Hayley Williams
••• Simmer •••

rage is a quiet thing
well, you think that you tamed it
but it's just lying in wait
rage, is it in my veins?
feel it in my face when
when i least expect it

•••••

' To my wonderful readers: sorry that the last cliffhanger was even worse than the one before it. Well, no, not really. HAHAHAHA. But seriously, I love you guys' - Sam, 2024

TW: death, graphic imagery, blood, magical self-harm (?)

  I knelt beneath the gate of hell and found myself unable to cry.

  I was too numb. I stared at the writhing, feeling tentacles of whatever ginormous, biblical beast lay beyond the rift, but all I could see was Lloyd - Lloyd, who'd known this would happen and refused to drag me in with him. Lloyd, who struggled for release even in his last moments. Lloyd with his eyes coloured maroon, pinned on mine until they weren't.

  He had been taken from me again. Why did I keep failing him?

  "Yes," Morro said breathily in shock, and then he laughed loud with manic triumph. "Yes! He's finally gone!"

  It wasn't his shout of glee that shook me from my broken stupor, nor was it the low, reverberating rumble of the creature that shivered along my skin and made my hair stand on end - but it was the strange feeling that had infected me ever since we arrived at Stiix, the one which had been slowly getting worse. It burst with a pain so magnificent and holy that I could do nothing but keel over and scream.

  I was sure I was dying. It felt as though my veins had been stripped one-by-one from my body, that I was being picked apart cell-by-cell, and I writhed beneath this sudden torture. Putting a chainsaw to my skull would hurt less than the balloon of pain that had taken hold behind my eyes, and my throat was being flayed by my wails of agony. All the while, the creature forced its way into the realm of Ninjago.

  It was inhumane, what I was feeling. An infliction from within and no wounds to show for it, like I was slowly being unwound from the very knot in the centre of my being. The pain was only rivalled by the loss of Lloyd.

  A hand on my shoulder yanked me back just as a tentacle slammed down onto the floor before me, searching. Kai picked up my listless body and booked it from the rift and the creature feeling its way through, and I was urged back through the hole in the wall we'd created. We were joined by the other ninja behind the shelter of a house still standing.

  "Would somebody mind telling me what the heck is that?!" Jay exclaimed with enraged panic. I staggered against Kai, my limbs weak and shivering.  I was gritting my teeth against my shouts so hard I was sure they'd start to crack. 

  "She is the Preeminent," Zane answered, his voice an octave higher with worry. "The physical manifestation of the entire Cursed Realm, and with each new soul she devours, she will only grow stronger." He turned his gaze to me when I whimpered again. "What is happening to Y/n?"

  "I don't know!" Kai answered. "I think it's her powers."

  "Now would be a great time for you to work out how to use them!" Nya said nervously, and I sent her a desperate glare. As if I hadn't been saying the very same thing.

  "She can't - look at her!" Cole gestured to me. "Do you think it's because Lloyd's-?"

  "No," I managed to spit out. "I don't feel- he's..." I couldn't find the resolve to finish my words, but they knew what I meant - Lloyd wasn't dead, but he was lost. This pain was something foreign. It was something else.

  "Oh, gross!" Jay's shout of disgust pulled our eyes to the thing that had fully emerged from the half-destroyed building. It was monstrous and as green as the ghosts she bore, a spherical beast that looked ripped from a science textbook and enlarged to a gazillion sizes more. Her tentacles wavered, engorging itself on destruction. Her mouth looked like an octopus' beak and spouted out another ghost with each opening, with each harrowed grunt that crossed the land. "I'm gonna lose my lunch!"

  As if hearing his insult, three tentacles shot toward our hiding spot. The ninja attacked with their Elemental Powers but it did nothing, the creature unaffected. I was picked up again and we retreated even deeper, the taste of our terror sharp and metallic like blood. My feet twisted and stumbled trying to keep up with Kai.

  "She did not even notice that!" Zane exclaimed as he dodged the next attack toward him. "She is too powerful!"

  "Ugh, I hate unbeatable creatures!" Jay complained.

