• Requested by @-soulshardz- •
Third Person POV
Most people your age would be spending their Friday nights by going to the mall, hanging out with friends, watching a movie, you know, fun stuff.
But then again, running through a forest in the pouring rain sounds much more exhilarating than any of those things.
How did it come to this, you may wonder?
It all began a long time ago, one would say before time had a name, but that sounds like it's been done before.
~~~~
As a child, you came to know a young boy. He went by the name of Garmadon.
The two of you were nothing short of inseparable. You played together, explored the forest around your home together, and shared stories of the whimsical mayhem of the dangers you both faced.
But there was something wrong with him; hidden behind a crushing wall of sadness and fear in his eyes, something was laying dormant in his head.
You often would ask him if he was okay, to which he'd reply with a solitary nod and a smile. It wasn't enough to convince you, though.
One day, you noticed a marking, two dots side-by-side, atop his hand. You held his hand in yours, looking down at it.
"Wow, did your Father let you get a tattoo?! That's so cool!" You innocently observed.
Garmadon didn't find it as "cool" as you did. He violently snatched his hand out of yours, harshly whispering, "Never touch my hand again."
You were taken aback by his change of demeanor. He seemed to notice the frightful look on your face, so he quickly put on a smile, explaining, "It's just a birthmark. Nothing else."
While he turned his head, you couldn't help but wonder if the "birthmark" had anything to do with why his eyes had just turned red.
~~~
After that day, you never inquired about his hand again. Garmadon seemed to guard that hand at all times, which was a little brow-raising, but there were many more things to worry about.
One day, he decided to teach you a fighting style that his Father had created. Of course, you couldn't master it on the first try. Or the second. Or the third.
By the sixth time, you had thrown your hands up. "That's it, Garmadon!" You seethed, promptly sitting on the ground. "I just can't do it."
"Come on, Y/N," Garmadon smiled, bending down to your level. "Try again. Please? For me?"
You looked up at his pouting lips and pleading eyes with a lopsided smirk. You just couldn't take him seriously. "Fine, but only if you stop making that ridiculous face."
~~~
Soon after you learned Spinjitzu, Garmadon had some bad news for you.
He had decided that he wanted to train under a sensei that could teach him to "expand his power."
The news tore you apart. You weren't ready to follow him down this path, but declining meant you would most likely never see him again. But you knew you couldn't hold him back from what he wanted to do, so you had to let him go.
"I'm going to miss you," You glumly sighed, staring down at the floor.
Garmadon placed his hands on your shoulders. "I'll miss you, too."
As you watched him leave, you felt a void in yourself; your best friend hadn't been gone for more than a minute and you already felt empty. Garmadon's brother, Wu, who stood beside you, noticed it and immediately tried to make you feel better.
"Don't be sad, Y/N. Look on the bright side; you still have me!" He beamed.
Ugh.
~~~
You sat beside Wu at the table, staring into your cup of tea. Wu was hard at work scribbling away on a piece of paper, breaking away every few seconds to think about what he was writing.
You snickered, "What're you doing?"
He looked up, covering the paper with his arm. "Oh! Just....writing a letter."
"Oh. To Garmadon?"
His cheeks lit up as he tittered, "Heh, heh. Um, no, not to Garmadon."
"Okay, then..." You sipped your tea, watching him go back to work. As something crossed your mind, you decided to put your voice to it. "I guess Garmadon would get mad if we sent him a letter anyway. Probably doesn't want us to worry about him too much."
Wu stopped, bobbing his head up. The two of you were silent for a minute before he uttered, "What did you just say?"
"I...I was just saying how Garmadon gets mad if someone worries about him. He acted that way when I asked about the weird dots on his hand."
Wu looked away as if he had just heard an obscenity. Before you could inquire about it, he interrupted. "What do you know about...about the dots?"
"What? Uh, he just said it was a birthmark. Nothing else. He just got really defensive about it."
"Did his eyes turn red?"
You narrowed your eyes at him. "It's not just a birthmark, is it, Wu?"
He shook his head, clasping his hands together. "You see, he was bitten by a snake when he was a child."
