Stone and Fire

by GoogleDocShitposter

Summary:

Cole has felt certain things for Kai since he first saw him. Not knowing what it was, he shoved it away for years. But when Lloyd comes to convince him to come back after Zane's death, the feelings spark up again. Follow Cole throughout the seasons as he discovers himself, and come to terms with his emotions.

(Note from Author: this is a self indulgent rewrite of the whole series, starting at season 4, including the Day of the departed special . I have begun posting on Wattpad, but I'm gonna be posting whole seasons once they're written on there instead of weekly like on here.)

Notes:

Hii!! This is the first fic I've written in a while, no one wanted to proof read it either so I've been self editing slowly as I rewatch the series. This is going to be one of the most slow burn fics in existence, I hate myself for it already! Please lemme know if I have made ANY spelling or grammatical errors, although some are on purpose. Also, don't be afraid to let me know if it's actually good. This fic is being catered towards my wants and needs for lavashipping. I hope you have fun reading!

(Updates every Monday!)

Chapter 1: Chen's Noodle House

The ninja had been apart for a while now, Zane's death had driven a wedge of grief into the team's hearts. For Cole, however, it was more than that that pushed him from his comrades, Jays made up love feud with him over Nya cost them their friendship, making Cole feel more alone than anything when their Nindroid friend sacrificed himself. The fact that his teammates had seemingly next to no issues leaving really pissed him off. Jay left first, scoring a contract for a gameshow. Kai left soon after, first spinjitzu master knows where in Ninjago he fucked off to. Cole left last, taking to the woods to become a logger, no one knows him there, it's quiet enough he can sort through his grief without the interruption of Jay trying to fight him for Nya, or the fate of the world resting on his shoulders. That is until Llyod shows up out of nowhere.

"The team needs you now more than ever." The green ninja speaks, dropping out from nowhere and on to a tree branch just in front, and up a bit, of Cole.

Cole rolls his eyes.

"I thought I was good with a scythe, turns out I'm even better with an axe." Cole asserts as he takes another swing at the branch with said axe. "I'm tired of fighting, Llyod."

"Tired of Serpentine, tired of nindroids, tired of.." the former black ninja pauses, tightening his grip on his axe as he says his former best friend's name. "Jay."

"Out here," Cole gestures to the forest, "no one knows who you are. No one expects anything from you."

"But what would Zane expect?" Cole turns back towards Llyod quickly, a frown evident on the older boy's face as he takes another swing at the branch below his feet. "You're the Master of Earth, Cole. You don't belong in trees! Your feet should be on the ground!"

"You can't hide who you are." Llyod tries to comfort his brother while climbing down to a closer branch.

"Sorry, Green Machine, this is my life now." Cole replies somewhat solemnly, gesturing to his axe.

Suddenly a logger calls out from the ground, Cole whips around to see the log pile rolling loose. He immediately jumps down from the tree, away from Llyod, slamming his fists into the ground to stop the logs. The logging crew cheers for him, numerous of the men clearly piecing together his identity. Cole heads to the tree he was at and packs away his stuff.

"If you change your mind, Cole," Llyod calls from the treetops as Cole begins to walk off. "you know where I'll be."

—

Cole takes a few hours to consider Lloyds offer as he hikes back to New Ninjago City. Who cares if the team needs him? Jay, his best friend in the whole world, doesn't want him around. Zane's dead. Kai became angry and cold hearted. Who cares, right?

"Zane cared." He reminds himself outloud. He quickens his pace tenfold, running towards the city to meet with Llyod.

—

They meet at Cole's favorite noodle house, Chen's! Cole can't believe Llyod chose this place, albeit being the Ninjas top spot for lunch back before the Overlord fucked the city up. Cole looks around the restaurant, a smile spreading across his face when he sees Llyod, a frown immediately replacing it, his fists clenching around his bags handles, as he sees Jay. Jay scowls at him as he approaches the table and sits down. Llyod looks between the two, almost like he's reconsidering bringing the two here. Cole reaches for some food only for Llyod to smack his hand.

"Not until Kai gets here."

Cole groans, propping his head up with his elbow. He's hungry, there's food just in front of them and he's not allowed to eat any until Kai gets there. Kai's typically late to things like this unless it involves whatever girl he's chasing after at the time. It feels like eternity passes as they wait for Kai, Cole keeps his eyes fixated on the food as it goes around the kitchen on its conveyor belt, avoiding Jays piercing blue eyed daggers digging into Cole. Soon enough the bell dings at the front, Lloyds head snaps towards the door. Kai walks in, a frown on his face and his hands burrowed into his red sweater.

"Jay? Cole?" The fire ninja questions as he sits down at the table. Cole turns his head slowly towards him, scoffing. Typical Kai, late as always. Cole had called it.

"Ha, you too?" Cole groans, turning his head back towards the food. FSM was he hungry.

Something stirs in his stomach that's not hunger as the ninja of fire sits next to him, a wave of familiarity washing over him. He remembers when they'd all sit around the table on the bounty for meals, Kai always sat right next to him, Zane on his other side, Jay sat with Nya across from them. The laughter that filled their dining area just a year ago made Cole's heart hurt. He hates to admit it, but he missed the ninja, even Jay who declared him his enemy last they spoke. Coles stomach growls, drawing him out of his thoughts.

"The runt tricked us all." Jay complained. When wasn't he complaining, Cole thought to himself, it's all he ever seemed to do.

Kai sits next to the Master of Earth, immediately reaching for some sushi rolls passing by their table only for Llyod to grab his wrist and 'tsk' at him sternly.

"We talk first, then eat." Llyod says for the second time this evening, earning an annoyed groan from the whole table.

"Ugh, trust me, do you know what kind of restraint I've had to have staring at all this noodle goodness?" Cole says, gesturing at all of the delicious food to their sides, "You're late!"

Kai rolls his eyes at the black haired boys remark. "Make it quick."

"I know without Zane things have been different,but we have to move on." Llyod begins a small speech he's probably been practising the whole time he's been waiting for them all to show up. "The reason I brought you all here is because… maybe we should add someone new to our team."

"A new ninja!?" Kai questions with offence clear in his voice, his eyes going wide and his brows furrowing even more than when the brunette had walked in.

"Are you crazy?" Jay exclaims, slamming his palms into the table.

"Come on, Zane's irreplaceable!" Cole basically yells at the younger boy, crossing his arms over himself and shaking his head in disbelief. How could Llyod even suggest that. Zane was their family, their brother in arms. He was not just a thing that could be replaced.

"I cared for him too," Llyod looks down at the table for a moment, sadness in the young ninjas eyes. "But maybe it's time we started caring about his team."

"Maybe without Zane there is no team." Kai states his opinion on the subject, furrowing his brows even more. Everyone stares down at the table with bitterness and sadness alike.

Maybe Kai has a point.

The doors to the restaurant swing open and two thugs walk on in like they own the place, immediately going to the cashier and intimidating the poor restaurant host into giving them everything from the cash register. The thugs still want more from him though as they pick him up and rough him up, bringing the poor sap to the conveyor belt and giving him the beat down with laughter.

"Looks like we got trouble." Jay says, pointing to the thugs as they disrupt the food distribution.

"Alright," Cole starts to stand up from his seat, clutching his chopsticks with anger. He draws the line at messing with HIS food. "Now they're our problem."

The ninja follow his lead as Cole moseys on up to the thugs with his arms crossed over his chest, chopsticks in hand. "Excuse me, it's not polite to touch someone else's food."

"I'd listen to him if I were you." Kai warns the thugs, leaning on a small table just behind him with one of his token smug looks. "He's no fun to be around when he's hangry."

One thug takes a swing at Cole only to be blocked cleverly with chopsticks. The thug keeps going for him, but each time Cole catches him with the utensils, much to the thugs annoyance. Soon enough Kai's up on the conveyor belt and he and Cole are kicking thug ass, noodle house style. They pile the thugs up on the belt as Llyod and Jay watch their teammates with wonder.

"How can you just walk away from this?" Llyod gestures to the boys as the thugs get up and run away, not before a lady hits the thugs with her bag though.

The lead one makes a rude gesture at the Ninjas, causing them to instinctively take after them. The ninja follow them through the back door, into a backlane where the thugs seemingly disappeared.

"Ugh, where did they go?" Kai asks, looking around the empty alley, his gaze falling on some sort of shrine with a paper pinned above it.

"What's this?" Llyod questions as they all approach the pedestal with two lit candles and a bowl with some fortune cookies in it. They all gasp at the image on the paper, eyes wide.

"It's Zane." Kai mummers almost inaudibly.

"What does it say?" Cole asks as Llyod takes the paper off the alley wall. He misses Zane a lot, any lead is a lead when it comes to their beloved nindroid brother. Someone could be toying with them though, some sort of elaborate lure to hurt the ninja.

"It says he's alive." Llyod says with a smile. That smiles spreads to each of the Ninjas faces.

"Those thugs werent delivering a message to the noodle house," Kai explains, piecing everything that had just happened together. "They were delivering a message to us."

"This has to be some cruel joke!" Cole grumbles, not believing this shit for more than one FSM damned second. He puts his hand on his hips and shakes his head in disapproval. "And I'm not laughing."

"Look," Llyod points to the bowl in front of them, "I think this was meant for us too."

"Fortune cookies?" Jay ponders the cookies as he grabs one of the pastries. "Very peculiar?"

"Should we?" Llyod asks as Cole takes one and scarfs it back, paper and all. The ninja all look at him with concern.

"Uh, you do know there's a fortune inside, right?" Kai asks him, taking one for himself and breaking it in half to reveal the fortune.

Cole swallows hard, an aloof smile on his face. That would make the most sense, given the name. Cole bad always wondered.

"Ohhhhh, so that's why they're called that." Kai facepalms at the his remark.

"Listen to this," Llyod announces, getting the conversation back on track, reading from the flier with their apparently not dead friends face on it. "Master Chen has personally invited you to participate in his Tournament of Elements."

"Wait a minute!" Cole shouts, his mouth agape as hes coming to a conclusion. "Are you saying that Mr. Chen, the same guy filling MY belly with delicious goodness, is actually Master Chen?"

"Secrecy is of the utmost importance. Tell no one, or suffer the consequences." Kai reads off his fortune.

"If you ever want to see your friend again, meet on the pier at midnight and leave your weapons behind." Jay reads off his fortune next, more and more concern befall the Ninjas faces.

The messages all disappear in little puffs of smoke, Coles going off inside his stomach causing him to yelp in slight pain. He clutches his tummy and then belches.

"At least I know I was invited!" He jokes, earning a laugh from his fellow ninja. He missed the sound of their laughter.

They mill over the possibility it could be a trap set up to capture them all, Jay arguing that Zane could actually be alive. Eventually the four agree on going. Even if it's a trap, Zane's important and they'd take any chance to get him back.

Notes:

Imma be honest, this is only a fragment of what I have, I'm still editing it all though... Over 16'000 words to sift through. Ugh, I hate myself so much sometimes, but that's what I get for being a hungry queer digging for representation.

Chapter 2: The Ferry Ride

Summary:

Kai makes a total fool of himself on the ferry ride to Chen's Island, they discover just how skilled their competitors are, and Cole gets a tummy ache from eating too much cake and noodles.

Notes:

Hell yeah, another chapter for you wonderful people (and myself... Mostly for myself). This shit is gonna be sick tho, I swear, it's just gonna be drawn out longer than the Great Wall of China.

They meet at the dock, a heavy layer of fog stretches across Ninjago City Bay Port, at least a dozen or so people already there, all dressed strangely. There's a few thugs, people in gi's much like the Ninjas own. Cole looks around at the people, not sure what to make of them all. Surely they're here for the tournament, which means most of them have got to be more elemental masters. Somehow the thought of there being more than just the ninja for elemental masters had never crossed his mind. Sure he'd wondered about his own powers, but he never really thought anyone but the ninja could use them. Llyod mentions how his dad avoided his question about it earlier, their attention suddenly drawn by the sound of a board falling. They look towards the noise and see a strange man with slicked hair tied in the back and a very terrible moustache. His vibes are atrocious, Cole feels it in his gut.

"Watch your step." The man with the terrible moustache says in a posh and nasally tone as he invites everyone on board. Cole dislikes him even more after hearing his voice, there's something off about the strange man.

Cole shuffles forwards, walking into Jay because Kai suddenly stopped. Cole follows the boys eyes towards a girl in orange robes with red hair tied up and loose over her shoulder. He looks at Kai's face, it's melted with adoration for this beautiful stranger ahead of them on the boat. Cole rolls his eyes at the display, gross and chauvinistic as always. Llyod says something to try to knock Kai out of it, Kai only mumbles some half attempted agreement to not get distracted. Cole feels something stir in his chest again, something hot and unpleasant he can't quite put his finger on, so he shoves it into a box and places it at the back of his mind like he's done for years, following the group as they make their way onto the ferry boat.

"Llyod, wait!" A voice calls from the dock as Llyod is about to step on. "If you get on that boat, you may never return."

"What're you doing here, dad?" Llyod turns slightly to face his father. Everyone is just as confused as he is about Sensei Garmadons sudden appearance.

"Master Chen is a dangerous man who should never be trusted." His father warns as he approaches his beloved son." Whatever he promised you, do not believe him."

The terrible moustached man turns to look at the Garmadon men with a crooked grin.

"Lord Garmadon, it's been a while." The man sneers with a chuckle. He turns and starts to walk onto the ship. "It's Sensi now, correct? I can't remember."

"Clouse." Garmadon spits almost venomously. At least they know the dudes name now. "I see Master Chen still has you running his errands."

"I have to go, dad." Llyod tries to explain the dire of this mission. "This is about Zane. It's about family. If we're ever going to be whole again, I have to get on that ship."

"Last call, are you in… or out?" Clouse basically taunts the Sensi from the boat, almost daring him to come with.

"I can't stop you, son." Their Sensei pauses, considering his options for a brief moment before deciding. "But I can join you."

—

Cole stands by the other Ninja as they watch the other passengers mess about with their elements. Sensi Garmadon explains that everyone on the ship is a descendant of the original Elemental Masters, that they serve no master, each one is self taught. That actually makes sense to Cole, of course there are more people like them, there's tons of elements in the wild. Jay makes a crack about how speed isn't an element only for his own element to be made fun of in the same way. Cole can't help but laugh at their masters clapback.

"Oh snap! He got you there." He laughs at his ex-friend as they continue walking about the boat, earning a glare from the freckled boy.

"And, uh, who's she?" Kai asks, nodding towards the girl in orange robes from earlier looking out over the water near a railing.

"I don't know." Their Sensi responds. "Most of these people I have not seen. But they will all be gone with you. You are the ninja, you serve with honor. Here, that means very little."

A large man with very large metal fists approaches the orange clad girl, tapping her on the shoulder repeatedly, tugging at her cloak. Cole watches Kai's face switch to one of curiosity and concern as he rolls up the sleeves on his red gi, gearing up to go and fight the large man. Cole finds himself thinking of the red ninja looking at him with the same curiosity and protectiveness. He shakes the thought from his head as he feels the unpleasant burn in his chest again, pushing it back even further.

"Well, maybe honor means something to me." Kai says before he walks up to the confrontation.

"Hey, I can handle this myself." The girl clearly states, and Kai clearly ignores.

"This is none of his business." The large, burly, metal fisted man says to her in a thick and deep voice. "Karloff cold. Karloff just wants her cloak."

"You look like you've got big enough mittens." Kai taunts the big guy, swaying his hips with his hands on them. "Why not leave the gal alone?"

The girl looks at him with slight disgust and annoyance, as Kai was putting his nose where it didn't belong. Cole rolls his own eyes, crossing his arms and leaning back to gaze at the horizon line. Watching the waves as Kai makes a fool of himself inevitably, his attention turning back to the conflict when Kai calls for his friends. Cole can't help but find it funny when he sees Kai picked up by his collar by the big guy, he'd never let it show in this situation though. He readies himself to jump in, same as the others.

"I think Karloff is plenty smart to not start something he can't finish." Llyod warns the metal man. The big man immediately punches Kai across the deck.

"Oopsy, guess Karloff not smart!" Karloff laughs.

The ninja try to race forwards to help their friend only to be stopped by Sensi Garmadon.

"Kai started this, he can finish it." He is now warning his students, arms to Jay and Lloyds chests to stop them.

Kai proves that he can by jumping to his feet, staring Karloff down for a moment before sending a handful of blasts towards the man, shocked when Karloff turns to metal. The fight ensues, the two running around the boat throwing punches at one another until Kai's on the ground again. Karloff is about to absolutely pummel him into the deck, Cole is tempted to jump in to help his friend, stopped by Clouse calling for the fight to end. Karloff leaves as the orange robed girl offers Kai a hand up. Cole feels the unpleasant burning trying to unpack itself as Clouse announces their arrival to Chen's Island.

As soon as they get on shore the Ninja flood their Sensei with questions. A quick history lesson ensues as they approach the large palace that is going to be their residence for FSM knows how many weeks. Cole rolls his eyes when Kai stops their group on the stairs to let the orange robed lady ahead of them, light blush brushed across the fire ninja's flirty face, much to the team, and especially Coles, dismay.

"Fire will melt her icy heart, just wait." The fire elemental says with high hopes, earning more than just a few pissed glares from his companions.

"This is a big Island, Zane could be anywhere!" Cole says, gesturing to the island as a whole as they continue walking through to Chen's Palace.

He knew this task would be hard, they have no clue where Zane is being kept or if he's even actually alive and on the island. It's a real risk they're taking, but a needed one. Cole never had a true sense of family besides his dad since his mom passed, and his relationship with his dad wasn't the best. His dad had put all this pressure on Cole to be a performer, but he never really felt it in his heart that it was the right path for him. When he found Master Wu at the top of that mountain he didn't expect to find such a thing like what he had. Then when Zane sacrificed himself for Ninjago everyone went home for a bit, and then they all left one by one except Llyod and Nya. Some part of Cole felt alone, nobody was the same after they lost Zane. He'd do anything now to get his family back together.

Drums thumped as they entered the gates, men in red robes and face paint spread across the drummer's faces. They were led into a large room and instructed to sit in a circle. A gong rang out and fanfare started as a chair came down from the ceiling with a VERY STRANGE man sitting in it. One could only assume it was Master Chen, the mad man who had invited them there. The doors slam shut as Chen spoke over his fanfare. Chen explained the game's general rules, introducing the Elemental Masters a bit, the Ninjas watched with concern and excitement. The ninja were each shown to their rooms lead by Kabuki jesters and Clouse.

Coles room was designed with him specifically in mind. It was rock themed from the bed to the couches to the picture frames and fixtures. Cole walks over to his bed and just plops down, his back cracking a bit as it hits the literal stone slab that it is. He tries to get comfortable but knocks his head on the light just above his headboard which opens up a wall across the room, revealing a small closet packed with tasty food and sweets.

"Score!" Cole says out loud to no one."Huh, Chen's noodle house?" he lists off a bunch of what he can see, each dish yummier than the last until he finds mushu mushu, one of his ultimate favourites. He starts inhaling it, lost in the amazing taste of the classic noodle house dish. He's drawn from his food intoxicated state for a moment by the sight of his ultimate ultimate favourite food in all of Ninjago. Cake! He whoops and cheers to himself, this place may actually be awesome. Maybe he can get through this competition without focusing too much on whatever happens when he sees Kai get all weird and flirty with that girl in the orange clothes, or the void he feels inside without Zane. The search for Zane fueling him for the most part, still the cake was a good added bonus!

Just as the ninja started to relax and get used to their rooms, Chen's voice announces that the first round of the competition has begun. Cole walks out of his room looking both ways, clutching his now full tummy with a groan. He sees a jade blade down the hall and starts walking towards it, but just as he's going to reach it the Master of Speed, Griffin Turner, runs on by and grabs it before Cole can.

"Ha, too slow, rocky boy." The white cladded speedster says with what Cole thinks is a flirtatious tone, making him blush at the flirty taunt.

"H-hey!" Cole exclaims, feeling his cheeks betraying him. "You can't just do that!"

"Ya snooze, ya lose!" The speedster replies with what Cole thinks is a wink behind the red shades he wears.

Before Cole can say anything else, Griffin speeds off down the hall having earned his place in the next round. Cole looks around for another Jade Blade, he spots one on the main floor and jumps on down to it, his stomach aching as he hits the ground. Four of the remaining masters jump on him, wrestling for the blade. They don't know Cole has super strength though, but they do now as he flings them off with minimal struggle, leaning down and picking up the blade with an exclamation.

"Ugh stomach cramp." He groans, grabbing at his stomach.

He's torn away from his wallowing as an invisible force takes the blade from his hand.Cole quickly goes into spinjitzu, pulling his invisible assailant into the tornado around him, he emerges with the blade only for someone to grab it from above. He suddenly spots one under some rubble and runs off to the rest of the victors. He can't help but notice Kai's not there yet.

"Where's Kai?" He asks his friends. Jay shrugs, Llyod just had a scared expression much like his fathers.

Cole's heart almost flat lines when Karloff enters the doors with the final Jade Blade in hand exclaiming his apparent victory. Although, it seems Karloff celebrates too soon as Kai approaches him quietly from behind and unscrews his iron gloves from his armour. A wave of relief washes over Cole as the glove hits the ground and Kai picks up the blade. The fire ninja propels himself into the air and across the room to the other Jade Blades, putting it in its slot. Cole watches him smile at the orange girl again, the heat in his chest begs to be let out, but he doesn't let it. He's not ready to think about what it could even mean.

"We have a loser!" Chen yells excitedly, pointing his finger at Karloff.

"That's not fair. He cheated." Karloff tries to defend his position in the tournament.

"I did what I had to do!" Kai defends himself. Their Sensi scolds him.

Karloff admits he lost. Chen's chair descends from the ceiling yet again, he sits and presses a button that causes a trap door to open under Karloff. The metal man falls through, screaming for dear life. The competitors look on in horror as Chen explains the fate of the losers.

Notes:

THE PERFECT MATCH MACHINE FUCKED SO MUCH UP BETWEEN COLE AND JAY!!! I hate it so much, but it made such a good plot device.

Chapter 3: Midnight Meetings

Summary:

The ninja sneak through Chen's Palace, discovering awful and (for Cole at least a little) convenient things.

It's just before midnight, Cole is getting ready to meet the others when he hears a knock on his door. He gets up from his spot on his bed where he's been eating some cake and watching TV, setting it down on a table as he goes to answer the door. He opens it he, sighing when he sees the green ninja, she opens the door wider and gestures for his young friend to come in. Llyod takes one look at his older friend and knows something is on his mind. The younger walks further in as Cole closes the door, Llyod takes off his mask, sitting on the edge of the rock bed. He pats the spot beside him, Cole takes the spot, sighing.

"I know something's up, Cole." Llyod puts a hand on his friend's shoulder, rubbing his thumb over in reasurance. "We're going to find Zane, everything will end up okay."

"It's not that…" Cole sighs again, a somewhat pained look across his face. The twinge he's been feeling comes to his mind often, pondering why it keeps coming back so hard. "I mean it is, but it's not the only thing on my mind."

"I figured as much…" Llyod smiles softly at the other Ninja, tilting his head goofily to the side. "Whatever it is, I'm here for you, Cole. I'm your brother, and brother supports brother."

"I know, Llyod…" Cole considers telling the younger of the hot pains he gets when he sees Kai talk to other people flirtatiously, but shakes it away. "I don't think you're quite old enough to fully understand this though, little man, it's gross mushy gushy stuff. I'm not even sure I completely understand…"

Llyod sighs, patting his friends back before getting up. "Yeah, you're right, I'm not too good with romance and that stuff, but I'm always here to listen if you need someone to."

"I know things are weird between you and Jay, and that Kai is distracted with Skylor, and Zane's… well Zane's here somewhere." the green ninja tries more to comfort his friend, finally giving Cole a name to the orange wearing girl's face. "But you have me, I can be your rock… metaphorically speaking. You've always been ours, brother."

"Thanks, green machine, it means a lot to hear you say that." Cole stands up and embraces Llyod tightly. "Now how about we go and meet up with the others?"

"Sounds good to me." The two pull on their masks and head out to the balcony, dropping down a floor to Kai's room, quickly running in before someone notices.

They hear a door sliding open and Jay screaming as he falls.

"What was that you said?" Skylor asks, looking to her right at Kai on his balcony.

"I said 'whoagagahhahwhat a beautiful night!" Kai chuckles nervously and all Cole can do is roll his eyes at the sound of his friend absolutely embarrassing himself on behalf of Jay, who is dangling from the railing just out of her sight.

"What do you think happened to Karloff?" Skylor asks Kai.

"I feel horrible, if I had known that would happen–" Kai's voice trembles for a moment, Cole can almost swear from the wobble in his voice that Kai regrets what he did.

"You did what you had to do to stay in the tournament." Skylor sighs.

Cole sighs from inside the suite, making his way to the lounge chairs and just laying back to chillax until Kai's done. Llyod gives Cole the look he gave him back in Cole's own room, a look of concern and care.

"Do you like Skylor?" Llyod asks him, not really wanting to breach this subject, but he can feel something wrong with Cole and wants to help.

"Ugh, no…" Cole makes a noise of disgust, leaning his head up to stare at the red ceiling. "Llyod, I'm not even…"

"Not even what?" Llyod asks as he takes the normal seat next to Cole, leaning on an elbow on the small table between them. He doesn't want to push too hard in fear of Cole putting up walls.

"I don't think…" Cole sighs heavily, closing his eyes. If he's saying this outloud to Llyod, he doesn't want to see his face of concern and thought as he pieces Cole's emotions and actions together. "I don't think I like girls, at all."

There's a long silence, Lloyd's mouth failing to put words together to comfort his brother. He's about to speak when he hears the doors to the balcony close, footsteps approaching, and Jay speaking to Kai.

"Woah-ho-ho! Nice digs!" Jay exclaims, punching Kai gently on the arm.

"I know!" Cole says, grabbing some shell peas from the bowl he just realised is between Llyod and him. "His room is so much nicer than mine."

"Look!" Cole opens his hand to show his newfound snack. "Chocolate covered shell peas! I love these!"

He starts grabbing them by the handful to eat, holding the bowl and making his way to Kai's bed. He falls to the bed with a plop and grunt of relaxation.

"Oh, and look how soft your pillows are." Cole reaches up to pet the pillow under his head with his free hand, "Man, mine are made of rock. What a crock!"

"Okay! It was almost impossible to get here." Jay starts, Cole doesn't really pay attention, he's too focused on how comfy Kai's bed is and how yummy his snacks are.

Cole tosses shell peas into his mouth as his friends talk about how to find Zane. Kai mentions something about fanning out and searching every square inch when Cole bumps the light fixture above the headboard. Instead of the opposite wall opening up to show a small room of snacks like his room did, the bed flips upside down into the floor to reveal a secret area to Cole. He bumps it again and it spins him back around into Kai's room, gripping the sheets tight in fear, gasping.

"Uh guys, this bed is, uh…" Cole starts, fear lacing his voice.

"Cole, I get it. You like my bed!"Kai snaps around, speaking harshly. Cole feels his face heat for a moment, the warmth in his chest threatening to come back full force for a second before he pushes it back in its place. "Would you stop playing around?"

"I think I know how we can search the island!" Cole tells his team, a clever smile replacing his blush.

—

They're all laying on the bed, Cole gets it to spin around again, proving to his friends he's not crazy. The ninja are now in a dark tunnel, pillows strung across the floor from the flipping of the bed. Kai lights a fire over his fist, illuminating the corridor.

"Nice work Cole!" Kai tells him and it goes straight to his head. He can't help but smile and mutter out a barely audible 'thank you' before Kai starts again. "Maybe Zane's not on the island, but in it!"

"Quiet. Do you hear that?" The team silences at Lloyds request, there's grunting from somewhere in the halls.

"Oh!" Jay points up behind them."Secret peepholes! Super cool!"

Jay ninjas his way up to the holes. "Looks like someone's fighting on the other side of this wall!"

"What do you see?" Cole can't help but be inquisitive. " Who's fighting?"

"It's not a fight." Jay informs his friend below. "It's Skylors room. And it looks like she's training."

"Lemme see, lemme see!" Kai put out his fist as he runs and jumps up to the peepholes.

"Looks like Kai's got the hots for her!" Cole half-heartedly teases Kai to Llyod, elbowing the younger playfully. Llyod smiles at him, the same smile he had during their talks earlier.

"No! She's competition!" Kai argues, looking back at Cole for a moment with a frown. "I just want to know what powers I'm up against."

"Wait your turn!" Jay whisper yells at Kai because he shoved him out of the way to see better.

"We can at least share!" Kai shoves Jay with his hip again, the lightning ninja almost falls off the beam supporting them.

"Guys, this is an invasion of privacy!" Llyod scolds them.

"Her room doesn't reveal anything about her power!" Kai complains, ignoring Lloyd. Cole can't help but smile a little at that. Both Kai and Jay gasp.

"She's… fire." Kai mummers just loud enough for Cole and Lloyd to hear.

"Wait a minute!" Llyod says, the wheels visably turning in his head. "If we're all descendants of elemental masters.."

Cole can't help but smile even more, laughing at Kai.

"Kai's heart is on fire!" He teases the red ninja in a singsong voice. "Kai's heart is on fire!"

"Can we please just keep moving?" Kai asks with a suggestion of a blush dancing across his face as he hops on down, Jay following with a huge shit eating grin on his face.

Cole picks up his bowl of shell peas as Kai speeds off ahead, his fist relit, and is he covering his face? Cole asks himself as they walk down the dark hall. Was the master of fire, the man who made everyone embarrassed with his flirting, embarrassed himself? And why? He normally didn't get embarrassed about little teases from Cole, especially about girls he liked. He'd just start bragging about how he's got all the moves, and that he's so hot no one can resist him. Maybe Skylor was just different. Yeah, she's just different. Cole convinces himself that Kai's embarrassment didn't really concern him.

"Ugh, it's like a maze down here," Kai says from up ahead, turning to look behind at them, his face no longer pink. "Good thing you're leaving a trail, Cole!"

"Im what?" Cole turns his head and realises in horror that he's been leaving a trail of shell peas in his path of thought.

"Oh, yeah, I meant to do that." Cole passes it off as intentional, earning a light laugh from Llyod.

Eventually they make it down to a weaving cave system with traps strewn within, a group of guards pass by and the ninja take a few out and steal their uniforms to follow the rest. They follow them into a large room where Chen's army is chanting before the noodle baron. Cole starts wiping and licking the faux chocolate tattoos that are a part of their disguises, getting an elbow in the chest from Kai beside him.

"Stop licking your tattoos." Kai warns him in a hushed tone.

"It's chocolate, I can't resist!" Cole defends himself. It was really good chocolate, he's sad they had to sacrifice his snack.

Llyod hushes them, nodding towards what Chen's doing.

---

Cole can't sleep after learning what happened to Karloff and Chens plan to steal their powers just an hour ago. How could he? That could be anyone of the ninja tomorrow. He doubts any of the others can sleep either after seeing all that. And the snake. How could he forget the snake? That thing nearly ate them alive, and it was huge! Kai had called it the second largest snake they had ever seen, and FSM was he right. But they got new Intel that could help them find Zane, that's what's truly important. That's what they came for, Zane. Cole closes his eyes tight. He needs to be well rested for the tournament tomorrow.

At breakfast in the morning before the next rounds announced, the ninja talk about the events of last night, trying to come up with a more coherent plan, Jay brings up how Cole 'stole his girl'. Llyod snickers a little under his breath, Cole shoots him a look and kicks him under the table as a warning. Then Chens voice comes over the the intercoms.

"The tournament of elements continues. Fun time!" Chen exclaims. "Would the following masters please make their way to their assigned arena? Speed, Gravity, Smoke, Nature, Mind, oh and last and hopefully not least…"

"Huh, maybe we all got the day off?" Jay jokes. Cole knows it's unlikely they'd all get the day off, that doesn't seem to be how Chen rolls.

"Fire!" Chen's voice songs out. Kai gasps, looking over to Skylor who also gasped. "Remember, only one can remain!"

Notes:

GRIFFIN TURNER CALLED HIM ROCKY BOY, HOW COULD I NOT MAKE HIM GAY TOO???? using him as character development device for Cole eventually though, so hang on tight.

ALSO!!! Lloyd just wants his friends to be happy, taking their feelings on as his own responsibility. Cause that's just what happens to the poor kid :(

Chapter 4: The Fight and Fall

Summary:

Jay and Cole beat the shit out of eachother, stopping for a heart to heart that splits up the team.

Notes:

I GOT A JAY MINIFIGURE YESTERDAY FROM ONE OF THE LEGACY SETS AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH. just a funky lil dude who's tangible and I can hold in my hand!! Aw,man, I love this series so much. I hope you enjoy this chapter, the releases are going to slow down a bit though because I have to watch more to write more.

The Master of Speed, Griffin Turner won his round, winking at Cole over his shades as he walked past to join the other masters at the next round, Cole feels his face heat up from the speedsters interest in him. It's nice to know he's still got the stuff. The Master of Mind, Neuro, won his round with some cool mind tricks, the dudes actually pretty chill. Kai, Master of Fire, won his, joining his fellow Ninja in victory. He hugs Cole tight for a moment, Cole can't think when he's wrapped snugly in the warm arms of the fire master, but the other Ninja join in the hug causing Cole's brain to reboot quickly. Everyone heads back to the hall their rooms are in where the other masters have gathered up in front of the match up board.

"Whats all the commotion?" Jays asks as they make their way to the front of the crowd to the large golden slab. The ninja gasp in unison.

"No." Cole shakes his head in disbelief at seeing him and Jay matched up. "He can't do this."

"He already did." Llyod says, giving Cole another worried look. "You've got to fight each other!"

"Why does it say I have to fight Cole? It didn't say that before! I'm not ready to fight!" Jay complains. "It was supposed to be my day off…"

"I tried to warn you, but you never listen!" Cole snaps at the blue ninja. Jay should've expected Chen to pull something like this on them by now. "Talk? Yes. Listen? Not so much."

"Is there a problem, Ninja?" Clouse asks, sneaking up on them.

"You cheated! You changed the brackets!" Cole points, accusing Clouse.

"Oopsie!" Clouse says before walking away as if it's nothing.

" What're we going to do?" Llyod asks his dad. "We came here to become whole, not fall further apart!"

"You can't undo what's been done." Sensei imparts his wisdom. "My only advice is to be at peace with it."

"Peace?!" Jay exclaims angrily. "One of us has to lose! Oh my gosh, it's totally going to be me. He's got super strength and what do I have? Quick tell me! What do I have?"

"Don't listen to my dad," Llyod tries to reassure Jay. "We find Zane and none of us have to battle. Your fight isn't until tonight, so we still have time to figure out what Chen is up to and stop this."

"I think I know just the person who can help." Kai says with his classic sly smile. " And I think he already knows."

—-

They went to Neuro for help, and all he did was make Jay and him fight. In all fairness Jay called him Nerdo, which probably didn't help. Jay thinks that Cole is the most useless of the ninja apparently. Cole can't fucking believe it, after all the times he's had to save the blue ninja from getting his ass beat. Cole punches Jay's arm hard, Jay punches him back harder. They've started a slap fight that Lloyd and Kai break up, dragging the two feuding boys back to their respective rooms. Cole wants to pry his dumb little freckled head off his body. He knows his worth on this team and he'd be damned by the First Spinjitzu Master if he let Jay change that.

—-

They're at the next part of the tournament, the big fight between two ex-besties. Coles got a picture of Jay taped to his punching bag as he practises for their upcoming fight. Laying on punch after punch, sprinkling in a few kicks here and there. Cole looks out to the arena, Lloyds watching him with growing concern. It's not like Cole's going to kill the guy, just rough him up quite a lot. Jay deserves it after putting 2 years of friendship down the drain over some faulty match making machine.

"You don't have to say it." He says to Llyod just outside of his training area. "It was inevitable we were going to have to face each other. Might as well be Jay."

Cole scoffs angrily, he didn't actually want to fight Jay over this made up feud between them. Jay was supposed to already know he likes primarily men, they'd been friends since the beginning of the team, Cole could've sworn he told him as soon as they verbally said they were best friends. He can't believe Jay really started this petty feud about Nya, it was fucked up the way he called her 'his girl'. Nya is her own person, she doesn't belong to anyone, least of all a most likely gay man.

"This fights been a long time coming."

"Well, I'm not at peace with it, but that doesn't mean you still can't find peace with each other." Llyod tries to help his brother, to stop their fight. "We don't have control when we fight, but we do control how we fight. Jays not your enemy, Chen is. Remember that."

"You once said the best way to defeat your enemy is to make him your friend. But how're you supposed to defeat your friend?"

"Why's he so mad about Nya, he's your best friend, doesn't he know youre gay?" Llyod asks sheepishly, genuinely puzzled.

"I'm still not sure what I am entirely, but I talked to Jay about it ages ago, I thought he got the idea, but I guess not." Cole explains with a sigh. "It's in one ear, out the other with him usually."

"Just don't hurt him too bad, he's your best friend." Llyod pats him on the shoulder through the bars.

The fight starts and they're released from their confinements.

" Let the tournament continue!" Chen exclaims. "Jay, Master of lightning,versus Cole, master of-"

He's cut off by the first move made by Jay. He chucks a flash of lightning at Cole who dodges it perfectly, slamming his fists into the ground as he lands causing a tremor that almost hits Jay.

"That's all you got?" Jay taunts with a laugh. "Least valuable Ninja!"

"Eat dirt, blue Bell!" Cole slings back an insult before the hits starts flying again. Jay hits him with a bolt that makes Cole stumble back a bit.

"Stronger than you thought, eh?" Jay asks smugly as Cole struggles to keep back his attack. "That's your betrayal flowing through my viens."

"I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet when you're out of the tournament!" Cole shoots back, over powering Jay, sending the blue ninja flying back.

He sees Jays pained face and falters, taking a step back. Jays his best friend, this is dumb.

"What're we doing?" He asks the other, looking at his hands. He's hurting someone he cares about, saying nasty things to him, that's not the ninja way. " I don't want you out. You're not my enemy, Chen is."

"OH SURE!" Jay gets up slowly, his arms shaking under him. "Lower my guard by pretending to be my friend, then swoop in to steal the prize. Typical Cole manoeuvre."

"I never meant to hurt you Jay," Cole sighs, trying to find the right words to explain this to Jay. "If I knew it would destroy our friendship, I'd take it all back."

"Well, if we're being honest, I was upset about losing Nya, but I take the blame for that." Jay stops trying to attack him, his face softening. " I was more upset about losing you. We used to be good friends."

"The best, right? We should've been more honest with each other, instead of bottling this all up." Cole sighs, now's as good as anytime. "Jay, I think I'm gay. I never liked Nya, or any other girl. I was just trying to support her and be there for her. She was going through a hard time."

"Oh…" Jay's face falls flat before a huge grin goes across his face. "Oh! But how are we supposed to stop fighting? We can't both win."

"Well, maybe we can draw it out until they call it a tie?" Cole is happy and surprised about how smoothly it worked out. A battle is what they needed to just get it all out there. "Quick, attack me. But not hard!"

Jay and him half fight eachother, unamusing Chen who decides to unleash his henchmen into the arena in vehicles. Jay and Cole work together to crush and bash the henchmen which pisses Chen right off. Cole missed doing stuff like this with Jay, they worked together smoothly, knowing one another's move sets so well they could almost move in synchronization.

"Stop! I know what you're trying to do!" Chen stops the match with an angry yell. "If neither of you will fight, both of you shall loose!"

Chen presses tons of buttons on his chair, and tiles of the arena floor start falling out from under the ninja's feet. Cole and Jay back towards the centre pillar before having to jump out of the way of the collapsing floor.

"We cant both loose, Chens right, there can only be one!" Cole calls to Jay.

"And it should be you!" Jay yells back. "You and I know I'm lucky to have even made it this far. You take the Jade Blade!"

Cole nods and starts sprinting back to the center pillar where the Jade Blade sits on top, expertly jumping and dodging the falling tiles beneath his feet. He reaches the pillar and climbs it, using the snakey design as grip. He reaches the blade and holds it in his hand for a moment, thinking carefully about his choices. He throws it back across to Jay, choosing his best friend to carry on in the tournament. Jay catches it, looking up at Cole with teary eyes, not even smiling when he's immediately declared the winner by Chen.

"Master of Lightning moves on." Chen states.

Cole hops down off the pole and starts heading towards Jay.

"It's yours Jay," Cole smiles at his friend under his gi mask. " I should've told you long ago about what had happened. Win this thing."

Coles suddenly plummeted into the abyss at a press of Chen's button

Chapter 5: The Factory Part 1

Summary:

Cole doesn't want to chop noodles, he'd rather be eating them, or hell, he'd rather not be imprisoned and forced to do labour.

Cole woke up in a dark, dingey, stone room in clothes he doesn't remember changing himself into. Beams of light shine through the small barred porthole in his door. He runs up to it and starts to shout at guards passing by.

"You can take my clothes, and power, but you'll never take my super strength!" Coles yells at them, gripping the porthole bars and tugging as hard as he can, falling backwards in failure. He crosses his arms over his chest, laying there on the ground for a moment to think. He's got to stay calm, at least visibly. No hair pulling. No chewing his nails. None of that nervous stuff. He's fine, he has to be. He has to find Zane.

"Alright so you can take that too." He grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. "Keep breathing, Cole. You've got this."

Suddenly there's someone unlocking his door and he sees Clouses ugly moustachioed face.

"You're letting me go?" He asks hopefully as Clouse swings the door wide open, Cole can see a guard behind him.

"Of course not." Clouse sneers evilly. " Your presence is required in the factory."

"The factory!?" Cole exclaims in disbelief. If he was one thing for sure, it was definitely not a factory worker. "Lock me up for all I care, I'm never gonna lift a finger for you, you despicable–"

They grabbed Cole and dragged his powerless body down the dark winding halls he and his friends had gone down the day before, taking a different turn at the end. The hall they turned down led to a huge set of double wooden doors with a smaller door on one of them. The doors open as they approach to reveal a huge factory where Cole sees all the other Masters who have lost, along with dozens of other people he's never seen before, making Chen Noodle House things. Cole gets giddy, pointing at the machines and knowing what they're for. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all?

"One rule." Clouse says with a mischievous smile. "No eating the merchandise."

"No eating the merchandise?" Cole asks sadly, all hope of this being fun leaving him. "How cruel can this place be?"

Cole jumps over a machine to try and run back to the door as they're closing firmly shut.

"You're evil!" He shouts at the guard at the door. He attempts to toss a cookie into his mouth but it's grabbed midair by the guard, rubbing it in his face how good it is.

Cole sulks off to look around the factory, stumbling across a familiar face. Karloff! He's working at a noodle machine when he sees Cole approaching, a smile spreading across his strong face.

"Don't worry, after while, not so bad." Karloff tries to comfort Cole, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Since you new, I show you how to chop noodles."

Cole doesn't want to chop noodles, he'd rather be eating them, or hell, he'd rather not be imprisoned and forced to do labour. He looks around trying to find anything else to do when he sees a handled chain hanging loose behind Karloff and his station. Cole tugs it and a bag of flour drops on someone behind him.

"Not bad one." Karloff says with a laugh, going back to showing Cole how the noodle chopper works. "See, chop? Now don't make trouble."

Someone speaks from the other side of Cole, just behind his chopping block, it's the master of sound, freshly a loser.

"Well, I for one don't like following the rules." The small one states, Cole can't help but agree. "The minuet you tell me the coast is clear, I'm busting out of here."

"Even if you get past the guards, Mr Blind Guy, there's still labyrinth guarded by big snake." Karloff warns him. Cole forgot about the snake, that thing is going to make getting out of here significantly harder.

"My name's not Mr Blind Guy, it's Jacob." Jacob states, somewhat annoyed. " And you may have already lost hope, but not me and not my buddy Cole here. Am I right?"

The Master of Sound looks the wrong way when he says his last bit.

"Actually, I'm on your left." Cole says sheepishly.

"Oh, you moved on me, heh." Jacob laughs. "Sneaky Ninja."

Cole resumes chopping noodles, wondering if he'll ever see his friends again. For hours he thinks about his escape, his friends, his fight with Jay and everything he said. Looking back he's pretty sure Kai had heard him, he was in the middle of a fight so he didn't bother to look at the red ninja for a reaction, but he's sure Llyod would tell him once- if he can't get out of here. Why does he even care so much about what Kai thinks about him coming out? It's Cole's coming out, it should be entirely about him and his feelings no one else's.

Cole focuses on the noodle chopping until he gets a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of Jacob steadily starting to sneak out. He goes to follow him, but Karloff stops him… probably for the better, Karloff seems wise. Jacob swings open the smaller door within the large door just in time for Clouse to walk in and catch him. Cole tried to call out to warn him, but Karloff grabs him, covering his mouth with strong hands. Clouse instructs a guard he had following him to take Jacob to the Labyrinth to feed his pet serpent.

"Feed the snake?" Cole asks quietly with horror after Karloff releases him. "He doesn't mean–"

Karloff grunts and nods solemnly. Cole can only imagine the shit he's seen Clouse do to people as punishment.

"Karloff not make trouble, Karloff make noodle." Karloff leads Cole back to their chopping machine, pulling the chain from earlier, causing Cole to be doused in flour.

"I'm so not into this dumpling dump after all." Cole groans, returning to his work.

—

After all that, the prisoners are brought back through the halls to their room. As they're walking down the cold hallway, Cole overhears a familiar voice saying a familiar name from a nearby room.

"I don't know, Pixal." The voice is quiet from behind the door, but Cole couldn't be more excited and relieved to hear. "But I sense these chains are unbreakable."

Cole's pretty sure he knows who it is, walking over to the door to take a peak. Karloff feels a tug on the chain that connects the prisoners together, and turns to see Cole wandering off.

"What're you doing? Don't make trouble." Karloff warns the boy covered in flour.

"Zane, is that you?" Cole asks, ignoring Karloff to peak through the doors porthole.

The prisoners ahead of the two masters feel the chain that connects the strain from the stop, the guard at the front asking what the hold up is. Karloff is quick to think though and bends over to pretend to tie a shoe. Slowly a face Cole is happy to recognize appears in the porthole window, Cole can't help but smile at the sight of his fallen brother.

"Heh, you're alive!" Cole exclaims, beaming at his newly shiny friend. "And you're silver?"

"Titanium." Zane corrects him with a smile spreading across his reflective exoskeleton. "Cole, you look white."

"Hah," Cole laughs at his friends accidental joke. "Boy, it's great to see you! Look at that, you look brand new!"

The guard at the front of the line catches on sooner than expected, realising that the prisoners don't get to wear shoes. Cole glances back at Karloff and the guard, he knows his time is short.

"Hold tight, lug nut." Cole holds his hand to where Zane can touch it over the porthole. "I'm getting you out of here."

Zane puts his hand to his and smiles softly at Cole, grateful someone's come for him. Cole's grateful he found him, wanting to hug Zane until he somehow can't breathe. The warmth of hope starts to grow inside, something he thought he lost for a bit down here.

"I'm getting us both out of here. That's a promise." Cole assures Zane before turning back to the line.

The guard walks to the back of the line where Karloff and Cole should be, and asks where Cole is. Cole pops out from behind Karloff like he was there the whole time.

"Right here! Keep it real big guy," Cole pokes fun at the guard being suspicious of them. "Looks like you've seen a ghost."

The guard walks back to the front to lead them all.

"From here on out, Karloff," Cole leans in close to Karloffs ear as to not be heard by anyone else. "I'm making more than noodles. I'm making trouble."

"Chen can try his best to split up our team," Cole continues talking as they're led back to their joint cell. "But he's about to find out what happens when we put ourselves back together."

—

The next morning they're led back to the factory where they're instructed by Clouse to make extra good dishes for a tournament dinner. The Master of Form, Camille, had joined them last night, having lost against Llyod in the rollerblade competition Chen put on last night. Cole was glad to hear of that news to start a long hard day in the factory, his friends were persisting and that was all he could hope for right now. Well, and that his friends find a way to break both Zane and him out and foil whatever it is Chen and Clouse are planning. He hears about how badass Llyod was, how Jay rocked the show, and how Kai fell on his ass more times than Camille could count. Cole felt proud of his brothers. He can't wait to see them all again, to be a family once more.

That time is not yet here though, so Cole and Karloff load plates full of fortune cookies. If the cookies are going up to the Elemental Tournament contestants, that means his friends will be eating them, and checking the fortunes inside. Cole smirks, thinking of himself of a genius for his plan. He slinks off to the factory bathroom, snagging a fortune paper and a pencil from the workstation on his way in. He quickly scribbles down a message for the ninja. He flushes the toilet and washes his hands, to keep up the potty break charade, he leaves back for his and Karloffs fortune cookie machine while whistling a little tune.

"Why you whistle?" Karloff asks him, the plate for the next load of cookies in his hands. "Yesterday Cole was sad. Not today. What changed?"

"Things are looking up, Karloff." Cole can't help the smile that spreads across his face as he begins to explain his little plot to his new friend. "We came here to find a friend, and I found him. All I got to do now is get Zane and bust him out!"

"Heh, not so easy." Karloff warns wearily, looking over at the guards. "Chen's men made it nearly impossible to escape this place."

"I'm still working out the details, but Zane's a nindroid, a walking computer." Cole says, speaking with his hands as he loads a few fortune cookies onto the plate Karloff holds out. "If I can get to him, he'll solve anything Chen throws at us in no time."

Karloff sighs sadly, looking down at the plate in his hands. "Karloff wished he had friend like that."

"But first order of business, I gotta let the others know I'm busting him out." Cole continues, slipping his note into a cookie before placing it on the tray. Karloff raises a brow at the action.

"You put message in cookie?" His voice fluctuates up inquisitively.

"I know, right?" Cole laughs, he still is amazed that there's paper in them. "That's why it's called a fortune cookie."

"Well, if you get out, don't forget about Karloff?" Karloff asks him, he still looks sad, almost like he expects to be forgotten. Cole can't have that, Karloff is his friend now, and a ninja doesn't leave a friend behind.

"Yeah sure." He pats Karloff on the shoulder. "Of course I won't forget you, bud."

Cole grabs the tray from Karloff and flags down the attention of a guard waiting for the cookies nearby.

"Special order for the banquets ready." He holds the tray to Chens guard, the guard snatches it from his hands and walks off to deliver them.

"I hope you have good fortune for it to end up in the right hands." Karloff wishes him.

"You and me both Karloff." Cole agrees, turning back to his work making cookies and chopping noodles. "Now all I have to do is figure out how to get out of here."

The two watch in suspense as a guard watching the door reaches for a cookie, relief washing over as the one holding the plate smacks his hand away. Cole then notices something on the guard watching the door, he has the keys to their cells and the factory. The next phase of his plan is falling together.

 

An hour or two pass, Coles been preparing to make his daring escape. He jumps on a noodle belt and starts gobbling some noodles, the guards rush him but Cole just jumps around from belt to belt eating food and kicking it at the guards. The other prisoners cheer for him as he kicks and jumps about, hoping he makes it. He grabs some noodles and whips them towards one of the roof beams, swinging across the factory when suddenly the noodles snap and Cole falls right into the arms of a guard. The guard is quick to grab Cole tight, but the earth ninja belches in his face from being squeezed too tight.

"Now I feel better. Got any cake?" He half jokes to the guard, he could actually use some cake now tho. He misses cake. The guard drags him back to his cell, throwing him in with a thud.

"It was all worth it!" He calls the at guard as he walks away. Cole then pulls out the keys he stole during the commotion, his plan working out after all. "For these."

Notes:

Man, idk how to construct a proper paragraph, but I'm trying and that's what counts. This fic is targeted to me, and according to me, I'm doing pretty damned well.

Chapter 6: The Factory Part 2

Summary:

Cole and Zane manage to sneak back into the factory with Karloff's help.

Cole waits for the guards to be gone from the hall before he carefully unlocks his door. He bolts down the hall to where Zane's being kept, unlocking it hurriedly. Cole starts to mentally recount all the times he missed Zane while he was presumed dead. Like when everyone started to leave the monastery after his funeral, or when his birthday rolled around, He especially missed Zane when Llyod came to get him from logging. He gets into his metal friends cell, Zane's thrashing about in his sleep, it seems like he's having a bad dream.

 

"Zane!" Cole calls as he unlocks the shackles on Zane's arms, shaking his friend awake.

"You've returned?" Zane asks softly, quickly rubbing the nonexistent sleep from his eyes.

"Of course I did. I made a promise." Cole smiles reassuringly, grabbing Zane by his hands to help the nindroid up.

"Now come here you shiny new tincan." Cole draws him into a tight, happy to have his friend back and alive. "Can you feel the love?"

"No. But the longer we stand here, the shorter time we have to escape." Zane states matter-of-factly, pulling out of the hug to lead them out.

"Ha, ya know, you always were the smart one." Cole relishes in the fact his friend is back once more.

The two ninja look out the door to both ends of the hall, they charge down them as an alarm blares everywhere around. They turn and twist down the winding corridors.

"Not that way!" Zane protests. "That'll only take us back to where we started."

"Ugh, maybe you should do the leading." Cole says, falling to just behind the other. They hear something call out, something large and hungry.

"I'm not familiar with that sound." Zane makes his friend aware of his worry. Cole knows that sound all too well, now worrying more.

"I am. We need to move." He says turning around and running.

"I thought I was leading!" Zane exclaims, throwing his hands up.

"Trust me, you'll wanna keep up!" Cole calls back to him. He can hear it just behind them as it snaps its jaws at Zane. They come to cross roads blocked by something cold and purple.

"This isn't a wall." Zane states, touching the not wall gently. "It's the body of a large serpent."

"Ugh," Cole looks around frantically, panic set in hard. "We have to find another way."

The two turn around again and run down the tunnels, only to find the snake blocking the passages around them. It's trapping them into one area cleverly.

"My strategy is to not be eaten." Cole tells the white Ninja as the snake comes down a tunnel to lunge at them.

The huge purple snake backs them into a corner, snapping its jaws that drip with its venom. Cole finds himself clutching Zane for dear life. If he's going to die, it'll be with someone who he loves and cares for, and he sure does love and care for Zane.

"It was nice knowing you, Zane." Cole says, holding his dear friend close. " I think this really is our dead end."

The snake lunges again, but the two ninja dodge it by mere luck, rolling off to the side expertly.

"I don't suppose you could freeze him?" Cole asks his normally icy friend.

"Chen took my powers like everyone else." Zane explains. He asks Pixal to calculate escape scenarios.

"Pixal? You got a girl stuck in your head?" Cole asks, not even understanding the slightest what that fucking means. It's gotta be some weird robot love stuff he doesn't get.

Zane whips out some shurikens from nowhere, throwing them at the ground. They starts to beep and suddenly they're falling through the floor down to the next.

"Heh," Cole chuckles, getting off the ground and dusting himself off. "I'm liking the new you."

"We must move quickly." Zane empathises.

"Lead the way." Cole agrees with a nod, following as Zane leads them down their new escape route.

As they're nearing the exit, they can't help but overhear the guards talk about how Cole's actions are going to get the other workers punished. He feels guilt settling in his heart, he can't let that happen, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

"Hurry, the exit is just around the bend." Zane calls from up ahead.

"You go, I can't." Cole says, causing Zane to come to an abrupt stop. "A ninja doesn't save himself. He protects those who can't protect themselves."

"I have to go back." Cole says, solemnly turning back towards the factory "I have to go back and save them all."

Cole starts down the hall only to be stopped by Zane grabbing his shoulder, spinning his friend to face him.

"And a ninja never leaves another ninjas side." Zane says with a small smile.

"We'll get off this island one day, Zane." Cole says, placing a reassuring hand on Zane's shoulder to return the nindroids gesture. He starts to guide Zane down the halls to the factory while they talk about freeing the others. "But it's either all of us or none of us."

—-

Cole and Zane manage to sneak back into the factory with Karloff's help, hiding from the guards when needed. Downside to hiding in a noodle factory is that you often get covered in flour, Coles learnt, now covered in flour for what feels like the millionth time. They pop out of the barrels they've hidden in this check around when Karloff gives them the clear. They gather the elemental masters who've lost, coming up with a plan that'll barely work for them, they're going to go through the sewers which'll just be able to hold their weights. Then, suddenly, a guard throws Darreth through the main doors and all that goes out the window. He and Zane must come up with a new plan now.

—

As the masters are coming up with a new plan, after Cole has scrapped so many, Karloff mentions that he is an aeronautical engineering back where he's from. Cole explains that they're underground, and don't have a jet, so the whole jet thing just won't work. Then the conveyor belt Coles sitting on starts moving, he falls off the end as Darreth is riding it to get to whatever he's doing.

"Okay, don't mind me." Darreth says as he jumps off the belt, almost landing on Coles head. "Carry on whatever business you all are doing."

"Sure, we were only using that to hatch our escape plan!" Cole complains to the brown ninja. "Darreth, what are you doing?"

"Well, if there isn't a machine that makes Puffy Potstickers," Darreth starts, grabbing random junk from the shelf in front of them and piling it in his arms. "By golly, I'm gonna make one."

