Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The final battle with the Crystal King aka the Overlord was going great.

Well, except for the fact that they were losing.

Sure, they had cool Dragon Forms now, but their elemental powers had all decided to abandon them in their moment of need and form Ultra again – only golden, because why not – and rush to the Overlord’s pretty little crystal floating island.

Kai grunted as a Vengestone warrior hit him particularly hard on the side, twisting around and planting a firm kick to its face, watching in satisfaction as it collapsed.

And another one bites the dust.

“Oi, Kai, a little help here!” Cole shouted as he struggled against a few of the warriors who’d decided to gang up on him. His wings flapped frantically, but they nearly had him pinned.

Kai punched a few warriors that stood in his way, glaring down at them as they fell, and was at Cole’s side in a few minutes. He whirled around, Spinjitzuing the little freaks away, and helped his brother up, amber eyes sweeping over him in concern.

“You good?” He questioned.

Cole nodded and flew up into the sky. “Thanks!” He called down breathlessly, knocking a few of the warriors down from the buildings, making them shatter against the ground.

Kai shot him a thumbs up, and let his eyes wander around the battlefield, searching for any others that needed support.

However, everyone was engaged and holding pretty well on their own (even if Kai did say so himself), despite the warriors being near-indestructible.

He absently smashed his fist into the armour of a Vengestone warrior, and cast his worried gaze to the sky, where his little brother, Lloyd, was probably engaged in the biggest battle of his life.

As if waiting for him to look up, there was an ear-splitting BOOM! And a flash of violet light exploded from the island, accompanied by an all-too familiar yell as something small and green was nearly thrown off.

Kai’s eyes widened. He could’ve been mistaken, but…

No.

He shook his head, panic zipping through his veins all of a sudden as he remembered another sibling he’d once left unattended during a battle.

His amber gaze narrowed as his legs tensed, ready to leap into the sky. I need to go, he thought determinedly, wings flapping once as he made his decision.

There was no way he was taking any chances with any of his siblings.

Never again.

“I’m going up there! Lloyd needs help!” He shouted to Cole, who only screamed, “GO!” In response, preoccupied with beating the Mechanic’s skull in.

Kai flapped his wings as hard as he could, shooting into the air, and saw the Golden Ultra Dragon lurking underneath the island as he neared.

“What’re you doin’ here, buddy?” He asked, slowing down just a little and frowning. “We’re needed up there! Come on!”

The dragon growled something at him, their eyes narrowed and protective.

Before Kai could say anything else, he heard another familiar yell.

His blood ran cold.

Lloyd!

Ignoring the dragon, he surged upwards, newfound panic replacing his confusion, and skidded onto the Crystal Island’s surface, amber eyes frantically searching for his little brother.

“LLOYD!” He shouted.

Instead of the Green Ninja, it was an Oni – a golden Oni – who spun around at the name. Seeing him, its purple eyes widened, and it grabbed its head, screaming, “No! No!” As it grunted with pain, shrinking back into a person Kai knew well.

“Kai,” Lloyd, who’d been a golden Oni only moments before, whispered hoarsely, sprinting over to him and engulfing him in a giant hug, burying his head into the crook of his neck, sobbing.

Instinctively, Kai wrapped his arms around his little brother, although he still felt shell-shocked.

“Lloyd,” he said, disbelieving.

“I know!” Lloyd cried, his grip tightening around Kai like he was afraid that he would be pushed away. “I swear I didn’t mean to, but Garmadon died and I-I got so angry that I turned into an Oni and –”

“Lloyd!” Kai shouted, looking at something behind the blond. “I don’t care! Just get behind me!”

He pushed the Green Ninja to the side, eyes widening as the Overlord shot a giant purple blast straight at them, and squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for pain to hit him –

BOOM!

The last thing he saw was Lloyd’s surprised green eyes as the two were yanked into a glowing portal, which slammed shut behind them, and everything went black.

---

Chapter Text

He came to slowly, groaning at the bright light.

Squinting, he held a hand up to shield his eyes, before he realized three things.

