Taking Control. (a Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter 89- danger always has a way of finding us

HEY GUYS! I'm so sorry, I know I haven't updated this in ages— long story short I dropped my phone down the toilet and it didn't work.. BUT fear not it's back!! Anyways this is a little bit of a filler chapter, Dw, more happy things to come!! (I want this fic to have 100 chapters... gulp)

L L O Y D

The closer we got back to camp, the heavier the dread in my chest grew. It felt like a snake- writhing, curling, wrapping around my heart and squeezing tight. The smoke was thinning, the flames dying down—but I knew who had put them out.

And when the clearing finally opened before us, my stomach dropped.

For a moment, I just stood there, half in relief, half in disbelief. The fire was gone. The jungle—what was left of it—wasn't dead. The earth still pulsed faintly beneath my boots, damp and blackened, but alive. That should've been enough to feel like victory.

But then I saw them.

Kai lay sprawled in the dirt, body motionless, skin pale beneath streaks of soot. His clothes were charred, the fabric clinging to him like it had melted there. His chest rose—barely. I could see the faint rhythm of his breath, shallow and uneven, like even that small act took everything he had left.

Beside him, Nya sat slumped forward, drenched head to toe, her arms trembling from exhaustion. Her ponytail was half undone, hanging in loose strands, and her face was ghost-gray beneath the streaks of mud. The water still clung to her like a second skin, pooling beneath her knees.

Rue was on her hands and knees, veins throbbing faintly under her skin. Her whole body trembled like something inside her was tearing itself apart, but her eyes—when they fluttered open—were still bright. Still alive. Barely.

For a second, I couldn't move. Couldn't even breathe. My lungs just refused.

We'd stopped the hunters. We'd put out the fire. But looking at them—our friends, our family—crumpled and broken on the ground like that..

Well I didn't feel a sense of victory at all.

~~~

The next morning, the world was too quiet.

Not peaceful quiet—this wasn't that kind of silence, no. It was the kind that hangs after chaos, the one where even the birds don't know if it's safe to sing again. It was really odd, actually— only yesterday this clearing was exploding with all sorts of sounds and life— but now it seemed to be so quiet and dead.

Smoke and steam still drifted lazily through the canopy, curling in thin strands that caught the sunlight every once in a while so you could see the particles dancing around.

I sat just outside the main hut, boots sinking into damp earth. Everything hurt. My body, my chest, even the space behind my ribs. But mostly, it was my heart that ached.

Kai still hadn't woken up.

He lay inside, pale and still, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow. His breathing was steady but shallow, the kind that made you hold your own just to listen, just to make sure it didn't stop.

Nya hadn't moved all night. She was curled beside him, one hand gripping his, the other resting on his chest as if she was counting every rise and fall. Her eyes were red from crying—or maybe from the smoke—heck, probably both. She didn't speak. Didn't look at anyone.

Zane had checked him again and again, methodical and calm as ever, but even he sounded uncertain. "He's stable," he'd said quietly, "but weak. It'll take time to recover."

Jay hadn't stopped pacing since. He'd made a track in the dirt just outside the hut, muttering half-formed sentences, cracking his knuckles, tugging at his sleeves. I could tell he wanted to say something—anything—but the words wouldn't come. Every few seconds his gaze would flick toward the doorway, just to make sure Kai was still there. Still breathing.

And Rue...

Rue was the worst to watch.

She'd spent the night tossing in her sleep, twitching like she was fighting something invisible. Every once in a while a low sound—half groan, half gasp—would tear out of her, and we'd all freeze. Her veins still pulsed faintly under her skin, in rhythm with her heartbeat.

I'd seen her bleed, seen her fight, seen her die—and come back. But this? This was different. Something deeper. Something inside.

I wanted to ask her what she was feeling. To do something, anything. But every time I got close, she'd open her eyes just enough to whisper, "It's okay. It's just the jungle. It's hurting."

And then she'd drift again, trapped somewhere between sleep and pain.

Cole was up before anyone else, keeping busy, stacking debris, clearing paths through the scorched ground. I could tell it was his way of staying steady. That's what Cole did—he carried things. Distracted himself so he didn't have to confront his feelings. But even he was quieter than usual, his movements slower, his shoulders tight.

And me?

I just sat there. Watching the smoke drift, the sunlight fade in and out through the haze. My thoughts were loud enough to drown out everything else.

We'd done it. Saved the forest. Saved hundreds of lives.

But I couldn't shake the image of Kai falling, of Nya collapsing beside him, of Rue writhing in pain as the ground beneath her screamed.

Of that poor deer lying dead on the ground, frozen mid run, eyes wide and lifeless.

That was the cost of being what we were, wasn't it? The win always came with something taken.

And as I looked toward the hut again, where my friends lay broken but breathing, I promised myself—quietly, fiercely—that no one else would pay that price.

Not if I could help it.

This was supposed to be our break.

I guess danger always has a way of finding us.