"That's it!" Zane exclaims, pointing up in the air. "Darreth, you've solved it."

"How are Puffy Potstickers gonna help us?" Cole asks , propping himself onto his elbows as Zane comes forwards. He'd fight someone for some Potstickers right now, or for any food that wasn't the mush they were served twice a day.

"We'll use machine parts to build the roto jet." Zane turns his head to Karloff. "Do you still have the schematics for it?"

"Of course." Karloff says, tapping on his noggin. "Roto Jet up here."

"Then it's set." Zane continues. "Karloff and I will create a blueprint. Everyone else, find parts."

"But we're underground!" Cole grumbles, jumping up from the floor and flinging his arms out sideways.

How're they supposed to get a jet out? His robot friend is definitely not thinking clearly. Being underground must be messing with his connection or his sensors or something, Cole thinks as he helps collect parts, occasionally butting in to watch Karloff and Zane sketch out their jet.

—

Hours pass before guards return, only they've returned with faces Cole can recognize, including none other than his best friend, who he recently made up with, the master of lightning… JAY!!! Jay, however, does not recognize his friend immediately, it's evident in the way he walks straight up to Cole's and Zane's station and doesn't even bat an eye at them. Jays going on about the power of positive thinking, when Cole pssts at him to get his attention.

"Cole?" The blue ninja gasps slightly, smiling at his friend, even more so when Zane pops into view. "Zane? Is that you? You look amazing!"

"Not so loud." Cole whispers to him, looking around at the guards. "They think we've escaped and don't know we're here."

"Why would you come back?" Jay questions, an eyebrow cocking up.

"Cause," Cole begins, a smile on his face as he explains the plan to his bestie. "We're breaking everyone out."

"Correction;" Zane interrupts, placing his hand on Cole's shoulder before pointing to Karloff building the roto jet just a bit ahead them on the factory floor. "We're building a way out."

"They think we're fixing the noodle machine, but we're fixing a Roto Jet." Cole continues with his explanation.

"A Roto Jet?" Jay questions more. "But aren't we underground?"

"That's what I've been saying!" Cole expresses his frustration, his arms flying up.

"What happened to positive thinking?" Karloff asks, turning around to face the ninja with a wrench in his hand. A guard barks at them to stop talking before he can say anything else.

Jays here, and so are the rest of the masters except Llyod and Kai. Cole feels a rush of concern and that warm feeling back in his chest at the thought of something worse than getting tossed down here happening to Kai. He could be hurt, or Chen's using him as bait to draw out Llyod, or even worse… he's fed Kai to the huge snake!

"Hey, do you know where Kai is?" He asks Jay, leaning closer to him over the conveyor belt processing noodles between them.

"Last I heard, he's getting the 'special' treatment." Jay informs him, causing dread to make its way in completely. Zane reaches for Cole's shoulder, both he and Jay giving their friend a concerned look.

"It'll be okay, Cole." Zane draws him into a side hug, rubbing his thumb over the others arm. "Kai is tough, he can handle himself."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Jay says nonchalantly. "He's with Skylor. She's Chen's daughter, and you saw how obsessed he is with her before you got booted. It's even worse now."

That doesn't make Cole feel any better, it actually makes him feel absolutely terrible. But he must persevere, Llyod needs them. The other Elemental Masters need them. This Roto Jet better work or Cole will feed himself to the damned snake.

—

A guard comes down to the factory floor after another hour or so, announcing that Chen defeated Llyod and is demanding a feast to celebrate. He heads towards the Roto Jet, Karloff tries to ward him off but it only makes the guard more interested. The guard tears the sheet off that was covering their secret project, and Cole jumps down from the overhead skywalk, taking him to the ground before jumping back up and into the jet. He fires at the guards but misses as they dodge, hitting some crates that explode. More guards rush in, the other masters help turn the machine as Cole fires at them.

"When will it fly?" He yells to Karloff on the wing, annoyed that it's not operational yet.

"It fly when it fly. No sooner." Karloff responds, tinkering more with the wings of the jet.

Jay warns them of even more guards coming their way, the masters turn the jet for Cole to fire.

"We're gonna run out of bolts before we get out!" Cole explains. "Make her fly, Karloff, or get us out of here!"

"No problem, push red button." Karloff instructs.

Cole presses the red button and a missile fires from the jets nose, blowing the doors to the factory to smithereens. Everyone cheers before pushing the jet out.

"This is why you don't make jets underground, Karloff!" Cole restates his initial issue with this whole idea of building it down here.

"The power of positive thinking!" Jay keeps going on his bullshit as the guards approach from behind. The masters turn the jet so Cole can fire again. They turn him back towards the doors, leaving the dreaded noodle factory once and for all.

They're making their way down the corridors when Cole hears a faint hissing through the wall up ahead, it's the giant snake! He listens carefully for anything else when Jay shouts.

"I hear Nya!"

And that about settles it. Cole presses the red button again, a missile fires from the jet, causing the wall ahead to explode, bricks flying everywhere. As soon as their in the next room Cole sees Nya being lunged at by that snake and fires at the roof just above it, the ceiling collapsing in on the large snake, killing it instantaneously. Cole pops out of the jet and whoops in celebration of their small victory. He found Nya and Master Garmadon, what wasn't there to celebrate? They could help Llyod and Kai to save the day even better now. Cole hops down from the jet to the ground, running to help their sensi up.

"Well hello Master of Earth!" The old man greets him with a smile as Cole helps him up.

"Uh, don't forget Master of Lightning!" Jay chimes in, running up to also help their Sensei.

Nya gets up and runs towards them, both Cole and Jay opening their arms, expectantly awaiting a hug from her. Only she runs past them, hugging Zane so hard he stumbles a bit.

"Zane, you're back!" She exclaims with glee as she squeezes her metal friend.

"What? What is on my back?" Zane asks, not understanding her.

Cole and Jay share a laugh at the expense of Zane before Cole goes to check on Karloff's progression on the flying part of the jet.

"Karloff, why isn't this thing off the ground yet?" Cole inquires about the master of metals skills.

"Two hands can only work so fast." The brute replies.

"Well, you're going to fix it, Karloff, because you know why?" Cole asks him, his hope restored a little more now. Karloff nods.

"Positive thinking!!" Everyone cheers together, raising their arms above their heads, smiles spread across numerous faces.

Chapter 7: Corridor Of Elders

Summary:

Chen is defeated after so much bs.

They drive through a final wall, busting into Chen's ceremony room where Cole can see people blown back from collapssage falling, due to their entrance. He flies in with the jet around the room, spitting out a dumb catchphrase from one of Lloyd's Fritz Donnagan movies. Lloyd reunites with Zane, briefly embracing his older brother figure before bouncing to the fight at hand. Cole watches from the jet as Kai and Chen run towards Chen's staff on the ground, but Kai reaches it first, ducking into a roll, jumping up and slamming the gem into the ground, shattering it with an angry scream.

 

Beams of coloured light burst from the now broken sceptre, imbuing the elemental masters with their powers once more. Cole feels all of his powers rushing into his body all at once, it's almost overwhelming. Feeling like pure energy is coursing through his veins, pumping through his heart to his muscles. Cole feels his super strength coming back, he can sense the earth surrounding them, feeling safe in his skin again finally. He jumps out of his Roto Jet, heading into his spinjitzu cyclone, the other Ninja do too, and start beating the shit out of Chen's men.

Everyone makes it out alive, they escort Chen's men to the docks out front of the palace. The ninja gather around one another, catching up on lost time. Cole looks over at Kai, smiling at him softly from the other side of the group without the latter knowing. How could he not smile? He thought Kai had died when only Jay had shown up in the factory, or worse. But his face turned to one of bitterness when Skylor was brought up. Yeah, she might have helped them, but, for a reason Cole couldn't quite tell, he just didn't like her too much. She seemed nice, kind, and she was definitely pretty, but still he didn't like her.

"It's funny," Kai says stepping more onwards of their group, "We came here to find an old friend."

Zane presses a button in a control panel in his arm, his classic funky music starts playing and he starts dancing and singing for his friends. FSM, did Cole ever miss the nindroids strange antics. He'd never grow tired of them again.

"I just never thought we'd make new ones." Cole overhears Kai mumble, their Sensei goes to comfort him. Cole attempts to distract himself with watching Zane, pushing back that feeling that's becoming all too familiar. The ninja disperse to search the island for Chen. They reconvine to watch the Master of Nature sinking a ship with vines, gathering closer to the shore to watch.

"There's still no sign of Clouse or Master Chen." Cole informs his fellow ninja.

"What about Skylor?" Kai asks, concern covering his face. Llyod wraps an arm around his saddened brother as Cole shakes his head. He wish they'd find Skylor now, if not for the sake of stopping Chen, it's for making that sad look leave Kai's face.

"She wasn't able to pick her family," Llyod says to Kai, patting him on the back. "But she was able to pick her friends. And since you're her friend, that means so are we. We'll find her."

"He's right." Cole agrees, noticing Kai starting to perk up with their pep talk.

"With no way off the island, it'll only be a matter of time." Cole spreads his arm, gesturing to the island as a whole.

"I'm proud of you five!" Sensei Garmadon says, approaching the ninja. "You've done what the previous elemental masters couldn't, stick together. But you must not rest on your laurels, for your guard is down when you sleep."

—

"We have to save Skylor, she's too important." The words Kai said when Zane fell into that large hole echo in Cole's head hours after the chase. Kai had been captured again over a girl he barely even knew. A girl who had tricked him and lied since the moment they had met on the ferry ride to Chen's Island. He just wanted this whole thing to be done and over with already, he was tired and pissed. He missed his own bed, and cake, and he missed when he didn't have this suffocating warmth beating in his ribs, his head going a million miles a minute as he assumes the worst of Kai's fate again.

Cole walks over towards Karloff, handing him some henchmen to tie up that he and Sensei Garmadon had captured looking for Skylor.

"Still no sign of Chen?" The gruff man asks the earth ninja.

"He escaped, but we'll find him." Cole reassures his friend. Cole's face changes to one of worry. "Did Zane ever return?"

"The metal man?" Karloff asks, holding the henchmen up off the ground by the back of their collars. "I have not seen him."

"Dad!" Llyod calls out, running towards their approaching Sensei, giving the old guy a strong bear hug.

"I don't see Skylor or Kai?" Their Sensei expresses his concern to them.

"They said they were on their way." The Master of shadow says, appearing out of the shadows of the Garmadon men.

Sensei Garmadon doubles over, clutching his knees as he goes down.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Llyod asks, placing a hand on his dads back as he groans in pain. The other gather closer, very worried for the Sensei.

"I don't know!" Garmadon moans in discomfort.

"Your tattoo." Llyod mutters, pointing out the Senseis glowing Anacondri tattoo.

"Something's happen inside of me!" The old man withers and shakes, clutching different body parts in pain as he slowly starts to transform before their eyes.

"The spell…" their Sensi tries to get up. "The spell, it's completed. Everyone with the Mark of the Anacondri is affected, like me…"

The goons they rounded up break loose, now being snakes and everything they're slippery. Garmadon gets up and reassures his son quick before they all spring into action to kick the henchmen's asses again.

"Let's get em guys!" Cole encourages his newfound and old friends alike as they starts being totally fucking awesome.

Cole runs for his jet, only for an Anacondri to pop out at him from within. He's over powered by the snake man, as is everyone else around them. It seems like they're losing this battle as they call for a retreat. Safely within the castle, Cole and the others are holding the doors shut, all hope seems lost when suddenly the banging stops. They rush out to see Chen and his men leaving with their air vehicles.

"He took the Roto Jet and all of the Blade Copters." Jay complains, pointing out the obvious.

"What have we done?" Nya asks in disbelief of their current predicament.

"We all have families in Ninjago." Griffin Turner says sadly.

"Argh! And we had to destroy any other way off the island!" Jay yet again states the obvious with his complaints. "Who's idea was that?"

"Your father was right, Llyod…" Cole looks at the young ninja before returning his attention to the absconding army of snake men. "We thought we had the upper hand. Our guard was down and look what happened."

"Nobody listens to me!" Jay yells, throwing his hands up into the air in frustration. "You all say I overreact, but no!"

"I'll go alone." Lloyd insists, talking over Jays ramblings.

"And take on his whole army?" Nya looks at Lloyd like he's crazy.

"I'm the only one with an elemental dragon." Llyod begins to say before he's cut off.

"Not anymore!" Zane calls from up in the air on an elemental dragon of ice, earning a gasp from all of the masters at his magnificence.

"Zane, none of us could do that before." Jay states excitedly. "You gotta tell us how you did that!"

"I faced my fear." Zane begins. "When I realised it wasn't something in front of me that held me back, but something inside of me, I found a deeper power. A dragon power."

"Zane's right!" Kai calls from a dragon of fire quickly approaching. Coles is somewhat relieved to see him and Skylor are safe. "We all have this power inside of us."

"But you have to see that it's not the Anacondri we're afraid of, it's our doubt." Kai continues as he lands his dragon, landing it as he finishes. "Divided, we failed. But together, we will succeed!"

Everyone starts jumping off and summoning their elemental dragons. Cole feels so free flying on it as they cross the ocean to Ninjago. It reminds him of Rocky, his old dragon, who he loved so much but had to let go.

The ninja and masters fly into the city, scounding for Chen's men. Cole doesn't like it when they are told to spread out to look for them, and even less once they're chasing after noodle trucks in totally different directions, completely split up Cole knew it was a bad idea, even Jay thought it was a bad idea, everyone knew it was a bad idea. But the bad ideas have happened to be their only ideas a lot lately. Cole's hometown, Jamanakai Village, was invaded by Chen while the ninja and masters were drawn away by the trucks. Cole feels such failure, his dad could be hurt and it would be his fault.

The Masters meet up in Nyas Samurai X cave, trying to come up with a new plan. Cole watches as Kai lights up with joy upon seeing Skylor again, running to hug her. Cole feels the heat gnawing at him, watching as Kai falls all over her. They split up to go to deliver messages to the villages and cities of Ninjago, and also to go get Phythor as he's the only living Anacondrri, banding the masses of the beautiful world together to rise against the faux Anacondri at the Corridor of Elders. An epic battle ensues, but the battle seems lost at some point, until Pythor brings a spell that brings back the ancient Anacondri Generals. The generals drag Chen to the Realm of the Departed, Garmadon sacrificing himself for all of Ninjago.

The portal was scarily beautiful, Cole thought as he felt a tear roll down his cheek. One of their beloved Sensei is gone now, Garmadon having sacrificed himself for all of Ninjago. The battle was won, Ninjago was once again safe as the master gathered on the cliff edge.

"Hah, you sure showed them." The Master of Speed runs up next to Cole to congratulate him, punching Cole in the arm with that same wink from just days prior.

"You mean WE showed them." Cole corrects him with a smile, drawing the master of speed in for a hug. Griffin places a kiss to his cheek as he slips something into Cole's gi, Cole smirks at him with a light blush spreading across his cheeks. "Thanks for fighting with us."

"Buhhh," Karloff chuckles, hugging Kai and Jay so hard they fall over. "Better than fighting against you!"

"Anytime you need our help just hollar." Jay says, getting up and wrapping Karloff into a side hug, same as Kai.

"Same goes to you, I imagine we all have homes and villages to get back to." The Master of Mind says, reading the worry in most of their minds. He shakes Zane's hand firmly, smiling sincerely. "Thank you ninja."

"Thank you for everything." Zane replies.

Cole watched as Kai slinks off to follow Skylor as she's walking away, the twang inside burning a bit. But he's soon distracted by the master of speed squeezing his side tighter.

"How about we go on a date sometime, rocky boy?" Griffin asks him, grinning at the earth master, subsequently tugging him away from his feelings.

"I'd love that." Cole laughs as he draws him in tighter before letting go to talk with the ninja.

The ninja start a fire and celebrate the life and death of Sensei Garmadon, burning the spell book, saying their own piece about their former master. Lloyd starts crying heavily, crawling up into his mom's arms. It's always hard to let someone you looked up to go, watching Lloyd and Misako reminds him of his mom. His dad and him had a funeral much like this for her, with the big fire, but they burnt a wreath of lilies with it instead of a dark spell book. He can imagine what Lloyds going through, and how much he's going need his big brothers to get through this trying time.

Notes:

what if Kai had two hands though????

Chapter 8: The Winds Change

Summary:

Lloyd and Cole share a heartfelt moment, an argument happens over food, and then everything goes to shit. How fantastic.

A few months have passed, the elemental masters returned to their towns and villages, taking care of their families and people. Sensei Wu and Lloyd's mom dipped into their savings to build the ninja a new headquarters, of course it's also a tea shop as their master feels the need to retire teaching. The ninja settle into their new room, Nya, Misako, and Wu each had their own while the boys had to share.

Cole is sitting in their shared room after a ballet lesson with Lloyd, staring at an email asking him to come visit the master of speed in New Ninjago City to go see some races. As tempting as it was, Cole's heart just isn't in it. The Master of Speed is breathtaking, yes. He's strong and good willed, not to mention how kind he was on their first few dates over the last couple of weeks. He just can't bring himself to reply to the speedsters words, he just doesn't reciprocate how he feels for some reason unbeknownst to Cole. A knock on the door to the shared room brings Cole out of his thoughts as Llyod walks in to sit with him, a concerned look for his brother on the green ninja's face.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk about everything that happened on Chen's Island, if that's alright?" Llyod asks, avoiding eye contact with the older.

Cole nods. "Go for it, Green Machine."

"I saw you went on a few dates with Griffin Turner, " Llyod begins. Cole can't tell where he's going with this conversation. "He's nice right?"

"What?" Cole raises a brow inquisitively at Lloyd, confused as to how his dates with him are immediately brought up. "Yeah, he's alright, I guess. I don't know. I don't think we connect well."

"Mhm." Llyod agrees, taking a deep breath before continuing, still avoiding eye contact. "I've seen you staring at him, and scowling. Like jeez, Cole, you scowl really meanly."

"What are you talking about?" Coles completely lost. "Yeah? I stared at Griffin, he's nice, Llyod."

"No, I'm talking about Kai." Lloyd finally turns his head to look at his friend's reaction, only Cole's face is confused.

"Oh, come on, I was not." Cole defends himself. "Kai talks a lot, that's probably why."

"That's true, but we both know that's not it." Llyod continues, he just wants Cole to come to terms with this so he can sort through it. "Cole, you looked like it hurt when he talked to Skylor, or if she was even mentioned, even Zane and Jay came to tell me."

"Ugh!" Cole groans, leaning back onto the bed. "I don't like Kai! He's just- he's Kai!"

"Mmm, well I could just be misreading it all, I just want you to be happy." Llyod leans back to join him. They stare up at the top bunk. "Come to terms with your feelings, let them go if need be, but you have to stop burying them."

"Yeah, yeah. I've got it." Cole groans in protest to Lloyds assumptions.

"I care about you, Cole." Lloyd sits up, looking back at the earth ninja. "We're brothers, we're here for eachother."

"Thanks, Lloyd." Cole sighs, reaching for his headphones beside him on his bed. "I'll try to take your advice."

"Good." Lloyd sighs, biting his bottom lip hard as he plays with the hem of his shirt. He's anxious, Cole deducts, maybe a little sad.

"Is there something else you wanna talk about, Lloyd?" Cole asks, putting his headphones down again to place an arm around the young boy.

"I miss my dad." Lloyd says it so softly, hanging his head down so that his bangs cover his eyes.

"I get it, I was about your age when I lost my mom. My dad was there, but he wasn't really there, he just couldn't understand." Cole tries to relate to him, to comfort him. He draws Lloyd in more, both his arms wrapped around him. "You're 13, you're allowed to cry. You're always allowed to cry, it's natural."

Lloyd leans into him, his breathing heavier as he begins to let it out. His cries turn into sobs, all Cole can do is be there for him, the way he wished someone was there for him all those years ago. He rubs his little brothers back, he feels close to crying himself when he remembers something his mom sang to him before she passed. He begins to sing it the best he can.

"Though we're far apart,
I'll be in your heart.

Wipe your tears dry
As the years go by,

Friends will come and go,
But you'll still be a whole.

You're my special guy,
My little sunshine."

Lloyd sits up after a solid 15 minutes of crying into Cole's shirt, departing from the hug ashe steadies his breathing. Cole wipes his cheeks dry, and ruffles his hair choppy blond hair, getting a half-hearted pissed look from the green ninja.

"Thanks, Cole." Lloyd gives him a small soft smile. "That- no one's done that before. I really needed it."

"No problem little, dude." Cole smiles back reassuringly.

Their brotherly moment is disrupted by the sound of the newly repaired Bounty landing outside, Nya yelling for the two to come out. They ran outside to find the ship and their friends who went to get stuff for the tea shop. Jay and Kai are carrying stuff off of the ship, along with Misako.

"How was the supply run?" Llyod asks his mom, taking the box she's carrying for her.

"Well," Kai calls at them, walking down the loading ramp. "We got most of it, but a fishing village we stopped by needs our help."

"Yeah, they need to catch this big ass fish that's been eating up all the small tiny fish." Jay continues Kai's sentence as he gets off the ship, he's carrying two boxes of stuff for the shop. "Cole, could you maybe actually help us with these crates?"

Cole nods and gets to it, helping bring the boxes in to Nya and Misako, who're starting to put the herbs and remedies away safely on their shelves. Once everything is brought inside the Ninja are briefed by Nya on their mission for tomorrow, they head to eat the dinner Zane had been preparing all day. The nindroid went all out on his days for cooking, Cole loved whatever he made up for them. It's delicious as always, just as Cole suspected, although he finds it hard to focus on the taste while Kai and Jay are going on about the pick-up earlier that day.

"I'm telling you that the loading girl totally found me hot!" Kai argues to Jay across the table.

"Nuh-uh, she was just being nice, like most people." Jay counters, slurping up some noodles. "Damn, Zane, this stuff bussin."

"I'm not sure what that means, but thank you." Zane smiles at the compliment, he turns his attention to Kai. "By my evaluation of your retelling of the encounter, I would say she was not interested in you, Kai, but rather in Nya."

Nya snorts juice out her nose and goes into a small coughing fit, laughing at her brother. Cole can't help but laugh a bit at the whole thing too, especially as Jay starts freaking out and agreeing with Kai suddenly.

"Know what? Kai's right." The ginger admits defeat. "She was totally into Kai, one hundred percent. Sorry, Zane, but you're just wrong."

"I'm not usually wrong." Zane gives him a confused look, Cole copies him, wondering what Jay's issue is with a girl liking Nya. "Women often engage in romantic endeavours with other women. From my records I can recount numerous important female figures, dating back to the first age, who saw other women romantically."

"Yeah, but not Nya!" Jay expresses, gesturing with his hands to her.

"And why not, Jay?" Nya says angrily, her brows furrowing.

"Cause it…uh, I mean…ugh." Jay stumbles on his words, gulping with nerves. A bead of fearful sweat falls down his face. "Do you like girls?"

"I like girls, and I like boys." She looks him dead in his eyes, looking just about ready to storm out. "Do you have an issue with that, Jay Walker?"

"No, ma'am." Jay averts his gaze, reaching for his water, staring holes into the table as they resume their meal. He's quiet the whole meal, Cole can see it's eating him alive, embarrassing himself like that.

 

The next day the ninja are ready bright and early, making headway over the ocean to look for the big fish. They lure the fish and catch it, bringing it back to the shore. Once they've flown back to the monastery Cole is tuckered out, he could go for a big nap and a snack right now. But their master approaches them with a box in his hands.

"Ninja, you need to find customers." Their Sensi instructs.

"No 'Hello, how's it going, glad to hear you saved the day… again." Jays quick to protest whatever Wu is attempting to get them to do.

"Yeah, Sensei," Cole finds himself agreeing with Jay, the grumble in his tummy making him want to beeline for the kitchen fridge. "We're all a bit tired. You mind if we handle this tomorrow?"

"We all have a share if this business succeeds." Their Sensi begins explaining the importance. "How else do you expect me to be able to afford all your new uniforms?"

"Which reminds me, your new ones arrived." He finishes, placing the box down and opening it up to take out some shirts. The ninja get excited, thinking theyre new ninja gi, only to be shocked when it's shirts with the Steep Wisdom logo on it.

"Those do not appear to be ninja uniforms. They resemble work attire." Zane states, approaching the box of shirts.

"Very observant, Zane. We must focus on furthering brand awareness." Their master imparts before picking up some papers from the box. "And here are the fliers I want each of you to pass out in the city."

They all complain as they get into their uniforms, securing their teapot hats onto their heads. As they walk into the shop Misako answers a call thinking it's customers. Nya snickers at their get ups, covering her face when Kai scowls at her. Misako hangs up the phone, looking at the group with concern on her face.

"Is it a big order?" Nya asks enthusiastically. Misako shakes her head.

"It's the police. They've asked for Lloyd. There's been a break-in at the museum." Misako explains, the ninja gasp.

"Go on," Cole walks over to Lloyd, offering his hand out. "I'll take your share."

"Thanks." Lloyd says with a smile, passing his fliers to the earth ninja. "I owe you one."

"You don't owe me a thing."

—

The ninja are dicking around in New Ninjago City, showing off their powers while promoting the teashop, despite their Sensei's wishes for them to not use their elemental powers. Cole lifts a car above his head and starts spinning it like a basketball, when suddenly a breeze rushes through the city and the Ninjas powers cease to work. Cole is quickly crushed by the car, the others rush to help him. Zane plummets from up in the air where he was riding his dragon, denting the pavement in his shape. The ninja run back to the monastery, barging in on some customers. They explain what happened in the city to their master.

"If your powers are gone, something must have happened to Lloyd." Their master explains, worry for his nephew taking his face.

Wind howls outside as Lloyd is visible through the open doors of the tea shop, only he doesn't look like he usually does. His hair has a green streak in the front, his clothes are tattered and he's wearing a chestplate they've never seen before. Also, he looks like he's wearing some emo makeup, eye shadow smeared over his eyes, looks like it was cried in at some point.

"That's not Lloyd." Wu warns as the ninja approach the apparent 'not Lloyd'.

"Step aside." Not Lloyd demands.

"Lloyd, what's wrong with you?" Jay calls to the green ninja.

"I want a word with your master." Not Lloyd states, his voice seems fuzzy and much deeper than usual.

"Woah, Lloyds gone through puberty." Jay jokes, causing Cole to roll his eyes.

"What's gotten into him?" Cole expresses his concern, turning slightly to Kai who's just staring scared at Lloyd, his amber eyes wide and focused on the younger ninja.

"My sensors say that a foreign entity has taken over his body." Zane informs them. Cole watches the concern grow on Kai's face, sure his own face is similar. "So the question isn't what, but who's gotten into him?"

"Whoever you are. Whatever beef you have with Sensei you have with us." Kai steps towards the possessed boy, gesturing to his team. "Give us back our friend."

"How're we supposed to fight a friend?" Cole asks the red ninja. After his and Jays fight on Chen's Island he never wants to seriously fight anyone on the team again.

"Let me show you!" Not Lloyd yells at them, the hair on Lloyds head turns stark black as wind is propelled at the ninja, throwing them backwards towards the shop.

"Great, we don't have powers, but he does?" Jay complains to Cole. He can't help but agree with the unfairness of it all, but their life's are often unfair.

They all run up and try to attack not-Lloyd, only to be fended off easily.

"We may not have powers," Cole begins, encouraging his friends. "But we still know a little thing called Spinjitzu!"

Cole goes into a spin, rock and dirt whipping around him as he goes for not-Lloyd, but he's knocked back by the wind into the teashop wall with a groan. That's definitely going to hurt tomorrow.

"So not only does he have powers, but we can control the wind too?" Jay exclaims, seeming lost on what they're to do about this new revelation.

They each try to attack not-Lloyd in different ways only to be knocked on their asses. They're forced to flee the shop, heading to the bounty. Kai stays behind to try and help Lloyd, Coles sacred for the two, both Kai and Lloyd. Nya releases the anchor to grab Kai, catching on his uniform and drawing him up to the deck. Kai's kicking and threading on the hook, yelling about how he needs to help Lloyd. Cole's heart sinks, he feels a similar way about this, and to see Kai so distraught hurts him for some reason. Cole helps Kai up onto deck from the anchor as wind shakes the Bounty's mass.

Sensi explains that the windy dude is a past student of his, from a time before the ninja. Zane and Kai take their Sensei down to their quarters to make an imprint of the staffs engravings while Jay and Cole are left to fight Morro, Nya joins in to help, putting the bounty into auto-pilot. Morro hits the controls with a blast of green energy, turning the ship on its side; he takes the opportunity to go below deck to get the staff. Jay, Cole, and Nya rush to the control room to steady the ship, pulling back as hard as they can until the ship's semi-steady and upright. Then they hit the mountain peak ahead of them, and then the next one, causing the thrusters to be damaged and fail. Jay and Cole pull harder to try to prepare for an emergency crash landing.

–

Cole, Jay, and Nya all run below deck to check on the others, the Bounty is stuck in some trees. Cole notices that their Sensei doesn't have his staff anymore, meaning he tossed it out for Morro to follow.

"Okay, let's never do that again." Kai says to Zane as the rest of the ninja approach.

"Ah, just think, if Sensei hadn't gotten rid of the staff, it could've been worse." Jay tries to get everyone to look on the bright side of all this.

"Yeah, but now we don't know the message." Cole reminds them. The Bounty also has a huge hole in the hull, let alone any damage from the fall, all making it unable to fly them out of the forest.

"Not exactly. I managed to make an imprint." Sensei Wu says, walking up behind his pupils. He leads them to a wall down in the ninja's cabin where the master had quickly imprinted his staff.

"But what does it mean?" Jay asks the question they all have on their minds.

"My father said long ago that he would leave a message, leading me to his final resting place." Sensei Wu examines the symbols more closely as he recounts his tale. "After he passed, I looked everywhere for it, not knowing it was in my hand all this time."

"You mean to tell us–" Kai begins, being cut off quickly by their master.

"Yes." Wu continues, leading the ninja off the Bounty. "These symbols will lead us to the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master. Only problem is, I haven't the foggiest idea what any of them mean."

"Well if Morro is trying to find the Tomb, we gotta find it first!" Kai deduces, making a stamping motion with his hand for emphasis.

"Hey, maybe Misako can help decipher the clues since she's a total history buff." Cole suggests with a smile on his face. Plus, he thinks Misako will feel better if she helps them help Lloyd, Cole knows he sure would.

"Pixal, release the falcon and give her our location." Zane asks Pixal as he pulls the falcon out from his gi. The falcon spreads its wings and takes off into the sky.

"Good. Then we set up camp." Their master instructs.

Notes:

Coles the ultimate big brother, I don't take criticism on this. :/

Chapter 9: The Village of Stixx

The ninja get busy setting up their camp, going back and forth from the fire to the bounty for anything they might need. Night falls, the Ninjas and their master are gathered around the fire. Sensei Wu starts telling them about Morro, his first student. He was the perfect student, Wu went on and on about how dedicated he was to the pursuit of his training. How he learnt Morro had elemental powers of wind, and Wu thought he would be the green ninja. But when he told Morro he could be the green ninja, an aggression grew in him. When the golden weapons didn't respond to him, Morro ran away. He taunted death, did reckless things to prove that he was the destined green ninja. Wu refused to teach him because he would not listen, so Morro ran away again, but this time it was to find the First Spinjitzu Masters Tomb to prove his worth.

"I am saddened he was banished to the Cursed Realm." Their Sensei gazes longingly into the fire before them. "But what worries me more is that he escaped, and for what reason? To save Lloyd and return your powers, you must find the tomb before he does. Or else."

"Or else what?" Jay asks, his voice shaking.

"Unspeakable power will curse us all." Their master informs.

"Heh, just another day in Ninjago, am I right?" Jay laughs nervously after saying.

"This is different. Lloyd is at stake." The fire ninja reminds them, as if they could forget it. They were Lloyds only consistent sense of family.

"But how can we compete against the Green Ninja?" Cole asks his team, worry flooding his mind at the thought of hurting one of his closest friends. "He's more powerful than all four of us combined."

"That was before we lost our powers." Zane states, causing the worry to crash into the shore of Cole's brain harder.

"But it's like Sensei said. Our real power doesn't come from our hands, it comes from inside here." Kai covers his heart with his hand, joining their master with his look at the fire. "This is Lloyd we're talking about. This is one mission we cannot fail."

 

The ninja sit around the fire for a while more, eating some campfire cooked hotdogs and marshmallows that Nya had brought from the ship. She was trying to comfort them with food, which worked for Cole and Jay, but not so much for the others. Kai had barely eaten anything all night, Cole notices as they all crawled into their sleeping bags for the night. He feels like he should say something, sit the boy down to make him eat at least one hotdog, but Kai was already crawled up by the fire, quiet and laying still as the logs around them. Cole sighs, putting it into a side compartment in his mind, just to check up on later, before he crawls up in his sleeping bag and passes out from the long day.

–

Coles the second to wake up, the first being Master Wu. It doesn't take long for Jay and Nya to wake up, and shortly after that Misako arrives with noodle packets and a kettle. Cole remembers his thoughts about Kai from last night, deciding to set a bowl of noodles aside for his fiery friend when he grabs his. Jay sits next to him and starts a conversation.

"I'm so worried about Lloyd, to me he's still the same little annoying kid he was when we found him." Jay speaks quietly, taking a bite of his noodles before his next sentence. "He must be so scared. I'd be scared. He's like what, 13? He's probably scared shitless."

"More of a reason to find him and help him break free of Morro's possession." Cole says trying his best not to think too hard about Lloyd being gone. "We'll get him back Jay, I promise. I'll do anything it takes."

A scream from Kai draws their attention, the fire ninja bolting straight up from his sleeping bag. He's drenched in sweat and panting, his eyes blown wide, his pupils small. His hands come up to his face, sliding over it until he reaches his hair, tugging his spikes roughly.

"Ugh!" Kai yells as a wolloper that gathered around their campsite licks his face. He gets up and joins the others, concern evident on their faces. "Misako got our message and you made breakfast. Good, I'm starving."

"We put your plate down over there." Nya says to her brother, pointing at a log behind him where a wolloper is eating his food, he groans.

"As far as I knew the tomb was only a fable," Misako speaks as Kai walks over to her. Coles only half paying attention, the other half is feeling bad he had not kept a better eye on Kai's food. "Until I saw what's on the staff."

"Does she know what the symbols mean?" Kai asks, turning to Cole.

"Not the last two yet, but get this, the first symbol means Airjitzu." Cole explains what Misako had been working on while Kai slept in.

"Airjitzu?" Kai inquires of Misako, turning back to her. She quickly explains the lost martial art to him, telling him how it can make one temporarily take flight.

"You hear that Kai? We get to fly!" Jay explains with his ever so optimistic attitude.

"You haven't found it yet." Their master bluntly reminds them. "The Scroll of Airjitzu is well guarded in the ancient Library of Domu."

"Forgive me if I speak out of turn, but my records reveal that it was recently stolen." Zane announces, many groans are heard around.

"By who?" Jay asks.

"Let me guess." Cole says, frowning. "Ronin."

"Who's Ronin?" Nya rightfully asks.

"Let's just say, he's not a friend." Kai answers his sister.

"This is good news!" Jay says cheerfully.

"Uh, how so?" Cole seriously is confused as to how this could ever be good news.

"Argh, cause if Morro doesn't know this, he'll be heading to the library." Jay states, Cole nods.

"And Robin's probably holed up in the village of Stiix, which gives us a head start!" Cole adds onto Jay. They have a real shot at helping Lloyd now, and that he couldn't be happier about.

"Then it's set, the Ninja will head to Stiix. We three will head back to the tea shop and start deciphering the next clues." Their Sensei instructs, gesturing to himself, Misako, and Nya when he says tea shop. Nya immediately protests, but is shut down by Wu.

The boys get on the nearby wolloper, and start their journey to Stiix.

—

The journey to Stiix was long and eventful. They met one of Morro's ghost lackeys on a train platform, he tries to run them down on a ghostcycle. They learn a few things from their challenging battle with the ghost; One, normal weapons don't do shit to them; Two, trains don't do shit either; and finally, three, water kills ghosts. If it wasn't for their assailants' mistake of wrapping his chain blade around a support of the platform's water tower, causing the large barrel of water to fall on him, consequently killing him, the ninja wouldn't have figured it out.

Now they're in Ronin's shop. It has a strange odour to it, like rotting wood and lavender incense. The shelfs are lined with dust-covered relics from all over Ninjago. There's a piece of Cyrus Borgs evil spider legs, Samukai's shield, one of Chen's robes hangs on a wall, dozens of books and artefacts that belong in a museum, not Ronin's pawn shop. Cole's eyes go wide as he stumbles across a familiar looking trophy.

"Wait a minute, this is my dad's Blade Cup Trophy." Cole realises, turning to Kai who's digging around in a box next to him. "What's it doing in a pawn-shop?"

"Selling stolen goods?" Kai scoffs. "Sounds like we might have stumbled on the right place."

Their attention is grabbed by whistling, they turn their heads to see Robin walking in with a large blue vase, nodding along to the little tune he's making. Jay and Zane drop down into the doorway behind the thief.

"Ronin, going so soon? Huh?" Jay confronts him, hands on his hips to show sternness.

Ronin tries to apologise for their last encounter, backing up as the Ninja press him more, leading him to his counter. He tries to catch them in a net, but the net misses by a long shot. The ninja are not impressed with him as he tries to explain that away as a simple mistake. They start to grill him on where the Airjitzu scroll is, Ronin just evades the question.

"I've got Jade Blades, obsidian armour…" Ronin tries to distract the ninja with other things.

"Got anything that vanquishes ghosts?" Zane inquires.

"Hmm, ghosts you say?" Ronin puzzles, thinking for a moment.

"Yeah. They hate water, but we're not looking for water balloons." Cole tells the shifty shopkeep, stepping closer to try reading him better. "We need something reliable."

Ronin rushes across his shop and starts digging through some boxes.

"What you're looking for is an Aeroblade," Ronin turns to them, holding up the aforementioned blade. "Forged by deep stone, an aquatic material mined from the bottom of the ocean. Very unique, even more expensive."

"Can't you see he's giving us the runaround?" Kai yells, walking up and grabbing Ronin by his collar. "We want the scroll, Ronin. What do you want for it?"

"Two hundred." Ronin states calmly, a smile on his bastardly face as Kai yells in his face.

"What? Two hundred?" Jay gasps, astonished at the high price. "We don't have that kind of dough!"

"Come on, you guys once had the Golden Weapons." Ronin smirks as Kai lets go. "You honestly telling me you've never pinched anything?"

"No! We don't pinch!" Kai explains. "And we don't even have pockets."

"What if we were to tell you all of Ninjago depends on it?" Cole shoots his shot at getting the scroll. He's getting real tired of dealing with this guy already.

"Well then, that changes everything!" Ronin zips across his shop, around Cole. Cole's certain they've got it until Ronin continues. "Four hundred."

"You can't just double the price!" Jay exclaims, throwing his hands in the air.

"My shop, my rules." Ronin says, now standing by his main counter with his arms crossed and a grin plastered to his face.

The ninja huddle up, and start talking about how they can get it.

Kai begins spilling his plan, but before he can say much Cole cuts him off. It's not that he doesn't trust Kai's plan, it's just that he thinks the Nindroid would be better at negotiating money.

"What do you think, Zane?" Cole asks his steely friend.

"What, my opinion doesn't matter?" Kai gawks, offended by Cole.

"We don't listen to your gut anymore, Kai, you suck at math, and navigation." Jay begins dissing Kai's leadership skills. Cole wasn't going to go there, that's not a place teammates should go. "Zane's the leader. You just get us lost. Again!"

"Well, I say we give him what he wants." Zane states his opinion on the matter. "I sense if we won't, Morro will."

"Alright, let me negotiate." Kai says, shoving Cole and Zane out of his way to Ronin.

"Two hundred." Kai offers.

"Four hundred." Ronin counters.

"Three hundred." Kai offers a slightly higher amount.

"Four hundred." Ronin stands his ground.

"Three-fifty." Kai offers, more angry this time.

"Four-fifty." Ronin raises.

"Deal!" Kai shouts.

The ninja frown at Kai, Jay facepalms. Cole regrets letting Kai take the initiative, they should've held him down while letting Zane do it, or hell, get any of them but Kai to negotiate for the scroll. How're they supposed to get that much money? The tea farm has only been open so long, and they've barely seen any profit. It's not like money can grow on trees! The ninja walk out of the shop defeated by Ronin financially.

"Nice negotiations, Kai." Jay practically bites him with his words.

"I didn't see you do any better." Kai snaps back.

Now all they had to do was acquire almost half of a thousand dollars, how hard could that be?

—

The four boys find a job building docks, the manager of the docks explains how no one wants to work on it because of the strangleweed under the water. They take the job, Kai operates the crane as he's somehow the only certified crane operator in their group. They build the dock out about 40 yards when everything starts going to shit. A fly starts buzzing around Zanes head, driving him nuts, he flaps his arms about trying to get it, causing Kai to think he should swing the log the crane is holding. The log hits Zane, he grabs onto it and is swung around for a moment before he lands. Zane tries speaking, but it all comes out as mushed, incomprehensible words. Cole and Jay share a look of worry as Kai is still swinging the log around. Zane starts frantically pointing at something, yelling random noises at them.

"Slow down! We can't understand you!" Jay calls back at him.

"Ahh! Strangleweed! It's got me!" Cole yells, gross slimy seaweed wraps it's way around his leg. This isn't happening, this can't be happening, Cole thinks to himself.

Jay tries to pry it off, Zane throws a star at the weed, cutting it off of Cole. Suddenly, Kai drops a log on them. Cole can see his life flash before his eyes as the log falls, thinking this is such a dumb way to die. Zane quickly jumps, pushing the blue and black ninja out of the way. They quickly get to their feet and run towards the already built end of the dock, the boards falling into the water behind them. The dock manager refuses to pay them, so they leave, going off to check out what's wrong with Zane.

They sit the nindroid down, Jay opens him up with a tool kit he keeps on him. After a few minutes of poking around in Zane's wiring and boards, he comes to the conclusion that his voice mod is broken. Cole sighs, rubbing Zane's shoulder to try and comfort his friend.

"Sorry, Zane, you tried to lead, but I guess it didn't work out." Cole says softly, leaning in to give Zane a quick hug.

Jay declares himself incharge, stating that it should be him because Zane and Kai's plans didn't work. He says they should steal it, Cole thinks that's a bad idea, Ninja don't steal. Then Jay brings up the point that it's not wrong if they're stealing from a thief with plans to bring it back to the museum where it was stolen from originally. Jay decides they're stealing the Scroll after Robin closes for the night, setting their plan as Jay tinkers around in Zane's circuitry.

–

Night falls and the ninja set their plan into motion. They carefully sneak into Ronin's shop, they argue about where it is.

"Aha! I found it!" Cole exclaims, picking up his dad's fangblade trophy. He hugs it tight to his chest for a moment until Jay screams, the other ninjas run to his aid. Jays caught up in an organ, its pipes wrap around him like arms on an octopus.

"It's possessed by a ghost!" Cole starts to panic, he can't lose Lloyd and his best friend. "I don't remember what we're supposed to do!"

"Water! Water!" Jay yells, coughing roughly as the instrument squeezes and compacts his chest and throat.

"I got water!" Kai runs to a flower vase, dumping it out, frowning as nothing comes out but plastic plants. "Hey, these flowers are fake!"

Jay complains that they're taking too long as Cole tosses the blade cup and Kai tosses the vase at Zane, who catches them both, of course. The two run around trying to find something, just anything that'll work to free the master of lightning. Cole shouts in excitement as he finds and then flings a water cooler jug at the Grand organ, freeing it of its possession, and freeing Jay from its grasp. Zane mutters something no one can clearly understand.

"I think he said 'another one of Morro's friends.'" Kai does his best to interpret.

"And there's more where that came from!" Morro busts out of a side room, summoning more ghosts from his breastplate.

"We're going to need more water!" Cole shouts over the sounds the ghouls make as they swarm around them in circles.

Kai tosses them some Aeroblades after arguing with Ronin, who is now tied up and it looks like his mouth was taped shut at some point. Cole applauds whoever did that in his head. The ninja throw the blades around, vanquishing ghosts as fast as they can, while Ronin breaks free and starts to wrestle with Morro. Ronin kicks the 'green ninja's back into the blue vase from earlier, breaking it to reveal that he had the scroll the whole time.

"Only one of us shall possess it!" Morro scowls at them.

"Yeah, me!" Ronin declares, whistling a tune.

Morro runs for the scroll but is put off balance by the shop shaking. Ronin grabs it as his ship, the ship he said he had to sell, busts through the floorboards.

"Sorry to leave ya hanging, but since this scroll is so important, I can't just give it away." Ronin calls down at them as his ship starts to carry him away.

Morro blasts Ronins ship with air, causing it to blow away after he's knocked out of it. He tries calling for it again with a whistle, but it's too far gone to hear him. The ninja and Morro take after him, one thing on their mind, the scroll. The ninja watch for a moment as Morro sneaks up on Ronin, Ronin had just evaded one of the soul archers arrows, and Morro steals the scroll right out of his hands.

"We can't let him get away!" Jay tells the others, leading them after Morro again.

"Looks like it's just the three of us now." Cole says, looking down at Jay through the hole he created in some poor lady's roof.

Morro grabs a wire off a pole and swings across the gap, Cole and Kai follow his lead, looking behind them to see Zane doesn't have a wire to swing on.

"Looks like it's just the two of us now." Cole smiles slightly at Kai, it has been a while since they've done something like this with just the two of them.

Morro jumps to another building, barely making it over the gap. Cole mentally readies himself to jump that far, running next to Kai as the two jump as far as they can. Cole falls just short of the roof, hitting the ground hard, groaning.

"Go, Kai!" He calls up at the fire ninja, he made it across. Kai looks down at him with a sad look on his face, quickly turning and running after Morro.

Cole lays there for a moment, recovering from the chase and fall, when he sees over the building a small green funnel with a figure inside floating above where the water is forming. He knows that can only mean one thing, Morro has the scroll and has read it. He watches as the faux green ninja flys over the town on his elemental dragon, worry flooding his mind as he thinks Kai could be hurt. Kai can't swim, he's scared of water, and there's weeds called strangleweed in said water. Kai's a goner if he fell in.

Cole stands up, dusting his gi off. He heads to where they planned to go after they got the scroll, he finds Jay and Zane there already and he begins to explain what he saw. Zane points at the sky and says something, the other two look up. Cole can't help but smile when he sees Kai on Ronin's ship, safe and sound, a sense of relief washing over him.

"We didn't lose everything. At least Kai's okay." Cole reassures Jay, and himself. "Tomorrow, I'll take command and we'll figure something out."

"Thanks for the pick-me-up." Kai thanks Ronin half-heartedly.

"Remember what I said about second chances, and I'm gonna hold you to that deal." Ronin tells him loud enough for the others to hear from their spot. "So long, and I hope you get your friend back."

Kai starts walking towards Cole and the others, as Ronin fly's off in his ship. The whole exchange bugs Cole, Kai probably said something dumb or promised Ronin something they don't have.

"Second chances, what did he mean by that?" Cole asks as Kai gets to the table.

"We may have lost out on the scroll, but he thinks there might be another way to learn Airjitzu." Kai explains, the others get excited.

"Woah, woah, Woah. Wait a sec," Cole starts, standing up to get closer to Kai. "Ronin only makes deals in his favour, and you're a horrible negotiator."

"Kai, what did you give him?" Jay continues, questioning the accused sternly.

Kai turns around, hiding his face from the other ninjas. They've all got their best mad face on, knowing Kai traded something bad for this information and rescue.

"I sort of gave him my shares of the tea farm…" he begins, sheepishly rubbing his neck, moving to tug his hair a bit at the base of his neck. "Along with all of yours."

"You what!" Jay shouts as they all jump up and get closer to Kai.

"Wu's going to flip!" Cole yells at him.

"I did what I had to," Kai defends, turning to face them and taking a step back. "And for Lloyd, I'd do it again."

"You're right." Cole agrees, his face softening. He would do anything to save Lloyd, he's their baby brother. "But I have to ask, if Morro has the only scroll, just how are we gonna learn Airjitzu?"

"Let's just say, it's not gonna be easy." Kai explains, placing a hand on Cole's shoulder. "We have a ghost of a chance."

Notes:

Man, I've watched so much Ninjago, analyzing each scene. I'm really reaching with this stuff, but hey, that's how you get what you want. This fic means so much to me as a writer, it's my child at this point. I'm pouring so much into it, it's like an over watered plant.

Chapter 10: The Wailing Alps

Summary:

The Red Ninjas laugh makes Cole feel giddy, charging him up even more for the task ahead. Cole starts scaling the side of the mountain, his memories of climbing almost every mountain in Ninjago helping him do so. Some part of him misses those days, but he's better now with his team… with his friends.

Notes:

Cole has two besties, Jay and Nya. Talk about the ultimate wingman.

Cole remembers the moment it happened so clearly.

He went back to grab the scroll, the clock was chiming its 5th time, then 6th as he reached it. He walked out of the temple into the rising morning light, a smile on his face as he ran up to his friends.

"Don't worry, I got the scroll!" He cheered as he approached them. They all look so sad, eyebrows upturned, lips in pouts. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"You didn't make it out in time." Jay tells him, his voice quivered.

"Yeah, Cole, you're a…" Kai couldn't even get his words out, but Cole understood.

He raises his hand up in front of his face, he can see his teammates right through it. His face falls into a frown, he can't feel the sunlight on his skin. He let out a shuddery breath before he spoke again.

"I'm a ghost?" He mummers, falling to his knees. He feels like crying, but nothing's coming out.

Cole turns onto his side, staring at the wall his beds against, he wants to scream and cry but nothing comes out. He doesn't need to sleep, he just feels tired and sad all the time anyways, or maybe it's just nothing that he feels. An absence of emotion, that could be why he can't cry. He doesn't want to join the others in their training of Airjitzu, even though he's the one who got the scroll. He just lays there listening to sad music on his BorgPod, trying to just feel something. He sits up and wipes his tears, deciding to start practising touching things again. He reaches for his empty cup, his hand going right through it. He sighs, defeated.

"Don't feel like training?" Nya asks, he turns his head to see her standing in the doorway.

"Incase you haven't heard, I'm a ghost." He sighs again, turning his head away from her, to hide his sadness from her. "And don't tell me we can fix this, cause we can't."

"This is just…" he turns his attention back to his cup, reaching for it, his hand slipping right through again. "Who I am now."

"I don't feel anything anymore." He tries to explain his situation to her, laying back on his bed with another sad sigh.

"Sensei told us our paths in life are never a straight line." Nya begins, speaking softly to her dear friend. Cole refuses to look at her. "Take me for instance, I thought I was always destined to be Samurai X, but now I'm training to become the Water Ninja, no matter how horribly awful I am at that."

"All I know is…" Nya continues, jumping up to stand on Coles bed next to him, he leans up a bit, actually looking at her now. "Ninja never quit!"

"But I'm not a ninja anymore." Cole sits up, supporting his weightlessness with his arms. "I'm a ghost."

"Then what do you do?" She asks him, putting a hand on his shoulder the best she can. The gesture is lost on Cole. "I think that's something you have to answer on your own."

"Misako's about to debrief us about the next clue." Kai says from the doorway, his eyes drifting between Cole and Nya. How long had he been standing there, Cole asks himself, he better not have been there the whole time and just didn't say anything.

"We'll be there in a moment." Nya responds to her brother.

Kai gives Cole a look that he thinks is pity, the last thing he needs right now is his team feeling sorry about this all, least of all Kai.

"Sis, that colour suits you well." Kai tells her, looking at Cole once more. He opens his mouth as if he wants to say something, but he just bites his lower lip harshly. He shakes his head, walking off to do whatever he was doing before.

"Thanks, it's my favourite colour!" She smiles big, glad her brother likes it.

"No, Nya. Thank you." Cole stands up and wraps his ghostly arms around her.

He can sense the warmth her body gives off, but he can't feel it. What he can feel is her hand go through his back in her attempt to return his hug, itz cold, so cold a shiver crawls down his spine. Cole concentrates on his hand for a moment, willing it solid for a just a moment, just to feel the love of one of his closest friends. He smiles softly, closing his eyes. He's getting the hang of this ever so slowly.

–

The Ninja are instructed to go up the Wailing Alps to get to the Cloud Kingdom through the Blind Man's Eye by Misako and Wu. Cole knows it'll be dangerous, an intense fear worming its way into his ghostly being as they approach the base of the mountain. They have to retrieve the Sword of Sanctuary, a magical sword that lets you see your opponent's next move. It'll be instrumental in beating Morro and getting Lloyd back. Nya brought them to the very bottom deck of the ship, at the base of the hull, into a room with four distinct mechs inside.

"Without your mechs, you'll never be able to survive the extreme conditions on your own." Nya explains the need for the mechs, admiring her handiwork. "I've also installed headsets into your hoods for easy communication. Try it out."

"Ahem, tell me Zane, how tall is this mountain?" Jay asks the recently repaired nindroid as a mic test.

"The precise elevation of the Wailin'Alps be well over three leagues and 28 fathoms." Zane replies factually accurate as always, but with a pirate's accent.

"Zane's so much cooler." Jay snickers to the others, Cole doesn't feel like laughing with him.

"Remember, once you reach the peak you'll only have one shot to shoot the Blind Man's eye." Ronin reminds them as he heads to the baydoor switch.

"I don't know guys, you had time to practise." Cole doubts his abilities, grasping at the handles, watching as his fingertips graze through them. "Maybe I should sit this one out."

"Don't even think about it." Kai tries to reassure him from his mech across the room, smiling at him softly. "You may be a ghost, but you're still part of the team."

"And if it weren't for you getting the first clue," Jay comes in with his positive attitude. "We wouldn't even be here."

"So what are you going to do, Cole?" Nya asks from the ground up to Cole in his mech. "Are you in or out?"

Cole thinks for a moment, looking around at his family, they really care, they want him to be there. He closes his eyes tight, concentrating on his hands, grabbing at the controls and actually gripping them. Some of his confidence is restored in that simple thing.

"Open the hangar doors." He tells Ronin to open the trap doors beneath them.

The ninjas jump out yelling and whooping, landing gracefully in the snow. Except for Cole, he loses his grip a bit on his controls, his mech flailing through the air as he plummets into the snow, screaming his head off. He lands hard in the undisturbed snow, his friends rushing in their mechs to see if he's alright. This is just embarrassing to Cole, he should be able to do things like this.

"Cole, are you okay?" Kai asks him as he and Jay help the black ninja up.

"Gotta work on that landing." He admits with a sigh as he stands up. "You sure you want me along? I can hardly control my new body, let alone this piece of metal."

"Hey, we all have our bad days." Jay comes in with his best friends support. "We'll pick you up so next time you can return the favour."

"Jay be right. The only way we're getting up ye mountain is if we be a hardy crew." Zane says, making Cole smile at his dumb accent.

"This isn't about who's a Ninja, a Nindroid, or even a ghost. Above all else, we're brothers. And as iron sharpens iron, brother sharpens brother." Kai says to him with a huge grin.

Cole can feel that warm twinge inside of his cold body, it's welcomed right now, proving he can feel.

"Alright brothers, let's do this." He grins back at his friends, setting off up the mountain.

A bit up the mountain a wind gust starts, blowing snow and wind hard at the ninja. It was almost like the wind was trying to push them off, stopping them from accomplishing what they came to do. They all try to anchor down, but Cole just can't, his hands and feet keep fading, making it difficult to control his body and mech. Zane sends out a grappling hook, attaching it to Cole and bringing him back up once the wind is done trying to kill them.

"That was close, I owe you one." Cole says to Zane as they keep heading up the mountain.

They managed to climb a couple yards up the mountain, stopping when they hear what they think is the wind picking up again. Only it's not the wind, it's a huge avalanche, Kai screams as they see the huge rush of snow rolling down the mountainside. The ninja turntail and run from it, but it catches up, sweeping them off their feet. No one can control their mechs anymore than Cole can as they're sliding down the range. Jay hits a rock, his mech breaks, tossing him from it and onto a piece of scrap. Cole reaches for his best friend, grasping to save him, but his hand goes right through his.

"Concentrate, Cole!" Jay reminds him as he slides off ahead.

Kai jumps onto a branch from his mech, only for the branch to snap immediately, causing the fire ninja to fall into Jay as he's going down the mountain. Zane's trapped in his mech, unable to open the hatch to get out. Cole knows it's up to him, but right now he wants everything to stop, to just have a minute to think.

"What do I do? What do I do?" He asks himself over and over. "What do you do, Cole? You don't give up."

Cole jumps off of his mech and into a snowball with his eyes closed, concentrating on the soft white snow around him. He thinks about arms and legs that can catch his friends, a physical body that can save this. When he opens his eyes he has his friends safely in his snowy arms, standing on a cliff edge as he withstands the end of the Avalanche that almost ended their mission.

"Woah, Cole, is that you?" Jay asks in wonder, his and Kai's eyes wide.

"Just picking you up to return the favour!" He says cheerfully, placing his friends sturdily on the cliff.

