Slowly getting up, Kai looked down at the ground, the dead flowers spelled out a phrase he had heard Cole say one time: A weed is but an unloved flower (Ella Wheeler Wilcox).


Trigger Warning: A bit of Jerkiness, Mental Abuse, and a lot of self-hate (I'm sorry Cole, I think you're such a good character and you deserve all the love in the world). Oh no, more angst? Jeez, no one will get a break from the angst I write I guess. I swear to you guys and myself, I did not plan to make everyone such jerks, but my dumb writer brain had to make it so and so, here it is. (This is an AU where Bolobo is not the Master of Nature and Lou thinks he knows what's best for his son) (Thanks for the reviews!)


"Keep your arms up, Nicholas. Eyes ahead, straighten your back." Lou advised his son. The twelve-year-old stumbled in his steps earning a groan and an eye roll from his father. "Keep watch of your feet, Nicholas. Your lack of understanding your own senses is utterly disappointing."

"Yeah, but my arms hurt, we've been practicing for three hours! And I told you, call me Cole, not Nicholas." The raven-haired boy crossed his arms. "You always do this and I hate it."

In response to his attitude, Lou stood up straight, having to be corrected by son once again. He doesn't understand why his son would rather be called by a nickname than a name that meant 'Victory of the people'. It was a strong and sturdy name, which his son would be if he only listened to his father. Lou had to argue back.

"Do it again." Lou stared him down. He needed his son to do this competition, and he will not take failure for an answer. Cole furrowed his eyebrows.

"What?" He hissed. There was no 'okay' or 'I'll do it'. He had no right to question his authority.

"I said, and I will not repeat myself after this, do it again, Cole." That named sound like a mock to both Lou and his son. He did feel bad just a little for keeping his son like this, but it was for the best. He always knows what's best. This was his son's future. "Start on the fourth position, we'll work from there."

Cole did not move.

"No, no! Did you even listen to a word I said, dad!?" Cole backed up. Lou could see the shock in his brown eyes, that did not faze him. "I'm tired! Making me do things I don't want to do is practically abuse! I never wanted to enter the stupid competition anyway!"

"Stupid? You think that this competition is stupid!?" Cole shrunk at his father's voice. His father was terrifying when he got angry. "Nicholas, you might be the only one in our family who might be able to do the Triple-Tiger-Sashay! No other dancer has been able to do this, you are lucky that you are even skilled enough to-"

"I'm going to bed," Cole said softly. Lou took a breath, he'd been ranting at his son again.

"Fine, go to bed, but tomorrow," He paused and turned around. "We will do this again, early, all day. I will not have a disappointment of a son."

Lou has never heard Cole cry until now and it broke his heart to hear it. Sure nothing was more important than his son but he needed Cole to win this competition. And he was going to do it. They've had months of practice and Cole was not going to lose. He will not disappoint his father.


"-and in order to use it, you have to-Cole!" Jay's voice interrupted his thoughts. Cole sat up in his chair. "Did you even hear what I just said?"

"No, sorry. What were we talking about?" Cole nervously rubbed his neck and looked down. Jay groaned, Cole felt guilty for ignoring him. He seemed to be doing that a lot, and not on purpose.

"Y'know, nowadays, you're starting to become a real let-down lately and frankly, it's becoming annoying." Jay chided him. Cole let his face fall. Everyone's been calling him that. And it actually hurt.

"I haven't been sleeping well," Cole said. Jay raised an eyebrow as if he didn't believe him.

"Yeah, and you have a low-attention-span too." This time, Cole didn't know what to say. He shouldn't say anything. It'd only get Jay even more frustrated at him. So Cole didn't say anything, he just let Jay talk. "And you've been completely ignoring what I've been telling you, you gotta stop eating large portions of food before you sleep. Speaking of, what is with you and waiting until twelve in the morning to go to bed?"

"Jay, I-"

Cole dared not to speak again.

"No, I'm here trying to teach you how to use this gadget for our next mission and you sat here, the entire time, dozing off. You're a real disappointment to everyone, Nicholas."

Cole's head hurt. Suddenly, he felt tired. His eyes watered.

"Cole?" Jay touched his shoulder. Cole did not move. At all. "Buddy, are you okay?"

"First position! Sixth position! Good, pick it up, Nicholas." His father practically barked orders at him. Cole felt dizzy, Lou was right, they'd practice early in the morning. He barely even got his eight hours of sleep. His stomach growled from hunger. He felt his arms get heavy. "Did I say that you could stop?"

