Chapter Text
When Kai heard word of the bounty and the monastery he was ecstatic. Home, after a Year and a half, he would get to go Home, he was finally going home.
He climbed to the top of the mountain.
Then he made his way onto the bounty, it was annoyingly hard with how dark the night was. But he had more than enough experience doing it at midnight over the years, so he only almost fell 5 times.
He looked around for either of his siblings, his friends, pixel, or even their Sensi, anyone really. Truly he didn't care who, as long as there was someone here.
And someone was there, however getting flung around by spinjitzu that was multiple shades of green then thrown onto the main deck of the destiny's bounty was not how he expected to be greeted.
He grunted as his side came in contact with the wood and his ribs started to yell from being abused. But his instincts took over rather quickly and he looked to his attacker trying to take in their features. Blond hair, glowing green eyes, green gi, Lloyd, it was Lloyd! And Lloyd had just attacked him? And was about to again!?
Kai yelped, scrambling to try to protect himself from getting attacked with his arms but thankfully Lloyd stopped right before they hit him. Almost falling on him in the process but he was not getting punched in the face so he couldn’t complain, well actually he could complain a lot. Lloyd had just attacked him!
Lloyd righted themselves and Kai sighed then pulled back his hood as he practically yelled “What the heck Lloyd!?”
“Kai!” Lloyd yelled in surprise, their voice strained and raspy as though extremely underused. Then as if an afterthought “sorry”.
Kai held out a hand for Lloyd to help him up and they grabbed it without hesitation pulling him up to stand again.
The second he was on his feet again Kai pulled Lloyd into a hug no longer caring about whatever extra bruises now decorated his body “So good to see you Green Bean”
Lloyd melted into the hug in a way Kai had not felt in so long it almost felt foreign. The thought made him hug Lloyd a little tighter. He had his little brother in his arms again, nothing else mattered in that moment.
But eventually and far too quickly for Kai’s liking, Lloyd pulled back and looked over the side of the ship. Kai followed their gauze and found another crack in the sky, small at the moment but quickly growing. Lloyd reluctantly pushed Kai away and ran towards the ship's stern. Kai stook their questioning until Lloyd leaned over the railing and gestured for him to command the ship.
Kai nodded, confused but Lloyd was still his leader, and even if he didnt understand yet, he would still follow his siblings' lead.
Turns out elemental powers stop the cracks in the sky, and they were called merge quakes apparently? Lloyd had told him of what they had learned from master Wu’s scrolls and their own explorations. The merge quakes were after shocks where two realm’s tried to take up the same spot or something? And bla bla bla, Lloyd explained a lot. Kai was still confused but he quickly stopped caring about that for the time being when they got inside of the monastery and Kai got a good look at his sibling.
Lloyd looked terrible. Just like after Morro's possession, just like when they got back after being trapped in the first realm for weeks, just like when they got them back after the failed infiltration of the Crystal council. And each of those had Lloyd self-destructing in a way that would have killed them if their siblings hadn’t stopped them.
For weeks they would wake up screaming, begging for something to stop, or when it was really bad, they would wake up begging, calling out for their family, for Nya, Cole, Zane, Jay, Master Wu, or Kai. It was a personal hell for that last one, it happened a lot more often then the others back when Morro was still fresh in his brother's mind. They would beg for warmth, any kind of comfort, anything to ground them. Kai could barely keep himself from breaking at the sight of how terribly Morro destroyed Lloyd when they got them back. And on top of that for months afterwards they would starve themselves as a kind of punishment to make themselves more productive, more 'useful'.
It hurt seeing Lloyd like that, and it hurt all over again when it just kept happening, over and over and over again. But Lloyd had Kai, Nya, Cole, Zane and Jay. sensei Wu was there as well but not the same way the ninja were there for each other. He was not very good at emotions and feelings some of the time, correction most of the time.
However Lloyd at the moment looked worse than a lot of other times, not only did they look just as bad physically, not eating enough clearly with the way they looked skinnier, definitely not drinking enough water with how dry his skin was, and barely getting any sleep evident with the dark eye bags. Lloyd had been alone, completely, no one but Lloyd was at the monastery. Which meant no one there to stop them from being self destructive. But now Lloyd had to deal with their oni and daragon parts as well.
A quick examination of Lloyd had Kai coming to a few points.
First Lloyd had never been that much taller than him, only a few centimeters. But now they towered over Kai more then a head and a half. Lloyd walked differently too, on his toes and it made him even taller. And another thing, Lloyd no longer had feet/toes. They had black claws and pads on their feet, and their claws were surprisingly sharp to the point Lloyd didn't wear shoes anymore. Same with their hands although their hands slowly turned black the further down their fingers and ended in sharp claws, sharp in a way that could easily draw blood. They must have been purposely trying to hide those features or Kai would have noticed immediately on the Bounty.
Lloyd also had a tail, which reached past their feet when standing. It had scales that were a slightly darker shade of green than his gi. At the end of their tail there was a big fluff of golden fur at the base that slowly shifted into white the longer it got. And they had similar scales to their tail, on their neck. Their ears were now much more pointy as well and covered in those scales. They also had horns, a deep gold at the base that transitioned to white at the top, they were not very tall but they curved backwards, they were surprisingly easy to overlook as they were almost hidden by Lloyd's hair. The gold at the base was harder to hide but the ends blended into lloyds hair like camouflage.
