Double Possession: Skybound

by fizzysugarwrites

Summary:

After the destruction of the Cursed Realm, the ninja take a sort of break and become kind of realm-renowned heroes! And that has its drawbacks. Cole has been sharing Jay's body with him for a good long while now, and they've honestly become closer than he expected them to. He cares about the guy, a lot. When things start heating up and they're suddenly face to face with a Djinn out to get them, Cole might finally make a fatal decision. Can he fix this mess he made, before he loses it all?

Notes:

This is, completely, a rewrite of the Skybound storyline. It follows very similar beats as canon Skybound, but the focus character has changed and since it's mostly from Cole's (and technically Jay's) perspective, it might seem like some beats are missing. It's not the SAME as Skybound but it's an AU rewrite I've been meaning to do for a long time. Hope y'all like it!

Chapter 1: Famous to Infamous, Just Like That

Cole was positively fuming. It was one thing for the press and for that impossibly nosy talk-show host to muse openly about what Nya and Jay’s relationship was - even after they were crystal-clear in their description of a quiet and amicable breakup they’d had four months earlier - but it was a whole other barrel of fish for him to imply that Cole somehow caused a rift between them! Ain’t that fuckin rich! Like him being in Jay’s head somehow caused them to rethink things they had already been rethinking, for a while! It made his master-damned blood boil.

Jay seemed to share the same sentiment as he furiously paced back and forth in the sleeping quarters aboard the Bounty . Cole watched through him, feeling Jay’s anger compound with his own. He grumbled slightly to himself. If they both just kept getting angrier and angrier they’d probably break something. So Cole focused inwards and quelled his own feelings in a practiced action. Time to help Jay.

“That guy really got on your nerves, huh?” Cole asked into Jay’s mind, his voice having its usual muted quality that it always did when he spoke from the passenger seat. The new voice seemed to actually catch Jay’s attention, as he stopped pacing and just slumped against the wall with a frustrated sigh. Then Jay spoke, internally as well. He sounded as ticked-off as Cole had expected.

“What, you’re NOT mad?”

Cole shook his head invisibly. “No, no, I’m definitely mad. I’m just better at hiding it in here. You, on the other hand, were glaring daggers at the guy all through that interview.”

A pang of embarrassment popped up from Jay, and he facepalmed outwardly. Cole snorted slightly.

“Okay but LISTEN listen that guy? That fuckin talk-show guy? He SUCKS.” Jay’s mental voice went up in pitch (imitating his physical one) as he started to get into that rambling tone he had. Cole snorted again. Damn if he didn’t find that little squeak kind of… adorable. Jay practically launched into a frustrated rant, which Cole listened to with practiced patience. He knew very well that this was just Jay’s way of blowing off steam, and that once he exhausted himself he’d be calmer.

Cole took comfort in the little things he could do for Jay while they were stuck together like this. It’d been a solid nine months or so since Jay yanked him through the doors of Yang’s cursed Airjitzu temple just as their time ran out, and per the aforementioned curse, Cole turned into a ghost. But that wasn’t the end of it - now Cole and Jay’s souls were intrinsically linked, and no matter what Cole tried, he couldn’t leave Jay’s body and become his own, fully-formed spirit. He was stuck possessing Jay, like a tiny piece of metal to an electromagnet. Only one of them could physically act at a time, and the feeling of switching pilots, while tolerable, wasn’t pleasant. Jay got the majority of the time in the “cockpit” because it was his body, and Cole had agreed to these terms. But even then, it left Cole feeling a bit useless, and a bit guilty for intruding on Jay’s space in the first place. Even if they had no choice.

It was honestly a testament to their friendship that the two of them adapted so quickly and handled this sudden, constant company of one another. They’d accepted it as their reality. They were fine. Cole was honestly kind of grateful that Jay let him basically take over his body as often as he did (though Cole rarely asked for it, mostly out of principle), and so often he tried to make it up to Jay. Being a fairly good listener was one of those ways he did so.

Jay seemed to finally run out of steam and stopped ranting to catch his breath. The fury in his emotions had finally faded off, and Cole smiled invisibly at that. “Better?” Cole asked gently.

“... yeah,” Jay admitted, finally taking a seat in their quarters and patting his chest lightly. “I… I needed that. Thanks, boulderbrain.” The nickname made Cole snicker in spite of himself, which caused Jay to smile outwardly, sheepish. A heart-melting look, if Cole was being honest. Despite the fact that he couldn’t actively see it.

“No sweat, zaptrap,” Cole returned earnestly. “So… now what’re we up to?"

Jay opened his mouth to answer something but then a loud squeal came over the ship’s intercom, startling the both of them. Misako’s voice crackled over the speakers. “All ninja to the bridge now! We might have a real issue here!”
Jay stood up again. “Well, I guess we’re up to that!” He spoke aloud, forgetting that they were alone in here anyway. Cole hummed in agreement as Jay trotted out of the sleeping quarters and up the stairs to the brig, where the rest of the crew was. Kai looked bored, making an offhand comment about action figures. Lloyd looked anxious, and gave Kai a stern look about that comment, as if it would make him take this more seriously. Zane looked attentive. Nya looked... still a bit uncomfortable from the interview the three of them had just gotten back from, but was clearly trying to put on a brave face. Jay frowned at her expression and just kinda put his hand on her shoulder in an act of support. Nya glanced back and smiled at him gently, and he smiled back.

Cole was happy they still got along. It would’ve  been a nightmare if their breakup had ended like all the ones in the movies. If that’d happened… shit, maybe the Ninja wouldn’t even be together still. That kind of heartbreak would’ve wrecked their team dynamic. Maybe Jay and I would’ve never… made up. Misako’s commanding voice snapped him out of his little morbid speculation and he turned his attention towards her, as did Jay.

Misako’s laying-out of the facts was simple - apparently in all the ruckus of their last real “adventure”, Clouse had escaped the Cursed Realm before it was destroyed, and was heading to Stiix for unknown reasons. Cole folded his arms invisibly. “ Just when I think we’re done with the ghost nonsense,” He commented to Jay. “Aside from mine.”

Jay hummed. “Well I’m glad you stuck around, but I could do without that guy.”  He patted his chest again, in a gesture of thankfulness.

“You need to head there before him and stop whatever it is he’s planning,” Sensei Wu said simply, a worried look in his eyes. Kai grimaced, and Cole did too, once he remembered what else they had planned.

“Eh, Sensei? I don’t think we can, Dareth needs us to head to the hospital today. For the make-a-wish thing?” Kai folded his arms. Lloyd jabbed him with his elbow, which earned him a disgruntled “Ow!” from the fire ninja

“Kai, cmon. We take orders from Wu, not Dareth. We can do it tomorrow, Nelson’s only got a broken leg. Whatever Clouse is up to is far too important to leave unattended.” He swiveled around to the others, a look of confidence spreading on his face. “Suit up!”

Cole grinned to himself. He never had a chance to say it out loud yet, but he was awfully proud of Lloyd for taking up the leadership role so quickly. And so involuntarily, too. The crew followed him out quickly, and they’re off!

Minus the stop in the city first. After all, Zane said if they had no problems they’d be able to get in, do the hospital thing, and get out just fine.

Fangirls constituted a problem. Dammit Kai!

Cole winced as Jay was basically backed into a frantic corner by some roving fans. Even with Nelson’s help they’d gotten caught. If he had his body, he’d at least be able to get Jay out of this situation! Carry him out or something. Why is my first instinct to just Carry Him? Would it help or do I just want to hold him? Probably the latter.

Shush and focus, Cole.

“Hey!” Jay yelled anxiously into his head, clambering on top of a chair in the hallway where they’d ended up. Cole jolted himself out of his thoughts. “Mind giving me a hand here??? Or an exit plan???”

“Right, right! Uh.” Cole shut his eyes and focused, then projected out of Jay’s body, becoming his own incorporeal green form without a bottom half, ending in trailing smoke that connected to where Jay’s heart was. This process was what they’d dubbed “spectraling,” and with all the practice he could do this for a solid minute, and that was all they needed. 

Cole floated over and flipped the window open, able to just pass through the crowd with ease, and then Jay managed to spring over their heads, vaguely crowd-surfing towards the window. He then used some trusty Airjitzu to get up to the roof, tugging Cole’s spirit body up with him like a balloon.

The rest of their party was up on the roof already, but Cole groaned once he spotted Dareth and his helicopters circling over like vultures. No chance of getting by unnoticed. This is about the last thing we need right now! 

Lloyd sighed and facepalmed.“Forget it, guys. Let’s just hope Clouse missed his train.”

——

Several hours and a few attempts at escaping Dareth’s rolling cameras of doom later, and they were all finally in Stiix, undercover to avoid attention. It seemed as though Clouse wasn’t hanging around, and they were still not sure of his plans.

Jay tugged his beanie down as someone passed a bit close. “Sheesh. Last time I wore one of these things was in middle school.”

“I can picture that,” Cole mused internally. His memories conjured up the faded photograph that Jay’s parents had once shown him (much to Jay’s chagrin). A braces-wearing, acne-ridden, 13-year-old Jay wearing an electric blue beanie and grinning into the camera through a mess of curls. He smiled fondly about it. From the stories Ed and Edna had told him (again, much to Jay’s chagrin) Jay was a bit of a screwball kid, always one to impress with his gadgets and his fast talking. A lot has changed, certainly, but a lot has stayed the same about him too.

“Why are you picturing it! Stop picturing it! Middle school sucked!” Jay retorted at him and Cole just chuckled. He’s kinda cute when he’s mad. His little voice pitch and all. FSM I could listen to that rambling voice all day…

Oookay. Anyway. He cleared his throat invisibly. Let’s focus up.

Lloyd had gathered the rest of them at a picnic table on the docks, seeming disheartened. “We still have nothing on what Clouse was doing here. It’s been hours! Are we sure we’ve checked everywhere?”

“Yeah, and all I found was a trashed shipment of action figures!” Kai pouted, slumping into the table. Nya rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder in pity, and Cole snickered internally at the gesture. Kai continued to whine. “And if that wasn’t enough, these disguises work almost too well. I’ve gotten zero requests for autographs, not that I’m complaining! ” He accentuated the last part, leading to simultaneous shushing from the rest of the group as well as the Stiixians watching the box TV nearby. Cole tuned into the audio of that for a moment.

“... it’s the crime spree of the century. Witnesses are shocked to find footage of none other than the Green Ninja robbing the city bank!”

That got Cole’s attention, and he glanced between the clear footage of Lloyd carrying moneybags out of a vault and cackling, to the disguised Lloyd in front of him looking at the TV in utter disbelief. “Wh- but- but that’s not me!” he said hushedly.

The screen shifted to footage of Zane freezing a rollercoaster track, apparently from the other day, and Zane had a similar moment of confusion. Then Kai, Nya, even Jay were shown doing illicit things they had no recollection of. Public opinion of them seemed to drop like a stone before their eyes. Cole’s chest tightened. What the hell? Where is this coming from?

They showed footage of the press tailing after Jay’s parents and Jay stood up from the table in shock and anger. “They went after my PARENTS?!” he gasped internally, and Cole shared his sentiment. What a shitty move.

“Jay would never do this!” Ed remarked sternly into the mic. “And if he did he had good reason to!” But something in his expression had doubt as he murmured to the side “... I hope.”

Cole felt a blur of Jay’s anger and fear and almost a little heartbreak washing over him. Even after all these months, he never got used to waves of emotion from his best friend. “You hope?!” Jay spoke out before Cole could stop him. “It’s not even me, Dad!”

Crap! “Jay shut up!” Cole yelled into his mind, and Jay slapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was done. Several Stiixians turned around and glowered at the group, and Cole saw the recognition in their eyes. He tensed up, knowing there would be a fight and hoping that it’d help Jay be more prepared.

But then Lloyd declared they weren’t fighting them, so it was time to run. They fled through the alleyways, and Jay realized with a start that there was a big old cart blocking their path. “Cole??” He asked frantically as he pulled ahead of the rest of the group. “Care to tag in on this one?”

Cole cracked his nonexistent knuckles. Finally a chance to shine. “With pleasure!”

In a practiced motion (and miraculously without falling over) the pair of them swapped positions in Jay’s body. Jay’s hair turned several shades darker, his eyes went a vibrant brown-amber, and thin tendrils of green smoke wafted off his shoulders like a cape. All while they were still running!

With Cole now in charge, so too were his powers. He grabbed the bottom of the cart as they reached it and lifted quickly, upturning the empty cart effortlessly as the other ninja vaulted over. Cole followed after swiftly, egged on by Jay’s frantic adrenaline and repeated “Watch out!” s. Surprisingly, more helpful than one would think.

The crew scrambled up onto the rooftops, and Cole felt Jay’s panic mounting. They were going to run out of rooftop soon. And they did! And then Kai had the bright idea of traveling under the town, beneath its docky streets. Which honestly had Cole both impressed and a little worried, because one wrong step and he’s falling in the water. Jay shared this concern. Neither of them had any idea whether ghosts stuck to another soul were still vulnerable to water, but they weren’t about to test that theory. They seemed to be able to drink it at least, whenever Jay was in charge. But right now he wasn’t, and so Cole wasn’t taking any chances.

The rest of the chase was a bit of a nightmare, as they kept dodging the heavy crane claws crashing through the boardwalk and trying to capture them. They just barely made it up into the Bounty, which Zane has contacted earlier. Thank the master for Misako! Their victory was-

*Ker-chunk!*

… short-lived. They were quick to make a plan - split up and cover some ground. Investigate. Misako informed them that Wu had gone to the Domu library to study what Clouse might’ve been planning, something to do with a Djinn and a teapot. The spur-of-the-moment planning was so panicky that Cole barely had time to register their task - heading to the amusement park to look for clues- before he was diving off the side of the Bounty and catching a stealth ride in the back of a vehicle out of Stiix.

Once they were a safe distance from the police, standing under a brushy tree next to the deserted street, Cole paused to catch his breath and relinquished his control back to Jay. Hair faded back to ginger, eyes back to green. Jay whimpered vocally and ran a hand through his hair, emanating anxiety. “Shit… this is bad, Cole. Like… really bad. This guy even has my PARENTS fooled! My parents, Cole!!”

Cole felt his chest tighten again as he listened to Jay’s panic. If he was just there instead of in here, he could’ve hugged him or held his shoulder for a while or something, anything. The best he could do, was not really what felt like enough.

Might as well do it anyway.

Without another word, he spectraled so he could actually be in front of Jay for a bit. He probably needed it right now. “Hey, hey. It’s… it’s gonna be alright, Jay. We’ll figure this out. I promise.” He focused a bit harder and set his hand on Jay’s trembling shoulder, without phasing through. Jay looked up at him through his hair, gleaming green eyes meeting incorporeal amber ones. Cole smiled reassuringly, and after a beat, Jay did too. He took a few deep breaths and he stopped shaking.

He then put his hand over Cole’s and Cole bit down the jump in his heart at that. Master-dammit I’m just really touch-starved now huh? Or maybe he just has nice hands and it almost feels like he’s holding my hand now. Probably both.

Dude, shut up.

“Y-yeah, I just… yeah.” Jay brushed his hair off his face sheepishly. Cole resisted the urge to reach up and brush it off for him. “... thanks,” he added after a moment.

“Anytime,” Cole responded. He felt himself get really drowsy now, a sign that he was running out of spectral time. Jay tilted his head at him, still smiling. “Heh… I guess we better get to it huh?” Cole remarked.

“Let’s go to the fair!” Jay affirmed, and Cole nodded, and then nodded off as he faded back into smoke and into Jay’s mind. Back inside, though, Cole just smiled confidently. 

“Here we go.”

Chapter 2: Investigation Escalation

Summary:

The crew has split up, trying to gather information on their predicament and (hopefully) avoid getting arrested. Jay and Cole have headed to the amusement park. Perhaps they'll find something there to help them get a lead on their framer.

As Jay landed his dragon outside of the quiet, closed amusement park, Cole let his mind wander. It was easy for him to do that now, when he was basically nothing but his mind unless he was in control. He found himself doing a mental check-in on the status of each member of their team. They’d split up, to travel in pairs so that they could look out for each other. Well, all except for Jay and himself, because they were fundamentally always a pair. It sort of worried Cole, because if they were caught it might be harder to keep each other safe when they’re stuck in the same body. But he supposed two heads might be better than one, even if two bodies might be better than two heads.

Lloyd and Zane had gone off to the Domu library to find Wu, because it had been suspiciously long since they’d heard from their master. Nya and Kai had peeled off to gather information on whatever they could, particularly about the Teapot of Tyrahn and what a Djinn could accomplish.

Which left investigating one of their supposed crimes to Jay and Cole. 

“Realm to Cole, Reaaaalm tooooo Cooooole,” Jay droned internally, pulling Cole out of his mind. “Didja hear me? I asked where you think we should start.”

Cole shook his head invisibly, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Right, right. Sorry, let my mind fade out there.” He focused on his senses and took in the shut-down park, now rendered a crime scene after Zane’s alleged rampage. The whole place gave off an eerie vibe, especially with the monster theme it had always sported. “Let’s try the coaster, that’s the part that got wrecked during that footage they had on the news.”

“Got it.” Jay wandered towards there, tugging his beanie down again. Seemed to be a fidget of his. Cole liked Jay’s fidgets, oftentimes they became a sort of calming background “noise” when they were just chilling out together, or when they were doing something tedious and couldn’t think of something to talk about. It comforted him, it was almost a little reminder that Jay was doing alright. That he wasn’t feeling so down that he couldn’t even fidget.

