Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Lloyd really doesn’t like his dad.

Okay, that was a lie. He loved his dad all the same, their relationship as father and son was just a little bit... complicated. Complicated as in his father went from becoming a not-so-cruel evil warlord, who he defeated, to a normal person and back to becoming a full-on-cruel evil warlord, who he failed to defeat, and then succeeded, and then fought with. Curse Harumi and her stupid cultist mentality. Actually, curse that dumb snake for biting his dad to begin with.

Lloyd loves his dad, but sometimes, it’s difficult to do so. Sometimes including now .

Blinking back at his father, Lloyd crosses his arms in bemusement. His father – who had disappeared after the big oni fight, mind you! – had reappeared out of nowhere during a fight. There was this guy; he wore all red and had this moustache that practically screamed villain (meaning Jay’s ‘evil stench detector’, as he called it, was right). The guy said he was someone related to Mystake, claimed to go by the name ‘Salim’, and Wu wasn’t around to testify so they could only give this guy a shot.

Which had proven to be a very bad, bad idea. Salim was evil – of course, he was . Lloyd really had to work on his way too trusting attitude. That was the root of all his trust issues – and apparently had an obsession with the oni kind. He wanted the dark creatures to resurface, again , which of course they couldn’t allow. Much to their dismay, Salim had gotten his way anyway, though barely able to proceed before Wu had arrived to stop the realm portal.

Regardless, there was still a significant amount of oni who had managed to come through the portal and darkness was slowly spreading around them. Lloyd was the only one who was able to pass through the cold fog, and he alone wasn’t able to beat every single oni around him.

So his dad reappearing had been an unexpected and somewhat pleasant surprise, though none of them celebrated over it as they continued to fight. Fighting alongside his father was but a faint memory to Lloyd, it had been a long while since he’d even last seen his dad, but, as strange as it was, he had to admit, they made a pretty good team. And it had all gone pretty well until the fog had spread out too far and none of the other ninja were able to reach deep enough to help them.

And that was when his father had suggested probably one of the dumbest ideas he’s ever heard. And, as Cole would normally say, he’s heard a lot of them, especially from Kai.

“You need to let the oni in you run wild!”

What in the name of FSM did that even mean?!

His reaction had been immediate as soon as his brain processed his suggestion. He’d first crossed his arms, but at his father’s genuine look of urgency, he’d thrown his arms in the air, all while kicking an oni in the face. “What does that mean?! It’s like you said, I’m only part oni! I don’t even know if I have enough oni in me to go wild! I’m like a quarter oni! And I still don’t get what you mean!”

“It means you have to let that darkness inside you control you! Feed into your fearsome bloodthirsty needs!” Garmadon yelled out, directing a surge of destruction towards an oni that had gotten up behind Lloyd. The green ninja threw his arms even further, his hands accidentally smacking onto another oni. “What? No! That’s why you’re evil, it’s because you’re, you’re— full of darkness or something, I- I don’t know!”

“I’m full of destruction and evil , get it right!” Garmadon retaliates, earning a pointed look from Lloyd as he focused his hands back on fighting. “Who cares about that, d– Garmadon! I don’t even know how to do any of that!”

“Then I’ll do it! ” Garmadon grunts out, slamming his fist against an oni. Lloyd registers the words in his head, lets it hang in the air for a second, then blinks in confusion. “What do you—“

Lloyd doesn’t know what it is that Garmadon throws, his vision can only catch onto a bag flashing past his eyesight, whatever is in it he doesn’t get to assess because as soon as it lands beside him, it explodes into a puff of purple smoke. It’s cold, unmistakably a gas relating to onis if the dark hue and temperature told him anything, and he awaits for his lungs to tighten and his throat to break into coughs, but it doesn’t.

Instead, he feels lightheaded. His eyes blur in and out of consciousness and he’s only fighting the oni off from the reflexes he’s built over time as a ninja. His head is pounding, it feels as though something was growing out of his hair, and his teeth hurt for some reason – it’s like he can taste a little bit of metal in his mouth. For a second, the world seems to tilt and black out, but he’s not on the ground. He’s in the air and he’s fighting the other oni, this time with notably much more vigour and aggression than he had been previously. Inhumane growls and snarls slipped past his lips without him even noticing; since when could he make those noises?

The sight of so much blood and violence only fuels him further. He’s starting to understand how it works for his father. But the fuel never dies down, the fire in him keeps on growing on growing and he’s almost terrified at how powerful he feels. What the hell? He had no control over his body whatsoever! He was just attacking the oni left and right, not leaving them even a single chance of standing up, much less letting his father throw any punches.

The thrill thrums alongside his adrenaline, especially with him in the condition he’s in, and the fight stops eventually, but the dangerously dark flame in his gut doesn’t dim with the oni as they are returned back to their original realm. It’s sharp and hot and so bold that it’s painful. He’s practically foaming at the mouth and his father is holding him back – his father!

As the dark fog around him clears out, his friends look at him with victorious looks of happiness, before their eyes fall on him and all their smiles are wiped off their faces. Lloyd—Lloyd only looks at them with the same vigour he had to the oni, though unwillingly.

“What the... is that… is that Lloyd? ” Jay asked, trotting behind Cole as if a shield. The earth ninja shudders against himself, wrapping his arms around himself. Kai throws an accusatory finger at Garmadon, his other hand resting on his hip. “What did you do to him, Garmadon?!”

“I did what I had to so we could stop the oni,” Garmadon scowls, pulling his son even closer to him when Lloyd’s now red eyes visibly widened at the sight of his friends – and it’s not done in delight, no, you could see the hunger and thirst for blood behind them. He’s excited to see the ninja for reasons other than joy. The ninja all flinch at the sight.

“I didn’t think he’d react this badly,” he murmured in addition, before looking up at all the ninja again. “Call for Wu!”

“Already two steps ahead of you, brother,” Wu says, appearing behind Garmadon and startling everyone. In his hand is a cup of tea, dark red stirring quietly inside. He moves the drink over to Lloyd’s mouth, who had begun struggling even harder against his father’s hold, tilting the cup so the tea would enter the boy’s mouth. Though a lot of the drink had leaked out of his mouth, he’d consumed enough for the tea to take its effect. Lloyd goes limp in his father’s hold and his entire body nearly flops over to the ground, the horns on his head disappearing.

