Chapter Text
It was the quietest spot at the monastery, away from all the bright artificial lights and loud noises. The Sakura tree was also Morro's favorite spot to relax. A calm place where he could close his eyes, listen to the sound of the rustling leaves, and feel the tree gently sway in the breeze. And on a calm day like this, it was odd when Autumn could not find her friend in his favorite spot.
In fact, she could not find him anywhere in the monastery. Not in his room or any of his other hiding spots. It was odd. The only other explanation would be that he had left the monastery just after breakfast and didn't tell anyone. Especially since he hardly ever went out on his own. He's been doing that a lot more often lately. He'd leave for hours, only to return relatively late in the evening. When asked where he had been, he'd say something vague or that he just went for a walk. If anyone asked for further details, he'd either not respond or say something like 'f off.'
Most unusually of all, Morro wouldn't even talk to her. She understood that he rarely spoke with the others, but he never shied away from even a small conversation with her. And on the rare days she did see him, he'd smile, say a few words, then leave. It was like he was avoiding her. She didn't think she did anything to make him upset with her. Or maybe she did, and he just wasn't telling her because she should know.
"Still no sign of him?" Autumn looked down from the Sakura tree to see Lloyd standing beneath her.
Autumn sighed and looked back towards the monastery stairs. "No. He's been doing this for two weeks now. I'm worried about him."
"Did you two get into a fight?" Lloyd asked.
Autumn scoffed. "Trust me, if Morro and I fought, you would know."
"How so?"
"Lots of screaming and some blood."
"Oh, so like our fights but dialed down a bit." Lloyd chuckled.
Autumn let out a shaky sigh. " I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but I'm really not in the mood for jokes right now, Lloyd."
Lloyd frowned and shifted back and forth on his feet. "Are you at least in the mood for some twin company?"
Autumn thought for a moment and looked back at Lloyd. "Yeah, I actually could use some of that right now."
Lloyd didn't take long to climb up the tree and join Autumn. Once he was seated next to her, Autumn leaned against him, and he wrapped an arm around her.
"I've been living here for a month. What happened? He won't talk to me."
"This is Morro we're talking about. He wouldn't avoid you for no reason."
Autumn quickly sat up and looked at Lloyd. "Did you see him!? Did he say he's avoiding me!? Did I do something wrong!? Did I-"
"Woah, woah, Autumn, calm down. No, I haven't seen him. We don't know that he's avoiding you."
Autumn sighed. "If Kai stopped talking to you for two weeks, you'd think he was avoiding you, too."
Lloyd paused for a moment to think. "Okay, you're not wrong. But Morro isn't the kind of guy who stops talking to his best friend for no reason."
"I just... want to know if I did anything wrong. And if I did, I want to apologize for whatever it is," Autumn said.
Lloyd frowned and hugged Autumn. "Don't blame yourself. If anything, he's avoiding me and the others. I know he's still pissed at me for lying about wanting to put the past behind us."
"Which you still need to apologize for."
Lloyd sighed and cursed at himself. "I didn't mean to bring that up."
"Lloyd, I don't need you and Morro to be friends, but you have to apologize for lying to him."
Lloyd grumbled and pulled away from Autumn. "You know this isn't as easy as it seems. I still get the occasional nightmares."
"You don't have to be his best friend, Lloyd. That's my job. All I'm asking for you to do is to apologize. You can work out your other issues later."
Lloyd sighed and looked at Autumn. "I'm not going to hear the end of this until I do so, am I?"
"Nope."
"Alright, fine, I'll apologize. I admit, what I did was pretty shitty."
"Good." Autumn reached over and held Lloyd's hand. He smiled and squeezed her hand tightly. "Would you mind staying here until he shows up? I did say I need some twin company."
"Not at all." Autumn smiled and leaned against Lloyd again. He chuckled and held her close.
