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Chapter Text

He's closing up merge-quakes by himself, patrolling the Crossroads in the shadows. Lloyd has grown bitter; he is alone, and he is not truly sane. And somehow, all of this must be his father's fault. He is sick of Lord Garmadon. He is meant to be a shadow of his father, but then Vinny happens, Christofern happens. This shadow of his father could care. He just doesn't care about his son. He loves his "daughter" more, a daughter who is not set up to fight and win in order to earn an ounce of respect.

Kai was better at sharpening blades, but the practice at least keeps Lloyd's own mind sharp.

He knows the Departed Realm was not exempt from the merge. Lloyd wants the final kill on them all. His Ninja Code says not to kill, but there haven't been any ninja in years. And then he spots a glimpse of Spinjitzu.

Who are you?

He follows the light and only finds two kids, prisoners of whatever corrupt government is probably ruling over the world now. Where's the ninja, who could have—

"That was, heh, actually me," says one of the kids sheepishly.

He only registers now what, exactly, he is seeing. "Is that my old hood?"

"Yeah! You saved me before, in the Merge's winds. I thought you were gone. Your hood is all I can find of the ninjas left behind in the aftermath."

If he strains his mind, he can convince himself he remembers. He can convince himself his memory isn't a fragile, shattered thing in its current state. "You were trying to get back to your parents," he guesses, pretending to recall.

"Yes! You—you remember that?"

He ignores the question in favor of pinching his nose. "When exactly was the last time you washed that hood?"

"You can wash them?"

He elects not to dignify an answer but instead Spinjitzus them out of the prison car. "All right, time to get you two home then."

"No!" shouts the other kid. "There's a dragon somewhere on this train. We have to save them!"

He twitches. "A dragon rescue mission, of course. When was the last time anything was simple?"

Lloyd draws out his sword to fight.

…

…

He surmises earlier that Arin is a ninja fan, but he's still caught off guard by the influx of questions. There's a shocking attention to detail of his past exploits, and it's all… so overwhelming…

"I'm surprised. Most people in Ninjago don't know so much," Lloyd says. "A lot of the media coverage got us wrong before the Merge."

Arin flushes. "I was very meticulous with using verified sources. The news was sometimes just very obviously, well…"

"Slandering their only competent defense force because the police felt like they were getting sidelined?" Lloyd suggests.

Arin nods

Lloyd has no idea what he actually said, but hopefully it was the right amount of intelligence. "So, the end of the stairs draws near. You know I'm not a master because I didn't make you rock climb your way up."

Sora, who has been quiet, given thar she's not from Ninjago, laughs. "Rock climb, on a cliff like this? You said the Lightning Ninja was the jokester, Arin."

"If only his jokes were funny," Lloyd reminisces. "I know Master Wu made Cole and Kai rock climb their way up, but I don't think he made Jay. He was probably underweight before Wu found him. Wasn't very good at remembering to eat consistent meals between all his invention tinkering."

"Not that I'm not grateful," Arin says, "but uh, why aren't we rock climbing it then if it was tradition?"

"I get the feeling your self-taught Spinjitzu may be a bit too shaky to save yourself if you fell."

He guesses Sora must have been making some bewildered expression exchange with Arin behind his back, but… eh. Her connection with the baby dragon is curious, sure, but it's not enough. Without being from a line of sworn protectors, she can't be entrusted with the sacred art of Spinjitzu. He won't make another Aspheera. So without Spinjitzu, to help his crusade—she needs to be able to kill.

Lloyd really shouldn't be teaching Arin either, but Arin already had figured out a dangerous amount on his own from news videos. Not teaching him proper technique would only risk injury.

When they reach the top of the mountain, he turns to face them. "Welcome to the Monastery of Spinjitzu!"

…

…

Lloyd can't be a teacher.

He knows his thoughts of premeditated murder are dangerous. They're children, he can't indict them into a life of crime. Even if they're already guilty on several counts of trespassing and theft of mechanical scrap. Because even when his memory is failing, he remembers enough to instinctively know what he wants is wrong.

As Lloyd is about to put out his candle, to announce the bad news to the kids, an image flickers in the smoke.

Spirit-smoke.

He sees a graveyard of names.

Lloyd smiles. He blows out the candle with a kiss.

…

…

"The training you two will receive will be different." At their two squawked expressions, Lloyd raises his hand. "Let me explain.

"Arin, Spinjitzu is a sacred art passed down through family. I'm electing to override tradition and family law in recognition that having you run around using improper Spinjitzu technique might cause more problems.

"Sora, since I can't teach you Spinjitzu, you'll be using the samurai obstacle course instead of the ninja one." He sighs as Arin starts jumping in excitement with a raised hand. "Yes?"

"Does that mean Sora's going to become the new Samurai X? I know Nya retired Samurai X to become the Water Ninja, then Pixal took the mantle, but no one has seen Samurai X in years!"

"She's going to have to take a different codename, but spiritually, sure. Knock yourselves out. The others can't get mad at me about it if I thought they were dead."

"What are the chances the rest of them are in a situation like you?" Sora asks. "How far have you gone to search?"

"With how many merge-quakes I'm stuck to close around here, not much," Lloyd admits. "I can't do everything here by myself. That's the second reason why I agreed to take you two on as students."

"And the first?" Arin asks.

"Like I said, leaving you without proper Spinjitzu technique could be disastrous," Lloyd says seriously. "Even Spinjitzu done correctly can sometimes alter the fabric of reality. It's not something to be taken lightly."

"Oh." Arin winces, looking down at his feet.

Lloyd sighs. "Not your fault kid. Not like I was leaving behind warnings that being successful in copying ninja moves from TV could be dangerous. Really, it's impressive. I've never known anyone to get anywhere close without a teacher. You have potential, kid."

Arin nods.

He claps his hands. "All right, tuck in for the night you two. Guest rooms are on the left. We start training tomorrow at dawn."

…

…

He misses Jay. With his sitting-Spinjitzu, he probably could even help Arin tweak his version of Spinjitzu into something safer. Because, loathe as Lloyd is to admit it, there's been a nagging feeling in his mind that this derivative of Spinjitzu might have something unique going for it. He doesn't know what, exactly, but the amount of headbutting might have appealed to Zane for when he ran out of arrows.

…

…

As the days turn to weeks with the kids, Lloyd comes to a startling discovery that wallowing in the past is… actually quite useless. Actively hurting him when really, even if the demons of his past could theoretically be here, they're not. They haven't shown their faces in years. Lloyd is safe.

And Lloyd has no money for groceries.

"Okay, I'll admit, garden vegetables isn't really the high-protein diet all of us need for training. I've tried to grow beans before, but…" Lloyd shrugs. "Maybe we should start raising poultry out of the lightning chickens."

"You know, I'm still not convinced the voltages from those chickens is really safe for us to be interacting with them without insulation," Sora comments.

"If you manage to get a rubber tree growing, feel free to let me know." Lloyd yawned. "I think I'll live eating more mountain yams though…"

"What if I baked a yam pie—"

"I'm not eating another yam pie," Sora interrupts.

