Hey guys! So sorry this upload took so long. I've just had some crazy stuff happen recently ,but I feel like things are starting to get back on track now. Thank you all for being so patient.
Review Replies
ItsYoGreenGirl - Lol Thanks! Honestly I felt the feels while I was writing this. I should have named this fic, Forgotten Poor Children. Also so, in chapter 23 it wasn't so much as a dream that Koso was experiencing as much as a memory. The last chapter was a dream though.
Phetiamwantip - Thank you I hope you like the new chapter. Feel free to let me know what you think.
Chapter 23
Lloyd groaned as the sun's morning rays illuminated his side of the room, effectively rousing him from the realm of unconsciousness.
After taking a moment to rise into a seated position, he wiped the last bit of sleep from his eyes whilst taming his unruly bed head. Lloyd slowly shifted his gaze toward the opposite side of the room. The green ninja wasn't sure what he had expected to see but when he was met with the sight of a sleeping Jasper as the only occupant of Morro's bed he couldn't stop the plethora of perplexing thoughts that entered his mind.
'Did they make it back last night?' Lloyd mentally asked as he noticed with much annoyance the dull ache of chaffed skin caused by the vengestone chains still present upon his wrists.
Surely they had to have come back, for whatever reason Jasper seemed truly attached to Morro. There's no way the Nira wolf would leave the wind master out in the storm last night. Right?
After wasting a minute re-scanning the room in order to be sure he had not somehow missed something, the blonde stretched his aching back- probably a cause of yesterday's new training regimen- before getting out of bed and briskly making his way out of the room.
Walking with measured steps down the dark empty hallway, Lloyd listened closely for any hint of sound that could attest to human life nearby. As his ears were graced with nothing more than the sound of creaking floorboards it suddenly struck the blonde that this was the first time in two weeks he had been able to wake up at his own time. Of all the luxuries the energy master missed from home,it was strange to think something as small as sleeping in a little later would be one of them.
As the end of the hall drew closer and closer, Lloyd began to see a dark silhouette standing at the very edge. After sucking in a breath and stepping closer, the blonde didn't know whether to feel relieved or concerned when he saw an all too familiar strip of green hair.
"Hey what are yo-" Lloyd trailed off as his attempt to make sense of what was going on was abruptly shut down by a harsh glare and Morro's overly aggressive hushing.
Arching an eyebrow, the green ninja abandoned hope of getting answers from his fellow captive as he leaned past the former ghost to see what he was so fixated on looking at.
The sight Lloyd was met with almost drew a startled gasp from him.
Koso- obviously unaware of their prying eyes- appeared to have just woken up as he sat upon the cottage's strangely modern couch whilst letting out an uncharacteristically tired yawn that lacked any semblance of snarky elegance the sword master had presented to his captives thus far. The teal eyed man's movements seemed lazily slow compared to his usual quick precision as he stretched his limbs out like an old man upon a Sunday morning. It was almost comical, all that was missing was a cliche complaint about minor back pains.
The green ninja could only stare in bewilderment as he continued to witness this rare moment of vulnerability that, as stupid as it may sound he had not believed Koso capable of expressing. Hell, until now the blonde had begun to think the man possessed no human qualities beyond surface level arrogance that was all too common in most of his prior foes.
When Koso suddenly turned, Lloyd feared he had finally realized their presence however the blonde's short lived theory was almost immediately dismantled when the ravenette simply bent down to retrieve his straw hat. As the green ninja leaned closer though he saw that the black wrappings adorning Koso's arms were now considerably loose with the ones on his left sagging just enough to show off a sliver of the skin beneath.
Granted it wasn't much to look at, but that didn't stop Lloyd's perceptive eyes from noticing a flash of angry red skin peeking out from the confines of the bandages' shadow.
'His arms are injured? What the he-' The energy master's thoughts were cut through like a knife against butter when he realized all too late that he was leaning ahead too far to keep balance and his body came crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
Predictably enough that was enough to alert Koso of both his and Morro's existence, as evidenced by the pair of boot wearing feet that appeared within his line of vision in a matter of seconds.
Ignoring Morro's muttered insult towards him, Lloyd quickly stood himself up.
'Wow.. he looks like sh*t.' was the first coherent thought that popped into the blonde's mind as he stared up into the tired eyes of his captor( made somewhat difficult by the loose strands of untamed raven hair obscuring his view).
"Well, glad to see your poor stealth skills have improved. I dare say there's still hope for you yet."
Despite his minimal effort the energy master couldn't help mentally rolling his eyes at the cheap remark as the vengestone around his wrists disappeared with the quick snap of Koso's fingers.
ForgottenFamily
As Lloyd happily snuck Jasper multiple spoonfuls of oatmeal under the table, he realized Morro looked no less disheveled than Koso.
Under the scrutiny of sunlight - that was pouring in through the cottage's multiple windows- the wind master's hair looked amazingly unkempt (not that that was anything too out of the ordinary) ,with his grey-green eyes weighed down by the startling amount of bags under them.
The energy master didn't know what had happened last night ,but he had to assume it had some kind affect on his 'companions', because neither of them so much as acknowledged his persistent prompting on the matter.
As the blonde risked another downward glance at Jasper (very glad the smell of food had woken the energetic wolf up) he couldn't help but mentally sigh whilst he absentmindedly thought.
'I think you and I are the only sane ones left here.'
ForgottenFamily
Lloyd couldn't remember ever crashing so hard into a bed( save for after he had defeated the overlord, was rescued from Morro, and escaped the volcano fire palace as a child with Kai).
