Work Text:
They stumbled over against another chair, the brittle wood clattering to the floor with a loud crash. Cole refused to let it affect him.
“Hurry!” Kai called ahead, grimacing at the cobwebs stubbornly clinging to the sleeve of his gi. He glanced at the sunlight streaming through the temple at an all too alarming pace. Like its ghostly inhabitants, the golden wisps of colors seemed to seep through the walls and bleed into the floorboards.
Jay gripped the scroll in his hand, tailing after him at the back of the line, letting out an abrupt yelp or scream every time they had to forcefully shove their way through another shelf or cabinet, but the scroll stayed impressively firm in his grasp.
“I sense an exit right up ahead.” Zane stated, a hopeful, self-assured lift in his voice, encouraging Kai, and by extension, the rest of them to keep moving forward.
Cole watched and carefully followed as Kai weaved easily around the different obstacles, full confidence in his agility. He ducked around another counter, when he saw a tight space between a table and some paintings lined hazardously against the wall. They should be able to fit, and in the worst case scenario, they could just ram their way through it.
What neither he nor Kai seem to account for was the strain of the rope to suddenly dig uncomfortably at the red ninja’s back- a sign that someone was lagging behind. His face fell.
Kai missed his next step, almost losing balance completely and they went knocking into the wodden table. There was the sound of something shattering against the floor at the same time Jay let out a yell.
“Guys!” Cole let his eyes drift away from the floor, where the table- now flipped onto its side- laid and towards the sunshine coming from the front door, Kai and Zane already dashing towards it. He was about to follow, when the faint fluttering of paper and a choked off gasp caught his attention.
He shouldn’t have turned around, not with what was at stake. But he did.
Jay stared eyes wide at the worn sheet of paper- the scroll of Airjitzu now fallen onto the side across the fallen furniture. He paused, looking past Cole towards the only exit in the temple and the fallen piece of paper.
Oh screw that.
He pushed down the urge to scream in frustration, or maybe snark something potentially regrettable at Jay, and he would’ve if it wasn’t for the fact that it’d do nothing but waste time.
Thinking fast, he bent down to the discarded pieces of what he recognizes as a flower vase (one that held a very, very dead and withered lily) that had come falling down with the table, and swiped a particularly sharp-edged one off. In one swift motion, he sliced the rope, separating himself from Kai and Zane, before throwing the shard to the side and barreled ahead to where the scroll laid.
“Hey-!”
A half-shout came from behind him, and it didn’t take a genius to guess who. Cole ignored them, he was always the physically strongest in the group and was more than content to lug Jay around with him as inconvenient as it was.
He barely had a hold on the corner of it- felt the tattered, and thankfully tangible, markings on it- when he forced himself to pull back- thankfully, the scroll went with him.
“C’mon we gotta get out of here!” Jay tried again, tugging himself towards the door.
“Already ahead of ‘ya.” He gritted out, securing the scroll in his hand. The exit was just ahead, light shining almost blindingly from it, and if he looked close enough, he could even see the two other ninjas calling out to them.
Cole didn’t stop running until he was out of the door.
-
Jay didn’t mean to drop the scroll, he really didn’t!
But then after tripping over an uneven plank of the floorboard, everyone came tumbling against a table. His right wrist was banged on the corner, sending an acute jolt of pain and then before he knew it, the piece of paper escaped from his hands.
He stopped.
Jay swore he didn’t mean to hesitate either, they desperately needed that scroll after all, with how far ahead Morro was. The obvious decision- obvious for ninjas like them would be run after it because they just won’t quit.
There was a insistent tugging at his front, and a grunt from someone.
The obvious decision would’ve been to ignore it. Jay was never good at picking up on the obvious.
He still had so much ahead of him- he didn't want to spend the rest of his life in a haunted temple. He didn’t want to look at himself and see someone who wasn't there. He didn’t want to- he didn’t want to die yet. Nya, his parents, the ninjas-
He couldn’t.
Yet-
Cole must’ve done something because suddenly the pressure on his front released, only to be twisted around and suddenly he was being dragged back and deeper into the temple.
“Hey-!” He squawked, but it was half hearted at best with the lingering ache from his wrist and the sudden rush in momentum as Cole trudded forward, he dug his feet onto the floor to no avail, stupid ghost house. Cole reached the scroll with a self-satisfied huff, though he couldn’t hide the telltale slack of relief in his features. Jay probably looked the same.
“C’mon we gotta get out of here.” He said, attempting and failing to pull Cole’s weight in the direction of the door, he was trying his best to keep the panicked edge inside him put, they have the scroll, they have the scroll.
