the feels
••• Fever •••

got me fever
owe you plenty
now i'm holding on
got me fever, now i'm ready
take me to the storm

•••••

' To my wonderful readers: sorry about that last cliffhanger. Well, no, not really. HAHAHAHA. But seriously, I love you guys' - Rick Riordan, 2013

TW: gun shooting, blood, assault 

  "Guns down, now!" Jamie L/n's fearsome voice bellowed across the silent countryside. The muzzles that hadn't already dropped fell at his searing command, and the eyes I'd inherited turned back to me with frightened anger. "Y/n, what are you doing here?!"

  I couldn't answer, terrified right into silence. Not of my father, not of the guns that had just been aimed at me, but of the appalled, baffled stare Lloyd was burning into the side of my face. I couldn't even bring myself to look at him.

  And not just Lloyd - his parents, Wu, his team - I could feel the weight of all their stares. Everyone who supported me, everyone I'd begun to consider family over the horrors of the past week. I'd betrayed them all. I was the daughter of their biggest thorn and I never told them. I never told Lloyd.

  "Did anybody see this coming?" I heard Jay stage whisper from behind me, voice loopy with shock. His answers were all mumbled negatives.

  Another resounding boom from the epicentre of Stiix had a mighty wind blow over all of us, and I was stumbled out of my state of shock. I turned to the township and watched as a fountain of spectral beings shot up into the sky and spilled out amongst the town.

  My breaths had grown into shallow gasps of panic. There were so many ghosts - how could we ever defeat them? How could we work our way through Stiix and get to Morro? Would the plan still work? Would Lloyd even let me join them now?

  A hand on my shoulder pulled me around to face Lloyd's confused fury. The look in his green eyes was everything I'd dreaded - no, it was worse, because it was real. I felt my soul shatter beneath the chill of his stare.

  "He's your dad?" Lloyd hissed.

  My throat was thick. "I wanted to tell you, I tried to-"

  "He's your dad." Lloyd pressed his hand onto his masked head and released a heavy chuckle of disbelief. He wasn't finding any of this funny. "God, everything that- it all makes sense."

  "I'm sorry," I said desperately. My words fell in a slur of pleading, and the horror of his disappointment had my eyes stinging. "I'm so sorry."

  It was all going so downhill. It was a mess that kept on snowballing, and I could feel Lloyd's tension lashing from him like whips. Each hit stung, each hit had me buckling further. I'd never been so sickened by upsetting someone before in my life.

  I should've just told him - I should've gritted my teeth, told him, and took his reaction like the mature person everyone said I was, the person I was meant to be. But I was scared so I stalled, and now I'd landed myself in an even worse position.

  Lloyd raised his head and sent daggers at Zane. "You knew, didn't you?"

  The man beside me stoically nodded.

  His disbelief rose. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

  "It was not my place to tell," Zane answered calmly. "I would have said something if I believed Y/n posed a threat or nuisance, but she never did."

  Lloyd planted his hands on his hips and looked away, his eyes pinched and cold with hurt frustration. My head had grown woozy from the sheer amount of panic bleeding through me. My dad had tried to kill him, his family, his own father. I could understand his hate as clear as the stars we once sat beneath.

  I recalled the night we spent on the deck of the Bounty, where he spoke of how he'd been betrayed before. He hadn't told me the details, he didn't talk about how much it hurt him, but he hadn't needed to - the pain in his eyes had been so potent that it'd flooded past his steadfast walls.

  I had betrayed him. I'd done the exact same thing.

  "I didn't mean to keep it from you," I insisted. I reached for his hand and held it shakingly. "Lloyd, please-"

  He yanked himself from my hold, and I may as well had been struck from the pain that coursed through me at his rejection. My heart crashed and shattered. My hands recoiled to my chest. The way he avoided my hurt gaze felt like I was slowly being crushed by the weight of mountains; suffocating beneath them, sinking, choking on the dirt and dying.

  Our plan was already falling to pieces. I met Misako's gaze and was given the brief relief that she held no hate for me, only shock. Garmadon watched on with a complicated expression, and Wu was much the same. I dropped my face to hide the tears of my own stupid undoing.

  "I guess we found out where Y/n learnt to shoot," Cole joked, a feeble attempt to break the suffocating tension.

  "Cole," Nya hushed.

  "What?" he complained. "I'm right."

  The crunching of boots over gravel made me look up. My dad had gotten over his shock, and now he was infiltrating ninja territory with a hateful scowl. They all stiffened at his encroachment, pulled tight with disdain, and his face hardened at my tears. At his side walked his best friend, my godfather. Jonesy watched us all with wide eyes.

  "I thought I asked what's going on?" Dad snapped. He gestured to the hastily-altered gi I wore. "What are you wearing? Why are you crying?"

  I was spiralling. I needed a time out, but there was no pause button in real life. I tried to find my reason and choked on words.

  "Perhaps this is not the best time," Misako cut in. Her hand pressed against my back in reassurance while I tried to hurriedly wipe away my tears.

  "Like hell! What are you people doing to my daughter?" my father sneered, and Misako's expression curdled beneath his accusation. He turned back to me. "Did they threaten you? Are they using you as bait?" Lloyd shot him a vile glare, but my father couldn't care less about the knives he was being struck by. "Honey, you know you can always call me for help."

  I could feel the tension growing the more he spoke. The insults he was sprouting off was only driving a deeper wedge than the one I'd reluctantly created between the team and I. My watery eyes went wide with insistence.

