Wizards of the Elements (ON HOLD)

Crushed

Nya watched her brother go, smiling after him. She'd suspected he was queer for a while, but had never been able to convince herself to ask him. She herself was pan, although the only person she'd dated was Jay. She had to get to defense against the dark arts in time, otherwise she knew there'd be consequences. She walked briskly through the halls, but then stumbled unexpectedly. She quickly regained her balance and continued walking. Then she felt something move underneath her. At first she thought nothing of it. This castle is weird, things like this must happen all the time. Then she felt it again. She stopped. Then she felt it again. It was a tremor. Aw, shit. She felt another tremor, bigger this time, and she almost fell. She steadied herself. The tremors grew and grew. She heard people panicking around her. Suddenly the ground shook violently. She fell to the floor with a gasp. The stone tiles rise and fall beneath her. Paintings crash to the ground around her. Suddenly she hears a familiar voice behind her. 

"Nya! Nya!" She turned around to see Lloyd stumbling towards her. He shrieks as he trips. She catches him just before he hits the ground. 

"Lloyd are you okay?" she yells over the chaos. Lloyd nods.

"Yeah," he responds. "Have you seen Cole?" Then she realises. 

"It's Cole! He does this when he's panicking!" Lloyd's face makes an O shape and then tries to stand. He immediately falls back down. "We have to help each other." Lloyd nods. They carefully stand up, bracing themselves up against the wall. Then, leaning on each other for support, they began to walk towards the great hall. They walk past several people huddled against the walls, screaming. But they don't stop. Their only focus is to reach Cole. Nya heard a cracking sound from above her. She looked up and saw a chunk of a staircase falling straight for them. "Look out!" she screams. Before she could react any further, Lloyd shoved her out of the way. Nya watched in horror as the painting crashed down on top of him. "LLOYD!" she cried. She crawled towards the pile of rubble. She began to tear away wooden boards, desperately trying to reach him. She caught a glimpse of Lloyd's hand poking out of the wreckage. She gasped and began to tear the pieces away faster. During the moment of desperation, she heard a loud scream. Cole! Then the earthquake stopped. Without a moment's hesitation, she stood up and started to lift up the rest of the staircase. It sure would be nice to have super strength right about now! She groaned with effort, before she finally managed to push away the stairs. She turned back to where Lloyd was. She sat down next to him. "Oh my First Spinjitsu Master Lloyd... What have I done?" Lloyd lay there unconscious, cuts and scrapes on every part of him. One of his legs was bent in a way that legs shouldn't be able to bend. Dark purple blood dripped from a wound on his forehead. Tears leaked from her eyes. She quickly leaned down and checked for a heartbeat. She sighed in relief as she recognised the steady beating of his pulse. However his breathing was irregular, and he desperately needed medical attention. To her surprise, Lloyd's eyes began to open. 

"Nya?" he mumbled. 

"Oh my FSM! Lloyd! Why did you do that?" 

"I had to save you," he reasoned softly. Nya frowned. 

"But you got hurt!"

"But you didn't," he said with a weak smile. To Nya's surprise, Lloyd shakily sat up. 

"How are you still able to move?"

"What can I say?" he said with a chuckle. "I'm resilient. Now help me up we have to find Cole." Nya reluctantly helped him off the ground. Together they continued on to the great hall. 

"Lloyd?" asked Nya while they walked. 

"Yeah?" replied Lloyd. 

"Why is your blood purple?" 

"I dunno. Maybe it's an oni thing," he suggested. Soon they arrived at the hall. "Wait," said Lloyd. They stopped for a moment in silence. "Do you hear that? It sounds like crying. C'mon!" Lloyd let go of her and hopped into the room on his good leg. Nya followed him inside and found him staring at something. She followed his gaze until she saw Cole, hunched over one of the long tables. 

"Cole!" she exclaimed, running over to him. Lloyd limped after her. Cole turned around and looked at them sadly. Nya was concerned to see that he had been crying. "Cole what happened?" Then she saw what he was hunched over. It was Zane. Nya gasped and quickly sprinted over. His eyes were dark and grey, all the life from them was gone. "Zane..." she whispered. Tears fell silently down her face. She placed her hand on his metal chest. "No..." Lloyd finally arrived at the table. When he saw Zane he stood there in silence. 

"What happened?" he finally asked. Cole looked down at the table and sighed. 

"He went into the great hall without his disguise. He told me he would be fine, and so I let him. They took one look at him and started to attack." He paused, tears welling up. "Parkinson fired the killing curse." Nya gasped. 

"THAT BITCH!" he screamed. "I'LL KILL HER!" He tried to run but gasped in pain. Nya caught him right before he fell. 

"You can barely walk! You're not going anywhere." She lowered her voice. "We'll get revenge later." Then she turned to Cole again. "What about the earthquake?" she asked. 

"I got angry and lost control. And now everyone thinks I'm a monster." Tears flowed down his face. It was then that he finally seemed to process Lloyd's injury. He ran over to him and hugged him. "I'm so sorry Lloyd! It's my fault you're hurt!" Lloyd winced. 

"Cole, Cole it hurts." Cole quickly let go of his friend. 

"I'm so sorry," he said softly. "This is all my fault." At that moment the doors to the hall flew open.

"WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK HAPPENED HERE?"