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Part 1 of Sometimes Things Can Never Go Back To Normal
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Published:
2021-02-10
Completed:
2021-05-21
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1,926
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4/4
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Pains Of A Curse

Summary:

Water is bad for ghosts. Cole isn’t a ghost anymore; he shouldn’t have to stay away from water anymore, right? Well, things aren’t always as they seem, as Cole finds out one morning.

Notes:

Creator Warnings: This whole work is going to be centered on pain, so be cautious, and be aware of yourself. You have been warned.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1

Notes:

Now I have /two/ works I need to work on (if anyone knows what I’m vaguely referencing, cookies to you (hint: think keys and Halloween (extra hint: It’s from a part of a set of videos on a YouTube channel))) Also, this takes place on the Bounty, and I imagine they’d need a medbay...

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

 

Fire was all around him, the flames licking at his arms, burning the skin off. There was no escape. He was going to die here. The flames closed in around him.

Cole jolted upright. A dream. It was only a dream. He’d been dreaming about being burning alive, which was strange, seeing as he’d been drenched by the rainstorm that was still raging outside right before turning in for the night. It’d felt so real, and the feeling wasn’t going away. In fact, the pain was slowly getting stronger. Cole started to get out of bed and let out a gasp of pain. His skin felt like it was slowly but constantly being burned, his arms hurting the worst. He looked around and saw that Kai and Jay were still asleep, but Zane wasn’t there. That might be a good thing. Maybe the nindroid would know what was going on.

He started down the hall, haltingly and slow because of the pain. After a bit of searching, he finally found Zane in the control room. If Cole had ranked the pain before, it probably would have been a seven out of ten, but now it was staying steady at an eight-point-five.

“Zane, I need your help,” Cole said, trying his best to keep the pain out of his voice. Evidently he failed, because when Zane answered, his concern was clear.

“What’s wrong, Cole?” Zane answered, walking over to Cole, who was leaning against the doorframe for support, despite the fact that the contact was making the pain worse.

“My skin feels like it’s burning,” Cole said bluntly. The pain was making his head spin.

“Let’s go to the medbay and see if we can figure out the problem.”

Notes:

I think I broke my record of how early I start the pain...

Chapter 2

Notes:

Another chapter after only two days? Just so you know, I stayed up for a while last night in order to bring this to you. Also, I noticed a timeline mistake... I forgot that season seven takes place right after Day of the Departed, so let's pretend that season seven either didn't happen, or they were smarter and got it taken care of without any problems... Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Just getting to the medbay was a challenge. It hurt for Cole to move, but when Zane tried to help guide him, the contact caused Cole to hiss in pain and drop down to all fours. Before Zane could do anything to help him, Cole got shakily back on his feet. Zane frowned as Cole got back up. He’d purposely chilled his hand. Cole had said it felt like his skin was burning, so the cold should have helped.

The medbay wasn’t that far. Cole could make it. Then Zane touched his arm and the world went black. Next thing he knew, he was on all fours with the pain in his left arm up from an eight-point-five to an eleven. He got up slowly and saw the concerned look Zane was giving him.

“I’m fine, Zane,” he lied.

“Don’t lie to me. We both know you’re not fine,” Zane replied.

Zane was right. Cole was not fine. He needed to find out what was wrong with him before they were called on a mission, or else he’d become a giant liability.

After another five minutes they finally made it to the medbay. 

“Where does it hurt the most?” Zane asked as Cole got onto a cot.

“My arms,” Cole replied, looking worn out, even though it was only about 50 feet from the cockpit to the medbay. Not a good sign.

“I need you to take your shirt off for me to accurately run tests,” Zane said, heading over to a counter with medical equipment.

Cole started to pull his shirt off so Zane could run his tests, but found that, unsurprisingly, it made the pain skyrocket. He groaned in pain, causing Zane to turn back around to face him.

“Here, let me help,” Zane said, walking over to Cole and removing the shirt in one fluid motion, causing Cole to hiss in pain.

