Metro Boomin
••• Hummingbird •••
and hummingbird,
i can never unsee
what you've shown me
stay on, stay on with me
•••••
The calm before the storm
Tw: deep water/ocean
White sails swept through the gentle breeze, creating a cacophony of ripples. They towered taller than even the trees surrounding the grounded ship. I stared at the Bounty with eyes wide in shock.
It was the morning before New Years and the team - aside from Lloyd - were setting up the Destiny's Bounty for the trip away while the rest of the team conducted patrol. After much convincing, begging and assuring my mother that Lloyd and I would be sleeping in separate rooms, I was finally allowed to go.
It felt a little strange to be dropped off by my mother at Lloyd's home without him even being around. He had some kind of training thing on for the morning. And then standing in front of a ship like the Bounty... if my head was a screw, it would fall right off by how much it was spinning.
"Explain the physics as to how this thing can fly, again?" I muttered, leaning towards Nya as she passed by with her overnight bag. She chuckled and patted my shoulder as she walked, though did not stop for the elaboration I requested. I turned to her brother tailing her instead.
Kai dropped his duffel bag at his feet - red, of course, because who are the ninja if they're not colour-coordinated - and stretched his arms over his head. He gazed up the Bounty and squinted against the glare of the sun peeking from behind its mast.
"It's Jay's baby," Kai answered. "Nya helps him out with upkeep, and Zane assisted with the schematics, but Jay's the big brain behind this thing." The master of fire lowered his voice and dropped his volume. "But if you ask him how he did it, you'll never escape."
That didn't scare me. I was scared of a lot of things, but learning was never one of them. Neither was Jay's unchecked enthusiasm. But the look Kai gave me - that look made me feel like I should've been afraid. That was a man with personal experience.
"Where's Lloyd?" I asked instead of opening that can of worms. I glanced around awkwardly, as if he'd pop out from behind a tree and shout 'gotcha!' "It's kinda weird being here without him."
Kai frowned. "Am I not good enough company? I'm hurt."
"No! No, I- I just-" My stuttering ceased when he broke into a chuckle and flicked my shoulder. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment.
"You need to learn to chill, Y/n," Kai said, before picking up his bag and swinging it over his shoulder. "He's on one of his special Green Ninja only training sessions with his dad. He should be back soon." He sent me a smirk. "Try not to miss him too much, m'kay? It makes me nauseous."
I'm that gross about it? Damn. I grew silent and looked away, doing a piss-poor job of hiding my expression. Kai sighed at my worry.
"That was a joke," he clarified.
"Oh." And then I began to feel worried that I upset Kai for thinking he was serious. Lloyd's granddad, can you smite me already? "Sorry. I guess I still don't really fit in."
Kai gently shouldered me, and even if I never met him before, I would've known that he was an older brother. The grin he offered was half mischief and all care.
"Stop that," he chided. "We've all lived together for years. You'll understand our language soon."
I was surprised by how swiftly he calmed my nerves. His words were like a salve to a burn, which was an ironic simile to use considering he could summon literal fire out of thin air, but it still fit. My smile back at him was genuine.
"Thanks, Kai," I said.
Kai tilted his chin towards the Bounty. "You want a tour?"
Anxieties somehow completely gone, I eagerly nodded. "Yes, please."
He clapped my back and ventured forth. Quickly grabbing my own bag and dusting off the leaves it had gathered from the forest floor, I scrambled after him.
The Destiny's Bounty was a large flying ship that the secret ninja force used for missions that were far from their home base. It looked just like a vessel that pirates would've sailed upon the open seas, aside from the massive jet turbines that had been skilfully welded to each side of the hull.
I wanted to question the sensibility of having an ultra-hot motor upon a ship made entirely of wood, but I figured that if they'd gone this long with it not bursting into flames, then it should be fine.
The inside was even more impressive - the ship may look old, but the bridge was full of super tech that I was sure Cyrus Borg would either salivate over or helped create himself. It was a little disarming to step into what looked like the cockpit of a spaceship, but Jay's grease-stained face and the half-spilled bag of cheetos on the main panel brought me back down to earth.
The lightning ninja stuck his head out from where he was tinkering with the controls for a massive GPS screen. His hair was as frazzled as always. His mouth was full and his lips covered with orange dust.
"Hey!" Jay exclaimed, and a puff of orange escaped into the air. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and gave the panel one last whack with the wrench in his hand. When the GPS burst into life, he dropped the wrench and bolted towards me with his arms outstretched. "Y/n, you're here, I haven't seen you in ages-!"
"Whoa, grease lightning." Kai intercepted Jay before he could attack me in a hug. "You're covered in muck."
Jay glanced down at his stained dungarees. "Oh!" He wiped at his front, which only succeeded in getting cheeto dust on the denim and grease on his palm. He continued wiping and sent me a brilliant smile. "Whatcha two doin?'"
