Chapter 1: Prologue
The girl is honest, something she had never been before. At least not with him.
The boy is gullible, trusting everyone he meets. Especially with her.
Is honesty even necessary when your target is so foolish?
The girl concluded her tale.
"With King Vangelis's operation shut down, I had to get the last of the Crystal King's Vengestone from…" The white-haired girl stood proudly in front of him, a hand resting firmly against her leaning hip. "...Less… reputable sources."
The flaxen-haired boy was confounded. She… had been alive all this time. A criminal leader, a twice orphaned, once resurrected girl, who he…
"You were there all along?" Lloyds' hands shook as he wrapped his head around the newfound revelation. He glanced at the familiar chains cuffed to his wrists. "You were the mysterious Vengestone buyer we were trying to track?"
Harumi stalked an arch around the captive boy, brandishing the keys to his freedom in her slackened left hand. "The greatest villain is the one that got away…" She spun the keys, taunting, "...Remember?"
The ever-gullible boy stared longingly at the vengestone keys. Vengestone, vengestone, everything is vengestone! These chains, those keys… the army of statues.
Lloyd stares once more at his cuffed wrists, the pieces slotting slowly together. "So you're using the Vengestone to build an army?" Harumis ever narrowing eyes answered for her. This still explained naught. Pythor, Vangelis, Aspheera… "...But what are you gathering all these villains for?"
"Well, I needed enough players for my villainous volleyball team, of course." The girl spins the brandished keys playfully, emphasizing her sarcasm with a dramatic flick of her hand, and a shrug of her shoulders.
Lloyd was not only gullible.
He was also denser than a neutron star.
His eyebrows arch, and furrow, "Are you serious?" he questioned. He was utterly baffled by her bewitching mind games.
Harumi tenses, flailing her arms at him before yelling "Of course I'm not serious!"
She scoffs.
Lloyd jumps to his defence, "Well it's hard to know with you sometimes!" He waves his hands in a similar motion to Harumi. He realizes but does not acknowledge this similarity.
The dark-clothed girl lashes away from him. She walks confidently, "How you ended up leading Ninjago's greatest heroes is beyond me." She shakes her head, "It's amazing how gullible you are."
Lloyd's gaze becomes fixed once more below him, to his cuffed wrists. He's embarrassed. He's lost.
"I don't normally fall for things like that-" Harumi smirks, "-but I'm a little frustrated and confused right now."
Lloyd is more embarrassed with himself. Why is he sharing his emotions with his enemy? With… No, with Harumi? Of all people to trust, he'd learned his lesson. He'd bitten that Apple, but he was awake now, and he would never fall for her lies again.
He shuts his mouth.
The girl chuckles at his words. Lloyd regrets his words.
Harumi doesn't face him when she speaks. "Well, this is only the beginning of your frustration." she swivels her neck towards him, her dire expression frightens Lloyd. Something he would never admit. "Because the next part of my plan involves breaking into your precious monastery of spinjitzu." she ferries her point by smiling mischievously at him.
Mischievous… Lloyd wonders that if they were younger, and less exposed, would they have been friends? Would they have gone to school together? He can only wonder.
He has bigger matters at hand.
Harumi strides away with a villainous smirk, but Lloyd stops her.
"Is that what this about? You're trying to take over the monastery?" Surely not. What would she need from the monastery?
The girl's pale hair swivels as she shakes her head with a huff. "No. I have zero interest in your monastery." Her tone is mocking, patronizing. "But I am interested in the weapons of Spinjitsu, which are inside the monastery." Her eyebrows are furrowed in amusement and her hand is back on her lax hip.
The girl attempts to leave once more, to give the boy some time to… think, but she is stopped by a graining voice. "But why?" her nose becomes scrunched in annoyance, and as she shakes a little in annoyance, she secures the Vengeston keys on her belt. "What do you need them for? They no longer have any power."
Harumi is practically simmering with annoyance, but she holds on, as to entertain the boy.
"You of all people should realize power is never really destroyed." She smiles, sickly and sweet. "How many times have you and your ninja lost their powers, only to regain them?" She quickly leaves once more, leaving the flaxen-haired boy to ponder the rhetorical question-
"Harumi!"
She loses her patience even quicker. "What!?" She lashes around to flail her arms at him. "I'm clearly trying to leave in a dramatic way!"
Lloyd's face is sullen, which surprises the white-haired girl. She had thought he was purposely getting under her skin, but his expression said the opposite. The gullible boy was desperate.
He continues during Harumi's silence. "There's something I need you to know." He grabs the girls' attention with his slow, posture tense but his mind is made up.
The boy was also cunning.
