Story #3: Mergequake Chaos

Ninjago—post-Merge (AU)

writing prompt: opposites, shadows, "Long before time had a name…"

Summary: Kai is not the first one Lloyd finds after the Merge strikes. Who he really finds first is a newly-mortal Morro, who has been injured significantly in the wake of the Coalescence. While the Green Ninja struggles to help the former enemy, he discovers that the worlds are not stable. And when Morro's condition worsens, Lloyd must reconcile with the wind-wielder in order to confront the dangers of the Mergequake.

TW: temporary character death

It all happened so fast, Lloyd wasn't prepared to face it. The day had started out pretty normal, but then things took a turn for the worst. The realms fused together in a horrific event that was so catastrophic and cataclysmic that he wasn't even sure what to call it yet. It had been total chaos as he and his Ninja friends—nay, his Ninja family—had put their very lives on the line to rescue people from being sucked into the storm. And as he gazed imploringly at Master Wu's memorial now, he thought he could still hear the screams of myriads of innocents being pulled off of the ground and into the quaking fissures that had torn across the crimson-cloven sky like a cat's claws tearing through a priceless silk sash.

Hot, stinging tears sprang to his eyes once again as he bitterly recalled that horrible, traumatizing day. The winds whirling and howling all around the Bounty and Jay's new mech like a banshee's haunting screams…the flash of orange fabric that he spotted out of the corner of his eye before swinging over on a rope and snatching a ten-year-old kid out of the stormy hurricane-force currents…the whispered promise to find the kid's parents, who seemed to have also gotten swept into the storm…the brilliant flash of light that had all but blinded him as the fissures converged into a golden, glowing orb of pulsing power, which blew instantly…the blurriness of his swimming vision when he woke up in the Dojo of Spinjitzu alone…

That—that—had been the worst part. Discovering that he might very well have been the only survivor of that terrible storm, the one that merged the realms together. Even now, his chest began to heave erratically with heartsick sobs, as he crumpled to his knees, wrapped his arms around himself, and wept. Every day was the same. Every day he woke expecting to find that it was nothing more than a petrifying nightmare—and yet it was all still so real—too real. Jay was gone. Kai was gone. Cole was gone. Nya was gone. Zane was gone. P.I.X.A.L. was gone. Master Wu was gone. His parents—Garmadon and Misako—were gone. And he was the only one left. The only one.

He had tried to figure it out—to connect the dots—to put the pieces together. But his efforts were all in vain. The only clues he had were on the scrolls that had been destroyed in the storm, and he couldn't make any sense of the remains, other than the possibility that the horrific maelstrom of chaos was somehow tied to creatures called "Source Dragons." But he didn't know of any dragons that had that kind of realm-morphing, reality-shifting power. And to be honest, he was very, very much afraid of finding out.

For weeks, he had hoped that he was wrong—that someone else was indeed out there. But no one had come back. No one. It had been weeks, and yet not one of his friends had returned. And he was beginning to wonder whether anyone ever would.

Suddenly, his ears perked up. His haunches lifted. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. His draconic senses were kicking in. And it was then that he knew he wasn't alone.

But…who was it? Who could be there? He'd seen no one since that horrible day, though he had occasionally spotted flocks of dragons soaring past the Dojo off in the distance, most likely searching for new territory or new sources of food.

Was he sensing another Dracotaur, like Kasumi? Or was the source of the disturbance human? Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out. Calling on his instincts and prepared to fight or flee if necessary, he followed his heightened senses straight to the Dojo's main gate. He heard a frightful knockity-knock-knock and a sickeningly raspy, ragged cough that seemed to vibrate and ripple the very air itself. Suddenly, Lloyd's stomach began to ball into tight little knots within him. He felt a sharp chill twisting in his chest, and goosebumps began to form on his arms. His heart began to race like a skittish herd of stampeding colts, and beads of sweat were rapidly springing up on his forehead as he extended one involuntarily trembling hand to open the gate door. He wasn't sure why his body was snapping into high-alert like this—until he heard another ghastly cough and cracked open the door with a soft, airy creak.

When he saw who was outside, his heart leaped into his throat, and he just barely managed to bite back a tumultuous scream. "M-MORRO?!" he stammer-yelled, catching a glimpse of the former ghost out of the corner of his eye.

