Cracking his eyelids open turns out to be a battle almost as vicious as the one he's just fought. There's sunlight, unbearably luminous sunlight beaming down on him, warming his ashy skin and stabbing his eyes, calling forth a pounding ache in his temples.
Lloyd lays on a hard concrete surface, simply wallowing in pain for a good while as he's hit all too suddenly by the full extent of his injuries and a nasty post-battle hangover. The gash on his chest throbs tirelessly, but as he inspects it he finds that it isn't as deep as he feared—it's gonna leave a scar, probably, but he won't die if it goes untreated for another while. Every other wound turns out to ultimately be superficial too. With his body's abnormal healing properties he'll give it a week, maybe two max, until he's back to full strength.
Well… perhaps with the exception of his burns. The skin on his hands sears a fiery red color, probably about to blister and pop any minute. Even just experimentally twitching his pinky sends electricity up his entire arm, and Lloyd can feel it spreading beyond his hands, covering the skin that isn't exposed too—his legs, his chest, his back. It hurts to a nearly sickening degree, the way his clothing clings to his sweaty body and suffocates the angry burns, though it's still nowhere near as bad as what he knows caused them, so he grits his teeth and bears it.
This is the price of victory, one he's more than willing to pay. This can be fixed with time and bandages, heaps and loads of bandages, most likely. Nya had gone over it with him back when he'd just emerged from the maw of an erupting volcano, how exposing burns to the open air would leave them susceptible to infection…
But, frankly, Lloyd can't get himself to give even half a damn about his own injuries, no matter how many red flags get flashed in his face. Not when there's the far more imperative matter of the fate of the universe still going unanswered.
The dust has, quite literally, settled, coating the helipad that he now inexplicably finds himself on like a fine layer of snow. Deciding it would probably be best to figure out why he is currently laying face down on a helipad, Lloyd props himself up into a sitting position, sore arms shaking from the effort.
Rubble and debris litter the remnants of the rooftop, but the actual skyscraper itself isn't rickety or tilted or showing any sign of extensive damage.
It's odd. Weren't they floating at a fatal height above the city just a moment ago? Even if he'd hit this building on the way down to splattering out on the ground like a big, green glob of Douverer guts, surely he'd be far worse off, and, surely, the falling remains of the Oni temple would have rained on the building like meteors and caused critical levels of damage to the infrastructure, completely obliterating it and taking Lloyd with it in its fall.
Instead of being crushed under layers of steel and concrete and insulation, however, he's left sitting with the strangest sense of tranquility.
A cool breeze tickles his cheeks and gently plays with his hair. The thick black clouds slowly but surely dissipate away to unveil an ombre sky of the most bloody reds and delicate pinks, brushed over with a touch of rich yellows and an almost shimmering gold. The most beautiful sunset Lloyd has ever seen.
Is it really over?
He squints at his hand, trying to call forth his power. He gets nothing, not even the tiniest sputtering green spark. He folds his hands into a ball, pressing it against his chest as he allows hope to take root in his heart.
Mystake said that true power never actually disappears. He hopes she's sorely mistaken this time. He hopes that the ultimate power isn't just in a deep, comatose sleep. That it's really gone, back home to where it belongs, in those lush green fields of ethereal golden light that he's seen in his dreams.
It's as simple as a math equation, really. If the Overlord sprung into existence simply to offset the First Spinjitzu Master's power, then shouldn't using up every speck of the Overlord's
counterpart eradicate every ounce of him as well? 1 minus 1 equals 0, after all. If one power is used up completely to remove the other, then, theoretically, nothing should be left.
Giving up his powers to neutralize the Overlord out of existence is a bit of a gamble, he's willing to admit that, but it's more than worth a shot. Because if neither light nor darkness has a weapon powerful enough to wipe the other out, if neither feels threatened by the existence of the other, and if neither has the means or even desire to start a war… maybe… maybe they could then start negotiating, looking for a way to coexist in peace.
Or maybe that's just his gullibility shining through. Seems he can't really shake that childish optimism, no matter how many scars his battles leave him with.
It doesn't even really matter right now, at this precise time. Although, there's no guaranteeing that either the Overlord or The Ultimate Power won't return at a later date—because there's always gonna be both good and evil in people, the source that fuels both sides of the balance—all Lloyd cares about is that the battle is over for now.
Or, well. He supposes that's another question still dangling in the air. There's one more enemy whose defeat is still an unresolved matter.
Harumi is seated on the ledge of the skyscraper, her feet slung over the side, back turned to him.
Nothing in her body language indicates she's even aware that he's regained consciousness.
Her sword lies intact and unguarded by his side, ripe for the taking.
Experience tells Lloyd it would be wise to pick it up, approach her soundlessly and point the sharp blade at her throat before she has time to direct one at his, but it's… not exactly like he's in fighting condition. And that would also be dismissing the fact that she could have slit his throat in his sleep if she was still out for blood, and, well… she did kind of help out tremendously in the end, and he… probably would have been obliterated without her, so…
He lets the sword remain untouched, limping his way over to her. Maybe a different kind of weapon would be more effective in this instance.
"Are—agh…" He bites his lip to suppress a stab of pain that suddenly shoots through his side. "Are you ok?"
Harumi doesn't answer at first, simply turning her head slowly and greeting his eyes with a blank stare. For a long, heavy moment neither of them blink.
"I'll survive," she says, casually shattering the tension. "I think The Overlord broke some ribs, but nothing else feels out of place. Really, my injuries are nothing compared to yours."
Her gaze roams all over his body as she inspects his condition, brows rising in a way that's not exactly expressing concern, more just a silently way of saying, 'Damn, how are you standing and talking right now.'
Lloyd finds no point in furthering that conversation thread.
"What happened?" he asks instead. It's only becoming clearer by the minute that there's a pretty substantial gap of information in his memory, a gap that he's struggling to fill out himself just from the context clues strewn about.
"Your impressive light show made the Overlord disintegrate," Harumi says, the impassiveness still clinging to her tone. "Like ash. Just crumbled, and the wind took care of the remains. Your dragon carried us to safety after the Oni Temple turned to dust."
"Dragon?"
Lloyd's pounding head is having a hard time absorbing the entire load of new knowledge. He hopes that's just the fatigue and not a concussion catching up with him.
Harumi doesn't expand on her explanation. In fact, she doesn't say anything else, submerging them both into an unnerving silence that puts Lloyd's senses into the highest state of alertness. She's always been unpredictable like that—a snake lying in wait for its prey, snapping out with venom-laced fangs and dealing the killing blow only when the time is right. Even when neither of them has the supply of energy needed for a physical confrontation, Lloyd can't help raising his shoulders, tensing every working muscle in preparation for an ambush.
Instead of a hidden blade, however, it's Harumi's words that hit his heart.
"I didn't… This time I never wanted to hurt anyone. Sure I… might have gone too far… Hurting people in pursuit of trying to make sure nobody gets hurt really is quite hypocritical, isn't it?" A bitter, humorless chuckle evades her. "I guess intentions don't matter. I mean, just look at what my venture for petty revenge has led me to…
"I'm no better than the villains who took my parents away."
