Work Text:
There were a lot of messages Arin took away from Ras during his time with him. Regardless of how hard he tried to forget them, they never seemed to fade away. One of them was one he’d heard long before his time with Ras, and even before he met Sora. Life isn’t fair. And ever since The Merge, his life had been continuously reinforcing this statement.
The Merge was the catastrophic event that merged all sixteen realms together. The event that brought over not only beautiful landmarks, culture, and people, but also destruction and loss. Arin experienced both of these things firsthand. The first thing he felt after The Merge was loneliness. The area surrounding the small, lost boy had disappeared, and was replaced with a mess of architecture and destroyed buildings collapsed on the ground. He was lucky enough to have his pie-baking abilities, which made him enough money to get by for a while. But the initial Merge was hardly the last threat Arin had faced in his childhood. Things ranging from finding customers to disastrous mergequakes were constantly at his throat. His life was unstable, with the joy in the young, innocent boy slowly deteriorating.
Slowly but surely, however, his life was being built back up, piece by piece. He met Sora. He continued talking and embracing himself in the beauty of The Crossroads. The Crossroads was important to the people of Ninjago and beyond. It wasn’t perfect by any means. As any location that was initially in Ninjago, it came with its dangers. But people still felt a pull to it. It had a lot to love. Its food, the people, the opportunities it came with… for some, it gave back to their lives what The Merge initially took.
For Arin, it gave him Sora. It gave him hope. It gave him a new place to call home. But it also made him paranoid, and guilty. His parents were still out there, and it felt as if he replaced them. Arin hadn’t ever been so far from them before. Even his school as a kid was close to their house. They were the first people he would run to whenever he got home. Their farewells to him whenever they had to leave him alone made him feel like their warmth and comfort were still there. But the warmth had faded, replaced with fear and dread. Sometimes, he felt the pull to leave it all behind, and look wherever he could think of for his parents, but he knew he couldn’t do that. If he even tried to walk out into the dangerous wastelands outside of Ninjago that extended tens of miles before there even being a hint of another realm he would surely die before even making it halfway.
However, Arin tried to keep his head high. And it seemingly paid off. He ran into the ninja, and they took both him and Sora in. Slowly, with his life stabilizing, he felt more at peace. And with the promise that they’d one day find his parents and his dream to be a ninja, he kept going.
The ninja went on countless missions once they (mostly) reunited. They stopped the mergequakes, liberated Imperium, and stopped the blood moon… yet everything felt like a distraction. His parents were still out there. And eventually, after the tournament, it drew him to Ras. Nowadays, even with Sora’s constant reminders that it wasn’t his fault, and that Ras manipulated him, Arin still thinks about what he could’ve done to see through Ras’ lies. And now the ninja had brought back his parents.
Ras’ words still hung in his head. He knew it was true.
The Merge did so much to and for Arin. It took his parents away, it made him a ninja, it shattered his childhood beliefs… his life was different now. Things were starting to stabilize again, though. He had his parents again, he had Sora, he had Frak, and he had a family. But there were still children out there with lost parents, and if Ras’ words had any truth to them, The Merge ruined him as well.
So now, Arin’s life was supposed to be normal. There were finally things to look forward to, to celebrate. Supposedly, he could settle down, live his life, and continue saving the world.
But of course, things couldn’t ever be that simple.
The original ninja came back from their mission only a few hours ago, and they told the young ninja the news. Lloyd was gone.
For being the master of life, life never treated Lloyd fairly. He skipped his childhood, he was manipulated countlessly, captured, and always had a never-lightening pressure pushed against his shoulders. And now, just as he believed things could go well again, he was gone. Ripped away from those he loved. Even in his last moments, he gave the ninja back their powers. He saved the world from potential doom. He spent his whole life giving to those who surrounded him, and helping those struggling.
The silence in the monastery was deafening, the only noise being the occasional yell from training. All of the ninja went off to do their own thing. They knew that soon they’d have to get back to business. They could never seem to catch a break, after all. And Lloyd would surely want them to train eventually. But none of them had the heart to do any of that, at the moment. Kai, Nya, and Wyldfyre went off to take a walk around the Crossroads, Cole and Jay were off downstairs in the basement, hoping to find something in order to bring Lloyd back as well as giving the news to some of the Summit representatives, Euphrasia and Frak decided to stay around the training grounds, trying their best to learn spinjitzu under Zane’s guidance, and Sora and Arin were in their room, still unsure of what they were meant to think of everything.
Sora and Arin were sitting down next to each other on Arin’s swing. They couldn’t find the strength to look at each other. The expressions on their faces were nearly blank, yet they could still see glaring somberness whenever they looked up. Occasionally, a small sob would leave one of their mouths. Whenever it happened, the other would guiltily look away. The melancholy silence was hanging in the air. One of them would open their mouths to talk, yet nothing could come out. Just a few hours ago, the young ninja were celebrating their win. Arin and Frak were rambling to each other about what pie they would end up baking, Sora was asking for tips on how she could eventually improve with her pies, and Wyldfyre and Euphrasia were talking about how awesome they found the original ninjas’ “Dragon Form…” but the enthusiasm from that moment immediately faded the moment the aforementioned ended up walking through the monastery gates, their shoulders hunched over and a somber expression on their faces.
Even thinking of them in that moment gave Arin a sharp pang in his chest. It especially wasn’t fair to them. Arin’s pain was immeasurable, and he couldn’t even imagine what they must be feeling at the moment. He closed his eyes, trying to push away the small tears forming in them as he thought about it all.
A dreadful thought appeared in his eyes, and he couldn’t help but wonder what Lloyd was feeling when it was happening. He must have been scared. Did it hurt? Arin’s heart broke all over again as he thought about it. Lloyd helped him so much, and he didn’t even get to say goodbye. No one did.
Another sob leaves Arin’s mouth. He opens his eyes, and he is met with Sora’s gaze.
Sora stares at him, a pained look on her face. But she opens her arms, inviting Arin to an embrace.
He stares back into her eyes. Immediately, he collapses into Sora’s arms, tears flooding down his cheeks. He can feel her face buried in his hair as he presses his head into the crook of her neck, sobbing. Pained noises leave Sora’s mouth as she squeezes him tightly. No words leave any of their mouths. They sit in each other’s embrace, as the reality of what happened fully sinks into their head as a pit forms in their stomach.
Lloyd was gone, and there was no doubt in any of their heads that the only thing he was thinking of at the moment was his family.