“Remind me to never get on Lloyd’s bad side,” Jay says uselessly, earning a pointed look from his girlfriend and everyone else in the team. “What? You can’t tell me that wasn’t terrifying! I’m never gonna be able to look at Lloyd the same again.”

“What’s past is past. We must not let history cloud our judgement,” Wu responds, taking the opportunity to lecture his students, because when does he not . He reaches out for Lloyd’s body and hands him over to Kai and Cole, who support him by slinging one arm each over their shoulders. Wu slams his staff against the floor. “As for you, my foolish brother, what you have done cannot be—“

Turning back over to where Garmadon had been standing, he’d disappeared. Again. Wu let out an annoyed sigh.

“Once a quitter, always a quitter,” Kai shrugs nonchalantly, though his gaze was hard and full of stubborn frustration as his eyes lingered on Lloyd’s slack body, before he places his hand over the intercom in his ear to activate it. “Pixal, lower the bounty. And get the medical supplies ready.”

“On it,” came her robotic voice in response, the sounds of an engine thruster activating can be heard from above them.

Green is his colour.

Green is always present in his life. He had green eyes, he wore green most of the time, and green was just a colour that appeared everywhere in nature. His friends told him he was the practical embodiment of green and that they couldn’t imagine the colour without him being part of the equation. Jay tells him he “gives off green vibes”.

His friends are family. He would never be embarrassed or ashamed to admit it. Seeing them happy often made him happy – a case of cause and effect. There they were in front of him, waving and laughing, ushering for him to come closer, and he does.

But with every step he takes, he distinctively notices the sounds of a liquid dripping. Everywhere he looked was free of any stains though, maybe someone had left the sink open.

One wrong step and he slips on his feet. He waits for his friends’ chorus of laughter so he can join in, but nothing comes out from in front of him. When he looks up, his friends are looking at him with terror and fear in their eyes. Darkness grows from the corner of his vision, as if they were entering a cave where the light was slowly becoming scarce.

His first question is “what?” – because what could be so terrifying that they looked like that? He turns around and he can’t find any irregularities, so he looks back at his friends.

His friends who were suddenly piled up together, covered in scratches, cuts and blood. They were all red, red that smelled of metal and tasted of iron. Red that didn’t look nice on Kai and red that scared him more than his father’s eyes. Red that was on his hands for some reason and he can’t seem to wipe them off.

His sense blares with a warning, like there’s an unidentified threat nearby.

He looks up from his bloody palms and sees a mirror.

Red that was all over his face, dripping down the side of his mouth, trailing down the horns on his head that weren’t supposed to be there. Red that should not belong to him, because he was green and red was the opposite of that colour. Red that made him look too much like the evil overlord his father had been and he didn’t want to end up like. Red that made him look like a monster instead of his goofy brother that was Kai.

Red. Red was overtaking the green of his eyes and the green of his cloak.

He was a monster.

Lloyd wakes up with a sharp gasp, immediately slapping a shaking hand over his mouth at the volume. As soon as his eyes fall onto his hands, relief floods his system at the lack of red. He sighs, letting his shoulders relax as he falls back onto his bed.

Wait, his bed? This was not his bed! It was too white and stiff. 

Sitting back up, he assessed his surroundings. A brief wave of recognition washes over him when he sees the equipment lying around everywhere. He’s at the medical centre of their base; and, of course, he was , because when was the last time he went on a mission without getting severely injured?

The window on the wall reflects the dim light of the moon, it tells him that he should go back to bed, but the darkness of the night makes him feel unsettled. As if soon he’d see his friends dead and red would start to trickle down his skin. He shivered, shaking his head, only to regret it as soon as he does, the headache increasing tenfold. He lets out a pained sound, waiting for his nausea to pass by, before getting up to the bathroom. Washing his face should refresh him, right?

He is thorough while splashing water onto his face, but he doesn’t dare look up at the mirror above the sink. He doesn’t look at the water either, afraid that he might see red mixed with it. Instead, he focuses solely on the floor and only the floor, avoiding anything that could potentially mirror his face.

He leaves the bathroom without once looking at his reflection. Unbeknownst to him, a pair of horns had grown and shrunk back down in that short matter of time.

Lloyd wakes up a second time later in the afternoon, unsure of when he’d even fallen back to sleep, to the sounds of his friends screaming. At first, his instinct is to panic, but he’s quickly reassured by the laughter that follows and the “that’s not fair!” that Cole yells out. Despite his horrible state and the pounding against his head that just would not go away, his lips twitched upward into a smile.

He gets up slowly, testing the waters by flexing his legs, before he starts walking out to the halls, his hands using the walls as a guide. Peeking his head through the doorway, he sees Cole and Zane playing a 1v1 player game, where Cole is very obviously on the losing end. Not that Lloyd could blame him. Zane was a nindroid, after all. Lloyd had lost a considerable amount of times against the master of ice himself.

The first person to notice he’s there is Pixal, because of course she did. “Hello, Lloyd,” she calls, and all attention turns towards him, the game immediately forgotten about. “You should not be out of your bed yet. Your body was reacting very poorly to the sudden changes that you were forced to go through. I detect that you still have a bruised rib, a minor concussion, a broken palm and a broken ankle.”

Lloyd blinks at the sudden barrage of diagnoses. “Oh.”

“ ’Oh’? Nu-uh, buddy, you’re going back to bed. Growing, and also healing, boys like you need your rest, unless you wanna end up like Jay-,” “ Hey! What does that mean!” “So out we go,” Kai encourages, standing up from the couch and walking over to Lloyd, resting his hands on his shoulders and leading him over to his bedroom. A flock of ninja trail behind them, not-so-secretly, and Lloyd would’ve laughed if not for the sudden wave of nausea that nearly sent his knees buckling down on him. He gulps that sickness away, walking over to his bed with Kai’s support, and immediately flopping himself over his pillow.

