Hello, everyone! In case you don't read Five Times Morro Trusted Wu, I just thought I'd announce that I am FINISHED with all my exams and I'm SO HAPPY ABOUT IT! Thank you everyone for your support throughout this extremely difficult semester! :D
Special thanks to KyraPlays, ABCSKW123-IX, Peanut2196, Crystal Cea, WindNinja333, RobinLost, ILoveCheetos, RandomDragon2.0, PrairieSkies, Sweetheart114, LeUltimateNerd, Star, SerpentineKing, TheYellowNinja, TheySayImEvil, FirstFandomFangirl, StoriesAreMagic, and evelinaonline for reviewing!
I will be replying to reviews shortly after posting this chapter! (Unless I fall asleep by accident XD)
Replies to guest reviews:
Star: Haha, you can always count on Gem to tell everyone exactly what's on her mind XD I'm glad you liked the flashbacks! I loved writing them :3 Thank you so much for reviewing!
SerpentineKing: Hey, no problem! There's never any pressure to review! Oooh, okay that makes sense for AE. Well, stay tuned ;D Yep, Morro's a smart cookie when he wants to be XD Thank you so much for reviewing! :D
TheYellowNinja: It makes me so happy that you're excited for the updates! :D We'll see about Lloyd and Morro's tenuous relationship soon... ;D Zane is the purest of pure XD And, of course Cole's birthday is on Earth Day, because duh. XD Thank you so much for reviewing! :D
TheySayImEvil: Overprotective Garmadon is very scary XD I'm glad the chapter gave you so many feels! XD And, I'm also glad you liked the flashback because I loooved writing it! :D Thank you so much for reviewing! :D
"You sure you're ready for this?" Kai asked. He and Lloyd were staked out on the rooftop of the building neighboring City Hall. There were two ghosts patrolling the adjacent rooftop where there was a door leading into the main building.
"Yeah, of course I am," Lloyd said irritably, anxiously glancing at the town square in front of City Hall where they had first appeared so many days ago and where the bad guys had discovered that Morro's Soul Stone was missing.
"If the others would start the stupid distraction already, then-" Kai was interrupted by the sound a missile exploding the front of City Hall. He grinned when he saw the awesome black tank roll right up to the front of the villains' headquarters like it was no big deal, firing its large assortment of weapons. That was the good thing about being in a city of ghosts: they didn't have to worry about debris crushing civilians.
"Finally!" Kai groaned. "Let's go!"
The two ghosts patrolling the roof of City Hall rushed over to the side and peered down at the square, obviously panicking about the attack. Kai and Lloyd landed as silently as cats behind them and disappeared into the rooftop access door without being seen.
"You take the top floor," Lloyd whispered as they hurried down the stairwell. "I'll take the bottom one."
"Got it," Kai agreed. "Remember, radio once you find him."
The walkie talkies were a gift from Dr. Julien who had experimentally determined a frequency which could be used in the Departed Realm without interference from so many ghostly presences.
Kai barrelled through the first door they encountered while Lloyd continued on to the second.
Lloyd peeked into the first floor of the City Hall. It appeared to be a lobby of some sort, but it was mostly empty. Glancing out the huge front window, he saw Kozu and Cryptor directing their respective armies to attack the tank while it continued to blast all its available weapons. The tank was certainly formidable, but it wasn't invincible, and Lloyd knew it was only a matter of time before the warriors reduced it to rubble. Lloyd sprinted down the halls, diving into doorways and becoming invisible when a stray soldier rushed past to join the fray.
He peeked into every room, but each one was an empty office or conference room; no torture chamber in sight. Just as he was about to radio Kai to ask if he'd found Morro yet, he came across a heavy steel door with a sign that said "Do Not Enter." When he opened it, he saw more stairs leading down. Cautiously, he crept down the steps-
And gasped when he saw Morro.
The ghost was strapped to a chair, his head bowed as he slept. His body was absolutely soaked in his own ectoplasm. Open wounds decorated every available surface and what appeared to be burns filled the gaps in between. Lloyd glanced about warily, but everybody must have rushed to join the fight upstairs because he and Morro were alone.
