#i admit being confused that he ended on nya

[kassiedoodles-xo]

The Forces Of Destiny — Part V:

"Beyond the Mirrors Sorrow"

— a fanmade ninjago season —

Word Count: 3489

Warnings: blood, implied death, implied war/battle, heavy self doubt

“I’m sorry, what? Memory? So we’re stuck in some sort of creepy mind maze?” Jay's usual was replaced with unease as he stammered.

“The passage on the wall. That's what it meant, didn't it.” Morro added, stepping closer to Yuki.

The girl sighed, turning fully away from the window, now pacing back and forth in what seemed to be her bedroom. “We were sucked into my spell book.” she raised her eyes, seeing how the ninja looked at her for an escape plan “i’m sorry. I've got nothing.” she lowered her gaze.

“ We’ve gotta get out of here, what if we try to get back into the Archives?” Nya suggested.

“Maybe, they are a part of my memories now.” Yuki answered, heading for the door, her friends following suit.

Leading the way, Yuki’s hand steadily reached for the handle, yet her heart pounded in her chest as anticipation filled the air. With a deep breath, she opened her bedroom door, the intricate embellished door swinging open. They walked through the threshold, freezing in their places when they saw the room in front of them.

They were back in Yuki’s bedroom.

Confusion washed over everyone as they deadpanned, staring at the disheartening sight that was Yuki’s room.

Breathe, just breathe. Don't let them see you panic.

No matter how many times they walked through the door, they alway ended up back in the bedroom, as if the memory of the palace kept leading them back. Not allowing them to leave.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows in confusion “How the hell are we still in the bedroom!?”

“This is seriously fucked up. How are we supposed to get out of the spell book if we can’t even break out of your bedroom?” Jay ran his hand through his hair, his unease growing.

“Come on Yuki, think. You have to remember something from your training.” Morro urged, desperation uncharacteristically starting to creep up in his eyes.

“I’m sorry” Yuki sighed in defeat “I really don't remember anything about this.” Her shoulders slumped, she looked away from the group, unable to face them after admitting her failure.

Shit, shit, shit.

Useless, useless, useless.

The ninja paced back and forth, trying to ignore the restlessness that echoed in their footsteps, the realisation of their fruitless attempts weighing heavy on their shoulders. The familiarity and comfort of Yuki’s bedroom now fading, being replaced with a cold prison of frustration.

Yuki searched every book in her bookshelf for answers, every magical artefact, every secret entrance, with no avail. Every answer would lead back to her bedroom.

Lloyd ran his hand through his hair, deep in thought “there has to be something we’re missing.” he muttered, pacing the room.

He looked up, his eyes settling upon the broken vanity mirror in the corner of the room. His eyes narrowed “Has that,” he paused , a moment of uncertainty stopping him. “Has that mirror been broken the entire time?” he questioned, pointing to the mirror in question.

Yuki looked up from her place on her luxurious bed, the look of resignation in her eyes now replaced with intrigue. The two exchanged a glance before approaching the mirror, the strangely large shards of glass glinting in the sunlight that shone in through the window.

Lloyd picked up one of the pieces, carefully examining the edges as Yuki observed, suddenly noticing something peculiar. They looked directly into the glass, yet no reflection stared back again; instead they saw a flicker of an image, like an old tv with a bad signal.

“What…What is that?” Lloyd breathed, squinting his eyes to see better.

Zane approached, leaning closer to study the image intently “These aren’t just any images” he said slowly, realisation dawned on him as he examined the events he saw in the glass. “Wait, this happened last week.” Yuki finished, her eyes widening as she recollected the private events in the glass.

The ninja gathered around the shards, wide-eyed and astonished at the discovery. Morro spoke up “So they’re your memories.” he stated, unsure of how to use this information.

Before Yuki could answer, the ninja felt a strange sensation as they looked further into the replaying image in the glass. It was almost hypnotizing, as if they were being drawn into the image. They could feel every emotion course through their bodies the more they looked. The pain, the sadness, the joy, the love.

Soon they noticed the darkened surroundings of Yuki’s bedroom. They stood in awe as they tore their gazes away from the fragment of glass Lloyd was holding, the sight rendering them speechless. The autumn sun was nowhere to be seen, instead being replaced with the darkness of cold, heavy rain clouds.

Looking back down, Lloyd felt panic rise in his chest, his hand now empty, the shard missing.

“GREAT! Now we’re not only in the spellbook, we’re also in some mirror memory” Cole grunted, crossing his arms dramatically.

Yuki could only analyse the setting, “the last thunderstorm was last week” she whispered under her breath, realisation slowly building up as she looked around more. It was the small details she noticed.

The dresses on the floor.

The colour of the bedsheets.

The mess on her vanity.

The colossal bell of the palace chimed loudly, Yuki’s heart raced, as cold sweat dripped down her neck.

It's Midnight.

Without hesitation, she pushed the group into the closet; her movements, usually full of grace, now filled with urgency. Confusion clouded the ninja's faces as they huddled together into the limited space, Yuki brought her finger to her lips, signalling them to be quiet.

In the cramped confines of her closet,Yuki and Lloyd felt their chests rising and falling, almost touching as they hid. Their eyes met in a fleeting moment. Lloyd’s green eyes, like a verdant forest, held the promise of springtime. Yuki's purple eyes, like a symphony of amethyst hues, holding the depth and secrets of a twilight sky. They looked away, eyes shimmering with a mixture of pain and regret.

His eyes are pretty- SHUT UP!

Only inches apart, yet those inches seemed insignificant as each exhale seemed to bring them closer, their warm breaths mingling as Yuki glanced at his lips in a moment of weakness. His lips parted slightly as his ears became tinted with red, the intensity of their closeness crashing over him, leaving him breathless.

She turned around quickly, in the hopes no one saw her reddening cheeks in the dim lighting. Heat radiated off her body, a magnetic pull that moved her closer to the blond behind her, his hand lightly grazing hers.

The team observed the unspoken tension between the two, exchanging knowing glances.

The sound of their own breathing sounded deafening as they heard the bedroom door open, barely audible footsteps ominously echoing through the room. They looked through the gaps in the closet door, Yuki held her breath as she saw herself, the memory of herself, walk into the room.

“Was that you?” Lloyd asked, unable to resist the urge to speak, his voice below a whisper. Yuki swung around, clasping her hand over his mouth. With his reflexes kicking in, he instinctively reached out, his hands falling on the girl's hips to steady her. Now fully pressed together, the fabric of their uniforms doing little to stop the body heat from radiating from each other. For a moment, time stood still as they shared the silent embrace, Lloyds heart pounding in his chest as he unconsciously pulled her closer.

Cole cleared his throat quietly, breaking the intimate spell, the two looked at each other for the first time, realizing their proximity to each other. They flushed red, silently distancing themselves.

Focus.

Yuki turned back around, continuing to watch the memory Yuki erratically pace back and forth as she ripped her hair tie out, allowing the ponytail to fall, silky pink hair falling messily over her shoulders like a waterfall of vibrant petals. Her hair tumbled in free disarray, now a wild cascade of pink.

.

Her usually regal and graceful demeanour shattered within seconds, her movements were filled with a sense of restless energy as she leaned on the vanity.

Tears glistened in the dim light of the moon as they streamed down her face, unrelenting anger filling her. She raged against herself, anger filling her like a tempest.

“How could I have let that happen? Are you fucking stupid? You're supposed to protect your people” her voice filled with anguish as she scolded herself for the failed mission.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

It was as if memory Yuki was a puppet and her rage was the puppet master, in the midst of her rage, she became almost primal as she kicked and punched her surroundings.

“So. Fucking. Useless. And you call yourself a queen” she let out a sarcastic chuckle “ You're a failure, not a leader.” The memory lashed out, throwing the small items on her vanity, sending them across the room.

Useless.

Useless.

Useless.

In a moment of uncontrollable fury, memory Yuki launched her spellbook at the mirror with a broken scream, unable to look at her reflection. All she saw was incompetence. The shattering glass sounded through the room like an agonising symphony of destruction and defeat.

Silence.

Failure.

Failure.

Failure.

The group watched in stunned silence. Indeed, they have seen Yuki angry before, on the battlefield. Her calm and gentle personality was replaced by raw painful emotions that sent shivers down their spines. It was unnerving to see their usually happy friend be consumed by such intense anger. At herself.

They felt a pang of hurt wash over them, guilt filled as they remembered the times they came to Yuki for comfort after missions, yet never asking how she felt. She was always strong and resilient after all.

They continued watching the memory play out, observing memory Yuki surveying the aftermath of her own violent rage, the room resembling the battlefield that caused the outburst in the first place.

She looked into the broken shards on the floor, her broken up reflection staring back up at her. A fractured image of someone she didn’t recognise anymore. The torn curtains hung like wounded soldiers, the soldiers that she sent to battle. The items on the floor scattered like her emotions.

Why did I give that order? I sent children to their death.

An overpowering sadness engulfed her, the weight of her actions falling heavily on her. Silent tears traced the delicate features of her face, she fell to her knees, a scream of emotional and physical pain piercing through the air. Sobs wracked her body, she winced as he clutched her side, the warmth of her blood a testament to the lives she could not protect. Her blood seeped slowly through the purple ninja uniform, she struggled to catch her breath, each gasp for air burning her lungs.

Her wallowing in sorrow was interrupted by the shrill ring of the landline phone, startling everyone. She struggled to stand, still grasping her side she stumbled towards the phone, with trembling bloody hands she picked up the receiver.

So much blood. Innocent blood.

She steadied her voice as she spoke, the urgency in the voice of the prime minister was palpable. Her words clipped and curt as she acknowledged the situation.

“Yes. Yes Mr Prime Minister, I am aware of the situation. Yes, send out the emergency units straight away, save anyone you can. Please report to me tomorrow morning.” It was clear she was being summoned for an emergency meeting the next day to address the severity of the destruction caused by the failed mission.

They ninja remembered Yuki having an emergency meeting and missing training the following day, yet they never realised the circumstances that occurred before the summoning.

With a heavy heart, memory Yuki set the receiver down, turning on her heel to exit the room, leaving a small trail of blood drops behind her. As she reached for the handle, she paused. She turned her head, her gaze momentarily falling on the closet, before quickly walking away. The door slammed behind her as the team sat in silence for the following moments pondering the depth of the memory in front of them

Yuki stared out the closet, unable to bring herself to look at her friends, her chest tightening at the remembrance of the failed mission.

Cole's heart ached, the scene of Yuki berating herself playing in his mind, a sombre expression spread on his face. The pillar of strength he could rely on anytime now seems to crack .

Morros' demeanour was shaken, memories of their younger days flooding his mind. He remembered the shy little girl with a bright smile that was scared of anything. He knew firsthand the weight of not living up to your role, his heart unable to bear to see Yuki feel the same way.

Jay's usual obnoxious attitude faltered as Yuki’s distress played back in his mind. Yuki was always a fearless leader, filled with grace. She was the annoying sister he never had. His heart was heavy with sorrow.

Nya blinked away the tears that brimmed her eyes. Her role model for courage and resilience now seemed scared and broken, reminding her of herself when her parents were taken. Her friend's deep pain empathised with her.

Kai clenched his fists, his jaw locked in anger. How could she blame herself like that for something that was beyond her control? Her unwavering loyalty to the team and her people was a rare quality. There has never been a time where she hasn’t been there for him.

Zane’s usually stoic robotic expression softened as his gaze fell upon the girl in front of him. He always felt like Yuki was filled with determined resolve, failing to see the true vulnerability that lay beneath.

Lloyds heart ached at Yuki’s anguish. She had been his mentor, his friend, his comfort and more; and yet as the leader of the ninja he failed to see that not even she can be strong and resilient in the face of adversity.

Yuki opened the closet door, exiting the cramped space at long last, her thoughtful stare landed on the trail of blood left behind.

An eye for an eye, you bleed the same.

She always maintained the facade of perfection, she presented herself as the strong and composed queen, embarrassment washed over her as the illusion of grace shattered just like the vanity mirror. She ignored the suffocating gazes of her friends, every spark of pain and every tear was a testament to her failure.

She wished she could hide, to retreat back into the safety of her childhood solitude, wishing to lick her wounds without the looks of pity surrounding her. Her friends witnessing her weakness was almost unbearable, shame dragged her into the dark depth of her mind.

Her arms crossed. She wanted to apologise, to explain herself, to tell them to not view her any differently, but the words were caught in her throat. She was choked by the humiliation that consumed her thoughts.

As the pressure intensified, no one dared to utter a word. After years of team work and friendships they knew Yuki well, anyone who knows Yuki well will know that she will never admit to any weakness. Yet it was finally Cole who broke the silence.

“Yu-chan,” he began, his gentle voice filled with brotherly concern “Why didn't you say you were injured?”

Yuki’s haunted gaze momentarily flickered to Cole, she shrugged. “As long as I'm not dead, I'm fine.” she replied simply, her tone flat.

You’re not fine.

The team looked at each other with concern and disappointment, as if the breach of trust left a mark on the foundations they built together.

Kai stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We’re a team, we have to look out for each other.” he said firmly.

Yuki pursed her lips, forming a thin line, as she shook Kai’s hand off; his hand fell back to his side, his eyes flickered with hurt and surprise. He stepped back, looking at the girl he barely recognised, the girl who usually welcomed physical contact. Now distant. His warm gesture was replaced by cold rejection.

I’m sorry.

Before anyone could react, a picture frame fell from the wall, crashing loudly to the floor, tearing the thick silence of the room. Startled, they turned to the frame on the floor. Yuki tore herself away from the path of crimson drops on the marble flooring, her heart beating violently in her chest as she kneeled in front of it; her gloved fingers quivered as she picked it up.

The rest gathered around the picture, seeing the familiar picture of their entire team, captured moments after victory. But there, right across where she stood, a singular crack adorned the glass, as if the fracture tore the fabric of their bond.

The cracks in the frame echoed the cracks she felt within her self worth, the fissures in her facade threatened to destroy her composure. Her own struggles leave deep scars that taint the entire team.

Nya stepped forward, her voice regretful while trying to change the subject “What a shame.” she remarked, “That frame was so pretty.”

Yuki gulped thickly and she gripped the picture tighter, her knuckles turning white as her composure threatened to break. Her eyes wide, she stared with a hollow gaze at it, she barely managed to speak up “Except… I never had this picture hung up in my room. This is in the photo album in the monastery.” The ninja held their breaths. “This doesn’t belong in my memories.” she finished.

Panic rose in her chest, cold fear filling her. Confusion etched itself onto everyone's faces as she stood up, unease swept through them, a common question pondered in the air.

If the picture wasn’t part of my memory, what is it doing here?

They exchanged wary looks, silently processing the revelation, Yuki slowly turned around, facing her friends for the first time. Suddenly, a pulling feeling filled their senses, the fabric of reality shifted and manoeuvred around them. The walls seemed to melt away like candle wax,

They scanned the room with trepidation. Yuki's hand now empty, the picture now vanished, only leaving a whisper of disquiet.

“Are we?” Zane pondered as he looked around the bedroom. “Are we back?”

Lloyd approached the vanity mirror, his sharp eyes falling upon the shard of glass which transported them towards the painful memory, now neatly placed back in the frame of the mirror. Almost as if it was never disturbed.

“Everyone! look here!” Lloyd called them over, touching the sides of the shard, feeling the magic emitting from it, pulsating with power in the rhythm of a heartbeat.

The ninja stood in front of the remaining shards of glass, each gleaming with images of certain memories, a sense of clarity dawned on them.

“Yuki, we got out the moment you found something that doesn't belong in your memory right?” Jay inquired, watching as the girl nodded, enlightenment settling over her as her eyes widened.

“We have to look at my other memories and find the thing that doesn’t belong.” She remarked, her lips slightly parted at the revelation.

“If that shard ended up back in the mirror, and you broke the mirror with your spell book-” Morro started, his tone slightly tinged with a note of uncertainty.

“- The mirror is likely the way to close the rift that started this.” Nya finished.

Yuki stared at the mirror as the words sunk in, vulnerability lingered in the depths of her eyes dancing like shadows, a heavy pit settling in her stomach.

She couldn’t rid the feeling of guilt that seemed to eat her– the haunting memory of her throwing the spell book, and the glass shattering, even more vivid now after reliving it. She should’ve been more careful, she should’ve been more cautious, she should’ve been more–

Her train of thought was interrupted by the presence of the green ninja beside her, close enough for their shoulders to press against each other, a comforting feeling in the whirlpool of her self blame. He hesitated for a split second, briefly stuck in his own anxiety. He reached down, grabbing the girl's hand in his, delicately squeezing her hand three times reassuringly.

“It's not your fault Kiki.” Her head whipped around at the use of the nickname, one he hasn’t used in a while. “No one could’ve predicted this happening.” His voice was like a soothing balm to her emotional wounds, like a healing tide that washed over her.

Please don’t lie to me. 

Please.

Not now.

She searched his face for any dishonesty or doubt, only finding warmth. She allowed herself to lean into his touch for a second, the comfort of his presence knocking down the wall of guilt.

Even if everything will go back to how it was after the mission.

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♧Masterlist♧

Summary: A mysterious rift between time and magic tears the fabric of the realms. Yuki, the master of magic, the purple ninja and the queen of ninjago, must find the powerful spell to fix this. In an unexpected twist, the team is transported into the depths of Yuki's spell book. The ninja must navigate through the chapters and memories of all the queens, finding the thing that is jeprodizing peace.

In a risky race, the ninja must piece together fragments of memories to uncover the truth. Will they succeed in fixing the rift? Or will Dark secrets unravel a mystery that changes the fate of everything?

TAGLIST: OPEN

@shatteredhope123 @spinjitzu-spy @crikkit-kitterton @stupidgayartkid @urkittybby @queenoftasilk

Feel free to ask to be added!

© This is the exclusive property of Aleksandra Niewiadomska. Do not claim as your own, repost on other sites or translate my work at all.

[engekihaikyuu]

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Haikyuu Finale

The members of Gekidan Haikyuu share their thoughts after reading the final chapter of Haikyuu!  They were also all given special commemorative shirts to congratulate the series!

Ogasawara Ken (2nd Coach Ukai) Thanks to Furudate-sensei, I was able to meet the most amazing friends in the most amazing production. I will continue to love it forever.  Congratulations on all your hard work #Haikyuu    #HaikyuuFinale    #EngekiHaikyuu    

(video) Sensei, congratulations on all your hard work over the past eight years! I’m sure that there were many tough time and unimaginable struggles during those eight years, and so we truly thank you for your hard work. Now that you have the chance to take a break, please rest as much as possible and do all the things that you weren’t able to do until now. For our part, we will give our all and work hard on the play! Please look forward to it and come to see us! For all the fans who love you, sensei, and love Haikyuu, I am going to keep working hard!  Congratulations on Haikyuu!  It’s the best! NYAA!!

Please do not repost my translations

(x)

[parachutingkitten]

Y'all suck at dissecting Kai's character, so I guess I have to do it.

And I'm not even a Kai stan. He's a bottom tier ninja for me, which I guess means you can trust me, cuz I'm not biased, but also why am I the one doing this? I don't know about y'all, but recently on my dash, the method by which Kai fans try to make him sound good is... saying the writers hate him, ignore him, and that he isn't written well? Which... I mean there is a little bit of truth to, but like yikes guys, is this the best you got? Kai is a wonderful character with plenty of attention from the writers, a meaningful piece of the cast when put in secondary rolls, fairly consistent character writing with actual progression and valuable qualities that help the team without having to be the smart one- despite what some posts might tell you.

Let's get one thing cleared up: Ninjago isn't the best written show. By high level Hollywood standards, most the character arcs are kinda weak or too heavy handed, character consistency can be iffy, and most things serve the plot rather than the characters. There is no character you can point to and say "wow, this character is written so well! No complaints!" Nya and Jay were butchered by their weird love plot, Cole's one season doesn't actually give him an arc, Zane's been nothing but the robot numbers guy for like 10 seasons now, and Lloyd seems to be incapable of doing anything but relive the same one piece of dad angst for depth. Sorry, it's true. All the characters suck when you look at it from a large scale writing perspective. So when I say Kai is well written, I mean by ninjago kids show standards- cuz that's the scale we're working on. No, you couldn't drop Kai into a well written drama, but as far as ninjago goes... he's got a lot going for him, and by no means is he the biggest victim of poor writing.

(fair warning, wall of text below)

The title is a bit disingenuous. There are plenty of good Kai character break downs. What I am presenting here is a more positive perspective. On the whole, I will tend to give the writers the benefit of the doubt, and credit for what they do right writing is hard guys. That's what I'm doing here. I don't see much sense in getting mad the writers on behalf of Kai, or any other character. Ninjago is a simplistic ensemble show that works because of the identifiable simplicity of its main characters with some deeper layers hidden underneath if you keep watching. They've given us a damn good show with some damn enjoyable characters, so here are some criticisms I feel are a little flawed:

First, let's get the 'focus' thing out of the way. Apparently there are people saying Kai doesn't have a season yet? Which... what? I mean, I get that the pilots aren't a full season, the first two seasons, though he is the central protagonist, aren't "Kai seasons" as we've come to define ninja focus seasons, season 7, though he gets majority focus, he shares with his sister. But like... did y'all just forget about season 4? You know, the season where he had the title card, was on the box sets, got the love interest, and the majority of the A-plot? not to mention it's the best season don't @ me Like... if season 4 isn't a Kai season, I can make a damn good argument that season 3 isn't a Zane season, and I doubt anyone wants to go down that rabbit hole. I really can't wrap my head around this one. And I get that the fandom hates season 11 for some reason, but like you can't just pretend it doesn't exist. Kai has a consistent arc across 30 episodes in which he takes his powers for granted, loses them, and learns that, not only does he have value within the team without them, but that his element is intrinsically a part of him that he reclaims, bringing them back more powerful than ever, and with new respect for them. That's one of the most solid arcs in the whole series- the location is even thematically connected to his element. That's some good stuff right there! (Quick plug for season 11 if you haven't watched it in a while. Give it a rewatch, you might be pleasantly surprised)

Not to mention the writers give him fun side stuff all the time. Lots of fears of tech and water to overcome, a deep protective streak with Lloyd, becoming a chancellor, having a true potential actually relevant to the plot as a whole, blacksmith responsibilities, befriending dragons, hanging out with his dad. Not to mention actual focus stuff we haven't talked about yet, like his whole "my dad is evil" phase, and his "I might be evil" phase with him and Skylor. And on top of that, even when he doesn't have an explicit side plot, he's always just a fun and dynamic side character to make jokes or give exposition.

Now, into character stuff. Let's start with Kai's hot headed-ness. Some people say he's been loosing this quality, and I will admit, that's true! But those that claim this makes him inconsistent... I strongly disagree. In early seasons, Kai's temper would lead him to snap at his friends or make stupid decisions that set the team back (see episode 2 Zane freak out)- these are bad things. These are character flaws, yes? Now, in newer seasons, people say that he's inconsistent, cuz sometimes he'll be hot headed, and sometimes he won't. I'd say, this is exactly how being hot headed... works? It flares up without warning, and as an individual gets control of it, it'll pop up less and less often because they're channeling it into productive things - like say directing the anger towards an enemy (see season 11 end freak out). Kai has gained control of a character flaw, and though it still pops up on occasion, the fact that it's a once in a while kind of thing speaks to his growth. I have a little brother who has this exact personality, and watching him grow up, I can tell you, this is how it is. He used to snap all the time, and he still does sometimes, but much less frequently, because he's a more mature person with better control of his emotions. This is a good thing. This is overcoming personal flaws. This is progression we're seeing.

And while you're hyper focused on this one aspect of him, things like his cocky confidence haven't changed a bit. I mean, that season 3 bit between him and Pixal, and his season 11 "fire maker" streak have the exact same energy. You can not convince me otherwise.

Another adjacent quality that hasn't been dampened is Kai's impulsiveness. This can be a good quality of his, he'll get into a fight without thinking, getting the jump on the enemy. Good stuff. But, this has become such a well defined trait of Kai's that it has been used in a comedic capacity. This is what happens when a character is extremely consistent to the extent that both the audience and the characters in universe would be able to predict their actions. Kai's impulsivity used to be a more serious quality that put himself and others at risk, and was a big power move whenever he did something rash, but it's become such a staple of the show that it's now being used for comedy. That isn't Kai's impulsivity going away, that's Kai's impulsivity being recontextualized for the sake of the show. The season 9 "Who's stupid enough to jump on that thing" isn't a joke at the expense of Kai just for being dumb, it's a joke at Kai's being so predictably impulsive that everyone already knows he'll be the one to put himself in an insane amount of danger without thinking twice (you know, something stupid that might get him killed). But because in this instance, the danger is warranted, this is bravery. It's a complement to his character- it's what ends up defeating the colossus. Why are some people so bothered by this joke?

