I had literally the best dream last night and I'm still in shock so there's probably some typing errors in this just fyi

Review replies:

Kat: OH YES I CAN

Ebony: Pfft yes. And yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable guess. :) Oh of course I'm capable of making it worse. I can, and I will. No spoiler. And yes. Absolutely.

Nicktastic: *wiggles eyebrows*

Monile: *sweats nervously*

NinjagoMLP: When am I not planning something sinister?

Windy: Same. That's why I write them! :D

Jayden: *lenny face*


The first thing Morro 2 did when he entered the Cursed Realm was collapse.

"Morro!" Lloyd exclaimed in alarm as the ghost's knees buckled and he thudded to the ground. The others looked over in surprise as the former king groaned, clutching his head. "What happened? What's going on?" The blond dropped to his knees next to him, grabbing his shoulder.

"P… Preeminent…" The wind master choked out. "Her presense is… s-so strong here…"

"I mean, we're basically inside her." Jay 1 pointed out flatly. Lloyd glared at him.

"Is she hurting you?" He asked, turning back to Morro.

"Y-yeah… this is why I d-didn't want to c-come…"

"Um, we have another problem." Cole 2 called over. The blond boy looked up to see that his Morro was having a similar reaction, curled up in the ground with his hands on his head. Indigo was next to him, watching him with wide eyes. She didn't seem to be affected.

"What's going on?" She asked in alarm.

"The… the Preeminent rejected me, and since we're connected, her presence has a negative effect on me…" Morro 2 hissed through clenched teeth.

"It must be working on Morro, uh… B too, since you have the same… presence?" Lila reasoned. Morro 2 managed a stiff nod.

"S-something like that."

"Well we have to do something. If you two are in too much pain to move, we'll have to…" Lloyd trailed off as Morro stopped shaking, then blinked his eyes open, sitting up. A quick glance up revealed that his Morro was sitting up as well, looking around.

"Her presence faded." Morro 2 spoke up. "The pain is… less. Her consciousness is elsewhere. As long as she's focusing on something else, we won't be hurt like that. Let's go." Lloyd stood up, offering the former king a hand. As it was accepted, the blond glanced around, trying to get his bearings. They were in one of the tunnels leading to his father's prison. He felt almost like he had gone back in time.

"It's this way." Kai 1 said, taking the lead and heading down the tunnel to their right. Lloyd's double followed close behind, by himself. His leg had finally healed enough for him to walk without crutches. He still hobbled a bit, but his prosthetic wasn't perfect, so that couldn't be helped. The rest of the group soon followed, Morro 2 trailing a few feet behind the rest. Lloyd started to slow down and join him, but a hand grabbed his arm, and he looked up in surprise as Morro 1 dragged him over to the wall.

"Lloyd, remember when you accused me of being jealous?" he asked in a low voice.

"Uh… yeah?"

"Well, I am. Can you please make some time for me? You've hardly left his side in days." There was an unmistakable note of disgust in his voice as he nodded towards his double, but it softened again as he said, "Please?"

"Oh. I will, I promise." Lloyd nodded. "But not right now. The other you is… he's pretty scared. Of you and the others as well as just this place." Morro sighed.

"Okay, that's fair. Just don't forget, okay?"

"I won't, I promise." The blond started to go back towards Morro 2, but paused. "You know, if you two could get along, I could spend time with both of you at once." Morro 1 huffed.

"I don't think so. I don't like him, and you said yourself he's scared of me."

"Then do something nice for him. Stand up for him when the others are being jerks to him." Lloyd sighed. "Morro, I think you need to stop viewing him as just another you. He's not just what you would have been if you had won, not just you if your darkest dreams had been realized. He's a different person. He might have had the same beginning, but his life wasn't the same, starting way before he took over the world. This timeline has never been exactly the same as ours, something different drove him to victory.

"You need to stop viewing him as a bad memory, and view him as a person." Morro opened his mouth to speak, but the blond went on. "I know he did some horrible things, but so did you. And you changed. When I first brought you to the Monastery, you were shy and confused. Wouldn't you have liked it if someone had stood up for you?" The ghost gave him a slow nod. "Right. And this Morro has it worse. Most of us openly hate him.

"If you stand up for him, you will send a message to the others that maybe he's not so bad. I don't think any of them trust my judgement anymore. And you would get him to start trusting you." Morro was silent for a moment, staring at the floor. Finally, he sighed.

"Alright, I'll try."

"Thank you." Lloyd gave him a relieved smile. "Now, we've fallen behind. Let's go catch up."

"Right." The two sped up, hurrying after the rest of the group. They caught up just as the others entered the room with Chen and Clouse, Kai 1 just reaching them.

"The ninja? What are you all doing here?" Chen asked in surprise. Lloyd 2 ignored him, going up to Clouse and folding his arms.

