green boy flower boy

chapter four

Nine times out of ten, Lloyd had nightmares. He'd had them for years. They never went away, just shifted accordingly to add in whatever messed up thing was happening in his life at the moment. Every once in a while, he didn't dream at all, if he was lucky. It was usually for just a night or two.

He dreamed that night.

He was in the Cursed Realm, and he was alone. In the distance, he could hear a familiar laugh that he would have described as haunting if making a pun didn't feel so wrong. "Morro." He muttered, his hand going to his sword. He didn't have a sword. He summoned a small burst of energy, enough to light up the surroundings. "Face me, coward! Fight me!"

"You're the green ninja? I should have known sooner destiny made a mistake!" Morro's voice came from everywhere. Lloyd was alone.

"Destiny doesn't make mistakes." Lloyd muttered.

Morro's presence was pressing against his mind, wanting to take over again. Lloyd screamed out in terror and curled into a ball, trying to fend off the inevitable.

Suddenly, Morro's presence was brushed aside like it was a leaf in the wind. Lloyd looked up. In the distance, he could see his father, smiling at him softly. Lloyd stood up, beaming. "Dad?" He whispered.

"Lloyd."

"Dad!" Lloyd ran towards him, but the closer he got, the smaller he seemed to get, and his father didn't look like his father.

The Overlord ended up towering over Lloyd, with glowing purple eyes. Lloyd was weaponless, and felt very very small. Like he was a child again.

Alone.

The Overlord breathed a purplish flame at him, and Lloyd screamed.

---

Lloyd's eyes snapped open. His throat felt sore. He caught himself mid-scream. He was shaking.

Lloyd analyzed his environment, momentarily forgetting where he was. Then he remembered. Then he realized he was a goddamn idiot.

Lloyd curled up further in his sleeping bag, actually burying his head under the fabric. He had no idea what time it was, and he was not eager to go back to sleep.

There was a slight sound, and Lloyd poked his head out enough to see Micah stirring. "Lloyd?"

"Sorry." He whispered.

"The hell? Are you okay?"

"Nightmares, they're just dreams, I'm fine." Lloyd brushed it off like he had a thousand times before. You okay? I'm fine, Kai, stop asking. Are you alright? Yes, Sensei. Are you fine? No, me, I'm not.

"Seriously, I'm used to them, I'm fine." Lloyd continued. "I... I just... arg."

"Do you like candy?" Micah asked. "Because in my opinion, the best cure for feeling bad is just eating the thing with the highest concentration of sugar. Sugar therapy. If you want to."

Lloyd blinked. "Candy?" Even the word felt weird. Like it was for a nine year old, part of a childhood he barely had. "You're serious?"

"Unless you don't want to for any reason-"

"Dude, I have like the worst sweet tooth in the world, and I've never tried 'sugar therapy', but it seems worth a shot."

---

It didn't help much overall, but eating Hershey's on the back porch at 4 am made Lloyd feel a little more grounded, in a weird way, so it helped a little.

(And if it was at 4:47 am eating Hershey's on the back porch when Micah looked back at him and smiled slightly and asked "better?" that Lloyd realized he might have liked Micah a little more than he originally anticipated, that was fine.)