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21st-century-ninja · 3 years ago

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though she be but little

Hey Merry Christmas @m-aster-of-spinjitzu!!! I got to write for you for the @ninjagosecretsanta2021 event, and honestly I had a blast doing this one XD I know you asked for some hurt/comfort and I did my best to stick to it, but I fear this might have become a bit fluffy in the end. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little bit of Colania! It’s also on ao3 here :D

The sun is warm on his back as he leans forward to capture another wisp of hair. Cole brushes through the strand lightly with his fingers, detangling and smoothing it before he adds it to the section already in his hands. When his fingertips brush against Vania’s head again, she sighs and leans back into his hands.

“How’s it looking?”

“Per-itty good, if I do say so myself.”

“Can I see?”

“No, but you can feel.” Gently, he guides her hand up, up to where the integrated braid presses against her scalp. She runs her fingers over the silky surface.

“It’s nice!”

“Hey, don’t sound so surprised! I can be a delicate guy.”

Despite him telling her not to, Vania twists around. Cole grunts and chases after her head to keep the braids the proper tautness. “That’s not what I meant,” she says. “How did you get so good at this?”

Cole guides her back to her original position, readjusting his strands. “I used to do it with my mom,” he says back. “But I haven’t got a chance in a while. Nya’s hair was too short for the longest time, and Kai doesn’t let anyone near his head with a ten-foot pole. And if we’re being frank, I’m too scared to touch the greasy mop that Lloyd calls hair.”

Vania laughs. The noise causes Chompy, who’s been napping in another patch of sunlight, to perk his head up. He stretches like a dog, wings opening up all the way and tail whipping side to side before he glances back in their direction. Vania coos.

“Chompy! Come here, good boy!”

The little dragon settles in her lap, head resting on her leg like it’s his personal pillow. Vania pets over his head and Chompy makes a chuffing noise, snuggling down further.

Cole pauses in the middle of a rope braid. The sound is painfully familiar, and one he hadn’t realized he’d forgotten until just now.

He has to stay still for a long moment, waiting out the wave of emotion that sweeps suddenly through him. “You know,” he says, the words tumbling free from his mouth before he realizes, “I used to have a dragon too."

Vania perks up. “Of course!” She turns around again, and this time, Cole doesn’t have the energy to scold her as the braid pulls free from his hands. “Rocky, right? One of my books had a whole page on him- well, him and the other dragons, too. I always thought he looked the most like a Ridgeback."

Cole shrugs. “Maybe he was. That noise that Chompy made just now- he always made that same noise when I gave him liver and toads.”

"Really? That’s hilarious!” Vania bends over to fuss with Chompy. “Did you hear that?” she asks in a baby voice. “You and Rocky make the same sounds! What a good boy!”

Cole’s smile fractures around the edges. Thankfully, Vania seems oblivious to his mood.

“What ever happened to them?” she asks, tilting her head back toward him. “I know he combined with the other ninja’s to form the Ultra Dragon, but it seems like after a while, they just... vanished."

Cole’s heart aches. He fixes his smile, trying to look normal. However that’s supposed to look. “Yeah, basically. They had to go back to their original home, the First Realm. But-" He swallows and reaches for her hair again, needing something to ground himself as he speaks. “But- when the guys and I got stuck in the First Realm, the Iron Baron- he was the top guy there- his throne… It was them.”

“Them?” Vania asks, before the realization catches up to her. She gasps out loud, hand flying to her mouth. Spinning around, she rips her hair from his hands again. This time, Cole doesn’t bother trying to hold on. "Oh- oh my gosh, Cole. That’s horrible! Are you okay? I can’t even begin to imagine."

Cole does a little one-shoulder shrug. “I’m okay now. It was a while ago.” Even as he speaks, his heart clenches. The truth of the matter is that there had been so much else going on that the realization barely had time to register with him before it was shoved away by the more-immediately pressing things. He draws in a quiet breath, recentering himself. “Anyway, we put a stop to the Baron’s reign, and Firstborne watches over the realm now, so there’s no chance of it happening to any more dragons.”

Vania is still watching him. Cole braces himself for her pity, or worse, her derision- it wouldn’t be the first time someone’s reacted to him that way; he’s learned the hard way that the world isn’t kind to men who show their emotions- but she’s just looking back at him seriously, eyebrows slightly furrowed and her eyes gentle. The pressure in Cole’s chest eases, and he scolds himself. Of course she’s not that type of person.

“That’s really good, then,” she says softly. “I’m glad. You saved them, Cole.”

Cole rubs the back of his neck. “Ha, it was all of the guys, not just me.” He gives her a small grin. “But thank you. I’m glad too.”

“Queen Vania!”

The call comes from the other side of the hedge, some attendant with panic lacing through his voice. Both of them sigh in unison.

“I’m over here!” Vania calls back. “I’ll be right with you!”

Cole stands and brushes the grass off his gi, helping Vania do the same. Her braids are unbalanced to one side still, but that can’t be helped.

“Well,” she says, trying for brightness again. “Duty calls.” Her face falls. “Oh, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you before you leave.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be back to visit as soon as I can.”

She smiles up at him, and this time it’s more real. “You better.”

Cole takes her hand and squeezes it. “I’ll be counting down the days until I see you again. Promise.”

---

“So when I said “see you again”, this wasn’t really what I had in mind.”

With his eyes covered, Cole can’t see her face, but he still grins at the way Vania's tinkling laugh rings out behind him. “Is this funny to you?” he demands, making sure to keep his voice on the safe side of teasing.

“A little bit, sorry.” Slim fingers press against his back between his shoulder blades, and Cole stumbles forward. “Oh, my bad!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cole says. He holds out his hands in front of him. “Don’t rush me when I can’t see, okay?” He was only (a little bit) exaggerating when he tripped forward. The hallway’s not narrow enough for his fingers to brush either wall, and the lack of information leaves him disoriented. It feels wrong to be led around like this, but Cole trusts Vania and knows that she would never hurt him, so he forces the wrongness down and ignores it. “I’m dying to know what’s so important that it needs all this secrecy.”

“Well, if you stopped running into walls, maybe we’d get there faster.”

“Well,” Cole shoots back in the same tone, “if you stopped directing me into them, maybe I’d stop running into them so much.”

Vania laughs again. “Oh, Cole, I missed you.” They pause, and Cole hears the quiet rustle of her skirts as she steps around him. “None of the other court members treat me like you do.”

“Is it still hard?” Cole asks, turning his blindfolded eyes in the direction he thinks she’s in. “If they’re not accepting you as queen, then I can, I don’t know, knock some sense into them.”

“It’s not that. Honestly, they do respect me. A bit too much, actually.” The last sentence is said much softer than the others. “But nope!” she says abruptly, loud and bright again, clasping her hands together with a dull smack. “I called you up here for a reason, not to hear about me!” She steps away, and Cole hears the unmistakable sound of a door opening in front of him. “Cole, may I present to you your surprise!”

The blindfold is pulled from his eyes. Cole squints, blinking rapidly. They’re in a room of some kind, with bright white light spilling in from the outside window. It’s nearly blinding, going so suddenly from darkness to light, but as his eyes adjust he sees-

Jaw dropping, Cole lets out what is definitely not a squeal. “Chompy had babies?"

“Surprise!”

The Ridgeback sprawls in his large form, taking up nearly all of the space inside the tower room- but he’s not the only thing here. Four or five little forms scamper around his stretched-out limbs, tumbling over his tail and gnawing at his paws.

