It takes two
Chapter 21
Home is a people
MarySue9084: Thank you! :D
PrincePacman47: Not everyone is as heartless as they seem, including Garmadon. And while Lloyd's 'Never give up' policy is a good one, It will just make things harder for Nya (You'll just have to wait and see what I mean). Gosh, sometimes I don't even know how to respond to your reviews, they're so awesome. And for the record, the decision that Liv might die was totally at random, and I have taken your alternate endings into account. My family's also trying to talk me out of killing Liv, so yeah. It may or may not happen, but only the future chapters will tell if it's a dream or vision.
The next few chapters of this story will focus less on the ninja in the first realm, and a bit more on the ninja in the city. Thank you both for the reviews and support! On to the second part of 'It takes two!'
What makes up a home?
Probably a roof, for starters. Some walls, to keep unwanted guests out. A door and windows, so you can see what's going on in the world outside your home and allow certain people in. And then probably some furniture. Maybe a kitchen and a couch. A TV and a sitting room.
That's what a normal house is.
No, Lloyd just had to take the phrase, "Home is where your family is." Or, "Home is where your heart is," way to literally. Because instead of his home being a bunch of cement and bricks mashed together, Lloyd's home is a bunch of elemental teenagers who just died! But hey, home is where your family is. And right now, Lloyd can't get to his family. But home is also where your heart is, and his heart is still here, still beating.
NOT!
Lloyd's heart was ripped out and smashed to pieces by Harumi. So that's gone, too. He lost his home, he lost his family, he lost his love, he lost-
Lloyd gasps as Misako rubs the disinfecting wipe over his many wounds. "Sorry, this might sting a bit." Misako says, quietly. She turns around briefly to steer the boat with her free hand farther down the canal to the rendezvous point with Nya and Pixal.
Rendezvous point with Nya and Pixal.
With Nya and Pixal.
Nya and Pixal.
Nya.
Pixal.
"Do they know?" Lloyd asks, his voice a choked whisper.
Misako doesn't ask Lloyd what, exactly, Lloyd means by that. Because she already knows, she saw what he means. So she just shakes her head. No. Lloyd sighs heavily. He doesn't know what he's going to tell them.
Hey Nya, Pixal! Don't know if either of you saw the colossus crush the bounty, the bounty that Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, and Little Wu were on! Or as you might know them, Kai, Nya's brother, Jay, Nya's boyfriend, Zane, Pixals boyfriend, and our beloved friend Cole and Sensei Wu. Now if you don't mind, I need to go lock myself somewhere and sob dramatically because it's all my fault that they're gone-!
Lloyd leans over the side of the boat, Misako eyes him wearily. As if she knows that he's considering leaping over the side into the water and not coming back up. The water looks very inviting at the moment.
Look, Lloyd's trying, he's desperately trying to look on the bright side. To be positive. To be the ninja that never quits. To be the ninja that he told Harumi he would be. But that ninja is gone, he's dead. Died on that sky tram as he was forced to watch his brothers and uncle suffer and die.
Lloyd doesn't know who he is now. He's been a lot of people in his life.
He was Lord Garmadons bratty kid from Darklys school for bad boys. That little boy died in the temple of fire. When he found out he was the Green Ninja.
Then he was Lloyd Garmadon, the prophesied Green Ninja to defeat the dark lord. The boy died when he was swallowed by the overlord and became the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master.
Next he was the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. Died when he gave up his golden power.
After that, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon was back. Garmadon's son, youngest ninja, younger brother, Green Ninja. And for the longest time, the boy was alive. He didn't drown with his father when the preeminent was drowned in the waters of Stixs. No, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon died when the Sons of Garmadon revived his father from the dead. He died in Kryptarium prison.
And lastly, we have Lloyd. Just Lloyd. The man who is just a boy. The Ninja with a corrupted twin sister and a broken heart. He died on the sky tram along with his brothers and uncle.
Now Lloyd needs to find out what mask he's wearing today.
Lloyd lets his hand reach over into the murky water of the canal, but he snaps it back when the muscles in his shoulder protest violently. Rubbing his shoulder, Lloyd leans back on the boat's side. Misako steers the small boat into a dark, eerie tunnel. Nya and Pixal are on the other side of the tunnel. Lloyd knows that much.
He decides to think about what he's going to say to them.
Once he's got a somewhat good way of explaining to them what happened, he decides to think about his...other problem. Because he wasn't able to save his brothers, but he will not lose his sister. He can't lose her, too.
