Chapter Text
The good news was that everything hurt significantly less.
The bad news was that, for a few blissful moments, Cole forgot where he was. Which made it all the more startling when his eyes cracked open and met something bright and yellow staring back at him.
There was roughly half a second of pause, silence ringing.
And another second wherein Cole jumped awake, jerking back into the soft surface he was on, frantically gripping the dimensions around him—felt like a couch—eyes wild and snapping something unintelligible in his throat.
“Whoa!” The person with the bright eyes leapt away, he saw them as he wildly spun his head around—where they were at the end of the couch, hands raised. One of which was holding a damp dishrag. “Easy there, big guy!” They shrunk back, long ears lowering. “Easy there!”
Cole darted his eyes about, breathing just a little too fast. Preparing for a fight, as always. Surveying the terrain, lava threatening in his veins.
Alas, there was nothing to fight. At least nothing obvious. The couch was…well, it was in a room that looked like it was falling apart, but most certainly lived in. No immediate weapons in view, no menacing bodyguards, nothing.
Except for the Geckle-or-Munce still eyeing him, wary like facing a very pissed off boar.
“…sorry.” Cole croaked after a moment, wincing at how hoarse he sounded, slowly uncoiling one hand from its death grip to rub at his throat.
“Are we good?” The guy held his hands up a little higher. “No face-punching?”
“Not without a good reason,” Cole said, quiet as he continued trailing his eyes around the room, “I have standards.”
“Cool, uh, I don’t know what those standards of yours are.” The guy said, but after a moment, gave in and approached again, holding out the wash cloth. “Put this on your head. You want some water?”
“Very much,” Cole wheezed, gingerly taking the towel and lifting it up, dropping it with a wet plop over his face. He hadn’t realized how nice the cold felt on his aching head till it was gone.
The guy snorted, and Cole tracked the sound of departing footsteps. They didn’t leave completely, shuffling around on the other side of the room.
He timed it to move aside the towel when the guy returned, already lifting a hand. He handed over a canteen, and Cole swung it back a little more than necessary. Jeez, he was thirsty.
“So,” Cole breathed when he was done, pulling it away and wiping his mouth with his hand, “where am I?”
“Land of Lost Things.” The guy said easily, looking around a moment before taking a seat on the coffee table next to the couch. Cole noticed an open med kit next to him, and spared a glance to his hands—oh, yeah, wrapped in bandages. How’d he miss that? “Depending on how you got here,” He continued, “I’d give you a welcome, or I’d apologize.”
“That sounds concerning.” Cole commented, taking another swig before pushing himself upright—and instantly regretting it when his side and arm cried out in dismay.
“Do not dislodge those bandages!” The guy snapped, reaching out and attempting to push Cole back down. He twitched at the contact, an old habit he never managed to quit, and it was more from the surprise that he obeyed. Guy had muscle, but he was not that strong. “I wasted too damn much of it on you already.”
“You didn’t have to.” Cole tried, watching the hand as it retracted, then back up to his face. He noticed a piercing in his left ear and nose, plus a sort of…Mohawk? It wasn’t spiky, but the sides were shaved. It was tied at the back, though it only barely reached the start of his neck.
“No, you're right, I could’ve let you bleed out.” The guy shrugged, crossing his arms, now instead standing over him. Power tactic? Cole doubted it, the guy probably wasn’t even thinking about it, but he was kinda miffed about having to look up. “Or get infected. Alas, I don’t like people dying on the kids.” He gruffed.
“Just the kids, huh?” Cole attempted to lighten the mood slightly. “They live around here, or…?”
“I’m asking the personal stuff here.” His eyes narrowed. “You can ask personal questions when we come into your home.”
“Not like I meant to be here!” Cole defended, tucking his injured arm over his stomach, his good arm overtop of it. Protective shield, and also easier access to hit or grab if needed. Not that he thought he’d need it—just old instinct. “Okay, explain to me about this lost land.” He decided on, bringing the canteen to rest by his arm. “Why the different welcoming?”
“Well,” The guy seemed to pause a bit, then took a little step back. More room, “this is where lost or forgotten things end up.” He shrugged. “Usually these are items. Sometimes,” He gave a gesture of his hand between the two of them, then crossed it again, “its people.”
“Oh, so,” Cole tilted his head, staring off in thought, “lost and found, I guess.”
“Without the ‘found’ part.” The guy sighed. “But people have shown up by just wandering in before. You one of those?”
“Can't say I am.” Cole leaned his head back, taking a cursor over the ceiling. Rickety, but decently stable condition. Stone lasted a while. “Woke up just a bit before those kids found me, and I sure wasn’t anywhere near here.”
“Ah,” The guy’s brow twitched, then he gave a small dip of his head then, “you're meant to be here then, I’m afraid.”
“Course I get so lost I end up in a place like this.” Cole sighed, rolling his eyes. “No offense.”
“Hey, it’s true.”
