Chapter Text
Of course, the moment that Harumi felt her feet hit the deck of the ship she was immediately hit in the back of the head, her vision going black as she fell to the floor.
When she woke up, she was being escorted somewhere. The big man, Killow, she was pretty sure his name was, was carrying her over his shoulder and she was wrapped in chains. She struggled briefly but quickly realized that it would do no good. Next she tried her powers, she felt the familiar buzz beneath her skin but as it tried to leave her it fizzled out. She scowled. Of course they had something to stop her powers! Why wouldn’t they?
“I know you’re awake,” Harumi froze. The voice came from in front of Killow, meaning she couldn’t see the person talking, but she knew that voice anywhere.
“Sym…” she growled as she shifted in her chains, trying to look around her captor to see the oni.
“Ugh, don’t call me that,” he groaned, he sounded the exact same and yet so different at the same time.
“Then what should I call you?” She spat back. He hadn’t exactly given her another option.
He didn’t respond for a moment. “You’ll see,” she felt the malice dripping from his voice.
“At least tell me where we are!” She said as she looked at her surroundings. They had just finished going up a flight of stairs and were now walking down a destroyed hallway, she could barely make out what looked like burned paintings on the wall.
“You don’t recognize the Palace of Secrets?” He taunted, “I know you were only here for a few days but I expected more from you Rumi.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. She heard a hum as Killow stopped and finally set her down. Now that she could see Sym, she was even more confused.
He was no longer dressed in the clothes he had been wearing but was instead in strange black and gold armor that didn’t look like it quite fit him. A large purple scarf was wrapped around his neck and another on his waist. It looked kind of stupid on him, if she was being honest. He glanced at her and smiled before moving to push open the door behind him.
“I wouldn’t suggest trying to escape,” he told her, “That vengestone stops your powers and if you try to leave I’ll drop your little friend into the river and see how well she can breathe underwater!” He said it like he was a child explaining the rules of a game. Harumi felt fear stab at her.
“Friend?” She asked hesitantly. Nya hadn’t followed her on to the ship. She really hopped Nya hadn’t followed her onto the ship.
“This is why I like you more than the others!” Sym laughed, “You always say exactly what I want you to!” With that, he pushed open the door and walked outside.
Only as the cool night air hit her did Harumi realize how much dust and ash she must have been breathing in. She coughed as she blinked, quickly looking around. They were in what looked like a balcony although it was hard to tell if that’s what it had been in the palace originally. In the middle of the balcony there looked to be a well or at the very least something that looked like it.
“Harumi!” The green ninja looked across the balcony to see Misako in a cage hanging over the edge.
“Misako?” She called back, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry! I tried to warn you! I only realized what he was after you left!” The older woman told her as Harumi was brought to a cage to Misako’s right. “He kidnapped me and was keeping me here to stop you from finding him!” She finally reached the cage and Killow opened it before throwing her inside. She hissed in pain as she hit the bars and heard the door closing behind her.
She turned to glare at the oni standing before them, smiling like he’d just won a game. “You know… I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” he told them, drawing his hand across the well looking thing absentmindedly. “Although, I don’t think I look very intimidating like this, don’t you two think this would all be much better with my true form?” It wasn’t really a question, neither of them answered him. “No need to be difficult!” He laughed, and then he started to change.
He became taller, much taller, and his hair became more of a pale blond, his roots disappearing. Horns sprouted from his head that started black at the top and faded into gold, his freckles being replaced by black marks on his cheeks that almost looked like someone had taken their hand and smeared the black on him before speckling it with bits of gold. He definitely fit the armor better in this form. Then, Harumi watched in horror as another set of arms extended from his sides and a tail flopped to the ground that had the same pale blond color of fur on it. It was like an entirely new person stood before them. His smile only grew as he looked at their faces, it looked natural on this face, and then he blinked and his eyes went from the purple color of the oni to a bright red. He bowed as if he had just given a performance. No one clapped.
“What’s the point of all of this?” Harumi suddenly asked, “What’s the point of going through all this trouble when you could have easily taken all three masks yourself? People died! Is all of this really worth that?” She didn’t really know what she was expecting.
