"Did you ever think your fears would come true?"
"No. It was one thing I never saw coming..."
"Do you regret turning this way?"
"Never."
...
This is fanfiction. Ninjago belongs to the Lego Group and co. I only own this Alternate Universe and this bo...
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"Listen, guys!", said Nya.
It had been a bit since the meeting with Harumi and Garmadon and the Ninja knew not a thing about it...
"Hm?", Lloyd acknowledged as the others perked up.
Harumi was getting ready for the ritual to awaken/unleash the Crystal King, or better yet, the Overlord. It was a necessary step, they discussed, to remove any chance of arousing suspicion.
"If we're going to risk everything for this mission, we better do it now. We need to infiltrate their base again but we're being tracked down by the Crystal Counsel, no sign of Harumi and we're on a goose chase with McBrag! It's going to get worse if we don't do something!"
"We'll find a way out of this, we always do, sis.", said Kai as he side hugged her and rubbed her shoulder. He tried to calm her down but he himself felt helpless yet again.
Nya looked at him for a second before looking down to her feet, shaking her head with a sigh.
The others looked sullen, not much better than the young woman, while Lloyd didn't know what to feel:
Why was he acting like this? Why did he lose all feeling? He was lost but yet he felt like he was found. Why? After all the betrayal, shouldn't he feel the least bit threatened by the ones he teamed up with? No, not one feeling at all. He felt numb.
Maybe he should've felt guilty but he didn't.
Maybe he was reckless, stupid but he knew what he wanted and he was already one step away from his goal.
He spaced out the whole time the others were discussing the plan.
"...Lloyd... Lloyd!", he started to come down to Ninjago as Cole waved a hand in front of his face and Jay screamed in his ear.
Lloyd suddenly winced in pain from his voice and squeezed his eyes shut, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand.
"What?!", he asked rather loudly as he looked at them angrily, while he let the hand he held on his face down sharply.
The others were used to his, recent, sudden, explosive behaviour when it came to irritation.
"Were you listening, Lloyd?", Nya asked with an eyebrow up and an unamused expression.
"Listening to what?", he questioned but it came out as more of a statement. He looked at her with a calmer, more neutral but irritated expression: eyelids almost halfway down, slightly furrowed brows and a slight frown.
"Yeah, Greenie, seriously! You've had your head in the clouds all day! What's on your mind?", Cole asked.
"Nothing in particular..."
"So being the team leader and not listening to the plan is nothing?", Cole asked with a bit of sass to lighten the mood.
"Perhaps he's thinking about how Harumi's part of the whole villain propaganda... Her deception really knows no ends...", Zane speculated.
Lloyd sighed in exhaustion and looked to the side away from the others and into nothing with a squint and a squeeze of his, fisted, right hand with a tremor, "I don't know what I'm thinking about honestly.", he said with a crack in his voice as he vented.
Lloyd suddenly realised what he did and he cleared his throat trying to get rid of his embarrassed blush.
"The plan is set, we discussed it, right? I can summarize it right now.", he said with a melancholic expression as his lips twitched upwards to the side, when he finished the sentence, which showed his nervousness.
He really disliked discussing the topic. There was never a time he didn't try to avoid talking about it.
"Lloyd...", Nya called out to him, done with him, she crossed her arms.
"Yeah?"
"Don't even start with that.", she said like an older sister lecturing their younger sibling out of worry.
"Start with what?", Lloyd acted dumb and shrugged, with an innocent expression and puppy eyes as he fluttered his lids a few times.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about Lloyd. You need to stop thinking about that! It's ruined your mental health and noticeably, in fact!"
Lloyd looked down, furrowed his brows and bit his lip in worry and frustration. He moved his eyes, nervously, in thought, left to right.
She really called him out on that one.
Did he really make an alliance with his enemies promising them that they could cause as much trouble as they want, might he add, with his help? He has really fallen from the highest place possible.
Again and again, what is wrong with him?
"What is wrong with me...?", he muttered in question and worry as he furrowed his brows even more, maybe enough to cause him wrinkles, while the others didn't catch what he said, except Kai that was right next to him.
"Did you say something, Lloyd?", Nya asked and Kai looked at Lloyd from the corner of his eyes with concern.
Why should he feel this way, why should he suffer like that? He has done nothing but do good, spread love, forgiveness. He is an angel beneath that tough façade he had built after what happened with Harumi.
He might not trust as easily, be more irritable but he hasn't changed at all besides that!
Or that's what Kai and everyone around him thought.
Lloyd was too far gone now, no turning back. A corruption he feared, now, overcame him...
He was the devil in disguise...
But after all that curiosity and his confusion towards his changed behaviour...