“You guys just wake up here if you're lost, then?” Cole raised his hand to press at the side of his head, right where his scar was, and reached for the washcloth he left on the arm of the couch, bringing it back to press over his forehead.
“Or forgotten.” He added.
“Yeah, that’s not me.” Cole said. Paused. “Probably.” He frowned, then pushed it off. No, he wasn’t forgotten. He wasn’t. They wouldn’t. “Know where this place is on a map?”
“Nope,” The guy raised a hand, “my question now.” He then pointed a finger. “Who the hell are you?”
“Oh, uh,” Cole paused, then held out his hand, “Cole.”
“…huh,” The guy said, reaching out and shaking his hand. Cole found his hands were a bit calloused, though not as much as his own, “I’m Geo. Which realm are you from?”
“Eh?” Cole squinted, retracting his hand. Then perked up. “Oh, yeah! Cause the Formling kid is here.” He said, looking around and seeing nothing. “How’d that happen, anyway?”
“How…what?” Geo squinted. “The kid was lost, that’s why he’s here.”
“Yeah, but he’s not from Ninjago.” Cole raised a brow. “How lost do you have to be to leave your realm? Or, wait,” Cole sat up. Well, he tried to, but Geo grumbled and tried to push him back down, but Cole refused to follow and ignored his stabbing side, “is this place outside of realms?” He gave a concerned look. “Please don’t tell me I got so lost I found some pocket between realms.”
“What—no, no, we’re on the same land as everyone else.” Geo waved his hands around. “It can’t be outside the realms, I don’t think. Not anymore.”
“Huh?” Cole blinked. “How come?”
Geo stared for a few moments.
Then, slowly, with a thoughtful stare, he sat back on the coffee table. Cole didn’t quite like where this was heading, so he stayed sitting up.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Geo asked. Calculating.
“Er,” Cole hesitated a moment. Does he mention he’s the Earth Ninja? Geo didn’t seem to recognize him, and he certainly didn’t recognize any Geckle-or-Munce that looked like him. Would it be easier to admit he’s a Ninja, or would that just cause problems?
Who’s he kidding, it always causes problems, no matter how nice the people are.
“The world was ending, I guess.” Cole settled on. “Sky all pink and contorting, huge rips everywhere, that kinda stuff.” He waved his hand around. “Got sucked towards one of those tears, then woke up here.”
Geo’s expression didn’t change. But his eyes hardened slightly, something very contemplative in there. Which was beginning to turn to deep concern. It was like watching the gears in his head spin, a joke everyone always liked to make about Zane despite the fact he had a killer poker face.
“The Merge.” Geo said, folding his hands together and resting them on his knees, bringing them up and partially covering his mouth. “That was the Merge. And that’s the last thing you remember?”
“Yeah?” Cole darted his eyes around. “What was that Merge about?”
“…stones help me.” Geo sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment before reopening them. “That was when all realms, ever made, combined together.” He said, nodding off to a stairway Cole noticed earlier. “It’s how we all could end up here.”
“Just…like that?” Cole frowned. “Realms combined, just…because?”
“Just like that.” Geo shrugged. “No ones sure why or how it happened. Just that it did, and a lot of people were displaced during it. That's what I hear, at least.”
“For FSM’s sake,” Cole groaned, dragging his hand over his face, “of course that would happen.” He glared over his hand at the wall. “Masters forbid we rest for more than five minutes.”
“Ninjago, I presume?” Geo raised a brow. “I mean, I am, too, but I lived, er,” A small hesitation, “kinda underground, I guess. But a few have come by here, and I’ve heard tales. Most from the City don’t seem to freak out about the whole thing too much.”
“Yeah, we’re used to it.” Cole sighed, eyes sliding back over. “I didn’t look like I just got out of a coma, right?” He asked. “Cause that had to have been at least a week ago, right?”
That look on Geo’s face was back. Deep concern, yet still very thoughtful. Whirring thoughts together, looking Cole up and down.
“I dunno how to say this gently,” Geo said after a moment, lowering his clasped hands to hang in front of him, “but the Merge was nearly a whole year ago.”
Cole stared.
He stared a little more.
“If I have amnesia,” Cole said, slowly, expression unchanging, “I’m going to fistfight the First Spinjitsu Master.”
“Guys dead from what I hear, so.” Geo shrugged, seeming to deflate a little in relief at Cole’s reaction. “Also, I don’t think that's how amnesia works.”
“It sure isn’t, but I couldn’t have been in a coma for nearly a year!” Cole threw his hand up, falling back down in a huff—and instantly curling into himself because oh boy that stung.
“You are going to tear your wounds open again.” Geo growled, and Cole huffed dismissively, biting his tongue to keep from a hiss of pain, clutching at his shoulder as it throbbed.
“S’fine, I’m fine.” Cole brushed it off, trying to ease a little more gently back to laying down.
“No, you damn aren’t.” Geo narrowed his eyes or not. “Memory loss or no memory loss.”
