*Hey guys, sorry I can't update as much as I would like. Being in high school really takes away all the free time you could possibly own :p So I am sorry if I update kinda slow. On a positive note, there's snow where I'm at! Yes! Zane would be happy :) Also, thank you so so SO much for all of your feedback! Your feedback is what keeps me writing this story, and I'm really grateful for all of you ^-^ I know last chapter was a little heavy, so hopefully I'm able to lighten the mood a little! Enjoy!*
Zane woke up that morning at the same time as always. Six o'clock. He expected to feel fully awake and rested when he opened his eyes, waking to face the first full day without his father being alive. However, he felt tired. His eyes felt like they were stinging, irritated at him for crying so much the night before. The heaviness of grief still weighed greatly on his chest, making it feel like it hurt with each new breath that he took.
The prospect of him feeling tired for the first time, however, was not the reason why his heart skipped a beat in surprise as he woke up. No, it was the fact that someone else was in his bed. Someone of which he was intertwined with, limbs intersecting with each other, his arms around the person at his side. The person he had become so affiliated with in sleep was comfortably warm, like a radiant sun. It made him want to snuggle into said other person, and disappear in the warmth, trying to hide away from the cold world waiting for him. The grief and despair and loss… Yes, he would much rather just stay with this warm heater by his side…
However, this person had yet to be identified. As much as Zane liked being kept safe by this person, it wasn't at all safe, in any sense, to cuddle with a human, that had snuck into your bed in the middle of the night.
Slowly, quietly, as if to not wake the other person, he pulled away from them to look at their face. Dark skin, lidded thick eyelashes, and swept black hair; Cole.
As to why Cole was sleeping with him instead of sleeping in his own bed, he did not know. His main concern, at the moment, was to get out of the leader's grasp and escape for a little while. To find a quiet place to mourn before the morning began. Even though Zane loved his brothers very much, he often felt like he wanted to awaken earlier, so he could have a little bit more private time to himself. A time when he could be truly alone.
He no longer had his father to reprogram him, though. He would always wake up at six in the morning, for the rest of his life. He no longer had someone who could truly understand him. Who could understand how he worked, what he meant, who he was; he really was on his own now.
His eyes stung, but no tears spilled out onto his cheeks. He had cried all the tears he could the night before. There was nothing left for him to cry out. No more tears, for now, could be shed for his father. Just because he couldn't cry, though, didn't mean he didn't still feel immense grief.
Slowly, Zane tried to unglue himself from his brother, without waking him up. It was a hard task to accomplish, seeing as how their limbs were interlaced in a complicated puzzle of sorts.
He was almost free. All that was left was his foot, which was wrapped in Cole's legs. Trying very carefully, he wiggled and nudged his foot out of its predicament. He sighed in relief, as his foot came loose, and he was finally free.
"Good morning Zane."
Zane jumped in his laying position, as Cole said this in such a calm, awake voice. His eyes opened, the emerald eyes being revealed behind them.
"How long were you awake?" Zane whispered, before thinking of another thing to add, " And why are you in my bed?"
"Long enough to witness your struggle," Cole whispered back, smirking, trying to get a smile out of Zane. However, all the boy did was stare at his brother with dull, blue eyes, "And I'm in your bed because you were having a nightmare."
"A nightmare? I do not recall it." Zane said silently. It was odd, to forget something, considering as how his memory banks were always correct. To have his systems fail him on the day after his father's death… It almost felt fitting, as though without his father alive somewhere in the land of Ninjago, he would not function correctly.
Cole looked at him with a look of concern. Any emotion at all that Zane was feeling, Cole could not see it, due to the blank look in his eyes. It was unsettling, seeing someone he cared about so… Dead.
"How are you feeling?" Cole asked quietly, as Zane lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Zane closed his eyes as Cole asked this question, as if he had to think hard on how to answer.
"I'm not." Zane stated quietly, his voice as monotone as ever. Cole felt a small lump build in his throat at this answer. Zane was a robot, sure, but he felt things. Happiness, sadness, anger; It was if he was shutting down on himself, slowly turning off all the qualities that made Zane, Zane.
Zane opened his eyes, and looked away from the ceiling to Cole once more, who was looking at him with a concern that he only possessed when he was very, very worried. Zane tried to give him a reassuring smile, but all that came out was a grimace of discontent.
"Err, Zane… About last night," Cole began, and Zane immediately knew what he was going to mention, "When I walked in, were you about to-"
"Why are you still in my bed?"
Cole looked stunned, his wide emerald eyes staring into the dull blues. Zane never interrupted someone, unless it was severely important, due to his automatic manners. He was always very honest when it came to hard questions, like Cole had been about to ask. And without a single moment of hesitation, had Zane just… avoided a question by throwing a punch?