  "Please, stop talking," I begged, and Dad was taken aback by my request. "You're making it worse!"

  "I didn't realise it could get any worse," Lloyd muttered.

  I was going to scream. The frustration and despair was growing imprisoned within me, punching at the back of my teeth to be released.

  "I'm sorry!" I exclaimed loudly. Lloyd's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, okay? What more do you want?!" I threw my hand toward the ghost-infested city. "Can we focus on getting these people out of Stiix, already? They have no idea what's going on!"

  He stared at me, drawn to silence from my snap. I'd never shouted at Lloyd before, and it left me with a horrible, sickening sensation that made me feel as though I'd been filled with lead. My frustrated expression fell with despair.

  "I still feel lost," my godfather confessed. He raised his hand as though we were in a recovery group and smiled. "Hi, my name's Jonesy-"

  "Be quiet, Jonesy," my dad ordered.

  His hand fell swiftly. "Yes, sir."

  "Y/n's right," Garmadon spoke up. "We must move onwards-"

  "Hold on- hold on," my father interrupted, and looked at the Senseis with a cold laugh of disbelief. "Is anyone gonna tell me why my kid is hanging around with you? With criminals?"

  "She's my girlfriend, genius," Lloyd shot back.

  Dad's face went grey with thunder. I was already beginning to dig myself a grave, because the look he burdened me with could kill. I buried my face into my hands.

  "Oh, my god," I whined to myself. This day couldn't get any worse.

  "Oh!" Jonesy said with delighted surprise. He pushed forward and brought me into a hug that I couldn't find in me to return. "Aw, Y/n! Our little sharpshooter is growing up!"

  My dad, however, was far from pleased.

  "The Green Ninja, Y/n?!" he said incredulously. "I thought that you were into... I dunno, nerds! Not vigilantes!" Dad fumbled for reason, for a way to dissuade what was already set in stone. "What about that boy you used to like, huh? Mack? Max?"

  "Maybe you just don't know her that well," Lloyd said coolly.

  My father's fuse was set off once more. He rounded on Lloyd, and his face was no longer just one of thunder - it was the entire storm. I silently begged for the both of them to shut up.

  "You wanna say that again, punk?" Dad seethed.

  My mortification truly knew no bounds. I yanked myself from Jonesy's hug and directed a gritted-teeth shout of "stop it!" at both my boyfriend and father. Their stare-down was broken by surprise.

  "Son, enough," Garmadon demanded.

  Lloyd pulled off his mask and shot his dad a look of disbelief. "Are you serious? This is the guy that tried to kill you!"

  "Oh, great," my dad said sarcastically. "Lloyd Garmadon. My day just got so much better."

  "Are you both brain dead?" I seethed, and it seemed that I had a short fuse, too. "Or do you care more about your stupid rivalry than saving the world?!" I released an aggravated breath of annoyance and turned to Jonesy, because at least he had working braincells. "Your weapons won't do anything to the ghosts, so focus the troops in evacuating the town. The ninja will deal with everything else."

  Jonesy nodded. Dad scowled but didn't argue.

  "Hey-" Lloyd interjected, but was cut off.

  "Garmadon, Misako and I will help keep the ghosts from the evacuees," Wu said. He sent a nod my way, and I almost wanted to weep. We could deal with this mess later. "Everything else will proceed as planned."

  Zane returned to his mech and took off, with Jay, Cole and Nya silently following soon after. The Senseis and Misako began jogging toward Stiix, aeroblade weapons drawn. My father lingered, looking like he wanted to argue further, but was encouraged back to the troops by Jonesy.

  Kai, Lloyd and I were left. I crouched low and hid my face in my arms in an effort to regain my composure. I'd been scattered to the four winds.

  "Well, that was intense," Kai murmured. I lifted my weary gaze to his hesitant frown. The look in his eyes was a mix of complications. "Have you guys even fought before?"

  "Knock it off, Kai," Lloyd snapped.

  Kai's irritated glare jumped to the team leader. "Hey, man, cap it with the attitude. Y/n never reacted as bad as this when she learnt who your dad used to be. What's the difference?"

  Lloyd quietened. My head raised, baffled by Kai's support. I feared he'd hate me, too, but the supportive wink he sent me made gratefulness flare in my chest. He'd been through this before - supporting someone with a dad that nobody liked. The Master of Fire held out his hand for me to take and I was pulled to my feet.

  "Alright, Green Ninja 2.0, we have a ghost's ass to kick," Kai said with a grin, and I tried my best to return it. "Ready?"

  "Ready." I pulled my hood back on. Lloyd sullenly pulled his on, too.

  Ronin's old shop was in the centre of town, where ghosts kept spilling from and the civillains from. Kai led the way as we snuck through Stiix, crossing through shadows and hiding behind fishing crates while ghosts drifted by. I winced at the quiet creak of wood that bent with each of my footsteps - Kai's and Lloyd's were both completely silent, a skill I had yet to learn.

  Kai came to a sudden stop at the corner of a building, and I would've gone barreling into him if it weren't for the arm around my waist. The hand over my masked mouth muffled my gasp of surprise. My heart leapt.

  "Careful," Lloyd murmured, just as a herd of ghosts made their way down the street before us. I breathlessly nodded. Beneath our feet, the frothy ocean swayed.

  When we resumed, Jay's voice piped up through the comms in our hoods.

  "Soo..." he began awkwardly. "I guess Lloyd won't be getting Pa's blessing?"

