#since cole turned into a ghost season 5 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cosmos-dot-semicolon · 8 days

Note

Your turn for a Ninjago question!

Which season's your favourite?

Hmm. I suck at picking favourites. It's made worse by the fact it's been a while since I've rewatched anything but season 1. So uh, I guess I'll answer this question backwards from worst to best. Have a very rambly, vaguely ordered list :)

I never watched much past S10 - the move to 11 minute episodes was really jarring and only seemed to work well for that one bit of lore for Wu and Garmadon in Crystallised. Which is great, but it's not the actual story, so :/

You've already seen my hatred for the Oni trilogy. Really all I wanted to add there is that I count it as one season, because it has the same plot structure as a regular season, but stretched out over a year for god knows why. I remember making remarks back in the day that it straight up felt like season 4 but longer and edgier, down to the bait-and-switch love interest and end-of-season war.

Hands Of Time I think is generally glossed over in the fandom, and understandably so. I remember they made jokes about iPhones and also captured Borg and there were snakes or whatever. It promised we were going to explore Kai and Nya's family dynamic and then. I'm sure they did something there? Wu's sacrifice was memorable, but absolutely nothing else was. It felt like the new writers were given a script for what Ninjago was known for, but never actually watched the show.

Season 6 I think had a good initial impact on me because of its sky pirate aesthetic but the longer it went on... Eugh. You Already Know

Season 3 I remember, but only for Zane's sacrifice and Garmadon's moments. There were really good character moments in there, but overall there wasn't much going on.

So that strikes it down to 1, 2, 4, and 5.

4. I think 2 comes last by default. I don't dislike it and find a fair bit of it fun, but they really did sap most of Lloyd's personality once he got aged up. There are filler episodes (which are fun, but still), and a second half of the season that drags on until the final fight that everybody was waiting for.

I think Garmadon had some really good moments in here, both funny and dramatic (and especially with Misako). But I think that's still eclipsed by season 1's setup of him. I've drawn fanart of it before but Misako could've been one of the funniest character premises the series had and it's a shame her character was never capitalised on.

3. Possession, as cool as some of the character moments are, is a season I think I liked as a kid mainly because of its ghost aesthetic. Which is amazing, for the record. The art directors were absolutely on point there, and the atmosphere of places like the caves, the washed-up town of Stix, and the sheer scale of the final battle are still burned into my brain.

Character-wise, it's quite nice in showing Kai's loyalty and caring towards Lloyd, and great in that it actually gave Nya a proper character arc. But a lot of the exploration of other characters feels more like... lip service? Cole is a fantastic leader and willing to sacrifice himself for the team, and now might have to deal with being a ghost. Zane sometimes has to deal with things beyond his control as a robot. Wu's carelessness as a mentor actually got one of his students killed back in the day.

What do we do with that? I don't know. I might be overlooking things but the fact these aren't truly followed up with always felt off to me. I want to say Morro himself is sort of representative of this, but I'd need another post and a rewatch to detail my thoughts on him properly.

1. I don't think I want to decide between them: season 4 and season 1.

Tournament of Elements had practically everything I wanted from Ninjago back in the day. It's got some really heartfelt dialogue about the team having broken up after season 3 (as short as that is), it's focused on the more interesting of the two Senseis, it's got espionage and revolution and this whole grand hotel to have ridiculous fights in.

It's not as laser-focused on adding to the ninja's characters as other seasons, but in lieu of that you get a lot of expansion on what we already had, and the best written plot in the entire show.

Like you know something is up with Chen from the very beginning, and so do the ninja, but you have to keep pushing on just to see what happened with Zane. I kept expecting the plot to follow a clear structure and get boring or drag out the mystery of what was going on, but they just kept switching it up whenever I thought things were going perfectly.

You thought the whole team would make through the tournament? Nope! But Cole did find Zane! Holy shit! You thought uniting the elemental masters would be easy? Nope, one of them's a fucking spy. She's literally the main villain's daughter! You thought this'd just be about Chen stealing everybody's elements? Nope, he wants to revive the long dead and conquer the world. Have fun fighting a war!

It's genuinely fascinating how much the plot evolves over the season's runtime, with everybody doing their own separate things. Not every twist works, but the writers clearly put some amount of thought into all of them, and it makes me love the season despite some of its, well, 'culturally insensitive' plot points, as Pythor might say.

Season 1's strengths lie with its characterisation instead of the story, but I still like it for largely the same reasons as season 4.

What really drew me back into Ninjago out of all the action shows back in the day was that instead of just being another 'dumb action show for boys,' it was about a bunch of friends growing and learning as they prepared to grow up. The ninja have to deal with things kids know intimately: absent parents, self esteem issues stemming from your social status, self-centeredness vs being a normal person, discovering your own heritage, feeling excluded, and coming out.

The side characters are also all fantastic. Pythor's delightfully smarmy as a villain. Garmadon's both the most dramatic theatre kid you've ever seen and the sweetest father to Lloyd. Even Lloyd had a lot to do back here! This is the only time I've seen a sad white(-coded) boy villain work out, because he's a child looking for friends. He's genre savvy due to him being Garmadon's son, and smart in suggesting that the ninja steal back the fangblades from Pythor, but he's also still like, 7.

And while the season doesn't have as strong a plot as season 4, I still think small things like the fangblades being stolen from both sides and having the ostensive 'villain' defeat the Great Devourer were fantastic ideas within the constraints of a very structured story.

#ninjago critical #ninjago #dots dots dots #asks #oblivious aro #i hope. uh. you like reading 👍#GOD I JUST SAT DOWN FOR A BREAK AND STARTED TYPING FOR LIKE A SOLID HOUR HELP #i was supposed to be revising for my next exam but also I'm tired from today's. so. here you go #i'm glad I got this ask. I think I've been wanting to elaborate on my ideas about this for a while #as much as i think the show's. uh. 'culturally insensitive' it did leave a big impact on my psyche and writing style

2 notes · View notes

oshawottarchive · 1 year

Text

Thinking about my Devourer Cole au, and was wondering what would happen in later seasons.

This is long, so uh

So, Cole can just, turn into a snake, although it’s hard to nearly impossible to control.

Season 4 would go a lot differently. Chen and his cult would probably be ecstatic, the other ems, not so much.

Chen would immediately give Cole vip treatment, and arrange for him to get an anacondrai tattoo. Cole would rather keep his pretty green scales, thank you very much, and nopes out of there (not much they can really do to stop him without getting envenomated, whether it be on purpose or an accident).

Chen continues to try and get Cole on his side, but keeps getting hit with a hard no.

Eventually, after vip treatment and politely asking fail, Chen tries physical restraining him.

They barely manage to actually catch him, but give up on giving him a tattoo because the last person who tried it lost a hand.

So they steal his elemental powers, hoping desperately that it’d at least slow him down a little bit.

It does, but he’s still very much capable of turning into a huge ass snake, and has very little control over it.

So they put him into a cage (not wanting to risk him breaking the noodle factory), and call it a day.

Eventually, he does manage to bust out, but only after his snake stuff actually starts to cooperate. It took at least two days for him to get his scales back after they put him in a cell.

When he does get out, he manages to find Zane, who is very glad to be free but also very nervous because Cole’s being a giant snake that can barely fit in the tunnels right now.

Luckily, this also means that the Anacondrai serpent does not want to deal with them right now, and would rather eat something smaller.

Some other stuff happens (that I haven’t planned out), and yay they’re all free now. Too bad Cole’s still a giant snake right now.

So, they have to 1. Fight Chen’s now Anacondrai-ified army, and 2. Deal with Cole definitely not fitting on a dragon and not being in the best state of mind.

You see, Cole has a very hard time distinguishing what’s food and what isn’t food when he’s a big ass snake (and sometimes when he only has a few scales, too), so, he has tried to eat a few people in the past week or so (and he might have eaten a cultist or two).

Anyway, the only way to get him off the island is to either wait til he gets smaller, or for someone to lag behind so they can stay with him as he swims across the entire ocean.

The latter happens.

Eventually though, before they have to fight Chen’s army, he does change back a bit.

And this is a horrible time to change back because otherwise he’d be able to fight Chen’s army as a giant snake.

Now on to season 5.

It happens quite a bit differently. 1. Cole doesn’t get ghosted, and 2. Morro is kinda freaked out and confused.

Morro’s still willing to fight the ninja (they’re in his way goddamn it), but he’s a little wary of Cole.

Also, in the first episode, Cole gets a few scales while they’re handing out flyers (it happens when he’s still holding up the car).

People still aren’t too used to one of the ninja being a snake, so they freak out a bit (especially the guy in the car).

I don’t have Possession planned out that much, so on to Skybound (not much is planned for this, either, tbh)

So, Nadakhan tries to get Cole to make a wish, and expects him to wish for him to become fully human again, but instead Cole wishes for confirmation that Jay loves him, and Nadakhan is very confused, but realizes that it doesn’t go against the rules and grants the wish.

What happens is that, since Jay already loved him, he just becomes very obsessive, which makes it a bit hard for him to fight Nadakhan, since he keeps getting distracted.

Now I’m gonna skip to the Oni trilogy.

At this point, Cole’s a bit better at controlling his snake side, but it’s still very unpredictable and hard to contain.

He has his scales for most of the Oni trilogy, which makes it hard for him to try and disguise himself among the sog and the dragon hunters.

Harumi is immediately wary of him, and the Jade emperor and empress are hesitant when it comes to letting him into the palace of secrets.

The ninja do convince them, and Cole gets to stay and help out.

(I don’t have too much planned out so insert text here I guess)

Little Wu doesn’t really remember the ninja, so he’s a bit scared of Cole, but gets used to him once he realizes that he won’t hurt him.

Once little Wu starts talking, he won’t shut up about Cole. It’s usually “snakie!”, “pretty scales”, and when he gets older “why are you a snake?”, “are you always cold?”, “why do you have a tail sometimes and then you just don’t?”.