1. He didn’t have wings anymore.
2. They were in a garbage depot.
3. Oh, and he was bleeding out.

The blast had gotten him right on his side. Kai winced and peeled his red gi off a little, blanching at the sight of his shredded skin.

“OK,” he whispered frantically, “I’m hurt. That’s fine. That’s fi – Wait. Where’s Lloyd?! Lloyd!”

His head snapped left and right in panic as he remembered the circumstances of how he’d gotten hurt.  

A muted groan was his only answer. Lloyd lay on his side, and Kai rushed over to him, ignoring the way his wound burned in agony at the movement.

“…K-Kai,” Lloyd slurred. He half-raised his hand and tried to grin. “H-Hey. Did we win?”

Kai tried to answer, but he suddenly gasped in pain, falling with a thud! On the ground. He hissed as the wound in his side flared angrily, and forced himself to get up, swaying unsteadily on his feet.

Lloyd watched him with half-lidded eyes, concerned. He tried to stand and help, but he was far too dazed to even sit up, yelping in discomfort.

“K-Kai,” he whispered hoarsely, looking at his back. He swallowed and looked away guiltily. “I-I think I’m hurt.”

Kai’s amber eyes widened in panic. “Where?” He asked frantically, stumbling over, holding his side like he had a stitch. “Is it bad?”

“I-I don’t know.” Lloyd’s voice was getting weaker, and Kai’s alarm only increased.

He all but fell next to his brother, inspecting his back, before recoiling in horror.

It was not a pretty sight.

Kai glared at Lloyd, fear coursing through his veins. “What did you do, you idiot? How did you get hurt so badly?!” His hands were already tearing strips off his own red gi in order to throw together a makeshift bandage, trying desperately not to look as terrified as he felt.

“…Sorry,” Lloyd murmured. He was beginning to sway, and leaned against Kai for support.

Kai nearly exploded right then. Sorry?! This boy was bleeding out, had about a dozen wounds, his back was all but shredded to pieces, and he had the nerve to apologize for it?!

“Saw…Overlord…and Ultra…” Lloyd’s green eyes were beginning to drift together. His next words were a bare whisper. “Couldn’t…let…you get…hurt.” Then, in slightly bitter tone, “Oni…are stronger…than…humans.”

“You’re only part Oni, Lloyd!” Kai exclaimed angrily, quieting only when Lloyd winced at the loud noise.

He felt like smacking himself with a brick repeatedly. Stupid, stupid!

How could he have let this happen?! He’d thought he was the one protecting his little brother, not the other way around!

“…Sleepy,” Lloyd murmured suddenly.

Kai shot to attention, panic zinging through his veins and making him more alert than ever. “No, Lloyd!” He lightly slapped his brother’s cheeks, amber eyes wide. “Don’t sleep! Not now! Stay awake for me, please!”

Lloyd’s eyes flickered open. He coughed, spitting out blood. “…Can’t,” he muttered. “So…tired.”

“Just a little longer!”

Kai worked as fast as he possibly could, and tied the last bits of his makeshift bandage on his little brother’s back, but it soon became clear that the wound was far too big for the bandage to help at all.

Blood soaked through immediately, dripping onto the ground. Though Kai’s arms and legs were completely bare of the gi now, there were still large areas left uncovered, and already Kai could see dirt and other grime infecting the open wound.

“No,” he muttered angrily, slamming his fist onto the ground. He got up, ignoring the pain in his side, and searched frantically for something, anything, that could help them.

The minute he stood, though, Lloyd slumped to the side and lay there, unmoving.

Kai’s heart stuttered to a stop.

His little brother wasn’t breathing.

“LLOYD!” He sank to his knees, and shook the blond insistently, but there was no response. He was openly crying now, burning tears blazing trails down his cold cheeks, splattering onto his little brother’s green gi. “Lloyd, wake up!”

There was a searing sensation from his shoulder blades, and Kai grunted in pain, squeezing his eyes shut and clutching his shoulder tightly as the pain ebbed away.

He opened his eyes to glare at the presumed assailant behind him, only to stare in shock instead.

His wings…

They were back?

His amber gaze narrowed in rage. “Oh, now you choose to show up?!” He screamed, uncaring that the wings were technically just part of his own body.

