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"I can do it."
"No, you can't."
"But I can-"
"You aren't going to, kid, and that's it. Period."
Lloyd's lips pursed as he glared up at his 'babysitter' for the day. The red ninja just cocked his brow.
"And if you're thinking you're gonna sneak past me, remember; I'm a ninja. You're an intern."
"An intern," the kid squeaked in indignation. "I'm Lloyd freaking Garmadon, son of-"
"-The dark lord, ruler of the skeleton army, king of the underworld," Kai intoned blankly. "Yeah, you've mentioned it before. But that doesn't change my answer."
"My father will destroy you for disobeying my wishes," gremlin Lloyd seethed in an adorable manner only a nine year old can. "When he rules over Ninjago, I will have him make you my slave, and you'll feed me candy and polish my shoes-"
Kai snorted.
"Kid, you wear sneakers. There's nothing to polish."
Lloyd's little rosy cheeks flamed in frustration.
"You will let me on."
"No, kid," Kai gestured to the sign at the front of the ride, a ruler with a mocking little monster leaning up over the top. "The sign says you're too short for a reason. They aren't just picking on your height for no reason."
"They will let me ride-"
"You're too short, Midget. Letting you on would be a safety hazard."
"I have done far more dangerous things," Lloyd gloated, puffing his little chest out with pride. "I have crossed the desert of endless sands, discovering long-lost civilizations-"
"You released some overgrown snakes and pouted when they ditched you because they didn't believe that building tree houses and stealing candy was a productive step in taking over Ninjago." Kai deadpanned. "Yep, that was dangerous. Not something to be proud of, though."
Lloyd withered a bit. He wasn't proud of it, he hadn't meant to-
You know what? They were getting off topic.
"I will ride the Coaster of Doom!"
That was the only warning Kai had before the little gremlin darted past. The roller coaster was just coming to a stop, and if Lloyd could just sneak on-
He didn't make it past the sign (Lloyd would incinerate that insufferable sign the moment he was in power and laugh as that stupid monster's grin was reduced to ashes-) before something encircled his waist and the ground disappeared from beneath his feet.
"Hey, hey!" Lloyd squirmed, kicking. "Let me go you- you stupid, stinky, trashy-"
"Sorry," Kai said over the kid's infuriated rambling, aiming his apology at the worker standing next to the booth. "He gets a little worked up sometimes."
Her eyebrow just rose like she'd seen it a hundred times. She probably had.
She was less than impressed.
Kai tossed her another apologetic grin before turning and weaving his way back through the crowd, Lloyd tucked under his arm like a little football. A kicking, screaming little football. And the further they got from the line, the louder and more creative the kid's insults and threats got.
"-I WILL IMPALE YOUR HEAD ON A STICK AND USE YOUR RIDICULOUSLY SPIKED HAIR TO ROAST MANY, MANY MARSHMALLOWS-"
"Okay, quit it." Kai dropped the kid in front of him, keeping a hand fisted in the material of Lloyd's sweatshirt. He wouldn't put it past the gremlin to try to make another run for it. "You're not going on the 'coaster. You're too short, end of story."
"You can't tell me what to do!" The kid screeched. "I will ride it!"
"No- you know what? This was a bad idea. We're leaving."
Lloyd instantly shut up, the blood draining from his face in shock.
"Wha-what?"
"We're leaving."
Kai snagged the kid's arm, dragging him back towards the entrance. Lloyd stared up at the oncoming exit sign like it was a guillotine.
"But- but- but we didn't even get any cotton candy!"
"Tough," Kai snapped. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you threw a two-year-old fit over a stupid roller coaster."
Lloyd followed as Kai dragged him to the parking lot, too shocked and heartbroken to protest.
He hadn't even got to ride the Ferris Wheel.
/-/-/
"What did you do?"
Kai glanced up from his phone to see his sister glaring at him, her arms crossed.
"What did I do?"
He had a feeling he knew what she was talking about, but he figured he'd start the little game playing dumb. Better not to assume he knows too early, or Nya would eat his lunch.
