Crystal Heart (Lloyd x Male Reader)

[S5] The Crooked Path

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Italics = Reader's thoughts

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As soon as we got back to the Tea Farm we set up defenses to keep Morro and his goons at bay when they come for the Sword of Sanctuary. I created a Deepstone wall around the property while the other Ninja worked on setting up defenses in the courtyard. I went back into the Tea shop, seeing Wu and Misako look over books and scrolls, sprawled out all over the front counter. "Any luck?" I ask them as Wu heads to drawings of the three symbols on the wall. 

"Not yet. There's not much on the tomb and even fewer that speak of it's location. There's so much we don't know." Misako explained with a sigh before continuing to look through the book in front of her. I go over to her pile of books and scrolls and pick up an unopened one and start to look through it. "We know the skull represents his tomb." Wu states. "But from everything that was ever written about it, there's nothing in Ninjago that matches its description. Where is it? The clues are all right here, but what are we missing?" Misako said, a bit frustrated. 

Wu sighs. "We mustn't give up. If Morro finds it first and takes the Realm Crystal, I'd hate to think what would happen next." Wu muses solemnly. "Maybe we are looking at this all wrong. We have all this information but maybe we should focus more on the clues from the staff." I say gesturing to the drawings of the three symbols. As Misako started to open her mouth to say something, a loud alarm bell rang out. "The early-detection warning system." Misako exclaims. 

I run out of the shop and see water balloons fly through the air and douse a postman in water. He didn't look too happy. I turned back into the shop. "False alarm. It was just the postman." I say going back to help Misako and Wu research more. Following up on my theory on the clues, I was currently looking through texts on the Scroll of Airjitzu and the Sword of Sanctuary. So far nothing. There has to be something here. I can feel it. I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion. Maybe I need a break though. 

I walk to the back and see Nya trying to command water again with a fountain while Ronin worked on cleaning his airship R.E.X. As I walked up to them Nya threw her hands in the air in frustration as she groaned. She hasn't had the best time of late controlling her power and she is still hesitant from going from a Samurai to a Ninja. She often rants to me about her doubts and how she feels forced into this. "Giving up already?" Ronin asks, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Course not. Sensei thinks if I get over my fear of failure, I'll be able to control the water." Nya told us. 

She throws her hands in the air and turns away from us. "Sure, I made it rain when I wasn't even paying attention, but here I can't seem to stop a single drop." Nya said defeatedly before groaning again. "There's a reason they say you can't beat a river into submission." I advise her. She doesn't seem to listen as she groans and clenches her fist as she stares at the water as it slowly drops. When nothing happens, she sighs again before Ronin walks forward. 

"Wanna know about failure, should've asked me. Heck, I made a career out of it. Word of advice: don't try so hard. You can't fail if you don't care." Ronin says as he fills his bucket with water from the stream. "Don't try? What sort of backwards advice is that? Of course I'm gonna try hard. That's how one excels and— " Nya says before I interrupt her. "Nya, look." I say pointing back to the fountain. The water was flowing back up the fountain instead of dripping down. "Oh my gosh! I'm doing it. I'm really doing it!" Nya exclaims excitedly, throwing her hands in the air. I chuckle at her excited reaction and cheer with her in excitement. 

Ronin chuckles as well. "Like I said, don't care so much. Usually when someone wants something too badly, they'll trip over their own feet." Ronin states before starting tio scrub R.E.X. again. "Wow!" Nya says as she jumps on the fountain. I walk over to her. "I'm glad to see you're getting a handle on your powers." "Finally, right?" she asked jokingly. I chuckled. "I knew you'd get it eventually. You never give up. You're going to be a great Ninja." Her smile fades a bit.