Requested by the lovely Authorspurpose2laugh

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(takes place between season 2 and 3)

Ever since his talk with Cole, that beiatiful night on the destiny's bounty, Lloyd had a better feeling leading the team.

Yelling orders, splitting up the team when necessary, and all in one bringing more structure into a fight and their way to approach an enemy has now become second nature and everyone was content with the way Lloyd was doing it.

Still, it took it's toll on him.

Sleepless nights and even more restless days are the aftermath of planing out every single step, every single thing that could go wrong.

And will if Lloyd wouldn't plan ahead.

And still, nothing could have prepared Lloyd for what happened.

It was a peaceful time in the new Era of Ninjago City.

Skyscrapers were built, and technology had arrived.

Cyrus Borg was an rising star, when it came to those electrical devises.

And Sensei Wu? He was planning on opening a school to teach young kids the art of fighting like a ninja!

Everything was changing.

Except for their team. When it came to the ninja... some things would never change...

It was a slow sunday morning and the ninja were playing scrabble in the living room.

Jay was accusing Kai of cheating and Kai defended himself by saying something like - maybe he was bad at scrabble but at least he had more luck with the girls, making Jay blush.

Zane was reading in the instructions as if the rules of the game weren't obvious!

Meanwhile, Cole was just looking annoyed, sitting inbetween the two arguing ninja, rolling his eyes.

Lloyd almost chuckled at that sight.

Yeah, some things never changed.

Toady, even Lloyd was more at ease than usual.

They hadn't had a fight in almost two weeks now and Lloyd had gotten more sleep in two days than in those five months, since he was the leader, combined!

Now, he felt relaxed. Allowing himself to lay back.

Later, he would say he was reckless and dumb for not seeing what would happen. For not planning ahead. For not being ready.

Jay and Kai had just stopped their argument, coming to the conclusion that Jay WAS better at scrabble than Kai, and Kai will give him dating advises (IF YOU USE THEM ON MY SISTER I AM GOING TO BURN YOUR A-).

It was Zane's turn. He put away the instructions and...

.. The alarm went off.

Nya burst in: "Ninja, emergency at Ninjago's home for old people, Narringer Stree-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know where that is!", Lloyd interrupted as he jumped up.

"What happened?!?"

"Serpentine"

"Snakes? I thought they were long gone", Jay exclaimed.

"Constrictai. But as it seems a new tribe. They seem to have moved on from their old one to do their own thing now"

"Well, they should have known better than to mess with us then!", Kai exlaimed.

"Ninja-Goooo", they all yelled in unison as they ran to their vehicles.

Lloyd did feel good and had enough sleep the last couple of days.

But serpentine that had fallen out of favor with their old tribe could be more dangerous than what they usually had to deal with.

Reckless. After more damage, and probably do more harm.

That was what Lloyd had been thinking before the fight.

"And I was right", was what he thought after...

...

It was - even without knowing where the home for old people was - not hard for the ninja to find it.

Usually when you walk through Ninjago's streets you don't hear "Ey, those are my teeth!" , "Those young people nowadays..." , "No respect for the old ones!" , "Give me back my cane, kid!" every second.

Sounded funny, but once the ninja arrived, the scene was horrifying.

The serpentine had somehow managed to throw any beds, wheelchairs, cane's, on a huge pile on the front yard and are now trying to set it on fire.

Old and eldery people where standing, sitting, laying around, either unable to move because... well, they were old.

Or because they were scared - like the staff, standing on the front door, watching the constrictai robbing them of....

Yeah, what are they after? Lloyd thought.

It wasn't like those things were THAT important.

For the old people - okay yeah.

But what kind of attack was that, stealing beds from an home for old people?

Okay, whatever, focus on the now, think about the why later. Lloyd recalled his mantra, he had just come up with.

So, right now they are trying to set something on fire, so...

"Zane, I need you to freeze this pile! Don't let them set this fire! Kai, you go with him, if they suceed, redirect the flames! They are way too close to the people!", Lloyd yelled his instructions.

(A/N, Nya didn't know about her water powers until season 5 ;) this plays between 2 and 3.. just reminding you!)

The two mentioned ninja immeadiatly jumped into action.

"Jay, you come with me. We will fight off the Constrictai. Try to find out, who their leader is!", Lloyd went on.

"On it!", Jay ran off, immeadiatly zapping 3 snakes.