"I'm taking Y/n for a tour until Lloyd gets his sorry ass back," Kai answered.
"Do you wanna hear how I made the-?!"
"No, she does not." Kai took my shoulders and steered me towards the exit. Jay slumped with a pout.
I stuck my head around Kai's arm. "Maybe later?"
Jay brightened once again and nodded so fast that his curls produced a hairnet of electricity. "Later!"
Kai led me out of the bridge. "You just dug your own funeral, amiga."
"He can't be that bad."
"Yeah, well. Famous last words."
The next part of our tour was the lower deck - where the bedrooms, bathroom and dojo was kept. Framed photos lined the walls. A rug span the hallway. My astonishment rose with each minute I spent exploring the place.
"You could live here," I pointed out.
"We have," Kai said to my surprise. "When we first got together as a team, this was our home."
I peeked inside a room. I had a suspicion it was Cole's, if only a guess by the weights lying on the floor and the shelves of records, CDs and cassettes.
"What about your parents?" I asked. "Were they all okay with their kids just being taken by some random sensei to fight the evils of the world?"
Kai was quiet for a moment, though I didn't quite notice as we strolled down the hallway, too engrossed in exploring my new environment. It was only when he began to speak again did I realise my mistake.
"Nya and I don't have parents," he said, a tad uncomfortable. He continued before I could apologise on behalf of my frozen heart. "We lived in a tiny village way in the east, so we were looked after by our neighbour. But it's not the same as having someone actually care for you." Kai shrugged. "We saw it as a chance to have a family again."
"That must've been tough," I murmured.
"It was," Kai agreed. "But it worked out in the end."
I smiled weakly and visually perused what had to be Jay's room from the doorway. The walls were covered in blueprints, desk laden with half-finished projects, and a handmade teddy bear sat on his bed beside his overnight bag. Adorable. I began to the next room.
"What about the others?" I asked.
"Cole - well, Cole ran away from home," Kai said. "Jay's parents are kind of 'free spirits.' They pretty much shoved him into Wu's care when they learnt about his role in all this. And you know Zane's a robot, so that's pretty self-explanatory."
The words had to sink in for a few seconds before they clicked. I stopped in my tracks. "I'm sorry?"
Kai halted. His frown was one of confusion at the bewildered look on my face. "What?"
"I think I heard you wrong-" I said with a thin laugh.
Kai's mouth went slack. "You didn't know? Nobody told you?"
My breathing seized. Shock had stolen my dignity away. "Zane's a what?"
"A robot, dude!" Kai exclaimed. He ran a hand down his mouth. "I can't believe you didn't know."
All I could do for a while was blink. Zane was a robot? But he looked so human, how could... how on earth..? I truly felt my brain struggle to process this information, lagging and spluttering horribly like an old motor. My knees wobbled. I felt weak.
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I just couldn't put two and two together - it was a shock enough to realise that Zane was the ice ninja, but this was leagues above even that. Yes, he was a little odd, but so was I? So was Lloyd, in a different way than us, and same with Jay. We're all a little off-kilter with the rest of the world, a different path to walk.
I thought that was why Zane and I got along so well. It was a shock that took the steam right out of me. Kai stared at me just as frozen.
"I was gone for the morning and you already broke Y/n." Lloyd's voice behind me made my skeleton leap out of my skin. I spun around to see him assessing our shock with an amused look of confusion. His eyes slid to Kai. "What did you do?"
Kai stuck out an arm towards me. "She didn't know Zane was a robot!"
Lloyd's eyes widened. The look he sent me would've been amusing if I weren't so lost in the waves of disbelief.
"I thought Zane told you?" he said.
My tizzled attention turned to him. "When would Zane have told me?!"
"I don't know," Lloyd squeaked, "you guys are close!"
I shook my head and decided to leave that there. "How is he a robot? He looks so real!"
Lloyd raised his shoulders to his ears, comedically unsure. "His dad was super smart?"
I pressed my palms to my face and inhaled deeply. Zane's a robot. Cool. Okay. Great. It's not scary at all that I had no clue and my head is totally not filing through all the robot uprising movies my mother and I had watched and then feeling guilty about it because it's Zane. I was totally okay with this. He was no different than he was before; I just knew him better.
"Sorry for the bombshell," Kai said awkwardly. "I would've told you differently if I knew."
My hands dropped to my sides. I sent the boys a smile. "It's okay. I'm fine."
"Are you?" Lloyd doubtfully asked.
"No, not really."
His concern grew. Kai squeezed both of our shoulders and smiled painfully.
"Well, this was fun," he said. "I'll see you lovebirds later." His departure was swift.
Lloyd winced when the door to the hallway slammed shut behind him. He glanced back at me sheepishly. I met his gaze with a placid blink.
"I forget there's a lot of things you don't know about us," Lloyd said. He took my bag from my shoulder and leant it on his, beginning down the hallway. "But I guess I don't know everything about you, either."
