Dreams and Desires
Chapter 2
Discovery
*I own nothing and any similarities with any other works are purely coincidental.
The Ninja had just finished up their daily exercise and were back up at the Monastery for dinner. Despite how good training had felt, Lloyd now found himself feeling more and more insecure with his feelings. He glanced around the table. He was on one end, and Master Wu was on the other. On the left side of him sat Jay, Nya, and Kai. To his right, sat Zane and Cole. It deeply saddened him to see the relationship Jay and Nya possessed, and then think about how different it had played out with Harumi. He truly felt alone in the group. Despite the fact that they were all his friends, and he cared for them all deeply, none of them could truly empathize with him. They couldn't understand what it was like to have all this pressure on you and yet never get anything for it. Lloyd was the prophesied Green Ninja, and that meant that time and time again it had been up to him to make the sacrifices and reap none of the rewards. He had lost his childhood, his Golden Power, his father, his own body for several weeks, and now he had lost Harumi. He had his first and only love taken from him; killed by Lord Garmadon's giant stone creation. Oh, how much he wanted to kill the resurrected Garmadon; to make him die slowly and as painfully as possible. He was not Lloyd's father; he was only an imposter, a shadow of his former self. And he had murdered Harumi. Lloyd would make sure his life was a living hell.
"Lloyd?" He looked up to see the other 6 people at the table staring at him. Evidently he had become so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn't eaten a single bite of food and had been just staring off blankly into the distance.
"Yeah?"
"Oh thank goodness, you're alright!" Nya cried. "We were really worried about you for a while there. It was like you had just frozen and your body looked kind of limp."
"Yeah, I-I guess I just got lost in my thoughts. There's a lot to think about sometimes." he said with a slight grin crossing his face.
The ninja looked at each other with confusion and hesitated before replying.
"Lloyd, are you okay?" Jay asked. You've been acting really strange for most of the day. Not bad per say, just not like yourself."
Lloyd stared down at the table. They had finally picked up on the agitated mood that his nightmares had been giving him, and he felt less and less sure of what to say or do. They were going to keep asking questions, so was there any real point in lying? No, of course not, they would know, and then they would just get even more worried. He would have to tell the truth. But he didn't need to tell them the whole truth.
Lloyd sighed and looked up at the group. "As I said earlier today to Zane, I have had some trouble sleeping over the past 2 weeks. That alone could be enough to influence or sway me to act or behave differently, but it's not quite so simple. I'm not having difficulty staying asleep or falling asleep. I have been plagued by nightmares over that stretch of time. Or more accurately, one nightmare."
The ninja once again looked at each other and then back at Lloyd with confusion. "What do you mean, one nightmare?" Master Wu asked.
Lloyd took in a deep breath and exhaled before continuing. "I have had the exact same nightmare for the past fourteen days. Each night I've fallen asleep and had the exact same nightmare, and it continues playing out the exact same way. It starts in the exact same spot, always ends at the exact same spot, and I continue waking up at exactly 4 in the morning."
The color had gone from everyone's faces. They all looked worried sick, and extremely concerned for Lloyd's well being. Out of all of them, Master Wu looked the most scared. He certainly didn't want to see his nephew harmed or in pain.
Zane was the first one to speak and his response confirmed that what everyone else was thinking. "People have had nightmares for a fortnight. People have had very similar nightmares for a fortnight. But never in all of the recorded history of Ninjago has anyone discussed experiencing those specific set of circumstances, having occurred without fail for a fortnight."
The group once again fell silent with their fear and concern. That was extremely worrying news, and no one knew quite what to make of it. Lloyd had basically ignored and dismissed his nightmares, but even he had to admit how concerning they were.
"So, if no one has ever experienced this before, how could this be happening to Lloyd?" Kai asked.
"There is only one possible explanation I can think of for such a specific and profound experience in regards to dreams." Master Wu said. He looked solemn and crestfallen, as if he had in some way let down the Ninja. He paused, and took a sip of his tea before continuing.
"Lloyd, The only way that your dreams could have been so intricately arranged is that someone has been manipulating your dreams. Someone has been deliberately showing you that same nightmare for the past fortnight."
"Lloyd, why do you keep doing this?!" Nya yelled.
Taken aback by both her harsh tone and question, Lloyd didn't know what to say. "What? I, uh, well-"
"You act like you're alone in every fight, that you have to solve every problem by yourself. If you were having nightmares, particularly seriously repetitive and concerning ones, why didn't you tell us?"
Because I can't let you know I still love Harumi, that's why.
Lloyd stared at her blankly for a few seconds before saying, "Well, I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, and besides, Jay and Kai would have both made fun of me for having nightmares."
Kai was taken aback by the accusation, which stopped him from the making the joke that he was about to say. "Hey! I would not have done that!" he yelled.
