Chapter Text
Kai knew it was a trap, Lloyd knew it was a trap, they all knew it. What they didn't know as well as they believed, was Lloyd himself. They didn't see what would come next.
He should've been paying more attention, all of them should've, maybe they could've seen through that little act of his before he locked them in the cabin.
Lloyd wasn't usually impulsive, that was Kai's forte. No, their little brother had a good head on his shoulders, a cool head made for wise decisions, smart decisions that saved lives.
So yeah, he was a little shocked when that door slammed shut and the green whirlwind disappeared faster than they could blink.
His shoulder still ached from where he threw himself at the door, and he was sure he wasn't the only one. When Cole finally punched through, it was too late.
Lloyd was gone. And to everyone's dismay the only thing missing from the armory was a parachute.
Lloyd didn't even take a weapon with him.
Kai anxiously tapped his foot on the floor, as he could do nothing but watch Zane try and overwrite the Bounty's navigation.
"Gotta hand it to him," Nya muttered darkly, from where she was working on restoring communication. "The kid knows how to make this more difficult."
"Well he had good teachers." Cole said without an ounce of humor.
Everything was happening way too fast. Between Princess Harumi turning out to be a psychopathic murderer and sensei- lord Garmadon being brought back from the dead, none of them had time to wind down. Most of all the green ninja himself.
"We should've gone with him." Jay suddenly said. He had a funny look on his face.
Kai exchanged worried looks with Cole. Jay was looking down from the still ship, that conflicted expression flicking to something more determined. "We couldn't have known he would pull this stunt, Jay." Cole crossed his arms.
"Oh we could've," Jay laughed bitterly, turning his head away from the long drop. "He was acting weird the whole time. We should've been able to see this coming."
"It's Lloyd we're talking about," Kai objected out of the guilty need to defend their lack of action. "And he agreed when we said it's too dangerous-"
"Of course he agreed," Nya said from the console, the tapping on the keyboard getting more aggressive. "That's what's expected of him isn't it? Ever the wise green ninja."
"We should've gone with him when he asked us to." Jay continued.
Kai wanted to agree. But of course, they shouldn't have. They should've grabbed Lloyd, locked him in the cabin instead, and come up with a better plan.
"I've got the comms in his car running!" Nya shouted, relief creeping into her tone.
The ninja rushed to the video feed popping up on the screen of Lloyd in the cockpit. "Don't do this!" Nya pleaded quickly.
Lloyd didn't look at the camera when he spoke. "I'm not in the mood to talk," he snapped, angry green eyes set on the road. "This ends now."
Jay pushed through Kai and Nya crowding the front of the feed."No, Lloyd. This doesn't end now. It's a two-way frequency. Come on, buddy…“
Lloyd suddenly drove his fist straight into the camera and the stream went dark.
The sounds of the car still carried through. "Can't get rid of us that easily." Kai joked, but went dead silent when the purr of the car turned into a furious outcry and accompanying sounds of flesh hitting glass and the connection winked out completely.
"Oh jeez." Cole said into the quiet.
"Zane how long?" Nya asked.
"Nearly there." the nindroid said in a clipped voice.
They went quiet, the only sound being Zane's sharp tapping of the keyboard, trying to crack the lock on the navigation.
There weren't many moments where Lloyd was emotional in a way it clouded his judgement, but he was still just human as any of them in this sense. And Kai should've seen it coming from a mile away. Because it was his dad.
It always came down to family in the Garmadon bloodline it seemed. For good or bad.
"Ah, that should do it," Zane said with a victorious smile. "We've regained control of navigation."
Kai automatically looked up at the screen and didn't understand what he was looking at for several seconds.
The monitor above the control panel glitched into a live feed from what seemed to be security cameras, static crawling across the image before sharpening into Lloyd slowly making his way through a dark corridor.
Jay found his voice first. "Hey, what's with Lloyd on the TV?"
Kai felt something twist in his gut. "Harumi," he growled. "She wants us to watch."
He didn't know when they all stopped uselessly pushing the ship to go faster and started to instead stare at the screen.
He didn't know when he realized they were never gonna make it in time.
Maybe when Garmadon threw Lloyd through a wall.
Maybe when Lloyd dragged himself up with a strained wheeze and charged an energy blast like he used to when he was just starting to figure out how to control his powers. And missed the quickly closing in Garmadon at point blank.