The tunnel opens up, and Lloyd can see that they're near the edge of the city, in front of a warehouse. The sun peeks over the horizon, casting warm light over a dull, destroyed city. Misako helps Lloyd from the boat, and she slings an arm under him, walking briskly towards the warehouse. Lloyd limps after her, trying to keep pace. Misako lets him lean on the warehouse's steel wall as she knocks on the door.
Once, Twice, A third, then-
The door swings open, Nya holding her spear point at Misakos neck. The elder woman doesn't even flinch, just holds her hands up. Nya sighs, throwing her spear aside and hugging Misako tightly. Lloyd stumbles his way over, and Nya goes to hug him too. Dragging them both inside before slamming the door with a thud.
"You're here." Pixal says, she visibly relaxed. Walking away from where she stood by the Samurai X mech and giving Misako a tight hug. Dareth pops out from a corner and comes running over to Lloyd.
"We thought you guys were gooners!" He says, patting Lloyd on the shoulder. The green ninja flinches away, and Dareth pulls back his hand, thinking that his touch had hurt Lloyd, when it was really his words (And maybe a bit of his touch, too).
"Lloyd? Are you okay?" Pixal says, coming over to him.
Lloyd tries to speak, to say that he's totally fine. But he can't, because he's not. His lies won't work this time. Nya is at his side now, but Lloyd can't hear what she's saying over the obnoxious thump of his heart.
Nya pulls Lloyd to the ground, her hand gingerly hovering over his shoulder. "Are you hurt?" She says.
More than you could imagine.
And Lloyd can't keep it in anymore, because they're so worried about him, and Lloyd doesn't deserve it! He doesn't deserve their care and comfort when he couldn't protect his brothers, his uncle. When his sister still dies in his arms. He doesn't deserve it. Harumi was right. The greatest villain is the one who gets away. And Lloyd's a pro.
"I'm so sorry." Lloyd chokes, tears in his eyes.
"Lloyd, you don't have anything to be sorry for." Nya says, her hand rests on Lloyd's shoulder, and he doesn't flinch away.
"No." Lloyd shakes his head. "You don't understand, I'm so, so sorry!" Pixal sits next to Lloyd and Nya on the floor, her bright green eyes quizzical. She looks around the warehouse, then at the door, and then back at Lloyd.
"Where...where are the boys? Wu?" She asks. And the flood gates really open. Lloyd chokes on a sob, unable to stop the flow of tears. It's all too much in so little time. Harumi's betrayal, Kryptarium, Liv's death, his brothers, his uncle's deaths…
"The c-colossus." Lloyd cries, wiping his eyes. "It - it got them. And they couldn't - couldn't get free - and - and-"
Nya gasps, a hand going to her mouth. Pixal shakes her head in denial. "They're gone." Lloyd says, softly. "I'm so sorry."
Nya stumbles away, gasping. "No." She says. "No they're not! They can't be! NO!" She yells in heartbroken denial. The loudest scream Lloyd's ever heard tears through the warehouse, echoing off the walls as Nya screams her pain out. Pixal stands still in shock, a hand over her heart.
"It's all my fault!" Lloyd cries, his fingers digging into his skull. "If I had just jumped when they told me too, if they didn't come back to get me, they would still - still be-"
"Don't you ever say that." Nya chokes, her voice wet and stuffy as she sobs. "They wouldn't want you to think that, Lloyd. They wouldn't want you to think it's your fault."
Pixal takes Lloyd's hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Even though our friends are gone, we still must fight for them." She says, her voice filled with too many emotions for Lloyd to pinpoint.
The three of them hug tightly, as if they let go they'd all fall apart under the weight of their grief. Nya sobs into Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd clutches them even tighter when Misako and Dareth join a few moments later, and the last members of the ninja sit in silence. Taking the time to process who was lost, and who wasn't
Kai sat up with a gasp, rubbing the back of his head. Little Wu stood over him, a small wooden staff in his tiny hand. The small sensei wacked Kai on the head again, and the fire ninja swatted at the child in annoyance.
"Ugh, where are we?" Kai groans, sitting up.
"Not in Ninjago, I'll tell you that." Cole says from where he's propped up on what looks like the bridge of the bounty. Zane, Cole, and Jay are already up, working around the bridge.
"Yeah, I figured out that much." Kai huffs, walking over towards his brothers. The roar of a dragon splits the silent air, and Kai whirls around to see a huge, red dragon soar above him. "You guys saw that, Right?"
"We saw it." Zane pipes up, hammering down on what looks like a radio.
"Where...are...we?" Kai says again, looking around the barren wasteland of an island coast.