"You possessed the snow." Kai says to him, an awestruck expression on his face.

"Yeah, I guess I did." He smiles, looking at his hands in a whole new way, wondering what else he can possess.

"First we get Cyclondo, the we get a ghost on our side!" Jay laughs, his laugh making Cole smile more.

"Tis' good to see you smile." Zane comments with a smile on his own face.

"Right, we're down to one mech, but we're up in spirit," Kai begins, getting them back on course. "How are we gonna catch up? We lost a lot of ground."

"How 'bout we see what else I can do?" Cole suggests with a confident smirk.

–

Cole manages to possess Zane's mech, Jay and Kai on each shoulder as they storm up the mountain with much more ease and speed than before. Cole feels more alive inside the machine, knowing he can actually help his team more than he thought he could. It's a strange feeling, but it's better than no feeling.

"It's like your possession has given his mech boosters!" Kai compliments his newfound ability.

"Boo-sters? Is that some kind of ghost joke?" He asks, pointing out Kai's pun.

"Glad to see your sense of humour hasn't changed!" Kai laughs.

The Red Ninjas laugh makes Cole feel giddy, charging him up even more for the task ahead. Cole starts scaling the side of the mountain, his memories of climbing almost every mountain in Ninjago helping him do so. Some part of him misses those days, but he's better now with his team… with his friends. Cole finds climbing the rock easy, the machine's metal hands definitely help grip the rock. Maybe this ghost thing isn't so bad afterall.

"Ah, the hanging temple." Kai points up above them at the fragile buildings hanging onto the mountain side. "We're not far."

A soul arrow flies down at them, meaning Morro and his guys are there at the temple. The arrow hits Kai, knocking him back. He's still for a moment, if Cole wasn't dead already he would be now. But Kai sits up, gasping.

"The armour really works!" He exclaims to everyone's relief. "I didn't turn into a ghost!"

The ghost samurai suit leans over the edge, firing its grappling hooks at their own mech, grabbing its shoulder, and hoisting it up to the temple. The ghost samurai slams Zane's mech into the floor so hard Cole is forced out of it. As he's laying there, he sees Morro running down a balcony on one of the temple buildings.

"Morro's getting away!!" He shouts, springing up to take chase.

"And you're not!" Another ghost appears before them, screeching so loud it shakes the icicles off of a rope above them, almost impaling Jay and Kai.

"Who's ready for some exercise, 'cause we're about to do some exorcism." Kai tries to make a ghost joke again, Cole actually laughs at it.

"Now that is a ghost joke." Cole replies, smiling at the Burnette.

The battle is intense, the ghost Archer shoots at Jay, while Zane tussles with Nyas stolen Samurai X suit. Cole and Kai are taking on the third ghost when Kai's knocked back hard, the wood underneath him cracking until it starts falling out from under him.

"Hey Kai, think fast!" He yells over to the ninja in peril, throwing his Aeroblade at the wall behind Kai.

"We have to figure out how to get rid of these windbags before it's too late!" Kai reminds his team of their small window to get through the Blind Man's Eye.

"Oh, speaking of wind!" Jay shouts over the steadily speeding wind coming their way. "Anchor down!"

They're almost blown off the temple when the wind just stops. Zane tosses them up onto the temple, Cole goes into a snowbank head first, Jay and Kai land next to him. The Soul Archer fires at them, they dodge it narrowly. Jay throws his Aeroblade at him and gets him, knocking him off the temple.

"Come on, we have to get outta here!" Kai calls for his team, running down the balcony that Morro had moments ago.

Cole looks back at Zane for a moment, worried something will happen to him, but he quickly rejoins his friends. They'll have to scale the peak by foot now, having lost their mech to that battle. There's tons of icicles on the peak, they use them to help climb up, although they're quite slippery, so maybe that wasn't a good idea. Jay loses his grip and Cole reaches for him as he falls, he can feel Jay's hand in his as he helps his best friend up.

"Concentrate, we got this." He tells Jay as the blue ninja regains his grip.

"We're gonna miss the Blind Man's Eye!" Kai shouts as the wind picks up again.

"We'll never make it in time!" Zane yells.

"We will if we do one thing." Kai reminds them of their newfound ability… the one Cole hasn't practised due to having to focus on learning to touch things.

"Cyclondo!" Jay shouts his made up name for the art form.

"But I've never practised it." He looks over to Kai. "What if I don't make it? What if I just blow off the mountain?"

"Don't worry. I'll catch you!" Kai tries to reassure his ghostly teammate.

"Just trust us." Kai continues before jumping off of the icicle, spinning into his Airjitzu. He goes down before he shoots right up to the top. "I did it, I did Airjitzu! Now you try!"

"Now it's your turn!" Jay calls at Cole as he and Zane jump off and do the same as Kai.

Cole watches them, doubt set heavy. He doesn't want to die again, he can't die again, he doesn't know what happens if you die as a ghost.

"You can do it, Cole. I'll catch you!" Kai tries to reassure him again. "Remember, brother sharpens brother!"

"The only thing sharp here is this icicle that I'm holding on to." He yells back up to Kai, he's losing his grip on the icy come, scrambling to get a better hold.

"Come on, Cole! You're the strong one. Even Jay can do it." Kai encourages him much to Jay's protest. "Cole, just jump."

"What if I can't grab hold of your hand? I'll fall and die!" Cole expresses his concern with dying here.

"No you won't. You're a ghost, and ghosts can't die!" Kai reminds him of one of his new, and obvious, abilities. Cole mentally kicks himself for not realising sooner.

"Ghost can't die. Ghosts can't die." Cole amps himself up, getting ready to jump. "I'll do it!"

He jumps off and immediately does Airjitzu, the strong winds no longer bothering him. He struggles a bit as he goes up the mountain, not able to get his bearings, but he shoots up past Moro, and lands on-top of his friends.

"We did it!" Jay exclaims excitedly.

"Look!" Kai points up at the sky above them to a swirling cloud. "The Blind Man's Eye!"

"We've only got one shot." Zane gently reminds them.

"Brother sharpens brother." Cole says, as they go up into the swirling cloud, leaving Morro and his lackeys in their dust.

Notes:

I am so passionate about this fic, I've poured my heart and soul into it. ALSO!!! I would love to hear of some personal Headcanons you guys have for the ninja and elemental masters, might give me a few ideas of little traits to give em.

Chapter 11: Cloud Kingdom

Summary:

"Wait, what am I doing?" Cole stops dead for a moment, looking at his transparent hands. He can go through things now, it's actually a struggle not to.

Cloud Kingdom was beautiful, everything from the way the clouds shine, to the ornate details of the buildings, and the floating boats gracefully cutting through the air. The beauty of it all was short lived as the first person they had met there just locked them in a room with some sort of Wolfman with a storm in his stomach. They came for a sword, and instead got tricked. Cole wonders why the ninja keep getting themselves into situations like this.

The creature starts to throw its things at them as it chases them around its room, tossing Jay across the crowded space. Kai tries to distract it as the other three ninja try to find a way out, Jay pushes around furniture, Zane states he's scanning the room for secret doors, and Cole is just running around trying his best to not get hit.

"Wait, what am I doing?" Cole stops dead for a moment, looking at his transparent hands. He can go through things now, it's actually a struggle not to. "I'm a ghost."

He walks up to the wall, gently putting an arm through just to be sure before just walking on through the solid cement.

"Oh, I'm such a dummy." He scolds himself for forgetting a very important fact about his new body.

Cole parkours over some rocks that surround the building, making his way to the front door. How is he supposed to unlock this door and save his friends from that thing, Cole asks himself as he peers through the lock.

"You can undo the locks!" Jay yells at him, his voice cracking as he's scared for his life.

"I'm a ghost, not a locksmith." Cole reminds his friend, his brows furrowing. "I need a key."

"Be the key, Cole!" Jay suggests urgently. "Be the fucking key!"

"Good idea." Cole nods, his regular confident smile returning to his face.

Cole concentrates, breathing in and out slowly. He feels his body start to tingle, a green mist starts to appear from him… or rather is him as he floats into the lock, taking control of the individual cogs and pins, twisting until he hears a pop, and that his friends are safe outside. Cole returns to his human form back in front of the building, Kai immediately wraps an arm around him, the red ninja squeezes him into his side. Cole feels the warmth flutter in him, hoping it stays a little longer than he normally would.

"Ya know, Cole?" Kai begins with his cocky grin. "I'm starting to like you as a ghost more and more."

The moment is cut short by Zane pointing at Morro walking along a land bridge over the floating islands, he's led by Fenwick. Cole can feel Kai's body heat up as an angry look dawns on the spikey haired boy's face. Cole pulls away, leading his team to go get the Sword of Sanctuary before Morro can even get close.

The ninja make their way to a building that Morro and traitorous Fenwick went into, a young destiny writer stopping them to explain that Fenwick did it to secure his future when Morro releases the Preeminent. He tells them to get the Sword of Sanctuary from the tallest tower of the temple before them.

"But you must hurry, they're already headed there!" The young boy warns them.

"I guess there's no time to take the stairs." Kai states. Cole agrees with a nod as they all scale the building with their eyes.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Kai asks, nudging Cole in the arm.

"Airjitzu!" Cole, Kai, and Zane cheer.

"Cyclondo?" Jay says wearily, the others give him a look and sigh heavily. "Why isn't it catching on?"

"Be careful little monk." Cole bends his knees a bit to be more on level with the young boy.

"You too." The boy replies before running off, presumably to his pen and ink.

The ninja go into their Spinjitzu cyclones, jumping from boat to boat as the vessels pass by the tower, until they reach the top. But as they bust through the window, they see Morro holding the Sword of Sanctuary. They start trying to fight him for it but he knows their every move. The Master of Wind jumps out the window the ninja came through, the ninja are quick to follow, jumping after Morro. They keep falling on each other as Morro evades their attacks, thanks to the sword. Morro stops to through some roof tiles at them with the wind, the ninja dodge the tiles as Morro successfully gets away with his ghost palls. The ninja commandeer a ship from some monk passing by, taking chase after Morro through the Blind Man's Eye.

They pass through The Blind Man's Eye and immediately start plummeting down the mountain, catching up with Morro and his ghostly crew, only to lose him again. Their boat crashes into a tree, sending the Ninja flying. But they quickly break away, sliding down the mountain side on debris. Kai calls into the Bounty as they approach the base of the mountain, steadily chasing after Morro.

"Need a lift?" Master Wu asks as he drops down on the ship's anchor to his pupils, offering them a hand.

"Go, I can catch them." Kai says to them, taking off after the ghosts on his makeshift snowboard.

Worry that he might lose another teammate brews in Cole, as they are hoisted up onto Destiny's Bounty. Once they're on board, Cole stays by the railing, leaning over as far as he can to watch Kai go after them. The Ninja of Fire managed to board the ghost ship before they lost sight of him. Cole can feel nothing but worry, his hand drifts to the hem of his sleeves, fiddling with it in anxious anticipation.

"Keep following them." Cole vaguely hears Master Wu instruct whoever is steering.

Cole isn't able to focus on anything until he sees Kai's Airjitzu bubble rising up to them, up to him. He rushes towards him as he lands, a soft smile on his face growing as he sees Kai wielding the Sword of Sanctuary.

"You got the sword. But how?" Their master inquires.

"How else? Working together." Kai responded, his face sweaty and happy. He turns to Misako. "Lloyd fought Morro like a true hero."

"If Morro defied destiny, then why not us?" Cole enthuses, happiness undeniably already through him as a huge smile spreads across his face.

"He may have gotten Airjitzu first–" Zane begins, immediately cut off by Jay correcting him.

"Ah-ah-ah, you mean Cyclondo!" Jay laughs as he wraps an arm over both Zane and Nya. Zane can only sigh at the blue ninja's stupid name for the martial art form.

"But we got the sword!" Cole pulls Kai into a hug. He's so happy Kai got the sword that he could kiss him right then and there. Kai looks at him with such joy, he wants to kiss that smile until his breath– Cole stops his thought, abruptly pulling away.

Kai raises a brow at him, but Cole just steps further away. It's like he thinks that if Kai's too close he'll be able to read his thoughts of him. Since when did he even think of Kai like that, Cole asks himself. It had to have been because Lloyd accused him of having a crush on Kai a week ago, when this all started.

Cole heads on below deck to their cabin after the whole team, and Ronin, celebrate their victory over Morro a bit. He enters the Cabin, walking over to where they hang up photos, he sees the picture of their first dinner with Lloyd. The green ninja was so small, they all were, but especially Lloyd. Cole feels guilt fill him, an overwhelming amount. He wished it was him who was taken, Lloyd shouldn't have to go through this, the boy just lost his dad, he cried in Cole's arms and told him.

He looks at the others in the photo to distract himself from his sad thoughts, he smiles at Zane in his apron, hands on his hips as he looks at Cole and Kai goofing off while Nya and Jay laugh at their antics, Wu is smiling as he watches Lloyd watch the ninja with a huge grin. He remembers this day faintly. Cole reaches to touch the picture, his fingers cross into it and the board behind it.

"Still having a hard time grasping the whole grasping thing?" He hears Kai say from behind, he turns to see the fire ninja leaning in their doorway.

"Yeah, I am." He frowns looking down at his hands.

"I remember that day like it was yesterday," Kai begins walking to where Cole is at the board, Cole watches him get closer. "Lloyd hadn't eaten in days, he ate more of Zane's stew than you and threw up right before Wu put him to bed."

"I remember that part, Zane felt bad and kept bringing him water and checking his temperature." Cole adds as Kai is now next to him, his fiery brown, almost amber, eyes staring at the photo with adoration.

"We had planned a prank on Zane that evening at dinner, he hated it but laughed with us." Kai smiles softly at Cole. Cole knows he can't blush, but he would be right now if he could. "We've always been quite a daring duo, me and you, boulder boy."

"We have, haven't we, firecracker?" Cole bugs him, smirking playfully at the red ninja.

"Yeah, totally!" Kai blurts out, quickly turning his face away.

"Kai, what's wrong?" Cole reaches for Kai's shoulder, Kai jerks away causing Cole's hand to phase through him.

"Nothing! I- uh- I've got to go help Zane with dinner upstairs." Kai turns to the door, keeping his face out of view as he quickly walks out, stumbling into the doorway on his way to the kitchen.

"That was weird." Cole can't help but say out loud.

—

It's dinnertime on the Bounty, Zane has made Nya's favourite today in honour of her journey to becoming The Water Ninja beginning. She almost cries when she eats it.

"Zane, this is just like how I remember it." She says after the first bite of her giant ravioli. "Kai, guys, you all have to have some of this!"

"Oh." Kai starts while chewing. "I don't know how you did it, but this is just like my dad's."

"I'm glad you two like it so much." Zane smiles big at them, his blue eyes glimmering with joy for his friend's happiness with his cooking. "I had found this strange box in storage with quite a few recipe cards. I had found one titled 'Rays Jumbo Ravioli', I recalled Cole saying something once about how it was Nya's favourite food, so once I had decided to make her a celebratory dinner it was a no brainer."

"Zane, thank you." Nya stands to hug the Nindroid tight, he hugs her back.

Cole can't help but smile, these moments are what keeps them going in times like these. They've made so many memories around the table, so much good food has been had over laughter and stories. Kai elbows him gently as the others start a conversation amongst themselves.

"You've hardly touched your ravioli, Cole?" Kai asks him, grabbing his fork and knife, cutting a piece off and bringing it to Cole's mouth. "Comn' big guy, gotta eat this, it's the shit, trust me."

Cole smiles, hesitantly opening his mouth to let his friend feed him. And holy shit, he's glad he did, this really is the best ravioli ever. This disgraces all the other pasta Cole has ever tried. Then it dawns on him; this is the first meal he's eaten since becoming a ghost. And Kai's the one- oh FSM, Kai just fed him.

"I've got to use the washroom." Cole lies, standing up only to phase through the floor to their cabins again.

Cole walks over to his bed and slams down into his mattress face down. He screams quietly into his pillow. He has a crush on Kai, Lloyd was right. Lloyd is not even here to gloat to him that he's right, and Cole can hear it. Cole hears someone running down the stairs of the bounty and the door flying into the wall. He looks over sluggishly to see Jay coming towards him, Cole groans.

"Bro, what the fuck was that?" Jay asks anxiously, sitting gently next to his dark haired bestie.

"I don't even know at this point, Jay." Cole sighs, talking back into the pillow just loud enough for Jay to hear him. "He's just been all touchy since we've gotten back from Cloud Kingdom."

"Not any less than normal." Jay tries to point out, Cole sits cross legged beside him, staring Jay in the eyes.

"He fed me with a fork." He states the unusual Kai behaviour.

"I don't know, dude. Kai's just weird, he does that with Nya sometimes, pretty sure he just sees you as a baby or something." Jay does his best to give Cole a reassuring smile, placing a hand on his best friend's knee. "I find that looking too much into these actions can push people away, maybe just try your best to avoid being close to him?"

"Maybe that would work." Cole looks at Jay's hand on his knee, it's not going through him. "I think I'm getting better at this ghost stuff."

"I'd say so! You got us out of a locked building without blowing anything up!" Jay smiles big, his face scrunching up. "Cole, you're the coolest best friend a boy from the junkyard could ever ask for."

"And you're the dorkiest best friend a boy that dropped out of performing arts school could ever ask for." Cole replies, concreting hard as he gently puts his hand over Jays. "I'm glad we're good now."

"Me too." Jay leans in for a hug, only to go right through Cole and onto the mattress. "You'll get it one hundred percent soon, I believe in you!"

"Thanks, Jay." Cole smiles as Jay sits up again, starting to get off the bed.

"We should go join the others up on deck now for a brief about tomorrow." The blue ninja offers Cole a hand up, Cole takes it, and the two head upstairs, cracking a few jokes as they go meet the others.

 

—

They make it back to the monastery in the morning and immediately start fortifying the teashop with water traps, much to Cole's disapproval as numerous buckets full of it almost drop on him. He's been doing his best to avoid water and Kai all morning, but it's hard when he's everywhere. He's there when he wakes up, there at breakfast, there during training, there during briefings, always around him, almost always so close to touching him. Cole can't stand it, so he goes wherever Jay goes, hoping that his best friend will buffer anything he needs him to. They had launched an attack on the mailman earlier when he came to drop off some mail, they soaked the poor guy.

The ninja are having another briefing about the Tomb of The First Spinjitzu Master, when they hear Nya scream for them. Ronin is getting away with the sword! The ninja rush out, running to Nya's aid, only to find Ronin trying to slink off.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Ronin warns them just before Jay trips on one of their traps, triggering a chain reaction.

Cole starts running around dodging the flying water balloons and buckets of water his friends keep setting off, as Ronin makes his way into the shop, calling his ship and starting to fly away. Kai tries to go after it using Airjitzu, failing, falling, and getting caught on one of the teashop roof fixtures.

"He's getting away! To the bounty!" Kai commands their team.

"Are we sure that's the wisest choice?" Master Wu asks, jumping into the middle of the courtyard, thudding his staff. A golden dragon appears beneath him, and he offers his hand to Misako. "Care for a ride?"

"I thought you'd never ask." She says, taking his hand. The two fly off after Ronin and his ship, the Destiny's Bounty following.

—

"Well obviously he's taken the sword to Morro." Jay starts their discussion, everyone gathered in the main room of the teashop.

"But where's Morro? He could be anywhere." Zane asks, the programming whirring away in his head.

"Look, Nya, I know you're not a ninja yet," Cole begins to get mad at her, pointing at the training ninja to be. "But if you're gonna be one of us–"

"I'm sorry." Nya looks down at her fidgeting hands for a moment, she's tightening a nut around a bolt and then untightening it only to tighten it again. "I should've told you when I first suspected Ronin would steal it."

"Enough!" Master Wu's voice booms over their arguing and blame shifting, his hands on his hips, and his brow furrowed sternly. "We all knew the path to save Lloyd was never going to be a straight line. We were all fooled by Ronin, but that doesn't make us fools. At times like this, we mustn't butt heads but put our heads together."

Jay starts laughing, everyone's heads slowly turn to him with concern.

"I'm sorry, you said 'butt heads.'" he snickers, earning a disappointed look from their master.

Zane's falcon flies in, disrupting their discussion with a video of Ronin. He apologises, admitting that he was wrong, and revealing the location of the tomb to them. Something doesn't feel right about this, Ronin isn't one to admit he's wrong so easily.

"Why should we believe him?" Nya brings up the fact that Ronin only has done things for himself. "It could be a trap."

"We don't have the scroll and we don't have the sword." Kai reminds her and everyone else that Lloyds life is at stake. "What other choice do we have?"

Cole looks at Jay, they share a nod with each other. "We're in."

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What good will it do us if this is all just a set up?" Nya tries her best to counter their plan.

"The ninja are right, even a misstep could be a step in the right direction." Wu says reassuringly, stepping into the middle to address them all. " We cannot afford to do nothing. The ninja will go. As for Nya, you're still not ready."

"Ugh." Nya groans, Zane rubs her shoulder giving her a sympathetic smile before the boys all head out to the Bounty.

Notes:

They are awkward messes.

Chapter 12: A Gap

Summary:

Ronin betrays then, who would've though. Cole did, Cole thought.

Notes:

This chapters short, but I'm uploading two today.

Cole swears he feels sick to his stomach, if he was sure he had one still, when they find the body; he feels even worse when they realise it's Morro's. If this is Morro's corpse, that means it's not the First Spinjitzu Masters, meaning it was a trap! Ghoultar pops out from behind a rock, causing the cave to start crumbling inwards around the exit, blocking the way out.

"There's no way out!" Kai tells, touching the rock gently before turning back to them. "If this was a test, I think we certainly failed it."

"And all this gas is making me a little light-headed." Jay coughs.

"This cavern is a virtual oven." Cole begins to explain the science he knows about volcanoes and geysers. "If those geysers decide to ignite, we'll be cooked."

Zane scans the cavern with his eyes, retinal lasers pointing in all directions. "Pixal has located an opening. The cave-in must have created a gap."

"Oh, a gap to where?" Jay starts his thing where he complains when things seem lost. "For all we know, it could be a dead end, and for the record, that's another one of my least favourite words. Dead end!"

"Too late." Cole warns them as he peers over the edge of the geyser, he grabs a Boulder and covers the hole to try and give them more time.

"Cole, no!" Zane tries to stop him.

"Heh, that solves that problem." Cole smiles, but his victory is brief.

"Correction, you made it worse." Zane starts to visibly panic, using his arms more as he speaks, his eyes shooting around the room to read the situation. "The pressure will compact the explosion, multiplying the damage tenfold."

"Oh, what're you trying to say?" Jay asks the nindroid with a whine.

"When the rock goes, every cave in a 10-mile radius will be filled with a wall of fire so hot, it'll incinerate everything in its path." Zane continues with his explanation, dawning horror across his fellow ninja's faces. Apparently Cole doesn't know EVERYTHING about volcanoes.

"Guess we better get hot on our heels." Kai says, leading them into Airjitzu to the newly formed tunnel.

 

The tunnel leads them to a train cart that sends them hurtling through dark mines, the merge from the mineshaft screaming heading into a pool of lava. Cole finds himself praying to the first master, if he and his friends live through this, he'll give up cake for a whole month, he'll deal with Jays socks for 3, he'd do anything just to live past this moment. He feels his prayers are answered as Ronin's ship, Rex, comes in just in time to save them.

"I could kiss Ronin!" Cole laughs as he grabs hold of the ship's ladder. "After I clobber him for getting us into this mess."

"Oh, autopilot." Jay groans as he and Cole make their way to the front. "Course he's too scared to show his face."

"Hey Ninja, if you're getting this message I'm sure you have some choice words for me." A message begins on the ship's dashboard.

"Haha, you've got that right." Cole shouts at him angrily, wanting to pummel him the second he sees him next.

"But I wanted to tell you, that wasn't me who sent you to this trap." Ronin begins to explain on the screen. "I was under the control of Morro. I know you think I'm a crook by taking the sword, and I want to make things right by offering my airship Rex as a peace offering."

" I know it's not what you had in mind, but I've remotely entered the location of the tomb. The real one this time." Ronin continues, displaying the location on the screen now.

"Look at that. The reason Misako never found the tomb in Ninjago was because it was never there in the first place." Kai expresses the disbelief they all have. "It's under the ocean."

"Morro has a head start, but Rex should get you there in a jiff." Ronin continues. "And if it's any consolation, this'll be the last you see of me. If Nya wants to know a reason, tell her it's because I care. Okay, good luck. And go make things right."

"Looks like we're headed to the tomb." Kai states as Ronin's video stops. "Time to buckle up."

Chapter 13: The Maze Of Mirrors

Summary:

They enter the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master and reunite their little family.

Ronin's ship brought them to an underwater cavern; they had to evade an enormous octopus to get there. As soon as they enter the tomb Jay finds a green scrap from Lloyd's clothes, meaning Morro was already there, just as they suspected he would be. There's a large detailed statue of a man who looks just like their master, the large stone is sitting down, legs crossed and arms out in meditation. A peaceful energy is felt throughout the team as they near the statue.

"The First Spinjitzu Master…" Cole mummers in awe. "Creator of all Ninjago."

"Destination reached." The ship starts to speak from behind them, drawing their attention as it begins to recede into the water. "Auto return initiated."

"Auto return?" Jay questions as he turns. "No, no, no. Rex! Bad!"

"Our Aeroblade weapons were in there." Zane reminds them with concern in his robotic voice.

"Not to mention our only way back." Kai says, gesturing angrily at the water from a rock. "Fucking, Ronin. I hate him so much."

"Heyyyyy, stay positive!" Jay smiles up at him, replacing his doomed expression with his classic positive smile.

"Who needs a way back when we gotta go that way?" Jay points past the rest of the group to further into the tomb.

"No sword, no powers, no problem." Kai starts, Jay's infectious attitude getting to the rest of the ninja. "We can do this, guys!"

"As long as we got each other, right?" Kai looks over to Cole, he can't help but smile and nod, stepping up to be on the rock with Kai.

"Brother sharpens brother." Cole agrees.

Jay starts off deeper into the tomb, leading them into a cavernous hall lined with glowing stones. Cole can't help but find them beautiful, he wishes he could take a picture of it and keep it forever. They walk through a heavy stone door, into a large circular room with doors along the whole wall, the same blue stones they say in the hall are used to decorate and finish the room details. Each door has a small engraving of the First Spinjitzu Master on it holding a crystal, a symbol above each door as well. The door they entered through slams behind them, causing Cole to jump in fear.

"This could be the first test." Coles sure of it, what else could it be.

"Why did it have to be tests? I've never tested well." Jay's positive attitude has changed back to anxiety. "Why can't the tomb just be protected by dragons? We're good with dragons."

"I think we're supposed to pick a door, but which one?" Kai asks as they all look around the room for an answer.

"What was it Misako said?" Jay asks the group.

"A Spinjitzu Master can. A Spinjitzu Master can not. To move forward don't look ahead, to find his resting spot." Zane quotes Misako word for word.

"A Spinjitzu Master can." Kai reiterates walking over to one of the doors. "Can what?"

"Sixteen doors. For sixteen realms?" Jay throws the possibility of each door leading to a different realm out to the group.

"Well, could be." Cole responds to his bestie, walking to the centre of the room to get a look at every door with Zane. "But let me guess, pick the wrong door and we'll be in a realm of hurt."

"Oh, I wish we had the sword right about now." Jay whines as he walks over to the two, followed by Kai.

"We can figure this out." The fire ninja attempts to reassure Jay. "A Spinjitzu Master can. Can. "

"The symbol above this door, it's a tornado." Jay points to a door. "This could be the one right?"

"You could be right." Kai agrees as Jay walks to open the door.

"Jay, wait!" Zane rushes towards him, grabbing his arm just before he opens the door. "Step away from that door, Jay."

"What is it?" Jay obliges, letting the Nindroid drag him back to the centre of the room.

"Were inside a zoetrope." Zane tells them about what they are.

"Uh, I don't get it?" Cole puzzles, confused as he looks around at the walls trying to make a picture in his head with them.

"A Spinjitzu Master can." Kai says again, his face lighting up as he solves it. "Do Spinjitzu!"

"Exactly!" Zane smiles at them, readying his stance as they all take a step back. Zane goes into his tornado, spinning fast.

"He's creating some sort of shape." When Zane stops he points to a door with a circle above it with a 's' shape in it, the door they entered through. "That one. That's the door out."

"I don't know, Zane." Cole turns to his friend, more confusion on the earth ninja face. "Isn't that the same door we came in? Are you sure?"

"Are you sure you want to doubt a nindroid?" Zane sasses back at him, daring him to argue with his literal computer of a brain.

"Open the door. Let's find out." Kai instructs their team.

Jay slowly opens the door. They're all expecting to be back at the entrance, only they're not. They're in a large cavern, rock pillars of various heights stand along the edges of the rather circular room. This is insane, this place is most definitely haunted or magic or something, Cole thinks as they walk in.

"How can it be the way if that's the way we came in?" He ponders outloud.

"Well," Kai gives him a anxious look, at least Cole thinks it's anxious. Kai's brows are furrowed and raised, his shoulders tight as looks around the room. "Welcome to the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master."

"Nice one, Zane!" Jay says proudly, patting the taller on the back. "Who needs the Sword of Sanctuary when you've got a nindroid?"

"The staff of the First Spinjitzu Master." Kai says as he starts walking across the room.

"Wait!" Cole rushes after him, pulling him back by his arm. This whole room could be boobytraped, by Morro or the First Master. "This is the second test, remember? Zane what do you think?"

"Pixal can see no pattern." Zane says after scanning the room and turning back to his friends. "For this riddle room, I'm at a loss."

"Think about it." Jay suggests as if they're already not thinking about it. "The first test was 'A Spinjitzu Master can.', so this one's 'a Spinjitzu Master cannot."

"Though saying it out loud, I don't like the sound of that." Jay visibly crawls into himself his shoulder drawing up, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Hmm…" Kai hums to himself in thought, walking out into the room more.

The stone beneath him creaks, there's a mechanical sound from within the walls and spikes shoot out of nowhere. Jay drops down, Zane manoeuvres his body to craftily dodge the spikes, and Kai just looks down at the spike in horror. It almost hit him right between the legs. Cole just ducked his head and closed his eyes shut so he wouldn't see them go through his body, he hates it when things go through him.

"Is everyone okay?" Cole asks the others as they get up.

"That was a close one." Zane says, carefully unpinning himself from his position.

"Every step is a trap." Cole watches as Jay gets up, his legs shaking with the anxiety he's having.

"How does one reach the staff if it becomes more difficult with every step to get there?" Zane asks, probably to Pixal and not then. "If I'm correct this riddle room poses quite the conundrum."

"So if a Spinjitzu Master can't do it, how're we supposed to reach the staff?" Cole asks Zane, although he thinks that's sorta what the titanium ninja had just said.

"Watch and learn." Kai says with an edge in his voice as he launches into an Airjitzu spin across to the staff.

He grasps and edge near it, so close to it, but another thing can be heard shifting and more spikes launch at the fire ninja. The others watch and scream at him to stop as Kai runs back to them, setting off at least 9 more traps in 10 seconds. The floor starts falling down, rock by rock, as more of the traps Kai set off happen around them. Jay and Zane dodge a ball rolling at them from behind, jumping across the gap to Kai. Cole side steps out of the way before he just manages to catch a glimpse of a ball swinging at him. He braces to be hit in the last moment, the rock swings through him, making him shudder.

"Wait, I'm a ghost. What am I worried about?" He lowers his arms, relaxing for a moment before he hears a crack behind him.

Cole turns around and sees a stream of water shooting out of the wall at him, he narrowly avoids it.

"That! That I can worry about." Cole hates his new worst enemy, water. "Kai, stop this instant, you're going to kill us!"

Cole turns back to his friends in time to see Kai decking it towards the staff again, like the determined hothead he is. Kai sets off another trap that almost hits Jay and Zane, tripping into a hole himself, just barely catching the edge.

"Kai, no!" Cole yells at him, joined by Zane.

Kai just keeps going, evading traps he sets off, absolutely sure he's going to get the staff. he just about reaches it when more spikes shoot out at him, he backflips down to a lower stone surrounded by the gap in the floor he's been steadily creating.

"Will everyone please stop moving!" Jay screams with his hands up in the air, Kai ceases all movement, staring at Jay like a deer in headlights.

"I can make it. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump." Kai tries to reassure Jay that he can do it, spinning into Airjitzu, only to fall on his ass.

"What else comes with a hop, skip, and a jump? You trigger one more trap, I don't know how much more we can take." Cole makes an attempt at warning Kai again, unsure if it'll work to deter him.

"The clue clearly said this is a test a Spinjitzu Master can not do. So why are we not listening to the clue?" Jay screams again, tugging at his short red hair, squeezing his eyes shut. Cole thinks he needs a hug, but there's no way he can get there to comfort him.

"Trust me! I can make it." Kai tries to tell them again.

"Wait. What if it's a trick?" Cole looks down into the abyss, studying it for a moment. "What if the reason we can't do it is because we were never meant to reach the staff?"

"What is the first rule of being a ninja?" Cole asks, pointing at Zane for an answer.

"A ninja never quits." Zane answers with a sigh.

"Exactly, and that's why we can't do it." Cole looks around the room, his eyes falling back to the abyss. "Because a ninja would never give up."

"What are you trying to say? We just quit? Are you insane?" Kai asks him with an accusing tone, Cole gives him a look, returning to ponder the void.

"This time, trust me." Cole looks up at them softly after making his decision, jumping into the dark abyss cannonball style. He can hear the others shout for him as he hits something cold and starts sliding down a natural ice slide. "Woohoo! Come on down and enjoy the ride!"

—

The Ninja make it to the bottom of the ice slide, landing in soft snow. They walk down a hall made of ice, Jay climbs up a snowbank and his eyes go wide.

"It's a maze! I'm great at mazes!" Jay exclaims from up above.

They walk into a larger hall of ice, Kai gets close to one and gasps.

"Huh, Woah!" He touches the ice. "If my reflection means anything, I'm starting to think we won't be breaking out of this maze any time at all."

"My reflection." Zane says wearily approaching a different section of the wall. "Is that me? I look older, but our attire is different. I don't believe these reflections reveal out inability to escape, but a mere glimpse of our future selves."

"Misako said to move forward, don't look ahead." Cole begins, walking towards the ice to see his own reflection. His face falls when there's nothing there staring back at him.

"Why can't I see my reflection? Where is my reflection?" Cole starts to feel panic coming in, his chest feels tighter than normal.

"It's probably because you're a ghost." Kai calls over to him. If that was supposed to be reassuring, it wasn't.

"Ghosts cast reflections, Kai." Zane reminds Kai as he brings Cole over to him. "He's probably just looking in the wrong place."

"I don't get why you brought him over here, they seem to work no matter where you stand." Kai gives the nindroid a confused look, his face turning back to his reflection, gasping just loud enough for Cole to heat.

Cole studies his friend's reflections, noticing the fabric on mirror Kai's arm crumples, something grabbing his hand gently, maybe even leaning on him. Cole feels something stir inside again, but he shakes it off as nothing. He doesn't have a reflection, he's going to die before he's all grown up like his friends' reflections.

"I am looking in the same place as you both are." Cole says, now pissed off.

"Hey, guys, guess what, I get an awesome eye-patch!" Jay exclaims from where he's looking at himself behind them.

"What Jay? What is so great that you see that I clearly can not!" Cole turns to him, snapping at him in a bitter tone. This is just the pits, fucking sucks.

"Nothing, just an eye patch!" Jay responds after a moment.

Cole makes his way away from Kai and Zane, heading towards an empty wall to see if his reflection is just hiding. He sees a shape coming forward, slightly green in tint.

"Wait a minute, I think I see me." He smiles for a moment before his face falls flat again. "It's Morro. He's in the maze too!"

Morro strikes the ice, the force of the chunks breaking throws Cole backwards. Cole can't move for a moment before he regains himself, he gets up and tries to find his friends, he can hear them fighting Morro nearby. He runs through the halls of ice, tripping and sliding through the wall. He mentally kicks himself for forgetting one of the best things he can do as a ghost as he knocks down Morro, and Zane, but more importantly Morro.

"Why didn't I do that sooner?" He asks himself, getting up and dusting nothing off of his gi.

Morro gets up and swings at Coles ghostly form, Cole dodges it for some reason, unsure if the Sword of Sanctuary can harm him, but he's not going to take the chance that it can't. He knocks over an icicle as he's evading Morro's attacks, picking it up to grip it like a sword before rushing Morro. They parry back and forth on the ice, sliding with every step. Morro manages to disarm him, about to take his final swing when he turns around and blocks an attack from Jay. Jay charges at him as Cole prepares for another charge on Morro, Zane comes at him only to be knocked back. The ninja keep taking turns swinging at Morro with icicles, Morro keeps evading them all that ks to the Sword of Sanctuary, much to the ninja's unammusment. Morro blasts them back with wind, Kai jumps up to him, leading him into some ice spikes. As Morro slashes at them, more and more grow in their place, trapping the master of wind within a small space of ice.

"You can't trap me. I'll find you, ninja." Morro warns them with a gravelly voice that's too much like Lloyds for Cole to smile at their tiny victory. "Just wait, you'll see!"

"Quick!" Jay begins as they all get up and walk through the ice tunnels some more. "How do we get out of here?"

"To move forward, don't look ahead." Cole reiterates the thing Misako had said earlier, again, deep in thought about what it could mean.

"Don't look ahead…" Jay puzzles with him, his attention drawn to the cracks in the ice below them. "Look below!"

"There's light!" Kai exclaims with a smile. "Everyone dig!"

The ninja dig through the ice with icicles until they fall through to a huge cavern. They're at the top of a slope, making their way down to the base, near the underground stream that cuts the cavern in half. There they see the second skeleton of the day, this one's wearing a hat like Wu's and clutching a gem that lights up the corpse that holds it.

"It's him. The First Spinjitzu Master." Kai prices together, they all kneel together, bowing their heads in honour of the long deceased world creator.

"The Realm Crystal." Zane points to what the body is holding, getting up to grab it. He holds it up and it shimmers in the dingey cave lighting, he's analysing it most likely.

"How does it work?" Kai asks, but before anyone can answer him, Morro does from behind them.

"How it works is you'll hand over the crystal, or say goodbye to your friend." Morro warns them, holding Lloyd in one hand while pressing the Sword of Sanctuary into the green ninja's throat.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him." Lloyd barely manages to say, and what he says breaks Cole's heart. He's sure Lloyd did all he could to stop Morro, being possessed must be as tiring as possessing something.

"So what'll it be?" Morro taunts them from up the slope.

"If we hand him the crystal he'll usher in the reign of his master, cursing Ninjago and every realm." Zane begins to try to reason everything out, a pained look on his face as they try to make a decision.

"But if he doesn't, when has he never made good on a threat?" Cole fully believes that Morro will kill Lloyd if the don't give him what he wants, it doesn't seem in his nature to give out empty threats. " Look at Lloyd, he's too weak to protect himself."

"Argh, either option totally sucks." Jay turns to Kai. "What do you think, Kai? What do we do?"

Kai and Zane exchange a nod, Zane hands him the stone. He thinks hard, his face scrunching up, biting at his bottom lip like he does when he's focusing on an issue. Kai keeps looking back between Lloyd and the crystal, it's an obvious choice to Cole, Lloyd being alive will give them a better chance at beating Morro in the long run.

"Stop stalling! Give me the Realm Crystal, or else!" Mirror demands, pressing the sword more against Lloyd.

"We're not stalling, we're thinking!" Kai yells back as the ninja start to circle up. "He's totally right, I'm stalling. What're we gonna do?"

"Ugh, this guy really chaps my hide. I swear when this is all over…" Cole balls up his fists, palming them in a punching motion, he feels so angry and hopeless, all he wants is for his little brother to be safe and for all this ghost shit to be done with.

"Our powers." Kai points to Coles feet where small rocks started floating when Cole got angry. "Now that Morro is out of Lloyd's body, they're starting to come back."

Kai demonstrates while raising his fist, Jay does the same, electricity dancing around his fingers, he smiles for a moment before groaning.

"Yeah, but like Llyod, they're weak." Jay gestures weakly to Lloyd and Morro, gritting his teeth. "And we're in no position to fight back."

"Leave that to me. We're ready." Kai smiles as he grips the Realm Crystal, his smile alone makes Cole feel a little more confident that they're able to help Lloyd.

"Time's up! You leave me no choice." Morro screams at them, getting ready to cut Lloyd.

"Wait!" Kai calls back, using his body to shield that he's heating up the crystal. "We'll give you the Realm Crystal!"

Kai throws it at Morro, the ghost fumbles with it, tossing it into the stream, Lloyd following after being pushed by Morro's wind off the ledge. They all scream for him, rushing towards the streamside as Lloyd bobs up and down in the water.

"I can't get to him. I can't swim!" Kai calls back to Cole as the hop from rock to rock along the streamside.

"You can't swim?" Cole looks at him offended by his inability to swim. "I can't touch the water! I'm a ghost, remember? You at least had a reflection, what happens to me?"

Lloyd calls for them as he goes under the water. Cole feels the panic taking it's course, this is it, this is where they lose destinies hero, they're final shot against Morro, their brother; Cole thinks all this as they run up the shore.

"He's gonna drown." He frantically tells Kai.

"This is crazy. What am I doing?" Kai mummers as he jumps in, rigidly swimming after Lloyd.

Cole follows on foot down the shore, Kai's reaching up for him, desperately grasping at the air with one hand as he holds Lloyd above the water the best he can with the other.

"Oh come on." Cole groans, wishing he could touch the water. If he could touch the water he could save them right then.

"You have to grab them, Cole! Before they both go over!" Zane calls from somewhere behind him.

Cole reaches the edge of the stream and cliff, peering over to see a drop with no clear bottom. He looks back at Lloyd and Kai coming down the water, he leans over, reaching his hand out to grab them. Kai's head ducks under the water for a moment, in that moment Cole's brain stops. But not for long, Kai's hand shoots out of the water, grasping his own firmly. He pulls the two out of the water easily, weary of any splashes getting on him.

 

"No!" He cries out as the Realm Crystal flows over the edge and into the darkness.

Something brings it up before it's gone though, the crystal floats up and over then right into Morro's hand, the ghost laughs at them condescendingly before running off back into the tomb.

"Everyone run!" Cole commands his teammates with a pointed hand.

"No!" Jay and Kai yell at him. He turns to see them holding Lloyd up, trying to clear his airway of water.

"I'm sorry." Lloyd apologises to Cole, his heart sinks.

"Hey, hey, don't apologise." Coles face softens as he walks over to them, kneeling beside Lloyd and the others. "You did everything you could."

"Yeah, Cole's right." Kai agrees, smiling just as softly as Cole. "We're going to get you back to your mom and Master Wu."

"I'll make whatever you want when you're better, Lloyd." Zane says, his eyes scanning Lloyd for any injuries. "You've got numerous broken phalanges, and your lower right incisor is cracked severely, as well as malnourishment and dehydration. We however managed to get all the water out of your lungs, so your breathing should get better quickly."

"Yikes." Jay says bluntly, the four of them shoot him a look. "Hey, at least you'll get a cast to sign!"

Lloyd laughs, his laugh fills them all with renewed hope. Kai hoists him up, letting Lloyd put all his weight on him as the ninja make their way out of the cave. They see the ship once their out, Cole points to it, and waves.

"You all sacrificed so much to save me." Lloyd barely manages to get out, as frail as he currently is.

"I promised I'd look after you, didn't I?" Kai smiles at him.

"Lloyd, we would have done anything to get you back." Cole adds, and it's true.

"But now Ninjagos going to be cursed." Lloyd hangs his head down.

"Yes, but now we have you." Zane carefully puts his hand on the youngest shoulder.

"And now our powers are back." Jay says, fiddling with electricity in his hand.

"As you get strong, so will we." Cole assures the green ninja. "And they haven't even seen us at full strength."

Notes:

This was long. I just realized how disproportionate these two chapters are. Oopsie! Anyways, hope you guys are liking the drawn outness of it all, things are gonna pick up a bit soon in the loooove department, don't worry.

That new book thats canon doesn't mean shit to me, like "yay more Ninjago!" But not the biggest fan of Skylor and Kai together. I love Skylor, she's amazing, I think her and Kai are cute together, just no my preferred ship, ya know. Anyways, yeah.

Let me know how I'm doing with this? Your comments mean a lot to me!!

Chapter 14: Possession

Summary:

The final stand off with Morro.

The ride back to the tea shop is long and filled with 7 people fretting over Lloyd. Misako and Wu strongly suggest that anyone nonvital to addressing his wounds leaves, so the 4 ninja and Nya leave and go above deck. They're all too impatient to do anything but worry about Lloyd. They reach the teashop at sunset, the ninja hop over the railing of the boat.

"Sadly no magical tea today." Wu begins as he leads his ninja, and company, to the courtyard. "I had to sell the rest of the merchandise, along with everything else."

"What? You sold your business?" Zane asks their master in disbelief. "But that was for your retirement."

"Ah! Hello again, ninja." Cyrus Borg wheels out of the old tea shop's doors.

"While we were away, I had Borg use the money from the tea farm to create us some new 'toys' to balance the scales." Their master explains, stepping aside to let Cyrus on by. "They are expensive, you know."

"It's been so long, I hardly recognize any of you!" Cyrus comes down to the team, greeting them each individually. "Lloyd looks older. I see a water ninja. A titanium nindroid. Cole is.. a ghost."

Coles a bit disappointed that's all Cyrus points out, he can't help but look down with a pout. He perks right back up to laugh when Cyrus gets to Jay and Kai.

"Jay looks shorter. And then there's Kai" Cyrus finishes with a smile and a laugh.

"Hey, what do you mean I look shorter?" Jay asks, standing on his tippy toes to look over Cole's shoulder clearly. He's just demonstrating how short he is, Coles a whole 4 inches taller than him now.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Borg, but cut to the chase." Kai steps ahead of the rest of them, there's urgency in his voice. "We don't have much time."

"Yes, always the impatient one." Cyrus says rolling back into the doorway. Cole can practically hear Kai roll his eyes with a huff. "Come, let me show you."

Cyrus presses a button and the circle court behind them starts to recede into the ground, sliding in half to open, revealing a rising platform with new tech on it.

"Now if you want a little muscle with that hustle, I've made Jay a lightning fast Ghost Taker GT." Borg gestures to a sleek blue car with a huge tank on the back attached to a vacuum hose. "Front spectral intake, rear incorporeal storage."

"Why did the ghost cross the street?" Jay starts running towards the car, hopping in with a huge smile on his face. "Oh, I don't know? Maybe 'cause he saw me coming in this!"

"Zane's Ice Mech." Borg continues, pointing to a large white mech with gold and ice blue details. "Sure it appears to be the same, but I've equipped the underarms with Deep stone particle shooters, allowing you to freeze the competition."

"Super cool." Zane smiles as he runs off to go jump into his brand new mech. " And I mean quite literally."

"Cole, I've made you a Ghost Cycle." Borg gestures to the final vehicle, a nice black bike with lava details cracking through it, Cole feels giddy. "Twin carbine blasters, auto-evasive handling. Made entirely of Deep stone, perfectly moulded to fit the bodiless. And I've set all the radio presets to your favourite: soft rock."

Cole smiles, quietly thanking Borg for the extra attention. He walks up to his new bike as Jay drives crescents around them, and Zane tests out the limbs of his new mech. Cole hops in, wiggling to get comfy, the cushion is so soft he wants to melt into it. But he can't phase through it. He can't. There's no falling off of it in the middle of a chase like he worried.

"I do love a slow jam." He presses the radio interface and one of his favourites is playing, he closes his eyes and starts grooving to the music. "Woah!"

Cole realises they're having a conversation, with him only catching the last bit of what Wu was saying.

"But even with our powers back, he's seen all our moves." Cole reminds them that Morro still has Sword of Sanctuary.

"Then we'll show him something he hasn't seen." Kai pushes Nya up front and centre for everyone to see, much to her protest as she growls at her brother and grinds her feet into the ground. She's wearing new robes with the water symbol embroidered on. "A water Ninja."

"But I've just started my training." She protests as he lets her go, she looks around at her friends, she's worried she's not enough for this yet. " I haven't even found my true potential."

"Nya, when our parents passed, you were there for me." Kai begins, placing a hand on her back, pulling her into a side hug. "Now, I'm here for you."

"He's right." Cole can't help but agree, Nya has always been the glue, she's the reason Kai and her are even there to begin with. "She's our greatest weapon."

"And as brother sharpens brother, the same should go for sister." Zane adds with his warm smile.

"Our greatest power isn't what we can throw at him." Lloyd continues the pep talk, joining in on the hug. "It's what we have right here, a united team."

"So what do you think Nya?" Wu asks her. "Are you ready to lead them into battle?"

"I'm in." She smiles and nods enthusiastically. "But if they know we're coming straight for 'em, how 'bout we show them not every path is a straight line?"

"Intrigued." Zane states from his mech. "Do you have a plan?"

"I'll explain on the way."

—

Kai rushes down below deck once they're on the boat, all the new tech is secure in the hull as they venture to Stixx, their team at its fullest. He returns to the main deck, in an apron, to drag Cole to the kitchen to help him make dinner, even though everyone tells Cole he's the worst at cooking. At least Kai will eat his own cooking. Cole hasn't seen him eat much of anything for days now, not that he can say anything on the matter considering he doesn't eat himself. He's a ghost, he doesn't need to eat, it's more of a pleasure thing for ghosts, he thinks… So there's a difference, it's not just because he's depressed.

"We're making stew, and you're helping me because it's your night and it's a big one, and I can't have you mucking it up with your awful cooking." Kai starts pulling out cutting boards and a large pot, filling the pot with water halfway.

"Gee, thanks, Kai, for the bout of confidence." Cole says sarcastically, tying an apron around himself.

"I'm going to need you to chop 5 carrots, 4 potatoes, 2 onions, 3 chicken breasts, and I'll need the chicken broth in the fridge from last week's bird." Kai continues ignoring his remark to add some spices to the water, he turns to Cole and frowns at his inaction. "Get going, we don't have all night!"

Cole nods, getting to work chopping and gathering what Kai asked for. He has a few issues with holding the knife correctly, but he brings Kai each ingredient one at a time as he finishes each item. Cole's finishing cutting up carrots as Kai boils the stock, he walks over to Kai, scraping them off the cutting board and into the pot. He takes a minute to stand there, reading Kai's face. His hair is slightly messed up from his new headband, and his brows are furrowed in thought.

"Hey, Kai." Cole concentrates, putting a ghostly hand on his friend's shoulder, putting on his best smile he can muster. "Lloyd is going to be alright, he's safe now, we got him back."

"I fucking know that, Cole." Kai snaps without even looking at him. He groans, turning his head to look at Cole apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm just- It's different than with Zane, Jay, and… you; we're closer than that, it's like he's my actual baby brother."

"I see that everyday, whether he's with us or not." Cole starts rubbing his hand over Kai's shoulder, concentrating so his arm doesn't go right through. "Lloyd is safe, we're all safe."

"You're not." Kai says so quietly, his voice shaking. "You're a ghost and it's all my fault. You hate it so much, and don't say you don't, I've heard you crying at night when you think everyone else is asleep."

"You- what?" Cole's eyes go wide, his hand goes through his friend, he tries to put his hand back but it just goes through him again. "Kai, it's not your fault, I chose to go back and get the scroll, I chose to do that for us, for Lloyd. I'd do it again, to save you or anyone else on our team."

"No, it is. I was supposed to be the leader, I kept getting us in all these terrible situations." Kai grips the edge of the counter next to the stove, the wooden spoon he holds singes around where he holds it, he hangs his head down."It was me who lost the original scroll to Morro, it was me that let him get the Sword of Sanctuary, and it was my fault that he got the Realm Crystal. I cost Ronin his shop, us our tea shop, Wu his retirement. I've ruined everything.

"You should all hate me." Kais head turns slowly back to look at Cole, his amber eyes filled with tears ready to spill out.

Cole swallows hard, concentrating as he uses his strength to pry Kai's hands off of the counter, slipping the burning spoon out of the brunette's hands. Cole wraps his arms around Kai, holding him tight to his chest, he can feel how tense the red ninja is. He starts to rub his back slowly until he feels Kai's muscles relax, his head falling to rest on Cole's shoulder.

"You're not responsible for this, I don't blame you." Cole lets out a light hearted laugh as he holds Kai at arm's length by his shoulders. "You're Kai Smith, how could anyone ever hate you for anything. You're amazing."

"I'm amazing? You actually think that?" Kai looks at him, a single tear falling down his cheek. Cole feels the desire to wipe it away for him, the urge to kiss his soft lips, the want to hold him and tell him every sweet thing Cole has ever thought about the red ninja.

"I know you're amazing." Cole smiles at him, knowing he's going to beat himself up later for saying all this. "Kai, you're one of the strongest willed people I've ever met, there's literally an undying fiery passion in you."

"Heh, I guess so, hey?" Kai smiles, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his gi.

Cole gets ready for Kai to pull away, shocked when Kai wraps his arms back around him. Kai squeezes him tightly, Cole doesn't even have to think about being solid, he just is as he hugs his dear friend back. Cole can't stop himself from gently placing a kiss on the top of Kai's hair, praying to the First Spinjitzu Master that Kai didn't notice.

"Thank you, Cole." Kai says as he releases Cole from the hug, smiling at the black ninja. "You're amazing too, so strong and cool without even trying it seems."

"Trust me, I try so hard." He laughs, picking up the spoon and handing it to Kai. "I think the stew might be ready."

—

After the stew is had, everyone heads down to the hull to debrief on the plan. The idea was to sneak Nya into where Morro is, distracting him as she's dressed as the Green Ninja so Lloyd can go and smash the Realm Crystal before the Preeminent breaches through the portal.

They got to Stixx and the plan is working. Nya was found to be herself, Morro rushes Nya, blasting her with air, knocking her into a building where ghosts surround her. Cole scrambles to his vehicle, he can help better on it. Cole hears Lloyd running towards him and Revs up his bike, circling around a table full of ghosts eating up a bunch of food, getting their ectoplasm all over his bike as he smashes them and their food.

"Dinner is served." Cole sneers at them, hitting the ghosts with the sides of his deepstone bike, the ghosts disappear.

"Cole on the roof!" Lloyd warns him, pointing up at a Soul Archer.

Cole spots him, and glares at him. He presses a large red button and his twin guns pop out of his bike. He fires a round from each, both hit the target. Man, he's really starting to like red buttons. He watches as Lloyd makes his way past, driving off to vanquish more ghosts once he knows he's gotten further.

"My ice can't stop them!" Zane calls out for assistance just as Coles driving by.

"I'm coming to help." He responds surely, but first he has to deal with the ghost guy that helped them learn that water was effective.

The two ghosts drive down the dock, the evil one spinning a glowing metal flail above him as he and Cole charge towards one another. Cole feels like everything is in slow motion as the ghost rider jumps his bike over him, tripping Cole with his flail, launching him out of his bike. He falls with a hard thud, rubbing his head in pain. He really cannot wait until this is over.

–

"Oh, shit." Jay says over the intercom link.

"Fucking- what?" Cole adds, his eyes wide as he watches a large monster make its way out of a portal where Ronin's shop was, a building hovering at least a hundred feet above it.

"Usually I'd scold you both for cursing, but I sense it is appropriate at this moment." Zane agrees with their wordage. "This is certainly fucking shit."

"What is that thing?" Kai asks, not taking his eyes off the horrific beast.

"She's the Preeminent, the physical manifestation of the entire Cursed Realm." Zane answers him, worry clear in the nindroids voice.

"I know one thing, she ain't pretty." Cole jokes, his face scrunching up at the sight of it.

"Ew! Gross!" Jay points at her orifice that's pushing out ghosts, ectoplasm dripping from what one could call her maw. "I'm about to lose my lunch."

"If we can't stop that, we might lose Ninjago." Nya tells her brothers, shooting a stream of water at the Preeminent.

Nya dowsing her arm does nothing but make her mad, she reaches a long tentacle towards them, the ninja all evade her, attacking her with their elements with no avail.

"She didn't even notice that." Zane says, his voice breaking a bit at the end.

"Oh, I hate unbeatable creatures." Jay complains over the inter-mic com system.

The ninja work together to free people the Preeminent is nabbing from escaping onto the ferry. Cole catches them from falling on his bike, bringing them to the dock before going back for more, running down ghosts as much as he can while doing his duty.

"If ghosts can't withstand Deepstone, perhaps the same goes for the Preeminent." Zane points at the Preeminent while looking down at Cole from his mech. "But we'll need a larger dose."

"My bike's made of Deepstone." Cole realises what Zane's implying he does. "How about I jam it down her gullet! Cover me!"

He gets onto a roof, revving his engine.

"Alright, how's this for your pie hole?" He remarks, revving his engine again.

He drives from roof to roof, until he gets to the right spot for this, dodging and weaving tentacles. He finds the perfect place, pausing for a moment to look at the thing. Yep, still hideous, he thinks. He revs once again, driving off of the roof, launching off his bike as it plummets right into the Preeminent. Cole lands gracefully on a rooftop, jumping down to regroup with the others.

