Cole furiously fumbled with the door handle, desperation making his hands shake as he pulled and pushed, only to find the door locked. With a grunt, he shoved his shoulder into the entryway, and pushed the barrier open with force, only to stop short in his tracks upon entering. Zane was handcuffed with his arms behind his back to a stone wall, a metal ring around his neck going to the same place. But the restraints weren't what crushed the Ninja of Earth.

Zane's side was mangled, flesh torn off and a deep cut reaching his core, white shirt clinging to his skin with dried blood. Even more disturbing was his lower half. Any sense of shame flew out of Cole's head as his gaze fell to Zane's bare waist and legs, clothes discarded on the other side of the room, red and white pools gathering under him giving a clear picture of what had transpired in the Ice Ninja's cell.

Jay got over his shock faster than the other two, and ran to practically tear open Zane's wrist panel, finding the display dark, usual percentages and charts offline. Jay felt tears welling up in his eyes as he opened the chest panel with some difficulty due to the gash, only to find everything was unlit. His bright cerulean power source that was usually pulsing with life sat still, its muted baby blue barely visible against the overpowering grey.

"No, no," Jay gasped, a pleading tone in his voice as he rubbed his hands together, sparks generating as he tried to get the Ice Ninja running on even the slightest bit of power. but the ashy color of the cool glass stayed stagnant. Jay's sparks diminished as he brought them up to cover his eyes, sobs beginning to wrack his body with painful heaves.

"We.. we can fix him, right?" Kai whispered, kneeling next to the Lightning Master, staining his knees an even darker red with the pools on the floor.

"I think," Jay sniffed, trying to pick the strands of hair that had been dried together apart, flakes of blood falling onto his fingers. "I don't know the extent of the damage though."

Despite his claim, Jay seemed to be acting as though Zane was dead, and Cole was busy swiping tears away as Kai and Jay worked Zane's pants back on, if only to pretend that it made everything better.

Cole carried the Ice Ninja, careful not to disturb the gash in his stomach even more as he drove back to the Bounty with the dead weight in his lap. As he kept his eyes on the road, knowing that if he looked down he might throw up, he let the tears roll down his face freely. He wondered how long Zane's torture had taken, how far he had lasted until he died. Cole shuddered at the thought of Zane being alive for any of what the crew suspected had happened. If Jay could repair him, Cole suspected a lot of comforting was in store.

Back at the ship, Jay and Nya worked throughout the night to try and restore Zane's blood level, but Nya's help stopped there. Jay had to take multiple breaks when he worked below Zane's waist, just the thought of the Ice Ninja suffering through this causing him to gag. After a week or so of nonstop working, Zane was ready to be alive. But just when he was preparing to reboot his brother, he noticed something unusual in his memory drive.

"Hey guys? I think you might want to see this..." Jay trailed off, swallowing thickly as he booted up the file on his laptop. He instantly minimized the screen, scared for what he was going to see. Kai and Cole came in, Nya staying with Lloyd far away from the room. The child hadn't been told about any of what had happened, for fear of how he would react to knowing his father was capable of such things.

When Jay hit play, no sound came out. Jay bit his lip, and gulped.

"Cover your eyes for a second. I'm gonna see what's wrong."

The two ninja complied, and Jay held his breath as he hit the tab at the bottom of his screen. To his surprise, there was text instead of video, the message distinct from what must have been happening at the time.

"You guys can look now. It looks like he recorded a message in a separate file from the rest of his memories."

My friends,

I'm sorry that I couldn't do anything to prevent this. I am dying quickly and I am unsure if this damage is repairable. My power supply is running low - it appears to be at 10% right now. This is my distraction so I can focus on anything but my fate. My only request of you is that you don't allow these events to skew Lloyd's perception of himself. Please help him grow, and never forget that I love each and every one of you as if you were my true siblings.

With love, Zane

The three ninja simply stared at the screen in disbelief, clinging onto each other with ragged breaths.

"Well," Cole cleared his throat, looking back at the unconscious body with tears in his eyes. "Let's wake him up."

Jay nodded, and unattached himself from the group as he powered Zane on, the blue light in his chest signifying he was online.

"Please," Jay whispered, and stepped back to give the Ice Ninja space as he slowly opened his eyes, still stuck in the events that transpired a week ago.

