(A/N): Hey guys! SUMMER. Has been so good to be out of school. The last two weeks were a hellish fever pitch of getting stuff done. :')
I was also pretty thrilled for this month being pride month! I went to a nearby pride festival with a friend and I loved it. Enough about my summer, though; how's everyone else's summers been? And since S9 premiered ... thoughts? (No spoilers in the reviews, though, some might not be watching it yet.)
This is one of the fluffier chapters so far, if anyone's glad to hear it. Also crazy headcanon GALORE which is really just me indulging the heck out of my friends, as well as something people might have been waiting to see. :3 It's also rather short, so thoughts on whether they should be longer than this or not?
Might be a good time to say I don't own Ninjago or anything associated, just the fic. Never too safe.

Without further ado, then!

A faint but sudden burst of sound abruptly snapped Cole out of his thoughts.

He just managed not to jump clear to the ceiling. Heart rate shooting up, he stiffened to a more upright position, eyes darting around warily. For a few dizzying seconds, raw fear coursed through his limbs.

Then he caught wind of what was happening and had just enough presence of mind to groan at himself.

False alarm. They were not in danger, he told himself firmly, pulling back the hand that had subconsciously edged towards his scythe.

It was just Jay.

Blearily sitting up and rubbing one eye, the blue ninja grumbled that it was too cold to stay asleep.

"It's what you get for sleeping without a blanket," Cole replied, praying Jay wouldn't notice how weak he sounded right then.

"... Hey, you alright?"

Dang it.

"Yeah, just fine," he murmured shortly. "Just … you startled me."

"Oh. … Sorry."

Neither of them said anything for a couple seconds, until Cole idly patted the carpet next to him.

"Join me, why don't you?"

"Why would I do that?" Jay joked half-heartedly. "This is a perfectly comfortable patch of floor. You join me."

"I mean, the fire's so much closer to me," Cole shrugged. "But it's your loss."

A beat. Jay scooted over to him wordlessly, arms still wrapped around his knees. Cole frowned, considering for a moment, then reached for his pack and rummaged through it. Jay lifted his head up from his knees and watched with a faint curiosity.

"Here." Cole held out a grey scrap of cloth — another hoodie. "Since you're just absolutely freezing and all. I wouldn't be a very good friend if I let you sit here and turn into an icicle," he quipped.

Jay blinked at him, hesitantly regarding it for a moment.

"That thing is going to be way too big on me."

"Extra warmth, then," Cole snorted. "I'm trying to be nice here, shut up and take it."

"Okay, okay."

"Hey, so …you're the tech expert. How well do these things still work, exactly?"

Cole picked up very quickly that Jay was still … off, somehow. Trying to make conversation was difficult when it just tapered off into abnormal silence. Jay could dodge and act like there was nothing wrong all he wanted, but the ninja sitting next to him felt worlds different from the talkative, silly master of lightning he was used to. And even if he was being uncharacteristically secretive about what was eating at him, far be it from Cole to just leave someone in the dumps.

If Jay refused to talk about it, he could cheer him up some other way. At the very least, distract him from it. He had to try.

"Why … do you ask?" Jay raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just answer the question."

"Okay, okay. Obviously, wifi and signal are completely shot, but everything else …" He sighed. "Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I have no way of figuring out how well they still work. Kinda like dropping your phone and messing it up, except you don't know how."

"Great." Cole frowned as every single app he tried to open crashed, after a loading time that made sloths look speedy. Finally, though, the photo gallery decided to take pity on him and load.

He could work with that.

He tapped, then turned the screen to show Jay.

"Georgie?" Jay raised an eyebrow.

"Yep. I wonder whether Nya's remembering to feed her …"

"You doubt Nya? I'm disappointed." Jay blinked at him a moment longer before sighing dramatically.

"You like your pet goblin way too much."

"Hey, take that back. She is not a goblin!"

Jay raised an eyebrow.

"... Okay, fine. But she's a cute goblin. Besides, don't act like you don't like her."

"I do, but not the way you do. And to think, boulderbrain!" Jay shook his head. "You were so strict about us not having any pets before … you huge dork."

"You think it'd have been logical to have animals on an airborne pirate ship?"

"... Touché."

Sure, he'd been strict on the "no-pets" policy when they were on the Bounty. But now that they lived in Yang's temple … they'd all kind of gone to town with pets. Mostly because they could.

Kai had a lizard; Nya and Zane shared ownership of a fishtank, alongside the falcon. Lloyd, surprisingly, didn't jump at the opportunity to get a pet of his own (citing costs, even when they and Misako all offered to help pay for anything he wanted to get), but claimed some kinda joint ownership over every animal in the temple. Considering this meant pet care got delegated to Lloyd whenever anyone else couldn't do it, it suited the others just fine.

Cole, himself, had (much to the dismay of Jay and his new rat) taken in a hairless stray cat named Georgie. Why not? it wasn't like his skin or allergies particularly appreciated fur, anyway. And he'd come to adore the wrinkly kitty — enough that there was an entire folder entirely dedicated to photos of the ridiculous antics she got into.

He'd like to see anyone stay in a bad mood for long with those.

A while later, they were still scrolling through Cole's photo gallery, snickering and cooing over the pictures.

