#I’m losing my mind about Lloyd and I’m about to make it everyone’s problem | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rosiehunterwolf · 3 years

Text

let me down gently

Prompts: Anger and Fight

Word Count: 6,465

Characters: Lloyd and Kai

Timeline: During episodes 96 (Into the Breach) and 97 (The Fall)

Trigger Warnings: Strained Parental Relationships, Suffocation, Major Character Death (kind of, u all know Cole didn't really die in this episode)

Summary: The thing about spending nearly every waking moment of the last several years of your life with a group of friends is that you really get to know them, inside and out, so much so that sometimes you know what they’re thinking before they do.

And, sometimes that means it’s easy to overlook what they’re actually trying to say.

(wooo! got my first bingo! what happens now lol)

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

The thing about spending nearly every waking moment of the last several years of your life with a group of friends is that you really get to know them, inside and out, so much so that sometimes you know what they’re thinking before they do.

Kai had learned that it was all about being observant. The littlest things could hint him off at what was going on in their minds.

For example, whenever Nya was frustrated with a piece of machinery she was repairing, Kai could tell by the sound of her hammer against the metal. It was more of a dull, clunking sound than the lighter, ringing tone that could usually be heard. Or when Zane was faced with a problem that he was struggling to solve, he would always walk with a slightly stiffer posture. How Jay’s leg would bounce slightly when he was impatient, or how Cole bit his lip when he was focused.

And now, as the ninja stood around Garmadon on the deck of the Bounty, Kai could tell from the look in Lloyd’s bright green eyes that his youngest brother was planning something- something that Kai wasn’t going to like.

“I’m done with your foolishness,” Garmadon growled at the ninja. “You do not have a choice. I will say it once more- I am the only one who can enter the Oni Cloud. Give me a weapon, and let me go, or the Darkness will consume us all.”

“It’s not going to happen,” Lloyd snapped back. “You’re not going anywhere- not without me.”

Kai balked at him. What?!

Lloyd began to walk up to Garmadon, until he was glaring him right in the face. “I’m your son, remember. I’m Oni, too.”

No. The blood was roaring in Kai’s ears, now. Lloyd had come up with plenty of dumb, impulsive plans in his life, but this was on another level entirely. If Lloyd thought Kai was letting him go into the Darkness alone with Garmadon, he was sorely mistaken.

“You are part Oni.” The man reached out, shoving Lloyd, and the green ninja stumbled backwards. Nya quickly caught him by the arm, steadying him, and the others lunged towards Garmadon. Kai barely managed to stop himself from punching the man in the face, dropping into a defensive stance instead when Lloyd pulled away from Nya, evidently unharmed.

“That means you might survive,” Garmadon told Lloyd, ignoring the others glaring at him.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out.”

Oh, you’ll find out all right, Kai fumed as he glared at the green ninja. You’ll find out that this is not happening, as soon as I knock some sense into you.

---

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, have you lost your tiny mind?” Kai grabbed Lloyd’s arm, yanking him into an empty room below deck on the Bounty.

Lloyd stared at him. “Did you just call my mind tiny?”

“Yes, I did, and you deserve it, because you’re being the absolute worst idiot I have seen right now. And I’m friends with Jay, so that’s saying something.”

“Excuse me for trying to help,” Lloyd spat back. “I didn’t see anyone else coming up with a plan.”

“So the only thing you could come up with was chucking your own life into danger? Typical Lloyd move.”

His friend's eyes widened. “You’re one to talk! Do you really need me to go over every risky decision you’ve made? We’ll be here all day!”

“Half of those ‘risky decisions’ have just been trying to get you out of situations that your risky decisions got you into!”

Lloyd’s eyes darkened, and he turned away, beginning to rummage through the cabinets for a suitable weapon. “No one asked you to do that.”

Kai couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He marched forward, put a hand on Lloyd’s shoulder, and forced him around. “You expected me to just leave you. To die?”

“No!” The green ninja answered hastily, although he wouldn’t meet Kai’s eyes. “… I just could’ve taken care of it myself, that’s all.”

Kai snorted. “Right.”

Lloyd shoved his hand away. “I’m serious! I’m not a kid anymore, I don’t need you babysitting me.”

Kai felt like his heart had been impaled as he watched Lloyd turn away from him, back towards the shelves. He felt stinging in his eyes, and quickly pushed the hurt down, letting it give way to anger instead. How dare Lloyd speak to him that way. Kai had spent years caring for him, looking out for him. He had been the one to save him from the Fire Temple, from Morro, had been the one to carry him to Mystaké’s shop when he had foolishly run off to fight Garmadon alone and nearly died-

Sure, Kai had… he had failed him, sometimes. He knew he wasn’t always good enough to protect him, as hard as he tried. But in his defence, Lloyd wasn’t exactly making it easy for him! It was almost as if the boy wanted to die! He was getting an odd sense of déjà vu, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Have you forgotten what happened the last time you left us to fight the villain by yourself? I’m still having nightmares about that night, Lloyd! You nearly died.”

“That was different.”

“Different how?”

“I know what I’m doing,” he insisted. “And I won’t be alone. My dad will be with me.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed. “Oh great, now I’m so reassured.”

Lloyd shot him a look so venomous that Kai nearly faltered. What was that about?

“Look, Lloyd, I’m just trying to watch out for you! Can’t you see that the Cloud is dangerous? Cole was only in it for a second, and we nearly lost him. I don’t want to lose you, too.”

Lloyd sighed. “I know. But someone’s gotta do it, and my father said that my Oni blood will protect me.”

“He also said your human blood would make you weaker. He never guaranteed you would survive, and, frankly, even if he did, I wouldn’t trust him.”

Lloyd’s gaze went hard again. “Of course you wouldn’t. You’ve never trusted him. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve had a vendetta against him, and that’s no different now.”

“Lloyd, don’t be ridiculous, you know that’s not true. He was our sensei at one point, remember? I accepted him then! It’s only the Devourer venom I don’t trust. He said it himself- he couldn’t be trusted with the venom flowing through his veins.”

“Yeah, well the venom’s gone now, isn’t it? And I don’t see you acting any different than those first days.”

“Lloyd, he’s different now, and you know it. He’s not Sensei Garmadon anymore.”

“So that automatically means we can’t trust him?”

“No! But I can list a hundred other reasons why we can’t!” Kai began counting off on his fingers, “He tried to kill you, he tried to kill us, he tried to kill Wu, he destroyed the Bounty, he destroyed the city, he imprisoned our friends, he created a giant stone Colossus to try and destroy us, he’s Oni-”

“I’m Oni, too,” Lloyd snapped. “Does that mean you don’t trust me?”

“Lloyd, stop being stupid-”

“Oh, so now I’m stupid!”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“So what did you mean?”

Kai sighed, rubbing his temples. “You’re only part Oni. Things are different.”

“But what if I wasn’t? What if I was full Oni? You wouldn’t trust me then?”

“I never said that.” “You literally just did.”

Kai glowered at him. “Look, it doesn’t matter- Lloyd, you’re my friend. I’ve known you for years, I know you’re trustworthy because you’ve never done anything to prove me otherwise.”

“If you trust me so much, then why aren’t you acting like it now?”

“I do trust you! I still do, and I always will. But I also know your judgement tends to get clouded when it comes to people you care about. And, I’m sorry Lloyd, but your father does not deserve to be on that list. Not anymore. Ever since he’s come back, he’s done nothing but prove to me that he doesn’t care about you. At all.”

Lloyd froze, a shadow falling over his face. Kai reached for his hand, but he jerked back, gritting his teeth.

“Oh, come on, Lloyd, I know you’re trusting, but this is ridiculous! Have you forgotten what he’s done to you?”

“You don’t get to talk,” Lloyd choked, his voice suddenly sounding wet. “You don’t know what it’s like. What I’ve been through.”

Kai stopped, blinking at him. “What?”

“You don’t know! You never had to watch your dad be an evil warlord for your whole life, never had people telling you that your entire destiny was to defeat him!”

Kai felt his anger dissipate. “Lloyd-”

But the green ninja wasn’t done. “You never had to fight the one person who came back for you when everyone else turned their backs on you, only to get him back as someone completely different than the person you remembered! You never had to suffer through those long weeks, those long months, struggling to reconnect with him after the rift that had been torn between the two of you. You never had to deal with only having your father back for a couple years before losing him again, just when you had finally been getting to know him again! You never had to suffer through that loss, thinking about him every day for the next few years, just starting to get over him when suddenly you found out he was coming back again! You never had to fight so hard to keep him from coming back, even though a small part of you really wanted to see him again. You don’t know what it was like to get a chance to reunite with him, only to have him nearly kill you, and then be forced to recruit him to help you. You don’t know what it’s like to have half of your brain remembering him as this horrible, sadistic monster that absolutely cannot be trusted, but the other half remembering him as a good man, as your true father, and feeling like there’s still some of that in there, and maybe you can have that back!”

By this point, Lloyd was crying, hard, and Kai felt like his heart was going to shatter. “Lloyd. I’m sorry bud. I’m so sorry. But you’re going to have to trust us. Your team. We’ve always been here for you, even when your dad wasn’t.”

“You still don’t get it!” Lloyd was borderline yelling by this point. “I can’t! I can’t forget everything he’s done- both the good and the bad! You can’t possibly understand how angry I am at him but how much I love him! He left me! He hurt me! But he is the only person who loved me from the very beginning- even you thought I was some washed-up street rat when we first met!”

The pressure building in Kai’s chest suddenly snapped, and he found himself yelling right back at Lloyd. “I don’t know what it’s like? Have you forgotten what my father did? I lived the majority of my life thinking that he had abandoned me! For a five-year-old kid, that was the scariest thing of my life- I didn’t know what to do, and everything was resting on me. It took me years to get over that, to get over them and to move on, and then- then I figured out they were alive and now everyone was saying that they were good and that this wasn’t their fault- that everything was okay now. But it wasn’t okay- they had left me, burdened me, and as much as I knew they hadn’t done it on purpose, I couldn’t forget all those years of pain. Even Nya thought I was being crazy, tried to stop me from lashing out at them. She didn’t understand. She was the younger sibling, she wasn’t burdened with my responsibility. If anyone could understand me, I would’ve thought it would be you.”

“It’s not the same!” Lloyd’s voice was shrill. “You still have years ahead of you- years to talk and reconnect. You think I didn’t go through the same thing with my father after he was cleansed from the venom? I thought we would have all the time in the world! But now we’re back at square one again, but worse- square zero- and this time he won’t even listen to me! He doesn’t remember me, he doesn’t remember himself, he doesn’t remember anything except hatred.”

“Then why are you so eager to listen to him again?”

“I can’t let him go again! Not like last time!”

“This isn’t like last time, Lloyd! Why won’t you listen to us? Since when did you start trusting Garmadon’s judgement over mine?” “The moment you stopped listening to me and tried to make everything about yourself!”

Kai stared at him in disbelief. Lloyd was seriously calling him selfish right now? He had just poured out all his insecurities about his parents, ones that he didn’t want to share but did anyway to try to help Lloyd see he wasn’t alone- and the brat had the nerve to call him selfish?

“I can’t believe you! I’ve done nothing- nothing- but try to help you and care for you since you joined our team. And you have the audacity to pin this on me. You know what? Go! Go with your father into that dumb Cloud! Since you obviously care about him so much more than you do me!”

“I will,” Lloyd shot back, already storming out of the room.

“Don’t come crying to me when you suffocate in there! At least you’ll be with your dear old pops!”

Lloyd turned around when he reached the doorway, their shouting match quieting as he responded in a low voice.

“Trust me, I’m not going to be crying to anyone.”

There was a loud bang as Lloyd slammed the door shut, and Kai was alone.

---

Zane walked quietly down the hallway of the ship, stopping in front of Nya as she slowly backed out of a room, pulling the door shut softly behind her.

“Any luck?”

She shook her head. “He won’t even talk to me, not to mention tell me what happened.”

“Kai isn’t budging either. He asked me how close we were to the city, and what Garmadon was up to, but refused to even mention Lloyd.”

“I’ve never seen Lloyd like this, Zane, he was… he was upset. Angry. I think they fell out, but… I don’t know why, or how…”

“It has to be about the Cloud. Kai was pretty upset when Lloyd announced his plan.”

“I’m upset too!” she snapped. “It’s a horrible plan! He’s going to get himself killed! But you know how Lloyd gets when he sets his mind on something. And Kai can get… snappy when he’s worried about someone important to him. I’m worried things have been taken too far this time, though.”

Nya buried her face in her hands, and Zane put a hand on her shoulder. “Nya, it’s going to be alright. It’s not like they haven’t fought before. They’ll make up quickly, like they always do.”

“Yeah, but it’s never been this bad before! Lloyd was really upset, Zane! He always talks to me, comes to me, when he’s having a hard time, especially if it’s with Kai, but…” her voice dropped to a whisper. “This time is different.”

“Have you forgotten everything they’ve been through?” Zane reminded her. “Their friendship has survived the green ninja prophecy, Chen’s staff, a possession, many near-death experiences, and realm-hopping. I think they can handle one argument.”

Nya didn’t look so reassured, so Zane looped his arm around her. “They’re going to be fine. They always are.”

Nya wiped a sleeve across her eyes, sniffing. “I know. I just worry about them.”

“It’s great, how much you look out for them, but there are some things that Kai and Lloyd must resolve on their own.”

Nya nodded, slowly stepping back from the door of the room where Lloyd was.

A faint beeping sounded from above them, and Zane quickly checked his internal GPS. “Now, we should head back above deck. It won’t be long before we reach Ninjago City, and the outskirts of the Oni Cloud.”

“The time is nearly upon us,” Nya whispered. “Soon, the fate of Ninjago will rest in our hands.” Her nose wrinkled. “Again.”

---

Kai stared over the deck of the Bounty, his jaw slack as he surveyed the landscape below. The entirety of Ninjago City was covered in a thick, black smog, only the tips of some of the taller skyscrapers emerging from it.

A sickly black tentacle reached up below them, curling up towards the fins on the rear of the Bounty, lapping gently against the wood. Nya put on a burst of speed, and the Bounty pulled from its grasp, leaving the tentacle to lurk hungrily, before it slowly receded back down into the Cloud.

A shiver slipped down his spine, and he gritted his teeth. He couldn’t believe the others had agreed to send Lloyd down there.

“This will allow us to see what’s happening inside the Cloud.”

Kai turned to see Zane slipping what looked to be a GoPro over Lloyd’s head. “We can watch the camera feed from the monitor screens of the Bounty.”

Lloyd was shifting from foot to foot, looking nervous. As he should be. How long will it take for him to finally realize how dangerous this is?

Lloyd wasn’t the only one looking frightened. From where she stood up by the steering wheel, Nya was watching Lloyd apprehensively, nibbling on her lip. Jay stood at Lloyd’s side, double and triple checking to make sure the armor pieces fastened to his gi were strong and secured. Cole was leaning back against the mast, arms crossed over his chest as he surveyed them all with dark eyes.

“What’s our plan for extraction?” Cole asked gruffly. “If we’re doing this, we need a clear plan before you leave. There’ll be no room for mistakes down there.”

“We’ll wait here with the Bounty while he’s down there,” Zane explained. “When he’s made it back, we’ll drop the anchor so he can climb the chain.”

“I installed a tracking device in the camera,” Nya added, “so if something goes wrong, we can come pick you up elsewhere.”

“Hopefully nothing will go wrong,” Lloyd muttered.

Nya shook her head. “I’ll say.”

“Did you guys check the parachute? Does it feel alright, do you want me to-”

“Jay.” Lloyd said firmly. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Jay sighed, running a hand through his curly locks. “I’m just not sure about this, Lloyd.”

“Guys. I have to do this. I’m gonna get in, grab the Realm Crystal, get out. No problem.”

“No problem?” Kai growled. “Yeah, except for the freezing black tentacles, deathly fog, and swarms of Oni you’re forgetting about. Oh, and wait, your father.”

“Kai, can we not get into this now,” Lloyd grimaced.

“If we don’t get into it now, when will we get into it?” Kai pulled back from the railing, walking over to him. “Once you go, there’s no turning back.”

His eyes flashed. “I’m aware of the consequences. I’m doing it.”

Kai groaned. “You’re not even listening to me!”

“And you’re not listening to me. Do you have another plan?”

“I’m sure we could come up with something better than this.”

“Yeah? Well, you haven’t!” he snapped, loudly.

Kai said nothing, glaring at him.

“The people of Ninjago City are in danger. Many of them are already lost, and I only hope that we can save them. Someone has to help, sooner rather than later. And right now, me and my father are the only ones who can.”

“Well, maybe not you,” Jay squeaked, looking nervous to impede on their argument.

“Jay’s right, you’re taking a huge risk.”

“I’m a ninja!” Lloyd threw up his arms. “Risk is part of the job description.”

There was silence at that.

Really, what could they say? To deny it would be to put down every risk they had ever taken, every consequence they had ever faced.

But so many of them had ended in disaster- Zane’s death, Chen’s staff, Morro’s possession, Wu getting lost in time, and of course, Lloyd’s initial face-off with his resurrected father- and Kai was wondering when they would finally draw the line.

Sooner or later, their luck was going to run out. Sooner or later, they would get themselves into a mess they couldn’t get out of.

---

The ship slowed to a halt in front of Borg Tower. The tallest building in the city, it stretched far above the Cloud, but as Lloyd peered down, he saw that the bottom of it just seemed to disappear, getting swallowed by the blackness.

“This is the closest I can get,” Nya announced, descending the ladder as she hopped down to the deck with them. “You’re going to have to take it from here.”

Garmadon said nothing, stepping up to the edge of the rail to peer over the edge.

Pixal beckoned to him, and Lloyd walked over, standing patiently as she fiddled with his GoPro.

“Zane?” she called back to the nindroid, to where he had climbed back up towards the monitor. She waved at Lloyd’s camera, and Zane gave her a thumbs up.

“It’s working. For now. The reception might break up a little when he actually goes into the Darkness, but hopefully it will last us a while, at least.”

“And the GPS?”

“Signal is on point.”

“Voice feed? Can you hear me through the comms?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Good.” Pixal stepped back from him, nodding. She hesitated for a moment, her green eyes flashing. “Lloyd… just be careful, okay? Your life isn’t worth the Realm Crystal. We can always come up with another plan.”

Lloyd swallowed. Suddenly, this whole thing was beginning to feel a lot more real.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one thinking this, because Kai walked over to him. Lloyd flinched, expecting him to yell again, but his voice was soft.

“Lloyd. If you… if you really trust your dad so much, you should let him go. Alone.”

Lloyd bit back a sigh. “I don’t trust him.”

Kai blinked. “You literally just told me earlier that you-”

“No, I said it was complicated.” Lloyd breathed out slowly, running his fingers through his hair before his voice came out too sharp. “I trust him enough to not get me killed, but not enough to bring the Realm Crystal back on his own.”

“Look, Lloyd, you don’t have to do this.”

Lloyd glared at him. “Yeah, I do. I’m going, end of discussion.”

“Please don’t go. Look, I’m sorry about what I said earlier, okay? I’ll make it up to you. Please don’t base this decision off of that.”

Kai’s eyes were looking suspiciously shiny now, and Lloyd bit his lip. He was still mad at Kai, but Lloyd hated fighting with him. Maybe he should-

No. Lloyd shut down that train of thought fiercely. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t let his emotions get the better of him.

Sure, this was Kai he was talking about- not Harumi, or his father. He knew Kai would never try to take advantage of him, but- he was also biased. Lloyd wanted to listen to his own judgement, for once. The best decisions were always made with a clear head, anyways.

He forced his voice to be hard as he spoke. “I made this decision plenty of time before that conversation.”

Ignoring the look on Kai’s face, he turned and walked towards the edge of the deck, pulling his sword out of the rack. It was about time he finished this.

---

Kai hurried over to her looking half in tears.

“So I’m guessing that’s a ‘no’ on talking him out of it?”

Kai gripped her shoulders, tight. “He won’t listen to me Nya, I think he’s still angry with me. I can’t change his mind. Nothing I say will change his mind. You need to talk to him, please. Maybe he’ll listen to you.” “I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Kai. He may not be upset with me, but you know how stubborn he gets when he sets his mind on something.”

“Can you at least try?”

Nya looked at him, and after a moment, let out a sigh. “Fine.”

Her footsteps were quiet as she walked over to the green ninja, who was sheathing his sword. He didn’t look at her, but he knew she was there, that Nya was certain of.

“I have no idea what he said to you, earlier… but he’s just worried about you, y’know.”

Lloyd snorted. “Sure has a funny way of showing it.”

“I’m serious, Lloyd. This is dangerous. Perhaps one of the biggest risks we’ve taken yet. What you said earlier was true- taking risks is part of the job- but that doesn’t mean we can’t be careful. Can’t worry.”

Lloyd sighed. “I know- and I’m not expecting you not to. But sometimes, certain things have to be done, and… you just have to endure the worry for the sake of others.” He eyed her. “Kind of like you’re doing now.”

Nya side-eyed him, and he smiled slightly. “I can tell. You’ve been pacing.”

She breathed out slowly. “You’re right. But that’s not an easy thing to do. Especially for those who love you and care about you very much.”

Lloyd looked down. “Just get it over with.”