Kai lets out a low chuckle of amusement, running a hand through Lloyd’s curls as he slowly walks away with the rest of the team. “Rest well, Lloyd. You deserve it.”

Lloyd does not respond. He doesn’t have the energy to.

When Lloyd wakes up the third time, it’s to a massive ache in his teeth. He’s not so sure why, but it hurts a lot , as if someone were trying to pull out his teeth manually. He lets out a sharp cry of pain, a nauseous bile rising up his throat as he runs to the bathroom in his room, locking it with a loud slam of the door. He’s immediately bent over the toilet, arms resting on the rims of it as he throws up and– oh FSM, is that blood?!

Fortunately, he doesn't panic. Though, alternatively, that was mainly due to the fact that he was still throwing his guts out. It takes a while, though it feels like hours, but when he’s done, he immediately flushes the vomit away, unwilling to look at it because, ew, who would do that? Standing up on his shaky legs, he rests his hands on the sink and slowly lifts his head up to the mirror. 

He looks just as dishevelled as expected. His eyes are red-rimmed and his nose is stuffy, there’s a trail of drool and a little bit of blood going down his lips. He opens his mouth to wipe it away, but freezes when he sees fangs. Like, actual fangs. Sharp and long and defined. There’s a line of blood dripping down the fangs, and that explains why he’d tasted metal.

Lloyd would deny it later on, but he screamed the loudest he’d ever before as he began scrambling away from the sink, slipping on his feet and landing on the floor with a thud. Immediately, the sounds of footsteps outside fill his ears and it tells him how loud he'd been.

"Lloyd?! Are you alright?!" Zane asks from outside his room, fumbling with the door handle before he walks inside his room alongside the other ninja, only to find that Lloyd is not there. His bed is vacant and his sheets are thrown wildly off his bed, as if he’d been in a rush going somewhere, yet everything else in his room is tidy and clean, showing no signs of further struggle. 

Everyone is wide awake now as they look around the room frantically. “Lloyd?!” Jay and Kai yell at the same time, their voices rather used to being loud regardless of the time. “Where are you, buddy?”

“I– I’m fine! I’m in the bathroom,” Lloyd responds, though his voice is unstable and his breaths are heavy. It’s much harder to talk now that there were fangs practically protruding out of his mouth, and especially so since the gums of his teeth were still bleeding from the sudden stretch. “You guys can go back! I just slipped.”

“You sure, kiddo? We can stay here if you need us to.”

Lloyd hesitates. But he’s scared of what may happen if they saw him in this state – though more so that he was scared of what may happen to them while he was in this state. The sharp sensation from when his father had given him… whatever he did, had returned.

“No, I’m good,” Lloyd reassures him, slowly standing up while steadying himself on the bathroom door. “I’ll be fine. You can go back to bed. Sorry for waking you up and worrying you!”

He can tell everyone outside is still considering it, but they walk out of his room anyway. When the door to his room shuts closed, he slowly falls back onto the floor and rests his back against the bathroom walls, his hand flying over to assess his mouth. It was still bleeding, but the ache was gone, for the most part. He ran his finger down his fangs, only to wince when he accidentally cuts his skin. Geez, they were sharp. 

…

What the hell was he gonna do now?

The fourth time he wakes up, he’s not flying straight into panic or waking up to any pain. He’s just… awake. On the floor of his bathroom, the sun just barely rose from the east. His first instinct is to search for his fangs with his fingers as he got up to face the mirror. He sees nothing though, other than a dried trail of blood that would surely take minutes to wash out. Not to mention his gi was covered in it, yuck! 

He shrugs freely. There shouldn’t be much of an issue with blood on his gi, it’s barely even noticeable, contrasting to his entirely blood-covered gloves. But he could take off his gloves without any worry. Splashing water and soap onto his face, he washes the red off his chin and brushes the blood off his teeth. His normal teeth. No fangs. He doesn’t know whether to be relieved or confused.

A knock on his door startles him back into focus. He closes the tap and walks outside the bathroom, finding Kai standing by the doorway beside his small drawer. He greets him with a small nod of his head, walking over. “Good morning, Kai!”

“Morning, Lloyd,” he greets back, covering his mouth with his palm as he yawns. He slings an arm over Lloyd’s shoulder and leads them to the kitchen area, where the other ninja are waiting, or so Lloyd would assume. “Gave us quite the scare last night, kiddo. Could barely sleep.”

Lloyd smiles at him sheepishly, shrinking into his shoulders. “Oops, sorry. I hope you’re not too tired because of me.”

“Nah,” Kai says, despite the yawn that slips past his mouth afterwards. “My fault for overthinking. What can I say, I’m just looking out for my baby brother.” As he says that, he shoves his hand into Lloyd’s hair and messes it up. The blonde only laughs as he ducks away from Kai, feigning disgust. “Gross! Get your fire cooties off of me!”

“ Cooties? What are we, seven?” Kai retaliates incredulously, only to shovel his hands even deeper into Lloyd’s curls, earning another laugh from the younger.

“Hey! For your information, ‘cooties’ is a totally mature word to use,” Jay calls from where he sits beside Nya on the breakfast table, earning a giggle from her and a look of amusement from Cole, though a bewildered one from Zane. The nindroid tilts his head in confusion. “I do not think you are right, Jay. My data suggest that–”

“How many times do we have to fix your humour circuit!” Jay yells, throwing a piece of grilled shrimp at the nindroid, though it was easily dodged. Kai laughs as he leads Lloyd over to an empty seat beside Cole and Wu walks in at the moment Jay throws another piece of food at Zane.

“Now, now, settle down, students,” Wu says, waving his hands in the air. Everyone goes quiet and they greet their master accordingly. Wu sits at the centre of the table and looks at Lloyd, who was sitting in between Cole and Kai. "It is good to see you are doing well, nephew."

"Thank you, master Wu," Lloyd responds with a smile; it didn’t reach his eyes, but it was steady. “I’m feeling better already.”

Jinxed it. 

