Chapter 58: The right path
Rain quietly pattered the following day, Ninjago city was as disastrous as ever. Some may say that this resistance against Garmadon may have to blow out their candles of hope, this battle would go on for ages, they feel. The dark lord found himself unable to leave his room for unknown reasons while the white haired girl that was held captive for days now, was softly crying down in the dungeons. Wailing on wether she was truly alone in this world or not. Garmadon could say he felt slight remorse for the captured girl however, feelings shouldn't begin to get in the way.
Through the halls, three SOG guards were carefully trotting by, patrolling as usual. "When can we go on lunch break, I'm starving." One guard whined while bringing one gloved hand to his stomach. The two guards behind him chuckled.
"What? But we just started. How are you already starving?" His comrade wondered. The starving guard replied with: "Well maybe unlike you guys, Steeleye, I didn't eat breakfast." He protested. The one named "Steeleye" sighed in frustration and plain annoyance. "Whatever the reason may be, Fishtank, I don't care." He dismissed the matter and walked a bit faster.
As Steeleye took the lead between the three of them, Fishtank stayed behind with the last comrade of theirs. It was not until Garmadon's chambers that they stopped walking. "Huh? Did you hear that, Gluttonbone?" Fishtank asked the man standing beside him. Gluttonbone was...a man with a questionable weight. Like his name states, he was in a pig in many ways. Gluttonbone stopped walking and felt his ears grow sensitive to a small buzzing noise to their left.
"Bone hears something." Gluttonbone says curiously before pressing his ear to the wall. Fishtank and Steeleye join him, "What do you hear?" They ask.
From behind the wall, the guard could hear a slight: "It's her fault why all this is happening to her...don't feel angry about it. Harumi deserves it." It was clearly their emperor struggling to decide on a fate given to the white haired girl. Steeleye looked at Fishtank mischievously. "What?" The confused guard turned to his comrade. Steeleye pressed his hands together and said the following: "Didn't Harumi try to escape yesterday?" He started. Fishtank nodded. Which led to the conclusion: "Follow me boys, let's let the emperor idle his time. We'll deal with Harumi ourselves." and with the same mischievous look Steeleye had, Gluttonbone and Fishtank followed their comrade downstairs to the dungeons with the same look.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This can't be happening, my friends wouldn't leave me. Let alone, forget about Lloyd." was what Harumi would say to herself to calm herself down. However, mixed emotions were everywhere at the moment. White locks of hair in her face as well as stained tears on the previous sovereign's cheeks. It had been days on end that she was feeling this way and yet, quite frankly, she attempted to find hope in the darkest of nights. Everyday, the candle bringing her to her senses was burning her down and one day, she'll have to sadly protest that the worst to come will happen—she'll lose her light.
Abruptly, just before she thought she'd have some peace and quiet for today, the front door of the dungeons opens without much warning and in came three SOG guards. Harumi could have rolled her eyes at their arrival but chose not too, for the sake of her sanity and frail body. Three men in her presence, very much capable to kill her. She better not test her chances.
"What do you want?" She called out to them. The three guards only laughed.
"We came here under Lord Garmadon's desires." Fishtank smiled sweetly at his former boss. Just look how pathetic she looked right now. Fishtank never thought he'd feel superior than the quiet one, he never intended on back-crossing her and now, here he was, having a good time, making a foolery out of a defenceless torn jade flower. Harumi lifted a brow. She wasn't sure how she feels exactly on the term "emperor." Sure she said it countless of times weeks ago with a bright smile on her face. Now? She didn't know exactly.
"What does he want?" She spat. Oh won't these guards just leave her alone for once? Always yapping and requiring assistance from her—some way some how, these stupid fools relied on her way too much, enemy or ally. Another reason why she thanks her composure throughout the years she had to control the sons of Garmadon. Steeleye grinned at Harumi's oblivion. "Oh simple. He won't be coming here himself of course. So we'd thought we'd like to take over your torture for the day." He smiled amusingly.
Harumi felt her eyes widen. Torture? Did this idiot just say torture? What flippancy and madness-! Harumi panicked inside.
"What are you talking about? It better not be a bluff or else if I were you, I'd rein in my tongue." She threatened, baring off her canines. But Gluttonbone and Fishtank weren't having it. Instead, they laughed. "Very amusing Harumi! You don't scare us anymore. In fact, if there's anyone being scared of the other..." he slowly glanced over to the struggling prisoner.
Harumi immediately replied after him. "Please, I beg to differ." She told Fishtank.
With such a state as well—as cold as the profound ice deep in the arctics. But Fishtank just shook his head and for the first time in his pathetic life, he assaulted a woman. It would have been a broken law in other cities but this was Ninjago. It seems a villain's playground of victims. Girls and boys, they seemed equal to one another. Fishtank felt superior than Harumi, he looked up to her once and even thought what it would have been like if she actually had an interest in him and took him in as her pupil. Now, he towers over her broken form on the ground. Crippled and soon limbed, Harumi didn't react too well to the hard slap.