“What?”

“He sent you over here to talk me out of it, didn’t he?”

“Technically, yes… but he’s not my team leader. I don’t have to listen to anything he says.”

Lloyd looked up, his brilliant green eyes meeting her much tamer, softer brown ones.

“Why aren’t you going to try to change my mind?”

“Because I know what a stubborn brat you are,” she teased, cuffing him over the head. He shook her off, scowling as he straightened his hair.

“Seriously, though. I wouldn’t be sending you in if I wasn’t certain you were strong enough to handle yourself.”

Relief flooded his expression. “So you get it! Why doesn’t Kai? Why doesn’t he just trust me?”

“He trusts you,” she said firmly, and Lloyd blinked at her, surprised. “He trusts you more than you will ever know.”

“Then why is he so upset about me doing this?”

“Just because you know someone is capable doesn’t mean that you’re not going to worry or fear the worst when they have to do something dangerous. Kai’s a big brother. It’s his job to be overprotective! He’s just trying to look out for you.”

“I’m not a kid anymore. Sometimes I need to look after myself.”

“Kai’s afraid of losing you, Lloyd. He knows you’re strong. He knows you’re capable. He trusts you completely. But bad things can happen to even the best people. He doesn’t want a world without you in it. None of us do.”

Lloyd was silent at that, toeing at the ground with his foot. “I’ll be careful,” he said after a long while.

“You better be.” She reached forward, squeezing his hand. “Just know that he comes from a place of love, okay?”

“Are we going to just stand here all day?” Garmadon snapped, stalking over to him. “Or should I just go without you?”

“No,” Lloyd insisted, wiping at his face with his sleeve. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Garmadon shot a pointed glance at his sword. Lloyd sighed.

“Cole, give him a sword.”

The black ninja grabbed a katana, eyeing the Dark Lord with thinly veiled suspicion. “Are you sure about that?”

Lloyd nodded.

Cole tossed the sword at Garmadon’s feet, and he picked it up, surveying it slowly. The ninja and Pixal watched him apprehensively.

Suddenly, Garmadon was lunging at Cole, and before Nya could react, Kai was screaming at him to look out as he charged Garmadon, the sharp screech of metal sounding as his sword clashed with Garmadon’s. The man pushed past them, running towards Lloyd and Nya, and Lloyd quickly charged up his powers, hands glowing as he held up his fists protectively.

Garmadon darted to the side, wisely avoiding his son’s powers, and Nya blocked him with her spear, pinning him down as she caught him off guard.

Zane’s arrow flew past, and Garmadon rolled out of the way, causing her to lose her grip on him as he shot to his feet again, sending her flying with a sharply delivered kick to the gut.

Nya staggered to her feet, panting, just as Pixal was flung past her. Hurrying over, she helped her friend to her feet, and the two fell into battle stances behind the rest of the crew, who were now watching Garmadon through slitted eyes.

“Try that again!” Cole dared. “Now that I’m ready!”

Garmadon glared at them, raising a fist. Suddenly, it burst into purple flames, and the ninja recoiled, gasping.

His powers are back? How? “That’s better,” Garmadon rasped, grinning. Then, with a running leap, he launched himself off the side of the ship.

There was silence for a moment, before Cole burst out, “Okay, what the heck was that?”

“Conflict fuels him!” Lloyd said, walking forward.

“He was powering up!” Zane agreed.

“He did that just to get his powers back?” Jay cried.

Cole grimaced, marching up to Lloyd. “I. Do. Not. Trust. Him!”

Nya felt her stomach flip. She was starting to regret giving Lloyd that pep talk, now. Sure, she believed in his ability to take care of himself, but… Garmadon had his powers back, now? Lloyd’s powers were nothing to be scoffed at, but… they paled in comparison to Garmadon's. Those powers were what had nearly gotten him killed the last time. What would happen if Garmadon needed to “power up” again? Would he turn on Lloyd? And this time, he wouldn’t have his team to help him.

Seeing the look in her youngest brother’s eyes, Nya suddenly felt the urge to hold him back, and she grabbed his shoulder tightly. “Lloyd. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

Lloyd hesitated, gazing at his teammates, who looked back at him with fearful gazes. He bit his lip.

Please say no, please say no, please say-

“No.”

Nya blinked. Well, that was easier than expected-

“But I don’t really have a choice,” he added, and before Nya could react, he was ripping away from her, running across the deck of the Bounty-

And jumping off the side of the ship.

---

“Lloyd!” Nya screamed, and Kai was suddenly pushing his way past her, running to the edge of the ship to peer over the side.

Lloyd was plummeting, down, down, down, until the green of his gi vanished and the Darkness swallowed him up. Kai swore, curling his fingers into the handrail.

The others had joined him, Nya leaning over so desperately that Cole had to pull her back. Unease crackled in the air as they blinked at each other.

“The camera feed!” Zane cried suddenly. “Come on!”

The nindroid hurried towards the monitors, the rest of them not far behind. Kai held his breath as Zane’s fingers flew across the keyboard, until a hazy purple image appeared. Dark, lurking outlines blurred past, as if in motion, until they suddenly slowed, Lloyd’s feet swinging into view.

“He opened his parachute,” Zane breathed.

Jay squinted at the screen, leaning forward. “I can’t see anything… except for that weird, purplish smoke.”

“Wait,” Cole pointed at the shadows, which came into better view as the fog began to thin slightly. “There’s some sort of building there.” He recoiled as something dark slithered across it. “What is that?”

“They look like…” Nya narrowed her eyes. “Tentacles, or something.”

“Eugh! Those are the things that tried to grab me, earlier!” Cole cried.

Kai bit down on his lip, only just stopping himself before he could draw blood. “Be careful, Lloyd.”

After a moment, the ground drifted into view, and Lloyd stumbled to a halt as his feet reached it, releasing his parachute.

As he looked around, the camera turned with his head, and Kai felt himself shudder at the creepy, desolate landscape that had once been their city. It was cruel, how much something could change in only a day.

Lloyd coughed, clearing his throat, and Kai’s attention was drawn back to him, frowning.

“Lloyd? Are you okay?”

There was no response, except for another, heaving cough, and Kai felt his heart drop, turning to Zane. “Can’t he hear us?”

Zane’s eyes flashed, hitting a few things on the control panel. “He should be able to, unless the reception has been blocked already, which frankly, I doubt-”

Lloyd’s hands flew to his mouth as he wheezed, a horrible, strangled sound. He gasped for air, and suddenly he was falling to his knees, the camera flickering.

Kai felt like he was having a heart attack.

“He’s suffocating!” he cried, reaching out and grabbing Nya’s arm, shaking her. “He can’t breathe, I told you this was a horrible idea, we have to get him out of there!”

Nya’s voice trembled. “Hurry, drop the anchor, he needs to get out now!”

“He can’t even stand, how is he going to climb the chain?”

“If he can't, I'll go down and get him.”

“You can’t do that, Kai, you’ll be dead within seconds!”

“What other choice do we-”

“Guys!” Zane cried, breaking over the clamor. “He’s okay now. His breathing has stabilized.”

Kai turned to the screen, seeing that Lloyd had pushed himself to his feet and was walking over to Garmadon. His breathing had stopped the horrible rasping, but it was still too heavy.

Nya slumped against him, rubbing her hands over her face. “This kid’s going to be the end of me.”

“Why is he going away from us?” Kai snapped. “Tell him to get back on the ship!”

Zane blinked at him. “The whole point of the mission is to get the Realm Crystal, is it not?”

“Not at the cost of his life!” “Of course not.” Zane reached forward, squeezing his arm gently. “But he is fine now. Trust me, I will be the first to inform you if his breathing becomes irregular again.”

Kai pulled his hands over his face, screaming into them. “Wake me up when this horrible nightmare is over!”

---

“There’s more to life than surviving!”

Lloyd’s scream made even Garmadon flinch back as the green ninja raced off, vanishing below deck. Kai watched him anxiously, and he felt Nya slip her arm out of his grasp.

“I’m okay, Kai. Go.”

Giving her hand one last squeeze, he ran after Lloyd, shooting Garmadon a fierce glare as he passed.

When he finally found Lloyd, he was in their bedroom, curled up on his bed, crying softly.

Kai sat down next to him, the mattress sagging slightly lower beneath his weight. After a moment of silence, he reached out a hand and began to rub Lloyd’s back gently.

“You were right,” he gasped suddenly. “I should never have left. The plan didn’t even work. It’s my fault, I should’ve been there, I could’ve- I could’ve-”

“Lloyd, you couldn’t have done anything,” Kai insisted, giving up with subtlety and pulling Lloyd against his side. “No one could’ve.”

Lloyd didn’t seem to hear him. “Why did I trust my father, you were right, I never should’ve done that, I was being stupid as always, I thought we could- I thought maybe things would go back, but- no, you tried to warn me, and I was horrible to you-”

“Lloyd, Lloyd stop, breathe,” Kai begged, grabbing his hands and desperately trying to pull them off of his head, where he was digging in his nails. “Stop, please, I don’t care about any of that, I forgave you ages ago.”

Lloyd took a shuddery breath, loosening his hands enough for Kai to move them, and letting his head rest in Kai’s lap. “Ages ago? We just had the argument earlier today.”

“Yeah, well, I’m quick at forgiving.”

Lloyd huffed softly. “No, you’re not.”

“For you I am. That’s what family’s for, right?”

Kai immediately regretted his choice of words as Lloyd flinched. “I mean, true family. The one you chose, not the one you’re related to by blood.”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

Kai let his breath out slowly, leaning back on the hand that wasn’t wrapped around Lloyd, and paused as it hit against something hard.

Looking back, he saw it was a photo frame. Sucking in his breath, he picked it up.

The glass was cracked, but the picture behind it was perfectly clear. In it, Sensei Garmadon was standing in front of the Monastery, an arm slung around Lloyd. Although their former sensei was standing stiff, as usual, a rare smile was playing on his lips. And Lloyd- Lloyd’s grin was all teeth, his eyes practically sparkling as he gazed at his father. He looked so happy it made Kai’s heart hurt.

“Did you…”

Lloyd looked up as Kai trailed off, pulling himself into more of a sitting position, and his gaze found the photo. His eyes darkened, but he took it from Kai’s hands, anyway. He stared at it for a moment, his face unreadable as he traced his fingers along the cracks, then, suddenly, he was throwing the frame across the room, where it shattered against the floor loudly. A sob caught in his throat, and he wiped at his eyes.

Kai wrapped his arms around him in a hug, noticing as Lloyd flinched, hard, when he squeezed his arm. He made a mental note to make him go to the medbay later, but for now, he didn’t push it.

“Kai?”

“Hm?” “I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier.”

“Bud, there’s nothing to be sorry about. We both made mistakes. But it’s over now. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.”

“No,” Kai breathed out, running a hand through his hair as tears stung in his eyes. “You’re right. It’s not.”

Lloyd whimpered, curling closer. “He’s gone, Kai. How can anything ever be okay again?”

“I don’t know, bud. Maybe it won’t be. But you know what? We keep going. Wherever life takes us, we keep on going, and we don’t give up.”

“It’s hard to keep going.”

“Then we just hold on. As tight as we can.”

Lloyd sobbed into the side of his gi, and Kai buried his face in Lloyd’s hair as tears slipped down his cheeks. Never again, was he going to take this for granted. He had already made that mistake with Cole.

And for that, Kai made sure to grip on a little tighter.

#ninjago #ninbingo #my fic #rosie writes #ninjago lloyd #ninjago kai #ninjago garmadon #ninjago nya #they had some things they needed to say alright #arguments are part of a healthy relationship change my mind #it's not my fault LEGO is a coward and refuses to let them rant about their trauma #and all those bottled up feelings are going SOMEWHERE #i enjoyed this one #and i also really enjoyed rewatching season 10 for research #season 10 is AWESOME #ns10 #hope you enjoyed!#reblogs appreciated!

77 notes · View notes

cdyssey · 3 years

Text

Regret

Summary: When Fran doesn't come down to breakfast after spraining her ankle, the whole house is concerned for her—especially Niles and Mr. Sheffield. Set after "An Affair to Dismember."

A/N: Okay, so I've binge re-watched nearly four seasons of The Nanny in four days, and had to get at least one fic out of my system, lmao.

Fran Drescher's acting in "An Affair to Dismember" when she suddenly broke while talking to Maxwell made me sensitive. ;-;

AO3 Link

—

Breakfast is a remarkably boring affair without Miss Fine bursting through the door, raising her arms in a floral robe, and proclaiming, with signature adenoidal stylings, “Good moooorning, everyone!”

The clink of silverware, the scraping of ceramic plates, the ruffling sound of Mr. Sheffield anxiously attacking the New York Times like a new Andrew Lloyd Webber play has just dropped—all of it is so terribly drab that Niles spends the first fifteen minutes of her pronounced absence coughing loudly in the hopes that his employer will pick up the hint to do something about it.

“Oh, do go get a bloody cough drop, old man,” he finally snaps, smacking his newspaper down on the table. “You’re driving me mad.”

“Sorry, sir,” Niles arches a brow as he refills Mr. Sheffield’s coffee mug. “I have asthma.”

He turns away to replace the coffee pot on the side table.

“And half a mind to kick your tetchy derrière,” he mutters under his breath.

“What was that, Niles?”

“Nothing, sir! Just saying thank you for your attentive care.”

“Dad,” Master Brighton thankfully interrupts, “where’s Fran, and what have you done to make her mad this time?”

Niles immediately turns around again in time to see his boss’s shoulders straighten in that way they often do when he’s indignant.

Or guilty.

Or some mixture of them both.

“I beg your pardon, Brighton,” he replies stiffly. “Why do you immediately assume I’m the problem here?”

“Process of elimination,” Brighton shrugs. “Fran’s not mad at me, Maggie, or Grace, and Niles is one of her closest friends.”

“You’re so astute, Master Brighton,” Niles smiles wryly as he moves to the left to get a better view of Mr. Sheffield’s face. The vein in his temple is beginning to throb, which is always a good time.

“She hasn’t dated anyone recently,” Miss Margaret pipes up.

“And she’s always fighting with her ma,” Miss Grace adds, “but that's never kept her from Belgian waffles before.”

“So, Dad,” Brighton grins, patting his father once on the back, “unless our math is wrong, that leaves you.”

“Goodness me,” Mr. Sheffield mutters, angrily stabbing a piece of link sausage with his fork. “I didn’t know I was in the presence of the lost Hardy Boy.”

“So you did do something!” Margaret exclaims.

“No! I bloody well did not, Nancy Drew. For your information, Miss Fine accidentally hurt her ankle clubbing last night with Val. I don’t think it’s broken, but I’ve called a doctor to come by just to check.”

“Tsk, tsk. And you didn’t offer to pick her up Cinderella-style and swoop her downstairs so she wouldn’t miss breakfast?” Niles asks chidingly, only to be greeted with a nasty glare.

“Yes, I did offer to bring her down to breakfast as a matter of fact... but Miss Fine seemed strangely subdued when I spoke to her through the door... I didn’t know what to make of it to tell you the truth...”

Mr. Sheffield’s brow contracts as he searches Niles’s face for an answer, and Niles stares back just as studiously, observing the profound concern in his employer’s dark eyes.

The gentleness.

The romance.

The stunningly oblivious care.

Niles sighs fondly.

Unlike Miss Babcock, he’s never had the heart to kick poor puppies when they’re down.

“I’ll bring her Advil and a fresh ice pack,” he promises. “Perhaps some pain relief will help her to regain her spirit.”

“I hope so,” Mr. Sheffield replies, self-consciously turning to his plate again, the tips of his ears rather pink. “I hate when Miss Fine isn’t feeling well.”

“Here, here,” the whole table concurs.

—

Twenty minutes later, Niles is at Miss Fine’s door with a silver tray laden with all the essentials: painkillers, an ice pack, a mug of coffee (milk instead of cream and extra sugar), and a copy of the new edition of Gloss. He lightly taps on her door with the side of his loafer.

“Miss Fine, can I come in?”

“No,” comes an immediate and sharp reply. “I’m not dressed!”

“How discouraging,” Niles sighs smilingly. “What ever shall I do?”

“Suff’a, and at least give me a minute to find a brassiere.”

“Oh, we’ll be here all day then.”

He hears a strange thud, a collection of evaluations (“dirty, dirty, slutty, Maggie’s, dirty”), and an assortment of Yiddish curse words he now vaguely recognizes from being friends with Miss Fine for nearly four years now. And then finally—

“Come in, Jeeves, but shut the door behind ya ‘cuz I haven’t applied a morning layer of lipstick yet.”

Niles elbows the knob and pushes with his shoulder until the door lights open to a peculiar sight. Far from being neat, Miss Fine’s room looks like Macy’s after its annual Black Friday sale with clothes strewn everywhere—from the dressers to the wardrobes to the floor. An empty suitcase is lying on the bed next to Miss Fine, who is sitting in bed wearing an oversized t-shirt, her injured ankle propped up on a pillow. Niles can tell, even from the doorway, that it’s red and swollen, but to his satisfaction and relief, it doesn’t appear to be broken.

“Welcome to the jungle,” Miss Fine mutters when she notices his incredulous gaze. “We got all the animals out t’day.”

“I can see that,” Niles replies, placing his tray on her bedside table and shutting the door. With his usual efficiency, he then walks back over, retrieves the ice pack, and gently places it on the affected area, frowning when she flinches.

“Mr. Sheffield said that the doctor was coming at ten,” he says as he gently lowers himself onto the bed, clasping his hands primly on top of his lap.

“Mm,” Fran grunts noncommittally, grabbing the two Advil pills and knocking them back with a swig of coffee.

“What? You’re not curious as to whether or not said doctor in question is single, Jewish, and living in a Manhattan penthouse? Miss Fine”—Niles reaches over and places the back of his hand on Fran’s head—“do you have a fever?”

“Oh, Niles,” she swats his hand away, “I’m not in the mood.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve heard that one.”

“Niles!”

“Sorry, Miss Fine,” he withdraws his hand with a laugh. “You know I have to warm up before Miss Babcock arrives.”

“Glad to assist,” Fran quips, taking another sip of coffee, and it’s only as she closes her eyes to savor the taste, that he notices there are lines beneath her eyes from what seems to have been a sleepless night.

The smile sinks from his face.

“You know,” he says quietly, “in all of our acquaintance, I’ve never known of you to injure yourself while dancing.”

Fran opens her eyes only to immediately glance away, tapping her long nails against her mug.

“Val tripped me up when she thought she saw Elton John,” she shrugs dully. “Turns out it was just a really lifelike poster of him behind the bar...”

“I see,” Niles returns, raising a brow. “It was nice of Miss Toriello to forgo her weekend trip with her parents to come back and… boogie woogie oogie with you.”

“Dammit,” she pouts, scrunching her nose. “I didn’t think I’d told you that.”

“You didn’t. I overheard you and Miss Toriello gabbing on the phone about it yesterday morning.”

Fran can’t seem to help herself; she smiles crookedly, even as she shakes her head.

“I dunno who’s more absorbent sometimes—you or the dish sponge.”

He smiles back at her, patting her uninjured leg gently.

“Me, naturally."

"I can believe it, Chatty Cathy," she sighs.

"Now tell me, Miss Fine"—he regains his solemnity quickly, unwilling to let her deflect with jokes—"why does your room look like a tornado went through Loehmann’s?”

Her dark eyes immediately glance around the messy room, as though looking for an excuse and failing to find one.

It’s only now that Niles is sitting down, taking everything in, that he notices that most of the articles strewn about are her favorite clothing items, from her holographic Versace dress to the black tube top that Mr. Sheffield can’t pry his eyes away from every time she wears it.

“I almost did a very stupid thing, Niles,” she half-whispers, looking down into her coffee cup, her fingers tensed and shivering around the handle. “And the thing is, maybe it wasn’t really all that stupid? Maybe it was the smartest thing I could of done in a lifetime of doin’ so many stupid things.”

She pauses briefly before sardonically adding, “People included.”

Though Niles doesn’t have enough dots to connect the full picture, he has what he needs in the way of evidence to get the basic gist: Nigel being in town, the two of them going out, Nigel leaving town, the suitcase, the swollen ankle, and Miss Fine's uncharacteristic melancholy, smeared across her face so sharply that it may as well be lipstick.

He swallows thickly, suddenly grasping how close that they had all been to losing Fran forever.

“Well,” he says, making an effort to hitch an oblivious smile on his face, “isn’t it your mother who says that everything happens for a reason? It seems as though you’re right where you belong.”

“Yeah,” she snorts indelicately. “Twenty-nine multiple times over, single, and livin’ in a mansion with a man who won’t even commit to his meal orders at restaurants, much less his very available and desperate nanny.”

“Beautiful, young, and living in a mansion with three children who love you, a butler who’d be lost without you, and a man who won’t commit to his tie choices either but still cares for you deeply all the same,” Niles corrects her softly. “He was very worried for you when you didn’t come down to breakfast this morning. He didn’t even do the crossword on the Times.”

“Gee,” she rolls her eyes playfully, “how romantic.”

“Very,” Niles grins, “a modern day Romeo—emotional hangups and all.”

With that, he pats Fran again and stands up; he has no doubt that Mr. Sheffield will be calling for him soon to interrogate him as to Miss Fine’s wellbeing.

