I wasn't exactly dreaming but I also wouldn't say that I wasn't dreaming. It was a weird, grey area between the two.

What I did know was the bliss. And boy, after the past few weeks I had, did I miss bliss. Total relaxation - no prophecy to worry about, no enemies, no bullies. Just the warmth encasing me in its fluffy cocoon.
It was bright and it felt like the sun on a perfect day at the perfect temperature. I snuggled into the warmth closer, burrowing in its bubble of tranquility and sighed. This was nice.
Safe and humble and perfect.

The warmth shifted. It mumbled something that I didn't catch but I didn't dwell because then the warmth was pulling me closer. It liked me just as I liked it.

"What the hell?!"

I woke with a violent start. I was torn from slumber, blinking blearily. The peaceful feeling I was drifting in had shattered and I wanted to groan in frustration. It felt so nice. Take me back. Pleeeeaaaassseeeee.
Sleep still held me in its gentle caress, incredibly warm and my eyelids drooped. A dull spark of joy made me smile drowsily. Yes. Take me back to the warmth. I could almost feel the weight of its arm slung across my waist and the press of it against my back.
Wait-
Wait-

That was an actual arm. An actual person's warmth. An actual person.
My eyes snapped open again and I sat upright, too fast for my brain to handle. My vision went black for a second before clearing and revealing my mother standing in the doorway, mouth open and expression hovering somewhere between furious and shock.
A mop of blond beside me groaned, sitting up slower. I stiffened, glancing at the body beside me.

Lloyd was rubbing his eyes, confused and sleepy. He looked disgruntled by his rude awakening, hair messy and sticking up at random places. Shoulders slumped, his green eyes settled on the scene as he blinked drowsily.
"Oh. G'morning, Mrs. L/n," he yawned. I sent him a panicky look. Taking longer to compute, his eyes widened in realisation mid-yawn and he choked on his exhale.
"oH!" he gasped, glancing around frantically for something to hide behind but the damage was already done. He slumped in defeat.

I glanced back over at my mother as a silence stretched on. Her face looked pale, staring at Lloyd.
But oh no. Oh no. It gets worse.

Lloyd's wearing his Green Ninja gi.

"Lloyd?" Mum finally asked in disbelief.
"Wassup," he squeaked, whipping his hand up in a split second wave.
"Oh, man," I breathed, dropping my head into my hands. I pulled myself back up again. "Mum, I can explain."
"Really?" Mum asked incredulously, sending me a wide eyed stare. Her panicked gaze rested back on Lloyd. "He's the Green Ninja!"
"Would you consider; cosplay?" I offered, brows raised in suggestion.
"There is a sword on the floor, Y/n."

I peeked over the edge of the bed.
"Oh. So there is." That seems a little dangerous but alright, Lloyd.
"I'm- you-" she couldn't get the words out. Closing her eyes and inhaling, they snapped open and landed on me, an old fire igniting within them that had my heart racing in a panic. "You and I are having a talk."
I wilted. "Yes, ma'am."
"You too, mr," mum snapped, turning her livid glare back to Lloyd. "Green ninja or not."

She spun on her heel, slamming the door shut. Her footsteps stomped down the hall and I waited until they had disappeared before I fell back against my pillow with a cry.
"Well," Lloyd hummed. "At least we don't have to worry about telling her that I'm the green ninja."
My eyes shot open and I sent him a disbelieving look.
"She's gonna gut you and eat your body," I hissed, scrambling to my knees. "She's going to dismember you, Lloyd Garmadon. My mother is terrifying. Our only hope is to skip town, NO- skip the whole country."

"Y/n, calm down," Lloyd said, eyes wide and chuckling a little at my reaction. His hands were gripping my shoulders. "It'll be fine."
"No, it won't!" I squeaked. "My mother's chill most of the time but when she wants to, she can take out a whole army squad on her own. And this isn't an exaggeration."
"I think we'll survive."
"We won't," I shook my head, leaping to my feet and grabbing my duffel bag. "We really won't. Quick, help me pack. We can get a head start on your dragon."

Lloyd caught my wrist before I could pull out my drawer. His face was serious.
"Tell me what's wrong."
"What's wrong?" I echoed incredulously, dropping the bag. "Lloyd, my mother walked in on us asleep on my bed! She's only met you once and even then we freaked her out because we were injured! I don't know about how your parents would react but my mother's very protective. Overprotective. I just- I-"
I slumped against the wall and slid down, face pulled into a look of hopeless displeasure.
"I'm so screwed," I whispered.

