A Single Pale Garmadon

Not your fault

The young Wu was then transported to his next, and final, destination inside of his nephew's brain. A sorry sight, really. Also quite... fuzzy. Well, no, that's not it, it just looked as if the humans looked more simplistic, and the surroundings were in better detail than the people. Wu thought of the correct explanation pretty quickly: this was a memory so far back that exact details couldn't even be recovered. The location was easier to see since Lloyd has been there for the better half of his life. Or the worst half, in this case. This was a blurry image of the green ninja's past, only at all remembered because of its importance. An explanation of how it all started, and therefore more symbolic than realistic in detail. A very hard memory to completely forget, almost as if the brain knows that the person who possesses the memory would be lost and disoriented without it.

It was... the inside of a school, of sorts, from the looks of it. A dark, menacing looking school, giving off nasty vibes of hatred and cunning. Of course, in a memory focusing on a symbolic point of view everything could very well be exaggerated. The humans themselves seemed more artistically designed then an actual person, like a mere summary of the person, created by key features. Like a children's book. One could easily pick out the signature black hoodie Wu saw Lloyd wearing in his previous dream/vision (though it much too big on him here), blonde hair, red eyes, and tiny frame that indicates it's Lloyd.

One can't be so lucky with the other figure. Nothing more than a silhouette, a shadow, as if Lloyd couldn't remember at all what the person looked like for the longest time, being so young and growing up without them. Wu, however, knew who it was immediately, for the figure had a long braid, and was the only one that made sense. Misako, Lloyd's mother. "I don't remember my mom. She abandoned me when i was really young" were the words echoing through Wu's brain. He suddenly remembered it perfectly well. The day misako returned a few weeks before the final battle, the same day Lloyd said that very thing. Misako was overjoyed to see her son, and gave him a warm greeting. What she got in return was... well... expected. What she received was the broken hearted bitterness of a child blaming their parent who they didn't even recognize at first for being the cause of their severe abandonment issues. Nevermind the fact that because she left him he was subjected to an utterly terrible and probably abusive childhood.

Wu was brought back to the reality in Lloyd's head by a distant, echo-ish sounding cry. The more detailed, smaller person was clearly begging the silhouette not to leave. And it left. Suddenly, out the window, Wu could see something that would throw just about anyone for a loop: the sun and moon, the night and day, were switching at rapid-pace. A time-lapse. Wu peeked over at the world's future savior, watching as the boys clothing and hair became more dirty and matted. How there seemed to be a growing amount of minor injuries littering the boy's body. How his body itself slowly hollowed out. The ultimate image of neglect and malnutrition. Silhouettes, some more clear then others, seemed to come and go from the room and into the hallways or sometimes out the door. Even though no sound was produced by the kids, one could easily tell they were shooting nasty, scornful words.

Time then stopped and resume normally, revealing a life-like version of ten year old Lloyd since the memory was more recent,  suddenly making the school look like the one that came out of a cartoon. A towering silhouette of a scary looking man, most likely in charge of the place, confronts the boy. Points to the door. The boy runs out, angrily screaming something that was pretty obvious to be a swear of revenge.