Jay scanned over the control panel of the coaster, pondering. “Say, isn’t this one of those reaction photo-snap things?”

“... oh shit, yeah it is. You think…?” Cole started, but Jay was already ahead of him, putting his hand on the panel of screens and administering a hearty zap. The screens blazed to life, and Cole noted the timestamps. “... it is! This is basically a snapshot of the day of the crime! Good find!” Jay grinned outwardly at the praise and began to flip through the photos. He came to a stop at two photos taken with barely a second between each other. One was of Zane in the seat - which was obviously fake, considering the nindroid had been with them when this had been taken - but just before that was one of someone neither of them recognized. Orange-tinted skin and a sleek black ponytail, with a hook for one of his four hands and a devious moustache framing his face. “Well shit. That’s a Djinn if I’ve ever seen one.”

“That means he can shapeshift! That must be how he framed everyone.” Jay had an alarming thought. “H-he could be anyone! Oh man…” Cole felt Jay’s panic bubble up in his throat again, and he winced.

“Hey now, don’t panic, zaptrap. This is good news, now we at least know something about this guy. Let’s keep looking, maybe there’s some security footage that the cops haven’t seen yet.” He looked around through Jay’s eyes, and his vision fell on the abandoned snack stand. Man he missed carnival food. By some strange ghost miracle, he caused Jay’s stomach to start growling. “Wait- shit, sorry.” Now he really felt embarrassed, getting hungry on the job? Yeesh.

Jay was startled by his stomach making a noise that wouldn’t have come from him, but spotted the food stand shortly after and gave a little sigh. “... you tryna tell me something, Cole my dude?” He asked, trying to mean well but sounding vaguely condescending too.

Cole cringed. Great, now he’s caught on. He folded his arms, trying to sound like it was trivial. “I mean. It’s not important.”

“Brooookstooooone,” Jay drolled, and Cole could practically see the knowing look he would’ve given him. He huffed audibly.

“Alright fine! Yes! I might be a bit tempted by the funnel cake over there! But I’m not about to just go over there and indulge myself for no reason! We have a job to do!” He threw up his hands invisibly, just feeling horribly embarrassed now. “Besides! I can’t even eat anything like this!”

“Well, yeah, there is that, but if you really wanna I could let you take the wheel for a bit-” Jay started to suggest, but Cole cut him off.

“No! Cmon! I’m not about to just do that to you! Just- use your body! No!” Cole would admit, the idea sounded very tempting. And he was stressed, and he knew that sometimes he stress-ate, and maybe it would help him clear his mind- NO! We’re not just doing that to him! Cmon! He still felt like he was intruding on Jay’s body, he didn’t need to intrude on his diet too!

Jay just shook his head. “Dude, dude! I don’t mind! Sheesh, Cole, you make it sound like this isn’t me offering it to you.” He started walking towards the stand despite Cole’s frantic attempts at declining his offer.

“Wh- but I-”

“Cole. For the master’s sake! Let yourself enjoy things!” Jay vaulted over the counter, and now they were in the stand, surrounded by all this food and Cole made Jay’s stomach growl again. Jay hmmph ed and folded his arms. “Coooole.” Cole didn’t say anything, feeling conflicted. Jay rolled his eyes, then his tone got a bit softer. “Cole, I mean it. You do so much for me when we’re like this, lemme do this for you. Please?” He tilted his head and smiled, like he would if Cole had been in front of him.

Cole nearly melted at the tone, damn Walker and his damn big heart. He glanced around at all the fair food… and his resolve cracked. “... alright, alright. I’ll let myself enjoy this.” Jay’s grin was enough to make him feel a bit better at the decision. “But I’m only getting one! I only NEED one.”

Jay snickered. “Yeah, yeah, I know. But I’m proud of you anyway. Take what ya need.” With that, he stepped out of the cockpit and Cole stepped in, feeling anxious about doing this even with the enthusiastic consent of his best friend. He selected a plate of fresh-made funnel cake, left alone on the table from this morning. “... and you’re sure you’re okay with this?” He asked one more time. Jay groaned, and Cole just kind of pursed his lips. 

“FSM, YES I’m sure Cole,” Jay said, exasperated. Cole sighed, knowing he was probably being a pain. He bit the bullet and ate the cake, soon forgetting about his concerns because holy SHIT I missed food. Mostly out of courtesy, Cole didn’t really take charge during any of their mealtimes, because he didn’t really feel entitled to it when it was Jay’s body. But he didn’t realize how much he actively missed being able to taste food, to sense it like he was in his own body, until he could hear the crunch in his mouth and feel the way the powdered sugar coated his throat, which kind of sounded weird now that he thought about it but who cares!!

Jay snickered fondly at Cole’s display of elation at being able to experience fair food. Cole made a mental note to do something later for Jay to pay him back for this, because dear FSM he needed this.

But when the sounds of helicopter blades wafted into the space he was quick to drop the food. “Shit!” Both of them said in unison. Cole made himself scarce, clambering into the back corner of the stand. It was times like these he admired Jay’s ability to cram himself into small spaces and avoid being seen. 

“Oh man oh man oh man,” Jay rambled into Cole’s head, clearly starting to panic. Cole shushed him, trying to listen outwardly to their pursuers.

“Come out come ouuuut~,” crowed a voice that they knew all too well. Ronin. Of COURSE he’s working with the police NOW, out of all the times he could be. “I know you two are here… well, just you one, but you two!” Ronin cackled at his own quip. Cole pressed further into the corner, trying to keep out of sight, but he knew if he didn’t try to make an escape now they’d both get caught. He spied a ceiling vent, standard in these kinds of fried-food stands, and took that route, flipping out of it onto the roof to finally see Ronin looking up at him, head tilted in mock surprise.

“There you are, buddy. Er, buddies.” He spun some sort of taser-gun in a flourish. “Care to make this easy for me?” Cole just scowled at him. FSM I do not need this right now.

“Ronin, shove it. You gotta listen to me right now, okay? We’re. Being. Framed,” Cole said firmly, folding his arms. His voice when he was speaking as Cole always sounded a bit odd, like it was layered over Jay’s to create this two-tone sound. “There’s some shapeshifting Djinn on the loose and he’s trying to get us out of the picture so he can do… something, to Ninjago.” Ronin looked unimpressed by this claim.

“Sure, sure, that’s what they all say. And by ‘all’ I mean the rest of your friends, because I already got ‘em.” Cole’s throat tightened. “He already got them???” Jay yelped internally, and Cole shushed him again. Sometimes his freaked-out commentary was a bit distracting, especially when he was trying to talk Ronin out of this nonsense.

“Will you just think about this please! If you catch us, arrest us , who’s going to protect Ninjago from the real threats?!” Cole ran a hand through his - Jay’s - hair, exasperated that one guy could seriously be this infuriating. Ronin shrugged, before aiming the taser gun at him.

“Don’t know, don’t care, I just want to get my money’s worth and my slate clean, and I only get that when you’re in cuffs, so!” He fired a shot at Cole, and it did zing a little, and knocked him off the roof. But it didn’t actually do its job and disable him! Because even when Cole was in charge, this was the body of a Master of Lightning, and no taser was gonna take that out. Cole quietly thanked the masters for that.

With little time to lose, he scrambled off, flipping the switch of the coaster as he sprinted by. If he played his cards right, he could maybe dismount off of this thing and get the hell out of here. He dove into the front car as it started up the track, grabbing onto whatever he could. Jay seemed very not excited to go this route. “This coaster isn’t really up to regulATION-” he yelped as the car jerked forward with surprising speed. Even still, Ronin managed to dive into the back car, seemingly having changed weapons. Whatever he had in his hands now looked like it could be a real problem. The car screamed up the track and was coming to a peak, and Cole scrambled back, bracing himself for the drop. Ronin scoffed and fired whatever new thing he had, which turned out to be a net. But he missed!

Because now the coaster was heading down. Cole felt his stomach do a flip as the momentum and gravity practically lifted him out of the cart, only tethered by his vice-grip on the handle in front of him. Jay started screaming. This was not helpful. “Jay! I’m warning you now because I think you might really freak out, but I’m gonna let go!”
“YOU’RE GONNA WHAT!!!” Jay screeched, his panic going all over the damn place. Cole swore inaudibly as Ronin tried to shoot a net over them again, still narrowly missing.
“We can use the momentum to get ourselves out of here!”
“WE ARE NOT DOING THAT ARE YOU NUTS!!”
“Jay will you PLEASE let me handle this!”
“NO!!!”

With that, Cole had the startling sensation of being shoved out of the driver’s seat. Jay’s hair and eyes faded back to their usual tone. Cole grunted with surprise. “Wh- Jay!” he remarked in protest as Jay pulled himself back into the seat. “The hell was that for?!”

“We are NOT flying out of THIS theme park ON A ROLLERCOASTER!! And that’s final!” Jay retorted, ducking under another shot from Ronin. Cole opened his invisible mouth to argue, but shut it as they went over another peak, as he felt the same sensation that Jay did of his stomach flipping up into his throat. They rounded the bend and Ronin shot again, and Jay ducked under again as they started to go left and then up into a loop-de-loop.

There was a * ker-chunk* off to the side and Cole realized with a start that that was the on-off switch. The car started to slow down fast and… oh great. They’re upside down.

“Oh come on!!” Jay complained, just before his grip ran out and he plummeted down into a… burlap sack??? Oh come ON! It’s one thing to arrest us, it’s another to humiliate us! You’re not fuckin Krampus, Ronin! With his senses deprived, Cole had little other option but to try and spectral out of Jay to figure out what was going on. No burlap sack can stop a ghost.

Except apparently this one, because the moment he tried to pass through it, a stinging sensation ran through his whole body. He yelped loudly and retreated back into Jay’s mind, and Ronin cackled as he set their sack prison on the deck of his copter. “Heh, not this time, Cole. Had the folks at the police station make a deepstone-weave fabric for this one!”

Fuck you, Ronin.

Cole folded his arms invisibly as the REX copter took off. “Jay,” he started, trying to make his argument solid. “I could have made that dismount work. It would’ve worked.”

“And if it didn’t?” Jay grumbled mentally, sounding rather worried. “Look, Cole. You have to be more careful when we’re like this, because I don’t know how durable you were, but I’m not! We’ve only got this one body, and I’m not about to let you break it with some slapdash risky decision like that!”

Cole winced at that, feeling the sharpness of Jay’s frustration poke at him. “I… I know-“

“No I don’t think you do! It was bad enough when you were risking your own life but now you’re risking both of ours and I’m not having it, okay?”

Cole went quiet. He had no idea that the choice he was making was so dangerous. It hadn’t really registered with him at the moment. But it made sense. Back before they were stuck like this, Cole had a bit of a tendency towards... self-sacrifice. It wasn’t something he was necessarily proud of, he just cares an awful lot about his friends, his brothers, and it manifested like that for a long time. When the group was in danger, his first instinct had always been to throw himself in the line of fire. To protect them.

But of course he couldn’t do that anymore. Because now it wasn’t just his life he was risking. It was Jay’s too. The thought made Cole’s stomach sink. What a shit friend I am, doing that to him.

“... you’re right. I’m sorry,” he mumbled to Jay. Some bubbles of concern came from the other as he said it, but Cole ignored them, too lost in his own mind. He… he had a lot to think about. Jay could stay in the pilot seat for a while.

Even as the group were recollected in the city, cuffed, and carted away to Kryptarium, Cole couldn’t stop thinking about what Jay had said. I keep risking his life… is he still mad at me for that? I need to be more careful… or maybe just stop trying to save the day all the time. Or something. Maybe it’d be better off if I didn’t… interfere. He sighed wearily to himself. Wishing he had a better idea of what to do. But he didn’t, so instead Cole settled invisibly, looking out the window of their little prison bus with a lot of… self-deprecating thoughts swimming around in his head.

I have to do better by him. I don’t think I could forgive myself if I got him hurt.

Chapter 3: The First Wish

Summary:

Cole's guilt is starting to really eat at him now, and it shows. He says something he regrets, and uses some unfortunately poor word choice.

Cole was certainly positive that this was their lowest point. Stuck in a hole. Cuffed to the wall. And his best friend was still sort of upset with him.

First day in prison went by like a whirlwind. Pretty quickly the ninja learned that 90% of the people in this place were there because of them, and the other 10% didn’t bet on the outnumbered side. The cake-escape plan didn’t work out, because some rats got to the cake first and made off with whatever tool Dareth had tried to sneak them.

Then there was lunchtime. A lot of threats were thrown around towards them, but there was a bit of a bright side. They managed to gain a truce with Captain Sohto, the revived pirate that used to helm the Bounty . Apparently he’d taken on the Djinn who wanted them gone way back when, and he actually won! The Djinn’s name was Nadakhan, he’d learned, and there was only one way to beat a Djinn - through the venom of a tiger widow spider. Only one was left in existence, and it lived on an island that wasn’t on any map but one. When a food fight broke out, the ninja were able to gain something of Sohto’s trust, and he agreed to help them take Nadakhan down again in exchange for his freedom.

But that was the plan before they got thrown in this hole. Cole grumbled mentally, and Jay just sighed. He’d been the one in charge for a while, especially now since he had a deepstone cuff stuck to his wrist. Despite Cole’s various attempts, he couldn’t spectral out of him now until they got that thing off, and he wasn’t sure how wearing deepstone affected his ability to stay in the driver’s seat, but he wasn’t about to test it. That and he still felt bad after what Jay had said to him. Maybe he needed to spend some more time as just a voice in Jay’s head, for now. Think about what he wanted to do.

“So do we have a plan?” Kai asked wearily into the chamber, glancing between the crew. Lloyd seemed to have… well, something. He pulled a fork out of his waistband and Kai looked at him in disbelief. “... a fork. Lloyd, what in the hell are we gonna do with a fork, eat our way out?!” Kai shook a fist at him as best he could, straining against the chains.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly at having this idea before Kai did. “No, I was thinking something more like…” He started to say, picking the lock on his vengestone cuff damn near expertly. “This!” Once Lloyd was out, he stood up and sent a burst of green energy between all of them, popping the locks off of their own chains. Cole felt Jay’s relief and excitement compound with his own, along with a deep sense of pride in that green ninja. 

The deepstone cuff was off too, so Cole took the initiative and spectraled out of Jay and up towards the bars over their hole. “Nice job, Lloyd! Let’s see if I can’t get these things out of the way…”

The rest of their escape plan went through surprisingly well! Cole had busted through the bars before fading back into Jay’s head, and came back again to rip the bars off of Sohto’s cell. They rode the sewer line out of the tunnel (courtesy of local Master of Water, Nya), and finally they had a moment of peace, save for the honking noises of Sohto’s replacement peg-leg-horn.

Sohto finally gave them an important but frustrating piece of news. In order to get the thing that they needed from the spider, they needed the only map that had the spider’s location on it. And that map was on Nadakhan’s ship, Misfortune’s Keep .

“Of course it couldn’t be that easy,” Cole grumbled internally. Jay hummed in agreement.

“Well, we’ll figure it out. Like we always do.” Jay patted his chest again, quietly. Cole was, again, grateful that somebody between the two of them could see the bright side. Quiet bubbles of affection came around from that. At least we got each other. And maybe he forgives me… 

“This is as far as I go, pajama people,” Sohto said solemnly. “I bid you all well on your treasure hunt.” And he honked away. Man, what a weirdo.

——

Several hours later and Cole was in the cockpit again. Despite his general reluctance to do so now, Jay had convinced him that the way Jay’s hair and eyes looked with possession could make their disguise all the more effective. That and he could actually control the smoky cape that came around, and hide it. So it was Cole that was wandering in the police headquarters, along with Nya, as they tried to go undercover and find whatever they could on Misfortune’s Keep.

“Need that password right about now, Cole!” Nya hissed into their comm device. She was the one at the computer terminal, while Cole scoured the pinboard nearby for somewhere where the password might be. Jay hummed internally, quickly analyzing the likelihood of the post-it notes having the code they needed as Cole looked at them.

“Might be the yellow one. No, wait! It's the police database, they probably put it on a blue one! Or-” 

“PLEASE just pick one, Walker!” Cole snapped. Yeesh. As much as he loved Jay’s rambling this was not what he needed now. Jay faltered at that, and Cole immediately felt bad. Wow, way to be a patient bodymate. Jay did pick one, and Cole pulled it off the wall and sat calmly at the computer screen, trying to look like he belonged there. Undercover missions always stressed him out, because whatever efforts he put in at the MOSPA didn’t sink in enough to make him a good actor. But he could roll with it.

“Alright, we’ve got it. X-4-3-G-2-2-D-B-L-I-8-7,” Cole recited to Nya quickly. He waited a few moments while she did so. “... sorry for snapping at you,” he apologized quietly. 

“S’fine,” Jay said quickly, but Cole could tell that wasn’t it. But he wasn’t about to just relinquish control in the middle of the mission just to make it up to him. 

“... nothing! Damn it,” Nya complained through the comm, and Cole sighed heavily. Nothing like coming up empty to dampen his mood even more. He stood up from the desk abruptly. Jay made a small concerned noise in his head, and then spoke up as Cole started to pilot them towards the door. 

“Cole… are you alright? You’ve been kind of short all morning.” Cole grumbled in response, then gave an actual one.

“I’m just stressed, I guess,” he answered quickly. He could practically feel the ‘yeah right’ look Jay was giving him.