Maybe he can even get C.C. on speaker phone to rub it in her face.

“Y’know, Niles,” Fran smiles at him fondly, “if this whole Mr. Sheffield thing doesn’t work out, we should elope in Vegas in ten yea's.”

“Only if you wear this little number,” he says, bending down and picking up a black cocktail dress from the floor, folding it neatly over his arm.

“You wish you could be so lucky.”

“If we’re going to be in Vegas, anything can happen, I suppose.”

After he retrieves the silver tray from the bedside table, he bends down and kisses Miss Fine lightly on the head, his heart hurting when he notices the way that she closes her eyes beneath the gentle touch—young and vulnerable and terribly hurt by something he can’t quite fix with a well-timed witticism.

“Get some rest, Miss Fine," her murmurs against her head. "I'll check on you a bit."

“Thanks, hubby."

—

Scarcely ten minutes later, he’s down in Mr. Sheffield’s office as per usual, offering the producer a fresh cup of tea even though he had already drunk his traditional two cups at breakfast.

He insisted, though, on a third, for some excuse he couldn’t quite come up with.

And instead of coming up with an excuse, he immediately asked for all the particulars of Miss Fine’s health.

Predictable chump.

“Thanks, old boy,” Mr. Sheffield frowns, returning to his crossword, tapping the end of his pen arrhythmically against the paper. “Let me know when the doctor for Miss Fine arrives. I want to be there when he checks her over.”

“Ooh la-la-la,” Niles hums, dropping a sugar cube into the tea with a zesty plop.

Mr. Sheffield places his pen down on the desk angrily.

“Not like that… I just want to ensure she’s going to be well… you know, for the children’s sake.”

“Yes,” he sighs theatrically. “How will the children ever be able to bear their nanny having a twisted ankle?”

“Oh, shut up,” Mr. Sheffield snaps. “I don’t pay you to be sarcastic.”

“No, sir, you pay me to help you with the crossword when you’re missing three-across,” Niles smirks knowingly when he glances down at the incomplete puzzle. “What’s the hint?”

Mr. Sheffield adjusts his wire-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose before looking down again.

“A word that means feeling bad for not doing something that you should have done all along. Disappointment. A sense of shame.”

Niles straightens up with a long-suffering shake of his head.

“Oh, sir, do I really have to spell it out for you?”

#the nanny #fran fine #niles the butler #maxwell sheffield #maggie writes

59 notes · View notes

twohundredpower · 2 years

Text

Lloyd had never really been good at remembering important dates. He’d grown up knowing the birthdays of his loved ones, but often forgot to get their presents to them on time. Even some holidays would fly past without him ever really realizing-- but travelling through the abundance of the world for two years truly taught Lloyd how to appreciate the time he was given there. Things could slip from his hands without warning, the loss of those he cared for imminent at any second-- so silently, he had decided to stop wasting that gift he had been given, to focus on everything around him, and keep those important moments close to his heart.

It was no surprise then, that today’s date had struck a definite chord in him.

A whole year had passed since his arrival to the island. It flashed by in what felt to be an instant; so many wonderful moments coursing through his memory, and fueling the warm feelings that were filtering through his chest. He had been given more than he ever expected here; time with his friends from home, new ones that extended their hand to him, a place where he could build a life of his own. A second chance to grow the relationship he had with his father.. and the opportunity to tell someone who had been by his side for so long that he loved him.

Some of those things, he knew, he would have still felt in Aselia. Even if it took more time for him to realize them, the love he held for those people would never waver; in this life now, or the next. However, there was no denying that Spirale had opened up so much more for Lloyd in ways he couldn’t even articulate; but he would forever be grateful for them as long as he lived.

.. sometimes, though.. he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d keep these memories forever. There was part of him that knew he would be happy to stay here for the rest of his life, if not for the fact that his journey was not yet finished on Aselia. Even still, there were people missing from his life here; Colette, Genis, Raine, Presea.. and most importantly, Dirk. If things had been settled, if they were all here with him.. Lloyd was sure he’d have no problem never going back.

But things couldn’t always work the way he wanted them to. Maybe someday he would be pulled back-- and if he was, would his time here remain in his mind? Or would he lose it, just as he’d watched in so many who left and returned?

Lloyd couldn’t be sure.. and maybe, that was something he’d never get the answer to. But even so..

“.. it doesn’t really matter, does it. Even if I lose them for a while, I know those memories will live on in my heart, no matter where I am. They’ll stay with me, and I’ll remember them overtime-- I know I will.”

Instead of going home straight away that day, Lloyd instead found one of his favourite spots on the island; up high on a branch of the Ophiuchus tree where you could see the city streamlines, overlooking the many lives that occupied Spirale. The sun was setting across the land, casting an orange glow against the place he’d grown to love-- and Lloyd smiled at the sight of it all, feeling his heart swell.

“I’ll always love my home. Iselia is all I remember from my past, and it gave me my dad, and my best friends. And.. I saved that world with them. It’ll always be important to me, but..”

“This place always will be, too. For as long as I’m here with Zelos, with dad, with everyone.. I’m not gonna take the time we have together for granted. I wanna keep living alongside them for as long as I can. I know it isn’t perfect here-- it hasn’t always been fun, and they’ve all still gone through so much.. but I’ll keep doing everything I can to make sure they’re happy. At the end of it all, that’s.. all I really care about. That everyone’s at peace, that they get a chance to rest and live how they want to.. after everything, it’s what they all deserve.”

He paused briefly, thinking on his words for a moment longer before he laughed, softly.

“.. and I wanna be at peace with them, too. It’s sort of weird that I’ve gone back to living a quiet life like this.. but it’s nice, too. I haven’t forgotten what I have to do back at home, but until I can be there again.. I’m gonna live.”

As the sun continued to set, Lloyd noticed a particular gleam of light bounce off of his Exsphere; casting his gaze down towards it as he smiled, caressing it with his hand.

“.. well..!” suddenly, the brunette stretched his arms over his head; breaking his solemn moment alone as his hands eventually found their way back to resting on his hips. The expression on his face changed, as well; growing more excitable than serious as he began his descent down the tree. “It’s gettin’ late-- if I take any longer, Zelos is definitely gonna yell at me..! I don’t wanna miss out on dinner, either!”

Lifting his head, Lloyd took one more look at the burning horizon before making his way back home.

#isola drabble #please pretend like i posted this yesterday KJDFHS i started it and got so busy so i couldn't finish it in time but...!!#happy one year isola anniversary to lloyd!! he has!! so many feelings abt being on the island for so long!#it's basically his second home and he loves it. he loves all the new friends and family he's made ;v;#thank you to everyone who's written with me since i brought him here. i'm so glad i did! <3 #anyway im not crying im fine #[is normal]

6 notes · View notes

ninjaslegos · 3 years

Note

I’m new to this matchup thing so I’m sorry if I did anything incorrectly. I’m non-binary (afab), bisexual (masc lean), I go by she/they, and I am 5’6. I watch shows (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Moral Orel, Ninjago, and The Most Popular Girls in School), games, and listen to music. (Usually sad music because it’s a coping mechanism) I’m a little distant and reserved at first, but I try my best to look after my friends. I’m easily irritated and be bitchy at times. (Hope this is good enough)

Hmm, this one was a little tricky, but then end, I decided you matched best with

Morro!

Don't worry, though, I'm original. I promise. This is actually ghost Morro; unlike the last matchup. He's much more cynical this way.

He doesn't mind that you're a she/they. Even if he doesn't get it at first, he learns. He will never misgender you, no matter how mad he might get when you're irritated.

He meets you by trying to escape the Departed Realm. What ended up happening is that he possessed you for a short while, before eventually becoming stable and now he can live outside your body and interact with things on his own.

He doesn't like being shorter than you. At least as a ghost, he can possess taller people and then brag about it.

Another thing he likes to do as a ghost is occupy the same space as you, then go just solid enough that it feels like your whole body is hugging him. It doesn't hurt you at all, or even tickle, you just feel weightless for a bit.

The shows you watch are rather cynical, so naturally, he likes them. "Haha, that person is crying." He's old so he doesn't understand tv that well at first, and it's cute watching him try to talk to the people in your laptop. "Stupid, of course that was going to happen! Why don't you listen to me?!"

Introducing him to games, you thought it would take him a while. Unfortunately, he has a very competitive spirit, and you end up losing very often to him.

He doesn't mind listening to sad music with you. It helps him relax his outward persona, and he shows how truly broken he is. I mean, the poor guy spent his whole childhood training to become the Green Ninja, was rejected, died trying to prove his worth, then traumatized Lloyd and his friends and betrayed everyone's trust in him.

Everyone's but yours.

You are his fresh start; an attempt at the most normal life he can live. Of course, he's dead and can't actually, truly live anymore, but he can experience how it would've been if he wasn't so fixated on something he couldn't have, and instead tried to be peaceful.

The peaceful thing? He's working on it. You're such a great help to him, too, as you look after him when he needs it.

Of course, when you get agitated, he tries to fix the problem. If you're angry about someone else, he removes them from the situation. If he can. "Morro, you can't just make my boss 'disappear'!"

If you're mad about something you did, he tries to fix the problem on his own. If you're mad about something he did, he might get snappy. "Well sorry that I tried." Huffy and pouty; all he knew before you was fighting!

Just don't get mad at him. He will very much take it personally, and fight with you before leaving for a couple hours, or even a day or two.

Of course, he always comes back, if you don't go looking for him first. You're the only person who's ever loved him, and how foolish of him to give it up, even if he was mad at you. You make it up in the end.

Be careful with him! He still can't go near water, or even liquids. If you're crying, he can't hug you, but he can still sit behind you and rub your back, and whisper kindly to you.

He may seem tough on the outside at first, but you can gradually break him down. He just needs a lot of care and love; something he didn't realize he was missing or needed until you came along.

Please, don't leave him. Not for real, anyway. He loves you too much to let you go.

#ninjago #matchups

9 notes · View notes

damfinofanfiction · 3 years

Text

Chapter 12: Home Again

When Buster returned to work the next day, he felt truly at home. All of his crew welcomed him back when they showed up at his studio. Even friends, including Roscoe paid a visit to say hello that afternoon. Just as Keaton thought he would be making the films he brought to the studio, his assumptions were wrong.

Schenck came to him and announced that he recently purchased the rights for the stage comedy “Battling Buttler.” and wanted him to make it a feature. Buster was half disappointed with the news. Seven Chances is a musical (he can easily strip out the musical elements), not a farce. But Buster had wanted to make an original story after adapting a stage play and even told Schenck the idea that he and Lex had come up while on the east, but not all ideas can be realized and they had not given much thought to it.

Buster still has Sherwood’s story, but he had to remain in New York for his job, so they cannot work around that unless he comes to Los Angeles on vacation, which would most likely be in the summer. If he wanted to make a film done by fall, he will have to adapt Battling Buttler and put the western comedy idea and Skyscraper on hold just in case something comes up.

Meanwhile, Buster checked outside to see if Gail had arrived yet. Several days had passed since he asked her to visit his studio, but she had not appeared. He knew she was interested. She may have been busy, chickened out, or forgotten his invitation. He was losing hope until he saw her walking at the outdoor set in her amazement.

He walked up to her, “Hello.”

As she greeted him back, he heard the male British accent, “Well, if it is the stone face himself!”

It was then he noticed that she was accompanied by two others behind her.

“Sorry, I hope you didn’t mind if I brought my friends. They wanted to come too.”

“No problem as long as they don’t misbehave.”

The Brit chirped out, “You have a voice of some sort. Didn’t think it would be coming from you!”

Gail gestured him to them, “You remember Sally. And this is her boyfriend-”

He shook Keaton’s hand in a swift movement, “Sterling Thomas, social aristocrat and one of the kin of the canned food manufacturer. A pleasure to meet you.”

Buster felt uneasy with this sudden introduction. Sally pulled him apart from her paramour saying, “Cut that out, you might be scaring him.”

He tipped his hat to the comedian, “My apologies, Have you visited my home country?”

“England?” he was responded with a nod, “Yeah, my folks and I went there for our vaudeville tour, but we left early cause my father didn’t enjoy the food there.”

Sterling gave him a sullen look, "Aw, he isn't fond of shepherd's pie and steak with kidney pie?"

Sally bluntly added, “Yeah, One of them must be the reason.”

“I missed being there. If I had time for a European vacation, I would be happy to go back there.”

“So Keaton, Could we have a look around?” Sally chirped in, “I’m sure Gail would be dying to have a tour.”

He clarified to the blonde, “Buster is fine. And I'd like to, but I’m afraid my schedule is busy. I’ll have someone here to guide you." They nodded in approval and Buster went inside to prepare a meeting with his gag writers. That evening, the studio was closing down for the night. Almost everyone has gone home and Buster was getting ready to leave when he spotted Gail coming in.

“You’re still here?”

“No, I only came back to drop off my resume.” she handed him the Manilla envelope titled to the studio with her return address listed on the top left corner.

“How have you been? How did the rest of the train ride go?”

“Just fine, I had done some reading and mingling with the passengers. How about yours?”

“The same, I spent some time playing cards with my father, my friend Lex, and manager for MGM Nick. Do you play bridge?”

“Yes, an aunt of Sally has her and me help her practice for monthly game nights. Oh, and I had found work as a background character in the movie The Freshman.”

“Harold Lloyd’s upcoming feature?”

“That’s right, it was in the middle of production, but they needed more additional actors. Today happened to be my day off.” She assured buster, “My schedule will be free as soon as filming is finished.”

“Aren't you working as a bathing beauty?” he had just remembered her mentioning it on the gin mill.

“Not anymore, I wanted to work on more features than shorts except if they offer me starring roles. So when are you casting?”

“Well, for right now we are looking out for boxers.”

When Gail questioned him, he told her “I’m adapting Battling Buttler. Since that show is a musical, I can remove the aspects and the T from the title so there will be no need for a pun.”

“Will there still be a leading lady?”

“Of course. I’d like to ask you something? Can you play baseball?”

“Is that required?”

“We played the game when we take a break from filming. It helps me come up with ideas."

“I can least throw a ball. Still needs practice, though.”

He looked at his watch, “I still have to get going. Do you have a ride home?”

“I can always call a taxi.”

He shook his head, “It doesn’t seem to be safe in the dark. Come with me, I’ll have my chauffeur, Caruthers drive you there.”

Gail was reluctant but went on ahead. Buster sat in the back next to Gail as Caruthers (surprised with an additional passenger.) drove the vehicle to Wilshire Boulevard. They dropped her off at the block to get out quickly. “Thank you, but you don’t have to do this.”

“Well, we’re friends, I don’t mind helping. I’ll keep you posted for the job.”

She waved goodbye as she left the car “Until then Take it or leave it!”

The car didn't leave until it was sure Gail got into the house in one piece. Buster opened the envelope on the way and read her 2- page resume. Then he stared at her headshot until he realized he was blushing.

One week later, Schenck barged into Buster’s office informing him, “Keaton! I’m afraid something’s had just come up.”

“What happened?” Buster said, looking straight at him.

“Some writer of Battling Butler had no idea that you’ll be making that picture. So he considered backing out of that deal.”

“Damn,” Keaton uttered. As he scratched his head, he added, “I guess we ought to make that western comedy after all.”

**********

Gail still hadn't heard from Buster. She knew that she must be very patient as it’s been a week. She remembered feeling tense when she was in his car, but was thrilling for her. She wanted to forget that Buster is a cheat, but only because his wife doesn’t want to sleep with him anymore. At the same time, she kept imagining a red A plastered on his chest like The Scarlet Letter. But for now, she had to keep him off her mind as she was currently on the set of The Freshman.

The scenes had her either outdoors or in the auditorium, which felt bigger than the set in Gold Rush. But now she was in the Ballroom scene. Beatrice had joined her because the Bathing beauties had been slow lately. It was so crowded that she couldn’t tell which actor was Harold Lloyd until he wore the glasses. She was reminded of her college days, except she stayed at the women's boarding house outside the college grounds.

Filming took too long that she didn’t get home after midnight. She tiptoed upstairs to her room lest to wake up whoever’s present, changed into her pajamas, freshened up a bit, and went to bed. Two hours later, she awoke when she felt someone climbing into the bed next to her. She turned to, in shock, a naked Sterling lying on his side.

Her scream alarmed Lenore and Sally, with the latter wrapping herself in a dressing gown as they rushed to her room.

“Christ!” Lenore covered her eyes in disgust for his indecency.

Covering himself with a pillow, Sterling apologized with a slurred tone. “Oh, sorry, I thought it was me girl.”

Lenore went to a shocked Gail and comforted her, “What has he done to you?”

Gail assured her nothing happened. Lenore brought her purse from her bedroom and gave him the fee for the taxi.

She took Sterling down the stairs, kicked him out after putting his clothes back on, “I want you out of my house and never come back!” The front door was shut in his face. Upon climbing up again, she commanded her niece to go back to bed, “We’ll discuss this in the morning.”

Silently, Sally obeyed her, so intoxicated that she seemed unaware of the situation. When she threw up on route, Gail offered to assist her to the bathroom.

The next morning, the women of the house woke up late, choosing to attend the 1:30 Sunday service. Gail and Lenore had their breakfast in silence.

Sally slowly climbed down the stairs now wearing a nightgown underneath her robe. “Did I die and go to hell?” she said with her hand on her forehead.

Lenore replied while avoiding eye contact with her niece, ”No, you have just gone to hell.”

Gail, still shaken from last night, poured her a cup of coffee and handed her a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

After finishing her meal and starting to recover from her hangover, Sally headed towards the stairs saying, “I’ll be going over to Sterling’s and see how he’s doing.”

Lenore stood up from the table, “Stop right there, miss! I don’t want you to see that man again.”

Sally hollered at her, “You can tell a grown woman what to do!” They took the argument upstairs but remained in Gail’s earshot.

“Didn’t you remember what he did last night? He climbed into the bed next to Gail in the buff!”

“Auntie, He was probably so drunk that he couldn’t tell the difference.”

“He would’ve raped her right there!”

“We already screwed when we got home. He wouldn’t be tired of me that soon.”

“I don’t know what has gotten to you. You’re turning into your mother.”

“What do you know? You and uncle Stanley left Brooklyn because you were embarrassed by us.”

Lenore defended herself, “We came here to invest in real estate. If they hadn't sent you to me, you would have been a prostitute, but you still throw yourself to any man."

Gail fed Persia to distract herself, but to no avail. She then proceeded to empty her table.

“Admit it, you wished you’re related to Gail because she’s everything I’m not.”

Gail stopped when she heard this.

“This was your idea to take her in because you didn't want to give up your nightlife. I wanted to teach you about responsibility, that’s why you’re sent here”

"No, they told me to go here so I could watch you."

“Well, I think they’re wrong because the messed up one is you.”

Something snapped in Gail when she shouted, “Stop! Stop it!” The plate slipped out of her hand. It shattered into a bunch of pieces, scaring the cat. They rushed downstairs at the source of the noise only to find Gail by the kitchen sink and a broken plate on the floor. She whimpered as she said, “My grandmother died, I came all the way to New York just to break up with Benjamin, I had no idea if my career would ever progress and there you are, arguing.” she turned to them, “I’m tired, I’m tired.” she was this close to shedding her tears when she shouted, “Why can't you two get along like a goddam family!"

She ran upstairs to her room. She sobbed when her face landed on her pillow. She wished she didn’t say all that to them, but it was right for her. She heard a few knocks on the door. In the room were Sally and Lenore

Sally said to her, “I am awfully sorry.” Gail had never seen her act like this. “I should’ve been more sympathetic to you.”

“You were right,” Lenore said in a broken voice. “We weren’t getting along. But we’re family so we’ll try to make it all better.” They all cuddled up in a very comforting hug.

She looked around her room, only it wasn’t her room, to begin with. It wasn’t like the one she grew up in. She didn’t feel like she was meant to be here.

“That’s fine.”

She let go of their embrace, “But I’m not your family.” She never felt at home no matter what.

“I think it’s time for me to move out.”

Even though they were stunned by her statement, Lenore and Sally agreed.

Note: There I never thought I would finish it on time but I did. Do you think it was getting too dramatic? I would like your feedback on my chapters.

#buster keaton fandom #Buster Keaton #buster fic #buster keaton fanfiction #actor RPF #buster #silent comedy #silent film #silent era

5 notes · View notes

sarcasticsir · 3 years

Text

No Need To Be Afraid When I'm Here With You

Okay so this fic was entirely self-indulgent. It's also my first fanfiction so that's something. This has been in my notes for a while now so fuck it, I'm posting it.

In which Garmadon and Lloyd traverse the serpentine tombs. The only problem? Lloyd's afraid of the dark.

**********************************************

As the serpentine and humans had only just recently become allies, someone had to go check on them to make sure they were doing okay in their new home. Lloyd had volunteered, needing something to keep his mind off of Zane, and his dad had decided to accompany him since the ninja had left the week before.

Lloyd had actually been looking forward to this trip. He was curious about the serpentines culture, and what their new home was like. Of course, he had overlooked one small (huge) detail. They're serpentine, so they live underground. Where it's cold and wet. And, more importantly, dark. Very dark. As in pitch black, can't see two metres in front of you kind of dark. The kind of dark where something could be following you, and you would never even know until it's too late.

