reporting live | ethan jewell

https://youtu.be/OQQ7IlYdt9o

reporting live from planet ok 

anxiety and sloppy ballet 

keep your chin up and out of my business

yes ma'am, yes sir, work better finish

y'know sit in line, don't fucking move

don't think apart, stay in your groove

y'know this is how you live your life

everyone. i'm fucking back. 

thank you to all the wonderful, wonderful people who left the kindest comments while i neglected this (and all my other) books!!! 

i apologise for the lengthy absence, my life is a fucking MESS. 

but!!! i'm here and there is a good long chapter here for you to enjoy!! 

love you all lots, i bid you farewell till the next (and hopefully not as long a wait) chapter <3 

Upon entry, Lloyd's face lit up brighter than I thought humanly possible. His grin stretched across his face with the excitement reminiscent of a child's. I had never seen him so carefree. Given, I knew him for probably only a total of one and a half hours. Still even I, as a relative stranger, could tell he was someone who held the burden of the world on his shoulders (metaphorically, of course).

"What are you staring at?" He watched me as I watched him with what I realise now, was a little long of a gaze. "What?"

"Nothing," I waved him off. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all: here we both were, essentially adults (and I, the literal future of Ninjago), standing at the entrance of an arcade with unadulterated joy at the prospect of playing some shitty, 2D video games.

He nudged me with his elbow before striding toward the door and opening it. I followed behind him, even more overjoyed to find the vast room entirely empty, save for a bored-looking woman at the prize-desk at the front of the arcade. She hardly acknowledged us as we entered, taking in the brightly coloured lights that flashed every colour of the rainbow. I closed my eyes and listened to the different sounds that surrounded us. A plethora of different (though equally obnoxious) dings each filled with nostalgia from when I was younger and Aunt Addie would take me to the arcade by our old apartment. I smiled wider, if that was even possible, before nudging Lloyd with my elbow, just as he had done to me.

"Bet I can beat you on Prime Empire," I challenged, deadly serious and absolutely prepared to win. If Addie taught me anything, it was how to play scrolling shooters like a pro.

He scoffed. "As if, tell that to the three years of my childhood I dedicated to perfecting my technique in that game."

I raised my eyebrows, impressed— not that I would dare admit it. "Keep telling yourself that buddy," I patted him on the shoulder. Before he could respond I had already pushed him behind me and was scrambling toward the machine. A somewhat shocked 'hey!' could be heard from behind me, alerting me to the fact that Lloyd was chasing after me.

I was totally going to kick this poor son-of-a-bitch's ass.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

He wasn't lying. Blondie was very, very good at arcade games. Apparently, it was I who was the poor son-of-a-bitch. Goddammit.

"And that," Lloyd said with a proud flourish, "is how you beat Level 13."

"Yeah, okay nerd," was all I could manage as I did my best not to look totally defeated. I must have done a terrible job, for his smug smile only widened upon sight of me. This was brutal.

"If you think I'm good, you should see my older brothers. They'd destroy us both with half the effort."

"You have brothers?" I couldn't help but ask— I was embarrassingly enthused by any information I got from him. He was a little brother. I could already imagine them fighting over video games, bickering over the controls. It suited him.

"Too many." He rolled his eyes, "and a sister too." In his tone it was clear he adored them. I liked them already.

His eyes remained eagerly alight, almost as though he could read my mind. He clearly loved them. I liked them already.

We fell into a weirdly comfortable moment of silence as I took in his grin, still so angelic and genuine. The more I stared, the more I noticed. The artificial light from Prime Empire shone against his brilliant blond curls (maybe it ran in his family, and his brothers had the same gorgeous blond hair). His eyes were so, so green. I was mesmerised, completely, absolutely mesmerised. Eventually he shook his head, cheeks brightening with red as he broke whatever moment we were or weren't having, I wasn't entirely certain what it was. His eyes found the ground and I resisted the urge to pull his gaze back to mine. He was shy- cute.

"Well, nerd, what game next?"

We continued like this for who-knows-how-long, my overconfidence serving me very little when faced against Lloyd's apparent brilliance with these video games. Brutal takedown after brutal takedown of both my avatars and my confidence went on. Only when the lady from the counter shooed us out did I check my phone, half-surprised to find it to be now 2am. I was anything but tired.