Morro looked up at the sound of his name and croaked out a raspy, hoarse cry of, "Lloyd." He poignantly was trying to say something more, but his voice was choked up by more spine-rattling, tightly dry, hacking coughs. His green-and-black gi was torn, tattered, disheveled, and smudged with red dirt, smoky ash, and black mud. His whole body was shaking like a leaf, his almond-tone skin was as blanched as a hazel switch, and his obsidian-black pupils were excruciatingly dilated, almost swallowing up his melancholy emerald-green pupils. His raven-black hair was oily and leaf-mottled, clearly not having been washed for days, and the singular emerald-green hair streak that could distinguish him from a mile away was caked in dandruff and filthy dirt, so much so that its emerald-green hue looked more reminiscent of a sage-green tone. But what took Lloyd aback the most was the huge, rather ugly, jagged golden scar engraved across Morro's chest, just barely peeking through his rags, stretching from his collarbone all the way to just above his stomach.

Lloyd blinked in sheer, raw shock. That scar—that very scar—had been a ghostly, poisonous green before—and now it was gold?! Not just that, but it was the same gold as the orb of light from the day of the chaotic storm had been—the same orb that had blown so swiftly that it knocked Lloyd and the others out-cold in an instant.

The memories from that horrible day threatened to seep back into his mind again, and he shook his head vigorously to try and rid himself of them—at least for a few moments more. Looking back grimly at the one who had once been his worst enemy, he sighed heavily and swallowed hard—before kneeling down and hissing between gritted teeth with all the venom in his voice that he could muster, "What are you doing here, traitor?"

"Lloyd, please." Morro begged, on the verge of blubbering now as tears sprang to his glassy, mist-shrouded eyes. "Help me…" he whispered so faintly Lloyd had to strain his ears to hear it. But before the Green Ninja could make a move, a sharp, frigid shudder rippled through Morro's body as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped weakly to the ground, unconscious.

A growl curled on Lloyd's lips, but then he bit his tongue (not literally, thankfully) as he realized something. Like it or not, Morro's life was clearly in his hands. And despite the fact that he had not yet forgiven or forgotten the horrid deeds Morro had committed against him and against his friends, he was most definitely the only one who could help the wind-wielder in his crucially critical state.

Slowly and painfully, Lloyd managed to loop the wind-wielder's deadweight right arm around his neck and hoist his limp, listless body into an unsteady standing position. Then he half-carried, half-dragged the deeply asleep ghost-turned-mortal into the Dojo, finally managing to dump him unceremoniously onto a small, beaten-up coffee-brown couch located in the library of scrolls Wu used to hole up in day-in, day-out. The green-clad Ninja was tempted to leave the wind-master uncovered by any quilt or blanket, but against his better judgment he found a small fleece throw and tossed it carelessly over his deathly still form. Then he took it one step further and pulled the cover off of Morro's nose and mouth so that he wouldn't suffocate.

All the while, Lloyd grumbled and snarled under his breath, muttering insults left and right though he knew that Morro could not hear him. And yet…when he looked into the wind-child's face, he couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of pity and compassion for the former ghost-general's bleak, fragile state.

Morro's chest was rising and falling deeply yet unevenly, as if he was struggling to even breathe. His cheekbones were gaunt, all but jutting out from pasty, paper-thin skin. His fingers kept twitching involuntarily, and his whole body convulsed and trembled as he sucked in sharp, strangled, wispy gasps of air, letting out several ragged, sickly coughing fits in the process. The shadows of the drafty room seemed to be enveloping him, cocooning him in deadly darkness, as if they somehow sensed that he might not have longer to live.

And it was then that Lloyd remembered something Master Wu had told him just before that horrible storm had struck—"Remember: family is key."

Morro may not have been the epitome of goodness, but he was still family in a sense. When speaking of Morro, Wu had always implied that he viewed the wind-child as his own son—automatically making him Lloyd's cousin. Estranged cousin, sure, but a cousin, no less. And though the last thing Lloyd wanted was to be related—through blood or otherwise—to the one former shadeling who had traumatized and scarred him the most, he knew in the back of his mind that family couldn't be picked out like a sack of groceries. If Morro was truly family, then Lloyd had to help him—whether he felt comfortable about the situation or not.

