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survivalshipping · 9 months

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(BELATED) Ninjago Fic Rec Week Masterpost

Hey people! I’ve been working on this all week but unfortunately was too busy to really post any of it while the week was happening, so I’m posting all seven days late. I combed my entire bookmarks for this :3

DAY 1 (CANON/LLOYD)

o.k. overture by newnins

For the Lloyd prompt! I just Really Like this Lloyd fic, man. If you read the stuff i write you know how much I love deep introspection into Lloyd struggling with normalcy and his identity/purpose. Also any Skylor + Lloyd friendship is a WIN for me and is sorely underutilized

Chain Reaction by TeuthidaRegina

For the Canon and Lloyd prompt! One of multiple fics on here written by my bestie! I love beast Lloyd so so much and this fic is So Good. Let my man be more creature. I love dragoni Lloyd

Lloyd Gets a Ransom Note by BumblebeeEnby

For the Lloyd prompt! A fic where Lloyd gets to have a meal with Garmadon and Vinny. I’m absolutely obsessed with this fic for several reasons (see: my URL) and it feels so in-character and organic. Would love to be a fly on the wall for this one, honestly.

DAY 2 (AU/MOVIEVERSE/JAY)

Who Said You’re On Your Own? by Subpar_Samurai

For the AU prompt! This is for an AU that I remember seeing posts of by the author/artist prior to the fic being published and being immediately intrigued by it. It’s a story where Ronin is the one who takes Lloyd under his wing and raises him. I really like Ronin. I haven’t seen updates on this AU in a while but I still love it dearly

Prodigal Prince by TeuthidaRegina

For the AU and Movieverse prompt! Another fic written by my bestie. An AU where movie!Lloyd is raised by Garmadon instead...but is still the Green Ninja! The dynamics in this fic are so good. It has everything. Papa Garmadon, Very Much Oni Lloyd, and so, so much drama. Please read this I beg of you

Survivors by Finn_M_Corvex

For the Jay prompt! This was a fic I found relatively recently and it’s...super good? It deals with the survivor’s guilt that both Jay and Lloyd feel due to certain experiences. Jay is written really well in this. It’s also incredibly heartwrenching.

The Catboy-ification of Lloyd Garmadon by jays-supersonic-dynamo

For the Movieverse prompt! THEEEEEE movie fic. THE TLNM FIC EVER. Everything about this fic is absolutely perfect and it’s such fun writing for every movie iteration of the characters involved. I don’t care that Lloyd hates the term, I love dragoni Lloyd in this fic. Catboy is Real

DAY 3 (ANGST/KAI)

a day in the life of a fatherless child by holographicknife

For the Angst prompt! This fic upsets me in a good way. Lloyd deals with his trauma by himself, including a certain somebody showing up. It’s incredibly heartwrenching. Totally recommend.

An Impromptu Little Brother by Leonardo_Charles_BlueWood_21

For the Kai prompt! One of the absolute holy grails of Kai + Lloyd fics, showcasing the development of their brotherly relationship following young Lloyd joining the ninja and living with them. Super good, and Kai’s written great here.

Off the Deep End by Kiss_The_Cook

For the Angst and Kai prompt! I don’t have a ton to say about this, but the way Kai is written in this is impeccable. Read it.

DAY 4 (FLUFF/COLE)

Dancing in the Rain by K1ngtok1

For the Fluff prompt! Super cute fic starring Lil Lloyd and Kai. Incredibly sweet. This fic just feels like a warm hug.

Let’s Dye this World by PeachPopFizz

For the Fluff prompt! Lloyd dyes his hair. Chaos ensues. Don’t have much to say, but this fic is so much fun and I love it

hate to say i love you by lloydenthusiast

For the Fluff prompt! Lloyd struggles to tell his found family how much he loves them. Incredibly bittersweet and overall a great read.

DAY 5 (MULTICHAPTER/NYA)

Devil’s Horns by TeuthidaRegina

For the Multichapter prompt! Fic #3 on this list written by my best friend. Even though not everything by them is on here you should read everything by them. S10 divergence fic featuring a whole lotta oni Lloyd and also a whole lotta oni in general. What more could you want? This fic is perfection and I honestly forgot that that wasn’t what happened canonically because I like this way better

Perfect Gardens by northpen

For the Multichapter prompt! Post S10, Lloyd becomes a child again. SUPER long, SUPER angsty, and overall just super super interesting. northpen is a phenomenal author in this fandom. The interactions between Garmadon and Lloyd are so complex, too. I can’t wait for the next chapter of this fic.

Line of Position (author has since orphaned this fic)

For the Nya prompt! Takes place during Hunted. Nya’s thinking about her family while she’s stargazing. Going to be real this fic made me so damn sad. I feel like there aren’t enough Hunter Nya works out there

Meet Again by northpen

For the Multichapter prompt! I don’t remember if I found this, or somebody recommended it to me, but when I started reading I think I read all but one chapter instead of sleeping. And then I proceeded to wake up the next day and finish it. SUPER good future fic involving reincarnation of sorts, Cole and Zane excluded since they’re still alive. This fic genuinely had me at the edge of my seat as it developed. I don’t want to spoil much but it’s worth the read.

DAY 6 (DYNAMIC DUOS/ZANE)

Piggyback by Echo_K

For the Dynamic Duos prompt! Two different scenes of Lloyd and Kai! Very cute, falls into hurt/comfort territory, but overall is a sweet story. Shows off the development of Kai and Lloyd’s bond well.

You Give Me the Strength I Need (To Cry) by fruitcasket

For the Dynamic Duos prompt! To say that this fic is incredible is an absolute understatement. It focuses on Kai and Lloyd, taking inspiration from The Splinter in the Blind Man’s Eye, and every part of it is amazing. Both perspectives are used. It’s also a multichapter! Seriously, I can’t recommend this enough.

thaw by lloydenthusiast

For the Dynamic Duos and the Zane prompt! A post-S11 fic involving dealing with the repercussions of the Ice Emperor. Really goes in-depth on both how it affected Zane and Lloyd. I don’t see a TON of fics about the two of them so this is always nice to see.

You’ve Got Your Transmission and Your Live Wire by Spinchip

For the Zane prompt! In which Zane experiments with their gender after a technical difficulty. I love seeing peoples’ takes on the identity of the characters in this series and this is honestly one of my favorite in that category. The author is also like, the CEO of Zane to me in general so that adds to how well this is written.

DAY 7 (GEN/TEAM)

brick by brick by lloydenthusiast

For the Gen and the Team prompt! A post-s10 fic dealing with Lloyd’s trauma and how he’s handling (or not handling) it. I love love LOVE the dynamics shown in this and how a connection is shown between everybody and every separate pair. It also feels incredibly organic and realistic, especially in terms of the dialogue.

The Candy Aisle by VioletPixels

For the Gen and the Team prompt! Takes place pre-Child’s Play when Lloyd is still a kid being raised by the ninja. Super cute, super heartfelt, and I love how the thought processes of Lloyd are shown. He’s truly a kid in this.

I’m Here by SenseiGrace

For the Gen prompt! After S3E5, when Lloyd is able to escape Pythor + the Overlord’s clutches and Sensei G comes to his aid. Something about fics involving Sensei Garmadon hit different. I especially liked how this fic was from Garmadon’s perspective. Makes me miss him so much.

a compass to lead you home by aura_w

For the Gen prompt! I don’t want to spoil this fic, but it’s Garmadon-focused (post-reincarnation) and deals with him rediscovering himself and dealing with his identity. Probably one of my favorite Garmadon-centric fics out there. Give it a read!

All I’m Asking For by lloydskywalkers

For the Gen and the Team prompt! I know this has probably been on like, everybody’s rec lists, but it’s worth it. Everything lloydskywalkers wrote is totally worth checking out on their ff.net page. It’s a long (26 chapter) fic which I recommend sitting down and reading fully. There’s a LOT I could say about this fic, but I don’t want to spoil people. Every character from the ninja to Wu and Garmadon are written so goddamn well in this. I think I cried reading the last few chapters. Please read this

Once again, very sorry that I’m like, three days late to posting for the Fic Rec week. I have been very busy 😭 but I really wanted to get my recommendations posted and out there for you guys to see!

#ninjago #montypost #fic recs #ninjago fic rec week #bro i have NO idea what else to tag this #ninjago fanfiction #fic recommendation

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weekend-whip · 9 months

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Ninjago Fic Rec Week: Day 5

Prompts: Multichaps / Nya Recs! *shorter one today, I'm not feeling too well rn -w-)

Multichap Recs-

Saturniidae: *takes long hard swig* This one's a doozy, fellas. Beautifully melancholic Cole-centric fic detailing the descent of their team reflected in their beloved Ultra Dragon amongst other things, and the stinging realization that what we need isn't always going to be what we want...or in the ways we think. I still think about this fic from time to time and have to take a moment of silence for my heart snksnksnk

Father Always Liked You Best: Another Shiny special, this time with some Garmadon angst and what the view of his gradually splintering off from his brother (And very quickly reminding me what my favorite take on Garmadon is. Spoilers: IT'S THIS. The very last line reminded me of how hard it hit when I first read this aaaaaaa)

Five Times Morro Trusted Wu: AND THE ONE TIME HE DIDN'T. Or, the fic that sits at the very core of my tempered adoration for the ghost kid.

Habits of Home(lessness): Putting this here cuz I'm once again mad I dropped the ball on Jay's day lmao!! In which Jay's "normal" childhood growing up is very abnormal in the face of the rest of his team (and he is THROWN when it comes to trying to figure out why)

Nya Recs-

Ninjago: The Nya Perspective: THE NYA FIC I'VE SEARCHED MY WHOLE LIFE FOR (aka maybe twoish weeks? Three? This has been a long drag of a month, man) ANYWAY it's the series retold from Nya's point of view and it is MMMMMM peak Nya. Peak Nya. Very highly reccomended.

selkie: short, sweet, and a little bit haunting, a reflective Nya Post-Seabound (......with a solution to the 'being the sea' problem I also thought really should've happened, or at least considered, but give the flow of this fic...perhaps, maybe not)

Please Just Don't Break an Ankle: Nya, Skylor, and Pixal getting the chance to girl-out and just be friends if not sisters!!!!! But, there is a lot of fun dynamics with everyone, though big sister Skylor has me by the throat!!! And Nya getting the chance to be just a little bit vulnerable :3

this grueling cycle: mmmmmmBACK at it again with the pre-pilots fics!! Nya and Kai in the ~before~ times, following the siblings' clashing opinions on the disappearance of their parents. Very descriptive and ripe with characterization!

Blue-Black: Nya and, ironically, the impressions that the color green has on her overtime. She also has synesthesia <3

déjà-vu: Y'all know I'm always a sucker for stories where Nya and Lloyd has out their feelings with each other, and this is definitely towards the top of the list! The angst burns so good <3

Skating on Thin Ice (Can Get You Into Hotwater): A multichapter braincellshipping fic in a hockey/ice skating au that I haven't actually finished, but a) I loved what I read of it so far, b) the character dynamics are sooooo much fun, even beyond the ship, c) the concept is AMAZING, and d) it's by an author who's made this list already, THEREFORE I trust this story with my life. It needs a little extra love <3

Nya and the Song of Sirens: Poetic Nya stream of consciousness thingy during some Crystalized events, I don't talk about this one a lot because writing it stressed me out and I didn't think it was anywhere close to my best snksnksnk, but upon rereading again for myself, I'm like "whoa, maybe I really had something here". I should be nicer to myself, and it is very potently Nya, thus *plunks down rec*

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago fic rec week #the lego ninjago movie #nya smith #multichapter #fic recs

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raan-miir-tah · 9 months

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HAPPY NINJAGO FIC REC WEEK!

