Eeeehhhh, close enough to Monday, right? XD

Special thanks to CHEESEPUFF fg, PollyPlummer23, RandomDragon2.0, KyraPlays, DawnNinja, Rachel Spirit, WindNinja333, LeUltimateNerd, NinjagoGeek4EVER, Spottedfrost7, Cerenda, FirstFandomGirl, Peanut219, RPM Shadow, StoriesAreMagic, TheYellowNinja, Star, VoltageArt, Guest, literallymedusa, ABCSKW123-IX, and Blue for reviewing! I really cannot believe how much love this story has gotten! Thank you so much, everyone!

Replies to guest reviews:

TheYellowNinja: It makes me SO SO SO happy to know that you're excited for my updates! I value each and every one of your reviews :D Morro struggles so much with trusting people :'( Thanks and good luck on your exam! I know you'll do great! :D :D :D

Star: Morro is definitely jealous XD I'm so glad you liked that little detail about Wu's nickname for Morro :3 Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

VoltageArt: Wu is so patient and so caring, but Morro is so scared of trusting people :'( Unfortunately, we will not be focusing much on Morro's backstory, except for the fact that he does not remember his parents whatsoever :( I hope you still enjoy the rest of the story! Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

Guest: Aw, I hope you get better soon! But, I hope this story at least helps you get through your sickness XD I love sick fics too XD Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

literallymedusa: Haha, I'm so glad you think it's cute, but please don't get a headache on my account XD Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

Blue: Literal tears?! That makes me so happy XD Morro's never had anybody care for him like Wu does :'( "Utterly perfect?!" You are WAAAY too kind! Thank you so much for reviewing! :D


Morro woke up only when he hit the ground- hard- knocking all the wind out of him. Somehow, he still managed to leap back onto the bed, yanking the covers completely over his head so he would be perfectly safe from any and all monsters in his little blanket cocoon.

He was in his- the, he corrected himself, the room in the monastery. After several days of bedrest, he had almost fully recovered from his illness- though apparently the fever dreams had stayed with him. Morro gasped for air and tried to still his pounding heart as the nightmare continued to torment his waking mind.

The worst part was he couldn't even remember what was so scary about it: all he could see in his mind's eye was darkness, surrounding him, closing in on him…

And, now here he was, shaking like a leaf with both hands clamped over his ears and eyes shut tight as he tried, tried, tried to slow his breathing…

He couldn't do this. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he stayed here, he would die, whether it was via invisible monster or heart attack, whichever came first.

Morro started when a thought occurred to him.

Wu always made him feel safe.

Taking up his blanket as a sort of mobile shield, he dashed out of his monster-infested room but slowed down as he entered the hallway, inexplicably afraid of waking Wu, despite that being his mission in the first place.

His fist was an inch away from Wu's bedroom door- when he stopped.

What are you doing? He demanded of himself, already backing away. He's already given you more than you deserve and you want to wake him up in the middle of the night because you're a baby that doesn't want to be alone.

News flash, Morro: you're always alone.

Morro shut his eyes tight again, hearing that statement play over and over again in his mind until it was so loud he couldn't shut it out.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he skulked back down the hallway toward his- the, the, the, toward the bedroom and burrowed back into his blanket fortress, determined to wait for morning on his own.

It was a long night.


"Morro?"

Morro snorted awake- and immediately started thrashing about in a panic when he felt all his limbs constricted- trapped, trapped, trapped-

Wu pulled the blanket off of him, peering down at him with an amused smirk. "Comfy?"

Morro, finally recognizing his "constraints" to be the blanket walls he had painstakingly built around himself, blushed and nodded, sitting up as Wu sat on the edge of the mattress.

"How are you feeling today?" The Spinjitzu master asked him, touching his forehead.

Morro hesitated. He was feeling a lot better actually, and he hadn't felt like throwing up again in over two days.

But, that was the thing. When he got better, he would have to leave.

Finally, he settled on a noncommittal "Good."

Wu frowned. "Still a tad warm." He removed his hand, sitting back a little so he could look at Morro properly. "I need to run down to the village to pick up a few things. Do you think you'll be alright here alone until I get back?"

Alone?

"Can I come with you?" He asked quickly, hoping he didn't come across sounding too needy.

Wu's eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

Morro hesitated once again. Agreeing would only convince Wu that he was recovering and thus speed up the approach of his inevitable departure from the monastery.

But, he couldn't stay there alone, even if it was light outside.

He bobbed his head. "Yep!"

Wu rubbed his chin, pondering this. "I suppose I would feel more comfortable being able to watch you…," Eventually, he nodded. "Alright. But, the instant you feel tired or sick again, say the word and we'll turn around, okay?"

And that's how Morro found himself walking through the village with Wu by his side.

It was… odd, to say the least. First of all, he had never seen Wu in any place other than the monastery, so watching him actually interact with people against a cityscape backdrop was nothing short of jarring.

It was also odd to be walking his same old haunts with someone else. Not just walking beside someone who happened to be going the same way as him, but with someone else.

