#also i just know hes gonna get dragged out specifically because of nya. jay just isnt cooperating & kai stares into the camera before going

[sibillascribbles08]

Man now anon has me thinkin about a mental link AU specifically with Cole and Zane.

Cause I mean, imagine, Cole’s probably about 14 when it becomes anything noticeable and even then it’s just... weird as shit. The thoughts he’s getting don’t make any sense. There’s so many numbers for some reason. He vaguely knows what this is. His parents used to tell them about it, but what kind of person is fated to be his soulmate that he keeps getting flashes of thoughts in nothing but data.

Before he can make a strong enough connection to figure anything else out it goes quiet for a while. When it comes back it starts over. He never gets a name.

So he doesn’t notice even after he meets Zane, even if the way he talks sounds familiar. He’s suspicious a couple of times. He’s swore he’s heard his own name before. Sometimes when Zane is out training he can feel a chill, but he passes it off. That can’t be it. If it was he would KNOW.

Then they find out Zane is a nindroid, and he can feel Zane’s shock and confusion before they even reach the hideout. And then it all makes sense, why so many thoughts he was getting were masses of numbers instead of something he could translate off the bat.

Not that it’s a good time to talk about it, with Zane in shock and then getting attacked by treehorns. It’s about the same moment Zane becomes acutely aware of where all these extra thoughts have been coming from. Because without even hearing anything Zane knows Cole needs his help.

For a while there’s so much trial and error. Translating the thoughts of a nindroid takes practice, and sometimes it’s overwhelming. Probably the strangest moment for Cole is when he realizes that, in a sense, he can also understand what the falcon is trying to communicate. “Yeesh, when I’m connected to you it’s like I have my own bluetooth.”

But sometimes having this connection is a relief. He knows if Zane is okay, even if he can’t see him.

Relationship wise? Well, for now they stay friends. Soulmate doesn’t always have romantic connotations after all.

Cole becomes more adept to Zane’s sense of humor and vise versa. Cole gets much better at cooking. Often times when a song is stuck in his head Zane ends up humming it.

They haven’t even told the rest of the team yet.

Zane’s glad he can feel the things Cole does when he talks to his father, because he misses his own. But Cole also knows that feeling as well since he lost his mother.

Cole gets so overwhelmed when Zane sees his father again he ends up hugging Dr. Julien.

Of course Zane confides in his father about this, who’s ecstatic to know his son can have this kind of connection with someone. He pretty much never stops asking questions.

When Cole gets struck by dark matter it takes everything Zane has to keep it from creeping across the link. He tries to use it to get Cole back, but it’s too hard to focus on that while fighting at the same time.

They only get closer by the time season 3 rolls around. Contact is pretty normal for them. Jay asked Cole once if there was something going on but he denied it. Let things fall where they may. Someday he and Zane could have a talk about how they felt but for now he was fine with how things were.

He knows Zane is smitten when he meets Pixal, which means Cole is too in a sense. He encourages it, because honestly, it’d be good for Zane to have someone else to vibe with.

Zane not feeling so lonely waiting outside the monastery because Cole is sending him everything that’s going on. He only gets distracted by listening to Garmadon when the weapons get snagged. Cole immediately knows something is wrong.

“Zane if you keep sending me all your crushing vibes I might just ask Pixal out before you do.” “I am not certain she would appreciate it.”

Okay but Cole dying laughing when Pixal says that the compatibility checker said Nya should be with him. Even when Jay nails him he’s almost in tears like what kind of machine, what, no, that calculation is so off I’m gonna die.

“Jay, trust me, you DON’T need to worry about me going after Nya.” “Why not?” “Well...”

But then...

Cole knowing what Zane is planning early on, begging him to stop. He never would have gone underground with the team if it weren’t for the fact that Zane’s in so much pain and he can feel it. Even through that he struggles to get back out there. He can still hear his thoughts. Zane’s going to die and the nindroid just... accepts it.

And then he does, and the connection’s severed, and Cole blacks out.

When he wakes up his memory is frayed. He knows stuff is missing but he can’t recall any of it. The team can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. Only his father knows...

Pixal comes to talk to him, at one point, before the memorial.

“You and Zane had... a connection, didn’t you?” “I think so, hard to remember the details now.” “Do you remember what he was thinking when he gave me half my power source?” “...I don’t know, but probably something similar to what I’m feeling right now. That I’d give up anything just to hear his voice.”

Because it’s so quiet now in his head. He can’t stand it.

One day he swears he hears something, something. Feels something, but then it vanishes again. He passes it off as him going crazy as he wanders out to be on his own.

He’s hesitant to go to Chen’s island, to believe they have Zane because if they did wouldn’t he be able to hear something? Or does the connection stay dead when it comes to reviving nindroids.

But no, bit by bit he starts to hear something. He knows Zane is on the island somewhere. When Zane loads Pixal into his head she immediately notices. “Zane, what is this?” “What is what?” “I am getting the feeling I’m not the only one who’s been in your head.” And Zane knows she isn’t wrong but his memory is still on the fritz. He can’t recall who or what it is.

And Pixal uses it, right away, glad she was right about Zane and Cole having that kind of connection. It’s still weak but she never stops trying to send Cole signals about where they are.

It adds to the reasons Cole tosses the match with Jay. He knows it’s the quickest way to reach Zane.

And g o d when he sees him again. Suddenly that other voice comes back on in his head as if it never left. It takes everything he has not to get overwhelmed as he has to get dragged back to his cell. He can hear Zane so clearly now, he can hear Pixal too. All three of them are just chatting and when he’s (mostly) alone in his cell it comes crashing down and he starts crying.

Karlof starts fretting over him.

Lord knows it only gets worse when Cole busts him out and pulls him into a hug, foreheads bumping together, and all those frayed memories slip back into place.

They have to run away from a giant snake before they get any time to absorb any of it.

“I... am sorry for putting you through that Cole.” “It doesn’t matter now Zane, you’re back. You did what you had to do.” “Perhaps but I... knowing how scared you were...” “Of course I was scared, of course I missed you but... you’re back. That’s all that matters.”

He knows they need to move. They need to slip back into the prison to help the others escape. He knows, Zane knows, Pixal knows, but for the longest time they just cling to each other, relieved to have their other half back.

But Cole and Pixal helping Zane overcome his fear and summon his dragon.

Pixal and Zane trying to help Cole when he turns into a ghost, although they can only do so much since they are also too familiar with how it feels to not be able to feel anything. Cole’s just glad that turning into a ghost didn’t fuck up the connection.

The connection still being there when Zane is captured by Nadakhan, but Cole keeps getting woozy and sleepy.

Zane knowing something is wrong in Day of the Departed but Yang is intentionally throwing static into the connection, making it harder for him to reach out, to know what Cole is doing, to stop him.

Cole so excited to feel things again, clinging to Zane, long enough that Pixal tosses in a “just kiss already”.

Lord.... Cole when Zane’s head is all scrambled. The combined panic when Pixal goes offline.

Okay this has gone on long enough alsdkfsfds

#scribs speaks #ninjago #glaciershipping #help this got so long OOPS #is this ot3 #maybe somewhat