Her gaze narrowed dangerously and she stalked into the room, standing directly in front of where he sat comfortably sprawled on the couch.
"Lloyd had been inconsolable since you two came back from Mega Monster Amusement Park."
"Inconsolable?" Kai's eyebrow raised in disbelief.
The image of the kid balling his eyes out just because he didn't get to ride a roller coaster sounded pathetic. It also didn't sound like the kid at all.
It was more likely he'd be hiding in some dark, shadowy corner, cooking up a little revenge for his old pal Kai.
Nya rolled her eyes.
"He's not crying or anything, but he hasn't come out of his room and he won't talk to any of us." He won't talk to me was heavily implied.
Ever since the kid showed up and Nya had started having to babysit him while the rest of them went on missions, she'd somehow bonded with the little twerp. She cared and it upset her when he was upset.
Still… Kai frowned.
Whatever the kid was (or wasn't) doing was seriously bothering his sister. He could tell by the pinched, pale look on her face, they way her shoulders hunched slightly.
She was really worried about the kid…
…and subsequently angry at Kai for why the kid was upset.
"Look, Nya," he dropped the phone in favor of raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. "He threw a fit about going on some ride and I drug his sorry butt home. That's it."
"That's it?" Nya snapped. "That's it? He didn't get to ride anything, did he?"
Kai grimaced.
"Ah-"
"That's a 'no'," she growled. "Which ride was it?"
"What does that have anything-"
"Which. Ride. Was it?'
Kai huffed.
"I think it was the Coaster of Doom."
Nya let out a little huff/whimper thing that set off Kai's big-brother alarms. He sat forward as she scrubbed a hand across her eyes.
"Nya?"
Her hand dropped and- oh, FSM, where those tears?
"He's been talking about that ride for weeks," she bowed her head, her black bob shading her eyes. "He was so excited to give it a go, he said it was a Fritz Donnegan themed ride; that it was supposed to be some kind of journey through one of the comic books." She ran a shaky hand through her hair. "I told him to ask you, to explain it to you, that you'd understand."
Yeah… Kai didn't really care.
But Nya was crying over it.
That was a no go.
"What do you want me to do?" Kai practically begged because Nya was crying and Nya should never be crying, Nya should always be happy "What can I do?"
"You have to fix this," Nya insisted.
"But he-"
"I don't care. I don't care what he did," Nya sniffed. "But you- you have to fix this." Her eyes narrowed again in anger.
"Or else."
Uh… this was most definitely the first time Kai could ever say he ever felt like his life was in any danger from Nya.
He gulped.
/-/-/
"What are we doing back here?"
Kai winced at the emotionless question, casting a side glance at the kid.
His eyes were both red rimmed and framed with dark circles. His face was pale, his blonde locks were greasy and limp. And his eyes were half mast, empty, like he expected this was just a trick on Kai's part.
Blazes. He didn't realize this had meant so much to the kid.
Kai had never really cared for the gremlin, he was just a kid without a home of his own now living with his uncle. Kai winced now, at this line of thought. Because that… that was cruel.
Regardless, he'd never really cared for the kid, but this… seeing him like this?
This just wasn't right.
Regardless of how annoying the kid was, or how much of a jerk, he was still just a kid.
Kai was going to fix this. He had to fix this.
"Come on, kid," Kai tossed an empty smile to the chick in the ticket booth, wrapping an all day band around Lloyd's wrist.
It might or might not have taken all of Kai's savings…
He didn't honestly care.
"What are we doing?"
Kai winced at the suspicious tone.
"We're gonna ride some roller coasters, kid."
He kinda hoped Lloyd would snap at him, denying that he was 'a mere kid'.
The son of Garmadon's eyebrow just rose in mild curiosity.
"I'm not getting on one of those kiddie 'coasters." Lloyd stated. Blandly.
Kai sighed.
"Nah, kid. We're going on that one."
Lloyd's gaze followed Kai's outstretched finger, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"You- You mean-"
Kai nodded, trying to give a reassuring smile.
