Sooooo... School's been out for about a month. I kinda took a break from writing to do some other things. I also went on a camping trip with my grandparents and cousins. Not to mention that I've been busy with family events. I'll be on a few more trips where I most likely will not have my laptop. I'll try to update as often as I can. I didn't expect my schedule this summer to be so hectic.
Lloyd kept thrusting his wrists up to attempt to push the chain underneath the gate of the latch. But the gate swung inward, so it was extremely difficult to push the chain where he wanted it to be. And he could tell Autumn wanted him to stop. But he knew he couldn't.
"Lloyd... stop..."
"I can get it!"
"Lloyd we're not getting out of these!"
"I am not going to let us die in here!"
"Lloyd stop!" Lloyd froze and looked back at Autumn. He looked up at the cuffs on his wrists... he knew she was right. He relaxed his arms, letting them hang down, and sighed.
"Well, what are we going to do... it's been a whole day since we've been here. Maybe longer. We don't even know how long we've been gone." Lloyd said quietly.
"I know... Mom and Dad have to be worried sick about us..." Autumn said. The twins grew quiet. They were both frightened and knew what their fate would be if they either couldn't escape or weren't rescued. Lloyd still tried to get the chain through the latch, but he became exhausted from trying. He looked over at Autumn and discerned she was trying to get some sleep but she couldn't because of her arm.
"How's your arm...?" he asked, seeing a few tears running down her face.
"It hurts... a lot... I'm so exhausted and tired... but my arm hurts too much to sleep..." Autumn said.
"Just... try laying your head on your other arm and don't think about the pain too much. We've been up for hours. Just try to sleep." Autumn nodded and whipped her tears with her shoulder. It took her a while to fall asleep, but she eventually did. Lloyd stayed awake to keep an eye on Autumn and to make sure no one tried to hurt her. However, he kept slipping in and out of consciousness. His face had begun to swell up after getting beat up and his chest hurt extremely bad. He suspected a rib or two were either bruised or cracked. The pain made him exhausted and he just wanted it to go away. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard the lock on the door being unlocked. Lloyd tensed up once he saw Bansha come through the door.
"Well look at this, she's passed out. What? She couldn't handle the pain anymore?" Bansha said mocking Autumn's strength. Lloyd glared at Bansha. Boy did he hate her right now. Bansha walked over to Autumn and knelt down in front of her.
"Get the hell away from her!" Lloyd yelled. Bansha ignored him and hit Autumn across her face, jolting her awake.
"Ow! B-Bansha!" Lloyd could tell Autumn was startled and afraid.
"Hey, Bansha! You do that again, and I'll kill you!" Lloyd said in anger. Once again, she ignored Lloyd. She tightly grabbed Autumn's broken forearm, causing Autumn to cower in pain.
"Stop! Don't hurt her!" No matter what Lloyd said, Bansha wouldn't stop. Afterward, everything became a blur. Lloyd could only remember the faint images of getting beaten up and seeing Autumn crying from pain. He felt intense pain in his chest every time Bansha punched or kicked him. And hearing Autumn's screams of pain and fear felt like a knife stabbing him in his heart. All he wanted was to protect his little sister... he was so close to her, yet so far. He couldn't help her no matter what he did. Eventually, after the beating and screaming were done, Bansha said something Lloyd could barely make out. All he heard was 'message', 'ninja', and 'Stiix'. He didn't know what any of it meant and it also didn't help that he struggled to breathe and anytime he moved, excruciating pain ripped across his chest. So much for cracked or bruised. Some of his ribs were definitely broken. He heard the door swing open, shut, and lock. He managed to look over at Autumn, only to see her unconscious.
"... I-I p-pr-omis, A-Au-utumn... I-I *gasp for air* w-will... g-get u-us *cough*... o-out of h-here..." Lloyd said with the last bit of energy he had before he too slipped into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile at the monastery...
Morro was seated at the kitchen table, getting an austere interrogation from Kai. In all honesty, Morro wasn't really paying any attention to anything Kai was saying. He was too focused on his medallion he found in Lloyd's room. He grazed his thumb over the raised symbol, memories flooding back. He knew there was only one way for his medallion to be in Lloyd's room. He knew for a fact that Lloyd wouldn't keep it around. Besides, he gave his medallion away to one person years ago...
