Tw: painful metamorphism??

"Oh, wow. Yep. I missed this place."

"Would you shut up?" Chen groaned from shotgun as he dropped his head back. "You've been saying that ever since we hit Ninjago City."
I kicked the back of his seat. He whipped around and sent me a hard stare.
"Watch it, L/n."
I stuck out my tongue in retaliation, which spurred Chen on further. He scrambled around the seat to reach for me and I screeched, curling in on myself, and Ambrose shouted over us both.
"If you kids don't stop, I will turn this car around!" he bellowed as he merged into the lane beside him. "And I, for one, don't want to have to drive seven hours back to Nom just because I've revoked your Lloyd privileges."
"You can't revoke my Lloyd privileges!" I accused as I pushed my front through the two seats to scowl in Ambrose's face. He turned his head to send me a sneer.
"I can and I will if you don't sit your ass down," he warned. "I'm trying to drive!"

I collapsed back onto the seat with a huff and a cross of my arms. Ambrose let out a calming sigh.
"Thank you," he grunted. I stared at the city passing by, lights reflecting against the window and reaching into the evening sky. My knee bound in impatience.
When Chen and Ambrose suggested to give me a lift to Ninjago City for Lloyd's twenty-first birthday after the team was called out on a last-minute mission, I gladly accepted their offer. Seven hours in and I was kicking myself for just biting the bullet and using a chunk of my student allowance to buy a plane ticket. Seven hours lasted so much longer than I gave it credit for - it felt longer than the past five months at uni.
I was seriously at my limits, and so were the other two boys. This long a time in a confined space was driving us mental. I dropped my cheek into my palm as my elbow leant against the window ledge.
"Are we there yet?" I asked, voice muffled. Chen broke.
"Y/n, I swear to god-!"
"Swear all you want, buddy, Uchū's my homeboy!" I snapped at Chen.
"SHUT UP!" Ambrose yelled. Chen and I reluctantly silenced.
The tension was palpable.

"I'm never driving to Ninjago City with her again," Chen grumbled, sinking into his seat.
"I want to set something on fire," I whispered.
"Jesus christ, Y/n," Ambrose exclaimed.

We reached the edge of the city and I watched eagerly as the tall buildings began to blend into small suburbs and then, finally, we were ambling through a giant forest that stretched for miles. Ambrose took the turn into the craftily hidden driveway to the monastery and I pushed my face against the glass.
Finally, the car pulled to a halt outside the red monastery. I was out before it even stopped moving, shoes crunching on the gravel as I raced across the driveway, padded up the stone steps, passed the prophecy columns and shoved the heavy front doors open.
"I'M HOME!" I shouted.
My response was a distant, indiscernible shout and the thumping of running feet. Dimitri was at the front of the pack to the round the corner.
"Y/n!" the monk and my best friend exclaimed as he scooped me into a massive, swinging hug.
"Dimi!" I gasped in delight, hugging him back just as tight. "I missed you!"
The next to follow was Hiyori and Jace, plus a couple of the other monks that I had grown close to over the years.

"The team's still out on a mission," Hiyori said as she pulled me down the hall to where the senseis were just leaving the scroll room to greet me. "Misako's at a talk."
"Hi!" I beamed as I pulled the two men into a group hug. Wu chuckled and Garm sucked in a tight breath as I squeezed them tightly.
"Careful now," Wu said with a pat to my shoulder. "Garm's a delicate old man."
Garmadon shot his brother an irritated glare over my head. His hand shot out and brought Wu into a chokehold. I quickly stepped back from the chaos, palms raised.
"Says you-!" he snarled playfully before stopping suddenly with a grimace. "Oh, my knee."
"My back!" Wu cried. I lifted a hand to my mouth to hide my amused grin.
"I'm glad to see that nothing's changed during my absence," I commented. Garm wearily chuckled.
"Y/n!" Chen yelled down the hall. "Come get your damn bags, monster child."
"Be right there!" I called back.

