Spirit's Wrath (Book 2 of Spirit's Calling)

I can still fight. I have to.

A/n: title is a quote from DR season 2 part 2.

TW: injury

When she woke up, Y/n felt marginally better. Some of her energy had returned with sleep—though her neck ached from the awkward position she'd fallen asleep in. Faint light shone through the window; not enough to be sunlight but too bright to be nighttime. Y/n would guess really early in the morning, meaning everyone should be asleep. Except maybe Wu.

The elemental grimaced and rolled her neck, relishing the popping that made it loosen up. She shook out her arms and stood, stretching. Time to start thinking of a plan.

First step: put her armor back on.

Y/n padded over to her bed from before and silently slid the armor over her gi. It was heavy and uncomfortable and restricive. But that meant protection. A small price to pay.

With the last of the straps put in place, she returned to Lloyd's side. The fever had reduced overnight and Lloyd's face was relaxed with sleep. One gentle touch to his hand revealed his temperature back to normal, with no trace of the icy river from the tomb.

To Y/n's surprise, his fingers twitched when she touched his hand.

She gave it a careful squeeze. His fingers curled around hers.

"Lloyd?" She whispered hopefully, scanning his face.

Upon hearing her voice, Lloyd's eyes cracked open. His expression remained void of emotion, but he watched Y/n as she moved up by his head.

"Oh, Lloyd," she whispered, brushing hair out of his eyes. They closed briefly in bliss before locking onto her face again. They flickered dimly, much more dull than before. Faint red peeked out from behind the green. "I'm so glad to have you back."

He glanced away guiltily. A cut on the base of his neck flared green, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Now don't you start that," Y/n hissed, knowing what he must be feeling. "None of this was your fault." Her anger immediately switched to choking guilt and she buried her face in her hands. "I—I knew you shouldn't have gone alone. I could've stopped this. You—you would still be okay." Her voice broke on the last word and she inhaled shakily, tears threatening to spill.

Lloyd grabbed her forearm. It was so much weaker than it should've been. But the action startled Y/n enough into removing her hands from her face to look at her brother.

"None of us knew," he rasped.

Y/n took his hand and his arm immediately went limp. He was still drained of energy. "Even so," she whispered, "we shouldn't have let you go alone. Not being a Ninja. It's too dangerous."

Lloyd shrugged weakly, pain flashing across his face before he squashed it.

"You know Wu and Mom are going to make you drink that healing tea," Y/n sniffed.

Her brother's nose scrunched with distaste. If it wasn't for the situation, Y/n may have laughed.

No one was laughing now.

"I think we're arriving soon," Y/n added, glancing at the window. More light than before. "How do you feel?"

Lloyd slowly pushed himself upright. Y/n watched carefully for any sign of distress, but her brother hid it well. And she knew he wouldn't want help anyway. He bit back a hiss of pain and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"I didn't mean you should start walking now," Y/n deadpanned.

"Morro is coming," Lloyd returned flatly. "I need to face him."