Chapter Text
ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❦︎ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ
Garmadon sat on field behind the monastery full of flowers and fluffy grass, gazing up into the starry night sky. The stars decorated the sky like string lights against the harsh blackness, the moon shining the brightest of all. No clouds were in the way, making it look like a big light.
He looked down the path of the hill, oh how tempting it was to leave, it was just as tempting to stay.
Light and soft footsteps sounded behind him, getting closer. They transitioned onto the grass, the ground crunching underneath the footfalls. Green boots glistened in the moonshine, and stopped just atop of the Oni.
“What do you want, Lloyd?” Garmadon asked harshly, yet his voice was free of venom. He looked up to see a smiling blonde, his energy buzzing around him as usual. Before he felt indifference with his son, now, he felt a warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time. The feeling was a distant memory, maybe one he knew well before he had been resurrected. Every time it had made itself known, a scenery of orange mountains flashed across his mind. Yet it always fleeted away when he tried to hang onto it.
“Just checking in,” Lloyd chirped, moving swiftly to his fathers side and sitting down on the lawn beside him. The ninja was sitting criss crossed, whereas Garmadon was sitting on his knees. “It’s been a week since you moved in, and I wanted to know how things were going.”
Garmadon raised an eyebrow, “Did Wu put you up to this?”
Lloyd laughed slightly as he shook his head. Garmadon sighed. “I do not know why I let you convince me to stay in the first place. Look at me! I’m an Oni with a bunch of ninja, you of all people know that’s not how this is supposed to work.”
Lloyd’s smile turned into a look of confusion, “What do you mean?”
Garmadon shook his head, getting annoyed by the consistent breeze in his face. It would be relaxing, if he didn’t have things on his mind no one else would understand. They were pressing inside of him, making a constant ache that was unbearable not in agony, but in uncomfortable hyper-awareness it was still in fact around.
“You know me Lloyd, I cannot change, you yourself said that, and as much as I hate to admit it, that hot headed friend of yours is right—I still do have evil in my veins. I can feel the urge to wreak havoc, and cause death, yet here I am, resisting them. It would be better if I just left.” He began to get up, but Lloyd pulled him back down like it was an instinct.
“You can change, I was wrong.” Lloyd put a hand on Garmadon’s shoulder reassuringly. Sparkles in his eyes danced with a sternness that Garmadon had only seen in battle, and it made sure that he stayed put.
“You were right.” He objected, taking his son’s hand off his shoulder.
“If that’s true, then why am I still talking to you instead of fighting for my life?”
“You do not understand. The rest of your team cannot tolerate me.”
“They just need to adapt—”
“—I once walked into a room and Jay yelped.”
“…well Jay’s just—
“—He then pointed a butter knife at me.”
Lloyd stayed silent for a moment, obviously fighting the urge to giggle.
“Jay’s always like that,” He said after composing himself, “The others don’t love you but they’ll get used to you, just like how you’ll get used to them. You can change, everyone can change, and this is proof of it. You went from trying to kill us to helping us. It’s like Mystaké said,” Lloyd paused here for a moment, the memory of the woman seeming to close his throat, but he continued, “‘We Oni can shape shift, but that’s not the only way we can change.’”
Garmadon sighed, too tired to get frustrated. He put his arm around the Green Ninja and pulled him in for a hug, causing Lloyd to shift to his knees as sitting criss-crossed was very uncomfortable for an embrace. If Garmadon didn’t feel the energy emanating from his son before, he sure did now. It was as if he was surrounded by bees having just finished a good harvest of pollen.
“You just won’t give up on me, will you, Lloyd?”
Lloyd’s smile returned, just as warm and sincere as it was the first time.
“That’s the plan.”
ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❦︎ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ
Garmadon landed hard on his side as he was thrown to the ground by a force he couldn’t quite remember.
It was so close, yet so far… it was in his reach to grasp it, please, please let it be so—
It slipped away at the last second, leaving Garmadon empty. He didn’t want to get up. The asphalt felt nice, strangely. Letting the cool, hard ground relief his burning arm, Garmadon’s mind began to spiral, because the most recent thing that was prominent in his mind left more questions than answers. The Coalescence. His brother had been talking about nonstop, but Garmadon just assumed it was crazy-Wu talk. Their father had never said anything about it, after all.