Day 1: Canon/Lloyd

Canon- all your closets of backlogged dreams (and how you left them to me) by glowing shadows: the best way to cry over the Garmadon family in the shortest amount of time

Lloyd- Prodigal Prince by TeuthidaRegina: double identities, the confusion that spurs, and the fallout of said confusion

Day 2: AU and/or Movieverse/Jay

AU- Bloodstone by TeuthidaRegina: a brilliant, canon adjacent, Lloyd centric AU that feels like reading a novel

Movieverse- Reference Letters by Fabro-de-omres: fun secret identity shenanigans with a hearty dose of RBG siblings

Movieverse- pumpkin, pumpkin (you’re gonna kill me) by moonlitsheets: a sugar rush of adorable sappy jaya being their dorkiest selves

Jay- Enchanted Opportunities by Arco-Harrison03: Jay gains a terrible power and a greater paranoia, all at a great cost

Day 3: Angst/Kai

Angst- No Fancy Covering (You Get Just What You See) by sodaschemes: ghost Cole has a panic attack about the paradoxes of being a ghost and having a panic attack

Kai- 12:10pm by alirxi: a short but hilarious lil fic featuring Kailor

Day 4: Fluff/Cole

Fluff- Day Off by Corbyin: adorable gemstone shipping date + in this house we stan Corbyin

Cole- You Are A Hero by princessPooka: canon adjacent gemstone with a dash of adventure and a spice of humor

Day 5: Multichaps/Nya

Multichaps- Ninjago: Reclaimed by Corbyin: currently discontinued but so genuinely interesting and vivid it’s worth a read regardless of if you have to read it upside down dangling off a cliff

Nya- The lost Sea by Lyrishina: a super promising AU filled with mythological themes

Day 6: Dynamic Duos/Zane

Dynamic Duos- I Found My Place (and it’s in your arms) by Willow_Alchemist: lloydkita, surviving the snow, and getting to know each other

Dynamic Duos- Some Secrets Are Worth Sharing by Burning_Sand: simply described as the perfect pixane engagement fic

Zane- Accountability by Bestboiuwu: Zane and Lloyd have a conversation/argument about people who do wrong and responsibility

Day 7: Gen fic/Team

Gen fic- they tell me everyone falls down time to time. by tinyastronaut: aromantic Lloyd struggles with his identity in a way that will tug on every queer heart

Team- The Make-Cole-Realize-How-Much-We-Love-Him Competition by Fabro-de-omres: an absolutely adorable and totally in character fluff piece set in the movieverse

Bonus! Here are my fics the Sun’s Song over the City Streets, Tear Drops on my Katana, and White Knuckled Grip + White Hot Tears

#kaan’s #ninjago fic rec week #ninjago #ninjago fic recs #it was a blast scouring through peoples recs thank you lego bitches and those who love them <3

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halfbreeddege · 2 years

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And so it begins!

The script is 100% done, it’s just a matter of me converting it into a comic. I have about half this comic finished so far and the last few pages kinda sketched out and it’s looking that this comic could be 7…maaaaybe 8 pages long?? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.

If I don’t start posting these now, then no telling when I’ll get around to it, so here goes…

I’m going to post one page a week so hopefully that gives me some time to catch up. Hopefully. I’ll make sure to link the pages together too.

I gotta admit, drawing in Monkie Kid style is hella fun. Too fun! That ain’t a bad thing.

The airlock test Dr. P is mentioning is referring to this.

I think I had way too much fun drawing Dr. P. As badass as the Monkie Kid style can be, it’s also hard to look past how adorable the button-eyed, crab-clawed characters can as well. Spoiler alert, she’s going to be a sadistic creep and look cute while doing it.

For Dr. P, I referred a lot to Spider Queen a little bit of the scorpion demon and for Cyrus, well, Tang could practically pass as his twin. (I referred to SO many screenshots of him!)

A head’s up, you might see numbers of existing SCPs used in this AU. Purely a cowinky dink. Seriously, how is anyone supposed to keep up with all those numbers? Dr. P (a humanized Preeminent) is an O5 member and poor ol’ Cyrus is the director of the site she’s visiting.

AU belongs to @breathlessmorro so go check them out and their loooooong list of headcanons for this AU.

I’m taking a few creative liberties here so a head’s up, Breathless might have some different things planned for these characters.

That being said. I love Ninjago. I love SCP. And I just really wanted a good reason do draw some ANGST. :-9 Now shut up, Dege and let’s get to the blood-covered meat and potatoes.

As a reminder from my previous post, there will be some blood, gore, violence and abuse in this comic, but once we get to those pages, I’ll have tags and warnings applied.

Let’s enjoy some wine as Dr. P laments about the day’s experiments.

AU belongs to @breathlessmorro Art by me

#ninjago #scp #scp au #abuse #art

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ninjago-happens-here · 3 years

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Ninjago Angst Week Day 5: Grief

The only time a Ninja can cry is when it's all over. - Kai Smith

@ninjago-angst-week

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33351856/chapters/82860331

(6985 words)

Please be gentle I haven't written proper fanfiction for like 11 months

This is the S4-S5 angsty recovery journey that's wayyyy too short for my tastes, but what can you do? It's a one shot.

In the aftermath of the battle, Lloyd was numb. He couldn’t cry, couldn’t speak, couldn’t scream, and no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t. Standing still, tears running down his face, all Lloyd could do was stare at the spot in the sky where his father vanished, where his father left him again.

At this point, he would do anything, anything to bring his father back. He started to mouth the words of the cursed book, ingrained into his muscle memory, and a gust of wind split down the center of Destiny’s Bounty-

“Lloyd? Lloyd buddy, you there?” Kai’s warm prodding tone snapped Lloyd of whatever state he was in. Quickly schooling his features into something that could be seen as less insane, Lloyd turned around to watch the rest of his teammates climb over the railings of the Bounty. He observed Cole and Zane giving a status report to Wu, Jay and Nya manoeuvring the Bounty to flat ground, and Kai-

“Lloyd? Lloyd answer me, are you with us?” Kai snapped his fingers in front of him. Blinking quickly, Lloyd gave a slow nod. “Okay buddy, I know you’re tired and we’ll have to unpack everything later, but for now, we have to get the Ninjago Warriors back home, and also give a lift to the Elemental Alliance. Are you with me, Lloyd?”

Unpack everything later? Does Kai even know what he has been through? Does Kai even know what it feels to have the one person that cared about you unconditionally, disappear and disappear all throughout his life, and finally, when he thought he got him back, destiny decides to take him away?

Lloyd shook his thoughts away. Kai wouldn’t know because Kai hasn’t seen his parents since he was 3. At least he still has Misako, didn’t he?

He pointedly ignored the ways his Uncle and mother have been interacting since they first saw each other at the museum.

Kai didn’t deserve his snark, his unwarranted hatred. Kai shouldn’t have to put up with a bratty Green Ninja who can’t do anything right. If only he was stronger, smarter, faster wises- maybe this all wouldn’t have happened. Maybe if he had defeated the Overlord the first time, they wouldn’t have lost Zane and wouldn’t have to go to the tournament to fight to get him back. Maybe, Lloyd would stop trading family members for each other-

“Lloyd, Lloyd please stay with me. Can tell me 5 things you see?” Thank god for Kai. He should be grateful he didn’t lost Kai as well, to Chen’s power corrupting staff. Wetting his lips, Lloyd tentatively started to talk.

“I..I-I see a-a bird? It’s… metallic, and it’s Zanes falcon? I-I see the book o-of-of-“ Lloyd couldn’t continue with that sentence, to when he was looking at the cursed book that sent his father away. He turned away from the bow of the ship. Swallowing all of his emotions, he took a deep breath and started to list 4 things he could see without breaking down. “I…I see the mast, I can see the dragon head and the front of the ship, and I can see the anchor.”

“What, you can’t see my beautiful hair?” Kai asked teasingly, pretending to flip his hair.

“I also see an idiot dressed in red right in front of me.”

“THAT’S IT. I’m writing you out of my will, you red-nosed punk. And say goodbye to all the starfairy comics you own.” Lloyd visibly winced at the word ‘will’, wondering whether his father had written one, and making a mental note to write his own sometime soon, because being a ninja isn’t the safest job. Still, he had recoiled even harder at Kai mispronouncing ‘Starfarer’.

“Kai, it’s Starfarer, not starfairy, stargazer, star- You know what, I’m done with you too! I’ll tell Nya what you did to her Samurai X b-“

Kai immediately slammed a hand onto Lloyd’s mouth, even ignoring Lloyd’s attempts at licking and biting to break free.

“Say one more word and we’re both dead-“

“What’s this about Samurai X?” Nya asked, walking down to lay down a plank on the entrance of the ship.

“Nothing!” Kai answered with a manic grin whilst wrestling Lloyd into silence. (You know, you would think that we would both have the engineering gene, but I guess not. Kai had said to Lloyd as his attempts at improving the bracelet literally went up in smoke.)

“Uhuh. Okay, Lloyd, you need to go to the bow of the ship and do your speech thing. Kai, stop strangling him, he needs to breathe,” Nya instructed whilst glaring at her brother with a look that promised to find out whatever Kai was doing. Looks like Kai will die after all.

“Mhmm, okay, we’re going now, see ya later sis, now go Lloyd go-“ Kai said, giving him a good hearted push in the right direction. Too bad that Lloyd knew what his brother was trying to do, and escaped from Kai’s reach before he could wipe all the saliva on his glove on the back of his gi.

“Urgh, Lloyd, you’re disgusting!” Kai shouted from the deck, trying to shake his glove dry. Lloyd raised a peace sign without looking back.

“Stupid kid. FSM, I hope he’ll be alright.” Kai sighed, removing his disgusting glove from his hand and chucking it onto the Dragon’s head for future Kai to deal with.

“Don’t worry bro, he will be. He has us, remember? Now let’s hope that he can thank the fighters properly.”

One good speech and a therapeutic book during session later (he would have to thank Kai for convincing his uncle for that) Lloyd dragged his beaten body his bed in the bounty and collapsed on top of it. All he wanted to do was sleep for the next century, but destiny decided that it was his turn to be hit in the back with a water gun. Wincing in pain and feeling the phantom ache from his fight with Chen, he wearily opened his eyes and stared at the offender. Nya.

“I love you green bean, I really do. But you’re currently stinking up to dorm room, you know that? Go and take a bath,” She patronised him gently, yet had a look in her eyes that said ‘if you don’t go to the bath, I’ll bring the bath to you’. Lloyd shivered. He did not want to sleep on a watered bed.

