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GreenNinja429: Thank you! Honestly Morro and Lloyd are just embodying annoying younger cousin energy right now (I should know I was that cousin ;) Thank you for those amazing sound effects. They really set the mood lol. I saw your reviews on my request book. Thank you XD I am thinking of one day going back and fixing up old errors ,but right now I've come to the realization that I wanna finish the story just because of how easily my style changes with time. Geez what is it with me and tangents? Also you 100% right that was very naughty Lloyd do I need to pull out the 'get along cuffs' again? Also,Also feel free to make a request anytime ;)
Chapter 35
"Ow…ow...ow ow ow OW! STOP!" Lloyd cried as he wrenched his head away from the demonic hands trying to tear his scalp apart.
"What did I say about noise?" Koso dunked the blonde back into the clean cave water well, formally clean before the rings of mud and dirt started forming around them.
"Can't you just snap your fingers and make us clean?!" Lloyd spluttered as he resurfaced.
Koso regarded the pleading eyes with cold dispassion as he broke off another chunk of soap from atop his bedrock perch.
"Of course ,but that begs the question why would I waste the energy on two brats who think spell casting is as easy as-"
"As snapping fingers?"
Lloyd almost choked on a mouthful of suds as another soap covered hand forcefully rammed itself into his greasy locks.
"Oh real mature!"
"Go rinse off." The sorcerer ordered sharply as his cold gaze turned elsewhere.
At the far side of the pool a young ravenette was curled up in a small ball of self pity with his hair acting as a mud covered shield.
"Morro." Koso tersely called. The boy looked up hesitantly and their wanna be sensei pointed to the spot Lloyd had just occupied. A few feet back Jasper struggled against his rope leash tethered to a stalagmite.
The water rose up to Morro's nose as he slowly approached. The sorcerer eyed him warily before he began scrubbing the soap in. Dark curls easily tangled together ,but Koso merely hardened his gaze as he increased his strength.
Morro said nothing and he squirmed less than Lloyd, only moving every so often when Koso managed to dislodge a particularly stubborn knot.
From where he stood drenched beneath the waterfall Lloyd couldn't help ,but grumble to himself.
"Stupid...who does he think he-and he talks funny too! Waste energy my...butthole, bet he just doesn't know how.." That might explain the first day they both arrived. What a weird way to introduce yourself to your long lost relatives. Hey kids! You've been kidnapped! Now go clean up while I start dinner!
Everything about Koso was off. Lloyd couldn't believe he used to have a family. How the heck could anyone live with someone so…...weird.
As the blonde combed through his bowl cut bangs his thoughts circled back to the first time he and Morro arrived then he had begun to notice the cave's... reverence, like the walls themselves demanded respect, that feeling only grew later in the training room. If Lloyd were being honest it all reminded him of the big guy's tomb and as his gaze wandered the beautiful water he could easily picture the first spinjitzu master's reflection staring back at him in these same waves.
'Guy sure had a thing for caves.'
"Alright." Koso abruptly announced, tugging on the green ninja's attention. "Your turn, mutt!" The sorcerer looked close to demonic as he smiled back at Jasper. The wolf barked aggressively and it looked more like the beginnings of a sparring match than a bath.
'Wait then where's-'
"Lloyd," The green ninja jumped as he turned bewildered eyes to a boy with loads of soap bubbles wearing down his raven locks and plastering them to his pale skin. Morro looked as close to a drowned rat as you could get and Lloyd almost choked as hard on his laughter as he did the soap.
"Move." The wind master refused to make eye contact as he shoved his way under the waterfall's shower.
Guess they weren't gonna talk about it. Ok….
Lloyd turned back to the scene between Jasper and Koso. The sorcerer had the wolf in something of a headlock whilst Jasper's jaws remained tightly clamped around Koso's elbow. If it pained him, their kidnapper didn't show it even as blood began dribbling down to mix with the muddied water.
Jasper on the other hand howled for all his worth as Koso rubbed a fresh bar of white soap into his filthy furr.
Both boys winced.
Lloyd could barely just make out some of the teal eyed man's mutterings as he manhandled the canine further into the pool.
"You mutt…..how could you-did you honestly think….you're sleeping outside from now on!...If you ever tear up my floor like that again I'll-"
And even so Koso showed surprising care as he meticulously scrubbed, there wasn't so much as a spec remaining when he finally finished from where the blonde could see.