Now the ground was stabbing into his arm like a bunch of knives relentlessly. Okay, time to go. He pushed himself up into a sitting position as his body screamed with unwanted protest. Observing his surroundings he found he was no longer in Ninjago, but in a different realm. He sighed in frustration, really? Of all the places he ended up in, he had to be in some rock filled realm? Standing on his feet was a challenge, Garmadon was no stranger to that, no. Crawling out of the resisting ground painstakingly the night he had been resurrected, desperate to find the one named ‘Harumi’, forced to work with the Green Ninja after being freshly defeated by the hero, after being left unknowing who he was after being face to face with the unwelcoming reality of what he used to be, leaving him to be utterly exhausted with his identity.
Yeah. Not a new thing.
His body felt as if it was weighed down by lead as he explored the realm and made the mental note to begin his journey to…to where? He didn’t even know where the Monastery was anymore, and if his recollection served him right the realms all clashed together.
‘Course something like this would happen on his day off.
Eventually, he found his way to the front of some cyan and grey rock gates. The lines running through the land reminded the Oni of a stream in Ninjago he had seen during his time as Sensei Garmadon, but as usual, his memories of that time was as fuzzy and unintelligible as music playing through radio static.
A rock giant that Garmadon instantly recognized as a Cragling opened the gates, the piece of headwear on it resembling it was the chief. Or emperor.
Deciding to let it be, though his thoughts were harassing his body to sneak in, Garmadon continued his way out.
ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❦︎ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ
At some point in time, Garmadon had made it to a desert, but it wasn’t one he remembered, no.
The sand was a golden beige instead of a golden tan, and the heat was more scalding than Ninjago’s. In fact, Garmadon’s neck burned even as he hovered one of his hands above it. On his journey, he passed a run down gas station, with a name that he didn’t bother to read. He just kept going, determined to get out of this god damned incinerating sand. A few more miles in, Garmadon slightly got startled as a truck pulled up behind him. He paused and whipped around to face it. The door opened then shut, and a man looking far into his 70s, smiled almost unsteadily at Garmadon. His white-ish grey hair was standing up as if struck by lightning, he had a few scars and his eyes had ginormous bags under them. He looked a bit..deranged. Though Garmadon was deranged-ness first customer most of the time. The man walked towards the Oni and shook his hand vigorously. “Sup fella! I’m Twitchy Tim!” He said cheerfully. Garmadon looked blandly at him.
“Hello.” He responded dully.
“Whatcha doing out here?” Twitchy Tim asked, putting his hands on his hips, and leaning forward while tilting his head side to side as he talked.
Yup. Definitely deranged.
“I am trying to find my original realm,” Garmadon explained, not bothering to match Twitchy’s enthusiasm one bit. In fact, in his annoyance, his demeanour had become more serious than usual. It was almost like he was Emperor Garmadon again.
“Well partner, you’re not the first, no sirree! You see those lights at the farrr end of the dessert?”
Garmadon was lost in the strange mans words, but he did as he said and looked. There was bright lights coming from a city far off. Perhaps Ninjago had survived after all. Maybe his son was okay.
“I do.” Garmadon confirmed, facing Tim again. “What do you mean I was not the first to wake up here?”
“Well, ever since The Merge happened, people have been appearing here constantly!” Twitchy explained joyfully.
“I…see.” He assumed that Twitchy meant The Coalescence, but he wasn’t going to ask for an explanation from the man. He’d rather talk to someone who didn’t look like they were on a sugar high. Garmadon turned around, and headed towards the luminous horizon. “Wait,” The Oni paused after a while. “Are you not coming?”
“Who, me? Oh no, nononono. I live out here! I’ll swing by later, you go on, friend!”
Garmadon studied Twitchy for a moment, then continued his way to Ninjago City.
ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❦︎ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ
Night had fallen when Garmadon got to the end of the lights, as he walked through the buzzing streets of the city, it was evidently clear it looked nothing like the city he tried to destroy countless times.
This was a completely different place.
A rock had engraved itself into his stomach, how long had he been out for? And was The Merge the same thing as the Coalescence? He found his mind just as crowded as the roads trying to wrap his head around all the new information he had been presented with. Now, he found himself regretting not asking Twitchy Tim what The Merge was. Everywhere where he went, stopped and sat down that topic came up at least once in either a conversation he was having, or one he overheard. It’s not like he was listening in, they just didn’t care to hide what they were saying much around here.
Garmadon walked mindlessly till the streets were clear, but that didn’t mean his thoughts had let up as well. He didn’t know where he was going, he just felt the need to get the constant building pressure in his head out, it was piling almost melodically to a stack of bricks being used for construction, and the weight just kept adding.
