The Cure
••• Lullaby •••
on candystripe legs, the spiderman comes
softly through the shadow of the evenin' sun
stealin' past the windows of the blissfully dead
looking for the victim shivering in bed
•••••
i didn't proofread this lol sorry if theres any mistakes
Base had been set up where the Bounty had made its unscheduled landing, sitting lopsided in the trees with half of its hull missing and the masts snapped in two.
Misako poured over a piece of parchment before a small fire with Dimitri beside her, both with faces of utmost concentration. The rest of the monks had taken to lugging the broken-off pieces of the ship into a large pile. Atop the fire and occasionally stirred by Dimitri was a pot of noodles.
"Not too much vigour," Zane said as he hurried over to the fire. "You must stir gently, as if stroking a duckling's head."
Dimitri raised his palms and allowed the perfectionist to take the mantle of making breakfast. His gaze turned to me, limping my way after Zane, and he smiled with relieved greeting.
"Y/n." He stood from his seat on one of the snapped-off mast tops and offered it to me. I took it gratefully and held my hands before the fire. "It is a relief to see you well."
Misako only looked up when I sat beside her, stirred from her razor-sharp concentration. She looked awful - even more frazzled than usual - and the blank look of her exhausted eyes lingered for a moment too long before they brightened with recognition. She flung her arms around me tightly.
"Y/n! You had us all worried sick!" Parchment briefly forgotten, she fussed over the scratches on my face. "I'm so glad you're alright-"
Misako faltered upon noticing the bruise around my neck, and then her face paled. Her brown eyes lifted to mine with a softness that made my throat tighten and eyes sting.
"Oh, sweetheart," she sighed. "You must've been through hell."
Have I even left it yet? It still felt like I was still in the depths of it; crawling my way through the ninth layer, stuck in a torture that stole Lloyd away from me and dangled him before my eyes. No, I didn't think I'd left yet.
I didn't want to dwell on my tussle with the possessed boy whom I'd told I was in love with. Even that made my head spin. It made my throat ache in reminder.
"What happened after I fell?" I asked.
"Morro returned and stole Wu's staff," Misako answered. Her smile was weary as she lifted the parchment in her hand, bare aside from three large symbols. "But at least we made a copy."
Before I could ask what the significance of Wu's staff was or why Morro caused this much destruction just to get his hands on it, the loud call of a dragon echoing over the tree tops made me jump. Nya's dragon landed in a little clearing that the Bounty's descent had caused and burst into blue mist.
"Y/n!" Nya called. She raced towards our little group with Jay right on her heels. It seemed that they were on lookout for me from above. "Thank god you're alive!"
Nya barrelled into me and nearly knocked us both onto the ground by how fast she hugged me. I oof'd at her strength, briefly startled by the suddenness. My body gave an ache of complaint.
"Hey, Nya," I squeaked. Over her shoulder I saw Cole and Wu enter our vicinity from seperate parts of the forest, and then joined by Kai and Garmadon. It seemed as though they'd put out a search party.
"You must be insane," Nya chastised as she pulled back and surveyed my injuries. Her eyes narrowed with fury. "I'm gonna kill that ghost, I swear."
Cole planted a hand on my shoulder. "When I heard you fell out the ship, I..." He trailed off with an exhale of distress. The look on his face was barely masked by relief. "I'm glad you're here."
I smiled and tried not to cry at the care in his voice. "Thanks, Cole. Sorry for the scare."
Kai wordlessly shoved his sister out of the way, who complained, and brought me into a tight hug. I blinked in surprise. I thought I was on his bad side. Nevertheless, I hugged him back just as tight.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Are you okay?"
I promptly broke down into tears. No, I wasn't okay. I was scared and hurt and terrified, and the uncertainty of the future unnerved me to the core. And then I felt guilty, because if this was how bad I felt, then how much worse did Lloyd feel? If my neck hurt from Morro's attack, then how horrified did Lloyd feel from not being able to stop it?
Kai took a seat on the mast beside me and held me firmer. Jay sat on the other side and rested his cheek on my shoulder, and I behind my grief I could barely believe how lucky I was to have people like this - who genuinely cared for me, who was sad when I was upset. It still felt so raw and new.
I didn't like crying in front of people, but god, it was so needed. Everything I was feeling had been pent up and was bubbling behind a barrier of my own creation, squeezing me and squeezing me until my head threatened to burst. It was cathartic to sob it all out until I was listless, leaning against Kai's steadfast support and grounded by Jay's comforting weight.
