~ Part 10~ | New Beginnings

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**  The Start of Something New (High School Musical) **
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"Living in my own world
Didn't understand
That anything can happen
When you take a chance
I never believed in What I couldn't see
I never opened my heart (Oh)
To all the possibilities
I know that something has changed
Never felt this way and right here tonight
This could be the start of something new"

~High School Musical

This chapter is dedicated to the_quiet_jade . I don't think I'll ever stop appreciating the kindness you have given me. I've laughed so hard from reading your stories, comments, and messages :). You're awesome sauce.

******

"NYA!"

Kai's voice felt ragged and cracked but he continued to scream her name.The rest of the group echoed the call but their shouts were much less voice-crippling than Kai's.

They've been searching for what seemed like hours and the rain and the cold hadn't let up. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse.

"It's getting really dark, Kai." Cole glanced warily at the trees. "And I'm not liking how close the thunder sounds and where there's thunder there's often-"

"Lightning!" Jay wailed, he scurried towards Kai and began tugging at the boy's arm. "I don't want to be electrocuted, Kai! I want to go back-" he almost said home but regarding the school as his home... it was right on the tip of his tongue but it still felt foreign.

Thankfully the others didn't seem to notice. "You can go back." Kai yanked his limb away. "I'm finding Nya."

Jay stood there for a moment, the rain like a waterfall off his hood. Cole kept on walking assuming his was pouting and would follow soon. But everyone was scared out of their skin when Jay opened his mouth and let out the loudest most high pitched screech ever!

"NYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!"

It was long, sharp, and terrible. Cole slapped his palms over his ears.

"What the heck, Jay?!!" He snapped.

While Jay's companions were yelling at him Nya was still huddled under that tree. Everything seemed numb and cold and sore. Nya has her eyes closed and her chin buried in her arms but a loud, horrible, sound came rocketing through the air.

"NYYYYAAAAAAA!" Nya perked up, head rising as she glanced around.

"KAI?" Nya shouted as loud as she could, voice shaky as she stumbled to her feet. Her legs gave out from underneath her from crouching so long. Nya ignored the mud and tried again, gritting her teeth in determination.

No way in heck was she staying here.

*****

Kai rolled his eyes as Jay and Cole bickered, moving to trudge on.

"KAI?"

He paused, holding his index finger in the universal symbol for silence as he listened. The boys continued arguing.

"SHUT UP!" Kai shouted, glaring at the two. Cole paused, mid-headlock, and reluctantly let a whining Jay go.

"NYA?" Kai bellowed.

Zane came up beside Kai, putting a hand on his shoulder. "NYA?" Zane echoed.

Cole and Jay both began to relay the call as well. Kai narrowed his eyes, listening and waiting, heart pounding as he tried to pin point where the call could've come from.

"KAI!"

Kai felt a grin split through his face, a joyful, crazy, goofy grin. "NYA!"

"KAI!" It was closer now, he could hear that. Zane stood there for a moment, eyes closed as he listened. After Nya yelled another time Zane had figured it out.

"That way." He said confidently.

Kai just stood there for a moment. Cole and Jay exchanged looks as they came up beside him. The raven haired boy clapped Kai over the shoulder. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

The sharp tongued teenager surprised them all by suddenly wrapping them in a huge hug. There was an 'oof' from Cole, a surprised blink from Zane, and a 'owowowow.' from Jay. But Kai didn't care. The relief he felt was so beautiful. It was this swirling emotion that seemed to control his body as he released them before taking off down the small path Zane motioned to.

His classmates followed, keeping up a brisk pace. Branches snagged at their clothes, rain and wind pushed them back, mud sloshed under their shoes but Kai was too focused to notice. Finally, he shoved through some underbrush and broke into the open area. After a few seconds Nya had stumbled on through too.

"Kai." Nya breathed, shoulders sagging as her lips turned up into a tired smile.

"Nya." Kai's voice was choked, he broke into a run and Nya came staggering to meet him. Kai made it to his sister first and he lifted her up in a giant bear hug, burying his face into her hair as he embraced his sister.

