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lloydskywalkers · 3 years

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salt

i’ve been incredibly absent and beyond behind on the show but i happened to glimpse the season finale and i. ah. hm. have yet to process my feelings but i’m tired and kai and nya deserve better so here is a humble offering of pain

(spoilers for s15 finale!! big spoilers)

Kai’s never liked the taste of salt. Not the bitter, acrid kind that comes with seawater, stinging and choking as it fills your lungs, burning your nose when you gasp for air. Not the dry, sandpaper-aftertaste that lingers on your tongue for hours after. Not the hot, slip of salt that sticks to your cheeks and leaves your eyes red and aching.

He swipes angrily at the fresh burst of warmth that slips free from his eyes, cursing under his breath as he sniffles thickly. The last rays of the sun on the horizon feel like they’re slicing into his eyes, making his head ache further as he desperately squints at the horizon. It’d be easier to look down, away from the brightness of the sun. He knows that.

But he won’t. Kai’s not going to give the sea that satisfaction. He’s not going to even acknowledge it, the ocean where it churns below, the sound of the crashing waves just barely audible from the roof of the abandoned building he’s picked to hide on. The ocean can go on like that, endlessly chasing the shore, and Kai’s not even going to look at it. Never again. He’s hated the ocean for so long, a little longer is—

Forever is—

His breath catches on the edge of a sob, and Kai chokes it back, burying his head in his arms where they’re braced atop his knees. Forever. He’s stuck with the ocean forever. Stuck with the memory of everything that was saved and lost, all at the power that lies beneath the waves.

Kai hates it. He hates it. The ocean can’t make bad tea with him after nightmares in the night. The ocean can’t come up with stupid jokes to pass the hours with. The ocean can’t tease him with a fire that burns brighter than his own.

Even if he did try not to hate it, tried to love it — the ocean can’t love him back.

Something clenches terribly in his chest, like a twisting of a particularly sharp blade, and before the burn in Kai’s eyes can win out again, he grabs the nearest piece of debris, chucks it at the ocean, and screams as loud as his rasping lungs will let him, as if howling out the horrible ache inside him with lessen the pain.

It doesn’t. All Kai is left with is aching lungs, a pounding head, and more hot, salty tears staining his cheeks.

He hates salt. He hates it so much.

Footsteps rustle from behind him, slow enough to consciously let him know he’s being joined. Kai slumps, his legs giving out as he collapses back on the rooftop. There aren’t a lot of people that’d come after him when he’s like this. There’s only one that walks with a barely off-beat gait, the remnant of another injury Kai couldn’t prevent.

“Stupid, isn’t it,” Kai mutters, painfully conscious of how his voice croaks. He gives a ragged, bitter laugh. “At least it’s not a bar this time, right?”

Lloyd says nothing, merely crosses the remaining distance between them to carefully sit beside him. Drawing his own knees up, Lloyd raises his hand, offering Kai a scrap of something white. It takes him a moment to realize that it’s a tissue.

Kai gives a thick snort, this one less bitter. “Thanks,” he says, shakily accepting it. He blows his nose once, twice, wincing at the throb in his head. Lloyd remains quiet, staring out at the horizon. Kai takes a shuddery breath, exhaling as he wipes at his eyes. They sit there in silence, the only sounds the repetitive crashing of waves on the shore below, slow and mocking.

“It’s funny,” Lloyd finally says. His voice is quiet, but Kai can pick up the rasp at the edge of it. Lloyd’s eyes aren’t exactly dry, either. “Back when we thought we lost you all — when Harumi took the city — she was so strong. Said all this stuff about how we couldn’t give up. How we had to keep on living, even without you guys.”

Kai bites his tongue until the sharp burst of copper floods his mouth. He can only find it in himself to be relieved that it drowns out the taste of salt.

Lloyd shakes his head, the watery sheen at the edge of his eyes gleaming. “I keep expecting her to come back and scold us for being like this, you know? But she’s not coming back, is she.”

It’s not a question. It’s a hollow statement, bitter and empty. Kai swallows.

Lloyd makes a choking sound, turning it into a strangled kind of laugh. “Are you going to leave again?”

Kai blinks, long and slow. It’s tempting, he won’t lie. To run from the idea of going back to some semblance of normal, when everything they’ll do will be stained with memories. The idea of even trying without her, when she’s been such a steady presence. The idea of moving on, like it’s possible.

But memories of Nya are going to follow him wherever he runs, and what’s left of them is so fragile — Kai can only find it in himself to cling tighter to his team, before they leave him, too.

Lloyd speaks up again, before he can reply. “Because I’ll come with you, if you want to,” he says, his voice suddenly hot. “I’ll leave. We can both leave, we can all leave. Let’s — let’s leave.”

Kai falters in surprise, and finally glances at him. Lloyd’s gaze is steady, but there’s a manic glint in his eyes, a kind of resolve that might scare Kai had the situation been any different.

“You’re the Green Ninja,” Kai tries.

The glint grows harder. “I’m Lloyd, first,” he says. “I want — I want to be Lloyd, first. Nya—” He cuts off, exhaling shakily before continuing. “Nya wanted to be a samurai. Not a ninja. And now…”

He shakes his head, barely rustling his salt-crusted hair as he glares outward, his eyes fixed on the ocean. “I don’t want that. I want to be Lloyd. Not — not—”

Lloyd’s voice finally wavers, catching on the edge of grief, but Kai gets it. He’s been thinking much the same, after all. If their powers only lead them to this — if he’s doomed to watch Cole fade to the earth, to watch Jay vanish on the crack of thunder, to watch Zane slow and stutter to an icy halt. To watch Lloyd fizzle out on his own crackling energy pushed too far. If he himself is only doomed to burn himself out to the end of his match, to flicker out like a flame in the night.

He doesn’t want to burn out. He doesn’t want to lose anyone else. He tells Lloyd as much, his voice wavering.

“We can’t leave,” he whispers. “This is — it’s all we know. It’s all we have. And I can’t—” Kai’s eyes are burning again. The ocean’s too close, too loud. “I can’t lose anything else.”

Lloyd’s expression spasms, the hard glint vanishing for something softer, something that looks more like Kai’s little brother. “Oh,” he murmurs. “Oh, Kai, I’m so sorry.”

Kai shakes his head, trying to wipe away the tears before Lloyd sees them, but Lloyd’s already snaking his arms around his shoulders, holding Kai tightly.

“I won’t leave,” he says, fiercely. “We’ll stay. We’ll — we won’t let it go to waste. For her. We’ll stay, for her. If that’s what you want.”

In another time, Kai could laugh, at how easily Lloyd would leave the team for him, now. In this time, Kai could scream again, rage against the setting sun and how the ocean looks beneath it, steady and present and there, always there.

Not like Nya. Not like his sister.

Instead, Kai crumples, buckling against Lloyd as hot, salty tears make tracks down his cheeks. He swallows thickly, his vision blurring over as he watches a wave crash onto the shore.

The taste of salt still lingers on his tongue, like drowning, like death.

Kai hates it.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #ninjago spoilers #ns15 #ns15 spoilers #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #my fic #ofc it'd be the angst that gets through the writers block

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pthalomars · 4 years

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Grounding

Cole stood outside of Kai’s door, a sour feeling pooling in his gut. It was late, he would undoubtedly be asleep. Why should he wake him up? Just so he can have someone to remind him that he’s real? That he’s alive- well, sort of..

It just felt like so much of a burden to put on his friend. However, Cole couldn’t ignore the feelings of dissociation that crept through his fragile mind.

Ever since he had been turned into a ghost, he could never really ground himself; both in the literal and psychological sense. It was hard for him to feel present when he struggled to hold a plate in his hands. His barely corporeal form seemed to phase through surroundings like there was nothing there. Maybe it was him that wasn’t really there. Everything was so cold. So distant. Now more than ever, he felt like if he didn’t have someone to bring him down to earth, that he might fade away all together.

Straining with concentration, Cole focused enough energy to knock on Kai’s door. It came out a bit louder than anticipated, upon which he cringed and recoiled his hand. The drawn out moment of silence made him reconsider his options. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

However, just as he was about to tuck tail and run, a shuffling sound arose behind the wooden door. Footsteps slowly approached the threshold. Cole held his breath as the door creaked open and the bleary eyed fire master looked up at him.

“Cole?” Kai mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, “ ‘s early, what’s up..?”

“Ah, erm..” Cole began, “I’m sorry I-I know it’s probably not the best time, but can I uh.. I just.. I need someone.” The earth ninja began to crack his knuckles and wrists, each one letting out a dull, muffled pop. A nervous habit.

Kai looked at him, drowsiness subsiding enough for him to put the pieces together. Cole’s hunched posture, tired eyes, furrowed brows, and wavering voice. He nodded, opening up his door and allowing his friend to enter.

“Watch your step, sorry it’s a little messy in here.” Kai warned. Lighting a small flame on his finger, Kai led Cole to his bedside.

“So what’s goin’ on?” Kai asked softly, patting the space next to him on the mattress. After a beat, Cole moved to sit, letting out a dismal sigh. The bed sank beneath his weight, pushing him and Kai to be attached at the hip.

“Nothing feels real anymore, Kai.” Cole said plainly. His friend looked at him with concern, but refrained from interrupting. The black ninja continued.

“Ever since this,” he gestured to himself, “I just feel so.. Distant. Cold. Everything is so far away- I’m so far away. I don’t really feel anything anymore. I’m just..” He looked at Kai, hazy greens locking with deep browns, “I’m scared.”

Kai’s brows pinched upwards as he eyed his friend. He knew the transformation had affected him, but he didn’t realize it was to this extent. Though he had never been turned into a spirit, he knew what it felt like to lose his ground.

There had been times in his past when he became so high strung that he couldn’t come back down on his own. It was moments like that when Nya would swoop in and anchor him. She always knew how to help calm his nerves, and as time passed, he was able to do it himself. Maybe now, he could do the same for his aching friend.

“Cole, I’m.. god, I’m so sorry. I can see that you’re hurting, and I wanna help. What do you need?” Kai said, turning to face the larger man.

Cole’s gaze dropped to his hands, pausing before muttering his answer. “I think I need someone to hold onto. Like an anchor. If that.. Makes sense. If I have someone there to hold me down, the fading feeling usually goes away.”

“You need someone to ground you?”

“Mhm.”

“I can do that. There’s something my sister showed me that I think might work. It’s a mix of physical contact and mutual breathing exercises. But there’s another element I want to add. I think it might help you feel better.”

“Sure, I’m willing to try anything.” Cole said before shifting to face Kai. The two of them sat criss cross and the red ninja held out his hands with his palms up.

“Cole, I’ve seen you be able to touch and hold things with your hands. Can you tell me how you do that?”

“I uh, well I usually have to put a lot of concentration into a part of my body that needs to be solid. It takes a lot of energy, but if I try hard enough, I can maintain it.”

“In that case, I want you to put all of your concentration into your hands. Then put your hands in mine.”

Cole hesitates, but then takes a deep breath and begins to pool his focus into his palms. A strange tingling sensation spreads from the tips of his fingers, up to the knuckles and ending at his wrists. He lowers his hands and prays that they don’t fall through Kai’s. They fall through.

Seeing Cole become visibly upset, Kai chimes in. “It’s okay buddy, you don’t have to get it on the first run. Just try again, and take your time, alright?”

“Okay” the larger man sighs. Once again, he channeled his energy into his hands.

“Remember to breathe,” Kai says in a soft, low voice. Cole obliges, letting air fill his lungs and leave in a steady flow. With closed eyes, he lowers his hands again. They don’t fall through.

“Good! You’re doing great, Cole. Keep that concentration, okay? Let your hands become heavier and heavier. I’ll make sure to hold the weight.” Kai encouraged. The smaller man noted the soft gravity of his friend’s hands in his own. Even in his ghostly state, the calluses of his hands felt so tangible. His fingers were thick and his palms were wide, and his nails had been bitten so very short. Another nervous habit.

“Alright, Cole, I’m gonna breathe with you. Just follow my lead.” Kai said before taking in a large breath through his nose. The master of earth followed suit, mimicking his friend as he exhaled through his mouth. Cole opted to keep his eyes closed as he did this, instead trying to focus on his breathing and keeping his hands from slipping through Kai’s.

“You’re doing good, keep breathing just like that, okay? Now there’s one more thing I’d like to try. You said that you feel cold, like really cold, right?” said Kai. Cole hummed in response.

“I’m gonna channel some of my fire into my hands. Not a lot, but just enough to heat up my palms. I’m thinking maybe the heat will make the physical touch more grounding. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, I’m okay with that.”

“Okay good, you just let me know if it gets too hot.” With that, Kai gently tightened his grip on Cole’s hands and let his element flow freely. Like coals in a fire pit, his palms began to glow with a soft warmth.

“Do you feel anything?” the brunette asked.

“Not yet.”

Kai added more heat.

“Feel it?”

“No.”

He added more heat.

“Anything?”

“A little bit. It’s faint, but there’s something.”

He then added more heat. At this point, Kai was worried about whether or not ghosts were capable of getting burned.

“It’s warm..” Cole murmured. He opened his eyes to see the light of Kai’s fire glowing through his own translucent hands.

“How does it feel? Does it help?” Kai asked, his eyes searching for an answer in Cole’s expression.

“Good, it feels good. Grounding.”

“I’m glad. We can stay like this as long as you need, Cole.”

“Thank you, Kai.”

The two of them sat together, hand in hand, for what felt like an eternity. Not that either of them could complain. Cole let himself be brought back to reality by the warm hands that anchored him down. Kai quietly enjoyed the subtle intimacy of the physical contact.

Cole finally broke the comfortable silence that hung tenderly between them.

“I’m feeling a lot better. Thank you, genuinely. I can’t tell you how much I needed this.”

“Yeah, of course! And if you ever need me, all you gotta do is ask. And as for this-” Kai gestures to their hands, “You don’t even need to ask for that. Just grab me when you need to come back down, okay?”

“Thank you.. I-I really appreciate that.” Cole felt a soft blush blooming on his cheeks. He couldn’t deny that he had wanted to hold Kai’s hands for other reasons. However, he decided that those reasons weren’t relevant in the moment.

“Anything for you, man.” Kai affirmed, giving Cole’s hands a squeeze before pulling away to rub his eyes. Sleep had begun to creep up on him as the time had passed. Cole glanced at the red numbers on his friend’s digital clock. He noted how it was strange that time had escaped them.

“Jeez, sorry I know it’s late-”

“Don’t worry about that, I promise I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, and it’s not like the sun is up yet. There’s still time to catch some z’s.”

“You have a good point. Well, I won’t keep you up too much longer, I can head out if you want. I think I’ll be able to get some sleep now that I’m feeling better.”

“Did you want to stay?”

“Stay?”

“Yeah, like, stay the night. You don’t have to, obviously, but I just figured that maybe you wanted company.”

“That would.. Be nice, actually. Are you sure I wouldn’t be intruding?”

“Not at all, and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t appreciate the company either.”

“Ah, fishing for a cuddle buddy I see.”

“I never said that,” Kai let out a chuckle, lightly punching Cole’s shoulder. It was solid.

“Well I wouldn’t mind, even if you did.” the larger man retorted, landing a similar punch on Kai’s shoulder.

The two of them weren’t strangers to that level of physicality. Though, most previous instances were purely platonic; like resting on each other during long ship rides, laying together on the couch with the rest of their friends for movie nights, and keeping contact with each other in most settings. This should be the same, but both of them felt a slightly different twinge in their hearts.

This whole grounding experience had strengthened their bond and brought them closer. Both of them usually had trouble expressing their emotions, so this was a huge step forward.

