The Unexpected Villain (Ninjago AU)

Chapter 1

Lloyd and Harumi start to walk into the cave where the Mask of Hatred is held. They both try to start small talk here and there, but it remains mostly silent for the remainder of the trip. Harumi was, to say the least, uncomfortable. Lloyd was acting weirder than usual. He would say random things out loud, like he was making a plan for something. She didn't suspect anything at first, but it got increasingly worrying. Lloyd starts to walk faster, his pace increasing gradually, his eyes never leaving the ground. Harumi notices this action as well but doesn't voice her thoughts on this. The Ninja had told her that Lloyd can be insanely terrifying sometimes. She wanted to stay on his good side for as long as possible. It doesn't occur to her why Lloyd would want to get there first, the last mask was practically in the Ninja's hands. Harumi does note his different actions than before. She kept trying to catch up to him, but let him run off without her in the end.

"There it is, the Mask of Hatred," Lloyd said. A creepy smile was subtly crawling up his face. He was beyond giddy to get the mask in his hands. His shoulders were facing the altar. The altar was radiating a purple glow from the fire ablaze, and it intrigued Lloyd. The mask looked invigorating to him. The marks, the clean untouched look. It was perfect. He hadn't noticed that he had just been staring for the past few minutes until Harumi spoke up.

"Lloyd, can you get it? I've heard that only someone with pure Oni blood could even get past the flames. What can I say, did my research," Harumi asks behind him. Lloyd chuckled then turned around, a small smile still painted across his face. To Harumi, it was quite unsettling. The little things that Lloyd is doing is making her ever so slightly more suspicious of him. She didn't know why, but she was good at guessing and reading people, and that helps her in this kind of situation.

Lloyd doesn't say anything. Instead, he turned back around so that he was facing the mask, grabbed it off of the altar, and pulled it towards him. He chuckles a bit, shoulders going slightly up and down. The feeling of it in his hands made him feel so commanding, like he was in control of the destiny tide for once in his life. He was power hungry, starving even, and now he was satisfied. He turns around and slowly starts to quietly march away, but Harumi stops Lloyd with one stare.

"Can I see the mask Lloyd? I've heard about it in legends, and to see it in real life is amazing," Harumi requests. The feeling of wrong has never left her brain since they walked into the cave. He's a chatterbox, so of course he would talk about these types of things near someone he trusted, at least she thought. Harumi never knew that he could keep his mouth shut until now. Maybe stopping him to be able to read him was a great idea. Make sure he's just being excited, and not hiding something completely detrimental to her and the fate of Ninjago itself. Why she was so specific with the last statement, she didn't know! It just felt right to her.

"Why? You tryna take it or something? I got this, Rumi," He responds back. Now you know how Lloyd just likes to run his mouth off at 255 mph sometimes? This was not the right time because he just said the stupidest thing ever that would blow his cover. Harumi's brain would know what he's talking about like popping Champagne.

"Now I have all three Oni masks."

"I thought the others were with the Sons of Garmadon," Harumi's suspicions are starting to become reality. All of his weird behaviors were starting to make sense. Lloyd being overly giddy, when he truly is the team's Debbie Downer when it comes to his father. His weird rambles to himself when they were walking up the mountain. It all started to click in her brain.

If Lloyd was going to be stupid and partly blow his cover, why not make sure he commits to it? Lloyd continues,"They do, and I do too. I'll be taking this if you don't mind." He starts to slowly back away, eyeing Harumi, towards the opening of the cave when Harumi had pounced on him, making them both tumble down to the floor.