In Hunted, the dragon hunters are convinced that Cole is definitely an Oni, and keep putting him against Slab even though both Slab and Cole are getting themselves pretty beat up.

Eventually though, Cole does become Devourer sized again, and the hunters freak out.

He’s a bit less Oni to them and a bit more “giant being of death” (especially when he might’ve eaten a few hunters).

I don’t really have much else planned for the au, I just know that Aspheera is very fascinated with Cole, Pythor doesn’t want to even look at him. Vangelis doesn’t wanna fight the giant earth snake again, Mr. F doesn’t remember him, and Harumi is just like “hmmmm, maybe we should try and convince him to join our side, since it would be a good idea to ally with giant snake guy.”

The Overlord is just like “not again, please”, and agrees with Harumi.

Cole does consider it, but mostly pretends to be on their side while he secretly eats some of their vengestone army (they don’t taste very good, but most of his tastebuds are gone, anyway). Also, his stomach acid destroys the vengestone, so he’s fine.

The crystals do get to him a bit, though. He doesn’t get his dragon form cause he doesn’t really need it, and prefers to just smack everything around with his tail as he steals his scythe back.

Anyway, that’s about all I have right now. Hope you enjoyed reading! I’m really excited to finally start writing for this au.

#crimson talks #cole brookstone #Ninjago #Ninjago au #Devourer Cole au

19 notes · View notes

saline-coelacanth · 8 months

Note

Just had a thought about the anacondrai curse au. Would Cole still turn into a ghost in the au?

If so then..

Anacondrai ghost? 👻🐍

No, sadly Cole doesn't become a ghost in this au. Mainly because that would just be A LOT for Cole to deal with, and also I feel like it would... not sure if overcomplicate is the right word, but it would overcomplicate things I guess. Just having him have to deal with the curse AND deal with being a ghost is just a lot.

Also Cole isn't even on the team during possession which is how he doesn't get turned into a ghost. He leaves sometime between season 4 and 5 to do some training since his anacondrai form starts becoming a problem because of him having super strength and then becoming even stronger when turning full anacondrai, so he was accidentally breaking things and causing a lot of damage whenever they had to fight someone. But yeah, anacondrai ghost Cole.

#asks #anacondrai curse au #i might draw art of him as an anacondrai ghost just for fun #but just know that it wont be canon to the au #also sorry for info dumping a bit when it wasn't 100% related to the ask #but also i feel like someone was gonna end up asking how he prevented turning into a ghost #so i guess im just killing two birds with one stone

0 notes

wtfgaylittlezooid · 3 years

Note

I haven't watched Ninjago in ages just summarize the entire plot for me please. All I remember is Zane being a robot.

I would do this seriously but I can’t keep focus long enough to do so, so I’ll reblog it later with a better summary but for now

Season 1: found family adopts Lloyd who unearths snakes and he turns out to be the chosen green ninja, destined to defeat his forced to be evil father, Garmadon

Season 2: preparation for big fight. Snake people accidentally unearth the stone warriors and the dark island or whatever appears. Garmadon is on it and finds the Overlord, who possesses him since Garmadon can’t bring himself to kill Lloyd. Lloyd defeats Overlord, which takes all the evil out of Garmadon’s blood so he’s just himself

Season 3: Big technology advancement in Ninjago City, the big inventor Cyrus Borg builds big tower over the Overlord’s resting place for symbolism but the Overlord comes back as a virus and infects technology. We also meet Pixal, his nindroid daughter and at the end Zane uses the golden power to kill the Overlord but in the process kills himself

Season 4: Group is broken up over Zane’s deaths since they struggle to cope with it. They end up going back together after a paper for the Tournmanrt of Elements claims it has Zane. Garmadon goes with since it’s led by Master Chen, his former master. They meet other elemental masters such as Karlof, master of Metal, and Skylor, master of Amber. Skylor is Chen’s Daughrr, Chen wants to turn him and his cult into anacondrai to take over Ninjago City and takes others elements to do that, and Zane has a new body and loses his memories temporarily before Pixal reminds him. She also gets scrapped so he puts her chip in the back of his head so she stays with him as a voice. They defeat them, and Garmadon sacrifices himself to switch places with the anacondrai warrior spirits in the Cursed Realm.

Season 5: Wu’s original student and master of Wind, Morro slips out of the Cursed Realm and summons some friends. Nya starts her training as the water ninja. Cole gets turned into a ghost. He possesses Lloyd to get to the FSM’s grave and find the realm crystal. Using the Realm Crystal, he leaves Lloyd’s body and summons the physical manifestation of the Cursed Realm, the Preeminent. They defeat her and Nya unlocks her true potential.

Season 6: A djinn (similar to a genie) called Nadahkan starts picking off the ninja one by one to recreate his realm Djinnjago. Group finds out a tiger Lily’s venom can slow him down enough for them to defeat him, and they get the venom. Everyone else aside from Nya and Jay get picked off, and Nadakhan kidnaps Nya so he can marry her so he can get the ability to grant himself unlimited wishes. Everybody dies, including Nya, and Jay wishes that this never happened. Him and Nya are the only ones who remember this now, and the timeline is erased.

Day of the Departed: Master Yang from s5 tricks Cole into freeing spirits of their old enemies: Samukai, Kozu, Cryptor, Chen, and Morro. Pythos comes along for the ride and they’re told to kill the ninja to take their place in the living realm. Yang opens a rift so he can resurrect himself, and Morro goes behind Yang’s back and informs Wu of the situation to help the ninja. Cole calms Yang down and enters the rift and is back as a human

Season 7: Former masters of them, Acronix and Krux find the time blades and want to rule everything so they construct a giant machine using the time blades to go back in time and defeat everyone where it began. Nya and Kai find their parents who were kidnapped by Krux and forced to make weapons. Wu sacrifices himself by throwing himself, Acronix, and Krux into a time loop. Samurai X comes back, but it’s no longer Nya

Decoded: A miniseries recap where Zane’s body isn’t working so they go through a ninjigma to get to the source of the issues which is trying to take over Zane and delete his memories. It’s a strand of code from the Overlord Virus left over from the memory of Zane’s sacrifice which he repressed

Season 8: New redesigns. Biker gang wants to revive the worst parts of Garmadon using the three oni masks. Also as a result of the time loop, Wu comes back but as a baby and grows up a lot faster. Samurai X is revealed to be Pixal. Their plan works and Garmadon comes back, and he nearly kill the others but they escape to the First Realm: The Realm of Oni and Dragons. So Lloyd, Nya, and Pixal are seperated from the rest who are in the First Realm. Lloyd also nearly dies and loses his powers.

Season 9: First Realm: Group gets kidnapped by dragon hunters, Wu grows up a little, they escape and the leader’s second in command goes after them. She joins them after hearing Wu is the son of the FSM. Wu gets the golden armor and uses Firstbourne and the other dragons to get everyone back. By now he’s normal age. Meanwhile, Lloyd, Nya, and Pixal are trying to survive and start up a resistance against Garmadon. Others come back and big fight starts and Garmadon and the gang is defeated.

Season 10: Oni inavde Ninjago, Cole nearly dies, and everyone takes care of it. Only a four episode season so not much

Season 11: Group accidentally unearths yet another snake tribe, the leader has a vendetta against Wu. She uses the scrolls of forbidden spinjitzu which heavily boosts power but corrupts. Zane uses the scroll to freeze her and her Army, and she sends him to the Never Realm. Group follows Zane there and it’s being ruled by a cruel emperor called the Ice Emperor. Turns out it was Zane, after getting his memory wiped by Vex, a petty formling, who heavily manipulated him and basically made him his weapon. They get him to remember and he fixes what he did

Season 12: Basically Ready Player One. Really nice twist on the “rogue ai” trope tho and has a heartfelt end

Season 13: Gang gets invited to Shintaro. In the mountains there’s two enslaved races who hate eachother and both worship Cole’s mother. They work together to defeat the Skull Sorcerer who is also the king of Shintaro and save the day. Also Cole gets epic ability

Season 14: Gang goes to island to save Misako and Wu. Gets kidnapped by tribe and Jay gets sacrificed to Wohira, spirit of the storm. Turns out it’s just Ronin cheaply getting money

48 notes · View notes

hollyyewblood · 3 years

Text

Ninjago is something that always has been and always will be close to my heart. As someone whose been here since the beginning, in honor of just finishing rewatching the first two seasons with my brother (we’re gonna watch more tomorrow), I’d like to share some of my best memories with anyone that cares to listen (feel free to share yours in the comments!).

Prologues/Season 1: Watching it with my Dad and siblings, being completely surprised that Zane is a nindroid, ALL OF THE TRUE POTENTIAL EPISODES HAD ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT, being absolutely shocked when it was revealed Lloyd was the Green Ninja, calling our old T.V. a “rip off” when my Dad was having trouble starting it so we could watch an episode (I believe the exact episode was one towards the end of the season), the scene where the Great Devourer zooms in on the camera at the end of the second-to-last episode scaring the SHIT out of me, almost sobbing when Sensei Wu was eaten, almost sobbing when the Bounty was destroyed, being on the edge of my seat as the Ninja subdue the Great Devourer, screaming with joy when they did it, jumping with joy when Sensei Wu was revealed to be alive, being excited for the next season to see what happened next.

Season 2: Being glad that the Bounty was back, but also being upset it was now in Garmadon’s possession, laughing at Darreth’s antics, pajama men being the funniest shit, NinjaBallRun being FUCKING ICONIC (Season 2 had a lot of those episodes), seeing Lloyd turn older marked one of my first childhood crushes, biting my nails hoping that the Ninja would be able to correct the past, the Overlord creeping me the FUCK out, furrie Garmadon, my Dad/siblings and I cheering for Lloyd during the final battle, being happy af that Garmadon was turned good in the end.