"Cole", Lloyd caught the earth ninja's attention, who had been patiently waiting for his assginment.

"Get the people to safety. Down the road is a small park. Get them there"

Cole, who had been stretching his muscles, froze, and turned to face Lloyd.

"W-What? Why don't I get to fight off constrictai?", he asked, the hint of an complaint in his voice, a brow raised.

Lloyd hesitated. Why did he complaint? Wasn't it obvious?

"You are the strong one, you can easily lift them, and...", Lloyd trailed off, doubtinf himself.

Wasn't his plan good enough?

Was there a flaw in it?

Wasn't HE good enou-

"Sure, yeah, makes sense", Cole finally, luckily, agreed, nodding at Lloyd.

Before he went off, he gave him a small grin.

Lloyd felt relief. But still, something felt wrong about... everything here.

But there was no time to think about that now.

He can replay the scene as often as he wanted to, think about why this happened, but only when it was over.

Lloyd gave himself another moment to breathe, standing on the street, watching the ninja from afar, doing what he had told them to do.

And it looked like his plan worked.

About a dozen constrictai already were laying on the ground, still twitching from the electric shock, Jay had given them.

The pile did caught on fire, but Kai was controlling it, sending blasts at the constrictai, focused to not let it spark over and set the building on fire.

Meanwhile Zane was beginninf to tear the pile apart and freeze the old people's belongings, while Cole, with the help of the staff, who finally stepped into action, carefully brought the people away, one after the other.

There was no denying - Lloyd felt a rush of pride flushing through his body.

This was HIS plan - and it worked fantastic.

HIS team - and they did what he told them, without doubting him.

He felt amazi -.

A hard blow to the back of his head sent Lloyd into unconsciousness.

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It felt like a second later, when the green ninja came to, but when he opened his eyes his surroundings were foreign to him.

He blinked several times, until his vision cleared, and then he realized - he was inside.

Chained to one of the beds in a room that usually belonged to some old human, spending his last years, months, days, minutes and seconds on this earth.

The room looked almost sterile - horribly white walls, white sheets, white everything.

At least there was a TV hanging on the opposite wall, but...

Why was he thinking about that now!

He was chained to a bed!!

"How long, you think it'll take the ninja to notice their leader is gone?"

"Any moment they will come save me!", Lloyd said, to the surprise of the two constrictai that had been talking to each other at his left side.

They looked down at Lloyd, but as the door to his right opened, the looked up.

Lloyd followed their gaze, as THE bigges constrictai walked in.

Their leader, obviously.

"Looks, like our ray of sunshine has risen from the dead", he opened the conversation, then introducing himself as Cido - the king.

Lloyd shifted in his chains, trying to hide his emotions - fear.

"What do you want? In case you haven't noticed, your plan is about to fail. The habitants and staff are save, the fire is under control and your army is almost defeated. It will be only a matter of minutes, until-"

"Until what?", Cido gave him the most horrible grin, sending Lloyd's nerves on edge.

"Until, your fire elemental decided that it was save to lose control of the fire, now, that no people are left in the building.

Except... well... you? Oh, what a horrible, horrible thing to think about. The ninja, responsible for their own leaders death. But... how were they able to know, that he was inside. Tragic... really tracig", he wiped an invisible tear from his cheek in a dramatic way, then started to laugh, gut wrenching.

Lloyd shivered. No. No.

That couldn't.... that wouldn't... THAT was their plan? But...

"How do you know this would work?", he demanded to know, sounding braver than he felt.

"Why? Because, haha, you are predictable, green ninja. Every fight, the same orders. Kai - try not to cause trouble. Jay - zap whatever is in your way. Zane - be smart, find a way to be helpful. Cole - flex your muscles. P.R.E.D.I.C.T.A.B.L.E. Oh, and of course Kai would never lose control of ANY fire, so we helped and set one in here", he spit out.

So, it was a trap. They outsmarted him.l

"Goodbye, Green Ninja", the contrictai waved, as they went out through the window, the only thing left from them was the bad taste Cido's words have left on Lloyd's tongue.

And the smoke, Lloyd began to smell.

How? Everything had been working so well. He thought he was really getting good at it.

Leading.

Lloyd shook his head. No. Focus on the right now, he again told himself, even though his mantra didn't work so well last time.

But now - there really was no time to think about anything else.