"How was the drive?" Wu asked as the two senseis followed me down the hall as I went to retrieve my bags.
"Uneventful. Boring. Head in hands. Sob fest," I said dryly. "Chaotic. Never ending. Excruciating. Shall I continue?"
"We get the picture," Garm snickered just as Kashu padded down the hall with his tail swinging like the helicopter's rotor. I gasped in delight and dropped to my feet.
"Buddy boy!" I gushed, squishing the joyous dog's cheeks in adoration. "I missed you! Yes, I did! Yes, I did!"
Kashu barked in my face and my ears rung. I blinked. His bark had grown with his body, clearly. Ouch.
"How have things been here?" I asked as the three of us, with Kashu in tow, trotted down the steps and I grabbed my bags.

"Same-same," Garm said with a shrug as he took one of my bags while walking and slung it onto his own shoulder.
"So absolute chaos." I nodded, much to the brothers' amusement. "Got it."
"Oh, we have missed you," Wu said with a short laugh. "You always seem to lighten this old place up."
Garmadon rolled his eyes. I, however, was touched. I placed a hand to my chest.
"Aww!" I gushed. "Thank you! I like to think that it's my inability to read the room and to walk without injuring myself is what truly sets me apart."
"At least she's honest," Garmadon announced. I laughed.
Misako returned before the time and pulled me into one of her massive mama bear hugs that had me both immensely enjoying it and gasping for air. I kept her company while she filed her notes from the talk she attended.
"How are your studies going?" she asked while carefully placing some pieces of paper into a folder. I watched from the zabuton I was curled upon. "Only a year and half left, now."

"It feels like it's been going so quick and has also been the longest four months in my entire life," I confessed, to which Misako chuckled. "It's been interesting, and I'm good at what I'm learning, which is always nice. But honestly, I just can't wait for it to be over."
Misako glanced up from her filing and smiled.
"Eager to be an adult?" she teased. "Do you want to pay taxes, Y/n?"
"Not particularly," I giggled. "I'm more so looking forward into coercing Lloyd to letting me finally join the team after I win the bet."
"Good luck with that one, peach," Misako said with a soft laugh. "That boy's more protective over you than a bee to its queen."
I released an amused huff through my teeth. There was no denying that she was right, but that didn't deter me - one day, I will succeed in wearing Lloyd down. And that day would be as soon as Axon no longer posed a threat, I suppose.
"How has he been?" I asked. Misako paused her filing and have a defeated sigh. I raised my brows; that didn't seem good.

"Frustrated," she answered wearily. The folder in her hands was placed on the table and her brown eyes found mine. "They all are. Axon's people know what they're doing. They leave no traces. It's like they're always one step ahead."
I began to lour, expression dim. It annoyed me too that Axon, despite being locked up in prison, still had people out there doing his biding. Not only did it grate Lloyd's nerves of destroying a spotless record, it drove me up the wall, too. The longer he had control over dangerous people, the longer I had to be babysat.
How long had it been going on, now? Two years? It was just getting ridiculous - I couldn't keep living on a leash. Something had to give.
Misako reached over and placed a hand on my knee. I glanced up and found her reassuring smile.
"Everything will work out," she promised. "It always does with him. He's got the main character syndrome."
The laughter that burst from my mouth was unexpected but needed, and Misako chuckled along with me. It felt good to laugh with her; I'd missed my second mother.

It was about three hours after I arrived that the ninja returned. I was still hanging out with my best friends Misako and Garm, and we had migrated to the kitchen to bake a massive series of cakes for tomorrow, which was Lloyd's 21st party.
Somewhere along the process, however, we all got distracted. It was spurred by Garmadon plopping a pile of flour atop his wife's head. She had stilled, eyes wide, before finally and slowly turning her warning gaze to Garm. I felt true fear for the first time.
"That was a mistake, old man," she said calmly, and then all hell broke loose.
Garm, with his superior hearing, noticed the team get back before Misako and I did. The kitchen was covered in splashes of white powder, and the three of us were even worse. The few people who did enter the kitchen during our flour fight had been quick to flee the crime scene.
"What on earth is going on-" Lloyd's voice floated down the hall before entering and immediately being assaulted by a fistful of flour to the face. He paused. He huffed a breath and flour drifted from his lips.