Lloyd just glanced at him cautiously, shutting down again.
"Yeah, right."
The gremlin didn't believe him. Not that Kai could blame him.
Well, they say seeing is believing. Doing would make that… what, a die hard convert?
"Come on," Kai nudged him in the direction of the merch stand. "We've got just one more stop to make."
Kai really, really hoped he wouldn't regret this.
/-/-/
It's a ghost town now. Or… a ghost park?
He guessed the park just couldn't come back from being the stomping grounds of one too many harrowing battles to save the world.
Where there used to be huge crowds, screaming kids, popcorn all over the ground, there was now no one. The rides were rusty, the concession booths were permanently closed, even the power was shut off.
And still, that stupid height sign by the Coaster of Doom stood, the purple monster's grin faded but recognizable.
Nostalgia made his heart ache for simpler, nicer times when he saw it. When he remembered how his little brother had swore at it and kicked it over before jumping on the coaster like danger wasn't a word in his vocabulary, just a concept a nine year old kid didn't understand.
Kai studied the ride that had been so important just a few years ago. Back when Lloyd had been a kid, with the chance to be a kid.
Now it…
It was just too late to go back.
Kai turned from the ride, regret pulsing through his body like terminal cancer, leaving him aching and exhausted. He wished he'd brought the kid here sooner. He wished they had played all the games, ridden all the rides, tried every last food on the menu at the concession stands. He wished they'd hit every arcade, played tag in every park, spent every single minute together experiencing Lloyd's childhood, before it had been stolen from him. Because of that freaking prophecy.
But it was too late to go back and change everything.
And regrets weren't what he was here for, anyway.
Kai spotted him on the roof of the ring toss booth. The kid was sitting there, his legs drawn up to his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around them, his head tucked between his knees.
He was curled as small as his lanky teenage body would go, hiding in the shadows.
Kai was there in moments, falling to his knees next to his little brother.
"Lloyd?"
The green ninja always the green ninja anymore, despite being clad in civilian clothes, he was never off-duty, never safe took a shuddering deep breath before lifting his head and laying it back on his arms turned to the side, staring at Kai, his eyes half mast.
It reminded Kai again of that day, back when life was simpler, the kid's eyes red rimmed and blood shot, dark circles shading his gaze…
But this time, there was raw grief in them, too.
"Ah, kid…"
" 'm not a kid," Lloyd mumbles with a small, bitter smile.
Not anymore.
Kai shuffled to the side, taking a seat on the gravelly tar paper next to him.
"I would ask if you were doing okay, but that would be stupid."
Lloyd huffed in agreement, propping his chin up on his folded arms, his haunted gaze glued to the coaster in the distance.
The one that used to mean so much to him.
Kai followed his gaze, watching the falling sun illuminate the chipping blue paint with bright orange rays.
And Kai broke out in a smile.
"Hey, you remember that time I snuck you on?"
Lloyd huffed again, sounding a little nasally.
"On the Coaster of Doom?" He gave a wet chuckle. "That would be kinda hard to forget."
"Yeah," Kai said. "Remember how I helped you shove some of those little stuffed monsters in your shoes-"
"Your shoes," Lloyd corrected, his voice sounding hoarse. "You gave me your shoes 'cause they were bigger, and you bought those ugly pink princess flip-flops to wear-"
"In my defense, they didn't have anything else in my size," Kai huffed.
"For good reason," Lloyd tilted his head towards Kai, his lips twitching in a small smile.
A fragile smile, but at least it was there.
"Anyway," Kai continued, plowing on. "We stuffed the shoes so you'd stand taller, tall enough to laugh in the face of that height-measuring sign. You gave him your best evil laugh."
"Tried to kick a hole in its shin, too," Lloyd sighed. "Not my brightest moment."
"Then we got seated and you tried to tell me 'the son of the dark lord needed no safety harness'."
"It didn't fit, anyway," Lloyd met Kai's gaze. The band of steel around Kai's heart loosened slightly when he saw the grief had faded to the background. "Besides, your favorite part was probably when I nearly learned to fly."