Groaning, he pushed himself up before turning his head away so that a second shot from the water gun wouldn’t hit him in the face. Shaking his hair like a dog and managing to get some of the water back onto Nya, judging by the shrieks he heard (Ha, take that! Who’s the Master of water now?) Lloyd dashed to the safety of the bathroom before he could incite further retaliation. Heaving heavily (man, I really spent myself today) Lloyd locked the door and stared at his reflection in the mirror. For a moment, he thought he saw his father, but it’s still just him. Rubbing his eyes, Lloyd wonders whatever that might mean. Staring into the mirror, Lloyd started noticing the similarities of him and his father as well as the differences. His teeth, for one, have always been more sharp, more canine like than the humans he met. Garmadon’s teeth was like that too, even before he was turned into a snake. He can see that they have the same nose, same ears, and even the same smile. But what he didn’t have was hair as long as his father’s. And whilst his eyes are a deep, blood red, they are shaped like his mother’s.

He was getting even more lost in thought when a knock on the door broke his thoughts. “Lloyd, you better hurry up, we’re gonna have to shower too.” Lloyd grimaced in shame. He was supposed to be more thoughtful, was he not? The more he looked at the mirror, the more he wanted to punch it, to shatter it for FSM knows why.

In a split second, he jumped in the shower with his gi on and turned it on. Suddenly, he was assaulted with frigid water, which made no sense at all! Didn’t the sun in the desert sun warm up the water tanks given that they were in the corridor of Elders for the whole day? Turning the heat up to maximum, he felt his brain shut down as the rhythmic drops of water splattered onto the ground. Relaxing into the warming heat of the shower, he didn’t notice the high heat of the water until it was a temperature that even Kai said was too hot. Still, he welcomed the scalding heat, watching the mirror cloud over with the steam. Shoulders sagging, he turned the tap slightly to the right and started to shower properly.

10 minutes later, with his hair dried and fluffed up again and his teeth brushed (he knew Nya would check) he walked out of the bathroom to a surprisingly empty corridor. Maybe his team weren’t done with dinner yet? Was Zane taking too long to wrap up every injury his team had? Did they all fall asleep whilst waiting for him to be done? Lloyd heard the creaking floor boards as Jay paced above him and hushed whispers. They were in the meeting for some reason (okay, a lot of possible different reasons) and Lloyd felt obliged to join them. But before he could take a step to go upstairs, he felt a wave of exhaustion.

Trying to telepath ‘sorry’ to his teammates, Lloyd trudged back to the dorms and collapsed onto his bed. Before he went out like a light, he saw a glass of water and a couple of pain killers with a note of what looks like Nya’s handwriting. Too bad he was too tired to read, but he still thanked Nya in his head before entering the peaceful abyss of deep sleep, where he was too exhausted to even dream.

Lloyd didn’t wake up to the smell of food. Lloyd didn’t wake up to the sound of his teammates waking. Lloyd didn’t even wake up to being squished as his teammates squeezed between his bed and their bunks. What Lloyd woke up to was the sound of Starfarer’s opening, being blasted through the halls, as Jay severely butchers the song using ‘ba bah’s and ‘la’. Staring at the hallway from where the horrible noise was coming from, Lloyd debated about getting up and closing the door, but ultimately decided to just shove a pillow over his head and hope the noise goes away. Drifting into the depths of sleep once more, he was lost to the wondrous state of unconsciousness until Jay literally jumped onto him and started to play Fist to Face 2 at maximum volume. Grumbling and groaning, Lloyd just turned away and wrapped his head in the covers.

Unfortunately for him, Jay has this quirk, this superpower, of being unbelievably annoying. He has the ability to annoy you until you pay attention to him. And even more unfortunately for Lloyd, Jay has chosen him to be his target of unending energy this morning. Poor him, and his ears, now that Jay started to add sound effects to his game and becoming even more Jay-like, shouting at victories, growling at a particularly hard enemy, and a 100% increase in the chance for Lloyd to get hit by Jay’s elbows.

Very irritated, annoyed and frustrated, a grumpy Lloyd sat up and shoved Jay off his bed, which sent Jay screaming at the top of his lungs. Now stuck between Lloyd’s bed and the bunk bed, Jay grinned sheepishly at him.

“Wake up sleepy head! It’s your turn to be doctored by Zane” Jay said with an infuriating 1000 mega watt smile. All Lloyd wanted to do was to stay in bed and stay there for the next millennia, but there was the fact that Jay had a look in his eye that said ‘either you go to Zane, or I bring Zane to you’ which Lloyd really dreaded, because he wouldn’t be able to escape from Zane here when he inevitably starts to do a full medical checkup, which means dentistry. And whilst Lloyd Garmadon may hate a lot of things this morning (Jay, Jay’s voice, Starfarer’s opening-) he hated the dentist more than everything combined, because they would try to figure out how to deal with his fangs and inevitably someone would be bitten and Lloyd’s mouth will start bleeding again. So he slid over to the other side of his bed and started to power walk to the med bay, leaving an increasingly desperate Jay trapped between his bed and the bunk.

“Lloyd- Lloydfish, aren’t you gonna help a brother out? Lloyd- Lloyd where are you going? Lloyd don’t leave me! YOU COME BACK RIGHT THIS INSTANCE OR I’LL-“ Lloyd effectively muted Jay by shutting the door in the middle of the silence. Of course, Jay was growing increasingly more panicked. Lloyd can hear his voice rising until it hits a point where either Nya or Cole would drop by to see what’s the issue. But having been trapped in that position before, Lloyd knew how painful it would be before Jay would eventually let down. Serves him right, disturbing me whilst sleeping. What was he thinking?

Before long, Lloyd stood before medway, nervously biting on his lip. What was he thinking? Why didn’t he just run off the bounty so he could just hide for the rest of his life? Why did he come here again-

“Okay Zane, I know what you said about giving him space and time, but Jay’s taking too long-“ Cole’s hearth-like tones struct Lloyd’s ears as Cole opens the door to medbay with perhaps a bit more force than necessary. Thank god the door turns inwards, right? Shocked at the unexpected guest in front of the door, Cole and Lloyd maintained a slight staring competition before Cole moved to recover what little social skills Lloyd had.

“Oh hey Lloyd. Where’s Jay?” Lloyd blinked and opened his mouth to answer, but Jay had suddenly increased his cries 10 fold. He must have discovered Spidey, who Lloyd keeps under his bed. Cole visibly sighed.

“What did he get into this time? Alright Green bean, I’ll go take care of Jay, you go ease Zane’s fears that you may have been mortally injured. Catch you later?”

Lloyd could only nod as he felt his mouth dry up. Turning his head to follow Cole’s path and only stopping when his biggest brother went out of sight, Lloyd resigned himself to his fate and walked into the antiseptic-smelling room.

“Lloyd! Good to see you. I request that you take a seat as I run a surface level diagnostic scan to check for all and any cuts, infections, bruises, swelling, or any other abnormal indents on your skin,”

“Injuries, Zane. Just say injuries. Also, I’m glad to see you too,” Lloyd said with barely hidden panic as he sat down on the med bay bed. Oh no. Zane was going to talk.

“Are you ready for the process?” Zane asked matter of factly, skipping past the precursory ‘do you feel any pain anywhere?’ after having to listen to most of the team under exaggerating or hiding their injuries, or having oneparticularly excitable ninja complain about every singly pain. Lloyd gave an affirmative nod. Raising a metallic eyebrow, Zane started the scanning procedure.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon.” Lloyd visibly winced in anticipation. Ah. There it is. The dreaded ‘talk’. “Have you eaten anything today?” Lloyd started to nod non-committedly before stopping himself. But not before he saw Zane’s new, metallic features pull into a frown. “Lloyd, can I get a verbal response?” Damnit. Zane was going to force him to open up about everything wasn’t he?

Staring blankly at the painted white wooden wall of the medbay, Lloyd opened his mouth, only for nothing to come out. What was he supposed to say again? No, I did not eat anything, which you should have known? What was the point of asking him that question anyways?

“Lloyd, Lloyd can you hear me? Lloyd Garmadon?” What was everyone’s obsession with Garmadon? Why did he have to say his father’s name? His father that was never coming back?

Lloyd breathed in sharply. He can’t afford to fall apart now, he can’t do that. Not in front of Zane, who was quite possibly alarmed at this point. But when he looked at Zane, he was just waiting for Lloyd to respond with a neutral expression.

Apparently seeing something, because Lloyd was sure nothing terrifying slipped out from his carefully constructed mask, Zane quietly suggested that they watch a movie that he picked out. Lloyd gave the barest of head tilting possibly to count as a nod, and Zane started to project a movie unto the screen.

But it wasn’t just any movie. It was the grave of the Fireflies. OH NO. Lloyd thought to himself, Zane was definitely trying to make him cry. Well too bad for him, Lloyd can deal with this. If he didn’t cry when he got kicked out of Darkley’s, found out he was the Green Ninja, got captured by the Overlord, and sacrificed his father to a cursed realm where he would be trapped eternally suffering, then, pushing down all the horrible thoughts he just conjured, he wouldn’t cry in front of Zane!.

And- oh no, he feels hot liquid draining down his face, shattering the mask he had been trying to carry for so long, and he started to cry. Goddamnit, if his life wasn’t just so sad, if he was just stronger, braver, faster- he could’ve saved everyone! And where did Lloyd Garmadon lead everyone? He failed so many people, he failed Zane, he failed his father, he failed his team for being such a second rate Ninja. They should all hate him-

That’s when Zane’s cool metallic arms wrapped around his quaking body and Zane placed a blanket on him as his breathing shudders, becoming more and more irregular. Looking up at the titanium ninja, Lloyd saw the strangest sight in a while. Zane was trying to cry too, so he was creating frost around the edges of his eyes and trying to heat up his skin to make them melt, but having gone so long without his power, he was having some slight issues with controlling ice and made it too thick.

Surprisingly, Lloyd felt a warm bubbling out from the depths of his being, threatening to spill over. It somehow broke a barrier, and Lloyd could laugh again. It wasn’t the deep belly laughs from Cole, or the impish giggle from Jay, but a chuckle, sorta reminiscent of Garmadon’s laugh, and pretty soon Zane was joining in, with his even, metallic laughter at the hilarious display.

“Lloyd, can I get some help please?”

“O-hic-kay,” Lloyd hiccupped, as he tried to steady his trembling hands. Zane, showing a rare instance of impatience (man, he must really not want to show this to anyone else) and held Lloyd’s hands, steadying them so that Lloyd could apply some fiery energy unto Zane’s eyes. Unfortunately for Lloyd, the still pretty freezing liquid dripped onto his face and he flinched from the unexpected cold. Still, it was not unwelcome, because it soothed the red and irritated skin around Lloyd’s eyes from crying earlier.

“Would you like to watch another movie with me, Lloyd?”

“S-sure, Zane,” Lloyd said, wiping tears off his face with the blanket Zane dropped on him. “But only if I pick this time.”

“Fair enough,” Zane smiled. “So what should it be, Mister Lloyd?”

A few hours later, and having marathoned the Starfarer trilogy, Lloyd had felt much better with a large tissue pile beside him. (I’m okay with you wiping tears on the blanket, but blowing your nose? Where did your manners go, Lloyd? What happened whilst I was away?) They were interrupted by Nya, having to call them down for dinner. (Or rather, to have me make dinner, Zane huffed.) Even though all Lloyd wanted to do was retreat to the dorms and risk dehydration, he knew that he had no choice.