  My feet almost stumbled at his joke - or was it a joke, if it was most likely the truth? Lloyd had to catch my arm before I fell again. My face burnt.

  "Jay," Lloyd warned. "Focus."

  "Hey, I'm raising valid points!" Jay insisted. "What are you gonna do when you wanna get married one day? Just gonna be enemies forever with your father-in-law? Family reunions will be awkward."

  We paused at the shadowed side of Ronin's dilapidated pawn shop. Kai was smirking behind his mask, and Lloyd's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment and frustration. My stare bounced away when his eyes dropped to me.

  "Then family reunions will be awkward," he said. I smiled faintly. This entire situation was a shit show, but at least I hadn't been dumped. 

  "There's an army of ghosts we're trying to stop here, pal," Cole reminded. "Mind leaving the relationship advice until after we've saved the world?"

  "I'm invested!" Jay defended. "It's my way of trying to understand things. We just got the bombshell of bombshells!"

  It was time for our plan to set into motion. With a hand touching my shoulder in parting, Lloyd left to scope out a hidden entrance. Kai and I readied ourselves to gatecrash Morro's little light show.

  "I'm sorry," I said quietly. My hands gripped tight around my guns. "I didn't want you all to find out like this."

  "We can have an in-depth discussion when this is all over," Zane suggested. "But for now, we must remain entirely focused on our mission."

  Kai unhooked his aeroblade from his hip and nodded at me. I wrung out my wrists and inhaled a shaky breath. 

  "I can see Morro," Nya informed. "He's guarding the Crystal. Lloyd, you in position?"

  "Yep," he answered. "Kai, Y/n, you ready?"

  My reply was a shaky hum of affirmation. Kai's answer was more sure. He nudged my arm with his elbow and grinned at me. I wished I had half the confidence he had.

  "Let's give 'em hell," Kai giddily said, before flicking his aeroblade into the air, catching it again, and sweeping into the shop.

  I followed after and was deeply grateful that Kai went in first, because Morro's focus was entirely on him and his big entrance. I snuck into a darkened corner to await my signal. The Sword of Sanctuary gleamed fatally in Morro's grasp.

  The shop was in total disarray: cabinets downturned and breakables lying shattered along the floor, shelves hanging onto half a nail and swinging against the rattling walls. In the centre of the room was a small shrine, and atop that was the Realm Crystal. It was giving off unusual bursts of light and colour, and ghosts kept pouring from the small green rift it had split in the air above it. The rift was slowly stretching.

  "Hey, Casper!" Kai greeted with a bitter smirk. "I want my rematch."

  Morro seemed taken aback by his appearance, and his cruel face twisted into a disgusted sneer.

  "The Red Ninja," Morro said lowly. "Come to face me all alone, have you? You were always the reckless one."

  Good. Morro knew that Kai was impulsive through Lloyd's memories, and we'd banked on that. Kai looked around him with a dramatised look of uncertainty when a few of the ghosts that spilled into the air began to hover around him. He turned his glare back to Morro and held his aeroblade aloft.

  "You need to be taken down a peg!" he declared.

  "You and what army? You never could work in a team, could you?" Morro stepped off of the Crystal's dias and slowly paced toward Kai. "That's why you wanted to be the Green Ninja, isn't it? So you didn't have to be in a team. So you could be powerful on your own."

  My eyes widened. Whoa. Kai lore.

  "Ha-ha," Nya dryly chuckled. "He's pulling out the old Kai card."

  "I can offer you power, Fire Ninja," Morro purred. "The power you deserve - what you always deserved. You won't need to rely on anyone else again."

  Kai faltered, and I wasn't sure if his surprise was genuine or not. My eyes jumped to the back wall, where a window was slowly pushed open. A ninja slipped through silently.

  "I have a question," Kai said. "Why do villains always monologue? Like, seriously, do you think up of a speech beforehand or is it all improv?" He smiled. "Do you practise in front of a mirror?"

  Morro hesitated. His scowl deepened. "What?"

  Lloyd was sneaking closer to the Crystal, blending in with the shadows so well that even I struggled to follow him, and I'd tracked him from when he first stepped foot into the shop. It was as if the shadows darkened to shroud him further, welcoming him like a friend.

  "Ask him about his crush on Y/n," Nya said with a chuckle. Cole and Jay burst into laughter. My face heated and in the darkness, Lloyd paused. I could almost see him hold back his sigh.

  "Oh, man, I wish I was watching this!" Cole said.

  "I'm serious," Kai insisted. His gaze roved across the growing numbers of ghosts that circled him, and my hands fidgeted over my guns. "Did you make this all up on the fly? That's impressive!"

  "You're stalling," Morro stiffly figured.

  Kai's smirk was smug. "You bet your ghostly behind I am."  

  Morro's eyes widened. "Where's the Green Ninja?"

  That's my cue. I stepped from the crate I was hiding behind before my overthinking could stop me. The ghosts turned to me with growls and eyes narrowed with hate, and I almost froze with stage fright. Lloyd worked his way across the room faster. Nya slipped in from another entrance.

  Morro's eyes widened. He turned toward the Realm Crystal, only to be stopped by a whip of water lashing the spot he was about to step to. He startled.

  "Ah-ah-ah," Nya tsk'd as she revealed herself. "You don't have the luxury of water immunity anymore."

  "What are you waiting for?!" Morro spat at the ghosts lingering, awaiting command. "Attack them!"

  I raised my guns and starting shooting.