Season 3: Dad stopped actively watching with us at this point. I’m actually only gonna describe my memories from one scene, that being Zane’s death scene since it’s the one I remember most. Dude, my sister (the oldest) was BAWLING her eyes out. Meanwhile, my brother and I had tears in our eyes, our mouths agape, and we just had to sit there and deal with it. It was SO SAD. I still get sad when watching it. Kudos to the creators, they made what I assume to be thousands of children cry. Kudos.

Season 4: OOOOOO BOI, SIMPING WASN’T A COMMON WORD BACK THEN, BUT THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT MY SISTER AND I WERE DOING FOR SLEEVELESS NINJA (MORE SPECIFICALLY ME THAN HER). We were all relieved that Zane was alive, the reveal of a bunch of different Elemental Masters was the most unexpected thing to us children, Skylor’s betrayal to the Ninja SHOCKING us, the Dragons being cool as fuck, Garmadon’s sacrifice being super sad, MY BROTHER AND I ONLY TALKING ABOUT “WHAT IS MORRO?” FOR LIKE THEEE MONTHS STRAIGHT LMAO.

Season 5: I immediately fell in love with Morro. That’s it. Send tweet. Lol, anyways- I thought Ronin was cool af, Airjitsu being The Shit, NYA BEING REVEALED TO BE THE WATER NINJA WAS LIKE WHATTTTTTTTT, I loved it. Absolutely dying of laughter at the Chima cameo, super sad that Morro died, I loved and still love him.

Also, fun fact: my sister stopped watching after Cole became a ghost because she was SO PISSED that they would do that, she still hasn’t got caught up even after we told her that he was turned back in Day of the Departed.

Season 6: This is where my memory blurs. I remember being shocked at Nya’s ‘death’, but apart from that, I can’t actively remember my feelings.

As for Season 7, I only remember that Acronix was funny. And that’s where we end. I’ve watched up the where Aspheera comes in, but I didn’t really pay attention due to being pissed that they changed the Ninja (I do remember despising Harumi). Now that I’m a bit older, I’m willing to give it a shot (the show ONLY, the movie forever stays unwatched), but I’ll be rewatching it all in order. Thanks for reading this stupid long post about the good times. As I said before, feel free to share yours! I’d love to hear how you all remember the show from when you first watched it :)

32 notes · View notes

ninjaslegos · 3 years

Note

Hi! When you have the time, could you please do a story where the reader is Cole's younger sister and Kai's girlfriend, but she dies taking a knife for her brother. I really love your writing, and I've had this idea in my head for a while, but I'm certain you can write it better than what I have planned. Thank you so much! :)

Aww, that's so sweet of you! I'll try my best! 🥺 my poor ninja....I’ll work on this when I am extra angsty so it’ll hit harder. ALSO I set this before season 5 so like....if you want a part two with Reader being a ghost... 👀 I can get you some.

She/her reader!

Three Broken Hearts

Where everyone was supposed to come out of this fight alive, so why didn’t you?

You were Cole’s baby sister. He taught you everything you knew. Your mom got sick after having you, but he didn’t blame you at all for her death. Instead, he spent his time looking after you since his father barely paid attention to you. He swore to be the best older brother that anyone’s ever seen. He took you with him when he was sent to Marty Oppenheimer’s School for Gifted Youth, and you were the reason he got kicked out. It turns out he wasn’t allowed to sneak you in with him. Not that he cared, he hated the place anyway.

Instead, the two of you went travelling. You would camp out together, living off the land best two teens could. Well, a teen and a tween. You were three and a half years younger than him. So when you eventually got sick, naturally, he began to panic. As he went mountain climbing one day, an old man sat atop it and offered him a place to stay. He declined at first, knowing not to trust strangers, but he realized if he didn’t take the help, you would just get worse. So he went back to your temporary cave home to carry you and your belongings to the monastery.

He learned the man’s name was Wu, and he wanted Cole to train to become a ninja. He was a little bit interested, and settled down in the monastery nicely, while Wu helped you out with your strange illness. It turned out you had a parasite from eating bad meat, and Wu flushed it out using heat. He kept your body close to fire, and gave you hot tea to drink. You got better within a few weeks, and soon you were back to your usual self.

Life was peaceful here, even though he had to learn to share the space with Wu and one, two, wait, now three other ninja and someone else’s sister. At least you and Nya got along, but Cole had his eyes on Kai, who suspiciously hung around you a lot. He was a hothead who acted and spoke before he thought, and easily got himself into trouble, while you were a sweetheart who was soft spoken and always tried to be kind to everyone. Surely, Kai was undeserving of you.

Speaking of your kindness, you started to spend a lot of time with Zane, who was dubbed ‘the weird one’ by the others. Soon, the two of you were friends, so Cole was devastated when the monastery burned down. He searched among the ashes, and became livid when he couldn’t find your body anywhere. He snapped, yelling at everyone, crying for his baby sister, and threatening Zane. He nearly got kicked off the team. Instead of feeling hurt by what Cole said, Zane was quick to point out that his dragon was missing, and Cole felt a glimmer of hope.

He didn’t see you again for two weeks when Ed and Edna showed up to meet Jay. They explained that they ‘brought the cutest girl’ with them, and Cole cried at the sight of you getting out of their car. He never wanted to lose you again. As time went on, you ended up befriending young Lloyd, and when he was revealed to be the Green Ninja, Wu suggested the two of you could start training together.

Dressed in pale yellow, you became the Dandelion ninja. You named it yourself. Jay called you the piss ninja, but Cole shut that one down real quick. You soon learned of your light powers, and quickly put them to use. You could create shields, platforms, and weapons out of your element, and Cole couldn't be prouder of you.

At one point, you and Kai started to date. He didn't know when this happened, but it had to have been during the time when he and Jay were arguing over Nya, as that was when he was too distracted to notice it. This didn't blow over well with him, but instead of arguing with you, he had a 'light talk' with Kai and watched the two of you from a distance. Sure, you were 17 by now, and Kai just turned 19, but he didn't like it.

As the months passed, though, he came to accept it. Especially since you needed both guys' support when your best friend died fighting The Overlord. Everyone blamed themselves for Zane's death, even you. It tore the team apart, no matter how much you and Lloyd tried to keep them all together. First Jay left, hating Cole and you for some reason, which only served to piss him off even more. Sure, you and Jay weren't exactly friends, but he didn't have to be a jerk to you about something Cole did. Nya left shortly after, taking Kai with her. Kai wanted to take you with him, but Cole refused to let you leave with such a quitter.

Unfortunately, Cole left in the end as well, meaning all that was left of Wu's students were you and Lloyd. You sobbed when he did, reminding him that he promised not to leave you again, but he insisted he couldn't stay here like this. He lost not only Zane, but his friends and team. There wasn't anything left for him here, and he tried to convince you to leave with him, but you wouldn't budge. Well, neither would he; he could play stubborn, too.

It wasn't until Lloyd warned everyone that you went missing, that everyone got together again at Chen's Noodle House. Even Jay. They agreed to start being a team of ninja again to get you back, until they were distracted by a fight, leading them to an alley where they found out Zane was alive as well.

"Zane was her best friend, she must've heard about this and tried to look for him on her own..." Lloyd sadly concluded.

"Well, we have no choice. That's my sister, and my teammate. Whether you guys are coming with me or not, I'm looking for them." Cole frowned.

Kai stepped forward, "I'm coming with you."

"Me too." Lloyd nodded.

They all looked expectantly at Jay, who chuckled nervously. "(Y/N) does deserve an apology from me..." He sheepishly admits. "And I miss seeing Zane around."

So it was a deal. Along with Garmadon, the five of them board the ferry to Chen's Island, where they anxiously wait for their arrival. The aura is still tense and awkward, as they haven't seen each other in a few months, but Cole knows that when they find you and Zane again, everything will be back to normal. Honestly, he missed being a ninja with you.

As the terrifying days pass slowly, the ninja try to not only find the two of you, but also find a way off this island afterwards. It's not until Cole gives himself up in a fight against Jay that he finds you, and Zane, huddled up in a dungeon cell together. "Cole," you snap at him in a whispered tone, "what are you doing here?"

"Participating in Chen's tournament to get you and Zane out of here?" He asks in an amused tone.

"I can tell; dude, your powers are gone." You sigh, "I'm lucky, Chen doesn't know about my powers, so I'm waiting for the perfect time to escape with Zane and the other prisoners."

"How is...how is he doing?" Cole asks sadly, and you frown.

"He's alive, but he's not Zane right now. He doesn't remember much, and he's having horrible nightmares." He's not chained to the wall right now, so his head is in your lap as you play with his hair in an attempt to soothe him. "Poor guy, Pixal is next door trying to help, but she's been scrapped. She begged me not to tell Zane, as she doesn't want to dishearten him. I'm scared, I wish there was more I could do."

"You're doing the best you can." Cole reaches over and puts his hand on your shoulder. "You came all this way to save your friend, and even though you can't rescue him right now, you're still helping him with his sleep and keeping him company. Mom would be proud of you."

You weakly smile at him. "I wish she was here now, she'd know what to do."

"You know what to do, too." He assures you, and you nod. "I believe in you; we can make it out of this together, just hang in there."

Chen has deemed you too weak to work, so Cole makes his plans in the warehouse, then comes to you and relays what's happening to fill you in.

It takes a few days, and soon Jay, Kai, and Lloyd are captured, but it happens to be on the day you are planning to escape. With energetic yelling and loud drilling, you quite literally crash Chen's party. Kai reunites with you and kisses you hard. Cole doesn't quite like it, but you haven't seen each other in a long time, and Kai made it quite obvious that he missed you a lot.

