Lloyd POV
It's been hours since the sun set. The imposter is still tied up and knocked out, Kai is sleeping soundly, and I'm still keeping watch. My hand is still throbbing and it hurts to touch but the worst of the pain is over. I can hardly keep my eyes open and I debate on waking Kai. I look over at his sleeping form.
I close my eyes for a moment to find myself jolting awake again. It's still dark out, but the once low fire has almost died down completely. How long have I been out? A few minutes? An hour? I look over at Kai again and see that his position changed. I don't want to wake him, but I have to, or else I won't be able to stand tomorrow.
I reach over and shake him. "Kai..." I say, jumping at the sound of my own voice. When he doesn't move, I try again. "Kai." He stirs in his sleep and slightly cracks his eyes open. He sees me and sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"What time is it?" He asks me sleepily.
"Early. It's your turn for night watch." He stretches and grabs his sword from beside him.
"Okay. Go to sleep." He instructs. "Goodnight."
"Mhm." Is all I can say. I'm way too tired to do anything but sleep. I lay down where Kai once laid. This spot is so warm... I close my eyes, catching sleep the second I do so.
Kai POV
The blonde closes his eyes and falls asleep instantly. I sit and watch the dying fire, embers and hot cinders resting in the ash. The imposter lays still on the floor, far from conscious. Suspicious of his unusual stillness, I check his pulse. I keep my hand there for a few minutes but I can't fell anything. The sleepiness in me disappears completely and I start to panic. He has no pulse, but he was perfectly fine a few hours ago! I look at Lloyd and back to the guy. I have no idea what to do. Suddenly, I feel movement underneath me. I look to see the guy waking up. What?
His eyes adjust to the dimness of the cave and he turns his head to me. He glares at me. I shake off thinking he was dead and come back to reality. "I see you're awake." I say to him.
He continues to glare at me. "How can I sleep when you are continuously prodding me?" He asks me. I look at him in shock.
"H- how can you-"
"I was created to know the languages of those who are speaking around me." He says plainly. Created? Knowing the languages people speak around him? Is he all there?
I shake myself from my shock. "Shut up, imposter."
He stops glaring at me and his expression turns to interest. He raises an eyebrow. "Imposter? What makes you think I'm an imposter?"
"Um, you pretended to be a harmless doctor in order to gain our trust so you can spill all of our information to the Overlord." I say crossing my arms.
He smirks at me. "I was just doing what I was told. I mean, I was created to follow orders."
"What do you mean by created?"
"Simple, fire ninja, I was created from the Overlord's shadow. I am just a mere servant carrying out my Lord's mission." He suddenly raises his voice. "Hail to the Overlord!" I shove my hand over his mouth to silence him. I sneak a glance over to see if he woke Lloyd. He shifts in his sleep but otherwise, the blonde is still sleeping peacefully. I remove my hand from his mouth and he gives a malicious and quiet laugh. I glare at him.
"Something funny?" I ask him. He stops laughing and looks me straight in the eyes.
"What does he mean to you? I mean, after that lovely performance you put on last night, I'd assume you didn't want to care for him."
"What's that suppose to mean?" I growl at him. He quietly laughs again.
"You shouldn't let your feelings get the better of you, fire ninja. You'll only make yourself weaker. But, it seems that you already have that part down. Pushing him away last night, he must have felt hurt."
"What do you know!" I hiss at him. "You know nothing, don't act like you know me!"
He ignores my warning. "If I were you, I'd leave him right now and get back home. He'll only slow you down and eventually get you killed." I reach for my sword and put it against his throat. He barely flinches.
"You listen to me, I can kill you right here, right now, but I won't. After all, you can be of use to us." I glare daggers into him but he only returns my gaze with a mocking look.
"You can threaten me all you want, but you and I both know that you ninja don't kill. You hardly like to harm people, let alone kill. I know all of your little tricks, you won't get anything out of me." At this point I've heard enough. I wind up my arm and extend my fist square into his face, knocking him out cold. I try shake off my fury. What the hell does he know? He doesn't know me! And what 'performance'?! He has the nerve to tell me to leave my best friend behind, I'll show him!
