"My brother and I were always very close. We've never left each others side when we were younger. I thought it would stay that way whenever we got put in this mess, but I guess things don't always turn out as planned." The raven explained, keeping her gaze on there floor. 

As she talked, Jay would listen. He took everything that came out of her mouth to heart. It's very rare for someone like her to open up about their past. Heck Jay doesn't even remember his childhood half of the time. 

Silence then overtook. The young guard's strong stare couldn't even make her turn her head to him. She just continued to glue her eyes down to her feet, almost as if she was stuck. 

The tear that once fell was now dried up and crusted over her cheek, her lip stopped quivering, and her brows more furrowed and brood. Her story was trapped in a chamber who's doors were locked with thousands of chains. They were barricading the doors to stay shut, so that whatever is inside would never escape. 

She isn't ready. 

She's been stuck in a fragile state for so long that she'd forgotten how to break out of that cage. The amount of fear and trauma had taken over her head space. And that could take years to fix and clean, and for some it can never be fixed. 

Nya felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder. She turned to look at her guard, his genuine smile in reassurance for her to decide if she wanted to continue or not. She wanted to scream, yell, anything to tell him that nothing was fine or ok. Memories would flow back into her head of the exact mistake she made years ago, with him. 

"I think our time slot is over. We need to start heading back to the lower area." He told her, a quick squeeze on the shoulder before standing up.

She nodded her head as he lent out a hand for her. She took it, but she didn't let go of his hand. Jay didn't mind, if anything this reassured him that she needed someone. Maybe her brother was the solution? He'll have to ask for clearance to have the Master of Fire to come down to cheer her up. 

The young guard escorted the elemental to her cell, and chained her back up, but only on her wrist and ankles. He closed the door, and sought out to look for Ronin. 

"Jay?" 

The young guard turned to look at her through the cell bars, "Will you be taking the night shift today?" Nya asked. 

Jay grabbed ahold of the bars and squatted down to her level, "Not tonight, Nya. I think Cryptor is working over the lower level for the next three days. However, next week before the Tournament of Elements, I'll be taking over the night shift to get you mentally prepared for the tournament." 

"Mentally?" Nya questioned, "I don't understand, why is it necessary to mentally prepare myself for a stupid tournament?"  

Before Jay was able to speak, the lights went out, earning groans from all the elementals on the lowest level. This had made Jay tense, but it had a different reaction from his female companion. Her muffled giggles only got louder when Jay had absolutely no clue what was going on. 

With his sense of sight currently out of the question, all he had available to him was touch and ability to hear. His grip on the vengestone bars tightened as his anxiety was starting to go to his head. 

"Nya, what's going on here? Why are the lights out? And why in Ninjago are you giggling so much in the dark?" The freckled boy blurted out. 

Although it was dark, her ocean eyes stood out like a needle in a haystack. They had a warm feeling to them, almost like a homage feeling. "My brother is going to stay the night down here." 

Jay raised a brow, "How do you know that?"

"Whenever he's lonely for just wants to check in with me, he'll turn off all the lights in the building by running like a maniac to spend the night down under. I bet he found out about me going into the tournament and give me the 'big brother' talk." 

"And why did you have a different reaction from the rest of the prisoners?" 

"They aren't very fond of Kai." 

The lights flickered and turned on completely, the staircase now filled with sounds of footsteps and chattering. Two guards held the arms of a calm prisoner, one with brown hair that were gelled up like a flame, a red jumpsuit with a fire insignia in his shirt pocket. His skin had a nice warm tan, a scar over his brow and parts of his eyelid, and a friendly smirk played on his face as he stuck his tongue out to some of the prisoners in their respectable cells. 

One of the soldiers on the boy's left commanded, "Open the cell in front of the Master of Water. The Master of Fire will be spending the night as punishment for his 'turning off the lights' prank." 

Jay got out his keys and unlocked the cell for the prankster. The guards shoved him in, giving Jay a polite nod before heading back upstairs. The new elemental leaned against the wall and admired the new guard watching the Master of Water. 

"Newbie, huh? Didn't take them long to replace Dogshank. Now she was a pain to talk to, wasn't she Nya?" 

"Be nice, Kai," Nya told him, she gave Jay a reassuring smile, "Jay, this is my brother, Kai. Kai, this is Jay, my guard and trainer." 

Kai raised a brow, "Trainer? For what? You only get a trainer if you're competing in the Tournament- wait a minute. Nya. They're letting you compete in the Tournament of Elements?" The older brother asked of his sister. 

There was an awkward silence between the siblings, this seems like a sensitive topic than what Jay had imagined. The young guard faked coughed, "Cliff wanted to give Nya the opportunity to compete after some good behavior for the last couple months." Jay told the fire master. 

"What does she get if she wins?" 

"Excuse me?" 

The spiky headed teen sighed, "If she wins the tournament, what does she win as her prize. If someone from the upper area wins, they get a day without anyone looking for them outside the facility. Their prize is a chance to escape. Those are for elementals who aren't as dangerous to society. What would that mean for someone in the lower area?" 

That was a good question to ask. A question that even Jay could not even answer. He couldn't even look Kai in the eye after that question. 

"So you don't even know, do you?" 

"No. I do not know." Jay admitted. 

The brother of the Master of Water furrowed his brows at the guard, "Kai, stop. He doesn't know anything about the Tournament. Drop it-"

He scuffed, "He doesn't even know what he's bringing you into, sis. A useless trainer like that is going to get you killed in the Tournament." 

"At least he's trying," Nya argued, "He at least wants me to succeed unlike your last trainer, what was her name? Cynthia? Margret? All they helped you with was getting into your pants." 

"Hey! Mary got me through three rounds, that was the best trainer I've ever had."

Jay stared at him flustered by the conversations dark turn, "Isn't there about 10-15 rounds?" 

"That's what I've told him. He's too much into his head, and won't believe anything that comes out of my mouth." Nya replied. 

"Not true." 

"Walker," Someone called out from the end of the hall, "Your shift's over for today, Cryptor is heading down. Don't forget to let Pixal know about the new training schedule for the water elemental." 

Jay sighed, "Got it, Ronin. See you tomorrow."

 Before Jay could leave, Nya asked one more favor of him, "Jay, could you bring some ice cream tomorrow for practice?" 

The guard smiled, "You going to show me how to suck the life out of some ice cream and just have the cream left?" He teased. 

"I was going to say we can have it as an after practice snack." 

"Certain flavor?" 

"Never tried any, your choice." 

Kai gagged, "You guys are gross." 

I'm so sorry for the long wait! I've recently just made a varsity dance team and started working which has been taking my main focus lately. I'm trying to get the grove back, so hopefully I can post more often. Love y'all and I hope to see you in the next one. BYYYEEE!!!