Objective: Fire

Chapter 25

Blood was dropping from his mouth... his eyes were dark and his body was laying quietly onto the ground.
This couldn't be... real... he couldn't be...
" he fought braver than most.. braver than you" a cold hand touches his shoulder and gently grabs hold of the dagger.
Damon couldn't bring himself to move, he didn't even try to stop Ash from taking the dagger from him. It was like he was frozen, unable to move... almost like watching a movie, unable to do anything... this couldn't be real..
Ash gently takes the dagger out of Damon's hands and hands it over to his closest guard, still not letting go of the younger ninja.
" this is life kid... I'm sorry this had to happen.." with that, he let's go of Damon and slowly backs away. He wasn't a big fan of taking lives, but if they were necessary.. he wouldn't hesitate to do so...
as they quietly backed out back into the shadows, Damon fell to his knees, still unable to do anything more. His heart was beating fast, his face was white as ice and his eyes were locked onto his dead brother...
Then everything was quiet... all that could be heard was the quiet sound of the wind passing by, and the flickering light from the few lit candles.
They were gone... the dagger was gone.. and so was Armen...
Damon silently crawled over to his brothers corpse, and with shaking hands, he gently checked his pulse for any signs of life.
Nothing...
He was gone... truly gone... they had killed him...
They hadn't expected anyone to play them a visit that night... they were supposed to be watch movies and eat some of Jey's hidden candies together by now... the dagger was supposed to be in Garmadon's room, without being touched...
He remembered Armen's last words to him...

" Damon run!! Get the dagger and hide! I will hold them off"

He was truly gone... and the wound in his chest was the prof of it. It had stopped bleeding... but that was only because his heart had stopped pumping the blood through his body...
" I'm... im so sorry!"
Damon gasps for air as reality hits him. Tears starts flowing and all hell breaks lose. With his brother in his arms, he cried out in grief. This was the worst kind of pain that he had ever felt... it was nothing compared to anything he had experienced.
" I shouldn't have left your side! I should have stayed and protected you!" He cried out, pulling his body closer to him, not letting go of him. Armen had been all he had left after his parents... his true family... now... nothing.

Then he felt someone touch him. He could hear the sound of more people behind him, but he didn't care. If they were there to finish him off, then so be it. He had nothing left... nothing to live fore... no one to protect..

" Damon...? What's going on..."
his eyes were full of tears, and he didn't turn to face whoever was standing behind him, but he recognized the voice.
" Damon... what happened here... where's sensei Wu and the others.." Kai spoke. It wasn't the same people as earlier...
" Damon... ?" Kai noticed something wasn't right. Damon wasn't responding at all...
A gasp escapes skylor who's standing next to him and she gently grabs his arm, pulling him towards her.
" Kai..." she carefully steals Kai's attention and force him gently to back away a bit. Kai was confused at first, but then Skylor quietly points at the body in the young boys arms. Kai turns to look, and at first, he doesn't see it, but then he sees all the blood onto the ground underneath them.
Everything around him seems to disappear as he realize what was going on. His heart stops beating and a strange feeling of fear runs through him. This is something strange... this evil cold feeling... he had only felt this once before, and that was when he thought Jey had died... but now... there was actually someone dare to him who was no longer...
" A..Armen..?" The words escapes his mouth as a whisper. The shock hits him hard and Kai can't manage to move at all. His eyes are locked on the boys empty eyes... just laying in his brother's arms as if nothing had happened...
Skylor watched them quietly. Yes... she had experienced death like this... and she knew this was hard for them all..
without a word, she let go of Kai and quietly walks over to the boy onto the ground. Very carefully, she places a hand onto his shoulder and kneels down beside him.
" Damon... is it..." she spoke softly. The boy doesn't respond. She expected this, but that didn't prevent her from trying.
" Look at me...." she carefully lifts his head and turns him to face her instead.
" just... breathe... and look at me alright?" She spoke softly and gave him a small smile.
" I know this hurts... but this is not your fault" she tells him.
" but..." he begins, but she just slowly shakes her head.
" no... not your fault... just breathe alright..?" She repeats. Damon doesn't understand how this would help, but at least it distracted him a little.
Without being given the signal, Ronin quietly walks over to them and gently takes Armen's  limp body away, slowly using his hand to shut his half open eyes. He hadn't known these people for so long, and for the most of the time, they had been hunting him down because of all his small visits here and there. In other words, him stealing valuable things from people wasn't really so popular.
He looked down at the boy in his arms. It was strange to watch this boy... it almost looked like he was sleeping.. except the fact that he would never wake up again..
Kai watched the two of them. He was amazed at how well they handled the situation... He couldn't do anything.. he couldn't help.. he hadn't been there to protect them... he was... useless..
This just couldn't be real, right? This was all just a big bad nightmare... everything had been just fine some weeks ago, there had been no signs of danger at all... nothing... and the moment he returns from his kidnapping... a member of his family is gone...just like his parents..
Why couldn't the world just stay peaceful...
Kai looked over at Damon who was still down onto his knees. He hadn't changed positions at all. Skylor gave him a worried look as she didn't know how to help him.
" he's slowly losing himself..." she whispered. She had seen this before, people who lost their loved ones could fall into a stage of depression that made them discontent from the world... she would call it the quiet room. It's almost like the person locks himself into a dark room and stays there...
" Damon..." Kai had to do something. He couldn't just sit there and watch his younger brother disappear into a world of darkness... without thinking, he carefully grabs onto Damon's shirt from behind and carefully pulls the boy into his arms, hugging him. Normally, Kai wasn't much of a hugger, but Nya has once told him that hugging could cure a person's depression, and right now... they both needed this... more that anything, they had to stick together...
" I'm here Damon... just let it out... don't hold it in... please" Kai whispers to him, not letting go. Damon's head was resting onto his shoulder, and he could feel the tears go through the material of his suit.
" it hurts... so much.." Damon whispers.
Kai quietly nods. Yes... he knew this pain to well.. and he hated it..
" it does... it truly does..." Kai whispers back. There was nothing much to do... how was he suppose to tell the others?...
Tears rolls down his cheeks as he doesn't want to imagine how the others would react...
He had lost his elemental powers... and a brother... he was not going to allow the league to get away with this.
Yes, these people weren't the X squadron, the day they decided to bring back the dark lord was the day the X Squadron became a part of the league of shadows. The day they made a big mistake, and that was going to cost them a lot.