Chapter Text
“NINJAAAAAGOOOOO!” A little kid dressed as Lloyd went running down the Ninjago Convention Center hallway, swinging his plastic sword over his head. “Watch this, mom!” The kid threw down his sword and attempted to do a flip, but tumbled into the oncoming traffic of people walking around him. Before he could be trampled, a hand grabbed him off of the carpet.
The kid got into a fighting stance, preparing to take on the stranger that grabbed him, but stopped when he met the eyes of his savior. Standing before him was the real Lloyd, dressed in casual clothing with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Lloyd offered the kid a friendly smile, then turned and continued down the convention hall, hoping he didn’t call too much attention to himself just then.
The ninja had promised Lloyd he could have the day off, with it being his birthday and all, and he decided to spend it at the Ninjago Comic Con. He’d purchased some art pieces inspired by some games he played and ate a little too much junk food, but he didn’t care. To him, this was the life. And now here he was, on his way to meet his favorite actor, Cliff Gordon, star of the Starfarer series. He happened to be signing autographs and Lloyd just got the latest issue of the Starfarer comic, so it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Navigating the convention center was a bit harder than Lloyd had anticipated. If it hadn’t been for the “Ninja Cosplay Contest”, there wouldn’t have been an issue. But he was utterly surrounded by people dressed up as himself and his teammates. If even one person recognized him, he’d be swarmed immediately. Any other day, he wouldn’t have minded, but not today. So Lloyd wore a basic hoodie, sweatpants, and a hat to try to blend in as much as possible. Shockingly, he’d be blended in just as much if he truly showed up in his armor.
Somehow, he was able to make it all the way to Cliff Gordon’s line without being recognized or stopped. He excitedly took his backpack off his shoulder to retrieve his comic book. Once the zipper was opened, he cringed seeing his suit in the bag as well. Kai insisted Lloyd take it “just in case”, but it annoyed him to no end.
Just give me one damn day.
He rolled his eyes and slid his comic book out, zipping his bag up before anyone saw his gi. He slid the comic out of its plastic sleeve and excitedly shifted, unable to hold still. As Lloyd got closer and closer to the front of the line, he could hear Cliff’s laugh as he interacted with everyone. Lloyd had no idea how he so effortlessly spoke with his fans. Whenever Lloyd got recognized in public, it’d be followed by an awkward exchange or pure panic. But Cliff seemed so genuinely happy to interact with those around him.
Once it was Lloyd’s turn, he stepped forward, comic book in hand and smile on his face. He gentle placed it on the table as Cliff greeted him. “Hey there, son! Having a good con day?”
Despite hearing him interact with every single person in front of him, Lloyd was still caught off guard by Cliff speaking to him. “O-oh! Uh, yeah I guess so.”
“Are you here for the Ninja cosplay contest? That seems to be a highlight for a bunch of people I’ve met so far.”
“No. Uh, no sir.”
Cliff looked up at Lloyd. “Are you okay?”
Lloyd nodded. “Yeah, just not mentally prepared for the chat, I guess. Sorry.”
Cliff gave a knowing look. “Don’t worry, I understand. So just an autograph today?”
Lloyd nodded.
“Okay! Who am I making this out to?”
Lloyd thought for a second. “Just a fan.”
Cliff gave a weird look. “Just a fan?”
“Yeah. You’re my hero, but I don’t feel comfortable having my name on it.”
Cliff looked at Lloyd then, as if noticing him for the first time, slowly nodded. “I see. Okay! But no peeking!” He slid Lloyd’s comic book closer to him and covered it with his hand as he wrote. When he finished, he handed it back to Lloyd with a smile. “You have no idea what an honor this is.”
Lloyd gave him a puzzled look, then looked at what Cliff wrote:
You’re my hero! Keep fighting and remember that fear isn’t a word where we come from!
~Cliff Gordon
Lloyd marveled at the comic. “Wow, thank you Mr. Gordon!”
Cliff shook his head. “Please, just Gordon is fine.”
“Well, thank you, Gordon.”
“This world needs more heroes like you.” And with a wink, he welcomed the next person in line up to his table.
Lloyd held it close to his chest and smiled. This was one of the few times he didn’t mind being recognized. But before he could fully process the autograph, he ran straight into someone and tripped. He tried to stabilize himself as he went down, but it ended with him pulling the person he tripped over down with him. He spun them to make sure he fell first and that they landed on him, knocking the wind right out of him.
Lloyd groaned as the person he tripped over yelled. “Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?!” He looked at the person on top of him and found it was a young woman in full cosplay. She looked like some kind of fox with a bunch of tails and red accents. She panicked for a second. “Where’s my comic?!”