“Sorry, I thought doing it fast would be preferable,” Zane said apologetically.

“No, it’s fine. Actually,” Cole said, frowning and tentatively moving his right arm up and down, “the pain’s lessened a bit.”

Zane examined Cole’s shirt. It was damp.

“Cole, is this the shirt you were wearing yesterday during our mission?” An earthquake had caused the top two floors of an office building to start collapsing, so the ninja had gone to get everyone out.

“Yeah, I was exhausted after holding those two floors up, so I didn’t bother changing.” Cole’s job had been to keep the bottom one of the two floors supported, which had been a straining task even for someone with super strength. All the while, the storm had been raging around them.

Storm... Rain... water... Zane had an idea. He went over to the desk again and grabbed a table lamp and messed with the wiring a bit. Once he was done, it was giving off a fair amount of heat. He walked over to Cole, who was watching him with suspicion.

“What are you doing?” Cole asked, eyeing the modified lamp.

“I’m testing something,” Zane replied, internally running his theory by Pixal. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any additional information, since the basis of Zane’s theory involved something that should have been entirely impossible. But then again, pretty much everything he and the other ninja faced on a fairly regular basis should have been impossible. There was no harm in trying, and if his theory was correct, Cole’s pain might not be a one time thing.

Notes:

PLEASE DO NOT PUT ANY GLACIER COMMENTS (Glacier being the Cole x Zane ship name)! This is completely platonic, and Zane was just being a good friend helping a teammate (sorry, I just don't want to have to deal with shipping comments). If anyone has any ideas for the chapter title, please let me know.

Chapter 3

Notes:

A NEW CHAPTER IS HERE! I’m so sorry this took this long to get out, I had bad writers block for a while. But here it is!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Just hold still,” Zane said, holding the lamp over Cole’s arm. They both watched as a small cloud of mist rose from the skin under the lamp.

“How does that feel?” Zane asked.

“It feels great actually,” Cole replied, frowning.

“Could you hold this for a minute?” Zane asked.

“Sure,” Cole replied, taking the lamp. Zane walked over to a cupboard where they kept some supplies. Cole’s thoughts were racing, trying to figure out what Zane apparently already had. He knew it probably had something to do with water, but his head was still foggy from the pain. Zane came back, carrying a few towels.

“Mind telling me what you’ve evidently figured out?” He asked the nindroid.

“I don’t know anything for certain, but I believe this might have something to do with Sensei Yang’s curse,” he said, while unfolding one of the towels. He held it over Cole’s arm as if to dry it, but hesitated, looking at Cole as if for permission. Realizing what Zane wanted to do, he nodded his head while setting the lamp down. Zane started drying Cole’s arm, while Cole took another towel and started drying his chest. Zane continued his explanation: “I believe that your being in contact with water for an extended period of time lead to this. Has anything else like this happened since the Day of the Departed?”

“Not that I can think of...” he then remembered something, “Actually, whenever I’ve taken a shower I’ve gotten a slight rash. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to take a shower, that I haven’t thought of it as being out of the ordinary.”

They finished drying Cole’s skin, and Cole got up, the pain almost completely gone.

“Thank you Zane!” He hugged his friend briefly. Then he went to one of the cabinets and pulled out a shirt. He honestly didn’t know why they kept a stash of shirts in the medbay, but it certainly came in handy at times like this. Suddenly there was an alert from the intercom.

“ Everyone to the bridge! ” Nya’s voice came through the speaker. Cole and Zane raced out.

Notes:

So you might notice I changed a few things. I decided to make this a series, so I made the original tile of this the title of the series, and the original title of the first chapter the title of this fic. There should be one or two more chapters left for this, so be on the lookout for those!

Chapter 4

Notes:

Wooooooo last chapter!!! I’m so sorry this took so long to get out... 😬

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

They were the first ones- besides Nya- to arrive at the bridge. When the others arrived a minute or so later, Nya started talking.

“We’ve received reports of armed robbers at New Ninjago City Bank; the police need help, so some of us need to head out there and stop them.”

