Archive of Our Own

They both jumped off their bikes, parked on the side of the street in Ninjago City. "You're always pitting the blame on me!" Jay yelled, Kai put his arms up in defense.

Basically, earlier that day, the two were placing bets, the stakes were taking the others chores for the next month. They thought it was a good idea, and it was fun for a while while they… blasted plates that they may have stole from the kitchen.

And whose idea was it - Jay's, but in his defense, Kai immediately laughed at the idea and became an accomplice, just as responsible for taking the plates from the cabinets, and then smashing them up in the courtyard.

Everything went wrong when Wu walked out into the courtyard, gathered with the rest of the team for training.

Walking into probably a hundred plates smashes on the ground was bad for both of them, but maybe either of them could play it off like they weren't involved at all. Kai was first to do so. Jay, in his anger, didn't realise Wu didn't believe Kai's pitiful attempts at putting the whole blame on him, so that was what this was about now.

"Jay, he's punishing both of us!" he argued back, he'd tried to keep his cool the drive there, but he was getting to his breaking point.

"But you-" he barged into the entrance for the store, but it bounced back at him and he faceplanted.

"Pull, not push!" Kai laughed, pointing at him snarkily.

"What did you think I was going to try next?" Jay snapped, and flung the door open, making sure not to hold it open for the other. Their punishment was simple - rebuy all the plates with their own money, and then, take the others ninjas chores for a week.

So many problems with that for both of them; 1. They barely came across money anyway 2. What both of them had saved up were for various latest issues of comics coming out soon.

They both rushed for the home asile, they would need over a hundred plates.

What neither of them understood is why the Monastery needed so many plates, only eight of them lived there, so they both had the consensus that it was okay to spare a few of them, it would be giving it a different use. A one final use, they realised when the plates were so easily smashed with their powers, but better than sitting in a cabinet collecting dust.

It wasn't worth it, no matter how fun it was to send their powers for target practice at the plates. They should really stop doing this, they realised as they remembered the same thing happening when they took bricks from the walls to see who could break the most. The punishment back then was less severe, so those plates must have been valuable, ancient, magical, or anything else in that area that Wu comes across.

"Still, you just-" his hands turned into a fist, "you just blame me straight away, if he did believe you, I know you would've just let me take the punishment, wouldn't you?"

They turned a corner into the wall of plates, kitchen supplies, etcetera, time to pick it all out, and spent only FSM knows how much.

He leaned into a plate, picked it up and observed its intricate designs, he really didn't want to argue right now, he'd already got a lecture from Wu, but Jay loves to go on and on. He groaned and plopped the plate into the cart, that one would be nice for Nya. "No, I wouldn't, well, I mean—"

"I know you would!" Jay interrupted, and nearly dropped the stack of plates he was holding.

"Well, it was your idea!" he argued, his hands flailed in the air. "And it was a really stupid one, why would you think plates as targets was the best idea, especially when we have those sorts of things made to be targets already?"

In arguments, or even simple disagreements and bickering, Jay was one to assume the worst. He would, in Kai's words, 'make something up and get angry about it', which he might be doing right now. That was Jay, quick to anger, despite how bubbly he looked on the outside. He had no idea how Nya dealt with him.

"Woah, woah, I am not the stupid one here, you have bad ideas all the time. And- and you smashed more plates than me!" Jay pinpointed, addmitedly, that was true, he was going pretty hard, he does love to smash things up, go wild.

Kai smirked, "Then wouldn't that mean…" he coughed, clearing his throat, then pointed at Jay, "that I won? You should take the chores Master Wu put on me—" he joked, but he was interrupted again by the other, who he could swear had smoke coming out of his ears.

"Oh my gosh!" he gripped his hair, Kai backed away and would love to cover his ears, but he was tackling about ten plates in his hands right now, and they were a little heavy. "You are so selfish!" his voice ran even higher by the second, and he knew that while the store was huge, everyone must be able to hear him, the pitch of his voice could shatter the glasses in the aisle over.

"Right, right, Jay." he frowned and grabbed his shoulder, but Jay flicked him away, he backed up and plopped his plates into the cart, they were about half-way there, and he realised they didn't have any way of getting these home, they only brought their bikes. "I was joking, we're both taking the punish—"

Suddenly, a bang rippled through the air, and he ducked, there was finally something louder than Jay's complaining.

Screams, it sounded like they came from the front of the store, does that mean…?

Finally, Jay was silent, his hands over his head as he ducked down at the sound. Kai peaked through a shelf and looked to the front of the store, several men, all armed with…guns.

"Jay, they've got guns." he stated, whipping his head back to Jay who tried to put down the stack of plates in his hands as quietly as possible. He waited for the men to shout more words to the store when he did to cover his noises.

He looked again, there were six of them, easy to take down if they weren't armed. Though, only one of them had shot, so maybe the rest of the guns were there as a scare. For an average person, one gun should be scary enough, so it was puzzling why they needed so many men. He listned closely, and Jay came right behind him.

"You agreed to get it to us by Tuesday, we were supposed to meet in the back!" one of them said, like most criminals, they were all dressed in full black, face masks, and had deep, threatening voices. He pointed his gun to the older looking man behind the counter, his hands were up, he was completely frozen in fear.