I had been frozen in shock at the attack on Lloyd, but suddenly I was cackling so loudly that Misako had no choice but to join in. Garm was struggling to talk through his laughs.
"It was Y/n!" he quickly interjected, lying through his goddamn teeth. My laughs stopped short and I sent him an insulted look.
"It was not!" I declared, which only made Misako's laughter grow even more hysterical. She had to support herself on the kitchen bench as she gasped for breath.
"This was not the welcome home I was expecting," Lloyd admitted as he brushed flour from his face. I had to giggle again. His gi was absolutely covered in grime and now flour, which was just such an amusing combination.
"Wel-" I cut myself off with a raspy laugh. I lifted my hands as if to ask him for a hug. "Welcome home!"
His amused gaze jumped to me and melted with inexorable warmth. My heart fluttered at the sight and if it weren't for the flour covering his face, the scene wouldn't have been so stupidly funny.
Garmadon threw another handful of flour at his son. Lloyd raised his palms in defence but it only made the impact spread further.
"DAD, SERIOUSLY," he spluttered in outrage and his mother and I fell into laughter once more. "You guys are hopeless."

"Alright," Misako said, breathless voice broken by chuckles as she tried her best to calm herself. "Where were we?"
"Step four," I pointed out, still grinning madly. "We have to crack three eggs and melt the butter."
"What are you guys making?" Lloyd asked after wiping his face. He approached the bench and sent his father a wary glare as he held the bag of flour. "Cake? Better keep it hidden from Cole."
"Honestly, I'm just here so I can take off with the bowl when the batter's done," I confessed with a shrug. Misako gasped.
"I knew there was a reason I love you," Lloyd said. "We training after this?"
"How are you not tired?" I asked in disbelief. He smirked as I turned around from my task of rolling the dry ingredients through the wet to send him an incredulous look. "I get tired just from getting out of bed in the morning."
"Ha-ha," he said, ruffling my flour-speckled hair with a hand and leaning on the bench with the other. "You're such a relatable comedian."
"Thank you."
Garmadon, who had been dutifully cleaning his mess by scooping flour from the bench back into the bag, jumped into the conversation.
"I think it's time to teach her the Garmadon special."

An involuntary snort left me at his words as I turned to the Sensei. Lloyd straightened and a grin grew across his face. Misako rolled her eyes.
"What's the Garmadon special?" I asked, highly bemused.
"If I told you that, it wouldn't be a surprise," the sensei countered.
"... you said special, not surprise."
Garmadon paused his task and stared forward. He gave a nonchalant shrug and continued.
"Same thing."

"In what world-" his wife laughed before cutting herself off and sighing. "Never mind..."

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

"Have you heard of the fighting technique 'Silent Fist'?"

Freshly washed from flour and kneeling on the tatami flooring of the main dojo, I piqued an eyebrow at Lloyd, who stood before me. His father leant against the wooden wall to the side and watched with narrowed eyes. He was testing me as well as his son. Jay sat crossed legged at his feet, knees bouncing.
"... can't say that I have," I answered.
Lloyd let his hands fall into the pockets of his fat pants - an image of leisure. The dojo was his home as much as his own bedroom was to him.
"Want to give a guess?"
I could only shrug.
"Try," he persuaded.
"Quiet hits?" I questioned unsurely. Lloyd's lips lifted into a gentle smile before shaking his head.
"It's the art of letting your opponent tire them-self out and losing the fight without even laying a finger on them," he explained. "It's especially fun when you piss them off beforehand."
"Language, Lloyd."
"Sorry. Annoy," he corrected with a roll of his eyes. I huffed a laugh. "Let's show you an example."

Jay took that cue to leap to his feet and approach, jittery with energetic excitement. Shocks of electricity sparked in his wild auburn hair.
"Jay will attack me," Lloyd said, just as the master of lightning leapt forward. "And I'll dodge." True to his word, Lloyd stepped aside as easily as water moving over a rock. Jay, more graceful than the average young man, quickly whipped around, already poised for a second attack.
His movements were sharp and swift, and I was surprised at how much the freckled man had improved his technique since the last time I saw him fight. It was different than Lloyd - I got to see him in action far more often due to training.
It suddenly occurred to me that Jay was just as much a fantastic, terrifying fighter that Lloyd was. He'd grown a lot since I first met him when I was a fresh-faced seventeen year old.
While Jay moved like he was embracing being lightning himself, Lloyd read his attacks like a picture book. The calculating look in his eyes, the way he eyed his attacker like a predator himself as he dipped and stepped and shifted his body like a divine instrument of grace and stealth - it was both thrilling and frightening. They really were on another level.