"Thanks, Cole!" Jay says sarcastically. "You only made her madder."

"And there goes a perfectly good bike." Cole groans. He believed that would work so hard, why didn't it?

"If Lloyd's inside that thing, we have to get closer." Kai sternly tells them.

"Yeah, easier said than done." Jay sasses him.

–

"I thought you were gonna get closer?" Nya asks Kai. They have been fending off ghosts for 20-minutes now, it's taking a lot of their energy.

"You don't think I'm trying?" He bites back at her, whacking a tentacle with his Aeroblade.

"It's too late, we have to get to the ship and protect the people." Their master instructs.

"But what about Lloyd?" Jay asks, whipping his head around.

"This is what Lloyd would've wanted." Misako says as she throws punches and pushes away a tentacle trying to grab her.

"To the ship, we're not leaving anyone else behind." Kai demands, they're all quick to follow.

They're on the boat, thanks to Ronin fending it off from ghosts as they board the civilians. Ronin cuts the boat loose, about to jump on as it sets sail, but he's stopped by Morro flying down and blocking his path. Cole sees the Realm Crystal in his hand as Morro attacks the thief for the Sword of Sanctuary, blowing him away. Lloyd appears just before Morro can grab it, dressed in his fathers robes.

"You're back?" Morro gasps at him.

"Yeah, I'm back." Lloyd smirks at him, the sword ready in his hand. "I believe you have something of mine."

Lloyd and Morro start duking it out, green energy and wind effortlessly swinging at each other, one more mercilessly than the other. Lloyd lands a hit on Morro, knocking the ghost back for a minute, he takes this time to instruct his team. Cole is so glad Lloyd's back again, he thought for a few moments that the youngest ninja was gone for good.

"Ronin, get to the ship and protect the people." Lloyd smiles up at his friends. "Ninja, take out the stilts. We need to drop the Preeminent into the sea.

"Ugh. Why didn't we think of that earlier?" Jay asks the group.

"That's why he's the leader." Cole points to Lloyd proudly, smiling at the green ninja.

—

They had taken out all the support beams from around the Preeminent, but the ghosts took apart the town of Stixx to build it armour to survive. Cole felt like he'd swallowed a piece of Deepstone, a hollow feeling in his gut as he watched her make her way to the paddle steamer. The number of ghosts keeps climbing, Zane regularly updating them. Nya comes to their aid as they start to climb the Preeminent's exoskeleton. Zane ices her knee, causing her to almost fall. But nothing can slow this thing down, not ice, fire, earth, lightning, or even water. It's walking through the ocean to try and get at the people on the ferry boat.

They fend off ghosts as they climb the Preeminent, an archer firing away at them. Kai loses his balance when a shot is fired at him, falling down. Cole reaches out to grab him, Kai just phases through him. His eyes wide as the fir ninja continues to fall, Kai manages to grab onto a piece of wood sticking out from a building.

"I can't swim!" Kai calls up to Cole.

"I can't get wet!" Cole reminds him, wishing he could do something, but Kai's too close to the water for a ghost to be of any help.

"Kai!" He shouts as the stick breaks and Kai plummets into the water.

Cole watches as a Soul Archer fires at Kai again, taunting him to come out of the water. Kai comes up for air, and the ghost is ready to hit him with another arrow.

"Kai! Shot fire now!" Zane calls for him, shooting a beam of ice at the ghost.

Kai complys, shooting out a stream of fire into Zane's ice, melting it into water as it vanquishes the ghost.

"Yeah!" Jay shouts enthusiastically, jumping down to help Kai. "Fire and Ice make water, nice! And one more ghost is toast."

"As iron sharpens iron…" Zane begins as he makes his way down to the others.

"Brother sharpens brother." Kai continues with a nod.

They decide to go back to the ship via Airjitzu, their plan to attack the Preeminent head-on wasn't working. They start to lure the beast into the Hallows Trench, but it knocks their motor off just as they reach it. Cole is trying to figure out what he can do, but he's falling short on ideas, all of them are. He looks over at Nya staring off into space before she gets this new look about her, like something has just clicked in her head. She closes her eyes and the ocean starts coming up in droplets. Cole guards himself behind his friend to protect his being.

"Morro?" Jay asks, confused as to what happening.

"Not Morro." Cole points up to their new addition. "Nya!"

Nya starts spinning and spinning until she's encased in a column of water, the sound of it whirring is melodic to Cole, the whole image of it is ingrained in his mind forever.

"She's unlocked her true potential!" Kai smiles up at her proudly, as a wave of water starts rushing from behind the Preeminent, taking it under.

"Nooo!" Morro screams as the Preeminent loses its footing on the edge of the trench.

They did it, they beat the Preeminent. Nya beat the Preeminent, they shouldn't take from her mastery of her element. Wu flys out to where Morro is struggling to not go under with his master, their Sensei comes back with just the Crystal and a sad look on his face. The sun starts to rise as they use the Realm Crystal to bring Lloyd back, his mom bear-hugging him as soon as he's back.

"The cursed Realm is gone, and so is my father." Lloyd begins, walking over to the rope railing of the ferry. "But I know we're all in a better place. "

"Some of us may look a little different, " Cole gestures to himself and Nya. "But like our team, some things never change."

"And if they do…" Nya continues Cole's speech as the ninja all embrace each other. "That's okay. Sometimes we just need to go with the flow."

"Cause even if the path isn't always straight," Kai starts, looking directly at Cole, squeezing him tight. "We go forward with confidence, because we trust where we're headed."

Notes:

I might make a mini series (in comparison to this) of little snippets of Kai's POV throughout all this. Idk there's some cute and messy shit going on in his head too whenever he looks at Cole.

I also have a little ghostly treat for you guys... This ain't gonna be as canon compliant as I thought.

Chapter 15: Infamous Part 1

Summary:

Life is hectic when your the hottest craze sweeping the world. Sometimes it seems like Cole can't find some peace and quiet anywhere anymore, so Cole tries to visit his dad. That fails. No peace. No quiet. Only the most awkward coming out infront of his dad and crush.

Life since they'd gotten back has been hectic. Darreth decided that the Ninja should do some public interviews and ads. Cole hated the attention they got, they kept shoving him in stuffy interviews with Jay and Nya, putting pressure on Nya to choose one of them. It frustrated him so much, Nya is her own person, a strong and powerful force of nature, not the girly icon Darreth was trying to force her to be. Darreth kept suggesting they all fall into the stereotypes he sets up. He wants Cole to be dark and mysterious, it offends him cause the only reason people view him like that is because he's a ghost.

Cole spends all his free time meditating, trying to look within to figure out what he can do and to control his being better. Occasionally, one or more of the others join him in concentration. Today is one of those days, he hears someone open the door to their cabin on the Bounty where he's meditating. Cole opens an eye to peek at who's joining him today, unable to help the smile that spreads on his face when he sees Kai sitting down across from him on the bed.

"Kai?" He asks quietly as to not disturb the atmosphere he's so carefully crafted.

"Shhh, I'm meditating." Kai whispers back.

They sit there for half an hour before Cole just can't take it, not knowing why Kai decided to join him in his alone time. He opens his eyes completely, taking in the details of Kai's face as he meditates. He had gotten a new scar during their final battle with the ghosts, it stretches along the underside of his jaw on the left, drawing across his cheek to his ear a bit. Kai has many scars, everyone's seen them as Kai trains shirtless a lot, something Cole didn't notice entirely until he admitted he like-liked him a bit, and he wants to kiss each one of them.Cole doesn't notice that Kai's eyes have opened.

"Do I have something on my face?" He quirks a brow at Cole.

"No, I was just-" Cole can't find an excuse for his staring, shaking his thoughts out of his head.

"You keep looking at me like that and I'll think you're in love with me, I mean who wouldn't be when I look this good?" Kai fixes one of his spikes, teasing Cole with a wink.

"Oh, for the love of-" Cole rolls his eyes, grabbing a pillow to swing at Kai. It's hard to shut up the thoughts when Kai says things like that. "Shut up, you're not that hot."

"But you admit I'm hot?" Kai continues as he's pelted with the pillow, laughing so happily Cole can't do anything but laugh with him, placing the pillow down.

"I think you're the ugliest boy I've ever had the displeasure of meeting." He looks Kai in the eyes as he says that, a blush spreading across the red ninja's face.

"Ass." Kai hits Cole out of nowhere with a pillow, knocking him back.

"Oh! Is this a pillow fight? I love pillow fights!" Jay yells as he comes in, decking it to Cole's bed, grabbing a pillow from someone else's bed on his way. He slams the pillow into Kai, knocking him off the bed, saving Cole from this strange situation.

"Ow!" Kai rubs the back of his head as he springs up, whacking Jay back. "You'll pay for your treachery, Jay Walker."

"Who's to say I'm even on your side?" Jay taunts him, the two circling each other like a duel. "Cole is MY best friend after all, I'm avenging him."

"Oh, my knight in blue pyjamas, save me from this fiery dragon." Cole feings helplessness, laughing as the opposite colours duke it out.

"What is going on in here?" Zane asks from the doorway, his pink apron on and a tray of cookies in his hands.

"It's a pillow fight!"Jay explains as he dodges a hard one from Kai. "Oh, you're really gonna get it now, that wasn't pog."

"May I join in?" Zane requests as he places the tray down on the centre table.

"Of course you can!" Jay calls, he's now on top of Kai, smothering him with a pillow, not for long though as Zane knocks him back with Jay's NPop idol body pillow. "Oh, now you bring her into this?"

"I don't know what you're referring to, this is my staff of ice, I am the Ice Emperor here to avenge my faithful pet dragon." Zane explains his character in this dumb little shenanigan they've started.

"I'm not anyone's pet!" Kai protests, whacking Zane in the back of the knees, stumbling into the table, knocking all the cookies onto the floor.

"Ahhh, the cookies!" Cole shouts, throwing himself across the room, landing in Zane.

Quite literally in him, he phased through the Nindroid. He gets up quickly, rushing out the door in embarrassment. He can't believe that just happened. He ruined it by gucking up Zane with his gross ghost goo, phasing right through him entirely like an idiot. He walks up the stairs into the main deck, he goes to the railing to look at where they are in Ninjago. He smiles, looking down at Central Ninjago Park, spotting his dad's house immediately. He looks around the deck for anyone else, spotting Nya.

"Nya, I think I wanna visit my dad. Could you guys stay around here?" He asks her nicely, she nods giving him a smile.

 

–

"Cole, wait!" He hears someone call for him just as he's about to grappling down, Kai leans over the railing, his now messy hair falling in his face. "I want to go with you."

"What? Why?" Cole is confused with Kai right now, unable to read the energy he's been giving him lately.

Kai has always made jokes about how attractive he finds himself, it was annoying at first, but when he learnt it was just him and Nya taking care of each other for so long, he figured it was some sort of coping mechanism. Cole can't fault the guy for having a coping mechanism, Cole has his too. So why was their conversation before the pillow fight bugging him so much?

"I want to come down with you." Kai tells him with a huge grin. Before Cole can say anything Kai is already setting up his own rope and hook. "Executive decision, I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."

"Fine." Cole sighs, he'll have to send Nya a message later that Kai came with so she doesn't flip out when she can't find him.

–

"I always loved being in the city, so much stuff to see, even in old parts like this." Kai says looking up at the old buildings and trees that surround them with wonder as they walk through Cole's old neighbourhood.

"Kai, we're here to see my dad, not sightsee." Cole reminds him of the purpose of their trip into the city, he understands what Kai's talking about.

There's always something going on in Ninjago, especially here. This is where the families filled with artists flocked to in the beginnings of the large city. Cole's family had lived here for generations, their photos line the halls of his old family home. They arrive at the mentioned home, Cole rings the cheesey doorbell, smiling as his father opens the door.

"Son! Kai! How lovely to see you both. Please, do come in!" Lou invites the two boys in, leading them to the main room, cluttered with theatrical props.

"Do you boys want some tea?" Lou asks them.

"No, dad, we're good. I'm just here to grab some stuff and show Kai the house." Cole lies to his dad, he wants to talk about his recent self discoveries in person.

"Alright, but I'll be in the studio if you need anything." Lou waves, walking out to his studio.

"I thought you wanted to talk to your dad?" Kai gives him a confused look.

"I do, I just don't know how to start the conversation…" Cole sighs, looking down at his hands for a moment. He gets up off the couch and heads to the hall door. "Comn, I'm gonna show you my room."

—

"Have you come out to your dad?" Kai asks him once they are in Cole's room, his eyes flitting from poster to poster of dancers and singers.

"No, I don't get how that's important to you." Cole groans, watching Kai sit on his bed, fanning his hand over his blanket. He mummers something Cole can't hear as he lays back on the bed.

"It's important because we are friends, Cole." Kai says, staring up at the ceiling fan. "We are friends right? Cause I've cried in front of you, and only Nya has seen me do that before."

"Yes, Kai, we're friends, why wouldn't we be friends?" Cole sighs, walking over to his closet, bending over to dig through an old box. "I'm scared he won't take it too well, or he might make assumptions about-"

"About us? Is that why you didn't want me to come? You think your dad will think we're dating." Kai asks from the bed behind him, Cole can hear his cocky smile in his tone.

"No, about me, he'll think I'm gay. I don't even know if I am entirely, I just know I've only really liked boys, and Joanne Jettson." Cole tries to explain, frantically as he can't find what he's looking for. "If you keep implying that I have some sort of secret crush on you or anyone else on the team I will suplex you into the floor."

"So you do have a crush on someone on the team. I owe Nya 20$." Kai laughs, Cole can't be mad when he hears that laugh, that laugh just makes him happy.

"Yeah, sure. Stop making bets on me though." Cole grumbles to hide the smile in his voice, standing up once he's found what he's looking for, holding it up to Kai. "Found it."

"Found what? A musty old blanket?" Kai dares to say to him.

"No." Cole glares at him. "This is a blanket my mom made me while she was sick. I thought I'd give it to Lloyd, to show him he's cared for and stuff."

"Cole, that's…" Kai sits up, his expression soft now. "That's really sweet of you, I'm sure Lloyd will love it."

--

Cole sits his dad down on the couch, placing a cup of warm tea into his hands. Kai sits on the other side of the couch from Lou. Cole looks between them and then himself. There is a lot to explain here. He might as well start at the whole ghost thing.

"You may be wondering a few things, dad." Cole begins pacing, fiddling with his sleeve hem. "First you might be wondering why I'm a ghost, I got stuck in a haunted temple past sunrise to get a scroll that helped us defeat the literal physical manifestation of the Realm of the Departed."

"Cole, I think the ghost things are more of a 'you get it if you were there's kinda things." Kai expresses his concern with how Cole is explained everything.

"You should listen to your boyfriend, son." Lou says it like it's a fact.

Cole freezes in his tracks, stopping his pacing. He looks at Kai, the fire ninja is looking away from Lou, his face as red as his gi at the implication of them dating. Cole can't place how he feels, he just feels the fluttery warmth he's felt for years now. Cole looks to his dad, he has to clear this up.

"Dad, I do like boys, but Kai and I aren't dating." Cole shakes his head as he tries his best to explain his sexuality to his father. "Kai likes girls. I like boys... Mostly, I think? I don't know! I just know I like em."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I should've made sure." His dad looks about as embarrassed as Cole feels himself, the singer clears his throat before speaking again. "I love you, Cole, and I'm sorry if I made this awkward for you boys."

"It's okay, dad." Cole smiles as his dad stands, opening his arms to his son. Cole hugs his dad, concentrating hard to not phase through him. "I love you too."

"It's fine, Mr. Brookstone! I'm a catch, it's only a matter of time." Kai tries to be his boisterous self and it backfires. "I'll be outside, that was weird."

"Ya know what?" Lou chuckles as Kai leaves the house, letting go of the hug. "I think that boy isn't as into just girls as you say he is."

"What?" Cole gives his dad a look.

"What?" Lou repeats him, laughing. "You should get going, wouldn't want to keep that handsome fella waiting, Cole."

Cole groans as his dad escorts him to the door, teasing him about the weird flirtiness Kai had about him, nudging and winking at Cole until they say their goodbyes and the door gets shut. Cole turns from the door to see Kai leaning against the wall, chewing on his nails, his face not red-- but a subtle pink now. Kai looks to him and smirks, walking over, wrapping an arm around Cole to lead him back to where the Bounty is.

"Your dad's pretty cool, compared to my zero dad's and Zane and Jays dad." Kai starts, leaning into Cole so hard Cole is afraid he'll slip right through him. "I'm not even gonna count Sensei G, he tried to kill us at some point."

"Fair enough, Lord Garmadon literally put us in a cage." Cole laughs, focusing on not phasing, their proximity and feelings making it harder and harder to. "I hope you find out what happened to your parents soon."

"Me too." Kai responds quietly, ruffling Coles hair as he unwraps his arm from around him to begin to climb his grappling. "We should head on up."

Cole hadn't even realised they were there.

Notes:

How is Lou homophobic in so many fics? He's a performer. He knows more queens and queers than an average Ninjago citizen. also, I love how blabbering Kai gets when he's flustered in canon.

Chapter 16: Levitation

Summary:

Cole exhales and feels much of his anxiety lessen, they'd find a way to fix his untimely death.

"Cole, I did not know you could levitate off of the ground."

Cole's dad had taken it well, he took it better than Cole could ever imagine he would. His dad hugged him and told him he was proud of his son's journey no matter where it took him, no matter who he loved. Cole couldn't have asked for anything else. His being felt warm when he and Kai left to go back to Destiny's Bounty. When they got back it was already dinner time, Cole could smell it in the air as they stepped into the dining area to join the others.

"Cole, Kai, good to have you two back home." Their master greets them with a kind smile.

"Good evening master." Kai says as they both give a small bow to their elder before taking their seats at the table.

"What's with the blanket, Cole?" Jay asks, pointing to the finely quilted soft bundle in his arms.

"It's a gift for Lloyd." Cole smiles at the green ninja, holding it out to him over the table. "Kai and I went to grab it for you, it means a lot to me, so take care of it."

"Thank you so much, Cole and Kai!" Lloyd beams at them, wrapping the blanket around himself. He looks like a little quilted egg. "It's super soft, I love it!"

"Glad you dig it, green machine." Cole turns his head when he smells food coming in from the kitchen.

Zane, Nya, and Skylor are carrying in bags of Chen's takeout. Just great, Skylors here. Time for all of Kai's attention to be on her, tripping over himself at her every word. Cole would think she's better if he didn't hate to see Kai around her. The obnoxious pit forms in him, warm and fluttery, as Skylor sits between Kai and Zane's placemats.

"Uh, hi, Skylor. It's great to see you." Kai stumbles on his words, his face flushing red.
Cole rolls his eyes, turning his attention to Nya.

"Hey, Nya, thanks for dinner." Cole grabs a box of noodles and chicken for himself, popping a piece of sweet and sour yumminess into his mouth.

"It was Skylor actually, she saw the ship passing by and told me she was bringing it." Nya smiles as she explains, waving across the table to Skylor.

Of course she brought it to them out of the goodness of her heart. That's just who Skylor was. She is kind, and good hearted, and pretty, and just overall perfect for Kai. Not to mention she's a girl, Cole reminds himself, and Kai likes girls. He doesn't feel like eating anymore, setting his noodles down on the table.

Cole slinks off to the practice room, slipping into his dancing socks, setting up his bar in front of the mirrored accent wall. He begins his stretches before starting the basics, in and out, up and down, slight twirls here and there as he gets music playing from the speakers of his BorgPod.

After a while the others come and join him, everyone doing their own things. Zane is holding a bag for Jay to kick the shit out of, Nya is practising her water attacks on a poor dummy, and Kai is showing Skylor their equipment. Cole watches them through the mirror, his eyes glued on Kai as he shows her a few of his standard moves. She laughs at him as he falls, her laugh is light, she makes Kai's face turn red, and all Cole wants to do is disappear. Cole resumes his dancing, closing his eyes as he groves to his music, distracting himself. He jumps out of his skin when he feels a light tap on his shoulder.

"Hello?" He opens his eyes and sees Skylor behind him in the mirror, he turns to her with a frown. "Hey, Skylor."

"Hey, man." Skylor smiles at him, Cole understands why Kai stares at her smile, it's beautiful. She is so bitterly beautiful. "I noticed you dancing, and I couldn't help but wonder if you'd teach me?"

"Why?" He asks, his brows furrowing more.

"Kai said you're the best dancer he's ever seen, that your form is unlike anyone else on the team." She hands him this secret admiration of Kai's, Cole eats it up, smiling to himself.

"Yes, I'll teach you." Cole agrees with a nod, starting to set up another bar. He looks around the room to find they're the only ones left. "But, you have to tell me something."

"Yes?" She raises a brow at him, stroking her hand along the bar before grasping it hesitantly.

"Do you have feelings for Kai?" He gets straight to the point, it's better than fucking around it then to avoid it forever.

"I…" Skylors face turns from shocked to puzzled, she stares at herself in the mirror, looking at Cole. "I like him, he's great. I don't see us having an actual romantic relationship, he always seems somewhat distant, like he's holding me at arm's length."

She talks quietly, looking Cole dead in the eyes. "Keep it on the down low though, I don't want to crush his heart."

"Oh…" Cole nods, his anger for her lessening a lot, maybe they could actually be friends now. "That's… that's nice, that's great actually. Way to go, Skylor."

"Thanks man?" she paused as he began to show her the basic stretches and forms. "I have another question for you now."

"Mhm, shoot, Chen." He says, gently adjusting her pose.

"Do you like Kai?" Cole stops, staring into space after her question. "Is that why you hate me?"

"I don't hate you, Skylor." Cole sighs after a moment of thinking, backing up to lean into the dance bar, pinching his brow. "I hate how nothing else matters to him when you're around, the way he fawns over you makes me want to drown myself. He looks at you like, like you're the wo-"

"You're the world. He looks at you like you're his whole world." She finishes his sentence, placing her slender hand over his shoulder. "He doesn't look at me like that, only you."

"No, he doesn't, that's crazy." Cole laughs, turning away from her gaze, shrugging off her hand.

She watches Cole as he shows her something else to try , jumping across the now empty training room with ease and grace. Skylor gasps a little at him, immediately going to his ego. "That was so cool, holy fucking shit, Cole."

"You run a business with that mouth?" He bugs her, walking over to where his BorgPod is to turn off his music.

"I try not to swear so much in the shop, and some of my investors admire my spunky attitude and strong willpower." She flexes her strong muscles while walking up next to him to drink some water. "I should head on up- I mean down technically, to home before it gets too dark."

"Yeah, you should." Cole agrees, opening the door for her, he hadn't meant for that to sound as rude as it did.

They head up to the top deck, finding the other boys messing around with brooms. He and Skylor share a look, a look he's not sure he can name, as Kai runs up to them, wearing his incredible smile wide across his adorable face.

"Hey! Skylor, Cole!" He wraps an arm around each of their shoulders, stuffing himself between the two, both a few inches taller than Kai. "You two sure took your sweet time getting up here."

"I was teaching Skylor how to dance." Cole tells him, letting the red ninja lead him and Skylor to the front of the Bounty.

"Yeah, he's an even better teacher than you said, Kai." Skylor says to Kai teasingly, Cole swears he sees him glance at him and blush.

"Yeah, well, he is the best dancer in the whole world." Kai mumbles back at her, avoiding Cole's gaze, Cole barely can hear it. Kai's quick to speak again, unwrapping his arm from around Cole. "Mind if I walk you home, Sky?"

"Of course not, we can catch up more." She smiles at him.

"I'll be in the cabin meditating. Bye, Skylor, see ya soon." Cole waves to her as Kai unleashes the Anchor into the water of the bay they're now above.

"See ya soon, Cole." Kai and Skylor say in unison, jumping over to ascend down the long chain of the anchor.

Cole heads down to their cabin like he said he would, sitting on his bed, and going into a deep meditative state, almost like sleeping but not quite the same. Hours pass as Cole stays blank in his mind.

 

The next day was crazy, Darreth dragged them to another ad shoot, about literacy. No one on the team had a full education except Nya and Jay, and she's not even in the advert. He actually called her to the studio to do a makeup segment, which made everyone mad and kind of grossed out. Darreth also keeps telling weird half-truths to magazine companies, like Jay and Coles resolved feud. It all just annoys Cole, especially the interviews, it was always the same questions over and over again. If he wanted to be asked the same questions over and over again, he'd play Guess Who with Zane.

Yet, here he sat next to the whole team on one of those uncomfortable red sofas under burning stage lights that really just washed him out, hundred or so people sitting in rows in front of them, a guy who looked just like the last asking them the same questions they've heard a million times. Until the host asks Cole something none of them expected him to ask, the spotlight set on him.

"So, Cole, there's been rumours going around about you…" the host begins.

"Yeah, I've heard 'em, there's nothing between Nya and me." He's quick to shoot down the potential question, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning.

"Yes, we all know that, but that's not what I was going to ask you." The host laughs, it sounds almost forced. "The rumour is that you have an affinity for men, possibly one of your fellow ninja even?"

"I-uh…" Cole freezes, he can hear a camera to his left zooming in, he can feel everyone looking at him.

"Cole? Earth to Cole?" The host tries to get his attention, but he sounds so far away, everything feels far away.

Cole swears he's floating in goo, he can feel it on his skin, slimey and slowly dripping down his arms and legs. Then he feels an arm around his, a familiar warmth pressing into his hand, squeezing.

"Cole is proud of who he is, and if anyone is truly a fan, they'll understand that this isn't something he wishes to talk about tonight, sorry folks." He hears Kai say, still distant but not as much as before.

Cole slowly feels more grounded, Kai rubbing circles into his palm as the host continues his show. Kai stays by his side, segwaying any questions someone asks Cole. At some point Jay puts a hand on his knee, tapping his fingers as his own anxiety climbs, it's what Jay does when he gets nervous. Coles thankful the shows over soon after that, Kai pulls him away from the stage hands, Jay following close behind him.

"Man, are you alright?" Kai asks him softly, still holding his hand.

"Yeah, what was that? You just stopped like a bug in a zapper." Jay adds his concern.

"Jay, you weren't much better at the end there." Kai points out Jay's agitated fidgeting.

"They're all assholes, sticking their noses where they don't belong. Taking gross closeups of me being rejected again and again until I lose my marbles." Jay grumbles, banging a palm to the side of his head.

"I just- I couldn't just say it. Not in front of all those people, not with the whole world watching." Cole feels stagnant, even though he can see Jay and Kai are close, they feel so far still. "I need to meditate."

"We should just go home then, ditch this shit show." Kai suggests, both Jay and him dawning their trouble maker smiles.

"That would be good." Cole tries to smile, failing to be able to. He hates this feeling.

—

Once they get home Cole beelines for their cabin, setting up a mat on the floor to meditate on. He settles into his position and starts to untangle his brain, setting his thoughts aside as he works through each of them. He takes his thoughts on Skylor, once so clouded with anger whenever she was mentioned, but as of last night they're friends. Lloyd is safe again, they got him started with therapy, although it's hard to get him to go. Zane is in one piece, from what he says, Pix is doing alright as well. Jay had an anxiety attack in his sleep early this morning, he's been having them for years, but lately they seem worse. Cole gets it, he had a nightmare when he slept next to him, waking up with revitalised fear that he's going to be stuck as a ghost forever.

"Release your fear as you exhale." He reminds himself, breathing in deeply.

Cole exhales and feels much of his anxiety lessen, they'd find a way to fix his untimely death. Maybe a special tea, or a spell they've never heard of yet buried in an ancient tomb of some long dead snake sorcerer. Or maybe in a volcano under the sea, one wrong move from blowing up. Whatever it was, he's sure his team will be there to help him. Cole feels some weight fall off of his shoulders, feeling physically lighter than before.

"Cole, I did not know you could levitate off of the ground." Cole opens his eyes to see Zane standing in front of him with two steaming bowls in his hands, and his pink apron on.

Cole looks down and realises that he isn't touching the ground, he's floating. His eyes full with wonder and fascination, smiling so big it almost hurts. He looks up at Zane excitedly.

"I didn't know either! How cool is this?" He exclaims, experimentally stretching out his legs, they float in line with the rest of him much to his amusement.

"This is ice cold, that's how cool it is." Zane laughs, sitting down beside the earth ninja, holding a bowl of rather delicious fried rice and egg rolls to him. "Eat up, I made one of your favourites."

"Zane, I don't need to eat anymore, remember?" Cole rolls his eyes at the nindroid.

"I don't need to either, but I still partake in dinner because food is enjoyable to me." Zane offers the bowl more aggressively this time. "I know how much you love food, please eat it, Cole."

"Fine." Cole takes the bowl from him, defeated by Zane's pleas, knowing he's right. Zane smiles, and it pisses Cole off, the danged nindroid knows he knows he's right, Cole hates it.

"Kai made the suggestion for this meal." Zane informs him, taking a bite from his own bowl.

"Of course he did." Cole speaks bitterly, rolling his eyes again, stuffing the rice into his mouth. It tastes bland, just like everything else he's tried to eat. But it's the thought that counts, Zane tries his best. "Thanks for making it."

"Anything for my brothers!" Zane smiles cheerfully at him, turning his head to look into space for a moment. "Of course I'll ask him that, Pixal."

"Hm, Pixal?" Cole hums, taking another bite.

"Yes, she's been thinking about you lately. Specifically about you and Nya." Zane begins, dread fills Cole's stomach, thinking he knows where this is going. "She's sorry about the faulty test, you're not Nya's one true match afterall, the machine read her wrong."

"Pixal said it was never wrong though." Cole gives the ice ninja a confused look.

"And she says she's wrong." Zane shrugs, laughing to the girl in his head.

Notes:

the thing with the test is that (IN THIS STORY) the machine got Nya and Kai mixed up because of the similarities in genetics. This is the one and only time Pixal is incorrect.

Chapter 17: Infamous Part 2

Summary:

Cole hates these red couches, he hates the buildings in the background, he hates the live studio audience, he hates the stage lights pouring down on them, he hates that he's forced to sit in here and pretend he's not offended by damn near every question their host in the cheapest suit ever asks them.

Notes:

I am aware there is a chapter between Infamous Part 1 & 2, that's wasn't and is intentional.

Cole wanted to hit Darreth, he tried to corner Nya into another beauty segment. Jay held her back from doing what Cole wanted someone to do to Darreth right now, as the so called 'brown ninja was ranting about how Nya joining their group was the worst thing that's ever happened to him. If Lloyd hadn't stepped up and said something Cole was gonna do some talking with his fists.

"Remember how every time you saved Ninjago no one cared?" Darreth tries to win them back to his side, walking around them all as he speaks. "Well, now, Darreths in charge and Darreth says don't change the recipe."

Cole shares a look of disgust for the man's words with Kai, before they can say anything the man is pushing them along, away from Nya. Darreth pulls out a magazine.

"You're the face of Teen Idol!" He exclaims holding it up to Lloyd.

"Sensei Lloyd?" Lloyd questions the main headline, taking the magazine into his own hands. "But I'm only a Sensei in training."

Cole peers over and sees the sub headline, anger filling him.

"And what's this about me and Jay still fighting over Nya?" Cole glares at Darreth, it just bounces off the older man. "That's old news."

"Who cares if it's real or not!" Darreth puts a hand on Cole and Lloyd's shoulders, the others gather around to look at the paper. "Isn't this what you've always dreamed of? You're the hottest thing in Ninjago!"

Cole grumbles, heading off to their dressing room, followed by Nya and the others. They all grab their stuff and leave the studio. FSM, Cole hates this place so fucking much, he hated almost everything that came with fame. Girls chase them down the sidewalks like they are some runaway meatballs, nowhere on the street is safe for them to be without worrying about a stampede of women flocking to them.

Cole, Jay, and Nya all had an interview this evening with another show host, probably just going to ask them the same question again. Cole hopes they don't ask him anything, in all honesty, he's already nervous because of what happened last time. The host better stay away from those questions, or else he'd be having quite the words with Darreth later.

Cole hates these red couches, he hates the buildings in the background, he hates the live studio audience, he hates the stage lights pouring down on them, he hates that he's forced to sit in here and pretend he's not offended by damn near every question their host in the cheapest suit ever asks them. But Jay hates it more, he's been rejected on television, publically humiliated live, now 12 times. Cole hates Darreth for guilting them into this with talk of duty, hates him for not telling the hosts to stay away from romance altogether. He hates all of it.

"You must let go. Look inward." Master Wu instructs Cole, sitting across from him in a meditation stance. "When one is a ghost, one may have new abilities."

"I know that, Master." Cole reminds him politely, clearing his head of his angry thoughts. "I learnt how to float the other day, Zane can show you through his… eyes, I think?"

"I am well aware of your newfound levitating abilities, my pupil." His sensei lets out a light laugh, clearing his voice as he lights a stick of calming incense. "You may have more abilities you do not know of. For example; do you remember your fights with Bansha, or the Soul Archer? Do you recall their abilities?"

"Yes, Master. Bansha could scream very loudly, she caused an Avalanche that almost took us off the face of the Wailing Alps." Cole begins his answer. "And the Soul Archer's arrows followed their targets until they hit them or were tricked out."

"That is correct, Cole." Wu smiles at him warmly, dowsing him with the smoke of the incense. "You have much to learn about yourself and others. Don't be hasty in judgement of others, or judgement of oneself. Now, focus and discover them."

Cole closes his eyes, his hands falling to his knees as he clears his head completely. He brings to mind his ghastly being, the feeling of his ectoplasmy skin, his lack of ability to grasp things. He thinks about how he can't hug his friends, but how he managed to possess a door to save them. He feels himself drift off the floor, he guesses about a foot, and then he feels something different. He opens one eye a smidge, only to not see himself.

"Woah, did you see me? I disappeared!" He asks his master, an excited smile spreading across his face as he floats down to the ground. "I mean, did you not see me?"

"Very good, Cole!" His master shares his enthusiasm, placing a palm over Cole's heart. "Only you can unlock what is truly inside. That is it for today."

Cole begins to get up, hearing a whole lot of angry noises from above deck. As he approaches the stairs he's sure it's Nya cussing out Darreth, he didn't know she knew so many different swear words. Cole avoids her, as she's beating the ever living shit out of the training bots with her water powers. He walks over to Zane and Jay playing chess, whistling a little tune to himself.

"Ah, Mini-Droid chess." Cole observes the pieces, seeing that Jay is close to losing. "So, what's the tally now? A hundred games to none?"

"Set 'em up, Zane. We're going again." Jay says as Cole teases him, Zane sets up their board for another round. "What's got you so cheery?"

"Remember back in the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master, when we all saw the reflection of our future selves?" Cole begins explaining to his friends, a huge smile forming on Zane's face, he can probably sense Cole's good mood or something.

"You mean when you couldn't see anything?" Jay asks, looking at him before looking away quickly. There's something he's not saying to him, Cole intends to get to the bottom of that at a later date.

"Yeah, it wasn't because I'm a goner." Cole raises his hands in their air in excitement, making himself disappear. "It's because I can disappear!"

"Oh, then why don't you make like a ghost and vanish." Jay bites at him with his words, his tone almost malicious. "I need full concentration."

"Oh touchy?" Cole teases him more, not letting his bestie's bad vibes get to him, finger gunning at Zane as he walks away, resuming his little tune. "Teach him a lesson, Zane."

Cole's sure of it now, he's the invisible form at Kai's side from the chamber of ice, he has to be. He and Kai are destined to be together, their future is locked in. Cole can't help but swoon a little at the thought of them growing old together, living in an old house, maybe even training the next generation of elemental masters with future Sensei Lloyd. He could also be entirely wrong about everything, Kai likes girls, literally never showing romantic interest in men as far as Cole could tell.

Cole wanders over to the side of the boat, looking over the railing of Ninjago. He doesn't even know if he can grow old, he certainly hasn't grown in the last few months, Nya was almost his height now, Kai not far behind. Maybe he won't, maybe he's stuck like this forever, Cole thinks as he looks down to his hands, fading in and out of this realm. He flexes them shut, closing his eyes tightly, chasing off a painful tingly feeling in his hands. This can't be good.

"Sensei's back and there's trouble!" Lloyd shouts from over where Zane and Jay are playing their game. They all rush up to the bridge, Kai and Nya joining them.

"Have they sold out of Kai action figures?" Kai asks, worry in his voice. "I knew there wasn't enough."

"No." Sensei Wu shakes his head, playing the video on screen. "It appears when you destroyed the Cursed Realm, one ghost escaped. And you know him all too well. Clouse."

"Security footage shows him buying a train ticket that will arrive in Stixx in just a few hours." Wu continues as the video shows what he says.

"Clouse? The sorcerer from Chen's Island?" Cole asks, just to be sure. "What does he want with Stixx? That place is just a salvage yard now."

"That's why I want you to go there and stop whatever it is he is planning to do." Their Master instructs.

"But Darreth wanted us to visit the hospital for that Grant-A-Wish thing." Cole begins to explain, their master's eyes narrowing when Darreth is mentioned.

"Hey, we take our orders from Sensei Wu, not Darreth." Lloyd pulls Kai back. "Lil Nelson only has broken legs. If his wish is to be a ninja for a day, that day can be tomorrow."

"Suit up!" Lloyd commands, leading them out to go into their elemental dragons.

As they ride their dragons over New Ninjago City, dozens of fans scream up at them from street corners, snapping pics that Cole's sure are unflattery to all of them. They make the executive decision to stop at the hospital for Lil Nelson, Zane said they had enough time. If they have time to make a hurt kid feel better, they should take it. They are heroes after all.

They all sign his cast, giving the little guy his own headband and speech, making him an Honorary Ninja for the Day. Cole feels sadness claw at him as the have to deny Nelson's request to sign his friends' casts, catching something outside from the corner of his eye.

"Not sure how far we'll get." Cole looks out the window down at the street where a bunch of crazed fans are gathered trying to get into a medical facility to meet them and possibly tear them to pieces."Looks like we've got company."

"Ah! How'd they find us?" Jay asks as he jumps out of view of the window.

"Reply." They hear Kai say from a few feet away, their heads turn slowly to him, anger dawning on their faces. "Of course I'm at the hospital. My hair is sick! Send."

"Are you sending out a Chirp?" Nya asks her brother through gritted teeth and a forced smile. They all know the answer as the sound of girlish screams continues even louder outside the building.

"Uh, my followers have needs too." Kai explains as if that's an actual excuse for what he just did.

"If you recall, I said we would get to Stixx in time minus any problems." Zane reminds the ninja, clearly annoyed as he walks towards the window. He quickly ducks away, frowning at Kai. "This constitutes a major problem."

"Yeah, well I don't see us flying outta here with these birds in the sky." Cole points to the helicopters circling the building, camera men hanging out of them.

"Coles right, no dragons." Lloyd decides confidently. "If we're gonna escape, we can't be followed."

"They're coming!" Cole shouts, turning away from the window to look at Lloyd. "What do we do?"

"You say I'm a ninja for the day, call me… The Purple Ninja!" little Nelson says, drawing their attention with his purple gi he pulled from nowhere.

He does a sick spin in his wheelchair, crashing out the door, leading the Ninja out of the hospital as far as he can without taking the stairs. The kid helps them get to the rooftop, the nearest rooftop is way too far to jump to.

"Airjitzu?" Kai throws out, Cole nods in agreement.

"I just learned how to make a water dragon." Nya protests, walking closer to Kai. "I haven't even earned my Airjitzu suit yet."

"But if we don't leave now," Zane puts a hand on her shoulder. "We'll never get to Stixx to stop Clouse."

"We're a team!" Jay wraps an arm around each of their shoulders, slipping easily between the two. "We stick together."

"Thanks, but I can stick up for myself." Nya shrugs them both off, her brows furrowed as she walks past them all.

"He was just trying to be nice." Cole attempts to defend Jay, she's being really unfair to him.

"It's okay, right now we're just having our first fight." Jay says as if it's nothing, Cole looks at him weird, turning his head quick to see Nya spin back to Jay angrily.

"What do you mean 'right now'?" She asks, throwing her arms out in frustration. "And just what are you implying by 'we'?"

Jay just shrugs, looking away until Lloyd shouts, pointing up at some choppers coming their way. They all, but Nya, use Spinjitzu to get onto a billboard behind them. It has graffiti that hides them almost perfectly.

"Nya, you need to hide too." Jay calls to her, stretching his hand out. "Ugh, forget what I said, just take my hand."

Cole feels funny for a moment, like something big just happened without anything actually happening. He watches Nya's body language suddenly change, softening as she slumps forward a bit, gripping her nose bridge.

"Just take his hand, Nya, or else we're gonna be… spotted?" Cole questions, a sense of deja-vu coming over him.

"Nya, take my hand." Jay offers again, slipping off his mask.

Nya takes off hers, revealing a soft and happy smile. Cole is shocked when she goes into Airjitzu, making her way over to Jay, pulling him into her bubble. She slowly grabs his wrist, hooking a strong arm around his waist to draw him close, kissing him sweetly. Cole is so happy for them, all he can think about is how proud of them for finally getting past their grievances.

They get off the roof as the two lovebirds land back down, a helicopter filming them overhead as Nya draws Jay in for another kiss. Cole feels like they shouldn't be watching this, as they get closer.

"I am getting some major deja-vu." Lloyd looks between them and Cole, the blonde boy stumped. "Have we been here before?"

"Gross." Kai groans, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away from the public display of affection.

"I'm glad they finally came around." Cole smiles at them, wanting something like that for himself one-day. "You know, I don't know what had gotten between them in the first place."

"Are we still going to try and stop Clouse?" Zane asks, now that they're too terribly caught up.

"Let's just hope he missed his train." Lloyd reassures the nindroid with a smile.

They all gather around Jay and Nya as the helicopters do. Cole congratulates his two best friends on their newfound relationship, hugging them both tightly, wishing them the best. Electronic billboards all around the city show the sappy kisses the two shared with each other, Cole knows that it's the start of something wonderful.

Notes:

Oh wow, Jaya is canon! OH YEAH, next is the least up to the first part of DOD. DOD is my favourite. I am a Cole fan, through and through.

Chapter 18: Invisible

Summary:

Cole looks at his hands, lifting them above his face. They're flickering, he can feel the mattress under him less and less as they do. He closes his eyes shut tight, concentrating on just not being there, he opens then again to see he's not there anymore.

Notes:

Cole struggles with feelings of being invisible and literally being invisible.

Cole has been meditating more and more, recently feeling less and less real. He doesn't experience emotions like he did before he turned into a ghost, he either feels nothing or too much, it's terrible. When he gets sad he can't stop sobbing, and without tears, just choked noises into a pillow. When he's happy he feels the most himself, laughing at joking, he eats food when he's happy, despite the flavour not translating well. When Cole is angry, god he's scary. He explodes on people, saying things that make him want to shut everyone out so he can't hurt them with his words. He hates this, he hates it all.

Right now Cole is mad at Kai for avoiding him. He has been trying to hangout with him for weeks, but he's always got something better to do or some lame excuse to get away. They're sitting right beside each other at the table, Kai is going on and on about his fans and how much they adore him, and how he could get anyone easily if he wanted to. Cole's anger for the red ninja bubbles away in his mind, over boiling as Cole slams his fists into the breakfast table, shaking their cups and cutlery.

"Would you just shut up about yourself for one fucking minuet, Kai?" Cole stands up, raising his voice at Kai, who's stunned and staring at him. "All you ever do is talk about how fucking hot you are, or how much better you are than the rest of us."

"We all get it, you're attractive, people actually like you!" Everyone is quiet as Cole grabs Kai by his shirt collar, hoisting him up by his lapels essentially. "Well not all of us have that, and it's really unfair for you to keep reminding me!"

Kai grabs at the wrists that are grabbing him, still unable to speak back. He furrows his brows at Cole, frowning as he stares into Cole's eyes intensely.

"Stop being a little braggart, or… or I don't know what I'll do…" Cole draws a blank on what he's doing next, slowly realising he's made a big scene and everyone is looking at him.

"Cole, please put me down…" He hears Kai say shakily, he thinks he sees fear in Kai's ember eyes.

"I'm… I'm sorry." He puts Kai down gently, taking a step backwards into the wall that divides the dining area from the kitchen. He's not an aggressive person, not like this at least. "I don't know what I was doing… you're just… I'm just…"

Kai stares up at him, not with fear or anger, but rather with concern, Cole realises. Cole feels lost in his thoughts as he stares back at him, stumbling over words as he tries to form a sentence. Kai reaches for his arm, but Cole flinches back from him, afraid he'll just hurt him more.

"I'm… bye." Cole sinks through the floor and throws himself onto his bed, reprimanding himself for doing that.

"Why did I have to go and do that?" Cole asks himself, turning onto his back to look up at the roof. "Everyone hates you now… maybe they should?"

Cole looks at his hands, lifting them above his face. They're flickering, he can feel the mattress under him less and less as they do. He closes his eyes shut tight, concentrating on just not being there, he opens then again to see he's not there anymore. He's as invisible as he believes he should be right now, which is completely. Cole zones out, remaining in his extra transparent state, for most of the day. He drifts off into an almost sleep, entirely dreamless.

Cole blinks awake from his not sleep, it's dark out, he can see Jay thrashing in his bed across the room again, having another nightmare. Cole slips out of his bed, quietly making his way across the bedroom to Jay. He sits next to him like he always does, gently shaking Jay awake.

"Hey, buddy, wake up." Cole whispers to his friend, causing the ginger to open his eyes.

"Cole…" Jay looks at him with worried tear stained eyes. "Is Nya still here?"

"Yes, Nya is safe and asleep across the room." Cole pat's the bed close to him. "C'mere, you were havin another bad dream."

Jay obliges, sitting up next to Cole as to begin explaining his dream. He goes on and on about pirates, and an evil djinn who imprisoned them in his sword one by one. He tells him how responsible and guilty he felt about not telling him about his reflection, or the consequences of their wishes. Then Jay explains that Nya died and he used his last wish to go back, to change time. It had brought them back to the billboard where he and Nya kissed, where she did Airjitzu for what Cole thought was the first time. Cole just looks at him, bewildered. The gnawing feeling gone, he can somewhat recall everything Jay's explained now. He draws Jay into a tight hug.

"Nya is alive, you're alive, we are all here." Cole reminds Jay, and himself. Jay wipes his eyes with his pyjama sleeve. "You two are destined to be together, I don't think any force in all of the realms could stop that."

"Thank you, Cole." Jay looks up at him, pulling away with a yawn. "You're the bestest friend ever."

—

A few days pass, a few of the Ninja are on a mission to Jamanakai Village. Apparently some low level thugs have been terrorising the locals, threatening them for money, spray painting gang symbols everywhere, just a bunch of delinquent behaviour that the police probably could have dealt with themselves. Yet here Cole is, hurtling through the Ninjago countryside in his Rock Roader, Kai and Zane racing beside him.

"Hey, Zane?" Cole asks over their com system. "How much further until we get to Jamanakai?"

"By my calculations, we should be there within 10 minutes." Zane responds.

"Can you scan for people yet?" Kai questions, pulling up between his fellow ninja on his Sonic Radar Bike.

"Negative. Either we are not close enough, or something is jamming my scanners." Zane says, causing Cole to press harder on his gas.

"C'mon, we gotta get there fast!" Cole takes the lead, powering into the desert, he can see Jamanakai far in the distant horizon, smoke billowing above the town.

As they near the town, Cole can feel himself slipping, the tingly sting rushing through his arms as they phase through his steering wheel. He starts to panic, going to press on the brakes but his foot just goes through the pedal. He's going faster and faster, he can see a building a couple hundred yards away, and he's going to slam right into it if he can't get ahold of himself.

"Cole! You're going to crash into the library!" Zane calls out to him, he can see Zane getting further in his rearview mirror, Kai nowhere to be seen.

"Don't worry, I've got him!" Kai yells.

Cole still can't see where he is. That is, until he feels his car shake as something latches into it. Cole looks into his rearview, spotting a flash of red in front of a large dust cloud while his car is slowing down quickly. Cole closes his eyes and concentrates, even with Kai's help slowing down, they're still hitting the library unless Cole manages to do something. He focuses on his hands, thinking of hugging his friends, feeling their warmth. He opens his eyes and grips the wheel, turning sideways and pressing hard on the brakes.

They stop just in time, grinding to a halt no less than two feet from the library. Cole pops his hatch, and steps out to talk to Kai. Kai looks winded, slouching as he sits on his bike panting and sweating bullets.

"Hey, man, I'm sorry about that, I don't mean to cause any trouble." Cole apologises sheepishly, embarrassed that his phasing caused Kai distress.

"It's fine, Cole." If Cole needed to breathe, he would be dead from how breathless he feels when Kai smiles up at him, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Sometimes we all need a little help, I know you're trying."

"That was a close call." Zane expresses his concern with a hand on Cole's shoulder. "I am glad to see you are unharmed, but we should really see what is causing so much smoke."

"Agreed." Kai readies himself on his bike, pausing for a moment before patting the seat behind him. "Ride with me, Cole, your Roader will have a hard time navigating the streets."

Cole nods, keeping quiet and keeping his hands as to himself as much as he can while he gets on behind Kai. Kai grabs his hands with a light-hearted sigh, moving them from where they loosely hover around his middle to tighter around his waist.

"You have gotta hold on tight, I don't want you flying off on my watch." He jokes with a laugh that echoes through Cole's being.

Cole wants to stay like that forever, pressed against him as the wind whips through their hair. He feels more alive than he has in a while like this, cruising through the streets, trying to find the bad guys causing the inhabitants trouble, all with Kai in his arms. The ride is over sooner than he'd personally like, Zane found that the smoke was coming from a huge fire starting in the main square. Kai and Cole get there, and Cole gasps.

In the town centre is a huge pile of miscellaneous household junk, most of it seems to be antiques and handcrafted furniture and old family portraits. A bunch of scary looking thugs circle around the fire, stopping citizens from putting it out and grabbing their stuff. Cole can't stand bullies, and these guys definitely are bullies.

"C'mon guys, let's kick some goon butt!" Cole points ahead of them, Kai takes the cue to rev his engine, launching them up and over the crowd by driving up a makeshift emergency ramp.

They land, knocking over some thugs, Zane lands next to them. Kai and Zane share a nod, both sending blasts of their respective elements to collide, hitting the burning pile of family heirlooms. The goons try to stop Kai and Zane, but that's where Cole comes in with an earth punch to the ground, causing small plates of earth to push the thugs back. The thugs turn to Cole once they are all on their feet again, Cole moves swiftly and surely, punching them all back as they come at him with knives.

"If this is all you guys got, kicking your butts will be a piece of cake!" Cole taunts the thugs, doing a handspring off of one of the thugs' backs to kick another in their face.

Zane and Kai rush to his side when they're done putting out the fire, together they easily take out the rest of the thugs. They do their best to help give the villagers their belongings, checking the wounded injuries, they're lucky no one needed serious healthcare today.

"We did so good today, boys!" Kai beams at them as he hooks arms over his two friends.

"We did indeed!" Zane enthuses, wrapping an arm around Cole to form a closed circle.

"We absolutely kicked ass!" Cole can't help but catch their happy dispositions. "We should head back to the bounty before dinner gets cold. I heard it's Jay's turn, and his pancakes are your favourite, Kai."

"Fuck yeah!" Kai breaks the circle, beelining to his bike, tapping the seat behind him as he looks giddily at Cole.

Cole sits behind Kai, wrapping his arms back the way Kai told him to earlier. Something about being this close, so modestly intimate, made Cole's heart yearn to feel fully again. He stops feeling the fabric under his fingers as they're driving towards the bounty, glancing at his arms turning invisible. He shuts his eyes and hangs on tight to Kai, gripping his gi in an attempt to feel real.

"You okay, bud?" Kai asks as quietly as he can while still being heard over the sound of motorcycles.

"I'm fading more, it feels out of my control sometimes." Cole does his best to explain, now basically hugging Kai to anchor himself.

"We'll be back home soon, you can meditate on it after dinner. I'll make sure not to bug ya too much." Kai laughs, the vibration coursing through them both.

"I wouldn't mind if you joined me…" Cole says quietly, biting the inside of his cheek. He smiles softly to himself as he feels Kai heat up beneath him.

"I… I have things to do after dinner, sorry." Kai stutters, his shoulders tensing.

Cole loosens his grip on the red ninja, putting a few inches of distance between them until they get to the bounty just after dusk.

They give their Sensei a quick brief on what went down, heading to the kitchen to grab some leftovers from earlier. After eating they go to the cabin, catching up with the others and their mission.

"Jay and Nya blew up a building." Lloyd exaggerates an oversized explosion with his hands.

"There was a guy experimenting on pigeons inside!" Jay yells at him from where he sits letting his girlfriend paint his nails her signature dark red colour.

"Yeah, it was weird. Giant nest inside, scraped flying machines where there wasn't coops." Cole laughs as Nya continues. "He kept fluttering around, along with dozens of doves, Jay tried to hit him with a lightning blast while Lloyd was fighting him hand to hand like a badass, and I was stopping us from getting shit on."

"Sounds like the worst time ever." Kai comments from where he is drying his hair from a shower.

Cole's gaze lingers on a scar on Kai's abdomen. He wonders how the red ninja got it, he wants to trace it, make sure Kai knows he's beautiful despite it. Cole shakes the thoughts away, his gut hurting from the swell of emotions that fill him. He does his best to focus back on the conversation his friends are having.

"It was." Lloyd confirms, laying back onto a cushion on the floor behind him.

"Jay slipped and accidentally shot the machinery powering some tank of ooze, it caught fire so I tried to put it out." Jay snickers at Nya as she continues more. "Pixal told us to get out before the whole place went up, apparently water makes it worse."

"We got out in time, of course." Jay smiles, looking lovingly at Nya as she finishes his nails. "Thanks darling."

Nya smiles at him, her nose scrunching as she goes in to kiss him. Kai turns away from the public display with fake thowing up noises, earning a glare from both of the lovebirds.

"You're just jealous you're too scared to have what we have." Nya sneers light-heartedly at him, Kai scoffs looking away with a blush dancing across his cheeks.

Cole's thoughts begin to spiral at what that means. Could she be talking about Skylor? Is Kai still pining for her? Or could Nya be talking about Cole himself? Cole shakes his head again, dismissing his thoughts. It's silly of him to entertain the idea of them ever being together, no matter how many signs his brain told him he's been getting. It just won't happen. Kai likes girls, not Cole.

Soon enough they are all crawled up into bed, their nightly team discussion over. Cole tries to mediate but slips into sleep, dreaming of something rather unpleasant.

Notes:

Idk fugidoves origin story so I just made it up! He's the only character I have not studied, its-hes special... Also!!! I might write some of Kai's POV, idk if I should post it separately and make it part of a little series, or if I should just make a Kai chapter.

Chapter 19: Fading Away

Summary:

Cole falls asleep, having a rather unpleasant and sad dream. When he wakes up he is surprised by who's trying to comfort him, welcoming them into his bubble, opening up to them.

The sunsets over a place he's all too familiar with haunting his sleep, when he could manage to sleep. A tall, looming, temple washed in green hues towers over him, the trees withered and dead. Cole looks from side to side where his friends usually stand in these dreams, only they aren't there. The whole place is abnormally quiet, no sounds of boards creaking or the wind that should be howling. The whole scene made Cole's dreamself shiver.

"As iron sharpens iron," Cole hears Yang's voice ringing in his ears, it fades into the clock chiming. "Sensei sharpens student."

He's suddenly in Yang's office, the room washed in darkness, shadows creeping from the corners. Cole turns around to see the old grandfather clock, a bird springing out at him causing him to involuntarily jump out of his skin. He cannot withhold the scream that comes out of his own mouth, not actually scared of the clock gag anymore, but the fear is there anyways.

"Really?" He yells at them in disbelief, turning to face his friends… or where his friends should be. It's not exactly them, it's just bundles of their energy floating in their general forms, only significant details coming through.

"We were just trying to help you relax." The figure of flames explains, laughing so hard as he goes to touch Cole's shoulder, a wave of heat rushes through him.

"Yeah, you should've heard yourself scream!" The figure of lightning laughs at him, pointing harshly. Cole feels tingly as Jay's laugh is staticy as it echoes from the bundle of electricity,

The figure of ice shards repeats his scream from the bird on his arm, joined in laughter by the other two. Cole feels a chill go through him, a shiver going down his spine.

They all jump when they hear a slam from somewhere else in the building, Cole groans at their shocked gasps. He remembers this, he remembers these events. He hates reliving his last few hours alive, his last few hours feeling fully were hours he was scared out of his mind.

"Another prank? Real funny." Cole watches himself from the first person move through the room to the door. "Didn't anyone teach you to quit while you're ahead?"

His dreamself walks out, getting to a rattling door. Cole tries to open it, but it won't budge. He turns to see the energy figures running to him.

"How'd you guys get the handle to move all by itself?" Cole demands an explanation, turning to open the door again. "Is Nya behind there?"

They all yell at him to not open the doors, but he does. As he walks in he starts to see Yang's Dojo. Water, lightning, and ice energy figures standing near and looking up at a bright green figure radiating pure energy. Cole feels someone walk through him, sending heat down through him, watching the fire figure join the others.

