~~~*~~~
To do the right thing, but without recompense
And then you do something wrong, and say it was great
And now you don't know how you could ever complain
~~~*~~~
I woke up with Lloyd's diary still in my arms. I sat up and returned it to its rightful spot on the shelf. I wiped my eyes, crying myself to sleep always made them crustier than usual in the morning.
The sun was now streaming in through the window, I checked the time on my phone; 9:36 am.
I got out of Lloyd's bed and went to see if anyone else was awake. Of course they were, they're Ninja for god's sake.
"Hey [Y/n], I washed your clothes for you. They're in the laundry room." Zane stated, briefly looking up from training.
"Thanks." I headed over to where I vaguely remembered the laundry room being, from Lloyd's quick tour. The thought of Lloyd hurt my heart, it was only two days ago that he gave me that tour. Neither of us had known that we were in danger.
When I stepped in, I saw that my clothes were neatly folded on top of the dryer but Lloyd's hoodie was hanging, unwashed, from a hook on the wall. Stuck to it was a note: I didn't let Zane wash this. -Nya.
I smiled sadly, I was glad for her. If he had washed it, I wouldn't have anything to remind me of Lloyd.
Holding all my clothes in my arms, I headed back into Lloyd's room to get dressed. After pulling my t-shirt over my head I noticed something on the wall. Now that light was filling the room, I was able to see the drawings on the walls. My eyes scanned them, starting from the wall closest to his bed until I had done a complete 360.
At first, the drawings weren't perfect, as is common when a 10-year-old scribbles on the wall for a bit of fun, but he obviously continued with age and they became actual drawings. I walked over to one that caught my eye in the first place, a large drawing of his elemental dragon on the wall next to the window. I could tell he had done it with a crayon just by the texture of it. I couldn't help but smile, properly this time.
I broke my gaze on the drawing and stared out of the window for a while. We were still above the clouds. I could see a distant mountain peak, poking through the soft, white landscape.
My attention was stolen by something else, just behind the mountains. Something green.
"Shit!"
I ran out of the room and to the others who were still obliviously training on the deck. Getting used to fighting without powers must've been strange for them.
My expression of panic must've been visible because Cole dropped what he was doing and stared at me.
"What is it?"
"I think Morro is flying straight for us."
Everyone's training equipment clattered to the floor as they rushed to the side. Sure enough, Morro was there. He had hijacked Lloyd's elemental dragon. How rude of him, first he steals Lloyd's body and then his dragon?
[Y/n] this is not the time to say stupid things in your head.
I was told to follow Misako into a small cellar room so we could stay safe, with her she was carrying a large piece of parchment paper. It had three different symbols on it, one of them I recognised from when the staff had rolled into the dust.
"Is that the inscription?" I asked her once we were safe.
"Yeah, we made a print of it so we could let Morro take the staff. He can't know we have this, otherwise he'll try and take this too. Before I have a chance to understand it's meaning."
"I have no plans on telling him, so your secret is safe with me." I nervously and sarcastically joked.
Misako smiled at me, genuinely. Her eyes settled on the hoodie, which was her son's. Which I was now wearing.
"You two are perfect for each other."
"People keep saying." I muttered. I thought back to the diary that I had read last night, did he have others? What was Darkleys?
I couldn't ask Misako, otherwise, she might guess that I had been snooping. I could say that Lloyd mentioned it in passing, but then she may question why he was talking about it and I'd have no idea- seeing as I had no clue what it was.
"You two are very alike, you know." She commented, pinning the parchment onto a table.
"We are?"
"Yes. You both have a habit of overthinking." She continued.
"How'd you know that's what I was doing?" I tried to ignore the implication that Lloyd might've been overthinking about us just before he was possessed.
"That's a part of my power, not as flashy as the rest of you I know. But at least I can do Spinjitzu."
This brought a question to my mind, but I was unable to ask it since we apparently started having turbulence.
"Oh my god. What is going on out there?"
"Try not to worry about it [Y/n], they're just letting Morro think he's getting the staff by his own accord."
"Yeah, well can they do that without giving me whiplash?" I was sitting in the corner of the room, using both of my arms to keep myself from toppling over.
Misako once again smiled at my sarcastic joke, she was holding on to a bench that was built into the wall.
Something outside definitely went wrong as we began plummeting down. The room felt weightless when we rose from our seats, unable to keep ourselves from doing so no matter how hard we held on to furniture.
An alarm could be heard above us, which Misako immediately recognised. "One of the thrusters must've been torn off or damaged by Morro."
"Please say we aren't above land!"
***
Luckily, we weren't above land. Also, Morro took the staff and left, giving the Ninja time to make our landing in the ocean a little bit safer. Misako and I emerged from the cellar room, while we were falling she had figured out what one of the symbols meant.
"It means Airjitzu, it's an ancient martial art. Similar to Spinjitzu, but it allows you to fly." She explained to the Ninja, and me I suppose. I was there.