The fighting is chaotic, and Cole loses you in the crowd a couple times. Suddenly, there is a scream. Your scream. Panicked, he rushes towards the sound as the fighting comes to an astonished stop. Eyes wide with awe, he watches as you unlock your True Potential. You had it coming for a while now, and he was glad he was there to see it happen. Your eyes were a shining pale yellow color, and beautiful, glowing wings protruded from your back, as you held Chen's staff in your hands, away from Kai. Why did he want it so bad?

It didn't matter anyway, as you spoke, "I am (Y/N) the master of light, and as such, all lights cast shadows. As the true guardian of balance, I must make sure that no one person holds all power." It was like there were multiple of you speaking at once, but as soon as you broke the staff, you collapsed as your glow faded away. Luckily Kai caught you before you hit the ground, and Cole made his way over to check up on you.

"Why wasn't I told of this?!" Clouse demanded from some of his nearby warriors, but they just shrugged and shook their heads. No one knew you had this power until now, except for the elemental masters.

"Retreat!" Chen shrieked, and everyone ran off.

A few worried masters gathered around to ask if you were alright, and Zane got close and put his hand on your head to soothe you, like you did to him in the dungeon. When your eyes snapped open, and you gasped and sat up, people began to cheer and pat you on the back, congratulating you for helping them win.

Everything was okay, until Shade looked around. "Where's Skylor?" Then it became quiet.

A few people looked around, as a few others scoffed about how they didn't need her, but you stood up for her. "She could've chosen to stay with her father, and help him and his followers become Anacondrai, but she decided that our collective friendship with her was worth more than her relationship with her father, and she threw that away for us!" Cole admired your kindness and bravery. You didn't mind standing up for her at all. "I didn't know her long, but I know that anyone who chooses to help others deserves the same. I'm looking for her, and if no one wants to come with me, then I'll go by myself."

Kai stepped up first, "then let's make this fast. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can end this against Chen. We know he won't stop trying to get his spell to work, so we don't really have a choice."

"I'm going, too." Cole nods. "I've left you behind too many times already. Besides, someone needs to keep you safe."

Zane, Lloyd, Jay, and soon everyone else is rallied behind you, and you split up into groups of three to find Skylor. The search isn't going so well, and people are starting to lose hope, but you stay persistent. It's not until Neuro receives a message that everyone becomes interested again, and he relays what Skylor told him. Chen was going to use her power instead, as she has absorbed everyone else's power and could complete the spell on her own.

You needed to be fast. Racing off with the other ninja, you track her down and try to rescue her from her father. Zane crashes and gets lost at one point, but he insists that no one stop for him. You promise to come looking for him afterwards and continue on.

You come across an abandoned city, and agree to split up into twos to keep going. Kai with Lloyd, Nya with Jay, and you with your brother to make the search easier.

It turns out you and Cole are the ones to find her, and try to get her to safety. It's harder than you realize when several of Chen's warriors show up to try and prevent it from happening. Too focused on what's happening on the ground, up in the sky, a net is fired at you and you are all captured.

In a strange crystal cave, Cole asks what's going on, as you are all separated from each other, and Chen is trying to get Skylor to touch you and copy your powers as well, even though they weren't part of the spell. However, you kept a shield around you, so you couldn't be touched, and you were just left in the net instead.

The transformation was hard to watch. Chen got what he wanted. He was now an unstoppable Anacondrai, and was going to take over Ninjago with his new army.

When you, Skylor, and Cole were rescued and regrouped with the others, everyone seemed to have lost hope. Everyone except you. You were like literal light sometimes, which was what they needed right now.

"We may have lost the battle, but we have not lost the war!" You declared. "Maybe they've become Anacondrai, and have impenetrable skin, but I have impenetrable shields. If it comes down to it...I will sacrifice myself to keep them locked away so they will never have to hurt anyone."

Cole's protest was instant. "No, you can't do that to yourself! You're not even an adult, (Y/N), please, we need you here with us, I need you, as my baby sister," he grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you a bit. "I won't let you do this!"

Kai agrees. "Cole's right. I need you, too, and you can't waste away your entire life just sitting there and guarding Chen's army forever. There has to be another way to defeat an Anacondrai."

"It's not like we can get off this island anyway. Ninjago's all the way out there and none of us are going to be able to cross the ocean, much less get there before he conquers it all." Griffin sighs sadly.

"I mean, I have a dragon, but none of you do, so it will have to be me and...(Y/N), since she's the only one with a plan to stop them..." Lloyd trails off, not liking this idea of self sacrifice either.

Zane steps forward, "that is not entirely true." He shows off his new ability, and summons a dragon of ice in front of him.

"Woah, how are you doing that?!" Jay asks, and Zane starts explaining to the group that he was able to unlock his dragon by facing his fears.

Cole thought about his biggest fear. Snakes? Death? No, it had to be something deeper than that. As he saw Kai kiss your cheek before making his dragon, Cole realized what it was. It was losing you. You were basically all that was left of his family, as neither of you talked to your father much anymore, and you reminded him so much of his mother. If you died, he didn't know what he would do. Nothing would be the same.

He breathed in deeply, letting go of his fear. You would be fine, he told himself, you had him to protect you, you had Kai and Zane, your boyfriend and best friend, and you had the rest of the team on your side. Besides, your power was literally making shields. Or at least that's what you used it for most. He had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all...

"No fair! You always get things before me!" He can hear your childish pouting behind him, and he laughs.

"You're the baby of the family, you'll always get it last." He teases. You still can't manage to make your dragon, so he offers you a ride on his. On the outside, anyone would perceive your inability to summon your dragon as inexperience, but Cole knew you better than that. You were too scared of your fear to overcome it, but what were you scared of? Staying behind and leaving everyone to defend Ninjago against the Anacondrai? He'd be scared of that, too. It's a big burden to carry.

When Skylor and Garmadon realized their bodies were slowly fading back to normal from their Anacondrai ones, everyone became hopeful again. It was brief, though, as they knew their next steps were to prevent the spell from becoming permanent, then stopping Chen for real. Once again, the group split up; the masters protecting various spots in Ninjago while the ninja team go after Pythor to see if he would know how to defeat fake Anacondrai, seeing as he was the real deal.

He explained to the ninja that there wasn't a way to defeat an Anacondrai, as like you said, there truly were no weaknesses. Cole wanted to sob; he wasn't ready for you to sacrifice yourself like this. There had to be something they could do, and luckily Zane and Garmadon were here, as they figured out Pythor made the spell permanent.

"So? I can just make a shield around him and they can't touch him. That's much easier to handle than the previous plan!" You grinned, but Pythor didn't like that idea at all.

"What?!" He shrieked, "you're just going to lock me up in a smaller prison? How fair is that?! They're the enemy, not me!"

So he escaped. It was an honest mistake, as Pythor was still as slippery as he ever was, but you felt down. Now it was Cole's turn to cheer you up again, as he reminded you it wasn't your fault, and that there was still time to figure something else out.

Wu congratulates you for discovering your True Potential, then assigns you your task of protecting Ninjago City. You were to create and sustain a huge dome over the entirety of the city, as it was one of the biggest ones out there, and was definitely a target. Cole and the others were sent out to track down and eliminate trucks that Chen sent out, but he didn't like that idea.

"Sensei, I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but this plan is awful. For one, I want to be by my sister, because this might be the last time I see her, and two, don't you think she's a little too young and inexperienced to suddenly create a large dome over the city? Sure she unlocked her True Potential, but just barely." He frowned.

"Wow, Cole," you smirked, "you don't think I'm tough enough? You're my brother, the strongest person in the world, and you don't think I can handle making a shield for a couple hours?"

He sighs and hugs you. "Of course I do, it's just...you're doing more than I could ever ask of you, and on top of that, if we don't win this, it means you could be separated from me, and from Kai, too."

"Yeah!" Said hothead adds as he approaches you, "you're my girlfriend, I don't want you to strain yourself." He kisses your cheek. "But you're strong, and I believe in you, and I love you."

"Aw," you hug him and give him a quick kiss, and Cole grimaces inwardly. He hates it when you're lovey-dovey in front of him. Something about you being his sister while Kai's his teammate...and you're both teammates as well... "I love you too, Kai." You then hug both boys tightly. "I'll be okay, you guys just get out there and fight hard!" They hug you back, then you all let go as they turn to leave. "When this is over, we can relax together again as ninja, and I can bake us all a nice cake."

"You mean me a nice cake." Cole teases, before he leaves and you go on your separate missions.

He's quick to locate the truck he was assigned to, and catches up to it within minutes. Once he gets close enough, Skylor calls in, telling everyone they were just a distraction, just as Cole crashes the truck. His fears are coming true, and he finds he can't make his dragon stay with him, or even summon it. It only served to make things worse as he realized he now had no way to get back to you.

Fortunately, he wasn't alone in his thoughts, as Neuro communicated with him, telling him to regroup to figure out another plan, but Cole was starting to lose hope as he headed for the Samurai X cave. Even worse, you were nowhere to be found. "Where's my sister?!" Cole demanded an answer from Wu, who shook his head sadly.

"I tried to stop her, but she fled to the villages to try and stop Chen's army on her own." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry Cole."

"What do you mean, you 'tried to stop her'?" Kai asked, "you're her Sensei, just order her to stay behind and fight with us instead of alone!" He snaps. He pushes past everyone to try and find you. "I'm going to get her."

"Kai, stop!" Wu thunks his staff against the ground. "It would be foolish of you to leave alone. She told me she would be at the Corridor of Elders if she couldn't hold them off, so that is where we shall go. It is the only place they can pass through now to get to Ninjago City, and if we don't stop them there, then all will be lost."

Kai and Cole exchanged glances, and silently agreed to wait. When they finally reached the Corridor of Elders, they were excited to see you again, waving your arms at them as you ran towards them.

Everyone cheered at the sight of you, except for Neuro. His eyes widened as he started shaking his head, "she's not happy to see us, she's in distress, and is trying to warn us of something."