My blood ran cold. "I guess not."
I pulled myself together just in time for Lloyd to send a smirk over his shoulder. "Aren't relationships fun?" he asked.
So fun. So very, very fun when my boyfriend hated my dad but didn't know we're related. So very fun when my dad hated my boyfriend that he didn't know about. My smile was forced.
"Super," I said.
Thankfully Lloyd didn't notice my emotional strain. When he looked forward again, I closed my eyes in a wonderful concoction of shame and regret. How could I break the news to him with the history they shared? They were practically enemies. I was terrified of Lloyd hating me, too.
Lloyd took me down to a room that was filled with cases of old scrolls and crates of weapon accessories like leather wrapping and steel polish. A small window overlooked the trees. A futon had been carefully shoved into the corner, paired with a bedside table and an old lamp. The futon was clearly a spare, but I was flattered that they even placed it there for me. I had fully expected to be in a sleeping bag on the floor of Nya's room or something.
"It's a bit cluttered," Lloyd said apologetically. "But I thought you'd like your own space for when you need some time out."
My chest warmed. He knew at some point I'd need my break. He knew that, remembered it, and I could barely believe it. This was a concern I'd never received before.
Was it always going to be like this with Lloyd and his family? I hoped so. I liked being considered - it was a nice change of pace from Claire and the others. It was a nice change of pace from it being only my parents and Naomi.
I turned to Lloyd and felt my throat close up a little. I couldn't understand why, it was just a room, but he was so nice and with Kai's words earlier; I found myself struggling beneath the weight of their care. But it wasn't a bad weight. It was a nice one, like a heavy blanket that hugged me so tightly I felt secure.
Lloyd assessed the room with dissatisfaction but I thought it was perfect, and even that had my appreciation swelling tenfold. To think that this wasn't enough when it was more than what I'd been given by my friends? My friends who'd known me for years, my friends whose houses had plenty of space to spare, but something I'd have to awkwardly ask for each and every time I stayed over? I could barely wrap my head around it.
I had to bite my lip to keep it from trembling. It's just a room, Y/n, calm down. But I couldn't calm down. I pushed my face into his chest before he could see my expression and think I was crazy.
"Oh, ah-" Lloyd didn't expect the hug but he returned it swiftly still. The bag dropped to the floor. His arms around me made me feel a little more stable. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. His shirt crumpled. He smoothed my hair back with gentle fingers and didn't ask anything else, which just made all my emotions bloom into something so much more, something so debilitating. He'd known me for a fraction of the time that Claire and Aaliyah had, and yet he knew me so much better than them.
"Do you wanna go to the deck for take off?" Lloyd softly asked.
I nodded again. He took my hand and didn't pressure me into telling him what was spinning through my disordered mind. He just slid his fingers through mine, gave a supportive squeeze, and led me to the upper deck. I couldn't appreciate him more if I tried.
"Thanks," I managed to say without my voice wobbling.
Lloyd peeked down at me, but I was too embarrassed by my sudden emotional turmoil that I avoided his gaze. His pace ceased. I stopped beside him and didn't lift my eyes from the floor. I didn't like being pathetic, and this - this felt pathetic.
Lloyd's fingers grazed my jaw before tilting my chin up, the feeling so feathery and barely-there that I shivered into the kiss he touched to my lips. My gasp of surprise was short and soft. His unusual scent filled me; rainstorms and dewy grass and fresh buttercups. And then my head was left spinning for an entirely different reason.
Lloyd leaned back and seemed content with the dazed look in my eyes, and then continued walking down the hall as if he hadn't just totally knocked me off course. My stare at the side of his face was in quiet despair; how could I keep my secret from him when he was so good to me?
I walked behind Lloyd silently, our hands still entwined, and wondered how such a wonderful guy like him ended up with an asshole like I.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
The Bounty took us from city to sea in a matter of minutes. I marvelled at the sights as my legs swung over the edge, between the railings I leant my arms upon. I had to resist the urge to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
Lloyd sat beside me, though my changing expressions must've been more entertaining than the view, because he kept looking at me. I was too amazed to be bashful at his staring. The deep rumble of the ship, the roar of the motors, the loud flapping of the sails, the salt in the air - it was loud and startling and totally disarming. It was magical.
The wind was fierce, tangling my hair out of its tie and fluttering my lashes so that I struggled to keep my eyes open. I was glad Lloyd sat upwind, otherwise he'd get a face full of my locks. Though it would probably amuse Zane, Kai and Cole, all who sat on the deck behind us and sharpened their shurikens and swords. Jay and Nya were busy in the bridge, making sure to keep us in the sky.
I couldn't quite get over it. The ocean stretched out all around us, no land in sight, in what should've taken us hours by boat. The hot sun danced on the swells below. White, foamy crests made my heart leap, thinking they were creatures like dolphins or seals or sharks. I was fooled by them every time, but my spirits didn't falter. Far from it.
