Chapter Text
Lloyd yawned. It was the final class of the day, language arts with Mr. White. It was generally one of the subjects that he actually liked, however the meeting with Ronin was at the forefront of his mind. He and his friends had talked it over at lunch, what they would talk about, where they would go, things like that.
Mr. White was obviously tired, droning on about the book they were studying, lacking his usual vigour. This did nothing to help Lloyd from zoning out.
“-and so they went inside the building, only to find the bodies of the troops, which is, you know, just delightful . Ok, let’s see…uh, Lloyd, what was the main character's motivation in this chapter?” Lloyd blinked, having not listened to anything his teacher had said for the past twenty minutes.
“What? Oh, uh, he wanted… to find his friends?”, Lloyd tried. It was a weak answer, he figured that from the look on Mr. Whites face.
“Not quite. Please at least try to listen in my class, Lloyd.”
“Sorry sir.” He felt himself turn red, trying to ignore the snickering from his, at that moment, beloathed classmates. Cole nudged him gently.
“What’s up little dude, you’re usually on the ball in English.”
Lloyd shook his head. “Nothing, I’m fine. Just… a little anxious about later.”
Cole nodded. “Yeah, I feel that. We’ll be fine though. We’re staying strictly in public places, so even if something does go wrong, which it won’t, we’ll be safe.” Cole ruffled his hair. “Besides, we get to ask a weird history man weird history questions.”
Lloyd laughed quietly at that. “We should bring Mr Powers along, for a laugh. He’d be all “what was the power level of the ovens?” , or, like, “What material were laces made of?”” Lloyd did his rather brilliant impression of the history teacher, causing Cole to clap his hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. That got them both a disapproving stare from the teacher.
The rest of the lesson flew by, ending with Mr. White giving out some homework. Cole had his back on his back a solid five minutes before the bell rang, and practically dragged Lloyd out of the classroom, shouting a quick ‘ thank you!’ to the teacher.
The two didn’t wait for the rest of their friends; they all had some form of extracurricular, and Cole had decided he wanted to stroll around the town. Besides, they had phones for a reason.
The twos’ destination was Cole’s favourite bakery, a small place owned by an older lady named Mystaké. She was a strange old woman, always dropping weird, vague tidbits of information about prophecy’s and that. He had learned to smile and nod, not paying any notice to the woman.
They entered the shop, the bell tinkling as the pushed the door open. Mystaké looked at them, a gleam in her eye.
“Good afternoon, Brookstone, Garmadon. What can I get for you today?”
Cole smiled politely. “Hey Mystaké.” Lloyd let Cole order for the two of them, and stood back. The shop was small, yet cozy, with several tables crammed inside. There was a wide range of fresh cakes and pastries, as well as every variety of tea one could think of.
“Lloyd! C’mere buddy, I need help.” Cole was bent over the glass display. He pointed to a large slice of rich looking chocolate cake with one finger, and a soft bun with thick buttercream piped neatly on top with the other.
“Which one do I get? They both look so delicious… I’m assuming you want the apple pie, by the way.” Lloyd did, in fact, want the apple pie.
Lloyd looked at his options. Cole was right, they were both mouthwatering; Mystakés cooking never failed to impress. “Get both, and we can share one of them. I’ll wait here for them, go get a seat. Standing while eating is absolutely disgraceful” Cole grinned at that, quickly giving the orders to Mystaké before going over to claim a seat.
It took a minute for Mystaké to plate their food, but Lloyd didn’t mind the wait- he could respect that it was a busy day, and the woman had a workforceof herself, and a kid a bit younger than Lloyd who always had some sort of injury, who just looked happy to be there. She caught Lloyds eye and waved him over, Lloyd, tray in hand.
“Your treats, young Garmadon.” Lloyd smiled politely, and reached over to talk the tray she was holding out for him. Mystaké suddenly grabbed his wrist as he took it, curling her boney hands around him. She leaned in close, an ominous look on her face, sending a shiver down Lloyds spine.
“Bad things are coming to you child, bad things. Old evils are returning, and you must be ready for them.” Lloyd had heard these prophecies before, sure, however in that moment, he couldn’t help but feel that he should heed her warnings.
