Chapter Text
The long walk back started out great. There were very few people on the streets, allowing him to look around and try to map out rooftop routes without needing to hide beneath his hood. The sky lit up with twilight, and a soft breeze pleasantly ruffled through his hair. All in all, it was looking to be a pretty relaxing walk home.
…for all of 15 minutes. At some point his phone battery died and he was left to wander with whatever vague memory he had of his trip that afternoon, which itself wouldn’t help much unless he was trying to get back to Ninjago High. Most of the shops around were closed already, and the few still open likely weren’t willing to lend him a map of the city that he was supposedly helping to destroy.
And that was exactly how he found himself in the completely unpopulated industrial district at you-shouldn’t-be-out-in-the-dark o’clock at night. His mom had to be freaking out by now, and he hoped there were people out looking for him. Even if those people were just his mom and his uncle, that would give him some shred of comfort.
As he kept moving—now speed-walking at this point—he felt a strong sense of unease bubble and grow inside him, causing his heart rate to increase until it was pounding in his ears. Building after building disappeared behind him, until after one particular turn his body suddenly froze up and his breath left him.
In front of him was a rather nondescript factory building, seemingly abandoned by the looks of it. Nothing about it sparked anything in his memory, but here he was, terrified.
A singular thought echoed loudly in his mind: Get out of here, NOW!
He caught a glimpse of a shadow moving in his peripheral, and he forced himself to take a step back in the opposite direction. His limbs felt heavy as lead as he struggled to control his movements, but sluggishly he managed to turn himself around and take a few more steps before a somewhat familiar voice caused his muscles to lock up once again.
“Well, well. Look what wandered into the spider’s nest.”
He knew exactly who this was. The last few weeks of the dream timeline were so freshly etched in his mind, and the scars they left so permanently attached to his soul: how could he not know? His body involuntarily turned to face her, and his voice, soft and hoarse, squeaked through a suddenly-dry throat before he could stop himself.
“H-Harumi?”
The moonlight wasn’t strong enough for him to make out more than a vague silhouette, but from the long pause and shift in posture he could tell he’d said the wrong thing. Her voice bounced off the surrounding buildings, enmity dripping from her tone.
“Looks like someone did his research. Does daddy Garmadon know the identity of the Quiet One yet? Or did you come to collect my head first before the big reveal?”
He tried to defend himself, to assure her that he meant no harm and was just passing through, but nothing came through his lips. He couldn’t even force himself to raise his hands in a show of innocence. What once moved like tree sap had now hardened like amber, and with feet rooted to the spot, all he could do was stare as the girl lazily approached him.
“Nothing to say, spawn of evil?” She let out a cold, heartless laugh. “No matter. Fate has dropped you into my lap, and you will play your role.”
Her footfalls were even and calculated as she worked her way across the pavement. A quick hand motion from her summoned a mob from the shadows, each person wielding some sort of weapon. This finally broke the freeze response and allowed him to start moving again, but Harumi’s next announcement kicked his flight response into full gear.
“Sons of the Oni, I believe we have our ticket to the Realm Crystal.”
He took off sprinting as an order of “After him!” was barked. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew he had to get out of there somehow. Frantically looking around for a rooftop escape, he was horrified to find that he was effectively trapped in a high-walled maze. None of the buildings had any sort of handholds within 10 feet of the ground, and the roads were completely clear of climbable objects, their width preventing any wall jumping or parkour-ing upwards.
He ran for what felt like hours. Even after taking several tumbles and receiving a few cuts and bruises in return, the sound of angry shouting was never far behind him yet never upon him. He wondered if they were corralling him somewhere; the twists and turns all looked the same and he was certain he’d gone in several circles already, but he hadn’t run into anyone yet. At some point the roar of motorcycle engines joined the noise of the mob, and he pushed himself to run harder than he’d ever ran before.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere a flash of black sped by him then quickly swung around to stop in his path. A dark figure on an equally dark motorcycle hastily motioned for him to mount the bike. “Hurry, bean sprout! Get on!”
A near-crushing wave of grateful relief caught him unawares and he was jumping onto the seat before he realized what he was doing. As the bike peeled out, he wrapped his arms around the stranger’s midsection and clung on for dear life.