  I'd never been in a battle before - the closest experience I had were the paintball mock wars that my dad would let me join in on, but even that was leagues less intense than this, and the soldiers usually took extra care of me even if they insisted they didn't.

  This was nothing like that. The training wheels were off, and my hand was no longer held. My enemies were actually my enemies and I was genuinely fighting for my life. The terror drove my aim off-centre. The ghosts kept advancing until I was backed into a corner.

  Kai was engaged with Morro, trying his best to keep him away from me in hopes he wouldn't notice the obvious differences between Lloyd and I. Nya was directing attention away from the Realm Crystal so Lloyd could snatch it unbidden, but more ghosts were flying out of the rift than she could send back. They couldn't help me. I was on my own.

  My back hit the wall, terror surging from me like there was a torrential downpour of it. The ghosts leered and laughed, their insults lost on my ringing ears, their outstretched hands flinching me backwards. My bullets kept missing. 

  I should've listened to Lloyd. I should've stayed back.

  My eyes squeezed shut.

  "I can't do it!" I turned to my dad with a frustrated pout. The empty magazine mocked me, as did the targets strewn half-hidden amongst the leafless trees that I'd been unable to hit. "It's too hard!"

  I yanked the earmuffs from my head and dropped them to the dusty ground with an upset huff. I'd always hated it when I couldn't do something.

  Dad uncrossed his arms and knelt beside me. His earmuffs slid to his neck and he took the empty gun from my hands to reload it with more blue-coloured BB pellets. The range around us was empty save for the second part of my two-person audience; Jonesy.

  "What do you mean you 'can't?'" Dad chirped. "That's not the attitude to have, pipsqueak."

  "I can't," I bemoaned. "The targets are too small. The moving ones are even worse!"

  "You can't, or are you overthinking it?" Dad asked with a raised brow my way. "I wouldn't've put you on this course if I didn't think you could do it. Pick up your earmuffs."

  I obediently grabbed my earmuffs from the ground and crossed my arms with a scowl. "You're wrong."

  "I'm never wrong," Dad said, "unless your mother says I am. Then I'm wrong."

  Jonesy stifled a chuckle with a cough, and I managed a smile despite my ire. It was true.

  "You need to breathe, honey," Dad said, his voice softer with encouragement. "You have the foundations - heck, you're better than some of the rookies Jonesy trains. You're overcomplicating things by thinking too much."

  "How am I supposed to not think?" I grumpily asked. My brain had always moved a mile a minute. I never not thought.

  "Breathe," he reiterated. He clicked the magazine back into place and sent me a warm smile. "You breathe, and you let go of every tether of your thoughts. You know how to shoot, kiddo, it doesn't matter how far away the targets are. It only matters about what's going on in here-" he tapped my head "- and here." He pointed at my belly.

  "Here?" I patted the cartoon deer on my shirt. "Why here?"

  "Instincts," Dad answered. "Gut feeling. If you focus on these things, you'll stop overthinking about everything else."

  I looked back out at the targets with a frown. It still seemed impossible to get my brain to stop thinking, it was tumultuous, a never-ending whirlwind. Emptiness felt like a far-off dream.

  "This is a pretty tough exercise for a ten-year-old, Jamie," Jonesy said.

  "She can do it," Dad insisted. He handed me back the reloaded gun with a smile as if I'd already made him proud. "Just watch."

  I unlatched the safety and raised my gun. My eyes scanned the targets - eight of them, three moving, five tiny and hidden - and my brain tried to calculate the distance and the angle. It tried to list the outside factors; the breeze and the sun beating down on me, the placement of my feet, the lingering of my dad and godfather behind me.

  Breathe. Instinct. I knew how to shoot. Push everything else to the side.

  My gaze shot to the first target and I pulled the trigger. It wasn't a bullseye, but it landed amongst the rings nonetheless. I moved to the next one, and the next. The moving targets spun wildly as my BB pellet pierced their edges.

  I lowered the gun with a loud exhale. It wasn't a perfect run, but I managed to at least hit the targets - all eight of them. Behind me, my dad and godfather cheered as if I'd gotten the best score they'd ever seen. 

  "That's my girl!" Dad joyously exclaimed. I clicked my gun onto safety and launched into his arms with a squeal of delight. "See? I knew you could do it! You quieten that smart little mind of yours and you can conquer anything."

  I nodded exuberantly. My adrenaline was racing; I wanted to try again. I wanted to keep shooting until I got all the bullseyes.

  My dad patted my back. "You ever get into a tough spot, remember to breathe, kiddo. You've got this."

  Lloyd's whisper slipped from the speaker imbedded in my mask. "Breathe, sunshine." 

  I inhaled, long, slow. I exhaled just the same. Instinct. Gut feeling. I opened my eyes and began to shoot. 

  And just like the last time, it worked. The ghosts closest to me burst into sprays of ectoplasm as soon as my water-bullets struck them, and I managed to give myself some room once again. Nya and I shared a look - her eyes squinted with cheer.

  This was good. Behind the terror, I even found this fun - I didn't have to worry about whether or not Lloyd would find this suspicious, and the burden of keeping my father a secret had lifted a lot more weight than I realised I'd been holding. I was just back at the base, and the ghosts were just more moving targets.

  But they just kept coming. Every ghost Nya and I would take out, another two would replace it. I was beginning to flag - my eyes found Lloyd, but Morro was still too close to the Crystal for him to grab it. And with the Sword of Sanctuary working against Kai's favour, his job to get him away from it wasn't easy.