  "Is the boat ready?" Cole asked as we found a new alleyway to hide in. "We need to get these people out!"

  My legs caved with trembling exhaustion. Only Kai's swift catch saved me from hitting the wood beneath us, and I sagged in his arms, rasping for breath through an open mouth. Each inhale felt laborious. My dizzy mind spun too fast for comprehension.

  "We need to give them more time," Zane said. "They are still finding and loading passengers. We must direct the Preeminent's attention toward us."

  "What about Y/n?" Kai asked worriedly. "She looks really bad."

  "She can't fight!" Jay exclaimed. "But we can't take her to the boat without stopping the Preeminent - argh! I hate battles like these!"

  "Leave me here," I said between woozy gasps. "I'll- I'll call my dad."

  They shared hesitant looks. They weren't exactly happy with my suggestion, and I huffed with frustration. I pulled myself from Kai's hold and fell back against the wall behind me with a pained wince.

  "Go," I pled. "Don't let people get hurt because of me." I could never forgive myself if someone got injured because the ninja were too worried about my weird powers having poor timing.

  The team steeled at my insistence. Zane patted my shoulder. Jay pulled me into a careful hug.

  "You're a good person," he said, before racing after the others.

  No, I wasn't. I just didn't have Lloyd to fight for, anymore.

  Alone, I slid to the floor and choked for each new breath. The grating pain had eased into an uncomfortable, irritating buzz behind my ears, like something momentous was wrong and out of place. Like something important was missing. 

  Lloyd. I lifted my face to the gloomy, sick-coloured sky and sobbed. He looked so scared and he was so brave, but I selfishly, bitterly wished that he wasn't the one to be pulled into the Cursed Realm. After everything he'd been through, all that he sacrificed to be Fate's plaything, their miserable solider - being cursed to spend the rest of his existence in such a horrid place was the last thing he deserved.

  I buried myself into my knees and suffered through my tears. Why did it have to be him? Why was it always him? How could life be so cruel to a boy that gave and gave? It wasn't fair.

  "I'm so sorry, hero," I whispered. I should've done more. I should've tried harder.

  A whimper that wasn't my own reached my ears. With the sound of fighting in the background, of screaming civilians, shouting ninja and a malevolent ghost and his monstrous master that I hid away from, I lifted my watery gaze and found a stray dog.

  In comparison to the hell that was raining upon us, seeing the light-furred puppy was such a strange sight that it stopped my cries. He whimpered again, cowering behind the half-destroyed crate it hid in. His brown eyes were wide with fear as it stared at me.

  I shouldn't have been surprised, Stiix was known for its stray dogs. I wiped away my tears and forced a smile.

  "Scared, huh?" I croaked. "That makes two of us." I held out my hand and waited.

  The dog crept forward and cautiously sniffed my fingers. A pitiful lick made my smile a touch warmer. He was gangly with youth, a few months out from adulthood, and missing a back leg. He had the same colour fur as Lloyd's hair and eyes just as scared, just as kind. My expression wavered with misery.

  What was I going to do? I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them, burying my tears into the altered pants of Lloyd's. I was nothing without him - my confidence stemmed from him and my powers only worked with him beside me, I couldn't do anything to help. I didn't have the perseverance he had. I didn't have the strength.

  The dog nudged my loose hand with his snout. I turned my head and stared at him, at the way his back leg trembled with still being unused to the extra work the missing one was no longer able to do. His eyes were big and wet and sad.

  "I'm sorry," I said pitifully as I scratched the dog behind the ears. I wondered if my ancestor was watching me letting her down. I wondered if she was disappointed. "I'm not the person you think I am."

  "Get to the ship! Hurry!" Nya's voice carried through the comms, from over the low growls of the Preeminent.

  "I do not know how to stop this thing! It just keeps coming!" Zane shouted.

  "We could really use a tidal wave, Nya!" Kai said.

  "Don't you think I've been trying?" she exclaimed. "I'm too tired for that amount of power! I can barely keep myself standing."

  Kai growled in frustration. "If Lloyd's inside that thing, we have to get closer."

  "Yeah - easier said than done!" Jay shrieked.

