#haven’t messed with atwwddft in a WHILE and it’s not coming back just yet but I had the idea for a lil snippet and thought I’d put it out

[nerdyenby]

An excerpt of something that may or may not be expanded upon in future chapters of All the Ways:

“Fuck,” Lloyd hisses. Kai’s head whips around toward the younger at lightning speed at the pained sound. The kid has his hand shoved in the collar of his shirt, fiddling with his shoulder with his eyebrows furrowed in frustration. The ninja and a handful of their closer friends still linger around the portal to/from Prime Empire, but it seems like no one else heard their soft huffs.

Heading towards his brother, Kai’s voice comes out worryingly soft. “What’s wrong?”

Lloyd doesn’t make eye contact, still fiddling with their upper arm — where Kai belatedly realizes he prosthesis attaches — as he sighs. “Arm didn’t like being turned into code and back, apparently.” They’re still blindly attempting some sort of repair job through the sleeve when sparks both green and white cascade down the limb. Kai hates seeing his little brother in pain, he hates not being able to stop it possibly even more.

“Can I help?” He asks uselessly, his voice almost desperate.

Lloyd groans in defeat before grabbing tightly and twisting in a motion Kai recognizes as him taking off the prosthesis. “Get Nya?” They say, finally meeting Kai’s gaze.

Kai freezes. Lloyd is hurting and there’s nothing he can do to fix it, just like always. Just like how useless he was in Prime Empire, in the Never Realm, against Aspheera, when he was separated from his siblings, trapped in another dimension with no way to contact them. Try as he might, Kai has never been and never will be enough to keep his family safe.

“Yeah.” He eventually responds, turning and begging his legs to carry him far enough to get someone actually able to help Lloyd.