Legends of Ninjago: Book 3: The Four Fangs

Chapter 29: The Long Night

"What does it mean?" Cole asked as everyone watched Wu pace back and forth.
"It means we're probably all going to die."
"Monty," Wu grumbled under his breath.
"What's the point of sugar-coating it? The girl had a vision of the Great Devourer being awoken—how much more definitive proof do you want?" the old warlord countered, crossing his arms. All four of them.
After Ann had had her little episode, Keaton went straight to Sensei Wu, who came to see her in her room. Zane was up on the deck, steering for the time being, meanwhile everyone else, minus Lloyd, had gathered in the Captain's quarters, and they were all waiting impatiently as Wu tried to process the new information which Ann had brought forward.
"These kinds of visions are not always set in stone, you know that," said Wu defensively. Garmadon rolled his eyes.
"Sensei?" Ann asked, feeling uneasy as she stood, gripping the hem of her shozoku.
At last, their leader stopped his pacing and turned to look at them all properly. "You had mentioned once before... about visions of the future... am I right?"
She nodded.
"I suspected at the time... but you've been seeing glimpses, haven't you?"
The room's attention was wholly on Ann now as her eyes widened. "Yes. I wasn't sure if... I should tell anyone... or if I was just going crazy."
"There's no need to be alarmed, young Ann. Actually, it is a very common skill within your family."
"More like an annoying skill," Garmadon muttered.
Wu looked like he was holding back a snarky comment of his own.
"Sensei?" Ann pressed. "What do you mean 'a skill within my family?'"
"Your mother and grandmother also possessed this ability."
"So, what, they could all see into the future?" Kai asked, arms folded. "Like, at any time?"
"No, it was not quite so simple." Wu paced a little bit more, then stopped again at the window. "Since the beginning, the water elementals and their kin have been deeply connected to the flow of time, if you'll pardon the pun. As I recall, your grandmother would periodically have fainting episodes, just before a great battle, and when she woke, she would have news for us." He paused, thinking again to himself. Ann wished he'd just get on with the rest of his story already. "However, as we quickly learned, the things which Maya would see did not always come to pass. They were but shadows of the things that might be."
Ann nodded, feeling at least a little better. But, that being said, did all of this mean that the final battle was quickly approaching? That Anguis very well might be released soon? She felt her fists tighten at the thought.
"Let us be grateful that it was not Zane who had this vision. As a close relative of the water elementals, the masters of ice can also see into the future, however their seeings are usually more... absolute," Wu finished. "If a bit cryptic."
"I think the word you're searching for is 'nonsensical.'"
"Are you going to keep interrupting all night?" Wu finally said to his brother. Garmadon just shrugged.
Ann stared down at her feet for a moment, breathing in. So, would the rest of her life be like this? Would she continued to have these visions? She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of it. Fainting before every major battle? Sounded like a liability, and a potential waste of time. What had her vision tonight shown her? The potential end of the world and nothing more. Why couldn't her "special skill" have been something more practical? Why did her ancestors have to be so... wishy-washy?
"So how come the water masters get a cool extra superpower and the rest of don't?" Jay suddenly asked. "Seems a bit unfair."
"But the rest of you do have hidden gifts," said Wu. "Every family does. I'm sure that Cole, for instance, has begun to notice an increase in strength. A trait passed down from your mother before you, and her father before her."
"What?"
Wu stopped to look at him. Cole had sounded so alarmed.
"You... did you know my mom?" He asked.
Understanding swept the room as Wu gently said, "I did, yes. For a time. However, I was more aquatinted with your grandfather."
Cole could feel his eyes growing wider. He'd never known anything about his mother's parents, not their names or where they lived or anything. He had so many questions...
"He was a real pain in the oshirii—"
"Garmadon—please!" Wu snapped.
"He was a hard case with a head full of sand and holier-than-thou sentiments—everyone knew it. Brutal on the battle field, though."
"You both knew him?" Cole went on, hardly believing his ears. "You—you fought together?"
Wu sighed. "It was a long time ago now... but yes. His name was Master Takeo, and as my brother so bluntly pointed out, he was considered by many to be... a little on the rough side."
While Cole tried to burn that name permanently into his memory, Kai took the opportunity to speak. "And you knew my grandfather too?" He still remembered that first night at the monastery when Wu had talked about him and the mental map he had passed down.
"Yes, him too, as well as your..." Wu suddenly stopped, his eyes locked on the ninja.
"My what? My grandmother?" Kai pressed, not sure why he had stopped short. Was it something bad?
"Oh my..." Wu muttered to himself.
Garmadon (who was reclining in Ann's hammock) gave his brother a quizzical look, before he broke out into a hearty laugh. "Ha ha ha! What, did you forget to tell them?"
"Tell us what?" Nya asked, rubbing her nose with a tissue. She was sitting in a corner of the room, near Ann, where she'd be less likely to spread germs.
"What is it?" Said Kai. It better not be something super important that they all should have learned months ago.
