Kira's P.O.V.:

I was in the monastery and Misako came through the door and handed me a letter that was addressed to us from Lloyd. There wasn't a return address on it, all it said on the front of the letter was 'To: Mom, Kira, and Ryder. From: Lloyd.' We both looked at each other.

"What do you think this means?" Misako asked me.

"Hopefully not what I think it does." I sighed. "He seemed really depressed after what happened this morning."

"Do you think he's ok?" She asked.

"I hope so." I frowned.

I opened the letter and read it. I was relieved that he was ok, or at least alive. It didn't say where he was, although I had a pretty good feeling that he was at my hideout in Hiroshi's Labyrinth. I could've been wrong, but it seemed logical because there wasn't anybody else who lived out there and he would have that time to be alone.

I wanted to go and check on him more than anything, but in his letter he asked me to look out after Ryder, and I plan to do just that. He said that he wasn't abandoning our family, and I believed him, but I wasn't sure what to tell Ryder.

I handed the letter back to Misako. She read it and looked up at me.

"He left?" She frowned.

"He seemed really upset this morning." I frowned. "He said something about going to Zane's so I'll call him to see if he knows anything."

"Good idea." She said.

"How do I tell Ryder?" I frowned. "He's been through so much already dealing with his mother, something like this could affect his psyche and cause him to become depressed."

"Well it says that Lloyd will come back after he sorts everything out." Misako said. "Maybe we could tell him Lloyd's on vacation or something."

"I don't feel comfortable lying to him." I frowned. "What if he doesn't come back?"

"What are you talking about?" Ryder walked into the kitchen.

Misako and I stared at each other. Neither one of us knew what to say. One thing I knew, I was not going to tell him that Lloyd tried to hit me. Even though it had to be against his will, it would be hard to explain that to a six year old, especially after everything he's gone through already.

"It's nothing you need to worry about bud." I assured him. "We're just talking about grown up stuff."

"Oh ok." He said. "Is my daddy home yet?"

"I'm sorry bud, he's not here right now, but he'll be back." I told him.

The biggest frown appeared on Ryder's face. "He isn't coming back, is he?"

"Of course he is Ryder." Misako told him. "He just needs some time to himself right now."

"Have I been bad?" He looked up at me with tears in his eyes.

"Oh Ryder, it's nothing you did." I pulled him into a hug. "Your father is just trying to protect you."

"Where is he?" He asked.

"He had to leave for a last minute mission." Misako lied. "He should be back in a few days."

"Why didn't he say goodbye?" Ryder frowned.

"It was urgent bud, he didn't have time." I said rubbing his back.

"He's always leaving." Ryder frowned.

"Listen Ryder, your father loves you very much and he would never do anything to hurt you or our family." I told him. "He'll be back, I know he will."

Ryder leaned into me and I picked him up. He seemed upset, so I put on a Starfarrer movie for him and in a little while he was distracted enough to make it better for the time being.

After that I texted Zane to see if he had seen Lloyd:

————{{{Kira's Phone}}}————

Kira: Hey Zane, has Lloyd
come by your place at all?

Zane: He was over
here earlier. Why?

K: Do you know where he
went? He didn't come home.

Z: He didn't say anything
to me about leaving.

K: So you don't
know where he is?

Z: I'm sorry no. He said something about wanting
to get away from things.
I did not think he would
pull something like this.

K: He's been through
a lot lately. 😩 I just
wanna know if he's ok.

Z: He had a pretty bad cut
on his hand, but I fixed that
for him. He wouldn't tell me
how we got it.

K: Did he say anything else?

Z: I assume that his recent
encounter with Harumi had
something to do with him
leaving. She injected some
kind of venom into his
bloodstream and it's making
do things he would never do
on his own free will. I'm
looking into it. All I know
for now is that it's not lethal.

K: Well that's a relief.
Let me know what
else you find.

Z: I will. Good luck Kira.

K: Thank you. Bye Zane.

Z: Bye.

—————————————————

Wherever Lloyd was, I hoped he was alright.