“Then get over here, why dontcha?” Kai chuckled, flopping backwards. Cole chortled, slowly crawling up to be next to his friend. The smaller man reached his arm out to the side, allowing for the black ninja to curl up against him. With a sigh, the noirette let his head rest gently on Kai’s chest. The quiet beat of his heart vibrated against his ear and he let his eyelids grow heavy until they shut completely. For the first time in a while, he slept through the rest of the night.

#ninjago #kai smith #colebrookstone #lavashipping #ninjago fic #ninjago fanfiction

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ninjago-bingo · 3 years

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final month recap

wow, everyone. we’re here. we’ve made it. we’re reached the end of our bingo time, and i’m absolutely floored by the sheer creative output that i’ve seen over these last four months. everyone, take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back!!! no matter if you made 1 piece or 10, there’s now a work of art out there in the world that wasn’t there before. and truly, that’s super heccing rad no matter how you look at it.

so let’s celebrate! for this recap, we have a total of 20 new pieces, bringing the total amount of ninbingo pieces up to 50. in the span of four months, this little event has created 50 individual works (five of them in the last day!) holy cow ya’ll.

i’m putting out this recap now, but don’t worry, it’s not the end yet! any submissions made to the end of the 30th still count and this post will be updated accordingly :D

fic:

all the things i’ve never done by @sa-you-na-ra. tumblr || prompts: competition and teasing

It’s always a funny thing when the ninja realize new things about each other. Even though living with each other meant they had to see each other all day, there were still small habits or actions that amused the others.

(mod comments: all these little interactions made me smile so much :D looking forward to the rest!)

error 404: answer not found by @m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: memories

Akita and Zane talk after the battle in ‘Awakenings’. The conversation… doesn’t go as either of them expect.

(mod comments: the nuances in this fic are fantastic! also Akita is always a win :D)

Five times kai was a good brother by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: nightmare and brother

I'm writing kai centric stuff again.

(mod comments: kai IS the big bro of the team!!! i support him all the way!!)

How Garmadon became a chauffeur by @master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: driving

"um...Kai? Don't you think we should go Slower?" Garmadon asked nervously trying not to panick as they raced down the road at what had to be over the speed limit.

(mod comments: who let Kai drive? no but honestly this is canon alskdfj)

little things by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: hugs and crying.

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." -Kurt Vonnegut

Lloyd’s tired of being left behind. How is he meant to be the green ninja when he always has to work harder, train better, and wait longer to go on missions with his team? He wants nothing more than to be their equal.

At least, that’s what he thought he wanted.

(mod comments: a post-ep-18 resolution scene? SIGN ME UP!)

Neither Snow Nor Rain by @fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: post-fight

After their return from the Never Realm and all its troubles, Zane is quiet and Nya is incredibly worried. A call to action to a peculiar sort of battle might be enough to change both of those things.

(mod comments: the concept of these two on their own mission together is just so good! excited to see how their dynamic plays out!!)

Never Put Off Until Tomorrow by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: video games and chores

…what can be done today, yada, yada, yada, we all know the saying. So do the ninja- when Master Wu is drilling it into their heads every minute of every day, it’s kind of hard to forget.

Naturally, it only takes them a week (and the biggest new video game in Ninjago) to do so.

(mod comments: this is so in character that it’s frustrating lol. also Pixal ftw!!)

oh take me back to the start by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: comfort and 3 am

The past should be left in the past. Or, at least, that’s what Jay keeps telling himself. Nadakhan is gone. It’s not logical to still be afraid. But he is, and now everything that he left behind suddenly feels like it’s never going to be the same again.

Cole isn’t so convinced.

(mod comments: Cole is truly the man we all deserve in our lives.)

On Our Own by @redefine-your-identity. tumblr || prompt: home

It’s been a few weeks since Kai and Nya’s parents disappeared without a trace. Needless to say, they’re struggling.

(mod comments: OU C H no poor babies 😭 the relationship dynamic here is great!)

orange and gold by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: cooking

...I just need more Cole and Vania content, they seem like they'd be great friends.

Basically it's just 'Cole goes to visit her there, they almost burn down the kitchen, and make way too many puns', lol.

(mod comments: I also always need more Vania content!! the puns in this were breadful!)

permafrost by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: loss of control and promise

It’s not like this is the first time this has happened. It’s not like none of his teammates have ever suffered this kind of guilt and pain. It’s not like Zane himself hasn’t walked through hell before and come out the other side (mostly) in once piece.

Except, this time, it is. It shouldn’t be different, but it is.

(mod comments: super sweet moment between two ninja who deserve more interaction like seriously!!)

Precautionary Tale by @/fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Fighting is different now, and Zane doesn't know why. Yes, he is titanium now, but why should that change anything? It seems to be changing everything, although is all really as it seems?

(mod comments: a great start to a zane-centric fic! interested to see where it goes next :D)

Star-Ninja! by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: siblings and competition

What happens when the loveable gremlin the ninja adopted off of the streets introduces them to Starfarer comics?

Chaos ensues, of course.

stuck with you (through bright and blue) by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Kai only wants two things: to protect Lloyd, and to give him the best birthday ever. Unfortunately, Lloyd seems hell-bent on making that as difficult as possible. Kai’s always prided himself on achieving the impossible, but dealing with human emotions is much more complicated than beating up Garmadon’s generals or shooting enemies with fire, as he quickly learns. Movie!verse

(mod comments: happy birthday lloyd!! look at him getting the love he deserves uwu)

Take a walk in the rain. by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: rain

Cole had always loved the rain, the way it smelled, the way it felt on his skin, and especially the mud! Whenever it rained his Mother would put on his rain coat and boots And they'd both go out and splash around in the puddles and make mud cakes and do all sorts of things.

(mod comments: this fic made me smile a lot :D loved the way it was arranged!)

the hues of an empty sky by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: crying

Missing memories, or having two of them for one moment - not quite the same, but if there’s one thing Jay’s leant over the last few weeks, it’s that literally nothing makes sense anymore.

Or, some Skybound aftermath, Zane actually expressing emotions about his memory switch being turned off for all those years, and what was supposed to be a ‘they tell everyone about the erased timeline’ fic, but it turned into a 'two characters who barely interact on screen talk at like one am in the morning, and don’t actually tell the other what exactly they’re alluding to the whole time’ fic that I wrote at like one am-

(mod comments: Skybound resolution? SIGN ME THE HECK UP YES)

The Make-Cole-Realize-How-Much-We-Love-Him Competition by @21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: bets and competition

Jay and Kai share a horrified look. “He really doesn’t get it,” Jay says.

Kai shakes his head. “We need to show him somehow.”

“Show me what?” Cole asks, exasperated again.

“How much we love you!” Kai exclaims. “Somehow, it’s not getting through your thick skull that we want to sit next to you because you’re you, so I’m gonna have to just prove it to you.”

(mod comments: a silly little movie fic!)

twitter was a mistake by @/21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: teasing and birthday

Kai 🔥 @flaminhotninja ☑

so who was gonna tell me that Jay used to be a game show host huh

🌺✨ the Gift of Jay ✨🌺 @zaptrap ☑

Replying to @flaminhotninja

NO WHO SHOWED YOU

(mod comments: twitter was a mistake)

two halves of a broken whole by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: scars and post-fight

The Sons of Garmadon have been defeated. Garmadon is in prison. The city has been saved.

In the aftermath of the battle, Nya is more than ready to take a much-needed break. But the life of a ninja is messy. Recovery is never that simple. Although the wounds may have healed, the scars still remain.

Zane’s scars seem to match up, though. And maybe together, they can begin to heal.

(mod comments: aggressive care is my jam, and this is it!)

wait by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: home and memories

Lloyd’s not so great at being patient. It’s not his fault though- maybe he would be better at it if waiting didn’t always end up being so disappointing- if people actually kept their promises. But this time’s going to be different, he knows it. His father will come back for him. And Lloyd’s going to wait.

As long as it takes.

(mod comments: baby. baby boy. baby. protecc him plz.)

#ninbingo #recap #long post #but i don't want to hide anyone's work yk #ninjago #ninjago fic

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kittydemon9000 · 4 years

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Hrrrrrrrr I know @blursed-ninjago-ideas reverse prompt thing was a while ago, but it took a while to finish mine and I ended up cutting out bits that didn’t work, so here. The prompt was Kai getting akumatized, but HM loosing control so here we go

————————————

Kai didn’t know akumas could be so destructive. None of them did. Or at least, they’d been stopped before they could do any real lasting damage.

“GET DOWN!” Cole shouted, tackling him to the ground. A bright blue laser sailed past where Kai had just been, hitting a car instead.

It crumbled to dust.

From what Kai has gathered, the Akuma was from a young boy who had been bullied for his love of sci-fi, to the point where they’d started beating him up. His Akuma powers were the same as the kid’s favorite character: being able to blast beams of light that disintegrate whatever they touch.

Kai found himself cursing Hawkmoth yet again.

The group had already seen more than ten people get disintegrated, and there were probably many more.

“I have located the targets.” A monotonous voice said behind them. Kai’s blood ran cold.

The group turned around in horror to see true Akuma behind them. He had pale blue skin with a black visor covering the top of his head. He was wearing a deep, black suit with gold accents and a golden cape fluttered behind his. His boots were a similar gold with tiny rockets on the bottom, granting him flight. And his gun…..his gun was pointed right at them.

Before any of them had a chance to react, he fired.

Jay didn’t even have a chance to open his mouth before he crumbled to dust. They barely had a chance to breathe before the Akuma fired two more, at Cole and Zane respectively.

Nya was next, having a second to jump out of the way but the Akuma easily tracked her movements.

“KAI-“ was all Lloyd had time to say before he was gone too.

Kai could barely breathe. Jay, Cole, Zane, Nya, Lloyd…...his family, his siblings…..every single one of them was gone…..turned to dust

He vaguely heard the sound of the Akuma yelling out as Ladybug and Chat Noir chased him away, no doubt to lure him into a trap, or at least away from all the civilians.

The smell of burning surrounded him, he needed to leave, it was so suffocating and he needed to get away.

He was running. Sprinting at full speed, with no destination in mind other than far away from here.

Kai didn’t know how long he ran for. Minutes, maybe hours. All that filled his ears were the echoing sounds of Lloyd’s call and the haunting ringing of his phone.

In his running, Kai tripped on a piece of sidewalk, sending him crashing to the ground.

And that second of pain was enough to bring him back.

His family was gone. Turned to dust before his very eyes. And Kai? Kai was terrified. Kai was angry. Kai was guilty. Kai was filled to the very brim with unwavering, unrelenting grief.

Why did the Akuma decide to shoot him last? Why was it even targeting them? Why wasn’t it going for Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous instead? Why did it have it be them?

Pyrovenge.

Kai’s breath hitched before letting out a dark chuckle. That was a new one. How many Akuma forms did he have now? Four? Five?

In return for avenging the deaths of your family, I want Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous.

That did sound nice……...but no.

Why not?

That kid. It wasn’t his fault. He was just another victim.

And what about Ladybug and Chat Noir! If they had kept him distracted, or shown up earlier, your family would be fine!

Heros can’t be everywhere at once. They’re still human. The fact they step up to beat you-

But then something clicked in Kai’s mind.

Targets.

The Akuma had called them targets.

The anger grew.

Wait! Stop-

Hawkmoth had told the Akuma to target, to murder, his family. Probably to get him akumatized.

“I’m coming for you Hawkmoth, and there is nowhere you can run that I won’t find you.”

The purple blobs enveloped him, Hawkmoth yelling in his mind. But it didn’t matter.

Pyrovenge wouldn’t stop until Hawkmoth was dead.

———————

Ladybug bolted across the rooftops, dodging and jumping over the fires, ice spikes and piles of rocks that blocked her path. This new Akuma was tough. They so far hadn’t gotten anywhere close to him, and only through some live video footage did they learn their name was Pyrovenge. But, despite the name, they seemed to be able to do more than just make fire.

They also seemed to hate Hawkmoth, which could be used to her advantage.

“COME OUT YOU COWARD!” A deafening and furious voice echoed, followed by a loud explosion. Up ahead, Ladybug saw what looked like a fire tornado appear for a second before dissipating.

“Pyrovenge!” Ladybug yelled out as she reached the end of the building.

The Akuma was wearing a bodysuit that started at black by the feet but slowly transitioned into red as it went up. He had fingerless black gloves with a molten rock pattern runnin up his arms and stopping at the elbow. On his left shoulder was something that resembled a grey archery chest guard while on the right was a brown and gold shoulder guard that went down the length of his arm. A blue sash was wrapped around his waist with a few colorful buttons pinned on. It looked as though someone had taken clothes and accessories from six different closets and thrown them together. Ladybug’s inner designer cringed. It wasn’t even horrible, all the accessories by themselves would’ve looked great, but together it was just too random and all over the place.

Their skin was a burnt brown color with a black domino mask covering their eyes. The Akuma also wore a sort of head band, but instead of hair there was a roaring fire. His eyes were blazing red and filled with rage.

“What do you want!?!” He yelled, temporarily stopping his war path. The block of street they were on was almost completely destroyed, fires roaring on all sides. But luckily, Ladybug didn’t see any civilians.

“You need to stop. You’ll destroy all of Paris!” Ladybug pleaded.

“So what?” He spat. “You can just cast the cure to fix everything.”

“That doesn’t mean that damage hasn’t been done! Think of the people who might get hurt!”

Think of the people who could die went unsaid.

“That’s what I'm counting on.” Pyrovenge snarled.

“Well, we’d be pretty lousy heros if we let you.” Chat Noir quipped as he landed. He winked at Ladybug. “So it took so long, Milady. I got a little held up.”

Pyrovenge growled. “I won’t let you, or anyone, get in the way of my revenge. Hawkmoth killed my family. I won’t let that deed go unpunished.”

The sash around his waist started glowing a cyan blue and suddenly the flames atop his head went out, replaced by a slowly growing mass of water. The harsh reds of this clothes were replaced with a vibrant cyan blue.

He held his hands out and lifted them, and suddenly water erupted from the nearby fire hydrants and shot toward the heros.

The pair jumped out of the way, but the water curved around and shot toward them again. The heros just barely jumped out of the way again, dodging for a few more seconds before Pyrovenge let out an angry growl.

The floating water suddenly dropped to the ground with a splash, spraying outwards.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug cried out. From the magical ladybugs, a piece of paper began to fall. Before it could be snatched away, she jumped up and grabbed it.

“I don’t have time to deal with you!” He shouted.

Then, the buttons started glowing a darker blue and electric sparks exploded from his head. The cyan of his outfit was replaced by a dark blue, similar to the color of the electricity.

With speed like lightning, he darted away.

“Oh no you don’t.” Chat Noir said, sprinting after him, but he was quickly yanked back by Ladybug grabbing his tail.

“Meowch, Milady. What was that for?”

But Ladybug was looking with a slightly horrified expression at the Lucky Charm. For once, it wasn’t just bright red with block spots. There was a window of color.

“What is it?” Chat walked over and peered over her shoulder, but felt his breath stutter.

Chat recognized it, or rather, Adrien recognized it. It had been taken mere days before at the park.

In it was Lloyd, Zane, Jay, Cole, Nya and Kai. Only everyone but Kai’s eyes were scratched out.

“He doesn’t know the Cure brings people back.” Ladybug whispered.

“He doesn’t know the Cure brings people back!” She said again, this time much louder.

“Well, at least we know how to get him to calm down.” Chat commented.

————————

Pyrovenge let out a small snarl. Hawkmoth was back to trying to get him under his thumb.

“You’re just delaying the inevitable.” He said aloud. “If you just come out, it’ll be over quick.”

That was a lie and they both knew it. Pyrovenge would do anything to make sure his death was as slow and painful as possible.

“Pyrovenge!”

He let out an angry sigh.

“For the last time, I don’t want to deal with you!” he yelled. He glowed red and the fires atop his head grew.