Then they heard you. "They're here, They're here!" Your voice was hoarse from screaming so loud, but they could still understand what you were saying. "They're coming!"

You had taken out most of the vehicles, but the warriors were still left undamaged, so you had to flee. By the time you reached the ninja, you let yourself fall into Kai's arms as you caught your breath. You had been running as fast as their vehicles, which was hard on you. Cuts and scrapes covered your arms and legs, and your ninja gi was becoming tattered, yet you kept fighting.

"You should rest," Cole advised as Kai assisted you up to The Bounty, "you deserve it, we can handle it from here." You nodded to each other, before you disappeared on the deck. Kai dropped down next to him later, and everyone readied themselves for a fierce battle.

A couple minutes into it, Cole saw you on the battlefield again, wielding two shields as you use them to defend yourself, and the sharp edges become weapons. "What are you doing here? I told you to rest!"

"Yeah, well, if it weren't for me, you would've been stabbed back there!" You retorted, not looking up.

"What? How, when?"

"Yeesh, Cole, you're welcome?" You snort, pushing one warrior onto his back with a mighty heave before blocking a shot from another Anacondrai.

"Okay, fine, thank you." He dodges and hits one behind you, "well now we're one for one."

"Thank you." You giggle, then sigh, "I'm going to see if Zane or Kai need help, see you later."

And just like that, you were lost in the crowd. Everyone was getting worn out, but Cole had to keep fighting, for you. Because if he didn't, you would be stuck doing guard duty for life. That's all he needed to keep going. Sure, a portal opened over his head, but he couldn't focus on that right now. At least, not until the Anacondrai warriors started to float up towards it, carried away by strange snake spirits.

Did they...did they just win? Against another invincible army? I mean the stone army was invincible, but manageable. He listened to the cheers of the other masters and determined it must've been so. He celebrated as well, until he realized something. "(Y/N), where's my baby sister, (Y/N), where are you?!" He shouted out into the crowd, as they parted for him.

"Cole?" You sounded weak, as you coughed from behind him. "I'm tired..."

He was almost too scared to turn around, and once he did, he wished he didn't. Maybe he could've pretended you were just sick, or worn out from battling so hard. "(Y/N)!!" He screamed, running forward to catch you as you fell to your knees. Blood dribbled from your lips, and stained his clothes as you coughed it up over his back while he held you against him. In your back was a knife, but he knew better than to remove it. "Fuck - hey, hey, open your eyes," he lightly smacks your cheek as he holds your head in his palms. "Stay awake for me, please?"

You just chuckled lightly, as you tried to tell him how it happened. "I told - I told you I had your back."

Kai hovered over his shoulder, also wanting to hold you, but not wanting to take you away from Cole, so he just held one of your hands tightly in his. "Squeeze my hand, as hard as you can. I promise it won't hurt." You keep coughing as the blood from your heart seeps into your lungs, and fills them with fluid. Kai shakes his head at Cole, telling him how faint you were becoming.

"Cole, I miss mommy. I miss her." You gasped for breath as you choked. Zane came over to assist you medically, and Kai still didn't let go of your hand.

"Suck it up, you can miss mom another time." He insisted. Cole couldn't tell if he should be mad at you for letting go so easily, when you had so much left for you to do here, but at the same time, he knew deep down somewhere that it wasn't something that could be fixed.

The knife was removed, and Kai took his top off as he pressed the cloth to the wound as Zane instructed. "Keep coughing, (Y/N), maybe we can get the blood out." Kai whimpered, kissing your hand. Nya was off dialing for an ambulance, but it wasn't enough for Cole.

"Shit -" he turned to the others, "well do something, don't just stand there!" He snapped. "Be useful and fucking help me!" He was screaming at them, as he tried to fight back his sobs. He probably looked pathetic, blubbering over your dying body instead of trying to provide you comfort, but he so desperately wanted to believe you were going to be okay, that he denied himself allowance of grief. "It's okay, (Y/N), I can save you. I love you, I love you, stay with me."

You weren't responding, as your body shut down. Shit, did you even hear him? He couldn't see through the tears, no matter how many times he wiped them away. Zane had to pull you out of Cole's grasp so he could properly lay you down, and perform CPR. He lost it at the sound of your ribs cracking and breaking under the weight, and he shrieked.

"Stop it, stop it!" He pushed Zane hard, "you're making it worse, stop hurting her!"

"Dude, you stop!" Kai snapped back at him, "Zane and I have both been trying our hardest to save her, while you're just barking orders at everyone like a chicken with it's head cut off!"

He was right, but Cole couldn't face the truth just yet. He sniffled as he tried to justify his actions. He looked around at everyone, and couldn't take their stares. he just leaned down and buried his face into your stomach, trying to hold you best he could. Blood was everywhere, but he didn't care. Zane didn't care about Cole's feelings, and worked around him as he continued CPR. Kai tried to help by doing mouth to mouth, but coughed after inhaling some of your blood with an 'ew'.

Zane announced the news with a defeated tone. "I'm sorry, Cole, but there is no pulse. She's gone."

He felt dead, like something inside him snapped, or broke. The world felt too small, and his head started to spin while his heart started to burn. "Wh...what?" His voice was shaky, as he went pale immediately. "No...no, no, no..." Everything came crashing down as he started to openly sob for you. "(Y/N)!!" He wailed as he picked you off the ground and cradled you in his arms. You had the messiest death he'd ever seen, and he was too damn stupid to try to comfort you when you needed him the absolute most. "Come on, come on," he shook you lightly, as your head fell limply against his chest. This had to be a bad dream, or the worst prank ever. "Wake up, I need you, I need you." He sniffled next to your ear, "please stay with me."

His body felt numb, felt cold, felt dark and dead. "Tell mom I love her..." Without you to light it up, the world felt darker than he remembered. His greatest fear came true, and he would never be able to summon his dragon again.

#damn this is...#I cried while making this I feel so bad #damn this took a while BUT it was worth it I'm proud of it DESPITE that it made me cry #ninjago #ninjago cole #ninjago kai #kai x reader #cole and reader #blood #injury #gore #angst #death #swearing #trauma #oneshot

48 notes · View notes

gwenbrightly · 4 years

Text

I don't know where this came from. Or why it exists. It's definitely far from my best work but if it makes someone smile, it will have been worth writing... Anyway. Enjoy my admittedly stupic fic in which Lloyd wears a traffic cone and no one is surprised. Set between seasons 1 and 2.

“Who would’ve thought saving the world would leave such a mess?” Jay complained as he chucked a piece of rubble into a nearby garbage can. Cole gave him a look.

“I mean, there kinda was a giant rampagey snake, so can we really be surprised that the city is trashed?” he pointed out.

“Well, yeah,” Jay acknowledged, “but why couldn’t it have been something like ghosts that just phase through solid objects?”

Lloyd glanced up from where he was half heartedly picking up smaller pieces of clutter and said, “Now that would’ve been cool!”

“And how would we have defeated them, hm? I’m pretty sure your comics would have us believe that ghosts can only be defeated by water, and as far as I know, none of us is the elemental master of water.” Nya told him, ruffling his hair. She held out a garbage bag for him to deposit the piece of brick he held.

“Maybe Zane could shoot them with ice and I could melt it right before it hit them?” offered Kai, who had been thinking hard about the pros and cons of battling ghosts. The nindroid shrugged, saying, “I suppose so. Though, we could just as easily have Jay and Nya design an attachment for the Samurai X mech that would act as a sort of water gun.”

“That’s all well and good, but can we stay focused, guys? I’d like to get back in time for dinner.” Cole prompted before going back to cleaning up what looked like it had once been a billboard. Due to the fact that the Bounty had been destroyed, they were all staying at a school that had been transitioned into an emergency shelter and not being on time for dinner meant risking getting smaller portions. Something none or them wanted to experience again.

“That’s probably a good idea,” agreed Nya, “C’mon, Lloyd, let’s see if there’s any more garbage over by that tree.”

“Aw… but that’s boring… once you’ve seen one pile of trash you’ve seen em all…” Lloyd complained, but reluctantly followed her over to said tree. He looked around for a way to entertain himself while they cleaned, since the conversation about battling ghosts had been shut down and picking up garbage wasn’t a particularly fun pass time. Bits of broken building were boring. Garbage was boring. Pointy orange things… were not boring?

“Hey, what’s this?” the boy asked, kicking the object half heartedly. Nya glanced over at him.

“Oh, that’s a traffic cone.” She explained with a shrug. Lloyd must have been even more bored than he had realized, for examined the traffic cone with great interest.

“It’s pointy… kinda like Kai’s hair.” He commented thoughtfully. Nya laughed at his comparison.

“If… I put it on my head… would I look like Kai?” he wondered, picking it up.

“Lloyd, no, that’s a terrible idea!” Nya protested at the same time as Jay said, “Oh! You should totally do that!”

The two teens stared each other down, oblivious to Lloyd, who was, in fact, now fully convinced that the traffic cone needed to go on his head. He carefully lifted it above him, surprised by how heavy it was. Nothing could stop him now. Not Nya, not his slightly lacking upper body strength. Nothing.

“Look! I’m Kai now!” Lloyd exclaimed loudly. Jay and Nya tore their eyes away from each other. Zane and Cole hefted a final piece of rubble into the dumpster and turned around. Kai gaped at him, at a loss for words for once in his life.

“Ohmygosh please tell me someone’s taking pictures?” Jay begged.

“Already on it,” Nya assured them all, “Kai get over here with your mini me. Wu’s gonna die when he sees this.”

“Can you hurry up please? This thing’s getting heavy…” Lloyd complained, peeking out from under the rim of the cone as Kai sighed and joined him for a picture. He couldn’t really see much of anything, but getting a laugh out of the others was worth it.

“Y’know, Kai, I think he might just wear the whole pointy look better than you.” Cole teased, sounding rather proud of himself. Kai glowered at him, though everyone knew he wasn’t too mad about it.