Lloyd and I made our way along the quieter streets of Ninjago City. He told me about a time when he tried to steal some candy as a kid and they hung him up on a roof as punishment. He was the youngest of six (five boys with one sister thrown in there for good measure) and it sounded insane and chaotic and wonderful. He asked about my family and I told him about my considerably smaller, but still sweet mother and zero siblings, leaving out the whole 'new Royal Family of Ninjago' part. We talked some more, content on our walk. And then Lloyd suddenly said:

"Hey."

I glanced up, curious. "Hey."

"I just wanted to say I was sorry."

I stopped, curiosity turning to concern as I reeled through our interactions (Which I realised, were far less extensive than I thought. This was in fact our second time meeting ever, and not the thousandth, as it felt), confused as to what he could be apologising for. "Why?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "For, ah, for the other night. Y'know, when I straight up bailed, completely disappeared in the middle of our conversation and left you on the street in the middle of the night. Yeah.. I wanted to say I'm sorry."

I blinked once. Then I just shook my head, he was really worried about that? I had forgotten about it already. "You're such a dork."

Lloyd's brow furrowed. "Um. Thanks?"

"No no," I fumbled, backtracking to not sound terrible, "I mean that in a good way- like, you're so sweet. You don't have to apologise for that at all."

His face softened. "Yeah?"

"We all have shit to do, we all have lives. You don't need to apologise for dealing with yours."

It was his turn to pause. Lloyd stared at me for a couple of moments and I faltered myself, wondering if I had said something else wrong. Then he smiled. Even in the dark, I appreciated his ever-nice smile. I liked that smile.

Before he could say anything else, a wave of confidence suddenly found me and I put my hand into his. My hands were significantly smaller than his, I discovered, and far less worked than his calloused ones. Without looking back up at him—too afraid to overanalyse his expression at that moment—I continued to ride my wave of adrenaline and pressed onwards, leading us both forward.

"C'mon, candy-stealing-dork, maybe we can find an open supermarket before you have to break in somewhere to satiate your candy-hunger."

From behind me he cried in opposition. "That was years ago! I don't go around stealing candy now."

I glanced back momentarily to pretend to glare suspiciously. "That's exactly what a candy-stealer might say."

He rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be pulled with me anyway to the next stage of our adventure.

He didn't let my hand go the rest of the night.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

"Hey, honey?"

I glanced up from my laptop, the (tenth? twentieth?) Drew Gooden video lined up and ready to continue my avoidance of any and all of life's responsibilities. It had been a whole three days without any adventure and I was already growing bored of my life and its otherwise repetitive cycle without Lloyd and our consequential exploration through the city. We had arranged to meet next Friday, but that was far too long for my liking.

It was my mum, staring at me as though she had asked something. "What's up?"

She shook her head exasperatedly. "What are you doing?" She repeated, apparently.

I glanced from Drew Gooden to her to the work I was supposed to be studying on my desk. "Well, y'know..."I began in a pitched voice.

She sighed, a kindhearted chuckle on her lips. "Not much, then."

"I disagree. This is educational content about... Kidz Bop."

"Mhm," she nodded seriously. "Very productive."

I rolled my eyes. "Did you just come in here to bully me?"

"No!" She exclaimed. She smiled, bigger this time. "I came to suggest that we should have a movie night, or something."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she continued, biting her lip with what seemed like nerves. "It's like we don't see each other a lot anymore-"

"An Empress has duties to fulfil," I relayed in a singsong voice.

"Yes," my mother affirmed, "but so does a mother."

I looked up and made proper eye contact with her now. "Yeah. Yeah I would love to have a movie night."

Mum clapped her hands like an excited toddler. She used to do that a lot. "Wonderful! Let me know when you aren't... clearly as busy as you are now-"

"Wow. Okay."

"And I'll clear my schedule for the rest of the day!"

I grinned. "I'm looking forward to it," I told her genuinely.

"Me too," she said.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

Jay exited the Comic Book Store rather sombrely- well, as sombre as one Jay Walker might get. His steps, usually reminiscent of an overjoyed puppy, had lost their bounce. His hands, currently clutching a brown paper bag of his latest purchase, fidgeted ever-so-slightly. Despite the fact that he had just bought the latest addition to the StarFire series, something he had been looking forward to for–as Kai had eloquently put–'fucking forever," he was quiet.

All that signified the boy's cognisance was the way his head bopped up and down slightly, his headphones playing the soundtrack of an old Fritz Donagan movie. Jay made his way through Ninjago City silently, opting for the quiet alleyways and streets he had memorised across his many nights of patrol and general exploration of the urban landscape as a Ninja. His legs itched to jump across the tops of the buildings, but that didn't feel like a particularly good idea given the political climate surrounding their reputation at the moment. Walking would have to suffice.