"I- I-" he trembled, "You can still have it, okay, I struggled to get it past my boss, I-" he flinched, another bullet shot through the store. Kai closed his eyes, then pried them straight open, he huffed and put a hand to his heart, no one was injured.

"Jay, ping the others, I'm sure somebody has already rang the poli-" he turned around.

"Already doing it, the signal went through." he whispered back.

The two were squeezed at the corner of the asile, looking through the small holes in the metal shelves, or occasionally peaking their heads around the corner, in clear view of the criminals, but if one dared look that direction, they would be spotted.

"Right, I'm going to blast one if they come past." Kai planned, forming a fist, no fire yet, he had to wait, and accidently setting off the fire alarm would be a disaster right now.

Jay gritted his teeth, a layer of sweat was already clinging to his face, but he nodded anyway. Hey, at least he had some trust in him. Immediately, on cue, someone was coming closer, this one had her body covered, but her face revealed, purple hair, face tattoos, holding a gun too. She wasn't the leader, at least he thought she wasn't, with that title being reserved for the very large, body-builder shape of the man who had made the first shot, still shouting at the cashier.

Despite the shouting, and his heart beating, he could hear her footsteps getting louder and louder, closer and closer, and then she stepped inbetween the asiles.

He and Jay immediately blasted their powers at her, taking her completely off gaurd, but-

Nothing came out. Their powers weren't working.

"Huh, our powers, they're— they're not working!" Jay shouted, it was way too loud, Kai groaned and leaped for her instead, she hadn't taken out her gun yet, and if he could just drag her into the aisle, maybe the other five wouldn't notice them take her down.

Hand to hand combat it is.

Kai tried dragging the woman into the aisle, first scurrying to her back, then kicking it, but she didn't move. Oh no. Jay was infront of the, backing away for just a second, until he started throwing plates their direction - the next best thing after weapons and their powers.

But this loud fight meant the others had noticed, and were already making their way over. He thinks they all have guns, but is still unsure whether they all were actually real, or just for show. Still, it was a risk, so he had to be cautious, he ducked away into the aisle, and grabbed more plates with Jay.

"Ain't these some of the ninja, the…blue and red ones?" she asked, blending into the rest of the criminals. It was now directly six against two, they turned to each-other and nodded, they would try their best to hold them off: they had weapons and they didn't, but maybe this store's high quality plates would do the trick.

And the police should be nearly there, they were in the heart of Ninjago City, after all.

"Yeah, and we're going to take you dow-" Mid through throwing the plates, Jay tried blasting his lightning again, forgetting already. Was there Vengestone around or something?

The group tilted their heads, looking at them for a second, then rushed for them confidently. Well, they were ninja, but they were without powers or weapons, and not even in their GI's, but their casual clothes instead.

As muscly as a lot of them looked, they were easy to take down, Kai kicked, Jay shoved, scurried around them then flung them to the ground in surprise. They were doing okay, and they could already hear sirens, though he had to concentrate to hear them, so hopefully that meant these criminals couldn't hear them, and wouldn't attempt an escape.

"I think we should start wearing our comms all the time, man." he complained, and kicked one of the smaller ones into the shelf.

Through the fight, he tried searching for the leader, the one with the gun he knew was real. Any one of these people could have shot them at any moment, including the purple haired one he'd tried to tackle earlier, so that must mean they were fake, right? Or unloaded?

But there were only five of them in this aisle, and it didn't look like Jay had been counting how many there were, so when they took down the final one, looked at the unconscious mob on the ground, he cheered, and went to give him a high-five.

He rolled his eyes, groaned, and did so anyway, Jay laughed back. Then, he purposely decided to step over one of the criminals groaning on the ground. They weren't as powerful as he thought, and maybe he couldn't take the first one down because of the surprise of his powers not working.

Except, he would really like to figure out why that was happening.

Sirens growing closer, it snapped him back to the fact there should still be one more criminal, this one armed with a gun.

He turned around after watching one fall unconscious, looking to his friend, their argument may be forgotten for now, "Jay, there's still one-"

A gun glared into his vision, but it wasn't pointed at him, it was pointed at…

Jay wasn't paying attention, he had called the others, who were probably deeply concerned after the emergency signal, and was happily explaining how they beat those guys so quickly they barely saw them coming. He told them how the police were on their way to deal with these "pesky villains", and all would be well.

But there was a gun pointed at him, the man hid behind the shelf at the opposite end of the aisle. The aisles were long, the store large, and now so quiet that you could hear the echoes.

Without thinking, he rushed for him, then let the thinking come after that.

First, Jay wouldn't stop yapping away if he warned him, if he was talking to Nya, especially now, as he boasted, nothing could pull him from his talking. Second. There was no time, weapons or armour that could block the gun: all there was to do was shove him out of the way.

"Jay, move!" He yelled, and he fell into the shelf, it was a little too hard, but he didn't have much time to think about that when the echo of the gunshot overcrowded his senses - the sound so distant, but it was so loud either way. The immediate pain was even closer.

Plates cracked, probably from him launching Jay all the way to the other side of the aisle, hitting the shelf.

He screamed, and he could tell by his scoff that he was about to shoot complaints, but "please, Jay, not when I've been shot."

Blood spilled, his leg burned, and…

"Oh, yeah. I've been shot."

—

That reality kicked in straight away, and that came with a blood-curdling scream.

