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"There comes a time when we all must grow up. When that time comes, it's important not to forget the lessons of our childhood. Because our childhood is the greatest training ground one will ever have."

- Sensei Wu

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Lloyd couldn't help the wide grin that spread across his face as he ran through the halls. His feet rapped against the slick wooden floors and he slid around the corners, narrowly avoiding Cole who was balancing a pile of snacks in his arms.

"Hey! Watch it, kid!" Cole complained.

"Sorry!" Lloyd called unapologetically over his shoulder.

The boy skidded into the cabin, moving quickly to his little bunk and rooting around beneath his mattress until he pulled out a slightly worn comic book. He leafed through the pages in a rushed but tender fashion, obviously Lloyd wanted to get to what he wanted but he wasn't about to sacrifice his quality comic for his excitement. The blonde boy let out an excited squeak when he finally made it to the back, numbers written in big bold red print made prominent on the page.

"Yes it's today!" Lloyd cheered quietly under his breath. He read closer, his body thrumming with excitement. "Limited Edition too!"

The boy bit his lip, suddenly remembering that he was on a flying ship in the middle of the sky and was currently supposed to be mastering his ninja skills. "I haven't been slacking at all last few days." Lloyd said quietly to himself, looking lonely at the colourful graphics. "I'm sure they'd let me go!"

There was a loud thud and a distant sound of cursing as Kai threw open the door. "Lloyd? Didn't you hear me calling for you? Come on! We're supposed to be training."

"But-" Lloyd tried to say.

"You can read your comic later. You have responsibilities remember?" The fire ninja turned without another word, rushing back towards the deck.

Lloyd sighed, looking sadly down at his comic. They'd probably train all day. The same boring drills and same boring lectures over and over again until his feet felt like they were going to fall off. By the time Lloyd would be freed he wouldn't have time to read his comic- much less buy a new one! And with it being a limited run. There was no way any would be left and the comic store had a strict policy against putting comics on hold.

Why don't you just tell them? A little voice in Lloyd's head asked. You're not ACTUALLY worried about your green ninja responsibilities are you? I think you're afraid.

"No I'm not!" Lloyd protested, clutching the comic to his chest.

Then why won't you talk to them? The voice pressed.

"I- I don't know. They probably aren't interested in this stuff." Lloyd was flashed back to his time at Darkley's. The merciless teasing, constant mocking, tearing of book pages as they laughed at his beloved obsession.

You're scared. You're afraid that they'll judge you, make fun of you, make you feel stupid. Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut, his hands pressing right his ears. That's just silly. Ninjas don't feel fear. Fritz Donnegan himself is never afraid.

Lloyd felt his eyes slowly open, his gaze sliding to the book he had dropped on the floor. On the front of it was Fritz Donnegan himself, a charming smile across his face, his eye winking at the reader, and over his head in big bubble letters was the phrase.

Lloyd brushed his thumb over the words. "Fear isn't a word where I come from." He whispered. A small smile twitched as his lips. Fritz Donnegan could fight aliens without breaking a sweat. If he could do that then Lloyd could tell the ninjas about the comic book release.

"Lloyd!" Kai's voice broke into his thoughts from above.

"Coming!" Lloyd shouted back, shoving the comic back under his bed. He hopped giddily up the stairs, feeling invigorated.

This time he would do it.

This time he would finally be able to be a kid.

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Lloyd flicked distractedly through the gossip magazine he had found on the coffee table, grimacing at a particularly unflattering photo of himself that the paparazzi decided to paste onto the front page. He sincerely hoped that no one would glance at the picture then look under the cheap hoodie he had bought at the gift shop. It was comfortable enough with a nice over sized hood to cover his head but the print on the front made Lloyd want to leap off the side of the building.

"I tried playing hide and seek in the hospital, but they kept finding me in the ICU." The middle aged  women sitting beside him read off of his clothing. She gave Lloyd a serious stare. "Honey, you aren't going to get into any kind of relationship with that on."

Lloyd scowled, crossing his arms and shuffling closer to the corner where some little kids were playing. In their hands were ninja toys, each with their own weapons and tiny plastic beams of lightning or ice that they could attach and remove. Lloyd was tempted to ask where they got them so he could get himself a set. The pretend ninjas bounced around, flipping through the air and crashing into each other with the typical child sound affects like, "Whoosh!" And "KAPOW!"

One of the kids was sitting off to the side, crouched in a beanbag, their nose buried inside of a book. Lloyd raised an eyebrow curiously, tilting his head a little so that he could see the cover. The familiar cover of Starfarer on the front in his overly gelled hair and moustache glory. At the time, Kid Lloyd had absolutely loved how Fritz Donnegan looked. He'd model his future self after him. His doodles would feature an older, musclier version of himself with curly facial hair, a slicked back 'doo, and ridiculously over exaggerated ab muscles.

