Emerald Embers | Ninjago Greenflame OneShots

Feelings pt.1 - angst

TW(?); Smoking
Third Person POV
(Normal AU)

Nya and the others collectively agreed that going camping was the best way to spend their summer vacation. Not only was it quiet, but they were completely on their own; which was rare. Zane and Pixal were the main ones who brought up the idea, but Nya was the main one who got them all to go. While it wasn't hard, it was quite difficult to convince her brother.

"Why are we doing this again?" Lloyd sat down in the grass. The others just gave vague responses like the just wanted to, or they had no idea. Zane finally said; "Just to...take a break; it's been pretty stressful." Understandably, the blonde nodded and took out his sketchbook.

Nya sighed in relief that he didn't ask any further questions. The real reason is because of something she caught her brother doing weeks ago...

~

It was about dusk, and class was practically over for the day. Nya was one of the only kids still at school, and she was looking for Kai so they could walk home. Though she could do it just fine by herself, the brunt insisted on always walking home with her. Still, she really did like the company.

Almost 10 minutes pass, and Nya hadn't seen him anywhere. Every classroom she'd checked either was empty or still had a teacher in it. She was honestly about to leave when she heard a familiar sound in the broom closet. It almost sounded like a lighter clicking...none of her classmates smoked as far as she knew. Whoever it was, they had to come out so she opened the door-

"What the hell?!"

"Kai...?"

"What are you doing, get out!"

"No, what are YOU doing?! Smoking when you know what happened to dad!"

"Shut up, I know what I'm doing!"

"Clearly you don't! Give me that-"

"Don't you fucking dare!"

"Bro, please stop doing this. Do you really wanna die young?"

"..."

"Kai?"

"Just...just go."

~

"Uhm...Nya? You good?" Jay waved his hand in her face. "Quit bothering her, Jay. We're trying to start a fire." Cole poked him in the head with a stick. "Where's Kai anyways?"

Snapping back to the present, she chuckled and reassured the boys that she was fine. "I don't know where he is though...Zane, any ideas?"

The boy in question kept working on the fire as he talked; "Sadly not sure. Possibly with Lloyd?"

"I wouldn't be too sure," Pixal starting looking in a bag for the lighter. "Lloyd said he was going to the woods for inspiration and..." She paused when had pulled out all the contents of the bag, but reached the bottom with no sign of the lighter. Turning to Nya, the girl gave a nod, and went to look for her brother. The others quickly put together where the lighter went.

Cursing herself for not paying attention, Nya ran towards the only opening the forest had; right near a cliff. It was a pretty spot, sure. But her brother was using that spot to smoke.

'That selfish asshole!' she thought. Although, it's not like she doesn't know the reason. After their fight, she talked to Zane and Pixal about why he may have started to smoke, and they concluded that it was about Lloyd. It didn't really make sense to them though; just about all of their friends know that the two like each other.

Still, Kai's been down in the dumps since then, hence the smoking. He's tried many times to stop as far as she can tell, but everyone relapses sometimes. But something as big as this, Nya can't just write it off as relapsing. Their father died from smoking, and she didn't want her brother to have the same fate.

When she finally got to where Kai was, she paused. The lighter was on the ground, but so were the cigarettes. The box wasn't even opened. The brunt was turned around, but she could tell he looked sad. Guilty, even. 'guess he really is trying to quit...' In retrospect Nya really should've known this would happen; she was both relived and surprisingly proud. But that doesn't mean she can't talk to him about it.

Nya calmly walked to her brother, and sat down next to him. Kai turned away, but didn't leave. He knew they had to talk. And at this point, running away isn't better anyways. His sister was quiet for a few minutes, seemingly thinking of what to say. But in reality, Nya was hesitant to talk about the issue.

"So..." she stared down at the lighter and looked back up at Kai. "Can I...take this? We need it to start the fire."

The boy shrugged. "I guess. Should've known you were gonna catch me anyways." he joked. Nya's expression got softer as she asked; "Did you do it?"

Kai shook his head. "Nah. I really wanted to though." The girl let out a relieved sigh as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "That's good, you know. It means you're getting better...Zane told me the real reason you started-"

The boy pushed his sister off of him and looked at her in disbelief. He quickly calmed down, and got up. Thankfully, he left the cigarettes. "We should head back..." Kai refused to make eye contact.

Nya nodded, and the siblings made their way back to the campsite. The girl promised herself that she'd come back later for the box, though.

TBC