Jay dropped the phone, still on a call with the ninja. He knew exactly what had happened, and it didn't take him a second to process it because he immediately rushed down to Kai, and caught him when he fell.

His head hurt, it felt…wet and soggy, there were smashed glass plates all over the floor around him. Kai had pushed him away, and he banged into the shelf, so it was just a hard impact. If he had any injuries right now, that didn't matter, because Kai was on his chest, already screaming in pain.

"Kai!" he shouted, and pulled him up. There was a gunshot, so that meant…

He protected him.

The bleeding was already so intense, so he flipped Kai onto the floor, onto his back, and looked for where the bullet had entered. At the same time, he flipped his head around the store, tried to listen as close as possible, he checked off everything he had to consider immediately.

The shooter was gone, he could have shot him too, but he hadn't, just one and over.

And Kai was bleeding out!! He ripped his sweater off and tied it around the wound, his hands were trying to tremble, but he wouldn't let them - he had to concentrate, keep his cool

Next, their powers didn't work during that fight, which is commonly because of vengestone. "Kai, it's gonna hurt, I'm sorry!" he yelled, then tightened the sweater even tighter. He ripped the sleeves off too, and used both of those to apply pressure to the wound above the makeshift tourniquet.

Right, call an ambulance. He went through the motions, running down the list because he had to keep his friend alive. With Kai's phone, he dialed it, he couldn't find his phone for the moment; and through his complicated thoughts, he tried to ignore Kai's screams, treat him, and talk to the operator.

Vengestone didn't remove your powers from your body, just stopped them, so he had that feeling when he tried using them in the fight (they were still in him, just stubborn). He remembered that itching feeling when he entered the store too, there was always a strange feeling around vengestone, and now… that was gone, as he kept pressing onto the leg, Kai squirming beneath him.

So that means the Vengestone wasn't around them anymore, that guy wasn't either, so there must be some in the store, and that's why they came here and threatened that worker, maybe he was an accomplice of some kind, or even just a victim forced to gather some for them.

This must tie to the other vengestone smuggling operations they've busted, maybe it is all a part of some big plan.

Now, it was time to focus on Kai. Keep him conscious, make sure he doesn't lose anymore blood, talk to him.

"Kai? Stay awake for me, buddy." he talked, and kept pressure on the wound. He squirmed around, moved his leg an inch, then fell straight back down, and didn't move it at all after that. Judging by the scream he let out, he was in unberable pain. So, that means he had to keep talking.

But he wasn't talking back, his breaths grew quicker, until they would fall down to quiet and slow in bursts, so Jay grabbed his hand, and talked louder, "Squeeze my hand, buddy." he squeezed back, finally, and his squirms were getting less intense. Meanwhile, the operator kept talking, told him an ambulance was very close, and he could see now that police were storming in.

They were already to their aisle, and grabbing the criminals, most of them coming back to consciousness.

One called to a colleuge to bring a first-aid bag, but everything seemed more serious than needing a measly first-aid kit. Plus, the ambulance should be here soon, he can be whisked down to the hospital and survive this.

But the blood was spilling out of his sweater, still dripping onto the floor. "Jay? Jay!" a voice called from behind him, oh yeah, his phone. He rushed to grab it, put it to his side, and immediately applied pressure with both his hands again. They must have heard his gaping, trembling breaths, because Lloyd screamed into the phone, "Jay? What's happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm-" he grabbed his head, it hurt, but Kai would be hurting more, he might be…dying. "I'm okay, Kai was-" he had to stable himself, he had to be logical right now, not let his emotions control him, so he took a deep breath, and made sure to speak louder to at least have something else for him to listen to, and not fall asleep! "Kai's been shot!"

"What?" They all yelled, and before he had a chance to answer, he already heard their running, stumbling, engines starting, and then driving. Well, they were on their way.

"Kai, the others are on their way, stay awake until then, okay?" he gripped his hand harder and begged for him to do it back, but his mouth was half-hanging open, trying to suck in desperate breaths, and his eyes-half lidded. He would love to smack him awake right now, but he knew that wasn't the best option.

Instead, he grabbed his shoulder, and shouted right by his face, "Kai! Stay awake, Nya will be here, and Lloyd and Zane and- and everyone!"

Finally, his eyes bursted open, but it was like everything about him was greyed over, or painted in some thick red sheet that only revealed the outline of a person's body, no emotion expressed. He waited, watched how Kai processed his words, and finally, there was some emotion, "Nya?"

"Yeah, she's coming, and an ambulance, we're gonna get you help, just do not fall asleep!"

He turned back to the phone where Nya had been shouting into, he had ignored her for a few dreadful seconds as he talked to Kai, "Jay! Answer me right now or I will-"

"He was shot in the leg, I've put pressure on it, and no, I'm not letting him fall asleep!" he confirmed, and Zane's rambling in the background halted. At that moment, some police returned with a first aid kit, but the ambulance sirens were getting closer.

There wasn't much that they could do, they looked at his leg and grabbed dressing, but quickly stopped, they couldn't remove anything from his leg by now with how the things Jay had wrapped around it were doing enough, for now at least. Instead, they simply took over and talked to Kai.

Jay sighed, trembling, and finally realised he was bleeding too. The smashed plates on the ground also in his head, tiny pieces all over. Some had even got through his sweater, small ones pricked his arm, but… that was nothing compared to Kai, and he almost protested when another officer came and pressed on his head.