“I’ve known you long enough to know that’s a fuckin lie, dude. Seriously, what’s going on?”

“I’m fine , Jay. It’s just normal stress from being a fugitive,” Cole deflected, striding out of the headquarter door and down the stairwell. He didn’t want to tell the whole truth - about the guilt he felt at getting Jay in so much danger, about how much he missed his old body, about how bad he felt for missing it because it felt like he would be abandoning him. But if he didn’t have his body back he felt like he wasn’t there for Jay anyway. Like they were always absent from each other. It was eating him up inside.

“Bullshit,” Jay argued, and Cole audibly groaned.

“Look, we can talk about it later-”

“No I think we can talk about it now!” Jay retorted, sounding serious. “If something is bothering you, it might as well be bothering me! We’re in this together, ya know!”

“Yes, but it’s- there’s more to it than that. I- I can’t get into it right now, you’ll just be upset.”

“Well now I wanna know even more, dirtclod!” The nickname kind of stung now, even if Jay probably didn’t mean it like that. Cole marched out the front door of the headquarters, not realizing that his outward expression just looked Pissed now.

“I’m serious, Jay, drop it! It’s not more important than the mission at hand-”

“If it’s making you this upset then it is more important, Cole! Don’t just shove it all down right now, it’s all gonna bubble back up later and bite us in the ass! Just fuckin… TALK to me!”

“I CAN’T!” Cole roared, and it shocked him back into his physical senses when a few people were startled by his outburst. He suddenly felt very exposed, like a nerve or something.

“Hey!” Nya’s voice came from behind him, and then she grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face her. “I’ve been trying to talk to you! We’re meeting back up with the group soon and-” She stopped short when she saw the look on Cole’s -  Jay’s - face. “... are you two okay?”

“W-we’re fine,” Cole snapped harshly, turning back around. Nya stepped back. “Just… need a second to think.” He crossed the road to a little green bench in the center of the boulevard.

“We are NOT fine!” Jay yelled from within. And then Cole felt something like hands pulling his shoulders, and there was suddenly a mental tussle between the two of them as they vied for control. Their gait turned strange to the average onlooker, and their near-flashing hair and probably wasn’t helping the situation. 

“Jay, what the hell?!”

“You are NOT just gonna let this fall by the wayside, Brookstone! You did this before after the Overlord and Zane, I’m not letting you do it again!”

“And I’m not about to let my dumb emotions be in charge of whether or not we can clear our names and get this done!”

“Could you STOP being the selfless one for once?! I don’t care if I get upset! I want you to not be!”

“But that’s exactly WHY I can’t talk about it! Because it would hurt you, and I’m done doing that to you! Especially when we’re stuck like this!”

“What does that even MEAN?!”

“IT MEANS-”

They were shocked out of their argument as the body suddenly pitched forward, definitely about to faceplant… and then they didn’t. Because a hand grabbed them by the back of their shirt and pulled them up to their feet again, simultaneously spinning them around and disorienting them. Cole ended up cleanly back in the driver’s seat and blinked his eyes until they refocused on the-

Oh no.

The Djinn from the photographs, the one that had it out for them, the one that was released after decades and had destroyed the ninjas’ lives. Nadakhan floated before him, his head tilted and his smirk disarming. “Hello, gentlemen.”

“... hello,” Cole said plainly, trying to keep his cool. Jay’s cool was already soundly out the window.

“Oh man oh man oh man this is really bad!!!” At this point the rambling was absolutely not what Cole needed, or even wanted! He shushed him mentally.

“... why are you here, Nadakhan, what do you want from us?” Cole continued firmly.

“Oh, I don’t want anything in particular from you, dear Earthmaster… I just couldn’t help but overhear your little… argument. I have a sense for these kinds of things.” Nadakhan examined his hook nonchalantly. “You seem to have a problem on your hands. I am certain you know of my powers. Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

“Yeah right!” Cole spat, folding his arms instinctively. “And why would I trust you?”

“Because. You have been cursed and cheated out of something, something you still long for,” Nadakhan crowed, circling around him like a suave vulture. “And yet you feel guilty for longing for it.”

Cole felt his shoulders hunch. Why does he know so much?  

“I mean, what could be so bad about one measly wish? Especially one that rights such an unjust wrong?”

“You’re not seriously considering this, right?” Jay asked in a panic. His voice was meek, and Cole felt even worse about what Nadakhan was saying, since now it might be even clearer how he's feeling. 

“Of course I’m not considering it.”

“But you are, aren’t you?” Nadakhan crowed, suddenly getting up in Cole’s face and causing him to stumble back.

“Shit he can hear us. This is bad. Oh, why did we have to wander off? He couldn’t do these kinds of fuckin- mind games to us if we still had Nya with us!!”

“Jay, shhh!”

“Clock is ticking, Earthmaster. I don’t offer my powers to just anyone…” Nadakhan continued to circle him, and Cole felt very exposed again. He followed the Djinn’s movements warily.

“Yknow maybe this wouldn’t’ve happened if you’d talked to me in the building! We wouldn’t even be out here!”

“I…” Cole started to say, trying to block out Jay’s ranting. Maybe he could think of a smart wish that would be innocuous, something to throw Nadakhan off their trail so they could come back and get the jump on him. Or something to help them take him out. Wish to know his location at all times. Or for him to forget the ninja ever caused him any trouble.

“See, this is why you should listen to me sometimes! I have better plans than this!!!”

“I wish… I… wish…” Cole struggled with the words, it was nearly impossible to think straight when his mind was bombarded by Jay’s incessant talk. It frustrated him. Nadakhan’s devilish grin widened.

“When we can talk freely again I’m going to have SO many choice words! And I’m gonna get you to talk to me about the so-called “dumb feelings” that got us into this mess! Mark my words Cole! Mark! My! Words!”

Cole growled and threw his hands up. “I wish you would shut up and let me think, Jay!!” He yelled out loud.

He clamped his hands over his mouth and his eyes went wide with horror. Nadakhan smirked at that, evidently pleased that he’d made something of a wish. The Djinn said something innocuous and cryptic, something something “wish is yours to keep” but that didn’t matter to Cole.

What mattered was the sudden, piercing silence in his head.

“Wh- COLE WHAT D-” Jay’s voice was cut off so sharply, so quickly, that Cole almost felt himself flinch at it. And then it was quiet. Quiet in his mind. 

Nothing scared him more in that moment. “Jay?” He called out. No answer. “Jay?! JAY?!” 

Nothing.

Cole stumbled back, and Nadakhan didn’t bother to catch him as he fell on the curb with a dull thud. “We will be in touch, Earthmaster. You still have two wishes left to make.” And he disappeared in a puff of red smoke. 

Cole felt himself starting to panic, really panic.

What did I do? Fuck, what did I DO?! Where did he go I can’t lose him I CAN’T NOT ON A FUCKING MISSPEAK-

A frantic Nya appeared in his vision.

“Cole what the hell was that?! We’re out in the open, I- was that Nadakhan?! We-“ She stopped short again once she noticed the horrified look on Cole’s face. “I… we need to hide,” she said, softer this time. She yanked Cole to his feet and ushered him back across the street, into an alleyway, and under a small alcove in the wall. She finally set him down against the wall, letting him sit as she crouched in front of him.

“Cole… what happened out there?”

Cole didn’t answer. He was still trying to process what he’d just done. I wished him away. I did that. This… this is my fault.

“... Cole,” Nya said more forcefully.

My fault my fault I can’t believe that even when I try not to hurt him I DO ANYWAY IT'S MY FAULT-

“Cole!” Nya grabbed him by the shoulders and it shocked him out of his stupor. He forced himself to meet her deep blue gaze. “Talk to me.” After a moment, she tilted her head worriedly and added “Please?” to her statement.

Cole gritted his teeth. But he wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

“I… he tricked me. Nadakhan, he… he talked me into making a wish, but I got mad and I said the wrong thing and I-“ He sucked in a breath. “I can’t hear Jay anymore, Nya, I-I don’t know where he’s gone but I can’t hear him anymore.”

Nya gasped audibly at the explanation and her expression morphed to fear. “I- what do you mean? Like he’s- like he’s gone?”

Cole felt his stomach drop like a stone. No no no he can’t be gone I can’t lose him like this-

And then he felt someone shove him out of the driver’s seat, more forcefully than usual. Hair and eyes faded back into their usual shades and Nya’s eyes widened. Despite the force, Cole felt relief wash over him.

“OH THANK THE MASTERS JAY!!!” Cole could practically cry. “Jay are you okay?! I-“

He was suddenly hit by such a wave of anger and betrayal and distrust that it nearly hurt him. Jay was very, very upset with him. Cole went quiet.

“Jay?” Nya asked breathlessly, and Jay turned his attention to her. “Oh thank FSM, we were worried you-“ She started, but cut off with a gasp. “... holy shit, your mouth! ”

What about his mouth? Cole thought, but as Nya held up a small broken mirror she found strewn on the alleyway floor, he gaped at what he saw. Jay’s mouth appeared to be sewn shut now, by a length of golden-orange, glowing Djinn thread. Jay touched his lips in disbelief and horror. Cole felt his heart drop like a stone and join his stomach. I did this to him.

“I.. I’m so-“ he started to say again, but the wave of anger hit him again, harder this time, and he shut up. Outwardly, Jay scowled at the ground. Nya frowned, and reached out to brush some hair out of Jay’s face.

“So… you can’t talk now,” she asked, but it was more of a statement. Jay nodded solemnly, his scowl giving away to just sadness. Cole silently beat himself up for what he’s done. Some fuckin friend you are, Cole. 

Jay was silent for a moment, then mimed writing on his hand and looked at Nya meaningfully. Nya snapped her fingers and pulled out a small notepad from her side pouch, handing it to Jay along with a pen. Jay began to write furiously, and Cole read to himself as he did.

Cole made a wish
not a smart one
now I can’t talk anymore
physically or mentally

There was a beat and then he continued.

Was a mistake but I’m still mad
what the hell was that Cole!
I thought you said you weren’t
considering it

Jay held the note up to his face and Cole realized that he was trying to communicate to him now. “I… I know, I’m sorry, I-I didn’t think it through-“

that sure is clear!!! Jay scribbled angrily. Nya watched sort of awkwardly as they had this mental conversation.

“... I know, you- you have every right to be mad, I did exactly what you told me not to do, I t-tried to put myself in the line of fire and instead I ended up hurting you.”

Like I always do, he thought harshly to himself. Jay huffed frustratedly through his nose and continued writing.

whatever
its just what it is now
we

He paused for a second, hands shaking. Cole felt just… so, so awful.

we gotta keep moving
meet the others

He showed the last bit to Nya now, and she nodded solemnly. “Right. Let’s get out of this city and meet back up at the monastery.” She stood up now and offered her hand to Jay, who took it and stood up. He touched his lips again, and a more muted blip of betrayal hit Cole. Cole felt himself shrink down, down into the sort of quiet depths of Jay’s head.

“I… I’m so sorry, Jay,” he said softly, hugging himself invisibly. I’m so, so sorry.

Notes:

Kind of accidentally made Nadakhan able to hear Cole and Jay's mental conversations but that's fine! Because him and Jay won't be making a lot of those conversations anymore ;)))))

Also there's a bit of suspension of disbelief here w/ Cole's possession not being that noticeable but yknow. just roll with it it's more fun that way

Chapter 4: Raid on the City

Summary:

Jay's still upset at Cole, but at least he'll still listen to him. The group seizes an opportunity to take the map off of Misfortune's Keep, and Cole once again takes a big risk.

When Cole, Jay, and Nya got back to the monastery, all three of the others were quick to be worried about the magic stitching on Jay’s mouth. Jay almost looked embarrassed and just folded his arms.

“We… We had a run-in with Nadakhan,” Nya explained, setting a hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Thankfully we’re all still accounted for, but… Cole got tricked into making a wish. It was a mistake, an accident, but… now Jay can’t talk. At all.”

Kai grimaced. “Yeesh… he can’t even open his mouth?” Jay shook his head. Cole felt his stomach sink again. We gotta find some way to undo this.

Lloyd looked down at the ground. “Well… did you find anything out about him? Or their ship? I went to the place where the shipwreck was, but all I found was electronics and stuff.”

Jay shook his head again, and Nya spoke up. “We didn’t find anything about the ship, and I couldn’t tell you about Nadakhan, I only saw him for a second. Cole… Cole can tell you but I don’t know if he wants to come out right now.”

Well, she’s right. Cole didn’t want to come out right now, he honestly felt so bad about what he’d done he’d really rather just… leave Jay and the others alone for a while. But they need you, a quiet voice within reminded him. He took a deep breath, then spectraled out of Jay’s heart, coming to hover in the center of their huddle.

Jay met his gaze for a second. It was a heartbreaking second - FSM, seeing his face like that, so clearly hurt and disappointed and betrayed, it nearly made Cole fade away again.

Then the blue ninja looked away, scowling at the ground, and Cole bit his lip and turned back to the group. They had clearly noticed the exchange, but didn’t say anything. Cole got down to business.

“I can only do this for a bit so I’m gonna try and make it quick. Nadakhan is like a vulture, he tries to get you when you’re at a low point and when you’re alone. So until we can get a read on him, no one travels alone. I know that limits our ability to split up, but if he was able to go after me even when I was with Nya then we’ve got no room for risk. Stick together, look out for each other.” Cole felt himself falling back on old habits and old tones of voice. His old leader voice. 

He kind of missed it.

Kai nodded along. “Sounds about right. What’s our next play? We don’t have a solid homebase yet, Zane and I had no luck getting the Bounty out of the impound lot. They have… a very intimidating dog.” He shuddered slightly, and Zane just patted his shoulder in solidarity.

“Well, our next play should be to try and dig deeper on finding Misfortune’s Keep. It’s our only clear lead right now, and-”

*Bweep! Bweep! Bweep!*

Zane started beeping. Cole looked up, feeling his eyelids drooping slightly. Running out of time here. “Zane, why are you beeping?” He asked, squinting at the nindroid.

Zane tilted his head slightly and a hologram screen showed up in front of his face, revealing news feed from the city. Cannonfire filled the ninjas’ ears as they watched the very ship they’d been searching for float up Main Street, terrorizing the citizens.

“It appears the Misfortune’s Keep has found us!” Zane exclaimed as the hologram switched off. The crew immediately became tense. 

“We gotta get down there and stop them!” Lloyd declared, already marching to the gate of the monastery. Cole nodded along, and then felt himself starting to nod off. “Just don’t… split… up…” He said blearily, one last time, before fading into smoke again and finding himself back in Jay’s head, more tired than before. Jay started to move with the rest of them, dashing out the gate and summoning his dragon. Lloyd made the call to split the teams - Jay and Kai would try and get up onto the ship itself, while Lloyd, Nya, and Zane would draw the pirates off of it. Cole settled into Jay’s mind, finding that he still felt horrible, even as they had a job to do.

“Jay… I know you’re still mad, and you have every right to be. I’m just letting you know that… unless you need me, I’m gonna stay backstage for a while. Give you your space.”

A small pang of surprise, that faded into… forced indifference. Like he was trying not to care about it. Cole sighed.

“Just… if you need me on deck, let me know. Give me a sign.”

No response.

“... could you give me a sign if you’re still listening?” Cole asked quietly. He half-expected that Jay wasn’t, and that he was mad enough to give him the full extent of a silent treatment. Beyond just wish-silence. Can’t say I don’t deserve it, he thought harshly.

Jay seemed to hesitate, trying to keep up that indifference, but took one hand off the dragon’s reins and patted his chest - his heart - gently. Then he just held his hand there, like he was trying to reach out to him.

Cole felt just… impossibly relieved. Jay still at least wanted him to stick around. That meant a lot. It meant that maybe there was a chance to make this up to him, in some way, once they had a chance to do so. Once Cole had a chance to fix this.

“Right… thank you, Jay.”

Jay patted his heart again. Cole felt a little better. They swooped into the city.

——

A few minutes later, Jay and Kai were on the ground, sprinting after the low-flying airship. Cole was in the backseat, calling out warnings to Jay when debris fell towards them as they went. It was different without the back-and-forth they usually had, and it disheartened Cole somewhat, but now wasn’t the time for pity. They had to get on that ship and get that map, wherever it was.

“Watch for that barrel!” He called to Jay, who nodded and yanked Kai’s arm sideways. The barrel landed nearby, revealing a fuse, and Cole realized with a jolt that- “THAT’S A GUNPOWDER BARREL GETOUTOFTHEWAYNOW!”

Jay leapt forward as the barrel blew, knocking both him and Kai forward. Kai slightly more so. Cole winced at the damage, poor Jay’s body wasn’t made for this kind of damage. I should be out there helping, but instead I’m just backseat driving.

Well, you’re doing that because Jay deserves his own space, his mind told him. Right now all you deserve is to be the backseat driver. You brought this upon yourself.

Cole scowled inwardly.

“I’m going up there!” Kai shouted back towards Jay, already sprinting for a ladder on the side of a building. Cole jolted. “I said STICK TOGETHER, hothead!!”

Jay tried to frantically get Kai’s attention but he was already at the ladder, so Jay just followed him, trying to keep up. “Grrr, he’s gonna get himself killed if he’s not careful!” Cole said warily, and Jay climbed the ladder more frantically. He clambered over the top just in time to see -  shit! Nadakhan hovering off the ground, holding Kai by the shoulders with him. Jay reached out in a panic, but didn’t make a sound. Nadakhan noticed him anyway, and smirked.

