Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“This is the story of how I died.“ The scene opens on a tree with a bounty poster pinned to its trunk. Depicted is a young man with black hair and an equally dark cloak.

“Really, Brad? This again?” Another voice cut in.

“Hey, it’s my trauma, so I get to choose the coping mechanism,” Brad defends.

The second voice sighs. “Don’t worry about him. This isn’t a very dark story.” There was a pause as the second voice thinks it over. “…probably.”

“And, the truth is, it isn’t even mine!” Brad explains. “This is the story about a man named Lloyd Garmadon.” The second voice sighs again. “And it really starts long before he was even born.”

“Long before time had a name, there were two royal brothers.” Brad narrates.

A young Garmadon and Wu are shown side by side. It’s clear the two are close with them playfully nudging each other.

“They fought together, they trained together, and they agreed that one day they would rule the Kingdom Ninjago together.

“One day, the two were training their sword fighting skills, when one of their bokken went over the wall that protected their home.”

Wu’s bokken flies over the castle walls into the forest beyond.

“Knowing their father would be mad, the older one told the younger to retrieve it. But the younger refused. The older told his brother not to put off what can be done today and went to get it himself.”

Garmadon hops over the fence and wanders into the forest searching for the bokken. Just as he goes to grab the wooden blade, he is bit by a snake, and he faints.

“By the time their father - the king and founder of Ninjago - found the older brother, he was already ill.”

The First Spinjitzu Master hauls his oldest son inside. He lays the child down on his bed, and cares for his fever.

“However, a miracle occurred. Despite it being said that the venom could corrupt the purest of souls, the older brother fought the worst of it off and only had to control some darker urges.”

Garmadon is shown meditating more often than Wu as they grew older.

“Years passed and the two grew up just in time for a war against the neighboring Kingdom of Ouroboros.”

A scene is shown of the two fighting side-by-side against an intermixed group of serpentine.

“It was a long fought battle with Ninjago’s best fighters - the Elemental Masters - leading the charge against the Serpentine Army.”

The Master of Fire kicked a Hypnobrai in the face, as the Master of Speed dodged Venomari sprays. All the while, the Master of Ice froze a group of Constrictai to the ground with the Master of Sound blew back a Fangpyre into the back of a distracted Anacondrai.

“The Kingdom of Ninjago were victorious and banned the Serpentine from ever setting foot in their kingdom again.”

The Serpentine Army were loaded on a carriage, and it started to head back to Ouroboros. But an Anacondrai managed to escape through the side flap of the carriage.

“You see that purple snake there? You might want to remember him. He’s pretty important.”

The Anacondrai ran to hide in the bushes with an angry glare.

“Time passed, the older brother fell in love and ascended the throne. With his wife by his side and his younger brother as his most trusted adviser, they ushered in an age of peace.”

The three are shown at Garmadon’s coronation, with all of them smiling at the cheering citizens, genuinely happy.

“And soon, the new Queen fell with child. But she also fell very ill. You see, while the evil venom didn’t effect the older brother much, it was proving too much for both mother and child. She was running out of time. And that's when people usually start to look for a miracle. Or in this case, a magic flower.”

A lone flower with gold petals tinged in lime green is shown. It’s surrounded by every known element randomly activating in the clearing. The lightning crashes, the fires crackle, the wind howls, the ice screams, and on, and on, and on.

“This magic flower was formed from the very essence of Creation itself.“

A white hooded figure with glowing red eyes enters the scene. The figures pulls off the hood to reveal the Anacondrai from before.

“Yeah, I told you he’d be important. You see, instead of sharing Creation’s gift, this man - Pythor - would keep the flower hidden, experimenting on its powers. All to harness its elemental energy to develop a super weapon to get revenge.”

Pythor tests the properties of the elements surrounding the golden flower. Followed by his failed attempts on growing more of the flower.

“All right, you get the gist. He experiments, he wants revenge. Creepy, right?”

In the middle of Pythor’s latest experiment, he hears footsteps and hides in the bushes. Two guards appear.

The two then carefully uproot the flower and carry it away, roots and all. Pythor growls in displeasure from his hiding spot, murder in his eyes.

“The magic of the golden flower, healed the queen and counteracted the venoms Destruction with Creation. A healthy baby boy, a prince, was born with beautiful, lime-green eyes.

