Legends of Ninjago: Book 3: The Four Fangs: Chapter 29 — The Long Night

“What does it mean?” Cole asked as everyone watched Wu pace back and forth.

“It means we’re probably all going to die.”

“Monty,” Wu grumbled under his breath.

“What’s the point of sugar-coating it? The girl had a vision of the Great Devourer being awoken—how much more definitive proof do you want?” the old warlord countered, crossing his arms. All four of them.

After Ann had had her little episode, Keaton went straight to Sensei Wu, who came to see her in her room. Zane was up on the deck, steering for the time being, meanwhile everyone else, minus Lloyd, had gathered in the Captain’s quarters, and they were all waiting impatiently as Wu tried to process the new information which Ann had brought forward.

“These kinds of visions are not always set in stone, you know that,” said Wu defensively. Garmadon rolled his eyes.

“Sensei?” Ann asked, feeling uneasy as she stood, gripping the hem of her shozoku.

At last, their leader stopped his pacing and turned to look at them all properly. “You had mentioned once before… about visions of the future… am I right?”

She nodded.

“I suspected at the time… but you’ve been seeing glimpses, haven’t you?”

The room’s attention was wholly on Ann now as her eyes widened. “Yes. I wasn’t sure if… I should tell anyone… or if I was just going crazy.”

“There’s no need to be alarmed, young Ann. Actually, it is a very common skill within your family.”

“More like an annoying skill,” Garmadon muttered.

Wu looked like he was holding back a snarky comment of his own.

“Sensei?” Ann pressed. “What do you mean ‘a skill within my family?’”

“Your mother and grandmother also possessed this ability.”

“So, what, they could all see into the future?” Kai asked, arms folded. “Like, at any time?”

“No, it was not quite so simple.” Wu paced a little bit more, then stopped again at the window. “Since the beginning, the water elementals and their kin have been deeply connected to the flow of time, if you’ll pardon the pun. As I recall, your grandmother would periodically have fainting episodes, just before a great battle, and when she woke, she would have news for us.” He paused, thinking again to himself. Ann wished he’d just get on with the rest of his story already. “However, as we quickly learned, the things which Maya would see did not always come to pass. They were but shadows of the things that might be.”

Ann nodded, feeling at least a little better. But, that being said, did all of this mean that the final battle was quickly approaching? That Anguis very well might be released soon? She felt her fists tighten at the thought.

“Let us be grateful that it was not Zane who had this vision. As a close relative of the water elementals, the masters of ice can also see into the future, however their seeings are usually more… absolute,” Wu finished. “If a bit cryptic.”

“I think the word you’re searching for is ‘nonsensical.’”

“Are you going to keep interrupting all night?” Wu finally said to his brother. Garmadon just shrugged.

Ann stared down at her feet for a moment, breathing in. So, would the rest of her life be like this? Would she continued to have these visions? She wasn’t sure that she liked the idea of it. Fainting before every major battle? Sounded like a liability, and a potential waste of time. What had her vision tonight shown her? The potential end of the world and nothing more. Why couldn’t her “special skill” have been something more practical? Why did her ancestors have to be so… wishy-washy?

“So how come the water masters get a cool extra superpower and the rest of don’t?” Jay suddenly asked. “Seems a bit unfair.”

“But the rest of you do have hidden gifts,” said Wu. “Every family does. I’m sure that Cole, for instance, has begun to notice an increase in strength. A trait passed down from your mother before you, and her father before her.”

“What?”

Wu stopped to look at him. Cole had sounded so alarmed.

“You… did you know my mom?” He asked.

Understanding swept the room as Wu gently said, “I did, yes. For a time. However, I was more aquatinted with your grandfather.”

Cole could feel his eyes growing wider. He’d never known anything about his mother’s parents, not their names or where they lived or anything. He had so many questions…

“He was a real pain in the oshirii—“

“Garmadon—please!” Wu snapped.

“He was a hard case with a head full of sand and holier-than-thou sentiments—everyone knew it. Brutal on the battle field, though.”

