Chapter Text
Chapter 1- The Kid With Weird Green Eyes
It happened a week before his first day of freshman year.
Lloyd wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, he spent the morning training with Uncle Wu, taking a break from the training course the elderly man set up in the warehouse by the port to eat lunch, and then it was time for sparring.
He didn't have much pride anymore; there was only so much Lloyd could lose to the old man before his pride slipped away to never return. Uncle Wu didn't look like he should move the way he did, especially not while holding a cup of tea, but Lloyd got into stance with his sword, knees bent slightly and planted apart, sword held up with both hands. He lunged, and Uncle Wu just stepped to the side, effortlessly dodging Lloyd's every strike and slash.
He may not have his pride, but he was still frustrated. He just one hit, just a single hit on the old man, and he would feel so much better after a whole summer of training. Just one hit-
Lloyd stepped towards Wu, slashing upwards, and it felt like there was a surge of power entering his body, like he just got a power up in a video game. Wu was moving away from him, but it was slower, and Lloyd could see how Wu was moving, where he was going to step next, a cup of tea brought up to his lips. Lloyd shifted for his next strike, bringing his arms back down in a diagonal slash.
Green light came from somewhere behind Lloyd, but he ignored it, too focused on his attack.
Time returned to normal as he swung down, his blade making contact with the tea cup. The porcelain shattered in Wu's hand, the old man's eyes widening in surprise as hot tea spilled over his white robe and the shards of the cup scattered across the floor.
"Yes!" Lloyd pumped a fist into the air before realizing what he had done. "Uncle, are you okay-"
"I am fine, Lloyd," Uncle Wu said, ignoring the mess and staring at Lloyd. "Congratulations, you've begun the process of unlocking your powers."
Lloyd looked down at his hands, as if there was a physical change he could detect. There really wasn't, although he had gone from a scrawny kid to more wiry, the promise from his mother that if he kept this up he would be super muscular when he's older, his hands being more calloused was the biggest change.
"Let's clean this up. Now we can begin incorporating other training as well."
"That's great, Uncle Wu. More training." Lloyd sounded slightly more defeated than he meant to, and Uncle Wu didn't let it slide.
"There's something coming, Lloyd." Wu said, but he seemed decades older than normal as he stared out of the warehouse and over the sea, by no means feeble, but tired. Lloyd took the broom from him, sweeping up the pieces of the cup. "And I need to prepare you for it."
"I don't really mind, Uncle." Lloyd said, "I mean, what I can do now is pretty cool."
He had already made immeasurable progress since the start of the summer- his first day on the training course lasted exactly thirty seconds before he slipped and busted up his lip. Sure, it was summer and he'd rather be playing video games or reading comics, but he enjoyed spending time with his uncle. Before this summer, he didn't even know the man existed, and now Wu was the father Lloyd never had.
"Lloyd, your father-"
Lloyd stopped sweeping as Wu started, only for a second before he started up again.
"He would be proud of you."
"Hm," Lloyd just replied, dumping the mess into the trashcan and going to the bathroom to wash his hands. There were still dregs of joy that the words brought Lloyd, but it wasn't the same. Now that he knew, knew about the past, his heritage, his destiny- his relationship to his father was still something Lloyd didn't feel ready to think about.
Lloyd started washing his hands, turning on the water and pumping soap into them, rubbing his hands together and looking up in the mirror-
"My eyes!"
*
Wu poured himself another cup of tea, breathing in deeply as Lloyd panicked in the bathroom. The teen's eyes had in a second gone from dark brown to striking, unnatural green. It had taken Wu by surprise, just like the sword had.
Lloyd had improved by leaps and bounds over the summer, and as much as it filled Wu with pride in his nephew, there was yet another layer of grief that settled over his already heavy heart. The dark things moving through Ninjago were getting stronger- Garmadon was still somewhere out there, his pledge to raze the world to the ground and rebuild it in his image still echoed in the back of Wu's mind. Rumors of skeletons and serpentine reached Wu's ears much more often than ever before, and there was just a sense of dread, a fear that something they would not be able to face would come, something not seen since his father's day.