  If they couldn't do it, what ever made me think I could? I couldn't. I was weak, and my powers disobeyed me because of it. They needed someone strong - Lloyd deserved someone strong.

  "It's too late!" Wu's voice interjected. I peeked around the alleyway's corner and found the whole team in the square, knocking back ghosts and the endless attacks from the Preeminent. "We have to get to the ship and protect the people."

  "But what about Lloyd?" Jay asked.

  "This... this is what Lloyd would've wanted," Misako said, though her voice hitched halfway through. Garmadon placed a hand on her shoulder, sharing her look of heartbreak.

  My father emerged from the street across from the team and faltered at the sight of he Preeminent. He cast a look amongst the ninja. "Where's Y/n?" he asked. "Where's my daughter?"

  I ducked back around my corner and stared at my shoes.

  Protect the people. This was what Lloyd wanted. This was the very reason of his existence, this was what it meant to be Fate's soldier.

  Fate's solider. My hands balled into fists upon my thighs with rage. I'd hated that title since the moment I heard it, I'd hated Fate the second I realised that it made kids fight to keep the world from ending - that I'd have to fight, too, and that I was stupidly punished because they didn't like that Lloyd wanted to know what our prophecy entailed. I'd hated it all. It was more than unfair, it was sickening.

  This was what Lloyd wanted? No, this was what Fate wanted him to want. I wasn't going to let them get away with it. Not this time.

  I laid my hands on the ground beside me and tried to raise myself, but the agony from before still kept me so weak. I closed my eyes instead. I'd just have to fight for him from here.

  Lloyd. I reached for him like how I'd done on the Bounty's deck on New Years. I searched for that feeling that built the power within me, that turned my insides into jelly and left me exhausted and broken. I didn't know if it could attack, I didn't know if I could do anything to turn the tide of this war, but Lloyd was in there. I had to try.

  I yanked off Borg's necklace and threw it aside. I couldn't afford to be hindered. I pushed for him harder, for a replication of the sensation I'd felt before my powers illuminated around us, before they'd flickered entwined above our palms and beneath the stars.

  My head began to drum, my fingertips ached and drew pain along my arms, sizzling my muscles, stretching along my bones. Still, I continued, and though part of me was unsure it was even possible for me to do what I was hoping to do, I didn't stop. I didn't stop when the ache grew into a frenzied crescendo behind my closed eyes. I didn't stop when I began to bleed. I refused to be weak any longer.

  Help me. She'd helped me when I asked her once. She could help me again.

  The dog barked and I felt my concentration slip away from me, replaced with an exhaustion so fierce and consuming that I slumped. My red-stained tears ran down my cheeks. No. I was so close.

  The dog barked again, huddling back into the crate once more with his tails between his legs. I followed his frightened stare to the opening of the alleyway and startled upon seeing the Kirin. It watched me inquisitively, head tilted, magnificent antlers scraping each wall that sandwiched us. My breath hitched.

  I stared back in shock before managing to pull myself upright. The peach-coloured beast blinked its doe-like eyes as I stumbled toward it. Its whiskers flowed, but not in the wind, as did its long, reptilian tail. It was the creature that had helped me find my way back to the others.

  "Did..?" I slowly placed my hand on the golden scales of its muzzle and was shocked by the bolt of strength that ran through me. It towered over me, almost the height of the houses, but I wasn't afraid. "Did I call you?"

  'You asked for me.'

  I pulled my hand back at the sound of my ancestor's voice that circled my brain. She really did listen. It was her who helped me when I was lost. She'd been watching over me the whole time.

  The Kirin stepped back and raised its proud head. 'Uchū's grandson's power has been depleted. He cannot escape alone.' She turned her attention to the Preeminent, and her dragon-like expression pinched with disapproval. 'She has infiltrated a world that does not belong to her.'

  "Lloyd can get out?" I asked with breathless hope.

  'He can.' She turned her gaze back to me. 'I will fight her until she's weak enough for him to make his move, but we will both need your strength. I am no longer tethered to this realm as I once was.'

  My strength. My hope deflated like a pitiful balloon with its helium all escaped. I was frustrated instead, and angry. "But my powers don't listen to me."

