The monastery, even from so high up, was vastly impressive. It was small, not nearly as large as the buildings that resided within Ninjago City, but it's architecture was something to behold. From the very walls of the monastery, to the individually and lovingly placed roof tiles, to the golden accents decorating the towering gates, it screamed importance, peace. Even the twisting golden dragons that decorated the very floors added so much to the Monastery of spinjitzu.

But he wasn't here to appreciate the view. Quite the opposite, actually.

From where he leant against the cherry parapet, he could see three figures excitedly waving at him from below, one red, one white, and one adorning the armour of a samurai: His friends. He doesn't wave back at them, simply securing the spear of Concentration awkwardly in his shoulder-sword scabbard. It tussled around a little, but he payed no mind to it; it wouldn't be staying in there for long, anyways.

As The Bounty became fully stationary above the monastery walls, he prepared a rope, tying it to the edge of The Bounty before throwing it down. It hung just above the ground, right over the mouth of the dragon engraved in the pavement. His friends gathered near where it hung, and glanced up at him excitedly.

His hands press against the railing. With a glance behind him, staring silently at the mess spread across the deck of the bounty, he turns away and leaps off the edge.

Blisters burn onto his hands as Lloyd slides down the rope, ground growing nearer at an almost worrying pace, but he does not care for the meaningless injuries anymore. He could heal them in an instant with the ever fanning flame of his heritage.

Overconfidence was a lighthouse, and Lloyd is the moth.

His descent slows as the ground is just a few feet away from him, and he releases the rope from his raw grip.

He faces his friends. He looks normal, as normal as a ninja can, at least. His gi is fresh and clean, orderly and untainted by stains of injuries and battles.

The team in front of him are ecstatic with solace and joy, and Kai bounds up to him, arms wrapping tightly over his shoulders.

The fire ninja sighs, and it fades into a laugh, "You're okay!" He can hear the smile on his face, stretching widely across his face. His arms squeeze at Lloyd, and he absent mindedly wraps a single arm loosely over his brothers back, feeling it bump up and down as he laughs.

"You're okay!" Kai repeats, as if he couldn't believe it. Somehow his hug grows tighter, and Lloyds breath halts in his chest. A set of cold arms thud around the two shortly after, squeezing them tightly.

"It is good to see you, Lloyd," Zane adds, voice fond as his hand pats his shoulder from where it wrapped around them.

He feels another cold hand press firmly against his shoulder, and from the corner of his eyes he sees Pixal. She's lagging behind, not feeling welcome in the group hug, but she smiles, face melting with relief and screaming what she doesn't say: "Glad to see you back.". He doesn't smile back.

Kai pushes away from the embrace as quickly as he initiated it, knocking Zane back as well as he stood with both hands holding his shoulders, jostling him around passive-aggressively as his eyes scanned the flaxen-haired boy for injuries.

"You are okay, right? It wasn't a trap after all?" He forcefully turns Lloyd a little, glancing over his shoulder and still not seeing any injuries. He pauses for a second, wincing, "Was Harumi there?"

Zanes face furrows in concern from where he stood.

He rips his gaze away from the nindroid and purses his lips into a smile. "Woah, one question at a time, Kai. I'm fine." He decidedly ignores the other questions for now.

Pixal's head shifts back to stare up at The Bounty expectantly. Lloyds expression complicates, a frown creeping onto his face as she stares back at him. Her brow knots as if she's trying to ask him a question with just her stare, and Lloyd knows exactly what it was. He would be caught soon.

"Could see better days, though."

Kais hands jump from his shoulders, seemingly happy with the answer, and he pats them one last time before bringing them back down to his side. He grinned, clearly ecstatic that his surrogate brother had returned unharmed from a journey that he had learnt to be dangerous.

Lloyd can see in Kai's eyes that he's desperate to bombard Lloyd with questions about the mission, questions that he would less than likely answer, but he holds himself back as he folds his hands over each other in front of him.