“We just want to show you something.” The bug said.

“Nothing you say or do will make me stop. Hawkmoth. Needs. To. DIE.”

“Maybe nothing they say will.”

Pyrovenge stopped. No. No it was impossible. They were….they were dead.

“But maybe we can.”

But they weren’t. Standing before him were his family, each of them without a scratch or bruise. Looking just like they had before they were….

“Kai, please. Stop this. You don’t need to get revenge. We’re all okay.” Lloyd said.

“.....Lloyd?” Kai Pyrovenge whispered. The gloves started glowing and the earth keeping him high above the ground slowly started retreating back into the ground. Once he touched the ground, their glow faded and the reds and fire was back.

“Is it really you?” He whispered, his eyes pleading, desperately hoping it was true.

“Yes! Now please Kai, stop all this!” Lloyd pleaded. Pyrovenge took a few steps to him, hesitant and afraid.

With every step he took, the ninja grew tense. They trusted Kai to never hurt them. He’d probably die before he allowed that to happen….. But he wasn’t exactly Kai right now.

Once he was within a foot of Lloyd, he stopped. The flames shrunk until they were barely embers and he placed a hesitant hand on Lloyd's shoulder. His eyes widened at the contact, almost like he was expecting Lloyd to disappear under his touch.

He suddenly pulled Lloyd into a tight hug, tears escaping from his eyes.

“It really is you.”

#time for some kai hurt #kai #kai smith #lloyd #lloyd garmadon #miraculous au #ladybug #chat noir #ninjago #miraculous

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gwenbrightly · 4 years

Text

It’s the Thought That Counts... Right???

Here’s a short oneshot I wrote inspired by a discussion we were having about post MoTO Garmadon trying to understand holiday traditions.

“Would you like to come in out of the cold… sir?” a tavern keeper called, sticking her head through the doorway of a nearby building. She was staring at him. People always stared at Garmadon, even when he had hidden his oni form under a cloak or other manner of disguise. It wasn’t like it was his fault he was so tall and bulky. Or that he had an extra set of appendages.

He muttered a quick,

“Thank you,” – that was the term used to express gratitude, right? – before following her into the tavern. He couldn’t help but relax as the warmth from the fireplace on the other side of the room washed over him. Music softly played a song about someone named Santa. Garmadon didn’t know who that was, but the villagers must have, because several of them were singing along.

He wandered to a far corner of the tavern and seated himself in a booth. Might as well get comfortable while he warmed himself. Garmadon allowed himself a moment to simply listen to the music and empty his brain of the confusing thoughts and questions about life that so often filled his days. It was nice to relax and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the tavern.

“So, stranger, can I get you anything?” the tavern keeper, who’s name tag read Mauve, asked him after a few minutes.

“I’ll take the strongest black coffee you have,” Garmadon answered. He could have ordered tea, he supposed, but it was far more fun to spite his brother. Even if Wu wasn’t actually here to gasp dramatically at his sin.

“Would you like any creamer or sugar?”

Garmadon shook his head in the negative. Mauve scribbled something on her notepad and disappeared into what he assumed was the kitchen.

As he waited for her to return, Garmadon glanced about the tavern. Mauve certainly had an odd taste in decor. The walls were lined with strands of greenery and little red berries. There was a tree coated in glittery froufrou near the fireplace. Why anyone would put a tree indoors was beyond him. And why decorate said tree? What purpose could it possibly serve?

“Here’s your coffee, sir,” Mauve announced, pulling Garmadon from his thoughts. She set his drink down on the table, and next to it, an oddly shaped white and red striped object. He stared at it in confusion.

“What is this?” he wanted to know. Mauve had the audacity to laugh as she replied,

“Have you… never seen a candy cane before?”

For the first time in a long time, Garmadon had a sudden desire to stab something. With immense self restraint, he decided to focus on the issue that was least likely to get him arrested – the nature of this… cane made of candy.

“Candy cane?” he repeated, trying to hide his curiosity. Mauve smiled at him.

“Yes. It’s a peppermint flavored sugar made in the shape of a cane. Candy canes are a Christmas staple.”

Christmas. Garmadon vaguely remembered overhearing talk of the holiday in one of the other villages he’d passed through. It was another mystery of the universe he had yet to unravel.

“Ah.”

“Well, if you need anything else, I’ll be over working the counter.” Mauve said, nodding her head towards the bar, where several families sat doing… something. Garmadon waited until she was gone to unwrap the candy cane and give it a tentative lick. Too sweet, yet somehow bitter at the same time. He wasn’t impressed. Taking a swig of coffee to rid himself of the taste, he stared out the window at the snowflakes that lazily drifted on the winter breeze. Most humans would probably say the view was beautiful. As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to see why they enjoyed the season so much.

15 minutes and an entire cup of coffee later, Garmadon meandered towards the bar. Staring out the window could only hold his attention for so long before he grew bored and now he was looking for something new to occupy him. Mauve glanced up from the papers she was folding.

“Ready for a refill?”

“Thank you, but no,” Garmadon told her, tossing a few coins on the counter as payment for his drink. The tavern keeper nodded thoughtfully.

“Would you like to join us in making Christmas cards, then?” she inquired motioning at the array of materials being used by several of the tavern’s patrons, “You don’t seem like the type, but I’m happy to get you the supplies if you’re interested.”

Garmadon eyed her skeptically.

“Tell me about these… Christmas cards.”

“You really don’t know much about Christmas, do you?” Mauve commented, more to herself than to him. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I…”

“That’s okay! We’ll teach you all about it!” offered the child sitting on the nearest stool, giving him a huge grin.

“You really don’t have to-” Garmadon began to protest. Mauve cut him off.

“Oh, no. Kelly is right. We’re teaching you how to make Christmas cards, and then you’re learning at least one Christmas carol.”

Garmadon groaned, but half-heartedly allowed himself to be taught the arts of card making. It wouldn’t be his best work, oh no, for he definitely wasn’t ready to admit that he maybe kind of cared about Lloyd – or for Lloyd to realize that he cared. But it was a start. After all, people kept telling him there was more to life than surviving.

______________________

Thunk! Thunk! Bang!

“We must have a visitor,” noted Lloyd just as a snowball hit him in the face. “Rude,” he complained. Kai sniggered, earning him a vicious glare from both his sister and the Green Ninja.

Bang! There was another knock on the gates.

“Perhaps we should call a truce and let whoever is out there in before they break the gates down,” Zane suggested before Lloyd could plan a counterattack. Cole nodded, dropping his own snowball as he spoke.

“That’s probably wise.”

The others sighed, but refrained from continuing their snowball fight. Their companions were right and they were curious to see who had made the icy trek up the mountainside to the monastery. Lloyd shot Kai his best we’ll continue this later and made for the gates just as another knock sounded.

“Could you be any more impatient?” he muttered under his breath. Giving one of the gates a tug inward, he was greeted by the mailman, who was looking at his wristwatch in annoyance.

“About time,” the mailman said, brushing past Lloyd without saying hello.

“Hello, Mr. Mailman! Would you like to come inside for some hot cocoa?” Zane greeted brightly. The mailman shook his head vigorously.

“No, no. I have lots of other deliveries to make, what with it being the holidays and all. Not to mention, I��m not entirely convinced this package doesn’t contain a bomb, and I’d rather not stick around to find out,” he replied hurriedly. The ninja glanced at each other.

“Why?” “Who’s it for?”

Cole and Jay asked at the same time.

“The package is addressed to the Green Ninja himself,” the mailman stated, shoving it at Lloyd with considerable delicacy, “if it is a bomb, please don’t bother filing a complaint with the Bureau of Mail Delivery and Package Sending. Remember. I’m just the messenger,” and with that, the mailman was gone.

“That was… odd,” commented Nya, raising an eyebrow. Lloyd hummed thoughtfully as he stared at the package the mailman had been so desperate to be rid of.

“It’s the mailman, sis. He’s always kinda kooky if you ask me,” Kai said, unconcerned. Silence fell as the group gathered around their brother to get a closer look at the package.

“It’s – it’s from my father…” Lloyd announced after a moment, completely shocked. No one knew quite how to respond to this news. The last time they’d seen Garmadon had been while Lloyd was still unconscious after the battle with the Oni. He hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. And to be perfectly honest, no one was really sure they could trust the warlord not to continue his deceitful ways.

“Ah. Well, that explains the mention of a potential bomb threat, then,” Zane observed.

“Yeah…” Lloyd coughed awkwardly.

“So… are you gonna chuck it off the mountain and watch for a mushroom cloud? Or are you gonna open it and hope for the best?” Jay asked ever so tactfully. Lloyd thought for a moment before replying.

“Hhh… Kai, do me a favor and grab those tongs you keep in the forge. We’re gonna need em’.”

The master of fire was quick to follow Lloyd’s instructions and returned momentarily with a sturdy, and especially long, pair of tongs. Everyone took a step back as Lloyd set the package in a patch of snow away from anything important (his uncle would kill him if he accidentally set something on fire so close to Christmas). He gripped the tongs tightly and edged them carefully toward one end of the package.

“Here goes nothing,” Lloyd whisperer, snagging a flap of packaging and ripping it upwards. The seconds ticked by, but nothing exploded, beeped, or vibrated. He poked the package. Still, nothing. Curiosity getting the better of him, Lloyd pulled the rest of the dirty brown wrapping away from the contents of the package.

“Candy canes?” Lloyd couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Why on earth would Garmadon send him candy canes?

“There’s a card, too,” Nya said, plucking an envelope from the torn packaging. She passed it to Lloyd, who tentatively opened it.

“Dear Loyd,

The anoying villagers here tell me it is customarie to send cards to people you… people you’re related to. I don’t know why I’m alloweing them to dictate my life, but here:” Lloyd read aloud from the front of the folded piece of paper, struggling to make sense of the messy handwriting and questionable spelling. And, more so, struggling to understand what was happening. He had long ago lost any hope that he and Garmadon could ever go back to what they had once been. Had believed that their formerly loving relationship was permanently dead.

Biting his lip, Lloyd unfolded the envelope. The drawing inside was quite possibly the most hilariously insulting caricature of himself that Lloyd had ever seen. His initial shock at receiving a gift (?) from Garmadon was replaced with a squeak of laughter. He couldn’t help it; the image was simply too much for him to take.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Cole asked, concerned by Lloyd’s sudden change in demeanor.

“I-I don’t know,” Lloyd half laughed, half cried. He held out the card so the others could see.

“That’s sure… something else,” Nya commented.

“Yeah. I didn’t realize you had 4 arms, Lloyd,” Kai added, perhaps a bit too entertained by the interesting features Garmadon had given his brother. Nya viciously elbowed his side, but he shrugged unrepentantly. “What? It’s true.”

“Permission to laugh?” Jay asked. He was still ogling the image and Lloyd could tell he was only barely reigning himself in.

“I. Yeah, sure. Go ahead,” Lloyd relented, “I guess it is a pretty hilarious drawing.”

As Jay and Kai took full advantage of the invitation to let their true feelings show, Nya turned to Lloyd.

“Guess you won’t be forgetting this Christmas any time soon, huh?” she asked, a wry smile on her face. Lloyd laughed softly. Maybe this whole thing was a prank, maybe Garmadon had simply wanted to mess with him. But maybe, just maybe, his father was finally learning to care about someone other than himself. And that was a thought Lloyd could cling to on Christmas morning, when he felt the absence of those he had lost most keenly. A thought that gave him hope that perhaps someday, his family might possibly be complete again.

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #Garmadon tries to understand Christmas #It has.... mixed results #but he's trying #Lloyd is rightfully confused #Sorry for not including the pizza Vy #Myfics #validate meee #ninjago christmas fic

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crystalgirl259 · 4 years

Text

The Flame and the Dragon Ch17

Chapter 17: The Reason

"Would you hold still?!" Kai snapped, pulling the cloth soaked with medical herbs from the kitchen away.

"That stings!" Cole argued as he moved his clawed hand to cover the wound and prevent Kai from touching it but hissed every time his claws grazed the surface of the wound. Kai snorted feeling his blood boil in rage. He'd had to drag the man back to the castle and wake up some of the servants to get the things he needed. Then he had to drag Cole to the kitchen and force him to sit on the table. Shade all but exploded when the two entered the kitchen covered in leaves, dirt, and blood, all of which were scattered all over the room.

Then he practically buried Kai and Cole with questions when he saw the wound on the man's chest, despite Cole's insistence that it was only a scratch and that he was fine.

He only managed to free himself of the other noirette's badgering by pointing to Kai. The brunette was digging through the cabinets for anything he could use. Shade all but exploded. Now, Kai had to put up with the Dragon Lord acting like a child while he tried to remove his coat and the remains of his shirt to nurse his wounds. His already thinning patience was on the verge of snapping.

"If you'd hold still, and let me clean the damn thing, it wouldn't hurt as much!"

"If you hadn't run away, this never would've happened!" Cole yelled in a voice bitter with sarcasm before he deliberately scolded. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was? How much danger you were in! You were only lucky you were on your way back to the castle, or I wouldn't have been able to save you!" He shouted. Kai growled and threw down the washcloth.

"If you hadn't started blasting things and scaring me, I never would've left!" The teen countered, if for nothing more than to wipe the smirk off the man's face. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"You shouldn't have been in the West Wing in the first place! You were specifically told what it was, by several people I might add, and I never permitted you to enter my room! How would you feel if someone entered your room without permission? And don't lie to me because we both know you've would've reacted the same way!" Cole retorted. Kai felt his ego bruise at that comment and opened his mouth to protest but bit back the words and exhaled.

"You're right." He said with no emotion. Cole was stunned and clearly not expecting such a response.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said you are right." He repeated in a more civil voice. He was tired of this blame game. "I shouldn't have gone into your room without your permission and I'm sorry." He said and his apology was sincere, but when he looked up again, his fierce eyes bore into Cole's. The dragon hybrid sat frozen by the intensity. "But I'm not the only one at fault here! You should learn to control your temper!" He scolded. Instantly, Cole opened his mouth to counter but immediately realized he had no answer.

He felt his pride deflate when he realized the boy was right. He had lost his temper, but he refused to take all the blame for this.

"I'm the only one with a temper or at fault here! You should learn to listen and do what you're told!"

"I already know that!" Kai snapped, collapsing into a chair. "I'm too impulsive; it's one of my faults but, to be honest, if you weren't always hiding maybe I wouldn't be so curious." He mumbled out loud, dumping more yarrow on the cloth. "I've been here almost a month and the only thing I know about you is that you have a temper, you're a control freak and you can throw energy."

"Haven't you ever heard 'curiosity killed the cat'?" Cole snorted but chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, I have." Kai chuckled. "As a kid, I always heard the story of Bluebeard; everyone always said it was supposed to show how curiosity only causes trouble." He chuckled then smiled. "But I always thought that if that were true and the girl obeyed her husband, he would've killed her anyway, and start the process all over again, but because of her curiosity, not only did she find out the truth, she and her brothers managed to kill the guy and save a lot of other girls from suffering the same fate." He burst out laughing at the memory.

Cole just stared as he listened intensely.

"No one could answer that one, not even Mom and Dad said curiosity was a double-edged sword; it helps us learn new things and make discoveries but if we let it get the better of us, we set ourselves up for trouble and I always let mine get the best of me."

"Obviously," Cole added before his voice took a stricter tone. "Next time you want to ease your curiosity, you should try asking."

"So if I asked you, you would have let me into your room even if it was for the sake of getting to know you better?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, his voice a mixture of sarcasm and teasing.

"Hell no!" Cole blurted out fiercely. He realized his mistake when the smirk on Kai's face widened. Again his pride was dented. "I see your point." He mumbled with as much dignity as he could muster.

"And you say I'm impulsive." Kai teased.