“Actually, my hair is spiky not pointy and-”

“Whatever. Can you please just get this thing off of me?” Lloyd interrupted, “I think it might be stuck!”

And that was how 5 teenagers and one small boy had to explain to the cashier at a nearby grocery store why they needed to buy the largest jar of peanut butter possible to use as a lubricant to help remove a traffic cone from said small boy’s head following a misguided attempt at comedy. Neither the cashier, nor Wu were impressed by this dramatic tale, though the pictures would live on well into the next decade, if not longer. After all, no one would ever be able to forget the incident dubbed as Traffic Cone Lloyd.

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #myfics #Traffic cone Lloyd #Lloyd makes some questionable choices #It turns out okay in the end?

60 notes · View notes

sibillascribbles08 · 4 years

Note

If you could take creative control of ninjago what would you change

Christ...

WELL

Actually no idk where to start with this there’s so much anon there’S SO M U C H I guess I’ll do a run of MINIMAL changes tho (for as long as I can)

I don’t think I have to change much in the first two seasons, thankfully, since the writers actually sat down to think about what they were writing at the time but g o d did it go to hell afterwards

Season 3 - This Zane focused season is going to be ZANE FOCUSED DAMN IT. We’re focusing on his loss over his Father, having salt rubbed in the wound by having his father’s work turned into an evil army, and being faced with the fact he’s obsolete compared to it all. He keeps trying to stack up numbers to win, recalculate things, and it’s why his line at the ending ACTUALLY has impact. The thing that sets him apart from the nindroids, his ability to love, is what allows him to defeat the Overlord.

Jay, Cole and Nya love triangle is DESTROYED. Pixal, Zane and Cole is the new love triangle and later OT3

Season 4 - The explanation for the other EMs being around is far less stupid. Garmadon establishes that oh yeah all of your parents had elemental powers and even talks about a few of them because holy SHIT. Cole mentions his mom because he should have done that a g e s ago. Is this supposed to be a Kai season doesn’t feel like it. Open the season with better explanations of why the ninja split. Emphasis the fact that Kai blames himself for what happened to Zane, and continues to do so throughout the season. Add that to why he’s so desperate to save Skylor from her dad (not willing to lose someone else). We still lose Garmadon, Kai and Lloyd have a talk at the end of the season. Also ZANE IMMEDIATELY GOES TO GET PIXAL A NEW BODY WTHHH????

Season 5 - Idk this season was pretty good over all I think. A bit better lore established into the cloud kingdom, hints that they don’t actually control fate they just think they do. Explain where the FUCK NIMBUS CAME FROM?? Water can still beat up ghosts but idk feel like there should be some other factors involved, some magic. Kai and Zane figure out they can make water a LOT sooner. Also why doesn’t Kai just set the preeminent’s house armor on fire??? Should have. OH I did forget since this season is supposed to be for NYA GETTING HER WATER ELEMENT how about she actually GO WITH THE NINJA AND DO SOME SHIT SOMETIMES??? I don’t mind her training, specially Ronin helping her but like??? Wtf why not have her ENGAGE, idiots.

Season 6 - I’m the weirdo who actually likes season 6 but that doesn’t mean it’s not without its issues. I don’t mind Jay wondering about where he stands with Nya but his behavior throughout the season has to stay consistent. When he agrees with Nya he needs to let it go he needs to LET IT GO. IT LITERALLY SHOULDN’T BE BROUGHT UP AGAIN UNTIL THE LIGHTHOUSE. He also needs to linger more on his birth father (and besides he should have suspected he’s adopted since season 4 cause he knows neither of his parents had lightning powers). Zane doesn’t ignore Pixal’s warning about Nadakhan but if she’s off somewhere else idk how she gets threatened I’m sure Nadakhan could figure it out. OH and time can still reset and stuff idc but like, Jay and Nya need to talk about it and they need to GO BACK FOR ECHO. EVEN IF THEY DON’T FIND HIM THERE.

Day of the Departed - just wish it was longer tbh, but major changes: Why do the ninja not seem to care that cole is FADING OUT OF EXISTENCE and Lou should be a lot more worried about his son.

Season 7 - I mean, it’s mostly a trash fire, but I think it’d be a lot more enjoyable if they actually had good sibling dynamics going on. Acronix following his brother because he always has, but starts questioning their plans as things go. At first their relationship is much better, which is why they best Kai and Nya, but by the end that flips over. Actually have Kai and Nya having an ISSUE. Kai thinks their parents could have been traitors, Nya seemingly doesn’t care because she’s so wrapped up with her samurai x stuff being stolen. They end up fighting and don’t make up until the boiling sea. ALSO GIVE RAY AND MAYA A BETTER FUCKING EXCUSE FOR BEING GONE THEY COULD HAVE FUCKING SHANKED KRUX WHEN HIS BACK WAS TURNED GET OUT OF HERE HE HAD NO LEVERAGE.

Also Machia isn’t dead okay she’s just in the past she WILL COME BACK

Seasons 8 and 9 I’d say are pretty solid honestly? My minor changes: Garmadon isn’t Garmadon he’s a fucking fake get out of here with that shit THE REAL GARMADON WOULD NEVER. We actually learn where Mr. E came from I don’t even care if it’s just Harumi and UV talking about how they found him in a scrap heap and got him fixed just give me something. Stop treating Dareth like SHIT. Ronin and The Commissioner plan a jail break long before they’re let out in season 9. Teen Wu is a lot less... air headed. Like seriously he seems to have more logic when he’s a child it doesn’t add up. I’m not saying he has to remember everything but wth?? Oh, and Mistaké isn’t dead fuck you.

Season 10 - ............................................ delete it and start over. Literally, hate all of it, get it out of here. Four episodes for villains you built up like FUCK in the last two seasons??? All of them fucking as big as people???????? cowardly, weak, uninspired, I don’t want it I’m just going to have to redo this whole gd season. A) Oni leader is a QUEEN now and she can be up to 30 feet tall no I do not give a FUCK B) Fake ass Garmadon is revealed to be a different oni entirely he was an agent for the queen the whole time but never finished his mission C) She can still paralyze a bunch of people but man Lloyd you’re going to need more than a shiny tornado to fight her off. D) In fact you need to summon your other great grandma so the two of them can get over their divorce spat. E) Where’s the mask of vengeance bring that back into play. F) Mistaké shows back up to help. I suppose plot wise it can?? Mostly run the same but I think they’re going to have to run much farther than the city with how fast she spreads her reach. Also she’s weak for Lloyd because he’s the smol great grandson and he has to use that to his advantage to slow her down. Mistaké makes something that can unparalyze people and they get some of their allies back before the finale thank god. Faith isn’t just in a coma the whole GD time.

Season 11 - Fire half? Good. I need a much better reason why the ninja go to the never realm tho because wow did they just make everyone out of character in that last episode. The ninja have no reason to just ignore Wu and shove him out like that. Wu has no reason to NOT NOTICE LLOYD IS BREAKING INTO HIS ROOM WHEN HE WAS KICKING THE NINJAS ASSES IN THE FIRST EPISODE. Ice half?? ... h Yeah no they should have known Zane was the emperor from the start LMAO. Or at least suspected the possibility. The decades of time passing??? Deleted. Maybe give it a year. Idk why it’s just Lloyd snapping Zane out if why aren’t the other ninja involved like p l e a s e. Also kill Vex with an ice spike, thanks.

Season 12 - Over all I liked what this season had going but there... should have been more. And that ending felt so crunched together like damn... Unagami was a p cool villain at least BUT idk, despite all the focus on the plot so much of it didn’t feel tangible enough. Even if we’re going to focus more on the video game world I want to see more of what these NPCs are up to. Should have tossed in a couple of filler episodes. Also can someone just kill the Mechanic too SMH (and they should have tied Wu up in something sturdier how did he not just break out of that WHATEVER)

Suppose I’ll stop there I haven’t season season 13 yet.

Oh, the timeline itself needs some fucking work too. At least establish Wu and Garmadon’s sudden aging. At least establish how old Zane is (I’d believe he was built 40 years ago but I find it hard to believe he was active for all of it). Establish that yeah the FSM really did basically fuck off like idk 14 years ago and idk why the show acts like it was so long ago it couldn’t have been based on the other facts we know have Wu learn that his dad is a bitch ass motherfucker and he needs to ditch.

Honestly there’s more but like................. this is the simple version

#scribs speaks #ninjago #you asked I suppose #Anonymous

60 notes · View notes

lloydskywalkers · 4 years

Text

Ahhh thank you so much!! 💕sO the lack of season 5 aftermath is possibly one of my biggest issues with Ninjago because like...there was no way. There was no way Lloyd just walked all that off, Morro had him pretty much the whole season and we saw what five minutes did to Ronin. I think it took a fair amount of time for him to bounce back, and it likely left long-lasting effects, but because this is season 5 angst u get a fic explaining my thoughts instead :’’D

(Also answering this in it’s own post because guess who spiraled out of control again! It’s s5 angst u guys i’m weak)

The aftermath of the battle is, as it usually goes, incredibly underwhelming. And by that, Cole means incredibly slow, because the Preeminent ripped the motor off their steamboat, and even with Nya pitching in every now and then, their pace across the seawater is glacial. By the time the nearest Ninjago shore comes into view, everyone on the boat’s on their last legs of sanity — some for…slightly different reasons than others.

The thing about being stuck on a crammed steamboat for hours on end, is that you can’t really hide. There’s only so far you can get, unless you take a dip in the ocean, which is a hard pass for Cole — not that he was trying to hide, anyways.

No, the only one who looks like they’re actually considering jumping off the side of the boat is Lloyd, and that’s because instead of vanishing off to who-knows-where to have his inevitable breakdown, he’s stuck smack in the middle of his very protective family, who get an up close and personal view of the exact moment the color starts to leech from his face.

