A/N: I love Cole and Vania so much, despite it sadly not being as popular and Llorumi and Jaya or whatever. And I thought this type of story might be perfect for them. It might go up until thirty chapters. I hope you'all who love these two enjoy! Takes place before Dragons Rising. The thing is...is this an AU in which Cole dies? Or will he come back to life? You'll find out in late chapters!! Honestly...this is by far the story i've been most excited to write. Enjoy!

3:45 A.M, 15 Years Ago...

"Moooooom! Daaaaaaaaad!"

Groaning, Lou and Lilly sat on their bed at their son's screams.

"Those nightmares again." Groaned Lou as he checked the watch.

Lilly put a her hand on top of his. "I've tried everything to comfort him, L."

His wife nodded. "I know, I know. But," she stopped to cough, her sickness wasn't getting any better. "he's a kid Lou, you know how they are, and these things go away with time."

Lou nodded, understanding. Cole was just a kid, he should be giving him love now, and teach him about maturity later. He then sighed and got out of bed. "I got it..."

Lilly smiled gratefully at her husband. "Thanks, Love."

Cole smiled in relief as his dad came into the room, turned on the light, and sat in the other end of his bed.

Lou stood silent for a moment, looking at the scratch in his son's shoulder which Cole had gotten two days ago in a fight at school. Him and Cole weren't as close as he was with Lilly, and Lou sadly knew his five-year-old son prefered his mother than him, but that didn't mean Lou would never not love him.

"Was it...the ship again?"

Cole nodded and Lou sighed. For a straight week in a roll now, his son dreamed of him and his parents in a trip in a ship, and then, a huge storm of some sort making them all sink into the dark, cold water...

"Nothing's gonna happen to us Cole, we aren't going to die."

His son nodded in a hesitating way before both him and Lou reached out to hug each other.

Lou then tugged him in bed, kissed him in the forehead, and went out. "Good night, Cole."

He then reached the door knob to close the doo-

"...Dad?"

"Yeah, son?"

Cole shifted uneasily, as if something was keeping him awake. Well, because something was.

"Why...why do we all have to die? Why can't we just live forever?"

The question stung Lou exactly like a bee would. How could he answer that? How could he tell a kid what death was and that they would never be coming back afterwards? Death and What-Ifs were the last thing he wanted to think of right now, especially with how his wife was.

He leaned in the door, then knew what to do. "Well, you know clocks, right? Those things that are always in the walls?"

Cole nodded.

"Well...we all have those. And each one of ours tiks and toks all the time that eventually, it will grow tired and stop working, meaning our time is up." He stopped for a moment before continuing,"Other times...they will just stop working some might break or malfunction." There was no way in heck he would tell a five-year-old that you could also die painfully before even growing old, the thing he was saying wasn't even accurate.

Cole nodded slowly. Like the elementary kid he was trying to keep up with a teacher's difficult explanation.

To Lou's happiness and relief, his son snuggled into the bed and closed his eyes.

Lou watched him smiling, his son was sure something.

"Good night son, I love you."

He closed the door.

8:27 A.M, Now

"Hey, over here!" Jay screamed, bouncing up and down and streching his arms.

Lloyd grinned and passed the soccer ball into Jay's direct-Kai got it instead.

"Ha! Nice try, but it'll take a lot more than that to defeat the king of champs here."

Lloyd smirked. "Name one time you beat us at soccer before."

Kai grinned back. "Oh I would, but then that would mean a whole day in naming."

They all laughed.

It was a sunny spring day, not too hot or too cold to relax and play a game or two outside the Monastery.

"Are all of you going to keep bragging or stop me from winning?" Nya said from the other net in the field.

"Nooooooooooo!" Lloyd and Jay immediately rushed to stop her even though it was as useless as trying to stop the sun from ever coming up again.

From his book, Cole laughed at the sight. It's been five months since they've defeated the Overlord and successfully rebuild the Monastery. Cole had then went on a farming village with his father (LONG story) and also got his powers back, but now, everything seemed as calm as a autumn morning.

"Nice day, huh?" Wu said, the wise master sat in the other chair from Cole's, who nodded.