"You are." He countered, leaning closer to him. Since he was sitting at the table, their eyes were level with each other. "You're reckless, that's why you get into trouble and you never have the control to hold your tongue when the time calls for it, and you always put others or your pride before your own safety; there's a time and place when your own safety should be more important than defending your pride."

"Like in the woods, when that thing tried to kill you?" Kai asked as he raised an eyebrow in an accosting tone. "I don't care what happens to me if someone I care about is in danger! If I can help them I will!"

"You care about me?" Cole smirked and a blush painted Kai's face before he growled back.

"That's not the point!"

"I know what you meant." He chuckled as he shook his head with a small smile. "But I stand by what I told you before, if you keep focusing on everyone else's happiness and let your pride get the better of you, you'll never be happy." He said and the statement didn't anger Kai as much as it did the first time, but he still felt his irritation spike as a result. He opened his mouth to protest but Cole cut him off. "Everyone else who goes out of their way to try and make you happy will constantly worry about you because they know you'll always put everyone else before yourself." The hybrid said and any protest or angry words died in his throat.

He never looked at it that way before but it was as if the last piece of an extremely difficult puzzle had suddenly been put into place.

Nya had told him something similar before she and Lloyd had left. Everyone else in the palace had been sick with worry over him since he arrived, worse after his and Cole's fight. The teen put the medical supplies down and lowered his head.

"Why did you let me stay here?" He asked in a low voice, unsure if he wanted an answer.

"I don't understand." Cole blinked. Kai raised his head and glared at him.

"When I asked you to let me stay in Nya and Lloyd's place, why did you say yes? You said so yourself, I'm nothing but trouble?"

"I never said that." Cole corrected.

"That doesn't answer my question." Kai glared. Now it was Cole's turn to smile, a smile that curled at the corners.

"You really want to know why I let you stay here?" He asked and Kai nodded.

"Because you fascinated me the second I saw you." He replied and he raised his claws and spoke in a passionate, free-flowing voice as if he no longer had to keep something secret. Kai was clearly not expecting such an answer.

"What?"

"I'd never seen or met anyone like you; you found my castle all on your own, you were willing to sacrifice everything for your family and when you saw my true form for the first time, not only were you not afraid of me, you knew who I was! I didn't believe it when my staff called your arrival here a miracle, but everything about you astounded me." Cole paused for a moment, taking in the stunned expression on Kai's face. "Every time you saw me, you showed no fear and you refused to obey or respect me unless it was earned and you defy my every order; you countered every rule, regulation, or demand I made with one of your own and you had an answer for each one."

He paused for a moment and looked around the kitchen, not surprised to see the staff had left.

"You treat everyone in the castle-like people, where anyone else would've fled in terror, you let them pamper you even though you hate being waited on, you treat this place as if it were your home, and you put your own needs on hold for the sake of someone else." He sighed and Kai blinked again, but Cole was unsure if he was truly confused or if he disbelieved Cole meant what he was saying. "I agreed to keep you here for the reason that everything about you fascinates me from your beauty, intelligence, spirit, fiery temper, fierce independence, courage, heart... need I go on?" Cole smirked at the crimson blush spreading rapidly across Kai's face when he realized Cole was serious.

"I-I..."

"You're like a desert rose, Kai, something so unique and powerful that it can grow in the wildest of places." He smiled warmly. "You're like one giant puzzle and no matter how hard I try, I can't figure you out, but mark my words, I plan to." He promised. Kai just sat there for a moment, too stunned to speak. His mind was still trying to process what he was just told, completely ignoring the blush he knew was blazing across his face. When his mind finally put everything into perspective, he smiled a small smile and laughed.

"Funny, back home everyone but my siblings considered me everything from odd and peculiar to weird and bizarre for the way I am, and yet here, everyone seems to like me for that reason."

"Then those ignorant, backward fools need to get their asses out of the past and accept the end of aristocracy; I've been trapped in this castle for over a hundred years and I know full well things are much different." Cole laughed. Kai couldn't help but laugh in agreement. He flashed a small smile before turning back to the cloth soaked in yarrow medicine.

"Now hold still and let me finish cleaning this, it'll sting a bit." He warned before pressing the liquid-drenched cloth to the wound. Cole bit his lip, a hiss making his pain evident but he held still while the boy gently worked.

"Just a little longer, I promise." Kai comforted him, throwing away the dirty rag and grabbing another one. Once the wound was clean, he screwed the yarrow jar shut and took out a cotton-padded patch large enough to cover the entire wound. He grabbed one of the thick aloe leaves, cut it open, and squeezed the clear gelatin onto the patch before carefully spreading it all over. Cole watched patiently as he emptied the entire leaf until it curled.

Once that was done, Kai carefully lifted the patch from the bottom and pressed it to the wound.

Cole hissed, but this time, he only felt slight discomfort.

"Don't worry," Kai said, wiping off his hands. "It's aloe, it's more soothing than yarrow and it'll stop the itch and it's also a very powerful disinfectant." He explained, pressing his hand to the patch gently. "Now, I just need you to remove your coat so I can bandage it." He said and Cole shrugged the garment off his shoulders, revealing his entire upper body. Kai bit back a blush as the naked flesh was revealed to him. Kai quickly grabbed the bandages and carefully began wrapping them around Cole's waist.

"You're a good nurse," Cole commented, noticing how skilled the teen was.

"Thank you." He replied as he forced down another blush.

"Where'd you learn this, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My mom and dad taught me," Kai replied. "Our family was well known for their knowledge of herbs and since we traveled a lot when I was younger, we had to make sure we knew what to do in case one of us got hurt before we reached the next town or doctor, but most of the time, it was just me and Dad always teased me, saying that was why the yarrow stung; it was both a healer and a punishment for misbehaving."

"Sounds like the two of you were close."

"When I was little, he would always buy me the most beautiful and bizarre things wherever we went and he'd tell me stories about them." Kai smiled. "My favorites were always the ones about how our family descended from a powerful line of warriors from Japan."

"He sounds like a good man." Cole laughed. "My father was like that, he always told me our family was chosen by the legendary dragon to protect this kingdom from corruption and prejudice, and obviously, this castle's theme was modeled around that myth."

"I noticed," Kai replied as he tied the bandage tightly. Once he was finished, he frowned and turned away again. Cole looked concerned until he noticed another blush forming on the boy's cheeks. "Thank you, by the way." The teen finally spoke.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you, for saving me." He clarified. Now it was Cole's turn to blush, but he hid it by coughing in his hand.

"You're welcome, and thank you... for coming back." He added.

"I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

"Oh, is that all?" Cole replied, sounding a little disappointed.

"No, that's not all." Kai giggled a bit. "Honestly, I like it here; it's nice to be away from that town for a while and I'd feel bad if I left everyone without saying goodbye, and besides, I want to get to know you too." He added. Cole just smiled and gently ran his claws through Kai's hair before scooping him into his arms like a bride. The teenager yelped at the sudden movement.

"H-Hey! W-Wait a minute!" The teen protested.

"Don't think this means you're off the hook, you're still in big trouble for going in my room," Cole smirked and laughed. Kai snorted and crossed his arms. He hated being carried. The few staff members watching backed away as Cole flew through the hallway with his captive in his arms. The four creatures stood frozen, their eyes bulged and their mouths dropped in identical masks of shock.

"Um..." Jay mouthed, pointing to where the two men just were. "Did they just—"

"Uh-huh." Ronin nodded.

"And then they—" Tox continued.

"Yup." Echo finished. This was certainly an interesting turn of events...

#ninjago #The Flame and the Dragon #beauty and the beast #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago cole #ninjago lloyd #ninjago zane #ninjago ronin #ninjago tox #ninjago jay #ninjago echo #lavashipping

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imthepointe · 4 years

Text

The One That Got Away

@penofwildfire whoops...hehe :)

this is entirely based on their lovely and angsty post here!

Lloyd shot up from his makeshift bed, forehead dotted with sweat and eyes rimmed red with tears. His heart so beat loudly in his chest he was sure the thumping could be heard from a mile away.

At once, a steadying hand held his back, murmuring soothing utterances that he did not care to listen to. Harumi’s words from a week prior rang in his ear, the image of the Bounty- along with his brothers- being ripped apart still burned into his mind every time he shut his eyes.

For the past few nights, sleep had not provided any sort of escape or remedy for the past week’s events- rather proving to be an oblivion and open invitation to nightmare.

Nya seemed to have taken notice, much to the despondency of a certain green ninja.

She stood above Lloyd’s pallet, her hand still on his back rubbing small circles and her voice still cooing words of comfort.

Once he had calmed down a bit, Nya quirked an eyebrow. “Nightmare?”

Lloyd held his head in his hands. “Yeah.”

“Tell me about it?” she asked, sitting herself down beside him.

---

“I wanted this,” the Jade Princess had said, as she dangled Lloyd hopelessly over the once-bright Ninjago City. She giggled maniacally, her eyes wild and glued to the Colossus a few blocks down the street with fierce intensity.

“I wanted this!” she screamed in the green ninja’s ear. Her smile stretched from cheek to cheek, whatever semblance of sound mind she had left fading before Lloyd’s helpless form.

He was pathetic; he couldn’t do anything in Harumi’s grasp. The green ninja, once highly esteemed and venerated by citizens of Ninjago, was about to watch his friends die at the hands of some sadistic teenage girl and his father.

As much as the sane voices in Lloyd’s mind told him to turn his face away, he couldn’t peel his gaze from the ship in between the stone giant’s arms- the one his brothers were in- being crushed before him.

Harumi dug her fingers into the back of Lloyd’s neck, before pulling him back down to the train’s roof. “Now watch,” she breathed in his ear, a sweet and bitter edge to her cutting voice.

As if on command, the Bounty was crushed to a pulp.

Lloyd did nothing but watch in disbelief. His teammates were still on that ship. They were still on there, they must have been crushed too-

The Jade Princess jerked his head away from the fallen airship. “It’s too bad you were the one that got away,” she clicked her tongue, twisting her mouth into a grin. “I guess that just means I get to personally deal with you later.”

---

“Oh, it was nothing,” Lloyd reassured Nya with a sad smile. The same steadying hand from earlier once again patted his back, and though he was grateful for her presence- don’t get him wrong- something still was missing.

To be precise, 3 teenage boys, a nindroid, and a 500-year-old sensei turned infant were missing.

“I don’t believe you, Lloyd,” the water ninja deadpanned. “It’s okay, you can tell me what’s up.”

Lloyd fidgeted with his hands and looked around the room. It was completely empty, save for Pixal and her mech off to the side; his mother and Dareth presumably off somewhere in the city. He sighed, turning back to look at the last remaining ninja left on the team.

“It’s just that we lost them, Nya-”

“Lloyd.”

Upon hearing Nya’s grave tone, Lloyd flinched. Her hands were now bracing his shoulders, and she stared into his eyes; such firmness was not really out of the ordinary for the water ninja, but she usually never took this attitude with him. “We didn’t lose anyone,” she frowned, “my friends- our friends- they are fine.”

“How can you be so sure?” Lloyd interjected. He wanted to believe Nya, he really, really did.

But he couldn’t. He had watched them...

Nya continued to hold Lloyd’s arms, and he couldn’t help but remember the way Harumi’s own hands had held him in place just a week prior. As chill ran down his spine, where he could still feel the Quiet One’s fingers wrapped around his neck.

The green ninja spoke up again, more softly this time. “I saw them, Nya. I saw the Bounty get crushed to pieces. I saw them die.”

Nya bit her lip, visibly tensing. She closed her eyes and whispered a small “I know” before wrapping her arms around the last remainder of her former team.

“I lost people, too, Lloyd,” she muttered into his hair. “But they’re not dead.”

Doubt crept its way into his mind, and subconsciously he thought Nya knew how irrational she was being.

Perhaps more so how irrational he was for believing her. For a split second, he hugged the water ninja back, and accepted the fact that maybe his friends weren’t dead, and that they would come out of hiding soon enough, and Harumi and his father would be defeated, and Ninjago would be saved. That’s how things normally ended, right?

Just as soon as the moment of belief came, it too passed.

His mother and Dareth burst into the room, both Nya and Lloyd startled from their thoughts.

Misako’s face furrowed into an expression somewhere between scared and confused, and Dareth looked like he always did- mostly confused- and out of breath.

“We have to go,” his mother’s voice faltered slightly in a way that made Lloyd’s stomach turn. “The Sons of Garmadon are sweeping the block.”

---

The narrow alleyway the group of five were now hiding in was familiar to the green ninja in a very distant sense- something only Lloyd could liken to vague deja vu, or the moments of disorientation after waking up from a realistic dream.

He held his breath as Mr. E and the rest of the gang passed their hiding spots, with Nya beside him, Pixal and his mother adjacent, and Dareth...somewhere.

Only once the Sons of Garmadon were certainly out of range did anyone dare make a noise. “Thank FSM,” Nya breathed, pushing the piece of wood the pair had been hiding under out of the way.

Beside them, Pixal and Misako did the same, and the self-proclaimed brown ninja emerged from wherever he had been.

Misako laughed in relief, dusting herself off as she stood. “Do you all smell that?” she asked, trying to clear the air. She turned to her son, who still sat on the ground. “Lloyd, doesn’t it smell-”

Lloyd clutched the piece of wood Nya had previously shoved aside. “It’s the Bounty.”

---

The Colossus’ hands closed in on The Bounty, the sound of splicing wood and crushed memories ringing in Zane, Kai, Jay, and Cole’s ears. The stone giant was quickly compressing the ship to a pulp, and with each rattling shake the ninja stumbled closer to one another on the broken deck.

Wu clutched Cole’s gi and squeezed his eyes shut, burying his head in the earth ninja’s chest and whimpering softly. In turn, Cole hugged him tighter, shielding him from their imminent demise.

“Zane!” Kai stared at the nindroid at the wheel, an unreadable and blank look on his face. “Do something,” he pleaded, before desperately adding, “please.”

Zane sputtered. “I- I cannot-” He wanted to say that he couldn’t save them, but he supposed the rest of his teammates had already figured that out by now.

Jay looked at Cole, the baby in his arms, then to Zane, then to Kai. The wind whipped wildly around the team and the distant sound of sirens blazed in the background, though almost entirely erased by the screams of onlookers and the clamor of their precious Bounty being torn apart underneath their feet.

But between the team on the ship, it was silent.

Time moved in slow motion as the Colossus’ hands began to meet, and each ninja glanced at one another other with a small smile on their face and a look that said ‘Thank you for the past few years.’

Cole relaxed in acceptance, though the small figure in his arms began to squirm. “We have to go!” Baby Wu shouted.

The tea. Mystake.

Jay’s eyes widened in realization as he registered Wu’s words, and then the fact that it was too late to do anything about it.

---

Nya felt her chest tear apart.

The Bounty.

She said nothing as moved a few pieces of wood aside, revealing a broken picture frame that belonged on the ship. Pixal looked around- two engines, an anchor, a sail, a rudder- her home- and it was all right here, lying strewn about before them.

Lloyd sucked in a breath. “No, no, no, no, no…”

He knew this day would come, when he would find the ship he had watched just a week ago be completely obliterated, when he would see the remnants of his home somewhere in Ninjago City. He remained on the ground still, desperately searching through the wreckage for more fragments of the ship.

Lloyd froze when he grabbed something cold, and panic and awareness quickly set in.

His body began to jerk and tears began to spill freely from his eyes, because he knew what he had found. Still, he couldn’t stop himself as he brushed the wood away, revealing exactly what Lloyd had hoped he would never find.

Kai. Buried underneath the rubble of the Bounty was Kai- but it wasn’t. This wasn’t Kai. It was his corpse.

A scream caught in his throat, rendering him unable to comfort the master of water as she realized what Lloyd had found.

