Death Cab for Cutie
••• Ghosts of Beverly Drive •••

if only you had known me before the accident
for with that grand collision, came a grave consequence
receptors overloaded, they burst and disconnect
'til there was little feeling, please work with what is left

•••••

TW: blood, assault, gaslighting, gore, mentions of depression, discrimination(?)

brain experts, if you're out there reading this... please do not come for my throat kthanksbye

  My afternoons were empty now that I didn't have my trainings with Lloyd. They widened out before me like opened arms; what would I do today? How would I spend my free time? I was up to date with my homework; would I study for myself or read a new book?

  In a curveball that I never would've expected, I found that the sudden lack of physical activity after months and months of constant training left me restless. After two evenings spent pacing my room when I tried to focus on something more intellectual, I gave up. I tied on my trainers and went for a run.

  I'd become what I most feared; a fitness freak.

  But it felt good to focus on something. It felt good to run down the street and pretend that I was running away from every issue that plagued me. I enjoyed running. It was an escape. The racing of my heart, the concentration of my breathing and the crisp winter air kept my mind from drifting to more unsavoury thoughts.

  And if I spotted the coloured gi of a ninja jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop as they carried out their patrols, then I ignored them.

  It was one of those very afternoons that had me returning home a little after an hour. I'd ran so much that I felt it sear through my lungs and tremble through my my limbs, that I tasted metal and iron on my tongue. I'd exerted myself so that I thought I'd throw up, but god, it was one of the few times I felt good anymore.

  I leant my hands on my knees and gasped to recuperate. My face was dripping with sweat. I was buzzing. Every part of my body felt alive. It took everything in me not to surrender to my exhaustion and lie down on the driveway.

  "Look at you go!" Molly exclaimed from across the fence. I glanced up and found her with an impressed smile as she snipped her bushes. "You could give the Green Ninja a run for his money."

  My heart ached. I smiled at her in return.

  I didn't go for a run the next day.

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  My first class on Fridays was my favourite - History. I sat beside Zane and, while I was still hurt that even he'd kept me in the dark, he at least didn't pin me with sad frowns or guilty looks like the rest of his team. I was content to work next to him in silence.

  He was the only one who continued to act his normal self. It was a small relief to have him near and not remind me of the perpetual clouds that hung over my head. It was nice to be reminded of normalcy, even if that normal included my cluelessness. And it remained that way all week... until Friday morning.

  Zane turned to me as soon as I sat down. I faltered at his direct attention, slowly grabbing my things from my bag.

  "... hi," I awkwardly greeted. Despite our peace, we hadn't spoken a word to each other all week.

  "Hello, Y/n," Zane replied. His smile was genial but without the fake enthusiasm most people would have when they wanted something from you. He was always genuine. "May we have a word?"

  My heart sunk. The others must have caught on and recruited Zane to talk me into hurrying up. How on earth could I hurry along my feelings? Were they impatient or was I simmering in my hurt for too long? Were my fingers wrinkled from the soup of despondency I'd been sitting in all week?
 
  "Oh..." I turned my eyes to my notebook, uncertain on whether to be afraid, pleased or upset that they'd reached out. "Sure."

  Zane's smile warmed just so. "Perhaps a café after school?"

  Well, I was going to end up here eventually. Better in a random café than in class. "Okay."

  Zane didn't say anything more all class. We were silent, but my mind ran amuck with thoughts both realistic and not. The rest of my day went on much the same, a jumbled messiness that I could barely keep up with. My science test in particular was a wreck. I barely answered all the questions before the time was up, and I wasn't even confident in them.

  I think by Friday most of the school caught onto the fact that Lloyd and I were having relationship troubles. I'd pass by fake sobbing in the hallway and endure mocking laughter in class when the teacher stepped out. I had no clue why Claire would ever think that Lloyd and I breaking up would be better for me - this was so much worse than before. At least I had him.

  "Out of the way, freak lover," a boy had snapped at me while walking into my shoulder. I staggered back from the blow and stared after him with wide eyes.

  Creative, I dryly thought.

  "Lloyd's staring again," Aaliyah mentioned in the middle of lunch. I grimaced at her comment, pausing in my doleful eating of a sad cheese sandwich. Aaliyah reached across the table to hold my hand with a sympathetic smile. "Just ignore it. He can't be hung up about you forever."

  My grimace turned into a hurt wince. Beside me, Naomi huffed at our friend's cluelessness. Did they really think we were over? Were we over? I didn't want us to be over.

  "We haven't broken up," I said slowly.

  But I was only half-convinced, because this was my first relationship and I wasn't entirely sure what really constituted as a 'break-up' or not. We hadn't spoken in a week. What did that mean for us? Did it mean more than I thought?

  Aaliyah retreated her hand, surprised by my correction. Claire finally looked up from her phone. A few of the others in our group turned their attention to the conversation, too, and I found bitter humour in it. I didn't realise that my troubled relationship made for such great entertainment.

  "Really?" Claire asked with little interest. "That's what it looked like to me."

  "It's not our job to decide what it looks like or not," Naomi said briskly. "It's not our relationship, it's not our business."

  Claire tilted her head with a cold frown. "It's my business when my friend is sad."

  I sent Claire a surprised look. I'd never heard her call me a friend before, and the whiplash between her attitude and her words was wicked. Aaliyah nodded in agreement.

  "Oh, please," Naomi muttered with a roll of her eyes.

  "What's your problem?" Claire snapped.

  Naomi scoffed in disbelief. "My problem?"

  "Guys," Aaliyah whined.

  "It's okay," I said, reassuring Naomi with a weak smile. I didn't want any drama. Any more drama in my life and I was pretty sure I'd become submerged in it. I didn't want to drown anymore than I already had.

  Naomi went to argue but caught herself. She clamped her lips shut with an unhappy reluctance.

  "See, Nomes? It's okay," Claire said sweetly. She turned to me with a smile. "You want our help, don't you? That's what friends are for."

  I was stupefied by her again. She'd never shown any interest in my relationship before, other than by telling me to dump Lloyd. But what if she had a change of heart like Chen and was being genuine? Did I want her help?

  "Uh- I..." I fumbled for an answer. Who was I to reject her if she was being sincere, but how could I even believe her sincerity in the first place? "Um..."

  The ringing of the bell saved me from answering. Claire disconnected from the conversation with a disappointed tsk and gathered her things. Still reeling from bewilderment, I slowly did the same.