"Dad, please! I'm tired!" Cole pleaded. The living room was hot and steamy, his breath hitched. Cole's water bottle was nowhere to be found. "Can't I just rest, for a little while even? I promise, when it's over, we can try again-"

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I've never gotten the chance to do it. But you will, Nicholas." Lou circled him, holding his arms up. "There are no second chances after this, get it right or never get it at all."

"I'm sorry, I should-"

Lou stopped him.

"Do you know what would happen if you lost?" Before Cole could answer Lou continued. "You'd be a real disappointment to everyone, Nicholas."

"Yeah, sorry-"

"Don't apologize, it makes you weak. Second position!" Lou started again.

Cole obeyed.

"I'm sorry, Jay. I should go to bed." Cole whispered. Grabbing Jay's hand and taking it off his shoulder and standing up. Jay only squeezed it in return.

"H-hey! Don't be that way! You know I didn't really mean it!" Jay protested. Cole slid his hand out of Jay's and walked away, with a straight face on. His fingers twitched. "'Sides, why would you even go to bed in the middle of the day?"

Jay stood in front of him, trying to stop him from moving. Cole looked down at his shorter friend. Jay was blocking his path. Jay said he was sorry. Cole did not believe him.

"Get out my way," Cole gave a look of hurt and instantly Jay felt bad. Not only was he putting his frustration out on Cole, but his best friend had just turned back into a human a month ago, he was getting used to his solid form again. Jay searched for any signs of giving up. "Jay, please."

"Fine, fine," Jay raised up his hands and let him pass. "Just, come and see me when you're rested, okay? I wanna apologize."

"Hm, okay," Cole mumbled under his breath. He could hear Jay's sigh of relief.

When he left, Cole had tear stains.

He felt like a dead flower that had just been cut from the ground.


No one had seen him in weeks. The only times they would hear from him was in the early morning and late at night, the stomping noises and grumbling usually woke them all up. When one of them went to go check up on him and ask if he was okay, Cole would only laugh and say that he's sick, which was unlikely. Cole never got sick.

When asked about in the streets of Ninjago, those who knew him would say they would see him rock climbing in the late evening. Something was up and it had to be one of their faults. It was unnerving to have lost a brother they all loved. Cole was being hysterical.

"Okay, this had gone out of hand," Kai was the first to speak up after the silence during breakfast. "We haven't seen Cole in at least a full four weeks, who knows what he's doing in there? The only person who's seen him is Wu and even he won't tell us what Cole's up to!"

There were always traces of dirt leading to Cole's room and a few stray dead leaves here and there.

"Do you think it was something we did?" Lloyd pointed out after shoving a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

These feelings of helplessness were nerve-wracking, appalling, horrible, were drowning, killing, tearing him apart.

"More like something we've said," Jay sighed. "I mean, a couple of months ago, I called him a 'let-down' and that was harsh, even for me."

Vines trailed up his door, made to look like they were dancing.

"I feel like we've been putting pressure on him, we were all rather, expressive, with our anger towards him." Zane followed next, staring at the plate next to him. Nya nodded in agreement. By now, the food was getting cold. "With that being said, we all are to blame."

Small trees were placed around his bedroom, growing magnolias.

None of the five ninja said anything after that. They couldn't lose Cole. They told him to get lost and Cole obeyed. They were all sick about it. They hadn't seen a smile in so long.

There were stomping sounds again, loud and heavy, like thunder. There stood Cole, in front of the hallway, his eyes were looking past them frantically. Though Zane was near the dishwasher, Cole pushed him aside and searched underneath. Cole stood up, still not facing the eyes that were watching him.

"Where's the watering can?" Cole's voice was raspy like he hadn't talked in a while. After receiving no answer, Cole turned around and repeated the question. His brown eyes were now green like Lloyd's, his and arms were littered in green dots which looked like freckles. Twigs and leaves were tangled in his hair, all in all, he looked like a mess. "I have to water them, tell me where it is."

"The closet," Zane hinted. Cole head slowly moved towards him.

"Thank you, don't move it again. They don't like that." Cole deadpanned and searched the closet. He pulled out a brown watering can with a flower printed in the middle. "They'll like me when I come back. Wouldn't want to disappoint them, now would we?"

Cole filled the can up with water and turned on his feet.

"Wait, Cole-!" Kai shouted but the door had been shut. Cole was gone.

"Eugh," Jay shuddered. Lloyd followed suit. The ninja exchanged glances to one another.

"Okay, that was weird," Nya muttered, picking up everyone's plates. "Did you see his eyes?"

