#ignis fic

Lloyd. Little bro. Green ninja. Master. Son of Lord Garmadon.

They were always so kind to him. At least, after that first day. When he had acted out like the kid he was, stolen candy from the market, and got the punishment he deserved.

He did deserve it, didn’t he?

And yet, when his uncle got a hold of him, the punishments were all but forgotten. His crimes forgiven. His bloodline strung together by only one tie: to Wu. But even that lasted but a matter of days. Before he got the chance to settle into a life with an - albeit strange - relationship with the teens who’d strung him up by his cape on their first meeting, he was standing in front of the golden weapons.

They glowed and pulsated with an undeniable energy. An unbreakable promise. They murmured to him in a language Lloyd understood only he could hear. They spoke of power, of responsibility, of a prophecy fulfilled. He would be the ninja to defeat Lord Garmadon. He would wear the green gi. He would have to fight his father.

And suddenly, his relationship with the king of darkness himself was back to the forefront of everyone’s minds. And the murmured language resurfaced without the weapons there to speak it. This time, it spoke of doubt. Of uncertainty. Of a false prophecy. The weapons were wrong. They must have been. He was not the right person to wear green. How could he be? And yet none of the ninja followed his train of thought. They couldn’t hear the language. Lloyd was left to contend with these doubts with no one to confide in him, because what was he supposed to do? Give up the title he was so ungrateful of? Insist that fate had chosen wrong and there must be another green ninja? Who would it even be? Kai? Zane? Nya? Was he supposed to run the risk of letting his father win the war uncontested? No, of course not. The murmurs of responsibility persisted.

It had been years since that battle. Since he proved fate right and won the foretold battle between good and evil. Yet every day since, the murmurs did not let up. He didn’t know how long he could pretend not to hear them. But he was too afraid of what might happen if he didn’t. They would find out one day. They would finally give him the same punishment he’d deserved as a child.

They were so good to him, but he was undeserving of their goodness.

For it did not reside in himself.

Who was he to ignore his lineage?

Who was he to convince himself that his father’s evil did not pass itself down to his son?

They did not know of these murmurs residing in his head. Of course not. For despite however much he knew he didn’t deserve his new family, he was selfish. Too selfish to confess to them of how evil he was. How evil he must be.

And so, he can only let the murmurs continue. Murmurs from the weapons that have long since been destroyed. Murmurs that now reside within his head. Murmurs that spoke truth and only ever the truth.