I stared blankly at the concrete as the two words Lloyd announced in a grim voice turned in my head.
"Wu's what?" I exclaimed, voice uncontrollably pitching at the beginnings of a sudden burst of hysteria. I clutched at my phone with two hands. They felt sweaty.
"He's missing," Lloyd repeated, and this time I caught the strain of stress in his voice, stretching it taught. He sounded on the verge of snapping from stress, and I could picture him grabbing at his hair until it was a rat's nest.
I opened and closed my mouth, at a loss. Kvasir glanced at me, yellow eyes staring, and his gaze was joined by Chen's. I turned my back to them.
"How do you LOSE an OLD MAN, LLOYD?" I shrilled at the wall.
"There was this battle with the Twins and Wu got sucked into a vortex-"
"Wu was in a battle?!" I echoed in horror. He could barely keep himself awake and he fought two elemental masters at a time?!
"Yes," Lloyd said impatiently. I staggered back a step out of shocked incredulousness. "The team's splitting up to scour the country for signs of him..."
I began to sober back from the forlorn twist his words made and just as fast as my shock arrived, a sudden loss of eloquence hit me. I opened my mouth to say something, to console him or do anything to break this silence, but I couldn't find a single scrap of a word. Helpless, my eyes darted across the bricks on the wall in front of me.
A hand on my shoulder left me startled, and then Kvasir gently took the phone from me. His hand remained in place as he held the phone to his head.
"Lloyd," he greeted stoically. I stared at him, worried wordlessly, unable to even wring my hands or worry my hair. Chen followed and crossed his arms, confused but swiftly noticing the seriousness.
"And you want usss to keep an eye out for him in Nom," Kvasir spoke up after a period of silence on our end. I could only guess what Lloyd had told him. "... will do."
Kvasir handed the phone back to me and stared through my fear. "We need to tell Seliel and Vali to keep an eye out for Wu on their patrols."
All I could manage in response was a single, shaky nod. Hastily, my phone returned to my ear.
"Y/n?"
"I- I'm here," I breathed joltily.
"We're taking the Bounty to do a sweep through the major cities of Ninjago." Lloyd wasted no time in returning to business. "I'm not sure when we'll return or when I'll be able to contact you again. It's going to be full on. Don't worry about me."
"Don't be stupid, stupid," I said with a dry sob that slipped without my consent. My chest was stinging. "Of course I'm going to worry about you."
Lloyd even managed a strained chuckle at my response. A tiny, minuscule flicker of relief sparked in my chest.
"Try."
"It won't work," I whispered. "Take care of yourself. Please."
"I will," he pledged. "I love you."
A vicious thickness found its way into my throat. I struggled through an inhale to steady the shakiness of my limbs before replying.
"I love you, too," I said. The line was ended.
I stared emptily at my phone, gazing at the reflection of my glazed-over eyes with a hollowness that frightened me. I hadn't felt this sick with anxiety for months, and it was not a welcomed return. Kvasir watched me warily, as if he were waiting for me to explode.
"What's going on?" Chen asked. I tore my eyes from my own. My hand dropped to my side and I sent him a watery grin - it was forced. So forced. I felt a sense of foreboding that it would not be the last fake smile I'd share for a long, long while.
"Absolutely nothing fucking good," I replied with a dry, wailing chuckle.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
'As thought, the power that slides from fingertips, the crescendo of heartbeats and empty lungs, we watch in trepidation and a queer sense of intrigue; for he who sings not can fear nothing, but gained all Holy things with bloody knees and weeping prayers? To whom it may wonder, how thou the power was spared if He could be greater than God Himself?
Cared not for the surging elements, cared not for the enrichment of them, the cacophony of power was split and the shreds of sanity sent spiralling across the sky. He whom this passage concerns, whittled down from His perch-'