“You both knew him?” Cole went on, hardly believing his ears. “You—you fought together?”

Wu sighed. “It was a long time ago now… but yes. His name was Master Takeo, and as my brother so bluntly pointed out, he was considered by many to be… a little on the rough side.”

While Cole tried to burn that name permanently into his memory, Kai took the opportunity to speak. “And you knew my grandfather too?” He still remembered that first night at the monastery when Wu had talked about him and the mental map he had passed down.

“Yes, him too, as well as your…” Wu suddenly stopped, his eyes locked on the ninja.

“My what? My grandmother?” Kai pressed, not sure why he had stopped short. Was it something bad?

“Oh my…” Wu muttered to himself.

Garmadon (who was reclining in Ann’s hammock) gave his brother a quizzical look, before he broke out into a hearty laugh. “Ha ha ha! What, did you forget to tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Nya asked, rubbing her nose with a tissue. She was sitting in a corner of the room, near Ann, where she’d be less likely to spread germs.

“What is it?” Said Kai. It better not be something super important that they all should have learned months ago.

“It’s nothing,” said Wu quickly. “Nothing you need concern yourselves with at the moment—”

“Then why bring it up?” Said Kai, frowning.

“Yeah, why bring it up, Wu?” Garmadon joined in.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” Wu started with a sigh, almost sounding embarrassed. “It’s been such an eventful year—there was just never an opportune time… and then, of course, I’ve been so busy with everything…”

“Sensei?” Said Ann. She was feeling just about as uneasy as Kai and Nya were. There were very few things that she didn’t already know, and lately, it seemed like what secrets Wu kept were usually kept secret for a reason.

“I was planning to tell you—“

“Spit it out already!” Garmadon blurted. “Before I do it for you.”

With a glance back at his brother, Wu steadied himself. “Kai… Nya… Ann-Jing… Keaton… you are cousins.”

Immediately, the first thing that Ann and Kai did was give each other the same alarmed look.

“You’re joking,” said Kai. “Tell me you’re joking.”

“A joke is all it could be. I can’t—we can’t—I mean look at him!” Ann cried, gesturing toward the fire ninja.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Kai fired back.

“I promise you, it’s the honest truth,” said Wu, trying to redirect their attention. “Ann-Jing, Keaton, your grandmother, Master Maya, was married to Kai and Nya’s grandfather, Master Rei. Making you all first cousins.”

“For real?” Keaton squeaked.

“Yes. ‘For real.’” Said Wu with a small smile.

Immediately, Keaton rushed Nya and gave her a big hug. “We’re cousins! So that’s why we were instant best friends!”

As Ann turned to look at Nya, she suddenly realised that maybe this was the reason why—in contrast to her sister—she’d never liked Nya very much. It was all making sense. Terrible, horrible sense. Her attitude, certain little things she said, the way she talked, or the way she frowned at her—it all reminded Ann of her mother.

“No—no—no!” She suddenly said at the same time as Kai was saying,

“Absolutely not—we don’t even look related!”

Wu raised his eyebrows. “No? Similar complexion, face shapes… tempers?”

“We’re nothing alike!”

“How can you say that?!”

Ann was practically stuttering now, looking between Nya and Kai and not being able to settle on what exactly she was supposed to be feeling right now. “I—ju—no! I mean—how could you wait until now to mention this?!”’

Wu looked apologetic. “It’s been a very busy year. And to be perfectly honest with you, sometimes this old mind of mine forgets what you young people do and do not know.”

“So, like… our dad…” Nya started.

“And our mom…” Keaton continued.

“Were siblings?!” They shouted together.

“I can’t believe this is happening…” Ann muttered, rubbing her eyes. Grimacing some more, she turned to look at Kai again. He grimaced back. They both couldn’t stand looking at one another for more than a second. The thought that they were that closely related just… it just felt wrong.

“We should totally make matching cousin bracelets!” Keaton was saying now as she and Nya hugged again.

“No,” said Ann and Kai together.

In the background, Jay leaned over to Cole and whispered, “Yeah, remind again how the two of them aren’t related?”