"See how he's growing tired?" Lloyd said, taking my mind away from the artistry of their improved partnership and into the core technicality of their training. "Whereas I'm not even out of breath."
"No need to rub it in," Jay puffed. Indeed, sweat beaded on his forehead.
"And one simple movement can end the fight far faster," Lloyd continued. He stuck out a leg just as Jay went careening past and the boy went tumbling to the floor. I jumped, concerned, but his breathless laughter and muffled curse allowed me to relax. I should've known better than to be worried. They're all tougher than I gave them credit for.
"It's particularly good if you're fighting a strong opponent," Lloyd said, approaching me and holding out his hands. I placed my palms in his and he lifted me to my feet. "And if you're extra observant, it can quickly and effectively take out an entire group of hostiles."
He turned me towards where Jay was picking himself back up and pushed me a step forward. "Your turn."
"Do you need a break?" I asked. Jay sent me a tireless smirk in response.
"When do I ever need a break?" he goaded, crouching forward like a lion prepared to pounce. "I'm always buzzing with energy!"

"Bad pun, didn't laugh," I squeaked as I quickly stumbled out the way of his flying fists. He was almost blurring - how could criminals ever think they'd stand a chance against even one of them? Jay himself was a force of nature, but the entire team working effortlessly together? They must special breed of oblivious.
"You totally laughed," Jay countered, and suddenly he was the one with the upper hand despite the advantage the fighting technique should've given me. "You did a little huff. I saw it."
"Concentrate," Lloyd said, and Jay reluctantly silenced with a pout. "She hasn't been fighting as long as you have."
It wasn't a surprise to say that I got far more pummelled than Lloyd did. My feet catching, being unable to read Jay's movements, general slowness, they all let me down. Still, Lloyd was proud with my progress, and honestly that's all I really craved during our training sessions.

"You wouldn't have been able to dodge half of those a couple of months ago," he complimented as he placed a bottle of water into my trembling hands at the end of the session. It was late - surely having passed dinner - and I was filled with a content weariness that made me want to slink into the warm, spring-smelling covers of Lloyd's bed. Jay and Garm had already left, leaving the dojo entirely us.
"My stamina's improving," I mentioned as I lifted the bottle to my lips. "How's your own training going, green leader?"
"Good," Lloyd nodded as he joined me in cool down stretches. "The team's improving a lot, too. Not so many rookie mistakes."
I let the bottle mouth drop from my lips. "That's not the kind of training I'm referring to. You haven't marked me yet. Are you feeling okay?"
Lloyd suddenly shifted and avoided my gaze. It was almost as if he'd forgotten about it - or had been trying and successfully focusing on anything else.
"I've been trying to control it rather than letting it control me," he murmured. He crossed his legs and seemed much smaller than what he was. "It's tough but... it's getting easier with each visit."
"Does it hurt?" I asked. Worry made my brows furrow. I knew that he needed to train his instincts, but that didn't make me like the obvious agony he put himself through.

Lloyd let himself fall onto his back and stare at the ceiling. I realised at once that he hadn't even so much as touched me since I arrived, other than to playfully ruffle my hair in the kitchen or to lift me to my feet. Was he having to hold himself back, even from physical intimacy? Was it that bad?
"It's... it's like being parched," he said to the ceiling, and I listened with rapt attention. "But it's not just my throat that feels dry and scratchy. It's my entire body. I feel hollow, like all of my insides have been replaced with this- this..."
His hands, which had been emphasising his words, fell to his stomach as he searched for the right adjective. I waited patiently, equally troubled and curious.
"Need," he finally breathed. "A need for you."
I almost lost my breath. I felt my heart race faster than it did during my exhaustive training.
"What kind of need?"
Lloyd tilted his head and sent me a bemused glare, paired with a smile that made me breathless in another way all together.
"Purer than the way you're thinking, minx," he playfully scorned. I raised my palms in defence.
"I'm just curious!" I defended. My eyes widened in thought. "What about your, uh... other abilities?"