When I finally managed to come to, I found the rest of the team each sharing disheartened looks. They also lost Lloyd. They lost their friend, their team leader, their brother. Misako and Garmadon lost their son. Wu lost his nephew. Nya was scowling back tears and Jay was quietly wiping away his. Cole looked lost. Zane and Kai were deep in thought, probably coming up with plans to save him.
And though this was terrible, although this was the most awful thing that could have happened, it was still nice to see how loved Lloyd was. The solidarity was nice. None of us were in this alone.
Zane returned to his cooking and shooed away Cole when he tried to help. Misako returned to cross-referencing the symbols with a thick tome she balanced on her thigh. Wu looked strangely incomplete without his staff as he spoke to Dimitri about the Bounty's damage.
"How did he use his powers like that?" I asked when my emotions were back under control. "Lloyd said that you had to convert kinetic energy into power, but he didn't move at all."
"It's because of the storm," Cole dolefully answered. "It's like a power up in a video game. Jay gets stronger when he's in an electrical storm. Nya's stronger in the ocean. I'm stronger when I'm underground. When you become more connected to your element, you don't need to call on it and convert energy. It comes to you."
I shivered. That was spooky. But at least if there were no more storms, he'd be less of a threat. The cloudless dawn gave me a little reassurance.
Garmadon crouched before me and placed a comforting hand on my knee, stealing my attention. His face had aged with his melancholy.
"What happened after Lloyd caught you?" he asked.
I shook my head. "It wasn't Lloyd."
Garmadon recoiled in surprise. "Morro?" At my nod, he frowned in confusion. "That is unprecedented."
"He said something about the prophecy," I wearily elaborated. "I think it stopped him from letting me die."
"Like how your powers wouldn't let me stop you at the warehouse?" Cole asked from over his shoulder.
I touched my neck self-consciously. "... not quite."
Cole's expression fell. "... ah. Of course."
I thanked Zane when he passed me a bowl of noodles, and my stomach grumbled ravenously. I didn't have dinner the night before, and sleeping out in the cold did damage to one's appetite. I was almost brought to tears again by just how good it tasted.
"At least you know you've got green ninja immunity even when he's possessed," Nya said in an attempt to be optimistic. "We could use that."
Kai snapped his head up to where his sister stood and gave her a baffled glare. "Are you crazy? We're not using Y/n as bait! She needs to go home."
"Have you seen the state of us?" Nya gestured to our dilapidated surroundings with a sweep of her arm. "We're not exactly living up to the legend. We need any advantage we can get, and Y/n having some weird fate connection with Lloyd is a huge advantage."
"She's got a point," I said. "I need to help."
Kai shot me a frantic look. "Are you serious?! Look at what he did to you!"
I meekly shrugged. "I rarked him up."
"No." Kai shook his head. "No way."
"He's right, Y/n," Cole said apologetically. "This is dangerous stuff. You're not ready for it."
"It would be best if you return home," Garmadon agreed.
"Nya can take Y/n home on her dragon," Wu suggested. "Or perhaps when the monks return to the Monastery."
"I'm not going home," I said firmly.
The unconvinced looks sent my way made my panic rile. My appetite had suddenly vanished into thin air, and I set the bowl aside with the nervous sinking of my gut. They all wanted me to go home. Even Nya was beginning to be swayed by their reason.
"You're not listening," Kai said, and turned on his seat to give me a serious look. "Y/n, you don't even have any control over your powers! This isn't the place for someone with your lack of experience."
I was beginning to grow desperate. "You can't make me go. Don't make me go."
"Give me one good reason why you should stay," Kai pressed.
"Because it's my fault!" I exclaimed. "It's my fault, all of this is! That's why I can't go - I have to fix this. I need to get him back, I need to-."
"Calm, kiddo." Garmadon held my shoulders and set me with a soft frown. "How is this your fault?"
"Because I felt it." All the guilt that had been building up spilled from me like blood from a wound, and I couldn't stop a single drop of it. "I knew something bad was coming, it was a warning and I ignored it! And now Lloyd's like this - if I'd listened then maybe he wouldn't- if I'd just listened, then-!"
I couldn't even finish the sentence. I hid my face with a sob and was overcome with weakness, so I fell back onto the mast and cradled myself because Lloyd wasn't there to do it for me. They must've thought I was a snivelling, incompetent fool to let the green ninja fall into such hands as Morro's.
There was a brief moment of silence as my confession was digested. My own words rang in my ears. I mentally prepared myself for the berating that would follow, and then the unceremonious kick back home that would come after.
