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overflowing-with-words · 2 years

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komorebi

[The aftermath and recovery of Lloyd falling from a coma, and is hospitalized after using too much energy in the Tornado Of Creation.

Or, the Green Ninja is tired of fighting, and picks the happier place. For a while, at least.]

A/N: this fic is way too long help it’s supposed to be 500 words it’s now like 3.5k words also it’s kai centralized im sorry i'm partial to kai and lloyd’s brotherly relationship you know that ; anyways i did not do that much research drawing from my own experiences in the hospital which are actually a lot i should be a great reference yeah

• • •

komorebi: beauty in life, the space in between the canopy and branches that allows sunlight to gently filter through.

the opaque patterned light this creates is called komorebi, created of the kanji characters for tree ( wood), shine through (水れ), and sun (日).

• • •

There’s a day when Lloyd Garmadon closes his eyes, and does not open them.

There’s a day where he weighs living with the new beginning that goes by the name of death, and picks the easier one.

There is a day where he takes the First Spinjitzu’s Master’s hand, and doesn’t look back.

• • •

It’s 2am when Wu’s resolve breaks from worry, and lets them bring Lloyd to the hospital.

The green ninja is lying across their couch, a makeshift bed as Sensei Wu exhausts his supplies of magical teas and incense. Bruises flower against his skin, blood painting his gi crimson, and they try their very best to fix what they can; but the fact still remains that none of them is a doctor, besides Zane and his knowledge of medication scraped out from the internet.

It’s a few long, painful hours of waiting and hoping until Wu finally relents and says there is nothing more he can do here.

There’s a few long moments of unnerving silence, where everyone is trying to digest the question of where the hell did that leave them?

Kai is the first to snap into action, having been through too many close calls already.

The car ride is quiet, and Kai wonders if it’s because everyone has too much on their minds or if they’re just all thinking about the same thing. He wagers on the latter; there’s nothing else really to consider at the moment. The highway runs past his window, cars and bright colored lights blurring into one.

Hospital rooms are almost just as quiet. Squeaking medical carts are wheeled past the door, and quiet sounds of people talking spill in through the cracks. The constant sound of the heart monitor beeping is the only thing they can focus on steadily, the only relieving sound through all their worries.

Kai glances through the room, at Nya and Jay, the former curled up in the latter’s arm, eyes closed in an impromptu nap. They’re all tired from the earlier fights, energy sucked completely and exhaustion sinking into their bones, but no one else can seem to find the time to spare for sleep.

Zane is flipping through pages and pages of eggshell white documents, occasionally scribbling down pieces of scattered information about their medical history.

Cole stares blankly at the wall opposite him, phone left abandoned in his lap. The screen flashes up with notifications every few seconds, but he doesn’t seem to see them. Or if he did, he couldn’t care less.

The next few hours are a blur of waiting anxiously by glass walls of a MRI room, watching Lloyd disappear into machine after machine, trying to figure out his extensive injuries. Cuts, bruises, burns, and fractures pile onto the growing list, and Kai’s heart sinks, realizing just how much the fight had cost them all.

Zane eventually manages to wrestle everyone into getting a check up themselves, forcing food and hot drinks into their hands.

It’s several more hours of waiting, a thick blanket of anticipation and worry clawing into Kai’s lungs until he feels like he can barely breathe.

“Lloyd Montgomery-?” The nurse calls, and squints at her board as she tries to make out the last two names, but the ninja are at her side in the blink of an eye.

“Garmadon. We’re, his, uh-” Cole glances around at him awkwardly, recalling that they’d never really officially signed any documents for the blonde. “Adopted family.”

“Oh.” The nurse lowers her pad, eyes full of uncertainty flickering down to the list of names jotted down. “The ninja, correct?”

“Yes, that’s what I put in the form for ‘occupation’” Zane cuts in, and she gives them a small wry smile.

“Could you follow me to a more private area to talk about his situation?”

Five minutes later, they’re all squeezed into a little starch room, walls blindingly bright with whitewash.

“Coma?” Kai repeats slowly, heart stuttering at the thought. The word fills the room with a heavy uncomfortable silence, digging its way into everyone’s thoughts. It feels like a metal hand is crushing his chest, shattering bones into a million little pieces.