Lloyd was on his way- he had a long way to go, but it was a start. But Wu hadn't heard anything of the other elemental masters. Some were hidden still, perhaps still licking their wounds. The others were dead, and the next generation haven't yet made themselves known. Lloyd and he would not be able to do this alone, Wu would just have to have faith that they would arrive, before it was too late.
"Uncle-" Lloyd finally came out of the bathroom, shirt soaked with sweat and water, his blonde hair sticking to his forehead due to his unfortunate haircut. His nephew just needed to let him trim it, just a little- "My eyes!"
"Yes, it seems as if you’re unlocking your power has changed your eye color. It could have been worse- your father's eyes turned red after some time." Wu said confidently, and Lloyd just stared at him. Perhaps the young man had a point; it was slightly off putting being stared at with those vibrant green eyes. "Uh, colored contacts?"
"What will my classmates say?" Lloyd went pale, blinking slowly, "What is mom going to say?"
Oh shit, Wu didn't think about Misako.
"Well, we will end training here today, I must go to Jamonikai vil-"
"Oh, oh no Uncle Wu. You're coming with me to tell mom." Lloyd insisted.
"Lloyd, let me impart some wisdom to you. You must not put off tomorrow what must be done today. And also, do as I say, not as I do."
Wu took off out of the warehouse, leaving a sputtering Lloyd behind. Eventually. Eventually he would have to face Misako and she would know what Wu was doing and she would yell at him. But it was not today.
*
Why was the city so big?
Jay knew the answer, but that didn't make it seem any smaller.
People were pushing against each other on the streets, past cars and buses and giant trucks, the sky was blocked by large skyscrapers, there were loud sounds and bright lights everywhere- all made of him wanting to both curl into a ball and yes at everyone to shut up and stand still.
It didn't seem how much time he spent in the city, it never really got better. But if he wanted to buy the newest issue of Ninja Go-Go , then Jay had to push through both the city and his own anxiety to get to the comic store. Besides, this would have to be his new life. There was no dissuading his parents to not send him to Ninjago City High School for his junior and senior years of high school. They were right; it would give him better opportunities to get into college and find a job that wasn't working in the junkyard, but that didn't mean Jay had to like it.
But Jay still had a couple of days before school started, so he simply wouldn't think about it. Not how he would be a new student, not about having to take the bus everyday, not about the crushing weight of the future that all depended on the choices that he made now, not about how sorely lacking he was in friends and he wasn't really sure how to talk to people in a way that wasn't annoying and what if no one wanted to befriend him and he would live the rest of his life alone in a secluded junkyard and-
"Welcome to Doomsday Comics!" A man at the front counter said as Jay opened the door, a bell ringing as he did so.
The comic store wasn't very busy, at least not as busy as it had been earlier in the summer. There were a few guys in their graphic t-shirts arguing in the corner about whether a serpentine had ears or not and some girls looking at the collectible figures in the back. Jay relaxed ever so slightly, walking over to the new releases section and picking up the last copy of Ninja Go-Go , taking in the glory of the cover art and resisting the urge to flip through and spoil the story before he could actually sit and absorb it.
"No!"
Jay nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound right next to him. How Jay didn't notice a kid already almost as tall as him walking so close to him seemed out of character, but the kid closed a hand over his mouth, looking embarrassed.
"Uh, are you okay?" Jay asked against his better judgement, the kid's head falling, his blonde bowl cut falling into his face.
"Is that the last copy of Ninja Go-Go ?"
The kid looked up at Jay, unnaturally green eyes meeting his. Jay instinctively tried to look away, but it was like he couldn't draw his eyes from this kid's bright ones. They couldn't be real, right? Surely not, there was no way.
"Yeah? Sorry?" It came out like a question, but the kid just shook his head.
"It's my own fault. I was going to come yesterday, but my uncle- I just didn't have time." The kid sighed, finally breaking eye contact.
Jay could...just walk away, right? Was that too rude? Did the kid want him to give him this copy to buy, because that for sure wasn't happening. Yeah, he could just walk away-
"But hey, I hope you enjoy it!" Whew, bullet dodged.
"You could always read it online?" Jay suggested, not realizing the words were coming out until they were, and it was like he couldn't stop. "I would read it online but I don't have great service at my house and I also like to collect them; I mean I have all of the other ones so I need this one too-"
"Whoa, you've collected all of them?" The kid looked at Jay like he was some kind of hero instead of a nerd with a spending problem. "That's awesome!"