He strains a smile, "Before I get ahead of myself, we should probably tell you about what he found out at the explorers club..." He steps away from where he stood- directly in front of Lloyd and gestured for Zane to take it away. He takes the silent invitation with a smile.

"We met with the members of the explorers club, and their leader informed us that that the explorer found the whereabouts of the spear through their archives, and took one of the members as hostage." Lloyd nods. This, he had not known, but he supposes that explains the presence of the strange man on The Bounty. Well, who was on The Bounty. "We are not entirely sure about the details, but we are sure that the explorer planned to send out the message as bait, to lure you in. And that, uh..." Zane pauses, sharing a glance silent with Kai, an unusual characteristic for the ice ninja, "We are also sure that Harumi is the explorer."

Huh, he notes. The information seemed to tick boxes in his mind, dots connecting conclusions written. He nods, eyebrows clenched.

Zane raises a brow at his otherwise underwhelming response. "I'm guessing you already knew?"

His face melts into a genuine grimace. "I figured." The kabuki mask made it so obvious: The same purple, beady-eyed mask she used when working for the Crystal King- was she trying to make it obvious?

He wonders, for just a second, where she was right now. He wonders if her plan turned out how she expected it to.

Kai sighs in front of him, un-tenting his fingers and gesturing them in an almost shrug. "We tried to warn you guys, but we never got a response," He explains. "Did you get the message?"

"I wouldn't know," he replies honestly. "Wasn't exactly around to get any messages."

Kai raises his eyebrows at him in question, and Zane furrows his even deeper. Pixel continues to stare at him but he doesn't look at her.

To answer the silent question, Lloyd reaches a hand over his own shoulder, grabbing at the golden weapon haphazardly tucked into his scabbard, pulling it out and twisting it around his arm to hold it at his side, hardly gesturing it.

Kais eyes widen at it, eyebrows creasing, as he seems to understand the implications of the weapon at his side. If he saw the uncleaned brown and red blood caked into the crevaces and surface of the spear, he didn't say anything. If any of them saw his grip reaffirm across the middle of the spears body, head tapping against the ground silently, then only Pixal reacted as Lloyd spotted her backing away just a tiny bit. He shoots her a glare, as if to say "Just wait."

A new figure replaces Kai in front of him and Zane pushes to stand in front of him, hand gently grabbing his attention as it rests against his shoulder. Lloyd glances at the nindroid as he quietly asks him if he's okay.

He nods. "I'm fine now, but you were right: it was a trap." He lowers his head, ever so slightly, just enough so that he stares at him through the edge of his brow. "I ended up on the Dark Island, but... the others got there soon enough."

The ice ninja winces at and grips his other shoulder with his second hand, checking him over similarly to how Kai had just minutes earlier. "Are you injured anywhere? Let me-"

"No. I'm not, I don't need any help." He brushes one of the chilling hands off his shoulder and takes a step back, but Zanes grip on his other shoulder remains firm, holding him in place.

"Are you sure? There's no harm in a little-"

"I said I don't need any help," He back-handed the other hand off of him. He couldn't help the way his volume increased, the way he bared his teeth in an almost animalistic snarl, or the way he let the aggression seep into his posture and face, his eyebrows flaring and knotted together all the same, his fist white-tight against the body of the spear, the foot opposite to the spear jutted slightly forward, as if he was about to lunge. (He'll be honest, he was absolutely about to, but he would drag out the inevitable until absolutely necessary, despite how the voice begged him to just get it over with, teasing him with flashes and images of what he could do once all is done.)

He couldn't help the nauseous feeling of shame drag down his throat and spine. He couldn't help it when any form of help cutt deep into his stomach and mind and soul, he could do everything just fine by himself, why was everyone underestimating him? They think you're weak, the voice would whisper, only it sounded less like a voice now than it did his subconscious.