"Oh my god." Kai whispered. "Oh my god, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Nya was sobbing now and Kai pulled away, his fingers brushed at the tears on his face and his eyes scanned for damage.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Nya choked out, fingers making grabby hands as she hugged her brother again. Nya peered over his shoulder to see the others come into the scene. Jay tripped and went flying into Kai's back making them all stumble.

"Jay..." Kai groaned but it had no bite, his eyes sparked with amusement as he turned and steadied him.

Nya's eyebrows flew up as Kai placed an arm over Jay's shoulders casually, judging by Jay's wide eyes he wasn't used to this predicament either.

"Hey Nya..." Jay said awkwardly. Nya laughed and embraced him too, making Jay freeze up for a moment before he relaxed into her hold.

Nya stepped away as Cole and Zane approached. "Hey, how are you?" Cole quirked and eyebrow, taking in her knotted hair, muddy clothes, and shivering body.

"We should get you back to the school." Zane placed the back of his hand to her head as Kai ushered her away.

"Which direction, Zane?" Kai asked. Zane retrieved his device and as he got it working. As he did that, Jay offered his jacket and sweater to Nya.

"Thank you." Nya said shyly, pulling them on and hugging herself. They were only slightly too big and she was still in her wet clothes but it helped a little. Jay blushed but beamed at the gratitude.

"Zane's got it." Cole announced.

Kai kept his hand in Nya's as Zane led the way, holding his sister close to his side. Nya glanced up at him, her eyes narrowing as he tugged at his lip with his teeth.

"What?" She demanded. "What is it?"

Kai sighed, tightening his hold on her. "The government wants to pull you from the school."

"Oh you're gonna tell her now- ho-kay." Cole muttered from the side.

Nya was silent, gaze on the ground as they tromped their way through the woods.

"I'm sorry." Kai whispered. "I wanted to tell you... I... I just wanted to figure it out first. But everything is falling apart and I don't know what to do." A stray tear slid down his cheek.

Nya squeezed his hand, pulling his attention to her. Her eyes were determined as she stared up at her brother. "Tell me." She said firmly. "That's all you have to do."

Nya gently tugged his arm, pulling him to a stop. Zane, Cole, and Jay awkwardly tried to figure out what to do as Nya gave her brother another hug.

"You try and do everything by yourself, Kai." Nya mumbled into his chest. "It's brave and it's stupid." She lightly thumped her fist into his shoulder. "You need to accept help. You need to give people the chance to help you. You don't need to do things alone anymore. I'm older and wiser now. I can handle some of the burdens." She pulled away, a hand reaching up to playfully ruffle his hair. He swatted it away.

"Okay..." Kai said after a moment, letting out a huge breath. "Okay."

Nya gave him another hug. As Kai sunk into her clutch he looked over her shoulder at where Jay, Cole, and Zane stood. They all wore smiles on their faces as they watched them.

"Thank you." Kai mouthed.

*****

As much as Wu prided himself at being good at calculated, extreme plans this was not one of them. This had happened all on its own.

The old man rubbed his eyes tiredly as he trudged into the front entrance. He kicked off his wet shoes and closed his umbrella.

He was pretty sure his students hadn't noticed his absence. They mostly stay secluded in their own separate spaces. Even though his burdens were weighing on his heart like dumbbells he couldn't help but smile at the idea of helping them make some connections.

Master Wu continued through the hallway but before he got to his own sleeping quarters he was startled to hear the sound of...laughter? All coming from the seating room by the dorms. Suspicious, Master Wu carefully crept down the hall, footsteps light and careful. The door was just open a crack, a small beam of light streaming through. He could see shadows moving around. The headmaster pushed open the door and peered in. His eyebrows nearly flew off of his forehead at what he saw.

Nya was bundled up in a a blanket, her dark blue pyjamas barley visible under her cocoon as she held a small mug of hot chocolate. Beside her was Kai, who's hair was uncharacteristically flat as he wore a smile that Master Wu has never seen him bear so genuinely before.

