Kai's P.O.V.

"Just kill me already."

My words echo off the walls of the infirmary, where Nya put me after she came at the sound of my screams. I guess she thought it wouldn't be good for me to keep looking at Skylor's body. So here I am, back against the wall, slumped to the ground with no energy to do anything.

"Do it. End it. I know you want to." No response. "Put me out of my misery!"

Nothing to live for. Nothing to care about. Nobody to save. Nobody to love.

And then I hear it, footsteps in the hallway. A shadow is coming, visible through the open door. Closer, closer, until the figure enters the room. I close my eyes and await death.  "Finally." I say.

"Finally what?" I hear Nya's voice.

I open my eyes again to find my sister there in front of me, holding my sword.

"You're next and you aren't going to die. Don't kill Cole. Just defend yourself and yell for help. I'll hear you." She tells me.

"But I want to die." I whisper.

"You are the only family I have left and I'm not going to let you be murdered too. Just take the sword, Kai." Nya tells me forcefully. "This will all work out. We are going to convince Cole to fight the demon. He will win, and then nobody else will die. We'll be okay. That's how it is going to happen." She seems to be trying to convince herself.

"Where's Jay?" I mutter. "Off trying to have a nice little chat with our demon friend? He'd do anything for you. "

"I don't know where Jay is. But he's not here, and he won't go near me. So it's just us, Kai."

"No, it's just you."

"Take the sword."

"If you really want me to."

"I do." She says, thrusting it out. I wish she would just stab me, but I gesture for her to set it next to me and she does. Nya turns to go.

"I never wanted you dating." I call out as she leaves. Nya rotates the top half of her body and I can see the hurt in her eyes.

"This isn't my fault." She says. She isn't totally convinced of it herself. Something occurs to me.

"Nya?" I say in a different tone.

"What?" My sister asks.

"Just I-I love you." I tell her. I can see she's confused but manages a small smile.

"I love you too, Kai." Nya says back. She doesn't admit it, but she knows it's the last time I'll ever say those words.

My sister leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours pass. I don't know what Nya is doing. I don't know what happened to Jay. I can only sit there.

"What are you waiting for?" I yell to the darkness descending around me. The sun is going down. There is only silence. "Where are you, Cole?"

"I'm right here." I hear to my right and turn my head to see just the person I've been awaiting. If you could call him a person. Looking just as wicked as I imagined is Cole . Talons, teeth, bones. Eyes as black as a moonless night. Right there. If I was old me I would have jumped up and stabbed him, or done spinjitzu, but new me is relieved that my long wait is over. I have never been patient.

"So, kill me. Rip out my heart and be done with it. I have nothing to lose." I tell my former friend. I take the sword that was laying next to me and hold it out to him. He only laughs.

"I already have. Well, metaphorically." Cole says. "No, I have a much more interesting death in mind."

"Just do it!" I yell. "Kill me. Stop wasting time!"

"You think I would let you die so easily? You can't expect to believe I wouldn't add some drama in with it." The demon scoffs. "You are going to suffer." I can't speak. The malice in Cole's words, in the tone of his voice, in his eyes, is even worse than I imagined.

"Then make me suffer." I say, voice shaking.

"I will."

      Cole has me by the collar, and then I feel his claws piercing the soft skin just under my collarbone. Not able to help it, I scream with agony. The pain is white-hot as talons rake down my chest. Cole's laid me down, is crouched over me with amusement on his face, relishing the moment as I scream. I feel him hit bone and my vision is flickering. I just want to die. Let me die already. I want it to be over. I am burning again but Cole is not bothered in the slightest. He just keeps scratching carefully, deep cuts that graze my ribs and shred my skin.

The torture is unbearable. I thought Cole had done everything to me but I thought wrong.

           And when I look up at Cole, who used to be my teammate, my companion, my best friend, I see how much he's enjoying this. I wonder if this is how he looked to Lloyd. I couldn't save anyone, and I can't save myself. I don't want to save myself, I want to escape. I want to escape life. No more fire. No more fight. Just the pain and a wish for death.