“C’mon Lloyd, it’d be Zane’s turn for cooking for us in a long time! We’ve all missed his cooking, haven’t we?” Was what Kai said when he started to find excuses to skip dinner. Liar, Lloyd thought to himself privately, I know that Cole and Jay would have asked Zane to cook breakfast and lunch already! But he still complied. Dinner was frankly, uneventful, as each bite Lloyd took felt like meaningless mush. Still, he forced a smile, passed the salt, and made pleasant commentary with his teammates, who all looked too happy for his taste. All he wanted to do was to curl up on his bed again. Yet, when he left the table early, Zane pulled him aside.

“How do you feel about watching movies with me tomorrow, Lloyd?” And what Lloyd really wanted to say was ‘no’. He really just wanted his sleep, and to also not wake up dehydrated. But he obliged his teammate. After all, how long has it been since he last hung out with Zane? At least Zane wasn’t asking him to do chores with him, like how all his free time spent with Zane would go.

“Alright Zane. But just one movie tomorrow, okay?” Zane visibly grinned. “That will be alright with me. Now, please drink this glass of water and take another to the dorms. And please, remember to brush your teeth.” Lloyd visibly groaned at all the tasks he had to accomplish before sleeping. He really didn’t think he could brush his teeth, and yet the thought of actually going to the dentist pushed him to passably care for his dental health. He substituted the extra brushing with mouthwash. That’ll do, right? Too tired to care anymore, Lloyd just fell onto his bed with his pyjamas. Oh wait, he really didn’t change out of his clothing for today, didn’t he? Feeling more and more guilty about the time he wasted, he wanted to get up and find Uncle Wu, to apologise for slacking on his team duty, to debrief his team, to lead the investigation into all of Chen’s uncultured lackeys. He really wanted to. But he just couldn’t muster up the strength to keep being awake anymore. Regretfully, the claws of sleep clawed him in and he slept fitfully, almost following asleep before suddenly feeling like he was suffocating and needed to awake to breath heavily. What was wrong with him?

He vowed to wake up with his teammates tomorrow, and start leading his team again.

He did not wake up tomorrow at an acceptable time for an active ninja. In his defence, he did not hold full responsibility that the team resented his alarm clock and did not allow him to bring it into the dorm room, nor did they fail to wake him up the second time in 2 days. What’s this? Lloyd sneered to himself. Some kind of Green Ninja Holiday? Never heard of it. Still, he couldn’t find any energy (how ironic, he thought) to get out of bed. Luckily for him, or unluckily Lloyd thought, Jay was there to blast freaking ‘All Stars’ whilst kicking the dorm room’s door open.

“Get up Green Machine! You’re late to the Movie date!” Lloyd visibly scrunched up his nose at that and stuck out his tongue. Eewww, a movie date. “Jay, it’s not a date! You’re so weird!”

“I know I am! Now get up, cause you’re a rockstar, go on and- hey!” Lloyd effectively cut him off by zipping by and taking the speaker with him. “So rude,” Jay commented as Lloyd sprinted away with his prize and bounced into the ‘game’ room. Oh shoot, he thought. They had actually never set up a place to watch a movie. But destiny must have decided to spare him this time, because Zane was already setting up the ‘movie set-up’.

“Ah Lloyd! I see that you have returned with the speaker! Please, take some snacks whilst I finish connecting the devices.” Zane said good naturedly, turning to greet him with a smile before working to connect the speakers with the actual movie projector. Lloyd flopped bonelessly unto the couch, having not being able to stomach any food. He did pick up a soda bottle and waited for Zane to do all the technical. Just as he was settling comfortably into the couch, Cole walked by to grab a snack from the table.

“Hello Cole, would you like to join us for this movie session?” Zane asked politely. Cole shook his head and stated that he had to continue working on-

Something, because Cole turned around to stare at Lloyd on the couch, who gave a sluggish wave, before stating ‘Project S’. Lloyd’s brow furrowed. Project S? What did that mean-

“Anyways, I gotta go, but Jay should have some free time!” Lloyd sees the retreating form of Cole as he went back to the control room (planning room) or the ship. Coward, Lloyd thought privately to himself. What’s with everyone treating him so differently lately? Was he that fragile?

Zane quickly snapped him out of his thoughts as he asked Lloyd what movie they’d like to watch. Before Lloyd could answer, Jay’s cheery voice came from behind him. “How about… Shrek!”

Zane quirked an eyebrow. “1, 2, 3 or 4?”

Jay frowned. “There’s a 4th? Anyways, let’s stick to the original. And maybe if we have time we’ll check out the 4th.”

They indeed had time. They had time to watch the full series, but Zane had to go during the the 2nd movie due to Nya requesting his assistance in tracking down Chen’s lackeys who may have escaped and the interrogation of Chen’s workforce. Lloyd felt guilty for not being there, but was told to sit by Jay. And then he was lost to the funny green man on screen.

“You know, I bet that Cole would’ve been a great Shrek cosplayer if he were the Green Ninja,” Jay commented snidely. Lloyd chuckled deviously before fading away as he stared at a random spot on the couch. What if Cole had been the Green Ninja? He would have defeated the overlord properly, he would have not let Zane die, he would have won against Chen during their fight-

“Hey, Green Machine! You there?” Jay clicked his fingers before him. Suddenly, all the flesh-eating guilt turned into a bunch of hot, wriggling snakes that seeped throughout Lloyd’s veins. Why was Jay so annoying? Why couldn’t Jay just leave him alone? He doesn’t understand what he’s going through, he arguably has the best situation with his parents where they were both alive and loved him! Lloyd visibly seethed. Why couldn’t he just be left alone!

Unknowing to Lloyd, elemental power started to pool from his shaking fists and started to charge up into a beam. Jay eeped, and did some of the quickest thinking he could. Throwing a pillow at Lloyd and ducking behind the sofa. Lloyd felt the soft impact on his face and snapped out of whatever issue he had been having lately. Looking at the power flowing out of his hands, he fizzled them out into the air before remembering that Jay was supposed to be beside him.

“J-Jay? I’m sorry…” Lloyd wrapped his arms around himself, sinking deeper into the couch and curling up to be a small and non threatening as possible. What was he doing? Why was he so irritable all the time? Tears started to leak from his eyes as he grit his teeth and dug his nails into his arms. “I… I don’t know why I did that, I’m so sorry for scaring you, p-please forgive me!” Lloyd mumbled before shouting desperately. Jay slowly rose from his hiding spot and approached Lloyd slowly, like he was a dangerous, wild animal. Which he totally was. Maybe even worse. What animal would attack their pack mates?

Lloyd’s nails started to cut his arms as he looked down, feeling sorry, sorry for Jay, sorry for his teammates who have to put up with him, sorry for Garmadon who had him as a son, sorry for himself-

Lloyd was slowly brought out of a bad, bad, mental state by rhythmic stroking the back of his left hand.

“Hey Lloyd,” Jay said softly. “Do you want to play some video games?” Lloyd nodded. He gratefully accepted the olive branch that Jay was extending to an undeserving him. Handing him a video game controller to fiddle with, Jay started to change the set up to 《Dragon Riders, and Lloyd lost himself into the attention intensive racing game. In no time at all, Lloyd realised that his tears have dried and his hands have stopped shaking intensely. Taking a few deep breaths, Lloyd let Jay pass his dragon and placed the controller on the table.

“Thank you Jay. For dealing with me. For-for putting up with me. Thank you for everything,” Lloyd gushed out, trying to repair the camaraderie that he and Jay had. Jay clapped Lloyd’s shoulder. “And thank you too Green Bean! For being so strong and courageous. And of course, being one of my brothers.” Lloyd smiled and leaned into Jay’s touch.

“Now, how about we make some dinner?” Lloyd bit his lip The thought of food started to make him nauseous. “I…I really don’t want to, Jay, can’t I sit this one out?”

“But come on Green Machine! You know that we always cook better as a team, right?” Jay implored, subtlety begging Lloyd to at least tolerate being close to food. Lloyd twiddled his fingers and sucked in his cheeks. Taking a deep breath and weighing theirs and cons of refusing the the offer, and decided to push down his nausea.

“Alright,” Lloyd admitted defeat.

Several health and safety violations later, Lloyd and Jay whipped up a passable meal of spaghetti and meatballs. Lloyd couldn’t handle the meatballs, only able to choke down a few strand of noodles, yet he participated more actively in the discussion at dinner this time, asking for updates about Chen’s lackeys and Project S. Too early, Lloyd felt the soul sucking force drawing on his bones, and turned himself to bed, actually showering this time due to the spaghetti sauce and flour that got stuck to his hair.

Lying on his bed, he watches his teammates go in and out of the bathroom until drifting off into a dream.

Lloyd awoke, gasping for air. Covering his face with his hands, the heel of his palm presses into his close eyes as he tries to push the images from his dreams away from. Breathing deeply and on the verge of hyperventilating, Lloyd suddenly felt that the dorms were too suffocating, and immediately ran towards to deck of the bounty. Finally, a strong gust of wind pushes him awake. Heaving, Lloyd looks at the clouds surrounding the bounty, with it having been set to go to his father’s monastery. Numbed by the frigid morning air, Lloyd sat as close to the edge as he dared, and dipped his toes into the clouds below.

“Gah!” Lloyd recoiled immediately, forgetting that he wasn’t wearing his gi and that clouds were actually freezing oh FSM. Retracting his bare feet, Lloyd waited for a piece of clear sky to dangle his legs off the side of the bounty.

He didn’t keep track of time, but soon he was treated to a beautiful spectacle that he missed. Sunrises in Ninjago have always looked downright amazing from this height, especially with them flying over an ocean. Lloyd could see the sun climbing up above the mountains, shining on the lush greenery down below, which had then passed the gift of light to the sparkling deserts, which became the beautiful forests of North-west Ninjago. He saw the ocean sparkle and glimmer, shining like a sea of diamonds. He saw a v-line of swans migrating south. He saw the clouds enriched in reds, purples, oranges and yellows. He was so enraptured by the sight that he almost missed heavy footsteps coming up behind him. Keyword: almost.

“Hey Lloydster, what are you doing up so early?” Cole asked gently. Lloyd bubbled out an answer that probably was ‘I needed some air’ or something. He was too enraptured by the vast lands unfolding beneath him as the Bounty zipped off to another one of Chen’s noodle outlets. It had been too long since he felt the fresh moving air hit his face at full force, whipping his hair all over his face.

Cole carefully settled next to Lloyd and looked out on the vast lands below.

“This sunrise is beautiful, isn’t it?” Lloyd hummed noncommittally and nodded his head. Cole inhaled deeply, almost as if he was psyching himself to do something big. This caught Lloyd’s attention, and he turned around to face him properly.

“You know, my mother used to love sunrises? But she hated waking up early, so she would try devising so many different strategies to catch Ninjago’s golden hour. She tried setting up automatic video recordings, sleeping on the roof, camping outside, setting alarm clocks, shifting her sleeping schedule just so that she could truly experience a sunrise without feeling like earth punching someone.“ Cole said with a nostalgic look on his face.

“But those never worked. And when she was hospitalised, she would try to make the nurses wake her up just in time to catch a few morning rays to spill into her room. But they would refuse to do anything earlier than 6:30pm, because 1- she was a patient and needed her rest, and 2- they also didn’t want to wake up early!” Cole chuckled to himself.

“However, my mom was determined to catch a sunrise, even if it stressed out the doctor. So you know what she did?” Cole smiled wistfully. “She had my dad and I go to Wu’s monastery, which was the highest point of Ninjago accessible to her. Yep, hospitalised yet still being able to walk out mountains- that’s my mom.”