"Well.." she laughed, unwillingly stunned at what just happened. "Didn't know your could do that. Want a reward?" Bitterness found its way back to her. Steeleye interrupted her with a kick to the hip.
"Oh you'll regret saying that, prisoner." He grumbled and once more insisted in the place of Fishtank. Recovering from the minor blow, Harumi leaned back and laughed at the three fools in front of her.
"So is that what this is, Garmadon sent you to remind me that I'm a no one?" She inquired, finally understanding the point of their pride.
Gluttonbone, not really wise, nodded with a triumphant smile. "Yes, what are you gonna do about it? If you're gonna cry, there's tissues in the next room. Oh wait, you can't stand up and get them." He laughed to himself while Harumi could only exhale quietly and glance away from the mad man. "Lame." She muttered under her breath. However even if she pretended to act like she didn't care, it currently got her to nowhere. The three refused to leave her alone and being limited to one room, she had no choice but to play along. "Ah well, great." She laughed, honestly not wanting this.
The three guards all looked at each other.
"Well then, shall we begin?" Gluttonbone inquired to his two other comrades. They all nodded and just like that, Harumi's frail body was ripped to shreds, blood puddles appeared, mind you. But even as screams escaped her lips and bruises formed up all over, the guards enjoyed this way too much. "H-How are you feeling?!" Fishtank got violent at one point and dug his filthy claws into the white haired girl's cheeks.
A gash was immediately noticeable and blood poured down like a river. Harumi screeched and attempted to fight back.
"G-Get o-ou...."
"Sorry, can't hear you, what's that?!"
A flying kick to the neck and blood spat out of her. The girl felt her wind pipes getting crushed and as she attempted to look down to see who picked her up, it was Steeleye. He had a big smile and held her tightly by the neck. "How does it feel?!" He questioned—or more so raged to her face. Harumi chuckled weakly as she tried to glance away from the yellow-teeth sight. "Ahaha...w-what could i-it be that y-you're...ah...talking a-about?" She was absolutely breathless. Fishtank, who was beside Steeleye, lunged his fist to her shoulders. "Answer him!!" He demanded.
"I-I just did..!" She protested wearily.
"You didn't, answer him properly and don't try to act masochistic. We know you despise pain, quiet one—whoops, Harumi. Sorry it slipped."
He was right, she couldn't hold his stoic facade forever—even though she wanted to. Alright, she had to throw in the towel before her muscles get numb and her nerves start complaining. If she wasn't chained up and maybe fed properly, she could have found herself walking out of these doors in good shape. However no, so much complications happened lately, she was sure at this point who to blame.
Harumi exhaled and stared up at Fishtank.
"Alright, yes. I-It hurts. Can you let go now?" She attempted to coil her fingers against the man's knuckles.
Steeleye stared at Fishtank and gave him that unsure look. They were about the same age and probably joined somewhat at the same time, so it seemed that Fishtank was his most trustworthy comrade. "Look at all that blood. A massacre we can say." Fishtank claimed with a vicious grin. Harumi laughed at that actually. She didn't usually laugh when she was the one losing but no one could know her reasons. "Not a massacre, very much not! I'm not even dead!" She reminded.
"You will be if you don't hush. We're sparing you for now."
"Only sparing me because the mighty lord Garmadon will scold you for killing me. Don't tell you don't have the wits to disobey him."
"You don't either!"
"Please. Remember the side I'm on."
With another laugh escaping her lips, Harumi was accorded a deadly punch to the stomach. She spat out even more blood and this time, no smiles returned to her face. She didn't feel too good—like really not good. The room smelled of blood, sweat and tears. She felt slightly hazed as slowly, as minutes ticked, her wind pile would fail her. Steeleye was still holding on to her and boy did he take an eternity to decide wether to drop her or not. "You've changed a lot, Quiet one." Gluttonbone brought up.
"Please, don't call me that cringe-worthy name. It's Harumi now. As for your declaration, I could say the same for you three. I see time had made you into bigger fools." She protested with a spat. It seemed that the three guards were insecure with opinions for they shut her up with a final squeeze to the neck and a kick to the face. Harumi now found herself dropped to the floor and passed out on a puddle of her own blood. When she would wake up the next morning or later the day, she won't appreciate the smell but who were the guards to care? Harumi was simply a prisoner now.
With blood-covered knuckles, "Come on boys, I'm done messing with this loser." Steeleye told to his two other comrades. Just like that, an unconscious and defeated Rumi was left on the dungeons' cold grounds without any company.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The dark lord paced back and forth in his sleeping chambers. "Punish or not.." oblivious that the decision was already made for him, he still continued to think of any valid reasons to punish her. Escaping that's the most obvious one, but Garmadon was looking for a big of blackmail. He could use her fragile memories with Lloyd back in the past and use it against her. But what's the point when the old boy was gone?
