Darkness from Within #2: Tension Rising (A Ninjago Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

The next day, Lloyd watched Cole leave the room. He couldn't help but notice how the black ninja's muscles relaxed as he headed down the hall. Everyone always seemed so tense around him, as if they expected him to do something. But what? Lloyd wondered. What do they think I'm going to do?

He shrugged the question out of his mind as Garmadon entered the room. Seeing his father always put a smile on his face.

But Garmadon froze for a minute. Something flashed in his eyes and he turned his head away.

Confused, Lloyd called, "Dad? Are you okay?"

When Garmadon turned back toward him, his face was warm again, as if nothing ever happened. "Of course, Lloyd," he answered. "How about you?"

Lloyd slipped off the bed onto his feet. He wobbled a bit, but with the help of his father he steadied himself. "I'll feel better once I can walk on my own two feet," he muttered.

They walked over to the window together.

Garmadon glanced at his son lovingly. "I'm just glad you're alive."

Lloyd tilted his head. "Why wouldn't I be?"

The sensei hesitated. "Well... when we found you in the fire, I wasn't sure you'd make it," he murmured honestly. "You just seemed so weak... so out of sorts..."

Lloyd threw his arms around Garmadon, letting the protected feeling his father gave him fill him. "I'd pull through anything to see you again, Dad."

Garmadon allowed Lloyd's love toward him to soothe his nerves. The truth was, he had seen his son's puzzled gaze when Cole left the room, and the expression seemed so similar to the one Lloyd had given him in the trance. His heart had broken when his son hadn't recognized him, and that horrid feeling had almost crept up on him again.

"Thank you," Lloyd's voice breathed in his ear.

"For what?" Garmadon asked as they drew apart again.

Lloyd shuffled his feet. "For not giving up to find me," he answered honestly. "After I was taken hostage to a place you had no idea where it was located, I thought you would give up on me."

Garmadon stared into his son's eyes. "I would never give up on you."

Lloyd looked at his feet. "Thank you... for caring," he murmured. His face suddenly fell. "When I feel like no one else does."

Garmadon felt a jolt of surprise. "What are you talking about?" he exclaimed. "Everyone is overjoyed to have you back!"

"I don't know," Lloyd sighed. "Everyone just seems so... wary around me."

Garmadon forced his panic down. "The relief that you're alive is just too much for them to bear."

Lloyd nodded slowly. "I guess."

Garmadon opened up his arms, chuckling. "Come here."

Lloyd once again threw his arms around his father. "I love you, Dad," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Lloyd." But as soon as Lloyd couldn't see his expression anymore, Garmadon's face dropped.

Lloyd was noticing the tension between him and the others, and that could only mean trouble was down the road.

* * *

The ninja were seated around the table, munching dinner away. There was nothing uncomfortable like last time holding them back.

Lloyd was already fast asleep in his bed upstairs, and that gave Garmadon the comfort that he could say what he needed to.

"Everyone, we have a bit of a situation," he addressed the group. They all turned to him and went silent. "Lloyd is picking up on the tension we have around him, and we all know that's not good."