And adding.
And adding.
He found himself back to nearly ran over by a herd of people when his body began to be weighed down by fatigue, and eventually he did exactly that. He staggered back slightly, being cast out of his thoughts almost magically, while the woman fell down.
“Watch it,” She said rudely, getting up and brushing past Garmadon. Right about now, he was feeling glad he knocked her down. Up ahead, he saw an antique shop, that was advertising its new maps of the ‘Merged Lands’. Right. He needed one of those. Halting to a stop just in front of the shop, an employee came about. Her hair was a nice shade of black mixed together, even as it was in a messy bun, her bangs fell just above her eyes, she had freckles and her name tag read ‘IVY’. She looked like she could’ve been Jay’s sister, even though they looked nothing alike at the same time they did look alike. It was uncanny.
“I haven’t seen you around before, are you here for the maps?” She asked kindly. Garmadon nodded, and she retreated back into the shop. Moments later, she returned back with a medium sized map and handed it to him. “That will be 5 bucks, please.” Garmadon scourged in his pocket for 5 bucks, and he came up with 6. He handed it to her. She handed back exactly 1 dollar. Bidding farewell, Garmadon took off, mentally marking all the spots on the guide. He found out he was currently in “The Crossroads”, according to the sheet of paper, and to leave he had to—
Pop music began blaring on the street Garmadon turned a corner on, and he looked up to see what the commotion was, annoyed. It seemed like some sort of event was going on. There were tents all around, some stands, and just plain sheets thrown down with people performing tricks. A large sign to Garmadon’s right read : WELCOME TO THE CROSSROADS CARNIVAL!
“Crossroads carnival?” Garmadon repeated out-loud. This place had been around long enough to have a communal circus?
Colourful lights were dancing all around the streets, on beat to the music as if choreographed, they were blinding. Garmadon averted his gaze and looked upwards. Fireworks exploded in the sky with vibrant yellows, pinks and blues, colouring the clouds with the essence. Garmadon hadn’t seen anything like it. Words appeared as others launched : ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONE.
THE GREAT.
DORAMA?
LIVE IN 1 HOUR!
Amused a fair amount, Garmadon stuffed the map in his pocket and kept moving forward, letting himself take joy in the performances of others.
One Merlopian was juggling beach balls while standing on one foot on a massive ball beneath them, another serpentine was playing a flute, while a human did the worm dance as if possessed, a person was mimicking and dancing like a robot, then quickly shorted out causing a person to run out of the tent yelling, “KEVIN! I TOLD YOU TO CHARGE THE ROBOT!” and a snail was bustling to a stand with a frog hosting it, a banner that read “PIE CONTEST! DROP YOUR PIES OFF HERE!” As Garmadon continued walking, he saw a boy with curly black hair, orange sweater with blue jeans and a girl with pink hair in a ponytail wearing purple cat headphones, two tan markings on her cheeks and mechanical golden glove that connected to her pink, white and purple clothing that glistened in the lights racing to the stand with the boy having pies in hand, and both having big smiles on their faces.
Yet the thing that caught Garmadon’s eye wasn’t the impressive tricks, or the DJ blasting music. It was the red tent, with candles lit and flowers placed around it. There were red and orange Straw flowers, baby pink Orchids and Roses, Azalea, Cherry blossom branches and flowers, white lilies, and Lotus’ in two tall, stone objects that were skinny at the bottom and a outstretched bowl at the top. They were all the organisms that were planted in the monastery. A hungry desire to know if it was connected to the Monastery of Spinjitzu, Garmadon entered.
Inside, his desire turned into a sense of confused consciousness.
It was dark, with only candles being the author of light. There were 8 stands, one for each of the ninja, including Pixal and Wu. Around the photos were more flowers.
The tent flaps rustled behind him, and he turned to be face to face with two little kids—one girl and one boy—, holding even more flowers.
“Oh—hey! It’s Garmadon!” The boy said, smiling. The girl looked at Garmadon, and gave a sad smile to him.
“Hello, children. What is this place?” Garmadon asked as friendly as he could, un-wanting to frighten his source of answers.
“This is a place where we honour the Ninja after The Merge.” The girl explained, hugging her flowers.
“Honour the ninja?” Garmadon repeated.
The boy nodded as the girl continued, “Yes. After The Merge, no one has ever seen the ninja again.Some people went looking for them in the monastery, but if there even was one of them there, he or she is ignoring everyone.”