"—and bartered for some ice cream and flour?"

"Oh, excellent plan," Sora says.

Lloyd squints. "Does it have to be today?"

"Sora and I could go by ourselves!" Arin offers.

"Only if Sora can make comms that will reach up here to the Crossroads, in case you get in a pickle," Lloyd warns.

"We've been fine before surviving by ourselves," Sora says.

He tries to give them a stink-eye, and find the will to tell them no, but ultimately, Lloyd concedes, Sora is right. They have been fine for years without Lloyd. Stealing a dragon from hunters doesn't mean they forgot how to navigate the Crossroads.

"Yeah," Lloyd says, "okay."

…

…

He shouldn't have let them go.

Chapter Text

Jay used to take shock therapy, Lloyd recalls. They didn't know back then about the brain damage, and how it ate away at people's brains. His brother was lucky; the theory that he could act as a power battery and use the shock treatments to power himself up worked out. For everyone else though, the shock therapy created zombies out of depressed people.

He almost became one of them when he was looking for a way to just deal with everything about his dad. Even when the truth came out, he wanted to become a zombie.

Jay switched to using a taser when shock therapy was banned. Lloyd took low-dose aspirin instead, for the headaches.

He wishes he had the money to buy aspirin again. Why did his new students have to take his uncle's carpet? How did they already find trouble, and with a magician!

As Lloyd blocks an attack, he shouts, "So mind telling how groceries crossover with a carnival, you two?"

"Hey, they sell really good ready-made food from across the realm here!" Sora defends.

He sighs, then stabs their attacker.

…

…

To be fair, Lloyd's become… distracted after the Merge. They have to leave this man to bleed out, understand? The risk of this mad magician lashing out at them to bandage him isn't worth it. Proper authorities will find him before he actually dies, surely. Except they won't.

"Sorry for sneaking out without permission," Arin mumbles.

"I'd tell you we would have never done that to Master Wu, but that's a lie. We totally would have." He rubs his temple. "Did you at least get those groceries?"

"No," Sora admits.

"Just, go on your grocery run and head back home. I'll make sure this guy gets turned in with the authorities."

After they leave, Lloyd's alone again. His sword glints in red.

"You won't call the authorities," says the magician. "With the kids gone, you want to kill me."

Lloyd feels offended, somehow. "Don't be such a hypocrite. The blunt pressure of your puppets would have easily killed anyone. Shouldn't your voice be raspy by now? That usually happens with this much blood loss."

He has the gall to laugh. It grates on Lloyd's ears until he finally just stops.

Lloyd grabs the guy's jacket to wipe off his sword. Dried blood is a nightmare to clean. And Lloyd's… so tired.

…

…

He finds a memorial to the Ninja.

Lloyd was going to go straight back, but he figures he might as well see if they're still here. See if he could get the jump on them.

Looks like the Crosswords got the jump on him instead.

"Psst, talk inside?"

Lloyd turns to the voice, an ally sporting his usual purple attire still. There's someone else with him who he doesn't recognize. They don't look like a threat.

He follows, wiping away his tears.

Nelson rushes to him in a hug. "Lloyd!"

"Ow, ow, not too tight with the hugs, man. How's my little honorary Purple Ninja?" Lloyd asks. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Rose, Nelson's little sister!" Rose chirps. "I never thought I'd be able to meet one of the actual, real Ninja!"

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that." Lloyd rubs the back of his neck. "I don't suppose you guys have seen the others at all?"

"Just you," Nelson says.

Lloyd's shoulders slump. "I was afraid of that, when I saw the memorial."

Nelson frowns. "That must be really lonely. I woke up with my family after the Merge…"

"Yeah, it's just been me. Haven't been able to get down here much, not with the merge-quakes."

"Merge-quakes?" Rose asks.

"Residual effects from the Merge," Lloyd explains. "It happens when two realms try to occupy the same space. As the only Elemental Master around here, I'm the only one who can close them. But you must know from the shaking they're becoming more frequent. I can't do this alone for much longer."

Nelson sprints to the back, bringing out a tray of cookies. "At least stay to eat and talk."

Lloyd graciously accepts a cookie. "Okay. Well, don't tell anyone, obviously, but I recently took in a student who had self-taught themselves a version of Spinjitzu…"

"Woah."

"So cool!"

"Just don't try to copy them and risk splitting the fabric of the universe," Lloyd jokes. He flicks a small strand of hair on Nelson's head.

"Can-I-come?" Nelson blurts. "You know I took Kai's self-defense class!"

"And he hasn't broken a bone since the Merge!" Rose adds.

"That time wasn't even my fault! The building I woke up in was unstable!"

"Although we still do keep a picture gallery of all the other times before…"

"Rose, we're trying to convince Lloyd to take me in!" Nelson nags.

He could help, Lloyd thinks. It isn't a bad idea, all around. Nelson had shown to the Ninja before of being highly capable, even while injured. And when he wasn't injured, the work he did on a bike for the newsboys…

"Do you have a driver's license?" Lloyd asks.

"They don't really license people for driving anymore," Nelson points out. "But I can drive a car!"

"Then if your mother is fine with it…"

Nelson and Rose cheer.

Lloyd pinches his nose. "I can't take you in though, Rose, not without some sort of skill assessment…"

Rose shrugs. "Backpacking isn't really for me. I need to help Mom at home and maintain the memorial."

"Okay," Lloyd says. "I'll come back tomorrow morning to talk to your mom, Nelson. Then, you'll come with me. Make sure to bring your bike and helmet."

…

…

Sora's onto him, Lloyd knows.

Arin's too much of a fanboy of the Ninja, especially the Green Ninja, to take note of his slip-ups. The Green Ninja is Ninjago's savior, its hero.

But for Sora, who came from Imperium, who wasn't even sure before that the Ninja existed? It's far too easy for someone in her position to sense that something's wrong with him.

After their fridge is restocked, Arin heads to bed. He isn't surprised when Sora doesn't follow her friend.

"You don't have the emergency number for the authorities here," Sora says. "You don't even have a cell phone."

Lloyd humms, turning to face her. "Did Arin ever tell you who my father was?"

She's confused. "No? Wait, don't change the topic! That guy is dead, isn't he? I know he's a criminal, but he shouldn't—he should be locked up somewhere."

"My father," Lloyd continues, ignoring her, "was Lord Garmadon. He was the first son of the First Spinjitzu Master, sworn to protect our realm. And then, he set out to destroy it.

"There was a prophecy, and we thought it said I had to end him. I never did.

"I'm not saying this to scare you. There's… complications to this story. I could stand here and tell you all the details but—" Lloyd huffs. "What's the point of that? He's still out there. I can't fail again. There's a list, and if I don't…" He clenches his hand.

"And there's no way of saving him, huh."

"I tried, Sora. I was nine years old when I joined this war. I wanted to believe in him. He… disappoints me. And I have to know I won't hesitate again."

"I think I understand."

How could you when I don't understand myself? He turns to look up at the moon. A soft breeze brushes on his face.

"Go to sleep," he finally says.

As Sora turns around, Lloyd stops her.