Maybe when that monster threw him around and back into the middle of the Kryptarium prison.
Kai couldn't stop watching when Lloyd stumbled on his feet again. Slower. Much slower.
He reached out a shaky hand. And the determined expression on his face suddenly fell.
Kai’s throat tightened painfully.
Maybe that was the moment.
Everyone was watching the Green Ninja stand there bruised and shaking, searching desperately for one more thing that might bring his father back.
His eyes flicked downward.
Around.
Thinking.
Trying.
Kai had never seen him look so young. Stripped raw down to the kid who used to believe every problem could be solved if people just cared enough about each other.
But there was nothing left.
Kai saw the realization happen in real time.
Lloyd’s face crumpled for only a fraction of a second before he gritted his teeth hard enough for Kai to see it even through the grainy broadcast.
Then Lloyd screamed and charged.
Green power burst from his hands and chest, dancing around him protectively. Kai had never seen Lloyd use it like this. It didn't seem like a new move or anything. It felt more like Lloyd wasn't really in control of it. Like it reacted instinctively on its own.
It surged around his arms, trailed behind his movements, as he finally threw himself at Garmadon with everything he had left.
"There you go!" Jay yelled, echoing everyone's thoughts.
For one brief moment, hope punched through the suffocating dread in Kai’s chest.
Lloyd landed a hit. And another.
Green met purple in a terrifying dance of skills.
But it didn’t last.
Kai saw it almost immediately. The tiny stumbles between movements, the way Lloyd’s injured arm lagged behind, the split-second delay every time he tried to recover his footing.
Too slow to anticipate Garmadon's extra arms stopping his movements.
Too hurt.
First Master, he was too hurt.
Garmadon blocked another strike and drove his fist into Lloyd’s ribs.
Lloyd folded instantly.
Another hit snapped his head sideways and Kai watched as Lloyd's eyes rolled in his head and his body slackened, as if he was about to pass out.
Garmadon seized him again and hurled him across the courtyard.
Lloyd hit the ground hard enough to bounce.
The Bounty's deck erupted.
“GET UP!” Kai's yell got lost in the shouting of others.
"THAT BASTARD!"
"COME ON, LLOYD!"
"YOU CAN TAKE HIM!"
"GET UP!"
But when Lloyd pushed himself upright this time, his legs visibly shook beneath him. He had a wild look in his eyes, Kai had seen on Lloyd a couple of times before.
No one could stay brave forever. Not knowing they're about to lose.
Another crash from the monitor cut through them all.
Garmadon had started tearing chunks of broken stone from the ground. Huge pieces.
Kai’s stomach dropped.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Cole muttered.
The first boulder flew.
Lloyd barely kicked it, stumbling sideways, the green of his power pulsing through his leg.
The second missed him by inches.
The third shattered against the wall behind him.
Lloyd looked disoriented now, movements sluggish and unfocused, chest heaving violently. The next rock clipped his shoulder.
Lloyd cried out.
Another slammed into his arm.
Another hit him square in the side and knocked him backwards, green sparks crawling from the spot.
Kai physically lurched forward like he could somehow catch him through the screen.
Lloyd staggered upright again.
Not fast enough.
Not nearly fast enough.
Dust swirled through the ruined courtyard. Lloyd turned unsteadily, trying to relocate Garmadon.
Kai could tell he’d lost track of him.
Panic clawed up his throat.
“Lloyd…“ Zane whispered.
Then Garmadon appeared behind him.
One hand closed around Lloyd’s throat and yanked him off the ground.
Nya gasped sharply.
Lloyd grabbed at Garmadon’s wrist immediately, but there was barely any strength left in the movement now. His legs kicked weakly beneath him.
And still…
Still he looked devastated more than terrified.
“You wouldn’t hurt me,” Lloyd rasped tonelessly. “I'm your son.”
Kai found himself expecting Garmadon's face to shift, for his red eyes to widen and all his four arms safely lower Lloyd onto the ground, for him to endlessly worry whether his little boy was safe and healthy. Because that was Garmadon. His son was his entire world.
He was his last link with humanity, the one who would stop at nothing to prove his father could still do good despite the evil running through his veins.
Lloyd was right. Garmadon wouldn't hurt his son.
"I have no son." Garmadon said.
And then he hurled him.
