• 𝓓𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝔂 • {Ninjago}

•S1 E9: The Royal Blacksmiths (1)•

The sun beat down mercilessly upon the desert, but that wasn't of the snake's concern. They were hidden safely away beneath a pyramid of stone, seeking out the second Fangblade. This particular Fangblade should be much easier to get since the ninja would have no idea that they were there.

    Pythor waved a hand, signaling his snakes to stop. Skales, staring down at the map, bumped into the Anacondrai who shot him a dirty look. "Why mussst we ssstop when the next Fangblade issss jusst ahead of usss?" The Hypnobrai hissed irritably.

    Giving Skales a bored look, Pythor banged his staff on the stony ground. The tiles in front of the small army fell away into an abyss. A trap. "What good is unlocking the Great Devourer with the four Fangblades," he hissed, "if we're not around to see it? Get the boy."

    "Bring the boy!" Skales called, waving the map at the group.

    A Venomari and a Constrictai shoved Lloyd up to the front of the snakes, chained up and very sad looking. The snakes removed the chains from his body, and he stared at his free arms in wonder. "Oh! You're letting me go?"

    Pythor laughed weakly, almost pitiful of this ignorant child's blind hope. The snake chuckled, "Only to fetch, my dear boy." He guided Lloyd to the side of the stones where the path of safety was thin. "Do step lightly."

    Lloyd slowly inched across the stone, every shift in the ground making his shaking grow worse. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second and thought of you. (Y/N)'d hold my hand. Or hugged me. Or I'd hug them, he thought. Just the thought of you made Lloyd a little braver. As he came to a gap, he dared to jump—dislodging a tile and almost letting him drop to his doom. He screamed as he almost fell, gripping onto the next tile like his life depended on it. Oh wait. It did. He shuffled across the remaining tiles, trying to think about you the whole way.

    "Bring me the Fangblade," Pythor called once Lloyd was safely across, "and I'll let you go back to your precious (Y/N)."

    Lloyd sighed with terror, but he realized that there was only one way out of this that he could win: make it to the Fangblade and see you again. What he wouldn't give to be with you and Uncle Wu and... Dad. Lloyd's mind wandered for just a split second, but it was enough for him to almost fall into another barrage of collapsing tiles. He ran as fast as his legs could take him. Once he was free of the tiles he tripped onto the floor as spikes came down from the ceiling. Crawling away, he just barely made it out alive before triggering another trap, this time with arrows. Lloyd ran blindly through them, almost crying with the amount of adrenaline and the sound of the arrows and how tired he was and how he just wanted to go home already.

    Once he made it though, Lloyd sighed with relief once he realized that it was mostly over. Leaning against a bamboo pole, he was off running again as the roof collapsed. Rocks made a very uncomfortable slide for him as they pushed him out. Blinking away any tears that might have been shed, Lloyd climbed the stairs to the Fangblade would be.

    Or, at least, where the Fangblade should have been.

    Turning around to the tunnel behind him, Lloyd shouted, "It's gone!"

    His cry echoed through the corridor, and Pythor's pink eyes widened in shock. "It's gone?"

    "Where isss it?" Skales asked.

    "Do I still get to be freed?" The boy called through the rocks, still holding onto that shard of hope.

    Pythor called back, disgusted, "No!"

    Lloyd groaned in frustration, but in all honesty he wanted to curl up there and cry himself to sleep like how he would sometimes at Darkley's.