Lloyd’s making a valiant effort. He’s been making a valiant effort, ever since they pulled him from the Caves of Despair. He and Kai had cornered Sensei in what turned into a near-shouting match alone at letting him fight in the battle against Morro in the first place, because Lloyd had looked two degrees from dead when they’d gotten him back. He’d only looked moderately alive when he’d stepped out with them, hoodie hanging too loose from his shoulders as he’d handed off the green gi to Nya, and it had burned Cole to let him take the brunt of the fight as he did.

Not that Cole feels much heat now anyway, but — metaphorically.

Either way, Lloyd holds up valiantly until the combined toll of Morro’s possession and the battle with the Preeminent finally hits, at which point he goes a sickly shade of white and keels straight over into Kai with a migraine so bad Cole can’t even manage to pull his fingers free from where they dig into his skull.

“What happened?! Did Morro hurt him?”

“Did Morro hurt him, where have you been this last month—”

“I meant right now, don’t snap at me—”

“Would you keep your voices down, you’re only causing him more pain.”

This quiets the commotion that’s sprung up in their corner of the boat, all of them hovering anxiously over Lloyd, their salt-water hair and wind-swept clothes and already-forming bruises leaving the entire team a vivid mess. Kai’s left holding a lapful of whimpering brother, looking two seconds from crying himself as he tries to soothe Lloyd before he tears hair out, so Cole takes a shuddering breath, pulls himself together, and takes the lead.

It’s easier than he’d thought it would be, allowing himself to fall into the removed sort of autopilot. Shoulders back, emotions locked up tight, put on a brave face and make the calls. Leading has never been an easy position, but it teaches you to compartmentalize, to suppress, and to delay.

That delay is what Lloyd is paying for now, Cole thinks soberly, as Zane and Kai carry Lloyd up the steps of the Bounty, Sensei already darting inside to brew up whatever tea’s supposed to help this time. It’d be easier if Cole took him — he knows that. He’s the strongest of the team, even in this state.

But he can’t bring his ghostly fingers to touch him. Not with the flinch that had run through his younger brother earlier.

Cole swallows thickly. Lloyd hadn’t meant it, he knows that. He wouldn’t even hold it against him if he had.

The turnaround from regaining Lloyd to the battle with the Preeminent was terribly quick, and it only takes a look or two to gain an understanding of the damage wrought on their youngest brother. Lloyd is bruised and gaunt and horribly thin, and the normal shine in his eyes is hollowed-out and haunted. There’s an unspoken dread among them all, a heavy weight that sits on their shoulders, that Morro has actually managed to break Lloyd with his possession — that the longs weeks spent trapped in his own mind, beaten and neglected and alone — have snapped the unfathomably strong willpower Lloyd’s always had.

And Morro, for all that Cole hates him for that, was a ghost. Cole isn’t stupid enough to miss that. And he’s certainly not stupid enough to ignore what the repercussions of that might be on Lloyd, toward anyone else who might be a ghost.

Cole feels his chest tighten as he watches Nya run a hand through Lloyd’s tangled hair, her eyes a million miles away as she sits beside where he lies on their couch, tucked firmly into the layers of blankets he recognizes as Kai and Zane’s.

He bites his cheek. It’d be better if they used his. It’s not like Cole needs them anymore.

“He’s overtired,” Sensei Wu says quietly, his hand drifting briefly across his nephew’s forehead. “He pushed it too far in battle, and he has yet to fully recover from the toll both the possession and his injuries took on him. He will be fine, with rest.”

There’s a quiet exhale of relief at his words, but it’s a weary one. Kai doesn’t look at him, his stare only growing hot where he sits at Lloyd’s side, refusing to move even to change from his battle-stained gi.

Cole’s eyes flick to Sensei Wu, then back to Lloyd. There’s a bleeding kind of pain in Sensei’s words, his voice shot through with loss. There’s a crippling edge of guilt in it too, though. Cole knows Sensei is mourning Morro — he knows their relationship was different. But as much as Cole prides himself of being sympathetic, it’s really, really difficult to feel any sort of grief for Morro, when his baby brother’s curled in on himself in pain on the couch, eyebrows furrowed tightly in stress and exhaustion.

Lloyd murmurs something inaudible, shifting in his sleep before settling again, his expression still pinched in weariness. He somehow looks both years older and so very young at the same time, and it makes Cole’s heart hurt.

He’s yanked from his staring as Jay’s head suddenly presses against his shoulder. Cole starts, almost forgetting to remain solid before Jay yanks his head back up, eyelids fluttering from where they’d drifted off to sleep.

“Sorry,” he yawns, rubbing at a bloodshot eye. “Didn’ mean to fall asleep on you.”

Cole blinks at him, then glances at the rest of their team. Lloyd isn’t the only one succumbing to exhaustion �� the entire team is barely hanging on, all dark-circled and hazy eyes. Beside Jay, Zane looks like he wants to shut down for a month, Nya looks like she’s close to tears for some reason, and Kai looks like he’s steadily burning through the last reserves of his energy just by staring at the floor.

Something weird shifts in Cole’s gut. He feels exhausted, stripped raw and worn, but he doesn’t feel tired, not like the others look. He just feels that same, cold kind of numbness that has yet to leave him since Yang’s temple.

He swallows again, and tries to ignore how useless the gesture is.

“You should head to bed,” he tells Jay gently instead. His lifts his head, addressing the others. “We all should.”

Kai opens his mouth to protest instantly, then shuts it. He glances at Nya, who’s practically asleep where she sits on the couch, seconds from tipping over. He looks at Lloyd. “I’m sleeping out here,” he finally says, firmly.

Cole guesses that’s the best he can ask for from him, right now. He nods to Zane, who gently helps Nya up, knocking Kai lightly on the shoulder as he does. “At least change,” he orders, and it’s a sign to how tired Kai is that he complies without arguing.

Cole tugs Jay up by his arm, patting him on the back. “C’mon, zaptrap,” he murmurs. “I’m not your pillow.”

Jay grumbles inaudibly at him, but he staggers to his feet, yawning as he plods toward the bedroom. Cole looks to Sensei Wu, who is still hovering by Lloyd, staring at his nephew with a look Cole can’t quite figure out.

“Sensei?” he finally dares, hesitantly. “It’s been a long day, so…”

“Ah, of course.” Sensei Wu blinks, shaking his head. “I would let him rest here for the night,” he says, nodding to Lloyd. His voice is quiet, and Cole can easily find the pain in it this time. “Better to let him rest.”

That doesn’t exactly settle well with Cole, because the idea of leaving any of his brothers apart for the night, even if it’s just in another room, turns his stomach. Especially when one of them is the brother they’d lost, and only just barely got back, so—

Well. Cole doesn’t need to sleep anymore, does he. He can keep an eye out.

“Of course,” he says instead, dipping his head as Sensei Wu heads off after the others. “Goodnight, Sensei.”

Cole moves to follow him, figuring he can at least change his clothes, but he hesitates over Lloyd, footsteps faltering. For a brief second, he lets his hand hovers over the top of his brother’s sleeping head, barely ghosting the pale blond strands. He swallows, then pulls his hand away.

Lloyd had told him once, when he was younger, that he was scared people would hate him for what he was. Never who — just what. Cole had never understood the phrasing, but now…

Now, Cole desperately, painfully hopes Lloyd doesn’t hate him for what he’s become.

***********

It’s the third nightmare that finally manages to pull Lloyd from sleep, because somehow the first two weren’t exciting enough to warrant waking up for.

At least he hasn’t woken up Kai with it, he thinks miserably, still trying to catch his breath, his heart racing from the nightmare. He exhales shakily, glancing over to where Kai’s sprawled out on the couch across from him, snoring quietly and dead to the world. Kai looks exhausted, even in sleep, and Lloyd feels guilt digging its claws into his chest again.

Your fault, a voice in the back of his head reminds him. You hurt him, you hurt them all, Green Ninja—

Lloyd swallows, wincing as he shifts, sitting up quietly. He won’t wake Kai up for this. His older brother has suffered enough for him already.

Besides, his throat feels like he’s been swallowing sandpaper, and he doesn’t; really trust his voice, anyway. Lloyd sighs, swinging his legs over the side of the couch and tugging his blanket over his shoulders like a cape.

In all honesty, he’d like nothing more than to stay on this couch for the rest of his life, because Kai let him have his really warm blanket — which, granted, says a lot more about the state Lloyd’s in right now than he’d like, but still. Lloyd is comfortable, tucked in the corner of the couch like he is. And comfortable isn’t something he’s been in the last few weeks, at all.

But he’s not — he’s not supposed to be thinking about that, he reminds himself, furiously shoving the memories back into their little Do-Not-Touch box in the corner of his mind, as he gingerly tests his legs out. His right leg shudders precariously when he stands, and Lloyd bites his lip, frowning. He could’ve sworn it was his left that was hurt, since that was the one the Preeminent had nearly ripped off pulling him into the Cursed Realm, and Morr—

Aha, nope, Lloyd reminds himself. Back in the box. He can think about that — about him — later.

Much, much later. Right now, he just wants a glass of water, then he wants to go back to sleep for another twenty hours straight. He’d like to just go back to bed as it is, because his limbs feel as sluggish as melting butter, but the water’s important, because he’s ‘severely dehydrated’ or something. Whatever Zane had declared as Lloyd tried to stop his brain from imploding on him earlier.

So glass of water, then back to bed. Lloyd just has to make it to the kitchen, which should — should be easy. His leg isn’t shaking that badly, and it’s not like his ribs are actually broken. Just bruised, and Lloyd can walk off bruises, easy.

He just needs to remember how, he thinks, as he takes a shuddering breath where he stands frozen. He blows it out, closing his eyes to steady himself. He immediately snaps them back open, trying not to keel over to the side. Oh, mistake. Every time Lloyd closes his eyes he’s falling through realms again, the world spinning and leaving him loose and shaky, which is only moderately better than the alternative thing he’d see, which is…

Well, he left Lloyd with a lot of things he could see that would keep him up.