“But that's not how it works!” Cole insisted, feeling a tiny spike of fear before forcing it back down. “I can’t have been in a coma like that, and unless some real stupid nonsense happened to me, my memory can’t just have a select year missing!”
“More like, ten months, really, but is there anything else you can’t remember?” Geo asked, twitching an ear, reaching into the medkit. A pause, then his eyes slid back over, narrowed. “And are you sure that's the last thing you remember? Nothing else that may have happened? Of an unsavory kind?”
“What the hell could I have done that warranted me making a lie that stupid?” Cole puffed, offended not from the suspicion, but the assumption of his intelligence. “Do I look like a guy who has, I don’t know, an army of Leviathans tailing him?”
“Hey, good to be cautious.” Geo bristled slightly, withdrawing a roll of gauze.
“Well, I don’t.” Cole sighed, moving his eyes to the ceiling and narrowing them as he rifled through his memories. “I guess I wouldn’t be able to know if I was missing something, but I seem like I’ve still got everything.” He looked back to Geo. “I don't look any different, right?"
“Huh?” Geo blinked, caught off-guard.
“I’m supposed to be twenty-four,” Cole said, simply, “I don't look weirdly older or younger than that, right?"
“What—I don’t know?” Geo gruffed, twitching an ear. “A few months won't make a difference at that age. I’m twenty-six, so, I mean, you look my age?”
“Really?” Cole looked him up and down for a second, then decided to be a little shit and said: “suppose that explains why you're a grump.”
Geo promptly chucked the roll of gauze at his head.
Cole laughed, even if it kinda hurt his side to do so, letting the gauze ping off his head and fall on his chest. It was worth it.
“Patch up your own bandages.” Geo puffed, ears flattened, a tad embarrassed as he leaned back onto the table, arms crossed.
“What—what for?” Cole wheezed through chuckling, picking up the gauze and rolling it over.
Geo gave him an odd look.
“Your bleeding?” He said, pointing to his shoulder.
Cole blinked, looking back to—ah, yeah, he could see the bandages getting rather soaked. Wonderful.
He sighed, pushing to sit upright on the couch, ignoring everything throbbing as he pulled the collar of his shirt down, slipping his arm out of the sleeve. Even though it hurt like a bitch.
“Whoa, hey, wait, I wasn’t serious—”
“Don’t tell a guy to patch himself up, then.” Cole sniffed, teasing as he began pulling at the bandages. “It’s fine, I’ve one-handed it before.”
“No, that’s—give it.” Geo sighed, standing and already taking the roll away before Cole could protest. “You're going to pull something by doing it yourself.”
“You need to work on your threats.” Cole raised a brow, pulling the rest of the bandages off. “Something you can follow through on, preferably—oh yikes.”
“Yeah, see why I was warnin’ you?” Geo snipped, taking the bloody bandages and setting them aside. “Hold still.”
It wasn’t the worst injury Cole had gotten, far from it. But the skin around his shoulder was an ugly, gnarled red, blackened at the edges where it was trying to scab over. Some clear liquid was already leaking around the wound, trying to clean itself. It was a near-perfect circular indent, and Cole swore he could see layers of where it breached the skin. The center was the deepest, and it had almost ‘ledges’ as it went up, the entirety of it a little bigger than his hand.
He tensed his arm a bit on instinct. He swore he saw his muscle flex in the center of the wound.
He should be feeling a lot more pain than this. Why wasn’t he feeling it? He better not have nerve damage.
“I think that needs stitches.” He croaked.
“We don’t have any.” Geo sounded a little tense, wrapping it back up. “Luckily, you don’t seem to bleed much, but I had the kids go rummage nearby with strict instructions to stay close.” He lifted Cole’s arm slightly to move the gauze under it. “I’m kinda surprised you’re not, you know,” He gave an odd look, “howling in agony. I sure would be.”
“Eh, I’ve had worse.” Cole said simply, watching the wound be shrouded in white. “I got a high pain tolerance, anyway.”
“That…” Geo squinted, pausing for a moment.
“Don’t worry about it.” Cole brushed it off, looking up to Geo, even if his gaze was focused on the injury. “So the kids do live here?”
Geo hesitated, then nodded, cautious. Cole didn’t blame him, gingerly lowering his arm once it was all wrapped up.
“Fritz and Spitz.” Geo said after a moment. “Found ‘em together about a year after the Merge.”
“One of them had to have made up their name, right?” Cole squinted. “That’s a big coincidence.”
“Probably, but it's what they want.” Geo shrugged, eyeing his work for a moment before nodding in satisfaction.
“They mentioned they didn’t have parents.” Cole started, keeping himself light on where he stepped.
“Yeah, well,” Geo looked downtrodden for a moment, then turned to put the gauze away, “they’re lost kids. I look after ‘em. Even if they keep wandering off.” He muttered.
“Oh, good.” Cole relaxed a little. “Is it just you three here?”