"It takes years of meditation to understand messages from those who have long departed this plane. You couldn't have known," Wu soothed, baffling my weeping into choked silence. "This is not your mistake-"
"It is," Misako cut in, and I raised my head to her with horror. "Which is why she must stay to help fix it." She lifted her hand before anyone could argue. "Lloyd is my son, thus I have final say."
I was confused and even more upset at first, but my heart leapt with hope when she sent me a quick, sly wink. My smile of relief was weepy and wobbly in return. Jay squeezed my arm in support.
"Besides," Misako sighed heavily, "if I mean to decode these symbols, I need at least someone's help. And the rest of you lot aren't of particular use to me."
While the others grumbled at her jab at their lacklustre history knowledge, my interest was piqued. I wiped away my tears and turned my focus into one of the few things I was good at - fact gathering.
"Is that what you're doing?" I scooted closer to Misako to properly peer at the messily inked-on parchment; a tornado, an upright katana with its sword-tip surrounding by squiggles, and a skull was what greeted me. It looked rudimentary, but its meaning was entirely lost. "What's the importance of it?"
"Long ago, our father left a message leading us to his final resting place after he passed," Garmadon said. "We looked everywhere for it, not knowing it was on dad's old staff all this time."
I sent him an awed look. "You mean..?"
"Yes. These symbols will lead us to the tomb of the First Spinjitsu Master," Wu confirmed, before frowning deeply. "The only problem is we haven't the foggiest idea what any of them mean."
My lips thinned at the symbols, and I was already doubting Misako's comment about me helping. If they had no idea what the clues meant, then how on earth was I meant to?
"Well, if that's all explained, then care to fill us in about the rest?" Nya promptly returned the conversation to something a little more concerning: who the hell this 'Morro' person really was. The mistress of water casted a squinted look along the elders. "You guys have been acting super sus about this old pupil of Sensei Wu's."
"Yeah, did he die or something?" Jay laughed and then silenced himself with a grimace when Wu's head turned down. Cole smacked the back of his head with a pointed glare.
"Yes, he did." Wu slowly took a seat by the crackling fire with a look of resignation. He stared into the flames as the still-starry sky slowly lightened. "Care to hear a ghost story?"
"Not particularly," I mumbled. Jay huddled further into my side in silent agreement.
"If it means saving Lloyd, of course." Zane answered for us. The rest of the team found places to sit around the fire, ready for Wu's tale.
The old sensei sighed as the fire danced against his countenance, colouring his shapes is shades of golden-orange. He pulled off his rice hat and laid it across his lap.
"Morro may have been my first pupil, but he was also my greatest regret," Wu began. "Before he was a cursed spirit it wasn't I who found him but he who found me. My brother had just gone off to train under Master Chen, which gave me time to attempt my hand at teaching."
"A different Chen," Misako whispered when I sent her a confused look. Question answered, my attention quickly returned to Wu.
"Morro was an orphan, and he stumbled across my Monastery in hopes of finding scraps to eat," he continued. "In him I saw the raw potential of a brilliant fighter, so I took him under my wing in hopes of training him into becoming just that.
"Morro was the perfect student, he did everything that was ever asked of him. And with that building discipline, we discovered something unusual - he had a power over the wind I had never seen. He was a descendant of an elemental master I had never knew existed."
Wu paused. In the brief spell of baited breath, we all leant forward, eager to hear the rest of his story. There was a morbid curiosity that plagued us all.
"It was then I thought I'd found the one," Wu wearily said. "Perhaps he would wear green."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa," Jay cut in. His astonishment matched my own. "Back up! You're saying Morro, the master of wind, was gonna be the green ninja?!"
The fire blew suddenly, tackled by a gust of wind that came from nowhere. The bowing trees in the gale creaked and groaned, echoing deep and low through the forest's vast expanse. The sound sent a chill up my neck.
"Uh... did that just happen?" Cole anxiously asked, looking a little paler than usual. "Maybe I don't like ghost stories."
"What happened next, Sensei?" Zane urged.
"After I told him he could be the green ninja, there was a hunger unmatched," Wu gravely said. "There was an arrogance in him, and I feared I had made a terrible mistake. But it wasn't for me to decide - it was destiny. When the golden weapons didn't respond like they did for Lloyd later, I knew morro wouldn't become the chosen one.
"He said that he would train more, learn more. He had latched onto what I had foolishly suggested and refused to listen to what he had been told. He became obsessed to prove me wrong, to prove destiny wrong. He became reckless. He thought he was invincible." Wu shook his head in sad disappointment. "I knew right then and there, I could not teach those who would not listen. He told me he would find my father's tomb to prove he was worthy, I told him it could not be found. My father had left no message. I left the gates open in hopes he'd return, but he never came back."