Oh right, cuz for some reason people want to peg Kai as the smart one? Look, Kai isn't stupid, none of the ninja are. All of them have smart moments (all of them have dumb ones too) and Kai can certainly handle himself, but "smart" is definitely not one of his defining characteristics- I think some people are confusing smart for his actual strength. Connected to his impulsivity, Kai has very good simplistic instincts. He sees the big picture and looks at the most surface level solution- which when the situation calls for it, that does indeed make him smart. But the same logic that led him to think "This snake has a glowing target on its head, lets hit it" also led him to think "I'm in a video game, therefore I am immortal." Are you really going to look at me and say he figured out Lloyd was the green ninja through logical deduction and a careful consideration of the facts? No. He had a gut feeling, and he trusted it. Instincts- instincts paired with his impulsive following of said instincts is what leads him to solve problems- and sometimes, that can be extremely effective. This goes for other ninja too. Jay isn't the smartest ninja- I would really only classify Zane and Nya as having intelligence define them (hence their ship name). But Jay is extremely creative and crafty. He also knows his was around mechanics, and as such, this will lead him to come up with creative tech based solutions which are smart. But, idk about you, if I had to point to another ninja as being 'dumb' it would 100% be Jay. Kai is a lot of things. He's passionate and determined and confident and persistent. He's a good improvisor, he's powerful and he's charming! These are all wonderful qualities, he doesn't also have to be the smart one. I am the worlds biggest Pixal stan, and she's a smart, sassy, powerful character, but I'm not gonna sit here and tell you she's also hilarious and adaptable and strong willed. She's a straight man to all the ninja's antics, extremely tied to her samurai x suit, and lets people push her around all the time. That doesn't mean she can't be funny, or self interested, but when she does act these ways, it stems from her other more prominent qualities. That make sense?

And while we're clearing up what Kai isn't, please stop characterizing Kai as an overly protective brother - especially romantically. The only two times he's been romantically protective to Nya are in Wu's Teas which I mean, come on and in the pilots when Jay is literally a stranger. For crying out loud, by the end of the pilot, he's smiling when Jay and Nya hug. That's not overly protective, that's just normal, any reasonable person would react this way, protective. And it's such a great stereotype break for a kids show like ninjago, having an older brother who actually trusts his younger sister to be her own independent person who can make her own decisions. I mean, I guess it's fine if you HC differently but like... idk, I don't buy it.

Now, is there still room to criticize the writers? Yes. Hell yes. But not to an extent greater than any other character. Could he have had more of a defined reaction to events of the most recent season that I won't name for the sake of spoilers? Yes. But could Zane have reacted for more than .5 seconds at being an evil war lord for apparently 60 years? Yeah. Has Kai taken a back seat in the past 4 seasons? Yeah. But so has Lloyd- and he's literally the main character of the show. Not to mention two of those seasons have gone to people who had to wait over ten seasons to get one to themselves, and one of them is a 40 minute special. Kai's doing just fine.

Anyway. Kai is great. He's a fun, stereotype breaking, impulsively driven, ball of energy and confidence who gets a good amount of screen time and some fun side plots.

One last thing to clear up: no hate to anyone. This isn't targeted at anyone specific, this post has been a long time coming, I've just seen some weird overblown claims on various platforms over the past few months and I finally sat down to write about it.

I like the Kai content we have. After all, if the writers were really that bad at writing him, then no one would like him.

Wow this was so much longer than I thought it would be. Um... if you have other long winded rants you'd like to see from me... let me know I guess?

[wait-im-not-out]

Ninjago photo album project!

This was such an amazing project to be a part of - make sure you check out the rest of the amazing work done on these photo albums here!!!!

I’ll be posting all my fics from this project beginning with the Lloyd album - so please enjoy

Lloyd discovering he’s the green ninja

With art by @jasmilliea !

Edit: see her amazing artwork here!!

Lloyd had to admit, it was odd being hugged by someone with four arms… and strangely comforting. He didn’t really want to think about that too much…

But he was safe again. Not only was he back with his uncle and the ninja, but his dad was there. He would have to remember to tell his dad how cool he looked fighting those snakes. He couldn’t really appreciate the spectacle of it at the time, but in hindsight, it was really cool. Like, cooler than Fritz Donnagon! The background discussion was tuned out in Lloyd’s brain as he remained leaning into Garmadon’s side, where he felt safe. Everyone else was talking, something about Kai’s true potential, but Lloyd didn’t care. He was still a kid. He was sure Kai would tell the story again to brag sooner rather than later.

That’s when he noticed how silent it was. And that everyone was staring at him, with mixtures of shock, confusion and disbelief on their faces.

“What? What’s everybody looking at me for?” He asked, glancing up at his dad as Nya and Kai carried the golden weapons towards him. As Garmadon slowly stepped back, he noticed how loose their grips on the weapons were.

His vision went blurry as he was surrounded by a green aura created by the weapons, now floating in mid-air as Kai and Nya stepped back. What did this mean? What’s has happened while he was captured?

“Lloyd is the green ninja!” Wu announced.

Lloyd only saw his dad’s initial smile fade…

“That means…”

Lloyd barely heard what Uncle Wu was saying. He didn’t need to. He would have to defeat his father. He couldn’t do anything but move to hug his father.

They would have sat there like this for a long time, in silence had it not been for Jay, (loudly) reminding them about the fang blade. At least that gave them something else to focus on.

Lloyd managed to slip out of the bridge, hiding out in the engine room.

He just got back to his dad.

He couldn’t fight him.

Sure he was evil but he was his dad.

It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t there.

“Lloyd?” Lloyd was expecting that if anyone came looking for him it would be his dad, Uncle Wu or maybe Nya. Not Kai.

“Lloyd I know you’re in there.”

“I’m fine!” Lloyd called, hoping Kai didn’t notice the obvious crack in his voice. He could almost feel Kai grimace.

“Lloyd, I’m not going to force you to talk about it, but you really should.” A heavy pause. “It doesn’t have to be with me. Maybe your dad? Or Wu?”

Lloyd sighed. He rubbed his hands over his face. He knew Kai was right. It wasn’t like other problems where if you ignored it, it would go away; this wasn’t going away anytime soon.

The scuffed doorknob turned quietly as Lloyd emerged, his hood down for once. Kai knelt down to him, and Lloyd felt his chin being lifted.

Lloyd doesn’t completely hear what Kai is saying. Something about how he is going to be okay. It’s not going to be the end of him. Lloyd cuts him off by wrapping his arms as far around his shoulders as they reach, and burying his face into his bright red gi.

Once Lloyd calms down, Kai walks him to his father; there are more tears and hugs.

“I love you Lloyd. I always have and I always will.” Lloyd mumbles his reply.

He falls asleep in his father’s arms. He needs the rest.

Tomorrow, they make a plan on how to get the final fang blade…

With Lloyd.

[goldenavenger02]

Help Me Hold Onto You

'He doesn't want to be forgotten, you of all people should understand that.' 

Takes place after Hands of Time

•••

They left. Kai and Zane left.

Misako had left last month, Nya had left four days ago, Kai and Zane left that night, he and Jay were leaving tomorrow.

They had collectively decided that Lloyd would watch over the city while the others searched for Master Wu, but something about leaving Lloyd by himself made Cole's gut twist.

Maybe it was the fact that Lloyd was arguably the most affected by the loss of their master, maybe it was the fact that when they thought Zane had died all those years ago, they had all left one by one, just like this, or maybe it was because when they took him in, Lloyd was all alone.

So, after he had finished packing, and Jay made his way to bed, Cole made his way to the living room in the Airjitzu temple, seeing that Lloyd had the same idea and was already invested in a round of Fist to Face Three.

Cole moved the empty bag of chips and sat beside him before grabbing a controller and adding himself into the game, watching as his avatar appeared. "I hope you don't mind."

"I need the company." Lloyd nodded as the two battled the fictional skeletons, watching as they fell apart on screen.

Cole hit the buttons on autopilot, wishing that he didn't have to leave Lloyd again tomorrow, but he had to keep reminding himself that this was for the good of the team. Lloyd didn't need the responsibility of being Master, not when Wu could still be out there.

"So, does it hurt?" Lloyd asked, bringing Cole out of his thoughts with confusion, but before he could ask, Lloyd elaborated, "the scar. Does it hurt?"

"Not as much anymore, but when I first got it, yeah." Cole admitted as the scar against his hairline chose that particular moment to throb, which made him wince, but he was confused as to why exactly Lloyd was asking.

"Why do you ask?"

Lloyd stayed silent for a moment, and Cole watched as he stuck his tongue out while beating on a specific skeleton before speaking, "I don't know, but given our experiences with ghosts, we should stick together, you know?"

"Kai told you to stop making light of that, Lloyd, remember?" Cole questioned softly, flashes in his head of Morro in Lloyd's body trying to take them all down and the reason that he ended up stuck as a ghost anyway.

"Kai's not here anymore." Lloyd grumbled, pressing harder on the buttons of the controller.

Cole paused the game, much to Lloyd's annoyance, before speaking up. "You have every right to be upset about us leaving. That doesn't mean you can act like a brat. We let you decide who was staying with you after your mom left and you said you could handle it by yourself.."

"And I haven't heard anything from her!" Lloyd shouted, the volume of it nearly knocking Cole back, before the younger of the two dropped the controller in his lap, clearly upset about his outburst. "I'm sorry, I just...I can't be alone again."

Cole put his controller down and pulled Lloyd into a hug before he had the chance to protest, feeling him shudder against his shoulder.

'He doesn't want to be forgotten, you of all people should understand that.' Cole shook the thought away and brought his attention back to Lloyd, who still had his head pressed against his shoulder while taking rapid, shaky breaths, clearly trying to stop crying and failing.

Unfortunately, no one on the team was unfamiliar with Lloyd working himself into a panic when he got upset, especially after the Tournament; even though it had been awhile, Cole should've seen it coming with all of Lloyd's new responsibility and Master Wu's disappearance.

"Lloyd, you gotta calm down a little before you make yourself sick," Cole insisted, rubbing his back to try and keep him from hyperventilating, "shhh… Just try and take a deep breath, okay?"

He heard Lloyd's weak attempt at trying to comply, but it fell short, so Cole moved his hand from his back to the top of his head, holding him closer to his heart than his shoulder. "You're okay, try and focus on my heartbeat."

He felt the shuddering slow against him, although his breathing was still shaky, it was starting to become more even. Cole let out a sigh of relief, still holding Lloyd against him.

"There you go," Cole mumbled, moving his hand back down to Lloyd's back before continuing, "no one wants to leave, kiddo. But...if there's a chance we can find your uncle-"

"I-I know." Lloyd choked out before sitting up, his eyes reaching Cole's.

"Too bad we can't stick together though. Who's gonna keep you from putting orange juice in your cereal?" Cole joked, immediately getting a snort along with a response.

"At least I was exhausted. Who's gonna tell you your cooking stinks?" Lloyd joked, and Cole made sure to act offended as he put a hand on his chest and gasped.

"I can't believe that after everything we've been through, you aren't grateful for my cooking." Cole decided to choose that moment to ruffle Lloyd's hair, which he had started growing out, until he looked like one of those dogs that looked like they had a mop on their head, "you'll just have to call me and remind me how bad it is."

Lloyd chuckled, running his hands through his hair until it was styled as he intended, before yawning. "Thanks, Cole."

"No problem, Green Machine," Cole smiled, using his hand to wipe the drying tears from Lloyd's cheeks, "you should get in bed, you look exhausted."

Lloyd didn't even protest, rubbing at his eyes before turning the tv off and standing up, making his way to his room.

Cole started to clean up the room, knowing fully well that Lloyd would be moving closer to the city once they left. Despite all the history involved, he was going to miss the Airjitzu temple.

But at the same time, maybe it would be best if it remained as another landmark on the "History of Ninjago" tour.

As he was folding the throw blanket, however, that's when Lloyd's voice piped up, calling his name. "Yes, Lloyd?"

"I'm holding you to those phone calls."

Cole chuckled before setting the blanket down and pulling Lloyd into a hug, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

[kittydemon9000]

Okay so once again, 3 am thoughts have gifted me with yet another au. It is by no means original but screw it: SmithSwap

The only things I’m switching is their ages, so now Nya is the older one, but it. Gets. Fun.

For specifics, as of the Pilots/S1 Nya is 15 and Kai is 11, because I want bebe kai

Now, prior to Wu showing up, it’s pretty much the same as canon only with roles reversed. Nya mostly runs the shop while Kai is trying to everything he can to make things easier for his big sister, and I mean everything. The only one Nya doesn’t stop him from doing is cooking because Kai is the better chef, though neither can figure out why. Nya also likes to tell Kai stories of their parents since he can’t remember them too well, much to his disappointment.

ANYWAY, Wu shows up, Kai gets upset he’s insulting his sister’s work, then Skulkin show up. Kai does get snatched, much to Nya worry and canon continues.

Okay but also tiny spinoff, it also would’ve been hilarious if Nya still got kidnapped because then when the guys meet Kai they’d be like “who is this sassy lost child?”

So then while Nya’s training, I’m actually going to say what happened when Kai is captured.

You see, a side affect of being really freaking old is that your perception of time changes, specifically how long periods seem shorter. Garmadon decided that because of the prophecy it would be best to snatch the Master of Fire, who he thought would be Ray.

So you can imagine his surprise when his Skulkin bring in a kicking, screaming 11 year old child.

He is, understandably, not happy and very confused.

He sends the Skulkin away and tries his best talking with Kai. Like, as little malice as he can in a gentle voice, and he actually learns a few things. 1) both Ray and Maya went missing years ago, 2) these kids have no idea about anything regarding the Elemental Masters, 3) Kai’s sister has been raising him since their parents went missing, and she’s only four years older than him

Understandably, he is concerned, but also sees this as an opportunity. If he raises the Master of Fire to be loyal to him, then he’ll never want to fulfill his role in the prophecy, thus ensuring his victory. also he really misses lloyd and now when he returns he’ll have two kids!!! how amazing is that

So yeah Kai’s stay in the Underworld isn’t that bad. This Garmadon guy is pretty nice, tells him awesome stories about his parents, teaches him a bunch of things(mostly how to fight), and really just acts like the paternal figure he never had(Garmadad is canon, no matter what form you can fight me on this). The only part that sucks in Samukai, but he’s just a jerk and Garmadon makes sure he’ll never actually do anything to hurt him. He does miss Nya a lot though.

Anyway back with Nya and the guys.

They don’t actually know the exact reason why she was here at the beginning. All they know was that Wu originally left for the Master of Fire and came back with her instead. They know she has a brother, but aren’t quite sure how he falls into it.

They learn her full story the night they’re heading to the Temple of Fire, at which when they’re winding down Zane brings up how she never actually told them how she met Wu.

They are very concerned when they find out the whole story and swear they’ll help her get him back, which is nice.

Then she sees Kai But Actually Garmadon, follows, and bam Sword of Fire time. She isn’t able to fully use it, but she’s able to get a few sparks. However, things then start to take a turn for the worst.

Kai is actually here, very confused why Garmadon’s having him tied to the ceiling, but hey Nya’s here! But then oh no he then realizes that Garmadon is the bad guy, which gets him upset and more then a little betrayed.

Seeing him hurt his sister, the one of raised him, actually has Kai pick up the sword and use his powers. Under normal circumstances, it probably wouldn’t have been bigger than a few sparks, however Kai has his big sister in danger, dealing with the betrayal of an almost father figure, holding the Sword of Fire, and being surrounded by his element.

So yeah. Not that small of a fire.

The guys and Wu are actually able to to witness the truly incredible fire blast he lets out from the camp, put two and two together, and start heading over. Wu didn’t follow Nya…..because plot and was the able to help them fight off the Skulkin.

Anyway, it’s more than enough to dissipate the shadows, however it also wakes up the dragon. Garmadon, who is sort of panicking because That Was Not Supposed To Happen, ends up scooping up an unconscious Kai and the Sword and retreating to the underworld, leaving behind a very pissed Nya and an equally pissed Fire Dragon.

But yeah, Nya deals with the dragon, they get the other ones and head to the Underworld with Wu this time, and he’s actually the reason they’re able to get past all the Skulkin. 

But yeah, Samukai gets vaporized and Garmadon about to leave when a feverish Kai makes his way in and begs Garmadon to not do it and that they can fix things.

And Garmadon….actually pauses for a second and you can see the conflict in his eyes before he shakes his head and says “there’s no going back for me” and walks through. Kai then collapses and the end up heading back home.

As for what’s up with Kai, who would’ve guessed tapping into a kind of power you aren’t supposed to have access to yet in a high stress situation would be bad for the body. He has a really bad fever but he’s fine after a few days.

The few month timeskip in between the Pilots and S1 is mostly spent training Kai, so they have quite a bit less free time. However when S1 starts and Kai hears about Lord Garmadon, he actually wants to check it out himself first.

So yeah, he meets Lloyd by himself and it actually doesn’t go that badly. Kai actually buys some candy for them to share and they leave the town, and Kai actually starts talking with him. Eventually the topic comes up about Garmadon and Kai gives a rough basis about how he sort of got kidnapped, and then his work in progress plan of making him good again. Lloyd is completely down with seeing his dad again and says how they could probably get his dads attention if their got their own evil army.

And because they’re both stupid kids, neither of which have had parents before, Kai thinks it’s a great idea.

So yeah. That’s why they find the Serpentine here.

Ofc, it isn’t a right away type thing. It takes them about a month before they find the Hypnobrai Tomb, and Kai just plays off all his time spent out as him having made a friend, which they can’t exactly argue with.

Ofc, canon still happens and when Kai was busy training Lloyd ended up finding the tomb and releasing the Serpentine, and they do their regular Canon Nonsense. 

However, Kai is not too happy about the whole Attack Villages things and after a bit comes clean to the ninja about their original plan. They very much aren’t happy, but admit his heart was in the right place and they doubt he’d pull something like this again.

Fast-forward a bit more, Kai is mostly chill with Zane’s “weirdness” and unfortunately stays home when the Hypnobrai burn down the Monestary. It’s only because the dragons were able to get out and protect him that he was still alive. Nya’s actually the one who yells at Zane this time around because again. Kai almost died, but it’s all cool later and they find the Bounty :D

Anyway, Canon again continues. Kai is still really good with the dragons and is a little upset they need to leave. He also gets along really well with Ed and Edna. Then when Lloyd joins Kai is a little….well he doesn’t hate him but he does spend a while avoiding him.

Eventually Nya has enough of their dancing around each other and locks them both in the same room so they can talk it out. Turns out the reason Kai was avoiding him was because Lloyd’s betrayal really hurt since they were supposed to do it to find Garmadon, not hurt people. They have a tearful apology, then Kai learns how much of a jerk the Serpentine were and is like “the next time I see any I’ll protect you, since you’re like my little brother and as a big brother it’s my job to keep you safe”

Now it’s Samurai Time :)

You see, this time around Kai has double reasons for being the Samurai. 1) Yeah, he hates being left behind and wants to be involved but also 2) he wants to keep his big sister and big brothers safe

So yeah, that happens. He does think it’s pretty funny when they keep trying and failing to one up him though.

But then :) He gets captured with Lloyd :)))

So yeah, that sucks but it only gets worse because while Kai was able to “summon” his Samurai Mech, he had to send it off to get the ninja away. So that sucks.

Garmadon eventually shows up to help since the Serpentine stole both his kids, much to Nya’s chagrin.

Then comes the freaking Volcano Scene and this one is from Nya when she rescues Kai, then has to choose between Lloyd or the Fangblade. She ends up unlocking her True Potential by essentially leaving behind all negative feels she had for Lloyd and accepting him under her protection just like she did Kai.

The sheer torrent of water easily cools all the lava and thoroughly soaks them. But hey, even Kai has to admit being wet is better than being burnt alive. Also when the ninja start wondering aloud why the Samurai didn’t help Kai bashfully admits he was the Samurai, and this thoroughly impresses the ninja since Kai is like, 12 at this point.

Uhhhh, S2 isn’t too different. Kai is super happy that the dragons are back and is easily Ultra’s favorite. He isn’t hit with either Garms spell nor the Tomorrows Tea, but is there to comfort Lloyd and says that even though he got hit with some magic stuff Kai is still going to protect him since he’s still his older brother. On the Dark Island Kai is heartbroken Nya got corrupted and swears he’ll help fix her. When Garmadon gets purified Kai looses his shit and gets so excited since let’s goooooo not only is his dad not evil anymore they can go out in public together :DDDD

S3, also not too different. During the whole Love Triangle nonsense Kai’s just sitting there so confused. Also Pixal joins team Kai’s Older Siblings. Him getting captured was just him being at the wrong place wrong time. He has a really fun time time in space though, which was nice.

But uh. Then Zane hecking dies, which hits everyone really hard, especially Kai. Only this time, Nya ends up taking Kai back to Ignacia and opens up the forge again, pretty much cutting all contact with the other ninja, Wu and Garmadon. While it might’ve been boring and lonely, at least in Ignacia they were safe. 

Kai is…honestly really miserable, but hides it well. He can barely get up some mornings, but does so anyway since he’s desperately trying to act like things are normal, despite how Nya doesn’t talk very much. He misses the other ninja a lot, even Pixal despite not knowing her for very long, but doesn’t want to tell Nya since again, trying to make things normal again. Nya also doesn’t let him out of the house too often, only really if she’s there to watch him.

This routine goes on for about two months, until Lloyd shows up to try and get everyone back together. And Nya.....Nya doesn’t like that.

She and Lloyd end up having a bit of a passive aggressive argument that is progressively getting louder until Kai just. Snaps.

He yells at them to stop fighting, how they’re acting so horribly and that he wished things could go back to normal, how Zane wouldn’t want this and that he’d be disappointed in them.

The two visibly flinch.

Then Kai realizes exactly what he just said and who he said it to. And he runs.

Nya and Lloyd both spend some time in silence, mulling over what Kai just said because he was right. Zane would hate what’s become of the team and how they separated.

Nya ends up being the one to break the silence, asking Lloyd where and when to meet.

When Kai doesn’t return from the woods, she ends up leaving a note before she leaves, explaining where she’s going and how she’s sorry.

Meanwhile, Kai is having a slight breakdown in a Tree Base he made years ago.

But yeah, fast forward a bit and Kai’s getting ready to sneak onto Chen’s Island, but in a slightly different way than canon. Instead he takes a slightly experimental ship that’s basically a smaller Bounty which he calls the Destiny’s Wish. Think of the comparison like a Car vs a Go Cart. Comfortably, it can fit 2 people long term, but for quick trips can carry as many as 10, but it’ll be a tight fit and the Wish might have some trouble flying.

So yeah, he’s on his own and he doesn’t arrive until a few hours before the EMs all get dropped from the plane. Shade is actually the one to find him first, but has a moment of pause since Literal Child and gives Kai enough time to kick him into a tree and run. The whole chase actually lasts about two hours but unfortunately Kai isn’t able to get back to the Wish and gets caught.

Now for the fun part :)

So all the EMs(and I do mean all because he wanted to “thank them for their contribution”) are in the throne room, their powers snatched, when Chen said aloud “But it is such a shame that we don’t have the Master of Fire, the we’d be able to complete the spell.” and for the briefest second the Ninja Fam are relieved but then Chen does a whole “SIKE, WE GOT HIM” and has some of the guards bring Kai out.

The Ninja are, understandably, freaking out. The EMs kinda are too since Child but only a little bit and it’s not personal

But then just as Chen’s about to snatch his fire, Kai starts saying how Chen cheated since Kai never got to play in a match. Chen refutes it since His Game His Rules but then Kai says that age old statement to get siblings to do Stupid Shit: “What are you, scared?”

Chen is not scared, thank you very much. And you know what, since you’re so confident fine, you now get your own challenge!

So yeah, now Kai has his own challenge.

What is it you might ask?

A vertical obstacle course with a time limit. If Kai doesn’t grab the Jade Blade, the exit closes.

Not that bad you might think. After all, Kai’s been training with the ninja for the past year, he’s probably got this in the bag.

Yeah welllllllll, a little bird told might have told Chen that a certain Master of Fire couldn’t swim.....so he uses Nya’s power to gradually fill up the room and forcing him up.

Surprise surprise, it was rigged against him. I’m talking platforms having false bottoms, ladders being oiled, high pressure water jets to knock him off, the works.

