Ninjago Angst Week

Sickness

This one was . . . five days late on my Tumblr, and way later on here. But yeah, it's finally arrived!

And well, this one isn't as good as the others, in my opinion. Writing someone sick is hard and I'm not even sure if I got it all right. If I got something wrong, please correct me! I did a ton of research, but since I haven't experienced or seen someone experience it myself, I'm bound to butcher something.

Also, Zane. Zane is hard to write.

I DO NOT OWN NINJAGO.

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As a nindroid, it wasn't possible for Zane to get sick. He wasn't a real lifeform like the others, nor was he prone to malfunctioning due to water or anything else a normal robot would suffer from. He was grateful for that, for even though he wasn't physically human, he was human in his heart. It meant that he could take care of his siblings better without getting sick or injured himself.

When Jay had suddenly doubled over coughing, everyone had rushed toward his aid. Zane, of course, had helped whatever he could—he'd cooked warm meals for him, given him medicine, and made sure he was comfortable. (The others practically had to wrestle him into bed.)

It wasn't unusual for Jay to be coughing these days due to a cough he'd developed, which wasn't very uncommon or worrisome, but Zane was worried that the cold had progressed into something worse.

Zane opened the door to Jay's room and poked his head through to check on his brother, who seemed to be curled up under layers and layers of blankets.

"Jay?"

Jay peeked out from under the blankets and blinked blearily, coughing a few times before giving Zane a reassuring smile. "Hey, tin can."

Closing the door behind him, Zane entered the room and sat down on the bed next to Jay. He wasn't afraid of catching whatever sickness his brother had, mainly because it was impossible. Still, he made a note to disinfect himself should he ever get close to any of his other siblings.

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently, remembering that Jay had sensitive hearing even without being sick.

"Bored," Jay grumbled, huffing in indignation. "I mean, there's nothing to do! I'm not even allowed to do anything! No video games, no tinkering, no—" His body suddenly shook as a coughing fit overtook him, and Zane watched anxiously as it dragged on. It seemed to take hours—though his internal clock told him it was only twelve seconds—before it passed, with Jay shivering and panting for breath.

Coughing. Fever. Chills. Immediately, Zane scanned the blue ninja's body, his optical sensors switching into X-ray vision. It was difficult to do so with all the blankets surrounding Jay, not to mention that he was curled up.

"Jay," Zane said softly, trying to keep his voice as even as he could. Jay blinked again, head tilting up in question. "Are you able to sit up?"

Jay nodded, though his expression still remained confused. Shifting around in his blankets, he sat up slowly, coughing weakly.

Now that his brother was sitting up, Zane was able to fully scan his chest, eyes narrowing. And as soon as he detected something, his metaphorical heart dropped, and he inhaled sharply, sensors switching back to normal vision.

No. That couldn't— his brother couldn't have—

"Zane, what— what is it?" Jay asked frantically, his voice edging on borderline panic. "What's wrong?"