All of their stares grow too much for him: Zanes confused gaze, eyes not leaving his face as he seemed to scan it for clues but was left with none. Kais blinks that scanned between the two nindroids, concern evident on his expression, but confusion even more so as he stared at his strangely acting surrogate-brother. And Pixal. Her glare was scrutinising and relentless, she knew, somehow she knew everything he just knew it, he knew she did by the way her stare just would not break, unblinking and accusing.

He can't break the eye contact once he looks back at her, and he feels this scratchy, bitter feeling in the back of his throat. She opens her mouth to speak, "Lloyd..." She starts. Don't say it. Don't say it- "Where are the rest of the ninja?"

Zane gasps, and Kais body jolts as they both shoot their gazes up at The Bounty. It looks down at them, stagnant and lonely. Silent. Kais' brow twitches, Zanes eyes flash bright for a second, before a thin line of light scans horizontally over the lens of his eye. They finally realised:  No one had followed Lloyd down.

His heart rate quickens, and he huffs a quick breath out and clenches his eyes shut for a second. He opens them, simultaneously clenching his hold on the spear.

Zanes eyes cease to flash brighter, and he frowns at the results, his mouth opening just slightly so he can say anything, but just as his head lowers to stare back at the green ninja, Lloyd sends power into his palm, swinging the spear a massive arch. It cracks across Zanes face with enough force to dent the titanium exoskeleton that protected him. The lens of his eye shattered beneath the blade, and Zane is knocked backwards. His hands fly out behind him to catch himself, but Pixal jumps to grab him, pulling him back to his feet but dragging him away from the danger. His fingers press against the injury, flinching as sparks jumped from his eyes and shocked at his fingers, some kind of oil leaking from behind the socket, into the abbrased metal and down his face, staining his white gi and the distinguished concrete below him.

His remaining eye flickers to Lloyd, his mouth agape in shock and his eye wide. The air became stale.

Lloyds hands return to his side, the spear tapping once, twice against the floor. He huffs, evening out his quickened breath. His heart pounds against his rips and he feels almost surprised by his actions as he stared wide-eyed at the nindroid, but mostly, he just felt upset. Why did everyone insist on pointing out when someone was missing? Can't they just ignore it and not force Lloyd's hand?

Kai stood completely frozen, staring mouth agape at the harsh indentation stretching across the titanium ninjas face. The force behind Lloyds attack... it was enough to bend- and in some areas even abrase- titanium. The fact was simply incomprehensible to Kai- he didn't even know if Cole's earth punch would be able to cause such damage. It was terrifying.

But what was more terrifying was who the attack had come from.

Kais gaze slowly turns back to Lloyd, who silently meets his stare. His expression is hardly readable, complicated, his eyebrows staunch and his lips pulled tight and his nose scrunched. His eyes- Kai doesn't know how he didn't notice- but the warm green glow of his powers wasn't present, instead dark, colourless iris replaced them, devoid of guilt and consumed by bitterness and devotion, the same colour as his mothers dark eyes. Lloyds head tilts slightly toward him, and the sunlight catches on one of his eyes, highlighting the faint devilish vermillion colour he'd inherited from his father.

Kai leans forward, ever so slightly. "Lloyd?"

He does not respond.

He just stares.

Kai takes a single step forward, his fingers flexing at his sides and his face overcome with denial, and concern. Pixal sees this, and briefly releases Zane from her protective grip- he wobbles, only slightly, the "bleeding" has stopped- before rushing forward to grab at Kais shoulder, gently yanking him back, away from the danger that made her sensors flare in alarm, away from their friend.

Lloyd rips his stare away from the two, and back to Zane as he opens his mouth to mutter underneath a trembling metal hand. "...I did not sense any energy signals on the Bounty."

Kais breath loudly shudders as he pushes against Pixals hold, but fails. "Lloyd, where is my sister?"

He tries, again, to get away from her grip, eyes staring intently at Lloyd, waiting impatiently for an answer. He doesn't get one.

"Where is Cole?" He tries again.

Lloyds silence is an answer in itself.