Lloyd shivered as those viridescent eyes soon turned back to him and Morro. He spun his head in the opposite direction. Morro's hair was finally free of soap and all the evidence of their fight was long gone. The energy master watched the shorter boy shake his head like a dog as he exited the premises of the waterfall.
Morro caught him staring. "What?" Lloyd shrugged again. "I don't know, just still wondering why Koso hasn't turned us back yet."
The ravenette scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? He's trying to teach us a lesson."
"You really think so?"
"What else could it be?!"
Lloyd hummed, a strange feeling coiling in his gut as they climbed back onto the rocky shore and began drying off with the patches of cloth placed there. "Yeah well, petty lesson if you ask m-"
"Are you two done blathering or do I need to reinstate the no noise rule?"
The blonde nearly jumped out of his skin as he whirled around to see Koso looming over them with a pouting Jasper begrudgingly standing at his side.
Both boys metaphorically zipped their mouths shut as the sorcerer snapped his fingers.
Lloyd unknowingly wobbled into Morro as they reappeared inside the cottage. Koso spared them both a stern look before ordering them both to sit at the kitchen table whilst he banished Jasper outside through the fixed front door.
The wooden chairs offered so little support both boys had to stand if they wanted more than their eyes visible above the hickory surface. They watched with apt fascination as Koso calmly sat across from them, his arms neatly folded like that of a school teacher.
"You two," He began. "are going to tell me exactly what happened the very second that I left."
Lloyd swallowed as his gut began to churn like a snake lost in the sand. "I uh...we…"
Koso's expectant glare refused to leave him. The blonde closed his eyes hoping to gain courage from the darkness.
"We-"
"JaspershowedLloydasecretroominthemiddleofthenighthefoundyouroldspellbookthereandwethoughtifwecouldusesomemagiconyousomehowwe'dbeabletoescape,thenwemessedup,turnedourselvesintokidsandpanicked,buthenJasperrealizedsinceweweresmallerwecouldfitthroughoneofhistunnelssohedugusoutandwetriedgettingoutofthevalley,butthisstupiddomeistoobigandwideandthenyoushowedupsohereweare!" Morro gasped for breath as the upper half of his small body leaned hard against the table.
Koso eyed him funnily before he eventually sighed and looked back to Lloyd. "I take it you agree with that version of events."
The blonde nodded cautiously.
Koso sighed again as he pushed himself to a stand. "Well I figured as much when I found this in your bedroom." The sorcerer produced the stolen spellbook from his robe. "I want you both to know how incredibly lucky you are. Do you have any idea how easy it would've been to inflict something permanent!?"
Lloyd meant to offer a clever retort when he winced instead. What? Why did he do that?
"So when are you going to turn us back?" Morro asked hopefully. Koso seemed to age another 100 years all at once as he slowly exhaled.
"It's not that simple."
"What?!" They shouted together. He had to be joking, this was part of the punishment wasn't it?!
"It was a powerful spell." Koso explained. "Even with the potion I mixed in with the soap it's going to take some time for the magic to completely wear off."
Lloyd felt a frustrated chill coil around him as he began to whine. "But can't you just like snap your fingers or some-"
The sorcerer knelt down to their level. "The effects of magic can only be un-done through the use of potions made from earthly ingredients, if I were to try to turn you two back on my own I'd simply be adding to the magic already present and that can get dangerous with a spell this powerful."
"But-"
"Enough." Koso firmly declared. Lloyd whined again, clutching his stomach as a strange feeling began bubbling up the back of his throat. He shivered as a strange coldness crept up along his toes all the way to his head, making everything begin to pulse and blurr.
He looked back at Morro who refused to take his eyes off the floor all the sudden. His hands wandered towards his midsection as his legs wobbled again. Lloyd started to feel dizzy.
Wait, was Koso still talking? What was he saying? He didn't feel so-
"Are either of you brats even listening?" The raven haired man leered down at them with irritation plainly visible in his gaze and Lloyd didn't know if it was him or Morro who puked first ,but either way the floor was soon covered in throw up.
ForgottenFamily
After he forced some weird medicine down their gullets Koso decided to not shut up for the next twenty minutes and Morro was beginning to think he never would. Their jailer nursed a wet cloth onto Lloyd's forehead whilst the wind master felt a loose drop slide down from the one on his own.