“Well,” Geo looked over his shoulder, “no, there’s—”
“Did he lose any limbs?”
Cole damn near leapt out of his very body. He jolted, one hand gripping the couch again as the other rose up to his chest defensively, whirling towards the voice. Geo, for his part, startled a little less violently, turning with wider eyes.
To a Skulkin.
A quite young looking Skulkin, with an old orange vest, a cap, and a blue glow to her eyes. Actually, she was…a very weird looking Skulkin. He didn’t have the words for it, she just looked… off.
Despite being, you know, made of bone, she seemed rather bored. And was also holding a needle. One typically used for fabric.
“No, he did not lose any limbs, so no, you cannot take any bones.” Geo puffed after a moment, standing to hurry over. “Are those stitches?”
“Well, let me know if he has any he’d let me borrow anyway.” The Skulkin muttered, holding out the needle for Geo to take. “Also, I couldn’t find any thread.”
“We’ll try and sterilize this until then.” Geo waved off, already moving off. “I’ll start a fire.”
“A fire?” Cole tried to sit up, frowning. “Also, hi skeleton kid, you cannot have my bones.”
“For now.” She muttered. Ominous.
“That’s just Bonzle!” Geo called, and Cole saw there was a sort of rectangular, horizontal hole in the wall that reminded him of a window at a restaurant where waiters took the food. There were some bar stools on his side of it, and the other side seemed to be a sort of kitchen. “She’s harmless.”
“You don’t know.” Bonzle sniffed, looking Cole up and down, then tiredly turning her head back to Geo. “Is he staying?”
“Sure seems like it!” Geo chirped. “Where the hell is the lighter?”
“Why are we starting fires?” Cole asked. “I thought we were sterilizing the needle?”
“We don’t have things like bleach.” Geo reappeared from wherever he had crouched, looking through the counter window, giving a slightly pinched, apologetic look. “All of it is long since ruined. Or we used it up. We ‘sterilize’ by putting it in boiling water.”
“Ah,” Cole hummed, nodding, then settled back on the couch. He remembered when Kai and Nya had done something similar, “won’t be the first time I got an infection that way. Look forward to it.”
“Yeah, alright, see if I let you bleed out, ass.” Geo gruffed, and Cole couldn’t help but snicker.
“Swearing.” Bonzle commented, followed by the sound of bones clinking together as she walked elsewhere. It didn’t sound like she was leaving, though.
“Don’t tattle and I’ll find you a new patch for your jacket.” Geo looked over his shoulder.
“Deal.” Bonzle appeared in the corner of Cole’s vision, messing around with the pockets inside her jacket, withdrawing some old bottle. “But find me a good one. Do you need more painkillers?” She gave an impassive stare Cole’s way.
“You will overdose and kill him, do not give him more.” Geo called. Far too casually for Cole’s liking.
“I’m on painkiller right now?” Cole blinked. “How come you're surprised I’m fine?”
“From what I understand,” Geo leaned through the window again, the sound of crackling fire following, “this kind of painkiller should drop the pain from ‘writhing in unbearable agony before passing out’ to ‘screaming and crying for your mother’ levels of pain. Of which you are not doing.”
“I am the wrong person to be crying for their mom.” Cole snorted, feeling very proud of himself for that joke before holding out his good arm to Bonzle. “But lemme see the bottle.”
“I’m told it's generally a bad idea to give drugs to the injured. And also new guys.” Bonzle said simply, sitting down and leaning against the wall. “And Geo says we gotta save these, or something.”
“For emergencies.” Geo called, dipping back into the kitchen. Cole could see the back of him moving around over whatever fire he made. He hoped it was at least over a stove. “We save them for emergencies.”
“Forgive me for wanting to know what drugs you put in me.” Cole rolled his eyes. “Did you seriously force-feed an unconscious guy pills?”
“You're welcome for saving your life.” Geo’s voice drawled.
“I woulda been fine,” Cole waved it off, wincing when it made his body move in ways it did not want to, “death ain’t that bad.”
“I respect that.” Bonzle gave a half-assed nod, lifting up the pill bottle before tucking it back into the pockets in her jacket lining.
“Don’t do that,” Geo sighed, leaning back to glare through, “she doesn’t need encouragement to be more morbid.”
“It’s not encouragement when it's life. Er, death.” Cole chuckled, letting his eyes shut.
“See? He gets me.” Came Bonzle’s voice. “New guy, I’ll only take any of the bones your not using.”
“Please don’t do that.” Cole snapped open his eyes again, staring up at the ceiling.
“She will not be stealing your bones.” Geo sighed. “She likes to think she’s funny. Also, he says his name is Cole.”
“Two for two on guys named after rocks.” Bonzle hummed, the sound of clinking bones signifying that she was moving something. “Maybe you should start a club.”
“Bond over creative naming conventions?” Cole snorted, still a little on edge as he watched the ceiling.
“I thought I was creative.” Geo muttered, so quiet he nearly didn’t hear.
