Chapter Text
It’s been about two weeks and four days since the crystal king was defeated. And since Lloyd went into his Oni Form. Since that time period, Lloyd had been noticing… changes within himself.
He felt more easily agitated and more annoyed with things lately. He would snap sometimes when Jay would make a few annoying jokes, or would get a bit more frustrated during training. He felt guilty after he would snap at people, and would apologize after, but it was starting to worry Lloyd.
Am I becoming like my father? He thought to himself as he laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling, a faint light from the moon from his window. “Ugh, I can't sleep…” He murmured to himself quietly, his mind racing with doubt, and disarming thoughts.
He carefully slipped out of his bed, trying to be quiet as he slowly crept towards the door of his room, as not to wake the others. His door creaked quietly, and Lloyd cursed under his breath, waiting to see if anyone heard it. Luckily, none of the other ninja seemed to be awake. That’s good. He continued creeping carefully around the freshly repaired monastery.
Lloyd softly stepped outside, the nighttime air was chilly, and a gentle breeze blew. “Well, might as well take a walk I guess.” He walked to the gates, then paused, realizing that it may be too loud. Well, I am a ninja. He shrugged, and quietly clambered up the walls of the monastery, and quietly hopped down, crouching as he landed to stable himself. He stood up, and brushed off some leaves and dust that had gotten on him. He eyed the monastery steps, it would be a long walk, but it’s what he needed, so he began his trudge.
After walking down for about only five minutes, Lloyd glanced at the moon, which was shining brightly in the sky, and the stars speckling the sky with it. Lloyd gave a soft smile, and continued down the steps, making soft thuds as he hopped down the steps. It sure is peaceful tonight. We haven't had a lot of peace lately… but at least we have a break for now. He thought to himself, even though it might sound a bit less than optimistic.
As Lloyd finally reached the last of the steps, he was a bit out of breath. “Why- do. We- have so- many steps.” He huffed out. He sat down on the bottom step, and looked out, gazing at the quiet nighttime scenery. An occasional hoot from a bird, or a small shuffle of a leaf falling to the ground only to be blown away momentarily. Unfortunately, this silence left Lloyd and his thoughts alone.
Why are you like this Lloyd? I’ve been snapping at my friends… maybe I’m becoming like my father… “No, no! I'm Lloyd Garmadon, the green ninja. I help people, I don’t hurt them.” He mumbled to himself. “Besides… just because I went into my ‘oni form’ one time, doesn’t make me bad.” He tried to reassure himself, albeit not really working. “Everything is fine Lloyd.” He hissed to himself. “Harumi is in prison, the monastery has been rebuilt, there’s no current enemies, it’s fine .” He said a bit quickly, fidgeting a bit with his hands. He took a breath.
Face it Lloyd. You’re just like your father, admit it. His mind taunted him, Lloyd kept quiet. Your father and you are practically identical, even if you don’t like it Lloyd. Especially when you get frustrated, or annoyed. Snapping at people. And hurting their feelings. His mind taunted him, and Lloyd let out an annoyed grumble, his eyes turning a light… purple?
“Stop. Stop it. STOP IT. I am nothing like my father!” Lloyd shouted angrily, and stood up from his seat, walking towards a small tree. He punched the tree, his hand glowing purple. It's bark cracking, letting out a loud snapping sound, chunks and pieces of bark falling to the ground, and splintering a bit in Lloyd’s hand. “Ahg!” Lloyd hissed through his teeth, his anger ebbing away, as he stared at his hands. They were scarred from prior battles, and now the hand he had punched the tree with was slowly trickling a few drops of blood, from where a few jagged pieces of bark splintered in his hand. “Oh Fsm… this is going to hurt.” Lloyd grumbled, as he turned back towards the stairs.
Lloyd reclimbed the stairs, holding his bloodied hand. He quickly sped up a bit, as he noticed a few dim rays of sun start peeking from the horizon. He did not have time to waste… he had to get back to the monastery before the others woke up.
He finally arrived, and clambered the wall again, albeit a bit more clumsy as to not hurt his hand even more. Wow… you’re so weak. You’ve had worse injuries than splinters from punching a tree before, and you can't even climb a wall with it. Wow. Lloyd thought bitterly to himself, as he landed on the other side.
He quickly hurried himself inside, and quietly crept into the bathroom, and shut the door, and locked it with a small click. He gently grasped some tweezers in a cabinet they had, and began to pull out the bloodied pieces of bark, hissing through his teeth. He carefully checked it over again, making sure no smaller pieces of bark had remained, and though he did find a small bit or two, he removed it with tweezers, with some precision. He glanced over his bloodied hand, most of the blood was dry, except for some from when he pulled out the bark, which went a bit deeper than he had thought. Lloyd pressed some toilet paper to the bleeding wounds, and threw them away after it stopped a bit. He opened the cabinet again, and pulled out a small medical kit, which they always had stocked considering what they got themselves into.
He pulled out a few bandages, and wrapped them carefully around his hand, some blood speckling through. He sighed, The others will worry if I walk out with a bandage on my hand. Then he gasped slightly, he had an idea, and quickly shoved the kit back into the cabinet.
He carefully crept back into his room, and threw on his usual green gi, but this time, he wore some black gloves he hadn’t worn in a while, and slipped it carefully onto his bandaged hand. He let out a small sigh of relief, and peeked out the window, it was now dawn, and he had no doubt the ninja would be awake soon. But on the bright side, hopefully they wouldn’t notice his injury.
He flopped on his bed, and got lost in thought. Thinking about almost everything that had happened recently, they hadn’t had a lot of time to process it all. They had gotten Nya back, but then Harumi also had come back, and his dad had cared more about a plant than him. Wow.
“Lloyd! Come on out, Zane made us breakfast as a celebration for finishing the monastery repairs.” Called Kai from outside, as his footsteps gently thumped away into the kitchen.
At least Lloyd got a break from his thoughts… Now he just had to make sure nobody notices how he got hurt, or how he is plagued by his own thoughts. Easy… right?