He shot up suddenly, hands flying to his stomach, only to find stitches instead of a gash and an intact gi instead of his shredded pajamas. He looked up in awe to find his friends staring back with relief and pity in their eyes.

"Hey bud," Cole said softly, with no reaction so far from Zane but blinking. "How're you feeling?"

The Nindroid responded by burying his head in his hands in a panic, fingers painfully threading through his hair. They had seen him like that. They thought he was disgusting. They saw him after Garmadon had-

"Zane," Jay murmured gently, resting a hand on top of Zane's, feeling the hair he had shampooed after bringing him home. Zane realized he had been muttering something along the lines of incoherent pleas under his breath, and curled in on himself more. "It's ok, we're not going to hurt you. You're safe with us."

A different hand cautiously rested on his back, unnatural warmth cluing him in to who it was. "I'm so sorry," Kai whispered, voice cracking. "You don't deserve any of this."

"Please lift your head up. No one is going to make fun of you," Cole rested a hand on his knee, all three of the ninja making sure to stay away from his waist.

Zane slowly lifted his head, removing his hands from his hair, looking uncannily like a frightened animal. He instead wrapped them around his legs, his gaze flickering up to all of the ninja that towered over him. He unconsciously shrunk in on himself, but the others got the hint and either sat down next to him or bent down. They didn't crowd him, but they stayed close, each resting a hand somewhere on Zane's upper body or lower legs. With the warmth of his friends surrounding him and gentle mutterings of encouragement, Zane finally began to cry, sobs wracking his fragile frame.

Nya, hearing the commotion and going against her better judgement, poked her head into the room to see Zane's shoulders heaving with heavy gasps as he tried desperately to catch his breath, everything coming crashing down at once. Nya put a hand over her mouth at the sight of her friend so broken, his heart shattered by the Dark Lord's blade. In her moment of weakness, Lloyd slipped in, skidding to a screeching halt at the sight before him.

"Zane? What happened to you?" The Green Ninja furrowed his brow, and went out to comfort the Ice Ninja by mimicking his elders in the highest place he could reach, which happened to be Zane's hip.

Something snapped in the Nindroid, and as soon as Lloyd's fingers landed on his waist, he lashed out with his foot at the same time scrambling away, effectively striking Lloyd in the shoulder as he shrunk back against the corner of the room, still on the workbench.

Kai bit his lip, and gestured for Nya to bring Lloyd with her as he left the room. He ran a hand down his face, swiping away any wetness from his eyes as he turned to face the stunned child, who was more bewildered than injured.

"Zane... kicked me?" He asked in shock, not believing that the gentle Ice Ninja was capable of doing physical harm to him.

"He's not... Zane. At least, not right now. He's been through some severe trauma," Nya explained, tugging on the collar of his shirt to check on the mark. No blood. Lloyd didn't look convinced, but didn't argue. Kai recognized his thought process, and led Lloyd to the game room to sit him down.

Once the three of them were seated on the couch, Lloyd in a Smith sibling sandwich, Kai took a deep breath as he prepared to explain.

"Lloyd, your father..." Kai locked eyes with the child, and felt his heart sink at the thought of ruining whatever brightness was left in his eyes. Luckily, he was saved by Sensei appearing in the doorway.

"Kai, Nya, do you mind if I join you?" Wu asked, and they made room for him to sit down next to his nephew, Kai on his other side. Their sensei ran a hand through the blonde's hair, sighing deeply.

"Why exactly are you having this discussion?" Wu inquired, and Nya piped up.

"Lloyd touched Zane on his hip and he panicked and kicked him," She brushed her fingertips along Lloyd's shoulder, and Wu gazed solemnly down at the young boy.

"Lloyd, I am going to put this very bluntly. Can you handle that?" Wu asked, and Lloyd nodded nervously, unsure of what was coming. "Actually, first off, what do you know?"

"My dad did something bad to Zane, and that's all I really know."

"Lloyd, your father cut a large gash into his stomach, nearly electrocuted him, and then raped him. Zane was dead from blood loss until Jay and Nya revived him today."

That did it. The Green Ninja clung to his uncle's side and buried his face into his robes, Wu stroking his hair all the while.