"Why does that sound familiar?" Zane questioned out loud.
"Because the scroll of Airjitzu was mentioned briefly in the news not so long ago." Wu answered.
"Ah, yes. Didn't it also mention your brother?" Zane had now remembered the article in extreme detail in a matter of seconds, why was no one fazed by this?
"Yes... He stole it."
"But, we need it."
"I suppose I get to see my husband." Misako whispered to me.
Most of the Ninja busied themselves changing the sails to a completely white ones, so Garmadon knew we meant no harm as we approached his base, while Nya plotted our route. I was standing behind her, watching her work.
"You weren't always part of the Ninja force, were you their boat driver or something before?" I asked as she pressed a lot of different, shiny buttons with complete certainty, as though she was a master sailor.
She laughed and turned to me, "I guess you could say that. I'll let you in on a secret though," She brought a cupped hand up to my ear, "I was also Samurai X."
I gasped, genuinely shocked, the media always assumed that the mysterious Samurai was a man- sexists.
"I suppose its not much of a secret here, everyone else knows." She continued as she finished plotting the route. A large red dot was now displayed on the map, I was slightly unsure whether it was us or Garmadon.
"That's so cool though, you were only like 9 and building your own mechanical suit?"
"Yeah..." She grinned at my excitement, "That's the second time you've called me cool now."
"Actually I think I called you cool when I found out about the motorbike."
After another few moments of gushing about how cool everything was, I noticed three things.
1- I had definitely let it slip that I used to be an obsessed Ninja fangirl.
2- Nya was watching me, and behind me with an amused look.
3- After turning around, I noticed that everyone had finished changing the sails and was now watching me.
I felt like I had just been caught sneaking to my room with the cookie jar.
"Jay owes me £20!" Cole was the first to break the silence.
"I don't have pockets! Where do you think this £20 is?"
I cleared my throat, "Why does he owe you £20?"
"They placed bets on whether or not you were a nerd," Nya told me.
"I am not! Jay give him the £20."
"Why? You just said you aren't!"
"Yeah, well... I'm an avid liar."
"And a nerd," Kai added, to which he received a glare from me.
Jay unwillingly reached into his sock and pulled out a £20 note and handed it over to Cole.
"I can't believe you placed a bet on me."
"They also called you a nerd," Zane piped up.
"Yeah! Bullying!" I turned and walked out of the door, Misako and Wu saw my flushed face and correctly assumed what had happened.
"Do you want me to make sure they'll do even more training?" Misako laughed.
"Yes."
Misako and Wu shared a look, some sort of nostalgic happiness. I brushed it off and headed back to Lloyd's room. As I crawled back into his bed I looked into the mirror across the room. With my hair still in pigtails and wearing Lloyd's hoodie (Which completely swamped me), I looked like a child. I smiled, and the child in the mirror smiled back.
I lay on my back and my eyes drifted back to the bookshelf. I shouldn't have done it once, let alone twice but that same curiosity led me to the diary.
18th November 2014
[Y/n] said good morning and I wasn't alowed to say it back. I'm so sad. Uncle Wu told me that I'm not even alowed to tell her when we meet. IF we even meet. What if she doesn't want me? Training isn't fun at all. Kai lied.
What if she doesn't want me?
Oh my god. I am a terrible person. I knew I was being a jerk.
13th December 2014
Christmas is in 12 days. I counted. By myself. Darkleys didn't let us do Christmas. We weren't allowed anything fun. I remebmer when it was Christmas the first time when I got there. I didn't know and asked Gene if we would be getting presents. He laughed at me and pushed me down. I don't like Gene.
I have no clue what Darkleys is or who Gene is but I hate them too, baby Lloyd, I hate them too.
I turned the page and began reading a new entry when someone knocked on the door, I panicked and hid the diary under the pillow and then sprung up to open the door.
Cole was on the other side and was startled by the way I flung the door open.
"Usually, you say 'come in' and I open the door." He said.
"I was next to the door anyway, so I just opened it." I quickly rambled.
"Okay, well I just wanted to say sorry for placing a bet on you... and calling you a nerd."
I smiled, "It's alright, I don't actually mind. Jay got £20 taken off him so everything is fair."
"I taught you well," He nodded slowly, laughing a little as he did.
"Yeah, and it's not like you were completely wrong."
"Oh yeah, I know. You are a massive nerd."
I smirked and attempted to shove him, but man- that guy is a statue.
"Oh, Zane's actually making lunch for everyone. Come on." He pulled me out of Lloyd's room and into the Kitchen/Dining room. I sat in between Nya and Cole, opposite Misako and Wu.
Zane had made a heavenly-smelling bowl of noodles for everyone, once the smell hit my nose I realised I hadn't eaten anything in the past 24 hours. Getting chased by your possessed boyfriend will distract you from food apparently.
AN
1954 words
22nd September 2022
Ronin hasn't been completely removed from the plot, for anyone that likes him. He's just not as important.
~Actuallyabiscuit0602