"I still can't find him…" the fire figure slouches, it's fire getting dimmer.

"He's gone, we need to accept that." The lightning figures shoulders fall to its own suggestion.

"He'd want us to be strong, Kai." The water figure reaches for the fire figure.

"You don't know that. He could still be here." The fire figure says frantically, his tired face becoming more detailed. "He's gotta be here, I can't- he meant so much, sis. He's gone, and it's all my fault."

The figure of water draws Kai into a hug, and he just breaks down sobbing into his sister's robes. Cole screams out, no one can hear him. He wants to tell them he's here, he's with them, reach out and hug Kai and Nya, tell Jay and Zane that he's alright, say goodbye to Lloyd. The dream shifts to a park, a large statue of him standing proud over the small energy figures and Cole's dad. His friends mourn and throw a vigil in his honour, all while Cole is helpless to watch.

"It is my greatest honour to present the opening of Brookstone Memorial Park, where this statue of Ninjago's strongest hero will stand tall and proud." The green energy figure stands on a stage in front of the statue, it's voice trembling. "It will remind us to have strength and the courage to stand up."

"This city will miss you, Cole Brookstone." The figure visibly shakes, fire coming up next with a reassuring hand on its shoulder. "Your family will miss you."

Cole is suddenly sinking through the floor like it's water, watching his friend's life's flash fast above the surface. They all grow up without him, just like he first feared in the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master, when he looked in those icy mirrors and saw nothing. He grasps the water, trying to swim up with invisible limbs… invisible everything.

"I'm still here! Don't leave me!" He calls out, his mouth filling with water, he's being dragged down faster.

He's dragged down until he's in complete darkness, feeling absolutely nothing. He's alone forever, no one can save him, he's not even sure if he's real anymore. His eyes drift closed, this feels like dying.

Cole's eyes open wide, he's panting heavily, floating a few inches off his bed. He grabs at his chest, trying get some relief from this overwhelming sadness that's overtaken him in his sleep. He feels a quiet tearless sob rip through him as he can't feel his arms at all, they've gone invisible with the rest of him.

"Cole, are you there?" He looks up to see Kai standing over his bed, watching him with concern. "Cole, you we're having a nightmare."

"I can't… I'm invisible and I can't stop it." Cole choked on his words, unable to stop the shaking in his body. "I want it to stop. Why won't it stop?"

"Cole it's okay." He watches Kai sit beside him on the edge of the bed, reaching out for him. "I'm sorry this keeps happening to you, I feel so responsible for it. It wouldn't have happened if I was a better lead-"

Cole wants to cry more when he hears that. How could Kai ever think that. Sure he messed up sometimes, but he always had good intentions. Cole draws him into a hug, Kai quietly gasps at the unexpected and unseen affection, leaning into the hug eventually, wrapping his arms around Cole's invisible form. Cole can feel himself shaking still, but just holding Kai is helping. It's strange the effect the ninja of fire has on him.

"Don't say shit like that, you did everything you could." He mumbles into Kai's ear, shaky lips brushing his soft hair.

"So have you, none of this is your fault." Kai squeezes him a bit harder, whispering back. Cole feels more real the longer they stay. "Tell me about your nightmare, it might help."

Cole nods, the two get more comfortable, leaning against Cole's headboard, shoulder to shoulder. Cole begins to talk about his nightmare, avoiding the part where Kai said that mushy stuff about Cole, he doesn't want to make this awkward; Kai hums along, rubbing his shoulder until he can see Cole again. Relief washing over them both as Cole is visible once more.

"I knew you had it in you." Kai smiles at him, now pressed into his ghostly side, his warm hand grazes over Cole's pale numb one.

"Thanks to you." Cole smiles back, their faces mere centimetres from one another, their hands near holding.

Kai looks away, blushing furiously. He shifts, pulling his hand closer to himself, and worry rushes through Cole. He's worried Kai might get up and leave him, so he reaches for his hand on impulse, trying his best to not phase through.

"Please don't leave me." Cole barely manages to get out, nervous that it will make Kai hate him.

"Cole…" Kai turns his head back to him, his expression soft. He scooches closer to Cole, squeezing him, pulling himself so close Cole's head falls into the crook of his neck, as he stifles more sobs into Kai's shirt, Kai rubs his semi-transparent back. "I'm not going to leave ever again, okay? I'm here for you, you're one of my favourite people."

"I'd go to the world's end with you. I have gone to the world's end with you." Kai hugs him tighter, and closer. Cole feels better and better the longer they stay like that.

He can hear Kai's heart beating fast as he mumbles out small reassurances, eventually slowing down to an even pace, a snore echoing through his chest to his mouth. Cole laughs lightly at him, careful to be quiet, he doesn't want to wake him up. He feels better now, letting his ghostly form relax against the other's solid, fleshy body. He slips down his mattress until he's laying on his side. Cole allows his arms to freely move to where they want to be, too tired to care that they want to be wrapped around Kai's middle. He slowly drifts off again, this time into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

–

"Awe, Zane, come take a picture!"

Coles slowly blinks awake, going to rub his eyes but he can't, something is pinning down his arm.

"Jay, he's waking up."

Cole looks to his side at what's pinning him down, his eyes following a sleepy shirtless Kai, his arm draped over Cole's stomach while he's got Cole's arm under him. Kai's head gently rests on his shoulder, his hair is all a mess, Cole can't help but smile down at him. He wants to kiss him, kiss his sweetly dumb looking sleeping face.

"Does he even realise we're here?"

Cole slowly looks up and his eyes go wide. Jay, Lloyd, And Zane are all standing over him and Kai. Cole phases Kai through him, backing up until he hits the wall beside his bed. Panic fills him, he senses he's invisible now. He wouldn't be able to breathe if he still needed to, his friends' eyes fixed on him.

"Maybe we should leave them alone?" Cole thinks he hears Lloyd say, but it seems so far away again.

Cole doesn't know how long he stays there, invisible and scared, but when he comes back to his senses, Kai is sitting up and giving him a very confused look. Then the fire ninja must have realised what had happened last night, because his face flushes vibrantly as he spins around to stand up.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep on you." Kai says, walking to his own bed to get some fresh clothes from underneath. It's just where they kept their personal belongings.

Cole doesn't know how to respond. He wants to tell him it was alright, even better than alright actually. It was… it made Cole feel better. It made him want to grow old, have a family, get married. It made him ache. But he couldn't just say that. Cole isn't what Kai wants, and he never can be. So he just sits there until Kai leaves with an annoyed scoff, tired of waiting for a response. Cole is left feeling alone again, feeling empty. He doesn't even fully realise he's turned himself invisible as he goes about his morning routine slower, and sadder, than usual

Notes:

guys. The next chapter is the Day of The Departed. I'm so pumped, I love this special with my whole being.

Chapter 20: The Day of The Departed

Summary:

~It's the Day of the Departed, the spirits are coming, don't let them get away.~

Ya know what it is, and if you don't I pity you.

Notes:

Two chapters! One day! I'm so excited, I want to post so much, but I shan't. I must show restraint as to not burn myself out.

The setting sun shines bright through Cole as he and his ninja friends race through the Ninjago desert, rushing to get to the museum on time. Cole has felt less real lately, his feelings validated by his hands fading through his steering wheel, his foot falling through the gas pedal. Panic sets in as he glances down to his hands, his chest tightens when he can see them flickering in and out of existence.

"Help! Help, I'm fading!" He calls out, grasping at the wheel as no sound comes out of him, just like in his dreams.

"Right, Cole?" He hears Jay say something to Lloyd before calling to him, but Jay's voice sounds so distant.

He hears Jay call again before turning around to get him. Cole grabs for his breaks, his car hurtling towards a rock, his hands phase through over and over again as he can't find his grip. Jay keeps calling to him, trying to reassure him over the mic, but it's not working. Cole feels the dread slipping into him, worming its way into the very centre of his being.

"No, no. Come back!" Cole raises his hands up to look at them better, he's almost completely gone, he's concentrating so hard and nothing's helping.

He cannot avoid the rock, he drives up it, he can see Jay approaching and knows they'll crash if he doesn't do something.

His wheels lift off the ground as Jay yells for him to look out, Cole's eyes are shut tight in concentration, managing to become solid just in time to pull up and avoid Jay in the Ultrasonic Radar Jet.

"Sorry, Jay." Cole apologises once he's realised he's cleared Jay.

"I know you're a ghost, but I'm still in the living world, and I'd kinda like to keep it that way." Jay accidentally rubs it in his face.

Cole grimaces. He knows it was an accident, Jay wouldn't intentionally hurt his feelings. Or would he? Cole can't help but wonder sometimes if Jay just puts up with him, if any of the others just put up with him. He's so useless as a ghost sometimes, he has to miss out on missions more recently because of his issues with water, he phases through things and people at the least opportune times, and most of all, lately he'd been disappearing without meaning too. Without being able to control it. It's all made him feel forgotten, unseen, unwanted. He feels like it's true occasionally.

"Ninja, time is of the essence!" Their masters reminder on the screen on his dash reminds him, taking him from his thoughts.

"He's right. Engage!" Cole shouts, suggesting that the Ultrasonic-Radar vehicles should mega-merge.

Lloyd agrees, soon enough they're racing through the city at the topmost speeds, racing to get to the museum. They're all relieved when they make it in time, Spinjitzuing in to grab their lanterns from the museum gift shop. The ceremonies for the day would've never been complete without the beautiful red lanterns, the flame inside danced, it always reminded him of his mother.

"Yes, enjoy the fun and festivities, but never lose sight of the true meaning of the Day of the Departed." Their master reminds them of the importance of the holiday. "Today is about remembrance."

"We light lanterns to remember our ancestors," Master Wu gestures to his lamp. "And to settle our debts."

"Yeah, yeah, got it, got it!" Jay cuts in. "Lanterns, ancestors, debts, but candy too, right?"

"The ninja. And Master Wu." An ear numbing voice calls out to them, Cole turns and looks past the others to see the museum curator coming their direction with a smile on his face.

"Dr. Saunders." Master Wu greets him.

Cole can't help but feel something's off about this guy. Maybe it's his strange name, or the bad accent, or the smell of cosmetic glue that lingers beneath the smell of dust. All Cole knows is that this guy is fucking weird. The strange man brings them to a new exhibit he's been putting together, a hall of villainy. There are two rows of villains defeated by the ninja. Cole pretends to not be creeped out by the mannequins of their vanquished foes, staring each one down as the pass by them slowly.

"We don't just open on Day of the Departed, it's Day of the Departed Special Eclipse!" Dr. Sander Saunders explains the astronomical aspects of the holiday in more detail.

"The rarest Yin-Yang Eclipse." Their master informs them as everyone but Cole gathers around the curator.

Cole looks around the room, uninterested in the Doctor's ramblings, wandering over to the end of the hall where he sees a portrait that sends shivers down his ghostly spine.

"It's every villain we've ever faced…" he hears someone say from further into the hall.

"Not every villain." Cole says out loud to himself, he feels a pool of anger in him begin to form, bubbling and hot as he walks up to the painting.

"Although known to some as the master without a student, Kodakuna Yang will forever be remembered by most as the creator of Airjitzu, the most powerful martial art in history." Cole reads himself the words on the plaque just below the painting, he scoffs, placing a hand on his hip. "Actually, I remember Yang as the guy who turned me into a ghost."

"Hey, uh, Dr. Saunders?" Cole calls out, walking towards the weapon just before the plaque, it's invaded in glass and is the same pale green as Cole. "What is the story on this thing?"

Cole's jaw drops as he goes to tap on the glass, only for his hand to phase right on through. He stumbles back, flexing his fingers. He hates how phasing feels, it's an added coldness to his already heatless body, uncomfortable and sometimes itchy.

"Hello?" He tries to call out again, turning to find the others, he waves to the doctor, but it's like no one can hear him. "Dr. Saunders? Anyone?"

"Look at that!" Nya enthuses, rushing over to Cole to get a good look at the encased weapon. "Cool!"

"Ah, yes, you have good taste, Nya." Dr. Saunders comments as he leads the rest of their group over.

"Her? I'm the one who spotted–" Cole can't finish, everyone walks through him and it makes him freeze on the spot. "Hey! Watch it!"

"You guys are walking right through me." He turns to them as they walk past. They all just phased through him like he's not even there, his closest friends can't see him.

"The Yingblade belonged to Master Yang." Dr. Saunders continues to explain from nearer to the case. "It is said to possess much dark magic."

"They don't hear me… or see me." Cole looks at his hands angrily, they're flickering again. "It's like I don't exist anymore."

"And it's all your fault!" He yells, pointing up at the portrait of Yang.

"Cole… come, come.." a faint whisper floods his head, he sees the portrait almost breathing.

"Tell me you heard that?" He asks Jay, slowly getting closer to the painting. Jay doesn't respond, he doesn't even hear him.

"Come, Cole." The painting whispers to him, definitely freaking him out a little.

"Which is why it's sealed in this case made of cleatstone, the hardest substance known to human." Dr. Saunders explains the dangerousness of the Yingblade.

"Cole." The portrait says to him.

"Yang…" Cole swallows down some fear.

"Close the circle." Yang's painting demands.

"Close the circle?" Cole questions, utterly confused by this. Yang just repeats himself, Cole joins him, almost in a trance as the portrait becomes alive.

He shakes his head, pushing away Yang's voice. His friends are gone from the room, he rushes to the window to see if their vehicles are still there, seeing his friends leaving the museum without him.

"They don't realise I'm gone…" Cole feels the dread settle in him as he makes his own realisation. "Maybe I'm departed?"

He watches as his friends get into their vehicles and take off to their ceremonies. He backs away from the window, concentrating on his being, but it's not working, he feels nothing. Cole runs out to his buggy, driving it out of the city, away from his own ceremony. His dad would understand, he hopes he will at least. He has some debts, and by the First Spinjitzu Masters name, he was gonna settle them.

Cole's finding it harder and harder to drive straight as he makes his way to Yang's Haunted Temple. He reaches the looming building hovering above Ninjago, he uses his Airjitzu to get to it. Cole busts through the doors, clouds of disturbed dust billow out as he walks in, scanning the room with his eyes immediately for Yang.

"Alright, Yang. Show yourself!" Cole calls into the room, balling his fists up, ready for a fight. "You hear me? Show yourself!"

Cole jumps a little when he sees Yang approaching him, readying himself again as he steps towards the master.

"So you received my message?" Yang says to him, his arms folded behind his back.

"I got it all right. And I've got one for you." Cole practically spits it at him, venom lacing his voice as he draws out Yang's own weapon. "It's direct from the business end of your own weapon."

Yang gasps, gawking at the blade. "But how? It's encased in solid cleatstone, the case is impenetrable."

"Not to a ghost." Cole smirks a bit under his mask, shifting the weight of the weapon in his hand a bit. "Which thanks to you, I still am."

"What're you going to do?" Yang asks shakily, backing up as Cole confronts him.

"There's magic in the air. Ya know, eclipse and all!" Cole levels the weapon to Yang's face.

"Please, where is your holiday spirit?" Yang begs him, seemingly trying to move out of the way of any hit Cole may throw. "It's the Day of the Departed."

"Uh-huh, and I'm settling my debt." Cole rushes the ghostly master, swinging the Yingblade at him.

Yang dodges his attack, causing the blade to strike an ornate vase. Yang laughs at Cole maniacally.

"What's so funny?" Cole demands to know, really creeped out by the laughter.

"Oh, this." He points to the window where moonlight from the eclipse floods into the room, pointing to the vase as the beam of light slowly approaches it. "That. All of it."

"What's happening?" Cole asks, trying to mask the fear in his voice and failing.

"My plan." Yang states with a grin.

Cole watches the beam of moonlight hit the hole in the vase, spools of green smoke begin to spill out of it. Cole stagers backwards as one approaches him, only for it to shoot past him and out the door. Green smoke floods the floating island, spilling out over the edges to invade Ninjago.

"You should have never played with dark magic, boy." Yang begins, walking around Cole, gesturing with his hands as he explains his plot. "This Day of the Departed will be remembered as my night of return."

"The Yinblade, if you please?" The ghostly sensei demands, offering a hand out to take it.

"Yeah?" Cole smiles, tugging it away. He's totally got this. "I don't think so."

"I do." Yang growls, brows furrowing.

Cole is taken aback as he's surrounded by hooded spectres, long departed students of Yang. Cole readies the Yinblade high, preparing to swing as the students get closer. He quickly learns that it didn't have any use. The students greatly outnumbered him, taking Cole off guard, and tackling him to the ground hard. Even with his super strength he was no match, they just kept jumping on him until they eventually cuffed him.

Cole hangs his head, shaking it as they take the blade from him, bringing it to their master. Yang chuckles evilly, staring out the window to the eclipsing moon. The sensei turns away from him going quiet for a while, a strange deep static like him fills the room. Cole looks around at the student surrounding him, trying to get a read or anything off of them to no avail.

"So guys, what say you help me out?" He tries to suggest, gesturing with his cuffs. "Ya know, student-to-ninja?"

They all stare at him blankly. It's freaking Cole out.

"Hello?" Cole calls out to them. "I know Yang's your master, but how can you be on his side?"

"Your pleas are useless." Yang says, now facing him. Cole hand realised he had turned back around, he was too busy begging for his freedom. "My students, well, they're only loyal to no one but me."

"Come on, guys!" Cole looks around at them wondering how anyone can support this fucked up of a guy. "Yang is like the definition of evil."

"Actually, Yang means good, but I did always aspire for great." Yang sneers at him,hands behind his back as he begins to monologue about how he mastered multiple martial arts, made his own, wanted more power, power came with a price, and now he can't fathom the consequences of his actions anymore.

"Until tonight, thanks to you." He points at Cole with the Yinblade, scowling at the earth ninja.

"Thanks to me? How?" Cole asks, expressing his confusion with a quirked brow and talkative hands.

"You said it yourself. There's magic in the air." Yang gestures to the air with his free hand, taking a step forward to press the blade mere inches from Cole's face. "On the Day of the Departed, when there's a Yin-Yang lunar eclipse, the Yinblade can cut the Rift of Return. So thank you for this."

"You're not welcome." Cole scowls at the old man, pushing the blade away from himself. "And you won't get away with it. I'm supposed to meet my friends soon, when they see I'm missing, they'll come for me."

"See you're missing?" Yang laughs, pressing the blade back towards Cole. "Look at you. You can barely see yourself!"

Cole quickly looks down to see his fading spreading up his arms, skin replaced by nothing but the most subtle of green hues. He closes his eyes shut for a moment, concentrating on his hands until he can touch his fingers and feel it as well as he's been able to for the last year and a half. He looks back at Yang as the sensei laughs at him more.

"Besides, you've already caused quite a few problems for your friends, just look at what you've done to them!" Yang taunts him, moving his blade to show a green glowing hologram of Kai and Nya lighting a lantern for their parents.

Cole recognises the looks on both their faces, Kai looks to be trying his best not to cry, and Nya is reminiscent of growing up in the smithy. The two siblings walk out of the smiths shop to look out at the stars and constellations the countryside has to offer them. They stand outside for a moment before Kai breaks their strange silence.

"Nya? Do you ever think we'll find out what actually happened to them?" Kai asks her softly, his voice shaking the slightest bit.

"I could tell you." A voice calls to them, their heads snap towards it, eyes going wide when they see Chen, revived and seated on his mechanical throne. "But you have bigger things to worry about!"

"Chen?" Nya shouts, standing still, somewhat stunned as Kai runs off to grab them swords from just behind them in the smithy.

"I don't know how you're back, but it's two against one." Kai smirks, tossing Nya one of the weapons, they both ready themselves instantly.

"Is it?" Chen asks with a mischievous giggle as two faux Anacondri warriors drive up from behind him, shifting the odds in the dead noodle barons' favour. "Goodbye, ninja!"

The scene switches in a whirlpool of smoke to a snowy scape lined with tall bitch trees. Under a large ice sculpture of Dr. Julien stands Zane. The nindroid is peacefully remembering his father when the ground rumbles making the statue shake and crack, Dr. Julien's arm fell off. Cole sees Zane face turn to a pout as he begins to assess the situation. He takes a step back as the statue crumbles apart and over it steps Cryptor.

"Oops. Did I hurt your dear old dad?" Cryptors voice distorts more and more as he gets closer to Zane. "Or should I say, our dad?"

The scene shifts again, this time to a place Cole is more familiar with, but he wishes he wasn't. Jay is sitting on a bench outside his parents trailer with his father in the scrapyard, laughing and telling corny jokes to one another. Cole feels happy that Jay is enjoying time with his parents more often now, Cole understands why though. Ed says something to Jay so funny that the blue ninja almost doubled over off of the bench laughing, recomposing himself as his dad calls out to his mom inside the trailer.

"Edna, dear, is that crumb cake ready?" Ed asks, nudging Jay as he continues to speak. "Jay's starving!"

"I'm fine, dad." Jay tries to explain.

"I know, but I love your mother's crumb cake." The older man smiles at his son.

Jay laughs a little bit before suddenly stopping. Cole can hear noises of struggle behind the two Walker men inside the trailer, his heart sinking as he sees her being carried out, bound by her hands and feet, by none other than Samukai.

"Mom!" Jay shouts springing to action as the scene changes once again.

The smoke curls and winds, revealing Lloyd and Misako in the Corridor of Elders. Lloyd is drawn into his mom's side as the two watch the lantern lit for Garmadon float off into the night sky.

"Sometimes it's like he's still with me…" Lloyd mummers to his mom as they begin to walk off.

Something moves by them quickly, both of the Montgomery's share a look of confusion as Pythor pokes his head out from around a rock.

"Pythor?" Lloyd asks the scaley serpent approaching them slowly.

"When we last met I decided to help you and your father, Garmadon, defeat Chen. Do you remember why?" Pythor sneers at the green ninja maliciously.

"You said something about how if anyone was going to take over the world, you'd rather it be you." Lloyd recalls, Cole can see the fear begin to make its way onto the youngest ninja's face.

"Precisely!" Pythor raises his staff, standing tall. "Time to finish the job."

The scene shifts, one last time, to Master Wu sitting in his old burnt down monastery, pondering the magic he can probably sense in the air.

"An eclipse is always an omen," Wu begins, Cole sees Morro slipping up to be behind Wu. "But is this one a sign of good… or bad?"

"Bad." Morro whispers over the old man's shoulder, switching to the other when he looks. "Very bad."

The smoke dissipates before Cole's very eyes, Yang laughs at him as his own dread sets in.

"My friends…" Cole mutters to himself, looking up at Yang. "What have you done!"

"No, Cole, what have you done?" Yang asks, crossing his arms behind his back as more of his students restrain Cole from lunging at their master.

"How?" Cole stands up, grunting in frustration of this whole situation. "How could I steal the Yinblade and release all those ghosts?"

"You were scared you were departing.that your friends had forgotten about you." Yang mocks him with his body language and tone, making it evident that it was easy to manipulate him.

"I took advantage of your fragile mental state to trick you." Yang turns away from him, Cole just feels so helpless as he continues on, it feels like the darkness is about to swallow him whole. "Oh? You weren't literally asking."

"Give up, Cole. You're by yourself." Yang turns to face him, holding the blade really close to Cole's neck, causing the black ninja to gulp in fear. "There's no one to help you."

"Now excuse me, I have a rift to open." Yang begins to walk away up the grand staircase, calling for the ninja to be watched by the Sensei's students.

All but one student follow their master, Yang must think he's weak. He'd be right, Cole thinks. He's all alone, no one's coming for him, no one really cares that he's been disappearing more and more, seemingly becoming less controllable.

He's felt so invisible when everyone's in the room with his teammates. Kai has been avoiding him like the plague ever since that night a few months ago, sitting next to Jay across the table, barely looking at him. Zane has been teaching Jay to cook Nya's favourite dishes, as well as upgrading his software and hardware with Nya. Jay has also been going out on tons of dates and spending all his time with Nya, the two are always together, making Cole an awkward third wheel when they do hang out. Even Lloyd seems to always have something going on, the little kid he couldn't get away from a year ago no longer has the time of day for him. None of them do. Cole is all alone, maybe he always has been.

He watches the clock, fifteen minutes have passed. It's time to get over himself, he decides, shaking his head as he sits up. No one's coming to save him so he better save himself, and his friends while he's at it. Even if they can't see him, he'll be there to look out for them forever. He looks to the student, who has been unmoving, eyes fixed on him. Cole clears his throat before he speaks again.

"So what's your name?" Cole asks, no response from the student. "Alright, I'll just call ya Chuck."

"Look, Chuck, I know you think you're Yang's student, and maybe you were once, but now you're his prisoner." Cole tried his damndest to reason with this emotionless spectre. "Don't you see? He's not your friend, he's your captor. You gotta shake off the spell, then we can stop him together. You and me!"

The student stares at him, almost like he can see deeper than the form Cole chooses to take.

"Okay, no pressure. You can take your time. You have three seconds to decide." Cole begins to count the remaining seconds in the hour on the clock he stared at earlier, jumping up through the air to safety once the ringing of the chimes distract the student, kicking him backwards, effectively taking him down.

Cole walks up the stairs, pleased with himself for that risky endeavour being successful. Cole runs from door to door, searching each one he can manage to open for Yang. He stumbles into a room with two students in it, almost backing away before he thinks they might know where Yang is opening the Rift. He asks them and they start readying their weapons to attack him.

"Let's not be hasty. This isn't a fair fight, I'm handcuffed." Cole gestures to his wrists as they back him towards the doors he came through, one slashes at him and he uses it as a way to cut the chains that bind his cuffs together. "So I guess you're gonna need a few more guys!"

He immediately starts kicking their asses. The one that cut his cuffs swings at him again with a sword, Cole goes into a handstand, catching it with his feet, kicking it up in the air to handspring up to catch it easily. Just in time too, as the second student goes to strike him with a staff, Cole cuts it right down the centre, splintering the wood evenly down to the students hands. They back away slowly as Cole approaches them with a newfound confidence in his step.

Cole dealt with them swiftly, walking away unscathed. Just as he's leaving the room Cole see's Yang run upstairs, he decides to take the dumbwaiter up. Once he's up stairs he takes a deep breath, to calm himself as he walks up to Yang. Yang's approaching the ladder to the attic, turning to see Cole, a displeased scowl on his face.

"End him." Yang instructs his students to attack Cole while he makes his getaway to the final floor.

Cole doesn't have time for another battle with these guys, so he just Spinjitzu his way down the hall, knocking them all back until he gets to the ladder. When Cole gets to the attic, Yang's not even there, instead there's even more students. Cole gets right to kicking the ectoplasmy asses, knocking each one back as more keep coming. He's never going to get to Yang before he opens the Rift of Return at this point.

"Don't make me hurt you too." He warns the last and final student, the student runs off.

Cole collects a few weapons he disarmed earlier from the ground before making his way through the skylight to the roof of the temple. He sees Yang cast in the green light of the eclipsing moon and blue light of the giant tear in space and time.

"Stop it, Yang!" He calls out to the ghost swinging the Yinblade over his head, laughing maniacally.

"Freedom, return!" The Sensei shouts as he begins to Airjitzu himself towards the portal. "It's all mine!"

"No!" Cole shouts back, struggling to form his Airjitzu bubble for a moment.

"You. Are not. Going… ANYWHERE!" Cole manages to do Airjitzu, chasing Yang up through the air.

He grabs Yang's foot, trying to weigh him down. It works and they both plummet back down to the temple rooftop, grappling with each other midair until they hit the roof hard.

"Just give up already!" Yang yells at him as the old man gets up.

"No. I'm keeping you here until the eclipse ends and the Rift closes." Cole yells back, making his way towards Yang, sword readied in hand. "Your evil will never return to Ninjago."

Yang swings at him with the Yinblade with a grunt in response, their weapons clash loudly as they swing at one another repeatedly.

"What are you even fighting for?" Yang asks him as they fight. "Your friends have abandoned you."

"Your master has abandoned you." Yang knocks him back, Cole feels helpless as he lays there on the roof, Yang steadily getting closer as he continues to bring Cole down. "You are all alone!"

"No!" Cole backflips towards Yang, he knocks Cole back again with a kick to the chest.

Yang swings at him, cutting down his blade with each one. Cole staggers backwards, his sword now just a hilt, fear the only thing he's feeling as Yang laughs over him.

"Cant go on alone…" Cole says to himself, desperate for anyone, and he means absolutely anyone, to come help him.

"Yes, yield." Yang looks up to the Rift and moon. "Soon I will be gone, but you will remain forever Departed, destined to haunt this temple forever as the new Master of the House."

"I'm…oh fuck." Cole looks at his hands, trying to see his fingers move, but he can't, there's nothing there to move. This is it, this is the moment he's gone for good. "I'm fading away…"

"Just one more lonely ghost." Yang taunts him more, as if this wasn't already the worst. "Not a friend in the world."

Cole sighs, hanging his head. This is it, this is all he's ever going to be. He'll wander the halls of this haunted temple until the day he's completely departed. Misery sinks in, all fear gone as he begins to accept his apparent fate. Not for long as he hears a familiar voice call for him in the distance.

"What?" Yang shouts confused, snapping his head to some clouds clearing. "Who's that?"

"My friends!" Cole exclaims, smiling so wide it hurts when he sees Jay and Kai hanging over the side of the bounty, waving and shouting at him.

He's found himself again, no longer totally resigned to his fear. He gets up quick, drop kicking Yang backwards, landing gracefully like the dancer he is.

"Ghost or not, I'm gonna do what I came here to do, Yang." Cole comes at him, his attack blocked by Yang springing up.

"You're wrong. I'm not the one who's alone." Cole smirks at Yang as they fight in hand to blade combat. "You are!"

"No! I have my family!" Yang gestures to his students, who are cowering away from the fight by the skylight.

"No, you have prisoners." Cole informs him. "That's not family, that's captivity."

He punches Yang back, something inside of him feels new. Like he can punch through anything. He looks at his hands, shocked to see they're glowing bright orange, like lava. Yang comes at him and he punches the blade, it shatters into dozens upon dozens of pieces as Yang falls back.

"No! My spell!" Yang shouts as his students recover from his magic.

"The Rift! If you hurry, you can be free of this place forever!" Cole shouts over Yang's pleas to his students.

The students fly up to the Rift, Cole watches with a smile as they become regular people once more, counting an extra person than there are students. Must be an extra person Yang tricked.

"My… my students…" Yang reaches up as they go through the portal. "Leaving me… I failed…"

"Yeah, you did!" Cole agrees, standing over Yang with renewed confidence.

"I always fail." Yang says sadly, his face falling into one of helplessness.

"Yeah! You– wait, what?" Cole looks down at Yang in a new way, recognising the look on his face.

"I dedicated my whole life to studying the martial arts. Alone." Yang begins to explain the sadness he feels. "I got arrogant, I wanted to live forever."

"Why?" Cole grabs his hand, hoisting him up. "No one lives forever."

"Because I knew the day I was gone, no one would remember me." Yang hangs his head, shaking it sadly with closed eyes.

"All of this was so you wouldn't be forgotten?" Cole can understand the fear, he gestures to the Rift and the temple and the students.

"Cole! The Rift!" Cole turns his head up to the Bounty to see Kai leaning over the railing still to shout at him, the poor dude almost falls off waving to get Cole's attention. He smiles slightly at him. "You gotta pass through the Rift!"

"You must think I'm a fool for having such a petty desire…" Yang draws back his attention with his melancholy words.

"No, I get it. Believe me, I get it" Cole glances back up at Kai and the others, his smile growing. "I know what it's like to feel forgotten. Alone. It… it hurts."

"But Master Yang, you are already gonna be remembered forever." Cole places a gentle hand on Yang's shoulder, speaking to him as soft as he can while being heard over the wind caused by the Rift.

"Me? How?" The Sensei looks up at him helplessly.

"You created Airjitzu." Cole smiles at him, posing as if he's about to do it himself, Yang hangs his head in shame.

"Cole! It's now or never!" He hears Jay shout.

"Now, come on, there's still time to go through." Cole begins to guide him, going into Spinjitzu. "Both of us."

"No, I'm afraid that's impossible." Yang says as they get closer and closer to the Rift. " The curse of the Temple demands that at least one ghost remains behind as the Master of the House."

"One of us has to stay here?" Cole questions, they're so close to the portal.

"It must be this way." Yang says, Cole can feel him squirming out of his grasp.

"Hey! What're you doing?" Cole asks as Yang kicks away from him.

"Settling my debts." Yang breaks free, sending Cole through the Rift.

Yang plummeting down to the temple is the last thing Cole can see before he's swallowed by darkness. He can't hear or see or feel anything for a few moments before he feels absolutely everything. He can feel grass tickling his bare skin, he can feel the blood pumping through his veins, the air in his hair. He can feel his heart beating and his stomach growling. He can hear Jay say he'd give anything to have him back, everyone beginning to mourn him. Cole opens his eyes and sees the stars and the temple, he begins to get up and sees his friends.

"Anything?" He asks as he makes his way to them.

"Anything." Jay confirms, his eyes beginning to water.

"Even the Sonic Radar Jet?" Cole asks as he hops over a rock to stand with his friends.

"Cole!" They all shout, running up to embrace their friend they thought they lost forever.

He can feel the warmth, and it fills him up with happiness. He can feel again, he can feel everything. Kai lifts him up into a bear hug, arms around his waist as everyone crowds around him to express their relief. Cole feels his heart skip a beat as Kai spins around.

"You're not a ghost anymore!" Lloyd enthuses, pointing out the obvious.

"You look as good as new!" Nya hugs him tight after her brother places Cole down.

"Pretty much!" Cole runs his fingers through his hair, grazing a new scar on his forehead. "Thank you, Nya."

"Speaking of good as new…" Kai draws their attention, pointing at the Temple.

The temple has been restored to its former glory. It's a beautiful shining red, the tiles for the roof redone, and the trees have regained their leaves and life, much like Cole.

The Temple of the Airjitzu Master has been returned to its original condition." Master Wu smiles up at the building, then at Cole proudly.

"It's beautiful…" Zane mutters under his breath, Cole can't help but agree.

"Ya know, that'd be a pretty cool place for a Ninja to train." Cole suggests, as they have been living on the bounty for just over a year now.

"A perfect place to practise the art of Airjitzu." Cole jumps back, readying his fists when Morro steps out from behind Misako and Wu.

"Morro!" Cole shouts, attempting to run at him, only to be held back by Kai poping up infront of him, wrapping his arms around Cole.

"Dude, chill out, he's on our side now." Kai laughs, pinning Cole's arms to his side with the hug. "Just be glad your back!"

Cole can't help the laugh that comes out of him as he hugs Kai back, he can feel the fire ninja's heat infecting him, it's like being warmed by the sun after a long cold night. Dear FSM, he missed the way hugs felt.

"Alright, I won't fight him, but he's on thin ice." Cole agrees to not pummel him, Kai releases the hug, holding Cole out at arms length and staring at him with a huge grin.

"I'm so happy you're back." Kai says to him, looking up at Cole with what he thinks is adoration, and it makes him swoon.

Cole is glad to be back

Notes:

THIS ONE IS SUPER LONG, HOLY SHIT. fact checking my notes so hard for this one. Also, yeah, Morro's back. Idk why they didn't bring him back in the show, it was possible to do so during the special. He's the master of wind, he could've made it to the Rift, HE COULDVE!!! so in this he does, because yes. Might release the playlist for this soon, idk, it's kinda spoilers if you think too hard about the songs.

Chapter 21: Not Dead!

Summary:

The first week of Cole being not dead wasn't the worst, definitely not the best, but Cole is glad he's feeling things again, no matter how they effect his emotions.

It had been mere days since Cole had gotten his body back. He's felt more full than he has in over a year now, getting used to how things feel, how he feels. His emotions were no longer self consuming, able to regulate his thoughts more, able to sort his feelings out. His friends have been a huge help, making sure he knows he's cared for and a valuable member of the team.

The first day Cole was back, Zane made him his favourites. His favourite noodles with his favourite chicken, his favourite juice, and his favourite dessert. Cole relished the taste of chocolate ganache, eating it slowly at first to savour the taste, gradually getting close to scarfing by the last piece.

"Oh, I missed this so much!" Cole grins so hard it hurts, he stands up and hugs Zane. "Thank you so much, lugnut."

"It was not me who made it, it was Kai." Zane says as he hugs Cole back. "But I will accept your hug as I've missed them as much as you've missed cake it seems."

"Yeah, Cole," Nya comes up and hugs him and Zane. "You're alive again!"

"Ooo! Group hug!" Jay joins them, squeezing tight as the others join on in.

His friends laughed with him as he felt full of love and full of food for what feels like the first time in a long time.

On the second day, Cole met with his dad. He hugged him and felt loved. His dad made him tea, and they danced together to his mom's favourite song. They even lit a lantern for her together since Cole was rather busy on the Day of the Departed, his dad telling him stories about courting her, telling Cole all about their wedding. Cole wants everything his mom and dad had for himself, minus the dying of disease part, he wouldn't want to put anyone through that.

On the third day back, he got to take an actual bath, and the water felt so good. Cole cannot help but smile as the warmness infiltrates his core being, soothing all the insecurities and anxieties of being a ghost, washing them down his back. He has been wanting a nice, relaxing bath like this for months, a place to just sit and stew in peace.

Cole sighs, the water getting cold now. He pulls the plug, getting out to walk to the sink, wrapping a towel around his waist. He wipes the foggy mirror with a towel, lifting his bangs up to observe his new green scar closely. It looks pretty cool, and according to Jay and Kai, the scar glows when he uses his new earth punch.

"Looking pretty solid." Cole's head snaps to see Kai standing half naked in the doorway, towel over his shoulder, hand on his hip with a smirk on his face, clearly here to use the facilities.

"Are you talking about my muscles or the fact that I am actually alive now?" Cole asks with a laugh, turning around to speak with Kai, leaning on the sink counter.

"Why can't it be both?" Kai shrugs, walking over to the tub to run cold water.

"It's out of hot water." He warns Kai, his face warming up at the compliment… he thinks it's a compliment at least.

"That's never an issue for me!" Kai laughs again, sticking his hand under the tap, the water steaming as it passes through his hand.

Kai hangs up his towel, walking back over to Cole, way too close for Cole's mind to handle. Kai's hand slowly comes up to his face, brushing his hair out of the way of his scar.

"It's so badass." Kai mummers, running his warm thumb over it, sending a shiver through Cole.

Cole watches a sly smile form on Kai's face as his hand falls to Cole's bare shoulder. The warmth of his hand feels so natural, yet so new. Kai's skin is soft against his own, the feeling of touch radiates through him. Cole's eyes flick between Kai's beautiful orange eyes and his thin lips, thoughts of kissing him racing through his head. He could swear Kai's thinking the same as his eyes flicker around, their faces mere inches apart.

"You're beautiful." Cole barely registers that the words came from himself until Kai spins around, walking fast to his bath.

"Unless you want to see me in my full beauty, you should go." Kai stutters a bit at the beginning, sounding more like his suave self when he finishes, throwing a wink back to Cole as he puts a hand on his hip.

"Yeah, sorry." Cole turns to the door behind himself, his face probably bright red given how warm he feels in his face and stomach.

He goes to where he ditched his stuff on the main floor, quickly changing into his new black gi, trying to get some inappropriate thoughts out of his head. After he goes outside to train with Jay like he had promised earlier that morning at breakfast. Jay waves at him as soon as he's seen, a huge grin spreading on his face as he slips his phone into the folds of his uniform.

"Hey man, how was the bath?" Jay says with sly eyes and a teasing tone as Cole jogs on up to him.

"It was good, nice and relaxing. Thank you for asking." Cole says defensively, Jay seems to be prodding at him for something.

"Would you maybe even say 'hot' or 'steamy' at times'?" Jay wiggles his brows at him, his grin so big it's got to hurt.

"Oh, he texted you about that?" Cole groans in embarrassment, his face heating up again.

"He's just asking me if you're alright, and we just finished sparring, so I knew he was heading to the baths, chill out." Jay hooks his arm around Cole, dragging him closer to talk quieter. "I pieced the awkward conversation together based on past experiences."

"And, also, Cole, buddy." Jay let's go, spinning to be in front again, his hands gesturing towards Cole. "You're kinda a blushing mess, that only happens around Kai or when you think about him too hard."

"How could you even know that, I haven't told you?" Cole stands there, kind of in shock at this strange conversation with Jay. "Did I tell you in the other timeline you and Nya are always blabbing about?"

"Yeah, but I pieced it together years before that, way back on Chen's Island when you came out to me and all the elemental masters." Jay chuckles, starting to strap up his protective gear for training. "Everyone knows but him, he's so oblivious to things right in front of him."

"Am I really that obvious?" Cole also begins to put some protective gear on, not as much as Jay though, the guys worried about Cole's new ability. "Oh, that means he knows too… great."

"Yeah, but you're both so oblivious." Jay continues to talk, getting into his fighting stance across from Cole on the sparring circle Jay must've set up before he got there. "Ya' gonna tell me what happened in there?"

"I called him beautiful, Jay. Right to his dumb face." Cole groans to Jay, readying himself. "He touched me and I couldn't manage to say anything else."

"Like inappropriately? Cause I'll have to report that to HR." Jay jokes, winding up for the first move.

"No, he just- he touched my face and rubbed his thumb over my scar and all I could think about was kissing him." Cole braces himself as Jay begins laying down kicks. "So I called him beautiful, by accident… he is beautiful though."

"Yeah, it kinda runs in their family it seems." Jay jokes again, finishing his fury of kicks, knocking Cole back noticeably. "This isn't the first time you two have gotten like this."

"What do you mean?" Cole gets back to the circle, getting ready for his turn.

"I mean just what I said, you two are all over each other sometimes. Like when he fed you that ravioli, or when you shared that bed. "Jay gives Cole the nod to attack him, Cole obliges, laying a fury of punches to Jay's torso and arm pads.

"You were so distraught when you realised Nadakahn trapped Kai in the sword, you were so mad at me about it, I could hear you crying at night when we were trapped on a deserted island." Jay begins recounting the other timeline as Cole delivers punches. "You've both almost thrown yourselves off the Bounty for each other, he went with you to come out to your dad, he baked you your favourite cake the other day, and the whole cooking thing you two got up to the day we faced down Morro, that was really… Well, it was really gay, Cole."

"That's just what friends do, I cried when Zane died too." Cole groans, rolling his eyes. He's embarrassed, these things can't be true, Cole would've noticed more if they were.

"I can assure you that it is not. I don't spoon feed you and cuddle you to sleep, but Kai does." Jay falls back as Cole accidentally hits him with an earth punchz knocking him back through the air at least a half dozen yards.

"Sorry," he rushes over to Jay, giving him a hand up. "I'm just frustrated, I can't believe how much rumours get passed through here."

"Are they rumours if they're fact based?" Jay asks cautiously, brushing himself off.

"Yes, because it's not true." Cole throws his arms up, turning away to begin ranting. "Kai likes Skylor, and any woman who looks at him for more than five seconds. Not me or any other man, okay? He would've told me if that wasn't the case, because we are friends. Just friends, and that's all we'll ever be."

"Okay, okay, okay! I get it. He likes girls, or whatever." Jay rolls his eyes, making Cole turn to face him. "It wouldn't hurt to try though, right?"

Cole stands there, looking anywhere but at Jay as he thinks about it for a moment. "I guess that I could try?"

"Good. You deserve to have something like Nya and I, both of you." Jay smiles big at him again, squeezing Cole's arm slightly to reassure him before they go back into training.

On the fourth day, Cole is laying on the floor of the main room of the temple, staring up at the ceiling. He remembers how scared he was last time he actually looked up at the roofs here, Yang had just sent ghosts after his friends, he had to stop Yang but was chained up. He felt so helpless, so alone. But he knows now that he's not alone now, he's got his family and they've got him.

He hears Kai's voice call out for him, again and again, eventually it feels so real and close. Cole looks to the staircase and sees that Kai is actually there, looking kind of a mess too.

"Oh, hey, Kai." He says, raising his brow slightly at the red ninja. "What's up? Do you need me for something?"

"Uh, maybe? I don't know." Kai sits beside him on the floor, Cole realises he's a bit sad upon closer inspection, his face all disgruntled and his hair messy.

"You're sad, what's wrong?" Cole asks him softly, sitting up and placing a gentle hand on Kai's knee.

"Skylor doesn't… she doesn't want a relationship right now." Kai looks down at his fidgeting hands, a tear falling down his cheek. "I respect her decision and all, but I really thought we had something."

"Oh, Kai…" Cole cups his cheek, getting the fire ninja to look up at him. He feels so bad Kai is going through this, it could be his fault this even happened because of his and Skylors talk over 6 months ago. "You'll be okay, these things happen all the time. You will find someone who loves you one day, I promise."

"How do you know that?" Kai's eyes are filled with tears, his face all scrunched up and gross, but Cole could not find him any less handsome.

"So many people love you already, it's hard not to." Cole smiles reassuringly, wiping a tear away with his thumb before it has the chance to fall down. He wants to kiss him, he wants to tell him everything he feels again, to assure him he is oh so loveable. "You're bound to find someone, we all are. Destiny, and stuff."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Kai sighs, leaning into Cole's touch, making Cole swoon harder than he thought he could. "I just thought she'd be The One, my Yin."

"I feel that way about someone too, although I'm not entirely sure we're destined to be together yet." Cole tries to reassure him with relation, hoping Kai doesn't press more, but also kind of hoping he does. "You're not alone, everyone goes through things like this."

"They do, yeah…" Kai smiles a little, leaning closer a bit.

Cole thinks for a small moment that Kai's leaning to kiss him, but he gets a hug. Not what he hoped for, but just as good to him. He wraps his arms around Kai, squeezing him tight in return. Kai's warmth surrounds him, making him feel safe and cared for, he wants to be smothered in it. Kai releases the hug after what feels like forever and no time at all, seemingly hesitant to release Cole.

"You're a good friend, you know just how to make me feel better." Kai keeps a hand on his shoulder, trailing up to Cole's face, tracing over his scar again. "Thank you."

"Anything for you." Cole takes Kai's hand off of his face, he doesn't know what he'll do if Kai keeps touching his face.

Kai takes control, grasping Coles hand, and bringing it to his lips, kissing Cole's hand gently. Cole will remember how that felt until the day he either dies or gets to kiss them with his own lips.

"I'll keep that in mind." Kai chuckles to himself, smiling unsurely as he places Cole's hand down.

Cole can't think about anything but how Kai's lips just felt against his skin, warm and rough, yet just perfectly soft. Cole stares at Kai, happily confused, smiling slightly, his head filled with adoration.

"I don't know why I did that." Kai stares back at him with his face bright red.

"And I don't know why I'm doing this." Cole places his hands on Kai's knees for support as he leans over him, gently pressing a lithe kiss to Kai's cheek.

When he pulls back, Kai's eyes are closed and his chest is shaking with each breath he takes. Cole sits back, his own chest feeling heavy, butterflies in his stomach and a million contradictory thoughts running through his head. Kai kissed his hand and he kissed Kai's cheek, neither of them hid it. Kai had also just cried because his crush doesn't want a relationship, and Cole still kissed him, probably confusing the poor guy. He looks to Kai again, his eyes still closed, only tears are falling from his eyes.

"Kai, you're crying again?" Cole asks, worried he did something wrong.

"I know." Kai opens his eyes, wiping them as he smiles at Cole. "I know."

"I'm confused." Cole tells him, unable to read his friend, if that's even what they still are, Cole doesn't know what going on.

"Me too." Kai says softly, beginning to stand, offering Cole a hand up.

"Are you alright?" Cole asks carefully, taking Kai's hand up.

"I will be, thanks to you." Kai smiles, a ferocious blush on him , but then he frowns after a moment. "We shouldn't do that again though, the kissing."

"Oh. Alright." Cole feels a pain in his chest at that, taking a step back. "Okay, yeah, I get it. Sorry."

"Please don't apologise, it's not your fault." Kai grips his nose bridge before sighing heavily. "I should go upstairs, chores to do."

Kai runs up before Cole can say anything else, and does Cole ever have things to say now.

On the 6th day he's alive again, they're cleaning up the museum, focusing on the ruble. Cole works on pretending that the day before never happened, knowing his feelings aren't gonna go away anymore, they're here to stay forever after that. FSM, Cole hopes he's Kai's Yin someday, they could get married, maybe have a kid or two, grow old together now that Cole can grow old.

"Focus on the rubble, Cole." Morro tells him, drawing his attention to the also newly revived Master of Wind.

"It's weird working with you instead of against you." Cole dusts off some relics from a pile, getting back to work like Morro requested.

"At least we are alive." Morro reminds him. "I forgot what the wind actually felt like. On the first day of my return I went and free fell from the bounty, catching myself mere feet from the ground."

"That sounds terrifying." Cole gives him a concerned look, worried about this kid's mental stability. "You're going to give Wu a heart attack one day."

"Ugh, I don't need this from you." Morro groans, walking away rudely.

"Awe, come on, Morro." Cole chases after him with his collection of things in tow. "I was just bugging you, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't 'hurt my feelings', or whatever." Morro groans, slowing down to allow Cole to catch up. "You're just annoying."

"You clearly haven't been in a room with Jay very long." Cole laughs, walking with Morro out to the dump truck behind the museum they are bringing the junk out to.

"Jay doesn't like me. He doesn't get it, he's never had to lose a parent, let alone be an orphan, and he thinks he has the right to judge my actions." Morro grumbles, a tense edge in his voice as he uses his wind to dump his wheelbarrow into the dump truck.

"It's gonna take us all a bit to warm up to you, Morro. You've tried to kill us." Cole explains the best he can without flipping out on Morro.

"Yeah, so? I was emotionally distraught that I wasn't the Green Ninja, I thought if I wasn't, Wu wouldn't want me anymore." Morro's shoulders fall as he places the wheelbarrow onto the ground, his chest heaves. "I thought he'd throw me out if I couldn't be him, so I set out to prove destiny wrong, and well… you know how that went."

"Morro, Wu would never have thrown you out." Cole cautiously places his arms around Morro, dragging him into a hug.

"What are you doing?" Morro sneers, he sounds more confused than mad though.

"I'm giving you a hug, it looked like you needed one." Cole makes it clear what his intention is. "It's what friends do, and we are friends now."

"I've.. I've never had a real friend before…" Morro slumps into the hug, carefully returning it.

Living with him is going to be an adjustment, maybe one for the better though!

Notes:

Was this gay or what guys? I've got second hand feelings writing and reading this, got them butterflies in my tummy.

Chapter 22: Here's Acronix!

Summary:

A week has passed since Cole's gotten his body back, but the world doesn't give him time to get used to that, rushing him and all of the Ninja into a new adventure.

It has been a week since the Day of the Departed, the ninja have been helping Dr. Saunders repair the museum and fix up the exhibits. Cole has done nothing but work and listen to Jay complain for the last few hours as they start putting the Hall of Villainy back together.

"This is so lame! we're Ninja, not janitors." Jay expresses his discontent, staring into the eyes of the mannequin head of Samukai.

"Come on, Jay." Lloyd nags him, pushing a wheelbarrow with Chen's figure in it. "We're all kind of responsible for the damage to the museum. Afterall, I'd we hadn't have had that huge battle on the Day of the Departed, this place would still be in one piece."

"Yeah, and who's fault is that, Cole?" Jay sneers half-heartedly at him.

"Okay." Cole turns to Jay somewhat pissed with the accusation, lowering the portrait of Yang he's holding into his own wheelbarrow. "How many more times do I have to say I'm sorry for accidentally unleashing the ghostly forces of evil that attacked Ninjago?"

"How high can you count?" Jay sneers again.

"Leave him alone, he was manipulated by a mad man. Surely, most of us know what that's like. " The Master of Wind comes in to defend Cole, carrying a mannequin of himself in the same direction as Lloyd.

Cole smiles at Morro for defending him, they're actually becoming friends it seems. Cole grabs his barrow, dropping it down when his hands begin to glow bright orange again. Cole raises his hands to his face, looking at them all energised. At least this power wasn't making him disappear like his ghost abilities.

"Eh, speaking of which, you're still not used to having your old, non-ghost hands back?" Jay tries to make casual conversation as Cole picks up what fell from his barrow.

"Im working on it." He reminds Jay as they walk from the storage room to the exhibit everyone is trying to put back together.

Cole begins hanging up all the portraits and paintings he's gathered, hanging them up in the places the curator marked out for them, when he stumbles upon a large painting of an epic battle. He reconises a few of the people in it from their Masters recollection of tales, including their master himself, along with Garmadon.

"Guys, look what I found!" Cole calls to the others, they quickly surround him, gasping in awe.

"Uh, isn't that Garmadon?" Jay asks, pointing at what is clearly a very young Garmadon.

"It is. Lloyd, that's your dad!" Cole looks over his shoulder at Lloyd walking up.

"And there's master Wu!" Kai points.

"He looks so… young." Nya adds.

"Look at them, my father and my uncle, Ninjago's two greatest Elemental Masters." Lloyd wanders to the front, staring sadly at the portrait. "I wonder if I'll ever live up to their legacy…"

"First Kai and Nya, now Lloyd." Jay places a hand on the youngest shoulder. "It's family picture day at the museum."

"Does anyone recognise this battle?" Cole looks over to Zane as he asks this, sure the Nindroid can give them something about it.

"Pixal, analyze." Zane says, approaching the painting for a better look. They take a moment to view it before Pixal speaks through Zane.

"Facial contour mapping indicates that this scene take place 40 years ago, during the Serpentine Wars." Pixal tells them through their earpieces, it's nice getting to talk to the Nindroid again, even if it's only sometimes.

"During the Serpentine Wars?" Cole and Morro ask at the same time, Morro is slightly hiding behind Cole's larger frame, peaking his little emo head over his shoulder to share a look of confusion with Cole.

"But Ninjago was at peace." Cole speaks by himself, still trying to get used to Morro being around. He looks to Kai for an answer, Kai loves history books, he might know.. "Who would they be fighting?"

Before anyone can respond, Dr. Sander Saunders walks in with refreshments and a huge grin, offering them some for their work.

"Thanks, Dr. Saunders." Kai thanks the old museum curator with a small bow as everyone takes a glass.

"Enjoy the pickled beets tea."

Everyone but Cole had taken a sip, spitting it out. Cole pretends to drop his cup, apologizeing, blaming it on his newly solid body. Jay shrugs and keeps drinking it, his mom makes it for him often, Cole remembers.

"What's this painting?" Lloyd asks, pointing back at the portrait.

"Oh nothing!" Dr. Saunders dismisses the clear relevance of the painting. "Nothing of significance, that is why I don't hang it in the main gallery."

"It looks pretty significant to me." Jay gestures to the battle scene. "This thing is huge!"

"Yes a huge myth. The folklores." Dr. Saunders dismisses it once again, getting unsure states from most of the team.

"Even if it is a myth, who are these men Masters Wu and Garmadon supposed to be fighting?" Zane asks, trying to squeeze anything he can out of the doctor. "I have no data on them."

"There is a legend." Dr. Saunders sides, placing his juice tray down on a nearby crate, walking up to explain the painting's mythos. "Twin brothers called the Hands of Time."

"Hands of time?" Cole watches Kai puzzle, his brow quirking.

"They could allegedly manipulate time itself." Dr. Saunders continues his explanation almost longingly, something's still off about this dude. "Speed it up, slow it down. All sorts of things."

He turns back to the ninja, they're all giving him weird looks as he forces a laugh. "See what I mean? Manipulate time? A ridiculous fairytale."

Dr. Saunders tells them their names, being off about it. He's just an odd old man, Cole knows this, but still something seems wrong. Cole looks to the others, seeing a few of them have the same thoughts as him. Zane is giving the doctor his 'I don't entirely believe you' look, Morro is just glaring at the man intensely, everyone else seems to be buying this possible balogna. Just as Cole is about to say something about it, Jay's watch begins to chirp at them.

"Time to go!" He shouts, turning hot on his heels to leave, clicking his watch off. Everyone follows him happily.

As they're running out the door, making remarks on how relieved they are to be done, something strange happens. Suddenly they are on the bounty, alarms blaring. Cole almost falls over at the sudden change.

"What just happened?" Lloyd asks the question they all have on their minds. "Time just…"

"Moved forward?" Kai gives them an unsure look.

"Whatever just happens, we have to go tell Master Wu." Morro suggests, giving Jay a hand up from the floor where he fell.

"Weren't we just outside?" Cole asks the group, throwing his hands up in confusion. "When did we get here?"

"How did we get here?" Nya corrects his question.

"My circuits are picking up an energy displacement." Zane explains, just as confused as everyone else.

"There was a displacement all right." Kai says gesturing to their situation. "It displaced us right in here."

"What is going on?" Lloyd asks.

"I don't know, but it's loud!" Jay shouts over the alarm.

"These energy readings are off the chart!" Nya shouts from a console. "Where is it coming from?"

"I'm trying to pinpoint the location." Zane looks over to her, going back to pressing buttons.

"How about pinpointing the location of the off button?" Jay shouts over them, shaking his head, covering his ears. "These alarms are giving me a headache."