The walk was long, but Jay didn't mind- he was glad to be out of the Monastery. The energy of that place was nothing but tense, even for him. Everybody was helpless and pissed and there was nothing any of them could do about anything. It was one of the few times in Jay's life when he couldn't quick-wit his way out of a bad situation. There was no amount of jokes that could brighten the team and if he was completely honest with himself, he wasn't so sure he had it in himself to begin with. He too was tired and feeling defeated.

He turned another corner, swaying to the staccato beats of his music, when the shout of what sounded like a person broke the depressing quiet he had surrounded himself in. Jay paused. His hands clenched in the pockets of his blue hoodie. He strained his hearing, desperate not to hear another shout—for it to have been a bird, a weird-sounding cat, anything.

"Help me! Someone! Help me!"

Or not.

He tentatively stepped toward the noise, his well trained senses picking up on the smallest of noises now. Jay's mind raced as he considered his options, hating the churning of his stomach for even considering it at all. It was an instinct at this point; run toward the danger and save whoever was evidently in trouble. And unless this weird-sounding cat was trained to shout 'help!' for no reason, there was almost definitely someone in trouble.

He could let it go. He could walk the other way and pretend not to have heard anything. Could he really? He could call the police, they could sort it out. They wouldn't get there in time.

Jay wrung his backpack straps through his fingers as he made his way closer. He peaked around into the next alleyway to see, exactly as he feared, two men cornering a guy in the depth of the alleyway. He groaned. He clutched his bag in front of him as the significantly larger figures beared down on him like hunting predators.

It would be simple, right? In and out; just get the guy out of there and knock the idiots unconscious before anybody even saw him. Easy peasy.

He glanced down momentarily as he bounced on his toes, scrutinising his hoodie. Jay suddenly wished he had Cole's suit of black, far less identifiable than the electric blue he had grown fond of over the years. He hated this. He really hated this. God he hated this. But there wasn't any time to waste.

"Ah, shit," he resigned in a whisper as he shook his head.

Jay tossed his backpack into a secure-looking corner, chucking the brown bag containing his new comic atop. Without another moment of consideration, he threw the hood of his hoodie over his curly brown hair, pulling it down as far as it would go. He kept his head low and ran.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

"Mum?" I poked my head into the main hall. I couldn't see her, but I could hear a faint 'down here!'. I followed the echoes down the obnoxiously long hallway (seriously, did we really need this much space?) until I found her in a small office off the sides of one of our many living rooms. At least, I think I found her. I found lots and lots of papers and a voice that sounded like hers from under them.

"Mum?" I removed a couple papers, not bothering to read them, and found a very worn out mum under them. "You doing okay?"

She groaned, sitting up slowly as more papers fell from her. "I let the pile take me."

"What are you even doing?!"

She nodded at the sheets of paper in my hands. Now I read one.

"Letters?"

She sighed, laying back down on the ground. "Correspondence. There is so many people you need to talk to about absolutely nothing for 'diplomacy'." She rolled her eyes. "I'm drowning."

"Clearly," I said with a bemused smile before reading through the next one. True to her word, it said almost the exact same thing; lots of words with no real meaning other than 'this looks good for me to be doing this', and that was in the subtext. "Couldn't this just be an email?"

She 'hrmphed!' back into the pile. "Traditions must be maintained, Empress," she mocked the words I'm certain she had argued with earlier today.

"I came to say," I began, suddenly remembering why I was even there. "We should have our movie night tonight."

She sat up again, too fast, it would seem for a moment. "Wow," she said dizzily. She turned to me. "Yes! Yes we should! I'm taking the rest of the day off!"

I grinned. "Great!"

Mum began to piece together the mess. "I'll get this cleaned up and then I'll come down in fifteen."

I smiled. Maybe I was overreacting, she could be mum and Empress at the same time.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

The ninja (or perhaps ex-ninja, who knew?) breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his backpack and comic still secure in the corner he had left them. He rubbed his knuckles anxiously. It went exactly as he anticipated, in and out. The men went down easily; just a sharp shock to the stomach and right hook to the jaw. The man was so caught up in shock that he hardly noticed him. When he eventually snapped to consciousness, Jay was already running away. He wished he could have stayed and made sure the man was okay, but he didn't want to risk anything more.

