Chapter Text
The Past
As much as Lloyd shook and his heart palpitated in his chest, he continued struggling in Skales' grip, unable to scream as a scaly hand covered his mouth.
That was when a click echoed throughout the room, breaking through the sounds of Lloyd's struggle. The front door opens a moment later to reveal Nya and Wu standing at the other side, who stop when they see Skales' hands on the Green Ninja.
They began to run forward, anger and audacity taking over them. Skales reached behind him, but they didn't stop. They were propelled forward by the threat, but what they didn't know was that the Hypnobrai Staff wasn't the only weapon he brought to this fight.
After going through all that effort, all that planning to get here at a time where each of the ninja's schedules left Lloyd all alone and defenseless at their new residence, he refused to let it all go to waste. He refused to be thwarted so quickly!
The serpent drew a dagger and cut down on the green ninja's neck.
Skales may have lost, but so have the ninja.
Skales sits in prison. He doesn't bother to hide his loud, hysterical laughter.
The Clouds
None of it was supposed to happen. It was nothing like anything the writers in the sky had written.
Every writer had stopped, examining the pages and peering down into the world they had helped create with shock, curiosity, and immense dread.
The Future
An explosion rang out just as Lloyd finally got a clear signal from Cole, telling him of what lay beneath the castle floors. The ninja narrowly managed to stay upright as another loud boom came, this time right beneath him, knocking him off his unsteady balance and onto his stomach. He tried to control the explosions with his element, but he couldn't react in time. It was all too hot, too loud, and he couldn't do anything.
Another, and another, and another, all erupting in rapid succession. His skin burns white and hot, his hair discolored and fraying as it singed, and something hits his back. The ceiling collapsing, maybe? All the air forced itself out of his lungs and was immediately replaced with dust and smoke.
The green ninja coughed weakly as he tried to pull himself out from the wreckage. His legs wouldn't budge, and Lloyd realized that part of the ceiling was pinning him under. He could feel his communicator was smashed in his pocket.
It was at that moment when he realized no one was coming to help him. He had no communication, he couldn't move, and no one knew he was there.
It was a lame death for a ninja. It wasn't honorable enough, Lloyd knew. He didn't die protecting anybody, or for the greater good. He died helpless and alone, feeling like a little kid.
It wasn't unlike Lloyd to think about when he was going to die. He always assumed he would go out in some grand way, because he was a hero and a legend and no one had ever expected anything less of him. Because his life has anyways been this extravagant thing, and his death would suit.
He would almost laugh if it didn't feel like his lungs were personally trying to kill him. He'd forgotten what it felt to be helpless and alone.
???
Pain is the first thing he feels before he can even open his eyes. He wakes up choking, haunted by the the near dream-like feeling of the dagger digging into his skin, cutting off his scream along with his vocal chords, feeling his head hit the floor and loll to the side to reveal his uncle and his sister staring down at him with horror and fear — and then he realized just how hot it felt, and his eyes flutter open.
It's an odd feeling, because he should be dead. And yet, there he was, able to see and smell the thin layer of smoke filling the air. Lloyd forces himself up, every part of him feeling near catatonic. He's almost reminded of the volcano Kai saved him from. The memory isn't nice, but he misses Kai.
Was that whole thing just one weird, horrible nightmare? If it was, then he's willing to bet he simply fell asleep while playing a video game. Wu couldn't seriously be right about games making his imagination all scary, right?
Still, it felt a little too real to be just some figment. But that's just how dreams were sometimes. He just hoped it wasn't a premonition like all of Zane's dreams.
Obviously, after all of that, he woke up to another crisis. Of course he did.
Or was it the aftermath of one? The lights were out in the building, but the parts that crumbled down show the sun shining through. It looked a total mess, but the sunrise made everything at least appear more pleasant.
The boy hurried to find a way out, tumbling over the rubble from how fast and sloppily he was going. If he was thinking any straighter, he might have processed that this most definitely wasn't the nice hero suite the team had been staying in, but he was too busy trying to get out of the winding halls.
???
Lloyd wakes up and doesn't believe it.
There's one thing he knows, and is that he shouldn't be alive. He's supposed to be dead.
Lloyd never wanted to die, but he knew deep down that he was supposed to be gone, in the departed realm where he still wouldn't have been able to reach his father.
The blonde didn't recognize where he
was, but he knew it was some kind of training room with a view over Ninjago City. Something about it is strikingly familiar, but it's almost like there's something missing. Either from his mind, or from wherever this was.
There are soft murmurs coming from the other room, and Lloyd is suddenly alert. He creeps towards the sliding doors without a single sound to press his ear to the door. Silently, the blonde checks if he can still feel his power, and he feels it shine through him.
They speak softly and Lloyd almost doesn't recognize their voices, until he does.
He almost thought he was dreaming when he cracked open the door and realized why it was so familiar.
He was inside that one suite they used for maybe just a week and a half. The ninja's eyes swept across the room critically, only to land on his teammates.
"Are you saying someone took his body?" He could hear Jay exclaim, panicking in classic Jay fashion. Nya looked about close to tears, Cole had a numb expression, and Kai had a disbelieving and distraught face, his brows all scrunched together.
Sensei Wu was staring at the ground, standing so stiff that any still-life artist would be jealous. Zane's hands are surrounded by a faint mist, fingers clenched so hard Lloyd worried he would dent himself. There was a distant look in his eye.
"I don't know," Nya says with a watery, close to hysterical laugh. Somehow, they all looked different than he remembered, yet somehow simultaneously the same as always. "We looked away for a second just to let you in, and he was... he —"
That was when it clicked. They were just memories of a different time, before they had split up for about a year.
So this was definitely a dream. Maybe he was in a coma, or purgatory. Dreaming, or in limbo.
Either way, there was no way in the Underworld this was real. It fills Lloyd with an almost spiteful resolution.
Lloyd opens the door wider without any fanfare, not trying to hide the dull scrape it makes as he pulls it this time. Everyone's heads snap to him. Kai drops into a defensive position, but it's a bit looser than it has been in who knows how many years. Lloyd frowned quietly.
"Hi," Lloyd said. "I think I'm in a weird fever dream coma thing."
The room is completely silent until Nya sobs, holding her hands to her lips and gasping wetly.
The Clouds
Words began to appear on every single blank or unfinished piece of paper. Some pages became saturated with so much ink, with the phrase written so many times, the pages were near black. Others only had a faint scribble.
"And then he woke up." That's what destiny told them. None of them knew what it meant.