A fire's shadow

Things are said and decisions are made

Dark.

It was like if he was drowning in the blackness surrounding him. He had no way out of the dark void.

But as the time past, the numb feeling faded and he became aware of his surroundings. 

His hearing came back and he could hear voices.

"Shadow, I don't know if you can hear me. But we miss you."

"You might be a dork some times-"

"-and impossible to prank."

"But we all love you-"

"-and things won't be the same without you."

It was the voices of his family. Nya. Cole. Jay. Zane. Lloyd.

Then he heard him.

"Come on bro. You are stronger than what people think. You can get through this.....I know you can hear us.....so wake up.....I don't care how long it's going to take you......as long as you wake up I will be happy....."

".......I never knew how much I needed a twin brother before you came.......and now I don't want to be alone again.......I want to go on missions alone with you again......I want to look at the moon with you again......I want my brother back.......Please.....wake up.......please....."

Shadow felt his heavy eyelids and flinched at the sudden pain that filled his whole body when he tried to move. But with the help of his stubborn nature, he opened his eyes a little and saw his family standing in the room with him.

The room was normal size and the walls and ceiling were painted white while the floor was gray. There was some medical equipment in the room which made Shadow realize.

"I'm in the hospital."

He looked at his family and then his eyes fell on his brother. He was hiding his face in his arms on the bed and Shadow could hear sobs coming from the brunette. Shadow groaned in disgust and then managed to speak, "Don't go get all sentimental on me."

The brunette flinched and so did the others who stared at Shadow with shock written on their faces.

Kai lifted his head and met eyes with Shadow. If he hadn't been sitting on the chair his legs would have crumbled underneath him.

The room was quiet for about a minute before Kai broke out into a bright smile and almost threw himself on his brother and crushed him into a hug.

"I...I can't believe it.....You're awake!....."

Shadow hissed in pain, "Oww!...Pain!...."

Kai let go and rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, sorry bro. I kinda forgot you were still recovering.

"Yesh, thanks for the reminder, Kai." Shadow rolled his eyes before smiling at his brother, "But I guess I deserved that after falling unconscious on ya."

Kai laughed, "Yeah, you kinda did."

Nya smiled at Shadow, "It's good to know you're okay, Shadow."

"Yeah, I agree." Shadow chuckled.

The other four ninjas smiled at the edgy teen.

Lloyd wiped away his tears, "It was good that you finally woke up. Kai would have gotten himself his own hospital bed if this would have gone on longer. He hasn't eaten or slept well in days."

Shadow gave Kai a glare, "You shouldn't do that Kai. I really don't want to be the reason you aren't taking care of yourself."

The red ninja let out a sigh, "I know. But things just wasn't the same without you."

Shadow smiled, "I knew you'd say that. And thanks, for not giving up on me. It means a lot."

Kai nudged Shadow's right shoulder, "Welcome back bro."

Time Skip

Two days later Shade and Skylor came to the hospital after hearing about Shadow being awake. 

The two elemental masters entered the room and were met with Kai sitting on the couch and Shadow lying on his bed.

Kai gave Shade a small glare but only for a moment.

Skylor smiled at Kai and then turned to Shadow, "It's nice to formally meet you Shadow."

The black-haired teen let out a laugh, "Same goes for you, Skylor. I'm sorry for what I did in the past."

"It's okay. I understand you've changed now." Skylor smiled wider.

Shadow locked eyes with Shade for a moment and then turned to Kai, "Can you and Skylor give me and Shade a moment alone?"

Kai nodded and then walked out from the room with Skylor behind him.

As soon as the door had closed Shadow turned to Shade.

The master of shadows let out a sigh and then walked over to the chair that was next to the bed and sat down, "Look, I'm not very good at comforting words and I have a few trust issues. But that's no excuse for how I treated you before. I was wrong about you. I shouldn't have said what I said. I guess what I'm trying to say is.......I'm sorry.......Shadow."

The fire master smiled at Shade. "It's okay Shade. I hadn't even forgiven myself for what I did. So I never expected you to forgive me. But I'm glad you did."

Shade smiled a little, "And thank you for saving me back at the school. I don't think I would have made it out of there in one piece if you hadn't saved me."

"It was nothing. I'm just happy I could help."

Time Skip

It had been four days since Shadow had woken up from his coma. He was currently with Kai in his hospital room watching TV.

The news then started and Kai was about to change the channel when Shadow stopped him.

"I wanna see this."

He had heard the word "ninja" and got interested to hear what it was about.

Gayle Gossip was in front of the hospital where a big crowd was seen outside the doors.

"I stand here outside the hospital where the bounty is still parked on the rooftop of the hospital even after over two weeks. The ninjas parked their flying ship there about two weeks ago, two hours after the red ninja's dragon was seen arriving at the hospital with someone. The red ninja hasn't been seen since then, unlike the other ninjas who still keep the city safe. So the questions everyone are asking. Who was it that the red ninja brought to the hospital? Why hasn't he been seen since then? Why is the ninjas' ship still parked on the roof? And one question that has been going around a lot lately, who is the new mysterious ninja that has been rumored saving people together with the red ninja for the past two and a half months?"

The news report ended and Kai turned off the TV. Turning to his brother who sat on his bed Kai saw that Shadow was a bit shocked by the new information.

"Are you okay, Shadow?"

The black-haired teen shook his head, "This is getting out of hand. I wanted to stay a secret to Ninjago in case something bad happened. But this won't just flow over. They will not forget about this for a while."

"I already knew that. But what are you going to do?"

"Well, the doctors said I'm free to leave in two days. And if I heal as fast as I've done these past four days then, I only need about four days after being released from the hospital before I'm in good health again."

"Yeah, but what are you getting at?"

Shadow turned to Kai, "I think it's about time Ninjago meet its new ninja."