It was fine. That was fine. He was fine. Everything was fine.

No matter how many times he told himself it, Jay couldn't bring himself to fully believe it.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

"Jay!"

Cole's voice shattered any kind of reprieve he had reconstructed as he made his way back into the monastery. Jay's music was loud, attempting to drown out his still worry-filled thoughts to little success. Cole's voice, notably, was louder. Jay considered his options; he could make a break for it while he still had the chance, or face whatever anger he had caused by walking into the living room.

Jay didn't consider himself all that brave, and in this moment, he felt even less so. Still, he figured they would catch him within the hour so what choice did he have? How bad could it really be?

The answer: bad. Very bad.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

"Empress!"

My finger, literally resting on the play button on the TV remote, halted as I glared at the guard who had just bust in. We were so close, moments away from the beginning of our Spiderman marathon.

Mum glanced in my direction apologetically before turning to our interruptor at the door. "Yes Liam? Is everything all right?" Her voice was unrecognisable. Empress-mum and Mum-mum were two entirely different people that I still struggled to comprehend the difference between. Even her face, though still technically the same face, grew hard with responsibility. I was having to train myself into not being shocked by the transformation every time. This was the new normal. This was our life.

My brain hadn't quite gotten that yet.

"My Empress," the guard—Liam—repeated, "there is said to be an issue with the Head of Security."

I sighed, doing little to contain my irritation. My mother slapped me lightly on the knee to warn me, but kept her eyes on the guard. "And my assistance cannot wait? I did say that I was taking the rest of the day off to spend time with my daughter."

Liam himself looks irritated, though whether because he felt for us or saw no worth in our quality time, I couldn't determine. "I have been ordered that it cannot wait at all."

I sighed again, earning another slap on my knee.

"What must be such a high priority it cannot wait an afternoon?" My mother demanded. Despite myself, I sat up interested.

"My Empress," Liam bowed, "it's the Ninja."

"The Ninja?! What about them?"

"They have already broken their terms of acceptance."

"What?!" That was me. I shot up as I glanced between my mother and Liam. "Surely they aren't that stupid... are they?"

Liam shook his head with a slight shrug. My mother pushed me back slightly.

"It appears they are more foolish than we first anticipated. Very well," my mother accepted, a sigh of her own evident behind her poise. "I will be down within five minutes."

"Yes my Empress." Liam bowed again (it was just excessive at this point) before heading out of the room.

Mum immediately turned back to me. I wasn't sure if I should expect a scolding or an apology. I wasn't exactly eager for either.

"I am so sorry, love, but I have business to attend to." She reached for my cheek but I turned my face to stare back at the TV.

"Yeah, yeah I get it. Go be 'Empress of Ninjago'." I didn't intend to sound quite so bitter, but I made no effort to reconcile my intentions and my mother left the room. I was bitter. The Ninja couldn't sit still for three seconds, not even long enough to allow me to have some time with my mum, to not be Princess or Empress or anybody of importance for once.

Sure, I was pissed at my Mum. But more than that, I was pissed at those goddamn ninja. They had simple, simple instructions for the betterment of everybody and yet they still disregard orders. Just because they think they are above everyone gives them no right to act like it.

God I hated those fucking ninja.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

"What were you thinking?!" Sensei Wu scolded, pointing at the still switched on TV projecting the footage. He was impressed it had travelled that fast. Jay, still in the doorframe where he was cornered upon entry, let his hands (previously held up in defence) slump.

"I-"

"You clearly were not," the old man pushed. "Did it not occur to you that someone could have seen you? That there would be cameras in every alleyway? Or did you just assume that you as the famed 'Lightning Ninja' were above all of that?!"

Jay started at the floor, defeated. Maybe–he thought–staring at it would open up the underworld and he could fall right into it. Maybe Kruncha and Knuckle were still around. But didn't they become teachers for that short while?-

"Sensei!" Kai, who had been watching the fiasco from his usual spot on the floor pushed, himself to his feet. "He did what we all would have done, leave him alone."

Sensei seemed taken aback. He stared at Kai with his ever scary death-stare, perfectly still. Remarkably, Kai held up with a stare of his own. It struck Jay how much taller he had grown over the years. Obviously, he wasn't as tall as Cole or Zane, but he certainly had height that the boy of himself a few years ago definitely did not have. He was a man now. If the height didn't say it, his serious look sure as hell did. The comparison was remarkable, Jay wondered how he hadn; noticed it sooner.