He hurried to Morro's side. It was worse the closer he got. "Morro," he whispered, grabbing the Vengestone handcuff that chained Morro's wrist to the arm of the chair. Calling forth a small burst of energy, the chain snapped in his hand. "Morro, wake up."
"No…," Morro moaned as Lloyd broke the other handcuff, then knelt down to free his ankles. He gasped upon seeing the jagged cut that had cleaved Morro's calf open. Had he been human, they most definitely would have had to amputate. "No… Stop… Stop!"
"Morro, Morro, wake up," Lloyd whispered, shaking Morro on the most healthy part of his shoulder. "It's just me. You're okay now." It felt weird, reassuring someone he had once hated, but Lloyd wouldn't wish this torture on anyone, even his worst enemy, and his naturally gentle heart ached in empathy.
And, now, seeing everything Morro had put himself through to keep the Yin Blade out of the wrong hands, Lloyd finally realized that Morro was not his worst enemy.
Morro blinked, raising his head. Lloyd gasped again when he saw the three parallel cuts across Morro's left cheek, reminiscent of an animal's claw.
"Lloyd?" He whispered, squinting as he tried to focus on the person in front of him.
"Yeah, it's me, Morro. C'mon, we're getting you out of here," He said, grabbing Morro's arm as gently as he dared as he tried to pull him out of the seat.
"You came," Morro said in disbelief, his voice very small.
"Yeah, of course we came," Lloyd said, glancing at the door anxiously. They couldn't have much time left and moving Morro was proving to be a bigger challenge than he originally thought. "C'mon, we've got to get you out of here."
"No," Morro said, a little bit of his old self bleeding into the tone. He weakly pushed at Lloyd's wrist with his other hand to get him to let go.
"No? What do you mean no?"
"I can't walk," Morro stated, gesturing to his crippled leg. "I'm barely conscious. I'll slow you down. We'll never make it." He closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair. "Just go."
Lloyd's first inclination was to argue; but he realized Morro was right. Morro couldn't walk on his own, and carrying him would slow Lloyd down too much. But, Lloyd was a good guy. He couldn't leave Morro here, especially after seeing the extent of-
Lloyd got an idea.
A horrible, horrible, insane idea.
A horrible, horrible, insane idea that might… just… work.
Unable to believe the words were actually about to come out of his mouth, Lloyd knelt in front of Morro again, and the ghost looked down at him with unfocused eyes.
"Possess me."
Morro's eyes widened, and he looked back at Lloyd incredulously. "You'd better be joking."
Lloyd frowned. "Would I joke about something like this?"
"No. Absolutely not," Morro shook his head. "Just go, Lloyd. I'm fine. I can take it."
"Morro, it's the only way I can get you out of here-"
"I said no!" Morro snapped, pushing on Lloyd's chest to get him away. With how weak he was, Lloyd didn't budge. "Go. Leave. I'm fine."
Lloyd reached into his gi.
And, pulled out a small, oval stone that was green with black spots.
Morro went pale with horror. "You wouldn't."
"Morro," Lloyd said calmly, holding the Soul Stone out in front of him. "Possess me."
Unable to refuse, Morro fell into his body-
And, suddenly it all came rushing back to Lloyd- the suffocation, the loss of control, the drowning, the drowning, the drowning- the line where his own memories ended blurred and suddenly all of Morro's pain and suffering and fear- so much fear- became Lloyd's- he saw flashes of Chen, Cryptor, Samukai, Kozu taunting him, felt the blade against his own skin, heard himself saying, "I won't tell, I won't tell, I won't tell," repeating it like a mantra in his head-
And he saw Morro, possessing him, using him, he saw Morro hurting his friends, he remembered all of Morro's hate and jealousy all over again, heard Morro telling him he didn't deserve to be the Green Ninja over and over again- and he knew one of these things was real and the other wasn't actually happening- but he couldn't tell-
"Lloyd!"
He tried to gasp for air- was he suffocating? Or drowning?- and looked up at Kai grasping his arms.