One wall shattered.
Then another.
And another.
Whoever was in charge of streaming the footage wasn't fast enough to switch through the different cameras.
Lloyd's body crashed through the outside wall, falling, screaming until he finally hit the ground.
Nya covered her mouth.
The broadcast camera zoomed shakily toward the broken figure outside.
Nobody spoke and nobody dared to breathe.
The ninja didn't find out until later that the fight was broadcast to the whole of Ninjago and everyone at the moment was just as silent as them.
Lloyd moved his right arm.
His left arm.
Crawling forward.
And then his head dropped.
And still nobody said anything as the green ninja reached into his tattered gi and pulled out a piece of paper. He put it to his face, but didn't seem to have the strength to actually look at it. Eventually it slipped through his slack fingers.
Lloyd didn't move after that.
Loud beeps rang from the systems, indicating they were coming up to their location,
snapping the ninja out of shock and into action.
Kai felt sick. He watched the other ninja in a sort of trance as they manned their stations. Nya stood behind the rudder, having turned off the auto navigation and steered the ship towards the prison building, growing in the distance. Zane was doing something with the computer, there were a lot of red windows popping up on the screen now.
Jay was still staring at where Zane minimized the stream and Cole was in Kai's face.
"Snap out of it, Kai!" he barked and Kai realized the loud whistling in his ears finally died down. Something in his face must've registered as returning sentience to Cole, because he turned away, pulling at Kai's shoulder. "Come on! You get the med kit, I'll get the stretcher, Jay, you get the light," He let go of Kai and shook Jay. "Jay, the light, you hear me?" Jay's eyes widened slightly, but he nodded.
Cole clapped his hands a few times barking "Go go go!" as they went.
There was a reason Cole had once led the team, Kai thought, as he willed his brain to stop panicking and focus on his task. The med kit… the med kit…
"Ugh!" Kai tripped over the nearby broom and furiously kicked it. He needed to punch something. Or someone.
Garmadon came to mind, but a much more satisfying picture of a certain blonde princess catching a fireball in the face came to him.
He kicked the med bay door open and tore the white med box from the wall. He heard something break but didn't look back.
He sped back up on the deck at the same time as Cole and Jay.
They were already close to the prison, but they weren't moving. He threw an accusatory look to Nya and opened his mouth to voice his displeasure, but Cole beat him to it. "Why did we stop, Nya?"
"Because of them!" Nya shouted back, angrily turning the rudder, steering in the wrong direction.
Kai ran to the side of the boat and leaned out and spotted several figures on the top of the prison roof, firing arrows in their direction.
A few were sticking out of Bounty's side and there were holes in the sails. Kai climbed on the rail of the deck and started making his earlier vision a reality as he hurtled fireball after fireball at the offenders. Satisfied when he managed to make some of them scatter.
Nya brought the ship in a circle around the building, while Jay and Cole did their best, shining the strong torch, trying to locate their brother.
Kai watched from where he was perched, squinting into the darkness.
He threw more fireballs in the way of the prison, intently watching the shapes they illuminated, until he finally spotted what he was looking for. "There!" Kai yelled, snatching the discarded med kit and rushing to Jay and Cole. "The hole in the wall!"
Jay turned the torch to where Kai was pointing and slowly scanned it down from the wall until they saw-
"Lloyd!" Kai breathed out and ran to the side of the ship, vaulting across the rail and he dived.
He could faintly hear the others calling after him, but he ignored them.
Drawing on a deeper part of himself, Kai spun in place and performed a perfect airjitzu, slowing his fall.
Cold desert wind lashed against his face, the prison loomed ahead. Somewhere above, the Sons of Garmadon were still gathered along the walls and broken platforms, silhouettes moving against the floodlights.
Kai barely looked at them.
His eyes found Lloyd.
Fear hit him like a punch to the chest.
Lloyd lay crumpled where Garmadon had thrown him, arms stretched out as he tried to crawl, clothes torn to shreds from stone and debris. Blood streaked the sand beneath him. Kai reached him in just a few quick paces, stopping a step too soon, fear suddenly making him freeze.
For one horrible second, Kai thought Lloyd wasn’t breathing.
Then Lloyd wheezed. A small, wet, painfully shallow breath.
“First Spinjitzu Master,” Jay whispered somewhere behind him.
