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“I can’t believe that Lloyd is still asleep.” Sora said as she sat down a plate of bacon at the table.
It had been a couple days since the whole… fiasco. The trial had taken quite a toll on Lloyd. He still had not opened up on what happened during his trial. In fact, he had been so worn out ever since they made it home. Life had pretty much went back to normal, with the addition of Arin’s parents and Jay with his memories back.
Kai glanced at the door, as if he was waiting for the green ninja to walk through it. Nya and Jay were sitting side by side, stuck together like glue. They had not left each others side since Jay had gotten back his memories. (Nya had even managed to cut off his ugly ponytail.) Zane, Pixal, and Arin were working on the eggs and pancakes while Sora, Frak, and Wyfy attempted to set the table. Cole and Arin’s parents were all sitting at the table, excited for breakfast.
Sora noticed the red ninja’s focus shifting. She walked to his side, “Would you like me to go wake him up?” she offered.
“No, let him sleep,” Kai shook his head, “That green machine does not know how to sleep unless he wears himself out.” he claimed with a soft smile on his face. “We can save him a plate.”
“Okay.” Sora hummed, turning back to sit beside Cole at the table.
Breakfast went on; everyone was enjoying their food. Arin glanced over at the door this time, a little worry growing on him, “I sure hope Lloyd is feeling alright,” he spoke up, “He has seemed a little off recently.”
“Lloyd has been through a lot,” Zane placed his hand on Arin’s shoulder, “He just needs rest and time to regroup before he is back on his feet.” he assured the young ninja.
Arin gave him a slight smile for a moment before asking: “So how old was Lloyd when his tomorrow’s tea incident happened?”
Suddenly, the table grew silent. All the original ninja shared a few glances between each other. “He told you about that?” Cole questioned, sounding a little shocked.
Arin furrowed his eyebrows, “Does he not talk about it?” he asked, “I know he hasn’t mentioned it before but he also failed to mention a lot of things before.” he pointed out.
“Yeah,” Sora chimed in, “Like how he is the grandson of The First Spinjitzu Master.”
“He hardly talks about it with us,” Nya said, leaning a little bit into her seat, “How was it even brought up?”
“When we were learning about the trail every master of life has to go through, we were told they usually get a calling whenever they come of age,” Arin explained, “And the reason Lloyd never got that calling was because the coming age was during those years he skipped.”
Kai hummed, “Well.. to answer your question he was around nine, freshly ten years old I believe,” he shrugged, “Lloyd does not like to discuss how old he really is because in a way, we don’t really know.” When that earned a confused look from the students and Arin’s parents, Kai went on, “You see his body is one age but his mind is another. Like he was mentally ten but physically like fourteen or something.” he clarified.
“Huh,” Frak hummed, “We used to study you guys so much when we were younger,” he said, looking over at Arin, “Turns out we did not know as much as we thought.”
Suddenly the sounds of footsteps started to sound from down the hall. Lloyd walked into the room, pausing at the door frame. He was rubbing one of his eyes, looking more tired than he has ever been in his entire life.
The thing that caused everyone to look at him with raised eyebrows was the tail, horns, wings and slightly longer ears.
Lloyd had been able to shift completely from his normal human appearance and his dragon one, but he had not been able to do this before. He was not fully in his dragon form, but not fully in his human one either.
Everyone stared at him for a little longer before he shuffled forward, sitting down beside Kai. He sat so close that he could have been sitting on him. His tail hung off the edge of the chair and he sat on his knees. He noticed the bacon, reaching for it and nibbled on it a little.
“Uh.. Lloyd, are you alright?” Arin questioned, his voice raised a bit so he could make sure the tired ninja could hear him.
That had caused Lloyd to wince a little bit. He shut his eyes closed for a moment.
Wyldfyre shot a glare at Arin, her eyebrows knit, “What is wrong with you?” She whispered-shouted, “You need to be quiet!”
“Why does he need to be quiet?” Jay asked.
Wydlfyre’s glare then turned to the blue ninja, “Sh!”
“Wyfy,” Cole whispered, keeping it quiet yet loud enough for everyone to hear, “Why do we need to be quiet?”
“Dragons have very advanced hearing and sensitive ears,” the girl finally answered in a soft whisper, “They usually are used to it but sometimes after stressful events it can bother them.” she explained.
“But Lloyd is not a dragon,” Sora spoke up, “He just takes on the form of a dragon. He’s just a human.”
“Well…” Kai rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to disturb Lloyd who was gently chewing his food.
Sora furrowed her eyebrows, looking between the rest of the ninja, “Well what?”
“Technically Lloyd is only one third human.” Cole said.
“One third?” Arin’s mother asked.
Nya nodded her head, “Yeah, he is also part oni and dragon.”
“I can confirm, I was there when we found out.” Jay added.
Cole cocked an eyebrow, “You remember that but you are still struggling to remember that time I beat you in Fist to Face one?”
Jay shrugged, “What can I say? Amnesia is weird.”
A gasp then slipped from Frak, “Oh my goodness. I totally said something horrible about oni around Lloyd! I feel horrible!” he exclaimed. Lloyd winced a little again and Frak earned a hush from Wydlfyre.
“Wyfy, you know a lot about dragons,” Kai pointed out, “Can you tell us anymore? He might be going through some changes after the whole trail fiasco. Maybe it has caused him to trigger his dragon side.”