"Alright, Morro," Wu addressed him as they came to a stop in front of a store. Morro couldn't read the sign, but he knew from experience that it was a tea shop- so of course they were stopping here. "I need to buy some tea that will help purge this sickness from your body. Wait right here, and don't move, okay?"

"Okay!" Morro chirped, not really wanting to go into the tea shop anyway (especially considering the owner had chased him with a baseball bat once, but that was a different story.)

Wu smiled at him, and Morro stored that one with all of the other special smiles he had received in the span of a few days. The Spinjitzu master went into the store, causing the little bell above the door to jingle.

"Oh, look who's decided to grace us poor little street rats with his presence once again?"

Morro groaned, turning to face the two older kids that had apparently been watching him from the alley. Trevor and Matthew were a whopping thirteen years old, and it seemed like they had nothing better to do than torment the younger kids.

"What do you want, Trevor?" Morro snapped. (Matthew didn't say much, but his quiet demeanor made him no less cruel when it came to beatings.)

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are we not allowed to talk you anymore? Too good for us now?" Trevor taunted, placing his hands on his hips.

Morro looked down at himself. He was wearing clean clothes that actually fit well, and after taking a proper bath for the first time in… well, ever, he found his skin was actually a shade lighter than he'd thought it was. He was annoyed at Trevor for mocking him for these new, precious things, but a little part of him found he might have said the same thing had Greg and Craig showed up looking like this.

"We thought you were dead," Trevor continued mock-regretfully. "Didn't realize you'd just become a daddy's boy."

Morro knew he should have been more offended- but his mind was reeling. Dad? Wu wasn't his dad. Sure, he took care of him when he was sick and fed him and clothed him and smiled at him and made him feel the tiniest bit special after feeling distinctly unspecial his entire life, but that didn't make him his dad.

Right?

"He's not my dad," Morro muttered, now wishing the two older boys would just leave him alone.

"Oh, please. We saw the way you looked at him. You think he actually cares about you."

Morro looked up sharply. "He does!"

Trevor flicked him in the forehead, and Morro cried out. Trevor laughed, towering over the younger boy while Matthew stood by, watching silently as always.

"Guys like that help kids like us to stroke their own egos," Trevor explained condescendingly as Morro glared up at him and rubbed his forehead. "You're not his son. You're a pet. And, when you become too much of a problem, he's going to kick you out like the stray dog you are."

"Shut up!" Morro shouted, launching himself at Trevor and pounding him with his fists.

Despite having the element of surprise, the two older boys overwhelmed him in seconds, kicking and punching him until it was all he could do to throw his arms over his head to try to protect himself from their blows. He gasped when Matthew grabbed him and slammed his face into the ground, warm, sticky blood immediately gushing out of his nose.

He heard fabric tearing- and then laughter- as they grabbed his new, clean shirt that still smelled like soap and tore it- on purpose- and Morro knew it was his fault for thinking he could have ever had anything good in his life-

"Morro!"

Trevor and Matthew, apparently only brave enough to gang up on eight year olds, bolted the moment Wu appeared.

Morro sighed in relief- then stiffened in shame when Wu gingerly picked him up off the ground and set him in a standing position so he could survey his body for injuries.

"Are you alright?" Wu asked him worriedly. "Oh dear…," he mumbled, touching either side of Morro's face and tilting his head this way and that to determine if his nose was broken.

You're just a pet.

Morro was shocked and horrified to find that angry tears sprung to his eyes at the memory of those cruel words. He hadn't cried in… He couldn't even remember the last time he had cried- if you lived on the streets, you forgot how to cry real quick- and he wasn't going to start now. He blinked the tears away even as he fingered the rips in his now bloody shirt.

"They're just jerks!" He yelled, wiping his face with the back of his hand so blood wouldn't leak into his mouth. "They're just- they're just jerks! If I was bigger, I'd make them pay! I'd make them sorry then!"

"Morro," Wu said softly as he pulled a napkin out of his pocket and started dabbing at the orphan's bloody face. "They deserve justice, but it will not be delivered by your hand. Dwelling on past wrongs hurts no one but yourself."

Morro looked down, ashamed all over again.

"That being said…," Wu led in. "I could teach you how to defend yourself."

Morro's eyes went wide. "H-huh?"

"My school," Wu clarified, sitting back on his heels and meeting Morro's eyes with a dead serious gaze. "Where I will teach martial arts to children. You could learn to defend yourself- and others, should the need arise."

Spending day after day with Wu, learning how to fight, learning how to be good at something, good for something…

Morro shook his head, reluctantly erasing the fantasy image from his mind. "I… can't. It takes me all day to find food usually, and I've probably lost my sleeping spot since I've been gone so long. There's no time. Besides, I don't have any money."

Wu frowned. "No, I meant… You live at the monastery with me."

Morro gaped.

"I've quite enjoyed your company," Wu continued, smiling… genuinely. "And, I would feel much better knowing you wouldn't get hurt like this ever again."

I've quite enjoyed your company.

You're not his son.

And, I would feel much better knowing you wouldn't get hurt like this ever again.

You're just a pet.

"I… don't know," he whispered. "Can I think about it?"

