Ninjago Bruise One Shots

Anger

(this includes spoilers for dragons rising SEASON 2 PART 2!!! please don't read ahead if you haven't watched the leaked eps!! huge spoilers!!)

(this chapter is also a part of a series i'm writing about the ninja post dr2 so this chapter will also be in a different book)

Anger: a natural defence mechanism the mind uses when the loss is so great that the brain is essentially too overwhelmed to begin the grieving process.

He couldn't think about doing anything else. Why would he? It's not like he could relax, take a break like the others did. He'd feel too guilty, more guilty than he already did.

Everything was a mess, he probably needed a distraction. His mother always told him that if he were upset or angry then he should find something that would make him happy. That's why he learnt how to draw - it brought him comfort when nothing else could - except, doing anything besides researching how to fix a shattered soul or how to bring someone's memories back felt wrong. Nothing he did felt relaxing at all.

The only thing that could put his mind at ease was to research, because the more time he spent researching, the quicker they could bring him back. However, as much as he dug into the internet, books he borrowed from a library in the Crossroads, or scrolls he'd stolen from Wu's scroll room, nothing seemed to offer a result. Solutions were difficult to come across when you had no information whatsoever.

How was he to figure out how to bring someone's memories back if he doesn't even know how they're amnesic? Did they hit their head? Did someone wipe their memories? Was it something deeper and more complicated? And how is he to find out how to unshatter a soul when he still wasn't entirely sure what shattering a soul meant . All he knew was that the presence of his best friend was no longer there - both physically and mentally - and he needed to do everything in his power to bring him home. For even if Kai and Nya did find him, they still needed to convince him to come to a strange Monastery he'd been told not to go to. And how were they to gain his trust enough for them to even attempt a comeback?

Cole refused to think about that for now. Instead, he focused on getting all the information he could.

He made lists. Lists of scribbled notes he could barely read himself. 'Photographs' was the first thing jotted down at the top of the notebook beside him at the kitchen counter. He didn't even need to research that for it to come to mind. Photographs seemed almost too obvious, though. Cole thought it was stupid - if Jay were to remember anything through people in photographs, he would've remembered them at the tournament. Besides, it was likely to only frustrate or confuse him.

Not knowing how Jay would feel if- when he returned to the Monastery was also a big issue. How compliant would he be? Every now and then, Cole would think back to what Ras said, obviously ignoring the part where he accused them of being bad friends.

' The merge left Jay Walker without his memory. Lost, alone, friendless. I found him, helped him when no one else did.'

Whatever happened to Jay must've been complicated. Not having any memories, being all alone and confused about who you are and how you have elemental powers sounded like a nightmare to Cole. What he hated even more was the question of, did Jay wake up without memories or was there a period of time after the merge where he truly felt lonely without the presence of his friends?

Nya had mentioned that Jay told her all he remembered was waking up in the Administration, that he managed to escape and that Ras 'rescued' him. That'd only make it ten times harder to bring him back, especially knowing that Ras had been whispering all kinds of nonsense about the ninja in his ear. Not to mention whatever the Administration had been saying. Jay likely wasn't gonna be that trusting toward them. However, Cole liked to think that since Ras kicked him from his team, Jay wouldn't be so loyal to Ras' words anymore.