Staying in Times of Trouble {Book Two}

Chapter Thirteen: Weakest Point

What do you mean he's dead?!" Nya shouted. "He can't be!"

She burst into tears and Aira placed an arm around her. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. They were all too shocked. Jay dead? It didn't seem possible!

"This can't be real," Lloyd said.

He put his face in his hands. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. Aira had never seen Lloyd cry before. The sight broke her heart.

"He will be dearly missed," Sensei Wu said wiping his eyes.

"Why didn't you do more!?" Nya yelled at Kai.

"I couldn't do more!" Kai yelled back. "Don't you dare pin his death on me! Don't you f***ing dare!"

Nya was taken aback by Kai's outburst. Cole put a hand on Kai's shoulder but Kai threw it off.

Amaya watched this all with wide eyes. She hadn't realized how much they all cared about each other. She had a brief moment of remorse and then brushed it away.

They deserve it," Amaya thought to herself. But did they?

"Kai, I-" Nya started.

"No! You shut the f*** up! How dare you blame this on me! I had to watch him die! What kind of sister are you!?"

"Shut up! I loved him!" Nya cried. "And I never told him! I broke his heart! And now he is gone and I can't set it right!"

"Both of you stop it!" Zane yelled. "Both of you shut up or I will do it for you!"

Everyone looked at Zane wide eyed. He was absolutely trembling with rage.

"Jay is gone; but the least we can do for him is remember him and not fight like cats and dogs! And also, don't cuss in front of my son!" Zane yelled.

"Zane is right," Lloyd said looking up. "Jay will always be with us in our hearts but we need to stop fighting. We are at our weakest now. We have lost a dear friend. Our enemies will take advantage if this weakness. We need to be strong. If not for our sakes then for Jay's sake."

Everyone nodded. Kai and Nya refused to look at each other. Aira walked over to Lloyd and burried her face in his chest. He held her tightly and she cried.

**********************************

Hold still, kid," Ronin said gently.

Jay coughed and struggled to breath. His whole body hurt.

"Where's Kai?" Jay gasped.

"He thinks your dead," Ronin said. "Hell! He thinks I'm dead!"

"Where are we?" He coughed. "Are you sure we're not dead?"

"Save your strength," Ronin commanded. "You're lucky that our enemies wanted you alive. Otherwise you wouldn't be."

"What do you mean?"

"Sleep," Ronin said. "I'll have plenty of time to explain later."

Jay laid back and sleep came quickly. Ronin continued to clean his wound and check his vitals. There was no way he was letting Jay die.

Jay slept for almost twelve hours. When he finally woke up, Ronin insisted that he try to eat. Jay tried but couldn't keep anything down. He ended up just vomiting all over. Ronin cleaned his wound again and then wrapped it.

"You're lucky Clouse didn't hit any of your vital organs," Ronin said.

"So what happened?" Jay asked weakly. "I remember chasing Clouse, pain, and then water."

"I called you guys because I had noticed Clouse lurking around. I didn't want to engage him alone so I waited for you. That's when they got me. They had murdered a neighbor of mine and used a telepathic scrambler to give off the illusion that he was me. They planted the body in my shop. You and Kai showed up just as Clouse had dumped me into his boat. I say you and Kai have a brief skirmish with Clouse. The coward took off and waited for you behind a chimney. He stabbed you in the stomach like the little bastard that he is and you fell. I've never seen Kai cry. He wept bitterly," Ronin explained.

"So how am I here?"

"You died," Ronin said.

"Huh? Oh gosh, please tell me I'm not a ghost like Cole!"

"No, Alita and Clouse used the same artifacts to bring you back like they did Morro," Ronin explained. "They want you alive for some reason. You weren't dead long. They fished you out of the water and you were alive. They wouldn't let me look at you. Stupid idiots know nothing of medicine. Your heartbeat stopped and Alita ran to get the artifacts. So I'm not sure if you died or she just started your heart again."

"Either way," Jay said. "That was too close!"

"No kidding!" Ronin said. "I can just imagine how all the others are feeling right now."

"Nya!" Jay yelled and then gasped in pain. "She is going to think I'm gone."

"Like I said, I didn't want you to die," Ronin said. "Your not the only one that cares about Nya you know."

"Back off."

"Don't worry," Ronin chuckled. "I've got my own girl. Nya just helped me see the light. I don't want her losing the man she loves."

"I'm not so sure she loves me," Jay sighed.

"Oh she does," Ronin laughed. "No need to worry about that."

"I swear as soon as I get out of here," Jay said in a determined voice. "I'm going to marry her."

"That's so sweet," Alita said sarcastically. "What are you two going to do? Braid each other's hair now?!"

"You!" Jay said furiously. He would have yelled but he was too weak for that.

"Aww, did I hurt your feelings?" Alita said making a fake pout face.

"You are so dead," Jay said.

"I thought the ninja tried to avoid killing," Alita smirked.

Jay sat up and tried to stand. Ronin tried to stop him but Jay shrugged him off.

"Do you want to know what I've killed?" He said in a dangerous voice. Alita looked at him nervously and took a step back even though Jay was behind bars. "I killed countess serpentine, I helped kill the Great Devourer, I shut hundreds of nindroids down, I've destroyed ghosts; don't tell me that I am not a threat."

Alita looked at him nervously. She tried to play it cool and smirked.

"Don't think I won't hesitate to kill you," Jay said. He glared at her and then turned and walked towards the wall. He slid down next to hit and held her in an icy stare. She looked away and left the room.

"And I thought you were all jokes and fun," Ronin said letting out a low whistle. "When you're angry. You are angry."

Jay didn't answer. He just continued to glare off into the distance.

A/n- Wow! Everyone is being so intense. Have y'all noticed that Jay had two settings. He immature and fun setting and then his dangerous and 'don't mess with me' setting. Well, hope you enjoyed. And I decided to not make you all think Jay was dead. xD Merry Christmas lol! I didn't want everyone chewing my head off ;) -LL_17