Just as he's about to finish that, Kai turns off the alarms with a button literally right by Jay, crossing his arms and shaking his head at the blue ninja.

"Haha, thank you…" Jay says awkwardly.

"This is surprising." Zane muses over something.

"No it's not, I've always had sensitive ears and–"

"I meant, I think I know how we suddenly appeared on the Destiny's Bounty." Zane quickly explains, cutting Jay off.

"How?" Cole asks, egging Zane to continue.

"The displacement we experienced was not just caused by any normal energy." Zane begins. "It was temporal energy."

"Oh, well, temporal energy. Of course, everyone knows that's um…" Jay doesn't know what he's talking about, Cole can't help but laugh at his best friend. "Powerful."

"You have no idea what temporal means, do you?" Kai asks Jay with a playful smirk.

"I do not."

"It means time." Lloyd explains, Cole just stared at Jay in disbelief, not believing this guy passed ahead of his class like he says.

"Precisely. Whatever created that displacement can warp the very fabric of space-time." Zane continues the science part.

"Which is powerful, right?" Jay tries to be right.

"Very." Zane humours him. "All normal rules if existence no longer apply to such a force."

"Told ya it was powerful!" Jay punches Kai in the arm.

Nya hooks Zane up to the Bounty's computer to try to get a better reading for temporal energy. Jay is going off about the displacement and how he totally knows the science behind it, while Cole leans next to Nya, watching her work patiently.

"Okay, yes, there was a little hiccup in time." Jay rants, pacing the control room. "But just one. I'm sure it was nothing."

"They probably happen all the time, and we don't realise." Jay tries to assure himself and friends, hooking an arm over both Nya and Zane. "Ya know, like deja vu. Can we go home now?"

Everyone looks at Jay, frowning. The lightning master is clearly agitated and anxious, scratching at the back of his hand like he sometimes does when these sorta things happen.

"Seriously." Jay tries to express his worry. "We just cleaned up an entire museum! Aren't you guys tired?"

"I'd be tired if I blabbered as much as you." Cole can hear Morro say under his breath, the non-ghost ex-enemy stands close to Cole or Lloyd a lot.

"Well?" Nya looks at Zane, raising a brow.

"I've located the surges epicentre." Pixal speaks through the Bounty's computer.

"Where, Pixal?" Zane asks his girlfriend.

"The old monastery." Pixal zooms in on the map, showing them a picture of Wu's monastery before it burnt down.

"The monastery?" Cole questions, shrugging. "That place is burnt down, why would anyone or anything be up there?"

"We should find out!" Lloyd strongly suggests.

"Oh why?" Jay whines. "Cole's right, there's no reason for anyone to be up at the monastery. Zane's probably malfunctioning!"

Zane gives Jay a dirty look at the assumption. "Self-diagnostics indicate negative."

Jay whacks him in the back of the head. "How bout now?"

"No." Zane is glaring at Jay now.

"I agree with Lloyd, we should go." Kai jumps into the conversation. "Where there's smoke, there's usually fire."

"And where there's massive energy displacement, there's usually trouble." Nya adds.

"Maybe it's a harmless energy displacement?" Jay tries to get out of this, scratching the back of his neck.

"There's no such thing as a harmless energy displacement." Morro scowls at Jay while everyone else just stared at him disappointedly.

"Come on. Seriously, I'm exhausted." Jay whines more. "We did our good deed for the day."

"Master Wu said he was going to the monastery." Lloyd tells them, urgency in his voice and on his face. "Something about finishing an old fight. He said this was something he should do alone."

Jay sighs before yelling at them. "What're you waiting for? Get us to the monastery!"

They all start getting the Bounty ready for take off, making headway to the monastery. As they get closer they can't see their Sensei anywhere, rather they see a strange man standing in the courtyard holding a glowing green handblade. Jay doesn't wait for answers, using the anchor to descend, Morro follows him quickly, they confront the stranger head on.

"What are they doing?" Lloyd asks as they begin talking to the strange man. "Jay just pulled his nunchucks, and Morro pulled out his twin scimitar. Nya, you better get us down there fast!"

"Not gonna work." Nya calls back from the control room. "There's not enough room down there."

"It's just one guy," Cole reassures Lloyd with a pat on the shoulder. "I'm sure Jay and Morro can handle… uhhhhh, whoever that is."

"Acronix!" Zane gasps.

"Acronix? As in Acronix and Krux?" Cole turns to Zane, Dr. Saunders said it was a myth. "The Hands of Time?"

"From the painting?" Kai adds on. "But Dr. Saunders said that battle wasn't real."

"And even if it was, it was 40 years ago." Lloyd looks at Zane, they're all confused. "Acronix would be an old man today, like Master Wu, but that guy down there is young!"

"We have to get down there now!" Zane shouts up to Nya, she begins to steer the ship downwards, as close as she can get without hitting the monastery.

Cole and the others run to the anchor when Jay and Morro get knocked under some rubble, Acronix steadily approaching them. Cole readies his fists, concentrating on his newfound abilities. His hands glow as he spins down the chain.

"Did you see that?" Lloyd yells up the chain. "It's like…"

"He jumped forward in time." Kai continues his brother's statement.

"Yeah? Let's see him jump this!" Cole launches himself off the chain, shooting a stream of rocks at Acronix as he plummets to the ground.

Cole lands, immediately jumping up again to throw an earth shattering punch at Acronix. Only Acronix grabs his fist, catching Cole off guard, and throwing him towards the others that just got down.

"More ninja?" Acronix questions as they all help one another up. "Curious."

"NINJA, GO!" They yell in unison, spining into Spinjitzu.

They head towards Acronix in their small cyclones, only he uses his strange ability to move out of their way. That causes them to collide with each other, falling down again. Man, this guy is really kicking their asses, Cole thinks to himself.

"You only missed me by a few seconds." Acronix taunts them as they get up… again.

"You're fast, but are you faster than this?" Kai launches a fireball at Acronix, who just dodges normally.

"Heh, Elemental Master of Fire." Acronix laughs at Kai, pointing at him. "I've encountered one of you before."

"Huh?" Kai gasps. "You met my father?"

"Don't listen to his crap, Kai!" Morro warns.

Acronix disappears before answering, reappearing on the roof of the monastery, Nya points him out.

"Ninja… come out and play!"

"Jay, Cole, Kai, Morro. We get Acronix!" Lloyd starts instructing, Cole nods. "Zane, Nya, use your elemental powers to put out this fire."

"Hang on! Who put you in charge?" Jay complains. "Why can't I help with the flames?"

"You think lightning is better than water and ice for stopping flames?" Lloyd and everyone looks at him in disbelief, Cole shaking his head.

"Good point, let's go!" Jay rushes towards Acronix, Red, Black, and both Greens following him.

Cole hops up to the roof with grace, scowling at Acronix, powering his fist up and getting into stance. "You got lucky last time."

He swings at Acronix, who easily dodges him. Cole keeps swinging, but Acronix keeps dodging, making Cole punch some wood and get his hand stuck in it.

"Clumsy." Acronix sneers at him with a chuckle. "Like a fawn standing on her new legs."

Cole feels helpless, he can practically hear Yang taunting him, see the eclipse above him again. He counts quietly to himself, relieved when his friends show up

 

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Four!

Cole turns to see Jay, Kai, Morro, and Lloyd jumping into the air, their elements ready to use. All four of them send a beam of power towards Acronix, but Acronix runs off. At least they saved Cole from getting punched by that weird green blade, green weapons gave him the heebie jeebies. Cole managed to get free of the wood, joining his team on the ground, standing between Lloyd and Kai.

"He's gonna have to surrender soon, there's no way he can keep going." Lloyd tries to reason, mostly with himself.

All five of the boys fire their powers at Acronix this time, but the blade he has just absorbs it. The blade hums loudly, vibrating from all the energy it's consuming.

"It's gonna blow!" Kai warns them, the blade immediately letting out a wave of power, knocking everyone into each other.

"Ugh, burned down again." Jay states as they all begin to get up, Cole looks at what he's talking about. The monastery is singeing more and more as this fight progresses. "Man, this place just cannot catch a break."

"Neither did Acronix." Lloyd says with a frown clear in his voice.

"Good." Kai sighs. " You know me, I don't back down from a challenge, but I wouldn't want to face that guy again."

"No way." Cole agrees with the red ninja, taking off his mask. "He moved at, like, the speed of time."

"Come on guys, let's go back to the Destiny's Bounty." Lloyd begins heading towards the anchor.

"Um, but what about Master Wu?" Nya reminds them of the reason they even came here to begin with.

"We gotta find him!" Lloyd spins hot on his heels. "Spread out!"

They all spread out, searching through the wreckage for their lost master, Cole runs to where they used to keep their dragons, rushing fast as he hears Wu screaming. He jumps onto his stomach, reaching out for Wu as he falls, grasping his hand just in time.

"Gotta… hang on…" he struggles a bit to pull Wu up from this angle, the others rush to his side.

A wave of fear goes over Cole, the idea of his hands phasing out passes his mind. He looks Wu in the eyes, feeling his old hand in his own and he feels a little more grounded.

"We're coming, bud!" Cole hears Kai call out, multiple footsteps coming their way.

Zane helps Cole finally get him up onto the cliff, the nindroid rubbing their masters back as Cole tries to steady his fastly beating heart.

"Barely made it." He pants hard, watching the light in his hands and arms go out, they're not see-through like he feared.

"Master, are you alright?" Zane asks, assisting the old man in standing.

"I fear not." Wu responds, his whole body shaking.

"Why was Acronix here?" Zane questions.

"How did he do that?" Then Kai.

"What was that weapon he had?" Then Morro.

"Why were you fighting him?" Then Jay finishes that round of ask the Master.

"There is much to tell you." Wu says, looking at them all. "And not much time. Let me have my tea, and I will answer your questions

Notes:

I fear I'm losing steam for this story, so I'm going to try to take a break.

Chapter 23: Now Announcing the BorgWatch!

Summary:

They get distracted by Lloyd's laptop almost immediately after they all head to the next room to unpack, discovering a video from just minutes ago of a Borg store being attacked at the opening of the new Borgwatch.

Notes:

I'm back from my break, but there might be less frequent updates!

Their master sips his tea as a Borgblimp flies by the window, he asks Misako for another cup of tea. She dots on him like a wife, warning him with a soft smile that he could burn his tongue if he drinks too fast. He slurps it back quickly, earning a light 'tsk' from the older woman. Cole can't help the small smile growing on him at the soft gestures between the two, wanting something like that for himself one day.

"Sip! You are quite impatient." She laughs softly, leaving for the kitchen

"The same could be said of them." Their master points at Cole and the others, they have been waiting for him to explain everything since they found him hours ago.

"Okay, Master Wu," Cole steps towards him, tired of waiting, worried about what that stuff at the monastery meant. "You've had your tea, now can we talk?"

"Ask any question you wish." Their Master sighs over his tea, allowing the rapid fire questions to begin.

"Who did we fight in the monastery?" Cole asks.

"That was Acronix, right?" Zane asks, inadvertently answering Cole's question.

"From the painting?" Kai adds, giving Zane a confused look.

"Twins look alike!" Lloyd protests that it's not Acronix.

"Or was it Krux?" Nya asks.

"How'd he speed up time like that?" Kai asks another question.

"How'd you get knocked down?" Morro is the only one of them to ask quietly.

"Is he from the future?" Cole asks. "Or was he from the past?"

"Who ate my pudding cup?" Jay holds an empty pudding cup upside down, gesturing to it with his free hand as they all turn their heads slowly to look at him sideways. "What? He said ask any question! I put my name on this."

"Just because we're in a new dojo, doesn't mean we disobey the refrigerator rules!" Jay jumps in anger, slamming his feet. Everyone gives him the look again. "Right. Sorry. Guy in Monastery. What's his story?"

"Well, to answer that I must begin at the end…" their master goes on to explain that after the Serpentine Wars. Krux and Acronix betrayed them, attacked Wu and Garmadon, and the other elemental masters, almost every master's predecessor except for Cole's. Now that he thinks about it, Wu has never told them who had the power of earth before Cole. Wu might not even know himself.

They had forged the time blade with the help of Kai and Nya's parents, taking all their energy. Cole looks at Kai, emotional pain clear on his face as Wu talks about what Acronix and Krux put his parents through. He hates seeing Kai like that, he'd do anything to help me find out what happened to Kai and Nya's parents, they're his friends after all. Their master goes on to explain how they vanquished the masters of time into time itself, losing them to the forces of the space-time continuum.

"So, what happened to them?" Cole questions, he's always interested in the old elemental masters and what they had to do.

"Krux disappeared into time itself, and I knew Acronix would return yesterday, so I waited." Their master finishes. "He was the remaining loose end to tie."

Misako comes back in and helps Wu over to a more comfortable chair. "Now he is no more."

"You mean, like, permanently?" Lloyd asks the question they're all wondering.

"Never my intent, but it was his fate." Wu gets comfortable. "Now Acronix is gone forever, along with that time balde. It took four decades, but the Hands of Time will never again threaten Ninjago."

"One more question, how did you know Acronix was going to return to the monastery at that exact moment?" Lloyd asks, initiating round three of ask the Master.

"Why didn't you ask for our help?" Jay asks.

"How many element masters were there?"

"Can we make time blades?" Cole thinks those would be pretty good to have.

"Our parents, you said they were there?" Kai asks, gesturing to Nya and himself.

"No more questions today." Misako tells them, their master has now passed out from the fight with Acronix. "Your master fought a powerful enemy, he needs time to recuperate."

With that they all walk out, Cole closing the door behind them, pretending he doesn't see Lloyd's mom kissing Morro's dads cheek.

"Hey, I just realised…" Cole jogs to catch up with his teammates, they all stop at the top of the stairs to listen to him. "The mural we saw at the museum, that must be the battle Wu just told us about."

"But Dr. Saunders said the Hands of Time were a myth." Nya protests the possibility.

"History is art, not science." Zane explains. "Even an expert such as Dr. Saunders could be mistaken from time to time."

"True that!" Jay laughs, stepping into the middle to address Nya directly. "Know how I know? Cause Acronix was a so-called myth, and we totally busted him!"

"Yeah!" Kai agrees with a laugh, the two high-five. "Except now, there's nothing to do."

"Hmm." Lloyd hums as they start to descend the grand staircase. "The temple still needs unpacking."

Everyone groans at that, Cole leans over the railing for a moment to look at all the boxes, turning back to his team with a heavy sigh. "Lloyds right."

"Ugh, I kinda wish we hadn't busted him." Jay complains, inviting Nya to hang out instead of unpacking.

Cole rolls his eyes at Jay and Nya walking off, following everyone else to unpack their stuff in their new room. Lloyd leads them to a hexagonal room with a similar set up as their cabin on the bounty, with their beds against the walls; but with one in the middle against the far wall instead. There are dividers between each of their beds, a huge round table buried in boxes sits in the direct centre of their room, a couple of desks and wardrobes scattered between their spaces.

"I call a window bed!" Cole rushes over to a bed with a window facing the front courtyard, the window is shaded by one of the cherry trees growing out front.

"Hey, no fair!" Kai complains walking over to him, getting into Cole's face, an angry glint in his eyes. "I overheat at night, I get the window spot!"

"Just try and take it from me." Cole taunts him a little bit, something strange in his mind daring him to rile Kai up.

"You don't want me to make you, trust me." Kai talks quietly, his face mere inches from Cole's own overheating face.

"Can you two get a room? I don't want to be scarred for life less than a month after being revived." Morro approaches them, disrupting whatever was happening between the two. He points to the other bed under a window. "Kai, there are two windows."

"Ugh, fine, he can have it." Kai grumbles, his face beet red as he grabs one of his boxes and walks over to the other window bed, stomping his feet and slamming his box into his bed.

Cole shakes his head, laughing to himself at the fire ninja's little angry display, calming his own blush. Kai is more than welcomed to join him if he gets too warm, Cole thinks to himself as he brings his own boxes to his space. He wouldn't mind the fire ninja's warmth next to him; last time they had shared a bed Cole was a ghost,and it was the most peaceful and easily he had slept the whole time he was otherworldly. Cole dismissed the thought from his head. Kai needs space right now, it wouldn't be appropriate or polite to bother him with that offer.

"Do I get a bed?" Morro asks Lloyd sheepishly, grabbing Cole's attention towards the cousins.

"Of course you do, Morro." Lloyd smiles at him, bringing his cousin over to a bed. "Nya gets her own room because she's a girl and needs her own space. Her words, not mine. So this one's yours."

"Thanks, Lloyd." Morro smiles softly, Cole turns his attention back to his own stuff. He sets a picture of his family down on his window ledge, smiling softly at the image of his younger self and his parents.

They're all in their spaces, organising their belongings into place. Cole finds himself done before the others, taking out his drawing stuff from an organiser under his bed. He looks around trying to decide what to draw, his eyes falling on Kai. The fire elemental is not done, he's just staring out the window, batting his eyes occasionally as he holds his head in his hands, his brow a bit furrowed in thought, his face dusted in pink. Cole starts a quick sketch, gradually getting into more detail as the others finish up.

Kai has such a nice jawline, his lips curl into the prettiest of frowns Cole has ever had the pleasure of drawing. Kai's well kept hair moves slightly in the gentle wind, his amber eyes shining brightly in the mid morning sunlight. He truly is the best subject for Cole to practise drawing and the best subject to have his affections. Cole finds himself distracted and breathless looking at him, losing himself in fantasies of running his hands through hair and pressing light kisses to every inch of the fire ninja's face. Pushing him down into the bed, watching him squirm as Cole…

He shakes that thought away, laughing at himself. Kai is a teammate, a brother in arms, and is mad about them kissing to begin with, it's not the most appropriate thought to have of him. He's clearly not interested in doing those things given by his weird reaction to a small kiss on the cheek, after Kai started the kissing with Cole's hand. Cole stares at Kai more, his heart throbbing for that attention again, taking in every little action he does as Kai stares longingly out at the sky instead of at him. He's so distracted he doesn't realise when Lloyd slides right on up to him, only realising the green ninja's presence when he elbows Cole in the ribs.

"Ow!" Cole grimaces, setting his pencil and sketchbook facedown to look at Lloyd with a frown, annoyed that the younger is bothering him right now.

"Whatcha drawing?" Lloyd asks him mischievously, wiggling his brows. "Is it your super secret crush?"

"No!" Cole glares at Lloyd, setting his pencil and eraser down on top of the book. "Didn't anyone teach you to mind your own business?"

"I'm just bugging, man!" Lloyd smiles at him innocently. "I just wanted to know if you're done putting your things away, so we can go downstairs and sort that stuff."

 

–

 

They get distracted by Lloyd's laptop almost immediately after they all head to the next room to unpack, discovering a video from just minutes ago of a Borg store being attacked at the opening of the new Borgwatch. Kai rushes away from where they sit amongst the boxes to go get Nya and Jay, coming back quickly with both of them in tow, and a red bump on Kai's forehead. Jay and Nya settle around the computer with the rest of their team, minus Morro, watching the video with many gasps.

"Well, Kai, you said there was nothing left to do.." Cole smiles at Kai from where he sits on top of the boxes, Kai grins back, and Cole's thoughts start up again.

"Ninjaing definitely beats unpacking." Jay adds on with a laugh. "Actually, anything beats unpacking."

"They don't really need all of us." Lloyd reminds them.

"So how do we decide who gets to deal with this?" Kai asks his brother with a frown.

"I suggest randomly assigning each of ourselves a digit, then manually engaging a cube with graphical representations of each number to make a random, unbiased selection." Zane suggests from beside Cole. "Roll dice!"

"Yeah…" Nya sighs. "Or.. we could just see who gets there first!"

"Race ya!" They all shout, jumping into action.

Cole hitches a ride in the Sonic Radar Jet with Lloyd to the BorgStore, but they all get there at the same time.

"We got here at the exact same time." Kai sighs.

"Darn!" Cole groans, running up to join the others. "Now how do we decide who gets to fight?"

"Is that Darreth?" Kai points to inside the BorgStore where Darreth is getting tossed out by a very strange looking creature.

He lands right in front of them, shakily looking up to Cole and Jay. "Sup? I roughed him up for you. But feel free to finish the guy off."

"Zane, what about those dice?" Kai turns to ask the nindroid.

"I have virtual ones I've been saving for a Tabletop Role-Playing Game! Pixal, if you would please roll?" Zane asks his girlfriend, excited when he mentions the TTRPG.

"Kai." Pixal says through their comms, Kai cheers before running off to the tech store. Cole can't even be mad he wasn't chosen, Kai's smile lights everything up.

"Wait! Aren't ya gonna draw your sword?"
Nya calls after him with concern.

"I'm good, sis." Kai calls back to her.

Cole can't help but worry himself about Kai running in without even drawing his dual katanas. And his worries were rightly placed it seems, as Kai is hurtling back towards them through the air after less than 5 seconds inside the electronics shop, the mysterious adversary knocking him away.

"Are you okay?" Cole asks Kai, jogging up to help him up.

"Yeah, I am. Who's next?" Kai mumbles from the ground as Cole helps him up, Zane rolls again.

"Zane." Pixal says over their comms, earning a complaint of unfairness from Lloyd. Zane rushes in excitedly, getting his ass kicked just as quickly as Kai.

"Hang on, guys." Cole steps up, cracking his knuckles, tired of this creep pushing his friends around.

Cole stretches his neck and shoulders, winding up for one of his super punches. He focuses on his arms, imagining power, he feels them warm and smiles.

"What? Your earth punch thing? That didn't work so well last time!" Jay reminds him.

"No problem!" Cole reassures his best friend (and himself) as he rushes towards their foe. He goes for an uppercut, launching them right into the air. Armour and snakes fall from the sky instead of a person, Cole stares in disgusted horror, he kinda wants to puke at the sight.

"Woah…" Lloyd mumbles behind him.

"Gross!" Kai shouts, gagging.

"You totally disintegrated him!" Jay yells at him in disbelief.

"It was an accident!" Cole tries to defend himself , throwing his arms up.

"Look!" Nya points to the snakes reforming into their armour, disgusting Cole even more.

"Ewwwww! Grosser!" It's Jay's turn to gag.

"Come on team, we've done this before." Lloyd peps them up the best he currently can. "There's more than one way to beat a snake."

On Lloyds command they go into their Spinjitzu forms, knocking the snakey guy around until he disperses into many snakes again. They break and recollect themselves as the snake man reforms again.

"I'm starting to think we may have underestimated this guy." Cole can hear the fear in Kai's voice, he feels the same.

"It certainly appears so." Zane concours.

"You said there was more than one way to stop a snake!" Jay reminds Lloyd, anxiously tapping his feet.

"Any of them?" Lloyd says it like it's obvious what he means, drawing out his dual swords as the snakeman runs back into the BorgStore.

"It must be after Cyrus Borg!" Morro suggests, Lloyd nods in agreement.

They charge into the store, Cole sees the snakeman cornering Borg. He rushes over, jumping up on a counter to be between Cyrus and the snakeman.

"Okay, big guy, that's as far as you go." Cole punches it, it doesn't respond with pain, but rather with tossing him aside like he weighs nothing. Cole hits the ground with a thud, protecting his head from crashing into a counter. Lloyd kneels by his side, checking him for injuries as two more snake men begin to corner them. Lloyd hoists him up quickly, helping him onto his feet.

"Cyrus Borg!" Lloyd points towards him as they begin to back out of the store. "Zane, go get him out of here! We'll deal with the samurai."

"But you'll need my skills!" Zane protests.

"Zane, my creator needs you too!" Pixal reminds them all of her relation over the comms, and that's all it takes for Zane to rush over and grab Cyrus, hurriedly wheeling him out of the building.

The rest of the ninja fight the snakes from following him. Cole still feels weak from his toss, wobbling more than usual while he fights. Lloyd gets knocked into him and they both fall into the counter this time. Cole tries to catch him, he tries to stay steady, but it's no use with his legs and arms feeling a bit like jelly already. Cole is definitely going to need a nice relaxing bath in the bathhouse back home after this is done. The two get up quickly, ready to fight off the snakeman again. When the snakes are finally done being taken apart they find themselves outside the store.

"They're gone!" Nya enthuses.

"For now. But I wonder… who were they?" Kai walks over and picks up the samurai's helmet, studying it for a moment.

"Good question." Lloyd walks over to him, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder as he peers over at the helmet. "Zane, can you analyse?"

"Oh right." Lloyd lets out a little laugh at his own forgetfulness. "He's with Cyrus Borg. Come on, let's go find them!"

Cole leads them down the back alley next to the BorgStore, they all call for him. It's like he just disappeared into the shadows or something. Cole nearly trips on something, looming down to see Cyrus Borg's watch.

"Cyrus Borg's BorgWatch, but no Cyrus Borg!" Cole picks it up, turning to show the others.

Jay gasps and points, drawing their attention to Zane's limp titanium body lying further down the alley. Cole rushes over after Jay, kneeling down by Zane's head to try and wake him up. Cole turns his super strength on by concentrating hard, his arms glowing as he lifts up Zane to bring him back to the Temple.

Notes:

I've been trying to cosplay more when I'm not editing this and living a normal life, but I only cosplay Cole. This is an issue, I wish I could cosplay someone else, but I have brainrot I guess.

Chapter 24: Snakey Samurai

Summary:

When they get back to Yang's Airjitzu Temple, they get Zane onto a medical cart. They take him up to the library, Nya and Jay do an initial examination of Zane there, finding that they can't do anything from the temple.

When they get back to Yang's Airjitzu Temple, they get Zane onto a medical cart, using it to tote around his two ton metal body. Cole is the one to push it, as he is the strongest amongst them given having super strength, he can lift up to around 4 tons right now, but he's been thinking about training to lift more since he got his new lease on life. They take him up to the library, Nya and Jay do an initial examination of Zane there, finding that they can't do anything from the temple.

Cole looks across the library from the two mechanics, over to Kai sitting on the chaise. He's meticulously studying the helmet they picked up during the fight at the BorgStore, something's been off with Kai ever since they grabbed it.

"Hey, dude?" Cole questions Kai as he comes to sit next to him on the chaise, placing a hand on his knee to draw his attention.

"Hm? What is it, Cole?" Kai asks softly, not really paying full attention to the master of earth.

"Found anything out yet by just staring at it really hard?" Cole jokingly asks him, getting a laugh and scrunchy smile out of Kai, just what he was trying to do.

"No, I haven't." Kai's laugh is infectious, the curve of his smile brings out his dimples even more. "But maybe if I stare harder it'll start to float and glow."

"Maybe, but it think we should try it on." Cole suggests once he pulls his eyes from Kai's smile.

"I am not putting it on first. What if it's cursed or some weird shit like that, and it turns me evil?" Kai shoves the helmet into Cole's hands, his smile scrunching into exaggerated displease, which is equally as infectious.

"Well, I'm not either if you think it'll do that!" Cole shoves it back into Kai's hands, snickering at the faux betrayal on Kai's face.

"Then we should make Jay put it on." Kai grins mischievously after a moment, glaring over at Jay flirting with Nya over Zane's comatosed body. "Jay! Come try this on for us!"

"Alright!" Jay comes running over excitedly, standing in front of Kai and Cole, immediately snatching the helmet from them. "So I just put it on?"

"Yep." Cole nods, watching Jay uneasily give the helmet a look over.

"And what do you guys think will happen?" Jay asks them cautiously.

"I don't know? Maybe you'll see visions about the snakes, or you could get possesed and join them?" Kai jokes, but Jay doesn't seem to realise that given by the look of horror on his face.

"I've already been a snake once! I don't need to do that again." Jay tries to give the helmet back to them, but Cole shoves it away.

"Come on, Jay. He's joking." Cole turns to Kai grinning, holding back his laughter. "You are joking, right, Kai?"

"Mhm, totally." Kai nods, but it doesn't seem entirely believable.

"Jay, I don't think anything bad will happen." Nya joins them, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just try it on."

"Fine!" Jay huff's, walking away from them while muttering obscenities.

"I can't believe you two sometimes." Nya says with a laugh as they get up to follow Jay across the room.

Jay turns to them with his eyes closed tight in concentration for a good 5 minutes, Cole can almost believe he's seeing visions for a moment until he pretends to attack them like a snake samurai. The four of them glare at Jay.

"Nothing's happening." Jay says plainly, taking the helmet off.

"Shit, I was sure trying on the helmet was gonna help us figure out who those samurai snake guys were." Cole shrugs.

"Me too." Nya agrees, turning to Jay. "Are you positive the helmet doesn't do anything?"

"Besides make me look cool?" Jay winks at her, Cole cringes at it with the others. "What? I know how to accessorise."

"Something about this is familiar though." Kai tells them, walking up to Jay to take the helmet from him, studying the inside for a moment. "I just can't place it. Perhaps Master Wu knows."

They go down the hall from the library to Wu's room, where their master is resting. Cole brings the cart with Zane on it with them, leaving it just outside the door.

"Master Wu, this helmet." Kai begins, walking up to their masters bed and placing the helmet into his lap. "I feel like we've seen it before. Can you tell us anything?"

Their master sits up with a pained groan, taking the helmet into his hands to examine the helm more carefully. "Curious. Time…"

"Time?" Kai presses.

"Time waits…"

"Time waits?" Nya presses more.

"Time waits for no…" their master doesn't finish before falling back into his bed, sound asleep, dropping the helmet to the ground.

"Uh, master?" Kai tries to wake him.

"Did someone mention lunch?" Their master asks frantically, bolting up from his sleep.

"No, Master." Lloyd pushes past Kai to comfort his uncle back to bed. "No one mentioned lunch."

"Then why did you wake me?" Wu asks as Lloyd helps him lay down, passing out again.

"You should leave him alone, he needs his rest." Morro bites at them, sitting down beside his adopted dad.

"He isn't himself." Lloyd says, turning back to walk out to Zane with the others. Coles is not sure if he means Wu or Morro.

"Clearly, lunch isn't for three more hours!" Jay groans, rubbing his stomach. "This is just perfect. Mysterious snake samurai things attacked Ninjago, Cyrus Borg is missing, we have to deal with Mr. Moody over there, and our team is down one Master and one Ninja!"

"We've gotta get Zane back online." Lloyd tells them when they get to the cart. "He was the last one to see Cyrus Borg."

"Yeah, except Cyrus Borg is the only one who has the equipment to get him back online." Cole reminds Lloyd that the technology to reboot Zane is expensive and complex, he doesn't know how Lloyd expects them to do this.

"I might be able to reboot Zane with the computer in the Samurai X cave." Nya suggests cradling Zane's head. "Although, I could use some help."

"I'm in!" Cole volunteers himself.

"You know I am!" Jay wraps an arm around her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

"I'll stay with Morro and Wu, one of us should stay here for them." Lloyd says, walking back towards Wu's room.

"I'll go to the museum to talk to Dr. Saunders, he's an expert on all things Ninjago." Kai tells Lloyd. "Maybe he knows what Master Wu is too weak to tell us."

"Good thinking." Lloyd agrees with his brother, placing the helmet on his head with a smile. "Go… and see what you can see."

—

They reach the Samurai X cave, where Nya hooks Zane up to her computer, beginning to do a bunch of computery stuff Cole doesn't know anything about.

"Okay, he's hooked up to the main computer." She tells Cole and Jay, plugging a large wire into Zane's temple.

"Keep your fingers crossed." She continues to her computer, turning up the dials to run his memories back.

"Come on, Zane." Jay holds their Nindroid friend's hand noticeably tight as he awaits a response he doesn't get, his face drooping. "Nope. Still out."

"Hang on!" Cole notices something on screen, pointing up at it as Nya rewinds the screen slowly. "There's something on the video feed."

She rewinds and pauses it just in time for the video to show Cyrus and Zane being confronted by people they can't make out due to it being way too fast still.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Jay asks them. "One second Zane is talking then nothing!"

"Okay, let's try again, only slower." Nya reruns the program.

The video plays again, this time significantly slower. Cole manages to make out a green blur, having no idea what it might be, but he doesn't like the look of it.

"Oh, there ya go." Cole scratches his head, gesturing to the screen with a confused half-smile. "Zane was nailed by some mysterious blurry thing."

"Oh? So all we have to do is round up all the blurs in Ninjago." Jay says sarcastically, slamming a fist into the table they have Zane on, shaking him with the force of the strike. "This tells us nothing!"

"Maybe I can slow it down more." Nya runs the video again, this time even slower.

As soon as she presses the go button the computer powers down, she groans smacking the control panel hard.

"Fuck!" She growls, leaning her forehead against her computer.

"The connections down!"

"And Zane…" Jay says, sadly looking down at their friend.

"Jay, he'll be okay, we'll get him back up and running sooner than you know it!" Cole does his best to force a smile as he wraps and arm around Jay's shoulders to comfort him.

Cole wonders how Kai's doing at the museum as he begins to rub circles into Jay's shoulder. Kai seemed really bothered by not knowing about the helmet. Cole doesn't like it when Kai's distracted, it means they can't hang out as much, and Kai has been softer with him when they do hang out. Even if it was just a little bit, Cole notices.

He often wonders if Jay and Zane felt the fluttery warm feelings when they saw Nya and Pixal?

His thoughts linger on Zane, looking down at his frozen face. He feels bad that this happened, they were supposed to stop sending each other off alone because stuff like this keeps happening.

"Upgrade complete." Nya says, walking out from behind her computer to the front, Cole hadn't even noticed she had gone behind it. "Say hello to super slow motion."

The video plays the slowest yet, pausing as they see the blurry clearly now. Jay, Nya, and Cole all gasp, approaching the screen.

"Acronix?" Cole asks quietly, they fucking killed that guy. "I thought he got, ya know, finished off at the monastery."

"He did!" Jay confirms the thought.

"Apparently not." Nya points to the green part. "And look, he's still got the time blade!"

Nya plays the video again. Zane gets knocked to the ground, Acronix stands over him for a moment before running off to further down the alleyway. Zane follows him with his eyes, turning his head to see Acronix taking off with Borg.

"That's why Zane never saw him coming!" Jay gestures to the whole thing, looking over to Zane. "Acronix fast-forwarded into a blur!"

"But wait." Nya puzzles, hand on her chin before going back to play the footage. "Cyrus Borg said he saw someone approaching before that. But who?"

"That's…" Jay stumbles over the words as they uncover the truth, the video paused on… "Dr. Saunders."

"Hold on." Cole looks up at the screen, trying to recall their fight with the master of time from earlier. "That means he and Acronix…"

He and Jay turn to each other shocked, speaking in unison. "Are working together?"

"And he's hooked up with those slithering Samurais too." Cole shivers at the thought of those snakey warriors.

"I always knew there was something snakey about that guy!" Jay says through gritted teeth, walking right up to the screen.

"No, there wasn't. Dr. Saunders is such a kind old man." Nya defends the curator. "Remember all the school field trips to the museum?"

"Exactly! And how boring were those?" Jay suddenly shouts, causing both Cole and Nya to jump a little.

"I kinda liked them…" Cole feels self conscious suddenly, fiddling with the hem of his sleeve as Jay continues his rant about how he never trusted Dr. Saunders.

"The point is, he's definitely gone full snake now." Jay tells them, walking over to look at Zane again.

Nya gasps, turning to Cole.

"And Kai is headed right into that snake's nest!" Nya reminds them of Kai going to the museum, Cole's eyes going wide as his mind begins to race.

No one would've let him go alone if they knew of Acronix and Dr. Saunders partnership. Cole is worrying, Nya is too, but she's busy at her computer now trying to get Zane back online as fast as possible. Cole watches as Jay runs fingers through Zane's steely hair, muttering words towards the Nindroid. Jay and Zane were close, Jay helped with his repairs, this has gotta be hard on him. Someone should've gone with him to save Borg, they really need to stop running off alone.

"Hurry." Nya tells them, getting up from her computer, grabbing Cole and Jay by their sleeves to drag them to the exit of the Sam-X cave. "We've gotta get to Kai before that double-crossing Dr. Saunders."

"What about Zane?" Cole asks, worried about leaving the Nindroid alone while the snake samurai are out there.

"He'll be fine." She gives them both a quick reassuring smile as they run to the elevator. "I've got him on a restore and reboot protocol. He should be back online by the time we can get back."

Notes:

I'm about to start writing season 8&9, and I'm excited!!

Chapter 25: Dr.Saunders

Summary:

Cole can't help but worry about Zane being out cold, Kai going off to the museum alone, and Master Wu being too weak to leave his bed for long.

As Nya, Jay, and Cole drive through the city to the museum on the Sonic Radar mega vehicle, a group of people are being led by a few snakey Samurais. Him and Jay decide to jump off, telling Nya to keep going to Kai while they deal with the samurai. Cole didn't want to stop, but they have a responsibility to the people of Ninjago above their affections for certain individuals. They jump off, using Airjitzu to secure their landing. The warriors rush them, he and Jay easily fend them off with a few kicks and punches.

"Looks like somebody wants to play." Jay looks over to Cole with a worried look in his eyes. "Wish we had the rest of the team here to help."

"Well, say hello to our newest members." Cole flexes his arms, powering them up. They've got this in the bag. "Left and Righty."

Cole grunts and laughs as he brings his fist together over his head, a loud boom echoing down the street from the display of power as a traffic light falls from above them. They both jump out of the way before it hits them, Jay shoots him an angry look.

"Oops." Cole looks between his hands and the stop light. "If I'm not careful I could take all of us out."

"Lefty, Righty, nice to meet you." Jay says bitterly, coming up to his side with his nunchucks out. "Also, do better!"

"Okay, okay." Cole rolls his eyes, walking up to the Samurai, readying for a punch. He flings himself forwards, missing the snakes, denting a car with his body. He kicks and wiggles to get out, knowing he's gonna feel that tomorrow for sure. He stumbles as he hits the ground, taking out a lamppost with his fist before flying into a fire hydrant. His powered up fists keep dragging him into things, destroying them, and hurting his body. He lands in a pile of cars the Samurai were making, taking the top one and throwing it at them.

"Cole, seriously?" Jay yells at him from where he almost got crushed by the thrown car. "Watch where you're throwing those things!"

"It's out of my hands!" He yells back, wobbling as he jumps down from the piled cars.

"It is your hands!" Jay yells at him again.

"I'm still trying to get used to them!" Cole defends himself, it's not like there's an instruction manual for this shit.

"Okay. How about getting used to them in their direction?" Jay points to more snake samurai.

Cole turns around just as one is about to hit him, punching it blindly. He watches it arc through the air and hit Jay, Cole mentally reprimands himself as Jay flies into a dumpster.

"Jay!" He rushes to aid his bestie, offering him a hand up and out of the garbage. "Hurry, Jay, get out of there."

"Just don't hurt me." Jay cowers from him briefly, rejecting Cole's hand out. Cole grumbles to himself as Jay hops out.

"Hey…" Cole stutters as he turns around, looking out into the street to see no one. No people, and no snake samurai left. "What?"

"Where'd they go?" Jay asks, lowering his nunchucks.

"We should go meet Kai and Nya at the museum." Cole starts running in the direction of the museum, Jay close behind him.

"Yeah, let's go save your boyfriend!" Jay bugs him, Cole just rolls his eyes.

"Nya and you are literally dating, and yet you choose to dunk on my crush on Kai!" Cole can't believe Jay sometimes.

"It's not my fault we fell for a set of siblings!" Jay laughs as they keep making headway to the museum.

—

When they get to the museum, Kai and Nya are sitting on the front steps completely whipped. Cole and Jay slow down, Jay panting with his hands on his knees as Cole makes his way up the steps, confused about the sad look on his two friends' faces as he gets closer.

"What's wrong, Nya, Kai?" Cole asks them, crouching in front of them.

"Dr.Saunders is Krux." Kai grumbles, staring into the helmet he's holding so tight his knuckles are white.

"Wait, we thought he was just working with Acronix." Cole's eyes go wide. "He's Krux?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too when I walked in to find Kai and found Krux and Acronix attacking him." Nya explains what went down the best she can, Cole can't help but feel more and more concerned for Kai's mental well-being.

"That's rough, buddy." Jay walks over, pulling Nya into a side hug as he sits next to her on the steps. Seems he's finished dying on the sidewalk. "We should go back to the Sam-X cave to check on Zane's progress, though."

–

 

They get back to the Samurai X cave to check on Zane, displeased by him not being operational yet. Cole misses his friends' offbeat jokes and factoids. This just reminds him of when he died to save them from the overlord, the very thing the team just somewhat had recovered from.

"So it looks like Acronix and Krux are working with those samurai snakes." Nya gently cradles Zane's head, Jay on the other side of the Nindroid does the same.

"Yeah, but why are they kidnapping all of Ninjago's builders?" Jay asks, gently running his hand down Zane's face.

"There is still way too much we don't know here." Cole expresses his frustration with everything, throwing his arms around.

Nya walks over to where Kai is lost in his thoughts, while Cole and Jay watch over Zane in case anything changes. Cole sees his chest monitor turn on, flashing slowly to signify he's powered on. A loud whirring sound comes from inside his frame, Cole smiles at him wide.

"Hey! He's rebooting!" He calls over to the Smith siblings, they rush over, Kai pressing into his side as he looks over Cole's shoulder. Cole isn't sure what to do, deciding on wrapping his arm around Kai's shoulders.

Zane's eyes slowly open, blinking as he takes in his surroundings. He begins saying random numbers before his eyes close again, his powering down sound going off. Everyone's smiles fall into disappointment, Jay looks like he might cry.

"Guys…" Nya looks up to all of them. "You should head back to the Temple, I'll keep running diagnostics on Zane to figure out the problem he's having."

"Are you sure Nya?" Jay asks, placing a hand on her shoulder, giving her a wary look.

"I'm sure, Jay." She smiles, Cole can tell it's forced to reassure Jay. She gives her boyfriend a peck on the cheek before they leave for the temple.

Notes:

What I've seen for the Dragons Rising so far makes me scared for the lives of some of the ninja.

Chapter 26: Temporary Master In Training

Summary:

With Zane out of commission, the Ninja aren't entirely sure what to do next, until Ronin and Darreth show up with some awesome- I mean- terrible news.

Notes:

LMAO I have such a bad habit of figuring out what I've already posted. Anyways enjoy!

It's lunch at the monastery. By the time they get back, they all sit around the table as Misako brings them delicious ham sandwiches. Cole savours every moment of eating his sandwich, noticing when he's done that Kai hasn't even touched his food. Instead, the ninja is studying the helmet more, his brows tight in concentration. As they move onto training he stays the same as he fights off their training bots. Cole groans as he trains with Jay, they should be worried about Acronix and Crux taking people, or Zane being shut off, or their Master being down for the count. Not dumb accessories.

"Zane is down." Cole starts, practising boxing, Jay holding up punching pads for him. "Folks disappearing all over town, and we can't do a thing to help!"

"If we just knew why Acronix and Krux are taking people…" he throws another punch towards Jay.

"Ya know my theory–"

"For the last time, they are not hostages!" Cole cuts Jay off, throwing his hands up in frustration before giving another punch.

"How can you be sure?" Jay gives him an anxious look from between the pads.

"No ransom note." Cole grunts as he hits the pad again.

"Maybe they're gonna hypnotise them into being an army?" Jay suggests the dumbest idea yet, Cole can do nothing but sigh at him as he throws more punches.

"Krux and Acronix already have an army… of samurai snakes!" Cole lays more on him.

"Well, you know my other theories…" Jay smiles big at him.

"Do not say alien abduction again," Cole punches once.

"Or dimensional rifts," Cole punches twice.

"Or Elven magic portals!" Cole lets out a whole fury of punches, everything Jay's said just makes him more and more pissed at everything.

He holds back a punch, charging himself up before jumping, and slamming his fist so hard into the ground it shakes the whole temple island, knocking Jay backwards with the energy wave he creates. He quickly rushes over to where Jay is struggling to get up right by where Kai is training, unphased by the small tremor Cole had caused.

"I'm sorry." He crouches next to Jay, leaning over so he can hear him over Kai's training. "It's just I'm tired of speculating!"

"We need to take action! Right, Kai?" Cole looks over to Kai.

Kai is angrily beating the ever living shit out of their training bots. It's kind of hot, Cole thinks to himself, suppressing a blush as the flutters invade his stomach. Besides head over heels, Cole feels concerned about him, he's usually not this angry. Kai's destroyed a few training bots already, it's severely worrying.

"Kai, are you okay?" Kai doesn't respond to him, he just keeps punching and kicking the bots. "You haven't been the same since you squared off against Krux. Did… did he do something?"

"More like said something." Kai finally stops to respond, his shoulders slumping. "No. Nothing. I'm fine."

"Good." Cole knows it's not good, but Kai clearly doesn't want to talk about it and Cole would rather not have Kai angry at him, so he'll just ask about it later.

"Cause I was just saying it's time to stop guessing and to start fighting!" Cole walks up to him, cracking his knuckles, getting back to his original point.

"So you're suggesting we capture one of those snake guys and bring them back here for Wu to question?" Cole freezes, that is an actual suggestion.

"I just want to fight somebody. But okay, we could do that too." Cole shrugs and smiles hard, of course Kai came up with a legitimate plan.

"That plan won't work." Lloyd tells them, making his way down the temple steps.

"Why not?" Kai asks the green ninja.

"Because Master Wu still hasn't recovered from his battle with Acronix." Lloyd explains as he reaches them. "He rambles. He passes out."

"I think he's a lot more hurt than he lets on." Lloyd looks down sadly for a second, before putting his stern face back on. "Morro is torn sideways, refusing to leave his bedside."

"Ah great!" Kai says with sarcasm, angrily putting his hands on his hips. "All this and now we have no leader, and are down another Ninja?"

"Uh, that's not all exactly true." Lloyd looks away, scratching at his neck nervously as he clears his throat. "With Wu out of commission, the um… logical successor would be…"

"The green ninja." Cole says, annoyed. Lloyds is still a little kid to him, despite being almost 15 now, and little kids shouldn't lead battles.

"Correct." Lloyd says almost sadly.

"Master Lloyd?" Cole tries out the title.

"Temporary Master Lloyd, you mean." Kai corrects.

"...in training." Jay adds.

"Okay, Temporary Master Lloyd in Training," Cole smiles at him cheerfully, wanting to wipe the frown off the youngests face. "We mere Ninja await your words of wisdom."

"Which I assume involve kicking some ass till we get a few answers!" Cole steps towards, quirking a brow at Lloyd. "Right?"

Jay cheers and highfives him, running where they keep their vehicles, Cole and Kai run after him, excited for some action.

"Wrong. Too random. We need a plan." Lloyd says, stopping them dead in their tracks.

"We have one." Kai tells him with a wink as all 3 turn to look at Lloyd. "Go kick some ass."

"Really?" Lloyd makes his way to them, giving them unsure looks. "Whose butt? Where?"

"We'll work it out down there." Kai shrugs, Cole nods in agreement.

"No. We'll work it out here first." Lloyd tells them sternly, marching up the stairs. "That's what Wu would do."

"Come on!" Lloyd demands them to follow him.

"Oh, yay, I just love sitting around and talking instead of doing." Kai complains with a groan.

"Cut him some slack, guys." Cole encourages, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder, leading Kai in after Jay. "He's doing the best he can."

–

Lloyd set up a paper board, getting Cole to draw out some Ninjago architecture for him, Cole didn't have a problem with that. What he had a problem with was Jay slurping juice while Lloyd spoke to them.

"So I think we can safely rule out-" Lloyds head snaps to Jay, frowning at the ginger as he stops. Lloyd points to the board with a marker. "These places as hiding spots for the missing people."

"These are too small." Lloyd points to the lighthouse, then the tea shop, and then the amusement park. Jay keeps on slurping, earning dirty looks from Lloyd as he goes on. "These are too public. And these are too obvious."

"Or… are they so obvious that they're actually the perfect hiding spot?" Jay suggests, putting up an air of stupidity.

"Interesting." Lloyd puzzles the suggestion, turning back to the board. Until Jay starts slurping again, giving him another look.

"What're you doing?" Cole asks Jay, agitated with his friend.

"Im bored so I'm messing with him." Jay explains quietly with a sly smile.

"But now Lloyd's is starting over!" Kai whisper-yells at Jay angrily, groaning as Lloyd begins again. "He's gonna take even longer."

"Sorry to interrupt what seems to be THE most boring party game ever," Ronin walks through the doors freverlently, Darreth hanging off of him sadly and dramatically. "But the city is under attack down there."

"Yes!" Cole, Jay, and Kai all jump up from the sofa to cheer, the confused looks on everyone else's face notifying that it wasn't appropriate.

"Oh, I mean that's horrible." Jay says.

"Terrible." Kai agrees.

"The worst." Cole adds, trying to mask how pumped he is to fight.

Ronin and Darreth explain the situation the best they can, Lloyd doesn't want them to go. Ordering them to stay, but they can't. They have an obligation to protect Ninjago, their Master would want them to go to the city and help the people. So they just walked out. Cole feels bad about it, he knows Lloyd is just trying his best, but the kid doesn't know everything.

When they get into the city Cole gasps at the sight of all the snakes stealing scaffolding from an apartment building. At least a hundred or so Snakemen are climbing the building material, tearing them down in unsafe ways. He, Jay, and Kai start climbing the scaffolding, knocking a few guys off as Nya pulls up with Ronin, who has Darreth in his mechs hand.

"Why am I so good?" Kai asks, landing from a risky manoeuvre, kicking a snake guy off the building. "It's a curse really."

Cole groans. "This isn't the time to be cocky, Kai!"

"I'm just self confident!" Kai yells back.

Cole hears Kai gasp, he peaks up the scaffolding after punching a snake apart, to see a huge snake warrior forming, climbing its way up to Kai. Cole gets knocked forwards by his own adversary, being drawn away from his worry. Cole hears Zane saying a bunch of random words, looking down quickly to see Zane shouting up nonsense. At least he's up and walking fine. Cole's heart drops as he turns to look up at Kai and Jay, he quickly pulls back as the giant snake warrior falls down to the ground, immediately reforming. He can't do anything as he's being attacked himself right now.

Cole climbs up more after dealing with as many snakes as he can, seeing Nya made it to the top relatively unharmed.

"Nya, where're you going?" Kai asks up at his sister.

"Come on!" Is all she says in return.

"Jay! Cole! Let's go!" Kai tells them, taking off up the scaffolding. Jay and Cole follow closely behind, dozens of snake samurai right behind them.

"So does anyone have a plan?" Jay asks once they're on the roof, snakemen climbing over the edge.

"Welcome to Ninjago!" They hear Nya yell as a crane swings lumbar at the Samurais, knocking them clean off the building.

They all take a minute to catch their breath, Nya gets down and joins them. They climb back down to Zane and the others to check the damage they all took. Cole grabs the first-aid kit he keeps in his Roader, getting Ronin into a splint and giving him a few painkillers while Darreth frets and apologises frantically for breaking his leg.

"It's nothing. Take me out sometime and I'll forget it ever happened." Ronin says after the painkillers kick in, so Coles is not too sure how serious he's being with Darreth.

"Heh, okay buddy, have some water." Cole laughs unsure, walking away from them to join his friends.

"It was weird how they all just left." He says, leaning beside Kai against one of the cycles.

"No it wasn't, they've been doing it almost every time we've faced them." Kai disagrees with a light laugh, slowly leaning his weight against Cole. It feels oddly perfect how well Kai slides into his side. "It's crazy, but we should normalise it at this point."

"I don't want to normalise snake people!" Jay protests.

"Not all snakes are bad, Jay." Nya reminds them. "Skales and his clan are our allies, remember?"

"Submarines go 29 miles per an hour!" Zane says in agreement, at least Cole thinks it's agreement considering he's nodding his head.

"The sun is going down, we should head back-" Nya begins, stopping mid sentence when the streetlights up and down the block, as far as the eye can see, all turn out.

Buildings that made the city a glowing modern beauty, faltered. The ninja were left in the dark, besides the headlights of their vehicles.

"We should actually go check that out I'm pretty sure, sis." Kai bugs his sister, moving from Cole's side to around his bike to get on it.

–

They triangulate where the outage originates from, thanks to Nya being able to translate Zane's inane blabber. It took a while, but they got there only to see Lloyd beat them somehow. Cole's glad the green ninja drove out here to meet them, kind of disappointed Morro isn't with him. That guy needs to start acting like part of the team if he's gonna stick around.

"What took you so long?" Lloyd asks them with a smile, walking up to them as they pull up.

"We were-'' Jay begins, stopping at his surprise of seeing Lloyd. "Hey, how'd you know those whatever-they-ares would be coming here?"

"When all the power went out I assumed they must be the source." Lloyd explains as they reach him.

"You figure that yourself?" Kai asks, teasingly roughing up his brother's hair. Lloyd nods, grinning like a little kid. "Nice."

Kai pauses for a moment, his face turning serious. "We had to follow them."

"I should have been following them with you guys from the beginning." Lloyd smiles softer. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, so are we." Jay wraps an arm around Lloyd, giving him a quick side hug. "So what is the plan, Temporary Master Lloyd?"

"In training." Kai adds to bug Lloyd.

"We go in there and kick some snake ass!" Lloyd begins walking towards the power plant entrance. "Or whatever snakes have instead."

"Like it?" He turns back for their approval.

"I love it!" Jay yells, flinging his arms up in excitement.

"Yeah, that's a great plan!" Cole says with a proud smile.

"The treadmill was invented in 1818!" Zane steps up, enthusing with another fact.

Nya grabs him, guiding him gently with the others. Lloyd opens the doors as Jay shouts an opening taunt, only for the place to seem empty. Zane scans the room for snakes, saying a bunch of gibberish that Nya translates, multiple contact six metres in. Just as this is said, Samurais make themselves known, carrying office equipment, using it as mobile aids. The ninja jump into action, all feeling lost until Zane and Jay use their powers to turn one of the turbines into giant magenta, stealing the armour from the snakes making them unable to reform correctly.

"Way to go Nya!" Kai congratulates her.

"Actually, it was Lloyd's plan." She corrects him, pointing to her younger brother.

"Way to go, Master Lloyd!" Jay beams at him.

"Yeah, you forgot the 'temporary in training' part." Lloyd says sassily, doing quotes.

"I know, don't let it get to your head." Jay laughs.

"Not to ruin the feel-goods, but maybe we should save the celebrating for after we get the power and Zane back on?" Cole points over to the turbine where Zane is on the ground with his arm stuck pointing up, definitely a bit short-circuited.

They drag him to the plant's control room where Nya does a bunch of stuff, turning the power back on. Something starts to happen to Zane, he shakes and makes strange noises in Cole and Jay's arms, concerning them until his eyes shoot open and he speaks.

"Hello everyone," Zane smiles at them, Coles happy to see him awake, and helps him stand up on his own two feet. "What have I missed?"

"Oh, not much, missing people, and snakes trying to steal your metal skin." Jay tells him, Cole can feel the uneasiness of the Nindroid. "But we kicked their butts, if in fact they do have butts. It's still an open question."

"But for now it's game over!" Jay finishes, wrapping Zane into a tight hug.

"Uh, I'm not so sure of that…" Kai points to a monitor showing Gayle Gossip reporting at Monster Amusement Park where the snakes are tearing the place up.

"Ninja, we're leaving." Lloyd tells them, leading them out to their vehicles.

Notes:

idk if I should tag Kai's eating habits, I don't know what to even tag them as if I did tag em.

ALSO HEAVILY IMPLIED SCRUFFSHIPPING!! because why not? I've made everything else increasingly more and more homosexual!

Chapter 27: Mega Monster Amusement Park

Summary:

The ninja investigate what the Vermillion Warriors are doing tearing up the city, only they feel the effects of a time blade landing. Cole struggles with feelings of self doubt as a car chase and showdown ensue.

Notes:

I'm back for a week from my summer job, going back soon though. Chapters will be slow to update, as you can tell from how long of a gap there was between this one and the last. Thank you for all the support and patience!!

"Megamonster Amusement Park? Really? Don't these guys have any sense of decency? Where does it end?" Cole complains as they start to get out of their cars, pissed that the snake samurai are destroying one of his favourite places.

"It ends here and now." Lloyd says angrily.

Cole couldn't agree more, no one ruins his favourite places and gets away with it.

They rush into battle, beating off as many snakes as they can. Cole does a cool slide down the roller coaster frame, knocking back snakes one punch after another while the others protect the people, evacuating them. He secretly hopes that Kai saw him do that, it was super fucking cool. Eventually they're cornered into the central ride, climbing up the Rocket Spinner as most of the snakes steal more metal, the other keeping the ninja from them.

"For the record, this is the least amusing amusement park I've ever been to." Kai complains, climbing up to Cole who is holding back an inappropriately times laugh, considering their situation on top of the ride.

"These snakes are behaving curiously." Zane states the obvious.

"Ya think?" Kai sasses him back. "Cause boosting scrap metal doesn't seem like, ya know, "normal snake behaviour"."

"Neither does reforming into unstoppable samurai things." Cole gestures with one hand, leaning out look better at the snakes. Hes genuinely worried about how they'll get out of this one, they're surrounded, and even if they could make a leave for it, there's more tearing shit up.

"I mean strategically." Zane gives them an annoyed grumble. "They appear more concerned with keeping us away from their compatriots that are stealing metal, than they actually are in defeating us."