The oni’s smile dropped for just a moment and he took a step closer to Harumi. “I’ve waited for this day for just over 4 years,” he told her, his voice was darker than before, she recognized his voice from that night at the Adventurers Club, “Do you realize how long 4 years are? Let me help you, you’ve been the green ninja for about 4 and ½ years.” He got closer and her eyes seemed locked on his red ones as he put a black clawed hand up to the bars. “I spent 4 years waiting, and planning, completely alone other than myself, do you wanna guess whose fault that was? I had to make sure you felt the same way I did before I killed you with my own hands,” he pulled away from the bars just a bit, a smile picking up once again. “I’m going to steal what you stole from me,” he said before pausing a moment to think, “Wait, is it really stealing if I had it first?” He let go of the bars and walked back to the middle of the balcony.
“Did you like my villain monologue? I’ve been practicing it for years!” He giggled. Harumi took a deep breath.
“Enough with these games, Golden Oni!” Misako called out, “Tell us who you really are!”
The oni looked a bit disappointed as he finally tore his gaze from Harumi and put it on the older woman. “Aw, you don’t recognize me? Greenie makes sense, she never met me, but you?” He took a few steps toward Misako, the woman tensed, she looked like she was trying to solve a puzzle. His playful pout soured as the silence dragged on. “I guess I overestimated you, Misako,” he spat, “I’m sorry that I ever thought you’d be able to recognize your own son.” The puzzle pieces clicked.
Misako looked at the oni in horror, her eyes wide and a sadness beginning to cover her. “What…?” She whispered.
Misako’s son. He was right, Harumi hadn’t met him, but she had heard about him. The ninja had told her about him a lot when she was younger, Garmadon always seemed like he wished he had more stories to tell. He had been around her age when he died, she used to wonder if they would have been friends. But he wasn’t dead. He was standing right in front of her.
“Well?” He asked, clearly waiting but enjoying watching the realization cross them.
“You-“ Harumi had to stop and take another breath. “You’re Lloyd Garmadon.”
Lloyd smiled. “It’s been too long since someone called me that,” he told her.
“Why are you- what happened? How are you alive?” Harumi stumbled over her words after a moment of silence, Misako was still staring at Lloyd like she couldn’t believe her eyes, Harumi didn’t blame her. “The ninja said… they thought you were dead!” She told him.
He rolled his eyes. “No! Really? How could you have guessed that?” Sarcasm dripped from his voice.
“So then why didn’t you come back?” She asked, “They didn’t know you were alive, how were they supposed to look for someone they thought was dead? They searched through rumble with their own hands-“
“WELL THEY SHOULD HAVE SEARCHED BETTER!” Lloyd screamed, cutting off Harumi. She flinched away from the bars of her cage as he screeched. His eyes had flared back into purple and he was breathing heavily for a moment before he slipped back into the more relaxed posture he had before. “I’m tired of this,” he turned to Killow and Mr.E, “Get the other two oni masks, it’s about time the ceremony got started.”
“Lloyd, please don’t do this!” Misako tried as Killow left to go get the masks, “The masks will not bring back your father! They-“
“Shut her up, I don’t want to hear her rambling the whole time,” Lloyd instructed Mr.E, who began to move towards Misako.
Misako leaned away from the front of the cage as Mr.E approached but didn’t take her eyes off her son. “Lloyd! Lloyd please-“ Mr.E reached over to her and quickly pulled her towards him as he wrapped a cloth around her mouth to shut her up.
“Get your hands off of her!” Harumi yelled. Her thoughts felt so all over the place. She couldn’t think straight. Lloyd Garmadon was alive. Lloyd Garmadon was the Golden Oni. Lloyd Garmadon was Sym.(was he? She wasn’t sure how much of Sym was real in the first place)
The rope holding up both cages swayed, as if a reminder of the situation, and Harumi looked over to find Lloyd messing with the rope, not untying(which would send either her or Misako into the river) but playing with it enough to mess with her. “Now, now Rumi. Let’s not forget who holds all the cards at the moment,” he laughed. She felt rage shoot through her. What she would do to wipe that stupid smug look off his face.