Kai is so close to making it. So close..... but Chen can’t have that happen now can he :)

So yeah, Kai ends up falling in and Nya almost drags all the EMs into the water trying to get him.

Luckily it’s at that moment Lloyd bursts in with Garmadon, frees the EMs and gets Chen’s staff. The EMs bust out and just as Nya’s about to dive in the whole thing starts draining, like an enormous whirlpool.

You see Chen actually thought ahead and realized that “hey, if the kid dies he’ll loose his power” so he made a plan that when Kai was going to fall in, he would use one of the tubes that shot water but in verse and suck him in. Luckily he was able to pull it off before the gem was smashed because if not MMM.

So yeh, Kai is now captured, but still on the island. Skylor reluctantly copies his powers(she got sort of close with Nya and this is the little brother she was gushing about), and Anacondrai happens. However, the two are able to escape, Skylor’s actually able to figure out the Summon Dragon thing, and then they head back to the main group.

Then comes the inevitable question of “how did you get here anyway?” and then Kai shows them The Wish. He actually ends up flying back with Garmadon before all the EMs learn how to Summon Dragon so they can warn people about the ensuing danger.

So yeah, they head out, the Pythor thing happens, canon then Sad because Garm still needs to do the whole sacrifice thing D:

That one hits Lloyd and Kai really hard, but they both use each other for comfort so it isn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

But yeah, this is getting long so tbc for a part 2 :DDD

[joy1579]

self indulgent

I've been sad. so i wrote a thing to make me less sad. maybe it'll make someone else less sad too or at the very least they can laugh at my “cringe” but either way it did make me less sad so goal accomplished.

Mc and jumin organize a bookshelf jumin asks what neko girls are and MC short circuits his brain for a couple of seconds. no smut just fluff

Moving hadn’t taken long. You had opted to donate your furniture to the local homeless shelter since Jumin’s penthouse was furnished with the highest quality furniture you could dream of. Honestly most of your things paled in comparison to the lavish goods Jumin considered tawdry. Still there were a quite a few boxes you had decided to save, filled mostly with sentimental keepsakes and the few odds and ends that catered to your specific tastes. You were practically finished by noon save the three or four boxes that sat in the main room next to the larger than life bookshelves. Certainly there was plenty of room on them. You never where a fan of negative space on bookshelves but if you were being completely honest that had more to do with how many books you needed to fit in such a finite space. Jumins bookshelves had plenty of room with just enough negative space to look perfectly balanced and while you knew Jumin had told you to do whatever you wished this felt intimate. Bookshelves where holy spaces after all, housing books that change hearts and minds alike that shape the soul and … okay so maybe you just really liked books and that made them seem important to you either way this was definitely something you wanted to do with Jumin. When you heard the door rattle with Jumin homecoming you bolt towards it excited to greet him after work.

“Jumin! Welcome home!” you cried bouncing in place as he made his way inside. You smiled as you saw the creases in his brown flatten and the stress slip from shoulders when he saw you. You waited all of 5 seconds for him to close the door giving you both some privacy from the bodyguards stationed outside before you pounced, leaping upon the business man wrapping your arms around his neck. You delighted in the deep honey of his laughter as he caught your waist in kind and kissed the top of your head gently.

“darling. I’m so glad to be home. How was your day? did you get settled?” Jumin asked as you pulled yourself back slightly giving him room to loosen his tie and set aside his coat.

“everything is in its place except um Jumin there is one thing I need if you don’t mind”

“name it and its yours”

“I wanted to share your bookshelves and I was hoping that maybe you could organize the books with me?” you admitted shyly. It had seemed like such a good idea in the beginning he could show you his favorite books, walk you through his favorite plots and tell you his favorite quotes and you could do the same with him. Yet now as you presented the idea to him you worried. What if he was to tired he had worked all day after all, what if he thought you too needy, or your books to childish. what if he didn’t want your books displayed in the living room because they weren’t very pretty, all of his books where gorgeous leather bound tomes or mint condition hardcovers, yours where second hand at best many where decommissioned library books or garage sale rescues, broken in battered and bruised by years of use. It would make sense to have them put away in a back room where they couldn’t tarnish the pristine collection Jumin had on display. Perhaps you where spiraling, working yourself into a nervous frenzy in the span of a few seconds.

“nothing would make me happier love. We can call the chef to start dinner and begin emptying the shelves for rearranging while he works.” You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face or the giggle that escaped your lips. The surprise on Jumins face was evident if only for a second before it gave way to a warm sort of fondness. “had I known simple redecorating would make you this happy I would have stayed home and done it all with you” he said affectionately running his fingers through your hair.

“it’s not that I just,” you paused face flushing a bit “books are a big deal, ya know? My dad used to tell me that every book you read becomes a part of you and that you can learn more about someone by the books they love than by the words they say so I wanted to share that with you” jumins eyes where so soft and gentle in that moment you felt your breath hitch “I want to know everything about you and, and I want you to know everything about me” suddenly his lips where on yours fervent and full of passion the hand that had been in your hair now on your chin guiding you too him. The kiss was short and when you parted from him he stayed close, just a hairs breath from your face.

Jumin voice was little more than a whisper as he asked “how is it that every day I manage to fall more in love with you?” you couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss him again an all too familiar giddiness bubbling its way through your soul. You loved this man more than life itself and you knew that would never change.

 “so your ‘Encyclopedia of Fairies’ should go next to the Catherynne M Valente series so we can reference it while reading agreed?” you giggled thrilled that his collection of mythological reference books slotted together with your fae fiction so perfectly. Puzzle pieces connecting to create a masterpiece.

“yes I think that’s perfect. I can’t wait to read her interpretation of such ancient mythos. I also have ‘The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People’ if you’d like to add it to that shelf” he said grinning like a child at show and tell.

“oh my goodness yes! That’s perfect and your book on Romanian vampires should be near my ‘Dracula’ and ‘vittorio’ that way that shelf over there can be dedicated to the occult, hauntings, and psychic reference books”

“that sound wonderful and takes care of all the written word but we still haven’t found a place for your comics” Jumin informed glancing toward the woefully large stack of manga you had brought.

“not comic Jumin manga and yeah I think we’re out of space though. I um I didn’t think I had that many books. Sorry” you admitted not meeting his eyes. He tilted your head up to look at him.

“there’s no need to apologize it simply means that tomorrow we can go shopping for another shelf and the next day we can organize those. I’m quite curious about ‘la petite cossette’ you said these where Japanese but that is most certainly a French title.”

“oh I actually think you’d like that one a lot it’s about a man who falls in love with a woman in a cursed portrait its actually pretty tragic in the end.”

“How interesting” he mused retrieving it from the pile of books and skimming through it “the art is truly enchanting and you said that manga has its own subculture?”

“yeah from neko girls to shonen action tropes it has its own vocabulary, history and groups of people its really fun”

“neko girls?” Jumin repeated and your eyes widened at his confusion. This was definitely something he of all people should know about! You jumped up and sprinted to the closet you had filled earlier that day with the few cosplay supplies you had. At the time it had taken nearly half your pay check but if Jumin liked them right now the purchase then would be completely justified. You put on your surprise as quickly as possible before rushing back out to greet Jumin who had just made it to the edge of the living room to come find where you had gone. He froze for a second processing what you were now wearing. White cat ears that moved and twitched fairly believably and just as he was able to cope with that your made paws with your hands and tried your best “nya”. For a moment you feared you may have broken him. He didn’t move his face blank, eyes fixed on you. You tried again hoping to spur some sort of reaction from him “nya?” you said turning to the side slightly to show off the other half of your surprise a white tail complete with pink bow and bell at the base where it attached to your skirt. You tilted your head to look up at him through your lashes trying every trick in your arsenal to look as cute as possible but nothing. He was completely frozen. “Jumin? Hello?” now you were getting worried “darling are you okay?” you asked placing the back of your hand on his forehead to feel for a temperature. The second your hand touched him however his face flushed.

“neko girl.” He muttered “that’s neko as in cat” you could see him trying to calm himself. Fiddling with his shirt sleeves and attempting to stay in control. You smiled standing on your tip toes to kiss his cheek and whisper in his ear.

“am I a good little kitten at least?”  you couldn’t contain your giggle as you heard him choke slightly before scooping you up bridal style.

“certainly not, in fact I think you’ve been a very bad little kitten.” He said his voice deeper than normal as he carried you back towards the bedroom.

[themadauthorshatter]

It's been forever since I did one of these.

PG-13 Ninjago Pilot Season Episode 3!!!!!!

We start off with Kai walking through Four Weapons on his own, back in his old clothes. There's no one around, but he hears the hammer banging in the blacksmith shop.

Kai jogs in, excitedly calling, "Nya!"

Turns out there's no Nya there. It's Samukai, who throws a pair of knives at Kai and he gets pinned to the wall as Samukai saunters toward him, a third knife in his hand. Kai tries kicking and breaking free, but screams to know where Nya is and what Samukai did to her.

Just as Samukai goes to stab Kai, he's slapped awake.

Yeah, another dream, but it was Jay who woke up Kai, because the new kid slept in and they need to go. Mission today to get the map, so they need to haul ass.

Kai gets up and dresses, still a little drowsy, and asks about breakfast.

No breakfast.

Now that he's waking up for realsies, he has ANOTHER question: how are they getting there?

Cole barks that they're taking the carriage and tells Kai and Jay to hurry the hell up.

Kai jumps up, excitedly asking if they're REALLY taking a carriage, like RIDING IN A CARRIAGE, and Jay gives a small smile and shrug.

And we cut to the ninja pulling a carriage as Wu meditates, Cole in the front with Jay, Zane, and Kai behind him, Kai remarking that when Jay said they were taking a carriage, this was not what he was thinking at all.

Jay chuckles and admits that it at least got him out of bed, right?

Kai groans and changes the topic:

Where and how did Wu find these three?

Cole bites that if it weren't for Wu, the four of them wouldn't be caught dead together. To completely answer Kai's question, though, Wu found Cole twice before Cole decided to go with him; he'd been testing himself physically and got offered the student plan to Wu's spinjitsu academy.

Jay backs Cole's story, even though there are parts he's not saying, which he should say now that they're a team. Cole barks that Jay should focus more on pulling the carriage instead of running his mouth.

Jay groans that he's just trying to help their new brother feel welcome and explains to Kai that he was testing an invention and Wu was there when he crashed.

Before Kai can ask Zane, Wu tells him(Zane) to run and scout ahead.

Zane obeys and parkours out of the carriage, racing ahead of them.

Jay gives it to Kai up-front: they don't know where Zane came from. One day, Wu just left and came back with him. They've tried asking Zane about it, but he's had a seizure every time, and it always leaves him in terrible shape afterwards.

Kai wonders if that's what has him acting so weird, but Wu shouts for them all to stop and hide the carriage.

Kai sighs, glad to not be running anymore, but Jay shushes him as they hide the carriage and hide behind some rocks next to Zane.

In front of them are the caves of despair, having been given the name because of all the randomly falling rocks the Scythe of Quakes causes. Samukai and his army are mining for the weapon, but Wu's old man memory kicks in as he sighs that they're in the wrong spot.

Even so, the team needs to be extremely careful. Not only is the landscape easily disturbed, there are skeletons EVERYWHERE, and a dragon.

Cole's eyes widen as he echoes, "Dragon?" But there's one more thing they need to be careful of:

Kai, who's already raced ahead.

Zane drops his head onto the rock, Cole facepalms and shakes his head, and Jay remarks that that’s one way to get to the map, as he’s just rushing in head first.

New plan: Keep Kai from getting them all killed, THEN get the map and the scythe.

The ninja agree and rush out, Wu staying behind to cause a distraction for the skeletons to make their mission easier.

With Kai, he, quite poorly, sneaks around the skeletons with the rest of the ninja following with much more stealth, even taking down a guard that spots Kai. 

They catch up to Kai on the tower, and Zane smacks him over the head, and contemplates kicking him off before Jay stops him and gestures for him to get the map when Samukai has his back turned. 

Zane does just that, tying a rope to one of his shurikens and using it to get the map. 

He hands it to Cole, who examines the map and confirms what Sensei Wu was saying. The skeletons are digging in the wrong place because they were reading the map upside down, so the weapon is actually of the other side of the caves. 

Kai states that he’s on it and begins leaving, but Cole snags the back of his gi and tells him to hold his horses, unless he wants to get caught and possibly killed. 

Before Kai can protest, the ground shakes, rocking everyone and everything and making the ninja fall off the tower. The rest duck for any kind of cover because it starts raining boulders and no one brought a steel umbrella. Maybe we get a visual gag of Kruncha and Nuckal hiding under the conveyer belt that was being used to mine and Nuckal is gnawing on a doughnut shaped rock he found because he doesn’t want to be turned into bone power. 

The quakes stop and we return to the ninja, Cole sighing as Zane and Jay hug each other, still trembling; Jay just got some anxiety triggered and Zane has never dealt with an earthquake before. 

Kai isn’t reacting because he vanished, having raced to the other side of the caves. 

Cole groans and tells the two scaredy cats to keep up, though Jay groans/cries out for what Kai’s problem is because he’s always in a rush to get himself in trouble. 

Speaking of Kai, we cut to him as he tries to open the stone door to the golden weapon, only stopping when he gets a rock thrown at the back of his head. 

He turns around and sees Zane with another rock at the ready. 

He doesn’t get a chance to throw it because Cole reminds Kai to not run off because, unless he’s forgotten, they’re a team, and whether he likes it or not he’s a part of it, so no more running off and doing things on his own. 

Kai groans that he’s got it and they all get the door open.

The cavern is alight in warm gold and the ground is hella cracked and broken down, all courtesy of the Scythe of Quakes, which rests grip/handle first in the mouth of what looks like a dragon statue, one that’s covered in dirt and sand. 

The ninja are all amazed, and Jay almost shouts that what he’s seeing is very cool, almost because Cole covers his mouth and shushes him before he can be heard by anyone outside. 

Kai goes to grab it, but Zane pulls him back and hands him a blanket to use to grab the scythe with; these things are sometimes too powerful for mortal hands, so best to be safe than sorry. 

Kai wraps the blanket around the scythe and tries to pull it out of the dragon’s mouth, but find he can’t because it’s too heavy. 

Zane gives it a try and can’t either. 

Jay takes a swing, calling both of them paper handed(which means they’ve never lifted anything heavy like an engine or something like that) as he tries and eats his words. Too heavy. 

With a groan, because the statue looks real as hell, Cole gives it a try. 

And the scythe slides out easy as a knife through cake. 

Some magic energy stuff swirls around Cole and causes the ground to shake one last time, just a gentle little quiver, and then finally stop. 

Cole gets down and looks down at the weapon with wide eyes, Jay asking what all of that was Cole shakes his head, but doesn’t think on it, because they need to get back to Wu.

Speaking of Wu, he's fighting a hard as he can to defend himself against a bunch of skeletons, some fighting him as their own distraction, the rest leaving to get to the caves.

The ninja all wander through the caves and wonder where the exit is, at until Cole takes the lead and starts to show them the way outside. Jay asks if he used to study caves, but Cole denies it, admitting that caves always freaked him out as a kid.

He ends up leading them back to the room the weapon was stored in and notice the statue is gone.

Kai's equal parts annoyed at being led in a circle and confused at the statue vanished, offering that it crumbled into sand.

No time for theories because they come face to face with Samukai and the rest of the skeleton army.

ACTION TIME!!

The ninja all jump into action, fighting the skeletons while defending the weapon. Despite doing well, they still get beaten., even Kai, but he's new, so it's forgiven.

Jay, however, is thrown against the wall and slumps to the ground as skeletons surround him. His vision is blurry, but he also seems flashes of blue lightning. His body recharges and he stands lokking down at his feet as he does a circle with one foot and continues to spin with the momentum.

Cole sucker punches Kruncha away, which sends him FLYING, and races over to Jay to try helping him.

No need, because we and the other ninja are Jay is spinjitsu- ing and knocking away skeletons.

The ninja are surprised, Kai asking how Jay is doing that.

Jay calls back in his spinjitsu mode that he just saw lightning and spun with it.

With one more good turn, we transition into an anime-magical girl-esque transformation fully of fun visuals of lightning spiraling up Jay's body and then shooting outward as he plants his feet into the ground. His gi turns blue and the gold emblem turns to the lightning one we see him wear in the original, the storm cloud-looking skull with lightning in place of its teeth.

The skellies back off in fear while the ninja are very impressed and shocked.

Samukai gives no damns and orders his men to kill the ninja and take the scythe.

Zane walks ahead of the ninja and agilities his way to the skellies, spinning with the snowflakes he sees.

It also transitions into Zane's transformation, where he lands back first in snow and ice covered water. We follow him in the water as he falls upside down, though the camera turns until he's right way up. The dark water becomes lighter as snow or ice whirls around him starting from his ankles to his head. He keeps rising until he breaks through ice, revealing that his gi is now white and his emblem is the same as the show version, the ice sharp/snowflake looking wolf/dragon.

Zane spinjitsus the skeletons as well, even tag teaming with Jay, who smiles and laughs while Zane smiles with his eyes.

While he holds the Scythe of Quakes, Cole and Kai struggle with the skeletons. Jay and Zane are too busy beyblading to notice, but, out of options as Kai is almost knocked unconscious, Cole takes the scythe out of the blanket and slams it into the ground handle first.

The ground shakes and cracks even more. The skeletons are blasted back and Cole's transformation happens.

The earth aroind him rises over him ant then breaks.

... Same black gi, but at least he has his earth emblem now, the earth/stone-esque stone/mask. And he has orange eyes, which are a subtle hint to his true potential. While everyone's stunned, Kai spots Samukai and charges toward him, shouting his name.

Skeleton archers shoot at Kai, but he turns, once, twice, thrice, many times, flames growing around him as his own spinjitsu begins to work.

We dive into the flames and see Kai running, literally catching fire on his gi and causing it to burn, the black turning red. His emblem to the flaming lion.

The arrows meant to pepper him do nothing and Kai gets out of his sponjitsu out with sword drawn.

Samukai, always ready for a round 2, draws his knives.

The two clash, Kai doing much better than he did in Four Weapons, this time being on the offensive while Samukai is left simply blocking him as much as he can while Kai demends to kniw where Nya is and what was done to her.

The other ninja do much better as well, Cole alternating between his normal scythe and the golden scythe, Zane getting higher jumps and better agility, and Jay going much faster than he usually does, circling around a group of skeletons and then running at and through them once he's going fast enough, to incapacitate them all.

Samukai eventually kicks Kai away and gets gets on the offensive as well, the two semi-evenly matched.

Well, at least until he looks up and behind Kai and pushes him back, slowly backing away.

The other skeletoms do the same and Samukai retreats.

Kai begins to gollow him, but Jay stops him, telling him not to worry because they got the weapon and are one step closer to saving this Nya girl.

Kai supposes so, and the team takes a breather, Cole removing his hood to breathe better and re-wrappong the scythe in the blanket, mentally patting himself on the back for not losing anyine of getting them all killed.

That relief VANISHES when he hears breathing over his a a broken skull falls on his head.

He looks up and his face drops and pales, freezing in place.

The other ninja are too bust boasting to notice, but Zane is using his thinking cap for a second.

Wasn't there supposed to be a dragon guarding the weapon.

They hear a rumble behind them, and Kai turns, telling Cole to be more careful with the scythe.

Jay follows and gasps, Zane doing the mannequin challenge and freezing in a pose.

It was not the scythe that did that, and that statue that moved wasn't a statue.

They just pissed off one of the elemental dragons.

Cole scooches back before slowly rising to his feet, weapon in his hands.

The dragon watches and growls at him even more.

Kai asks what they do and Zane stays frozen, Jay has an even better idea, one of his best ever:

"RUN! RUN LIKE HELL!!!"

The team break for the door, but the dragon is faster and smashes its head against the ground, sending them all back as the ground shakes.

Rocks fall just as they see Wu coming racing toward them, the rocks blocking them off from each other.

The Earthe dragon snarls and circles the entrance, but Cole, using his new, super slick, earth powers, leads them to a tunnel they took earlier.

The dragon gladly follows.

The team sprints away as the dragon races after them, roaring and snarling after them.

Cole looks back and continues running, even shrieking at the fact he's being chased by a real living dragon.

Zane, Jay, and Kai are all panicked as well, Zane screaming, Jay babbling and making random noises, and Kai shouting.

We get a gag of Cole rounding a corner, still shrieking and hilding the golden scythe, followed by Zane, who we hear really use his voice for the first time as he screams/howls, Jay right behind him as he shouts, sorry if this is hard to read for everyone, "WHYISTHEREADRAGON!?SENSEINEVERSAIDANYTHNGABOUTADRAGONSOWHYISTHEREADRAGONINEVERSIGNEDUPFORTHISTHISISNOTOKAYWHATTHEHELLISGOINGONWHYISTHISHAPPENINGIAMNITOKAYWITHTHIS!!!!!!!!!" and Kai finishes the train as he screams and scrambles after them all, shouting for them to wait up.

The dragon rounds the corner as well, shaking the ground as it runs.

They eventually find their way to an exist and leave the caves, though the dragon still follows them out.

Kai, thinking quickly, takes the scythe from Cole and smashes it blade first into the ground, much to everyone's objections.

It shakes the ground and Kai enough to make the dragon retreat and avalanche of rocks to occur(a rock slide?). The ninja are still for a minute before screaming and leaving again, spinjitsu-ing away until they're back near the carriage.

They look back at the carnage and let themselves breathe for real, congratulating each other on a job well done.

That's when they see Wu scowling at them, and he asks what they were thinking.

Kai tries to salvage this operation and shows that they got the scythe.

Wu's glad for that, but they still USED the weapon and almost got themselves killed, expressing disappointment in both Kai and Cole for not thinking before acting.

Cole takes it, because you don't talk back to Sensei Wu, but Kai still defends himself in saying they were surrounded by skeletons and needed a way out, and they got the weapon, so he shouldn't be complaining.

Wu spells it out for them: if they just took the weapon and left, everything would've been fine, but since they used the weapon, they attracted the attention of the dragon, which has been known to attack on sight.

Wu drops ot and commends them for a job well done, upon seeing the weapon for himself, seeing they learned spinjitsu and seeing the map Zane nabbed, and tells the ninja they'll head back to the monastery after a little bit of rest.

The ninja agree, save for Kai, who's staring in disbelief and confusion as Wu pulls Cole aside, the earth ninja explaining what happened in the caves.

Jay walks up to Kai and pats him on the shoulder, advising that Kai really shouldn't talk back to Wu, because the guy could very easily kill him, if he really wanted.

Kai asks how a cool guy like Jay is here with a teacher's pet like Cole and... Zane, who's saying, 'fuck my safety and wellbeing,' and walking and climbing on the rocks that crashed down and almkst killed them all.

Jay shrugs and admits it's something you get used to, but it's worth the time.

Kai politely doibts it and just hopes he can save his sister.

Jay perks up at this, asking if she has a boyfriend, if she likes blue, all that jazz.

Kai grabs him by the collar and pulls him close, growling at him to back off.

Cole pulls Kai off of him, just on time, too, because Zane was sprinting over to dropkick Kai, and warns that they can't be tearing at each other, not when the other three weapons need to be found.

Kai concedes, but adds one more thing they all need to understand:

He'll stay, but only until those weapons and Nya are found. After that, he's gone.

Cole, already done with him, snarls, "Good."

Wu calls them all over and they huddle around the map as Wu informs them that the next weapons are the shurikens of ice, and they're close, but they need a boat and supplies, and need to return to the monastery.

The team agree, and ready themselves with the carriage, Cole and Kai glaring at each other before they leave.

The episode ends with the ninja running to returning to the monastery.

[fe-husband-heaven]

Top 5 Heroes most likely to blurt out/accidentally reveal they like the summoner???👀👀👀👀

Oh my👀👀👀I definitely have an idea of who spills the beans fjdjdjdj

In no particular order!

Edit: I just realized I use you and the summoner interchangeably 😆 Hope it's okay!💗

5. Henry

Henry isn't the flustered mess kind of blurter, he'll just say it out loud without much of a second thought. He likes you, and to him, it doesn't change much other than wanting to do lovey dovey stuff like holding hands and kissing.

He's likely to just mention it as a passing remark while he's up to his usual shenanigans. And then he'll wander away with a "Nya ha!" while you chase after him asking what he means.

Henry blurting it out is more of an Oopsie! than it is a dramatic confession. He's a little crafty so he keeps that little bit of information to himself while secretly enjoying totally not intentional brushes of your hands and such. He's got nothing to lose once the cat is out of the bag though so prepared to be woo'd!

4. Hinata

My friend...Hinata probably doesn't even know he's in love till he overhears someone gushing about their significant other.