"To save Lloyd and return your powers you must find the tomb before he does," Garmadon grimly ordered, "or else."
"Or else what?" Jay nervously asked.
"Unspeakable power will curse us all," he answered. "Morro's return is a bad omen that we cannot take lightly."
I held myself tight, unnerved to be living in this ghost story Wu spoke of. The sizzling wood of the fire before us rang in my ears, its light burned my eyes. The bowl of noodles at my feet continued to remain untouched.
"Then we need to find the tomb before he does," Nya spoke up, just as Misako made a gasp of delight.
"I found it!" She spun her large tome on her lap to face us and pointed at a spot on the page that held the same symbol as a clue. "The first clue - it's in reference to Airjitsu."
"Airjitsu?" Kai echoed in confusion. "I've never heard of it."
"It's a lost martial art created by Sensei Yang. It's said to allow the user to temporarily take flight," I supplied. At the bewildered stares of the team, I shrugged. "After I met Lloyd as a ninja, I did some light reading."
"'Light reading,'" Cole echoed dubiously.
I pursed my lips and turned my head away. "I might have hyperfixated on the history of ninjutsu."
Misako spared me a proud smile. It seemed I was already proving her right.
"You hear that, Kai?!" Jay elatedly shook his arm. "We get to fly!"
"You haven't found it yet," Wu warned. "The scroll of Airjitsu is well guarded in the ancient Library of Domu."
"Forgive me if I speak out of turn, but my records reveal it was recently stolen," Zane interjected. "It seems to have been taken by Ronin."
Cole hung his head back with a groan. "Not Ronin."
"Who's Ronin?" I asked.
"He's a no-good dirty thief," Kai muttered.
"But this is good news!" Jay chirped. "If Morro doesn't know this, he'll be heading to the library!"
"And Ronin's most likely holed up in the village of Stiix, which gives us a head start!" Cole said.
"Then it is set. The ninja will head to Stiix and the monks will return to the monastery," Garmadon ordered. "The rest of us will head back to the tea shop and start deciphering the next clue."
Things got set into motion with higher spirits; the senseis helped the ninja rewrap any injuries and sharpen their weapons, while the monks got started on repairing the Bounty just enough for the short flight to Steep Wisdom. Even I was beginning to feel a little bit better. Getting Lloyd back no longer felt like an impossible dream.
"How should I help?" I asked Misako as we stomped out the fire. "Am I going to fight?"
"Absolutely not," she chortled. "You'll be doing chores. I'm going to be too busy helping decode the symbols from Wu's staff, so there's something you must do for me."
Any bit of joy I'd felt from being allowed to stay sunk right to my feet. I should've known there'd be a catch. "... oh. Yeah, of course."
Misako sent me a curt smile at my obvious disappointment. "I need you look into whatever content the Library of Domu has on ghosts."
My mouth fell open in shock. But nobody was allowed in the Library of Domu, not unless you were someone very important. "Are you serious?"
"As serious as the sun," she said. "Nya will take you. You'll need her dragon to get there, but also incase Morro does swing by." Misako glanced at the bruise around my neck. "It might be dangerous, Y/n. Are you sure you're up to it?"
I firmly nodded. "I am."
"Confidence becomes you." Misako tapped my nose with a pleased smile, and I flushed terribly under her compliment. "I'll let Nya know. You get ready to leave."
Buzzing with happy, clammy adrenaline, I quickly allowed one of the Monks, Jace, to wipe some ointment over the scratches I'd gotten from my tumble through the trees. There wasn't much we could do about my neck, and though I wasn't really hungry, I still finished off my noodles. Being full made me feel even better.
It'd be interesting to see what the Library of Domu has to offer. Zane had already said that he couldn't find anything about possessions, but who knows if they'd been recorded digitally in the first place? Pretty much everything about the elemental masters was hidden away from the internet. The Library of Domu was our best shot.
Nya bounded up to me with a grin after we gave the boys a farewell. "Girl's trip!" she chimed. Her enthusiasm was infectious.
She summoned her dragon in a spot where there weren't any trees to hinder our take-off and deftly leapt up onto the saddle, before reaching down and helping me up behind her. The grey-blue dragon turned her head to nudge my foot with her nose and purred.
"When you get to the Library, tell them I sent you," Misako informed us. "I've inputted the coordinates into Nya's mask. Don't worry about secret identities, Domu's attendants have been our close allies for a millennia."