  The Kirin stared at me hard in the eyes. 'Then, my dear, you make them listen.'

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

  The Cursed Realm was a place of unending misery, a limbo of despair and decay. It shuddered with low growls of torment. It pulsated with grief.

  Lloyd sat with his back against the wall and tried to gather his strength. He was exhausted, limp with weariness. The Cursed Realm sapped at his strength, at his hope, and left him a husk of tired helplessness. He stared into the murky gloom and wondered if this was going to be his forever.

  Ghosts flitted about the colon of the Realm, the one that heaved with breath and ran ribbed by bone. Lloyd wasn't a ghost, still made of flesh and corporal, but he didn't want to think about what might happen to his body after some time in this place. He was scared to lose himself.

  He peeked around the rib he hid beside. The ghosts were congregating at the opening of the Preeminent's mouth, the only way out. It was too congested for Lloyd to attempt an escape, and he was too tired to get his powers back up. Being possessed and fighting Morro had already taken more than he could give.

  Lloyd dropped his head and exhaled shakily. He was so scared. He didn't want to be trapped in here forever, surrounded by the very things that'd caused him torment. And usually he was strong, usually he was steadfast and unwavering, but this... well, he hadn't felt like a little kid in a long time. He was lost.

  Maybe this was the prophecy that nobody would tell him about. Maybe they didn't tell him because they didn't want him to know that he was going to end up cursed forever. Y/n wouldn't have stood for it. Y/n would've done what Misako had once tried to do - change Fate, even though it wasn't possible.

  Life was starting to get good. His team had settled into their routines as both ninja and normal teenagers, the Overlord was defeated, Lloyd had finally reunited with his parents - he met Y/n. After such a dreary childhood, why was this his punishment? After having just a taste of happiness? It was cruel.

  His eyes dropped to the sword that laid in his lap. Hope it was engraved with, but who could have hope in a place like this? He didn't have hope. All he had was the reluctant acceptance of his fate, and perhaps a hint of relief that his job might finally be over. At least he'd managed to keep Y/n out of here.

  Though, selfishly, he couldn't help but crave her presence.

  She'd seen him in a way no-one had before - to her, he wasn't just Lloyd Garmadon or the Green Ninja, but he was everything. She looked at him like he was the moon, gazing, and with stars in her eyes, and it filled him with a warmth he'd never felt before. But if he was the moon, then she was the sun. Everything in him revolved around her, now.

  It had hurt when the secret about her dad was spilled, that she was related to the man who'd once pulled a gun on him and his own father, the man that had threatened the team becasue he thought that they were the threat. But seeing Y/n cry... that hurt worse. At least he got to apologise before they were ripped apart.

  And at least she's safe. One of the others would've gotten her away from the rift and from Morro, and hopefully his parents would've taken her aboard the boat with the other passengers to escape. He could exist in this miserable place if she was okay.

  And maybe he was thinking about her so much that the warmth prickling at the base of his skull, that the flush of his skin didn't strike him as odd. He'd always felt cozy thinking about her smile.

  But when he grew a little too warm, when he was suddenly burst with so much energy that he would've been knocked from his feet if he were standing, his eyes shot open with confusion. The Realm was illuminated from where he sat. He lifted a hand in shock.

  He was glowing. He was gold.

  It couldn't be possible. The only time he looked like this and felt this strong was when the ninja gave up their powers to Lloyd so he could defeat the Overlord in the Final Battle. But they were given back, and Lloyd was no longer the Golden Ninja.

  But the shimmering mist curling from his skin, the warmth within him, the power surging through his limbs was unmistakable. The dreariness crept away, the shadows slunk back, his exhaustion had disappeared. Lloyd felt invincible. He felt like a god.

  The Preeminent bellowed with frustration. Her shuddering was growing worse, and the ghosts sped about with cries and shouts. Something big was happening outside. Someone had changed the course of the battle, and Lloyd had a sneaking feeling he knew who.

  He picked up his sword of hope and stepped out from his hiding spot with a determined smile. He had a family to get back to.