"You once told me that you never actually had feelings for me. That it was all just a trick." His hands shake, the chains rattle with him. "Maybe that's true. But… my feelings for you were real." Lloyd looked impossibly sullen, his shoulders slouched as he glanced at her reaction.
And react she did. Her voice was raw with emotion, sad and old, yet belonged to a teenage girl. She desperately gestured to herself, "Then why didn't you come for me?!"
"I did!"
Lloyd remembered the day clearly. He scoured that rubble for hours, fueled with nothing but grief. He searched till his fingers bled through his gloves, till no stone was left unturned until his muscles ached for days after. He was frantic, hysterical, and he had the scars to prove it. The only reason he stopped searching was because of his master, who had encouraged him down from the pile.
Lloyd feels a dangerous feeling. If Wu hadn't discontinued the search, Lloyd could have found her. She could have been saved.
He feels anger.
No, the boy tells himself. I would have found her corpse. This crystal king pulled her from the departed realm. Even if he had found her, he couldn't have saved her…
Right?
Lloyd feels a frog rise up in his throat. "I searched through that rubble with my bare hands."
Harumi spares him no time for self-pity. "You didn't search long enough."
Lloyd sneaks a hand to her side, right as she's leaving, and silently steals the keys to his freedom. Harumi prepares to leave for good this time, but again Lloyd interrupts her.
"I understand you hate me." Lloyd weighs his options. "And maybe I deserve it." Escape, or don't escape. "But…" It's an incredibly simple choice, Lloyd. Make the choice; escape, help your friends, they're waiting for you.
So why are you hesitating, Lloyd?
Maybe he's hesitating because he wants to stay with Harumi. He's still in love with her, is he not? Or maybe it's because he realizes he's powerless while surrounded by all this Vengestone. He can't escape without the help of his powers.
Or maybe, it's the little voice beside him that whispers to him; the little voice that craves destruction, that lusts for the devastation of those he knows. The little voice that sways his every action, even if he never noticed it before now.
The little voice that whispers let him fall, betray her, don't listen to him, destroy him, join your father, give in to your anger, give in to your ancestry.
By the time Lloyd makes up his mind, Harumi is far from arms reach.
"...I'm sorry, Rumi."
Harumi pauses. She heard him, but did not acknowledge him. She leaves.
And Lloyd is left alone with a set of keys he will never use.
–
–
Lloyd stirs awake to a searing heat.
He groans, pressing against the floor to help himself up. Wait, where am I?
He noticed his surroundings were different from where he'd fallen asleep.
He was no longer surrounded by unnatural crystal clusters, but by screens of the same magenta shine. Tall, thick bars surrounded him on all sides, made of dark metal that shimmered faintly in artistic yellow streaks.
He presses himself against the bars and peers down. Lava. Great, I'm in a cage dangling precariously over a pit of boiling doom.
A length in front of him, the newly remastered Mr. F slaves away at a slab of glowing buttons and screens.
Then he remembers. The key!
But his fire is quickly extinguished when he slots the pieces together.
If they had moved him while he was sleeping, there was no way they wouldn't have found that key. How embarrassing, Lloyd thought. His little crush would surely have been exposed. What other reason would he have for not escaping when he had the key and the perfect opportunity? Crap! How could he be so stupid? Why didn't he escape?
He simmers his powers to life as he grips the bars with all the strength he had. A sawing noise shrieked throughout the glowing room, yet the bars remind undented. Almost as if-
"Don't bother."
Lloyd immediately ceases at the sound of her voice. He turns to face her direction, behind him.
"They're made of vengestone."
Once Lloyd spots her, he knows she found the keys. She has both hands on her hips, but she is not as lax as she was before. She has something to say.
"Harumi-"
She interrupts him.
"You had the keys, Lloyd. Why didn't you use them?" Her tone is stern, yet she comes off as playful. Teasing, almost. Lloyd does not answer.
Harumi chuckles. She thinks she sees right through him. She smirks, "Oh, Lloyd. So trusting, so gullible." Harumi shakes her head at him, like he's a child. In a way, he is.
Lloyd still does not respond.
Harumi fills the silence, arms folded. "You'd think you learned from last time, but you haven't, clearly. Because you are trusting and gullible and weak." Her arms go lax. "Which is why you are bound to lose."
Lloyd can no longer keep his act of silence. He needs to make it up to her, he owes her that much, doesn't he? That's why he stayed, isn't it?
"Rumi, I know I failed you, I know you're angry-"
Harumi dares to step closer to him, feet near dangling off a ledge of certain death, "Oh, you think? You let a building fall on me, so I'll admit, I was a little ticked about that."
Lloyd is confused by his own mind.
He feels guilty, he is guilty, because he let Harumi down and she died.