Lloyd crouched before me, tucking a wayward lock away. My eyes jumped up to his and his expression softened at the scared look on my face.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," he said, reassuring me for the second day in a row. I was not liking this streak. "We'll deal with this together, right? We're a team."
We're a team. Panic be damned, my heart was full and racing from that silly simple phrase. I swallowed, emotions a mess of fear and adoration. He really knew what to say - I guess that's what makes him a good team leader. Somewhat.

I slid my hand into his and he stood, bringing me with him. He readjusted his hoody that was still swamping me from yesterday and pat down my hair.
"Beautiful," he grinned. "Ready to face the day?"
"No," I sullenly grumbled, chest tightening at his compliment.
"Ah, sure you are," he beamed, ever sunshine and grabbed my hand, pulling us towards the door. "The longer you wait, the worse it'll be!"
"How can you be so calm about this?"
"Trust me," Lloyd snorted. "I've faced worse than an overprotective mother."
"You'll be thinking twice about those words when she's done with us and we're in graves," I mumbled, face pinching with reluctance.

We shuffled into the kitchen, where my mother was just finishing pouring her coffee. I avoided her withering glare as I quickly turned back to Lloyd.
"What do you want to eat?" I asked.
"What do you have?"
I scampered towards the fridge and pantry, scouring. Hunting for food.
"Erm... dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets."
"Yes," Lloyd replied sternly. "Yes, yes, a million times yes."

I flicked the oven on and then suddenly, it was silent in the kitchen. I felt my hair prickle. Silence was not good. Silence is an open invitation for-
"So," my mother spoke up and I felt my stomach sink. Oh, no. Her eyes jumped to the blond. "Lloyd. You're the green ninja."
Lloyd nodded. All that confidence from before seemed to have drained and I realised with a start that it was just a front from the beginning.
He was putting on a facade, that bastard.
"And you're dating my daughter."
"W- well, not really-"
Mum's brow raised in mock surprise.
"So you just go around, sleeping in girl's beds, then?"

Lloyd froze, face pale, a look of pure horror. I bit back a whine. He was going to get absolutely murdered.
"N- no!" Lloyd stammered, finding his voice again. "I-"
"How old are you, Lloyd?" Mum continued, eyes like a tiger, lifting her mug to her lips. Lloyd tugged on the neck of his ninja gi nervously.
"Eighteen."
"Young, for the saviour of Ninjago."
He hummed in agreement, voice breaking.
"Say, Lloyd the Green Ninja," my mother said venomously. "What gives me the honour of having you sleeping in my daughter's bed this morning?"

"U- um-"
"Are you fit to be taking care of a baby in the off chance that you get my daughter pregnant?" Mum coolly asked. Lloyd's face burnt a shade of red that I was pretty sure didn't exist before.
"Mum!" I exclaimed in horror. "We're not-! Jesus!"
"Never forget, young lady, I was your age when I had you."
My face scrunched in frustration.
"We were just watching a show on my laptop, mum!" I said slowly. "We must have fallen asleep, nothing happened."
Mum pounced.
"So he snuck in? How many times have you snuck into my home, Mr. Garmadon?"
I wanted to cry. We are so dead. Lloyd looked about ready to flee, fight or flight instincts making him tremble with unused adrenaline.
"Is this what the ninja of the city are doing?" Mum cornered Lloyd with her voice alone. "Using their skills to sneak into bedrooms at night?"

"Okay, that's enough," I said quietly but my voice was too soft to be audible.
Lloyd scrambled for an answer that wouldn't be turned against him but was pulling up blanks.
"I should put a restraining order on you," she hissed, fingers clenching the ceramic hard enough for it to begin to crack. "Do you know how many times my daughter's been injured since she's met you? I can't guarantee that they were all from being exposed to your line of work but I sure as hell have an inkling that the majority of them were because of you-"
"Mother," I exclaimed, horrified. Lloyd looked sick.
"It's true."
"It's not his fault!" I argued, stepping up. "That wasn't Lloyd! That was me! Blame me for that!"

"On account of knowing Lloyd, you've been shot, sprained your ankle and I know that head injury wasn't because you tripped!" Mum recriminated.
"Those were all me!" I yelled. "I was shot because I wouldn't listen to him. I sprained my ankle because I was dumb enough to enter the forest by myself, the head injury was from this asshole-"
"Who targeted you because you stood up for me," Lloyd finished quietly. I stopped short, breath escaping as I glanced back at him. His green eyes found mine, full of sorrow and guilt. "She's right, Y/n. We both know it."
"I-" my words failed me. "No-"
"I think it's best for you two to go your separate ways," my mother suggested coldly. "I can't sit back and let my only child risk her life for a boy she's know for only a month."
"What?!" I yelped. "No!"
"Y/n-!"
"No, no!" I cut her off. "This is a time out. A time out, understand! I'm not going to stop seeing Lloyd! Nothing you'll say will make me! He's a part of my life now and either you deal with that or- or- I'll move out! You're my mother and I'll always love you but respectfully, no matter what you say, I will always find a way to stay with Lloyd!"