"The realm of Oni...and Dragons." Jay says, gesturing around at the various dragons flying around a sky with a black sun. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Misako, Pixal, Lloyd, and Nya have spread themselves out around the warehouse. Dareth went on a food run, since Misako, Pixal, Nya and Lloyd are all wanted "criminals." As much as Nya wants to comfort Lloyd, or Pixal, or Misako, she needs to help herself first. Sitting in the shadows of the warehouse, Nya pulls out a bundle of photos from her gi. Cressing the faces in the picture.
It's one of her and Jay, on their very first date. After he unlocked his true potential. Jay is kissing her cheek, and Nya is laughing, cotton candy in her hands. Nya rubs a thumb over the photo, her eyes welling with fresh tears.
She wipes the tears away, not wanting to soil her precious memories. She slips the photo back into her pocket before pulling out one of her and Kai. This one's newer. Right after they'd found their parents. How will she tell them about Kai?
Ninja don't last forever.
Those were his last words to her. Ninja don't last forever.
The last two photos Nya pulls out are ones of all of them. From when Lloyd was still a bratty kid. Cole, Zane, Jay, Kai, Wu, and little Lloyd all stare back at her. Their expressions beaming with joy. The last photo is of her, Kai, and Lloyd. Kai has Lloyd in a choke hold, his knuckles in Lloyd's hair. Nya is yelling at them to sit still for the picture, but she's smiling all the same.
Nya remembers how upset she was with them. But now she holds this picture like it's a lifeline. They are her lifeline. These are the memories she has of her brothers. Her friends. All the smiles of the photos hold some of her best memories. They hold the happiest years of her life.
Pixal slams the hammer down on the Samurai X mech, pounding out all the dents. She hasn't felt like this since Zane sacrificed himself to stop the overlord, but this feeling...this crushing, suffocating weight that drags her down deeper and deeper into her grief.
She doesn't like it.
But she doesn't fight it, either.
Zane can't rebuild himself this time. He's not going to come back this time. She's not going to see him again this time. But Pixal still has hope. She's still holding out for him, and she doesn't know why. Zane's smarter than that. He would've found them a way out. Zane's smarter than that.
Pixal would've known if he died. She has half his heart. She would've felt it, she would've known it. She has half his heart. She would've felt it.
She should've felt it.
Lloyd sits up in the rafters, watching what's left of his family without really seeing. The rafters are doing nothing for his aching body, whatever tea Mystake gave him yanked him from the edge of death, but gladly skipped over everything else that's wrong with him. Lloyd doesn't really mind, though. The pain gives him something other than death to focus on.
He thought this mission would bring them back together. Like after Zane sacrificed himself. Chen's tournament brought them back together, forced them to be a team when they didn't want to be.
They entered that tournament broken. And they left whole.
This was supposed to be just like that. They would come back together to stop the Sons of Garmadon, he found his sister, and they would be whole again. They would be together again, but now they've managed to fall further apart.
Flashes of the last twenty-four hours flash in his mind. Kryptarium, Livs death, His brother's death. Somehow Lloyds managed to watch his family die all in the same night.
What you saw is your path. It is her path. It is the future. The future can be changed, destiny can be avoided. His grandfather showed him the path so he could prevent it, so he could stop it. And Lloyd will stop it. He has to stop it.
Liv pounds down the barrier in her mind, dark energy powered fists filled with rage and determination. 'It's no use, daughter.' Garmadon's voice echos around Li's prison, and her pounds harder on the wall, trying to block him out.
"I don't care!" Liv screams, slamming her bloody fists into the wall again. "I'm going to get out, and when I do you'll be the one trapped back in my mind!"
Garmadons cackles bounce sharply around Liv's mind, leaving a loud ringing in her ears. 'There's nothing to escape too! The ninja are dead! Killed by your own creation!'
"The stone colossus was your creation! Not mine." Liv retorts. She's heard the same thing over and over. She refuses to believe that the ninja are dead. Her father told her Lloyd was dead, and Lloyd is alive. She can feel it, she knows it.
'Ah, but it was formed with your powers. And I used those powers to destroy the Ninja!'
"LIAR!" Liv screams, sending a blazing hand into the barrier. The entire prison shudders, cracks forming along the walls of her mental cage. Garmadons cackle had long since stopped, and the holes in the barrier were quickly being filled.
Liv throws herself at the wall, trying to create enough space for her to slip through. Her father is fast, but Liv is faster. She slips through the cracks and sprints blindly through the darkness of her mind, sending orbs of dark energy at anything that catches her eye.
Liv gasps. She gasps. "Yes!" Liv exclaims, looking over the city. Her joy quickly fades at the sight of her home.