"We're not training tomorrow. You get one hour to sleep in. Tell Arin we'll be heading out on the Destiny's Bounty to find the Master of Wind."

"Huh, Arin's never told me about them before," Sora says. "Are they nice?"

Lloyd laughs. "Nice? Hardly. Meanest Elemental Master I've ever met. Tried to kill me several times."

"Uh, then why…?"

"Because the last time we met, he saved Cole's life," Lloyd says. "If anyone from the Departed Realm is still alive, it's going to be him."

"But the merge-quakes, who's going to close them here?"

Lloyd shuts his eyes. "I don't know. They're why I haven't been able to leave, but it's not sustainable to just fix them as they come. These merge-quakes are too frequent. We have to find actual answers, actual research. Master Wu's notes might be missing, but whatever he wrote down has to still be somewhere."

"And if a merge-quake happens while we're gone?" Sora asks.

"Then they'll have to weather it out. We don't have any other options."

Chapter Text

Arin groggily covers his eyes, swiping at whoever is shaking him. "Five more minutes…"

"Lloyd already let us sleep in for an hour later than dawn," Sora says, amused. "Trust me, I don't want to be awake even this early, but…"

Arin rubs at his eyes and slowly gets off his hammock. "Yeah?"

"Is Lloyd… supposed to be like this?"

"Huh?" He blinks.

"I don't feel safe with him," Sora admits.

Truthfully, this experience is the first time he's ever seen the Green Ninja properly in person, besides his rescue during the Merge. He… isn't really sure what Sora is getting at though. "But why? He's Ninjago's hero!"

"I know." Sora fidgets her fingers. "That's why I feel bad about it. But—he isn't human, is he?"

"Sora, we literally buy groceries from lizard people," Arin points out. "I'm pretty sure he is human, but it shouldn't matter, should it?"

"That's not—" Sora groans. "I feel like his social isolation has made him mentally unwell."

"Like?"

"He told me to tell you we're going on the Destiny's Bounty to find the Master of Wind."

And that… that's a punch in the face. "He's looking for him?" Arin sputters. "Why?"

"Something about definitely being alive?" Sora shrugs. "I didn't really get it. What's the Master of Wind's story?"

"He's only the Ghost of Stixx, who broke through realm barriers in order to turn Ninjago into an extension of the Cursed Realm!"

"Cursed Realm?"

"Purgatory, basically."

"Ah."

"A ghost's one weakness is water, but that's only effective when they're not possessing someone. He possessed Lloyd for most of his reign of terror. Would've killed the entire village of Stixx if Nya didn't become the Water Ninja." Arin shook his head. "I can't believe Lloyd wants to find him…"

"Unfortunately, he has an uncanny knack for refusing to die and a photographic memory of every obscure thing Wu ever told him," Lloyd says, suddenly appearing behind.

Arin and Sora jump in surprise.

"Darn, when am I going to be as sneaky as you?" Sora asks.

"Someday," Lloyd says vaguely. "I'm no master, so I'm not sure how long it'll take."

Arin heads to the kitchen to bake a pie. Or maybe just make something like a sandwich for breakfast? He squints at the ingredients inside the fridge. They really weren't paying that much attention when they were haggling yesterday…

When they set off on the Bounty, Arin stands at look-out on deck. It's peaceful up in the clouds, and it gives him the time to ponder on Sora's words this morning.

Something is wrong with Lloyd. He remembers an ever-present smile on his face, the inspiring speech he gave to rally for the Resistance against the Sons of Garmadon. The Green Ninja isn't supposed to be this… depressed.

The Merge changed everything. It changed who the Green Ninja is meant to fight for. Ninjago is gone. He can't really fault Lloyd for feeling lost.

"Why are we going back to the Crossroads?" Sora asks.

Arin squints and huh. They are. That's strange.

"Just someone a little purple we got to pick up," Lloyd says. "Hold on, I'm going to park on the roof. Stay on guard with the Bounty, will you?"

As Lloyd jumps down to ground-level, Arin strokes Riyu's scales.

"This is weird, right?" Sora asks. "The Master of Wind can't possibly live here."

Arin shrugs. "I have no idea."

Five minutes later, Lloyd climbs back up holding a suitcase. Before he asks, a person in purple follows, climbing up with a bike that's being held up only mildly dangerously with rope.

"You know—" A grunt. "—carrying a bike is not nearly so hard when there's actual stairs instead of just a rope."

"Yeah, I normally use Spinjitzu to get up here."

"Prat."

"Kettle calling the pot black."

"Touché." They wipe their pants, then turn to face Arin and Sora. "Nelson, honorary Purple Ninja, now potentially the official Purple Ninja? It's impossible to get clear information off this guy, unfortunately."

"Talking to your mom stresses me out!" Lloyd defends.

"It's my mom," Nelson says. "Just go talk about how you helped keep us safe during the whole Unagami invasion without her even realizing that her video game life was even deadly!"

"Actually, why by the First Master did you follow her into Prime Empire?" Lloyd asks. "I'm going to return you to your mom if you give me a bad answer."

"It wasn't like you issued an official warning about that, for the record."

"Oh yeah, we didn't. I forgot about that."

And on the two went, even after the rope was pulled up. Arin hasn't ever seen Lloyd talk so much to either him or Sora! Although, Arin doesn't really like him that much. He isn't even sure why.

"So… how did you get to be the honorary Purple Ninja?" Sora asks.

"Oh, the Ninja visited me during one of my hospital stays!" Nelson's eye straining smile alone might have the capability to take out enemies.

"He's been a great aid to my team and I in the past," Lloyd clarifies. "More importantly for our current mission, he knows where most people live."

"If they subscribe to the physical paper for the Ninjago News, yeah." Nelson shrugs. "I stopped delivering when… management… changed a month ago though."

It's a slim chance, but maybe– "Do you know any addresses for the Niveds?"

Nelson rubs his chin in thought. "There is that one couple, no wait, they're the Nines. Oh, but on Strawberry Street… unless, no yeah, they were the Nanes." He drops his hand. "Sorry, I don't remember any Niveds on my route. Got any first names?"

Arin winces. "I was… kinda young, when the Merge happened. Um."

Nelson nods solemnly. "Yeah, I get that. My mom never actually told me my dad's name. It's been so long though it'd be kinda weird to admit that now to ask."

Sora facepalms. "Seriously, this is the company I'm left with?"

The conversation broke as the Bounty shook for take-off. Lloyd stands at the steering wheel, face stony. "Right, which way to Borg's, Nelson?"

"In the weird desert off to the east!" Nelson hollers. "It's kinda hidden away, just keep flying over the mountains for now."

Arin turns to Sora as they both frown. Borg wasn't on the agenda. It's exciting sure, but Arin is realizing what Sora meant by something being wrong about Lloyd.

"Wow, Cyrus Borg was a pretty big deal in Ninjago's tech industry before the Merge," Arin says. "We're really going to meet him?"

"That's the plan!" Nelson says cheerfully.

"I thought we were supposed to find the Master of Wind," Sora says.