"Of all the idiotic things you could've done you chose to runaway in the middle of a rainstorm and catch a fever! Of course! How could I expect you two to even disobey me correctly!?"
The ravenette boy turned to face the wall, already muttering defences to himself.
"Not like it doesn't f**king rain here all the time anyway."
If Koso had heard him he didn't act on it, instead turning to face the open doorway after his long rambling finally died away to discontented mumbling.
Lloyd looked dizzier than a newborn deer as he drowned in the oversized sheets.
"If either of you so much as move a finger out of bed or do anything other than rest, I'll string you both up over an open fire." The sorcerer half heartedly threatened over his shoulder.
"But it's still-"
"Lloyd."
Koso harshly eyed the blonde for a half a second before finally retreating into the hall, wisely leaving the door wide open.
Morro released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he burrowed harder against the wall. The exhaustion he'd been fighting since they got back finally broke through and his last thought before he fell victim to sleep was that he was surrounded by some of the most contradictory people to ever exist.
ForgottenFamily
He had forgotten what the room looked like, Koso realized as he sealed a new barrier and cloaking spell onto the old door. It had been like a decaying painting in the pack of his mind, each and every detail chipped away at with each passing year until only the hollow outline remained.
And yet still he was too much of a coward to step one foot inside.
He doubted he ever would, not even if Tera in all her fury reappeared in front of him right now demanding so.
"Please are you kidding,You know I've survived far worse than this oh frightful husband."
"Why're you looking at me like that? You know the longer you worry the longer I'll have to stay like this."
"If you're gonna sit there and whine then why don't you change the babe?"
"Don't say things like that infront of her!"
"I'm getting better."
"I can walk just fine dammit so calm down!"
"I made it outside today, progress!….."
"I almost got to the door..."
"I….I can't get out of bed...Koso.."
"Please, hold them close for me. I love-"
"Fool." Koso muttered as he tread towards the kitchen. If he were clever about it he could easily splice more healing herbs into their dinner.
ForgottenFamily
Morro writhed to consciousness as annoying rays of sun swept to his side of the room. Hours must have passed.
His stomach felt better ,but everything else felt foreign and cold and for some reason the possibility of going back to sleep seemed impossible without Jasper so the boy yawned, sitting up to see Lloyd staring at him.
The blonde looked only slightly less pale than before as he swung his legs back and forth upon the ledge of his bed. A wooden bucket sat at each of their bedsides case their 'stomachs got the better of them' again.
The damage to the floor they'd wrought yesterday was long gone, definitely a product of Koso's magic. (of course Morro wouldn't be surprised if the old man was bitter enough to undo it once they were better just to make them fix it on their own.)
The ravenette looked back at Lloyd, a dusty red quickly coating his cheeks as he tried to forget the events of the previous night.
'Stupid...'
The energy master looked oddly nervous, his entire form fidgety and trembling as he suddenly spoke. "H-he didn't find it."
The former ghost raised a brow. "Find what?"
Llod averted his gaze. "The uh...you know the," He lowered his voice. "book with the paintings, I found it under the bed when he left. I guess he didn't notice?"
Morro tilted his head, swinging his own legs out. "So? It was the spellbook that actually had a chance of getting us out of here."
"I know ,but...at least it's something." Lloyd shrugged.
Morro sighed as he leaned against his massive pillow, prepared to do nothing ,but stare up at the ceiling for the next hour when suddenly he felt something prick his forehead. He sat up straight and realized a piece was a folded piece of paper. Annoyance made his eye twitch as he crumpled between his tiny fists and shot the blonde a dirty look.
Lloyd didn't appear to care though, kicking his feet as he continued looking at Morro with boredom. "We could uh….since there obviously isn't much else to do why don't we….work on your 'lessons'?"
The wind master was confused for half a second before he realized what Lloyd was talking about.
He eyed him skeptically. "Uh…" Beat ceiling staring. "sure I guess."
Lloyd nodded, an awkward pause settled between them as the blonde's gaze swept between Morro and the doorway.
Before the former ghost could call him out on the strange nonsense Lloyd abruptly edged himself off the bed and tiptoed slowly over the first floorboard. At the first creaking sound the boy ditched the effort and just bolted over to Morro's side.
Time seemed to halt as they both held their breath,watching the doorway.
Nothing.
