Chapter Text
After seeing their youngest member reunite with his father and defeat the invading Oni, the ninja thought they would finally get a break. After years of being heroes, it would be nice to relax. So why did they find themselves frantically searching their monastery home for their green ninja friend only a few weeks after their most recent adventure?
Kai had nearly turned the entire monastery upside down, looking for Lloyd, when they realized he was missing. There was no sign of a struggle, and Lloyd's car was still parked in the garages. And no one had any idea where he could've gone.
And, of course, Garmadon and Misako were the most concerned. Not knowing the whereabouts of their child was frightening. Garmadon tried his best to comfort his wife, but he'd be a liar if he said he wasn't using his own words to comfort himself.
They sat in the living room, trying to keep each other calm while the ninja frantically searched for clues about their missing friend. After their searches came up empty, they regrouped in the living room to further discuss the situation.
"Lloyd wouldn't just leave in the middle of the night! And even if he would, he'd tell us, or we'd all go!" Kai was pacing back and forth across the room. Nya had attempted to calm him down during the initial search but to no avail.
"We have no clues as to where he could've gone, no reason, and the only way he could've left without us knowing would be by dragon! Which is by no means helpful!" Jay was starting to slip into panic mode, which was also difficult to calm.
"Look, we all just need to-" Cole began before being interrupted.
"You better not fucking say 'calm down,' Cole! Lloyd is missing, and you want us to calm down!?" Kai yelled.
"Staying calm is better for Lloyd's case than losing our minds! Why is it that every time Lloyd goes missing or gets captured, we act like we can't function without him!?" Cole argued back. To try to diffuse the already tense situation, Zane stepped in.
"Cole is right; we tend to lose our way whenever Lloyd is absent. For his sake, we have to-"
"No, what we need to do is find him! We know we won't last without Lloyd for long! I'm already losing it!" Jay yelled, still in a panic. The ninja argued back and forth on what to do, drowning out the adults' voices. Not even Wu could break through his students' worried yells. That is until…
"Enough!" Garmadon stood and yelled out, finally catching the attention of the ninja. They all went silent and redirected their attention to the former evil warlord.
"You all are acting like children! If all of you would stop and think for a moment, you could remember that it is not just your friend and teammate that has vanished! Lloyd is my son! Misako and I are far more concerned for his safety than you could possibly imagine! And yelling at each other is not helping." Garmadon's voice gradually calmed, knowing he had the ninjas' full attention. He also noticed Misako had flinched when he raised his voice. He placed a hand on her shoulder, not wanting to cause her any further stress.
“Apologies, Sensei Garmadon. We did not mean to cause more stress to you and Misako. We are simply worried about Lloyd," Pixal said. Garmadon released the air he held in his chest as he sat back down.
"You have already searched the monastery for clues only to find nothing. If we are going to find Lloyd, we must look beyond the monastery. Brother, I suggest we head down to the village and ask around. Perhaps someone has seen him," Wu said. Garmadon paused momentarily, looked over at Misako's worried face, and turned back to his younger brother with a nod.
"What about us, sensei?" Nya asked.
"You six shall remain here and recollect yourselves. We will discuss our actions to further the investigation upon our return. I would also suggest someone get in touch with Skylor. Perhaps she has seen him." Wu then turned to leave, followed by Garmadon and Misako.
The ninja exchanged looks of worry. Waiting was not what they wanted to do.
---
"I know Wu wanted us to wait and recollect ourselves, but I'm getting really impatient." Jay sat upside down on the couch, trying to distract his mind from his worry. Kai was on the phone with Skylor, wearing a solemn and frustrated expression. It seemed like Skylor hadn't seen Lloyd either.
"I hate to say it, but me too, Jay. How long have they been gone?" Nya asked.
"One hour, twenty-two minutes, and thirteen seconds. And counting," Pixal replied.
"It's only been an hour and a half!? Ugh, I can't take this anymore! Maybe we should just go out looking for him without them!" Jay tried getting off the couch but nearly fell off instead (and almost kicked Cole, who was sitting next to him). Cole sighed and stood from his spot on the couch, deciding he needed to take the initiative.
"One, I don't think Garmadon and Misako would appreciate us running off mindlessly looking for Lloyd. Two, we're all stressed out. We're not thinking straight. Sensei Wu wanted us to recollect ourselves for a reason. We work better together when we're clear of mind. I'm going to go grab us some drinks, and we're going to work through this like adults."