So Lloyd may have a slight fear of the dark. Slight. He figured it probably first came from that one time the other boys locked him outside during the night in the middle of a violent storm. As a 5 year old, it was terrifying. But for a 5 year old who had already been a little afraid of the dark, it was pure torture. But that's in the past, the past is past and all that. It was fine really. He was fine. That was what he kept telling himself as they entered the new serpentine tomb.

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

It wasn't even that bad. It was well lit by glowing torches that lined the walls. The heat they produced chasing away some of the cold. Still, Lloyd didn't like the way the shadows lining the walls would move hauntingly as the torches flickered in a faraway breeze. He inched closer to his dad, telling himself that it was just because of the cold, not because he was scared or anything. He's the green ninja, he's fought darkness before. Ah. There was the other reason he was (not) afraid of the dark. The Overlord.

Lloyd's train of thought was thankfully cut off as they arrived at the serpentines chambers. After the usual greeting and some talking, Lloyd found himself wandering off a bit. His father seemed to have it covered anyway.

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

Garmadon and Scales were having the usual dad conversation, as Lloyd had decided to call it. Wait, Scales was a dad now. That was weird to think about. But Scales Jr. seemed nice enough where they played (um, did he say played? No, no, he meant- wait-) on the floor, just within Lloyd's earshot of the pair. Lloyd realised from what the two adults were saying, that their conversation seemed to be coming to a close. He considered getting up and joining them, but decided against it, choosing to continue chatting happily with Scales Jr. about the Starfarer comics he so cherished.

That was until Scales asked about where Garmadon and Lloyd were going. Lloyd noticed his dad hesitate for only a second, before answering truthfully. It was okay. They were allies now. They could be trusted. Scales was now telling Garmadon about a new tunnel that had just recently been drilled that would take them closer to where they needed to go. Oh, cool. That was nice of him. The path they had taken had been pretty far away from his dads monastery. He might even get some training in before it got too late. Lloyd came back from his thoughts to see his father waving him over. He quickly said goodbye to Scales Jr. and promised that the next time they visited, he'd bring some of his comics with him. He then turned and happily bounded (walked) his way over to his dads side. Lloyd pouted as his dad swept a hand through his hair affectionately with a bright grin on his face. Lloyd returned the grin with a small smile of his own. Maybe today was gonna be a good day.

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

His bubbly mood was immediately smashed into a billion tiny pieces as soon as he saw the tunnel they were taking home. Lloyd could see what Scales meant now when he said that it was recently made. The hard ground was uneven and rough, making Lloyd trip every few steps. But that wasn't even the worst part. No, the worst part was the lack of light sources. It was the unnerving darkness creeping all around him.

As Lloyd already said. He doesn't like the dark. He wasn't about to show any signs that he was scared though, of course not. He couldn't let his dad, his sensei, know. He's supposed to be the green ninja, the most powerful ninja in all of Ninjago. He shouldn't be afraid of anything. But he is. And he hates that. His dad doesn't need to know that though.

"Watch your step here son, the ground's pretty uneven up here," Garmadon says suddenly, breaking the silence, and Lloyd notices that the floor seemed to be sloping up a bit. Maybe they were almost out? He hoped so. Lloyd stumbles for what must be the 50th time since they started this treck. He barely catches himself before he falls flat on his face, silently thanking Wu for the balance exercises. Lloyd can't see his fathers face, but he can feel his gaze on him and can only imagine the look of concern he's being given.

"I know you're a rebellious teenager, but maybe listening to me now and then wouldn't hurt." Nevermind, Lloyd was wrong about his dads concern.

"Well I can't exactly listen out for all the rocks in my way, now can I?" Lloyd had always been pretty sarcastic, but it only seemed to occur more often when he aged up, much to the dismay of his family.

"That was quick" Garmadon replies, a smirk audible in his words. Lloyd doesn't answer, too preoccupied with the ever increasing pit of anxiety growing in his chest. He really didn't like the dark.

Garmadon must have sensed his son's anxiety, because he slowed down his pace to walk beside Lloyd. "What's wrong?" Lloyd could just about see Garmadons face now, his features painted with worry as he squinted down at Lloyd.

"Nothing." A lie. Great. Lloyd really doesn't want Garmadon to find out about his fear. Yes, he's admitting it, he's afraid of the dark. He just wants to get out of there and into the light, away from the shadows (and whatever could be hiding in the pitch black of the tunnel).

"Lloyd, I know you. I know something's wrong. You can tell me, it's okay," Garmadon says, tone soft and caring. Fuck. Lloyd can't tell him. What would Garmadon think of him if he found out his son, his son who he is actually proud of, is afraid of something so silly as the dark. Lloyd averts his gaze, immediately regretting that decision as all he can see is black. The pressure in his chest becomes stronger, making it hard to breathe, and Lloyd worries that he's going to start hyperventilating. He wants to cry.

"Son, please," his dad presses, and Lloyd hears his footsteps cease at the same time as a weight grips Lloyd's shoulder. In hindsight, he really should have known that it was his father's reassuring hand on his shoulder, but Lloyd was scared and it was dark and he couldn't see. He flinched rather violently backwards, losing his footing and falling on his butt on the cold, hard ground.

"Lloyd, are you okay?" Garmadon is crouching in front of Lloyd now, and Lloyd suddenly feels awful, seeing the look of concern and the warmth that he's still getting used to seeing in his fathers crimson eyes. "Please tell me what's going on, son." Lloyd takes a breath, feeling the jagged floor beneath his hands, attempting to ground himself. He lowers his head and squeezes his eyes shut tight. His dad may be disappointed in him after this, but he can't bear to lie to him when his dad's so worried about him. Well, here goes nothing. "I'm afraid of the dark," he whispers out in one breath, keeping his eyes closed, not wanting to see his fathers reaction. "Oh," his dad is just barely audible, and Lloyd can't really make out how his dad is feeling. He prepares himself for whatever is coming next.

And then the one thing Lloyd didn't prepare himself for happens. A familiar, gentle pressure cups his face. Lloyd slowly opens his eyes, meeting his dads loving gaze. His father strokes his thumb across his cheek, wiping away a tear that Lloyd hadn't even realised was there. That weight in his chest makes itself known again by rising to his throat and Lloyd finds more tears spilling onto his flushed cheeks. His father pulls him to his chest, holding him close. Lloyd burrows his face into the crook of his dads neck as his father strokes his hair comfortingly.

They stayed like that for a while, and Lloyd's sobs quieten to slight hiccups and sniffles. "Please don't leave me," Lloyd's voice is muffled where his face is still resting against the silky, lavender scented fabric on Garmadons shoulder, but judging from what Garmadon says next, Lloyd figures he heard him. "What?!" Garmadon pulls away from their hug to place both his hands on Lloyd's shoulders with a firm but comforting grip. "Why would I leave you?" Garmadon asks, bewildered. Lloyd swipes at his eyes with his sleeve, "because."

"Because why?" Garmadon pins him with a penetrating stare and Lloyd squirms under his gaze.

"Because I'm a disappointment." Lloyd feels the sting of tears again but stubbornly ignores it.

Garmadon makes some noises that Lloyd can't quite understand before taking a breath and asking with a forced calmness, "why- why are you a disappointment?"

"Because, I'm supposed to be the saviour of Ninjago, the green ninja, and I'm afraid of the dark," Lloyd mutters, picking at a hole in his sleeve and avoiding his dads eyes. Garmadon hesitates, choosing his next words wisely. He had forgotten how bad Lloyd's 'I have to constantly prove myself, even at my own peril or else everyone I love will hate me and abandon me' fears were.

"Just because you're afraid of something, does not make you weak, and it certainly does not make you a disappointment, in fact, if you weren't afraid of anything, you'd be a fool," Garmadon answers, giving Lloyd a reassuring smile when he looked up, "I love you, sweetheart, and I am very proud of you, I always will be, no matter what. It's okay to admit that you're scared, that's a very brave thing to do." Garmadon seemed to think about something for a second before saying "How about I let you in on a little secret?"

That got his sons attention. Garmadon chuckled, "you have to promise that you won't tell anyone though, okay?"

"Okay I promise," Lloyd answered, curiosity temporarily taking over what was left of his fear.

"Not even Wu."

"Okay dad, I promise I wont tell anyone."

"Or Misako."

"DAD!" The mischievous grin on Garmadons face melted into a fit of laughter.

"Okay, I'll tell you," Garmadon could see that the suspense was killing Lloyd, he was thoroughly enjoying this, but there was also a point to what he was about to tell his son, "I'm actually afraid of snakes."

"Wha- really?" asked Lloyd, wide eyed.

"Yes, really."

"But what about the serpentine?" something seemed to click in Lloyd's mind.

"I didn't want you coming alone."

"O-oh" Lloyd gazed up at his dad, a small smile forming on his lips after a few seconds, "thank you." Garmadon returned the smile, and quickly moved to ruffle Lloyd's hair, eliciting a groan from the teen and a bat at his hand.

Garmadon stood up, offering a hand and helping Lloyd to his feet. He figured they must be near the surface now, but judging from the slight shake in Lloyd's hand, his son was still scared. "Would you feel better if I held your hand the rest of the way?" offered Garmadon, hoping to somehow make his son feel safer.

Lloyd considered his father's words carefully. A part of Lloyd told him no, that that was childish, but then again, he hadn't held his dads hand since he was a child (which, in his defense, really wasn't that long ago), and he figured he was probably a little (a lot) touchstarved. So it only took him a few moments before shyly responding "yeah." Garmadon took Lloyd's smaller hand into his warm, calloused hand, briefly squeezing it before the two walked side by side through the darkness.

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

It didn't take them too much longer to find the exit. Lloyd felt relieved seeing the bright rays of sunlight scattered across the rocky floor. He didn't run ahead, surprisingly, instead choosing to stay by his fathers side. Garmadon still held Lloyd's hand as they walked home, and Lloyd was glad for it. The more time he spent with his dad, the more he realised that it didn't matter what he did or felt or that he was the green ninja. His dad's love was unconditional. And he showed that love through small gestures, like hair ruffles or hugs, and Lloyd was all too happy to return the gesture.

#my fic #ninjago #ninjago lloyd #ninjago garmadon #sensei garmadon #garmadon #lloyd garmadon #i had no idea what to title it #ill get better i swear #ive just got so much i need to do so im not sure if ill ever come back to this #so im posting it now before i forget and move onto some other project #ill probably do more of these #theyll most likely be centered around the Garmadon family but we'll see #also this was written on my phone #so i have no idea how this looks on laptop lmao #so sorry if this looks bad i kinda just went for it #ill cut off my rambling now #edit: im trying to do read more so its not as annoyingly long

26 notes · View notes

benisasoftboi · 3 years

Text

Unorganised thoughts on Trails of Cold Steel III:

...I’m gonna need like a week to process that

I guess I know why people hate George now!

Could really use a good old reset from KeA right now

This is the best game in the Cold Steel series so far. Easily

I... there’s no way they’re all really dead, right? This series has been completely toothless about killing anyone who isn’t a villain until now, no way they’re permanently killing someone who’s been here since practically day 1, no way. Show me a body

And even then I’ll doubt it with all these revivals happening all over the place

‘He’s HIDING’ I sob as I apply clown make-up

Ben Diskin did not need to go so hard on the voice acting at Millium’s death he did not need to do that to me

My god when Angie drove into the graveyard and my PS4 popped up a little notification telling me it was a blocked scene, the tension in me... and I never saw that coming, I’ll have to see if it was foreshadowed at all by replaying CS1 and 2 some time

I saw Lughman being a baddie a mile away (a mysterious professor turning out to be evil in a Trails game? UNPRECEDENTED!) but he’s Alisa’s dad!?

Neat writing trick actually, since they probably knew we’d guess the former, they blindside us with the latter

I can’t express how happy it made me that the Rufus battle was Machias Jusis Elliot. My dream team!

Estelle and Joshua got mentioned so much I figured they’d make a surprise appearance at the end and save the day

So. Characters:

Rean: Rean is once again moderately more interesting than he was before, but still the least interesting person in the game. I guess he’s got some guilt that’s actually justified now, that’s cool?

I ship him with Crow, not because the pairing really appeals to me that much, but because being shipped with Crow would totally piss Rean off and I find that extremely funny

His relationship with Altina is the best relationship he’s ever had with a female character and it is 100% because she’s the only girl he’s never ship teased with

(I don’t have an issue with the concept of ship tease itself, I have an issue with Rean-ship tease because 1. I still truly do not understand why so many girls like him so much and 2. None of it will ever canonically go anywhere)

(Seriously I’m so tempted to write a breakdown of why every other guy in Erebonia is more desirable than Rean)

Juna: I like Juna. I realised early on that she and Kurt remind me of Estelle and Joshua, without being carbon copies, and that’s good. I also think her relationship with Rean was really interesting - ‘I don’t know how to feel about you because you saved my life, but it also wouldn’t have needed saving if it weren’t for your country’s actions, which you’ve played a major role in - but now I’m being forced to confront that you’re a human being too’ is a really complicated situation for her. It’s a lot more interesting than ‘I don’t like you because you accidentally got a face full of chest’, Alisa

I also really liked using her, I ended up loading her with the Platinum Pecky Medal and defensive stuff, and she was a wall, she took an S-craft from Arianrhod in her stride! My buff girl!

She should’ve just been the new protagonist ngl

Kurt: Kurt had a lot to live up to, seeing as his brother is my favourite minor character. And oh does he succeed, Kurt is my favourite of New VII, he’s a good straight man, he’s great in battle, I like his arc, I like his friendship with Juna, I like Kurt

Altina: I was not sure about Altina just... being a student now. But damn if she didn’t have the best character arc in the game. I only did her final bonding event on a whim, but it’s the best one I saw. My girl Allie deserves the damn world

I really, truly believe those three have a bond as well, they’re very well written as a group. This was a problem I had with Old VII, the fact that so many of them just... didn’t have relationships with each other. How do, say, Fie and Machias feel about each other? I have no idea. But this group has a fantastic dynamic and it makes that ending so much more effective

It’s like I praised Crossbell for, really - having a small core group is much more manageable in terms of giving them all equal screen time and getting me to care about them

Musse: Uh, kind of one-note and annoying, honestly. I don’t hate her or anything, but like... she’s either Being Mysterious or Hitting On Her Teacher (I hate it I hate it so much). It’s just hard to care about someone who’s clearly so fake, I guess? I’m definitely interested in her, but like... I don’t really like her

Ash: Poor boy. I thought Ash was such an interesting character (and man do I love having someone around who does not like Rean, and never really changes his mind about it). Ash is very well done imo

Alisa: Alisa is good when the issue is her family drama, and is so goddamn boring when it comes to Rean. Nothing new there

Elliot: I love his little ponytail I love it he’s so cute I want to hug him so bad

Laura: Winner of the ‘best new outfit’ award (was never that fond of her war outfit, but this one is perfect). Still good, but not notably so. I feel so bad for Laura, she tries so hard to matter, but she’s by far the character you’d have the easiest time lifting out of the game

And while I love Elliot... same situation really. You could go back to the start and have one character named Elliaura who likes swords and music and has two big-shot dads, and you wouldn’t lose much

Machias: Took down Rufus, yeah, destroy your best friend (boyfriend)’s evil family! Winner of the ‘worst new outfit’ award, AGAIN. Also winner of ‘dorkiest S-craft’. I did his final bonding event first, and according to Playstation trophies it’s the least popular one! Stop sleeping on my boy Machias guys, I know he was annoying in the first game but I love him :(

Gaius: Special award to Gaius for finally being interesting! Boy’s a Gralsritter now, did not see that coming!

And of course it happened off screen. Because god forbid interesting stuff happen to Gaius when we’re actually around

Oh also goddamn, that is a beautiful man

Emma: Don’t really like the new outfit. It’s kind of remarkable that she’s so important but I keep forgetting she exists. Exposition witch who sometimes just doesn’t deliver the exposition I guess

Fie: Still my fav girl. Wish there had been more focus on her feelings about her dad coming back to life. Like that she’s a bracer

Jusis: Wasn’t sure how to feel about his newly close friendship with Millium because I was concerned that I was meant to ship it (by far my least favourite thing about this franchise is that that was not an unreasonable concern, as it wouldn’t even be the most inappropriate relationship in this game alone). Very, very glad it was confirmed sibling-y (not that it’s stopped them before). He didn’t really get to do anything else, sadly, but he’s good as always

I did the Purebread contest with him, and he made bread from coffee beans Machias gave him, the Ferdibert Fire Emblem energy-

“What are you doing underneath this scarlet Pleroma Grass?”

Milliam: :(

Sara: Doesn’t get much to do because this cast is bloated but like, I still really like her :)

Towa: Someone needs to check on Towa all her friends are dead or evil the poor poor girl (or uh. I guess Crow isn’t... hmm.)

Angie :(

My kids Tita and Agate are back and completely overshadowed by people teasing this almost 30-year old man about being in love with a 17 year old that he’s only ever claimed to see as a sister, I swear to god

The orbal gear looks so goofy lol

Stop mentioning Schera as just being ‘totally here, just off screen, ha ha’ give her a model! Have her be here!

Don’t get me wrong, I loved seeing Josette again, I just don’t get... why? Why is she here?

Tio is back! And so is Randy, as a major character! I’m very very happy, I love them both

Michael’s fine, I guess? He’s kind of bland but I guess that’s kind of the point and I like him just fine. He serves his purpose well

I’ve never really liked Claire all that much, but she’s fine in this one again I suppose. A bit disappointed by the Lechter reveals really, I had expected more, to be honest

Aurelia is a fun character and I enjoy her as the principal. Want to see her fight Cassius

Want to see Cassius

I love my girl Annabelle, but she’s the only reason I didn’t get all the character profiles (how was I meant to know I could even go to the highway at that point hmmm Falcom!?)

They picked a good selection of returning Thors students. Even Dorothee isn’t as annoying as she used to be. Hilarious that she’s the only one who didn’t get a profile

Juna gave a great big speech about how awesome the SSS are and namedrops everyone EXCEPT WAZY! My FAVOURITE Crossbell character! So offensive!

Oh speaking of offensive I took Machias to the Mishy show and was told he and Rean did a Mishy dance but they didn’t show it, what the hell-

Playable Olivier! Olivier back story! I could write a goddamn essay on why Olivier is such a great character. Glaring at you Falcom

I miss Mueller :(

Ada Grant is wonderful and I want better things for her

Rufus is a damn great villain just because of how much sense his actions suddenly make when you know that one little detail of him not actually being Jusis’s brother

I hate Cedric but like, in a way where I’m having fun hating him. That little bitch

Literally what do you even actually want Osbourne

I still cannot stand Elise. Something I realised playing this game is that one of the things that stops the Estelle and Joshua relationship from being as weird as it could be is that they don’t look at all alike, it’s very clear they’re not related in the slightest. Elise and Rean look like they really could be siblings, and come to think, so do Lloyd and Cecile. Which is also teased, to a lesser extent. It would be so much less uncomfortable if they just swapped Elise and Alfin’s models ngl (though still not good)

inb4 the final plot twist of the whole series is that Estelle and Joshua actually were biological siblings all along

This game looks so much better than its predecessors. Having the models being a little rounder and softer looking makes it look much more like an updated version of the original style than the complete departure that was CS1 and 2. Every time there was a flashback, Rean would be like ‘back then...’ and I’d feel compelled to say out loud ‘when we were shiny, and looked bad!’

‘Evil ancient magic corrupts people into making them do bad things!’ is... honestly a bit of a cop out that I did not expect from this series

I found Rean telling Patrick ‘leave room for Aidios when dancing with my sister’ extremely funny. Rean would totally be a Christian summer camp counsellor in the real world

I honestly would have enjoyed it a lot more if Alfin decided to cause a scandal and have her first dance with Elise, but we can’t have such luxuries I suppose

When you get that book on dystopias, very clever to put the author on the last page. Seeing the name Gideon gave me such a start

Racquel was easily my fav new location

Leeves > Trista no doubt, maybe I’m just biased because it looks a lot like the village I grew up in but it’s just such a nicer design

Also the branch campus > main campus purely for being smaller, making the filler segments between field trips more bearable

I prefer the longer but fewer chapters set-up, I think

There’s so many sad faces in this write up :(

Back when I played Sky SC, I said something about how one of the themes is ‘you are not defined by your trauma’. I now think it would be more accurate to say that the theme of all the games (but especially the Sky arc) is ‘don’t let your worst experiences define you’

Because there are characters who define themselves by their traumas and worst experiences - and those characters are all villains, or miserable, or both. Like, they don’t phrase it as such, but the requirement to be an Ouroboros enforcer is ‘have trauma and define yourself by it’

And both Joshua and Renne’s arcs are about learning not to do that

Equally, the idea that ‘it’s much easier to not to define yourself by your trauma when you have a good support system that wants the best for you’ is a big theme as well

I just think that’s a really interesting idea for a JRPG series to tackle, idk

I can’t believe I’m at the last game! This series has been my life for the past near-half a year, what do I do when I finish it?

...go back and play Sky FC, maybe?

#trails of cold steel 3 #trails of cold steel #trails series #kiseki series #erebonia arc

13 notes · View notes

ninja-go-to-therapy · 4 years

Text

Whumptober 5: Where Do You Think You’re Going?