“KAI!” Cole yelled, and Nadakhan responded by poofing away in orange smoke. Taking Kai with him.

Cole felt his stomach drop again. “Shit shit shit!” Jay scrambled up onto the rooftop and looked around at where Kai and Nadakhan just were, panic mounting. He paused for a second and put his hand on his heart, as if waiting for Cole’s response on this. Cole hesitated, trying to figure out what to do. I hate to just leave him like that but… we don’t know where they went.

“I… we need to get the map. We’ll come back for him, try to figure out where Nadakhan’s taken him.” Cole felt a pang of shock and worry from Jay, but it faded off quickly, replaced with determination. “We will come back for him,” Cole said again, and Jay nodded, before sprinting to the edge of the roof and launching into Airjitzu to get onto the deck of the ship.

The only crewmate still left on the ship was the one at the quarter-deck with the mustache and the pistol. Jay dashed up the steps and into the cockpit quickly, but the guy was nowhere to be seen.

Jay scanned the dashboard, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the actual realm crystal sitting in a case nonchalantly. “Uh. Probably should get that too,” Cole added, and Jay didn’t need to be told twice, flipping a switch and opening the case. He started to lift the crystal carefully-

“Not another step, blue,” a voice remarked from behind them, and they both jolted and Jay turned around. The pistol pirate had his gun trained on him from the door. “Keep your li’l sparking hands where I can see ‘em.”

Jay did as he was told, and put his hands up. The realm crystal was sat plainly next to the precariously open window on the bridge. Cole tensed up.

“Right then, I presume you’re up here looking for that map to that spider but I doubt you’re gonna find it all by your lonesome. I mean, do ye even know what it is?”

Jay said nothing, and the pirate smirked, now noticing the mouth stitching and recognizing it as Nadakhan’s handiwork. “Aw, whatsa matter? Djinn got your tongue?” Jay scowled and the pirate laughed. “Aye, I’m not afraid a’ you, especially since you don’t know what you’re looking for. And you’re allllll alone.”

Cole watched the pirate’s body language tensely. It was the best option he had. Maybe he’d slip up and give them a clue as to what he was thinking of, a clue to the map, something. Jay’s emotions mirrored his own - fear, tension, confusion. Cole waited, and waited, tuning out what the pirate was saying, and…

The pirate’s vision flickered over to the lantern on the dashboard. Cole zeroed in. The details came quick - it wasn’t just a light lantern, there were patterns in the glasswork. “The lantern. That’s the map!” Jay glanced that way too, briefly. A blip of determination came around again. Jay was ready.

He whipped his hand down to try and throw lightning at the pirate, and the pirate pulled the trigger.

And everything slowed down all at once. He’s shooting at Jay, Cole’s mind screamed.  HE’S SHOOTING AT JAY I HAVE TO STOP IT-

Cole felt himself spectral right in front of Jay, arms crossed over his chest, ready to take a bullet for him. He wanted nothing more than to stop it, to stop the shot, to protect him. He was… focused. And focusing made him corporeal.

The shot’s impact knocked him back into Jay, and Jay’s elbow jutted up and knocked the realm crystal off the dashboard and out the window. For a brief, terrifying moment, he was worried he hadn’t stopped it. Then the pirate’s eyes went wide as there was a distinct * ting-ting-tinglinglingling* as the bullet fell out of Cole’s form onto the floor, harmless. Both sides were silent for a moment.

“A-are you okay?” Cole asked breathlessly, whirling around to look at the, frankly, terrified blue ninja. Jay gawked at him for a moment, but nodded. His hands were shaking.

The *click* behind them alerted Cole that the pirate was reloading, out of his disbelief. He grabbed Jay’s shoulder and shoved him towards the lantern as a bullet went through his now-intangible body and out the window. Jay snatched the lantern off the dashboard and scrambled out the next window over, ducking as the pirate shot more at him. Cole was basically yanked along, and Jay leapt off the ship and landed hard on a building roof, just out of sight. He sprinted to the edge of the roof again and jumped between the walls until he hit the ground, panting and holding the lantern close to his chest in an alleyway.

Cole was, again, yanked around as he did this. Once Jay stopped to catch his breath, Cole hovered over him with worry. “I-I’m sorry, I just- I panicked, I couldn’t let him just shoot y-”

Jay put a finger up and put it right up at Cole’s lips. A classic motion of “shh”. He was still kind of panting. Ah, fuck. I’m talking too much, I'm overwhelming him. Cole shut up.

Jay took his hand back after a moment. Then he looked up at Cole with a worried expression. To the best of Cole’s ability, he was asking why did you do that .

“I… I just couldn’t let him do that.”

He tilted his head. But you could’ve died.

“... n-no, I would have been alright.”

Jay squinted at him. Only because you’re a ghost.

“Yes, but…” Cole trailed off. Jay set the lantern down next to him and pulled the notepad out again. He wrote something down and then showed it to Cole.

tell me right now that you wouldn’t have jumped in front of me if you had your body

“... I…” He… he would’ve done that. Put himself in front of him, take the bullet, flesh or no flesh. He would’ve done that in a heartbeat. Regardless of if he had his body or not. Jay seemed to catch on and his expression morphed into horror and anger. He stomped his foot and wrote something else.

you do not get to do that! you don’t get to just sacrifice yourself for me!

“Well what was I supposed to do, just let him shoot you?! Absolutely not!”

that doesn’t mean you jump in front of me! your life is not suddenly worth less because you don’t have a body! Jay wrote angrily. Cole shook his head, and Jay tried to grab his shoulder but phased through.

“I…” Cole didn't really have a justification for this.

your life is not worth less PERIOD!

Cole sank down slightly as Jay glared at him.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Footsteps caught both their ears and they turned towards the rest of the group coming down the way. The others looked sort of beat-up.

“There you are! They look like they’re retreating, did you get the-“ Lloyd cut himself off and his eyes widened. Nya froze next to him.

“Where’s Kai?” She said immediately. Jay’s face fell and Cole clenched his jaw but spoke up.

“We… we lost him, he ran ahead. Nadakhan grabbed him and we didn’t see where… he was… taken…” He started to trail off, eyelids drooping again. Jay glanced at him with concern. He tried to reach out and stabilize Cole, but remembered that it wouldn’t really do much. Cole managed to stay up for a bit longer.

Nya looked stricken. “... oh no…” Zane put a hand on her shoulder, he looked worried too. The air was tense and almost grieving. They were really down one, now. Cole hugged his arms. Dammit. Okay.

“Alright, change of plans… if we can help it… we do not split up, period…” He sounded very very drowsy. Lloyd nodded in agreement, and Cole continued, drooping slightly. “We have the map, it’s a… lantern… we need a… dark place to work with… hnm…” He held in a yawn. FSM, I hate this. Makes it feel like I’m not paying attention.

Nya swiped at her eyes, and Jay frowned when he realized she was at the brink of crying. “I… we might have somewhere. Skylor contacted me after she saw us on the news, she said she has a place where we can lay low for a bit. Plan something.”

“Then that’s where… we go…” Cole suddenly pitched forward, like he was passing out, and faded into smoke quickly. Much to the shock of Jay. He awoke again in Jay’s head, still feeling fatigued.

“S-sorry…” Jay patted his chest again in response to Cole’s little apology, but his emotions spoke more so to his opinion. Frustration, anger, a lot of concern. Concern for me. Because I keep putting him in danger and then trying to solve it by putting myself in danger. FSM, what a shitty move. 

He sank into Jay’s deeper mind again as the group moved as one through the alleyways towards Skylor’s Noodle House. He’d done his part, but his thoughts, as always, kept eating at him.

I keep putting him in danger. It’s my fault.

Notes:

These are some of the new ghost rules I was talking about!

Chapter 5: Spiders and Self-Loathing: A Terrible Combination

Summary:

Cole continues to struggle with the guilt of what his wish has done, with the added layer of feeling guilty for always being so self-sacrificing. All of that combined with the stress of having to milk a giant spider is a bit of a deadly combination.

Cole didn’t have much to say as the group was led into a backroom by one of Skylor’s trusted staff. The Master of Amber had given them directions to one of her smaller, quieter establishments, where she said she’d be waiting for them. Cole was grateful that Skylor believed them over the cops, and he wanted to thank her personally, but… if he was being honest, he was wallowing in some deep self-loathing at the moment.

It wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before. Cole would get in a funk, and instead of throwing himself into a task like he used to, he’d just sink away from what he had to do, and just do nothing. Nothing but feel bad about what he’d done or said. Or just about himself.

He hated it, and that just made the wallowing worse. Just focus up, Brookstone.

Cole brought himself back to his senses as the door behind the ninja was shut, and Skylor appeared around the corner. “Glad I caught you guys before the po- WHA-HEY!” She cut herself off with a startled noise as she laid eyes on Jay and his stitched lips. “... okay, that’s new.”

“Yes, it is,” Zane answered shortly, and Jay just rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. The nindroid patted his shoulder. “I suppose there is something of an explanation in order.”
“No kidding.” Skylor held her hand out and produced a flame in her palm. “But I think that might need to wait until we get that map of yours down on paper.”

Cole noticed Nya stiffen slightly at the fire - no doubt it gave her a brief reminder that they were down one fire ninja. Kai had gotten himself taken by Nadakhan, and none of them knew where.

I hope he’s still alright.

Jay noticed her too, and put a silent hand on Nya’s shoulder. Cole felt Jay’s emotions bubble up - regret, worry, all those feelings that came with not having a chance to get back on the ship and look for where Kai had been taken. They just… weren’t fast enough.

We’re gonna get him back. Soon.

He tuned in to Skylor and the lantern again, as her lit palm lit the little scraps of a wax candle inside it. The carvings and engravings in its now-illuminated, yellowish glass revealed faint outlines of a map, and Zane reached over and went to work with a piece of paper laid out on the table, tracing the map perfectly.

“So that’s why we couldn’t find the place,” Nya mused aloud as she examined the new map. “The island where you can find the Tiger Widow… it’s only on this map! It was never transcribed onto any other one!”

“Well, that makes sense.” Lloyd picked up the map as Skylor stepped aside and turned the overhead lights on. “If the Widow’s venom is the only thing that could reasonably defeat Nadakhan, he’d want to keep it under wraps. Especially after Sohto took him down so many years ago.”

Cole nodded along invisibly. Makes sense.

He noticed Jay scribbling a note down on the edge of another piece of paper on the planning table, and then tearing the corner off and holding it up to his face. A message for Cole.

you listening, buddy?

Cole sighed sadly. “Yeah… yeah I am.” Jay frowned and scribbled something else.

are you doing okay?

“I’m doin just peachy,” Cole replied airily. Jay frowned harder, but didn’t press further. Some frustration poked in. Cole felt bad about that too.

Skylor spoke up. “Well, if it’s an island you’re looking for, you guys are gonna need a boat. I mean, you can’t very well ride your dragons there. Too noticeable.” Her knowing smirk spoke to her intentions. “I might have something for ya.”

Nya gave a relieved smile. “Skylor, I seriously owe you one after this.”

“Oh, pshaw,” Skylor assured her. “Just take this guy out, will ya? I mean, have you guys… seen what he’s been doin?” The group’s collective clueless faces must’ve clued her in on that, and she tut-tutted jokingly. “Just- take a look at this.” Skylor whipped out her phone and showed it to the group. Zane stepped slightly in front of Jay by accident, and Jay reacted by shoving his head under Zane’s arm to get a good look. In spite of the situation, Cole smiled to himself. What a spaz. I already miss what he has to say. His smile fell away as he reminded himself of his Big Mistake. Well… I am gonna fix this. Soon as I can.

The sight on the news wasn’t pretty - huge chunks of Ninjago were just… missing. Where they had gone, no one really knew. Cole scowled, and Jay did too. Skylor took her phone back after the segment ended. “I mean, we all know who that is. So… yeah.” She glanced back at Nya, then scanned over all of them. “Just get this guy, and we can call it even, Phoenix.”

Nya nodded firmly, and Lloyd nodded with her. “We will,” Lloyd assured. With that, they started to plan their attempt. They would travel by sea as a group to the island, and then two of them would go down into the Tiger Widow’s lair.

Cole hummed, finding himself checking out without really meaning to. Their goal was simple and it lent rather well to allowing him to lose focus. As usual, his mind went back to wallowing. And back to what Nadakhan had said. I still have two wishes. Maybe I can use them to actually do some good.

No, his mind argued. Nadakhan is too shady, you can’t just do that!

But what choice do I have? Cole argued back, as the ninja clambered into the back of one of Skylor’s noodle trucks, which was headed to the docks. I caused this mess by making a wish. Maybe I can undo it by making another one. I at least have to try, this is Jay we’re talking about! He’s my best friend. My very best friend.

I caused all this. The least I can do is try and fix it myself.

He sighed invisibly as Jay hopped out of the truck again, now that they were on the boat. Jay noticed this, and patted his heart quietly, a nonverbal question. Are you alright?

“... I’m okay,” Cole lied. If Jay had caught onto the lie, he didn’t say anything. Cole let himself sink lower for the rest of the stormy commute across the sea.

——

Why did it have to be a spider?

Cole didn’t hate very many things, and of the things he did hate, only one of them was an animal. And that was spiders. 

Staring down an incredibly giant spider through his own eyes would’ve been disconcerting. Doing so through another’s arguably more terrified perspective was worse!!
“LEFT!” Cole yelped in warning, and Jay ducked left under the sharp slamming leg of the Tiger Widow, scrambling up the incline of the cave. If he still had his voice, it was clear he would’ve been screaming. Cole could feel his fear compounding with his own. Oh this is the worst!

“Get up here!” Zane called frantically from across the cavern. He was the one who had decided to accompany Jay into the Den of Spider Death, and he was actually being rather helpful! He’d frozen down one of the Widow’s legs, and was making dodging its attacks a bit easier.

Aaaaand the ice just broke. Jay dashed up the other side, narrowly missing another one of that thing’s jabs at him, and Zane caught his arm and scrambled back with him, up against the wall.

“This is going far worse than I anticipated!” Zane said frantically. NO FUCKIN KIDDING!! Cole’s mind yelled back, despite the fact that the nindroid couldn’t hear him.

Jay was definitely panicking, more than Cole had expected. Maybe it was the layered stress of not being able to verbally vent his terror like usual, maybe it was just the oversized spider that they had to goddamn milk the venom out of. But Jay’s breathing was really fast and he was shaking, and Cole was acutely aware of that fact. It was maybe the one thing to distract from the giant spider, which Cole was definitely trying to avoid eye contact with.

The Tiger Widow lunged at the pair of them again, and Zane rolled left and shoved Jay to the right. The spider followed right, because of course it did. Jay’s breathing was quickening faster. His arm got briefly caught in some webbing and his panic spiked. Cole had a startling realization that Jay was… kind of hyperventilating.

“Jay? I- shit, okay, this is gonna sound really annoying but I think you need to breathe a little sLOWER-” Cole’s muted reassurance got cut off as Jay leapt off the side of a raised section and fell through another web, landing hard on his back. The spider pursued. Jay’s breathing was way too fast, and the spider was gaining on them, and his usual method of releasing stress was out of the question, and all of this piled up in both Jay and Cole’s psyche’s until Jay’s vision went white and then dark and then Jay passed out, head sinking against the floor. 

Cole nearly screamed. It was an extremely sinking feeling, watching through someone else’s eyes as they pass out. He was suddenly stuck in a dark place. OH THIS IS JUST. TERRIBLE. WE’RE GONNA GET EATEN BY A SPIDER. On instinct, he reached out and took control of their body as Jay essentially fell out of the cockpit. For a brief moment Cole was still out like a light…

And then he sat up suddenly, adrenaline shocking him upright. Zane shouted something at him from behind the Tiger Widow, and then a wall of ice shot up in the space between the spider and Cole, narrowly cutting off another bite at him. Cole let his body move for him, scrabbling to his feet and darting sideways to meet Zane, who had done the same.

“Cole??” The nindroid exclaimed, recognizing the darkened hair and eerie smoke-cape hanging off Jay’s usual shoulders. They let themselves take a breath as the spider’s front arms were locked into the ice wall, several feet away.

“Uh, yeah! I think- I think Jay might’ve passed out!” Cole said breathlessly, and then smacked a hand over his mouth in surprise. “Wait! I can talk?” A resounding well duh sounded in Cole’s brain. The wish only applied to Jay. Because you worded it like that. A pang of self-hatred popped up again, and Cole tried to shake it off. When you were the only one active in a body, you couldn’t afford to get stuck in your own head.

Zane grimaced. “That’s… concerning. I didn’t know one of you could fall unconscious like that!”

“Me neither! It’s a little we-” He cut himself off at the krshh noise of ice breaking. “Oh great,” Cole interjected blithely. Zane grabbed his arm and they both tore off deeper into the cave.

“We need a new plan!” Zane cried. “Its venom only comes out when it tries to bite you!”
“Well if it bites you, you’re dead!!” Cole retorted back, the panic starting to really get to him. “You heard what Soto said!! Tiger Widow venom is ridiculously deadly for humans!”

Zane’s eyes lit up. Literally. Like a lightbulb. “... I’m not a human,” he stated blankly. Cole looked at him, bewildered that this was the best they could come up with. Zane glanced at him quickly, and then skidded to a stop, whirled around, and leapt at the spider with a battle cry. Cole stood back and watched the surprisingly short confrontation, and then Zane strode right back up next to him, panting, with a thermos of venom in his hand. The Tiger Widow had all eight of its legs frozen in a large chunk. Zane looked winded, but he smiled and held up the thermos winningly.