"Y- Y/n, your eyes - you're glowing again," Lloyd stammered. I looked at him and stepped back, raising my hands to shield my eyes.
No, no, not again. Not so soon!
"Oh, god," my mum slapped her forehead. "It's you. Of course it's you."
Lloyd and I glanced up at her.
"I should've seen the signs," she groaned, running a hand through her hair agitatedly. "Before we left for the city. Years before that, even."
"What?" I furrowed my brow. "You know about the powers? Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I thought it'd skip you," mum sighed. "I honestly did."
Lloyd stepped forward, voice steeling as he fell back into his green ninja roll. "What were the signs?"
"Protectiveness," mum leant back against the wall. "She'd defend anything. And she always wanted to live in the city, like it was ordering her to stay. Hated it when we left."

"You-" I breathed, world shattered. "What? I..."
"So that's why you're so attached to him," mum pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's the prophecy."
"You knew about the powers and the prophecy and you didn't tell me?!"
"I was ordered not to..! Which I'm now just... realising that I am... oops," she hissed through her teeth.
"By who?" Lloyd asked, ignoring my current crisis.
"By your grandfather," mum nodded at the ninja.

"WhAT?" I squeaked. "You- oh my god. Oh my god. I need to sit down. This is- this is so much I just-"
The oven dinged.
"Oh, thank god," I breathed and put the dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets in. "Now I have time for a-" I checked the packet. "- twenty minute existential crisis. I will be on the floor in the corner of the room goodbye."
Lloyd caught my arm before I could disappear, his green eyes, steeled and serious, still on my mother.
"You met my grandfather?" he asked. "How? He's been dead for over a thousand years."
Mum shrugged. "How most of you elemental masters work - through spirit. It was one weird dream but I got the main gist of it."

"Great," I huffed, turning to share a look with Lloyd. "Add another adult to the list of people who know about the prophecy except for us."
Mum tapped her fingers against her arm, staring hard at the wall.
"Sorry," she spoke up. "I was out of line before. Territory of the powers."
I furrowed my brow. "I thought they were dormant?"
Mum snorted. "Yeah but that doesn't mean that they aren't there. It was how I met your father."
Lloyd perked up. "What are the powers?"
Mum shook her head. "Not allowed to tell."
Lloyd groaned.

"Right, well," mum stood up, tossing the ruined mug into the bin. "Lloyd, you're welcome around anytime, as long as I know beforehand. I'm meeting up with my sister for lunch."
She faltered at the exit of the kitchen. Glanced back at Lloyd.
"Keep each other safe. I'm trusting you guys to that."
We hummed agreements before sharing an odd look at her tone when she had disappeared.

"I have patrol this afternoon," Lloyd announced while we waited for the chicken nuggets to finish. "So let's make the most of the morning. I say ice cream at the park time."
"I say I agree," I nodded, putting on some oven mitts. "But first, dino nuggies."

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

"I feel like my world has been turned on its head," I sighed, watching the ice cream with tired eyes as the hot sun pressed down on the world. "It's like I don't know anything anymore."

"I know how that feels," Lloyd hummed, having already completely devoured his ice cream. He leant back on his hands, sweating a little in his green hoody that I gave back to him to cover his gi. "I had no idea that I was the green ninja. The first thing everyone did was try to find a way to avoid the prophecy of me fighting my father."
He chuckled dryly.
"Hell, even my father tried to find a way to avoid it. He didn't even know I existed until we ran into him when he was trying to get the golden weapons."
My eyes jumped in him in surprise. His face was scrunched with a look of amused disdain.
"He didn't know he had a son?"

Lloyd sighed, stretching his arms over his head and shifting forward until he was slumped.
"I was born a few months after dad turned totally evil. Sometimes I wonder if he'd still have left if he knew I existed. But then-" his laugh was hollow. "- I remember that literal evil was in him. He would've left either way."
I frowned. "Wait, what do you mean 'literal evil'?"
Lloyd's green eyes shifted as he followed an ant crawl through the grass. A heavy breath slipped through his lips.
"My dad was bit by the great devourer when both of them were young."
"As in that huge snake thing in season one?" I asked.
"Yeah, the huge snake thing in season one," Lloyd nodded. "A great devourer's venom is the physical embodiment of pure evil. My father fought the infection for over a thousand years before he finally succumbed to it. The fight between us reverted him back to his normal self."