He briefly ponders what he could say to get out of the situation- they stayed behind, they're on the dark island, you're sensors must be broken 'cause they're totally on The Bounty- but it was probably too late for that, judging by the harsh, disorderly mark stretching across Zanes face. Besides, some sick, twisted side of him- no, not him, the voice, but it was getting hard to separate it from his own mind- wanted to face the consequences of his actions, and come out victorious.

So he doesn't respond.

He just takes a step forward, slowly and predatorily, force and aggression in his stride and venom leaking from his face. Pixal drags Kai away from him further, but Kai backs up himself, finally recognising the danger in full light.

The three stare daggers at him as he advance towards them, and each step he takes forward they take one back, engaging in the same dance he he'd been in with Jay, and Nya, and Cole, and Wu, and even Harumi. They stare at him as if he's been possessed- and maybe that's what they believed, it was an easy enough conclusion to make, but they were surely smart enough to see that his eyes weren't that murky, dangerous green of a ghost- or any shade of green, for that matter. They flashed cruel, metallic purple every step he took, in fact, tendrils of the same shade running down his arms like sand to his hands.

Eventually, after the slow, antoginsing waltz they engaged in, he stops. The three pause after one last step away, their expressions an absolute delight to the voice in his head. Zane and Pixal- undeniable hurt pooled in their eyes like tears they couldn't cry, the ultimate look of betrayal, the one you'd give someone before you yelled and screamed and cried and cursed them for being such a filthy, traitorous bastard. Kai seemed to be in the earlier stages of realisation, softly shaking his head and mouthing no, no, no, under his breath, denial caking his expression.

The air is silent, and it makes the headache that was the voice even louder, it's laughter sending pins and needles down his spine. It sounded as if it was maliciously grinning as it egged him on, pushing him into the steps of their plan. He listens eagerly, awaiting the incoherent instructions.

Kai finally ceases his mumbling, shuffling one foot forward and challenging Lloyd with his posture.

"What did you do?" He demands. He lacks confidence, so unlike his usual self. Instead his voice is drowned in fear.

Lloyd decides that this was a question that he would answer, "You'll see."

Oni power flashes to life in his eyes, coating the world in a sugary purple hue and his hands explosively light up with the same metallic power that trickled to the floor like magma, rather than sand. Within an instant, Zane leaps forward, striking the ground with a glowing fist, disabling ice cracking across the ground toward him, but Lloyd rolls to his side to avoid it. The trail follows him like a disease, so Lloyd blasts the magic with his finger tip, cutting off the attack with a flurry of mangled snow flakes. Once on his feet again, he lunges forward in an arching strike. Pixal ducks, hurdling over her shoulder to his left, Zane dodges backwards, and Kai doesn't move, too far from the attack for it to be necessary. He makes no move to attack, or even defend himself, he just stands horrified, away from the battle. So unlike his usual self.

Lloyd ignores him. Whether out of guilt or pity, not even he knew.

So instead he sets his full attention on the nindroid duo.

The spear in his hands feels lighter and lighter as he swings it between them, over and over. Neither of them were human, or even technically alive, for that matter. He had no idea if the spears abilities would work on the two. He'll have to make do, just hope that it does; If it doesn't, then he'll have no choice but to strike them hard enough that they won't be able to get back up. He doesn't want to think about what he'll have to do if even that doesn't work.

Zane jumps to the side of a jab sent his way, this time wacking it to the side hard enough to cause Lloyds posture to falter. Pixel seizes this moment to drop down, kicking her leg out in an arch to swipe Lloyds out from underneath him, Zane already charging up another icy attack and ready to subdue him once he falls, but Lloyd kicks up, one leg tucked closely underneath him while the other kicked him into momentum. He spun in the air, boot just hardly missing Pixals skull. As he began to fall he felt the faint chill of ice below him, and absent mindedly shot a handfull of destructive power below him, destroying the attempt at apprehension and paving a safe place for him to land. The chill of the ice and oni power combined shook a chill through his boots, up his legs.

