AN: Hey, everybody! This fic is for Ninjago Angst Week on Tumblr. It will consist of seven short fitting-in-canon stand-alone pieces, one a day for the rest of the week, each written for an angsty prompt. This first one is written for the prompt "betrayal," takes place between seasons one and two, and focuses on Lloyd. I hope you enjoy!
Curled up on the hotel couch, Lloyd stared out the window. He was tired, tired in body, tired in mind, tired in heart, just plain tired. Saving Ninjago from the Great Devourer had taken a lot from him. Yeah, it had taken a lot from all the ninja, but Lloyd felt, maybe a little selfishly, that it had taken the most from him.
His dad had helped them, had destroyed the Great Devourer, and had saved the city, but then he had disappeared without a trace with the Golden Weapons. Lloyd felt sold out, double-crossed, even betrayed or... What were some other words that meant the same kind of thing?
Lloyd thought for a moment, trying to remember when Cole had gotten Zane to list off similar words to "betrayed" so Cole could use them to describe how he felt when Jay ate the leftovers Cole had been saving for an after-workout snack. What had they said? Oh yeah, swindled and hoodwinked, Lloyd felt those too.
His dad had been so close to turning to the side of good, or at least not being quite so bad, Lloyd thought sadly. All he would've had to do was give the Golden Weapons back, or even leave them somewhere the ninja could find them. But he didn't. The fact was that Lloyd's dad had saved the city, sure, but he hadn't stayed, and honestly, sometimes Lloyd wasn't sure which one he cared more about, Ninjago City or his relationship with his dad.
Lloyd scrunched into himself more, thinking sourly that it actually didn't matter which one he cared about more, Ninjago or his dad, because he would never get a choice. He'd always have to save what everyone else told him to save.
So Ninjago was saved, but Lloyd's dad wasn't. Everyone else got what they wanted, but Lloyd didn't. It was how life went.