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Midnight walks

Summary:

"Twenty years ago, Lord Garmadon conquered Ninjago city. His brother, Wu, had tried to stop him, but Garmadon was just too powerful. He took over the city and proclaimed himself emperor... One year ago, Wu, who most believe died, had gathered a group of young teens with elemental powers. He has been training them for the day when they will have to take down Garmadon and reclaim the city."

An au where Garmadon takes over Ninjago city. Lloyd is a prince and Kai is the leader of a group of rebels AKA the ninjas.

Chapter Text

Twenty years ago, Lord Garmadon conquered Ninjago city. His brother, Wu, had tried to stop him, but Garmadon was just too powerful. He took over the city and proclaimed himself emperor. Garmadon also stole away Wu’s love, Misako. He married her and named her his empress.

Sixteen years ago, Misako gave birth to the princess. Garmadon cherishes his princess, and most citizens practically worship her. Since birth she’s been kept out of the public eye, no one knows what the princess actually looks like. Although, many people theorize what she looks like.

One year ago, Wu, who most believe died, had gathered a group of young teens with elemental powers. He has been training them for the day when they will have to take down Garmadon and Lloyd walked through the city. It was peaceful at night, and he liked it that way. Familiar faces greeted him as he walked, people to whom he’d been kind. Most knew him by name, he was a familiar face after all. Lloyd knew this route by heart, he’d taken it almost every night. How long had it been since he first started this routine? Lloyd couldn’t remember, but it was comforting for him.


Lloyd decided that he would stop by tea shop that he liked, Steep Wisdom. The old man who ran the shop was always really nice to him. It was a place where Lloyd could relax. He’s happy that the shops open so late, but is that a good thing considering the owners age? Either way Lloyd likes to have a warm cup of tea and listen to the old man’s wisdom.

After Lloyd had left the tea shop he suddenly saw a quick movement from the corner of his eye, a soft rustling sound following it. He assumed it was just a cat and went to look for the thing in an alley. That’s when he heard it again, getting closer to him.

“Who are you?” Lloyd demanded, pinning his stalker against a wall.

“I know who you are,” his stalker stated. A sense of dread filled Lloyd.

“W-what do you mean?” Lloyd asked training to regain his composure, although the way he stumbled back probably revealed everything stalker needed to know.

“Don’t play dumb. I see you almost every night, yet somehow never at daytime.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You stop by my sensei’s tea shop almost every night and you expect me to not be suspicious?”

“You’re sensei? Do you mean the nice old man? Why would that be suspicious? Don’t you get other customers besides me at night.”

“No! You’re our only one and we rarely see any customers at daytime. You also seem to make up a majority of our profits, with how poor most people are these days it’s kind of odd how much money you are willing to spend on tea.”

“Fine, who do you think I am?

“Emperor Garmadon’s secret son,” Lloyd’s stalker declared. Lloyd almost had to hold back laughter but at the same time he felt a sense of joy.

“Yes, that’s right. That’s exactly who I am.”

“Good, ‘cuz you’re coming with me.” Lloyd’s stalker said, reaching out to grab Lloyd’s arm.

“No way!” Lloyd yelled as he got over his shock, kicking the stranger in order to make him fall over. It was just then that Lloyd realized he was wearing a ninja suit, weird.

Lloyd’s ninja stalker gasped in surprise not expecting him to be that strong. The ninja tried to grab Lloyd again, but Lloyd quickly fought him off. As soon as he was free Lloyd made a run for it, he was faster than the ninja. The ninja quickly climbed on top of a building making sure Lloyd thought he lost him.

When Lloyd had reached a desolate place of the city, the ninja let out a fire attack, blocking off Lloyd’s path. Lloyd gasped in shock but didn’t have time to react much because his instincts were screaming at him to run. Lloyd looked around, but most of what he could see was smoke. He made a rash decision and decided to climb a building quickly jumping onto the roof.

The ninja was startled by this, clearly not expecting Lloyd to be able to do that. They looked at each other for a moment before Lloyd started to run again, his stalker chasing close behind. The only thing Lloyd could hear was his own heartbeat as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He had done this many times before during his nightly walks, but the adrenaline made the fear of falling all the more real.

Lloyd knew where he was running to, the palace. Yet, if he got caught he would be in a lot of trouble. If he didn’t though, he might be taken prisoner by this mysterious ninja. If he could just lose the guy while he is running, maybe he didn’t have to deal with either of those situations. Lloyd knew it was hopeless though. He knows that he can sneak back in by himself just fine, but this ninja. He would surely get caught.

