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The night Garmadon was bitten was one of the hardest nights Wu had experienced.
He did not know what had truly happened to his brother, no one did. They knew not what type of snake had bitten Garmadon, only that it's venom was relentless.
His father and the monastery attendees scurried around frantically, searching texts, trying medicines. Nothing worked.
The only thing anyone knew was that Garmadon wasn't... himself.
His father refused to let Wu see his brother, and ordered him to eat and go to bed as normal.
But how could he?
Even if he could put his mind off it, Garmadon's cries and moans echoed through the monastery halls, as a constant reminder of his condition.
It got worse as the evening progressed.
Occasionally Garmadon would go to sleep, and there would be silence, only for him to wake an hour later and start screaming again.
This continued late into the night. Wu buried himself deep within his blankets, and tried to pretend he was having a nightmare.
But whenever he'd have a nightmare in the past, Garmadon would always come and lay beside him until he fell asleep again.
Now Garmadon wasn't here to remind him it was only a dream, this was real.
No matter how hard Wu pressed the pillows against his ears, he could not stop from hearing his brother's cries.
Eventually, Wu gave up on sleep, and found himself creeping quietly down the hallway to his brother's room.
The lights were on, but his father was not there, only Garmadon laying restlessly on his bed.
It was a terrible sight to behold, half of Garmadon's sheets lay twisted up on the floor, the rest tangled around his legs, as if they'd recently been thrown over him, only for him to kick them off as he writhed in pain.
Garmadon seemed unable to stay in one position for more than a second, his legs kicked back and fourth and his fingernails dug into his skin, leaving scratch marks all over him. His eyes glowed red and his nose and glistening cheeks almost matched the colour.
Now that Wu was closer, he heard his brothers moans almost sounded like he was begging for mercy.
Wu's apprehension was replaced with the desperate desire to help his brother, to ease his suffering any way he could.
Wu stepped into the room and approached him. Garmadon didn't notice his presence until he opened his mouth.
"G- Garmadon." His voice was shaky and strained, but he got his brother's attention.
The moment Garmadon heard Wu's voice he stopped moving. His head tilted towards his brother, Wu couldn't tell if he could see him through through the redness that engulfed his eyes.
Garmadon looked at Wu in such a way that made his hair stand on end. Something about him was very wrong.
"YOU!" Garmadon shrieked, sitting up quicky.
"Garmadon! I want to hel-"
Wu was interrupted when Garmadon grabbed the glass of water beside him and threw it. Wu ducked and it shattered into splinters behind him.
Wu stared at his brother, speechless, if that had hit him...
"GET OUT!" Garmadon screamed.
"Garmadon, please! I'm sorry-"
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Garmadon threw the next thing he could grab at him.
"I k- know, I'm sorry!" Wu began to break down, his compassionate, loving brother would've never done this, it was like he was a different person.
"Please... let me help you!" Wu begged, dodging another dangerously thrown item.
"YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH! YOU'RE PATHETIC! WEAK! WHAT MORE COULD YOU DO?!"
Garmadon threw his pillow at him, the thing was too unexpected and Wu's eyes were too clouded with tears for him to dodge.
For something so soft, it hit him hard, knocking him to the ground.
Wu found it hard to breathe, not just because he was winded, but he had also started sobbing uncontrollably.
"Garmadon, please... I love you, please stop this."
Garmadon was standing on his bed, towering over his whimpering younger brother.
"If you love me, then why did you do this to me?"
"I didn't mean to, if I had known... if I had known I would've jumped over the wall instead of you. I should've listened to you! You're right! You're always right!"
Wu's words were followed by more sobbing, feeling too weak to pull himself off the floor.
Garmadon's eyes seemed to glow a brighter red, he reached behind him and took one of the decorative swords that hung on the wall.
"Wai- what are you doing?"
"SHUT UP!" There was something else in his voice this time as he shrieked, "JUST SHUT UP AND DIE!"
Wu was helpless to move out the way as Garmadon threw the sword at him like a spear, it would've impaled him had his father not appeared and caught it out of the air.
"What are you doing in here?! Go to bed!"
Wu stood up hastily, unsteady on his feet, and ran for the door.
"Garmadon! Why would you do that?!" He said to his eldest son.
Wu stopped at the entrance and clung to the doorframe, watching his brother reach for their father desperately.
"FATHER, PLEASE!" Garmadon took a step off the bed, being caught in their father's arms, and sinking to his knees on the floor, sobbing loudly.
"MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!"
"Garmadon..."
"PLEASE, FATHER, I'M BEGGING YOU, I'LL DO ANYTHING!"
"I'm sorry... I don't know how..."
His words were followed by the most agonizing, guttural sobs Wu had ever heard from anyone, let alone Garmadon.
Whatever had happened to Garmadon was something even their father couldn't fix, and it brought his strong, capable older brother to his knees, begging for mercy.
A week went by and Garmadon did not get any better. Their father was leaving the monastery regularly to look for a cure, leaving Garmadon and the monastery for the attendees.
Wu was forbidden from entering his brother's room. But he always made sure Garmadon's door was open just enough so he could peak inside whenever he walked past.
And Wu would constantly make excuses to walk past Garmadon's room to check on him. He had gone from training to calligraphy practice to training again, he'd had lunch several times, and every other time he was just stretching his legs.
Garmadon's screaming fits only happened a few times a day now, instead he spent most of his time sleeping, or violently tossing and turning.
During one of Wu's rounds, as he approached Garmadon's bedroom, he noticed the door was open and he brother was standing, his arms resting against the doorframe, staring fixated at the wall in front of him.
Wu stopped in this tracks, his heart racing a mile a minute.
"Garmadon?"
Garmadon's glazed red eyes were unwavering as he turned his head slowly... too slowly. The action sent ice cold shivers through Wu's entire being. Something had taken over his brother's body.
Whatever it was, Garmadon fought it.
"Wu...?" His voice was weak and hoarse, but it was Garmadon's.
"Garmadon?!" Wu exclaimed hopefully.
"Wu, listen to me... I don't wish... that it was you..."
"What?"
"Out of... the two of us... I'm glad... it wasn't you..." Garmadon's voice faded and he collapsed.
Wu had never been afraid to help his brother, but he did not make a move to pick him off the floor, terrified he may wake up and attack him again.
Instead he turned on his heel and ran for one of the monastery attendees, who carried Garmadon back to his bed.
After that Garmadon slept for a week, only waking up once his fever had broken. When Garmadon was well again, he was Garmadon. But, something had changed...
Perhaps it was simply the image of his brother holding a blade, ready to kill him. Perhaps it was the trust that took months to rebuild.
But something lingered...
Wu still blamed himself, if he'd not been ruled by fear, perhaps none of this would have happened.