“I'll give you a hint. That's Lloyd. For that one moment, everything was perfect. And then that moment ended.”

Pythor, fully cloaked again, sneaks into the royal nursery. Baby Lloyd is asleep in his crib. And in his sleep, static electricity jumps between locks of his hair. Vines creep up the slats of the crib and entwine around the rails. Ice crystallizes near Lloyd’s feet.

Pythor gently wakes the baby to find Lloyd giggling with bright green eyes. Eyes that matched the green of the flower.

“Pythor broke into the castle and stole the child. Just like that... gone. The Kingdom searched and searched, but they could not find the Prince. For deep within the forest, in a hidden dirt hut, Pythor raised the child as her own.

Within a giant training room, Pythor is supervising a child Lloyd fighting a training dummy.

“Hm, puny strength, no fundamentals, sloppy footwork.” Pythor idly comments, correcting Lloyd’s stance.

Pythor found his new magic flower, and was determined to keep it hidden until the time was right and his super weapon was ready to take the Ninjagians by storm.

“Why can’t I go outside?” A little Prince Lloyd asked one day.

“The outside world is a dangerous place!” Pythor hissed. “Filled with horrible, selfish people. Until you are strong enough that no one can hurt you, you must stay here, where you're safe. Do you understand, hisslet?” The serpentine patted his little weapon on the head.

“Yes, Papa.” Lloyd agreed dutifully.

“And just in case all else fails, he had his insurance plan.”

“And even then, I’ll always keep you safe, hisslet,” Pythor continued, “I’ll just say the magic word-“

“-and my magic tattoo will protect me.” Lloyd finished, lifting his shirt to reveal a purple snake wrapped up in itself inked into his back. The stark lines of the ouroboros surrounded more geometric lines of a complicated transmutation circle. The entire design spanned his back, reaching from his shoulders and trailed down to the small of his back.

“Exactly my boy!” Pythor chuckled. “Your magic tattoo will protect you.”

“But the walls of that hut could not hide everything. Each year on the Day of the Departed, the King and Queen would send a paper lantern up not just a to remember. But in hope that one day, their lost prince would return.”

Chapter Text

“Thief! Thief! Somebody catch him! Thief!”

Brad ran as fast as his legs could carry him. His black cloak trailed behind him as he hopped a stone wall, making a break for the forest. Usually it concealed his powder blue vest and long-sleeved undershirt, but at the moment, Brad was just happy it wasn’t snagged on anything.

On his side, his satchel bounced with every step. And in it was everything he owned, a few things he now owned, and what he was commissioned to steal.

The latter being a special chisel stolen from Brad’s client by her rival. And right in the middle of her project too. The man currently screaming “thief, thief” was a bloody hypocrite. At least Brad was righting a wrong. The other guy was a sexist asshole who couldn’t believe he was shown up by a woman.

The guards were right on his heels as Brad ducked into another alley, using the walls to gain height by kicking off of them in an alternating pattern, before finally being able to pull himself up and over the wall surrounding the capital.

He turned to the soldiers gapping at him from two stories down, and gave a sarcastic salute. “Too bad, guys. You almost had me this time.” And with a final wave, Brad hopped down into the tree on the other side, climbing the branches down and booking it into the woods.

Oh man, was that chase fun! Really got the heart pumping something fierce.

He jumped over a fallen log or two and made his way to a lesser traveled path. It was used by farmers who lived right outside of the capital towards the east. And since this was their off season, the path was overgrown and unkept. Perfect for escaping thieves.

Now the main path, south of the Kingdom of Ninjago, was too open and flat. Terrible for making grand escapes.

Though, if Brad had it his way, he would not have to take any paths at all. Unfortunately, he had a bad habit of stumbling upon stuff he wasn’t supposed to when he strayed off path.

He only wanted to keep his record of being cursed by a witch once, thank you very much. (And no matter what Sally said, Brad made quite the dashing cat for that awkward weekend).

His thoughts stalled as he saw something white glint in the corner of his eye.

Brad skidded to a stop, before jogging backwards. There, plain as day, was a bounty poster.

