Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The night sky cast the surrounding area in an ominous atmosphere. The darkness could be a misgiving to some, shrouding the environment in mystery, but to Morro and Lloyd, it offered protection. After all, it was much easier to break into bakeries in the dead of night. 

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Morro spat out. 

"Of course I do! You dare question Lloyd Garmadon?!" Lloyd bit back, raising his voice in offense. Morro scoffed at the confidence the 8-year-old in front of him had. 

"The same Lloyd Garmadon that fell flat on his face earlier today? Yeah, I have questions for him."

Lloyd turned from the lock he was trying to pick, showing Morro his bright red face. Lloyd pointed at Morro accusingly.

"I told you not to bring that up again!" Lloyd spoke loudly, forgetting about the not-so-legal task at hand. Morro was quick to slap his hand over Lloyd's mouth. 

"Keep it down! You're going to get us caught!"

Lloyd glared at Morro, quickly backing away. 

"You can't order Lloyd Garmadon around!" Morro fought the urge to punch the future "villain.”

"Well, if Lloyd Garmadon wants to eat, he'll do what he's told!"

Lloyd’s hunger outweighed his pride and subdued him into resentful submission. He grumbled as he turned his attention back to the door of the bakery.

He shoved the hairpin in his hands back into the lock, wriggling the hairpin around until he heard a satisfying click. 

"Yes!" Lloyd whispered, his antsy hands shoving the door open. Morro put his hand on Lloyd's shoulder, stopping him from entering. 

"What gives?" Lloyd questioned.

Morro merely gestured to the camera in the corner of the room with an annoyed look. He lifted his hand and directed a gust of wind to knock it down. The camera fell hard, breaking on impact.  Lloyd ran into the bakery, glee written on his face.

The glass cases displaying food were in the front, blocking the kitchen from view.  The bakery was small and family-owned, so the security was limited. Morro had been observing it, noticing the scarce number of customers that visited the bakery. When the windows had been covered in posters saying "closing sales," he knew it was the perfect opportunity. 

"Take as much as you can, but don't make it too noticeable." 

"Aye Aye!" Lloyd responded. He saluted Morro, took his hoodie off, and started stuffing it with food from the displays.

Morro's lips quirked up into a small smile at the sight of Lloyd's antics. Morro had known Lloyd for about two years now. Ever since Morro had witnessed Lloyd pickpocketing a stranger. That fateful day, Morro confronted Lloyd, trying to stir him up a bit. What can Morro say? He's a model citizen. 

Now, don't ask Morro why he did what he did; he hated kids, and adults, and teens, people in general, really. But he offered to give Lloyd some tips on pickpocketing. It didn't take long for Lloyd to fold and tell Morro everything. He told Morro about how his dad was Lord Garmadon, how he was “destined to be a great villain,” and how he had been living on the streets for about a month at that point.

Lloyd hesitantly admitted that he was kicked out of Darkley's Boarding School because they didn't believe he had what it took to be a villain, and that he didn't have anywhere else to go. Morro doesn't know when it happened, but at one point or another, he decided that he and Lloyd were a team.

Morro was pulled from his memories at the sight of Lloyd desperately trying to keep the food from spilling out of his hoodie. He snickered, pulling Lloyd’s attention to himself and his empty hands. 

"You haven't gotten anything?!"

Morro rolled his eyes.

"Chill out. I'm going to go to the kitchen and grab some stuff quickly, and then we can leave."

Morro ignored Lloyd’s angry mumbling and hunted through the kitchen. Morro glanced around, grabbing whatever he could before re-entering the main room.

Lloyd huffed angrily as he kept having to catch the food that would fall out of the hoodie in his hands, only for more food to fall out. 

"I thought I told you to grab what you could carry," Morro remarked.

"I can carry all of this!"

Lloyd struggled to keep himself from falling backward, the weight of the food pulling him down. Each step unbalanced him further, but he persisted. Miraculously, they made it back to their treehouse with everything accounted for. 

The food they stole was piled haphazardly in the corner. 

"We'll be eating like kings!" Lloyd exclaimed.

Morro shot him a look, "We have to make the food last Lloyd. No stuffing your face."  

"You always ruin the fun." Lloyd pouted, kicking the floor.

"Quit complaining before I throw you off the side of the tree house."

Lloyd paled but didn't relent. He crossed his arms and turned his head in defiance.

"You wouldn't do that."

 Morro smirked and guided the wind to rustle Lloyd's hair.

"You wanna bet?"

Lloyd drew up a ball of energy in his hands and drew his hands back in preparation. 

"I'll fight back!"

Morro flicked his hand, and a strong gust of wind knocked Lloyd onto his back. 

"Hey! No fair!"

Morro laughed, taking in the sight of Lloyd falling over for the second time that day. 

"Life isn't fair."

Lloyd huffed at Morro's remark as he picked himself up off the floor. 

"When I rule the world, it will be. And I'll make you do my bidding!" Lloyd stood proudly as if he hadn't just been thrown onto the floor by Morro. 

Morro scoffed.

“Big words coming from a tiny kid.”

Lloyd stared at Morro incredulously.

“Tiny?! You shall cower before Lloyd Garmadon and his…uh…average height!” 

“You have to stop talking in the third person. I assure you I won’t forget your name if you go five minutes without announcing it.”

Lloyd perked up, unbothered by Morro’s criticism. 

“That’s right, you won’t forget it! Soon people will tremble in fear at the sound of my name!”

Morro laughed, unable to imagine Lloyd, the same kid who trusted everyone, the same kid who spoke in the third person, and the same kid who’d decided to stick around Morro of all people for two years as some terrifying villain. 

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be horrified,” He said, tone dripping with sarcasm. 

Lloyd wanted to be mad, but sleep dulled his emotions. Instead of shaking his fist or kicking Morro in the shin, he yawned and rubbed his eyes. 

“Yeah, well,l I have to get some sleep before I can start planning my takeover.” 

Lloyd let out one more yawn before moving to the back corner of the treehouse. He lay down on the floor, pulling a green blanket over him.

“Night, Morro.”

Morro waited in silence for a few seconds to make sure Lloyd would fall asleep undisturbed. In his boredom he let his attention wander to the familiar “home” he and Lloyd had created for themselves.

It was simple, but it served them well. Morro found it abandoned years ago. It was out in the middle of the forest, perfectly hidden from the city. There wasn't much, just some random stuff that had been left there or stuff Morro and Lloyd “borrowed.”

Red bean bags sat in the middle of the room on top of an orange rug. A bookshelf resided against the wall, filled with… books. Shocking, I know. Next to the bookshelf was a barren table and a chair. Morro and Lloyd had blankets set up in the back corner of the room. Various items were scattered across the floor: comics, a kite, and bottles of water.

Morro didn’t know what he was looking for. Maybe just an excuse to not go to bed yet, but he found nothing. Heaving a sigh, Morro walked over to the corner Lloyd was in, grabbed his blanket, and plopped down onto a bean bag. 

Sleep overcame him quickly. Morro and Lloyd rested peacefully. However, a certain group of vigilantes were not granted that same mercy. 

—————————————————————

“I knew Garmadon was evil, but making us get up in the middle of the night crosses the line!” Jay yelled out into the night sky.

Zane sent him a puzzled look.

“Lord Garamdon has terrorized countless villages. That should not be where the line is.”

Cole rolled his eyes. Was it too much to ask for a team that wasn’t made up of idiots? 

“Guys, focus. There were reports of skeleton sightings here, around this time. We have to be careful.” Cole observed his surroundings, trying to find any clues as to where the trouble could be.

Jay’s voice interrupted Cole’s thoughts. 

“As much as I enjoy kicking skeleton butt, don’t you think that maybe we’re biting off more than we can chew? We managed to defeat the skeletons one time. And that was by accident!”

Kai threw his head back in annoyance. He was just here to kick ass, and then go back to sleep. 

“Look, Jay, these skeletons have been wreaking havoc on our city for weeks. The police can’t keep them under control. But we,” Kai snapped his fingers, igniting a small flame on his fingertip. “Have something they don’t.” 

“I fail to see how powers we barely understand and have difficulty controlling will be of any help,” Zane added, contemplating Kai’s logic.

Kai groaned. 

“Always the optimist, Zane.”

Cole continued to ignore the others. His head made a sharp turn right. He placed his hand on Kai’s shoulder, gaining his attention. 

“Shhh. I think I heard something.”

The ninja went silent. Kai’s expression turned to one of determination. Cole glanced around once more. Zane took a step forward, observing the vast sandy land. Jay regrets his life choices.

Rustling could be heard behind a rock in the distance. The Ninja took a defensive stance, ready for a fight. 

Kai made the first move, stepping in front of the group. 

“Show yourself!”  

Two skeletons emerged from behind the rock. They narrowed their eyes, trying to place their finger on the familiar faces before them. Unfortunately for the Ninja, something in the skeleton's mind clicked. 

“You,” the smaller one yelled. 

“You’re the one who tried to cook us!”

Kai smirked. He willed a flame to ignite in his hand, showing it off to the skeletons before him. 

“What can I say? I like me some ribs.” 

The slightly taller skeleton stretched out his arm, dramatically pointing his finger at the Ninja.

“Charge!” He yelled.

The two skeletons ran towards the Ninja, fists up in the air. Kai began hurtling fireballs at the skeletons, but none of them were hitting. Kai’s confidence fell, and he took a step back, turning his head towards the others behind him.

“Uh, guys, did we have a plan?”

Cole grimaced.

“I don’t think we thought this far ahead.” 

The skeletons were in their faces now. The smaller one was deceptively strong. He picked Kai up by his foot, swinging him around until he felt it was right to release. Kai slammed into the ground with a loud thump. The skeleton laughed obnoxiously. Cole started throwing punches at the taller skeleton, knocking him into a rock. Jay gripped his hair in his hands. 

“WHY DID WE COME OUT HERE AGAIN?!” 

Zane grunted in frustration as he struggled to stop the skeleton’s advance towards them with a slide of ice. The skeletons slipped, successfully stunning them for a moment.

He turned towards Jay.

“We were trying to gather insight into the whereabouts of Garmadon and his army to offer information to the authorities.”

Jay directed a shaky lightning bolt at the recuperating skeletons. The skeletons yelped simultaneously. Quite literally shocked. Jay ignored them, throwing his hands on his hips as he addressed Zane. 

“Well, I know that Zane! But why did it have to be us?” Jay spoke, distress and exasperation evident in his voice.

Kai was back in the fight, trying to summon larger fireballs. 

“Quit complaining, Jay! It’s either we do something or we continue to let Garmadon walk all over us.” Kai shouted. 

The taller skeleton had regained his composure, punching Cole square in the face. Cole let out a pained yell. Jay reacted quickly, using all of his strength to shoot a powerful lightning bolt to strike down the skeleton. Kai surrounds the stunned skeletons in a ring of fire. He lets out a sigh.

However, the skeletons weren’t as happy about their predicament as the Ninja were. 

“You may think you’ve won, but we are the least of your worries. Revenge will be ours!” The taller one shouted, shaking in rage. 

“Uh huh, sure. In that case, I’ll be happy to kick your ass again! Jay responded proudly. He held his head high acting as if he wasn’t sure he was screwed mere minutes before.

Cole gingerly rubbed his head, the pain from the punch still present, and Jay’s booming voice knocked his skull around some more. 

“Ugh, guys, let’s go. I want to get home where a nice slice of cake is waiting for me.”

Kai snorted and silently wondered how much less money they’d have to spend on food if Cole weren’t around. But at the end of the day, he supposed it was a price he’d pay in return for Cole joining whatever thing the group had.

As his thoughts wandered, his steps fell into sync with the others as they ventured home. The peaceful sound of skeletons screaming faded off into the distance. 

Chapter Text

It had been about a week since Morro and Lloyd robbed the bakery. But Lloyd couldn’t be bothered by his “crimes” when it was such a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, and the birds were chirping, but the only problem was that it was six in the morning. And Morro did not want Lloyd waking him up at six in the morning. Too bad Lloyd did not care. 

“Morro!” Lloyd yelled, his tone deceivingly innocent. He aggressively shook Morro, trying and failing to get him up. All Lloyd managed to achieve was a groggy response.

“Beat it, kid.” 

Lloyd huffed angrily. 

“I’m not a kid! I’m already eight!” 

Despite the very old, very threatening, and very manly eight-year-old beside him, Morro continued to fall back asleep. Lloyd was about to start hitting him before he remembered that he had a better trick up his sleeve. An evil grin found its way onto Lloyd’s face as he placed his hands on Morro’s back.

Lloyd concentrated as hard as he could, letting himself focus on the energy inside and around him. Lloyd sent a massive stream of energy through Morro, essentially supercharging him. Morro shot up, his eyes wide. Large gusts of wind started blowing through the room. Morro was visibly shaking with adrenaline. 

“What the hell, Lloyd?!” 

The wind whipped Lloyd’s hair around aggressively, obscuring his face. But Lloyd could see well enough to see that Morro was… not happy. Lloyd held his hands up in surrender. The guilt was evident on his face. 

“Sorry! I didn’t think it was that much energy! I only wanted enough to wake you up…” Lloyd mumbled the last part to himself, looking away in shame. 

“Well, fix it!” Morro was glaring daggers at Lloyd. He couldn’t help it, the unease ate at him. He could feel the excessive energy coursing through him, itching to be used. 

Lloyd rushed over to Morro. The wind hadn’t relented and was fighting Lloyd’s every step. But Lloyd pushed through and tentatively put a hand on Morro’s arm. If Lloyd was being completely honest, he didn’t exactly know what to do.

He had a rough idea of what his weird powers were and how to use them. After a few… interesting experiences, he’d picked up on the fact that he could control energy. He could even accumulate it into a physical form. But he never claimed to be good at doing those things.

However, because Morro looked ready to combust, he’d have to give it a try. Lloyd closed his eyes and focused on the energy coursing through Morro. He started to pull it out, his hands glowed bright green as the energy traveled from Morro to him. The glow continued to emit from his arms, traveling through his veins.

It always took longer to take away energy than to give it. He continued to drain Morro’s energy when he abruptly pulled back. The energy was overwhelming. His body shook from power, and Lloyd’s eyes were wide. Lloyd never admitted to being scared, and he still wouldn’t now, but he would admit to a little freaking out. Which he was doing a lot of.

Morro was finally able to calm down, allowing the wind to subside. Now that the adrenaline left his body his exhaustion hit ten times harder. He let out a shaky breath, bracing himself so he wouldn't fall over. He wanted to pass out right there but now that he was calm, he was able to take Lloyd’s state in. The kid looked like a glow stick that was afraid of the dark. 

“Get rid of the energy!” Morro hissed. Despite his angry tone, he was internally panicking. Lloyd clearly couldn’t control the amount of energy he had. 

“I can’t!”

Morro couldn’t believe it. Llyod had threatened him with an energy blast many, many times. And the one time Morro wants Lloyd to blast something he can’t?! 

“What do you mean you can’t?! Just blast something!” 

“It’s too much to control! I can’t focus!” Lloyd waved his hands in exasperation. The sudden movement seemed to do the trick because Lloyd sent a massive ball of energy hurtling out the door. The energy released. The released energy sent shockwaves through the forest.

Morro almost allowed himself to be impressed by the fact that Lloyd knocked down a few trees. They both stared in silence for a few seconds. The tension was only broken by the thump of Lloyd hitting the ground. Morro rushed over to Lloyd’s side. He uncertainly held his hands above Lloyd’s body. 

“That was… awesome!” Lloyd said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. He then promptly passed out. Morro stared appalled. Of course, Lloyd thought that the disaster of a morning was awesome.

Morro was never one for rules or authority, he did his own thing and didn’t care what others did, but FSM was he going to give the longest lecture ever to Lloyd when he woke up. But until then, Morro would have to wait. Unfortunately, that’s not the only eventful thing that would happen that day. 

—————————————————————

“I still can’t believe you guys went off on an investigation without me!” Nya yelled as she continued to give her roommates grief. Jay winced. It never ended well when Nya was angry. As much as she claimed to be nothing like Kai, you tend to pick up some of the traits of the person who raised you. But Jay would never know why it had to be Kai’s temper of all things. 

“We wanted to invite you! But you were off on some night shift and Kai didn’t want to wait…” Kai couldn’t believe Jay’s audacity to direct Nya’s anger at him.

“Woah, hey! Don’t pin this on me! Look, sis, you can just come with us next time.” Nya was about to say something back, but was interrupted by Zane. He walked into the living room where they were with Cole by his side. 

“You won’t have to wait long, Nya. There are reports of unusual activity in a forest nearby. Some kind of disruption occurred there as distressed animals were seen fleeing the area.” 

“You think it’s Garamadon?” Kai questioned. The group looked at Zane for an answer. Cole supplied one instead. 

“No clue. But the authorities were quick to overlook it. I think we should at least check.”

The group was silent for a moment. Ninjago City’s lack of effective response to Lord Garmadon was the whole reason they started doing these investigations in the first place. They didn’t know what they were looking for, but they just wanted to find something that could help defeat Lord Garmadon. Like a weakness, or something they could exploit.

They all had lost too much to stand by. They’d lost too much to still believe in Ninjago City’s officials. They didn’t know why or how they had the powers they did, but if they could use them for something good, that’s what they would do. 

Jay awkwardly laughed. 

“Then let’s do this!”

 Each member of the group put on their signature outfit. They weren’t technically doing anything illegal, but it’s possible they may have to do some kind of illegal things from time to time. So, they hid their faces with a bandanna and a hoodie. They picked their color to be able to easily identify one another. Jay’s was blue, Zane’s was white, Kai’s was red, Cole’s was black, and Nya’s was grey.

Even though their outfits were supposed to make them unidentifiable, they all added their own flair to their attire. Jay had a grey backpack with two little yellow pins on it. His old blue jeans still somehow held together. Kai and Nya had black baggy jeans on. Cole thought black was too boring by itself, so he wore orange cargo pants. And Zane wore a pair of blue jeans similar to Jay’s, but in much better condition. 

Once dressed, Zane led the group to the forest.

“We have arrived,” Zane announced once they were met with a wide wall of trees. Nya took the first steps into the forest. 

“I know it’ll be hard, but you all will have to be quiet. I’d rather not have to get into a fight with deadly skeletons.” Nya spoke with one hand on her hip. Kai shrugged. 

“Eh, we’ve fought them twice now. I’m starting to think they’re not that bad.” Zane shot Kai a look. He didn’t want Kai’s confidence to put them at risk. As much as he loved his teammates, they tended to be impulsive. And very, very prone to danger. He put a hand on Kai’s shoulder.

“Nya is right. We do not need any unnecessary confrontation.”

Kai groaned.

“Fine, guess we’ll do things the boring way.” He slowly followed Nya into the forest. Jay let himself fall back to where Cole was. 

“If we do find any skeletons, we're sacrificing Kai, right?” He whispered. Cole chuckled. 

“Definitely.” 

The group continued to walk further into the forest. It felt like they’d been walking for a while, yet they still hadn’t seen any signs of skeletons. 

“Ugh, we’ve been walking forever! If something was going on, don’t you think we would have seen something by now?” Jay complained. He had slowed down significantly. Cole was faring better than all of them. He’d built a lot of stamina and strength over the years from mountain climbing. But even he wanted to go home.

“Yeah, maybe we should just call it quits and go home.” Kai looked incredulously at Cole.

“We can’t give up now! There’s got to be something we’re missing.” Kai was getting frustrated with their lack of progress. The longer it took them to stop Garamadon, the more harm he could do. They couldn’t quit now. Kai needed to find something to prove to himself that they were helping. That this wasn’t pointless. But Nya made him realize that it may not be possible this time. 

“Missing what? How can we even tell if the skeletons were here or not? Look for bones?”

“I don’t think the skeletons would just leave their bones behind, Nya,” Cole responded, his eyebrow raised in amusement. Nya’s face flushed red.

“Right.” She mumbled. 

The entire time the group was talking, Zane stared off into the distance. He felt like there was something there. He didn’t know why, but he had always been better at noticing things like that. That was just one of many things that made him feel… different from everybody else.

“I think we should continue a little further. There is something in the distance.” Everybody sent him puzzled looks.

“Uh, I don’t see anything,” Jay remarked. He used his hand as a shield from the sun, trying to look for anything that would make Zane want to continue. Zane stared off into the forest again.

“Just trust me.” That was all Zane said before he started walking again.

Jay shared glances with everybody else. Cole shrugged before following Zane, and the others followed soon after. In a few short minutes, they found themselves in front of a treehouse.

“A treehouse? Why would villains hide out there?” Nya asked no one but herself.

“The real question is, how did Zane see it through all of those trees?” Jay exclaimed. Cole ignored them both.

“Um, guys?” Everyone turned to look at him.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything here. It just looks like a regular old treehouse.” It was then that a small child emerged from the treehouse.

“Who the heck are you?!” 

—————————————————————

Morro heard the group outside of the treehouse before he saw them. He couldn’t make out words but at least they didn’t sound like a threat. Lloyd woke up a little while ago, but Morro wished he didn’t. Morro very clearly told Lloyd to ignore the group and stay quiet until they passed. But of course, Lloyd had to make his presence known. 

“Who the heck are you?!” Lloyd shouted. Morro groaned. Lloyd sure liked causing him trouble, maybe the kid was a villain after all. 

“Sorry. We did not mean to trespass. We were looking for” The soft voice was cut off by a person in a red hoodie slapping their hand over the person’s mouth. 

“Mushrooms! We were looking for mushrooms.” Morro could instantly tell that the person was lying. He originally wanted to ignore them, but Lloyd ruined that, and his curiosity had piqued now. He walked over to Lloyd and stood next to him. Morro took note of the bandannas and the way the group members all had their hoodies on. Okay, so maybe they were a threat.

“You’ll have better luck finding mushrooms elsewhere. So I suggest you leave.” Morro stated, his tone cold. Even if Morro didn’t believe their cover-up, he knew better than to ask questions. If things did escalate, he was sure he could take them out with his wind, but with Lloyd nearby, he didn’t want to risk it. Lloyd would almost certainly try to involve himself in the fight and get injured. 

The one in red started talking.

“Look, we aren’t here for any trouble. We just want to know if you saw anything weird this morning?” 

“No way! Nothing weird here. Nope.” Lloyd rambled off. The kid was a terrible liar. Morro internally facepalmed. 

“We don’t know anything, so why don’t you go ask someone who does?” Every one of Morro’s words had a condescending tone behind it. 

Looks like it's Grey's turn to talk.

“Okay, can we talk to your parents then?” She spoke in a forced tone, obviously trying to hide her annoyance. 