She pulls her shins to her chest, resting her head on her knees and obstructing Lloyd's view of her face. He swearsif he just strains his ears enough he can hear her quietly sniffling.
Lloyd knows it's disrespectful, but he can't help it—he gawks, barely keeping his jaw from hitting the floor out of sheer astonishment. He's never seen Harumi be this openly vulnerable, not while she meant it honestly, at least. It's always been a game of carefully constructed lies and tiptoeing around truths when it comes to her, Lloyd constantly stumbling over her dishonesty and Harumi getting sick pleasure out of watching him helplessly try to navigate the minefield she herself set up.
Needless to say, he's getting unimaginably tired of her unending game of charades. He's tired of her in general. Mad at her too. Seething, as a matter of fact, and he feels it all the more potently now that his vision isn't obstructed by the rose-tinted filter of foolish, youthful love.
He doesn't recount the exact moment it happened, but the giddiness that would always bubble up in his stomach when he'd spot her, the revitalizing injection of adrenaline at the sight of her smiles, the anxiety that would unexpectedly emerge when it was just the two of them and Lloyd had to somehow fumble his way through a conversation, all those feelings have died a long time ago.
Lloyd's left feeling like an empty husk without it, but he knows it's for the best.
The sweet, generous girl who considered the less fortunate and broke the rules just to do them a good deed, who proved herself to be a capable fighter on top of being an elegant lady within one day of knowing him, the only person he's ever met who knew how it felt being forced to fit into someone else's mold… that Harumi was never anything more than a personality she equipped because times necessitated it. Another weapon for her to use against him.
The real Harumi is jaded, bitter, a manipulator, even a murderer. He's given her plenty of chances to prove otherwise, to show him there's a better person trapped deep below the sea of rage and madness, a hurting victim in need of his help. He's reached a hand out for that weaker, suppressed part of her to grab onto and pull herself free time and time again, he's tried, he truly has.
But Harumi's hatred always wins out in the end. Any glimmer of goodness and potential for change is deftly dispatched as soon as she lets it show.
She may express remorse for her actions now, but it's too late for her. Harumi's obsession with revenge became her own downfall, slowly infecting her and expanding throughout her body as she fell further down a spiral of corruption, a disease that rotted her to the bone and turned her into an irredeemable monster. She's not a good person. She's not even worthy of his time.
So Lloyd is not entirely sure why he takes a seat beside her. Maybe because he owes her, kinda.
…Ok, maybe not really. Saving his life once compared to all the times she's tried to end it isn't really an equal trade-off, but it's the least he can do to repay her openness, if nothing else.
Lloyd mulls his thoughts over unhurriedly, until he lands on something sensible to say.
"Back then… with the Devourer…"
That captures Harumi's attention, a single eye poking out from behind the wall of her hair. Lloyd chews on his lip, choosing his next words mindfully.
"Pythor… he was the one who actually unleashed it. He united the Serpentine and started the whole quest for revenge against the humans who sealed them away. My team let the Fangblades get stolen from right under our noses. We could have ended it all with no casualties if we'd just done our job properly, if we hadn't been so careless. We failed our duty to the public of Ninjago City, failed you spectacularly. But… I was the one who opened the serpentines' tombs in the first place. I was just some clueless kid desperate for attention, I never... I never intended for things to get so out of hand.
"You can blame Pythor, you can blame me, you can blame my entire team. I don't even know who was responsible for letting that mess happen anymore, just that we all had our cards to play, and we all played wrong. That's… that's really not so different from what happened to you."
Lloyd doesn't really know why he's trying to console her. Feeling guilty is the lightest punishment she should be receiving for her crimes.
But… he's seen the world crumble and burn as a result of his own bad decisions, and that's… a feeling not even any of his friends could relate to. Maybe it's their mutual need for connection that's compelling him to open his heart up to her again. If nothing else, at least he's made her aware that she can no longer hold his past mistakes against him.
Harumi is eerily quiet while she sucks up his words, slowly turning her head away from him. She stares with empty eyes at the streets below—streets illuminated by a mixture of blinding blue and red lights, quickly filling with shrieking sirens and police cars.
It's not long before the cops swarm the roof. Harumi doesn't resist arrest, letting her hands be cuffed behind her back without saying a word. Lloyd's too tired to fight back too, though the commissioner doesn't bring a pair of handcuffs when he approaches, but rather, a stern look of concern.
Lloyd chuckles, not because there's anything he finds particularly humorous about this situation, but, rather, because the subsequent rush of relief is greater than any painkiller he's ever received.
"So. I assume this means we're no longer regarded as criminals?"
"FSM, no. You kids regained your hero status long ago. If the mayor's got a problem with that, he's gonna have to answer to me."
"Good to know we can always count on you, commissioner."
The man stretches out a hand, beckoning Lloyd to take it. Though Lloyd is reluctant to accept help from an elderly, he can't deny that he needs the support, accepting the offer and letting himself get gracelessly pulled to his feet. He takes a moment to adjust to standing on solid ground, so he doesn't topple over from how badly his vision is spinning.
A consolatory hand rests gently on his shoulder.
"You, ah, you ok son? I'm sure we could get an ambulance here in no time."
Lloyd shakes his head. It's not his injuries that he's worried about.
"What's gonna happen to her?"
He points with his gaze at Harumi, who's about to be escorted out through the door to the roof, down the stairs, to where a police car is undoubtedly waiting to transport her.
"What, the jade princess? You don't have to worry about her anymore. We'll lock her up in the most secure cell in all of Kryptarium, make sure she doesn't have any outside contact til' court can figure out what to do with her. And, ah, this time, we'll make sure she stays put. You've done more than enough already, so just let us adults handle the rest."
He gives his shoulder a light pat as extra insurance, and Lloyd nods out of reflex. Yeah, that sounds about right. That's the standard procedure for disposing of supervillains, isn't it? That should be enough. That should be fine. He should be fine with this outcome, because it's the only one he could realistically expect.
And yet…
He shakes the commissioner's hand off, sprinting as fast as his left foot still dragging behind him allows.
"Harumi!"
She halts at his outcry, glued to the ground even when the officers try to pull her along. It buys Lloyd enough time to catch up, though he's immensely out of breath in spite of the short space he's crossed. Just another warning flag he would be paying attention to if he cared any more.
Instead, his attention rises up, into Harumi's wide eyes. His face hardens, all of the trepidation or uncertainty that usually clings to their encounters exiting his body as he exhales.
"You've made a lot of bad decisions," he says, steadfast, unmovable, no matter how she may react. "Like I said… I'm not gonna regard you as solely responsible for creating this mess, but I do hope you'll take this time to properly think your life decisions over. Goodbye Harumi. I hope you get to live the rest of your days out in peace."
He intends to end their conversation at that. End their involvement with each other, walk away with the comfort of knowing that he'll never have to see her again.
But he only walks a few steps before he's the one immobilized by a desperate voice:
"Wait, Lloyd!"
He looks over his shoulder, offering Harumi no more than an impatient look as an incentive to explain herself.
"I…" Her confidence withers and dies, voice cracking. "I don't have anyone anymore. Would you… would you mind visiting me sometime?"