“So we set out camp on the courtyard, and we stayed awake the whole night. Mom had taken a nap during the evening so that she could stay up with my father to watch the stars and the galaxies turn as they wait for sunrise. Of course, when it came we were all so sleepy that we almost missed it!”

“My dad had this ingenious idea of dunking this entire bottle of cold water onto my mom. Which, of course, woke her up immediately, but my dad still swears that he’s getting sand off his moustache to this day. I laughed myself awake, and we gathered outside of the monastery doors to watch this beautiful sunrise. My mom had this smile that even made the rising sun look dark in comparison.” Cole stared into the distant clouds as the sky was washed with a perfect blue. What happen next surprised even Lloyd himself.

“My dad… Garmadon… he used to tell me that sunrises are a symbol of the balance between good and evil, for whenever the sunsets, it will always rise again. And sometimes before the hour of dawn is where the blackest skies are found. So I have to keep going, keep enduring, even though some days may look dark. I think that he appreciated the warmth that comes with the sun rising after each night, reminding himself that his body is his to control, not some stupid snake venom’s,” Lloyd blurted out quickly.

“I actually used to hate sunrises. Because you guys would wake me up all early, and then my manager would wake me up all early, and then my dad would wake me up all early- you know, as the Green Ninja, I’ve really appreciated the last few days of sleeping in. But now it feels wrong, you know? Uncle Wu would always wake us up, or a phonemail from the hotel, or my alarm clock- and you’d have thought that I’ve become accustomed to it, but no… Dad always tells me that the early bird catches the worm, when all I wanted to do was catch a few more Zs.” Lloyd paused as Cole laughed.

“You know, kid? Sunrises are beautiful and all that, but I hate sunrise exercise as much as you do. Did Garmadon make you do sunrise exercise everyday whilst you were living with him?”

Lloyd nodded enthusiastically. “You know, you would think that he would be a late-rise, but nope, still has an internal clock like Master Wu’s.”

“God, imagine if we became Ninja Masters, and our students would be complaining about us being the early rises.”

They talked, about how Lily and Garmadon had partook in wars, and grand fables they would tell them, about a Dragon named ‘Grief Bringer’ (so that’s why you were so afraid of dragons!) and old tales about a serpentine sorcerers that double crossed a human boy. They would talk about their hobbies, their odd habits, their favourite foods and colours. Cole would reveal that his mother actually had a brother that worked with Chen during the serpentine wars whilst his mother was fighting in another region and Lloyd told stories that Garmadon would share to him about the First Spinjitsu Master and Wu. They told each other their parent’s quotes, catch phrases, one-liners and jokes. They talked and talked, until the sun was high up in the sky and both of them felt thirst crackling at their thoughts. Looking around, Lloyd saw that they were actually under an umbrella, with refreshing glasses of water next to them. This must have been Nya and Zane’s doing, Lloyd thought. How did I not notice them?

Suddenly, a rumble interrupted Lloyd’s train of thought. He twisted around to se Cole patting his stomach.

“Whew- I’m starving! We must have lost track of time. C’mon Lloyd, let’s go get some food.” Cole stood up and reached out a hand for Lloyd to grab onto. To his utmost surprise, Lloyd could feel his stomach grumbling in response. Taking Cole’s hand and being swung up from where he was seated, Lloyd followed Cole into the dining room, where the scent of Zane’s delicious rosemary chicken wafted out to pull them deeper into this food frenzy state.

(Wow, we gotta ensure that Cole gets his breakfast on time from now on.

Maybe we can sic hangry Cole onto our enemies at Chen’s noodle house?

Hreh!

Good idea Jay! Maybe we could send Lloyd in too-)

Of course, recovery isn’t this simple. Over the course of the next few weeks, Lloyd would relapse, sometimes snarling or snarking at someone when he’s in a bad state, and he must have drunk more water than he ever had in his life- but progress was made. Every day, Jay would invite Lloyd to do more and more normal things. He and Cole would continue discussions about families until well past their sleeping time. Zane would soon join him, and then Kai would pitch in a few memories of his parents. The intense grip by the shadow of sleep would loosen itself, and Lloyd would wake up feeling lighter, day by day. Except for somedays, where he really feels that he just cannot get out of bed, but the Ninja would all dog pile him until he was frustrated enough to get up and go to the bathroom to get away from his crazy family. (But we’re your crazy family. Jay had said with a wicked grin.)

Somedays, where everything he puts in his mouth tastes like ash, the Ninja distracts him from what he’s putting in his mouth by showing him funny cat videos they found online, which honestly resulted in a few choking ‘accidents’. (That was attempted murder, Lloyd said whilst glaring at Zane who was harbouring PIxal, who shrugged with an innocent smile) Lloyd started pitching in on meetings, generating ideas, even taking on new missions. Cole would take him out to rock climbing and Jay would start a Star Empire war with him that ripped the bounty’s occupants onto 2 opposing sides. Zane started hosting full movie nights where the ninja can just relax and wind down after a stressful day of work. Nya would make sure that Lloyd has been drinking enough water and taking of himself properly And Kai would help pull Lloyd from any panic attacks when he inevitably starts doing missions with his team again. Cole would eventually reveal that project S was them building a statue of Garmadon into the corridor of elders, and Lloyd cried for a solid 5 hours. Not exactly consecutively, but every small thing would trigger him to proclaim his love of his ninja family to the whole world, and after that emotional display Lloyd would forever be haunted by the things he had said and done during those cursed 5 hours.

He realised how vital the ninja were to prevent him from becoming a bloody psychopath like Harumi after they locked her up in jail. They were truly kindred spirits, and whilst Lloyd had a pretty good support system, Harumi had nothing. He could see himself becoming her- bitter, ruthless, and cold. Yet, now he can say proudly that he’s stopped her from reviving his father, when post-loss Lloyd had been desperate to just see his dad one more time. He got his wish of course, but the circumstances wasn’t ideal. At least he can rest easy now, that he father was residing in the departed realm, and he was above the conflicts of this mortal realm.

As long as Lloyd had his team, he would be good to go through anything. Anything at all.

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sensei-twinkles · 5 years

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Day 5 - Forget

‘Everyone tells me to move on, that I have to forget you, but how can I when I’m the reason your being forgotten’

#ninjago #ninjago au #sensei sketches #ninjago lloyd #ninjago angst week #king!lloyd #ruler!lloyd #forget #i want #more time #i wanna finish something #URGH #day 5

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buruuhan · 3 years

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Ninjago Angst Week Day 5 -- Grief

Just as that person said, my hands will continue to dirty Fluttering in the wind, I shall live on again Until the day it all ends, I want to remember you Just like nestling up close to you

This is supposedly connected to Day 4 but I messed up the order due to my carelessness I mentioned in my previous art post (ಥ‿ಥ)

Alright, I decided to make it symbolic again and this time it’s heavily influenced by Kenshi Yonezu’s Campanella MV. The golden tears on the girl’s face and the golden stain on Yonezu’s hands are really neat, so are the mob people in black kimono (which many speculate to be mourning outfit)

Knowing that the lyrics tell about someone’s guilt after Campanella saved him from drowning with a cost of his life (look up Night on Galactic Railroad for details) makes it feel rather ironic 😔

#my art #fanmade #Ninjago #ok only a piece left (though it'll be kinda late) and I'll be done #Ninjago Angst Week

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cherrybombfangirl · 3 years

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Anger

Ninjago Angst Week - Day 5!

@ninjago-angst-week

When Morro shows up on the Day of the Departed, Amy loses her cool and it’s not pretty.

Warnings: panic attack, mentions of past trauma, strong (but brief) language

Enjoy!

~~~

"And he had help."

The voice was unwelcomingly familiar, the owner of the voice appeared from behind Wu.

Every one of the ninja went into defensive positions. The others had their weapons out and Amy's hand was up and glowing bright purple.

Her other hand was reached out behind her, protecting her boyfriend. She could hear Lloyd's breath hitch behind her as his hand grabbed her wrist tight- the signal they had come up with as a way for him to tell Amy that he was having a panic attack or could feel one coming.

Amy moved them both back a little bit, ready to rip that bastard of a ghost limb from limb if he even took one more step forward. "Morro......" she said, her voice bordering on a growl. Bolt barked at Morro threateningly, ready to pounce.

"Any more villains wanna show up tonight?" Jay demanded, swinging his nunchucks.

"We stopped six," Kai said, raising his sword, "What's one more?!"

"No!" Sensei Wu said, "Put away your weapons, he's here to help!"

"I find that hard to believe," Amy said, barely keeping her voice calm, keeping herself between Morro and Lloyd as much as possible.

All she wanted to do was tear that ghost to pieces, make him scream and cry and beg like Lloyd did during a panic attack or after a nightmare, give the ghost even just a taste of the pain he had caused-

She had charged forward before she even realized she was doing it, grabbing Morro with a blindingly bright purple forcefield and slamming the ghost high in the air as if he'd been thrown into a wall, trying to squeeze the breath out of him if he had any.

Morro grunted struggling against her powers. "I'm here to help-"

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHAT SAY YOU'RE HERE FOR!" Amy screamed up at him, "ALL YOU DO IS LIE!"

"AMY STOP!" Sensei Wu shouted.

Amy glared over her shoulder at him.

"Put Morro down, Amy," Sensei Wu ordered.

Amy shot a terrifying glare up at Morro before throwing him into the ground, hard, making a deep dent in the pavement. She took a few steps toward him, her voice was dangerously even and calm.

"If you come within so much as twenty feet of my boyfriend, I will not hesitate to tear you into a million pieces and make sure you feel it. And I will not give you the sweet release of death until I have wrung every pitiful scream, cry and tear out of you. I will make you beg me to kill you and make you wish you'd never been born if you even look at Lloyd."

She started to walk back over to Lloyd, and added over her shoulder, "Do not test me."

~~~

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ninjago-angst-week · 3 years

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Welcome to Ninjago Angst Week! A week-long event with an angsty theme is back for another week! This time with all new prompts!

How to participate in the event-

Draw seven pictures, or write seven fics/drabbles, each one corresponding with that day’s theme.

Post them on your blog on the day of the prompt, although we will (obviously) allow late submissions.

Don’t forget to tag your posts with #ninjago-angst-week (tag us if you’d like, too) so we can reblog and keep track of participation.

Asks and submissions will be open during the event as well.

Gore, blood, body horror, abuse, neglect, etc. will be inevitable with an event like this. Entries containing sensitive topics must be tagged appropriately/have trigger warnings.

(If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask the mods, Mod Serpent and Mod Error)

Prompt Dates__________________

Day 1 (Aug 16): Abandoned.

Day 2 (Aug 17): Hatred.

Day 3 (Aug 18): Beaten.

Day 4 (Aug 19): Sacrifice.

Day 5 (Aug 20): Grief.

Day 6 (Aug 21): Anger.

Day 7 (Aug 22): Bandaged.