“Psh, why would we have our parents around? That’d be so lame!” Lloyd blurted out. FSM, if Lloyd didn’t get himself killed, Morro would do the job himself. The group was taken aback by his words. Morro had to cover it up fast.

“They don’t come into our treehouse. They’re at home. But they aren’t the friendly type, you’d have better luck talking to a rock.”

Morro heard the blue one mutter, 

“Guess it runs in the family,” under his breath, but elected to ignore it. Morro couldn’t care less about being friendly. 

Lloyd sent Morro a questioning glance, but one glare from Morro kept his mouth shut. White seemed to finally realize they weren’t going to get anything from Morro and Lloyd.

“I see. We are sorry to have bothered you. We will be taking our leave now.” White started pushing the others away from the treehouse, but not before Red shot them one last suspicious glare. 

Lloyd must have just realized that he’d gone more than a minute without talking because the room was immediately filled with his voice once more. 

“What was that about?”

“That was you causing us problems!” 

“What? What did I do?” 

“What did you do?! FSM, what didn’t you do?” Lloyd looked at Morro like a deer in the headlights. Morro could not believe the audacity of the kid to look confused. Looks like it was finally time for Morro to give Lloyd that long lecture.  

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you’ve got this?”

“I know,” Morro grunted. “What I’m doing.”

Lloyd bit his lip. The storm had seemingly come out of nowhere. One minute it was a sunny morning, and the next, rain was pouring down.

Thunder boomed and lightning lit up the sky. The wind was howling, relentlessly blowing. Morro was doing his best to direct the stronger gusts away from their treehouse. The treehouse had served them well, but Morro didn’t know how much it could withstand.

He stood at the entrance. He was hunched over, one hand on his knee and the other one outreached. His breaths were labored but he refused to take a break. He wasn’t weak.

Lloyd looked at Morro warily. His black jeans and T-shirt clung to him. His black hair was plastered across his face, the lone green stripe inching closer to his mouth. The green skull on his shirt matched his state fairly well.

“Let me help anyway! You’re not using me to my full potential!” Lloyd tried to make it seem like he was dying to get in on the action. But realistically, he was worried about Morro. Morro didn’t know his limits. To Morro, he didn’t have any. But Lloyd knew better. Morro was getting tired, and the wind was getting stronger.

Morro huffed.

“Oh, so you can control the wind too now?”

“Uh… no, but I can still control energy!” Lloyd formed a small ball of energy in his hands. A wild grin on his face. Sure, charging Morro up didn’t go well last time, but the second time is the charm, right?

Morro looked at Lloyd incredulously.

“No way. Look, just sit over there and be quiet.” Morro pointed to a corner in the back of the room. The seemingly harmless interaction caused Morro to lose control.

A strong gust of wind rushed into the room. It scattered items across the floor and knocked books off the bookshelf. Morro let out a frustrated growl. Lloyd was ignorant of his anger and perked up slightly.

“Well, if the wind already messed up everything, then there's no point in trying to stop it anymore! Besides, what villains are afraid of a little mess?” Lloyd was proud of himself and his indisputable reasoning.

Morro was less impressed.

“Great.” Morro thought for a moment. “You’re picking the mess up later.”

“What?!”

Morro wanted to be happy with Lloyd’s frustration but he was too caught up in his thoughts. He knows he had it. If Lloyd hadn’t distracted him the wind wouldn’t haven’t gotten past his control. But it did. But it wouldn’t get past him again.

Lloyd watched Morro apprehensively. He didn’t know what the problem was. Was Morro really that upset about the mess? The storm was still ongoing. Drops of rain leaked through the roof. Lloyd tried to ignore Morro and picked up a StarFarer comic.

He found his favorite one and excitedly opened it. Much to his dismay, droplets of rain kept falling on the pages. Lloyd gave an annoyed huff. He looked around the room. To be fair, it really was a mess. Lloyd looked back at Morro. He was still on the beanbag, looking off angrily into the distance.

Maybe if Lloyd cleaned up, Morro would feel better. Not that Lloyd cared how Morro felt! No, never, villains didn’t care about others. And he was supposed to be the greatest of them all! But if Lloyd didn’t clean… all of his comics would get wet! Yeah, that was it! So Lloyd started picking things up and putting them somewhere to shield them from the rain.

Morro noticed Lloyd in the corner of his eye. He cast him a curious glance. He knows he told Lloyd to clean up but he didn’t expect him to do it.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Lloyd responded curtly.

FSM, was Morro rubbing off on Lloyd? Or more importantly, was that a good thing or a bad thing? Morro opted for the first answer.

“Looks like you’re figuring out how to clean for the first time in your life.” Lloyd spluttered.

“Hey! I’m a great cleaner. And even if I wasn’t, who needs to be good at cleaning anyway? That’s for losers.” Lloyd put his arms across his chest in a defensive manner.

Morro smirked. He hadn’t even realized his frown had gone away.

“Then I guess, cleaning is the perfect hobby for you.”

“Says you,” Lloyd muttered. Despite Morro having annoyed Lloyd, Lloyd continued to clean regardless. They fell into a peaceful silence. That is, until a particularly loud lightning bolt struck right next to their treehouse.

“AH!” Lloyd shrieked. He instinctively dropped the items in his hands. Morro gave him a look.

“You’re still scared of lightning?” Lloyd's face grew red in embarrassment.

“No! I was just… uh… trying to scare you!” Morro was about to give a snarky response, but was interrupted by a loud boom of thunder. A lightning strike struck soon after. This one was even closer to the treehouse.

Lloyd wrung his hands together, his nerves worsening. Although Morro was good at hiding it, he was growing nervous as well. The storm was only getting worse. Rain slapped aggressively against the roof. More and more water was dripping through the logs of wood.

Lloyd attempted to nonchalantly move closer to Morro. Morro noticed but decided not to bring it up. Lloyd sat beside Morro’s beanbag. Morro stared at Lloyd awkwardly. He wanted to comfort him, but didn’t know how. So, he resorted to sarcasm.

“What lovely weather we’re having.”

“Yeah, totally.”

Morro could still hear the anxiety in Lloyd’s voice but at least a small smile appeared on his face.

A deafening rumble of thunder vibrated through the sky. As if it were trying to tear the sky apart. However, it stopped quickly, and all was quiet after that except for the continuous roar of the wind and the pounding of the rain. The striking contrast left shivers up Morro and Lloyd’s spines.

In a flash, a lightning bolt came crashing down, striking the tree house straight through the middle. The bolt split the tree in which the house was built in half. The splintering noise of the bark tearing apart was ear-piercing. Lloyd and Morro screamed as the two sides of the house started to crash to the ground. Lloyd and Morro crashed into the wall as it inched closer to the ground.

“Morro!”

Morro shook himself from his horror.  He fought against gravity, pushing himself down, and grabbed Lloyd’s hand.

“I’ve got you!”

 Using all of his concentration, he directed a gust of wind to break their fall and guide them away from the destruction. Although the wind kept them from getting injured, they still crashed into the ground.

They both lay helplessly on the ground as they watched the other side of the treehouse fall. The intense heat ignited sparks from within the tree, but the pouring rain extinguished them quickly.

The rain plastered Lloyd’s hair to his face, but he couldn't be bothered to move it. He just sat in horror at the destruction of his home. Even Morro couldn’t disguise his anguish. The treehouse was the first place he could call home. The only place he called home. And now it’s gone.

Lloyd and Morro didn’t have anywhere else to go. So they stayed there. Sitting next to one another as the rain continued to soak them and the thunder continued to roar, uncaring of their misery.

—————————————————————

Kai started out the window of his workplace.

“FSM, it sure is one heck of a storm out there.”

His words were only heard by the wall. The storm had deterred most people from visiting the gas station he worked at. So, he sat absentmindedly waiting for any customer to walk in.

Despite his boredom, he figured it was a small blessing that he wouldn’t have to deal with any annoying customers today.  There were many occurrences where he wished he still worked at his blacksmith. Don't get him wrong, there were annoying customers there as well. But at least he liked working there.

He enjoyed getting to wield swords with Nya and keeping the one thing he had left of his parents alive. But the universe had never cared about what he enjoyed. Garmadon’s army had raided it, looking for weapons. They wrecked the place, and Kai and Nya didn’t have the money to fix it. He tried so hard to save the place, to fight off the skeletons. But his efforts were futile.

Maybe that’s why when he and Nya met a strange trio trying to fight off Garmadon’s forces, they joined them. To save others from that same loss. And when the trio had learned of their loss and shared their own, they had become part of their family. It was after that that Cole, Jay, Zane, Nya, and Kai decided they would continue to fight together.

But you couldn’t make money from fighting. So the group earned what income they could at whatever jobs they could get. They each put their share into their apartment rent. But at the ripe old age of 18, there weren’t many jobs he could get. Especially with his sketchy educational background. So he ended up working at a gas station. How sophisticated.

With nothing to do, his mind wandered to his encounter with the two kids a few days ago. They both looked like they could be a part of an emo band. The older one wore all black except for a green skull on his shirt, and the younger one’s clothes were void of color as well. The blonde had black sweatpants and a black hoodie decorated with a painted skeleton ribcage and a green 10.

But the clothes weren't what made their meeting memorable. It was the older one; he was strange. Kai could tell the guy saw straight through his lies but didn’t ask questions. Kai couldn't help but feel it was because the kid had told lies of his own.

The group had chastised him for his suspicions, telling him that they were just kids. But something was off. Kai sighed loudly. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't do anything about it now.

The whole shift went by painfully slowly. Kai thanked the FSM when it was finally over. He grabbed his bag and walked over to the door. He took a moment to brace himself for the strenuous bike ride home.

Kai raced through the rain, luckily, he didn’t have to worry about his hair falling into his face. The amount of gel he put in it could withstand anything. Thankfully, his apartment wasn’t too far away from his work but the sign of it still nearly brought tears to his eyes.

He slammed the door open. His drenched clothes dripped onto the floor. He threw his bag on the floor and stretched dramatically.

“It’s good to be back.”

He plopped onto the couch and immediately reached for the video game controller. Zane, having heard the door, walked into the living room. It wasn’t hard to hear noise in the two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment.

He looked Kai over, confused as to why he was lying on the couch while soaking wet.

“Are you not going to change your clothes?” Kai looked over his shoulder.

“Eh, I’m sure I can dry 'em.” Zane suddenly looked very concerned.

“I do not think that’s a good idea.” Kai waved his hand, a smug look on his face.

“Nonsense.” Kai steadily raised his body heat, unfortunately, slow had never been something Kai was attuned to. His body heat erupted and his clothes started smoking.

“AH!”

He bolted up from the couch and started aggressively patting himself. Zane smacked his hand over his face before giving Kai mercy. He flicked his hand, and a wave of frost covered Kai’s body. Kai let out a breath of relief.

“Thanks, Zane.”

“Don’t mention it. But I fear I can’t do much for the couch.”

Kai glanced down at the couch, grimacing at the scorch marks.

“I’m so dead.”

Zane gave him a sweet smile.

“Yes, yes, you are.”

It was an hour later when Cole and Jay returned home from the arcade where they worked. Kai had tried to cover up the burn marks with a blanket, but Zane ratted him out with impressive speed. Traitor. Nya came home from her job at the movie theater an hour after that. Zane was thankful that he didn’t have a shift as a waiter that day.

The family finally had time to spend together, the sounds of the raging storm outside drowned out by their laughter. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Zane was pleasantly surprised that the kids agreed to go back to his apartment. This way, he could patch the blonde one up and better understand the situation.

For some reason, Zane couldn’t ignore the overwhelming feeling to protect them, it almost felt as if he was made to protect others. But then again, what good person would ignore kids in need?

Although he knew his intentions, the two did not. He would have to be careful and prove he was trustworthy. But given the amount of glares and suspicious glances being sent his way from the older one, that would be difficult. 

 He led them to the bathroom where the medical supplies were kept. It was a tight fit for the three of them but he wasn’t going to try and tell the older one to leave. He didn’t need to see the future to know that would go poorly. 

Zane rummaged through the cabinets. His eyes finally locked on to the first aid kit and he maneuvered around the cluttered cabinet to pull it out. The blonde child sat himself on the toilet. The cuts had stopped bleeding but they were still inflamed and flared an angry red. Lloyd looked at Zane curiously. 

“What’s that?”

Zane’s eyebrows pinched. He was starting to wonder if they’d get stuck like that.

“It is a first aid kit. Have you not seen one before?”

The kid’s curiosity was replaced with a brash facade. 

“Of course I have! I was just making sure you knew what it was.” The kid tripped over his words as he said them. He was such a bad liar that it was laughable. But Zane swallowed his snicker. 

“It is okay not to know something. I have a friend who is unaware of most things.” Zane smiled when he heard the blonde kid laugh at his quip. However, the older one didn’t seem to appreciate his humor as much.

“It doesn’t matter if Lloyd has seen a first aid kit or not; just use it already.”

Zane mentally noted the name before hastily trying to ease Morro’s frustration. Zane knew from the way Morro was relentlessly tapping his fingers on the counter, and continuously eyed the door, that the harshness came from a place of paranoia. 

“I’m sorry. I did not wish to upset you.” 

“Just ignore Morro. He’s never any fun. If you’re looking for a good time, hang out with me.” Lloyd proudly directed his two thumbs at himself. Zane couldn’t swallow his laugh this time. 

“I don’t know if I’d consider getting attacked by a raccoon a good time.”

Morro dropped his snarl for just a second and silently laughed. Zane felt a sense of pride at getting Morro to drop his cold glare, if even for a second.

“I totally would have won if it hadn’t caught me off guard!”

Zane grabbed a rag and ran it under cold water. He gingerly grabbed Lloyd’s arm, preparing to clean the cuts. A subtle smile spread across Zane’s face. 

“Something tells me you wouldn’t have.” 

Zane had to readjust his grip on Lloyd’s arm after Lloyd jerked away.

“You’re supposed to be nice!” Lloyd exclaimed.

Zane grinned as he washed the dried blood off Lloyd’s arm. 

Morro watched as Zane tended to Lloyd’s wounds. He stood in front of the door, ready to bolt with Lloyd if they needed to. But so far, everything seemed fine.

Morro was caught off guard. The guy was bantering with Lloyd as he carefully treated Lloyd’s cuts. Some of the guy’s quips were even funny, which surprised Morro the most.

But regardless of how well things were going, Morro grew more uncomfortable the longer he was there. The uneasiness ate at him, trying to get him to leave before something bad happened. The uncertainty loomed over him, urging him to go back to familiarity. But instead, he stood awkwardly in the cramped bathroom as the guy rubbed antibiotic ointment on Lloyd’s arm.

The guy started to rub the ointment on the scratch on Lloyd’s face. Morro inwardly snickered at the way Lloyd scrunched his face in discomfort as the man’s hand brushed against his face. His inner turmoil was momentarily subdued. The guy began wrapping Lloyd’s arm up in bandages when the door opened. 

Cole just wanted to play video games on the couch when he got home. But the unfamiliar sounds from the bathroom let him know that it wasn’t likely he’d get to enjoy that. He walked towards the light illuminating from the bathroom. He opened the door and stared, utterly baffled. 

“Um, Zane? Care to tell me why there are random kids in our bathroom?”

One of the kids in question, the older one, glared at him. 

“Your name’s Zane?” The blonde kid asked, unaware of any building tension. 

“Oh, yes, I forgot to mention it,” Zane replied before regarding Cole. 

“This is Morro and Lloyd.”

Zane made eye contact with Cole, trying to communicate something more important than the kids' names. Cole reevaluated the kids, but then it clicked. These were the kids from the treehouse, the ones Zane had been making meals for. 

“Who are you?” Morro questioned.

“I’m Cole. It’s nice to meet you.” Cole stuck his hand out for Morro to shake, but Morro sneered instead. 

“Sure it is.” 

Oh, no way was Cole going to let him get away with that. But before he did anything, his eyes trailed over Lloyd more closely. Lloyd sat on the toilet, a big band-aid on his face and both of his arms neatly wrapped in bandages. Cole’s annoyance was forgotten, and he squeezed his way through the bathroom and kneeled in front of Lloyd. 

“What happened, buddy?” 

“Uh, it was nothing,” Lloyd said. His face was flushed; it was clear he was embarrassed.

Cole looked at Zane for answers, but alas, Zane was of no help. Morro pushed his way towards Lloyd.

“Thanks for helping, but we’ll be going now,” Morro said curtly. Cole recalled the teen’s unfriendly behavior the first time they met. He supposed the guy was always like that. How fun.

“You do not have to leave right away. There are supposed to be severe storms in a little while.” Zane said wearily.

Morro had a tight expression on his face. 

“All the better reasons to leave. We have to get back home… to our parents.”

Morro and Lloyd exchanged glances, telling each other something they didn’t want Cole and Zane to know.  Zane had a weary expression on his face. Cole wasn’t entirely sure why he wanted the kids to stay so much, but if that’s his plan, Cole would back him up on it. 

“Why not stick around? We’re pretty cool.” 

A hint of disgust showed on Morro’s face. Ouch.

“Hey, we are!” Cole stressed.

Lloyd snickered, and Cole only felt more regret from his words. 

“It’s alright, Cole.” Zane soothed. Zane’s eyes locked onto Morro’s.

”If you must leave, we can at least make sure you get home safely to your parents.”

“Thanks, but we’re fine.” Morro choked out, his expression pained. 

“C’mon Morro, can’t we stay a little longer? Until after the storms so we don’t get all wet?” Lloyd urged.

Cole raised an eyebrow at this. Why would they get wet if they had a home to keep them dry?

Morro heaved a heavy sigh, but ultimately, he gave in.

“Fine.” He said coldly.

A weight lifted off Zane’s shoulder, and he visibly relaxed. 

“Shall I prepare some food then?” 

“Oh, yeah! I love some good cooking!” Cole whooped. 

Cole sat with Morro and Lloyd at the small table in the kitchen area. 

“Will your parents be okay with this?” 

Morro didn’t bother to look at Cole, but he responded.

“It’s fine. Our parents won’t be concerned.”

Okay, that was weird. What parents wouldn’t be concerned if their kids didn’t come home? 

Well, on second thought, Cole’s dad tended not to notice things like that. Cole knew his dad loved him, but that didn’t rid the sting of the feeling of being disregarded. When Cole would force himself to push past his limits during mountain climbing, he wouldn’t come home for hours.

When he finally did come home, he’d be covered in sweat, his face burning red, his hands torn apart, and his muscles burning from over-exertion. Although he went to be alone with his thoughts, part of him desperately wanted his dad to notice. For his dad to care, and be there like he once was.

But nothing could be like it once was, not after his mom died. Maybe that’s why Cole couldn’t stand living with his dad anymore, because at one point, his dad stopped being his dad, and his mom was already gone.

The house served as nothing more but a painful reminder of what he once had. So, he left. He left and he found a family with his roommates. 

Speaking of his roommates, one of them was unlocking the door from the outside.

Jay entered the apartment. He paused for a second, bewilderment written on his face. 

“Seriously, how many of you are there?” A strange kid shouted from the table. And wait a second, were those the kids Zane was talking about? 

“Uh, Zane? What’s going on?” 

“It appears I will have a lot of explaining to do to everyone.” 

Jay was introduced to Morro and Lloyd, then Kai, and then Nya. Zane helped Lloyd lie about the bandages since it was clear Lloyd didn’t want to relive the embarrassment- I mean trauma.

Eventually, they all were sitting at the table, eating a hot plate of spaghetti. The group ate in awkward silence, the only sound being the clicking of silverware and the slurping of noodles. The air was stiff, everyone waiting for someone to say something. The silence finally broke once Lloyd opened his mouth. 

“Man, this food is so good!” Lloyd yelled as he shoved noodles into his mouth. Kai laughed.

“You don’t have to eat so fast. The food isn't going anywhere.” He remarked. 

“I know, but I can’t believe that this is all for me!” Lloyd raved.

The uneasy feeling shrouded the group once more. They already knew the kid didn’t get to eat a lot, but hearing him talk about it so casually awakened a new kind of guilt.

The awkwardness certainly wasn’t helped by the odd predicament of having two random kids eating with them, but at least they were fun. 

Well, Lloyd was. Morro sulked as he ate his food and occasionally elbowed Lloyd when Lloyd was talking too much.

It was strange, Nya took note of every time Morro did it. It could be chalked up to sibling rivalry but Nya noticed the pattern. Morro always did it when Lloyd was close to sharing information about their lives. Morro was making Lloyd hide something. And Nya was going to find out what. 

“So, Lloyd, your parents aren’t going to be worried about you?” She asked, placing her elbows on the table and holding her head in her hands. She was going for an innocent look, playing on her strengths of deception. After all, it isn’t her fault people underestimate her. 

Lloyd looked at her like a deer in the headlights, unsure of what to say. Morro spoke up, his voice tight.

“They’re carefree people.” 

“Uh, yeah, they’re super laid back!” Lloyd added on. He was beaming, proud of how he caught on. 

“Hmmm. Sounds kind of irresponsible, don’t you think, Lloyd?” 

“What would you know?” Morro seethed.

Nya kept a tight smile plastered on her face. 

“I was asking Lloyd.” The water in Nya’s cup bubbled up slightly. 

“Lloyd doesn’t want to talk to you.” Morro bit back. No one seemed to notice the small breeze that flew through the room. 

“Yeah!” Lloyd supplied. He was on a roll today.

The others watched as the conversation became more aggressive. Kai and Jay were interested in how it would play out, while Cole and Zane only saw this ending poorly if it was allowed to progress. 

“Hey, guys, how great is this food? Am I right?” Cole interrupted. It was an obvious distraction, but Nya and Morro took it. They both glared at one another from across the table. 

“Lovely,” Nya said tersely. 

“Wonderful,” Morro responded.

The awkward silence fell upon the group once more. Soon, everyone was done eating, and Jay and Nya were washing the dishes.

The storm was approaching quickly. The night sky was filled with dark clouds, and the air was thick with humidity. But the storm outside wasn’t the only storm brewing.

Cole guided all of his roommates into the kitchen.

“We need to talk.” He said shortly. Zane nodded his head. 

“I must agree with Cole. There is much to be discussed.”

Kai leaned over towards Jay and whispered in his ear.

“Nya is so dead.” Kai teased. Jay giggled in amusement. His massive crush on Nya wouldn’t stop him from poking fun at her. At least behind her back, on her face, would be a death wish. 

They huddled up in Kai and Nya’s bedroom, leaving Lloyd and Morro to their own devices. 

Cole started the conversation.

“Nya, what was that at dinner?” 

“I was trying to get answers!” She squeaked. 

“This isn’t an interrogation!” Cole reprimanded. 

“I think Nya was being helpful,” Jay said rather happily. 

