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Lloyd's gi has a dragon on the back. He doesn't mind. In contrary, he likes it. It looks cool, a beautiful slender beast that reminds him of Ultra. It is the same symbol that is on the back of every robe Master Wu owns and it is on the back of his father's master robes as well. It is clearly important for Lloyd has seen his uncle lovingly hand-stitch it into the back of his new green gi. So he asks his father about it.
"It is a symbol our father would add to every robe he made for me and Wu. It became a family crest and he taught us how to do it as well. To stitch it into another's clothing became a sign of love and family. I embroidered this dragon in a handkerchief and gave it to your mother when I proposed. It is the same one she wears around her neck. I can teach you if you want."
His father was clumsy, unused to only two arms and out of practice. Still he showed Lloyd every stitch even as all of his fingers ended up needing a patch. Years later Lloyd and Wu would add the dragon symbol to every ninja's gi and Pixal's robe.
Lloyd barely had time to recover before Morro threw him into a vengestone cage. Where he got one so quickly was beyond him but he doubted he could do much with exhaustion weighting down his limbs like heavy chains. Still he glared at his kidnapper and couldn't help the surprise that snuck it's way onto his face. Lloyd had only seen Morro when he was possessing a pile of sand or a museum guard, none of which actually showed him Morro's true appearance. This was the first time he was seeing Morro as he was.
The guy had a green streak in his jet black hair and even though Lloyd couldn't help but find it cool, he was also unnerved by the physical proof of Morro's obsession. Another thing was that Morro barely looked old. He couldn't be older than Lloyd's physical age, which meant the ninja were being thrown around like ragdolls by a teenager. He suppressed the thought and continued his observations. The marks around eyes were much cooler than those Chen and Clouse had but the longer Lloyd stared the longer it looked like two fish about to kiss.
Don't laugh don't laugh don't laugh don't laugh you will get in trouble-
He managed to restrain himself.
Chains. Not the cool kind, the shackles on wrist kind. And the weird wrapped around neck type but it seemed to be a ghost thing if the ghosts Morro summoned were any indication. His clothes were torn and edges burnt. What little of Morro's skin Lloyd could see didn't look better. If Morro wasn't an enemy, Lloyd would have thought he looked pathetic, pitiful even.
If the general of the Cursed realm looked like a prisoner tortured, what would become of Garmadon?
However his clothes were what held Lloyd's attention most. The gi was an exact copy of Lloyd's first one except the color was faded and obviously damaged by whatever it was that killed Morro. Lloyd couldn't help but notice the little bit of the dragon symbol that was visible to him. His family's symbol, carefully embroidered in a way Lloyd recognized as Wu's.
"Why do you have that?"
He voiced the question without thinking. Morro seemed surprised to hear Lloyd talking. Enough so that he forgot to sound all angry and emo for a moment.
"Have what?"
"That dragon symbol. It's my family's crest," Lloyd clarified, an intense glare on his face. He didn't know who Morro or what his deal was. So far noone had told him where this villain of the week had come from and said villain's monologue wasn't very informative of his captor's origins.
"I know. Wu added it to every gi he gave me," the ghost scoffed, as though the act of love was something that disgusted him.
"How do you know Wu?" Lloyd asked even as the pieces came together. Familiarity between his uncle and the ma-boy. The gi identical to the one Wu had while searching for the chosen one. The family crest. Could it be...?
"He was my master. He took me in when I was alone and taught me everything." Morro stared at the floor with unseeing eyes as he spoke. Lloyd noted how similar the story sounded to his own. So Morro really was family. Not by blood but Lloyd of all people knew that the blood of the covenant was thicker than the water of the womb. He flinched as Morro was suddenly by his cage, floating so close they were face-to-face. "He made me believe I was to become the green ninja. He lied. So I promised him I would. I promised him that I would find the tomb of the First Master and prove myself. I promised the Queen of Cursed I would bring her the Realm Crystal and the sixteen realms on a silver platter"— Morro glared at him, eyes full of pure rage and hatred —"and I always keep my word."
"Morro had the family crest on his gi. He said you sewed it."
His uncle nodded, eyes fixed on the waves. Lloyd wondered if they were now sailing by the place where it happened. The waves were no different than any other spot. Surely a watery grave of a whole realm had some trace of the events that transpired? Surely the final resting place for the only known master of wind would be marked somehow?
Maybe it's better off this way Lloyd thought as he looked at his uncle's red eyes. Destiny has always been cruel to his family but there was no need for a reminder of what-who the elderly master lost.
"I should have told him," his uncle said, speaking perhaps for the first time in hours since the ghost invasion, "of what it meant. Of how much he meant for me."
"...Deep down it wasn't the green gi he wanted." Lloyd was sure of it. Weeks trapped in his own mind and Morro's own right there. Even if the ghost himself denied it, never realized it, Lloyd knew for he was the same once: a lonely child seeking to prove his worth to the one that gave them everything. "He wanted to be loved. To be worthy."
"He already was. I should have made it clear and now it's too late."
"...Do you think it could have been different?" Lloyd loathed to admit that the thoughts of what ifs haunted him as much as the memories of his kidnapper did. He hated Morro. He hated how he forced Lloyd to hurt his own siblings and how easy he made it look, how he turned the entirety of Lloyd's being against himself. He hated that his family paid the price for his weakness but at the end of the day he still remembered the dragon crest both of them wore and although Lloyd was no longer possessed, his mind still seemed hell-bent on hurting him. He imagined a world where Morro was as stubborn about living as he was about the green gi, imagined what it was like to have someone his age, imagined him helping Cole learn the ins and outs of being a ghost, of making amends-
"It was always something I couldn't help but wonder about. He could've been your teacher. A master," his uncle spoke.
Ah. He was thinking of a different world, wasn't he? One where Lloyd always knew a cousin, even if four decades older. One where his could-have-been family member got to grow old, hair gray and face wrinkled.
It was hard to imagine him as such.
And isn't that tragic? A boy barely older than him with no future because he wanted Lloyd's life.
"But it's no use to ponder what ifs. What happened cannot be changed and we can only do our best to move on."
Of course. Though Wu didn't know Morro died until a week ago, he had mourned him before. For him it was a wound reopened. There was no use picking at the old scars. They wouldn't heal.
"I can only hope he found peace during his final moments."