“That does sound logical,” Zane agreed, “The dragon from the Whispering Woods did say he has been the only one to change forms like he did. Plus, none of us have been able to change forms or keep part of the form since he stopped sharing the power with us.”
“Well, after something bad or traumatic happens to a dragon, or if they get upset, worried, they usually cling to the most important being in their life,” Wyldfyre claimed, “It would most likely be a parent or whoever raised them.”
“Well that’s not good,” Arin mumbled, “Lloyd said he has not seen Garmadon or his mother since before the merge.”
A slight snicker left Jay. Arin tilted his head, confused. “You seriously think either of them raised him?” he asked, “I may have lost my memory and I am still getting them back, but how could anyone forget how horrible they were.”
“Really?” Arin’s eyebrows raised, “I knew Garmadon was evil, but I figured his mother would not have been that bad.”
Cole shook his head “Unfortunately she abandoned him when he was really little.” he explained.
“So.. who raised him?” Sora asked, sounding just as shocked. She knew that Frak had problems with his parents, Wyfy was abandoned, and that her parent’s sucked too, but she had no idea about Lloyd’s parents. “Was it Wu? His uncle?”
Lloyd leaned onto Kai resting his head on his shoulder. Kai wrapped his arm around his little brother, being gentle around his wings that were folded on his back.
“I would say we all did our part in raising him in some way,” Nya spoke up, “But he and Kai have always been the closest.” she claimed.
Kai grinned, “What can I say? I am just that great.” He winked.
“Ew. Never do that again.” Nya rolled her eyes.
Kai softly snickered, trying not to disturb the sleepy dragon on his side. “Wyfy, anything else we should know?”
“Well, he most likely won’t be talking because it will be so loud to him,” she said, “he will most likely be very clingy too. I am not too sure about much more since he is only part dragon.”
“That’s okay,” Kai shot her a smile, “Thanks for your help.”
Lloyd continued to stay sitting beside Kai as he slowly ate the rest of his breakfast. Since he was still so tired, Kai suggested he lay down on the couch to get some more rest. Lloyd had his hand balled on the sleeve of Kai’s shirt as he followed the red ninja into the game room.
Kai sat down on the couch and as he reached for the remote, Lloyd had crawled onto the couch. He laid down on his stomach, his head resting on Kai’s lap. The fire master was not shocked nor bothered. Instead he smiled, looking down at the curled up boy. His tail was wrapped around his legs and his wings folded gently on his back.
Kai went to brush the strand of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, when he noticed just how tangled the blonde mess was. “When was the last time you brushed your hair boogers?” he teased.
Lloyd hummed, “He said that..” he mumbled, almost whisper like.
Kai looked down at him, shocked. He was not expecting him to be talking. Also, who was he talking about? “Who is he buddy?” he asked.
Lloyd sighed, shifting a little bit, “Me.” he mumbled.
Kai furrowed his eyebrows, only more confused. He was not going to ask any more right now since the poor boy was so tired and having to deal with a sound sensory overload.
“Would you like me to brush it out for you?” Kai offered, “I can’t imagine this is comfortable.” Lloyd gently nodded his head.
Kai texted Nya to bring him a brush. While they waited, Kai turned on the TV. He played one of the Star Fairer movies, keeping the volume at one so it was not too loud for Lloyd.
Nya came into the room, a brush in hand. She handed it to her brother, looking down at their baby brother in awe. “He looks so cute like this,” she whispered, “How is he doing?”
“He is alright,” Kai spoke for him, “Still awake but he seems so drained.”
Lloyd looked up at them, to show he was listening. A soft chuckle came from Nya, “Get some rest Lloyd, you deserve it.” she leaned down to place a kiss to the top of his head before leaving.
Kai then gently started to brush the blonde waves. He made sure to be gentle around the small horns on the top of his head. Somewhere during Kai brushing his hair, a low rumble started to come from Lloyd’s chest.
Kai paused, trying to figure out what the sound was. “Are- are you purring?” he asked. Lloyd whined a little, turning his head to hide his face. “Buddy, you have nothing to be ashamed of.” Kai assured him.
Lloyd hummed, returning his head to how it was. Kai continued to brush out his hair until all the tangles were out. Once they were all brushed out, Kai began to run his fingers along the blonde’s hair. Lloyd continued to softly purr until his eyes began to flutter shut.
~
The next day, Lloyd’s hearing was fine. He was able to talk and listen without it hurting his skull again. However, he still had very noticeable dragon characteristics.
“I don’t understand why I was able to completely change then but now I can’t.” Lloyd shrugged, sitting at the breakfast table with the rest of his family.
“Maybe it was like a high?” Cole wondered, “Like you were doing so good but now the excitement is over you have to get used to it again.”
Lloyd sighed, “Maybe.” he hummed, taking a bite of his food.
“Well, you do look pretty cool with the wings and horns and stuff,” Jay said, “So don’t start feeling insecure or something.”
Lloyd hummed, “Thanks.”
“So what did happen during your trail?” Kai asked, rubbing the green ninja’s back, “you never told us. You mentioned someone yesterday but I did not ask because I did not want to bother you.”
Lloyd shook his head, “You guys are not going to believe this..”