"Abilities," he echoed dryly. I furrowed my brow and smacked his foot with my own.
"I don't know what else to call them!"
He chuckled at my defensive squawk and lifted himself back up so he was facing me. The large space between us didn't escape my notice. He really was trying to hold out as long as he could.
"I can call upon them at will, now," Lloyd said, and to prove it, a small stumpy pair of black horns slowly protruded from his messy, blond hair. "Nothing new's popped up, thank god. Dad still won't tell me what I am. Maybe he doesn't know."
"Maybe," I hummed, before tilting my head at the sharp teeth that pressed against his bottom lip. "Your fangs have gotten longer."
Lloyd raised a hand to touch them. "Have they?"
I nodded. "What about your eyes? They went purple, once. Have you been able to do that since?"
Lloyd shook his head. I turned my gaze to the floor in thought, processing these recent developments. What could they mean?
'Dragon,' a quiet voice inside me called, but I was quick to push it down. Neuro already told me no, and even if he was lying, it wouldn't make sense. How could he be part dragon? It just wasn't feasible.

During my quiet pondering, Lloyd reached out and began to toy with my hand. The silence was comforting, and part of me that wasn't engrossed in wondering, for the bazillionth time, what the everloving fuck Lloyd's family tree looked like, was glad that we could sit in silence without it getting awkward despite the time spent apart.
"I miss you."
I turned my gaze to Lloyd. He was staring at my fingers as he held them in a gentle grasp in his lap, pouting softly. His lashes brushed against his ruffled fringe and it took everything in me not to brush his hair to the side.
It still astounds me that he could switch from being such a steadfast, strong team leader who took no shit to being so soft, so vulnerable, so openly loving and wanting. Long gone were the barriers that shielded his desires that I couldn't break down when we first met. Long gone was the guarded look in his eyes, protecting himself from anything that might hurt him.
He used to be so untrusting. Then, when he realised that I wasn't some cruel prank fate had put in his path, obsessively protective, like the harsh world would steal me from him like how it had stolen his trust long ago. Then, after growing with me, maturing alongside I, learning how to be a healthy partner, open and caring and loving.
It was a messy path to walk to get to this point, but I was glad that I stuck around.

"I miss you, too," I said with a soft smile. "We're halfway there."
"Marry me," he whispered, lifting my hand to his lips and pressing his lips against my knuckles. He was pleading, almost desperate, almost begging. His red eyes flickered to mine, staring at my very soul from beneath his lashes, the blond fringe that framed his ethereal face. "Marry me, please."
I felt my breath catch, hitting an invisible barrier in my throat and swelling until I could barely handle it. I had to tear my eyes away before the look in his own had me crumbling and breaking apart. He was too beautiful.
"I will," I murmured. "I will, I promise. Just not right now."
"Why not?" he whined quietly.
"Because we have a bet, stupid," I said gently, tilting my head and sending a soft smile. "And I'm very competitive."

Lloyd whined something incoherent and I giggled at his frustrated look on his face. It seemed that when he made the bet that year and a half ago, he only dug himself into a hole.
"What if I make you a ring?" he said, perking up. "With a really big diamond. A massive one."
"I don't care about diamonds," I snickered. "I just care about you."
"Not enough to marry me," Lloyd grumbled, turning his head away and crossing his arms. My now freed hand caught his chin and turned his face back to me.
"Don't be silly," I said with an amused grin. "Plenty of couples aren't married. That doesn't make them love each other any less."
Lloyd groaned, completely and utterly in agony that his pleading and puppy-dog eyes failed to sway my hand into his own. My amusement skyrocketed. He'd always been incredibly affectionate and passionate about placing a ring on my finger, and it seemed that years of rejection hadn't dissuaded him in the slightest.
"Hey," I said softly, despite the smile still inadvertently tugging my lips. "We're still a team, Lloyd."