Lloyd dropped his elbow on the rail and planted his chin on his hand. His hair blew in the wind, strands catching the light and glinting gold. His eyes had gone their dark, lustrous red again, though I wasn't sure if he was aware, and that's when I noticed I'd finally turned my attention to him. Lloyd's smile grew.
"Having fun?" he called over the wind. I nodded enthusiastically, before jolting when I felt my stomach get left behind. We were in descent.
I craned my head over the railing and watched the deep blue grow closer. It was a little alarming; this was so unusual that all sorts of bad thoughts careened through my head. What if we landed so hard that the ship broke to pieces? Was that even possible? I grabbed Lloyd's hand on instinct, and if I held on a little too tight, he didn't complain.
My worries were unfounded though, as the Bounty eased onto the ocean's surface with the expertise of an aquatic animal. Water crashed at the ship's landing, sending a wave careening up the hull and making me pull my legs up lest my shoes get drenched.
The wind wasn't so ferocious on the surface. Our speed fell to a calm sail, and I took the opportunity to calm my excitement.
"This is amazing," I said with a breathless, exhilarated giggle. My hands tried to rein my messy hair in but it was a fruitless endeavour. The sound of a chain below deck rattled as the anchor lowered. "I feel like I'm in a fairytale."
Lloyd kept on staring as I caught my breath. My gaze drifted back to his. He swiped my cheek with his thumb and held my chin.
"Don't ever lose that look," he mumbled.
My skin warmed terribly under the heady gravity in his eyes. "What look?"
"That look of wonder," he answered, and then dropped his nose to touch mine. He smiled at my flustered expression. "It's adorable on you."
My heart jumped at his affection, and then my blush grew wildly out of control when Kai and Cole started cooing and making kissy noises at us. Lloyd leant back and rolled his eyes.
"This a public space, man!" Cole called while Kai snickered. Zane continued to contently polish his katana. "Right in front of my makibishi? Come on."
Lloyd sent a glare their way. "This is gonna be a long weekend."
His irritation was shattered by the bridge's door banging open. Jay and Nya sprinted out in their swimwear, speeding full throttle across the deck in planned mischief. I yelped and ducked when they beelined toward us and leapt over the side of the ship, shouting loud whoops of delight that echoed across the ocean. Nya executed a perfect dive. Jay cannonballed.
"Oh, my god," I spluttered with a laugh. I flinched when Cole soundlessly sped past and did the exact same thing. "Oh, my god."
"Hey!" Lloyd shouted over the railing. "You didn't tell us we were going swimming yet!"
Nya stuck her tongue out. Jay shook the water from his plastered curls with a loud, mocking laugh. "Read it and weep, loser!"
A competitive gleam entered Lloyd's gaze. "You're on, motor mouth!" And then he, too, was leaping over the side before I could even comprehend what was happening. And in his clothes, too. I was dating an insane person.
"I guess we should get changed," Kai suggested as he sidled up to the spot beside me and stared down at his teammates with an unimpressed frown. "I'm not sure about you, but I'm not crazy enough to swim with socks on."
"Absolutely not," I agreed, before peeking over the side where Lloyd was holding Jay's head underwater. I backed away slowly.
After getting changed in my room, I returned to the deck where the team was making a competition out of who could execute the coolest dive. The judge was Nya, because otherwise she'd obviously smoke the boys. Even Zane was joining in, though now that I knew he was a robot, his somersaults did look a little too perfect. Still awesome, though.
Lloyd had taken off his shirt and socks, and I tried not to act like a Victorian man seeing an ankle just because his chest was bare. I didn't have much time to admire him, anyway, as he caught sight of me and sped over with an evil grin. I recognised that look.
"No! No-" I began stumbling backwards to avoid his grabby hands, but it was useless to try to evade a ninja. He snagged my wrist with a low, dark chuckle. "Don't you dare-!Nononononooooo!" I groaned in defeat when he pulled me into a hug, promptly getting freezing water all over me. "Ugh. Thanks, Lloyd."
"You're welcome." He snuggled his salty-wet head into my shoulder and sighed in over-the-top delight. Goosebumps travelled my skin from where the cold water touched it. I patted his wet hair with a scowl and he hummed like a happy old dog. "Do you like swimming?" he asked.
My hand paused. "Yeah."
Lloyd glanced up through his lashes at me. "Do you like the ocean?"
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I do like the ocean."
A wicked grin snapped onto his face and I realised far too late what his plan was. My stomach lurched when I was suddenly swept off of my feet, and then we were bounding across the deck and towards the water.
"Ah!" My hands scrambled at Lloyd's shoulders. My eyes widened at the approaching edge. "Waitwaitwait- LLOYD!!"
