Different Ninjago AU Oneshots

The Last of the Real Ones (part 3)

Warnings:
Death

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Three years later

Zane- 121
Cole- 97 🪦
Kai- 99
Jay- 98
Lloyd- 97
Nya- 97

Lloyd wasn't expecting to get a phone call in the middle of the night. Groggily he gropes for his phone in the dark. It takes a couple seconds, but finally he manages to snag it off of the nightstand beside him. Blinking and rubbing his eyes he takes a look at the caller ID, wondering who is calling him at... 2:46 in the morning.

It's Kai... What could Kai be calling me about this early?

Now more worried than tired, Lloyd accepts the call, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed as he does so.

"Hey Kai, what's up?" He asks once the call goes through.

"Lloyd..." Right away Lloyd can tell that something is wrong, not only did Kai use his actual name instead of calling him one of his many nicknames, but it also sounds as if he'd been crying.

"Kai, what happened." Lloyd asks. Standing up he quietly makes his way through the Monastery, careful to not wake any of his students. He slips outside, and using only one hand, pulls himself up and onto the roof to sit.

"I-It's Jay." Kai says quietly, sounding as if he's on the verge of tears, "I was visiting him and Nya for the weekend, and he seemed a little off, less talkative and not as energetic as usual." There's a pause and Lloyd can hear a shaky inhale come from the other side of the line, "When we went to bed everything was ok, b-but only a half hour ago I got woken up by Nya shaking my shoulder with tears streaking down her face. I asked her what was wrong a-an-and she..." Another pause, another shaky breath, "Sh-She said that Jay wasn't waking up. And of course I went to check him myself but... Lloyd, Jay's dead."

Lloyd's so shocked that his grip on his phone falters and he almost drops it. But luckily he doesn't, instead he raises it back up to his ear and asks, his own voice sounding close to breaking, "Jay's gone? He's really gone?"

He can't see it, but somehow he knows Kai is nodding, unable to get any words out without risking bursting into tears. Something he's always tried hard not to do.

"I'll be right over, make sure you look after Nya, and call Zane too." Lloyd says before hanging up. Taking deep breaths he tries to calm himself down. Jumping off of the roof and going back inside once he feels he's calm enough. As he walks back to his room to change, he runs into one of his students heading back to their own room. Alex, he remembers after a moment. The new master of... Lightning.

Alex tilts his head at his master, asking, "Master Lloyd? What're you doing up this late?"

Lloyd stops in the middle of the hall, trying to compose himself so that he won't worry his student. But despite Lloyd's best efforts, Alex still spots his master's shaking shoulders, and immediately he becomes concerned.

"Master, is something wrong?" He asks.

Lloyd shakes his head, but he does it too fast, only increasing his student's concern for him. And then... he collapses. With a yelp of surprise, Alex runs over to Lloyd, catching him before his head hits the floor.

The commotion wakes Lloyd's other students, and they all rush out of their rooms, looking around for the source of the noise. What they find is a very clearly distressed Lloyd, slumped against Alex who looks completely lost.

A couple of the other students come over and gently lift their master off of Alex, bringing him into the living room and setting him down on the couch. One of them hands him a cup of tea which he gratefully accepts, drinking it all in one go. While he does that, they all sit down and wait patiently for him to finish and explain the situation to them.

Lloyd looks at each of his students, seeing their worried expressions he takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry for worrying you all. I just received some rather... upsetting news from one of my old team members. But it's nothing you all need to worry about." He tries to play off the news of Jay's death lightly for his students, to hopefully get them to all go back to bed. But one look from Katharine - new master of Ice - tells him that they aren't buying it.

"Um, no offense Master Lloyd," she begins, exchanging looks with the rest of her team. "But you just suddenly collapsing in the hall is definitely something we're gonna worry about. What exactly was this 'upsetting news' you got?"

Normally Lloyd would come up with another excuse, or maybe pull a Master Wu and just not tell them. But tonight he's tired, and already grief is starting to set in. So he tells them.

"Kai called to tell me that... that Jay passed away tonight." Lloyd says, eyes fixed on the teacup still in his hands. Immediately after he finishes, he feels all of his students surround him and bring him in for a group hug.

Alex leans over to whisper into Lloyd's ear, "I'm so sorry Master Lloyd. Master Jay will be missed by everyone. He was an amazing person."

The others also whisper words of comfort to their master. Lloyd smiles softly, glad he has such kind and thoughtful students.

"Thank you all." Lloyd says once they pull away, "But now I have to leave," He stands up and makes his way to his room to change. After changing and packing a few things, he's back in the living room, gesturing to the new master of Earth as he says, "Grant is in charge while I'm gone. And please remember to feed Sparky."

He's halfway out the door when he remembers one last thing. Popping his head back inside he says, "Oh, and I expect that you will all still train, this is not a vacation."

The disappointed groans of some of his students follows Lloyd as he summons his elemental dragon and takes off. Heading towards Nya and Ja- ... and Jay's house.