Cole presses his hands against his cheeks. "Oh my gosh, Vania, babies! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Vania laughs. When Cole glances back to her, she's leaning against the doorframe, beaming. “When was I supposed to do that, before or after you vanished off to the jungle for weeks?”

Chompy shifts, and Cole realizes that all the adult dragon mass in the room isn’t just him. A second dragon lifts their head from where it was resting on Chompy’s back. She has to be the mother, Cole thinks. The babies couldn’t have come from nowhere.

The two dragons chirp and chuff lowly at each other, and then the female turns her head and looks right at Cole. Cole freezes. Two pairs of eyes regard him, one icy blue, one glittering golden. Their combined stare is overpowering, and before he can even really think through his actions, Cole bows his head, averting his own gaze.

One of the dragons- Cole can’t see which- puffs out a quiet breath. There’s movement, and when he chances to look up, the two of them aren’t looking at him anymore. The female untwines herself from Chompy. Rising and stretching, she pads across the room to nip one baby by the back of the neck.

Chompy stretches too, settling so that his back legs are pointing out behind him like a dog. He huffs softly, and the female bumps him with her head as she passes him on the way to the big bay window. Right before she steps through the shimmering forcefield that replaces the window glass, she pauses and looks once more at Cole. This time, her gaze feels more intense, more weighty, and this time, Cole holds it. He doesn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but the female’s tail flicks side to side and something about the motion feels pleased. She’s the one to break their stare, and when she steps through the forcefield and disappears into the horizon, some of the tenseness in Cole’s shoulders relaxes. He exhales out loud.

“What was that about?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Vania says, quickly, but Cole isn’t sure if that’s because she’s evading the question or if she’s just eager to introduce him to the babies. “We can get closer now,” she says, tugging on Cole’s sleeve and lending further credence to the second option. “C’mon!”

She darts into the room, glancing back to make sure he’s following her. Cole does at a slower pace, glancing at Chompy from the corner of his eye. But the great dragon doesn’t stir, doesn’t even lift his head as Cole approaches his children.

Cole exhales quietly again. A rush of jitters swells within him as he realizes the trust that’s been given him.

“Over here,” Vania calls. She’s standing in the center of the baby-dragon pile, beaming down at each of them. Most of the babies have stopped fooling around with each other now, too interested in the newcomers. They bat at the edges of her skirts and try to climb up her dress, but she just laughs and gently nudges them away. She’s looking for a certain one, and when she finds it, she ahas and scoops it up in her arms. Holding the baby in her arms like a puppy, Vania bounds back to Cole. The rest of the babies seem to find this uninteresting and return to their former game.

"This one's the friendliest," Vania confides, bouncing the baby gently. "I recognize her because of the dark spots on her head.” Indeed, there are two dark gray blotches on the baby’s otherwise pale head that make it look hilariously like she has angry eyebrows. “Do you want to hold her?"

"Can I?" Cole's hands are reaching out before he finishes his question. Vania sets the baby gently in his arms.

The baby dragon shifts around. When she is finally comfortable, she rests her head on his arm and heaves out a great sigh. Cole laughs quietly. Vania does too.

“Pure Shintaran Ridgeback,” she says proudly. “One of Shintaro’s national treasures. The dragons only breed when they’re happy and feel completely safe in their environment, but their birth rates have been dropping over the last couple of centuries.” Her face falls. “We had no clue why, but knowing what we know about Hazza D’ur now, it all makes sense.” She reaches out and pets down the back of the baby dragon. “You’re one of the first outsiders- no, first persons , Shintaran or not- to see a clutch in at least over 100 years. Maybe even longer.”

Cole swallows. He runs his own hand down the baby’s head, solemn, but he can’t fight back his smile when the baby pushes back into his hand. “Thank you so much for letting me see them," he says. "I’m honored, truly.”

Vania shifts from foot to foot. “Actually, I was hoping you'd be up for a little more than just seeing them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was wondering if you’d actually like to takeherwithyou?”

Cole chokes on his spit. “What?" he splutters. "Wait a minute, can you repeat that? Did you say, "take her with me?"”

Vania lights up. “Yeah! So surprise number two! You're a dad now! Yay!”

Cole's words are frozen in his throat. The longer he doesn't respond, the more Vania's face falls. “Wait, no, let me try that again," she says. “So remember the last time you were over here? You probably don’t. But somehow, we started talking about dragons, and then like immediately after you left I learned that Chompy had had eggs for weeks without letting me know-” She makes a sharp cutoff motion with her hands. “But that’s beside the point. The point is,” she continues softer, “the babies are almost independent now. They’re ready to leave their parents, and I just knew you’d be the perfect guy to look after one of them because of how good you were with Rocky and the other dragons. Not that I'm not trying to replace him! I know he's special to you- I mean, I can't imagine ever replacing Chompy-"

“Vania, Vania, hey,” Cole says, her worry and the need to relieve it finally unlocking his tongue. He reaches out and touches her shoulder gently, and she quiets. “I’m not upset about that- I wasn’t even thinking of that, honest. I just can’t believe-” He has to pause for a moment so that his voice won’t do anything embarrassing like crack in the middle of his sentence. “You mean it? I can have her?” His eyes rise like they’ve been magnetized and lock with Chompy’s, who sometime in the last handful of minutes has come closer so he’s standing over Vania’s shoulder. “You’re okay with this? Both of you?”

Chompy blows out gently through his nose. He blinks slowly at Cole like a cat.

“Cole,” Vania says. When he looks at her, her expression is soft. “You and your family have done so much for us- not just me and Chompy, but all of Shintaro. It would be our honor if you adopted her.”

Cole swallows. “Then yeah,” he says, and the smile that spreads across his face is as tentative as he feels, still unable to fully believe this is real. “Yeah, okay. I will.”

Vania bursts into a cheer. Some of the other baby dragons look up before dismissing her and returning to their tumbling. The baby in his arms squirms like she wants to join them. Cole shifts her so he doesn't accidentally drop her.

“Does she have a name?” he asks.

Vania shakes her head. “Not yet. I wanted to let you decide.”

Cole looks down at the little dragon. Almost like she senses it, she lifts her head. Two eyes, the color of liquid gold, meet his underneath dark angry eyebrow spots. So little, yet so strong, demonstrated by the way she digs her feet into his side when he won’t let her go. Cole laughs and finally lets her run back to her siblings.

“Pebble,” he says. “I think I’ll call her Pebble.”

#fic #cole #vania #my fic #ninjago secret santa 2021 #ninjagosecretsanta #ninjago #ninjago fic

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m-aster-of-spinjitzu · 3 years ago

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to see; to be seen

hiya there @fangirltakesall! i was your secret santa:D for the @ninjagosecretsanta2021 - i really hope that you enjoy reading this! and i hope that you have a great christmas and an awesome festive season:D

i hope that this was queued right? timezones are weird xD

you asked for hurt/comfort, the main girl trio, and characters realising that their lives have changed and deciding what to do about it.

i give you,,, pix and nya, after the last episode of s8.

