Lloyd's emerald eyes slowly opened and shimmer in the morning sunshine. He had no idea what happened. The last thing he remembered was being lifted into the air and being consumed by some form of golden aura. But now- he was laying in his father's bed. He was in his tree house. The sunlight shown through the window with a calming glow; a stark contrast to the heavy rain that was falling last time he had been awake. His body ached slightly as he stretched; hearing his joints and back pop in the process. Lloyd carefully got out of the bed and glanced around. There were flowers placed all around the bed, as well as a few pieces of fruit and a cup of water. Cautiously, he stepped around everything and made his way through the door. The boy anxiously wondered what he'd find on the other side, but the sight that unfolded before him was something he'd never expect in a thousand years.

The Jade Tribe village was being rebuilt from the destruction it had faced. In fact, it was mostly done. Formlings flew overhead and helped move heavier objects alongside people from the Earth Tribe. As far as he could see, at least a few groups of people from every tribe were there. The only ones missing being the Fire Tribe. He... he didn't kill them all while in his Oni form since they were Anacondrai, right?! Did he wipe out a whole tribe?!! But before he could ponder it any further, a voice called out from below. It was Cole. "Look! Lloyd's awake!"

With that, everyone cheered. Lloyd pulled back in confusion at the sound of everyone cheering things at him. He felt too awkward to respond verbally, so he just shyly waved. A falcon dove down and turned into Zane, who immediately hugged him. The master of ice had quite a few bandages on him, most notably his right arm, but he still hugged like he meant it. After he pulled back from the embrace, a warm smile spread across his face. "Welcome back my friend."

Lloyd's expression was reasonably confused, so Zane took his hand, leading him to the ground level. "You saved everyone, Lloyd. You turned into your Oni form and asked your powers to banish Clouse from this realm. Afterwards, we couldn't wake you up. We knew you were still alive, since you were breathing, but you were completely unresponsive. You used up so much energy, you've been unconscious in there for two weeks."

"TWO WEEKS?!"

Zane nodded. "You're father's been worried sick about you. We all have."

Lloyd glanced up to see several people all gathered around, all looking at him with warm smiles. The elemental masters walked up from the crowd and gently pulled Lloyd into a hug.

"You scared us dude!" Shouted Cole.

"Don't ever almost kill yourself again!" Scolded Jay.

Lloyd smiled as he looked around at everyone that surrounded him. But... still nobody from the Fire Tribe. "Hey, where's Kai?"

Nya averted her gaze to the ground, as did the others. "He... left. They all did. We tried convincing him to stay, but it was no use."

Lloyd nodded then questioned where his father was. Morro spoke up, saying that he had went to the waterfall earlier. So, that's where Lloyd ran off to. The boy wandered through the luscious green jungle, the sun peeking over the horizon and casting an array of bright colors over the land. As he breathed the cool morning air, he felt the sense of comforting that he hadn't felt in a long time. The river that had captivated the green ninja's attention meandered from the hillside and through the dense jungle thicket, lulling him forward. He found himself following the tranquil stream, thundering ever louder as he approached what appeared the waterfall. Droplets and mist splashed up from the base, light catching them in just a perfect angle, making them sparkle. Sitting by the pool the fall poured into, was Lloyd's father. His torso was wrapped in bandages, it being more and more apparent that where Clouse had burned his wings translated into a nasty wound on his back. Despite this, he didn't look like he was in any sort of pain. He simply sat in the grass, calmly meditating on the edge of the falls, not appearing to notice Lloyd.

"Father?"

Suddenly, Garmadon whipped around, almost to make sure he heard what he thought he heard. He did. His eyes lit up as Lloyd ran to him and cuddled into his chest. "Oh, my son... You're awake! I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you from that demon! But Clouse is gone now, you don't have to worry about him ever again! You did it. You united the tribes and unlocked your Oni form, just as I knew you would!"

"Thank you for everything father. I couldn't have done it without you." The two stayed cuddling in each other's warmth for what felt like an eternity, refusing to let go. Finally, he broke away from the embrace and questioned what happened to Clouse and the rest of the Fire Tribe.

Garmadon stroked his son's hair softly. "You sent that wretched snake where he belonged. Clouse isn't going to hurt anyone ever again. As for the rest of the Fire Tribe, with Clouse gone, the Anacondrai spell lifted. They all turned into humans again. Kai took them back to the Firelands almost immediately after."

Lloyd looked away, almost disappointed. "Oh. I wanted to thank him for helping us."