I then think to last night. I was looking into Lloyd's eyes, those gorgeous heterocromia eyes, after I had just cauterized the wound on his hand. He looked so... mesmerizing, beautiful, enchanting, everything about him was absolutely perfect. His hair, his face, his body, his voice... Without thinking, I leaned in close, and I... I'm a coward. I couldn't even kiss the one I've fallen in love with. It's not like it would have worked out anyway. He's straight, and... I'm way out of his league. He deserves someone better, someone who isn't me. Tears form in my eyes. I wipe them and look at the covered entrance to the cave. I wonder what time it is.
I make my way over to it and I part the many vines and leaves hiding us from the outside world. The dim light from the faint sunrise sends a few pink and purple streaks interconnecting with the navy blue from the fading night sky. The cool breeze brushes the leaves on the trees slightly and the sounds of life begin to flourish in the surrounding jungle. How did I not notice the hours passing? I must have been too caught up to notice...
I close the parted vines and move across the cave to the sleeping angel next to the fire. After a few hours of waiting for light to shine through the cave entering, I gently pat him on the shoulder. "Lloyd, buddy. Time to wake up." He grunts in his sleep and turns away from me. I nearly laugh out loud. So cute... I pat him harder. "Lloyd, come on. We've got work to do." He moves his arm up to his face and uses the back of his hand to cover his eyes.
"Five more minutes." He grumbles. I playfully roll my eyes. For a moment, I'm tempted to kiss his head and fluster him awake, but I come to my senses. He's. Straight. He'll never like you like that. Get that through your head, Kai. I scold myself.
I turn him over from his side onto his back and he finally gives in and cracks his eyes open. "Well, well, well, good morning sleeping beauty." I say to him. He sits up and stretches his back. He then yawns and rubs the sleep from his eyes.
"What time is it?" He asks me.
"It's morning. And we have an unwanted guest to deal with." He looks over to the imposter and sighs. "How's your hand?" He looks at his bandaged hand and uncurls his fingers.
"Still hurts."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he pays for stabbing you." I tell him. He gives a weak smile.
"What would I do without you, my knight in shining armor?" He teases.
"You wouldn't know what to do." I joke back at him. He laughs with slightly flustered cheeks. My heart flutters. "Hungry?" I ask him. He nods and I grab a few packages of food. We eat and then we move over to the imposter.
"What happened to him?" He asks out loud.
"What do you mean?"
"Where'd that bruise come from?" He points to a newly formed bruise on the imposter's forehead.
"Uh... I have no idea." I lie. "Maybe the bruise was always there?" Please believe me I really don't want a lecture...
He looks at me with a suspicious gaze but he brushes it off. "Whatever you say."
"So, how are we going to interrogate him?" I ask, changing the subject.
"Well, I have an idea. I thought about it last night. I have no idea if it'll work, but there's only one way to find out." I look at him, urging him to go on, but he doesn't. He begins to try and wake the guy up. After some effort, the guy wakes up with a groan. He looks at Lloyd in front of him and then to me, giving me a deadly glare. Loud draws the imposter's attention from me back to him. "Listen here, what have you told the Overlord about us?" He only glares. "What is going on in that village?!" Lloyd shouts. I jump a little from his sudden outburst.
The imposter only laughs. "It's all fake." He says. Lloyd's eyes shoot up in surprise at the fact he can speak Ninjagian.
"What do you mean, 'fake'?" I ask him. He laughs again.
"The village was taken over by the Overlord's rule ages ago! Everyone in it, they're all fake!" Lloyd and I look at each other. He continues. "It was a trap, and you came crawling right back into it." Lloyd's face goes from shocked to downright pissed.
"Enough." He says sternly. He places his hands on the sides of the imposters head and holds it. A green light appears in his hands and the imposter begins to cringe and shift uncomfortably. He suddenly starts to grunt in pain and jerk is head around, trying to get his head free from Lloyd's grasp, but he holds on tight. Lloyd squeezes his eyes shut, green light illuminating from his closed eyelids. The imposter's yelling shifts from sounding human to sounding more like demonic, inhuman noises. His skin starts to radiate black and purple smoke and his skin entirely turns to shadow and smoke. A shadow assassin...
