A compilation of Ninjago one-shots, because only chaos can come out of the mix with the team rampaging through the city together.
Or, all the lost moments throughout the series, including completely random AU's made up by yours truly in the spur of...
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[In which the ninja deal with the aftermath of rescuing Lloyd from Harumi's grasp, as he's not the same anymore. ]
TW: Medical Restraint, Injuries.
• • •
When they bring him in, he's fighting tooth and nail to escape.
He's kicking and screaming and crying, as Kai and Cole drag him into the med bay, teeth gritted and eyes glimmering with tears.
"Lloyd, you're okay, I- why isn't he listening to us?" The fire ninja demands angrily, but Zane can hear the hurt buried underneath.
"A flashback triggered by PTSD. He- still thinks he's there." Zane's voice glitches in and out, and his hands don't shake, but he takes a second longer to look at his brother, pinned down on the medical table next to him. Kai bristles at the thought, expression turning dark.
Lloyd gazes tearfully up at them, looking past their faces into the distance. "Stop, stop, please. I won't try to escape again, please."
He whimpers anxiously, eyes flitting from face to face as Zane approaches with a bundle of wires, medical decides already up and running.
The words are whispered, dazed, but Zane is already looking away, slipping into a state of focus because if he thinks too much about how much it takes to make Lloyd beg, he won't be able to function properly.
He sweeps the room for Nya, Nya's comforting words and steady resolve, before remembering she's still patching Jay up the other room.
They'd all been much more hesitant to use real force against their little brother. Lloyd hadn't been, though.
He looks up at Cole blankly, a heavy cold settling over his chest as his data finishes exploiting all possible situations to style into one. It's not comforting like the feeling of his ice, but he thinks humans call it dread or regret or sadness or all three in one, maybe. He calls it emptiness.
"Get the medical restraints."
Cole stares at him, face twisting into hurt and disbelief. But Zane also knows that Cole can look at the bigger situation, and he knows that the earth ninja will realize he is right. He opens his mouth to argue, but Zane cuts him off sharply.
"You two cannot hold him down enough for me to stitch him up properly, and he is bleeding much too quickly. Anesthesia would wear off too quickly because of his unique blood metabolism, and waking up in the middle could be life threatening." Zane hesitates, and carries on. "He only needs to stay still for long enough for me to administer the required treatment, but we cannot be sure he won't tear the stitches afterwards if he is still trying to escape."
The earth ninja looks across to Lloyd and the blood still spilling from his wounds as he fights Kai, and strides out the room quickly, blinking his protests and tears away. If that's what it takes to keep Lloyd alive, he's ready to do anything.
Zane busies himself with ripping apart clinical white packets, metallic shine of needles spilling across the table. When Cole returns, his arms filled with vinyl and clinking metal.They learned, a long time ago, that with elemental powers also come abnormal strength. Restraints aren't a uncommon thing in the monastery, used for violent night terrors or particularly bad panic attacks.
It takes Kai burning down half his room, flames flickering through his panic, and Cole splintering the courtyard into a spiderweb of cracks before Zane relents. He makes the cuffs alone, weaving vengestone into the metal carefully. They hate using it, but the damage done without them is too much to risk.
Cole bits his lip and grabs Lloyd's wrist, holding tight as he wraps the padding, heart falling with every twist.
It doesn't take long to get the others on, earning a few scratches and weak hits for their effort.. Even as the green ninja, Lloyd doesn't stand a chance against the three in his injured state. He struggles against the bonds, jade eyes blown wide with panic. Screams slice through the room like razors, and they all wince at the sound.
Kai escape the room, face pale as a sheet, and Zane guessed Nya will have more people to comfort on her hands the she expected. He wishes her could follow.
The screams stop after a while. Zane notices after he finishes the stitches, metallic fingers icy from the focus. The silence might be worse, though, cold and suffocating and painful.
It's a long while before either of them speak. Lloyd stays silent for five, ten, fifteen minutes, fight and adrenaline drained. Zane stops counting from his internal clock after a while.
"Zane?" Lloyd says at last, blinking up at him. His gaze isn't glazed over anymore, but Zane thinks the dulled one he sees now is even worse.
"Are you real?" he whispers, and Zane nods firmly. "I am real, Lloyd."
"How do I know you're not just another...memory? Or a hallucination?" Tears fill his glassy eyes, and he remembers the days when his head was spinning and the world spun into cotton candy memories, twisted faces and snatches of sentences dancing just out of his reach.
He always hated those days.
Zane holds out a hand, a small smile on his face. He hopes it looks reassuring, because he wants to scream and rip something, anything, apart and shut down on the inside.
"Ghosts don't feel, Lloyd. But I do."
The teen stares up at him, gaze splintering between hope and disbelief. He hesitates, like he thinks Zane'll disappear at a touch, but lifts a hand into his metal palm. Zane gives him a small reassuring glance, squeezing his hand in response.
"Did I hurt anyone?" Lloyd says, and normally Zane would tell the truth, like always, but this time he chooses a different route.
It's still the truth.
"You didn't hurt anyone. Harumi did. " He says determinedly, bright eyes flashing warm blue. Lloyd doesn't say anything, but something in his expression softens. Zane knows instantly, that he's made the right choice. He unties the restraints, letting them fall to the floor.
"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "We had to make sure you didn't pull out the stitches."
"Do you want me to get Kai?" Zane stands from his chair, already wondering whether Kai will be in the training room, destroying his frustrations with fighting, or dragged into another med bay by Nya.
"Stay." Lloyd's voice trembles, and his fingers tightens around his hand. "Please."
"Of course." The nindroid sits obediently, pulling his chair closer to the bed. The heart monitor beeps away slowly, filling the room with a comforting reminder that everything's okay for now.
Although Zane thinks that with every dangerous mission that they live through, he starts counting the seconds more they have with each other every day, and spends less time thinking about the future.
"I'm going to be okay, Lloyd." Zane says. He doesn't say and say it's okay right now, because he knows it won't be for a long time, and he can't lie.
"What if I can't be fixed?"
"I was fixed. Many times." Zane says carefully. "I had to do it myself once. But you've got all of us, and we've got you."
Zane smiles, small but finally genuine, and this time Lloyd does too.