  When Kai went for his next attack and barrelled past the ready Morro, his attention turned to me. His transparent face twisted with wicked excitement. I faltered beneath his intense focus.

  "Green Ninja!" Morro snarled. He brushed Kai aside with a harsh gust of wind, sending him slamming into a display shelf and bringing the unit down around him. "That gi, that title! Is mine."

  I stumbled backwards as he shot toward me, and I yelped as my feet were swept out from beneath me with an invisible hand. I was flung against the wall and the force sent me crashing through it, splintering the wood and landing on the dock path outside.

  The pain made my head buzz. My vision blurred. My body ached in protest when I tried to get up, my arms shaking too much for me to use. Between the planks I laid upon, I could see the ocean growing more upset, the waves frothing against the barnacle and starfish riddled stilts. The salt smelt so bitter.

  A flaring pain in my waist made me look down and I whimpered at the sight of a piece of wood sticking from the gi. It could be no wider than barrel of my guns that had scattered when I landed, but it burnt with a hurt inferno. The material was slowly darkening around it.

  "Finally," Morro purred. He drifted toward my struggles to bring myself upright and smirked coldly at my failed attempts. "Do you realise how long I've awaited this moment, Lloyd? Every minute I spent in that cursed place after I died, I spent it dreaming of the day that I'd get to take back my rightful title. And now it's here. Isn't Fate so kind?"

  My head still spun, and I couldn't quite hear his gloating through the ringing in my ears that would fade in and out. He drifted closer, slow, because he knew he could take his time. I wasn't able to go anywhere. 

  My eyes spun for a way to fend him off. One of my guns had landed just a few metres away.

  "Wait..." Morro's immoral joy faded the closer he got to me. The shape of my figure had begun to be something unmistakable, and I reached my fingers out for the gun. "You're not Lloyd!"

  I was picked up in another wave of air and slammed into the wall of the shop behind me. The cry of pain cut through my mouth before I could stifle it, and my mask was pulled off in my next sharp, broken inhale. My gaze slid up and had the brief pleasure of seeing his dumbfounded expression.

  It slowly curled into a look of rage. "You. You always get in my way!" Morro leant in closer, and his supernatural presence had my hair standing on end. "You never learn, do you? And I thought you were supposed to be smart!"

  My back ached from where it'd hit the wall. I gasped for ragged breath through the bright flashes of pain. His gaze found the wood impaled shallowly in my waist and narrowed.

  "Hey, Lloyd," Morro spat as he held the mask up to his mouth. "Your stupid plan failed. Now get your ass over here so I can kill you before your precious little girlfriend-" Morro pressed against the wood and I cried in agony. "Really takes your place."

  The pain turned the edge of my vision black. I was growing delirious from it, and I began to stumble for breath that ran away on me. The mask dropped to the wood.

  "You know he'll never put you first," Morro told me apathetically. "If it's between saving you or saving the world, people like him will always choose the world." His head bent in close, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "You deserve more. You deserve someone who will make it all burn just to keep you safe."

  I gritted my teeth and gathered the strength to speak. "You really trying to pull that shit again after threatening to kill me?"

  Morro tilted his head. "Tough love. You needed to learn at some point. Where is your oh-so-wonderful boyfriend then, huh?"

  I hesitated and had the brief worry that Lloyd was so upset with me that he wouldn't come, but then realised that was ridiculous. Before I could defend him, another voice spoke up.

  "Get the hell away from my daughter you trash-rat-lookin' a-hole!"

  Morro flinched as Dad scooped up one of my fallen guns and fired at the ghost, who leapt away from me to avoid it with a scowl. In the next moment, a flash of green hit his side and he yowled with pain, and then Morro disappeared with a burst. I blinked away spots. My relief was brief - he wouldn't be gone for long.

  "Y/n!" Lloyd called in panic. He dashed toward me from the shop he emerged out of and knelt at my side. His eyes widened behind his mask at my injury. "Oh, baby- this is why I didn't want you to come!"

  He begun pawing through the pack on his belt for gauze wrap. Dad swiftly approached, but not without sending Lloyd a suspicious glare. I began to speak before he could open his mouth and blurt more insults - or worse, blame Lloyd.

  "Did you get the Crystal?" I asked.

  Lloyd faltered. "When I heard..."

  I closed my eyes with guilt. There went our plan, ripped to pieces and blown away in the wind.

  "Jesus," Dad mumbled. He looked a little lost as he hovered, watching listlessly as Lloyd quickly pulled out the wood and tended to the shallow wound it left behind. I gritted my teeth to keep my sounds of pain quiet. "Y/n..."

  "I'm fine," I said tensely.

  Lloyd and Dad spoke simultaneously. "You're not fine." They each shot the other a livid glare.

  "Isn't this nice?" I said with a hiss of a breath when Lloyd pulled me up from the wall to begin wrapping my waist. "I'm bleeding out and we all have a mutual enemy. Can't you two be friends?"

  "You're not bleeding out," Lloyd grumbled.

  "Over my dead body," Dad scoffed.

  I rolled my eyes. Can't have shit at the end of the world.

  Lloyd knotted the hasty bandage and held a hand to his mask. "On my way."

  "What happened?" I asked. I looked around for my mask and found it at my feet. He handed it over when I made grabby hands.

  "Nya just said that Morro's returned. He's giving them hell," Lloyd answered. "We need to regroup and come up with another plan." He pushed my shoulders back down when I tried to get up. "You're not coming. Find my parents, they'll take care of you."