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

  The moment I stepped out from the alleyway and demanded my powers to obey my command, I fell to my knees.

  It was like the world had sucked me down, and my hands planted on the wooden docks of Stiix pulsed with energy. It drew up from the earth, through the ocean below. It piled into my soul from the air around me, and it was so much that I couldn't move.

  Lloyd. I had to send him strength. I had to send the Kirin strength. My anger fuelled me even further.

  She nodded at me before bounding soundlessly toward the Preeminent, galloping past the stunned team and into the air with fierce resolve.

  "Where did that come from?!" Jay shrieked, and leapt out of the way as she went thundering past. He looked back toward where it came from and found me kneeling. "Y/n!"

  Being the fastest, he was the first one at my side. His amazement turned to worry when he saw the blood. He grabbed a cloth from the pack on his thigh and reached toward me.

  "Hey-" Jay yelped and flinched back, as if shocked - as if it were possible for him to be shocked. "Ow!"

  "She's doing the thing again," Cole said worriedly as he and the others arrived. "We can't touch her."

  "That means we cannot stop her, either," Zane said stoically. "She had discarded her necklace."

  "What does that mean?" Nya asked.

  Zane's expression darkened. "It means that she is risking herself to save Lloyd."

  And I'd do it again. I watched the Kirin attack the Preeminent, a tiny mythical beast to a godly creature the size of worlds, and felt my heart start to race with effort. I could feel Lloyd, his presence just at the edge of my grasp, and I could feel the faint, ancient energy of my ancestor, too. I channeled everything I had toward them.

  But sucking energy from the world and giving them to Lloyd and the Kirin was too demanding. I couldn't do anything, I couldn't say anything, I couldn't even pull myself away. I was locked into my spot, hauling and hauling at the earth, and the conscious part at the back of my skull was terrified that it was starting to slowly kill me.

  Kai's face tightened. "Then let's make her job easier."

  Dad's cry of my name made my heart break. I didn't want to see him like this, and it hurt worse when Wu had to haul him back from racing toward me.

  "Please, you must not approach her," Wu sorrowfully said.

  "That's my little girl!!" Dad roared. "Let go of me!"

  I'm sorry, Dad. But I couldn't stop and I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to. I was slipping away.

  "Give everything you have to the Preeminent!" Kai shouted to the team. "One last fight!"

  It was only a few steps into their sprint toward her when the world was filled by a blinding, golden light, and then the sharp snap of a popping explosion. The Preeminent's guttural, haunting roar of pain shivered the world.

  When the light faded and where the Kirin was circling the biblical creature, a golden dragon flew. Its fire joined the Kirin's attacks, aiming for the gaping hole on her side that dripped with gold.

  "Impossible!" Garmadon gasped. "But that's..!" He turned his stunned gaze to me.

  Lloyd. He got out. I wanted to weep with relief, to collapse and curl into passing out, but my powers wouldn't let me. I'd demanded they did as I told them, and now that they were, they were giving me too much. I was stuck. I couldn't stop.

  The Golden Dragon's roar rattled me, but I was only soothed by Lloyd's escape. As my body slowly began to die, as darkness pulled at the edge of my vision and dragged me under, I thought that he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

  My father continued to struggle in Wu's stronger hold, spitting him curses and yelling my name. Misako grabbed Garmadon's shoulder and turned him to face her.

  "If Y/n is immune to Lloyd's powers, then perhaps he is immune to hers," Misako said hurriedly. "He could stop her before it's too late!"

  Garmadon's eyes widened. "Ingenious!" He turned toward the Golden Dragon and raised his volume into a shout. "Lloyd!"

  The dragon turned at his dad's voice, even as far away as he was, and shot toward us. He seemed to know exactly what the problem was. The dragon's form slipped back into something smaller and humanoid during his descent, before finally turning into Lloyd just as he landed on the docks and tackled me out of my power's imprisonment.

  I yelped at our roll, shielded from harm by Lloyd's arms caged around me. The hold of my powers snapped apart, dragging from me just as quickly as it'd been strong, and I gasped for a breath that hurt with each inhale. The darkness faded. All I could see was the golden, glowing face of Lloyd above me, searching my own frantically. His eyes were gleaming. 

