Chapter Text
Part of Lloyd agreed that cleaning windows was more comfortable than breaking through them or being thrown into them. And from above the sound of the crowd below became a murmur of voices mixed with the impatient honking of cars stuck in traffic, a constant reminder that it was no longer his concern.
Anyone who saw him might have thought that he was trying to keep an eye on things, that he was undercover, lurking in the shadows like a ninja since ancient times. The truth was that even if he wanted to be back in action, there hadn't been a major state of alert to signal the imminent doom of Ninjago City in nearly a year, which was definitely a new record. Cole, Zane, and Pixal were more than capable of handling minor emergencies, and someone still had to make sure the city stayed clean.
His new job had a small downside, however. Lloyd was used to thinking fast and coming up with solutions to any situation, but cleaning windows didn't involve much thinking so his mind was no longer in a constant race and was free to roam at will... to roam until it got lost and didn't know which way to go anymore.
It all came back to him, faces and places he hadn't seen in so long, many of them he never wanted to see again, others he wanted to see more than anything.
Even now as he reached into the bucket he could almost feel her grip his hand to bring his feet back on the ground. But Lloyd's feet were nowhere near the ground, and every time the platform rocked from side to side the bucket splashed a little over the brim. It was only after he wiped away the trickles of water slowly flowing down and saw his face on the glossy surface that he remembered that no one was standing next to him.
With a jerk of his head, he resumed his work.
It was a hot summer day, and soon the water began to boil in the bucket like the tea in Master Wu's kettle. Lloyd took his cap off and fanned himself with it. The chances of anyone recognizing him without his green ninja uniform were pretty slim anyway.
"Lloyd?"
Or maybe they were slim on any other day, it just so happens that he had been tasked to clean the windows of the Ninjago History Museum. Misako adjusted her glasses on her nose and squinted at the window he had yet to clean.
Lloyd sighed and waved his free hand.
"Lloyd, what are you doing up there in this heat? Come, I've got some lemon tea in my office!”
Lloyd had to admit that a cup of iced tea didn't sound too bad at the moment, and it was probably a good idea to change the water.
Misako's office was cluttered and messy, with jade statuettes used as book weights and long scrolls of parchment stretching from the top shelf to the floor. She had been spending most of her time there lately. Lloyd couldn't blame her. They had all tried to keep themselves busy. Even though they lived together, Lloyd didn't get home until well past dinner time, and Misako usually locked herself in the Monastery's library.
Kai and Jay weren't even staying with them anymore. Kai opened his own Dojo not far from his parents' blacksmith shop so he could regularly check on them, and Jay had moved into the old abandoned lighthouse where Doctor Julien had been imprisoned long ago. Lloyd had no idea why the lighthouse seemed to hold such special meaning to him, perhaps because it was the best place to look at the sea.
"So, how do you like your new job?"
"Um, it's alright," said Lloyd who had been stirring honey in his tea for the past five minutes.
Misako studied him for a moment. “You know I support your decision, dear, but maybe you should explore other options. You could come and help me at the museum if you want. I'm sure you’d do great. You and your friends helped find some of our most priced artifacts, and we could finally spend more time together just the two of us. What do you think?”
Lloyd placed his cup on the desk. He felt as though they had had this conversation before. "Sounds great, Mom, but I can't work here. This place... it brings back too many memories.”
"Oh. I see."
She tried to search his face again, but Lloyd became very interested in a coffee stain on the carpet.
Misako sighed. "I know things haven't been easy. Nya's absence left a deep mark on each of us. I understand if you still need time to recover. If anyone deserves a break it's you and your friends—”
"No Mom, I told you I'm done being a ninja!" said Lloyd, a little bit louder than he had intended. "No matter what I do, someone's always unhappy... someone always has to pay the price, and I..." He hung his head, letting his hair cover his face, and lowered his voice almost to a whisper. "What's the point of having all this power if I can't even protect the people I care about?"
"Oh, Lloyd, but you know it's not your fault. Even your grandfather couldn't defeat Wojira.”
"It's not just that... But every enemy we defeat seems to bring a new bigger, stronger one. It never ends! I just don't see the point anymore."
Misako leaned towards him and put her hand on his knee. "You know you can't give up. What would Nya say?”
"Actually, I almost forgot what her voice sounds like," Lloyd whispered.
His mother just didn't understand. Without Nya things could never be the same. Even when they had lost Zane and everyone else had given up, Nya had stuck by him and Master Wu to support him as best she could as Samurai X. Even when their friends had disappeared into the Realm of Oni and Dragons and they believed that they had lost them for good, Nya kept him fighting, she kept him strong.
The truth was, he had never had to survive without her before, and now he felt completely lost. It wasn't that he valued her more than the others, yet after all these years, Nya had become not just his sister but his anchor as well. With her gone, Lloyd had finally run out of hope.
To his surprise, when he looked up, Misako had a grin on her face. "I might have a solution to that." She went behind the desk and opened the first drawer. “After Wojira's defeat, I began researching the legend of Nyad and its connection to the First Spinjitzu Master. Your uncle lent me a hand. That's how we were able to locate this."