Lloyd's P.O.V.:

I was down by the river in Hiroshi's Labyrinth trying to catch a few fish for food. I must've been out there at least a few days since I left and I hadn't eaten much. I wasn't having much luck. I've spent most of my life training so I wasn't good at pretty much everything else.

I saw a fish jump in the water and I tried catch it, but the rocks I was standing on were slippery. I slipped and hurt my ankle and the current of the water kept pulling me downstream. The rapids kept getting faster and faster. I tried to keep swimming but my ribs weren't fully healed yet and I could barely move my ankle so it was hard to keep up with the water. I found a fallen tree on the side of the river and tried to grab onto it, but the water was moving too fast and I got a pretty bad cut on my arm. I looked ahead of me a noticed a waterfall coming up. Just before I went over the falls, I felt someone grab my arm. I looked up at their face, but it was so blurry because I had the water in my eyes. I passed out before I saw who it was.

I woke up on a log laying next to a burning campfire. My ankle was still hurting, but it had been wrapped up in an old rag and my arm had stopped bleeding and was wrapped up as well. Someone had to have been here. I set up and groaned in pain. My ribs hurt even more now too on top of everything else.

"H-Hello?" I looked around.

"Oh, you're awake." I heard a familiar voice come from behind me. I looked in that direction and to my surprise it was...

"FATHER?!" I was confused. "I don't understand. What are you doing here?"

"I saw you drowning in the river and I pulled you out." My father explained.

"Yeah I got that much." I rolled my eyes. I tried to stand up but my ribs and ankle still hurt. "Ow!"

"You shouldn't stand on that son." My father said. "That ankle is pretty bad."

"Alright, you've got me right where you want me." I sat back down and threw my arms up in surrender. "Just kill me."

"What?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Kill me, put me out of my misery. Please." I frowned.

"Nah, that'd be too easy." He smirked. "It's not any fun if you don't put up a fight."

"Who says I won't?" I warned.

"Do it, and you won't stand a chance." He said.

"Fine whatever." I crossed my arms. Then I sneezed. "Achoo."

"You seem to have gotten sick from the river water." My father told me.

"I'm fine. It's just a cold." I said right before I coughed. "Why do you even care anyway?"

"I don't." He answered.

"Then why did you save me?"

"Because if anyone is going to kill you, its going to be me."

"Whatever floats your boat I guess." I shrugged and coughed again, which made my ribs hurt worse.

My father handed me a plate of fruit and a grilled fish he cooked over the fire. All I did was look at him with my eyebrow raised.

"What now?" He asked.

"Do you really expect me to eat this?" I said. "What if you poisoned it?"

"Yes, I pulled you out of the river, carried you all the way here, and treated your injuries to save you, so that I could then poison you." He said sarcastically.

"Fair enough, not like I have anything to lose anyway." I sighed and reluctantly took the plate of food and ate everything on it. I was starving.

I know this sounds crazy, but I was actually glad I ran into my father. Now I had someone I could talk to and someone who I wasn't afraid of hurting. Maybe he would understand what I was going through and he might even be able to help me.

"Hey Dad, can I ask you something?" I asked.

"What about?" He wondered.

"When the great devourer first bit you, when did you start to notice that you were changing?" I asked.

"The past is still a blank to me, all I know is it kept getting worse over time. That's why I left you and your mother because I didn't want you to get hurt." He answered.

"That's exactly what I'm doing." I frowned.

"Son, I don't want you to turn out like me." He said. "It's bad enough I have to deal with these inner evils, but I never wanted to pass that onto you."

"Well I don't exactly have a choice." I frowned.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well that... that's a long story." I frowned.

I told him everything. I told him about Harumi and how she treated my son, how Kira saved my life, what Harumi did to me, and that whole adventure. I left out the part about Kira being pregnant though because I wasn't sure he could be fully trusted yet. I wasn't going to tell him about Ryder either, but it was kind of hard to explain without including him.

"I didn't know I was a grandfather." My dad said.

"Don't get any ideas." I scolded. "That poor kid has been through too much already and I refuse to let him suffer anymore."

"What did you say his name was again? Ryan? Ruder?"

"It's Ryder, and you're not gonna meet him until I know I can trust you."

"That's fair." He shrugged.