He rattled his chains - if only he had focused more before.

Shifted his body, tried to slip out of the chains - if only he hadn't stopped to congratulate himself, like an selfish idiot.

Tried to activate his powers, which was impossible due to the chains being out of vengestone - if only he had been training more, preparing more, searching for other techniques, different strenghts in his team and seeing the weakness in the strengths he was focusing on.

He went limb, panting. Outside sirens were heard. Inside, it was slowly getting hotter - if only he had been a better leader.

A true one.

Like Cole.

If only Cole was here, he thought.

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"I just don't understand how you lost control of that tinsy little flame!", Jay said.

"Bro, me neither! But whatever, there is no one inside, thanks to Cole!", Kai defended himself, arms crossed.

The contrictai had fled, once the building started to lit up, and the ninja gathered in a circle, watching the firemen approach, getting the hoses ready.

"Still, where do the old people live now?", Jay kept asking.

"Has anyone seen Lloyd?", nobody payed attention to Zane.

"Pf, that's not my problem. They are alive, they should thank me!"

"For letting their home get burned?", the ninja of lightning teased.

"By accident! If even... I don't remember letting a spark jump over..."

"'Cause you didn't", Cole, who had been unusually quiet the whole time, interrupted, suddenly looking alarmed.

"What do you mean, Brother?", Zane asked.

"That was their plan!", Cole was talking more to himself.

"They were... they wanted to... F*ck. LLOYD!!", Cole yelled as he sprinted off.

Running inside the burning building.

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Cole would have seen through it, Lloyd just knew it.

Cole would have only needed 5 minutes to fight the serpentine off, keeping the habitants and their home safe.

Cole would have find a way out of those chains.

Cole wouldn't have been ended up, being chained here, waiting to burn to his death.

Cole...

"Lloyd!!!!!"

Cole already were beginning to realize their true plan, when he questioned, Lloyd focusing on gettinf the old people away.

As if they were the target of the serpentine.

Cole...

"LLOYD!!!!!!"

Cole would have... Cole... He... Lloyds vision started to get blurry as he kept inhaling the smoke.

The fire must be burning in the whole house now, but it hasn't reached his room yet.

Not yet.

And just as Lloyd had closed his eyes, it burst through the door and -

"There you are!"

- talked to him? No, fires don't talk.

Lloyd looked up. It was Cole, panting, shivering, a trail of blood, dripping from a deep wound on his forehead. The skin also looked burned there.

"Cole, what are you doing here?", Lloyd yelled.

Did he just walk into a BURNING building just to look for him?!

"I could ask you the same thing. Doesn't look to comfortable", Cole blurted out, grinning, but his humorous way of trying to calm Lloyd down, only convinced him half.

Cole was in pain. And he was.. scared?

Yeah, obviously - they were in a BURNING F*cking Building!

And still, COLE was scared?

"Lets get you out of here", Cole added, his voice soft as he approached Lloyd, wiping a strand of hair off his face.

"It's vengestone", Lloyd coughed, through the smoke that got thicker within seconds.

Through the crack in the door, Lloy saw the flames making their way upstairs.

Cole close it.

Then he ripped the bed posts in half, leaving Lloyd still in chains, but at least not bound to the bed anymore.

"We can't get out through the door, the fire is already there", Lloyd mumbled, only half embarrassed as Cole picked him up.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock. We take the window"

"The w- window? Cole we are in the first floor that's at least... many feet!", Lloyd shifted in Cole's grip.

"Yeah, hold on tight", Cole said through gritted teeth, as he opened the window.

Then jumped outside.

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The landing was softer than expected, due to the fall ending in a slide, Cole built out of earth with his free hand.

The slide ended in the soft grass, where the immeadiatly got surrounded by the police, firemen, paramedic and... the ninja.

Lloyd almost started tearing up at the sight of Kai, Jay, and Zane running towards them.

The people around him asked a million questions but Lloyd only focused on his team.

Until one voice, or more what the voice said, caught his attention:

"We need an ambulance! This one needs to go to the hospital immeadiatly!"

Lloyd wondered what it was that made the paramedic sound so urgent.

Okay, he did inhale a lot of smoke, but all in one he was fine.

That was, when he looked to his right.

Where Cole was lying- eyes closed, awfully pale, his flesh wound still bleeding, and his gi was ripped in some places on his arms, torso, and legs.