#ninjago #ninjago angst week #ninjago-angst-week #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago lloyd #ninjago jay #ninjago cole #ninjago zane #ninjago pixal #ninjago garmadon #ninjago harumi #ninjago misako #ninjago skylor #ninjago akira #lego ninjago #ninjago ultra violet #ninjago dareth #ninjago ronan

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nightlybirdie · 4 years

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Day 5 of @ninjago-angst-week : Separated

A collab with the amazing @sensei-twinkles She did the coloring for this one. Based on my Star Trek AU and ofcourse the ending of Wrath of Khan. 😭😭😭😭😭 These bois need to stop being so self sacrificing.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago angst week #ninjagoangstweek2020 #ninjago au #star trek au #ahdksodnsisndof #kobe is so so amazing #shes the sweetest and offered to do this for me cause I burnt out todayyyyyyy #nightly art #collab #collaberation #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #captain lloyd #commander kai #not greenflame #please dont tag as ship

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earthspirit10 · 4 years

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Ninjago Angst Week: Day 5 - Separated

@ninjago-angst-week Also late

It’s Jay’s turn now. Skybound was one of my favorite seasons, but also one of the darkest ones as well. (Other than Seasons 8 and 9, of course.)

Trigger Warnings: Blood, implied torture, imprisonment

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When Kai disappeared, Jay knew that all hope was lost.

They were trying to reach Misfortune’s Keep, which Captain Soto had said held the lantern map to the Tiger Widow’s Island. His head was still spinning from his last encounter with Nadakhan, the information that his wishes (or, more accurately, his first wish) gave him, and stupid, stupid Jay let himself get carried away, causing him to trip over a passing barrel, which left him behind as Kai shot ahead of him.

“Kai, no, wait!” Jay yelled, scrambling to catch up to his hotheaded brother, who was climbing up a building in that scary fast way. Panic bubbled up from his chest. No no no, not Kai, not his brother, not when Nadakhan is out loose. “We’re supposed to stay together!”

But it was too late. As Jay finally scurried up the building that Kai was on, he saw the red ninja being carried away by Nadakhan, before they both disappeared in a flurry of orange dust.

“No!” he screamed, his voice already hoarse from shouting. “Kai!”

How could you let this happen? His mind screamed at him. How could you let Kai separate from you? How could you let your brother be alone with Nadakhan?

Jay stood there for a while, hoping that Kai—brave, reckless Kai, his hotheaded, insane brother—would reappear, having refused to give into the temptation of wishing. Wishing for something more. Wishing to make everything better. Like Jay had. But, Kai was much stronger than him, much more rebellious, much more resistant to these kinds of things, so Jay shouldn’t need to worry, he shouldn’t need to think that everything had gone so downhill in so little time.

. . . right?

But as his other teammates called for him to come down, reporting that Cole had the lantern, Jay had a sinking feeling that the fire ninja hadn’t escaped after all. And that, in itself, was almost enough for him to just give up and let everything fall all around him.

Almost.

(Because if there was one thing he had learned from Sensei Wu, the lesson strengthened by Kai and his courage, it was that ninja never quit.)

When the others asked where Kai was, Jay couldn’t answer. Like the coward he was, he didn’t tell them that he had let Kai go and get himself lost. Gone.

Their most driven and passionate fighter, taken by a djinn.

⸺

When Zane was lost as well, Jay knew that the chances of defeating Nadakhan were close to none.

This time, it happened during a thunderstorm. And just his luck, Jay was the team’s lightning rod. Not that he was complaining—the electricity striking him, traveling through his body, it felt riveting. Energizing. Powerful. As if the lightning itself was giving him strength, as if it was a part of him. Which, in a way, it was.

As soon as Lloyd told Zane to go below deck, panic once again bursted from him, and Jay blurted almost hysterically, “No! Zane— he shouldn’t be alone! We all need to stay together!”

But nobody had listened. And Jay was left stuck on the top of the mast, watching fearfully as Zane followed Lloyd’s orders. He swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut, not even paying attention to the exhilarating energy as a lightning bolt struck him again.

Again, Jay tried to reassure himself. Zane was smart—he wouldn’t make a single wish, not to mention three, so he shouldn’t worry about him disappearing as well. The nindroid would know that more wishes would only mean more pain and suffering, that more wishes would mean another brother lost, that more wishes wouldn’t benefit anyone.

But when the ship crashed into an island, and everyone had noticed Zane missing, Jay knew that Zane had given in. The others knew, too, and immediately, predictably, everyone had blamed him. It’s all Jay’s fault. They’d blamed him for not telling them about Nadakhan before, about his first two wishes, and Jay didn’t blame them.

He blamed himself, too, for being so weak, so breakable. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn’t make the same mistakes he did. If it had been anyone else, Kai and Zane would still be here with the team. Whole. United.

But it hadn’t been anyone else. It had to be Jay, the most expendable and weakest person on the team, the liability, the heartbroken. And now Zane was also lost. Gone.

Their most intelligent and compassionate fighter, taken by a djinn.

⸺

When Jay stupidly got himself captured, he knew that he shouldn’t make his last wish.

He tightened his grip on the mop that he was using to scrub the deck of Misfortune’s Keep as Nadakhan kept blathering on about creating Djinnjago and all that stuff, and then the djinn thrusted his sword in front of Jay. His heart clenched as he could clearly hear the frightened screams of his friends, his Sensei, his brothers, all wanting to escape from their prison.

“Wish it,” Nadakhan whispered, almost as if taunting him, urging him to say the word. “Wish it all away and join them.”

And oh, how Jay wanted to wish it all away, wish himself into the sword, so he could be reunited with his brothers and never be alone with Nadakhan ever again, because if there was one thing he hated more than being weak, it was being separated from his family.

But he didn’t, and he clenched his jaw, tearing his eyes away from the jaded blade.

Even if it killed him inside, he wasn’t going to let the team down. Not again. Not anymore.

Instead, he straightened up, glared at Nadakhan, and did what he did best. He threatened him. He taunted him. He teased about his situation, however dark it was. But he didn’t break, didn’t fail, didn’t quit. Because ninja never quit, and ninja never quit on others.

Jay almost regretted doing all those things when he was thrown into Scrap N’ Tap, some kind of messed-up fighting ring for the pirates’ entertainment.

Almost.

Jay couldn’t help the cry of pain that escaped him as he was knocked to the side. He swore he heard a rib break somewhere, and he pressed a hand to his side, biting his lip so hard that it bled. He wasn’t sure how long he could go, he thought hazily as he sluggishly rolled to the side, too slow to dodge the punch. His head snapped to the side as pain blossomed on his left eye.

Somewhere in his fevered brain, Jay heard the pirates laughing as someone else entered the ring. Gritting his teeth, with one eye closed tightly shut, he slowly pushed himself up, almost falling over again as he tried to right himself.

“You can wish it all away,”Nadakhan taunted, circling around him. Jay exhaled slowly out through his nose. “Wish all the pain away, and you’ll never have to suffer again.”

“Yeah, right,” Jay shot back, though his voice was a little muffled. He spat out the blood, messily wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

That earned him a kick right in the gut, which would’ve only made him double over slightly, but he was tired and angry and sick of everything, and as his legs buckled under him, Jay didn’t even try to catch himself, letting his head hit the ground.

Oh, he did wish he was somewhere else right now, that everything didn’t hurt so much, but he just clenched his jaw and took every beating the sadistic pirates gave him.

⸺

Jay curled up in his prison—because that was what it was, a prison. A cage. It smelled of blood and other gross stuff from previous prisoners that he didn’t want to think about, and again, he almost regretted not saying his final wish, to wish it all away and never feel this pain again. Not just the physical pain, but the emotional pain of knowing that the rest of his team was out there, that they could probably be in trouble and Jay wouldn’t even know it, but most of all, he was afraid that they had abandoned him. That they had left him alone, forever separated from his family.

No. Jay shook his head furiously, trying to banish the thought away. They— they would come and rescue him, right? It was the main reason that he’d held out so long, that he’d refused to give in and break. This wasn’t for nothing, right?

But as the days passed, each one dwindling his chances to escape, Jay could feel his hope fading. Why would his family save him? It was his fault that they were in this mess in the first place, his fault that they’d gone through so much trouble and suffering. He was a liability, a weakness in the team, and if they— if they just, just abandoned him, left him alone in this place, it’d be so much easier for them, right? No mistakes, no blaming, no trouble.

Jay choked back a sob, tears leaking out of his eyes. He really was almost regretting making his last wish.

Almost.

Oh, how he hated being separated from his team, trapped and alone. He might as well be lost to them. Gone.

Their most expendable and useless fighter, taken by a djinn.

#ninjago #ninjago-angst-week #ninjago jay #love how dark skybound is #really gives me room for a lot of jay angst #tw blood #tw implied torture #tw imprisonment #phoenix writes

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jaythesaltybastard · 4 years

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Day 5: Separated

This one is quite a bit longer than the others oops @ninjago-angst-week

Zane tugged against his chains, grunting as his metal joints strained and creaked at the movement.

He attempted to find his powers within him, digging deep to try and locate the comfortable ball of icy cold that always seemed to rest within his chest, but he found nothing, the warmth surrounding him uncomfortable.

Vengestone. His powers were useless.

The nindroid sighed, knowing his attempts were futile. He was bound tightly, limited movement. His joints protested the lack of mobility, beginning to lock up from the humid environment. If he were in a different position, perhaps it would not be so terrible, but he wasn’t, he was stuck like this with no feasible way out.

Frankly, Zane was still confused on how he’d even gotten here in the first place. He remembered going on a short, easy mission with his brothers and sister, an hour tops, but then it was... blank. One second he was racing Cole to the top of a building in some friendly competition, the next he was waking up here, away from his team and with no clue where he was.

It was not the first instance where he’d been separated from his teammates, far from it—he’d probably need a few extra hands to count all the times on his fingers—but it didn’t make his predicament feel any less forlorn.

The room he was in was small, approximately two and a half meters tall and three meters wide. In his restrained position he couldn’t turn to see the length of it, though he assumed it couldn’t be much more than the width. There was a small rectangular window sitting near the ceiling on the wall in front of him, letting in a small stream of light that seemed to be the only thing illuminating the room. The glass was filthy but Zane supposed it was better than nothing.

Other than the chair and Zane himself, the room appeared to be empty, gray concrete walls covered in deep fissures and strangely patterned cracks. The one directly in front of him appeared to be from a bullet.

With that thought in mind, Zane closed his eyes and prayed that his friends would find him soon.

Hours passed, the room darkened along with the sky through the window. Zane attempted to keep himself occupied by meditating, but the aching of his metal joints made that incredibly difficult.

His communications were cut off, the internet completely inaccessible. There was nothing he could do but wait.

Eventually, as hour twelve began to steadily approach and Zane could see the moon beginning to set through the high window, a door opened behind him, its hinges squealing loudly enough to make the nindroid flinch.

After the horrid noise stopped, Zane could hear three pairs of footsteps. One stopped where he assumed the door was and the other two continued forward.

“Hm, he seems calmer than the others,” came a feminine voice. “You said he’d struggled the least during his time here?”

Zane missed the gruff reply as him mind hyperfixated on the word “others”. His friends were here as well? He needed to find them, he needed to-

The thought of reuniting with his teammates after only twelve hours brought a longing ache to his chest. Six decades away from them had taken its toll, and he hadn’t realized just how much he missed them after only half a day.

“He’s a quiet one, isn’t he?” came the female voice again. Something—a pen, perhaps?—tapped against the back of his head a few times. “Not that I’m complaining, the red one wouldn’t stop screaming enough for me to get a word in.”