(i tried to include skylor, so many times, but my brain said 'no<3' - i'm so sorry! ik you said trio, it's literally been keeping me up at night but the words didn't wanna cooperate:/. ahh i'm really sorry).

trigger warnings: mentions/a short flashback of pix's body being smashed in s4, grief and all the stuff that comes w/ it, implied self harm (not much but just mentioning to be safe)

word count: 7 026

also - it warrants a mention that you can stop reading at the '---' mark, but there's a bit of an,, epilogue at the end, from misako's pov. i needed someone who'd had experience with that kind of thing to talk to pix about it, so comes in her character, but ik a lot of the fandom doesn't like her - which is fine! if so, just stop reading at the '---' mark:D

and- oh gosh this A/N is so long, but:

lloyd's not sleeping he's concussed (to explain why he fell asleep to quickly), pix was locking her emotions away w/ code when she was talking to nya (hence why she was so calm and didn't think of the others often), the ice is nice thing is a line from the movie, and the dorris day one is the line from the movie bloopers (on yt). the ninja went to go watch a movie that darreth let a bunch of people make (tlnm), so that's how they know abt it. misako had friends in college who went through similar things (referring to her characterisation in the 'epilogue'), so that's why she kept thinking not again, because she didnt want to see anyone else hurt like that. also nya kept tracing a star on her hand, kai used to do that w/ her when she was little, whenever she was scared (for some context/explanation).

anyyyways, here's the fic!:D i've never done a secret Santa before i hope it turned out okay-

It's cold.

It's freezing cold.

It's the kind of cold that you can't seem to get rid of, no matter how many times you bundle on more layers, or toss and turn, trying to fall asleep.

The warehouse - one that they've used to store their mechs in the past - obviously doesn't come with separate rooms, like the monastery or the-

She squeezes her eyes shut - as if that simple motion will block out the memory that plays behind them.

"Nya- Nya, I'm so sorry-"

Her brother's hysterical voice echoes in the alleyway that they'd just stepped into, after mooring the boat they'd managed to scrounge up last-minute. She's kinda preoccupied with trying to check if any of the Sons of Garmadon have somehow followed them, but - well, Lloyd usually never lets these chaotic situations get to him. She doesn't want to think about why it's affecting him so much this time round - that the girl she'd told him to be himself around had never afforded him the same luxury.

"What happened?" she asks, her voice coming off more accusatory than she'd intended. Adrenaline and fear are never a good combination - but, gosh, this time they had been taken completely by surprise. "Where's everyone else? Why is-"

She cuts herself off, moving quietly through the back streets. Questions can come later, once they've gotten Lloyd to the safe house. Even though they were outnumbered way more than they'd thought, she’s not letting those stupid shark-faced bikers take him again.

Her brother follows behind, a hand on her shoulder. The rest of their friends must've hopped off the Bounty, she thinks to herself. Where could they all be now, though? Pixal had mentioned an old warehouse that she uses to store the Samurai X Mech in - another whole other thing that she really wasn’t gonna get into right now-

Lloyd winces, drawing in a breath sharply. His other hand is pressing on his chest, and the motion causes a pang of guilt to shoot through hers.

He was too drained and tired to fight-

How could we-

Why did we let him go in alone-

They're moving so quickly through the dark streets that she- she almost doesn't even hear him at first. Doesn't hear him struggling with how to give her the words that will shatter her world into tiny pieces - and then drive them through her heart.

"They're- they're-"

He keeps muttering to himself, clutching at his hair hysterically. She wants nothing more than to sit down with him, help pick up the pieces from where H- that monster had dropped them, and- gosh, tend to his injuries because he'd practically died today and doesn't even seem to be the slightest bit rattled.

She rubs her temples in exasperation. Of course, her brother wouldn't even give himself some self-care after practically freaking dying-

Well, she reflects, it's not like all of her brothers and her boyfriend don't share that mindset too. Stupid boys with no self-preservation instincts.

Once this whole mess with the Sons of Garmadon was over, they were definitely going to an arcade or something - even if she had to drag the five of them there.

Misako and Pixal had taken a different route earlier - a rather unnecessarily complicated one, but the aim was to confuse any members of that annoying biker gang who might be following them.

And although she was definitely capable of protecting Lloyd from any- of them; anyone who thought that they could outsmart her, she didn't have a lot of faith in their duo at the moment.

One of them practically on the verge of death, one of them exhausted to the point of considering just lying down on the street and sobbing hysterically? Great.

"Lloyd," she whispers, cursing the stupid streetlights that never seemed to work (why were the streets so freaking dark? What if they missed the inevitable ambush? What if-), "you okay?"

"Y- yeah," comes the shaky reply, Lloyd's voice at least an octave higher. He convinces neither of them.

Glancing furtively behind her, she realizes that his puffy eyes are coated in dull red, streaked against the white like raindrops running down a windowpane. Breathing in a series of what sounds like short gasps - sounds all wrong, she registers belatedly - he keeps running his hands through his hair in a sort of frenzied way that's so unlike her little brother-

She swallows, wanting nothing more than to find this lying, manipulative princess, and give a piece of her mind. How dare she- w- why-

"Once we get to the warehouse, we're gonna take care of our injuries, you're gonna tell me whatever you're comfy with, and then you're going to sleep. Not a request, lil' bro," she whispers shakily, turning around to squeeze his hand.

"I'm... I'm older than you," he replies, a weary tapestry of frayed threads. "Listen," he adds, voice too high again, "there's something-"

Then he takes a deep, shuddering breath, and covers his face - as if that can hide the agonized sobs tearing their way of it.

Nya rubs her arms, suddenly freezing cold.

It's not cold outside.

Lloyd-Lloyd never cries.

Never.

Not when he was trapped in an exploding volcano on the verge of an excruciating death - probably terrified as heck. Not when he faced his father on the opposite side of the battlefield, time and time again, not when he had to fight the freaking Overlord, not at Zane's funeral - when the snow falling lightly from the sky had felt far too wrong for such a sombre moment.

Not when his power was literally stolen from his heart, not when he watched his father disappear into a realm of no return - just when they'd started to fight on the same side. Not even when his uncle had vanished into the timestream, leaving behind a grieving nephew and the pieces of a half-broken team. Never.

She swallows a bout of nausea, her hands clutched together hard enough to hurt.

"I'm sure that you have nothing to be sorry for," she says firmly. "Once I give that loser princess a piece of my mind-"

"I- don't- you don't understand!" Lloyd replies hysterically. "She- she-" he breaks off, and Nya unsuccessfully strains to hear the rest of his sentence.

"Hey," she starts, swallowing. What was she even supposed to say in this situation? This was even worse than most of her nightmares - and she died in those, so that's saying something.

As much as Nya wants nothing more than to wrap her arms around him and never, ever let go, she’ll have to settle for gently rubbing his head, frowning as turns into the next street.

The Sons of Garmadon couldn't be far behind.

This time, she'd be better prepared.

She had to be.

"I would advice caution-"

Pixal breaks off as her friend throws another punch, their grey eyes steely with determination.

The plank of wood breaks in half and a couple more shards join the mess on the floor.

Nya wipes her brow, chest heaving as she reaches over for another plank.

"I would advise caution in that... endeavour," Pixal starts, a little louder. When her words ring out in the cold metal of the warehouse yet again, she puts a hand on her teammate's shoulder in what she hopes is a comforting gesture.

Nya's head whips around in surprise, eyes wide and plank raised - but she visibly deflates when she realizes that it's not an intruder. Pixal ignores the pang that shoots through her chest - both of them have been deeply affected by the loss of their friends, family, but Nya refuses to acknowledge that there was anything wrong, other than the Sons of Garmadon - who were currently terrorizing the city.