“Got it!” The nindroid remarked. Cole was a bit dumbfounded, but shook his head and smiled.

“Full of surprises, aren’t ya. Let’s get the hell outta here.”

Dashing out of the cavern, Cole and Zane were greeted with an unfortunate sight. The pirates were already here, and Nya and Lloyd were getting a bit overwhelmed up there. Cole grimaced, and glanced at Zane again, whose eyes were pulsing with light, slightly. Like they did when he was thinking, hard. “You got a plan?”

Zane nodded after a moment. “We need to draw their attention off of the others. Once they realize we have the venom they’re going to target whoever has it.” His eyes strayed to the thermos strapped to Cole’s pack. Without words, he yanked it off and shook it, finding it still had water in it. Then he handed Cole the thermos with the venom in it.

“Now they won’t know who has it,” Zane remarked, satisfied with his plan. Man we are lucky to have ya, Zane, Cole thought quietly. He bit his lip, remembering that he was technically alone in his thoughts now. Jay was still somewhere in his subconscious. Well… he’ll wake up soon.

Cole tore off across the ground, running with Zane. The nindroid turned yelled up to Nya and Lloyd. “HEY! WE GOT THE VENOM!” That got the attention of the pirates, which allowed Nya and Lloyd to gain an advantage. But now the chase was on, and it was on the two of them.

Cole got himself real focused on sprinting up the path, trying to get up onto the cliff with the others. He was reminded of how fast Jay was on his feet in his body, and he tried to use the kinds of methods he’d seen the other use. The bouncy motions, the sporadic footwork. Cole’s memories brought up a time where he was watching Jay train on the old system of obstacles, way back at the monastery. Remembering his springy, snarky attitude back then. 

A pit formed quietly in Cole’s stomach as he still ran full-tilt. He… he really missed Jay. Missed being able to see his stupid cute little face grinning at nothing, missed being able to hear his dumb, adorable little ramblings, missed being able to grab his stupid, dumb, perfect little body and just… hold onto him. And not let go.

Cole was almost startled by his train of thought. How he was still running during all of this was beyond him. Okay, either I am severely touch-starved from being a ghost all the time… or I may have feelings for Jay.

A very loud and very angry hiss sounded from behind him, and he stole a glance behind him and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. The Tiger Widow was loose again and was absolutely gunning for him.

WE CAN HAVE THIS REALIZATION LATER GO GO GO GO GO RUNNNN!!! Cole’s mind screamed at him, and he sprang into Airjitzu to try and get away from the spider. Somehow Zane was ahead of him and running along the cliff edge, already with the others. As Cole joined up with them, Nya swapped her thermos with his. Cole wasn’t paying attention at that point, however, because the GIANT SPIDER was still pursuing all of them now. This was officially The Worst.

“GO GO GO GO!” Cole found himself yelling in that strange layered voice of his. He was at the back of the pack, and the spider was definitely gaining on them as the group crossed the rope bridge.

A very frantic Lloyd yelped “It’s not gonna hold!” as the bridge sagged under the combined weight of all four remaining ninja and the spider, and then the ropes snapped. Briefly, Cole was weightless, and then Nya seized his wrist in their human-chain they had formed. And oh great, the Tiger Widow was nipping at his heels. Cole let out a very undignified yelp and tried to yank his legs away, still keeping a grip on the thermos in his occupied hand. The adrenaline was still high here.

When he heard a very familiar, musing chuckle from somewhere next to him, Cole’s stomach sank lower. “Nadakhan?!” he squeaked in surprise.

“Mmm, hello Earthmaster. You seem to be in quite the precarious circumstance. Why not use your second wish and wish this whole struggle away, eh?” Nadakhan was floating nearby and inexplicably drinking tea.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GOURD??” Cole shouted back, feeling Jay’s voice crack on ‘gourd’. “After the garbage you pulled last time! Absolutely not!”

The spider had managed to get a grip on his pant leg, and started dragging him down. Cole squeaked, and Nya’s own grip, though tight, was faltering fast. Nadakhan rolled his eyes, then the teacup disappeared just as Nya’s grip broke. The Djinn seized Cole by his arms, pinning them to his sides with one pair of hands, while his remaining hand caught the thermos, which Cole stared at, eyes wide with fear. The Tiger Widow screeched as it plummeted far below them. Cole let out a whimper as Nadakhan poured the thermos out without breaking eye contact with him. Crap...

“Say goodbye to your little plan, Earthmaster. And… to your little friends.” Cole struggled against the grip, but it wasn’t any use as his adrenaline seemed to finally run out. He cast a terrified glance up to the others, well out of reach now. He barely got a chance to make out their expressions before, in a puff of orange smoke, he was suddenly not in the canyon anymore. He was in some sort of airship. Cole tried frantically to make out who all was around him in there, but then something blunt cracked against the back of his skull and he went out like a light, just as someone else was coming to.

——

Cole came to the muffled sounds of voices above him. He took in what was around him slowly. Jay was awake, and he was in control, sitting against the wall. He could figure that much. It brought relief to his heart, knowing that he was okay.

There was a weight on both of his ankles, for whatever reason. Vengestone, Cole knew, as soon as he noticed the lack of his more subtle powers, such as his usual tremorsense. They were in some kind of ship brig, and a rather large one at that. A good ten, fifteen feet from wall to wall. Great. We’re captured.

Jay’s emotions were a tangle of worry and fear, and he was hugging himself silently, shaking like a leaf. Cole felt a pit in his stomach again. He really wanted nothing more than to hold him, because he knew the boy needed it.

“Jay!” Cole called out, his voice sounding muted and strained. The worry fell off of Jay as he jumped in surprise, hands immediately going to his heart like it was the only way to acknowledge Cole was there. Which at this point, it kind of was. “I-I’m here! Are you okay, are you hurt?” Jay shook his head, then lifted both of his legs as if to say “just powerless”. Cole let a small mote of relief wash over him. “... okay, we’re… we’re gonna be alright.”

Jay frowned. How do you know? His silence asked. Cole’s attempt at optimism faltered.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Ah, the Earthmaster is awake!” A silky voice chimed from above them as Cole’s senses tuned into the rest of their surroundings. His heart sank. Great. Nadakhan. The Djinn himself appeared next to Jay, and he leapt to his feet in a panic. “Be calm, funny man, I’ve already had my fun with you and your voice. I have words for your little ghostly friend, however.” Nadakhan’s grin was devilish. Without warning, he seized Jay by the sides of his arms and held him up off the ground, chains on either ankle still connecting him to the floor by a solid vengestone ball. Jay stared wide-eyed at the Djinn, mouth twisting into a freaked-out frown under the glowing stitchwork.

“Well, cmon then. Out with him.” He glared at Jay. Cole tensed. He wants to talk to me. Not even gonna bother with Jay.

The Lightning Ninja froze for a second, but… he silently put an arm over his chest. Over his heart. His frightened stare turned to a glare. He was… protecting Cole, now. Nadakhan scowled and shook Jay by his shoulders. “Do you think that you intimidate me, funny man? You have no power here, send the Earthmaster out right now.”

Jay shook his head. Cole couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Jay, what are you doing?!” Jay shook his head again, defiant. There were some bubbles of emotion from the boy. Fear was still prominent, but beneath it was… courage. Passion. An impossible amount of determination to keep Cole safe. If he didn’t think this was such a bad idea, Cole might’ve been flattered.

But the sinking feeling of guilt in his chest reminded him that… maybe he didn’t deserve all that.

Nadakhan growled, then without warning jabbed out with his hook-hand and put the point against Jay’s neck. Cole jolted. “Earthmaster I know that you can hear me! Do not think that just because I’ve had my way with your little lightning boy that I won’t hurt him! Do not be a coward! Come out and face me!” The Djinn barked into Jay’s face, pressing the hook in slightly. Jay sucked a freaked-out breath in through his nose, but he didn’t remove his protective arm, just glared right back at Nadakhan like he wasn’t even afraid, even though he was. Cole could feel it. I’m not worth it Jay, just… let me out. Please.

Nadakhan pressed his hook further, and Cole finally couldn’t stand for this any longer. “Wait!” He cried out, knowing the Djinn could hear him. Feeling awful about it the whole way, he took control from Jay, forcefully. The shock from the other was palpable as he was cast into the backseat, and Jay’s hair shifted to its darker shade. Cole opened his eyes and looked at Nadakhan sternly. The Djinn just smirked and removed the hook from Cole’s neck. 

“Hello, Earthmaster. Your little friend is surprisingly… protective. I wonder how deserving of that you really are.” Cole’s heart sank suddenly. Nadakhan released him, setting him on the floor in the center of the platform.

“Spare me the drivel. What do you want?” Cole spat out, trying to maintain his stern look. Bubbles of panic came up from Jay, but he tried to block them out, trying to focus. The Djinn chuckled.

“Oh, you already know what I want. To help you. You still have two wishes to make-”

“You really think I’m going to wish again after the shit you pulled last time?!” Cole barked angrily. Nadakhan raised a brow.

“Yes, I do. Because I know the ends to which you would go for that insufferable friend of yours,” Nadakhan drolled, once again circling Cole. “I’ve been made aware of your little escapades. You try so hard to protect him. But I’ve noticed something.” He suddenly got in Cole’s face. “Oftentimes, you are responsible for getting him into the danger you try to protect him from! What irony!”

Cole felt his breathing hitch. He hated that Nadakhan was right. “Stop talking,” he said, hating even more that his voice was shaking. The Djinn smirked, clearly pleased that he had struck a nerve.

“You have caused this boy so much hardship from the moment you got yourself stuck in his body, yes? You take risks his body isn’t made for, you take control when it isn’t necessary-”

“Shut up.”

“- you let yourself get distracted by him and then you hurt him, by taking away that one thing that makes him so charming.” Nadakhan scoffed. “Despite whatever efforts you make there is one thing you cannot protect that boy from and that is yourself. ” He punctuated his statement by poking Cole in the chest.

Cole was frozen in place, looking… a little broken. He’s right. FSM, he’s right. The pit in his stomach felt deeper.

I try and I try and for what? I can’t protect him from me, no matter how hard I try.

I took his voice from him. I spoke the wish that made that happen.

What am I doing?

There was some tiny voice in him that argued with it, but the self-loathing Cole felt, just by realizing how utterly useless he was like this, overtook it. He had been a terrible bodymate, a terrible friend, a terrible person to Jay. He looked down at the floor, feeling tears prick his eyes. Nadakhan folded his arms and looked down at him in disdain.

“Perhaps this wish is for his own good, yes? Perhaps you ought to-”

“I can say it myself,” Cole said in a very quiet, broken voice. So heartbreakingly uncharacteristic of him. He took a slow, shuddering breath, ignoring the panic and worry and defiance practically fizzing out of Jay, and spoke again, voice strained as he attempted not to cry.

“I wish… for Jay and I... to spend some needed time apart… in our own bodies.”

The Djinn’s grin was devious. “Your wish… is yours to keep.”

Cole shut his eyes as orange smoke overtook him and as a snap rang out from Nadakhan’s fingers. There was a startling sensation, like suddenly escaping out into fresh air.

And then Cole breathed in.

Notes:

i hate to leave yall on a cliffhanger in arguably my longest chapter yet but like. goddamn it was too sweet a cliffhanger not to skfdsljfdas
Anyway! hope yall enjoyed, I'll see ya next time!

Chapter 6: Menagerie

Summary:

Cole’s second wish has been made. They’re both prisoners now. But perhaps Cole can make an unlikely ally...

Cole opened his eyes. His eyes. That was his first sign. The black hair falling in his face was his. The hands he saw below him as he pushed himself up were his. Not Jay’s.

Jay entering his thoughts was what drove him to stand up. The wish had worked. Cole was in his body. Just as he had left it nine months prior, in a deepstone gi. He looked to the left, and was met with a wooden wall. Memories started to return to him. Ship. I’m on a ship.

Where is Jay? That was at the forefront of his thought.

He looked to his right, and there Jay was, slowly starting to sit up. Still with the stitching over his mouth. All the memories came flooding back at once now.

Nadakhan. The wishes. We’re captured on his ship, we’re in his brig.

Fuck, what did I do?

“Jay?” Cole spoke up, for maybe the first time since Yang’s temple, in his voice. No weird layering. No ghostly echo. It almost frightened him.

Jay looked over and his eyes widened. And then they started watering. Oh. Cole kind of forgot about everything, and his instincts - his heart, maybe - took over. He took a large step forward, then two, and Jay did the same, arms flung out as he practically leapt at him, and they were just moments away from finally, finally being able to hold each other-

“Not so fast,” a silky voice drolled.

Suddenly, almost like a pair of same-pole magnets, Cole felt a force fling him backwards, apparently doing the same to Jay as both boys were suddenly slammed against opposite walls. Cole let out a grunt of shock as he slid down into a sitting position on the floor, a vengestone ball-and-chain clunking down with him, then looked back across the room in bewilderment. He went to stand up again, to move forward again, towards Jay again, but that force pushed back, and he couldn’t get more than a step away from the wall.

“What the hell!” Cole found himself shouting, and was met with only that sickening, evil cackle. He turned to glare at where it had originated from as Nadakhan made himself seen.

“What?” The Djinn asked innocently. “Didn’t you say you need to spend time apart?” He punctuated this with another laugh, and Cole felt rage just burn through him. But he couldn’t make a move at Nadakhan, not like this. “Genuinely, Earthmaster, I am concerned for your choice in words!”

“SHUT UP!” Cole screamed at him, feeling his stomach sink yet again. So what, I’ve basically made us REPEL each other??? FUCK this.

Nadakhan scowled at him. “... very well. Enjoy your wish. It is yours to keep after all.” With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke. Leaving Jay and Cole, alone. In this sort of brig.

For a while, Cole doesn’t say anything. How could he? He fucked up, again, and put Jay in danger, again. Yes, he had his body back. He should’ve been happy about that but it just felt… empty, to have gotten it the way that he did. Like just another betrayal in this strange string of betrayals towards his best friend. Cole wouldn’t be surprised if Jay was upset with him again.

He looked across the room to the other now, and locked eyes with Jay silently. Jay looked… frightened, honestly. It tore at Cole’s heart to see him like that, and it worsened his self-loathing to know that it happened this way because of him. But… he couldn’t just say nothing.

“... I’m sorry, Jay,” Cole spoke up, much to the surprise of the other. “I… I don’t know what I planned on doing there.” Jay gave him a quiet, worried look. Worried about him. Cole sighed, and pushed the hair out of his face. “I-I guess I thought I was doing something right? But… damn it all, I didn’t mean for it to go this far! I didn’t mean that like I wanted to be apart from you!” The words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop himself, and Cole just gritted his teeth, feeling tears prick at his eyes again. “I just… I feel like I’m putting you in a lot more trouble than it’s worth. A lot more trouble than… than I’m worth.” His shoulders hunched as he said it aloud.

“Nadakhan was right about that at least. I’m the one responsible for putting you through all… this. Fuck, Jay, I’m so sorry , I thought-” He cut himself off with a slight sob. Now he was really crying. He didn’t want to be, but it’s not like he could change it now.

“I-I really thought I could fix what I’d done! But I was wrong! I still hurt you! Again! And just- damn it!” Cole’s fist smacked against the floor and he winced, his arms no longer as tough without his powers. He let out another sharp sob, staring at the middle of the floor and trying to blink away the tears streaming down his face. Jay looked horrified, like he wanted nothing more to reach out to him, and was fighting somewhat against the force that repelled him from Cole.

“I’m just… I’m sorry. I thought that what you needed was time away from me. I kept putting you in danger. I’ve been a horrible friend.” His knees drew up to himself, and Cole shuddered a small, choked sigh. “I really thought I could fix it this time. But I… couldn’t. And didn’t. I’m… so sorry.” He buried his face in his arms and went silent, still trying hard not to fully break down into crying. He hadn’t noticed Jay take out the notepad Nya had given him and start writing something.

And then Cole felt something light bounce off his head. He lifted his tear-stained face from his arms and peered at the ground, where a small paper ball had fallen next to his foot. His eyes darted towards Jay. He was still holding the pencil in his hand, and he had a strange sort of… determination in his eyes. He looked at Cole expectantly, gesturing to the crumpled paper. A note. For me.

Cole hesitantly leaned down to the paper and scooped it up, then uncrumpled it quickly. It was a surprisingly long note, different sections zigging and zagging across the paper with arrows directing the reader this way and that. It was funny, how fitting it was for a note from the erratic Lightning Ninja. Cole glanced again between the note and Jay, then began to read it to himself.

Cole,

First of all, I forgive you. Yes, this all sucks a lot right now, and it wasn’t the smartest string of decisions you’ve made since I’ve known you, but… I’m okay. We’re okay.

Second of all, I think I have to say something about the feelings I was feeling from you during all that. It was... well it was a lot of guilt. And I know where it’s coming from. I mean, how couldn’t I? You’ve said it from the start that you felt guilty for being stuck in my body with no way to fix it. No way to… leave me alone, I guess.

Cole bit his lip. That was about the long and short of it. How long had Jay known about all this? Had he wanted to talk about it? 

But you know what I’ve learned in these past months? That I really, really hate being alone. 

