Family (A Ninjago Fanfic)

Chapter 6

"What's this?"

Cole bent down to pick up something. Everyone had just exited the Bridge after spending hours brainstorming to find where the Serpentine might've taken Lloyd. So far, they had nothing.

Kai watched as the Black Ninja paled considerably. "What is it Cole?" Zane and Jay picked up on that something was wrong and walked over to their close friend.

"It's...it's..." Something was definitely wrong. Cole never stuttered. That was Jay. Kai looked over Cole's shoulder, and he felt all color drain from his face.

It was a picture of Lloyd. The poor kid was awake and in chains, but looked barely conscious. His normally windswept blonde hair was matted and sticking to his head. His eyes...his eyes were windows into what he was feeling. Kai saw fury, loneliness, fear...and pain. Lloyd was in pain.

Kai stepped back, felling dizzy and lightheaded. He could barely stand. What have they done to him?

He watched as Jay and Zane studied at the photo. Jay looked like he was about to pass out and Zane, though he was a Nindroid, had a look of horror on his face. Cole hadn't moved since he picked up the image. He was frozen. The normally solid Earth Ninja was in shock. Kai wasn't much better.

"What is wrong, my students? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Kai didn't say anything to his Sensei as he and Nya made their way toward the horrified group. He just pointed at the picture in Cole's hands.

Nya fainted on the spot. The Fire Ninja remembered himself enough to catch her before she hit the deck. Wu visibly paled, and when he looked up, Kai nearly dropped his sister.

There was no longer a boundary holding back the old man's emotions. Kai could see the flames burning in Sensei's eyes. He was furious, furious at the ones who did this to his family. And nothing would stop him.

"Wu..."

Kai spun around, snapped out of his daze at the sound of that voice. He knew that voice. He knew it all too well.

Standing there was Lord Garmadon himself, but something was off. He looked exhausted, like he'd just walked a thousand miles. And if he had walked all the way here from Ouroborus, he probably had.

The thing that threw the hotheaded Fire Ninja off the most was his eyes. They were always so full of menace, and sometimes a touch of sadness whenever he confronted Lloyd, but now...now they were broken. He saw an uncontrollable anger, like in Sensei's eyes, but also something else. Fear. Garmadon was terrified.

"They...they took my son..." the four armed man stumbled forward. Cole, no longer in shock, dropped the photo at the sight of their number one enemy–well, number two enemy now–aboard their ship.

"My son..." He leaned heavily on his brother, and Wu supported him. Then Garmadon spotted the picture that had floated to the floor. He dropped the two halves of another picture he had been clutching. Then, Kai saw something that he thought he'd never have a chance to see.

The Dark Lord, Master of Evil, passed out.