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It was going to be a cold one, tonight, and much worse than the previous day.
Lloyd was preparing for it, he could tell how cold it would be, so he packed a few extra blankets away in the secret corner of the alleyway he slept in.
He figured he was all set. There were plenty of ragged blankets (there were two) and a water bottle someone had carelessly thrown away with ⅓ of the water still in there (a mighty
find for him).
There was only one thing missing, food.
The last cans of food he had stolen was finished, and it was about time he had tried to get more.
He had already gone a couple days without food, three or so?
But since the winter was coming, obviously he had to get more.
But how?
His hoodie was starting to choke him, and the cold was settling in.
It was past midnight, he would assume, and he was still there.
Hanging from the pole.
It was definitely getting harder to breath with his hoodie now pinching his skin excruciatingly.
He looked up slowly at the sky above, and the gentle snow that fell into his lashes.
Lloyd remembered his encounter with the ninja, the stupid fruit coloured ninja (blackberries are black, cole) and their stupid fruit coloured clothes.
‘It is I!!” He proclaimed. “Lloyd Garmadon!”
“I demand all the candy in town, or else!” The little boy threw his hands up and grinned.
“Lloyd Garmadon? Jay asked disappointed to Kai beside him.
“I thought we were gonna face LORD Garmadon!!”
“It’s his son,” Cole sighed and crossed his arms. “Looks like he escaped his boarding school for bad boys, again!”
He started to make his way to the small child who was still staring nastily at him.
“And to think we could have been doing Spinjitzu already.”
Now all the ninja were moving towards him, and Lloyd grew nervous.
‘Are they going to hurt me? What do I do?’
“Uh, give me your candy, or else I’ll release the serpentine on you!” He shouted and reached behind him to grab a tube, opened it up and smiled bitterly when a bunch of different coloured rubber snakes sprung out on everyone.
He laughed at his joke, until a tomato (which felt like a boulder) hit his cheek and he stumbled back.
“Uh! No, wait! I asked for candy, not vegetables!” He threw the tomato back to the villagers, who were booing at him, annoyingly, already chucking whatever they could find at him.
The ninja had stood back and watched them with stern eyes, not moving to join but not stopping them either.
Kai picked up a green snake.
“He’s gonna have to do a lot better than use an old bedtime story to scare people,” he flung it away.
Zane frowned.
“The serpentine are real, Kai,” He said sincerely. “They are not something to joke about.”
Kai had groaned at his statement when the group had started to discuss the so called ‘serpentine.’
‘It was only supposed to be a joke,’ Lloyd had thought. The load of trash the villagers had thrown at him and pushed him far enough to fall into the fountain.
Great, now he was hungry AND wet. These were the only clothes he had!
The blue ninja had pulled him out of the fountain, not kindly though, and all of them had lifted him up into the air.
“Don’t worry folks! We’ll take care of this,” Cole had spoken to the villagers, who were still shaking their heads at Lloyd.
It was okay though, he was used to it.
“Bow down to me or suffer my wrath!” Lloyd was squirming in their hold, which wasn’t really gentle. It was starting to get uncomfortable.
But he wished they hadn’t let him go, because before he could blink, he was strung up on a pole in the middle of town square, for everyone to see.
He felt a banana peel run down his head and he shrieked at the sliminess.
“You’ve just made me your nemesis!” Lloyd had screamed at the ninja, trying to contain the tears that were well past the stage of coming out. The hood was starting to choke him, and he couldn’t breathe.
“Mark my words, you’ll pay for this!” The ninja laughed at him and the villagers had joined in.
Lloyd was crying now, just tears, no sobbing, and he thanked the gods above that no one noticed.
Evil warlords don’t cry.
The ninja had mocked him as he hung on the pole, buying the candy he so desperately wanted and eating it in front of him.
That was a lot of candy, won’t they get sick?
“Next time, try paying for your candy,” The black ninja had taunted.
“Crime doesn’t pay, muchacho. You can take that to the bank,” Kai (he had no idea how he knew his name) smirked.
And then they laughed once more, gave each other high fives and stalked off.
Lloyd felt his heart skip a beat. Were they really going to leave him up here?
“H-Hey! I’m sorry! Please put me down!” He yelled frantically at them but they were too far away to hear him.
His breathing quickened when he realised he was actually stuck up there, after moving around a bit (actually a lot).
The villagers had stuck their tongues at him and resorted back into their homes, their warm homes.
Winter was coming.
What were the chances that it would snow the same night?
Lloyd could no longer feel his fingers or toes.
His wet clothes stuck coldly to his skin, his breath fogging up in front of him as he stared blearly at the ground.
The snow that had piled up on his head fell to the ground with a soft ‘thwop’, and the coldness felt bitter, pinching his skin.
He was swinging slightly, feeling very much like a scarecrow.
Actually, he couldn’t really think of anything, it was getting very fuzzy in his head.
“P-Papa..” he called out, shivering. “P-papa…”
His father would surely come for him. Surely.
Lloyd remembered his two little blankets waiting for him, he remembered the thirst in his throat, wanting the small water bottle.
The hunger that had taken over his body was all but gone, leaving a hollow feeling inside of him.
He was so tired.
Suddenly the chills that ran down his small form turned into warmth.
And Lloyd, not knowing what he was doing, leaned into it more and more.
Slowly and slowly, until he could feel nothing.
Nothing at all.
He smiled.
Kai and Cole had gone out for dinner (it was a date).
Outings (dates) between the two had been growing more and more frequent now there were no more natural threats they had to fight.
Now they could just enjoy each other’s company (that’s gay), something both of them had missed dearly.
Kai sighed and squeezed Cole’s hand, breathing out of the black scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth.
Cole grinned and squeezed back through his orange mittens.