Kai regained his courage and moved forward-
A bottle shattered near his feet.
“Too late, ninja!” one of the Sons of Garmadon yelled from above.
Another laughed. “Lost your little leader, haven't you!”
A lightning bolt cracked through the air, shattering another bottle mid throw, before it could hit the motionless Lloyd.
“DON’T touch him!” Jay screamed upward, jumping over Lloyd, electricity crackling around his arms. The bikers took a couple steps back. "Just try me!" Jay snarled.
“Eyes on Lloyd, Kai!” Cole barked, just when Kai felt heat building up in his own arms. He shook his head and dropped hard to his knees beside Lloyd.
Up close it looked worse.
Way worse.
Bruises already darkening across Lloyd’s throat and jaw, which was unnaturally hollow on the right side. Blood at the corner of his mouth. His breathing catching unevenly every few seconds like his ribs couldn’t expand properly.
The hair on the back of his head was matted scarlet.
The med kit forgotten on the ground next to him seemed painfully insufficient.
“Lloyd?” Kai said carefully.
No response.
Just another ragged breath.
Kai swallowed hard and reached toward his shoulder.
The second he touched him, green power lashed out violently around Lloyd’s body.
Lloyd snapped awake with a broken gasp. "Dad-!"
The sound punched straight through Kai’s chest.
“Easy, easy, easy-” Kai pulled his hand back immediately.
The energy crackled wildly again before dimming into weak flickers.
Now that he was looking for it, Kai could see faint green energy flicker weakly beneath Lloyd’s skin in uneven pulses, wrapping instinctively around the worst injuries whenever his hands got too close.
Cole had a focused look in his eyes as he neared his own hand to Lloyd, confirming the same thing for himself. "It's like it's protecting him." he said in a note of fascination.
"No kidding," Kai said. There was a loud crack as Jay shot something from the sky again. The Sons were getting bolder again.
"I'm warning you!" Jay shouted, sending a lightning bolt into the already crumpling wall beneath the bikers' feet.
"What are you gonna do?" one of them jeered loudly, when he regained his footing. "Your leader is toast!"
"Yeah, the green ninja's as good as dead!"
Kai wanted to run there and punch them into bloody leather pulps, and saw Cole next to him tense as well.
Then Lloyd made another horrible choking sound.
Kai snapped back.
No.
Lloyd first.
Always Lloyd first.
"We need to get him to the med bay," Kai said, trying to bring Cole back from his own head.
"Yeah," Cole said distractedly.
Good, Kai thought. He leaned down. "Lloyd, can you move at all-"
Another arrow flew down.
This time Cole caught it out of the air and snapped it clean in half.
“That’s enough!” he roared upward.
For a second, even the Sons of Garmadon went quiet.
Cole almost never yelled like that.
Above them, Harumi stepped into view.
Her white hair flowing in the wind like a weird halo around her painted face as she looked down at Lloyd sprawled in the dirt.
And laughed.
Jay moved. “You little-”
Kai grabbed him before he could dash up there. “Jay!”
“She’s RIGHT THERE!”
“And Lloyd is HERE!”
Another one of the gang members shouted something mocking at them. Kai tuned all of it out.
Lloyd’s eyes had fluttered open again. “Kai…?” he breathed weakly.
“I’m here.” Kai leaned closer, letting go of Jay, who was now looking down at their injured teammate as well. “We got you.”
Lloyd blinked slowly like he couldn’t properly process the words. His gaze shifted frantically past Kai’s shoulder. “Father-” His voice cracked apart on the word.
Kai felt something in himself break with it.
“It's not him, Lloyd,” Kai said before he could stop himself.
Lloyd’s expression twisted in pain that had nothing to do with injuries.
Green energy pulsed sharply around him again.
"Zane, get down here!" Cole shouted into his comm.
"Why isn't he here already?" Kai asked, realizing for the first time that Zane and Nya didn't come with them.
"I told him to prep the med bay," Cole quickly explained. "I thought it would be quicker if we got Lloyd up and Zane could take care of the rest. But this-" Cole gestured to Lloyd, whose eyes rolled upwards and the green energy only slowly retreated.
There was a hurried thud behind them as Zane arrived.
"How bad is it?" Zane asked, kneeling into the sand with them.
"See for yourself." Kai said.
Zane eyed the Sons still jeering from afar and then reached out to touch Lloyd.