"Yeah, but we need something from Borg to do that!" Lloyd says.

Nelson pauses. "I'm sorry, what? Are we seriously going to Borg's just to get bait for the Ghost of Stixx?"

Even the Purple Ninja thinks it's crazy!

"Yup!"

"Do you even have any deepstone armor?"

"Nope!"

"Everyday I find new reasons to be offended that Master Wu sees you in me."

And then it clicks why Arin can't like Nelson. From their shared history with Lloyd to being someone Lloyd could rely on—he's jealous.

Chapter Text

They aren't actually searching for Borg to find some shiny artifact to bait Morro to come out.

First of all, Morro isn't a dog. He's either been hiding from Lloyd and the Monastery for a reason, or worse, not actually alive. Morro is far smarter than to go see the Sword of Sanctuary reflected in the sun and go chase after it. Probably. Lloyd's been trying not to remember the whole possession incident, lest any sense of self-control he has go out the window.

Truthfully, the idea came to him in sudden clarity last night: Borg could make something to dampen Lloyd's more… murder-y thoughts. Something to manage his descent into madness enough to train his students. If he's lucky, Borg might understand brain chemistry enough to make a functional cure. Then, he could tell Sora the good news, they'd have a big cry and a hug, and Lloyd would make a thousand promises he might actually be able to keep.

Lloyd doesn't have that type of luck though.

"This is the desert then?" he asks, at the beginning of a never-ending view of sand.

"Yeah, you might want to park the Bounty on the stone. The sand here gets everywhere," Nelson warns.

He parks. They grab some basic supplies. Lloyd watches Nelson deliberate on whether to bring his bike.

"Ugh but I just managed to get the sand off it…" Nelson grumbles. He threw his hands. "No newsboy bike today! It doesn't make escapes that much quicker anyway, on this terrain."

Lloyd snorts. "You've changed, Lil' Nelson. The old you was so excited about climbing a thousand steps up a mountain."

"I was doing my part then. My part today is to avoid becoming dehydrated." Nelson then promptly chugs his water bottle.

He still hates the desert. Lloyd doesn't know how Jay and Nya could stand it. Jay at least had the excuse of being raised in one, can't really avoid the desert there. Nya though, she deliberately looked for a far away desert everyone hates to hide her Samurai cave. Madness. And Lloyd sorely misses it all the same.

"It's about three hundred paces from here," Nelson says.

"Minutes?"

"Thirty."

"What is a pace, exactly?" Arin asks.

"Oh, I have no idea," Nelson says. "I just like to say it because I like to delude myself into thinking it makes me sound more intelligent. Which really, is the epitome of the opposite."

Lloyd wishes he had earplugs for this nauseating walk.

…

…

Borg greets them with open arms, worry on his face for Lloyd. He doesn't know why.

His students are sent to search through Borg's archives to find deepstone. Lloyd gets his first check-up in a long time, and if starts with stepping into a scanner.

"I didn't think you had medical training," Lloyd says.

"I don't," Borg says. "I did collaborate with some doctors to make some medical tech, so I'm hoping that can do most of the work. I'm going to want to scan the rest of them too. Heaven knows none of them would have gotten a good check-up since the Merge."

Lloyd humms. "You've kept yourself busy."

"I've been trying to use drones to find Pixal, but I haven't had much luck." Borg pulls out a needle. "I also want to do a blood test."

"Sure," Lloyd easily agrees as he steps out of the finished scanner.

Borg squints as he reads the results. "Yes… a blood test would do well to clarify these results…"

He gets his blood drawn. Lloyd is pushed outside the lab, and he walks around to find his students.

"What does deepstone even look like?" Sora complains.

"A black stone that's resistant to scratches," Lloyd answers, making them all jump in surprise. Even Nelson looks sheepish about being caught unaware. He frowns. That might be a future problem…

"It being difficult to cut through rock is part of why you don't find it much," Nelson explains.

Their voices blur. Lloyd squints. That probably isn't good. How much blood did Borg take again?

He isn't sure how much time passes, but Borg somehow got back already, saying, "Your blood tests are done."

Lloyd turns to face him. It isn't a good result, clearly, with how visibly nervous Borg is. The genius inventor could sweat enough to fill his private pool.

"Oh sweet!" Lloyd says, to keep up the facade in front of his students. "Don't cause Cyrus too much trouble, you three!"

When Borg and him are behind closed doors, Lloyd drops his smile. "So, it isn't just depression, I'm guessing."

Borg shook his head. "There's almost like a foreign parasite living in your bloodstream. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but then I remembered something about your father—"

Lloyd balls his fist.

Borg winces. "Forgive me, Lloyd, but just to confirm, Wu originally told me that… his brother didn't have a choice."

He really, really, didn't want it to be what he thinks it is.

"The Great Devourer, when she was an infant, bit him," Lloyd says mechanically. "The venom was a high concentration of evil that lived in his veins until the so-called Final Battle."

"Right," Borg says. "And… he had you, after the bite."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid Lloyd, that I am being extremely serious." Borg lowers his head. "I'm so, so sorry."

"If I had that evil snake venom inside me this entire time, then how come no one noticed?" Lloyd demands. "How come my thoughts didn't turn evil until now?"

"The mind-altering factor was laid dormant until something woke it up."

"The Merge," Lloyd whispers.

Borg shrugs. "It could be that. It could have also been something from your, ah, last encounter with the Overlord…"

"My Oni form?"

He nods.

"But I was hardly in it for even a minute! And that was months before even the Merge!"

"Your father didn't become evil overnight, I assume, to have married Misako."

Lloyd stands silently.

"I still recommend anti-depressant pills," Borg says. "Your depression likely is accelerating the issue. It might help to also complete meditation daily, which I had assumed you did, but I'm beginning to question that."

Lloyd sighs. "Motivation's been difficult. It's gotten easier with Arin, Sora, and Riyu, and now Nelson. I have to set a good example."

"And that's why I believe we still have a chance to beat the venom." Borg claps his hands. "Return to your students. By the afternoon, I'll have something whipped up for you. Any new allergies since we last met?"

"No. Do you have anything that needs to be rendered to dust?"

Borg eyes him warily. "You could beat up the sand outside?"

Lloyd pinches his nose. "If I turn the sand to glass and get glass cuts everywhere, would you be able to bandage me up?"

"I… do not advise that. But I can give you protective gear."

Chapter Text

He ignores the stares. Lloyd could have been more subtle with smashing glass, sure, but fire isn't a subtle element. Combine that with the bulky gear Borg made him wear to stop the glass from penetrating his skin, it's effort he can't bother with.

Lloyd ignites flames in his hand again and punches the sand into glass.

In the reflection is a warped reflection of his students collecting at the entrance. Arin's mesmerized by anything Lloyd does. Sora's confused but curious, like there's actually something there besides Lloyd trying to get out his anger.

And Nelson has a small frown, like he can judge after parroting how he needs to obliterate his enemies before they attack.

He smashes the glass.