On the floor by the footstool was Jay and Cole, both wearing sweat pants and large hoodies. They pushed and shoved each other as they alternated between playing a video game and playing what looked like Euchre with Zane and Kai. Zane sat on the small armchair, patiently waiting for his companions to go as he fanned out his hand perfectly.

"COLE! I can't believe you!" Jay screeched as his controller blinked red and the game ended.

Cole smirked, casually leaning with his elbow propped on Zane's seat. The pale boy frowned at the limb invading his space. "You said not to go easy on you."

"I SAID STOP BEING A JERK!"

"Oops."

Jay harrumphed, turning back to the card table. "At least I'll beat you in cards, sucker." Jay picked up his hand and dropped the jack of spades with a proud laugh. "Try and beat the right bower!"

Kai snorted and Zane let out a chuckle of amusement. "Diamonds are trump, Jay." Cole told him, dropping a queen of diamonds on top. "That jack's useless."

"Kai, stop sitting there and help me!" Jay wailed to his partner.

Kai rolled his eyes, plopping a nine down. Jay screeched. "You know I don't have any diamonds, motor-mouth."

Jay's jaw dropped and Nya almost spat out her drink. "Coolllleee!" Jay whined. "Why'd you tell him the nickname?"

"I didn't tell him, idiot. He figured it out." Cole grabbed the cards and began to shuffle them. He went to glance at the clock but froze when he saw their teacher hanging in the doorway.

"Master Wu!" Cole jumped up. The rest of his peers scurried to their feet as well. "Uh... sorry about the mess."

"It's quite alright, Cole." Wu strolled in, a smile on his face as he saw the friendly faces. "It's good to see this space being used."

Master Wu cast Kai a look. The boy flashed him a peace sign. "Sup."

Nya rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed." She informed them. "You can tell Wu what happened if you want." Zane politely took her mug and she went shuffling down the hall.

Wu raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Sneak attack." Kai muttered.

"Kai made Nya mad, Nya went into the woods, it started raining, Nya got lost, Kai got worried, Kai destroyed your office, found a letter from a jerk, Kai tried to kill me, we all found Nya, now we're playing games." Jay summarized

Cole face-palmed and Zane let out a sigh. Kai, however, spun on the ginger-head. "I didn't 'try and kill you'."

"You did too!"

"He's exaggerating, Master!"

Wu raised a hand. "Well, as long as everyone's healthy and happy, I'm happy."

There was a pause as the boys took that in. "Hey, Master Wu?" Kai spoke up. "Why did you make this school anyway? Why did you choose us?"

Master Wu was tired, worried, and in need of a good cup of tea. He had so much work he needed to do. But he knew that this was more important. A few seconds of a few valuable words are worth more than a thousand hours of selfish use.

Master Wu moved toward a chair, sitting down carefully. Zane disappeared for a moment and they all waited for him to return. When Zane came back he held a cup of chamomile tea. Wu smiled and graciously took the cup.

"Thank you, Zane."

Wu took a long sip before beginning. "The world is flawed. Actually, that is not right. Humanity is flawed. We believe anything different is bad. We believe any struggles, signs of weakness, or small disabilities are something to be fixed."

"I don't believe that." Master Wu set down his cup. "No one is broken. People change, people bruise, people heal. But even though someone mends a relationship, stops going to therapy, or whatever classifies as "fixing" that doesn't mean they were broken in the first place."

"Now these struggles aren't something to be praised all the time." Wu continued. "There's nothing happy about depression. There's nothing magical about autism. These are just things that people have. Things that will try and weigh people down. Things that will cause people to have to work harder than others. But that doesn't mean that they don't have any lack of potential."

"I'm just trying to help show the world that these burdens don't make you weak. They make you strong. You need to fight harder for things, that's true. But it's so much easier to work and fight when there's someone there beside you." Wu let out a long exhale and leaned back in his seat.

"Unfortunately, my view is not shared. Things like Nya and Kai's situation pop up. People make situations worse that cause innocent beings to suddenly act out in horrible ways. And even now people of power are viewings my school as a place where I encourage murderers and all that garbage." Master Wu suddenly felt the urge to drink more tea. So he did.

