Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The First Spinjitzu Master raised his sons in a monastery he built with his own two hands. 

He brought forth the lands of Ninjago from the sea and peopled those lands with his power of creation, but the monastery he built brick by brick.

He took his time with it.

And when it was done, he created his sons: one fair-haired and reckless, one dark-eyed and serious.

And they grew in that monastery, and lived in peace.

Until the fateful day, when danger lurked outside the monastery, and the dark-eyed one was hurt.

Garmadon was hurt, and neither the power of the First Spinjitzu Master nor the power of a desperate father could heal the boy.

But he lived, and he and his brother grew and changed. 

Wu grew in Wisdom, and Garmadon grew in Strength, and the First Spinjitzu Master looked at his sons and smiled at what they were, and mourned what they would become.

The dark-eyed boy’s eyes were red now.

But the Master was tired. He had been there from before the beginning, and he had no desire to see the end. 

So he left, and he left his boys in the monastery he built with his own two hands.

And Wu and Garmadon were alone. They were alone with each other, without their father. The courtyard seemed empty without him. His bedroom lay vacant. 

And what was Garmadon supposed to do? 

Red-eyed, strong, and alone, the emptiness of his father’s bedroom haunted him. 

Was he supposed to just keep walking past it in the hallway?

So the boy—or man now, I suppose—left, and he left his brother in their childhood home, alone.

Wu, the stayer, the one who remains.

Garmadon wrote him of his new master’s teachings, “only one can remain,” he said.

That’s me, isn’t it? Wu thought. 

I am the only one who remains. I am the only one who has stayed, and I stay alone.

So Wu thought to comfort himself. He thought to use his heritage as the Son of the Creator and create for himself a new family.

He would bring others into the monastery. It would be a home once again. He would create a place of learning, of Spinjitzu, of family.

His father had left, and his brother had left, but he wouldn’t leave and maybe he could find others who wouldn’t leave either.

And the children came to him. Most came to learn, but one boy came to live.

Morro, the Last True Child of the Monastery. 

And Wu wasn’t alone anymore, and Morro wasn’t alone anymore, and the monastery itself wasn’t alone anymore.

But Morro was hurt, and neither the power of the First Spinjitzu Master’s son nor the power of a desperate father could heal the boy.

So Morro left, looking for salvation in his own sight, looking for a fate and leaving behind a family he could not accept was already his.

The loneliness was in his bones, and his eyes, and his heart, and Wu could not save him.

So Wu was alone again. 

The Last Child of the Monastery, and the one who remained.

When Garmadon finally returned, red-eyed, powerful, no longer alone, Wu wanted his brother back. 

Wu looked at his brother, and thought of their father, who had held them both the night after the bite— Wu weeping as he fell asleep, Garmadon with dry, dark eyes because he could not fall asleep no matter how he tried.

Wu looked at his brother and saw that no matter how many people he had by his side, no one would ever save Garmadon from the solitude that lived in his bones. 

Their father couldn’t, he couldn’t, Misako could not. 

No one living could, and Wu had to accept that.

Garmadon fell, and in a way, that was another leaving. 

Wu was left alone, the Last Child of the Monastery, the only One that could Remain.

But lo, far away from the monastery, in the years that passed, another boy was born and raised, fair-haired and reckless.

And deeply alone.

But the solitude didn’t live in his bones, and when the time came, the monastery would have gladly welcomed home the last of her sons.

But the monastery had burned.

And none of her sons Remained.

Wu and Lloyd were sons of the sky now, sons of destiny’s bounteous kindness.

They were sons of the Mountains of Impossible Heights, sons of the mountains that the First Spinjitzu Master pulled from the sea.

They were sons of the mountains the monastery had rested on.

But the monastery was burned, and she had no more children.

And when Wu tried to rebuild her, the stones came from the same mountain, and were put in the same places, and were not the same home. 

But they became a home. And the children of the sky, of destiny’s bounty, of the elements and of men’s minds, made themselves a new monastery.

And the Last Child of the old Monastery helped build it with his own two hands.

The End.

Chapter Text

Hope y’all liked it.
It’s a bit of a mix of a bunch of different ideas I’ve had about these characters.
I frickin love drawing connections between seemingly unrelated characters.
Uhhh I did this instead of doing homework, watch me smash out a huge assignment in under three hours it’s due at midnight why do I make these choices.
(I know why)

ANYWHO
Leave comments and kudos, I need to feel like I made a good decision writing this—well, actually you know what no. I will greatly appreciate comments and kudos, but I enjoyed writing that and I’m proud enough of it that imma stand by it.
That was a good choice.
That was good for me.

Hugs y’all 🫂

Clarifying notes:

"And the children of the sky, of destiny’s bounty, of the elements and of men’s minds,"

The children of the sky refers to the fact that the Destiny's Bounty flies.

I didn't capitalize "destiny's bounty" because I wanted to point out the meaning of the words beyond just the name of the ship. It is the bounty of destiny. The prosperity or gift of fate. 

"of men's minds" was specifically referring to Pixal.

The monastery uses she/her pronouns lol