Chapter Text
The vengestone cuffs snapped shut around Jay’s wrists with a dull, final weight. The cold bled through his skin immediately, smothering the familiar hum of static in his veins until he felt smaller, dimmer. Guards pushed him forward through corridors that smelled like disinfectant and rust, boots echoing in long, hollow rhythms. He did not resist. He did not speak. His head stayed lowered, expression hidden behind his hair, even as the gates slid open one after another.
They did not put him in a separate block.
The cell door opened, and Jay lifted his head just enough to see him.
Lloyd was sitting against the far wall, knees drawn in, neck bound in a cruel restraint. His hair hung limp and uneven around his face, darker with sweat and grime. Bruises bloomed along his jaw and throat, half-healed, half-fresh. For a split second, Jay felt nothing but relief so sharp it almost hurt. Lloyd was alive.
The guards left without a word. The locks sealed. The hum of the cell returned, low and constant, broken only by the faint buzz of the floodlights outside. Jay stood there for a moment, wrists heavy with vengestone cuffs, waiting for Lloyd to say something. Anything.
Jay cleared his throat, trying to sound like himself, forcing a tight smile. “Okay. So. Not exactly how I wanted our reunion to go, but hey. You’re alive. That’s good. That’s really good.”
Lloyd’s face drained of color.
His eyes dropped immediately to Jay’s wrists, then snapped up again like he’d been burned. The collar sat high on his neck, bruising visible even from where Jay stood. His breathing was shallow, controlled too carefully.
“What did you do-?” Lloyd asked.
Jay took a step closer. “I uh- came in-?”
Silence stretched between them
“You… You turned yourself in…?” Lloyd spoke slowly, not accusing, not yet. Just trying to understand. He’s face twisting in horror, as though the sun had just crashed through their cell.
Jay nodded once. “They weren’t letting you go. They weren’t even pretending anymore. And I couldn’t break you out alone. I didn’t know the layout. The patrols. Anything. This was the only way to get close.”
Lloyd swallowed. His hands curled slowly into fists at his sides.
“You were safe,” Lloyd’s voice was tight. “You were supposed to stay safe.”
“I know,” Jay replied. “But you weren’t.”
“That was the point.”
Jay flinched. “Lloyd.”
“They needed one of us,” Lloyd continued, voice low but tight. “One. And they chose me. That’s how this works.”
Jay shook his head. “That’s not how it should work.”
“I don’t care about should,” The blond snapped. “I care that you’re here now.”
Jay hesitated, then spoke carefully. “If I’m here, they won’t focus everything on you anymore. I can take some of it. Spread it out.”
Lloyd blinked.
Once.
Twice.
For a moment, Jay almost thought he'd gotten through to him.
The cell was silent except for the faint electrical hum coming from somewhere deep within the prison walls. The overhead light flickered intermittently, bathing the concrete room in a sickly yellow glow that made every bruise stand out in sharp relief. Shadows pooled beneath Lloyd's eyes, dark and deep enough to make him look older than he was.
Then Lloyd just stared.
Not angry.
Not even upset.
Just completely, utterly horrified.
The kind of expression someone wore after witnessing a car accident in real time.
"...Spread it out."
Jay nodded cautiously.
"Yeah."
Lloyd continued staring his mouth parted slightly.
"...Spread. It. Out."
"Okay, when you repeat it like that it sounds weird-"
"Spread it out?" Lloyd repeated again, almost blankly.
The blond slowly looked toward the ceiling.
Then back at Jay.
Then toward the ceiling again.
As if silently asking some higher power to explain what he was hearing.
Jay watched the entire process happen.
"Are you asking the First Spinjitzu Master for help?"
"I'm considering it."
"Wow."
"Because God forbid I'm getting any from you."
Jay actually looked mildly offended.
Lloyd rubbed a hand over his face.
"Jay."
"Yeah?"
"Did you hear yourself?"
Jay shifted awkwardly.
"What?"
"'Don't worry Lloyd, we'll just spread out the torture!'" Lloyd's voice climbed higher with every word. "'We'll distribute it evenly amongst us like true bros!'"
"That's not what I-"
"'Maybe we can make a schedule,'" Lloyd continued smiling borderline crazily, eyes widening. "'Mondays are my turn. Tuesdays are yours. How about alternate weekends?'"
Jay threw his hands up.
The vengestone cuffs clanked together loudly.
"Okay, that is obviously not what I meant!"
Lloyd actually laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because he was rapidly approaching the end of his patience.
The sound was rough, the kind of laugh people made when they were one bad sentence away from losing their minds.
"You surrendered yourself to a maximum security prison."
"Well when you say it like that-"
"HOW ELSE IS THERE TO SAY IT?"
The shout echoed off the concrete walls.
Jay visibly flinched.
Lloyd was already on his feet now.