Yet Lloyd kept running because what else could he do. When he inevitably made it back to his balcony, he looked back and sure enough the ninja was there.

“Go back!” Lloyd warned, trying to whisper loud enough to not alert anyone.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because they will do terrible things to you if you’re caught. Please, I’ll go to the tea shop tomorrow night. I’ll let you ask all the questions you need, but I don’t want you to get caught.”

“You’re lying, how do I know you’re not trying to save yourself?”

“I don’t know how to prove I’m telling the truth but please believe me."

"What if I just want to use you to get to Garmadon?” Lloyd froze as he heard the ninja’s words.

“We can figure it out tomorrow but today it’s too late,” Lloyd suddenly froze hearing a sound outside his room, “you have to go! Now! Someone’s coming! Please! I’ll meet you tomorrow night!”

The ninja finally took his advice and left. Lloyd let out a sigh of relief, when suddenly the door opened.

“Who are you talking to?” Misako sternly demanded.

“Myself, who else would I talk to? One of the guards?” Lloyd said coldly.

“I know you’re lonely sweety, but this is for your own good,” Misako hugged him.

“Yeah I know.”

“You should be asleep,” Misako went back to being stern, “do you have any idea how late it is?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going to go to bed, just leave me alone.”

“Is that any way to talk to your mother?”

“Oh please, I know you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you!”

“Just leave me alone!” Lloyd yelled. Misako glared at him before leaving Lloyd’s room, too tired to argue.

Chapter Text

“You actually came,” the fire ninja said, sounding shocked. As Lloyd walked through the doors of the tea shop.

“Of course I came.” Lloyd said.

“I just… wasn’t expecting that,” the ninja admitted.

“Why did you listen to me?”

“I knew I wasn’t ready to face Garmadon. Sensei Wu is always telling us that we’re not ready, so how could I take him on alone? Besides, if I were captured no one would be here to lead.”

“Who else is there?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Okay. Now, why do you need me?”

“I didn’t fully think that through.”

“Well I’m here now.”

“How do I know you’re not a spy for Garmadon?”

“Trust me, if I told him you should know by now.” Lloyd said. The ninja looked suspicious.

“I’m going to take you to see the others,” the fire ninja replied, grabbing Lloyd’s arm. This time Lloyd didn’t fight. The fire ninja led the two into a secret passage that led to a room.

“Hey everyone, look who I brought,” the ninja said to the four others who were in the room. Two of them were on a couch in the room and the other two were looking over a big screen, discussing something with each other.

“Kai’s secret boyfriend is real?” one of the people, who was dressed in blue, yelled.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” the fire ninja, Kai, replied.

“We’d he call me that?” Lloyd asked.

“It’s a long story. Anyways, that’s Jay—”

“Why are you telling him our names?” the blue ninja, Jay, yelled.

“Yeah why are you telling him our names?” the ninja dressed in all black agreed. He was sitting next to Jay, an arm draped over his shoulder

“Oh c’mon guys, we can trust him,” Kai defended Lloyd.

“Can we really?” another ninja dressed in blue asked.

“Nya—”

“What Kai? You can’t just bring him here! If he’s really the secret son of Garmadon he could rat us out! You shouldn’t even be introducing us to him!” Nya yelled.

“Like I said we can trust him!”

“How do you know that?”

“We should have already been attacked if he had already told Garmadon anything.”

“Uh-huh, that’s a stupid reason.”

“What!”

“He could be spying on us and reporting back! They could be waiting for an opportunity to strike!”

“Why would they wait to attack us? We’re barely a threat! You know how Sensei Wu always tells us we’re not ready!”

“They don’t know that! They could think we’re a threat!”

“Please! Stop fighting,” Lloyd interrupted, the two looked at him, “I hate the guy just as much as you two do. I’m on your side. Whatever this is. Please. I don’t want to be Garmadon’s son. That’s why I sneak out, come here. To get away from the palace. I don’t care if you don’t trust me, but I won’t ever tell Garmadon anything. I try to talk to him as little as possible at home.”

“I still don’t trust you.” Nya replied.

“You don’t have too, but I would love it if I could be a part of… whatever this is, you’re the first people I’ve met my age.”

“Really?” Jay asked, “that sounds lonely.”

“It is,” Lloyd sighed.

“Wanna play?” Jay asked handing Lloyd a controller.

“Seriously!” Nya yelled through gritted teeth.

“What is this?” Lloyd asked looking it.

“A controller? For a video game?”

“We don’t have those at the palace,” Lloyd admitted.