“Jay, you stay out of this.” Cole shot back. The words “I know you’re only defending her because you like her” went unsaid. But the death stare Jay received said plenty. 

“We should let Morro and Lloyd come to us on their own.” Zane calmly interrupted.

Kai sucked in a breath.

“Hate to break it to you, Zane, but Morro doesn’t seem like the type to open up to others.”

Jay breathed out a curt “Ha.”

“No way. But Lloyd sure talks a lot.”

Nya’s eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. 

“That’s it! It’s like what I was trying earlier. We can’t get answers from Morro, and we can’t get answers from Lloyd when Morro’s around, but… we can get answers from Lloyd if Morro isn’t around.” Nya grinned widely. Kai grinned back.

“I like your thinking, sis.” 

Zane, on the other hand, was not grinning.

“I do not think that would be a good idea. That would invade Morro’s privacy.”

Kai dramatically threw his head back.

“Ugh, Zane! We could be kidnapping these kids without even knowing it. Or maybe, we’re saving them. Who knows? That’s why we need to figure this stuff out.”

Cole reflected on Kai’s words. The longer he thought, the more persuaded he became. He slowly voiced his newfound opinion. 

“He does make a good point. Besides, although this isn’t an interrogation,” Cole sent a look towards Nya. “I am kind of curious about what their deal is.” 

Kai’s grin grew wider.

“Now you’re talking.”

Zane shook his head, accepting defeat. 

“I am not winning this argument, am I?”

“Nope!” Jay beamed. 

“Very well then. You may go about whatever plan you have, but do not be surprised when it goes south.” 

Kai rested his elbow on Zane’s shoulder. 

“C’mon, Zane, have a little faith in us.”

Zane most certainly did not have faith in them. But even if he didn’t want to admit it, he too was curious about the strange kids. And although this wasn’t how Zane wanted to go about things, maybe it would prove to be rather helpful.

Chapter Text

Morro found relief once the eyes of the strange group left him and Loyd. Finally, he had time to breathe and lose consciousness of himself and Lloyd. It was also nice to have had a hot meal, Morro couldn’t think of the last time he had one of those.

The meals Zane had left had been great, but they didn’t compare to eating Zane’s cooking right after it had been prepared. Not that Morro would compliment Zane’s cooking to the man’s face. That would make Zane believe Morro had let his guard down. But Morro was no fool. 

“Man, isn’t this great, Morro?” Lloyd asked, pulling Morro from his thoughts. 

“No. They ask too many questions.” Morro stated. He needed to share his suspicions with Lloyd. Otherwise, Lloyd could get too attached to them. 

“Ah man, you’re still being crabby? They can’t do anything to us. We’re the most fearful villains in all of Ninjago!” Lloyd swung his arms in the air like an animal trying to scare off a predator. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very threatening.

Morro teasingly rolled his eyes. 

“Please, people would only be scared of you if they were bratphobic.” 

“Yeah, well, people are only scared of you if they’re emophobic!” 

“Good one.” Morro deadpanned.

However, The playful banter was interrupted by the group returning to the living room. Morro tensed up again. 

Zane approached Morro and Lloyd. 

“Would you two like to stay the night?” He calmly asked. He internally cringed as Kai’s words about them possibly kidnapping these kids rang in his ears. 

“Heck yeah!” Lloyd answered. Zane looked at Morro, waiting for his approval. 

“Yeah, sure,” Morro mumbled. 

“Ooo if you guys are staying, how about watching me kick Cole’s butt at Lava Zombies!” Jay yelled out, already positioned on the couch with a video game controller in hand. Sure, he knew they needed to figure out how to separate Lloyd from Morro, but that could wait. 

“As if.” Cole scoffed. “ Everyone knows I’m better at Lava Zombies than you. And everything else.” 

Cole smirked confidently as he jumped onto the couch next to Jay and picked up a controller. 

“Here we go again,” Nya said, exasperated. She rolled her eyes at their antics but sat on the floor in front of Jay regardless. 

“Oh, I can’t wait to watch Jay cry when he gets beaten,” Kai said as he took a spot next to Nya. 

“I too, am excited to see how this ends,” Zane stated. He remained standing behind the couch.

Morro stood off to the side with Lloyd on the floor next to him. They watched for a few minutes as Cole and Jay fought to beat each other's high score. The room was filled with laughter and competitive banter.

Lloyd watched excitedly. He hardly ever got to watch kids play video games at Darkley’s! Morro watched, intrigued. Like Lloyd, Morro never engaged with video games all that much. The liveliness of the room drowned out the noise of the rain slapping against the roof as the storm started to pick up.

But the fun environment was cut short abruptly by a roaring rumble of thunder followed quickly by a power outage. 

“Oh, c’mon!” Jay shouted. 

“Hey, who turned off the lights?!” Cole yelled out. Zane spoke out among the confusion. 

“I fear we have a power outage.” 

Nya sighed, slowly getting up from her spot on the floor as she begrudgingly trailed toward the closet at the end of the hall. 

I’ll get the flashlight.” She breathed out. 

“Hey, I know what to do!” Kai blurted out. He outstretched his hand, ready to summon a small flame, but retracted it when Cole slapped him across the head.

“Hey! What was that for?” Kai cried. Cole’s eyes bugged out, glaring at Kai. 

“Dude,” he stressed, trying to gesture toward Morro and Lloyd subtly. Kai’s face lit up in understanding. 

“Oh.” 

Neither of the two noticed Morro’s pointed gaze from afar. Lloyd nervously tugged on Morro’s arm.

“Hey Morro, do you think the storm will ruin this house too?” 

Morro looked down at Lloyd, worry was etched on the kid’s face. The storm reminded Morro of their treehouse’s demise as well, but he knew the likelihood of the same fate falling upon this apartment was extremely low. 

“This apartment is stronger than ours was, and it’s not made of wood, so it’ll be fine.” 

Lloyd’s anxiety lessened, but still loomed over him as the storm continued. Nya returned to the room, looking disappointed. She had 3 flashlights with her. 

“I looked, but there's not flashlights for all of us.” 

“No matter. I suggest we get ready for sleep anyway. It is rather late.” Zane said. At the mention of sleep, Cole yawned loudly. 

“Mmm, I think Zane’s right. I’m beat.”  

“You guys are seriously going to go to bed?! I didn’t know you were so lame.” Lloyd grumbled.

Kai decided to be mature and ignore the comment about being “lame.” But he was petty enough to take joy in breaking the news to Lloyd. 

“Sorry, kid, but you’re gonna have to go to bed, too.” 

“What?!” 

Zane took this as an opportunity to educate Lloyd on the importance of sleep. 

“It is important to get a full 8 hours of sleep for your body to function properly. Especially for someone of your age.” 

“Whatever,” Lloyd muttered.

He absolutely would have fought them more, but he was secretly tired as well. Although he was still fearful of storms, they caused him less anxiety when he was under the protection of a concrete apartment.

Nya listened to the conversation absentmindedly. Nothing struck her as particularly interesting. Not until an idea occurred to her. 

“Hey Lloyd, why don’t you come with me to get some blankets? I think we have some in the closet.”

 Lloyd forgot his former annoyance and perked up.

“Sure!” 

He went to follow Nya with Morro close behind him. Man, that guy trailed Lloyd like a guard dog, Nya thought to herself. But Nya knew how to play her cards right. 

“Aw, Lloyd, you don’t need Morro to protect you. We’re not scary!” She teased.

She pitched her tone to sound higher, just like she would if talking to a scared little kid. Lloyd tensed up, his face bright red. Morro squinted his eyes; he could see right through her. But he wasn’t the one Nya needed to trick. 

“I’m not scared! People fear me, not the other way around!” Lloyd whined.

Morro placed a hand on Lloyd’s shoulder. 

“Ignore her.” 

Lloyd thrashed to the side and pointed an accusing finger at Morro. 

“I don’t need your protection! Stop following me.” 

Bingo.

 Lloyd’s yelling attracted the attention of Jay. He listened in on what was being said and realized what Nya was doing. First, he loved how smart she was. But he was sure she would appreciate a little help.

“Hey Morro, why don’t you come with me and steal Kai’s pillows?” 

“No, thanks.” He gritted out. But Lloyd shoved him toward Jay. 

“Go! I don’t need you here.”

 Morro’s eyes twitched. Nya pressed just the right buttons. Lloyd wasn’t going to budge.

“Hurry up.” Morro relented. He stomped off with Jay to Kai and Nya’s room, leaving Lloyd alone with Nya. Nya internally rejoiced. 

“Hey, Lloyd, what's up with Morro? He’s pretty mysterious, don’t you think?” She questioned, leaning against the wall to ward off any suspicions.

Lloyd pursed his lips in thought. 

“Morro? He’s just like that.” Lloyd concluded. Nya wasn’t satisfied with Lloyd’s observations. 

“But can you tell me why? Why is he so secretive? What’s up with your parents?” Nya leaned closer to Lloyd, expectantly awaiting answers.

Lloyd scrunched his face. 

“I don’t think Morro would like it if I told you.” Nya mentally groaned. Lloyd was supposed to be the blabbermouth! She was going to have to up her game. She thought for a moment, maybe she could bargain for answers? 

“How about this, after Morro falls asleep, you meet me in the bathroom to talk. For every one of my questions you answer… I’ll give you a piece of candy.” 

Lloyd brightened up. He excitedly gasped. 

“You’ll give me candy?” 

Nya smiled, thank goodness for the kid having a sweet tooth. 

“Yep. As long as you answer my questions.” 

Lloyd gave her his toothiest smile. Sure, Morro wouldn’t like it. But Morro didn’t have to know. It wasn’t like Lloyd would tell her about his powers or his dad! Besides, if Morro did find out, maybe he would forgive Lloyd if he saved Morro a piece of candy. What else did Morro expect? Lloyd was villainous! He reached his hand out. Nya shook it with ambition. 

“Deal,” Lloyd stated. 

Lloyd eventually strolled on into the living room, two blankest in hand. Morro emerged from the bedroom with two pillows. The others wished them goodnight and left them in the living room. Morro let Lloyd sleep on the couch while he made himself comfortable on the floor. Lloyd faked a loud yawn. 

“Man, I’m super tired. Goodnight Morro.” Lloyd flopped onto his other side and squeezed his eyes shut. 

“Wait, did you run your mouth to Nya after I left?” 

Morro tried to see Lloyd’s reaction, but Lloyd remained firmly facing the opposite direction. 

“Nope! Now, goodnight.” 

“Lloyd.” 

Lloyd gave no response. Morro heaved a heavy sigh. If Lloyd was going to be difficult, he was just going to go to bed. Morro lay down on his side and let the sounds of rainfall lull him to sleep. 

Lloyd lay on the couch, eyes now wide open, waiting for Morro’s breathing to even out. When he thought it was safe, he dared to peek over. Perfect, Morro was asleep. He giddily tiptoed to the bathroom, doing his best not to make a sound.

However, Nya heard him and slipped out of her bedroom. They exchanged smiles and entered the bathroom. Once in, Nya closed the door and pulled out a flashlight. She flicked it on. The light illuminated their faces and cast shadows on the wall.

Nya smirked as she pulled a bag of candy out of her pocket. Lloyd’s eyes latched onto the bag immediately. He excitedly tried to grab it, but Nya quickly held it out of his reach.

“Nope, you gotta answer my questions first. Remember?” Nya chided.

Lloyd put his hands down bashfully. It’s been so long since he’s had any candy. How could Nya expect him to be patient? 

“Then get on with it already!”

 Nya thought silently for a moment, what should she ask first? She didn’t know how long she could bribe Lloyd with candy, so she’d have to ask the most important stuff. 

“What’s the deal with your parents?” She settled on it.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. She bribed him just to ask a dumb question like that? Lloyd didn’t understand why it mattered but he answered regardless. 

“Psssh. Villains don’t live with their parents! Morro just made them up.”

 Nya stopped, stunned. Her heart dropped to her stomach. A million questions ran through her mind. Why did Morro lie? Where were Lloyd and Morro living? How did they manage? But what took hold of her mind more than questions was memories.

Memories of her and Kai, growing up alone, wondering what happened to their parents. Her eyes refocused on Lloyd, and suddenly she saw herself, a kid who didn’t know anything else but a life without parents.

She thought of Morro, and suddenly she didn’t think of a temperamental teen, she saw Kai, an older brother doing his best to protect his younger sibling. But she wasn’t looking at herself, Lloyd was still there and poking her shoulder. 

“Uhhh, Nya? You owe me a piece of candy.” 

Nya swallowed, right to the deal. She pulled a Snickers out of the bag and dropped it into Lloyd’s hands. He hastily unwrapped it and threw the candy bar into his mouth.

He looked so happy and yet that made Nya feel worse. A single piece of candy wasn't enough to make up for the happiness the kid was missing. She swallowed, she still needed more information. But… maybe she didn’t need to ask another potentially heavy question right away. 

“Why do you want to be a villain? Wouldn’t you rather be a hero?” 

“Ewww, no way! I want people to fear me!” 

Nya couldn’t help but chuckle at the kid’s high-pitched voice while he talked about wishing to scare people. She opened her mouth to further the conversation but the kid had his hands out, awaiting another piece of candy. 

“I answered another question. Now you gotta pay up.” 

The kid dared to demand candy with a big smile on his face. But Nya obliged and handed him a bag of Skittles. Okay, change of plans. Every question was going to have to count. Nya could only get answers from Lloyd as long as she had candy. 

“Hmmm. Where do you and Morro live?” 

Lloyd's demeanor changed after she asked the question. Suddenly, he looked mournful as he sadly ate the Skittles. 

“Well, we had this cool treehouse! But… a storm took it away. Now we hang out in the forest, but without a treehouse. It sucks because the forest is gross and I always wake up covered in bugs. Bleh.” 

Lloyd made a gagging motion, but Nya was the one closer to throwing up. However, she maintained a calm composure and handed Lloyd another piece of candy. 

“So, you guys have been on your own?” 

“Pretty much.”

“How do you guys get food and water?” 

Nya thought back to her childhood once more. And how hard Kai and eventually herself had to work to keep their shop afloat to put food on the table. 

“We usually steal it. Which is super villainous!” 

Nya didn’t think it was “villainous” but also didn’t want to encourage stealing, so she stayed quiet. She was going to end the conversation there, having gathered enough information, but then one final question occurred to her. 

“Why wouldn’t Morro let you tell us these things? Why did he lie?”

“Eh, I don't know. Something about not trusting people, he says you guys want something.”

 Nya didn’t understand why Morro thought they wanted something, but she did understand distrust. She had felt a lot of distrust in her life, it kept her safe. But it also kept her from getting close to people.

When she trusted her roommates, she felt a peacefulness she had never felt. She wanted that for Morro. And First, how was she going to figure out how to give it?

She placed three pieces of candy in Lloyd’s hand but instead of pulling back, she held Lloyd’s hands in her own. Lloyd glanced up at her, visibly confused by the action. But he didn't pull back, it was weird, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. 

“You and Morro won’t have to worry about these things anymore. We’re going to figure things out.” 

“Figure out what?” 

Nya laughed and squeezed Lloyd’s hands.

“That’s another problem I have to solve. But I will, I always do.” 

Chapter Text

Lloyd woke up sometime in the morning. He groggily rubbed his eyes before looking around to see if anyone else was awake. He didn’t notice anyone through his blurry vision, but didn’t have the energy to wake anyone up. So he sat on the couch, lazily observing his surroundings to give himself time to wake up.

The apartment wasn’t the most spacious thing in the world, especially not for 7 people. But it served its purpose. Kai and Nya shared a room while the other guys occupied the 2nd room. Lloyd remembered sharing a room with his bunkmates back at Darkleys but the kids at Darkleys didn’t treat each other like these guys do at all.

It was certainly a welcome change. The apartment was much more homely and less ominous than Darkleys as well. The walls were covered in pictures, and despite the group not having a lot of belongings, whatever belongings they did have were strewn about the apartment. 

Lloyd continued to think to himself before he was caught off guard by a smell coming from the kitchen. He followed the scent to the kitchen, where he saw Zane cooking something on the stove. That guy never seemed to take a break. 

“Man, that smells so good. What is it?” Lloyd asked, peeking behind Zane to get a better look.

Zane spun around, surprised by the encounter. 

“Oh, Lloyd. I was not expecting you to be up this early. I am making eggs and bacon. Do you want to assist me?” 
 
“I’ve never cooked before.”

Lloyd was getting tired of not knowing things. But at least Zane never made it a big deal. 

“I can show you how if you would like.”

Lloyd brightened up, previous exhaustion forgotten.

“I’ll become a cooking master, even better than you!” Lloyd exclaimed. 

“We will see about that. As long as you don’t cook like Cole.” 

Zane showed Lloyd how to prepare the meal step by step, and Lloyd followed heartily. They set the plates of food on the table, drawing everybody to the kitchen like moths to a flame.

Jay threw open the door to Kai and Nya’s room despite Cole’s insistence. Cole wanted to get to the best of the food before Kai and Nya could. Much to Zane’s confusion, he kept stating that he made every meal the same. 

“Get up, guys. Zane made breakfast!”

With everyone’s work schedule, it wasn’t often that they got to enjoy breakfast with one another, but fortunately, they all had this Saturday off. 

Kai turned over in his bed, trying to fall back asleep. Jai sent a little zap his way as a wake-up call, snickering when Kai shot up. Kai’s hair looked as spikey as it did with hair gel before Kai could even get the chance to put it in. 

“Dude, are you trying to fry my brain?!” 

“Sure, if you had one.” Jay teased.

Nya rolled out of bed. What a lovely start to her day. 

“Boys.” She muttered to herself.

She wouldn’t be living in this old apartment if she had a penny for every time she uttered that. She stood up from her bed and shook herself off her sleepiness. After becoming more aware, the memories of last night invaded her thoughts. Her short-lived moment of calm was replaced with stress. 

“Guys, there’s something I need to tell you about,” Nya called out, gaining Kai and Jay’s attention. 

“You’re going to finally tell Jay you don’t like him?” Kai guessed, with a little more gusto than Jay liked.

“What?!” Jay yelled.

He internally panicked. Was Kai being serious? Maybe he came off too strong. Was it because he grew up in a junkyard? 

“Kai! I’ll have you know that I like Jay just fine.”

Jay didn’t bother to hold his breath. 

“Phew.” Jay breathed out. He wiped imaginary beads of sweat off his forehead. 

“Don’t worry, sis. You’ll come to your senses eventually.”

Nya placed her hand on her hip.

Out of all the times for Kai to be the annoying overprotective brother he was, now wasn’t one of them. Kai wasn’t a fan of the crush Nya had on Jay, but Nya was an independent woman and could like any guy she wanted to.

Even if the guy in question told terrible jokes and sometimes made Nya want to pull her hair out. When Jay did it, it was endearing. 

“Kai, focus. This is important.” Kai picked up on the annoyance seeping through Nya’s voice and shut up.

 Nya told Kai and Jay about the truth of Lloyd and Morro’s situation. Jay listened intently, feeling guilty when his thoughts slipped away from the conversation and started making up scenarios in his head.

It wasn’t all that long ago that he found out he was adopted and that his biological parents had abandoned him. Would he have ended up like Morro and Lloyd if Ed and Edna hadn’t taken him in? Jay shivered at the thought of growing up alone.

He was immensely grateful for his parents and loved them regardless of what blood they did or didn’t share. The papers he found and the conversation that followed didn’t change that. But it did drive him to find out more about himself.

He no longer felt content with his simple life in the junkyard. He wanted to find out more about himself. Who were his parents? Why did he have powers that others didn’t? He left the junkyard in hopes of pushing past his comfort zone to discover who he was.

The discovery part is… lacking, to say the least. But he’s glad he left, although he does miss his parents. He knows they’d be proud of the life he’s living, even if that life is in a crappy apartment while working a crappy job. 


“I care about what happens to the kids and all that, but isn’t this a problem for the police?” Jay asked once Nya ended her brief.

“Something tells me Morro doesn’t want the police involved. Besides, who’s to say they wouldn’t just run off?” Kai responded.

Nya mulled over their options in her head. One idea in particular stuck with her but she couldn’t discuss it before Zane interrupted them.

“Are you guys coming? I can only prevent Cole from eating all of your breakfasts for so long.”

“Ugh, that bonehead!” Jay shouted as he ran into the kitchen. Nya and Kai followed suit.

“Mmm. Zane, this is delicious!” Cole exclaimed, mouth stuffed with food. His resemblance to a chipmunk was uncanny.

Lloyd took one last big bite of his food before speaking. 

“I second that! I’m already done.” 

“Good, that means we can leave. We’ve overstayed our welcome.” Morro stated.

His tone made it clear that he didn’t want any grievances. However, he was in a room full of the most stubborn people in Ninjago.

The others seemed to be contemplating their next course of action, well, not Kai. Act first and then regret your actions later just happened to be his go-to plan. 

“Look, kid, you can drop the act. We know you don’t have a place to go.”

Lloyd’s jaw dropped comically wide. How dare Nya betray him like that! The only thing that burdened Lloyd more than Nya’s betrayal was his impending doom. Morro was going to kill him. Fortunately for Lloyd, Morro was preoccupied with trying to salvage their lies.

Morro forced his posture to remain relaxed, but couldn’t keep the edge out of his voice. 

“That's a rather big assumption. Got anything to back it up?” 

Zane and Cole watched in confusion but held back their questions. It was becoming very clear that they had missed out on something.

Lloyd shot Nya a pleading glance, panic overtaking his expression. Thankfully, the message was received.

“Technically, we don’t. But we know you’ve been lying to us.” Her expression softened before she continued. “You don’t have to tell us anything, but we can help you if you do.” 

Nya’s attempts at comforting Morro were seriously unnerving him. It wasn't a look he was used to receiving and now that it was being given to him, it felt like an attack on his pride. 

“Do you think you’re better than us? What, that we’re weak kids in need of saving? Cause I think I will tell you something. We don’t need or want your help.”

All of the yelling was driving Lloyd crazy. Up to this point, Lloyd had been semi-listening to Morro and doing things Morro’s way. But it was time to do things the superior way, Lloyd’s way. 

“Morro, will you stop acting like an idiot? I’m tired of living in a forest, it’s boring and unfit for a supervillain. All this talk about independence and trust, but we need henchmen! I’m tired of doing everything alone.”

Lloyd’s voice grew quieter near the end, part of him hoping no one would hear it.

Morro froze. He wanted to yell at Lloyd and scream at him for being stupid. How could Lloyd be alone if he had Morro? Why couldn't he see that Morro was right?

But the longer he looked at Lloyd, the more the realization that maybe he wasn't right dawned on him. Which was ridiculous, he didn't make it this long in life by making wrong choices.