  "Why are you a glow stick?" I sobbed.

  Lloyd laughed and pulled me up from the wood and into him for a hug. I held him as tight as my feeble arms would allow, which wasn't a lot, and buried myslef into him as deep as humanly possible. He was back and I wasn't dead. This was worth everything.

  If I thought I was exhausted before, then what I was feeling now had yet no conceivable word. I felt the need to sleep for a good few years nipping at my heels, and then a month-long massage for my pained body. I felt mutilated. The relief at having him back in my arms was just as draining.

  "You saved me again," Lloyd whispered. His voice sounded like there was two of them, a little unearthly and startling, but just as handsome as before. "I love you so much."

  I lifted my aching head and took him in. The mist of his boosted powers cloaked him and stained his black gi gold. It curled into horns atop his head and illuminated in his golden eyes, spilling out from behind his grinning fangs. He looked healthy again, upbeat and joyous despite the world he was just imprisoned in, despite the war we were still in the middle of. The way he was looking at me was full of such adoration that it was a little alarming. 

  My own little sun. He really was Apollo's twin.

  "You're beautiful," I whispered, and he almost seemed to glow brighter at my compliment. The crushing weight of my powers and the emotional torment of losing Lloyd and then getting him back pushed me into teary tiredness. "I was so scared you weren't going to come back."

  Lloyd cupped my face and pressed his cheek into mine. He hushed my cries before they could become audible and rob me of even more strength. I sunk into his glowing, buzzing hold.

  "I'll find my way back to you," he sweetly vowed. "You call for me and I'll come running. Always. Promise."

  My heart shivered. My tears were silent and stained with red.

  We could stay there forever, huddled in our own little circle of recuperation, but the Preeminent was still a massive obstacle between us and saving the world. Lloyd helped me stand with extra care and by the time I was upright, he was no longer illuminated from within. We hobbled toward the lingering, startled team. My dad had stopped yelling expletives, which I was relieved for. The Kirin had disappeared. She was gone just as fast as she'd appeared.

  "Lloyd!" Kai greeted, still wide-eyed. "You went... gold."

  "Glad you're back," Nya said with a smile. I didn't miss the curious glance she sent towards me, nor did I miss the quielty baffled looks from the rest.

  Lloyd spared his family a warm look before wiping it from his face. He was immediately back into leader mode.

  "Get to the ship and protect the people," he said to the parents and Wu. "Ninja, take out the stilts. We need to drop the Preeminent into the sea. I have to find Morro."

  "Ugh - why didn't we think of that earlier?" Jay whined.

  The team split off to do just that, and the Senseis and Misako went to rejoin Ronin at the boat to get the civilians out. My dad continued to hover, face a multitude of emotions. Mainly shock.

  "You can't fight," Lloyd said as he turned to where I leant against his side. His expression twisted with desperate implore. "Please don't argue with me on this."

  I shook my head. "I wasn't going to." I knew when it was time for me to tap out, and using my powers had dragged me across that line and then some. It'd be a miracle if I could even walk without assistance.

  Turned out I couldn't. I kissed Lloyd goodbye and then rested against my shell-shocked dad as he led us toward the boat. At least they didn't share sharp glares or nasty words. Progress was full of baby steps.

  Dad was quiet at first as he helped me walk. I couldn't imagine what he was going through - if Jay thought my secret's reveal was a bombshell, then my dad must've been stuck in the centre of his very own war. At least Mum had the advantage of being spoken to by Uchū before all this started. Dad had just been thrown into the deep end and had to learn to swim on the fly.

  "I didn't learn about this when I was taught about puberty," he confessed, and I had to laugh.

  "I have so much to catch you up on, Pa," I said with a weary grin. "It's been a really crazy summer."

  "Your eyes went all pink and glowy," Dad continued. "And there was this weird dome around you. It was spooky." He hesitated, glanced down at me, and shrugged a shoulder with forced nonchalance. "It was cool."

