Chapter 35

"Please son, you don't understand!"

It was Tera again, except this time she had a baby cradled in her arms.

A baby with a birthmark on his forehead shaped like a cruddy dandelion.

Lloyd laid there stuck in limbo as the minutes uncaringly ticked by.

Then he sat up. Threw the covers on the floor and ran out into the living room.

Koso was sat down, his hat hanging off the armrest.

"What in the underworld are you-"

"What is this?" Lloyd asked, showing the drawing with fake calm.

Koso's eyes widened a fraction of a second before his mouth curved down in anger. That was all Lloyd needed. "Where did you get tha-"

"Don't you dare try to change the subject!" Lloyd suddenly roared over him. "This," The blonde jabbed his finger at the penciled baby. "Is my father, why the f**k is he being held by your wife!?"

Koso surprisingly backed off. His anger seemed to shrivel up and in its place was…guilt.

He looked down at the floor. Silence.

Then. "Because that's her-Our son."

Lloyd felt like he was both deflating and inflating at the same time. Anger and confusion battered his mind like a twister.

He dropped the drawing and found himself pacing back and forth in the small space. "Ok…..care to elaborate!?"

Koso finally looked up again. "I didn't want you to find ou-"

"Yeah no, I don't really care what you want, just, just tell me what the f**k is going on, ok?"

The sorcerer shifted almost nervously. "I….."

Lloyd's anger toppled. "What? Did you just decided one day to give him awa-"

"My children were the only thing keeping me alive after Tera died." Koso cut in sharply. "No, I didn't nor would I ever, 'just give them away'." The ravenette sighed. "But, regardless, I still ….failed them."

Lloyd's anger softened just slightly (against his will) at the somberness in Koso's voice.

"...It was just a few days before Tera was to give birth. She wouldn't say ,but I could tell she hoped for a boy-" Koso chuckled. "-simply for the fact we could name him after her brother Grant. He'd been killed by the overlord's soldiers eight years prior."

Koso took a breath. "Then, an old friend came to visit. Cronus was his name, he had the unique ability to see visions of the future in his sleep."

Lloyd mindlessly edged towards the couch and sat down beside Koso.

"Seemed a fairly cordial visit at first. He even brought his twins to play with Elizabeth. But, then… He said he'd been having the same nightmare for the past month. Tera was indeed going to have a boy. And that boy would eventually bring back the overlord."

Lloyd gripped the fabric of the couch.

"He told us to stay away from the snakes and nothing more, then left. I didn't know what to think or what to do." Koso sighed. "Tera had a far clearer head. She never cared for ideas like fate or destiny just the here and now."

"So….when she passed I…I was lost." The sorcerer admitted, shame was a strange color on him. "I feared for Grant. Tera had doubted fate and yet…it took her all the same."

Koso's hand trembled as he rubbed it up and down the armrest.

"One night I can't recall what happened exactly ,but I just snapped and when I woke the next morning Tera and I's room was completely destroyed. I..I cast a spell to fix it and locked myself out."

Koso's eyes found the ground again. "If it were not for what I'm about to tell you, I would consider that the most shameful moment of my life."

Lloyd wanted to say something, anything. He kept quiet.

"Ninjago, was a hellscape for me at this point. I saw Tera everywhere, I saw danger everywhere. I couldn't stay. So…I visited my brother."

Koso sucked in another breath. He seemed robotic. As if Lloyd was holding a gun to his side, but the fear wasn't registering yet. "I told him everything, about Grant, about Tera. Neither of us slept that night."

Koso's fingers suddenly scrunched together, tearing a small slice through the armrest fabric. "And then at the end of it all, I asked him for one request. To have my element back, so I could take my children and leave Ninjago forever."

Lloyd felt dread start to fester in the pit of his stomach.

The sorcerer continued. "And that's when he told me he too had been approached by Cronus just a week after he came to Tera and I. Cronus's dream had expanded, not only would Grant go on to bring the Overlord back to Ninjago ,but…he would also be responsible for his final defeat. Grant would produce a son, the green ninja."

Lloyd felt every bone in his body freeze up.

Koso couldn't bear to look at him, he kept his gaze trained on the floor. "I was livid. I screamed how dare he even consider-" Koso's voice faltered just slightly. "I….I told him I wouldn't allow it. I said I'd sooner die than sacrifice my own kin to that kind of fate."

Koso's hands started to shake, he took one final breath and sighed the tension finally seeping away. "He said he wouldn't give me the realm crystal so we fought. We fought and fought, and eventually I got foolish, impaled myself on my own sword. When.. When I woke up from the afterlife the first thing I saw was his monument. Of course my brother named him Garmadon, it translates to 'Koso' in Oni." The sorcerer had a strange look of relief on his face as his gaze at last flickered back to Lloyd.

Lloyd got to his feet. Completely silent. In his head he desperately looked for an exit-

Koso gripped his arm.

"I…I can't imagine what's going on in that foolish head of yours. But….." Koso cursed under his breath.

"I'm sorry."

Lloyd stiffened.

" I don't hate my brother for allowing your existence, I hate him for allowing you to go through what you did. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect my son and I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

Lloyd's face crumpled, he couldn't listen to this anymore. The blonde threw Koso's arm off and barreled out the door. Koso hadn't put up the border today thank…thank somebody for that.

Present

Lloyd felt sick as he tumbled through portal after portal. Emotion running wild, he had no idea what was even happening. Eventually he just…blacked out.

ForgottenFamily

The sound of glass smashing woke him up.

Lloyd blearily opened his eyes and there standing above him was Zane.

"LLOYD!"

He was back on the bounty.

The end

So yeah that's where I'm gonna leave the story for now. I'll definitely make a sequel at some point so don't worry lol. I just thought this would be a stopping point for now.

Thank all of y'all so freaking much for the support! Everyone of you guys helped keep me going with this and I am so grateful it was so much fun writing this.

Til next time- VioletSodaPest