As soon as he says those words, he could feel an uncomfortably familiar strain and ache in his teeth. He snaps his jaw shut, his bottom and top teeth clanking against each other, though that only made it worse as his growing fangs still continued to grow and sharpen. He could feel it when his teeth reached his tongue, cutting the skin of it, and he winces at the taste of metal. He’ll be fine, he’ll be fine, he just has to make it through breakfast without opening his mouth – which, fuck , how does he do that?!

Lloyd knows he looks like he’s grimacing on the outside, but thankfully nobody pays much attention to him as a conversation carries on. Too much blood pools in his mouth that he has to let it out somehow, because he’s definitely not swallowing it, so he tries to discreetly cough into his palm. His palm which he’d left ungloved and therefore blood went through the small spaces between his fingers, seeping past his knuckles. Curse his luck. Why did everything have to go so wrong? He puts his other palm on top of it.

Though what truly catches him off-guard is when those feign coughs become real and suddenly he’s choking on blood and saliva. He turns away from the table to cough at the ground, heaving slightly, when he felt someone touch his shoulder. The warmth of the hand told him it was Kai – it was always Kai. “Hey. You good, buddy?”

“Fine,” he manages through his coughs, “Just uh. Got something stuck in my throat.” Something being blood .

Kai pats his back in an attempt to help, but it startles Lloyd to the point where he flinches violently and throws his head upwards, his green eyes blown wide as he realized that he’d just revealed his current situation to Kai. Blood trailed down his mouth like a river, dripping onto the red pool in his palms. 

Kai blinks at him, eyes slowly widening as his mouth gapes open. “L– Lloyd, you’re–”

“Yeah, I know,” he manages, before choking and spitting out more blood out of his mouth. Gross. Now he doesn’t want to cover his mouth with his palms anymore. That grabs the attention of Cole, who looks at him and instantly panics. 

“Lloyd, you’re bleeding!” he yells, as if Lloyd didn’t know that already. He would scoff if he wasn’t currently puking out all the blood in his system. All eyes turn to him and he shrinks into himself. 

“Ew!” Jay shrieks at the same time Nya calls out his name. Both of them rush over to his side while Wu stares at him with a look of calculation. Oh no. FSM no. That look only meant he’d gotten into something that he wasn’t aware of. 

“I’m alright, guys,” Lloyd tries to reassure, though the way he chokes on his words did otherwise. He hoped that his fangs would shrink again and he’d stop bleeding like he had before, but he had a feeling it would linger on a little longer this time. Last night’s experience was pale in comparison to how it felt for him right now; it still hurt the same, but there was a strange whiff in the air with his friends around him. It was as if the sight of them burned inside him, a strange and violent desire that made him wince. He did not like it. It reminded him of the forbidden scroll of spinjitzu or the time Morro possessed him. It just didn’t feel like it was… him .

“Everyone, get your weapons out!” Wu called at the same time Lloyd felt the last bit of his consciousness slip away, as if he’d been forced out of his own body. His now red pupils had dilated into thin slits in his eyes, his fangs hanging viciously down his mouth, dripping with blood, and horns began to grow out of his head. Though confused and startled, everyone gets into a fighting stance and stares at Lloyd cautiously.

“Sensei, what’s happening?” Kai asks, inching away from Lloyd slowly. “Why’s Lloyd… Why is he like this?”

“Yeah, which dead dog possessed him?!” Jay shrieked, earning a flick of water to the forehead from Nya while Zane cocks his head in confusion again. “I believe that the likelihood of that happening is very low. Based on my calculations, I would suggest that–”

Kai’s yell of surprise interrupts Zane before he could continue as Lloyd lunged at him. Though he’s a completely different creature right now, he knew it was still Lloyd, and he couldn’t bring himself to hurt him. Not when he’d promised to care and protect him. So dodging was his current only option.

“This was what I meant when I warned you all of what my brother has done,” Wu says while jumping away from Lloyd’s attack, his staff spinning in the air. “Awakening a side that has been inactive since birth has a lot of side effects. Lloyd’s body is only reacting to the catalyst that Garmadon had used to awaken the oni in him, but since his body hadn’t been prepared beforehand, he’s unable to control it. We don’t know enough about oni to help him right away. If only Mystake was…”

“Man, remind me to kick Garmadon’s ass when we meet him again– Shit! Geez,” Cole grumbles, jumping up onto a shelf to avoid the green ninja’s lunge in his direction. “Language,” Zane warns, though it falls onto deaf ears when Jay swears right after.

“What do we do about him, sensei?” Kai asks, sheathing his weapon back into its casing behind him. “We can’t hurt him if that’s still Lloyd. I’m not going to hurt him.”

“Stuff something into his mouth,” Wu answers, stumbling against Nya as she jumps away from Lloyd. That earns him collective looks of confusion, but nobody questions him, trusting his judgement. Immediately, they all reach out for the closest item near them and run towards Lloyd. Jay attempts to stuff his mouth with a banana, though his effort proved futile when Lloyd grabbed him by the arm and swung him towards Cole, who fell over and the bottle he’d planned to use broke on impact against the ground.

Nya had the brilliantly simple plan of using the handle of her spear to stuff his mouth with, and she got close, but Lloyd managed to jump at her hard enough for her to drop the weapon, snarling and growling over her. It was Zane who’d thrown him off her, attempting to stuff his mouth in the process with his metal arm, to no avail as Lloyd flings himself away, landing right beside Kai. Kai only stared at his little brother with a gaping mouth, the two of them staring back and forth at each other comically, before he reached for the duster in his hands and tried to stuff it in his mouth. Unfortunately, Lloyd had managed to kick him away before he could get close, but it’s only a second after when Wu appears behind him and puts his bamboo staff in between his teeth.

The reaction is almost immediate. Lloyd’s body goes slack against Wu, his horns have disappeared and his eyes have returned back to their original shade of green, though his fangs remained biting on the bamboo. Wu is quick to catch him before he could fall, slowly sitting him down against the wall. 

“M… Ma’fher Wu?” Lloyd asked through the staff, shifting uncomfortably. “Why… My heaf hur’s.”

