▬promise of particles▬lloyd x FEM!reader▬

So Long Yet Never Changing :125:

Rattling awake, you winced as you were jostled into a wall. You were in some kind of box.. or cell, and there was a small grate you could see out of. You were also stuck in handcuffs. They weren't made out of Vengestone, but they were made out of energy.. something else you couldn't control.

"..What do you think they'll do to us?" Someone spoke out from the other side of the vent... It was one of the kids from before, right?

You turned your body towards the slits in the wall, trying to peer through them. "Hello? ...Arin?.. Sora?"

A second passed with the two voices mumbling to each other, before Sora finally spoke up. "Yeah it's us, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, are you guys okay? What was even happening back there?" You sighed, not even about to question how the handcuffs were even working, hell, solid energy?

Sora sighed, leaning her head against the grate. "Whatever they do to us, they'll do worse to that dragon. The Claws of Imperium come from Imperium, same as me. And Imperium runs entirely on dragon power. With all these merged realms, imagine how many dragons they've been hunting these past years."

Putting his knees up, Arin sighed. "But they say dragon power is safe."

Scoffing, you leaned against the grate (which you now realized was behind both their backs). "Safe for them? Yeah. Safe for those dragons though? I've saved enough injured dragons from those orange douchebags to know they're exploiting the power."

With a nod, Sora glanced through the slit to meet your gaze for a split second. "You saw that baby dragon, it wanted to be free. Just like I did."

Sitting in the uncomfortable silence, you began trying to get the grate off by using your powers. Disconnecting welding sucked.

"So.. I've known you for awhile, and I know you're good at tech but.. what was that? You started glowing when we fell, and then turned pieces of the old mech into an entirely new one, all in mid-air!" Arin exclaimed in amazement. That sort of sounded like...

Sora shrugged, "Yeah, that was weird. It.. it was that dragon. I could feel it almost.. like.. awaken something in me. Some kind of power."

Gasping, Arin turned to you. "Have you heard of anything like that? It sounds like the powers you and the other Ninja had! Or.. well I guess you still have them. Do you know where any of the others are?"

"While Y/n is here, not everything has to do with the Ninja, Arin." Sora rested a hand on his knee.

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. "I.. I know. But if I lose hope the Ninja won't come back, then I lose hope that I could find my parents.. and hey- Y/n is here, do that should count for something! Hope is the only thing I didn't loose in the Merge, and is she's here, then my parents can't be gone forever either."

Trying to readjust her sitting position, Sora scoffed. "Well, hope won't be enough anymore. We can't built you a new Ninja Monastery from an Imperium prison."

"Seriously? It's called the Monastery of Spinjitzu. But yeah, I guess the dream is over-"

Sounds of swords clashing and guard yelling erupted overhead. Just in time for you to finally get out of the cell and into the main room with the kids as well.

Rolling to your feet, you readied to fight, even if you were still handcuffed.

The grate in the ceiling fell to the floor, sparks left in its wake.

Him.

Then a green figure leapt down from the roof. He barely gave you a moment to see him before running into you, wrapping his arms around you. But from what you could see, he looked so.. different. His hair was much longer, tied back in a pony tail at the curve of his back, and from the collar of his Gi you could barely make out the patterned tattoos along his skin.