In this Angst Au, the 'ninja's names are changed, but you'll be able to figure it out based on the first letter of their names hopefully :)
Lloyd's feet hurt. So he decided to rest for a while, beside an alleyway, where there was loud music playing behind him. He could hear people laughing and screaming, they were having fun. Lloyd felt like dissociating again. As always.
The smell of food made his stomach growl. Maybe he'd be able to eat some candy in Ninjago, perhaps those candy in Jamankai will do. Closing his eyes, Lloyd could smell bubblegum, chocolate, mints, sweet and sour, spicy, it still made him so hungry he couldn't fall back now. Something, in Reality, was telling him that he needed to eat, he was alone, there was no point in eating here. Not without someone, not without a family.
Getting up, Lloyd felt the scrapes on his hands from the hard concrete, he was going to have to steal again, and he'd only done it twice. A few strands from his blonde hair fell in front of his face, the air was humid, it felt like it was going to rain soon. He ran into something. He tensed. He had run into someone.
"Hey, little guy, it's okay." That, someone, was going to kill him. "Are you hurt?"
He didn't dare to look up, he tried his best to avoid people than the ones in Ninjago, these people hated him. The someone crouched in front of him, Lloyd dared not to speak. He dared not to do anything in fear that they would hurt him, turn him in, kill him. That was an exaggeration.
The someone sighed.
"Okay, we'll start with introductions then, I'm Kasey." They said. They were a male. He smiled at him. Why he wasn't hurting him? Why wasn't he leaving him alone? "What yours?" Lloyd kept silent, his throat burned, he hadn't talked in a month, it would be useless to ask him questions and only receive no sound. "Not much of a talker, huh?"
"We've been wondering where you were, Kasey." Someone else joined him. Lloyd looked up a little, Kasey was still looking at him, he had auburn eyes with a scar his the right side, his brown hair was spiked and shined like he spent hours grooming it. The person next to him was short in stature, had freckles, curly hair, and wore an orange scarf. He had blue eyes. "Zion sent me to check up on you, he was getting worried."
Kasey laughed. "He always worries about me, he should know that I always get into fights at parties, Jayden." So Kasey got into fights. Was he going to fight him? "I'm fine really, I found this kid who's in some kind of shock, I don't think he can talk."
"Ngh," Lloyd made a small noise, he was dissociating again. Kasey grabbed his shoulders.
"Woah, kid, breathe." He urged him to breathe in and out slowly. Lloyd didn't want to too, he wanted to run away and forget their one-sided conversation. "Jeez, you're awfully skinny."
"Dude, you can't just say that about a kid," Jayden bent down with Kasey. Lloyd flinched. "Holy crap, you're right. Where are your parents?"
His parents had left him, driven without him, they left him alone. He had nice and loving parents in Ninjago. Why were these teens not screaming about his eyes? He had red eyes. His eyes were terrifying to Reality but the people in Ninjago have liked them. His parents were dead and it was all his fault.
Lloyd tugged against Kasey's hands, Kasey instantly let go and put his hands up in hopes to calm him. It worked, kind of. Lloyd felt terrified, these teens actually cared, they were worried about him. Lloyd didn't like that. Jayden stood up.
"I'm going to get the others, think you can keep the kid here?" The latter asked Kasey. The brunette nodded and kept his eyes locked on him, they were burning with soothing words. He relaxed.
"That's it, just breathe. You're okay, my friends and I should be able to help you." Lloyd's stomach growled that candy was calling him. Ninjago was calling him, if Kasey cared, he would let him go and dissociate. "What's your favorite food?"
Cared. Cared. Cared. Kasey cared. Probably.
Lloyd liked candy but dumplings were better. Slowly using a rock to draw on the sidewalk, he made a bowl of dumplings. Kasey seemed to understand and offered a hand. Lloyd was hesitant to take it, he avoided touching Reality. But he took it. Kasey was nice.