“Already ahead of ‘ya.”
And this time, Jay let himself be yanked outside.
-
The first thing he registered, was how alive he felt.
The warmth of a beam on his chest, the whistle of the wind by his ears, Cole could feel it, he recognized the feeling, and it almost didn't feel real.
But he was alive.
They had made it out. They had actually made it out in time.
“Cole! You’re a-” Kai stumbled over his words, “a…ghost.”
Well that came crashing down quick.
“Huh?” He couldn’t stop the noise that escaped him. He raised his free hand up towards the direction of the sun- finding it a ghostly green as the sunlight refracted on it. Assuming he still had a heart, he could feel it leap to his throat.
What?
“What?”
Cole flexed his hand uneasily, forcing it to drop back by his side and whipped around to the voice behind him and- oh.
Jay stood by the staircase of the temple, eyes fixed on himself. His body held the same emerald tint, and to his horror, he could see past him. Literally through him. He could see the carvings of the temple door despite the fact that logically, Jay should be standing in front of it.
Most noticeably though, his eyes were glowing green. They looked at each other silently, and maybe, it was his brain being loopy after a night of no sleep but, time seemed to stop, just for them.
Suddenly, Jay’s face twisted in a snarl, “Nice going, Cole!” He threw his arms up, “Way to get us killed!”
Right, right, right. Jay could never be reasonable, could he?
“We got the scroll, Jay!” He pointed to it in his hands, First Spinjitzu Master, even just looking at it gave rise to an uncomfortably familiar spike of anger in him, he tossed it to Kai who caught it with a start, whatever, Jay and him wouldn’t be needing it anyways.
“And if we really were ‘killed’,” He laughed, “Then we wouldn’t be here right now!”
Jay’s limbs twitched, like he was prepared to lunge at any moment. He didn’t however, and inhaled deeply. Coward, Cole thought, but he dropped his own stance.
“You know, what? I refuse to deal with you right now.” Jay declared loudly, making a point to cross his arms and stomp away. He stopped to kick a nearby stump, only to growl when it to phase right through him.
“Jay, come back!” Kai tried, looking between the two of them helplessly, but Jay ignored him and kept going.
“Morro’s still on the loose and we can’t afford to lose anyone-”
Jay froze abruptly.
“-else?”
Jay stayed completely still. Rigid in the way that a single gust of wind could render him unconscious. He didn’t even seem to breathe.
Did something happen? His anger subsided, making room for another strangely familiar emotion. Guilt.
“Jay?”
“I can’t move.” The other ninja blurted out, blinking back to life. He took a shaky step back, “Well- I can now but I- couldn’t move.”
Jay begrudgingly began walking back to them, one arm rubbing the other.
Kai and Zane blinked between them, the latter specifically, deep in thought.
“Cole.” After a moment, Zane said, voice measured. “Please take a couple of steps back.”
He shrugged but did as instructed. Nothing happened.
“A little more,” He insisted.
Cole frowned, but did it and-
He couldn’t breathe. His body felt like lead, iron clamps over his lungs. A white hot burning migraine rolling in his head.
“Ouch.” He winced stumbling forwards, but he found his chest breathing- well less so and more heaving but it was at least something. “What was that?”
Zane looked troubled, before shaking his head and repeating the instructions to Jay, then Kai. He didn’t look too thrilled but conceded nonetheless. They both took steps away from the group and away from him.
The same thing happened to Jay. Kai was fine.
Cole hesitated, before taking a step towards Jay, in which he promptly unfrozen. Ah, so that was how it was.
“Oh great!” Jay cried, at least he was able to catch on without further explanation. “Just what we needed!”
“It seems you two can’t go more than a few feet apart.” Zane added, looking a little awkward on their part. That did nothing but confirm their fears.
Jay let out a half-angry half-defeated yell, walking circles around them- well him specifically. Cole, himself, honestly was in a bit of shock.
“Who decided we should tie ourselves together anyways?” Jay wailed, and Kai at least had the decency to squirm a little.
Jay paused briefly, just to shudder and point at him accusingly, “I am not being pulled around by him!” Wow, okay, that only hurt a little bit. He bit back a retort though, if they didn’t want a repeat of the Nya-situation, it was clear one of them would have to be the bigger person.
Cole sighed, he could scream all he wanted later. But he was leader today and boy, will he at least do that.
“We’ll…” He starts, cringing, Cole wouldn’t lie and say he enjoyed this either, “…We can figure something out, okay?”
And soon, too, he hoped.