"Yeah, and he was barefoot. Cole never walks barefoot," Lloyd added. Cole usually wore socks inside when they weren't training. "There were vines on his legs."

"And who's the 'they?'" Nya asked before any of them could speak again. At this point, Cole was an enigma that needed to be solved. A missing puzzle piece. A riddle. Cole's mind was as delicate as a flower.

"He fell under our pressure, cracked, I mean," Kai said at last. "I think we broke him."


One by one, Cole was grabbing the rocks, his hands and feet hurt from the scrapes he was getting, but he had to keep going. One by one, to the top. Cole was fast at this but he had never climbed this cliff before, he was told that he could overlook Ninjago from there. That's what he was doing.

The reason why Cole climbed was for a lot of things. He climbed because he was lonely, he climbed because he was hurting, he climbed because he needed to clear his mind. He climbed because his mind was slowly decaying like a garden of dead flowers. That's what he felt like.

Cole's head hurt, he couldn't feel his right arm, his body stung from the impact. He tried. He really did. He missed a step. That was bad.

His father does not take failure as an answer.

There were people surrounding him, asking him questions, shining bright lights into his eyes. He was in a bed of some sort that was being rolled into a truck. An ambulance. He wasn't hurt that bad. Probably.

"Son, what's your name?" A female asked him. Her voice sounded distorted as his head was still spinning.

"Co-" He stopped himself. Should he say, Cole or Nicholas? What if they found his father? What would he say? He couldn't decide, only his father could do that. "Nicholas."

"Okay, Nicholas, we're going to take you to the hospital, alright?" The woman said. Cole frowned. He just fell when he flipped, it wasn't that serious. He wasn't hit by a car. Thoughts ran through his mind the more he thought about it. "You hit your head pretty badly, stay with us."

His mouth was dry.

No, he must've not hit his head hard enough because he could hear his father's words loud and clear.

"You were always such a failure, Cole."

Cole's breathing was shaky as he reached the top. The air stung as he breathes it in, it was cold up there. Cole swallowed and he sat down and dug his hands into the dirt. He was already dirt. Being the Master of Earth and all.

"And to come to think that I thought they would like me, you were right, dad." Cole bitterly laughed. "I should have listened to you when I younger."

He was a pushover.

Concentrating on the ground below, Cole's gaze focused on the city. An earthquake will do. The city would be in ruins. His heart and mind were in ruins. They'd taste his pain.

But Cole couldn't do that.

He was bad at making up his mind.

"This is why you're such a disappointment, Cole." He told himself. "You have to ask someone to make your choice. Have you ever once decided for yourself?"

The ground rumbled.

Cole was losing it.

"You eat too much, you close yourself off from your friends, you ignore them. You don't even seek help for your own problems. You're withered Cole, invaluable, unlikable, an unfinished work of art."

Clenching his fists tightly, Cole's heart beat fast.

"They don't like you. They hate you."

Rocks fell from the cliff.

Soon, the cliff will fall, he'll fall, and he'll take the entire city with him.

"They'll be shouting your name from the streets: Cole, the Master of Dead Flowers, once Nicholas, the Master of Past Childhood Failure is no longer with us! Fine by me."

The sun was rising.


Kai stood in front of Cole's bedroom door, hesitant to knock. He hadn't heard from him since the incident a couple of days ago, it was silent when he passed. The light was off. Slowly, Kai knocked.

"Cole? It's me, Kai, are you alright?" Kai knocked again. There was no answer. "Look, buddy, I'm not going to open your can of worms but you need to stop sulking around like it's nothing because clearly, it's something. Everyone's worried about you. I'm so-"

The vines on Cole's door grew, Kai heard it open and immediately took a step back. Since when did Cole control nature? Plants at that. The vines had thorns. Upon being careful to open the door, the ground shook violently, making Kai lose his grip and fall over.

"Woah, holy-" When he looked up, the Fire Master blinked. He'd expected the room to be colorful with flowers head to toe. Instead, he was greeted with a room full of dead plants. Shriveled leaves and flowers were scattered and dirt was everywhere, trees that were probably once beautiful had broken branches lying about. Thorns were covering Cole's bed protectively.

The ground shook again, lights started to fall, books fell off of shelves. The thorns tightened.

"Kai!" Someone shouted. That shout was Jay. They were calling him. But Kai ignored them.

Slowly getting up, Kai looked down at the ground, the dead flowers spelled out a phrase he had heard Cole say one time: A weed is but an unloved flower.

Kai could see cracks in the grounds.

Cole was going to replant himself back into the earth.