But it was too late - we were already at the height of a jump across the railing, and then we hurtled towards the ocean at a height that made my heart stop. I shrieked and buried my head into Lloyd's chest, and then bolted my mouth shut just as we crashed into the cold water.
We were swiftly submerged, bubbles exploding around us. I kicked away from Lloyd and surfaced with a gasp, mostly furious, a little amused, but he was laughing so brightly that the part of me that was angry slipped away without a second thought.
Lloyd held my cheeks and drifted closer. He was heaving for breath and smiling in a way I'd never seen him smile before. It was total carefree. He had no responsibility out here, and it was so refreshing to see him without the city's issues breathing down his neck.
"Ten out of ten!" Nya called from above. I squinted up at her just in time to see Kai flip over the edge and land in the water beside us. He surfaced with a holler and looked up at his sister expectantly. She frowned. "That was like, a five, or something."
Kai's face curled into a scowl. "The hell, Nya?!"
She shrugged. "I don't make the rules."
"You literally do!"
Lloyd turned his gaze from the arguing siblings and pulled me closer through the water. "You okay?" he asked, though he couldn't stop his giggling. Such a boy.
I shook my head with a grin that I couldn't hold back even if I wanted to. "You're a dead man, Lloyd Garmadon."
"Will you ever forgive me?" he asked with a pout. His puppydog eyes could put an actual puppy to shame. It was a look I had to take a mental picture of.
"Your boyish tricks won't work on me, demon," I haughtily declared. I swiped water at him. "Back!"
Lloyd laughed before yelling in shock when Jay grabbed his shoulder and shoved him beneath the surface. My face dropped in shock. Jay sent me a content smile as he held Lloyd's head under.
"Hi, Y/n," he said calmly.
I glanced between Lloyd's thrashes and Jay's closed-eyed grin. "Hey, Jay."
It didn't take long until Lloyd had gotten his composure back, and then the two were roughhousing and causing a whirlpool-racket. I kicked my way out of their danger zone and snickered at the shenanigans.
While Jay and Lloyd fought to the death, Cole, Nya and I floated on our backs and talked about the little things. They queried about what it was like to grow up in Jamanakai, and I learnt that Cole was from Two Moon Village while Kai and Nya had lived in Ignacia.
They told me what it was like growing up there; though both stories were equally sad. The Smiths had disappeared, and Cole's mother had died from cancer when he was young. That had caused a deep rift with his father which was only recently repaired.
"It's just you and your mom, right?" Nya asked as we soaked up the sun. She kept making little figures out of water and dancing them around us. They dazzled in the light. "What happened to your dad? Is he still alive?"
"He is," I answered quietly, and felt guilty that they had such a hard life and still were much better people than I. "He just works far away."
"That's rough," Cole said in sympathy. A tiny water-dragon flew through the sky before dropping on top of his face. Cole spluttered and thrashed upright. "Nya!"
Nya cackled. "My bad."
He wiped the water from his eyes with a grumble. "You're as annoying as Kai."
"You take that back!" Nya exclaimed, outraged.
"Nope."
"Take it back!"
"Nuh-uh."
I giggled at their bickering and closed my eyes to the sun. I'd known better than to expect a relaxing holiday, and I was right. Even on break, the ninja were all go.
"Oh, Y/n, look!" Nya called. She shot to my side a little quicker than humanly possible and pointed below us.
I kicked upright and followed her gaze. Below my feet and through the murky gloom, the long, thin back of a creature drifted. My hand instinctively clutched her arm as a mix of fear and awe pulled my face into a beam.
"Is that a...?"
"A sei whale," Nya said expertly. "They're common around here. This area is part of her feeding grounds."
"Whoa." I shook my head. "That's crazy. How did you know she was there?"
Nya swirled her finger through the water. "The vibrations. I can sense just about anything in the water for a four-mile radius."
The look I sent her was full of amazement.
"You are seriously cool."
Nya tilted her head with a smile, though I had the sneaking suspicion that she was already well aware. "Thank you."
"Don't feed into her ego, Y/n, her head's big enough already."
Nya shot Cole a pissed look. "Do you ever shut up?!"
Nya and Cole promptly went back to bickering like the unrelated siblings they were, and I stared down at the whale again. She drifted slowly, her song low and droning and alone. I felt her. I was once her, and I hoped she found her friends soon.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
We ate dinner on the upper deck, swathed beneath the dying sun and fronted by a delicious feast whipped up by Zane with astonishing little time or resources.
There wasn't much of a nip to the air, but I still cuddled into Lloyd under the guise that I was cold (I pretended to shiver once, and that was all he needed to pull me into his side... ruse successful, though I was sure he knew). We ate and marvelled once again at Zane's cooking skills, and watched the sky grow darker as the year neared its end.
"Does anyone have any New Year's resolutions?" Jay asked. He patted the table excitedly and raised his hand to his chest. "I'll go first! This year I want to have at least four hours of sleep a night."
