Hey Everyone! Hope you are all doing well. It's been a while since I last posted but I promise I'll try to be a little more consistent. Anyway... This happens right after Lloyd gets out of the Overlords ship after having his energy drained away. I wrote this kinda quick, I tried to catch most of the grammar mistakes but forgiveness may be necessary. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!! Lots of Love - Lorna :)
"He's through there." An elderly woman directed Kai through a set of heavy wooden doors. "He wasn't doing well when we found him ashore. Poor thing must have swam all the way."
Kai clenched his fists but the hollow pit in his stomach only got worse. "Can I see him? I'm here to take him home."
"Of course." The woman replied. "Feel free." She nodded towards the door and then left quietly, as though she understood that this was private. Pushing open the doors, Kai saw it was a small guest bedroom with a single bed, a dresser with a bucket of water and rags on it as well as other various decor items. None of that interested him though, no what mattered to Kai was the limp, curled up form lying on the bed.
"Lloyd?" Kai asked, coming over to him. The green ninja was pale, gaunt-looking and shivering. "Bigshot?"
"Kai?" Lloyd whispered, almost to quiet for Kai to catch.
"Yeah bud." Kai replied, gently squeezing the young boys shoulder. "I'm going to get you out of here alright. I'm here to take you home."
"M' dad." Lloyd forced out. "He k'?"
"Yeah kid, He's okay." Kai reassured putting his hand against the younger ones head, wincing as he realized how feverish Lloyd was. Kai was well acquainted with heat being the master of it, so he knew the fire racing through Lloyds veins was devastating. He grabbed a washcloth and dipped it into the cool water. "This isn't going to feel great ok? It's going be really cold, but I promise that it's to help you." Kai put the cloth against the young boys head. Lloyd jolted away from the freezing rag.
"Kai." He whimpered. "Don't s' cold. Please."
Kai's heart shattered. "I'm so sorry but you have to leave this on."
Lloyd shook his head minutely.
"Lloyd please, I promise it's going to help. Do you trust me?"
Blearily Lloyd managed to open his eyes and look at Kai. He nodded.
"Thank you." Kai dipped the cloth in again and laid it against his forehead. Lloyd shivered but said nothing. His eyes glazed over exhaustedly.
"You scared us all to death kid." Kai whispered.
"I feel like it." Lloyd slurred. Whatever was going to say next was cut off by were hacking coughs. Lloyd turned to the side, scrunching in fetal position, as he gagged up the ocean.
Panicked, Kai soaked up the water with a dry rag and tried to act much more calm than he was feeling. "Done?" He asked when the coughing subsided. Lloyd nodded weakly. "Done."
"That was a lot of water kid."
"I think I probably swallowed a lot of water when the Overlord's ship went down. I jumped out but was knocked unconscious when I hit the water."
Kai tried not to let his horror show on his face. Lloyd had nearly drowned and Kai didn't quite take that news well. He dipped the rag back into the moderately cool water and replaced the towel on Lloyds head, much to the green ninjas displeasure.
"Kai." He mumbled sulkily. "I feel like death warmed up and you're trying to torture me."
Kai laughed at that. "If I was trying to torture you, making your fever go down would be bad way to go about it don't you think?"
Lloyd scowled at him.
"You look exhausted bud." Kai said after a moment. "What happened?"
Now if it was anyone else, Lloyd probably would have shrugged them off with some half hearted, poor story that didn't really say much of anything, but this was Kai. Kai was much like an older brother to him, someone that he trusted. Someone that he could talk too without fear of judgement.
"He drained my powers." Lloyd replied quietly.
"He did more than that Lloyd." Kai replied softly, gently replacing the rag again. Lloyd shivered.
"He found us in the jungle. There were too many of them and I wasn't supposed to use my elemental power, just trust in the balance" He scoffed at that. "I tried not too, but to escape I summoned my bike. I didn't even really want to leave. My father was vastly outnumbered. He wasn't going to get out, but he told me to run so I did."
"There was nothing wrong with that decision Lloyd. You did the right thing." Kai reassured, upset to feel how high the kids fever still was. Remorsefully, Kai pulled off the blanket that was wrapped tightly around the shivering teen. Lloyd whimpered when the cold air bit into his skin reaching for it back. "Sorry kid. Fever's still way to high to make the journey back to the bounty. It's on the beach, the only space big enough to hold it in this tiny town."
Lloyd nodded behind scrunched eyes. "It's fine I guess."
Kai took the rag off of Lloyd's forehead, deciding it probably wasn't doing much but making his brother more miserable than he already was. Kai made a motion for him to continue.
"He got my dad, Kai. That's why I turned myself in." Lloyd shook his head. "I knew better. I knew Pythor wasn't going to keep his word, but I- I guess I had to try to save him."
"So that's how the Overlord got you?"
"Yeah."
Kai brushed his hand through Lloyd damp locks. The poor kid dissolved into a wet coughing fit again as he continued to cough up minimal amounts of water and mucus.
"Think you can get up? Should I just carry you?"
Panting from his haggard fit, Lloyd managed to glare at Kai. "Don't you dare carry me. I'll walk."
Kai almost laughed. "It's not like I haven't carried you before."
