ninjago imagines

fractured stars falling

TW: Night terrors, small injuries. 

The team on nightmares and how to deal with them -- together. 

• • •

Nightmares are a common occurrence in the monastery. 

Too common.

Sometimes it's Jay, waking up with tears in his glassy blue eyes, awake but not quite there. He cries, softly, and whispers blurry words about pirates and wishes and Nya. She's the only one that can manage to calm him down, curling into his side to ground him from the world of nightmares. 

And the rest of them wonder sometimes what he talks about, of genies and flying ships, but they know not to press because everyone keeps their own few secrets. Jay's never as bright or cheery the next day; even his anxious nature dulled. 

Occasionally it's Cole, waking up with his face pale and distant, fingers digging into his palm hard enough to draw blood (because in his dreams he fades and glitches, and when he wakes up he wonder if his ghost form has really left yet). 

A few times he wakes up gasping for his mom; forbidden memories making it's way from his mind when he's asleep, and makes the old wound only so much worse after he wakes up. If anyone hears anything, they don't say a word, and he's grateful for that. 

It's falling too, falling falling falling into the deep darkness that promises nothing but pain. It's from the top of a building, off a snowy deep cliff, or from anywhere else his wicked nightmares and conjure up. 

Kai has them too, and Zane has to figure out a way to fireproof his room because flames erupt from his fingertips when he's too deep in a dream, a cruel fantasy, and he doesn't get hurt but the house is still made from wood. He always feels guilty, no matter what they say, when he wakes up a room full of worried teammates and fire, fire blazing around him evidence of the destruction he brings. 

And he doesn't hug them as close the next few days, or clenches his fists tight whenever they get a little too close, and they wonder sometimes what happens in his own dreams that makes him do that. 

Zane never says anything, but they'll wake up to a little too much food on the table, and the nindroid with a smile too bright and a greeting that comes just a little too distracted.  He hates it when they bring the topic up carefully, eyes turning cold and guarded and reminding Lloyd a little too much of how he looked, back when he was still the Ice Emperor. 

And his use of ice is slowed, cautious, shuddering whenever ice forms at his hand and a lot more hesitant to use his powers to fight. He'll stay up later, and wake up early,  and lock himself into him room more times than normal. He argues about their annoying yells or whatever other reasons before leaving, but they do notice. (They're all picking out signs about the others without thinking, the fighting instinct kicking in unknowingly, but it doesn't help very much those days.)

His encouraging nature and laugh is still there, but just some seconds too slow and forced. They watch him disappear out the monastery, and wait for the call from Pixal to tell them he's there. (And breathe a little easier, because if they can't help him, at least she can). 

Sometimes Nya's up a little too early too, gaze tired and weary, and no matter how much coffee she drains from the machine, it never seems to energize her the way it usually does. 

She avoids the Samurai X suit, too, taking it in for less and less repairs even though she'd used to love bringing in her old fighting mech, more for memories and upgrades than actual fixing. 

And sometimes she drops a weapon or a tool from a hands a few times too often, but they ignore it as she picks it back up, face hard with hurt, and pretend that everything is okay (because if they don't, it's a little too easy to break apart).

 Lloyd has it the worst out of them all, but they can never determine whether it's due to the Tomorrow's Tea messing something up, the possibility of Morro messing up something in his mind, or whether it's just nightmares from the trauma, reminders of the pain he's had to deal with in such little time. 

Occasionally the screams start in the middle of the night, and it's Morro or Garmadon or Aspheera, and a whole list of names they've run out of fingers to count on for. It's screaming and kicking and trashing uncontrollably, and everyone's up for the count when it happens.  

Zane brings up the idea of having someone sleep with him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself, but then green energy starts flying; exploding, and everyone knows restraints would only make it worse. 

They do it the first few times, try to snap him out of the night terror and back into real life. Lloyd just wakes up disorientated, blinking in confusion, and spends the rest of the night sobbing into Kai's shoulder about things that he won't ever bring up with them. 

The other times, after they've learned not to wake him up, the blonde wakes up fine, if not  little more tired that usual, but his gaze turns guilty and worn when the other greet him with dark circles under their eyes, which he picks out no matter how hard they try to conceal. He's been through enough to know why they have them, and spends the rest of the day, if not week, blaming himself for it. 

Sometimes, he wakes up with a bandaged gash around his arm, or a burn across his thigh, and his eyes flicker in confusion before settling on their resigned faces. 

The rest of them hate it like hell. 

Kai hates that he can punch and fight and defend his family from any other monster in real life, but is rendered helpless for the ones that lurk in his mind.

 Zane hates that no matter how much he digs into the internet, searching all corners of the digital world for a answer, a cure, that no matter what he does, he can't fix anything for the others. 

 Jay just wishes he wouldn't have to see his teammates trailing across the halls, face filled with guilt and unreadable emotions. (He wishes they weren't so good at hiding things). 

Nya silently watches Jay cry at monsters that don't exist anymore, tears like fractured stars falling, and wants more than anything to hugs him tight and never let go. And Cole hangs around with Kai more after the night terrors, because he's always jumpy and high wired like he can still remember faded memories of the horrors after dark. 

They makes out a schedule with each other, so that they all don't have to wake up the same night. It throws them off, Zane says, a sense of guilt on his face (god, why is everyone just so guilty?) and they're all forced to agree. 

If someone goes down during a fight because of sleep deprivation, they don't even want to think about how much that would affect them all. 

So they make out a schedule, and yeah, it takes a while for the others to go back to sleep, but it's better than nothing. 

They'll taking turns drag them all out for movie nights a few times every month, always falling asleep on someone's shoulder, and there's the normal amount of groaning and scuffling, but the next morning Sensei Wu watches them stumble in for training from the mound of blankets and pillows they pile up in the living room, and smiles.

And sometimes they look a little brighter in the morning, a little happier, because the fears in their dreams also remind them of what've they faced, and survived, and the fact they're all still alive and here.  

And that's all that really matters, in the end.