Now that he wasn't pressing Kai's wound, he realised he was feeling a little lightheaded.

The others were still talking on the phone, and he realised he hadn't been answering.

"Are you hurt, Jay?" Zane asked.

Best not to worry them even more.

"The ambulance is here," it parked outside, people were already rushing in. He turned to Kai, still awake, officer talking to him, he wanted to let him squeeze his hand again, maybe say sorry for the silly argument.

He was awake, but… it didn't look like that would last long. The officer had to keep applying different cloths, gauzes, or whatever over his wound when his sweater had already been bled through. Worst of all, he wasn't screaming anymore, he was…quiet.

"You should go straight to the hospital, I'll-" his body caved in on itself, and he winced silently when more pressure was applied. The blood was running down his cheek, warm, a bright red.

FInally, the paramedics were here, rushing to the ground with their bags and stretchers, two, for some reason. All he had was some shards in his head, he wasn't bleeding that much!

As one rushed for him, three others rushed for Kai, getting masks on his face, trying to stop the bleeding, and he tried not to let his eyes closing make his brain think of the worst. Jay pushed his eyes shut, and wanted to just ignore all this, but he couldn't, his mind knew what was happening, what the rush of the paramedics meant.

"I'll meet you guys there, Kai- Kai's going to be okay."

—

"Where's Kai?" was all he asked the doctors picking shards of glass plates out his head. They must think he has a concussion and is completely delirious with how often he had asked that question.

But he had to know, he just had to-

"Jay!" Nya squeezed through busy staff, and rushed to his side. He was in a bed, more like on top of the bed, still fully-clothed, no uncomfortable hospital-gown at least.

Immediately taken inside, asked questions to test if he was still fully aware (as in not concussed), had his vitals taken, and now, was numbed up where all the little pieces of glass were as they were slowly taken out. He hated it, and he hated that no one would tell him what was happening to Kai.

But they believed he was out of it, so it made sense.

They would certainly tell Nya where he was, at least. He grabbed her hand tightly, "You didn't tell us you were hurt too!" she yelled, tears in her eyes already, and pulled his hands to her face. The nurse to the side squeemed at the sound, and she quickly silenced herself.

"I- I'm sorry, I- where are the others?" he shook his head, he only wanted to know one thing. "Do you know where Kai is?"

Nodding, she squeezed his hand harder, looking to the bleeding of his head, the nurse sat down taking out glass in his arm and shoulder, then stopping whatever blood spewed out. "Yeah, he's-" she paused, "he's in surgery, they got him in straight away, we never got to see him." The nurse picked another piece out, that one was large, so that one, he felt, he squirmed away.

The drip into his arm was already numbing him up, he was convinced if he got given more, his heart would stop. When he got to the hospital, the pain came full-force, all his adrenaline having died out. Still, it couldn't be as large as his worry for Kai, he just wanted to see him again, with no blood pooling around his leg.

"In surgery, why?"

He needed a lot of stitches, a few on his head, on his arm, and with the nurse disinfecting one already, she was starting to take the stitching supplies out. He squirmed, it felt…stupid that they were doing all this, three doctors around him as if he was the most injured person in the world when Kai was doing so much worse.

"The bullet didn't go through, but it hit an artery, he-" she trembled and squeezed closer to him, she could never finish her sentence, the tears hit her too quick. In his case, he thought he'd be the crying mess, but something was stopping him, he wanted to only let himself cry when he saw his friend still alive, awake, and bickering as normal.

With one arm, he hugged her.

"Can the others come in?" he spoke strongly, he wouldn't let himself cower when Kai was so far past that point.

She hugged him closer and nodded, "I'll ask, they were worried to death about both of you, we thought you would be in the waiting room."

He laughed, "Sorry." and wiped her tear.

—

With the others granted permission after Nya's incessant asking, they rushed to Jay, at least able to know that one of them were okay. Kai was still high on everyone's minds, but they could relax a little after knowing Jay was sat up.

When they rushed to the hospital and didn't see Jay in the waiting room like they expected, their minds immediately went to the worst.

Their faces dimmed when they got close enough to notice how much blood was staining the side of his face, but he smiled, unexpectadly. "Jay, you-" Lloyd stammered, then grasped his chest, "You had us worried. What happened to you too?" he took a seat, as collected by Nya on their way there.

"I'm fine!" he reassured, trying to stay as still as possible. Hopefully just a few more pieces for them to pull out. Lloyd winced when he looked at the amount plopped onto a metal tray, then looked back at him. "Kai…he- he, I think he took the bullet for me." He quivered, and hugged himself with his free arm.

It could have been him, but he had the feeling that Kai knew it would have gone worse if it was him: shot in the chest, maybe even worse…

But that didn't mean that idiot had to take it for him!

Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds, exchanged glances, then looked back at Jay, waiting for him to say more.

He heard the shot of the gun, then the bullet that wrangled into his leg. He heard Kai scream his name, and even though he had been observant the whole time, only Kai had realised there was still one criminal left. Then… he saw the blood, saw his squirms, his eyes trying so desperately to stay open, but something pulling him into the darkness.

It could have been him, but Kai stopped that.