He was angry at himself, too, so it didn’t particularly matter who he was talking to.

“Thanks, for absolutely nothing! You stupid bunch of absolute –”

Before he could continue on with his rant, his eyes suddenly caught sight of a hospital, only a few blocks away from the garbage depot. An idea sparked in his head, and he stopped abruptly, amber eyes flicking down to the unmoving blond below him.

Maybe, just maybe, there was still hope. 

He then glared down at Lloyd, fierce. “You, mister, are not dying on me so easily!”  

He reached down to pick the blond up in his arms, only to jerk in surprise as his hands suddenly lit up in red and golden light the minute their skin touched. “What the–”

Lloyd gasped, his green eyes flying wide open, glowing unnaturally.

Kai stumbled backwards in shock, mouth open in a wordless shout as his little brother floated a little off the ground, golden light bursting through his skin. Strands of green and golden energy wrapped around him, encasing him in a glowing bubble, before exploding outwards and dissipating, leaving the entire city darkened around them. 

BOOM!

He coughed and hacked, dust and other debris scattered around his trembling body. 

Ow. 

A hiss of pain came from his right. “...Kai,” Lloyd murmured, struggling to his feet. His brilliant green eyes were dazed, but relatively clear. Good. At least he didn't have a concussion. “What – What happened?” The gold-armoured ninja inspected himself, disbelieving. “Also, why am I…glowing?"

Kai shook his head quickly, trying his best to comprehend the situation. What just - How the -

OK. He took a deep breath. When in doubt, focus on the main points.

Lloyd = dead.

Wings back.

Touch led to big explosion thing.

Lloyd = not dead anymore. 

Cool. Kai could deal with that. 

His instincts took over, and he shot a wary glance around the depo. 

“I’ll, uh…” He shot a wary look at the oncoming police sirens, wondering if they’d managed to locate the source of the energy blast already. He wasn’t taking any chances. “I’ll…explain later. Come on!”

Lloyd grabbed his arm, and though his grip was weak, the red ninja stopped anyway, concern flickering in his gaze. 

The other shook his head. “Wait. I need to do something.” He took a step back, and aimed a hand at Kai’s side, looking up seriously and meeting his amber gaze. The barest flicker of pain crossed his face as he summoned his energy, hand lighting up with a green glow. “This probably won’t hurt, but... brace yourself, just in case.”

“Wait, what are you – OW!”

His brother's ball of energy hit him hard. Kai’s side roared with blinding pain, but it faded after a second. He staggered, gasping and looking down. His wound was gone. Only a faint scar remained to prove he hadn’t imagined the whole thing.

Kai looked up, amazed. “How did you do that?”

Lloyd pursed his lips, looking distant. “I…don’t know,” he replied after a moment, as if in a trance. “I just did.”

Kai’s heart did a little backflip in panic as he remembered how Nya had been after she’d merged with the sea. “Lloyd,” he said slowly, inching close, grasping his brother’s hand. Thankfully, he was solid and warm (a little too warm, actually), but he looked awfully tired.

Lloyd blinked dazedly up at him with his sparkling green eyes, which were slowly fading back to their normal colour. He placed a hand on his head, groaning. “Oh, I’ve got such a stupid headache,” he complained.

His annoyed gaze flicked up to his older brother. “Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost? Please don’t tell me that there’s ghosts around aga – ”

His face paled alarmingly, and he slumped against Kai, gasping for breath.  

“Woah!” Kai caught him. “Easy there, Green Ninja.”

“Whatever you did,” Lloyd muttered to him, “it’s making me feel very weird.”

“Good weird? Or bad weird?” Kai asked, holding him upright. His amber gaze was wide in concern.

“I don’t know,” Lloyd replied, wincing. “Just weird.”

His wings moved of their own accord, wrapping his little brother in a hug. Lloyd shivered, melting into their warm embrace with a small sigh.

Kai stared at them, frowning, as a sudden urge of protectiveness surged through his body.

The hatchling, something seemed to growl within his chest. We must guard the hatchling!

Huh? What hatchling?

Kai’s gaze narrowed. Wait, was that voice talking about Lloyd?