"And if Morro shows up, I'll smack him right out of Lloyd," Nya vowed.
Misako's expression waned with a bittersweet smile. "That you shall."
Nya turned her head over her shoulder. "Ready?"
I wrapped my arms around her and nodded. Her dragon was smaller and sleeker than Bentley, and she took off faster than what I was expecting. My stomach got left behind with a gasp.
Nya didn't have Lloyd's super hearing, so any attempt of conversation fell equally on deaf ears. We decided to fly in silence after shouting 'what?' one too many times. She also didn't have Lloyd's power to warm himself into a space heater to keep my teeth from chattering at the temperature, and I didn't realise just how cold it was this high in the air without him. At least the flight was only twenty minutes long.
Nya pointed down in wordless order. The Holy City of Domu sat on the side of a mountain, inhabited only by monks and book keepers. The city was tiny, with its central point being the Library that took up most of Domu's territory. It was all kept secure by a large wall carved from the mountain side that we flew right on over.
My awe quadrupled at the sight of the monks that milled about the little city centre and gathered at the sight of Nya's dragon. No-one tried to stop us from heading to the grand staircase that led into the Library, but who would? We just flew in on a mythical beast that was otherwise considered only myth until a fear years ago. We couldn't get more VIP than that.
Nya pushed open the large, mahogany doors carved with the inscription of scrolls and the heavens, with the depiction of who must've been the First Spinjitsu Master at the very top. The inside of the library was just as lush with grandeur.
"Anything you have on ghosts, please," Nya asked the first monk we came across. With an incline of his bald head, we were led towards a section near the back and gestured towards a shelf full of scrolls and tomes. Nya's face paled. "That's a lot."
On the contrary, my eyes were practically sparkling. Nya pulled me down a book and dropped it into my arms before I could stop functioning in means of being stuck in awe. I was almost vibrating with joy. If we weren't
It didn't take long until I found something interesting. "Nya, look!" I whispered.
Nya peered over my shoulder and read the line I pointed to.
"'A ghost may be banished back to the Departed Realm by means of... water?'" Her brows raised. "That's awfully convenient for me. How come it didn't work on Morro?"
I shrugged. "Maybe because he's in Lloyd's body?"
Nya huffed in frustration. "Maybe. Hey, look at this." She tapped the section I hadn't gotten to yet. "It says here that ghosts need to be summoned by a spellbook in order to exist on the same plane as us." She gave me a side-eyed look with a knot between her brows. "You know what that means."
"Someone summoned Morro," I murmured uneasily. I recalled Misako telling me about black magic and figured that this must've fallen under that same category. "But why?"
Nya sighed. "We have a lot of enemies, Y/n. Not everyone likes us keeping the peace."
My phone began to silently vibrate with an incoming call. When I pulled it from my pocket and checked the cracked screen, I paled. In the chaos of the past twenty-four hours I'd forgotten to call my mother. It wasn't the only time she'd tried to ring; a total of seven missed calls and thirteen unseen messages told me that I was in deep trouble.
"Shiiiiit." I stood from the table and sent Nya an apologetic look. "It's my mum. I'll be quick."
Nya pulled the book closer towards her to continue reading and waved me off. Bracing myself for the absolute worst, I quickly slipped from the library and answered my phone before it could end as another missed call.
"I'm sorry-"
"Where on earth have you been?!" My mother's sharp yell made me wince. "Do you understand what you've put me through? You've made me sick with worry! God, Y/n, I thought you'd gotten taken by evil snakes or died or-!" She cut herself off with a choked exhale. "Why didn't you pick up your phone?"
"I'm sorry," I tried to say again, and my throat choked up at hearing my mother's voice. What I would give to get her hug right now. "Things have gone a little hectic over here. I didn't mean to disappear on you."
My mum went quiet when she heard the emotion in reply. I took a seat on the library's steps and pulled my knees to my chest. The view overlooked the ginormous, lush valley below, a stretch of ocean to the left, but my eyes blurred with tears too quickly to appreciate the sight.
"Where are you right now?" mum asked, marginally calmer. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. I'm at the Library of Domu," I replied with a weak laugh.
"The Library of Domu! What on earth are you doing there?"
I closed my eyes with a sniffle. I didn't know how to respond to that without bursting into tears. Was it always like this to start off with? Did the others cry from the stress of their first mission? Did Lloyd? The weight of the world was a heavy burden to carry.
"Y/n, honey, what happened?" mum softly pressed. "Is it the prophecy? Do you want to come home?"