"Please don't make me go..."
"You know it's dangerous for you to be here. I don't want you to get hurt."
"But there's nothing back in Ninjago for me! My dad's evil, I don't know where my mom and uncle are, and I left my brother! I don't want to be alone, Morro!"
"Autumn... you aren't alone..." Morro pulled out a stone slab with an intricate symbol and handed it to Autumn.
"That symbol means wind. This medallion has been in my family for generations. I want you to have it. So whenever you feel like you're alone, just hold it tightly." Autumn grazed her thumb over the carving.
"B-But... I don't want to leave you. You're the only person that cares about me..."
"Hey, me telling you to go doesn't mean that I never want to see you again. Trust me, I want to be able to see you again. But you're eight-years-old. I want you to be a bit older before you decide that you want to come back. I want you to be at least thirteen before you come back. At least then you will be stronger and not as afraid." Tears flowed down Autumn's face as she threw her arms around her ghostly friend. Morro fought back tears and wrapped his arms around Autumn. Their hug was cut short when running footsteps started coming closer to them.
"Bansha. Go! Please, Lil' Dragon!" Autumn whipped her tears and put the medallion in her backpack before walking through the gateway. The dark blue and black gateway closed behind Autumn just as Bansha found Morro.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
"Morro! Are you even listening!?" Morro snapped out of his memory trail and looked up at a very irritated Kai.
"Honestly, not at all," Morro said bluntly, just to pester Kai even more. Kai's fists clenched from annoyance.
"Listen, Windbag, I'm trying hard not to lose my cool, but you're making it very difficult. You're the only one who knows anything about where Bansha took Lloyd and his sister. So you need to start talking." Kai said. Morro said nothing and only glared at Kai.
"Okay, for starters, her name's Autumn. It's not that hard to remember her name. Second of all, Bansha forced Autumn to open a gateway inside the cell where she and Lloyd were kept. I don't know where they are. Besides, it doesn't matter. Before I was completely unconscious, I heard Bansha saying something about 'not being here long'. Even if we find where she had them when I saw them, Bansha most likely moved them." Morro explained. He got up and was about to leave the kitchen when he heard Kai mumble something under his breath. Something that pissed him off.
"So you're futile..."
"You wouldn't even know that they were kidnapped without me! I'm trying to help get them back!" Morro barked at Kai.
"How can you help when you have little to no information about where they are!? For all we know, you could be working with them so you can possess Lloyd again!"
"I don't want to do that! I know I made some mistakes but I want to make up for it by helping you all! Hell, you don't even have the decency to remember her name! You only care about Lloyd!"
"Well, it's clear you only care about that Aubrey girl!"
"Her name is Autumn! And she's not the only thing I care about in this world! But I do care about her!"
"Why!? And why does she care about you!?"
"Because, unlike everyone else, she's never seen me as a monster! She saw me as a normal kid! A kid that died young! In her eyes, I wasn't a monster!" Morro charged out of the kitchen, feeling a burning sensation running down his face. The tears began flowing and completely burning his face. He tried whipping away his tears, but his wet tears burned any part of his body.
"Morro? What seems to be troubling you?" Morro stopped in his tracks and looked to where the voice came from and saw Wu seated on the floor in his room and he finished meditating.
"Y-Yeah... *sniffs and wipes away tears* I'm just fine. Sorry for making you worry." Wu sighed before he stood up and began approaching Morro.
"Morro... you can't lie to me. You're clearly upset. Oh my goodness! Your cheeks are severely burned! You were crying, weren't you?" Morro was silent and he looked down at his feet before nodding. Wu whipped away the remaining tears from Morro's face and used his sleeve to dry any remaining wetness. Wu took Morro's hand and the two sat on Wu's bed.
"What happened?" Wu asked as he stroked Morro's tangled hair out of his face.
"Kai was being a bitch. Sometimes I just want to tell him to fuck off." Morro said, crossing his arms. Wu sighed and rubbed Morro's knee. He wrapped his arms around Morro's shoulders and hugged him tightly.
