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Lloyd shot straight up with a cry, as ice cold water hit his face, waking him up from his sleep.
“Pfft! Haha!! Wake up, Sleepy beauty!” A familiar blue haired boy exclaimed, an empty bucket in his hands.
“B-brad!?” He asked, in shock. It had been so long since he’d seen his friend, and he looked exactly the same as he remembered.
“The Principal wants to see you, and it’s way past breakfast.” An equally familiar high pitch voice said, pushing his glasses further up his face in amusement.
“G-gene?! What? What’s going on?” Lloyd stuttered, staring at them in confusion.
Brad merely shrugged, before giving him a strange look mixed with.. pity? And walked out the door.
Feeling extremely confused, he got out of bed, and quickly put on the too small uniform that fit perfectly. What the hell was going on? Wasn’t he just.. what was he doing? And where were his friends?
His friends…
They weren’t here to help him now.
He walked through the hallways, feeling very small and shunned, just as he had all those years ago. Had nothing changed? Wasn’t he the green ninja now? Or had the past eight years been a lie? A dream?
“Enter.” The cold voice of the headmaster that he hadn’t heard for such a long time called him in. As he sat down, the familiar words he had heard so long ago repeated themselves. “Lloyd Garmadon. You are expelled from Darkley’s School for Bad Boys.”
Lloyd shivered as he walked down the hill Darkley’s was on. Everything was the same as it had been eight years ago. Him being expelled because he wasn’t bad enough. He had somehow travelled back in time. But.. how? The last thing he had remembered was… Nya .
Nya dying
Kai and Jay screaming at each other
Cole snapping at both of them
Zane spending more time alone or with Pixel
Then.. they left
They all left him.
Again.
Zane’s death.
Uncle Wu being lost in the time stream
Nya.
His big sister, in all but blood.
Who had always been there for him, no matter what.
He had a second chance now. A second chance to save everyone. His father. Harumi. Nya. Morro. His family.
First thing he had to do, was figure out how. It was probably the result of watching too many movies with Jay, but he couldn’t make drastic changes and alter the timeline too much. And that unfortunately meant that he, once again would have to release all the serpentine. Including Pythor. Because without him, the ninjas would have never unlocked their true potential, and yada yada yada. Even if it made him sick, he was going to have to invade Jamankai village. Again.
“IT IS I!! LLOYD GARMADON!” Lloyd shouted, ignoring the bile in his mouth, and the second hand embarrassment of his terrible acting. To be honest, he had completely forgotten how he was as a villain. “I DEMAND ALL THE CANDY IN TOWN!!”
Curse the ninjas. As soon as he was back in his own time, he was going to dye Zane’s suit hot pink again, and throw out all of Kai’s hair gel or replace it with neon green hair dye, steal all of Jay’s comics and starfarer stuff, and sabotage Cole’s cooking for a year. He had forgotten how humiliating being hung on a pole with many people pelting vegetables at you, with his friends laughing, and saying something stupid, like, “CriMe dOeSn’T pAY muChaCo.”
“YOU JUST MADE ME YOUR NEMESIS!!”
The rest of the time passed by rather quickly. He released the Hypnobre, and set them on Jamankai, then the ninja defeated him and destroyed his treehouse, another thing to add to his revenge list when he got back, released the Fangpyre to get revenge on the ninja and Hypnobre, both tribes betraying him, releasing Pythor, and gets betrayed by him too, then being caught by Uncle Wu, then being kidnapped by Pythor, and reliving all his past trama, getting thrown into a volcano, again, and.. finding out he’s the green ninja. That pretty much sums it up.
But that wasn’t important. Now, was the tipping point of his plan. The thing to change everything.
“Y-you’re.. leaving?” Lloyd asked, watching his father pack up his things. It had been so long since he’d seen…. No. The father he’d known was the one cured of the venom.
“Now that you are safe, and the ninjas have the fang blades, there is nothing else I am needed for.” His dad said, picking up a purple chest with one of his four arms.
“I-I need you.” He told him, voice breaking slightly with desperation. When his father turned away from him, he sighed. “I know you have to go, but.. please? Can’t you just stay.. for one more day? I know I’ll have to fight you.. but just for today.. and tomorrow.. could we spend the day together? Not as Lord Garmadon and the Green Ninja, but as father and son? Please… dad?”
His father looked pained for a moment, before his face broke out in a fond smile, and agreed.
“OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THEN THEY APPEAR!!” Came Jay’s frantic cry, as Lloyd rushed around, willing the old bounty to be faster. With his father helping, the bounty moved faster than before, but not fast enough. “Throw everything overboard!!”
“NO!” He shouted, making everyone stare at him for a second. “The more it eats, the bigger it becomes.-“ Ignoring Cole’s question of, “How do you know that?”, he continued, “-We have to stop it from reaching Ninjago City! Give my dad the golden weapons. It’s the only thing that’ll defeat it!-“ once again, ignoring the ninja’s cries of, “Are you crazy?!” “We’re supposed to protect them from him!?” “-I know it sounds crazy, but it’s our only option. If we don’t do this, innocent people, good people, will die!”
The bounty was silent for a moment, before Jay’s meek voice piped up: “My parents.. are at the city..”
“I guess we’re doing this then. Guess our little ninja’s growing up.” His big brother smiled fondly, he hasn’t smiled since Nya- patting him on the head, before glaring suspiciously at Garmadon, and handing him his sword.
“Do you happen to have a plan, too squirt?” Jay asked him, as the Devourer snapped again, the bounty narrowly avoided being eaten. Ignoring the name for now, Lloyd smirked. This was going to be fun.
“ You are the reason why evil runs through my blood. You bit me once. Now, feel how it’s like to be bitten back!”