"You think?"
"Totally! I only have the last few issues, I just can't find the earlier ones anywhere!"
Jay could relate to that, it was hard to track down the early ones. There were two prequel issues before the main story even started and it was nearly impossible to find in store- he had to go to so many garage sales to find them.
"I'll just have to read it online. See you." The kid waved, walking to go look at another section of the store.
Jay went up to the front, handing over the comic and pulling out his wallet. This little trip could have been horrible, but he managed to walk out of the shop with his purchase and feeling like he may have just had the best social interaction of his life.
Just maybe his luck would hold.
*
Cole sat in the middle of the busy food court, headphones blasting music in his ears to drown out the noise of all the people.
He was hardly the only teenager here, spending the last few days of freedom at the mall, but unlike the others who all chatted and laughed loudly with each other, he was here alone.
Cole missed the smaller town he came from, the mountains that stood tall around the valley. Now he was surrounded by skyscrapers, and he could hardly scale that. He should find a gym or somewhere to rock climb, but it wouldn't be the same.
But, Cole could hardly blame his dad for moving to Ninjago City. It was easier for his work, there were better performance opportunities while not having to travel for days or weeks at a time. Yet they both knew the real reason they left. It just wasn't the same without mom.
Lou Brookstone had a different way of coping than his son. He throws himself into his work, cutting off the parts of their life that were too painful to live with. For Cole, it was the opposite. He wanted to lean into the things that reminded him of her, the smell of the dirt on a warm spring day, flowers blooming, the hike she used to take him on. Now that was so far away, and Cole just didn't know what to do with himself. His dad insisted that he get out of the house today, explore the city before school started while he was in the recording studio. But instead, here Cole was.
Honestly, he planned on just sitting here for a while longer when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, a slight shock jolting through his body, almost like a shiver. That snapped him out of his fog, and he looked around, honing in on a mother and son that just sat down at a table next to where he sat.
There wasn't anything that special about them, the woman was putting her wallet back into her purse, the son placing their trays of food down. He had on a green hoodie that rivaled the bright green of his eyes- that couldn't be his actual eye color, right? It seemed almost fake, or maybe it was some kind of disease? Nearly glowing neon green eyes couldn't be healthy.
He couldn't explain it, but Cole was sure it was something about them that made him react that way. He got out his phone and turned down his music enough to overhear their conversation while still looking disinterested.
"When I see that man," The mom said, pushing back her greying red hair and putting her straw in her drink.
"I don't know," The kid said, shrugging. "It's kind of growing on me."
"It's bad enough your feet keep growing and you're getting taller, and we had to buy you a whole new closet after your training arc this summer,"
"Mom, don't call it a training arc,"
"What's next, are you going to cut your hair?"
The kid did have an unfortunate bowl cut, and it was clear from the look on his face that he was definitely considering it.
"I'm sorry," The mom sighed, and Cole couldn't see her face but he could practically hear her sad smile, he knew the look well. "My little boy is just growing up so fast, I miss the little brat you were."
"Mom." The kid whined, but after a moment, he still smiled back at her.
Cole had to stand up after that, going to throw his trash away and walk through the mall. He put his music back up to full blast, his eyes stinging ever so slightly, weird reaction forgotten.
*
Nya stared down at her sleeping brother, battling the intrusive thoughts as best as she could, scissors already in her hand.
Just a trim, that was all her brother needed. His hair was stupidly long after this summer, and he was going through crazy amounts of hair gel to style it in his typical spikey mess, a trim would help that.
She stood there, scissors open as Kai turned over, yawning and opening his eyes.
"Ah!"
Her older brother practically jumped out of the bed, clutching the comforter as he screamed like a little girl.
"Nya, what the fuck!"
"It's time, you've been avoiding me all summer, but it's time." She said, snipping the scissors open and shut a few times.
"What is going on in here?" Their dad peaked in through the open door, taking in the scene. He didn't seem overly concerned about his son screaming bloody murder first thing in the morning, perhaps more exasperated.
"She's trying to kill me!" Kai said loudly, dodging Nya as she pounced on his bed.
"Nya, stop trying to kill your brother."