Red. Kai, no doubt. Zane could feel a chill—a different kind from his powers—settle across his skin as he imagined his fiery brother shouting to be released, his worried for his friends coming out as aggressive anger.

The woman who had spoken came into view in front of him, studying him closely. She had black hair and near-golden eyes, her tan skin shining healthily despite the lack of light. She brought her hand forward, likely to lift his chin, but paused when he flinched at the gesture.

“Not one that likes being touched, huh?” she asked, withdrawing her hand. “Fine. I have a few questions for you and depending on your answers, I’ll let you go when I’m done.”

Zane stared down at her, yes, down. Even seated she was still a good few inches shorter than him. The nindroid remained quiet, glaring.

The woman asked her questions. They were simple, surprisingly. His name, where he was from, what pronouns he preferred (this one surprised him), and how old he was.

He answered them truthfully, he couldn’t help it. It was as if some outside force compelled him to do so.

Eventually, her questions turned more serious. His powers, how powerful they were, how he had unlocked his full potential.

And Zane answered every. Single. One.

When she was finished, the woman hummed thoughtfully to herself, turning to her partner that Zane still couldn’t see and leaving the nindroid to his own confusion.

“You’ll remain here until further notice. Thank you for your cooperation,” she said, giving him an almost-appreciative smile before moving around him and out of sight.

And then Zane was by himself again, the door’s creaky hinges grating on his ears before he was once again left in silence.

His concern for his friends grew. They were here with him, but they were all separated, freedom seeming far out of reach.

Zane had been separated from his teammates before.

And, no matter the situation, it never felt any less awful.

#ninjago #zane julien #ninjago angst week #ninjago oc #my fic #long post #jay writes

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lloydskywalkers · 4 years

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Ahhh thank you so much!! 💕sO the lack of season 5 aftermath is possibly one of my biggest issues with Ninjago because like...there was no way. There was no way Lloyd just walked all that off, Morro had him pretty much the whole season and we saw what five minutes did to Ronin. I think it took a fair amount of time for him to bounce back, and it likely left long-lasting effects, but because this is season 5 angst u get a fic explaining my thoughts instead :’’D

(Also answering this in it’s own post because guess who spiraled out of control again! It’s s5 angst u guys i’m weak)

The aftermath of the battle is, as it usually goes, incredibly underwhelming. And by that, Cole means incredibly slow, because the Preeminent ripped the motor off their steamboat, and even with Nya pitching in every now and then, their pace across the seawater is glacial. By the time the nearest Ninjago shore comes into view, everyone on the boat’s on their last legs of sanity — some for…slightly different reasons than others.

The thing about being stuck on a crammed steamboat for hours on end, is that you can’t really hide. There’s only so far you can get, unless you take a dip in the ocean, which is a hard pass for Cole — not that he was trying to hide, anyways.

No, the only one who looks like they’re actually considering jumping off the side of the boat is Lloyd, and that’s because instead of vanishing off to who-knows-where to have his inevitable breakdown, he’s stuck smack in the middle of his very protective family, who get an up close and personal view of the exact moment the color starts to leech from his face.

Lloyd’s making a valiant effort. He’s been making a valiant effort, ever since they pulled him from the Caves of Despair. He and Kai had cornered Sensei in what turned into a near-shouting match alone at letting him fight in the battle against Morro in the first place, because Lloyd had looked two degrees from dead when they’d gotten him back. He’d only looked moderately alive when he’d stepped out with them, hoodie hanging too loose from his shoulders as he’d handed off the green gi to Nya, and it had burned Cole to let him take the brunt of the fight as he did.

Not that Cole feels much heat now anyway, but — metaphorically.

Either way, Lloyd holds up valiantly until the combined toll of Morro’s possession and the battle with the Preeminent finally hits, at which point he goes a sickly shade of white and keels straight over into Kai with a migraine so bad Cole can’t even manage to pull his fingers free from where they dig into his skull.

“What happened?! Did Morro hurt him?”

“Did Morro hurt him, where have you been this last month—”

“I meant right now, don’t snap at me—”

“Would you keep your voices down, you’re only causing him more pain.”

This quiets the commotion that’s sprung up in their corner of the boat, all of them hovering anxiously over Lloyd, their salt-water hair and wind-swept clothes and already-forming bruises leaving the entire team a vivid mess. Kai’s left holding a lapful of whimpering brother, looking two seconds from crying himself as he tries to soothe Lloyd before he tears hair out, so Cole takes a shuddering breath, pulls himself together, and takes the lead.

It’s easier than he’d thought it would be, allowing himself to fall into the removed sort of autopilot. Shoulders back, emotions locked up tight, put on a brave face and make the calls. Leading has never been an easy position, but it teaches you to compartmentalize, to suppress, and to delay.

That delay is what Lloyd is paying for now, Cole thinks soberly, as Zane and Kai carry Lloyd up the steps of the Bounty, Sensei already darting inside to brew up whatever tea’s supposed to help this time. It’d be easier if Cole took him — he knows that. He’s the strongest of the team, even in this state.

But he can’t bring his ghostly fingers to touch him. Not with the flinch that had run through his younger brother earlier.

Cole swallows thickly. Lloyd hadn’t meant it, he knows that. He wouldn’t even hold it against him if he had.

The turnaround from regaining Lloyd to the battle with the Preeminent was terribly quick, and it only takes a look or two to gain an understanding of the damage wrought on their youngest brother. Lloyd is bruised and gaunt and horribly thin, and the normal shine in his eyes is hollowed-out and haunted. There’s an unspoken dread among them all, a heavy weight that sits on their shoulders, that Morro has actually managed to break Lloyd with his possession — that the longs weeks spent trapped in his own mind, beaten and neglected and alone — have snapped the unfathomably strong willpower Lloyd’s always had.

And Morro, for all that Cole hates him for that, was a ghost. Cole isn’t stupid enough to miss that. And he’s certainly not stupid enough to ignore what the repercussions of that might be on Lloyd, toward anyone else who might be a ghost.

Cole feels his chest tighten as he watches Nya run a hand through Lloyd’s tangled hair, her eyes a million miles away as she sits beside where he lies on their couch, tucked firmly into the layers of blankets he recognizes as Kai and Zane’s.

He bites his cheek. It’d be better if they used his. It’s not like Cole needs them anymore.

“He’s overtired,” Sensei Wu says quietly, his hand drifting briefly across his nephew’s forehead. “He pushed it too far in battle, and he has yet to fully recover from the toll both the possession and his injuries took on him. He will be fine, with rest.”

There’s a quiet exhale of relief at his words, but it’s a weary one. Kai doesn’t look at him, his stare only growing hot where he sits at Lloyd’s side, refusing to move even to change from his battle-stained gi.

Cole’s eyes flick to Sensei Wu, then back to Lloyd. There’s a bleeding kind of pain in Sensei’s words, his voice shot through with loss. There’s a crippling edge of guilt in it too, though. Cole knows Sensei is mourning Morro — he knows their relationship was different. But as much as Cole prides himself of being sympathetic, it’s really, really difficult to feel any sort of grief for Morro, when his baby brother’s curled in on himself in pain on the couch, eyebrows furrowed tightly in stress and exhaustion.

Lloyd murmurs something inaudible, shifting in his sleep before settling again, his expression still pinched in weariness. He somehow looks both years older and so very young at the same time, and it makes Cole’s heart hurt.

He’s yanked from his staring as Jay’s head suddenly presses against his shoulder. Cole starts, almost forgetting to remain solid before Jay yanks his head back up, eyelids fluttering from where they’d drifted off to sleep.

“Sorry,” he yawns, rubbing at a bloodshot eye. “Didn’ mean to fall asleep on you.”

Cole blinks at him, then glances at the rest of their team. Lloyd isn’t the only one succumbing to exhaustion — the entire team is barely hanging on, all dark-circled and hazy eyes. Beside Jay, Zane looks like he wants to shut down for a month, Nya looks like she’s close to tears for some reason, and Kai looks like he’s steadily burning through the last reserves of his energy just by staring at the floor.

Something weird shifts in Cole’s gut. He feels exhausted, stripped raw and worn, but he doesn’t feel tired, not like the others look. He just feels that same, cold kind of numbness that has yet to leave him since Yang’s temple.

He swallows again, and tries to ignore how useless the gesture is.

“You should head to bed,” he tells Jay gently instead. His lifts his head, addressing the others. “We all should.”

Kai opens his mouth to protest instantly, then shuts it. He glances at Nya, who’s practically asleep where she sits on the couch, seconds from tipping over. He looks at Lloyd. “I’m sleeping out here,” he finally says, firmly.

Cole guesses that’s the best he can ask for from him, right now. He nods to Zane, who gently helps Nya up, knocking Kai lightly on the shoulder as he does. “At least change,” he orders, and it’s a sign to how tired Kai is that he complies without arguing.

Cole tugs Jay up by his arm, patting him on the back. “C’mon, zaptrap,” he murmurs. “I’m not your pillow.”

Jay grumbles inaudibly at him, but he staggers to his feet, yawning as he plods toward the bedroom. Cole looks to Sensei Wu, who is still hovering by Lloyd, staring at his nephew with a look Cole can’t quite figure out.

“Sensei?” he finally dares, hesitantly. “It’s been a long day, so…”

“Ah, of course.” Sensei Wu blinks, shaking his head. “I would let him rest here for the night,” he says, nodding to Lloyd. His voice is quiet, and Cole can easily find the pain in it this time. “Better to let him rest.”

That doesn’t exactly settle well with Cole, because the idea of leaving any of his brothers apart for the night, even if it’s just in another room, turns his stomach. Especially when one of them is the brother they’d lost, and only just barely got back, so—

Well. Cole doesn’t need to sleep anymore, does he. He can keep an eye out.

“Of course,” he says instead, dipping his head as Sensei Wu heads off after the others. “Goodnight, Sensei.”

Cole moves to follow him, figuring he can at least change his clothes, but he hesitates over Lloyd, footsteps faltering. For a brief second, he lets his hand hovers over the top of his brother’s sleeping head, barely ghosting the pale blond strands. He swallows, then pulls his hand away.

Lloyd had told him once, when he was younger, that he was scared people would hate him for what he was. Never who — just what. Cole had never understood the phrasing, but now…

Now, Cole desperately, painfully hopes Lloyd doesn’t hate him for what he’s become.

***********

It’s the third nightmare that finally manages to pull Lloyd from sleep, because somehow the first two weren’t exciting enough to warrant waking up for.

At least he hasn’t woken up Kai with it, he thinks miserably, still trying to catch his breath, his heart racing from the nightmare. He exhales shakily, glancing over to where Kai’s sprawled out on the couch across from him, snoring quietly and dead to the world. Kai looks exhausted, even in sleep, and Lloyd feels guilt digging its claws into his chest again.

Your fault, a voice in the back of his head reminds him. You hurt him, you hurt them all, Green Ninja—

Lloyd swallows, wincing as he shifts, sitting up quietly. He won’t wake Kai up for this. His older brother has suffered enough for him already.

Besides, his throat feels like he’s been swallowing sandpaper, and he doesn’t; really trust his voice, anyway. Lloyd sighs, swinging his legs over the side of the couch and tugging his blanket over his shoulders like a cape.

