The 1975
••• Love It If We Made It •••

oh, fuck your feelings

truth is only hearsay

we're just left to decay

modernity has failed us

•••••

Hurricane Katrina? More like hurricane Morro

"Care to hear a ghost story?"

Not really, I thought, but stayed silent as I watched the flames flicker from the fire in the darkened forest.
I tightened the blanket around myself as I leant more against Cole's side. Maybe we were tired and looking for comfort, maybe we were scared; but the bunch of us were huddled close like kids on a camping trip, dinner still settling in our stomachs.
I wish it was just a simple camping trip.

Jay shifted nervously beside me as a tense silence followed Wu's question. Finally, a small murmur of agreement rose around me. I dug my chin in the blanket, remaining quiet as I stared hard at the bright flames.
Like me, Wu was staring into the fire. Though his eyes looked to be locked in the past, while I was paranoid about the present. He sighed, settling down on the log that played as our seating, his still gaze never straying from the flames.
Garmadon handed around water bottles and Misako still poured over that big book she'd been stuck in all day.

Not really in the mood to listen to a ghost story, I stood, tightening the blanket over myself anxiously. I tread quietly over towards Misako.
"Do you want a refill?" I asked, referring to her almost empty mug. She glanced up in surprise before her tired, taut expression relaxed into a grateful smile. Anxiety still pinched at her eyes.
"Thank you, Y/n," she said, voice whispering while Wu told his tale of woe.
I reheated the electric kettle, using the long extension cord that ran from the ship. I stared at it as the water began to audibly bubble, lost in thought.

Lloyd told me to go home. Nay, he begged me. Part of me was guilty that I was ignoring him, especially considering that it was for my own safety and his peace of mind. But I'd feel even more guilty if I did as told and went back home.
I couldn't just walk away from this.
Ever since Lloyd crashed into my life (or, more so, I crashed into him), I knew that everything would be changing. Prophecy or not, stupid tugging or not, I would lay down my life for him. Walk through the pits of hell itself to see him smile. Because at the end of the day, it's so worth it to see him smile. His joy was my joy.
He deserved to be happy.
Even if that meant I had to break my promise and stay helping, at the helm of the pack.

"Whoawhoawhoa, back up!" Jay's loud voice made me startle, glancing up at the group crowding the fire pit. "You're saying Morro, the master of wind, was gonna be the Green Ninja?"
I bit my lip. It wasn't just a ghost story - it was Morro's story. Maybe I should've paid attention after all.
A sudden, strong gust of wind sent the fire dragging, bending against the force. The trees bayed with stress. Cole flinched.
"U-uhh... did... that just happen?" he asked, scooching closer to Zane nervously. "Maybe I don't like ghost stories..."

"Tell us what happened next, Sensei!" urged Zane, unaware or simply ignoring the way Cole had latched onto his sleeve.
Wu continued his story of a reckless, power-hungry driven boy determined to surpass the world in hopes of achieving the green gi in the prophecy. Of poking hornet's nests in the form of Grundle caves and a rage that couldn't be tamed. And then, in quest of proving his worth to the egotistical demands of only himself, his death.
A boy that held no kindness in his heart. It sent shivers down my spine while I poured Misako's tea and handed it to her. Then why did he save me from falling? He simply could have let me fall.
Maybe it really was Lloyd, even though his dark eyes held no traces of my sunshine boy. Or, perhaps more realistically, Morro knew my worth as a bargaining chip to hold over Lloyd's head.

I returned to my seat, listening to the others talk about the ghost that had me reeling in confusion and the boy that had my heart aching.
I didn't realise that I'd began to doze off against Jay until I fell into a fitful sleep full of dark eyes and blond hair and dead boys.
But by then of course, I was long gone.

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

"I've found it!"

I jumped awake to a scene of sunlight dappling through the forest ceiling. It must've been at least nine in the morning. The others would've been awake for hours.

I rolled over on the ground, the blanket dragging in the leaves. I could feel the mud and sweat still cling to my skin from the night before and I cringed, wanting to shower but finding no salvation.
The others crowded around Misako as she eagerly pointed at a page in the book she had devoted herself too. A spark had returned to her eyes.
"... Airjitzu? Sounds lame," Kai snorted. Cole elbowed him.
"It grants the user temporary flight," Jay murmured before his face lit up. "Aw, man, that is so dope!"
I blinked blearily. Did I hear that right? Did a leaf get stuck inside my ear? Temporary flight?