"Lloyd, what's wrong? You didn't answer your radio. Did you find Morro?"
Still breathless with panic, Lloyd nodded. Kai, Kai was here, Kai would protect him- Wait, Morro was good, he was good, there was nothing to protect him from.
Kai looked at Lloyd strangely. "Okay… where is he?"
Lloyd placed a hand on his chest, trying to force air back into his lungs- he was in control, his body was still his, he was in control. Unable to speak aloud, he patted his chest.
Kai raised an eyebrow, utterly lost.
Then he looked at the chair with the broken chains.
The Soul Stone in Lloyd's hand.
The way his baby brother was panicking but trying so, so hard to keep it together.
Kai's mouth went slack with realization. "Lloyd, you didn't."
"I had to, Kai," he whispered, tears collecting on his eyelids. "I had to. He was hurt and-and scared and we have to get him out…"
Kai sighed, grabbing Lloyd's wrist and pulling him into a standing position. "C'mon, we've gotta go. The tank's pretty much toast."
They hurried up the stairs. When they burst into the first floor hallway, a surprised Stone Warrior saw them and shouted an alarm. Cursing, Kai dragged Lloyd toward the main staircase and up the steps. Not a moment later, soldiers were swarming the stairwell, less than a floor behind them.
On the roof, Kai told Lloyd to jump first, and the Green Ninja, not so shaken as to forget all his training, easily cleared the gap between City Hall and the next building over. The red ninja followed soon after. The Stone Warriors and nindroids pursued them across the skyline but simply couldn't keep up with the lighter, more nimble ninja as bulky and heavy as they were. Once they reached the correct rooftop and there was a sufficient gap between them and their enemies, Kai and Lloyd slid down the fire escape.
The brown RV was waiting in the alleyway with Jay, Zane, and Nya inside. After setting the tank on autopilot, the three ninja had snuck away from the battle and regrouped there at the RV, though Jay bemoaned sacrificing the super cool tank to the war effort.
The second Kai and Lloyd were inside, Nya slammed on the gas, deftly driving them out of the city and eventually leaving the pursuing armies far behind.
"What happened?" Jay asked as Kai guided Lloyd to the window seat. The Green Ninja immediately sat down, his entire body consumed by tremors. "Did you not find Morro?"
"Oh, we found him alright," Kai snapped. "Make him come out now, Lloyd."
The other three ninja gaped.
"Morro is… possessing Lloyd?" Zane asked in disbelief.
"What about the… the hair, the voice? It's still Lloyd," Jay pointed out, confused.
"He's too weak," Lloyd explained, moving to lie down on the window seat.
"Make him come out," Kai repeated.
"It's okay, Kai," Lloyd said quietly, trying to convince himself it was true. "He's sleeping."
"But-"
"It's okay," Lloyd repeated, eyes falling shut with exhaustion. "It's okay."
"Let them rest, Kai," Nya said from the driver's seat. "Morro wouldn't do anything to hurt Lloyd."
Kai sighed. "I know." He patted his sleeping baby brother on the back reassuringly. "I just wish Lloyd knew that too."
"What, you're just going to leave me here?" He asked as the Vengestone cage slammed shut. He felt feverish and borderline delirious but he could see Morro standing over him well enough.
"I'll be back when I need you again," Morro replied offhandedly as he walked away.
"You'll never do it!" He called, struggling to his knees and gripping the bars of the cage. "My brothers will get the Realm Crystal first and send you right back to the Cursed Realm where you belong."
Morro was back in front of him in an instant, reaching through the bars of the cage and grabbing the front of his gi. "Get off your high horse, Lloyd. You're just the knock off version of me that happened to get what he wanted."
He clawed at Morro's hand fisted in his gi. "Destiny chose me to be the Green Ninja for a reason-"
"Ha! You think you're special? You think you're worth something?" Suddenly Morro jerked his hand forward so his head banged into the bars of the cage. He cried out in pain as he crumpled to the ground, cradling his aching head.
"You're nothing," Morro laughed as he walked away. "And that's all you're ever going to be."