The blonde didn't know how it was possible ,but despite Koso's obvious exhaustion he had somehow managed to push both him and Morro even further past their limits during sparring. It had taken so much out of both the teenagers they didn't even offer a farce protest when Koso began to carry them back up the cave's stairwell.
However none of it seemed to make a difference during their dreaded meditation time.
When it had eventually ended and there was nothing to show for on both his and Morro's end, Lloyd had to try very hard to squelch the feeling of utter despair worming its way up his spine that refused to go away long after they had sat down for dinner that evening.
The blonde shuddered as his mind was once again overcome with anxiety. Wanting to rid himself of it, Lloyd quickly searched the small bedroom for a distraction.
Though his options were scarce, the green ninja didn't have to look too hard before the perfect source of entertainment presented itself right before him.
Morro and Jasper.
Despite the feeling a mix of annoyance and jealously invoked whenever he watched the wolf follow Morro around like a devoted puppy, Lloyd had to admit that after a while, watching the wind master angrily try to get Jasper to leave him alone had begun to be kind of amusing(mostly due to the fact he always failed miserably).
Tonight appeared to be no acceptation with Jasper sprawled out on the former ghost's bed and Morro uselessly ordering the canine to get off.
In spite of his efforts, Lloyd couldn't hold back the small chuckle that escaped him as he leaned back with his arms crossed behind his head.
As anyone would expect, that got the wind master's attention.
"Shut up! This isn't funny!"
Oh First Spinjitzu Master help him, Morro's mad tone made it even funnier.
It took a few moments for Lloyd to eventually recover from his fit of laughter ,but when he eventually did the green ninja couldn't stop himself from carelessly saying,
"Okay Kai, I'l-" The green ninja froze, choking on his words as if they were acid whilst an ice cold wave of reality washed over him.
What did he just say?!
Without realizing it, Lloyd's breathing had begun to pick up pace.
He just...he didn't mean to say that... it's just...he had...Morro was ..No! Kai wasn't anything like Morro! He wasn't! He was-
Lloyd's erratic thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he felt a shift in weight upon his bed. Looking up from the hands he hadn't realized he covered his face with, the green ninja was immediately met with the sight of Jasper staring down at him.
For a moment the blonde could only lay there in shock before he was forced to break into another fit of laughter when Jasper decided to lick up and down his face like he was a plate of leftover chicken. Lloyd's involuntary reaction was made worse by the canine's massive fur coat tickling the sensitive nerves on his skin. For the life of him the energy master had no idea how all this time Morro had managed to never so much as smile when Jasper was near.
After a few moments passed, Lloyd found himself so immersed in the canine's attention he had almost forgotten his surroundings.
"Who's a good boy? You're a good boy? Yes you are. Yes you are."
The blonde would've been happy to spend the rest of his life laying there petting the affectionate wolf, however fate had yet to be kind to him and so his time with Jasper was soon cut short when the canine seemed to realize Lloyd had recovered from his earlier distress.
Without so much as a farewell- because he was wolf incapable of speech -Jasper jumped off of the green ninja's bed and sprinted towards Morro's.
As the blonde watched the retreating animal he found himself almost startled when he saw Morro staring at him. Lloyd wasn't sure if he had gone insane already ,but he almost thought he saw concern present in the wind master's pale features.
Whatever the blonde had seen, it was gone within a matter of seconds, replaced by a look of alarm as the former ghost had apparently realized he had been caught.
It was almost comical considering he had shown much less emotion earlier when confronted by their actual captor.
Before the ravenette could launch into a (most likely defensive) explanation, Lloyd had already begun speaking.
"Uh..hey..sorry..about earlier. Today's just weird." The blonde didn't feel like wasting the energy (no pun intended) overly explaining. The former ghost had been in his head before, he probably had a good idea about what had been going through the green ninja's mind when he had called him...that name.
With the candle light around them beginning to dim the energy master- wanting the day to just be over- had begun pulling on his covers when he was suddenly caught off guard by the sound of Morro's voice.
"Wait!" The wind master's demand was so uncharacteristically timid, Lloyd almost believed that Jasper had learned to talk.
Sighing, the green ninja turned his face sideways against his pillow to face the former ghost.
As emerald eyes met grey-green, the blonde found himself once again questioning his sanity when he saw the almost nervous expression Morro wore.
For all intents and purposes the wind master looked as if he hadn't expected Lloyd to actually hear him.
"I...I..You were right."
Oh great it finally happened! He, Lloyd Montegomery Garmadon had officially lost his mind.
"Umm what about?"
"I can't read...or write" The wind master admitted sounding even more uncharacteristically soft spoken. " but now I want to, and...I need you to teach me how."
Lloyd couldn't stop the choked off gasp that escaped him as he took in Morro's words. This couldn't be reality. Maybe today's training had actually gone amazingly well and he had accidentally fallen into an alternate dimension.
"Wait what? I don't-"
"You can say no!" The former ghost cut him off yet again. "I just...if you do then I...I'll figure out a way to pay you back somehow..I swear!..So...Will you do it?!"
For the life of him,Lloyd couldn't even begin to fathom the reasoning behind what he said next. He didn't think
"Yeah sure,...umm. Maybe we can start tomorrow, after dinner."
Yes today had been a very weird day indeed.
Thank you guys so much for reading! Once again sorry this upload took so long. I know it's not very long ,but I promise to get back to a semi-regular uploading soon. See y'all next chapter.