. You've earned it. And thank you for watching Jay like this," he added. "I'm sure he appreciates it too."

Kai gave him a weak smile of gratitude before stumbling for the door. He paused once before he left the room to look back at Cole. The black-haired teen winked at him before turning back to Jay. 

The master of fire gave a sigh of relief before making his way back to his room.