It was in the middle of the night. Lloyd woke up, unable to sleep anymore. He was nervous. Wanted to get out. This castle in the middle of Ninjago was not what he wanted. It was so wrong. People were thrown into a dungeon so he and the other oni could feed.
God, when did his life become so complicated? He used to be a small child, not worrying about anything in the world. Then the ninja came and with them his burden of the green ninja.
Sometimes he asked himself, what would've happened if they never found out he was the green ninja. What if it had been one of the others? He wouldn't have had to fight his father, or the overlord. None of the foes they had faced.
But when he thought about it again and again, he would never want to change anything. He found his mother, had friends, and for a long time in his life, there were people that cared.
But everything changed when Harumi came. She was the reason he had learned about his oni heritage, and the dragon too. Since then he didn't feel normal anymore.
Staring at the ceiling, Lloyd asked himself if they should head out already. It would be safer. The longer they waited, the faster his mind would change. He had already caught himself loving the taste of the fresh blood he had gotten from the woman. He had promised not to kill her, but it was harder than he had expected.
He wanted to stop, but he couldn't. He wanted more of it.
Lloyd sat up, shaking his head. They had to go. He couldn't waste time. And he was afraid of the thoughts he could get once the venom had spread far enough. He pulled down his shirt to look at the mark. In the beginning it had been rather small, barely there. But now it was covering the whole upper left side of his chest.
The dark moon seemed to pulsate with power and darkness. He dared to touch it, only to withdraw his hand immediately. It burned, but in a good kind of way. Odd. His father had never said anything about the mark, not clearly.
The blond thought it was just a way to show what the oni had done, but maybe there was more to it. For a short moment his head began to hurt. It was only for two minutes, maybe a bit more. And he had his suspicions where it came from. No matter. It would have happened sooner or later. This one sign.
Lloyd took out his contact lenses, stuffing them into his pocket. He wouldn't need them anymore once they got the crystal. When he left the room, Morro was already standing there, waiting for him. Going in the middle of the night would be the best. No one watching them leave. Safest option.
So they left the large castle, and to their surprise there were no guards anywhere. Kind of strange. Lloyd would've bet there would be at least some of the oni guarding the large place. But no such thing. He could live with it.
Once they were a few feet away from the castle the former ghost finally spoke.
"You can take them out now. They won't see it here. Not like we're going back"
Lloyd averted his gaze. His suspicions were confirmed. He just looked at the streets and the buildings, hoping the other would just leave it alone. Getting that he didn't want to talk about it. Then again, this was Morro he was talking about. He had never been the patient kind of person. And since he had lived inside his head a few weeks, the blond was sure he would be able to read him like an open book. Time for an excuse.
"I'd rather not. It's better to leave them in place for now. Just in case some of the oni are walking around the city" he lied. And he begged, oh he begged the gods the other would buy it.
"I don't believe you. You have been eager to get them out since you started wearing them. What's wrong?" the other asked.
Lloyd sighed. Of course he wouldn't buy it. Why did he ever think this would work on him? Trying to lie to the guy that had been living in your head long enough to know you. As if it would have worked.
"I really don't want to. I don't want to know how my eyes look like now. I know they're not really green anymore. Still, I want to leave it that way until we get back" he gave the former ghost a pleading look. Pleading he would let it go.
And to his luck, he did. "All right."
Walking through the city made Lloyd feel different things. One part of him hated what he was seeing. All the darkness and destruction. It just wasn't right in his eyes. Another side though seemed thrilled at the sight. Perfectly fine with the change of the city.
This was the part he had to get rid of. The side that tried to break through and get to the surface. It took them long enough to get to the place. The place where the pieces of the realm crystal were still lying around. The closer they got; the more Lloyd could feel the strange feeling in his chest grow.
He swore he felt the mark pulsating on his skin. It hurt, like earlier when he had touched it. It felt as if it was trying to push its way inside. Trying to vanish from sight and retreat into his body. The blond didn't like where this might be going.
"We need to hurry" he suddenly said, dragging the former ghost with him.
"Why the sudden rush?" Morro asked.