Yes, the hatchling - a child of the First, the voice hissed in affirmation. It is our duty to protect him!

Good to know they were on the same page, then. Kai knew he would do anything to protect his little brother.

Speaking of little brothers…

“Lloyd? Where are you going?”

The Green Ninja was walking around the garbage depot, eyebrows furrowed. “This isn’t Ninjago,” he said to Kai, confused. “Why’re we here? What is this place?”

Kai only frowned. “What’re you talking about?” He pointed to a giant wooden sign near the harbour that declared, Welcome to Ninjago! “Of course this is Ninjago!”

“Then where are the others? What happened with the Crystal King?” Lloyd demanded. He stumbled and nearly fell to the ground, but Kai caught him just in time. The sound of sirens was getting too close for comfort now.

“Look,” Kai said, “we’re both exhausted right now. How ‘bout we find somewhere to sleep first, then ask the big questions later?”

Lloyd nodded wearily. “Sounds great.”

Chapter Text

It only took one touch of Lloyd’s hand, and Kai’s wings retreated into his shoulder blades. The Fire Ninja stared at him incredulously, before huffing out a disbelieving laugh. “Always doing the unexpected, eh, Lloyd?”

Lloyd didn’t answer. He kept his green eyes fixed ahead, a deep frown etched onto his face.

It wasn’t because he was annoyed at Kai.

No, he just felt…strange.

How had he survived? He’d known that wound on his back was far too severe to ever heal, even if Kai had managed to get him to a hospital in time. The moment he’d fallen asleep, he’d known that he was going to die.

Actually, no: he was pretty certain that he did die.

Out of pure instinct, he reached into his pocket, startling slightly as something soft touched his fingers.

His green eyes widened.

What?

Cautiously, making sure that Kai wasn’t looking, Lloyd drew a familiar golden petal out, staring at it in shock.

Oh, he’d definitely died for a moment there.

Lloyd felt faint, swallowing roughly. He assumed that Kai hadn’t seen it when he’d woken up, and elected to keep it to himself, quickly tucking the petal back where it had come from.

That was a can of worms he wasn’t ready to open yet.

But unlike the other time that he’d died and come back to life, his elemental energy wasn’t at all depleted – something which surprised him quite a bit.

Yes, he felt tired, extremely so, but his powers were buzzing, practically singing with power. It would only take one lazy lift of a finger, and he felt he could incinerate the entirety of this garbage depot.

Oh, and wasn’t that a scary thought.

He knew things too, now. Things he was sure he hadn’t known before. It was like someone had flipped a switch, granting him access to a whole another side of him that he’d never realized even existed.

Lloyd still wasn’t sure if that was entirely a good thing or not.

“ – Lloyd. Buddy. Lloyd,” Kai’s insistent voice shook him out his thoughts. Lloyd started, jerking his head side to side to find out what was going. “Kai,” he said, frowning. The older boy looked uncharacteristically worried. “Are you feeling alright, Lloyd?” He asked, amber eyes sweeping him over, shadowed. “Please tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” Lloyd said automatically.

His eyes flickered, and he winced as a headache suddenly attacked his temples.

“I’ll…I’ll be okay,” he corrected with a faded smile.

Kai nodded slowly, turning away.

Eventually, Lloyd added quietly in his mind, wincing and placing his hand behind his back as it randomly shot a few green sparks.

Chapter Text

Lloyd squinted up at the darkened city as they made their way out of the garbage depo.

“Woah,” he muttered. “I…I really caused all this, huh?”

Kai didn’t respond, too busy swinging his eyes around to find a place to crash. “There’s a little warehouse not to far from here,” he decided. “It’s no Monastery, but I think we’ll have enough cover from the cold in there.”

Lloyd tried to nod, but ended up losing his balance and tripping over a loose rock instead. He groaned as Kai hoisted him up once more, shaking his head with a small chuckle.

“Have a little patience, greenie,” he said. “You just came back from the dead – you need rest, not exercise.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Lloyd grumbled, feeing like a sulky child.

It was irritating to have so much energy just tucked beneath his skin, itching to be let out, only to have his body keep collapsing on him.