Kai snorted. "Good luck."
Jay frowned at him. "What's your resolution then, Kai?"
Kai stretched his arms behind his head with a smirk. "Ask Skylor to prom."
"That's your resolution?" Nya asked dryly. "You couldn't think of something a little more... grandiose? A little more characteristically challenging?"
Kai's smile grew strained. He closed his eyes. "Nope."
Nya sighed at her brother. "Well, my resolution is to finish my new mech. With so much ninja stuff to do, I barely have any time to work on it!"
"I would like to perfect my lemon-raspberry cheesecake recipe," Zane said. His frown was slightly frustrated. "It is almost there but perfection eludes me still."
"And I will always be your willing test subject," Cole added. "My resolution, huh? I guess I'd like to get into the heavy weight team at school."
"You know what Sensei Wu says-" Lloyd began.
"Yes, yes, I know," Cole cut him off with a grumble. "'Only use your powers when needed.' But this is our last year of high school!"
"Cole. You can't."
"Fine." Cole crossed his arms and looked away with a frown. "The more you grow up, kid, the more you become a stick in the mud."
I felt Lloyd bristle beside me. The faces of the others turned down to their plates and a sudden, tense awkwardness crossed the table. Cole winced. I shifted uneasily. Lloyd looked away.
"So, Y/n, what about your resolutions?" Kai piped up in an attempt to keep the conversation rolling. "Got any?"
I blinked in surprise before furrowing my brow in thought. "I haven't really considered them. I suppose figure out my powers? And hopefully not die by it." I laughed and then grimaced, because that was definitely not the uplift the energy needed. The others shared my look of discomfort. "Um... survive the last year of high school..?"
At that, Zane raised his water glass and saved me of further mortification. "An appropriate resolution to toast to, although cliché."
"Can't all be winners," I muttered to myself before raising my juice to toast. At least that pulled a smile out of Lloyd, even if it was only tiny.
After dinner was cleared away and the dishes cleaned, we met back on deck to whittle the remaining hours of the year away. Board games had been sprung upon us by Zane with a rather malevolent grin, which took me by surprise. Turns out, he was a master at any game there was, and it was a team effort to bring him down. He was the singular undisputed champion nonetheless.
"What's your resolution?" I asked Lloyd. The others were still playing a vicious game of Uno, and we stepped out before blood could be shed. We leant against the railing and watched the stars swim upon the ocean's gentle surface instead.
Lloyd hummed in thought. I watched him as he stared out at the horizon; the silver of the moon at his front, the yellow glow of the Bounty's lights at his back. His hair was a chest full of treasure. His freckles were barely there, missable. He was ethereal.
He inhaled, held it, and then released his breath with a slump of his shoulders. The look he sent me was amused.
"Five weeks ago I'd say becoming a better leader." He ducked his head closer to me with a playful smirk. "Now, I just think it's keeping you out of danger."
I rolled my eyes. "Ha-ha. Maybe we should get started on that training already so I can ease your concern."
"I think the idea of you fighting the kind of enemies I've faced gives me the exact opposite reaction," Lloyd confessed, though he still faced me and cupped his hands together. A sphere of green light bloomed in the air above his palms. "Let's start small."
I copied, cupping my palms together, though was distracted by the swirling ball of energy tendrils before me. Lloyd watched me when I stepped forward for a closer look, though the brightness did make my retinas ache.
"It's so cool to see up close," I murmured. My eyes followed a twisting, twirling wisp. My fingers rested on my neck in survey. "What would happen if I touched it?"
Lloyd made a soft sound of amusement. "I wouldn't recommend it-"
But it was too late. I stuck my hand into the ball of light and grinned in delight at the soft zaps that traveled up my arm. It was the gentlest form of static energy, pulling the hair on my arm to stand on end. I could play with it until the sun rose.
"Y/n!" Lloyd yanked his hands away and the energy sphere abruptly disappeared. He grabbed my outstretched hand and turned it over. "What the- are you hurt?!"
I stared at Lloyd in shock as he frantically inspected my skin. He faltered when he realised it was undamaged and sent me a baffled look. His grip fell loose around my fingers.
"... should I not have done that?" I cluelessly asked.
"You should have been burnt," Lloyd said. He assessed my hand again, expression slowly morphing from fear and into astonishment. "How are you..? Did it not hurt?"
I glanced down at my hand in his. "It felt tingly."
"Tingly?"
I shrugged a shoulder. "It actually kinda tickled."
Lloyd's expression fell. "It tickled," he echoed in deadpan.
I peeked back up at him and smiled sheepishly at his disappointed frown. "Sorry. Impulse won." I wound my fingers through his in apology. "Can I do it again?"
Lloyd sent me a flabbergasted, gaped-mouth look, and I had the indecency to giggle at it. Nothing like accidentally scaring the bejeezus out of the guy you're dating and then asking to do the same thing twice.