Beside him, Nya began to breath faster and faster, stumbling in her legs until Misako had to help her slide to a sitting position.

“No,” she sniffled and shook her head, “he’s okay. There must be a pulse, there has to be, they’re all alive.”

Nothing about Kai was alive, and Nya knew that. Lloyd knew that, too, but that didn’t mean he accepted it.

“Here,” Pixal called, small tears rolling down her face. She held a broken and battered nindroid in her arms, with dark and deactivated eyes and stray wires indicating no sign of life.

Neither Lloyd nor Nya moved as Jay, Zane, and Kai’s bodies were all recovered from the ruins; the two simply sat in the same crouched position beside each other in disbelief.

Had it not been Nya telling Lloyd just that morning that they were alright? That his brothers were just hiding?

He had watched them die.

A few more moments of waiting and Pixal had found the final two bodies. Quietly, Nya helped Lloyd to his feet, and they stepped over broken wood and their own teammates’ corpses to where Pixal was trembling slightly.

Cole, skin cold and gray, body covered in blood, was finally found lying underneath a large pile of wreckage. Still in his arms, despite being crushed then falling hundreds of feet to the ground, was a small figure, its fingers still curled tightly around the earth ninja’s body.

A baby that had died in Cole’s arms.

Their sensei.

A harsh, half-stifled yell sounded in the ash gray sky- undoubtedly alerting Mr. E along with the rest of his crew of their location- but Lloyd did not care.

He didn’t care when Nya broke down into sobs beside him, when Dareth and Misako too began to cry, or when Pixal fell to the ground on her knees, unable to stop herself from shaking.

He didn’t care when a smiling Harumi found him not fifteen minutes later, still clinging to each of their bodies.

#ninjago #tw #tw death #tw panic attack #tw blood #corpses #uh anyways lego ninja amirite #lloyd #nya #hunted #claire writes

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mcfanely · 4 years

Text

The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon

Burdened with the knowledge that a rescue was most likely not on its way, both Zane and Cole change tact. Moving from thinking their stay in the new realm would be temporary, to being fully aware that their stay could last a lot, lot longer.

Chapter 05 - Dear Diary, 2043 words

That realisation had struck hard. Very hard.

Cole hadn't realised how much he'd been relying on their friends coming to rescue them. How the thought of a portal opening up in the sky at any moment, the same one that had spat him and Zane out was actually pushing him on.

That their brothers would come through and they'd have a ticket home.

But they'd realised that wouldn't be happening, that no rescue party was going to be coming for them any time soon, since why would they think that they'd survived a direct hit from Aspheera's staff?

Kai, Jay, Lloyd, Nya, Pixal, Wu.

What reason would they have to think that he and Zane were alive?

Cole couldn't imagine what they were going through at that very moment. They'd won the battle, the war. They'd vanquished evil, but they'd be entirely sure that it was at the cost of two friends, two brothers. A chunk of their makeshift family gone in one fell swoop. Or maybe he could in a way, with losing Zane during the battle with the Overlord. But again, and two of them?

Unfortunately, they couldn't ponder on what they might or might not be going through.

Still, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Their circumstances had changed in an instant and they both knew it. They'd gone from the mindset of they had to wait, endure an unknown period of time between them arriving in the realm and them being saved by their brothers.

To being aware that they might not be coming at all. Endurance became surviving. It became the task of getting the mech working if only for the heat it could provide, the shelter or the aid it could give with going outside the cave and braving the elements. It became knowing that when exhaustion finally overtook them both at night, they'd wake up the next day, in the same cave, and repeat the process.

Routine maintained focus.

Routine was finding a source of food, or any food at all. It became firewood and a way to make a fire. They were ninja, they were trained survivalists. They had to be with the amount of times they'd been stranded. Yet, it didn't make the situation feel any less bleak.

They weren't giving up, though. Neither of them would curl up in a ball and let the world take them.

They had to believe that help would come. Be it their brothers, or from a different source.

Both Zane and Cole worked through impossible odds by keeping busy. Productive distractions, as Cole has once dubbed the process. Which was why, after what had felt like a few days, they had a good routine going.

They may have gone to sleep hungry and exhausted that first night, but by the end of the second day and after being blessed with a clear sky, Cole had found a partially frozen-over lake. Both fresh water, and food in the form of fish.

After the fourth day, they were rising with the sun in the morning, both Zane and Cole sparred together before either of them were really fully awake. They'd found wood for a fire, only it was too damp to work with and take a spark, not that they’d been able to suitably produce one.

The cave and it's shelter was probably the only reason Cole hadn't frozen to death, but they needed to amend the warmth problem quickly.

On the sixth day-- or the eighth-- Zane removed the screen from the control centre of the mech, and one of the many batteries the machine had in order to get at least something working.

He passed it down to a waiting Cole, who then situated it on the flattest surface they had in their shelter. A large and almost level rock they'd been using as a table. It was now home to an assortment of wires, jumper cables, and now a screen currently without power.

"You want to do what with this thing?" Cole questioned.

"Record a message." came the reply as Zane hopped down the mech, "I thought that we should document our findings, should anyone happen--"

"-- To come across this place and we're not here. That's smart." Cole smiled softly.

He'd been trying to keep himself upbeat over the past few days. One thing that helped was that Zane was in the same mindset. Power forwards, just keep on moving and doing and something good should come out of it.

Only, it felt like the good was still yet to come.

Or maybe the good was that Zane had stopped sparking since they'd spent a bit of time fixing his wiring. Cole wasn't the greatest with electronics, nothing compared to Nya, but he made do. Then the lump on his head had come and gone without much fanfare, so he hadn't been concussed.

They still both wore the stresses of the past couple weeks like a second skin. Their gis were ruined, oil stained and dirt tracked, ripped and frayed in parts. A part of Cole's trousers had electrical burns from stripped wiring, even. They were dishevelled, tired, but alive and keeping it that way.

And the discovery of the damaged processing unit in the mech had been a cause for celebration. They had something to look at, an actual possible reason behind the inhibited function and the fact that it just wasn't working no matter how much tinkering they both did.

It was what he and Zane were going to look at today.

That was the plan, but then they'd gotten sidetracked with removing the screen to document their progress.

Though Cole had to admit, it was a good idea.

He hooked the jumper cables up to the battery, then nearly jumped for joy when the screen flickered to life in front of them. Finally, something was going their way.

"Wow, didn't think I'd be missing technology already." Cole said, a slight smile on his face as he looked at the flickering screen. It was just a mirror image of himself, courtesy of the camera at the top of the console.

Then, Cole just stared. Stared into his own eyes on the screen. How tired he actually looked. The fact that he was in dire need of a shower that wasn't cold lake water, or new clothes that weren't representative of being pulled through a hedge backwards several hundred times over. He tugged lightly at the hem of his gi with a small frown, picking off a loose piece of dirt and flicking it away. As if that made all the difference.

"We both aren't exactly the most well kept individuals." Zane said at his left shoulder, which dragged Cole out of his stupor with a quiet chuckle.

"What gave that away? Was it the fact that I'm using my belt to keep my hair out of my face whilst I work, or the oil you didn't tell me was on my forehead?" He questioned.

"I was more focused on the twig you've had stuck in your hair since we were sparring this morning."

The noise Cole made at that reveal was a mix of an indignant huff and a sound of surprise, which really made for an unusual mix. Then he brought a hand back and started feeling through his hair. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, and the fact that Zane didn't change his expression during that time keyed Cole in on the situation.

"There's no stick, is there?" Cole raised both his eyebrows at his friend in question, and Zane's almost perfect facade broke into a smile. "You absolute-- wow, Zane, and I thought I trusted you." He laughed and lightly punched the nindroid in the shoulder, only to get the action returned to him when he turned his attention back to the screen.

Naturally, the only reaction was to grip his shoulder and give the most affronted ow he could muster.

Zane smiled, rolled his eyes, and looked at the screen too.

"I believe this would help keep up a routine." He said, shifting the subject so he wasn't risking Cole turning and returning the jovial punch a second time. Smart. "At the end of the day, we document what we did."

"Like a diary."

"Of sorts." Zane cleared his throat. "It also helps to keep track of the days here. Especially the ones where it feels like the sky does not open."

Cole just nodded slowly. The days that sometimes were hard to distinguish from the nights. When the snowstorms got so bad that they blocked out the sky, all light and severely inhibited vision. When it was hard to figure out if the day had begun, or if it was still the dead of twilight.

Keeping track of days helped to keep thoughts focused, heads on straight. There was nothing worse than losing track of time. Counting days, it was something to measure.

"I know we're both confused as to how long we've been here. And with my internal clock broken, I'm not able to keep track exactly."

Cole just shook his head and draped an arm over Zane's shoulders, giving him a sideways hug. "We can't do anything about it now. But we can document today, make our first message to an empty realm."

Zane sighed, and leant slightly into the hug, "The point of making a message is the knowledge that someone could see it."

They both looked at the screen.

It was unspoken, but if anyone actually ended up seeing these messages, they knew who they'd want it to be.

Cole blew out a heavy breath and tapped the button in the centre before Zane could tell him not to. The screen flickered once, before a small recording symbol appeared in the top left corner.

"Cole, we haven't even spoken about what we will say." Zane observed, and Cole just nodded.

Though he sort of knew, if he hadn't pressed the record button, they would have been dancing around the idea of recording a message for a while before either one of them plucked up the courage to actually go ahead and do it.

It made everything feel final, like they were accepting their situation for the long run.

Maybe that was what they needed to do?

"I know." He smiled, before turning to the screen and glancing into the camera.

"Hey," Cole said, then just closed his eyes for a moment at how stupid that had sounded.

He should have thought of what he was going to say.

"Uh-- we don't really know if there's anyone else out there. You know, anywhere. But this is a message to document the fact that we're here. Or at least, at the time of this recording, we're here." He paused, then reached over and tugged Zane fully into sight of the camera.

"My name is Cole, and this is Zane." Cole continued, then paused. It was hard to think of what should be said. What could he say? Anything that his mind was providing just felt too morbid, too much like giving up.

If you find this message, we're not here anymore.

We don't know if, by the time you're seeing this, this cave has been empty for a while.

We were counting on a rescue, but we figured out pretty early on that it might not be coming.

"We're strangers in this land." Zane took over when he noticed that Cole was floundering. "And we're trying to find our way home."

Cole just watched, still on the screen, as Zane managed to capture the situation in the best way possible. In the lightest way. Like his words were there to provide hope for whoever might end up viewing this recording, as if their personal efforts to get back home meant that in the future they could be successful.

Even when the odds were stacked against them.

"We've found it hard to keep track of days in this place, it feels like it's been a long time." They shared a glance for a second.

Cole, he was convinced they were on day eight. Zane, his guess was a little more, ten to fifteen days. It didn't narrow anything down.

"-- But we're not giving up hope."

From the beginning

Ch 04 > Ch 05 > Ch 06

AO3

#The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon AU #The Ice Emperor and The Earth Dragon #cole #zane #cole brookstone #zane julien #cole ninjago #zane ninjago #ninjago #lego ninjago #lego #The Ice Emperor #mcfanely writes #mcfanely aus #mcfanely

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parachutingkitten · 5 years

Text

Dear Ninjago: Stop It With The Twists Already

An essay by Parachutingkitten

JK! This isn’t that formal. But I do have some lengthy points for you under the cut :)

Ninjago started out with a twist. The whole first season is built around the green ninja twist and the second season kinda subverted the expectation we had built up of Lloyd fighting his dad. This is the last time we had a twist framed as a sort of “big reveal” to both the audience and characters that really served the story in a productive and meaningful way. Let’s look the highlights over the seasons, shall we?

Season 4: Skylor is a villain. This one gets revealed to the audience before the ninja so it’s not really a big reveal twist, more of a suspense thing.

Season 5: Nya is the water ninja, revealed at the beginning of the season and serves more as a development than a twist.

Season 7: Ray and Maya are alive (and aren’t evil... I guess?)! This is our first real stupid twist. And pointless twist. They stick around for the season and then disappear from the show again. This was the first time Ninjago had a twist for twist’s sake. This is the beginning of the problem.

Season 8: Pixal is Samurai X! Wu is a baby! Harumi is the Quiet One! (I know this one isn’t cannon, but they were troublingly close to including it) Mr. E is Echo! Now, most of these are okay. Just not handled well. This is where the problem becomes evident.

Season 11: Zane is the Ice Emperor. The stupidest twist of them all, and by far handled the poorest.

Now. Why do some of these more recent twists not work? Well, let’s break it down.

Sometimes the problem is the twist itself. The twist is convoluted, and retcons information we’ve known from before, or has underlying implications that make everything more complicated. Ray and Maya are a perfect example of this. It’s been established since the pilot episode that these two are dead. Kai and Nya grew up on their own. Wu had so much trust in Ray that he gave him the map to the golden weapons. Trying to make us think he was evil was just stupid. Ray and Maya also don’t do that much in the season, besides the whole drama and reveal aspect of the story. You easily could have had them be dead and still get everything done that you needed to plot wise. Maybe have even more time for Nya and Kai to bond as siblings. It just brings up so many questions. Or rather, the one main one of where have they been? Were they really enslaved for ALL THAT TIME?! That’s darker than them just being dead! And to add insult to injury, they don’t show up in the show ever again after this. This twist left no impact on the franchise. It was a complete waste.

Season 8 has a lot of twists, and this introduces the problem of execution. Baby Wu is the one reveal that works. It has proper build up, it makes sense in the narrative, they find out mid season, they piece it together in a pretty mundane scene, and while it is a large reveal moment, the writers assumed you’ve picked up the clues before the ninja have. Compare this to the Pixal reveal. Very similar set up. It ties up a mystery from last season at a similar point in the current season. But the difference is in how they treat it. Pixal has to confess to being Samurai X. No one figures it out. Everyone is shocked and surprised and it culminates in a big dramatic “how could you?! *gasp emoji*” fight scene. I’m sure most everyone knew Pixal was Samurai X even back in season 7. She disappears right as Samurai X enters the picture, it’s really not that hard to piece together. This should have been handled differently. The audience should have been told Pixal was Samurai X ahead of time. We should have gotten a few shots from her perspective. It should have been handled like, oh, idk, Nya’s reveal in season 1. The problem is that they kept it a secret to go for shock value even though it was an easy guess. It would have been much more character enriching if they just handled it like they did baby Wu. Harumi is a little more complicated. Technically, you could argue that her arc goes through season 9, and hence we did get the reveal mid story, even if not mid season. My problem is that before the reveal she’s just such a blah-bland character that you don’t really care about that much, so when the reveal happens, that’s the point where she gets interesting. Why waste the majority of a season carrying around this dead weight that you feel obligated to give screen time to while waiting for her to get interesting? So yeah, it could have been handled a lot better, but it’s nothing compared to the mind bending twist that almost happened.

Mr. E is Echo makes no sense. It just doesn’t. It’s a character from 2 seasons prior who was physically distant to the main cast, had no connection to the villains, was established as a character as being extremely sweet, pure, and kinda ineffective, and probably worst of all, doesn’t have memories of the main cast, and most of them don’t have memories of him. There is just SO MUCH they would have had to explain away. SO MUCH that doesn’t add up. SO MUCH the main cast would have to relearn that it really doesn’t make ANY sense. And what scared me when the season first came out was that it almost made it in to the season. It doesn’t make sense on ANY logical level, so the only reason you would have done this twist is because you thought it was clever and unexpected, and you wanted the shock value. Shock value is the wrong reason to do a twist.