“It is alright, nephew, you may rest your eyes,” Wu encourages, tucking his blood and sweat stained bangs of hair away behind his ear. Lloyd doesn’t know why he feels so sticky, gross and sore, as if he’d just fought his father in a pool of slime. Though he was confused and wanted answers, his fatigue grew over him and eventually won over his consciousness, his eyes slipping closed. A soft sniff escapes him and everyone sighs in relief, helping each other back up as they walked over to Wu and Lloyd.

“What the fuck!” Jay yells, which was, admittedly, fair enough. Zane doesn’t reprimand him for his language this time. “No, seriously, what the fuck? Isn’t Lloyd only, like, a quarter oni? How is he somehow more vicious than the oni we saw months ago!?”

Nya crosses her arms, looking over at Wu with a similar look of bewilderment. “Yeah, sensei, Jay’s right. It’s like he’s more oni than the actual oni we met.”

“Do not be mistaken,” their master answers with a shake of his head, motioning for Zane and Cole to pick Lloyd up with a waving hand gesture. “Full-blooded oni will always be more vicious than those who are only partly oni. It is because Lloyd is not accustomed to the oni blood in him. The only time he’d ever acknowledged it was during the oni invasion. Those who grew up knowing entirely will grow up knowing how to control themselves, like me and my brother. But Lloyd did not grow up with that guidance or knowledge and that meant both his body and mental state were not ready for this.”

“Well, that’s great,” Jay mutters sarcastically, earning a jab in the rib from Nya. 

“What will we do about him, sensei?” Zane asks, one of Lloyd’s arms hung around his shoulder limply.

Wu is quiet for a second. “How about we pay the police station a visit?”

To give him some credit, Lloyd didn’t wake up screaming or irritated, despite the strange room he was in. It was familiar, he’s definitely seen it before, but it didn’t look like anywhere back in the monastery. It was… cold. 

It was one of those interrogation rooms in the police station. Why was he there? And why had he woken up there?

“Uhh,” he sounds, sitting up and assessing his surroundings. Had he been kidnapped? That wouldn’t be too far out of the daily life of Lloyd Garmadon. It could’ve been that, but why would they take him to a police station?

“Lloyd?” A familiar voice called through the coms, startling the blonde. “You good, buddy?”

“ Kai? ” Lloyd says instead, his face scrunching up in confusion. He’s grateful that he’s not alone and kidnapped, but now he’s more confused than he is cautious. “What the– Where are you? Where am I ?”

“Easy, kiddo,” Jay’s voice chimes in, a grin almost visible through the amusement in his tone. “We’re outside the room, see.” A second after he says that, there was a knock on the mirror of his room that he knew the others could see him through. That meant they had been the ones to put him in there. But why?

“Why am I here?” he vocalises his question, starting directly at the mirror and hoping that his gaze was pinned at Jay. “I don’t remember committing some horrifying crime to end up here.”

“Lloyd,” Wu’s voice overtakes the speakers and it makes him relax a little bit. At least that meant the others hadn’t just accidentally locked him in the room or something. That would be admittedly a lot more stupid. “Your father has awakened your oni side. Your body is still unprepared and adapting to those changes. Until then, we are unable to meet you face to face.”

Lloyd’s head snapped upwards – alright that explained the number of times he’s suddenly grown fangs, at least, but… “What? Why not?”

“You, er, attacked us in that state,” Nya offers quietly, Lloyd can almost envision a grimace on her face as she says that. “Don’t worry, none of us was hurt. We just had to stuff something in your mouth.”

His face scrunches up in confusion again. That was a… peculiar solution. But if it got him to stop attacking his friends while he was in that state, then perhaps he should be grateful for such an easy way to stop him. There were still many questions lingering at the tip of his tongue, but he’s not sure which ones to vocalise and which ones to keep in his head; he’s not so sure how the others might react to the questions relating to his dad.

Still… he wanted some answers. “Uhm. How long do you think it’ll take?”

“It is a matter of patience and will, nephew,” Wu answers, cryptic as ever. Thankfully, he elaborates without needing Lloyd to ask him. “You must let your body and mind get used to it, learn how to control the darkness within you.”

“Okay, great, so let’s begin now!” he says enthusiastically, getting up. He wanted nothing more than to get out of there. He should be able to control himself anyway. He’s fought off Morro out of his body a few times before, surely he can control something that’s always been a part of his blood.

“It’s not as easy as that, Lloyd,” Cole adds, probably shaking his head. “You were barely yourself during all of that. I wouldn’t have guessed it was you if I wasn’t there from the beginning.”

At that, Lloyd frowns. “If we don’t start now, when will we? The sooner I learn to control this, the better, right?”

A moment of silence. “I guess you’re right,” Cole mumbles, backing away from the microphone. “Then… you see that bamboo stick on the desk?” – Lloyd turns towards the table and nods his head once his eyes fall upon it, grabbing it up for further inspection. Why would he need to… – “Stuff it in your mouth.”

…

“ What? ” “Stuff it in your mouth!”

Reluctantly, he follows Cole’s instructions. Before him, he had been the team leader. Though Cole could be dumb sometimes, he was still very intelligent and had great team planning skills. So Lloyd trusted him enough with the simple task, feeling his teeth sink into the material, grimacing at the cold texture on his tongue.

As soon as he does, the door to the room opens and in came Cole, who looked at him with caution written all over his features. He took a few careful steps forward, closing the door but not quite shut, and turned over to Lloyd, who stared at him in confusion.

“Whaf’s up, Co’e?” Lloyd asked through the bamboo, feeling an eye twitch at how stupid he sounded. “Thif’ f’ucks”

“Woah, language, buddy!” Kai called from the intercoms, voice wavering with amusement and Lloyd managed a glare out the mirror. “I saif f’ucks! fh’uck– suck! ”

“Okay, so you only go feral when your mouth is free,” Cole concluded easily, his body slowly relaxing from its previously tense state. Lloyd felt his other eye twitch at the phrasing, but didn’t try to speak through the bamboo this time. “Is there anything strange you’re feeling? Like… I dunno blood-thirst or something.”