I gave Lloyd the rest of my ice cream, which he happily obliged to finish. I frowned, dropping back and glaring at the blue sky that dappled through the leaves of the tree we had sat under.
"Man, these prophecies suck ass," I spat. Lloyd snorted, dropping forward and accidentally sticking the whole bottom half of his face i it the ice cream. He froze. I laughed.
"Damn," he sighed.
I leant forward and scooped some of the ice cream off his cheek with my thumb and popped it in my mouth, eyes following a leaf that had fallen from the branches above.
Lloyd was silent. I glanced back at him.

"What?" I asked dumbly. "Dude, I'm not gonna waste ice cream."
Lloyd's shoulder bust into flame and I scrambled to the side. The ice cream immediately evaporated.
"O- oh, shoot!" Lloyd quickly slapped his hands over his shoulder in and effort to pat the flames down. It went away just as fast as it appeared. I stared.
"Uuhhaha what was that?" I squeaked.
"Nothing! Nothing!" he quickly said, face red. His hair was steaming a little. "This, uh, just happens sometimes."
"It just happens sometimes?" I echoed incredulously. "You just so happen to randomly burst into flame?"
"Uh, yeah," he replied in a pitched voice. "Or, y'know. Cause landslides. And electrical fires. But it's fine. They don't happen as often as they used to."

I stared at him with unmoving, wide eyes.
"I just realised what I'm getting myself into. I thought you said you had control of it?"
Lloyd chuckled nervously, glancing at me from out of the corner of his eyes.
"Uh. Not exactly."
"Clearly."
Lloyd straightened, ready to defend his honour with his pink blush and pout and puffed cheeks, when he suddenly deflated. The sound of a group rounding the bush that concealed us and suddenly going quiet. His eyes catching on something over my head. Expression fading into a frown.

I glanced behind me, finding a bunch of legs. I turned my gaze up to find Chen's group. Chen himself was standing at the back, arms crossed self-consciously over his chest as he stared out the side. I don't think he even realised we were there.
"If it isn't Garmaboy and his lover, aww," Maggie announced, placing her hand against her chest in mock emotion. A few of the others chuckled. Annoyance spiked in my gut and Lloyd placed his hand on my shoulder. My eyes caught his and he subtly shook his head, reminding me of what happened only yesterday with Jace. I swallowed. I didn't want to do that again and risk exposing myself.

"Yeah, call down your attack dog," James piped up with a snicker. "We don't want another incident to happen. We'll have to scold her again."
I subconsciously clasped the back of my head. It still dully ached. Lloyd's expression twitched.
"C'mon," he whispered, pulling me to my feet. Maggie took a step forward and grasped Lloyd's hoody with a clawed, iron grip.
"Where do you think you're going, stain?" she hissed, scathing. I felt myself bristle at her proximity, swallowing sharply. Lloyd's thumb was massaging the back of my hand in an attempt to keep me calm.
"We're not done talking yet. Got anything to say, Chen?"
He didn't respond. I don't think he even heard Maggie.
"Chen!" the blonde girl snapped. He flinched, dropping his arms and returning to reality. His brown eyes jumped across the situation, settling on Lloyd. His face grew pale.

"Wh- what are you doing?" Chen asked, stammering in panic. "I told you not to bother him anymore!"
Maggie crossed her arms, pissed.
"You were serious? Dude, it's Lloyd Garmadon. If we didn't put him in his place, he'd ruin this-"
"Maggie, shut the fuck up," Chen snapped, eyes blazing. She dropped her arms in surprise, face slack. It was replaced with an expression of hell only a second later.
"What the hell did you just say to me?" she sneered.
"Yo, Chen, what's going on with you?"
Chen scoffed, licking his teeth anxiously. "I don't need this." He turned on his heel and walked away, hands deep in his pockets. Maggie's eyes widened in shock, not able to understand his attitude. A few of his friends followed, sharing confused looks and shrugs.

Lloyd and I shared a look when they had disappeared.
"Weird," he commented.
"I count that as a win," I shrugged before holding my hand up for a high five. Lloyd broke into a grin and slapped it. And it was a good high five. Score!
"I have to get going," Lloyd announced after checking the time on his phone. "I don't want to have to spend another night scrubbing the dojos because you made me late to patrol."
I scoffed. "Like that was my fault."
"Maybe if you weren't so captivating," Lloyd teased, pinching my side.
"Again, it's hardly my fault," I replied airily, blushing hard. "Can't help being born this way."
Lloyd snickered, wrapping an arm around my waist and making us stumble slightly. 
A rustle in the bushes behind us made me pause against his chest and glance over. A shape disappeared into the shadows.
"You alright?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah," I replied, sending the shadows a suspicious stare. "It was nothing."