In the ruckus, Lloyd hadn’t even noticed he’d dropped his comic. Just to his left were two identical comics. The woman followed his eyes and scoffed, grabbing one of the comics. “Watch where you’re going next time,” she complained.
“I’m truly sorry. I just got an autograph and-”
“So did I, but you don't see me bumping into people.” She stood up and brushed off her outfit. “Just…watch where you’re going next time.” And with that, she stormed off.
Lloyd grabbed the other comic and scrambled back to his feet. He looked at it and smiled, wanting to read it one last time before putting it away, but his heart sank and he read the autograph:
For justice! For freedom! FOR THE STARS!
~Cliff Gordon
The girl had grabbed the wrong comic book and wandered off into the sea of people in the convention hall. Lloyd began weaving in and out of the crowd to try to find the girl, but was having no luck at all. If only he had Zane here to help him scan the crowd for her.
As Lloyd continued his search, he stepped into one of the exhibit halls to scan the crowd sitting at a panel that just started. Lloyd almost kept walking, but stopped when he noticed the odd amount of discolored fog floating around the stage. Lloyd's initial thought was that it was smoke from a fire, but this was different. It was almost purely black and almost looked…wet?
And then, the screaming started.
Lloyd flinched when the first blood-curdling scream happened, but as the fog cloud began to touch more people, more began to scream. It wasn’t your usual screams, though. These were screams of pure terror - the kind of screams that haunt your nightmares after you hear them. The screams rippled through the crowd, affecting everyone the cloud touched. Lloyd groaned and ran out of the hall and towards the nearest bathroom.
Lloyd pushed past the line that had formed and stopped a man from going into the only available stall. He grabbed the man by his shirt collar and yanked him back. “Sorry, official ninja business!” Lloyd yelled as he locked the stall behind him. The man began hollering obscenities, but Lloyd paid him no attention, his mind focused on changing his clothes faster than he ever had before.
Lloyd ripped his armored gi out of his backpack, the metal clinking against the ground and stall walls, making a sharp, piercing, metallic sound. He cringed at the noise, but continued on, sliding his arms into the robe and adjusting his shoulder armor to sit perfectly in its place. He tightened his belt and shoved his pant legs into his boots before lacing them up. Lloyd felt that though he was ready in record time, it wasn’t fast enough. He stuffed his street clothes into his bag, slung it back over his shoulder, then kicked the stall door open, nailing the still yelling man in the face. The man opened his mouth to continue yelling, but stopped and stared in awe when he saw the Green Ninja standing before him. In fact, everyone in the bathroom froze and parted themselves, giving Lloyd a clear path out. With a thankful nod, Lloyd made his way out of the bathroom, green specs of energy flickering around his fingertips.
When he stepped out of the bathroom, he noticed that the fog was now spilling into the main hall. Most people were running from it, but the few that were touching the fog were frozen in place with blank expressions. Whenever the fog touched a new person, they’d scream, then freeze.
Lloyd pressed his fingers to his ear, activating the earpiece Zane made all the ninja wear 24/7. For the first time in a while, he was thankful to have a direct communication line to his team. “Hey, anyone listening?” Lloyd asked, raising his voice to make sure he was heard over the chaos.
“Hey, Greenie!” Kai’s voice boomed.
“Enjoying the con?” Cole asked.
Lloyd took a few steps back, the fog starting to get too close for comfort. “We’ve got a situation here-”
“Too many people line up for your autograph?” Jay teased.
“YOU’RE GIVING AUTOGRAPHS?!” Kai shouted. “I KNEW I should’ve come too!”
“I don’t see how your assistance would modify anything,” Zane chimed in.
“Um, people LOVE ME? If I was there, everyone would be lined up!” Kai argued.
“GUYS!” Lloyd shouted. “How fast can you guys get here? I need your assistance. There’s a weird fog thing that’s making people scream and then freeze in place.”
Kai groaned. “Dude, if you just wanted a ride, you could’ve asked.”
“Kai! I’m being serious!” Lloyd groaned.
“So am I!” Kai responded. “You don’t need to-” Kai was cut off, followed by a pained yelp. "Why'd you punch me?"
“Ignore him, Lloyd,” Nya assured. “We will get there ASAP! Just hang tight!”
Lloyd looked around and tried to identify where he could help. He had no clue how to stop the fog, but he knew he could help save anyone who hadn't been inflicted with fear yet. The first thing he noticed was that people were struggling to funnel out of the few exit doors there were. If Lloyd didn’t act fast, it was only a matter of time that someone would get crushed to death against the lock glass doors.