"I'm not going to kill him," She replied, turning over her shoulder to look at her dad. "I'm just going to cut his hair."
"Same thing!"
"Oh well, in that, go for it." Ray shrugged, walking away from the door.
"Dad!"
"Dad can't help you now, Kai." Nya smiled sweetly, and finally Kai struck, grabbing his sister's wrist with one hand and trying to wrestle the scissors from her. "Let go of them-"
"No you-"
By the time their mom walked by, the two of them were dead locked, one of Nya's hands grasping a fistful of Kai's hair and Kai had both of his hands holding the scissors back as if they were a knife coming for his throat.
"Fine!" Kai finally gave in, but he didn't let go of Nya's hand, "I'll get a haircut, but not from you!"
"Haircuts?" Their mom asked from the door, both of them immediately retracting their hands for themselves. "Go ahead and get them now before school starts. You've got two days left."
Both of them groaned, and Maya laughed lightly.
"Do you want me to go with you? Like the good old days?" She walked in, ruffling both of their hair. "I can tell them to give you the same cut from-"
"No," Kai snapped, stepping back and crossing his arms. "I'm not going back to a bowl cut."
"But it was cute!" She pulled both of her kids in for a hug with each arm, the moment interrupted by knocking on the door.
"I've got it!" Ray called, and Maya started to speak again, but then Ray spoke again. "Maya, I need you in here."
Their mother frowned.
"Go ahead and go, oh and stop by the store and pick up some noodles for tonight." She told them, leaving Kai's room.
"There's nothing wrong with my hair." Kai muttered, and Nya snorted.
"Have you looked in the mirror?"
"Shut up."
The two of them took a couple of minutes to get ready and walked out to the living room, bickering as they did, only for both of them to halt at the sight of an elderly man they had never met sitting at their kitchen table.
"Kai, Nya," Their dad started, but their mom cut him off.
"Be safe," She said, smiling. They both knew what that tone meant, and waited until they had walked down the stairs from their family's apartment before speaking.
"Who was that?" Nya asked, and Kai shrugged.
"I have no idea. Why didn't mom want us to meet him?"
Nya shrugged in return, squinting against the summer sun while they walked down the blocks.
They waved hello to their neighbors as they went, stopping outside the small salon they had been going to since they were little kids, the room hot while a fan spun at full speed, offering little relief. The place smelled like it always did, the shampoo they exclusively used for the last twelve years floral and shaving cream, a candle that seemed to always burn but never needed to be replaced.
"Kai, Nya, it's good to see you!" Hayley greeted them, pausing as she stepped away from drying someone else's hair, a look of horror on her face. "Oh, Kai sweetie, why did you let it get that bad?"
Kai grumbled as one of the other stylists, Patrick, led him to one of the washing stations.
"I'll be with you in a minute, Nya." Hayley told her, stepping back to her client. Nya got a brief feeling of deja vu, taking a closer look at them.
It was some kid with blonde hair, and Nya was certain she had never met him before, yet this feeling that she should know who he was bugged her. She went and sat down in the waiting area, across from a woman with graying red hair who was looking at a magazine, trying to figure it out when the woman looked up and gasped.
"Sorry," She said, Nya's attention turning to her. "You look very familiar. You look- do you know Maya Smith?"
"Yes...?" Nya trailed off, looking at the woman. She looked a little flustered, but she was very pretty, her hair pulled back in a bun and bright eyes, but those things didn't take away from how strange this interaction felt. "That's my mom."
"Oh, I didn't know her and Ray had kids." The woman said, putting down her magazine and turning to fully speak to Nya. Nya felt she was at a family reunion but didn't know any of the people there, just nodding. "You look just like your mother, do your parents live in the city?"
"They do, we live just a few blocks down." Nya told her, and the woman chuckled.
"It's crazy how you can live in a city for so long and never run into each other. Well, when you see your parents, tell them Koko says hi, and..." The woman dug through her purse, finally pulling out a small notebook and scrawling a number on it before handing the paper to Nya. "I would love to have your family over for dinner sometime to catch up. We used to be pretty good friends."
It hit Nya then that her parents didn't seem to have that many friends, or didn't talk about them much. Once her parents were her age, they had to have had friends at some point, right?
