It was the forty fifth night in a row he'd had a nightmare.

Lloyd woke up in the middle of the night, heart racing. It was raining outside- he saw lightning flashing outside the window. The Bounty was waving back and forth, thrown by the wind. They'd been in worse storms, but Lloyd had recently come to hate them. A lot. Especially if they were windy.

If he focused, he could hear his teammates on the deck, making sure they didn't capsize. That didn't ease Lloyd's fear of the storm. He would be up there helping, but he'd injured his leg a week ago, and his mom would kill him if he exerted himself running around on a slippery wet deck in the wind.

Lloyd sighed and wrapped his blanket around him, turning on the light he kept on his night stand. He'd felt silly buying it, and he felt silly turning it on, but as long as he didn't refer to it as a night light, it served its purpose.

Some Green Ninja you are. Lloyd snorted to himself. Scared of thunder storms.

The bottle of water that kept permanent residence on his nightstand was wobbling, so Lloyd grabbed it and held it against his chest as he hugged his knees close to him. He wasn't planning to drink it- he'd kept it there since the Morro incident, and it was probably room temperature and gross by now. He felt better with water close by.

Eventually the storm let up, and the Bounty rightened itself. The wind stopped. Lloyd managed to resume his normal breathing. The team had held out fine without him. Seems about right- you're only useful when the bad guys can use you for their own purposes. Otherwise, you fall down the stairs and sprain your ankle.

Lloyd sighed and rubbed his head, trying not to think about his latest nightmare. It was a reoccuring one- his dad, trapped in the Cursed Realm, and asking Lloyd to help him, but Lloyd couldn't control his body. Then the Cursed One sank into the sea, and the Cursed Realm was destroyed, and that was always when Lloyd woke up.

I suck at my job. He thought. Well, whatever, it's a sucky job. Where do I hand in my resignation?

Even though Lloyd had thought the last part semi-sarcastically, he was part serious. There hadn't been any real trouble for months, which had given him much needed time to rest. But there was always something. Maybe it wasn't his dad, hellbent on turning Ninjago into his own image and turning into a giant dragon (he still had nightmares), or the thing with the Overlord in the digiverse (lots of nightmares there), or the tournament of elements at Chen's island (more nightmares), or Morro possessing him (definitely nightmares definitely), or the thing with the djinn and his wishes (okay, so Lloyd had a lot of nightmares), but there was always something.

Of course, that something was usually stuff like mall break ins, which wasn't exactly Lloyd's purpose. Just stuff like that- not serious enough to be traumatizing or life threatening, but enough to where he was always on edge. It sucked.

Lloyd usually didn't let himself wallow in self pity, but it was like three am, so he allowed himself a small pity party. Everyone wanted him to act like he was, he didn't know, Wu's age or something. He was just a seventeen year old kid, and he just wanted a break. He quit.

Could he do that? His destiny was to be the Green Ninja. Could he quit destiny?

Worth a shot. He thought to himself, and got out of bed and started to pack.

I'm a jerk. Lloyd thought as he shouldered his backpack. He wasn't telling the others where he was going- he wasn't even telling them he was leaving. He thought it was kind of rude for them to just wake up and realize he wasn't there, but he had left them a note. Then again his note just said, I'm fine, don't look for me, so there was that.

Lloyd had a vague idea where he wanted to hide out. He didn't want the others to be able to find him, because, yah he was a selfish jerk, and if he was running away, he was running away well.

Of course, it wasn't going very well at the moment. He had managed to get to the deck of the ship, avoiding Nya's room (she had ears like a hawk or something, she would have caught him), dodging Jay on his way back from a midnight snack, and was trying to figure out the best way to get to the ground without alerting anyone when someone asked "What are you doing up here?"

Lloyd jumped and turned around to face Kai. "Oh. Hi Kai. Nothing just, going for a stroll." He tried for a charming grin, but it probably came out really guilty.

Kai crossed his arms. "A walk? Before sunrise? Lloyd, you'd sleep in until noon if we let you."

"Change of heart!" Lloyd said. "I'm active, I'm healthy!"

"Where are you really going?" Kai asked.

Lloyd sighed and didn't look him in the eye. "I didn't want anyone to catch me, but I'm glad it's you. Tell everyone I'm fine, I didn't get kidnapped for some malicious purpose. I'm just... leaving."

"Leaving? The team? Lloyd, you're our leader!" Kai snapped.

"I'm seventeen!" Lloyd snapped back. "And if I'm the leader, then I say I'm not anymore, and I'm leaving. Effective immediately."

"Why?" Kai asked.

"If I told you all my reasons, the others will be awake before I'm done." Lloyd said. "The short version? I'm tired."

"What about Wu, and Misako? You know, your mom?"

Lloyd bit his lip. He had been purposefully ignoring that. "I'll come back when the sight of this place doesn't make me want to scream. See ya, Kai."

Deciding that since he'd already been caught and there was no purpose in trying to be stealthy anymore, Lloyd jumped off the side of the Bounty, and summoned his energy dragon. It wasn't a real dragon, just a manifestation he could ride, but he tried to feel comforted as he hugged its neck and it flew him away from Ninjago City.

I'm a selfish jerk. He thought to himself.

Kai kicked a piece of wood or something that was nearest to him. "Dammit, Lloyd." Kai muttered, starting to get ready to follow him, when Wu showed up, asking in his calm voice, "What was that? Was that Lloyd's dragon?"