Smoke rises from almost every building, sirens and screams ring out among the streets bikers engines roar down roads and back alleys. All the TVs either show the battle in Kryptarium, or a game show called ultra hunt.
Livs eyes float around the city, she can see everything from the top of Borg tower. Her eyes fall on the battle of Kryptiruam playing on a massive TV in central square. She shudders. It wasn't you, Liv tells herself. Not you. Never you. Papers fly around in the wind, the faces of Nya, Lloyd, Pixal, and Misako on them with 'wanted' in big bold letters.
Lloyd.
Liv focuses, her fists light with pure violet flames, and she pushes them back. Focusing harder on the green that she knows is there. Lloyd. She calls out across the city. Lloyd, answer me. Garmadon is pushing against the blockade around their minds, the roles have been reversed, and now the captor is captured.
'Lloyd, answer me.'
Lloyd's head pops up, almost slamming into the roof of the warehouse. "Yeah?" He says, disturbing the silence of the warehouse.
"What's that, Lloyd?" Misako calls, putting down her book.
"Didn't you call me?"
"No one said anything, Lloyd."
Lloyd nods to himself, leaning back on the rafters and closing his eyes. 'I'm calling you! I know you can hear me, Lloyd!' Lloyd opens his eyes, annoyed. He's about to ask who's calling him when the voice registers to him. His head shoots up, his eyes bright.
"Liv!" He shouts, his voice echoes through the warehouse, drawing eyes not from the name that left his lips, but the joy that the name carried. "Liv is that really you?"
'Course it's me, you idiot! Who else would it be?' Liv pauses before adding, 'Is it true?'
"Who are you talking to?" Pixal calls up to Lloyd. The green ninja leaps down from the rafters, careful not to land on his bad ankle.
Lloyd doesn't need to ask what Liv's talking about, and his eyes subconsciously fill with more tears. "Yeah, it's - it's true." He chokes. Liv is quiet as she takes that in, and Lloyd can feel her mood shift from joy to that same crushing depression Lloyd feels at the thought of his brothers being dead.
'Well, I'm...i'm so sorry, Lloyd. I wish I could be there.'
"Thanks. I wish you could be here too." Lloyd says, his voice a whisper.
"Lloyd! Who the heck are you talking to?!" Nya yells at him, and Lloyd turns around to face his worried friends and mother.
"You can't hear her?" He asks.
"Hear who, Lloyd?" Misako says, her voice tinged with concern. She looks like she's about to press her hand to his forehead, but Nya does that for her. Lloyd swatts Nya's hand away, annoyed.
"I'm talking to Liv!" Lloyd says. "She was able to contact me through our - our twin telepathy? Yeah, our twin telepathy."
A grin pulls at Nya's lips, and Misako brings a surprised hand to her mouth. "What's she saying?" Pixal asks, her own eyes gleam with a small spark of hope.
'I'm going to try and reach the others - give me a second.' Liv says, something shifts in the warehouse, and Lloyd knows that he's not the only one who can feel it.
"Are you sure you can do that to this many people at once?" Lloyd asks, but then there's a bright flash of light, and Liv stands in the middle of the warehouse.
"Liv!" Nya yells, overjoyed. Misako, Lloyd, Nya, and Pixal run over to the blond girl. Liv smiles brightly, but it soon fades when Misakos hand goes right through her.
"What in the world…?" Misako whispers, she waves a hand through Liv again, and the blond girl shoos it away.
"Hold on." Liv huffs, she closes her eyes, then raises a hand to rest upon Misakos shoulders. "There we go." Liv cheers, and then the hug resumes. Pixal and Nya let go of the embrace a few moments later, letting Misako and Lloyd have their space with Liv.
Lloyd backs away, his eyes glassy. Nya pulls him into a hug, trapping him in a gentle headlock. Misako pulls back from Liv, holding her daughter at arm's length. Liv is crying as Misako says, "You've grown so much."
Liv laughs wetly, hugging Misako tightly before letting go. "Come here, Lloyd." Liv says. Nya lets Lloyd out of the headlock, and he all but sprints into Liv's open arms. They both Laugh in sync as Liv topples to the floor. They hug tightly for a solid two minutes before standing up.
"Okay, while I am glad to see you are okay, Liv, how are you here?" Pixal asks, her bright green eyes roving over Liv.
"Oh, uh, I'm not really here. The SoG are using Borg tower as their base of operations, and I broke out of my mental barrier when Garmadon told me…" Liv pauses, her breath catching in her throat. "When he told me that my powers are what created the clousses, that I'm the reason that - that they're not here."
Everyone goes silent at that, but Nya walks over and gives Liv a soft hug. "I already told Lloyd, stop trying to claim blame that isn't yours."