“Oh,” Cole tried to shift his head, “did you name yours—?”
Slam!
Cole damn near tore off the arm of the couch.
“I found sstring!”
“I found it!”
Cole exhaled in what was closer to a wheeze, hands death-gripping the couch despite the searing pain. His head jerked to a door he hadn’t seen around the kitchen corner, where thunderous footsteps followed.
“Fritz!” Geo barked. “What did I say about the door?”
“Spitz slammed it!”
“I did not!” Spitz snapped, stumbling into view, shoving at Fritz following suit. He had a fistful of string in his hand—actually, that might just be thin floss. “And Fritz made uss sssstay out longer—“
“You didn’t even get the right thread!”
“Thread isss thread!” Spitz sniffed, barely moving when Fritz shoved at his side.
“Did you get fabric thread again?” Bonzle wondered, wholly unbothered. Cole was beginning to think very little bothered her.
“I’m not an idiot.” Fritz sent Spitz a sharp look, meandering around the couch. “Geo, Geo, Spitz wanted to get the wrong—oh hi!”
Fritz paused, in the middle of vaulting himself over the arm of the couch before he finally realized Cole was there. He took a few quick paces back, and any snappy words Spitz had on her tongue died as he scurried up to his side, also blinking widely at Cole.
“Er,” Cole stared for a moment, then gave a stiff nod, “hey. Again.”
“You’re awake?” Spitz asked, as though it needed to be clarified. “But I thought Geo ssaid you’d be, like, inconsssolible for a few dayss.”
“Incoherent.” Geo corrected, poking his head through the bar opening. “I said ‘incoherent.’ Kids, this is Cole, and he’s probably staying. What thread did you get?”
“The good kind!” Fritz spun right around, holding up a box Cole hadn’t noticed before. “And it’s only a little dirty!”
“I’ll boil it.” Geo reached through the opening, plucking the box. “Thanks, kid. Spitz, that’s floss. You can put it upstairs.”
“It isss?” Spitz blinked at the floss tangled in his hand.
“I told you!”
“Ssshut up!”
“Oi!” Geo barked, and Cole gave Bonzle a bewildered look. She just shrugged. “None of that! Knock it off!”
“Yes, boss.” Spitz and Fritz groaned, giving each other a still annoyed but conspiratory grin. Seemed to be an inside joke.
“Uh, question,” Cole weakly tried, slowly forcing himself to uncoil and not swear at how much this shit hurt, “even when boiled, what are, like…my chances of getting a horrible disease from that?”
“I was fine.” Geo called, and Cole tried not to shrink under both of the kids' gazes snapping back to him.
“Well, yeah, but,” Cole darted his eyes between the two, “pretty sure your immune system is different from mine.”
“I only got, like, a little sick.” Fritz offered, placing himself firmly on the arm of the couch by Cole’s head, and Spitz right behind him. “But my stitches were way cooler!”
“Fritz.” Geo sounded a little strangled.
“Sorry,” Fritz shrunk back a little, his crow cap shielding some of his face.
“No, it’s alright—but injuries aren’t really boast-worthy.” Geo still sounded off.
“I mean,” Cole started, and suddenly eyes were back on him, so he decided he was already going all in to avoid an awkward silence, “not that I condone getting into trouble, of course, but what’s the point of stitches scarring over if you don’t get to tell some cool stories about them, you know?”
“That’sss what I sssaid!” Spitz sprung up, face determined like a kid on a mission. Or, at least one who'd had this argument many times before. “But nooo, thatsss ‘morbid’ and ‘encouraging bad behavior.’” Spitz scoffed, quoting the air with his floss waving around.
“Because it is!” Geo groaned, leaning back to glare into the room, then specifically to Cole. “Five minutes in and you’re already becoming a problem.”
“I’m injured!” Cole protested. “Grievously! Give a guy a break!”
“Spitz thought you were gonna die.” Fritz said, eyes big like he could take in every piece of Cole. “But I knew you’d be fine.”
“You did not—“
“Well, I’m glad to not be dead? Despite the fact I wouldn’t have died anyway?” Cole chuckled, barely holding off the ‘again’ he so badly wanted to say. “And, well, thanks.” He gave the kids his best smile. As best he could muster in immense pain. “You did save me from a lot of trouble. I owe both of you.”
He added the last part mostly just for fun. He decided it was the right thing when both of them puffed up like proud peacocks, positively beaming with their job well done. Even if he suspected he may regret that debt later. Lloyd certainly always made sure he did when he was younger.
“Is that binding?” Bonzle called, sitting on the ground, cheek resting in her fist. “That sounds binding. Get it in writing to make it doubly binding.”
“We are not doing that.” Geo gruffed, then his head reappeared. “Alright, I think it’s as boiled as it’s gonna be.”
“Joy,” Cole slumped back against the couch, “can I have more painkillers before that?”