Back in the box! Lloyd scolds himself, frantically tearing his mind elsewhere before he can slip down that particular slope, one that he knows is only going to send him spiraling into icy fear and panic.

Lloyd shakes his head furiously, bare feet padding quietly as he makes his way to the kitchen. His skin crawls at the darkness that presses in from all sides, and he feels his power press against his fingertips, begging to light his way. Lloyd presses his lips together and shoves it down. His control over his powers is tentative at best right now — he’d learned that the hard way earlier, when he’d exploded all the police floodlights that were just trying to get them safely to shore.

The reminder causes his cheeks to heat, and Lloyd bites his lip. He doesn’t want to think about how much he’s lost, how far behind he’s fallen, because of…this. His powers feel wild and fragile now, like they did when he was just beginning to train, and Lloyd hates that. How is he supposed to make up everything to his team when he can barely even—

A cold chill of air suddenly licks against the back of his neck, rustling his clothes and blanket and tugging at his hair, and the chill that slides down his spine is all the warning he gets. The whistling sound from the broken kitchen window should have warned him, but Lloyd’s still unprepared.

It’s just — it’s the wind.

That’s all, just a little breeze, and Lloyd’s slammed so hard by a dizzying vertigo of terror that he falls right to his knees on the spot, his vision going hazy as a dull roaring echoes in his ears.

He’d scream, but his lungs have suddenly quit on him, sputtering uselessly in his chest as he wheezes, panic blotting out every other rational thought. The phantom fingers of the wind are still grasping at him, still pulling at his hair and wrapping around his neck, forcing into his mind and tearing him apart form the inside and no, no no no, he can’t do this again, he can’t—

Some part of Lloyd’s mind knows perfectly well what’s happening to him. It’s not like he hasn’t had panic attacks before. But the rest of his mind—

Lloyd’s teeth press together so hard his jaw aches, and his eyes burn as he forces shaky breaths to rattle from his chest. The hot shame of how pathetic he has to look right now is only drowned out the absolute sense of terror rooting him on his knees.

Kai, he thinks desperately, his hands shaking so violently that his fingernails clack against the floor. Kai is here, Kai will save him from Morro, he won’t leave him to spiral back into that darkness. His whole family is here, just in the other room, if he can only—

A muffled voice forces its way through the roaring in his ears, echoing oddly against his brain. Before Lloyd can place it, there’s a touch on his shoulder, gentle but cold, like a wisp of freezing air, just like his touch.

Lloyd looks up, and through blurring vision sees that same unearthly shade of green, flickering and translucent, and his entire being slams into panic.

All he’s able to get out is a rasping croak, but he’s still able to snap at the figure.

“Get away from me!”

He tears his arm from their grasp, stumbling back. He’s not going to be taken again, he’s not going back in the darkness, he’s never letting someone touch him like that again—

Lloyd wipes at his eyes, his vision clearing, and he freezes dead.

— oh. Lloyd’s eyes go wide in horror. Oh no, oh no, it’s not him. It’s not any of his ghosts.

It’s Cole, his hand pulled back to his chest, staring at him with the most heartbroken, hurt expression on his face Lloyd has ever seen in his life.

Lloyd’s heart drops all the through his stomach to his feet, and he goes cold.

“I-I—” Cole’s eyes are wide with hurt, but that hurt quickly melts into a horrified kind of despair. He pulls back further, swallowing thickly. “Sorry,” he mutters, looking away. Shutting down. “I’m sorry, I should have realized—”

“No—” Lloyd croaks.

“Obviously you’d — I’m sorry, just being stupid Cole as always—”

“—no, no Cole—”

“—just making things worse, I’ll leave.”

“N-no, Cole, I didn’t mean — Cole, I’m so sorry—”

Cole isn’t even looking at him, his shoulders hitching tightly as he turns away. “I’ll get Kai. Or anyone else.”

He moves to his feet, leaving Lloyd where he’s still sprawled uselessly on the floor, and Lloyd’s stomach turns.

No, no, no! he thinks frantically, fumbling to find feeling where his legs have gone numb. Cole can’t leave, not with that look still on his face, not before Lloyd can fix this—

“Cole wait, stop—!”

Lloyd moves to rush after him, to grab him, to pull him back and apologize — but his ankle is still weak and his balance is still shaky and the panic’s left him wobbly, and he gets one step before his foot twists in his blanket, the ground’s yanked out from under him, and he slams front-first into the floor with a muffled grunt, knocking his chin against the floor and biting straight through his lip.

“Ow,” he manages into the floor, somewhat stunned, his voice muffled as his face throbs.

“Lloyd!”

Oh good, Lloyd thinks hazily, as his mouth fills with tangy, metallic blood. It worked. Cole came back.

Hands wrap around his shoulders, hauling him up and setting him upright before quickly pulling back. Before Lloyd can protest, Cole’s back, all up in his face where he’s now sitting on the floor next to him.

“Aw, Lloyd, why’d you do that,” Cole’s voice is pained as his hand ghosts over the blood dripping down his chin, thick eyebrows tense in worry.

Lloyd shakes his head, wiping a hand over his mouth and grimacing. His lip stings something horrible, and he’s appalled to find that his eyes are tearing up from the pain.

“I wan’ed to match the rest’a my face,” he manages out though his busted lip, before cringing.

Cole gives him a look. Lloyd doesn’t feel bad at all. It’s better than the look he’d had on a second ago.

Cole sighs, sounding weary. “I’ll get Zane. He can help you ice it, and I’ll—”

“No!” Lloyd yelps, grabbing for his arm. He latches around Cole’s wrist just before he manages to escape, and Cole snaps his eyes to him, looking panicked.

“Lloyd, I-I…I get it,” he says, gently prying at his fingers. “What you went through — it’s…it’s okay, just—”

Lloyd doesn’t let him get any further, because he finally gets past the giant chunk of completely irrational fear in his chest and manages to throw his arms around Cole’s middle, hugging him tightly until Cole’s forced back down with an oof.

For a second, Cole’s about as receptive as a rock, sitting all stiff and rigid. But he finally, finally relaxes, breath whooshing shakily out of his chest as he slowly, carefully returns the embrace, wrapping his arms around him.

Lloyd’s prepared for the unusually cold touch this time. He focuses instead on how gentle it is, how it feels like family and home and safety. He’s an idiot for mistaking Cole for anyone else, Lloyd thinks hotly to himself, his eyes stinging with tears.

“It’s not,” he whispers. “It’s not okay, you’re not— you’re not Morro, and I shouldn’t—”

Lloyd’s breath hitches. Oh no, he’s opened the box. He’s opened the box and now he’s thinking about it, his mind is reaching in and pulling out every memory of what Morro did to him, every action he took that Lloyd couldn’t stop, all the words he’d forced from his mouth, all the awful things—

A dizzying rush of fury smashes into him. How could he, how could he, it wasn’t enough that he took Lloyd’s body and his mind and his strength and left him a hollow shell, no, he had to dig his fingers far enough in his brain that Lloyd’s scared of his own family now—

“—hate him, I hate him, I hate him—”

“I know, buddy, I know—”

Though Cole’s holding him tight, he shifts him slightly to the side with a quiet hiss of breath, and Lloyd belatedly remembers — tears. Water and ghosts do not get along. And here Lloyd’s crying enough for a river on top of him.

He jerks back with a gasp. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—” he blabbers, wiping frantically at his eyes. “I didn’t mean to—”

It’s Cole’s turn to grab his arm before he pulls away, his gaze firm. “Don’t,” he says, sounding pained. “Don’t apologize for that. I’m fine, you didn’t hurt me.”

Lloyd shakes his head. “I’m so sorry,” he chokes out. “I’m so sorry, you’re a ghost and it’s all my fault.”

Cole stills. “What?” he finally says, his voice incredulous.

Lloyd doesn’t reply, crying harder as he tries to absorb himself into his blanket, maybe to suffocate, because at least then he won’t be weeping all over the kitchen floor like a child, and — and—

“Lloyd,” Cole sounds agonized now. “Lloyd, this wasn’t your fault. None of this was. You can’t blame yourself for it, you can’t. Please don’t.”

Lloyd gives a keening whine in reply, burying his face in his blanket. Yes, he can. He can, just watch him. Lloyd can blame himself for the whole sorry thing, because he went to that museum alone when he knew full well he was still a mess, and now?

Cole’s a ghost, his family’s hurt, Lloyd’s a worse mess, and his dad is dead, for real dead now, and none of it would’ve happened if Lloyd could’ve just—could’ve just—

Lloyd feels a bit like he’s exploding, except it’s all coming out in the tidal wave of tears he’s been stockpiling somewhere, and darn it, he’s supposed to be dehydrated now, where’s it all coming from—

Cole gently lifts his blanket, folding it up as a barrier between him and Lloyd’s running eyes, and pulls him back in, holding him tightly. Lloyd unashamedly clings back, because he’s got no dignity left at this point anyways, and he’s lived with the idea that he’d never see his family again now, and it hurt so much worse than anything Morro could do to him.

“It’s not your fault,” Cole tells him again, his voice thick. “We’ll fix it. We’ll figure it out, Lloyd, we’ll work through it, all of us together this time. You’re going to be okay. I promise, I promise.”

Lloyd just folds in on himself further, burying his face against Cole as he tries to choke back sobs.

Going to be okay. He wants to laugh. His dad’s gone. Lloyd’s entire being feels like a bruise. He could get past that before, maybe. Probably. But—

Cole’s dead.

How on earth are they supposed to fix that?

#lego ninjago #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #cole brookstone #answered #there's a tiny bit of blood in this but not much just warning!#i have a lot of Feelings about s5 that's all #also NW i owe u my life >:D #my fic

504 notes · View notes