The past month had been good for the twins. They could wake up every single day knowing the other was there, and they could go to sleep knowing that they would see each other again when they opened their eyes. When nightmares plagued one another, they knew their sibling was just down the hallway for some comfort. It was no longer hard to find each other if anything were to trouble them.
The moment Autumn was completely moved in, the twins started making up for lost time. Around that time, the others also started getting pranked more often than usual. If they thought one Garmadon kid was troublesome, two were much worse. And for the first time in years, Lloyd got to feel like a kid again. Sometimes, the twins forgot they were five years older than they biologically were. So it felt good to cause some mischief.
But their favorite way to spend time together was just like this. Just sitting next to each other in silence. It's a calm silence they so rarely had. They didn't have to play pranks, video games, or talk to spend time together. Being next to each other after being separated for almost five years was more than enough.
They sat in the tree for a long time. Over an hour passed before late afternoon turned to evening. Lloyd watched as Autumn's face grew more and more worried the later it got.
"Have you tried calling him?" Loyd asked, breaking the silence.
"He still doesn't have a phone. Trust me, if he did, that would've been the first thing I did," Autumn said.
They sat for a bit longer. Watching the sun slowly set beyond the horizon. It wasn't until twilight that Lloyd spotted movement coming up the steps. Lloyd quickly pointed it out to Autumn, and she straightened. They waited until the figure came into full view.
"Morro!" Morro looked up just in time to see Autumn jumping off the tree. She ran down the steps to where he was and threw her arms around him.
"Woah! Uh, hey, Autumn. You good?" Morro asked, a little surprised by Autumn jumping on him. Autumn pulled away and started fidgeting with her hands.
"Well, you've had me worried. You go out every day and don't tell anyone. We hardly talk, which makes me afraid that I did something to upset you. If I did, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I-"
"Autumn, you didn't do anything. I just wanted to go out on my own." Morro grabbed Autumn by her shoulders to reassure her.
"Promise that's it?"
"Yes, I promise. I didn't mean to worry you."
"Well, you kinda did. You've hardly said two words to me in the past two weeks."
Morro's eyes widened. "Two weeks? Huh... I hadn't realized so much time passed."
"Well, it has been two weeks. And, yeah, you kinda scared her." Morro hadn't noticed Lloyd walking towards them. He glared at him as he got closer.
"Got it, Lloyd. I didn't mean to." Morro moved to walk towards the monastery when Autumn grabbed his arm.
"Wait. Lloyd, you have something to say to Morro?"
"Right now?" Lloyd asked, a little caught off guard."
"Yes, now."
Lloyd sighed. "Morro, I'm sorry for having lied to you. I was a jerk for doing that."
Morro looked back and forth between the twins, scoffed, and continued walking back to the monastery, pulling his arm out of Autumn's grasp. Autumn took a few steps forward to catch up to Morro.
"Morro, wait!" Morro stopped in his tracks just as he was about to pass the gates. "Are you going back out again tomorrow?"
"I was planning on it. You want me to tell you when I'm leaving and returning?"
Autumn waved her hands out in front of her and shook her head. "No, you don't need to. I'm not your mom. Just... Just promise me everything's okay."
Morro flinched when he heard that. He turned around, seeing Autumn's worried expression. He sighed and nodded before disappearing into the monastery. "I promise."
Morro closed his bedroom door as quickly as he could. He locked the door and took off his hoodie. Autumn had grabbed him right where his still-healing tattoo was. It was one word: Milhaven.
"You're my best friend, Autumn, but shit, that hurt." Morro held his arm just below the tattoo, trying to ignore the mild pain. After taking a few breaths while leaning against his door, he approached his nightstand and reached behind it. He pulled out a small flip phone. He dialed a number and waited for the person on the other end to answer.
Morro heard a beep. "Hey, yeah, I'm coming tomorrow. Relax; no one knows. We'll be fine. I'll see you guys there." Morro hung up the phone and returned it to its hiding spot before collapsing on the bed.