Without hesitation Lloyd flopped onto the ravenette's bed and practically shoved the smaller boy up against the wall as he scattered the papers clutched in his wiry arms across the sheets.
Morro looked at the blonde like he'd started sprouting serpentines from his eyeballs.
"What?" The master of energy quietly asked. "I'm not perfect okay? I can't read that far. 'sides Koso would hear us if we kept having to talk across the room."
The wind master stayed silent as he mindlessly elbowed the boy away so he could breathe. Lloyd hummed,fishing out Morro's earlier work. "Okay, so now that we've gone over what the letters look like we should get to know what they sound like."
Morro chewed on his bottom lip.
"Here," Lloyd shoved a paper in the wind master's lap. "We'll start with A. '' He pointed to the first letter listed on the parchment. '' it makes an Auh sound like Apple, repeat that."
"Auh."
"Good,now let's try B..."
Morro wasn't sure how long they just sat there making random noises like a couple of wild birds. He felt silly,but this whole thing felt silly. Why did so many letters mix and share noises? That made no sense. He told Lloyd so ,but the blonde just shrugged him off saying, "Just how it is."
Eventually they made it to the bottom of the page, ending with a letter Morro had no idea even existed. Z.
"Ok so," Lloyd trailed off for some reason as Morro concentrated on the paper.
"Why don't we take a break?" When the wind master didn't respond he slowly slipped the parchment from his grasp and laid it aside.
Morro huffed in frustrated confusion. Lloyd was the one who wanted this.
'Maybe he just sees how slow you really are?'
"It's a lot I know." Said Lloyd as he reclined slightly against the bed.
The former ghost rolled his eyes as he wrapped his arms around his knees. "Don't patronize me."
"No, really." The energy master insisted. "Honestly you're getting this a lot faster than I did."
"..."
"I mean you shoulda seen me at Darkley's."
"Darkley's?" Morro perked up slightly. "Wasn't that where you went to school or something?" He remembered vague impressions of the place from Lloyd's head, long dark halls, children scarce ,but still there, always there, leering,laughing,scheming. How can we torment the new kid today?
Lloyd snorted breaking the ravenette out of his reverie. "Or something, yeah I was practically raised there."
There was something strange about not really knowing a person you possessed, a person you knew the deepest fears of, a person you loathed for so long,but it was a reality Morro was rapidly coming to terms with as he watched a weird look pass the energy master's features.
"Mom, she…. had to leave and they were the only ones who wanted to take in the son of Lord Garmadon. " Lloyd said without prompting. "It-"
"What about Wu?" Morro sealed his mouth shut as soon as he asked, but he didn't regret it.
Lloyd seemed no less casual as he replied. "I uh, to be honest I don't think he even knew I existed at the time."
"Oh...probably for the best."
The green ninja looked back at him confused.
"I hear the last kid he took in didn't turn out so well….."
Lloyd's eyes widened and the air itself seemed to still, then he threw a hand to his mouth and cracked up laughing.
The wind master's serious expression crumpled almost immediately as he joined the fray.
The two boys giggled at the stupid joke for the next few minutes until a strangely peaceful silence settled between them.
Lloyd drew in one more slow sigh before he spoke again. "But yeah, it sucked. I'm telling you all the teachers absolutely hated me."
"But you were-"
"the son of Lord Garmadon I know, believe me they wouldn't let me forget it. Young Garmadon this and young Garmadon that. I think they just straight up forgot what my first name was." Lloyd chuckled.
At least he still had a name.
"Everyone's expectations were just astronomical."
At least people expected something of him.
"But..to be honest not much has changed. Not really. I mean even you have your expectations of me. I'm supposed to be the strong,innocent, perfect green ninja right?"
At least,at least,at least….
Morro bit his tongue harder than a pain rag. Why did he suddenly feel so…... defensive?
It wasn't fair. The wind master's head felt so scattered nowadays he doubted he'd ever find all the pieces again. Even if he did he wouldn't know how to put them back together. Some days he woke up hating himself, other days it was Lloyd he hated. He hated himself for what he did, he hated Lloyd for making him feel that way, he hated the boy for being kind to him, he hated the boy for not forgiving him, he hated himself for expecting forgiveness.
"Not so fun when it's you getting pushed around is it?"
What did he f**king know?!
Koso had called it a useless title.
But that was so far from the truth.
Being the green ninja meant everything. It was everything, Lloyd had everything,...at least ….when it came to power...so what right did he have to feel sad? Ever.