Lloyd gave him a deadpan look, but, now that he was questioning it, there was something stirring in him. In his gut, though not exclusively in that area only. Like a burn, a need, a want. For what? He’s rather afraid to find out. But it’s there, it’s sharp and consistent, it doesn’t hurt because it feels all-natural. Slowly, he finds himself nodding his head to Cole’s question.

“I was kinda hoping you weren’t gonna say that,” Cole muttered, almost so silent that Lloyd wouldn’t have caught it if they weren’t in such an empty room. His hand suddenly on the door handle, he looked straight up at Lloyd and grimaced. “Alright, take the bamboo out of your mouth. And please try not to eat me.”

Lloyd only stared at him incredulously. “I woulfn’t do thaf.”

Slowly, Lloyd took the stick out of his mouth, letting his jaw relax back into its normal state, though he accidentally cut his tongue on his fangs in doing so. Ouch, he really had to get used to that. For a short moment, there wasn’t much of a difference. Just the fact that he no longer had bamboo in his mouth. But as soon as he looked up to meet Cole’s calculating gaze, he could feel the burn inside him sharpen rapidly, going upwards in a spike that was practically vertical. He could feel the moment the oni in him took over him and, despite his best efforts to fight it off, it won. Suddenly, he was pouncing at Cole, who barely managed to dodge, run out of the room and slam the door shut.

Once Cole was out of his sight, he could feel himself regaining control, falling limply over the floor with a heavy heave. He sighed, getting up on his shaky legs. “What in the FSM was that?”

“You are still reacting very poorly,” Wu says instead – and, wow, Lloyd almost rolled his eyes at the obvious statement – “We will simply have to continue testing it over and over until you are used to the sensation. Who’s going next?”

“Jay can go, he’s a liability.” “Hey!” “Knock it off, Kai!”

Oh. This was going to be a long day.

In the end, Lloyd thinks all of that was a waste of time.

Jay? He’d immediately started growling and snarling when the lightning ninja so much as given him a tight grin.

Nya? He’d almost scratched her face off in multiple instances if not for her insanely fast reflexes.

Kai? The fire ninja was almost as bad as Jay! Fumbling about and offering friendly smiles as if the oni side of him gave a crap about all of that! Which it clearly didn’t because he’d managed to punch Kai so hard that he refused to enter until 4 rounds later.

Cole? Same old, same old. Lloyd nearly ate his face off when he’d successfully pounced at him. He was only stopped from doing so when Nya had interfered.

Zane? Well, since he was made of metal, his encounters were definitely the least life-threatening. Lloyd’s fangs were sharp enough to bite through them and bend them a little, sure, but otherwise, he was sturdy and able to take his hits. 

Still, though, they barely made any progress. The only thing Lloyd would consider progress is the fact that it now takes him 5 seconds before he starts going ‘feral’, as Cole and Jay persisted it was called.

He sighed in frustration. “This is pointless! You know what, I can live with a bamboo stick shoved in my mouth for the rest of my life!”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight,” Jay snickered from the speakers, yelping when Lloyd scowled his way.

“Lloyd, this is a test of your patience and will. You must find that control in you. Overtake the darkness that threatens to leave your body,” Wu advises, though Lloyd only groans in irritation.

“It’s not working!”

“Woah, oni puberty’s making him all moody.” “You mean to tell me I’ll have to live through two of Lloyd’s emo teenage angst phases?” “What the fuck are you talking about, Jay?” “Language, Kai.” “Yeah, Kai, language. ” “Shut up, Nya!”

Lloyd pointedly decides to ignore them.

“Find that control, nephew.”

Lloyd groans. He supposed there was nothing wrong with giving it another try. The door opened and he shoved the bamboo stick back into his mouth, his gaze meeting Wu’s. Oh. 

“Mafh’er Woo?”

“I’ll be alright. You must command your body to ensure that,” Wu says with a sure nod, his hand gripping onto his own bamboo staff. 

Lowering the bamboo stick out of his mouth again, he stared directly at his master. He could feel it; prodding through his skin, hot and harsh in his veins, a rush of warmth overtaking his entire body, filled with desire and want. It was one of the strangest sensations he’s ever felt before. It was hard to fight off because it just felt so right , it felt like he needed it. In a sense, of course, he did, he was part oni, but he’d have to learn to control those oni urges or else he might hurt other people. And he didn’t want to hurt Wu, or any of his siblings. He continued to stare at Wu, feeling his hands twitch every few seconds, his throat barely fending off a growl, green fighting red in his eyes.

Just… just a moment longer. Preferably, forever. 

“You’re doing great, Lloyd!” Kai praises him from the intercom.

He continued to stare at Wu. The oni in him was sitting on the edge of a cliff. One wrong move and it’ll topple right over and he won’t be in control anymore. He had to focus, he had to tame that part of him, he had to make sure it wouldn’t run off wildly and inflict harm on others. The light of his life as a person should be able to fend off the darkness of an oni. He could do this. He just had to try a little harder.

“Cause if you don’t, you’re no different from your father.”

Lloyd manages to pull it off for an entire minute. Wu gives him a proud look.

“Try to speak, Lloyd. Walk, talk, do everything you normally do.”

“Yes, sensei,” he attempted, his voice trailing off into a weak growl which he was, fortunately, able to fight off with a shake of his head. He took a step forward, and then another, and another, and another, until he’d begun circling around his table. A barely contained grin makes its way past his lips. “I’m doing it!”

Wu nods his head again, a smile on his face. “That you are, nephew. You are doing it wonderfully.”

Celebrated a little too soon . When he takes another step forward, the heat in his gut explodes like never before, reaching parts of his veins that he didn’t know it could. All he could feel was hot, blaring red in his body, and, this time, he can’t fight it off. His body took off before he could stop himself, but Wu had somehow managed to leave the room before he could get near, resulting in him slamming into the door instead. Lloyd let out a pained sound, regaining back his full self-control. 

“Ow,” he said, rubbing at his nose and backing away from the door. Shit. This was more annoying than anything he’s ever gone through. Ouf of all things that had happened in his life, why was this the most frustrating!? He throws the bamboo stick in his hands onto the ground in agitation, growling angrily. “Can’t we come up with a new plan!? I dunno, we’ve dealt with so many things, why is this so difficult!?”