It worked! It actually worked! The twenty eight people that died because of their carelessness were saved. Their previous plan worked perfectly, despite the city and buildings being replaced by sand dunes. Their ship was still destroyed, and his father still left, but it didn’t matter anyways. Tears ran down his face as he hugged his uncle tighter. He did it. He saved them.
If the ninja noticed his strange behaviour, his happiness despite their homelessness, the way he quickly learnt everything they’ve taught him and more, they didn’t say anything.
The Overlord was defeated. His father.. oh, it had been so long since he’d seen him. And the first thing he did, as the Golden ninja, was to pay a visit to Cyrus Borg and asked him to turn the place of the Overlord’s grave into a park. Or a garden. No way was he- oh no. Oh no. Pixel. Hell no. Argh never mind. Guess Zane will have to die all over again. And this time, it’ll all be his fault.
They left him. Again.
This time, when he got the invitation, he was nicer, more welcoming. Less cautious. But he still paid the price. His father still died. And he couldn’t stop it. He had a second chance. And he failed. Again. Some Green ninja he was. Some son.
Morro. Nightmares of Morro had plagued him for many months. Only after he met Harumi, were his nightmares gone. And replaced with ones of her. He knew how to defeat a ghost now. He could’ve just brought water to the museum with him. But… Uncle Wu thought of him like a son. And after hearing his story, his was rather sure that Morro could change. Perhaps. He was just another lost soul. He helped during the day of the departed too. But if.. Morro had known what was going to happen, he might have made everything worse.
So he took a leap of faith, and chose to let Morro possess him once more. Once again trapped in the same body as the Master of Wind.
“Please, you don’t have to do this!”
“SHUT UP! You don’t know anything!!”
“Master Wu-“
“WU ABANDONED ME! HE LEFT ME!! AND HE SHOULD’VE DONE THE SAME TO YOU-“
“He loves you. He always had, and he always had will. He thought of you as a son. Left the gates open when you went where he could not follow.”
“…”
“The Preeminent tried to kill you! You saw my memories! You know she tried to drown you with her! She bought your loyalty with a green gi. Master Wu loves you no matter what.”
“I know who you are Morro. You can change.”
“YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!! YOU WERE GIVEN EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY WANT!!”
“I know.”
“And I treated you like trash! You suffered so much because of me! You think you’re so much better than me?”
“I don’t. If I could, I would give you the gi. My powers, everything. But what is power, when you have no happiness?”
“I-I just wanted his approval… I thought.. he wouldn’t love me if I wasn’t…”
“He loved you even when he didn’t know.”
“I-I’m.. so sorry..”
He managed to stop Morro before he released the Preeminent. Stix wasn’t destroyed. Nya still unlocked her full potential by washing all of the ghosts away from the village. Morro joined them, and was the only one who knew about his secret. In a way, he was like his emo cousin.
Nadakan. The Gen that traumatised Nya and Jay so much, but brought them together, closer than ever. He lived through it before. He was supposed to protect them… he failed. Nadakan killed Nya. He tried so hard to save her but… it wasn’t enough. Jay knew. He saved her. Lloyd remembers. He remembered how everything happened before. Jay changed the timeline. He saved her. Not him. He was too weak. Some green ninja .
Kai and Nya got their parents back. That adventure he didn’t change. It was fine. Ignoring the harsh whispers of “Master Lloyd?” “Pfft some master-in-training” “You’ll never be like Master Wu”
“Oh, hello! My name’s Harumi, I’m a big fan of yours!” When he met a white haired girl, who looked much happier than the last time he’d seen her, he ran.
“I- love you.”
“Ah, the damsel in distress. You ninja are from another time.”
“I never loved you.”
“Hurts, doesn’t it?”
“There was nothing between us.”
His father was safe in the cursed realm. His mother came back, several days ago, with a little Wu. It was important that his brothers went to the first realm, and the first thing he did, was lock them in a room with traveler’s tea. Mistake knew.
It helped to make tea with her sometimes. It took away some of the hurt.
Lloyd warned Clutch not to enter the tomb. He told him of a snake sorceress who was imprisoned there. He didn’t listen. So Lloyd had to resort to more.. violent measures. He collapsed the entrance of the tomb. Used his power to bury it in sand. Wrote a warning to prevent further mishaps.
Zane never touched the staff.
He went in Prime Empire again. Got cubed after fighting his father. He was getting close.
Cole unlocked his Spinjitzu Burst. Found closure in his mother’s element. The creatures that dwelled below the mine were safe from the skull sorcerer.
First chance he got, he paid a man who had a gift for crafting, and crafted an identical amulet, just like the one Clutch used to fool them. Swiped the real one from Clutch when he stole it, and gave it to Vania.
“Please. Don’t tell anyone. Not even the ninja.”
“Why?”
“Trust me.”
She agreed. Gave him a look when Cole came in with another one, and he told her to destroy it. No use in keeping a fake.
Wojira was never awakened. Nya.. Nya was safe.
He did it.
He saved them all.
Time travel.. had consequences. And it came in the form of death.
“How? You were perfectly healthy today!” Kai exclaimed, his voice breaking slightly as he stared at his little brother, who looked so small in the hospital sheets.
“You can cure him, right? Right?” Cole asked desperately.
The doctor shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, but his illness… it’s almost as if it was-“
“Magic.” Morro said, interrupting him, looking sick.
“Exactly.”
When the doctor left, the ninja immediately crowded around Morro.
“What do you mean magic ?!” Kai asked, angrily.
“Do you know what’s happening to him, Morro?” Nya demanded, worried.
Morro shot Lloyd a look, but he shook his head.
“To hell with it! Lloyd here time travelled, and because he did, and he saved all those people, this is the result!”
“…”
“Lloyd..?”
I’m sorry.
But I don’t regret it. Everyone is safe. All my loved ones are alive.