Random Ninjago Stuff

Just Hair

A/N: Did I just (kind of) write a character analysis based on cutting hair? Yes, yes I did. Enjoy!

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Lou hummed, brushing his son's hair from out of his eyes as Cole ate his cereal.

"We're going to have to pop to the barbers, my boy. Your hair's going to reach the floor by next month if we keep this up," He chuckled.

"I like it," The seven year old responded, smiling up at his father. "I wanna look pretty like Mama."

Lilly smiled from where she was sitting next to them, "Why thank you Pebble. But, I think it's best if you get the dead ends cut off, my dear."

"I'll take him over after school," Lou stated.

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Cole sniffled in the back seat as Lou drove home. His hair couldn't even mask his face anymore; his father had requested it short, and he couldn't stop them in time to change it.

The musician sighed, glancing at the young boy through the mirror.

"It's just some hair, son. It'll grow back soon enough."

Not wanting to frustrate the man, Cole nodded silently, wiping his wet eyes with his sleeve as he hiccupped softly.

When they got home, Lilly was surprised to see his haircut, and scooped Cole into her arms while Lou began preparing dinner.

"Do you like it?" She asked softly.

He shook his head, and she hummed, kissing his cheek.

"Well, next time I'll take you over, and you can get it how you like it, okay?"

He nodded, resting his head on her shoulder, reaching over to mess with the chain of her necklace.

"Thank you Mama."

Lilly rubbed his back. "It's no issue, baby. I'll talk to your pa about it later too."

"You don't have to. I don't want him to be upset."

"He won't be, darling. I promise. I'll get it all sorted for you. It's your hair after all."

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Cole stared at the mirror, gripping the sink so tight he was sure it would crack any minute.

His hair was short. Shorter than it had ever been. And he hated it.

Sure, it wasn't necessarily long before, but he had been looking forward to fully growing it out ever since he ran away from Marty's.

It had began reaching for his shoulders before the accident, and now all that progress was lost.

Removed to make way for a brain chip designed to place him under the will of evil incarnate.

He knew it was stupid, but losing the hair hurt more than losing practically the entire left side of his body.

It's just some hair, it'll grow back.

His prosthetics may be the more extreme display of what the Overlord had done to him, but Cole couldn't move past the hair.

He'd always prided himself in his hair. Not in the same way as Kai, but Cole placed a lot of his identity into the way it looked.

To him, his body was a canvas of his life, and his hair was no different. It was how he expressed himself when words failed. It was where he got to experiment with his image in one of the more reversible ways.

He enjoyed the feeling of freedom he got when he saw long hair. The ability to style it how he wanted with little consequences. Long hair left room for mistakes, even when Cole couldn't. If he messed up dyeing it, he could always just colour it black again. If he botched cutting it, a quick trim would fix it.

He'd always loved playing with his mother's hair in the evenings, or sitting on his parents' bed, watching her meticulously pull her thick locks into a braided bun for his father's events.

One of the other reasons he wanted long hair so badly was because it reminded him of her.

Everyone always said he resembled his father when he was younger, but as he entered adolescence, he began slowly noticing his mother's features in himself, and he was sure he'd grow into them more as time went on.

He'd inherited his heterochromia from her, but now it seemed to suit him better. Hitting a growth spurt at thirteen set the Brookstone genetics into motion, as he now stood a good few inches above his father, despite being fifteen.

He used to find his mother towering over his father humorous, and loved it when she picked them both up, giggling from her shoulders as Lou's feet dangled off their hardwood floors.

Lilly was always so strong before she got ill. He missed how she would pick him up when he was upset, shielding him from whatever problems the world had to offer, keeping him safe in her embrace.

He did that with his friends now, he'd noticed. They all frequently sought him out for a bear hug when troubled, even the somewhat touch-aversed Zane.

It seemed almost fitting, going from a dancer like his father to a ninja like his mother, that he would turn out similar to her in other ways.

But now, with his hair chopped so short it was practically bristles on his head, and left eye replaced with a glass optic, shining white only due to Zane's technoblade, he felt like he'd lost her all over again, with part of him going with her this time.

His friends told him the most shocking part of seeing him with the nindroids was the angry, bright red in his left eye, the contrast from the blue they were so used to throwing them off guard briefly. The next was his hair, which could not hide the hideous bloody glow of the optic due to its length.

That just made it worse.

After reshaping his body, replacing his flesh, muscles, blood, with plain metal and wires, the Overlord took away the thing that made him feel most like himself.

Erasing everything about him to turn him into a mindless murder droid.

Forcing him to go against what he stood for, what he promised to his mother.

He was sure he'd died in that burning building, and the Overlord only brought part of him back. The useful, physically able side of him.

The chip suppressed his emotions for months. It made him follow orders and only follow orders. He'd essentially been asleep inside his body as it committed horrible, unforgiveable acts, only waking up when Zane's blade reprogrammed the chip, returning control back to him.

But was it really control?

He's been plagued by nightmares since returning to the Ninja, and he swears when he blinks, he sees Borg's office. He's sure he once saw what looked like a recording icon flashing in the corner of his vision, before the optic froze up and was rendered useless until Zane and Pixal could reconnect the wires. Not to mention, there's been several times when he could hear the Overlord and Pythor in his ear during briefings, before his hearing aid beeped loudly, making him flinch enough to receive odd looks, and then return to normal.

He hasn't felt in control since the incident, his last act of free will carried out to save Jay, only to be found by the people he hated most.

Don't get him wrong, he'd do it all again if it meant his family didn't have to, but it still stung that was how his good deeds were rewarded.

He sighed, reaching up to run his hand across the top of his head, cringing at how the spiky hair strands felt against his palm.

This was who he was now.

The porcelain cracked under his metal hand, and a chill ran down his exposed neck.

Maybe, it wasn't just about the hair...