Lloyd isn't sure what to do after his father is defeated, if he can even call the husk of the man that was the current incarnation of Garmadon his father. He's only relieved to feel the constant thrum of green energy filling his lungs and speeding through his veins, they give him some form of assurance.
Like an anchor keeping him tied to the present even though the events of the past few weeks are threatening to pull him back to being powerless, back to fighting his father, back to losing his family, back to her- oh.
His mind had drifted away from Harumi during the chaos of the final few days of his father's rule over Ninjago.
Sure, he had watched her from across the city.
Watched her knees buckle as ash tangled her hair and debris trapped her in a grave of concrete.
He hadn't meant to look, he was clutching Skylor in his arms and should have run but his dumb chest hurts hearing her scream and he whips his head to face her.
Her eyes meet his and he swears there's some glimmer of acceptance in her eyes, a plea for forgiveness.
He guesses that's why he's here now.
The sand of the desert clings to his skin as he drives across the dusty roads outside Ninjago city. The heat smothers him and Lloyd wishes he had brought a fan with him or maybe Nya-no he can't do that.
He can't subject the other ninja to fixing his mistakes, they already got sent to another realm for him and Lloyd isn't exactly sound with the fact that they had brushed nearly dying because of his recklessness as "nothing to worry about".
He wants people, no, he wants his family to stop treating him like he's fragile and might shatter at any second.
The combined realization that his first kiss stabbed him in the back, resurrected his father and then was crushed by a collapsing apartment complex hit him all at once and his bones felt hollowed out.
Kai tried to cheer him up with sweets and comic books, but Snickers bars and Skittles can't mend a broken heart.
Still, it's not like he talks about Harumi anyway, he only flinched when he heard Nya whisper to Zane that the commissioner's team had found her body in the wreckage.
"The commissioner doesn't know what to do" Nya says " The emperor and empress were her legal guardians and she burned them alive."
"Why not lay her to rest at the city's cemetery?" Zane questions. "Would that not be a common procedure within Ninjago City's law?"
Nya shakes her head, eyes flickering to Lloyd for a second, she knows he's eavesdropping and won't have her baby brother have to deal with his lunatic ex anymore. Lowering her voice she hands Zane the morning newspaper and the Nindroid's eyes widen.
Lloyd doesn't need to see the newspaper to know what the headline is, he's seen the citizens of ninjago's protests against the Palace of Secrets on patrols.
Running across the same roofs he had walked with Harumi the night they met, he watched as masked citizens tattooed the building with expletives about the ex-princess.
He could have stopped them, knocked the spray can out of their hands and enforced the law like a good vigilante ninja would.
Instead he watches with a mix of emotions stirring in his brain, and decides that confronting them would mean having to face those emotions.
Tomorrow's tea and all he's still a kid and can barely understand what happened the past few weeks, let alone how he feels about them.
He tunes back into Nya and Zane's conversation, trying to pick out what they're saying over the sound of Jay and Cole bickering over the remote.
"The commissioner doesn't want to bury her in the city she destroyed and start another riot" she explains as Zane nods his head in agreement.
"Perhaps one of us should go speak with the morgue and cemetery, I can-" Zane is interrupted by Lloyd standing up and reaching for the keys to his bike.
"Lloyd what are you-" Nya begins but is cut off by Lloyd's frustrated growl.
"I'm gonna go deal with her, ok?" he bites out.
He doesn't mean for it to be so harsh, and the look Nya gives him confirms he's stepped out of line, FSM she could quirk an eyebrow and incinerate someone will the death glare she produces.
"Lloyd that is not a wise decision, you are still recovering" Zane urges and Nya nods her head in agreement.
"Guys I'm fine my arm is all healed up, see?" Lloyd bends his arm in a sweeping motion to prove it and Zane flashes a look of concern at Nya.
"I did not mean physically Lloyd" the Nindroid clarifies, worry laced in each syllable.
Lloyd freezes at that, and somehow sinks even lower into the ground of his anxiety's.
Of course Zane is worried about him being crazy.
He released the serpentine, failed to defeat the overlord, got possessed, failed to save master Wu and then failed to recognize Harumi's obvious lies. He wouldn't trust himself either.
He ignores the other ninja's concern and decides it's time to end this. Maybe if I lay her to rest I'll finally get some closure he thinks before pushing hard on the gas pedal and driving through clouds of dust out towards the morgue.
Time to end this.