• Requested by @littledarwin •
(get yourself ready for some time skipping ;] )
(also, full disclosure; I have no idea how court stuff goes, the only knowledge I really have is from Judge Judy, so if the court section of this sounds odd, that's totally my fault lol)
Third Person POV
"I can't fight you, but I can resist you!"
"Stop saying that!"
This exchange continued until Garmadon finally made his move to land a blow upon his son. Lloyd reacted by summoning his powers to create a glistening golden shield, which Garmadon struck with his bare fist.
The force of Garmadon's punch was futile to the shield. Instead, the shield ricocheted the attack and sent Garmadon flying back into a cloud of dust and smoke.
Lloyd felt his heart stop. Did he just accidentally destroy his father?!
"Father!" Lloyd cried as he ran into the billow of dust.
Once the dust settled a bit, Lloyd had to do a double-take. He stared down at the body of his father, uncorrupted, covered in scratches and small pieces of rubble.
"...Lloyd?" He said in a low voice, trying to reach out to him. Lloyd recoiled, his eyes bulging.
"What? You...you can't....this can't be! This is a trap, it's not real!" Lloyd fell to his knees, tears welling up.
"Lloyd, it's me..! You saved me," Garmadon whispered in a calm tone.
Lloyd's breathing began to grow more and more uncontrolled and panicked. This is all a trick! That's all it is! He thought. He can turn into anyone, he's an Oni, he's just trying to mess with you!
Garmadon sat upright, holding his hands out to Lloyd. "It's okay, Lloyd. You can trust me. Please, just trust me."
"No, no," Lloyd panted, rubbing the pads of his fingers into his scalp. "Not again, not again! Please, not again!"
Garmadon touched Lloyd's cheek with one of his fingers, to which Lloyd instantly flinched. Garmadon muttered, "You've changed so much, son."
That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Real or not, he didn't care anymore.
Lloyd shuddered out a sob and collapsed into his father's arms. Garmadon pulled him closer, tucking Lloyd's head under his chin, rocking the trembling body back and forth. Lloyd pulled away, looking into his father's emerald eyes, now shimmering with tears. Garmadon smiled at him, swiping his thumb under Lloyd's eye where a tear had made its way down his cheek.
"It really is you..." Lloyd whispered in disbelief.
Garmadon chuckled, then leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Lloyd's forehead.
"I missed you so much."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room was silent as Harumi, followed closely by two cops, strolled down the aisle to her seat. After taking her seat, she glanced over to Lloyd, who was now glaring at her. She gave a toothy grin to him with a wink of her eye.
"All right then," The judge's voice echoed throughout the room. "Let's begin by calling Princess Harumi to the stand."
Garmadon could feel Lloyd's tension just by sitting next to him. He reassuringly squeezed Lloyd's hand as the room's eyes fell on Harumi. She got up and walked, nearly sashaying, to the platform next to the judge. She took her seat behind the desk, all the while maintaining her icy stare at Lloyd and Garmadon.
"Princess Harumi, you stand accused of attempting, and succeeding, in resurrecting Lord Garmadon, in an attempt to take over Ninjago City. How do you plead?"
She crossed her legs with a scoff. "Not guilty," She smirked.
"Why do you plead not guilty?"
"Because it wasn't my fault. It wasn't me who unleashed the Great Devourer all of those years ago."
Lloyd cringed. Sure, it wasn't him who unleashed the Great Devourer, but it was him who unleashed the snake to do it.
"You can't blame all that you did on that event. I understand it was traumatic for you, but-."
Suddenly, Garmadon stood up. With a sigh, he asked, "Permission to speak?"
".....Granted."
Garmadon strode across the room until he was several feet away from the desk at which Harumi sat at.
He looked Harumi dead in the eyes as he quickly compiled his thoughts.
"I want to let you know, Harumi," He began. "It was not Lloyd who unleashed the Great Devourer. It was the Anacondrai, Pythor."
Harumi slammed her fist on the table in front of her. "But who unleashed Pythor?!" She shouted, the judge slamming down their gavel.
Garmadon folded his hands together, releasing a sharp puff of air. "It was my son. But may I remind you that Lloyd was blindsided by Pythor because he was lonely, scared, and needed a friend. He made a friend out of Pythor but had no idea that he was planning."
Lloyd bit his lip, rubbing his thumbs together.
"It was devastating what you went through and I understand feeling angry and upset over it. But because of your actions, there are now dozens of children who probably have gone through exactly what you went through."
Harumi felt her stone-cold composure faltering. "You don't know that," She whispered.
"Don't I?"
Garmadon then returned to his seat, putting an arm around Lloyd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh, gross! I got egg juice on my hands!" Jay whined, running to the sink.
"It's not juice, Jay. It's simply amniotic fluid, a fluid that surrounds chicken fetuses-."
"Okay, okay, Zane, I didn't need to hear that!"
"You're over-dramatic, but I love you anyways," Zane laughed, knowing fully well that over-explaining things that should just go unsaid drove Jay insane. Nevertheless, he did it anyway.
Jay visibly flinched and turned his head to look over his shoulder at him. He muttered something about purposefully saying things that embarrass him before drying his hands with a towel.
"Okay, it says here to whip the mixture of the dry and wet ingredients for two minutes. What does it mean by 'whip?'" Zane raised his brow at the instructions.
"You seriously have never made cupcakes before?" Jay snorted, returning to the bar. "It just means to stir it really fast."
Zane put the spoon down into the bowl and rapidly spun his wrist around, sending a cloud of flour into the air.
"Zane! Stop! That's too fast!" Jay laughed in between coughs.
"You told me to do it really fast! That was really fast!"
As the two were arguing, the door opened and Lloyd and Garmadon entered.
"Oh, you're back already?" Jay asked as he brushed the flour off his sleeves.
"Yeah, it was over quick. She was found guilty," Lloyd replied in a low tone.
"Ah. Well, since we knew it was going to be a bit of a rough day for you, we made you cupcakes!" Zane hummed.
"Correction; we're trying to make an actually edible batch. The first few burned, then the second batch, we actually got right. Cole snatched them up before we could do anything, though. He said, 'he needed to make sure they were safe to eat.'"
Lloyd snickered as Jay continued explaining. If there was anything that could make Lloyd feel better after a long day, it was by being around his friends. Zane could sense the sadness that Lloyd was compressing, no matter how well he was masking it.
"Lloyd, are you alright?" He asked with a thoughtful expression.
Lloyd stood still, looking into the eyes of his concerned friend.
"Yeah. I'm great."
Word Count: 1,164 Words.
(Hello! Here I am, like I said, with another chapter [and I still can't come up with clever titles lol]! And boy, was this one was all over the world in thirty minutes! [did y'all catch that little bit of technoshipping I sprinkled in lol]
I'll be uploading another chapter later this evening, so stay tuned!
If I've been seeming kinda inconsistent with how I upload these things, don't worry; it's not the only thing that's been affected by my bad time management. I've been kind of at odds with my mental health for the past few months and it seems to be getting worse. I don't really want to tell my parents for fear of coming off as looking for attention, but I don't know what else to do. If anyone has any tips, do me a solid and let me know. :]
Thanks for reading! And thanks to @littledarwin for requesting! It was very creative and fun to write!
Well, I'll see you all later!
- your sleepy author, Abbey :] )