“There is another, and he is not here for no good reason. Remember your past, young Garmadon, you must look to it to guide you. You must remember your past to save your future.” She then let go of his wrist, adjusted her glasses and left to serve another customer without another word. Lloyd stood slightly shaken, still watching the old lady.
What did she mean by that? There’s another ? Another who? And remembering his past, what could that- Lloyds eyes widened.
Oh .
Lloyd turned to Cole, who was hunched over his phone, no doubt trying to see which of their other friends could join them. Lloyd went to sit down, placing the platter in the middle of the table with a bit more force than he meant to.
“Cole? Cole!” Cole looked up from his phone. “Ugh, screen addict. Anyways, uhm-” Lloyd sighed. “Yknow what, lets eat first. I need energy for my dramatic story.”
Cole nodded, looking rather wise as he did. “Good choice, oh wise and dramatic Lloyd.” They dug into the food- it was delicious, as usual. Cole decided to split his bun, reasoning that `You just can’t beat chocolate cake Lloyd, that’s a golden rule in life”.
Lloyd found himself fidgeting after they’d eaten, wanting almost to forget about the entire encounter.
“Cole.” The boy looked at him, leaning back in his chair, at ease.
“Yeah? Oh, is this about what you wanted to talk about earlier?”
“Yeah, it is. It’s probably nothing, but…” he lowered his voice, aware that he was still in the subject of his gossips bakery. “Mystaké gave me a really weird prophecy-talk thing. Something about old evil and remembering my past. That’d be fine on its own, but then she said there was another one, and how he wasn’t here for no good reason.”
Cole furrowed his brows. “Yeah, but she gives out creepy fortune tellings to everyone, you’re not supposed to pay much mind to them.”
Lloyd shook his head. “That’s just it. I was thinking about it- it’s about Ronin. She said to remember our past , and Ronin was saying that how in our past we were ninja- that can’t be a coincidence, right? Oh, and the old evil bit? Yeah, I'm guessing that also has to do with the magical ex-statue man who is not here for no good reason !”
Cole stared at him. “Lloyd, you sound like a conspiracy theorist, bud.”
“What?! I have groundbreaking evidence! Coincidence, I think not!”
Cole laughed at that, shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll tell the others and see what they think, yeah? Kai texted me when you were getting the food-”
“And receiving a prophecy of untold evil! Don’t forget the creepy prophecy.”
Cole rolled his eyes, not unkindly. “When you were getting the food and the prophecy, he texted me saying they were finishing up their respective stuff. Kai ‘n Nya will be at the park in about fifteen minutes, I dunno about the rest of them.”
“Okay, but be ready to feel real dumb when Kai believes me.”
“What about Nya?”
“Nah, Nya’s a truth denier. She believes in dumb stuff like physics and science. ”
“Lloyd, physics is a science.”
“My point exactly!” Cole grinned at him standing up and pushing his chair in.
“Whatever you say, little man. Let’s get going, we’ve got a statue to meet.”
Ninjago city park was really quite a nice place. It was one of the first areas developed by the survivors of the old city, who just wanted to see green after travelling for miles in only grey. It was for this reason that the park was well respected, the gardens kept healthy and clean by the citizens, and the sprawling grass areas free of litter.
It was generally packed with people; families with their children, couples having picnics, lone people just walking through the forest, through trees planted hundreds of years ago.
It was an escape from the loud city life most of the population knew, and considering it was wide, open, and chock full of people, it was the perfect place to meet Ronin.
If he decided to show up, that was.
Lloyd and his friends sat on the soft grass, sharing an overpriced pizza they had bought from the stall at the entrance to the park. It had been exactly forty three minutes (Jay had been checking his hand made watch obsessively) sine he and cole had arrived, and Ronin had not shown his face.
“Maybe we should have specified a place instead of just leaving him to find us.” jay sighed, lying down in his stomach, resting his cheek on his hand.
“Wow, what a shocking observation, Jay.” Kai looked pointedly at the boy. Jay stuck his tounge out at him, and Kai returned the gesture.
Lloyd groaned. “Urgh, don’t start arguing, I am not bothered for that. Let’s just go, he’s not showing up.”