At once, Kai and Ann spun around, their death glares locked onto Jay and making him chuckle nervously. “I mean—you totally don’t have anything in common. At all.”

Out of nowhere, Keaton leapt upon Kai with another of her signature hugs and he almost went into fight or flight mode, prepared to deck her in the face or something. Luckily, he stopped himself before fists started flying.

“Heehee! Welcome to the family!” She smiled, her beaming face nestling into his chest. Kai felt his shoulders rise a bit in embarrassment as he just stood there, not knowing what to do with the little ninja. Ann didn’t know what to do, either, standing there watching Keaton hug him like that.

“So… that’s two elemental masters we’re related to,” said Nya awkwardly as she came to stand beside Ann. “That’s… pretty cool.” Not that she was already feeling a little salty that Kai had powers and she didn’t. Now the rest of her entire family had powers and she was the only one unlucky enough to take after her normal mother? Nope. Not salty about it at all. But that wasn’t something she was about to broadcast to the whole room or anything.

“What about me? Am I related to anybody?” Jay piped up curiously.

“No. Not to my knowledge,” said Wu.

“Just more loud-mouths like yourself.”

“Garmadon…”

“Ohohoh! What’s their family’s special power?” Keaton suddenly asked, to which Wu replied with a sigh.

“Children, perhaps we can resume this conversation in the morning?” He was starting to look a little tired, and it was getting late.

“What?” Keaton wailed, only for Ann to come up alongside her and take her firmly by the elbow.

“We will be mindful of our Sensei’s time and energy, won’t we? Besides, we all need our rest too.”

“Sensei…” Cole had been the one to speak. He was looking very serious, and now, so was everyone else. “If it’s alright? I’d like to ask one more question.”

With a gentle smile, Wu said, “Very well.”

“Why is it that you know so much about us… but we know so little about our own families… and about you?”

Seven pairs of eyes stopped and stared at him. That was a good point.

“Oh, brother. You’re so dramatic,” Garmadon sighed. “Keeping secrets as though your in some sort of bad tv drama.”

Wu turned somber and didn’t dignify his brother with a response. The rest of the room, however, kept on waiting for an answer to Cole’s question.

It seemed to take far too long for Wu to speak. As though he was measuring his words as carefully as humanly possible. But why? What was there to be measured about? Why not just speak plainly? Was there something else going on here? Something more at play?

Finally, Wu spoke.

“It was as I said. I knew your grandparents long ago, during the Serpentine Wars. They started families. We lost contact. It’s as simple as that.”

Cole didn’t smile and instead kept his expression neutral, jaw tight and eyes downcast. So… maybe there wasn’t anything else going on? Maybe it was all perfectly mundane… maybe Cole’s imagination was acting up. Maybe it was nothing.

Wu cleared his throat and continued, “Ann-Jing’s vision is alarming—it means that the hour of crisis is close at hand—but I have faith that we shall prevail. We have overcome great odds before. We need only reach Serpent’s Bay and keep the final Fang Blade out of the Serpentine’s reach. Now, I want you all to rest up. We have a busy day tomorrow. Come along.”

“We’re seriously just gonna end on that bombshell?” Kai was muttering as Wu started shooing the boys and Garmadon out, leaving Ann, Keaton, and Nya alone.

The girls stood there, watching the closed door for a few seconds, just thinking.

“…Does this mean we have to start being nice to each other?” Nya quietly asked.

Ann opened her mouth, prepared to say something snarky, when Keaton cut her off. “You were supposed to be nice to each other this whole time. Now you just have no excuse.” She added a little smile at the end, being blatantly smug about it all. At least someone was happy about this arrangement.

Ann leaned back and sighed. “Point taken… I guess.” She and Nya looked at each other with the same, lopsided frown. “You must take after the fire side of the family,” she noted.

“What makes you say that?” Said Nya, lifting an eyebrow.

“Your eyes. Mine are deep blue, like my mother’s. Our dad had green eyes. Like Keaton’s.”