…

…

Maybe it's rude to leave so soon. Borg gives him two bottles of pills to take daily, with instructions to return for refills as needed. Lloyd knows Nelson has scrounged up his team's old deepstone weapons. It's not armor that can protect them from possession, but Lloyd isn't too worried. Morro is only one ghost, and if he's going to possess anymore, it'd be him. The kids will be fine.

That's his hope, anyway. If Morro still has ghost friends, there may be some problems with this hard headed plan, Lloyd can concede.

"So, Arin, think you can handle being the ship's captain at the steering wheel?" Lloyd asks, slipping on the auto-pilot mode.

"Yes! I definitely can, won't let you down, Lloyd!" Arin says.

"Great." Lloyd playfully shoves Nelson out of the way, heading to his quarters. "I need a nap. Holler if we run into sky pirates or something."

Nelson grunts.

"Do those exist?" Sora asks.

"Oh yes!" Arin says enthusiastically. "Back when Lloyd just became the Green Ninja, a band of sky pirates came to attack Ninjago City! They evaded capture from the police for awhile, even managing to participate in the Ninja Ball Run against the Ninja before they officially were arrested."

Lloyd yawns and ducks below deck. They'll be fine.

…

…

He sits in front of a picture of his team. It's an older photo, shot shortly after he was crowned the Green Ninja. Lloyd presses his thumb against the glass covering the smaller him. His childhood was denied to fight his father.

Lloyd wants his family back. Ninjago as a realm is gone. The chance that his grandfather can do anything now to help him is slim, but First Master, do something. His grandfather failed his sons, he doesn't need to do the same for Lloyd too beyond the grave.

And Uncle Wu… He places the picture frame down.

"You were training me to use my Oni form. Why couldn't you have warned me that I'd inherit the snake's venom?"

There's no answer in the silence.

"Without elemental power, the merge-quakes can't be closed. But if I live…" Lloyd clenches his hand. "... this new world might have bigger issues to face."

I'm not the right hands.

He lights an incense candle and prays for his grandfather to grant him grace. Lloyd has to find Morro.

…

…

He sort of forgot about the dragon. Riyu does a good job of sticking solely with Arin and Sora, firmly out of his way. He… isn't sure why that is, and it might be a problem for later. Maybe it's his Oni side? But Lloyd's not just part Oni. He's also part dragon. Wouldn't Riyu want to stick with him then, for the sense of familiarity?

Of course, Lloyd is certain Riyu is a different type of dragon from Firstbourne. Maybe that makes the difference.

The point is, Riyu had managed to get Nelson to take control from Arin and turn off the auto-pilot to fly to his home. Unfortunately, the Imperium guard has been on their tail the entire time. Lloyd hopes they didn't just leak Borg's location to them. His nindroid defense system is adequate, but Imperium weapons are able to cut through metal with ease.

"I'm never going to be able to take a nap with you kids, am I?" Lloyd grumbles.

The conversation with the Matriarch happens. Lloyd thankfully still remembers how to be convincing enough, and the borrowed power is enough to end the fight.

It's addictive. When the power dissipates, he remembers why he has to avoid it. He shouldn't have—they could have fought off the Imperium officers without tempting him with the taste of more could be.

"Your heart is poisoned, grandson of Spinjitzu," says the Matriarch.

Lloyd stiffens, looking behind to see Arin and Sora's reactions. He only relaxes when it's clear the telepathy is only between them at this moment. "You can sense it too then."

He gestures for his students to return to the Bounty ahead of him. I'll be fine.

"Your power cannot cleanse the venom inherited in your veins, young Master. I trust you want to protect them, that you may even want to protect us. I don't trust you to always be in full control of yourself."

Lloyd flexes his hand, staring. "Does the prophecy of the Golden Master refer to me?"

"Prophecies mean nothing if you do not act on them."

"Then do not call me a master of anything. I'm just Lloyd."

"You should seek to find your friends, not your enemies."

"I'll keep that in mind."

What kind of advice is that? Lloyd thinks as he heads back to the Bounty. It's… stupidly obvious. Common sense.

But he's been lacking in that department lately, hasn't he? If there was a problem between his students, he wouldn't know until it blew up in everyone's faces.

Chapter Text

Arin really wants to like Nelson. He's older, unreasonably cool, and the way he just naturally knows his way around Borg's super secret, hidden hideout is so chill. Then, he grabs a pair of skates and skates his way around to find some deepstone gear in the archives.

When he took command of the Bounty's course to find Riyu's home, Nelson instantly knew to look for an auto-pilot switch to turn off. Arin didn't even see Lloyd turn it on!

Then, against the Claw, Nelson shows how good he is already at fighting. Sure, he doesn't know how to do Spinjitzu, but he doesn't need it as a crutch like Arin does. He's swift, precise, and unyielding. Obliterate your enemy before they see you coming.

What does Arin have? Broken Spinjitzu that might just damn them all if he breaks the fabric of the universe by accident. Arin regularly punches his own face in training!

"So, where are we charting course to now?" Nelson asks Lloyd at the steering wheel.

"How about you just pick a direction your heart desires?"

Nelson is less than impressed. "You have no idea where to actually find Morro."

"How could I? I never leave the Monastery," Lloyd retorts.

He's so casual with Lloyd too. Comfortable. Lloyd can't even trust Arin to drive without auto-pilot.

Arin wants to show Lloyd he's worth the trouble, but he's nothing.

…

…

He dreams of being the Orange Ninja. The Orange Ninja can do proper Spinjitzu, run through the obstacle course without needing Lloyd to bail him out, and doesn't punch his own face in training.

Arin sniffs the air and licks the sand beneath his feet. "The wind's to the west."

An image in front of him appears of a burning river.

He wakes.

…

…

There's cans of actual food and boxes of dry stuffs in the kitchen, when Arin comes down. Did they get it from Borg?

"I'm so glad Borg was willing to share his rations," Sora says, her face stuffed with oatmeal. "This is so much better than eating what Lloyd grows in his garden."

"Cheers." Nelson downs a canned fruit drink.

"Hey, maintaining a garden is hard work!" Lloyd defends. "There aren't a whole lot of seeds on top of mountains out there."

Arin sits at the table where a bowl of cereal has been left for him. It's filled with fresh fruit and nuts, which makes up for the fact they still don't have milk. He enjoys it because it's still a luxury, even if he's bitter.

And then the ship shakes.

"Who's driving right now?" Arin asks. They're all at breakfast, fresh from sleep. They should be parked right now.

Lloyd and Nelson jump out of their seats to the deck, Sora following only shortly behind.

Arin… doesn't follow. He continues eating his breakfast. Lloyd didn't look that worried, right? The raspberry in his cereal is too good to leave behind. Following behind would only slow down his hero.

"What's a little kid like you doing all by yourself?" whispers a voice behind his ear.

Oh great, now Arin's hearing voices in his head again. He hasn't had to deal with these since he found Sora. "If I just pretend I didn't lose my parents in the Merge, then the voices in my head go away, right?"

An echo of a touch lingers on his shoulder. "Sorry, I'm not your dad. Or a voice in your head."