The request smashes into him with full throttle, nearly knocking the air out of his lungs. Lloyd stands as if frozen in time, struck by a severe case of momentary whiplash. He had braced himself for anger, scorn, even belittlement, but not… not a plea for help. It's nothing short of downright disturbing, when he thinks of all the times she's used that very same tone to deceive him.
Lloyd feels spiders infest his body, making a highway out of his skin. He wraps himself in a consolatory hug, but the sensation doesn't go away, no matter how hard he tries to rub it off.
Lloyd needs… time. Time to heal. Time to feel less like a hollow shell of human flesh that's so worn down and cracked that his soul's slipped out, and more like a whole person again. He'll support Harumi in pursuing a better path, because like—one of Ninjago's greatest supervillains responsible for creating mass destruction deciding to, you know, not do that anymore? That's great, awesome, a wonderful development.
But his role will be as a spectator, nothing more. He'll watch from the sidelines, with enough distance between them that he'll be safe from her reach. He'll back out the moment it becomes too much for him.
He's got at least that much dignity still left intact. And it's not like she can guilt-trip him into staying, not anymore. He won't let her have another victory over him.
Lloyd stands completely still and breathes evenly while he thinks, feeling no particularly compelling compulsion to either refuse or accept the offer.
"...I'll give it some thought," is his final answer. "Frankly, I don't think I'll be able to stand the sight of your face for the next long, long while."
Harumi's eyes glaze over with unspilled tears, hopeful smile dropping to a sorrowful frown. It's not disappointment, however, but rather, a dejected acceptance that infects her expression.
"I… see. I… I understand."
Lloyd breathes in sharply through his nose, rehearsing his next response 3—no, 4 times in his head before finally answering,
"I can't forgive you, Harumi. Not after everything you've done."
If possible, her face drops even lower. A light pang of guilt stabs Lloyd's heart, but he squashes it quickly because this is what she deserves, he's not being spiteful or even unreasonably harsh here.
"I can't forgive you," he repeats, swallowing spit that tastes vile.
"Not right now, anyway. But maybe… maybe, some time off in the far, far future, when you've proven that you actually mean it this time when you say you want to change, when you've proven that you no longer intend to waltz all over people's emotions as if they're your personal playground… maybe… just maybe… maybe at that point I'll reconsider the notion that the two of us could, someday… Some. Day, conceivably be friends."
No immediate response follows his speech.
Lloyd's not entirely sure how an inaudible action can shatter silence, but Harumi goes and does the impossible again, simply by smiling.
It's the first smile that looks genuine and friendly since that fateful day in the Oni Temple, though Lloyd supposes her endearing warmth and flushed cheeks prior to that point were all a ploy to snare her way into his heart too.
This, however, is not an expression meant to conceal any underlying, malicious intent, but, rather, to express sincere gratitude.
"I'll keep that in mind," she says, eyes just as uncharacteristically transparent as her smile.
The two officers restraining her cut them off before either of them can get another word in, pushing Harumi forward perhaps more forcefully than is necessary. Lloyd supposes they've stretched their patience thin enough, though, so it's excusable.
Harumi's dragged away, disappearing from Lloyd's line of sight, and, by extension, his life.
She's gone. She's actually gone this time.
It's as if his brain's suddenly back to working unimpaired, like a deadly tumor has finally been removed.
Lloyd's shoulders have never felt lighter.
The commissioner comes up behind him, rambling on about the city official's plans for catching the fugitive villains still roaming about, though Lloyd only cares enough to catch a few keywords, nodding automatically until they reach the end of the conversation. The following silence is interrupted before it becomes awkward, the old man coughing up an apology for having to leave so soon.
Lloyd doesn't watch him go. His eyes gravitate towards the sky, catching the moment the last traces of the Overlord's influence vanish, every last stain of black gone from the picturesque scenery that's laid out before him. Ninjago city may be in ruins, but it's no longer in danger. They prevented such a grisly fate from befalling the ant-sized citizens crawling about below—moving on in spite of the decimated roads and toppled buildings blocking their path.
The view is reassuring rather than demoralizing.
It's rather peculiar. Lloyd's standing in the middle of a sprawling metropolis, and yet, the air's unusually crisp, like it's just been cleansed of all its impurities. A gust of wind cools his feverish skin, soothing his raging burns, making it more bearable to stand in spite of the bone-deep exhaustion that's likely gonna pull him into a sleep coma any minute now.
Lloyd closes his eyes, relishing the feeling of simply being alive, and the invaluable serenity that he's got all to himself.
There are certainly advantages to having a home base situated on the peak of the Mountains of Impossible Height.
For one thing, the insurmountable cliffsides and single point of entry through a sturdy, easily defendable door serve as a natural fortification against enemy attacks, keeping away anybody who doesn't have the patience or endurance to make the long, arduous journey to the top.
Although it… hasn't really proven to be a foolproof strategy even as recently as the not-so-distant past, their monastery has only been burnt down to the base twice, as opposed to… however many more times it likely would have been destroyed if it wasn't in such a hard-to-reach location.
Though… admittedly, the unorthodox placement is not without its disadvantages too. Namely, the fact that it's situated on the peak of the Mountains of Impossible Height, which is a hard-to-reach location. With only one way up, and that one path being non-automated, the ninja themselves have to make the long, arduous journey to the top every time they've got errands to fulfill in their own home, which, as it happens, happens often.
Normally that wouldn't be too big an issue. An inconvenience, sure, a waste of time, most certainly, but nothing even resembling the pure, damn-near insufferable agony Nya is currently forced to endure.
Sweat coats her forehead in small, glinting beads, trickling down her body, soaking her freshly washed gi. She can almost hear her bones creak with every tiny movement, like they're an old, unoiled machine, her stomach muscles cramp like she's got a knife lodged in her side, her stiff shoulders cry and plead for rest, begging for her to take a break to allow the fire in her lungs to die out.
She doesn't stop. She doesn't even slow down, because that's the one thing she can't allow herself to do.
A year without a mortal form hasn't weakened her. It's not even the fact that her reserve of stamina has been completely depleted, and still hasn't been fully refilled, after last week's craziness, it's… it's just that… ascending a seemingly endless flight of stairs while she's got a stack of lumber slung across her shoulder is a lot harder without the support of half of her limbs.
Harder and slower. Agonizingly slow, Nya's brain unhelpfully supplies. Considering the hundreds of times she must have undertaken this very same trek over the span of her life, her current pace is surely setting a record for the slowest climb ever recorded in history.
…Ok, maybe that's a little exaggerated. The heat is probably just getting to her. Even if the sunlight is currently glowing a softer orange rather than a blinding white, it's summer, so it doesn't matter that it's getting late, they're still getting cooked alive. Frankly, she should probably be incredibly grateful that she can still feel the sun at all, seeing as being completely annihilated by an almighty, ancient being of absolute darkness is a legitimate thing that could have happened last week—
While absorbed in thought, her attention is diverted away from the very attention-craving act of moving up the stairs, a fatal mistake on her end.
Her foot catches on one of the steps, about to send her nose on a painful path of collision with the rough stone, but she catches herself in time with her crutch, pushing herself backwards to offset her balance back in the right direction, but she's too forceful, she pushes too hard, she's about to take a tumble down a mountain's worth of steps—
"Whoa! I got you!"
A muscular arm catches her from behind, stabilizing her.