“Well, they’re not totally brown,” Keaton interrupted, shoving her face into Nya’s. “They’re kinda… hazel-y. See? There’s a ring of blue around the edges.”

“Oh yeah.”

“You think so?” Nya asked, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “‘Cause I think both my parents’ eyes were brown.” Had she inherited some genes from the water side of the family? That would be cool.

Ann just shrugged.

“Hey—wait a minute,” Keaton blurted, looking back and forth between them. “How come you don’t have any powers? With all that elemental blood in your veins, you should be shooting fireballs out there with Kai or something. Right?”

Nya deflated and let her eyes wander to the floor. “Yeah. Been wondering that myself.” She took a few heavy steps over to her hammock and then plopped down into it, letting it sway as her legs dangled over the side.

“Wasn’t your mom an elemental master?” Keaton continued as she slid into her hammock.

“I have no idea. Can’t exactly ask, can I? …But… I don’t think so.”

“That is odd,” Ann agreed thoughtfully as she rearranged the pillows and blankets that Garmadon had smushed in her hammock. “Are you sure you’ve never had a connection to fire? Even a little?”

Nya felt the urge to grumble. She’d had this conversation plenty of times with herself. She really didn’t want to have it with Ann. And yet… “No. I’ve tried, but… it just isn’t there.” Then, after a pause when Nya pulled her blankets closer to her shoulders, she asked quietly, “Do you think there’s something wrong with me?”

“Of course not!” Keaton cried at once. “You’re just… a late bloomer?”

She was trying to be kind, but right then, it just felt to Nya like she was lying to cheer her up. “Thanks, Keat,” she said, “but it’s fine. I’ll learn to live with it.”

She adjusted herself in her hammock and they listened to the waves rustling under the ship for a bit. It was so dark outside now. No moonlight, just fog.

“So what’s your dad like?” Keaton asked after a while.

Nya thought about it. “His name’s Lee, and he’s…” she smiled, “he’s kind of a funny guy. He likes to eat flaming hot peppers and… well, he’s a blacksmith, so he always used to be in his smithy working on something. The art of sword making was a passion of his, one that he taught me and Kai about when we were little. What about you? What was your mom like?”

“Oh, well, I don’t remember,” said Keaton. “We ran away before I really knew her.”

“Ran away?” Nya repeated, sitting up a little. “You ran away from home?”

“What of it?” Ann asked, folding her arms and staring up the ceiling.

“Nothing, just… were you okay at home? I mean… what made you want to leave?”

Ann closed her tired eyes and tried not to dig up too many old memories. But the only one that seemed to come to mind was… that image of her and her mother sitting in front of the piano… singing and playing together…

But she knew that wasn’t right. She—she knew that her home life had been bad enough that she had wanted to run away. How else could they have wound up on Wu’s doorstep? That—that—that was how the story went. She’d been thinking about it for years. She knew it like the back of her hand. So why, all of a sudden, did those bad memories seem so vague and distant compared to this image of a little girl sitting at the piano?

“Our mother’s name was Sara… she liked to sing,” Ann eventually said before rolling over, her back to the other girls.

“She did?” Keaton asked. “You never told me that.”

“…Guess I forgot.”

*

The last we saw of the Serpentine, they were scrambling to escape the smouldering, burning, boiling bowels of the erupting volcano where the third Fang Blade had been hidden away. The ninja had come along and ruined everything for them! Namely that scumbag Garmadon and the idiotic fire boy who’s name escaped Pythor at the moment. He had been the one disrupt the volcano and send it into chaos by waving that Golden Weapon around so recklessly. Then, if that wasn’t enough, he’d tried to burn Pythor alive when he’d gone to grab the Blade. The cheek! The sheer audacity of it! Then, of course, Lloyd had been lost, but he wasn’t exactly about to weep over the boy. He’d served his purpose.

Anyway, it was the Fang Blade he’d truly been worried for. The Serpentine had all gathered together on the side of the mountain as lava and rock blasted down from overhead, watching in horror as their only chance to enact revenge upon Ninjago was slowly melted down in the depths of the Earth. Scales in particular had been… quite furious. He’d yelled until his forked tongue was numb with insults, all aimed at Pythor for having led them to another dead end. The other chiefs had begun to side with the angry, teal snake when something caught Pythor’s eye.