  My gaze gravitated toward the table in the corner. Lloyd's green eyes held mine from across the cafeteria, through passing bodies, as if we were glued together by some invisible force. My soul wrenched itself toward him as it had done all week. Did he overhear our conversation? What did he think? I wished I could get his advice. He always had such good advice.

  But Lloyd looked away and I dropped my eyes, the connection between us as severed as it had been since Saturday. My heart still ached every time I saw him. I wasn't sure how long it would be until it stopped, and the uncertainty rattled me. I set off toward my last class of the day with sullen duty.

  Economics was another class I had without any of my friends, so I took the opportunity to attempt to focus and settle my frazzled state. My eyes kept flicking to the clock above the whiteboard, counting the minutes, restless with impatience. Had minutes always been so long?

  I and many others let out a sigh of relief when the bell rang for the end of the day. I slipped my books back into my bag and swung it over my shoulder while I chewed on my thoughts. What was Zane going to say? Was it going to be just him, or would it be like when I first met the team with Lloyd; a not-unwelcome ambush of them all?

  Would it be not-unwelcome? Welcomed? Plainly unwelcoming? What would I even do if they sat me down in a booth and bombarded me with their presence? Would I blow up or break down? Would I be okay? Would Lloyd be there?

  I missed him.

  "Y/n."

  I startled from my torrent of thoughts at the calm utterance of my name. I looked up and found myself hesitating in the economics doorway, the last to leave. Zane was waiting for me with a patient smile.

  "Zane," I breathed. I held a hand to my chest to soothe my racing heart. "You scared me."

  His eyes closed with mirth. "My apologies. Are you ready to depart?"

  I nodded, my smile wavering and faint. I wasn't sure what I was feeling; it was like some mix between relief, happiness and dread. My fingers tightened and released around my bag straps as I followed him out of school and into the city.

  Zane didn't make small talk. He wasn't inclined for it, content with silence as he led me to whichever café it was he was taking me to. I ruminated as we walked, head as full and cloudy as the grey sky above.

  "I trust this is your favoured spot."

  I pulled myself from my thoughts and returned to reality. We'd ended up at the book café I first met Lloyd in, the one full of old novels and vintage furniture and dried flowers. I spared Zane a confused look.

  "How did you know..?" I asked, before faltering at his secretive smile. My friendly stalker. "Never mind."

  The bell tingled as we entered, a delicate sound that rang shrill in my ears. We moved to an empty booth by the window, placed our bags on the floor and removed our coats. I ordered a hot chocolate. Zane got an apple leaf tea.

  I was hit with nostalgia when I took a sip - of that first time I met Lloyd's green eyes and was enchanted by their lush shade. Of my poor sneaking skills and hiding my stares behind a book. Of his handsome smile when he caught me, of his messy hair and the single dimple on his left cheek. My chest ached at the simpleness of that day - sure, I was mortified when I broke my skateboard over his head, but my problems were so mundane back then. It was nothing like this. Lloyd wasn't as distraught back then as he was now. Neither was I.

  This was Zane's plan all along, wasn't it? To get me here and reignite my happy memories of us by showing me places I'd been. I had a psychologist for a mother, I knew when the tricks were being pulled on me. I cradled my hot chocolate close with a sceptical stare.

  "It has been a trying week for you," was the first thing Zane said.

  No kidding. "Yep."

  "How have you been faring?"

  "Honestly, Zane, not really great," I curtly answered. "What did you want to talk about?"

  Zane smirked at my directness. He wasn't somebody who would get offended by me avoiding courtesy. I wasn't in an affable mood, and he was amicable enough to allow it.

  "Lloyd's situation is very peculiar," he began. "He is not like anyone we know in many more ways than one. You recall when we had a discussion not long after we met, whereupon I called him an enigma?"

  I leant back in my seat with a sigh and wondered where this was headed. "Yes, Zane, but I thought that meant 'hot and mysterious,' not... this."

  He chuckled at my exasperated reply. Despite myself, I smiled.

  "He is an enigma, but you already know this... you have experienced it," Zane said. He watched me as I fidgeted, running my thumb along the rim of the mug. "You have been through a lot by being at his side."

  I glanced up at him. He was right, I had. The past seven months held so much history. Morro alone was a gargantuan thing to live through, but then there was Axon, my powers, Lloyd's genetics, the prophecies. It was so much, and yet it wasn't even everything.

  "But this situation is different than the others," Zane continued, his tone a touch softer. "And for the first time, you have found yourself pitted against Lloyd rather than have him stand beside you. So, my friend, I will ask again." He inclined toward me and caught my full focus. There was a soft look on his face - one of pure care and concern he didn't often show. "How are you feeling?"
 
  My throat thickened at the emphasis of his question. I'd been avoiding talking about what happened all week, and nobody else had been the first to bring it up. I'd been resenting this very conversation from afar, but perhaps there was a bit of relief in being sat down and grilled. I had to address how I felt instead of fleeing from it.

  I blinked slowly and looked away with a sigh. My palms warmed on the ceramic of the mug, a soothing heat that encouraged me further. It drew me out, just as Zane's kind gaze did the same. My thumb brushed along the mug's rim and gathered chocolate dust.

  "I'm hurt, obviously," I said quietly. "And I wish I could move on, but... I don't know, I'm just still so confused. And- and I want to talk to Lloyd about it, but I'm so hurt because I'm still confused so I can't..." I winced sheepishly, peeking up at him. "If that even makes sense."

  "Pain rarely does," Zane said.

  His understanding made me release a soft breath of relief. It was freeing to talk about this to him, like I was unburdening myself further with each word. The oppressive weight of the past week slowly began to lessen.

  "I just... I don't get it." I casted a wary look around the café before lowering my voice as to not be overheard. "How can he be two ages at once? And why wouldn't he tell me that sooner? I mean, the implications alone are impossible, but he's... he's Lloyd, so what is impossible for him, anyway?" I shook my head with wariness. "I don't know what to think. It's like I'm stuck, and- and there's still a lot he hasn't told me. What if I try to talk to him but it's too much? What if I freak out again? I mean - I've been through some crazy shit this year, but this still has my head spinning!"

  Zane nodded sympathetically. "I had a feeling this was where you were at." Then he hesitated, which Zane rarely did. "... I do believe I may have come up with a solution."

  I frowned. When the bell above the door jingled and Zane's gaze turned over my shoulder, I followed his attention to a girl my age standing at the entrance. She was a stranger, someone I couldn't recall ever meeting, dressed in thick brown boots and warm winter gear. Her delicate face and her black coiled-ponytail were unfamiliar, but her eyes set upon our gathering like she knew us.

