Befriending the Criminal

The Past and the Present

"Oh, uh, right." A brief pause. "Yeah, I gotchu, Garm! Oh - no? Sorry… adios!"

There was another sound of an object hitting the surface of the table and then of feet shuffling around the kitchen. However, the moment Cole had decided to go for the soup, Jay walked out of the kitchen, looking doubtful and concerned.

Cole tensed when he saw the brunette, suddenly remembering the events of yesterday.

The explosion.

The man, Flintlock.

Lloyd, shot. And Jay nearly killed.

Then lastly, himself. After he was struck in the back of the head with Flintlock's gun, he forgot everything and allowed himself to fall out.

Cole stared at the soup, trying to process his thoughts. On the other hand, Jay hadn't even realized that Cole was wide awake, sitting with his whole body leaned towards the soup on the table.

When Jay was closer to the sofa, he looked up and fixed his eyes on Cole, raising his arms in front of his chest.

"Wah! Wh- what?" Jay relaxed and blinked, then rubbed his eyes, still staring at Cole with disbelief. But his shocked look slowly turned into a smile and he bounced on his toes gleefully. "You're… awake!"

"Yuh-You were asleep for so long, I thought you were dead. Or, like, you know… in a coma or something?" Jay scratched the back of his neck, laughing nervously.

"How long was I out?"

"Twelve ish… hours? Maybe a little longer? Technically you missed dinner yesterday, then breakfast today, but you're up now and you found the soup! Sooo…"

Cole stayed quiet and dipped his spoon into the soup.

A little worried, Jay slid onto the couch beside Cole and cracked a smile.

"Hey, um, yanno thanks for coming when you did yesterday. I probably wouldn't even be here right now if you hadn't showed up." Jay took a glance at Cole and frowned when it seemed like the other boy wasn't even paying attention.

Cole's brows came up as he stared at the soup and he swallowed, still not looking at Jay. "You're welcome, Bluebell." He said softly. "Also… how's Lloyd?" He asked, his voice a little higher than usual. Jay held back for a moment, wondering if Cole was alright. "Is he okay?"

Finally, he spoke, "He's… good. Chief Garmadon said he needs to rest in the hospital for a bit buuuuuuut yanno we can visit him tomorrow."

Cole silently nodded. He felt his stomach knot when he recalled yesterday's events. Whoever that Flintlock guy was, Cole knew for sure he had some relation to Kai and whatever was going on behind him. But thinking about it stressed him out, so in the meantime, he happily took the soup Jay prepared for him and just ate.

***

The next day, they did arrive at the hospital - pretty late in the afternoon, but Lloyd wasn't going anywhere, right?

The minute Cole stepped into the hospital though, Cole was stunned at how everything looked. Everything looked the same as he remembered.

Years later and the hospital hadn't even changed much. The same hospital that he was in about six years ago. In fact, it was just a little less than a week till it would've marked exactly six years since he had been back here. And the same exact day as his birthday.

Cole let out a deep breath and opened his eyes to see Jay was already way ahead of him, waiting by the wall for Cole to catch up. To his surprise, they weren't even that far away from Lloyd's room. The moment they found the correct door, Jay swooped in, an enormous grin on his face.