Morro had been planning this day for several months already. It was his cousin, Lloyd's birthday. He didn't think the day would come when he alone would plan something for the little gremlin. It is true that in the past he could not bear this little green annoyance, which was his cousin. But as the years go by.. things can change. Some in bad and some in good.
Lloyd was going to be distracted by his dear friends, and by the time he got out of high school, he was going to prepare a little surprise for him that he had planned for some time.
He knew that Lloyd's colleagues were only going to offend him, to make fun of him, so he planned to make the afternoon more enjoyable. Koko already knew about it, she knew what Morro was planning for her son, and she agreed. She offered to help him, but Morro politely refused, wanting to do it himself. Koko was really happy that Morro was slowly accepting Lloyd, knowing how much the blonde had wanted this, for years.
Lloyd tried in many ways- and you can't say he read anywhere how he managed to get close to his cousin's heart. But let's just say... a few pranks can do a lot in this family.
------
Morro had prepared a present for his cousin at his home. He just had to buy something and everything would be perfect.
The brunette was on his way to his apartment. The wind blew slowly, calmly beside His smiling Master. As he passed under a crown tree, a few leaves fell on his black hair like a void. Morro chuckled. He saw this moment as a child, and he loved it. He slowly lowered them, stepping forward.
"A few more details and everything will be ready! I can't wait to see his... fa..ce..."
.
.
.
Fire...
Ash..
Burnt.
.
.
.
His apartment was on fire. The whole building was on fire. The fire was red, hot orange, with small, medium, large golden sparks that blew through the air like crazy. Thick black smoke rose into the air, covering the sky with its sickly mist.
From a distance he could feel the heat, he could smell the smoke, and he could hear the crack of things inside, dropping and burning, with wood, the flowers planted inside and other things. How it all burned in front of his eyes and the rest of the people around him.
A muffled meow came out of nowhere.
"No! Lilith!!" Morro fled to the entrance of the burning building, but one of the civilians stopped him. "Let me go!! My cat is there!! Lilith!" He screamed desperately. His heart was beating like a marathon. His legs were starting to shake and so was the rest of his body.
"Does the life of an animal matter more than yours?!" The civilian said in a strained tone, as if he is trying to tame the boy.
"Yes!! Lilith!!" But he still doesn't break free. He try again and again, but nothing.
The closer he tried to get, the more it could feel a burning sensation in his eyes, stings in his nose. The spectacle of the flames was truly hallucinatory and it was difficult for him to break up with him because it reminded him of someone, but now the horror in his soul had high priority.
His powers devoured him from inside. The wind was not strong enough to calm the fire, but to intensify. The wind stopped him from advancing and releasing, his body stiffening instantly, his breathing short of breath, his eyes tearing..
A drop of water wetted the tip of his nose. He looked up, seeing independent cold water falling on the unleashed fire of nothingness.
"Oh FSM, thank you Nya..." He whispered, knowing she was responsible for this miracle. The wind in him had calmed down a little... but not at all.
This was a sign that the Ninja had appeared.
Morro could not feel his feet or heart. It hurt too much. It was too much of a shock. The place where he lived for so long... Was on fire, everything was destroyed... And now, the speechless little soul- may die.
He tried to get this out of his mind, but it was hard. And other thoughts had come to him one after another... and his condition slowly worsened.
The uncontrollable wind had felt something coming out of the menacing fire of the once-quiet building. He looked forward in pain. In the middle of the fire, steps..
"..Kai..?"
His voice cracked as he spoke his name. He could see in the redhead's hands.. holding a scared clump of fur in his hands, a little burned at the peaks. He had received Lilith from someone dear to him.
"Lilith!" The white fur cat with black spots, now gray from the smoke, came trembling terribly in his master's arms. His dear cat came into his hands. Safe, alive. "Muchísimas gracias, mi pequeña cereza..." He said in Spanish. He was too agitated and at the same time relieved that his cat was safe, that he didn't care what language he was speaking at the moment.