"It's nothing," said Wu quickly. "Nothing you need concern yourselves with at the moment—"
"Then why bring it up?" Said Kai, frowning.
"Yeah, why bring it up, Wu?" Garmadon joined in.
"You'll have to forgive me," Wu started with a sigh, almost sounding embarrassed. "It's been such an eventful year—there was just never an opportune time... and then, of course, I've been so busy with everything..."
"Sensei?" Said Ann. She was feeling just about as uneasy as Kai and Nya were. There were very few things that she didn't already know, and lately, it seemed like what secrets Wu kept were usually kept secret for a reason.
"I was planning to tell you—"
"Spit it out already!" Garmadon blurted. "Before I do it for you."
With a glance back at his brother, Wu steadied himself. "Kai... Nya... Ann-Jing... Keaton... you are cousins."
Immediately, the first thing that Ann and Kai did was give each other the same alarmed look.
"You're joking," said Kai. "Tell me you're joking."
"A joke is all it could be. I can't—we can't—I mean look at him!" Ann cried, gesturing toward the fire ninja.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kai fired back.
"I promise you, it's the honest truth," said Wu, trying to redirect their attention. "Ann-Jing, Keaton, your grandmother, Master Maya, was married to Kai and Nya's grandfather, Master Rei. Making you all first cousins."
"For real?" Keaton squeaked.
"Yes. 'For real.'" Said Wu with a small smile.
Immediately, Keaton rushed Nya and gave her a big hug. "We're cousins! So that's why we were instant best friends!"
As Ann turned to look at Nya, she suddenly realised that maybe this was the reason why—in contrast to her sister—she'd never liked Nya very much. It was all making sense. Terrible, horrible sense. Her attitude, certain little things she said, the way she talked, or the way she frowned at her—it all reminded Ann of her mother.
"No—no—no!" She suddenly said at the same time as Kai was saying,
"Absolutely not—we don't even look related!"
Wu raised his eyebrows. "No? Similar complexion, face shapes... tempers?"
"We're nothing alike!"
"How can you say that?!"
Ann was practically stuttering now, looking between Nya and Kai and not being able to settle on what exactly she was supposed to be feeling right now. "I—ju—no! I mean—how could you wait until now to mention this?!"'
Wu looked apologetic. "It's been a very busy year. And to be perfectly honest with you, sometimes this old mind of mine forgets what you young people do and do not know."
"So, like... our dad..." Nya started.
"And our mom..." Keaton continued.
"Were siblings?!" They shouted together.
"I can't believe this is happening..." Ann muttered, rubbing her eyes. Grimacing some more, she turned to look at Kai again. He grimaced back. They both couldn't stand looking at one another for more than a second. The thought that they were that closely related just... it just felt wrong.
"We should totally make matching cousin bracelets!" Keaton was saying now as she and Nya hugged again.
"No," said Ann and Kai together.
In the background, Jay leaned over to Cole and whispered, "Yeah, remind again how the two of them aren't related?"
At once, Kai and Ann spun around, their death glares locked onto Jay and making him chuckle nervously. "I mean—you totally don't have anything in common. At all."
Out of nowhere, Keaton leapt upon Kai with another of her signature hugs and he almost went into fight or flight mode, prepared to deck her in the face or something. Luckily, he stopped himself before fists started flying.
"Heehee! Welcome to the family!" She smiled, her beaming face nestling into his chest. Kai felt his shoulders rise a bit in embarrassment as he just stood there, not knowing what to do with the little ninja. Ann didn't know what to do, either, standing there watching Keaton hug him like that.
"So... that's two elemental masters we're related to," said Nya awkwardly as she came to stand beside Ann. "That's... pretty cool." Not that she was already feeling a little salty that Kai had powers and she didn't. Now the rest of her entire family had powers and she was the only one unlucky enough to take after her normal mother? Nope. Not salty about it at all. But that wasn't something she was about to broadcast to the whole room or anything.
"What about me? Am I related to anybody?" Jay piped up curiously.
"No. Not to my knowledge," said Wu.
"Just more loud-mouths like yourself."
"Garmadon..."
"Ohohoh! What's their family's special power?" Keaton suddenly asked, to which Wu replied with a sigh.
"Children, perhaps we can resume this conversation in the morning?" He was starting to look a little tired, and it was getting late.
"What?" Keaton wailed, only for Ann to come up alongside her and take her firmly by the elbow.
"We will be mindful of our Sensei's time and energy, won't we? Besides, we all need our rest too."
"Sensei..." Cole had been the one to speak. He was looking very serious, and now, so was everyone else. "If it's alright? I'd like to ask one more question."
With a gentle smile, Wu said, "Very well."
"Why is it that you know so much about us... but we know so little about our own families... and about you?"
Seven pairs of eyes stopped and stared at him. That was a good point.
"Oh, brother. You're so dramatic," Garmadon sighed. "Keeping secrets as though your in some sort of bad tv drama."