I tightened my eyelids with a smile and let the tears dribble down my cheeks. "I don't think I can just go home from a prophecy... no, it's not that."
"I can certainly try. Lloyd's grandfather doesn't scare me," mum grumbled. Her voice turned kinder with sympathy. "Then is it the team..? Is it Lloyd?"
I buried my forehead into my knees with a whimper. "He's been possessed."
My mother had to take pause for a few seconds. "... are you speaking literally or figuratively?"
"He's been taken by a ghost," I cried. "I don't know what to do. It's all my fault!"
"Back up, sweetheart. Tell me everything."
I obeyed, telling mum everything; the actual reason for the super-anxiety, Lloyd's possession and Morro's quest to find the tomb before us. The only thing I didn't tell her about were my injuries, but I hid that for the sake of her heart.
"That's why I have to stay," I said as I wrapped up my explanation. "I have to fix things."
"Oh, Y/n, none of this is your fault," my mum soothed. "But I know I still won't change your mind on this, will I? You're going to stay until Lloyd comes back."
"Yeah..." I mumbled.
"Then all I can do is ask you to stay safe. Do you need me to drop anything off? Toiletries, clothes?"
My heart lightened with appreciation. Even though my mother was crazy over-protective, she was still trying her best to understand this new direction life had taken us. I wished she was here so I could sink into her arms.
"That'd be perfect," I choked out. "Thanks, mom."
We continued talking for a few moments more before I finally decided that I'd spent enough time away from researching. This was Domu, for Pete's sake! I should've been throwing myself into the books of its domain, not weeping over incidents that have already transpired.
I stood from my spot and dusted myself down. At least my mom was informed and okay with me staying to help bring Lloyd home. That's one background anxiety to tick off.
When I re-entered the library, I quickly lost my way while searching for the path back to Nya. The rows of books and scrolls were so unfamiliar and tall that I got quickly turned around. I was just about to ask a monk studying a scroll for help when a familiar voice made my blood turn cold.
"Sensei Yang's scroll." Morro's distant hiss turned my hair on its end. "Where is it?"
Quickly sneaking over to one of the shelves, I peeked through the old tomes and found Lloyd's body stiff and tense with anger as Morro glared at a naive, rambling monk. So he did come to Domu.
"Oh, yes," the monk said forlornly. "Sensei Yang will be sorely missed. His teachings will always be-"
Morro's patience was startlingly short. He grabbed the monk by the front of his robes and snarled into the poor man's face.
"Where's the Scroll of Airjitsu?!" he snapped.
The monk raised his hands in surrender. "It- it was stolen a few days ago by that thief they call Ronin!"
Morro dropped the monk's robes harshly, and he fell to his knees in fright. The twist of fury on Lloyd's grey, possessed face made me quickly want to flee. I took a step back to hastily resume my search for Nya.
When I turned from the bookshelf, Morro was in front of me. His palm swiftly planting itself over my mouth muffled my yelp of shock.
"Well, well," he mused. "Looks like the lamb's brought itself to the slaughter. Shouldn't you be at home?"
I pulled myself from his hold and set him with a suspicious glare. My neck still ached from where he'd squeezed the air from my lungs. The back of my head still throbbed from where he'd slammed it into the ground. I wasn't about to let my guard down around him, no matter whose body he stole.
"Well, pet? Or have the ninja silenced you into obedience?" Morro tilted his head, and the sly, smug look would've been attractive only if it was Lloyd's. With Morro, it just looked twisted and deranged. "Wu has a history of moulding people to his heart's content."
I took a wary step back. "How are you so bitter?"
"'Bitter?'" Morro echoed. His scoff was shallow and blunt, and he turned to pace the row we were in with a languid stride. His fingers traced a shelf of book spines. "I forgot how naive people could be. Bitter. You don't know half of the story, little lamb, so stop parading yourself as if you do."
"I know all about you."
Morro's steps ceased and a flicker of amusement crossed his features. He turned back to me and leant his shoulder against the shelf with his arms crossed. I felt bolted to the floor.
"Do you, now?" he hummed, and gestured with a sweep of his hand for me to go on. "Pray tell."
I lifted my chin with a swallow. "Wu found you when you were young and trained you, and you got upset because you couldn't become the green ninja, so now you're taking it out on Lloyd." I shook my head in confusion. "Wu gave you a home and you spat on it because you didn't get what you wanted."
Morro heard footsteps before I did, and grabbed my wrist to pull me deeper down the aisle of books. He yanked us around the corner and pressed my back into his chest with an arm across my waist, holding my mouth shut once more when I went to complain.