But they did it again in season 11. They combined all of the problems with all of the previous twists, and mushed them together into the Zane is the Ice Emperor twist. Now, I would like to address @coleisunderrated‘s post about season 11 kinda killing Zane. It’s a good post, and another good lengthy rant to check out after this one if you’re in the mood. But a lot of the claims they made I think kinda missed the point about why this move didn’t work. They said Zane commit genocide (which I guess technically he kinda did, and even the people who were frozen were frozen for years. That's definitely not nothing) and that Zane still had some level of free will, so Vex can’t be an 100% scapegoat. So because Zane did this horrible thing, there is no chance for him to be redeemed. (Which I kinda see your point, but also, crazy staff that pretty much makes you evil, plus merciless manipulation. Cut him some slack. If Garmadon can be redeemed, so can Zane. Devourer venom and forbidden spinjitzu staff seem to have similar corrupting powers) And though I’d agree that as it stands in the show it feels like they’re ignoring all the awful things Zane’s done and that makes him a kind of a uncomfortable character at the moment- all the set up and what he did is not the problem. The problem is what he didn’t do, and what we didn’t see.

This twist starts at the beginning of the chapter, and finally resolves itself at the very end. The writers obviously thought that Zane being the villain, while having this weird unexplainable time skip made a solid, clever twist. Again, you can tell they were going for shock value and that *gasp emoji* “It’s YOU?!” moment. Problem with that relatively simple set up to keep your twist a secret, is that you now have 20 years of time to account for. Years of people suffering and time skips that are addressed, but are straight up never explained and don’t make any sense when you sit down to think about them for more than a second. These weird ripple effects ringing a bell? They’re the same sorts of retcon problems as the Ray and Maya twist. But that’s not all. It’s also frustratingly predictable. Even if you weren’t sure of your theory the first few episodes, it becomes increasingly clear as the season progresses. The audience doesn’t find out until the characters do, even thought it’s pretty predictable, missing out on a bunch of opportunities for better storytelling- just like the Samurai X reveal. The ice emperor is also kind of a boring character until the reveal, just like Harumi. And, maybe worst of all, it just seems like a clever shock value twist that raises a bunch of questions, doesn’t make sense in character, and needs a ton of explaining, just like the Mr. E scenario. This twist has every single problem I’ve ever had with any twist in this series.

But it even adds one more.

Even with all the random nonsensical twists in the series, at least all of them had time to resolve. To be explained. For characters to grapple with them. As random and poorly thought out as this ice emperor twist is, it would have been okay if it hadn’t been so very VERY rushed after the reveal. We needed to see his reaction after breaking free. That’s all we needed.

Imagine this, Zane breaks out of his evil daze, you can keep the kinda cop out reason, it’s a kid’s show, whatever. He looks down at himself and is horrified. He drops to his knees, mutters some line like “what have I done?” or something along those lines. Then, in anger, he looks back up at Vex, and then insert fight scene where he saves the day. Afterwards Zane tosses the staff away, and is in this weird daze as his friends welcome him back. The episode ends with the camera zooming in on Zane’s blank expression. But wait, there’s another episode afterwards where Zane can right his wrongs in the realm, talk with the people, and tie up all the other loose ends while finding himself again. The next season (and they might still be doing this in season 12, but without that initial reaction and remorse, this part rings kinda hollow) Zane is visibly a bit shaken by intense violence and has a talk with someone about the lasting effects of his 20 year rule. The end of the season sees him getting past this fear of hurting people in order to protect those he needs to. This all sounds very deep written out like this, but you could make the dilemma pretty surface level, and it would still be effective.

You see, the real problem with these half length episodes is that ALL of your plot lines have to reach their head, your big final battle has to take place, and your resolution has to happen, all in the last 10 minutes of the season. And you can really tell that season 11 skimped the resolution part. Because Zane only becomes Zane half way through the last episode, there’s no time to explore his feelings about the matter. Even just making the last episode 20 minutes, I feel, would have done wonders for this twist because everything would have had time to breath. This wouldn’t have been too much of a problem if this had carried over directly into season 12 (kind of like the season 8-9 thing) but that clearly isn’t the case, at least from the episodes we have so far. This emperor thing should affect Zane as much as becoming a ghost affected Cole. Things like this just need time to process. It wasn’t that making Zane the ice emperor made him unlikable, it was that ignoring that Zane was the ice emperor made him unlikable.

And all of these things, I can almost guarantee, happened because the writers just thought it would be a clever twist. It’s not like the writers can’t do twists! Skylor being evil was perfectly fine! Mistake being an Oni was even okay. But they had ideas for what to do with those bits of information after the reveal. They’ve got to stop with these reveals that are just there to be the *gasp emoji* moment. They’re not all bad ideas necessarily! But if you come up with the idea, just because it would be a cool reveal, and that’s it, then it’s likely not a good idea. For example, as nonsensical as the Echo thing is, if he had become a main stay of the series, and a reoccurring villain with backstory and motive that got explained, it might not have been the absolute worst. But if they did what they did in the show and just killed him off a few episodes later, it would have been pointless, because the twist would have made no impact, changed nothing, and had no point. The green ninja reveal was good, not because it was a reveal, but because it allowed Lloyd to be the green ninja in the episodes afterwards. It served as a progression for the story and characters while also happening to subvert this notion set up from episode 1 that one of the four would be the green ninja. Zane being the ice emperor is a bad twist because it affects absolutely nothing in the plot that follows. Zane is back to his happy quirky robot self in season 12, the status quo is restored, and nothing has changed.

The whole point of a twist is to switch your perspective of something, an action that instinctively insists change. A change in the world. A change in the situation. A change in character. Something. If a twist doesn’t insight change in your story, you’re doing your twist wrong.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to agree/disagree with me in the comments. I get that not everyone is going to agree that Zane could be redeemed no matter how they played it. Again, I think the almost mind control staff, matched with the manipulation, mind wipe, and fact that it’s a kid’s show, and they obviously didn’t mean for it to read that way, is enough for me to kinda ignore it cuz I love Zane, and Ninjago, and I’m not going to let one misstep kill my enjoyment of the show. But, I get it if you can’t get past it.

ttfn!

#ninjago #parachuterants #long one #but here it is

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razzle-zazzle · 5 years

Text

[YES! No better way to start the decade than with some whump!]

1210 Words

"Like this?"

Pixal glanced over Nya's work. "Don't be so quick to excise the affected tissue; you run the risk of making it worse if you try to resurface too fast."

Nya nodded, her face set in grim determination. Cole continued to lie supine on the table, allowing her to work as best she could.

For the umpteenth time Nya found herself wishing she was working on a machine, and not this. Machines were easy compared to people; Nya never had to worry about whether she was cutting too deep or too fast with machines—perhaps it was because she was used to machines, used to the way metal worked, the way the pieces fit together. But, with no actual doctor on the Bounty, and no time to get Cole to a hospital—the wound had been left untreated for long enough; there was a mission to take care of—it fell to Nya, whose small hands were accustomed to working with small, delicate components, whose perfectionist attitude was best for following Pixal's instructions, it fell to her to treat it.

“There we are.” Nya said, wrapping the bandages over Cole’s eyes, helping him to sit up on the table. “All cleaned up.” Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the wobble from her voice, couldn’t keep the revulsion at what had been done to his face out of her own expression. She wanted to violently stab whoever had done this. To rob Cole of his vision, in such a painful and haphazard way—it made Nya sick to think about what kind of person would do this. She didn’t care that Cole said it was an accident.

Even though Cole couldn’t see it, he seemed able to sense her disgust. He turned away as soon as she finished, a disgruntled expression in what was left of his face.

“Hey buddy,” Kai said gently, approaching Cole slowly so as not to startle him. “You doing okay?”

“I’m doing just peachy, thanks for asking.” Cole said wryly.

“Oh, really? That’s great—”

Cole slammed his fist down on the table, startling everyone. “Of course not! What were you expecting?” He stiffened, as if hearing himself for the first time. “Sorry.” He mumbled, shifting awkwardly.

Kai was immediately at Cole’s side, grabbing at Cole’s arm to lead him to the door. “It’s fine.” He assured. “That was a dumb question, anyway.”

Cole said nothing, leaning on Kai all the way to the door.

“I mean,” Kai continued, as he led Cole down the hall, “At least you’re alive? I’m thankful for that—” He was really fumbling for words to say now, “I’m just glad you’re alive, I guess.”

The silence was awkward, and Kai wished Jay were here. Jay would just keep talking to fill the silence, unbothered by the possibility of stepping on a nerve—or, Kai suspected, comfortable in the knowledge that his babble was better than silence.

But Jay had gone out to help Lloyd search, and was still on his way back. Still unaware of what had befallen Cole, because Kai was too cowardly to tell him. Too cowardly to really accept what had happened until he saw it with his own eyes, and even then Kai still denied the idea that Cole wouldn't see again.

Without realizing it, Kai's grip on Cole's arm tightened, causing Cole to stiffen anxiously. "Kai…?" He whispered, voice hoarse.

"Oh, um, ah—" Kai let go of Cole's arm, flailing in panicked apology, "shit, I didn't mean—here, I'll just—"

Cole grabbed Kai's arm, "It's fine. Don't cry over spilled milk."

It didn't feel fine, but Kai nodded—belatedly realizing Cole couldn't see the gesture—all the same and continued forward.

Once they were in the games room, Kai led Cole over to the couch. They sat there in silence, one unsure what to say while the other was lost in thought.

“Hey…” Kai said.

Cole turned towards him. “What?”

Well, shit. Kai had no idea what he was doing. “Uh… do you want to talk about it?”

Cole tensed. “Talk about what?”

“You know,” Kai began to gesture, only to put his hands down. “This. Something. Anything. This silence is awkward, yanno?”

Cole shifted awkwardly. “Well, what is there to say? I already told you how it happened.”

“Yeah, but—” Kai was really reaching here, “—how did it, uh,” he swallowed thickly, “how did it make you feel? That’s what I’m wondering, I guess.”

“Really, Kai?”

Kai squawked. “Hey! I know I’m not Zane,” He said, sounding slightly offended, “And I’m not good at the whole… ‘comforting’ thing most of the time, but…” Kai swallowed again, tears pricking at his eyes. “You’re my brother, and you’re hurt, bad, and I just—I just want to help.”

The silence was oppressive. Kai fidgeted awkwardly, glancing over at Cole.

“I think she was surprised, too.” Cole began. He must have sensed Kai’s confusion, because he elaborated. “Ultra Violet. When her knife met my face. She didn’t kick me when I was down, just kinda went silent. I don’t think it was her intent to blind me.”

Cole paused, his hands trembling. “But,” He swallowed thickly, “That just makes it so much harder to blame her, and if I can’t blame Ultra Violet, then whose fault is it other than my own?” He sucked in air through his teeth.

“So, I guess it makes me feel… weak. Like I should have been able to duck, back away, something, anything to prevent it from happening.” His throat tightened. “And that—the idea that I’m not strong enough—that terrifies me.”

Kai had to fight back the urge to cry. “Cole, no.” He cupped Cole’s face in his hands, forcing his brother to face him. “You’re not weak, Cole. You’re the most not-weak person I know. I mean—” He chuckled humorlessly, “You managed to get yourself and the baby to safety all on your own, even after she blinded you.” Kai’s hands fell to his sides.

Cole nodded. “I did do that, didn’t I?”

“Yeah!” Kai took Cole’s hands in his own, “That’s amazing, bro. I know I couldn’t have done it, but you did.” Kai could feel, now, the vigor and spark that he used to reassure himself—the fire that had been dampened by the reality of the situation—blazing in full force again. And if he could use that fire to encourage himself, then he could most certainly use it to reassure Cole.

Cole smiled—a tiny smile, but Kai considered it a victory nonetheless—and pressed his forehead against Kai’s. “Thanks.” He whispered.

There was so much that went unspoken in that scene, ideas that both wanted to convey but couldn’t find the words to do so. So many feelings that they couldn’t put to words, but were felt by the other nonetheless. The hurt wasn’t fully gone—it might never truly go away—but the air seemed lighter, somehow, the wounds felt better. A small comfort, but a comfort regardless. The silence was no longer stifling, but contented. A little unsure, but better than it had been moments prior.

Cole opened his mouth to speak, to maybe thank Kai again, or ask what had been bothering him in the hall, only to be cut off by a shriek that echoed through the ship—nay, the entire city.

“COLE LOST HIS WHAT?!”

#ninjago #lego ninjago #cole ninjago #kai ninjago #nya ninjago #ask zaz #zaz writes #reposting this for the THIRD TIME bc tumblr keeps deleting it from the tags #there's not enough cole whump in this sad sad world #the kai whump is in short supply so let's fix that #harumi & baby wu are there i just didn't mention them #and jay is out w/ lloyd bc i needed kai alone with cole for this emotional beat to work #i'll do jay & zane's reactions later #the only reason they didn't go to a hospital is that Zaz doesn't really know how hospitals work and refuses to do research #what can i say #Research is Not My Forte #blinded au #almost forgot that but i didn't so #if this doesn't show up in the tags I SWEAR

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21st-century-ninja · 4 years

Text

Orange

My second piece for the @ninjaneverquit-zine- set in the same universe as White.

The wings of the Shintaro are all sleek lines and silken feathers, painstakingly crafted down to each individual vane. The Shintarans glide effortlessly through their city on them, robes neat and unruffled, nary a hair out of place when they take off and land again. They are a stunning display of craftsmanship and technology, way beyond anything that Ninjago has ever seen.

They also are completely bare of heart-colors.

See, in Ninjago, people are born with pure white wings. As you grow older, and grow your family and friends, their heart-colors (the unique patch of color hidden on the feathers near every person’s back) appear on your feathers. Zane has the color of his creator spattered across his right wing. Kai and Nya have each other’s colors covering their mantles. Jay carries both sets of his parents’ colors, and Lloyd has each of the ninja’s colors staining his wings so violently that he looks like he was in some sort of studio accident.

And Cole? Cole’s left wing, near the wingtip, is painted in the rich gold of his father. His left bears the faded orange of his mother. Across the backs of his wings, the rest of the ninja’s colors wrap around his coverts like a warm blanket.

Vania has just been crowned queen of Shintaro, and the coronation celebration is going long into the night. Cole watches her from the edge of the crowd, smiling at the way she is completely unselfconscious as she dances in the middle of the room with Chompy spiraling around her feet. She catches his eye and her face lights up; she breaks from the circle and flings herself towards him. Cole loses her in the crowd, but by the frantic strings of apologies and yelping he hears, he has a pretty good idea where she is.

“Cole!” she shouts, when she finally breaks through. “I haven’t seen you all night! Have you been avoiding me?”

Cole laughs. “Never, my queen,” he says, winking exaggeratedly when he uses her new title. “You’ve just been busy.” He grins wide. “I get it, I get it, what’s a little old ninja to the queen of an entire country?”

Vania pouts. “It’s not like that. Everyone wants my attention, but you guys are my friends. And you’re leaving soon, way before everyone else!” A glint of an idea enters her eye- the same look she had before leading Cole to a drainage tunnel and whipping a set of torches from nowhere. “It’s too noisy in here for anything, let alone talking. How about we go for a little night time flight?”

She hikes up her skirts and marches through the crowd. Cole laughs a little disbelievingly. He follows her out, out onto the terrace, wings pulled close to his sides to prevent them being jostled or stepped on. “Wait, can you just leave like that?”

Vania smiles with all her teeth. She signals to an attendant and they reappear with her wings, attaching and securing them to her back. “What do you mean?” she asks, cocking her head playfully to one side. “I’m the queen! I can do what I want!”

“Hey, works for me,” Cole says, grinning back. He lets his wings unfurl to nearly their full wingspan, an impressive eighteen feet with his flight feathers outstretched. “Just don’t start whining when I fly circles around you.”

“Hey, that’s not nice!” She narrows her eyes at him. “Just for that, I won’t let you win now.”

“Oh, so you were planning to originally?”

