Prompt | Scented Candles

Song:
The Midnight In Me
(My Little Pony Equestria Girls - The Legend of Ever Free)

Candle Name: Homesick

Ninjago

TW: Minor Mental Health Struggles - Depressive mood

🎃🎃🎃

Rain hit the window. Each little droplet splattered across the glass like tiny drumbeats. The water twisted and turned in a race down the pane like a delicate dance. Lloyd pressed a hand to the window. It was cool to the touch but the ninja didn't mind. The coldness of it helped ground him as he stared into the storm. His mind didn't want to focus today. He was supposed to be doing paperwork on an incident with the serpentine. He was supposed to be organizing a meeting with the mayor and then he had an interview with Gayle on the unrest around the farmlands. Lloyd had so much to do. But he couldn't bring himself to do any of it. On days like these, he rarely can even get himself out of bed.

Lloyd usually was pretty positive. He's supposed to be. The Green Ninja is the symbol of hope and light in Ninjago. He can't let himself fall off the pedestal they put him on. But sometimes his mood falls. He can't force on a mask of cheerfulness. His thoughts race and stick to moments and topics he'd rather not think about.

And then he's stuck.

It's like there's a dark cloud hanging over him.

All he can do is linger in the past.

When that would happen the ninja would usually comfort him. Zane would make him sweets, Cole would give him hugs, Jay would distract him with chatter, Kai would stay by his side, and Nya would read him comic books out loud. Those moments were precious. Snapshots in his life that he holds close to his heart. They were always able to turn something bad into something good. But now they were always miles away. They were busy with missions and duties and Lloyd couldn't get the same support he had before. His father was dead. His uncle was lost in time. His mother was off looking for answers. While Lloyd was left alone, trapped in the dangerous cage in his mind.

Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut. His fingers clenched into fists as he continued to glare out the window. Get up! His brain screamed. Do something! His body didn't obey.

"Lloyd?"

The blonde spun around at the voice and he almost fell off the sill he was perched on. Pixal stared curiously at him from her rolling screen, her eyes concerned. She cautiously moved toward him before she stopped beside the window. The android had decided to stay behind with Lloyd to watch over Ninjago City while the rest either searched for Wu or went on missions. Lloyd can tell Zane's absence has affected her. Long distance wasn't too bad when you're a nindroid with constant online communication but it's still tricky. The one good thing about the situation was it allowed Lloyd and Pixal to get closer to one another. When the monastery is as empty as it is you're kind of forced to play a hundred rounds of Go-Fish to keep yourself entertained.

"What are you doing?" Pixal's calculating stare bore into him. Lloyd looked away.

"Just... listening to the rain."

Pixal tilted her head slightly. "It is a very nice sound." She smiled a little.

"Do you need something?" Lloyd asked her awkwardly.

"No," She shook her head. "I was simply worried about you."

Lloyd tried to smile at her but it came out a little pinched. "You don't need to be worried about me. I'm fine. I always am."

The last sentence came out a little more bitter than he had intended. Pixal frowned and her eyes narrowed slightly. He looked away quickly, letting his blonde fringe fall in front of his eyes and ducking his head.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Pixal asked carefully. Lloyd pressed his face into his arms. "Do you miss the ninja?" She pressed on. "Your mother?" He twitched a little.

"Misako will be back," Pixal assured him. The little robot holding her screen moved closer. "She says she has one more temple to check and then she'll return."

"She's only just saying that." Lloyd's voice was muffled in his sleeve. "It's probably not really true."

"I don't think so. She just wants to find answers-"

"She wanted to find answers last time too," Lloyd interrupted. His tone was biting. "She brought me to that horrible school and told me she'd be back. She told me she would come back for me. But she never did. Because she was too busy looking for answers."

Pixal fell quiet. Lloyd felt wetness soak into his arm. He blinked and raised his head a little bit, surprised when he saw tear marks there. More steadily fell.

"I'm so tired," Lloyd whispered. "I'm so tired of people leaving me. I'm so tired of the places I love being empty. Empty halls, empty air, empty heart. Home doesn't even feel like home anymore."

It was so hard. The monastery had been so full of life, the same way his childhood home had been before his father turned. It had been warm and loud and beautiful. There were so many memories attached to each little thing. There was a hole in the wall from when Cole got mad playing video games and launched the controller across the room. There was a stain on the couch from when Jay had been bringing them dinner and he'd dropped the entire meal. There was the cluttered dining room with mismatched chairs from when people come and go. It was so hard to see those chairs empty. It was so hard to hear no laughter. It was so hard to think of these memories and have them tainted by loneliness. It was so hard to miss his mom, to miss his dad, and to miss his family

It was so hard to be homesick in your own home.

