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English
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Part 3 of The Master of Fire and the Cold Don’t Mix Well
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Ninjago fanfic
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Published:
2021-02-12
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1,650
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1/1
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Extinguish

Summary:

Kai had always been lying when he said that he was afraid of water—there’s a different reason that he avoids it, one he prefers to keep to himself. His little secret has never been a problem before, so he’s never had to share—but when a confrontation with a group of rogue serpentine takes place on a cliffside next to the ocean, Kai finds himself in trouble.
Masters of Fire don’t last long in the water.

Notes:

So this doesn’t *exactly* fit in with this series, but it’s a similar concept so I decided to include it. It’s also not the best thing I’ve ever written, but meh.

Apologies for any typos.

Enjoy!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Kai slips.

He’s falling. Time slows as terror grips him, because even though he can’t see where he’s falling to—he’s facing the sky—he still knows. Because how could he forget? He’d been trying so hard to stay away from the edge.

He hits the water.

His gi is soaked through in an instant, the material becoming heavy. Kai forces himself to wait until he’s stopped sinking, until he can tell which way is up, then kicks to the surface. 

Kai breaks through and has to scrabble to get his sopping mask out of his face before he can gasp for air. He glances up, confirming that he’s still near the cliff as he starts treading water—contrary to popular belief, he can swim.

Just not for very long.

The water is already leeching away his body heat, creating a sort of tingling sensation across his entire body. That and the general feeling of wet overwhelms any cold he should be feeling, which is mildly disorienting. 

Kai scans the line of cliffs, searching for some way up—or even just some sort of ledge to rest on. 

There isn’t one, and with the next few strokes Kai’s hands and feet start going numb.

Don’t panic, Kai instructs himself. He can’t afford to panic, not now. 

It’s not exactly easy not to, though.

He starts swimming towards the cliffs, using basic strokes—but the numbness is creeping up his limbs, radiating through his chest. His motions become sloppier and sloppier until they’re entirely ineffective, and he has to pull himself back into treading water, still too far away from the cliffs.

It doesn't work very well.

The first time Kai’s head slips under the water takes him by surprise. He sputters as he comes back up, coughing up the water he’d choked on—which only makes it harder to focus on staying afloat.

He slips back under again. This time it lasts longer than just a bob, his body held suspended underneath the surface. Kai tries to kick his way back up but he isn’t sure if it’s working, he can barely feel any of his body anymore—

He breaks the surface, but he only has time to suck in a lungful of air before he slips back under again.

There’s no way for him to get back up this time.

Then there’s a splash, the sound low and concussive. Kai can’t bring himself to care what it is, because his lungs are on fire and it’s the only thing he can feel; it’s enveloping him—

It’s only when his head breaks the surface again that Kai realizes that someone has grabbed him, pulling him up. They’ve got their arms looped around his chest from behind, and when Kai’s vision stops spinning enough for him to look down at them he finds that they’re covered in black cloth.

Cole?

“Kai, you’ve got to work with me,” his savior grunts—yeah, it’s Cole. It takes Kai a moment to understand what he means, and Kai internally winces when he does—currently, Kai’s dead weight, not doing anything to help them stay up. The problem is that he can’t feel anything, so he can’t exactly change that. 

Kai tries to express as much to Cole, but all that comes out is a pained groan.

Cole swears under his breath, then drags Kai through the water to the cliffs. Kai dimly wonders how Cole is planning to get them up—and then Cole pulls them out of the water and starts scaling the cliff, using one arm to pin Kai to his chest. That’s when Kai remembers two things—one, that Cole can pick up a car, and two, that Cole used to scale mountains for fun. The fact that he’s the Master of Earth probably doesn’t hurt, either.

All Kai can do, though, is be immensely grateful as Cole hauls him back on top of the cliff, rolling them away from the side.

There’s multiple shouts of “Kai!” and then his siblings are crouching around him, their faces full of concern. 

Kai tries to respond, but he’s sabotaged by his teeth starting to chatter—actually, his whole body is shivering, forcing enough feeling back through him for him to realize that he’s freezing.

“Kai?” Nya asks in concern.

Lloyd looks to Cole. “I thought the water was warm around here?”

“It is,” Cole replies, sounding mildly confused.

“Kai’s body temperature has dropped by several degrees,” Zane reports.

Gee, I wonder why, Kai thinks, squeezing his eyes shut. His wet gi is clinging to his skin, drawing out even more body heat—he’s starting to go numb again, the shivering slowing.

“And it’s still falling,” Zane adds, sounding alarmed.

There’s a moment of confused silence.

Abruptly, Jay swears. “Nya, you need to pull the water out of his gi, now.”

