Hellooooo everyone! It's been a while since I've uploaded oneshots but this here is one that I worked on with a good friend of mine, evelinaonline! If you don't know her yet or haven't never read any of her stories, I highly recommend getting to it! She is an amazing writer and great friend!

We both uploaded our own bruise oneshots, each one we both worked on together! Here is one of the oneshot we worked on together. Then, check out my other collab with her, In Your Arms.

I hope you all enjoy the oneshot!

Also, it's pride month, so squee just in time!

There is nothing more painful than losing someone you love.

Master Wu fell into the loved ones category, and he was now gone. "Not gone." Kai had insisted. "Lost, maybe. But not gone."

It seemed unbelievable, but then again, only Kai and Nya had been there when their Sensei jumped in the time vortex. The others had no doubt that they were not lying. They just hoped that their assumption was correct.

When Zane departed after defeating the Overlord, the ninja team separated. Each ninja went their own way, with Lloyd desperately trying to bring them back together. This is why the ninja were surprised that the first thing Lloyd ordered them to do as their new Master, was to separate into groups and scatter around Ninjago to search for Wu. Not as a team, but as individuals.

Jay was lucky enough to be travelling with Cole. Cole was strong - physically and mentally - determined, always looked out for Jay, and nice to talk to. There was no better person than your best friend to travel with, right?

Right.

That's what Jay thought too.

He was correct, for the most part. The ninja of lightning wasn't expecting everything to go smoothly from day one. They had just lost their father figure, after all.

Something was off though, and Jay had noticed. It was as if he was reliving his nindroid brother's death all over again. He remembered how distant Cole had been, how he didn't want to talk to the others, how he didn't want to talk to him.

Jay couldn't find it in his heart to admit that something was indeed wrong with him. "Cole is just fine." he'd think to himself. "He just needs time."

The word time brought shivers down Jay's spine. Just another addition to the list of words he didn't want to use: It went right below the word 'wish'.

Jay cringed at the image of the Sky Pirates in his head. The current situation wasn't too different, he thought. He was still searching for a lost friend, a lost member of his family, without knowing if they were even alive-

Jay shook his head to block the thought away. It seemed as if destiny had something planned for him, however, because the thought was quickly replaced by another, and then another, and another.

"Excuse me, have you seen an old, long bearded man passing by?" Jay couldn't remember how many times he and Cole had said these words. Each time, they either got no answer or got mislead.

"Someone said something about a man with a beard and a staff going to Mount Torchfire."

"No human can survive such high temperature."

"Oh, I heard that there was an old man living in a junkyard!"

"That's my dad!"

Everytime they mistook someone for Wu, it felt like losing him all over again.

But they had to try. If there was one thing that Master Wu would want them to remember, it would be that ninja never quit.

Then why did it feel like Cole was quitting?

The more time they spend looking for Wu, the more distant Cole got. It had come to a point where Cole wouldn't even laugh at Jay's jokes anymore.

Jay had to talk to him.

The two were walking away from yet another village. Cole seemed upset, even more upset than usual.

"Cole." Jay said, and stopped walking.

The earth ninja did so as well, and turned around to face his friend. It was clear Jay was up to something, and Cole did his best to smile, but it looked way too forced and far from a genuine one. "Tired already?"

"No." Jay replied. "I mean, yes, but no!"

"Are you okay?" Cole raised an eyebrow, and dropped the fake curve off his face.

"I am." Jay assured him. "But are you?"

Cole opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. "... Why wouldn't I be?" he eventually said.

Jay blinked in surprise. "'Why wouldn't you be'? Cole, you've been more distant than Zane on our first week of training." he said, trying to sound as gentle as possible. "It's… Unlike you."

"It's really nothing." Cole said, playing with his fingers. "My stomach is just a bit upset."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Your stomach is a bit upset? You've been like that for the past two months, Cole!"

The black ninja scratched the back of his head. "I guess my body is just getting used to my new diet."

"Well, if it makes your stomach that upset, then it's not good for you." Jay mumbled before sighing. "Listen, Cole. You're my best friend, you know that, right? If you want to talk, I am here for you. I promise, I am here for you."

Cole nodded slightly. Clearly, Jay's words had affected him in one way or another, but Cole wasn't going to let that be shown.