He retracted his arm quickly as he got zapped by the wild power. Lloyd whined into the ground, conscious again.
"What the-" Zane shook his head and quickly ran a scan of Lloyd's entire body.
It was bad, if Zane's normally impassive face was anything to go by.
"We're thinking he's protecting himself subconsciously." Cole offered.
"You would be correct," Zane nodded with a frown. "His elemental power seems to react autonomously to physical trauma, overreacting to distress and pain stimuli.”
"So how do we move him?" Kai didn't like the conflicted look Zane made. "What?"
"If I'm right, every time the power surges, it drains additional energy reserves. If it reacts like this just at a touch of a hand, we can't move him without risking killing him."
"What?" Jay turned around. "Are you suggesting we just leave him here?"
Kai stared down at Lloyd.
At the flickering green light struggling desperately to hold him together. Even unconscious, even broken half to death, Lloyd’s power was still trying to protect him.
And it was killing him.
The realization made Kai feel sick.
There was an obvious solution to this.
“Lloyd,” he said softly. “Hey. Listen to me, okay? We need to move you. It's gonna hurt, but we need you to try and control your power.”
Lloyd barely seemed to hear him. His eyes had slipped shut again, breathing shallow and uneven.
Another surge of green flickered across his back.
“Zane,” Kai said quietly, panic creeping into his voice now, “do something.”
Zane reached toward Lloyd carefully. His hands shook when he stopped short of touching the green gi. He stared at Lloyd’s injuries with something dangerously close to horror before visibly forcing himself back under control.
"Zane." Cole said sharply.
“I…” Zane shook himself. “I apologize.”
Another object crashed nearby.
“Aw, are the ninja upset?” Harumi called mockingly from above.
Jay actually rushed out this time. Lightning exploded around him as he lunged forward with a wild shout. Cole caught him around the waist before he got three steps in.
“JAY!”
“LET ME GO!”
“She wants that!” Cole snarled.
“She's the one who did this!”
“I KNOW!”
Kai barely heard them, making a decision. "He'll die for sure if we leave him," he said, looking Zane in the eye, half telling him, half asking permission.
Zane's blue eyes shone with fear, before hardening into determination, as he nodded.
Kai slid one arm carefully across Lloyd’s shoulders, rolling him onto his back and in his arms. The power reacted instantly, trying to force Kai away. Kai forced himself not to make a sound. Getting hit by Lloyd's power was never fun.
Lloyd cried out, body tensing hard enough to tremble.
“I know, I know,” Kai said quickly, voice shaking now despite his best efforts. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” The glow flickered violently around Lloyd’s chest before dimming again. Weaker this time. Kai didn't think that was a good sign. "It's just us, Lloyd, it's me."
Lloyd's eyes slid open only a sliver. Zane quickly stepped into Lloyd's field of view. "You are safe now, Lloyd." he said, giving him the warmest smile.
The kid's eyes slowly found Zane's face and he grimaced. It might've been an attempt to return the smile, Kai couldn't guess. But it seemed enough for Zane. "Keep him as stable as possible. We must return to the Bounty immediately.”
Kai slid his other arm beneath Lloyd’s knees as gently as he could.
The second Kai lifted him, Lloyd’s head lolled weakly against his shoulder, and he grit his teeth. His elemental power didn't surface again.
Zane ran towards the struggling Jay and Cole. Kai turned towards the Bounty. "Nya, come in."
"How is he?" Nya quickly asked, worry coloring her voice.
"Not great," Kai said, looking at the boy in his arms. No, not a boy. Lloyd hadn't had the chance to be a boy in a long time. Yet in Kai's arms, bruised and half-conscious, he looked heartbreakingly young. "Be ready to bring up the stretcher."
Kai could see the rope, and glimpsed Nya on the upper end of it. Lloyd whimpered, head pressing against Kai's shoulder like he was trying to curl in on himself. There was a very faint; “…sorry…”
Kai squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, holding himself together by sheer force of will. “For what?” he demanded softly. “Lloyd, what could you possibly be sorry for?”
But Lloyd was already slipping away again.
Behind them, the Sons of Garmadon kept laughing and three pairs of footsteps hurrying after them.
Kai didn’t look back once.
Because if he did, Garmadon or not, he wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to stop himself from burning the entire prison to the ground.