Nya took the paper, reading, "Koko Montgomery".
"I'll give it to them," She promised, Hayley's client walking over to them.
The kid had bright green eyes and blonde hair, now freshly styled and cut shorter. But there was some resemblance between him and Koko, the same kind look in their eye.
"Oh, that looks good," Koko said, turning back to Nya. "This is my son, Lloyd."
Nya met eyes with Lloyd, and that feeling of deja vu got stronger. He gave her a small smile and she waved at him.
"Hi, I'm Nya."
"She's one of my old friend's kids, isn't that crazy?" Koko said standing up. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Nya. I hope I get the chance to see you and your parents again."
The two of them left the salon after they paid and Hayley called Nya back, washing her hair and grabbing her scissors, Kai sitting in the chair beside her, pouting as Patrick trimmed his hair.
"That kid had weird eyes." Kai said bluntly, causing Nya to chuckle. "They have to be contacts, right?"
"Well, most people think your hair is a wig, so..." Nya started and Kai glared at her. "Did you, like, get this weird feeling when we walked in?"
"I mean," Kai's stomach growled, "I'm hungry."
Nya just shut her mouth, rolling her eyes. Maybe she had seen that kid somewhere before, just walked past him at some point. Although how she could forget eyes like that, who knew.
"So, how much are we taking off?" Hayley asked Nya as she combed through her hair. Nya smiled.
"Short, we're going short."
*
Zane didn't know which backpack to purchase.
The black one was larger, with more pockets that would most likely fit all of his notebooks and school supplies, but the blue one was blue, which studies showed promoted learning.
He had run into this problem already, back with the pen selection. With so many choices that had no clear distinctions to provide insight to which was superior, he ended up getting three different kinds of pens. It appeared to be redundant to use the same logic when it came to the backpacks. He only needed one backpack.
The decision was beginning to stress him out. He had already been at the store for fifty three minutes and twenty one seconds, and he still only had half of the supplies that he needed to begin school the next day. Ideally, Zane wanted to be prepared and find school supplies sooner, but it took many days to gain permission from the lab to come here while his father did the shopping for their apartment.
The living quarters that Borg Industries provided them were adequate, but his father insisted they buy some things to liven up the place. Zane wasn't entirely sure what he meant, they already had a small cactus in the kitchen window. Between that and his father, there was plenty of life there. Did his father want a pet? A fish maybe?
But Zane was getting distracted again. Backpack. Which one?
"This is why you don't wait until the last minute to buy school supplies." Someone huffed from down the aisle. Zane turned to see a young boy, most likely fourteen, standing in front of the backpacks as well. He appeared slightly frustrated, taking in the picked over options.
Zane observed him from his peripheral vision as the young man scanned the backpacks, finally huffing and leaning over, digging through a few before pulling out a plain, green backpack.
"Good enough." He mumbled, slinging it over his shoulder and getting ready to turn before Zane addressed him.
"Excuse me," Zane started, the kid pausing and turning around. "How did you know which backpack to choose?"
The kid looked up at him, his eyebrows drawing together and lips pursing. Confusion, he was confused at Zane's inquiry.
"How do you know which one is better?" Zane clarified, but the kid's expression didn't change.
"I don't think there is a best one. I just picked what I like." He told Zane, and it was Zane's turn to be confused.
"Which one you like?"
"Yeah? I like green, so I chose green." The kid asserted, and Zane assessed that the green t-shirt and green converse shoes supported this statement. "What's your favorite color?"
Favorite color? Why would Zane have a preference for something so trivial? Color was only an indication of which frequencies of light were absorbed and which were reflected off of an object. Still, there was plenty of color theory and evidence to suggest that color did have a subconscious effect on the human brain.
Zane guessed the problem was that he didn't have a human brain.
He looked back at the black backpack, then at the rest of the selection hanging up. He set the black and blue back where he found it and picked a different option, a white backpack.
"You like white?" The kid asked, and Zane nodded. "Cool, then you should get that one."
"I will." Zane said simply, turning back to the kid. "Thank you for your assistance."
"No problem, dude." The kid said, "See you around."
He walked off and Zane looked back at the supplies he already had. Narrowing his selection down based on color would greatly reduce the stress involved with this task. At least with the pens.