Only belatedly did he wonder if this was a trap.
As his rescuer weaved through the concrete maze and lost any intersecting pursuers with practiced ease, Lloyd began to question his decision. Why was he so quick to trust a fast getaway anyway? He’s a ninja, for crying out loud. He should know better than that. His relief—and therefore confusion—only grew when he noticed that they had finally made it out of the industrial district altogether.
Once they were finally on a straightaway, the driver slowed to match the speed limit and spoke up. “What were you even doing way out there, kid? You should’ve been home already.”
In the dim light of the street lamps now lining the road, he could see that instead of being completely black like he’d originally thought, there were accents of green along the driver’s full face helmet and motorcycle. The shoulder-length hair that kept blowing into his face was dark as well. He didn’t recognize the masculine voice though, so he chose to stay silent.
Seemingly accepting his lack of words, the mystery man continued. “I hope you know how long I’ve been out looking for you. When Koko decided to call me, I figured something was up, and I was right.” Several curses were thrown around before the man tapped Lloyd’s arm with his own. “If they did anything to you, I swear I’ll tear them apart.”
That got his attention. Name-dropping his mom and swearing vengeance for him implied a close relationship. A family friend, maybe? Despite the wind whipping around them, he managed to croak out a short “They didn’t hurt me” before the bike finally slowed to a stop in front of an apartment building. His apartment building, if he remembered correctly.
Dismounting was a bit of a process; his limbs had gone stiff from holding on so tightly and he had to let them relax so that he could first release the driver’s waist, and then slide out of the seat. His heart was still pounding from the adrenaline of the night and he was beginning to feel lightheaded.
He hobbled onto the sidewalk and tried to lightly stretch his stiff legs, but when the driver finally removed the helmet and he came face to face with the very familiar frown and green hair streak of Morro, the blond felt his knees buckle and everything went black.
- - - - -
Lloyd’s consciousness was a jumbled mess as he came to. He could tell that he was being carried bridal style, not restrained, and traveling upward, which brought many questions to mind. What was Morro doing here? Was he being taken to a second location? But the guy had just rescued him… The conflicting feelings of intense panic and intense security caused his stomach to churn queasily.
The ding of the elevator and the creak of the doors sliding open signaled an opportunity, which he took to roll from the man’s arms and stumble down the hallway.
“Lloyd?! Hey, what are you doing??”
The sound of running feet pounded through the hallway. If he could just get to his apartment, his mom would protect him! Right?
His stomach finally lurched and he fell to his hands and knees as what little he had leftover from lunch decorated the hardwood flooring. The footsteps behind him slowed as his pursuer let out a mumbled “ohhh,” but they did not stop until the man was right next to him. Stooping down, Morro let out a long sigh and placed his hand on the blond’s back, rubbing small circles into it. Lloyd tried to flinch away, but another twist hit and he was left coughing up stomach acid.
“Never a dull moment with you, is there?”
He wanted to both laugh and cry at that. Because honestly? That felt pretty true right about now. Instead, he pushed himself up, swatting away Morro’s attempts at help in the process, and propped himself against the wall as he shut his eyes and let his insides take their time unknotting themselves. The man stood and knocked on the nearest door—he had ended up this close to it?—and it near-instantly flew open.
“Morro?? Where is he? Did you-“ His mom’s words suddenly cut off and he looked up to see her looking at him. He couldn’t imagine how bad he must look after everything. Her shocked expression melted into sorrow as she gently pulled him into a hug. “Oh honey…”
He carefully returned the hug and did his best to hold back the tears that threatened to pour from his eyes. He didn’t want to let one of his greatest enemies see him in a moment of weakness (even though the little voice in the back of his mind kept trying to remind him that this wasn’t the Morro from the dream). “I’m okay, mom. Just a little shaken, that’s all.”
He purposely avoided the knowing frown Morro was giving him.
Koko pulled out of the hug first and held Lloyd out at arm’s length to look him over. Noticing the mess on the floor, she sighed and guided him into the apartment. “Go get cleaned up. We’ll take care of this.” As he made his way to the small bathroom, he heard his mom ask, “Morro, can you grab me the cleaning supplies from under the sink?”