  "Perfect timing," Zane noted. I glanced back and found him watching her approach with an expression I'd never seen from him before. Was he blushing? I didn't even realise he could do that.

  I didn't have time to be confused before the girl stopped by our table. She smiled fondly at Zane before turning to me and holding out a hand to shake. Her eyes were so green, greener even than Lloyd's, and her purple overcoat and grey scarf only complimented them. She reminded me of mint and chocolate. She was stunning.

  "Hello, Y/n," the girl greeted. "My name is Pixal. I do not believe we have formally met."

  My eyes bulged. She was the silver-plated robot of Cyrus Borg's? I remember seeing her in passing only twice, but she never looked like this. I glanced between her and Zane in disbelief. I limply placed my hand into hers and let her swing my arm up and down.

  "You're..? But you look so..." My words trailed off and failed. Was that rude?

  Pixal smiled with amusement at my reaction. "Human? Yes, my appearance regulator is quite advanced. I do find it beneficial for covert purposes."

  No wonder Zane was blushing. She was his... girlfriend? Crush? Partner in 01100011? Whatever the label, she was gorgeous. I shook my head to realign my composure. Pixal slid into the booth next to Zane with a bashful look.

  "I heard you were experiencing some troubles," Pixal said kindly. They were a perfect match - she wasn't one to beat around the bush, either. "Zane requested my assistance."

  And now he'd wrangled his girlfriend-crush into helping me, too? I couldn't tell if this was worse than being bombarded by the team or better. It was certainly the same level of embarrassing.

  "I appreciate that," I said sincerely, "but I really don't know if I can make myself feel better any faster."

  "That is not our intention," Zane reassured. "We only wish for you to understand. To ease the burden you are under."

  I went silent and tilted my head with puzzlement. Zane nodded at Pixal, who reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small USB stick. I took it from her outstretched hand, slow with blank hesitancy.

  "What's this for?"

  Zane actually looked a little unsettled, which made my grip on the USB slacken with a touch of unease. Zane never looked unsure. He was the most steadfast person I knew, a statue of resilience. He shared a fortifying look with Pixal, whose nod of support made his gaze turn back to me.

  "It is full of... recordings," he slowly said. "Experiments, lab results, tests, among other information. They are of Lloyd."

  I wasn't gleaning any insight from this. "What?"

  "After Borg employed the team to help during his... infection, he and Lloyd entered a mutual agreement," Pixal elaborated. She lowered her voice to a whisper just as I did before. "Borg would discreetly sponsor the team and, in return, Lloyd would help him pursue his scientific study into Elemental Powers, and... magic."

  I glanced down at the USB with a frown. I wasn't sure how I felt about what I just learnt, but it certainly wasn't a feeling of comfort. Lloyd had turned himself into a lab rat for the whole team's benefit. Was there anything he wouldn't do for other people?

  "Magic, including how Lloyd's age expedited," Zane quietly added.

  My brows furrowed into a faint knot. I was slowly beginning to piece together what they were handing me, like it was some verbal jigsaw. I rolled the USB between my fingers with deep thought.

  "... and all of that's on this?" I asked.

  "I believe that it will help you to understand," Zane softly said. "But I cannot say that it will make you hurt any less. What you see... it may be unsettling. Lloyd was not like he is now."

  But it would help me understand?

  That was tempting. That was very tempting. It called to the most truest part of myself; the part that gathered knowledge like sustenance, the part that gorged on facts and learning and that yearned to know all the answers to all my questions. The insatiable craving. The longing for my old friend. The part that I had stomped down and suppressed for so long.

  But...

  I unsurely met Zane's gaze. "Does Lloyd know about this?"

  Zane inhaled a quiet breath through his nose. "No."

  That complicated things. I looked down at the USB stick and juggled my wants with my morals, my needs with my loyalty. If Lloyd had struggled to tell me his secret so much that it resulted in the outcome of this, then was it really okay for me to watch sensitive videos of him?

  But what if Zane was right? What if I did begin to understand and my hurt began to lessen? What if knowing gave me the courage to talk to him again? What if it made it easier for him?

  I tucked the USB into my pocket. I still wasn't sure, but I couldn't even be sure if Lloyd would tell me the truth at all. After so long living within his lie and burdening myself with all of his wants and few of my own, I wasn't sure of anything.

  I glanced between Zane and Pixal. Their expressions were full of hesitant hope, of concern and pleading. This hurt was mine, but it wasn't affecting only me. I wasn't the only one struggling.

  "I'll think about it," I said.

  My hot chocolate had gone cold.

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  I paced my room late into the night and early into the morning. The plastic USB in my hand felt like leadened weight.

  My hair was a mess from how many times I'd ran my hand through it, the frazzled nest of a stressed production. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't decide what to do.

  A big part of me was terrified that if I went to Lloyd and asked him to tell me what happened himself, he wouldn't. That he would never find the courage to tell me, and we'd never work past this block we'd encountered. I was terrified I'd never be able to look at him without thinking of all the things he didn't tell me - because it would never just be one thing, would it?

  But if I already knew, if I could understand what happened, maybe that would coax him into trusting me a little more. What was he afraid of, that I would shun him? Never speak to him again? That I would treat him the same way everybody else in the city treated Lloyd Garmadon? If I could just understand then maybe I would stop hurting so much, and he could be reassured that I would stand by him.

  I would be around, even if our relationship had to be put on hold until I was comfortable enough to resume it. Lloyd had said he was nineteen but I still couldn't truly believe it. Waiting for a few years wouldn't stop me from being in his life and being his friend. And if these videos did make me believe that he's nineteen, then that's one less thing to worry about, a smaller hurdle to overcome.

  But how could I watch these videos behind his back? Maybe it would shatter his trust. Maybe it would ruin us. Maybe his walls would only reinforce, and then nobody would ever be allowed in, not even me. Maybe he'd return to the way Skylor once described him as; charmless, stern, serious. Lloyd without his spark I knew.

  But then if I didn't, what was to say that we'd ever get past this?

  I sat on my bed and held my legs, frustrated and clueless and tearing up from all these consuming feelings. I wished somebody could just tell me what the right answer was, but this wasn't one of those questions. Nobody could tell me. I'd have to figure it out on my own.

  My hand dragged down my face. Watch or not? Watch or not? Lloyd was forgiving. Lloyd was hidden. I was hurting and, one way or another, I needed to know. I could sit there forever and debate with myself, or I could do something about it.