"Cole, hate to dampen your little speech, but last I checked, the three of us are nineteen, Nya's seventeen, and Zane and Pixal don't really age," Kai said. Cole paused on his way out of the room to look back at Kai.
"You know what, Kai, we're close enough. I'll be right back." And with that, Cole left the room.
Although he was trying his best to be the strong one of the group, Cole would be lying if he said he had everything under control. His inner big brother was terrified for Lloyd's safety. And not knowing anything about the situation made him even more worried.
But he had to keep a level head if they were going to find Lloyd. Cole entered the kitchen, took a deep breath, and headed for the refrigerator. He opened it and pulled out drinks and sodas he knew his friends liked. All the while, he was muttering to himself about how they were going to figure this all out and find Lloyd. After grabbing the drinks, he closed the fridge and turned to leave.
"Hey."
"Hi." Cole exited the room to return to his friends. Once he arrived in the living room, he went around to give everyone their drink of choice.
"Alright, sparkling water for Zane and Pixal. Can of strawberry lemonade for Jay. Root beer for-…" Cole trailed off just as he handed Nya her drink. A shocked and confused expression on his face quickly followed. Nya took her drink slowly, noticing Cole's emotional shift.
"Uh, Cole? You okay?" Cole said nothing and seemed to stare off into space. The others noticed and chimed in.
A "Is something wrong, Cole," from Zane and a "Did you just have a stroke or something," coming from Kai. Cole didn't respond for a few seconds more before shaking himself out of his shocked state.
"Imma be right back," he said as he tossed Kai's cola soda over to him (and set his soda down) before heading out of the room again and heading back towards the kitchen. He tried rationalizing it all in his head, but once he entered the kitchen, that shock and confusion had all but returned.
There, sitting on the counter, was a teenage girl. A girl he had never once seen before. She looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, had dark brown hair that was a little longer than shoulder length, fair skin, and wore a dark blue zip-up hoodie over a light grey shirt, a light pair of blue jeans, and brown leather lace-up ankle boots. She sat on the counter in a relaxed way, leaning back on her left arm, had one leg crossed over the other, and her eyes closed. And held up to her lips was a can of lemonade (regular).
Cole stared at her for a few seconds before the girl sensed his presence. She looked over at him, revealing her emerald green eyes, let out a soft chuckle, and gave him a small wave. Cole stood in silence for several more seconds, staring in shock, when Jay's voice called out to him.
"Cole!? Is everything okay!?" The girl let out another soft chuckle before turning her attention to Cole.
"You might as well call your friends over, Block-Head." Cole couldn't process the nickname and turned his head down the hall while the girl returned her attention to her drink.
"Uh, you guys might want to come here!" Cole remained in the kitchen doorway, hearing his friends come down the hall.
"What's wrong?" Pixal said once they all arrived.
"That." Cole pointed into the kitchen, followed by his friends looking into the room and gaining the same shocked and confused expressions. The young girl glanced over again and saw their faces.
"Well, hey there, ninja," she said, followed by a multitude of questions from the ninja.
"Who are you!?"
"How did you get here!?"
"What are you doing here!?"
"How long have you been here!?"
"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down. I'll answer all your questions, but let me finish my drink," the girl said, interrupting the onset of questions before taking another sip.
"Is that from our fridge?" Nya asked. The girl let out another laugh, but one more of guilt, and looked at them with a similar guilty expression.
"Yeah, sorry. I got thirsty." She continued to drink her lemonade. The ninja were too stunned to say much more for a few minutes, simply looking back and forth between each other and the girl. After taking the last sip from the can, the girl let out a long sigh and tossed the empty can to a bin Zane had labeled as 'recycle'. She then jumped off the counter and turned her complete attention to the ninja.
"Alright, now I can get to those questions. Starting with the first one. My name's Autumn."
"Okay, 'Autumn', what are you doing here?" Kai asked. Autumn thought for a moment and crossed her arms.
"That might actually be a bit difficult to answer. Same with the 'how did you get here' question." The Ninja exchanged looks, and Pixal stepped up.
"What about how long have you been here?"
"That's easier. Not long, maybe about twenty/thirty minutes. I've been chilling around and eventually got thirsty. Sorry again for taking that lemonade. Can I give you guys a few bucks and say I bought it from you guys rather than stealing?" Jay pushed forward in the crowd.
"The lemonades are for me and Lloyd so ye- Ow!"