  I smiled. He was terrified but putting on an act to make sure I didn't feel bad about my powers. He'd always been one of my biggest supporters. I found that I was glad he'd showed up in the end.

  "Come, come." Wu ushered us onboard the paddle steamer and nodded to where Ronin stood guard. "That's all of them-"

  I gasped when I caught sight of a flash of beige-blond fur. "The dog!" Ronin, Wu and my dad sent me baffled looks. I forced myself off the boat and after the gangly, cowering thing. "We can't just leave him!"

  "Wait, Y/n!" Dad called after me. He groaned as I hobbled after the frightened puppy. "Argh - that girl!"

  "C'mere," I coed, holding my hand out in invitation. The dog ducked into the crooked, open door of a house down a side street and I crouched beside the entrance. "C'mon, puppy, we gotta go."

  The door creaked open, but not because of the dog. My eyes raised and then I fell onto my butt in shock at Morro's leering scowl above me. In his hand was the Realm Crystal.

  "Oh, you bleeding heart," he said without sympathy. I pulled myself backwards when he stepped from the house. "You just can't help yourself, can you?" He grimaced. "And you really are bleeding."

  I'd gone stiff. I was too weak after exerting myself to fend Morro off, too. The guns in my holsters were useless if I couldn't move my numb arms. Wasn't Lloyd supposed to looking for him?

  "Step away, Morro."

  And truly, as if I'd called him, he appeared. I tilted my head back and found Lloyd stood behind me with his sword of hope held aloft. The look in his eyes could cut through bedrock.

  Morro's eye twitched at the golden gi he wore. "You just can't lose, can you?"

  Lloyd took the crook of my arm and hauled me upright. "I guess not."

  Morro made a sound of rage and drew his arms back to release a burst of air. Lloyd dragged the both of us around the house's corner before we could get caught up in the gale. I glanced sheepishly at the boat where my dad stood, shocked and stricken. I was definitely going to give him a heart attack - if I hadn't already.

  Lloyd peeked around the corner. Animated again, I pulled one of my guns from its holster and tapped his arm with it to get his attention. I held it out for him to take.

  "Save your strength," I said. "You're still sick."

  Lloyd took the gun with an appreciative smile. "Thanks, sunshine." He turned back to face the direction Morro was in. "Why aren't you on the boat?"

  I frowned guiltily. "There was a dog."

  Lloyd sighed. "Fair enough."

  My frown lifted. I knew he'd get it. Dogs, books or dragons, right? My elation at his understanding was quickly overshadowed when the harrowing howls of ghosts caught my attention. They dove at us from overhead.

  I raised my gun to shoot, and Lloyd- Lloyd sent his sailing through the air like a shuriken and took out a single ghost. The rest of them looked confused. My arms dropped in shock.

  I whipped my head around to send him a gobsmacked look. "Did you just throw the gun?!"

  Lloyd was already grimacing. "I panicked."

  I shook my head in disbelief before quickly shooting down the ghosts before they could swoop us. At least my muscle memory still worked, but I had a feeling that Lloyd's was used to different weapons than guns. Even this simple action left me winded and raw.

  "You need to get back to the ship," Lloyd said seriously. "There's people on there that need to get to safety." At my hesitant look, he continued. "I'll get the dog."

  I nodded, relieved. "Okay." I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Stay alive."

  Lloyd brushed a thumb over my nose with a small smile. "Stay safe."

  I struggled back toward the ship where Ronin was still guarding it against ghosts. By the time I made it back with my pitiful, limping pace, Lloyd had already retrieved the dog, dropped it off at the boat, and returned to his fight against Morro. What a walking green flag.

  "I didn't realise you got a dog, too," Dad said, staring down at the stray who'd stuck himself behind my legs as soon as I boarded and shook. "Any more blond mutts that I need to know about?"

  I rolled my eyes. "No, Dad." I watched Lloyd and Morro fight and resisted the urge to anxiously bite my nails. At least Lloyd looked like he had his strength back. His sword fighting didn't sap at him as quickly as it did before. 

  "We need to get this ship out to sea to put as much water between us as possible," Wu ordered. Ronin severed the boat's ties and pushed us away from the docks, before leaping onboard. 