"That's what they always say, voice in my head. It might have been a few years, but I remember your tricks, silly ol' brain of mine." He doesn't frown. Frowning gives the voices power. But, Arin has to admit, this voice is a lot more wispy than the ones he used to have. Deeper too. It's almost like…

"Just turn around, kid."

His scream dies before it starts.

…

…

Honestly, Arin's surprised they found the Master of Wind at all, even if he's possessing his body for nefarious reasons. The world has only gotten bigger since the Merge.

Funny that, ghost possession. He didn't imagine it like this, when he wondered how scared Lloyd must have been. Arin imagined a pain in his chest, the headache of his body movement against his will, and chapped, harrowing lips.

This is almost gentle. Like Arin's ready for a faraway nap.

"Sorry," Morro says in Arin's voice. "I just—I just need to borrow your body for one conversation. I'll leave as soon as I can."

Be careful, I think my clumsiness might be contagious.

Morro snorts. "Whatever. You comfy in there? Shockingly, I'm feeling nice today and want to minimize traumatizing kids."

He tries to give a mental shrug. You're calmer than I expected. Are you really the same Ghost of Stixx I heard about from the news?

"It's far easier to have a clear mind without the Preeminant in my head." He takes a deep breath. "The Green Ninja's going to come back down soon. How mad do you think he's going to be?"

Mad? He wants to frown. What would Lloyd be mad about?

"For holding you hostage… and everything else."

Oh.

Chapter Text

He's pissed.

It's a rare moment of absolute clarity for Lloyd, as he comes back down from the deck. Gone are the murky, muddled clouds in his mind. A single thought pierces to the forefront of his mind: Morro's dead. There's no second life in the Departed Realm for him this time.

Lloyd gave Morro too much of the benefit of the doubt. He might have helped his team on Day of the Departed, but clearly, he just had a score to settle against Yang. Why else would Morro use Arin as a human meat shield instead of him?

"I should have expected you'd fight dirty," Lloyd says coldly.

"Hi, Green Ninja, fancy meeting you," Morro says casually, still occupying his student's body. "Let's maybe cool it down with the murder eyes, yeah?"

In his periphery, he sees Nelson and Sora raise up deepstone weapons. He might have been skeptical at Nelson's insistence at the time, but he's grateful for it now. A proactive paranoid Nelson is much preferable to being unprepared for a sudden ghost assault.

"Since when did you start picking up strays like Wu?" Morro continues. "And is that a beard?"

Lloyd stiffens. "Yes, I've been growing one out. Been trying to go for my uncle's look, you know."

Morro hasn't made any moves yet. They're at an unfortunate stalemate for now, since they can't risk hurting Arin. He probably planned for that, Lloyd realizes.

"Get out of Arin," Sora hisses.

"You know, I would love to, really, I would," Morro says. "But something tells me I wouldn't be very welcome here otherwise."

"I told you looking for this guy was a terrible idea," Nelson grumbles, giving a stink eye to Lloyd.

Lloyd gritted his teeth. "I thought he'd just go possess me again like last time."

"And you think that's better?" Nelson says incredulously. "What kind of example are you meant to be setting for the rest of us?"

Lloyd ignores him. He glares at Morro.

"Aww, you were looking for me? How adorable." He pauses. "Wait, you were looking for me? The fuck?"

"Language," Lloyd says automatically. "There's kids."

"I'm actually an adult now," Nelson informs him.

"No seriously, why? Like I'm totally awesome, obviously—"

"Because everyone's probably dead, and I didn't know who else might have answers!" Lloyd shouts. He wipes his eyes. "You were obsessed with finding the answer to fight against Destiny. I needed to know if you found the answer to the Merge along the way."

"You know, I did," Morro says. "That's why I went looking for you, Lloyd."

He shoots up. "Me?"

"Just call back on your guard dogs. Honestly, you're a terrible teacher; their forms are awful. The pink one looks like she's going to trip with all that weight she's putting on one leg, and the purple one's too open for an attack."

He shouldn't listen to him. But Morro's never called him by his actual name before, like he's an actual person. Lloyd was ready to throw all his original hopes in an instant just before. The critique he's given though isn't even wrong.

He has believe there's good in Morro. He has to because there is no other reason for the ghost to have saved Cole's life.

Lloyd looks back between Sora and Nelson. He nods, resetting himself into a casual stance. They're hesitant to pull back on their weapons, but ultimately they trust him. (Even if that's a terrible idea.)

"To be fair, the purple one wasn't originally mine."

Morro snorts, and he walks out of Arin's body. "Let me guess, the Master of Fire?"

He silently urges Sora to go attend to Arin's body. Arin might still be standing, but his head is hung down. Lloyd remembers the killer headache he had last time. She listens, thankfully.

"Correct."

"It's Imperium, they're the reason for the Merge," Morro says. "I don't know what their original plan was, what they were trying to do, but their experiments into the space time continuum were what broke the initial fabric between realms."

He watches Sora stiffen. That's right, she's from there… "Does it have to do with dragons?"

Morro thins his lips. "Something like the Merge would happen naturally over at least a millenium. Dragons travel through realms all the time, making little pockets and holes. They were going to make too many between certain realms, eventually breaking all realm barriers. Whatever Imperium did was a catalyst for a rapid version of it."

"They harvest dragons to use as a power source," Sora says quietly. She hung Arin around her shoulder. "They say it's supposed to be clean, renewable, and safe, but it was never safe for the dragons."

He nods. Nelson snaps.

"So are we just going to fucking pretend Morro didn't just try to kidnap Arin right there or what?"

"Language," Lloyd and Morro say. They turn to each other and laugh together.

Nelson sends a rude hand gesture their way.

"It's like a pride thing for Morro. He did something like this last time, scaring the shit out of Master Wu, being all ominous about evil before revealing he's actually here to help," Lloyd tries to explain.

Morro scoffs. "I have a reputation, and I'm not ruining it for you dorks."

Lloyd hollers in laughter. "You're literally the worst. What if I didn't believe you and went to kill you anyway?"

"Then I'd dodge," Morro says.

"The. Worst."

Eventually, he recomposes himself and the rest of the daylight is spent planning for an espionage mission on Imperium.

…

…

"You still have a lot to make up for, Morro."

"I know."

And even if he didn't, Lloyd's acutely aware that Nelson have been glaring daggers at him all day. He can't blame him; he still wants to drown Morro himself.

…

…

"I think you're lying."

Lloyd looks up from his scroll and resists the urge to groan. His private quarters were supposed to be that: private. "Yes, Nelson?"

"You have left the Monastary before," Nelson says. "In fact, you left it regularly. Never too far, of course, but you know where I live."

"Everyone uses hyperbole. I thought you'd get that. Can you leave now? I have to finish reading this stack."

"Why aren't we restraining Morro?"

"He's our guest. You should treat him as one." Lloyd thumbs through the scrolls on his desk. "Morro's been helping us a lot."

Nelson huffs and wordlessly leaves.

…

…

It's when the rest of the ship retires to bed when Morro asks, "So, what did happen to the rest of Wu's students?"

Lloyd throws the water in his midnight cup at him. Morro dodges.

