Shattered

Chapter 24

Author's Note: Heyyyy...so long time no see. I don't have much to say here, really, besides a simple enjoy this absolute beast of a chapter and a thank you. Thank you to the new readers, to the people that have been waiting for me from the beginning, and to the kind words of encouragement and understanding that I've been endlessly given.

Have fun! <3

**Oh, also, there's a small section in this chapter where Lloyd's childhood experiences with the S.S.I.A and David are brought up and mentioned. If you want to skip the section I will add these ~~~~ when it starts and when it ends, so you will know when it is okay to start reading again. I will also post a comment giving a brief explanation of that section, just so that no one will miss anything.

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Lloyd hadn't felt this good in a long ass time.

Well, not emotionally good, since he's been wanting to curl up into a ball and cry for the past few days, constantly, without a moment of peace.

And maybe not mentally because his brain was screaming at him that he needed to stop stop stop, stop what he was doing, stop moving, stop taking, stop breathing, stop living because what he was doing was wrong and Lloyd was evil and cruel and a monster for doing this to people-

-but then there was the other half of his brain.

The other half was loving the way their energy was screaming at him to let them go, let them live, let them remake themselves because energy couldn't be created or destroyed

and Lloyd absorbing it into himself, into his eyes, his chest, his limbs, was as close to destruction as it could get.

Not destroyed completely.

Twisted and manipulated and changed so it would fit him, become a part of him, instead of the hundreds of people he just stole the life from.

Stole the breath from their lips.

The light from their eyes.

Maybe even their souls...if people even had them.

So no, his brain was screaming at him in two opposing sides and his emotions are fucked to all hell so he couldn't, can't feel good there.

He won't feel good again until he has his family, his...Kai, in his arms, real and alive and breathing.

But physically?

Goddamnit he felt good.

The energy those life forces gave him felt like he had been shot with adrenaline, no, more than that. It was like when they were on the dark island and they had climbed up that mountain, the elemental swords, the bell, the light, the rush of nothing but pure, unadulterated power rushing through his veins.

That was the controlled energy, the goodness, the light, a trickle that flowed through his body and settled deep into his bones. Slow and sweet and it felt like something of his that he had lost long ago and it clicked back into where it was supposed to be.

The power rushing through his veins now? Now it felt like he was trying to push back a tidal wave, no not back, pull it in. His body, his bones, his muscles was like the beginning of a tsunami, pulling the water back into sea just so be pushed out and used later.

The new energy stopped the ache in his bones, the throbbing from the nearly completely healed stab wound, the pinching and pulling of his shoulder. His body felt like when Kai was holding him, no, not quite but close enough for a sense of euphoria to wash through him.