"Something doesn't feel right. Something's changing" he explained quickly, running through the hallways. He yelped when he was forced to stop, Morro looking at him intensely.
"Why? What's wrong?"
Lloyd bit his lip. His mind was fighting against itself whether to tell him or not. Which was an easy choice to the blond. He pulled down his robe. The dark moon was fading. But not like it was vanishing forever, more like retreating into his torso. The skin around it was being pushed down, a little bit of blood seeping from a wound. It was happening.
The wind master cursed under his breath. He began running again, not saying anything. He understood what the other was saying. Time was running out.
Soon enough they reached the right room. The pieces of the realm crystal were lying around in the small room. They had no time to waste. Grabbing a cup that was lying around, they began to collect the pieces.
Lloyd tried to control his breathing. His time was running out. The pain in his chest was growing and with it came a headache. Both of them were quick to bring the small pieces to the cup, running around the room, careful not to miss a piece.
But as his hands touched the last piece, his world stopped. The pain in his body stopped with it. It was over as fast as it had started. He suddenly felt something different in his mind. He felt better than he had ever in his whole life. He had the last piece.
A smile tugged at his lips. The last piece. Without it, they had nothing in hand against him. He slowly stood back up. And maybe, just maybe, he could get away with it. Oh who was he kidding. He had more power now, just like the oni had said.
Never in his life had something felt so right. The chance he had to be something no one could get in the way of. Not even the wind master.
"Lloyd, what's wrong?" the other asked.
Lloyd looked up; the piece of the crystal clutched tightly in his hand. Why explain anything? He pulled down the robe once again, the moon now fully gone. Morro's eyes widened. He hadn't expected it to happen so fast now.
Hadn't it fully started just five minutes ago? Why was it going so fast now when it took days in the beginning? It made no sense. He was quick to grab the bowl with the other pieces.
"Lloyd give me the last piece. We can still fix this" he tried to reason with the blond. He held out his hand, hoping that there was still one part of the real Lloyd present.
Lloyd looked down at the piece in his hand. He moved it around a little before putting it in his pocket, taking something else out instead.
"I think I'll keep it. But I won't be needing these anymore" he held out his hand, showing the other the purple contact lenses he had been wearing.
"But I thought-" the wind master started.
"You thought I was still wearing them. Turns out my eyes turned purple for real in the middle of the night" he shrugged, letting the lenses fall to the ground.
He called upon his powers. Instead of the light green, it was now a dark purple. He instantly threw it at the other. Morro had barely time to dodge it before it would've crashed int him, instead hitting the wall. But it did gaze his arm.
To his surprise it left an open flesh wound, blood falling to the ground. Morro clutched his arm, pressing onto the bleeding even though it hurt like hell. He didn't know Lloyd's power could do that. He always knew of the power the blond held, but he never knew it could be this destructive.
"I suggest you leave and tell the others before I change my mind. Which would be for a second time today. And I really don't want to" Lloyd meant, glancing at the other.
For the first time in so long, it hurt Morro to run away from someone he was supposed to help, but he had no choice. The others needed to know. So he turned and ran. What other choice did he have? Along the way he heard Lloyd's power crashing into the walls.
The blond always aimed right. He was missing him on purpose. Why though? Did he want the other to know he could hit him at any time? He had no time to think about it, rushing out of the building and summoning his dragon.
Whatever happened to cause the other to change so quickly, he had to talk with Wu about it. And he was sure to get a beating from Kai, which he kind of deserved.
Glancing back one more time, Morro saw Lloyd standing at the entrance, looking up at him. Lloyd could hit him without a problem, but again, he didn't. He shook his head. He made a promise to himself to get the real Lloyd back out.
And nothing would stand in his way
I am so sorry it took so long. I lost track of time and just saw how long it had been since I updated. So I quickly wrote this chapter. I hope it's okay for you. I was kind of running out of ideas and then this popped up in my mind. Now I have at least three new chapters I can fil with ideas. But as always feel free to post your ideas. Things you would love to see in this story. And tell me: what do you think caused Lloyd to change so fast now? I'm sure you know. It's not really hard.
Leave a comment
Bye