  My knee bounced with stress. I lifted my face to the ceiling and closed my eyes, willing for a dose of clarity. What do you want me to do, Lloyd? This is your secret, not mine.

  I found myself before my laptop. The light from the home screen was blinding, a photo of the Green Ninja I'd ripped from a news article that I couldn't bring myself to change. The USB in my fingers shook, its head a mere inch away from the input. There'd be no going back.

  I needed this.

  The USB plugged in and the screen went black. The logo for Borg Industries flashed onto the screen, and then opened to a single file simply titled 'ELMNT.' The USB must have somehow made my laptop encrypted. I guess I did watch the occasional movie on a dodgy site.

  I dragged the cursor to the file and briefly hesitated.

  'It will help you to understand.'

  The file opened to a multitude of videos titled by date. The most recent update had been a few months ago. The oldest was four years.

  Hand holding my chin with tentative resolve, I clicked on the newest one.

  "Why have you come to see me today, Lloyd? This is not our usual scheduled check-up," Borg said from off-camera.

  Lloyd sat on a gurney in the centre of what looked to be the mix of a science lab and a hospital room. It was all blinding white and colourless, and even his white shirt and black shorts added to the monochrome palette. The only colour were his seaweed eyes, his cornsilk hair.

  Pixal stood in the background, prepping equipment. Her silver plating almost made her camouflage against the steel benches.

  "Ah..." Lloyd rubbed a hand behind his neck with a wince, as if second-guessing being there. "There was this... incident."

  "What kind of incident?"

  Lloyd's eyes couldn't stick to one spot. They lingered in places but kept moving, dragging across parts of the room that the lens didn't pick up. His hands fidgeted. He was nervous.

  "An incident that makes me think I'm more like how my father used to be than I thought."

  He went on to describe the attack on Axon and how his body transformed. He mentioned the changes he was going through; the purring (said with blushing cheeks), his sensitivity to scent, his unusually high protectiveness.

  Borg hummed. "Over Y/n, yes?"

  Lloyd solemnly nodded. "I just want to make sure that I'm not turning into something that will make her life harder."

  I released my breath. Oh, hero.
 
  The next twenty minutes was nothing more than a regular medical check-up, with Borg and Pixal chatting to each other in jargon I didn't understand. Tests were conducted, but no answer was given.

  I scrolled to the very first entry.

"- what do I have to do?" Lloyd's young voice was such a shock to hear that I flinched. He was dressed in his green ninja gi and sat in the exact same room on the exact same gurney. The only difference was how much smaller he was. He looked so young. So stern. So serious and formidable.

He looked so empty.

  "We'll just do a preliminary check up," Borg's kind voice said. He rolled his wheelchair into the shot and closer to Lloyd. "How are you feeling today?"

  "Well... I got my dad back and we stopped the Overlord again," little Lloyd replied with an unenthused tone. "So I guess I should say that I'm doing good."

  Borg's mouth opened, like he was going to pry into why he phrased his answer that way, but thought better of it. He cleared his throat and resumed. "And how are your powers doing?"

  Lloyd shrugged. "They're fine. Just green, now. I'm not the Golden Master anymore."

  After another few minutes of them talking, Pixal began conducting another general health check that reminded me of the ones I'd get from my GP. Pulse, blood pressure and test, among taking other vitals. It was normal, until-

  "The lead wires for the ECG must be in direct contact with your skin. May I remove your bandages?" Pixal asked.

  Little Lloyd hesitated. "... sure, but it's not a pretty sight."

  He removed his gi robe and undershirt, revealing his torso entirely wrapped with white gauze, and my blood ran cold with realisation. Pixal promptly got to work unravelling him.

  "How is it healing?" Borg asked.

   "Slow." Lloyd winced when Pixal's meticulous hands brushed against his stomach. "It's been two months. Sensei thinks it was too deep for the tea to fully heal it. It's closed, that's the main thing."

  I leant an inch toward the screen when the roll was pulled off and discarded. All that was left was a long, white patch from his hip to his shoulder.

  Pixal carefully peeled it off. Lloyd's face twitched. His flesh was red, raw and not quite knitted back together yet, stitched together in places with skill that had to have been Zane's. The sinew and muscle was torn and ripped, small mountains of it pulled from his skin. The depth of it, the intense severity - the mere fact that it almost covered his entire body sickened me. He still looked so small. Lloyd was so little.

  I shut my laptop lid with a cold flash of horror. I'd known that his scar would've been bad, but actually seeing it was a different story. My gut felt hollow. Frigid shivers ascended my spine.

  He was only a kid.

  I forced myself to open the lid and skipped forward in the video. Only when his wound was re-dressed was I able to resume it. I held my shirt in front of my chest and willed my sorrowful emotions to calm.

  I'd ended up having to miss quite a chunk. Borg was watching the real-time recording of data on a large screen while Pixal was adjusting some kind of skull cap over Lloyd's head. Countless wires drooped from it and latched to the machine beside Borg.

  "- old are you?"

  "Eleven." Lloyd paused. "I think. I'm not sure, anymore. I don't feel eleven."

  I'd missed a lot, but somehow managed to skip straight to the part I needed to see the most. My hand lifted to cover my mouth with deep concentration.

  Lloyd looked even more empty than before. He was nothing like the man I knew - where was his sass? Where was his spark? I desperately searched the pixelated green of his eyes for some tidbit of familiarity, but it was like he was someone else entirely. He looked like a boy who had lost everything.

  Borg, on the other hand, laughed. It was the excited, frightened kind of laugh from someone who'd just found out that the world's law of physics could truly be warped and broken. Pixal returned to his side with a worried frown.

  "This is extraordinary!" Borg said. "These recordings - it as if time has bent for you alone! The world had paused while you were thrown forward."

  Lloyd glanced at him from the side of his eyes. "Like... time travelling?"

  "A close example, yes!" Borg turned his wheelchair toward him. "How old do you think you are now, Lloyd?"

  Little Lloyd shrugged. "Fourteen or fifteen, I guess. That's what everyone else thinks."

  "Precisely what my recordings are bringing back!" Borg exclaimed with elation. "Of course, we will have to double check with more tests - and it was a tea that did this, yes? What was it called?"

  "Tomorrow's Tea," Lloyd answered. He wasn't sharing Borg's enthusiasm. He was the antithesis of it.

  "May you explain what that is?"

  Lloyd watched as Pixal adjusted a strap by his chin. "It's a magic tea from one of Sensei's friends. It... skips you through your years. It turns you older."

  "And how did you come to be inflicted by it?"

