Legends of Ninjago: Book 3: The Four Fangs

Chapter 21: Old Friends and Hated Faces

Wu watched as that black, bony hand was extended toward him.

    "What has Lloyd gotten himself into?"

    "Far more than I ever thought possible," said Wu, accepting the hand and rising to his muddy feet. "Lloyd has awoken the Serpentine."

    Garmadon's eyes hardened slowly. He turned away, watching the horizon, seemingly thinking of a million things at once. "That idiot boy. Why did I... I never teach him about our history when I had the chance?"

    "You and I both know the reason, and it is not your fault."

    "HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!" Garmadon spat.

    Wu simply watched him, seething and haggard, and reserved himself. This was no time to open up old wounds.

    "We must hurry. The Chieftains have him under their sway," he said, picking up his mud-covered staff.

    "And how would you propose we get back to Ninjago?" Asked Garmadon, crossing his four arms. "Fly?"

    "By tea, of course." Wu pulled out a small tin of leaves from inside his robe and smirked.

    "And how were you planning on using it?"

    Wu was about to pull out his tea pot and revel in the small satisfaction of proving his smug brother wrong, when he suddenly blinked. He felt all over his person, digging through his robes, hopelessly trying to find the tea pot... that... he had left... on top of the mountain... when he'd first entered the Dark Realm. He put a hand up to his forehead and could feel his wrinkles stretching.

    "Perhaps I may have mislaid it..." he mumbled, not looking Garmadon in the eye.

    The older brother gave a tight laugh. "You come all this way to find me and you can't even manage to remember something as simple as that!"

    "Time has begun to take its toll on me," Wu said pointedly. "Far more than I realised."

    "I believe what you mean to say is that you're old."

    Wu's beard twitched.

    "Well then, it looks like it's up to me to save your hide, yet again. This way," said Garmadon, walking within the shelter of the cliffs. The wind was not quite so abrasive here, but the sand was still whipped up and scraped against their sandal-clad feet.

    Wu watched his brother's back and felt a heavy breath enter his lungs. He wondered if, had Lloyd's life not been in danger, would he have come back for Garmadon? It felt disloyal of him, given their familial relation, but the sate of Ninjago was largely the fault of the man who now stood a mere three feet ahead of him. He was a menace to civilised society, that much was certain. However... no amount of darkness could trick Wu into forgetting the face of his own brother. His eyes may have changed colour, but they were his. His body may have become twisted, but underneath it all, it was still familiar. He may be a fool of an old man to believe that there was still hope for him... but their father had never given up. So neither would he.

    "Your hair has grown," Wu absentmindedly noted.

    "Yes, that's what happens when you become stranded in a desert without scissors for two years."

    Wu frowned. "One year."

    "What?" Garmadon looked back with an irritated red eye and Wu repeated,

    "One year. That's how long you've been here."

    "I don't need my goody-two-shoes brother to tell me how to keep track of time," he snarled back, and continued trudging on.