But… the group hadn’t done anything yet other than annoy him. The food and warm house was nice, and Lloyd looked happy. 

Zane’s voice made Morro finally tear his eyes away from Lloyd. 

“Morro, letting others help you is not weak. If anything, it takes strength to accept that something is wrong.”

Nya added to Zane’s argument. 

“And if you do decide you want to accept our help, you and Lloyd could always stay. At least until you figure stuff out.”

All eyes were on Morro, waiting for his answer. By FSM, Morro couldn’t believe the answer he was going to give. 

“... we’ll stay.”


Lloyd was ecstatic. Goodbye, sleeping on dirt!

Nya and Zane’s faces lit up in unexpected excitement. Honestly, Nya wasn't sure if that would work.

Kai looked pleased as well, now these kids wouldn’t have to grow up like he and Nya did.

Jay internally groaned as he realized how much more cramped the apartment would be, but ultimately, he decided that he could make the sacrifice.

Cole was confused. Like, really confused. So, two more roommates? Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was as surprised as he was. This team of theirs was already made up of random people who randomly decided to come together.

The forest thing kept catching him off guard, though. Was this one of those situations where the kids were raised by wolves? FSM, he hoped not. Sleeping was already hard enough with Jay's snoring. He didn't need howling to add to his list of disturbances. 

But none of those thoughts were said aloud. Instead, Lloyd and Morro received a simple welcome.

“Welcome to the apartment, guys,” Kai said. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Zane had long anticipated his day off, finally having an opportunity to get Lloyd and Morro the personal belongings they desperately needed. The blankets thrown on the floor and the old, hand-me-down clothes had been fine for guests, but it wasn’t enough for roommates. Not for roommates who were kids and deserved to know what it was like to have a home.

A home like the one that gave Zane a sense of identity and belonging after feeling like a blank slate for so long. A home like the one Zane hoped would give the kids the same sense of belonging. 

“Since I have today off, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take Lloyd and Morro shopping,” Zane announced.

Mentions of a shopping trip had been thrown around a lot before today, but Morro had spaced it off. Shopping for things like beds and clothes is something you do for lengthy stays. And a lengthy stay was never something Morro could afford.

But it did look like Morro and Lloyd would be staying at the apartment longer than anticipated. Besides, if these guys wanted to waste money on him, who was he to turn them down? 

“Works for me.” 

“Do we have to buy clothes or can we get fun stuff like video games?” Lloyd asked, leaning over the table as he shoveled pancakes into his mouth. 

“We can get necessities and luxury items as long as we remain within budget,” Zane replied, eating a pancake as well, albeit with much better manners.

The others continued to eat, passive to the conversation as it went on. Well, everyone else except Jay, who forcefully swallowed a huge bite so he could butt in. 

“Uh, nice try, Zane. But I also happen to have the day off, and between you and me, it’s clear who needs to take these two urchins under their wing and show them the ways of presentation!” Jay gestured to something in the distance as if showing something off to an audience. He spoke vibrantly, like a game show host telling the contestants about their prize.

The prize being Jay, of course.  Now that it was settled that the kids would be staying at the apartment, Jay wanted to get to know them better. Out of his roommates, Jay knew he was the one with the least amount of social skills. Turns out that growing up sort of isolated in a junkyard tends to stump one's social development.

He wasn’t charismatic like Kai or polite like Zane, but maybe if it was just him alone with the kids none of that would matter. But in normal Kai behavior, he had to bring attention to himself. 

“Please, if you need someone to teach them about style then that someone should be me,” Kai exclaimed with a wide smirk across his face. His posture was relaxed, and even his expression was lax. As if he did not doubt that he was right. 

“Uh, shouldn’t you be asking us who we want to go with?” Lloyd questioned defiantly. He flicked his fork to the side, sending a soggy sausage flying onto the floor.  No one could tell Lloyd Garmadon what to do. Except maybe Morro. 

“Trust me, kid, you two are gonna want to go with me.” 

“But you’d be better off with me.” Jay countered. Irritation forced its way into his tone.

Nay rolled her eyes, desensitized to the rivalry. As charismatic as her brother was, he certainly had a way of pissing people off. Cole, however, forever the only child, did not want banter to be the first he heard in the morning, and it definitely wasn't something he wanted to hear well into the afternoon.

“Why not just split up? Kai can take Lloyd, and Jay can take Morro.” He offered up a solution to end the bickering. 

Zane was thankful that someone had intervened as a peacemaker and quickly jumped on the middleman train. 

“Well, that would be more efficient. Only if it is okay with Morro and Lloyd, of course.” He waited for Morro to shoot the idea down. Even Morro was waiting to shoot it down. But he faltered. A second passed, and he was surprised to feel the words that left his mouth next.  

“Fine by me. Enjoy listening to Lloyd’s“villainous” plans all day.” He finished his breakfast and ignored the bewildered looks coming his way. 

The group kept waiting for something more. A catch, some kind of condition. But Morro didn’t elaborate further. Morro surrounded Lloyd like a guard dog at all times, relentlessly looking for danger. Trying to keep Lloyd from revealing too much. So much to the point that they were rarely thought of individually. It was always Morro and Lloyd, one entity.

  It was small, but the show of trust gave the others hope for their relationship with Morro. Progress, this was progress. Now, Morro wouldn’t go as far as to say he trusted the others, but as thorough as he was, he’d been unable to find a reason not to trust them. This was simply an act to placate their saint complexes. Make them feel like they’d finally got the wary homeless orphan to bring down their guard.

It wasn’t like he’d actually given any thought to his last conversation with Nya. Because believing in such a naive ideology would be foolish. And Morro wasn’t a fool. But a break from Lloyd couldn’t hurt. 

“Looks like it’s your lucky day, kid,” Kai said, breaking the group's lingering eyes off of Morro. Lloyd raised a brow. Kai seemed pretty sure of himself, but Lloyd was still undecided. 

“Will you buy me candy, video games, and comics?” He listed off, pausing before each item to emphasize its importance 

Kai wanted to set realistic standards, and he did. They had a limited budget and couldn’t afford a ton of extra stuff. But… Lloyd needed to know that Kai was the cool one. And he could blame him for spoiling the orphan kid. 

“Heck yeah! You’re shopping with Kai Smith, the ultimate… shopper.” 

Lloyd grinned enthusiastically, satisfied with Kai’s answer. And FSM, how could Kai ever have considered saying no? 

“I can buy all that stuff too!” Jay shouted, stuttering through his words in a rush to get them out.

Nya walked around him, picking up empty plates to put them in the sink. Shivers went up Jay’s spine as she leaned over his shoulder to grab the plate held out in Cole’s hands. Warmth radiated off of her, and Jay could almost pretend that Nya was standing this close to him on purpose.

But his hopes were broken once she left his space and walked over to the sink, speaking to him over her shoulder. 

“Please don’t. Need I remind you two that we’re all broke?” 

“Stealing is always an option,” Morro suggested. If he said it to get a rise out of someone, that was between him and the First Master. But maybe the First Master thought it would be funny as well because Morro could pinpoint the moment when Cole processed his words.

“Uh, no, it isn’t! Stealing is very much illegal, and I’d like to think that we saved up money for a nice day out. Not as bail money.” 

Morro scoffed but said nothing else, leading Cole to believe the conversation was over. Cole stood from his chair, raising his hands and leaning side to side in an attempt to crack his back. The satisfying popping noises gave the illusion of alleviating his pain. He begrudgingly set off to do the dishes, unaware of Morro in his path. Morro bumped into him, accidentally shoving him to the side. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. But for the record, I’d have to get caught to need bail money.” He pulled a wallet out of his pocket, the closest look to a smile Cole had ever seen on his face.

Cole continued to look at the wallet, trying to figure out what Morro meant. It looked like Cole’s wallet, funnily enough. It even had the same burn mark from when Kai had been borrowing it for gas money and got brutally rejected by the cashier. Kai still hasn’t gotten over the embarrassment and is now desperate to prove that it was a fluke and he’s “totally irresistible.”

But that didn’t make sense for Morro to have a wallet that looked just like Cole’s. Cole slapped his hands over his pockets, trying to feel his wallet. The empty pockets forced Cole to accept that he had been tricked. 

“How did you… huh?!” 

Morro laughed, and wow, Cole honestly preferred it when he was brooding. The wallet landed back in his hands after being tossed from Morro. Cole stood, utterly dumbfounded. He was fooled by a 14-year-old. Morro brushed past him, snickering to himself the whole time. Jay was waiting for Morro in the living room. 

“Are you ready to head out? Lloyd and Kai got a head start, which means they got our only vehicle, so we’ll have to walk.” 

“Yeah, I’m ready.” 

“Keep an eye on your wallet, Jay!” Cole yelled from the kitchen. Morro tried and failed to fight a grin from spreading across his face. The unnerving smile made Jay uneasy, and his hand unconsciously drifted to the pocket where he kept his wallet. 

“C’mon, pal, let’s get moving on.” The uncharacteristically sweet tone only made Jay tense further. He followed Morro out the door, unaware of the snickering Morro did under his breath. 

The shopping trips took up the rest of the morning as the two groups went through their lists of things to get. Kai threw clothes in the cart for Lloyd while the kid ran around in the candy aisle. And Jay judged Morro for refusing to pick out any blue shirts. Kai insisted that he could lift the mattresses into the truck himself and almost flattened himself like the pancakes they had that morning. Jay thought he lost Morro and had a mental breakdown. So all and all a pretty good day. 

Once both groups were done, Kai drove the truck to pick up Morro and Jay so that they could put their haul in the back. The engine roared as the rickety old red truck flew down the roads. Windows down and music booming the whole way.

When Lloyd stuck his head out the window to feel the wind in his hair, he could smell smoke from the leaky exhausts. The truck vibrated as it picked up speed, and the engine groaned in protest. But despite the concerning noises and smells, Kai reached Jay and Morro without any problems. 

Kai pulled in front of the store, ignoring the looks of people as the radio continued to blast music. Morro spotted the truck first and quickly loaded their bags into the back seat, hopping in after. Jay followed suit and the four were cramped into the truck, bags on top of laps and in between feet.

Two mattresses were strapped down in the trunk, one on top of the other. The clock on the console read 1:25 in a neon red light. 

“Let’s go get some lunch before we head back. I’m starving!” Kai yelled against the music. He felt Jay’s fluffy hair on his elbow as Jay leaned over in his seat in an attempt to understand Kai. 

“You’re carving? I didn’t know you were an artist.” 

“He said he’s starving!” Lloyd yelled into Jay’s ear, flicking Jay’s forehead to solidify his point. Jay reeled back, hand covering the spot where he was assaulted. 

“OW! Respect your elders!”

Lloyd blew a raspberry in a very polite and respectful manner. Specks of spit smacked Morro in the face. He aggressively wiped the saliva off his face, his skin flaring red in irritation. 

“Are you guys done?” He grumbled, rubbing his hands over his face one last time. 

“Morro, you’re my new favorite,” Kai said as he started to pull out of the parking lot.

They drove for a little while in search of a place to eat. Lloyd excitedly pointed at every restaurant he saw. He wishes he could eat at all of the restaurants at once to make up for lost time. But most suggestions were shut down by either Morro or Jay.

Eventually, they settled on a popular bar. People filled the outside booths, and music flared through the speakers. The bar itself didn’t stand out in particular, its vine-covered brick walls blended in with the rest of the street. The bell on the door dinged as the group entered.

A tired-looking waitress quickly led them to an empty booth. The inside of the bar was dark and loud. Too many conversations were going on at once to eavesdrop on any one. 

The group was led to a corner booth, right next to a vent. The chill air blowing through perfectly fit the atmosphere. Lloyd and Morro slid into one side of the booth, and Jay and Kai sat at the other.

Lloyd excitedly spun his head every which way, trying to capture every aspect of the restaurant. The rest of the group kept their eyes trained on the menu, eyeing the options hungrily. 

The bell on the door rang in the background, signaling the entrance of more customers. Morro instinctively eyed the door. The customers that met his gaze were two individuals whose faces were obscured by black ski masks. A frantic energy surrounded them. They seemed to be anticipating something.

Goosebumps raised across Morro’s arms, but he knew the brisk air wasn’t at fault. The two men gave each other a final look before they each pulled a gun out from inside their jackets. The taller of the men started brandishing guns at nearby customers. The unfortunate witnesses cowered back in fear. A mother held tightly onto her child. 

“Stay back and no one gets hurt!” The man screamed.

The chatty environment was replaced with an eerie quietness. No one dared utter a word in fear of angering the two men with guns. Muffled cries echoed throughout the building as the situation dawned on people. Meanwhile, the other partner thrust his gun into the temple of an employee. 

“I don’t want to shoot you, just take me to where you keep your money and you’ll get to walk out of here just fine.” 

The waiter was shaking, forcing his wobbly legs to lead the man as requested.

For the first time that day, Lloyd was still. He tried to gauge Morro’s reaction, but Morro kept his gaze firmly on the scene in front of them.

Kai, recovering from his shock, started to slowly emerge from the booth. The uncertain movement was halted by Jay, who placed a hand on Kai’s arm with an incredulous look. 

“Kai, what are you doing?!” He whispered, the words barely leaving his mouth as he desperately tried to conceal them from the robber’s ears.

“What does it look like I’m doing? Those guys need to be stopped before someone gets hurt.” 

“That someone is going to be you! You can’t fight them without your…” Jay nervously looked around, earning a suspicious look from Lloyd. 

“... arsenal talents and you can’t use your talents without outing yourself to two criminals desperate for money and nosy city folk who probably tell everyone everything!” Jay sent Kai a pleading look, but Kai simply brushed him off.

“We’ll figure something out, but we can’t sit here and do nothing, Jay.”

Jay cast his glance aside and sighed. Kay was right. There was no way Jay could watch people get hurt, knowing there was something he could do to prevent it. 

But while the two were arguing, Lloyd was making plans of his own. Lloyd knew what bullies were when he saw them. The kids at Darkley’s used to bully him all the time. He missed the chance to stand up for himself, but he wouldn’t miss the chance to stand up for these people now. He stood up in the booth. 

“Hey, uglies! You’re looking for some green? Try this!”

He squeezed his eyes shut to allow himself to focus on the energy circulating within him. He began to draw it out, accumulating it into a fierce glowing green ball. With a deep breath, he released the energy and sent it flying into the guy threatening the waiter.

The man was sent flying, the only thing stopping his momentum being a thick brick wall. His head ricocheted before promptly falling to his chest. The gun dropped from the now-unconscious man’s head. 

Kai and Jay were astounded, their bodies still as all of their brain power went into trying to process what had just happened. Morro didn’t have the time to process his horror, movement in his peripheral vision caught his eye.

The unconscious man’s partner had regained his rationale. He wasn’t interested in understanding what just happened; all he needed to know now was that Lloyd was a threat. 

“Nice try, freak, but I’m too far in to be stopped by a brat inserting himself into situations he doesn’t understand.” The man’s shaky tone stabilized as he strengthened his resolve.

The gun in his hand lined up with Lloyd. He pulled on the trigger. Morro didn’t wait long enough to hear the bang. He directed a fervent blast of wind toward the man, driving him across the room.

The gun flew from his hand, sending a bullet harmlessly into a wall. People cried out in fear when a resounding bang echoed throughout the restaurant.

With the two men no longer able to keep the people in, they started rushing out of the restaurant. People were jostled and shoved around as instincts demanded them to escape the threat, no matter who was in the way. 

With the restaurant now empty besides the two unconscious men, the group couldn’t ignore the events that had just transpired. Morro gripped Lloyd’s shoulder, unable to decide if he should hug Lloyd or shoot Lloyd himself. But Lloyd and Morro weren’t the only two in the room.

Kai and Jay watched Lloyd and Morro dumbfounded. Here they were thinking they’d have to adapt their habits to keep their secret powers a secret, but Morro and Lloyd must have been thinking the same thing.

What were the odds that all of them, each with their own gifts, came into each other's lives? How many other people with powers were out there? 

“You… you two have powers,” Kai remarked.

Morro tightened his grip on Lloyd, ready to leave with him if need be. Lloyd understood the gesture, he braced himself for a hasty escape.

“You got a problem with that?” Lloyd barked.

Jay laughed, a short, breathy laugh because how else could he react to this absurdity?

“No! No, no, no, you don’t get it.”

Jay looked at Kai, and Kai nodded. 

“We have powers too!” 

Jay let a small spark of electricity flicker in his hand. Kai grinned, looking like it was time for him to show off. A flame ignited in his hand, growing dangerously before Kai closed his fist, snuffing it out as quickly as it came.

It was Lloyd and Morro’s turn to be surprised. 

“Woah! That’s awesome! You can make s'mores whenever you want!” He pointed at Kai before turning to Jay. 

“And you’re like a walking charging port!”

“Right! And get this, everyone else has powers too! Cole is super strong and can move rocks and stuff. Zane has these super cool ice powers, which match the cool under-pressure thing he has going on. And Nya, oh man, she can control water! As if she couldn’t get any cooler.”

The last comment got Jay a jab in the ribs from Kai. 

“But controlling fire is infinitely cooler.” 

“Psh, as if. You know who can control lighting? Zeus, a god with abs and girls. You know who else can control lightning? This guy right here!” 

Morro drowned Jay and Kai out, uninterested in their meaningless banter. 

“You all had powers this whole time. Unbelievable.” He huffed in disbelief.

Lloyd pushed past Morro. He stood in front of Jay and Morro, practically jumping with excitement. 

“Unbelievably cool! What did you think of my power? Was it cool?” The questions rushed out at once. Jay enthusiastically matched his excitement. 

“Duh, of course, I thought it was cool! And that “you looking for some green? Try this!” was straight out of a comic! Total superhero stuff.” 

“But uh, what exactly was that green ball thing?” Kai asked.

Lloyd scrunched his face in contemplation. 

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but I call it energy. I can take it away from people and make them tired, or I can give it to people to make them awake. And sometimes, if I focus hard, I can make it into a ball to throw at things! And Morro can control the wind!”

At this rate, the conversation could have gone on all day, but Morro brought it to an end.

“Let’s save the rest for when we’re with the others. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

How much explanation Morro would give was undetermined, but there was certainly a lot of information he needed from the others.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The Ninja arrived at the scene too late. Garmadon’s forces were long gone. 

“Ugh, this is getting ridiculous!” Kai yelled. 

Zane put a comforting hand on Kai’s shoulder. 

“We must be patient. The opportunity to defeat Lord Garmadon will reveal itself to us when it’s time.” 

Kai shrugged him off and looked over the town, assessing the extent of the damage. What he found was disheartening, to say the least. The guilt weighed heavily on Kai, pushing a sigh from his mouth. 

“It’s not just that, Zane. Look around, the town is in shambles, and we could have prevented it. But we were too late. What’s the point of having these powers if they don’t do us any good?”  

Zane looked down in shame, unable to defend themselves whilst standing in the consequences of their inaction. 

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Kai, but I thought having powers would be a lot cooler. So far, all it’s gotten us is busted kitchen appliances and savior complexes.” Jay lamented. 

Cole examined his friends, taking note of the hunched postures and far-away gazes. The group was spiraling.

“C’mon, guys, don’t tell me you’re gonna go, all hope is lost on me every time things don’t go our way.” 

Nya sighed, shaking herself of self-pity. Feeling sorry for herself wouldn’t do any good; all she could do was improve for next time. 

“Cole’s right. We can’t expect to suddenly become superheroes just because we say so. But we’re the only people planning to step up against Garmadon. So pull yourselves together, 'cause we’re all Ninjago City has right now.” 

“Perhaps we have all gotten a little prideful. We must remember this fight will not be an easy one,” Zane said. There was worry in Zane's face, but there was confidence in his posture. 

“So what do we do next?” Kai asked. The words came out soft yet earnest. And there was an unwavering yearning in his eyes. It was a side of himself that Kai didn’t show to others often. But he was desperate for something to do, for a way to make things right. And more than anything, he was determined. 

“We know Garmadon’s looking for some kind of weapon; we have to find it first,”  Zane answered. The somber moment was interrupted by Jay’s energetic tangent. 

“Oooo, does this mean we have to interrogate somebody? Break 'em down until they tell us what we need to know? Rile them up a bit?” Every word held its character as it came from Jay’s quickly moving mouth. 

“Are you insinuating we… torture people?” Cole spoke in a monotone in stark contrast to Jay’s animated one. Jay’s eyes widened. That’s how Cole chooses to interpret his words?!

“Don’t word it that way! I just mean we show them who’s boss. Every hero does it, it’s badass.” 

“I don’t think either plan will be necessary. We already know he’s likely searching for a weapon, and he seems to think it’s somewhere in Ninjago City.” Zane stated. 

Nya followed the flow of logic easily. 

“We need to map out the towns he’s been hitting and see if we can decipher where he’s heading next.” 

“And start shopping in local armories while we’re at it,” Kai added. 

“Then let us return home. It seems as though we will have a long night ahead of us,” Zane concluded. 

The group made their exit, unaware of a strange old man lurking in the background. 

When they returned home, there was a heavy silence in the air. Lloyd and Morro sat on the couch, and while Morro at least glanced their way, Lloyd pointedly ignored them. The only indication that Lloyd knew they had returned was the pursed of his lips when they filed into the small apartment. 

Kai internally sighed. Sure, Lloyd has proven to be annoyingly stubborn, but he’s also proven to have a short attention span. Kai thought Lloyd would have forgotten about their disagreement. With everything going on, Kai had. 

“Looks like your little outing was pretty lackluster,” Morro noted. 

“That’s one way to put it. Total failure is another.” Jay mumbled to himself. His disheartened attitude was quickly replaced with queasiness when Nya put her hand on his shoulder. 

“Not necessarily. We have a plan now. Well… we have an idea of a plan at least.” 

Morro didn’t seem interested in inquiring further. He scoffed lightly, turning his attention back to the TV. Nya and Zane set off to Nya’s room, likely working on the map, while Jay and Cole went to their room, probably to play video games. That left Kai by himself, awkwardly standing behind the couch, thinking of something to say. 

“So…uh.” 

Morro gave him an unimpressed look from over his shoulder. Although watching Kai flounder for a way to talk to Lloyd was hilariously pathetic, Morro decided to save him from his suffering. 

“Lloyd’s giving you the silent treatment.”   

Kai was no stranger to the silent treatment. Nya had given it to him sporadically throughout their childhood. It usually wasn’t too hard to break, and with as energetic as Lloyd was, Kai didn’t think it would take much to get him to break. 