  "We were on a mission. Dad-" Lloyd shook his head. "Lord Garmadon used the Mega Weapon to bring a Grundle back to life, and the rest of my team got caught in the spell." His expression grew a little grey. "To stop the Grundle and return my team to their normal ages, Sensei and Mistaké brewed Tomorrow's Tea."

  Mistaké. Of course that cunning old tea lady would've been a part of this.

  Borg's mood subdued with a touch of sorrow. "And you were caught in the crossfire, weren't you? Would you choose differently, if you could?"

  Lloyd didn't look affected by his sympathy. He looked like nothing ever affected him, that he wasn't even alive, that his feelings were mere afterthoughts. That he was an afterthought.

  "I have a duty. I don't have the luxury of choice." Lloyd's face looked carved from stone, a boy without life. "That's the fate of the Green Ninja."

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   I spent another couple of hours inspecting the videos, but they were nothing more than recording and testing the abilities of Lloyd's powers. I watched until I passed out.

  I did learn that Borg and Pixal technically doubled as the team's doctors. I guess they wouldn't be able to go to a normal hospital, considering that they weren't exactly human... or mortal. I never really did think about that. Did they have a different biology to humans? Was that how their powers worked? I could understand why Borg wanted to know so badly - we were the same kind of desperate academic.

  I woke late in the morning, groggy and exhausted from my late night and the information bomb. Zane was right, I did understand - perhaps not entirely, but at least a lot more than before - but my hurt wasn't lessened. If anything, it'd only doubled. I felt my both pain and Lloyd's.

  It was still a lot to process, so I'd hoped a run would put my thoughts into some order. I shoved on my shoes, put on my playlist, did some stretches and jogged down my driveway.

  I'd gathered that Lloyd's past was bad but the videos showed that it was even worse than I'd thought. If Naomi was right when she said that he used to be a brat, then the mantle of the Green Ninja must have completely destroyed him. Maybe it started before then; maybe it started the moment he learnt he was fated to fight his own father.

  When did Lloyd get his spark back? His sass, his charm? Even when we first met, Lloyd was flirty and charismatic when he wore the mask. Sure, without it he was more docile, but...

  He looked so stern when he was fourteen. He looked like he was trying to play the role of a grown-up, like he didn't have the time of day for childish things or even his own simple wants. But I supposed that was the role that destiny had thrusted upon him. He had no choice. It was his duty.

  'That's the fate of the Green Ninja.'

  Legs burning, I came to a stop and leant against the side of a small office building to catch my breath. Was that really the fate of the Green Ninja? Was he living a life that he had no say over? What about me, where did I fit in?

  My hand lifted to touch my Yang medallion. Was that why he was so insistent on saying that he chose to love me? Because nothing else had ever been his choice?

  At least my uncertainty over his age was finally cleared up - Lloyd really was nineteen. The relief I felt upon me waking up and recalling that bit of information was insurmountable.

  But the recollection of his chest wound wasn't remembered fondly, and still made me shudder at the sight of it that had been engraved into my brain. And to imagine - that was two months after. My torso ached and stung with empathy. He deserved better than this life full of fateful consequence and unending turmoil he'd been planted into. It wasn't his fault who his father was, nor was it his fault who his grandfather was.

  I pushed myself off of the wall and prepared to resume my run. During the brief silence between my songs switching, I heard the faint sound of crying coming from the alleyway.

  My hair stood on end. My mind immediately jumped to the stories I'd heard of gangs using crying babies and children to lure unsuspecting people into their trap. I looked around to see if another passerby had heard the crying, too, because safety in numbers was no lie.

  The sidewalk was empty. Of course.

  I closed my eyes with exasperation and turned off my music. Stupid morals making me do stupid things like checking if the sound of a child's cry coming from deep within a stupid, creepy alleyway was real. It was bad enough that I was on the quieter side of town.

  "Elemental Master of Being a Danger Magnet strikes again," I muttered. Imagine that - reunited with the team because I got beat up.

  I shivered. Or worse. This felt like a horror movie despite the bright winter sun overhead. I pulled out my phone and brought up Zane's contact, just in case. Hopefully it was just some kid having a bad day.

  "Hello?" I called, and the crying hitched before stifled itself into silence.

  My eyes scanned the alleyway as I lingered by the entrance. Tattered boxes were piled along the brick wall, and an old silver Honda was parked beside a grubby emergency door. The shadows loomed. No way was I going in any deeper.

  "Are you okay?" I asked. "Are you hurt? It's alright, you can come out."

  A loud sniffle told me that the kid was hiding behind the car. I held my phone to my chest, unsure.

  "Are you gonna yell at me?" a little girl's voice asked.

  My heart promptly broke at how sad and pitiful the young girl sounded. My worries about gangs and terrible people were swept away. This poor kid just sounded upset.

  "No." I softened my voice to reassure her. "No, I won't yell at you. Promise."

  Was she hiding from someone? Did she flee from her home? Whatever the case, I felt a little blossom of responsibility bloom in my chest. I'd have to take her to the closest police station and make sure she got looked after.

  A small body shifted behind the car. A tiny hand planted itself on the tail light, and then she hesitantly walked out from behind it.

  Except... she didn't walk. She swayed. My eyes squinted as I tried to see through the gloom, confused and sure that my brain was tricking itself. And then I saw her.

  I took a step back and caught my breath. The little Serpentine flinched in response, her two sets of eyes wide and wet with fear. They glowed yellow in the darkness. My heart raced.

  My interactions with the Serpentine were few but never good. I had faint memories of being hypnotised by them during an attack on Jamanakai, and then worrying over Lloyd whenever they caused trouble in the city. I'd heard horror stories; of them trapping people to use as leverage against the ninja, of their powers and of their cruelty.

  They hated humans. Humans hated them. The ancient Serpentine Wars was only proof of our millennia-long mutual dislike, and locking them underground after they were defeated certainly wouldn't have helped relations. It was only recently that the Serpentine were discovered to be real at all. It was no wonder they hated and attacked us - and thus, the cycle continued.

  But this little snake didn't look cruel or full of hatred. She looked afraid and uncertain, lost in a world that was unfamiliar to her. I recognised her in myself.

  I swallowed and crouched down to my knees. Her stare was wary and unsure, and she was holding her arm as if it were hurt. I nodded, my breaths heavy and forcefully slow. I wasn't sure if I was trying to reassure her or myself. I wasn't sure who was more scared.

  "Hi." My voice came out as a whisper. I cleared my throat and plastered on a smile. "Are you lost?"