"... a monster..."
"What was that, Morro?" Wu asked, not being able to hear Morro fully.
"... I'm not a monster... am I?"
"Oh, Morro of course not. You had a rough life. And now, the only friend you have right now is in danger. You might want to do bad things right now, but that is only because you're worried. You're only a child, Morro. You are no monster."
"I'm sixteen, Wu. I'm not that little six-year-old boy you found in front of the monastery anymore."
"I know. You grew up so fast that I can only see that little boy with his kite." Morro turned his head so Wu couldn't see his face to hide the smile spreading across his cheeks.
"Kai just doesn't understand... Autumn didn't know how to control her powers when I first met her. She was only eight. I had to do something to protect her. I didn't care how much trouble I got into, I just wanted Autumn to be safe. Kai thinks I'm a heartless monster. But if it wasn't for me, Autumn would be dead."
"Don't let him get in your head. He's worried about Lloyd. And people do things without thinking when their worried or scared."
"She looked so scared... I swear to god if Bansha does anything to her or Lloyd I'm going to... to... *sigh* I don't know..."
"Well, I'm going to go ahead and talk to Kai about his behavior. How about you try talking to some of the others?" Wu suggested.
"You mean the others that don't think I'm going to do something bad," Morro said sarcastically. Wu sighed, stood up and left the room to talk to Kai. Morro sat in Wu's room for a bit, wondering who he should talk to. He figured Cole would be the easiest to talk to since he had been a ghost before. He stood up and walked around the monastery to find Cole. He wasn't in the kitchen or his room, so he tried looking for him in the den, the living room, and then finally found him in the training yard along with Zane, Skylor, and Pixal.
"Hey, guys..."
"Hello, Morro. Are you alright?" Pixal asked. Morro shrugged and walked towards them.
"Kai's being a jerk. He thinks I'm going to do something." Morro said. The four ninja looked amongst each other, then back at Morro.
"Sorry, Morro. He's just worried. Lloyd's our little brother and it seems like Kai doesn't know whether to trust you or not. But what's important is that we trust you. With Autumn and Lloyd in danger, we know that you wouldn't do anything that would put them in even more danger." Cole said. But something Cole said caught Morro off guard.
"What do you mean by 'even more danger', Cole?" Morro asked in confusion. Cole looked at the others with a concerned look.
"Morro, you're going to want to take a look at this," Skylor said, holding out a letter with a slit from a knife through the top of the paper. Morro took the letter from Skylor and began reading. The letter was directly addressed to him, Garmadon, and Misako.
Garmadon, Misako, Morro...
I will tell you that we have no intentions to kill Lloyd and Autumn. But we will if means are necessary. What we want is of you three to come to Ronin's old pawn shop in Stiix so we can have a discussion about what Lloyd and Autumn's involvement in preventing the Preeminent's plan. And you three better come alone. No backup ninja. If any other ninja comes along, we will kill them.
-Bansha
"Well, danmit. I guess we don't really have a choice. We need to get to Stiix." Morro said.
"You three need to be cautious. Bansha is dangerous." Zane warned. Morro nodded.
"I know, Zane. I'm going to go ahead and find Garmadon and Misako and let them know about this." Morro said as he walked back into the monastery. It didn't take that long to find Garmadon and Misako. They were in their room as Garmadon was comforting Misako as she cried. Morro knocked on the door to get their attention.
"Hey, Garmadon. Misako. How are you two holding up?" Morro asked.
" *whipped her tears* We're just worried about Lloyd and Autumn. It's been days and we still have no idea where Bansha took them." Misako said, choking back a sob. Morro handed Garmadon the letter and the grieving parents read it.
"Stiix. Well, we have to go there. Bansha may bring them there. We might be able to save them."Garmadon said. Morro nodded.
"Well, let's get on some dragons ad get to Stiix."
Let me know in the comments how you think the confrontation with Bansha will turn out.
Again, so sorry that I was so late. My summer schedule was a lot busier than I thought it was going to be. I'll try to update as often as I can.