He sighs. This was a hard choice and he thinks, as emperor, he shouldn't be doing these crucial decisions that take half of his day. As he got closer to the door, he quickly swifts to turn behind him. "..." he stayed silent for mere moments before turning back and opening the door. Maybe it was just the sound of the wind? Garmadon doesn't know and now he found himself in the hallways, making over to the dungeons to check on the white haired girl and also pass by the security footage room.
That was until, a cunning cut was heard from behind him. Sharp like a blade and transparent like a ghost, when Garmadon turned around, he saw nothing there. "Am I just imagine things? I heard— I heard—" he stopped himself. Was it the karma of his dead son coming for him? Surely not, he brushed away the thought and kept walking. He mustn't lose focus because of a dumb hypnosis like that. Before he reached the staircase to the basements,
The communicator rang to deliver him a simple request by the part of an SOG guard named Rocket Watchtower. "Lord Garmadon, the troops you sent last night was unsuccessful to find the resistance. We'd like it very much if you took over?" Watchtower begged over the emperor's communicator. When the signal went out, Garmadon groaned. These guards were truly useless, they just idle their times and don't benefit the city at all. "Well, time to find the resistance." He made his way to the lift to his left.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The location was the remains of Ninjago city at a fine brisk morning. With skies so luminously dull, it wasn't to anyone's contempt anymore to ask if their beloved home city was going to be saved by the infamous resistance. The oni lord searched around the wastelands of this ludicrous city. Sure he trampled all over the city's biggest attractions, but one who gets stultified all the time shouldn't even be acquired the task of destroying a mere and plain city in the first place. It didn't take long for the man to give up in his search when he realized no figures of the witty resistance could be seen. Garmadon clenched his fists and swiftly turned his back on the poorly built docks residing beneath such waterlines. Of mediocre-sized gondolas cutting in between the city. Buildings lay to the side and the townspeople, terrified as ever, haven't escaped their makeshift shelter one bit.
"Any sign of them, my lord?" A curious SOG guard, who was peering over his emperor's sturdy shoulders only to find bland lands, had asked this rhetorical question. The answer was quite obvious, really. If one's emperor didn't spot any living sign in the last 10 minutes, would there really be a home just waiting for a pair of eyes to land on them. "Are you waiting for someone amongst the dust to just shout: 'Hey! I'm over here!'?" Garmadon inquired, raising a brow evidently and unimpressively towards the guard's direction. The guard who was accompanying him, Beehive McJR, simply shrugged. "What I'd they are hiding, my lord? That's always an option!" He replied enthusiastically. Garmadon just shook his head and attempted to make his way back, with elegant baby steps, back to Borg tower. "Search in my place, if you're hauling me to find them." He demanded without no other regret.
Beehive, who looked at his comrades: Caterpillarnose and Antcrawler, just sighed boredly, albeit astray on the form of directions his emperor acquiesced him to but not like he was gonna show his obtuse nature to his comrades let alone his lord. "Well you heard the man. Search search!" Beehive gestured his two friends to start spreading out. Caterpillarnose and Antcrawler gave annoyed and slightly dismayed faces when they heard the commanding Beehive get back at it again. They just can't catch a break with him, huh?
But like asked to, the two SOG guards did as asked since, Beehive wasn't the one who was all high and mighty here. If they dared disobey, they'd really be in trouble with lord Garmadon.
Caterpillarnose looked around in his area. He was assigned the west side of the terrace, atleast, that's what was agreed on with Antcrawler, who took the left side. Beehive however, no one knew where he went off and frankly, quite frankly, the other two didn't care. Empty bottles of alcohol, thrashed and left out here for those who were currently melancholic. For the lucky ones who were sober, the SOG guards couldn't care less what filthy trash they left around to just show how needy humans are. "So annoying.." Caterpillarnose muttered under his breath as he spotted another ziplock bag in the water streams. Could
it be that Caterpillarnose cared quite deeply for his city? No one knew for sure however, it was rumoured he kept a few plants in his dormitories in Borg Tower.
It frustrated the emperor a bit since a plant's sacred leaves were in fact the colour of his own child. However, no one could blame the poor fellow for liking his precious greenery and the environment.
He walked a few steps before his eyes laid themselves on a figure standing by the corner of his eye. His eyes felt themselves squint for prompt seconds. Before he noticed something dearly wrong. "OI! Who's that up ahead?" He halloedhis comrades' names in the process, purposely loud to make sure he grabbed their complete attentions. Beehive and Antcrawler, whose heads weren't facing Caterpillarnose's direction straight ahead, were about to shout some common sense into his scolding figure, however all three soon noticed the withdrawing figure in the distance. "I say we catch thee!" There he goes again using fancy English when he wasn't supposed to. But his comrades understood him nevertheless. All three SOG guards chased after the retreating cloaked figure.
"Someone catch them! They're getting away!" Beehive scolded his comrades ever since he took lead. The three guards, intensely chasing one stubborn intruder has resulted in this procrastination of work. If lord Garmadon had found them running after one pig of a reason to idle their work time, anyone would have found it in their heart to pity these three dumbfounded guards.