Pacing.
Like the energy trapped beneath his skin had nowhere left to go, his collar caught the light every time he turned, a constant reminder wrapped around his throat. Angry red marks disappeared beneath its edges.
"You had freedom."
Pace.
"You had a chance."
Pace.
"You had literally every opportunity to stay outside and help."
Pace.
"And your solution was to WALK IN HERE—"
Jay crossed his arms.
"My solution was to get close enough to actually help."
"Oh, that's brilliant." Lloyd wheeled around. "Absolutely genius. WOW—"
"Don't start-"
"No, I want to understand."
Lloyd pointed at him, eyes narrowing.
"Explain it to me."
"I just did!"
"No, explain the part where voluntarily becoming a prisoner somehow helps either of us."
"It means…” Jay looked down, fiddling with his aggressively sweaty fingers terrified at the idea of giving another answer that could potentially make his younger brother explode on him, “They won't just focus on you anymore...?"
Lloyd's eye twitched.
Jay paled, immediately regretting saying it.
"Oh, FOR THE LOVE OF—”
Lloyd dragged both hands down his face.
"Jay."
Deep breath.
"My sweet big brother Jay."
Another breath.
"Do you genuinely believe the government looked at me and thought, 'You know what would improve this situation? Another ninja.'"
"I thought-"
"I know you thought."
Lloyd cut him off, pointing at him again with a flat expression,"That's the problem."
"Hey!"
"You ‘thought’ yourself directly into prison!"
"I was trying to help you!"
"And now I'm helping YOU!"
Jay opened his mouth.
Then paused.
"...What?"
Lloyd looked moments away from imploding his own brain.
"Now I have to worry about you."
"I can take care of myself."
"NO YOU CAN'T."
The words ripped out of him.
Jay froze, the sound hung in the air long after Lloyd stopped speaking.
For the first time since Jay had arrived, the argument seemed to crack open enough for him to see what was underneath.
Fear.
Pure fear.
Lloyd's fists were clenched so tightly his hands trembled. His breathing had gone uneven. His face was pale beneath the bruises.
"You can't," Lloyd spoke again.
Quieter now.
His voice shook.
"You think you can. That's what makes this so stupid."
Jay's expression softened.
"Lloyd-"
"No."
Lloyd shook his head immediately.
"No, you don't get to do that."
"Do what?"
"Look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like I'm being unreasonable."
"I'm not-"
"You turned yourself in!"
"I KNOW."
"YOU WALKED INTO A PRISON."
"I KNOW."
"FOR ME."
"YES."
The word bounced around the cell. Lloyd stared at him, Jay stared right back and for a moment neither spoke.
The prison suddenly felt too small.
Lloyd looked away first, his jaw clenched.
Jay noticed his hands were still shaking.
The blond let out a chuckle this time, there wasn't any humor in it. Just exhaustion.
"You don't understand."
Jay's shoulders sagged slightly, as he paralleled Lloyd from earlier.
"Then explain it."
Lloyd opened his mouth.
Closed it.
The answer sat there behind his eyes.
Whatever had happened in the interrogation rooms.
Whatever nights he'd spent chained up beneath those lights.
Whatever they had done to give him those noticeable bruises on his wrist.
Whatever had been done to strip him of his dignity.
It had left something behind.
Something that still lived under his skin.
Jay could see it now in the way Lloyd kept glancing toward the corridor whenever footsteps echoed past. In how his body unconsciously tensed whenever metal doors slammed somewhere in the distance.
Lloyd wasn't scared for himself, that was the horrifying part. He'd already accepted what could happen to him.
What terrified him was the thought of Jay experiencing even a fraction of it.
Of hearing those doors open for him.
Of seeing guards stop outside their cell and call his name instead.
Lloyd swallowed hard.
When he finally spoke, his voice was much quieter.
"You were supposed to stay out there."
The anger was gone, the frustration too.
All that remained was something painfully human.
"You were supposed to be one thing they couldn't touch."
Jay felt his stomach drop.
A slow clap echoed from the neighboring cell.
Both of them jumped.
Harumi stood behind her bars, looking far too entertained.
"Oh, this is unbelievable."
She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
"He voluntarily got himself arrested."
Then she pointed at Lloyd.
"And you're yelling at him because he got himself arrested."
She pointed back at Jay.
"After getting yourself arrested."
Silence.
Harumi looked between them.
Then doubled over laughing.
"Oh my god—”
Her shoulders shook.
"You deserve each other."
Lloyd looked genuinely offended.
Jay looked mildly confused.
Harumi laughed harder.
And for the first time in weeks, despite everything waiting beyond the cell door, the tension cracked just enough for something absurdly normal to slip through.
Because somehow, against all logic, the dumbest thing Jay had ever done had managed to frighten Lloyd more than Kyptarium itself.