Zane perked up. “Actually, Lloyd, the last time that you said that, Ronin showed up not even two minutes later! Maybe that will trigger the same effect.” The group sat in silence for a solid minute.
“It appears that it did not work. Lloyd, it turns out that it was a coincidence, and not you being special. Sorry!” Zane grinned at Lloyd’s highly offended face, making him even more highly offended.
“I am special , I’m special-er than all of you combined!”, he said haughtily, turning up his nose.
Nya laughed at him, before getting into a bowing position. “Oh, we are so sorry, King Lloyd, for insinuating that you are anything other than the most special boy ever in all of time!” Lloyd cackled at her, and the rest of his friends joined in on the action, bowing jokingly.
“Gods, all of you get up, you look like idiots”, Lloyd cackled, and they did. “Ok, but seriously. Ronins not coming, its been like an hour, and i don’t want to spend my whole friday sitting around waiting for some guy.”
“It breaks my heart to hear how little faith you have in me, Lloyd.”
A very manly scream escaped Lloyds lips.
Ronin cackled. The man had appeared seemingly from nowhere, looming behind Lloyd. He looked somewhat normal, wearing jeans and a leather jacket to hide his arm, despite the warm weather. He looked cleaner, his now fluffy, curly hair tired back into a ponytail, and his mechanical eyepatch switched out with a medical one.
“Oh! Ronin! Uh, hello.” Lloyd brushed a hand through his hair, wondering if he would be able to tie it up like Ronins.
“Why hello to you too.” Ronin looked around the park. “Nice park, huh. The gardens are-”
“How in the hells did you find us?!” Kai interrupted. Ronin glanced at him, unfazed.
“I used my eye to look for you.” Kai scowled at him, clearly expecting a better answer. Ronin smirked. “Well, it doesn’t matter, I'm here now. Oh, and I have a question.”
Lloyd looked up at him. “What is it?”
“Why the fuck is technology so shit? You said it’s been centuries, so assumed it would be great, but no! We went from the most advanced stuff being a plug to having actual, conscious nindroids in, and I’m not exaggerating here, the span of about a week. What’s up with that.” Ronin crouched down, saving the group from craning their necks to look up at him.
Zane scratched the back of his neck. “Uhm. I don’t know. But… I can counter your question with one of my own- what’s a nindroid?”
“A ninja droid. You don’t- didn’t you learn about the whole nindroid war? Where they took over the entire city? And you all went into space?”
Jay squeaked. “We went to space? Oh gods, why couldn’t I have been old me. I want to go to space.”
Ronin snorted at Jay. “Hah, yeah. Anyways.” He looked at Nya, almost expectantly.
“Oh, right, so what do you, like, know? Or do we need to start from scratch.”
“Uhm. I get the technical bits of your city- the infrastructure is fine, but I’ve come across a black market in the two days I’ve been here, which is great. Everyone dresses really informally, what the hells happened to robes?”
“I suppose it would be due simply to practicality- there was no need to dress in formal, impractical clothes the whilst building the city.” Zane answered.
Lloyd let Ronin and Zane go on like that, firing questions at one another, with one of the others occasionally butting in. He leaned back in his hands, just watching.
He closed his eyes, covering them from the warm sun. Suddenly, a vivid memory flooded over him. It was almost as though he was there- sitting in some room Lloyd had never seen before, but still felt like home. He was surrounded by his friends, clad in colourful clothing Lloyd knew from history were the attire of a ninja.
They were laughing and playing video games, Jay and Cole sat on the ground playing as a team, somehow losing despite being the best of all of them. Ronin sat on one of the other couches, braiding a girl who’s face Lloyd didn’t recognise.
It was a happy memory. However, Lloyd realised rather abruptly hat it was a memory he had never had. He fell onto his back with an involuntary shout, causing all eyes to be on him.
“Hey Lloyd! What happened, are you ok?” Kai asked, concern visible on his face.
Lloyd sat back up, brushing the grass off him. “Yeah, I'm fine. I just, uh, I was just remembering something.” he looked at Ronin. “Something that didn’t happen.”