"We're trying! Fella's too fast though!" Antcrawler retorted with a annoyed hoss to show that he was in fact running as fast as he could. The mystery figure seemed to have some sort of mystery stamina, one that never runs out. Yet, is that achievable? Perchance unlimited stamina was in fact someone one could gain if one endeavoured for it. But, Antcrawler, Caterpillarnose and Beehive were too vanilla to put the themselves into such training. However, to their luck, the figure halted mid way.
"I-I can't breathe.." Beehive faltered, a stomach cramp getting to him in the worst times.
"Me too...but look our fella is stopping.." Antcrawler commented with a prompt pant escaping his lips.
The cloaked figure smiled from beneath the hood and with one swift movement, one slick hand pressed against the brownish coloured clock and up it went to reach for the stars. The cloak drastically fell on the ground afterwards to reveal the figure of someone who wasn't human. A robot with fixated red flares for eyes, stared at its three minions contently. If one mechanism could be fixed to be flexible, the nindroid known as Mr E would be grinning as much as life allowed him to. The three guards were stunned and it was a picture worth to save. But no one bright cameras to such scene, an opportunity like this, drat, wasted! One could have thought. "Is that.." Beehive couldn't finish his sentence due to the shock at first. Their old general was watching them in the cruelest and pettiest of ways.
Wherefore lies the sunset and sunrise, the three guards couldn't anticipate the machinery antagonizing them in the middle of a plain night. "You are branded as a traitor!" Antcrawler had the guts to suddenly call out to the robotic general. But as he couldn't, the robot just stood there and no sounds escaped him. He just observed what his enemies standing in the battlefield with him would do. It was obvious which side the nindroid was fighting on, in fact, all four of them knew. Only three of those people among the four could feel laughter and urge to mock the robot for his poor decision-making. However, with much pride, Mr. E is happy to help the ones in need, like he was always determined to do. Tricked and attached with his new friends, even if he was built to serve others, he couldn't bear leave his post because of the realization that he was doing bad things getting to him.
"You have done us wrong, why have you left the glorious side of emperor Garmadon?!" Caterpillarnose tried without much avail. However as silence was going to be 'well' received by the three guards by Mr. E, Beehive noticed something wrong. Why was the robot just standing there? If one just stood there and was well aware that someone could catch him at any time, why continue standing there and showed no signs of panic? The dark side was currently winning the city's possession over the resistance, who just lost a valued leader of theirs. "Shut up, wait.." Beehive shushed the scolding comrade of his. However, it was way too late despite the warning. Beehive felt his uniform's collar get taken back, causing him to be in a chocked state for quite the while. Just like that, Beehive disappeared and three become two. He disappeared into the shadows.
Taken aback by their comrade's disappearance, Antcrawler and Caterpillarnose stepped back from Mr. E. With that villainous look, could he have planned such a scheme? "Where—Where—" Caterpillarnose tried to screech out and look for his comrade before he too was pulled into the depts of darkness. It was now Antcrawler left and too terrified for his own safety, didn't uncover of the identity of the white-sleeved kidnapped of both of his comrades. Were Beehive and Caterpillarnose killed? He didn't know. "I'm not doing this! You won this time, but not for long!" He spat out at Mr. E before retreating back at Borg tower himself. It just shows that Garmadon's allies were nothing but stuffed with cowardice.
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Back in Borg tower, the dark lord arrived back safely without much assistance from the SOG guards. He carefully strolled through the hallways and realized what he was doing. Unwillingly and directly, he was making his way towards the dungeons. That's where the former quiet one was locked up. Perhaps after her last escape, he was let's say paranoid? He hummed to himself in slight delight.
Maybe Harumi would be in a particularly good mood and she'll actually let him speak for once? He didn't know for sure since there was one way to find out, to actually go down and see her. He didn't know why his legs brought themselves to walk on their own like this, heck, Garmadon wasn't particularly sure that he even wanted to go down to see Harumi in the first place.
The journey didn't take quite long, he was surprised at that fact actually. From what he heard, the SOG guards dread coming here since their legs would eventually give up at some point. Well, here was the white haired girl, sitting inside that room, all alone. Garmadon's breath hitched. How now? How to greet her, he wonders. Oh well, he shouldn't be idling his time. The doorknob turned and Garmadon had access to what's inside of the room. "I hope you weren't thinking on escaping again, Haru-" a flash of shock interrupted what he was going say. The room smelled of blood, the freshness was unbearable. "What happened here?" Garmadon snapped, walking in almost immediately.
On the ground was a bloodied Rumi, the skin on her wrist was peeled off and she was now laying down on the ground unconscious. Garmadon could've thought of several ways that Harumi got herself in this predicament. However,
"Did you do this to yourself?" He wondered in a mutter as he slowly unchained her poorly-looking wrists from the handcuffs. He unchained the rest of her body from the chains as well. Then, he picked her up, blood splatters now found themselves on his bare arms. Usually, the fresh smell of blood would make an Oni go insane, but he mustn't start acting up because of the smell of a traitor's blood on his cold arms. Carrying the smaller figure in his arms, Garmadon brought the white haired girl towards the medical room. A room her and Lloyd's been in several times already.