  "What?!" I complained, and shrugged his hands off to stand again. "I'm totally fine-"

  I staggered when my waist sent a bolt of buckling pain throughout my body. Lloyd caught me and gave a pointed look that I purposefully turned away from.

  "I hate to agree with him, but he's right," Dad said, and it even looked as though it physically pained him to say it. "I'll take you back to base."

  Lloyd sent him an irritated glare. "My parents can take care of her just fine."

  "I'm not leaving my daughter in the hands of strangers."

  "She has been all summer!"

  Dad gestured to my wound with a look of fury. "And look what happened!"

  Lloyd bit back his next words with disgruntled silence. I didn't like what my father was implying or the expression of self-loathing Lloyd's face had taken.

  "Can you stop it?" I pled. "I have enough to worry about without you two going for each other's throats. Just work together for one day, please."

  Dad crossed his arms unhappily but didn't argue. Lloyd remained quiet.

  "I'm making the decisions for myself, not you two," I continued firmly. I pulled myself from Lloyd's hold and winced at the pain, but powered through it. Adrenaline was wonderful - it'd be a bitch when this was all over, though. "I'm staying to fight."

  "But you're hurt-" my dad insisted.

  "And I can still shoot," I said, holding out my palm for my gun. "You didn't raise me to be a quitter."

  "I didn't raise you to be reckless, either," he grumbled, but handed my weapon over nonetheless. "Does your mother know about all this?" At my hesitance, he closed his eyes with weariness. "I take that as a yes."

  "We're going to need a serious family meeting when this is all over," I mumbled. I pulled my hood back over my head and took Lloyd's hand to bring him out of his stewing silence. "All of us."

  Lloyd turned to head toward the meeting point. At least he didn't drop my hold.

  "Wait a minute!" Dad called after us. "He's not family!"

  "Yes, he is!" I shouted over my shoulder. He yelled a profanity I didn't care to hear.

  I made it three streets before the pain at my waist grew too intense for me to ignore. It was growing and growing, getting worse the longer I moved. Lloyd heard my sharp breaths of pain before I knew I was even making them.

  "Stop," he murmured. He physically held me to a halt when I continued stubbornly marching onward. "Y/n, stop. You'll make it worse."

  "I have to keep going," I said. "I have to help." It was the only way I could think of repaying them all back for keeping my secret. It was the only way I could think of earning their trust again.

  "You don't," Lloyd insisted. He hauled my weight unto him and pulled us into an alleyway hidden by shadows. "You need to rest."

  "I can't rest!" I exclaimed. "I want to help!"

  "Tough!" Lloyd snapped, and pinned me to my spot by the firm hands on my shoulders. "You keep pushing yourself like you are and you won't be good to anyone! You'll break yourself."

  "You keep going-!"

  "I keep going because I don't have a choice!" he argued. "I keep going because I'm used to it. You haven't even started your proper training, yet! Just..." Lloyd took a moment to breathe, and when he spoke again, his voice was softer. "Just take a short break, Y/n. Please."

  I reluctantly did as told, leaning against the wall behind me. My waist throbbed with vicious anger, and I could feel it with each beat of my pulse. My eyes closed with pain. Lloyd sighed and dragged his mask off, taking the spot beside me.

  I couldn't believe how much I was screwing this up. I insisted on being here and helping, but I kept ruining all our plans. I kept hurting people, and hurting myself. I hadn't found my place in Lloyd's world; I had just careened into it like an asteroid and made an even bigger mess of things.

  I pulled up my hood and wiped away my tears of frustration. "Are we gonna die?" I mumbled.

  His hand slid into mine and squeezed. "You won't die."

  I didn't miss how he said 'you' instead of 'we.' I looked up at him and faltered at the steely resolution of his eyes. Even after all this mess I'd made, even after the truth bomb that must've shattered his trust again, he still put me before himself. Between this and the pain of my waist - I couldn't take it.

  "I'm sorry," I blurted, and my choked-up throat made me stumble over my syllables. "I'm so sorry. I never knew he tried to hurt you. I didn't realise it was that bad."

  Lloyd turned his gaze to me. I dropped my head so I could hide my tears, but he pulled me back up to face him, anyway. His gloved thumb wiped them away with a pained look.

  "I'm sorry for speaking to you like that. Kai was right." Lloyd touched his forehead to mine in apology. "Please stop crying, sunshine."

  But his softness only fuelled my remorse. I had a million reasons to cry, but upsetting Lloyd was the singular reason that pushed me over the edge. The world was crashing down around us and he was wiping away my tears.

  He pressed a kiss to my hairline and let my tears soak his gloves. After a long, few moments when my crying had petered off, he asked if I still wanted to keep going. I sniffled back my sobs and nodded determinedly.

  The rest of the team were already coming up with new game plans by the the time we made it to our hidden meeting joint - the sparsely stocked grocery mart that more resembled a corner store. Their mechs had been hidden in alcoves or half-destroyed homes close by.

  Their stares lingered at the way I limped in, at the blood on our gloves. This was something they were all used to, but not on me. I took a seat Cole pulled for me with a grateful smile. Mercifully, no one brought it up.

  "Are the civilians all out?" was Lloyd's first question.

  "Seventy-three percent have been evacuated," Zane answered. "The east side has been blocked off by ghosts. We will need to get them out by boat."

