Chapter Text
As Lloyd neared the monastery, he saw Raven and Sunny streak across the sky. They were soaring, rolling, flipping, free. Lloyd didn’t think they would come down for a long time.
Riyu bounded along beside him, looking up at the gleeful siblings.
Lloyd pushed open the large doors of his home, a feeling of peace taking over as he looked around at his family.
Zane and Nya were discussing something by the fountain, while Kai and Wyldfyre aimed their powers at standing cans. Jace and Kit stood in the shadows near the wall mural, looking rather out of place.
Sora was working on a piece of technology, trying to activate her elemental powers again.
Riyu saw her struggling and ran up to her.
Sora swiveled around and held out her hand. “Hold up Riyu!” she said, stopping Riyu in his tracks.
Sora sighed. “I know you’re just trying to help me with a little boost, but I need to train to do this myself now.”
Riyu clicked in response, tilting his head.
“I figured out what was holding me back from my true potential!” Sora explained, kneeling down to Riyu’s level. “Some part of my mind thought… if my own parents didn’t think I was worthy, then I must not be.”
Riyu leaned forward and Sora cradled his small body in the best hug a human and a small dragon could manage.
Lloyd moved to stand by his siblings, his heart swelling with pride for his student.
Sora chuckled, pulling away from Riyu. “Thanks. But, now that I know what the problem is, I’m trying to work through it.” Sora stood up. “If I hit my true potential once, I know I can do it again.”
Sora turned back to her work and Riyu sat beside her, watching.
Lloyd turned his attention to his other student, who was less happy than the other.
Arin was throwing shurikens at a fruit, seemingly getting more discouraged with each throw. Each shuriken was hitting the target spot on, but he was still frustrated.
“Great throw, Arin,” Lloyd said.
Arin turned to him and shrugged. “Sure, if I was just trying to hit the melons. But I’m trying to give what I throw Spinjitzu power!” Arin emphasized his point by throwing another shuriken.
“And you don't have the same panicked emotions you had earlier?” Lloyd observed.
Arin frowned. “What good is a power if I can only use it when I’m terrified? Ninja aren’t supposed to be scared.”
“That’s not true,” Lloyd reassured. “It’s natural to be afraid for the the people you love. You lost a lot in the Merge. It’d be strange if you weren’t worried about being left alone again.”
Arin sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Lloyd put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t fight how you feel. Try to use those feelings for something positive.”
Arin finally smiled a bit. He took out another shuriken and threw it determinedly. It had no Spinjitzu powers, but it again hit right on target.
Arin sighed, but he was still smiling. “Ninja never quit.”
Lloyd smiled and nodded.
Just then, the ding of the kitchen’s timer sounded, and Arin lit up.
He ran towards the kitchen at full speed, excitedly saying, “They’re done! All right!”
Lloyd raised an eyebrow, but turned to his siblings’ conversation.
“And Cole said the earth was screaming. And then, Master Wu’s ghost called to him!” Nya exclaimed, while Zane was deep in thought.
“That makes three of us who have had ghostly communications from Master Wu,” Zane mused.
“We might have stabilized this new world, but I have a feeling we’re only beginning to unravel the secrets that it holds for us,” Lloyd chimed in.
“Do I hear celebration pies?” Arin’s voice rang out.
Arin was standing in the doorway with three large pies and a stack of plates and silverware all balanced on his arms.
Exclamations were heard throughout the monastery as everyone went to get a slice of Arin’s delicacies. Even Kit and Jace cautiously went to get some.
There was one person who didn’t go get some, however.
Luci sat in the corner of the monastery, bathed in the long shadows of sundown. The golden lines on her face were now washed off, the final remnants of her time in Imperium gone. Nya had evidently given her a change of clothes, and Luci drowned in them. The leg that had been broken now had a boot cast on it, and it laid splayed on the ground while her other knee was close to her chest. She had an Imperium screen open and was shifting data around on it, her eyes rapidly shifting around as she opened and closed different icons.
Lloyd got another plate and went to sit by her.
The movement seemed to startle her out of a trance, and she closed the screen to address Lloyd.
Lloyd gave her a small smile and handed her the second plate.
Luci seemed confused for a second before her eyes shifted across the monastery and understanding took over her features. She took the plate.
They ate in silence that wasn’t necessarily comfortable, but wasn’t uncomfortable either. It almost felt like old times.
