Lloyd had to fight the urge to throw one of the panels off of the roof of his father's monastery in anger as he watched the red motorcycle disappear into the night.

The panel was loose from the fight with the nindroids, 'has it only been a month?', and it was something to focus on aside from the fact that Cole, Jay and Kai had…

Lloyd broke the panel off the roof, holding it in his hands before turning it green with his abilities, trying to push back the thoughts that had been lingering in his head.

'Would this have happened if I didn't give up being the Golden Ninja? Would Zane be dead if I had just done a better job last time?'

He yelled, trying to vent out his frustrations as he threw the green paneling into the distance, watching as a small green explosion arose from the trees in the distance.

The birds screeching and flying away from the smoke made him wince as the tears in his eyes threatened to break through.

'This is all my fault.'

"You know, last time you were here, I believe I mentioned that I happen to like my monastery."

Lloyd sat up straight at the sound of the voice behind his head and wiped his eyes on his sleeve before making eye contact with his father, scrambling for an excuse. "Sorry, dad. I just...it was loose, and I figured that it'd be better if we just replaced it."

"So you came up here at night, without a coat on, in 35 degree weather, to renovate my roof?" He asked, his eyebrows indicating that he already saw through his bluff, "how did you even get up here without me knowing?"

"I'm a ninja," Lloyd reasoned, offering his father his signature smirk for a brief moment before curling back in on himself, "but you're right. It's not the roof that I'm angry at."

"It's Kai, isn't it?"

"I just don't understand why he has to leave," Lloyd tried to swallow back the lump in his throat, but it was almost as stubborn as the fire ninja himself, "Zane would have wanted us to stick together, and they all left."

The air was filled with a thick silence, minus the sound of a few birds that only just got the memo that the coast was clear from the explosion, before Lloyd was met with his father holding his hand out to him.

"Let's get you inside. I don't know if it's just freezing, or if years in the underworld made it harder for me to think in the cold."

Lloyd took his father's hand and stood, letting himself be led inside of the monastery.

As soon as the pair walked into the doors, Nya was standing nearby, holding a blanket in her arms with tear streaks on her face. Lloyd had heard her fighting with Kai before he left.

She walked forward wordlessly and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders before pulling him into a hug that he couldn't begin to fight against even if he wanted to.

He hadn't been aware how cold it was outside until her warm arms were pulling away from him and he was led to the small table, a tea cup being pressed into his hand by his father

"Thanks." Lloyd mumbled, taking a sip of the warm liquid, noticing the absence of both his mother and his uncle. "Where's mom?"

"She offered to take your uncle to Zane's statue, he's not happy that the others left," His father explained, pouring a cup for himself, "and I'm pretty sure that I could say the same for you."

"I just…" Lloyd trailed off, trying to think without the shivers wracking his body, "Ninja never quit, at least, that's what they always said; but they quit. They all quit."

"Grief takes many forms, son. Some leave to clear their head, some go into a denial state, and others...well, like you said, they continue to press on."

Lloyd swallowed the last of his tea and tried to keep his emotions at bay; logically, he knew his father was right, that once they grieved some, they'd be back; but he was also angry.

Angry at the others for leaving, angry at the Overlord for taking Zane, and...angry with himself. 'If I hadn't given up my golden power… If I had just done better.'

"There are a lot of people to blame for what happened, son. You are not on that list."

Lloyd winced as he put his hand on the back of his neck, looking up at his father, "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," his dad cleared the tea cups before turning back to make eye contact with his son, "it's late, and we just got you over the cold you had. We'll keep talking in the morning, okay?"

Lloyd nodded and rubbed at his eyes while standing up at the table; he hadn't realized just how tired he was, and today hadn't exactly been a walk in the park.

"Night, dad." He spoke, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around him before making his way upstairs and seeing the room where the others had been after…

He walked into the spare room and turned on the light; they had taken all of their stuff with them, but the room still felt a lot warmer then being by himself, even if all of the beds were simply mats on the floor.

He turned off the light and curled up on one of the makeshift beds, the blanket Nya had handed him around his shoulders before squeezing his eyes shut and letting the tears fall on the floor.