In all honesty, he’d like nothing more than to stay on this couch for the rest of his life, because Kai let him have his really warm blanket — which, granted, says a lot more about the state Lloyd’s in right now than he’d like, but still. Lloyd is comfortable, tucked in the corner of the couch like he is. And comfortable isn’t something he’s been in the last few weeks, at all.

But he’s not — he’s not supposed to be thinking about that, he reminds himself, furiously shoving the memories back into their little Do-Not-Touch box in the corner of his mind, as he gingerly tests his legs out. His right leg shudders precariously when he stands, and Lloyd bites his lip, frowning. He could’ve sworn it was his left that was hurt, since that was the one the Preeminent had nearly ripped off pulling him into the Cursed Realm, and Morr—

Aha, nope, Lloyd reminds himself. Back in the box. He can think about that — about him — later.

Much, much later. Right now, he just wants a glass of water, then he wants to go back to sleep for another twenty hours straight. He’d like to just go back to bed as it is, because his limbs feel as sluggish as melting butter, but the water’s important, because he’s ‘severely dehydrated’ or something. Whatever Zane had declared as Lloyd tried to stop his brain from imploding on him earlier.

So glass of water, then back to bed. Lloyd just has to make it to the kitchen, which should — should be easy. His leg isn’t shaking that badly, and it’s not like his ribs are actually broken. Just bruised, and Lloyd can walk off bruises, easy.

He just needs to remember how, he thinks, as he takes a shuddering breath where he stands frozen. He blows it out, closing his eyes to steady himself. He immediately snaps them back open, trying not to keel over to the side. Oh, mistake. Every time Lloyd closes his eyes he’s falling through realms again, the world spinning and leaving him loose and shaky, which is only moderately better than the alternative thing he’d see, which is…

Well, he left Lloyd with a lot of things he could see that would keep him up.

Back in the box! Lloyd scolds himself, frantically tearing his mind elsewhere before he can slip down that particular slope, one that he knows is only going to send him spiraling into icy fear and panic.

Lloyd shakes his head furiously, bare feet padding quietly as he makes his way to the kitchen. His skin crawls at the darkness that presses in from all sides, and he feels his power press against his fingertips, begging to light his way. Lloyd presses his lips together and shoves it down. His control over his powers is tentative at best right now — he’d learned that the hard way earlier, when he’d exploded all the police floodlights that were just trying to get them safely to shore.

The reminder causes his cheeks to heat, and Lloyd bites his lip. He doesn’t want to think about how much he’s lost, how far behind he’s fallen, because of…this. His powers feel wild and fragile now, like they did when he was just beginning to train, and Lloyd hates that. How is he supposed to make up everything to his team when he can barely even—

A cold chill of air suddenly licks against the back of his neck, rustling his clothes and blanket and tugging at his hair, and the chill that slides down his spine is all the warning he gets. The whistling sound from the broken kitchen window should have warned him, but Lloyd’s still unprepared.

It’s just — it’s the wind.

That’s all, just a little breeze, and Lloyd’s slammed so hard by a dizzying vertigo of terror that he falls right to his knees on the spot, his vision going hazy as a dull roaring echoes in his ears.

He’d scream, but his lungs have suddenly quit on him, sputtering uselessly in his chest as he wheezes, panic blotting out every other rational thought. The phantom fingers of the wind are still grasping at him, still pulling at his hair and wrapping around his neck, forcing into his mind and tearing him apart form the inside and no, no no no, he can’t do this again, he can’t—

Some part of Lloyd’s mind knows perfectly well what’s happening to him. It’s not like he hasn’t had panic attacks before. But the rest of his mind—

Lloyd’s teeth press together so hard his jaw aches, and his eyes burn as he forces shaky breaths to rattle from his chest. The hot shame of how pathetic he has to look right now is only drowned out the absolute sense of terror rooting him on his knees.

Kai, he thinks desperately, his hands shaking so violently that his fingernails clack against the floor. Kai is here, Kai will save him from Morro, he won’t leave him to spiral back into that darkness. His whole family is here, just in the other room, if he can only—

A muffled voice forces its way through the roaring in his ears, echoing oddly against his brain. Before Lloyd can place it, there’s a touch on his shoulder, gentle but cold, like a wisp of freezing air, just like his touch.

Lloyd looks up, and through blurring vision sees that same unearthly shade of green, flickering and translucent, and his entire being slams into panic.

All he’s able to get out is a rasping croak, but he’s still able to snap at the figure.

“Get away from me!”

He tears his arm from their grasp, stumbling back. He’s not going to be taken again, he’s not going back in the darkness, he’s never letting someone touch him like that again—

Lloyd wipes at his eyes, his vision clearing, and he freezes dead.

— oh. Lloyd’s eyes go wide in horror. Oh no, oh no, it’s not him. It’s not any of his ghosts.

It’s Cole, his hand pulled back to his chest, staring at him with the most heartbroken, hurt expression on his face Lloyd has ever seen in his life.

Lloyd’s heart drops all the through his stomach to his feet, and he goes cold.

“I-I—” Cole’s eyes are wide with hurt, but that hurt quickly melts into a horrified kind of despair. He pulls back further, swallowing thickly. “Sorry,” he mutters, looking away. Shutting down. “I’m sorry, I should have realized—”

“No—” Lloyd croaks.

“Obviously you’d — I’m sorry, just being stupid Cole as always—”

“—no, no Cole—”

“—just making things worse, I’ll leave.”

“N-no, Cole, I didn’t mean — Cole, I’m so sorry—”

Cole isn’t even looking at him, his shoulders hitching tightly as he turns away. “I’ll get Kai. Or anyone else.”

He moves to his feet, leaving Lloyd where he’s still sprawled uselessly on the floor, and Lloyd’s stomach turns.

No, no, no! he thinks frantically, fumbling to find feeling where his legs have gone numb. Cole can’t leave, not with that look still on his face, not before Lloyd can fix this—

“Cole wait, stop—!”

Lloyd moves to rush after him, to grab him, to pull him back and apologize — but his ankle is still weak and his balance is still shaky and the panic’s left him wobbly, and he gets one step before his foot twists in his blanket, the ground’s yanked out from under him, and he slams front-first into the floor with a muffled grunt, knocking his chin against the floor and biting straight through his lip.

“Ow,” he manages into the floor, somewhat stunned, his voice muffled as his face throbs.

“Lloyd!”

Oh good, Lloyd thinks hazily, as his mouth fills with tangy, metallic blood. It worked. Cole came back.

Hands wrap around his shoulders, hauling him up and setting him upright before quickly pulling back. Before Lloyd can protest, Cole’s back, all up in his face where he’s now sitting on the floor next to him.

“Aw, Lloyd, why’d you do that,” Cole’s voice is pained as his hand ghosts over the blood dripping down his chin, thick eyebrows tense in worry.

Lloyd shakes his head, wiping a hand over his mouth and grimacing. His lip stings something horrible, and he’s appalled to find that his eyes are tearing up from the pain.

“I wan’ed to match the rest’a my face,” he manages out though his busted lip, before cringing.

Cole gives him a look. Lloyd doesn’t feel bad at all. It’s better than the look he’d had on a second ago.

Cole sighs, sounding weary. “I’ll get Zane. He can help you ice it, and I’ll—”

“No!” Lloyd yelps, grabbing for his arm. He latches around Cole’s wrist just before he manages to escape, and Cole snaps his eyes to him, looking panicked.

“Lloyd, I-I…I get it,” he says, gently prying at his fingers. “What you went through — it’s…it’s okay, just—”

Lloyd doesn’t let him get any further, because he finally gets past the giant chunk of completely irrational fear in his chest and manages to throw his arms around Cole’s middle, hugging him tightly until Cole’s forced back down with an oof.

For a second, Cole’s about as receptive as a rock, sitting all stiff and rigid. But he finally, finally relaxes, breath whooshing shakily out of his chest as he slowly, carefully returns the embrace, wrapping his arms around him.

Lloyd’s prepared for the unusually cold touch this time. He focuses instead on how gentle it is, how it feels like family and home and safety. He’s an idiot for mistaking Cole for anyone else, Lloyd thinks hotly to himself, his eyes stinging with tears.

“It’s not,” he whispers. “It’s not okay, you’re not— you’re not Morro, and I shouldn’t—”

Lloyd’s breath hitches. Oh no, he’s opened the box. He’s opened the box and now he’s thinking about it, his mind is reaching in and pulling out every memory of what Morro did to him, every action he took that Lloyd couldn’t stop, all the words he’d forced from his mouth, all the awful things—

A dizzying rush of fury smashes into him. How could he, how could he, it wasn’t enough that he took Lloyd’s body and his mind and his strength and left him a hollow shell, no, he had to dig his fingers far enough in his brain that Lloyd’s scared of his own family now—

“—hate him, I hate him, I hate him—”

“I know, buddy, I know—”

Though Cole’s holding him tight, he shifts him slightly to the side with a quiet hiss of breath, and Lloyd belatedly remembers — tears. Water and ghosts do not get along. And here Lloyd’s crying enough for a river on top of him.

He jerks back with a gasp. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—” he blabbers, wiping frantically at his eyes. “I didn’t mean to—”

It’s Cole’s turn to grab his arm before he pulls away, his gaze firm. “Don’t,” he says, sounding pained. “Don’t apologize for that. I’m fine, you didn’t hurt me.”

Lloyd shakes his head. “I’m so sorry,” he chokes out. “I’m so sorry, you’re a ghost and it’s all my fault.”

Cole stills. “What?” he finally says, his voice incredulous.

Lloyd doesn’t reply, crying harder as he tries to absorb himself into his blanket, maybe to suffocate, because at least then he won’t be weeping all over the kitchen floor like a child, and — and—

“Lloyd,” Cole sounds agonized now. “Lloyd, this wasn’t your fault. None of this was. You can’t blame yourself for it, you can’t. Please don’t.”

Lloyd gives a keening whine in reply, burying his face in his blanket. Yes, he can. He can, just watch him. Lloyd can blame himself for the whole sorry thing, because he went to that museum alone when he knew full well he was still a mess, and now?

Cole’s a ghost, his family’s hurt, Lloyd’s a worse mess, and his dad is dead, for real dead now, and none of it would’ve happened if Lloyd could’ve just—could’ve just—

Lloyd feels a bit like he’s exploding, except it’s all coming out in the tidal wave of tears he’s been stockpiling somewhere, and darn it, he’s supposed to be dehydrated now, where’s it all coming from—

Cole gently lifts his blanket, folding it up as a barrier between him and Lloyd’s running eyes, and pulls him back in, holding him tightly. Lloyd unashamedly clings back, because he’s got no dignity left at this point anyways, and he’s lived with the idea that he’d never see his family again now, and it hurt so much worse than anything Morro could do to him.

“It’s not your fault,” Cole tells him again, his voice thick. “We’ll fix it. We’ll figure it out, Lloyd, we’ll work through it, all of us together this time. You’re going to be okay. I promise, I promise.”

Lloyd just folds in on himself further, burying his face against Cole as he tries to choke back sobs.

Going to be okay. He wants to laugh. His dad’s gone. Lloyd’s entire being feels like a bruise. He could get past that before, maybe. Probably. But—

Cole’s dead.

How on earth are they supposed to fix that?

#lego ninjago #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #cole brookstone #answered #there's a tiny bit of blood in this but not much just warning!#i have a lot of Feelings about s5 that's all #also NW i owe u my life >:D #my fic

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