Lloyd took a deep breath, surrounding himself in a green aura, lifting him up into the air. He glided towards the exit and yelled for everyone to stand back and brace themselves. He pointed his hands towards the row of closed glass doors and focused his energy, firing off a blast that shattered the glass, giving more people a way out. Everyone in the main hall began flooding out even quicker than before.
Lloyd then changed his focus towards the black fog. He landed behind the crowd of people exiting and held his arms up, forming a thin shield, blocking the fog from spreading. Looking at the fog against his shield, Lloyd noticed it was leaving little black streaks as it moved. And could he hear … a heartbeat … coming from it?
“BROTHER!” A woman yelled from behind Lloyd. He turned around and found it was the fox woman from earlier, violently crying, pointing beyond Lloyd’s shield. “MY BROTHER IS OUT THERE! PLEASE SAVE HIM!”
“I promise you, I will do my best, but I need to make sure everyone else makes it out first!”
The woman shook her head. “HE’S STUCK OUT THERE!”
“I know, ma’am, but I need to help the others first!”
The woman pulled at Lloyd’s right arm. “PLEASE HELP HIM!”
“STOP! I need you to-”
“DO SOMETHING!”
Lloyd could feel his focus begin to wane, his shield flickering, as the woman continued pulling at him. “MA’AM I NEED YOU TO STOP!” And with one final tug, Lloyd was completely thrown off, knocking his shield down.
The fog swarmed around his feet. He tried to run away, but it swarmed up his body, blocking him from being able to see. He tried blinking quickly, but there was nothing but darkness.
“Lloyd?” A voice whispered in his ear.
Lloyd turned his head to the voice, but still, saw nothing. “HELLO?” he yelled out. “ANYONE THERE?!”
“You know you can’t save them,” the voice whispered. “Just like you couldn’t save me.”
“What? I- Who are you?”
He felt a chill run down his spine. “It’s me Lloyd.”
“I-I can’t see you! Where are you?”
“I’m right here!” The voice called back, full of desperation. Lloyd turned around, walking in the direction the voice was leading him.
“I can’t see anything!” Lloyd yelled out, holding his arms out in front of him so he wouldn’t run into anything or anyone. “Just tell me where you are and I can help you!”
“I’m right here, Lloyd!” Lloyd felt something tight wrap around his throat as the voice hissed, “RIGHT. HERE.” The sudden pressure sent him into a panic. Lloyd fell to his knees and clawed at his neck, trying to get whatever was around him off, but there was nothing there. Instead, his nails dug into his own neck. Lloyd tried to breathe, but couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried. He fell to the floor, growing weaker and weaker as seconds passed. Lloyd wanted to scream out for help, but only strained, quiet cries came from his mouth.
Then, the ground beneath Lloyd began to shake, filling him with a sense of peace. A large pillar of stone grew from under him, raising Lloyd above the fog. Once he was out, he could see the world around him. More importantly, he could finally breathe. He pushed himself up as he coughed hard, trying to refill his lungs with air.
Without even having to look up, Lloyd shouted, “Thanks, Cole!” He looked around and saw that every single person who had been caught in the fog had been lifted to safety by their own pillar. And, in the middle of them was the Master of Earth, standing on the tallest pillar of all.
Upon healing his name, Cole turned around, spotting Lloyd. He waved and pointed to the end of the expo hall where Nya was using water to flood the hall, Zane following close behind her, freezing it as she went. The water mixed with the fog and the ice held it all in place, stopping the spread. And in the areas where the fog hadn’t been contained yet, Kai and Jay were holding the line, using their respective powers to keep the fog back. By the time Lloyd caught his breath, the team had finished the job, leaving the hall covered in a thick sheet of ice.
Cole jumped from pillar to pillar until he made it to Lloyd, offering out a hand to help his friend up. “Hey! Are you okay? Sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”
Lloyd offered a friendly smile. “You got here just in time. Thanks for saving me back there.”
“Don’t mention it, Short Stack!” Cole started to leave, but he stopped when he noticed Lloyd’s clawed neck. He craned his head down to take a better look. “Shit, the fog do this to you?”
“I’m not quite sure what happened, actually,” Lloyd admitted. He reached up and held his neck, feeling small trickles of blood falling from his self-inflicted wounds.
Cole wrapped an arm around him as he terraformed the side of Lloyd’s pillar into a staircase. “Don’t worry, we can talk about it more on the Bounty, okay?” Lloyd nodded as he allowed Cole to safely guide him down to the ground.