With that determination, Lloyd immediately set to work. Morro's life was in his hands, and Lloyd was the only one who could save him.

When Morro managed to weakly pry open his stubbornly Deepstone-heavy eyelids, the first things he noticed were the crackling of bright, toasty flames in a small brick fireplace off to his left, the starlike light of several small candles in special wall-mounted candelabras, and the gentle breathing of the snoozing, slumbering Green Ninja, who had dozed off sitting upright in a small easy chair on Morro's right.

Before Morro could even open his mouth and ask what had happened to him, his chest tightened, his eyes screwed up tightly, and he let out yet another nerve-wracking coughing fit. The scar on his chest buzzed and itched with excruciating pain as he wheezed and rasped and all but hacked his lungs out. By the time he finally managed to get his breathing back under control, he was feeling drained, dizzy, and even more exhausted and fatigued than before. Black spots were dancing in front of his eyes, and his cheeks were beginning to flush white-hot with a strange, bewildering fever. What in all the realms is happening to me?! he wondered dazedly, his whole frame shaking and stiffening and cramping unnaturally as he once again fought desperately to make sense of what had occurred repeatedly in the past several weeks.

He remembered waking up, restored to humanity yet lost and alone, in an unfamiliar realm that he had never seen before. He'd wandered the newly merged realms for weeks, not even noticing the new scar on his chest until the fissure came. It had all started when he suddenly realized he couldn't breathe properly. His chest had begun to tighten, the aching dryness growing stronger and stronger as a nasty-looking fissure sprouted in the sky above him. As the break in the horizon grew larger and uglier by the second, he'd sputtered and wheezed and rasped and coughed until he felt like he would never be able to breathe again. And yet some uncanny strength had managed to boost him upward onto his feet as his hands shot out in front of him of their own accord and his Wind Powers had flown upward in a beam of selkie-silver-and-sage-green energy, striking the fissure and causing it to snap shut like a piranha's jaw almost immediately.

The whole thing had been so bizarre and so sudden, it made his head spin just thinking about it. But then it happened again. And again. And again. And every time, the pain, the dizziness, the draining weakness and disorientation grew even stronger—until he was sure that he was going to die from it.

He didn't understand it. He simply couldn't comprehend it. Why was this happening to him? And why now?

Suddenly, the Green Ninja let out a wolfishly whimpering moan, stirring around in his chair before silently cracking open his eyes. He seemed to notice that Morro was awake and slowly sat up, his neck cricking and his shoulder blades making a sickening bristle-crackling noise as he stretched his arms above his head and rubbed his eyes drowsily. He then let out a quite ear-piercing yawwwwnnnnn, as he smacked his parched, cracked lips and looked over at Morro with bleary, sleep-glassy jade-green eyes.

"You're awake." he murmured matter-of-factly, with not a single shred of bitterness or hatred in his tone, but rather a shy, hesitant trust and sense of compassion that Morro had never heard in Lloyd before. It was so unlike Lloyd to show anything other than distrust towards the mere memory of the wind-master that Morro himself couldn't help but blink in astonishment.

Though he and Lloyd had never had much contact with each other after the mind-control incident, the wind-wielder quite painfully remembered all the times that Lloyd had fought against Morro's controlling power and almost won. Never had Morro revealed how close Lloyd came to breaking through completely. Never had he revealed how hard he was struggling to keep the energy-child subservient and docilely submissive to his every whit and whim at every turn of the destructive path he'd taken. And yet, he could still feel chills coiling up and down his spine as he recalled all the times Lloyd had broken through before Morro ever-so-swiftly managed to silence his cries and protests once again.

So to see Lloyd not cowering or groveling or snarling at him was a mysterious enigma indeed. In that moment, Morro could feel a bazillion questions swirling stormily through his mind. But the only one that he could voice in his weak, weary state was one singular word—and yet that word spoke volumes.

"Why?"