"Yes, yes ,you would have, and I probably would have as well." Jay said.
Nya glared at the both of them and was livid. "You two dumbasses have really screwed up if Lloyd won't talk to us because he's worried of getting made fun of! You've actually managed to make him even more shy and insecure than he already was, and what was the point of it all? What good does making fun of someone or something ever actually do?!"
"Nya, you think I'm shy and insecure?" said Lloyd. I mean, he did acknowledge that he had own insecurities well enough, but no one had ever said that about or to him before. He was genuinely hurt and pretty surprised that she would say that about him. Lloyd had always seen Nya as his closest friend and only person he could really confide in, as she had always treated him with respect and kindness. When he first joined the Ninja she was the only person who stood up for him. The other four didn't like him much at all, at least until he became the Green Ninja. Then they all loved him and everything was fine. Except Nya was still the only one who ever was nice to him until he got aged up with the rest of them. Lloyd never got to do anything to help the team until he gave up his entire childhood for them. Of course by now he had grown close enough with each of the ninja, but he still saw Nya as his closest friend in the entire world.
Nya looked immediately ashamed of herself and her face fell flat. "Oh, Lloyd. I didn't mean it like that." she said, her voice quivering.
"No it's fine. I understand." Lloyd muttered in a flat and dull tone. He got up from the table and slunk off down the hall, his head drooping low over his chest as he went.
Kai looked up with a dreary expression at his retreating figure before remarking, "So what was that about us hurting Lloyd? It seems you did a pretty nice job too Nya!"
She didn't respond. She was still looking down at the table and she was on the verge of tears.
Master Wu scolded Kai before looking over at Nya with sadness in his face. "As I was saying, someone must be manipulating Lloyd's dreams. And there is only one person I know capable of doing such a thing. I had hoped they were gone and would never be seen again, but now it seems I may have been mistaken."
"Who is it Master?" Cole asked.
Wu sighed and looked very distraught. "Through your travels you have seen many elemental powers in use. You 5 possess the elements of Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, and Water respectively. Lloyd embodies the Essence of Energy and he previously had control over the fabled Golden Power. I have control over Creation, whereas my resurrected brother can only harness Destruction. You met the elemental masters of Metal, Mind, Nature, Amber, Form, Speed, Light, Shadow, Smoke, Poison, Gravity, and Sound during your stay on Chen's Island, and then more recently you encountered the elements of Wind and Time. However, there exists yet another elemental power, one that I had believed to be lost forever. The Elemental Power of Dreams."
The Ninja looked quite surprised by the news, and Nya had finally looked up from the table. They all looked significantly paler than before, and Nya's sadness had once again turned to anger. "What do they want with Lloyd?" she asked between gritted teeth. Her eyes narrowed and she appeared to be glaring at Master Wu for once again hiding more information from them.
He looked back at her, his face a mix of sadness and disappointment. "I do not know, but I believe that the Master of Dreams would not have very honorable intentions. Many people over the years have attempted to use or harm Lloyd for his power, and I fear that this may not be much different."
Nya's expression shot up with worry. "We should never have let him go off alone." she said before running down the hallway.
Lloyd walked down the hall and back up to his room. He opened the door before shutting and locking it. He collapsed in a heap, landing right on the edge of his bed. The caffeine had begun to wear off and Lloyd suddenly felt far more tired.
There was a knock on the door. Lloyd groaned before firing a shot of energy at his door lock. The latch for the door got hit and fell to the ground. "It's open." he grumbled. Twisted back towards the bed, he turned away from the door. He heard the door open and someone walk in, but they weren't saying anything. The person walked over and stood right in front of him, patiently waiting for his attention. Lloyd looking down saw that the person was wearing a green cloak, which was an immediate red flag. No one else wears green here. His eyes shot up and he saw the figure in their entirety.
The green coloring was impossible to exactly pin down for Lloyd at the moment, but off of a glance it looked like a forest green or possibly an artichoke coloring. He could see what looked like a light blue and black shirt peeking out from under the cloak, and both articles of clothing appeared to be made out of cotton or some other cheap fabric; nothing super expensive looking. His eyes slowly turned to the person's face, and all he could see was some sort of black covering obscuring their face, as well as the cloak reaching up as a hood to also cover their head. They didn't seem to be very tall; in fact they may have been shorter than Lloyd, but in his current state they towered over him.
"Who are you?" he asked groggily. They once again said nothing and Lloyd saw a cyan flash before everything went dark.
Another minor cliffhanger, but I do think that this chapter has really set in place the ideas I'm going to be using for the story. I was initially planning upon having Lloyd interact more with the ninja; like for another few chapters maybe, but I just couldn't think of much else to do with their characters. I hope you are all excited to see the Elemental Power of Dreams; I've had the concept for it for a few months now and I'm thrilled to be able to write something for it now.