Miraculously from Ninjago | Stranded in Etheria

10 - Explanation

"Wait," Chat noir said, catching Lady's arm before she could say "Miraculous Ladybug" and reset everything. "I think Blue owes us—all of us—an explanation."

"Um," I said, as everyone turned to me. Before I began, I looked at Chat and lowered my voice. "Does Chloe really need to hear this?"

He thought about that for a moment, then realized why I asked. Chloe, as well as Reena and Carapace, didn't know about my connection to the Ninja, and they probably weren't waiting for an explanation. Due to the whole secret identity thing, it was probably best I didn't share this part of my life with them if I didn't need to.

"Hey, Chlo-uh, I mean, Queen Bee? Can you go check on the victim?" Chat asked.

"Sure thing, Chat Noir!" she replied, happy to be of use. She ran over to the now-unakumatized villain to see if he was alright.

"What about us?" Reena asked.

"Let's go to the alley, where you can de-transform and give back your miraculous," Lady suggested.

While I waited for Chloe, Alya, and Nino—yes, I know their identities. How could I not?—to go away, I thought about how I was going to explain the confusion.

"Can I, uh, talk to her alone for a minute?" Lloyd asked shyly. His eyes were watching his foot trace the ground.  

I took my peers' shrugs as confirmation to speak with him privately. I walked over to an alleyway with him, and used all my courage to look him in the eye.

The gesture proved to be difficult for him too, but when our eyes finally met, I noticed that his were brimming with tears.

"Lloyd?" I questioned, taking his hands in mine. "Talk to me. Please."

"You were here this whole time?" he whispered. "When you sacrificed yourself for us, I knew I would have to forgive you, but... you're alive, and, and I don't know what to think."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He had grown taller, so I had to go on my toes. "I never wanted to leave you."

He returned the gesture, holding me tightly enough that my feet cane off the ground.

"Then why did you?" He asked after a moment, gently placing me back down. "Did you have a choice?"

"I... Yes. Well, no... um," I started. "Leaving wasn't exactly a choice, but it was my decision not to come back."

"I don't understand. Why couldn't you come home?"

"Marinette and Adrien were only fourteen when I met them. I would visit from time to time, because I knew they needed help trying to find the villain that's been disrupting Paris. There are only two of them, and they were children—"

"So were you! You disappeared when you were twelve."

"Let me finish! In Ninjago, there were seven of us on the team, including me. I thought that six young adults could manage to protect a nation without me, so the day I... the day... you know, died, argh! This is so complicated!"

"What happened that day?" he asked, trying to keep me on track. "Please, I need to know."

—a/n—

Hi friends! I hope you're all doing okay. I'm sorry each chapter has been really short, but it's hard to do daily updates when I have to write more than 600 words.

Stay safe!

—Cal