"Huh, you are good at dodging," Lloyd admits. "They were lost in the Merge. We were trying to rescue people in the thick of it, and when it finally burst, I woke up in the Monastery by myself."

"Wish I could say the same for me." Morro snorts. "I landed in Cloud Kingdom. They hate my guts now, obviously, but at least it seems like the Merge made their scroll powers useless."

"Guess you finally got your wish then," Lloyd says.

"I guess I did," Morro echoes.

They linger in the silence, at the deck railing. It's peaceful.

"We should find them," Morro finally says.

"And we're going to what, spin the bottle and go whatever direction it points at?" Lloyd huffs. "No thanks."

"Funny, a little birdie told me you did essentially the same thing to find me," Morro says dryly.

That's because he didn't want to actually find a human, since last time—"I killed someone in the Crossroads."

"I'm sure you did your best to save them."

He wants to snort. "I took my sword and stabbed out their lungs."

"Sounds violent. I could refer you to a good therapist." Morro blew out a strand of hair from his face. "I'm serious, though. We should find your friends. Nicky might technically be an adult, but he can't be your entire support network."

"Are you talking about Nelson?"

"Oh, is that what his name was?"

"Morro!"

"Look, I'm just saying, the Preeminent wouldn't have been able to get to me as much as she did if I actually had friends. Sure, it's not the same as social isolation, but I really think it'd help."

"It's not the social isolation."

"Oh look at me, I'm the Green Ninja, I don't have any mental health problems," Morro mocks. He clamps his hand to act as a puppet.

Lloyd inhales. Be good. "It's the venom."

"Pardon?"

"My father had me after the snake that would become the Great Devourer bit him," Lloyd explains. "It was dormant before, but then it got… activated."

He stares. "Is it a bad time to mention my therapist looks eerily similar to the Lightning Ninja?"

"What direction do we head for?"

"West."

"Great." He set the auto-pilot on and yawned. "Holler if we're about to crash into a mountain."

Chapter Text

Despite everything, Nelson realizes he knows nothing about Lloyd Garmadon. This entire ragtag adventure was a mistake, with Morro being blatantly shoved into his life. He didn't think Lloyd would actually find him! It was one of those work jokes, like how the Walkers would probably just take everyone's junk mail in Ninjago City if it wasn't a crime.

"Riyu, you'd tell me if Lloyd was playing a left uno reverse card on us, right?" Nelson scratches the back of Riyu's ear.

Riyu yips.

He sighs. "Yeah, I hope I'm just being paranoid."

Because the thing is, he doesn't want to think badly about Lloyd either. He asked all those years ago to be made the honorary Purple Ninja because he believed in the Ninja. He still does. But times have changed. The world still goes on. And Lloyd may not be the same person anymore, but neither is Nelson.

He pulls out a sheet of paper from his jacket, uncrumbling it in his hands. It's a sandwich recipe he should have memorized already, but he never wants to forget it. Nelson can't forget.

He heads to the kitchen and makes the sandwich. Ham, cheese, they don't have the right type of bread, but it'll have to do. As Nelson cuts out the rest of the ingredients, he hums. There's an unspoken debt he owes to Antonia, but making this sandwich, it helps him remember why he quit being a newsboy.

After all, he's still here to find what he needs. Even if Morro throws a wrench into his plans, Lloyd has resources. Nelson, barely an adult, job hunting and still living with his mom, does not.

It's been six years. He has to know the truth behind Antonia's sudden disappearance.

…

…

Everyone's on deck together, with Morro at the wheel. Nelson's hand twitches at the danger of it, but forces his brain to chill. Unfortunately, Morro's their guest, even if just the thought sends a grimace.

"So, I know we all are very excited to get back to the Monestary and continue the Spinjitzu training course," Lloyd says. "But! We have one last stop to make before then."

Nelson stares at him incredulously. They had made a semblance of a plan to raid Imperium but surely… "You're not actually saying we're pushing on ahead to Imperium right now, are you?"

"Well…" Lloyd has the gall to look guilty.

"Hold on, I thought we were regrouping with my therapist!" Morro shouts from behind the wheel. "Isn't that what we talked about last night?"

"What? No, we're supposed to be heading to Imperium to storm the palace!" Lloyd says.

"Well, we've been going in the complete opposite direction then!" Morro says cheerfully.

"You could have asked me for directions," Sora points out.

Yes, Lloyd could have, but Nelson's surely glad he didn't. He didn't realize there were active therapists in the Departed Realm, but a Morro in therapy does calm his nerves a bit.

"You have a therapist?" Arin asks, oh bless him. Nelson really doesn't want to talk to Morro directly.

"Yeah! He's been helpful with like, unpacking stuff without being a vague, conspiratorial old man about it," Morro says.

Lloyd huffs but he does listen. He claps his hands. "All right, let's start training for today then. We'll review our basic stances and movement."

Morro's lucky he's outside of swinging range. While Nelson's glad someone has successfully diverted Lloyd away from a bad idea, he doesn't want Morro to start getting ideas.

Nelson stands at the ready and blocks Lloyd's incoming fist. He twists, pulling Lloyd's weight and rolls to the ground. He settles in a renewed breath.

"That was more than a basic stance, Lloyd," Nelson says.

"Good reaction," Lloyd praises.

He watches Sora and Arin gulp. Oh yeah, this'll be fun.

…

…

"Yeah, this isn't working." Lloyd throws on a towel over his face, wiping off his sweat. "Morro, ETA?"

"Not a single clue, shortstack."

"Remind me to never seek out the ghosts of my past again," Lloyd tells Arin, who earnestly nods.

"You got it, Lloyd!"

"Right, so, everyone sit down. Yeah, just on the floorboards." He claps his hands. "So unfortunately, since we're not making much progress physically, we're going to have to do the hard thing and talk about our feelings."

"Oh, that's disgusting," Nelson says automatically.

Lloyd nods solemnly. "Yes, it's the ugly truth, but especially for you, Sora, to find your True Potential, you often have to face your emotions."

Sora sticks out her tongue.

"So, how are we all feeling today?"

Like he could throw a chair at someone. "Like we should throw Morro overboard." Whoops, he probably shouldn't have said that.

"Hey! I am driving this ship right now, I could crash us all!" Morro says.

"Bet!" Nelson shouts back.

Lloyd facepalms and groans.

Yeah, Nelson thinks, this was a mistake.

Chapter Text

The thing was, Nelson is right. Lloyd has left the Monastery before. The memories are… hazy now, but he remembers the scent of blood every time he ventured out before he could control it. He's reduced his visits outside the Monastery for a reason.

With that in mind, he rises before the sunrise, and downs two pills. If he gets to the wheel before the kids wake up—

"Oh hey, you're up early!" says Morro cheerily from behind the wheel.

Lloyd squawks.

"You forgot ghosts don't sleep," Morro guesses.

"I forgot ghosts don't sleep," Lloyd confirms, groaning. "Honestly, I expected you to just lure me in and then change back the direction with the wind."

"Oh, I can't control the wind anymore."

"What."

"Did I not mention I don't have my powers anymore?" Morro asks. "I could have sworn I mentioned it."