Lloyd looked at her boot, suddenly remembering something. “Weren’t you walking fine when…” he trailed off, not knowing what to call it.
Luci knew what he meant. She was quiet for a bit before responding. “I used a type of Imperium technology to splint it. Then I took a lot of pain medicine.”
Lloyd swiveled to face her. “You were walking on it the whole time?!”
Luci’s eyes glazed over a bit, and she opened her mouth to respond. She stopped midway and seemed to force her guard back down. She sighed. “If I had let the Empress know I was physically weak she could’ve found a way to use it against me. There were several bad outcomes from that.”
Her voice was level, fatigue the only emotion in her voice. She talked about it like it was some kind of choose-your-own-adventure game.
After a beat of silence, Luci continued. “Zane reacted the same way you did. He put this boot on, gave me crutches, and told me to rest.”
Lloyd nodded, and they fell into silence again, both pieces of pie now finished.
“How did you become an Elusive?” Lloyd asked, finally gathering the courage to ask.
Luci thought for a bit. “I was outside on the roof of Darkleys when the Merge happened. I didn’t even have time to react before it flung me into a sea of starry pink. When I woke up again, I was in Imperium. There were other outsiders who also ended up within Imperium after the Merge, and I was one of the lucky few who knew how to spin words so they’d let me stay. I crawled my way through the ranks and caught the eye of the Empress. It would’ve been hard not to, a cunning mind in a sea of mindless followers is hard to come by. She favored me.”
“I’d known there was a lot wrong with Imperium before that, but after about two years in Imperium I was finally shown the cruelty they subjected dragons to. And it was around the same time that I joined the Elusives. Zeatrix found me, and after a lot of convincing on my part, let me join as an informative, but my role slowly grew. We started small. Sabotages of machinery, stealing information. Halting experimentation on Sunny and directing it towards other things. My promotion to Heir after three years in Imperium was exceptionally convenient. Eventually, we devised a plan. I would get the public to trust me as their Heir almost as blindly as they did the Empress. And then-” Luci stopped short, blinking.
“And then?” Lloyd prompted, his eyebrows knitting together.
“And then we would poison her. The Empress. With a poison resembling the effects of a sickness. After she would die, I would gain her place, and launch an ‘investigation’ into what sickness killed her. We would put traces of it on dragons, and tell them to act sick. We would convince the public that a type of dragon from the Wyldness had brought the sickness, and the dragons needed to be released to keep the citizens safe. Which is where Zayre would swoop in with their solar panel designs that you already know of. Shifting Imperium from dragon to solar energy. Sunny would be freed as soon as possible. I would pardon Zayre and Zeatrix would come back from the shadows to claim her throne. To prevent generational hatred of dragons for the Empress’s death we would later ‘find new scientific data’ that the disease actually came from a bug from the Never realm and the Empress was the one who had infected the dragons. All of this in moderation to not arouse suspicion. The slow takeover and freedom of an empire,” Luci finished, staring into the distance.
“You- you were going to kill the Empress?!” Lloyd exclaimed, shock settling in his bones.
Luci didn’t move to make eye contact with him. “It was the only solution I could think of that would go down without a hitch. But of course, then you came along.” Luci smiled now. “I pulled two all-nighters in a row thinking of a new plan with you in it. And then I did it again after the Empress pushed for us to get the dragon cores before you could. I have to admit, the ending was much more satisfying than what we had originally planned.”
Lloyd sat with Luci in silence again, processing her story.
It was Luci who spoke up again. “That day, when I was in the monastery clinic, and you offered me your help, you had no idea how much I wanted to take the offer. But I couldn’t. I had a job to finish. But, now…”
Lloyd smiled. “But now it’s over, and you don’t have to pretend anymore. We can be siblings again, just like we were all those years ago. And, it’ll take them a while to warm up to you, but I’m sure my family will love you too.” Lloyd paused to look up at the sky, which was now starting to show stars.
He breathed deeply. “It’s over now,” he reassured himself as much as Luci. He always got bad feelings at the end of long battles, like it wasn’t quite done yet. It would go away with time, Just like it always did.
Luci smiled slightly, holding a strange look in her eye.
Lloyd had yet to understand her expressions, as they had been able to do when they were kids.
He’d realize the meaning of this one later. Far later, over a year after this time. Luci will have used it many times since then.
Lloyd would realize it meant sheltering love, protection. It meant guilt and sadness.
But most of all, it meant-
- lies .