And if I’m being perfectly honest and pouring my heart out into this damn note (which I am) I… prefer having you by my side more than anyone else. I can tell we’ve grown a lot closer lately and I’m always gonna be thankful for that. No matter the weird-ass circumstances, I’d rather you be here with me than not at all.

Cole looked up now. Jay, for how beat-up he looked, was smiling so softly and so reassuringly back at him. Another one of those heart-melting looks of his. Cole felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards, slightly. He remembered that old phrase Jay used, back when they had first gotten stuck together. It was a kind of promise, one that Cole had… nearly forgotten. He kept reading.

There’s something else. Do you remember the ice mirrors back in the tomb of the FSM? Remember what I saw in it?

I saw you. And I’ll admit, I didn’t know how to feel about it back then. I was still hung up on Nya back then. It’s why I didn’t tell you.

Cole blinked in surprise. Jay had told Cole that he saw Nya in the mirror. But… he saw Cole? And they were together? The thought made his heart jump in his chest and his face go hot, which was a sensation he wasn’t used to now.

But looking at it now… I wouldn’t mind would LOVE having you by my side like that in some sort of future. Near or far. I really would.

The “LOVE” in that statement was underlined three times. Cole blinked in more surprise, and felt his face grow even hotter. The shy sort of smile that had found its way onto his face was mirrored by Jay, who had tilted his head slightly at Cole from across the cell. Cole finally got himself to speak up.
“I… I’d like that too. Love that too,” He said aloud to Jay, who seemed giddy at that response. Cole’s smile deepened and he kept reading.

Now there’s a lot more I have to say on the matter. Believe me, a LOT. But I’d like to… yknow, say it. And unfortunately I can’t do that yet.

So whaddaya say we chin up, buckle down, and get ourselves out of this wicked mess we ended up in???

Together. Like we always do, rockcandy.

<3

Cole was practically about to start crying again. Jay had… so much faith in him. In the both of them. It was unbelievable. This spunky little sparkplug had found his way into Cole’s heart and that’s where he was staying. FSM, I really do love him, huh.

Cole lowered the note and looked over at Jay again, tears in his eyes. He went to swipe them away and sniffled. Despite everything, despite the direness of their situation, Cole couldn’t help it. He smiled. He laughed. Jay’s joyous expression made it seem like he was laughing too.

“I… y-yeah, we’re gonna get out of this, sparky. Together.” He put a hand over his heart, and Jay did the same. A gesture that had so much meaning for them now. It felt… almost okay.

“Aww!” Cole jolted as he heard a high-pitched voice coo from above them. Whipping his head up, he spotted a… Serpentine??? Yeah, the green-scaled head of that Serpentine pirate, looking down at them. The snake-faced individual, who had just been smiling giddily before, paled once he realized he’d been caught. “WAH!”

“What are you sniveling about, Clancee?!” The sharp and familiar voice of Nadakhan barked from somewhere unseen, and the Serpentine yanked his head out from between the bars with a babbled apology as he moved out of sight. Cole tensed. Nadakhan. Now what does he want?

The Djinn poofed into the cell and Cole stood up at the same time as Jay, the latter looking a bit more skittish. “Apologies for the absence, I was merely preparing a cell on our other ship for your little friend here.”

Cole glared hard at Nadakhan and he raised his eyebrow in response. “What, Earthmaster? Do you think I am foolish enough to keep you both in the same cell?” He hovered over Jay for a moment, and Cole’s eyes darted between the Djinn and his very best friend.

Jay looked frightened. Before Cole could stop himself he spoke up, clearly and firmly. “It’s going to be okay, Jay, we’re gonna be alright.” Out of the corner of his eye he caught the Serpentine pirate peering through the bars at them again. Clancee, his brain reminded him. But Cole didn’t worry about that now.

Nadakhan looked unimpressed by Cole’s outburst of reassurance. He simply grabbed Jay by the front of his shirt and yanked him up off the ground, no longer looking at Cole and instead sneering at the Lightning Ninja. “You really believe him? You’re on my ship now, little spark. And I have the say whether or not you will be… ‘alright’.” He spat the last word sharply, scowling hard at Jay. Jay looked more than a little uncomfortable and it made Cole’s blood boil.

Jay glanced back at Cole, and then fear was somehow replaced by… determination. I’m gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay.

Nadakhan still looked unimpressed, and he poofed away with Jay in tow. Cole sucked in a sharp breath. Now they weren’t… together. But Jay was still here, it just might be… harder to talk with him than it already was.

But it could be managed.

——

The last few hours of the day were absolute hell for Cole. Deck-swabbing, hull-cleaning (with a ball and chain precariously close to plummeting off the boat!!) and general snide orders from Nadakhan kept him busy. It sucked, and it sucked even more by the fact that he couldn’t even see Jay on the neighboring ship. 

Eventually, the Djinn abruptly left the Keep ’s deck, going to the other ship and likely to give the same sort of treatment to Jay. And Cole was left on his own in his cell. He was just about to get settled for a restless night of strategizing and escape-planning when he heard a pssssssst from above him.

Cole craned his neck upwards and saw the Serpentine pirate. Clancee. Okay, what the hell does this guy want?

The snakeheaded fellow glanced in both directions before… opening the grate over the cell. And tossing a rope down to Cole. “H-hey!” Clancee stuttered, gesturing to the rope. “C-cmon up! N-N-Nadakhan’s busy, he w-won’t see you!”

Cole’s eyebrows shot up. Is he trying to help me escape??? That’s… odd. Huh. He wasn’t about to take this for granted, though. As he took hold of the rope and started to climb, he heard other voices chattering hushedly on the deck.

“Did you at least give the bloke the note?” One said in a gravelly tone. Clancee turned back around and walked a couple steps out of sight of Cole, then answered.

“I-I-I don’t think he w-would believe it was from the little guy! Not t-till after we talked to him!”

“[screech]”

“Yeah, that sounds about right, Rich,” a third voice chimed.

Cole’s head was spinning. Was the whole crew up there? Were they all in on this? And what was all this about a note?

Did Jay give them a note?

Cole finally emerged onto the deck and saw that the whole crew was gathered around a large lantern, larger than the map one. Clancee came hurriedly back over to him and reached down behind him and yanked the ball and chain up onto the deck. Cole shied away from him a bit, still keeping his guard up, but the Serpentine just smiled sheepishly at him, and then went back over to the huddle of pirates, being sure to leave a seat empty.

“... evening,” Cole greeted stiffly, after a moment of awkward silence spread between the two parties. The mustached pirate straightened up and regarded Cole respectfully, gesturing to the open seat.

“Take a seat, pardner.” Cole hesitated a beat, but sat down. He radiated suspicion for a beat, but realized after a moment that that would dampen his chances of getting the hell out of here. So he forcibly relaxed his shoulders. The hulking individual across from him suddenly let out a hearty chuckle.

“There you go, we’re not bloody interviewing ya! Relax, eh. Glad you could join us... come to think of it we never actually heard your name.” She leaned on her knees and rested her head in her hands.

Cole found himself still feeling Nervous. “... Cole. Master of Earth.”

“Oh, w-we knew that part!” Clancee chimed from next to him. “I-I mean, that’s all Nadakhan calls you!”

“... right,” Cole answered stiffly, glancing at the Serpentine again. He took a short breath, and then addressed the elephant in the room. “Alright, I’m going to skip the pleasantries at this point. Why in all the realms are you helping me? Aren’t you all loyal pirates of Nadakhan’s crew or whatever?”

The crew around him exchanged glances… and then burst into laughter. Just, full-on guffawing. Cole jolted back in surprise. So they’re not??? What even is happening. This is ridiculous.

The mustached pirate flipped a tear off his eye with a grin. “Now, that’s a rich one! Here’s the thing, Cole. We haven’t been loyal to that two-bit cap’n in close to 20 years! We just work for ‘im!”

“... huh?” Cole raised his eyebrow incredulously at the fellow. “But then, who are you even loyal to?”

“Call it corny, but we’re loyal just to each other. I mean, we all have one big ol’ thing in common, and I guess you do too, now.” The mustached pirate raised his hands in a gesture to the others, and they all spoke in unison.

“Nadakhan screwed us over.”

Minutes later, Cole had been properly introduced. It was a bit of a strange sensation - meeting this tight-knit crew that looked out for each other more than they did their “master”. Reminded him of his own crew. Man I miss those guys. I hope they’re alright.

Cole learned, quickly, of the dynamic these pirates had. The mustached one, named Flintlock, was the de facto “leader” among them all, and had been touted as being “the captain in every way except the name”. The big one, Dogshank, she was the one who had the most proper fighting ability amongst all of them. She wasn’t as angry as Cole has expected, just had a very strong sense of justice and fairness and all that. Practically a direct opposite of Doubloon, the masked pirate who knew Spinjitzu. Apparently.

“How the hell did you learn that?” Cole had asked once he heard of it. Doubloon simply kept his Comedy face on and made a zipping-lips motion. Cole gave him a look, but he didn’t falter. Other stuff he had learned about Doubloon included his habit of cheating at games, his strange methods of showing affection (stealing stuff for you) and his knowledge of Ninjagan Sign Language, which he never used in front of Nadakhan for fear of being accused of “breaking the rules” of his wish.

The cyborg monkey, which everyone just called Rich (but whose full title was Manny Rich III, Finest Shipbuilder in All of Ninjago) used to be a normal human dude but got thoroughly fucked over by Nadakhan’s twisting of his words. Cole noted that Nadakhan only called him “Monkey Wretch” but the others found it demeaning and refused to do so in private. Rich was also very protective of the younger half of the crew, namely Doubloon and Clancee.

Which brought Cole to Clancee! Who was, in every aspect of the word, a total nerd. He had always been an enthusiast of pirate everything, and joining a pirate crew was something he’d always dreamed of! But once Clancee’d gotten here, he was immediately on the bottom of the food chain according to Nadakhan. Never given even half a chance to prove himself as a proper “sc-scallywag.” And it hurt, being suddenly treated like the lowest part of your greatest fantasy.

Cole found it… almost touching. That this kind of menagerie of folks would form a bond over being screwed over by the same lousy captain. They all seemed very ride-or-die about each other. And, as Flintlock explained, that ride-or-die attitude extended to him and Jay now.

“So uh, y-yeah! That’s why we’re uh, h-helping you!” Clancee chimed happily once all the introductions had been in order. “And y-your, eh, f-friend!”

“Speaking of your ‘friend’,” Flintlock began, “Rich actually picked up a note from him when the kid was on his own. Rest assured, we brought it over and didn’t take a peek or nothin.”

With that, Rich popped up directly next to Cole with a screech, nearly giving the boy a heart attack. Cole took the note awkwardly, his brain taking in the odd emphasis Flintlock had put on ‘friend.’ Yes, Jay was his friend! Was he talking about his crush? Or about the little semi-confession he’d gotten? Cole bit his lip and shoved these thoughts down for now. He could worry about the status of their relationship once Jay was in his arms again. I don’t think I’m ever letting go of him after this.

Cole shook his head out and unfolded the note-paper. A hastily-scribbled one, compared to the meticulous-yes-messy writing of Jay’s last note.

Cole,

If I somehow get this note over to you, I’m safe for now. Nadakhan’s keeping me below decks in this dinky sort of quarters. It’s… kinda weird. Feels like a dressing room. Long story short, it might be harder to get us both out of here. But I’m not giving up hope, and neither should you!

If you do somehow get this note, I think something weird happened when you got your body back, because I only have half my notepad and one of my pencils.

Cole reflexively touched his back pocket. Sure enough, there was a small pad of paper and a pencil. Must’ve gotten there during the separation.

Please please write back to me with the other half of that set if you have it. This might be our best bet to get our plan straight and get the hell out of here. I’ll be in touch, rockcandy. <3

- Jay

Cole sat back slightly in his seat, the corners of his mouth twitching up subconsciously as he practically heard Jay’s nasally voice in his head call him ‘rockcandy.’ Like music to his ears. Music that might take a while to actually bring back. Still, Cole was practically beaming at the thought.

And then he remembered he was in strange company and he jolted out of his daydream, face going a bit red. That action was met with slight snickers from the whole group, which just intensified the blush. Fantastic.

“Oh aw, he put a heart!” Clancee chimed from somehow right next to Cole, craning his long snaky neck over his shoulder. Cole made an indignant noise and stuck the note in his shirt, away from prying eyes. Clancee, predictably, jolted back and started apologizing on reflex. “Ah! Sorry sorry!”

Cole glowered at the Serpentine for about another second, but relented soon after. It was hard getting well-and-truly mad at Clancee. Somehow. Though the red in his face didn’t fade yet, he put his mind back on the most important thing - that he’d made new allies in this pirate crew. And that even with the separation and the communication challenges, Cole and Jay could very well make it out of here.

They just had to make a plan.

Notes:

stan the misfortune’s keep crew 2020. they’re just vibin

Chapter 7: The Planning Phase

Summary:

Cole has his own body now, but he can't stay next to Jay, otherwise they get launched apart again. And he's on a separate ship. What kind of help can these pirates offer for them to get out of this mess?

Notes:

Slight change in the rules for the second wish! when cole and jay attempt to come into contact with each other, the wish triggers and launches them apart at impressive speeds. They're not allowed to spend that time together

Cole’s first time waking back up from sleep was not what he’d expected it to be. The sleep itself wasn’t great either. He’d have to get a better night’s sleep in his own bed once they got out of here.

But somehow, the shoddy sleep Cole had gotten didn’t bother him much. His mind played back the events of yesterday almost like it was a strange nightmare that turned into a fantastic dream halfway through. The end result was memories of yesterday pooled together in a sort of odd melting-pot of emotions.

Cole was worried out of his mind, because they were captured and rendered pretty much powerless. He was overstimulated, mostly due to the sudden sensory overload of having a normal human body again. He was still, a bit, guilty over the wishes he’d made that had gotten them in this mess in the first place.

But… then Cole was optimistic, because he’d managed to make allies with the crew of the ship he was imprisoned on. He was a bit excited, because he had a body again and he could reach out and touch things and people again. And, though he hadn’t had time to fully realize it, he was overwhelmingly in love with Jay Walker.

That last one came as a bit bittersweet, seeing as Cole couldn’t really see the Lightning Ninja right now. Jay was stuck on the neighboring ship, the one that Nadakhan retired to each night. It worried Cole to no end, not knowing if Jay was okay by himself over there. But with the new discovery that he could pass notes by way of Rich the cyborg monkey mechanic, Cole saw a bit of a silver lining in their situation. They could still very well come to a plan, especially with the crew’s help.

Well, first he had to survive another grueling day of whatever the hell Nadakhan had planned for him. Speaking of whom, the Djinn appeared in front of him with a disdainful expression.

“Good morning, Earthmaster.” He flashed a devious smile at Cole’s fatigued expression. “Sleep well? You know, all it’d take is one little wish and you could get yourself out of-”

“Yeah, yeah, heard ya the first time. I ain’t budging, not after the stunts you pulled with the first two.” Cole folded his arms as he cut Nadakhan off and glowered at him, while he seemed to take rather unkindly to being interrupted. “I mean, there’s nothing you can get outta me, aaand Jay can’t wish for anything, because he can’t talk. Soo you don’t really have any reason to keep us pris-”

This time, Cole was cut off, as Nadakhan seized him by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall of the brig with a growl. “What, so you can run off to your dwindling friends and your city that hates you? Nice try. There is one thing you are still good for on this ship of mine and that is work! So work…” Nadakhan started, before teleporting the both of them onto the deck and throwing Cole unceremoniously onto the wood. “... you shall do!” 

Cole landed hard, banging his side on the vengestone ball-and-chain still shackled to him. Nadakhan didn’t seem to care, and instead addressed the rest of the crew, who had otherwise been going about their business aboard the Misfortune’s Keep. “You all! Keep him busy, feel free to do whateeever you want to him. I have matters to attend to with our other prisoner. If you need me, don’t. We can continue to make good on Djinnjago after I have attended to important matters.” With that, he simply poof ed away, presumably to the other ship.

Cole started to sit up, and Dogshank, nearest him, hesitated for a beat before going to help him up, watching the spot where Nadakhan had disappeared from. “You awright, Cole? Didn’t bruise nothin, didja?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks,” Cole responded halfheartedly, brushing himself off. “The only thing he did to me is make me worry. What’s he even planning for Jay that he has to stay over there all day?” Cole ran a hand through his hair and frowned. Clancee, who had abandoned his work on swabbing the deck to come check on Cole as well, frowned back and leaned on his mop.

“We-well, you do got a way to asssk ‘im what Nadakhan’sss plannin!” The Serpentine fellow reminded Cole with a little smile. He pointed at the ninja’s pocket, where half of the notepad and a pen still were. “Ooh, I’ll go fetch Rich!” Cole blinked in surprise as Clancee scurried off again.

He turned to Dogshank, recalling some other important matters that Nadakhan had mentioned. “And what is Djinnjago? Is that part of his plan?” Dogshank tilted her head at him for a second, but soon figured something out. She gestured for Cole to follow her to the railing, and then pointed out across the horizon.

“ This is Djinnjago. Or the new one he’s tryna make, at least.”

Cole blinked in awe at the sight before him. Dozens of floating islands that Cole soon realized were literal chunks of Ninjago hung among the clouds. The impounded Bounty, the Airjitzu temple, all kinds of places. All floating, all tethered together by chains. “... why is he doing this?”

