Chapter Text
Scratch his previous thought, his friends weren’t actually that familiar. Throughout Cole and Zane’s visit, he picked up that Zane was trying (and utterly failing) to conceal his robotic nature, and Cole was REALLY into music, so much so that Lloyd jokingly imagined his elemental power could be music or sound instead of earth.
Nya and Jay were the next ones to visit, and if the Jay he remembered was a pillar of confidence, this one was a nervous wreck. Nya seemed to be pretty much the same as she should be, but he got the sense that if there was anything between her and Jay, it was very one-sided on Jay’s part.
…which was extremely concerning since Jay had just proposed to Nya before they used the Tornado of Creation, and she said yes. When he voiced as much, he got an ear-splitting laugh from Nya as if that would ever happen, and a nervous giggle from Jay.
Surely the whole thing wasn’t just a dream, right? He knew there were adventures he’d had, things he was certain that he had seen and done with the other ninja, but nothing he was experiencing now matched what he thought he knew.
Time seemed to drag on endlessly. Jay and Nya eventually left him to finish their homework (that was still a strange concept; the ninja attending school), and he was left with nothing to do but lay there. He debated trying to go back to sleep, but his body wasn’t tired enough to be able to fall asleep.
He absentmindedly wondered if Wu was around somewhere, and how different from his memories he actually was. There was a wide variety of differences, from Cole and Jay being the most different to Nya being the least, but every single one of them was different in some way. Even Garmadon sounded like he was different, what with his apparent obsession over having an ocean creature theme for everything.
Lloyd decided that he didn’t like head injuries; it was too hard to think clearly about anything. He’d have to put in some extra agility training once he got all healed up.
Just when he thought he was going to go stir crazy, the door slammed open and an unfamiliar gasp bounced through the room. “Oh honey, I came as soon as I heard you were awake! Your friends told me about your concussion. How are you feeling? It’s all right, mom’s here now.”
Two arms enveloped him in a hug, and the familiar scent of vanilla and sandalwood that surrounded him brought to mind images of Misako. Was she different in reality also, or would she be the same as he remembered? He weakly brought his arms up and returned the hug, content to sit in the comfort of it while he could.
His mom released the hug after a few seconds and instead she grabbed Lloyd’s face, lightly turning it this way and that. “I am so sorry, honey. Everything must be so confusing and scary. What do you remember about me?“
Based on the reactions of his previous visitors when he shared about his memories, he wanted to be more tactful and thought for a moment what best to share or filter out. “Uhmm, your name is Misako, you and Garmadon got married and had me before he was banished, and you help Wu with research a lot?”
The hands holding his face began to tremble, and he was pulled into another hug. He heard her whisper “my sweet little boy” over and over, and the cloth at the back of his shoulder grew wet as she cried. This time when he returned the hug, his hand went to rest on her head and he had a chance to feel her hair. Instead of the braid he was expecting, there was a loose bun held in place by a pair of hair sticks. He felt her sobs strengthen, and he moved his hand down to rub circles into her back instead.
He wasn’t entirely sure how to feel. Judging by her reaction, she had expected different information to come out of his mouth, which meant yet another person that his memories conflicted with. What made it awkward was the fact that it was his own mother this time. Someone he should be closer to than the ninja, and now it was all wrong. He had disappointed her, and he didn’t even know how to make things right again.
Eventually the tears stopped falling, and his mother took several deep breaths to calm herself. “As soon as I heard that you were injured, I went straight to Garmadon and gave him a piece of my mind for daring to actually hurt his own son. Needless to say, he should stay away from the city for a while. That’ll give you time to at least be released from the hospital, and then I promise we will move out of Ninjago City.” She pulled out of the hug and held his face in her hands again. “We’ll go somewhere far away from your father and the rest of this two-faced city. You’ve been through so much with the constant bullying and now this; it’s the least I can do to make it up to you.”
Bullying? Toward the Green Ninja? There was a lot that he was missing, but he decided to wait until later to dig into that can of worms. He didn’t want to start another bout of crying.
The hands soon released his face, and the sound of a tissue being pulled out of a box came from his bedside. A couple nose blows and one hand washing later, his mother’s weight settled on the side of the bed.
A nagging thought hit him as he thought about his mother’s words. If they moved away from Ninjago City, he couldn’t be there as the Green Ninja when he was needed (which, by the sound of things, the ninja were needed pretty regularly). “Hey mom, let’s wait until after I’m better to talk about moving. I don’t think I’m ready to leave the city quite yet.”
A shuddering breath slowly left the woman. “You’re right. Nothing good comes from emotionally charged decisions.” She gently patted Lloyd’s leg. “When did my baby go and get so wise?”