It all happened so suddenly, one moment they were arguing, screaming at each-other in the public store, then everything stopped when they ran into a real problem, more important than some stupid broken plates.

"I- I wasn't paying attention, I thought we'd beat them all, but-" he hitched, his back growing unevenly as he breathed, "but then- then I let my guard now, its all my fault, and- and now Kai, he's-" he gripped the side of his head, and felt every bit of pain from these silly, insignificant shards of glass in his head and arm, his friends gathered around him in worry, and he knew it shouldn't be this way.

One of the nurses put a hand on his back and urged him to calm now, and Nya grabbed his hand again, pulling it away from his head.

It reminded him that he didn't want to cry yet, he would only cry when he knew that Kai was okay.

"Jay, really, that would never be your fault." Nya assured him, and he pulled his tears back in. "None of you expected that."

Cole came forward, "And when Kai does something, he means it." Jay released his shoulders and frowned when he understood Cole completely. "Nothing can stop him."

"We just have to wait. I am positive he will be okay." Zane nodded, the others looked around and gave tense smiles. All they could do was wait.

—

Everything was blurry, everything ached, but at the same time, he felt nothing at all.

He moved an inch, that was all he could manage, everything was achy, a weird feeling, but nothing really hurt. Except, maybe the thing down his throat did, that was all that hurt. That annoying thing made him move more, and he went to grab it; something stopped him, wrapping around his arm, it tugged at something attached to it, some more tubing, some other weird discomfort attached to or inside him.

Some noises, not clear at all, more like distant echoes, actually, just one echo, a high pitched, panicky one.

Jay.

He was here enough to know that, thankfully, but he didn't actually know where he was. First thing, he was…laid down, something soft beneath him. Was he even alive? Maybe he was gliding in the clouds of the afterlife, something as a ninja had finally claimed him-

"Kai!" Jay yelled, yep, it was definitely him.

Hopefully Jay hadn't followed him to the afterlife.

His shout was way too loud for whatever hazy place this was, with the soft thing below him, it probably wasn't a battlefield. Maybe it was..a bed! It was a bed! He internally whooped and shot his hands into a fist to the air when he figured it out. Thinking hard was a big task, so maybe he could just go back to wherever he had been, maybe asleep, that would be great.

But he was way too aware of that tube down his throat to go back to sleep now. It was like it breathed for him, why would he need that?

Right, there were things stuck inside him, a tube down his throat, lying on a bed, "I'm in a hospital." He realised, but didn't know he mumbled the last word out loud. Well, he couldn't say anything with that tube, so it might have just came out as a pathetic gurgle. Out of all the ninja, he probably wanted Jay to see him like this the least - not out of worry, out of humiliation.

"Yeah, yeah," He grabbed his hand tightly, but not too tight, like he was being gentle with him, "you're in the hospital, buddy."

Why would Jay hold his hand? he groaned to himself, but also wondered what could make the ever-annoying Jay, who would bicker with him at every chance, hold his hand? Was anyone else there, or was it just him and Jay?

Jay sighed and pointed to him,"The tube's been helping you breathe, can't come out yet, buddy."

He tried to rack through his brain. With how numb he felt, he assumed pain meds, seemed like something painful had happened to him, maybe with… Jay.

Realisation hit him. Jay had almost been shot, the gun was pointed right at him, but he didn't notice, only one of them did. So he did what he would do for any of his friends, he took the bullet. Now, he remembered…pain, the echo of the bullet, like the echoes of Jay's voice above him.

Jay trying his best to keep him awake, and then… he didn't remember falling asleep, nothing after that, but he hoped he didn't slip away with Jay there, he knows how much he would have panicked.

Besides that, he had helped, got something around his wound and kept him awake for as long as possible. Finally, he remembered the sight of him above him, his eyes showing utter terror, but his body working efficiently.

So Jay might be dead if he hadn't took the bullet; but, he would have been dead if he hadn't been saved by Jay after.

He tried sitting up once he pried his eyes open, but they squeezed shut with the brightness straight away, and now, seeing that tube down his throat made the feeling of it all the more intense. Jay pressed the call-button, speaking calmly and firmly, but a little tremble to his voice. As he did, he typed something on his phone, his head whipping to him, then the door over and over.

"The others are coming, buddy." he turned to him, putting his phone away and gripping his hand tighter. He couldn't feel much shame right now, because Jay was alive, he'd done his part in saving him, so he squeezed back, greatful that he could.

—

Kai was awake. He'd pressed the call button, and now held his hand as they waited for the others, and a doctor to come by.

It was more waiting, he was really sick of waiting.

He'd waited five whole hours for him to come out of surgery, and had now been waiting for around an hour for him to wake up. Thankfully, he was already in a private room, and he suspected he'd be staying in the hospital for longer than anyone would like. For Kai, the moment they got that tube out of his throat, he'd be asking to get out of here.

It scared him, it wasn't anything serious, it was simply what one needs during any surgery, but with the other things recording his vitals, it terrified him, even if those vitals looked fine, to his knowledge.

Kai didn't look to be panicking, he looked more annoyed than anything, his eyebrows furrowed, his mouth frowning around the breathing tube. Maybe he just wasn't fully there yet.