Lloyd releases his head and falls from kneeling on one knee onto his side. I catch his head from hitting the ground at the last second and I prop his head onto my legs. I look at the assassin and see him struggling to get out of the tightly tied ropes. What just happened?! "I figured it out last night." A voice says below me as if reading my mind. I look to see Lloyd staring up at me, still laying on his back. "He's a shapeshifter, they all are. It's like Splenda explained to us, there are two kinds of shapeshifters, the animal shapeshifter, like Haru, and the human shapeshifter, like the assassins. How they have this ability, though, I have no idea." He says looking at the assassin.
"How did you figure that out?" I ask him.
He sits up slowly. He groans as he rests a hand on his head. I wrap my arm around him and have him lean on me. "I could sense something was wrong. For one, he smelled weird. Not like a living creature. He smelled like... death and smoke rolled into one, the same smell that illuminated off of the shadow assassins during our battle with them. I can't explain it, but last night I also couldn't hear his heartbeat. I had pieced together her that he was an assassin, but I had no idea why he would look like a human. So, I came to the conclusion he could shape shift. Him saying all the people in the village were fake confirmed my theory.."
"Wow... but, how did you make him show his true form?"
"My powers are the yang to my sister's yin. I have elemental powers of light, she has elemental powers of dark. Which, is kind of ironic considering I have the yin pendent." He holds up the pendent that has been hanging around his neck this whole time.
"Oh, so that's what the pendent means." I say. He laughs.
"Eh, not really. But anyway, the shadow assassins are made of pure darkness while my powers are light. All I needed to do was overpower his darkness only a little bit to reveal his true form. If I had exposed him to too much, he would have died. Or at least, that's my theory. But, I wanted to get more information out of him before I did it because I don't think they can speak in this form." We both look at the assassin sitting quietly, watching us.
"It's like you said, only one way to find out." I tell him. I look to the assassin. "We've revealed your true form. Now, tell us what you know." He only looks at us, his pupil less yellow eyes showing no emotion, his expression giving the same result . "I think you're right." I say, turning back to Lloyd. He sighs.
"I was afraid of that. Looks like it's up to us now."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well, first we need to get rid of him." He says pointing to the assassin. "I can take care of that. Then, we'll need to find out how the Overlord found out we would end up here, which means..." he stops, lost in thought.
"Which means...?" I try to get him to continue.
"Which means... we'll need to sneak back into that cave and try to find out some information."
"Great! I've been wanting to get back into action!" I say, punching my blazed fist into my hand. "When do we leave?"
He looks at me confidently. "Right now."
Garmadon POV
"You have children! Children who just so happen to be the most powerful people on our team and, also, who we've known for a month and a half!" Jay rants to me. "Why didn't you tell us? Especially considering we've known you for years?!"
"I didn't know how." I tell him for the hundredth time today. After Katelyn fainted, Ashley and Nya brought her into Nya's room to rest. This whole thing was such a shock to everyone, especially Splenda. Knowing her old friend's children were her students whom she practically raised this whole time came as a shock, even to her. We now stand in one of the indoor training rooms below deck. I'm surrounded by my family, friends, and students, who all seem to be a bit on edge. It's been several hours since the truth was revealed, and they still aren't letting me off easy.
"Jay, I know you're upset, but this is not the time to be taking it out on anyone, especially him." Wu tries to calm him. "He meant no harm."
"No harm? My friend just passed out on the floor!" Haru says. Ashley places a hand on his chest.
"Haru, no." She tries to reason with him.
"Why did you wait until now?" Cole asks me. "You've had plenty of opportunities, but you waited until the very last second when your son is missing and your daughter just found out that the Overlord is planning on doing something to her and Lloyd!"
"Cole's right." Zane confirms. "I believe this was not the best way to come out with such a secret, a secret that will affect her for the rest of her life."
For a moment, I don't respond. This whole thing has me in a roller coaster of emotions. "I know you're all mad, and you have every right to be. I kept a secret from you, one that will affect all of our lives forever. But, you have to understand the pain of loosing your only children to your worst enemy, only to find out they're alive several years later. You have no idea the impact something like that can have on a parent." I look to the floor. The room falls silent. I feel a hand being placed on my shoulder and I look up to see Splenda, staring longingly into my eyes.