Lloyd's face went white, turning three shades of moonstone-pale in succession. He shuffled his feet. He stared at his shoes. He seemed unable to fish or fumble for a suitable, coherent answer, as he babbled and murmured nothing but incomprehensible non-answers and gibberish for several seconds. And then he sucked in a shaky breath and muttered, "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

Morro was about to nod in understanding when another coughing fit took him by surprise. As he sputtered and hacked once again, feeling absolutely forlorn and miserable and frail beyond belief, he was startled to see Lloyd move towards him, kneel down, and begin patting his shoulder encouragingly. The wind-wielder then managed to hoist himself upward into a slight reclining position, hoping to get a better stream of breath, and Lloyd immediately shifted to stroking his back gently and tenderly, making soft shushing noises under his breath, as if he was comforting a small, sobbing child—and not his worst enemy in all the newly merged realms.

When Morro finally got enough breath to speak again, he rasped out another question—"Why are you helping me, Lloyd? I mean, I'm like your polar opposite. Why would you ever—sniffle, cough, cough—show me mercy after what I—cough, COUGH—did to you?"

"I haven't forgiven you, Morro." the Green Ninja barked, wheezing winces of pent-up bitterness beginning to curl on his lips once again. "And maybe I never will. But a Ninja never leaves family behind. Even when that family is not on the right side."

Morro's face fell, but he nodded in understanding as he mused in a regretful, mournful tone, "I didn't think you would. And I know I don't deserve forgiveness—not after what I did. I…" He let out another stream of horrendous coughs, so violent and vicious that even Lloyd flinched. But then as Lloyd watched, something terrible happened. Morro's face began to flush bright-red, and he was panting up a storm as he just wheezed and hacked and gasped for breath, seemingly unable to pull in even a single gulp of life-giving air without coughing.

"Morro, are you okay?!" The words spilled out of Lloyd's lips before he could hold them back, as he just stared at the wind-wielder beginning to shake and shudder and shiver convulsively, his breath hitching over and over again in his throat as he kept on fighting for every breath.

When the coughing fit finally left Morro, the wind-child looked even more peaked and drained of strength than before. His face was turning a ghastly, ghostly ashen hue, almost colorless against his raven-black wispy mop and unique emerald-green hair streak. His cheeks were flushing white-cold, almost blue in their tone, and his chest was heaving so arrhythmically that it was a wonder—a miraculous wonder—he was still alive. When he pried open his eyes, his gaze was glassy, distant, withdrawn and mysteriously milky—as if he had seen something so horrible, so deadly, that it pained him to think of it or even speak of it.

"I'm sorry…" he breathed hoarsely, his voice growing even tighter and more strangled than before. Stinging, steamy crystalline tears were beginning to spurt to the wind-child's eyes, even as he sucked in strained breath after strained breath. His hands were trembling with anxiety, his fingers twinging with anguish, his ears turning red-hot with fever and pain. The expression on his face and the look in his eyes was that of one who is close to departing, of one who is just barely clinging to life, of one who may not endure much longer.

"What's happening to you?" Lloyd whispered, feeling his lip quiver and his own heart begin to ache. Though he and Morro were never exactly on the same side—unless you count the time when Morro warned Master Wu about Cole's fading state and Yang's evil plot on the most fateful Day of the Departed Lloyd ever experienced—he would never have wished something like this even on his own father, let alone the ghost-teen who had haunted his nightmares for years on end.

"The realms…the merging of the realms…" Morro whispered, his voice seeming to come from the end of a long, winding tunnel, raspy, hissing, wheezy…and strangely echoey in its tones, as if it were not merely him speaking, but something speaking through him.

"The realms…" he continued sleepily and breezily, "they are unstable…the union of the realms…is not steady. The realms…they are struggling to share…the same space…in the fabric of reality…but no two realms…can share the same space…at the same time. It's causing... disturbances…dangerous disturbances. Only Elemental Powers…can turn the tide. Only Elementals…have the strength…to stay bold…to dare and fight…"

"What? What are you talking about?!" Lloyd demanded. "I don't understand!" He was just so distraught and bewildered. What was Morro talking about? Unstable realms? Unsteady union? Dangerous disturbances? What was going on here? What was he trying to—

But before either Lloyd or Morro could say another word, something far worse and far more horrible happened. Morro's muscles tensed, and suddenly he was struggling for breath once more. But this was even worse than any mere coughing fit or mental strain. It went deeper, stronger, more powerful and heartbreaking than anything else Lloyd could ever have thought of. Morro's whole body began to jolt and shudder and quake, just as the ground began to rumble and roll. Lloyd, being all but tossed about wildly by the earthquake's throes, could barely keep from being thrown into the side of the couch as he heard multiple glass items falling to the floor and shattering into thousands of crystalline fragments he knew could never be put back together the way they were before. The scar on Morro's chest began to pulse a sickly crimson red—the same red as the sky had turned before…

Suddenly, Lloyd's heart leaped into his throat. His voice wavered and quivered uncontrollably as he stammered, "Morro, what is happening?! Why is the ground shaking?! What's going on?!"