As he watched the lava flow down the mountain, the heat burning his eyeballs, he thought he could just see something glinting in the red-orange light. It wasn’t a spark, it was more like a rock. But it wasn’t a rock either, it was too bright. So then what? While Scales and the others started to leave, he moved forward, curious.

He had to wait until the flow of magma had pushed this object closer to him, but it didn’t take long before its silver, pointed shape became clear to him. Anguis was smiling down on him, surely. It was her will that she be summoned, and no one—no filthy ninja—was going to stop her!

It took very little effort to convince the other chiefs of this. They were, by and large, very small-minded snakes. Scales was the only one who was reluctant to take back his words from before, but that wasn’t surprising. If Pythor wanted to keep him loyal, there was only thing would satisfy that power-hungry snake: nothing short of bribery.

It took some time trying to figure out how to procure the burning hot blade from the lava flow, and more than a few hands were lost in the process, but Pythor didn’t particularly care. As soon as it was cool enough for him, he started waving it around for all the other Serpentine (and more importantly, the other chiefs) to see. For this was a clear sign that Anguis was with them, this was their destiny. They need only put their faith into Pythor’s hands for a while longer, and all of them did… save for Scales. He remained sceptical. That was when Pythor took him aside.

“Whatever you’re going to s-s-say, keep it to yours-s-self,” said Scales darkly.

“Revenge.”

Scales glared at him, but nothing more.

“Eternal glory? Your own lengthy swath of territory in the new world?” Pythor went on. “We now have three of the four fang blades in our possession. We need only one more—just one—and we shall prevail.”

“Get on with it,” Scales snarled.

“I need someone I can trust to retrieve it. Someone strong enough to fend off the ninja, should they arrive and attempt to intervene.”

“And while I’m out ris-s-sking my neck?”

Pythor made an innocent face. “I will be taking a squadron to secure the tomb. And protect the other three Fang Blades. We shall be awaiting your triumphant return.”

Scales still seemed unconvinced.

“You’ll be a hero,” Pythor whispered. “You’ll have the opportunity to snuff out that fire ninja once and for all. Isn’t that what you want?”

Scales stared him dead in the eye. “What I want… is-s-s for us-s-s to be clear. You do not command me. We are equals-s-s. Thes-s-se s-s-snakes-s-s form a council. We are not s-s-subs-s-servient to you.”

“Naturally,” Pythor smiled. “I would expect nothing less.”

“Of cours-s-se.”

After a brief moment, Scales turned away, relenting. “Very well. I will go. Tell my s-s-snakes to be ready to dis-s-embark within the hour.”

“As you wish,” Pythor replied.

Well, that had gone as smoothly as could be expected. Whether Scales was upset or compliment, though, it didn’t really matter. So long as Pythor could open that tomb, then the other Serpentine would become… obsolete.

In the meantime, preparations would need to be made for the coming battle, and there would be a battle. He had a certain knack for predicting these things. He also had a knack for preparing for them well in advance. If those ninja did show themselves, then he would be ready with a few special surprises. He’d been watching them, studying them, learning certain personal things about them. Weaknesses.

The Earth Ninja had fallen pray to Scales’ mind control, so there was no one more qualified to manipulate him. The Fire Ninja had a short fuse, so all it would take was a few well-timed prods and he would become his own worst enemy. The Lighting Ninja was the weakest, and had a soft spot for the spare female—child’s play. Speaking of children, the runt of the litter, the Wind Ninja. She was young, but she and her sister were far more confident and refined in their fighting. They’d clearly been training the longest. But bringing a cherished family member onto the battlefield was always a risky move, and it would one he could easily exploit. That just left the Ice Ninja. This was his favourite, because he felt fairly certain he had an ace in the hole here. You see, when the Serpentine had sacked that bunker in Fanghorn Forest, they had found a million meaningless things, and one impossibly perfect piece of paper with some… rather interesting information on it. Information he had a hunch that the boy didn’t know, and even if he did, Pythor had a plan B. He always did.