"You almost gave me a heart attack," Kai huffed a laugh. "One minute you're screaming your head off in the seat next to me, then you're screaming above me, and all I could think about was how I was going to explain to Nya how you managed to fall three stories on my watch."
"Lucky thing you caught me, then."
"And pinned you back in your seat." Kai agreed.
The sun was setting fast, the light fading. Kai watched helplessly as the small smile slipped, the weight of grief resettling on his little brother's shoulders.
"That wasn't my favorite part."
Lloyd didn't say anything, just pinned Kai with a confused look through the growing dimness.
Kai met his gaze, holding it.
"My favorite part was when we stopped. Before the worker came and unlocked our bar." He hoped Lloyd could hear as much sincerity as Kai felt. "I could have sworn my heart had stopped. I looked over and you looked just as shocked as I was. Then," Kai felt his own grin blossom in fondness. "Then you got the goofiest little gremlin grin on your face and you asked to go again."
"Then you dragged me off the car and threatened to duct tape me to the Ferris Wheel so you could get the most out of the all day pass."
"I spent good money on that pass," Kai defended without any real heat. "But that's not the point."
Lloyd's brow raised.
"There's a point?"
"Yeah," Kai hated the lump of tears that suddenly threatened to choke out his next words. "Yeah. You were-" he swallowed. Hard. "You were so, so happy."
Lloyd's eyes filled with tears, mirroring Kai's.
Kai fought for his next words.
"Zane would hate to see you like this."
Lloyd's chin trembled.
"Guess- guess it's a-a good thing he won't be- be seeing anything any- any-" his breath hitches, his tears overflowing.
Anymore.
Lloyd hunched forward, folding into himself as sobs wracked his thin frame. The kid was too scrawny for his own good.
Ah, kid…
Kai gathered the kid -his little brother ah, kid, ah, kid, bud, your too good for this life, you never deserved this, even at your worst to his chest, holding him tight, like he could keep Lloyd from falling apart, keep him together, keep him safe.
But he was too late. Too late for Lloyd. Too late for… for Zane.
Zane was gone, and Kai hated that he hadn't tried harder, been faster or stronger. But Zane was gone, and there was nothing Kai could do to change that.
Now all Kai could do was be here for Lloyd, to help his little brother pick up the pieces.
"Zane- Zane's gone," Lloyd whimpered, burying his face into Kai's chest. "He's gone."
Kai just held on tighter.
"It's my fault," came a choked whine. "My fault!"
"Lloyd, it wasn't your fault."
"No ,no," Lloyd shook his head fervently. "If- if I hadn't gotten caught and the Overlord hadn't stolen my powers-"
"That wasn't your fault, Lloyd. It wasn't," Kai insisted. "It wasn't. It was Zane's choice to save us. Don't take that from him."
Lloyd peered up at him, green eyes still swimming.
"Take…?"
"He chose to save us, Lloyd. To save you." Kai squeezed his shoulder. "It's not your fault, because in the end, it was his choice."
"I'm the green ninja!" Lloyd suddenly cried, slamming a weak fist into Kai's chest. "I'm the green ninja! I'm supposed to be the savior of Ninjago! It should have been me! Zane should still be- I…"
And Lloyd just… fell apart.
He practically melted, going boneless in Kai's arms, sobs making his chest heave erratically.
Tears, too many tears, soaked into Kai's jacket.
Oh, kid.
Kai gathered him closer, muttering reassurances on repeat like a broken record. And he would keep it up, over and over, as many times as it took.
Lloyd would be happy again.
It might take months, years, even. But Kai would be there, every step of the way, supporting his little brother until he found his feet again. He would protect Lloyd from anything else that threatened him, he would do anything in his power to keep Lloyd safe.
Kai would meet any threat head on.
Lloyd would smile again.
Kai's head dropped to Lloyd's shoulder.
Zane's already gone. I don't want to lose you, too.
Ah, kid…