“Rebuilding his old realm,” Flintlock chimed from above on the ratlines. “Somethin’ happened recently that destroyed the old Djinnjago, some sorta realm issue that broke up the balance, and now he’s taking it out on the rest of Ninjago. Gonna turn it into his own playground.” He hmph ed. “No honor in piracy for him anymore. He’s goin’ a lil mad with power after he got that spiky-haired feller in his sword-”

“He put Kai in his sword???” Cole yelped incredulously. “How- what did-“ He stumbled through his words, mind spinning. Flintlock hopped down from the ropes and set a hand on Cole’s shoulder with a small sad look.

“The sword replaced his teapot, and by-and-large he gets more powerful when he can convince someone t’make all three of their wishes. This Kai feller made those wishes, an’ now he’s in the sword.” Flintlock let out a small sigh, and patted Cole’s shoulder lightly. “He one of yer teammates?”

Cole frowned harder, feeling a little helpless. “... yeah,” he replied quietly. What am I even going to do about that? Can we even get Kai back? FSM, Nya’s going to be crushed… 

“H-hey!” Clancee spoke up as he returned, trying to pull Cole out of his stressed spiral. “Ya might not be able to d-d-do anything about Nadakhan’sss ssssword, b-but you can help your o-other buddy! I got Rich, he g-got another note from him!” Sure enough, the robotic monkey on Clancee’s shoulder had a paper clutched in his tail and screeched in greeting to Cole.

Cole did brighten a bit at the idea that Jay was alright enough to get a note over to him. He took the paper from Rich with a nod as thanks, and unfolded it to read. Dogshank, without really meaning to, hovered over his shoulder. She was just tall like that.

i know this monkey guy can’t talk (and i can’t talk either) but we somehow figured out a decent way of communicating and he told me you’re alright! so that’s good

 

i figure you’ve probably got ideas already

and i’ve got some too

most of them hinge on getting these vengestone shackles off of us first

 

Cole glanced up to the others inquiringly. “Do any of you guys know where the keys to these things are?” He lifted his foot in display of the ball-and-chain. Dogshank huffed a sigh.

“It’d be tricky, Nadakhan keeps those keys on him all the time. Only time they aren’t with the bastard is when he’s sleeping.” She hummed slightly. “Come to think of it, that could work. Doubloon’s quiet enough.” Doubloon nodded from where he was standing, arms crossed.

“Well, that’s a start!” Cole said brightly. He turned back to the note and continued to read.

 

nadakhan’s a bit of a nutcase and he kind of scares me

no surprise there

but i do roughly know what he’s planning

sounds weird but he kinda needs to marry me or something

to get full power

 

Cole grimaced at the mere thought of that. He glanced up now. “Okay, did anyone know about this marriage thing before we got here?”

“Oh, I-I did! And it’ss, uh, unfortunately l-legitimate,” Clancee explained, scratching the back of his long neck sheepishly. “SSSee, it’s sssomething with the sssssceremony - Djinn culture is a-all about ssceremony - that basically letsss N-Nadakhan use his powers whenever he wantsss! N-n-no wish required or anythin’!”

“And once he gets that, he’d have no need for… us,” Dogshank remarked coldly, scowling into the distance. “So he’s finally deciding to get rid of us,” she added in a mutter. Clearly a little hurt.

Cole cast a slightly pitying look around the group. “I’m sorry you guys have to deal with that, on top of trying to help us out.” Dogshank’s gaze swiveled to him and 

“Eh, it all works out. You get your boyfriend outta here, and Nad can’t do shite. Then we can figure it out from there.” Dogshank shrugged.

Cole blinked at her for a second, knitting his brows slightly and feeling his face go hot. “... um, Jay’s not… not my boyfriend.” Even if I want him to be. FSM who the hell am I kidding of COURSE I want him to be!

“Wait, really?” Dogshank’s eyebrows shot up from beneath her helmet. “What the hell are you waiting for then?”

Cole bit his lip, feeling remarkably embarrassed. “... well, yknow, the getting captured bit kind of threw a wrench in things…” he grumbled.

Dogshank relented at that. “Eh, that’s fair.” She gestured to Cole quietly. “Well, don’t let me stop you, keep readin.”

Cole did so, filing away his feelings for a second.

 

well, if you can figure a way to get the keys for these things, i’ll give you a rundown of my end of the plan

that’s all i’ve got for now

stay as safe as you can, alright?

- Jay <3

 

There was that heart again. Cole’s lips twitched into a small sort of smile, in spite of himself. He glanced up, that smile still plastered on his face, and not only Dogshank, but also Flintlock, was giving him a knowing look. Cole blushed furiously and stuffed the note into his shirt with the other one. Flintlock let out a solitary “heh” in response.

“So! Anyway!” Cole spoke up loudly. “I guess our best bet is to figure out a way to get… Doubloon to get a chance at getting the key off of Nadakhan. Then we can start figuring a way to escape.” He pulled his notepad out of his pocket and started scribbling down a note.

Unfortunately, he only got about an eighth of the way through it before Clancee suddenly grabbed his shoulder in a panic. “N-N-Nadakhan’s comin back!” All at once, he shoved a mop in Cole’s hands and Cole dropped the notepad. Not seeing anywhere else to hide it, he put the mop head over it.

Sure enough, the Djinn in question appeared in a puff of smoke, just in the middle of the deck. Cole glanced around the crew silently; all of them had inexplicably gone back to tasks they were doing before Nadakhan had thrown Cole up here. Heads down. It was like a switch had flipped. It… disheartened Cole. Poor guys, they probably do this charade every day.

Nadakhan remained for only a moment, regarding everyone with a lot of disdain, and then just like that, he vanished again. The crew took a breath and then the switch flipped back, and they all relaxed.

“He does that a lot,” Flintlock remarked blithely. “He likes to pretend he trusts us but ah… evidently not.”

Cole frowned. “I wish I could do more for you guys, you don’t deserve all this! Maybe we can get you guys an out too?” He let the mop fall down and scooped up his notebook again. Flintlock sighed.

“I appreciate the concern, Cole, but we’ve been stuck here long enough that we can handle ourselves. We’d rather you and your boyfriend not suffer the same fate.” He patted Cole on the shoulder gently. “Best you don’t worry about us.”

Cole’s heart sank a bit, but he didn't say anything, just frowning at Flintlock again. I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Cole? The one who worries about my team literally ALL THE TIME? In the background, at least? Thinking about his friends again caused his shoulders to hunch. He had reminded himself that now his friends were down three ninja instead of just one. Fuckin’ hell, Cole was scared for them. What if they tried to come after him and Jay? Would Nadakhan put them in that sword too?

He must’ve looked outwardly anxious, because Clancee spoke up again and it almost startled him. “H-hey, besssst n-n-not to worry about everything all at oncsse! L-let’sss finish that letter y-you ssstarted!” The Serpentine pointed at the notebook again, and cracked a nervous smile. Like he knew how it felt to worry yourself into a corner.

Cole took a deep breath, and smiled back. He’s right. Best thing I can do for the group is get Jay and I out of here. 

The rest of that day was spent planning, writing, and rewriting a very long note to Jay. If you asked any of the crew, they’d think Cole was over-planning, and may in fact have a tendency to over-plan. But no one spoke up about it, so the end result was around four notes from the notepad stuck together with spit.

When the sun started to set, something of a worry creeped back into Cole. It’s not like it ever left, really. He just… he wanted to see Jay again. It was eating at him, not having a single familiar face to see. Sure, the pirates were great and all - hell, they even invited him to sing sea shanties with them - but the longer he spent with them, the more he was reminded of his crew, the one he so desperately needed to get back to.

And that path led him back to thinking about Jay. Jay, Jay, Jay. Cole pictured the moments after he found a way to fix this. Getting that damn stay-apart wish reversed and running right up to him, seeing Jay’s voice no longer restrained and hearing him speak again, fuckin hell Cole missed his voice. He’d probably give him an earful for getting into this whole mess, while subsequently hugging the absolute hell outta him. Wouldn’t be the first time. Cole’s smile crept onto his face, even after his daydreaming was so rudely interrupted by Nadakhan busting in and throwing him back down in the brig cell. Jay just kinda… had that effect on him. Okay, yeah, maybe I am a little in love with him. Maybe.

When the deck quieted down enough, Clancee threw open the cage bars and helped Cole climb back up, and Rich went to grab the planning letter and go deliver it, like he had last night. Cole hesitated, a second.

“Eh… look, I know it’s not what we planned, but could I… maybe sneak over with you to give this to Jay?” Cole asked tentatively, awkwardly stooping down to pick up his ball and chain with his other hand. “I can carry this, I discovered! S’not that heavy, aaaand without it scraping the floor I can definitely be stealthy.” He glanced around to the group, feeling kinda awkward still.

“Yknow ye don’t need t’ask us permission to go see yer boyfriend, Cole. I don’t control you, even if Nad says I do,” Flintlock chimed quietly. Cole felt himself go a bit red. Ah. Right. Whoops.

“Still not my boyfriend,” Cole said quickly, before straightening up. “So I’m guessing that isn’t a no?”

Rich screeched in agreement. Cole cracked a smile. Dogshank stifled a laugh.

Minutes later (and after the very confusing equipment of a tea cozy on his ball and chain to muffle the sound, courtesy of Doubloon) Cole was treading lightly across the thick chain that tethered the two skyships together. The vengestone ball was still looped on his arm to avoid throwing him off-balance and making him fall. Just ahead of him, Rich was having no trouble at all getting across. Monkeys, huh.

Cole set foot on the ship deck. This ship, now that he was close enough to it, was far more ornate than the other. Clearly Nadakhan took more care to this one, even the styling of the architecture was well-maintained. Nothing like the flagship of Misfortune’s Keep, which while nice, was more utilitarian than luxury.

Cole treaded lightly, keeping his footfalls as quiet as he could. Rich crept slowly ahead of him, glancing back every now and then to check on Cole with sharp eyes. Cole thought it was a little weird, but it’s not like it was Rich’s fault he was a cyborg monkey.

Into the quarters, down the hall, very slowly and carefully past Nadakhan’s bedroom. And then… there he was. Stuck behind the iron bars of a smaller cell off to the side of Nadakhan’s map room, legs drawn up to himself, was Jay. Still with the stitched mouth, still with the ball-and-chain on his ankle. Looking… lonely. Impossibly lonely.

Cole couldn’t take it anymore, stepping past Rich. “Psst! Jay!” And Jay swiveled his head and saw Cole and just lit up. Up on his feet, grinning behind the golden threadwork stitching his mouth shut, like it couldn’t even contain the smile. Cole couldn’t help it, he smiled too.

He was up on the other side of the bars in a flash, with Rich on his shoulder. “Aw hell, it’s good to see your face again! You’re okay, right? He didn’t hurt you or anything?”

Jay shook his head, and a little bit of the tension in Cole’s shoulders relaxed. Jay reached through the bars, out towards Cole, and Cole almost reached back, but pulled away at the last second.

“Wait, I- remember what happened last time. We got thrown across the room, it could… wake up Nadakhan.” Cole slowly lowered his hand. Jay’s face fell, and he hesitantly retracted his hand, and fuck did Cole want to grab his hand anyway, to yank those bars off the wall and hug Jay and hold onto him and never let go, ever. But he couldn’t, could he?

Well, at least they were closer than before. Up close, Cole could take in every detail of Jay. His face looked all red and puffy, had he been crying? His hands fidgeted quietly, and it felt pent-up, like he’d been too nervous to even fidget for a while. His shoulders were all hunched, and there was a kind of… smallness, to him. In a way Cole hadn’t seen before. He looked… scared. And why wouldn’t he be? 

“We’re gonna get you out of here,” Cole thought aloud, eyes meeting Jay’s after a second. All green and shiny with… tears. It made Cole’s heart ache. He kept talking. “We’ve got a plan, it’s gonna go off as soon as it can, alright?” Rich on his shoulder screeched in agreement

Jay nodded, then tilted his head at the second part. Then why are you here now?, the gesture seemed to ask. Cole pulled the planing note out from his pocket and passed it to Rich, who walked along his arm and handed it to Jay.

“Well, there’s that, I outlined the whole thing, and I needed to show it to you before anything goes off, so you know.” Cole wrung his hands slightly. “And, uh… well I just needed to see you. Make sure you were okay.” Jay cracked a tiny kinda smile. Okay as I can be, his shrug said. 

Cole sighed gently, and against his usual logic he leaned forward and rested his hands on the bars, inches away from him but far enough not to trigger something. “I… I’m just scared for you, sparky. Scared what’s gonna happen if I’m not careful, if I’m not… fast enough.”

Jay’s expression softened slightly, and he stood just close enough to feel close without touching. Cole sighed again.

“I don’t wanna lose you, there’s still… so much we oughta talk about. So much to do. I guess I was coming here to… think about that part. What we’re gonna do after.” Cole didn’t know why he was suddenly all wistful. Maybe Jay just… got him like this. Despite every fuckshit thing that had been going on over the course of the past two days, Cole just wanted to plan something not life-or-death. With Jay.

“We’re gonna go to that arcade in the city and we’re just gonna fuck around for like two hours like we used to. Play that stupid DDR knockoff the manager  probably found on eBay.” A stupid smile crossed his face. “And I don’t even care if paparazzi are there, I just wanna spend time with you. We’re gonna take a fuckin… walk in the park, and get shitty soft pretzels from a cart, and look at the clouds and find shapes in them, and we’re gonna… we’re gonna rest, Jay.” He leaned his forehead on the bars gently. “We’re gonna rest.”

Jay was smiling stupidly, softly, under the threads, and had slipped out the notepad from under his shirt, scribbling something on it so he could say something. if i knew any better i’d say it’s a date. Cole’s dumb grin cracked wider, and he met Jay’s eyes.

“And if it is?” he asked, a tinge of hope there as he gazed into Jay’s gleaming green eyes, no longer glassy with tears or stress but with a kind of hope, a kind of optimism Cole missed.

then ofc i accept! <3 Jay scribbled to him again, then kinda put a hand over his chest. A familiar gesture they had, now. Cole could almost cry, as he went to do the same. Even just thinking about being able to rest put his worries at ease, at least for now. Even with the hardships, even with everything going on, he just kept… smiling dumbly at Jay.

There was a clatter, and Cole’s stomach dropped as he whipped around to look at the hallway from whence he’d come. Nadakhan’s bedroom. Shit. He stumbled around to the opposite side of the cell, then jerked back when he realized his ball-and-chain had gotten caught on the bar: Shit!!

Jay frantically tried to get it unhooked, as both of them heard steps coming to Nadakhan’s door. It was taking just a second too long, Cole could tell, and his breath caught. He can’t see me this is terrible we’re gonna get caught and I never even got to tell him I-

In a quick motion, Jay unhooked the ball and chain, grabbed the bar with one hand, and reached through to touch Cole with the other. There wasn’t even contact, and then Cole was suddenly wrenched away from him by an unseen force, sending him hurtling down the hall. And out of sight of Nadakhan. Rich, too, who was clinging to his shoulder for dear life. He landed back there with a thunk, taking a moment to actually process what had happened.

Once Cole had recuperated and was up on his feet, he didn’t waste time, slipping out of a window and back across the chain tether, quickly being received by the other pirates. He didn’t even hear Nadakhan on his way out.

“A-are you okay??? You didn’t get c-c-caught did you??” Clancee asked anxiously, noting Cole’s slightly panicked look. Cole shook his head, still looking over his shoulder at the other boat.

“No, no, I’m alright. We’re alright, I gave Jay the plan, everything’s… fine.” That was jarring. Good to know we can use that kind of thing to our advantage.

He finally looked over at the pirates, even finding himself doing a mental checklist like he would with his team. Clancee, Dogshank, Flintlock… “Where’s Doubloon?” As if on cue, the silent masked fellow popped up next to Cole and nearly scared the pants off of him. Flintlock chuckled in a hushed tone.

“Well, while you were busy, and since he figured Nadakhan would either be sound asleep or distracted by you, Doubloon decided to take this plan of yours a step further.” With his usual grin, Doubloon held up a set of keys. Cole blinked for a second, and then his jaw dropped. Those were definitely the keys for the vengestone shackles. One for either of them.

“Even thought to put in a false set. We’re gettin’ you boys outta here, tomorrow morning.”

Cole blinked at him again, then felt his eyes go all teary, and oh master’s sakes he was crying about this. All shoulder-shaky and lip-trembly like he was a child. If he wasn’t so overwhelmed he would’ve been mortified. Instead Dogshank gave him a little laugh and then grabbed him in a bear hug, which he returned while still kind of crying. It felt kind of surreal, to have this strange band of friends - of family, even - be so quick to help them.

Cole was gonna get out, with Jay. They both were going to get out of this mess, out of this trap, and they were gonna come back with their own family and kick Nad's ass for wrecking their home.

And then maybe they would go on that date.

Notes:

HAHA! It's been a while huh? Well here's the good news, this is the chapter I had planned that maybe gave me the worst trouble, because there's very little basis in canon for it. The rest should be easier to write, which means they'll come out sooner!

Chapter 8: Rescue Gone Wrong

Summary:

A plan goes off... off the rails, that is.

“Cole! Look look look! I’m aboutta beat my high score!”

Cole glanced up from his sketchbook, at Jay’s little handheld game he was mashing away at. He has his tongue stuck out like it does when he’s focused. Cole smiled softly, Jay was always so… cute when he was in the zone. He leaned over to take a peek at whatever game he was playing, and gave a small impressed whistle.