Nya makes a startled noise, then Kai’s gi is drying as the water vanishes. Kai breathes a sigh of relief as warm air brushes against his skin.

Someone helps Kai into a sitting position, letting him lean against their chest—Lloyd, Kai thinks. Kai’s shivering again, but this time it’s actually helping him warm up.

“Uh, what just happened?” Cole asks.

“I’d like to know that too,” Lloyd chimes in.

“Jay?” Nya asks.

Jay sighs. “He’s the Master of Fire , guys. He’s not going to do well in water.” Then he grumbles under his breath, “I don’t know how we’ve missed that.”

“‘S cold,” Kai forces out between chattering teeth.

“What about warm water?” Lloyd asks.

Kai jerkily shakes his head. “Cold.” The shivers are starting to slow, but this time it’s because he’s finally getting warm again.

“Any water?” Nya asks.

Kai takes a deep breath. “If—if it’s really hot, it’s manageable for a while.”

There’s a moment of silence, then Cole exclaims, “So that’s why you use all the hot water in your showers!”

Kai turns to glare at him. “I don’t use all of it.”

“You just use most of it,” Jay counters. “But—that’s understandable, if it’s all you can tolerate.”

“Maybe we should get another water heater,” Lloyd suggests.

“Kai,” Zane says quietly. Kai looks at him—his nindroid brother looks solemn, frowning slightly. “Why didn’t you tell us about this earlier?”

“And why didn’t I know about this?” Nya asks. Kai doesn’t need to look at her to know what expression she’s wearing—she’s hurt, hurt that Kai kept this from her.

Kai sighs. He pushes himself to sit upright, his gaze flickering across each of his siblings—they’re all watching him, waiting for an answer, their expressions ranging from hurt to concerned to confused.

“As long as I stay away from water, it’s not a problem,” Kai begrudgingly says. “It’s never been a problem before—and,” he adds when his siblings open their mouths to counter him, “I didn’t exactly want it to be common knowledge—imagine if our enemies found out.”

Jay and Cole both wince.

Kai looks away, resolutely staring at the rocky ground next to him. It’s speckled with patches of tiny pebbles, which had probably been what he’d slipped on.

Lloyd sighs. “Kai, you still should have told at least one of us. Zane, at the very least.”

I know, Kai answers silently. But he hadn’t needed to before now, so he hadn’t.

There’s a sharp hsssss, and everyone twists. Kai realizes with a start that the group of rogue serpentine that they’d been fighting earlier are all trussed to one of the trees that stands farther back from the cliff. Most of them are unconscious, but one is awake and very pointedly glaring at them.

Jay rolls his eyes. “We should probably deal with these guys.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd agrees, standing. He looks back down at Kai, though. “We’re not done talking about this.”

Kai sighs. Of course they aren’t.

Kai climbs to his feet himself, which he’s able to do without too much trouble—it’s a hot day, and he’s only slightly chilly by now. He takes a moment to stretch his arms, working out any residual stiffness.

The others have mostly gone past him, but before Kai can follow a hand on his shoulder stops him. Kai turns, confused—it’s Zane, his expression still as troubled as before.

“Why did you lie?” Zane asks softly.

Kai frowns. “What? I didn’t—”

“Before,” Zane interrupts. “You told us that you were afraid of water, not that it was dangerous for you. And don’t tell me that it’s because you’re embarrassed, because the others teased you much more for your supposed “fear” than they would have about the truth.”

Kai shifts uncomfortably, considering. No, he wasn’t afraid of water—severely inconvenienced by it, yes, but he wasn’t really ever afraid unless he was actually in it—and actively dying.

Eventually, he admits, “It’s just—it’s so stupid. I’m supposed to be one of the strongest warriors in the world, but I can be crippled by something that literally everyone has access to. It was . . . it was just better if no one knew—the less people who know, the less chance it has of getting out, or . . . whatever.”

Zane blinked, his expression shifting to include understanding. “Is it really that bad?”

“Remember how Jay accidentally spilled ice water on me last week?” Kai asks, his mouth sour.

Zane nods.

Kai takes a deep breath. “I almost blacked out.”

Zane sucks in a sharp breath. “Kai . . .”

Kai let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, the colder the water, the worse it is.”

“Kai, if we’d been fighting near the edge of one of the colder oceans . . .” Zane trails off.

Kai looks away.

“You should have told us,” Zane says.

A pause.

“I know.”

“Zane! Kai!” Jay calls, his voice strained. “We could use a little help!”

“Coming,” Zane calls. He studies Kai for a long moment, then jogs past him.

Kai sighs, turning to follow.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :)

If you have any comments/questions about how Kai’s dynamic with water works in my mind (or about anything else), I’d love to hear it :)