  "Where's Jonesy?" I asked as Dad helped me move toward the upper deck. My eyes kept finding Lloyd. The dog trailed behind us with his tail between his legs.

  "Back with the troops," he answered. "They're providing relief for the rest of the citizens we got out."

  "Good." I was so caught up in keeping a wary eye on Lloyd that Misako's sudden hug almost shot my skeleton into orbit with fright. My already wrung out heart skipped a few beats.

  "Thank goodness, you're okay!" she exclaimed, before stepping back and casting a worried look over me. "You are okay, yes?"

  I felt like death. "I'm okay." At her unconvinced look, I backtracked. "I'm half-okay."

  Garmadon, ever faithful, had followed his wife over. He squeezed my shoulder proudly. Behind me, my own father was quiet and stiff with discomfort.

  "You did a good job," Garmadon said warmly, before his face turned with inquisitiveness. "Intriguing to know that as Lloyd powers you, you power Lloyd. We will need to discuss this further when the battle is over."

  "Oh, great," my dad muttered under his breath. I had to stop myself from elbowing him for being rude.

  Thankfully, no ghosts had tried to approach our vessel yet. The open water put them off so much that they hung back at the docks and jeered at our retreat. Morro and Lloyd's swords glinted against the murky green sky as their fight drove on.

  The docks began to tremble and shake, unsupported by the stilts that the ninja had sliced through. Morro hesitated in surprise, and then yelled in horror when he noticed the Preeminent sinking into the water with long, eerie bellows of swan song. Her wisps and tentacles whipped with frenzy.

  "No!" he cried. "They're taking out the supports!"

  But the ninja were sticking close to the water, and now that the Preeminent was in eminent danger of sinking into nonexistence, the ghosts were reluctant to risk themselves. There was no way to return if the Preeminent was gone.

  Lloyd's grin was sharp, visible even from where I stood. Morro growled with pure, unadulterated fury and thrusted the Crystal into the air, summoning another rift that split through space. He swept himself inside, only to reappear behind Lloyd and blast him with a strong gust before he could turn and avoid it.

  I moved to the railing and gripped it tight. The only thing keeping me standing was the fear I felt for Lloyd's safety. His parents stood beside me, and my dad on the other.

  "Morro still has the advantage," Garmadon said grimly. "The Crystal and the Sword of Sanctuary... even with the power boost you gave, it will be tough for Lloyd to defeat him."

  "But he will," I said shakily, and I struggled to believed in my own desperate manifestation. "He will, right?"

  Misako and Garmadon couldn't answer, and my grip tightened with despair. We'd already fought too hard for him to fail, now. My powers had taken too much from me to help him again; I was left raw and blistered inside.

  "Protect the Preeminent!" Morro screamed his order. "Protect the Realm!"

  He turned back to attack Lloyd and frowned when he found nothing but empty space, only to get shot in the back by a blast of Lloyd's energy. He tumbled with a yelp and summoned a new rift that he then swept into and disappeared.

  Lloyd knew his tricks. He dashed along some crates and leapt up in after him before it could zip shut, and then no rift reappeared. My legs felt weak with horror.

  "Where did he go?" My voice was strained and thin "Where did Lloyd go?"

  "Their battle is out of our hands," Wu said gravely. "But I fear our own is starting anew."

  I turned my gaze from the spot where Lloyd disappeared and expelled a tumbled breath of terror. The ghosts had reorganised themselves upon Morro's scathing demand and had begun picking up Stiix's buildings to save the Preeminent from the water. The attempt to drown her had slipped from the team's fingers.

  But the ghosts weren't just saving her. They were preparing her for another round. They were building her a suit.

  "Sweet Mother of God," my dad whispered. 

  I gripped my gun with a shaking arm. Adrenaline kept my eyes open, and the will to survive kept me standing, but I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take. I had surpassed my breaking point. I was running on fractions of fumes. I pulled my gun from the holster and bolstered my broken body for one more fight.

  Lloyd, come home, I silently begged. He said that he'd come running when I called. Come back to me, please.

  But still, no rift reappeared.