On the Run

I finally got around to writing something for my own damn AU, and it’s not even canon! I’m great at this.

Summary: Months after escaping from Prime Empire, Scott finds himself in Paris with none other than Unagami. It doesn’t go well. (This is of course part of the Miraculous crossover that I talk about sometimes on @blursed-ninjago-ideas)

Trigger Warnings: death threats, violence, panic attacks

4517 words

The years of his life Scott had lost to Prime Empire were hard to come to terms with. Every day he had been in there, he was well aware of the passage of time, but it was still the hardest thing he’d ever gone through.

Every day he had convinced himself that he would get out soon.

That first day, he was certain he’d be out by the end of the week. By the end of the week, he thought it couldn’t possibly be longer than a month.

It had gone on for years. Thirty, specifically.

Everyone he had ever known and loved had grieved and moved on. He had missed decades with them. His friends. His family. Everyone.

And it was all Unagami’s fault — right. Unagami was actually just a stupid little child who hadn’t really known what he was doing. He was supposed to be trying to get along with him, because he needed to be a role model or some shit.

Honestly, now that the kid wasn’t actively keeping him trapped inside a game for decades, he wasn’t all that bad. Sure, he could be a bit of a brat at times, but that was a phase that all children went through.

And apparently, he lowkey — that was the word Jay liked to use, right? He was so behind on the current slang — idolized Scott. Yeah, the child who’d been trying to turn him into a lifeless, numb, empty little energy cube for years and years and years, thought he was cool. That was… something, he supposed.

He was mostly doing this because Jay had all but begged him to. Said it made him a good person and he needed to let go of his anger.

Scott didn’t know if he would call it anger. He couldn’t bring himself to hate Unagami, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t a little… well… uncomfortable around him. Yeah, that was definitely the right word.

But that was dumb. That debacle was finally over, and even if the nightmares and trauma didn’t go away, it wasn’t like Unagami acted malicious anymore. He wasn’t trying to kill anyone anymore.

So what if every time Unagami did much of anything, Scott’s grip on whatever it may have been that he was holding tightened enough to break a bone? That wasn’t that concerning. Everybody did that. Probably.

And hey, he could have had worse problems than scratching up his hands when he was nervous or anxious or really freaked out or really scared or flashing back to that cramped dark horrible nothingness when he was just lines of code trapped in a little energy cube with no way to get in or out or anything — and, uh, everyone had a random bad dream once in awhile. Or every night.

But he could put that aside, because he was a mature adult.

So here he was, babysitting an arcade-game-turned-boy, who was surprisingly energetic and very bright-eyed.

“When are the ninja coming back?” Unagami asked, popping up from behind the couch.

Scott barely suppressed a surprised curse. This kid was way too light on his feet. “I don’t know,” he said, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

Unagami, unlike most kids would, actually accepted that as an answer and went back to his BorgPad, tapping away at the screen.

The thing was, nobody had seen the ninja in a few weeks, now. Scott was beginning to get concerned. After Lloyd had disappeared — which had been information divulged to Scott privately by Jay, because they didn’t want the general public to know — the next few days had been spent in a raw panic. And then, total radio silence.

He hadn’t heard from the ninja since.

He hoped they were okay. He was a little too familiar with people disappearing only to never be heard from again. Well, not until thirty years after the fact.

He wasn’t bitter, not at all.

“What are you doing, anyway?” Scott asked, trying to get his mind off the subject. He was supposed to be taking care of the kid for the day, he might as well have been trying to make some sort of connection.

“Hacking the Hexagon!” Unagami said, looking up from his screen with a big smile.

Oh, that was nice — wait, what?

“Excuse me?” Scott asked, jumping over the back of the couch and crouching on the floor, where Unagami was sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce. Scott peered over his shoulder at the screen.

“If they didn’t want it hacked they shouldn’t have made it so easy,” Unagami shrugged.

Was it… was it normal for a child to be hacking into government facilities from a BorgPad?

Scott was going to go out on a limb and say no. …It was probably just an AI thing? Yeah, it was probably fine.

He watched for a moment as Unagami’s fingers flew across the screen, lines in a language Scott didn’t understand everywhere. He’d never had the ambition to learn how to code.

But damn, back before Prime Empire, people had hardly even dreamed of tech like this.

It was kind of crazy.

Scott was going to be honest with himself. The BorgPad was cool. It had tons of features that were all put together onto one little device — texting and pictures and games and social media and more. It had everything.

But at the end of the day, it was just another reminder that Scott had missed out on so much while he’d been trapped inside the game.

Back in his day, people had been perfectly content with “low quality” arcade games and flip phones. But now… well, people like Cyrus Borg were completely changing the world.

It was cool. But it stung.

“As long as you don’t get like, in trouble with the law or something. I don’t want Dyer buggin’.”

Unagami gave him a weird look, but slowly lowered his gaze back to the screen.

Right. People didn’t say that anymore, did they? His vocabulary was really outdated. He was really outdated.

He sighed, standing up and heading to the kitchen so he could make some tea. Jay had given him some, claiming it was really calming.

Scott could use a little of that right now.

The label was faded enough that it was basically unreadable. Scratch that, it was completely unreadable. Did tea expire…? Nah, Jay wouldn’t have given it to him if it was bad.

As the tea was brewing, Scott leaned against the counter, fiddling with his phone. It had been brand new technology at the time, and had been pretty expensive.

Now, according to Jay, it was “mega-outdated”.

That hurt more than it should have. He remembered being so excited about this thing, but now it was nothing compared to the technology of today.

“You want some tea?” Scott asked when it was done, going for a mug.

“What does it taste like?” Unagami asked, setting aside his tablet and coming over to observe the tea with interest.

“Uhh… I dunno, haven’t tried it yet,” he shrugged.

“I think I would like some, please.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Scott went to pour it, but as he was doing so, he found his mind wandering to wondering where the ninja had disappeared to again. It was strange that they had just —

“Is that supposed to be happening?” Unagami asked.

Scott looked down at the tea, concerned to see a bright glow spilling from the kettle. “Uh…” before he could come up with a rational answer, it brightened, all but blinding the two as it took over the room.

When it faded, there was nothing left but a broken mug on the floor.

———

What the fuck?

What had just happened?

The last thing Scott remembered had been sitting in the kitchen making tea, but now… now he was outside, near some giant metal tower, in a place he absolutely did not recognize.

He didn’t recognize the place, but he did recognize the feeling.

He was in a new realm.

The first thing he could feel was the panic.

Not again. Fuck! Not again. He couldn’t go through this another time, he couldn’t lose more of his life to a monster, he couldn’t — he couldn’t — he couldn’t breathe. He gripped the grass he was sitting on, practically hyperventilating.

“Scott? Are you alright?”

Oh first master, Unagami was here too.

“Get away from me!” he yelled, though he made no move to put distance between them. Instead, the little brat only came closer.

“You need to breathe.”

“I said get away—” Scott’s words died in his throat. Something was different. Something was wrong.

“Captain Clockwork,” a voice said, booming throughout his head.

“What’s going on?” Scott demanded.

“I am Hawk Moth. I can feel your distress. The anger, the grief, all of it. You just want things to go back to the way they used to be, don’t you?”

“Yes…” he found himself agreeing, nodding along.

“I can help you with that. I can give you the power to take back your life. All I need in return is for you to retrieve two pieces of jewelry for me, called the Miraculous. Do we have a deal?”

Scott didn’t even have to think twice. “Yes, Hawk Moth.”

———

Unagami was concerned.

Scott was freaking out, clearly on the verge of a panic attack, and nothing he was doing seemed to help. And then, out of nowhere, it just stopped.

And then Scott started talking to nobody, and then his body, for the briefest of moments, was enveloped in a purple so dark it may as well have been black.

When it was gone, Scott looked different. He was wearing an outfit that could only be described as old-timey-steampunk.

It wasn’t that strange, considering that sort of stuff was perfectly normal in Prime Empire. Still, Unagami should probably make sure that Scott was okay.

“Scott?” he asked, stepping a little closer.

Scott glared at him dark enough to kill.

Wide-eyed, Unagami took a small step back. “Scott, what’s wrong? Who were you talking to? Is this a video game, like Prime Empire?”

“You would just love that, wouldn’t you?” Scott yelled. “You would just love to ruin even more people’s lives!”

“What?”

A ball of light burst into existence in Scott’s hand, which was closed tightly in a fist. He threw the light off to the side, launching at a huge television screen on the side of a building. Almost immediately, it turned into a box-style TV.

Scott smiled wickedly. “Oh, would you look at that? The power to downgrade tech. If I can do that to a TV, I wonder what will happen to a stupid. Little. Arcade game.”

Unagami narrowly dodged a blast from Scott following those words. “Scott, stop! You’re — you’re not in your right mind!”

“Oh, I’m in my right mind!” he screamed. “I’m finally free, and what am I met with but a world that moved on without me? You took away my life!”

“Scott, please, you are not thinking clearly!” Unagami said, desperate.

“Save it, you little brat! Now hold still so I can kill you!”

Unagami tripped, falling back into the grass. He scrambled back, doing his best to get to his feet, but regardless, Scott had the upper hand. He was done for.

He squeezed his eyes shut, accepting the inevitable.

Suddenly, he was being lifted, and then he was in the air. What?

He opened his eyes.

“I’ve got you!” a girl dressed in red spandex with black polka dots all over it said.

“What’s going on?” Unagami asked.

The girl looked confused. “Uh…” they came to a stop on a rooftop. It was then that a boy dressed in what looked like a leather catsuit joined them, vaulting up with an infinitely long pole.

“How do you do, M’lady?” he asked, smiling at the girl.

“Not now, Chat. I just saved this kid from the latest akuma, but I don’t think he’s speaking French.”

“Language barrier powers?” Chat asked. “That’s a new one.”

“I don’t know, from what I could tell, the akuma was speaking in the same language as him.”

“What’s going on?” Unagami demanded. “What happened to Scott?”

Chat frowned. “It sounds kind of like Japanese. But like, not quite? It sounds like Japanese on drugs.”

The girl sighed. “Wonderful description, Chat.”

“Thanks! I try.”

“Wait, I’ve heard this before! It sounds like that language the ninja speak!” The girl said.

“Oh yeah! Maybe they’re from the same place?”

Unagami tuned out their rambling, glancing over the edge of the roof to see if he could still see Scott. Luckily, he couldn’t.

Or was that unlucky?

Scott was the only person he knew here, but at the same time, he’d lost his mind out of nowhere. And now he was on some sort of evil… violent rampage… manhunt… chasing after him… well, that was uncomfortably familiar.

“Okay, well, our miraculous allows him to understand us, I wonder why it doesn’t work the other way?” Chat glanced at Unagami. “You can understand us, right?”

Unagami gave a frustrated nod.

“Okay, well, do you know why that guy got akumatized?”

Unagami had absolutely no idea what that was, but it was clearly in reference to what had happened to Scott.

“I don’t think he does. We have to get back to fighting before this guy destroys half of Paris,” Chat said, tapping his wrist as if there was a watch there.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Scott yelled from the streets below.

“Oh, hey, that was French!” Chat said. “Akuma powers are awesome.”

The girl gave him an unimpressed frown.

Various balls of light were transforming technology into older versions of themselves left and right as Scott rampaged.

“Shit, okay, Chat, can you drop him somewhere away from the akuma?”

“Sure thing Bugaboo!” Chat said with a wide grin. He held out a hand to Unagami. “Hold on tight, kid.”

———

Ladybug landed in front of the akuma gracefully, her yo-yo at her side.

“Ladybug, I presume,” the akuma said.

“That would be right.”

The akuma glared at her. “Look, I don’t particularly want to hurt you. Just hand over the earrings and the kid, and I’ll be on my way.”

“What do you want with him?” Ladybug asked, eyes narrowed. “What could he possibly have done?”

The akuma laughed, and it started low, but it quickly gained a touch of psycho, edging on hysteria. “What didn’t he do?” He yelled, his arms widely gesturing — though his right hand stayed tightly closed. That could be important. “He kept me trapped in a video game for decades. He made me live every day in fear that it would be my last! He ruined my life! He took everything from me!”

Well… fuck.

That was actually a pretty valid reason to be upset with somebody. But how on earth had that happened in the first place? Well, the details didn’t matter. She had an akuma to fight.

Against all reason, Ladybug decided to try getting through to the poor guy. “You don’t have to do this! Hawk Moth is manipulating you!”

“I don’t care!” He screamed. “He made me into Captain Clockwork! He gave me the power to take back my life!”

He threw a blast of energy at Ladybug, which she only barely managed to deflect with her yo-yo. It bounced back to what looked like a brand new car, which immediately turned into a station wagon.

Oh boy.

“Time has moved forward without me. I don’t fit into this world, so I’m gonna make this world fit me!”

She needed to figure out what to break. Whatever he was holding, that could be it.

Unceremoniously, Chat dropped from the sky, landing in a heap next to her.

“I did not get that right…” he muttered, getting to his feet with some difficulty. “What’s the plan, M’lady?”

“I don’t know, but I think the akuma is in whatever he’s holding. We need to get him to drop it.”

“May I offer a distraction in these trying times?”

Ladybug smiled.

“Hey, the future isn’t all that bad!” Chat exclaimed, dramatically vaulting himself to be behind the akuma so that he had to turn around and his attention was off of Ladybug, while she quietly summoned her lucky charm.

“We’ve got video games! And bullet trains, and iPhones, and — ooh, we’ve got anime! It still baffles me that people ever managed to live without anime. A tragedy, really.”

Captain Clockwork glared at him. “We had video games and anime back in my day. It was good enough, it didn’t have to change!”

“That’s sort of the way of life, buddy,” Chat shrugged, batting away a blast with his baton.

“It shouldn’t be! I shouldn’t have gotten left behind!” he screamed, sending blasts of energy one after the other at Chat.

“Left behind?” Chat asked, lowering his guard slightly when the akuma, breathing heavily, stopped firing.

“That boy you stole away just a few minutes ago,” Captain Clockwork said, laughing hysterically. “He kept me trapped inside a video game, for thirty years. Thirty years! It’s not fair! It’s not fair! I’ll kill him!”

“How did a little boy trap you in a video game?” Chat asked, legitimately curious.

“He is the game! He ruled Prime Empire! He ruined my life!”

Chat was regretting asking, because now the akuma was backing him into a corner, his fist glowing. He wasn’t sure he’d ever battled an akuma so full of pure rage before.

Chat extended his baton, sweeping it under the akuma’s feet and knocking him to the ground.

“This is so cool!” Alya shouted from across the street, filming with her iPhone.

“Alya,” Nino all but begged. “We gotta get to safety!”

“But I’m getting some great footage on this thing!”

Captain Clockwork growled, blasting violently at the pair. Alya’s brand new, expensive phone immediately reverted to a flip phone.

The way Alya screamed would have suggested someone had been murdered. “No!” she shrieked, being dragged away by Nino.

“Phones don’t need to be able to record! Just use a fucking video camera! They didn’t have to change it!” Captain Clockwork yelled, running after Alya.

That got the couple’s attention enough to start running.

Chat put himself between them, crying out when he intercepted a blast.

“Chat!” Ladybug yelled.

Chat grunted, rolling with great difficulty away from the akuma.

His baton immediately grew in length, turning into what looked like a perfectly regular, non-magical, old-fashioned baton.

“Oh fuck.”

“Hand over the ring and I won’t hurt you,” Captain Clockwork demanded.

“Sorry, I’ve got a contract,” Chat replied, using the baton as a sort of cane to help him get to his feet again.

He didn’t manage to dodge the next blast, which turned his magical very technologically advanced leather suit into a hoodie and a cheap pair of sweatpants.

Panic gripped him, and he quickly went to feel for his mask. Oh, thank god, it was still there.

Captain Clockwork charged up another blast, but before he could use it, Ladybug grabbed Chat and swung her yo-yo, getting them both away and into a back alley.

“Are you okay, Kitty?” she asked, setting him down gently.

“I’m alright,” he affirmed. “I need to detransform, make sure Plagg is alright. Maybe when I retransform it’ll go back to normal?”

Ladybug purposefully turned around.

“Claws in,” he said.

Immediately, Ladybug could hear a low groan from her partner’s kwami.

“Here,” Chat muttered, presumably offering him some food.

“Thanks. God that really hurt…” Plagg muttered.

“It did?” Chat cried, worry seeping into his voice. “Are you okay? How can I help?”

“I’ll be fine, Kitten,” Plagg said, laughing somewhat through the now very obvious pain. “Just defeat this guy and you can buy me some extra nice cheese to make up for it.”

Chat laughed. “Sure thing Plagg. Claws out!”

Ladybug waited a moment, then turned back around. Luckily, Chat had been right, and his suit was back to normal. “Okay, so we’ve got my lucky charm, but I still don’t know how to use it. Did you learn anything about the akuma?”

“Well, apparently the kid he was trying to obliterate trapped him in a game for thirty years,” Chat shrugged. “I dunno if that’s important though.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard. He keeps screaming about it every chance he gets. But as long as we free the akuma, he’ll be fine. Did you happen to see what he was holding?”

“It looked kind of like a phone, but like, one of those really old flippy ones. Like the ones they used in High School Musical!”

Ladybug sighed. “Well, that’s something. Actually, my lucky charm is a flip phone.”

“That’s weird… think he’d like that?”

“Wait! I have a plan.”

———

Meanwhile, Unagami was hiding behind a trashcan as Scott got closer and closer to his whereabouts. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears.

“Unagami,” Scott called out, his voice sickly sweet and too high in pitch. “Come out, come out wherever you are…”

Unagami held his breath, praying Scott didn’t find him.

“Isn’t it ironic?” Scott asked, something out of Unagmai’s sight crashing loudly. “The hunter becomes the prey. Bet you never thought you’d get retribution, huh?”

He hadn’t meant to ruin Scott’s life. He’d just been following his father’s instructions. He’d apologized. He thought Scott had forgiven him. He’d acted like he had.

Had he felt like this the whole time?

Angry and hurt and wanting to kill him?

And… was this how Scott had felt while trapped in Prime Empire?

Scared for his life, fearing every second that it could be his last? Keeping himself hidden away for years with the constant terror that he would be found?

The trashcan was thrown, and there was Scott.

“Found you.”

“I’m sorry—” Unagami said.

“Save it! Sorry doesn’t make up for the lost time! Sorry doesn’t make up for the fear I lived in! Sorry doesn’t fix things!”

He charged a blast.

Out of nowhere, a bright blue tornado threw Scott across the street.

It slowed to a stop, revealing none other than the blue ninja. “Unagami?” he said, bewildered. “How are you here?”

“Why are you defending him?” Scott screamed. “He trapped you too! He took all of your friends! He hunted you down like a wild animal! Aren’t you angry?”

“Scott? Jay cried, even more bewildered than before. “What the… wait, but Unagami is just a kid! Sure, he caused a lot of pain, but it wasn’t his fault! And he’s done all he can to make it right!” “That’s not good enough!”

“Ice to see you!” Zane yelled, dropping down from the rooftop.

Scott growled, charging a blast of energy. “Just let me kill the little brat! He’s not human! He’s not a person! What difference does it make?”

Unagami froze.

Scott… didn’t see him as a person? All this time?

He thought they had been bonding. He had thought… well, he hadn’t thought they were friends, exactly, but he had at least thought…

It was true that he wasn’t human, but Unagami had likened himself to Zane. They weren't human, but they were still people. But that wasn’t how Scott saw it at all. And he had never known.

Zane screamed out as he was hit with a blast. The light encompassed him, and suddenly he was left with rusty copper skin.

Unagami’s eyes widened in horror.

“I — I — I — do not feel — Jay — I cannot — what is happening?” Zane stammered, his voice box glitching heavily.

“I can downgrade tech,” Scott said, laughing darkly. “You’re tech.”

“Scott, this isn’t you!” Jay attempted. “You’re better than this!”

“I don’t want to be better than this!” he yelled. He threw Jay to the side, completely knocking the boy unconscious.

With Zane unable to even move, Unagami was about to die.

“I never meant to hurt you,” he said.

“Hurt doesn’t care about intention.”

In what was either the best or the worst timing ever, the boy from before — Chat — waltzed over to them casually. “You were right, Captain Clockwork!” he exclaimed loudly. “Old technology is better! I’m just surprised that you didn’t notice I took your phone!” he said, waving around an old flip phone.

“What?” Scott — Captain Clockwork? — gasped, opening his fist. “No you didn’t, it’s right here?”

But then it wasn’t. Ladybug’s yo-yo string wrapped around it, and yanked it hard.

“No!”

Ladybug snapped the phone in half easily. “No more evil-doing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!” she declared, catching the butterfly — Unagami wasn’t even going to ask why a butterfly had come out of Scott’s phone — easily. “Gotcha!” she set the butterfly free, and in a stark contrast to the previous shade of sickly purple it had been, it was now a pure white. “Bye bye, little butterfly.”

Scott fell to the ground, his new avatar — or whatever it was — dropping.

“Miraculous ladybug!” Ladybug shouted, throwing the fake phone into the air. A swarm of butterflies took over, somehow undoing all the damages that Scott had caused.

Honestly, it was far from the strangest thing Unagami had experienced recently.