That is when he heard the one word that would haunt his dreams for weeks on end. The one name that was so terrible, so tumultuous, so traumatic that it sent dagger-sharp chills piercing deep into his core and twisting taut merely to think about it. The one whispered rasp that the suffering wind-child could choke out in that one heart-stilling blink in time.

"Mergequake."

When Lloyd heard the word Mergequake, he instantly shot into full high-alert mode. He scrambled to his feet, swaying a little as he struggled to keep his balance and think. A Mergequake couldn't be anything good—and as he saw the ugly sky-fissure through a nearby window, he knew instantly that it really wasn't anything good.

It was raw—wild—untamable—more powerful and deadly than anything the Green Ninja had ever witnessed, save for that horrible storm—the Merge. And as he watched the Mergequake expanding at a frightening pace, he felt his heart sinking all the way to his toes as he realized what that horrid thing was capable of. It wasn't just an aftershock of the Merge itself. It had the power within it to tear reality apart if not kept in check.

But how could he stop its growth before it spiraled out of control?

And then he remembered. "Only Elemental Powers can turn the tide." Morro had said. "Only Elementals have the strength to stay bold, to dare and fight."

Only…Elemental Powers. Only Elemental Powers!

Only Elemental Powers could stop the Mergequake's expansion!

"Morro!" Lloyd cried out in equal parts dread and worry. "I need your help! Do you still have your Wind Powers?!"

"Yes!" Morro cried out. Then he stretched out his involuntarily trembling hands and breathed wispily and wistfully, "Lloyd, help me."

Lloyd wasted no time in helping Morro clamber out from under the covers. Morro's legs buckled underneath him for a second, but the energy-wielder caught the wind-child just in time.

"Are you strong enough to stand?" Lloyd wanted to know.

"I have…no choice. The Mergequake is too strong…for only you…to close."

And for once, Lloyd was glad to accept Morro's help. As the two stumbled out of the library and down the various corridors of the newly revamped Dojo of Spinjitzu, Morro's scar pulsed faster and faster, and his breathing was growing heavier and heavier. Lloyd began to fear that he and the wind-child would not make it in time.

But then all of a sudden, something else happened. As the two got closer and closer to the ugly, rapidly-growing fissure splitting the sky in two like a stroke of darkest lightning, Lloyd's own head began to feel strangely light, dizziness beginning to overtake him as he sensed the pressure of the air shifting, changing, like he was underwater and he did not realize it. At first, he didn't understand what was happening—but then he caught a glimpse of both he and Morro.

They were no longer in their mortal forms.

They had been transformed into glowing golden avatars.

Suddenly, Lloyd's mind lurched, and he found himself snapping into sheer instinct. With every movement synchronized and every heartbeat pulsing a common clarion cadence and timbre, the energy-child and the wind-wielder shot their powers upward in two separate yet united beams of power and sheer, wild energy.

Dragon's energy.

The fissure buckled and rippled before fading back into the void it came from—and then Lloyd felt a strong weariness washing over him and a tender warmness cocooning him in whispers of deep slumber and healing dreams…

When Lloyd woke, he gazed all around him in confusion at the darkness of the starry night. How long had he been asleep, he wondered. Hours? Days? Weeks? He couldn't tell for sure. But then all his questions about how much time had passed suddenly flew out of his mind as he realized that Morro was laying unconscious beside him, not moving, not speaking…not even breathing.

"Morro?" Lloyd questioned, shaking the wind-wielder. No response. He shook the wind-child even harder. Still nothing. Not a movement, not a sound, not a single puff of breath. And then he realized something horrible beyond reckoning.

