Querencia Discontinued (Lloyd Garmadon X Male Reader)

Episode 7: Tick Tock

Taking a deep breath, [M/N] focused on the Aether allowing it to seep from his body and begin to seal his wounds. After a minute, though, the ninja had to stop lest he overuse his element. 

 Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Sensei Wu studying an old, but well–kept katana, and he also noticed how sad he looked. Frowning, he reached over and grabbed his crutches pulling himself up with a grunt. 

 "You miss him, don't you." It wasn't a question. [M/N] knew how much his Sensei missed his brother. 

 "I do," he said, rubbing his fingers over the inscription on the handle of the blade. After a second, [M/N] waddled back over to his spot on the floor, but before he could sit down the loud voices of his brothers came from the doorway.

 "Well, every morning I do five hundred push–ups," Zane bragged. 

 "Five hundred? Try a thousand," Kai argued.

 "Hahaha, I do a thousand and one." Jay was quick to try to one–up his brothers. 

 "What is this, amateur hour? Sounds like my warm–up. Sensei,  what does True Potential look like if —" Cole stopped when he felt [M/N]'s glare and noticed Wu was slipping a katana back into its sheath. 

 "Our apologies, Sensei. We've interrupted you." Zane, Kai, Cole, and Jay all bowed their heads in apology. 

 Wu sighed, turning to face the ninja, "I'm sorry if I've been distant lately. My mind has been elsewhere since Lloyd has gone missing and [M/N] was injured. What can I help you with?" [M/N] frowned as he remembered his failure from a week ago. 

 "Sensei, what if we've done enough training? What if we've reached our True Potential? What if we're ready?" Cole asked, stepping forward.

 "Hm. You might have reached peak physical condition, but you've yet to reach your inner potential. In each and every one of us, there are obstacles that hold us back. Only when you conquer that fear will your heart be free. Only then will you reach your True Potential. Only then will we have a fighting chance to stop the Serpentine from releasing the Great Devourer," Wu explained, shaking his head, as he placed the sheathed katana down.

 "It can be pretty difficult to achieve, especially when you don't know what it is you need to conquer," [M/N] added, shifting his crutches, trying to get comfortable.

 "Oh, great," Jay complained, throwing his hands up.

 "There's more to the Great Devourer than you've led on, isn't there, Sensei?" Zane asked, stepping forward and resting a hand on Wu's shoulder.

 "I too have obstacles within my own heart. There's a story I've never told you," Wu started, pausing to give [M/N] time to sit down, so he wouldn't strain himself. "Long ago when I was a young boy, Garmadon and I were more than brothers. We were the best of friends." 

 "Wait a minute. Now, I know you two were brothers, but really? The King of Cruelly, the Doer of Destruction, the Captain of Chaos, and you two were friends?" Jay shrieked, earning a whack in the knee from one of [M/N]'s crutches. Jay yelped and clutched his leg as he began hopping on his other leg. 

 "Not another comment, or you I duct–tape your mouth shut, understand?" [M/N] asked, glaring up at Jay from his spot on the floor. 

 "Please no interruptions," Wu said, turning to face his teapot on the table, that sat in the corner of the room. "You see, he did not always have a wicked heart.

 "One day I lost this very Katana. Knowing that our father would be mad, my brother told me to go retrieve it. But I refused. He told me not to put off what can be done today and went to get it himself.