———

Scott came to on the sidewalk. Hadn’t he just been near some big metal tower thing? And how had he blacked out in the first place? What the hell?

“What… what happened?” he groaned, unable to get to his feet.

Zane — when had Zane gotten here? — said something in what sounded like another language.

“Everything’s alright now, sir!” a girl dressed as what looked something like a superhero said, smiling gently at him. “You don’t know what an akuma is, do you?”

Again, Zane repeated her question, this time looking at him. Ah, he was the translator.

“No…?”

Her and a boy in a leather catsuit shared a look.

“A bad man called Hawk Moth took advantage of you,” the boy explained, reaching out a hand and helping Scott to his feet. “You were feeling some kind of negative emotion, and he used that to turn you into a supervillain.”

A supervillain? What kind of negative emotion could he have been —

He spotted Unagami, who was staring at him in nothing short of terror from against the brick wall of a building. Oh yeah.

“What did I do?”

“Nothing that couldn’t be undone,” the girl assured. “All property damages have been magically repaired, so you don’t have to worry!”

“It’s not the property damages I’m worried about,” Scott muttered, looking at Unagami, guilty all but stabbing him through the heart. The kid looked traumatized.

Before anyone could say anything else, Unagami ran. Jay immediately went after him, but the others stayed behind.

Scott knew that if he went, he would only make things worse. “Please, just… what did I actually do?”

By the end of the recap, Scott had sunk back to the ground.

There wasn’t really a way to fix this, was there?

37 notes · View notes

only-lonely-stars · 3 years

Text

The Future is Bright, Chapter 4

[Chapter 1 (Beginning)] // [Chapter 3] // [Chapter 4 - you are here!] // [Chapter 5] // [Chapter 10 (End)] (FFN)

Cole and Jay have a bro talk in this installment... maybe a refresher would be nice. After all, it’s been years since they saw their futures.

Summary: What would happen if Cole had indeed had a reflection in the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master? How would that have changed his life later? What would it have been? This story follows what might have happened if he had seen something, and what it was; who he would have become. What if his future was already decided?... (Rated T for safety. Alternate title: the Cosmic Spoilers AU.)

Chapter 4: Late Night, Early Morning

When the Ninja at last returned home from Shintaro, it was very late in the evening.

That night, everyone went to bed quickly, content with sleeping off their accumulated exhaustion. Their time under the mountain had worn them down, breaking their defenses and walls of fortitude with a quick strength that was rarely found elsewhere. Now they were tired beyond belief– most of them were too tired to think.

When they arrived at the Monastery, Cole tried to rest as well. He went to bed and readied himself for it... but quickly found he couldn't sleep. He was tired, but his mind wouldn't rest.

In his defense, Cole had a lot to think about. His mother, the temple of the Masters of Earth, the Geckles and Munce, the Sorcerer… Vania… his future. There was so much to wonder about, so much to ponder and process. It was certainly too much for a sleeping Cole to process, clearly... so he didn't manage to rest at all.

Some time around two in the morning, Cole eventually roused himself from bed. It was defeatist to try to sleep now, so why try any more? He wandered around the Monastery, looking for rest, but found none. Even a glass of water and a slice of ice cream cake from the freezer didn't help, although it did wake him up, so he went back to wandering.

As he wandered, Cole eventually spotted a dim light in the living room. He headed to the doorway to see who it was.

When he poked his head in, Cole spotted Jay, lying on the couch with a comic book and a reading light that was entirely too big for what he was reading. Jay's face was the picture of focus, and he read with intense ferocity, completely engrossed. Cole stifled a snicker. That was his brother, all right, completely stuck in his own world. This was the perfect chance to get his revenge for that night in the palace!

Silently, with all the stealth a master ninja should muster, Cole snuck up behind Jay. He was thankful for the low amount of light, because he didn't cast a shadow that night. Jay didn't notice his presence at all, only turning another page in blissful ignorance... he was the perfect prey.

For a moment, Cole primed himself. After he was sure in his footing, he grinned and took a breath. Then he tackled Jay.

"EEK!" Jay screeched, landing on the floor with a hard thump as Cole landed on top of him, the comic book and light falling face-down on the floor. Jay immediately started to struggle against Cole's grip. "WHAT IN THE FSM!"

Cole burst into laughter and grabbed a pillow, whisper-shouting in Jay's face. "For Shintaro!" After saying so, he immediately whapped Jay in the face with it.

"Oh my word– COLE!" Jay grabbed the pillow, using it as a shield. "Let me up!"

Cole only laughed more, having pinned him. He would've kept laughing if Jay hadn't smacked him in the face with the pillow, knocking him to the side enough that he could get up. "Cole! How dare you!"

"Easily!" he retorted, still laughing a little.

"Okay, for one, that was completely unfair," Jay pouted, throwing the pillow back on the couch and grabbing his book to point the light at Cole. "For two, I'm gonna get you back for that. Way to scare a guy!"

"Yeah, I know." Cole grinned shamelessly, adrenaline settling already. "That's why I did it."

"Seriously! Thanks a lot," Jay pouted.

"Sorry." He got to his feet, not feeling that sorry. "I just saw the opportunity and took it."

"It's fine," Jay drawled, ruffling his already-messy hair. "I should've been paying more attention. Then I could have gotten you into a grip hold and made you yield!"

Cole snickered more. "Like you could've heard me! I'm the quietest of all of us."

"I don't agree, but whatev's." He rolled his eyes. "Is there any reason for you being up this early besides to scare me?"

Cole sighed, his thoughts coming back around to the forefront of his mind. His coherency dried up as he struggled to put them to words. "I, uh… I never went to bed, actually."

Jay's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Why not? You're exhausted!"

Cole nodded dumbly, feeling dumb. "Yeah, uh…" He gesticulated wildly. "You know. Future stuff. Shintaro. The thing with the tomb. Couldn't sleep."

Shock gone immediately, Jay instead raised an eyebrow, gleeful. "Oh, I see. Do you mean your crush on Vania, or hers on you?"

"Jay!" Cole groaned. "I do not have a crush on Vania, okay? Stop saying it!"

"Sure, sure you don't. I believe you."

"It's true!"

Jay nodded, clearly disbelieving. "Mhm. It's totally true. One hundred percent."

"Come on!" Cole felt like he was pleading with him. "I'm telling the truth."

"What, do you expect me to actually believe you? It's obvious!"

"Wh– yes, I expect you to actually believe me! Why would I lie?!"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe because you don't want it to be true!" Jay laughed. "You're the one literally losing sleep over it."

Cole hesitated. "...You got me there."

"I got you with all of it. Don't lie to me."

"You're the one accusing me of lying about how I feel? That's rich."

"Not the point!" Jay crossed his arms. "Just out with it. What's really wrong here? Otherwise, I'm going to assume it's because you didn't get Vania's phone number before we left."

Cole glared at the floor, silently retorting that yes, he actually did get her number. It wouldn't help his case to say so, though...

"Fine." He looked up at Jay, feeling exposed. "I just– you know I don't want this, Jay. I just want to know what it meant and to get past it so I don't have to deal with the future hanging over me. I can't stop thinking about what will happen."

Jay sighed and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Cole, just because you don't want it, doesn't mean you can avoid it. The future comes no matter what we think, after all..."

"I barely even remember it, though."

"The vision?"

"Yeah. It's been years, after all."

"Hm… well, that could be a problem," Jay mused.

"You're telling me."

The two lapsed into comfortable silence, but Jay broke it a minute later by clapping, startling Cole. "I know! Let's just go back to the tomb and get a second look!"

Cole looked at him, wide-eyed. "What? Can we do that?"

"Sure, why not? We just have to borrow R.E.X. again. It could be fun!"

"Well… it could," he conceded, starting to plan. "Helpful, too. Would we bring the others? Nya and Lloyd never got to see it."

"We could ask." Jay shrugged. "Lloyd probably won't want to– he's seen the future enough, why would he want more prophecy?– but I'm sure Nya would. She always wants to be involved with that kind of stuff."

"I guess it couldn't hurt..." Cole sighed heavily. "Anything to figure out what the heck I actually saw is good."

Jay nodded, but as always, had to say more. "What'll you do if it's what you think it is?"

"I guess I'll go back. Maybe Vania can help me figure it out from there." He shrugged. "I can draw it so she can see, actually."

Jay shrugged. "Either that or show her yourself. Maybe she'd want to see her future?"

Cole shook his head immediately, the idea completely unwelcome. "No way. I don't want to make her have to see that. She already knows what she's stuck doing, being the queen and all that. She doesn't need one more thing telling her what to do."

"I doubt she sees herself as being stuck doing it, but okay." Jay fell back onto the couch. "Suit yourself, don't show her."

Cole shrugged, sitting next to Jay a lot more gently while wrestling with his thoughts. How could he convince Jay? "I mean… Well, y'know. It's not exactly fun wondering about the future, much less not knowing if you even want the future you'll have. It doesn't leave you a choice."

Jay scoffed. "Well, here's the thing." He turned and gave Cole an uncharacteristically serious look. "Think about this, Cole. If your future is to live in Shintaro– which is really awesome, honestly– with someone you love enough to spend your life with, would you accept it? It's practically a dream come true."

Cole paused, thinking about it, and hating how his thoughts always seemed to settle on one person. Internally, he blamed the fact that Vania was the only girl in Shintaro he really knew, but he still didn't like the fact that his mind always went back to her... It was always her, with her intelligent eyes and cheerful smile. What was it that had made her stick in his head so much since they'd left?

Eventually, he sighed. "I guess. It couldn't be that bad."

"You… guess?" Jay stared. "Wow, you really are against this."

Cole threw his hands up in exasperation. "Is it so bad that I don't want to leave Ninjago? We've protected this place for years. It's my home– pretty much everyone I know and love is here."

"I guess not, but…" Jay trailed off. "If there's a girl you'd die for, just to keep her safe, wouldn't you want to be there with her? Wouldn't you want to keep her safe?"

More silence fell between them, still enough to hear a pin drop. Cole struggled to sort through his emotions, and for once, Jay was quiet.

"Yeah. I guess I would."

"Then there you go." Jay leaned back against the arm of the couch. "Most of the time you can't control who you love, Cole. If there's a girl who makes you feel everything at once when you're with her, you'd want to stay. I know you'd choose her over Ninjago, and that's okay."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. It's better than just thinking."

Cole snickered. "Yeah, okay. I'll take it from you." He elbowed Jay good-naturedly. "Seeing as you know all about that."

Jay elbowed him back, grinning. "Oh yeah. I've had tons of experience with this."

"Lots of it with that one girl. So much."

"Oh, shut up! I think I can count my almost-messed-it-up-so-many-times romance as 'lots of experience.'"

"Yeah, okay," Cole laughed. "You and your fairytale romance."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jay rolled his eyes. "We're talking about your love life, not mine. Don't change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject!"

"You just did, like, two minutes ago." Jay grinned. "Anyway. I'll ask Lloyd and Nya in the morning, you talk to Ronin about R.E.X, and we'll all get going as soon as we can before you chicken out."

Cole rolled his eyes and stood up. "Okay. Sounds good to me. For now I'm going to go to bed."

"Yes you should. Go to bed, child; it's good for you."

"I'm older than you, Jay."

"Shush! Bedtime." Jay shooed him out the door. "Go!"

"Ha! Go back to your comics, child."

"I will, thank you."

Cole rolled his eyes. "I'll see you in the morning, Jay. Thanks for the pep talk."

"No problem." Jay pointed at him meaningfully. "Oh, and Cole? FYI, I'm going to get you back for tackling me. Not tonight, but I will."

"Sure you will. Tomorrow." Cole snickered. "See you in the morning."

"Yes, see you in the morning!"

Cole chuckled as he left, not looking back as he went back to bed. He wondered... was Jay right? Maybe seeing the ice caves really was how he'd get closure.

#OLST fanfic #ninjago #ninjago fanfic #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #cole brookstone #jay walker #ninjago vania #princess vania #vania #cole x vania #vania x cole #vanillacake #vanillacakeshipping #colania #the future is bright

11 notes · View notes

imaginesforyourfandom · 5 years

Text

Loving Her: Alex Morgan - Chapter 3

credit to: @sugarfile for the gif

Confessions of the Heart…

Alex’s POV:

I woke up feeling like absolute crap. I turned and saw (Y/N) sleeping in her bed still. I noticed that we didn’t really have to be up for another 20 minutes, but I knew I wasn’t going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon. I stood and walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower. When I came out, she was still asleep. It was still about five minutes before she had to be up. I grabbed all my stuff quickly and then headed out the door. I walked over to Allie and Kelley’s room and waited for one of them to open the door.

“It’s way too early.” Kelley complained as I walked into the room. Allie was sitting on her bed scrolling on her phone. She smiled at me as I walked in and sat down on her bed.

“I’m having a crisis.” I said as both girls stared at me. They both stared at me expectantly as I tried to gather my thought. “(Y/N) and I almost kissed twice yesterday. The first time Crystal interrupted, and we had to leave that restaurant and the second time she pulled away from me.”

“She pulled away?” Kelley asked with a frown on her face. I nodded my head as she sat down clearly deep in thought. “Why?”

“If I knew that, I don’t think I would be here right now. I thought she was into me because that’s what everyone keeps saying, yet when I try to make something happen, she pulled away.”

“What led to the second one? I know the adorable dancing is what led to the first one.” Allie said as I smiled a little thinking of our dancing.

“That’s another thing!” I exclaimed remembering what she said while were dancing. “I made a joke about if we were to get married and then she said when we get married.”

“Oh, then she is totally into you.” Kelley said shrugging her shoulders

“Then why did she pull away?”

“What were you doing the second time?” Kelley asked again as both girls gave me their full attention.

“We were talking about Servando and I was talking about how on earth I could possibly trust anyone else if he did what he did…” I said as Kelley frowned at me.

“No offense, I don’t think I would want to kiss you either if you had just got done talking about your ex-husband.” Allie said giving me a little grimace. I sat their thinking for a moment about our conversation. “Maybe she just thought it wouldn’t be right to kiss you after you had just got done talking about something so personal…”

“Maybe you just turned her off completely talking about him” Kelley said as I sighed rubbing my hands over my face. “What did she say to you this morning?”

“She was asleep when I left”

“So, now she is probably going think that you’re mad at her because you were gone the moment she woke up. You didn’t think it was important to talk to her?” Kelley gave me a look as I hung my head a little.

“I needed to figure out my thought before I talk to her.”

“You need to talk to her. Look, don’t tell her I told you. If she asks how you found this out, you say Christen told you. Understood?” I nodded my head as Kelley gave me a serious look. “She is so unashamedly unbelievably in love with you.”

“How do you know that?” Allie asked as I looked at her with wide eyes.

“She told me a few weeks ago. Christen and I were at her apartment and she said that she loves you. She is terrified though to make a move on you. She is so afraid to fuck up your friendship that she doesn’t want to take the chance of losing you.”

“That’s stupid. She would never lose me even if I didn’t feel the same.”

“Wait, so are you in love with her too?” Allie asked as she gave me a shocked expression. “Like pause on this whole conversation…I have not heard you specifically say what you feel other than you have feelings for her.”

“I think you need to have this conversation with (Y/N) before you talk about it with us.” Kelley interrupted as Allie frowned and then nodded in agreement. “She deserves to know how you feel especially since we know that she feels the same way as you.”

I groaned knowing she was right. It wasn’t fair for me to know how she feels and know how much she cares about me without me reciprocating on the information.

“Look, playing at Utah has given me a huge chance to get to know (Y/N) and you really couldn’t ask for a better person to love you. As your friend, I couldn’t think of anyone better for you than her. Like, no offense on this, but she could literally have anyone. Have you seen her? She’s hot as fuck and a sweetheart. A literal dream. Yet, she gave you her heart and seriously I don’t think she wants it back.”

I nodded my head as I listened to her go on about how amazing she thought (Y/N) was.

“Jesus, do you want to date her?” I felt irritation crawl up as she abruptly stopped and smiled at me.

“Oh, I already pray for her. You aren’t even together, and the jealousy is already too real.” Allie said as her and Kelley started making jokes about me being jealous. I rolled my eyes as they both started getting ready for the day.

Eventually, we all headed down for breakfast. When we entered the room, I saw (Y/N) sitting in between JJ and Christen which bothered me because I usually sat next to her. She was smiling at something Christen was saying as I sat down at the table next to Ash with Kelley and Allie taking the seats next to me.

“You’re full of crap” (Y/N) said as Christen shook her head. “I don’t believe you for a second.”

“I swear on my life.” She said slapping her hand down on (Y/N)’s arm. “I am not lying!”

“There’s no way that you landed an off the post shot from midfield…who do you think you are? Carli Lloyd?” Christen rolled her eyes as she started explaining that it was just during training.

I felt bothered as (Y/N) didn’t look at me once during breakfast. She spent the entire time talking to Christen, JJ, and Ash. Never once looking in my direction. Once we were finished, I immediately beelined it for her as I caught her arm. She stared at me with uncertainty. I let my hand drop to intertwine our fingers.

“I need to talk to you.” She nodded her head as I tugged on her hand. She resisted slightly pulling her hand back from me.

“Can we talk later? We really need to get to training.” She asked looking away from me. I frowned not wanting to put this talk off, but I knew she was right. I nodded my head as we turned to head off towards the vans to head to training. We still had three send off games to prepare for.

(Y/N) POV Switch

Training sucked. I was completely off my game because I couldn’t focus. I was too worried about this talk that Alex wanted to have with me. It could go either way at this point. On one hand, we almost kissed twice yesterday which tells me that maybe she feels the same. On the other hand, she was gone when I woke up this morning so maybe she was avoiding me. Maybe this talk is for her to tell me that she wants to just be friends. Okay, to be honest, I really don’t think emotionally I could handle the latter.

I walked into the locker room trying to fight off the frustrated feelings that I was feeling over everything. I was putting some of my stuff away when I felt someone stand next to me. I saw Becky giving me a small smile as she put her hand on my shoulder.

“Take a breather.” I took a deep breath closing my eyes as she squeezed my shoulder in support. “It wasn’t your day. We all have off days.”

“I don’t want to lose my starting spot.” I mumbled as I shoved something else in my bag.

“One bad practice isn’t going to cause you to lose your spot.” She said as I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out the room towards the vans with her.

My relationship with Becky is super important to me. My relationship with the whole team is important, but Becky has become like a big sister to me and I couldn’t be more thankful. She’s one of the only people, other than Alex, who knows about my family situation. We got into the vans as I leaned my head back trying to fight off the anxiety that was threatening to build.

“Want to talk about it?” Becky asked turning towards me. I surveyed the van and saw JJ, Crystal, Mal, Sonnett, Lindsay, and us in it. I shook my head not wanting to talk about my issues in front of so many people. “Want to talk when we get back?”

I nodded my head as we started the drive back to the hotel. I stayed quiet trying to focus my mind on something other than Alex. She really was like a drug to me. I felt myself hurting over not being near her, but the idea of being near her right now was simultaneously stressful. The ride back to the hotel felt like it took years as we finally pulled up. I got out of the van and groaned at the realization that Alex was probably waiting for me back in our room.

“Can we talk in your room?” I asked Becky as she nodded her head. I followed her to her room trying to stay out of sight. Literally any one of them could tell Alex where I was going to be. Once we got to her room, I collapsed into the desk chair and leaned my head back. I jumped slightly when the door opened and sighed in relief when I saw Tierna walk in. She smiled at me as I smiled back at her. “If Alex asks, you have no clue where I am. Got it?”

“Why am I lying to your girlfriend about where you are?” she asked with a slight smile earning a chuckle from Becky. I rolled my eyes at the question.

“Just don’t tell her I am here.” She nodded her head as she went and laid on her bed. Becky gave me an expectant look as I starred at her not wanting to start the conversation.

“Can you explain why you are avoiding Alex? Seems very unlike you.”

“We almost kissed twice yesterday. She wasn’t there when I woke up and now, she wants to talk.” Tierna gave me a wide-eyed expression while Becky nodded her head.

“That’s a problem?” she asked after a moment with a confused expression. “Shouldn’t you be dying to have a conversation?”

“She’s going to tell me she just wants to be friends and I don’t have enough emotional strength for that.”

“Where exactly did you get the idea that she wants to be friends?” Tierna asked giving me an odd look. “From what I have seen, she likes you. I genuinely thought you guys were in love and in a relationship when I first got here.”

“I love her. I am not denying that. I could never say that I am not. I just…I don’t know how to tell her that. I don’t want to ruin our friendship. She means so much to me. I feel like I can’t breathe without her. I feel like I can’t live without her.”

“So, tell her that. Tell her how you feel. She means so much to you and you can’t live without her. Then, tell her exactly how you feel. Do you think you can live forever without her knowing how you feel?”

“I can damn well try.” I said nodding my head sinking in the chair slightly.

“That’s not way to live. You got to live without fear. We don’t know how much time we have on this earth. You should spend it loving the people you want to love and living life with no regrets.” Tierna said giving me a stern look. I frowned feeling like I was being scolded by a baby.

“What she said.” Becky said grinning at the young defender. I shook my head closing my eyes for a moment.

“You’re right. I hate it because I feel like I am being scolded by a child but, you’re right. I need to be honest with her. Even if the thought is terrifying.”