"That's from the Pop Rocks-Tabasco sauce incident—!"

"Hooooly fizzims, I didn't know Kai could breath fire until then."

"Right in the cat's face."

"Oh man, she avoided him for a week straight after. Just ran out of the room yowling when he walked in."

"Serves him right; Kai was really letting being Georgie's favorite get to his head."

"Oh man, and look at this one. Remember when you shocked her and she almost clawed your nose off?"

"It was an accident, come on …"

"Hey, if it's any consolation." Cole patted Jay's shoulder, snickering. "I thought the cat scratches complemented your face quite nicely. Should've kept them." He ducked away to avoid Jay taking a swipe at him.

As they both started to relax, the joking around quietened again, but this time, it didn't seem so tense and unhappy. When he reached the end of the pictures, Cole looked over and chuckled; Jay had fallen back asleep. What had he even taken watch for last night if he was so tired?

Cautiously, he tried to wiggle his way out from under him. No dice.

And now that Jay was back asleep, he didn't have much else to do to relieve his boredom. Which, considering that he had an awful lot to get his mind off of, was unfortunate.

And now he was sleepy, too. Of course now he was starting to feel the insufficient sleep kick in.

Reminding himself that he was the only one up, he tried to stay awake, but eventually he lost that fight.

Zane's eyes flickered open, flashing blue. His internal systems booted up again.

He'd set his power so that the instant he'd fully recharged, he'd be up again. Had anyone insisted, he would've gone back into his sleep mode to rest a little more and accumulate power reserves. But strangely enough, it was quiet.

Wait — not quite.

Looking around, he caught Cole and Jay on the floor, both wearing grey hoodies that neither had on before. Cole's head was hanging a little; Jay's head rested on his shoulder, and he appeared to be … trying to cuddle him.

Well. Jay had always had a habit of hugging things in his sleep …

Both were asleep sitting upright against the wall, and Zane couldn't help a smile. When they were all still reeling a little from what they'd been thrown into, it was a sweet moment.

One thing caught his attention, however. Coming closer, he carefully pulled Cole's phone out of his lap and set it back with the other phones, before pulling out a small blanket and spreading it out over the both of them. It was chilly, after all. Hopefully it was appreciated.

He glanced at the door: locked. So their safety wasn't completely compromised. All the same, it was best to play it safe. Surely, he could keep watch while everyone else caught up on their sleep a little longer. Quickly, he checked with PIXAL — he did have enough power to make it through the day.

And now that he thought about it, there were a few things he could discuss with her …

That was that, then. He quickly checked on the kerosene lamp, then settled in.

The night was the color of tar, and just as thick.

With a whoosh, a sword cut through the thick air, hitting its mark and digging itself into a large eye.

The ever-present growling grew lower and sharper, rasping harshly against his ears.

"Come on! We gotta move, now!" Kai lept back, glancing to the person backing away behind him. "Believe me, I know it's a shock, but you can mourn your powers later!"

"But where to go from here? Why can't we go in room?"

"Not safe! Why do you think I locked the door when I came out? They're all asleep in there; if it followed me inside …" Hastily, Kai ducked under an attack.

He was getting better at this. Remembering Jay's advice of attacking its head really helped; there were tons of sensitive eyes to stab at, perfect for a quick, devastating hit. And much quicker than trying to upset its balance by attacking its legs, which he'd tried before. But well … he remembered his arm, sore and screaming for rest now, and winced.

He was only even doing this much because he'd heard noise and decided, on an impulse, to investigate on his own. And who else did he find but Karlof, backing away from a quite vengeful-looking spirit!

From that point, it wasn't even a question as to what to do — distract it and make tracks.

"Fine! But you still didn't answer first question."

"Hold on, Karlof, I'm a little busy trying to save your butt!" Kai quickly shot his arm up, katana glinting silver in the pale moonlight as he used it to hack away at a misty, claw-tipped arm reaching him. When he miscalculated how far to move and ended up painfully slammed away, Karlof offered him a hand up and a dry look. Then, before Kai could even shout a protest, he'd tightened his gauntlets hard and gone in for a punch.

The attack made the spirit scream briefly — he winced; that couldn't be good for Karlof's ears up-close — and sent it hurtling back. The spirit didn't immediately recover, instead drawing back and screeching.

Now was their chance.

Kai allowed a whistle — while Karlof couldn't have lasted on his own in a fight against the spirit with no guaranteed safety to run back to, he definitely would've put up a hard fight. After all, powers or not, he was a devastating hitter. Kai still remembered the bruises he'd gotten before the Tournament.

"We go now?" Karlof yelled over the inhuman shrieks.

"Now! Uh … this way!" Kai took off, panting and achy. Karlof pulled ahead, but the pitch black of night combined with the assortment of objects and debris strewn across the floor didn't make for very good running, and he tripped.

"Come on, get back up!" Kai said urgently, looking over his shoulder. The spirit was going to catch up any moment now … oh, he knew it couldn't have been gone for good. "Unless you wanna become a tin salad, I suggest we get a move on."

"Actually, is medium-carbon-steel alloy —"

"I don't care!" he snapped, hurriedly grabbing Karlof's hand and heaving him up. "Just go!" He practically shoved Karlof down the stairs. Then he tore down them himself.