Shadow Of The Benders, Sequel to The Last Ninja.

No Room For Error

Kai gets up and throws himself at the window again only to bounce back. This time his vision caught hold of something blue. He pressed his hand to it. Force field. He whipped his head around to see Borg by his computer staring back at him, his eyebrows knitted. "I could have saved him!"
"No you wouldn't have."
"I'm a ninja!"
"No one can land that fall."
"I would have!"
"Dammit Kai, you'd both be dead!"

Kai clamped his jaw shut in shock. Cirus had never yelled before...in silence, he simply turned to the window and looked down, a wave of sorrow and failure hit him. He couldn't see Alastor at all, they were way too high up.

"And now he's dead." Kai whispered.

Don't say that. He tried convinced himself.

Perhaps the window cleaners were on duty and he fell on their ramp. Or he managed to grab on to a ledge and climb back into the building. And who's The One? There were just so many questions running in his head, the fire ninja just felt sick and dizzy. Groaning, he lowered himself onto his knees and breathes in deeply, closing his eyes. What should he do now?

"Alright...got it...did anyone see?" Borg was talking on the phone as they all gathered in his office. The air was thick with silence and a tense atmosphere filled the room, it was as though no one was breathing. Everyone seemed a little lost, a little off. Since everyone saw this on the security screen inside their shared rooms, they saw everything. The interrogation, the failed interrogation. Alastor acting strange and worst of all, jumping to his death. No no, maybe he's not dead, Kai slapped his brain. With all his might, he hoped and wanted to believe Alastor still got onto something somehow and was safe. At least, just safe. Or maybe injured, perhaps he was injured but maybe- maybe he was alive.

A million thoughts ran through Kai's head. What did he do wrong? Maybe he was too harsh. Perhaps something he said triggered him to do something. "Don't sweat it." Cole spoke glumly. As though reading his brother's mind. "You won't understand it."

"None of us do," Lloyd added, before Kai could retaliate. He glanced at Lloyd, in his eyes rested mixed, full emotions of confusion, worry and fear. Kai shuddered seeing Lloyd like that. He was usually the fighter, the strong one. Despite being the youngest he had the fighting spirit of a lion and seemed almost immune to all kinds of pain.

Must have been the lock up. It suddenly hit Kai. Everyone had been off since the kidnapping. That experience...the horror. Of sitting in darkness with a broken, dehydrated, malnourished body. As they awaited the darkness to slowly turn them insane. It was that experience that's just left them all rotten and fearful inside. Well, at least for now that was going to be the case.

After all, 3 months doesn't heal an experience like that.

Kai's thoughts were interrupted by the click of a phone resting onto the table. He looked up to see Borg solemnly wheeling his wheelchair towards the group. "The janitor downstairs contacted me." He spoke. Coming to a stop he sighed.

"Says the sight below with him isn't very pleasant. Kinda' traumatising even."

Kai felt a cold all of a sudden, the feeling hit him like a rock to the head. That was it. All his hopes and desperate thoughts to believe Alastor was still alive, gone.

A death.

In Ninjago City caused by him.