Liv nods. "That's good advice." She laughs, before continuing to tell Nya, Lloyd, Pixal, and Misako how she escaped the mental prison and formed a link to reach Lloyd.
"So you're here...literally in spirit?" Lloyd laughs. Liv nods, chuckling.
"You could say that. I think if I focus, I could keep myself here, but that would give Garmadon full control over my body, my powers…" The ninja get the jist. Liv can't stay. No matter how much they want her too. That would mean surrending her body to Garmadon, her powers to him, that's something they can't do.
"At least we know you can take control." Pixal says, trying to keep the mood as positive as it can be given the circumstances.
"Yeah, I'll try to sneak out of my mind every now and then to come see you guys as a ghost." Liv huffs, slinging her arm around Lloyd. At her touch, Lloyd remembers what path they're about to walk down. What could possibly be his sisters doom. And he freezes.
She's happy right now, what's left of his team is happy right now. Their smiling softly, and the horrific events of the last twenty-four hours have been temporarily forgotten. He's not ready to tell them just yet, he's not ready to spoil the joy.
So for now he'll wait, and he'll enjoy his sister while he still can.
Night rolls around, and the warehouse's occupants are finally ready to crash. It's not really comfortable, to say the least, but at least Lloyd can go to sleep knowing that what's left of his family's safe.
The only blankets (That are still incredibly thin), go to Misako and Liv. Turns out Liv hadn't eaten since Garmadon took over. So she and Misako automatically get the blankets. Nya curls up on Lloyds right, and the two sleep like that for a good while. With Pixal powered down near her mech, Misako sleeps near the door, and Liv curls up on Lloyd's left.
Lloyd subconsciously runs a hand through Liv's tangled blond hair. She looks like she hasn't slept in days. She probably hasn't. Liv stirs, sleepy green eyes locked with Lloyds, she moves to sit up, and Lloyd tries to push her back down when his hand goes right through her. Liv flickers in and out of existence as sleep pulls her, but she forces herself to stay solid.
"Mmm, go to sleep." Liv whispers.
"You go to sleep." Lloyd retorts, a yawn escapes him, and Liv raises a tired eyebrow. Lloyd sighs, but he can't hold this in any longer.
"I'm scared I'll wake up and you won't be here." Lloyd says in a hushed tone. Liv's fully awake now, and she scoots closer to Lloyd, throwing an arm around him.
"I'm scared, too." Liv admits. "I'm scared that he'll use me to hurt you again. To kill someone again. I was so afraid when I thought I killed you, Lloyd. I was terrified that the line between me and him was blurred. That I was no better than our father…"
Liv lets her head droop on Lloyds shoulder, and Lloyd twirls a strand of her hair in his fingers. "What's it like?" He asks. Liv doesn't even question him.
"It's dark. I can see what he does, but I have no control. I can feel when he uses my powers, it's a violet flow of power leading outside my prison. Sometimes I can stop the flow, other times I can't. There's a barrier between me and him. My mind and his. But I've never been in his mind, I've never crossed the line to get there."
Lloyd doesn't say anything, just continues to toy with Liv's hair. "You'll be back though, right?" He asks, daring himself to hope. "I'd hate for this to be our last get together during all this."
Liv chuckles softly. "Yeah, I'll try my best." She says. "Same time...say, Next week?"
"Yeah. "Lloyd agrees, wrapping his arm around Liv. "Same time next week."
Liv curls next to him, her eyes closing. "See you then, little bro."
When Lloyd wakes up the next morning, Liv isn't there. He starts to sit up when movement at his side stops him. Nya is still asleep on his shoulder, and Lloyd settles back down. There's no trace of evidence that Liv was even there.
That's the problem when your home isn't a place, but people.
You're always losing them.
You guys got lucky with Liv. Like I said, not everyone is as heartless as they seem. And now Liv can take control long enough to visit the remaining ninja in the city, so that's a plus (Probably the only plus from this depression chapter).
What do you think of Liv's nifty little trick, huh? She wasn't actually there, but she was there in literal spirit. And Liv could stay with the ninja as sorta like a ghost, but then that would mean surreding herself, and her powers, to Garmadon. Speaking of Garmadon, Garmadons taking over Liv's body is like Morro possessing Lloyd.
Next time: The sons of garmadon sweep the city for the "wanted criminals" known as the resistance, Nya and Pixal train Lloyd to be the resistance leader they all need, Lloyd learns not to lie about potentially dangerous injuries, the secret of the possible future is revealed, and Harumi chooses her side once, and for all.
GreenGirl~