They were walking, side by side along the roads of Jamanakai Village. Kai remembered the last time he came here, which wasn’t too long ago.
In fact, it was only a day or so ago, when the ninja had to deal with Lloyd.
Kai almost felt bad about stringing the kid up there and leaving him. He just hoped that he got down.
“Whatcha thinking about, love?” Cole whispered in his ear, his warm breath making Kai laugh.
Cole simpered at the sound of Kai’s happiness. God, he had fallen so hard.
He watched his friend (boyfriend) look up at the snow falling gently on their heads.
“Nothing,” Kai replied lovingly, and turned to Cole with a small smirk on his face.
“Just thinking about my lovely boyfriend,” Cole blushed and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.
“Ahh, o-okay…” he stuttered and Kai pressed their noses together in a butterfly kiss.
Cole moved forward to bite the fire ninja’s nose and grinned when he shrieked.
A minute later, Cole was holding his nose with teary eyes and Kai was hovering over him with a guilty expression.
“I’m sorry I’m so sorry!!” He kept on persisting. “I didn’t mean to, I swear!”
Cole mumbled out a reply and turned back, tilting his head up and pinching the top of his nose, attempting to stop the blood.
“I’dth oday..” he mumbled, shooting Kai a loving look, before tilting his head back up.
Kai’s thoughts were running miles per minute.
He didn’t mean to hit him, it was just a reflex.
Besides, Cole was going to chomp on his nose!
But that wasn’t an excuse to hit him.
It had been so long since the two of them had gone out on a date, Cole had even persisted to get Kai’s favourite (chinese spicy takeout even though Cole can’t handle spice).
It was beautiful and wonderful and Kai had actually put effort into his outfit and bought flowers so they could just have a perfect night but no. Kai had to ruin everything.
He always ruins everything.
“I’m sorry..” Kai mumbles once again, head tilted downwards.
When he got no reply back, he looked back up.
“Cole?” He asked, concerned.
His boyfriend’s head was still looking up, but his fingers had abandoned their spot on his nose, and it wasn’t bleeding anymore.
Cole’s eyes were blown wide, and all the colour in his cheeks from the cold had vanished, leaving his face a sickly pale colour.
“Cole..?” Kai asked once more, and then turned his eyes to see what he was looking at.
He was struck cold.
‘O-Oh my god…” Kai whispered under his breath, before shaking Cole out of his trance and yelling at him to go.
It was Lloyd.
He was still there, from where the ninja had put him over a day ago, hanging slightly from the pole.
He hadn’t come down.
Lloyd’s eyes were shut and he was too pale, his nose and ears blue, and his lips cracked and bleeding.
Snow was piled up on his shoulders and he wasn’t breathing.
He wasn’t breathing.
“Lloyd!” Kai yelled and ran towards him.
Cole was already to him, coaxing him gently off the pole and bundling him up in his arms.
Sliding down, Cole quickly passed him to Kai, who had his jumper off and was hurriedly wrapping Lloyd in it.
Rubbing the frozen boy slightly, trying to bring warmth back into his skin, he noticed quite briefly how light Lloyd was.
He barely felt anything in his arms.
Cole was watching the two worriedly.
He noticed Kai’s frozen expression and he looked over Lloyd quickly.
“Kai..” he touched his shoulder with one warm hand and used the other to slowly bring Kai’s gaze back to him.
“We gotta get back, okay?”
Cole stood outside the infirmary, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
He tapped his foot unconsciously to some foreign beat and hummed under his breath.
It was a habit of his.
Kai had resorted to his room, after a small apology and a tired kiss.
When they had brought Lloyd back from their date, they had woken everyone up, and Nya had (after recovering from her initial shock and anger towards the ninja) taken the small
child quickly.
The two of them were in there for an hour or so, when Nya had come back outside with a small relieved smile on her face and exhausted eyes.
He was going to be okay.
Jay had actually started crying out of relief and hugged Nya, who gave a shy hug back.
They all had retreated to Kai’s room, to talk things out and after Zane gave a pointed stare, told him he’d join them later.
Cole peered inside the infirmary, where Lloyd lay in a small, mint green bed.
He had a thick blanket laid over him and Cole watched as his chest moved up and down.
The colour had returned slightly in the boy’s face and his mouth lay wide open, drool leaking onto the sheet below.
Cole found himself biting back a smile.
He was gonna be okay.
“WHAT WERE YOU GUYS THINKING?” Nya’s voice thundered and she glared at Jay when he made a shushing noise.
“Lloyd is sleeping..” he said guiltily.
“You think I don’t know that?” She hissed back.
Nya shot her gaze to the other ninja, who were all wide awake now thanks to her outburst.
“You thought it was okay to hang a TEN YEAR OLD KID ON A POLE?” She fumed through her nose, eyes blown wide in fury.
“And what for? PUNISHMENT?”
Kai tried to console his sister, putting his hands between them like trying to communicate with a vicious animal.
“Nya. We know. It was hardly anything responsible.”
Cole agreed with him, nodding his head.
Zane was quiet, looking at his fingers.
“We didn’t k-know.”
And suddenly, all eyes were on Kai when they heard his voice crack.
Nya’s expression softened at the tears welling up in his eyes.
The ninja came close, and held him closer, because the times when Kai showed his emotions were rare.
Zane ran his fingers through his un-gelled hair. Cole pressed kiss after kiss on his brow. Jay squeezed his hand. Nya smiled softly and brought them all into a hug.
‘It’ll be okay,’ she thinks.
‘When Lloyd wakes up, we’ll apologise.’
But that never happened.
Because the next day, the bed was empty, and the curtains waved miserably behind the wind of an open window.
Only the whisper of ‘thank you’ remaining.