"Anyway, that wasn't the point." I said. "Since Harumi put that venom in me, I've been acting out. There's these random acts of aggression that I can't explain and I'm worried that my family is going to get hurt. That's why I came out here alone."

"Do they know where you are?" He asked.

"No I didn't want them to find me. I'm just trying to keep them safe." I said. "Why did you come here?"

"Because I'm not welcome anywhere else after what I did." He said. "Now stop trying to change the subject."

"Ok I'm sorry." I said. "It just hurts to talk about. That I might never be able to see my family again."

"Now you know how I feel." He frowned.

"I just don't want anything to happen to them."

We heard a loud crash of thunder in the distance. I looked behind us and a huge storm was heading our way.

"Should we be worried about that?" I asked as I pointed to the cloud.

"That doesn't look good, we should get to shelter."

"I'm staying at my wife's old treehouse. We could crash there for the night." I suggested.

"Better than nothing." My father agreed. "Can you make it?"

"I think so." I tried to get up again but I could barely move and I still couldn't put any pressure on my ankle. "Ouch!"

"I told you not to get up." My father said.

"Well I'm not letting you carry me." I told him.

"Do you wanna be struck by lightning?" My father asked.

"It'd be better than the misery I'm in now." I whispered to myself.

"Come on." My dad lifted me up and I groaned in pain as he touched my sides. "Are they broken?"

I nodded. "They have been for a while."

We heard the thunder crash again and saw the lightning.

"There's no time, we have to get moving." My father said.

"Wait, why are you trying to help me?" I asked.

"We're helping each other. You can't walk and I don't know the way. I'll be your ride, you be my guide." He explained.

"Guess I don't have a choice." I sighed.

He helped me onto his back and I navigated him to the tree house. He carried me up into it and set me down in the hammock. My ribs were pretty sore from the ride over there.

I missed Kira now more than ever. Not just because she had healing powers, but because everything in here reminded me of her. I missed her and Ryder so much, but I couldn't go back now, they would get hurt.

"Lloyd, since you helped me find shelter, I'll help you get better." My father said as he noticed how much pain I was in.

"Or maybe you really do want to help me." I smiled.

"Do you want my help or not?" He scowled.

"Fine. There's a first aid kit in that drawer." I sighed as I pointed to the drawer.

He grabbed it and came over to me. He used the bandages to wrap up my ribs and they hurt. Not that I was mad at him, he was trying his best, but Kira was always more gentle than that. It made miss her even more.

"Is there something on your mind son?" My dad asked.

"I just miss my wife." I sighed. "She could've healed me in no time."

"Harumi?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Not her, Kira. My second wife." I corrected him. "She's the elemental master of healing, and she's a nurse too."

"With how often you get hurt I'm not surprised that's who you fell for." Dad laughed.

"That's actually how we met." I smiled before I sneezed and started coughing really bad.

"Are you still sick?" He asked.

"I think it's one of the side effects of the venom Harumi injected me with." I frowned as I finally stopped coughing. I was clinching my sides because it hurt my ribs to cough that much. "Zane told me to watch for those."

"How's that?" He asked as he finished wrapping the rest of my wounds.

"Better." I said.

"Get some rest son, you need to be able to walk in the morning."

"Why?" I wondered.

"Because I'm tired of carrying you." He said.

"How do I know you won't try to kill me in my sleep?" I asked.

"If I didn't kill you when you asked me to, it would be way less fun to kill you in your sleep." He said.

"Fair enough." I shrugged.

I didn't know what my father's true intentions were, but I didn't want to be around anybody else. If I went crazy and tried to hurt him, he would have no problem defending himself against me, especially since I wasn't in any condition to fight. I was more worried about him turning on me than I was on him, but I'd rather be in danger than be the one causing the danger. At least then I won't be hurting anybody unless they hit first. Even though I didn't trust him completely, I was glad he saved me and it was nice to have someone to talk to.

_____________________

Hey guys, this will probably be the last Lloyd chapter for a while. I really wanna focus on other characters for a while and how they're doing. I mean the last 8 chapters were about Lloyd, so I'm gonna give the poor guy a break. Thanks for reading and stay awesome!

~Awesomespecs21