"I understand." She says. "I've known Katie and Lloyd since they arrived here on the island. I helped to raise them, teach them to walk, read, write, everything you never got to do. Honestly, they're like children to me as well, all of my students are. But... to know that the twins have parents who didn't abandon them, puts me at ease."
I close my eyes and lower my head. "Every day... the thought of finding out who killed them kept me going." Misako's voice rings out. All eyes turn to her. "After their 'death', I didn't know what to do. I've never felt so... lost. But, thinking I can find out who 'killed' them gave me a purpose, a reason to keep going. Finding out they're alive though, I don't know what to think. And, how was I suppose to explain to her that I was her long lost mother who she probably thinks abandoned her?" The room stays silent. The students look at the floor in guilt.
"I'm sorry, Sensei." Jay says.
"Me too." Cole agrees.
"As am I." Zane says.
Haru rubs his arm. "Yeah, me too."
I nod my head in forgiveness. Wu and Splenda break the silence and order everyone onto the training deck for training. They all leave, leaving only my wife and I to reflect. "This isn't how I planned on properly meeting our daughter." Misako says. I nod my head.
I look up at her. "She has your hair, you know." Misako looks at me. "And the brown eye, if her eyes were to both be brown, she'd look exactly like you."
"She is very beautiful." She says. "Her one blue eye looks like Wu's."
I laugh. "Yeah."
"Lloyd looks a lot like you."
"Lloyd? Have you seen his hair? That has Wu written all over it." We both laugh.
"No, your faces, your smiles, his green eye. Of course, yours aren't emerald, but they're green nonetheless. He and Katie also have your fangs. Not to mention Katie inherited the purple scales in her dragonkin form and black fur on her tail." She looks at the floor. "They must have been so scared when their malting started."
I sigh. "I wish I could have been there for them, especially during the malt. Growing dragon wings and tails out of nowhere one day can be very scary. I'm just glad they learned to get use to it and even fly! All on their own!"
"Lloyd was a terrible flyer." A young female voice says from the doorway. We turn to see Katelyn standing at the door. She keeps her eyes from locking onto ours. "No matter what he did, he would always crash into a tree. I'm surprised he didn't seriously injure himself." She smiles at the memory. After a moment of silence, she finally looks up at us. "Can... can I come in?"
"Y-yes. Please, come." Misako says. Katelyn moves from her place at the door over to us. She locks eyes with us.
"When... I woke up... I thought it was a dream. But... I realized it wasn't." Misako and I look at each other. "Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice was to a whisper.
Tears form in my wife's eyes. "We wanted to, we wanted to so badly. But we didn't know how you'd take it. We didn't want you to think we abandoned you!"
"If you didn't abandon me, then what happened? How did I end up here? On the Dark Island?"
We ended up telling her everything. The attack, the outcome, and how it was the Overlord's doing. She now stands in front of us, staring at us with tears in her eyes. The tears are on the verge of flooding from her eyes.
"Y-you tried to same me?" She asks in a whisper. We nod. She covers her mouth with her hand. "All this time, I've wondered why my parents abandoned me, but this whole time you were trying to avenge me. Me and my brother..." tears form in my eyes as well as Misako's. I wrap my arm around Misako's waist and extend the other out to Katelyn. She starts to sob and she jumps into our arms and hugs us tightly, causing us to sob as well. "Mom, dad, I missed you." She chokes out. We drop to the floor, a sobbing mess, but happy nonetheless. For the first time in sixteen years, I'm overjoyed and my heart is so full it might explode. To be called dad... it's music to my ears. I never want this moment to end. But there's one more obstacle we have yet to get by...
How will Lloyd take the news?
————————-
Sorry if the past chapters have been a bit boring. It'll all be worth it though, because real exciting stuff is going to happen in the next few chapters! This story is very far from over, so keep an eye out for updates! Have a wonderful day!
-Fal
(Also fun fact of the day, almost every single chapter in this story has 3,000-4,000 words in it, sometimes even over that! That's why updates may take a bit longer to come out.)