"Say, Cole...don't you feel like joining? You haven't really had fun in a while." Wu then chuckled. "They used to tell me to join in fun any chance I get, and boy do I regret not joining"

The first ninja he met shook his head. "I'm fine where I am. I'm also a bit too lazy to play."

Wu then smiled. "How do you feel about turning twenty next week?"

Cole found his shoulders doing a lazy shrug. "Honestly, I thought I would be more excited to be an adult and not a teen, but now...it feels kind of bleak."

Wu couldn't help but give a concerned expression for the Earth Ninja, then continued with a teasing tone. "Are you excited for the cake?"

Cole finally grinned at the thought of his birthday. "Yeah! Lou's coming and bringing my favorite: Sand Cake." Ever since the whole Cole going-to-the-farming-village-incident, he and his father had been in good terms, much to everyone's relief.

He had also invited Vania to come to his birthday here in the monastery like she did when they met, the Earth Ninja looked at the clouds, it reminded him of that certain someone he hasn't talked to in a while...

"Hey!"

Cole then turned to see Lloyd, Kai, Jay, and Nya standing around the soccer ball, who might as well have been wood under a fire.

Lloyd glared at Kai. "You promised you wouldn't burn our fun equipment, but by the obvious looks of it, you're proving me wrong."

Kai shrugged, the type in which a kindergardener would upon hearing from the teacher there was no homework turned in. "We'll just get money and buy another one."

Jay scratched his head. "Hey, now that I think of it, how do we get the money to travel and rebuild this place?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Let's not worry about that, what are we in? A cartoon?" He said carelessly.

"I think we should start thinking about our existence." Jay said, looking at his claw hands.

They were all cut off short as Zane appeared from inside. "Landslide! We have to stop it before it reaches Ninjago to destroy a single building."

The ninjas smirked at each other, and looked at Wu, who nodded.

"Ninja-GOOOOOOO!!!!!"

8:35 A.M

"Cole? Hellooooo."

Cole looked ahead and found out they were in the mountains of Ninjago, slight dust could be seen from the top.

"You've been looking at the sky for a while now. It's not like we're in Syspocalypstar where it's always with shiny, colorful stars."

Jay smirked. "He must be thinking of a special someone."

"Or a Shintarian." Kai added with a smirk.

Cole rolled his eyes, but surprisingly he could feel the sides of his face turning red and warm. Okay, maybe he did think of and admire the young Queen more than he should, but he always wanted to stay with his brothers, he wanted nothing to change, and if by some sort of miracle Vania love-liked him back...would that mean they would all seperate?

The thought made his stomach feel like an empty vacuum that was on.

"Are you all going to talk, or help?" Lloyd said, who was now almost on top of the mountain. It was very hard to imagen that once, that annoying boy that took Lloyd's name grew up to be the most mature of the group.

Kai laughed as they all catched up. "Chill, is not like someone's gonna die."

The ninjas now grew quiet as their feet started to shake.

"It's starting." Confirmed Zane.

He was right.

Boulders and rocks of all sizes were coming down at them from all over the mountain.

"Split up!" Lloyd said, and the ninjas obeyed.

It was easy for Cole, being the Earth Master, so he decided to stretch a bit first before going to work. When he did, he took a deep breath...

...and SMASHED into the ground.

That calmed everything around him down.

At times like this, he wondered if his mother, Lilly, could do such things, but Vangelis' words still haunted his mind like a person everyone but you liked so you still had to see him like it or not.

You're not half the warrior your mother was!

Cole shook his head, ignoring the thought that pierced him like knives and looked at Jay's direction. The guy was, of course, talking and having a blast.

"I could have gotten it too!" He said, smirking.

Nya just rolled her eyes and laughed. "Sure you could."

Jay then turned to his best friend grinning. "Hey, Cole! Tell her i'm-WATCH OUT!!" Never had anyone seen an expression turn from joy, to horror so fast.

Time froze.

Before Cole could think or even move a step, an arm, a muscle, an inch, a huge weight bigger than him hit the Earth Ninja hard an painfully.

Cole's last sense was his entire body growing tired by the overwhelming weight...

...and like any tired thing, it fell asleep.

Dong...Dong...Dong...