Finally, a doctor arrived, his primary doctor. He was glad Wu, who arrived at the hospital soon after the ninja, had pulled some strings for the staff to tell the ninja everything involving Kai. At first, they would only tell Nya, and it was driving them crazy having to wait for her to update them. Speaking of Wu, the ninja, all in the living room playing games, had rushed out without telling their Master a thing, and when they were wrapped up in their panic, Pixal called, oblivious to everything.

"I see he's awake." the doctor walked to the bed.

The others arrived soon after, it was a very quick trip considering they went back up to the Bounty to gather things for Kai's inevitable long hospital stay. They would have to gather more things from the Monastery soon, but no one wanted to get so far away.

"Ah, Kai, you are awake." Wu stepped in alongside them, "It is good to see you."

All he got back was a whimper, the others frowned and took their seats, not taking their eyes off him.

Jay's hospital stay, however, was on the short side. After getting his head and arm stitched up, the doctors urged him to stay overnight, wary of a more serious head injury. Luckily, they had told him this in private, if Zane was in the room, he would have demanded he listen to the medical proffesionals, but… he did not.

They sent him off with strong pain-meds, and advised he come in for a checkup soon, then, to remove the stitches in two weeks. He complained, but accepted, he could do that at least; he thanked them and rushed for the others.

He had a feeling that all six of them, the rest of the ninja, Master Wu and Pixal, did not need to all go back to the Bounty for Kai's belongings, but instead realised the distress he had fallen into, and decided to leave him alone. Admittedly, they were right, he really needed some time alone, just him and Kai for a few minutes.

Kai blinked and tilted his head, his hand shakily pointing for the tube, his face grimacing, "Yes, yes, we can take that out, your vitals are stable enough." his eyes lit up, and the others smiled as they took their seats.

"We brought him some stuff for his stay!" Lloyd beamed, then noticed Kai was more aware than he thought, "We brought you comics, some clothes, for when you're out the gown, and uh, we'll be coming with more soon." he presented each object to Kai, who of course, with no way to talk, was silent.

Cole held comics, Nya had clothes, and little entertainment; if the stay was long enough, they would probably drag a whole TV and gaming console in there for him.

"Right, you ready?" The doctor kneeled down, grabbed the tube, and the ninja tried to hide their faces incase they made some involuntary disgusted movement, because… it did not look pleasant. Kai gripped the sheets as the doctor prepared to pull, the other hand still on Jay's. He wondered if he was aware how tightly he held his hand, how he hadn't let go for several minutes.

It made all the pain Kai went through to save him so much clearer, Jay was easily going to be in this situation, probably in some coma, half way, or even knocking at deaths door with a bullet in his chest instead of leg.

Kai made it clear how much he hated even the most minor injury. If he was sick, he would ignore it, say it can go away on its own and train (sometimes even fight) anyway.

But he was still going through all this, despite all his fears, because he jumped in his way, because he didn't pay attention: Jay felt like he had to stay, let Kai squeeze his hand so tight he'd break it.

"Right, on three, do a big cough."

He counted, then Kai did what he said, the tube ripped from his throat with gurgles, then groans, then finally, a big yell from him, his voice finally detectable in the sounds of pain.

"There we go, you did great." he did a little clap, then strapped a smaller mask to his face as he coughed. Nya was quickly by his side, replacing where the doctor was, and put her hand over his shoulder.

"Agh- oh my-" he coughed and opened his eyes again, "that felt awful."

Cole smiled softly, "Looks like Kai's back."

—

His memories weren't still completely pieced together, but he got the gist of what happened. Then, with what the others told him, and Jay, who was quieter than usual, he understood why he was in this situation, and no one else.

The main memories weren't that argument, it was Jay, collecting himself efficiently to save him, so how could he be so quiet right now, looking like he thought otherwise?

As if he regretted that he'd took the bullet?

"You gave us quite the scare." Zane said, leaning forward. They all had a chair now, and it seemed like, with how comfortable they looked, that they were planning to linger around his bed for a while.

Wu and Pixal had left soon after he woke up, with their faces, he assumed they were going to come back with stuffed animals, flowers, get well soon cards, and maybe for his favorite celebrity to visit while they're at it.

Kai sighed, and took another sip of the water, his hands were like jelly, so Nya guided the cup up, but he insisted that he can still put the straw in his own mouth. "I'm not a baby!", as he had said. "Well, sorry for being shot." he quipped, and took another sip, water right now was like the gates to a holy temple, a blessing with the constant achiness of his throat.

Nya had quickly urged him to stop drinking so much, and to let himself have that uncomfortable oxygen mask on for more than a minute. She took the drink and chuckled. Within an hour of waking up, Kai had figured out that months of coddling, stalking, and overprotectiveness was in store for him.

Though, he didn't mind it right now.

The relief to his breathing was quick when he popped the mask back on, it was uncomfortable, but more comfortable than… not breathing, he guessed. "Why's breathing so hard without this on, Zane?" he moaned, leaning his head back.

He was greatful to be sat up, because when he first woke up, being laid flat down made him feel way more like a baby. Though, again, there were times he appreciated the teams' babying, especially from Zane, he was the perfect caretaker, strict when it came to what matters, but soft when he needs to be.

"You lost a lot of blood, and needed a blood transfusion, and the doctors say you were in significant pain when you arrived, the pain-meds may be doing so too." he answered swiftly.

"Do you remember much?" Lloyd asked.

