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goldenavenger02 · 6 months

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i said "i love you" (you say nothing back)

After defeating the Hoarder, Nya finds out exactly what Cole means when he says that it feels like the earth is screaming. Meanwhile, Cole knows that his and Geo’s time is running out.

“We’re gonna need to head out first thing in the morning,” Nya explained as she followed Cole around, the two of them on their own journey to find two sufficient air mattresses for her and Sora to sleep on for the night, but she had a much more pressing matter on her mind, “so, you and Geo?”

“What about Geo?” Cole asked, kneeling down next to a pile of junk and starting to dig through it.

“I just think it’s nice that you found him and the others, that you had others after the Merge,” Nya shrugged as she got down beside her best friend and started to dig through the pile of trash beside him while a much simpler time came to the forefront of her mind, “remember that true match machine?”

“Oh my god,” Cole laughed despite the thin lines of pain around his lips that Nya could only see in a certain light, “I nearly forgot about that stupid thing.”

“What, the machine that resulted in you and I going on one date? Where afterwards you said “I’m not talking to Jay, but you can’t pick me”? How did you forget that?” Nya couldn’t contain her laughter as they stood with zero luck and continued to walk, no longer in fear of the Hoarder now that it was trapped in a jar.

“I still can’t believe that was the last piece of the puzzle.”

“Yep, one date with me. That’s all it took for you to realize that you were gay,” she grinned, but it was quickly replaced by a frown of worry about where her yin was bubbling its way back to the surface of her mind, “I hope that the others find him.”

“Hey,” Cole’s voice was comforting as his hand rested on her shoulder, forcing her attention to him, “we will find him. One of us will find Jay, I promise. I mean, you and Sora found me in a place that, according to most people, doesn’t even exist. That’s gotta mean something.”

“I wish you would come with us.” Nya sighed, pulling an air mattress pump off of the top of a pile of junk, relieved to find that it was only slightly dented and battery powered.

“You know I can’t. Not until I can find a way to bring them with me,” Cole sighed, examining the device, “it would kill me to leave them-” the cry of anguish as he dropped to his knees forced a horrific scream from Nya’s lungs.

“Cole!” She rushed over and knelt down before pulling her best friend into her arms, “Cole, what’s-”

“Get Geo.” Was all he said before his eyes fluttered shut and his body went limp in her arms, making Nya’s stomach churn with worry; she tried to lift him so she could get him back to the Rookery, to find his boyfriend like he said to do, but despite her own share of muscle from the years of being a Samurai and then a ninja, he was still too heavy for her.

So she did the only thing that she could think to do and started to yell out, “Sora! Geo! Riyu! I need help!”

…

Nya’s heart pounded painfully in her chest as she looked around at the others surrounding her; Bonzal was crocheting, her boney hands working slowly but expertly with the light blue yarn that was reminiscent of her own gi. Fritz and Spitz were sitting on the ground, gluing together popsicle sticks into what she assumed was a log cabin, similar to how she had done it when she was their age. Sora and Riyu had gone out to resume finding mattresses for the two of them to settle for the night, insisting that since they had found a pump, a mattress had to be close by.

Nya couldn’t help but wonder if Bonzal’s crocheting was nerves or not with how slow she was working; she couldn’t help but remember her boyfriend’s anxious movements, his hands working nervously on all sorts of projects and inventions if only just to calm his overworking mind.

If he had been with her in this current moment, Jay would focus on trying to comfort her own nerves, using his own words to ground himself, but she didn’t dare wish for him to be there even in the comfort of her own mind, not even a good experience with a Dijin could change that.

With how at ease the boys were, even if they weren’t outwardly showing their nerves, Nya couldn’t help but wonder if what had happened to Cole was somewhat normal for the children he was now practically calling his own, for the skeleton who outwardly didn’t care for much but her craft projects as well as her weird collections and for Cole’s boyfriend, who was in the room just down the hall, tending to him.

It wasn’t that it was unexpected for Cole to have a boyfriend; ever since he came out to her, Nya was aware of the persistent crush he had once had on her brother as well as the brief romance that he had shared with Plundar. If she was being completely honest, she had been expecting it for a long time just like she knew the others had been expecting her to get back together with Jay.