Silence.

"Well, that's stupid." Kai said bluntly.

To the groups surprise Wu nodded along. "Yes it is very stupid. There are a lot of stupid people in the world, and I'm not talking about the kids who struggle in school- they aren't stupid. The dangerous people who create dangerous views are stupid. And it's scary how humanity falls into the trap so easily."

"What about Nya?" Jay spoke up. "What's going to happen to her?"

Wu wasn't surprised the letter Jay mentioned was that letter. "Nothings going to happen to her." Wu said smoothly. "She will remain here. Nya has her own demons to over come and I believe this school is the best place for her to wrangle them."

"You mentioned people of power are against our school." Zane piped up, not missing a beat. Wu raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. Our school. "What will you do about them?"

"I'm unsure..." Wu told them, which made his students feel suddenly a lot less safe. Wu always seemed sure about things. "There's one person in particular...."

Master Wu paused a moment. Struggling to from the name. "My brother." He said at last. "Garmadon."

"Your brother?" Cole exclaimed incredulously. "But you... why?"

Wu pressed his lips together grimly. "He's been poisoned by selfishness and societies views unfortunately. My brother's a good person deep inside but even good people can do very bad things to the world."

"Like what?" Kai said quietly.

"Well... he's currently attempting to rise into power and to boycott my school. He says: 'These are sick, fractured, people who are in great need of help. Their dark thoughts will poison others easily. They're like pieces of glass, lost, small, useless, and painful'. Only when remade in a new image will they be able to survive in this world." Wu winced as he quoted the words he had read over and over and over again every single day since he read that stupid book.

His students were silent. "He's right isn't he?" Kai said bitterly. "That's the same thing Gretchen what's-her-face said. I'm 'unstable'" He let out a bitter laugh.

Jay hesitated for a moment before speaking as well. "I have bad anxiety. I'm ready to fall apart at any moment. How is that not broken-" Jay swallowed. Shutting his eyes and forcing the words that were about to spill out back.

"We are broken, Wu." Cole said softly. "We're fractured." Zane was silent, eyes unwavering but empty.

"ENOUGH." They all jumped. They had never heard Wu raise his voice so loudly before. Wu fixes his angry gaze on them all. Sweeping it across the room like a swooping eagle.

"You are not broken." His words were careful and slow. "Each and every one of you are strong, amazing people."

"Jay, you are able to make people feel happy and comfortable just by being around you. You can be positive and you can be make people laugh. Those are amazing qualities." Wu rested his gaze on the blue clad boy. Jay stared at him eyes wide. No one has ever spoken about him so... sincerely. Highlighting things about him he never even noticed.

Master Wu then turned to Cole. "Cole, you have always been a supportive person, I can see that in you. When people are crumbling you're there to help them stay up. That is something a true, kind, not broken person does."

"Zane," Wu smiled at the lanky boy. "The kindness you showed when I met you is what drew me to you. You have a heart like no other. That empathy can get you very far." Zane bowed his head in response, a tender smile on the awkward boy's face.

Last was Kai. Kai's eyes warily watched Wu. He knew he wasn't the best student. So, what Wu would have to say for him?

"Kai, you are loyal. You are willing to fight for those you love which makes you such a strong and powerful person. No one could ask for a better brother.... or friend." Wu have a knowing look.

"Each and every one of you are special people who are capable of making a difference." Master Wu stood, taking his cup with him. "There are a lot more people out there that could use someone right now. Are you willing to make that difference?"

His gaze was weighted, as were his words. But they already knew their answer.

Jay was the first to speak.

"Heck yeah!"

******

Master Wu sighed as he sank into his desk chair. The mess Kai made was still strewn across the floor. The brunette had sheepishly promised to clean it up later.

His regarded the mess on his desk with tired amusement. The old man picked through the papers, bills, and other junk cast around. His fingers finding a plain lined sheet of paper and an envelope.

Wu grasped his ink pen and cleared some space on his desk. He laid the paper down, thinking for a moment before he dipped the pen in the ink pot and began to write in long curved calligraphy.

Dear Lloyd,