"Um, I don't get it," Lloyd said, staring at the large yet otherwise plain conch shell set before him.
“Well, just like the map to the four golden weapons that he entrusted to Maya and Ray, Master Wu had many friends in high places to keep his father's artifact collection safe. This one in particular was given to the former Sound Master who was more than happy to donate it to our museum once I explained everything to him."
“So the First Spinjitzu Master collected seashells,” Lloyd said, deciding not to get his hopes up, “just like Jay's mother. I'm sorry, Mom, but unless I can listen to Nya's voice through it now that she's technically the sea, I really don't see how this is going to help."
Misako chuckled. "Not quite, but you're close." She unfolded a scroll that showed a miniature First Spinjitzu Master standing atop a sharp rock and blowing into the conch. "Before Ninjago came to be, there were two other ancient masters, Nyad, the Master of Water, and Feng, the Master of Wind."
Nyad was riding the waves that surrounded the rock, and above them, a young man with long braided hair was sitting on a storm cloud.
”The First Spinitzu Master realized that the four weapons couldn't handle a force he couldn’t comprehend, so he enlisted their help, using the Shell of a Thousand Sails to summon them both to him. It is said that Feng was defeated during the battle against Wojira, and after she became one with the ocean, Nyad pushed his body back to the shore where your grandfather could bid him a proper farewell.”
"I didn't know that," Lloyd murmured.
"The conch can be heard even through the storm, and now it may be your own chance to say goodbye."
"You mean…" Lloyd reached out, but just as he was about to touch the shell he let his hands flop back into his lap. "Maybe it worked in the past, but now it's definitely too late. I mean Nya... she's not Nya anymore. I know she's still out there somewhere, but how can we reach her? I don't even know if she still has ears!"
His last comment seemed to amuse Misako, who simply handed him the conch shell across the desk. "Well, I suppose my research won't be complete until someone finds out what happens."
Lloyd rubbed the smooth spiraling surface with his thumb. Even though he wasn't fully convinced, he couldn't help but smile a little. "Thanks, Mom! Just wait till I tell the guys! Wait... what's this?”
Beneath a small jade monkey and dangerously close to the honey jar laid a scroll depicting what appeared to be a multi-towered temple surrounded by mist. Two symbols joined by a single line were circled underneath.
"Oh, one more thing related to Nyad's legend," Misako said. "It's called the Tempest Temple. It is where the Amulets of Wave and Storm were forged in an attempt to control Wojira, but something must have gone wrong.”
"And these symbols..."
"Ah, yes, the two masters of the temple. It seems to play the same role the Temple of Light did for you and your friends. It embodies and amplifies the elemental power of Water and Wind, but only when they are together."
Lloyd rubbed his chin. "Hmm, interesting..."
"Below are instructions on how to get there, but they're not very clear. Turns out it's almost impossible for anyone but the two masters to find.”
"Well, I guess that's it then. Thanks again for the conch,” Lloyd said quickly, stuffing the Shell of a Thousand Sails into the bag where he kept his spare cleaning spray. "But I really think I should get back to work. Those windows won't wash themselves."
"Oh, yes, of course," Misako said.
Lloyd sprinted down the hall and didn't slow down until he rounded the first corner.
Perhaps his mother imagined that the shell might offer him a sense of closure, and though seeing her one last time would have been more than he could have wished for that morning, it would have meant letting her go for good. Lloyd realized that he wasn't ready to give up, at least as long as there was still a glimmer of hope, however small.
He remembered how he felt when his friends joined forces in the Temple of Light so that he could defeat the darkness on the island. He felt light like a feather, but at the same time more aware of every cell tingling through his body, of every heartbeat pumping with pure energy. He could honestly say he had never been more alive than in that moment.
Nya had used all her energy to become one with the ocean so maybe she just needed to refuel, and that way she would have regained her original form or at least remembered who she was.
In all his excitement, Lloyd had forgotten to watch where he was going, and instead of returning to the exit, he found himself in the middle of a strange, oddly familiar room.
Jade lions were crammed on shelves among volumes of old books, and an ax that had belonged to the Skulkin army his father had once controlled was safely stowed away in a display case. Master Chen's portrait still hung on the wall, though Lloyd distinctly remembered smashing it to pieces. He didn't know who would bother to restore it, he didn't even understand why the museum needed such a painting in the first place.
But the exhibit he liked least was the giant golden statue of one of the Hypnobrai generals frowning down at him, its heavy tail now safely wrapped around its plinth. He could still feel the bruises throbbing from his waist, and the breath being squeezed out of his lungs while his vision became obscured by the sand swarming all around him. But all of that was nothing compared to the searing pain that threatened to split his head in two, followed by an icy numbness that spread from his brain to his toes in a matter of seconds.
If the Temple of Light helped Lloyd feel the most alive then this room had done the exact opposite.
Without realizing what he was doing, Lloyd seized his head and backed away, bumping into a display case and almost causing one of the ceramic vases on the last shelf to topple down.
He realized with a pang of horror that even if he managed to locate the temple, Nya couldn't unleash her power on her own. But if that's what it took to bring her back, then Lloyd could handle anything.