“You’ve never played a video game before!” the black dressed ninja gasped.

“I’m not really allowed to,” Lloyd said awkwardly.

“You’re not allowed to!” Jay gasped like it was the worst thing in the universe.

“Yeah, Dad is pretty strict,” Lloyd explained.

“I can tell why you hate him,” the ninja dressed in black responded. Lloyd tried to laugh but he couldn’t help thinking of all the reasons he hated his dad. He never thought video games would be added to the list.

“Sit down, I’ll teach you,” Jay excitedly said as he pointed to a spot on the couch. Lloyd cautiously took as seat.

“My name is Jay, as Kai already told you,” Jay said handing a controller to Lloyd.

“And I’m Cole,” the ninja dressed in black introduced himself.

“Uh, I’m Lloyd.”

“Don’t worry we’ll help you out around here,” Jay replied.

“You can count on us,” Cole said.

“Thanks you guys. I don’t really know how to do this,” Lloyd explained.

“That’s okay, it’s why I’m going to teach you,” Jay explained.

“I meant like the friend stuff. Are we friends?” Lloyd asked.

“Of course we are! And don’t worry, I’ll teach you that stuff too. Although it seems you’ve already got Kai’s eye,” Jay joked as Cole laughed.

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about that. Here let me help you out,” Jay said as he tried to start to explain to Lloyd how to play the game.

“You have to stop joking about that,” Cole whispered to Jay.

“Shut up,” Jay smiled turning to face Cole, their noses barely touching.

“Uhhh, how do I do this?” Lloyd asked, interrupting the pairs moment.

“Oh here, let me show you,” Jay grabbed the controller and started to show Lloyd how to play.


“Kai!” Nya whispered gesturing for Kai to come to her from where he was watching Lloyd interact with the others. Lloyd seemed to be having a fun time, and he was definitely getting along with both Jay and Cole.

“Yes,” Kai said, annoyed about having to stop watching Lloyd.

“I need to talk to you,” Nya glanced over at the others, “in private.”

“Do we have to?” Kai replied.

“Of course we do,” Nya said, gesturing for them to start walking out of the room.

“Zane!” Nya called out.

“Yes?” Zane responded from working on the computer.

“You’re in charge for now. Please watch over those three,” Nya said, using her head to point over to where Cole, Jay, and Lloyd were playing a video game.

“Of course,” Zane smiled as he went back to the computer. Although now he was keeping an ear out for what the others were doing.

“Now, you and I are going to have serious conversation about… this,” Nya said, practically dragging Kai out of the room.

Chapter Text

“What the fuck were you thinking!” Nya yelled at Kai.

“What do you mean?” Kai asked.

“Inviting him here!”

“We can trust him.”

“No we can’t! Just because you think he looks good doesn’t mean he is good!”

“Woah! Where did you get the idea that I think he looks good!” Kai yelled back, trying to ignore the way his face heated up.

“It’s so obvious.”

“It’s not!”

“Oh, so you admit it,” Nya smirked.

“It’s not, because I don’t think of him like that!”

“That’s totally true after everything you said about him this morning.”

“I was trying to convince you guys to trust him! Nothing more!”

“Sure you were.”

“Will you just shut up and tell me what you actually wanted to talk about.”

“I’m just saying we can’t trust him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You don’t know if we can.”

“Yes I do.”

“I’m done having this conversation,” Nya said as she started to walk faster, away from Kai.

“Fine, me too!” Kai yelled at her as he stopped and turned the other way. Kai walked over to where everyone else was. Zane was still on the computer and Cole, Jay, and Lloyd were still on the couch playing a video game. Kai decided to go over to them.

“What are you guys doing?” Kai asked as he looked over from behind the couch. Jay yelled in shock.

“I win,” Lloyd said, looking back and smiling. Kai froze for a second.

“Only because Kai scared me!” Jay yelled, glaring at Lloyd.

“You were already losing.”

“No I wasn’t. Cole back me up here.”

“I’m sorry but he has a point,” Cole laughed. Jay let out a dramatic sigh flinging himself into Cole’s arms.

“It’s not fair, I’ve been playing this game for forever and he just started,” Jay lamented.

“Beginner’s luck,” Cole suggested, trying to make Jay feel better.

“One more round?” Lloyd suggested, holding out the controller which Jay had tossed aside.

“Fine, but this time I’m winning,” Jay said, then he turned around to face Kai, “and no cheating this time.”

“Deal,” Lloyd agreed as Jay took the controller.