When his father found him, Zane placed his items into the cart next to the food and 'decorations' his father selected, notably no fish in sight, and his father raised his eyebrows.
"Did they not have any other colors?" He asked, watching Zane stack white notebooks and white binders and white pens and his white backpack into the cart.
"I like white." Zane simply replied. He was more comfortable stating that now, and his father smiled.
"Good, that should be everything for tomorrow. Are you ready?"
"Yes." Zane confirmed. Everything had been acquired and he was as prepared as he could possibly be.
That didn't stop the slight nagging he had somewhere inside of him. The origin was unknown- he heard the phrase 'butterflies in my stomach' before- but he didn't have a true stomach, so that couldn't be it. It was closest to nervousness, but Zane didn't want to tell anyone that. The scientists at Borg Industries always ran extensive diagnostic tests when Zane expressed emotions, and he didn't want that to hinder school tomorrow.
"Let's get this stuff home and I'll make some dinner." His father said, and the two of them finished shopping.
In the checkout line, Zane saw the same kid from earlier with another woman, most likely his mother. The kid noticed him and waved, and Zane waved back.
*
Maya watched her children bickering in the living room, absentmindedly wiping off the kitchen counter. Kai was holding Nya's phone high above his head as Nya was trying to wrestle it from him, practically trying to climb her brother. Ray sighed as he tried to watch the show he put on around them, some reality show about blacksmithing or something.
If someone had told Maya twenty years ago, in the darkest moments of the serpentine wars that this would be her life, Maya probably wouldn't have believed it. There was no way, she thought, that she would survive, let alone settle down and have a life with Ray of all people. But now that it was her life, she loved it. She loved Ray, and she loved their children.
Which is why she didn't want to tell them about Wu.
"Give your sister her phone back." Ray tried again, and Kai finally lowered his arms enough for Nya to snatch it back, sticking her tongue out at Kai.
He really wanted these two to become protectors of Ninjago?
Maya shook her head. They were just kids, although Maya had been Kai's age when she started her training. Ray had been even older. But Maya wasn't sure that they were up to the task of protecting Ninjago either. She was rusty, and could barely move water around in the bathtub. And Maya knew, deep down, that they were the lucky ones. She was here, Ray was here, they could aid in Kai and Nya's elemental training; there were so few others that could pass on their knowledge to their inheritors. They were being negligent.
But, now both Kai and Nya were only two years ago from becoming adults, only had two years of high school left. Could destiny wait that long for them? Maya was pretty sure destiny didn't care about her children's education, at least not as much as she did.
"Are you okay?"
At some point Ray had walked up to her while she was zoned out, Nya typing away on her phone and Kai slumped on the couch playing video games.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She told her husband, leaning against the counter. "I haven't stopped thinking about what Wu said."
"I haven't either." Ray rubbed the back of his neck, "I think...I think we should introduce them to Wu, and let them decide what they want to do themselves."
"They're our kids, Ray."
"Yeah, but they won't always be children. Kai's taller than me and Nya acts like she's twenty five already. They want to make their own decisions and forge their paths themselves. We should let them- help them. If Wu talks them into training, I say that it's up to them."
Maya sighed, but nodded. She was about to speak again when Nya let out an "Oh!"
"I ran into someone who knew you when we got our haircuts." Nya got up from the couch and placed a sheet of paper on the counter, "Koko Montgomery?"
Maya and Ray exchanged glances, Maya turning to Nya. "Koko?"
"Yeah, red hair, had a son getting a haircut? She said I looked just like you and I was all, 'Well, yeah she's my mom' and she said she'd love to get in touch with you guys." Nya looked between them. "Do you know her?"
"Yeah, we-" Maya hesitated, "We..."
"Volunteered together, back in the day." Ray finished, and Nya squinted at them. When did their daughter get so perceptive?
"Cool," She eventually shrugged it off, "Sorry for forgetting."
Nya went and sat back down on the couch, and Maya turned back to Ray.
"Koko had a kid?" She whispered to Ray, who looked vaguely nauseous.
"And Wu had been training the one with the power to rival Garmadon."
Maya picked up the piece of paper and grabbed her phone, motioning to her husband to follow her.
