Taking Control. (a Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter 67- The gilded soul

J A Y

I stumbled back, shaking, my chest heaving with sharp, ragged breaths.

No.

No, no, no, this wasn't real.

But the voices—oh, the voices.

They surrounded me, suffocating, pressing in from all sides.

"Why weren't you strong enough, Jay?"

"Why couldn't you fight back?"

"You let him take you over. You let him win."

"You failed us. Again."

I whipped around, my heart hammering against my ribs. The others were there. All of them. Looming over me, staring me down with cold, pitiless eyes.

Cole's face twisted with disgust. "You were supposed to be our brother."

Nya's expression was unreadable, but her voice cut like ice. "I thought you loved me."

Kai's hands clenched into fists. "You let him control you. You tried to kill us."

Lloyd stepped forward, his green eyes burning with hatred. "You're weak, Jay. You've always been weak."

I flinched back, my throat dry, my whole body trembling. "No—I—I didn't mean to, I wasn't—"

Lloyd sneered. "Excuses."

No, no, this can't—

They would never. Cole, my best friend— he would never look at me that way. He just wouldn't. He'd always been there for me, he'd always—

Pain.

A punch slammed into my stomach, hard and unforgiving. I choked on my own breath, doubling over, but I wasn't given a second to recover before another hit landed across my face.

I staggered, barely catching myself before I fell.

Hands grabbed me—rough, unrelenting. Someone yanked my arms behind my back, twisting until my shoulders screamed in protest. A sharp kick caught me in the ribs, knocking the wind from my lungs.

I tried to cry out, but a hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my broken, desperate pleas.

"You deserve this," Kai snarled in my ear.

Pure horror enveloped me, raw and painful and real.

Another blow—this time across my jaw. Blood filled my mouth, coppery and metallic.

"Why do we even keep you around?" Cole's voice was low, furious. "You're useless. Pathetic."

"You always mess things up," Nya spat. "You never think, Jay. You just react."

Lloyd wrenched my head up by my hair, forcing me to meet his eyes. His expression was empty.

Cold.

Unforgiving.

"You're not one of us anymore."

I tried to shake my head, tried to fight, but their grips were iron.

Another punch.

A knee to my stomach.

My body burned with pain, with betrayal, with hurt, with something worse than fear.

"N-no," I gasped, blood dripping from my lips. "Please—please, stop—"

But they didn't.

They didn't stop.