“Oh, what a shame. And here I was thinking Lloyd wanted to steal Jay’s new comic for him. But I guess I’ll never know.”  Kai sprinkled some dramatic pauses in his statement for extra flair. Lloyd looked at Kai through the corner of his eye, interest piqued. But ultimately didn’t say anything.  Kai deflated. Looks like he was gonna have to suck it up and bite the bullet. 

“C’mon, buddy, can’t we talk? Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you; it was wrong, but I won’t take back what I said. Garmadon’s dangerous, I need you to understand that.” 

Morro and Lloyd looked at each other, having some silent conversation. Morro had an I told you so look on his face while Lloyd looked…troubled. 

“Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna go outside.” 

Kai watched Lloyd despondently leave the apartment, unable to get over how sad Lloyd looked. Kai knew he had a temper, but he didn’t think he blew up on Lloyd that bad, did he? Or was it something else? Pushed by his curiosity and desire to set things right, he followed Lloyd outside. 

Morro didn’t say anything as he left, but didn’t look entirely at ease either. Kai shrugged it off as Morro being Morro. Outside, he found Lloyd sitting on the sidewalk, hunched over himself. Kai walked up and plopped himself down right next to Lloyd.

“Seriously?” Lloyd asked monotonously, turning his head from his resting spot on his arms to stare at Kai. A small laugh left Kai. 

“Yeah, seriously, bud. Can’t get rid of me that easily.” 

Lloyd sighed, not nearly as amused as Kai. 

“What do you want?” 

Yikes, Lloyd was starting to act like Morro. But then again, Morro did play a part in raising the kid. 

“Hey! It’s a nice day out. Can’t a guy sit and enjoy the weather?” Kai lightly shoved Lloyd’s shoulders, finally breaking through Lloyd’s facade and bringing a small smile to his lips. 

“Yeah, if you’re in your 80s.”  

Kai snorted, and a moment of peaceful silence fell over the two. It was so nice that Kai felt a little guilty about what he was going to say next. But his curiosity was too strong. 

“Hey, Lloyd, why do you want to be a villain so bad anyway?”  Lloyd’s face scrunched together in contemplation. He looked so much like an innocent child in that moment that the thought of being some villainous mastermind was all the more ridiculous. 

“I want to prove them wrong.” Lloyd was uncharacteristically quiet. 

“Who wrong?” 

“Darkley’s.” 

Kai took a moment, trying to rack his brain to see if that name meant anything to him. But it didn't, and Lloyd didn’t elaborate on his own accord. 

“Uh, who's that?”

“It’s a boarding school that is supposed to rehabilitate bad kids, but that’s just how they brand themselves to get parents to drop their kids off there. It’s more like a villain training school.” 

Lloyd was dead serious with his explanation, but Kai felt like he was getting pranked. A villain training school? That sounded too cartoonish. Lloyd did read a lot of comics. 

“I'm not tryna say I don’t believe you, but that…. Kinda doesn’t sound like a thing. Y’know, you can be honest with me, right?” 

“I’m telling the truth! Where do you think I learned how to assemble bombs?!” Lloyd yelled as if the fact was common knowledge. 

“What?!” I- uh- okay, let’s backtrack, I guess.” Kai was taken aback, not ready to unpack that tidbit of information. 

“What do you have to prove to them?” He asked, bringing the conversation back on track. 

Lloyd hesitated, burying his head further into his arms, before he slowly started to talk. 

“They didn’t think I was evil enough. I spent my whole life at that stupid school, and after a while, they gave up. Said I didn’t have what it took and that I was wasting their time. It didn't take them too long to kick me out after that.” 

Lloyd tactfully didn’t mention being a disgrace to his father as part of their reasoning. 

“But I didn’t need them anyway! So I made a vow to myself that I’d become better than all of them. No one was going to walk all over me ever again.” He continued. 

“I get wanting to prove yourself. I’ve been there, sometimes I still am there. But don’t you think there’s a better way to go about it? I mean, why be a bad guy like them? Villains suck! Don’t you think the real way to show them up is to be a hero instead? Everyone knows the hero always defeats the villain.”  

Lloyd thought about this. Kai did have a point. And heroes were more well-liked… but then there was his dad. He’d have to mull over his options more. 

“Hmmm, maybe.” 

“You can think more about it later, let’s go inside and eat something. I’m starving!” 

Later that evening, things seemed to finally calm down. Crickets were chirping, and a crisp wind gently breezed through the night sky. Most of the inhabitants of the apartment were asleep. Cole snored loudly off to the side, Zane, of course, slept in that uncanny coffin position, flat on his back, and Jay slept with his usual eye mask. Kai assumed Nya, Morro, and Lloyd were asleep as well. Everything was in order. But Kai couldn’t rid the nagging curiosity at the back of his head. Uncertainty of Garmadon’s plans and Lloyd and Morro's ever more mysterious background held his eyes open. He tried turning on his opposite side. For the 20th time. But after a few more painstaking, long minutes, he gave up. Pushing himself out of his bed, he quietly walked to the kitchen. He noticed rather quickly that his previous assumption that Nya was asleep was wrong. Typical. The glow of her computer screen illuminated her tired face. 

“Gosh, it’s like you want me to reinstate your bedtime.”

Nya jumped from her seat, startled by her intruder. 

“Gah! FSM, Kai, warn a girl.” Kai laughed before quickly slapping a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound from the sleeping kids in the living room.

“Sorry, Sorry. What are you doing up anyway?” 

“I could ask you the same thing.” 

Kai considered this, as unfortunately, Nya was right. As was way too common for his liking. 

“Touche.” 

A moment passed, and Kai accepted the fact that neither of them would be able to fall asleep tonight. So, he figured he might as well put their time to good use. 

“Well, if you’re up, what’d you say you help investigate something for me?”

That grabbed Nya’s attention. She turned around in her seat to fully face Kai. 

“Is it what’s been keeping you up?” 

“Yeah. But it might be of interest to you, too.” 

Nya somehow managed to look intrigued and unimpressed at the same time. 

“Well, are you gonna keep building suspense or are you gonna tell me?” 

“Outside. Don’t want to wake anyone up.” 

Nya picked her leather jacket off the coat rack and led the way. Kai didn’t bother to grab warmer clothes. An unnaturally hot body temperature came with the whole fire powers thing.  Kai gently closed the door behind them and sat down next to Nya on the stairs. 

“Can I finally get the big reveal now?” 

“It’s about Lloyd. He mentioned going to some boarding school called Darkely’s. He said it teaches kids to be villains or something.” 

“And you believed him?” 

“What? No! That’s why I’m coming to you! Look, I just want to know if you can find more information on the place. And maybe find Lloyd’s records. They might be helpful to have.” 

“Helpful to who, Kai?” 

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be like that! You’re supposed to have my back! Trust me, it’ll be just a little snooping. Lloyd won’t even know.” 

Nya considered this. On one hand, she knew it would be breaching Lloyd’s privacy. On the other hand, she was so painfully curious. 

“Aren’t you just a little curious?” Kai drew out, hammering in the final nail in the coffin. He knew Nya too well. 

“Ahhh, fine. But we’re only peaking. And it’s in Lloyd's best interest if we knew more about his past.” 

“Now we’re talking!” 

Nya propped open her laptop and quickly went to the search bar. The faster she got this done, the less time she had to guilt herself out of it. She typed in “Darkley’s Boarding School” and waited for the results to pop up. Silently scrolling through, she looked for any articles of notice. Her search was interrupted by Kai’s finger obstructing her view. 

“Hey, click on this one.” He pointed to a link on the computer. Nya nudged his hand out of the way to see what piqued Kai’s interest. It was a blog titled “The truth about Darkley’s.” 

Nya clicked on the article and glanced through its contents. It was a mother talking about her expierence with Darkey’s. She was sent there as a child for having been a “troubled teen.” Kai leaned closely over her shoulder, gleaning what he could off the screen. Nya continued to scroll through the article, her worry deepening. The woman’s claims of being trained for villainy were eerily similar to Lloyd’s and the talk of the methods Darkelys used to instill their teachings into the kids… Well, it wasn't a pretty picture.  

The more research Nya did, the less she liked the chances of Lloyd having lied about or at least exaggerated his negative experience at Darkleys. She found countless articles detailing various controversies in Darkyley's past, but ultimately, the authorities never did anything. It seemed that any kid who spoke out was quickly brushed aside, labeled as a troubled kid acting out. The most she could find of a widespread belief about Darkleys is that kids who went there for bad behavior often came out worse than before. Parents and psychiatrists alike claimed this to be either ineffective behavior therapy methods on Darkely's part, or unwilling to change on the part. But after seeing the information, Nya figures that Darkely's methods work just as they intend them to.  

After having had enough, Nya turned to Kai, but he beat her to being the first to speak up. 

“This is sick. How can this place still be running?” He remarked, wearily brushing his hand through his hair. 

“It looks like people only care about the victims whom they think are innocent enough to be victims,” Nya replied solemnly. 

“Fsm, that’s fucked! This whole thing is fucked!” 

“Are you sure you still want to see Lloyd’s records? I have a feeling we won’t like what we’ll find.” 

“Can’t turn back now. Just hack into them already. Then I’ll know who exactly I’m punching and for what.” 

Nya turned back to her computer and got to work. She had more experience hacking into school records than she should, but it was a helpful skill growing up. It helped keep Kai and Nya out of foster care when Kai dropped out of school to work at the shop all day. All she had to do was forge a few things and delete some others, and Kai was off anyone’s radar. It took a while, but eventually Nya was able to find Lloyd’s records. But she didn’t take the time to look through most of them because one glaring detail caught her attention right away. Lloyd’s last name. 

“Kai… it says here that Lloyd’s last name is… Garmadon.” 

“That could just be a coincidence, right?”

“Who would name their child after an evil warlord?” 

“Crazy people? I mean, we just found out about a whole school board full of em.” 

“I-yeah, you’re right. Garmadon doesn’t have any kids. And Lloyd looks nothing like him!” Nya wasn’t sure she believed, and Kai didn’t either, but neither of them was willing to refute it. 

“Yeah, unless he’s been hiding four arms this whole time!” Kai jokes, but it sounded humorless. 

“Uh, just look at Lloyd's information about his parents and stuff. He continued. 

“Oh yeah, duh. Then we can put this silly worry to rest!” 

Nya found the files she needed, but her hand stalled before clicking on them. What if she found something she didn’t like? But that was stupid. It was still Lloyd after all. She clicked on the file. 

‘Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon and Misako.’ 

Fuck. 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Lord Garmadon has a son?!” Kai yelled in disbelief. How could anyone love such a wicked person? A person at fault for carnage and destruction? How could Lloyd be the product of such an evil man? 

“And it’s Lloyd. And I think he knows it too. That would explain why he was defending him earlier.” 

Kai ran his hand through his hair as he tried to make sense of everything. 

“Lloyd is the child of a supervillain, and he wants to be just like him. FSM, what do we do?” 

Nya narrowed her eyes. 

“What do you mean? He’s still the Lloyd we know, Kai. And I think we both know he’s nothing like Garmadon.” 

“I know that, Nya! But how can we ignore something like this? He’s the kid of the guy who ruined our lives! Of the guy we’re trying to take down!” Kai’s voice rose in volume. Whether out of anger or fear, he wasn’t sure. But anger was always his default, so that seemed right. Kai was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t notice the slight opening of the door behind them. 

“He’s still Lloyd. Being evil isn’t exactly a genetic trait.” Nya’s volume matched Kai’s as they stared each other down. Kai was about to continue yelling, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He analyzed Nya’s face. She was determined, defensive. But most of all, she was right. It’s not Lloyd's fault he’s the son of Garmadon. Kai shouldn’t be taking his anger out on the mini Garmadon. The real Garmadon was the one Kai had it out for. 

Kai threw his head into his hands. 

“Ugh, FSM, what am I saying? You’re right. We just have to make sure Lloyd stays on the right path. And stays far away from Garmadon. 

Nya gave him an uncomfortable look. 

“I don’t think we have to worry about that second part. Lloyd spent pretty much his whole life at Darleys. Neither Garmadon nor Misako showed their faces after abandoning him there. Who’s to say Lloyd even remembers what they were like?” 

“Jeez, looks like they're gonna give our parents a run for their money on the parent of the year award.” 

“Psh, yeah, looks like. I don’t imagine Morro’s parents are all that great either. Us and the guys are all these kids have, Kai.”  Nya looked at Kai somberly, silently asking, ‘Can we do this?’ It’s a question Kai’s all too familiar with. But they’ve made it this far. And he’s not a quitter. 

“Well be enough. Everything's gonna work out, promise.” Kai gave Nya a reassuring smile. 

Nya smiled back because she knew it was true. Her brother had never let her down before. 

“Well then, guess I’ll have to take your word on it.” 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Morro, Morro, wake up!” Lloyd hastily shook Morro’s shoulder. 

Morro shrugged him off and turned on his side, hoping to catch some more shut-eye. 

“FSM, Lloyd, go to sleep.” 

Lloyd leaned over Morro’s body, desperate to get his attention. 

“Morro, they know!” 

Chapter Text

Kai woke up feeling just as tired as ever. But that’s probably what he gets for staying up until 4 in the morning with Nya. That last hour was spent lying awake thinking about everything he learned about Lloyd. But the hardest part about today wouldn’t be staying awake, it would be pretending like nothing's changed. The other guys would have to find out eventually, and he’s pretty sure Jay’s the only one he has to worry about spilling the beans, but for now, it’d stay between Nya and him. Stumbling out of his bed, he noticed the others beginning to wake up as well. 

“Ughhhhhh,” Jay groaned. 

“Good morning to you, too, Jay.” Came Cole’s groggy reply. 

Everyone slowly gained the motivation to get out of bed. Unsurprisingly, Zane went straight to the kitchen, probably to make breakfast, and Cole and Jay raced each other to be the first in their shared bathroom. There were a few minutes when no one realized something was wrong. Kai wishes he had appreciated them more. 

“Kai, have you seen Lloyd and Morro?” Zane greeted Kai as he entered the kitchen. 

“Uh, they’re not in the living room? Did you check anywhere else?” 

“Yes, but they are nowhere to be found.”  

There was a growing pit in the bottom of Kai’s stomach. Gnawing fears clawing at his mind, but he couldn’t prove anything yet. There was still hope this was nothing. 

“Well, maybe they went outside for a walk? To enjoy a nice breeze?”  

Zane contemplated this. 

“Morro has control over the wind, I do not think enjoying a breeze would be a problem for him.” 

Kai wanted to argue, but was interrupted by a new voice entering the kitchen. 

“Stupid Jay got to the bathroom first and now he’s going to hog it all morning.” Cole lamented. He wanted to complain some more, but hesitated upon seeing the anxious expressions on their face. 

“Woah, what’s up with you guys?”  

“Have you seen Lloyd and Morro?” Kai questioned, trying to keep the desperation out of his face. 

“No, should I have?” 

“So no one’s seen them?! C’mon, guys, our apartment is about the size of a pantry!” Kai yelled in frustration. 

Cole held up his hands in a placating manner. 

“Chill out, dude, they’re probably around here somewhere. Let’s just look.” 

But they weren’t. After searching every nook and cranny, even the spaces Morro and Lloyd couldn’t possibly be hiding in, and after getting Nya and Jay involved, they were still nowhere to be found.  

“I think it’s time we consider other possibilities,” Zane spoke up amidst the desperate searching. The others stopped their searching, accepting the truth they had all been hesitating to admit. 

“Consider this, Zane, they’re missing and we have no idea where they are!” Kai yelled, throwing his hands around, partially as an outlet for his anger and partially to fan out the small flames beginning to spark in his hands. 

“FSM, do you think they were kidnapped by Lord Garmadon?! Did he find out our secret identities?!”  Jay exclaimed, the light bulbs flickering to match his panic. 

Cole side-eyed the lightbulbs, praying that they wouldn’t need to be replaced for the 5th time this week. 

“Jay, why would Lord Garmadon, bringer of destruction, not…bring any destruction? The only thing wrong about our apartment is its two missing occupants.” Cole reasoned. 

“So, what, they just ran away?” Nya asked. 

“Sadly, it appears that is the most likely explanation.” Zane conceded. 

Kai caught on to Nya’s eyes, the same fears running through their minds. 

“So, what do we do now?” Jay asked, but he could guess the answer. 

“We find them,” Kai stated. 

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Lloyd was all too familiar with the dark looming trees hiding whatever creatures lurked in them, and the way the light nightly breeze rustled the grass and his hair. In some ways, he had missed the warmth of a fire between him and Morro, and the crickets that chirp in the night. But whenever a too-cool breeze hit his goosebump-covered skin, he was reminded of the hard days to come. Lloyd wasn’t an idiot; he knew winter would hit, and without a treehouse to protect Morro and him, it would hit hard. However, there wasn’t much time to plan anything out. Once Lloyd told Morro his secret was out, they left as soon as Nya and Kai went to sleep.

They left in a frenzy, hardly caring to bring their belongings. Morro told him that they’d kill him, maybe worse, either as some sort of revenge or as a plan to take Garmadon down. And Lloyd wasn't exactly thrilled about either of those options. Before Morro had convinced him to keep his family tree a secret, people’s reactions weren’t all that great upon finding out. He could only hope Kay and Nya don’t spill anything. It’d be impossible to survive if the entire town had it out for him.

But more than he was concerned with the future, he was mourning the past. Everyone in the apartment was so nice and fun, totally different from the people at Darkely’s. And as much as he loathed to admit it, he had gotten attached to those strange people with powers. He liked helping Zane cook breakfast, playing video games with Jay and Cole, messing with Kai, and staying up late with Nya. Ugh! What was he doing? These people are the enemy! They didn’t want to take him and his dad down! 

“So, we’re back to creepy forest sleepovers, huh?” Lloyd asked, staring at Morro through the flames of the campfire. The flames cast an eerie glow on Morro’s face in contrast to the darkness that swallowed the rest of him. 

“I knew we shouldn’t have stayed there. I told you!” 

Lloyd brought his knees to his chest and rested his head on his arms.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. It’s just- they said it was destiny that we met each other! That we were brought together for a reason! That we belonged…”  

“Destiny is a myth. A way of reasoning with random chance. If you want something, take it. Don’t bother waiting around for a world that doesn’t care about you to give you it.” 

Anger flashed through Morro’s eyes. Which wasn’t really that out of the ordinary, however, Lloyd’s never  been truly scared of Morro before. And he still isn’t, of course! But there was something in Morros' stare that screamed danger. 

“Well, what do we want? Besides total domination, of course.” 

“To prove everybody wrong. Darkley thought you were weak. The world thought I was unworthy. But we’ll show them, we’ll show everybody that we won’t let destiny or anything else dictate us!” 

The wind whistled as if screaming the declaration to the rest of the forest, to the fate Morro didn’t believe in. 

“Yeah! So what are we thinking? Stink bombs? Smoke bombs? Explosive bombs?” 

“I have something better in mind.” 

Morro awoke with the sun the next morning. Without the pleasure of electricity or a flashlight, he had to make the most of the light given to him. Long ago, when he had first run away from the orphanage, he spent a lot of time wandering through different cities. It was mostly a less desirable situation, but he had picked up tidbits of valuable information throughout the years. One of the most interesting pieces of tibbitts was the legends of races of serpentine said to be locked away in tombs. The Hybornai serpentine even could mind control people in some tellings. Morro would trade that power for wind anyway. 

“Lloyd, wake up.” Morro barked, nudging Lloyd with his foot. 

“Ughhh, five more minutes.”

 Lloyd pulled his hoodie further over his head, trying to block out the interruption. 

“We don’t have time for messing around, Lloyd, get up. We have places to be.” 

“Like what? We live in the forest. The trees will still be here in five minutes.” 

“Lloyd.” 

Morro was growing irritated, why couldn’t Lloyd just make things simple? Morro was right, mind control beats wind powers any day. But Lloyd seemed to pick up on his impatience. He sluggishly got onto his feet and faced Morro with a deadpan stare. 

“Jeez, sleep on the wrong side of the dirt?”

“Is there a right side?” Morro asked incredulously. Lloyd merely shrugged. 

“If you find a spot of mud, it’s not that bad.” 

“Perfect. There should be plenty of mud where we're going.”

‘Which is…?” 

“Stiix. There’s a guy there that has a map we need.” 

Lloyd bounced up, excited by the signs of an adventure. 

“We’re gonna go treasure hunting?!” 

A wide grin broke out across Morro’s face. 

“Please, what we’re gonna find will bring us more power than any bit of gold could.” 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jay taped another missing poster to a wall, which fit in perfectly with the other 10 posters. 

Next to him, Kai wrestled with the roll of tape, trying to pry another piece off of it. But after an embarrassingly long time spent struggling, Kai threw his hands up in frustration. 

“Ah, this is never going to work!” He yelled. Nya took the roll of tape from his hands and tore a piece off to hand to Cole. 

“Probably because people only put up posters like these to find pets, not kids.” She reasoned. 

Cole took the piece of tape and stuck a poster on a telephone pole. 

“Close enough.” He shrugged. 

“You’re the one who said we shouldn’t go to the police! So, unless you have any better ideas, keep taping.” Jay pointed at Nya before plopping another small stack of posters into her hands. Thankfully, Zane took some of her load. 

“Need, I remind you, Jay, but going to the police would most definitely result in Lloyd and Morro  being placed into the foster care system.” He mentioned walking towards a telephone pole a little way down the street. 

“It’s not like we could give them any helpful information, we don’t even know their last names.” Cole added as he took a step back to determine how level the poster was. 

Everyone was too absorbed with their task to notice the guilty glance Kai and Nya shared. 

“It doesn’t matter, we can find them ourselves. It’s only been a few days. They’ll show up eventually.” 

“If they haven’t already skipped town or been eaten by stray dogs,” Jay said, only to be met with a sharp jab of Cole’s elbow. 

“Jay!” 

“Ow! I was just saying!” 

“As much as I loathe to admit it, Jay is right. There is a likely possibility that we… may never find Lloyd and Morro.”  Zane said somberly. But his gentle tone wasn’t enough to evade the fiery glares and incredulous stares sent his way. Even Zane could pick up on the fact that his commentary was not well received. 

“Ah, sorry, let me rephrase. There is also an extremely low possibility that we will find them!” 

Zane was confused when the worry of the group grew despite his attempts of reassurance. His confusion only grew when Cole awkwardly patted his shoulder. 

“Yeah, you’re not very good at this, buddy.”

Zane wanted to ask Cole to elaborate, but was distracted by the blast of heat that suddenly suffocated the air. Luckily, the blaring wave of heat was gone as quickly as it came.

“Everyone just shut up! We will find them.” Kai stated, brows pinched in determination. 