“Let me sit down first,” Kai laughed as he took a seat on the couch next to Lloyd. Lloyd, Jay, and Cole moved down to make room. The game was close between the two, but without another distraction Jay ended up winning.

“Told ya it was beginner’s luck,” Cole said smugly as he elbowed Jay.

“Shut up, I knew that,” Jay laughed.

“Sure you did,” Kai replied.

“I lost because of you,” Jay accused.

“Totally,” Kai smirked, but his smirk disappeared when he felt a head on his shoulder. He didn’t know how to react for a second.

“Lloyd?” he questioned, gently shaking Lloyd’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” Lloyd shot up, curling in on himself.

“It’s fine,” Kai reassured, “how much sleep are you getting?”

“None,” Lloyd admitted, sheepishly, “maybe a bit here and there if I get home early.”

“That’s… not good,” Kai replied.

“You’ve been up most of the night,” Lloyd said.

“We all basically sleep in the morning,” Kai explained.

“Yeah, this place doesn’t really get that many customers and it’s harder to get caught if we work at night,” Jay added.

“You could sleep here if you’d like to,” Kai offered,

“We all share a room though, besides Nya.”

“I’ll be fine, I have to be ba…,” Lloyd paused, realizing something, “actually, yeah, it would be nice to get some sleep.”

“Good, I’ll show you to where we sleep,” Kai said as he got up from the couch, offering Lloyd a hand up.

“Thanks,” Lloyd smiled, taking Kai’s hand and standing up.

“Are you going to return home in the morning?” Kai asked as the two started walking towards the room.

“Uh… no, I’d rather stay with you guys, and I don’t care how much trouble I’ll be in if I ever return home, because most likely I won’t be returning,” Lloyd said confidently.

“Alright then. This is where you’ll be staying,” Kai explained as he opened the door. Inside the room there were four bunk beds.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Lloyd replied.

“What? No, you’re our guest. Cole and Jay sleep in the same bed every night anyways. You can seep in the one they’re not using,” Kai offered.

“I’m fine with sleeping on the floor,” Lloyd said, blushing.

“I’d expect a prince to be more… demanding,” Kai laughed causing Lloyd to laugh too.

“I’m never what people expect me to be,” Lloyd joked.

“I can tell,” Kai said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Lloyd replied.

“I’ll tell the others about our plan, you just get yourself comfortable. It’s that top bunk there,” Kai explained pointing to one of the top bunks.

“Thanks,” Lloyd said, “you don’t have to do this you know.”

“Anything to get you on our side, and who knows maybe you’re what we need to finally take down Garmadon,” Kai joked.

“I don’t know about that, I’ve got zero training while you guys probably spend all night training,” Lloyd replied.

“Definitely not, Sensei Wu gets on our cases all the time about training,” Kai laughed.

“Really?” Lloyd questioned.

“Yeah, we’re always putting it off,” Kai admitted, “training is hard but it’s also kind of sad. It’s a reminder of how much more we need to do before we’re ready. Sometimes, I feel like we’ll never be ready, but now that you’re here you can tell us all of Garmadon’s secrets.”

“I don’t know about that, he never tells me anything, and when he does I don’t really pay attention,” Lloyd said.

“Why?” Kai asked.

“Do you think I want to listen to all the shit he’s putting this city through,” Lloyd laughed.

“You don’t wanna follow in his footsteps?” Kai teased.

“Absolutely not, I’ve seen what he does to people first hand,” Lloyd stated.

“How does the princess feel about it?” Kai asked. Lloyd froze.

“We’ll talk about the princess some other time, for now why don’t you go tell the others,” Lloyd hurriedly said trying to push Kai out of the room.

“Oh, okay,” Kai replied.

“I’m probably just going to head to bed, so wake me up when you need to. Okay now bye!” Lloyd informed, immediately slamming the door.

Chapter 4

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Wake up sleepyhead!” Kai called out to Lloyd, waking him up. Lloyd felt like he could have slept forever. Even though it wasn’t the luxurious bed he had inside of the palace, it was the best sleep he had gotten in days. Maybe even years.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Lloyd insisted, although he certainly didn’t seem it. His eyes were barely open, and he wasn’t even making an effort to get out of bed.

“You can’t still be tired?” Kai commented.

“Isn’t it normal to still be tired in the morning?” Lloyd asked, stretching as he finally made an effort to get down.

“Lloyd, it’s the afternoon,” Kai said, Lloyd froze midway through climbing down.

“Really?”

“We didn’t want to wake you, but we were scared that you would sleep through the entire day,” Kai explained, genuine worry lacing his voice.