Well, she knew that that was a normal response to loss - she just hated feeling powerless. After- after Chen-

Almost involuntarily, her mind runs through a well-worn sequence of code. The memory dulls, fading to a blur of colours and too-bright light. It should be… instantaneous, she remembers thinking as she’d programmed the instructions.

She'd never really tried to program herself in that way before - to lock away bits of her code when each piece of it was supposedly vital.

Nya could probably help, she remembers thinking. Or her father. Or Zane. Anyone, really. Anyone who wasn't hiding away memories that they didn't quite know what to do with, messing with code that they didn't quite know how to fix.

Not quite sure if it could be fixed.

Pixal taps her fingers on her other hand irritably, sighing even as her processors all speed up as they did when she was faced with a threat.

Why did that one memory keep breaking through her carefully constructed code? She could, of course, calculate it out of existence - but wasting a piece of information just because a glitch lurked within her own mechanics? Endeavouring to fix it first... seemed like the most logical option…

Right?

"You should go to sleep," she says, slowly. "I do not mind patrolling the whole night - especially since I have m- the suit."

"Thanks, Pixal," comes the hesitant, weary reply. "But I think I'll stick with this - we've all gotta stay in shape, you know?"

Her mind runs through a dozen or so scenarios - to press the issue or ignore it?

"Nya," Pixal starts quietly, "we have all lost someone. You-"

"Yeah, I know!" Nya exclaims, eyes narrowed in anger. "Don't worry, I won't let you guys down again. I mean- I've been through worse," she spits, a brittle laugh punctuating the confession.

“Stupid djin,” she mutters to herself as she pulls her ponytail tighter - tight enough to hurt.

"FSM, Lloyd's the only family I've got left! If you think I'm going to let anyone take him from me again? You're sorely mistaken."

Something unfamiliar burrows its way into Pixal's chest - a heavy, dull sort of ache. Her eyes widen a little, but she decides that she does not quite like the... the- feeling. Perhaps more coding at a later stage could rid her of the virus, she supposes.

I know that it is not quite a virus, she thinks to herself wearily. But she is right not to consider me a part of their team. I only offer them technological aid, not assistance with matters of the heart.

Although I do so wish to do. Or at least... try to do so, difficult as it may be.

But she still feels a pang of sorrow for Nya, who had lost so many. Yet the other's anger stings - even though she knows that it is a common response to loss. A necessary one, arguably.

"Nya, listen. Please," she replies gently, placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "None of us think that you have let us down in any way. I was just going to mention that... that none of us think that you should not grieve, either."

"Grieve?" The other girl questions, practically aghast. She then puts a hand over her mouth as if she is trying to muffle her stilted laugher.

Pixal notices that the hand is trembling, shaking like the leaves in Ninjago City Park in the wintertime - yet Nya seems unaware of her own distress. She decides not to comment on it yet.

"Yeah, of course," Nya sighs, her arms shaking as she gestures wildly. "Gimme a second to go and ask the princess if she can stop attacking our city!”

The Water Ninja's words are punctuated with sobs, but she stubbornly ignores the tears dripping down her chin.

"Oh, and while she's at it, maybe she can bring the rest of us back from the dead! Doesn't she have all the Oni Masks?"

"I- I..." Pixal cuts herself off, realizing a second too late that she should not voice a legitimate answer to her teammate's question.

I would assume that the Oni Masks only seem to have the power to resurrect Oni, she doesn't say.

"What do you want me to do?" she asks instead - trying to sound genuine instead of judgmental.

If the surprised expression on the other girl's face is anything to go by, her eyebrows raised a few centimetres, she isn’t quite sure if she’s succeeded or not.

"What do you mean?" Nya asks, so quietly that Pixal has to reboot one of her old lip-reading programs from her stint at Borg Industries to make out the words. Her father had always tried to centre his programs around being more inclusive of those who were disadvantaged by their society’s unfortunate default, usually an exclusive one. A smile twitches at the corners of her mouth, tinged with a bit of melancholy.

“I mean…” she grapples for an answer, scenarios whirling through her head. “I mean that… I do not quite know what to do to help you.”

A silent nod. Caution and curiosity sparking in their eyes.

“I- I wish to try and help both of you,” she continues. “Losing Zane so soon after we had met was… not easy. I-“

“Gosh. Why does everyone always think I’m the weak one-“ she cuts herself off.

Her own anger bristles, just a little. Pixal frowns but elects to ignore it.

“Yeah, that… couldn’t have been easy. I’m sorry,” Nya adds, features softening. “You were saying?"

What was she trying to say?

The words do not come easily as they usually do, held back by a realization that is becoming all too familiar.

She just- she just doesn't know what to do!

Over the last few years, it had been easy to fall into a rhythm of questions and answers. Never daring to ask the former. Always supplying the latter.

She lacked the efficiency of Zane's old power source, of course - his father must have been a technological genius, she remembered musing when Zane had walked into Borg Industries for the first time. And she remembered wondering, too - why had he created an android so similar to humans? They would never be humans - they weren't meant to be! They could never feel emotion or contact the same way. Why try, then?

Well. The two of them had discussed this - feeling something was better than feeling nothing. The positive emotions were worth the negative ones. Humanity gave them a unique outlook on life (as opposed to other Nindroids, she supposed).

Thousands of logical reasons start to pile up. Trip over each other. Hum incessantly through her code - beckon her towards factual explanations so easily determined long ago.

Her hands curl into fists. Her arms shake.

Perhaps emotions enhanced their lives or brought valuable insight to situations painted in shades of grey, perhaps-

When she's not so overwhelmed - not so wrapped in anger, tight, hiding her eyes from the stars, she can deal with perhaps. Then, she can believe the logic that sings through every fibre of her being. Then, the puzzle pieces will click back into place without a hitch. Then-

Now is not then, she chides, and never will it be.

Emotions, they had their place - this she knew.

Y-yet...

Yet, as sobs ricochet through an empty warehouse, as a boy lies curled up in a corner - with a certain stiffness that could be attributed to injury, if not for the spiderwebs of red threaded through his eyes - as a family is ripped apart from the seams, thread cut so quickly that they can barely blink as the ground crumbles away, Pixal has never despised emotions quite so much.

"Is it empathy or acknowledgment? Or understanding? Or reassurance?" Pixal mutters, scenarios playing cautiously behind her eyes.

What does her friend need? she wonders, head spinning. What does she need, herself?

She runs the simulations. She observes. She learns; learns that-

She is clueless in each one.

"Why do you- you care?" Nya hisses, low and quiet, startling her from her thoughts. "I don't want any of this! Unless you can reverse the past, I don't think you can- fix me."

The last two words are laced with contempt, pooling like venom.

"I'm not trying to- to fix you," she replies, a bit curtly. Though she hates to admit it - hates to be anything less than the role model to the kids who'd yell "I wanna be just like you!" to a retreating figure, swords strapped to their back as their lips curved into a rueful smile - she's... irked.

Irked by the fact that humans are so- so, well, human!

Why were they unable to lock their emotions away like the two of them could? Why would their creator want them to be hurt by their own minds? Why would it ever be useful for them to hinder their own abilities? To hinder their ability to save others - and themselves?

Everything is not designed with optimal logic in mind, a small voice at the back of her mind points out.

"When have I ever given you that impression? Aren't friends supposed to help each other in times of need?"

"I don't need-"

"I know, that's not what I..." Pixal trails off. Her eyes flick towards the little - a twinge blossoms in her chest at the word (he's too young for this, she thinks, not for the first time today, not for the first time this year-) - green bundle curled up on the floor. She notes that his chest is slowly rising and falling, the bandage she'd wrapped around his arm unraveling a little, white trailing onto metal floor. And his face-

He looks serious, even while asleep, she realises sadly.