Nya pants, her heart pounding from a mixture of exhaustion and lingering fear from the close call. Between the heavy, grating breaths she still manages to look over her shoulder at the face of her savior, pressing out a slightly hoarse, "Thanks, Cole."
The black ninja doesn't respond, instead pursing his lips, eyes brimming with words unsaid.
"You know… you really should be taking it easy. Maybe being on the transportation team isn't the best idea when your foot's still all busted."
Cole helps her sit on one of the steps, handing her back the crutch that she's sadly gonna be dependent on for the next while if she complies with the orders of the doctor who put a cast—cough, prison—around her leg.
"I can help," Nya insists, though her left foot throbs loudly in opposition to that claim—loud enough to apparently infiltrate her otherwise calm demeanor, because Cole sees right through her, like she's still made of transparent liquid.
"Hey, don't sweat it," he says, offering her his most comforting smile. "We've got plenty of hands to cover for you."
He takes her load of planks, tossing them up on top of his mountain of bricks like it all weighs nothing.
Nya sinks her teeth into her lower lip, unable to repress a sting of frustration.
It's been this way all week. She's beyond tired of being served the princess treatment, though, she can maybe attribute that to the fact that she literally returned from the dead less than a month ago rather than exclusively being the fault of her broken leg.
Adrenaline kept her blissfully ignorant while she was still trapped in the searing heat of battle, but when the crystals shattered and the darkness dispelled and there were no more enemies left to defeat, the full extent of her injuries hit like a train had run over her. Her leg was the worst off, apparently—two fractures, both shallow enough for her to narrowly avoid surgery.
Who could have guessed having her lower body crushed under the weight of the Bounty's mast could lead to something like that?
"You're lucky you won't be needing a wheelchair," a kind nurse had helpfully informed her after Nya's disgusted reaction to being presented with a crutch.
She sighs. She's not some helpless, fragile girl, that much she's proven years ago. It hasn't changed now, so for them to be treating her like this…
"I get it, ok, you don't have to rub it in! I'm useless here."
She buries her face in her hands. Admitting it out loud doesn't make it any less shameful, but there, at least now none of them will continue trying to keep up those painfully polite facades.
"What! No, no!" Jay pops up out of seemingly thin air, the paint buckets and brushes he was carrying completely forgotten in favor of wrapping her in a reassuring one-armed hug. He gently pries her hands away from her face, greeting her despairing eyes with beaming optimism.
Squeezing her hand, he says, "Nya, you aren't being useless, promise. You got beat up pretty bad, and hey, that's happened to all of us at some point! You've done more than enough to prove your worth, and sitting this one out probably won't result in the end of the world…"
"Agreed," Zane agrees from behind.
"It is perfectly sensible to rest when you are injured," Pixal chirps in from the sidelines.
Surrounded by unrelenting teammates, Nya lets her shoulders slump in defeat.
"...Fine."
Stubborn as she admittedly is, she knows this is a disagreement even her newly revitalized elemental powers can't help her win. Her traitorous friends smile at her plight, continuing on their merry way and leaving her alone to figure out what to do with herself from here. Jay is the only one who stays behind, glancing between her and the mountaintop indecisively, though even he isn't so stupid as to ask if she's in need of assistance and eventually gets a move on as well.
Nya remains seated. Familiar faces pass her by, though none of them interrupt their mission of transporting building supplies to come say hi. Maybe because they pity her, maybe because they're former enemies who've only recently converted to their side and lack the proper words.
Having her helplessness on open display for what's essentially the whole population of Ninjago makes her saliva taste better. Cobbled with the fact that her throat is splintering from the physical labor and sweltering September heat, and it makes for a nasty combo.
That's enough of a spur to get herself moving again, albeit slower than before with her motivation now significantly diminished.
She has to place the crutch down, heave herself up, then let her healthy foot touch down—a pattern put on an infinite loop. Crutch, heave, foot. Crutch, heave, foot. Crutch, heave, foot. It's a rhythm that's both repetitive and tiring. The longer she has to maintain it, the more she's starting to weigh the pros of taking Dareth up on his suggestion of installing an elevator.
She's lost count of how many steps she's conquered by the time she finally reaches the summit of the mountain. The sun has dropped considerably, her body reduced to one, giant sore bruise. She rolls her left shoulder, muscles popping, and allows herself the luxury of leaning against the frame of the monastery's gate, taking a short breathing break to survey the scene she's walked in on.
Cole and Jay are in the central spotlight, having a very public and very heated spat about racing to the bottom and back up, to prove who's the most capable ninja warrior, or some other equally as dumb argument Nya arrived too late to catch on to fully.
She merely shakes her head as they dash past her, deciding it would be wisest to leave the simpletons to suffer the natural consequences of such an obviously stupid idea. She's got her own problems to contend with.
Most people seem busy at work tearing down the irreparably damaged woodwork, demolishing a few brittle walls, ripping up fractured floorboards to create a solid foundation for them to eventually start rebuilding on.
It's the same as after every major incident, huh, Nya muses with a welcome surge of melancholy.
Though it's unusual that the destruction has been brought literally to their own doorstep, Ninjago's villains all seem hell-bent on wreaking as much property damage as possible within their short runtime, one last thorn in their side for them to deal with even after they've defeated them.
The Ninja have become a part-time cleanup crew on top of being full-time protectors. Though, the importance of fixing the things that they are partially responsible for breaking has become increasingly clear after the legal trouble the boys have gotten themselves into.
All the more reason for her not to be slacking off.
She makes a few rounds, starting small talk wherever she can, offering her service while standing as tall as the crutch allows. In every instance, however, she's dismissed in much the same way that her family did, with kind smiles and reassurance that they've got it handled even without her input.
And, ok. As much as she loathes the mere thought of getting benched, she has to yield at some point, unless she wants her relentless attempts at trying to be useful to come off as downright pathetic.
There's an issue, however—and a pretty substantial one at that—that every last person aside from herself seems to be overlooking.
With their game room blown to bits, every last book and page of reading material reduced to ashes, every guest that she could be chattering with occupied with rebuilding their home, that leaves her without anything to do if she isn't part of the monastery-restoration effort. She looks around, but there's no obvious spot that would be well-suited for a nap either.
She sighs, hobbling her way over to a lonely corner, to ensure she at least won't become a hindrance on top of being of no help, then slumps down against the monastery's outer wall until her rear touches the ground.
Lacking anything better to do, she decides to observe the individual components that make up the hubbub of life and activity in the courtyard. With so many unusual players gathered in one spot, there are a few comical interactions that capture her interest, though, the most notable one she stumbles across has to be between her brother and Skylor.
Both are bent over a pile of broken planks and cracked bricks, seemingly at work gathering debris into a wheelbarrow. Kai, however, seems far more preoccupied with barraging Skylor with fake kisses, eyes radiating a playful snarkiness Nya hasn't seen in a long while. Skylor rolls her eyes, but laughs at his poor flirtation attempt regardless, retaliating by planting a very real kiss on the side of his cheek.
Nya blinks—repeatedly—but the image remains very much not a hallucination.
Huh, since when did they get back together? Not like she's in any position to complain about a complicated love life, but still, this is news to her.