  "Get the Senseis on that," Lloyd directed, and Zane responded with a firm nod before turning away to make contact. "I need the rest of you on offence. The longer we spend taking out ghosts the more that return, and the bigger the rift grows. We can't let it get to the point where the Preeminent can go through.

  "Here's the plan." Lloyd grabbed a newspaper from a half-empty stand and spread it out across the counter before scattering objects across it in the attempt of making a battle map. Ronin's shop was a mentos gum container. The ninja were different coloured jolly ranchers. "We tried to pull him away from the Crystal but that didn't work. He was trained as a ninja, too - he knows all the tricks.

  "Nya and Y/n." He picked up a blue and orange jolly rancher and placed them on the outskirts of the newspaper. "I need you two taking point on the ghosts. The rest of you need to focus on Morro, hit him hard and fast so that he's too preoccupied to defend the Crystal." Four jolly ranchers surrounded a loose mint. "I'll focus on destroying it. It's not pretty, it's not stealthy, but we might just have the power for it."

  "Are we really putting Y/n back into battle?" Kai asked. "She's injured. They could target that."

  I glanced at Lloyd. He tensed at the point Kai made and released his breath in a sigh.

  "Do you want to try to convince her to do something she doesn't want to do?" Lloyd exasperatedly asked. "I think we've all realised by now that we can't. If we sideline Y/n, she'll just find her way back in."

  I meekly blushed, but knew that I would totally do that. Nya snickered. Cole and Jay nodded in agreement.

  "I'll be okay," I reassured a still hesitant Kai. "I have my water guns. I just need to make sure they can't get in close."

  "Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "But don't be a hero, alright? Tell us if you get in trouble."

  I could agree to those terms. I nodded.

  The rooftop I was stationed on was a struggle to climb even with Lloyd's help, and my waist hurt so bad that I almost passed out five times. It was a relief to be settled, even if that left me exposed to the ghosts swarming about the air around us. Lloyd didn't even get to bid me a farewell before he left - I'd been forced to start firing at the dive-bombing ghouls.

  Morro was already fighting off the rest of ninja and I quickly lost sight of Lloyd as he slunk through the streets toward them. On the opposite side of Ronin's shop and the rift it held was Nya, who stood on her own roof and aimed her spouts of sea water she pulled from below the village at the ghosts.

  My stomach was churning but I couldn't be sure if that was because of my fear or because of my powers. The sky was churning, too, its very own ocean of moody clouds and rolling thunder. Bright green ectoplasm from the struck ghosts stained the houses and the wooden planks of the docks below. My side screamed with pain, but I didn't dare stop.

  I must have missed something vital during my shooting, though, because when I next looked over I found the ninja scattered and Lloyd standing before Morro alone. His fists were clenched and surrounded by spheres of his energy, but they spluttered and were dimmer than his power usually was. His strength had still yet to recover.

  They were talking, voices low and spitting with distaste for one another, but I couldn't make out the words. When Morro brandished the Sword of Sanctuary I faltered, and when Ronin's shop began to shudder and lift in the unnatural wind of his powers, I faltered further. He was building himself a castle out of Stiix's ruins.

  "I'm stronger, Lloyd!" Morro's volume had raised into a shout. "I always have been! And I've been inside your head, I know what you're afraid of!"

  The wind tugged at my gi, dragged my feet closer. I struggled just to stay upright. The ghosts were being buffeted around, too focused on fighting the gale to attack. I was transfixed with horror.

  "You could never do it alone, could you?" Morro spat wickedly as rubble and planks of wood began to split away and hover around the ascending structure. "You're weak! You need others just to feel strong! But I- I need no-one!"

  Lloyd was wobbling beneath the strength of the wind, barely able to keep upright as he shoved away floating pieces of rubble and wood that came shooting toward him. My tug pulled me forward. I didn't fight it.

  "Having a family doesn't make me weak," Lloyd said, and his voice was bitter but sad, and I wondered if he saw Morro's memories just as Morro could see his. "But you... you have no-one."

  Morro's face twisted with outrage. I jumped from the short roof and my vision went black for a brief second when I landed and fell. I had to peel myself off of the planks and stumble onwards when the tug urged me to. My palm held my bandage as if it would stop the agony of the wound beneath it.

  "If you're so strong, then what are you waiting for, Lloyd?" Morro sneered from the top of his tower. "An invitation? If you want the Realm Crystal, earn it!"

  Spurred on by his challenge, Lloyd took to the floating debris and cat leapt his way into the sky. The planks and shelves wobbled beneath his weight, but he was already onto the next when it would spin too much and fall.

  The wind was growing stronger, and the rift was getting bigger. I could see the eerie dark blue of it stretching wide through the windows of the self-building structure, I could feel it scratching at my bones. How big would it need to be for the Preeminent? How much time did we have left?

  I looked to my side when I noticed movement from my peripheral and found Kai and Cole staggering upright. They'd must've been shoved back by a cruel wind of Morro's. How could one person be so strong?

  Lloyd continued to leap, fighting both gravity and the occasional opportunity that Morro would use to sweep his next stepping stone away with help from the future seen in his blade. My heart would drop every time he missed and have to scramble for the next piece to save himself from the fall.

  I continued staggering toward him, pulled forward by the incessant tugs that yanked at me. The hand on my side grew sticky. A bad feeling pooled at the small of my back.

  Lloyd clambered onto the roof that Morro stood upon, only to come to a jolting halt when the Sword of Sanctuary's lethal tip touched his chest. His eyes turned up. I forced my legs faster. My arm raised to shoot, but it shook beneath the pain consuming me.