When inside, the Oni lord carefully placed her atop a gurney and watched her senseless state for an iota amount of time. 'Humans were really a fragile thing..'
he thought deep down. Well it couldn't be helped, he had to help her or else she'd be in a grouchy mood in the morning. With all these injuries and swelling pains all over, she had to be treated. Garmadon noticed her blood clothing first.
Maybe he got clean them later if he had time. Without much hesitation, the dark lord started his treatment, firstly by lifting the girl's clothing drenched in red liquid. As he started taking her clothing mid-way, some of her bare skin was exposed, especially around the stomach area. Garmadon couldn't help but exclaim one thing: "How is she this skinny?"
Sure, a girl from a ninja group would be considerably skinny but not this much. It was if she didn't eat anything she gave him. Despite being honey chicken sticks once and a while, he knew that Lloyd loved them and even though he was a prisoner, he'd eat them. "How do I fix this....maybe I might have something in the kitchen." He concluded and exited the room. Right, maybe there might be something in the kitchen that could help her, a remedy or something or just vitamins in general to enhance her vitamin-receiving problem? As Garmadon left the room and started walking off in the corridors, a few shadows passed by behind him. They hid behind the chairs occasionally left on each floor. The shadowed figures eventually made their way inside of the room before the door closed.
Petite and adorable-looking, the newcomers were a puppy, a cat and a squirrel.
The three animals explored their new claimed territory, so many new toys they see atop the counters. Syringes, medicine bottles, so much. The puppy was interested in the latter, medicine bottles had a circular shape to them and could be used as balls to chase. For the cat, the IV tubes' cords caught it's eyes without much effort. Lastly for the squirrel, it just enjoyed climbing high and finding a place resembling a tree. The animals were still within the room and their fur was spreading everywhere. The girl, who was peacefully atop the gurney started to cough and sneeze promptly ever since the animals came in the room. Startled by said noise, the three animals hid under some furniture in the room with them. A pair of footsteps alarmingly ran back in here.
Garmadon opened the door and his eyes laid on Harumi first. Was she alright? Was she awake? One of his fingers poked her on her arm, no opened eyes were seen, just another sneeze. "Did something happen while I was gone?" He merely talked to himself, exploring the room a bit more before his sharp red eyes had landed on a pair of animal hair floating around the room. He squinted his eyes then turned back to Harumi. "Animals? When did we ever get animals in this room?" He questioned and then saw a red rash on her stomach. He couldn't help but chuckle despite the grim situation. "You're allergic to animals, eh? Didn't expect that." He laughed quietly.
It was probably for those big-hearted SOG members that found animals that were ran over by bicycles and decided it would be a great idea to bring them in here. Ugh, well he had to ask around when she was done being treated. Well this a situation that didn't need much thinking, with her face swelled up like that and rashes appearing on her body, Garmadon needed an epi pen. He began opening the drawers of the counter in search for one. Usually, they were here. When the guard that was in charge of stocking the medical equipment told him that each said thing was placed around here, Garmadon insisted that there should be a note stuck to the wall that said were things were in case he forgot himself. Now that the note was ripped off and had completely vanished, now thinking about it, he probably thinks Ultra Violet was the one responsible. After all, she hated safety with a burning passion. Garmadon wasn't a hundred percent sure whether the epi pens were truly stocked up inside of this particular drawer.
When he finally found one at the end of the box, he took it out and took the bottom cap off. He approached the sleeping girl and frowned slightly. Epi pens had a needle at the needle at the end of it. Would Harumi be used to needles poking her deep in the skin? He means, surely she had been used to endure pain from being slashed somewhere in the body with a longblade. After all, syringes were more finer than sword blades. Even a dagger couldn't compare to a needle's small diameter. "You probably used one before so I'm not too worried." Garmadon whispered in a low tone before taking a deep breath. Stabbing in three, two—the dark lord plunged the epi pen into her bare arm.
Everything would go well, he thought. However at the first five seconds of the needle being in her skin, Harumi, obviously shocked with the sensation, panicked and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Because of that, Garmadon panicked as well and took the needle out of her skin. He had the time to catch the girl from falling off the gurney. When he placed her back on the gurney, he cocked his head to the side since he thought he saw something that had dropped to the ground. Was it some medical equipment he didn't see when he opened the cabinet? Curiously, the man approached the object on the floor. Tainted in green, it had quite the colours that's for sure. He surely couldn't miss it at this point. The lord picked it up and flipped it open. It was a book. No, a journal. "This belongs to Harumi, I recognized the writing." He mutters in a low tone.