“You’re like four years older than me.” She said giving me a look of irritation earning another laugh from Becky.

“Still your elder.” I said walking out of the room. I walked towards my room with Alex and took a breath before entering the room. I immediately spotted the forward sitting on her bed scrolling on her phone. Her hair was wet indicating that she had just showered. She was wearing a simple tank top and some sweats, but she still took my breathe away. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile. I smiled in return before throwing my bag on the bed.

“Can I shower first?” I said as she opened her mouth. She frowned and then nodded her head as I grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom. I tried not to take too long, but I knew that I was still avoiding having the conversation. I exited the bathroom to see her leaning against the headboard with her legs drawn up against her chest as she starred intently at her hands. She looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you done avoiding me?” I scoffed at the question as she smiled at the offended look on my face.

“That’s not what I am doing.” I defended earning a look from the forward. “Okay, I am terrified. Is that what you want to hear?”

“You have no reason to be scared. I just want to talk about some stuff.”

“Can I go first?” I asked as she gave me a surprised look, but then quickly nodded her head. I moved to sit right in front of her with one leg on the bed and one hanging off. I looked up in her eyes and decided that I just needed to speak from the heart.

“I’m in love with you.” I said as her mouth opened slightly in shock. I was trying to fight off the nerves that I was feeling which caused me to let out a shaky breath. “I am so unapologetically in love with you. I think about you all the time. You are my first thought in the morning and my last thought before I go to sleep. I miss you when I am not with you and never want to let you go when we are together. I think about what kind of future we could have and how much my life would suck if you weren’t in it. I love your smile and the way you laugh. Your eyes mesmerize me, and your laugh might just be the most amazing thing I have ever heard behind your voice. Nothing can calm my nerves like your voice. Even in my darkest and lowest moments, you have always remained the bright light in my life. You stole my heart the moment we met and quite frankly I never want it back because there is no one I trust with it more than you. I just…I love you.”

The last part came out slowly as I tried gauge her reaction. She was staring at me intently as both her eyes surveyed my face. Her eyes had started to water at some point and I immediately felt back about making her cry. I wanted to move to comfort her but wasn’t sure if my actions would be wanted so I sat there and waited for her to say something. I was trying to prepare myself for the inevitable rejection when she moved to wipe her tears.

“The first time we ever officially met was the day after my divorce with Servando was finalized. I thought for sure that I wasn’t ever going to be able to move on from it. You were my roommate and I thought you were annoying because you just didn’t seem to care that I was going through something. Then, you started talking to me and you got me to open up about everything so easily. Some of my closest friends still have trouble getting me to be open and honest. You did it with ease though. You made me laugh for the first time in months that night. I was sad when the night ended because I could have spent a thousand more hours just talking to you. I didn’t realize it, but you became my safe place. In that one night, I trusted you more than most people in my life. As time has gone on, I have needed you more and more. I don’t think I know how to get through life without you anymore. I’ve been trying to push it away because I didn’t want to accept what I have known for a while and that is that…I love you”

I started tearing up towards the end of her speech and shook my head slightly as I tried to stop myself from crying. It was extremely tense in the room as we both waited for each other to make the first move. I stopped for a moment and starred at her. Her eyes were still watering slightly as she gave me a small smile to show that she was being genuine. I nodded my head as I released another shaky breath.

“Fuck it.” I mumbled as I surged forward cupping her jaw and pulling her in for a kiss. Both of her hands went to my face as she immediately responded to the kiss. I groaned as my leg started to cramp up given all my weight was resting on it. So, I moved pulling her with me so that I was sitting with my legs hanging off the bed, and she was on top of me. She let out a little squeal at that as her hands gripped my neck. She rested her forehead against mine as I nuzzled her nose slightly. She ran her thumbs across my cheek as we starred into each other’s eyes. I leaned forward giving her another kiss as she wrapped her arms around my neck. My arms tightened around her waist as we smiled into the kiss. She pulled back with a grin on her face. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiled softly as I gave her another kiss. “What does this mean for us?”

“I want to be with you.” She said without hesitation. She gave me a serious look as I nodded my head in agreement. “I’m serious about not knowing how to live without you.”

I stood with her in my arms and then softly dropped her onto the floor. She found her footing as we stood in front of each other.

“Alex Morgan, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?” I asked with a hopeful smile. “I’d ask you on a date, but to be honest I have waited an extremely long time for this moment.”

She let out a laugh as she cupped my face in her hands. She leaned her forehead against mine again and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath as she opened her eyes.

“(Y/N) (Y/LN), I would love to be your girlfriend.” She said as I grinned leaning forward and giving her another kiss. I pulled her in for a hug kissing her forehead as the forward gave me a kiss on the side of my neck. “God, this conversation really couldn’t have gone better.”

“I know right?” I said as I pulled back from her getting an amused smile from my girlfriend. “I’m just glad we got all the emotional turmoil and longing out of the way before the World Cup started.”

She shook her head at me before we heard banging on the door. I groaned as she laughed at me moving to open the door. She opened it to reveal Kelley and Mal standing there.

“We were elected to make sure you guys hadn’t killed each other.” Kelley said shrugging her shoulders as she entered the room.

“Why would we kill each other?” I asked with confusion evident on my face.

“No one knew how this conversation was going to go.” Mal said as she looked back and forth between Alex and I

“I wasn’t worried. You have both admitted to being in love with each other at some point to me.” Kelley said crossing her arms with a smug look on her face.

“Wait…what?” I said as I looked to Alex hoping she would play along. She must have understood as her eyes widened while looking at me. “You admitted what?”

“You said you just wanted to be friends?” Alex said with a fake serious look on her face. “Why would you lie?”

“I thought you didn’t feel the same!” I said putting out my arms in defense trying to keep it together. “Why didn’t you just say something?”

Mal’s eyes had widened looking back and forth between Alex and I again with a more alarmed look. Kelley had a scared expression on her face as she kept opening and closing her mouth clearly trying to come up with something to say.

“You guys haven’t talked yet?” she said with a concerned and guilty expression on her face.

“That’s the best you could do?” I asked as I turned towards her. “You just told us we are in love with each other without making sure we have talked first and that’s the best you could come up with?”

“I thought that you guys would have talked first. She said she was going to talk to you as soon as she could!” The defender said throwing her arms up. “How was I supposed to know that you two are idiots who don’t know how to properly deal with your feelings?”

“Okay, first of all, ouch. That hurts. Second of all, we are just messing with you.” Alex said as she came closer to me wrapping her arms around me giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Of course, we talked as soon as we could.”

“Well, as soon as I had enough courage to come back to our room” I said as the forward nodded her head at me.

“You guys are psychopaths.” Mal said as she rubbed her temples. “I am not kidding. I thought that we had just ruined everything between you guys.”

“Wait…so does this mean you guys are together?” Kelley asked with an excited smile. I looked to Alex who gave me a soft smile while nodding her head. She leaned in and gave me a kiss. “I am going to tell everyone. That’s cool with you guys right?” We both nodded our head as she grabbed Mal and yanked her out of the room.

“How long you think until we are bombarded by people?” she asked turning towards me wrapping her arms around my waist.

“Five minutes tops” I said getting a laugh from her. “I love your laugh.”

“I know. You might have mentioned it in your super sweet speech about how much you love me. Though, my speech was better.” I rolled my eyes at the girl letting go of her. She kissed my check before turning away from me.

“It’s not a competition Alex.” I said as the forward headed towards the bathroom.

“Yes, it is!” she yelled over her shoulder. I shook my head at her antics smiling about what a dork she was. My dork. My girlfriend. I did a little fist pump as I thought about the fact that she was finally my girlfriend. After all this time, she is finally mine and I have no intention of ever letting her go. To think, this is just the beginning of what is sure to be the wildest summer I have ever had.

To Be Continued…

#alex morgan imagine #alex morgan imagines #alex morgan #uswnt imagine #uswnt imagines #uswnt #kelley o'hara imagine #kelley o'hara #kelley o'hara imagines #allie long #allie long imagine #allie long imagines #becky sauerbrunn #becky sauerbrunn imagine #tierna davidson #tierna davidson imagine #tierna davidson imagines

341 notes · View notes

vedj-f-bekuesu · 4 years

Text

Arr, me mateys! I may have work to do in the day, but I consider myself a wee fast crewman! They even ran out of work to give me so I finished the day with long hours to spare. And since I got the time, ye bet I decided to use it to explore new depths of Ninjago with Skybound!

Okay, I won’t do that for the whole post. But honestly, I thought Skybound was...decent, but does have some drawbacks from how ambitious it was. Let’s just go through it.

-Jay...hmm. Two minds about him. His arc at the start of the season (lasting about halfway) was clearly intentional and setup for his later redemption, and his character after that point is the best kind of Jay. And the reason for said start of season funk does make sense (unlike Home). On the other hand, yeah, the first half is pretty much Jay at his worst with bits sprinkled in to remind you that they still remember his good side. It’s not like giving him that sort of flaw is bad, but it pretty much dominated his entire character for that duration so at some point you just want to punch the little git. Also his parent arc is a bit undercooked, but he’s got plenty elsewhere so that doesn’t really bother me, especially when Ed and Edna ultimately get to have the crucial pep talk. -Nya has a similar problem to be honest, although part of hers was also fabricated by Dareth being an absolute dick at the start (despite his moment in season 4). After that, it was fine for her up until she starts the whole fucking thing by being stubborn in such a perilous situation. And then halfway through they calm it down and make her realise she’s taken it somewhat overboard. Once that halfway point crosses it’s a lot easier to get behind the both of them, but mileage may vary on how much you can stand before then. I did like the lunchtime scene though. -Zane doesn’t get much this season, but I did like his sass, it was a good check. Otherwise, not much happening with him aside from one scene that people immortalise due to how out of character it was for him, but since that has zero consequences I just brush that off as a one time gag. Pixal had like two scenes but they were both great scenes for her. -Lloyd had more going for him this seasons than prior ones at least (even Possession), but he was still on the more bland side. I think every character got an attitude increase in this season though. Seriously, even the one-scene characters. But let me tell you; Lloyd Garmadon is no Rex Fury, that’s for sure. -Cole and Kai...I think were on some substance or other during this arc, at least at the start. -Kai has Project Arcturus’ issue of playing his vain side up to the point where it’s actively jeopardising the mission (and actually could be considered as much responsible for starting the whole thing as Nya), but at least this time they reign it in to turn it into something of a clever tactic. And of course this is all absent when he’s freed from the Sword of Souls because Kai typically gets characterised into two modes at this point in the show. -Cole has a similar thing. I mean, eating tools...what? It’s mostly comedic and not that detrimental to begin with (aside from him straight up ditching Jay at the theme park. Not out of spite or anything, just because the plot wanted an extra minute I guess). Then Kai gets trapped and suddenly his character is all about being Jay’s best friend, which in of itself is fine until it again gets way heavy-handed about it. I’m assuming that the writers just wanted any potential remnants of Cole and Nya as a pair to just die (hence why he has no reaction to Jay revealing things about the caves despite Jay’s worry over it, and why this is the season he starts really taking potshots at Nya), but surely Versus was enough on its own combined with Jay and Nya’s arc in this season? Plus the ghost thing is almost entirely wasted this season, only serving a point where his invisibility comes into play (oh, and I guess a threat when he walks the plank). -Despite the much bigger cast of characters, they don’t really get to do that much. The standouts are easily Soto (who’s just funny throughout), Dareth (who despite having a really bad start with being a misogynist for no reason, gets much better when he comes in second time) and Ronin (who I guess was still a writer darling at this point). Anyone else? You might get a moment for some of them (mainly Misako and Echo Zane), but eh. It’s a shame because Jay set up the ninja replacements like it would be this shining moment for them, but not really, and they just end up as fight fodder. And being a gag for hating Jay for being annoying despite him not doing anything to at least a couple of them. Also because of my other LEGO interests, every time I see Ronin whistle for the R.E.X, I expect the Rexcelsior to just come down and crush everything. That would have been a bad time for Kai and Nya. -One thing I didn't mention in Possession is how the villain and lackey dynamics are developing into something actually worth investing in (beyond the tension between Pythor and Skales), and Skybound takes it even further. This is the first season where the villains are just as investing as the heroes, and I like how its a slow burn from Nadakhan and his crew having comradery, to Flintlocke slowly realising that Jay was telling the truth, to him and Dogshanks playing key roles in the final confrontation. -Speaking of which, Nadakhan was an interesting villain. I don’t like him as much as Morro, but he’s still got plenty to him. What I find most interesting is how the Jay seasons like to play parallels with the villains, what with Nadakhan being a reflection of Jay’s romance thing and Jay using his abandonment to find a way to connect to Unagami. Also the fact that he doesn’t even seem to care that much about doing evil in Ninjago at first. He does evil stuff, and they’d certainly need to find a way to fix Wu and Misako’s situation, but it’s just as a means to get home. Once he finds out that home is just about to die? He loses the plot entirely, and that’s fun to see. -Ironically, the interactions I liked best this season were the more understated ones. For example Jay and Zane’s conversation early on (which doubles as foreshadowing to Zane’s demise) was really nice for characters who don’t usually get time to speak to each other one on one, and I wish more of the interaction in the season felt as natural as that in the first half. As a bonus, it wasn’t even wiped out at the end so that conversation still happened! -Yeah, plot. The story was interesting once we got to the Sky Pirates, not quite as engaging as Possession but it was clearly aiming at more individual dynamics than looking at the whole group and it definitely managed to balance that with the actual story and giving the villain perspective. The framing arc was less interesting, if only because even for this show everyone suddenly turning on the ninja without giving them more chance to defend themselves is laughable at this point. And as for the ending...eh, I’m ambivalent on it. Jay and Nya’s arcs remain no matter what so at least that stuff stuck around (by design). But you do lose the existence of the other Sky Pirates who made a good chunk of the good stuff. I guess the other biggest thing you lose is all the scenes where Cole reaffirms that he is Jay’s best friend, but he can do that in future seasons and not just drop it because they’ve settled the score on the love triangle...right? -Once again, it felt like a pretty dry season in terms of tone. I think this is a running theme. -At least the annoying slow-mo seems to finally giving way. It was used twice. One was random, the other was thematically appropriate.

Overall, this season can be described as “heavy-handed”, moreso than any other story-heavy season so far. When it’s in this mode, it’s pretty annoying even if not terrible. But it still has elements to keep it going, and ends up in a pretty good place. Definitely comes down to individual taste on how much of said elements you can stomach, so I’m not surprised it has a marmite reputation. Out of the non-Possession story-heavy seasons I’ve seen so far this is the better one, but it’s still below S1 and S2 for me.

Next time, I will not be doing a season. The writers seems to want to end Cole’s ghost arc and that’s exactly what they’ll do in Day of the Departed.

#ninjago #ns6 #VEDJ-F talks #vedj-f reviews #for the record I've always like ninjas more than pirates #ns12 spoilers

13 notes · View notes

hotheadhero · 4 years

Text

Reconcile

“Perhaps you should go to the Goddess Tower and seek her council. Oh, don’t look at me like that! Yes, rumors abound about that place, but it’s also the most private place connected to your goddess here.”

Even as he stands before the entrance of the Goddess Tower with Celica’s advice still fresh on his mind, he can’t bring himself to climb those storied steps and seek divine counsel. For everyone else the tower represents joy, bears witness to fateful promises that will last a lifetime. He has nothing of the sort to make tonight; it would be something like heresy to climb up now. And so he remains at the foot of it, blankly staring up at its peak trying to listen for something he’s never sought out in his life before... and finding, to some distress, nothing at all.

Now, as ever, it would seem he has to muddle through things on his own.

For one normally so hyper, he stands almost statuesque, hand frozen in midair mere inches from the gilded knob. Minutes pass, hours, eons, before he heaves a sigh and, clenching fingers once into a fist, turns away. Exactly what he’d hoped to find here, he doesn’t know... It was stupid of him to even try. Perhaps he’d be better served hunting Linhardt down and apologizing tomorrow. It’s getting late, anyway. Neither of them should be up much longer; and coupling his friend’s general distaste for balls with his own epic (and public) outburst midway through one, chances were just as high the mage had already fled and turned in.

But of course, the goddess still loves her games and whiles. As he trudges back down the short flight of stairs across the cathedral bridge towards his dorm room, who should he find along the way but the very person he wanted most and could least avoid. He looks up precisely when Linhardt does. Their eyes meet. His composure breaks.

Seeing Linhardt again after what feels like ages tears a fresh hole into his psyche. He finds now that all he’s done tonight is delude himself, slap band-aids over his wounds without really assessing their depth. He’s never had any aptitude for healing his physical wounds; whatever made Caspar think he could handle his emotional ones any better? He’s run away from his problems as he always has, never confronting them unless forced; and how it shows when the matter involves someone he can’t run away from, his dear best friend, his fellow student and other half on this same goddess-forsaken campus! The injury is still there, fresh as if he’d torn it now rather than hours prior. It suffocates him, chokes out his power for speech. But speak he must! for he feels the weight of those incredulous accusing eyes on his, near withers under that ocean-ice gaze. Linhardt’s stare is almost frightening when not at their usual half-mast; it pins him like a vampire to the stake. How dare you renounce everything we had? those eyes demand. How dare you go and pretend as if all of this is normal?

“Linhardt, I—”

A wave of emotion crashes over him and drags him under with those two words, as if he’s opened a dam without first seeing how much water it held back. His perfectly rehearsed apology dies in his mouth. He wants to flee but finds himself rooted to drown under the weight of all their past memories. Acceptance. Laughter. Harmless exasperation at Linhardt’s many capricious antics; countless adventures with the other boy in tow. Innumerable times escaping Gilead’s wrath or even Lord Hevring’s. All underscored by an unshakable faith that no matter what he did, Linhardt would always have his back just as Caspar did his. Because they were best friends, brothers from another mother, and they’d never have to fight it out. Because theirs was an unbreakable bond… Up until the moment Linhardt broke it, and everything burned.

(Or was it he who had broken it from the start, and thus he who deserved all the blame? For hadn’t it been Linhardt who’d always had faith in him when even his brother and father did not? Who’d always helped him get back on his feet every time a fight or argument knocked him down? Who’d convinced him he had any shot at any of this when the whole of Enbarr seemed to believe otherwise?)

And he’s my friend besides. He would never lie to me without good reason… Right?

Words fail him as they never do; and Caspar is the first to divert his gaze. His eyes writhe with equal parts anger, guilt, and sorrow. He isn’t blind to the damage he’s done tonight, not at all. He simply doesn’t know how best to make amends.

I can’t deal with this right now.

Then when?

At least you still have the ability to talk to him now. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.

(It is Lloyd’s words that finally rouse him to action, his spiritual older brother with the wise haggard eyes. He can’t allow himself to go the way of Linus, to see Linhardt or himself part ways forever without ever learning the truth.)

“… Why?” he manages at last. It’s a loaded question, far weightier than its one syllable deserves. Why did you lie to me? Why did you break our promise?

Why did you go and leave me behind?

Narrow fingers clench tighter in his palms ‘til they blanche. It's a pain and atonement far too small, he thinks. Pathetic, something hisses inside. Seething with thoughts unvoiced, you dig your own grave even deeper. Did you ever think you deserved such a friend? Dare you think you deserve any at all, after what you yourself did to your best and first most faithful friend?

“I don’t understand.” Not you, not myself. He addresses the air, not his friend’s face; his words drag forth from him, quiet and ragged for what he fears he’s about to hear. ”I thought you wanted me to stay away from you. Grow up, since I haven’t with you always close by. Isn’t that why you left the Eagles for the Deer? Because I’ve done something seriously wrong?”

How it hurts to admit that aloud; but that’s the only thing that can explain all this. Why else would Linhardt dodge his questions and accuse him like that when all he’d done was listen to what he thought he wanted? Ten long years they’ve been friends; he’d thought by now he knew Linhardt’s mind like the back of his hand. Clearly he was in the wrong—and if he’d been wrong about that, what else had he been wrong about? Had he ever really known Linhardt at all?

“I…” Caspar sighs. Head unmoving, his eyes flick up towards the other’s face; but this position makes the back of his eyes ache and so he forces himself to properly meet the mage’s eyes. ”I still don’t think you gave me an honest answer back there, so tell me now. Obviously you didn’t leave the ball early like all the other ones back in Enbarr, so why are you here? Come to tell me off? Go on; I can take it.” Yet his gaze slips sideways again. ”It’s probably nothing I haven’t heard before.”

Oh, but can he? His own words conjure up all manner of past demons – just as they had with Celica, but worse. A formless beast, bearing at times his brother’s face, at others his father’s, appears in his mind’s eye, sinister, venomous. Spiteful. Even Linhardt’s face appears there once, he thinks; and that possibility terrifies him. Julian was right, you know, it whispered, words sinking into his mind like the poisoned claws sinking deep to his bones. You weak, stupid, reckless, irrational cunt. Unworthy of the peerage, let alone of your family’s coveted title. You will never make anything of yourself other than an abject mess. To convince yourself otherwise is the highest of follies. Desist, now. Everyone will be happier with you out of the way.

“If everything you’ve ever done for me was from some misguided sense of pity, then stop. I’m not worth it. Maybe I’ve never been. Not like you.” (Goddess damn it, his hands are shaking; but he can bear it all; he must!) “Just tell it to me straight whether you want me to leave or stay, because whatever we’re not telling each other definitely isn’t helping.”