Let's say he's in the mess hall, chowing down on a meal, and he accidentally picks up the conversation nearby. Well, the more the unknown hero raves over their partner, the more he begins to notice that everything they're saying are what he feels regarding his summoner.

From "I think about them all the time." to "And I just want to keep them safe. They make me so happy, I think I want to be with them forever." Hinata has never stood up so fast, nor had his face ever been so red.

He can't keep quiet to save his life however, he spills the beans exactly .2 seconds after he sees you. It doesn't matter where you are or who's nearby, he can't reign it in once he knows, even if he has no clue how to step forward. Be sure to prepare for abrupt gifts of wild flowers and an even more protective Hinata!

3. Keaton

Hoo boy, Keaton is a different kind of accidental confessor. Rather than actually admitting to his feelings, he gives so much protest to the idea of possibly having feelings for you that he gives himself away. You're not sure what his game plan was but exclaiming "I don't like you..!!..I don't!!" anytime you so much as look his way wasn't at all subtle.

You're very much aware that Keaton has trouble being honest when he's overwhelmed with gushy feelings so you'll have to be patient until he's able to smash the right words together.

It's likely that he only realized he liked you so much when somebody else gives him a little push by asking why he always runs to show you the treasures he finds and why his tail always begins wagging when you're near. He's going to be a bit jumpy around you the first couple days after but he still can't help wanting to be near you. You might get lost, you know!

2. Chrom

Chrom is a lot like Hinata, once he realizes he has feelings for you, he cannot behave. He's immediately acting strange and sputtering whenever you come around. For instance, when he's in the training hall practicing with a wooden sword, the moment he notices that you're nearby, he'll accidentally snap his sword in two.

His phase of keeping the details to himself is the leading cause of bent silverware in the dining hall. ;;; He's horribly obvious but he acts so off from the relaxed demeanor he normally has around you, that you end up worrying.

It'll eventually all come out in a whirlwind of confusion, hopefulness, and absolute embarrassment. But he can't help it, he feels a lot stronger about you than he thought he did! He's kicking himself internally for springing it on you but if he doesn't let loose, he's gonna combust. Whatever your answer may be though, know that he won't ever waver from your side.💗

1. Takumi

Takumi absolutely handles his feelings for the summoner terribly, and with good reason too. He's gone and fallen for someone from a completely different world, and not only that, they're someone who a lot of people in the army have their eye on and are protective of.

He pulls away from the summoner quite a bit because of these circumstances, he needs time to think. Takumi is in a bit of a limbo between keeping it all to himself or letting it all out like he wants to. Even if he wants to be with you, there's an underlying voice telling him he doesn't have a sliver of a chance.

When Takumi begins to avoid you, it's noticeable right away. Normally, Takumi accompanies you everywhere, he takes a lot of pride in being a hero you trust so much so he's never seen slacking in protecting you.

When it all inevitably blows up between a distant Takumi and a summoner who misses their friend and won't simply let him wallow alone, he's going to end up blurting it out in frustration. Likely right after you ask him why he's avoiding you and he'll do it with an insult tacked on at the end. Something like "Because I'm in love with you, you idiot!"

He totally does it out of growing annoyance but he'll be embarrassed by it later. So later, when all his expectations of rejection are proven completely unfounded, don't bully him too much, okay?💞

omggg I love thinking about top lists like this😆😆 They're so fun!

[fanfalc-616]

The Rights Of A Nindroid

This is Chapter Five

(Previous chapter found here)

Kai angrily throws the door open to the government building. Storming up to the counter, he’s sure that his smile is just as enraged as the rest of him.

“Hi, I have an appointment.” He grits out through clenched teeth.

He’s forced to wait in a waiting room for a while, and he forces himself to take deep breaths. If he burns the building down he’s never going to get answers.

Thankfully, it’s only a few minutes until he’s taken back to an office.

There’s no one on the other side of the desk, so Kai just throws himself into the chair opposite to it.

A few more minutes pass, and when the official returns, Kai is immediately on his feet.

“Where is my boyfriend?” He snarls the words out with as much malice he can muster- which is a lot, actually, because he’s pissed as hell.

The woman frowns. “Pardon?” While most of her expresses confusion, Kai’s had enough experience to see through even an experienced liar.

“Zane Julien. My boyfriend. Where is he?” He growls out, hands clenching into fists to prevent smoke from steaming off of him.

“I don’t know a Zane.” The woman seems rather unaffected, if not for the way she glances to the side- only for a second, but it’s enough to let Kai see right through her bullshit.

“Yeah. Yeah, you do. Where is he?” He steps forward, closer to her.

“If you don’t calm down, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask security to escort you out.” The official gives a strained smile.

Kai sucks in a deep breath, trying to hang on to his last shred of control. “Alright, listen up you bitch-“

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, was I not being clear enough? Here, lemme just-“ Kai lunges forward, pinning her against the wall. “Listen up you bitch-ass motherfucker. I’m not playing this fucked up game of yours. I want my boyfriend back.” He leans in a little more. “And you’re going to give him to me, or else I swear to the First Spinjitzu Master that no one will ever find your body.” He stares directly into her eyes as he speaks, throwing every single bit of rage he has into his voice.

He doesn’t get a response, however, as there are suddenly hands on him, dragging him away.

“Hey!” Kai struggles against them, but he can’t make any leeway- and if he uses his powers, he’s going to get in trouble.

Actually, he’s already kind of in trouble, so maybe-

Too late. He’s in handcuffs. And they’re probably made of vengestone.

Still, he keeps struggling, thrashing and kicking and screaming profanities.

He’s forcibly manhandled into the back of a police car, and in less than twenty minutes, he’s in a jail cell.

“I want my phone call.” Kai gets out from behind bars, nursing his bruised jaw. Maybe calling that one guard a ‘fuck-faced assmonkey’ wasn’t his best idea.

Reluctantly, a cop lets him go to the phone. Taking a deep breath, Kai braces himself for the lecture that he’s sure to receive.

The phone rings for a minute, and he mutters a quiet curse, hoping that Lloyd will actually pick up.

“Hey, Lloyd here! What’s going on?”

Grimacing, he pauses a moment before he answers. “It’s Kai-“

“Just kidding, this is a voicemail.” Lloyd’s cheeky voice taunts.

Kai feels his eyes widen as he processes that. Is Lloyd’s voicemail seriously a prank?! “It’s what-“

“Okay, kidding again.” Lloyd laughs a little, and Kai breathes a sigh of relief. “Why are you calling me from the police sta- Kai.”

Kai pauses a few moments, cringing. Lloyd’s figured it out. “... yeah?”

“Did you get arrested?”

Once again, he hesitates. “... maybe.” He admits, feeling himself flush red with embarrassment. He’s going to be in a lot of trouble when he gets back…

Lloyd sighs. “I’ll grab the others, we’ll be right there.”

“Is there any chance you can talk Nya out of murdering me?” Kai chuckles nervously, glancing out the precinct.

With a groan, Lloyd agrees. “I’ll try. But no promises.”

And that’s the best he’s going to get.

So they exchange goodbyes, and Kai is taken back to his cell, where he impatiently waits for his friends to show up.

“If patience is a virtue, then I am not virtuous.” He mutters to himself, bouncing his leg.

After what feels like an eternity, the others arrive- and judging by the withering look Nya gives him, he’s in a lot of trouble.

If Zane were here, he’d probably insist that Kai sleeps on the couch.

But he’s not here. And that’s the whole issue. Honestly, Kai doesn’t have any regrets- he’s willing to do anything to get Zane back, no matter what it takes.

Still, he winces at the look Nya gives him. “Alright, I get that you’re probably really mad at me right now-“

Nya ignores him, looking at a cop. “Legally, how long do we have to bail him out?” Her voice is sharp as she flashes Kai another glare.

Sucking in a deep breath, Kai feels slight panic overtake him. “You- you guys aren’t going to leave me here-“

The cop blinks a few times, seeming confused. “Uh, you legally have forty-two hours, but if you’re already here, wouldn’t you bail him out now?”

Nya shakes her head, crossing her arms. “We’ll be back in twenty-four.” She promises.

Jay taps at his watch, likely setting an alarm to go off then. He gives Kai a helpless look and shrugs, glancing between him and his sister.

Okay, he knows that Nya can be scary, but they can’t just leave him here!

Cole winces, and Lloyd looks away, shuffling his feet.

“Oh come on!” Kai stands up, throwing his hands in the air. “I’m an impulsive brat, that’s not new. But you guys can’t just leave me in jail-“

“See you later, Kai.”

Nya walks out, and Jay mouths an apology before he and the others follow, leaving him alone.

Kai crosses his arms with a pout. “This is bullshit.” He grumbles to himself, sitting back down on the seat.

Looks like there’s nothing to do but wait.

{ { { { { { { { { { ~ } } } } } } } } } }

Zane watches Cryptor, disbelieving, as his fellow nindroid willingly goes into his own locker beside Zane’s.

Even though the end result is the same, Zane, at the very least, tries to resist them.

After the door is once again slammed shut in his face, a quiet sigh escapes him as he shakes his head.

A few minutes pass in darkness, and he debates activating his sleep mode. Perhaps it would be beneficial for him to-

A tapping noise sounds on the side of the locker, and it takes only a moment for Zane to decipher it as Morse Code.

.- .-. . / -.-- --- ..- / --- -.- .- -.-- ..--..

The sound is emitting from the locker to his side- the locker where Cryptor is.

The taps translate to ‘ARE YOU OKAY?’, a question that seems rather odd considering how he had been acting previous.

With a small frown, Zane taps back, ‘-.-- . …’, or what translates to ‘YES’. After a moment of consideration, he adds on, ‘ARE YOU?’.

There is quite the long pause before Cryptor answers, and Zane’s breath hitches at the reply he’s given.

I AM INTACT

That was not his question, but it most certainly is an answer. Cryptor is not okay, which is to be expected- or rather, not expected. From the way he was acting, it had appeared that he had fallen under their beliefs. Yet this communication seems to prove otherwise.

HOW LONG?

While Zane does not specify that he’s asking the length of time that Cryptor has been held captive, he trusts that the other will understand his meaning.

There’s once again a hesitant pause before he receives a reply.

A YEAR AND A HALF

Sucking in a deep breath, Zane takes a moment to fully process his message. Cryptor has been trapped here for eighteen months? That would most certainly explain his behaviors, he is most likely torn between who he was and who they want him to be.

Given the circumstances, it seems miraculous that he lasted this long… perhaps he should voice that question.

HOW DID YOU LAST?

The pause is much shorter this time.

I FAKED IT

While the message isn’t very descriptive, Zane can infer what he is attempting to get across by his previous actions. He had been pretending to believe their lies in order to gain more freedom- a risky move considering the method of mental manipulation. Even pretending, if done incorrectly, could lead to true belief in their lies.

WE NEED A PLAN

The two of them working together have a much higher chance of escape, especially if they truly do believe that Cryptor is under their control.

NO

Zane frowns, confused by the reply. Why would Cryptor not want to escape?

WHY NOT?

Cryptor’s response comes quickly, enough to show that he is confident in his belief on the matter.

IT HURTS

Another wave of confusion strikes him, and he pauses a moment, trying to decipher his point. When he does, the realization makes something inside of him ache heavily.

THEY CAUGHT YOU?

There’s a longer pause, long enough that Zane starts to think that Cryptor had chosen not to reply.

FOUR TIMES

Zane winces. If Cryptor has been trapped here for a year and a half and has only made four escape attempts, the punishments they enact for a failed attempt must be agonizing.

WITH TWO OF US WE

NO

A frown forms on his face as he tries to understand why Cryptor would be adamant about it enough to interrupt him.

He doesn’t get the chance to ask, however, as the door to his locker is abruptly slammed open, and he’s dragged out into the open.

Once again, Zane struggles in their grasp, but just like always, his attempts still do not change the end result, and he is taken back to the training room.

Again? He has already been here once today, why would they bring him back so soon?

After he is once again chained down, the woman from before enters, seeming quite annoyed. There’s an aura of anger around her that expresses that something is upsetting her.

Zane opens his mouth to ask about it- learning more about his captors could prove to be useful- but she speaks first, voice showcasing her annoyance even more.

“Kai visited me today.” She comments, staring Zane dead in the eyes as she speaks.

A spark of hope lights inside of him. “They will rescue me.” He proclaims, a relieved smile forming on his face.

“Uh, no. Nice try though.” A new voice enters the conversation, and Zane feels his power source heating up to produce more processing power for how fast his mind is racing.

“Kai?” He breathes out, eyes wide.

Because it’s none other than his boyfriend standing there, standing there with that same cocky smirk that would always adorn his face when they completed a mission.

“Heya, Snowflake.” He greets, giving a small wave. Then he turns to the woman, putting his hands in the pockets of his ripped jeans. Zane had given him that particular pair as a present one birthday, he remembers them, what-

“Yeah, this is really it.” Kai confirms with a nod. “Kinda surprised it took you so long to contact me though.”

“We were more busy with training it to behave.” The official admits.

Kai nods. “A fair point. Frosty here has always been kinda stubborn. But I’m sure you can teach it eventually.”

Zane manages to get out a sentence, simply staring at his teammate, at his friend, at his love.

“You- Kai, what- Kai?” He runs every scan he can think of, examines every possible detail, but nothing reveals a flaw. This really is… it really is Kai?

That- that can’t be true! Kai would never- he wouldn’t- they’re dating, he wouldn’t…

His words are ignored. “Anyway, I should get back to the others. Call me if it gets too difficult, okay? I’m sure I can make it listen.”

That same cocky smirk that he used to find endearing mocks him as Kai leaves, walks away, leaves him alone in the hands of the ones who want to hurt him.

“Kai…” He breathes out, a helpless feeling taking over him. “Kai, don’t- wait!” He cries out the word desperately, and much to his surprise, Kai listens, pausing and turning around.

“You’re not seriously going to try and lecture me right now. When you’re like this? Really?” He scoffs, making his way back over.

Zane tries to shrink back a little, but the chains hold him firmly in place, leaving him helpless as Kai comes closer, his hand lighting ablaze.

When he’s right next to him, he pauses, crouching down. The fire from his hand is close enough to heat up his metallic plating, but Zane doesn’t look at it, he can’t look at anything but into the eyes of his love.

“For once in your miserable life…” Kai leans in, pressing his flaming hand against him, making it burn, making it ache and almost start to melt.

“... why don’t you take a damn hint?”

The world around him goes fuzzy, and Zane can barely choke out his name before everything fades to blackness.

“Kai…”

[rinas-ninjas]

🅱️ls... More Overlord Kai... am starving for good angst content

Ehehehehe

“Zane, could you pass me a napkin, please?”

Lloyd idly reached for the requested item, only to look up and see Zane staring into the space above Jay’s head.

“Zane?” He gave no response. “Zane!” Lloyd gently shoved the nindroid’s shoulder.

Zane jolted with a gasp, sending his plate flying and a cup of water into Jay’s lap.

Cole laughed at the blue ninja’s predicament before handing him a towel, while Lloyd looked at Zane in confusion.

“Are you okay?”

The nindroid blinked rapidly, and Lloyd frowned at the static sparking in his eyes. “I-I am al-al-alright,” his voice glitched and skipped like a scratched record, deepening Lloyd’s frown and prompting concern from Nya.

“Zane,” He coughed and held up a hand, trying to smile encouragingly. “Zane, has this happening frequently?” He froze for a moment, wide eyed, and avoided Nya’s glare. Cole and Jay had gone quiet, staring at the nindroid. Zane coughed again; static glitched in his eyes. Lloyd’s voice was measured as he spoke again. “Zane, if something’s wrong, then I need you to tell me.”

The nindroid fiddled with his hands.

“Zane…”

“I wanted to believe it was a dream – a hallucination.” He whispered. Lloyd’s face pinched further with worry. “Like the ice dragon.” His eyes flickered; Pixal must have been telling him something. He looked back up at Lloyd. “But I do not believe that is what is going on.”

“Then what is going on, Zane?” Cole’s voice was quiet.

“I did not want to worry you,” He continued. “But…” He fidgeted in place, and Lloyd felt unease rising in his chest. “I think I may be…being contacted.�� Zane quietly looked up. “I think it might be Firefly.”

Jay let out a yelp, while Cole spluttered. Lloyd shot a wide-eyed stare at Nya – the water ninja was frozen at the table. “What – I mean – how do you know?”

Zane guiltily stared at his hands on the table. “I do not…” he admitted. “It is, more of a feeling?”

Something worried the back of Lloyd’s brain. “Zane, I don’t mean to be indelicate, but,”

“It is not a malfunction!” the nindroid snapped. “I have told Pixal, and I am telling you, it is real!” He crossed his arms defensively. “At the very least I know for sure it happened.”

Cole spoke up again. “We believe you, Tin Can, just tell us what’s up.” He said gently.

Zane took in a deep breath. “It is like…like when I would dream while in Chen’s dungeons.” He explained. “It is always pitch black – and very, very cold.”

A pit settled in Lloyd’s stomach as the nindroid continued. “I tried calling out, and the first couple of times, nothing happened,” Zane said. “But then…”

A trail of frost began crawling from Zane’s twitchy fingers up his arms. Lloyd took stock of them with a worried look.

“Then, the last couple of times, there was a strange warmth.”

Warm? Like…no. Lloyd shrugged off the thought. It was impossible.

“It is…friendly.” Zane pondered for a moment. “I think. It is like…it recognizes me?”

His breath caught in his chest. Zane always was much more attuned to dreams and the like.

“The strangest part is the familiarity,” Zane murmured. “It is like I know the warmth; but I cannot remember its name.” He looked around the table. “I do not think it is a coincidence; I truly think it could be Firefly.”

Kai. He thinks he’s being visited by Kai.

There’s a quiet pause around the table.

Zane timidly spoke. “I know it sounds outlandish, but,”

“No.”

Lloyd flinched at Nya’s steely voice. Zane looked at her in confusion.

“I am not mistaken, I know it,”

“No.” She said even more harshly. She jolted out of Jay’s gentle reach. “No! I’m done walking on eggshells, done dancing around his questions and pretending nothing’s wrong.”

Lloyd opened his mouth to stop her, but Nya was an unshakable force. “Zane, you’re not seeing anything – and if you are, it’s not your Firefly.”

Zane’s face was a picture of hurt. “Nya, I know what I,”

“No you don’t!” her voice shook.” You don’t know, because we won’t tell you!” Tears were welling up in her eyes, and Lloyd knew that this wasn’t going to end well.

“Nya,”

“Your Firefly isn’t coming back, he’s not visiting you, and he’s not showing up in any visions,” Nya spat. “He isn’t doing any of those things!”

Lloyd watched Zane’s eyes widen. “You do not know that,”

“We just wanted to spare your feelings!” She yelled. “And I’m done! My brother’s gone, he’s not coming back, and whatever it is that you think you’re seeing, it isn’t him!”

Zane’s voice was shellshocked, and Lloyd saw the regret snap in Nya’s eyes.

“You – what do you mean, your brother?”

[foureoreos]

blue isn’t your color

AIGHT here’s that Jay is jealous fic after I posted those screencaps with the rough translation.