Every now and then, he kept trying to walk by himself, but Kai’s grip was stronger than he’d expected.

“Nope,” said the older teen, popping the ‘p’. His eyes were still fixed on their destination, even as Lloyd turned to shoot him a glare.

To his annoyance, Kai didn’t show any signs of acknowledging it.

They continued like this for a bit – Lloyd muttering curses under his breath and Kai steadily ignoring him – until they finally crunched to a stop in front of a giant, abandoned warehouse.

Lloyd’s vision was hazy, but still he held out a hand to stop Kai from going further after spotting something on the ground.

Miraculously, he complied.

“Wait,” Lloyd narrowed his green eyes. “Look.”

He pointed a weak hand at the entrance of the warehouse, which had several pairs of footsteps leading out.

“They look pretty recent,” he managed. “Are…Are you sure this is a good – ”

“It’ll have to do,” Kai said, shooting him a stern look. “Lloyd, stop trying to get us to move. We’re both tired, you’re still healing from a bad injury, and we have absolutely no idea where we’ve ended up. Tomorrow, we can talk, alright? Right now, we both need to rest.”

Not waiting for an answer, he kicked the door open and led Lloyd inside, laying him down on a relatively softer part of the floor. His eyes glanced the tall, menacing shadows that hung from the ceiling and near the end of the warehouse, but he wrote his concerns off as just being paranoid like usual.

The older teen settled himself down next to his little brother, sighing deeply.

“See ya in the mornin’,” Lloyd mumbled, his voice slightly muffled by his gi. He sounded apologetic.

“It’s alright, greenie,” Kai whispered, stroking his brother’s soft golden hair. “Go to sleep.”

He continued watching him tiredly until he heard quiet snores coming from below.

Only then did he take off his belt and dare to sleep himself.

He fell asleep with only one thought:

Hopefully, they’d be able to contact the others tomorrow.

Chapter Text

He was running through space.

Stars swirled beneath his feet, the floor cracking as he rushed over them.

He didn’t know why he was running, just that he had to.

He didn’t belong here.

He wasn’t supposed to see this.

Lloyd, something invisible cried from beside him, Lloyd!

Lloyd gasped, green eyes blowing even wider in panic.

He blindly punched to the side, where he heard an oof! As his fist made contact.

He continued to run, a white mist billowing from his fingertips as he saw a dragon roar over the abyss; heard the endless chant of something evil growl from the ground.

He needed to get out.

His mind grasped onto the lifeline, repeating it over and over like a mantra.

Get out get out get out – !

“LLOYD!”

Something ice-cold splashed onto his face, and the golden-haired boy coughed in surprise, green eyes flying open.

Heart thundering in his ears, Lloyd leapt to his feet in a defensive stance, still half-asleep.

He rubbed his eyes quickly as his vision adjusted, lowering his hands in confusion as he saw who was in front.

“K-Kai?” He managed.

“Good morning to you too, sleepy head,” Kai grumbled. “Thanks for that.” He poured the cold water down his torn gi, grimacing as a bruise welled on his uninjured side.

“Oh, sorry,” Lloyd winced. He didn’t mean to hurt him. He inched closer, a green glow lighting up his hand. “Mind if I – ”

He hissed as his hand suddenly spat out sparks. One of them landed on his skin, sizzling uncomfortably.

“Ow!" He stared, aghast at the angry red spot his energy had created. “What the heck?!”

“Looks like you need to train that healing thing of yours first,” Kai remarked. He waved away Lloyd’s concerned eyes. “I’ll be fine. Been through worse.”

Reluctantly, Lloyd set down his hands, still looking at them like he’d been betrayed.

Kai snorted at the look.

“Anyways,” he grunted as he tightened his belt, “I’m starving. We should contact the others to know where we are before they send out a search party for us; you know how worried Cole gets. Then we can enjoy a nice hot breakfast at Skylor’s and laugh about this whole situation once we get out of it.”

He stopped at Lloyd’s dumbstruck look.

“…What?” He asked, not really wanting to know.

“Mechs,” Lloyd squeaked out, pointing to something behind Kai. “Giant…working…mechs!”

The older teen turned, mouth falling open in shock. “Seriously?!”