Time then stopped and resume normally, revealing a small, devastated looking child crying his eyes out, curled up in a very tiny ball on the pavement. Jumanakai village. "I get it." Wu said aloud, whether to himself or to Lloyd, he doesn't really know. "You may have... meant to release those snakes after all, but..." the observing uncle sighed. "You were raised in this situation. Taught that it was ok. A-and more then that, you wanted to do it as a last resort to finally gain a family... something you’ve never had before. You wanted to be noticed and taken in by your father so badly. You needed love, but didn’t know how to get it, ‘cause you’ve never really experienced it before. I wish... I wish we had found you sooner." Wu ducked his head down, looking at the pavement directly in front of him. It was much less blank here, since Lloyd has been here significantly more recently than the boarding school (afterall, why in the world would someone visit that terrible childhood home?) and therefore remembers this place better, but Wu kinda wishes otherwise at the moment. This place was that of shame and heart ache. For him and lloyd. Yet, this was where lloyd first met his true family, so maybe it was a happy place to him. A bittersweet place, maybe. He looks up, gathering the strength to look at his broken nephew again, only to see much more. His nephew, and... his nephew. His current one. After a second of gently petting his head the green ninja stood up and looked Wu in the eye. Wu felt his shoulders drop in awe. What a dramatic difference between the two, yet they're the same person. But... in truth... were they? Lloyd, through his experience, through his family, has changed into almost a completely new person. Reborn. Soft, yet somewhat tired green eyes locked with wus blue ones. "Sorry to make you come all this way..." he cooed, handing Wu Lloyd's cell phone. Behind him, his younger version of himself had wiped his tears away, his eyes burning with malice as he stood up and stomped off, turning the corner behind the central fountain. Suddenly all of Lloyd's life from then on flashed in front of Wu's eyes at rapid speed, and was shot out of lloyds head.

"Ahh! Oof, " the child fell to the ground with a thud, only to feel the gentle touch of a certain family member's hand on his shoulder. Wu turned around from his stomach to his back. He's now facing the person he just recently yelled at, accusing him of holding a dark secret of the murder of many people. He's facing the person he'd just went through the personal, emotional memories of. He's currently facing the person that he had just learned the terrible backstory of. All of which created a deep feeling of regret. He really shouldn't have said that. Wu himself would have been angry if he was in Lloyd's place, being scolded for his past unfairly by a person who had no idea what they were talking about. But one look into the green ninja's eyes was all Wu needed to know that Lloyd wasn't mad at him. He looked much more ashamed and worn down... things that only made Wu's guilt worse. They looked at each other for a second. "I've wanted to tell you for awhile now, I just..." Lloyd rubbed his eyes with his palms as Wu sat up "I didn't know how. So I figured, why not show you instead?" Lloyd offered a weak smile, showing either the mental link had taken up his energy or the emotional strain had robbed him of the natural shine in his eyes. Both, probably. It bothered him that Wu may never truly know the actual Lloyd. The one that wasn't crushed by all this stress and emotional baggage he's had. Gosh, he's had it so hard, and he was too young to remember the happy, mentally stable leader of the team with his new love interest and lack of daddy issues. Not to mention he finally overcame his depression that he’d struggled through. Now it seems to have come back tenfold. His girlfriend turned out to have never liked him, and turned out to be a secret evil mastermind, and tried to kill him multiple times, and the reason she's evil is because of the whole snake incident he blames himself for, AND unleashed the evil shell of his father. His father who he had to fight, which turned ugly very quickly. He told him, while holding him by his throat, that he had no son, before violently hurling him across the room, through six walls, and down about two stories onto the harsh earth. Practically killing him. According to the rest of the ninja, he would have died if it wasn't for the tea Mystaké gave him at the last minute. Wu is glad he wasn't there nor was old enough to remember, since he didn't want to think about Lloyd fighting for his life that way.

The more Wu thought about it the more it overwhelmed him with emotion. He shot forward towards the green ninja and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," Wu sniffled. "Whoa whoa hey it's ok" "No it's not!" Lloyd chuckled, "yes, Wu it is. You were mad at me. And rightfully so. Maybe not so much for what i did, but the fact that I didn't tell you. It also makes me look like a secret villain hiding his evil crimes if I didn't tell you, y'know? I... I know exactly what it's like to not be taken seriously for being younger, heh. But.. I promise I won't keep any huge secrets from you from now on. No more secrets. K?" Lloyd asked, now holding Wu's shoulders. "Yeah. Ok." Wu said with a smile while Lloyd went in for another hug. "No more secrets..." though Wu had a feeling there was more to come.

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Well, that's the end! Hope you liked this little character analysis i did. I love Lloyd and he doesn't deserve this. Thank you for reading!