"Look," she whispers, gesturing to Lloyd, "do you want to go outside?" I do not want to wake him up.

Nya's eyes soften as she glances behind her. "Won't that just make us a bigger target?" Weary sarcasm bleeds its way into her voice.

"Possibly," she admits, chiding herself. It's not like me to be so illogical.

So she walks over to the furtherest corner of the warehouse - slowly, so that her feet don't clank on the floor; metal on metal. A bit of an oversight, she notes crossly.

Then-

Why is she cross? It's not something irreversible, and it pales in comparison to the number of feats she is able to accomplish with her skill set.

Nya leans back against the wall, one of her hands tracing something on the other. Back and forth, a finger moving across her palm - almost subconsciously.

"I apologise-"

"I'm really sorry-"

They stare at each other for a moment.

"You can go first-" Pixal says.

"No, you-" Nya says simultaneously, gesturing wildly.

Two beats of silence this time - a bit too long. A bit too uncomfortable; dredging up a bit too much.

"An advanced little robot like you, hmm? Is your head just a bunch of a squiggly cogs?" She isn't looking at him, hasn't been for as long as she can, but a shiver goes down her spine as he laughs. "It'd be fun to take you apart, wouldn't it now?" He claps his hands together excitedly - excitedly. "Into tiny little bits and pieces, just like a jigsaw puzzle. See how it all fits together! Now that'd be a blast, don't ya think?"

A hand rests on her shoulder, and she jerks forward so hard that the chair topples over.

Faces turn to light green; walls, to swirling purple. She sighs in relief as the memory sinks into black, and green, and purple - one last echo of that horrid laughter... then it's back to the suffocating stillness.

"I'll go first," Nya whispers, one of her hands still quickly - as if it is a familiar motion; well worn - tracing something on the other.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I just-" she reaches up to wipe her eyelids, as if willing the tears to stay put. "I-"

"Would you like a hug?"

"...y- yeah," comes the shaky reply.

Face pressing into her friend's shoulder, she can hear every time their breathing hitches. She hugs tighter, tighter, as if the physical pressure can somehow weld a heart that's missing- something none of them will get back.

"Uh, Pixal?" A gasp. "Cwant bweath-"

"Oh no, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine!" A half smile appears on Nya's face.

A second later, she schools her features back into a neutral expression. She bites her lip, a hand curling into a fist and pressing against her thigh.

"You were saying?" Pixal prompts gently.

"Yah, I just-" she blows out a puff of air, shoulders sagging, "I just keep- keep thinking I could've prevented this!

Which is silly, I know, because I'm not the one who caused any of this to happen! And I did the best I could! We all did! It's not like any of us were part of their crazy group- or knew how far they'd go just- just to get want they want! But-" she cuts herself off. From the corner of her eye, a tear streaks down her face.

"But our best wasn't enough."

Nya stares at her hands, as if she'd just noticed that she was tracing something on one of them.

Her eyes widen.

She chokes back a sob, arms trembling. "My best wasn't good enough."

"If not for me, they'd still- they'd still be-"

The cracks start to align.

"They'd still be alive," Nya whispers. Then, louder, "they'd still be alive if I could've just... just- just- done some- something!"

She draws in heaving breaths, gasping gasping clawing for air. Her fingers sweep her cheeks, over and over, even as her arms continue to shake. Tears drip onto the torn fabric of her gi.

"And-" Her lip wobbles, breaths hitching painfully. "And 'm s- s- sorry!" Nya gasps out. "'M so-" a breath, erratic and forced.

Her whispers fade to inhales and inhales; breaths that pull from the air almost greedily, like she can't get enough of the air - and-

And she probably can't, Pixal realises.

What if she chokes? Or seriously can't breathe enough-

And the oxygen levels in her brain decrease until heart functions fail, her brain supplies unhelpfully.

Not the time, she chides, almost out loud.

She rubs circles into her friend's back, slowly - trying not to think about the fact that this is the first time she's seen those bloodshot grey eyes filling with tears what can she do she doesn't know doesn't know-

"Nd- mmphf- I-"

Her code starts glitching again; vision pixelating.

Oh, great. All of this concern is overloading her processors.

"Are you alright?" Pixal whispers, still rubbing Nya's back. She's almost afraid to stop - afraid that if she does, she'll be doing nothing to help and what happens then what happens then she doesn't know-

"'M fine," comes the shaky reply. Nya inhales and exhales, tearstained cheeks puffing out, then going back to normal size. Her chest rises again. "I'm fine," she says quietly. "Thank you."

"It's fine," she replies on autopilot.

"And- uh- I do not know if this will change your mind, but I'd at least hope to try to, I mean, if I can-" Pixal winces.

"No matter what your thoughts say, it was not your fault that everything went down the way it did. The Sons of Garmadon are just horrible - and it's not any of our faults for failing to meet their insane amount of manpower, or- or failing to assume the worst of them-"

"Are we compatible now?"

She smiles, clasping his hand a little tighter. Sometimes she doesn't quite believe that he's still here - still whole.

"Yes," she giggles, as he rests his head on her shoulder. "We are."

Jay's laughter rings over the comms. "Come on, we're in the middle of a mission!"

"Oh, like the patrols you and Nya sign up for?" Kai shoots back.

Lloyd and Cole collectively sigh.

"Alloromantics," and she can practically hear Cole jokingly put his head in his hands. "I'll never understand 'em."

Her vision pixelates again, and the world goes blurry.

"In all honesty?" Her voice tight with pent-up anger, she narrows her eyes. "We have far too many threats to take on."

Nya gives a halfhearted shrug, as if to say 'it is what it is - I've accepted it, I guess'. But she dips her head in assent. Her gaze falls to the floor as she grits her teeth; lips pressed together tightly.

"Our limitations hold us back - not our will, never our will. We have too few ninja, not nearly enough communication with the police force-" her voice takes on a brittle tone. "And the few of us? We. Logically. Cannot be everywhere at once-"

"So, yeah," she says, quieter. "It's not your fault. It's not any of our faults. We did the best we can-" the world starts breaking into tiny, multicoloured squares. "But we were outnumbered, and, logically, we cannot fight them all."

Nya's shoulders slump, but she reaches over like she's going to imitate a hug - and then pats Pixal's arm awkwardly, stepping away. "I- I- thanks."

"I keep telling myself that," she whispers, rubbing furtively at her eyes. "But I can't seem to believe it, somehow."

"It's not like- like neither of us knew this would happen! It's not like we asked for this! But do either of us cut corners? Leave our roles unfulfilled?"

Her eyes narrow to slits.

"No. No, we don't."

"I just-" she stomps her feet, swallowing back a sob. "I- it's not fair-"

"It's not it's not it's not," Nya says fervently, voice hoarse, as she curls in on herself. "I-"

"I just want them back," she cries. She digs her fingernails into her palms, shaking. "I just- wanwt- hem-"

A dozen or so scenarios present themselves. Pix deliberates sorting through them all; taking notes and working towards what she hopes is the best approach - as she usually does.

But-

Screw it, she declares. Surprising herself, she hits pause on the scenarios for the first time since- the first time in a while.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly. "I don't know what do," she chokes out the confession like acid's burning up her throat, "because- because I don't think there is anything any of us can do."