Pixel faces Lloyd, while Zane stands readily behind him, Kai nowhere within his vision. A punch flies over his shoulder, where his own head once was, and he turns his back to Pixal, jutting the spear out in a missed jab to the stomach.

Lloyd swung the spear down, up, down, in x's over and over, each time forcing Zane to block the blow with his forearms, not able to do anything about the indentations that slowly began to litter them. Each swing, he took a step back, and each step back Lloyd took one forward, entering the dance one more time before Zanes eyes betrayed him. He shot a glance, brief but Lloys spotted it a second too early, to the courtyard behind his aggressor.

Lloyd risked a look, frowning as the sight of a large red-and-blue mech filled his vision: Samurai-X. Pixal was bounding off towards it, strides large and quick, nearly there, but Lloyd wouldn't have it. He stepped away from Zane, before condensing oni energy into his hands and watching as it shot out like a cannonball. The ice ninja yells out a second too late as the blast connects with her back, forcing her into the far wall like a wave. She cracks against it with a striking noise, and even from the distance Lloyd can see the tell-tale signs of a short circuit: Her eyes twitched, flashing on and off as her eyebrows spasmed and sparks flew from her temple. Her hands lay limp beside her, concerningly.

Zane yells out again, trying to warn her as Lloyd prepares for a second strike. It lands on deaf ears as she doesn't move, eyes unfocussed, and a fatal blast of destruction shoots out her way, just moments away from-

A snake of ice spreads across the ground toward her, a spike growing from it fast as lightning and blocking the blast from hitting her. It shattered all the same, shards of ice flurrying across the ground before melting away in the spring sun, leaving wet spots on the concrete.

No matter.

Deeming her as less than a threat, Lloyd turns his attention back to Zane. A shuriken whisks past his face, and he ducks under a second, shuffles to the side at a third, but unable to dodge the fourth. It flew in a low arch, invisible to him as he prepared to strike with the spear, and lodged directly into his thigh.

He grunts, teeth gritting, but again, it was no matter. He simply rips the shuriken from the wound, hissing at the feeling before hurling it to the ground beside him carelessly. It was less than smart to remove the weapon, but as the wound made itself visible that no longer seemed to be a problem. A single pump of blood escaped the wound, before the exposed artery seemed to glue itself back together, then the ligament, which connected with stringy bits of flesh that reminded him of well-cooked chicken, and then the mouth of the wound seemed to merge like a zip, going pinkish, then white, then fading away to the rest of his skin. Purple sand pumped beneath his skin, visibly, but Lloyd had stopped paying attention.

He swung the spear at the horrified ice ninja, who blocked it with the palm of his hand, last second, but Lloyd didn't let that stop him. He grabbed it, horizontally, and pushed it into Zane, who grabbed it similarly, palm digging directly into the blade with no affect. They push, and shove, and Zane charges it forward, almost knocking Lloyd off balance, but it wasn't enough. He charged his readily-fueled hands, oni power assisting him as he rammed the spear forward. Zanes arms gave way, at the spears body knocked into his throat. He leaned backwards, just a little, but Lloyd takes advantage of this as he hooks his legs out from underneath him. Zane tumbles, balance gone, trying to use the leverage of the spear to pull himself up. Lloyds foot  stomps against his chest, however, knocking his back onto the ground entirely. His fingers slip from the spear, and Lloyd greedily takes it back for himself, rotating it until the head pointed above Zanes chest.

Zanes eyes- well, eye- stares up at in horror, looking down the body of the spear. The wound on his face- not a drop of purple dust lined the abrasive indentation. The spears abilities would not work on the nindroid.

He grits his teeth in preparation, closing his eyes as he loaded his power into the spear. He couldn't bare to watch. He knew that if he looked while he did it, he'd never be able to live with himself. Couldn't bare to see the loss of life in his eyes as he betrayed him for a final time.

But he commits.

He could feel as the power condenses into the point of the spear, and just as he is about to let it blast out, strike Zanes power source and end him once and for all, a flaming-hot impact strikes the back of his skull.