Lloyd snorted. "It doesn't count if I was 10. It's a little less mortifying to be carried around when you're 8."
"I thought you said 10."
Lloyd rolled his. "I can't believe I was happy to see you."
"It was a mistake wasn't it."
"Just give me a hand."
Kai offered a more than a hand, placing a steady arm on his shoulder to aid him in getting up. Lloyd was grateful that he didn't comment on how shaky he was. Instead Kai merely pulled the his arm over Kai's neck and around Kai's shoulder. Kai's other hand found it's place around his baby brother's waist to offer more stability.
It was probably a miracle that they made it to the Bounty, that or Lloyd's unfathomable stubbornness. By sheer force of will Lloyd managed to make it to the ninja's shared bedroom before collapsing ungracefully onto one of the beds. Sweat rolled down Lloyd's face and his skin had as green a hue as his gi, which Kai was only just now realizing was still damp and torn in many places. It was leeching away all of Lloyd's body heat and causing him to shiver, which was only going to make his fever that much worse.
"Come on kid, you gotta get up. We need to getcha out of that. Can't have you showing up to the rest of the team looking like a drowned cat."
The small green mound on the bed snorted rudely. "I'm not getting up again."
Kai shook his shoulder, trying to keep the teasing light in his voice to hide the worry. "If you don't get up now I'll pull you off the bed and then you'll be forced to get up."
"Ugh. Kai." Lloyd whined. Kai grinned. It was cute to see little moments like this when Lloyd actually acted his age, like the world wasn't as hanging like an axe over his head.
Kai pulled on the younger ones shoulder, effectively starting to slide him off the bed. "I warned you."
"No Kai! Alright! I surrender!" Lloyd got to his feet slowly and Kai want and grabbed some clean, dry clothes out of Lloyd's drawer.
"Here. Go change."
Lloyd stumbled off into the bathroom to change, muttering something under his breath about torture and a hot headed, protective older brother. Kai grinned. Over-protective? Lloyd didn't know the half of it. A few minutes later, Lloyd came out wearing a loose fitting shirt and shorts. Kai was grateful to see that his shivering had all but stopped.
"Feeling any better?"
"Meh. I'm tired."
Kai pushed out a sharp reach that resembled a laugh. "I'll bet. Getting all the energy sucked out of you and then swimming who knows how many miles to get to shore and then on top of it all fighting a fever and whatever else is going on, might do that to you."
Lloyd flopped onto the nearest bed, not willing to climb the ladder to make it to his. It was Zane's so he figured it would probably be fine. Not that he thought any of his brothers would be too upset if he crashed in there unoccupied bed. He put his arm over his eyes to block out the sun that was still filtering through the ship. After a moment his stomach and lungs did a somersault for no other reason than to ruin what little peace he had managed to obtain. Coughing turning into something more akin to hacking as Lloyd twisted to spit out whatever water remained in his lungs. Kai gave him a box of tissues and a garbage can, and then left only to return with a glass of clean water and a granola bar.
"Figure you could probably use some more water since you seem to want to get rid of as much as possible."
"Don't be a smart-" Kai arched his eyebrow almost threatening him to finish. Only Kai could let him ride a dragon and fight indestructible warriors but get angry if he so much as cursed. "-Butt. Don't be a smartbutt."
Kai laughed as Lloyd scowled, grabbing the drink and taking a small sip before handing it back.
Kai handed him the granola bar. "You could probably use some food too. I figure all that coughing probably makes you hungry."
"That or swimming a dozen or so miles." Lloyd replied bitterly. "I'm not hungry."
"But you're going to eat it anyway." Kai smiled, the edges a little too sharp. "Because even if you don't feel hungry right now you haven't eaten anything in a couple days at least and you basically swam a solid half marathon. So your body needs the food to keep healing."
"And yet it's saying it doesn't want it."
"That's the sickness talking."
"That's what my brain is saying."
"That's an even worse excuse. You're an idiot so your brain is equally as untrustworthy."
Lloyd gave a loud laugh. "Give me the stupid bar."
Kai handed it over and watched as Lloyd ate the entire thing. Not that it was all that much, but it did make Kai feel a little better.
"Alright, I'm going to go make sure the ship is still on the right course and then I'll come back." Kai said as he slipped out of the room. "Feel free to take a nap. You're certainly cranky enough for one." Kai grinned as a pillow hit him square in the face.
As Kai walked back in to check on his very exhausted younger brother, he was surprised to see that he was still somewhat awake. His eyes were half-closed and dazed but he looked up to Kai as he walked in with some sort of coherence. That just wouldn't do, Kai thought.
"Scoot over bigshot."
Lloyd obeyed without complaint. Kai rested his head on the wooden headboard as he pulled Lloyd closer to him, running a hand through the younger teen hair.
"You're tired kid. It's ok to sleep now."
Lloyd curled up around Kai, his head resting on Kai's shoulder.
"Everything's gonna be okay now, alright kid."
Lloyd nodded. "I never doubted you for a second."
Something in Kai's chest threatened to explode. "We never doubted you for a moment either."
He could feel the very corners of Lloyd's mouth tug up into a small smile.
"Get some sleep Green Machine. We'll be home in a couple hours."
He looked down to see that Lloyd was already out like a light.
