"Is that a fort?" I wondered as I stared off at a distant tree house in the middle of the woods.
I heard yelling from the structure "If we plan to rule Ninjago from here, this elevator needs to have a trap door! I want more booby traps!"
I recognized the boy's voice as Lloyd. Seems like he's setting up a base here for his little army. He's even making them build the large structure themselves.
"Where is that kid's parents?" I thought leaning against a tree watching another snake fall through the trap door.
For now I decided to camp out in the forest keeping to the shadows watching the child. Looking out from an distance in case his little army turns on him.
~~~
I spotted the white ninja from here I hid. He found Lloyd's fort, admired the structure and then left.
I knew what he was gonna do. He was gonna come back and lay siege on the treehouse with his friends.
I sighed watching his figure disappear into the night.
~~~
I saw the four ninja come upon the huge structure and stared up at it in awe.
"C'mon we haven't got all day!" Lloyd's voice echoed through the forest.
I listened to the four.
"Holy cannoli, frosty was right!" The black ninja said. "We can't let that brat and those snakes get a foothold in Ninjago. We got to destroy that thing before it becomes operational" the red ninja said.
"Whoa. Are you sure?" The blue one asked pointing to the sections of the structure. "It looks like a pretty cool treehouse. There's a rope course. Oo, a tree swing!"
"Hey, remember whose team you're on" the black ninja reminded. He glanced at the others "All right guys, what do we do?"
"It looks like the entire place is supported by those three trees. Once those ties are severed the whole thing is gonna fall like a house of cards" the red ninja explained his plan after analyzing the fortress.
"But why would one make a house of cards? Such constriction would be careless" the white ninja asked cluelessly.
"Oh brother..."
I pulled my mask over my face. I had to get the kid out of there. I snuck to the shadows grabbing one of the lines connecting the fort to the trees.
Pulling my jacket sleeve over the rope I slid down landing on the top of the fort.
I felt it rumble under my feet and go lopsided as the blue and the white ninja cut two of the four lines.
The place was collapsing and I slid down to the levels below watching other Serpentine fall over the ledge.
"Asteria?" The boy called when he saw me above. I rolled across the toppling floor making my way to the boy through the collapsing rubble.
"We don't need you! You only want to make the Serpentine your servants!" One Serpentine yelled at him threatening to toss the boy down a trap door.
Sliding forward I kicked the serpent in the chest watching him fall over the ledge. The boy gasped as I picked him up like a doll and jumped through the trap door.
The place was coming down from on top of me. Grabbing a vine I swung both of us to safety and without looking ran off into the forest with Lloyd in my arms.
He had sustained some minor cuts and scratched but nothing major. I decided to head home, taking in this child for the time being.
~~~
"Here" I held out my hard plastic water bottle for the boy as we sat on the couch in my livingroom, Scout was on the rocking chair. He was staring at the boy curiously.
Lloyd extended his small hands wrapping his bandaged fingers around the bottle.
"Wait, you like Fritz Donnegan too?" He gasped when he saw the little prints on the bottle.
I smiled "Yes. It was a gift from my parents...But you can have it. I have plenty of other bottles like that."
His eyes lit up putting down the bottle and embraced me. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" He exclaimed burying his face in my shoulder.
I wrapped my arms around the kid accepting the embrace.
When he pulled away he grabbed the water bottle and took a sip. "So why are you helping me? You don't have to" Lloyd asked curiously.
"Where are your parents? No one should leave a child alone" I replied not really sure why either but out of concern for him.
"My dad was banished to the underworld" the boy replied as he twiddled his fingers "I don't remember my mother either."
My heart sank a bit when he didn't meet my gaze "I was at a boarding school but I left because I didn't want to be there anymore.."
Scout jumped down from the rocking chair and walked to us, he curiously sniffed Lloyd's hands. He flinched.
I put a reassuring hand on Lloyd's back "Don't panic. Scout is friendly."
He slowly petted Scout. I noticed the sun had gone down. "Hm...You should sleep, it's late" I said.
"Not until you tell me more about you" Lloyd protested while petting Scout.
"..." I sighed. "I have no memories of my life. Only when I was found on the streets by my adoptive family. I don't remember anything about myself before them..."
"You have no memories? Nothing?" He asked, looking at me.
I nodded "I'm not sure if that's my name but it's on this necklace" I explained pulling out a blue gem necklace with my name engraved on the back.
He gasped "You're free to become whoever you want now!" He exclaimed "You can even make new memories!"
Scout barked.
"Even Scout agrees!"
I chuckled ruffling Lloyd's blonde hair "Maybe..."
I brought him up to a seperate bedroom I didn't use and had him lie down in the bed as I tucked him in.
"Can I stay with you for a while?" He asked. "No one really cares about me..."
I smiled "Of course you can." I sat next to him. "Do you want me to sleep next to you for tonight?"
He nodded and I lied next to Lloyd, embracing him and I petted his head to make him fall asleep.
As he slept I couldn't help but wonder who would treat a sweet child like Lloyd like this with so much hurt.
One begging to be loved by another, that's why he acts out.
~~~
Author edit: August 27 2023
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