"Well they finally have to deal with us at full strength!" Lloyd beams, his nose scrunching as he lightly glows green. He pauses, looking around, eyes going wide. "Hang on. Has anyone seen Jay?"

"No. Now that you mention it, he wasn't with us when we arrived." Kai explains Jay has been missing longer than they knew.

"Ya know, just once, it would be nice to go into battle with a full team." Cole groans, mad Jay didn't tell him where he's going, making him worried sick for his best friend.

"Well don't tell us, tell Jay!" Kai snarls back at him. "He's the one who took off for whatever without saying a word to us!"

"I'm sure he has a good reason." Nya defends him before Cole can.

"Well, I'm glad you're sure." Kai groans, Cole rolls his eyes. Kai should have more faith in Jay, he's helped out a lot lately.

They hop down, fighting enemies off to get to their vehicles. Cole gets hit and its like the world slows down as he falls backwards slower than he's ever fallen. He sees his friends fighting their way through their enemies, both just as slow as him. The wave passes before it even began, and he falls flat on his ass, hard enough he's definitely gonna feel it so much tomorrow. The snakes flee, leaving Cole and the rest of the Ninja confused as they regroup.

"Is everyone okay?" The youngest ninja asks.

"Yeah, I think so." Kai confirms. "What happened?"

"They had us and then…" Cole thinks for a moment, trying to place what exactly happened, it's like something out of the old scrolls their Master has.

"And then it was like when the timeblade showed up." Nya finishes his sentence as she walks up. "Except instead of time speeding forward, it slowed down, way down!"

"Another time blade must have arrived." Lloyd says worriedly, brushing himself off. "And somehow the snakes knew it."

"Thirty-four. Twenty-eight." Zane bolts upright from where they've all gathered around his spot in the ruble, citing off numbers nonsensical to anyone not thinking too hard.

"Uh-oh, I think Zane got knocked offline again." Cole tells the team crouching next to Zane, tapping his face gently only for his hand to be smacked away. "He's babbling numbers."

"No, that's latitude and longitude." Nya corrects him, he feels a little dumb around her in moments like these. Cole still offers Zane a hand up, pushing his self doubt away.

"Nya, upgrading my temporal scanner during my reboot was a good idea." Zane compliments her as he stands up with Coles help. "The time blade is in the Eastern Sea of Sand."

"That must be where the snakes went!" Lloyd turns and starts running to their vehicles again. "We can't let them get there first, come on!"

–

"I don't see the time blade," Cole says as they hurtle through the desert behind the snakes. Dunes and terracotta cliffs zoom by as they race through the desert Cole gasps when he sees they've captured a familiar face. "But they have Jay's mom!"

"That must be why Jay left so suddenly." Nya says, concern for the older woman clear in her voice. "But where is he?"

"We have to worry about that later." Lloyd tells her. "There's still a chance to get to the time blade first. Split up!"

The team listens to him, diverging paths. Cole swerves a bit as his buggy gives him a small steering issue, a surge of panic goes through him as he frantically looks at his hands. He breathes out in relief, glad his hands are still there. It's probably just the axis needing to be realigned with his steering and wheels, but this is the most inconvenient time for it to act up. He almost slams into a canyon wall, narrowly avoiding it by practically turning his car on its side. It lands on its four tires as he screeches to a halt, fist pumping the air before slamming back down the gas pedal.

Cole drives up beside the hijacked roller coaster carts, a snake man throws snakes at him, Lloyd, and Kai. They work their scaley little bodies into their exhaust pipes and engines, causing their vehicles to malfunction. Cole drives head on into a rock, flipping up and over it onto his side, unable to get it back up. He pops open his hood, watching Kai drive into a different rock and being thrown from his bike, while Lloyds plane starts to crash.

Cole rushes over to where Nya is helping Kai up, he makes sure nothing is broken on Kai and Lloyds bodies. Especially Lloyds since the kid fell from the jet a hundred feet up, but he's surprisingly fine. He sighs, relieved that neither of them have bad injuries besides a bit of road rash on Kai's leg.

"I'll wrap this up after I clean it later, okay?" He looks up at Kai from where he's kneeling, gently touching the large scrape. "Does it hurt to stand?"

"No, I've got this." Kai doesn't make eye contact with him, looking anywhere Cole's not with his face all pink.

"Is your face hurt? It looks flush." Cole asks worriedly, reaching out to touch his cheek.

"It's nothing, alright. Just leave it, I'm fine." Kai swats his hands away before getting up and walking over to where Lloyd is peering into the distance.

"The time blade." Lloyd points to just a few hundred yards away where the timeblade sits lodged in a rock, the snake samurai fastly gaining on it.

They all get up, ignoring any pain their injuries are causing, running only to get there as the snake's commanders argue with each other. One of them shoots at the ninja with the time blade, the blast misses them barely, and Cole drops out of the way just in time.

"Yes, we still have a chance!" Lloyd encourages them, helping Cole up. "Move, move, move!"

The other snake fires at them as they go into Spinjitzu, freezing them just as they begin to turn. Cole feels his heart beat pick up as he watches the snakes surround them, unable to do anything for what feels like the millionth time. The time blast realeses them, spinning them off into random directions like children spinning tops.

Something happens with the snake men as the ninja recollect themselves, a slow time bubble forming around everyone as they try to confront the Snakemen again. The feeling of being helplessness worming its way into Coles stomach like it has his whole life, he can feel a panic attack of sorts coming on as his heart beats hard in his chest. Suddenly, Jay slides into the bubble on a bike they've never seen before, his dad on the back. Cole feels some relief at seeing his best friend unharmed for the most part, minus a bandaged wrist. Jay quickly turns his bike out of the time dilation bubble, shooting out quickly and into a rock, flinging his dad and him off the bike as it flips.

"Jay!" Cole calls out to him, but it's distorted by the bubble, drawing it out super long.

Cole watches Jay get back on his bike, driving back to them. Jay bursts through the bubble again, his bike covered in electricity as drive around knocking the samurai down. He kicks their commander, knocking the time blade from the snake's hands. Jay turns around, using the carts as a ramp into the air, grabbing his mom from her confinement. The time bubble disperses, knocking the snakes to the ground, and freeing the ninja.

"Way to go, Jay!" Cole yells over to him impressed.

"Talk about making a comeback!" Kai agrees from next to Cole.

"SorryIleftyoubefore. Pleasehelpmydad, andgetthetimebalde." Jay says super fast as his bike speeds past them uncontrollably, spinning them around by the force of it. "See you back at the temple!"

The snake go for the timeblade, the ninja quickly jump in to stop them. Lloyd kicks it from one of their generals for Kai to slide by and grab.

"Looking for this?" Kai mocks them, tossing it to Zane.

"Oops!" Zane tosses it to Nya.

"Over here!" She taunts, tossing it back to Kai.

"Close!" Kai laughs at them, tossing it to Cole.

"Nope! Almost!" Cole catches it, tossing it back to Kai, only Lloyd intercepts it.

"Guys! Quit messing around!" Lloyd scolds them, a hand on his hips and a frown on his face. "We got the blade, lets get out of here!"

"Remember how I said I liked the way Lloyd was taking charge?" Kai asks Cole and Nya with a groan.

"Yeah?" Nya responds, Cole only quirks a quizzical look at him.

"I take it back." Kai says flatly, running after Lloyd, Cole and Nya share a laugh before following close behind.

Notes:

I want to smother Kai in kisses, I am so in love with him. It's so hard to not just jump the gun and make them boyfriends already.

Chapter 28: This Changes Everything.

Summary:

Cole cleans Kai's roadrash, ultimately being held at arm's length by Kai. The next day the Temple of Airjitzu is attacked by Vermillion Warriors, and an old friend shows up!! How will Cole handle this stuff? Who knows?

Notes:

Two chapters this week because I feel bad about not posting. No reason to feel bad, I'm free to take my time, but still I feel bad.

Once they've returned to the Temple of Airjitzu, they take inventory on their injuries, rushing them all to the bathroom. Lloyd has a sprained ankle from the fall earlier, but it doesn't bother him too bad. Besides, Cole is more concerned about Kai's road rash going all the way up his leg. He wraps Lloyd's ankle in a tension bandage, and scoots him out the door, leaving just him and Kai.

"I'll need you to take off your… pants." Cole blushes when he says it, but it's necessary. "I need to be sure to treat it all properly."

Kai complies hesitantly, turning around to face the tub, beginning to untie his sash, his gi falling looses around his torso. Cole doesn't even realise he's watching as Kai takes off his top, each sleeve removed to reveal his beautiful medium almond arms, strong and riddled with small beauty marks. Cole feels frozen to the spot as Kai starts loosening his pants, pausing and looking at Cole, his pupils going small as his eyes go wide.

"Can you turn away too?" Kai asks quietly, almost whispering. If Cole knew any better he'd say Kai is bashful.

"Mhm." Cole hums and turns around, his mind filled with nothing but the thought of Kai. Right, Kai. He's in her so Cole can clean his fucked up leg from earlier.

"I'm ready now." Kai calls over to him.

Cole turns around and he feels like his breath has been stolen, but not in the way it felt when Morro stole the literal air from his lungs, but in a way where his brain short circuited and forgot how. Cole mentally slaps himself, and makes his way over to the master of fire sitting on the edge of the tub in nothing but his underwear, that damned helmet he picked up beside him again. Cole sits down cross legged at Kai's feet with the supplies he needs for his injury, trying not to think about how close they are. He sets it all down, looking up at Kai for a moment, taken away by the exasperated look he's got going on. Kai could make a near death experience look hot, in all fairness.

"I'm going to clean this now, it'll get crazy infected if I don't." Cole tries to make eye contact with Kai, but he's just staring at the helm again. "Firefly?"

"What?" Kai snaps out of his zoning out, looking at Cole for a moment before what he says registers, a blush crawling up to his face.

"You okay if I start cleaning you up?" Cole asks again, Kai nods.

Cole begins to clean it with some alcohol and cotton swabs, spreading some burn cream over it before he takes out some bandages and wraps it up. He's sure to be light with his touches despite the heat he feels with each graze, concerned every time Kai shakes or winces at the pain. He rubs his hand over Kai's non-injured leg, trying to reassure him. He feels Kai tremble beneath him when his thumb accidentally grazes the other's inner thigh, causing Kai to breathe out shakily before he pushes Cole away by his shoulders.

"I'm trying to help you." Cole reminds him, catching himself with one hand behind him. He's kind of fed up with the attitude he's been getting.

"Well, I don't need your help! I'm good now." Kai stands up, looking down at Cole with his face all flushed again. "I'm going to go sleep until it's time to wake up tomorrow, I'm exhausted. Good night, Cole."

"Good night?" Cole is confused as to what he did wrong, he was helping Kai with his wounds that's all.
—

 

Jay, Zane, and Cole decide to mess around with the time blade the next morning. Making sure Lloyd is not in the room while they dick off, showing off different attack styles with the blade's powers. On Zane's turn he starts to spin around and around fast, accidentally letting the blade go. It flies right past Nya's head, almost hitting her.

"Watch it! I'm working here." Nya tells them off, barely looking up from her laptop.

"Sorry, Nya." Zane apologises, walking over to take the blade out of the wall.

"What's with Nya? She's been on her computer since we got back from the desert." Cole asks Jay, worried about one of his best friends.

"Her attempt to locate her Samurai X suit is consuming her." Zane informs him, walking back to stand next to Cole and Jay.

"She's just as bad as her brother." Cole sighs, pointing at Kai in the lounge chair they keep next to the window. He's studying the symbol inside the helmet, paying attention to nothing but it. Kai sighs, pouting for a moment before he perks up.

"Aha! I have a clue!" He rushes over to the history books he pulled out a bit ago, thumbing through one until he pouts again, tossing the book backwards with a grumble. "I haven't got a clue."

"He's been reading these Ninjago history books all day." Cole picks up the book as it lands by his feet, looking over at Kai. He hopes he finds what he's looking for soon, otherwise he'll go mad, taking everyone down with him

"I don't get those two." Jay whines, fiddling with his stuffed bear they found just minutes ago. "We finally get a victory and they choose to celebrate by dorking out instead of doing something cool?"

Jay gasps, Cole turns his head to him. "Let's run straight at each other and see if the timeblade will slow us down before we collide!"

Cole smiles. That sounds like the best reckless idea to get Kai off of his mind. Jay races across the room from Cole, Zane stands in the middle of them, but back a bit so he doesn't get harmed in their collision

"Let's do this! Time blade ready?" Jay asks, looking to Zane.

Zane readies it, nodding. Cole looks backwards to Kai, wondering if he's watching how awesome this'll be. He's not, but Cole is still charging forwards when he hears Jay yell. Zane punches the blade into the ground just as they're about to make contact.

"Faster Jay!" Cole jokes, looking at how dumb his friend's face looks slowed down.

"You're too slow, Cole!" Jay jokes back.

"Hey. I told you guys not to mess around with the time blade." Lloyd opens the door, scolding them immediately.

"We aren't." Jay defends them, clearly lying.

The time bubble stops, Jay and Cole collide head first, the force of everything knocking them both back and Zane. Cole sits up, grabbing at his sore head. He can't help laughing at them, this is by far one of the stupider things he and Jay have ever done, and they've done a lot of stupid things together.

"I said to hide it somewhere safe." Lloyd continues to scold them, snatching the blade off of Zane's hand.

"And we ignored you." Jay says point blank.

"Besides," Cole begins his explanation as Lloyd hops over them. "We're, um, skill building."

"What skill? Room destroying?" Lloyd scolds them more, walking into the centre of the room as they stand up. "This blade is extremely powerful and highly coveted. Nothing this valuable will be so easily conceded."

"Nothing this valuable will be so easily conceded." Cole turns to Jay, quietly mocking the younger ninja. Lloyds has become a real piss pants in the last 48 hours, it's making Cole worry about his mental health. Either way this new attitude of Lloyds is getting on his nerves. "Sounds to me like someone's earned his black belt in being a wet blanket."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lloyd steps close to them, Cole gulps, he wasn't supposed to hear that.

"I believe Cole's intent was to describe you as a blanket which has become wet, not for the purpose of putting out a fire, but rather to extinguish our enjoyment." Zane half rats Cole out, half defends him, much to Lloyds unamusement.

"Seriously, Lloyd. Lighten up." Jay takes the blade from the younger boy, accidentally flinging it back trying to show off.

"Hey!" It hits Lloyd in the head.

"See?" Jay laughs nervously.

"I see that after victory, some of you have chosen to amuse yourselves." Their Sensei scolds them from the doorway, he's gripping his staff tight for his shaky legs. Morro is close behind him, skulking. "I encourage you not to be so careless. Nothing this valuable can be so easily conceded."

"Uh, sorry, Master Wu." Cole bows in respect to their Sensei.

"Well put, Master." Jay agrees.

"Well put? I just said the exact same thing!" Lloyd balls his fists, raising his voice in anger of being dismissed.

"Kai, Nya, join. This is important." The ninja move as their Sensei instructs, Kai and Nya getting up to join them.

"You have had a victory, a well-earned one." Their Master begins with congratulating his students, before he continues to the lesson of it all. "But Krux, Acronix, and their forces remain a threat. Do not allow your confidence to cloud your vigilance. I made that mistake once."

Cole and Jay share a confused, and guilty look. Both of them should feel bad for goloing off with something that dangerous. Cole watches Kai out of the corner of his eye lift the helmet a bit, staring into it for longer than is normal. Their master walks up to him, Cole and the others turn their heads to look.

"Kai, is something troubling you?" Their master asks. Kai shakes his head, snapping out of his space out.

"The marking on this helmet." Kai turns it for their master to see. "Do you recognise it?"

Their master studies it for a moment, stroking his long white beard in thought, before gasping and turning away shocked.

"You do recognizes it. What do you know? Tell me?" Kai pleas their master.

"This means…" Master Wu slowly walks back to the door, pausing for a moment. "This changes everything."

Then something comes crashing through the window, nearly smushing Cole and Kai. Cole looks to the hole then back at the object, it's large and orange, like nothing he's ever seen. Cole notices his friends have pulled on their masks so he does the same, running outside with them over to the edge of the floating temple island. Snake warriors stand on the edge of one of the nearby plateaus that exist around the desert they float over, dozens upon dozens of snake samurai with catapults, Acronix and Krux with their generals on the highest plateau.

"But we're all the way up here, and they're all the way down there." Cole responds to his friend's analysis of the situation, gessuring between himself and the army beneath them for emphasis. "No chance they could reach us!"

Cole is immediately eating his words as another strange orange orb crashes onto the island, snakes pouring out of it after it pops.

"Oh, come on! They built catapults?" Nya says in angered disbelief.

"Whatever." Cole shrugs it off. "It's just snakes."

Their master comes out of the temple, Lloyd and Morro acting as crutches for the old man. He reminds them to be on guard as another capsule is shot at them.

"Uh, whatever." Cole shrugs, this time he's more worried though, this is becoming a lot of snakes. "It's just a bunch of warriors. I mean, they're not armed. But we are!"

Cole whips out his scythe, the others do the same with their weapons, readying up for a fight. Jay makes crack just as a third capsule launches over their head, it burst open bringing weapons to the snakes.

"Woah, they went from unarmed snakes to fully armed Vermillion Warriors really fast!" Jay shouts, Cole chuckles at the name a little.

"Doesn't matter, we can–" Kai stops mid-sentence to look at Jay in shocked whimsy. He's been next to Cole, and the earth Ninja didn't even really notice. "Wait. That's what they're called? Vermillion Warriors?"

"I know, right? So lame." Jay laughs with them. "There are so many better names!"

Zane gives them the Wikipedia page article he may have just made in his head for the Vermillion Warriors it seems, he just keeps going on and on about how clever their name is until Lloyd tells them all to focus from where he stands with their Master. Their Master sits down, having to rest instead of fight with them. Lloyd joins them as they begin to fight the Vermillion off, running them down with Spinjitzu.

They celebrate, Kai runs up to Cole, they high five as their team cheers and whoops. Kai beams his dashing smile up at Cole, making the master of earth feel breathless as Kai takes his hands and they spin in circles, laughing and cheering with their friends. They finish their quick celebration, chasing off the small snakes.

"That was a lot easier than I thought." Cole sighs, relieved it's over. Maybe now he could take his much deserved bath and have some cake.

"Awesome work, everyone." Cole turns to face Lloyd, the green ninja smiles proudly at them.

But they celebrated too soon. The snakes slither together, slowly yet surely forming a giant Vermilion Warrior. Cole gulps hard. This isn't going to be easy, but they have to do it anyway. He springs into action, swinging his scythe at the warrior. The giant warrior swings its huge arms at them, knocking Kai and Nya back from the fight, knocking the rest of them down to the ground.

"Hey you! It's not my bedtime!" Nya shouts, charging forwards, jumping up off of Kai's back. Kai had gotten just in front of the giant snake-thing to boost her up, she jumped over its head. "I've still got plenty of energy!"

"But it's lights out for you!" She makes it turn around and follow her to the cliff's edge. She dodges out of the way as Kai moves back in front of it to trip it, sending it toppling over the edge.

Nya suggest the board the Bounty for a better position, but as if in queue, their enemies shoot it down.

"Oh no!" Cole shouts as the bounty begins to fall down to the desert, one of their homes literally crashing to the ground.

"I'll go get it!" Morro jumps after it, plummeting into a freefall off the temple, a sudden gust of wind starts whipping.

Two more capsules are launched at them, releasing more Vermillion to attack the Ninja.
Lloyd wants to go down on his dragon to take out the catapults, Cole and the others think it's too dangerous for him. Last time he used his energy dragon while facing an enemy he had an anxiety attack and almost died from falling.

"That was a long time ago!" Lloyd tries his best to sound convincing. "I am now a master…"

"In training." Jay reminds him while he fends off a warrior.

"And our temple is under attack. I don't have time for fear. I take care of the ones below, you guys hold them off up here. And protect the time blade." Lloyd takes off down towards Krux and Acronix on his elemental dragon, leaving no time for anyone else's protest.

"You do have to admire his unfounded moxie." Jay jokes, watching Lloyd take off.

Jay joins them in battle, backing up Cole and Zane. Cole keeps looking over his shoulder to make sure Lloyds is doing okay, he sees Kai doing the same sometimes as he fends off warriors himself. He notices some flying Vermilion begin to flank Lloyd, the kid screams and his dragon disappears. Cole calls for him, knowing Lloyd needs to calm down and focus.

"Take a deep breath and clear your mind, Lloyd!" He yells, telling him to conjure the dragon again as he fends off more Vermillion.

"I've got this." Kai pats him on the back firmly, walking over to the cliff to form his own power dragon.

He jumps after Lloyd as the rest of them finish off the warriors on the island. Cole races to the edge after Kai circles back to tell them Lloyd is too far for him to reach in time.

"Look!" Cole points up at Nya's Samurai X suit flying through the sky. "Nya was right, the Vermillion did steal her Samurai X suit!"

"So not fair!" Jay stomps his foot and groans.

Cole watches as the Samurai X suit catches Lloyd just before he hits the ground, bringing him back up, Kai right behind him.

"Samurai X just saved Lloyd's life." Zane states agape at the heroic feat.

"Alright!" Jay cheers in awe. "That was…"

"Highly illogical." Zane says confused.

"So Samurai X is not one of them." Cole clarifies. "Which means-"

"Nya must be Samurai X again." Kai finishes his sentence for him, landing his dragon, transforming it away to walk up to his friends.

"For sure! She probably faked the whole stealing thing to throw us off." Jay says as Nya comes up behind him.

"What're you guys looking at?" She asks.

"Or not."

"Hey, you!" She whips around to point at the Samurai X suit landing, walking up to it as it puts down Lloyd carefully. "You owe me an explanation, I have a right to know who you are. Tell me."

The suit doesn't respond.

"I got this." Jay says, stepping in front of Nya. He yells basically the same thing at it, no response. "Huh? How did that not work?"

"Well, Samurai whoever you are, thank you." Lloyd steps up to use his manners like the good hearted boy he is.

"'Samurai whoever you are' stole my suit!" Nya throws her hands up in angry disbelief of Lloyd.

"They saved my life." He says, something distant about him.

Nya goes to yell from the edge of the island at the new Samurai X as they fly off, but it gets shot out of the sky by a huge spiked cannonball, sending the suit hurtling into the desert sand below them. While they're distracted, a Vermillion attacks their master, they rush to his aid. Cole hits the Vermillion Warrior with a time bubble as Zane goes in to cut it up with his shurikens. Kai runs and slides to grab their master as the old man falls back from his attack.

"Thank you, Kai." Wu says frail, the ninja gather around him to make sure he's alright.

"It was nothing. Now please, Master, tell me about the marking." Kai says it gently, almost as if he's scared Wu will get worse if he talks too loudly. "What does it mean?"

"Ah yes, of course." Wu thinks for a moment. "Your father–"

"Time is up!"

Cole turns to see the hands of time, barely giving anyone time to make a plan before he rushes to attack them with the time blade, missing them, only for them to use theirs to evade him. Cole stares bewildered at what he just witnessed, turning quickly when he hears Kai scream.

"Master Wu!" Cole calls to him, tossing the blade over to the old man, he catches it just in time to counter a hit from Acronix.

Wu hits Acronix with his blade, freezing the hand of time, knocking Acronix's blade out of his hand, away from them. He hands Kai the time blade, and Kai rushes Krux, who had picked up his brother's blade. Worry fills Cole as he watches them duke it out, Acronix starting to unfreeze from the bubble. He points to it, Jay and Lloyd rushing over to stop him.

"Zane, Nya, Cole, watch out!" Lloyd shouts pointing behind them.

They turn around and see four of the flying Vermillion landing on their island, Cole looks from side to side at his friends, all three of them have their weapons ready. They finish the Vermillion Warriors by using an ice slide to just slide 'em off the side of the island. They turn around instantly, screaming their battle cry as they each leap into action. Cole slams his Scythe of Quakes into the ground, shaking the whole island, knocking everyone back and disorientating them.

Acronix and Krux get up fast, grabbing Lloyd by his ankles to swing him around, knocking all the others over with the kid's body. They let him go, sending Lloyd flying. Everyone gets up as the Hands of Time focus on attacking Lloyd. At some point Kai tossed Lloyd the time blade so Lloyd could defend himself from Krux with his own time blade. The blades clash, Lloyd sends Krux flying into his brother, knocking the time blade out of their reach.

Cole somersaults through the air to catch it, landing and presenting it to Lloyd. Lloyd takes it, now having two time blades.

"I'm sorry, but it's gonna be pretty hard to control Ninjago when you have absolutely none of the time blades." Lloyd says super confidently, standing tall over Acronix and Krux.

They cheer for a few moments, Kai and Cole wrap arms around each other, cheering for Lloyd in synchronisation. Cole thinks he hears Wu say something, but he's too lost in celebration and Kai voluntarily being close to him.

"Ninja, look out!" Their master shouts weakly, pointing behind them too late.

A Vermillion Warrior swoops over them, plucking the time blades right out of Lloyd's hands, she lands right between Krux and Acronix, smiling evilly at the ninja. They rush towards her, but she hits them with the time pausing blade, stopping them dead in their tracks.

"As I promised, the time blades are yours to keep." The snakey lady warrior assures the brothers.

"Indeed." Acronix walks up to the snake lady, putting a hand on her shoulder, turning her attention to Wu. "And let's also take him."

"Brilliantly executed, Machia." Krux compliments her as she approaches Master Wu, leading him to the ladder that fell from a blimp above.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Machia sneers at them with a laugh as the blimp ascends.

"Wu, no!" Misako runs out of the temple with a frying pan in her hand, her clothes tattered from a fight. She runs past the ninja to the cliff, not coming back to see them.

The time bubble pops, and Cole falls flat on his face. He gets up slowly, watching Kai speak.

"All that fighting just so we could lose everything." Kai's shoulders slump forwards, the warm glint in his eyes is gone. "Master Wu, both time blades."

Cole slumps too, feeling incomplete without their master's guidance. "The Destiny's Bounty, and our Temple."

"They beat us. They won." Jay joins in on their defeat, his eyes following Nya as she runs to the cliff.

"Even Samurai X has been destroyed." Zane adds, looking sadly with Jay over to Nya.

"They didn't win." Lloyd tells them like it is, taking off his mask. "We lost, because we got over confident."

We've gotta regroup." Lloyd kicks one of the Vermillion helmets. "They're gonna pay."

Cole watches Kai pick it up, looking at it before he mutters something Cole can't make out, getting a far out look in his eyes. He gasps, shaking his head after he's done staring into space. The whole team slowly walks over to him. Cole places a hand on his shoulder, giving him a concerned look.

"This changes everything."

Notes:

I have made a Stone and Fire playlist, might give things away if you think too hard. IT DOES HAVE SOMEWHAT OF A CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER! This is so personal in such a strange way, i listen to it while writing this fanfic, please be kind!
SPOTIFY:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6f9BdbulV6FiTqbM6G0pbQ?si=uHXwafwUSvqwQ1u2NQE4BQ

 

YOUTUBE:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHgNghswS40G2u9vZfBqZ6i640Ue3OSOG

Chapter 29: Caught A Break

Summary:

The team regroups, making a plan. Kai and Cole discuss things between them, but Kai still seems distracted.

Notes:

This one's a bit shorter than normal, but fsm do I love it.

Lloyd leads them back into the temple, all the way to Yang's Dojo, that's where he gets them all to sit down and chill for a few while he thinks. Kai refuses to sit with them, looking at the Vermillion helmet like it's the most interesting thing in the world. Cole has no idea why Kai's getting like this about the helmet, it's just a helmet. They've seen dozens, if not hundreds of helmets before, what makes this one so special?

"The fight is far from over." Lloyd tells them, drawing Cole's attention from Kai. "I know we had a setback, but-"

"It's always darkest before the dawn. Blah, blah, blah." Kai groans.

"Come on. Let's get going already, okay?" Kai barely is taking his eyes off the helmet as he rudely cuts Lloyd off.

"Kai–" Nya tries to stop him.

"We don't need a pep talk." Kai swings his arms out in anger. "We need action."

"I agree." Lloyd smiles nervously at Kai, his words causing them all confusion. "They actually cut us a break by taking the time blade."

"How is that a break?" Cole asks, shrugging in his confusion.

"If any of you captured something that powerful, what would you do?" Lloyd asks them with a smile.

"Immediately haul it back home to show off to you guys!" Jay beams, gesturing to everyone.

"Right!" Lloyd points to him. "And unless I miss my guess, that's exactly where the Hand of Time are headed as we speak. Their home."

"So if we can find the time blade…" Cole starts to piece together what Lloyds saying.

"We can locate Krux and Acronix's base!" Zane finishes the thought, smiling at Cole.

"Think you can locate the blade with your temporal scanner?" Lloyd asks the nindroid, Zane nods and attempts to locate it.

"I'm afraid it was damaged when we fought the Vermillion Warriors." Zane frowns and Jay starts laughing at him, holding his stomach. "I fail to see the humour, Jay."

"Still think Vermillion Warriors is a stupid name!" Jay laughs more, his shit eating grin spread across his face as he doubles over.

"I could see if the scanner on the Destiny's Bounty still works." Nya throws out the suggestion, earning smiles from everyone.

"Yes! Good thinking, Nya!" Lloyd enthuses.

"The rest of you should go to the museum." She continues suggesting a plan, standing up. "Krux had his in plain sight right there as Dr. Saunders for forty years. I'll bet there's a clue to where their secret headquarters is."

"Okay, let's split up." Lloyd agrees as they all stand up.

"Uh, I'll help you, sis." Kai looks up from his helmet, smiling at his sister.

"One question: how're we supposed to get to the museum?" Cole asks the obvious question with his hands on his hips, it's not like they have bus tokens still. "Our vehicles got trashed by the snakes, and the Bounty was grounded."

"Uh, we have the Super Sonic Radar Jet." Lloyd suggests.

"Actually…" Jay steps in front of Lloyd, nervously scratching his head. "My dad's still kind of working on that."

"We can take the lightning bike though!" Jay smiles at Cole, they're gonna ride together. It's what they do when they have to.

"Kai and I have our old bikes." Nya says, gesturing to Kai.

"Oh, what about me and Zane and Morro?" Lloyd asks them, looking kind of sad.

"Well, I was saving this for your birthday, but…" Misako takes out a remote, pressing button on it.

The floor splits and opens up, a small boat that looks kinda like the Bounty comes up on a platform. They all gasp in awe, Lloyds eyes literally sparkle in excitement.

"The Destiny's Shadow." Misako finishes, handing the remote to Lloyd.

"Oh come on!" Kai yells, stomping his feet, everyone turns to him. "First Jay, now Lloyd? Does everyone get a new ride for their birthday?"

Kai looks to them, his mouth falling open at the glares they're giving him.

"I said that outloud, didn't I?" He chuckled nervously, tugging at the ends of his mullet. Cole nods, and gives him a soft smile, hoping it reassures the other.

"I love it!" Lloyd hugs his mom before jumping in.

"I wish Wu could've seen this." Misako says solemnly.

"Oh, he will. We'll get him back sooner or later." Lloyd reassures his mom.

"It's the 'later' I worry about." She fumbles with her hands, looking away longingly.

"Huh, what does that mean?" Jay asks, looking to Cole for an answer. Cole shrugs, not knowing the answer, but he does know that Misako loves Wu, it's obvious now.

"I can't, he made me promise not to tell you." She shuts her eyes, turning away.

"Mom, we're a team we don't keep secrets from each other." Lloyd pleads.

"Yeah, mom- I mean Misako, we're all family here." Morro says, slipping up with the mom, throwing them all for a loop as they thought he was pouting in bed.

"When Wu fought Acronix alone at the old monastery, he was struck with a punch with the time blade." She begins, Morro wraps an arm around her, hugging her for her own comfort. "The hit unleashed the forward energy of time onto him, and the effect is…"

"Master Wu is rapidly ageing." Zane finishes what Misako cannot, stepping up in front of everyone. "Of course! That explains the recent fatigue and the rambling."

Jay gasps. "And the super long old guy beard!"

"I don't even know if the effects can be reversed." Misako grips her head like she has a headache, leaning into Morro for support.

"Then we'd better get moving." Lloyd says as Zane hops into Destiny's Shadow. "Morro, stay here with mom until we get back."

"No, I'm coming with you, Lloyd!" Morro protests, a hand on his hip over one of his scimitars, still comforting Misako.

"Someone needs to stay here and help defend the temple in case the Vermillion attack again." Lloyd explains, Morro is still frowning. "I'm trusting you to protect my mom."

"Alright, fine." Morro sighs, removing his hand from his weapon. "I'll stay with your mom."

"Good hunting, son." Misako smiles softly at Lloyd as everyone else leaves the room.

—-

"We need to talk." Kai comes up to Cole as they're heading down the staircase out to their respective vehicles, tugging him aside into an alcove under the stairs.

They're pressed together slightly, Kai with his hand on Cole's shoulder, Cole's arms pinned to his side's because Kai has the helmet at his side still, the small closet barely has room for them and the shelves. He can feel every breath from Kai, and he's sure Kai can feel how fast his heart is beating.

"Please be safe, I dont- we don't entirely know what's happening out there." Kai looks up at him with furrowed brows and worried ember eyes. "I think my parents have something to do with this, but I don't know what or why…"

"That's why you've been looking at the helmet so much?" Cole asks with a relieved sigh, worried Kai hated him after the kiss days ago. "You weren't avoiding me again?"

"Yeah, I wasn't avoiding you… I don't think I could avoid you anymore even if I wanted to." Kai smiles up at him sheepishly, stumbling over some words here and there. "You're one of my favourite people, remember?"

"You mean that still?" Cole asks hesitantly, feeling a blush spread over his face as butterflies flutter away inside, the warm feeling boiling away in him due to their closeness. "Even after the kisses?"

"Yeah? We're friends, dummy. Kissing isn't going to change that." Kai scoffs light-heartedly, his hand falling down Cole's arm to hold his hand. "Maybe it's not bad to kiss sometimes? I don't know, things are weird for me right now, because of Skylor and my parents… but I-"

Kai tries to say more, but he bites his lip and averts his gaze. Cole wants to know what he was going to say so badly, but he won't push, hopefully Kai will say it in his own time.

"I understand that, they're weird for me too, with not being able to help Master, and getting used to being alive again." Cole agrees, squeezing Kai's hand, grateful he doesn't have to concentrate to do so anymore. Cole takes a deep breath before talking again."That's why we should wait until we are both certain it's what we want. I mean the kissing stuff, I want to be your friend still."

Kai sighs, laughter echoing through his chest into Cole's, letting his head fall onto Cole's shoulder, his free arm wrapping around Cole's middle, warmth spreads through Cole as he hugs him back. "You're amazing, Cole, never forget that again."

"I'll try not to." Cole responds breathlessly, something becoming more common when he's around Kai.

"What's taking you so long, bro?" Nya turns the corner, her eyes going wide as her eyes dart between Kai and Cole and where they're embracing. "Did I just walk in on something?"

"Nope! Nothing!" Kai says with his voice cracking, squeezing out of there as quickly as he can, stumbling over a small box and almost dropping the helm

"Okay, well then, we should go. Jay's waiting for you, Cole." She drags Kai out of whatever that was while giving Cole a sly look, leaving the Earth Ninja there alone to mentally process what just happened.

Chapter 30: The Sewer

Summary:

Cole's really in it now. Snake Warriors stole their Master, same with the time blades, and Kai has expressed some kind of need to kiss him or be kissed.They get to the museum to start rifling through Krux's exhibits, only to find a secret entrance!

Cole's really in it now. Snake Warriors stole their Master, same with the time blades, and Kai has expressed some kind of need to kiss him or be kissed. Cole thinks the thing with Kai could just be the rejection he's feeling due to Skylor, it emotionally pained him to say what he said to him. He doesn't want to get hurt or hurt Kai, so it's better to make sure Kai's serious about his wants, the last thing Cole is is a rebound.

He shakes the thoughts from his head as they get closer to the museum, night has fallen over Ninjago City, casting them in nothing but streetlights. Everything quiet, the citizens hiding away in their homes.

They get to the museum to start rifling through Krux's exhibits, the moonlight from the skylight casts shadows over the displays in a familiar way that makes a shiver crawl through Cole. The circumstances are nowhere close, but his mind keeps taunting him with memories of The Day of the Departed. He tries to clear his head, focusing on digging through old stuff. Jay tosses priceless artefacts around like theyre worthless instead of worth millions of dollars, Zane running after him catching it all.

"Looks like you're fully functional again." Lloyd laughs, picking a large vase off of Zane.

"Except for my inability to interface with Pixal, yes." Zane clutches his head as he stands up, pouting when he says her name. "It is highly frustrating."

"How'bout you, Cole?" Lloyd turns to him with a smile. "Earth Punch under control?"

"Oh yeah! I am totally dialled in." Cole smirks, powering up himself easily before showing off with a few moves.

Truth be told, Cole hasn't had much time for genuine practice for moves, he's still getting used to being alive again. He does a punch towards a wall, not even hitting it, and it breaks a large hole.

"Uh, okay, mostly totally dialled in." Cole looks to his hands and then the hole again, amazed by his own strength.

"Guys, there's a secret room!" Lloyd rushes over with the others, pointing into the hole.

"Yeah! Cause obviously, I meant to do that." Cole says with a proud smile, making a mental note to practise his new powers more."

They walk in together, gasping at what they see. Breeding tanks in a makeshift biology lab, the tanks contain those capsules that Acronix and Krux launched at the temple earlier. Krux had been breeding them here for years in secret, maybe even decades. They had never known despite it being right under their noses, right in the thing they've trusted their whole lives, the history museum. Cole searches the room, tapping on walls for secret entrances, until he finds a loose panel.

"Got something!" He calls to Jay, Lloyd, and Zane over by the breeding tanks, he forces it open, it leading into the sewers.

"Woah, a hidden door inside a hidden lab?" Lloyd expresses how cool he finds this, it's just like one of his comics. "This must lead to someplace important."

"Hopefully not to a bathroom Krux really didn't like to share." Jay jokes, laughing as Cole cringes at the smell radiating from inside.

"We're going in there, aren't we?" He turns to Lloyd, disgusted by everything it has. "It looks pretty gross."

"What other choice do we have?" Lloyd shrugs at him, walking past Cole into the sewer.

After a two or three kilometres, Jay starts getting visibly antsy, saying creepy things that trigger Cole's own anxiety, riling him up.

"Maybe Nya and Kai got the scanners back online?" Jay asks the group in general, he's just as worried about Nya as Cole is about Kai.

"No, we'd have heard from them by now." Lloyd sighs, walking a little faster.

Something gross lands on Cole's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"Aw, I just had my suit cleaned!" Cole groans, his eyes shifting upwards at something moving.

They all scream and run when a spider slinks down on a piece of web, squeaking at them in small spidery confusion. They hide behind a corner as the little guy kills a rat, and brings it back up to its web. Zane uses the museum's wifi to bring the Destiny's Shadow to them in the sewers, soon enough they're cruising through the tunnels, packed into the small boat. They almost hit something in there, stopping just before it. Jay and Cole jump out and start laying an attack on the mysterious people.

"Wait! Jay, Cole, let them go!" Lloyd commands after he turns on the lights. "That's Skales!"

"And my son, Skale Jr." Skales introduces his young son.

Apparently, they had been tracking the Vermillion Warriors with some Constrictai, planning to avoid them. The Vermillion are the pure first generation progeny birthed by the Great Devourer. Skales gives them a map to the swamp, a specific environment used to breed snakes. They follow it through the sewers to a huge swamp with glowing eggs and giant trees scattered everywhere.

"That's a lot of eggs." Cole points out to the swamp littered with eggs, fear worming its way in.

"And a lot of armour. Er. Ers?" Jay says confused about how the word is said.

"It is armour." Zane assures him.

"Wu's gotta be down there somewhere." Lloyd sighs.

"And Cyrus Borg." Zane adds quickly.

"One thing's for sure. We're gonna need the whole team." Lloyd says, taking out his phone to call Nya. "We found it, Nya. The sewers, I'll send you our live location. See ya soon."

"Are they on their way?" Cole asks impatiently. He's worried about Kai and Nya, with what Kai had told him about their parents possible involvement.

"Yes they're on their way, we should head further back into the tunnels to not be spotted." Lloyd instructs, and they listen.

Notes:

Man, writing is becoming easier, but I'm getting too ahead of my planning sometimes, writing things that aren't meant to happen yet.

Chapter 31: The Swamp

Summary:

It's hard to concentrate with everything going on. The ninja have found Krux and Acronix's swamp and are meeting up, but what will happen when Lloyd splits the team up again? Cole doesn't know, and is definitely not expecting it to lead to saving old friends and family!

Notes:

Hey guys, I think I'm moving to twice monthly updates, as in there will be 2 updates at random points each month.

"And if we do this right we can find Master Wu, save Cyrus Borg, rescue everyone who was kidnapped and stop Krux and Acronix." Lloyd explains the finalised plan they've been working on while waiting for Kai and Nya to find them in the sewers. "But it'll take stealth, concentration and precise execution."

"And where does the slug fit in?" Jay points to a slug on their map spread out on the floor.

"What slug?" Lloyd asks, both he and Cole giving Jay a confused look.

Cole feels something cold touch his neck, a small weight on his shoulder, a subtle wet noise beside him. He turns his head slowly, eyes wide as he begins to hop around, trying to shake the slug off to no avail.

"That one!" He jumps around shouting about how gross it is, his brain not working as something gross has been on him twice now since they came down into the sewers. His gi is basically brand new and now he'll have to burn it and ask for a new one. He slings the slug off, feeling it's soppy gooey wetness through his glove, his body shuddering.

"It's so big! So gross!" Cole cowers from it, it's huge, and slimey, and gross, and cold, and wet all at once. It's the worst. And his friends are just laughing at him.

"Hey guys, what'd we miss?" Cole looks to where Nya is walking up with Morro and Kai.

She and Kai both look distraught, his brow all scrunched in that way it does when he's angry or concentrating really hard on a problem, Nya's eyes are wide, her brow is right, and she's forcing a smile. Morro looks just as grumpy as the last time Cole saw him, he can tell Morro has been crying more since then, but he redid his fancy eye makeup.

 

Oh, Fist Master, Kai probably saw him freaking out about the slug, Cole reprimands himself inside his head. He feels slightly anxious, it pools in him a bit like when he's interviewed, feeling like the spotlight is on him as Jay explains what clearly happened.

"Cole freaking out over a slug." Jay says Coles inner monologue word for word.

"And Lloyd laying out the plan of attack." Zane adds on as Cole walks back to them, glaring daggers at Jay.

"But most importantly Cole freaking out." Jay continues to tease him, it's not funny yo Cole though.

He crosses his arms and glares at Jay harder, his face flushed with embarrassment. Jay's so mean sometimes, Cole knows he doesn't mean it. He'll apologise if Cole told him it hurt his feelings, but that's for later. Lloyd is explaining the plan to Kai and Nya. Zane is going to use his scanners to locate Cyrus Borg, while Jay and Cole rescue the workers from the warehouse, Lloyds getting Master Wu, and Kai and Nya are locating Krux and Acronix.

"We can do that, right Kai?" Nya asks as Lloyd hands Kai the map.

"Barracks… holding cells…" Kai mummers as he immediately begins to study the map, pulling at his hair ends in concentration.

"Ahem! Kai?" Nya clears her throat, nudging her brother.

"That's the mess hall and… what's this?" Kai continues, ignoring Nya.

"Kai!" Nya rugs his hand down from his hair, yanking him to pay attention to her.

"What?" Kai snaps back to earth, nodding and smiling. "Yeah, yeah, we got it. Let's go."

Cole pushes away the concern Kai's distraction is causing him to have, worried about the others ability to perform during this mission, but also worried about his mental stability right now. He knows Kai is scared his parents might be traitors to the Elemental Masters, and he knows something is up with Kai, he's just wondering if that something up involves his and Nya's parents. He wants to be there for Kai just like Kai's been there for him, cause that's what friends are for.

"Remember, stealth is key!" Lloyd makes sure it's drilled into their heads. "Everyone know what you're doing?"

"On it." Cole nods.

"Yup!" Nya and Jay say right after one another.

"Affirmative." Zane concours.

"Oh, yeah. I know exactly what I'm doing." Kai says it like he's up to something, and edge in his voice, a sort of determination Cole can't place.

"Good luck!" Lloyd sighs and smiles bolder at them. "No pressure, but all of Ninjago is depending on us."

"I don't think we can go through the front door." Cole says to Jay, his eyes trained on the Vermillion guards surrounding the swamps warehouse where the workers are being kept.

"Well, I mean, we can…" Jay comes up next to him behind a rock. "But I don't think fighting half the Vermillion Warriors is good for Lloyds stealth plan."

They sneak through the tree line, around most of the Vermillion Warriors, to the side of the warehouse. Cole waits for the guards to clear, rushing across to the wall while swinging his grappling hook. He releases it and it hooks nicely on the roof, he begins to climb up it, Jay just behind him.

Cole makes it to the top first, but his grappling comes undone before Jay is all the way up. The rope begins to pullmet, Jay falling with it. Cole dives for the rope, catching the end by the hook just as Jay is about to hit the ground behind some massive Snake Samurai. He pulls Jay all the way up, hugging him tight quickly before placing him down on the roof.

"That was a close one." Cole sighs quietly, Jay looks up at him with wide scared eyes. "Hey, it's okay Jay, you're fine."

"Yeah, I am. Thanks." Jay takes a deep breath, Cole takes this as a sign to continue.

"Gotta love skylights." Cole says, taking the skylight off with the help of a pocket knife. "No one ever thinks to guard 'em."

"Woah…" Jay whispers when they see the warehouse for what it really is.

A few hundred workers gather around tables and forges, whacking away at weapons, vehicles, and armour alike for Krux and Acronix's army. It's dark and dingey, nowhere sanitary to sleep, strong yet tired arms fulfilling The Hands of Times building bidding. Those two are becoming huge bullies, and Cole fucking hates bullies.

Jay and Cole swing down on their grappling rope, landing on a table in the middle of the room. The workers clamber around them, Jay has to hush them, taking off his gi to show he's a ninja there to save him, Cole does the same.

"We're here to rescue–" Jay begins but is tackled to the ground by a large muscular figure.

"Ninja!" Cole grins at the sound and sight of an old and dear friend, rushing over to where Karloff has dragged Jay into a headlock hug. "We are rescued!"

"What are you doing here?" Cole asks, happy to see his friend but sad it's here of all places.

"Snake warriors kidnap Karloff." Karloff grumbles.

"Can't… breath…" Jay grasps out for help.

"Krux and Acronix are rounding up the Elemental Masters?" Cole's confused why the grabbed Karloff.

"Retired Elemental Master. Until snakes grab Karloff, cuff him in Vengestone to control his power." Karloff lets go of Jay, his body flopping to the floor. "And make him forge."

"Oh, man, you're strong." Jay gasps, shakily standing up, grasping Karloff's shoulder for support.

"They force us to build armour, vehicles, weapons." Karloff explains, leading them around the factory. "All in Ninjago who know how to build, they take."

"Now I'm starting to understand why the Vermillion took all that metal." Jay says, seemingly piecing it together at the same time as Cole.

"And why they took who they took." Cole adds on as Karloff counties the tour.

"Carpenters, construction workers, tailors, Master of Metal and…" Karloff is cut off by a voice all to familiar to Cole beginning to sing out doo-wop.

"Dad?" Cole's heart sinks. Not only did Krux and Acronix go after Jay and Kai's families, now they've gone after his! This is way more personal now. "But you guys are just called the Royal Blacksmiths. You're not, you know, actual blacksmiths."

His dad continues to sing, the workers cheer. It seems to boost their morale, so there's that at least. Lou's singing always made Cole feel a bit better, so it would make sense that it helped this people get through this warehouse experience. They finish their number, and Jay shushes the workers as they are cheering tok loud.

"The guards." Cole explains to them all with a hushed voice. "We gotta be stealthy."

"How do we get 'em outta here?" Jay asks, Cole's had that planned out since they started scaling the building.

"The same way we came in." He chuckled quietly, looking up at the skylight they entered through.

"Oh sure, great idea." Jay groans, throwing his arms out as he begins to freak out a little. "Everyone can just fly up there, except– oh wait! They can't fly!"

"No, but we can." Cole smiles at him, reminding him of their Airjitzu abilities.

Jay gasps and smiles, they high five and nod in agreement before rushing over to Karloff and the builders to explain their plan.

"Okay, you first Karloff." Jay opens his arms to Karloff and the big guy jumps into them bridal style, Cole can't help but giggle as he remembers the last time he saved Karloff all the way back when they were stuck in the factory on Chen's Island.

"Why does dirt Ninja smile?" Karloff asks him.

"Ohh, just getting dejavu saving you for a second time." Cole teases his large friend. "Go, Jay."

Jay attempts to take off and fails, his legs shaking under his and Karloff's weight. "You got extra metal in your pockets or something?"

"Karloff almost forget." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his car keys. "Car Keys!"

"Aw, no." Jay groans and places Karloff down, turning to Cole with a pout, beginning to pace. "This isn't going to work, and unless the new Samurai X does his thing and shows up out of the blue again, we gotta come up with something else. Fast!"

Cole puzzles for a moment, turning away from Jay to think. "Wait!"

"We have builders and we have scrap metal. " Cole begins to piece together a new plan of escape. "So…"

"Right!" Jay exclaims, turning around to a table. "Anyone here know how to design, construct, and independently operate a two hundred foot industrial-grade cargo elevator in three minutes?"

He's met with silence, except for Cole laughing at the absurdity of the suggestion.

"I was thinking ladder." He tells Jay with a smile.

"Right. Ladder." Jay chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Good call."

"Anyone?" Jay addresses the crowd again, they all mummers and begin to build a ladder in no time at all. Jay and Cole move out of the way to by the wall.

"Good thinking, boys." Lou says, coming up beside Cole.

"Thanks dad." Cole begins to lead his dad away from the builders. "Hey, I've got a question."

His dad nods, allowing himself to be led.

"All the armour you guys forged, where do the designs come from?" Cole asks, although he has a feeling in his gut telling him he already knows.

"I overheard one of the generals say they came from a 'Master Blacksmith'." Lou explains to him, trying to be as helpful as he can, Coles sure.

"Master blacksmith?" Jay puzzles from jyss behind them.

"The ladder is ready!" One of the workers calls to them from the ladder.

"Nice! And those Vermillion never knew what we were doing." Jay cheers, giving the ladder a shake. Lol at this bad boy. Solid."

"No, wait, ladder is not done!" Karloff calls to Jay as the ladder crashes to the ground.

"So much for stealth." Cole groans, his fist balling about.

"Maybe they didn't hear it?" Jay gulps.

They heard it. They doors swing open and the massive Samurai Vermillion slither on through. Cole grabs a cane from one of his dad's quartet partners, jumping up onto a work table with Jay.

"Show time!" Cole and Jay begin knocking back Samurai, kicking and swinging their weapons to defend the workers.

As Cole jumps off the table, going for a triple-tiger-sashay, everything seems to stop. Everything from Jay, to the workers, to the fire in the forges, to the Vermillion Warriors attacking them. It all just stops. And then it begins again, and Cole falls to the ground, quickly regaining himself as he regroups with Jay.

"Did you feel that a moment ago?" His best friend asks, hitting a warrior with his nunchucks. "That was weird."

"It was like time stood still." Cole agrees with the weirdness, jabbing snakes away with the cane, readying himself as he sees the two massive Samurai square up to him. "Well, they're not standing still."

Cole grunts as he powers up his lava punch, swinging a clear way through the snakes to the door.

"Now they're still." Cole smirks, that was so cool, it actually worked how he wanted it to.

"Uh-oh." Jay points over to more Vermillion coming their way, he then points to the sewer entrance. "Everyone, tunnels, now!"

Jay and Cole turn to the approaching squadron of Vermillion Warriors, readying themselves, Jay shifts his nunchucks in his grip, and Cole powers up his lava punch again.

 

"Bring it on you Vermillion fools!" Jay yells at them as the snakes start to charge.

They stay steady as the Vermillion arrive, knocking them back from the workers escaping through the sewer tunnels. They're backed against the stairs, surrounded by warriors.

"I know it looks like we are totally outnumbered, but that's only because we are!" Jay laughs nervously as the warriors continue their onslaught.

"Happy thoughts, Jay." Cole reassures him, punching off a warrior. "We've got this, bro!"

"Hey, it's Lloyd and Zane… and Morro." Jay tells him, and Cole looks to see them, briefly smiling as he's drawn back into the fight by a rather nasty jab to his arm.

With their help, the ninja are taking down the Vermillion with ease, knocking them all around beyond Reformation just in time for all the workers to get out.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about." Jay cheers, hyped up on adrenaline. "Workers saved. Ninja in the swamp!"

"Whew!" Cole and Jay high five, doing their victory dance.

"Now we can return to search for Borg-" Lloyd begins.

"And Master Wu." Morro cuts in with a bit of snark.

"I'm afraid I found them." Zane says with fear clear in his electronic voice as he points up to the sky at an airship passing overhead in front of the moon with their Master, Krux and Acronix, Nya, Kai, and two people who look suspiciously like Nya and Kai.

"His parents…" Cole murmurs to himself, stepping into his air stance. "Okay, so let's Airjitzu after them."

Some eggs pop behind them, causing all five to turn and look at the army amassing around them.

"Ew, no matter how many times you see it, watching these things hatch is gross." Jay groans as Cole begins to pull him up the stairs.

"Jay, less watching, more helping!" Lloyd yells back from the front.

"Ya know guys, now that we got Ninjago's workers out of here, maybe we should join them." Jay suggests, and honestly it doesn't seem so bad given the amount of ass kicking they've done already.

"What about Master Wu?" Lloyd asks.

"He's gone!" Jay turns to Lloyd, shrugging sadly. "It's a strategic retreat."

"'Strategic retreat' is just a fancy way of saying 'giving up'." Cole frowns at Jay, throwing a Vermillion over his head.

"What do you think, Lloyd?" Jay asks the youngest of them. "You're the master-in-training here."

"We need to regroup at the temple." Lloyd decides, running towards the sewer. "Zane, cover ice!"

"One moment, I'm getting a signal!" Zane calls to them, stopping to turn back.

"Oh yeah? Does it sound anything like this…" Jay grabs Zane by his shoulders, giving him a shake as he yells. "Move your butt, Zane!"

"Cyrus Borg. I must retrieve him." Zane looks to Cole and the others with a pained look on his face before he starts running away from them.

"Wait. You're totally outnumbered." Cole reminds him, scared to lose the Nindroid again.

"He's right. There's, like, a million more Vermillion out there." Lloyd tries to reason with Zane.

"There's no way you could possibly save him all by yourself." Jay runs up next to Zane, placing a steady hand on the ice ninja's shoulder. "So I'm coming with you."

Cole and Lloyd share a look of concern and calculation. Letting Jay and Zane go alone will be their doom, so there's only one logical choice for Cole.

"What? We're ninjas." Jay shrugs. "Saving people is what we do."

"Yes we do!" Lloyd and Cole join the other two just as their ice barrier breaks down. "Take cover!"

Notes:

I hope this isn't too long, because it's only getting longer. And idk if I should do anything past kissing, but if I were to it would be posted separately. Please let me know your opinion on this, I don't want to do anything too much for you, the readers, comfort.

Chapter 32: The Iron Doom

Summary:

It's time to get to the bottom of it all, except the two dealing with this shit aren't even here really. So, who actually getting to the bottom of it all, no one here. They're all just trying to make it easier while thinking their friends are gone.

"Well that was easy." Cole laughs a bit as they walk into The Dome, all 5 of them are wearing Vermillion Warrior armour as a disguise to get by the snakes. It surprisingly worked well.

"Yeah, too easy." Jay agrees cautiously, quickly knocked down to the ground by a rock thrown at his face from across the room.

"Into the breach!" Cyrus Borg screams at them as he wheels through a doorway fast, wielding a cane as a weapon. "Freedom!"

He swerves, turning sharply, knocking them all down with his chair, holding up the cane above Lloyd's head, ready to bring it down swiftly. Cole is about to jump up from the ground and stop Cyrus from hitting Lloyd, but before he can, Zane’s already standing and trying to reason with the engineer.

"Stop!" Zane tells Cyrus, upturning his hands to show he has no weapon. "He's not a Vermillion."

"I know a snake when I see one." Cyrus glares at Zane, turning back to try and hit Lloyd again. Lloyd takes off his helmet to reveal his face just in time, Cyrus’s cane mere inches from his face.

Borg’s face shifts to relief, lowering his cane as a smile spreads across his face. "Ninja? You've come to rescue me!"

"A decision I'm starting to regret." Jay groans as he stands up, rubbing his forehead.

"Come on, let's get you out of here before we are discovered." Lloyd gestures to the door, putting his helmet back on.

"Hey, Borg, why did Krux and Acronix kidnap you anyway?" Jay asks as they walk up to Cyrus and Lloyd.

"Duh, pay attention, Jay. We know why." Cole shakes his head, Jay can be a bit slower at picking things up sometimes.

