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Lloyd had easily recognized the look on Nya’s face. She was reliving a terrifying moment from her past. He had displayed the look a hundred times. He had relived a hundred moments. Or more. For example, Morro. While Lloyd no longer was filled with hatred for the ghost, he couldn’t handle the nightmares, sleep paralysis, and thoughts leftover from the possession. The pain he had felt trying to move his body and fight back when someone else was in control hurt more than any single injury yet. It was rough.
Lloyd could still hear the insults. Green Ninja? Just a child without a childhood. A son without a dad. A student who’s teacher only loves him because of blood. The threats. If something were to happen to me, chances are, you die too, fabled Green Ninja. The intrusive impulses. I should jump into the ocean. The only problem is I would die before I could see you drown. Morro was absolutely gone, in another realm forever, but those thoughts still lingered for years.
Lloyd would wake up, unable to move, convinced he was possessed again. He wasn’t. But in the five seconds before realizing, he would panic. It was more than just Morro. Sometimes he had weird dreams about a green, crystal-filled void he didn’t recognize. Sometimes he would have nightmares about skeletons, or snakes (so many snakes), or his dad. Lloyd sometimes wished he wasn’t the Green Ninja, or that he was better about letting Cole lead so he could have a break.
Every one of the ninja had nightmares, but Zane once said that because Lloyd grew up so weird and fast, his would be more frequent and worse. He also had said a bunch of medical sciency words Lloyd didn’t know. Great. So he had gone from an annoying child, to a kid in a teen’s body saving the world, to a traumatized teenager plagued with flashbacks, to a teacher with students in a strange mish-mashed and broken world. It was so difficult to be the leader of a team that repeatedly went through super hazardous situations, while having the least equipped brain. Nya was younger as well, and Lloyd thought back to the event a few minutes prior.
What exactly was Nya thinking about? What could have been such a strong memory it blocked out everything around her, to the point it was stronger than her instinct not to fall?
Lloyd didn’t know, and wasn’t sure she did either, but he hoped it wouldn’t happen again.