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you sure these tombs are something you boys want to find? It sounds like it’ll bring an awful lot of trouble.” Ronin drew, every word dripping with a faux charismatic voice. As far as appearances went, he just looked like some middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and greasy bob. But Morro told Lloyd that this was the guy with the map that would lead them to the serpentine tomb! 

“That makes it even better!” Lloyd exclaimed. Lloyd had been eagerly awaiting some real adventure ever since about two weeks ago, Morro dragged him across Ninjago until they finally made it to this dingy little town. It was a real dark and gloomy place, perfect for villainy. Even now in this drafty pawnshow, the biting wind that escaped through the rotten wood plants and the blinking lights set the stage for rising villainous masterminds such as himself. 

“We’re sure. Now, are we gonna do business or not?” Morro asked, dangling the gaudy gold necklace he had asked Lloyd to steal earlier. It glistened even in the dim lighting. Ronin tried to play it off, but the prissy necklace had caught his attention.

“Hm, well,l this necklace does look awfully expensive. I’d say you got yourselves a deal.” Ronin exchanged the map for the necklace, looking giddy as he examined his prize. 

“Real gold. You know your stuff, kid.” 

Morro put the map in the small black backpack they also stole earlier. What can Lloyd say? Besides reading comics, stealing was his favorite hobby.  

“Why, thank you,” Lloyd said proudly. 

“C’mon, Lloyd, we have what we need.”  

“Pleasure doin’ business with ya,” Ronin called out behind them. 

Once they were gone, Ronin couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“Poor naive souls. Can’t believe they think that snake crap is real.” 

Although a small part of him knew he shouldn’t take advantage of gullible kids, the smarter part of him couldn’t wait to make some money off the beauty of a necklace he just earned. 

But absently, he wondered where that map would take those kids. Good thing it was a load of crap.

Chapter Text

The sun beat down hardly on Lloyd’s skin, sweat poured down his face in a desperate attempt to rehydrate his dried skin. Each time his foot hit the ground, it sent a shockwave of pain up his leg. His feet ached, and his stomach growled, begging for food. His mouth, too, was another source of agony; it was drier than the desert land around him. Despite his hunger, the radiating sun made him nauseous, with nowhere to hide from the harsh sun. After traveling miles and miles of the same vast, barren lands, Lloyd wondered if it would ever end. 

“Ugh, are we almost there yet? We’ve been walking forever!” Lloyd asked Morro, who, despite the less-than-desirable circumstances, continued walking determinedly to wherever they were headed. 

“The journey will be worth it. Besides, I’d say we’re here.” A devilish grin spread across Morro’s face. There was a glint in Morro’s eye that Lloyd had never seen before. But he supposed Morro was just excited. Lloyd was, too, after finally learning the plan during their travel. Something about releasing serpentine? Which sounded awesome by the way! Oh, the things they could do with an army of vicious snake people by their side! Even the likes of his father wouldn't be able to ignore such feats! 

Lloyd scoured the area, trying to find some huge secret base, or maybe a heavily guarded building armed with massive guns, but was disappointed only to find big boring rocks and the red desert sand. 

“Uh, Morro? Are you sure this is the right place? Cause it looks like the same past miles of dessert we’ve been through.”  Lloyd couldn’t help but ask as he watched Morro wander around the rocks. Lloyd never took Morro for a nerd who’d be obsessed with rocks, but the way Morro’s hand delicately brushed over them was rather revealing. 

“Oh, Lloyd, when will you learn that not everything is how it seems?” Morro’s hand latched onto a small rock, which looked more like a lever the longer Lloyd looked at it. He pushed hard on the stiff lever, the ground began to rumble, and the mountain of rocks came tumbling down to reveal an entryway to the ground below. 

“Woah!” Lloyd exclaimed, rushing to enter the dark abyss below. Morros' hand reached out in front of him, halting his movement. 

“Hold on, Lloyd. There’s a reason this tomb didn’t need any protection.” 

Lloyd stared into the abyss below to see if he could make out any evil-looking snake people. From up here, the hole looked inconspicuous. 

“Then I guess it’s up to us to show those serpents that we’re not someone they mess with!” Lloyd retorted, pushing past Morro and descending into the dangers below. 

“Lloyd, you idiot!” Morro yelled after him, following closely behind. Anticipation was high as Lloyd slowed his descent. Suddenly, the big hole in the ground was scarier when light from the outside hardly reached its void of darkness. 

“Uh, why don’t you go first?” Lloyd asked, hoping Morro wouldn’t notice the slight shake in his voice. Morro rolled his eyes, silently taking the lead. 

The two dragged themselves into the underground sanctuary, whisking their heads every which way to try and see where they were going in the pitch dark. A spark of relief flooded Lloyd’s eyes when he finally spotted two small light sources in front of him. But then the light started moving closer, and closer. Morro took a defensive stance in front of Lloyd as the light got close enough to reveal slit pupils, moving up and down, seizing them up. 

“Well, you two have certainly travelled a long way from home. Lost?” The looming figure’s eyes glowed brighter, illuminating the serpentine they belonged to. His movements were meticulous yet smooth, he moved with purpose. If only Lloyd weren’t 99% sure that the purpose was to eat them. 

“Not at all. We’ve come here with a proposition. We’ve freed you, sure, but we also happen to know where the other tombs are located. And we can lead you straight to them. That is, if you help us in return.”  

The serpentine burst into laughter, holding his stomach and bending over in amusement. Lloyd and Morro stared at him while they waited to regain their bearings. The serpent's laughter echoed through the cave, forcing him to wipe a tear from his eye. 

“Oh, please forgive me, it has been such a long time since I’ve been so amused. You are quite bold, an admirable trait. But please do tell, why do you need me for this plan of yours?” 

“I wish to mobilize the serpentine, but they’d never listen to a human. However, I have a feeling that they’d be more willing to listen to Anacondrai .” 

The serpent’s eyes gleamed, a wide grin spreading across his face. 

“Ooo, so you are aware of my status. Oh, how delightful! Very well then, I will help you! I can already tell that this will be the start of a beautiful friendship!” 

 Morro and the serpent firmly shook hands, locking eyes and refusing to look away. 

Lloyd thought that the serpent seemed pretty nice, but Morro was suspiciously trusting of the snake. Which meant that there had to be something else going on. Why didn’t anyone ever tell him anything?! 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pythor couldn’t believe his luck. For centuries, he has long awaited his freedom and the chance to release the Great Devour. And now, after all his patience, two foolish children stumbled into his path. Oh, how wonderful this would be! The serpentine have been shunned, locked away to rot, but the Great Devour would lead them to glory. A new beginning would befall Ninjago. And these two unfortunate souls would pave the way! 

“Well, now that we’ve established our companionship, where should we start?” Pythor asked, indulging in the fantasies of the children. While he wanted to be rid of these foolish souls as soon as possible, he needed to build trust first. However unbearable that may be. 

“I want to steal candy! All the candy in town!” The blonde one yelled. He had a rather agitating, whiny voice. More than that, this child had the temporary allyship of an anaconda, and his first thought was something as silly as candy? Pythor almost forgot how incompetent the human race truly was. 

“What a splendid idea!” Pythor responded in faux enthusiasm. Oh, the things he has to endure… 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing. It’s been weeks, and Nya has found nothing. Not a single soul in this stupid town or the town over, or the town after that, had seen Lloyd and Morro. Nya couldn’t believe it. Things were going so well! Lloyd and Morro had stopped feeling like two random kids they picked up, and had started feeling like a normal addition to her life. And now they are gone. 

But she promised to make up for it. Unfortunately, Lloyd and Morro were smart, and it didn’t seem like they wanted to be found. Nya sighed as she sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly at her laptop. She scrolled through the most recent news articles, hoping for a clue. The most recent one caught her attention the most. 

“SERPENTINE ARE REAL! ONE SPOTTED ATTACKING CITY!” 

“Bleh, seriously, who believes this clickbait garbage?” She wondered aloud. She jumped when one of the boys' bedroom doors slammed open. 

“Nya! Nya, Nya, Nya! Turn on the news right now!” Jay yelled, frantically running into the kitchen. 

“Jeez, what's got you all worked up?” 

Jay ran right past her, diving for the TV remote on top of the coffee table in their living room. 

“No time! Just look!” 

The TV clicked on to reveal their local news broadcast. 

“Breaking news, this just in! A serpentine, a once fabled creature, has been seen ravaging Ninjago City with what looks to be two child servants. Experts believe these children to be under mind control, but no evidence has been brought to light. Police advise people to stay vigilant as they work to control the threat. Johnny, any thoughts?” 

The image of a man flashed up next to hers in a split screen as he began to add his thoughts.

“These are truly unprecedented times, Joanne. Never before has Ninjago City dealt with a threat like this. But people want to know if the serpentine are real, where are the rest? Perhaps hiding until the time is right? Or have they already infiltrated our society? More news to come as police continue to unravel this story.” 

Nya’s jaw dropped. The serpentine were real?! 

“WHAT?! How is this possible?!” Nya yelled. Jay tore his attention from the screen to face her, hands waving around in the air. 

“I have no idea! But now we have Garmadon’s skeletons and a bunch of snakes to deal with! Oh, we are so dead!” 

Usually, Nya tried not to encourage Jay’s dramatics, but he might have had a point here. 

“Not to mention those two kids that were involved…” 

Jay froze, a horrifying suspicion creeping into his mind. 

“Wait, you don’t think…” 

“No,” Nya gasped. But it was clear she was following Jay’s line of reasoning. Oh, this was bad. So very bad. FSM, this wasn’t the clue she wanted!” 

“But how?!” Nya asked. 

Jay brought his hand to his chin. 

“More importantly, why?”  

Distantly, Nya couldn’t help but worry, she knew why. Was Lloyd following in his father’s footsteps? Or was he being mind-controlled like the news reporter suggested? What role did Moro play in all of this? Ugh, this was so frustrating! 

“We'd better tell the guys. We need to get a handle on this before things get worse.” Nya said, hoping things hadn’t already spiraled out of control. 

This is why she would never have kids. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morro watched as Lloyd excitedly ran into the serpentine tomb, candy falling from his hands as he struggled to carry it all. It was a rather amusing sight, and Morro was happy to have gotten Lloyd’s ambitions out of the way. This way, Morro could focus on his real plan. 

Pythor slithered next to him, eerily quiet, with calculated eyes. Morro felt the hair on his neck raise when his scathing eyes landed on him. 

“As much fun as today was, I have a hard time believing that someone as intelligent as you only wishes to use the likes of a companion such as myself to steal candy. Surely, there must be something more we can do that is to your liking.” He rambled. Every word from Pythor’s mouth sickened Morro with how sweet Pythor made them sound. The nice guy act might have worked on Lloyd, but Morro wasn’t so foolish. 

Pythor wanted to know Morro’s true intentions. Luckily for Pythor, Morro, too, wanted to know just what angle Pythor was coming out. He’d have to share a little to get the knowledge he yearned for. 

“I’m glad my intelligence is not lost on you. Today was a ruse to keep Lloyd on board with some of my… less enticing plans.” 

“Which would be?” Pythor prompted. 

Morro fixed him with a glare, stopping his movement outside the drop until the tomb. He crossed his arms and stood with a confident posture. 

“I’d say that what your plans are are far more interesting. So tell me, why is a serpent helping two humans? What are you getting out of this?” 

Pythor obnoxiously chuckled, his squinted eyes glimmered in the desert sun. 

“Ah, so you are a smart one. You have the map that leads to the other tombs, I merely wish to reunite with my brethren.” 

“Lies. The serpentine races hate each other.” 

Pythor looked taken aback for a brief moment, before quickly regaining his facade. 

“Where do you get all of this information? The serpentine is a friendly species.” 

Morro was getting agitated now. Did this snake seriously take him for a fool? Despite the dry, humid air of the desert, a breeze started to whip Morro’s hair around. 

He leaned towards Pythor, the wind now hitting the snake as well. 

“Don’t insult my knowledge. Now let’s try this again, what do you want from us?” 

The smile on Pythor’s face dropped, and his eyes lost their happy gleam. 

“So, that’s how this is going to be? Very well, but I don’t think a human can truly understand the likes of an anaconda.” 

Morro bristled, the wind growing stronger. The threat made Pythor roll his eyes, angering Morro further.

“Please, calm yourself. If you truly wish to know, I will tell you. I was not lying about wanting to release the other serpentine, but not so much for a family reunion. They have the knowledge that I need. Knowledge that will usher in a new era for Ninjago!” 

Morro examined Pythor, it seemed like it was emitting at least a bit of the truth. 

“Then it seems like we both want similar things. A new beginning,” Morro conceded, “so why don’t I help you achieve that? I’ll lead you to the other tombs. But Lloyd and I want a seat at the top of the food chain.” 

Pythor grinned, offering his hand to shake. 

“I see. If only you weren’t a puny human, you’d make a rather fine snake.” 

Morro shook his hand, feeling too euphoric to get upset at Pythor’s backhanded compliment. 

A smile, a true smile, stretched across Morro’s face wider than he thought it ever had. Finally, things were looking his way. Never again would he be pushed aside, denied things he was promised. He’d eaten his last scraps. It was time for him to get what he deserved. 

Chapter Text

The sun was high in the sky, sun beams radiating down and boiling the earth. But the dry climate did little to dissuade Morro’s excitement. He didn’t even bother to create a breeze; he just stood still, letting the sun bathe him in its golden light. He buzzed with anticipation, it was almost time. Soon, the town would be in ruins, and no one could stand in Morro’s way of his desires ever again. 

All of the serpentine species had been released and united under Pythor. Some of the serpentine leaders warned against a second war, instead insisting on living in peace. Morro worried it would throw a wrench in his plan, but Pythor had proven to be rather useless. All it took was one fight, and Pythor had control over the Hypnobrai, which in turn gave him power over all of the serpentine. 

The sun reflected off the vast army of snakes' shimmering scales, burning Morro’s but yet he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t shut his eyes for a single moment, for this would be a moment he’d want to remember forever. 

Beside him, he could hear Lloyd’s “evil” laugh, which was pathetically bad. But despite all of Lloyd’s annoying characteristics, he’d proven his loyalty. He’d been the only person in Morro’s life to stick with him, to trust in him. And maybe he’d even been one of the only people who could understand Morro. 

And although Morro would never admit it, he enjoyed Lloyd’s company. Sometimes. 

“Today we’ll show this town they should never have deprived us,” Morro said aloud. 

Lloyd grinned by his side. 

“This is gonna be so much fun,” Lloyd exclaimed. 

——————————————————————

“Guys, we gotta go!” Nya yelled, slamming the door to the apartment open. Her shoulders heaved up and down as she tried to gulp in some air and her bangs clung to her forehead. She ran here as fast as she could. She’d never necessarily been out of shape, but she wishes she had invested in a gym membership right about now. 

“Woah, what’s the rush?” Cole asked from his spot on the couch, eyes laser-focused on the video game in front of him, while Jay sat beside him. 

Cole smashed buttons on the controller frantically as Jay beamed in triumph. 

Nya's face scrunched in anger, and she directed a strong blast of water straight at their faces. The blast was only intended for the two idiots who were ignoring her, but her unfocused wave also ended up soaking the couch and the floor. On the bright side, she’s pretty sure the rug already had some kind of mold on it. 

The two yelled in shock, dropping the controllers on the floor. Jay started hacking up the water he had involuntarily swallowed while Cole tried to brush his thick hair out of his eyes. 

“Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Cole yelled, jaw dropped in shock from the icy cold blast. Despite his best efforts, his overgrown, thick hair still stuck to his face, covering his eyes and making him resemble a sad, wet dog. 

Nya watched as Jay presumably tried to yell at her as well, but only ended up spitting out more water. 

“When I say we gotta go, what I mean is that there’s an army of snakes attacking Jamankai village and that we have to go!” Nya fumed, small drops of water still dripping from her fingers as a silent threat. 

“Oh shit!” Cole cursed, stumbling over himself as he rushed to get off the soggy couch. 

Jay yelped as Cole heaved him up by his shirt. 

“I know, I know!” Jay hastily replied. The two bumped into one another as they both rushed to get changed into their vigilant outfits and warn the others.

Sure enough, Nya heard shouting and thumps as the guys raced to get ready. Nya too took off, assured that the boys were finally getting their act together. 

Once dressed, the group scrambled out the door, hopping into the one broken-down truck they had. With no room for everybody, Cole and Kai had to settle for sitting in the trunk. 

Zane tried to start the truck, but its tired old engine grumbled in defiance. 

“Oh, come on! Work, you stupid thing!” Jay yelled from the passenger seat, banging the truck to motivate it. A small electric shock slipped from Jay’s fist, bringing the truck back to life. 

“Yes! Lighting master for the win!” He yelled in victory, fist pumping in the air. 

“Great, now let’s get moving!” Nya ushered from the back. 

Zane stomped on the pedal, driving faster than he ever had before. 

They pushed the rusty truck as fast as it could go, racing to the village. It wasn’t hard to guess if they had arrived at the correct destination. Serpentines that stood at least 8 feet tall ravaged the village, their smooth glides enabling them to move faster than the town’s people could run. A few of the snakes were a hypnotizing deep blue, while others were a burly orange, a bloody red, or a sickly green. But they all acted with a vengeance, moving around in a fit of rage. 

Zane scanned the area, trying to determine the best course of action. He ran through different possibilities in his head, but none of them were desirable. 

But each second he took trying to come up with the best course of action was more time for the serpents to destroy the village. 

Cole took action, declaring the next steps to the group. 

“Okay, guys, let’s focus on damage control first. Nya, Zane, I want you to get all of the townsfolk out of here. Kai and Jay, you guys get to help me fight off these overgrown pets.” He said. 

Zane didn’t argue, he took off with Nya to start gathering people. He’d always appreciated planning, but in times like this, he was grateful for Cole’s quick thinking. Zane just hoped Cole hadn’t forgotten the thinking part. 

Every corner revealed crying children and panicked parents, it was heartbreaking to see their anguish. Their homes had been destroyed, and for some, their entire lives had been uprooted. But for what purpose? As far as Zane could tell, all of this chaos seemed to be for the sake of it. No rhyme or reason that he could uncover. 

From the corner of his eye, he saw a serpent looming over two scared children. Zane stomped on the ground, the grass freezing over from where he stood. Soon, the entire block was enveloped in ice, causing the slimy snake to lose its balance. Zane ran over the ice, unbothered by its slippery qualities; it felt as if the ice was allowing him to traverse it, like Zane was meant to. 

He’d never had this much ease with his powers before, but in this moment, he felt at home as he ran through the frigid air. He snatched the two children, carrying them to safety. The poor kids clung on to him for dear life, their teeth chattering from his icy touch. 

He deposited the kids with Nya, who was leading a massive group of people to a safe area. Zane observed as Nya led the villagers to safety, ensuring no one stood in their way. 

But he couldn’t focus on them for too long, as a looming snake covered in shimmering deep red scales chased towards him, fangs hissing in a deadly warning. Zane had no combat training, very little prior experience, and quite frankly, he feared that his friends and his skills would not meet the occasion, but this was not something he could be a bystander to. He would fight by his brother’s side, no matter what. 

The snake lunged at him, arms outstretched to try and grab his neck. Zane side-stepped him and flung his fist into the snake’s fist. Momentarily thrown off guard, the snake groaned in pain, allowing Zane to freeze the serpent's legs. The snake writhed and wriggled, screaming out in rage. 

Zane fled the scene before the snake broke free and took out its rage on its entrapper. He ran through the streets, trying to find the others, until he heard booming laughter from the alleyway. Zane stilled. That voice, it was so familiar, but what business would Lloyd have being here? Zane ducked behind a garbage can, peering into the alleyway. Both Lloyd and Morro were standing there. 

“Look at all of their faces! Oh man, we’re getting them good!” Lloyd boasted.

“And this is just the beginning. Pythor talked of four magical artifacts called the Golden Weapons, weapons of great power. We find them, and we won’t need these snakes anymore. Our sheer power will overwhelm anyone who stands in our way. But rumor has it that they are in high demand.” Morro explained to Lloyd. But Lloyd didn’t seem to fully grasp what it was that Morro was planning. This was a game to him. 

Zane’s jaw dropped. Those weapons Morro spoke of… could they be the ones Garmadon’s been searching for? For a second, he felt exhilarated. This is the closest Zane’s been to figuring out this mystery. But then it dawned on him that the weapons Garmadon wanted were much more than a few swords; their true abilities were still unknown, but it sounded like they could bring destruction on an unimaginable scale. And this break in the case came at the cost of knowledge he wishes he did not know. Because somehow, Lloyd and Morro were involved in all of this carnage. The two boys Zane had gotten to know, had shared a home with did not possess the maliciousness they were showing here. But as it seems, maybe Zane did not know them after all. 

“Ha! Well, who doesn’t like a little competition to keep things interesting?” Lloyd said. Zane remained quiet, muscles tense as he willed them to stay as still as possible. He did not wish to fight Morro or Lloyd. 

Zane scanned the area, planning out his escape. While Lloyd and Morro were engrossed in their conversation, Zane stealthily made his way back into the chaos. He ran through town, the wind whipping his hair around, the cold air battling with the harsh sun. Each step pounded against the ground, his feet pushing him faster and faster. He needed to tell the others of his discovery. The race to the weapons had just gotten higher stakes. He threw himself around the street corner, horrified to find his friends surrounded by a giant mob of snakes. Nya must have made her way back to the others as she, too, was trapped. But given that the streets had been void of any townspeople, she had done her part well. 

The serpents flanked his friends from every side, encircling them. They hissed and clawed as his friends did their best to fight them off. 

“Zane, there you are! A little help here?” Cole called out from the circle. He swung his fist into the face of a black serpent who had gotten a little too close. The serpent cried out in pain, falling back and knocking down a few of the snakes behind him. Jay rapidly fired uncontrolled shocks of lightning, Nya blasted the snakes with water, and Cole was trying to barricade themselves in with rocks, but Kai wasn’t fighting; he was just… on the ground panicking? 

“Of course! But if I may, what is wrong with Kai?” Zane asked. 

Jay kicked a red snake back, yelling to Zane as he took a moment to catch his breath. 

“No time! Just watch out, he thinks we’re all elves.”

“That makes no logical sense,” Zane replied, eyebrows raised as he watched Kai hyperventilate on the ground.  

Nya punched a snake to her right and kicked another one in the gut on her left, shakily calling out to Zane to offer a better explanation. 

“One of these stupid snakes spat venom in his eye, and now he’s hallucinating. We’d help him out, but if you couldn’t tell, we’re a little caught up right now.” She grunted. 

A snake landed a punch on her, shoving her to the ground. The snake loomed over her, ready to land another hit, but Zane froze his face over with ice. 