“Yes, Mr. Smith. It is unknown whether it is caused by his elemental powers or a brain injury, and it could even be his hereditary dragon blood causing an effect on it…” The rest fades into buzzing background noise, and Kai can only think about one word amongst them all.

Coma. Coma meant not waking up, meant someone sleeping forever, meant possible death.

• • •

A week flies by them, fast yet slow. Hours seem to disappear into nowhere when Kai’s away from the hospital, But sitting by the hospital bed, with nothing to do but sit and listen to the several machines humming away, every second weighs heavier on the fire ninja’s chest.

The door closes quietly behind him, a quiet click echoing through the room, and Zane steps into the room, hands grasping two cardboard cups.

Kai accepts a steaming cup of coffee from the ice ninja with a mumbled ‘thank you’, and sips at the lukewarm liquid gratefully.

The nindroid drops down on the seat next to him, carefully balancing his drink on the armchair.

“Are you okay?” He asks, after a second of quiet drinking, and Kai gives a bitter laugh, shaking his head.

“Me? I’m fine.” He says resentfully, glancing over at Lloyd’s small figure, surrounded by beeping machines and drip lines. He wishes he was the one there instead.

“I do not mean physically, even though you have also acquired several injuries in the fight.” Zane says quietly, following his gaze to the hospital bed.

“I’m okay.” Kai insists, voice hard, and almost instantly regrets it, watching the ice ninja reel back from the response.

There’s a few more moments of silence, and Kai looks back down at the paper cup in his hands, the dark brown liquid melting down white paper.

“Sorry. I-” Kai stops, suddenly feeling hot tears building. “I’m—”

“Do not worry,” Zane says softly, and brushes a hand across his shoulder in comfort. “I am worried, too.”

“I just- I wish it’d been me, y’know. Not Lloyd.” Kai gives a sniff, and takes another mouth of the cooling coffee in an half-hearted attempt to hold back his tears. Zane is silent, and the fire ninja suspects he’s busy trying to take apart what he just said.

“It wasn’t your fault, Kai.” The nindroid tells him,

Dammit.

“I shouldn’t have let him do it. I should’ve found another way.”

“We had no other choice. Lloyd knew what could happen, and he did it anyways.” Zane points out, and Kai laughs tonelessly, swiping the sleeve of gi across his eyes.

“He’s always like that. Battling you for the most self-sacrificial team member position.”

“All of us are, I suppose. ” The ice ninja gives a small smile, and nods. Kai doesn’t think he has enough brainpower at the moment to unpack that sentence, and settles for leaning his head onto the nindroid’s shoulder.

Zane doesn’t say anything, but shifts closer to him, cautiously tucking an arm around the fire ninja.

“Do you think he’ll wake up?” He asks, and suspects that he just voiced the thought that has been weaving in out of everyone’s minds. Saying it out makes it even more terrifying, though, and Kai hates the possibility that Lloyd will never wake up more than anything else on earth.

“I have the utmost faith that Lloyd will come back to us.” Zane reassures him quietly, and Kai is silent.

“The doctors said he might never wake up after two weeks.”

“It has not been two weeks, yet. We just have to wait.”

Kai nods slowly, and a feeling of despair sinks into his chest.

Wait. He just had to wait.

• • •

Another week passes in no time at all. And then another. And another. They all subconsciously note down the date, the date that if passes, marks the day Lloyd may never make it back to them.

Kai reaches up to touch a multitude of cards making its way onto the wall above Lloyd, bright colors and designs, all wishing him ‘get well soon’s’ and ‘we miss you’s’. News leaked out about the coma through hospital staff, and well wishes in the form of letters and gifts had been pouring in by the hundreds.

He hated it a little.

Cole’s careful sketches end up buried in the pile, dark pencil lines shading out beautiful scenes from their memories. Jay’s molded figurines sit on his bedside table, delicately painted clay glass dotted through ledges in the room.

Nya leaves pictures, pinning them up on space left empty. She leaves old polaroids and prints out new ones, and Kai avoids them as much as he can, because it reminds him how much they might lose any second now.