Kai smiled under his mask, understanding what he had been told. "El placer es mío, mi corazón.~"
Morro wanted to say something about this, that this is not the time for it at all.
"Morro! Are you okay?!" The Green Ninja had appeared, accidentally pushing Kai aside.
"I'm fine, Green Ninja." He said in a calm, slightly broken voice, winking at him.
"O-oh." Lloyd realized there were other civilians around. "Ahem. Good. We.. we're leaving now. The fire has been extinguished. Be careful."
They were gone.
Morro looked at the block. Burnt. In the ashes. In ravages. The black smoke of the fire was still rising in the darkening sky. The brunette sighed. Immediately after the Ninjago's rescuers left, he had received two messages from two different people. One more agitated than another. He didn't answer them, just sighed hard, frustrated... Crying there for a short time... Taking his kitten close to his chest..
The wind creates a kind of sphere of protection around him. He didn't want to be touched by anyone now. He just wanted to cry for a while, quietly, to release himself.
After calming down, walking slowly and hard on the road slightly lit by the warm light of the lamps placed on the gray sidewalk, a phone call he received.
"Heyyy, Mrs. G..." She was Lloyd's mother, Koko Garmadon. "Yes.. I'm fine- -- All right. No burns, stay calm. -- Of course.. I'm coming now."
He hang up. He looked at the cat wrapped in a black jacket he was wearing before. "Looks like we're going to pay a visit to Mrs. Koko, Lilith." He said, smiling hard, then falling from his face.
When he arrived... he didn't even get inside because-
"Morro!! All right?? Are you ok!? No burns or anything worse!?" Koko had begun. She was worried. Morro was relieved that Wu didn't know about it, not yet. If he knew, he was already here, with his gaze as a worried old man.
"I'm fine, Mrs. G." He smiled a little forced. "Is Lloyd here?"
"He's in his room.. He's waiting for you. He knew you were coming."
"Yeah.. Can you take care of Lilith, please? I'd like to talk to Lloyd. I have a little present for his birthday. What... is left of him, hehe.." He still smiled.
Koko sighed. "Of course... And you can stay with us overnight. And I'll call Wu, okay?"
"Can't we noooot call him?" He try, but get back just a serious look from the redhead. "Okay, okay..." Morro carefully handed Lilith to Koko.
------
Lloyd had a pillow in his arms. He was relieved that Morro was not burned alive, that he was not inside during the catastrophe. That was what he had been most afraid of when they received the alert and he read the street name. He knew that his cousin spent most of his time in the house, and that the chances of him being in the middle of the fire were high. He was surprised why he wasn't in the house. He was curious..
'How did the fire happen? Who could start it? Was it an accident or was it a deliberate one? With a bad thought...'
A knock on the door pulled him out of his trance.
"Can...?" A familiar voice asked.
"Yes! Logic." The blonde throws the pillow out of his arms, so that the brunette does not realize his thoughts. Morro was beginning to read him like an open book.
The door opened, revealing a Morro... "Hey..." He walked slowly inside.
Lloyd stared at the brunette's tired, slightly red eyes. Because of crying and fire. Morro for the blondy looked almost exactly like he did when Lloyd made a prank on him, only now he's darker and more destroyed.
Lloyd stayed at Morro's house for two days. Koko had asked him. She was going to work for a while. Morro was preparing some food for them, and the little prankster had time to prepare a little prank, which as a result was a Morro full of chocolate, feather and sand. Lloyd laughed heartily that day, and Morro took his sweet revenge after. But Morro sometimes woke up with a few strands of sand in his hair.
The older child of the family sat down next to the younger one. "All right..? Sorry that.. this fire destroyed your birthday."
"No, no! I'm.. glad you're alive. This is the best gift today... that you're alive and nothing happened. Lilith too."