“Stop! Go Away!” Kai cried to an invisible figure. 

It hurt to see his friend in pain, but Nya was right; they were certainly occupied at the time. Zane tried to think of something, but they were outnumbered and outskilled. 

“Ugh, this isn’t working!” Jay yelled from the ground after a snake stopped his punch mid-air, latched onto his hand, and flipped Jay onto his back. Cole stomped on the ground, and a large, sharp rock burst from the earth, sending Jay’s attacker flying back. 

“Well, if you've got any other ideas, I’d love to hear 'em!” Cole heaved. He wiped sweat from his brow, but it was quickly replaced by another puddle of sweat. 

“I got it!” Jay exclaimed, his lightning glowing brighter in response. 

“You do?!” Nya asked, flabbergasted. 

“Cole, send us up into the air!” Jay demanded. Cole looked uncertain. Zane wasn’t sure if Cole had enough control over his powers to produce a rock large enough to fulfill Jay’s request, but he knelt to the ground regardless. He clamped his eyes shut and his brow furrowed in determination as he pounded his fist into the ground. Slowly, the ground started shaking, and the snakes around them stumbled as the shakes grew in strength. Even Zane found it difficult to keep his balance upon the trembling earth. The ground shook until its energy was released as a giant rock broke free from the ground, shooting Cole, Nya, and Jay high up into the sky. 

“I actually did it!” Cole cheered, his muscles shaking with adrenaline. 

“Okay, Nya, it's your turn. We need a tidal wave big enough to drown out this entire crowd.”

 It was hard to hear the conversation from the ground, but Zane could roughly make out the words. 

Nya nodded, acting confident despite the worry lines on her forehead. 

She raised her hands in the sky, demanding streams of water to flow around her. She directed the currents into a giant ball of water above her head, grunting in focus as the ball grew in size. Eventually, she gave, releasing the wave onto the crowd below. Jay then shot electricity through the water, keeping the surge going as the wave washed through the crowd, electrocuting the mob. The serpents ran away in fear, trying to escape the electric ocean. All three of them collapsed onto the ground, laughing in triumph as the final snakes retreated. 

“That was amazing!” Zane called up to them. Jay threw him a lazy thumbs-up from where he lay on the rock. But none of them seemed too inclined to figure out how to get down. 

Judging from how high they were up in the air, they couldn’t exactly jump off. And it didn’t look like Cole had enough energy to bring them down. But Zane wondered…. He tried to focus his ice, creating a slide from the rock to the ground. One by one, all three of them slid safely to the ground. 

“Appreciate the help, Zane, but ouch, that was cold!” Jay complained once, finally, on the ground. At least Zane knew he was okay if he was still enough of himself to whine and complain. 

But in a flash, Jay froze in front of him before he took a fighting stance. Nya and Cole, too, looked ready to jump. Yet Zane did not know what he had done wrong. 

“My, my, you guys have been busy, haven't you? Oh, I do love watching a group of underdogs come out on top!” A slimy voice called out from behind Zane. Zane whipped around, meeting the eyes of the tallest snake he’s seen yet. And beside him on both sides stood Morro and Lloyd. 

“Oh, FSM, the elves have gotten smaller!” Kai yelled in fear, pointing wildly at Lloyd and Morro. Jay kicked him, trying to get him to shut up. 

Cole, Nya, and Jay let out collective gasps. The kids they had been scouring the earth for were finally right in front of them. The first wave of relief washed out the person Lloud and Morro stood beside. 

“Lloyd?! Morro?! We’ve been looking all over for you guys!” Nya cried out with joy. She rushed towards them but faltered when Lloyd thrusted his foot backwards, a venomous look on his face. 

“What, so you can turn us in?! You can’t trick us anymore! We know why you really let us stay with you guys.” Lloyd screamed in rage. His eyes glowed a brilliant green, and Zane could feel the static in the air as the energy around Lloyd grew excited in response to his rage. 

“What are you talking about?” Cole asked, genuinely baffled. Zane, too, was taken aback. Had they done something to make Lloyd and Morro feel unwelcome? How could it have been so heinous to have pushed them into crime? But maybe this was a good thing. If the group had wronged the kids, then they could make it right. This could be salvaged. 

But a sharp gust of wind tore through the air, ripping through Zane’s hope.  

“There’s no point in rehashing this. We haven’t come here for you.” Morro sneered. He glared at the group with a sense of hatred stronger than Zane had ever known. Underneath Morro’s gaze, Zane could feel how repulsed and disgusted the other was of him. It made Zane feel less than. Like a bug that needed squashing. 

“Oh, do forgive Morro, he lacks manners. But he is not without truth. Leave now, and no one has to get their hands dirty.” The snake said. 

A Cheshire smile spread across the serpent's face. It sent a clear message. Zane and his friends were not a threat to him. Just a minor inconvenience that needed to be dealt with. 

“Look, Morro, Lloyd, we’re sorry about whatever we did, but there’s no need to get innocent people involved.” Jay reasoned, gesturing to the ruined homes and shops around them. 

“Yeah, just tell us what we did wrong so we can make things right!” Cole bargained. 

“This is way bigger than you!” Morro screamed in pent-up rage, a flash of his true, desperate self shining through. The group was stunned. Morro was not unfamiliar with anger, but there was anger and there was suffocating grief, hopelessness, a sadness so deep that it needed to be relieved through frustration. Morro knew he had slipped up and tried to amend his persona. 

“Don’t think so highly of yourselves. What we want is not something you can give.” He said, voice stiff as he forced the words out through his vocal cords that only wanted to yell. 

“The golden weapons. One of them is in this town. Isn’t it?” Zane said. It made the most sense. Morro wasn’t a psychopath, but he was willing to do whatever it took to reach his goals. He wouldn’t terrorize a town for fun, but he would do it to get what he wanted. What Lloyd had to do with anything, Zane was unsure. 

The snake turned his glare to Lloyd and Morro. 

“Now, how would he know about that?” The serpent asked. 

“I didn’t say anything!” Lloyd yelped. 

“How do you know that, Zane?” Nya asked, but Zane shook his head. He would tell everyone later, but now was not the time. This serpent didn’t seem to be as allied with Morro and Lloyd as Zane thought. 

Curiously, instead of the serpent lashing out in rage, he started laughing. But Zane had never heard a laugh so cruel. 

“Well, since the cat’s out of the bag, why don’t we show these overachievers what they’re up against if they do not surrender?” 

The snake snapped his fingers, and at his call, two burly snakes dragged out a terrified man. The man’s hair clung to his face, covering his eyes and dripping sweat down his neck. His clothes were dirty and torn, revealing cuts and burns from his abuse. 

Zane stiffened. Nya and he were not able to get everyone to safety after all. And this man was paying the price. 

“Wait, what are you doing?” Lloyd nervously asked, stepping away from the snakes. 

But the snakes ignored him and brought the man into the spotlight. 

“Tell us, where is the golden weapon you keep?” The purple serpent demanded. His voice no longer tried to hide his malicious intent. He wanted everyone to see how dangerous he truly was. 

“I’ve already told you I don’t know! M-my dad was the one who kept records about all that crap! I just work in his store!” The man cried. He whipped his head around, trying to get the snakes to see the begging in his eyes. 

The purple serpent sneered. 

“Not good enough. General?” 

One of the snakes readjusted their grasp on the man, allowing the other snake to release its hold. The smaller of the two snakes pulled out a battering stick, face stone cold, and brought it down on the man’s back, slamming it into the man without mercy. And then he brought it down again, and again. Each strike was carried out with robotic efficiency, indifferent to the man’s cries of agony. A sickening smack echoed through the air with each hit. 

“Hey! Stop! What are you doing?!” Lloyd yelled in horror. He tried to run towards the man, but Morro gripped his shoulder, fixing Lloyd with a harsh gaze. 

“This is what must be done. Think of what you're fighting for, Lloyd. What the world has done to you.” 

Morro’s words didn’t reach Lloyd; Lloyd was lost, staring at the bloody and bruised wounds on the man’s back. 

The breath left Zane’s lungs as he watched the man write in pain. Zane shook himself of his shock, raising his hand to freeze the snake’s next advance. But before he could land his attack, more snakes emerged from the shadows, restraining him. Zane threw himself around, trying to shake the snakes, but they overpowered him. He heard yelping behind him and turned to find that his friends were in the same predicament, even Kai, who had been rendered useless from his hallucinations, had been restrained. Try as he might, he couldn’t summon his powers. He didn’t have enough control to use them with so much outside noise. His inexperience had finally caught up to him. 

“Ah, Ah, ah, don’t want you missing the show.” The purple serpent tsked. It boiled Zane’s blood. He had never been quick to anger; he’d always been sensible, mind cold and sharp, much like his ice. But abusing one’s power to abuse another was pathetic, unjust. He was a protector, but now he had been reduced to another sick part of the snake’s game. 

The snake bent down to the man’s level, sticking its face in front of the man’s tear-stained one. 

“Let’s try again, yes?” 

Zane continued to fight free, his efforts growing more desperate, looking for a weakness he could exploit. In his search, he saw Lloyd, looking increasingly panicked. Lloyd’s eyes were blown wide, horror written across his face. Lloyd could be reasoned with, he could see the truth of the serpent’s cruelty. Zane looked to Morro, trying to find the same humanity. But Morro had his head strictly turned towards the ground, unable to meet the face of his evil. 

The man whimpered in fear, anticipating the next strike. 

“Please! Please, just let me go! I don’t know where they are!” 

“You just have to make this difficult.” The snake sighed. To him, this man’s suffering was just an inconvenience.

The general with the battering stick raised it high, ready to bring down its wrath on the man’s back one more time. However, Lloyd tore himself from Morro’s grasp, stumbling in front of the man. 

“I command you to stop!” Lloyd cried, hand up in front of the general. The man’s eyes bore into Lloyd’s skull, clinging to the mercy Lloyd could give him. 

Zane watched with nervous anticipation, praying the snake wouldn’t bring his wrath onto Lloyd next. Yet he also felt a fire of hope ignite in his chest. Maybe he hadn’t misjudged Lloyd; perhaps Lloyd was just misguided, hurt. 

“Foolish child, get out of the way, otherwise you’re gonna be next! The general seethed. 

“Lloyd, get out of the way! This man is a necessary casualty! He means nothing!” Morro raged from the sidelines.

Lloyd and Morro locked eyes, each seeing the other as they once were. If only Morro were the same as he once was. 

“N-no, this isn’t right! I thought we were just gonna scare the villagers, not this!” Lloyd argued. 

Morro’s eyes grew wild, desperation and yearning taking over his senses. Gusts of wind so strong that they stung Zane’s eyes and knocked over nearby garbage cans and started picking up, answering the call of their master. 

Morro stormed over to Lloyd, his tall stature looming over Lloyd. 

“This is how you get what you want! You want power?! Do you want respect?! This is the only way! People only listen to strength! You need to choose Lloyd! Are you going to be walked over, or are you going to show this world they should have never messed with Lloyd Garmadon?!” 

Zane could hear Cole and Jay gasp, Lloyd’s lineage being revealed. Even after all of the possible outcomes Zane tried to discern, not even he had predicted this. As far as Zane knew, Garmadon didn’t have any children. And yet his child was standing right in front of Zane, defying what his father was, what Lloyd was supposed to be. 

“Lloyd! Lloyd, please, you have to believe me when I say that we never wanted to hurt you! I knew you were Garmadon’s son, but I didn’t care! I see you for you, Lloyd! Don’t let anyone tell you who you’re supposed to be! Who are you going to be, Lloyd?” Nya called out to him. She spoke with power, passion emitting from every word. Zane hoped Lloyd could hear it too. 

“Quiet! You know who you are, Lloyd! Remember where your loyalties lie!” Morro fought against Nya. The two each tried to reach Lloyd, calling out to his different selves. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lloyd stood hopelessly, the weight of his choice weighing on him. This is where he’d have to choose his path. 

He looked at Nya, the plea in her eyes. Morro told him she wanted to use him, but she knew his identity, and yet, she was asking him who he was anyway. 

Then there was the beaten man, lying in fear to await the choice that could save or doom him. 

But there was also Morro, the only real family Lloyd’s ever had. Lloyd couldn’t leave Morro, the first person to not look down on him, to see something more than Garmadon’s failure of a son. But the crazy, enraged Morro that stood in front of him was not the Morro that taught him how to get better at pickpocketing, that saved him at the restaurant. 

All Lloyd had ever wanted was to be feared so that he’d never be cast aside again. He wanted to prove himself as Garmadom’s son. 

At first, it was fun, freeing. He’d finally fulfilled his wish. But when Lloyd looked at the broken man kneeling in front of the broken homes. He’d realized it didn’t feel as good as he thought it would. 

All of this destruction… it couldn’t be what Lloyd’s been chasing after his whole life. This couldn’t be it. Because if it was, why did Lloyd feel so awful? 

He….he didn’t want this. 

“I’m sorry, Morro, but there has to be another way! We don’t need these stupid snakes anyway!” 

Lloyd prayed that Morro would listen to him for once, that they could leave this mess behind. But Morro didn’t say anything. He just stared at Lloyd with his burning eyes, It sent shivers down Lloyd's spine. Having someone look into you, and only finding a person deserving of hate, a source of repulsion, wasn't something Lloyd thinks he could ever forget. 

“I must thank you, Lloyd, I thought I’d have a harder time getting rid of you. General?” Pythor drew out. 

The general started advancing towards Lloyd, a smile on his face. 

Nya, Cole, Jay, and Zane, starting up their fighting again, recklessly trying to break free.

Lloyd stumbled back. 

“Morro?” Lloyd asked, embarrassed by how meek his voice was. Sure, Morro was mad at him, but surely he wouldn’t leave him as snake food. 

“You’ve chosen your side, Lloyd. I don’t have room for weakness.” 

Tears welled in Lloyd’s eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Morro wasn’t different after all. He was just like everyone else, who only kept Lloyd around until they found out he wasn’t what they wanted. Well, l Lloyd was used to being abandoned. But he didn’t need Morro anyway. 

Lloyd could feel the high waves of energy around him, yearning to be released. Well, wish granted. 

Lloyd shot out a green blast of energy at the snakes that held Zane, throwing them back. Zane Glady seized the moment, rushing towards Jay and hacking through the snakes that held him. Lloyd got ready to summon another blast of energy but was thrown into a nearby garbage can by a gust of wind. 

His head slammed into the metal, pain ricocheting through his skull. He fell to the ground, taking a moment for the pain to subside.

“C’mon, kid, we gotta go,” Jay said from beside him. Wait, when did Jay get here? 

Jay pulled Lloyd up, grabbing his hand and leading him away. As Lloyd was being pulled away, he saw Zane carrying the man the snakes had. Soon enough, Zane caught up with Jay, and they continued running while Cole and Nya fought off a few snakes who tried to follow them. 

They raced to.. Somewhere. Lloyd wasn’t even sure where he was going; he just knew that he couldn’t stop. His lungs ached and burned, and his calves throbbed inprotestt, but Jay’s steady grip on his hand kept him from slowing down. 

They didn’t stop until a ragged old truck was in sight. Cole picked Lloyd up, much to Lloyd’s protest, and sat him in a seat on the back. Everyone else too took their place, gasping for air once they were finally able to rest. The truck drove off, taking Lloyd away. Away from Morro, away from the snakes. Away from Lloyd’s mistakes. 

Lloyd stared out the window as they drove through the ghosts of what once were lively neighborhoods. Lloyd wanted to make things right, but he didn’t even know where to start. His entire life, he’d been chasing after a false dream, a dangerous one. And now Lloyd had nothing. Lloyd Garmadon didn’t even know who Lloyd was anymore.

Chapter Text

The crisp morning air clashed with Lloyd’s warm breath as he sat on the steps to the apartment, the frigid, hard stone beneath him. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, tinting the sky a light pink. Calling it pretty would sound lame, but Lloyd thought it was cool. He stared at the sky for a while, trying to see shapes in the clouds. It was a trivial thing to focus on, but Lloyd couldn’t think of anything else. His mind was blank, an empty void, yet only because it was filled with so much he couldn’t latch on to one thing. So instead, he let all his thoughts melt into a liquid he couldn’t see through. 

Lloyd gulped in the soothing air, letting it chill his lungs. He sat with his knees up to his head, holding himself to block out the chilly wind. It reminded him too much of Morro. 

Lloyd couldn’t help but wonder if he made the right choice. All he ever wanted was to be the greatest villain of all time, but then he got a glimpse of what it was like, and suddenly he wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted anymore. And then there was Morro, who got a taste and loved its flavor. Now, for the first time since Lloyd’s met him, Morro and he were on opposite sides. 

It felt like it would always be them against the world. But now Lloyd had to face the world alone. 

The pink in the sky slowly started to recede, the traditional blue taking its place. The others would probably start waking up soon. So, Lloyd hesitantly picked himself up. He didn’t want to go back inside, back to the stuffy air, the cramped space overcrowded with people he didn’t want to speak to. Sure, he had willingly come back with them, but he was still on the fence about them. More surprisingly, they let him come back. The whole reason he had run away with Morro was because Kai and Nya found out he was the son of the guy they were after. Morro had warned him about what people would do to him if they discovered his family history, but so far they hadn’t even mentioned it. Part of Lloyd wishes they would. Instead, he was left waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because it always did. But at least there weren’t any more secrets he had to keep. Lloyd wasn’t Lloyd anymore, he was Lloyd Garmadon. 

Pulling the door open, Lloyd took in one last breath of fresh air before returning inside. The living room and kitchen were still empty, which meant Lloyd could enjoy a few more moments to himself. Lloyd took a seat on the couch, unsure of what to do with himself. This place had started to feel like home once, but now it felt like a stranger’s house. Or rather, somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. It felt wrong to look in the kitchen for food or to turn on the TV. Even sitting on the couch was awkward. Lloyd sat there for a few minutes when he heard movement from one of the bedrooms. 

Lloyd’s heart dropped a little bit. When he had interacted with the others, it had been during the chaos of everything that was going on. But now that things had calmed down and they had the time to think about what Lloyd had done, who he was, Lloyd was terrified of what they would say. Sitting on the couch felt like being on death row as he awaited his penalty. 

“Oh, Lloyd, I did not realize you were awake as well. Would you like to help me make breakfast? I’m making scrambled eggs,” Zane said from the kitchen. Lloyd sent him a suspicious look. That was not the greeting he was expecting. 

“You want my help?” He asked, dumbfounded. 

“That is what I asked, is it not?” 

Lloyd bushed, realizing his question sounded a little dumb. This whole thing was just so strange to him. Why was Zane treating Lloyd the same way he did when he first met Lloyd after everything that’s happened? Zane was weird, but this was odd even for him. 

“Oh, right. Sure.” Lloyd didn’t know what else to say. 

Lloyd took his old spot within the kitchen, and the two began making breakfast just like they once had. But the silence was killing Lloyd. How long was Zane going to make him wait until he dropped his calm facade? Just what kind of mind game was this? 

The air between them buzzed with the energy Lloyd always felt around him. People never understood what Lloyd meant. But every living thing carried a certain energy with it. Almost as if Lloyd could feel their molecules rushing around. At times, it was overwhelming. It was easy to lose himself in the chaos of motion. Other times, it was comforting; Lloyd always felt the presence of something else in the world. It made the world seem less vast and lonely. Even the tiniest blades of grass buzzed with life. 

No one ever seemed to feel it but him, though. Zane just kept breaking the eggs over the stove. Lloyd pulled the milk out of the fridge for Zane, placing it on the counter.  

“If you’re gonna lecture me, can you just get it over with? The suspense is killing me.” Lloyd finally admitted. Zane paused from what he was doing, fixing Lloyd with a strange expression. 

“Do you want me to lecture you?” 

Lloyd shifted uncomfortably. Why were Zane’s eyes such a brilliant blue? They practically glowed. Creepy. 

“What are you asking me for? It just kind of seems like the thing to do. I mean, I ran away, you already know Garmadon’s my dad, and I helped release the serpentine.” Lloyd explained. 

He didn’t want to get yelled at, but if it was going to happen anyway, he might as well get it over with. 

Zane examined Lloyd, like he wasn’t sure of what to say. 

“There certainly is a conversation that needs to be had. But no one is going to “lecture” you. You have shown remorse for your actions and proven that you did not mean any real harm. Because of that, I believe all you need is redirection onto the right path. And I do not believe yelling at you will help accomplish that.” 

Those same creepy blue eyes bored into Lloyd’s soul. It was uncomfortable. To have someone look at you so intensely, but not with anger or disgust, but with what looked like a promise. 

“Oh.” That was all Lloyd responded with. Had he really proven anything? Leaving Morro was hard, but Lloyd didn’t know why that meant anything to Zane. And the worst part is that Lloyd did want to cause harm. He wanted people to hurt like he did. But he couldn’t take it as far as Morro. Maybe that was a bigger difference than Lloyd that it was.

“Can you set the table?” Zane asked. The eggs on the stove had formed a fluffy yellow and white clump. Zane sprinkled some paprika and cheese on them, and man, they looked good. Man, Lloyd had missed his cooking. 

Lloyd set some plates and silverware on the table and even got out glasses for everybody. What can he say, he was feeling generous today. Unleashing an ancient race of vengeful serpents onto a town will do that to you. Kind of like how more people would give him food and stuff around Christmas than usual. Kind of. 

“I will go wake everybody up. You may help yourself.” 

Lloyd happily piled eggs onto his plate and poured himself some orange juice. The steam rising from the fresh eggs evoked a growl from Lloyd’s stomach. It’d been a while since his last meal. As he sat down, the boys and Nya exited their rooms. The weird venom that had Kai acting crazy was flushed out of his system, so at least Lloyd wouldn't be accused of being an elf. However, he still put his attention on his plate, hoping that if he didn’t make eye contact, they wouldn’t see him. But as usual, luck was never on his side. 

“Good to see you haven’t run away again yet.” Cole joked. Well, Lloyd wasn’t actually sure if that was a joke or not. 

Jay snickered into his hand, but when Kai slapped both him and Cole on the arm, suddenly he didn’t think it was funny anymore.

“Real nice, Cole. Way to make the kid feel welcome.” 

Nya stepped around the boys, helping herself to the eggs. 

“Hey, Lloyd, if you do run away again, take me with you.” She deadpanned, sitting down beside him. Her hair was tangled and frizzy, which must have been a genetic trait because Kai’s hair was even worse, sticking up as if he’d been electrocuted. But considering he shared an apartment with Jay, that was a real possibility. 

Zane took a seat as well, looking unusually put together. Now that Lloyd thought about it, Zane never woke up with bed hair or bad morning breath. Almost like he was made in some factory to be some perfect being. Lloyd added it to the list of Zane oddities. 