And with it a pretty accurate drawing of himself, except…

“No no no. This isn’t good!” The thief muttered to himself. “They just can’t get my hair right!” Brad joked to himself, trying to hide his undercurrent of worry. Because if he already was wanted (for 1,000 gold pieces no less!), then they could find him. And if they did… well, wanted only alive meant only the worst one could imagine.

He prayed that the messed up hair depicted (and how did anyone think he could pull off hair like that?! It looked more like something Kai would attempt when he’s feeling particularly dramatic that day) worked in his favor.

Brad stuffed the poster in his pocket, making note to burn it and any other copies later.

“Thief!”

“Stop right there!”

“By the order of Ninjago, I command you to stop!”

Shit. The guards from before managed to catch up!

Darting to and fro between the trees, Brad made for where he knew the forest grew thicker, before stumbling upon a dirt mound in the middle of a clearing. It was huge. Almost the size of a particularly wealthy farmer’s barn.

“There he is!”

No time for observations! Brad rounded the mound, hoping to find a place to hide. He scanned to his left and his right and-

“Oof!”

Brad tripped. Flipping himself over, he spotted what got him. Sticking out of the dirt was metal handle to a hatch. It was well worn, as if left out to the elements for decades, and partially hidden by a pile of leaves.

It was around here that the cronch-steps of the guards grew nearer.

A hatch that could lead to his doom, or getting caught and shipped off to-

Brad didn’t even have to finish that thought. He shrugged, yanked the door open, and jumped in.

Inside, the mound was beautiful! The walls were replaced by stone and wood paneling, painted to look like the outside world. If Brad didn’t know any better, he would assume those were real clouds.

On one half of the giant room was floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with more books and scrolls than he’d ever seen before. (And considering his childhood home, that’s saying something.)

The other half was a training space that would make the guys down at Laughy’s drool with jealousy. Punching bags, targets, training dummies, and obstacle courses. You name it, it was there.

In between was a spiral staircase, presumably leading whoever lived here to their room. And in its shadow was a cute little kitchenette.

But before he take a closer look at kitchenette, Brad heard a loud clang! prior to feeling like his head was splitting open. And then, he was out cold.

Chapter Text

Brad groaned. He took in the blurry floor with one eye squinted open. What happened? All he could remember was the sound of metal reverberating, but as if it was inside his head. But that didn’t make any sense. Before he could get any further with that trail of thought, the same clang resounded and he was out again.

Brad gasped at the feeling of something wet in his ear. Deep in his ear and extra slimy. It was the disturbingly familiar sensation of a wet willy.

“Piss off, Brent!” he growled, jerking himself awake.

Wait.

This wasn’t his room.

Right.

He hadn’t lived there in years. He was— this was—

Actually, he had no idea where he was. He attempted to lift a hand to rub his eyes (his vision was still swimming a bit) when he was stopped. Looking down, he saw vines had tied his wrists, torso, and legs fast to a wooden chair. And the clearly-still-alive vines continued around the room and burrowed out through a dirt gap in the paneling.

He struggled for a bit, trying his best to break free, but the vines were too thick to snap.

“Ahem.” A voice clearing their throat filled the air. Brad’s gaze snapped to the corner of the room, where the sound came from. Unfortunately, the shadows completely masked whoever was trying to get his attention.

“Struggling, struggling is pointless,” the voice echoed. Well, too bad. If Brad had learned anything growing up, it’s that nothing is certain. So he kept on struggling and pulling at the vines, but they wouldn’t budge. “I know why you’re here, and I’m not afraid of you.”

That caused Brad to stop. “What?”

“Who are you, and how did you find me?” The voice stepped out into the light threateningly and—

Brad felt his mouth fall open. Standing in front of him was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. His windswept, blond hair perfectly framed his face (which was tanned in the way the suggested he was from the Kingdom of Ninjago, despite the probable lack of sunlight). He wore a green gi with golden thread embroidering coiled snakes that accentuated his muscles. His face was pinched in a threatening manner, and Brad hated what that was doing to him.

And his eyes, Creation, his eyes. Brad had never seen that shade of green before, and he never wanted to be without it ever again.

What was this Adonis doing in a dirt hut of all places?!

“Who are you, and how did you find me?” the man repeated, impatiently. After a beat or two of Brad staring off uselessly, the man started circling his chair. In his hand was a cast iron skillet.