There was an entry just recently, one week ago to be exact. "I really thought that I could serve under the lord but Lloyd was right, this wasn't my father. It wasn't his father as well. It was just a power hungry Oni." That was what was written on the fine lines, then on the margins: "Lloyd was right about everything. I should have known." The dark lord read the entry with quite a shock. It wouldn't be bad if he flipped a few pages back, right? and so that's what he did, the entry was around the beginning of the month. Only several days before she was taken in by him, he could tell that much. "Garmadon is a great person honestly! I really wish that I work for him on a bigger basis, you know maybe like...I probably shouldn't be writing this due to selfish causes but...what if Garmadon chose me to be his daughter? Not Lloyd, he can forget about Lloyd. Just me, only me...what would it feel like? Maybe I can catch him in the moment..." that was the entry for that page.
Garmadon ended up reading the journal from the start after that. Just how much had Harumi looked up at him? He scrolled down the pages and his eyes read every word that a young princess had written. "Garmadon would forever be my saviour, my father, he saved Ninjago city from the great devourer, he should be Ninjago's emperor! Not my adoptive father! Him! All the power belongs to him!" Garmadon's breath stiffened as he read that. Here was a young child, destroyed by destruction at such a young age. Now here she was, dedicated most of her life to make sure her ancient entry would be fulfilled. Despite those praising entries, Garmadon was shocked when he found a few rants about the jade princess' life in the palace of secrets. She hated the royal family pretty much from the start, that he could tell.
"They will never be my family. They will never replace mama and papa...." That was the first entry that Harumi had written at the very start of the first page. Then it was continued with more in dept detail on how it felt like being a masked princess so far. The grammar was a bit odd and quite childish but he could imagine that she was still a pretty young child to begin with. But didn't she get expensive and enhanced classes compared to other schools? She was the jade princess of Ninjago of course.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In an imperial garden, a young couple sat on the perch, hand in hand. Garmadon smiled at his wife before looking down at her stomach. It was large, the size of Pluto almost. But no, inside of there, would be his child, his baby.
The man smiled and patted her back. "When are you due, again?" He hummed to his wife delightfully. Under a blue sky and no clouds, Garmadon couldn't imagine a better setting for all three of them to experience. Misako, chucking a bit, turned over to her husband. "Excited to meet our baby that much? Well, what do you think the baby's gender is?" She changed the topic.
Her husband thought for a while longer. In quite honesty, he didn't care whatever gender their child would be. He was just so happy to be blessed with a child of his own in the first place. With the person he loves as well, he had to take care of this child for as long as he lived. "I'm just happy to have this baby with you, Misako. Gender doesn't matter." He smiled, giving his wife's hand a light squeeze. Misako stared up at the sky with a smile on her own face. "Imagine if this child were a boy. How strong would he be? What destiny would he hold? Our own little warrior.." Garmadon looked up at the sky too and said these exact words. Misako nodded at his comment. "Yes, a baby boy would be quite nice."
"But if it were a daughter?" His wife suggested. At that, Garmadon knew how to respond to that, he shut his eyes and leaned back slightly. "Now a daughter, you say? Frankly, it'll be our own soft little princess who doesn't need much protecting." He whispered blissfully. As the summer days went by, the couple often stayed on this perche, discussing about the future of the child.
~~~~~~~~~~
Inside of the book, was a picture of the two green clad figures he's held closely to his heart in some way. Harumi and Lloyd were smiling happily on the picture taken. He wasn't sure exactly when it was taken but it must have been a good day. He smiled slightly as he took the picture out and placed it on the counter.
It would be a good memory and perhaps it'll soften Harumi when she wakes up? Now that he found a picture inside of the book, he wonders if there was more inside? The dark lord flipped a few pages, especially the ones at the start.
Harumi said at one point that she enjoyed drawing as a kid so maybe there would be some treats at the front for him to see?
Bingo. There were three drawings drawn by a child-like individual. But something was off about those drawings. His eyes widened as he brought the book closer to his face to observe the drawings. Yes, these were originally from his baby boy's room. He didn't know when exactly but it was in his childhood days, he came home one day saying that a nice girl drew those for him. It was a picture of a kite, a train and a monkey. Garmadon chuckled, setting the book aside for a second. Just how much did his inattentiveness spoil the future's surprises? Was the pretty girl he was talking about and so greatly admired her art, Harumi? Did he really miss that vital piece of the puzzle? "It makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.." Garmadon thought out loud.
He flipped the next page and found another drawing in a later entry, still in her childhood days. It was a drawing of his beloved and most adored son. How could he not be able to tell such a thing? The blonde was dressed in green and smiling vividly. He touched the drawing with one palm and smiled. "Just how long were they friends? Good grief." He laughed to himself. But still, if they were really friends, it's a shame that their friendly and blissful youth was recked so soon. Lloyd being pressured with the weight of being Ninjago's ultimate saviour.
Harumi being torn by the death of her parents. Yet in the end, Harumi managed to become Lloyd's queen. Things are funny around here, Garmadon could tell that much. It's that no matter what happens that's bad, things always end up getting better in the end.