The rocks in his stomach jumbled together to make a mountain entwined by knots. His son…was gone? The same kid who defeated the Overlord twice, overpowered Garmadon himself, and came back from the dead was finally…done?
“Could you tell me where the monastery is located now?” Garmadon asked, and this time the boy replied.
“The Mountains of Impossible Height,” He said, pointing in the direction of the mountains.
“Thank you, young ones.” Garmadon let the children pass before leaving the tent himself, and taking out the map. The Mountains of Impossible Height were just beyond the Crossroads. The decision was instantaneous—In 15 minutes, Garmadon had exited the Crossroads and was steadily making his way to the Mountains where the monastery rested.
Practically dragging his feet up the grassy mountains, Garmadon was now eternally grateful the ninja had enough brains to ditch the stairs and instead made the path a smooth concrete on the steep slope. It sounded worse, but it was much of an improvement from lifting his throbbing ankles up every single step.
After longing it for so many agonizing hours, to the point the sun had risen once more and his body was begging to collapse on the floor, Garmadon had made it. He had made it to the bright, red monastery doors with its black compliments and cream coloured walls. He approached the doors, and gave them a thrust. They were locked. Odd. Garmadon knocked on the door, once, twice, three times.
“Lloyd?” He called, now a distant feeling he hadn’t felt in years starting to make itself prominent in his chest—fear.
He waited there for 5 minutes.
No one ever came.
Deciding that was all for nothing, Garmadon let disappointment embrace him, knowing the ninja, his son, was ultimately gone, and retraced his steps down the mountain.
ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❦︎ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ
Lloyd, after multiple mornings where he couldn’t even convince himself to get out of bed, his heart aching each passing night, time and time again holding in the emotions he felt and hated the most, had finally convinced himself to eat for the first time in weeks, when he heard the best possible voice he wanted to hear out of all of his friends again—
“Lloyd?”
That couldn’t have been in his mind this time. It felt too real. The strings of despair and grief that had tied itself around him finally released, letting a new spark of hope fly into his chest and engrave a continuous thought into his head that Lloyd welcomed—his dad was okay.
Lloyd turned the stove off and threw the eggs he was cooking in the bin in a haste, then quickly sprinted out of the kitchen to the first set of doors. He kicked them open, causing a loud bang to reverberate through the mountains but he didn’t care. The only thing he could think of was the horrible idea that his father left in the time it had taken Lloyd to get there, being on the other side of the monastery. Oh please, please still be there.
The ninja unlocked the front doors and threw them open, expecting to see his fathers gleaming, shiny helmet and dull red eyes at 3:30 am in the morning.
Garmadon wasn’t there.
Lloyd was panting, desperately looking around for any sight of his father, just a glimpse of a person walking, even that awful sword that had pierced his gut years before The Merge, just anything, really, anything!
Lloyd felt his heart break into even tinier pieces. He shut the doors closed, then fell onto his knees, his legs unable to hold the weight of disillusionment. Tears were tugging at the corner of his eyes, but he didn’t let them spill. Not even tears were enough to express how broken he felt. His mind had been playing tricks on him that people showed up to the monastery, but Lloyd had never bought them. Never…until today.
Now he knew how cruel and twisted his own brain was, giving him a false sense of hope, letting him think there was a chance people could’ve survived, how stupid could he be?
The spark dissolved, the strings resettled.
Despite all of Wu’s training and preparation, nothing could’ve prepared Lloyd to be completely and utterly alone again. The way he wanted to break down, to let it all out, god he felt pathetic. He was pathetic. He was abandoned. Again. He knew it wasn’t on purpose, that his family would never if they had a choice. Yet as the rock in his stomach reached deeper and deeper, the idea of that didn’t make it hurt any less. It made it hurt more.
Evidently, he didn’t want to stay in the courtyard, the happy memories that were flooding into his head was just helping to construct the building wave of sadness and grief that echoed through his heart, and consumed his soul.
Lloyd got up unsteadily, his knees threatening to buckle again. It was about time he finished making his breakfast. Kicking a rock from the courtyard into the monastery halls albeit a bit aggressively, he did exactly that.
But as he re-entered the kitchen he found that was exactly the last thing he wanted to do.
He had lost his appetite again.
Now fairly annoyed, the ninja went to the sink and splashed oh so refreshing cold water on his face.
“Get a grip Lloyd. Get a grip.”