"When they get out here, how about I go take you to my girlfriend's diner? She and her father make the best dumplings in this entire city, that's what Colin says at least." Kasey laughed. Lloyd let out a small laugh, but it was quick and short, he didn't quite trust this Kasey yet. The door burst open and Kasey screamed, Lloyd hid behind him.
"I heard that you found someone!" A rough but strong voice sounded first, this teen was large and had long black hair that ran down his shoulders and had intense brown eyes. His eyes fell onto Lloyd's, he gripped Kasey's leg even tighter.
"Dude, Colin, calm down! You're going to scare the ever living daylights outta this kid, man." Kasey warned him, Colin relaxed, his form taking on a less intimidating look. Kasey looked down at him. "He won't hurt you, Colin's seems tough but he's a big softie."
"I just really like kids, okay?" Colin rubbed his neck. Lloyd nodded and looked next to the much taller one next to Jayden, his hair was standing in white and his cyan eyes seemed like a mother's look. He gave a smile.
"Hello there, I'm Zion, apologies about my friends' behavior," Zion gestured to the three. Lloyd heard a scoff from Jayden. "They get pretty reckless after dark."
"Excuse me!? Since when I am ever reckless?" Jayden threw up his hands. Colin and Kasey laughed. Lloyd wondered if this was what having friends looked like, having little arguments. He moved from Kasey.
"First, you're the one who got me into that fight with that mouth of yours." His protector chuckled. Lloyd felt something crawling to his face, it tugged at their corners. "Second, I think we should do something for this kid, he's really skinny, I'm thinking about taking him to Sky's diner. I'll pay."
"Sure, none of us ate anyway. Sky makes the best dumplings." Colin shrugged. Lloyd made another noise, this one was of excitement.
"What do you say, kid? Want us to take you to this loverboy's favorite place?" Jayden asked him, grinning. Lloyd licked his lips, he could really use something to eat. Ninjago could wait a few hours, he'd be back soon.
The five of them walked to the diner, Lloyd had learned that they had all went to a high school Saturday dance and they each showed up in casual wear. He learned that Jayden loved inventing, Colin's a dancer, Zion lived in the woods, and Kasey's has a younger sister named Nala. He learned that the four of them were close-knit friends who all met each other when they were martial artists when they were younger.
Lloyd thought they were nice, he felt like they could appear in Ninjago. Maybe. But that was a possibility.
"Hey, we're here," Kasey mumbled to him. Lloyd had forgotten that he was on Kasey's shoulders. He could smell noodles, rice, potstickers, kimchi, his stomach growled again. He was so hungry. Kasey lifted him off his shoulders and Lloyd immediately held his hand tightly, never wanting to let go, Kasey didn't mind. "Will your parents mind if we treat you?"
Lloyd shook his head. Once again, his parents never cared.
"Kasey, Jayden, Zion, Colin weren't you all here this morning?" That was the first female voice Lloyd had heard in a while. This girl had long red hair tied in a ponytail and wore an orange apron that read: Master Chen's Noodle House. Kasey just gave her a grin and she turned to Lloyd. "Hello."
"This is Sky, Sky this is, um," Kasey turned to him. Lloyd traced his fingers on Kasey's hand, he doesn't want to talk about his name. Kasey frowned. "Lloyd?"
"Yes," He spoke softly, his voice barely making a whisper. He felt dissociation again. There was someone calling him, they wore red.
"You look hungry, these guys taking you to eat?" Sky asked him. Lloyd pointed to himself and a bowl of dumplings. Sky followed his finger to the bowl, she then walked over to another bowl and took out a piece of candy. Handing it to him, she smiled. "Here, you might like this. I'll get started on your food."
She handed him a piece of chocolate.
Lloyd couldn't be more grateful, so he hugged her before she entered the kitchen. The other boys chuckled. There were good people, in Reality, someone had actually cared about him. The group sat at a booth by a window looking outside, he sat next to Kasey and Jayden, doodling on the napkins the map of Ninjago and the Dark Island. Then he drew himself, as the Green Ninja, a teenager, holding a sword fighting a dark shadow in the form of a dragon.
He tugged on Kasey's jacket.
