Hidden Away || Ninjago AU

Chapter 12

"We'll see about that."

~X~x~X~x~X~

In... out. In... out. In... out.

The heavy breathing continued down an alley, the echoes making it sound louder as it got deeper into the alley. A metal door stood there, its height and design making wanderers fear the people who live behind the door. A soft knock on the door and it opened with a long creek. Behind the door looked like a simple neighborhood by day but by night, it looked like havoc that not even adults would manage stepping out the front door to see.

"Mom, I'm home," Called the exhausted voice of Lloyd. He closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it, and walked up the stairs to the next floor of his mom's apartment where his bedroom was.

"Finally, son! Where have you been?" His mom called from the kitchen. "You didn't even show up last night. The least you could have done was text me you weren't going to be home."

"Sorry mom," Lloyd apologized. "Uh, can we talk about this tomorrow? Scratch that, later today when I'm all done resting?"

"You're skipping school? Okay, Lloyd what's going on?" His mom said leaving the kitchen and walking towards the staircase.

"Nothing, I just-"

"You did it again, didn't you?" His mom said in a soft voice, walking over to where he was. Lloyd sighed knowing he couldn't hide anything from his mother.

"You know you can't always wipe people's memories when things don't go well for you, right son?"

"I know, I know but this time I just had to."

"I understand, Lloyd, but next time, come to me, okay?" She told him.

"Sure thing, mom."

"Good. And maybe you can talk to uncle Wu too. I got a message saying he'll be back by next week or so."

"Really!" Lloyd's eyes lit like he'd just been handed a lifetime supply of good ol' candy.

"Mmhmm, now get some rest, I'll bring up dinner, er- I mean breakfast."

~X~x~X~x~X~

Sometime the next week...

"Don't forget to multiply the square root of the inverse of four by the result of your addition between the given integers."

"Huh?"

"Mr. Julien, is something wrong?" The math teacher, Mrs. Jeremiah asked.

"No, not at all, I just-" Zane replied rubbing the back of his neck. "Were we supposed to be doing something?"

"Yes," The teacher said, "We're supposed to be doing math which I don't see you doing Mr. Julien."

"No, I can see we're doing math but we were supposed to be doing something else," Zane said feeling very confused. "I can't seem to remember what it was but I'm definitely sure we were supposed to be doing something else- besides math."

"Well, I have no idea what you are talking about Mr. Julien," Mrs. Jeremiah said, "Please focus on the math equation on the board like every other student is doing."

"Yes, Mrs."

~X~x~X~x~X~

Kai and Nya walked down the hallways of the school towards their study period. The two stopped at their lockers which stood side by side to each other to get some of their books to take to the library.

"And that's why I'm the charmer in the family," Kai says concluding his point. Nya shook her head at his statement and opened her locker. A blue glasses case fell out and landed on the floor.

"Who owns this?" Nya asked, picking it up.

"Maybe there's a name inside or something?" Kai wondered, taking it from Nya and examining it.

"Open it then," Nya told her brother. Kai opened up the case and took out a pair of dark-framed glasses that were brand new looking.

"Nice," Kai thought aloud to himself. He opened it up and put on the glasses.

"What are you doing?" Nya asked, "Those things could be medicated!"

"Actually, I don't think this thing is a regular pair of glasses, Nya."

"How so?" She asked taking the glasses off of Kai's eyes and putting it on hers. "Hmm, feels like some sort of spy tech from the movies."

"I know right?! When I put it on, I could see the texts from people's phones, what sort of music they were listening to, and a bunch of other stuff too."

"I can see that too. Feels like I'm in some sort of computer though." Nya said. "I wonder who owns this. And why was it in my locker?"

"Speaking of computers," Kai stated, "I think I know just the person we should see about this."

~X~x~X~x~X~

"I'm telling you, Cole," Jay said while they were in the boys' bathroom, "We were about to get back at Lloyd for all his father's crimes against us, and then whoosh! Purple smoke engulfs us all!!"

"And I'm telling you, Jay," Cole replied, "You're just dreaming. We haven't seen Lloyd in school since last year at the Winter Formal."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Jay exclaimed, "Lloyd was caught sometime last week by his locker by Kai and Nya and then the whole school found out, and then we emceed a hunt which everyone participated in to find Lloyd but, in the end, we couldn't find him. That was not until Zane, who also returned to school, figured out that Lloyd had been attending school since the Winter Formal but had just been invisible to us all. The two of us then told the rest of the Anti-Lloyd Anti-Garmadon Group (ALAGG) about it and we finally caught Lloyd but then when we tried to do what we planned to do at the school gym and we got purple-fogged."

"Everything you just said doesn't make sense," Cole said sighing. "Look, I get you've been having a hard time since you met your biological father but you don't need to make up stories about us capturing Lloyd just so you don't think about what's really bothering you out. We're best friends. You can always talk to me about these things."

"That's not the issue, Cole!" Jay facepalmed, "Everything I said really did happen! And besides, if you can't remember all this then why can you remember me telling you about my dad appearing after all these years."

"Because that actually happened, Jay. Lloyd's gone and we should be happy this way."

"But what happened after I told you?"

"Red called us and told us it was time for the mission. We went in the middle of the night to do something in the school, I think," Cole said tapping his chin.

"Yes, but what were we doing there?"

"We wanted to get something," Cole said trying to remember. The two left the bathroom and began walking down the hall to their study period. "Something that we could use against Garmadon!"

"Which was?" Jay said hoping Cole would remember.

"I, I don't remember," Cole said confused. "It was important definitely. So important that White suggested we reveal our identities. But then, how could I have forgotten it if it was so important?"

"See my point?! That purple fog must have done something to our brains!"

"Well, maybe I know someone who could help us understand what's going on," Cole suggested.

"Is that someone a person who you'd never expect to forget? Someone without a normal brain?"

"Actually, yes, Jay," Cole affirmed, "But to be more accurate, Zane. His memory can't be wiped unless you stole a part of his CPU and I'm pretty sure Zane would have noticed it."

"To Zane then! He's probably having study period too."

"Onward."

~X~x~X~x~X~