But- no, wait, It was Master Wu who told him to stop, wasn't it? To stop looking? She could have been saved if it hadn't been for his master.
But this wasn't about the aftermath, wasn't it?
For just a second, he held direct eye contact with Harumi and knew that she revered his guts. He saw her get crushed by a damn building, and did nothing about it but watch.
"I'm sorry, Rumi." He could only apologize. "I know why you're angry. I'm sorry I didn't help you."
Harumi seems surprised by the words. Maybe she was expecting something insincere, something selfish, maybe. Not an apology.
She would never accept it till the day she died. Again…
Her eyes glow eerily as she talks. "You know nothing about me." She huffs to calm herself, before continuing. The boy was too gullible. It was perfect. "But I know you, Lloyd."
Her hand extends towards him, her fingers outstretched. Lloyd resists reaching back.
"Deep down, I know there's a darkness in you. You fight it, you try to push it away, but it's there."
The flaxen-haired boy feels his heart quicken. Suddenly, the screen's gentle buzzing seemed to quiet, the lava seemed to stop bubbling, even Mr. F seemed to stop moving. Only his own heart, and Harumis voice, could be heard.
And one other.
That little voice. It was closer now, more prominent, as if it was on his shoulder now, rather than beside him. It whispered, lloyd could hardly tell what, but he knew anyways.
Listen. Give in.
He nearly considers it.
Lloyd has half the mind to respond, calm but shaken. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Harumi speaks like he is a child who needs soothing, "You don't have to pretend with me" She smiles sweetly at him. Lloyd almost believes her. "You're part oni, like your father Garmadon." The girl's reaching hand is retracted, her smile confident. "That's the strong part."
The green-clothed boy feels sick at the mention of his ancestors, at the mention of his father. He had loved his father dearly before he was banished, now that he was back, Lloyd couldn't help but feel intense care for his father. He was angry with him, yes, but that's just how sons were with dads. Right? He was allowed to be angry.
Despite his love and anger for his father, he would never tolerate being compared to him.
"I am nothing like my father."
Harumi is about to respond, cocky and manipulative, when four yellow dots flashed on the big beeping radar in front of Mr. F. I would recognize those dots anywhere.
It must be them, right? Zane, Kai, Jay, and Cole? Ice, fire, lightning, and earth?
They would find him. They would get him out of here.
…
This would be the perfect time to rub it in Harumi's face.
Go on, Lloyd, make a quip at her! A quick joke, a mocking remark, anything will do!
Why aren't you saying anything, Lloyd?
Could it be… He didn't want to be saved? Lloyd was nauseous at the thought. I don't want them to save me. If staying captured, here, with Harumi, could make her feel better, then…
No. No, it's because he knows it's a trap. It must be, or else Harumi would have that impish smirk wiped off her face already. Yes, it's because he knows it's a trap.
Yeah, that's it.
Lloyd teases Harumi, although he would never admit it felt like more of a warning. "They're gonna find your little subway station, and it's only a matter of time before they find this place." He gestures erratically around him, to the screens, Mr. F, to Harumi. He doesn't look away from her.
Harumi gives him a short, mocking smirk. It quickly vanishes as she sees the look on the boy's face; worried, but not for his friends. He should be worried.
She takes advantage of this vulnerability, "Oh, you don't have to worry, Lloyd." She sets her gaze on a teal button, larger than the others. "I left behind a little surprise for your friends."
She thumbs the button, and dozens upon dozens of purple dots appear on the radar, surrounding the yellow dots. Lloyd feels his blood go cold. His voice shakes, "What?"
The purple dots surround his friends, too quickly. "There's too much at stake, Lloyd. I left nothing to chance. I'm sorry." She sounds the opposite of sorry. Lloyd can hear the smile in her words as she folds her arms. Lloyd doesn't know what to do. In his head, he's screaming at his friends, get out of there! It's a trap! But he knows it's futile.
Harumi just barely turns to face him, "Any last words?"
Lloyd struggles to find his words, but when he does he's desperate, "You can't do this! Turn it off, Harumi, please!" He tugs at the bars that hold him back. The little voice is at his neck now, whispering promises of strength. He can't listen now though.
"I can't, Lloyd." Harumi reaches to press the final button, the one that will kill the ninja, kill his friends. She pauses. "I mean- I could, technically." Lloyd feels hope. Gullible. "But I won't." She caresses the button.
Lloyd almost hesitates to say it. He finds his words, "I-I'll do whatever you want, I promise! Just don't hurt them!" It's a dangerous promise, one that he's willing to keep. He kept it with Aspheera, he'll keep it with Harumi. Anything to save his friends.