Ronin looked back at him, then reached into the pocket of his jacket. He produced a photo album, just small enough to fit comfortably into his hand.
“Here. I was cleaning my armour yesterday, I found this, figured you might find it interesting. He handed it over to Lloyd. It was made of soft, worn leather, with stickers layered on the cover, along with messages in what seemed to be the same language Ronin had been writing in his map with. He stared at Ronin, confused.
“What is it?”
“A photo album, dumbass. They gave it to me a while before the war, when some other dickhead decided to attack the city. Open it.”
Lloyd carefully flicked over the cover to reveal the first page, his friends catherine around him. It was a photo of Ronin and another man, grinning wildly at each other. Cole stuck his finger at the page, narrowing his eyes.
“Is that- is that our fucking language arts teacher?” he spluttered.
Ronin didn’t need to look at the book to see what photo it held . “Who, Dareth? Fuck, is everybody in this city just reincarnates?”
Lloyd flicked to the next photo- one of Lloyd and his friends standing together with Dareth, again, joined by Lloyds mother, and an old man with a long while beard.
They smiled tiredly at the camera, and Lloyd couldn’t help but notice the ruins that occupied the background. The next page was of Ronin doing a girl's hair, braiding curly metallic looking hair into a neat plait down her back. Lloyd assumed that might be the Pixal girl none of them knew.
The other page on the spread made Lloyd gasp quietly. It was as though the person with the camera had plucked the memory he had had earlier and photographed it, eternalising the moment in Ronin's little album.
“Hey, Ronin? I remember this. Well, not really, but it was like the memory, kind of,” he gestured vaguely to try and get his point across. “came over me. Like a really vivid dream.”
“Hey, that’s been happening to me too, specifically since Ronin got here”, Jay contributed. The two looked at the man, who shrugged his shoulders.
“Fuck, don’t look at me, I ain’t got a clue.”
“It looks like you’re triggering memories from our past life.” Nya reasoned, which seemed fair enough. Lloyd flicked through the rest of the album. It was full of snippets of a life Lloyd had lived, clad in green and surrounded by a fantasy work he could have only dreamed of.
He gave the book back to Ronin, who placed it back into his jacket.
“Yeah. They were damn good kids, those ninja.” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “They’re the reason this place is so safe.”
“They said in history class that the entire old city was decimated by ‘some evil’, and that there’s nothing past new Ninjago. Is that true?” Zane asked.
Ronin sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe, but it was a war, not just a scrap. Shit got real bad, but… I didn’t exactly get to have a tour around.”
Lloyd nodded curtly, and that was that.
Conversation flowed more easily after that, without mention of the war. It was almost dark when Lloyd stood up, deciding that he wanted to be home before it was pitch black. They said their goodbyes, and Lloyd departed.
He ended up misjudging, it turned out, when he would need to leave. He walked home in the pitch black, opting to leave his earphones out, just in case.
He rounded a corner, slipping through a gap between two buildings as a shortcut. He heard a clatter, and whipped around. He scanned the alley, searching for the source of the noise. There was nothing there. He took a second to calm himself. His heart was beating a mile a minute- Lloyd didn’t know why, he had walked through the gap hundreds of times without problem, so why did the noise scare him?
He went to continue, but the clatter came again, even louder. Lloyd froze. He saw something that time, without a shadow of a doubt. He pulled out his phone, turning on the torch.
He scanned the alleyway once more, finding nothing. Just then, something caught Lloyds eye. He took a step closer, only to fall back when he saw what had made the noise.
A pile of writhing, black goo slithered out from a fallen bin. Golden vein-like appendages dragged it forward. Lloyd felt the fear block his throat. It wasn’t particularly a scary being- however sometimes more primal inside of Lloyd was screaming at him, every siren in his body going off. The creature whipped around, before slowly dragging itself towards him.
It was only then that Lloyd found himself able to move. He scrambled to his feet, and sprinted the whole way home. He climbed up into his bedroom, not bothering to take the door. He flipped onto his bed panting heavily.
“What the hells was that?!”, Lloyd whispered to himself, his body still pumping adrenaline through his veins.
It was only after he had calmed himself down that he remembered he hadn’t mentioned Mystkés prophecy to the others.