Both of them turned to watch as Killow came back, two of the three oni masks in hand. Lloyd stepped forwards and took them from him without much more of a glance. He quickly began placing the masks in a formation on the pedestal, muttering something under his breath that she couldn’t hear. After a moment, he seemed proud of his work and stepped back before finally seeming to notice the two Sons of Garmadon. “Oh, you're still here,” he said before looking back at the masks, “Go make yourselves useful somewhere else.”
Both immediately made their way out of the room. Harumi didn’t blame them, she wanted nothing more to be out of here as well. She heard Lloyd mutter something along the lines of “can’t wait to get rid of them,” as he finished his preparations. He once again stepped away from whatever he had been working on, and smiled. He turned to look at Harumi one last time as he said, “You were fun, I guess, maybe one day I’ll miss you.” He paused for a moment before laughing. “Nope! The world will be better when I erase your name from history!”
Once he finished laughing he stood up more straight. She would almost say he looked nervous as his fingers flexed back and forth quickly but she couldn’t see his face. The ninja better be on their way. Finally, Lloyd began to chant something she didn’t understand and the summoning began.
She watched as the masks began to float and purple fire burst to life on them, just like back at the oni temple. While she couldn’t see Lloyd’s face, it was hard to miss when his veins began to flow a very similar purple color spreading from his arms which were outstretched. The excitement in his voice was sickening. Several beams of light shot from the floating masks, connecting them all in a triangle as they began to spin and the shape quickly became a circle that spun fast around the middle of the balcony.
“Rip the fabric between realms!” Lloyd shouted giddily, “Oni I call upon you! Connect me to… the Departed Realm!” As he spoke, the circle rose and seemed to close in on itself before bursting open with new energy, revealing the portal. A sudden burst of wind swept the hair from Harumi’s face as she watched in disbelief.
She heard herself mutter a small “No…” and Lloyd laughed like a child on Christmas.
“I call upon thee, Lord of many names!” Lloyd continued, stepping closer to the portal as if about to reach out to it and drag Garmadon out with his own hands, “Lord of Destruction! King of Shadows! Lord Garmadon!” The wind was whipping around him like it was about to lift him up but he kept his feet firmly placed on the ground. The cages swung a bit too much for Harumi’s liking. She felt like she might throw up.
“Who… calls… ME?!” Called a voice from the portal. Harumi felt tears sting her eyes as she heard it. No… no!
“Father!” Lloyd called out, actually reaching a hand out to the portal. That’s when Harumi saw a flash of red and suddenly the other ninja broke through the door, still fighting off the Sons of Garmadon. Lloyd’s gaze was torn from the portal and he looked just as angry, if not more, than he had been just a few moments ago with Misako. “Someone drop her!” He screamed at the Sons as he pointed behind him. And directly at Harumi.
Ultra Violet took no time getting away from the fight and over to the rope that held the cage. “Harumi!” Kai called out as he tried to make his way over but was stopped by Mr.E.
“Stop the ceremony! Whatever you do! Just stop him!” She screamed. And then the cage dropped.
The water all around her was cold. Thankfully she had managed to get a deep breath before going under but her head was still spinning. She could hear distant muted sounds from above and saw a faint purple glow but she couldn’t tell anything else. Before she could think much else, she was suddenly being pulled up.
She took in a deep breath as she rose from the water. Then she heard a muffled scream and looked down to see Misako disappearing under the water. As she reached the top she saw that Cole was the one who saved her and that he was currently fighting Ultra Violet. “Cole!” She screamed, he glanced at her to let her know she heard him, “Misako’s down there!” His eyes widened and he nodded quickly.
“On it!” He yelled back, unfortunately his fight against UV wasn’t going to great. Kai swooped in with his Spinjitzu and hit UV, throwing her away but making Cole lose the rope and sending Harumi plummeting back down.
This time it didn’t take nearly as long for Cole to get her back up. He was able to get her and Misako on level with each other and had Kai hold it as he ran over and pushed open her cage. She put a hand out to steady herself, wait- when had she lost her chains? FSM help her, hopefully Lloyd hadn’t given her a head injury when he hit her on the ship.