"When?" Lloyd demands.

He shrugs. "Yeah, so after the Merge, I woke up in Cloud Kingdom with my powers gone. I think a kid there has them or something. I was upset about it at first, but you know, I figured it was karma for helping the Preeiminant try and curse all sixteen realms."

"You are way too calm about this." Lloyd's eye twitches.

"It's been six years. Ghosts can eventually get over themselves, you know, when you're outside of Her influence."

He squints. "Wait, back up, have you been just standing there… like, all night?"

"Unfortunately." Morro looked like he wanted to say more before lasers rained on them.

"Get us on land!" Lloyd orders. "I'm heading to the controls!"

He ducks when the next laser comes too close to his head. Lloyd sprints to the control board, opening up the cams—and he's confronted with a tattered, barely functioning, old Destiny Bounty.

How?

If people, like Morro, can come back, so can a dead ship, he supposes. But as smart as the Bounty is, she needs a crew.

As Lloyd catches a moving figure on the deck, he zooms in.

Harumi.

And then he, embarrassingly late, remembers to slam the button to activate the Bounty's weapons defense system.

Someone has to die. And it isn't going to be his students. Lloyd breathes, and with a step of his foot, freezes her entirely.

Oxygen can't reach a person's lungs if every avenue is blocked. He curls his fists. And it definitely won't if those lungs are filled with ice. It takes 30 minutes to develop frostbite at those temperatures. It'll only take 7 minutes for Harumi to reach total organ failure.

And as he turns around, he faces Arin, shivering and desperately horrified.

…

…

"Hello again," Lloyd says, dumbly.

"Friend of a friend," Morro says, echoing the words of a song Lloyd definitely knew wasn't made in the man's lifetime.

"You can control ice," Arin says, ignoring the elephant in the sky. Sora, bless her heart, jumped on over to the other Bounty, maneuvering it for landing.

Lloyd frowns. "I'm the Green Ninja. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"I thought—I thought you just had your energy blasts."

"Oh, well, that's sort of my signature move, sure," Lloyd said. "But I have command of all elements that the First Spinjitzu Master had. So, basically everything except wind and water, which belong to Wojira."

There's a great pause, when Nelson finally says, "The pills you took this morning were just filled with sugar."

Lloyd raises an eyebrow.

"I was in a few clinical trials when I was younger," Nelson explains. "You didn't really seem to be getting much benefit from them, so I wanted to check."

"The pills were a placebo." Lloyd pinches his nose. "I don't know why I'm surprised. Cyrus was acting weird when he gave them to me."

"That does explain why they don't seem to work," Morro comments.

He flicks his fingers on Morro's nose, ignoring that they only were effective at going through them. "Rude."

…

…

Fortunately for Lloyd's sanity, the group agrees to hold off on full explanations until after they set up camp. With the extra ship, they can hopefully scavenge materials for expansions and repairs. It bought him enough time to gather his thoughts into something presentable, sane, understandable to a normal person.

In front of the campfire, Lloyd paces in front of his students and unfortunate ghostly companion. He breathes. "So."

"So," Morro mocks.

Lloyd glares but continues. "Every time I wake up, I have the desire to kill. But I don't. I have to fight this venom. It's my responsibility."

"Venom?" Sora questions.

"My father was not born evil. He was bit by the Great Devourer as a child, before the snake ate enough to become a giant." He looks up at the starry sky. "He did not realize that the venom in his blood could be inherited, else I suspect he would not have borne a son."

"Lloyd, why didn't you tell me any of this before?" Arin asks.

Lloyd sighs. "Because you never asked. And if I played my cards right, you never would."

Chapter Text

"Don't you get it? It has to be like this. I want to kill everyone else in this entire, pathetic world. They're not worth saving. They're only worth destroying. And there's one man at the top of that list to first cull the weakness in society: Lord Garmadon!"

… Lloyd could admit he may have derailed into a tangent by the end of his explanation.

He winces as Sora pulls Arin back, solidly behind her. He… probably deserved that.

…

…

Having tears falling on his cheeks is a painful, foreign experience. Lloyd knows loss. He lost nearly everyone before, but that came with anger that grew in the stiff, silent stillness.

This was his goal, so why is the regret pulling him again? Why is he… sorry?

"Would it ever be enough?"

That's the problem with Lloyd, he just can't stop, can't cease caring.

He has to die.

…

…

He lives. Through sputtering gasps and eyes piercing red, Lloyd should be dead. But he's not.

Alive, alive, alive.

He has the rest of dead-Harumi's crew to take down, students to defend.

…

…

When they arrive back at Borg's hideout, Nelson curtly informs him about Lloyd's sloppy kill.

"Did you at least clean up the evidence?" Borg asks, only mildly annoyed.

"Obviously, I'm not an amatuar, Cyrus." Lloyd pauses. "Wait, why is that your first response?"

"You used to live with Pixal," Borg answers flatly.

"Ah." Her moral conscience is always shakier than the rest of theirs, now he thinks about it. Maybe he could ask her for some assistance.

…

…

"Dumpling for your thoughts?"

Morro snorts. "It's penny for your thoughts. Even I know that."

"Dumplings taste better than pennies."

"Yeah… they really do." Morro'a face distorts into a pained sort of expression. "Why did you even give me a chance? You were looking for me, sure, but…" But you wanted to kill me.

Lloyd has never truly understood Morro. There were flashes, fleeting thoughts and unsaid conversations in his head from before, that hinted at the depth of Morro's psyche. He's acutely aware that his apathy to his own survival like this did no favors to his students' lives. Youthful, wonderful students who want to live.

And had he been wrong about Morro, they could have died. But he wasn't.

"On Day of the Departed, I forgot Cole. He was the leader of the Ninja, one of my brothers, and I forgot him." Lloyd blows a stray hair out of his face. "But you didn't."

"I see," Morro says. "It wasn't your fault though. Yang made you forget."

"You saved his life," Lloyd stresses. "That means… everything." He gestures out his hand.

Morro holds it.

For an uncomfortably long thirty-four seconds, they sat there, holding hands like they were innocent.

Lloyd breathes.

"Why are we doing this?" Morro asks quietly.

"I don't know." And he laughs. He is Lord Garmadon's only child in name alone. Lloyd was discarded, then chosen, then discarded again. In the end, it never mattered because Lloyd always chose his family for himself.

He chooses Morro. He chooses Arin and Sora, and Nelson too. If Rose wants him, he'll choose her. The Ninja are separated, lost and apart, he'll find them again one day and choose them again. This is family, and it's his. Maybe Nelson will never find the answer he's looking for. Maybe Sora won't ever find her True Potential. Maybe Arin's Spinjitzu will never get better. But they'll try, for each other, to become better nonetheless.

And maybe, Lloyd can admit he's grown too bitter at enemies long gone. He can let himself be free and heal, starting with Morro, his friend.

"You weren't supposed to be so kind," Lloyd says finally.

"I'm… sorry?" Morro says.

"It's too late." Lloyd grins. "But it's not your fault, really. I'm just bad at getting away with murder."