Honestly, between ghosts and demi-gods and just the entire world's history in itself, this shouldn't surprise me as much as it did.

In the time it took for me to slowly get ready for the day with the limited resources I had, the entirety of the ninja team were already ready to set off for their first destination to acquire the scroll of Airjitzu - the first of the three symbols hidden on Wu's staff.
Apparently, it lead to the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb, where the realm crystal lay.
Apparently, that was also what Morro's after.
It was a race against time.
The scroll of Airjitzu was located in a backwater fishing town called Stiix, a dingy district built entirely on the docks above the water. It was also where a hefty amount of people avoiding the law resided, such as one fellow by the name of Ronin.

Ronin - bounty hunter, thief, general no-gooder. If the military thought of the ninja as vigilantes then this guy was a downright menace.
Apparently he stole the scroll of Airjitzu, knowledge thanks to Zane hacking into the security cameras of the ancient library of scrolls and other artefacts, Domu. I'd never heard of it before, but I suppose with all those mystical and powerful items, it was probably intended that way.
Spirits were high as the team got a leg up from the competition and much to Kai's distaste, Jay, Cole, Nya and even Zane began merrily singing a familiar song that was used in long car rides as they set off.
I watched them leave apprehensively.

The remaining four of us - Wu, Lloyd's parents and I - hopped in the car that Misako drove to the sight of the Bounty's crash.
The car ride held a silent tension that you could feel every time you breathed.
"How are you holding up?" Misako asked gently, turning to me. The brothers were quiet at the front.
"I'm fine," I whispered back my reply, turning my eyes to hers from where I leant my tired head against the window. Lying through my teeth.
Misako sent me a look that told me she saw through my crap. My gaze fell.
"It's okay," I murmured. "We've got bigger things to worry about. L- like how we're going to get the Bounty back-"

"Y/n," she said, cutting me off before I could fall into a ramble and placed her hand on my knee. I looked back up at her. "I know this is a weird time and that we're all stressed but that does not make your feelings any less valid."
I felt my throat grow thick - damn, haven't I cried enough over the past few days already? Misako smiled gently at me and suddenly I missed my own mother greatly.
"You're scared. That's nothing to be ashamed of," she soothed. "Everybody's scared."
My bottom lip began to tremble so I caught it with my teeth harshly, biting down.
"Th- thanks, Misako," I stammered, overwhelmed just enough to feel full of admiration for her.
How could she be so calm when everything around her had been tossed into a storm? She was like a rock; certain, unmoving. They all were.
I wished to be as strong as she.

The remainder of the drive was silent again.

By the time the car ride was over and we had arrived back at Steep Wisdom, the sun was just over the middle of the sky.
Somehow, the damage to the place looked worse than when we had left.
"Well," Garmadon said as we stepped out of the car and surveyed the crime scene with grim faces. "Guess we better get to work."
The phone rang and Misako set off to answer it, stepping gingerly over container shards and split wood.
I picked up a jar of tea leaves, miraculously unbroken in the chaos of that night.
"Yes, yes," Misako soothed, calming who ever was on the other side of the line. "She's here with us at my brother-in-law's tea shop. She's fine."
I stiffened. Oh no. How long had it been? Two days? I hadn't spoken to my mother for two days oh god oh no I'm in so much shit.

I shoved the jar into Wu's chest before starting to gap it out of the courtyard, only to be caught by Garmadon.
"Nope," he said, denying my freedom. "You're not getting away that easy."
"N- no, wait," I whined. "She's going to murder me. You'll be an accomplice to crime!"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Garmadon grunted as he steered me back towards the shop.
"Here she is now," Misako said, stepping over some broken shelves and shoving the phone into my hand. She gave me a warning look. Everybody was against me.

I gave a sign, the last one I will do as a living person, and lifted the phone to my ears.
"H- hey, mummy," I said sweetly, only to be greeted by enraged screeching.
"DON'T YOU 'hey mummy' ME, YOU LITTLE MENACE," she roared from over the line and I stiffened in fear. I robotically walked deeper into the shop for privacy, letting her chew me out for not telling her about anything, for not replying to her messages or picking up her calls.
I couldn't even be angry. It was all on me.
"I- I'm sorry, I-" I managed to skip in before I was cut off by another round of well-deserved ranting.
"- IF IT WEREN'T FOR MISAKO PICKING UP MY CALL, I WOULD'VE- WO- would've... sweetheart, are you crying?"

