the butterfly effect | l. garmadon

twenty-five

  "What happened after I fell?" I asked.

  "Morro returned and stole Wu's staff," Misako answered. Her smile was weary as she lifted the parchment in her hand, bare aside from three large symbols. "But at least we made a copy."

  Before I could ask what the significance of Wu's staff was or why Morro caused this much destruction just to get his hands on it, the loud call of a dragon echoing over the tree tops made me jump. Nya's dragon landed in a little clearing that the Bounty's descent had caused and burst into blue mist.

  "Y/n!" Nya called. She raced towards our little group with Jay right on her heels. It seemed that they were on lookout for me from above. "Thank god you're alive!"

  Nya barrelled into me and nearly knocked us both onto the ground by how fast she hugged me. I oof'd at her strength, briefly startled by the suddenness. My body gave an ache of complaint.

  "Hey, Nya," I squeaked. Over her shoulder I saw Cole and Wu enter our vicinity from seperate parts of the forest, and then joined by Kai and Garmadon. It seemed as though they'd put out a search party.

  "You must be insane," Nya chastised as she pulled back and surveyed my injuries. Her eyes narrowed with fury. "I'm gonna kill that ghost, I swear."

  Cole planted a hand on my shoulder. "When I heard you fell out the ship, I..." He trailed off with an exhale of distress. The look on his face was barely masked by relief. "I'm glad you're here."

  I smiled and tried not to cry at the care in his voice. "Thanks, Cole. Sorry for the scare."

  Kai wordlessly shoved his sister out of the way, who complained, and brought me into a tight hug. I blinked in surprise. I thought I was on his bad side. Nevertheless, I hugged him back just as tight.

  "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Are you okay?"

  I promptly broke down into tears. No, I wasn't okay. I was scared and hurt and terrified, and the uncertainty of the future unnerved me to the core. And then I felt guilty, because if this was how bad I felt, then how much worse did Lloyd feel? If my neck hurt from Morro's attack, then how horrified did Lloyd feel from not being able to stop it?

  Kai took a seat on the mast beside me and held me firmer. Jay sat on the other side and rested his cheek on my shoulder, and I behind my grief I could barely believe how lucky I was to have people like this - who genuinely cared for me, who was sad when I was upset. It still felt so raw and new.

  I didn't like crying in front of people, but god, it was so needed. Everything I was feeling had been pent up and was bubbling behind a barrier of my own creation, squeezing me and squeezing me until my head threatened to burst. It was cathartic to sob it all out until I was listless, leaning against Kai's steadfast support and grounded by Jay's comforting weight.

  When I finally managed to come to, I found the rest of the team each sharing disheartened looks. They also lost Lloyd. They lost their friend, their team leader, their brother. Misako and Garmadon lost their son. Wu lost his nephew. Nya was scowling back tears and Jay was quietly wiping away his. Cole looked lost. Zane and Kai were deep in thought, probably coming up with plans to save him.

  And though this was terrible, although this was the most awful thing that could have happened, it was still nice to see how loved Lloyd was. The solidarity was nice. None of us were in this alone.