“I knew there was something off about this place!” His little brother ran over excitedly to the nearest mech, a black-and-gold one that looked like something that would belong to Cole. He ran his fingertips along it delightedly.

“This – This is amazing! The quality of it is just – And the engines – ”

“They’re colour-coded,” Kai noticed, ignoring what Lloyd had said – he wouldn’t have understood any of that technical jargon anyway. “Look, there’s even a dragon one over there.”

Lloyd looked like he might pass out.

“This is brilliant,” he said, eyes shining. “Who made all this? Were Nya and PIXAL working on a secret project again?”

He calmed himself down, seeing Kai’s deadpan look.

“Yeah, okay, it doesn’t look like any of their styles,” he swallowed. “But clearly, they’re meant for ninja. Look, the red one even has fire blasters on it, it’s got to be for y – ”

He tried to walk forward, only to stumble, the ground suddenly looking far too large and all-encompassing. He fell to the floor, gasping, as an abrupt feeling of wrongness assaulted him, making his ears ring and his vision shake.

“ – Lloyd?! Lloyd, answer me!”

Someone roughly shook his shoulders.

Lloyd struggled to draw in a breath, and blinked blearily at his brother.

“Lloyd, what the heck?!” Kai snapped. “I thought you were okay! What the hell happened to you?!”

“I – I don’t know,” Lloyd stuttered, shook. “Everything just suddenly felt…wrong.” He got up, legs trembling, and inspected the warehouse with darting green eyes. Gone was the excited boy from before.

Lloyd shook his head, clenching his fists tightly as green lightning sparked inside.

“This is not Ninjago,” he breathed, voice trembling.

Chapter Text

Kai stared at him. “What do you mean, this isn’t Ninjago?”

Lloyd licked his lips nervously, wincing as another tremor of utter wrongness shot through the ground and through his body.

“I don’t think we’re home,” he managed. “Every time I try to move, it’s like my body is being physically repelled from this place.”

Kai’s frown deepened. “So, what, you’re saying that portal shot us into another realm?!”

“Y – Yeah,” Lloyd said, grimacing.

“That explains why we haven’t seen the Ninja, or the Crystal King,” Kai realized, eyes widening. He began to pace, tearing at his hair.

“Oh, fuck, what are we gonna do now?! We’re stranded!”

Lloyd could only watch as his brother descended into full panic-mode.

“We don’t have any Traveller’s Tea – hell we don’t even know if Mystaké even exists here – oh by the First Nya’s gonna be so worried – ”

Kai stopped abruptly, turning to face Lloyd, breathing heavily.

“Fuck,” he summed up eloquently.

Lloyd looked ashen at his older brother’s state. “I’m sorry,” he breathed quietly. He sniffled and turned away, swiping at his eyes. “This is all my fault. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t you dare blame yourself for this,” Kai snapped, turning to shoot him a glare. “Get it through your thick head, Lloyd – if this is anyone’s fault, it’s that stupid Overlord’s!”

He kicked a rock aggressively, watching it shatter against the warehouse wall.

For a few moments, the only sound they heard was Lloyd’s shaky breathing.

Finally, Kai tore himself away from wherever he’d been listlessly staring at, took a deep breath and headed straight for the six lockers (also colour-coded, funnily enough) that lay in the centre of the warehouse.

It only took a bit of fiddling with a screwdriver tossed carelessly nearby, and he began to dig through everything with the expertise of a racoon in the trash.

“Alright,” he muttered, chucking away the stuff he didn’t need. “There’s food, clothes, and plenty of water bottles in here – as well as music disks for some stupid reason.” He scoffed, throwing them into the pile of rejected stuff.

He gave Lloyd granola bars and a water bottle, and sat down next to him, tearing his own things open.

“What are we gonna do here, Lloyd?” He asked quietly, staring at the ground. He didn’t eat or drink any of the things lying in front of him. “How’re we supposed to get home?”

(If his voice broke a little on the words, neither of them commented on it).

Lloyd paused in the middle of taking a bite out of his granola bar. “I don’t…” He sighed and put the bar on the floor.