“You—“
“How many you want?” Bonzle casually shifted her hand in her coat pocket, withdrawing a plastic container.
“No!” Geo shoved his head through the opening, practically over the bar counter as he whirled to glare at Bonzle. “You may give him… one.” He decided, then shot Cole a glare. “He can have one more. The instructions said—“
“I will not take too many, I got you.” Cole sighed, Spitz snickering as Bonzle tipped out a single small pill.
She looked at him. He looked at her. Then her fist closed around the pill.
She decided to throw it.
“Hey!” Cole frantically grabbed it before it hit the ground, hissing when his opposite shoulder twinged in pain.
“Bonzle!” Fritz scolded.
“Well, he got it, didn’t he?”
“Handing it over would be more appreciated.” Cole wheezed, bringing up the pill—“wait, I know this painkiller.”
“You take it where you’re from?” Bonzle wondered, capping the bottle again.
“Yeah,” Cole sat back, shooting Geo a raised brow as he exited out of the kitchen, delicately holding a dry needle and thin stitches, “dude, are we that specific on the instructions? I take, like, two or three of these an hour before I’m supposed to and I’m fine. Took it two hours before once and I lived.”
“You what.” Geo faltered in his steps, giving Cole a wide-eyed, honestly fairly concerned look.
“Sssee?” Spitz instantly whirled on Geo, gesturing wildly to Cole. “You’re jusst being ssstingy!”
“What— no, okay, we are not listening to the stranger who got his arm nearly ripped off!” Geo huffed, storming in and giving the kids a harsh look. “Just because other adults do it doesn’t mean it’s good or healthy.”
“I lived.” Cole reminded.
“That is the lowest possible bar.” Geo deadpanned. Cole felt mildly offended. It was a hard bar to reach! “Stop influencing the kids. And kids,” He looked over his shoulder to specifically Spitz and Fritz as he took a seat on the counter, “go…” He fumbled for a moment, then waved his hand, “put the floss away and look for bandages, or something. Check the yard for anything near the Rookery. Bonzle, go with them.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” Bonzle scoffed, followed by Spitz and Fritz’s own protests.
“Bonzle,” Geo sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky.
“Will I get bones?”
“I will find you bones, yes.” Geo shut his eyes. Cole tried not to laugh. “Please take Spitz and Fritz to check the yard.”
“But I wanna stick with Cole!” Fritz protested, Spitz nodding along vigorously. “We don’t get new people! Are you really staying?” He nearly got right in Cole’s face, expression bright. “No one’s come here and stayed after me and Spitz got here! And that was ages ago!”
“Almost two years.” Geo muttered under his breath.
“Cole’ll still be here if he’s not dead from Geo’s medical skills.” Bonzle drawled, pushing herself up with a creak of her bones. “C’mon, I was promised goods to rally you.”
“But that’s boring!”
“Tell you what,” Cole started before the kids could go on, “once I’m all patched up and rest a little, I’ll tell you about the third worst stitch I ever got.”
“The third?” Spitz leaned over, frowning. “What’s the first?”
“Oh,” Cole puffed out a breath of air, feigning slightly dramatic uncertainty, “man, I don’t know if I can tell you about the worst. It’s, like, the worst.” He enunciated, making his eyes go a little wide. “It’s really gnarly. Might be too much for kids your age.”
“We’re old enough!” Spitz protested, nearly shoving Fritz off the arm of the couch in his eagerness to get closer, resulting in Cole unsubtly quickly glancing his eyes away from the red, hypnotic ones.
“Yeah!” Fritz crowed (ha, Jay would love that one). “We’re tough, we can totally handle it! We’ve seen gnarly stuff!”
“Kids—“
“Oh, alright, alright,” Cole sighed, failing to fight a smile, “I’ll tell you. If,” He raised his voice to cut off their cheers, “you let me rest up for a bit. Can’t tell a good story if I’m exhausted and bloody, you know? Might forget some things.”
“Heal up fassster, then.” Spitz scoffed, but he was already yoinking Fritz by the back of his shirt. “But you promisssse you’ll tell?” He warned, narrowing one big, red eye.
“Promise.” Cole smiled, aware of Bonzle already wandering to the door, not caring. Which was a bit odd for a Skulkin, they tended to love violence.
“Fine,” Fritz groaned, letting Spitz all but drag him away, Geo wandering at Cole’s side, “we’ll go do boring stuff. But you gotta tell us the worst stitching!”
“Will do!” Cole called, hanging his head back over the couch arm to watch them upside-down. “So long this one doesn’t beat the record.”
Geo scoffed, and Cole felt a light tap to his uninjured arm for that.
The kids both laughed, Bonzle looking over her shoulder from what seemed to be an open door around the corner. She seemed mildly amused. Heavy emphasis on mildly.
“Let me know if he has anything cool to loot off him.” Bonzle called, letting Spitz and Fritz thunder past her out the door. Smart move.