But Lloyd was a forgiving man, so he simply scoffed in disbelief and shook his head at my ridiculous request, before lifting a hand and flicking out his fingers to call upon another sphere of power anyway. I beamed.
"You're a crazy, crazy girl," Lloyd grumbled as he watched me stick my hand into the wispy ball again. "This is... weird."
"It's not normal?" I asked with an amused grin. I curled tendrils around my fingers and hummed at the pleasant sensation.
"Not at all."
"Maybe it doesn't hurt me 'cause you're all gross and sentimental and in love with me," I teased, before freezing at my slip of tongue. Did I seriously just say that? Love? Oh, god, it was a bit soon to joke about that, wasn't it? Dammit, dammit, dammit.
I peeked up at Lloyd, afraid to gauge his reaction, more afraid of how I would spiral if I didn't. I was sure that I had just condemned the rest of our trip to the claws of severe awkwardness. Instead of seeing regret or reluctance like I had feared, however, all that his face held was a complicated look of hesitant affection, coated softly in green by the sphere between us. His eyes had never looked so potently red.
"Maybe," he murmured.
My face would burst into flames if it could. All I could give was a breathy, awkward laugh and return my attention to the energy curling around my hand. My mind raced as I pinched a single wisp between my fingertips and allowed it to lay upon my palm, where it flowed with the gentle breeze.
Love. Love. Love. Oh, god, I really did love him, didn't I? I had considered it before, but the fullness to my heart, the flutter of it when I saw him, when I spoke to him; for what other emotion could it be? But wasn't it too soon? Wasn't I falling far too fast to consider it such a demanding thing?
I was young and inexperienced and scared. So very, very scared of the way I felt toward a boy I had known for little over a month. Scared of how important he was. Scared of the way our fates had been entwined before we had met; before we had even been born, victims of a prophecy made millennia ago.
"Sorry," I whispered, because I didn't know what else to say. I was rash in announcing such a thing, foolish to put us on a spot as that. I wished for the deck to swallow me away from this.
Lloyd didn't respond. He just let me continue playing with his powers that would've hurt anybody else and ponder the weight of such sentimentally it must've meant. Not for the first time, I wondered what he was thinking. But he was still and steadfastly Fort Knox. I was growing weary of my plastic spoon.
I winced when Lloyd cleared his throat and willed his power to slip away. I was sure he was going to steal away himself, too. What a way to end a year. What a way to begin the next.
He held my hands instead and brought them up to cup the air between us. I looked up at him and relaxed at the crooked, boyish smile he offered. He was going to let it slide past us. Thank god.
"You try," Lloyd said.
"How?"
"Whatever it felt like at that warehouse," he answered. "That feeling you had before you saved us from the explosion. Seek for it. Grasp it."
"That wasn't me," I said quietly. "That was... something else."
"But it's in you," he softly urged. He pressed a finger to my collarbone, just above the pendant that Borg made me, and smiled with encouragement. "It resides within you, waiting for you to command it."
But I was never meant to be someone great. At least it felt that way. "What if I can't?"
Lloyd's hands found my wrists. They held me strong, firm in his security. He wouldn't let me fall.
"You'll never know unless you try," he said. "Close your eyes."
My eyes closed.
"Search for that feeling," he said again. "You weren't in control, yes, but it was still you. How did you feel when you used your power? Where did it come from? Where did it originate?" His hands slid down to frame my cupped hands. "How did it flow through you? How did it expand into the world?"
I searched and searched. I recalled how it felt before the warehouse, where I'd wandered through the streets barefoot in the middle of the night, in my pyjamas, controlled by a force outside of my own means. The fear of it, and the uncertainty of what was going on or if I would be safe.
And then I dug deeper. What was beneath all that? What was centred in me during the moment I stopped outside the warehouse? What hidden ability surfaced? Focus. Past all the emotion and thoughts. Hone in on it.
It had been a strange feeling. It was a bubbling energy, dormant, festering within my bloodline for generations. It had overwhelmed me quite suddenly, but how? It had begun at my feet. It grew, encasing me, taking in energy from the ground, the world. It had gathered, balling in my chest until it could no longer. Until it exploded out of me.
But it was not just that. What triggered it? How could I replicate it? There had been another feeling, something both foreign and intimately known, strange but soft. A guiding hand, ushering me forth. A signal to focus upon. Training wheels, in the most rudimentary way of explaining it.
It had happened when Lloyd laid his hand upon my shoulder.
"Look," he whispered. "Y/n, open your eyes."
I squinted them open, and then they flew wide when I saw what swirled around us. The dome from before, though far weaker and patchy. Above our connected hands, a peach-green light flickered.
All breath escaped me. It was beautiful, and a little terrifying. A culmination of our combined focus, our entwined powers, an answer that neither of us had expected.