"Harumi drew a picture of Lloyd? How hilarious yet..." he didn't know what the word was but pitiful wasn't it for once. Garmadon felt a tightening feeling in his heart, it was like his heart ached in....bittersweetness? He didn't know for certain but he had the urge to need to know what the feeling was almost immediately. It was quite disturbing and made himself believe that he wasn't stoic after all. "An emperor who is affected by feelings, what a joke." He concluded and turned back to Harumi. He noticed her eyes were squinted and she mumbled a few things to herself. It was a bit of a ruckus but she rolled back and fourth. He came up with one guess: "A nightmare?" Garmadon walked over to the white haired girl who admired him so much.
He grabbed the girl in his arms and shushed her continuous mumbling. "Shhh Shh..it's alright, just a nightmare.." he cooed her with such considerate and kind words. Garmadon found himself surrendering to the light, well for the moment it seems. He'll always find a way to grow cold and forget these interactions even happened. He shook her gently and attempted to calm down Rumi. Then he had an idea, his cheeks flared up slight with mild embarrassment and told himself: "I haven't done this ever since Lloyd was a baby." He gently laughed at his poor fathering skills. Or atleast that's what he thought, even though he was the dark lord, he was better than any abusive father out there, who consumed too much alcohol and would unleash their infractions on their children. Slowly, Garmadon began to sing a sweet tune for the child in his arms.
A lullaby that told the story of the missing princess. It was the tale on a parent's lament on their missing child, who was kidnapped one night and taken to the footstep of ordinary folks into the city. For countless of years, the king and queen searched for their princess, who soon grew up to be a refined young woman in the city. As the story went along, the parents perish of grief and the girl gets into an accident, however, their reunite in paradise's havens and coming there, the lost heir realizes her role and her family. Harumi seemed to drift away at the sad tune in which he sighs in relief. The man brought the girl over to a bedroom on the ninth floor, away from these dungeons, forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The white haired girl wakes up to her arm pressing against a fluffed-up surface. "Ah...my head hurts.." She grumbles under her breath and then turns over to the soft object touching her arm. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Why, it's my husky that my parents gave me for my 7th birthday!" She realizes and immediately checks its condition. But how, how did it get here, she wonders.
"Didn't I put this in a box when I moved to Borg tower?" She thought and slipped out of bed. That's right, the husky that she brought along from the orphanage, to the royal palace, now found itself in here. Ever since the I vision, she seemed to have forgotten to take it out of her packed up boxes. She seemed to have forgotten to take it with her when she escaped with Lloyd.
But boy was she happy to see a familiar face around here.
Her legs wobbled when she got out of bed. "Woah...what happened with-!!" She barely pronounced the last word when she found herself slipping due to the deception of her right leg. Her figure was close to hitting the ground and Harumi only growled at the possibility of more pain swelling up on her rib cage.
However, the door swung open and she was caught mid-air by a tall figure.
Harumi looked up to see that she was in the arms of Garmadon. "Why are you out of bed?" He asked, helping her walk back to the bedroom. But Harumi only retorted. "Whose bedroom even is this?" She asked kind of quietly. Garmadon put her back in bed and shook his head. He looked around slightly, observing the plum bedsheets and matching walls with a white bottom.
"This was your room after you proposed to be my daughter. I had it all ready for you but never got the chance to show it to you since the resistance had fooled us." He told her truthfully. Harumi was mildly shocked to hear that she found herself as well looking around at the small but lovely room. "It's...pretty.." she admits with a small chuckle. Friendly conversation, she spots? "Yeah, thought you'd like it. No green." He smiles at the younger girl. Harumi coughed slightly at those words. Originally, she was supposed to cough once to exclaim the fact that her lover, not to mention, his own son, was dressed in green. But due to her suffering bones, her wind pipe was clogged with coughs. Garmadon crosses his arms, "Are you alright?" He asked as calmly as possible despite Harumi having a coughing fit.
"W-What do you...a-ah...t-think?!" She coughed out. Her body sprung up and she glanced away to not cough directly in his face.
"Right right, now here, have this."
The man handed her some cough drops and Harumi suspiciously looked at the bag in her hands. "Why are you-" She was interrupted with a cough, then another cough and yet another one. Garmadon rolled his eyes, bothered by the noise. "They're not poisonous, just take them." He insisted. However, Harumi shook her head attempted to give the bag back to Garmadon.
"I-I don't trust—"
"So noisy. Just take them.."
Harumi's throat itched and she knew that if she took one of these cough drops, it'll help with her throat partially. Well whatever, it'll be her fault if this ends up being poisonous. She'll be mocked at in the afterlife for all eternity, maybe she'll see Lloyd..? Harumi took one in her palm and dropped it in her mouth, she let it melt in her touch for mere moments before moving it around her gums since it was spicy after all. These cough drops were so cold when it was kept in one's mouth, that one had the impression cough drops was in reality burning hot. Almost the same case goes with minty toothpaste. After a few moments, Harumi stopped coughing. Garmadon eyed her down. "Poisonous?" He laughed.