The only potential fly in the ointment was Lloyd. He knew just enough to potentially be dangerous, but Pythor seriously doubted that the child would tell his father or the ninja anything. His plan was foolproof.

*

Lloyd’s eyes felt heavy and sore. His head felt tight. He wanted nothing more than to sleep… to rest… but his body had been set against him at birth.

The ninja and his father came in from whatever “emergency” they had gone down the hall to address, and now they were all getting ready for bed. A short while later, Zane also came in. His uncle must be up on the deck, steering the ship.

I don’t suppose you’ve ever known what it feels like to have your body split in two? As though you’re a Frankenstein—a miss-match of two people stuck together? Well, that’s how Lloyd felt most of the time. His left side, the side with his father’s powers, always felt dark and sickly and angry and like a thousand tiny needles were being jabbed into his fingertips. His right side, the side with Wu’s powers, always felt warm and light and like… like someone was trying to give him a hug. But these feelings didn’t exist independently. The majority of the time, it was impossible to focus on just one because they were too busy getting all mixed up in the middle, and causing a raging storm inside of him.

The Fangpyre venom had exaggerated it—made it worse—but truth be told, this was how he normally existed; at war with himself. He had discovered that if he favoured one side or the other, the pain lessened, and so he took to using his dark power as often as he could, but that did have the unfortunate side effect of making the use of his light power excruciating. The same would happen if he favoured the light instead. These two parts of himself hated the other. Despised each other. Wished the other were dead. He wanted so bad some nights to rip off his own skin and climb out of his own body just to get away, if that were even possible. However, as he laid in his hammock and watched the last lantern get blown out, he was glad that at least he wasn’t in quite the same amount of pain as he had been during his time with the Serpentine.

The ship creaked…

Waves rustled outside…

The other boys tossed and turned in their hammocks…

Someone started to snore…

Little by little, Lloyd’s heavy eyes fell closed…

His breathing slowed…

He might have begun to dream…

…and then the pain flared up a bit.

Lloyd was awake again, having grunted in his sleep, and he felt too restless to relax again. His leg was bouncing and his eyes were open and the swirling storm clouds were back in his chest. He almost started clawing at his skin.

Lloyd looked over at the hammock next to him and saw his father, fast asleep. He hated being this close to him. It felt unnatural. Like, at any time, something bad was going to happen. Maybe that was part of why he couldn’t sleep.

It was probably a bad idea… but Lloyd didn’t really care. He shakily rolled over and let himself down from his hammock (a bit clumsily, I might add). It was freezing tonight, so he took the blanket with him, wrapped snugly around his shoulders, and walked out of the room.

His breathing felt heavy, and it was no wonder. His body was still thoroughly exhausted from everything it had been put through these past months. Walking felt like a chore, and keeping balance on the rocking ship was agony. In the end, he only made it as far as the stairway to the top deck, where he fell down and sat, glaring at the wall. Perhaps this was good enough for tonight. At the very least, he was farther away from Garmadon.

The pain kept coming and going, just existing in his body, being annoying. His feet were getting cold now, too. But, for some reason, being in a different location helped him relax. He might be able to nod off here, leaning his head against the wall.

Then, he heard a door open. Someone was awake and slowly coming his way.

They stopped…

…then kept coming.

“What are you doing?” Asked Kai as he came into the moonlight, spilling down from the top of the stairwell.

Lloyd didn’t want to answer. He just kept staring ahead, as though he hadn’t heard.

Kai then started to bend over. “Lloyd?” He asked, waving a hand. Perhaps he thought Lloyd was sleepwalking. Or dead. Whatever.

Then Kai made to pick him up and Lloyd snapped at him, “Don’t touch me!”

He took a few steps back in surprise. “What’re you doing out here?”

Lloyd just sighed. He was too tired for this.

“Hey?” Kai was bending over again.

“Just tired.”