“Yes, Bonzle.” Geo sighed, and Cole couldn’t help but snicker as she finally turned and left, the door shutting with a creak and a click.
A few moments of silence.
“You are not telling them your worst stitches.”
“Obviously,” Cole snorted, drawing his head back up to see a somewhat annoyed—fairly conflicted looking Geo, “I’ll tell them my second.” He grinned.
“Heavily censored.” Geo warned, looping the thread through the needle.
“Yeah, dude, I’m not actively trying to tell kids actual gory stories.” Cole huffed, looking at the pill still clutched in his hand before popping it in to swallow dry. “You’ve done stitches before, right?”
“Yes, I’ve done stitches before.” Geo muttered, testing the strength of the thread with a quick tug. “The fact you possibly have had more than three is concerning.”
“Ah, they weren’t that bad.” Cole shrugged it off, face pinching when it pulled at his shoulder. “I promise not to judge you based on past stitching experiences. We can’t all be pros.”
“Appreciate it.” Geo snarked, reaching out before Cole elected to sit up himself, back straight on the couch. It pulled at a number of injuries, but he forced himself to give Geo a pained smile.
“The kids have probably heard worse, not that I’m gonna go out telling them bloody stuff.” Cole added quickly, leaning back and exhaling heavily. “The Serpentine like their violence, it’s ingrained. Dunno much about Formlings, but from what I hear, they’re fairly used to bloody things, too.”
“Explains their bloodlust.” Geo rolled his eyes, and Cole jumped when he felt a touch on his shoulder.
Cole lifted his head, blinking as Geo retreated back a bit. He smiled, then began to slowly undo his own bandages around his bloody shoulder again. The bandages were rather red and a bit soaked.
“Ah, kids are also just like that.” He teased, a little strained.
“Wouldn’t know,” Geo hummed. He paused for a moment, hesitated, then met Cole’s eyes for a moment before focusing back on the bandages falling away. “But thanks, I guess. Unless that distraction wasn’t—“
“It was on purpose.” Cole said gently, taking another glance at his banged up shoulder before electing to turn away. “I wasn’t exactly hoping for them to watch this mess get patched up, either.”
“So you do have some sense.” Geo muttered, then leaned down.
Cole blinked at him, watching as he moved a hand under the couch. It was to the left of Cole’s leg, and he fiddled around for a moment before pulling out a bottle of what was probably alcohol. Cole had no idea what kind.
“And on that ‘not judging me based on past stitching jobs,’” Geo looked a little apprehensive, “you ever—?”
“Had a wound cleaned with some cheap booze on standby? Yeah,” Cole chuckled, leaning his head back over the couch and staring up at the ceiling. “Good chunk of ‘em were just like this, actually.”
“Every minute you talk is another worry line.”
“Sorry,” Cole shut his eyes, “just don’t stop while you do this, yeah? Rather just have it over with.”
“You not the kind to get, er, twitchy?” Geo sounded worried.
“I keep my hands away from the guy with a needle in my skin.” Cole said, pointedly moving his hands down to grip the couch cushion. “Come on, uncap the bottle already. Let’s get on with it.”
“I…yeah,” Geo sighed, following that quiet pop, “alright.”
Cole exhaled, and decided focusing on the burn and twinging of needles was better than anything else. Least this kind of pain was temporary.
And there came the sting.
Cole gritted his teeth, good hand digging into the cushion, trying to relax his other hand for the sake of Geo. He heard muttered apologies, and his shirt was feeling a little soaked with booze before there was some shuffling—then the right side of the couch dipped.
Cole’s eyes spring open for a moment, saw Geo sitting down with one hand braced on Cole’s arm, then turned away and stared at the opposite wall again. FSM, it was always so much easier when Zane did this. He was much quicker, efficient, and if the injury wasn’t too bad, would talk about it endlessly until someone begged him to stop describing the injury they were trying to ignore.
Actually, it was usually easier because someone else was there. Kai was usually around because everyone knew when he was injured, but unlike Jay, his injuries often warranted genuine attention. But even when his leg tried to give the appearance of red string cheese, he’d be boasting or cracking jokes with Cole as they were patched up.
Kai was the entertaining one, really. Jay was funny in how much he insisted he was dying, Nya was a calm buddy to have and grip hands with when needed, Lloyd was a nice distraction since everyone worried over him the most, and—well, Pixal was pretty good at not getting herself injured, and Zane was alarmingly lax about most injuries, pain sensors or not.
A small, quick sting.
“So,” Cole grit his teeth, but did his best to keep his shoulder lax, feeling the thread pull through, “you do this often?”
“Quiet.” Geo gruffed, and Cole gave a small twitch when he felt another stab into his arm. Geo’s hand on his collarbone was very firm, increasing in pressure with each stab, like he was expecting a more sudden reaction. “I’m working.”
“Work best in silence?” Cole guessed, trying not to think about the pull of his skin coming back together.
“I work best when I’m not distracted.”