"Don't say that, Zaptrap. Sorry about him, kid. And don't worry about the drink. It's not like we don't have a bunch to share. You just, well, caught us all off guard," Cole said. Jay held his ribcage where Cole elbowed him and flicked his head. Autumn chuckled at the exchange.
"Hehe, fair enough. I did sort of break into your place after all. Sorry again about that. But I sort of have to be here."
"What do you mean by that?" Zane asked. Autumn tensed up and shifted in place. It seems like she didn't mean to say that. She remained quiet for a bit before redirecting her attention to the ninja.
"Because I know Lloyd is missing, and I'm here to help find him." Everyone froze and stared at Autumn. Autumn had already turned to look away from them and pressed her lips into a line.
"How did you know Lloyd was missing? He just disappeared. Did you have something to do with this, kid?!" Kai asked, raising his voice. Autumn quickly turned her attention to Kai.
"Of course not! It's... It's had to explain. But I swear I had nothing to do with his disappearance."
"Seems like a lot of things are 'hard to explain' with you. You show up out of nowhere and say you know our friend is missing when no one should know that? That's not how things work, kid." Kai approached Autumn while she took a step back.
"I said I had nothing to do with Lloyd's disappearance! I don't particularly appreciate being accused of things I had nothing to do with. Especially since you don't have any evidence I did anything, I could just leave and let you guys search mindlessly for him."
"Alright enough, you two. Kai, we can't just say she had something to do with this. Now, Autumn, that doesn't mean we trust you completely because we don't. If you want to help, you'll have to tell us more," Nya said, stepping between her brother and Autumn. Autumn backed away further, keeping her distance.
"Why don't you tell us how you got here? We know you didn't come in through the front door since you have to pass through the living room to get to the kitchen," Zane said, trying to defuse the tense atmosphere. Autumn went silent and closed her eyes for a moment. She let out a sigh and looked at them.
"I promise I'm not trying to cause trouble. But if I tell you, you can't freak out." The ninja looked amongst themselves before giving Autumn an affirming nod. "Okay. So, funny thing about the realm crystal, if you know how to use it properly, you can actually travel distances within a realm." The ninja shifted from somewhat relaxed to extreme shock and worry.
"Kid, that thing is not a toy. You can't be using it willy-nilly," Kai said. Autumn pressed her lips into a line. She knew this reaction was coming.
"If my memory serves correctly, Lloyd destroyed the realm crystal when we fought the Oni. You couldn't have used the realm crystal to get here," Zane said.
"That would be true if it weren't for a few factors. One, when the realm crystal was broken, it didn't lose its power. It just separated into each shard. In that case, I hope you guys know where those shards are so they don't fall into the wrong hands. Two, I didn't use it to get here," Autumn said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jay asked. Autumn let out a sigh and backed away from the ninja.
"Because I have the power of the realm crystal." A long pause let out through the room. The ninja looked at Autumn with shocked expressions while Autumn stayed back and away from them. It didn't take words for Autumn to know that they didn't believe her. She let out a sigh and held up her hand. She summoned a blue aura that looked very similar, almost identical, to Lloyd's energy. She shot the aura to the kitchen floor, and a large dark blue and black gateway appeared. It was identical to the gateways they had seen previously created by the realm crystal. The gateway caused wind to swirl around the room, nearly knocking over the ninja.
"Believe me now?!" Autumn snapped her fingers, and the gateway disappeared. The wind died down, and Autumn stood still, carefully watching the ninjas' reactions.
"So... that's a power, apparently," Jay said after a few seconds of silence. Autumn stayed silent and shrugged her shoulders.
"And how do we know you don't have a shard of the realm crystal on you?" Kai said. By now, it wasn't just Autumn getting frustrated by the accusations; everyone was. Zane stepped up and placed a hand on Kai's shoulder.
"Cyrus Borg did lock away the shards of the realm crystal for safekeeping. He would have informed us if someone had attempted to steal the shards. I've also been running a diagnostic on her to see if she's been lying. And she isn't." Kai seemed reluctant to believe his nindroid brother at first, but Zane very rarely lied.
"Uh, okay. Quick thing, maybe tell me you're going to do something like that beforehand. I understand why you did it, but it's kind of creepy learning you did that," Autumn said.
"My apologies. We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. Why don't we start over? Your name is Autumn, and you've got quite a unique power. I assume you know our names. You said you want to help find Lloyd?" Zane slowly approached Autumn. He didn't want to set her off more than she probably already was. And Autumn was relieved to have someone talk to her more calmly.