Was the situation any different, she would have marched right on over and given her brother a lecture about withholding such important information from her, but they did just emerge from a war with not much beyond their lives still intact, and, when she thinks about it, there wasn't a really good time for him to tell her while they were all caught neck-deep in their own battles, so she'll let it slide, for now.
The two of them exchange knowing looks and take turns bumping each other with their hips, poking, teasing each other in a way she's too intimately familiar with. Though Nya can't make out the actual words of their conversation, she giggles, deciding it'd be best to leave them alone, and allows her attention to wander elsewhere.
It's definitely a highly unlikely mixture of people, reformed villains, civilians, even royalty, all humans and non-humans who probably never would have met had the circumstances been any different. It's like all their adventures have suddenly been condensed down into one strange concoction, all here for her to sip on and slowly take in. It's not an unpleasant sight, though, and Nya falls into a sort of mesmerized trance, admiring the simplistic beauty of her humble surroundings.
It's so good to see everyone just goofing off like this after everything that's happened. FSM knows they deserve it; Kai the time to catch up on his relationship with Skylor, Cole and Jay the chance to revitalize their timeless rivalry, Zane and Pixal the opportunity to excitedly discuss plans for new blueprints, and Lloyd…
Nya blinks, brain slow at processing what her eyes are showing her.
Hold on just a second.
Even in the sea of colorful clothing, there's a distinct lack of green.
That's peculiar. They haven't gotten started on the interior yet, so there shouldn't be any reason Nya would be unable to spot him. Unless he's deliberately hiding from her watchful gaze, though that would only make for an even more cryptic explanation.
"Hey, Dareth." She flags the brown ninja down as he's about to pass her by. "Have you seen Lloyd around?"
"What? Isn't he.." He takes a scan of the crowd himself, brows creasing as he apparently reaches the same conclusion Nya did. "Now that you mention it, I don't see the little green guy anywhere. You think something happened?"
Yes, because Lloyd Garmadon is a trouble magnet finding problems every time somebody isn't watching him for more than 5 minutes. When it concerns her little brother, however, that 'something' could be anything ranging from feeding a hungry stray cat to literally bleeding out in a back alley because he got reckless and went off on his own again.
"I'll go look for him," she decides, without really having to think about it.
"Uhm, are you sure?" Dareth asks apprehensively, hands moving in to support her as she starts shakily rising back to her feet. "With your foot—"
"I'm fine," she insists. Though he clearly wants to, Dareth doesn't press any further, letting her walk away.
Nya sweeps the charbroiled halls of the monastery, out of concern that Lloyd wandered inside for some stupid, inexplicable Lloyd-approved reason, and somehow got himself trapped under heavy, broken equipment or collapsed structural beams. Fortunately, after much time of fruitlessly calling his name, she can conclude that the former ninja HQ now made a deserted garbage dumb is just that—deserted.
Next, she seeks out Jay after Cole defeats him spectacularly in their little bet, asking if Lloyd was down the bottom of the mountain, on his way up with supplies. She's told that, no, he wasn't last time they checked.
10 minutes of exploring turns into 30 minutes of slightly frantic searching. Although, admittedly, her leg eats up some time by making it needlessly difficult to get around, Nya's getting worried all the same at the time such a seemingly straightforward task is taking. She's already starting to devise a plan of initiating a more extensive search with a bigger search party, if something doesn't happen soon.
That 'something' occurs not long after. She only spots it after Killow helps her onto the monastery's roof. A tiny droplet of green on a backsplash of gray, so far down she has to squint to really see it.
Climbing back down to ground level, she leaves the monastery's secure walls and walks out onto the stone platform where their sakura tree leans precariously over the edge of the mountain. She wraps an arm around the slender trunk, leaning forward and peeking down, nearly dislodging her neck to confirm her theory.
Lloyd is sitting on a ledge protruding out from the otherwise vertical cliffside. His arms are wrapped around his legs, chin resting on his knees, staring off into the endless sea of clouds that surrounds the Mountains of Impossible Height. He's still got a medical padding covering what she knows is a nasty cut across his brow, bandages poking out from underneath the too-thin gi considering the chill breeze that's started to set in.
Nya barely holds back a curse. It's just her luck, really, that Lloyd would pick such an inaccessible hiding place. For a second she debates turning around and calling over one of the other guys who'd probably be way better equipped for mountain climbing—
…Yeah, that train of thought gets to crash and die.
She looks down, gauging the distance from her current position to the ledge, and the distance she'd fall if she were to miss it. Nope, nope, not thinking like that. C'mon, a little parkour never hurt anyone… except for.. if she were to fail miserably and slip… and she is severely handicapped, so the chances of such an outcome most likely exceeds the point of extremely probable.
Nya shakes her head vigorously, emptying it of such useless thoughts. She braces herself with a massive intake of air, getting a move on before any more unforeseen obstacles can emerge.
She shuffles along a fold in the mountain, her chest practically glued to the mountain wall. It's better facing the rock than the swift, painless death awaiting her so far down she can't even see it for the veil of clouds—for the sake of her nerves and her ability to concentrate. Her foothold is so narrow that her feet only fit if she turns them vertically, it's difficult to maneuver the crutch around, and even scarier to place her weight on it. But she progresses in spite of her racing heart, methodically placing the crutch to the side, hopping sideways, waiting a few seconds to process that she's still alive, getting into a comfortable rhythm and—
She misjudges the distance, accidentally placing her foot where there's no ground for her to stand on.
She falls.
Her heart drops faster than the rest of her body. Thankfully she's not too far off from her destination and collides with a rough, uneven stone platform before even a full second has passed. Her butt gets to suffer the consequences for her clumsiness, taking the full brunt of her tumble.
"Ow ow ow…" Nya rubs her tender tailbone, but doesn't wallow in pain for long. She's had worse, at most it's just gonna leave an ugly blue mark. Nothing she can't conceal through gritted teeth.
With obstacle number 1. now semi-successfully conquered, Nya scrambles for the crutch and fights her way back to her feet, marching towards the far bigger challenge she has ahead of her.
Lloyd remains motionless and dead quiet as she approaches, giving no indication that he's even heard her. But he's a ninja, so Nya's not buying that.
"Lloyd?" she tries, mostly expecting it when that doesn't elicit a reaction. Honestly, the unmoving Lloyd-shaped figure could be mistaken for a statue if not for his unruly locks swaying gently in the aforementioned breeze.
Nya wishes she could say this was abnormal behavior, but Lloyd's been… out of it ever since their victory against the Overlord. Quiet. Spacing out a lot. Falling back into old insomniac habits. He survived his stay at the hospital on vitamins and IVs, and they still haven't been able to get more than a few bites of food in him since he was discharged two days ago.
Of course, the reasoning behind such a highly alarming development is a mystery to just about no one.
It's a relief to see that his life isn't in any danger, but perhaps her little brother is in need of a different kind of saving.
Nya takes a deep breath, bracing herself for the storm she's undoubtedly about to enter. She limps closer.
"Still miss your dad?"
Lloyd stiffens. So that's a definite yes.