"They grabbed every builder in Ninjago to outfit their army, they tried to get your parents, and actually got mine." Cole feels a pang of guilt in his heart, guilt of not keeping in touch with his dad more like he used to. He could’ve done something sooner maybe, if only he had written or called more; if only he were a better son.

"No, not me!" Cyrus Borg gets a giddy look in his eyes, turning away to go to a switch, pulling it down to reveal a huge and strange mech outside the windows.

Cole’s stomach ties itself into knots gazing at the sheer size of it, he feels like hes gonna throw up with the waves of dread and doom that seem to radiate off of it. The sleek black metal shines in the artificial lighting of The Dome, its snake warrior shaped body reminds him of every other snake they have fought. This calms him. They’ve totally got this. One-hundred percent.

"I was forced to create something far more sinister." Cyrus admits, his face falling in shame.

"Oh. It's a…" Jay begins trailing off. "What is that thing?"

"I've heard them call it the Iron Doom." Cyrus explains, closing the shutters. "Krux and Acronix' ultimate weapon."

“What a fitting name,” Cole thinks as all hes trying not to think about is that its making him feel doomed.

"And you designed it?" Zane and Morro say in unison, giving Cyrus a concerned look.

"No. A blacksmith did." Cyrus says, a little jumpy once he’s realised Morro is there.

Cole knows who designed it immediately, he recognises similarities between the details on it and the details on everything theyve known Kai and Nya’s parents have made. His stomach fills with rage for the Time Twins as he thinks about Kai, Nya, and what those two did to their parents.

"I'm afraid I am responsible for that." Cyrus opens the shutters again, pointing to the middle component of the Iron Doom. "It's a…"

"A nano-fused, neo-atomic power source," Zane begins as they duck down to not be seen by a passing warrior. "Which according to my calculations, creates energy displacements sufficient to allow for–"

Zane looks to them, pausing with a horrified look on his metal face. "Oh, oh, dear… temporal voyage."

"Temporal voyage?" Cole turns to ask Jay.

"Time travel." Jay groans, shaking his head at Cole. "Temporal means time, duh. Pay attention Cole."

"It harnesses the power of the time blades." Cyrus continues explaining the thing-a-ma-bob with urgency. "If Krux and Acronix get all four, they will be able to take all these Vermillion Warriors anywhere in time."

"Krux and Acronix are gonna travel back in time in that thing?" Jay asks, to be sure they're not all hearing things.

"We have got to stop it." Morro tells them, Cole notices how he's staring intently at the closed window that splits them from the huge machine in the next room.

"Uh, how do we stop it?" Jay asks with a nervous chuckle.

Cyrus explains how he implemented an emergency self destruct code, but before he could enter it he was being watched like a hawk. Lloyd suggests they get Cyrus up to that thing to put in the code and Jay isn't having it.

"Seriously? You want to sneak into Vermillion Warrior Central? Are you nuts Lloyd?" Jay exclaims dramatically, throwing his arms out.

"You guys have a better plan?" Lloyd sasses Jay back, throwing his hands out dramatically like Jay did. "One that doesn't allow Krux and Acronix to time travel off to who-knows-when to do who-knows-what?"

"Uhhh… we do not." Cole admits for their group, giving Lloyd his best awkward smile.

"We just need the code." Lloyd turns to Cyrus expectantly.

"Ah, yes, of course." Cyrus thinks hard for a moment. "It's um… oh, I don't remember."

"What?" Cole squawks at Cyrus, hoping his tone conveys the annoyance he feels. Why do the geniuses always have short term memory issues?

"I know it's a long sequence, so I committed it to the deep recesses of my brain." Cyrus taps his head gently, Cole takes back his thought, giving Cyrus a smile. "Perhaps if I see the panel it would jar the numbers to the front of my brain?"

"Looks like you're coming with us." Lloyd smiles, turning around to lead everyone out.

"Going somewhere?" A voice asks them.

Cole turns, as does everyone else, towards the voice. It belongs to one of the pale orange snake generals they keep running into. Cole can't help but stand there quietly confused, not sure what to do now that they're caught. They could try to pass as warriors, but they could also ditch the charade and fight them off.

"He said 'going somewhere, egghead?'" the other snake general repeats, adding on the mean name.

"Ah yes, uh…" Cyrus begins to cover for them. "I was hoping to inspect my apperatus on the factory floor."

"Why exactly?" General One asks.

"To sabotage it?" General Two asks.

"On the contrary, to ensure it's properly installed." Cyrus rolls closer to talk to them, Cole has to admit the guys got some serious guts. "Imagine what Krux and Acronix will do to me, and you, if it doesn't work."

"Uh, good point." Cole swears the generals shudder at Cyrus's words, they're scared of Krux and Acronix. "We should let him inspect it."

"I asked these gentlemen to escort me down, but they didn't respond." Borg keeps gaslighting the generals.

"Of course not! You can't control the hivemind." General Two places a hand on his head, his eyes glowing red as he speaks. "Vermillion, take him to the Iron Doom."

Cole looks at Lloyd, Lloyd just shrugs at him. They do as the general instructs, so they are going on with the warrior charade. Cole pushes Cyrus Borg in his wheelchair ahead of everyone else, doing his best to not make any noise or facial expressions. They're getting away with it spectacularly until Jay speaks.

"Aye-aye!" He hears Jay say from the back of their line, and Cole's eyes go wide in horror.

"Did you just speak?" He hears one of the generals say to Jay.

"No." Jay responds. First Master, Cole's best friend is an idiot sometimes, dude has like one brain cell and it's bouncing around like Pong in his head. "Okay, that time I did."

"Vermillion attack!" The general says, and Cole turns around to see the snakes begin to surround Jay.

"Wait, wait, do you mean us Vermillion or…" Jay points to the rest of them, effectively blowing their whole cover operation. He gets knocked back to Cole's feet, where Cole just looks down at him with a sigh.

"Seriously, Jay? We are ninja, we are supposed to be stealthy." Cole groans, readying his fist up for a fight as the Vermillion close ranks around them.

"Oh, I'm way past stealth." Jay cackles, stumbling to his feet without taking his eyes off the snakes.

They all look to Lloyd for a moment, receiving a nod from their temporary leader, before they go into their Spinjitzu forms to switch out of the armour and back into their regular gi. They begin to fight off the Vermillion for what feels like the one thousandth time today alone, getting immediately cornered easily.

"Cornered again?" Cole groans, this day has not been going to plan at all. "Ya know, this does get old."

"Hang on. Do you hear that?" Lloyd asks the group, and Cole can hear it too.

A loud humming of an engine getting closer and closer until a car bashes through the wall of The Dome, sleek black and blue with gold detailing. Out of the rocking vehicle, and into the dust from the crash, comes the new Samurai X in dashing new colours. \cole is awestruck for a few moments by this otherworldly and stoic being.

"I said attack!" One of the generals yells, snapping the snakes out of their stunned states, everyone seemed to be starstruck by the mysterious Samurai.

"Go, go, go!" Lloyd shouts to get their team back in action.

They fight the Vermillion as Samurai X takes care of Cyrus Borg, driving off with him to bring him up to the Iron Doom's time apparatus control panel. The fight with the Vermillion up the ramp as they're trying to go after Samurai X and Cyrus Borg, the goal is to hold them back until they get to the control panel and input the code. Cole focuses on the fight, punching back Vermillion left, right, and centre. Zane keeps shouting down updates on Cyrus, the scientist is having trouble remembering the code. Cole would be annoyed by that if he wasn't running away from a massive Vermillion Samurai, another one coming up in front of him. He jumps out of the way in time, causing them to bump heads and stumble a bit, buying him a small bit of time to catch his breath.

"Seriously, guys?" Cole looks around frantically for his friends knowing he won't be able to take these two down on his own. "Two big boys here, prime for the taking down!"

As he backs up, Jay, and Lloyd jump up in front of him, drawing their weapons. Morro stands over Cole, one hand holding a scimitar and the other is out, offering Cole a hand up. Cole is more than thankful as he takes Morros hand in his, he's pretty sure he'd be out for a while if these three had not come in just in time. Cole is drawn into a hug quickly by his fellow resurrected, unexpected but a relief right now.

“Cole, Morro. This is not the time to be all lovey-dovey!” Jay yells at them over his shoulder.

“Bold assumption, blue balls.” Morro sneers back as they rejoin the fight.

“Wrong hot-head, Jay.” Cole snickers, Jay is just tryna get a rise out of Morro.

"Zane? Update!" Lloyd yells up to the Nindroid and Samurai X as they beat off the snakes.

"Just a few hundred more digits!" Zane yells back down to them.

"Could this get any harder?" Jay asks Cole as they're being backed into a corner… again.

"Oh, you didn't just ask that, did you?" Cole groans, giving Jay a look of disbelief. "You totally just jinxed us!"

"Come on! That's not how life works." Jay banters back as the two of them evade being surrounded. Just after that, the roof of The Dome opens up for Krux and Acronix' airship that they took Wu, Kai, and Nya on. But they're not there.

"Do not say another word." Jay groans in defeat, Cole was right, he did jinx them.

"They're trying to stop Zane and Borg." Cole realises, watching Acronix and Krux jump off their aircraft to confront the nindroid, scientist, and Samurai.

"We've got our own issues to deal with!" Jay points to Vermillion trying to corner them again, but then they just stop, out of nowhere they all stop.

"Why'd they stop fighting?" Lloyd asks, looking around at the retreating and calm Vermillion.

"What's going on?" Cole is just as confused.

"No!" Jay screams, pointing up to Zane, Borg, and Sam-X falling down, all three frozen due to one of the time blades. "Come on!"

They go into their Airjitzu to catch them as they're falling. Cole catches Samurai X, bringing them down to the ground where he stands them up. Morro uses his control of the wind to catch and bring Cyrus his wheelchair.

"Thank you, Master of Earth." The Samurai thanked him with their mechanical voice sounding grateful. Cole gives them a nod and his best reassuring smile, hoping the Samurai doesn't notice his hopefully subtle blush.

Just as it seems The Hands of Time are getting away, a ferocious roar echoes through The Dome, a red and blue glowing dragon is diving towards them. Cole gets a heavy feeling in his gut as he watches the beast get closer and closer, the riders becoming clearer and clearer. It's Kai and Nya. They're alive! But the feeling of relief does not stay, Nya and Kai fly after Acronix and Krux as they go through what one can only assume is a time vortex.

"The children." Cole can barely register two new voices, the people that look like Kai and Nya standing nearby, and Cole doesn't know how they got there.

"Nya." Jay's voice shakes, Cole can barely register what he's saying.

"Kai…" Cole reaches up to the sky where they flew out of this time, all he can hear for a few minutes is his own heart beating fast, a pain stabbing him there. "Where did they go?"

"More like, when did they go?" Lloyd corrects him, seeming equally dazed by the events that just took place.

"Kai! Nay! Come back!" Jay yells up at the sky like it will do anything as they all leave The Dome. "Why'd they all risk their lives to go after Krux and Acronix?"

"It was the only way to save Wu." The man who looks like the missing siblings says, Cole can finally place their faces.

"Oh. Okay. I'm good with it." Jay is clearly not good with it. "Hey, wait a sec. Who are you? And how do you know that?"

"I'm Maya." The woman points to herself and then the man. "And this is Ray, we are-"

"Kai and Nya's parents!" Lloyd smiles at them wide. "We saw your portrait at the museum!"

"Krux and Acronix travelled back in time with the reversal blade, so our children had to follow." Ray explains, exasperated and leaning on his wife while clutching his chest.

"Why?" Jay asks the question Cole wants to scream at the sky.

"Only that blade can undo the effect of the time punch on Masser Wu." Maya sighs sadly. "They are his last hope."

"Master Wu is with them?" Lloyds voice turns to fear.

"We gotta go help." Cole steps up to Cyrus, frantically asking him to build a time machine, clutching at his wheelchair armrests."You can build another one, right? Please tell me you can build another one, Mr.Borg? I beg you, please. I can’t lose them."

"I know, but I can't." Cyrus looks away from him solemnly, Cole can feel his heart hurting more and more; Just like when he lost his mom, but the smallest bit different.

"Oh, I get it." Jay smiles crookedly. "'I can't' is business talk for 'It'll cost you big'."

"Okay, businessman, I hear ya." Jay pulls money out of one of his pockets, offering it to Borg. "I got a tenner."

"No time blades, no time travel." Maya walks over to Jay and Cole. "There's nothing to do but wait and hope Kai and Nya return."

"Okay then, Samurai 2.0." Cole watches Jay turn on his heels, the blue ninja walks right up to them. "While we're stuck waiting, why don't you tell us who's really under there?"

"No." Is all they say in response.

"Uh, would a tenner change your mind?" Jay takes out his money again.

"No."

"What about a piece of candy?" Jay takes out some of the Jolly Ranchers he keeps on him for Lloyd bribing purposes.

"No."

"What about two pieces of candy?" Jay keeps trying.

"No."

"What you said is true." Cole hears Maya say to Ray, turning his attention to the parents despite how out of it he feels now. "Kai and Nya truly are Master Wu's last hope."

"Not just his. All of Ninjago." Ray adds on, going into a coughing fit at the end, Maya reaches to support him.

"Ray, what is it?" She asks with such care, keeping him upright.

"On the ship… when Acronix hit me he was holding a time blade, and something happened." Cole listens to Ray explain what happens a bit, causing the earth Ninja to grow worried for the older man.

Zane scans him quickly, consulting his databases for a diagnosis most likely. "Accelerated physical deterioration, rapid loss of life function. You've been hit by a time punch, too."

"Wait." Cole says walking up to Ray and Maya, he's gotta try to help them for Kai… and Nya, too. "You said the reversal blade can undo it on Master Wu. Would that work for you too?"

"Only if our children retrieve it and return in time." Ray says, confirming Cole's suspicions about the blade's effects.

"Guys, something is really wrong!" Jay points to the city in the horizon where buildings, aircraft, and the BorgBlimp have disappeared before their very eyes. "The city is, um… different?"

"Yeah… it looks old, like my dad's neighbourhood." Cole agrees, fear rising steadily in him. "Like Ninjago forty years ago."

"Huh? My Borg watch has disappeared." Cyrus says from beside Cole, he looks to see it has.

"What is going on?" Jay asks, his voice shaking as he looks around wildly.

"My worst fear has come true." Ray says as Maya brings him over. "The past has been changed. Your watch doesn't exist because your technology no longer happened. No computers, no telephones, no…"

"Zane." Lloyd turns around, Cole is quick to follow him over to Zane.

Zane looks like how he did when Cole first met him, a blank expression on his pale face, dressed in all white with no distinguishing details on him. There's no gentle hum that would suggest he's alive and thinking, no light behind his eyes like normally. Cole kneels down beside Jay, touching the Nindroid. He's cold, but not the same kind of cold he usually is. Zane”s cold comes with the gentle whir of cooling fans and processors, his joints creaking on occasion, but this… its hollow, the technology within him is no longer in existence. Zane is literally a lifeless husk.

"We've lost him again…" Jay hugs the nindroid close to his chest, beginning to sob into Zane’s shoulder.

"It's okay, Jay. Kai and Nya will fix this, I know they will." Cole rubs his best friends back, trying to convince himself the same. He's gotta stay strong, he's the rock. "We'll get 'em back."

“I lost them both, how could I lose them both? What did I do to keep deserving this?”JAy keeps mumbling this and things like this into Zane’s shirt, kneeling over the nindroid with his fists balled in the fabric and his forehead pressed to the nindroids chest.

“Jay, stop.” Cole tries to pull him away gently, but he's unmoving, so Cole just drapes his arm over him. “You didn't do anything to deserve this, no one deserves this. Jay, please look at me, dude.”

Jay shifts, sitting up to look at Cole, his bright blue… no, Jay’s eyes are yellow, they’ve always been yellow. Whatever, Jay’s eyes are filled with tears and it makes Cole want to join him in mourning.

"Guys…" Jay’s gaze trails up past Cole, up to the sky. "You won't believe it."

"Ninjago is back to normal." Cole smiles up at the buildings as he and Jay begin to stand up.

"My technology has returned!" Cyrus exclaims.

"I believe something just overloaded my sensors." Zane comes back to life with a beep and start-up chime, bolting right up. "Did anyone else sense a distrubance?"

"Kai and Nya did it!" Jay yells happily, turning right back around to face Zane and Samurai X, hugging them both tightly.

"Everything is fixed!" Cole wraps an arm around Cyrus and Lloyd, the green ninja beaming back at him.

"Fate of Ninjago…" Ray groans weakly, Cole turns to see Maya holding him as he lays on the ground gasping for breath.

"Not everything is fixed…" Maya looks sadly down at her husband, Cole walks over to them, kneeling on the other side of Ray.

"Kai and Nya will be back with the blade soon, please sit, sir." Cole does his best to smile at Ray assuringly. "Your children are stronger than you could ever imagine."

There's screaming and a splash behind them right after he says this. Cole snaps his head to see, jumping up when he notices it's Kai and Nya. The two climb out of the swamp and quickly make their way over with what appears to be the reversal blade. Cole wants to do nothing but run over to Kai and kiss him, tell him he’s never allowed out of his sight again if he keeps up with this self sacrificial bullshit. Cole stands still, repressing the thoughts and urges
.
"Mom? Dad?" Kai asks as the two make it over to their parents.

"I'm afraid he is close to his end…" Maya's voice trembles. "There's nothing to be done."

"Yes there is." Kai raises up the time blade, pointing it to his father after it charges up, everyone watches as the energy courses through Ray, reversing the previous hit, returning him to his proper age.

"My children." Ray smiles, standing up to embrace them both. Cole can't help the smile that forms on his face at the happy reunion.

"Awe, you guys! Let me get in on this!" Jay goes in for the hug, Zane following him.

Cole stays his distance, not wanting to make anything uncomfortable for Kai as soon as he gets his parents back.

"Wait. What happened to Master Wu?" Cole asks the siblings as they're released from the hug

 

Kai's face falls. "Oh, no… he's still on the Iron Doom. He stayed aboard to deal with Krux and Acronix."

"And now he's gone…" Nya's voice is quiet.

"So we don't have a master anymore?" Cole's fear turns to sadness again, engulfing him whole.

"Yes we do." Jay keeps a stern smile as he walks up to Lloyd, placing a hand on his small shoulder. "You, Lloyd. It has to be you."

"He would want you to lead us now, Lloyd." Morro places a hand on Lloyds other shoulder, the ninja of wind looks the saddest about their Master's disappearance.

"Master Lloyd." Kai walks over to him, handing him the time blade as everyone looks to Lloyd.

"Master Lloyd." Lloyd repeats, hesitantly taking the blade from Kai. He thinks for a moment before speaking again.

"Listen up, everyone. First, we get rid of this, it's too powerful." He gestures to the reversal blade. "Then it'll take all our energy and we will not rest until we know where is Wu."

Notes:

Guuuhhhhhjh, I've been so depressed. Anyways I hope y'all enjoyed this instalment in the Stone and Fire fanfiction. I'm writing again more, sorta, so yay!!! Also, I'm like 20 now or something, gross. The idea of being that old makes me kinda repulsed at myself. I don't feel 20, I feel 17 still, but that's probably the same thing that compels me to write this at fault. Nice catching up, see ya next upd8.

Chapter 33: Reading Between The Lines

Notes:

Sorry this fic has taken large pauses so much. I'm really tired all the time, life is not lifing has well as it should be for me. Thank you for all the support and comments over the last 1 1/2 years!!!

The Temple of Airjitzu has been at its quietest for days, no one wants to be there without their master, so the ninja have been working on the Destiny's Bounty. The old airship took quite the beating when Krux and Acronix attacked the temple; it had plummeted a couple hundred feet down to the desert, breaking the hull and damaging a lot of important inner and outer parts. After a few days of tinkering around, Nya and Jay got it up and floating off the ground, although it cannot fly more than a dozen or so feet up. Cole and Morro are currently trying to put the main mast back up using their Airjitzu and Morro's powers of wind, which is way more difficult than one would imagine. Cole powers his arms up to lift the bottom, keeping it steady as Morro positions it back in its place. They finish it faster than Cole thought, leaving them time to think about what to do next.

"We did pretty good for a couple of revived guys." Cole smiles at Morro as the dark-green ninja floats down beside him.

"I wish Wu could see this…" Morro sighs heavily, his shoulders slumping. "I just got him back and now he's gone, I've failed him."

"Morro, he'd never blame you or any of us." Cole's smile tightens, he places a hand on Morro's shoulder. "He loved you like a son, we all knew this from the moment he told us about you."

"I guess he did, huh?" Morro sighs again, this time it's lighter. "Can I have one of those embraces again?"

"You want a hug?" Cole gives him a confused and unsure look, Morro just nods slowly. "Yeah, of course, man. Bring it in!"

Cole opens his arms up and Morro nearly knocks him over with the force of his hug, wrapping his arms under Cole's, balling his hands into the back of Cole's shirt. Cole hugs him back, squeezing him tight, not too tight though. Morro is so skinny, Cole is afraid if he squeezes too hard the guy will snap in half.

"Are you done hugging your boyfriend?" Cole looks up to see Kai standing beside them with his arms crossed over his chest, and an angry look on his face.

"We're not dating, I don't know where you got that idea." Cole releases Morro from the hug, quirking a brow at Kai.

"You're literally all over each other, it's gross." Kai gives them a displeased glare.

"He's literally just being my friend, don't be homophobic, hothead." Morro sneers at Kai, earning a sharp elbow to the ribs from Cole. "Sorry, I meant 'Kai'."

"Whatever." Kai rolls his eyes, turning his attention to just Cole. "I need you to come help me fix some things in the cabin."

"Okay, hang out with Lloyd and the others in the cockpit?" Cole tells Morro before he lets Kai drag him off, grabbed by his hand as he's pulled downstairs.

Kai's grip is strong and almost searing, his face and overall demeanour is irritated, muttering things under his breath as they head below deck. Cole can only pick up on a few phrases like 'fucking prick' and 'attention seeking'. Cole stops, digging his heels into the ground halfway down the hall from their cabin. He spins Kai around with his free hand, keeping it on his shoulder as he begins to talk.

"Kai, what the fuck was that? Are you jealous?" Cole is desperate for answers, watching as Kai's face flushes and his eyes dart around. "Morro and I are just friends, he's going through a tough time with losing his dad, he just needs someone there for him."

"No! I get that. I just need your help." Kai shrugs off Cole's hands and words, tugging him towards their cabins. "Quit reading into things.."

They walk into the cabin and it is destroyed. Mattresses flipped off beds, their desk is completely broken, papers and photos and clothing scattered everywhere. It looks like a tornado went through here. They get to cleaning up the room, Kai leaving not space to talk with the waves of grumpiness radiating from him. Cole focuses on the mattresses to distract himself from Kai's words from just moments prior, quit reading into thing. Cole never thought he was, he just wants Kai to be comfortable around him. He turns around after he's done putting all the beds back into their bunks to look at what Kai's doing, surprised to see him sitting on the floor, rifling through some photos and letters with a concentrated tongue poking out of his mouth.

"What're ya-" Cole stops mid sentence when he realises it's not photos and letters that Kai is mainly looking at, it's Cole's borderline stalkerish looking drawings of him. "I can explain those!"

"What's there to explain? I'm beautiful, it makes sense you'd draw me so much." Kai laughs, seemingly in a better mood with that cocky grin of his plastered on his face.

"You're super good at drawing, Cole." Kai says it with so much awe, making Cole's face flush.

"Yeah, well… I used to draw pictures for my mom when she was sick, and I guess I never really stopped." Cole settles down on the floor next to Kai, picking up one of his drawings as he scratches his neck nervously. "Plus you have good proportions."

"Is that me half naked?" Kai asks with a small giggle, pink dusting his cheeks as he points to the picture Cole's holding.

"Yeah." Cole avoids looking at Kai, crumpling the paper up in his hands as he feels his face heat up more. "Like I said, you have good proportions."

"Mhm, sure." Kai mumbles, returning his attention to the letters, drawings, and photos everywhere. "Do you ever draw the others?"

"Yeah, I drew Morro at dinner the other day, just to relieve stress." Cole reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded paper covered in small sketches of mostly Morro, but a few of Nya and Lloyd. "See."

"You totally have a crush on him." Kai bugs him, but Cole swears he can see something in Kai's face. His lips tighten, his brow furrows the tiniest bit. Kai is totally jealous of Cole and Morro hanging out more.

"Sure, Kai. I definitely have a crush on Morro." Cole says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "All I can think about is kissing his face, and hugging him when he's sad. Not like I do that with anyone else."

"You fucker, I was joking." Kai punches his arm lightly, leaning into him after, making Cole's heart flutter. Kai's face falls as he picks up a photo. "Wu.."

Cole leans into him as well, peering at the photo Kai is clutching. It's a group photo that they took the day after Cole and Morro came back. They're all beaming at the camera in their new gi, lined up all nice, Jay is hugging Nya and Zane, Kai had pulled Cole flush to his side, hanging off of him. Master Wu has Morro and Lloyd under each of his arms, holding his family close and tight. The old man looks so happy… Cole feels a pain in his chest similar to when he lost his mom. He feels something wet on his face, reaching up to find he's crying now.

"Hey, hey, hey! It's alright!" Kai cups his face, wiping away his tears. Cole could laugh at this, it's usually him wiping away others tears. "Rocky, you're fine, everything will be okay."

"You don't know that." Cole frowns, looking away from Kai's face, only for Kai's grip on him to drag him back.

"You're right, I don't. But we can do it together, I know we can." Kai smiles softly at him, rubbing a thumb over his cheek.

"You're strong, Cole. You're an inspiration to me as much as I seem to be to you." Kai nods to the drawings of himself, returning his attention to Cole.

Cole feels better with every moment they spend together like this. Knees pressed together, faces close. Cole doesn't feel like sobbing anymore, he just wants Kai there. He leans in, wrapping his arms around Kai, dragging them down to the ground into a sideways hug.

"Woah!" Kai exclaims as they hit the floor. "Cole, buddy, what're you doing?"

"Feeling better." He mumbles into Kai's shoulder, his hands clutching the red shirt Kai's wearing ever so tightly.

"Not gonna complain." Kai responds quietly, wrapping his arms around Cole in return.

Cole feels Kai run a hand through his hair, the feather light touches to his scalp send shivers through him as the fire ninja begins to rub circles. The sensation is unlike any other, warm and tingling, making Cole feel instantly better. He pulls away a bit after a few minutes of just letting it happen, looking at Kai. His eyes flick between his ember eyes and lips, Cole wants to kiss him until he can't breathe right then and there. But he resists, pushing away from Kai, sitting up. He shouldn't be thinking this way about Kai, not until everything is all sorted out.

"We should finish cleaning up in here." Cole stands, turning away so Kai can't see how flustered he is with everything that just happened.

"Yeah, you're probably right…" Kai says rather sadly as they get back to cleaning, there's an awkward air between them the whole time, all the way until they've finished.

--

They finish right on time dinner, the smell of whatever Zane has been cooking up all afternoon managed to waft down to the Bounty all the way into the cabin. Cole sniffs the air, immediately able to recognise its burritos, one of Kai’s favourites. He looks over to the aforementioned boy in the room with him, only to see that Kai’s looking at him already.

“That smells so good, Zane is torturous.” Kai complains with a groan, looking away from Cole quickly. “Let’s call it quits and head on up. First Master knows I need to shower after today, you probably need to too.”

"Yeah, alright." Cole says as they begin to head on up to the Temple, trying to convince himself that Kai already looking at him was pure chance.

–

Dinner was delicious as always, although Cole wouldn't know as he's scarfing his food back so fast he can't taste it. Kai is too. Except Kai is being lectured by his mom on how dangerously fast he's eating. Apparently, Lloyd and Zane had invited Ray and Maya over for dinner tonight, without letting anyone else know. Kai seems happy that they're there, but Nya keeps pushing away her parents parenting. Cole gets it, he has had a rocky relationship with his dad for years, on and off. He often rejects his father's lesson in the letters he receives, brushing it off as the old man doting. Cole gets pulled from his thinking by Ray asking Kai a question.

"So, son…" the old master of fire clears his throat, taking a sip of water before continuing. "Any girls catch your eye lately?"

"Ugh, dad…" Kai groans, his grip tightening around his own glass. "Yeah, but she's not looking for a relationship right now, but there is this guy…"

Kai pauses there, looking down shyly at his food, uncharacteristically of him.

"That's great, Kai." Ray smiles at him. "Tell us about this lucky fella!"

"Oh! Okay!" Kai perks up, a slight blush on his cheeks, Cole keeps his eyes trained on his plate. "He's amazing, a real pillar of strength in his community. He’s kinda an inspiration to me. I don't really know if we'll be more than friends, but I hope maybe, at some point, we might…I don't know, I'm still figuring things out."

“He sounds like a great guy, Kai.” Maya says sweetly.

“Yeah, Kai. He IS a great guy.” Nya bugs her brother.

Cole feels his heart beat fast and hard. Could Kai be talking about him? Or is he talking about some other guy? Kai's never been one to go out and seek friends, as far as Cole was aware he only talked with the rest of the ninja. Cole is snapped out of his slight spiral by a sharp kick from Lloyd across from him. He looks up at the green ninja’s face, he's mouthing something about paying attention, and then flashes Cole his mischievous grin.

"So, Nya… you and Jay?" Cole pays attention just in time to hear Maya turn her attention to Nya.

"Yes, mom." Nya sighs, rolling her eyes. "What about me and Jay?"

"Have you two… ya know?" Maya asks cautiously, Jay begins to choke on air.

"Mom! You can't just ask me that!" Nya groans, covering her blushing face up with her hands.

"I just want to be prepared for anything that comes up with you two." Maya tries to explain.

"Stop. Please, stop. I don't need this." Nya sounds like she wants to disappear, Jay is still dying on nothing.

"Honey, I think we've embarrassed our kids enough today." Ray laughs, urging his wife to sit back down.

"Alright, but just let me know if I should be expecting grandkids." Maya says, and it seems to be the tipping edge for Nya.

"Okay, alright! Jay and I makeout and stuff, but we've never gone further. I'm like 16, can you please stop!" Nya yells, her fingers digging into the table now.

"Yeah, even if we were doing… that stuff, Nya and I would be safe about it. We've barely even talked about kids besides who's babysitting Lloyd." Jay joins her in, his tone quieter, but equally as frustrated with this topic, seemingly done choking.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." Maya simmers down as their meal continues.

She makes Cole kind of glad his dad's never been invited to one of these, another part of him feels weird without his dad here. Cole sighs, unaware of how loud it was until Kai nudges him in the arm, leaning in to whisper away from prying ears.

"You okay? You've hardly touched your dessert." Kai asks him ever so quietly.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about things a bit too much." Cole gives him his classic reassuring smile, hoping it can mask his previous thoughts.

"Well, here, take your mind off things." Kai smiles at him, scooping some of the cake off of Cole's plate and bringing it up to his mouth. He hadn't even noticed the cake being served". Open, it's your favourite."

"Kai, I don't think-" Cole starts to talk but can't as his mouth is soon full of cake, he caves for the taste. Rich chocolate icing, soft chocolate cake, ganache between the layers, and sweet strawberries sliced on top. Cole hums delightfully with how amazing it all tastes.

"I knew you'd like it." Kai takes another forkful and brings it up to him again, but before Cole let's it get the better of him, he pushes Kai's hand away.

"Kai, stop."

"I thought this was your favourite?" Kai gives him a genuinely confused look.

"It is." Cole takes a deep breath, trying to recompose himself, to find some bullshit to say instead of everything he's been feeling all day. Scratch that. Instead of everything he's been feeling since he met Kai.

"I'm going on a diet. No more cake!" Cole says way too loudly, everyone who wasn't watching them already now is.

"What?" Jay asks, juice going through his nose for the second time that day.

"That is very uncharacteristic of you." Zane comments.

"Do you need more therapy?" Nya asks with concern.

"I'm doing it so I can focus on finding Master Wu." Cole tries to explain it like he knows what he's doing, mentally cursing at himself for the hole he's digging. Maybe it'll be better in the long run?

"Well, it's getting late." Lloyd seems to sense something up with Cole, taking charge of the situation. "Mr. And Mrs. Kai and Nya's parents, I'll be happy to escort you to your vehicle! Team, clean up dinner."

Chapter 34: Break Away

Summary:

New missions mean departures.

The briefing was explained rather simply by Nya, she spoke clearly to the Ninja she gathered in the main hall of the Temple of Airjitzu. The team was to divide into three groups, Morro, Lloyd, and Nya are to stay closer to the city to search in it and it's outskirting towns, Kai and Zane are to go towards the southern cities and make their way back to New Ninjago City through the desert, meanwhile Jay and Cole are headed north to the mountains to check out numerous temples and monasteries.

“Both Team B and Team C missions should only be 2-3 months long depending on how fast you plan on driving, but you should all have some money and enough food to last.” Nya explained. “You have today to prepare. Lloyd, you had something you wanted to say.”

Lloyd nods and steps forward in front of the group with a large opened box balanced on one arm while the other is reaching inside.

“Oooh, whats in the box?” Kai asks with a grin.

“As we all know, our gear isn't in the best shape, but before Wu… disappeared he got us those custom gi that we all really wanted.” Llyod folds open the flaps of the box, reaching in to pull out his bright green pants with slight gold details showing some sort of tail down the front. “Morro, come out now.”

Morro steps in from outside in the hallway, he's dressed in a new dark murky green gi, with new leather studded armour and a steel shoulder guard, his steel scimitars sheath tied to his hip with a black sash. If his outfit is any indicator of what's in that box, Cole is excited. Llyod starts handing them out as he pulls out each piece packed nicely in the large box, getting to Cole fourth.

“Um, I guess go get changed in our rooms?” Llyod suggests to them with a shrug. “Come back down when your done though.”

“Awe, come one! Can we at least shower?” Jay whines.

“Yeah, sure whatever.” Lloyds eyes keep glancing to the window as he speaks now. “I've got to go do something, actually. I'll just, um…”

“Llyod, are you alright?” Kai asks, stepping towards him.

“Yeah, I am. I'll call you guys when im-” Llyod rushes to the window, basically falling through it he's leaning so far out.

“Mom! What're you doing?” Llyod yells, and that gets everyone to the window to see Misako in the courtyard, with two suitcases full of things, her adventuring getup on.

“Why are your bags out?” Llyod continues yelling, Misako hasn't looked up at him.

“Mom! Where are you going?” Lloyds voice shakes, Cole looks over and his face is painful to look at, his eyes are brimming with tears and his lips are quivering.

“No, mom, stop!” Lloyd starts to crawl out onto the roof, running and jumping off to the main floor begging her to not leave him again.

Misako turns to him and says something that causes Lloyd to freeze, staring at her. They can't see his face, but by how his shoulders are slightly shaking, he's starting to cry. Misako starts walking away and Llyod sinks to his knees, doubling over as he starts to sob. The rest of the Ninja are now making their way outside quickly, rushing out the doors to see Llyod.

“Lloyd, you'll be okay.” Cole says kneeling down, placing a hand on his shoulder, rubbing him soothingly.

“Come on, bro.” Kai kneels in front of Lloyd, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a hug that lets him cry into Kai’s shirt.

“She's gone.” “She left me.” Why did she leave me.” Are a few of the small phrases that can be heard from him as he heaves into Kai's shirt for what feels like a lot longer than it actually was.

“We need to get him inside, it's supposed to rain tonight.” Zane says from where he and the others stand a bit back.

“I could carry him inside.” Cole suggest, looking to Kai for an answer, Kai hasn't looked this worried since Lloyd was possessed.

“Llyod, we are going to bring you inside, say something if you're against this.” Kai resumes his whispering, softly rubbing his back. “Cole is going to carry you now.”

“C’mon, Green Machine.” Cole hooks his arms around and under Lloyd, getting a good grip as he hoists him up to his chest and brings him inside, Kai right by his side, Morro joining him once they're in the temple.

They bring him to the sitting room, seating him upright on the couch but he flops onto his side and draws his legs in closer, bundling up tighter, clenching his eyes shut.

“She’s really gone, just like that, huh?” Jay asks nonchalantly, earning a glare from everyone else.

“Jay, he can hear you.” Nya chides him with a nudge.

“Sorry.” Jay pouts.

“Come one, big guy, you can't just shut down on me.” Kai tussles his hair gently, trying to get a response out of Lloyd, he sighs when he can't get one. “It's alright, I'm here anyways.”

“You guys should go change, I'll stay here with Lloyd.” Morro sits at Lloyd's feet at the end of the sofa, waving a hand to dismiss the rest of them.

“Are you sure?” Kai asks, starting to stand up.

“Yeah, you guys have missions to do.” Morro looks down at his cousin. “He's… he's my best friend, I can take care of him.”

“Alright.” Kai turns to Cole, a soft smile gracing his otherwise downtrodden face. “I think we left our new stuff in the dojo.”

–

They get to the dojo and quickly find their new stuff right where they left it. All Cole can think about is how much he's mad at Misako, and how thankful he is that Kai stepped up like that. Kai knows how to take care of others, something his fans and stuff probably don't realise with how much of a show-off Kai can be. It was really heartwarming to see him with Lloyd, but it also made Cole think about Kai raising kids, and that quickly transformed into them raising kids together.

He gets startled out of this once Kai grabs his hand and starts to lead him upstairs to their shared room with the others. Cole feels his warmth spread in him from where Kai's clutching him, all the way up his arm, past his fast beating heart, until it reaches his brain. Cole feels like he's on fire inside and out. His thoughts start to spiral further into just Kai. Kai’s skin against his, how his heart only beats this hard when he's around Kai. He’s pretty sure he’d do anything for him if he asked Cole to, within certain limits sure, but those limits are very few. They reach the room finding it completely devoid of others, Cole snaps out of it with that, stunned by that lack of people.

“Huh, where's Jay and Zane?” Cole asks no one in particular.

“Jay’s probably snogging my sister.” Kai laughs, rolling his eyes at the thought. “And I think Zane wandered to the kitchen.”

“Hm, makes sense. He can just use his thing now to change his appearance.” Cole adds, his heart sinking as Kai lets go of his hand.

Cole feels a blush slowly creep up when he realises Kai is using that hand to take off his shirt, turning away to place it nicely on his bed next to his new clothes. Cole bites his lip as his eyes scan over Kai’s back, imagining what his muscles would feel like under his hands. Then Kai bends over, starting to take of his pants, and Coles eyes go wide when Kai’s meet his.

Kai snaps up, bringing his pants back up, his head twisting to chew Cole out.

“What're you looking at, huh?” He snickers, a smug look on his reddened face, the smallest twitch in his lips showing his unease.

“I'm, uh… sorry.” Cole turns away blushing furiously. and starts to undo his clothes, slipping of his shirt and tugging on the new one before doing the same with his pants and leggings.

“Oh wow.” Cole hears, and he turns around to see Kai ogling him from a few feet away. “No sleeves are good on you, Cole.”

“You like my arms?” Cole quirks a brow at him, that blush he has is impossible to hide.

“You have nice arms, what can I say?” Kai shrugs, stepping the slightest bit closer.

Cole takes the awkward lull in their conversation to take in the new look on Kai, and he’s liking it so far. He's got two overlapping red and orange parts made from a thicker material, a darker red shirt underneath, and it's the same red pants from before. Cole smiles at Kai, looking into his violet eyes.

“Cole, I want to give you something before we all part for our separate missions.” Kai smiles back, his face seems less distraught now.

“What is it?” Cole asks, thrilled that Kai wants to give him a goodbye gift, and worried that he doesn't have anything to give him in return.

Kai steps closer, they're now less than a foot apart, basically sharing air. He brings a hand up to Cole's neck, the other to his waist, and before he knows it Kai has drawn him close and is kissing him. Kai’s lips are everything and more than what Cole ever could've imagined, and he imagined it a lot. They're soft against him, yet kissing rough enough to make Cole excited, and he tastes of cherry and smoke, something Cole didn't expect at all. Before Cole can even kiss him back though, Kai has drawn back, his hands still in place.

“What?” Cole mumbles half-coherent, his brain dazed from that actually happening.

“I just needed to see.” Kai swallows hard, his eyes averting Coles, his fingers playing with Coles baby hairs keeping him dazey. “It was nice.”

“Um, yeah it was.” Cole steps back, back until the back of his knees hit a bed and he sits down. “I just- Kai.”

“Cole.” Kai takes a tentative step forward, his arms now crossed over each other defensively.

“Kai, you can't just kiss me like that!” Cole buries his face in his hands, feeling like such a hot mess right now.

“Why not? I wanted to kiss you, and I felt like it was the right moment.” Kai tries to explain himself, but it's just causing Cole to be more confused about the Master of Fire.

“We are about to not see eachother for months on end, and now is when you kiss me?” Cole looks at him with wide eyes, he may have wanted to kiss Kai, but this wasn't the time. “How is that the right moment?”

“Hey! I thought you liked me? I thought you wanted it!” Kai frowns, his arms tightening, his eyes look down at the floor. “I'm sorry.”

“No. Fuck.” Cole sighs, he stands up and walks back to Kai, his face softening as he cups Kai’s jaw. “Kai, I do want it. I need it. I need you.”

“Cole, Im sorry, I didnt-” he tries to apologise, but Cole, without any forethought, kisses him to shut him up.

Cole swallows hard before he leans in, kissing Kai with everything he's felt for the other up until this point behind it. It's tender and slow this time. Kai’s arms return to where they were just minutes ago on Cole’s neck and waist, drawing Cole in closer. They both pull away, but not too far this time. They smile at each other softly, Kai’s thumb rubbing Cole’s jaw line sends rushes of heat through him.

“You need to stop apologising to me so much.” Cole chides him, keeping his voice low. “You mean so much to me, don't you say you didn't mean it.”

“I want you too.” Kai visibly swoons for him, and it melts his heart, especially with what he has to say. “I want this.”

“You’re still waiting it out for Sky though.” Cole looks away, closing his eyes for a moment to think his words through, and to not see the pain he just caused Kai. “I'm going on a diet, that includes you, you drive me crazier than cake ever has.”

“What? Why? I want to kiss you and be near you, isn't that enough?” Kai looks at him, looking a bit defeated by his words, so Cole gently grasps the hand on his neck.

“You're more than enough, but I need you to love me, Kai.” He brings Kai's hand to his heart so he can feel it beating wildly in his chest, looking down at him with pleading eyes. “If you let me in, and you don't love me back, it'll kill me.”

“Im sorr-” Kai stops himself this time, his eyes darting around Coles face, trying to come up with anything to say back.

“I cant- fucking dammit!” Kai looks down at their hands clasped together before looking right back up at Cole. “Why do you have to be so perfect?”

“Uh, hey guys.” Jay pops his head from the door to their side.

Cole looks at him all covered in subtle lipstick marks all over his face, his hair more messed up than usual. Cole wants to scream. He wants that, he needs what they have so bad. He needs it with Kai. He knows it's his, that dumb tomb with the ice walls told him as much with that figure by Kai’s side. So why doesn't Kai ever actually act like he needs him back?

“What is it Jay?” Cole makes no attempts to cut the strange tension they've fostered in here for the sake of their friend. “Can't you see we are busy?”

“Zane is making dinner. You guys should come down soon.” He looks at Kai’s and his hands pressed on his chest.

“Okay, you can go now.” Kai snarks at him, keeping his eyes trained on one spot on Cole's shirt.

Once Jay leaves the room, Kai looks Cole dead in the eyes, he's so close he can see himself reflecting.

“I don't know what's going on with me completely, but if you still feel something when we both get back, I really, really enjoyed kissing you, I enjoy being around you.” Kai sighs hard. “We can talk about this then, so don't you fucking dare tell me what I need, or want, ever again.”

Cole nods, and that's enough for Kai. He backs away and heads to the door, pausing to look back at Cole. “Zane and I are leaving tonight. See me off?”

“Yeah.” Cole feels his brain go fuzzy, leaning back as he hears the door shut behind Kai.

He breathes in and out a few times to regain his composure. Today has been wild. He's not too entirely sure what emotions he's feeling right now, everything is a swirl. Lloyds gone into a depressive state with his mom leaving to look for their missing master, Kai feels like it's his fault Wu’s gone, and now he knows Cole's whole thing with him leaving him with the weight of that. Whatever, Cole tells himself, Kai will be fine without me, he has been before.

–

The wind is rough tonight, howling and biting. Cole feels bad for Zane and Kai having to leave in this weather, it's been raining on and off all evening and they have miles to travel in this. He feels bad about things other than weather too, but they don't have time for it right now. Cole needs to be the grown up, he has to be the one who keeps this group together while Wu is gone, maybe even longer. It's hard to say goodbye to people, even if you know they're coming back.

Cole declines down the steps of the temple, walking up to where his friends are gathering around Kai and Zane, he smiles when Kai looks at him. Kai’s effect on him will be missed, whether he wants it to or not, he hopes it's the same for him. Cole opens his arms to Kai, and Kai rushes him, arms immediately wrapping around one another. Cole takes a deep breath, Kai smells like the powder they use for their suits and smoke. He wants to kiss him again, so badly, but he just squeezes his fist tight around the fabric of Kai's shirt.

“I'll miss you too.” Kai says for him and just him.

Cole is the last one standing outside after Kai and Zane drive away, spending the rest of the night thinking about their kisses from earlier.

Notes:

They deserved to kiss, we are how many words in and they hadn't? What the fuck was I thinking? Anyways! As usual, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

Chapter 35: Reuinions

Summary:

The Ninja reunite for a special cause.

Cole thought he’d be fine seeing him again, Jay disagreed like the little gremlin he is. He seems to think Cole is going to completely relapse on cake, cake always was said with a sly wink. It made Cole roll his eyes each time. His body is a temple, he needs to be able to not give into his cravings, it's gotten him and the rest of their team in trouble before on missions. And he also has to focus on finding Wu, the disappearance of their master really putting damper on the team sparkle.So that's why he and Jay are here trudging through the blizzard to get to some monastery up one of the taller mountains in Ninjago.

Travelling with Jay and Jay alone was one of the best and worst things Cole has experienced, including dying in a haunted house and everything that came with it. Jay is his best friend, his ultimate wing-man, his favourite gamer. However Jay has a very lovable, yet annoying at times, never ending wall of text coming out of his mouth. The two of them were investigating a lead in the monastery when they got the call that Lloyd wants the team back.

They were told to meet up at Cyrus Borg's apartment in New Ninjago City. By the time he and Jay had gotten there, Nya and Zane had been there for 15 minutes already. Jay rushes over to Nya the second he sees her, embracing her tightly. Cole could be wrong, but he thinks Nya might be taller than the last time he saw her months ago, her hair has certainly gotten longer given that it's all tied up.

“Where's Kai?” Jay asks after he unlatches from his girlfriend, not fully though, he's still holding her hand like it's the last thing he's ever going to do.

“Yeah, I thought you and Kai were together on that mission chasing down what's-his-metal-face.” Cole asks, looking at Zane with a quirked brow.

“The Mechanic.” Zane corrects him with a smile. “He should be here any minute according to his tracking chip.”

“Wait, you have us chipped?” Jay voices the rest of the groups concern.

“Hey, what's up?” Kai walks into the room, and all Cole can think about was that secret goodbye kiss he was given, full of yearning and unsteadiness of a group parting ways, even though they knew it was only for a while.

“Hey, bro!” Nya beams at him, high-fiving and doing some more intricate handshakes afterwards.

Kai turns his attention to greet Jay, but Jay is just grinning at him as Nya whispers to him. Kai shakes his head, turning to Cole, looking him once over as he leans on the glass counter behind him.

“Cole. You look…” Kai trails off for a moment, quickly spitting out: “Good. Really good. Not like that, but yeah, you have, uh…. Really kept to that no cake thing, huh? Yes you have, indeed. I mean like wow, dude!”

Kai mutters something to himself before he quickly resembles his cool face. Cole feels warm all over, it's making his gut Tingley and his heartbeat fast. He hadn't felt this warmth without Kai around for the last few months, it felt like the sun shining on him again. Cole might not be able to keep to his no cake rule, the piece just keeps getting better. Kai is complimenting him, but Cole should really be the one doing all the complimenting. Kai got taller, he got wider, and he got a new haircut finally. Cole lets himself look Kai over, taking in the way he's filling out his gi better, it hugs him tighter in his shoulders and hips.

“You too, firefly.” Is all Cole manages to say, looking away to Zane to hide his embarrassed blush.

“Your face is all red, do you want me to cool it?” Zane asks in earnest, making Cole blush harder.

“No, Zane, I'm fine.” Cole smiles, sighing sweetly. “I'm fine.”

There's the sound of the door opening, five heads turn towards it, laughing and cheering as Lloyd walks over to them.

“Hey, there he is!” Kai pushes off the counter and runs halfway across the room to meet his younger brother with a highfive.

“You're late.” Kai puts his hands on his hips, leaning to the side like a mother scolding him.

“Kai was late, too, if it is any consolation.” Zane checks Kai, and Kai shakes his head.

“Thanks for meeting me here.” Lloyd says in a voice that is very much not the voice any of them remember. “It's been a while since we've all been under one roof.”

Cole elbows Jay, all of them laughing at how suddenly deep his voice is now.

“What?” Lloyd says it like he doesn't know it even happened to him.

“Are we gonna talk about it?” Jay asks, and arm over Cole and Nya each as they all crowd closer around Llyod.

“Talk about what?” Lloyd is still clueless.

“Your voice. Its–” Cole starts to get out before Zane interjects.

“Lower.” He says it in his weird raspy robot voice but pitched down.

Llyod pouts at the teasing, more so once Kai starts psychically teasing him, coming up beside him at giving him noogies.

“So our little ninja is growing up!” Kai laughs with a huge smile as he pats and equally smiley Llyod on the back.

“Leave him alone!” Nyas face scrunched up into a smile nearly identical to her big brothers.

Her face changes to a rather sad look as she sighs, her smile going soft, her shoulders visibly drop. “Any news from your mother?”

Lloyds eyes zone into the wall behind them, his smile breaking. Cole recognizes the grief in Lloyds eyes, he knows why it's there. It's unfair. He's still a kid, sometimes people forget that. Misako shouldn't have. She should've stayed with Llyod instead of abandoning him again. She's a great person, and one of the top three smartest people that Cole knows, but she's never seemed to be a very present mother.

“I haven't heard from her since she went searching for Master Wu.” Llyod walks through the group, keeping his back turned away as his newly deep voice shakes slightly. “I don't know where she is.”

“She’ll come back Llyod.” Cole walks closer to Llyod, being sure that his tone is reassuring. “And so will Wu.”

“Not everyone comes back, Cole.” Llyod turns around with steely eyes as he says it with a cutting undertone that jabs at him.

Cole knows he's just upset, there's a lot on his shoulders and he's not even an adult yet, neither are Nya or Jay technically. They're just a bunch of kids meant to save the world, and sometimes it makes a person cranky, especially when you lose something or someone to win. And trust him, they've had to lose their fair share, he doesn't blame Lloyd for how his words hurt.

“But that isn't why I called you here.” Lloyds tone changes again to one of urgency as he holds up his BorgPhone. “I called you because of this.”

“Your father? Lord Garmadon?” Cole says while the others gasp.

“After poking around, I've learned it's the symbol to—”

“The sons of Garmadon.” Zane interjects, stepping up to have the room's attention. “A mysterious criminal syndicate growing prominence in New Ninjago City.”

“Seventy-two hours ago, they stole a powerful relic from Cyrus Borg. Some mask–”

“Not some mask.” Llyod is interrupted again, his eye twitches a little with annoyance.

“The Oni Mask.” The speaker walks through the room as he speaks, waving one hand around as he talks while the other rests behind his back. “There are only three in existence.”

He pauses behind the glass counter Kai was leaning on before Llyod walked in a few minutes ago, he turns from the group as if in thought.

“Woah, I'm confused.” Jay scratches the back of his head. “How can there be three mask when you just said it's the only mask?”

“Not only, Jay.” Nya wraps an arm over her boyfriends shoulders, gently correcting him. “Oni.”

“The Oni are said to be all-powerful beings.” Zane interjects again with more useful facts right into Jays ear. “Demons that predate Ninjago.”

“Each mask embodies one of the three Oni Warlords.” The mysterious new man turns his face to them. “If all three masks are united, whomever owns them will wield tremendous power.”

“Ninja, this is Mr. Hutchins,” Llyod comes up to introduce the stranger finally. “Master at Arm's and Counsel to the royal family. I've asked him here.”

“The royal family?” Kai gives Llyod a quick questioning look before Hutchins voice draws everyone attention back.

“Apologies.” Hutchins turns to them fully, both his arms resting behind him now. “They honour their privacy, as they do for the safety of Ninjago.”

“Let me guess.” Cole sighs, giving this royal counsel guy his best are-you-serious look. “They have an Oni Mask too.”

“Two? Now there's two?” Jay still doesn't get it, but Nya covers his mouth before he embarrasses himself.

“The Emperor will be delivering a public speech tomorrow, and I'm worried the Sons of Garmadon may try to steal the mask.” The man exaggerates his words with hand movements. “We could use your assistance, that is, if you can keep a low profile.”

“We are Ninja.” Zane shuffles to be in front again, changing into his human disguise. “No one will know we are there.”

“Just let us know where and when.” Llyod steps in front of Zane, smiling proudly as he bows to Mr. Hutchins.

Mr. Hutchins bows back and then begins to leave. As soon as he's gone, Llyod seems to have relaxed more, same with the others. That guy being in the room made everyone stiffen up and stand up straighter apparently, including Cole. He lets his shoulders fall back to relax a bit, releasing tension he didn't even realise.

“So, what do we do now?” Jay asks, Nya’s arm still around him.

“We go to our house, unwind and prepare for tomorrow.” Cole steps up with direction, someone has to be responsible, keep this family together while Wu’s gone. “Let's go home.”

–

They practically race to get outside and on the main floor first, Zane takes the elevator though, managing to beat them all somehow.

“Slow and steady wins the race.” Zane says, as if he's not got a single competitive part in him.

“As if!” Cole laughs as Jay yells at Zane. “You totally cheated. Probably got Pix to hack the elevator!”

“Hey, Cole! Come ride with me!” Cole turns around to see Kai, this is a good thing for Zane’s sake, waving him over from where he's sitting atop his motorcycle holding an extra helmet.

Cole takes a deep breath, reminding himself of his new thing of not indulging in things like cake. Even if it is the only slice Cole has been thinking of for months on end, the cake that's taste still lingers on his lips. He can hear Jay already teasing him for thinking about him again.

“Come on, Cole. Everyone else is gone.” Kai chides him, annoyance becoming more clear in his tone.

Cole quickly snaps out of it, blushing a bit as he reprimands himself for staring that long after a simple gesture of friendship. He jogs up to Kai’s bike, taking the helmet and putting it on before he climbs up, wrapping his arms around Kai's middle.

“You ready?” Kai asks, revving his engine, the vibration of it goes right through Cole, exciting him in the way riding open-air vehicles often did.

“Blow me away, hot rod.” Cole laughs, leaning into Kai as the bike takes off instantly, Kai quickly pops a wheelie once they've gained enough speed.

“Nice tricks.” Cole chuckles, as Kai does a jump and then slides into a turn upon landing.

“Thanks, um, thank you.” Kai stammers over his words, Cole can feel him getting warmer against his chest.

—

They get to the temple and Cole is relieved to see it's exactly the same, but then he's concerned it's stayed exactly the same. He’s also relieved to see that Nya and Jay picked up some takeout for everyone on their way home, Cole recognizes the smell wafting through the temple, grabbing Kai's hand to lead him into the kitchen. A delighted smile spreads across his face as he sees the delicious spread of seven pizza’s. It feels like it's been forever since they've all sat down for a dinner together, it's something Cole missed more than he'd want to admit.

It's quick to go to bed after dinner, they have to be at the palace first thing in the morning to secure the perimeter of the walls, they're not permitted to go inside despite being there for additional security. Cole is glad to be in his bed by the window once more, the view of the moon slowly rising past that pretty pink cherry tree is an image that can't compare to anything else.

Cole sits up to fully take it in, leaning against the window, he turns to look around the room at the others. There's Llyod asleep, he's twisting and turning. Morros bed is empty, Llyod hasn't mentioned anything about him since they met at Cyrus’s apartment, Cole feels his chest swarm with guilt for a moment, he should've reached out while he was gone more. Then his eyes shoot to the only other bed he can see, Kais bed, where he is resting peacefully.

Cole sighs.

No contact with everyone while they were away was hard, but it beat trying to get a signal from the alps whenever anything happened. No contact helped with quitting cake though, it gave him the time to meditate, to reflect on himself and his feelings about everything that happened leading up to Wu’s disappearance, and everything that happens with Kai before they split for missions. He decided that he's gotta step up, he has to fill that hole that Wu has left as best he can, and he's got to stop obsessing over this fucking guy.

“Not everyone comes back, Cole.” His mind drifts to Lloyds harsh words from earlier as he lays back down, falling into a restless sleep.

Notes:

Happy yearly Stone and Fire update! I'm turning 22 this year, you won't get another chapter of this from me again until next year probably!