"You know a spell to free my father." He said bluntly. "Perform it, and we'll set you free." Clouse sneered at him.

"You really think I'll free him, after all the trouble I took to get him trapped here? I think not, boy."

"Well, if you don't, we'll kill you." Lloyd drew his sword. "Slowly and painfully. And then you'll turn into a ghost, and you can still free him. So we'll just kill you over and over again until you do as we-"

"Alright, alright, fine." The sorcerer interrupted. "I'll do it."

"Good." With a couple swings of the deepstone sword, Lloyd send the bars of his cage clattering to the ground. Clouse climbed out of the cage, and the Coles promptly grabbed his wrists. The magician looked back and forth at them, then frowned.

"Wait, why are there two of you?"

"Long story. We'll explain back in Ninjago." Lloyd 2 headed down the tunnel, sheathing his sword again. "And don't try any funny business, we outnumber you 20 to 1." The blond said over his shoulder. "We'll slice your fingers off before you can say 'hocus-" The green ninja cut off abruptly, stopping in his tracks as he looked down at the path ahead of him. Speeding up to a run, Lloyd 1 hurried to catch up and saw what he saw: A grey-haired figure suspended between two poles by chains attached to his wrists. "Dad?" His double whispered. A moment later, he broke into a run, nearly stumbling as he ran down the hill. "DAD!" His father looked up in shock at his voice.

"Lloyd?" His son fairly tackled him when he reached the bottom of the hill, wrapping his arms tight around his chest. "Lloyd, I… I thought you were dead! After Morro took over…" The elderly man trailed off, looking over Lloyd's shoulder to see both Morros descending the hill. "What in Ninjago…"

"It's complicated." Lloyd 2 shook his head as he pulled away, grinning. "Some of them are from another timeline. One of the Morros is on our side, the other…" the blond shot a nasty glance at Morro 2. "…is a prisoner."

"I… see." Lloyd's father's double caught sight of him and his dad. "I see there's another one of both of us."

"Yeah. They rescued you a long time ago in their world. That's how they know what to do."

"Which is?"

"Clouse knows a spell to release you." Lloyd 2 stepped back and glared at the sorcerer. "Well?"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming…" Clouse muttered, walking up to Garmadon and pushing Lloyd 2 aside. "Don't get in the way, boy. I can't have you interfering." The blond bristled, but didn't protest, backing away. The sorcerer walked around Garmadon a couple of times, inspecting his chains, before stopping in front of him and beginning to chant. His hands began to glow purple, Garmadon 2's chains following suit a moment later. Lloyd felt a twinge of nervousness, like he had when it was his father being released. Clouse raised his voice, and Lloyd 2's father groaned, his head slumping forward onto his chest. Lloyd 2 stepped towards him in alarm, but Kai 1 quickly grabbed his shoulder.

"This is supposed to happen." He whispered. After a few more, tense seconds, the sorcerer thrust both hands forward, and the room flashed white, Garmadon 2 being thrown backwards as his chains shattered.

"Dad!" Lloyd 2 hurried forward, shoving Clouse aside before kneeling next to the elderly man on the ground. "Are you okay?" His father lifted his head, giving him a tired smile.

"I'm better than okay." He said softly. "I'm free." Lloyd 2 returned the smile, pulling him into a tight hug.

Abruptly, the cavern shook, and everyone looked around in alarm. Then there was a cry, and Lloyd whirled around to see Morro 2 collapse.

"Th-the Preeminent…" He gasped. "Sh-she's not happy…"

"What does that mean?" Morro 1 remanded.

"Sh-she's gonna… c-collapse the tunnel!" He scrambled to his feet, but promptly stumbled to the ground again. "W-we have to get out!" There was another tremor, and this time, a loud cracking sound came from directly above Lloyd 2 and his father.

"Lloyd, Garmadon, get back!" Morro 1 shouted. Lloyd's double scrambled to his feet, tugging his father up with him. The elderly man tried to keep his footing, but was too weak and fell to his knees. Morro 1 ran over to help, but the ground shook under him and he stumbled a few feet away. Lloyd 2 lost his grip on his father as well, crying out as he stumbled back. Right above Garmadon 2, a huge rock started to come loose.

"DAD!" Lloyd 2 screamed, stepping towards him. Unfortunately, his prosthetic leg chose that moment to snap, sending the blond boy sprawling on the ground.

"Someone help them!" Dyana yelled, and Morro 1 dashed forward, grabbing Lloyd 2 and pulling him out of harm's way. He turned back to get Garmadon, but suddenly froze, gasping and falling to his knees. The Preeminent. Before anyone could do anything, the huge rock came loose, and Lloyd could only watch in horror as it fell towards the helpless man on the ground.

Thud.


You know they'll be fine.

Aaaanyway, I'm going to get back to dreading my class this afternoon. Toodles.

~FFF