  "It's the end of the line, Lloyd," Morro said. His grin was small and cold, entirely satisfied. He pushed the tip into the folds of his gi. "I'll miss you."

  No, Lloyd! I couldn't get a clear shot, I could barely even keep a straight line. The wind and I fought for my balance.

  Lloyd's fists spluttered their spheres of energy, but it wasn't enough, and we all knew. Morro's grin curled wider. His sword arm raised, and it was like time had slowed.

  I shot. I missed.

  Ronin's airship broke through the clouds and blasted at the roof behind Morro, misbalancing and shocking him enough for Lloyd to escape his range. I watched, stupefied, as Ronin leant out the broken window of R.E.X.

  "Lloyd!" Ronin called, and threw a weapon.

  He reached up and caught it. His sword. His sword of hope.

  "No!" Morro screamed, and brought his sword around to slash at him. Lloyd deflected it with a strike of metal that stung the air. "You vile bug! Why do you persist?!"

  Lloyd smirked through the effort that made him sweat. "'Cause ninja never quit."

  Morro roared in anger and swung again with his sword, his attacks violent and desperate. Lloyd countered them all with strength that began to flag. My tugging grew more feverish, and I was almost stumbling over my own head just to keep up with it. My post had been abandoned - but I'd grown to trust my gut. It knew outcomes before I did, and it was saying that disaster was impending.

  The rift grew, spilling from the windows beneath the fight like an overflow light show. As it did, the awful, grating feeling within me bulged. It felt wrong, it felt uncanny, it felt as if something was trying to forcefully pry its way through my very soul. Unchecked, unfiltered, a freakish break in the laws of our very world. I dragged myself closer.

  Morro couldn't hold both his building castle and attack Lloyd, and the structure finally gave way. It fell to the docks, crashing through the wood and landing half in the water. Lloyd and Morro fell through the brittle roof and into the room with the swelling, swirling rift.

  I barely managed to avoid the spew of rubble and wood with an arm over my head. I looked up in horror, and it grew when I couldn't see Lloyd.

  "Lloyd!" I cried, fearing the worst. I holstered my guns and raced forward, ignoring the blinding pain of my side. I arrived at the destroyed building and peered through the slats. "Lloyd!"

  Movement caught my attention, and then he was standing himself up from the debris with a cough of the dusty air. My consolation at seeing him alive was only short - the Crystal was still standing on its dias, and Morro was still holding his Sword of Sanctuary, but he looked unsure.

  And for a moment, for a single, short moment, it looked like things were turning in our favour. Morro cowered with the first look of fear I'd ever seen on him, and Lloyd stood strong even with his powers half-useful and his shaking, recovering body. We were going to win. It was all going to be over.

  But my stomach was still churning, and the bad feeling at the pit of my chest made my worry only grow. No - this wasn't right. I began clawing at the wooden planks with animalistic determination.

  "Is he in there?" Kai asked from beside me. "Lloyd? Lloyd!"

  "Lloyd, please," Morro begged, edging away when the Green Ninja stepped up onto the dias and stared hard at the Realm Crystal. "You got to have everything."

  "No," Lloyd said. He picked up the Crystal and the rift shivered, my body flinched. "No, I didn't." He lifted his hard-set eyes to Morro. "It needs to be destroyed."

  Morro backed another step. When a low, droning grumble bellowed from the rift and made my hair stand on end, he slowly began to smirk with diabolical victory. I drove my elbow into the wood with shouts of pain.

  "No, Lloyd," Morro said. "You do."

  Lloyd frowned with confusion seconds before a long, dark tentacle shot from the rift and snapped around his waist. He yelped in shock and swung at it with his sword, but another snatched his wrist. The Crystal fell from his hand and rolled across the floor.

  "Lloyd!" Sick with horror, I forced myself through the gap I made. The ninja shouted, clawed their way just as I had. I snatched Lloyd's hand and pulled, but nobody could overpower a primordial being.

  "What is that?" Nya cried. "It's taking him!"

  "What are you doing?!" Lloyd exclaimed. "It'll take you, too!"

  "I can't lose you again!" I sobbed, and yanked harder at him. I wished I knew what my powers could do, I wished I knew how to use them. So desperately did I wish I could turn the tides, but I couldn't, so I futilely pulled.

  Morro had a look of awe at the rift.

  "The gateway is complete," he mumbled happily. He bowed, stepping away from a struggling Lloyd. "My Master has arrived."

  A third tentacle reached and stole Lloyd further. His weakened powers did nothing, and a look of sombre acceptance crossed his face.

  "Let go," Lloyd said.

  "No!" I shrieked, and the mere concept of it had me so appalled that it outweighed the bad feeling at the back of my head. "No, never!"

  "I'm not cursing you with me," he said, and his voice was soft with resolution but his body continued to fight for freedom. "Let go, Y/n."

  But my head was shaking. The idea of it was incomprehensible. I'd never let him go.

  Lloyd knew this, too. He twisted his hand in my grip and pinched a spot on my wrist, and to my utter devastation, my hand fell slack. The last thing I saw of him were his red eyes.

  Lloyd's fingers slipped through mine, and he was gone before I could blink.

  'You won't die.'

  Part of him had known this was going to happen.  He'd known this whole time.

  I fell to my knees, staring hopelessly up at the rift that yawned, the creature that forced its way into my world, having stolen from me the boy I'd failed yet one more time.