"Is it on?" Lloyd's breath hitched. He knew that voice.

"Kai if you stopped blocking the camera maybe we'd be able to tell!"

Lloyd slowly turned his head. On the screen, where Pixal used to be, was what looked like a video recording. In it, he could see Kai's enlarged face peering into the camera with Nya tugging at him in annoyance. When he drew back it revealed Jay standing beside her, arguing with Cole while the ravenette was gnawing on a brownie. Lloyd recognized those to be the desserts Zane had made the last time they'd been home. The nindroid himself was calmly handing some to Misako with some tea.

"What do we say?" Jay asked once they'd all settled down.

"You mean you didn't plan anything?" Kai said incredulously.

"This was your idea!" Cole shot back.

"Also, when have I ever planned?" Jay pointed out. Nya rolled her eyes at the three of them, exchanging a fond exasperated look with Zane. She turned to the camera, her kind brown eyes making Lloyd's cool resolve crack a little.

"Hey Lloyd," she said. "We knew that it would be hard for you sometimes, especially while we'd all be gone. It will be hard for us to communicate so we thought a video might help."

"The monastery must be a lot quieter," Cole teased. "I'm a little jealous. It's going to be hard to hear Jay's chatter every day. You must have a lot fewer headaches."

"Hey!"

"But I'm sure that's a bit of a curse when you're so used to hearing us every day." Cole continued. "Maybe our voices right now will help with that."

Misako took this moment to step in. "Lloyd, you are an amazing boy. You've taken on so much, at such a young age. I am so, so proud of you. I want you to know that even when you've matured so much it's okay to feel weak at times. I want you to know that everyone has those moments. Garmadon felt weak every day, so did Wu, and so do I. That's part of the reason why I'm searching for him. I feel so powerless watching you rise into his position and hold the weight of the world on your shoulders." She paused to take a breath. Zane placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded encouragingly.

"Even though I'll be far away I'll always be thinking of you." A sad smile crossed her face. "That's how it was last time. But I won't leave you again. I will come back."

Kai spoke up. "The world's a dark place, Lloyd. You have always been our light. Our little green bean with the sunshine hair. It's so crazy to see how much you've grown. But you're still a kid and you're still human." His amber gaze locked in with Lloyd's through the screen. "Let yourself be human sometimes."

"We love you, Lloyd," Jay said. His words were short and quiet in a way they never were.

"We'll be seeing you again soon," Nya promised.

Then the screen went black. Lloyd sniffed a little and wiped at his eyes. The empty cavern that had been tearing at his chest, ripping at his soul, was slowly v being sewn closed. It was so lonely with everyone away but just because they weren't physically beside him, doesn't mean they weren't going to be there for him. The video proved that.

"Thank you, Pixal," Lloyd said quietly.

"You are welcome." Her face appeared on the screen, a gentle smile on her lips. A small beeping interrupted the peaceful moment and her brow furrowed. "I'm getting a message. There have been leaks of a group planning to break into Borg Tower."

"Borg Tower?" Lloyd switched into work mode quickly. "You have any idea why?"

"It seems their target is an artifact being held there. The mask of vengeance." Pixal informed him. "It's a mythological relic so they were hoping a ninja could interfere with the robbery."

Lloyd nodded and he hopped off the ledge. "I'm on it." He began to move swiftly, one hand snagging his katana from the rack while the other typed in the code to the garage. The door opened and he stepped through, a loud beep sounded when the entrance began to shut behind him. He glanced back at Pixal's screen, her gaze distracted as she worked out the best route for him. He smiled at her.

"Pixal?"

She looked up.

"I'm really glad you're here," he looked away. "It's not so lonely... when you have a friend."

She smiled back. "I care about you too, Lloyd." 

A warm feeling buzzed inside of him. The darkness was still there but it was slowly receding from the light. That lonely, abandoned emotion was being expelled by the reminder that he has a family, a family that loved him dearly. A family he loved in return.

Lloyd got into the car, it buzzed to life and he punched in the coordinates.

It was hard being homesick.

But it's hard to get homesick when you have people by your side.

NOTE******

Boo