Zane brings new experiments to try, claiming extensive research from coma patients. Swatches of perfume through the room, currently accompanied by flowers and soft toys, and Kai wrinkles his nose at the odd scent of flowers and fruits mixing together.

They’ve all left little parts of themselves in this room, spending hours and days here on end, and Kai just wishes Lloyd would wake up and see it all for himself.

“It’s been a month, Lloyd.” Kai murmurs, glancing down at his pale pale, now long blonde hair fanned around the pillow. It hurts that he looks at peace asleep, happy almost. The fire ninja faintly wonders if it’s nicer there, wherever he is.

“When are you gonna wake up?”

Lloyd doesn’t respond. He never does.

• • •

Kai always visits during the night, talking with soft words as he watches the lights of Ninjago City outside, wink like stars in the sky.

The area is far too populated and cloudy to see much more than a stray star every once in a while, but if he squints hard enough he can pretend apartment lights and electric towers make up a constellation of burning suns.

Sometimes he goes several times a week, whittling the time after his training by quietly reading in the hard plastic chairs all hospitals seem to have. Sometimes, he’ll play music, or sing or talk or hum, trying anything Zane recommends to all of them for waking coma patients up.

It’s worth a try, more than keeping silent, and it helps to take his mind off things. For a little while, anyway.

Cole comes in with him, once, different from the early schedule the earth ninja usually keeps. He usually prefers to drop in for a visit early in the morning, and keeps his claim that the sunrise is more enjoyable from the hospital room.

“Do you think he wants to go?” He asks, voice distant and quiet, a far stretch from the usual confidence and calmness he holds in everything. Kai looks over at him from his place across the room, eyes narrowing.

“What do you mean, ‘go’?” He questions, and rests the book down on his lap, quietly wishing it isn’t exactly what he thinks.

“I mean, do you think we’re holding him back? Keeping him alive?” Cole gives a vague wave at the faint machines, medical tubes and lines tying themselves to Lloyd. Kai’s heart skips a beat, and he pastes an expression that he hopes looks determined onto his face.

“Lloyd wouldn’t want us to give up on him. You know that.”

“I know that.” Cole echoes, after a long pause. “Yeah.”

They resume their activities at hand, Cole looking back down at his sketchbook, sharpened pencil in hand, and Kai picking up his book again. There’s a different silence this time, though.

The question sits in both their minds, itching for an answer: What if he does?

• • •

There’s a time whe Lloyd Garmadon looks back at his old life, one where there was pain and hurt and betrayal all the time.

This time, he remembers the family waiting for him, and remembers the happiness and memories and joy that came with it all.

He looks at the choice kept open for him, all through this time, and steps through the doorway of life and death for the second time in his life.

• • •

Spring and summer come and go, leaving in it’s wake golden leaves and soft sunlight across the skies.

And just like clockwork, Lloyd wakes up to meet the first snowfall.

Kai’s watching the flakes flutter to the ground softly, like shattered white on the ground, when he gets the call.

The car ride to the hospital with Zane is just as quiet as the first time, both thinking about the possibilities that they’ve been prepared for. There’s too many open endings and ‘maybe’s’, possibilities that Lloyd will not remember them, or suffer from severe memory loss, or even forget basic skills.

All too fast, Kai’s standing at the bright ICU door, breathes coming short.

After so long of waiting and hoping and staying, finally reaching the end of the journey is…terrifying.

The door cracks open with a small screech, and Kai steps through the hold,

For the first time in what seems like forever, he sees Lloyd, jade eyes bright and alive.

“Kai?” He croaks, voice broken and cracked with months without use. The fire elemental barely notices, though, and Lloyd is tackled in a suffocating soft hug.

“I missed you.” Kai tells him, familiar tears prickling at the corner of his eyes again. Only this time, they’re tears of joy, unlike the other, and he smiles. Lloyd grins back at him, a hint of the cheekish humor spilling back into his expression.

Zane steps in at that moment, metallic smile shining, and Lloyd is engulfed into another hug, one of the first few amongst the many to come.

