This is it: the final chapter. I'm not sure how this will turn out (I write the A/N before the actual chapter) so what you see is completely unplanned. Wish me luck :)

Coleman Hence was a quiet kid - always had been. His mother had at one point surmised that it was because he liked to hear the music of the world, let it fill him rather than fill the world with his own. As a result, he was uncannily talented in the art of reading others. Or, well, hearing them.

Standing there on that cliff beside the bridge, a fist full of the back of Lloyd's gi, he wished he couldn't hear.

He heard Garmadon's unrepentant, gloating glee, Wu's peace, and, above all, Lloyd's absolute heartbreak. That was the hardest thing Cole had ever listened to - a single, dissonant pitch that was strung high above the rest and quivered with tension. He heard the moment Lloyd moved to jump after his uncle (either to save the old man or join him, he realized it didn't matter to the Green Ninja - not anymore), and the moment his little brother's soul shattered - crystal fragments tinkling sadly in a bitter-sweet cascade.

Cole had heard a similar sound back at the docks, when Jay had claimed to hate the Green Ninja; Lloyd had missed a beat, piano keys clunking in a clumsy fumble that he never recovered from.

Hate had not been a song sung amongst them then, not even close. Anger, yes, with its harsh chords and minor melody mixed with fear - slow, icy tones almost too low to hear beneath the river of disappointment and the rapids of guilt. Jay didn't mean hate; Cole knew none of them could truly hate their brother.

Lloyd didn't know that though, and as a result those clunking keys had become more and more dissonant as they allowed his doubt to fester.

And Cole had said nothing. He had let everything march on to its own beat, not even trying to change the tempo or just a single, solitary pitch. The worst part was that he didn't even have a reason. Cole was upset that Lloyd had acted so irrationally, yes, but the Ninja of Earth had heard the song of the city and knew that it could and would recover; he wasn't even mad, just… silent.

He had been silent twice before, too.

The first time had been in eighth grade. Kai and Nya Miyazaki were Master Wu's newest recruits, and they were assimilating just fine. Both were strong, hard working individuals, and their sibling bond was the strongest Cole had ever seen (or heard). He knew they were foster kids; Wu had made sure to tell Zane, Jay and him so that they could respond appropriately. He didn't know how or why, but he didn't really need to, did he? The Black and Fire Ninjas were friends - one the strong, silent support, and the other the impulsive, protective shield. They got along just fine - but they were just friends. Acquaintances.

Strangers.

Three months in, and the Miyazakis changed. They were shifty, cautious, both high-strung and unwilling to be away from each other for too long. Nya was better at hiding it, but Kai seemed exceedingly sullen - nothing wrong, not yet.

Then Kai missed a weekend practice. Then another. And another, and another - Cole could hear the absolute despair in the other boy, but he had, as always, stayed silent. Nya was beside herself and finally told them all - while crying almost uncontrollably - why they had been so distant:

They had been put in separate foster homes.

Apparently, Kai's was not so great, and Nya suspected that he was being abused. Not that he'd tell her, of course, because it was his job to protect her, and he didn't 'want her to worry'. The idiot.

Immediately Zane and Jay offered to go check out the house, but Cole asked to go in alone. Kai was his friend, he said, and one boy was less suspicious than two. They agreed.

Cole found Kai much like Kai had found Lloyd: in a puddle of his own blood, but only some of it was self inflicted.

The Black Ninja found himself frozen, rooted to the spot like some unmoving mountain (he felt like a pebble). He did his best to patch up his friend, calling Nya and telling her that everything was fine even as he fought to staunch the bleeding and keep the unconscious boy alive. "He says not to worry; he just caught a cold 'r somethin'."

When Kai woke up he was despondent, eyes void of feeling or life, skin still pale and bruised. Cole tried to ask questions; Kai never even acknowledged his existence (he felt like a grain of sand), but Cole knew the answers all the same: they had beat him, done things to him and made him do things, and he had given up. They had taken the fight out of his very bones, so he decided that no one would care if that puddle of blood was just a little bit bigger.