Lloyd shifted his head and his gaze landed on mine. Unshielded, unguarded, he granted me access to peer unbidden into his very soul. Such a change.
The humour in his red eyes told me of the fact that he was jesting just as much as I. This was all fun and games, no feelings were truly hurt, but I felt as if there was a hint of true sincerity hidden unsubtly in each of our words - I was steadfast in my opinion of not wanting to tackle more challenges than university had already placed upon my shoulders without adding a wedding to plan, and Lloyd was still very much wanting to complete our union.
"Team," he echoed with a wavering smile. His soft, warm gaze didn't stray from mine, until he began to fidget, eyes glancing at my neck as heat crawled up his neck. It seemed his resolve had finally broken. "Um..."

"I know," I said with an amused roll of my eyes as I pulled my hair to the side.

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

Whereas Lloyd's birthday the previous year was full of old traditions and fancy kimonos, this year was different, upon his request.

Lloyd wanted nothing more than to relax and let loose like the normal, average twenty-one year old he wanted to but could never be. This meant no monastery extravaganza, no kimonos, no tradition. Just an easy afternoon out at the city, pursuing down the blocks, buying street food, messing around in second-hand stores and spending the majority of their time (and money) in an arcade.
I sat with Kai while watching Nya and Jay absolutely dominate a dance game, taking a breather before finding out next conquest. Lloyd and Cole had this whole gamer-buddy system, so they had split off from the rest of us to find the more relentless of the lot, with Naomi following them.
Zane, who didn't particularly find arcade games challenging enough, had brought along a book of sudoku. For experts.
"Which game next, peachie-keen?" Kai asked with a bump to my shoulder.
"I dunno," I said, rubbing my sore hands. We'd been at it for hours. "I'm kind of all gamer'd out."

"That's impossible," Kai denied, standing in a flourish. He held out his hand for me to take. "Old school Tetris is calling your name, Y/n. Can you hear it?"
He leant in close with a hand to his ear, before whispering in a monotonic, robotic voice; 'Y/n, Y/n, Y/n, Y/n, Y/n.'
Zane sent an offended frown.
"If that is how you think machines sound-"
"Okay, alright! I give!" I conceded with an amused raise of my brows. "I'll play Tetris."
Kai gave a little cheer before grabbing my hands and hauling me towards the arcade game of arcade games. Zane, with a huff, returned to his seventy-ninth square of sudoku.
"I'm pretty much a pro master at this game, so don't be too bummed if you don't get close to my score," Kai bragged as he leant against the side of the box. The neon lights illuminated his smirk.
"Well then," I said teasingly as I sent him a look. "Game on."
"Nice pun!" Jay complimented as he jogged over to join us. He'd finished his dance round with Nya, and now the water mistress was dragging a reluctant Zane onto the dance pad. "I believe in you, Y/n! Kai's gotta be taken down a peg."

"Can't help being perfect," Kai sighed and fanned his collar dramatically. "It's a serious condition."
I rolled my eyes with a snicker and turned to the game. Inserting a coin, I began, the eight-bit music egging me on and Kai's whispered remarks making my determination stronger. I was never amazing at Tetris, but I really wanted to show Kai up, just once. Jay saw that I was lagging and, bless him, discreetly zapped the machine into making my score jump.
"Wh- hey! You cheated!" Kai cried.
"What on earth are you talking about?" Jay innocently asked with a puppy-dog frown. "Are you feeling dizzy or something?"
"Don't 'are you dizzy' me!" Kai accused. "You two are in on it together! Ugh, this is why I hate versing Jay!"
"Don't you say that about captain curly!" I gasped, glancing at Kai in feigned horror before returning my attention to the game.
"Yeah!" Jay chirped.
"I'm getting Lloyd," Kai threatened before stomping off in search of the team leader. I grinned, ended my perfect round, and watched the tickets flow from the machine.