The world flashes from his vision, for just a second. He legs go numb and he wobbles away from Zanes figure. His eyes shut tightly, on reflex, and as he opened them the world seemed blindingly bright, piercing his vision painfully and making the splitting pain at the back of his head seem to hum, ticklish trickles of blood running down the back of his neck. It ached. Nausea tries to eat away at him, but he pushes it aside all too quickly, tearing his eyes open and turning to face his attacker.

Red gi meets his eyes. Then his face. Kais entire face is furrowed, severe. He finally seemes to have gotten through his thick skull what was happening, and he was ready to make up for joining the party late.

The red ninja scowls at him, sadly. Lloyd is too out of it to focus on his expression.

Kai swings his fist, lit by flames, and all Lloyd can do is step back and watch as it flies past his chest. A second one lights up and cuts through the air in an upwards arch that would have broken his jaw, had he not parried it to the side with an oni-fuelled chop.

They fall into a rhythm of swing, dodge, swing, dodge, Lloyd fully defensive. He dodges each and every swing with unhuman and eerily calculated speed, not allowing himself to lack, not allowing himself to show that weakness, much less an opening. Even despite the concussion he was most likely sporting, he would not allow himself to fall.

The voice laughed at him.

Blistering flames licked at the exposed skin of his face as punches flew past- it reminded him oh so nicely of torchfire mountain.

Lloyd didn't bother switching to offense, quite enjoying the break that simply dodging Kai's desperate attacks gave him. Sure it wasn't the ideal break but it was better than nothing. It reminded him fondly of training sessions spent sparring with his surrogate brother.

The nausea didn't seem to fade away, the fighting and the bright flames whisking past his eyes just making the sick ess gathering in the pit of his stomach and the back of his throat worse. He winced at a particularly bright flame, closing his eyes for just a second, and Kai seizes this opportunity.

He drops down and swings his leg out to kick Lloyds out from under him, but he simply jumps over it.

Again, Kai seizes the opportunity, leaning back on his hands as Lloyd lands and pushing off the ground with one leg. That same leg kicks out in an arch, hurtling through the air at what seemed like maximum velocity, impossible to dodge, but almost teleports backwards, using the momentum of the movement to jump in to another spin. His leg kicks up, and Kai can't dodge in time. It cracks against the sound of his head, and instantly, Kai's body crumbles to the floor, unconscious.

Lloyd huffs, breathing sharply. He slowly moves forward to stand over Kai, feet either side of his stomach.

He raises tbe spear. He knew he wouldn't be able to bring it down. At least not by himself, but he knew he had to. He allows the purple to completely take over his vision. His arms tense on their own, muscles flexing and unflexing as he prepared to bring the spear down. His arms shook, even with the Oni power aiding them. He didn't understand: why was it so much harder with Kai? Why was he hesitating?

He just needed to hurry, the quicker the better for all of them. So his arms tighten, preparing to plunge the spear down in an injury that will send him quickly to the Dark Island, where the missing members of their team would welcome him with uncomfortably open arms.

Goodbye, Kai.

An explosion of cold bursts at his calves, in tendrils up the back of his thighs and around his knees. In a panic, the purple entirely dispersed from his vision as he stares wide-eyed at the eyes rapidly invading him.

Quickly, too quickly, the ice was at his back, at his shoulders, and he gasped. Fear coursed through him and his powers completely left him like traitorous snakes. He panicked, yelling out, but the ice was at his straining neck and he could hardly control his arms as it ran over his biceps, and he dropped the spear. It landed on Kai, hardly grazing his shoulder, but the cut was still there.

He felt satisfied, oddly enough, with that information. There was nothing Kai could do now- the spears abilities would take ahold of him. He wasn't sure if the notion shoulder bring him peace or not, but it did.

It ran thin as his face was half coated in the freezing substance, and he didn't bother closing his eyes as his last moments of consciousness were spent watching as the ice ran over his outstretched fingers.

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