Cole felt sick. He felt frightened. Most of all, above all else, he felt guilty. He had heard the signs, yet he had done nothing. Nothing. There had been ample opportunity, and he had taken none of it.

What a monster.

What a friend.

In the end Kai forgave him (as only a brother could), and they swore never to tell another soul.

Kai got better. Cole never left his side, and Kai learned to read all the nonverbal cues Cole learned to give when he was uncomfortable speaking. Finally, finally they understood what Wu had been saying all along - that they were family.

Right?

When Lloyd had shown up, Cole had been wary. Yes, here was the son of Lord Garmadon, the very monster that had, in a way, caused the death of his mother (he didn't like to think about it). Cole knew, though, that Lloyd was not his father - had heard it like the waves of the sea constant and unrelenting: I am not my father, I am not my father - I'm no monster - I am not my father.

Just like before, he'd stayed silent. Silent even as Lloyd's tune was crushed beneath his depression. Silent as he sent Kai to search the rooms he knew Lloyd was in, too afraid to face it first himself (he never told Kai that he'd sent the Red Ninja to face a trigger he wasn't ready for). Seeing Lloyd bathed in blood, remembering Kai had once been there, too, it made Cole finally realize that his silence was only making things worse. Kai was frozen, unable to move, and Cole suddenly knew that what he had just done was unforgivable (he would never forgive himself).

He shoved Kai out of the way and barked orders; he would not let his silence take another life (he couldn't bear to think of it). When he was done, he carried Lloyd to his room and cleaned the bathroom, always conscious of his friend's frozen seat above him (he was on his hands and knees scrubbing the tile, grovelling - silently - at the feet of the boy he had betrayed and in the blood of the boy he had failed, knowing he could never be forgiven).

The others came, and he told them the story (not all of it; some of it wasn't meant for them). Nya and Jay ran back to the warehouse to collect supplies, Master Wu ascended to his nephew's room, and Zane laid a heavy hand on Cole's shoulder before following (he couldn't meet the nindroid's eyes, because the nindroid knew his secret).

Kai was still in the bathroom. Cole made himself turn and lead the unresponsive teen back to the couch where Kai promptly fell asleep. Good; he needed it (Cole couldn't face him).

Lloyd turned out okay. He exploded when Kai accused him (Cole knew he spoke in fear), screaming and sobbing and releasing all the things Cole had already known (he felt smaller than a mote of dust). All that pain, all of that screeching-violin-string pain warbled up from numbness to join Kai's guilt and Cole's silence, almost collapsing back in on itself like an old star (not young; Lloyd had never been young) before Kai accepted - and forgave (and asked forgiveness, too).

Forgave just like he did again on the cliff, both of them shifting their grips from holding back to holding on as their little brother shattered into a million gazillion pieces, that crystalline cascade ringing in the Earth Ninja's ears like so many piercing arrows (accusing; condemning) even as Kai's guilt echoed like melancholy bells in the resulting quiet.

Cole could hear his heartbeat, steady and strong in his chest. He could hear the river below, his siblings around him, and he could hear the moment Lloyd's hurt turned to determined anger - a drum roll and suspended cymbal crashing, calling for action like the thunder of the surf at dawn. Garmadon, Cole knew, would pay for having hurt this man (not a boy; he had never been young), and Cole let him stand, knowing he would follow the son of Garmadon into battle (silently; to redeem himself; because it was right) without question.

In the end, Lloyd won. Not the Secret Ninja Force - no, just Lloyd. Lloyd rose above the hurt and the pain, above the abuse and the abandonment, and reached across the schism of bitter heartbreak and forgotten chords to take his father's hands and pull him back across. Lloyd won because he rose above and forgave a city and his father, and above all forgave himself (and asked forgiveness, too).

Now if only Cole could do the same.

So, you know how I said I write the A/N before I write the chapter? Yeah, so this is me looking back at what I've just written. This... may or may not have one more chapter. Or a sequel. Depends on what you guys think. I'm also kinda thinkin' about taking this surprise AU and writing more for it. Well, technically it's not AU yet. Just headcanon. As always, review! They always make me smile :)

Also, anyone else surprised that I made Cole a synesthete? I definitely was XD