But she couldn’t stop herself from wondering about Geo, the outcast of Shintaro that had found his way into Cole’s heart. They hadn’t spoken much to each other aside from the explanation of his own elemental powers, not that it wasn’t either of their faults given the attack from both The Hoarder as well as Dr. LaRow.

Admittedly, Nya couldn’t help but wonder if it was just her wanting to get to know the Munce, or if some part of her was still guarded from the mess that had been what had gone down with Harumi and Lloyd and as a result, wanted to protect the others from going through anything like that again.

She was so lost in her own mind that she hadn’t even registered Geo, slowly opening the creaking, wooden door until he approached the line of her vision, “how is he?”

“He’ll be okay,” Geo’s voice was steady, like anything about Cole passing out for seemingly no reason after expressing earlier in the day that it felt like the earth had been screaming ever since the Merge was okay.

“How are you so calm about this?” Nya questioned with a raised eyebrow, “this isn’t normal and not just in Ninjago. It’s not normal at all.”

Geo didn’t answer at first and Nya assumed that it was due to the fact that he was refusing to acknowledge her question, but she was surprised when Geo led her over to a small table pushed into the back of the room and handed her a hot mug of steaming chamomile, a scent she instantly recognized from her days working at Steep Wisdom.

“I don’t like scaring Fritz and Spitz,” Geo admitted as he passed her a small dish of sugar before taking a sip of his unsweetened tea, looking right at the young boys as he spoke, “they’re just kids. Kids who look at Cole the same way that they look at me.”

“So they’re your sons?” Nya pressed while sweetening her tea.

“In all but blood,” Geo affirmed, “the four of us, we were all rejected by our biological families, so we made our own and when Cole fell from the sky, we only assumed that he was like the rest of us.”

Nya nodded; she was instantly brought back to those cold autumn mornings in Ignacia where her feet would be so cold that she would instantly go to Kai’s bed and snuggle up to her furnace of a brother; even when he complained about her cold feet on his warm legs, she knew that he was grateful that at least he could provide warmth.

It had just been the two of them surviving together, hoping that the other villagers would take pity on them to the point of at least offering them a warm meal if they didn’t buy some of the extensive stock of weapons that only dwindled as they grew up.

In a weird way, she had been thankful for being taken by the skeleton army; after all, it wasn’t like they hurt her and afterwards, they had the guarantee of comfy beds and warm meals while Kai continued his training to become the master of fire.

“So, what happened out there?” Nya questioned, now that the chamomile was starting to calm down her anxiety and replaced it with the need for answers, “and why are you all so calm about this?”

“I know you said that this isn’t normal, and you are completely in the right, but it has become our normal,” Geo explained, stopping to take a sip of his tea, “a few weeks after Cole arrived, he fought the Hoarder for the first time. But when he used what he calls his “earth punch”, he confided in me later on that the earth struggled to obey his mastery and it felt like the ground was in agony.”

“So the pain is from his earth punch.”

“Not exactly,” Nya couldn’t stop her eyebrow from raising in confusion, but after being in so many confusing conversations throughout the years, she knew when it was better to remain silent, “after that day, he started to develop these migraines, he told me that he always hears the cries, but that he can drown them out. But some days, like today, it’s too strong for him.”

Nya swallowed in sympathy; after she had been brought back from the sea, she had been forced to go through the withdrawal of the lack of elemental power she had seen both Kai and Lloyd go through in the past. It had been painful to say the least between getting used to her own body again as well as the usual flu-like symptoms that came with having the elemental energy ripped from one's body.

But consistent migraines like that, long after the event that originally caused the internal turmoil, that was new to her; not impossible, but new. Just like everything else that she had learned within the past few weeks since she reunited with Lloyd.

“Is there anything that helps him get through the bad days?” Nya asked, pushing a loose strand of hair away from her face where it had fallen out of her ponytail, only to be disappointed when Geo shook his head.

“Not much. We haven’t been able to find any sort of medicine or herbal remedy to decrease the pain, but physical contact helps him ground himself, so it’s something.”

That was something that didn’t surprise Nya at all. Cole was always the first one to give and accept hugs to whoever might need one ever since she first met him; she had a particularly strong memory of the two of them holding onto each other tightly after a conversation about ghosts and newfound powers.

But as Geo spoke, every word rattled inside of her mind and filled it with the fact that Geo was not deceptive and had zero malicious intent for her friend. Rather, he may very well be the best match she had ever seen for Cole.