"Don't stay up too late. You've got school tomorrow." She told her children and got a groan from both of them, followed by, "Yes, Ma'am."
*
Lloyd was in his room when Koko got the call, but she still stepped outside on the balcony to take it.
"Koko," She answered, smiling wide when the person on the other side of the line introduced themselves. "Maya, it's so good to hear from you! I met your daughter yesterday, she looks so much like you."
As soon as Maya mentioned Wu, Koko's smile fell. She sank into one of the flimsy plastic chairs she bought probably seven years ago, pulling her legs up to her chest.
"I know Wu's been looking for the others. I didn't realize you were in the city, or that he went to talk with you. We-we actually don't talk that much." Koko admitted, the uneasiness that came with the man sitting in her stomach.
"He wants to train Kai and Nya. We figured out he's been training your son."
Koko closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Do I have much of a choice? I didn't find out until after Garm left that I was pregnant. That...that made it all harder." She admitted quietly. She still remembered that day. She was alone, all her old friends dead or scattered. Her husband was gone, Wu was missing, and the world was still rebuilding from the war. She got the results and just sobbed, wishing more than anything that someone was with her.
Of course, after that, Lloyd had been born. Then Garmadon had shown up out of nowhere, there in her little studio apartment she was trying to move out of. The corruption had taken its toll and he was hardly the man she recognized. But she was angry, so angry, and wouldn't let him see Lloyd.
He hadn't been angry. He understood, Garmadon had looked at her with sad red eyes, and apologized. Not for what he did, not for killing their friends or dabbling in the dark forces his father had tried so hard to defeat. Dark forces that he and Wu had pledged to subdue.
Garmadon apologized to her for leaving her alone, and although they both knew the answer, he asked her to join him.
"I can't," She had told him, crying but standing her ground. "What you're doing, what you want is wrong. I can't let Lloyd grow up in that. I want him away from all of this."
"I know, but he's my son. One day he will come into his power, and his destiny will not be so easily avoided."
Garmadon left without a fight, without destroying anything but Koko's heart with a simple, “I love you”. And when Wu showed up at the start of the summer, she knew that waiting to train Lloyd any longer would only hurt him, not help him.
"Look, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but yes. Lloyd is training with Wu, and I think that is the best thing for him, as much as I wish it wasn't."
"No, I think we agree." Maya sighed over the phone, and she sounded about as tired as Koko felt. "Besides, no matter what happens, or when it happens, Lloyd will need help. We'll talk with our kids."
Koko sat outside a little longer, the city so busy and bright despite it being so late. She remembered Garmadon telling her about what this place was like a hundred and fifty ago. It was smaller, he said, just some village that grew around his father's temple. And it just never stopped growing. It was a wonder for Koko to hear that, some grand sense of wonder and community, that so many people would gather in one place. But now it was terrifying- Koko could only see the city as one giant target.
"You okay, mom?"
Lloyd stepped out into the balcony, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Hey, bud. What are you doing up? You've got school tomorrow, you know."
Lloyd sat in the other chair, yawning. His eyes practically glowed in the city light. She wasn't mad at him, and she didn't really have the right to be mad at Wu about his eyes, but it felt like each day that passed he was getting older, closer to Koko having to let go of him. She didn't want to, but wasn't that the plight of all mothers? Watching their children grow older and pray that they only grow for the better?
"I had a really weird dream," Lloyd said, and she held her breath. "That I rode a dragon to school but then I got off and was in my underwear and all my teaches were Uncle Wu and they kept smacking me with their staffs-"
Koko couldn't help it, she laughed. At least it wasn't prophetic.
"What did Wu say about your training?"
"He wants me to come after school everyday. Which is fine, I guess." Lloyd shrugged, "Probably means I can't do sports stuff and hang out with friends after school."
Koko pursed her lips. She didn't think it was her place to tell him he might not have to worry about training alone, but the idea of Lloyd being sad because he wouldn't be able to make friends and hang out with them-
"You'll make some friends." She assured him standing up. "You're a pretty cool kid, you know. And I'll make sure Wu gives you some time to act like every other teenager gets to."
Lloyd stood up as well, accepting her hug and hugging back back just a little harder than he normally did, Koko's heart clenching.
"Thanks, mom."
"Now go back to bed. I love you."
"Love you too."