Harumi flicks her hair, "Lloyd, you're not exactly in a position to bargain." There's laughter in her words, and just as Lloyd screams "Harumi, don't do this!", she rams the button.
The screen speaks, robotic and unaware of the danger.
"Spiders armed."
Harumi wastes no time, muttering a single word with a smile that Lloyd can barely make out.
"Bang."
She presses the button one last time. Every dot on the radar vanishes.
No!
The girl turns to him, face dire, almost apologetic. "They're gone, Lloyd. I'm sorry."
Lloyds legs give in underneath him, and he crumples, hands sliding down in their white grip on the bars. "How could you…" He says, voice shaken. His lip quivers, and he hangs his head in despair.
Harumi steps closer to the ledge once more, her eyes sympathetic, but unapologetic.
"But there's no reason for you to be destroyed too." She stops where she stands, just out of arm's reach from Lloyd. "You can still join us." No, no, no! This can't be happening! "There will be a place for you in the dark."
In the dark? That little voice whispers to him again. Yes, she's right. Give in, I will help you.
He can hear the voice so clearly. Its offer is tempting.
I will destroy those who have wronged you, boy. All you have to do… I think you know what to do, Lloyd.
Harumi's voice comes in and out of focus as she speaks. "-Focus. What's done is done-" you know what to do, Lloyd, "-can resist and perish-" It is in your blood, Lloyd.. "-Join us, and embrace the power of the Crystal King."
Lloyd turns away from Harumi, from everyone, and clenches his hands over his ears.
The voice persists.
That fool will give you nothing, I will give you everything.
Lloyd snaps back, and to no one in particular, he screams, ramming himself into the bars, "Never! I'll resist you as long as I need to!"
"But what about your friends, Lloyd?" Harumi snaps back" Wu, Nya, and… P.I.X.A.L, was it?"
Lloyd goes silent. His blood runs impossibly colder. She's good, the voice teases.
"..No…"
He feels his grief slowly melting into anger.
"I told you, I left nothing to chance. I plan to deal with your friends next."
Harumi smiles, so sweet yet impish, and she speaks quieter.
"It's all part of my design."
"No!"
Now, Lloyd! Give in!
Lloyd gives in to his anger.
His mind goes slack, and the world is suddenly painted with crisp purple.
He feels his body move without him, fueled by anger and the overwhelming urge to destroy. He rams himself into the bars, back and forth with guttural cries of anger. The hinges give way, the gate flies off, and Lloyd follows after.
Destroy, destroy, destroy! Lloyd can only hear his own voice now. He wonders if it was him all along.
He lands on the ledge, in front of Harumi, and stalks toward her. His steps are unhuman, and predatory. With every step he takes forward, Harumi takes one back. Like some kind of sick dance.
He notices, in his destructive, foggy state of mind, that she's smiling. It makes him angrier.
He barely registers the robot moving towards him, he only had the half mind to send a powerful kick towards him, ramming him back into the slab of buttons. He lays unmoving.
Harumi smiles wider, sliding a sword off her back and standing to defend herself.
He sees himself hurl the unhinged gate at the girl, she blocks it with a grunt, sword saving her from a world of pain. Lloyd wastes no time, leaping with a kick off the wall. He lands a kick, but her sword defends her once more. I need to get rid of the sword.
I need to get rid of her.
Said sword swipes at him, as soon as his feet hit the ground, and he blocks it with his bare hands. A cry of pain escapes him. Harumi laughs.
He shoves her back, and while she gathers her footing, Lloyd delivers a kick to her dominant shoulder.
She's launched back, but quickly gains her footing. Lloyd stalks in front of her, unmoving, guard up. She laughs.
"That's the spirit. Just like your father!" She launches a quick attack at him, the boy blocks it again with his bare hands. They push, shove, arms shaking. Harumi smiles wickedly, "Anger makes you stronger!"
Don't let her get away with that, Lloyd. Destroy her. Fully give in, I'll give you the strength you need to destroy her.
Lloyd gives in, and feels the power of his ancestors build up inside him.
"Don't, say, that!"
His vision goes purple, and he hears an explosive metallic purple.
His senses are nulled, and he moves without thinking.
Purple energy wells up in his fingertips and shoots out like flames wherever he pleases.
All is quiet.
His heartbeat slows.
It's peaceful.
And suddenly, his heart lurches and he's back in his body just as quick as he left it, standing over a fallen Harumi, ready to deliver the final blow.
No, no…
He shivers, and flails his arms desperately. The purple leaves his vision, his powers disappear. What have I done?! No, no, no-
"...No!"
A surge of magenta electricity strikes him down.
His eyes roll back, he hits the ground.
Before he loses consciousness completely, Harumi whispers to him.
"Welcome back, son of Garmadon."
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