But maybe that was what Koso really meant. Power is….useless?
No, not possible, no way
This world, every world was ruled by it,but…. Then….why didn't power...
…...why...
…...
'Why didn't it save me?'
Morro hadn't realized he'd been drifting until the sound of footsteps snapped him back to reality.
Lloyd, who had apparently still been talking suddenly stopped, flashing the ravenette a panicked look as he jumped from the bed and grabbed what he brought before dashing back to his side of the room.
Koso appeared in the doorway seconds later, with a steaming bowl balanced in each bags under his eyes looked especially noticeable under the golden stream of fading sunlight.
He went to Lloyd first of course and handed him one.
"I've made soup, it's light enough it shouldn't cause any issues." Koso explained as he came to Morro's bedside next. The ravenette reached two thin arms out to grasp the bowl, ignoring the brief look of concern he got as Koso momentarily eyed his small frame. The wind master bristled as he gripped the spoon he'd been offered, peering at the soup like it might be poisoned. He wouldn't put it past the old man.
From across the room, he could already hear loud slurping noises as Lloyd quickly drained his bowl.
Leaning closer Morro tested a spoonful, then buried habits exploded within him again as he began sucking it down like a firehose.
"I expect you both to keep resting." Koso ordered as his gaze wandered suspiciously between them. "because if either of you want to get better you'll listen to me for once. The potion should begin to take effect sometime tomorrow however if either of you were to prolong your sickness the process will only be expedited, understand? "
Morro wasn't sure who nodded faster.
Koso sighed. "And….If either of you begin to feel worse at any point tonight you are to tell me immediately, is that understood?"
They both nodded again albeit slower.
Then as the sorcerer began exiting through the doorway, Lloyd suddenly called out to him.
"Wait," Koso stopped. "thanks."
The old man spared him a look that Morro couldn't see, then left without reply.
Lloyd waited until their captor's shadow disappeared from the doorway completely before he jumped up and dashed back over to Morro's bed.
"He's weird. " The blonde laughed as he climbed up. "Ok so let's try writing some basic sentences now." He explained, ignoring the wind master's bewildered gaze.
ForgottenFamily
With each pencil stroke the light in the room became dimmer and dimmer until Lloyd had to fumble his way through igniting one of their bedside candles in order to continue. He went through five matches.
The green ninja could also feel exhaustion slowly creeping onto him, and though he felt infinitely better than before the lingering feeling of sickness still weighed on him.
If Morro was anywhere close to a similar state he didn't show it, too concentrated on sounding out the vowels in the latest sentence Lloyd provided him.
The blonde yawned as he crossed his arms behind his neck. The one good thing that came out of this whole situation was the amazing sleep he'd been getting recently. (what, with the lack of city noise, late night turbulence, and last minute missions)
As he felt his eyelids begin to droop, the energy master scrambled for something to do. He grabbed a spare pen and paper and began sketching random lines onto the parchment.
Before he even fully comprehended what he was doing, the blonde drew someone. Who was a loaded question at first ,but when he began adding in random tufts of hair Lloyd effectively decided this dopey stick person was himself. He drew his mother next to him because why not? It was just a stupid doodle.
She wasn't so bad, save for the glasses that looked more like oranges.
He drew his father beside her and gave him the same hair as himself. He remembered one time jokingly telling his father one of them had to change their look and his father pho-panickedly pulled his old bangs back to reveal a birthmark on his forehead that was shaped like a cruddy dandelion.
"Please, son you don't understand!"
Mom and him practically died laughing that night.
Next he moved onto Wu and gave him a beard that looked an awful lot like a pack of noodles (hey at least that's what it always smelled like). After that he started on Kai's spikes making sure they were extra pointy and from there it devolved into a full fledged portrait of his entire family. He even added in Pixel although her circuitry was pretty hard to recreate.
After that, Lloyd wasn't really sure what to do. Most of the page was filled out so, he flipped it to the back.
As the green ninja mindlessly tapped his pencil against the bed a grunt rang out beside him. He turned to see Morro crossing out what he had written and starting over, must have mixed up the vowels again.
Thoughtlessly Lloyd began sketching random black lines back and forth as he stared at Morro's hair.