"Y/n?" Nya called from a few rows over. "Where's she gone?"
My eyes widened. Nya. I craned my neck to spot her, to call for help, but Morro's grip held fast like iron.
"Ah-ah-ah. I wouldn't," he whispered his warning into the shell of my ear. "You don't want anything to happen to Lloyd, do you?"
My struggles ceased at his threat. His exhale of amusement made me bristle, and we stayed still for a few more moments until Nya's calls became distant.
"You truly are naive," Morro quietly sneered. He let me go and I stumbled away from him with a scowl. My waist burnt from where he'd held me. "Wu promised me power, and then he ripped it away from me just as carelessly as he gave it. I was going to be great! You - you were going to be mine."
My face twisted in disgust. "That wasn't his promise to give. It's not Lloyd's to be punished for."
Morro scoffed. "Your faith in them is blind. Don't you see how they all keep you in the dark?"
I faltered, and he seized upon my hesitation with wicked glee. He walked toward me until my back hit the shelf, dark eyes bright with malice.
"You don't even know how powerful you truly are, who you are, what you mean to everything that will happen." Morro held out his hand for me to take. "You can be powerful at my side - we can unlock your potential together."
"Are you stupid?" I asked blankly, and his face turned with insult. "You attacked me and then think you can just turn around and ask that? How dumb do you think I am?" I looked him up and down with contempt. "They care about me. All you care about is how much power you can get."
Morro's eyes narrowed. "And you truly believe that you wouldn't jump at a chance to rule this world? To squash those who wrong you beneath your feet?"
"I don't care about that," I answered. "I don't care about powers or prophecies. I just want my boyfriend back."
Morro stepped away with a baffled scowl. I raised my chin, fisted my hands behind my thighs. My heart pitter-patted in my chest with fear, and I knew he heard it, but I didn't let it show on my face. If I could pretend to be brave then maybe I could trick myself into becoming it.
"How miserable," Morro said flatly. "All this potential left to someone so unambitious. What a waste."
"It's mine to waste as I please." I matched his unimpressed tone. "Don't you have a scroll to find?"
Morro's nostrils flared at my attitude. I held my breath, unsure if I took it too far, praying that Lloyd would stop him or Nya would save me before he could try anything, but Morro just turned on his heel and stalked out of the Library of Domu with a pissed scowl.
My knees went wobbly with relief when he disappeared. I had to catch my breath that I'd held for too long, gasping for more air to fill my deprived lungs. I was testing the waters too much - where had this boldness in me come from? Was it truly just because Lloyd was taken? Was that all it took to change my personality this much?
These were question I could mull on later. Right now, I had research to relay, a mistake to fix, and a golden-haired boy to help save.
I staggered upright and continued my search for Nya.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
By the time Nya and I returned to Steep Wisdom, it was nearing mid-afternoon. I didn't tell her about my encounter with Morro - I'd barely convinced them all to let me stay as is.
The damage to the tea shop looked even worse in the day-time. The rows of bushes had been scattered and flattened by the storm, and the shop itself was barely standing. Garmadon, Wu and Dimitri focused on cleaning the rubble scattered across the courtyard. Misako sat against the stone wall, still deep in her research.
They all looked up when Nya's dragon landed in an area that wasn't quite as destroyed. Misako hurried over when we landed on the ground and surveyed the damage with mellow frowns.
"Did you find anything useful?" she asked. "How to get a ghost out of someone, perhaps?"
Nya shook her head. "It's like Wu said, Lloyd has to be the one to do it."
"We did find out something," I said. "Water can send ghosts back to where they came from. It doesn't work on possessed people, though. And..."
Nya nervously shifted at my trailed-off sentence. Misako waited eagerly. I sighed.
"Morro had to have been summoned to be broken free from the Cursed Realm," I said. "Someone specifically brought him back."
Misako's face paled. "Black magic," she noted grimly.
"I thought so, too."
Before we could continue our discussion, the sound of a small helicopter overhead made us look up. We would've ignored it if it weren't for the fact that it'd landed in the middle of one of the destroyed fields. The engine spluttered to a stop, and the spinning rotors slowed.
Garmadon, Wu and Dimitri joined us in watching as a rough looking man with shaggy copper-blond hair and an eyepatch stepped out. He surveyed the place with a wrinkled nose and kicked aside a torn-out bush.
"Well, this place looks like a dump," the stranger muttered, just loud enough for us to hear. "I got a helluva bargain, didn't I? Damn ninja."
"Are you expecting a guest?" Dimitri asked the elders. They all shook their heads, equally baffled by the stranger's intrusion. We continued to stare as he stomped across the field to us and glared up at the torii gate with a sniff.
