it's 11 PM and I need to sleep so no review replies

I poured my blood sweat and tears into this chapter enjoy

"Here." Bansha handed Soul Archer a slice of bread, which he immediately began to eat. "Don't eat too fast, you'll make yourself sick."

"I'm already dead." He gave her a half smile. "It can't get much worse than this, can it?"

"I suppose not." The ninja had taken Soul Archer back to the base, and given him a room where he could rest and recover. Bansha had taken it upon herself to take care of him, it seemed. Lloyd was surprised how attached to him she seemed to be – she had never shown any signs of missing their Soul Archer back in their timeline. The Archer himself, Lloyd noticed, looked very different without the hood. He had a light beard over the lower half of his face, and, unlike Bansha, fairly normal grey eyes. Right now, he looked almost friendly, but Lloyd could tell that his face could easily turn cold in a second.

The others were starting to leave, except for Soul Archer and Bansha, of course, so Lloyd followed them out. He should check on Morro 2. First, though, he wanted to say something to the other Lloyd.

"Lloyd?" He fell into step beside his double, who was at the back of the group due to his crutches.

"Mm-hmm?" The other blond acknowledged him.

"Can I talk to you privately for a minute?"

"Sure." The other him slowed down until the rest of the group was out of the hallway. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say… I kinda get how you feel about my Morro now." Lloyd twisted his hands together. "Tori… in my world, she nearly killed me, and threatened to kill everyone I love. Being around this version of her makes me… uneasy." The other him was silent for a few moments.

"I guess you're right." He said at last. "But… you never started spewing hate about her, like I did with your Morro."

"I think I'm a more forgiving person than you. I had to be, to bring Morro to our side and get my father back."

"True." The other him shrugged. "Well, it's nice to know we understand each other a little better."

"Yeah." The pair started walking again. "I'm gonna go check on evil Morro."

"You do that." The two turned opposite directions at a fork in the hall, Lloyd 2 following the others while Lloyd headed towards the prison. Upon reaching it, the blond opened the door to see that, to his surprise, Morro was asleep, curled up in a corner of his cell. Smiling slightly, Lloyd stepped in and closed the door behind him. Unfortunately, the click of the door startled the ghost awake, who sat upright with a gasp.

"Have a nice nap?" Lloyd asked in a not-entirely-unfriendly voice, sitting down against the wall opposite his cell.

"Oh. It's you." The former king muttered, looking down at the ground. "I did, actually. How'd the mission go?"

"Kai 2 got murdered. He's a ghost now."

"'2'?"

"The one from this universe. And we freed all your prisoners." Morro scoffed.

"Not my prisoners. Not anymore."

"We also found your right-hand-man."

"Right hand…?" The ghost looked confused. "I don't have a right hand man. Unless you count Reena, but she's a girl."

"Soul Archer." The blond folded his arms.

"Oh. Him."

"It was cruel of you to lock him up like that, trap him in a dark pit and let him starve."

"In my defense, the Preeminent told me to."

"She pulls all the strings, doesn't she?"

"Yes."

"Still. You've done so many cruel things, at least some of those had to be your own idea."

"Fine. Chopping off Lloyd's leg was my idea. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to do the same to his other leg – or either of yours." The ghost glared at him.

"What about making Morro blind? Was that her idea or yours?"

"Hers. Not that it matters, it's not like it's permanent." Lloyd froze.

"Wait- it's not?"

"You mean his sight hasn't started coming back yet?" The former king tilted his head. "Odd. It usually does by now."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"That's- that's amazing! Morro is gonna be so relieved!" The blond grinned, running a hand through this hair. "I have to go tell him!" Scrambling to his feet, Lloyd turned to leave, but stopped at a shout from Morro.

"Lloyd!" The green ninja turned around to see the ghost holding up the empty package of dried fish. "Can you… bring me more of this? I'm hungry." Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

"You ate all that while I was gone?"

"You were gone for more than a day, and you didn't give me very much before that…" It almost looked like he was blushing. Ashamed to have to ask his greatest enemy for food?

"Sure." Lloyd smiled a bit. "And give me the package, I'll throw it away for you." The ghost pushed the plastic package through the bars, and the human boy picked it up before leaving the room. He didn't seem as bad as he had. Even his hostile comment about chopping off his legs seemed halfhearted and forced. That was a good sign. As he started down the hallway, Gin skidded around the corner and crashed into him, knocking them both to the ground as she let out a yelp.