Lloyd, Cole, Naomi and Kai found us at the prize booth.
"What's this about cheating?" Lloyd asked after I pushed my mountain of tickets over the counter. "I thought you knew better than this, guys."
I only had to be subjected to Lloyd's disappointed frown for a few seconds, as then my prize was given to me, and thus, given to Lloyd.
"For your day of birth," I declared, holding out a Fritz Donegan stuffed doll. Lloyd's face melted into a look of awe.
"For me?"
"For you."
"Dude!" Kai chastised, in disbelief. He grabbed Lloyd's shoulder and tried to shake some sense into him. "They cheated for that doll!"
"But look at him, Kai," Lloyd said, turning the doll to face the agitated fire master. "Look at him."
"I mean, yeah, it's cool - hey, that's besides the point!"
But he was ignored, as Lloyd just pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead. I immediately snuggled into his arms.

"Best birthday gift ever," he murmured, nuzzling his nose against my hairline. "Thank you."
"Well, that's not my actual present, but you're welcome."
My actual present would be given later, when we arrived home and it was deep in night. A personalised mix tape on a cassette that he couldn't play (but the aesthetic was worth it) and a smart new journal for Sensei planning, as I had caught him a few weeks prior mumbling that he needed to get a new one.
"The cassette has a code on the back," I said as we lounged on his bed. I turned the black box over and showed him the sticker I was referring to. "You can scan it and it'll show up on your phone."
"Very practical," Lloyd said, watching with a soft smile as I stole his phone and inputted the playlist.
"It's all songs that remind me of you," I said, pressing shuffle and letting it play at just a whisper in the background. "Whenever I miss you, or if I'm feeling overwhelmed or sad, I put this playlist on and pretend you're with me."

I felt the pillow shift as Lloyd turned his head. I caught his gaze.
"Kinda stupid, huh?" I deflected with a sheepish grin.
"No," he disagreed quietly. A finger gently hooked my chin and I was carefully guided to him. "It's perfect. You're perfect."
I barely got to hear his reply, as I was already eagle eyed and headed in for a kiss. If Lloyd noticed my acute change in attention, he didn't call me out on it, instead simply allowing himself to get swept away in the undercurrents of the kiss that I was already lost in.
Phone lost in the messy folds of the duvet, Lloyd's strong hands pulled me from his side until I was perched above him, cradling his torso while my fingers curled through his hair. My cheeks were red, flushed and hot, heart pounding and breath catching with exertion as we pulled and crashed and fell repeatedly.
I could feel something was wrong before he moved away; the sudden stiffness of his body, the way he faltered and his kisses slowed. I pulled myself away as soon as I had the autonomy to do so, sitting upright atop Lloyd's stomach.

His fangs had already begun to unsheathe, and it seemed that he was having trouble controlling them. A glance to his head informed me that his horns were threatening to follow suit.
"Are you okay?"
Lloyd grunted a confirming reply, but the way he was gritting his teeth and clenching his brow, I found myself not believing him for a second.
"Headache," he grumbled, hiding his face in his hands. I gave a worried kind of smile, the one you'd make when you didn't know quite what to do but believing that cracking a joke would be the best way to ease the tension.
"Did you play too much video games?" I asked, reaching out to brush some sense into his messy hair, only to quickly retract when a guttural, weird-sounding growl erupted from the depths of his core. "Lloyd?"
I noted with alarm, the blackening of his finger tips. His hands tensed and gripped at his face so ferociously that his tendons popped into his skin, and with a distorted, low howl of a whimper, claws - fucking claws - pushed atop his nails and dug into the skin of his forehead.
"Lloyd!" I gasped and reached forward to bring his hands away from his face, my first thought being only to protect him from himself. A twinge of fear echoed in the back of my head, but I pushed it down as far as it could go.

"I- I'm going to get Garm-" I rushed, pulling my hand from his grasp. His grip tightened, however, and although his words were decimated by chattering teeth, I could understand him clearly; 'don't leave me alone.'
Swallowing my fright, I shuffled closer and let him encircle my arm in a tight grasp. I could barely feel my hand.
"It's okay," I whispered, but I wasn't quite sure I believed myself. His claws began to pierce my shirt sleeve. "You're okay. Control it. You can control it."
His response was only to tremble and dig his face into my shoulder. I raised my eyes to the ceiling and willed for Garmadon or Wu or for anyone to burst through the doors and help me understand what was happening.
Yes, when Lloyd lost concentration, his control slipped. But not like this. It'd never been like this before. It never hurt him.
Infuriated by my own unsureness, I satiated my rage by pressing a kiss to his forehead and pressing my cheek between his horns.
So I sat there, and Lloyd trembled there, cradling each other while his body transitioned and changed and cracked into place, transforming into something that we didn't even know what.
And the banger was that despite this, I knew that the prophecies would still not allow us to know what Lloyd was.