"Sensei, why..." Kai was at a loss for words for why his mentor would do that to a small child, especially one as already damaged as Lloyd, but Sensei looked at him with a certain expression, and motioned with a few fingers towards the door. Almost angrily, Kai took Nya's arm and the two walked out together to check in on the workshop.

Zane seemed to have substituted his sobbing for almost pitiful whimpers, his arms wrapped tightly around Cole's like a vice, the Earth Ninja acting as an island saving him from the icy cold waters of his trauma, the Ice Ninja's face buried into his chest. Cole had his head resting on top of Zane's, his free hand rubbing circles onto the blonde's back in an attempt to soothe his friend. There was a sadness in the Earth Ninja's eyes that Kai had never seen before, something beyond the feeling of his dinner burning, or helping patch Jay up after a sparring session gone wrong. Cole almost looked younger, eyes soft and nearly shut as he tried to lull his companion into a state of being where his chest wasn't being tortured by never ending painful gasps as he cried.

"There you go bud, just match my breathing, come on, you can do it," Cole muttered softly into Zane's hair. To anyone else, it was simply sweet nothings being exchanged in an attempt to calm, but Kai knew Cole's heart stood behind every word. Jay was standing off to the side, not knowing what to do as Zane silently shuddered into the noirette's chest.

Nya attached herself to Jay's side, not in a romantic sense, but merely to reinforce the idea that no one was alone, especially when everyone needed each other most. Kai joined him on his other side, giving him a gentle pat on the back, the three content to simply hold each other. About five minutes later, Zane's chest had stopped heaving, and when Kai rounded the corner of the workbench to look, he saw blank blue eyes watching him, the usual bright energy clouded over and dull. The sight made his stomach tie itself in knots.

"Hey Zane, ready to relax for a bit?" The Fire Ninja asked smoothly, waiting for some sign that Zane was still himself under the fog. He didn't receive a reply. Kai felt tears gathering in his eyes again. Hell, he would take Zane's earlier panicky self over this one, which seemed to be waiting for him to grab him or choke him or something. Jay may have fixed the ring of bruises on his throat and the fingernail cuts around his hips, but to Zane, they were still there. He just couldn't see them. So, Kai did what he could, and softly rubbed circles in his friend's hand, hoping to ground him, tears pricking the corner of his eyes as he hoped that they would see the spark in the Ice Ninja's eyes in the future.

Zane didn't know much about his situation, but he knew that the arm he was clinging onto was his only constant as of that moment, so he held tightly to avoid succumbing to the tempest that was manifesting in his mind, his fears whirling around like branches ripped from trees, daring passersby to stand in their way.

Pathetic.

You let yourself get captured.

Helpless.

Couldn't do anything.

Robot.

Never human.

Disgusting.

Are you sure you didn't like it?

Twisted.

You can still feel his hands on you.

Violated.

Your body certainly enjoyed it. What does that say about you?

That one in particular made Zane wince, a sob ripping from his throat as he clung onto Cole's arm tighter (or at least he thought it was Cole...), and immediately responses surrounded him in the form of gentle murmurs and reassurances, almost as if the voices were speaking to a wounded animal.

Just like he did. His mind reminded him, and the Ice Ninja did nothing to uncurl himself. No one could ever want something as broken as you.

Zane suddenly became of one voice in particular, picked out of the multitude surrounding him.

"Zane...?"

Lloyd.

Zane's eyes blinked into focus from his perch in Cole's (Cole's!) lap, his bruising grip on Cole's sleeve loosening as he looked down at the child. Not that Zane could see it, but the rest of the crew breathed a collective sigh of relief as he sat up a little straighter, apparently almost snapping out of whatever spiral he had found himself in.

"I- I'm sorry," Lloyd sniffled, obviously winding down from crying. "I didn't know, I didn't mean to..." Lloyd shakily rested a hand on Zane's ankle, afraid to touch the pale man for fear of another attack.

To the crew's delight, Zane climbed off of Cole's lap, letting go of his arm entirely in favor of scooping Lloyd up and hugging him close to his chest, resting his chin on top of the child's hair. The Ice Ninja still hadn't spoken since waking up, but the sight of the Green Ninja curled up within his arms made the Bounty believe that maybe things would turn out alright after all.