Morro smiled, knowing that Lloyd was half lying to him. The better gift for Lloyd would be his father to return to normal for him. But they were aware that only by a miracle would this really happen.
"But," Morro had begun. "I managed to save something. ... I'm lying. I already had it with me." In his hand had appeared a chocolate muffin with a candle in the middle. Lloyd had no idea where he got it from. They had suddenly appeared. It was like Jay. "Happy 16TH Birthday Bud!"
"Thank you, Morro..." Lloyd was moved by his gesture. He didn't expect to receive anything from him for his birthday. He blew the fire out of the small candle, which quickly went out.
Morro took the candle and handed him the muffin. "It's all yours."
"I have a much better idea." He took the muffin and tore it in two. "Here you go. You deserve it.. You went through a good shock today."
Morro smiled. "Thanks, Greenie.. Of course, I had something else prepared. But it caught on fire, sorry.."
"It's okay. And don't tell me what it was! Next time you give it to me, okay?"
"Okay."
"And hey, I'll make sure my apartment doesn't catch on fire on your birthday."
"Ha-Ha. Funny." He bite from the muffin. "I have no idea how it caught on fire.. And all my savings..!"
"Hey, we can go as Ninja tomorrow to see if anything can be saved, okay?"
"Yeah... Ugh, I'm going to have to stay with my dad now. Wait and see how we wake up with the smell of tea in the house tomorrow."
"Mhm. Or you can stay with a certain person.~" Lloyd smiled catily at him.
"..Shut up..!" He pushed him slowly, laughing and smiling in shame. Lloyd chuckled, leaning back on his cousin's shoulder.
"It was a beautiful birthday, thank you very much, Morro." It was because he was with him, even when the fire...
"My pleasure... You deserve it." It bothered his hair, with a simple smile on his face.
Lloyd kept hearing the phone keep making noise. There were notifications, messages.
"Uh.. Morro.. Kai keeps messages me. About you. I think you should call him or something."
"Hmmm. Nah. Leave him alone until he calls you twice, then he's really worried."
"... And I don't answer...?"
"Oh yes." He sat for a while, grinning. "On the third call, you can. Like that you can hear the flames from his hair."
Lloyd stared at his cousin.
'Why am I related to you? No- the better question would be: Why do I care about you, my beloved cousin and Emo-Dark Humor?!'
--
T r a n s l a t e:
Morro: "Thank you very much, my little cherry..."
Kai: "The pleasure is mine, my heart.~"
--
B o n u s:
"It was 3 PM. It was 3 PM. It was 3 PM. It was 3 PM." Lloyd kept saying, with a look of disappointment on his face.
Morro stayed with them for a few days, until he got back on his feet. A few things in his burned apartment could have been saved, but the truth was... there was a lot of damage. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
"It was breakfast."
"It was 3 PM."
"If it's still the middle of the day, it's breakfast." Morro insisted, with a cup of coffee in his hand and Lilith asleep beside him.
"No, is only the first meal of the day, it's only if- it's only breakfast if it's the first meal of the day and it's early. Look at the literal dictonary definition of it. An than lunch is the one that's eaten in the middle of the day literally you cannot call it breakfast if it's at 3 PM. Old man."
"You can. And don't calm me Old man! That's dad.."
"I mean you can, it's just not- you can't get mad at me if I'm, if I also want to call it lunch." He ignore the phase with his uncle.
"Yeah, but you woke up and the first thing you thought was: 'Ah, yes pizza'. Why?"
"Oh yeah yeah, I think you'd be able to understand because all of the other times besides when you woke up, you go coffee."
"Yeah, but you- "
"No, you are wrong." He interrupted him
"No, literally all of the other times you said pizza."
"Pizza is a first meal of a day that makes you a degenerate."
"Jeez.."
"It does. You degenerate me."
"Mm-hmm. And I'm proud of that."
Lloyd threw a pillow at Morro.
--
My art.