"E… Excuse me?" Cole stuttered, as Zane's stone-cold expression did not change.
"Why are you still in my bed?" He repeated.
"I… Uh, well, I guess I don't really know…" Cole answered, feeling taken aback. He knew Zane wasn't acting like his regular self, and he knew that the depression would be playing with his actions, but this was a whole new Zane, "I thought me being here was helping-"
"You are not. Please leave."
Zane didn't know what had gotten into him, possessing him with the need to dismiss his brother, who he knew was only trying to help. He couldn't talk about the night before though. He could not. The thoughts that had been running through his head, and still were, were things he could not talk about. Things too close, that hurt too much. It was better to pretend they weren't there. To talk about them would ruin him.
He knew this was some kind of mental tactic that humans used when they didn't want to talk about something. They loved to avoid things. He was, even though an artificial being, no better than humans when it came to flaws.
He watched Cole crawl out of his bed, a look of hurt and sadness on his face as he did so. He wanted to say sorry, but he didn't. He had no energy left to say anything else.
The room fell into a silence that was uncomfortable, as Cole retreated to his own bunk, which had turned cold over night. He looked one more time over at Zane, who had rolled away, so his back was facing Cole.
Zane was shutting down, shutting out anyone left that he cared about, and it seemed as though nothing would be able to stop it.
It had been a couple of hours since they had left their home, riding in the Garmadon family mini-van. The air conditioning was on full blast, seeing as how the day was a hot and muggy one. The trunk was full with suitcases, as if they were heading out to a long vacation. In a way, they were.
Misako was driving the grey vehicle, keeping her eyes on the road. Garmadon sat next to her in the passenger seat, snoring as he slept soundly. It almost seemed as though he was making up for all the years of sleepless nights that he had had, being an evil lord. Cole and Zane sat in the back seat, an uncomfortable silence surrounding them. Cole didn't know what to say to Zane; He didn't want to offend Zane like he had that morning. And Zane didn't know what to say either. He felt bad for snapping at Cole, who had only been trying to help.
The tension between the boys was noticeable, and the snoring of their ex enemy did not help with the awkward feeling that was in the air.
"So, boys," Misako said, clearing her throat and trying to pick up conversation, "How does it feel for the city of Ninjago to finally be at peace?"
There was absolute silence. No one responded. Misako looked in the rear-view mirror to see Zane shrug as he watched his golden watch click and tick, the only interaction he had given anyone in the car thus far.
Zane glanced at Cole quickly, to see if he was going to respond to the question. However, it seemed as though he physically could not speak. His cheeks were slightly tinged with green, and he looked very uncomfortable, hunched over himself, holding his stomach.
Zane's mouth formed a small "o", as he recalled the disaster that was Cole's tendency for car sickness. And it certainly wasn't helping, with Misako driving and all. Misako was a really nice woman, and all the ninja loved her like they would their own mother. But her driving wasn't the safest. She jerked around a lot, and drove as if she was very, very distracted. Not at all good for someone prone to getting sick in moving things.
"Are you okay?" Zane whispered to Cole, trying to not alert Misako that her driving was causing pain.
Cole looked up in surprise at Zane talking to him, looking into the blue eyes with hope. He felt a fluttery feeling in his stomach as Zane talked to him again, as if there was some new hope for the two of them. The fluttery feeling could have also very well have been from the nausea he was experiencing.
"Honestly? No." Cole mumbled, as another wave of nausea rolled in, making him grab his stomach again. Zane smirked a little, tiny bit, something that no one saw.
It was kind of nice to smile, even for a tiny second. The only smile Zane had had since the death of his father.
However, that smile quickly disappeared as a sudden, loud snore came from the man in the passenger seat. It surprised Misako, who accidentally swerved, making a passing car honk at the van. Cole moaned in agony at the swerve, feeling every jerk and pull of the reckless driving.
The swerve also woke up Garmadon, whose eyes snapped open in surprise.
"Are… Are we there yet?" He stuttered, before yawning.
"Does it look like we're there yet?" Misako said, gesturing to the sprawling highway that they were driving on, taking a hand off the wheel to do so.
"No, not really." Garmadon responded, snorting at the sarcasm that they both liked to bicker with.
Garmadon then looked back at the two boys in the back. Zane was casually looking at his golden watch. And as for the other, it seemed like Cole had disappeared behind Garmadon's seat, curled out of sight
"Cole? Are you okay?" Garmadon asked, rising out of his seat and leaning over his chair, trying to find the curled-up Cole. Misako swerved again,distracted by the movement in her peripheral vision. Cole exclaimed in agony once at more at the jerk of the car, his gut flipping around in a mocking dance.