“I— uh— I’m— er— I’m Brad,” the thief stuttered, cursing himself all the while. Hot guys have always been a weakness of his. It’s been dutifully documented by Gene, much to Brad’s dismay.

“Who else knows my location, Brad?”  The man came to a stop right in front of Brad, and the skillet became mere inches from the brunet’s face. He crossed his eyes to look down his nose at it.

Okay, so his introduction was terrible, but he could do better! He snorted, “alright, blondie.” Hey, that was better!

“It’s Lloyd!” the blond shouted.

“Gesundheit.” Brad breezed past because if he stopped now, he’d never get anything out. Just ignore how insanely hot the guy is, Brad, and you’ll be fine! “Here's the thing. I was in a situation, gallivanting through the forest. I came across your dirt hut and...” Brad trailed off as something clicked in his brain. Something that was missing. “Oh. Oh no! Where’s my satchel?”

Lloyd’s expression changed from ferocious to sly. And did he not know the power he wielded with that?!

Dead puppies. The sewers of Ninjago. The scraps he had to eat that first year on his own. The time Brad had to break into an onsen for specifically elderly women to steal back a family heirloom. Brent’s pudgy little face. And disaster averted. He was good to go.

“I've hidden it, somewhere you'll never find it.” Fuck. He actually needed his satchel. His entire life was in that bag! And not just that but the Carter’s chisel was in there too. If he didn’t deliver it, his reputation would be in the gutter. And that’s practically all he had left!

Brad glanced around, looking at the most likely place someone would hide something that big. This was his area of expertise. He didn’t spend his time twiddling his thumbs as a thief, after all.

“It's in that pot, isn't it?” Brad gestured with his head. He was pretty confident. Just the right size and shape to hide it, and close enough by for someone to panic and hide it away. He barely got a chance to smirk when a clang rang out for a third time.

He woke up suddenly to a warm wetness in his ear again. “Ugh! Would you stop that?!” He shook off the little snake draped across his shoulder, and then shuddered a little at the lingering sensation.

“Now it's hidden where you'll never find it.” The man, Lloyd (at least Brad thought that was his name? He wasn’t entirely sure on account of all the blows to the head. It definitely started with an L though), stood with his hands on hips and all proud of himself. Or at least, that’s what Brad thought was happening. His vision was kinda blurry from the skillet.

“So what do you want with me?” Lloyd started to circle the chair again. “To capture me?”

“What?” What was he talking about?

“To kill me?” the man continued over Brad’s confusion.

“No!” Brad managed to cut in. “Listen, the only thing I want to do with you is to never see you again. That’s all,” Brad lied straight through his teeth. What he really wanted was to try his luck in dating this man, but based on this conversation, those chances seemed less and less likely.

“You…” Lloyd paused, his brows furrowing in confusion. And what Brad wouldn’t give to smooth the crease out with his thumb. “Wait, you don't want me?”

“I, uh, didn’t exactly say that,” Brad coughed under his breath.

“What?”

“What?” Brad quickly tried to change the subject to hopefully distract from his mouth betraying him like that. “Why on earth would I want to kill you? Look, I was being chased, I saw a door, I opened it, end of story.”

Lloyd’s eyes narrowed. “You're telling the truth?”

“Yes!” Brad shouted in exasperation.

Apparently that was enough because Lloyd turned around and picked up the little snake from earlier. The tiny thing began coiling around the blond’s wrist.

In the meantime, Lloyd began muttering to himself, pacing back and forth. All the while, the teeny snake made its way up Lloyd’s arm before finally draping itself like a boa around the blond’s neck.

Brad used the opportunity of the distraction of his captors (and what did it say about his life that a snake not even the length of a ruler helped get the best of him?) to revive his escape attempt. He desperately struggled against his bonds anew before giving in and resigning himself to hopping the chair awkwardly instead.

But it wasn’t enough. Brad hadn’t even made the equivalent of three footsteps before the blond turned his attention back to the thief. Brad froze in his awkward, half-turned orientation.

Lloyd didn’t seem to notice any change, at least. “Okay. You want your satchel back?” the blond asked.

“Definitely,” Brad answered quickly.

“Then, Brad,” Lloyd spat out his name like Brad was the one who personally murdered his kitten, “I’m prepared to offer you a deal.”