"You know, none of us blame you for feeling down in the gutter. Heck, most of us know what it's like to lose a parent. We all respect that you need your space right now. None of us are stopping you from grieving, but… we don't like how you're isolating yourself. It's clearly hurting you. You're… you're worrying us all Lloyd. I'm just here to say that we're here, and we aren't leaving you. I'm not leaving you when you need me, not again."
Plopping down beside him, she's quick to embrace him with one arm. She can see her baby brother's face far better from this angle, how he sucks in his lower lip and silently chews on it, though he remains quiet.
Nya is scared she's gonna have to keep digging to get a conversation going, but, fortunately, the barriers of stubbornness that kept all his emotions bottled up air-tight seem to now have been worn down.
"Ever since that day… when Harumi resurrected my father… it… what she brought back, it wasn't really him. It took me a while to accept that, but… afterward, everything just became easier. It didn't hurt in the same way when he said mean things, when we fought, whenever I thought back to what happened in Kryptarium—"
He has to cut himself off at that, taking a few deep inhales to get his breathing stabilized again. After a few failed attempts he's successful enough that he keeps going.
"Knowing that the Garmadon I consider my father was just as dead as I'd already accepted years ago did sting. The fact that he really was gone. But I'd already lived so many years without my dad, so, hey, what's the rest of my life." He laughs, like his own misfortune genuinely is the most hilarious thing ever.
"I thought I had it all figured out. My dad was evil and would stay evil, just as destiny had always intended. But then… then he started showing an interest in becoming a better person. And I didn't believe it, not for one second. I didn't want to believe it, because last time I did, I ended up nearly bleeding to death with my face pressed into the dirt. My desperateness almost cost me my life, and… that was more than enough of a rude awakening to reality."
Control over his airway starts to slip again.
"I thought I was naive for hoping there was still any good left in him. But, lo and behold, it turns out I was just acting stubborn and childish for refusing to at least give him a chance! Because he meant it, he was actually serious when he said he wanted to change, and I didn't see it until that final battle with the Overlord. And… a-at that point, it was too late… I was too late… He could still be alive, a-and we could have started talking things through, I could have gotten my dad back, a-and, a-and—"
His breath hitches as he stumbles over his own words, rickety voice turning into choked hiccups. Nya's heart wrenches at the sound, fingers clasping his shoulder and squeezing it tightly. After a few sniffles, Lloyd lets his head drop onto her shoulder, and she can feel his body trembling from how intensely he's trying to hold his tears back.
Keyword being 'trying' because it's not long until that battle becomes another lost one. Lloyd hugs himself and sobs quietly, digging his nails into his biceps like he's ashamed of himself and his inability to keep it together.
How Nya wishes that his pain was a tangible entity that she could physically latch onto and separate from his body. She would beat it to within an inch of its life—only refraining from ending its pathetic, worthless existence so it could exist eternally with the impossibly heavy weight of what it's done balancing delicately on its shoulders. She would pound it to a bloody, unrecognizable pulp, make sure it would never dare so much as turn its head in the direction of her little brother, that it could never again gather enough strength to become a threat, much less one that would afflict Lloyd.
As it stands, however, all she can offer him is the wordless reassurance of her presence and a tight, unrelenting embrace.
"Maybe…" Lloyd sniffles harshly, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. "Maybe it's better that the dead just stay dead. It makes things a whole lot less complicated."
Nya exhales; a bitter, humorless chuckle through her nose, feeling the words hit perhaps a tad too deep.
"Y-you can say that again..." she says, slightly sheepish. If Lloyd catches on to the irony of his own statement, he doesn't seem to care.
"I'm so happy you're back."
Nya freezes, different emotions crashing over her in continuous waves. She's so utterly bewildered by the sudden open display of affection that she doesn't get to formulate a proper reply before Lloyd goes on.
"M' sorry. Back when we were being chased by Harumi and my dad, when we all thought the guys were d-dead, you told me to keep fighting, to think about what the others would have wanted, and I knew… the entire last year I knew you would have said the exact same thing if you were standing right in front of me. But I… I-I couldn't do it. Not with you gone. I couldn't… I couldn't lead more people to their deaths. So I left, I ran from my responsibilities, I left Ninjago to its own devices, and now just look what gigantic mess that turned into—"
"Shh, Lloyd, it's ok." Nya cuts him off before he hyperventilates his way into a panic attack, rubbing soothing circles on his back. Lloyd just curls up, becoming smaller than she's ever seen, shaking his head at her words.
"No. No, it's not. I must be the biggest failure of a Green Ninja in history. I-I can't… I can't protect anyone…"
Those words leave Nya at a complete loss.
"What are you talking about? The Overlord was gonna turn the entire population of Ninjago into mindless crystal zombies. Everyone who was infected was converted back to normal the moment you defeated him and banished the darkness. Without you, the Overlord and Harumi would have gotten their way, and Ninjago City would've been reduced to a lifeless wasteland. You saved practically everyone."
"But I couldn't save my dad. He was right in front of me, and yet, I… I was powerless to do a difference. I was too late. And how many times have you guys been presumed dead on my watch? I created the circumstances that warranted such drastic measures, time and time again, it's my fault, it's my fault, it's all my fault…"
"Hey."
Nya grabs his shoulders, turning his body to face hers. "I left of my own accord, alright? It's in no way your fault."
She doesn't exactly intend to lose her temper when Lloyd's so fragile and vulnerable and on the cusp of actually breaking like this, but she needs her words to be sharp to somehow penetrate that impossibly thick savior complex her little brother for some stupid reason thinks he is deserving of.
"There's nothing you could have done at that point to change it. And true, you're our leader, which means your decisions can have huge ramifications for the entire team. But before being the prophesied almighty, all-powerful Green Ninja, you're our little brother. That means we're also responsible for your safety. The blame when anything goes wrong goes both ways round, whether you like it or not."
Her stern demeanor falters, voice softening.
"I'm… I'm sorry though. For abandoning you. All of you."
The two of them breathe in silence for a few heartbeats. Lloyd shakes his head.
"S'ok. You saved Ninjago. Any one of us would have done the same in your shoes, so I don't blame you."
"No. Instead, you blame yourself, don't you?" she says, exasperated at this point. Lloyd shrinks in on himself in shame.
She sighs, by now acutely aware of how futile her attempts at getting through to him are. The weight of the burden Lloyd for some reason thinks he has to bear alone is gonna crush him before any villain gets the chance to.
Honestly, Nya's getting pretty tired of bittersweet victories—of overcoming their enemies just to lose something in the end anyway. First it was The bounty, then Zane, then Garmadon... Morro stole Cole's mortal form, his human senses, quashed the spark of innocence in Lloyd's eyes that had once been irrepressible, but now is gone forever. Acronix and Crux gave her back her parents, but in return, Nya lost the only adult guardian and role model she's ever had to look up to and depend on. The list keeps going, all the up to the present, where they did it, they defeated the ultimate evil for the third time, but with Lloyd feeling like this, how could they possibly celebrate?
Not that she blames him, FSM no. But she's sincerely lost on how they're supposed to move forward from here. She's staring at a door with no locking mechanism, no door handle, knowing that there's a path forward on the other side, but lacking any discernible means of actually getting there. She's stuck, doubting her every decision because of the uncertain future. An obviously rigged puzzle with no solution.