  The little Serpentine looked down to the concrete and nodded. I willed myself to stop shaking - she was just a little kid, snake or not. I couldn't turn away from a little kid.

  "My name's Y/n," I said, an offer of peace. "What's yours?"

  She peeked up at me and sniffled. She had too many tears for her small face. "... Raptra."

  "Raptra," I echoed. "That's a lovely name."

  She lifted her head and seemed a touch less scared. "Thank you."

  My smile came a little more easy. Sure, the four glowing eyes were a little unnerving, but she was turning out to be quite sweet.

  "Are you hurt, Raptra?" I asked. "Would you like me to take a look at it?"

  Raptra hesitated. She mulled it over, clutching her arm closer to her chest, before slowly beginning to slither toward me.

  When she emerged from the shadows, I noticed that her scales were a deep, dark green, splashed through with black and a bright red. She had a tiny, flared hood and small, blunt fangs. A thin tongue would often escape and taste the air, but only very quickly.

  Raptra couldn't have been taller than my mid-thigh. I knelt onto the ground and suppressed a chilly shiver - I'd expected to do nothing but run, and the winter air wasn't kind to my long-sleeve top and jerkin. I missed the warmth of my bedroom.

  "Can I see?" I asked, gesturing to Raptra's sore arm. She slowly removed her hand and allowed me to see the shallow cut that stretched from her elbow to her wrist. I recalled Lloyd's wound from the videos. I hoped my wince wasn't obvious. "Ouch! You must be very brave."

  Raptra blinked. Four tears fell. "... yeah." She glanced away shyly.

  "I'm going to put this on your wound, okay?" I asked as I unzipped my jerkin. She watched as I carefully wrapped it around her arm. "How'd you end up getting lost?"

  "I- I jussst wanted to ssee the ssun," Raptra whined. "It'sss sso dark and cold at home, but then ssome humanss began to yell and hit me." She hiccuped and sniffled, and I feared she was going to completely drown herself with her own tears. "It wass sscary. They chassed after me, ssso I hid."

  My heart ached for her. I got that Serpentine didn't exactly have the best reputation, but neither did we. What did a child have to do with a hatred between species except for being an innocent bystander? I didn't get it.

  "That's awful. I'm sorry." I sent her the most reassuring smile I could. "I won't let anyone else hurt you."

  Raptra returned it with a wobbly one of her own.

  How could I help get her home if even she forgot the way? I had no idea where the Serpentine lived, and I wasn't so sure the police would be all that helpful. Even my father wouldn't know where to take her. I gnawed on my lip in thought.

  And, of course, I already knew the answer. I just wished it was something else.

  "I need to make a call," I said. "I'll just be a second, okay? Keep holding your arm."

  Raptra nodded and replaced my hand with her own. I rose to my feet and turned away for the freedom to clench my face with reluctance. I really didn't want to make the call. I silently begged for a different solution as I pulled my phone from my pocket. I didn't want to see them again like this - I wanted it to be on my terms.

  I found Zane's contact still waiting for me to call. He would be the easiest. I knew I could talk to him. I went to dial before hesitating, my thumb hovering over the phone icon.

  In a split second, I made a different decision. I lifted the phone to my ear before I could double-guess myself. The dial tone taunted me through five notes and all the while, my heart sunk further. Just when I was about to admit defeat, the call was picked up.

  Silence. Deafening, agonising silence that plucked my soul from my chest and squeezed it into pulp between its fingers. It would've only been a second of it, but it felt like a long stretch of eternity that both cured and killed me. I couldn't even hear his breathing. I began to doubt he was on the other end of the line at all.

  "Hi," I whispered.

  "Y/n-" Lloyd said my name with a gasp that almost melted me into the cracks of the alleyway concrete right then. "Y/n, I'm so sorry."

  "I know." My heart sung at the sound of his voice while my stomach sunk into a sea of anxiety. "I know, hero. But right now I need your help."

  "What happened?"

  His tone shifted as if a switch had been flicked. He was no longer Lloyd, the man with the broken heart. He was the Green Ninja with a job to do. Duty first, feelings never.

  I closed my eyes at the memories of little Lloyd in the videos. Maybe this was a bad idea.

  "Y/n?"

  I glanced behind me, where Raptra was investigating the metal zipper of my jerkin with the curious fascination of a young child. "There's a Serpentine-"

  I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence. Lloyd was already a million miles ahead in the wrong direction. He spoke with the hurry of fright and intensity of worry.

  "I've got your location," he said. "I need you to hide until I can let you know it's safe. I'll be right there."

  "No, wait-!" The call disconnected before I could even begin to explain that his worry was unneeded. I groaned and tucked my phone away. "Silly man."

  I turned back to Raptra and wiped away my exasperation. She peeked up at me, fingers lingering on the zipper. My body gave another shiver - it really was freezing. Didn't snakes prefer the warmth?

  "Are you cold?" I asked. "Sun's not all that hot in winter, unfortunately."

  Raptra hesitantly nodded. I took a seat and patted the spot beside me. She didn't give off any body heat, but when I wrapped my arm around her shoulders she gasped with delight.

  "Humansss are warm!" she said, surprised.

  "Yeah, I guess we are." I snickered to myself at her simple joy. How could anyone ever be so cruel to such a cute little thing?

  The situation between Humans and Serpentine was more grim than I'd realised - though, admittedly, I hadn't really ever put all that much thought into it. They far away, elusive, a threat not much posed in Jamanakai. But in Ninjago City they were the shadowed residents. Weren't we all just trying to survive in a world that was so often threatened?

  But what could I do about it? I was a single person against a hidden history of hate and war. But if not a single person, then who?

  Lloyd had an even more complicated relationship with them, too. I resisted the urge to groan. How on earth was he going to react?

  "I've got some friends coming," I told Raptra. She was beginning to grow sleepy, nodding her head and learning against me. At least one of us was cozy. "They'll know the way back to your home."

  Her response was barely more than a mumble.

  The tug on my stomach came only a few minutes later, and my stress spiked with it. Lloyd wasn't far off. I could barely manage to talk to him over the phone, was I ready to see him face-to-face?

  Squeezing Raptra's shoulder, I got to my feet. I wrung my hands and forced my breathing to steady. It's just Lloyd. No matter what happened with us, there was no need to feel scared or nervous. He's Lloyd.

  My breath still hitched when he came racing around the corner, all strapped up in his Green Ninja gi with his mask lopsided and his sword drawn. Jay and Zane weren't far behind, weapons at the ready to defend against a threat that wasn't even there.