She pulls her friend into a hug. "But I'll do anything I can to help the two of you," she says.

Light green eyes meet grey.

"I promise."

Nya pushes back the curls framing her face. Her hair's come loose, Pixal realises.

"Can I?" She lifts her wrist to show the hair ties she often wears on it.

"Sure," Nya replies. "Thank you."

A hand squeezes hers. "Not just for the hairdo."

"It's- it's fine."

A few moments later, it is not fine.

Clunky fingers, she notes, struggling to tie a simple ponytail. Another oversight, apparently.

Or...

"You have to do it like this," Cole insists, scribbling furiously.

"Nah, just go with the flow. If it's a bit weird looking, it's not like they'll notice-"

Lloyd swats at Kai with a purple travel pillow.

"That yours, Short Stack?"

"Jay hasn't noticed it's missing yet," Lloyd whispers, making a big show of holding his hand to Kai's ear.

Nya pulls her hair tie onto her wrist.

"Boys," she pretends to whisper. Kai pretends to be annoyed, rolling his eyes.

"Here, I'll show you. One," she pulls a few curls towards her face, separating them into three bunches of strands. "Two," she mutters, pulling the one on the right into the middle.

"And three!" Nya finishes triumphantly, the left strand now in the middle. "Then you just repeat it!"

Zane smiles. "Thank you." He pretends to pat her head.

"Oh, stop it," she laughs, giving him a hug.

"It's too hot for hugs," Kai groans.

"Dude," Nya says slowly. "Have you forgotten that your friend can literally create ice?"

"Ice is nice!" Jay exclaims, pitching his voice at least an octave higher.

Cole grins. Zane puts his head in his hands. Kai falls off the couch.

Lloyd sums up what they're all thinking.

"You look like Dorris Day!"

"TH- THANKS!" the whole room choruses, laughing.

Pixal watches with an ache in her chest.

A longing, for something more than what she's been lucky to enough to get.

She was lucky to enough to live, but not lucky enough to lift the cloak of invisibility that still hangs over her shoulders.

One, two, three. One, two, three.

Titanium fingers deftly go through the motions, green eyes watching a grainy world of colour and squares.

The cloak's gone now.

She's Samurai X now.

They're not here to see it.

Nya shakes her head. "Oh - a plait?" She asks, reaching her hand back to check. "Thank you. I didn't know you could do those, though?"

To answer the question or ignore it?

"Well-" her vision starts to clear. "Well, you were the one to teach me."

A bittersweet smile comes to her face. "I never had a chance to thank you until now."

Nya looks confused for a moment.

Then, absolutely gut punched.

"O- oh. Oh, FSM. You were watching that day, weren't you? The day we got back from the cinema?"

Her eyes widen.

"FSM," she says slowly. She drags a hand down her face, eyes peeking out from the gaps between her fingers. "You were always there with us, weren't you?"

Pixal nods - not sure if she trusts herself to give a proper reply.

Nya reaches over to squeeze her hand again.

"I don't even know what to say," she mutters sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I can't believe it slipped our minds so often, that- that-"

Out of sight, out of mind. An old expression her father sometimes used.

"That our team had seven members," she adds, eyes misty. "That- that I could've had sixbest friends, if I'd tried."

Nya's gaze sweeps across the empty warehouse - inches and inches of bare metal, a mech curled up in one corner and a boy in the other. Two fighting machines, Pixal thinks bitterly.

Grey eyes meet hers.

"We're all we've got left," Nya says. "We're all the city's got left."

"We will do th- everything we can," Pixal vows. "For the city-"

"And each other," Nya concludes fervently. She inhales, slowly.

Her voice is still thick with unshed tears, her arms still shake.

Pixal's processors keep overloading, her world becoming a startling mirage of colour and blocks every so often.

But she looks down to their clasped hands - one with bruised knuckles; an old scar in the middle of the palm. One with bits of metal poking out from the seams - one, cobbled together from bits and pieces that no one else wanted.

She looks down at their hands, and she sees. And she is seen.

They need to grieve. She knows this. She knows that Nya's confident stance doesn't hide the anger and sadness swirling in her friends irises; knows that Lloyd has many wounds that she cannot bandage.

But she is seen.

And she sees - I can't take away the sadness, or the anger, but I can try to help through it, a robot with white-blond hair realises.

Yet - it is not enough, merely to be seen. Merely to see.

For what is that without others to see you too? Without others for you to see?

But when Nya clings to her a little tighter, she doesn't let go.

When her friend promises Lloyd that she'll always protect him, Pixal bites her lip.

She pulls off the chains she'd shot at him. Later that day, she ruffles his hair. She offers similar words - completely unprepared for a sobbing boy to wrap his arms round her chest.

They all try - to listen, to offer tissues, hugs, to say that it's okay not to know, it's okay to be angry. It's okay to feel what you're feeling. That it's okay to grieve. To admit that they also hope they're going to come back, because hope hurts less than facing the reality.

They see.

And so does she.

---

Misako rattles the door handle as she

comes back from her shift of the patrol.

Seeing that Lloyd and Nya are asleep, her shoulders sag just a little. She sighs in relief.

Maybe it's just the paranoia talking, but she's always terrified that she'll come back to an empty warehouse one day. That she'll fail her child again; leave him behind in the name of protecting him.

That was a bad choice, she chides. This isn't. We have to ensure that we're not being followed. We have to keep the resistance alive, she repeats like a mantra. Maybe if she thinks it enough, it'll hurt a little less.

Noticing one member of their party missing, her gaze flits to Pixal welding pieces of her mech back together.

"I can take the next shift, too," she says quietly.

"I've got it," the girl replies - how did did even hear her from all the way across the warehouse? - brushing white hair from her eyes. Then- "Is there even a shift now? I thought we agreed that it's unlikely for the Sons of Garmadon to be on the streets at 3AM."

Is that what time is it? Heck.

"Yes, sorry," Misako replies. Of all the kids, Pixal's been the most withdrawn. She helps plan Lloyd's training schedule, braids Nya's hair and holds her hand and listens.

No, she's not withdrawn from the group. It's more like she's withdrawing herself from them - letting everyone talk to her about this horrid biker gang, but not talking to everyone else about the nightmare fuel things they've done.

She unties her hair, sighing.

Not for the first time during these few days, she deliberates asking the third kid to open up a little.

But-

Look at your son, a nasty little voice at the back of her mind hisses. If he's any indication that you're not good with kids-

"Shut up," Misako mutters.

She walks over to the Samurai X Mech.

"What are you doing?"

Light green eyes lift their gaze from the metal.

"Trying to improve some functions," Pixal replies. Her eyebrows crease. "Shouldn't you be asleep? It is, after all, 3AM."

"Can't really sleep. But what about you?"

"I don't need sleep," she replies, a half-smile on her face. "Do you want to talk about whatever's bothering you?"

This isn't the first offer.

The irony, she thinks sadly.

She won't admit it - not to her kids, not to herself - but she's worried. Worried about the girl who spent half an hour unable to see and then brushed it off as unimportant. Worried about the other kid with green eyes - the one whose heart isn't so visibly worn as her son's is. The warrior who'd once thrown a man through a building on live TV.

"I'm good, thank you. And you?"

Almost as if on autopilot, Pixal echoes Misako's answer.

Maybe it would be better if this kid wore their heart on their sleeve a little more.

"Well, I'm not an engineer - but I took a couple courses in uni. Can I help you with anything?"