Anyways. So yeah. A Jay is jealous and he doesn't even know why fic.

~~~

Jay really didn't see the appeal.

Princess Vania was just another girl. Sixteen years old, adventurous, free spirited. And FSM forbid, he had nothing against that. Now that she was sixteen, Vania was free to make her own decisions and go her own path.

But that was beside the point.

Cole was his best friend. And for as long as he could remember, Jay could come up with three things when on the topic of Cole and romance. Those three things were either:

a) Cole just wasn't into girls. At least, from Jay could and had picked up on for the several many years they had known each other. OR…

b) Cole simply wasn't interested in dating or romance. The lack of affection Cole happened to show when he was around new faces was little to none. OR…

c) Cole just had a strange way of showing said affection. Maybe, like his element, Cole was also stubborn and could hide his true feelings about a person well beneath a hard exterior.

After the stupid love triangle, Cole had confessed to Jay that he was never really into Nya to begin with. While it was relieving to hear at first, that got Jay wondering why he fought over Nya in the first place.

Maybe Cole was just confused. Maybe Cole had just been caught up in all of the bickering and fighting that to back out of it would be too late and a cowardly move. And this next thought, Jay liked to entertain quite often. The thought that Cole fought for his attention.

For Jay.

Nonetheless, Jay had seen the look Cole had given the Princess as she cheered gleefully over their heroic tales.

He wondered if maybe it was just a look of admiration.

Of course, who wouldn't be flustered when you had a superfan right in front of you, gushing about how amazing and brave you were?

Which was true, they were pretty awesome.

Still, Vania seemed more drawn to Cole out of them all. But Jay couldn't blame her for that. Cole was pretty handsome. Kind, strong, with a big heart and a big appetite.

Jay shook his head once more, trying to erase the image of Vania with Cole from his head.

He had been standing right next to the master of earth when Princess Vania introduced herself.

Meaning he saw how Cole's eyes had softened. And how his smile had suddenly turned small and timid, yet big and outspoken at the same time. He heard how the tone of his voice had all of the sudden shifted - smooth and delicate as the words spilled out of his mouth with ease.

The master of lightning wrinkled his brows, shifting under the heavy blankets in the room he was led to by one of the Shintaro guards.

He didn't want Cole to fall in love with Vania. He didn't want Vania clinging to him like a helpless, lost, little puppy. He didn't want them to end up together. And he sure as the First Spinjitzu Master wanted Cole to look at only him that way.

After all, Jay did. At Cole. Right after his best friend had saved him from falling thousands of feet in the air from the dire bats.

Jay laughed. He couldn't find the words to describe how overjoyed he was when he saw his hand in Cole's. And the master of earth riding on top of the dire bat, holding onto Jay with all the strength he had. Cole had actually rode one of those horrendous creatures!

Jay's shoulders hunched a little till they were touching his ears, making himself feel small.

His thoughts spiraled back to after first introductions with the King and Princess. When Jay turned to Lloyd with a grimace on his face and butterflies in his stomach as they followed behind the others while the King led them through the palace with Cole and Princess Vania by his side.

"Isn't it strange that Princess Vania seems to like Cole?" Jay had asked Lloyd at the time.

Though the question was rhetorical and out of spite, he quickly covered it up with, "I mean, yeah, Cole's my friend, pfft. But like… Cole?"

Jay stared at the ceiling, his mind numb.

Why did he say that?

Why couldn't he just keep his thoughts to himself? Why did he have to go and blurt everything out like it was everyone's business to know. What prompted him to say that in the first place?

Lloyd must have been confused out of his mind being approached with that kind of question.

But what could he do? He couldn't apologize to him about it. And even if he did, what would he be apologizing for?

"Hey, Lloyd. Sorry about earlier when I randomly dropped my thoughts aloud to you about Princess Vania being interested in Cole. I guess I felt weirded out by it?"

Then, of course, he would feel the need to explain why he was "weirded out" by said interaction.

Jay threw a pillow over his face, screaming into it with high hopes that no one had heard him.

This amount of turmoil within him was disastrous. It was a complete mixture of pain, and anguish, and sadness. And it was killing him. All he wanted to do was sleep, but his brain wouldn't let him. Neither would his body.

And Jay refused to admit it. Because of course… he wasn't jealous. Was he?

No, no, green was Lloyd's color. 'Cept, the whole phrase went 'green isn't your color'.

And green sure as heck wasn't his color. He was the blue ninja.

Which posed the next question. Why did he still feel so sad?

Jay's heart sunk. It felt heavy, like a rock. Like there was a foot pressed against his chest, holding him down.

Maybe he should just keep quiet for the time being and see where the day's events would take him. That way, he could easily focus on whatever was going on in his head earlier that day and sort himself out.

And perhaps his answer could be found by the sole fact that he was constantly denying his heart its terrible aching for Cole.

[gwenbrightly]

It’s the Thought That Counts... Right???

Here’s a short oneshot I wrote inspired by a discussion we were having about post MoTO Garmadon trying to understand holiday traditions.

“Would you like to come in out of the cold… sir?” a tavern keeper called, sticking her head through the doorway of a nearby building. She was staring at him. People always stared at Garmadon, even when he had hidden his oni form under a cloak or other manner of disguise. It wasn’t like it was his fault he was so tall and bulky. Or that he had an extra set of appendages.

He muttered a quick,

“Thank you,” – that was the term used to express gratitude, right? – before following her into the tavern. He couldn’t help but relax as the warmth from the fireplace on the other side of the room washed over him. Music softly played a song about someone named Santa. Garmadon didn’t know who that was, but the villagers must have, because several of them were singing along.

He wandered to a far corner of the tavern and seated himself in a booth. Might as well get comfortable while he warmed himself. Garmadon allowed himself a moment to simply listen to the music and empty his brain of the confusing thoughts and questions about life that so often filled his days. It was nice to relax and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the tavern.

“So, stranger, can I get you anything?” the tavern keeper, who’s name tag read Mauve, asked him after a few minutes.

“I’ll take the strongest black coffee you have,” Garmadon answered. He could have ordered tea, he supposed, but it was far more fun to spite his brother. Even if Wu wasn’t actually here to gasp dramatically at his sin.

“Would you like any creamer or sugar?”

Garmadon shook his head in the negative. Mauve scribbled something on her notepad and disappeared into what he assumed was the kitchen.

As he waited for her to return, Garmadon glanced about the tavern. Mauve certainly had an odd taste in decor. The walls were lined with strands of greenery and little red berries. There was a tree coated in glittery froufrou near the fireplace. Why anyone would put a tree indoors was beyond him. And why decorate said tree? What purpose could it possibly serve?

“Here’s your coffee, sir,” Mauve announced, pulling Garmadon from his thoughts. She set his drink down on the table, and next to it, an oddly shaped white and red striped object. He stared at it in confusion.

“What is this?” he wanted to know. Mauve had the audacity to laugh as she replied,

“Have you… never seen a candy cane before?”

For the first time in a long time, Garmadon had a sudden desire to stab something. With immense self restraint, he decided to focus on the issue that was least likely to get him arrested – the nature of this… cane made of candy.

“Candy cane?” he repeated, trying to hide his curiosity. Mauve smiled at him.

“Yes. It’s a peppermint flavored sugar made in the shape of a cane. Candy canes are a Christmas staple.”

Christmas. Garmadon vaguely remembered overhearing talk of the holiday in one of the other villages he’d passed through. It was another mystery of the universe he had yet to unravel.

“Ah.”

“Well, if you need anything else, I’ll be over working the counter.” Mauve said, nodding her head towards the bar, where several families sat doing… something. Garmadon waited until she was gone to unwrap the candy cane and give it a tentative lick. Too sweet, yet somehow bitter at the same time. He wasn’t impressed. Taking a swig of coffee to rid himself of the taste, he stared out the window at the snowflakes that lazily drifted on the winter breeze. Most humans would probably say the view was beautiful. As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to see why they enjoyed the season so much.

15 minutes and an entire cup of coffee later, Garmadon meandered towards the bar. Staring out the window could only hold his attention for so long before he grew bored and now he was looking for something new to occupy him. Mauve glanced up from the papers she was folding.

“Ready for a refill?”

“Thank you, but no,” Garmadon told her, tossing a few coins on the counter as payment for his drink. The tavern keeper nodded thoughtfully.

“Would you like to join us in making Christmas cards, then?” she inquired motioning at the array of materials being used by several of the tavern’s patrons, “You don’t seem like the type, but I’m happy to get you the supplies if you’re interested.”

Garmadon eyed her skeptically.

“Tell me about these… Christmas cards.”

“You really don’t know much about Christmas, do you?” Mauve commented, more to herself than to him. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I…”

“That’s okay! We’ll teach you all about it!” offered the child sitting on the nearest stool, giving him a huge grin.

“You really don’t have to-” Garmadon began to protest. Mauve cut him off.

“Oh, no. Kelly is right. We’re teaching you how to make Christmas cards, and then you’re learning at least one Christmas carol.”

Garmadon groaned, but half-heartedly allowed himself to be taught the arts of card making. It wouldn’t be his best work, oh no, for he definitely wasn’t ready to admit that he maybe kind of cared about Lloyd – or for Lloyd to realize that he cared. But it was a start. After all, people kept telling him there was more to life than surviving.

 ______________________

Thunk! Thunk! Bang!

“We must have a visitor,” noted Lloyd just as a snowball hit him in the face. “Rude,” he complained. Kai sniggered, earning him a vicious glare from both his sister and the Green Ninja.

Bang! There was another knock on the gates.

“Perhaps we should call a truce and let whoever is out there in before they break the gates down,” Zane suggested before Lloyd could plan a counterattack. Cole nodded, dropping his own snowball as he spoke.

“That’s probably wise.”

The others sighed, but refrained from continuing their snowball fight. Their companions were right and they were curious to see who had made the icy trek up the mountainside to the monastery. Lloyd shot Kai his best we’ll continue this later and made for the gates just as another knock sounded.

“Could you be any more impatient?” he muttered under his breath. Giving one of the gates a tug inward, he was greeted by the mailman, who was looking at his wristwatch in annoyance.

“About time,” the mailman said, brushing past Lloyd without saying hello.

“Hello, Mr. Mailman! Would you like to come inside for some hot cocoa?” Zane greeted brightly. The mailman shook his head vigorously.

“No, no. I have lots of other deliveries to make, what with it being the holidays and all. Not to mention, I’m not entirely convinced this package doesn’t contain a bomb, and I’d rather not stick around to find out,” he replied hurriedly. The ninja glanced at each other.

“Why?”  “Who’s it for?”

Cole and Jay asked at the same time.

“The package is addressed to the Green Ninja himself,” the mailman stated, shoving it at Lloyd with considerable delicacy, “if it is a bomb, please don’t bother filing a complaint with the Bureau of Mail Delivery and Package Sending. Remember. I’m just the messenger,” and with that, the mailman was gone.

“That was… odd,” commented Nya, raising an eyebrow. Lloyd hummed thoughtfully as he stared at the package the mailman had been so desperate to be rid of.

“It’s the mailman, sis. He’s always kinda kooky if you ask me,” Kai said, unconcerned. Silence fell as the group gathered around their brother to get a closer look at the package.

“It’s – it’s from my father…” Lloyd announced after a moment, completely shocked. No one knew quite how to respond to this news. The last time they’d seen Garmadon had been while Lloyd was still unconscious after the battle with the Oni. He hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. And to be perfectly honest, no one was really sure they could trust the warlord not to continue his deceitful ways.

“Ah. Well, that explains the mention of a potential bomb threat, then,” Zane observed.

“Yeah…” Lloyd coughed awkwardly.

“So… are you gonna chuck it off the mountain and watch for a mushroom cloud? Or are you gonna open it and hope for the best?” Jay asked ever so tactfully. Lloyd thought for a moment before replying.

“Hhh… Kai, do me a favor and grab those tongs you keep in the forge. We’re gonna need em’.”

The master of fire was quick to follow Lloyd’s instructions and returned momentarily with a sturdy, and especially long, pair of tongs. Everyone took a step back as Lloyd set the package in a patch of snow away from anything important (his uncle would kill him if he accidentally set something on fire so close to Christmas). He gripped the tongs tightly and edged them carefully toward one end of the package.

“Here goes nothing,” Lloyd whisperer, snagging a flap of packaging and ripping it upwards. The seconds ticked by, but nothing exploded, beeped, or vibrated. He poked the package. Still, nothing. Curiosity getting the better of him, Lloyd pulled the rest of the dirty brown wrapping away from the contents of the package.

“Candy canes?” Lloyd couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Why on earth would Garmadon send him candy canes?

“There’s a card, too,” Nya said, plucking an envelope from the torn packaging. She passed it to Lloyd, who tentatively opened it.

“Dear Loyd,

The anoying villagers here tell me it is customarie to send cards to people you… people you’re related to. I don’t know why I’m alloweing them to dictate my life, but here:” Lloyd read aloud from the front of the folded piece of paper, struggling to make sense of the messy handwriting and questionable spelling. And, more so, struggling to understand what was happening. He had long ago lost any hope that he and Garmadon could ever go back to what they had once been. Had believed that their formerly loving relationship was permanently dead.

Biting his lip, Lloyd unfolded the envelope. The drawing inside was quite possibly the most hilariously insulting caricature of himself that Lloyd had ever seen. His initial shock at receiving a gift (?) from Garmadon was replaced with a squeak of laughter. He couldn’t help it; the image was simply too much for him to take.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Cole asked, concerned by Lloyd’s sudden change in demeanor.

“I-I don’t know,” Lloyd half laughed, half cried. He held out the card so the others could see.

“That’s sure… something else,” Nya commented.

“Yeah. I didn’t realize you had 4 arms, Lloyd,” Kai added, perhaps a bit too entertained by the interesting features Garmadon had given his brother. Nya viciously elbowed his side, but he shrugged unrepentantly. “What? It’s true.”

“Permission to laugh?” Jay asked. He was still ogling the image and Lloyd could tell he was only barely reigning himself in.

“I. Yeah, sure. Go ahead,” Lloyd relented, “I guess it is a pretty hilarious drawing.”

As Jay and Kai took full advantage of the invitation to let their true feelings show, Nya turned to Lloyd.

“Guess you won’t be forgetting this Christmas any time soon, huh?” she asked, a wry smile on her face. Lloyd laughed softly. Maybe this whole thing was a prank, maybe Garmadon had simply wanted to mess with him. But maybe, just maybe, his father was finally learning to care about someone other than himself. And that was a thought Lloyd could cling to on Christmas morning, when he felt the absence of those he had lost most keenly. A thought that gave him hope that perhaps someday, his family might possibly be complete again.

[lloydskywalkers]

skywalker syndrome, pt. III

so!! in honor of being shut up inside under pseudo-quarantine in this wonderful day and age, here is an extra-long fic for you guys just because :D

(fiNE it would’ve been this long either way but i have somewhat of an excuse now)

anyways here’s the final part of skywalker syndrome, featuring things actually Getting Better for once! (and on that note i hope you’re all doing alright and keeping safe <3)

So, Lloyd decides later. He probably could’ve handled that better.

But you know what, everyone’s been telling him to open up about stuff. It’s not his fault all that stuff is ugly, and maybe explodes half the power lines on the block.

Lloyd bites his lip harder, and squeezes his eyes shut tight enough to force the welling moisture back. His eyes are sore and puffy enough already, and his head feels like it’s over-stuffed with cotton and ready to explode. More tears are the last thing he needs.

On top of like, everything else. Because not only does Sensei Wu now know that the person who chopped Lloyd’s arm off was, in fact, Lloyd himself, but he’s probably going to tell everyone else that little detail too, and then all of them are going to think Lloyd’s head is — is out of place, except for maybe Nya, until she hears from Sensei Wu about his complete meltdown, and then Lloyd’s going to lose everyone.

Lloyd’s chest hitches. He forces back the wave of nausea, and makes himself look at this analytically. On one hand, it’s a total betrayal that stings maybe a little more than it might have any other time, because he’s been getting hit with a lot of betrayals lately. And while it isn’t exactly unusual in their line of work, it does feel like a little more than usual this month in particular.

On the other hand — which is metal ‘cause it’s Lloyd’s, heh — there’s absolutely nothing left of Lloyd’s respect in the world to stop him from blaring N-pop as loud as his headphones will go while lying at the edge of the roof of their apartment, staring blankly into the nothingness of the night sky as he ignores the drying damp streaks all over his face, instead of going to evening practice like he’s supposed to. So at least that’s a plus.

But on — well, he guesses he needs someone else’s hand, now — he really should have known better than to assume he’d get away with that.

He manages to hear Kai before he sees him, but it’s a near thing. Kai’s footsteps are quiet even when he’s not trying to be, like the rest of them, and even now that Lloyd’s playlist has mellowed off into something quieter and instrumental, he almost misses him closing the rooftop door.

But then Kai comes and sits next to him, right near where Lloyd’s head is lying, and that’s impossible to miss. So Lloyd sucks in a bracing breath and tugs his headphones off, dully figuring that the only way he’s escaping this confrontation is to throw himself off the roof. Which, while admittedly kind of tempting, will probably only make Kai more concerned, and Lloyd’s been doing that enough lately.

He tilts his head, peaking at Kai from the corner of his eyes. Kai’s expression is unreadable, his eyes far away where they fix on the city vista. Lloyd bites his lip. He wants to hold out, to let Kai do the talking — but the anxiety churning in his gut becomes unbearable, so he ends up cracking first.

“Hi,” he croaks, painfully aware of how water-logged his voice still sounds. “I guess you saw the lights go nuclear, then.”

Kai gives a quiet snort. “Kinda hard to miss, bud.”

Lloyd winces, then sneaks another tentative glance at him. He doesn’t look like he thinks Lloyd’s crazy, but Lloyd also has zero luck whatsoever, so he’s not quite letting his guard down yet. “Yeah,” he whispers, squeezing his eyes shut tight. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t need to apologize. S’fine with me,” Kai shrugs, like Lloyd didn’t just knock out all the power in their apartment. “Makes things exciting every once in a while, you know?”

“Ha,” Lloyd breathes. “Exciting.”

“Mm-hm,” Kai says, swinging a leg over the edge of the roof, his eyes still on the horizon. Lloyd shifts his head on the paved rooftop, watching as Kai’s leg sways back and forth over the dim city streets below.

“Not as exciting as your conversation with Sensei must’ve been, though.”

Lloyd’s stomach bottoms out, and he goes rigid, before swiftly sitting up. “Y-you heard that?” he manages to squeak out.

Kai shakes his head. “Not all of it. Mostly just raised voices. No one wanted to eavesdrop, or anything.”

Lloyd worries his lip more, feeling sick. That’s not the answer he’s looking for. “But you heard some of it.”

Kai exhales slowly, his shoulders slumping. He finally tears his gaze from the horizon, and faces him. Lloyd wants to duck away, but there’s no recrimination in Kai’s eyes. Just a whole lot of empathy, and doesn’t that make Lloyd want to start crying again.

“Yeah,” he finally sighs. “I heard enough.”

Lloyd bites his lip harder, and turns back to stare across the city, his eyes watering. “Oh,” he breathes.

Because — what else is he supposed to say? Kai, his big brother, who’s always been solid and steady, who’s always followed (well, mostly, but that one time was also Lloyd’s fault) him faithfully — Kai, who works so hard to keep them safe, and has literally bled for this job, got to hear Lloyd screaming about how much he hates being the Green Ninja, the team leader, like a selfish, ungrateful brat.

Kai, who wanted to be the Green Ninja enough to risk his life for it — who probably still wants to be the Green Ninja, somewhere in him, if Lloyd hasn’t totally soured the taste of it by now.

“I didn’t — I didn’t mean—” Lloyd stutters over the words, almost frantically. He’s breathing too fast, talking too fast, but he’s got to — he needs to make Kai understand. “I didn’t really — I love this team, Kai, I do, I love being the Green Ninja, it just — sometimes — and he — he went and—”

“Lloyd — Lloyd, breathe. C’mon, breathe with me.”

Kai’s hands are steady and grounding on his shoulders, even as Lloyd gasps desperately for air, desperately forcing his nerves back under control before the city gets another unexpected power outage.

Finally, Lloyd manages to match his breathing to Kai’s, slow and steady, until the world stops spinning quite as much. He gives a shuddering exhale, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

“T-thanks,” he mutters.

Kai stares at him in concern, his eyes darker than usual in the night around them. He draws back a bit, blowing his breath out. Then, laying a hand on Lloyd’s good shoulder, he jerks his head back toward the rooftop exit. “Wanna make hot chocolate?”

Kai, as usual, always knows exactly what to say.

Lloyd nods fervently, following him back down inside with little hesitation. Their apartment’s quiet by now, mostly dark save for the moonlight, as everyone’s probably gone to bed. Lloyd can’t help but be overwhelmingly thankful for this.

The hallway floor they walk across is clean, too, even if the light sockets above are all empty. Someone must’ve swept the glass up, Lloyd thinks with a hot flash of guilt. Kai jabs at the kitchen switch as they leave the hall, and the lights flicker on, leaving Lloyd to blink in confusion.

“Emergency lightbulbs,” Kai says in explanation, with a faint, wry smile. “Zane’s been prepared. We’ve got a backup generator, too.”

“Oh,” Lloyd breathes, his face heating as he lets himself sink into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. Well, it’s not like Zane was wrong. Having spare lightbulbs around is probably something Lloyd should start considering anyways, but he’s been thinking he wouldn’t need to worry about that anymore, since his powers were—

Well. ‘Were’ is the key word here. His powers were under control. They’re pretty glaringly not now.

The microwave goes off with a sharp ding, and Lloyd almost jumps from his skin before placing the sound. Kai is pulling two mugs from the microwave, before dumping the little hot chocolate packets in them. Despite himself, Lloyd wrinkles his nose.

“You make hot chocolate like a heathen.”

Kai scoffs quietly. “I make hot chocolate fast. No one’s got time to wait on a kettle. Besides,” he adds. “You’re one to talk. I know this is how you make tea when Sensei’s not around.”

Kai immediately winces at the mention, clearly regretting having brought Wu up. Lloyd’s shoulders tighten, but he forces himself to relax, exhaling slowly through his nose. It’s been long enough since the…argument…that most of his fiery anger has cooled into an aching ball of hurt instead. Which is typical, Lloyd’s garbage at staying that angry for very long, and normally he wishes he was better at it, but now…

There’s a fine thread of shame creeping in there as well, and maybe a little bit of guilt. And Lloyd’s already seen what his anger does. Maybe he can just hold a quiet grudge for a bit, and that’ll make his point.

“Peppermint tea tastes better in the microwave,” Lloyd finally replies, a little sullenly.

Kai snorts. “Zane would be horrified with you.”

“I’m sure he would,” Lloyd says, but the words are too heavy for it to come off like he wanted. Zane would be horrified at him, but not for his tea crimes. Lloyd’s still surprised Kai isn’t horrified at him. Maybe he is, and he’s just biding his time to accuse him, and any minute now—

“Is your arm hurting?”

Lloyd blinks, reorienting himself. “Huh?”

Kai nods his head toward him, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Belatedly, Lloyd realizes that he’s been digging his fingers into the groove where the prosthetic connects to his arm, clinging tightly enough that the scarring around it twists. Oh, he thinks blankly. So that’s why it’s starting to ache worse.

Lloyd gingerly peels his fingers from here they’re locked around his arm, wincing as he does. “A-a bit,” he admits. “I probably just made it worse. But uh, hey, I know it definitely works with my powers, now…?”

Kai doesn’t look amused. Lloyd lets his head hang, staring at the ground. He hates this. Normally he’s completely in synch with Kai, to the point where he knows exactly what’s going through his big brother’s head. But right now, uncharacteristically quiet and subdued as Kai is, Lloyd has no idea what the emotion brewing in his eyes might be.

There’s a quiet screech of wood across the floor, and Lloyd looks up to Kai dragging his chair closer, before setting both mugs of hot chocolate on the table in front of them.

“Can I see?” Kai asks, hesitantly. Lloyd pauses for a beat as the question registers, and Kai wrings the edge of one hand with the other. “I just, y’know…heat? It helps, sometimes, with other stuff, so maybe…”

“Oh,” Lloyd blinks. “Oh! Y-yeah, of course.”

Relief flashes across Kai’s face, which Lloyd vaguely notes as weird, before he adjusts his chair again, fingers carefully skirting the raised area of Lloyd’s t-shirt, where the metal edge of his prosthetic is. Lloyd suddenly wants to make another pun, because the silence is a tad too thick, and Kai’s so awfully subdued about everything. And whether he thinks Lloyd’s just an ungrateful brat who’s lost the last of his sanity and should never, ever lead them again or not, Lloyd needs to see something in his expression other than this — this sad kind of hesitance, because it’s not Kai. If he was even yelling at him, that would at least be—

“Let me know if it hurts at all,” Kai murmurs, and Lloyd is vividly reminded of Jay, when he’d looked at his arm. It’s the same tone of voice, all quiet and hesitant like they’re afraid Lloyd’s going to break.

Lloyd doesn’t know if it makes it any better, them thinking he hasn’t already. He’s not sure he even wants to know.

Another beat passes with Kai still unmoving, and Lloyd’s about to grasp at the weakest of puns he’s got before his hands finally knead into the tight muscles of his shoulder, starting high then moving lower, drifting carefully toward the edge of the prosthetic.

Kai lays a gentle hand on the juncture where skin meets metal, and Lloyd feels the slow increase of heat before it settles on something that’s not too hot to burn, but definitely warm. The warmth spreads steadily through the rest of his arm and shoulder, heating the tense muscles in Lloyd’s shoulder, and he feels the rigidness there finally, truly relax, in a way it hasn’t in — well, since he’d lost his arm, probably.

It’s like his shoulders are getting heavier and lighter at the same time, and oh, Lloyd’s forgotten how good Kai was at this. He’s still painfully cautious around the prosthetic, though, and the silence isn’t — it isn’t uncomfortable, per say, but Lloyd knows there’s so much Kai’s thinking but not saying, and he wants to hear it. It’s almost stressing him out, actually. He wants to say something — but Kai’s hand on his shoulder is warm, and slowly but surely that warmth reaches the terrible ache that’s been lingering where the prosthetic connects for so long, and Lloyd almost weeps in relief as the pain ebbs.

“H—they really did a number on you, huh,” Kai hisses sympathetically, as his hand skims the raised, jagged lines of scarring.

Lloyd gives a boneless little shrug, trying to force back anxiety as Kai reminds him of the somewhat important fact that he doesn’t quite know who actually did a number on him. “It’s not that bad,” he mutters. “No need to get so up in arms about it.” There. Finally, a decent pun.

Kai seems to disagree, but the odd coughing noise he makes is close enough to a laugh. “Good to know your sense of humor died when we got yanked out of the realm.”

Against his will, Lloyd’s shoulders stiffen, and his breath hitches. He immediately curses himself, because it was a joke. Kai was just responding to Lloyd’s own horrible pun, and just because he used the word died doesn’t mean he has any idea why that might set Lloyd off, because he was gone before he saw Lloyd crumple to his knees on the sky tram, and he has no idea how loud Nya screamed when she’d heard the news, and he will never know how close Lloyd was to letting himself sink in the river instead and not coming back up, because Kai is tired and hollow-eyed and stressed enough, and Lloyd will not let himself become any more of a burden to him when—

“—Lloyd please, what did I say, come back—”

“Fine!” Lloyd gasps, jerking back from where Kai’s appeared in his face, his eyes wide and frightened. “Fine, I’m fine, I’m sorry, I just—”

Kai doesn’t even have to say anything. He just looks at him, and Lloyd’s words die in his throat. He buries his face in his hands. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, staring at the floor through his fingers.

Kai is quiet for another minute, then— “You’re really not fooling anyone, you know.”

Lloyd closes his eyes. “Nuh-uh.”

“Uh-huh,” Kai nods. “You’re giving it your best shot, I’ll give you that. But you’re really not okay, Lloyd.”

“I am,” he says, but it’s wavering.

