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I’ll find you in my dreams…
(Breathing was getting harder. They felt as the crystals were slowly beginning to overtake their bodies, slowly extinguishing their element, the only thing keeping it at bay the golden weapons they held.)
(It felt like they were slowly being drained, their everburning fire dimming, chilly ice melting, electrical currents sputtering, rich earth crumbling.)
(They could not let the elements be taken)
(But who are they if not vessels for the cherished elements?)
(Cold, dead stone, remaining for centuries as faces fade and memories that have slipped a long time ago)
It felt like a nightmare.
He had never wanted to get angry. In fact, he did everything he could to steer clear away from his anger! He didn’t want to become like what was left of his ‘father’.
(His heart wailed for another connection to the one he had adored throughout his youth, mourning the loss of what should never have been let go)
In fact, the only time he had allowed the strong grip on his emotions to slip was when his so-called ‘father’ had pretended to have been fatally wounded by the Overlord. He had allowed the tide of anger to overtake him, paying no mind to the pain erupting from his sides as another pair of golden, clawed arms emerged or as the rapid growth of horns on his forehead. He had allowed his instincts to control him as he threw himself at the Overlord, clawing at its unnerving yet gleeful eyes, only to be thrown into a large crystal face. Snarling, and preparing to launch himself at the (father killing brute, without him he would still have his amazing dad and not the copy that so rightfully laid dead) Overlord, yet the crystal face that he was just thrown into caught his eye.
A golden mask with two deep purple eyes stared back, a permanent scowl etched on its face.
He recoiled in surprise, feeling his anger withdraw, fear taking its place. Taking a step back, he didn’t notice the fist that was heading towards his side until it was too late for him to dodge. Years of practice weren’t enough to save him from being flung off of the floating island's edge.
He was falling, and he knew that he would not be as lucky as the first time with falling through the treetops, falling towards the jagged slabs of concrete littering the streets of Ninjago.
He felt his fear slowly ebb away, replaced by a numbness provided from the adrenaline rush that he seemed to have been going through for the past few days, always on edge. He felt his two extra arms dissipate, and the purple tint that he had not noticed fade away from his eyes, replaced by a slowing encroaching darkness.
He wanted to close his eyes and pretend that he was 7 again, falling into the embrace of his father who even through the venom and hatred never had his love falter for his son, pretending that he would be safe.
(A distinct roar, watching as their charge fell through the clouds to his unforgiving death, and decided altogether Fate will not have this one.)
He fell into the scaly paw of a dragon.
A dragon that he had been accustomed to, once upon a time.
The elemental Dragon.
He looked up with tears in his eyes and a wide smile on his face, clutching one of its toes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. The red head looked down and crooned at its charge, pleased to see that it hadn’t been any more injured.
The black head turned towards the foe (Danger, Harmer, Enemy, Killer) and all four heads growled, angry that someone had attempted to hurt their charge (Teammate, Companion, Friend, Brother). With a mighty beat of its wings, they flew to the floating Island, the red scaled head breathing an almost whitish-blue colored flame at the enemy, and Lloyd watching in fascination as it melted some of the crystal and the Overlord just avoided dodging, roaring in pain as a part of his arm was melted off. Lloyd grinned in glee, finally feeling as though the tide against the tyrant was going to turn for the better, and that it was finally possible for them to win.
Lloyd watched, mirth manifesting with an openly relieved laugh, spying as the crystals fell off of the crystallized people. He scanned the people reuniting below, searching for his brothers, frowning pensively when he couldn’t find them. Spotting four huddled figures on a rooftop, he broke out into a wide grin, before it began to fade.
Something wasn’t right.
Why were they stone?
He felt his throat drop, and he steered the elemental dragon towards the figures, praying that he was wrong.
The elemental dragon landed softly, almost sadly as Lloyd jumped from the paw, stumbling towards the frozen figures, hoping that the stone would crack and that his brothers would emerge unharmed, laughing alongside him for the defeat, selfishly hoping that he had seen wrong and it was someone else—
But the hunch and the pit in his stomach proved to be correct, and he let out a cry as he stumbled to his unmoving brothers. He called forth all of his remaining energy, placing his hand on Cole’s arm, hoping that maybe his powers can re-awaken them from their slumber. He kept on pushing, ignoring the pain that flashed through his core, pouring more and more energy into his palm, hoping that it would break the stone.
But no matter how much he poured into it, no matter how the tears continued to trail down his cheeks, his brothers wouldn’t wake up, wHY WON’T THEY WAKE UP?
The black scaled head nudged him away from the frozen figure of his brother and he cried out in anger, weakly beating fists against it. “Let me GO! I HAVE TO HELP THEM LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME-” His voice cracked and broke painfully, and he couldn’t find it in himself to make himself attempt to continue yelling, miserably sobbing while trying to get past the dragon head. It crooned at him again, and for the first time Lloyd took the time to look at the dragon closely.
“Wait,” He wipes some of the tears from his eye. There is a frightening sense of familiarity in the figure before him. The warm, kind eyes of the black dragon brought forth images of Cole. He could almost hear him saying ‘Don’t worry kid. Things are going to be alright’. He spares a cursory glance at the other three heads, all of which we’re peering at him with familiar worried gazes, and understanding snaps into place.
