October 30th 2020
Prompt: Love confession
Title is a quote from Blixemi's 'Stride by Stride'.
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WARNING: CHEESE AHEAD!!!!
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The wind seemed to pick up as the green light split through the air. Lloyd stood in the thick of it, eyes peeled on the horizon as the gusts blew his blonde hair around. He locked eyes with me, a silent message to me.

It was time.

It couldn't be time, I didn't want it to be time, I wasn't ready!

But the look in his eyes, the light in the sky.... It was time. It was time and we both knew it, we were just sad that ours had run out....

********

An awkward silence filled the air as I dumped sugar into a cup of tea and slid it over to the blonde, previously weaponized boy sitting at my cheap Ikea table I found on the side of a street. The boy wordlessly took it, raising it numbly to his lips. He had been staring blankly at something in front of him. I wasn't totally sure if he was alive anymore.

"What do we do?" Hayden stage whispered.

  "Take him to a hospital?" I whispered back.

  Hayden peeked at the guy, his gi was torn open, old scars marred his body. A haunted look was on his face.

"I think this guy needs more than the hospital." Hayden mumbled from the corner of his mouth.

  I nodded slowly. "Maybe a church."

  "I'm not crazy." We jumped and stared in shock at the boy. Holy crap, he spoke.

  His almost acidic green eyes stared unnervingly into my own. I think he's looking into my soul!

"You think I'm crazy." He repeated. "But I'm not."

  Hayden coughed. "Sure dude..." he patted him awkwardly on the back. "Suuuureeee..."

  The boy slapped his hand away and glared at him. "I'm serious." He snapped. "I'm from a different realm."

  "Riiiggghht." I am seriously questioning this guys sanity. "And I'm a ghost."

  He shuddered. "I hope you're being sarcastic."

Who is this dude? "Okay, well can you at least tell us who the fudge-nugget you are?" I said, finding myself at the end of my thread. I rubbed my temples, I need some coffee.

  "Lloyd Garmadon." He answered smoothly. He raised an eyebrow. "Now you tell me who you are so I know you aren't tricking me."

"Dude." I gave him an are you serious look. "My friend is wearing a corset and Claire's sunglasses. Do you really think that we are untrustworthy?"

Lloyd's face didn't waver. "People surprise you."

Alrighty. Hayden awkwardly took off the corset and sunglasses. "Allison." I told him. "Allison Clark."

"I'm Hayden!" Hayden piped up as he struggled to undo the knot on the corset.

I gave him an exasperated look. "Why did you put that thing on? You know it took me three hours to get it off last time I wore it!"

"Hey!" Hayden said defensively. "This is an authentic corset from the Victorian Era with real whale boning inside." Why did he know this? Because he was the one who searched every pawn shop to find it.

"Corsets can stop knives, Al. You're just jealous I thought of armour!" He sniffed.

After watching him struggle for another five minutes Lloyd grabbed the kitchen knife from the knife block and sliced it open. Hayden yelped but calmed down when he realized he was just helping him.

   "If you're not from here," and I'm not completely sure if that's just you being an unstable maniac or the truth. "Then where are you from?"

  "Ninjago." Lloyd answered.

  Hayden scrunched his brow. "Nin-ja-go?" He drew out the word.

  Lloyd nodded. I snorted, both boys twisted around to stare at me as my snorts erupted into hysterical giggles. I laughed for a good while, the laughs almost maniacal before I abruptly stopped and slammed my hands on the counter. "I'm going crazy!" My hands were thrown in the air as I made my way around the room.

  "I'm officially crazy! This is some weird...." I made random arm movements."Hallucination! And I need to go see a doctor!"

  Lloyd grunted. "Once you've seen a bunch of snake people attack you, you mostly accept that everything is crazy."

  "SNAKE PEOPLE DON'T EXIST!" I screeched. Lloyd jerked back as I stormed out of the room.

I sat on my front doorstep for a long time. Mindlessly watching the stars out. I wasn't aware that someone had come out. Their footsteps were light, they had some how managed to slip outside without the door creaking. But it was when he tripped over me that I noticed him.

"Hey!" I snapped. Lloyd looked surprised I was there. My glare softened as my eyes dragged to the bag on his back. I could see he had somehow located all of his weapons and he looked like he was on his way to travel.

"You're leaving?" I'm not sure why I felt hurt by that. Maybe the fact that he didn't say "thanks for dragging me off your car and letting me stay in your home' or 'sorry for denting your hood, messing up your room, bleeding a little on your bedspread, and threatening you with a blade." Y'know, like any respectable man would do.

"I need to get home." Lloyd said. He glanced at the sky. "Is that where I came out of?"

"Yes." I answered. Unsure what to say I asked the first question on my mind. "How did you get here anyway?"

Lloyd sighed and sat down, dragging his bag off his shoulder. Wait a second....that's my bag! I know it was mine because of the embarrassing Hello Kitty key chain.

"Ninjago is full of magical enemies." Lloyd explained. "We were being attacked by these Oni...and...I think I died. But then suddenly my grandfather was there...and I think he might've sent me here."