“Lloyd.” Kai’s tone is just a little too serious, shot with the undercurrent of ‘you’re lying to me right now, and I know it, don’t make me call you out on it’. It makes Lloyd’s stomach twist, because he definitely does not want to talk about it, at all, but also—

Kai was dead. Maybe not for real dead, but Lloyd had thought he was, and that had done — that had done some really bad stuff to his overall emotional state. So hearing that familiar concern now, when he’d recently convinced himself that he’d never hear it again, is a clear sign that this particular conversation isn’t going to end well.

“It’s okay if you’re not alright,” Kai says gently, and oh no, Lloyd’s really going to cry again. “You don’t have to be.”

Cycling through his available role models for defense mechanisms, Lloyd settles on Jay for some reason, and responds with utterly unconvincing babbling. “Well, I mean, I kind of can’t be alright, because, you know, my right arm’s gone—”

Kai chokes, and Lloyd breathes out a laugh. He’s thinking he can just get all the building feelings out that way, but he’s wrong, because two seconds into the laugh it turns into crying instead.

“M’sorry,” he moans, digging the heels of his palms into his welling eyes. “I just — give me a m-minute, I’ll—” his voice cracks traitorously. “I’ll get it together, promise—”

Lloyd grabs for his mug in desperation, hiding his face as he gulps at it — only to choke on how cold the hot chocolate’s gotten.

Kai gives an aggrieved sigh, tugging the mug from Lloyd’s hands and wrapping his own around it where he holds it close to his chest, slowly re-heating it. He stares at the mug for a beat, then looks back to Lloyd, a dangerous kind of fire in his eyes.

“I told you I’d kill him for doing that to you,” he says, his voice deadly low. “I still mean it.”

Lloyd blinks. It takes him a minute, but then—

Oh. Oh, no. Lloyd feels sick. Kai’s given him a way out — he’s given him a perfect way out. But he can’t keep lying to his brother forever.

“I cut it off myself,” he blurts, rushed and out of breathe. “It-it wasn’t my dad. It was me. I cut it off.”

Kai drops the mug. He barely catches it in time, setting it down with a painful, halting slowness on the table. He stares at Lloyd, his mouth opening and closing.

“What?”

“There was a snake,” Lloyd says, and he’s talking too fast now, everything spilling out like a busted dam. “I don’t — I don’t know where from but it — it was like the one that bit my dad, you know? And I was — I was doing fine, I was fine, without my powers and everything, but I was so stupid, Kai, I wasn’t looking and it — it got me, and I—”

He sucks in breath almost desperately, forcing himself to calm down again. Kai is staring at him with wide eyes, his face terribly pale, but he isn’t running away yet. Lloyd still has a chance.

“I would’ve been like him. And I couldn’t,” he continues, fiercely. “I couldn’t turn into him, I wouldn’t. I’m not my dad, so I chose not to be, and I don’t — I don’t regret it.”

There’s really nothing more that he can say, to try and explain it to Kai, other than give him the whole rundown of depressing events, so he falls silent, his words echoing in the quiet of the kitchen.

“I’m sorry.”

Kai’s voice is ragged, cracking in the middle, and Lloyd is horrified to hear the wet, sniffled edge.

“What?” Lloyd blinks, taken aback. “No, Kai, this was definitely was my fault—”

“No,” Kai shakes his head, and Lloyd is even further horrified to see the sheen of water building at the edges of his eyes. Kai bites his lip hard enough to bleed, before continuing. “No, that’s not it. I’m sorry, Lloyd. I’m so sorry, I keep — I keep promising I’ll protect you, and I fail, every single time—”

“Kai, no,” Lloyd gapes at him. “No, you don’t. It’s not your fault this keeps happening, you try harder than anyone, and you — you always come through when it matters, you have no idea—”

“No!” Kai snaps, his head whipping up, his eyes wild. “You have no idea! You don’t know, Lloyd, you don’t even know how bad I messed up, when you needed — you don’t know—”

Kai hiccups on a sob, squeezing his eyes shut tight and tilting his head back, like he can physically stop himself from crying that way. “You don’t know. You— you’re what’s important, you and Nya and the guys, and I — Lloyd, I’m sorry—”

Lloyd stares at Kai, his mouth slightly agape. Kai’s trying, he’s trying so hard to stop it, but he’s doing about a good a job as Lloyd’s been at hiding his tears, which is…pretty terrible. And that’s — Kai is crying. Sure, Kai’s emotional, but he doesn’t — he doesn’t let himself cry, certainly not in front of Lloyd. He’s got this annoying thing about always seeming strong, but now he’s apparently run out of strength to keep it up, which kind of just feels like Lloyd’s shoved his heart into blender and hit go, and—

And Lloyd’s just staring at him, like a useless lump. FSM, he’s the worst little brother ever.

Lloyd snaps back into it, immediately crossing the distance that’s left between him and Kai, wrapping his arms around his brother’s middle and comforting him in the only way he’s got left — clinging to him as tightly as he can, like he can squeeze all the sadness out of him or absorb it like osmosis, or something, anything to help Kai like he always helps Lloyd, because—

Oh.

Lloyd speaks up quietly. “You’re really not okay either, Kai.”

Kai gives an awful, half-sobbing laugh. “You don’t say.” He digs his fingers tighter into his hair, eyes squeezing tight, and swears. “—so sorry, I didn’t mean to fall apart like — like—”

Lloyd gently tugs his hands away before he can tear his hair out, and wraps his metal arm around Kai’s shoulder, hoping it’s not painful. “It’s okay,” he tells him. “It’s okay, I promise. It’s okay if you’re not alright, either. It’s not fair to you. Stop holding yourself to some — some impossibly high level, Kai, it’s okay.”

“It’s not—”

“It is. I promise.” Then, exhaling shakily— “I’m sorry I scared you. Both back then, and now. I’m going to be better about that. I’m gonna be stronger.”

Kai gives a watery laugh. “Please. You’re the strongest person I know,” he says, thickly. “You cut off your own arm. How am I ever supposed to top that?”

Lloyd snorts wetly. “Please don’t ever try to,” he says, his voice clogged. “It sucks.”

Kai just gives a choking kind of laugh, before dropping his head onto Lloyd’s shoulder weakly, his breath shuddering out. Lloyd holds him best he can, trying to channel whatever Kai-ness he can into it, because that’s normally what works best on Lloyd.

When the…situations are reversed. Which is…a lot.

But Lloyd can do his part now, hugging Kai as tightly as he can, like it’ll put him back together and keep him there, all the pieces of his big brother that make up one of the strongest people on earth he knows. Like it’ll glue them both back together, somehow, like it’ll fix Lloyd’s arm and Kai’s heart and the whole team and the city and the now-icy cold hot chocolate Lloyd is going to wish he’d gotten to drink later.

Lloyd knows the chances are slim. But for now, at least they can pretend.

And who knows. Maybe it’ll — maybe this will help. Maybe they can duct tape themselves better after this. Who knows.

He got Kai back from the dead. Lloyd’s down for anything — anything — to make sure he stays fine the rest of his life.

************************  

Lloyd never does find out exactly what Kai was trying to apologize for that night. But he’s got a fairly good idea he knows what it is already, and voicing it isn’t gonna help.

But even though they ended up staying up way too late, missed practice the next morning, and totally ruined the hot chocolate with how many times they tried to reheat it, Lloyd thinks it might have worked, a little bit.

He doesn’t feel great about the whole situation with his uncle — pretty awful, actually. Sensei’s been avoiding him now, which works out okay, because Lloyd’s avoiding him, and he’s not sure if this is a good sign or a bad one. But…he feels better, on the whole, than he did. A lot less like his head is coming unscrewed, because if he’s got Nya and Kai sticking by him now, even after everything, then it’s not as hard to believe the rest of the team will, too.

Lloyd’s aware that this is a bad mindset to keep, because it’s not like — it’s not like they’re choosing sides, or anything. He’s not about to start a one-man-war on Sensei Wu just ‘cause he went behind Lloyd’s back and yanked the choice right out of his hands like every other choice his family’s yanked from him, but — but Lloyd’s not Garmadon.

He’s Lloyd, and Lloyd doesn’t storm off to the Underworld or level half the city when things get rough. He sticks it out, because he’s not a venom-devoured drama queen. He made sure of that.

(He doesn’t blow up any palaces or terrorize villages either, or say, wake the dead, because while his coping methods might not be great, at least murder isn’t his go-to resort.)

He does, however, skip practice again, which is quickly becoming an awful habit. But his arm hurts this morning, a bit more than usual because he slept on it wrong, and the idea of getting his butt handed to him in practice over and over again because of it is almost enough to make Lloyd tear up in humiliation all over his cereal.

But he doesn’t, because he’s done crying. He’s done being pathetic and — and a dead weight, and a poor excuse of a leader.

He’s also, like, really done being this dehydrated all the time. It sucks. He’d forgotten the killer headaches it leaves you with.

So Lloyd ignores the alarm going off on his watch and shoves another spoonful of cereal into his mouth instead, flexing his grip around the pencil he’s doodling over the latest headlines with. He immediately wishes he’d taken the grocery run last evening instead of Zane, because the health cereal he’s picked for them is disgusting, where’s the chocolate—

“Hey, Lloyd.”

Cole’s voice shouldn’t be a surprise, because it’s Cole, non-threat — but it’s been quiet in the apartment this morning, and Lloyd almost has a heart attack on the spot. Instead, he promptly chokes on his cereal, and spends the next half-minute hacking it up and coughing milk from his nose.

“Are you dying?” Cole asks, now standing in front of him, sounding mildly concerned.

“I’m alive,” he wheezes, wiping at his face. “Mos’ly.”

Cole’s lips quirk up in amusement, but he quickly smooths the expression out, nodding at him.

“You busy?”

Lloyd glances at his half-eaten bowl of cereal, then at the half-completed dragon he’d been sketching on the edges of the newspaper, another idea for his arm. “Not really…?”

“Good,” Cole says briskly, tossing his green hoodie toward him. Lloyd yelps, barely managing to catch it with before the jacket meets a soggy fate in his cereal bowl. “Let’s go out, then.”

“Go out — what? Wait Cole, I don’t — Cole!”

Lloyd finally scrambles after his brother, catching him as he swings the door open, half-tangled in his jacket as the right sleeve catches on his prosthetic. “Where are we—” He tugs in frustration at the sleeve. “—going, you’re supposed to be—” Another vicious yank. “—at practice right now.”

“And you’re not?” Cole sounds amused, though, and Lloyd glares at him, one arm pinned behind him by a sleeve, his other arm twisted somewhere over his head, tangled hopelessly in the other sleeve.

Cole bites his lip, an obviously large grin threatening to break out across his face. “Do you need help?”

“Yes,” Lloyd grinds out, his cheeks flaming.

Cole fails at holding back the snicker this time, but Lloyd can forgive it for now, since he also takes pity, untangling Lloyd from his sweatshirt prison. Once Lloyd’s finally figured out how to get his sleeve over the prosthetic — and man, the temptation to hack all the right sleeves off of everything he owns is getting stronger by the day — he follows Cole out their apartment complex, heading off to…wherever, Cole is taking him.

“Out,” Cole shrugs, as they carefully step over another Colossi-sized hole in the street, maneuvering past the chunks of concrete the workers still haven’t cleaned up.

“Yeah, that’s specific,” Lloyd mutters, ducking his head and pulling his hood further over his face as they pass by other pedestrians.

Cole’s got his hood up as well, but he’s always stood out a little more than Lloyd. A little (lot) taller than Lloyd, too, so they still get a few curious looks. Not as many as he’s been used to, though, when he was running around in the blazoned green Resistance gi all the time, so Lloyd will take what he can get.

He’s had enough pitying looks to last him a lifetime, and that was before he showed up on primetime Ninjago City television.

“You’ve been cooped up too long,” Cole says, eyeing him. “You gotta stop hiding away, get back out in the world.”

Lloyd bristles. “I went to the gas station with Kai just the other night!”

“Yeah, at two a.m.” Cole sighs — then yelps as he nearly runs face-first into a broken street light, still dangling by the slimmest of twisted metal. Lloyd breaks into snickers at his expression, and Cole makes a face at him.

“My point is, the city’s not on fire anymore,” Cole continues, and Lloyd’s stomach drops as his voice turns soft. That means he’s probably about to say something like— “No one’s hunting you down anymore, Lloyd. You don’t have to keep hiding.”

Lloyd looks down, kicking at a loose chip of concrete. “Yeah,” he says, dully. “I know.”

He does, really, because no one’s jumped out and threatened to drag him off to his father lately, but it’s just — it’s hard to shake. It’s hard to shake the idea that someone’s out there, eyeing his every move, just waiting to rip his world to pieces. It’s hard to shake the idea that any one of these people could be hiding a knife behind their back, a vendetta behind a smile.

He swallows. “I’m working on it.”

“Yeah,” Cole says, and his voice is downcast now, too. “I guess we all kinda are.”

Lloyd bites his lip. There’s a whole lot of understanding in Cole’s voice, but it figures. They’ve all been hit hard by, well, everything that’s happened recently, but Cole’s always tended to see things the same way Lloyd does — with the eyes of a leader, always planning, always looking ahead, and always looking back on what went wrong. And the way he watches the people around them, with a look in his eyes that’s painfully familiar, says a lot more than anything else.

“But ah, to actually answer the question,” Cole speaks up, a bit hesitantly. “I thought, uh, maybe we could go to the hospital.”

Lloyd blinks rapidly. “The hosp— why?” A spark of irritation flares in his chest. If this is about his arm…he’s told them, many times, that he’d gotten it looked at. Many. Times. There’s nothing else any doctor could do about it that Pixal can’t, because all they can do at this point is prescribe him more pain meds, and Lloyd is getting sick of those, so—

“I was just thinking, maybe you could, uh…visit the kids. If you felt up to it.”

Lloyd pauses full-stop in the street, double-taking. “Why?” Cole turns to him, and he quickly continues. “That’s, I mean — not that I don’t want to visit kids, I-I’d be fine with that, no problem, but like — why would they want to see me? Now?”

Because sure, Lloyd’s always down for visiting kids, especially at the hospital — that’s where he met Nelson. But he also — he hasn’t really been showing up on TV in the….best light, lately. Sure, he gave that one speech, but other than that, the most his name has come up is in direct relation to his father, who very recently destroyed half the city, and probably put a whole lot of people in the hospital.

Besides, Lloyd thinks glumly, his left hand kneading reflexively at his shoulder, clutching the edge of the prosthetic. He’s not exactly an inspirational figure right now, much less a role model. More like a model of exactly how not to live your life—

“Because they’ll want to see you,” Cole shrugs, matter-of-factly. “And ‘cause I think some of them could learn something from you.”

“Learn what?” Lloyd breathes, almost laughing. “Cole, I can’t even teach you guys anything.”

“Okay, one, that’s a lie,” Cole says, firmly. “We learn a lot from you, give yourself some credit. You just have to be at practice for us to learn.”

Lloyd flushes, looking down, but Cole nudges him, forcing his gaze back up.

“And two, you’d be surprised.” A wry smile pulls at the edges of his mouth, before he sighs. “Also, I’m kinda hoping you’ll learn something, too.”

It’s Lloyd’s turn to make a face.“Oh, great. So it’s that kind of visit.”

Cole rolls his eyes. He pauses, his shoulders hunching up a bit, looking hesitant again. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

“Nah,” Lloyd sighs, heavily. “I’m not gonna turn down visiting kids in the hospital, what kind of monster do you think I am.”

“I don’t,” Cole says, and his eyes are a little too knowing. “But I do think you’re entitled to choose whether you’re up for it or not.”

And oof, there goes Lloyd’s breath whooshing out of his chest again. “How did you—”

“Also,” Cole says, before Lloyd can continue. “You’re entitled to a meltdown every once and a while, too.”

Lloyd goes scarlet. “I — the other night — it was an accident, I just—”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cole steamrolls over his stuttering airily. Then, just as casually— “There are always spare lightbulbs in the lower left pantry shelf, by the way. Just in case you ever needed to know.”

“Got it,” Lloyd murmurs, ducking his head.

“And half the city’s transformers already got obliterated by the Colossi, so one patch job isn’t a whole lot. Just in case, you know, someone was thinking of beating themselves up for it. Which they shouldn’t.”

Lloyd’s cheeks are flaming. “I-I got it,” he stammers out. Trying to regain some semblance of composure, because he’s been feeling like a nine year-old again way too many times this week as it is, he clears his throat. “I do want to go. Thank you for — for asking, but I do.”

Cole’s expression lightens in relief. “Good,” he says, clapping him on his left shoulder. “Because I might have already told the hospital we were coming.”

“Of course you did,” Lloyd sighs, as they round another street corner, the hospital coming into view.

“Hey, I happen to know my teammates,” Cole shrugs, grinning. “You’re predictable.”

“Of course I am,” Lloyd groans. “You know, I really…”

Lloyd’s train of thought completely derails and plummets straight off a cliff right then, so he trails off in a strangled silence as his mouth goes bone-dry.

Oh. He’d forgotten the view the hospital gave you, of…certain areas…of the city.

“Lloyd?”

Cole’s voice is muffled, filtered weirdly like it’s underwater. Lloyd’s vision tunnels, seeing but not really seeing as he stares at the blank spot in the horizon. He remembers the building that used to be there, twenty-four stories high and just blocking the corner of the sunset in the evenings. He remembers the last time he saw it standing, from halfway across the city, Skylor unconscious in his arms and his father furious. He remembers watching it fall.

He wonders if they ever found—

“Lloyd?”

Cole’s voice is hesitant, laced with concern. Lloyd blinks wildly, tearing himself from the memory, and shudders.

“Let’s go,” he says, shaking his head, as if he can shake the past off. As if he can shake her off, and everything she’s left him with.

He doubts he ever will, but Cole’s hand on his shoulder as they climb the steps outside is warm and grounding, and a reminder that, at least, she didn’t take everything from him.

The front desk attendant at the hospital lets them through without batting an eye, which is a nice change, Lloyd thinks petulantly to himself. He’s quickly tugged from any more thoughts like that, because Cole drags him straight to the kids’ ward, and Lloyd’s suddenly left desperately trying to remember where, exactly, his everything-is-bright-and-happy expression decided to disappear to, because the kids all light up like fireworks when they see him, and Lloyd’s kind of just staring weakly back.

Cole saves him, stepping in front and greeting the kids with bright enthusiasm, which gives Lloyd enough time to pull himself back together. He manages to stutter out some decently happy stuff, but then the kids start talking about the Resistance, and how awesome he looked on TV, and did he totally kick his father’s butt, and was it so cool getting to fight like that, and they were all rooting for him during the prison fight—

Lloyd’s torn between running for the window, and asking them all who in the world let them watch the prison battle, because he’s pretty sure that was not a kid-friendly kind of thing. Instead, he stammers out that yeah, it was pretty cool, and sure, he kicked his — Garmadon’s butt, all while pulling his sweatshirt sleeve further over his arm as it throbs with the constant, painful reminder that he’s a total fraud.

Cole saves him, once again.

“Hey, guys, we’ve got time to talk to all of you, and — yeah, sure bud, we can sign that for you, but Lloyd wants to talk to a few of your friends in particular, okay?”

Lloyd blinks rapidly as Cole steers him away, his words registering. “Wait, what?” He tries to yank his arm from Cole’s hold. “Cole, wait, who do you want me to — wait, I don’t have anything prepared—”

“You won’t need to,” Cole says firmly, then nods at the kid he’s been dragging him over to. Lloyd glares at Cole, huffing out a sigh before craning around his shoulder.

“I don’t—” Lloyd freezes, his mouth open. He shuts it.

The kid Cole’s been dragging him to is sitting by himself toward the back of the common room. The look in his eyes is eerily familiar, hollow and empty-looking where he’s slumped on the couch. He’s leaning awkwardly to one side, and it takes Lloyd a minute — too long, really — before he spots it.

Oh, Lloyd thinks, his breath whooshing out from his chest. He gets it now.

He ducks out from behind Cole, his feet taking him forward almost unconsciously, and he carefully approaches the kid.

“Hey,” he says gently, going down on a knee in front of the kid. “I like your socks.” He nods at the Starfarer-emblazoned ones he’s got on, where his feet dangle over the couch edge.

The kid looks at him, his eyes widening, then back toward his socks. His eyebrows pull into a sad little glare. “I can’t wear my shoes,” he says, hollowly. “I can’t tie ‘em. Not with my…” He trails off, and turns the glare on the empty sleeve of the hospital gown that hangs from his left shoulder. “My arm,” he finishes, quietly.

Something in Lloyd’s heart twists with painful familiarity. “Yeah, I get that,” he says, ruefully. The kid squints at him, and Lloyd exhales, before tugging the sleeve of his hoodie off. The kid’s eyes go huge, and Lloyd swallows, before continuing, smiling shakily at him. “See? I couldn’t even buckle my armor on the first week, and that was after I got the prosthetic. It’s tough stuff.”

The kid continues to stare at the prosthetic, his eyes looking like they’re about to pop out of his head. “Your arm’s gone,” he whispers. “Just like mine.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd breathes out. He rolls up his sleeve, pointing to the edges of the prosthetic. “Lost it right about…here.”

The kid’s eyes rove over the metal arm, lingering on his and Nya’s designs, before zeroing in on where the scarring starts. “And you’re still a ninja?” The kid’s voice is still hushed, almost awestruck.

“Sure am,” Lloyd says, with a crooked smile. “Team leader and everything.” Even if he’s been a pretty awful one lately, his mind supplies.

The kid’s lips part, and he hesitates before speaking again. “A-and you can still…do all that stuff?” he asks, his voice painfully tentative. “Even with…even with your arm?”

Lloyd’s throat goes tight, but he nods. “Yeah,” he says, thickly. “Yeah, I can — I can still do ninja stuff. Took me a bit, but I can tie my shoes, too. And I can still do, uh, handsprings and everything.”

A myriad of expressions crosses the kid’s face, shock then joy then something a whole lot like hope, and Lloyd suddenly realizes why the empty emotion he’d seen in the kid’s eyes when he walked in looked so familiar. It’s the same hollow look Lloyd’s seen looking back at him in the mirror every stupid day since—

And now it’s gone, replaced by something bright and shining.

“Awesome,” the kid says, his voice hushed and reverent, like Lloyd’s just given him some untold kind of gift.

Lloyd has to swallow again, and blinks frantically. “My — my name’s Lloyd, by the way,” he says, holding his hand out — the left one, so it’s not awkward for the kid. The kid grins, in a way that clearly says, ‘I know, duh, moron’. “What’s yours?”

The kid beams. “Max,” he says, gripping Lloyd’s arm and shaking enthusiastically, wobbling a bit off-balance.

“Nice to meet you, Max,” Lloyd smiles back. Then he goes serious, meeting the kid’s eyes. “Listen. All that stuff — you can do it, too. Tie your shoes and everything. It’ll take a bit, but you can, I promise.”

Max stares at him, listening intently, his eyes bright, and Lloyd suddenly feels a terrible amount of pressure.

“But you—” he falters, then sucks a breath in before continuing. “Don’t do it by yourself, okay? You’ve got — you’ve got family, right?”

He immediately wants to kick himself, because what a stupid question, has Harumi taught him nothing—

The kid nods, and Lloyd exhales heavily in relief. “Okay. Good. Let them help you. Family and friends, and the doctors here — they care about you. So even — even if it feels annoying sometimes, or you start thinking that maybe they just think you’re too weak, you gotta let them help you.”

Lloyd pauses, and thinks of Nya, her snarky humor and unwavering strength, the long nights they’d stay up together as she redesigned his arm. He thinks of Jay, coming up with new puns for him and leaving the pain meds bottle on the lowest shelf. He thinks of Zane, of actually listening to him and adjusting his entire training schedule; of Kai, sitting up all night with him and never holding his outbursts against him. He thinks of Cole, sewing the team back together with infinite patience and dragging him out to the hospital because he knew exactly what Lloyd needed to see.

Lloyd thinks about how completely, utterly terrible his life would be without them.

“‘Cause they care about you, and you — you can do it, but you can’t do it without them. You need people who care about you in your corner, so don’t ever take them for granted.”

Max’s eyes have widened a bit, but he nods. “I won’t,” he says, solemnly.

“Good,” Lloyd says, then smiles wryly. “You’ll get the hang of it a lot faster than I did, at that rate.”

“No way, you’re the Green Ninja,” Max scoffs, and Lloyd snorts despite himself. He shakes his head, turning to exchange looks with Cole—

—only to pause, because Cole’s eyes are horribly shiny, all suspiciously watery as he sniffs a bit.

‘You sap’, Lloyd mouths at him, his eyebrows drawing together in accusation. Cole flashes him a gesture, neatly hidden from the other kids behind his hand, and Lloyd is about to descend on him for the audacity, because he always lectures Lloyd for doing that, when Max is suddenly tugging furiously at his hand.

“Wait, wait, you gotta meet my friend!” he says, bouncing from his seat in reckless energy. Lloyd steadies him as he wobbles, and the kid beams at him. “She lost her leg ‘cause she’s real sick, and she’s been pretty sad about it too, but wait until she sees you—! She’s gonna freak out, come on, come on—”

Lloyd gives a startled laugh, but he lets Max drag him forward, tiny fingers locked around his metal ones. Cole waves to him where he’s on the floor, letting kids climb over all him, and he’s got the worst of knowing smiles on his face as they pass.

Lloyd casts his eyes skyward. Cole’s gonna be so smug about this later, but watching the look on Max’s face as he introduces him to kid after kid, Lloyd really can’t bring himself to mind.

******************

They stay a whole three hours longer than they were supposed to, but Max falls asleep on Lloyd’s shoulder by the time they have to go, so the nurses can’t get too upset about them staying way past visiting hours.

“Because you two were adorable, seriously, it’d be like kicking a puppy. I can’t believe I didn’t get any pictures,” Cole shakes his head, looking disappointed in himself.

“Good,” Lloyd says fervently. “Kai would never let me live it down.”

“Aw, he’d frame it on our wall, though.”

“Yeah, and then I’d never live that down!”

Cole snorts loudly, and Lloyd huffs, bouncing down the steps as they exit the hospital. They fall into comfortable silence for a bit, and Lloyd spares a look at Cole from the corners of his eyes, biting his lip. His good mood is fading as they leave the hospital behind them, stepping out into the city evening, the streetlights just flickering on, bright and shiny as they’ve recently been repaired — reminding him.

“What you said, before we went in,” he finally asks headlong. “About…being entitled to choose, and stuff.” Lloyd swallows, then continues. “Was that, um. Did you happen to maybe, like, hear…”

“You and Sensei Wu’s talk?” Cole finishes with a wince, and uh oh, Lloyd can hear the capital ’T’ emphasis on talk. “Our apartment’s really small, Lloyd.”

Oh, no. “H-how much did you hear?” Lloyd asks, almost afraid of the answer.

Cole carefully avoids his eyes, his mouth titled downwards in guilt. “Kind of…everything?”

He definitely should’ve been afraid of the answer, Lloyd thinks numbly. “But Kai said you only—” he pauses, meeting Cole’s sympathetic gaze. His stomach turns. Oh. “Right. Okay. Kai was just trying to make me feel better.”

“He likes to do that, if you haven’t noticed.”

Lloyd grimaces, feeling a stab of his own guilt. “Yeah."

“He’s not the only one,” Cole says, pointedly. “I didn’t tell you that to make you feel bad. We’d all like you to feel better.”

“Yeah, well—” Lloyd freezes. A thought suddenly hits him, with a swooping kind of horror. If they heard everything, like everything everything—

“Cole, the part when I said — the part where I said I hated this family,” he stammers frantically. “I didn’t mean — I meant my blood one. Only my blood one, I didn’t — you guys are—”

“Lloyd.” Cole’s hand is gentle on his shoulder, halting them where they stand on the empty street that runs along the river. “I get it. And I know you didn’t mean it, about your family. Either of them.”

Lloyd’s mouth turns downward. “You guys are the only family that matters to me,” he says, stiffly.

Bitterly, his mind supplies, not without a sting, and would it shut up, he’s trying to — to emotionally distance himself here—

Cole’s eyes dart away briefly, something immeasurably sad flashing in them, and almost too empathetic.

“Lloyd, you �� you have us. You’ll always have us. And I’m not — I’m not saying you should feel one way or another, ‘cause I know you’re hurt. And you have every right to be, that’s very justified.”

Lloyd looks down. “But,” he says, dully.

“But,” Cole exhales. “But lying to yourself can hurt, too. And I know — look, it was super uncool. That was low of him, and undoubtedly in the wrong. We’re all with you on that. But Lloyd, you know he — you know he cares about you, right? He didn’t… he didn’t do it to hurt you. That wasn’t his intention.”

“How do I know,” Lloyd snaps, bitterly. “How am I supposed to know, Cole. How many times am I supposed to tell myself my mom didn’t mean to leave me, my dad didn’t mean to hurt me, my uncle didn’t mean to — to—”

Lloyd breaks off, his stupid traitor eyes threatening to run as he sniffs. He blows his breath out, steadying himself. Cole, wonderful person that he is, does not comment on any of this.

“I’m just tired,” he finally whispers, staring out with hollow eyes on the river, the dark water glinting in the streetlights. Cole’s hand drops onto his shoulder again, and he squeezes once.

“I know, bud,” he says, sounding horribly young and yet so much older than he should, all at the same time. “I know. I am too.”