Wu turned somber and didn't dignify his brother with a response. The rest of the room, however, kept on waiting for an answer to Cole's question.
It seemed to take far too long for Wu to speak. As though he was measuring his words as carefully as humanly possible. But why? What was there to be measured about? Why not just speak plainly? Was there something else going on here? Something more at play?
Finally, Wu spoke.
"It was as I said. I knew your grandparents long ago, during the Serpentine Wars. They started families. We lost contact. It's as simple as that."
Cole didn't smile and instead kept his expression neutral, jaw tight and eyes downcast. So... maybe there wasn't anything else going on? Maybe it was all perfectly mundane... maybe Cole's imagination was acting up. Maybe it was nothing.
Wu cleared his throat and continued, "Ann-Jing's vision is alarming—it means that the hour of crisis is close at hand—but I have faith that we shall prevail. We have overcome great odds before. We need only reach Serpent's Bay and keep the final Fang Blade out of the Serpentine's reach. Now, I want you all to rest up. We have a busy day tomorrow. Come along."
"We're seriously just gonna end on that bombshell?" Kai was muttering as Wu started shooing the boys and Garmadon out, leaving Ann, Keaton, and Nya alone.
The girls stood there, watching the closed door for a few seconds, just thinking.
"...Does this mean we have to start being nice to each other?" Nya quietly asked.
Ann opened her mouth, prepared to say something snarky, when Keaton cut her off. "You were supposed to be nice to each other this whole time. Now you just have no excuse." She added a little smile at the end, being blatantly smug about it all. At least someone was happy about this arrangement.
Ann leaned back and sighed. "Point taken... I guess." She and Nya looked at each other with the same, lopsided frown. "You must take after the fire side of the family," she noted.
"What makes you say that?" Said Nya, lifting an eyebrow.
"Your eyes. Mine are deep blue, like my mother's. Our dad had green eyes. Like Keaton's."
"Well, they're not totally brown," Keaton interrupted, shoving her face into Nya's. "They're kinda... hazel-y. See? There's a ring of blue around the edges."
"Oh yeah."
"You think so?" Nya asked, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "'Cause I think both my parents' eyes were brown." Had she inherited some genes from the water side of the family? That would be cool.
Ann just shrugged.
"Hey—wait a minute," Keaton blurted, looking back and forth between them. "How come you don't have any powers? With all that elemental blood in your veins, you should be shooting fireballs out there with Kai or something. Right?"
Nya deflated and let her eyes wander to the floor. "Yeah. Been wondering that myself." She took a few heavy steps over to her hammock and then plopped down into it, letting it sway as her legs dangled over the side.
"Wasn't your mom an elemental master?" Keaton continued as she slid into her hammock.
"I have no idea. Can't exactly ask, can I? ...But... I don't think so."
"That is odd," Ann agreed thoughtfully as she rearranged the pillows and blankets that Garmadon had smushed in her hammock. "Are you sure you've never had a connection to fire? Even a little?"
Nya felt the urge to grumble. She'd had this conversation plenty of times with herself. She really didn't want to have it with Ann. And yet... "No. I've tried, but... it just isn't there." Then, after a pause when Nya pulled her blankets closer to her shoulders, she asked quietly, "Do you think there's something wrong with me?"
"Of course not!" Keaton cried at once. "You're just... a late bloomer?"
She was trying to be kind, but right then, it just felt to Nya like she was lying to cheer her up. "Thanks, Keat," she said, "but it's fine. I'll learn to live with it."
She adjusted herself in her hammock and they listened to the waves rustling under the ship for a bit. It was so dark outside now. No moonlight, just fog.
"So what's your dad like?" Keaton asked after a while.
Nya thought about it. "His name's Lee, and he's..." she smiled, "he's kind of a funny guy. He likes to eat flaming hot peppers and... well, he's a blacksmith, so he always used to be in his smithy working on something. The art of sword making was a passion of his, one that he taught me and Kai about when we were little. What about you? What was your mom like?"
"Oh, well, I don't remember," said Keaton. "We ran away before I really knew her."
"Ran away?" Nya repeated, sitting up a little. "You ran away from home?"
"What of it?" Ann asked, folding her arms and staring up the ceiling.
"Nothing, just... were you okay at home? I mean... what made you want to leave?"
Ann closed her tired eyes and tried not to dig up too many old memories. But the only one that seemed to come to mind was... that image of her and her mother sitting in front of the piano... singing and playing together...
But she knew that wasn't right. She—she knew that her home life had been bad enough that she had wanted to run away. How else could they have wound up on Wu's doorstep? That—that—that was how the story went. She'd been thinking about it for years. She knew it like the back of her hand. So why, all of a sudden, did those bad memories seem so vague and distant compared to this image of a little girl sitting at the piano?
"Our mother's name was Sara... she liked to sing," Ann eventually said before rolling over, her back to the other girls.
"She did?" Keaton asked. "You never told me that."
"...Guess I forgot."