But maybe that's the whole point. Maybe she isn't meant to find some non-existent answer here and now, make all the world's problems go away with a single conversation. Maybe the best remedy in this instance isn't to bash head-first into an immovable mountain, but to be smart, observe their adversary, learn from it, understand it to then at a later date find a way around it.
Breaking their predicament down into smaller, actually consumable pieces. She can do that much.
"From here on out, there's no more sacrificing ourselves, ok?" Nya says, fist-bumping Lloyd's shoulder in a weak attempt at injecting some levity into the dreary atmosphere.
Lloyd raises his head and looks her in the eyes, red irises surrounded by puffy, red sclera. His look is hollow and simultaneously, somehow, overflowing with so many thoughts Nya can't even begin to comprehend the scope of it all.
"Yeah," he answers flatly.
There isn't a bone in Nya's body that doubts the validity of those words. His disinterested tone isn't spawned from indifference, just exhaustion, and Nya gets it, truly gets it, she's tired of losing people too—heck, it's the entire reason she gave herself up to the sea.
It's the reason she would do it again, even after returning and seeing the woe her decision wrought her family.
Dying is easy, compared to living with loss. That's why it was a no-brainer back then, it's why any of them would do it without hesitation in spite of everyone having experienced first-hand the destructive, all-encompassing talons of grief. Maybe that makes her a hypocrite, then, in light of what she's about to do. But if she can't break the chain of suicidal tendencies herself, maybe she can start with the person she fears resorting to such a solution the most.
"Now you listen to me, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon."
Nya hasn't used this voice since Lloyd was a snot-nosed 9-year-old demon spawn who complained about training and bedtime because he had no way of knowing the full gravity of his situation. It's seemingly as effective now as it was all those years ago, because Lloyd's attentiveness immediately spikes, eyes drilling into her in fear of her next words.
"I hereby officially outlaw that you ever think of throwing yourself off a cliff as the solution to any problem you're faced with. Ever. The world needs you—not just as the Green Ninja, but Lloyd Garmadon too. Who's gonna steal Kai's clothing if you weren't there? Who's gonna hide candy under his bed covers because he thinks we don't notice? Who would Jay discuss the latest starfarer news with? Who would pull us out of bed at the worst hours for grueling training, who would break off our arguments, who would take over as leader, who would make sure we don't fall apart, who would, w-who would—"
There's a painful lump forming her throat, making it nearly impossible to speak. Nya fake coughs to clear it, taking a deep breath before she ends up as the one crying.
"Anyway, all that's to say you should give up the selfless hero mentality. By hurting yourself you're only hurting us by extension, and I don't know if I can go on any more missions if I know there's a chance I'd lose you to something stupid like that. I mean, are you trying to give me gray hairs before I reach 20, huh, you little brat—" She catches him in a headlock, drilling her knuckles into his hair.
It's what finally gets a smile back on his face, and as a bonus, a light, weak, barely even audible chuckle slips out.
"Ok, ok! I get it, I give!"
Satisfied, Nya releases him, watching as he smoothes out the now fuzzy strands of hair, trying to salvage his hairstyle.
It hits her just then how much she misses this side of him. Jay told her a little about how Lloyd had given up his position and title to go work an ordinary, uneventful job as a window cleaner in the year she was gone, which, as much as she wants to laugh out loud at the thought of Lloyd donning an apron instead of a gi, a squeegee in hand rather than his signature Dao, it's also a heartbreaking image showcasing how far his grief dragged him down.
They gave up their hero statuses and freedom to get her back, and then the second they succeeded they were thrust into yet another battle, with no opportunity to properly heal after their last one. Old wounds torn up, all their previous failures returning to haunt them, and then on top of Garmadon's unfortunate demise, their perfect, flawless victory was also sullied by the loss of everyone's powers.
Well, everyone's except her own, of course. Quite ironically.
Prior to the Overlord and Harumi's unprecedented return, there was the whole mess with the Island Keepers, then Shintaro, before that Prime Empire, and predating it all was Aspheera and the Never Realm. Actually, the more Nya does the calculations, the more she realizes that the last few years have just been taken up almost exclusively by back-to-back fighting, with no real opportunity to lean back and relax in between.
When was the last time they got to really hang out as a family?
"Say… what do you think about taking a break?"
Nya doesn't know what to expect after making such a proposal. Certainly not the response she actually gets, because in spite of everything that's transpired, in spite of the very real doom that nearly befell them all and the entire land, Lloyd actually erupts into a fit of bubbly, uncontainable guffaws at the suggestion.
"What, like a vacation?"
"Y-yeah?" Nya says, failing to see what's so humorous about that. Lloyd takes a while to calm down his giggling, but when he does, the joyful laughter is replaced by that mature, all-too-knowing expression that looks so unnatural on the face of someone so young.
"We can't rest, not like that. Evil will never cease to exist, Nya. No matter how many times we beat down the big baddie of the week, somebody else will always arise and take their place. It's sort of just the way things have to be, you know? To be balanced, everything can't always be nice and quiet. Good can't exist without evil, same as evil can't exist without good.
"The Oni and the Dragons, the Overlord and the First Spinjitzu Master… my father and Master Wu. I think we're just trying to delude ourselves if we think Ninjago will ever fully know peace. There will always be something else. That's why we can't quit, ever.
Nya blinks at him, amazed at the rant that turned into. "Lloyd, you're like, seven—eighteen. Isn't it a bit too early for you to be a workaholic?"
In spite of the words being obviously intended as a joke, Lloyd's eyes glaze over with a somber gleam.
"As long as there's something worth fighting for, there's always a need for a ninja."
Those words set an old, rusty memory into motion, of cracking her eyes open to blinding rays of the sun penetrating black clouds. Uncanny deja vu accompanies that epiphany, but hold on, didn't those words belong to—
"Hey, don't go stealing my wisdom now!"
Both of them yelp at the voice. They must have been too emerged in their conversation to notice somebody sneaking up on them. Quite careless for two professionally trained ninja.
"Kai!"
The ninja in question slides down the cliffside much more elegantly than Nya had, ruffling Lloyd's hair in greeting as he takes a seat beside him, sandwiching Lloyd in between two overprotective elder siblings who both are hell-bent on cheering him up.
"How long have you been listening?" Lloyd asks, betrayal plain on his face.
He hums. "Long enough to know you two are way too depressed considering we just kicked the Overlord's butt to the other side of the departed realm."
The tone of his voice doesn't quite match his playful words. Nya tilts her head at her brother curiously.
What is he up to?
He talks before she can verbalize that very question.
"Okay, so. We can't quit until we're as old and wrinkled as sensei Wu. Cool. Means I'll get to go on missions with you guys till my back's so broken I need help taking a dump, I'm not complaining about that. Thing is, I don't really know what I'd do with myself if this whole ninja thing no longer panned out. I've tried, but I've never quite been able to find my place anywhere else, you know? So, I've got no plans of retiring any time soon.
"But… I'm not gonna lie, we've… been through a lot at this point. We're all worn down, mentally and physically. Maybe it's time we start actively searching for someone else who could help us, to lessen the workload a little. Those new Ninja guys did hold Ninjago afloat while we were gone. I'd say that makes them pretty dependable. "
Lloyd looks at Kai like he's just offered him broccoli instead of candy. On his birthday.