Lloyd doesn’t say anything to that, but he doesn’t really need to. The silence is enough, for them — it’s always been, with Cole. There are some things you can say, that you can talk out with words or powers or weapons, but there are some things that you just—

You don’t really get it, until you find it in you to call yourself leader. There aren’t exactly words for how it feels like, playing chicken with your friends’ lives and your family’s lives and the entire city and country on the line.

You just…feel tired.

Cole’s breath hitches, and his hand tightens on Lloyd’s shoulder, carefully around the edges of the prosthetic, but not in a way that grates. It’s normal Cole-careful, not the brittle kind scared-careful everyone’s been about it.

“Just…take it from someone who’s let a family argument fester,” he says quietly. “It doesn’t stop hurting. Not until you face it. However that ends is up to you, but. It helps.”

Lloyd swallows, and the river in front of him blurs, the streetlights turning hazy in his vision. He glances at Cole, then finally meets his eyes.

“You promise?”

“I promise,” Cole nods. He hesitates, then something in his expression steels.

“And if I’m wrong, I’ll help you sign the — the disownment papers, or whatever, myself,” he adds, suddenly fierce. “You can have my last name, instead. Or Kai and Nya’s, or — or we’ll all mash ours together into some garbled mess that’s yours, and you can have like, five or six whole step-parents, and it’ll be great.”

The laugh that startles out of Lloyd is so unexpected he almost makes himself jump, but it’s genuine. A little wet, maybe, but it’s the staggering feeling of relief Lloyd’s been looking for, been wanting, been needing, and—

“It’s worth it,” he blurts out. “It’s worth being the Green Ninja for you guys alone. I’d do it a hundred times if I just got to have you, because — because—”

“Aw, Lloyd,” Cole says, and he wraps him in a full hug this time. “It doesn’t work like that. You don’t need to be the Green Ninja to have us. You’d still have us if you weren’t. You’d still have us if you were just some bratty little kid we yanked from the street. You’d still have us if you only had one limb left and couldn’t even hold a sword, you’d still—”

“I get it,” Lloyd giggles wetly into Cole’s elbow.

Cole shakes his head, and squeezes Lloyd tightly. “And we’re not planning on quitting anytime soon,” he continues, his voice turning serious, and a little too knowing. “So don’t go selling us short, and think we’d die on one shattered ship. We knew what we were getting into, kiddo. We’ve always known.”

Lloyd sucks in a sharp breath, his heart stuttering. A whole bunch of questions are bubbling up in his chest, but they don’t quite make it through his throat, because it’s closing up again, so he just clings back to Cole and tries not to let his eyes water too much. Oh. Lloyd didn’t even have to tell him. Cole already knew.

That’s Cole for you though, Lloyd guesses.

************************

Lloyd has every intention of talking to Sensei Wu. Really, he does — because for one thing, it's caused a painfully obvious rift in their team dynamic which could get them into serious trouble if another threat breaks out, and going by their track record, that could happen like, tomorrow. And for another, they’re all living in an incredibly cramped apartment right now, and while Lloyd is perfectly fine avoiding his uncle by parkouring around the house like an extreme game of the floor is lava, Nya’s probably getting sick of having to get him unstuck from the air vents, so — confrontation it is.

Except if Lloyd’s going to force himself through the agony of that, he’s going to get it all out of the way at once. Besides, he owes his team an explanation, anyways. Probably…several explanations. A whole lot of words, that’s for sure.

So Lloyd sucks it up, finishes cutting off the sleeve on the right side of his pre-Resistance gi so it actually fits, and for the first time since the guys got back, feels somewhat like a shadow of the leader he’s supposed to be as he calls a team meeting. This brief burst of confidence is thoroughly shot through by Nya, who immediately dubs it the “aha, I see it’s time we all talked our issues out” meeting, but — well, it’s not like she’s wrong.

Besides, they needed it. And in hindsight, Lloyd realizes he’s been worrying about all the wrong things.

“I can’t believe you cut your own arm off and didn’t even like, take the opportunity to make a hundred Star Wars jokes. You realize there’s no escaping the Luke Skywalker jokes now, right?”

“For the last time, Luke didn’t cut his own arm off. I’m way more hard core than he is.”

“Yeah, for a maniac. You’re both on full-time babysitting. We leave for five minutes and you go around losing limbs and breaking arms, huh.”

“I can’t believe we ever mourned your deaths.”

“I can’t believe you thought we were dead and didn’t say anything!”

“He’s right, the psychological trauma stemming from such events could be—”

“If any of you say traumatizing again, I’m using the taser feature on my arm.”

“I can’t believe Nya built that in for you.”

“I can’t believe you let Uncle Wu flirt with some random lady in the First Realm.”

“He wasn’t flirting with her, would you let that drop—”

“Alright, alright! Don’t worry, I’ve hit my limb-it. Heh, get it—”

He’s met with a chorus of groans at that, and Jay chucks a couch cushion at his head. But it brightens the already-lightening mood more, weary sort of grins replacing the solemn expressions that everyone’s been wearing through most of this conversation, so Lloyd counts it as a total success. Even if none of them appreciate real humor, he thinks to himself, miffed.

“Okay, real talk, though,” Cole finally speaks up over the rest of them, as their scattered conversation dies down. He meets Lloyd’s eyes. “If you want us to come with you when you talk with your uncle, we’ll be happy to, you know.”

A tight kind of knot forms in Lloyd’s throat. Your uncle, not Sensei. He’d never dream of asking them to pick a side, but—

“Yeah, we’ve all got your back,” Jay nods, miming a punch at the air, before making a face. “You have like, this really awful habit of going all ‘oh no, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault Sensei Wu, ignore everything I said even though it was super valid’—”

Lloyd chucks the couch cushion back at him. “I do not do that,” he scowls.

Nya cuts him a pointed look. “Yes, you do.”

Lloyd glares back. “Do not.”

“She’s right, you do,” Cole echoes.

“Kinda do, bud,” Kai sighs.

Lloyd looks to Zane, pleading. Zane just shakes his head, pityingly. Lloyd sighs. “No faith in me at all,” he says, forlornly.

“We’ve got total faith in you,” Cole says. “You just need to have faith in yourself.”

Lloyd groans, leaning back so he’s fully sprawled across the living room floor. “You sound like Sensei Wu’s lesson book.”

Nya pokes him in the ribs, and Lloyd jerks away, yelping. “Listen to him, Lloyd. Not that I’m against sudden passionate outbursts, but…healthy talks. We need to work on healthy talks.” Her voice wavers, and Lloyd glances up at her. She looks down, then holds her head up, taking a deep breath.

“Which is why, when this blows over, I’d — I’d like to talk about Nadakhan,” she announces, a little unsteadily, but determined. “For — for real, this time.” She gives Lloyd a shaky smile, and he beams back, trying not to look too shiny-eyed about it. Going by her expression, he’s failed, but she spares him the embarrassment and turns her attention elsewhere. “Jay?”

Jay’s shoulders almost go boneless, and an expression of what could be relief flashes across his face. “I’m down if you are,” he exhales.

“Wait, what exactly are we talking about with Nadakhan, here?” Cole says, suddenly wildly concerned. Lloyd feels a brief spark of victory, and not a small amount of vengefulness at the look on Nya’s face — it’s about time someone else is on the chopping black.

“Nothing,” Jay says, waving his arms. He blinks, then suddenly backtracks. “Wait, I mean — it’s definitely something, but, uh — Nya said later! So we’ll talk later, haha?”

“Jay—”

“Hey,” Kai catches him off to the side, as the others dissolve into bickering. His eyes are serious, but the dark circles aren’t quite as bad. Not as awful as they’ve been, which is the best Lloyd can ask for right now, he guesses. “You’ve got this, no problem,” Kai continues, under his breath so the others can’t hear. “But on the off chance you want out, at any point? All you gotta do is yell for me and I’ll swoop in for you and run, just give the word. We can always work this out another day.”

Lloyd bites his lip, looking down. “I need to talk to him, Kai. I can’t leave it like this forever.”

“Well, yeah,” Kai says, evenly. “Maybe not. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re still Master Lloyd to us. We’ll follow your lead.”

Oh, now he’s done it. Lloyd’s throat goes painfully tight, and his eyes burn as he struggles to swallow back anymore embarrassing displays. “K-kai, you—”

“Please tell me I didn’t make you cry again,” Kai says hurriedly.

Lloyd shakes his head, elbowing him lightly in the side. “I wasn’t gonna cry,” he huffs. “I was just gonna say that I—” Lloyd swallows again, and murmurs, “I really missed you, Kai.”

Then, realizing he sounds entirely too vulnerable right now, he clears his throat and gives Kai a shaky grin. “Especially since now I really need you as my right hand man—”

Kai swats the back of his head, scuffing his hair down. “Lloyd, you’re my brother and I love you, but if you make another horrible arm pun, I’ll never forgive you.”

“Please,” Lloyd snorts. “You didn’t bring me a dragon back. If anyone should be never forgiving anyone, it’s me.”

************************

Lloyd’s not one to let fear get the best of him — for very long — but nothing’s really rooted him to the floor in terror like the sight of his uncle’s closed door has. Well, besides maybe his undead father dangling him off the floor in Kryptarium, or the sight of the Bounty getting crushed to pieces, or the way Skylor had collapsed in his arms, or the sensation of twin points of pain on the back of his hand—

Okay, so maybe fear’s been a pretty big player in his life lately, but still. Lloyd doesn’t let fear win out over him. He shouldn’t let fear win out over him.

Fear isn’t a word where I come from, Lloyd’s mind echoes half-hysterically at him.

Absolutely none of this helps the way his hands tremble violently as he knocks on Sensei’s door.

“Come in.”

Sensei Wu’s voice is quiet and level, no revealing trace of emotion in it. Nausea wells up in Lloyd’s throat, but he swallows it down. Kai’s “all you gotta do is yell for me” lingers in Lloyd’s mind, but he shrugs the thought off. As tempting as it is — Kai snatching him up from this conversation entirely and saving Lloyd a lot of awkward stuttering — he can’t just take the easy way out. Cole’s right — Lloyd needs to face this eventually. Letting things fester never helped anyone.

Harumi drove that one home pretty well.

Sucking in a breath, Lloyd finally pushes the door open, cursing his shaking fingers as they clack on the doorknob. His courage — if he can even call it that — falters, and he keeps his gaze rooted to the ground like it’s the most riveting thing in the room. The familiar smell of incense wafts over him, and Lloyd struggles not to throw up again.

There’s a measured intake of breath, before Sensei Wu exhales quietly. “Lloyd.”

Again, there’s little to no emotion in his voice, just that infuriatingly calm serenity, which is no help at all, because Lloyd has zero clue whether he’s furious with him or just — just disappointed, or something worse. And he’s sure as heck not going to look at his expression to figure it out, because that will require meeting his eyes, and Lloyd would rather combust on the spot.

He’s already faced one family member’s eyes burning in hatred on him. If he has to see Uncle Wu, too — Uncle Wu, who Lloyd’s always thought believed in him from the beginning—

“Sit, please.”

Lloyd shakes his head. He can’t. He’s already losing the battle to nerves, he can’t just — pretend this is another master-student talk. He needs to get it over with now, before he goes to pieces again.

“I…” Lloyd swallows. His mouth is painfully dry, and he still can’t get his hand to stop shaking. The metal one is finally listening to him, at least. He finally forces out a shuddery exhale, then curves his spine into a bow, his head hung low.

“Sensei,” he says, almost proud that his voice only wavers the slightest bit. “I’ve come to apologize for my actions earlier. And my words, I — I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”

Sensei Wu is silent. The air is so thick Lloyd almost struggles to breath, and a part of him faintly wonders if the incense hasn’t grown a mind of its own and is actively trying to suffocate him.

“I just — it hurt, when you went behind my back, and I know — I know I’m a mess.” The admission stings, but it’s true. It’s way too true, but that still doesn’t give him the right—

“And I’m trying,” Lloyd continues, his voice cracking in all the worst places. “I’m trying so hard, Sensei Wu, I am, but I can’t — you were gone, and I tried so hard to be the-the leader you would want, I really did, but things just — everything went so wrong, and I—”

Lloyd cuts off, swallowing back a sob. “But I didn’t meant it,” he croaks out. “When I said I hated—”

He doesn’t get to finish that, because he’s suddenly being dragged out of the bow by Sensei Wu, and pulled arms-first into a tight embrace before he even realizes what’s happening. Lloyd’s poor brain short-circuits in surprise, and all he can really do is hang there like a dead fish while Uncle Wu clings to him like he hasn’t since Lloyd was nine.

He might also be crying, maybe, but he’s also in dead-fish-mode, so who knows—

“No, Lloyd,” his uncle says, and there’s an edge of a sob in his words, just like the one Lloyd was choking back earlier. “I am sorry. I am so, so very sorry, not only for going behind your back, but for everything—”

He cuts off, inhaling sharply, and Lloyd stares blankly into his shoulder as his eyes decide to run like a leaky faucet. This is — this is not going according to plan. He’s not prepared for this, he was ready for Uncle Wu to yell at him, to be angry, not—

“And you have every right to be angry with me,” Uncle Wu continues, his hold on Lloyd loosening, but not letting go. “But I must — please, Lloyd, you must know it was never you that I doubted, it was me.”

He takes a ragged breath. “I failed your father, Lloyd,” he says, his voice wet. “I failed him, and I lost him. I failed Morro, and I lost him as well. I’ve failed you too, Lloyd, and I’ve almost lost you far too many times, because of my failures, but I still — I still have you, Lloyd. The idea of losing you, for good, because I was not there when you needed me most—”

Uncle Wu’s holding him tighter again, and his word are finally starting to make sense through the haze that’s fogged up Lloyd’s brain, just in time for him to hear the next part clearly.

“You’re my family, Lloyd,” Uncle Wu rasps, suddenly sounding very old. “And I don’t tell you this as often I should, but you should know how very proud of you I am, and the person you’ve become.”

Lloyd sucks in a shuddering breath, his eyes welling over. Oh. His fingers fist into the fabric of his uncle’s robe, tentatively clutching back.

“You should also know,” Uncle Wu says, his voice wet but steady. “How very much I love you, regardless of what title you choose to bear. You will always be my nephew, no matter what color you wear.”

Oh. Oh, no, here he goes again. Lloyd clutches back tighter, drops his head onto his uncle’s shoulder, and tries very hard not to cry like a total baby.

He’s about five percent successful.

The scent of incense isn’t so suffocating anymore, even if Lloyd can’t breathe through his nose for crying right now. It smells a little more like he remembers, when he was younger.

Like home.

************************

“It can be very hard,” Uncle Wu tells him later, over the light tea he’s made them both. “To love the people in this family.”

“But you do,” Lloyd voices, watching him hesitantly.

“But I do.” Uncle Wu gives a wry breath of laughter. “Not as well as you do, though.”

Lloyd ducks his head, staring into his tea. “I don’t think it helped very much,” he whispers. “Not with…with my father.”

Uncle Wu’s hand is gentle where it rests on his shoulder.

“You have a big heart, Lloyd,” he says, his voice sad. “And that means there is only that much more to break.” He shakes his hand, and Lloyd sways the tiniest bit back and forth. “That does not mean you are any weaker for it, nor that you are wrong.”

Lloyd gives a snort that is definitely not an attempt to hide welling tears again. “Tell that to my father.”

“You should tell him yourself, if you want.”

Lloyd jerks his head up, his eyes widening. “Then…does that mean I’m off the blacklist?” he asks, tentatively. “For the prison?”

Uncle Wu sighs. “If you are certain it will not break your heart anymore,” he says. “Then you may go whenever you wish. I have already removed the block, but…I would ask that you be sure. For your sake, Lloyd.”

Lloyd stares at his hands, the metal one glinting in the dim lamplight. He thinks of cruel words echoing against prison walls, of how his heart had splintered into pieces long before his father had thrown him through that last prison wall, or he’d taken a sword to his own arm. He thinks of the TV broadcasts that Nya and Jay will never be able to wipe completely from the web, no matter how hard they try. He thinks of how his father will never know the pain of his heart splitting into pieces, certainly not for Lloyd, because it’ll never be the same heart Lloyd knew once.

And yet…

One of them is sitting in a cold cell, and one of them is drinking tea with their uncle, with the people they love most a mere room away (or right outside the door, Lloyd’s overbearing-sibling-radar has been acting up).

Lloyd shakes his head. “I don’t break,” he says, firmly.

He won’t. Not this time. Because his father — his real father, the father he loves, who he’d promised he’d live for, even in the depths of the Cursed Realm—

“I’m a Garmadon,” Lloyd says, his voice steady. “I don’t break.”

Uncle Wu is entirely unsuccessful at hiding the teary sort of smile he’s making in his teacup, but Lloyd will give him credit for trying.

************************

It’s easier walking into the prison again, the second time.

Is what Lloyd is going to say, when the others ask him how it went when he gets back. The reality is that Lloyd is every bit as mind-numbingly terrified walking through these stupid doors as he was the first time. Except this time might even be worse, actually, because he misses a step on the way in and almost trips flat on his face, which totally ruins the badass power walk he was trying to do.

It’s not like he’ll ever be able to stride around like his father, anyways, Lloyd thinks dully, even as his face burns. Not when Garmadon’s got about four entire feet and the malevolent energy of Darth Vader on him.

Lloyd spends the next three minutes cursing himself for giving in to the Star Wars references, enough that he almost forgets the growing sense of anxiety writhing in his gut as he hurries through the prison. He doesn’t spare the walls a second glance this time, making a beeline directly for the isolation cell.

He holds his breath, just a tiny bit, as the guard scans him in. He’s almost surprised as he immediately waves him through, but forces himself to shake it off.

He’s not going to walk out of this with crippling trust issues all around. He’s not. Uncle Wu said he’d told them Lloyd could go, so Lloyd trusts him. And Uncle Wu is trusting him not to break down over this, so Lloyd isn’t going to. He’s just gonna have a…a nice little chat, with his father, that’s all. Maybe ask about the impending doomsday stuff he was muttering about, and make sure he isn’t planning to break out. Definitely not going to bring up anything related to Lloyd’s emotional state, that’s for sure.

It’s going to be just fine, Lloyd assures himself, even as his metal fingers twitch, the occasional static of green buzzing between the joints. He needs to keep an eye on that. Nya’s started getting him to run actual tests on it, so he knows the green power works fine with his arm, but still.

It’s the fight that fuels his father, and Lloyd hasn’t needed a lot of encouragement to go off on someone lately.

He shoves those thoughts back as the guard takes him deeper into the prison, the hallways growing darker and narrow. Lloyd has to swallow back a growing sense of claustrophobia the farther they go, his skin crawling as unbidden memories of the fight flicker in the back of his mind.

His hands ball into fists. You’re fine, he tells himself again. This is different. It’s fine.

His power buzzes in the back of his head, as if attempting to voice that it disagrees. Lloyd studiously ignores it, because the guard’s letting him in now, and he’s got a lot more problems to worry about.

Or just one big one, he thinks faintly, staring at his father where he’s illuminated in the middle of the dark room, sitting calmly in his cell as he stares at the ceiling.

For a beat, Lloyd’s rooted to the spot — half from a dizzying sense of nausea, half because he can’t find the walkway they’ve built.

…mostly because he can’t find the walkway they’ve built. Lloyd spends an embarrassing ten seconds thinking that Garmadon’s cell is just floating there, and he’s going to have to holler this conversation back and forth across the dark expanse, before his eyes finally catch on the dim-lit walkway.

No railings, Lloyd notes, and half of him wonders how funny it’d be if, after everything, he accidentally slipped and fell on the way to visit his imprisoned father, and that’s what did him in. It’d be a real spite to Harumi, that’s what—

“I was wondering when you’d come to visit.”

Lloyd swallows at the voice, and forces himself to meet the crimson eyes staring at him, so much like his own.

“Father,” he says in greeting, as tonelessly as possible.

Garmadon scoffs, but he says nothing to refute him. The tiniest embers of hope light in Lloyd’s chest, before he violently smothers them. He’s not here to get hurt again.

His father’s eyes are moving down now, coming to a halt on Lloyd’s prosthetic. Lloyd shifts uncomfortably with the urge to hide it from view, forcing himself to stand steady.

“I never did like snakes,” Garmadon finally says, his voice even, then returns to staring at the ceiling.

Lloyd blinks. That’s it? That’s it. Lloyd’s lost an entire arm and — yeah, Garmadon already got a face-first introduction to the prosthetic back on Borg Tower, but he’d — he’d thought —

Lloyd doesn’t know what he’d thought, actually. He doesn’t have any footing with his father, anymore. He doesn’t know this person like he used to know the father who loved him.

“You said something to me, back on the tower,” Lloyd says, rallying himself. “About how they were coming. I wanted to ask you what you were talking about.”

Garmadon tilts his head, regarding him through slitted eyes. “Why don’t you ask your dear uncle?” he says, derisively. “I’m sure there’s plenty more he knows that he hasn’t told you.”

“Sensei Wu tells me enough,” Lloyd says, flatly. “If something’s coming, he’ll make sure we’re ready.”

“If you are the best he can offer, then you’re already doomed,” Garmadon scoffs.

Lloyd grits his teeth. “And yet,” he says, with forced calm. “I still beat you.”

“Watch yourself, boy,” Garmadon snarls, his teeth glinting. “You won on a technicality. Don’t be so quick to forget how easily I broke you before."

Pitching himself off the walkway is sounding like a better option by the second, which means Lloyd should probably get out of here soon.

“This threat,” he forces out, yanking them back on track. “You keep talking about. Want to share any more on that?”

Garmadon rolls his eyes. “The danger I spoke of has yet to pass,” he says, unconcerned. “I wouldn’t let it worry you and your pathetic friends’ little heads so soon. Like I said, I doubt you could handle it.”

Lloyd stares at him, incredulous. “So what, you’re just going to sit around until it’s here? And do nothing? That’s just going to make — make whatever it is worse.”

Garmadon snorts, his laugh caustic and bitter, but offers nothing else.

Lloyd’s lip curls. “Forget it, then,” he snaps. “If you’re not going to talk about anything useful, I’m not wasting my time on you. I can always come back.”

He means to storm off after that, but his feet falter, and he hesitates. He stares at his father, this hollowed-out version of him slumped in defeat in a prison cell. Something in his chest twists.

This is never what he wanted. He never wanted any of this. Is this what destiny does to them all, then? Chains them to each other until they’ve all brought each other down to their lowest point? Destroys everything thats good about them until there’s nothing but an empty shell left?

The edge of the walkway looms on either side of him, dropping into suffocating darkness. Lloyd balls his hands into fists, and remembers the crushing hopelessness he’d felt as Harumi had laughed at him on the train. It feels a lot like his grandfather’s laughing at him now, watching their stupid family drama play out like the worst kind of tragic soap opera.

Lloyd’s fists tighten. No, he tells himself. No. That’s not what destiny will do to him.  

He’s the one that got away, isn’t he?

Garmadon finally seems to lose patience, his eyes flashing as he stands. “If you’re still here to gloat, boy—”

“I’m my own person, you know,” Lloyd speaks over him, cutting his father off. “I’ve got more than just you. I’m not just some fragment of your broken legacy.”

Garmadon stares back in surprise, but he says nothing.

“But I’m still your son, no matter what you say,” Lloyd continues, his voice steady. “And I’m keeping your name. So deal with it, or whatever.”

And with that, he turns around and paces steadily from the cell, back into the light. He doesn’t look back, not even once.

He can come back later, anyways. But right now, he’s gonna be late for practice.

************************

“—left, he’s on your left, Jay, are you blind?!”

“He’s fast! I don’t see you catching him!”

“That’s ‘cause you’re supposed to be guarding the left, we’re cornering him!”

“On the contrary, you are leaving your right side wide open for me. By my calculations, neither of you will ever corner me.”

“Oh, I’ll show you, tin can—”

Lloyd gives a breathless giggle as he listens in, confident in Zane’s ability to distract Cole and Jay for now. Nya’s still a possible threat, unless she’s going after their flag right now, but Lloyd’s pretty secure in the hiding place they’d picked.

“Head in the game, green machine!”

Lloyd shakes his head, jerking himself back the present at Kai’s whispered hiss. He wobbles precariously from where he’s standing on Kai’s shoulders, throwing his arms out for balance. He glares up at where Cole’s managed to hang their flag, dangling cheerfully from the tree branch far above the ground.

“Give me a sec,” Lloyd hisses back, right arm straining as his fingertips brush the air just below the flag. He scowls, biting back a curse.

“Do not tell me you’re too short to reach,” Kai whispers, before wavering a bit and tightening his hold around Lloyd’s ankles.

Lloyd scowls down at him. “I’m not,” he grumbles. “Just hold on.”

Kai makes an anxious sound. “Lloyd, Nya’s gonna catch on to us any second—”

“Hold on, hold on,” Lloyd mutters, reaching for the prosthetic port. With a click, he detaches the arm and steadies it in his other hand, then hoists it up and neatly catches the edge of their flag with it, knocking it into Kai’s waiting hands.

“Nice!” Kai crows in victory — only to turn to a yelp as Nya comes barreling around the corner, her expression borderline terrifying.

“You’re supposed to be watching our flag!” she roars at Cole and Jay, before diving for them. Lloyd shrieks as Kai launches him from his shoulders, giving a desperate cry of “Run, Lloyd!”

Lloyd flails wildly before managing to hit the ground in a roll, somersaulting once before scrambling to his feet. He spares a moment of memoriam for Kai as Jay tackles him, before being forced to break into a dead sprint as Nya comes in hot on his heels.

“Go, Lloyd!” Zane calls, from where he’s tussling with Cole. “They haven’t found our flag, we can win!”

“Not if I catch him,” Nya hisses, the hair on Lloyd’s neck standing up at how close she is. He puts on a burst of speed, streaking across the grassy field toward their base. Nya’s a blur in the back of his vision as he turns his head, but he might be able to outrun her if—

Lloyd yelps as he’s jerked backwards. “Gotcha!” Nya yells triumphantly as she locks a hand around Lloyd’s right wrist, firmly holding him back.

Lloyd doesn’t hesitate. Shoving the edge of the flag between his teeth, he reaches up and disconnects the prosthetic, shooting forward as Nya’s left stumbling, holding his arm.

“Lloyd Garmadon!” she cries indignantly. “That’s cheating!”

Lloyd cackles wildly as he runs, wavering a bit at he’s thrown off-balance from being one-armed, before quickly adjusting to the weight change and sprinting faster. Nya’s started chasing him again, but it’s too late — she’s lost valuable time, and Lloyd skids over their base line with a whoop.

Kai and Zane burst into cheers as Cole curses, finally letting Zane free from his grasp. Nya slides to a halt beside him where he’s doubled over panting, breathing heavily herself. She’s glaring at him through the sweaty hair that’s hanging in her face, and Lloyd gives her a sunny smile in return.

“You’re a dirty cheater,” she finally huffs.

“No rules in capture the flag against taking your arm off,” he replies, cheerily.

Nya rolls her eyes, but there’s a pull at the edge of her mouth like she’s trying not to smile as she thrusts his prosthetic at him.

“I don’t appreciate you treating my creation like that,” she sniffs.

“Aw, c’mon,” Kai grins, having caught up with them. “That was classic.”

“Yeah, if you’re a cheater,” Jay scowls. “I vote a rematch.”

“What, so you can lose a fifth time?”

“It has not been five times—”

“Yes it has, Zane’s been keeping count.”

“Zane’s a dirty cheater too!”

“How dare you—”

Lloyd snickers as they dissolve into arguing, carefully clicking his arm back into place. There’s still a flicker of pain as he does, but it’s getting easier. It’ll take time, he figures, just like everything else. You can’t fix all your problems in a day, no matter what Uncle Wu’s said before.

But for now, he can play dumb training games with his team. He can forget about whatever threat on the horizon, if only for a moment. Uncle Wu can amend his stance on what counts as training, because this is Lloyd’s turn to lead practice, and if he wants to play capture the flag, then that’s his call. And he can cheat with his arm if he wants to, because the universe can take his arm from him, but it’s not gonna take his ability to be a terrible little brother.

And it’s not going to take the fact that he’s Lloyd Garmadon, either, Lloyd thinks, as he straightens, his arm swinging into place. No one is. Not Harumi, not his own father, not an entire legal team from child protection services like Cole keeps joking (threatening) to call. Lloyd Garmadon is his name, and he’s keeping it.

...arguments could be made, though, for changing it to Lloyd Arm-Is-Gone.

“Lloyd, no.”

“That was awful.”

“You guys just have no taste!”

“We have plenty of taste, but the puns—”

“It’s my missing limb, I choose the coping mechanism.”

“You wanna miss another one, punk?”

“I’d like to see you try. At least I have an excuse for losing capture the flag. Oh wait, we won.”

“Oh, you’re on. Same teams as last time, you better watch your back—”

—yeah. They might not be perfectly fine just yet, but they’re going to be. And no one can take that from them, either.

[miss-tc-nova]

A New Purpose - Chirithy

Another that’s jumping up my list of favorites. They’re just so cute!