"I guess you could also say that I need help finding him. The thing is, I've known Lloyd since we were young. I sort of had a weird and bad feeling last night. That's how I knew something happened to him. I came here as a means of getting help because I know I can't do this on my own," she said.
"I see. Why don't we all return to the living room and discuss more? Lloyd's parents and our sensei should be back soon. We should also contact your parents, Autumn. They must be worried," Zane said. They all turned to leave and return to the living room. Autumn muttered something under her breath, but Zane didn't catch what she said. Autumn slowly followed the ninja and arrived in the living room. She sat in a chair in the corner, trying to keep her distance.
"So, what do you know about what could have happened to Lloyd?" Nya asked. Instead of an answer, Autumn stayed quiet. Nya attempted to ask the question again, but Autumn still did not respond. The ninja got confused. Just moments ago, she seemed willing to talk and help find Lloyd. Now she wasn't saying anything.
"Is something wrong, Autumn?" Cole asked. Autumn remained silent and shrugged her shoulders.
"Did someone say something that upset you?" Pixal asked. Once again, Autumn remained silent and nodded. Everyone instinctually looked at Kai since he was the only one who had been more aggressive towards Autumn. Kai noticed the looks he was getting, though he wasn't surprised.
"Oh, piss off. Look, kid, I'm sorry for how I was acting. I'm worried about my friend, and I'm really protective of him. And you showed up out of nowhere, that didn't really-" Kai couldn't finish his words before Autumn cut in.
"It's not you. Him." Autumn pointed over to Zane. Zane's eyes widened, along with everyone else's. Autumn pulled her knees close to her chest and hugged them.
"Me? My deepest apologies, Autumn. I had no intention of upsetting you. Might you tell me what it was I said that upset you?" Autumn went back to being silent for a few seconds before sighing.
"It's nothing, really. It's mostly just my own issues. But... you don't need to call my parents. Let's just wait for Lloyd's parents to return. I'll be able to explain a lot more then." The ninja exchanged looks and decided to take another breather. If Autumn said she could explain more when the adults returned, they would trust her this time.
---
After about another half hour, the ninja and Autumn heard Wu call out to them. Cole replied that they were still in the living room. While everyone was getting ready to review information, Nya noticed Autumn seemed unnerved. She stood from her chair and walked across the room to talk to her. She knelt done to attempt eye contact with Autumn.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" Autumn glanced up at Nya for a moment before turning her head away from her. "Hey, I don't know what's going on right now, but if you need someone to talk to or someone who will listen, I'm here." Nya stood and walked back to her seat. But she smiled after hearing a quiet 'thank you'.
"Everyone we asked said they hadn't seen Lloyd. This situation is getting more worrisome by the second," Garmadon said as they entered the room. The ninja looked dejected. They hoped the adults would find out something.
"I know you all want to search for him on your own, but I think it might be good to-..." Misako trailed off when her eyes landed on Autumn, who was still curled up in the chair. Garmadon and Wu followed with similar expressions of disbelief.
"Sensei Garmadon, Sensei Wu, Misako, this is Autumn. She claims to know about Lloyd's disappearance and could know more. She wishes to help find him," Pixal said. Autumn looked up at the adults, remaining in her position on the chair.
"How... How did she get here?" Garmadon asked, not taking his eyes off the girl.
"Apparently, she has the same powers as the realm crystal. It's actually kinda cool. What else can you do, Autumn?" Jay asked, but Autumn didn't respond.
"She's been like that for a little while. We're not exactly sure why, though. We were going to go over some things and then call her parents once you three got back," Cole said.
"You don't have to do that," Autumn spoke up for the first time in the past thirty minutes. Everyone looked at Autumn, mostly out of shock from her speaking up.
"It's the wisest decision, Autumn. If you're going to help us, then informing your parents would be-"
"No. You really don't need to." Autumn interrupted Zane. She seemed very sure of this.
"Why," Nya asked. Autumn went back to being quiet for the next few moments. She let out a long sigh and let her feet fall to the floor, her hands falling to grasp her jeans, causing the fabric to bunch up. Autumn lifted her head to look at the adults before her eyes fell to the floor. She let out another sigh, keeping her eyes on the floor.
"Because my parents just entered the room."
The room went dead silent. The ninja's eyes widened, and they all looked between Autumn, Garmadon, and Misako. Autumn brought her eyes, now glossy looking as they filled with tears, back up to Garmadon and Misako. She let out a weak chuckle and smiled as a tear fell from her eye.
"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. Long time no see, huh?"