Speaking of the devil. 

“Let’s not encourage him, Nya.”  

“Weirdos,” Lloyd muttered. But not quietly enough. All it took was a small shock, and his hair went flying up in every direction. Stupid karma. 

“Ha, Ha!” Jay mocked. 

Lloyd propped his hands on the table, trying to look threatening. He puffed his cheeks and furrowed his brows, but before he could get revenge, a loud ring burst through the apartment. 

“I will get it,” Zane announced, walking to the door. 

“That’s weird. Who would visit us?” Jay asked. Everyone stared at the door, waiting to find out who their mystery visitor was. Lloyd didn’t take their neighborhood as the friendly type, and from what he could gather, everybody’s families were messy, and they were all friendless losers as well, so…..

Zane pulled the door open, gasping when the stranger was revealed. Lloyd and the others scrambled around each other to see who it was, but the person stumbled into their apartment, straight into the spotlight. 

It was the man that Pytor captured and beat for answers yesterday. He looked much better after Zane dropped him off at the hospital. But he was still covered in bandages and probably should have still been at the hospital. Lloyd backed away, legs ready to take him as far away as possible. The man didn’t appear overly thirsty for revenge, but Lloyd didn’t want to take his chances. 

“Oh, I’m so glad I found you guys!” The man breathed out. He ran his hand through his auburn hair, which looked a lot better when it wasn’t coated with blood. Cole quickly ran up to the man, guiding him into the apartment. 

Lloyd ran behind the couch, perfectly out of view but still close enough to hear the conversation. Not because he was scared or anything. He just wanted a tactical advanatge over the potential enemy. However, people were blind to genius, so Nya sent him a weird look, but kept quiet. Another reason why she was Lloyd’s favorite. 

But the FOMO got to him, and he stuck his head out to see, just a little. 

“How are you feeling?” Zane asked, putting a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder. But the man brushed him off.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Look, I’m bolting town before those snakes can find me again, but I thought there was something you should have first.” The man pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper, decayed and brown from age, but somehow still in one piece. He shoved the scroll into Cole’s hand, looking around hurriedly as if he was worried Pythor would jump out and get him again. Knowing Pythor, that was a valid fear. 

“...Wow, Thanks! But, uh, what is it?” Cole asked, trying to sound grateful but failing miserably. He held it out by the tip of his fingers, trying to touch it as little as possible. Lloyd couldn’t blame him; that thing looked like it was old enough to carry the Bubonic Plague. 

The man took Cole’s hands in his, tightening Cole’s grip on the scroll. 

“A long time ago, one of my ancestors was gifted this map. It will lead you to two of the Golden Weapons. It doesn’t tell you where to find the other two; it’d be too dangerous, but this should be a good start.” 

The Golden Weapons… those were the weapons Morro was talking about! Something about great power and all that. 

“But why trust us?” Nya asked, arms crossed. That’s a question Morro would have asked. He always warned Lloyd, never trust someone to give out of the good of their heart, there’s always a catch. 

The man turned to Nya, eyes boring into her soul. 

“I’ve met people with powers like you once. They were good people as well. I can feel it in my heart that I am making the right choice. Find the weapons. Before they fall into the wrong hands.” 

He let go of Cole’s hands, but Cole’s grip didn’t falter. 

“We will.” 

The man was visibly relieved, shoulders dropping without the burden they once carried.

“I have to leave now. But I wish you all luck.” 

And with that, the man was gone as quickly as he arrived. The door slammed behind him, and then it was like he was never here at all. Except for the map in Cole’s hand. The map that would lead them to weapons so powerful that it was too dangerous for any one person to know where they all resided. And weapons that were quite the hot item at the moment. 

“Okay, well, you heard the man. Cole, where to first?” Kai asked. Jay jumped from beside him, his slit eyebrow raised cartoonishly high. 

“Wait right now?!” 

Kai shrugged, but for as hard as he tried to act nonchalant, Lloyd could tell he was nervous. They had to be the first to find these weapons. 

“No time like the present.” 

After that, it was a blur. They had tried to get Lloyd to stay in the apartment, but there was no way he was sitting this one out. Eventually, they caved as long as he promised to stay back and hide if things got heated. Ha, as if. 

The first Golden Weapon was a scythe, hidden away in some mountain deep within the desert’s grasp. They took the truck as far as it could go, its progress painfully slow as it struggled to traverse the grainy sand. Each mile was filled with bumps and slamming on the gas. Car sickness threatened to make Lloyd puke with every jolt, and the summer heat certainly didn’t help. But Lloyd didn’t realize how grateful he should have been for the truck in the first few days until it ran out of gas, and they no longer had backup tanks. Reluctantly, they left the truck behind and continued the rest of the journey on foot. Lloyd was more used to this than the others, lasting the longest until his steps slowed as he forced his aching legs to carry on. But eventually fatigue and heat sickness got the best of all of them. They trudged along, dragging their feet behind them. It would have been so nice to stop, even just for a little bit. But Cole said if they stopped, they wouldn’t want to start again. And they didn’t have the time to rest. So, they carried on, only stopping briefly during the night to sleep. One foot in front of the other, lying to themselves, telling each other they were almost there. However, eventually the speaking ceased, everyone too fatigued to mutter a word. 

Lloyd did his best to keep up, wanting to prove that he was an asset. But eventually his short legs couldn’t compete with their longer ones. He huffed and puffed, refusing to give in. His hair clung to his face as sweat rolled down his forehead. Occasionally, drops of sweat would roll into his mouth, tempting him with their semblance to water. But Lloyd knew his salty sweat would only make him thirstier. So no matter how badly he wished to take in his sweat to relive his dry, scratchy mouth, he let the sweat roll down his chin. 

The others had taken off their hoodies and tied them around their waist, no longer to hold out against the heat. Lloyd, too, abandoned his beloved black hoodie. At the very least, Lloyd could look forward to nightfall. But dreams and promises of when this would be over lost their effectiveness as the pain and throbbing of his feet won over. His shoulders hunched, folding himself over, begging him to lie down. When he had gotten significantly far behind, without a word, Cole picked him up and began carrying him on his back. 

Usually, Lloyd would have protested at being treated like a child. But he was too tired to be embarrassed. He gratefully clung on to Cole’s shoulders, resting his head despite the fact that in the sticky heat their skin clung togther. 

At some point, Lloyd must have fallen asleep. Because when he opened his eyes again, the sky was fully enveloped in darkness, only lit by brilliant stars. The stars illuminated the desert, revealing a grand mountain in front of them. The enormous height of the mountain made Lloyd feel like an ant in comparison. Within the mountain's immovable stone, there was a cave carved into it, leading to an abyss of darkness. 

“Ha! We’re here! We're finally here!” Jay yelled, slumping to the ground as if he were kneeling to the mountain. The wave of relief rippled throughout the group, bringing them all to their knees. They made it! 

They sat there on the dessert sand, breathing in the moment. The sand stuck to their sticky, sweaty bodies, but nobody could bother to shake it off. Eventually, Kai pushed himself up, speaking to the group. 

“C’mon, guys. We’re not done yet.”

Groans broke out, but nobody argued. Unfortunately, he was right. Lloyd thought adventuyres would be a lot cooler but so far they’ve all turned out to suck. 

One by one, they entered the unknown. The air was damp and moist, and the humidity made it hard to breathe. Lloyd ran his hand over the cool cave walls, letting the moisture wet his hand. But as they lost themselves deeper within the cave, it became impossible to see. Lloyd had never been afraid of the dark before; in fact, he loved the way it hid him within its shadows. But within the cave, it was clear the darkness was not hiding him, but its predators. 

Luckily, Kai ignited a small fire within his hand, holding up his fist like a torch. His fire illuminated the cave in a warm glow, revealing the bugs that crawled along its walls. Kai shivered at the sight. Lloyd was tempted to pick some of the bugs up just to shove them in Kai’s face, but decided against it. They were on a serious mission. 

In the distance, he could hear the shreekcs of bats, their calls echoing through the cave. There were susipislut little twists and turns, giving the cae a man-made feeling. But around one corner, Lloyd noticed something odd. A brilliant glow of pure yellow and white. It shone so brightly Lloyd almost wondered if a star had fallen from the sky. 

However, in front of its brilliant glow, the shadows of two skeletons slides by. Quickly, everyone shoved themselves against the cave walls and Kai extinguished his fire. Lloyd went so deathly silent that he could hear his own heart pounding against his chest. 

“We must distract them,” Zane whispered. Distrations? Lloyd was great at distractions! 

“You got it ice man.” He whispered back. Everyone stared at him in horror, yelling at him to come back. Yeah right. He ran into the cave, covering his eyes from the blinding glow.

“Hey Uglies! Over here!” Lloyd yelled, his shout reverberating through the air. It was too late to turn back when Lloyd realized there were not two skeletons, but an entire army of them. Immediately, the skeletons locked eyes on him, yelling and grabbing for him. Lloyd pulled on the energy from them, focusing it into a blast that knocked them back. The skeletons fell to the ground, clearing his view. His breath hitched when one of the skeletons reached for the source of the light, a gold scythe, its head decorated to look like the skull of a dragon. However, the skeleton didn’t have much luck. He pulled and pulled on the scythe, but couldn’t lift it from its pillar. 

Pounding footsteps from behind him drew Lloyd’s attention to the others, who were fuming at him. 

“You promised to stay back!” Kai yelled. Which technically Lloyd did, but Kai should have known better than to trust him. So really this was Kai’s fault. 

“I’m afraid we have bigger problems at the moment,” Zane said. 

The skeletons were furious, weapons raised in the air, followed by war cries as they descended on the group.

Zane shoved Lloyd behind him, sending a calculated blast of ice at a skeleton who got too close. 

“Hey! I can fight too!” Lloyd fought, but everyone ignored him. The audacity. Whatever, Lloyd was going to help whether they liked it or not. 

“Get to the scythe!” Jay yelled, electrocuting the skeleton who punched him. 

“But how?!” Kai yelled as he tried to trap a group of skeletons in a ring of fire. One of the skeletons, whose bones were decayed and rotted, had his comrades throw his bones over the ring, allowing himself to reconstruct outside of the fire. The other skeletons followed suit until one unlucky skeleton was left behind. One of them swept Kai off his feet, throwing him to the ground for the other skeletons to beat. 

Lloyd blasted the skeletons off of him, sparks of green still coming from his fist when he was done. He looked around. This was bad. Like, really bad. It was the six of them against a raging army with weapons. They wouldn’t last long. He tried to find a way out of the mess he may have or may not have caused, when suddenly, a huge boulder that jutted from the cave’s wall caught his attention. It hovered over the entrance. A weak spot. 

“Jay, break that rock!” Lloyd yelled, pointing at the boulder. Jay kicked a skeleton off of him, regarding Lloyd with a bewildered look. 

“Are you trying to get us killed?! That will trap us all in here!” 

“Just do it!” 

Jay sighed, but after yet another punch to his gut, he gave in. He sent a bolt of lightning that cut through the air, shattering the boulder into smaller pieces. The fragments came tumbling down, blocking the exit. The room glowed brighter when light could no longer escape out into the rest of the cave. It stung Lloyd’s eyes, bringing tears to them, but he wasn’t done yet. Zane kept fighting in front of him, guarding Lloyd. 

“Okay, Nya, you’ve got to flood the place!” He directed. But he understood how it might have sounded bad. 

“FSM, he is trying to kill us all!” Kai cried. 

These idiots. Couldn’t they see what Lloyd was trying to do? 

“Once Nya floods the room, Cole can shield us from the water with rock. The skeletons won’t be able to fight in the water! Then Nya can just swim to the weapon! You can swim, right?”

Okay, so Lloyd’s plan wasn’t as perfect as he thought it was. But they didn’t have time for him to come up with anything better. 

In front of him, Zane struggled as the force of the skeletons overwhelmed him. His attacks were getting weaker, and his defense sloppier. 

The rest of them weren’t faring any better. Cole was exhausted, his punches getting slower, Jay was swarmed, and Kai and Nya were pushed back-to-back. 

“His plan is…unconventional, but I do not see another way out of this,” Zane said. Truly the smartest of the bunch. 

“But what about Nya?!” 

“Given her connection to water, theoretically, she should be fine. 

“Theoretically isn't good enough. This is my sister we’re talking about.”

“Kai, stop. It’s my choice. And right now, it’s our only choice. I’ll give it a shot, but I don’t know if I have that kind of juice in me. Gah!” Nya exclaimed as she latched onto a skeleton’s arm, swinging him around, knocking the others to the ground one by one. A sea of bones lay at Nya’s feet before his arm popped out of the socket, sending him flying into another advancing group. 

“I’ll cover you, sis,” Kai said, standing between her and everyone else. She closed her eyes in concentration, face pulled tightly in a grimace. Lloyd stood frozen, praying Nya had it in her. 

Ever so slowly, the moisture was pulled from the cave’s walls, clumping together into a massive ball of water above Nya’s head. Her legs trembled, but the water didn’t jostle. More and more, the ball grew, until its size was that of a glacier, ready to plunge them into the icy depths. 

The skeletons backed away, weary of the sea above them. 

“Everyone, come close!” Zane yelled. Cole and Jay ran towards them, shoving their opponents to the ground. But Kai hesitated, hand outstretched for Nya. 

“Kai, come on!” Jay called, his voice high with panic. Kai wrenched his hand back, but his eyes remained on Nya the entire time he ran towards them. 

Cole grunted in exertion as he raised the earth, bending it to his will to shield them from the raging waters that would befall them. The rock splintered from the earth, forming a circle around them. In a burst of power, the rocks shot up into the air, the ground shaking as they soared higher and higher. Right as they were almost fully closed in, a splash of water pounded against the ground, its rushing waters slapping against the cave walls. But followed by the splash were screams that were soon swallowed by the merciless sea. And then there was one last cry, Nya’s scream. 

“Nya?! Nya!” Kai screamed, pounding his fist against the walls. But she didn’t answer. Lloyd huddled close to Kai. She was strong, she would be okay. She had to be. 

But they didn’t know because they couldn’t even see what was going on outside of their protective walls. 

“That’s it. I’m going after her.” Cole declared.

“Are you crazy?! How are you gonna do that?!” Jay asked, grabbing Cole’s arm to stop him from doing something stupid. 

But one look at Cole’s face and Lloyd knew there wasn’t any debate. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cole brushed Jay off him, kneeling to the ground. He pulled on the earth, pushing up a pillar to shoot him high into the sky before the others could stop him. Their yells of protest faded as he ascended. Eventually, he reached the ceiling of the cave and quickly closed off the exit to his make-shift shelter. The more people out on the field, the less likely they are to return home. The rushing waves were louder now, their slaps echoing through the enclosed room. From his vantage point, he could see Nya desperately trying to swim to the weapon but was being weighed down by the skeletons latched onto her. They refused to let her go, sinking her to the bottom like an anchor. 

Cole gulped in his last breath of air before diving in. The icy water shocked his system, chilling his bones. He forced his eyes open, straining to see in the blurry waters. Skeletons swirled around him, powerless to the sea. The water continued to lap against the walls, creating a wave pool effect, making it extremely difficult to trudge through it. It shoved him around, refusing to let go. There was no way he was going to make it, he couldn’t control water like Nya could. But right now, Nya needed his help. 

He stopped fighting the water, instead letting it take him. Instead, he focused his attention on the earth. Feeling its call, feeling it strengthen him. One by one, sharp, calculated rocks broke free from the earth’s grasp. Up, down, side to side, pieces of the earth slid in and out, knocking Nya’s captors off of her. 

The exertion only made his lack of oxygen worse. The pressure in his skull was insufferable, threatening to blow his head open just to be released. He panicked, unable to ignore his desperate need for air, wildly swimming to the surface to break free of the sea’s clutches. But the water kept pushing him down, down and down further into its depths. His lungs burned, screaming for air. He wasn’t even sure where he began and the ocean ended, his numb feet melded into the watery depths.

Then suddenly, he was slicing through the water, a current driving him upward. He erupted from the water, gasping for air. He greedily gulped it in, gratefully filling his lungs. His chest heaved up and down, residual adrenaline still flooding his system. 

It was only after a few minutes that he regained his senses he remembered why he was in the freezing water in the first place. His lungs and body still burned, and truthfully, after that experience, he didn't think he’d ever want to go swimming again, but there was still a mission to accomplish. Clearing his mind, he plunged back into the water, scanning the water for Nya. He almost sighed in relief upon finding her, but considering he was underwater, he figured that wouldn’t be the best idea. She had the scythe in her hands, but for whatever reason, she wasn’t grabbing it. She pulled and tugged at it, but it wouldn’t budge. 

You had to be kidding. All of this work for nothing?! Cole almost drowned! And for what? For them to have to call it quits and go home? Even just getting here was a huge pain in the ass! 

He floated to the top of the water, floating on his back, letting himself go. All that work for nothing. He was content to lie helplessly on his back as he waited for Nya to come back up, but the universe had other plans. The same force that brought him to the air was now bringing him back under. He heaved one last panicked breath, preparing himself to go back under. Once again, he was cutting through the water, defying physics as he was rushed towards Nya. 

She looked at him with wide, expectant eyes, shoving him towards the scythe. Cole looked between her and it, unsure of what she thought would happen. Sure, Cole was the strongest out of the group, but the scythe didn’t even budge under Nya, not even a little bit. But he had nothing to lose and was already down here, so he grabbed the scythe, expecting the same outcome as Nya. But the scythe moved with ease, falling perfectly into his hands. Immediately, he noticed a change. He felt…strange. The earth was louder now, practically shouting at him. Yet despite how peculiar it was in nature, it felt so right. Like it was meant for Cole. He'd have to ask later how Nya knew he'd be able to pick up the scythe. 

His thoughts were cut short by the familiar feeling of being pushed through the water. Right behind him was Nya, who looked ready to pass out. Which is exactly what she did as soon as she broke the surface. She plopped into Cole’s arms, unable to keep her eyes open any longer. It was astonishing she’d made it this far. The amount of control she had to exert over the water had to have taken a toll on her. Especially because Cole didn’t even know Nya was capable of such feats. None of them had shown that much mastery over their powers thus far. 

Cole looked around with the motionless Nya in his arms. Now he had to figure out how to get everybody out of here. Yet, he wasn’t nearly as worried as he should be. The scythe in his hand radiated strength. It was tugging on Cole, asking him to do something. Maybe if Cole wasn’t as exhausted as he was, he would have realized how crazy he sounded, but instead, he listened.  Whipping out the weapon, he put all of his strength into his swing, smashing it into the cave wall with the force of a lion. In an instant, the cave started shaking and grumbling, roaring in triumph. Cracks spread along the walls until they reached the exit. The rocks broke apart, rolling to the ground, allowing the water to spill out of the room. 

The water carried Cole with it, rushing him along. Cole grunted as he single-handedly swung the scythe once more, catching it within the cave’s wall. He held to the handle for dear life as the water continued to stampede past him. 

Eventually, the water leveled out. Which left Cole with another problem. He was still hanging on to the scythe’s handle high above the ground, with Nya still clutched in his arm. His muscles burned, begging him to let go. The weight of himself and Nya was almost too much, but he held on. 

His saving grace came in the form of one bratty child, bursting from his stone shield in a neon green blast. 

“I did it! Hey, where’d all the water go?” Lloyd asked. Yeah, they’ve missed a lot. 

“Uh, that’s great, but do you think we can get a little help up here?” 

Lloyd followed his voice, eyes bulging when he located him. Behind him, the guys rushed out, with similar expressions on their faces. 

“Nya! Is she okay?!” Kai yelled. Nya was still safely tucked in his arm, but had seen better days. Her soaked hair clung to her face, but not enough to cover her silky, pale skin. 

“She’s fine, just unconscious. Although she’d be a lot more fine if someone got us down from here!” Cole yelled, unable to keep his calm demeanor any longer. He was stranded in the sky for FSM’s sake! Speaking of which, he readjusted his grip, cursing his sweaty hand. 

“Apologies, friend,” Zane said, sculpting a slide of ice for Cole to slide down. Cole wasted no time, finally pulling the scythe from the wall and releasing his hold. Together, Nya and he slid safely to the ground. 

Kai pulled Nya into his arms, carrying her bridal style, while Jay took Cole’s arm around his shoulder, helping him stand. 

Nya subconsciously burrowed herself further into Kai’s hold, probably to soak up more heat. Cole kind of wished Jay had Kai’s powers right now. He could really use a personal heater. 

The skeletons had retreated, not feeling like getting drowned again today. Leaving just Cole and his friends alone in the cave. The golden scythe still glowed, but significantly less so than originally. It dimmed down to a more comforting soft light. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad everyone’s okay, but how the heck are we getting home. Nya’s passed out, and Cole can barely stand, so walking is ruled out.” Jay complained. Except, he had a point. If Jay removed his arm from underneath Cole’s shoulder, he was not sure he could stand. His body still throbbed and ached, and his eyes begged him to close them. 

But then there it was again, that familiar calling. He looked down at the weapon in his hands, weakly hitting it against the ground. There was a blinding light before it dissipated to reveal a car in place of the scythe. A whole ass car. And not any regular car, this looked like a black and orange transformer. A fucking transformer. 

“Woah! Awesome!” Lloyd exclaimed, running up to the car to smudge its windows with his grubby hands. 

Zane too ran his hand over the car, examining it. So, it wasn’t a hallucination or a trick of the light. Maybe Cole wasn’t going crazy after all!

“That is…unexpected,” Zane said. 

Kai stood slack-jawed, readjusting his grip on Nya after he almost dropped her. 

“Cole can summon cars now?! What does that have to do with rocks?!” He yelled.

“Aw, man, I want that power!” Jay whined. 

Cole ran to the driver's seat, forgetting his ailments. Throwing the door open, he ran his hand over the sleek leather seats. He cringed a little bit as his soggy and wet body dampened the seats, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Instead, he let himself breathe in the car air. It even had the new car smell!

“Now this is what I’m talking about! Everybody in! We’re taking Bessy for a spin!” He announced, seating himself behind the wheel. 

“Bessy? What are you, an 80-year-old grandma?” Lloyd mocked, nose scrunching in judgment. 

“Oh, it sounds like someone wants to walk home,” Cole replied, revving the engine as a threat. 

“But I love 80-year-old grandmas!” He hastily added, climbing into the backseat before Cole could leave without him. 

Kai sat Nya in the back as well, getting in the middle of her and Lloyd. Zane took the passenger seat, forcing Jay to get in the backseat with the others. 

But Cole drowned out his complaining with the blaring radio. They sped home, leaving the cave behind them. One down, three more to go.