"Whoa, careful…" Lloyd sat up, rubbing his had where it had knocked against the wall. "What's going on?"

"Charlie!" His sister exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"We had her locked up! Where did she go?" It took Lloyd a moment to realize what she meant, but as soon as he did, his eyes widened in shock. She was right. Charlie had been in the dungeon, but then when they went to lock Morro up there, she was gone.

"Oh crap, you're right." He stumbled to his feet. "Do the others know?"

"No, not yet."

"Go tell them. I have to go tell Morro something." The blond hurried off as Gin stumbled to her feet as well. Charlie's escape was bad, but they beat her once, they could beat her again. And nothing could get him down now. Not after the news that Morro was going to be able to see.

TheDarknessReturn

"I'm thinking of something that starts with… B."

"Is it big?"

"No, not really."

"Small?"

"Fairly small."

"Is it yellow?"

"Uh… it could be."

"Is it alive?"

"Nope."

"Is it… made of wood?"

"Ehh… sometimes?"

"Is it modern?"

"Nope."

"Is it a tool?"

"I guess."

"Is it made of metal?"

"Usually."

"Is it… a bolt?"

"Nope."

"A baster?"

"What's that?"

"Never mind. A bat?"

"Those are alive."

"I mean, like, a baseball bat."

"A what?"

"Never mind. I give up."

"It's a bucket."

"Ohhh." Morro and Indigo were avoiding the rest of the group, lying next to each other on his bed in his room. Morro had taken the permanent role of guesser in their game of 20 questions, since Indigo often didn't know what things were. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't very good at it. "Another win for you."

"Wanna play another round?"

"No, I'm not good at this." The ghost boy sighed, leaning back on his hands. "I didn't have a normal childhood.

"Well neither did I, so that's not excuse." He felt Indigo shifting beside him. "Do you think we can reform the other you?" Morro frowned. He hadn't been expecting that question.

"I dunno. I hope so. But… his winning reinforced his ego. So now he might be too far gone. On the other hand, Lloyd did say he was acting lost and desperate. So maybe. But there's no way to be sure."

"Yeah…"

"What do you think?"

"I think we can get through to him. We basically have eternity to do so."

"True." Morro sighed, opening his eyes. "I'd try to talk to him, but in my condition, I don't think it's…" he trailed off. "Wait a minute." For a moment, he almost thought that his vision… changed a bit. He blinked, then his eyes widened in shock. There was! Though faint, he could see light!

"What?" Indigo asked.

"I-I can see!" He exclaimed, sitting up straight. "Just a little bit, but I can see light!"

"Really?" He felt his girlfriend sit up as well. "Can you see me?" He turned, squinting in her direction.

"I see… I can see your glow! Not much else, though."

"But your eyes are healing! You'll be able to see again!"

"I know!" The wind master scrambled to his feet. "I've gotta go tell Lloyd!"

"Okay. I'll come too." He heard Indigo stand up as well as he headed towards the door, then stopped.

"Oh… I need to keep my eyes closed, or I'll start trying to rely on my sight again."

"Yeah, that's not a good idea just yet." His girlfriend took his hand in hers. "I'll make sure you don't hit anything."

"Thank you." He let Indigo lead him out of the room and down a hall, then she stopped at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Morro! Indigo!" Lloyd's voice, then the footsteps skidded to a stop. "I have great news!"

"I have better!" Morro countered. "Well, to me, anyway."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

"I can see!" The ghost boy opened his eyes with a grin. Instead of reacting with surprise, like he had expected, Lloyd laughed.

"That's my news! I was talking to the other you and he said the blindness wasn't permanent!"

"Wait, he told you something?"

"In passing. He thought I already knew."

"Oh."

"But, wait- if you can see, why is Indigo leading you around? With your eyes closed?"

"I can only see a little." The ghost waved his hand in front of his face. "Basically just light. I can see Indigo 'cause she glows."

"That's handy. Come on, let's get to the meeting room."

"Something up?"

"We just realized that Charlie's been missing since we brought Morro 2 back." Oh crap, that's true.

"Alright, we're coming." Morro let himself be lead down the hall as Indigo followed Lloyd, a satisfied smile on his face. Things were looking up for the first time since he was blinded. They were at an advantage, with dozens of seasoned warriors on their side and the Preeminent's greatest weapon their prisoner. It should be easy to capture Bansha as well, and anyone else the Preeminent put in charge. This time, he was certain they had won.

~FFF