"He's running away." Kai said, Sensei Wu's eyes widened considerably. "He can't be serious."

"He is." Kai turned back to point to where Llloyd had flown off, but the dragon was no where in sight. Kai kicked the piece of wood again, sending it flying across the deck. "He's gone, Sensei."

"I have to tell Misako. We have to find him. Wake the others, organize a search party-"

"Are we sure we should? I want him back as much as you do, he's like a little brother to me, but-"

Sensei Wu sighed. "If nothing else, wake the others and tell them the Green Ninja has vanished.

On a scale of one to ten, Lloyd would say his hiding place was about a seven.

He looked at the trees where his old tree house had been, the one he'd made the Serpentine build for him all those years ago. He smiled a little at the memory. Parts of the original were still there, but they were old and rotted. He cleaned those out first.

It took him three days to rebuild enough of his tree house for him to decidedly live in. For nostalgia's sake, he kept to the original design (including the booby traps), though he might have cut out one or two floors to make it smaller. It was just him, after all. Just him living there and just him building it.

It wasn't the fanciest thing in the world, or even the best looking. Lloyd was pretty sure it would support him, though, and he needed a place to crash.

Ninjago City had been completely out of the question. Too many people, too many signs with his face on it. Other villages were either too far away or not friendly enough for his purposes. Besides, he kind of wanted to avoid most people.

Any of the ninjas' old hiding places were too obvious- same for the Samurai X cave. Other places he'd had in mind were too complicated.

Besides, he was pretty sure none of them would look here. After all, it was a tree house in the woods. Most of them had forgotten about the incident.

Lloyd sat in his tree house, eating an apple he'd packed. He had about a week's worth of food, then he had to figure out something else. He had a blanket and a change of clothes, and a spare hoodie, and a bottle of water set aside for not drinking.

The tree house was close enough to the very edges of Ninjago City that if he was fast and careful he could get food and get out when he needed it.

So, yah. Pretty much the perfect place.

On the fourth day, it was a Saturday, and Lloyd was a little bored. He worked on the tree house still, but not as much as the first three days, when he needed a shelter. Now he just did it for aesthetics.

It was some time in the afternoon when Lloyd heard something rattling downstairs, followed by a soft curse. Lloyd froze, and started to gather his stuff as quietly as he could. No way they already found me-

But the voice hadn't sounded like any of his teammates. Lloyd's curiosity was piqued. Even though he was packed and ready to bolt, he stayed put.

Five minutes later, a boy walked up the stairs to the large open top floor that Lloyd had claimed as his room. Lloyd stared, but only a little. The boy was maybe an inch (maybe two) taller than him, tan brown, with a curly mop of red hair, and dark green eyes. He smiled at Lloyd. "Oh, hey, someone was here."

"What?" Lloyd managed, still somewhat in surprised shock.

"I come out here every Saturday to clear my head. I saw the tree house and got curious, so I climbed up to see if I could find anyone, and then I ran into the booby traps. Then it was a matter of keeping my honor."

Lloyd couldn't help it- the notion that this boy's honor would have been damaged beyond repair if he'd turned away from a tree house full of booby traps and trap doors made him laugh. "What's your name?"

"I'm Micah." He said, smiling and sitting down in front of Lloyd. "You?"

Lloyd considered lying, but he was a little off guard, and Lloyd wasn't that uncommon of a name. "My name is Lloyd."

"What are you doing up here, Lloyd? This your place? Because let me tell you it is awesome."

Lloyd smiled. "Yah, it is. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Hey, me too." Lloyd's smile widened. He didn't remember the last time he'd had a friend his age. He dug into his bag and tossed Micah an apple. He caught it in one hand and took a bite. "Thanks." He smiled. "So what are you doing up here?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I'm in hiding."

Micah raised an eyebrow. "Are you a criminal?"

"What? No!" Lloyd snorted, and picked his words carefully. Micah apparently hadn't recognized him so far. "Just from my past. It's complicated."

"Alright." Micah said. He took another bite of his apple. "I run a flower shop." He commented casually.

Lloyd started laughing again. "No way."

"I do! It's my mom's legally, but it's practically mine. Stop laughing at me."

"I'm not." Lloyd giggled. In some part of his mind, he registered that Micah had brought the conversation away from the gloomy topics it'd been on. He appreciated it.

"I bar my soul to you-" Micah started dramatically.

"You told me your day job." Lloyd corrected him.

"You laughed at me!"

"Not at you." Lloyd corrected again, still laughing a little. "Just... a flower shop? The way you said it-" Lloyd started laughing again.

"What, I needed the extra cash in summer." Micah laughed too. He had a strange smile- it was more like a half smile, with one side reaching farther than the other, but it managed to light up his whole face, and show a little bit of his teeth (and it was kinda cute) and he smiled then. "I usually only come out here on Saturdays, but I don't want to wait a week to see you again, and I think you'd get bored. I like to think I'm not boring."

"You're not boring." Lloyd agreed completely.

"I'll come back sometime tomorrow?"

"I'm not going anywhere. Come whenever you want."

Micah looked at his watch. "Okay, I actually have to get going. Bye, Lloyd!" He ran down.

"Watch out for trap doors!" Lloyd called after him, and leaned back, still sorta stunned, kinda fascinated, and a little bit charmed.


my tumblr is witchlightsands, my ao3 is whichlights. this is also posted on ao3. pls help me i dont know how works