"So, that's why the spots were so uniform! I should've known."
"Yes. And because of that, the venom that the snake had in its teeth now flows through Garmadon. It makes him do terrible things without him meaning to. As he grows, it'll only get worse and consume him more."
You felt sick to your stomach. How could you have been so stupid?
You stood up quickly. "Well, we should go get help! I'm sure there's something that could fix it!"
"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do, Y/N. My Father tried for many years to help him, but nothing worked."
"I'm not just gonna let him suffer like that! I can't!"
With that, you rushed out of the building.
~~~
"Y/N, just leave! It was foolish to come here! I don't want to hurt you!"
"You would never hurt me, Garmadon. I just want to help you! I want to understand!"
He continued backing up until he was flush against the door, hand groping around for the doorknob.
You put your hands up reassuringly as if to coax an animal into trusting you, slowly advancing towards him.
As soon as he noticed how close you were getting, he whipped the door open and bolted out into the rain.
You grunted in annoyance as you retreated after him.
The rain was cold and heavy as thunder rumbled above your head. You wiped the rain out of your eyes, squinting to see if you could find Garmadon. Stumbling along, you hesitantly made your way into the forest behind the dojo.
"Garmadon? Please come back! Let me help you!" You desperately called out.
You heard a twig snap behind you, making you turn around. The exact second you did, you were tackled to the ground.
Strong hands pressed your shoulders down into the mud as you gasped for air, trying to catch your breath. Beady, glowing red eyes glared down at you as a snarl escaped his mouth.
"Maybe I don't want to be saved," He hoarsely enunciated. "This is my destiny. Nothing in this world can change that."
"Garmadon....please," You croaked, tightly closing your eyes. "This isn't you."
Suddenly, the pressure on your shoulders ceased altogether as Garmadon brought his hands up to examine. His breathing became unsteady as he glanced down at you.
"Oh...oh my. Y/N...I'm so sorry, I didn't-." He stammered.
You looked into his eyes to make sure he wasn't trying to trick you; sure enough, they were back to their original color. You sat upright, wrapping your arms around him.
As you pressed your face into his shoulder, you quietly asked, "There's no way to fix this, is there?"
You felt him shake his head. The two of you broke away from each other.
Garmadon hung his head, letting raindrops dribble down through his locks, sadly mumbling, "I...I understand if you want to get as far away from me as you can now. I won't take it personally."
You were silent for a minute, hands hanging by each side of your body. Garmadon took your silence as an answer, beginning to walk back to his temporary home. Suddenly, you stomped your foot, splashing mud everywhere. Garmadon quickly turned around to see what was wrong.
"I'm not going anywhere, Garmadon," You stated. "I don't care if we can't fix your problem. I just want you to be happy."
Suddenly, a flash of lightning followed by a crack of thunder interrupted your speech. The two of you flinched, ducking down.
"Perhaps you should just save your elaborate pledge of friendship until we can get somewhere safer?" Garmadon suggested.
"Yeah. That would be smart."
Word Count: 1,446 Words.
(Hello, you cool cats and kittens! Got a super long and over-dramatic chapter right here! There will most definitely be a part two coming next week, so don't fret! I'll try to publish another chapter later today, but it may be this weekend before it comes, due to poor time management on my part.
So, big news! I finally got a therapist and I get to meet her this Saturday! I'm so happy. I hope she will help me understand myself better.
Bigger news! I'm down to like eleven requests left in the queue! I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my special request things! It's hilarious because some of them date back to October of last year [which says a lot about how lazy I can be lol], but I'm almost done with them! I just might do another special request thing, but I'll have to think about it.
Thanks for reading! And thanks to @-soulshardz- for the request! I hope it was what you wanted! I enjoyed writing it! For those who may wonder, I try to write the reader inserts to be all inclusive, so I make the reader have they/them pronouns and don't pay much attention to their features beyond their face and perhaps their hair. I only do differently if the person who requests it specifically asks for a female or male reader.
I hope to see you all later!
- your sleepy author, Abbey :] )