He fidgeted with his mask and answered, "Not…really." his voice was quiet, still very weak: he partly remembered a doctor explaining he will take time to recover, but he should make a full recovery.

That is, after his hospital stay, physical therapy, and a whole bunch of torture in his near-future.

Two nurses had worked together to sit him up, which was… a little embarrasing, but he sure couldn't have done it by himself. First, with every little thing attached to him, he'd probably rip some tube from his body without their help. All those things were making this so much worse too, he had several sticky things on his chest, he looked down and grimaced. "Those are the electrodes, they are recording your heart rate." Zane informed suddenly.

Then the clip on his finger, he stared at it, "And that is the oximeter. It is recording your oxygen and-"

Kai flailed his hand in the air, "Right, Zane, I don't need a lesson right now, except—" he looked down to his leg and flipped the blanket partly off him, "Why is there a tube in my leg?"

Zane sighed, "It is a surgical drain, to drain fluid from the wound, such as-"

Kai flipped the blanket back over him, as quickly as his weak hands could, and groaned, "Right, ew, I don't want to know all the details, just- just how long am I gonna be here?" he looked around the boring room, white and grey walls, but surprisingly, some beige wood panelling at the bottom, it gave the room a bit more colour.

Their pity was obvious, but there was one person he didn't want to see pity from - Jay, and he was being the quietest out of everyone. He took a glance at him, he had let go of his hand a while ago, when he became more aware.

"The doctor's explained all this already." Cole sighed, shaking his head, but every joke sounded too light-hearded. He would prefer if someone bickered, or if he could listen to Jay panic about this.

"I was barely awake, I don't remember!" he yelled back, which turned into a few weak coughs. The pain meds were still working, he couldn't feel anything but discomfort at the medical bits and bobs attached to his body.

"Oh, right," Cole scratched his head, "It could be… a few weeks."

He could scream right now, jump out of bed and demand he go home, but for once, he knew he wouldn't accomplish it, and finally, exhuastion had took a hold of him. Yawning, he groaned and flopped his head forward this time, he was getting tired of it already, and maybe everyone being here was just security.

"Ugh, okay, so you're all gonna be coddling me for a few weeks?"

"More like…" Nya grinned, "several months, after you leave the hospital too." Nya leaned in for a bigger hug, Kai instinctively pulled away, but knew she needed it, so stayed where he was. He wondered how scared they were; he knew how scared he was when he saw the gun pointed at Jay, the bullet that would probably go straight through his chest, how he was going to have a much worse fate than him.

He looked to his hand, the side with the IV in his arm and the clip on his finger, then, the incessent shake of each one, "I was…" he gulped, "really close to…"

"Don't think about that." Nya pulled his hand down. "You're alive, and you're going to get better, you held on for the ambulance when you were so close to…" she paused and looked to her side, "you know…"

Those moments as he tried to fight the pull of darkness were coming back to him. Jay had been there, despite being injured himself, ignored the blood running down his head and treated him instead.

Repeating phrases, saying names of the people important to him, anything to make him hold on.

Jay didn't look as scared as he thought he would be, but Kai was, he was scared more than he could say.

"Yeah, well, Jay did most the work." he turned to him, beside him, he looked to his hands, fidgeting mindlessly, he looked less aware than he was while woozy from the pain-meds. He had bandages over his head, some scattered across his arms, a pair of visible stitches on his forehead. But, it wasn't the injuries making him act that way, it was obvious what he was feeling.

"I can tell you're blaming yourself." he noted, and Jay jumped, his face stretching and eyes darting around the room, then locking in on Kai.

"No, no, I mean- I…" he protested, he waved his hands around, "Pfft, no, why would I do- do…" he weakened, and suddenly, his breaths were failing, his back shuddering, and his head fell forward. He covered his face, but that didn't do much to cover his little whimpers.

He was crying.

"Jay." Cole shot up and rushed to the other side of the bed, dragging his seat around. He put his arms around his shoulders, and unexpectedly, Jay leaned into it. "It's not your fault, it can't have been your fault." At his words, he leaned in closer and used one hand to grip onto Cole, the other to continue hiding his face.

Kai didn't have a joke to say right now, because he was watching Jay, weeping quietly in another person's arms, and wanted to join it. For a second, he was staring at a gun, and his brains worked through all the gears to realise the next second that it was pointed at his friend: unlike Jay, he didn't have any fancy plan to stop the shooter, he just laucnhed at him with all his might to get him away, shoving him into a shelf of glass plates and getting him hurt in the process too.

There was a moment after realising the gun was pointed at Jay, and then leaping for him, that he really thought he would lose him.

And suddenly that silly argument meant nothing at all. Also, maybe he would be okay with doing his chores for the rest of his life if it meant he didn't die, especially when he could prevent it so easily.

He did prevent it, that's what mattered.

Weakly, he dragged himself a little more up, but immediately backed down and groaned, when he did, the heart rate monitor raced slightly faster, so he stopped - I guess no hugs.

"You okay?" Nya leaned closer.

He waved her off, "Yes, yes, fine- Jay, that guy had the gun pointed right at you." he stated.

He pulled from Cole's hug, but kept his hand around his shoulder, wiping his tear, he responded with a shaky voice, "Yeah, but- but that doesn't mean you jump in front of me."