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Lloyd replied as he resumed climbing down.

“You haven’t been sleeping at all, now c’mon. Zane made extra food for you, be glad it wasn’t Cole,” Kai commented as he started to exit the room with Lloyd following after him.

“He didn’t have to. I know I’m not exactly welcome here,” Lloyd said.

“What? No,” Kai stopped in his tracks, “you’re welcome here.”

“You don’t have to lie for my sake. I know that the others don’t exactly trust me, and I wouldn’t either if I was in their position,” Lloyd admitted, stopping when Kai did.

“They don’t trust you sure, but we won’t kick you out. As long as you don’t do anything that bad, we’ll let you stay here. It’s just Nya and Zane, they’ll take some time to convince,” Kai replied.

“Kai it’s fine,” Lloyd reassured, “I don’t need everyone to like me, I thought we had already discussed this, I’m not a spoiled prince.”

“I forgot you were a prince for a second,” Kai said as he started walking again.

“How?” Lloyd asked, also starting to walk.

“Not to be mean but you look homeless,” Kai replied.

“I basically am.”

“You have a home here.”

“I wouldn’t call it a home until everyone is comfortable with me being here. It’s only fair, they were here first. I am kind of intruding their space.”

“No you’re not, if anything I’m the one intruding for bringing you here in the first place. Anyways, here’s the kitchen,” Kai said as they entered into the room. It was nice, there was practically no one around. Lloyd assumed it was because everyone had probably eaten already and that the food left out was for him.

“Everyone’s probably asleep, if work is slow we just go back to sleep after eating so we’re not tired when training at night,” Kai explained.

“Can I?” Lloyd asked, pointing to the food, which was just a pile of pancakes on a plate.

“Of course, Zane made it just for you,” Kai smiled as he watched Lloyd walk over and start eating. Kai carefully took a seat next to him.

“I’m sorry if I’m causing you guys more problems,” Lloyd apologized.

“What do you mean? You haven’t caused any problems?” Kai asked.

“I mean I come in here and no one trusts me, which is fair. Then I sleep here, and I oversleep so you guys have to make extra breakfast for me,” Lloyd explained.

“I offered for you to be here and plus, we oversleep all the time. Breakfast in the afternoon is not uncommon.”

“I just, feel bad for being here, also with everything with Garmadon and stuff. He’s the reason everything is like this.”

“But you’re not and I can see that you’re not like him. I believe you and the others will too.”

“Thanks Kai I—"

“GUYS! COME LOOK AT THE NEWS!” Jay yelled as he burst into the room.

“Why are you watching the news!” Kai yelled back.

“I wasn’t, Nya was! But you have to see it!”

“What is happening?” Lloyd asked.

“You! Especially you!” Jay yelled at Lloyd as he walked over and grabbed in by the arm.

“What is happening?” Lloyd asked again, just a little louder this time, as Kai shrugged in response. Jay dragged Lloyd all the way over to their computer. Lloyd looked up at the screen and physically cringed. On it he could see the words ‘Missing Princess’ in big, bold letters.

“Care to explain?” Nya asked. It took Lloyd a minute to process what she had just said.

“I… um… don’t know anything about this,” Lloyd replied.

“I think it’s rather odd that when the prince doesn’t come home there’s no alert, but on the exact same day the princess is reported missing. The reward is very large too. Why wouldn’t it be for their prince, shouldn’t HE be the heir to the throne?” Nya questioned.

“My-my parents just… just have a favorite child,” Lloyd said, sounding uncertain.

“There is something that you’re not telling us. I knew I was right for being suspicious of you! The others shouldn’t have been this trustworthy! My brother is a fool for believing you when you’ve been obviously lying this entire time, and you think thought that we wouldn’t have noticed,” Nya accused.

“W-wait if you just let me—”

“Who are you actually and why are you here? Are you a spy? Or did you secretly kidnap the princess? Why all of a sudden when you stay here is the princess announced as missing? Where is she? What is your deal?” Nya practically yelled at Lloyd.

“What is going on?” Kai asked as he walked into the room, surprised by the amount of shouting he heard.

“Turns out your boyfriend—”

“Not my boyfriend”

“is actually a spy, like I said!” Nya explained.

“You’re not…” Kai looked over at Lloyd.

“What! No! I can explain. It’s not what it looks like,” Lloyd said.

“Fine! Go on explain! Who. Are. You.”

“I know this may sound crazy and I get it if you guys didn’t believe me, but… I am the princess.”

Notes:

I will post the next chapter on October 19th