“It is only difficult because you perceive it as difficult, nephew,” Wu says, some shuffling heard from the microphone. “If I were to present to you someone defenceless, would that perhaps push your efforts?”

Almost immediately, Lloyd shakes his head. “No! I’m barely able to hold myself together here. I’m already struggling with you guys, imagine how it’d be with some random person! if I hurt someone, I– I don’t know what might happen, uncle Wu. We’d only be putting that person in danger. Besides, it’s not like we know anybody who’s dumb enough to agree.”

“Oh, what about Dareth?” Cole’s voice pipes up.

Lloyd has a feeling everyone is looking at the earth ninja with thoughtful expressions. When the other side of the speakers is silent for the next few seconds, dread begins to flood his system. His team can be stupid, but not this stupid, right?

Minutes later, the door opens and a familiar figure clad in brown enters. Lloyd feels his entire composure crumble, immediately shoving his bamboo stick into his mouth. How the hell were they expecting him to do this? He could barely hold himself back against the strongest people he knew and, though Dareth had grown into their lives as ninja despite him being a normal citizen of Ninjago, Lloyd would be a liar to call him… strong. Maybe in will, he was, but not physically.

Lloyd turned to face the glass desperately, eyes pleading for someone to call Dareth back out, to no avail. There’s the sound of skin slapping skin, likely someone facepalming or closing their eyes with their hands, and then Kai’s voice rings in the coms. “Nope, that look is not gonna work, buddy! My eyes are closed.”

The green ninja scowled and let out a strangled noise of frustration, almost like a whine. Unable to use his words to argue, he could only go through with their suggestion and prove them wrong. He looked up at Dareth, expression laced with a warning, then he reached for the bamboo stick in his mouth and stares at the ground for a few seconds, bracing himself.

Though when he looked up at the man, there was a lack of bloodthirst. He’d expected there to be a sharp and hot sensation that poked in his gut that told him to fight and kill, to feed his inner desire for destruction, but… there was nothing. It was almost anticlimactic how nothing happened. He felt just the same as he did with the bamboo stick in his mouth. He reached out to feel around his mouth, confused as to why he wasn’t growling or at least fighting them back. He looked from the bamboo stick in his hands then back up at Dareth comically.

“What?” he asked, easily, without any hesitation, without having to fight off a snarl or roar. “Wha–... I’m so confused.”

“So am I,” Dareth responded shortly after, resting his hands on his hips as he looked around the room. “The ninja said there was supposed to be a threat for the brown ninja to detain. But you’re not a threat, right? Don’t tell me I have to fight you. I wouldn’t want to bully such a young person in a fight. That would be unfair.”

Lloyd bit back a retort, knowing that he could so easily fold Dareth in a fight, but he decided to ignore that for now, turning his head to the mirror where he was sure the rest of the team would be looking at him with bafflement. 

“Uhh… well. Try to walk, Lloyd.”

The ninja hesitated before he moved his feet. It was still the same. He opened his mouth to question it again, but Dareth spoke before he could.

“Why are you making Lloyd walk around? If he’s the threat you called me for, I’m lost,” Dareth commented, tilting his head in confusion. 

“Did they tell you nothing at all?” Lloyd asked back, feeling his eyebrows furrow when Dareth gave him a look of stupor. He wanted to scoff. Leave it to his family to forget telling people the important details. “The oni side of me has been brought out.”

A moment of silence, Dareth’s dark eyes assessing him. And then, “You look pretty human to me.”

Lloyd felt himself sputter for a second, having not expected such a casual response, before regaining himself. “Well, yes, but,” he pulled the upper part of his lips to reveal the fangs that he’d grown, sharp and long. Then, running his fingers through his hair, he pushed his blonde strands away to reveal his protruding horns. “Not… entirely.”

“So… you have fangs and horns now. That’s it, right? I still don’t get why that required the brown ninja,” Dareth said, emphasising his ‘title’ as a ‘ninja’ proudly, puffing out his chest as he looked directly at Lloyd. “It’s just like… approaching a stray cat.”

The silence that followed after his statement rang loud in his ears. It took him a second longer to process his words, before blood rushed into his face to the tip of his ears. “It’s– It’s not like a cat! ” he exclaimed in embarrassment, feeling his posture straighten ( like a cat, his mind supplied unconsciously.) “Why are you so casual about this! You’d be defenceless if I started attacking!”

“Lloyd, I believe it’s his casual attitude that has helped. It is indeed as Dareth said. It’s like handling a stray cat,” Wu’s voice cuts through the speakers, the sounds of his students snickering behind him only made Lloyd’s face burn brighter. 

“B- but… sensei, that doesn’t make any sense–,” Lloyd mumbled, though his words inevitably trailed off as he knew nothing more than the limited information his uncle had. “Onis… aren’t comparable to cats. ”

“Perhaps not, but, given the circumstances, that statement is loose and applicable,” his uncle responds, taking a sip of what Lloyd would assume to be tea. “Imagine a cat who has been hiding in a box for all its life and, suddenly, it is thrown into an unfamiliar situation where the people around it are cautious and tense. It feels comfortable in assuming danger. But Dareth has been relaxed all throughout his time in the room with you. To test this theory, we will all come inside. Dareth, would you mind leaving the room?”

The brown ninja smiles surely as he nods, marching towards the door smugly. “Glad to be of service!” he says, clearly proud that he had been the one to uncover the reason behind Lloyd’s odd behaviour. The door swings open a second time and in came his team, all of them holding looks of amusement at Lloyd’s obvious state of fluster. They were considerably a lot more relaxed, shoulders slacked, an easygoing smile on their faces, but, as soon as Jay entered the room, he radiated a strong whiff of fear that sent Lloyd growling. 

The lightning master yelped, but a strong tug around his wrist pulled by Nya told him he wasn’t getting out of this one. Lloyd had tried to resist the oni in him off, but it was fighting vigorously against his will. It made sense, he supposed. The only person who could beat his own will was himself, and the oni part of him was a portion of that.