  "Y/n!" I barely had time to draw in a breath to greet Lloyd when he was already upon me. He held my chin with his gloved hand while his wild red eyes scanned me for injuries. "Are you hurt? Why aren't you hiding? What happened?"

  My heart softened like warm toffee. "I'm okay."

  Lloyd faltered with confusion, his brows knotting into that lost puppy-dog look of his. My reaction to him was both as maddening as it was excruciating - probably for both of us. I wanted to rip of his mask and kiss him. I wanted to demand an apology for all the lies he'd kept and all the pain I'd felt. I wanted to beg him to forgive me for all the times I'd inadvertently hurt him.

  Instead, I looked back at the alleyway wall. Raptra was huddled into herself even tighter and watching us all with wide, scared eyes. Lloyd's fingers slipped from my chin. Jay and Zane shared a cautious look.

  "Raptra's lost," I said. "We don't know the way back to her home, so... I thought I'd give you call." I guiltily peeked back at Lloyd. "I hope that's alright. I know things are..." Awkward. Scary. Uncertain.

  There was a steeliness to his gaze that almost hid the fragile shock behind it. Lloyd glanced between us before nodding.

  "Of course," he said, and his voice was a touch rougher. The squint of his eyes was melancholic and riddled with regret. "You call and I come, right?"

  My heart squeezed with longing and despair. My limbs went limp like noodles. My nod was weak with emotion. Why did he have to be so sweet and charming while I could barely look him in the eye? Even with both of us upset, even in the wake of our nuclear collision, he still made my stomach flutter.

  "Hey, kiddo." Lloyd stepped around me and knelt before Raptra. He had to pause when she shuffled back, searing him with an untrusting glare. "It's okay. I'm a friend."

  "You're a ninja," Raptra disagreed.

  Lloyd hesitated. I glanced back at Zane and Jay, but they could only offer thin, awkward smiles behind their masks. I guessed that if the Serpentine hated humans, it was the Elemental Masters that they loathed the most. It was the Masters that locked them away in their tombs, after all.

  But I didn't know how else to get her home. It was only growing colder - I didn't know much about Serpentine, but I did know that snakes couldn't survive for very long in a harsh winter. I could already feel myself getting sick.

  I stepped up next to Lloyd. "Raptra-"

  "They're ninja." Raptra sent me a desperate, upset look. "They hate us! They hate me!"

  Was this the point it had gotten to? There had been an entire civil unrest that was locked away with the Serpentine for centuries, and we'd been blissfully unaware. Lloyd held out his palms in hopes to calm her, but Raptra only began to sob.

  I knelt to my knees. "They'll help us find your home. Don't you want to go home?"

  That didn't seem to work at all. She just hid her face and cried.

  "We don't hate you," Lloyd said gently. "Hey - check this out."

  He cupped his hands and introduced a small, glimmering glow of green. It flickered and pulsed, and then began to take on the vague shape of a dragon. Raptra peeked out from her arms, snivelling, before her weeping faded with intrigue. I was just as astonished - I didn't know he could do that.

  I looked back at Jay and Zane, but they were too busy talking to one another and glancing at us. Jay caught my eye and offered a small, feeble smile. When I smiled back, his dropped with surprise, and then he beamed so bright that I was sure his hair would go all staticky again.

  The small dragon began to flap its wings and fly through the air as if it were a smaller version of Bentley. Enchanted, Raptra's wide eyes followed it. When it did a loop-de-loop above her head, she giggled.

  "Yeah?" Lloyd grinned behind his mask. "You like dragons? I do, too."

  I watched him entertain Raptra with a heaviness that sat upon me. He was a natural, of course; innate with his ability to lift someone's mood. How could somebody who inspired such happiness have lived a life full of so much tragedy?

  When his eyes caught mine the dragon fizzled away. Raptra reached up to the sky with her good hand and grabbed at thin air.

  "Again!" she happily exclaimed. "Again, again!"

  "Soon, little one." Zane approached us with a hand rifling through one of his packs. "First, please allow me to tend to your arm. May I?"

  Raptra looked at Lloyd for confidence. When he nodded, she held out her arm for the Ice Ninja to check. Jay assisted him as team nurse.

  Lloyd and I retreated to give them room to work. I glanced at him, looked away, and then glanced at him again. He really was a natural with little kids. It was so heartwarming to watch.

  The prophecy Ronin told me about and the accompanying future vision intruded my mind at that moment, and I sighed. Nya told me not to tell Lloyd until he was in a better space, but that would just make me a massive hypocrite, wouldn't it? I'd been so jostled by his secret that I hadn't even thought about my own all week.

  We really needed to talk.

  "I didn't know you could do that," I said, an attempt at an icebreaker. I waved my hand in a circle. "Make your powers turn into animals."

  Lloyd shrugged nonchalantly. If only his mask could cover the hesitancy behind his eyes - was he shocked by me wanting to have a conversation? When he didn't respond I went to speak again but was cut off by a full-body shiver and chattering teeth. His focus immediately turned to me.

  "Are you cold?" Lloyd asked. "You look like you're freezing."

  I held my arms and offered a weak smile. "A little." A lot. A lot. So, so cold. It was prickling along my skin and locking me into place as if I were already an icicle.

  Without another word, Lloyd began to unbuckle his belts, armour and packs. Before I could ask what he was doing, he'd undid his gi's sash and pulled the robe from his shoulders to sweep it around mine, leaving him in his long-sleeved black thermal. I stared at him with surprise. He avoided my gaze with a rosy bloom beneath his mask.

  His robe was cozy with his body warmth and it didn't take long for me to soften with relief. I sighed with bliss when his smell of spring and fresh forests encapsulated me. I'd even missed his unusual, gorgeous scent.

  "Thank you," I murmured.

  "What are you doing out here dressed like that?" Lloyd asked, gesturing to my thin sport top. He began to reholster himself with his bags and belts. "You should be wearing a jacket."

  I held his gi around me like a blanket and sighed with a small smile. "I wasn't exactly planning on spending much time not running. This was a surprise."

  "Yeah..." Lloyd's mumble of agreement referred to more than just Raptra. I couldn't blame him. It surprised me, too.

  I chewed on my lips. Lloyd looked far too handsome in his black thermal for his own good. It wasn't loose like the gi was, or baggy like his hoodies - it fit him perfectly, just like how I knew my head could rest perfectly against his chest, or that my hand held perfectly within his own.

  I wanted to hold him. I wanted to hug him until I could hear his heartbeat.