“Tired? Soooo youuu came out to the stairs?”

Lloyd turned his face away from him, hiding it in the sweet sanctuary of darkness. “Just leave me alone,” he whispered.

He didn’t hear any footsteps. Kai must still be standing there, so he pulled himself up, prepared to tell him off, when he saw the hallway empty. Then he looked to his side and saw Kai sitting on the other end of the stairs, arms folded, watching him.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Making sure you don’t do anything stupid,” said Kai.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Apparently, I’ve already done that.”

“Yeah, you did. A lot of stupid things, actually.”

“Oh, would you just shut up? It’s bad enough I get it from my dad and my uncle—”

“Yeah, well maybe there’s a good reason.”

Lloyd retreated back into the darkness.

“Need I remind you that the first time we met, you had me and my teammates kidnapped, and you were planning on bombing an entire village?”

“…yeah… so what?” Lloyd replied quietly. He had his arms folded and his whole being felt heavy and numb.

“You’re a sick, twisted kid. Do you have any idea how many people would have been killed?”

“It doesn’t even matter.”

“Yes it does! People matter. You know something? Your dad took away my parents.”

Lloyd finally looked up at him. He was frowning deeply.

“They matter to me. I’ve been trying to get them back ever since. And all of the rest of those people matter to someone else. But I guess you wouldn’t understand what it’s like to have a healthy family, would you? You can’t understand empathy like that. Or love. It’s just not in your nature.”

Lloyd felt his face scrunching up in a very unflattering way. Why did those words hurt so much? What was this horrible stinging in his chest that was even more pronounced than the storm clouds?

“You don’t know anything!” He spat. “You’ve been horrible to me ever since the beginning! You don’t know anything about anything!”

He could feel it now. He was crying. Shoot. At least it wasn’t too bad. He wasn’t—you know, like—sobbing. A few rouge tears had simply escaped, that was all. He brushed them away and turned back to the darkness.

“Just go away…” he mumbled.

He sat there, waiting, listening, but when he turned around again, Kai was still there.

“I said, go away…”

Wordlessly, Kai lifted two fingers and a small ball of fire appeared. It lit up the stairwell with a warm, orange glow. Then, it was drifting toward Lloyd until it was right in front of him, thawing his hands and nose.

“Don’t catch a cold,” said Kai before he got up and walked back to the bunk house.

Lloyd was left watching the little ball of flickering light and wondering why Kai had given it to him. He was certainly feeling a bit warmer now… but not just on the outside. Somehow… this made him feel just a little bit better… on the inside. Not a whole lot, mind you, but he also found that the storm clouds didn’t swell again for the rest of the night. Maybe there was something in the fire itself?

Lloyd watched it for a long time and held it close, letting the warmth reach every part of him. He thought about where he might go after he ran away from this place, but… was there really anywhere else to go? He didn’t want to go back to the house. He didn’t want to go back to his boarding school. He didn’t want to go to the city. He didn’t want to live in the woods. The Undead Citadel was probably back in Imperial hands, the Skulkens long gone. Where did that leave him? He could just start walking until he passed out…

The fireball flickered pretty heavily in his hands. He didn’t want it to go out, so he lifted the pointer finger on his right hand and started creating just a little bit of oxygen. The fire grew brighter, and his finger only hurt a little.

He often wondered why he had been born like this. What was the point of having two powers if they only ever hurt him? Perhaps it was his punishment for being special. After all, he was the only elemental he knew of—that his father or his uncle knew of—who possessed two elemental powers, except for… the First Spinjitsu Master himself. Lloyd’s grandfather. That made him special… and evidently, if you were special in this world, it meant you had to suffer for it.

He wished he wasn’t Garmadon’s son. He wished he was normal. He wished he didn’t feel pain. He wished… he wished he had what Kai had. A good relationship with his parents. He wished he loved his dad enough to travel to the ends of the earth in the hopes that he might find him and reunite. That must be a good feeling, or so Lloyd imagined.

Some time, early in the morning, he slunk back to his hammock, the fire having gone out.