"I hate you!" Cole bellowed, squeezing his stomach tighter.
Garmadon looked taken aback, scowling a little and leaning back in disgust.
"Excuse me?" The man scoffed.
Zane sighed slightly, before explaining to Garmadon that Cole did not hate him, but instead was expressing hatred of his stomach.
"He gets quite car sick." Zane pointed out, as Cole cried out a painful moan in example. He looked greener than he had a couple of minutes prior.
"Well, why didn't you say so! Why does no one ever tell me anything around here!" Misako exclaimed, angered that no one had informed her of a sick child in the back seat of her car, "There's a rest stop right up here, we can relax there. I'm glad you said something, Zane."
"Always here to help." Zane replied, as Cole moaned again. Zane reached over, and patted the anguished man's back in sympathy. There was a couple seconds of peace, a disturbing silence void of Cole's sickened moans. That was, until a gagging noise emitted from Cole, who was desperately trying not to puke in the Garmadon family van.
"Oh dear." Zane commented.
"STEP ON IT!" Garmadon screamed, peeling his back off of his seat, trying to distance himself as far as he could from the person behind him. He didn't get very far, however, seeing as how he was buckled into his seat.
"N-" Cole was about to protest, knowing that speed would not bode well for his stomach. However, it was too late, as Misako hit the accelerator, shooting them faster towards the rest area. Cole moaned louder, the waves of sickness becoming more and more unbearable.
"This is illegal! We are breaking the law!" Zane exclaimed, holding onto his seat frantically as they hurdled down the highway.
"It's an emergency!" Misako yelled over the screaming grown man next to her and the loud moans of the black haired teen, as she tried to verify her illegal actions.
As soon as they arrived at the rest area, Cole threw open his door and rocketed towards the men's room. Zane followed behind his leader for moral support. Upon arriving into the restroom, he dove for the nearest empty stall, hunched over the toilet in a matter of seconds, getting rid of his sick.
Zane dashed over and held back any black hairs that were long enough to get in the way, as Cole retched into the toilet. He had done this many of times before, being the designated "Cole Helper" when it came to the leader getting sick on trips. Because of his experience, he knew exactly what to do.
"Thanks." Cole managed, before retching once more, his green face disappearing from view. In a few minutes, Cole was done, flushing the sick and wiping the sweat off his brow.
"Here." Zane said, handing a paper towel to Cole, who gladly took it to wipe his mouth.
"I thought I was supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around." Cole joked, as he threw away the used paper towel.
"Relationships only work when both people are helping each other." Zane pointed out. Cole's head cold caught up to him as Zane said this, the word "relationship" making him feel flushed. This was odd, considering how head colds weren't activated when one heard a simple word. He watched as the nindroid traveled to the sink, washing his hands of any germs he may have contracted. Cole cleared his throat, knowing this was the time to talk about the events that morning, now that they were alone.
"Look, Zane, I'm sorry for this morning… I should have been more sensitive. Of course you were going to react that way to something so personal, I should have thought that through before saying what I said." Cole said, joining the boy to wash his hands. Zane frowned slightly, noticing that Cole blamed himself for the stand-off they had had.
"I am sorry too Cole… It was rude of me to push you away like that. You didn't mean any harm by it, you were only trying to help." Zane said, averting his eyes away from Cole as he turned the sink off.
"It was wrong for me to pry." Cole said, frowning at Zane's subtle dismissal
"It was wrong for me-" Zane began.
"We both did something we aren't proud of," Cole laughed, "Let's just forget about it, alright? Start again?"
Zane nodded, still feeling bad for hurting Cole's feelings, and brought Cole into a frail hug.
Cole's head cold flashed intensely, as his face suddenly became extremely hot, as if he was having a flash fever. Yes, the hug felt light and frail, as if Zane was broken and weak. But he still felt light headed at the contact with Zane, being close enough to smell the minty aftershave scent that Zane naturally radiated. Zane's cold hands against his back felt somewhat refreshing, easing the heat he was suddenly feeling. Cole tried to ignore it, but his cold was becoming more and more troublesome, harder to ignore.
"Ready to go back?" Zane asked, stepping away from the hug, a solemn look placed on his features. He looked so sad, so dead, the death of his father crushing him in a way Cole never knew the nindroid could be crushed.
"Yeah. Let's go." Cole said, as they both walked back to the car that was the death vehicle. However, Garmadon volunteered to drive the rest of the way, and so the drive was smooth from there, on. Within an hour, the boys were sleeping in the back seat, as the quiet, calm ride headed towards their new home, and hopefully healing as well.