Lloyd broke out into an awkward smile and he put a hand on top of his mom’s. “I’m sure I got it from you and Wu.” He made his eyes look down, desperately wishing he could force himself to see the hand that he knew was resting on his leg. “Do you think you could tell me some stories? Stuff that we did, places we’ve gone, things like that.”
Her hand rolled over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently. “I would love to.”
And tell she did. She told all kinds of stories, ranging from his childhood to vacation road trips to second-hand stories from babysitters (usually Wu). Many of the stories elicited some deep-seated emotion; sometimes fondness, sometimes embarrassment, sometimes smugness and pride.
Huh. Maybe Zane’s theory about the dream-slash-reality swap wasn’t so far off after all.
They sat there for what felt like hours, his mom telling story after story while he only spoke up to ask for clarification. He learned that his mom’s birth name was indeed Misako, but she always went by Koko instead. He learned that he was, in fact, not left at a boarding school when he was little and that he had always lived with his mom. He learned that Garmadon didn’t even really know that his son existed as more than a bald baby with no teeth, and yet his relation to the warlord was the cause of basically everyone in the city turning against him. (Thank goodness the hospital personnel were too professional to have been petty about treating him.)
Eventually Koko informed him that it was getting late and rose from the bed, promising him that she would return after work the next day. She pecked a kiss on his cheek, and then he followed the sound of her footsteps to the door and out of the room.
His head, which had been miraculously relaxed during the time his mom was there, began to throb once again, though at a lesser intensity than before. He slowly let himself back down onto his back and mentally reviewed the day. A lot of things were still fuzzy, but the conversations with everyone had helped to clear away some of the fog surrounding everything. He still didn’t remember any events before the injury, but as long as he was getting better, he’d take the day as a win.
As he closed his eyes and drifted off toward sleep, he casually wondered when Master Wu would come visit.
- - - - -
Lloyd awoke to the sensation of light and the sound of gentle snoring. The bandages around his head felt more snug, and he figured they must have been changed overnight.
Opening his eyes was a chore as sleep tried to hold them hostage, but once they were open he shut them again instantly. Everything was so bright!
He gave them a few more seconds closed then tried again. The brightness was a little more bearable this time, and he could see colors now. To his right was the greatest concentration of light, indicating the presence of a large window. The light from the window washed out any colors that were in front of him, but to his left he saw a mass of dark blue with a blob of white in the center.
If the dark blue was a chair, then maybe…
“Master Wu?”
The white figure jerked and groaned, not expecting the wake up call, and another unfamiliar voice spoke up (and wasn’t that sad, the number of unfamiliar voices he’d heard in the last day or so). “Lloyd, good morning! How are you feeling?”
The blond carefully sat himself up and shielded his eyes from the sunlight. “M’ alright, I guess. Everything’s blurry and way too bright, but it’s a huge improvement from yesterday.” He closed his eyes as the light began to make them ache, and he let out a little chuckle. “Or whatever day it was. It’s kinda hard to keep track of time when you’re blind and exhausted.”
After a few seconds, the distinctly accented voice of the sensei broke the stillness. “The other ninja mentioned you had some sort of dream. Would you tell me what you remember of it?”
“I can, but it’s kinda long. You sure you want to hear it?” After receiving no response, he shrugged and began his tale. “It started out at a boarding school called Darkley’s School for Bad Boys…”
Deciding to omit some of the more… sensitive things, he vaguely recounted several events that he remembered; the prophecy of the Green Ninja, the Tomorrow’s Tea incident, defeating the Overlord (twice), the invasion of the Cursed Realm, Wu’s disappearance and Garmadon’s reappearance, and finally the battle with the Oni.
“…and that’s the last thing I remember before waking up here.” His eyes had adjusted to the light by now, and guided by the colored masses he reached for what he hoped was a cup of water.
Wu was silent for several moments while Lloyd let the cool liquid soothe his throat. “Very interesting indeed. I have heard legends of the Oni before, but the other things… For you to have had vivid dreams of such things must be an omen. I will need time to look into this for myself.” The white shape rose and came closer to him, and Lloyd felt a hand rest on his head. “You really don’t remember anything that happened before you woke up?”
The green ninja shook his head. “No. It’s like everything before the dream doesn’t exist anymore. When I hear stories of things that have happened, I feel a sense of recognition and other emotions toward the events, but nothing ever brings up a memory. Like last night when mom was here! She told me a story of the time I came home from school with a participation ribbon, and I felt pride and smugness and anxiety connected to the moment, but no memory attached itself to it.”
The old man hummed before lightly ruffling Lloyd’s hair. “I will do everything I can to find out what these dreams mean. In the meantime, heal well nephew.” He removed his hand from the boy’s head and began moving to the door. With a mirthful tone, he added, “Although it seems you’ve already taken that initiative.”
Then the door closed with a soft click and Lloyd was left in silence once again.