A Ninjago Oneshots Collection

Kai's Sacrifice (small)TW 1/2

TW: SACRIFICE, APOCALYPTIC-TYPE SITUATION
Includes: Greenflame, Kai angst, Lloyd angst, and some sweetness maybe idk

Kai quickly turned around and hugged Lloyd, squeezing him harder than he ever had, both out of fear and love.

"Kai?--"

"Shh..." Kai breathed, knowing anything louder would give away their presence.

The nightmares had invaded the city faster than the ninja had expected. Almost every citizen had been affected by the nightmares, and too many of them were dead. Who would've thought that a lot of people's nightmare was death? Luckily it turns out it's not permanent, whatever you may get from your nightmare, including death. It's not easy, obviously, but it's possible to reverse it.

Despite how terrifying and deathly these creatures were, there was oddly a simple way to stop them, just a little difficult to achieve, because as soon as they come into contact with you, your nightmares become reality and there's no escape. All you have to do, to get rid of one, is to laugh. Genuinely. Not like when Nya laughs at Jay's crappy jokes out of sympathy, a proper laugh, like when Cole genuinely says his cooking isn't that bad.

Tears pricked at Kai's eyes as Lloyd slowly returned the hug. Kai quietly nudged them along deeper into the shadow of the alley. They had to find the others. But Kai knew it'd be impossible for the both of them to escape their little corner of the city.

"Lloyd, listen to me." Kai spoke in barely a whisper. "I'm going to run. I'm going to let go, and run, distracting them, pulling them away from you. Once they're out of sight, go. Find the others. Don't look for me. Get out of the city. If I'm not at the monastery by tomorrow night, I'm gone." Lloyd caught his breath. He felt his throat get tight and his eyes sting.

"No--" Lloyd stifled a cry into Kai's shoulder, which made Kai's own tears fall. Kai hesitated, having to muster up enough voice to say anything more.

"I'll be ok, you know that." Kai also had to stifle his voice into Lloyd's shoulder, because his fear was making it harder to whisper.

"No please, Kai, no, I won't be able to fix this without you," Lloyd squeaked, clutching Kai harder and harder, hoping that Kai wouldn't push him away, that he was joking, and not really about to sacrifice himself.

"Then I guess I'd better not get touched," Kai took a deep breath. Lloyd knew that was a signal. He felt his throat close completely from the tension and his knuckles go numb from holding onto Kai so hard.

Kai pushed off of Lloyd, making him fall back against the wall and throw his hand over his mouth to not scream.

"Hey, you! All of you! I have some pretty weird nightmares I'm sure you'd be interested in seeing!" Kai forced the words to come out. The gigantanormous globs of pure darkness and fear all turned to Kai, who as soon as he knew they were onto him, ran. Ran in the opposite direction Lloyd needed to go. He didn't look back. He wasn't sure he could handle it.

Lloyd shook his head, whimpers making their way through his hand. Lloyd slid down the wall and buried his head in his knees, holding his breath to stop his sobs.

Finally, after managing to get a hold of his crying, he slowly looked up and crawled over to the entrance of the nook in between the buildings. He scanned the area for any movement, any at all, and there was nothing. The feeling that the nightmare creatures gave you whenever they were around was gone from his chest too, telling Lloyd it was safe to go out. He took a shaky deep breath, and stood up, did one last final check, and walked out.