"The first problem is that you're opening a tea shop in the middle of a dry season - water's at a premium! Then there's the name; Steep Wisdom," the man snorted at us as he passed by. "More like Steep Debt. I mean - where are the customers?"
We shared baffled looks as he stood in the centre of the courtyard with his hands on his hips.
"There's not even a shop for the customers to spend money in! What is this, some kind of charity?"
"Who is this strange fellow?" Wu asked Garmadon.
"I have no recollection of him, brother," Garmadon replied.
"You need to have a name with pizazz," continued the stranger as he turned back to us. "Like Curiosi-tea or Shake-Your-Boo-Tea. These are just off the top of my head!"
"Excuse me," Misako said with a voice like ice. "But if you're not a customer, what are you doing at our shop?"
"You mean my shop," the man corrected with a coy grin. It grew at our confusion. "Name's Ronin. And since I'm now effectively the majority shareholder, I'm your new business partner."
"You have got to be kidding me." Garmadon held his face with a heavy sigh. "What have those boys done now?"
"After the ninja lost the scroll of who-what-su to that Morro guy, I bailed them out in exchange for their shares in the tea shop," Ronin explained, before scowling. "Since they destroyed my pawn shop, I thought it was a fair trade - until I saw this sorry place."
I inhaled sharply. "Morro got the scroll?" But he just left the Library moments before we did! How did he get it so fast? "Is Lloyd okay?"
"Who?" Ronin asked carelessly.
"Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon!" I exclaimed. "Is he okay?"
The thief snorted. "What has that kid got anything to do with this?" He spotted Garmadon and pointed at him. "Aren't you that four-armed guy who tried to destroy the city?" He blanked for a second before something clicked into place. "Ahh. Lloyd Garmadon is the Green Ninja. That makes sense. I was a little confused before, honestly."
Garmadon's expression soured. "The ninja did not get the scroll?
"If they didn't get it, then we'll never be able to follow the rest of the clues," Miskao stressed. "We won't make it to the tomb before Morro does!"
"But that means we can't save Lloyd!" Nya exclaimed. My body felt weak with despair.
"Relax." Ronin rolled his eyes at us. "The ninja are fine, I told them of another way they could get it. Don't you know in life - there's always second chances."
"What do you mean 'another way'?" Wu suspiciously asked.
"Nobody's ever told you about Yang's haunted temple?" Ronin asked with raised eyebrows.
"You mean that place where you can get tours to?" I asked.
"Yang's haunted temple is nothing but an attraction for tourists," Misako said with an exasperated snap.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Ronin snickered. He picked up a discarded tea container, twisted the lid off, and sniffed. He hummed appreciatively before tucking it into his belt. "If the ninja manage to pass all the tests and conquer their fears, they'll get their hands on the original scroll of airjitzu."
Garmadon sent Ronin a narrow-eyed glare.
"And if they fail?"
Ronin shrugged his crossed arms. "They die, or they get turned into ghosts. Depends on how Sensei Yang feels."
Nya stiffened beside me. I shared her fear. Misako turned towards us with a glower spared Ronin's way. He returned to observing his new business, kicking away some rubble and muttering under his breath.
"What we need to do now is work out who summoned Morro," Misako said, but I could barely register what she was saying over the fear of the ninja dying. "Somebody on the mortal plane is working with him and as long as they're out there with the spell book, they'll just keep bringing the ghosts back again and again. It would be a fruitless war."
"But who would do such a thing?" Garmadon asked. "To have a spell book alone is an acquisition of immense power. To use it is another feat entirely."
"Garmadon is right," Wu nodded. "The spell to summon a ghost as powerful as Morro can only be made by someone with an intense hatred."
Something was nagging at the back of my head. Sitting there, just barely out of reach. The more I tried to think about catching it, the more it slipped away. There was something about this that made me on edge. I had an answer that I didn't know.
"Which means that this was done intentionally," Garmadon said and then rubbed his temples with with a sigh. "But how can we begin to narrow down our suspects? Half of Ninjago wants the Green Ninja out of action."
Intense hatred. Who did I know that had an intense hatred? Who'd stared at Lloyd with a look that frightened me to the core?
"But if we don't figure it out, then Lloyd's as good as gone," Nya mourned.
Simon.
Who else hated the world more than anyone else? Who else had enough of it to turn it into black magic? He'd looked at Lloyd like he'd wanted to kill him. He knew who he was.
It made sense. It made so much sense.
"I know who did it," I said.