“A…” Brad hesitated, not liking where this was going, “a deal?”

“I’m going to need you to answer some questions for me,” Lloyd spelled out, “and then, I’ll give you back your satchel.”

Lloyd walked forward, outstretching his arm and pantomiming the motion of grabbing a rope before pulling in abrupt yank! And with it, the vines seemed to magically restrict, pulling at Brad’s chair until he was balancing on the front two legs. Before Brad could overbalance and fall flat on his face, Lloyd’s hand darted out and painfully gripped Brad’s shoulder.

The blond drew nearer, his face taking up most of Brad’s field of vision. Those brilliant green eyes glowered into his own blue ones. “Answer my questions truthfully and you may get your bag back.”

A foreboding feeling sank into Brad’s gut. Was he actually being interrogated right now? Was the stuff before just to make the thief let his guard down? Brad had been trained to withstand many forms of torture, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed pain. Still, better to test the waters…

“And if I don’t?” Brad hedged, hoping for a positive response.

“Then I promise you.” Lloyd leaned in even closer, causing the two to be practically nose-to-nose. Lloyd’s voice dropped incredibly low with an undercurrent of a slight growl. Brad tried his best to also not find this hot (he failed). “You could tear this place apart. Piece. By. Piece. But without my help, you will never find your precious satchel again.”

Brad cleared the dryness of his throat, not entirely sure if he was terrified or turned on. Still, he managed to keep his voice steady as he clarified, “Let me just get this straight: you ask questions, I answer them, and you'll give me back my satchel?”

“I promise. And when I promise something, I never. Ever. Break that promise. Ever!” Lloyd vowed seriously, as if you could always take people by their word. Strangely enough, Brad found himself believing the other man.

Either way, Creation, what could this man even want? Brad didn’t know everything. He barely knew anything because he dropped out of his tutoring lessons. And any information of importance was probably not even a blip on the thief’s radar.

Brad was at Lloyd’s mercy. If he couldn’t answer his questions he was straight fucked. But if he didn’t accept, he was either going to stay prisoner or worse, lose his spotless record as a thief.

Mind made up, Brad uttered one word: “Deal.”

“Okay.” The blond let go of the chair, causing it to wobble dangerously on all four legs. Seemingly steeling himself, Lloyd asked boldly, “what is it like?”

The brunet blinked and then blinked again. A long pause lingered between them. “What’s what like?” Brad dumbly responded.

“The world. Y’know, out there.” Lloyd gestured with his head towards the wall nearest to the two.

Brad thought it over, trying but failing to even approach answering such a broad question. “You gotta be more specific.”

And like a switch flipped, Lloyd’s demeanor completely changed. “Is the sky really as blue as the books say? And how tall are trees really? I always imagined them to be about the height of the ceiling. What does the moon look like? I figured since it’s a rock in the sky, it’s shaped like a giant, lumpy kidney bean. And what about the ocean-?”

Lloyd spoke rapidly, words flowing so fast, Brad could hardly keep up. But it was incredibly endearing. He was like an excited puppy bowing back and forth to ask to play.

“Woah, woah, hold on there, Blondie,” Brad managed to interrupt. “One question at a time.”

“Sorry.” Lloyd scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I’ve just never met anyone other than my dad before.”

Alarm bells started ringing in Brad’s head. “And what? You’ve never been outside before either?”

“No.” Lloyd shook his head. “I’ve always wanted to, but with how monstrous people are and the terrible acts that will happen anywhere you would go... Not to mention how just walking into a small settlement is practically marking you for death, I’m not strong enough to defend myself from anyone. But that can’t be entirely true can it? You’ve been nothing but kind so far. And I defeated you easily enough,” Lloyd muttered those last three lines to himself, as if he had just came to quite the conundrum.

Ouch. Brad was a pretty decent fighter if he did say so himself. He was just caught off guard. How was he supposed to know someone would be living in the hidden… hut…? Okay. Point made. He had to pay more attention to his surroundings in the future. But back to the matter at hand, everything else Lloyd had just said didn’t make any sense.

“Wait, what?” What did he mean by all of that? Like, yeah, that was stuff could happen if you were unlucky, but the kingdom of Ninjago went out of their way to defend anyone within its borders. If there was danger lurking around every corner, then they would have to had been near the borders of The— that Kingdom.

(And what did it say about how weak Brad was that he could barely think about the place. It’s been years, I should be over this by now.)

Brad looked on in absolute bewilderment. Lloyd’s not strong enough to defend himself? What? Based on all the beat-to-hell equipment, Brad would hazard to guess that Lloyd was able to defend himself plenty.

This situation was starting to sound achingly familiar.

“Who told you all of that?” Brad asked.

“Oh? My pops! He’s a little overprotective, but he means well! He just wants to keep me safe,” Lloyd continued on as that was a reasonable excuse. “That’s why I have to train all hours of the day. Even though I wish I could have more than an half an hour reading break every day.” He pouted a little at that last bit, not that Brad was paying any attention at the moment.

The alarm bells in his head became blaring. Being told that you’d never survive the outside world, not allowed much fun, being cut off from most of society, lulled into unwavering trust by the person who could “protect you”.

Yeeaah, this situation was bringing back memories Brad had tried to keep suppressed. But, if those memories could help him with Lloyd…

Brad resolved right then and there that he would be to Lloyd who he wished was there to guide him back then. The first step was to try and coax the blond into making the first leap of faith into finally leaving.

“Y’know what, I don’t think I can really describe it myself,” Brad answered all of Lloyd’s original questions truthfully. Because how was he supposed to describe the variety of types and sizes of trees or the enormity of the moon or the sheer beauty of the sea?

Lloyd’s “oh” was delivered with such heartbreaking disappointment, Brad immediately felt bad. Good thing there was a part two.

“So, how about I show you everything myself?” Brad offered.

Lloyd perked up. “Really?!” He bounced on the balls of his feet.

“Of course! You haven’t truly lived without seeing any of that stuff at least once in your life.”

Lloyd’s joy faltered a little, keeping him solidly on the ground. “But what about all those horrible people out there?” The blond worried his lip.

(And what Brad wouldn’t do to worry it for him. But there was a time and place, and that time and place wasn’t now. The guy probably never had a friend before, for crying out loud! No way was Brad going to take advantage of him and coerce him into a relationship when he was so vulnerable!)

“I hate to tell you this, but the world out there is nothing like you described.” Brad motioned with what little mobility there was left of his wrist. “Yeah, there’s some terrible areas and horrible people who do horrible things, but those people are hard to come by this far north.”

“Really?” Lloyd perked up again.

“Really,” Brad confirmed. “And if anyone like that did cross your path, I think the two of us could take them,” Brad continued like he hadn’t just been triple tapped by a skillet not even an hour ago. (…probably? How long had he been out anyway?)

“I—“ the blond hesitated for a moment, obviously thinking this over. “I’d love to take you up on your offer. I really would but…” Dejected didn’t even begin to cover the look on Lloyd’s face. It was clear it was painful for the other man to turn down this chance. “I can’t.”

Here comes the cincher, Brad groused internally.

“My pops would have kittens if he found out I left. And I just—“ Lloyd sighed, his posture deflating slightly. “I couldn’t do that to him.”

Yep. There it was. But Brad wasn’t willing to give in that easy. He could see all the signs. Lloyd had to get out of here. Before he was inevitably thrown out for something he fundamentally couldn’t help. Before he ended up on the streets, not having any real skills and no idea how one even got by. Before he puts his trust in the wrong person, again, only to get absolutely crushed by it. Before—

Okay. So Brad could admit that he was projecting a little bit, but that didn’t take away from the fact that if the worst comes, Lloyd would have difficulty surviving on his own with almost no real knowledge of the outside world.

Fighting skills aren’t enough out there, Brad bitterly thought, forcibly jabbing those memories to the back of his mind where they belonged.

“Look, Lloyd, I’m going to be completely honest here.” Brad took a deep breath, doing his best to keep his voice level. “I’ve been where you’re at. Of being somewhere and never seeing the outside world because you’re told ‘it’s safer that way’ all your life. But it wasn’t until I left that I realized something.”

“What did you realize?” Lloyd asked.

“That the world out there can be scary, yes, but also the most beautiful place you’ll ever see. And there is so much good out there. Of shop keepers giving an extra bag of flour to a struggling family. Of toddlers giggling when feeding the palace horses apples. Of bartenders looking out for homeless kids. Of people who are always willing to stand up for victims, even at the cost of themselves.” Brad blew a breath upwards to ruffle his bangs out of his face. It was mostly a move to try and distract from the growing redness creeping up his face. It was a little embarrassing that Brad himself was still starry-eyed about the world he entered at a mere fifteen.

“The worst of the worst always will exist, but, the way I see it, the good makes risking all that bad worth it,” the thief concluded, making sure to make direct eye contact with Lloyd. Hope grew in his chest when he saw the blond hanging on his every word.

“And, if it really isn’t for you, if coming back ends up truly being what you want when fully informed of what’s out there, I’ll make sure you are able to come back here.” And to lighten the mood a little Brad smirked, joking, “because what’s a little delayed teenage rebellion?”

Y’know, as if my rebellious phase was conventional for the average teen and not technically forever going, Brad thought to himself sardonically.

Lloyd gave a giggle back, before clearly thinking everything over.

“Okay. I want to go with you.” Lloyd grinned and Brad couldn’t help but to smile back. “But what should I pack? Where should I go? Where can I go?”

Now this was Brad’s expertise. He went to rub his hands together only to be stopped by the vines. “Uh, how about untying me first?”

“Oh right!” The blond gestured with his hand again and the vines suddenly retracted from whence they came. That would have been all well in good, but the force of it sent Brad’s chair spinning until—

“Ow!”

—he was face first on the floor.

“Sorry!” He heard Lloyd shout as he sat up and checked if his already fucked up nose was somehow broken… again. Brad waved off the blond’s panicked hovering as he stood up.

Packing was a simple process. Brad had made so many to-go-bags in his life, it was as easy as breathing. And Lloyd not only kept up with the thief’s logic, but also made his own suggestions that Brad had never thought of before. Like keeping the med-kit in its own little pocket so he didn’t have to go rooting through everything floating around in the big pocket during an emergency.

And as for where to go…

“I can escort you to the capital,” Brad gently suggested after noticing Lloyd’s hands shaking despite clutching the single strap of his rucksack like a lifeline. “There you can see practically every way of life. And you can decide what you want to do there.”

Lloyd nodded grimly, visibly readying himself at what was likely the next chapter of his life. Brad could just tell from the look in his eyes and the squaring of his shoulders. Was this how Brad had looked when he finally left that place, out on his own for the first time? It was a little daunting to picture that he even survived it, especially when he was so young at the time.

During Brad’s introspection, Lloyd hastily scribbled a note for his father. Placing it on the dining room table before heading off to do “one last thing.”

Brad had a really terrible gut feeling about the blond’s father. Something that went far beyond what was probably the brunet projecting a little. And his gut had never steered him wrong before. So with a heavy heart, Brad lived up to his profession and swiped that note and shoved it into a hidden pocket.

With one last look over the place to make sure there was no trace of the two of them left behind, Brad felt a tap on his shoulder. He whirled around to see his precious satchel dangling from Lloyd’s fingers.

“Are you sure?” Brad couldn’t help but ask. They both knew he wasn’t just talking about the bag.

Lloyd’s mouth quirked in a lopsided smile. “A deal’s a deal.”

Brad took his bag back by its strap, slinging it across his body. His shoulders paradoxically felt lighter, untensing with the familiar weight settling in. “Thanks,” he sighed out gratefully.

“Of course.”

“Ready?”

Lloyd gave one final glance around to his home, before nodding again, but this time with pure determination. He suddenly shifted his foot to the side and assumed horse stance, thrusting his hands up towards the the ceiling. As soon as his arms started to move, the dirt floor below them started to move with it.

Brad’s jaw dropped. He thought only one person could wield an Element at a time. And Cole definitely already had the market on Earth. Unless… Did Lloyd use the Element of Nature to tie him up earlier?! Brad had never heard of someone who could wield two elements before! Or at least not anyone without direct contact with the original Elemental Masters. But here Lloyd was, using the powers of both Bolobo and Cole like it was nothing.

…Brad was starting to sense that this trip might be a learning experience for him too.

Once the little platform was high enough to reach the trap door, Brad quickly made his way to the hatch, swinging it open, and giving an overdramatic bow. “After you, my liege.”

Lloyd laughed at Brad’s antics, and stepped outside of the dirt hut for the first time.