Oni and Dragon parts. The height was likely a combination of both, the tail, ear’s, and scales were likely dragon, the horns, claws, and fangs, were likely oni.
oh did kai forget to mention Lloyd had fangs now? Well they did and that brought on a very strange habit of chewing on things.
Randomly put chunks of metal in their mouth or shards of glass and chewed them up like they were crackers. Then spit the broken pieces out and put more in.
The first, NO. EVERYTIME they did it, it almost gave Kai a heart attack.
Now Kai had been following Lloyd around for almost a day and a half, and Lloyd had not slept, eaten, or dranken even a drop of water. Kai had made some basic snacks and some simple meals and offered them to Lloyd but they always declined it. So what does Kai do? He forces Lloyd back into a normal routine of course. Kai had done it before with his sister and friends and would likely do it again, he would take care of Lloyd until they were able to take care of themselves again.
So after deciding what to do, Kai waited for Lloyd to finish some kind of repair on the bounty based on Nya’s blueprints. Then walked up and picked Lloyd up bridal style like Lloyd was little again. It felt strange for Lloyd to be so big but they still Weight so little that Kai felt a pang of cruel nostalgia. Lloyd at first surprised and shocked, stayed frozen in Kai’s grip but eventually got over it before Kai could get into the kitchen. They looked up to Kai questioningly. Kai didn't say a word, which only served to make Lloyd thrash in his hold a bit. Clearly not actually trying to get out
Once they got to the kitchen Kai sat Lloyd down in one of the new much more fancy chairs that were around the new table that definitely didn't exist there last time he was home. They bantered back and forth for a bit as Kai made some simple sandwiches for each of them and Lloyd kept telling him they didn’t want nor need one.
Kai then got Lloyd some water and placed the plate in front of Lloyd standing behind the chair next to thier’s.
“Eat”
“I don't want it”
“You need it”
“I am fine”
“You haven't eaten in who knows how long-”
“15 days ago”
“That's precisely why you need to eat!”
“I'm not hungry”
“Ya right”
“I'm fine, I have other things to do, I don't have time for this” they go to stand only for Kai to place a hand on their shoulder and push them back into the chair a bit harder than necessary to tell them not to try again.
“Lloyd, Eat”
Lloyd looks up at him then down to the sandwich and sighs. And Kai smiles, sometimes being known as the stubborn one does give you some advantages. They pick it up and look back at Kai and he nods his smiling at the thought that he still to be give permission to eat. Lloyd rolls their eyes and takes a bite.
The sandwich is gone before Kai could even process it.
Lloyd looks away and curls in on themselves their tail wrapping around them in the chair.
Lloyd had done this a few times before when the ninja started forcing Lloyd into a healthy routine again. It usly only happens for the first few days. They would get scared anytime they thought they didn't earn something, like food or sleep and especially water.
Kai slides his plate over to Lloyd with a smile, one that he only uses for his siblings, that he really hopes helps Lloyd come back to themselve and realize that they don't need to earn anything, does not and will not be punished for needing basic essentials.
He thinks it does the trick because after a few seconds even when they don't look at him, Lloyd reaches out and grabs Kai’s sandwich and gables it down just as fast as the last.
Kai sits down and pushes over the water. Lloyd first looks confused but then quickly their expression turns to shock and the look of someone that should not be doing what they are doing.
“I will force it down your throat if you don't drink it” Kai quickly says before Lloyd can overthink and truly get scared. He does say it kind of sarcastically but truthfully if it came down to it, kai would force the water down lloyds throat.
Lloyd looks back at Kai then shakily reaches out for the cup and chugs it quickly as if it would be taken if they didn't drink fast enouph. They probably thought just that, afraid Morro would rise from the dead again just to torment them more.
Kai gives a sad smile at how Lloyd still years later acts as though every drop of water is gold. He then takes his brother's hands and pulls them up to stand. Lloyds practically asleep standing up as Kai pulls them just a few steps. Just that little bit of food and water had lloyd almost passed out.
Kai guides them to his room that definitely got some kind of touch up because it was nowhere close to this size previously and now it had a door to a private bathroom that did not exist previously. He’s fairly sure Lloyd didn't do that but who knows, certainly not him he got here less then 2 days ago.
He practically drags Lloyd over to the bed as they were almost a puddle at this point. The sheets were neatly folded and washed less than a week ago completely unused. Lloyd must have been keeping themselves busy with chores before Kai got here.
Kai pushed them into the bed and pulled them into a hug as he climbed into it. His sibling took a few seconds before they hugged him tightly and soft sobs filled the room. Kai just held them tighter and purposefully made his body warmer to provide as much comfort as possible.
They sit like that for a long while until Kai noticed Lloyd had fallen asleep. Kai stayed awake that night, keeping a consistent warm but not too warm temperature. What does it matter if he loses one or two nights of sleep for his sibling?