"Sure!" A bit of a spark appears in the girl's eyes. "So, I'm trying to make the right arm move smoother - also, do you think it'd be better to..."

An hour or so later, Misako's pretty sure she has grease in her hair - but the mech doesn't look too worse for the wear.

"Thanks for letting me help," she says, smiling. "Even if I almost caused the jetpack's fuel to explode."

"Zane did the same thing," Pixal replies, without thinking - and then a shadow falls over her face.

Misako puts her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Goodnight-"

Quicker than she'd have thought possible from anyone, even a robot, Pixal jerks forward like she's been punched. Breathing heavily, the girl places her hands over her eyes and moans.

Frozen, Misako stands ramrod still with shock for a moment. "Are you alright?" she asks gently.

Slowly backing away, Pixal stumbles over the arm of her a mech. She doesn't even try to break her fall, instead drawing her legs to her chest.

"Please," she cries, rocking forwards and backwards. "Please, I'll tell you anything you want to know, just don't-"

The light green of Pixal's eyes flickers in and out as she screams.

Misako's blood practically runs cold.

Not again, is all she can think as she walks closer - not too close, never too close. Not again. Not again.

"Can you hear me?"

She repeats the question a minute later, each second sending a twinge of pain through her skull. Not again. Not again. Not again.

It seems like an eternity before the other girl shakily nods her head.

"You're in Ninjago City," Misako says, trying not to let her concern find its way into her voice. "It's 2018. You're in a warehouse with Nya, Lloyd and I. You're safe. You're safe."

"Okay," Pixal replies. "Thank you."

"Can you see?" Misako asks gently.

A few seconds pass. "Not really," Pixal admits, so softly that Misako has to strain to hear her.

"Do you know why? Can I help?"

"Yes, no. It'll pass soon, thank you."

"Can I hold your hand?"

Pixal's eyes start to blink in and out, like a traffic light. She'd laugh if they were in any other situation - anything but this. Not again.

"Yes," she says after a minute. "But-"

"Yes?"

"But please don't touch my shoulders."

"You got it," Misako replies, her voice measured. But a shiver goes down her spine all the same. Pixal's, what- fifteen? Any age is horrible, but- fifteen-

Her eyes are starting to go bloodshot, but she refuses to let any tears fall. She's the adult here - the only adult here. They're meant to come to her for help, not the other way around.

After about half an hour of anxious thoughts (not paranoia, not this time - is that better or worse? Not better, she thinks, wiping a tear from her cheek, because now there's evidence for her anxiety to feed on and that's a million times worse, there shouldn't be bits of truth in this story-), Pixal's eyes stop flashing and go back to normal. She takes in the room quickly, seemingly startled to find Misako sitting a meter away from her.

"You should have gone to sleep - it's late. But..." the girl trails off. "Thank you so much. I didn't know the- that could be helped like that. I appreciate it."

"Anytime," Misako says slowly. "But what exactly was that?" She holds up a hand. "You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to, but..." she bites her lip, adding, "but it might help."

"I'm fine," comes the reply, a little curt. "Thank you, though."

"No, you're not."

Misako's not sure who's more surprised by the words - her, or Pixal.

You've made your bed, now lie in it.

"I don't know what you're going through," she starts, swallowing, "not exactly. But I have an idea. And that's not easy to go through, whatever it is that you're dealing with." She presses a hand to her face to keep the tears from falling. "But I'm always here if you want to talk about it."

"I-"

Pixal cuts herself off.

At first, it looks like she's going to politely decline the offer. She opens her mouth and starts the same autopilot reply; Misako's heart sinks.

But then she cuts herself off again.

"No," she mutters to herself. "Screw it. Apparently I'm not good enough at coding to do this one simple thing, so this can't hurt, can it?"

"You- you won't tell Lloyd? Or Nya?" Pixal twists her fingers back and forth nervously.

"You have my word."

The next hour turns out to be one of the most horrifying of Misako's life.

Pixal talks - casually, far too casually - of a prison cell, and a man who- who- who had spun a wheel to see which limbs of hers he was going to smash. A man who'd made her watch as he threatened to kill her lover if she didn't cooperate with his demands. A man who started a war - for fun.

A man who smashed her body limb from limb, and left the pieces for her lover to find.

"And sometimes- I mean- I don't know, it sounds stupid," Pixal mutters. "But sometimes I feel like he took so much more from me than just an- and exoskeleton," her voice cracks, "and some metal."

"My entire identity became 'the girl in Zane's head'," she says, shaking. "And I'm glad that I got to live, because I would never... have made it out of that cell otherwise."

"But I could- couldn't even talk!" she cries, raising her hands to her face again. "I. Couldn't. Even. Talk."

"And Zane would try and relay what I was saying, at first, but it got so confusing and it eventually just fizzled out."

Her bright green eyes fade out, then turn back on. Pixal winces.

"I just- so many opportunities," she says sadly, her fingers curled into fists. "I never had any friends, and when the nightmares came back I-"

Breathing heavily, she holds out a hand to Misako. The latter takes it, a little confused. "And I didn't know what to do, and- and when Zane was hacked and Nya- the power core- and I was all alone again and- this time I really was alone and- mech- at least no one can-"

Pixal sounds like she's on the verge of a panic attack.

"Hey," Misako starts gently, "can you breathe in for four seconds?"

They talk well into the sunrise - Pixal learning that her supposed 'glitch' was not a problem that she'd failed to fix, her eyes going completely blank at the realisation.

"Can you see?" Misako has asked.

"Yes," she whispers, as if in disbelief. She reaches a hand tentatively forward. "I- I can see, everything's blurry but I can see-"

Misako learns that the snake who blackmailed her husband for so many years; the man who provoked bloodshed and war and countless other atrocities - she learns that he's in the Departed Realm, now.

Morro is there too. Maybe they'll finish each other off, she thinks bitterly.

She still wants to punch something, but she'll rest a bit easier knowing that Chen spent a fair amount of time rotting in the Cursed Realm. It's a shame Nya had fo destroy it, she thinks. Some people deserve to be there.

Pixal sees others, yes.

Yet, as the sun rises -

She is seen.

#ninjago #ninjago: masters of spinjitzu #ninjago lloyd #ninjago pixal #ninjago misako #ninjago nya #nya smith #pixal borg #misako garmadon #lloyd garmadon #ninjago fanfiction #my fic #ninjago fanfic #ninjago secret Santa 2021 #ninjago fic

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lilywily143 · 3 years ago

Text

Hey, @memeingless-lifeu I was your Secret Santa by @ninjagosecretsanta2021. I hope you like it!!

Btw, I hope did well for the requirements of this secret santa! :)

I also have a fic to go with the background information for the art.

Takes place after Season 5

Tw injury

"Look everyone. I know we all want to go home, but, we really need to help this town and their people."

"I want to help these people as much as the others," Jay stated. "But, we just fought a huge ghost army.... Shouldn't we get refreshed?"

Kai let out a defeated sigh. "And these people were stuck in the aftermath of our fight. We... we really shouldn't leave the people here with broken roads and a couple destroyed homes..."

Nya walked over to her brother.

"Kai, I love ya. And I want to help them as well. But we don't have the supplies to build back the dock and houses of this town. And we are all exhausted."

"Aren't you?"

Kai looked away. "No..."

"I wouldn't be happy if we didn't at least see how these people are holding up."

"Kai, we aren't holding up that well either. We need help as much as them."

Nya glanced away from Kai's eyesight.