"You tell me that all of you would have established yourselves as national enemies so carelessly?"

"But he wasn't careless!"

Wu's gaze flicked over Jay's shoulder to Cole who piped up from behind him. He had been waiting there after ushering Jay into the room. He was listening almost patiently; Wu had always respected Cole more than Jay or Kai.

"He took care, he just didn't take care for himself. It was for the poor guy who was about to get his head bashed in. It was selflessness, not blind foolishness."

"Something you taught us," Kai added, almost seething.

"Yes. I also taught you caution, I taught you to act as a team, not individuals," he remarked ever-coldly, glaring back at Kai.

"There wasn't time to be a team!" Jay finally exploded. "I saw him in that corner and I made a calculated guess- the- the best I could in that time! I thought Sensei! I did! I know you sometimes think me too quick without thinking but I did think! I knew it could end badly but I had to help him! It's still the right thing to do- isn't it?"

Wu clapped his hands together. His silence was tense, but it felt uncertain more than stern. What was the right thing to do?

"If there is one thing that is certain," Wu continued after a steady pause, "it is that we will be under some great pressure in the coming days. The Royal Family will not be happy with us, and I find it hard to muster any hope of coming to a diplomatic compromise. Their previous declarations were that diplomatic compromise, and we have just broken it."

Kai opened his mouth to interject, but Sensei held up a finger, silencing the protest they all wanted to make; they didn't agree to any of this. This was no compromise.

"There is much to be done. I am going to go down and discuss some updated security measures with PIXAL."

Without another word he exited the living room, leaving Kai, Cole, Jay and Lloyd. Lloyd, who was yet to say a single word.

"Fucking bullshit." Kai cursed, running his hands through his hair.

Cole placed a firm hand on Jay's shoulder. "You did your best, bud," he murmured.

Lloyd watched as the other turned away from the centre of the room, retreated to seperate corners as they had before Sensei called them to attention. Nya and Zane were out, probably running errands or something else responsible. He was almost glad they weren't there for that, more shouting would only worsen his growing headache.

The blond boy stood suddenly and moved to exit. In doing so, he came face to face with Jay. They were almost the same height now, Lloyd just overtaking him. They weren't entirely sure how his growth-spurts worked, but they were yet to stop (were perhaps catching up after the first major one). He could feel those bright blue eyes searching his face desperately, looking for the ally-ship the others had already established. Lloyd wasn't entirely sure he had it in him.

"I'm going to go train," he said.

Jay's reaction was so small he almost missed it, but there was a slight degradation in his posture. He felt bad, but also he didn't. He was tired. Jay stepped aside with no word and let Lloyd pass. He considered patting his shoulder, touching his elbow, anything to show support. He didn't.

⛰🍃🌪🍃⛰

Lloyd could have torn his hair out. His hands massaged his temples in an attempt to stop his head throbbing. It helped very little.

A low growl of anger escaped him as he toyed with his thoughts. Not only was it out of their control, it was hardly about him or the others at this point. Somewhere along the way it had spiralled out of control from them doing their best to protect Ninjago. Now it was a political debate they were completely unqualified to engage in yet were thrust into anyway. How? When? Lloyd couldn't tell.

Harumi, something deep in the back of his mind irked. He ignored it, unwilling to consider the implications of such a thought—not to mention her.

Were they in the right? Were the ninja truly what Ninjago needed or deserved? Lloyd couldn't tell that either. It was a mess, a huge fucking mess with one Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon sat at the very middle; the eye of this godforsaken storm.

Here he was, tossed in circles as his life left little room for so much as a breath of fresh air. There was none, it was all polluted. Polluted with politics he hardly understood, with the image of who he apparently was, with the words of her.

They didn't teach much at Darkly's, but they taught him the difference between right and wrong. Notably, they also taught him to aim for the latter wherever possible. Still, the differentiations were clear. Until recently, they were still clear.

Now? If anybody knew it certainly wasn't him. But if one thing was for certain, Lloyd hated that stupid new royal family with everything in him. Amidst the storm there was a single, unwavering light of burning hatred fuelled by nothing more than this injustice. It's origin he knew not of, and it didn't quite feel right to aim it purely at an Empress who had been in the job for less than a month. But what else did he have? And as he stood at the doorway of the monastery he had grown up in, vaguely hearing his family discuss/argue the nature of their very values, Lloyd decided he may as well follow it.

Without it, he was completely and utterly lost.