They take to the sky, chasing each other around the spires and drifting lazily through the moonlit clouds. Cole marvels at the way her wings cut through the air, silent and smooth like a knife. His own are built for power and speed but not so much for grace. He’s sure they make quite the picture above the partygoers. That is, if any of them bothered to look up.

As their flight comes to an end, they alight on the highest balcony overlooking the courtyard. Vania releases her wings, something that used to shock Cole before he got over it through repeated proximity and exposure. His own wings he splays behind him, their motley of colors nearly twinkling in the low candlelight.

“I used to think your wings were so funny-looking when we first met,” Vania says suddenly.

Cole glances up at her sharply. “Huh?”

She smiles and sits down gently beside him. The night air is cool and a slight breeze tugs at both of their bangs. “Your wings,” she says again. “I mean, I still do. They’re entirely too much wingspan for any one person to have.”

“Better to catch you with,” Cole replies, the winner of their earlier game of tag.

Vania rolls her eyes. “Not just the size of them though. I couldn’t believe how colorful they were! There are so many different colors that your wings were kinda ugly.”

“Thanks,” Cole deadpans. “I’m really feeling the love.”

“Exactly!” she exclaims. “They’re the colors of the people who love you, right? I almost didn’t believe my tutor when he told me that, but I couldn’t think of any other reason why anyone would dye their feathers that way.” She hesitates, one hand held in an aborted movement towards his wings. “Can I- I mean, would you mind telling me about them?”

Talking about heart-colors isn’t necessarily a taboo subject. Most people just prefer to keep their relationships and stories more private than not. Looking at Vania’s hopeful face, half-illuminated orange by candlelight, Cole finds that he isn’t most people.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, scooting over so he can fan his wings out. “So you probably could have guessed, but all these ones are the other ninja’s.” He points out Kai’s sienna, Jay’s pretty blue, Zane’s periwinkle, Nya’s warm maroon, and Lloyd’s bright green that make up the colors on his coverts.

“This one’s my dad’s,” he says next, stretching out his left wing so the gold catches the candlelight. “Both of my parents’ colors came in together, of course, but he saw his first because it was a little bit darker than my mom’s.” He can remember it now, through the haziness of his three-year-old-self’s memory: his dad’s face hovering over him, eyes wide and face caught in some unidentifiable emotion.

Reverence, Cole thinks now, years and years later. It’s the same look Kai’s mom and dad give him and Nya when they work side-by-side. It’s the same look he gave baby Wu, captured and immortalized forever on the tiny polaroid he keeps tucked away in his drawer.

Vania is watching him with a soft expression on her face. Cole sighs, drawing himself from his memories. He stretches out his other wing, wrapping it around his front so the color is on display. “And this was hers,” he says softly. “My Mom’s.”

“Lilly,” Vania echoes.

Cole nods. The color on the tips of his feathers is faded now, looking peach instead of the vibrant orange of his childhood. “For a long time, I couldn’t bear to look at it,” he admits, staring at the floor. “I’d catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, and I hated it so much. It was a brand of everything I’d lost, taunting me with how much it hurt.”

Vania seems to glow in the candlelight. “What changed?” she asks.

Cole shrugs, feels how it costs him to be so nonchalant about it. “The color started fading,” he says simply. “And I realized that remembering, even though it was so painful, was so much more important that losing her forever.”

Vania is silent. She hovers her hand over his wings, silently asking permission, and when Cole doesn’t do anything to stop her she drags her fingers gently over soft feathers. Cole angles his wing so the vulnerable inner parts aren’t exposed, but other than that the petting feels nice. It’s been so long since someone other than himself touched his wings like this- the ninja, for how much they love each other, are perpetually running off on some hairbrained adventure or another and don’t usually have time for group preening.

“That’s it,” Vania says eventually, hand stilling over his coverts. “That’s why I changed my mind about your culture’s wings.” Her gaze travels somewhere toward the right, somewhere toward where her technologically-flawless and meticulously-kept wings rest against the railing. Technologically-flawless, meticulously-kept, and completely bare of heart-color. “I wish, sometimes-”

She cuts herself off. “It’s not good to think about what-ifs,” she decides firmly, fixing a smile on her face. Still, her fingers linger a second longer in his golden feathers. “It must be nice, knowing that you are so loved.”

Cole closes his eyes. The breeze washes over his hair, carrying with it the slight sounds of the party and his team laughing from below.

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, it is.”

#n1njag0 #ninjago fic #vania #cole #my fic #ninjago

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aweebwrites · 5 years

Text

When You Leave...

Polyninja soulmate AU

________________

They say to have a soulmate was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because you have someone destined to love you forever. A curse because life is a fragile thing. This is the tale of how four of Ninjago's protectors discovered that.

As a child, Cole grew up unable to see the colours red and blue. A triad bond the people in his village would whisper when they thought he couldn't hear. Lucky, they would call him. He did think he was lucky. Very lucky. It was the knowledge that someday he'd meet two persons who would love him no matter what that had kept him going through his mother's death and the rift it tore between him and his father. That knowledge gave him purpose.

Jay couldn't see the colour red whatsoever and the moment he and his parents found that out, they were ecstatic. He had a soulmate! Him, the junkyard kid, the wannabe inventor, the motormouth. It gave him hope. Someone would love someone like him…

Zane had only noticed he couldn't see red and blue just a few times but he wasn't ignorant to what it meant. He had soulmates out there. Lifelong partners. He had only returned to meditating. They will cross paths when the time was right. Then maybe… He could have a true home with them.

Kai had always known he had a soulmate. Hearing it as often as he had growing up, how could he forget? No blue skies for him either. But he couldn't do anything about trying to find them. He had to take care of Nya and the shop since their parents up and vanished. All he could do was hope destiny brings them together.

And destiny did, through Sensei Wu. He had first taken Cole under his wing. While he was reluctant, with what being unable to go out into the world just in case his soulmates happened to pass by and all, but reasoned that it was best to stay in one place. He would be easier to find.

Zane was second and went with him without a fight. He was curious. What he didn't expect was to meet another soulmate he didn't knew he had. He walked through the monastery gates and was struck by just how black the hair of the male on the training course was. Was black always so… Bright?

Sensei Wu had called Cole's attention and Cole glanced up, his eyes falling on the newcomer- before squinting, the white of his clothes all but too much. Had white always been that eye popping?

“Could you stand out of the sun maybe? Your clothes are… Too bright.” Cole says, rubbing his eye as Wu rose a brow.

“Your hair is extremely dark. My eyes are having some difficulty adjusting.” Zane also commented, squinting a little.

Wu had stood there patiently, waiting for them to realise. Both of their eyes widened.

“You're-!”

“Are you-!” They both said at the same time, shock washing over them.

Three soulmates?! Zane had never heard of something like this before. How will so many of them cope?

“You are both pardoned for today.” Wu says, walking towards the building. “The test continues tomorrow.” He added, turning to face them before the paper doors slid shut before him.

Both chosen pupils had watched him before looking at each other.

“Hi. I'm, uh. I'm Cole.” He introduced himself unsurely.

“I'm Zane. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Zane says with a kind smile and- wow he was even prettier when he smiled.

Cole blushed at his train of thought, glancing away. Zane couldn't help but notice how much softer he looked with the pink hue in his cheeks.

“Are the colours blue and red missing from your vision as well?” Zane asked him and Cole blinked and nodded.

“Yeah. Didn't know white was until now to be honest.” Cole says, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

“I didn't know black was missing either. But I'm glad I found you.” Zane says with a soft smile and how could Cole not blush at that.

He smiled however. Sweet talker.

A few short days into their partnered training and they worked surprisingly- or unsurprisingly- well together. They still couldn't beat Wu's incredibly quick drinking time but they were getting close. Then a new person was lead into their world and the skies shone.

“Huh. Your clothes and hair are a little bright.” Jay had said, rubbing his eye as both males looked up at the sky, alarmed.

“Woah… It's… Beautiful…” Cole whispered, eyes wide.

Before, the sky was a big blur of gray with eye popping white cloud but now? Now it was… It was… Breathtaking.

“Is this… Blue?” Zane whispered and Jay looked at them confused before gasping loudly.

They were his soulmates?! He didn't know he would have three! He had to admit to himself that he had hoped for his soulmate to be female but he would take whatever he could get. Besides, he still hasn't seen red yet.

Just like before, Wu had allowed them the day connect, to learn as much as they could from each other. While they weren't girls, Jay found them both incredibly attractive which sent him in a gay panic. He resurfaced minutes later after seeing them interact like they did with each other and himself. What does it matter if it made him gay or not? They're his soulmates and they were already so kind and helpful and thoughtful that he could see himself falling for them all too easily. Together, they trained together, pointing out flaws and areas of improvement. Within no time, they finally manage to best Wu and his quick drinking.

Their last test was to apprehend an intruder. They were all so focused on defeating the stranger that they hadn't notice the difference in their vision. It was only after Wu had changed their gi did they all pause.

“Easy on the eyes pal.” Jay says, squinting at Kai who looked over all three of them confused.

“Wait. Your clothes.” Zane says, the colour bright and hurting his eyes a little.

“What colour is that?” Cole asked, leaning in closer but pulling back and rubbing his eyes.

“My colour?! What is he wearing?” Kai asked, gesturing to Jay then looked to then. “And you two. Your black and white look so strange…” He whispered before gasping.

“Wait- you're our fourth?” Jay says, bewildered.

“Sensei, was this planned?” Cole asked, suspicious.

“Not at all.” The Sensei immediately declined. “Though it seems fit that the four of you, destined to protect Ninjago should also be destined for each other.” He says and they all looked at each other.

Jay didn't get a girl as their fourth but ay this point, he didn't care. He realised pretty quickly that gender certainly didn't matter. Not when his soulmates were perfect as is. Cole may tease him for being a blabbermouth but that's all it is. Teasing. He would sit and listen to him for as long as he can talk. Zane too. Kai seemed a little rough around the edges but he's worried for his sister. Not to mention that it was a little endearing.

Cole had similar thoughts. Sure Kai was a little blunt and quick to jump right in but he was sure his edges would fit perfectly with theirs somehow. Zane was just happy to finally meet and be surrounded by all of his soulmates. The moment was cut short however. They had golden weapons to hunt for.

Kai was a handful to say the least. Jumping into things head on and giving his soulmates mini heart attacks at each turn. Boy were they glad when everything came to an end. They had the golden weapons, Garmadon was in the wind, they had their own pet dragons that adored the rest of them as much as they did their riders (they were suspicious that it had something to do with them all being soulmates) and Sensei Wu wasn't dead! Sure Zane, Cole and Jay almost touched fire and lava several times because it was 'so pretty’ but Kai stopped them with an exasperated yet fond expression every time.

Now that Nya was safe and there wasn't an immediate threat, they focused on their bond and each other, discovering a few things along the way. Like Cole being touch starved and wanting to keep physical contact with them as much as possible. They didn't mind at all- in fact, they encouraged it. Jay for one appreciated a random hug every now and again. He was like a big teddy bear after all. A big, muscular teddy bear but a teddy bear no less.

Zane was the mother hen of the group. He just wanted his soulmates happy and healthy after all. He spoils them with occasionally baked goodies and concoctions he makes to appeal to their individual tastes. Kai was still the hot head they came to know but slightly more laid back than then. He was the encourager of the group despite of that. Jay working on an invention that crashed and burned? (more literal than you think) He pats him on the shoulder and tell him to keep trying. Jay brings the energy to the group. He's always doing something or talking about something and he always has this big smile on his face that often had his soulmates pausing to aww at his constant excitement.

They were all so caught up in each other and pushing training back further and further, that soon, they completely stopped. Which proved to be a big mistake when Lloyd Garmadon arrived on scene. At first, he was nothing more than a little squirt making trouble but then he decided to get payback and release the serpentine. Everything took a dip then. Between finding the scroll about the green ninja, losing their home, Cole getting hypnotized, turning on Zane, finding out Zane was a Nindroid (they didn't mind but Zane sure did at first), Kai's downright obsession with the green ninja title, the Great Devourer, Sensei Wu with his self sacrificing bullsh- you get the drift.

When it was all over, the first thing Jay did was turn and kiss his closest soulmate. Which so happened to be Zane. They've never seen Zane go that red before and was worried for a moment that he was overheating or about to have a malfunction. Naturally, they all exchanged kisses and voiced their relief that they were all in one piece. Now they had a young green ninja to teach and nowhere to stay while Garmadon was out there with their golden weapons. What's the worst that could happen?

The Overlord, that's what. The weeks leading up to that catastrophe really tested all of them, especially Lloyd. They watched as he went from pipsqueak to Ninjago's golden savior and couldn't help but feel proud, even though he got all the fame and glory in the end. And hey! Non evil Garmadon! He was actually pretty cool and *cough* looked way younger than Wu *cough*. But the break was welcomed since they all had a lot of recovering to do.

They even managed a few dates! Four to be exact with each of them picking a revenue. Jay picked Mega Monster Amusement Park and they certainly had a lot of fun on the rides and fireworks show afterwards was very romantic. Kai nearly had a meltdown trying to pick somewhere they won't completely hate but Zane had reassured him that they would love wherever he picked, as long as they were together. Still didn't help him with finding an exact place but he decided 'screw it’ and had a dinner date at Chen's noodle house instead. He was sure Cole loved it at least.

Zane brought them to a restaurant as well. The very one he worked at formerly because he knew the service was good and the atmosphere too. He was just not made to be a full time chef it seems. They had a blast, awing at the way the food was cooked in front of them. Cole turned up the romance with a private picnic in a spot with a great view. All through they had to climb there, the effort was worth it. While they did miss being ninjas, being teachers wasn't half bad. They still had to retire early when the digital Overlord made his presence known.

He was after Lloyd and they would make sure he wouldn't succeed I'm getting him. Or, at least they would try. And fail. If it wasn't for Pythor, the Overlord would have been history. If it wasn't for him…

“We're free!” Jay yelled once they landed on their feet, the tendrils letting them go, turning green as they went limp.

“Zane!” Kai gasped and they all looked up to where their soulmate was holding onto the golden armor, his body glowing blue as he was being overloaded by its power.

“He's not letting go!” Lloyd yelled and Kai, Cole and Jay's hearts plummeted at that, horror filling them.

“His heart! It's reaching critical mass!” Jay yelled with a step forwards, wanting to do something- anything but he knew he couldn't- knew he could only watch.

“If his heart overloads, he'll blow! He won't survive!” Cole yelled, breathing picking up as panic overwhelmed him.

“Let go Zane!” Kai yelled out desperately, but Zane kept holding on. “What is he doing?!” He asked, voice taking on a hysterical edge.

“He's protecting us all.” Wu says solemnly as they all looked on helplessly.

“I am a Nindroid, and ninja never quit! Go, Ninja. Go!” Zane yelled and tears fell from the eyes of his soulmates as he blasted ice at the Overlord, feeling his heart continue to overload, gritting his teeth.

“No, Zane! No!” Jay yelled, running towards him but Wu held him back as large chunks of ice began to fall around them, stopping Cole once he rushed ahead too.

“We have to get out of here, now!” Wu yelled, pushing them both back.

“No! We aren't leaving Zane!” Kai yelled, barely missed by a huge chunk of ice.

“Think wisely Kai!” Wu snapped at him, startling the teary ninja. “Would you rather have two soulmates left… Or none?” He asked and Kai's eyes widened before he gritted his teeth and looked away, more tears falling from his eyes.

“We have to go.” Kai says, taking both of his soulmates by the hand, pulling them back as even more ice began to fall.

Kai glanced back to see Garmadon holding a manhole open for them. It broke his heart to leave Zane like this, to hear Jay's sobs, to see the pain in Cole's eyes but he had to keep them safe. Zane- he choked back a sob- Zane would want him to. He got in last, all three of them watching as they slowly lowered the cover, their soulmate's last moments. An agonized ‘no’ escaping them as it all reached a crescendo, his glowing so bright they had no choice but to fully close the lid as they looked away.