“Why’d you call all of us here if you don’t need all of us?” Kai asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

“Because, those who don’t help with the robbery are going to go to the temple and work on unpacking.”

There was a groan from Kai, Lloyd, and Jay at that.

“Me and Cole will go to the temple,” Zane said before anyone else could.

“Great!” Nya said, grinning, “Me, Jay, Lloyd, and Kai will go deal with the robbery.”

They headed to the temple on Zane’s elemental dragon. Zane had insisted on it, even though Cole kept saying that he felt fine. On the way, Cole asked: “Why did you volunteer us?”

“If I’m right, and this has something to do with Sensei Yang’s Curse, the best place to find answers would be in his temple; the place where it started.”

They fell into a thoughtful silence for the rest of the trip.

Once they reached the temple, they jumped off Zane’s dragon as it disappeared.

They walked to the temple, Cole leaning a bit on his brother. Despite his insistence of being perfectly fine, he was still feeling a little weak. He wasn’t in pain anymore, but he felt tired and like he had a mild cold.

They headed inside and up to the loft. {it’s where the ninja first met Yang; I have no idea what else to call it. If someone knows what it’s called, please let me know in the comments} It wasn’t a place any of the the ninja except Cole went; it still felt haunted, despite Cole’s assurances that the temple was not haunted anymore.

Sensei Yang was meditating in the center of the floor. Cole stopped leaning on Zane and bowed.

“Sensei,” he said.

Sensei Yang looked back and stood up when he saw Cole.

“Greetings my pupil,” the ghost said, “It’s been a while since you last visited me.”

“I’ve been a little busy with my ninja work,” Cole said with a small laugh.

“What’s going on?” Zane asked, confused, with a touch of worry in his voice, “Who are you talking to?”

Cole turned to his brother. “You can’t see him?”

“See who?”

“I might be able to fix that.”

Cole turned to Sensei Yang. There was a slight warping if his form, and then Zane gasped.

“Sensei Yang!” The nindriod exclaimed.

“The one and only,“ the Sensei said, a smile toying at his lips.

“But Cole said there were no more ghosts here!”

“I said it wasn’t haunted,” Cole corrected, “I never said there weren’t any ghosts here. Besides, if it weren’t for Sensei Yang, I would have been forgotten on the Day of the Departed.”

Zane cringed at that, but Yang spoke before Cole could comment on it.

“But, my pupil, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been a ghost in the first place.”

“That’s besides the point. We actually came here for a reason.”

“What brings you here then?“

“I- I don’t know exactly. I woke up this morning in considerable pain. Zane had a theory on why it happened, but he hasn’t told me it.”

“Speak then, young ninja.“

“Cole spent the night in garb that was soaked through with water,” Zane said, apparently over the initial shock of seeing the Sensei, “I was wondering if it was a side affect of your curse.”

“Perhaps. This is new territory for me. Do you know if any of my other students have had any negative side affects?”

“No, they all seem to be doing quite well.”

“Perhaps it has something to do with you going through the portal so late?” The sensei asked Cole.

“I have no idea,” Cole said truthfully.

“Well we’ll just have to see what the future brings then,” Sensei Yang said cryptically.

 

 

The future did bring surprises for them all.

 

 

Almost all of them were ones Cole would have preferred had stayed secret to everyone, including him.

Notes:

Hope you liked it!

Sorry for the lackluster ending, but it’s 11:30 pm right now, so I’m tired and am honestly surprised I’m writing anything cohesive at the moment.

This is the last chapter, but don’t worry, I have more of this AU planned; I just don’t know when I’ll get to writing it

I have a Pixane songfic and another Cole one shot planned, so be on the lookout for those. I’ll try and get at least one of them posted in the next few days, but no promises

Notes:

Thank you for reading! Comments are always welcome. Keyboard smashes, rants, emojis, and words strung together in a way that's barely intelligible are all welcome. My only rules are no swearing, and nothing inappropriate. Please use your best judgment.

Series this work belongs to: