Chapter Text
Lloyd groaned. His head hurt, his heart ached. He still couldn't get over the battle against the Overlord. What had happened that day, it was awful. Everyone was dead.
Lloyd wanted it to stop. He wanted to go with them. But he couldn't. Not only was he basically immortal and invincible now, but there needed to be someone to deal with the remaining threats of villains.
Lloyd lay in his bed in the Monastery of Spinjitzu. He had destroyed the stairs to the peak of the Mountain of Impossible Height. He didn't want anyone to disturb him. He stared at the ceiling, holding up his hand. It was still golden and he still had the Oni fist. He sighed and put it down next to him.
Why did all of his allies, his friends, his family… Why did they all have to die? Lloyd curled up into a ball, laying on his side. He could feel his eyes tearing up. He didn't try to stop it. He was too tired. He just let the tears stream down his face.
Eventually, he drifted off to sleep…
****
“Kaida…” The voice echoed out, loud, then quiet, then loud again. There was horrific screaming in the background. The atmosphere was foggy and dark. It was as if the sun had been turned off.
Kaida looked around. She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Bodies, upon bodies, upon bodies. All screaming and crawling towards her. One grabbed her leg, and screamed her name…
“KAIDA!”
Kaida jolted awake, bumping her head on the shelf above her bed. She rubbed her head, groaning at the pain.
“Finally, you're awake,” Kaida looked over to her right, and saw Timur, her caretaker.
“I've been yelling at you for the past 30 minutes! What in the Lands were you dreaming about?!” Timur crossed his burly arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow at Kaida.
“Uhh, sorry, Timur. Must have missed my alarm…” She let out a small chuckle, and Timur sighed.
“You're lucky that I make you wake up 2 hours before you leave for school, anyway,” he turned around.
“Get dressed, come eat breakfast, and help me clean the restaurant,” Timur walked down the stairs.
“Alright, Timur,” Kaida responded, watching him leave. Once he was gone, she flopped back onto her back, staring at the ceiling.
What the heck was that dream? Why did it look just like Crossroads Central? Why did it kind of look like the Gre-
“Kaida! Hurry up, lazy bones!” Timur shouted up at her.
She scrambled out of bed, quickly throwing on her green hoodie and fixing up her messy hair. She ran down the stairs and sat at the counter. Timur sighed at her, and handed her a bowl of noodles.
“One of these days, I'm not going to wake you up, and see just how long it will take to wake you,” Timur stated, sighing and going to wash some of the dishes.
Kaida rolled her eyes and slurped up her noodles.
Once she was finished, she washed her hands and began mopping the floor of the restaurant.
“Alright, kid, you better pack your bag and get going. School starts soon,” he grabbed the mop from her, and she quickly started tossing stuff into her bag. She picked up her bag, and slung it over her shoulder.
“Bye, Timur!” She waved goodbye to the Metalonian, who waved back to her. She ran out the door, passing by Timur's “friend,” Sage.
“Good morning, Sage!” She called as she ran past them.
“Good morning, Kaida,” they responded, nodding at her in greeting. They smiled as she ran past them.
Kaida hopped up the steps to the entrance of Crossroads Central High School, spotting her friend, Milly, who was a Munce. She waved at Kaida, who quickly ran up to her and gave her a hug.
“Morning, Kaida!” Milly greeted, speaking in the typical Munce accent with a slight grumble in her voice.
“Good morning, Milly! Today feels like it’ll be completely normal and boring,” she slouched, hanging her head low as she spoke. She straightened herself and looked around.
“Where’s Kyla and Nova?” she asked, looking back at Milly.
“They’re already in class. I’m only here because I knew you would be almost late,” Milly raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Kaida chuckled sheepishly.
“Sorry about that, I-” she was cut off when she was suddenly bumped into by a boy that looked to be about the same age as her. He dropped his bag and Kaida turned around to look at him.
“Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to-” she was suddenly cut off by a girl that was accompanying the boy.
“Watch it, nitwit! You could have hurt my brother!” the girl aggressively yelled at Kaida, her dress whipping with her body when she turned around.
“Calm down, Kiko. It was an accident,” the boy grabbed his bag and stood up, reaching out a hand to Kaida. She took it and shook it.
“I'm Aomi Nanashi. Non-Binary and He/They Pronouns, if you wouldn't mind,” he smiled at Kaida, and she suddenly felt a weird pain in her chest and voices screaming in her head as soon as she touched his hand, but it quickly subsided.
“This is my sister, Kiko,” he gestured to the black-haired girl standing next to him, who rolled her eyes and huffed.
“Nice to meet you. I'm Kaida, and this is Milly,” she gestured to her Munce friend next to her.
“Yep, I'm Milly. Now, Kaida, we really should get going before-” she was cut-off by the sudden sound of a bell inside the school.
“Before we end up late…” she sighed and put two fingers to her forehead.
“Sorry, Milly,” Kaida responded, chuckling sheepishly and looking at the school.
“Don't worry, you'll be fine,” Aomi said, winking at the two of them and then walking into the school with Kiko close behind.
Kaida sighed and followed Milly inside the school.
“Sorry for making you late, Milly,” Kaida whispered.
“Don't worry about it. It won't be the last time,” Milly whispered back jokingly.
Kaida rolled her eyes, smiling at her friend before turning around and going into her class.
“Ms. Kaida,” the teacher suddenly said, causing Kaida to jump in surprise and freeze up.
“Yes, I know, I'm-” she was cut off by the teacher.
“Right on time,” the teacher said, smiling. The bell rang again, causing Kaida to look at the time in surprise. What just happened?
Kaida chose to ignore it and just went to sit down. Another one of her friends, Kyla, a Merlopian Shark, leaned over to her and whispered.
“Glad to see you're finally on time for once,” she said. Kaida rolled her eyes in response.
“Don't patronize me, Kyla,” Kaida huffed.
“I know I was late,” Kaida looked at the clock, and noticed that it only had been 5 minutes after the bell rang, exactly the same amount of time it had been since it rang when she was outside.
Was she really on time? Did the bell malfunction?
She was ripped from her thoughts when the teacher started the lesson.
****
Lloyd groaned as he sat up for the first time in days. He looked around the room. Dust, dirty clothes and dishes were piled in every corner.
“Mr. Frohicky, can you do that? I don't feel very well…” He said this out of habit, completely forgetting that Mr. Frohicky was-
“Sure thing, Master Lloyd,” Lloyd whipped his head to the source of the voice, and saw Mr. Frohicky just standing there.
“M-Mr. Frohicky? You're alive!”
Lloyd smiled for the first time in years, and stood up, tears on his face, and ran over to Mr. Frohicky to hug him.
He wrapped his arms around the figure… and his arms passed right through. He looked back, and sighed, his brief smile breaking.
“Another hallucination…” he collapsed to his knees, and wrapped his arms around himself, feeling the sting of tears on his eyes.
His Oni claw grew around his arm, gripping it tightly. He didn't even flinch when it began to draw blood.
****
Kaida stepped out of the school, groaning at just how boring the day had been. She spotted Milly, and waved over to her, and Milly waved back.
“Today sure was boring, huh?” Milly asked, walking alongside her friend.
Kaida nodded.
“Yeah, and that's probably the most boring way you could have asked that,” she responded, teasing the Munce girl, who scoffed and smirked at Kaida's response.
“Anyways, are you doing anything later?” Milly said, asking another question.
Kaida wanted to ask her about what had happened earlier with the bell and the clock, but figured it was nothing. She had to go back home and help Timur with his restaurant, but she was bored beyond belief.
“Not really, no,” Kaida responded, clearly lying.
“Good. I want to show you something cool,” Milly said, smiling and pulling Kaida by the hand.
“W-Wait!” Kaida protested, wanting to ask what it was, but she didn't get much of a chance before Milly started to drag her across town.