I blinked at him. "So...how do you plan on getting back?"

"I don't know." Lloyd sighed, he stood and stared into the dark night sky. He raised a hand and green sparkles seemed to swirl in the tips of his fingers, emitting a glow as he raised it into the darkness.

"Holy crap." I breathed. Lloyd glanced at me.

"Right, I forgot this place doesn't have ninja."

I stared at him, then back at the pretty green light. I wonder what would happen if someone tried to eat it.

"You can't leave without a plan." I reasoned. I glanced at him.

Lloyd chuckled. "I do that all the time and it works out."

"Maybe in your world. Last time I left without a plan I ended up going to the circus." I shuddered. Clowns are scary.

"So what do you suppose I do?" Lloyd glanced at me, amused.

"Stay here." I told him. "Just until you find your way home."

He locked eyes with me. The same eyes that had been narrowed and dangerous now wide and soft. "Okay."

"Now give me my backpack back."

*********

  "You have to go." I hated how my voice cracked. "Your family needs you, Ninjago needs you."

  Lloyd glanced at the beacon, taking my hands in his. "What if I missed it?" His voice was wistful as he turned to me and searched my gaze. "What...what if I missed my chance and stayed here."

  I let go of his palms and took his chin in my hands. "Then you wouldn't be able to go back for another hundred years."

  "What if I don't want to go back." Lloyd asked plaintively. He seemed so much younger, suddenly I saw him completely differently, as the kid he really was.

  "There's so much hate over there." He breathed, a faraway look in his eye. "I never knew what my next chapter was. Not until now. What if...what if the next part of my life is here, with you."

  He stared into my eyes. "I could give it up. I could give it all up for you."

It was tempting. Let him stay, be happy, fall in love, create the new life that I had lost when I got consumed my own pain. But as I stared back at him I knew I couldn't. I couldn't allow him to throw everything away like I had.

  "No, you couldn't." I said softly, leaning forward so my forehead rested against his. I smiled sadly and my fingers wound against the blonde hair at the nape of his neck. "You'd miss the magic... you'd miss protecting your city..."

  Laughter and love filled my voice as I spoke of the things he had told me with such fondness in his voice. "You're family...your mother must be so worried. Your uncle too. What about your brothers? You can't abandon them. Think of the pain they must be feeling, Lloyd."

   Lloyd was silent but he swallowed hard, nodding quickly multiple times and forcing himself to pull away. Our hands were still in twined and he stared at the, for a moment. Then he let go. He stepped towards the beacon, giving Hayden a smile as he climbed onto the hood of my car. He was about to step into the light when I called out.

  I hadn't realized I had until he turned to me.

  One last chance.

One last moment.

  Make it worth it.

  I ran to him and Lloyd stumbled, brow furrowed as I leaned forward and kissed him. It was cheesy, it was crazy, we were running out of time. But he didn't pull away. Wind buffeted my red hair around us, the light blazed like an emerald fire, I knew I had to leave, I knew I had to stop, but I couldn't.

  Finally he pulled away, green eyes sad and watering. "We can't make this any harder." Lloyd whispered.

  "Why do we have to?" The words slipped from my mouth. He glanced at me in question.

  "You just said I can't-"

  "You can't." I interrupted, a wild grin on my face. "But i can."

  His face contorted into a look of this is very bad. "No, no, no, no-"

  "Why not?"

  "You can't throw away everything Allison!" He exclaimed. "Not for some boy."

  "Yes I can." I nodded frantically. "If it's you."

  He still wasn't convinced. I took his hands and clasped them against my chest. "I threw away my life here. But I have a second chance now. With you!"

  Lloyd but his lip, glancing at the slowly depleting beacon.

  "You should do it." We both turned to stare at Hayden. His eyes were sad.

  "She was never this happy until she met you." He said truthfully.

  Lloyd stared at me. "Not too late to turn back."

  I shook my head. "I've been told I'm impulsive. Hesitating ruins the spontaneity."

  I stepped off the hood to give Hayden a hug, bringing him in close. My friend, my brother, my bestie. "Love you." I said. He tightened his hold and buried his face into my shoulder.

  "Love you too." He murmured.

  I pulled away, letting Lloyd hoist me by my arm back up onto my car. I turned towards the light but quickly glanced back. "Hayden!"

  He looked up in question.

  "You can keep my corset." A smile formed on his face. "Actually you can keep all my stuff. Except for that prank stuff that spills ink everywhere. Give that to The Terror herself."

  Hayden laughed, swiping briefly at his eyes.

"Also I stole that figurine you were so stingy about, like, three years ago. You can have it back, it's hidden in that creepy doll's head."

Hayden scowled. "Just go."

I laughed and Lloyd took my hand, he stared at me. Emotion filling his gaze as he raised our clasped hands to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "I love you." Lloyd finally spoke.

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart. "Good, that would be real awkward if you didn't since I literally just kissed you."

Lloyd shook his head before turning to the beacon. I let him pull me forward as we stepped into the light...