"And I don't want to sound selfish, but we may need some more help than them."

Kai hated hearing the others agreeing with her.

"Well. Go then. You can take your stupid break. I'll stop when everyone is safe."

And with that, Kai jumped off of the Bounty and towards the town. He ignored the others yelling for him to stop and he kept going.

He was happy to get off the ship and away from everyone.

Because he almost immediately found someone stuck under planks of rotten wood.

"Don't worry! I'm here to help you!" Kai yelled as he ran over and started to lift the planks. The person soon crawled out from under the wood and got onto their legs.

Kai dropped the heavy planks back onto the damaged deck.

"Stay safe! Help anyone else you can find!"

They nodded their head and ran off. And Kai started back on their search for other injured people.

Throught out his search, he found three adults and a young teen who needed help.

And to think the others wanted to leave when these people were hurt.

Maybe the people in this town could've helped each other themselves. But Kai still knew they could make a difference and help even more than they could.

But, soon he had hit a rut.

He was helping someone get out of another pile of broken planks. But when the person got out, the weight was too much for Kai.

He felt pain in every aching muscle in his body as he pulled the plank off of the citizen.

He tried to drop the plank.

And he did drop it.

On himself.

"AHHGGGG!!!"

The plank landed on their body. Kai might've been able to pull it off. But, the other planks in the pile fell on them soon after.

Pinning an arm and a leg to the rotten deck.

"NO! I GET HELP, SIR!"

"NO! WAIT!!"

Kai couldn't get a word in as the person ran off to find someone. Kai started to work on the planks to try and get them off him. But it was useless with only one free arm and a aching leg.

"Are you KIDDING ME?!?!" Kai scolded himself.

He was able to save someone, but now look where he was!

Under the destruction of a worn down building.

Half of their limbs stuck under rotten wooden planks.

And in pain.

Maybe Kai should have left with the others-

No! If he had left with their friends, that person would have been stuck here instead of him!

They needed to get out. Kai tried to pull himself out again. But, they really shouldn't have.

The planks moved when he did and they were all now pinning all of Kai's limbs to the deck.

They wanted to save the people.

They felt hurt.

Defeated.

Tired.

No! Stay awake! They has to get up and help others....

They needed to get out....

Stay up...

They didn't want to do this, but....

"Someone?" Kai tried to yell. They were so tired that he couldn't talk that well. Kai remembered something he heard once that could get attention without straining their voice.

They grasped for a loose plank that had fell to their side. They grabbed it and started to knock it against the deck in three's as hard as he could.

"Ughhh... Someone....? Anyone?"

He hit the deck one more time with a thump, before they let go of the plank.

He couldn't do anymore.

They just wanted to be home and sleep...

To rest...

To feel better.....

Kai!!

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Kai eyes opened up as he woke up.

Wait. When did they fall asleep?

They weren't under those rotton planks anymore.

Somehow...

He was laying down on a couch with his legs raised up on something. Kai couldn't see well. They were still tired.

Were their legs that badly injured?

It shouldn't have been that damaging... being slammed with multiple wooden boards.

They tried to place their arms under themself to raise themselves up.

"ACK! FUCK!" Kai collapsed back onto the couch. Their left arm was in pain, too.

How was his body so injured?!

Sure they were in the aftermath of collapsing planks, but it shouldn't have hurt them so much...

"I wouldn't move if I were you, dude."

"Huh?!" Kai yelped. They focused their eyes to the other person in the room they were in. Who seemed to be using their lap to raise his legs up.

"N-Nya...?"

Nya seemed to be playing a game. But, she pressed a button and set down the controller to focus on Kai.

"Okay. 1 out of 10... how do you feel?" She questioned them.

Wow. Getting questioned right out of the gate.

Why isn't she scolding them for getting stuck like that?

Kai stuttered out a answer. "T-ten.. I feel f-fine."

Nya raised their eyebrow.

"A ten."

"A. Ten...? You literally yelled at the top of your lungs trying to sit up."

Fuck.

"W-w-welllll. I'm a ten when I don't move."

"You are supposed to be a ten when you move. Not just when you are immobilized."

Come on.

"Hey!!"

They moved their hands back underneath them.

"I can get up witho- FUCK!!"

He collaped again. Were their eyes tearing up now?

No!!

They shouldn't cry!!

This was so stupid!!

Kai felt their legs get set onto the felt couch as Nya stood up. They watched Nya walk in front of the couch were Kai's head was and sat down on her knees.

"Please, stop trying to move so drastically like that..."

"I.. I can handle it, s-s-sis... It's not l-like I'll die-"

"You nearly did today!!" She yelled at them with a tight voice.

Kai didn't expect an answer like that from her. But, they still couldn't seem to understand the stakes that were on them.

"Wh-what makes you say that...? How did s-some s-stupid boards to that??"

Nya gave them a look with mixed feelings that Kai couldn't really read.

"Kai...."

It was only one word.

It was just their name.

But..

The way Nya had their voice so thick but brittle, made Kai know they were in a worse situation than the one he thought he was playing down.

A situation that they gotten themself into.

That Kai caused.

Because they didn't listen to their own sister.

Were their eyes misty again?

"Wh-what probl-lem did I-I get myself s-stuck in-into??" They asked in a wobbly voice.

A tear ran down their face.

They felt Nya gently wrap their arms around Kai to not hurt them while comforting them.

Nya started to whimper to try and stop themself from full on crying.

"A lot of things.. You got your left arm fractured and both of your legs were sprained. You also had some damage to your lungs from the pressure of all of the wood. It may not sound like a extreme problem to you, but you shouldn't do a lot in a state like this."

Her grip tightened.

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-"

"Don't."

"Don't try and apologize and blame yourself for this."

"I know you are racking your brain to find a reason."

"This wasn't you."

Kai didn't like that response.

But, they also really needed to hear that.

"You just wanted to be a hero like Wu wanted us to be. You may focus on others before yourself, but you need to think about yourself, too."

Kai slowly brought his non-injured arm up and hugged Nya back.

"W-well.. I'm sure the team c-can do a lot without m-me." Kai said. They knew the team was strong, even if they weren't there.

"I don't think so."

......what?

"Maybe we can make by against villians, but you always helped the team in a way that no one else could. You are a huge part of the team since the beginning."

"A-a-are you sure??"

"Of course. You're my family. I couldn't think of going on a mission without knowing you're okay."

Kai slumped into Nya's grasp and started to cry, even if they didn't want to. There wasn't a moment that Nya left them. They kept their grip and stayed there for her brother.

Kai let out all of his emotion in his cries. But he soon felt exhausted and stopped to just hug Nya.

"I-is there anything I can do in this b-broken state??"

Nya backed out of the hug and grabbed two things off the table in front of them. Then they handed one of the things over to Kai.

It was an controller for their switch.

"I'm pretty confident you can play some Mario Party with me~" Nya replied with a smile.

Kai smiled back. "That... sounds like fun."

Nya set their controller down again and stood in front of Kai.

"I'm going to move you into a more comfortable position. Alright?"

Kai was nervous about the pain coming back, but they nodded their head in agreement to move.

Nya slowly brought her arms under Kai's body and picked him up. Then, they adjusted him to sit up on the couch.

Nya grabbed their controller and sat down next to Kai so he could lay down on their shoulder.

"Do you want to be first-player, like usual?"

"No."

"I think the new water ninja of the ninja team deserves that role."

Nya chuckled, "thanks, dude"

Words: 1,725

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