Garmadon smiled, asking why he couldn't just go there then. After all, he unlocked his Oni form; he could fly there 7 times as fast as he could normally walk. Cautiously, the boy thought; looking down at his hands. He only unlocked that form because he was mad. The moment it clicked was a monument he was livid, terrified, in pure agony. He was scared to do it again. What if those bad emotions carry over again. The emotions he felt during that battle was something he never wanted to feel again! Regardless, his father assured him that everything would be alright. He just had to learn how to control his new ability; but he would never learn if he refused to even try. He was right.... obviously. He was always right. So with a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused. A golden aura circled around him like a cocoon, and when it burst open, he had transformed. The Jade leader smiled on watching the boy's bright golden wings shimmer in the morning sunshine. Lloyd looked up at his father. "Are you going to be alright if I go?"

The master nodded; signaling him to go ahead. With wings spread, the green ninja darted off. Admittedly, he crashed several times just in the first few minutes of flying, but he was completely new to it, so it was expected. After what was probably longer than it should have been, he reached the Fire Tribe village. But it was quiet. Too quiet. The green ninja turned back to his human form and wandered around. Nobody was there. Then, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Cautiously, he stepped inside the castle, whose front doors were open wide. Again- too quiet. He wandered the empty halls, his footsteps echoing as he went. Finally, he heard a faint sobbing down on of the corridors and followed it to a door. It was jet black metal with golden accents, and it appeared to be locked from both the inside and out.

Lloyd cautiously called out for the one crying behind it, and the other side fell completely silent. Then, he was met with a depressed sigh. "Go away."

Lloyd recognized the voice, but he had never heard it in that tone.
"Kai, what are you doing in there? Who locked you up?"

The fire leader continued to speak in a monotone voice. "Nobody. I did this to myself. The rest of the tribe is in the dungeons where you and Kataru were held. Ronin's keeping guard. He'll let them out once they've earned their forgiveness. But for now, we deserve it..... I deserve it. Why are you even here?"

"Because-" Lloyd started. "I wanted to thank you for helping us. I didn't get to say it before, since I was kinda in a coma.... but still. I appreciate it. We couldn't have done it without you."

Kai remained silent on the other side of the door. Lloyd could only imagine what he was thinking. What terrible things were eating away at his mind.

Lloyd smiled slightly. "Yeah, even if you were only originally doing it to get us to take down Clouse so you could betray us."

"You KNEW?!" The silence was broken. The green ninja shrugged, saying that he and Ronin made it pretty obvious with the way they acted. The young master of fire let out a massive sigh before unlocking his end. Lloyd unlocked the chain on the outside, and Kai opened the door. He looked like he'd been crying for a while, and barely took care of his battle injuries. He glanced down, avoiding eye contact at all costs. "If you knew I was planning on betraying you, then why did you save me from Clouse's hex?"

"That's a good question. I don't know why I did it; I guess I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Besides, my goal was to unite the tribes- and like it or not, you're a part of that. Regardless of what you think you deserve. Though, I expect you'll be ruling this place a little differently now, huh?"

The red ninja shrugged. He looked unsure of what to do or say. His whole life was built on lies, so now that he saw that, he felt betrayed. He felt like his entire existence was a lie; like he was worthless... Lloyd saw that, and felt really bad. But- he also knew there was really nothing he could do to help him overnight. This was Kai's own journey he was on, so Kai would have to work some things out on his own. But if there were parts he needed help with, he'd always be welcome to come to Hiroshi's Labyrinth for that. Lloyd assured him of that. The two parted ways for now, and Lloyd headed back to the jungle. Kai sighed as he watched Lloyd clumsily try to fly off in the distance. It was admittedly sort of funny. Well, he was alive at least. The fire leader would be lying if he said that he hadn't secretly feared that the banishment spell had murdered him. When everyone regained consciousness after the blast, Lloyd hadn't woken up. He was laying in a blackened crater and covered in injuries. Garmadon and the others lifted him out and desperately tried to wake him, but Lloyd wouldn't move. Kai and Ronin stood back, not daring to interfere. Kai was the leader of the Fire Tribe- Clouse or not- HE was the leader. This was HIS fault. No exceptions. In that moment, only one thought was in his head.

'I killed Lloyd Garmadon'

Kai ran off to collect his tribe and retreated. Now, he was glad Lloyd had survived, but was still blaming himself. Not just for the Anacondrai incident- for EVERYTHING. The amount of people who died in his presence that he couldn't care less about... it stung. It really, really stung. He was raised on some MESSED UP lessons. Nobody would ever trust or want to associate with the Fire Tribe ever again. Kai didn't blame them.

However- now that he thought about it, Clouse had been pulling the strings of leadership ever since Chen. Now that he was gone, Kai had a chance to actually lead the tribe the way he was supposed to. That didn't guarantee that the entire tribe would willingly listen and just stop behaving the way they were literally raised to, but he could try. Even if Kai got to at least five people, he would be satisfied for now. Besides, Ronin was on his side, if they had to answer to HIM, there attitude might change.