He didn't realize he was drawing the wind master until he added huge eyebrows and a tiny stick body amazingly disproportionate to the size of his head. He stifled a laugh and doodled a stretched out Koso beside him. Then out of juvenile boredom he gave the sorcerer a word bubble that simply read, "I'm stupid." He traced a large square around the pair and gave the box cell bars, then outside he sketched a crude drawing of himself riding Jasper into the sunse-
"Is this right?" Lloyd crumpled the paper faster than a trash compactor and tossed it under the bed as Morro showed him his work.
The energy master grasped the parchment and began examining it.
The sentence was supposed to be, George got a pet goat.
"You almost got it, it's just George is spelled with a G not a J." Lloyd explained handing back the paper to a cursing Morro.
"I f**king knew it!"
The blonde couldn't help smiling, an eight/seven year old Morro cursing was not something he'd ever thought he'd see.
ForgottenFamily
Morro barely registered himself awake as the last vestiges of his typical nightmares faded to the back of his mind. The room's candlelight was completely dwindled at this point and his 'homework' lay scattered across the bed. Lloyd snored like a log beside him in the darkness.
The wind master shook his head as he sleepily rolled over to face the wall again already dozing back to sleep. As a street kid you had no choice ,but to force yourself asleep, sleep was precious and you took it when or where you could get it.
Still...
He'd give anything to trade dreams with the one beside him.
ForgottenFamily
His face felt itchy as he shoved it into the threadbare pillow. Desperate to hide the snot and tears smothering his features Lloyd forced his breath to still, even as a few hiccups escaped otherwise.
"Don't be a crybaby." He whispered to himself. "I'm not a crybaby."
The boy distracted himself by scratching his face, then his arms, his legs.
'What,' Lloyd sniffled as he tossed and turned in the bottom bunk. 'Is this?'
Was he allergic to the sheets, maybe the detergent,...oh great now he'll be the laughing stock on his first day, perfect, dad would be so disappoint-
Lloyd's eyes snapped to the size of dinner plates. Some just crawled into his ear.
"AHH!" He threw his covers off and jumped up. His body was covered in nasty red spots. He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. When he finally looked back at his bed he realized the cause.
His sheets,his pillow, his covers, every inch of it was covered in fire ants!
A sharp guffaw broke him out of his horrified confusion.
"I got him guys!"
Brad? What was he-The whole dormitory stirred awake and soon enough everything was drowned out by the shrill sound of laughter.
"Damn, good one. Where the hell did you get those things?!"
"Stole 'em from the science lab."
"F**king genius bro!"
"Ah look guys, he's crying!"
"F**king hell you're right!"
"Wasn't this the Garmadon kid-"
Lloyd panted as he shot up into the world of consciousness.
He looked over to see Morro plastered to the wall, showing no sign of stirring.
Lloyd sighed as he leant forward and began gathering the papers. Once everything was collected he slipped off and tip toed back to his bed.
As he embraced the cold sheets, the blonde couldn't help scrunching himself into the smallest shape his body could make. He kept his head pointed toward the ceiling, still gulping down lungfuls of the night air.
He laid as still as possible, didn't move an inch.
But no matter what he did he could still feel them, in his hair, up his shirt. Every minute shift felt like an ant crawling up his spine.
It went on like this for at least an hour.
Lloyd cursed.
He hadn't had this kinda problem since…..since before he grew up.
Of course! One stupid prank years ago and now he wasn't gonna get any sleep because of it. As he lay there Lloyd remembered sleeping on the dorm floor for a whole month after the incident. Remembered feeling scared there too, class wasn't safe either, that's why he checked his seat and desk everyday until he finally got kicked out.
The blonde briefly thought of going back to Morro's bed before he quickly shoved the idea aside. It wouldn't be any better over there, they were both too small and vulnerable. Being a kid well and truly sucked.
Lloyd bet ants never bit his father, probably too scared.
Maybe they were even afraid of Koso….
The blonde hummed as he hopped out of bed for the billionth time that night and walked over to Morro's. With delicacy the green ninja had no idea he possessed, he carefully slid his palms under the wind master's arms and hefted him out of bed.
Thankfully the former ghost didn't stir.
Lloyd grabbed a stray blanket and quietly crept towards the doorway. His hold on Morro was only slightly less awkward than the night before ,but it would work.
When they passed the doorway the energy master held his breath like that would somehow make them both lighter. He stayed impossibly quiet even as a strange thudding noise momentarily spooked him. With his height greatly diminished Lloyd could barely see Koso's sleeping form as they finally exited the hallway.