Day of the Departed at Darkley's had also been a horrible day. The kids would spend their time vandalizing houses and scaring children rather than dressing up and sharing candy like any normal person would. Lloyd used to stare longingly at the children traipsing around as their favourite characters, little buckets and pillow cases filled to the brim with delicious goodies. When Lloyd made the decision to stay with Wu he had hoped that he'd finally be able to make those memories. Get decked out in the best Fritz Donnegan costume ever and go door to door with all the ninja; maybe they'd even share! But then Lloyd was revealed as the Green Ninja and his destiny was written out for him. The jar was thrown and his childhood was stripped away in the blink of an eye.

The Day of the Departed was spent at his father's statue soon after that.

"Do you read Starfarer?" A little voice asked. Lloyd blinked out of his thoughts and looked down at the child staring up at him with innocent eyes.

"Uh- I used to." Lloyd coughed awkwardly.

"My favourite character is Song Lin." The child said with a smile, dimples appearing on the sides of their cheeks.

Lloyd couldn't help but smile back. "Really? You like the villain over a hero like Fritz?"

"He's cool but Song is better!" There's was no room for argument in their tone. "Evis has a dark and mysterious past and is very very clever. In the latest issue Song was hit by an amnesia ray by Doctor Clay and is now trying to piece together their past! Fritz doesn't get nearly as good of a backstory about what makes good and evil."

The world just loved to throw irony and coincidence in his face, didn't it?

"Wow, you're very smart kid to pick up on these things." Lloyd managed out, his head spinning from the similarities.

"Thank you!" The kid beamed up once more before continuing to read their book.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made Lloyd look up. Nurse Stevenson shifted awkwardly, motioning for him to follow. Lloyd feels his heart leap in his chest anxiously as he stands up, following him away from all the people. They walked for a bit before the nurse finally broached the silence.

"How are you doing? You seemed... it must be very hard to go through all the stress of the teenager while still worrying about villains rising from the dead and appearing in local hospitals." Adam said, his eyes caring and concerned.

"I'm fine." Lloyd didn't even have to think about the words anymore.

The nurse raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything about his too-quick response. "And what about the other ninja? How are they taking this?"

"Uh..." Lloyd tried not to sweat at the man's perceptive stare. "They're..." he coughed to smother a voice crack. "-doing okay. We're used to this kind of thing, reincarnation and returning enemies isn't as uncommon as you'd think. I just..."

Crap, how should he word this?

"I was a lot closer to Harumi before she- well, before she tried to kill us than everyone else was." Lloyd concluded at last.

"Ah, I see." Nurse Stevenson said thoughtfully- almost too thoughtfully. His warm brown eyes were all too inviting. He gave off cool-older-cousin-who-makes-cookies-with-grandma vibes.

"Anyways!" Lloyd squeaked, taking a large step forward. "Doctor Williams said to meet her first thing this morning, where can I see her?"

Adam nodded and took him to a hall off to the side where a staircase was tucked in. "Some more cops dropped by. I'm not sure what it's about but they went looking for the man from before, Officer Morton."

"Are they still here?" Lloyd tried to keep his tone casual, smothering the suspicion with sweetness.

The man shrugged. "Last I checked."

Doctor Williams' office was right on the second floor at the very front of the building. Lloyd waited patiently as Nurse Adam quietly knocked on the door. While they waited for it to be opened Lloyd looked curiously at his companion, taking in the tired eyes and wrinkled scrubs.

"Is this even your job? Escorting people to meetings? It's that an assistants thing or a receptionist? Not a nurse." Lloyd asked with a tilt of his head.

Adam laughed. "Usually someone else would direct you on where to go but we don't want too many staff members knowing about Harumi. While patient confidentiality is something all of the staff follow strictly we don't want to risk word getting out."

"That's good." Lloyd shivered. He tried not to imagine what will happen when he does finally tell everyone.

A lot of yelling.

And probably some crying.

With a side of screaming.

Maybe even death threats if things get spicy.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Mr. Garmadon," Doctor Williams' voice took him out of his thoughts. She smiled warmly at him and gestured for the boy to step inside her office. "Thank you for bringing him, Adam."

"No problem." The nurse waved goodbye to Lloyd before rushing away through the flood of people.

Doctor Williams closed the door with a click and strode to her desk. It was a large dark oak piece of furniture placed directly before the window so all the flashing lights and tall skyscrapers of Ninjago City would move and flicker behind her. Lloyd followed awkwardly, stopping in his tracks when he saw Officer Morton tucked in the corner. He was talking in a harsh but quiet tone to a few other police officers. His lips were pressed thinly together grimly.

"Everything alright there, officer?" Lloyd spoke up cooly.

The officer didn't even flinch, turning cleanly on his heal and raising an eyebrow at the ninja. "Ah, the Golden Boy is back." He said with distaste.

