They thought it was just going to be a simple battle against the serpentine. How could a fight at Mega Monster Amusement Park become so deadly? None of them had seen the sword coming, none of them had been prepared for the pain-filled scream that followed. The next thing they knew, all of the snakes were gone; the cry of "retreat" from Skales had them slithering away within seconds. Cole was lying on the ground, his eyes squeezed in pain and his breathing labored, his body curled into his stomach. The sword was still deep in their leader's stomach and Kai, out of pure instinct and worry, had grabbed the handle and ripped it out, causing yet another horrific scream to fill the air. Blood started gushing out of the wound immediately after the removal.

"Kai!" Jay screamed through clenched teeth. "Why did you do that! That's exactly what you don't do when someone has pointed object stuck in their body!"

"I panicked! I freaking panicked, Jay! He looked like he was in pain!"

"Now he could bleed out!" Zane put in angrily.

"Do you want me to shove it back in him then?" retorted Kai, waving the sword for emphasis.

"That's the most idiotic thing you could do!" Zane shot at him.

"Other than pulling the sword out!" added Jay condescendingly, his voice just shy from shouting.

A pain-filled moan could be heard from the ninja on the ground. "It's… fine…" said ninja chuckled airily between deep breaths, though the chuckling soon turned to a coughing fit, breaking his 'I'm not dying' routine. "I'm… fine…" His continuous coughing and the way he had wrapped an arm around his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding himself was more than worrisome to Kai.

"Well then we better hurry back to the freaking Bounty!" Once more, out of instinct, the fire ninja swooped down and picked his 'brother' up, gesturing for the team to go back to the Bounty. Jay retrieved Cole's weapon while Zane snapped out of his frustration and frantically called for the Ultra Dragon to come aid them.

"You're gonna be okay, it's all gonna be okay," Kai muttered to the Earth ninja as he gently hopped on the dragon. He carefully lowered the earth ninja so he was lying in his lap, his head resting against his chest. Kai wrapped a protective arm around his shoulder and used the other one to both grab and press one of Jay's emergency sweatshirts onto his wound. Cole gave him a weak smile, then groaned and squeezed his eyes shut as another wave of pain seared through his body. Kai and Jay exchanged a worried look. Jay started talking about random things, trying to distract the him from the pain. Cole kept his eyes shut and merely laughed quietly at some things the blue ninja rambled about. About halfway through the ride, Kai interrupted Jay, "He's unconscious!" and Zane urged the dragon to go faster.

Now they were all in the Bounty, Misako tending to his injuries. They saw that the wound had been a through and through, there was an exit wound in the Earth ninja's back. Cole had stopped breathing as soon as they got to the Bounty and Misako was trying to bring him back. They had now split up, and all of the ninja were coping in their own ways.

Kai was in the training section of the Bounty, training. He was destroying all the snake dummies they had. He punched them, kicked them, cut their heads off with his sword. He even went as far as to burn some of them.. He just wanted to get rid of them. His body hurt, he was sore, and his knuckles were bleeding. He was panting, head over his heart.

"Having fun?" said a voice behind him. He spun around and was taken aback when he saw Cole. The teen was dressed in his favorite black hoodie and sweatpants, his bangs covering his left eye.

"Wha-but-you-you're-" stuttered Kai, taking a step away from the black ninja. Cole just casually stood there, his hands in his pants pockets, rolling his eyes until Kai finally managed to say, "Are you dead?"

Cole threw his head back and laughed louder than Kai had ever heard him laugh before. "'Are you dead?' HA! That's hilarious, Kai!"

"T-Then why am I seeing you?! I thought you were unconscious in the-the infirmary!"

"Um, yep. Last I checked I was," the earth ninja said sarcastically.

"Then who-what- are you?" Kai spluttered angrily.

Cole spun around and extended his arms outwards as if to say 'tada' before actually saying, "I'm a figment of your imagination, hothead!"

"A-A figment of my imagination?"

Cole tapped his forehead. "Yup, figment of your imagination. I'm a lot meaner in your imagination, aren't I?"

Kai gulped then nodded. "So… if you're not… dead… then why are you here? You've got to have a reason, right? That's what happens in all the movies."

"Pfft, the movies. I expected more from you, Kai. No, I'm not dead, just… dying." Cole sighed then sat down on a bench and beckoned for Kai to do the same. The fire ninja did so hesitantly. "You see, Kai, it's not that I want to die."

"Then why?!" Kai threw his hands in the air. "Why am I seeing you? If you don't want to die then why are you here?! I don't understand!"

"I don't know. Coping? Exhaustion?" Cole shrugged. "I know you well enough to know you aren't handling this well. I mean, look at your hands."

Kai looked down and cringed when he saw the bloody mess of his hands. He hung his head, too ashamed to look at the image of his friend.

"You know I wouldn't be very happy if I found out."

"You mean you won't be happy when you find out," growled Kai.

"Mm. We'll see."

Kai glared at the ninja's feet. "I hate you," he mumbled.

"Hey, I'm just saying." The two just sat there for minutes in silence. The fake earth ninja sighed once more. "You know I care about you, right?"

Kai snorted, prepared to disagree, but a small, "I do…" came unintentionally from his lips.

"I need you to take care of yourself. This…" he gestured to his hands, "is not okay."

"Yeah? Well what else do you want me to do, Cole?" he shouted, standing up and towering over the smaller teen. "Would you rather me go find and punish the Serpentine myself? Because I am this close to freaking hunt them down!" Kai held his shaking hand up, his fingers apart ever so slightly. "Oh or would you be satisfied if I ended up taking my anger out on someone else?"

"Kai, listen to yourself- you aren't thinking rationally." His voice sounded so calm. It pissed Kai off.

"I don't think you understand, Cole," he seethed, pointing a finger at the other's chest. "I was the one who pulled the sword out of your stomach- which only made things worse-, I had to carry you to the Ultra Dragon, you were sitting on my lap when you went unconscious, I was holding you as you stopped breathing!" His voice broke and tears started streaming down his face. Cole just leaned back further into the bench until his head was resting on the top and his eyes were directed towards the sky. "Why are you so calm?! You're dying!" he screamed, his palms unintentionally lighting on fire.

"You need to talk to someone, hothead. You're not doing so well."

"ARGH!" Two balls of fire flew from his hands, directed towards Cole, but they only went through him. Kai could make out the shake of Cole's head before he slowly vanished. He wasn't there anymore. He wasn't real. The bench was lit on fire but Kai made no effort to put it out. He sat on the ground and watched it burn. A part of him wished the fake Cole would come back. Another part was glad it was gone.

Heyo so I guess I actually did this? I've been reading fanfics on here for around six years (mostly Ninjago haha) and now I thought ehh, might as well maybe try something? This is a little story I've been working on for a few months.

It's based off of the NCIS episode after ((slight season two / three spoiler)) Kate dies and all of the team sees their own little version of her? So it's kind of like that but actually nothing like that.

I'm also trying to get used to... having people actually read my stuff sometimes because I usually just like... don't? So I guess I'm trying this out and hopefully this might not suck!