Happy twenty-first birthday, Lloyd. Fate's been fucking you over for eighteen years, and it doesn't look like it'll stop anytime soon.

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

"Sounds spooky," Ambrose remarked as we walked across campus.

It was the Monday after Lloyd's birthday and a day and a bit since his weird transformation thing. Little pinprick bruises dotted my arms from when his claws held onto me as if I were his very lifeline.
We didn't speak about it. Well, we tried, but something always came up. And then it got too weird to bring up.
"Claws, huh?" Chen echoed with raised brows. "Freaky. Sounds like he's transforming more and more into whatever his genetics are."
"I don't know what to do," I wearily groaned. "When I told Garm about what happened, he just got weirdly quiet."
"They know what they're doing," Chen reassured. "It'll be fine."
"You didn't see him, Chen," I insisted, turning to send him a worried look. "He wasn't just in pain, he was in agony. What if this genetic stuff is really bad? What if he changes and he can't turn back?"
"Now you're talking yourself into a panic," Ambrose soothed. "If it was bad, then Garmadon and Wu would've done something by now."

I released a heavy breath and nodded. He was right, of course. I was talking myself into thing, self-actualising and spiralling. I needed to get my head twisted back on.
While Chen and Ambrose began talking amongst each other about who knows what, my mind wandered back to the night before, when Lloyd changed. I could vividly picture the blackness crawling up to his elbow, skin ridged and scaled. With his red eyes and fangs, he looked...
He looked a lot like Lord Garmadon.
I dropped my head back and stared at the heavy winter clouds as I walked. I was scared, for more than one reason. Scared for Lloyd and what this could mean for him and how it could hurt him. Scared that I'd somehow lose him. Scared that he would permanently look like what he was slowly changing into.
I would stick with him, of course. That was indisputable. But the world could barely stand Lloyd Garmadon. How would they hurt him if he looks like how his father did when he was evil?

I was so lost in thought that I didn't realise the ground had disappeared from under me until my stomach was in my throat and I had landed, sprawled halfway down the concrete stairs.
I raised my head slowly, grimacing in pain and assessing whether I had sprained or broken anything. I was alarmed to see Chen and Ambrose were suffering a similar fate - if I had tripped due to my head being in the clouds, that wasn't something so rare. But for Chen and Ambrose to also miss the stairs-?
My heart rate picked up when I noticed the rest of the students on the campus looking equally bewildered. This was beyond weird.
There was a second of silence, like nobody dared to utter a single word. Like it would be to shatter the world if the quiet was broken.
And then the phones began to ring.
"What the hell just happened?" I asked in shock, wincing as I stood. Ambrose and Chen looked just as unsettled as I felt and could only shake their head helplessly in response. My own phone began to buzz among the cries and calls of disbelief of my peers.

"Lloyd?" I breathlessly answered, head beginning to ring.
"Are you okay?" He sounded frantic, desperate.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine!" I was quick to reassure. "Are you? Are the others?"
"We're fine," Lloyd answered. He sounded jittery, pent up. I bit my lip in worry. "Who's with you?"
"Chen and Ambrose."
"Good," he sighed. "Stick with them. You have to promise me."
I blinked in shock. "What's going-?"
"Promise me, Y/n."
"Yeah, I promise!" I snapped, driven by impatience and fright. "What's going on, Lloyd?"
A ragged sigh, peppered through with static from the line, was my immediate answer. Chen leant close to listen in.
"We think Axon's people teamed up with someone powerful," Lloyd answered. I drew an agitated hand through my hair and resisted from shouting. He was trying to keep me in the dark.
"That doesn't answer my question."
Silence on his part. Chen and Ambrose met gazes, equally perturbed and confused. I waited for an answer - a real one.
Finally, Lloyd relented. His voice was weary and tired, and it felt as if he had aged a million years.

"We think time just jumped forward."