So Morro visited often enough to know where things are stored. How well was he supposed to know the guy?
By the time he finished washing up and swishing his mouth clean, the two adults had finished their task and were just sitting down in the living area. Koko motioned for him to come sit next to her on the couch and he hesitantly obeyed, giving Morro’s recliner a wide berth.
“Lloyd, I don’t know if you have any memories of him, but this is your cousin Morro. When I couldn’t get ahold of you, I asked him for help.”
His heart dropped to his stomach as his eyes darted between the dark-haired man and his mother. “…c-cousin?”
Morro’s face warped in confusion, and Koko continued before Lloyd could say anything more. “Morro, as a result of Lloyd’s injury after the last Garmadon attack, his memory was affected…”
As she kept talking, Lloyd’s head began to spin. Morro was his cousin? Wu must’ve adopted him then, so maybe he was a better person here? But Morro wasn’t supposed to be good! …was he?
He abruptly stood, accidentally startling Koko in the process. “Sorry mom, but I-I’m still not feeling too good. I’m gonna head to bed now. G‘night!”
As he hurried through the kitchen and into his bedroom, he heard Morro get up from the leather chair. “I’ll go talk to him.”
Great.
Cursing the door for not having a lock, he climbed onto his bed and prepared the army of plushies that had been undisturbed by his cleaning spree earlier. The door opened sooner than he was expecting though, and he let out a little shriek before pitching a chubby dolphin at his unsuspecting cousin. “Go away!”
Morro took the stuffed animal to the face like a champ but continued his advance, arms raised in innocence. “Hey! I just want to talk, okay?” Lloyd pressed himself as far back against the wall as he could, heart rate increasing and hands armed with another plush. The dark-haired man evidently saw the terror on his face and stopped in his tracks, expression morphing into a frown of concern. “…Lloyd? What happened?”
The blond had to take a few minutes to steady his quickened breathing (this isn’t him This Isn’t Him CALM DOWN THIS ISN’T HIM), during which another creature flew through the air and thumped Morro on the chest. When his voice did finally come out, it was on the edge of breaking. “I do remember a Morro, okay? But he… wasn’t a great guy…” He watched his cousin’s face change to horrified understanding as he continued. “I-I think I can tell you’re not him, but I just… need some space right now…”
The silence in the room suddenly felt tangible as the man’s posture screamed a mixture of grief and silent rage. He slowly began working his way back to the door, telegraphing his movements as if not wanting to startle Lloyd further. His mouth opened several times but closed just as quickly as he couldn’t seem to find any words to say. Finally, as he backed through the door, the words came softly, almost inaudible. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
As Morro disappeared around the corner, Lloyd slowly clambered down from the bed and started to shut the still-open door when the voices started again.
“How is he?”
A few moments passed before Morro gave a reply. “I don’t think it was a dream.”
“…how so?” His mom’s voice had a worried timbre to it that he had heard oh-so-many times whenever she would dance around telling him about certain things from his life.
“He said…that the Morro he remembers wasn’t a great guy.” Some of that silent rage from his posture was now leaking into his voice as it increased slightly in volume. “He was terrified of me, Aunt Koko. Terrified! Backing himself into a corner, throwing his plushies at me, and now looking back at his dash from the elevator and the reaction outside. The way he looked at me, with an expectation that something bad coming; that kind of trauma response isn’t something you just pick up from a dream.” The man let out a sigh of frustration and Lloyd heard the leather chair squeak as weight dropped into it. “If there’s anything I’m certain of, it’s that Lloyd somehow actually lived in that other world. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Another pause elapsed, and Morro’s next words were so soft and muffled that he almost couldn’t hear them. “He lived in that other world and the me there did something to him…”
Whatever conversation happened afterwards was blocked out as Lloyd finally shut the door. He slid down against the wall and there, in the solitude of his room, the flood of emotions that he’d worked so hard to hold back finally broke free. The silent sobs wracked through his body, morbidly lulling him into a restless sleep filled with nightmares of ghosts and wind.