Wu smiled sadly, squeezing his upper arms. "Of course. Let's go get you cleaned up."


Morro shot up in bed, grabbing his hair and gasping for breath. Once again, the same nightmare had visited him- blackness surrounding him, closing in on him, crushing all the air out of his lungs...

It was almost instinct. He was out of bed and halfway to Wu's bedroom before he realized what he was doing and stopped dead in his tracks.

You're not his son. You're just a pet.

And, Morro realized he was kidding himself. Taking a bath and putting on clean clothes didn't make him anything more than the street rat that he was. Getting a few smiles from a nice guy didn't make him anything more than the stray dog that he was.

He turned on his heel, but he wasn't going back to his room because it wasn't his room. He had to get out of here, out of the monastery, away from Wu, because none of this was his, none of it was his, and he didn't belong here like this so he had to leave before it became too hard-

A figure suddenly appeared in his path, and he screamed and covered his face.

"Morro! I didn't mean to scare you!"

After confirming that, yes, his heart was somehow still beating, he moved his hands ever so slightly and peered up at Wu standing at the mouth of the hallway with tea cup in hand.

"Care to join me for a cup of tea?"

And that's how Morro found himself at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea that Wu had let him put a lot of honey in to make it sweeter at three o'clock in the morning (because, really, how was he supposed to say no to that?)

He didn't tell Wu that he'd been trying to run away, but he thought the wise Spinjitzu master knew anyway.

"So, this is going to make me feel completely better?" Morro asked, peering down at the pale brown liquid with a skeptical look on his face.

"Well… in a way. This particular type of tea is designed to keep nightmares away."

Morro jumped, blinking up at Wu who was smiling gently back at him.

"You… knew?"

Wu nodded. "Yes. And, I find that talking about one's nightmares usually make them seem less scary."

Morro huffed frustratedly. "There isn't anything to talk about it. It's just… darkness. But, I don't get it, because I'm not even afraid of the dark. I basically live in the dark."

"Maybe that is what you are trying to tell yourself," Wu suggested softly, placing his hand on Morro's shoulder. "Maybe you are tired of living in the dark."

Morro looked down, biting his lip.

"I don't know how else to say it, Morro," Wu continued without removing his hand. "You don't have to be alone anymore."

Morro looked up into those wise, kind, always so kind eyes crinkling with affection…

News flash, Morro: you're always alone.

Morro shook the hand off his shoulder, standing up so suddenly that the chair scraped against the floor. "I-I have to go."

Wu stood as well. "Morro, I'm sorry. Please don't leave."

"No, I- this isn't right. I don't belong here," Morro explained haltingly, taking a step back. "Just- Just leave me alone!"

"Little one-"

"Stop it!" Morro screamed, searching about in his panic for something, anything- when he spotted the teapot sitting on the edge of the table. Almost without realizing what he was doing, he lunged for the teapot and shoved it off the table. It immediately shattered into a million tiny pieces on the floor.

Morro stared down at the former teapot, not quite believing what he had just done. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wu move toward him, and he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the slap or punch that was sure to follow, and then he'd have to leave-

He felt large, calloused hands on his shoulders. His eyes flew open and he saw Wu kneeling in front of him so they were at eye level.

He didn't look angry.

He looked worried.

"You don't have to be alone anymore," Wu repeated very softly.

Morro stared.

Even after he'd broken the teapot.

Even after he'd broken the teapot.

Wu sighed, "Morro-"

Morro hugged him.

Threw his arms around Wu's neck and squeezed as tight as he could and closed his eyes and sniffled and shook as he tried not to cry (because he hadn't cried in eight years, because you couldn't cry, not on the streets) and he just hoped Wu wouldn't push him away…

He felt Wu's arms wrap around him, pulling him close.

"You don't have to be alone anymore."

Morro gasped as big, fat tears cascaded down his face- so uncommon and unwanted, it was as if they were burning his skin. But, Wu only held him tighter, rubbing soothing circles into his back. So Morro let himself cry for the first time in his entire life, burying his face in Wu's shirt to try to stifle the sobs.

Morro lost track of time, but he figured they must have sat there for hours. Eventually, he found himself sagging against Wu, the back to back restless nights, sickness, and beating he took earlier all slamming into his small body at once and making him feel like he was going to pass out. He blinked-

And suddenly he was back in the- his room. Wu was setting him down on the bed, but Morro tightened his grip on the man's shirt, terrified of the nightmare returning, of the darkness creeping in, of being alone.

Wu obediently sat beside him on the bed, like he had so many days ago when he was helping Morro eat. "I will stay until you fall asleep, if that is what you wish."

Morro nodded against the pillow, eyes already drifting shut once again. His words came out garbled and slurred, but he still thought he managed to say, "I want to stay. I want to learn to fight. I want you to teach me."

Morro couldn't bring himself to open his eyes again, but he felt Wu's huge hand on his head, smoothing down his hair.

"Nothing would make me happier, little one."


Yay, Morro is officially Wu's student! And next chapter, a certain prophecy may or may not be mentioned... ;D

I hope you guys liked it! Next update is Thursday!