The others arrive at the room in a matter of minutes, a rainbow colored blur spilling into the room. Zane has to peel a half-shrieking Jay off the hospital bed, shooing the others away to give the blonde a little space to breathe.

Months worth of news and updates and gossip fills the room, and Kai suspects Lloyd will remember nothing, but the green ninja looks so elated he can’t bear to do anything but go along with it.

It takes a few weeks of learning how to coax spoonfuls of food into the blonde, propping him up on pillows to watch lame tv shows together, and making routine trips back and forth between the hospital and the ship, before life returns them a semblance of normalcy.

It’s a bright Sunday afternoon, and Lloyd is lying on the bed, Kai next to him as they binge The Big Bang Theory.

“How long have I been out, actually? I forgot to ask.” The blonde says, eyeing the amazing collage of cards and letters pinned onto the walls, the team’s additions buried through the sheer amount of fan mail.

“...Three months?” Kai says, eyebrows creasing as he tries to pin down an exact date.

“Give or take about two weeks.” He confirms, fingers fumbling with the duvet as he counts the days.

“Three moNTHS—” Lloyd’s jaw drops, and he attempts to push himself into a sitting position, only to have the fire ninja push him back down with a disapproving expression.

“Geez, don’t do that, I’ll have a heart attack—”

“—How many Starfarer episodes have I missed?” He wails loudly, and Kai gives a short laugh, face breaking into a wide smile.

“Don’t worry, Jay recorded them all for you. Said you’d two would have the biggest marathon of your life once you woke up.”

• • •

Recovery is a slow and painful process, and Lloyd gets to learn the extent of just how much he has lost in these few short months.

He relearns walking through Cole supporting him on a walker, as Jay runs around them snapping pictures. Lloyd frowns at him, a facade of annoyance, but doesn’t try to stop the lighting ninja, either.

It takes many long physiotherapy sessions to get him to function normally on his own, and Kai discovers that this leads to some awkward experiences on bathroom related topics.

And there’s also first time they return to the Destiny’s Bounty, Zane wheeling him along the deck as the only one trusted enough, as Lloyd asks about new things they’ve added to the ships in that time, rambling so fast Zane is forced to warn him to slow down before he faints.

Slowly, the recovery gets easier and easier. Kai books them all for therapy sessions, and it takes to the point of literal threats to make Zane go, through his protests of being a nindroid.

After almost losing so much, everyone finds it easier to appreciate what they do have. They have each other, and Kai thinks maybe, just maybe, they’ll be fine with just that.

They go out more often, pushing Lloyd around on a wheelchair Jay creates when he’s too tired to walk, and wheedling Zane out to laser tag and shopping trips.

Cole never really complains when Jay drags them out for a night filled with crappy horror movies, and Kai changes his constant criticism into more compliment. Even Sensei Wu joins in on the trend, and doesn’t tell them off nearly as much when they oversleep on training, or miss a day or two.

There are bad days, when Lloyd sinks into a depressive episode, over his father and his limited movement and everything gone wrong over the years, and there are days when Kai is always angry, at something or the other.

Days when Zane lingers on a sentence too long, smiles a little too mechanical, and when Nya fumbles with her machines and tools a little more, wincing at a pain or a touch that isn’t there. When Cole’s hands shake from memories of his fall, or curls up on the sofa a bit longer, recalling his time as a ghost, and when Jay’s smile isn’t as bright or not there at all, electric energy disappearing for a makeshift mask.

But recovering and healing is a road filled with relapses and accidents, and they always get back up on, in the end.

As long as they’ve got each other, they’ll find a way, and Kai figures nothing could ever really change that.

Waiting was worth it, in the end, and he’s willing to do it as many more times it takes.

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themadauthorshatter · 3 years

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To relieve some of the angst I've given to this PG-13 Ninjago UA, HERE'S SOME STUFF I THINK IS FUNNY!!!

Kai and Jay know how to floss, as in the dance move, and it drives Cole, Zane, and Wu crazy.

Zane wins ALL the satring contests, as long as he isn't going against Wu. Then he'll lose.