It wasn't until he stood directly in front of the couch that he could see the sorcerer out as a brick. The blonde sighed,turning to adjust his cargo. Maybe he could just-
"What part of 'rest' do you not understand?" Lloyd eeped as he spun back around. Koso was sitting up casually crossed legged like he'd never been asleep in the first place (though the disorder of his hair,clothes and missing straw hat begged to differ).
The boy quickly gathered his thoughts as he hefted the still unconscious Morro into the limelight.
"M-Morro had a nightmare! Turns out as a kid he was like, super afraid of the dark, said he'd feel safer with an adult nearby." He whisper shouted.
Koso dragged a hand down the side of his face, exasperation evident in his sunken eyes. "He doesn't seem so afraid now."
Lloyd sucked in a breath, laughing to cover his nervousness as Morro's head flopped back onto his shoulder.
"That's good, don't let him know that you know he's scared. I mean you know how he is, too embarrassed to show weakness and all that."
'PleasejustgoalongwithitPleasejustgoalongwithitPleasejustgoalongwithitPle-'
Their captor groaned, pinching the space between his eyebrows. "I swear if this was an idiotic plot to get me sick as well- Alright, fine ,but no-"
"Great!" Lloyd scrambled onto the far end of the couch. He almost tripped in the darkness ,but quickly righted himself. "You'll hardly notice us."
Koso sighed as he leaned back and crossed his arms, watching the blonde squish Morro and himself into the arm rest. "Well if it's just Morro, why don't you head on back to your room L-"
"Night!"
As the blonde buried his head into the cushions he could've sworn he heard something akin to a half hearted chuckle.
ForgottenFamily
Morro yawned, picking his head up off his pil-Wait!
The boy froze up like a kicked goat and tumbled onto the floor as he realized he was in the living room.
"What?" He asked softly. Morro looked up to see Lloyd drooling into the couch cushions whilst Koso sat beside him, eyes closed ,but arms tensely crossed.
What the hell happened last night? How did he-
A loud snore from Lloyd made Morro give up and roll his eyes as he rose to his feet.
It was remarkably still dark outside, with only the barest hint of grey light peeking in through the cottage cracks.
The wind master rubbed his nape as he exhaled a quiet breath. His small muscles felt like they'd just been yanked through a meat grinder, but aside from that he was actually beginning to feel okay again.
Persuaded by the cold, Morro almost made his way back to the bedroom when suddenly he heard a loud thud.
The boy stilled, wondering if it was just in his head-
"*thud*"
Apparently not, Morro refused to acknowledge his trembling as he blindly followed the echo.
For a few tense moments no more sound was made.
Then the cottage door suddenly shook like it was being rammed at.
The ravenette's eyes widened as he took a step towards it.
The wood contorted like mad ,but refused to break. Morro wouldn't be surprised if that was Koso's doing. The ravenette slowly edged closer, wondering if Lloyd had drained so much energy out of Koso with whatever happened last night that that's why both of them had yet to wake.
The master of wind soon found himself pressed right up against the wood. What could possibly be trying to get in, maybe an anim-
The answer hit him at the same time a familiar whine filtered into his ears.
"Jasper." He whispered. Morro heard the wolf whine again as his struggles began to peter out.
The ravenette bit his lip as he breathed a relieved sigh, his heart rate finally returning to normal.
For a few moments, Morro just listened to Jasper's heavy breaths.
Then when the wolf began to whine again the wind master softened his features. He thoughtlessly stretched up to grab the door handle ,but it was firmer than steel, refusing to budge. Again he wouldn't be surprised if that was Koso's doing.
Sinking to the floor in defeat, Morro watched Jasper's shadow dance across the narrow space between the door's bottom edge and the dusty floor.
The former ghost reached a palm beneath the door's underside and rested it upon Jasper's worn paws.
He felt the wolf freeze, then start to relax.
"Good boy." He whispered.
Honestly this story should be titled Morro learns other people's trauma is also valid every chapter while I also learn that proofreading is a thing. Anyways thank you guys so much for reading! I'm glad I took time to update my other stories because going back to this honestly felt so cathartic. I hope you guys enjoyed, if not feel free to offer critique. I'm here for it and I'll see y'all next chapter, have at least a mildly pleasant day.