Harumi only rolled her eyes. "I wish." She spat, not really meaning it but in reality, was kind of surprised that Garmadon didn't decide to poison the cough drops after all. The man smiled. "You're hilarious, Rumi." He chuckled before sighing in relief that she was doing alright now. Okay well, time for business talk, he figures. "Well look, Rumi. I'm sorry to inform you this but—"
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Ask yourself that, would I, Garmadon, your hero, be a cold monster for all eternity?"
"I had the impression of such statement, so yes, maybe,"
"Well that's false."
"I see you read my diary?"
"Yes, but it's not like it was unexpected, you read mine after all."
"Ahahah! Now please, continue."
"Ugh..."
After an exchange of words, Garmadon took off where he left us. With an apologetic and sincere tone, he coughed. "Listen I'm sorry Harumi, but I think your friends really did betray you and left you for the dead." He brought the heavily implied words in her consciousness once more. Harumi bit into the cough drop in slight frustration. Oh this topic again? Did he desire to watch her lose her composure and cripple down into a sobbing display for another time this week? "Shut up." She spat, demanding him yo immediately shut up. But Garmadon disobeyed her, who had the higher authority between the two of them again? "I'm not kidding nor am I intending to make you sad."
"Then why mention it if you know that it will make me sad again?" She asked the rational. Couldn't he keep his thoughts within him? Did she need to know the mysteries of the deep abyss inside of him at all costs? Garmadon sighed and shook his head. "Everyone deserves to know the truth." He says. Harumi shook her head and already, she was trembling in bed. "I frankly don't wanna know the truth." She insists to him. The dark lord sighs once again, doesn't she get it? It hurts more to not know the truth than to know it directly. He had to tell her wether she liked it or not. It's because he didn't want such a pretty candle like her melting down due to false hope.
"I need to tell you. Your friends aren't coming for you, you chose the wrong side, quiet one. See, you should have spoken up when they beckoned you to join them. You shouldn't stay silent in cases like that."
"I wanted to join them." Harumi began to blink repetitively. Why, you ask? To contain the tears daring to pour out, of course.
"You wanted to join people who would betray you when you fulfilled your role as decoy? If you truly mattered, you would be rescued by them this exact week." He pointed out a rather true point.
Harumi covered her ears and embraced herself from the white lies. "Shut up, I didn't ask you. My friends will save me and I will escape you once and for all.." her voice began to die down at some point because her sadness and desperation to escape had been found by her emotions. Tears slid down her cheeks and she sobbed to herself. "They'll save me...Lloyd would do the sa,e if he were here...You're lying to me...stop it.." She retorted rather weakly you Garmadon's confessions. The man opened his arms and gestured her to come closer to him, to feel his warmth and be hugged from misery, a sign of comfort.
But Harumi denied it and kept to herself. "Go away.." She demanded quietly.
It was no use, despite how hard he tried.
Well, he had to move on. There was another thing he wanted to ask her.
"Harumi, I know you're still pretty shaken up but I wanted to ask you something rather important." He said a bit straightforwardly. The white haired girl wiped her eyes and then looked over to him. "What? More torment to a poor girl like me?" She inquired harshly. Garmadon didn't question her clear fury against the truth but said his words anyways. He knows it'll shake her up a bit more but he had to know her response. "Harumi, listen. What do you say and become my daughter once more? Forget the betrayers and demons that shouldered you for far too long. Join me again. Be my child." He offered.
Now this wasn't mild shock. It was extreme shock, the biggest shocker that Harumi felt all month. For once, she stumbled on her thoughts and bit her lips several times, she was lucky it didn't bleed. But by hard her teeth pressed on the skin, her teeth could have chomped right through. "I.....ah....well.." Harumi didn't know what to say, but it just showed Garmadon how much she considered his offer. Why did she consider it? Why did Garmadon even bring it up in the first place? To fool her for almost falling into the answer he desired from her? "Just answer me Harumi, my child." He softly whispered. Harumi was about to answer before she halted mentally.
A figure dressed in green and with his blonde locks, he smiled at her from afar.
He came in her mind and Harumi looked down to the bedsheets. She held them tightly. Now with this interruption, she couldn't decide. She had thought of the guilt she had felt weeks ago about taking Lloyd's place in his own family.
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A/N Hiya! LillaSmolBean here and thank you for reading this rather late chapter of Reconciled hearts! Now I apologize for the late upload but my schedule was pretty hectic since first semester is finishing by my place!
Now this was one intense chapter! Ooh boy, really reflects on Harumi and Garmadon most definitely! I loved writing every bit of it and I must thank Jdizzle for the lovely ideas! Alright, now here's a little question for everyone here, do you think Harumi should become Garmadon's daughter or not, and why? Tell me in the comments! Alright that's my author's note, cya!