“Then you should go be with him,” Nya insisted, putting her now empty tea cup down on the table, “I’ll clean this up and make dinner.”

“Are you sure?” Geo questioned as she stood, taking his empty cup with her own towards the sink, “you and Sora have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow.”

“Geo, you are the first person I’ve met that has truly loved Cole,” Nya put her hand on the Munce’s to ensure that yes, she had his attention, “and right now, you are the one he needs. You’ve helped him through this before, I would have no idea what to do.”

Geo nodded as he stood, and Nya could have sworn that she saw a shiny tear trickle down his cheek but he made no move to acknowledge it as he walked back toward his and Cole’s shared bedroom, only stopping to turn back toward Bonzal and say, “help Nya with dinner if she needs it.”, before disappearing behind the wooden door.

…

Cole knew that if he stayed perfectly still and kept his eyes closed, the migraine would pass. It would take time and he would be bedridden for the rest of the night, but he knew that the throbbing in his mind and the subtle churn of his nauseated stomach would pass.

In the years that had passed in the Land of Lost Things, he got used to the throbbing of the scar that had come from the rift in the sky sealing around the left side of his skull.

He knew that any of the other ninjas would have been just as freaked out as he had been when it had started, he also knew that it had been foolish to believe that it had just been from the lack of adrenaline from fighting the Hoarder that first time.

But, he had Geo to get him through it by letting him rest his pounding head on his chest and the comforting squeeze of his arm around his shoulders. It didn’t stop the pain, the nausea or even the fainting, but it was enough for Cole to ground himself and know that he would get through it just like he had before.

“Hey,” the tender whisper broke through his thoughts, resting his gentle hand on Cole’s bare shoulder which gave him the strength to open his eyes in the pitch black room, “how’re you feeling?”

“Honestly?” Cole couldn’t stop his voice from trembling as he spoke because even moving the muscles in his jaw sent a flash of pain through his head, “like shit, the migraines…” he hesitated, but given the little of Geo’s face he could see through the makeshift blackout curtains that covered their windows, Cole knew that his boyfriend knew exactly what he was gonna say, “I think they’re getting worse. The screaming is getting louder.”

Geo’s mouth was pushed into a tight line, the face he made whenever he was deep in thought; Cole had seen it before, when the two of them discussed the Hoarder with Bonzal to try and figure out what exactly it was and how to stop it for good, as well as when the migraines first made their appearance and Geo had tried everything to remove the pain before it was decided that they should just try and manage the pain instead.

“You should go with Nya, Riyu and Sora tomorrow,” Geo finally spoke, and despite the pain, Cole immediately sat up in protest, “Cole, lay back do-”

“I am not leaving the boys, I am not leaving Bonzal and I am not leaving you,” Cole shook his head and fought back the wave of nausea that it caused as he grasped onto his boyfriend’s hands, “you four can’t leave, I can’t leave you.”

“Ninjago has more sufficient medical technology-”

“But Ninjago doesn’t have you,” Cole cut him off, his vision trying to dim around him due to the overexertion, “I need you, Geo.”

“I don’t want you to leave, Cole,” Geo’s voice trembled as he set a gentle hand on his chest, forcing his throbbing head onto the pillows, “but I also don’t want to lose you.”

Cole sighed as he chewed on the edge of his lip; he understood everything Geo was saying and he knew that his boyfriend wasn’t pushing him away because he no longer wanted him around but more so that he couldn’t find another solution to the problem and he knew that, in the depths of his mind where only the truest honesty inside of him was, he knew that the only solution had to be stopping the Merge Quakes.

“I love you, Geo,” Cole sighed as he moved to allow the Munce to get in bed beside him so he could rest his head against his chest, knowing that if this was the last night that he would be with Geo, then he was going to make sure that it ended on a good note, “and I swear that as soon as all of this is over, I’ll come back and bring you four with me.”

“I know you will,” Geo spoke softly before pressing his tender lips to the top of Cole’s head, wrapping his arm around his shoulders, “and Cole?”

Cole turned his head to look into Geo’s shiny eyes, feeling his own tears start to build up from both the migraine and knowing that this could very well be the last time that he shared the night with his boyfriend.

Despite all of that, Cole couldn’t help but smile when their lips met, the familiar sensation of nothing but pure love bringing his attention away from the pain for just a few moments before Geo pulled away and said what he got his attention for in the first place.