Although hesitant at first, Jay reached out for Cole's hand and squeezed it with his own. "We only have to do this one more time, okay? Then we are going home, back to the others. We can do this."

It was a total disaster.

Not only did they not find Wu, but they made an entire monastery of monks break their vow of silence. And the worst part, it was because they had been fighting. They had let their emotions take the best of them, and had argued about the expected.

From up high, two dots - a black one, and a blue one - could be seen on the snow. They left a row of footsteps behind them, as they steadily made their way through the snowy hills.

"I'm sorry."

Cole didn't bother to look at Jay this time. He simply kept walking, trying to enjoy the silence.

"I didn't mean what I said before." the ninja of lightning continued. "You'd never judge without thinking. I really shouldn't have said what I said."

Still, no reply.

"And I was wrong about me being entertaining too. All I do is piss you off and-"

"Listen, Jay." Cole finally spoke up, interrupting him. "I know you mean well, but can we not talk about this now? It's cold, we are both tired, and I am not in the mood for talking. Can we do this later?"

Jay sighed, nodding. "Yeah."

"And… I am sorry too. We were both in the wrong." Cole made sure to add. "No hard feelings?" he shyly suggested.

Jay smiled, glad to see that his teammate's mood wasn't completely ruined. "You know it."

The moment they started walking again, however, Cole turned serious again, lost in his thoughts. The only thing that comforted Jay was the thought of meeting the others again.

Speaking of… the minute the two ninja stepped inside Borg Industries, they were greeted by all the familiar faces of their smiling teammates. And hugs, so many hugs.

Jay couldn't help it as his smile only grew wider. He stole a glance at Cole hastily, happy that the earth master too had a smile on his face. At least Cole was genuinely happy since their travels… but he couldn't help but get the feeling that Cole was purposely avoiding him... he swallowed, trying to shoo away the thoughts.

The next time they got alone together he would ask him again and this time, he wasn't going to stop until he got answers. Real answers.

After the grand speech the Royal Family of Ninjago delivered, they were invited to the palace, and for a while, Jay's mind traveled elsewhere and he felt relaxed and at ease.

The family's royal guard, Hutchins, took the liberty to tour them around the palace.

When they came across the buffet table, Jay's thoughts immediately scrambled to Cole but the black ninja only insisted on going through with his diet. He kept calling his body a 'temple' and Jay found it to be killing the mood. He was a party pooper.

Luckily, Zane lifted his spirits a bit by asking what a 'party pooper' was. Jay was surprised that his brother had no clue… He was a nindroid!

Once the tour was over, however, the team divided and conquered certain areas of the palace to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.

Kai and Nya went off as a pair and took to the exteriors of the palace while Lloyd handled the area around the rooms of the royal family. Ultimately, Zane, Jay, and Cole, all went together to the buffet table - the three friends together once again before Kai had came along.

It was an interesting time at the buffet table. Jay had tried to get Cole to give up and stuff himself with sweets, while Zane, on the other hand, was still trying to figure out what a 'party pooper' was. After explaining to Zane what it meant, he defined it and called Cole a party pooper to his own amusement and abruptly left.

The two friends watched as Zane left the buffet table and soon shared a glance with one another, not quite sure what to do next.

Soon enough, Cole cleared his throat and looked just about ready to follow Zane to wherever it was he was going. Jay cocked his head at his friend and frowned.

"I think we should be looking somewhere else," Cole stated plainly, starting after their white clad brother.

Seeing this as another opportunity since two of them were alone once more, the blue ninja wrapped his fingers around Cole's hand firmly and held him back. His frown only deepened as Cole tried to disconnect from the other.

"We are not leaving." Cole struggled to pull away from Jay but the desperate look in his friend's eyes told him it was useless to try anyways. "Dude, what's been going on?"

Cole stopped struggling and he raised a bushy brow at Jay. "What do mean, 'what's been going on?'"

Jay rolled his eyes and harrumphed, almost yanking the hand he was holding. "Don't play dumb with me - you've been acting all distant lately and, and I don't like it."

"You've already asked and I already told you…" the black clad started, "I'm just tired. And my stomach has been feeling upset lately because of the whole 'my body is a temple' thing, yanno?" Cole's eyes fell onto their connected hands and he sighed. "Can you let go now?"

