Cole's Destiny

Chapter 14

By the time they reached the Dark Island, it was at least noon. Destiny was exhausted and sweaty. The sun was hot and had been frying her ever since it had risen into the sky. Morpheus was tired too; his wing flaps were droopy, and when they tried to land, he almost crashed into the ground. Destiny had to hop off him, letting him disappear, and roll on the ground. Her bag dropped behind her, and Destiny only had seconds to grab it before it hit the ground. The others landed their dragons, looking similarly tired.

"Okay, time to rest for a while." Lloyd said, "Cole, did you set up a camp when you came here?" Cole answered in the affirmative, and Destiny heard Lloyd say, "Good. Take us there." Destiny followed Cole, who was leading them to the camp. When they got there, all Destiny wanted to do was lay flat on the ground. But instead, she walked over to a tree, and climbed up it. She found her little mark still on it from their previous adventure, and sighed. She leaned against the tree, the branch thankfully big enough for that, and watched the surroundings of the camp. She didn't see any troops, or immediate danger, so she relaxed. Destiny leaned her head against the tree, and closed her eyes for a moment. An image of the General choking her flashed in her mind, and she opened her eyes again quickly. I guess sleep is out of the question. Destiny slid down the tree and walked over to Lloyd.

"Can I patrol the area?" Lloyd stood up and nodded.

"I'll come with you." He said, his tone telling her not to question it. Destiny nodded, and the two of them moved into the forest. Lloyd stopped by Zane and told him they were going on patrol, and the nindroid nodded. As they crept through the forest, Destiny tried not to feel awkward. She hadn't spent a lot of time with the famed green ninja, it felt weird. She wanted to ask him a question, but she wasn't sure if she should. After a little while of sneaking around, Destiny decided to just ask him.

"Lloyd," She said, quietly. Lloyd turned his head and looked at her.

"What? Did you see something?" He asked, glancing about them.

"No," She said, her courage failing her. "I have a question." He looked a little confused, but waited for her. "Jay told me you didn't defeat your dad right away at first. Did you feel like that was your fault? You don't have to answer, I'm just wondering." He looked at her, surprised. Destiny hoped she hadn't insulted or offended him. Lloyd sighed and looked away.

"That's a pointed question. Yes, of course I felt guilty." He looked back at her. "Why?" She swallowed, very uncomfortable.

"I guess I just wanted to know how you dealt with the guilt." She said meekly.

Lloyd's eyes got a faraway look as he said, "I'm not sure. Everyone just finds their own way of dealing with it, I guess. My way was to tell myself that I'd do better next time." He sounded like he was reasoning with himself. Destiny nodded, too uncomfortable to ask anything else. They started walking again, and Destiny hoped they would return to the silence of earlier, but she should have known it wouldn't.

"What makes you feel guilty?" Lloyd asked, still walking forward.

Destiny sighed, "Oh, nothing really. Except for unearthing the Golden Armor."

Lloyd bent down and looked at something a foot away. "You shouldn't feel guilty about that. It could have happened to any of us" He paused a moment, then continued. "In fact, it has happened to most of us, I should know. More people have wanted my power than I can count."

They started heading back to the camp as Destiny said to him, "That makes sense. But I've never messed up to that extreme before. I mean, what I did doesn't just affect me. It could hurt all of Ninjago." Saying it out loud made Destiny feel worse inside than she had before.