“Yeah, I have a friend who’s the same.” He commented. He wouldn’t say talking was a distracted he needed, but it felt weird to be in silence. He never got stitched up in silence unless something bad had happened. Well, something had, he supposed, he missed nearly a year, but he was choosing not to think about that. “She needs total focus on her work. Means some of us get kicked out when she's doing something important.”
“Just try not to think about it.” Geo gruffed, and Cole gave a rather harsh twitch at the feel of another sting, then a pull.
“What, this?” Cole snorted.
“Her, I mean. The friends.” Geo spoke curtly, and he couldn't tell if it was because he was trying to stay focused or if he didn’t like talking about this. “If you’re here, then don’t get caught up. It’s just gonna be a pain.”
“Uh,” Cole frowned, then sighed and shut his eyes, “look, I’m not forgotten, alright?” He said, but he knew it came out weak. He was over it, he was, he’d gone through all that hell. He knew they wouldn’t forget him. He did. He knew. He knew. “Definitely lost, though. Look, weird things like this happen to me all the time.” He hissed on the last word when something really pricked.
“Shit, sorry,” Geo grit his teeth, shifting a moment to press his arm against Cole’s chest while he worked, as if that could keep him down, “make like that friend of yours, then, and stop talking.”
“Alright, alright.” Cole muttered, looking way up to the ceiling and choosing to count all the cracks and awkwardly crooked stones.
Okay, maybe he could try and think of a game plan. Every realm has merged, great, why not? Weirder shits happened in his life. What realms did he know? The Underworld, that might be a pain, and he was pretty sure they’d sent someone they didn’t like down there, right? He couldn’t properly recall at a time like this. The Never Realm, and that was a little terrifying, because Zane did not need to see that roaming around now. Lets see, uh, there was the Realm of Oni and Dragons—oh shit were the Oni going to come back—?
“Untense,” Geo’s voice snapped him out of it, “I’m almost done.”
“Sorry,” Cole forced his muscles to unwind as much as he could, “what realms do you know?”
A long, suffering sigh. A little pull in his shoulder.
“I know Fritz is from the Never Realm,” He began.
“Yeah, yeah, Never Realm, Underworld, I know those.” Cole said quickly. “Others, I mean.”
“I don’t know.” Geo puffed, shifting a little. “I saw a lot of big animals walking and talking when they came by here. Some pompous guys with robes or whatever. That mean anything to you?”
“Pompous guys might.” Cole squinted at the ceiling. “Can’t remember the name, though. Swear I— ow!”
“You’re done.” Geo moved his arm away, and Cole dared spare a glance in time to see Geo lean down over him.
Cole hastily leaned his head way back. He blinked for a moment before feeling a light tug and hearing a quiet snap. He felt Geo’s breath near his collarbone before he leaned away again.
“Uh,” Cole slowly looked back down, “did you cut that off with your teeth?”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Geo huffed, lip twitching a bit over oversized fangs before he sat back on the other end of the couch, requiring Cole to shift his legs up as he began putting everything away into the medkit he left out. “How’s it feeling?”
Cole looked down at his shoulder. Not too shabby of a job, really. Certainly not as mechanical and perfectionist as Zane, but that was something only trained doctors could achieve. The stitches were a bit uneven, and the thread was starkly pale against his dark skin. It didn’t look overly sturdy, but enough that it wouldn’t rip from his shoulder moving weird.
Experimentally, he lightly rolled his shoulder. It pulled a little awkwardly, but he’d just have to watch it for a while before it healed over.
“Solid seven out of ten.” Cole nodded sagely.
“You said you weren’t judging.” Geo muttered, closing the lid on the kit.
“Hey, you asked.” Cole flexed his hands for a moment before gingerly leaning up, reaching down to feel his aching foot. “Did this break, by the way?”
“No, not even a twist.” Geo confirmed, glancing over. “But it definitely got stuck under something. Be gentle with it for a few days.”
“Sweet,” Cole leaned back, staring up at the ceiling, “and thanks. Didn’t mean to deplete any of your supplies. Can’t imagine a lot of people losing unused medical equipment.”
“This is what we do.” Geo sighed, sounding resigned as he stood up, tucking the medkit close. “We’re stuck here, but we’re not assholes.”
“Appreciate it.” Cole mumbled, feeling all the adrenaline beginning to leave him at once. “Hey, uh,” He rolled his head lazily over the arm of the chair, “what do you mean by being stuck?”
“I’ll tell you later.” Geo said, and he looked blurry at the edges when he turned back. “You’ve had enough excitement. Sleep off the stitches.”
“I can stay awake for longer than this.” Cole muttered. It was true, despite how drowsy his voice sounded.
“Well, don’t.” Geo puffed, footsteps retreating somewhere around a wall. His voice drifted back in; “Just try not to freak out.”
“Yeah,” Cole muttered, eyelids closing, “M’good at holding off stuff like that.”
When he fell asleep, he didn’t dream. That was probably a blessing.