Wu notices his struggle and hits him on the back with his bamboo staff, effectively making the oni in him wither away with its fight. Lloyd looked at his uncle hesitantly. There was a brief moment of panic from everyone else around him and he nearly falters; Wu puts his hand on his shoulder.

“Nurture it,” he says, straightening his back as he walked past Lloyd, his bamboo staff thumping onto the floor with every step. “Treat it like a stray cat. Careful, but don’t scare it off.”

Lloyd closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and focuses. The sharp and warm sensation that pricked in his gut had boiled down, no longer did it feel angry and desperate to get out, but it was not calm either. It was careful, unsteady, wavering and brought on edge, ready to spike up and attack at any given moment. As much as he hated to admit it, his uncle was right. Treating it more like a stray cat rather than a vicious lion was working out better than when he’d fought it off. 

After all, the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend… the oni side of his blood and mind deserved to coexist with the other more human parts of him too. If it had been unwillingly awoken after its deep sleep for the past years that he’d been alive, it made sense that it was confused and scared around strangers. Lloyd would just have to prove to it that there was no danger and that there was no need to be hostile. The people around him were his friends and family. And the people of ninjago were just normal citizens living their lives. There was no need for unprecedented bloodthirst or, rather, fear. 

Lloyd can easily recognise the emotions it was feeling. The fear had lessened though it was still tense and hesitant, and there was still a lingering bloodthirst, just not as heavily fueled as it had been moments ago when its apprehension had spiked. 

Lloyd isn’t saying anything, not verbally, but he can sense the oni in him. He reassures it, tries to get his body to relax and tell it that the area was clear of any threats. Nothing was out to hurt them, nobody that he knew as his friends, family and the citizens of Ninjago. It took a few seconds of indecision, but the sharp and bold heatthat had been boiling in his gut began to stabilize, no longer wavering with unfamiliar fear and, instead, falling into a comfortable, warm rumble. Lloyd feels himself sigh in relief, finally cracking his eyes back open, only to find his friends all looking at him with this expression. 

Dread shakes a little in his throat. The oni in him lets out a warning spike. 

“Why… are you all looking at me like that?” he asked hesitantly, scrunching up his face in confusion. 

Kai’s lips split open into a huge grin. The glint in his eyes is more than suspicious to Lloyd, even as the red ninja approaches him and slings an arm over his shoulder. Then, while using his other hand to mess with Lloyd’s hair, Kai says,

“You were purring!”

His response was immediate. “I was what ?” 

“Purring!” Kai repeated, his grin pulling into a smirk of amusement. “Y’know, like a cat.”

Lloyd scowls, disbelieving of his brother, but the looks on everyone’s faces told him that he had, in fact, been purring. He let out a groan of frustration as the arm around him began to lead him out of the police station and back to the bounty. Not a single word had been exchanged to him, despite their obvious amusement to the situation, and he was happy not to hear anything about it. Except he knew they were never gonna let this go, but he’d deny and defend himself from all of their words to his deathbed.

Though he knew he couldn’t avoid the inevitable. As soon as they entered the kitchen, Lloyd was smothered by his team. 

“Aww, stop scowling at us, you grumpy cat!”

“Yeah, man, you look like you’re about to scratch my face off!”

“Maybe I am about to scratch your face off,” Lloyd retorted with a huff, crossing his arms as he sat on the seat he usually took on the floor – which was, unfortunately, beside Kai’s usual spot. The red ninja grinned over to him at the realization and Lloyd had to swat his arm away from getting any closer, nearly hissing for him to back off, but he caught the noise at the tip of his tongue before it could escape. 

“Stop!” he says, scowl deepening as he sunk his shoulders over himself. That action only garnered laughter from the team. Lloyd groaned again. “I will tell the oni side of me that you guys are a threat and then we’ll see who’s laughing!”

At the empty threat, the group only laughed even louder. They knew Lloyd, he wasn’t the type to do something so impulsive especially on a subject that was still very new and on unknowledgeable grounds. Though a small part of Lloyd was still annoyed at the cat jokes and what would be to come of this situation, he couldn’t help softening up and smiling at the sight of his family.

He can’t believe the oni side of him was cautious of these idiots.

He feels a low rumble in his gut that tells him the oni in him is even more upset about this than he is – it’s confusing, how it works.  He and the oni are one, but not quite in the same consciousness just yet. That would take time. And Lloyd is a patient person.

“Guys, he just purred again!”

Lloyd lets out a string of curse words and throws an apple at Kai, who barely dodged the fruit while bellowing over the table, laughing. Zane reprimands him for his language but his voice trails off into a fit of giggles and he’s soon followed by Nya, Cole and Jay. Even Wu’s shoulders were shaking – his own uncle! His own blood and flesh! Laughing at his embarrassment. The nerve! 

Scratch that, Lloyd is a patient person most of the time.

He pulls his hand out and hovers it under his sharp fangs, where he knew that feeling pain would immediately be registered as a danger and threat to the oni. At the sight, everyone freezes, while Lloyd simply smirks at them smugly and tugs on his skin ever so slightly. Everyone screams out in surprise as Lloyd bounces around the room and takes turns pouncing at each member, albeit not as violently or bloodthirsty as he had been hours ago. All in the name of playful fun and Lloyd was conscious throughout the entire time he allowed himself to get used to the wild sensation in him that was his oni blood. His team continues to scream, though, this time, less in fear and more in amusement and laughter as Lloyd chases after them.

When the adrenaline dies off, Lloyd lands on Kai who had been bracing himself on the floor with an ‘oof!’ . The team laughs, so does Lloyd, even as Kai reaches his hand out to scratch at his scalp.

“What a cat–astrophe!” Jay says as he looks around the room, a far too proud grin forming on his lips. Nya laughs at his lame pun and punches him softly on the shoulder, to which the lightning ninja giggled back. Lloyd lets his implication that he was a cat slide for the first time.

After all, of all the possibilities regarding his oni/dragon heritage, being compared to a cat wasn’t the worst thing. Though things couldn’t possibly go any further, right?