“Damn, you’ve got it down to a science,” Cole chuckled, resting his arm on Jay’s shoulder to get a good look. Jay grinned harder and slightly leaned his head on the arm. Just a few more platforms till the final level, and-

Out of nowhere, an ambush enemy swooped down on Jay’s character, smashing it to pixels. Jay tensed all at once, blinking dumbfoundedly at the game-over screen. Cole had a similar look, that was one cheap move!

Then Jay let out an enraged yell and slam-dunked the game onto the bed, sending it bouncing away. “DAMMIT!”

Cole had startled, jumping away from his outburst, but was quick to return to him when he crossed his arms and curled up into himself. Slowly, Cole wrapped his arms around Jay’s sides, pulling him into a small hug while the boy fumed under him.

“You alright, bluebell?” He asked softly, and Jay sighed heavily and relaxed a little bit, leaning back.

“Yeah, just… havin one of those days, y’know? When you can’t get anything right, I guess.” He seemed all kinds of dejected. Cole hummed gently, leaning his chin on Jay’s head. It was a cozy sort of thing they’d often do, when one was feeling down. 

“Hey, cmon now. Not everything’s going wrong. Besides, what game was that anyway, Super Fencing Force? That third level’s been rigged from the start.”

“Pssh. You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Jay scoffed quietly. Cole hummed again and just kinda rubbed Jay’s arm. The boy seemed far more relaxed now, no longer uptight from frustration.

“Well… is it working?” Cole asked softly. Jay was quiet for a second, and then shifted around, turning into Cole’s arms and returning the hug. Cole was a little surprised, but pulled him in closer, worries practically melting off. They fit well together. The room felt soft. The moment felt soft.

After a moment, Jay pulled back and looked at Cole, a soft kind of smile playing up his face. Cole returned the look, even as the whole room seemed to glow with a soft light. Jay leaned a bit closer. Everything was soft, everything was… fuzzy.

Cole blinked a little, trying to see through what suddenly felt like a dreamy haze over his vision. Jay leaned closer, closer still. But Cole squinted. He couldn’t see Jay the same way he always had. It didn’t seem real, even as he got closer he seemed to go more and more out of focus. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but he didn’t get that chance as Jay’s lips suddenly met his own, and Cole’s eyes shut, partly out of surprise, partly out of discomfort from the haze, and he felt warm, and still fuzzy, and-

---

Cole opened his eyes again, lying faceup on the wooden boards of a ship deck. The hug, and the kiss, were but hazy memories, already fleeting from his mind as his senses took in the unforgiving setting he was really in. Just a… dream. Not real.

Softly, the meaning of all that washed over Cole. He sat up and rubbed his flushing face. Man. I guess I really do got it bad, since I’m dreaming about kissing him and all.

I gotta get him back. And when I do I’m gonna tell him.

He thought about that for a second, then bit his lip imagining how much he’d trip over his words. He’d probably just embarrass himself.

Okay, maybe not right after. I need time to plan that. Maybe I’ll bring it out to talk about on the date. Or something.

Okay, I really can’t think straight right now, too many things going on. Focus up, Brookstone.

A loud ship’s bell interrupted his thoughts and he leapt to his feet. Lots of motion and commotion on the upper deck. He peered up and squinted through the sun. What time is it, ten o’clock?

Clancee appeared next to the grate at the top of Cole’s cell, anxiously stepping side to side. Subtly, he dropped a rope for Cole, but gestured as if to say ‘don’t come out but do come up’ to him. Cole obliged, clambering up the rope to listen in on a commanding Nadakhan.

“My friends, we are to be having… recruits coming to our Djinnjago today. We’ve attracted quite the attention, and have new sorts of pirates coming to show themselves off and perhaps join the crew. I will be taking point on showing them the ropes, but I advise you to remain suspicious. We would not want any… escapes, happening under our noses while we are distracted. I entrust you with the keeping of our dear Earthmaster.”

Cole bit his lip. Recruits, huh? People from the ground? How’d they even get up here? 

He heard Flintlocke give a solitary “aye aye” and then heard creaking as the crew moved about. Clancee jolted and then gestured at Cole to jump back down, frantic.

Cole got the message and dropped back down, and Clancee yanked the rope back up just in time for Nadakhan to poof into the cell, sneering at him.

“And you are going to be staying here,” the Djinn drolled. “Unless, of course, you’re wanting to make good on that wish you still have?” He floated above Cole, like a damn vulture. Cole folded his arms and scoffed.

“Uh-huh. So you can, what, put me in a sword to fulfill your own weird power fantasy?” He scowled. “I heard what you did to my friend. I’m not about to fall for it too. And besides, I don’t care what you offer me. I’m not leaving this ship without Jay, full stop. You can keep tryin all you want, go ahead!” Cole leaned slightly forward in his glare. “But I am not going to just leave him behind.”

Nadakhan glowered back at Cole. “Keep telling yourself that, Earthmaster. I broke your precious friend, I’ll break you too. And your little bluebird. Do not underestimate my power, boy.” He floated up, mostly just to be taller than Cole as he loomed over him. They held that glare between them for a long moment, and then the Djinn poofed away.

Cole let his shoulder relax. Nadakhan didn’t scare him, anyway. He had a plan. He just had to wait for the crew’s signal, and it would go underway.

So he laid down and waited. And while he waited, as his mind usually did, it wandered back to Jay. And what he had planned for after all this. I wonder if after we beat Nadakhan… I’ll still be like this. Corporeal and all that. Did… did we seriously solve our whole possession problem just like that? 

Cole sat up in surprise with a new realization. I… actually could kiss him. Oh, that’d be nice…

It wasn’t like this was the first time Cole had wanted to kiss him. Way back at the monastery, back when they didn’t even know what kind of crazy adventures they’d have as a team, Cole… had something of a crush on Jay. It was small stuff, at the time, and Cole was younger and thought it was just infatuation. But it was still there. 

Jay… made him happy. Kept his attention. One random afternoon he’d told a joke that got Cole laughing hard enough to show his teeth - something he was sort of self-conscious about - and Jay had told him, point-blank, that he had a wonderful smile. It had caught 16-year-old Cole off guard, this sort of crush. He’d never had the time for it back at school. There were a half dozen times at that monastery where Cole would spot Jay out of the corner of his eye, giggling at something, and he just… loved him. He loved him.

I love him.

A rattling sounded above Cole and he tilted his head up. Doubloon was here! Guess it’s showtime.

He stood up, and slid the key to his shackle out of his boot. Within a few seconds, the ball-and-chain was off and Cole could feel his powers coming back. He felt every small vibration on the deck, though it was remarkably more faint than it would be on solid ground. Not exactly my kinda environment. But I can sure work with it.

Doubloon grinned - like he always did - and then jumped down into the cell with him. When Cole gave him a confused look, he walked over to a wall and knocked in an elaborate pattern. A hidden door popped open in the wall and Cole gawked at it for a second. You think I woulda benefitted from knowing this ahead of time.

Regardless, Cole followed Doubloon through the door into a corridor - presumably below-decks for the Keep. As renovated as it was to support flight, this ship looked far older than the one Nadakhan was keeping Jay in. More… lived in. Doubloon seemed to almost sigh, fondly, walking through these halls again. That earned a small smile from Cole. He wondered what the crew got up to in this kind of place. It reminded him an awful lot of the bounty.

Doubloon moved along stealthily, which must come easy for him seeing as he made no vocalization. Then… he stopped. His mask shifted to tragedy, and he crouched low, listening. Cole crouched too, and noticed, faintly, the tremors of footsteps nearby. Both of them tensed. What was going to come around that bend? One of the new recruits, somebody neither of them knew about, something worse?

None of the above, actually! A nindroid. Cole’s heart fuckin leaped.

Zane turned the corner, and whether out of shock or stealth, froze where he stood when he saw Cole and Doubloon. Cole could barely contain his elation, holy SHIT they found us!

“ZANE!” He cried, all too loudly, and that seemed to shock Zane out of his inaction. He stomped forward, and in a flash frost crackled off his foot and up around Doubloon, freezing him in a block of ice. Cole whipped his head around, gobsmacked. “Doubloon!”

But he didn’t get the chance to say much more, as Zane closed the distance between them and swiftly grabbed Cole in a hug that made him freeze in place and oh man how Cole had missed hugs. It had been a very long time.

Cole took a second to enjoy this, tucking his head into Zane’s shoulder with a sigh that might’ve turned into a sob if he didn’t have so much on the line right now. Zane tightened his wraparound, and for a brief few moments they were both quiet.

Zane pulled back, gripping Cole’s shoulders for a second, a relieved smile on his face. “You- I- you are opaque again?” He said, in disbelief. Cole laughed, just a little.

“Yeah, something like that. Holy shit it’s good to see your face again.”

Zane grinned, good-naturedly. “As for you, Cole.” Then he turned concerned. “But… if you are here, where is Jay? Did something happen to him?”

“No, he’s okay! Stuck in a cell and can’t speak, but he’s alive,” Cole said quickly. “He’s on the other boat, Nadakhan stuck him there after he separated us.”

Zane’s eyebrows flew up. “He separated you? Why? What does he have to gain from that?”

“He wants to marry him! For powers! I think!” Cole realized how dumb this sounded, but Zane just blinked at him.

“... Well that simply won’t do,” He said after a moment of processing. “Let’s get him out of here, hm?” To that, Cole just smiled with relief.

“I thought you’d never ask. One sec, lemme get Doubloon.” He turned to the block of ice next to him, and when Zane gave him an alarmed look, Cole hummed. “I’ll explain, just wanna make sure he’s not dead or something.”

“I would never!” Zane remarked, half-indignant. Cole nodded, but still gave a few quick and well-placed jabs to the ice, shattering it around Doubloon. For a moment, the masked pirate was sprawled on the floor, dazed. Cole offered a hand to help the fellow up, and Doubloon made a very angry tragedy face at Zane. Cole stood between them.

“Ahem. Doubloon, this is Zane, he’s my friend and part of the team I told you about. He didn’t know you were friendly.” Doubloon inaudibly huffed and folded his arms, but didn’t seem so irate anymore. Cole turned back to Zane, his smile having turned awkward.

“This is Doubloon, he’s part of the crew on Misfortune’s Keep and they’re helping us escape.”

“I’m familiar. He kicked me in the shins,” Zane remarked, rather coldly, folding his own arms and scowling back at Doubloon. Cole winced.

“Okay, we’re not gonna do this right now. We gotta go get Jay.” Cole marched past them and continued into the halls below decks. “How’d you get over here anyway, Zane?”

“Across the chains. They tether these ships together.” Zane pointed back down the hall he’d come from. “I broke off from Nadakhan’s tour group.” He bristled, suddenly. “... I should not have left them alone.”

Cole bit his lip, but shook his head. “We can worry about that when we get back across, lugnut. Take it one at a time.” He popped open the window with his elbow and started to climb out, tensing at the cold air rushing past him. It is FAR more peaceful to navigate this thing at night. Oh do NOT look down, Brookstone, do NOT.

Deep breaths. Like you tell Jay to.

He kept himself steady, and crossed the chains without much thought. Touching down on the floor, Cole could feel the minute tremors across the floor above them. He signaled to both Doubloon and Zane to keep it down, but found himself far less light on his feet than he was used to. His steps felt louder.

Right. I’m wearing hiking boots. Jay never wears those. Sheesh, I wish I had more of a chance to remember how I work, in this body.

The steps above them grew louder, like someone was running. Cole tensed again. “Wait, the rest of the crew was… on the other ship. And Nadakhan doesn’t walk. That’s- that’s them!” His heart leapt outta his chest again at the prospect of seeing everyone again. 

Zane nodded, and pointed over to the short stairway up to the main deck. Cole wasted no time, charging up those steps. He had to get up there.

He almost ran all the way up onto the deck, if Zane hadn’t grabbed the back of his gi to yank him back behind the wall. A stray splash of water crashed against the wall a beat later and Cole froze, whole body stiffening. For a second, his breath quickened, and his heart thudded, and he was deathly scared.

“Cole?” Zane questioned in a whisper. Cole bit his lip, trying to calm himself down. Water can’t hurt me. Water can’t hurt me anymore.

“F-fine. I’m fine,” he hissed, letting out a breath. Zane tilted his head, but said nothing. Cole peered back out again, and almost forgot his fear when he saw the scene outside, heart leaping once again.

Nya was already out there, already fighting against a pirate Cole didn’t recognize - probably one of the other recruits they’d tagged along with. And behind her, frying the daylights out of some other goon, was Jay himself. Out of his shackles, looking far, far less scared than when Cole saw him last night.

When both of the pirates went down, Zane made himself known and came up the stairs, Cole close behind him, and Nya’s face lit up upon seeing Cole. “You-!” She practically lunged at him, snatching him up in a fierce hug that almost knocked the wind out of him. “Holy shit you’re okay!! I could only half-tell what Jay was tryna tell me when I tried to talk to you but you weren’t there and-”

Cole wrapped his arms around Nya and- hell, he got close to crying again. “It’s good to see you too, bubble.” He peered past her shoulder at Jay, who gave him a sweet, sort of relieved grin through the stitching. When Nya released him, and stepped back, both Cole and Jay took a step forward, as if to run into each other’s arms, but both of them stopped short, and Cole’s smile fell off. Both Zane and Nya noticed this time.

Nya opened her mouth, clearly about to ask what was going on, but froze and scowled in surprise at the masked pirate behind Cole, arms already up to strike at the figure. “Cole watch behind you!”

Cole glanced behind, seeing who it actually was, and threw his hands up. “Whoa whoa hey!” He got between Nya and Doubloon, trying to quell her. “Nya, Nya, it’s okay! He’s with us!” Jay grabbed Nya’s arm to get her attention, and when she looked back he shook his head and pulled her arm further down. Cole nodded along with that. “It’s alright, most of the crew we met back on that island are on our side now.” Doubloon twisted his face to a comedy and gave a thumbs-up in response to this.

Nya scoffed slightly at the idea, but lowered her arms and gave a stern nod to Doubloon. “... right.”

Cole let out a sigh of mild relief, letting his shoulders down. Things… finally felt less stressful. But he made a mental headcount, and… he froze. “Where’s Lloyd?”

To that, Nya stiffened all at once, hands tightening into fists. Jay gently put a hand on her shoulder, his face wrapped in worry. “I-” Nya started, biting her lip. “He tried to use wishes to get a leg up on him.” Her shoulders hunched, and Cole put a hand over his mouth. “I-I told him it was a bad idea-” she tried to say, but her voice broke at the end of it.

Cole felt his heart drop. Now both of them, Kai and Lloyd, were stuck in Nadakhan’s sword. It was definitely… disheartening, to say the least. Cole took a deep breath after a second. You can’t lose your nerve now, they’re counting on you. He looked up, seeing Nya trying her hardest not to break, too.

“Nya, look at me. We’re gonna fix this, alright? We may not be able to do it now, but we’re going to get them both back, okay? I promise. I promise.” He met her eyes and nodded, sharply, because damn it all to the FSM he meant it. Nadakhan had crossed about a dozen lines now and Cole wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

His look turned to Jay, who looked just as determined, and for a second his face softened. “And we’re going to get those stitches off. I promise.” Jay smiled at him, and for a second things felt… alright.

Then Cole’s eyes trailed up to the four-armed figure suddenly looming over Jay, and his heart dropped lower than before. “JAY LOOK OUT!” He screamed, and Jay jolted backwards, whipping around, but was grabbed around the neck and lifted off the floor with a panicked, muffled squeak. Nya spun around two, and lunged at the figure, aiming to throw a punch, but was suddenly slashed by a sharp, hooked hand. She shrieked, and that snapped Cole out of his frozen fear.

He sprang at the figure - at Nadakhan, that evil Djinn bastard - but landed only on a puff of orange smoke, cruel laughter filling his ears from the ship across from them. Cole stood back up, Zane at his side bristling as they both saw the Djinn hovering over the deck of the Keep, grinning wickedly.

“Did you really think you could’ve gotten away with this, Earthmaster? Do you take me for a fool?!” He cackled again, sneering. Cole growled, fists clenched. Jay was still being held by the throat, clutching at Nadakhan’s hand with panic. Nya was there too, collapsed on the ground and gently holding her arm. It was bleeding, bad, and there was something red dripping off of Nadakhan’s hook. Cole felt his own blood boil at the sight. How DARE him.

“Ohh, what are you going to do now?~” Nadakhan jeered. “You’ve lost your flame, your baby brother, and now most of your friends! What else do you have but a wish?” 

Nadakhan tilted his head almost nonchalantly, and that just tipped Cole over the edge. He let out something of a primal roar and charged at the railing, jumping onto it and then launching himself across the gap, lunging for Nadakhan’s throat. “I’M GONNA TEAR ALL YOUR ARMS OFF!!”

The Djinn smirked, and then… held Jay in front of him, just as Cole would’ve come in contact. 

With a force that could almost be heard, breaking the sound barrier, Cole was launched backward, slamming into the side of the other ship, his head cracking against the side. Nya shrieked again, but Cole could barely hear anything over the ringing in his ears and his slowly fading consciousness.

Faintly, he saw Jay staring back at him, horrified, as Cole started to plummet from the ship’s side, into a freefall. Above him, he almost heard Zane cry his name, but… that was all he heard before his consciousness slipped from him.

I couldn’t stop him.

Notes:

augh augh IM SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER! IT JUST FIT TOO WELL HE'LL BE OKAY I PROMISE I PROMISE