“You came from them didn’t you? They gave up their powers and themselves so you could save me,”
The black dragon nuzzles him softly. The red one grins, as much as a dragon could grin. (If Lloyd hadn’t already been familiar with dragons it would have been terrifying.) The blue one chirps softly as it bobs its head affirmatively while the white one fixes him with an apologetic look.
(Brother, Family, Important, Safe)
Those words. They must be the thoughts of the creature that now housed the spirits of the ones he had come to call his family. The way they echoed through his head with crystal clarity was strange but there was no doubting it. It should have made him feel better but if anything it made things worse. He could communicate with the dragon but it wasn’t them . It might have been born of their powers but it wasn’t them. Knowing that they were technically still here but not in a way that was any kind of meaningful felt like a stab to the heart.
What was he supposed to do now?
He doesn’t know what his next course of action should be so he does what comes naturally. He buries his face in the scaly neck of the dragon before him and cries.
The monastery is quiet. Too quiet. It had been a place full of life and laughter and chaos for as long as he could remember living here. Now it was silent. The only sounds came from the leaves rustling in the wind outside and the occasional whisper of a hurried exchange between Pixal and Master Wu.
Lloyd finds his days passing in a haze, and his nights passing in fitful slumber. He wanders the monastery aimlessly, hoping that maybe if he just looked in the right place, he’d catch a glimpse of one of his brothers. Jay playing video games. Zane working in the kitchen. Cole practiced his dance skills when he thought nobody was watching. Kai hunching over the forge attempting to perfect his latest weapon.
Of course, he has no such luck since the only thing he has left of them is the dragon, which he has steadfastly been avoiding. He can’t help but feel a little bad about it. The dragon itself hadn’t really done anything wrong. The issue was seeing it there when its mere existence served as a reminder of everything he’d lost.
So when the dragon calls to him, soft feather voices in his head whispering (Lloyd, Come, Comfort, Family), he ignores it. He continues his mindless movements day after day until eventually the lack of proper sleep catches up to him and he passes out from sheer exhaustion.
That was the moment that marked a shift. Because this time, instead of waking up in his bed after a night of tossing and turning, he wakes up in an unfamiliar landscape. He’s laying in an open field of grass, staring up at a brilliant blue sky. He pushes himself into a sitting position. The sight that greets him causes him to freeze. There is a figure standing a little ways away that he recognizes almost instantly.
“Kai?” He whispers in disbelief.
“Hey there short stuff,” Kai grins brightly as he makes his way over. “Up and at em’. We don’t have much time, and the others and I have some important things to tell you.”
Kai offers a hand and Lloyd takes it, pulling him gently to his feet like he’s still a kid and just fell over during a sparring session. As soon as he’s up, Lloyd throws his arms around Kai and hugs him tight. Lloyd doesn’t know or care if this is real or not; the only thing that matters is the contact. Kai also seems to understand this, because he holds on just as securely and doesn’t let go until Lloyd does.
“Come on,” he says. “The others are waiting.”
Kai keeps a hold of his hand and leads him through the mist surrounding them. After a bit of walking, Lloyd swears he can hear the ghost of Jay’s laughter in the air — until, at last, another three figures come into view in the distance.
“Hey, he found him!” Cole’s voice calls out. The other two figures turn to look before all three of them begin running in his and Kai’s direction, and he rushes forward to meet them in the middle.
Cole, Zane, and Jay barely get a chance to catch their breath before Lloyd catches all three of them in a hug with a burst of laughter.
“Guys!” Lloyd shouts. “I thought you were —” He suddenly chokes, the rest of his laughter dying on his lips as tears spring to his eyes. “I thought you were all…”
“Hey, it’s alright,” Cole says, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder like he always does when someone is upset. “We’re alright.”
“We are not dead,” Zane says. “We were simply transformed into a form better suited for protecting our elemental powers.”
“Being a dragon is awesome!” Jay exclaims. “We’ve barely even done anything cool yet and there’s so much more we’ve gotta try!”
Lloyd is still fighting back tears, but Jay’s comment does earn a weak laugh. Cole steps forward to put a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” he says. “It’s different, but we’ve gotten used to weirder things. We can figure out how to make it work. And when we do, everything will be fine.”
“Yeah!” Jay says. “We found out that Zane was a nindroid, Cole became a ghost, Nya got her powers and then had them taken away. But nothing changed because we all still had each other!”
The smile that creeps onto Lloyd’s face is a little more natural this time.
“We’re all happy,” Kai says, rubbing a hand across his back reassuringly. “We just want you to be happy, too.”
Lloyd smiles, full and bright, with tear tracks still lingering on his face. The five of them throw their arms around each other in a hug, and the dream fades into carefree laughter.
When Lloyd wakes up the next morning, he feels truly rested for the first time in longer than he can remember.
As he lays there staring at the ceiling, watching his room gradually brighten with the dawn light, the dream slowly comes back to him. It still feels a bit too good to be true — that Kai, Zane, Cole, and Jay aren’t actually dead, just transformed and trying to help him adapt to the new normal. But as he continues thinking about it, he resolves to himself that there’s only one way to find out.
Lloyd gets up and dressed before making his way out to the courtyard. The dragon’s heads turn to look at him as he walks over to it, but he doesn’t say anything for a long moment — just stares at it as if searching for something, trying to find the words he wants to say.
When the red head nods slightly as if prompting him to speak, Lloyd can’t help but smile.
“Hey,” Lloyd says, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. “Do you guys wanna go flying?”
And all four of the dragon’s heads smile back.