Zane smiled as he looked back on his life, at the friends he made along the way, at his soulmates he would be leaving behind. He remembered meeting them all, all the fun they had, the good times, the bad. He wished he had more time with them all, wish he had done more but he was glad he met them, glad he got to know them as much as he had. This was to make sure they could live on, even if it was without him. He lifted his head and smiled wider. And if it was for them, it was worth it.

Kai couldn't hold back the sob that escaped him once the explosion rocked the ground, icing over the manhole cover, knowing that it meant their Zane, their soulmate was… Cole pulled Jay into a tight hug as he shook violently with each sob, burying his own into his hair. Little below, the Sensei's shared a sorrowful look as Lloyd hung his head. They knew… This would change everything.

They emerged shortly after, finding everything in the nearby vicinity covered in ice, the Overlord… Nor Zane anywhere in sight. Cole was the one to find half his face panel and stared down at it in silence as a tear fell under the eye and sliding down as if it was… Zane's. He was in denial but the truth of the situation… He looked up at the sky, at the washed out and faded white of the clouds. The truth was undeniable. They've… He gripped the face panel tightly as his hands shook. They've lost him.

_______________

(Good morning! Did I cry writing this? Only twice. But it was worth it! I was listening to Numa Numa and this idea held me hostage and wouldn't let go until I wrote it! I hope you enjoyed! Later days!)

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leroyzboots · 5 years

Text

Shards of Wind

So I was browsing @speedythecat‘s instagram and found that one drawing of Rain from the draw your character possessed by Morro trend, and realized it’d be a great au. So instead of doing my other w.i.ps, I wrote this little fic under the cut. Sorry if anything is inaccurate. Enjoy!

The six stunning dragons flew quickly over the trees, large waves of air rustling their leaves. As the great glass dragon touched ground, Rain slid from the back of it and landed on the stones with a thud. As the other ninja dismounted and chattered idly about the fish they had caught, Rain’s focus was on the building in front of her.

The once great monastery of her beloved Sensei Garmadon, had been demolished and replaced with a dimpy tea shop.

Her eyes flickered sideways, where she caught sight of the same sour expression as her own reflected on the Green Ninja’s face.

The memory of his father had been tarnished in both Lloyd and Rain’s opinion.

As they entered the shop, with much disdain, Wu presented them with a box.

“Are those our new uniforms?” Jay chittered excitedly.

“Yes.”

The ninja gave yells of jubilation, and Rain peered around their shoulders, attempting to see them, but as they dispersed, she was met with disappointment.

They were promo t-shirts for Steep Wisdom.

Misako called out from the counter.

“The museum called, they want Lloyd.”

Itching to get out of anything to do with this place, Rain set her hand on Lloyd’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

“It’s ok, I’ll get this one,” she offered.

“You’ve been overworking yourself.”

Lloyd returned the same smile, but a little more fanged, and desperate to leave, Rain mounted her dragon again and set off.

The security guards directed her towards the back room, where they had said the night watchman had been.

A strange ambiance filled the air, and Rain swallowed nervously, her eyes darting from box to box.

“Hello,” said a voice from behind her, and she jumped, yelling in surprise.

Floating just above her was a boy, maybe fourteen, translucent and a slight green hue, a ghost. Black hair with a green streak, but despite his appearance, his eyes were a soft, welcoming brown.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he apologized quickly, lowering himself to be just above the floor.

“W-who are you?”

The silver haired teen stammered nervously, nearly every warning sign in her head seemed ready to spring.

“My name is Morro. I was wrongly sent to the cursed realm, and when it was opened, I saw my chance to see the world again.”

Morro’s friendly smile was alluring, and Rain relaxed slightly.

“Ok Morro, why are you here?”

The boy grinned again.

“To get back at the person who sent me there. I’m sure you can understand, they took something from you too.”

Rain’s heart thudded, and now captivated, she hurriedly asked what was burning in her mind.

“What? Who?”

Floating around her, his rough but convincing tones seemed to resonate in her ears.

“Why, Sensei Wu, of course. He was my old master, you see. and I know he took something from you, because I’ve talked to yours. Garmadon is in the cursed realm you know.”

Morro smirked to himself, knowing he now had Rain’s complete attention.

“Y-you’ve seen him?”

Turning around to face her, Morro put on a face of total and convincing sympathy.

“You are practically the only thing he would talk about. I know how hard losing him must have been for you. You must miss training together in his monastery..”

Rain balled her hands into fists, this odd rage induced by Morro’s words coursing through her. Noticing, Morro pushed a step further.

“And I heard about the other ninja. No comforting words or empathy, just blindly trusting that old fool with whatever he says.”

The master of glass’s jaw was set tightly, her eyes raising from the spot where they had been glued to the floor, to be greeted with the boy’s outstretched hand.

“He raised me as a master of wind, but denied me my true purpose, instead leading others down the same doomed path he takes. Let me and you become one, and together we will ensure nobody else suffers because of him.”

And in a moment of pure but foolish instinct, she took his hand.

The ninja quickly went from boasting their achievement in sales to hastily trying to explain why they were using their powers when they were instructed not to.

A chill ran down Lloyd’s back as a cold, rumbling wind blew through the shop and clouds thundered and gathered overhead.

“I know that wind,” Wu muttered fearfully, and the ninja crowded outside.

Rain stood at the archway, a cloak draped around her neck and the Allied Armour strapped to her chest. Her usually vibrant expression was replaced with a scowl.

“I want a word with your master,” she growled, her voice rough and deeper than it should have been.

“Wow, Rain’s gone through puberty,” Jay remarked obliviously, and Kai and Cole shot him the same reprimanding look.

“That’s not Rain,” Zane and Wu called at the same time.

“My sensors indicate that a foreign entity has taken over Rain’s body.”

“How are we supposed to fight a friend?!” Kai cried, panicky.

“Let me show you,” Morro growled in her voice, and as her hair went from silver to jet black, and soft emerald eyes to deep brown, the wind spiraled towards them and they leaped out of the way, stumbling over one another onto the ground.

Kai scrambled to his feet, a fire lit in his hand, but Lloyd grabbed it, yelling over the noise.

“No powers! We might hurt her!”

Zane flicked ice-laced throwing stars at her, which she casually waved aside with a gust of wind. Their combined efforts were terrifying.

Every kick, punch or attempted hit Rain dodged easily, until both her and Morro could see even Zane tiring. And Spinjitzu or weapons were useless against the wind.

“How cute,” they purred, and a wicked simper broke out across their face.

“Allow me to show you my toys,” they mewled, and reached out a hand to the windmill. The gales ripped it from its perch, and flew down like a shurikin towards them, they just barely jumped to safety. The mill blades crashed into the window, and struck with an idea, Morro used both Rain’s ability to manipulate glass and his own rushing air to circle around them, laughing as they practically danced on their toes to keep from getting struck.

In a swipe, they pulled the pieces of glass upward, catching Lloyd across the cheek.

Rain‘s conscious caught up with her immediately, and she struggled as Morro attempted to move her arm.

“What are you doing?!” He yelled inside her head, and Rain yelled back.

“You’re gonna hurt Lloyd, this has to stop, this is crazy!”

“Destroying the Green Ninja is another part of the plan!”

Horrified, Rain reeled backward, stumbling.

“You came here to hurt Lloyd? No way, I’m not gonna let you!”

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

Rain felt as the Master of Wind took complete and easy control of her body, and forced to the back of her own mind to watch as if through a tv.

She internally shook and sobbed as she watched Morro toss aside the ninja covered in cuts and bruises, tearing apart the shop and almost wounding Nya in the process.

Barely awake now, she could feel her grip on her view slipping, hardly aware of what was happening. Various sounds and feelings blurred together, but just before she lost an already losing battle, Kai’s voice rang out loud and clear.

“I know you’re in there Rain! Fight him!”

And in one last burst of energy, she stole control and let out a message.

“Kai.. help me..”

And she slipped, feeling nothing but the consuming, overwhelming rage of the ghost inside her, and the crushing guilt of what she had done.

#ninjago #ninjago au #imma call it cleargust au #cleargust au #speedys oc:rain

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toothlessturtle21 · 5 years

Text

Ninjago Pride Week Day Four: Allies

"Hey Kai?" Nya said as she applied makeup to her cheekbones, glancing up at her brother, who was sitting around on her bed just to give her some company.

"Yeah?" He said, scrolling through his phone, checking out the latest trending hashtags and memes.

"I know you and Zane are together."

Kai physically startled, juggling his phone for a second before catching it with his palms, gaping at his sister in awe.

"Wh- What?"

"I said that I know you and Zane are dating," She put down her brush and turned away from her vanity to look at her brother, who was still shell-shocked.

"Wait, how? I thought we were doing pretty good with this whole secret thing," He mumbled, and Nya smirked back at him.

"I don't know how long you've been dating for, but I went to ask you a question and you two were both asleep together on your bed. I would've just walked away, but you two were practically wrapped around each other. Speaking of that, you mind bringing him in here?" She asked sweetly, turning back to sharpen her highlighter. Kai nodded nervously and slipped out, heart beating a million times with each footstep he took towards the kitchen. To his relief, Zane was the only one there, a simple white apron tied around his neck as opposed to his pink frilly one, spatula in hand as he readied the first batch of pancakes.

"Morning," The Fire Ninja greeted, sauntering as casually as he could over to his boyfriend, as not to alarm him.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Zane glanced around before planting a peck on Kai's cheek, not noticing the unsteady glances being cast his way.

"Fine, fine. But uh," Kai dropped his voice to a whisper. "Nya just told me she found out about us. Remember when you were telling me stories about your dad and then we fell asleep? Turns out someone did see us."

Zane had set the down the spatula, both hands on the countertop with his head hung between his arms.

"Hey, it's ok. She's not upset," Kai soothed, patting the Ice Ninja's back as he tugged on his sleeve. "She wanted to talk to you. That's all. It'll be fine."

Kai had absolutely no way of knowing it was all fine, and Zane thought this with a bitter expression as he was led down the hall after the stove was shut off and his apron was put away. Kai took one last deep breath before opening her door, where she had just finished applying her last bit of mascara. She stood after setting her brush down, and approached the Ninja of Ice, his expression steeling as he expected threats of violence to be hurled his way.

He hadn't anticipated a hug.

Just like that, Nya's arms were wrapped around him, and he was hugging back, not quite sure what all of this meant.

"Thank you," She said as she pulled away, and Zane's confusion must have been evident on his face. "For loving him. I don't need to worry about him finding someone nice when he has you. If you're worried about me disapproving because you're a dude, I honestly couldn't care less. Really."

Zane was fairly sure he had never felt so relieved as Kai hugged his sister, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

"I love you sis," He contended, and she smiled.

"Right back at you bro."

"Nya... thank you," Zane exhaled, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Telling Nya would have been the largest obstacle in making their relationship public, as she deserved to know before they dropped the bomb on the rest of the crew.

"Kai, can you leave us alone for a second?" The Samurai asked politely, and Kai agreed, no longer worried for his boyfriend's life.

Once alone, Nya sat down on her bed, and pat the sheets beside her. Zane took the invitation, and folded his hands gently in his lap once he was seated.

"I'm not going to give you the good ol' protective sibling talk, I just want to reiterate how happy I am that Kai has you. You are seriously the only person on this ship with a sensible head on your shoulders, and I think you balance out Kai's impulsiveness. Also, you're the only one who can properly cook spicy food," She smirked, but her voice faltered for a second when she saw Zane's face. His eyes were so wide that his irises were completely surrounded by white, lips gently parted. "Zane, are you-"

She was cut off by Zane wrapping his arms around her, much more personal than her quick squeeze earlier.

"Thank you, Nya," He said into her shoulder. "I don't think you understand how much this means to me."

"No problem, buddy."

Later, Kai and Nya were washing dishes together, standing side by side as they scrubbed.

"Hey sis? Thanks for what you said to Zane earlier. I don't think he's stopped smiling since," He set a plate down on the counter, and Nya snickered.

"I didn't even say anything revolutionary. Maybe you should compliment him more. Probably needs the self esteem boost."

"I'm nice to him," Kai scoffed playfully, "He wouldn't be dating me if I wasn't. It's just... he's happy to have some validation. He was worried about you since we started dating."

"And how long ago was that?"

"About six months," Kai shrugged, and Nya nodded, impressed.

"Congrats. As far as I know, everyone else has no idea."

"And we intend to keep it that way," Kai unintentionally glared at the dish in his hand for a second before setting it down, and Nya raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"What if someone is homophobic? We're not willing to break up the team or with each other because we made the mistake of trusting our teammates. And I know that sounds stupid and selfish, but I couldn't stand to lose him. I can't."

"Well, you need to."

Kai had picked up a dish at the start of his small rant, and on that note, it slipped out of his hand and came crashing to the ground, shattering on impact.

Nya scrambled back as though a snake had lunged itself at her, and Kai could only stare in shock as a few ceramic pieces slashed into his feet. Quick footsteps approached the room, and soon Zane was scooping a protesting Kai into his arms to remove shards of plate from his feet.

"Zane, I can walk, I'll be fine," The Fire Ninja resisted, but only slightly, as Zane's look sent a very clear message of shut up and let me help you.

Nya volunteered to sweep up the mess, so Zane took Kai to the bathroom, where all of the bandages were. He set Kai down on the sink, where he could kneel and easily access his feet.

"What happened?" Zane asked as he grabbed a pair of tweezers to inspect for any remaining shards.

"I just dropped a plate," Kai huffed, and Zane bit his lip, wanting to pry but knowing Kai was not in the mood to talk.

"This might sting a little," The Ice Ninja warned as he removed a piece from a larger gash, Kai hissing in response. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about me, keep doing your job," Kai said through gritted teeth, and Zane apologetically rubbed his leg as he stood, wetting a cotton ball with water before dabbing at the wounds with care, as not to upset the Fire Ninja even more.

"I don't know what has made you irritable, but I won't press. I am sorry if I did anything to upset you," Zane said as a safety measure as he cleaned the cuts, and Kai reached down to rest a hand on Zane's head.

"Stop. You know you didn't do anything. It's just... Nya asked why we haven't told the team, and I got upset and dropped the plate."

"Did you tell her the truth?" Zane asked, knowing this topic was very volatile between them, even though they both held similar mindsets. Kai hummed in affirmation, giving Zane's hair a quick ruffle before retracting his hand.

"She said that we needed to," Kai fidgeted his fingers in his lap, and Zane hesitated in his cleaning.

"And why is that?"

"I don't know. I didn't get the chance to ask."

"I trust we are still on the same page on this issue?" Zane grabbed a new wet cotton ball, and Kai sighed.

"Actually, Zane, I think we should," Kai steeled himself for his boyfriend's retaliation, but Zane merely faltered in his movements, looking up at his beau with the same blue eyes Kai could get lost in for hours.

"Why? I thought we both had agreed that telling our teammates could potentially shatter our dynamic as a crew. We could ruin friendships and relationships with each other, they might be closeted homophobes, we don't know," Zane's voice cracked on the last three words, and Kai chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"I think we can trust them. I know you're scared," The Fire Ninja couldn't stand to see Zane so distressed, but he knew he had to get his point out there, "but we can't stay silent forever. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. We can lounge on the couch without fearing someone's going to walk in on us, or you could lean your head on my shoulder when we're watching movies with the crew."

Zane shut his eyes, running numbers through his head, equations that he had explained to Kai when they had first begun dating. When his eyes fluttered open, hands reaching for the bandages, he nodded.

"Alright. We can inform the others of our relationship."

#ninjagoprideweek2019 #oppositeshipping #Ninjago Kai #Ninjago Zane #Zane Julien #Ninjago

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