“Thanks,” she muttered to Cole as she stepped out, “We need to stop him.” Cole nodded and turned back to the fight. It looked like Zane had Mr.E down for the count and Nya was taking care of UV. Which left Lloyd.
Her hair lashed her face as she looked towards the wind, she hated the feeling of wind. She took a few steps forward, trying to reach him, but was pushed back easily.
“Try Spinjitzu! It might be fast enough to break through!” She looked over as Jay fought off another guy and gave her a nod. She nodded back to him and shakily got to her feet again.
She was about to go into Spinjitzu when a very familiar and heart stopping laugh echoed over Lloyd’s. She looked up at the portal, the other ninja gathering beside her.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Kai muttered, she could hear the disbelief in his voice.
“What’s happening?” Zane asked.
“You’re a nindroid! You're supposed to answer questions, not ask them!” Jay shot back, he sounded terrified.
“It’s him,” whispered Harumi.
The sky crackled with purple lighting, as did the air around them.
“I hear you!” Lloyd called out, attention now back on the portal, “I feel you! Come! Be mortal once again! Your son calls you!”
“What did he say?” Nya froze.
The wind grew stronger, fully pushing the ninja back as they barely held on.
“It is I, Lloyd Garmadon! Come to me! Follow my voice!” Harumi could hear his smile.
“L…loy…d?” Garmadon’s voice spoke once again.
Harumi couldn’t stand it. All the anger and fear felt like too much. She pushed herself forward and made eye contact with Lloyd, who had glanced back at her with shining eyes. “Just give in! Your end is here!”
“No!” Harumi yelled before jumping into Spinjitzu. The spinning helped her movement, making it just a bit easier to fit the wind. Then she felt the weight against her get lifted a bit as she was pushed forward by multiple forces, the other ninja. She saw Lloyd spin around just in time to see her slam into him.
There was a massive burst of wind. And then the air was still.
Harumi blinked. She was on her knees in front of the pedestal that once held the masks, said masks now being scattered around the small balcony. The ninja were behind her, recovering themselves. She looked across the balcony.
Lloyd was crumbled on the ground where she had pushed him. He growled as he pushed himself up and looked to where the portal had been. His eyes widened as he realized it was gone. They had done it. The ninja had won. He screamed.
“Lloyd…?” The small whisper shut him up. He looked over and made eye contact with Nya. Harumi glanced back as well. The water ninja looked completely shattered as she stared at the oni. Then he laughed. And he laughed. And he kept laughing. He didn’t move until the police arrived and picked him up off the ground. He didn’t stop laughing.
None of the ninja said anything as they carried him away. Harumi turned to the other cage and set to work freeing Misako. The woman tore the gag from her mouth, she didn’t look too happy to be rescued. Harumi finally turned to face her team.
“We should head back… I’ve got a lot to explain.”
…
None of them felt like celebrating very much. Nya had excused herself from the table almost as soon as Harumi finished her explanation claiming that she felt sick. Kai had followed after her, to make sure she was okay. Zane’s face looked completely blank, he hadn’t said anything in a while. Jay looked about ready to cry and finally excused himself not long after the siblings. Cole hadn’t said anything either. He looked so conflicted as he held baby Wu.
Harumi didn’t blame them.
Lloyd Garmadon, the little boy they had once known, had been shattered.
The monster… this oni. It was just a sick imitation of a boy who died 4 years ago.
“If I had known-“ the black ninja finally tried to force out, “If I had known he was alive… I would have kept looking.” Zane put a hand on his shoulder, not just to steady Cole, but also himself.
“You guys did what you could,” Harumi tried to comfort him, “What were you supposed to do?” It didn’t seem to help much. The room was silent.
What happens now?
…
Lloyd…
Visions of a small blond boy swept through his head.
A crying baby, a young boy in a skeleton hoodie, and now, this voice…
And then he remembered the pain. The feeling as he pushed the rocks to the side. Searching and searching for someone he wouldn’t find.
Someone he’d do anything for.
Lloyd Garmadon… his son.
His power stirred.