“I love you too, and if you can’t get back to us…” Geo stopped to push away Cole’s sweaty, raven-black hair away from his throbbing scar, never putting his fingers directly on it.

“Don’t finish that,” Cole pleaded, gently taking Geo’s purple fingers in his own hand, “I will come back to Bonzal, to the boys and to you. We’ll go back to Ninjago, and you guys can meet my dad,” he started to ramble, which he knew was from both the exhaustion and the migraine taking away his focus, but he had this conversation with Geo before deep in the night after they had their first kiss.

“And if we decide that Ninjago isn’t for us, we’ll go live with your friend, Queen Vania, in Shintaro,” Geo continued, pressing more soft kisses against Cole’s head while speaking, “and we’ll keep raising our boys where they’ll be as safe as they can be and where Bonzal will have so much thread and yarn that she’ll never run out of things to crochet or sew.”

“And when they’re a bit older,” Cole stopped to yawn, his eyes fluttering shut as he continued to mumble, “maybe we’ll have another one. I’ve always wanted three, you know.”

But as he let his eyes stay shut and his mind started to wander into dreamland, he heard Geo speak for just a few more moments.

“A girl, who we’ll name her after your mom,” one more kiss pressed to his forehead followed by a “good night, Cole” and after that, Cole couldn’t hear his boyfriend speak anymore.

He thought he heard the voice of Master Wu calling out to him, pleading with him to follow him, but it quickly faded to an empty void.

…

Spitz had burst into tears as soon as he heard that Cole would be leaving, his sobs turning into sniffles after Cole hugged him with a little bit of super strength and insisted that he would be back as soon as he could be.

Fritz was just as sniffly as Spitz when he hugged Cole tightly, but was much easier to cheer up with the promise of meeting the others, especially Kai, and the promise that he would be brought back the newest in ninja action figures.

Bonzal didn’t say much before leading the boys away, she didn’t even hug Cole, but when she stuttered over “bring me any bones you find, rock boy,” he knew that she was pushing back any of her emotions so he and Geo could have a proper goodbye without Fritz asking more questions about the dragon cores or Spitz becoming inconsolable about Cole leaving again.

But when the door closed, leaving the Master of Earth and the Munce alone, neither of them could break the silence as Cole pulled the backpack of his few things over his shoulder. He was still exhausted from the migraine that had overtaken him the day before, but the pain was gone and the screaming was quieter now.

Unfortunately, that also meant that his departure from the land he had called home, and the people he had called home for the last few years, was very real and not just an argument between him and his boyfriend.

“You be safe,” Geo’s voice broke through the seemingly impenetrable silence that had filled the living room as he rested his palm in Cole’s, the small burst of powers forming a brief heart shape around their hands, “you come back to us.”

“Geo,” Cole swallowed harshly, his mouth dry as he did, “tell me to stay and I swear, I will unpack this bag faster than the elemental master of speed,” Cole knew that he wouldn’t since he was the one who told him to leave the night before, but he was pleading just the same as his voice trembled into a honest stutter, “I-I love you.”

He should have known that Geo wouldn’t say another word, but the last thing he expected was for Geo to let his hand fall before walking with him toward the entrance. Cole wanted to take his hand again, to drop his pack and insist that he was staying, but that’s when Geo spoke one more time, pressing his hand to Cole’s cheek as he did, his eyes full of earnestness.

“You have to leave.”

And with that, Geo removed his hand from his cheek and turned around toward their bedroom, leaving Cole to stand in the entryway by himself.

His shaky breath filled the room as the water in his eyes started to fall, but he lifted his arm up, wiped away the tears, pulled the backpack tighter onto his shoulder and forced himself to walk out of the Rookery for the last time.

Despite that, he couldn’t stop himself from turning around for a brief second to try and get a glimpse of Geo from the window, only to remember that the blackout curtains were still up; so he continued walking toward Nya, Sora and Riyu to tell them that he would be going to follow Master Wu’s voice instead of coming with them.

But he knew that he wouldn’t tell Nya the reason that he was wiping heartbroken tears from his cheeks and if she pressed, he knew that he would have to lie to her only so she didn’t release any of her powers on the Finders.

‘I will return,’ Cole told himself as his eyes caught onto the small group in front of him, ‘and we’ll all make it back to Ninjago.’

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