Honestly, even contemplating the possibility that he could lose his decade-long friend, could already have lost him with his own foolishness, pains him terribly, but maybe things would be better that way. Even if the closure he so desires is spit in his face like his brother’s slander (and Linhardt would be justified in such after what he’s starting to think was an unjustified rant), surely it will be enough to let him move on. Caspar’s sure he can bounce back; he always has… But it will be a damn sight harder without his old friend at his side.

(He’s still not looking at him. He’s too afraid to see what's surely there.)

@linhcrdt

#toaball2020 #thread: reconcile #linhcrdt #length readmore #// here we gooo <w<#// theme song: nier automata's weight of the world #// first drafts this 4-11 waits until now to post #// delays it for your finals but also constantly nitpicks it #// opening celica blurb drafted prior to its appearance in the relevant thread and preapproved by nat

6 notes · View notes

lloydskywalkers · 5 years

Text

good or bad, hard to say

Round two of @ninjago-angst-week , this one’s for Jay, I’m so sorry my kid. The prompt for today is “Lost”, and there’s a lot you can do with that but I was thinking the other day about that one post that pointed out how Jay is the only one of the ninja who’s never really “died” per say and then my brain just. Ran with it.

(this kinda jumps all over the place but it mainly takes place during the s8 finale and that episode of s10 btw)

Jay thinks he might be the luckiest person in Ninjago.

Like – not really lucky, because his entire life is one big roller coaster of wild ups and downs and constantly getting his home blown up and honestly it’s a miracle they aren’t all homeless and broke and several limbs down, but like – he’s still pretty lucky. If you use perspective, and all that.

That’s not to say that Jay’s lottery-lucky, or anything of the like. He’s – he’s Jay-lucky, if that’s a thing, and if it isn’t he’s gonna make it one, because there needs to be a term. There needs to be a term for Jay’s very specific brand of lucky, because honestly, it’s not really luck at all.

It’s hard to feel lucky when you’re terrified of how lucky you are.

__ __ __ __

See it’s – it’s like this, Jay thinks. His luck.

The most obvious example — parents. Jay lost his, yeah – Cliff and Libber, his mom and dad and isn’t that wild – he lost them before he ever got the chance to know them. And even in that, he’s still lucky. He’s lucky because he’s never gonna feel the same aching hunger Cole does when Edna kisses his forehead, or the awful twist in Lloyd’s smile whenever fathers come up – and on that note, the edge in Zane’s eyes when fathers come up – or the muddled confused mess of abandonment and not-really-abandonment-but-the-hurt’s-still-there that Kai and Nya are stuck with.

No, Jay gets Ed and Edna, continues to get Ed and Edna, and there’s a pretty big part of him that lives in waking terror for fear of losing them, because their team’s got a terrible track record with that, but – he gets a mom and dad with no strings attached. He gets love and support and maybe his childhood wasn’t spectacular, or anything, but he got two parents who loved him and really, what else could he ask for?

But the thing about having something is that you now have something to lose. This isn’t really a big deal, of course, until people start trying to use his mom and dad against him and then—

Well. Jay thinks he understands how angry Kai gets sometimes.

But he also gets scared. Jabbermouth, big chicken Walker, that’s him. Constantly jittery and constantly on-edge and constantly annoying and yeah, Jay gets it! He gets it. But he just doesn’t think—

Jay gets it. But everyone else doesn’t.

__ __ __ __

To be fair, he thinks, how could they get it.

They don’t remember what it’s like—

Jay swallows. To be fair. He isn’t the only one terrified right now. Kai is white-knuckled where he grips the edge of the table, dried blood still on his hands where he tore them up on the rope getting down to Lloyd. Nya isn’t much better, her eyes a wildfire and a hurricane all at once, frightened and raging and desperate for a solution, for a cure, for a miracle. Cole is tight-lipped and ashen-faced and Zane’s mask of calm looks seconds from fracturing.

They’re all terrified, he wants to yell at Mystake as she chides them for impatience. Can’t she see – their brother is dying. They’re going to lose him, and Jay knows what it’s like to lose, and he’s only got so much luck here so why can’t she just—

Jay doesn’t say any of that. He doesn’t say much of anything, because he’s too scared that if he starts talking now he’ll never stop, an endless waterfall of terrified chatter will pour out from his mouth as if he can talk the problem away and won’t that just make everything so much better—

Jay doesn’t say much. But he listens.

Jay stares at his little brother writhing in pain on the table and hears Nya’s voice in his head telling him to make a last wish.

__ __ __ __

And there’s the thing, Jay thinks. They don’t get it because they just don’t know. Not like he does.

They don’t remember. That’s not to say they forget, but they don’t — it’s not present in their head like it always is Jay’s, he thinks. They walk into battle like they’re fearless, like they’re invincible, and Jay knows that they’re not.

Jay is scared, but Jay is scared because he remembers what it’s like to stare at the erupting Fire Temple and think they just lost Kai. He remembers every single emotion in Zane’s voice before he blew sky high in the Overlord’s hold. He remembers every last night he stayed up crying because his brother was dead, and how much it hurt when that ripped the team apart. He remembers how badly his hands shook as he tried to fight back against Morro and couldn’t because that’s Lloyd, that’s their brother he’s hitting, and what if he hits too hard—?

He remembers the sharp drop and falling sensation when he looked behind him and didn’t see Cole coming out of Yang’s temple. He remembers forgetting about Cole then remembering he forgot about Cole then thinking Cole was gone forever.

He remembers Nya’s voice telling him to make a last wish.

So the others – they’re brave, they’re so brave. And really, it sounds great and all, “whatever it takes” and fighting ‘til the end and nobly risking their lives and all that, and yeah, Jay isn’t saying he wouldn’t die for any of his family on the spot, but—

They’re willing to do whatever it takes to win, because winning is the only option for them. They don’t know what it’s like to lose, to really lose.

But Jay—

Jay knows what it’s like to lose. He knows what it’s like to win and still lose, because a win without everyone isn’t a win after all, it can’t be a win, not when they’re left wounded and mourning and Nya saying goodbye in his arms—

But Jay. Jay is lucky, and Lloyd’s breathing eases out and his eyelids flutter and his fever goes down. Jay is so very lucky, because instead of dying with the others as the Bounty’s crushed, they get bailed out last second by tea and Jay gets to keep his family again. Sure, they’re stranded in another realm and that sucks and Jay might be losing what’s left of his mind here, but – still. He’s so very, very lucky.

He reminds himself of that as Kai leaps fearlessly onto the Colossi’s back when they return to Ninjago, as if he had never been in any danger of being crushed by it before. He reminds himself of it even as his stomach twists and his palms go sweaty and Wu’s panicked cry of Lloyd! echoes over their comms.

Jay reminds himself and Nya’s voice is still telling him to make that last wish.

__ __ __ __

Jay is lucky. Jay is so very, very lucky, because when Nya flips the lever wrong and the engines reverse, he’s just barely not in the path of the blast. He’s lucky because his part of the ladder holds strong, his hands don’t slip, and Jay’s never in any danger at all.

But—

Jay is lucky, but he’s Jay-lucky. Jay-lucky isn’t happy-lucky. Jay-lucky is constantly worried about losing, constantly worried about winning and still losing, constantly wondering how you made it out and they didn’t, and constantly wishing you could’ve swapped places.

Cole can’t be dead, he tells himself. Because Jay might not be easy-lucky but he’s never been unlucky enough to lose everyone forever. It hurts and it sucks and he mourns for a bit maybe but he always — he always — he got Nya back so—

Kai is crying and trying not to, all stifled and ugly. Zane is barely holding them together and he hasn’t even looked at Nya’s expression yet because he knows that kind of guilt, it hurts, and he’s too scared to — have it be real yet, because it’s not. Cole can’t be gone, Jay can’t have lost him again. Cole’s always doing that — throwing himself in danger’s way for them, for Jay — throwing him the Jade Blade, pushing him from harm’s way in Yang’s Temple, hugging him tightest when he’s warm and strong and solid again even though Jay was a big fat idiot who forgot—

Cole can’t. He just can’t.

Cole’s eyes, frightened and terrified, are frozen in Jay’s head and he just wants his best friend back.

Another thing about Jay is that he’s kind of smart sometimes. He knows things, things about gravity and falling and impact, and he knows that the Oni don’t save people.

He wishes he wasn’t.

Jay’s smart, and he remembers the wish he made. He remembers where he sent the teapot, and he bets — he’s smart, he’s lucky, he could find it. It’d risk Nadakhan but if it’s a risk for Cole then—

But Jay is smart, and he knows how that will end.

He wishes he didn’t.

Maybe Jay isn’t lucky after all, he thinks, staring hollowly over the deck of the Bounty where the dark fog swirls below, the knowledge that Cole’s left alone — dead — eating at his heart and screaming in his mind because he can’t get his voice to work quite yet.

Maybe he’s cursed. There needs to be someone left to mourn the lost. Jay knows that.

He just wishes it wasn’t always him.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #jay walker #ninjago-angst-week #low key jay ur every bit as reckless as the rest of them u hypocrite #but i feel like the thing with nya really drove it home #anyways ninjago what is it with making these kids watch their family die huh #hUH

104 notes · View notes

aweebwrites · 4 years

Text

Move on Dragons Chapter 13

Jay swung his legs over the edge of the Bounty’s railings as he looked out at the view ahead. Sensei Wu left on his trip to find Garmadon as he was sure that the Garmadon Lloyd had wasn’t quite him. As for large dragon Garmadon’s ability to understand them, they had a hypothesis for that. Since the longer they spend in their world, the more they began to adapt and become like them, the reverse must be true for the dragons. After all, understanding their language is the first part of the change. There was a chance that the dragons might be able to take a human form the longer they stay and wasn’t that a conundrum. The dragons being able to become human would be handy but if they lost the ability to shift back because they were spending too long of a time here was what they were worried about.

They would have still been puzzling over a solution if he hadn’t reminded them of a certain pink haired dimensional traveler they knew. That was another issue: pinning her down. She could be in any dimension right now and might not be back for who knows how long. But then Cole helpfully pointed out that her father might have a means of contacting her. But they ran into the problem of their new appearances and their inability to switch to normal just yet. They were working on that now. Jay already knew he wouldn’t be involved in anything unless they needed his lightning. He gave a light huff. Or should he say, other him’s lightning. Two days of the week that other him had to sort himself out had already gone by, today being the third.

In 4 days, he won’t even be a memory once he comes back. He was fine with that. Really he was. Existence was the biggest bother right now. It’s just certain death and problems at every corner with no escape. That wasn’t his kind of thing. Though… He tilted his head back, looking up at the partially clouded sky. He’d like to fly before he dies. That could go wrong in so many ways, he knew but… He’d like to know what it’s like to feel the wind under his own wings. Would he feel as free as the dragons look up there? He wanted to find out. After that, he’d be satisfied. But if he doesn’t get the chance… Well, what does it matter? He reached up and carefully scratched at his scalp, well aware of just how sharp these claws of his are as his horned tail thumped the deck of the ship lightly. Man existence really was a bother. Here he was thinking about complicated and depressing things. He blames his other part for having such a depressing mindset.

“Isolation never does anyone any good you know…” Jay huffed, glancing over his shoulder, his slitted blue eyes meeting Cole’s green and golden orange ones.

“Conssidering I’m amongsst the likess of you, I think issolation iss jusst what the doctor ordered.” Jay hummed as he looked out at the almost plain like landscape just before the rainforest that was Hiroshi’s Labyrinth.

“I don’t think you really mean that.” Cole huffed as he walked over, leaning against the railing. “After all, everyone needs someone…” He murmured as he looked out too, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth as his folded wings relaxed further.

“Iss that ssso…” Jay whispered softly, not bothering to correct him.

Needing someone might be a necessity to him and the others…But he only had so long left… And really, all he felt like he needed… Was a chance to fly. He chuckled to himself, Cole watching him curiously as he did. This was becoming troublesome…

_____

“Ok.” Lloyd says as he looked at his supposed dragon father from where he set him down on the ground just outside of the dragons’ tower, sitting just across from him. “If you’re my dad, what’s my favorite colour?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

The small black dragon paused, its long body coiled like a snake before it skittered away. Lloyd watched it curiously as it did, his small frame disappearing in the nearby bushes making him tense. He could get lost- His thought was interrupted once he came skittering back with something red in his small mouth, making Lloyd’s eyes widened. He walked forward, holding the- the raspberry up for Lloyd to take- which he did. His favorite colour actually was red. He picked up the glossy back dragon and the ripe berry he held in his small mouth still before accepting it, looking him over.

“You really are dad…” Lloyd whispered before taking a bite of half the berry, offering the rest to him. “But how’d you get like this? And who’s the other dad out there Sensei Wu is going after?” He asked him but his father he should probably nickname to save confusion- only looked at him while eating the berry in bites before tilting his head in a sort of shrug.

This dragon was definitely human.

‘Everyone always thinks it’s green for some reason.’ Lloyd looked up at his dragon self as he walked over, eyes on the miniature dragon that was his father.

“Right?” Lloyd huffed, a smile tugging at his lips, revealing his fangs. “I wear green all day. Of course I’d get tired of it. It’s one of my least favorite colours actually.” He says as the green scaled dragon laid next to him, Kai walking around with his dad not too far away.

‘I don’t mind it too much but it’s not my favorite colour. Dad says that I came out like an emerald because I’m his treasure… It’s hard to hate it after that…’ He rumbled fondly and Lloyd looked up at his counterpart surprised.

He then looked down at his dad without really seeing him. Other him was lucky. He got to grow up with their dad… He blinked once something touched his forehead, focusing to see his father pressing his forehead against his, warmth filling him a moment after as a soft purr left him. He’d hug him if he could but he supposed this was good enough for now.

‘I know how to walk on all fours. I do that almost every day.’ Kai huffed as he paced back and forth to prove his point.

‘You may be used to it as a half human but the fundamentals are different as a full dragon.’ Garmadon lectured as he sat patiently, watching his stride carefully.

‘I’m ready to fly! Watch me!’ Kai declared.

‘Kai do-’ He was too late.

Kai had flapped his wings and had taken air, beating his wings still to keep himself hovering high up mid air.

‘See? I’m…’ Kai blinked once he suddenly banked left without meaning to, then dipped right, his flight pattern unsteady. ‘Uh-oh.’ Was all Kai got out before he dropped suddenly, his wings failing to catch him somehow- but Garmadon did, catching him by the tail, leaving him swinging as he blinked at the ground below.

‘Learn to listen to your elders Kai.’ Garmadon rumbled, setting him down. ‘Flying as a dragon is not the same as flying as a half dragon.’ He scolded and Kai looked up at him sheepishly, rubbing his front leg with his paw.

‘Yeah… Sorry Dad…’ Kai apologized as his wings drooped.

‘It’s fine. Mistakes were meant to be made. Some of our most crucial lessons are learned from them.’ Garmadon reassured then sat again. ‘Now, wing exercises.’ He says, spreading his wings and Kai held back a whine at how boring it is.

He did want to fly after all…

________

“Uh-” Was Vortica’s first word uttered once she stepped out of her portal hours after her father contacted her, looking up owlishly at the huge structure that certainly wasn’t around these parts before, filled with dragons.

“That was surprisingly quick.” She glanced over to see Lloyd as he got to his feet, staring at him wide eyed.

“Wanna explain why Dragon Dimension Alpha 106 looks like it puked all over this area- and you?” She asked, glancing at his dark wings.

“It’s a long story you really should hear.” Lloyd says sheepishly.

“I really should, considering this cluster of dimensions are under my jurisdiction and my mother will quite possibly kill me if she finds out about this.” She says, gesturing to the building and the Dragons gliding about.

“Ok, so we got rid of the Oni in the Dragon Dimension but their cloud cover kinda blocked the sunlight for the flora there for too long- and deprived them and the creatures living there of oxygen- and kinda caused a mass extinction. The dragons-”

“Couldn’t stay there or else they’d die due to lack of food supplies and decreasing oxygen levels. So you all decided to take them here to allow their world to recover as time passes slower here but now you’re concerned that they might be here for too long and become too human and lose their ability to shift into dragons, correct?” Vortica asked as she reached for her satchel and dug around it.

“Well- yeah.” Lloyd says surprised.

“Happened with Dragon Dimension Delta 8032 and Ninjago 35994.” Was all she said as her explanation, pulling out a small, sort of chip. “Where’s your Kai? I need to borrow that Dimensional Crystal real quick.” She says as she looked around then paused once the large red dragon all but trotted over.

‘It’s back at the Bounty actually. I don’t have the uh… Means of keeping it on me right now.’ Kai rumbled.

“She can’t-”

“That’s fine. Could you fetch it real quick Lloyd? I gotta make some notes in the meantime of the other dimension I’m observing. My old woman is really cracking down on dimensional order, you know?” Vortica says as she rolled her shoulders’ pulling a pen out of her bag. “And yes, I can understand all languages throughout all dimensions and anyone I speak to will be able to understand me.” She answered before Lloyd could ask.

‘It’s under my pillow.’ Kai told Lloyd and he nodded, getting down on all fours and taking off.

She then pressed a button on her pen, revealing writing in thin air that was done in her trademark colour and continued where she left off, writing in mid air as Kai circled her a few times curiously, Garmadon, the large dad dragon loomed over her curiously.

‘What language is that?’ Kai asked, never seeing it before.

“It’s a secret language that only the Federation of Dimensional Safety and Order knows so don’t bother trying to figure it out.” Vortica mumbled as she kept focus. “Even like this, you lot are nothing compared to their power… They might come in handy actually…” She continued to mumble, more to herself now.

‘Another version of us?’ Garmadon asked curiously.

“The ninja more specifically.” Vortica clarified. “I have to head back and keep an eye on them still to check their progress. They’re insanely powerful. God tier. Above that actually.” She says, pulling up an image of the vaporized spot where the Monastery in that realm was.

“This was done by that world’s version of you.” Vortica says and Kai stared with wide eyes.

‘Are you even allowed to show me stuff like this?’ He asked her and she snorted as she minimized the picture and continued writing.

“Look at yourself. You’re literally stuck between two dimensions right now. This Ninjago may be your Dimension of origin but you’re also just as tied to the Dragon Dimension. With how frequently the distances and borders of your dimensions have been crossed, that’s really no surprise. But I knew that when I gave you the Dimensional Crystal. I just didn’t expect all this. I’m curious to see what both your dimensions will do to cope with the link you opened up between them… But you’re another project I don’t have the time for right now. I only came because my dad said it was an emergency. Speaking of, I might as well leave you guys with your own way of getting to me, just in case.” She says, writing still.

“Oh.” She added, turning the notepad off and looking to Kai. “And when you guys manage to track down your version of Garmadon- the bigger one I mean, make sure to let me know. That’s a problem I need to fix so my mom can get off my tail.” She huffed, reaching a hand out towards Lloyd and the others once he came with the magenta crystal.

“Thanks.” Vortica says as she took the crystal in hand, opening a portal and sticking her hand and the chip inside.

She waited for a bit before pulling the chip back through as it glowed pink. She then tossed it up and they all watched in awe once it went up and up and up still, disappearing over the top of the tower.

“Don’t worry it’s up there. I had to put a sort of field up around the Labyrinth that’ll adjust the Dragons’ internal dimensional clock to this Ninjago, so you won’t have to worry about them losing their Dragonly touch. They can leave the area but it’s recommended that they don’t stay out for long. And if you think it’s easier for them to regress then don’t let it pass what will most likely be Kai’s new normal. If it does then the chances of them turning back will be significantly low- and painful.” She told them with a sigh, pushing her short magenta hair back tiredly. “Also, for conta-”

‘Wait, what do you mean my new-’

“-cting me, use this.” She says, tossing a small device to Zane. “You’re smart, you can figure it out. I’ll allow one test message and a confirming reply but after that, don’t contact me unless it’s absolutely dire- that or you found your Garmadon- the big one. Please nickname them for now, this is getting old. I’ve really gotta run back to that dimension though. Everyone got that?” She asked them.

‘You said something about my form?-’

“This is advanced technology, an instruction manual would-”

“Ok good. Bye!” She yelled, backing up into her portal that opened behind her, tossing the Dimensional Crystal into Cole’s hands as she did. They stared at where she disappeared collectively.

“... Now what?” Cole asked.

“... We figure things out on our own I suppose…” Zane says as he looked over the small device in hand.

____________________

(So I didn’t get this out when I wanted to but hey! Update! Ok so we have a drop in from Vortica! Long time no see my faithful oc! Hey! That rhymed! Anyways, we all know where she's investigating ;).But! The beginning arc as ended and it's time for the middle arc starting with a small time skip! I'll include what happens in times past and snippets of important parts (like Jay's upcoming parts. Might actually write all of that out actually) but that's all in the next update! (hopefully tomorrow but if not then definitely the day after). The middle arc is still gonna be focused on the ninja but it's time for others to share the spotlight. Thanks for reading!)

#ninjago #kai ninjago #lloyd ninjago #cole ninjago #jay ninjago #nya ninjago #zane ninjago #original character #ninjago garmadon #aweebwrites' work

8 notes · View notes