"As I said he would." Doctor Williams cut in, looking sternly at both of them until they sat down. They sat innocently but under her desk the two secretly engaged in a game of footsies.

Apparently it wasn't very secret by the twitching of Doctor Williams' right eye but she just turned very slowly to Lloyd with a grimace. "I'm sure you're wondering about our patient." Lloyd nodded, pinning Morton's toe down with his heel only for it to be kicked away by the officer's other foot.

"Harumi's condition hasn't really changed if that's what you're thinking." She told Lloyd before he could ask. "Which is a little strange since she's been waking up. But her brain activity is still low."

Lloyd knew in his heart nothing would change over night but it still crushed him a little on the inside to hear.

"Do you know if they have any more leads on the place she was found?" Lloyd asked quietly, directing the conversation elsewhere.

Doctor Williams raised an eyebrow. "They would not tell me that unless it concerned her medically but maybe Officer Morton would be willing to chip in here."

The officer scowled and sent Lloyd a hard stare. "This is classified information for only the people involved directly in the investigation."

"Then I want to be involved with the investigation!"

"You need to be a police officer in order to do that ." Morton sniffed. "And you'd need to take training to be placed in SIS."

The Green Ninja blinked several times. "I'm sorry, what in the world is sis?"

Morton gave an irritated sigh, like Lloyd was the one being difficult. "SIS? Supernatural Investigation Sector? We've gone over this before."

"Right, I just...I didn't think the acronym would be... sis." Lloyd said lamely. Doctor Williams snorted a little behind a folder she was rearranging.

Officer Morton looked absolutely murderous. "Only a ninja would treat a revolutionary, elite, expertly trained police sector with such utter disrespect!" If the man was a cartoon smoke would be coming out of his ears.

"Can you at least tell me where it is?" Lloyd rolled his eyes. "I could look through Wu's archives and see if it has any connection to the various legends written there."

"And you'll report these immediately to the station if you do?" Morton questioned suspiciously.

"If I find anything I'll call right away." Lloyd agreed, smiling innocently.

The officer clearly didn't buy it but judging by the two cops shifting by the door he had other things he needed to do. Officer Morton stood, giving Lloyd one last warning glare before he politely nodded to Doctor Williams. The man stopped at Lloyd's chair, watching him with a mask of indifference as the ninja stood. Despite their obvious height difference and the officers clear physical maturity, (broader shoulders, beard, etc) Lloyd had enough confidence that he could challenge him.

At last the officer spoke, "She was found in the large woodland around Mount Nüwa." Officer Morton said slowly, like each word pained him. "The building was close to the west base. We've been searching through the area but so far we have nothing. It's only been a few days though."

If Lloyd didn't know better he'd think Morton was attempting to be reassuring. "That area has been around for a long time and is relatively unexplored." Lloyd pointed out. "You never know what could turn up."

Morton snorted. "Stay out of trouble Green Ninja."

With a quick jerk of the head the inferior officers follows him out of the room. Doctor Williams leaned back in the chair and regarded Lloyd carefully. The Green Ninja straightened and gave a slight bow to the doctor.

"If you don't have any more information for me I best be off." He said quickly.

The side of Doctor Williams' mouth tilted up. "You're not going back to the monastery are you?"

"I would if I could but I can't so I shan't," Lloyd rhymes without any guilt.

The woman shook her head, hand running through the braids in her hair with a tired but almost fond breath. "I hope you find what you need, Mr. Garmadon." She said sincerely.

"Lloyd." The blonde spoke up firmly. "Mr. Garmadon was my father."

Her eyes held something he couldn't quite read. "Alright. Good luck, Lloyd."

With one last nod the Green Ninja turned around, walking briskly down the hall. No one noticed him drop the old sweater in the hospital lost and found as he left. No one noticed him step out of the side door where his green car was tucked behind some garbage cans. No one noticed the green mask slide over his head and the katana strap onto his back.

Lloyd climbed into the car and immediately began to fiddle with the controls. He cued for navigations and carefully pulled out onto the road.

"Requesting to use the preset route to the Monastery?" The computerized voice said.

Lloyd shook his head and flicked his turn signal with a tired laugh. "Cancel command." He ordered, grip tightening on the wheel. "What is the quickest route to Mount Nüwa?"

NOTE******
Wrote this in class in between studying. Science is kicking my butt. 😂 I would say that updates would increase during the summer but I have a vacation plus a family wedding so I have no idea.

I hope you are all having a great day!

Did not have time to do more than one proof read. I hope it doesn't show. 😅

Also, the flashback totally took place before Child's Play.

Also also! Fun fact! Mount Nüwa was named after the Chinese creation goddess. Chinese historians or whatever their jobs were hated that it was a women and attempted to do various things like saying she was actually a man or that she married her brother in attempt to delete the strong independent women but no one really believed them.

LuckyBugBooks🐞