I hear someone scream my name and look up to see Nya through my cloudy vision. So does Cole. Their voices are fading. Everything is fading except my agony, which only seems to be intensifying. I can't breathe. Then, suddenly, in one last second, everything stops. It's all clear now. The fire has returned for one last time. I fight to open my eyes, to speak. "Nya," I say. It seems to echo. "Don't give in, don't-"

I always thought everything would go black when I died. Turns out all I can see is red.

Nya's P.O.V.

I hear Kai scream and know he's dying. I didn't prepare myself for what I see.

Cole is leaning over Kai, sloppily dragging one talon deep into his chest in some sort of pattern. The blood is there, everywhere, like with every other death, but this is different. My brother. Cole is murdering my brother. I have to do something about it. I have to act.

"Kai!" I scream, and Kai's eyes move towards my face sluggishly. I see him blink, eyelids fluttering, trying desperately to stay open. Then, there is a flash of something-realization, perhaps, and my brother's entire face changes. For one second I can see the person I used to know, before Lloyd died. The real Kai.

"Nya." Kai says. Blood is coming out of him faster. "Don't give in." The words stand out to me. Don't give in. Cole is here, now. I'm not going to back down. But Kai needs help, and fast. He'll surely bleed to death if I don't do something to save him.

Cole. Kai. Cole. Kai. Cole. Kai.

"Hey you!" I scream. Cole turns to look at me, seemingly not interested. "Yes, I'm talking to you! What are you doing, Cole? This isn't you! You aren't a monster!"

"You seem to be going back and forth on this a lot." Cole sneers. He stands up and moves away from Kai, shaking blood off his claws. Some of it flies off and hits my face, warm and sticky. "But maybe that's just your personality."

"I know what I'm doing." I say forcefully. Cole has bullied me enough.

"Why don't you tell that to Jay?" Cole says, his face darkening from its amused expression.

I'm taken aback by how much that stings. "I'll never give in to you." I say, narrowing my eyes.

"I've heard this before. You know, time and time again, Nya, I wonder if you're stubborn or just very stupid." Cole, no, that isn't Cole, it can't be, smirks. I can feel my fists clench and my body stiffen, and anger bubbles up in me like a pot boiling over. I do the first thing that comes instinctively: turn on my heel and rotate into a Spinjitzu tornado.

"Somewhere deep down inside there, I know the real Cole is still there. You have to fight the demon! Stop letting it take over!" I say through the whirling tornado of water around me. I can't seem to get close enough to hurt Cole. "Aaaaagh!" I scream, not able to hold it back anymore. All the frustration, and anger, and hurt, and sadness is pouring out of me, my spinning getting more crazed as I scream louder and louder. Cole only laughs, the fading sunlight glinting off his teeth. "You can't touch me." He taunts. Then, with a snap of his fingers, he is gone.

Kai is still here.

             I collapse into a puddle of water, breathing heavily, and crawl over to my brother's side, hoping upon hope that he is alive. "Kai. Kai. Say something, KAI!" His eyes are clouded over, devoid of life. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" I can feel myself starting to sob again. "Come back!" Kai's body is cold, not exuding warmth like he always did. He's bled out onto the floor. Still, I bury my face into the curve of his neck like I used to as a child when I had nightmares.

          I thought I was devastated when Lloyd, or Zane, or Pixal, or Skylor died, but nothing compares to how I feel now. I haven't been like this since I learned that both of my parents were killed. The tears are coming faster and I just want my brother to be here with me. I'm practically laying on top of him, arms wrapped around his torso as if for dear life. "You aren't dead, you aren't dead, you aren't dead." I whisper. Maybe if I say it enough it will be true.

         Somewhere in the haze I remember that Cole was scratching some sort of pattern into Kai's chest. Hands bloody, I swipe away the shredded remains of his shirt and see words cut deep, deep enough that I can see his pearly white ribs, into his skin. They read:

And then there were three.

I hope you don't miss your brother too much. He never approved of us. I never wanted in-laws anyway.

And now I can finally do what I've been waiting for. Your little bluejay will suffer just as much!

Love, Cole.