“Well, this is Ninjago City, isn’t it?” He hesitated. “If…If we’ve really somehow managed to end up in another realm – parallel universe or whatever you wanna call it – the first thing we should do is see if any of the ninja are still here, and talk to them. They know this world better than we do. Maybe we can team up and find the dragons here – or heck, even the Realm Crystal, who knows.”

Kai drew in a deep breath. “And…what if we don’t?”

Lloyd’s expression fell into something dark. “Then…I don’t know,” he muttered, aggressively tearing off a chunk of granola bar. “We search this world until we do.”

Kai swallowed, nodding. Yeah, he could live with that.

Lloyd finished his bars and cautiously took a few sips of water. When nothing seemed to electrocute him, he chugged down the whole bottle, colour returning to his face as he did so.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, glancing at Kai. “You should probably eat up, get your energy back,” he said with a nod towards the food.

He shuddered, remembering the things he’d once seen while tumbling through the Realms with a certain ghost.

“Who knows what kind of things we’ll find out there.”

Chapter Text

Kai huffed and grumbled under his breath, but managed to force down some food and water down his stubborn gullet.  

Lloyd was shrugging on a green hoodie – which was a bit smaller than what he was used to, but he’d make do – to prevent himself from pulling any of his injuries when, quite suddenly, one of his hands snagged against his back, digging into his newly aquired scar. He hissed in pain, yanking it back. Something wet coated his fingers - his gaze narrowed, inspecting it closer - and jerked back as a familiar coppery scent assaulted his nostrils. 

That was his blood. 

Dang it.

He kneeled and frantically tore off his shirt, careful not to bleed on the borrowed hoodie. He cast a glance over at Kai guiltily, but thankfully, the other ninja was still busy browsing through the lockers. He stared at the red liquid, dripping down on the floor, and swallowed, unable to tear himself away. His senses sharpened a hundred-fold as something inside him screamed, prey! 

He looked up, green eyes startled, only to gasp as sounds abruptly began to bombard his ears.  

“Today on Gooooooood Morning, Ninjagooo!”

Thud.

“ – defaces Whistler’s mother, we’re still there!”

Splashing.

THUD.

“Kai?” He called, voice wavering.

His brother looked over from where he’d been frowning at a red shirt with a fire emblem on it.

“Yeah?”

Lloyd winced and threw his hands over his ears as the noise increased. “Can you not hear that?” He asked disbelievingly.

“What, hear the sound of my disappointment from looking at this fan’s wardrobe choices?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “’Course I can.”

Lloyd managed to tilt his head just enough to muster up a glare, but ended up having to stifle a scream instead.

“ATTACK FORECAST!” 

“Ow!” Lloyd hissed.

Kai finally seemed to realize something was wrong. He put down the shirt and held out his arms like he was afraid the younger teen was going to fall over.

(Again).

“Are – you feeling alright?”

“No, I’m just standing here for no reason with my hands clapped over my ears,” Lloyd snapped. “What do you think, Kai?”

His brother’s amber eyes widened in surprise as he raised his hands in surrender. “Woah!” He walked over, grasping the other’s shoulders tightly. His concerned gaze swept up and down the younger ninja's body. “Cool it, greenie, I’m the fiery one here. What’s wrong?”

“Are there any earplugs in that reject pile of yours?” Lloyd said, not really understanding the question properly over all the noise.

Kai, confused, quickly shuffled through the pile and brought out a pair of dark blue ones.

“Found them in the lightning locker, surprisingly,” he snorted as he handed them over. “Looks like even Jay’s fans want him to shut up.”

Lloyd wasn’t listening.

The earplugs stayed in his hand as his green eyes surveyed the warehouse around him.

Had he heard - there! He watched dust fall from the ceiling with a slow sense of dread creeping up his back. 

THUD.

THUD.

Something was coming, he realized, gaze widening alarmingly.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD …

There was a tense silence for a moment.

Kai blinked and turned to look at Lloyd.

“Wait, what were you saying before about – ”

BOOM!

Acting faster than he could possibly process, Kai grabbed Lloyd's hand and threw him against a small alcove in the wall, shielding his brother's body with his own as the world exploded into noise around them.