Jay's eyes followed Cole's and he stared down at their hands for a little while, running Cole's words through his head, over and over.

It was all Cole had been telling him since Day One. Such obvious, ridiculous, excuses.

He scoffed. "You are so bad at coming up with excuses. You know that? I don't buy any of it, Cole." His grip around his friend's hand grew tighter and Cole's body locked up at the sudden action.

"You don't have to be brave for me. We're best friends."

It was at those words in which Cole felt as if the entire world around him had stopped moving, just for them.

Jay hadn't sounded angry, in fact, he wasn't upset… he was just worried… and scared.

And Cole could see it through Jay's eyes. He could tell by the way he had grabbed his hand as if it were only a matter of life or death, as if he was the only friend he had left in the world. And Cole just wanted to ignore it. He wanted to pretend like no one had to worry about his problems, but Jay broke through that barrier and had been chipping away at it since days, practically weeks.

Now, hearing those words only made Cole want to let it all out. He wanted to tell Jay everything - to finally share all the feels he felt and had kept inside for so long. He wanted to give in and to let go and pull his friend in for a hug that he would never let go of. He wanted to know that everything would be okay.

He wanted someone to tell him it would be okay.

He wanted Jay to tell him it would be okay.

"Jay, I'm scared," Cole finally said, his voice barely a whisper as his own hand accepted that Jay's was around his. When he looked into Jay's eyes once again, he noticed how much darker they had become, and even the more enticed look scrawled all over his face. He was listening. Jay was listening.

"I can't take another loss," he spoke slowly, eyes wavering in front of Jay's. "Losing my mother led me to Master Wu. And now he's gone. My mother, Master Wu, how many more before I lose it all? We're a team. We stick together… but after the disappearance of him we all kind of just fell apart." Cole's voice began to grow shaky now.

Suddenly, Cole's voice grew louder and Jay drew back instinctively. "And we were so close to finding him! Do you know how many leads we got? How he was almost there, right in front of us! What if he's really gone and we've been searching for no reason?"

Heartache picked away at Jay's heart and his eyes fell to the ground solemnly. After trying to get Cole to admit everything, this is what it was. This was what he asked for from his friend. This was what he was waiting to hear… but hearing it all right now just made his friend seem so distant and almost gone.

In response, Jay squeezed Cole's hand gently and raised it, taking the other hand into his own too.

"We didn't all fall apart… I stayed with you, didn't I?" He mustered a half smile and hoped for Cole to return the sign. "It's going to be okay."

Okay.

And after a couple of seconds, Cole smiled back.

For a while, the two friends shared the silence together, reminding one another that it was going to be alright and that they had nothing to worry about. And for a brief moment, Jay felt as if he had grown closer to Cole than ever before.

"What was that you said about searching someplace else?" Jay tossed out, sensing that Cole was feeling a bit more relieved at about now. "We should see where Zane ran off too. He can't be that far, honestly."

With that, Jay shared a final smile with Cole before kicking off and getting a head start at finding their nindroid brother.

"I was afraid of losing my best friend too." Cole spat out hoarsely, keeping Jay from getting any further. He slowly turned his body, coming face to face with his friend. Jay stood there, shocked and dumbstruck - he had no clue how to respond.

It didn't matter to Cole though. "I thought I was going to lose you back at the monk's temple." He drew in a deep breath, "You sounded so done with me. I didn't want to lose you again… there's nothing more painful than losing someone you love," he added softly as he clenched his fists feeling a burden upon him.

Unknowingly, Jay had moved closer to Cole, balling his hands in frustration.

He never once considered that Cole had felt this way, and he felt awful.

"I'm sorry…" he muttered softly, because the truth was, he didn't want to lose his best friend either.

"Jay you don't-"

"I might have overreacted back there… it's just - we've been searching for him for so long, I feel like it's hopeless." He chuckled inwardly when he took in his own words - he sounded just like Cole. Just as Cole opened his mouth, Jay continued on, "But I know it's not," he finished -

And leaned towards Cole, placing one of his palms onto his friend's chest as his lips softly connected with his friend's warm cheek.

"There's nothing more painful than losing someone you love, right?"

His cheeks reddened at the precious image of Cole.

"Now you know you're not going to lose me."