Lloyd lifted his gaze to me. In the reflection of his eyes, my own glowed. My hair flowed, but not from the wind. And Lloyd's expression was of reverence; one of awe as he stared.
"You're beautiful," he breathed.
My focus shattered. My legs stumbled, overcome with sudden exhaustion. Lloyd leapt to catch me before I could crumple, falling halfway to the deck beneath us. I stared at him owlishly, taken aback by the last few minutes, and he shared the same look.
"Sorry," Lloyd then said with a small, elated laugh. He was panting as though he'd just sprinted a mile, and I felt a similar weariness settle upon me. "I broke your concentration."
My mind galloped. I tried to comprehend what had just transpired, but it was a struggle to focus on one singular thought. And then an ache hit me in the head so swift and violently that I couldn't even cry.
Lloyd's smile fell. "Y/n? Y/n?" He cupped my cheek. My blinks were slow, my breathing laboured. Warmth fell from my ear and pooled at my Cupid's bow. He lifted my drowsy, pounding head to look me in the eyes. "Y/n, sunshine, talk to me."
"That-" I closed my eyes with a grimace. "That was... really cool... Oww."
Lloyd gave a relieved laugh and pressed a cold palm to my head. "You know how to keep me on my toes."
I leaned into his touch. "My head hurts."
"It'll pass, sweetheart." Lloyd ripped off a bit of his shirt and carefully pressed it below my nose, before relinquishing it when I lifted a shaky hand to take over. He shifted me into a more comfortable position, splayed across his lap and leaning on him, before pressing his lips to my hairline. "My poor thing. You're amazing."
"I don't feel amazing," I bemoaned. "What was that? It... it felt like you were..?"
"... a conduit, I think," Lloyd slowly answered. "I'd heard of it before, but they were always objects. Never a living person." He pressed his other cooling hand to my head. I softened into him with a sigh. "Fascinating."
"Does that mean I can't use my powers without you?" I managed to ask, voice thick and muffled. "That is so... so lame."
Lloyd chuckled. "Sorry, darling."
My heart fluttered. My eyes closed. I was so tired, so wrung out and thrashed, that his pet name didn't evoke as much fluster as it normally would've otherwise. I sought his comfort and pushed my head into his chest. He took my affection contently.
The pendant at my throat felt hot, and I had a brief, scary thought of what might have happened if I didn't have it to stabilise me. It would've hurt far more than this. Would I even be alive? Hurting more than this surely would feel like death itself.
But it ebbed, slowly. Receding at a snail's pace as my vision slowly cleared and the pounding slowly stopped. The ache was persistent, though a little less demanding. But it still hurt. I wiped my nose a little more and dropped the cloth aside, arm heavy. The rest of the team shouted and laughed at their game of Uno in the background, unaware of our tiny light show and the subsequent consequences thereof.
"Hey." Lloyd spoke against my hair. I forced my eyes open. "It's midnight."
I glanced up at the moon. It shone down on us, bright and serene. The start of a new year. The beginning of something I was sure would continue to shape my life in ways I had never expected it to.
Lloyd's hands slipped as I sat up. The headache continued to ease, and I managed a smile that didn't look like a wince. My grip found his and squeezed.
"Happy new year, hero," I said.
"Happy new year, sunshine." Lloyd pressed his lips to my forehead in our little version of a New Years kiss. "Do you want to be helped to the bathroom to clean up?"
Could he get any more perfect? "Yes, please."
We said goodnight to the others (all of whom did double takes upon seeing the state of me) before heading downstairs. Lloyd fetched painkillers and water while I cleaned the blood from my face and ears and readied for bed, and then he gave me a kiss goodnight at the door to my room.
I sprawled upon my futon and stared at my hands half-raised to the ceiling. My head still throbbed, but I ignored it in favour of running back through what we did on the deck just moments before midnight.
I'd never felt powerful before. I'd never felt sure or confident in myself. But maybe that would all change. Maybe Lloyd would help me become myself, who I was always meant to be. I could adapt to this; to this power, to this role fate had devised for me. I could adapt to purpose.
My hands fell to rest upon my chest. Lloyd slept not a few doors down.
Funny, how life had a way of changing on you.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
Chen crept through the Abbey, cowering beneath the statues of angels. He could hear the celebrations from down the street, though he shared no joy with them. In his heart was only terror. In his hands, a book.
"You certainly took your time."
Chen startled, searching the shadows for the object of the disembodied voice that echoed amongst the columns. Yellow eyes pried his in the darkness.
"Here." Chen stuck out the leather book. "I got your book. Are we done?"
Chen stumbled back when Simon appeared at his side. The white-haired man snatched the book and passed through the pages with hunger, a ravenous edge to his gaze. He stopped on a spell and smiled.
"On the contrary," Simon purred. He ran his fingers down the parchment. The unlit candles in the chamber burst aflame, casting shadows upon him. He looked akin to a monster. He was one. "We've only just begun."