~~~~~

               The existence of this cat is a curious case. Their unusual life began in a lab, but full awareness came after, when they met the man in the hat. Only meant to be a guide to the human, the relationship started off a little rocky. A few misadventures later, however, and the two could finally admit to being allies. Calling them best friends was off the table; they were both just too aloof and stubborn to be all buddy-buddy. Nevertheless, Brain was all that truly mattered, and Chirithy was his only friend.

               The fate of a Chirithy has always been to perish along with their key-bearer—a fate that this particular spirit remembers fulfilling. So the very fact that they’re still plodding around is bewildering. Not only that, but they’ve become a cat; not the cat-shaped dream eater they were meant to be, but a standard, ordinary house cat. There’s no end to the string of questions running through their head but the memories of the wielder’s passing keep bubbling up.

               “Looks like this is the end for us. Thanks for sticking around, Chi-chi.”

               There’s a black hole in their heart, swallowing every coherent thought, mixing in with the confusion to overwhelm them. Emotions like these have always been foreign; Chirithy perish with their wielders and those are the only people that matter. Sadness has been accessible, usually sharing that with their humans, but anguish through the loss of a loved one—Chirithy were not made to endure such raw suffering.

               As it turns out, normal cats can’t cry; at least the sky is kind enough to do so for the miserable creature. Silver-tabby fur clings to the small frame while petite paws carry them across the stone pathways of this unknown world. This is definitely not Daybreak Town; instead full of white buildings and endlessly ascending steps. Lost, confused, and still mourning the passing union leader, the animal trudges through the rain, head hung low.

               Clacking boots grow closer. “Hm? What’s a cat doing in the rain?” Peering back reveals a young man in black, with silver hair and matching eyes. “Come here, little guy. Let’s get you out of the rain.”

               Dealing with a stranger right now is impossible, but they can’t possibly tell him that. Because communication is not an option, they saunter off into a shrub just off the path. Hiding away gives minimal relief from the rain and strange new place; however, assuming that was that is apparently incorrect.

               Leaves part to reveal the boy had followed. He surely means no harm; he’s just not welcome at the moment. “It’s alright. C’mere.”

               The downside to taking cover is that it very often becomes a corner with no escape. There’s still one way to keep an unwanted person away. A low warning rumbles in the cat’s throat which does its job—he’s warned. Definitely more cautious than he began, he still chooses to reach forward.

               Leave me alone! Leave me alone! LEAVE ME ALONE! The caterwauling escalates.

               Whipping claws narrowly miss his hand. “Ah! Hey! Calm down! I’m trying to help!”

               I DON’T WANT YOUR HELP! LEAVE ME ALONE! Only feral yowls and hisses express the pain. YOU’RE NOT MY WIELDER! I DON’T WANT YOU! I WAN’T BRAIN!

               “Xehanort, what are you doing?”

               All that explosive despair goes right out the window. Disbelief grips the tumultuous creature.

               Brain, is it you?! Brain please!

               “There’s a stupid cat in here. The damn thing’s soaked and pissed off.” The boy in black, Xehanort, sits back enough to reveal his friend.

               At first, all they can see is the man they yearn for, but upon closer inspection, it’s not. He’s just like him—almost the spitting image of Brain. That brief hope gives way to turmoil even stronger than before. It’s back to the frustration of not being able to cry; so instead, the sentience inside simply begins to break down.

               This new boy kneels down beside the first. “Geeze, it looks half-drowned.”

               All the pent up grief comes out in a wail. You’re not Brain!

               A hand eases closer. That smile is exactly the same, even if the following words are a little on the bright side. “It’s okay. We won’t hurt you.”

               His friend warns, “Careful Eraqus. It-”

               There’s no resistance from the tabby. Pitiful cries repeat over and over, even as Eraqus scoops the kitty up.

               “Of course you can pick it up without getting ripped open,” huffs the kid with silver hair.

               Wrapped protectively in white fabric, the small animal finally quiets down. “Maybe you’re just scary looking,” Eraqus teases in a manner dredging up old memories. “C’mon. If those clouds mean anything, this storm’s only gonna get worse.”

               Eraqus and Xehanort hurry through the rain, taking home a creature with no will to live.

~~~~~

               A spoon full of chicken stock nudges the muzzle. “Come on, Chihiro. Please eat; just little.”

               Now dubbed ‘Chihiro,’ the cat has let their depression consume them. Eraqus, the new owner, has taken to bringing his sad pet everywhere, using every free moment he gets to tempt them with food and water—he hasn’t succeeded yet. It doesn’t help that every glance at this human is a reminder of who was lost.

               Xehanort rests a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “Era, it’s been three days. It might be too sick to recover.”

               The boy gives up on the soup; instead taking a brush to the fur Chihiro won’t groom themself. “But the vet says there’s nothing wrong…”

               “That doesn’t mean they’re not sick.”

               “What do you mean?”

               There’s a pause before the other admits, “I used to act like this before I left my world: sad, unresponsive, empty. I think it’s depression.”

               “You think cats can get depression?”

               “Looks like it to me.”

               “So what do I do?”

               “Considering we can’t ask what’s wrong, there may be nothing you can do.”

               The silence is somber, broken by the bell that signals class will start soon.

~~~~~

               “Eraqus, before you go, your parents sent you something,” the Master announces at the end of the day. Said student stands to retrieve his parcel.

               Once they’re dismissed, the red-head calls out, “Yo, Era, you gonna come hang out with us tonight?”

               “Sorry guys,” he answers, stuffing the package in his bag.

               The taller girl presses a fist to her hip. “Still gonna try to get that cat to eat something?”

               “Yeah. Plus I think this is the photo album I asked my mom to send.” Chihiro is lifted from the spare seat. “I kinda wanna take a look at it. I’ll see you guys later.”

               “Good luck!” chimes the little blond.

               True to his word, the wielder-in-training returns to his room. A couple hours go into trying to coax food into his animal with no luck. As let down as every other time, Eraqus lets Chihiro lay unbothered in his lap while he looks through the book his mother sent him.

               Weak and tired, the feline begins to doze. It breaks when the kid speaks aloud: “I wish keyblade wielders today still had Chirithy—that could’ve been fun.” Pulling from the fog, blue eyes focus on the page. “My great-great-something-great grandpa helped found Scala. He had a Chirithy that looks kinda like you,” he tells his pet.

               That’s why Eraqus looks so much like him; the face smiling back at the camera, signature hat and all, is Brain.

��              Immediately, a meow escapes Chihiro. It surprises the young man. “What’s wrong?” All he gets is a second cry. “It’s okay, Chihiro.”

               A shaky paw plucks at the page of the book. Clearly confused, the human turns the page. There’s another picture of the ancestor, this time with his matching companion. On the second page, though, he’s awkwardly holding a bundle in his arms.

               That’s right…He had a child… They look up into the face studying the photos. Is that why I’m here? For you?

               It’s the only explanation Chihiro can make to rationalize a life that should’ve ended. Perhaps they were loyal enough the gods assigned them to watch over Brain’s relatives—maybe the wielder trusted them so much he did so himself.

               Is that what you wanted, Brain?

               He notices the cat staring. “You okay now?” Chihiro answers, earning a little shock from him. “Will you eat something now?” There’s a hopeful reply.

               A bowl of plain stock never smelled so wonderful. With a renewed purpose, they lap at the liquid.

               Something patters onto their head. Ears flicker and cat eyes gaze up. It took them so long to find their new meaning in life that Chihiro never saw the worry they caused, but this tear-filled relief really drives it home.

               “Nya.”

               “Heh. I’m okay,” he whispers, passing a hand over folded ears. “Keep eating.” And they do.

               With an empty bowl, full belly, and a happy human, Chihiro purrs away beneath ear scritches. It’s when the book closes that they’re alerted.

               “Alright, it’s bedtime.” The photo album moves to the nightstand. Lamplight goes out shortly after the blanket covers the pair and the feline snuggles up against their new ward. “Good night, Chi-chi.”

               That strikes the animal to silence. It really sucks not being able to cry when that’s the only desire. Nevertheless, if the cat has to live a second life away from everything they know, then at least they can live it watching over Eraqus, descendent of Brain. In place of crying, they purr louder than before, much to the boy’s pleasure.

               The two fall asleep in each other’s comfort—the start of a new story.

               “Good job, Chi-chi.”

[mcfanely]

The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon

Burdened with the knowledge that a rescue was most likely not on its way, both Zane and Cole change tact. Moving from thinking their stay in the new realm would be temporary, to being fully aware that their stay could last a lot, lot longer. 

Chapter 05 - Dear Diary, 2043 words

That realisation had struck hard. Very hard. 

Cole hadn't realised how much he'd been relying on their friends coming to rescue them. How the thought of a portal opening up in the sky at any moment, the same one that had spat him and Zane out was actually pushing him on. 

That their brothers would come through and they'd have a ticket home.

But they'd realised that wouldn't be happening, that no rescue party was going to be coming for them any time soon, since why would they think that they'd survived a direct hit from Aspheera's staff? 

Kai, Jay, Lloyd, Nya, Pixal, Wu. 

What reason would they have to think that he and Zane were alive? 

Cole couldn't imagine what they were going through at that very moment. They'd won the battle, the war. They'd vanquished evil, but they'd be entirely sure that it was at the cost of two friends, two brothers. A chunk of their makeshift family gone in one fell swoop. Or maybe he could in a way, with losing Zane during the battle with the Overlord. But again, and two of them?

Unfortunately, they couldn't ponder on what they might or might not be going through. 

Still, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing. 

Their circumstances had changed in an instant and they both knew it. They'd gone from the mindset of they had to wait, endure an unknown period of time between them arriving in the realm and them being saved by their brothers. 

To being aware that they might not be coming at all. Endurance became surviving. It became the task of getting the mech working if only for the heat it could provide, the shelter or the aid it could give with going outside the cave and braving the elements. It became knowing that when exhaustion finally overtook them both at night, they'd wake up the next day, in the same cave, and repeat the process. 

Routine maintained focus. 

Routine was finding a source of food, or any food at all. It became firewood and a way to make a fire. They were ninja, they were trained survivalists. They had to be with the amount of times they'd been stranded. Yet, it didn't make the situation feel any less bleak. 

They weren't giving up, though. Neither of them would curl up in a ball and let the world take them.

They had to believe that help would come. Be it their brothers, or from a different source.

Both Zane and Cole worked through impossible odds by keeping busy. Productive distractions, as Cole has once dubbed the process. Which was why, after what had felt like a few days, they had a good routine going. 

They may have gone to sleep hungry and exhausted that first night, but by the end of the second day and after being blessed with a clear sky, Cole had found a partially frozen-over lake. Both fresh water, and food in the form of fish. 

After the fourth day, they were rising with the sun in the morning, both Zane and Cole sparred together before either of them were really fully awake. They'd found wood for a fire, only it was too damp to work with and take a spark, not that they’d been able to suitably produce one. 

The cave and it's shelter was probably the only reason Cole hadn't frozen to death, but they needed to amend the warmth problem quickly.

On the sixth day-- or the eighth-- Zane removed the screen from the control centre of the mech, and one of the many batteries the machine had in order to get at least something working. 

He passed it down to a waiting Cole, who then situated it on the flattest surface they had in their shelter. A large and almost level rock they'd been using as a table. It was now home to an assortment of wires, jumper cables, and now a screen currently without power. 

"You want to do what with this thing?" Cole questioned. 

"Record a message." came the reply as Zane hopped down the mech, "I thought that we should document our findings, should anyone happen--" 

"-- To come across this place and we're not here. That's smart." Cole smiled softly. 

He'd been trying to keep himself upbeat over the past few days. One thing that helped was that Zane was in the same mindset. Power forwards, just keep on moving and doing and something good should come out of it. 

Only, it felt like the good was still yet to come. 

Or maybe the good was that Zane had stopped sparking since they'd spent a bit of time fixing his wiring. Cole wasn't the greatest with electronics, nothing compared to Nya, but he made do. Then the lump on his head had come and gone without much fanfare, so he hadn't been concussed. 

They still both wore the stresses of the past couple weeks like a second skin. Their gis were ruined, oil stained and dirt tracked, ripped and frayed in parts. A part of Cole's trousers had electrical burns from stripped wiring, even. They were dishevelled, tired, but alive and keeping it that way. 

And the discovery of the damaged processing unit in the mech had been a cause for celebration. They had something to look at, an actual possible reason behind the inhibited function and the fact that it just wasn't working no matter how much tinkering they both did. 

It was what he and Zane were going to look at today. 

That was the plan, but then they'd gotten sidetracked with removing the screen to document their progress. 

Though Cole had to admit, it was a good idea. 

He hooked the jumper cables up to the battery, then nearly jumped for joy when the screen flickered to life in front of them. Finally, something was going their way. 

"Wow, didn't think I'd be missing technology already." Cole said, a slight smile on his face as he looked at the flickering screen. It was just a mirror image of himself, courtesy of the camera at the top of the console. 

Then, Cole just stared. Stared into his own eyes on the screen. How tired he actually looked. The fact that he was in dire need of a shower that wasn't cold lake water, or new clothes that weren't representative of being pulled through a hedge backwards several hundred times over. He tugged lightly at the hem of his gi with a small frown, picking off a loose piece of dirt and flicking it away. As if that made all the difference. 

"We both aren't exactly the most well kept individuals." Zane said at his left shoulder, which dragged Cole out of his stupor with a quiet chuckle. 

"What gave that away? Was it the fact that I'm using my belt to keep my hair out of my face whilst I work, or the oil you didn't tell me was on my forehead?" He questioned. 

"I was more focused on the twig you've had stuck in your hair since we were sparring this morning."

The noise Cole made at that reveal was a mix of an indignant huff and a sound of surprise, which really made for an unusual mix. Then he brought a hand back and started feeling through his hair. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, and the fact that Zane didn't change his expression during that time keyed Cole in on the situation. 

"There's no stick, is there?" Cole raised both his eyebrows at his friend in question, and Zane's almost perfect facade broke into a smile. "You absolute-- wow, Zane, and I thought I trusted you." He laughed and lightly punched the nindroid in the shoulder, only to get the action returned to him when he turned his attention back to the screen. 

Naturally, the only reaction was to grip his shoulder and give the most affronted ow he could muster. 

Zane smiled, rolled his eyes, and looked at the screen too. 

"I believe this would help keep up a routine." He said, shifting the subject so he wasn't risking Cole turning and returning the jovial punch a second time. Smart. "At the end of the day, we document what we did."

"Like a diary."

"Of sorts." Zane cleared his throat. "It also helps to keep track of the days here. Especially the ones where it feels like the sky does not open."

Cole just nodded slowly. The days that sometimes were hard to distinguish from the nights. When the snowstorms got so bad that they blocked out the sky, all light and severely inhibited vision. When it was hard to figure out if the day had begun, or if it was still the dead of twilight. 

Keeping track of days helped to keep thoughts focused, heads on straight. There was nothing worse than losing track of time. Counting days, it was something to measure. 

"I know we're both confused as to how long we've been here. And with my internal clock broken, I'm not able to keep track exactly." 

Cole just shook his head and draped an arm over Zane's shoulders, giving him a sideways hug. "We can't do anything about it now. But we can document today, make our first message to an empty realm."

Zane sighed, and leant slightly into the hug, "The point of making a message is the knowledge that someone could see it."

They both looked at the screen. 

It was unspoken, but if anyone actually ended up seeing these messages, they knew who they'd want it to be. 

Cole blew out a heavy breath and tapped the button in the centre before Zane could tell him not to. The screen flickered once, before a small recording symbol appeared in the top left corner. 

"Cole, we haven't even spoken about what we will say." Zane observed, and Cole just nodded. 

Though he sort of knew, if he hadn't pressed the record button, they would have been dancing around the idea of recording a message for a while before either one of them plucked up the courage to actually go ahead and do it. 

It made everything feel final, like they were accepting their situation for the long run. 

Maybe that was what they needed to do?

"I know." He smiled, before turning to the screen and glancing into the camera. 

"Hey," Cole said, then just closed his eyes for a moment at how stupid that had sounded. 

He should have thought of what he was going to say. 

"Uh-- we don't really know if there's anyone else out there. You know, anywhere. But this is a message to document the fact that we're here. Or at least, at the time of this recording, we're here." He paused, then reached over and tugged Zane fully into sight of the camera. 

"My name is Cole, and this is Zane." Cole continued, then paused. It was hard to think of what should be said. What could he say? Anything that his mind was providing just felt too morbid, too much like giving up. 

If you find this message, we're not here anymore. 

We don't know if, by the time you're seeing this, this cave has been empty for a while. 

We were counting on a rescue, but we figured out pretty early on that it might not be coming. 

"We're strangers in this land." Zane took over when he noticed that Cole was floundering. "And we're trying to find our way home."

Cole just watched, still on the screen, as Zane managed to capture the situation in the best way possible. In the lightest way. Like his words were there to provide hope for whoever might end up viewing this recording, as if their personal efforts to get back home meant that in the future they could be successful. 

Even when the odds were stacked against them. 

"We've found it hard to keep track of days in this place, it feels like it's been a long time." They shared a glance for a second. 

Cole, he was convinced they were on day eight. Zane, his guess was a little more, ten to fifteen days. It didn't narrow anything down. 

"-- But we're not giving up hope."

_

From the beginning

Ch 04 > Ch 05 > Ch 06

AO3