"Is this you? Wow, you're a good artist! Colin and Jayden are definitely not up to par with your expertise." Kasey chuckled. Colin glared and immediately grabbed a napkin and started to redraw Lloyd's drawing, he had a bit of a cartoonish look to it. Jayden, on the other hand, had more of a realistic art style, dug his pen into the napkin. Kasey gulped. "Guys-."
"You know what? Lloyd, which one do you like better? Me or Colin's?" Jayden asked him. To him, both of them were amazing, nothing like his, but in order to play along, he pointed to his drawing. The two older boys groaned. "Really?"
"What's on this map?" Zion pointed to the map he had drawn. Lloyd wrote: Ninjago and Dark Island on another napkin. "Where is that?"
"Here." Lloyd pointed to the mass that looked like a dragon. "I live there."
He lived there, where Reality doesn't bother him.
Disassociate. Dissociate. Dissociate. Dissociate. There were three others, black, white, and blue calling his name. They were blurry but they were getting there, slowly but surely.
"Is it real?" Kasey rested a hand on his chin. Lloyd shook his head, Ninjago was real. He wouldn't be special if he didn't live there. The four boys looked interested.
"Ninjago, huh?" Colin smirked. "Sounds like play-on-word of the word ninja."
"I am the Green Ninja," Lloyd said. He spoke a full sentence this time. His throat hurt, but he would get his food soon. He circled the drawing of himself. "I am special. That's me."
"You know what else is special?" Sky's voice interrupted their meeting. There was food, he got his dumplings. "You getting a chocolate cake for being a new customer at Master Chen's Noodle House."
Lloyd could feel himself smiling, crying, laughing. The five teens raised eyebrows in confusions but let him eat while they ate theirs. Lloyd hadn't smiled in a long time, he hadn't eaten anything good in a long time. That smile was genuine.
"Thanks," Lloyd sniffed. Sky ruffled his hair. Kai, Jay, Zane, and Cole. He had names for them now. They were nice, they cared, they liked him.
Kai, Jay, Zane, and Cole would love him.
After the night at the diner, Lloyd told them that he had gotten lost after losing his parents at the mall. He chose a random house to let the boys drop him off after they left him waving a goodbye and wished him well. He ran. His feet hurt again but it didn't matter, he wasn't hungry anymore. So he sat in a corner by a warehouse where he made himself home.
Looking at his own drawings and Colin and Jayden's, he smiled. They liked him. He liked them. Dissociate.
"Hey, are you okay?" Someone tapped his shoulder. The teen shuddered. The other held up his hands. "Calm down, none of us are going to hurt you."
He looked up, tears streaming down his eyes. It was one of those days where he was traveling back into Reality, he'd been staying for too long. But he wasn't crying because of that, no, no, the Green Ninja does not cry because of a dislocation. He cried because he overjoyed, happy.
He knew these teens.
"I'm Kai, these are my buddies Jay, Zane, and Cole." The one that tapped his shoulder said. He looked to others behind, he knew them already. They already cared about him. Kai offered him a hand, he gladly took it.
"Lloyd Garmadon," He smiled, wiping a few stray tears from his eyes. They were tears of joy.
"Lloyd Garmadon? Wait, a minute, as in Lloyd Garmadon, the famed Green Ninja!?" Jay laughed in question. Lloyd rubbed his neck and nodded.
"In the flesh," He answered. Jay shook Cole, who despite his best friend's fanboy attitude, looked just as excited as he was. "Uh, sorry you guys had to see me like that. I was dealing with something back when I was in-" He stopped to think. No one knew that he was from Reality. It didn't exist here. "Nevermind, how about I take you guys out to eat?"
"Oh, you really don't have to do that-" Kai assured him. But Lloyd insisted. He always insisted. These guys were nice. He trusted them.
"No, it's cool, I'll pay." He suggested. These teens don't know him, but they do now. He mind as well pay them back in another way. He wasn't crying anymore. Kai, Jay, Zane, and Cole all looked to each other, unsure, then Kai spoke for them.
"Sure, we'd love to."