Morro's heart was not beating. His pulse was silent. His face was pale and lifeless. His hands were growing cold and clammy, and his whole body was limp and completely, utterly senseless.

"Morro!" Lloyd screamed, tears already welling in his eyes. And then, without any sort of warning, the Green Ninja felt his lip quiver before he burst into passionate, heartsick sobs. His chest heaved with anguish, his breath choking up in agony, his whole frame shaking with melancholy misery and woe as he collapsed on his side and bawled his heart out.

Never had he felt this heartbroken, this mind-shattered, this core-stricken, since the day his Oni form was first unleashed. And yet, somehow this was even worse.

Morro had been fighting with him, struggling beside him, brother allied with brother, and yet his life could not be spared.

Why did he have to do that? Why did he come back when he knew he was…dying?

Unless…he really had changed.

Could it be?

Had Morro really, truly changed his ways? Was he…a hero?

Yes. He was. He really was.

But now he was gone—gone for good.

Or at least, that's what Lloyd thought at first. But then, all of a sudden, something happened. Without Lloyd even noticing, Morro's hand began to twitch and twinge. Warmth was swirling within his limbs, seeping into his bones, flooding into his motionless joints. Tingling power of light and breath and motion within was flowing through his sleepy nerves and numb veins, causing his silent heart to beat, stirring his lifeless pulse to action. The fingers on his right hand weakly fumbled for the Green Ninja's left hand and then clutched Lloyd's knuckles tightly yet reassuringly. And as Lloyd slowly looked down in shock, he noticed that Morro's chest was slowly beginning to rise and fall deeply and evenly.

A blink of time passed—a heartthrob of stillness —a spell of silence.

And then…

Before Lloyd even knew what was happening, the wind-wielder's eyes shot open, and he instantly let out a stream of gasping, coughing breaths—a sound that Lloyd had never thought he'd be so glad to hear coming from the one Elemental he had feared and hated the most.

"MORRO!" Lloyd cried in delight, his tears now ones of joy and sorrow intertwining as Morro tightly gripped his shoulder and hoisted himself upward into a shaky sitting position. For several seconds, the air was filled with nothing but the energy-child's happy sobs and the sound of the wind-wielder shakily sucking in breath after life-giving breath. Then Morro slowly turned his head and murmured softly, "I can't believe…we just stopped a Mergequake…together."

"What were you even thinking?!" Lloyd burst out in equal parts relief and appalled shock. "You could have died!" Then he did a double-take and exclaimed, "Scratch that—you almost did die!"

Morro shook his head in both amazement and a slight lingering horror at what might have been. Then he turned his head once more and asked so softly it was little more than a whisper, "Do you think…that your grandfather ever anticipated…something this catastrophic happening…when he created the realms 'long before…"

"'Time had a name'?" Lloyd finished with him. Then the energy-wielder sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I…I don't really know. I guess I'll just have to find out."

"You mean we have to find out." Morro corrected, and Lloyd couldn't help but smile. It was clear that from here on out, they were no longer enemies, but friends. And they would indeed figure out this mystery together. They had to. The Merge had pitted them together, and if Morro and Lloyd were going to figure out the Coalescence's secrets, they needed to be ready to team up in a moment's notice.

With that, Lloyd hoisted Morro back onto his feet, and to his astonishment and delight, Morro's legs neither wobbled nor buckled. He was standing steady on his own two feet, and the scar that had been on his chest before seemed to have faded back to a healthy golden color. But then Morro stopped in his tracks and gasped.

"Lloyd, look at your chest." the wind-wielder cried out in surprise. When Lloyd did so, he gasped in like amazement. There on his own chest was a scar identical to the one Morro had. They were connected—both through friendship and power.

"But…but how?" Lloyd couldn't help but ponder aloud.

Morro shrugged and muttered, "Who cares? We're brothers. Family ties run deeper than any physical bond or blood inheritance."

"Huh, sometimes you sound a lot like Master Wu."

"Thanks, I think." the wind-wielder quipped, elbowing Lloyd in the ribs playfully.

"Hey!" Lloyd couldn't help but protest, and the two let out a simultaneous laugh of joy as they slowly headed back up to the Dojo. As they walked, they talked over old days gone by and were both amused and surprised to find that the days they remembered best, though they had not been by any means pleasant, were shockingly more exciting to reminisce over than any others.