When Wu gave the ninja the "the best way to defeat an enemy" riddle, it drove Zane crazy. He knew he'd heard it before and knew the answer, but didn't know the answer. He progressively started making more noises, from groaning to full on screaming. When they got answer, Zane stayed out of the bunk rooms for fifteen minutes screaming and shouting into the sky. He didn't swear, he just had a lot to say.

Cole can bench press all of the ninja.

Cole likes picking up and carrying people, mostly, though, Zane. Zane is like a kohala on his back and it's so cute.

Jay once shouted to Zane, "I'm hungry! When are you going to make dinner!?" to see what would happen; he told Wu and the other ninja in advance. Zane made him a grilled cheese sandwich and locked him in the bunk room.

Cole is the first up... because Zane wakes him up. He is Cole's alarm clock.

DO NOT WAKE UP ZANE FOR HIM. HE WILL DO IT HIMSELF. WAKE HIM UP, AND YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Kai learned that lesson the hard way.

The stuff Jay zones out about is actually really interesting, depending on who he talks to; Cole learned that if your were to follow the pavement road in all of ninjago consecutively, you'd wind up walking in a circle, Zane learned that owls' wings, which are shorter than a falcon's, allow for better evasive maneuvers, Wu learned that it takes the blink of an eye for someone can die from electrocution, given the right amount of energy, and Kai learned that the finer flour is, the better it burns.

Zane does yoga, which the other ninja think is weird. Except for Nya. She joins in

Zane can not fly the bounty. Nothing to do with directions, he juat can't sail.

Cole knows a lot of ballet moves and is very agile for a muscular guy

Kai listens to a lot of rap music.

Nya once did the boys' nails, because their nails were hideous, and she unintentionally scared the hell out of Zane, who never had his nails painted before.

Kai accidentally made Jay sleep for a whole day; they were both up pulling an all nighter to fix the bounty and he gave Jay a bunch of energy drinks to keep him up so they could het done. All he did instead was knock Jay out and make himself really hyper and restless.

Zane has a photographic memory. Even if you forgot something you said you'd do, Zane won't forget.

Fangirls still love Zane. He doesn't get the appeal, both pre and post discovering he's dead.

When the ninja get turned into kids, Zane did not become a child. He just had a huge existential crisis and 'OH SHIT' moment because now he was really the oldest of the ninja and, aside from Lloyd, had no prior experience with kids.

You will know if Zane is mad at you.

Cole wins every arm wrestling match, as long as he isn't going against Zane. Nothing to do with strength, Zane's just really cold and cheats by smiling at Cole, which gives him butterflies in him stomach.

Kai is so scared of spiders, it's almost funny.

Jay prefers sour things over sweet, but will eat just about anything.

DO NOT GIVE HIM OVERLY SOFT FOODS LIKE COOKED CARROTS. IT MAKES HIM VOMIT.

Cole is Wu's right hand. He trains and trains with the other ninja.

Zane can fly Shard while riding in his tail. The other ninja don't get him doing it, but whatever.

Kai is still protective of Nya. If she gets hurt in training, he'll be the first to check on her.

Cole makes sure he is the leader. Kai keeps trying to take the position, but Cole puts him back in his place.

Lloyd doesn't like meditating. He has little kid energy, so he, like Jay, has a hard time sitting still. Unlike Jay, caffeine will make it worse.

Jay is part of the reason the ninja are such sound sleepers; he practically saps them of their energy

When Zane adopts the falcon, he, to be a dick, said he adopted a bird. It scared the ninja shitless when a large, carnivorous bird landed on his arm.

They were surprised because Zane doesn't know his birds very well; he called an owl a dove once.

Cole has tattoos, which Kai and Jay think are cool, Nya doesn't mind, Wu frowns upon, and Zane is very confused by; he drew on his arm with a marker and it washed off. Cole's ink has not washed off in the two years he's trained with Wu.

All the ninja are encouraged to meditate, but they've all had varying degrees of success.

Cole has tried teaching Jay and Kai martial arts, and ended up giving them more bruises than the training course.

The ninja tried teaching Zane about practical jokes. Biggest mistake of their lives

#ninjago #ninjago rewrite #ninjao jay #ninjao cole #ninjago zane #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #fluff #universe alteration

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