The Imperial Battle II: The Emperor of Ninjago

Chapter 22. May I Call You Prince?

Four months had passed. Slow, depressing days had turned into endless weeks, which had only become multiple months spent at the Jade Falls Manor. During those months, however, a lot had happened.

Lloyd gazed out of the window of the manor's library, just watching as tiny snowflakes fell from the cloudy, white sky. They had already formed a thick, snowy blanket over the cold grounds as well as the frozen pond. The pure whiteness outside was somehow very soothing for the eyes of someone in a healing process.

Lloyd glanced down at his leg, stroking it a little with his hand. He couldn't say it had fully healed or could take a lot of strain, but it was much better than it had been a few months earlier. He could walk on it without a lot of extra effort and was able to bend it well. He wasn't able to run for his life or train, but he hadn't expected to be able to either. The main thing was that he could at least do something. And aside from his leg, he had pretty much healed. His fingers were doing alright, any signs of him having suffered other injuries were gone, his biggest cuts had turned into scars, and even his emotional state had improved. There had been no magic cure, but just time. Time had healed some of the physical and emotional wounds.

There was suddenly a knock at the door, which shook Lloyd out of his snow-gazing state. He looked over to see Kai peering in.

"Hey Beojkkoch," he said, his voice adorably sweet. "You might want to come see what's going on downstairs."

Lloyd smiled and got up. He, a little stiffly, walked over to his boyfriend, who grabbed his hand and led him downstairs into the excessive, overly large lounge filled with exceedingly expensive and tacky furniture… as well as Jay and Cole's bickering.

"Jay, you're an idiot for even trying that," Cole remarked, his hands on his hips.

Jay stuck his tongue out at him. "You're just a wimp, who can't do it himself."

Lloyd cracked a smile. Jay and Cole, wise as they were, were fighting over the Winter Festival tree's decorations. Jay was climbing a very shaky ladder in order to put the star on top of the tree, while Cole was clearly just waiting for him to fall. 

"They brought the tree in an hour ago," Kai informed, also watching Jay's climbing as though he was hoping for him to fall. 

Lloyd, on the other hand, was just admiring how nice the tree looked. It had lots of white and blue decorations on it, everything from tinsels to glass ball ornaments. In addition to the tree, there were lots of wreaths and candles everywhere, which had clearly been put up by Jay, considering how many of them there were. He really liked the winter solstice celebrations.

"Looks great," Lloyd complimented, feeling a tiny bit of excitement. The Winter Festival was one of his favorite holidays, and even though it wasn't going to be anyhow similar this year as opposed to most of the past ones, he hoped it would still be enjoyed by them all. At least a little. Everything had been so calm lately it was difficult to imagine they were still in the middle of what was bound to be a war. Clouse had been quiet, there had been fewer troops attacking villages and a hospital had even been re-opened in the nearby town. Yet the threat remained. 

"Just wait until you see what's in the kitchen," Jay said with a grin. "Seriously, Zane has to have some power of great baking, because he's managed to make something insane with absolutely no ingredients."

"He's not lying. He and Moon have made some pretty good-looking pastries," Kai confirmed.

"But unless we want to live on bread and pastries and run out of them in a few days as well, we need to go rob a store or something," Cole stated. "We're running low on flour and food in general."

"We can go see if there's anything in the stores today," Kai replied. "I'm sure they have at least something."

"Hopefully," said Cole.