I blinked and tears fell down my face.
"O- oh," I choked, wiping them away roughly. Mum knew that I never cried in the middle of a telling off. I always saved it 'till after. This was out of the ordinary. This was something else. "S- sorry."
"Y/n? Y/n, honey, why are you crying? What happened?"
I lifted my gaze to the ceiling. As much as she scared me when she was angry, hearing Mum's voice reassured me beyond belief. It couldn't cure the pained ache in my chest, but it was something.
"Y/n, sweetie, are you hurt? Talk to me."
I held the phone to my ear as I cleared my throat and tried to regain my dignity. I wiped my damp cheeks as I replied, but the tears didn't stop coming. My body shook as I slid down the wall to sit.
"Yeah, s-sorry," I said thickly, swallowing. "Sorry. I'm here."

There was a pause on Mum's part.
"Is it Lloyd?" she guessed quietly. "Did something to happen to him?"
"He- he's been-" the word got caught in a sob that I had to bite down on my arm to keep from being too loud. "He's been possessed. I d- I don't know what to do and I'm so- so scared. Everything's so- I just- I want to go home but I can't. I can't w- walk away from this."
"Sweetie, slow down. Did you say possessed?"
I sniffled before humming my affirmation.
"By... a ghost?"
"Y- yes."
Mum hesitated. She didn't know what to say. The ache in my chest expanded.
"Oh, sweetheart," she finally said softly. "If there was a way to get you out of this, you know I would do anything for you in a heartbeat. But you don't want that, do you?"

I hesitated. It was so tempting to ask her to come pick me up. Part of me entertained the idea of actually listening to Lloyd.
But I couldn't. I couldn't.
"N- no," I stuttered, voice broken but sure. "I have to stay. I have to help get him home."
"Of course," mum said, half between an amused sigh and a relenting huff. "Stay safe. Do you need me to drop anything off? Toiletries, clothes?"
I squeezed my face as gratefulness blossomed within my stomach. Relief and love.
"Y- yes, please. Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you so much. I- I'm so sorry for not calling you. My phone broke."
"How?"
I paused, thinking back to the remains that probably still sat beside the waterfall. I should really clean that up.
"I dropped it."

Thankfully, she bought it.
"I'll be over soon," she said before bidding a farewell and the line went dead.
I dropped my hands into my lap, phone clattering to the floor as I stared at the ceiling with watery eyes. Exhaustion still settled heavily over me - how long had I felt like this? How much longer would I? I just wanted it to be over.
There was commotion coming from the front of the shop - a new voice amongst them. I frowned, wiping my face and picking up the phone before venturing out into the main shop.

"AH, ghost!" the new voice yelled before I was hit with a heavy object in the gut. I stumbled back, falling.
"Owww," I groaned, clenching my eyes shut. Now I was sure that the universe was just laughing at me. I was but a cosmic joke.
"Oh, aheh," The new voice sheepishly chuckled while he retrieved the object - a ninja-star looking thing that seemed to be made of a type of rock. "Sorry. It's just this whole thing up here-" I glanced up at the man with the maroon rice hat as he gestured to his face. "-made me think you were a ghost."
My face dropped into a scowl. He didn't look apologetic at all.

The grungy, hard-set man with shaggy, brown hair and a steampunk-styled eyepatch stepped back, surveying the crime scene while Wu helped me to my feet.
"Damn, I got one helluva bargain," he grumbled sarcastically before raising his voice, grabbing a tea container and shaking the insides. "The first problem is that you're opening a tea shop in the middle of a dry season - water's at a premium! Then there's the name; Steep Wisdom," the man snorted. "More like Steep Debt. I mean - where are the customers?"
Somebody didn't know a thing about manners, I thought bitterly to myself as I crossed my arms and winced at the ache of my stomach. I just keep getting hurt, huh? Mum was right.

"Who is this strange fellow?" Wu asked Garmadon.
"I have no recollection of him, brother," Garmadon replied, just as bewildered, as he shook his head.

"You need to have a name with pizazz," continued the stranger as he approached the counter. "Like Curiosi-tea or Shake-Your-Boo-Tea. These are just off the top of my head!"
he scoffed, leisurely opening the phone book. Miskao huffed angrily, sliding the book out from under his hand and slamming it shut. She'd clearly had enough.
"Excuse me," Misako said coolly, voice like ice. "But if you're not a customer, what are you doing in our shop?"
"You mean my shop," the man corrected with a smug, little grin.
"Huh?" Wu and I said. Garmadon's eyebrows furrowed.
The man frowned, placing a hand on his forehead and shaking his head.
"Oh, right," he mumbled. "They never told you."