  I was nervous, my stomach rolling with anxiety and hurt and longing, but it was still easier to be around Lloyd than I'd feared. I wanted to let him know that I was ready to talk about it. I gathered my courage, squared my shoulders and looked him in the eye. He straightened, as if he could taste the seriousness that I exuded.

  "We need-"

  "Wait." Lloyd held a finger to my lips.

  I was briefly taken aback. Then, a second later, I flamed with indignation. He wanted me to wait? He was the one who didn't want me to leave in the first place!

  But then I realised that his head was tilted and twitching in the way that creatures with better ears than I listened for danger. My anger quickly fled, replaced with wariness. He could hear something.

  "Guys." Lloyd hitched an arm around my waist and tugged me behind him. Jay and Zane looked up from where Raptra was begging them to show her their powers. "We have company."

  They rose to their feet with sudden alertness. Raptra scrambled upright onto her tail and held the pants of Jay's gi, astute enough to notice the change in tension. I didn't realise I was gripping Lloyd's shoulder until his hand came to touch my waist in reassurance.

  Two dark green Serpentine looked around the alleyway's entrance. The ninja flinched with the preperation for anything, while I flinched with surprise and fear - these two were far larger than little Raptra. The taller of them towered over even Zane.

  "There sshe isss!" the smaller one exclaimed. "Raptra!"

  "Kvasir!" Raptra cried in relief. She slithered from Jay's side and toward the two bigger Serpentine with speed that shocked me. "Dad!"

  It was both terrifying and endearing to watch their reunion. Raptra was picked up by the larger snake - whom I presumed to be her father - and held against his long neck. She curled into him with glee. She looked tiny in his arms.

  "Oh, great," Jay weakly laughed. "Our new friend is the daughter of the Venomari General. That's fine. This is all fine."

  The Venomar General looked up at us with an enraged glare. Lloyd began to urge me backwards when the Serpentine slid closer.

  "Kidnapping!" the General seethed. "A new low, even for the likesss of you!"

  "There has been a misunderstanding," Zane calmly said. His hand twitched for his bow before balling into a fist at his side.

  "Yeah, we didn't kidnap her!" Jay exclaimed. "We stop kidnappers, why would we kidnap?!"

  "Liesss!" the the shorter snake seethed. "All you humansss do iss lie! You kidnapped my sssisster!"

  "How many times have you kidnapped us, again?" Jay countered. "Huh?"

  "Blue," Lloyd warned.

  "Exactly!" the General snapped. He towered over us with impressive height. Raptra seemed confused by the turn of events. "Thisss iss revenge!"

  This was getting out of hand. If I'd known that Raptra's family was close to finding her, I wouldn't have called Lloyd. Now unrest was beginning to brew, fresh and hot and furious. My stomach twisted at the unfolding situation. I was just trying to do the right thing.

  "We can talk this out." I stepped out from behind Lloyd and held my hands up to show I wasn't a threat. "Raptra was lost. We were about to bring her home."

  "It'ss true!" Raptra chirped. "Look at my arm!"

  She held up her fresh new bandage that Zane had given her. Both her father and brother stared at her with horror.

  "You topsiders have injured my daughter." The General sent us a grave, stormy look. "I will not allow thisss sslight upon my kin."

  "That wasn't us," Lloyd grimly insisted. He snatched my wrist with a strong grip and bristled, expecting a fight.

  But they were no longer listening. They fretted about Raptra's new bandage while she was simply delighted to be back with her family. They turned away from us relaxed. They were leaving. It was going to be okay.

  "Sson." The General nodded toward Kvasir. "Give the ninja a parting gift."

  What? I barely had time to be confused before Kvasir turned toward us and spit a jet of bright green venom. I was yanked like a ragdoll into Lloyd's chest as he spun away from the attack. Jay yelped with fright as he and Zane deftly leapt to dodge the spray.

  I was frozen. My ears were ringing, or maybe my heartbeat was just loud and fast and I was still swimming in fear. Lloyd's warm, uneven breath fluttered against the nape of my neck and sent goosebumps down my spine. When I cautiously peeked around his arm, I found the alleyway empty.

  "Phew!" Jay jumped out from the Honda he'd crouched behind. "That was rude. Is everyone okay?"

  "I am unharmed," Zane replied.

  "I'm fine," I shakily said. "Hero?" I patted his arm to let me go. He didn't respond. "... Hero?"

  Lloyd's arms tightened around me. His breathing grew sharp and audible, a quiet hiss of pain with each inhale. I was struck with realisation - and then dread filled me, cold and quick and with violent speed. Lloyd had shielded me, but only at the cost of himself. He got hit.

  I held his arm tight. "Lloyd?"

  "Oh, no." Jay pulled Lloyd off from me. He staggered and groaned, only upright due to Jay keeping him on his feet. The back of his thermal shirt had been eaten away. His skin was red and raw, like a burn that bubbled the skin.

  My reaction was shrill and involuntary, wrapped in a gasp. No, you silly, selfless man! What has he done?

  "He got hit," I said thinly. I looked at Zane, who was already rifling through this med-packs again. "What do we do?"

  "We need to take him home without delay," he replied. "Call the senseis. They will need to work on an anti-venom. Hold him."

  Jay steeled his grip on Lloyd. Zane pulled out a small bottle of saline water and hurriedly poured it over the wound. Lloyd's yell came through gritted teeth, heaving and guttural. My heart sat in my throat. My phone in my hands shook. 

  "I'm so sorry," I whispered. Why didn't he just push both of us out of the way? If he'd thrown me to the ground, I would've been banged up but out of the line of fire. Some bruising wouln't kill me. Why did he always insist on being the perfect hero?

  "I'm okay, sunshine," Lloyd said with a pained attempt at a smile. "I'm okay - it doesn't hurt."

  "It's Venomari venom, dude!" Jay snapped. "You're not okay! You know what this stuff does!"

  The dial tone rang. I almost didn't want to ask, but I had to. "What does it do?"

  "The toxins in a Venomari's venom overrides the amygdala," Zane solemnly said. Lloyd's body jumped when another vial of saline washed away the venom. "It is not just a physical wound."

  "Y/n, my dear! It is so wonderful to hear from you!" Garmadon's quiet voice bled from the speaker of my phone. I was too distracted by Lloyd's shivering state to answer, too worried by what Zane was implying. "Hello?"

  "What does that mean?" I asked.

  Zane sent me a grim look. "It means that Lloyd will be forced to experience his greatest fear."