"Ok, ok! I get where you're coming from!" He raises his hands in defense. "Believe me, the idea of getting replaced doesn't sit right with me either, like, whatsoever. But that's not what I'm suggesting here, because if anything, this entire Crystal King incident has proven that there are still things that are way out of those newbies' league. They still need us, all of Ninjago does, but maybe… we could also start relying on them too, just a little bit.
"Life isn't a competition to see whose gun can produce the most gunfire. If there are more people out there interested and capable of protecting Ninjago, what's the harm in accepting their help? I think we all—you especially—deserve some time off. Maybe I can ask Skylor and some of the elemental masters to stand in for us while we're gone?"
"We can't just dump our responsibilities onto other people, Kai."
"I'm suggesting splitting the workload, not transferring it. Important distinction here." He taps Lloyd's forehead, as if physically ingraining the words in his brain.
Hearing Kai, the master of impulsiveness and pride arguing in favor of admitting their weaknesses and calling for help sends Nya into a mental frenzy. This is the very same guy who years ago had played dress up as the Green Ninja in hope of awakening his latent potential, the elemental master with probably the biggest inferiority insecurities out there, whose eyes had glowed red with rage upon being presented the absolute power capable of changing that—
She's proud of him, really. Back then, Kai would've been the last person to even suggest relying on anyone else. Now that role seems to have been adopted by Lloyd, who still looks skeptical. Kai presses onward.
"Come on Lloyd, it would only be for a little while! Like, a month at most. Just imagine, a full 30 days to ourselves. No more being stuck in a desert and having to retrieve our inverter from the stomach of a beetle, no more ancient evils coming back to take out their grudges on us, no deranged maniacs gunning for our elemental powers, no more backstabbing princesses, and no more traitorous parents."
Lloyd frowns, conflicting emotions dancing across his face as he clearly fights some mental warfare to justify refusing the offer. In the end, however, the smallest, shiest of smiles wins out, creeping slowly across his face.
"That… frankly does sound… a little appealing."
Kai doesn't even try to suppress a toothy grin. "That's the spirit, green machine," he says, giving him a hearty slap on the back. Nya snickers at Lloyd's opposition to the old, in his opinion outdated, nickname, though she is quick to add,
"Lloyd needs to be all healed up first, though. And stop picking at the medical padding, it's gonna come undone."
She grasps the bandaged hand that was busy at work scratching at the tape.
"It's itchy," Lloyd says, scrunching his nose in dissatisfaction.
"You think that thing is gonna leave a scar?" Kai says, thankfully distracting him. "Then we'll match. It's like a blood oath, but, you know, way cooler. Shows that we're all willing to fight the same battles."
Lloyd mumbles something about how it wasn't intentional, because who'd want a dumb scar to remind them of their past screw-ups, especially on the face, where everyone can see it and inquire about it.
"What are you even doing here Kai?" Lloyd asks, narrowing his eyes at the red ninja in mistrust. "Isn't there still a lot of work to be done back at the monastery?"
"Yeah, well, not like he was even working in the first place," Nya supplies, any regard for her brother's privacy discarded in the name of making fun of him. "Shouldn't you be with Skylor, since the two of you are hitting it off so well?"
She makes sure to slather her tone with mockery, and Kai sputters indignantly, tripping over his own tongue like a love-struck dolt, face adorably turning even redder than his gi.
"Like you have any right to talk, miss yang. How many times have you and Zaptrap's stupid lover's quarrels gotten in the way of our missions?"
"'Wah! Stupid lover's quarrels! They were very serious lover's quarrels, excuse you!"
They bicker without any real heat behind their words, Lloyd making a few half-hearted attempts at breaking them up, but quickly realizing his helplessness. Their fight escalates into a tickling death match. Kai and Nya communicate via sibling telepathy, silently agreeing to team up on a hopelessly outmatched Lloyd, targeting all of the secret ultra-effective spots that only they know of.
They're a pile of limbs and sore stomachs and uncontainable residual giggles by the time they're done. Lloyd calls them out for being cold-blooded traitors, which only makes Kai and Nya gasp for air once again.
The intense party games devolve back into harmless chattering. They talk about everything and nothing, Nya catching Lloyd up on the curious development of Kai's love life, much to the red ninja's very vocal protest. Minutes later they're watching the sunset in awestruck silence, as if none of it happened.
Nya can't recount when she last had so much fun.
It reminds her too much of days long past.
They've just circled around back to the beginning, haven't they? She and Lloyd getting stuck on the sidelines together, Kai joining in because his sense of smell is just a little too sharp, and because overprotectiveness is practically carved into his DNA.
The sun dips the last bit under the horizon, erasing the last traces of light and completely enveloping their world in darkness. Unlike the impenetrable, rowdy storm clouds that obscured a beautiful, sunny sky, however, this darkness is truly pleasant. They've got the stars blinking at them from above, inspiring hope, reminding them of the endless universe of opportunities and new adventures still beyond their reach. The night may be dark, but it's not never-ending, and the promise of a new dawn sure to come makes it nothing to fear.
Lloyd starts to nod off, his head resting on her shoulder again. Nya lets him snore, seeing as this is the only peaceful sleep he's gotten in a while. Kai runs off to fetch some blankets, apparently adamant that they should camp out because, quote "Well we don't exactly got anywhere else better to sleep."
That leaves her to babysit Lloyd all alone in the dead of night. She doesn't mind, not really. It's just like all those years back, when it was just the two of them on night watch on the Bounty, waiting listlessly for the guys to return from missions with their lives intact. She can't help but smile at the sweet taste of nostalgia.
Maybe things haven't changed that much since back then. Maybe they never will.
Maybe that isn't such a bad thing.
I know it's a little late, but here it is at long last! This was all in commemoration of the ending of Crystalized, because oooohhhh boy, did I ever have a lot of feelings in that regard. Ninjago has followed me since I was 6 years old, and now I've moved away and am quickly approaching adult life... It feels kind of unreal to have reached this point, both in the story and personally. I wrote this work partially in celebration of this wonderful series that's helped shape me as a person, and make my childhood and late teen years memorable, but it's also a fix-it of sorts.
None of the seasons are perfect, but man was I ever bummed out about certain things in this one, especially during the second half. Like, how Nya's trauma over literally becoming the sea wasn't even addressed (neither was the trauma of anyone else, for that matter...) Harumi's redemption arc was rushed, but I do quite appreciate how she and Lloyd weren't forced together in the end, because man does Harumi not deserve such a happy, fairytale ending, and man should Lloyd ever know better at this point. In my opinion, Crystalized was a season with sky-high ambitions, but it lacked the screen time/time management to properly execute it. I think this fic pretty much sums up what I'd change, at least towards the ending. Honestly, I would love to do more Crystalized rewrites if only I had the time but... sadly... I don't.
So, what do you think? Did I wrap things up at least somewhat competently? My fingers are bleeding after working on this non-stop for so long, so favorites and reviews are highly appreciated. *heart*
And to any fan of STMS, good news! With this behemoth of a distraction out of the way, I'll be able to focus exclusively on updating that work, so expect great things this November, huhu
Have a nice evening everyone.