Kai whisked his hand up to shush him, "No, no, the gun wasn't pointed at your leg or anything like that, if I hadn't jumped in - and I'm not gonna sugarcoat it - you would have been shot in the chest, so…" he raced through the memories for a moment, and noticed everyone's tense looks at Jay, then him, then back and forth, "so aren't you glad I only got shot in the leg, and, look, I survived." he beamed, pointing to himself and around the room; he was exhuasted, hosptialised for the future to come, but alive.

"It could've gone wrong, what if you ended up…" he grabbed Kai's sheets, looking at his arms, his voice quivered and back shook intensely again, "it could have gone so much worse."

It wasn't the best thing to be talking about in the hospital, when he was so fragile, but he knew Jay needed it, if he didn't say anything now, he would drive himself crazy until he was completely back to full health.

"But it didn't go wrong, I mean, this was the best possible scenario, we both lived."

Jay dragged his other hand from his face and gripped the sheets again, "But I didn't notice that guy, I- I was celebrating early, and if I'd just-" between the words, he hiccuped out shaky breaths and tears, "if I'd just paid attention, then—"

"You paid attention that whole time." he interrupted, and Jay stumbled down, hunching over the bed with his eyes shut tight. Cole continued to hold his back, and the others kept quiet, there wasn't anything that needed to be said that Kai didn't know.

He grabbed his head at his sudden movement, feeling the slight tug of the drip in his arm, and stayed for a moment. Nya scooted closer, dilemas on who to care for running through her head, but she put a hand on his shoulder, and took Kai's hand. But Jay was crying, hurt, blaming himself for something so stupid, he didn't want to be hurt or weak right now.

But if anyone was the weaker link in that fight, it was him, not Jay.

"You're more observant than you think, Jay." he collected himself, and spoke with a smile, "You called the others, stayed calm to help me, even though I was, like- like screaming at the top of my lungs, probably not being compliant at all, right?"

Jay nodded hesitantly, and his grip on the bed loosened.

"And you probably figured out why our powers weren't working there, right?"

Shamefully, he nodded again, and wiped his final running tears away, but many still persisted at the corners of his eyes. "Vengestone; when the guy escaped, I could use my powers again. I'm- I'm guessing there was a huge shipment in the back, and the cashier was smuggling it." Kai nodded and urged him to continue, "It was a home store, tables, stone furniture and all that, so they must come across Vengestone sometimes while mining?"

Lloyd whispered to the side, "The shooter escaped?" However, everyone heard it. Kai hadn't wracked that fact through his mind yet, with bleeding out, he didn't have time.

Jay put his hands up, and made it noticeable how he stared into Kai's palm resting to his side, faced upwards like someone could swoop in and hold it.

"There were cameras all over the store, police close by, they would have got him." for once, he was confident in his observation. The others nodded in relief, then turned back to Kai who had his hand half-way to Jay.

"See, you're…actually pretty smart, sorry for calling you stupid in that fight." he kept his hand up, looking at Jay's, how it raced for a falling tear again, but then slapped into his hand, they stayed there and held it. He was just glad to be holding an alive Jay.

"You're apologizing?" he chuckled, drifting away from Cole's hold. Kai's hold was enough, just feeling his warm hands was okay after all that happened today. He hummed and nodded, then Jay smiled even more, "Right…sorry for calling you selfish earlier too."

Gradually, their hands drifted to the bed, now, they just… held hands, and it didn't feel weird.

When he was drifting to unconsciousness in the store, he had fragments of memories, and all he remembered was Jay. In the blurred, hazy vision, he saw his eyes, his shaky smile he forced to make him feel any better while bleeding out. Then, he understood he needed to stay awake, he couldn't die on Jay's watch.

So he held onto all the pieces of his friend he could get. His blue GI, not the blood running down his head, his calm voice, but paying attention to the panic hiding underneath.

Most importantly, his hand, he gripped onto it as hard as he could, then did the same as he woke up in the hospital.

"Yeah, yeah, how can I be selfish when I literally took a bullet for you?" he resounded, his other hand on his chest. Jay took a few deep breaths, it definitely helped, he hoped this mean he wouldn't be pestered with a blameful family for months as he recovers. Kai took a breath too, and paid attention to the others again, "You can't stop me once I've made my mind up, and obviously, it didn't go wrong, look at me." he grinned, weakly, but grabbed his mask and snapped it to his face.

Jay sighed and squeezed his hand again, "Yeah- well, you look awful."

"For that, I think you should still do my chores." Kai laughed. He knew he looked awful, and a part of him felt like he was too vulnberable in front of the others, but they were family, and it sure was worth it.

"Neither of you should be doing anything right now." Nya exclaimed, she kept her grip on Kai's other hand, and pointed to Jay harshly with hers. "Kai, you won't be walking for a few weeks, and you," she pointed to Jay, "should really still be in the hospital, shouldn't you? But you went against medical advice to come here." Jay grabbed his head, and looked over the bandages on his arm, the few stitches still visible, he flustered and looked down, staring at their hands holding each-other, it was the best visual to hold onto right now.

"You went AMA to visit me?" Kai grinned, "That's cute." That time, Jay gripped his hand harder threateningly.

"Just making sure you don't die on me, just-" he fell forward and leaned into Kai's hand, pulling it up to his head, "just don't take a bullet for me again, okay?"

Kai let him grip his hand as much as he wanted, "No promises."