Then suddenly he wasn't in a cage; he was in front of Master Wu- a young Master Wu- blushing as red as a tomato and twisting his fingers into impossible knots behind his back as he waited for his sensei to open the card.
"I know you're not-" He explained haltingly when his teacher's eyes widened upon seeing the "Happy Father's Day" written inside. "I know I'm not your- I just… wanted to make you something to say, like, thanks, and it happened to be Father's Day, but that doesn't mean that I think that-"
He gasped when Master Wu hugged him. "I love it."
But, when he pulled away, it wasn't Master Wu but Samukai kneeling in front of him, brandishing a Dark Dagger dripping with ectoplasm.
"Well?" The skeleton demanded as he thrust the knife deeper into his leg, dragging it slowly, agonizingly slowly through the muscle of his calf.
He jerked his head back and forth. They'd put the muzzle back on him so he couldn't even scream to release some- any- of the pain…
Lloyd was already screaming when he woke up, grabbing his head to quiet down the voice yelling in his mind. "It's okay, Morro! It's okay!"
Distantly, he felt an arm around him and heard Kai saying, "Just let him out, Lloyd!"
Scrambling for the Soul Stone, willing to do anything to quiet the loud noise ringing in his ears, he said shakily, "Come out, Morro."
The ghost tumbled out of him, landing on the floor on all fours and huffing like he just ran a marathon. The ninja gasped when they saw his back. The back of his shirt was in tatters, and they could clearly see a jagged cut an inch wide spanning the entirety of his back, but it was curved almost in the shape of a letter or other-
Their eyes widened when they realized what it was. An Anacondrai. A crude imitation of the Anacondrai tattoo that Garmadon and the other cultists carried on their backs. Chen, leaving his mark on his victim.
When Morro regained his breath, he spoke in a low growl, though he remained on all fours on the ground and did not raise his head.
"I gave you my Soul Stone to protect," Morro grounded out, every syllable perfectly enunciated. "Not abuse."
"It's okay, Morro," Lloyd reassured, though he was still shaking and not quite sure he would ever stop. "I wanted you to."
"Don't lie. I felt how scared you were," Morro snapped, glaring at Lloyd over his shoulder. The others gasped again when they saw the three horizontal slashes across his left cheek. "I'm not that person anymore. I don't want to make people afraid. I don't want to make you afraid…," Morro trailed off, his expression becoming like that of a lost child.
"It's a two way street. I felt what you felt too," Lloyd said quietly.
"How could you possibly think you deserve what they did to you?"
Morro stiffened, turning his face back toward the floor. "Give it back," he muttered.
"Huh?"
"I said, give it back!" He snapped, turning around and snatching the small green stone out of Lloyd's hand and immediately pressing it to his stomach.
"Wait, Morro, will you have to go into the long sleep?!" Jay asked in alarm, watching as the Soul Stone disappeared into Morro.
"No. It's not broken." Even as he said this though he slumped with exhaustion, his eyes fluttering shut. "I'll just have to… rest…"
Jay scrambled to catch Morro before he face planted, and the ghost collapsed, unconscious, against his chest.
Lloyd had already fallen back asleep, curled up on the window seat.
"Hey, are they going to be okay?" Jay asked worriedly, eyes roaming over Morro's battered body and cringing every time he spotted a new injury.
"Lloyd, yes," Zane replied, bending down to inspect Morro as well. "Morro… eventually."
"Geez, they really did a number on him," Kai commented as Jay managed to lift Morro in his arms and carry him over to the unoccupied bottom bunk. "I can't believe he didn't tell even after… even after they did all that to him."
As Nya continued driving them in dizzying circles in order to lose anybody attempting to follow them back to their base, she said wistfully, "I never thought I'd see the day when Morro's stubbornness was a good thing."
Me either, Nya XD
So, now that I am FREE of the life-sucking, mind-numbing, soul-crushing prison known as school (totally not exaggerating XD) updates will be Wednesdays and Saturdays (unless I go on vacation or something, in which case I'll include an author's note about it :D)
Reminder for if you follow Five Times Morro Trusted Wu: updates are Mondays and Thursdays :D