"Do you remember when the two of us got stuck in those giant icicles and you had to let go of your control over me to get me out?" Lloyd laughingly exclaimed.

"How could I forget that day?" Morro replied with a giggle in his own voice. "I was just so mad!"

"Yeah, I could sense it. Oh, and do you remember when you kept almost falling off the side of that mountain because you had to tether me to your waist to keep me from running away?"

"That was so scary—and annoying!"

"And I guess this experience puts us both in the 'literally-temporarily-died-trying-to-save-the-world' club!"

"You'll have to share that story with me sometime."

Lloyd was about to say, "Will do," when suddenly there came a loud crashing noise from above. It was so sudden and iconic that both the wind-wielder and the energy-child were surprised that they did not hear a cat screech right then and there. What they did experience, though, was a stunning shower of porcelain roof tiles and a humming, vibrating shockwave so loud and so resonating that the mere sensation would put a hummingbird to shame. A simultaneous cry of alarm tore from the two boy's lips as they nearly fell to the ground from the sheer power of the rolling shockwave's wake. Morro grasped Lloyd's arm to keep him from tumbling clean down the steps, and Lloyd let out a startled yelp at the tightness of the wind-child's grip.

"Watch it!" the Green Ninja hissed between gritting, clenched teeth.

"Sorry." Morro moaned softly before gazing upward at the sight of a very familiar ship tied to a flag post on the rooftop of the nearby Dojo. "Um, Lloyd…" the wind-child spoke, "you might want to take a look at this."

When Lloyd looked up, he let out a gasp of mixed awe, wonder, and delight before crying, "The Bounty! It's the Bounty! But…" His face fell in confusion and dismay. "But how did it get here?"

"Only one way to find out." Morro replied, swiftly letting go of Lloyd's arm. The energy-child rubbed his sore arm gratefully as he began trundling up the stairs. Then he, seeming to realize Morro wasn't following, turned around and looked back at the wind-child standing steadily on the steps.

"Um, Morro, you coming?" he asked softly.

"Nah, I'm not a Ninja by any stretch." Morro answered back. "Besides, I'm not sure that whoever's on there will be quite as forgiving as you are."

Lloyd gave an amused grin at that before gently adding, "Anytime you need help, you know where to find it."

"Will do, Green Ninja." the wind-child murmured. "Will do."

With a final smile, the energy-wielder turned and headed confidently back up the stairs. The wind-wielder was about to turn and leave himself when he suddenly heard a certain hothead cry out in indignation, "What in the world, Lloyd?! Why were you trying to attack me?!"

"Sorry, Kai." the energy-child's mumbled apology came ebbing and flowing on the tide of the wind. "I…It's been weeks since I've seen any of the others. You just…startled me."

"I forgive you." Kai could be heard saying. "But nothing could keep me from my baby brother for long."

Morro smiled, picturing the scene—Kai and Lloyd hugging it out, shedding a few tears, their hearts and cores full of wonder and excitement that they, two brothers bonded by choice and familial love, were finally together again.

And though Morro was slightly saddened that he could not take part in that joy and wonder yet, he knew that someday, he might be…

For now, all he could do was do his best to be a Ninja in his own right—whether the true Green Ninja would see him ever again or not. And no matter what came next, he was ready and willing to stay bold and to fight for what was right.

Our character is defined not in the battles we win or lose, he thought to himself as he turned to leave, but in the battles…

We dare to fight.

A/N: Soooo, I recognize that some readers may not completely understand what was going on with Morro and the Mergequake and with this new bond that Lloyd and Morro have. Here's a brief explanation.

In the wake of the Merge, Morro's core has been directly linked to the condition of the newly merged realms. Whenever a Mergequake strikes, his body and mind react violently to the disturbance, causing severe chest pain as well as difficulty breathing and problems with his heartbeat. At the beginning of the story, his new intertwining with the fabric of reality is too strong for him to bear alone, hence why he temporarily died in the course of the story. But now that he and Lloyd are connected to each other (wholly PLATONIC in nature), they share the burden and can both sense the Mergequakes' appearing. I'm not planning to necessarily continue the AU; but I wanted to clarify in case there was any confusion.