Revealing burned skin.

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"I knew I didn't lose control!", Kai blurted out, after Lloyd finished, telling them the serpentine's true plan.

"That's what you are worrying about now? Lloyd could have died! And Cole still can!"

Lloyd flinched heavy under Jay's words, making the blue ninja immeadiatly feel sorry.

"I mean. No.. pff. It's Cole!", he added, but his voice didn't sound as confident.

They were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital.

Oh, how Lloyd hated this place.

"He saved my life", he mumbled now. "I wasn't good enough. I failed him, all of you... I'm the worst leader, ever...", he said through tears.

Then felt a cold hand on his back - Zane.

"Jay was overracting. The doctors literally said, most of the burns are only first degree. Some burned through his skin, but not deadly"

"A-And his face? The wound?? What even happened there?"

Zane shook his head. "We don't know. Cole was unharmed when he ran into the building. The firemen stopped us from following him, but sent some of their team to follow Cole. Once inside, they lost track of him, as the flames rose higher. But a few stitches and in a couple of weeks he will be good as new!"

That was when the doctor came in.

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Lloyd wiped away the remaining trails of tears, before he entered the room Cole was in.

Did he call the room in the home for old people sterile?

Pf, no comparison to THAT room, and once again Lloyd noticed how much he hated hospitals.

Cole was awake and greeted him with a grin.

"Hey, Greenie", he said, his voice a bit hoarse.

He looked horrible. Pale, bruised, burned.

But his eyes were glowing.

Lloyd rushed forward, closing Cole in a tight embrace.

"How could you do something so stupid?", he asked through a new wave of tears.

Cole gently grabbed Lloyd's shoulders and pulled away. Looking him into his eyes.

"You were in danger"

"And so you brought yourself in danger?!"

"I was scared"

"You ran into a burning building"

"You were inside"

"You could've died"

"You would have"

"You risked your life for me!"

"I was scared"

"Scared? You ran into a burning building!!"

"Scared of losing you"

"You could... wait what?"

"I was scared of losing you"

Lloyd sat down by the edge of the bed.

"That's... that's.. wow"

Cole smiled, then hissed and lifted his hand to touch his head.

Lloyd took it and held it tight. "Does it hurt badly?"

"Stings every now and than, but other than that it's fine", Cole admitted.

"What happened?"

"A glowing piece of woods fell from the ceiling and hit me there. I'm just glad my clothes or hair didn't set on fire!"

Lloyd shook his head. "Still you kept going"

"That's what friends do"

Friends.

Lloyd sobbed.

"What's wrong?", Cole asked worried, all pain forgotten.

"I failed you. I am a horrible leader"

"Bullshit!"

"No. I should've seen through their plan"

"I gotta admit, their plan was pretty good. Even I had trouble, seeing..."

"But you did! I only understood once they told me. When it was too late"

"You are young, Lloyd. And new to this. Don't put that much pressure on yourself. You are still growing, learning"

"If it wasn't for you, I would have died in there"

"Hey, the same would've happened to me. Your approach was pretty neat. Perfect plan. The structure, the distribution of tasks fitted to every ninja's strength"

"Still you complained", Lloyd couldn't help but chuckle, which sound made Cole's heart warm.

Then he hit Lloyd's shoulder. Soft. Weak. Damn, he really needed to rest.

"Hey! I mean, who wants to carry old people around. 'Uh, young man, watch out for my hip' , 'ah, I forgot my teeth in there, we need to go back' , 'Don't grab my shoulder that hard, it's new' , 'The youth! No respect...'", Cole imitated them, making a really good impression and Lloyd burst into laughter.

But after they laughed for a while, they got serious again.

"Thank you. For saving my life"

"You would've done the same"

"Still. Maybe next time, you should lead"

Cole shook his head. Then grabbed both of Lloyd's hands. "No, next time you got this, I'm sure. And if not, I am willing to run into a burning building again"

Lloyd smiled. "Pf, if that's what you are into...", he teased.

Cole put him in a headlock and ruffled his hear.

"Yeah, it's amazing. I think I'll never complain about the cold again!"

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I don't know what that is, or how I came up with it, but it is what it is, so deal with it haha. It's not that bad, I guess... Also, I think there are a million typos and grammar mistakes in there, but I won't revise a 3300 word OS now... sorry :) Hope you enjoyed still!
Sommerwindxx