The man grinned at us, crossing his arms.
"Name's Ronin," he greeted. "And since I'm now effectively the majority shareholder, I'm your new business partner."
"What!" I exclaimed in shock while the others gasped.
"After the ninja lost the scroll of who-what-su to that Morro dude, I bailed them out in exchange for their shares in the tea shop," Ronin explained, before scowling. "Since they destroyed my pawn shop, I thought it was a fair trade. Until I saw this sorry place."
I inhaled sharply as Ronin sauntered off to inspect the broken shelves. I followed him.
"Is Lloyd okay?" I asked, a desperate look on my face. Ronin paused before shrugging, turning his head to face me with an uncaring look.
"Beats me, kid," he said nonchalantly, making my heart sink. "I was too busy trying not to get killed."

Garmadon placed a hand on my shoulder.
"They did not get the scroll of Airjitzu?" he asked stoically.
"If they didn't get it, they'll never be able to follow the rest of the clues to the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master," Miskao stressed, bunching her hand into a fist on the counter.
"But that means they won't be able to save Lloyd!" I trilled.
"Relax," Ronin stressed with a roll of his eyes. "The ninja are fine. I told them another possible way they could get it. Don't you know in life; there's always second chances."
He winked at me. I bristled, riled like an angry cat.
"What do you mean 'another way'?" Wu asked, stepping forth.
"What, nobody's ever told you about Yang's haunted temple?" Ronin asked with raised eyebrows.

"You mean that place where you can get tours to?" I frowned.
"Yang's haunted temple is nothing but an attraction for tourists," Misako said with an exasperated snap.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Ronin snickered, stepping back against the counter and crossing his arms. "If the ninja manage to pass all the tests and conquer their fears, they'll get their hands on the original scroll of airjitzu."
Garmadon sent Ronin a suspicious glare.
"And if they fail?"
Ronin shrugged his crossed arms carelessly.
"They die, or get turned into ghosts. Depends on how Sensei Yang feels."
Miskao stiffened beside me. I remained unconvinced.
"Haunted temples aren't real," I said in denial with a shake of my head. "He's just saying that to be a nuisance."

Ronin snorted.
"Your boyfriend's possessed by a ghost and you're telling me that haunted temples aren't real?"
My expression grew tight.
"We're- we're not-"
"Please," Ronin interrupted me with a look of pure amusement. "I may have no honour, but I'm not thick in the head."
My hands tightened into fists as I fumed, glaring at Ronin with distaste.
I really didn't like him.

"What we need to do now is work out who summoned Morro," Ronin changed the subject, kicking aside some container shards with his foot. "Ghosts don't just appear out of nowhere. Somebody on the mortal plane is working with him and as long as they're out there, they can just keep bringing the ghosts back again and again. It would be a fruitless war."
"But who would do such a thing?" Misako asked. "To bring the dead to life, it's not just a little mishap with some rowdy kids and a spell book they found in a thrift shop."
"Misako's right," Wu nodded. "Spell books are incredibly rare and valuable. The spell to summon a ghost as powerful as Morro is no easy feat, either."
"Which means that this was done intentionally," Garmadon said and then sighed, rubbing his forehead. "But how can we narrow down our suspects? Half of Ninjago wants the Green Ninja out of action. We can't question a whole city's worth of people."

Something was nagging at the back of my head. Sitting there, just barely out of reach. The more I tried to think about catching it, the more it slipped away.
There was something about this that made me on edge. I had an answer that I didn't know.
"Well, we take out the spell book, we take out the ghosts," Ronin said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "So, unless you'd rather wage war with the entirety of the departed realm, I suggest you start thinking of-"

"Simon," I breathed, staring hard at the ground with wide eyes. Ronin faltered.
"What?"
My gaze jumped up to the adults staring at me in question and I gulped. It made sense. It made so much sense. Every time he visits the city, something bad happens. He wanted the Green Ninja dead. He said that the city would know soon enough.
God, they have Lloyd. They can reveal his identity at anytime.

'You might just raise the dead with your attitude.'
I felt sick.

"I know who did it."