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“Why are you telling me this?”
Lloyd’s demand was sharp, almost desperate. He feels as though he’s getting out of one problem only to be thrown into two more. They just got Nya back and now they’re in prison and some Crystal King is threatening Ninjago! Why can’t he ever catch a break?
The Kabuki Mask tilted their head to the side, and Lloyd got the impression that they were grinning under the mask. He can’t place it, but something felt so painfully obvious about them. Like a word right on the tip of his tongue that he can’t remember.
“Because I want to see the look of despair on your face,” they responded, voice eerie and rough. They leaned in closer, the mask near touching the bullet proof glass. “The look of helplessness as you watch something you love destroyed before your very eyes.”
And then the puzzle piece snapped into place.
“I want you to FEEL the emptiness that I feel!”
“This. THIS is what I wanted. To see your father’s return and for you to lose EVERYTHING! How does it feel to see the end?”
He felt his heart start to beat wildly, adrenaline flooding his system. It can’t be possible. He looked for her in that rubble. He never found her body, but there was no way she could’ve survived-
Lloyd’s vision just barely registered her going to leave and he slammed a hand against the glass hard. It spooked the other two inmates in the booths nearby and he got a warning shout from one of the guards standing at the entryway. “Haven’t you done enough to me?!” he practically screamed.
She paused in her steps and turned back to face him. If there was one predictable thing about her, it’s that she wouldn’t pass up the chance to have the last word. “Enough?”
Lloyd was bristling, his body shaking as he used his fist against the glass for support. “You brought the evil part of my father back, a father that doesn’t even remember me, you drowned my mother, tried to kill my friends in front of me, destroyed my home, and now you want to destroy it AGAIN?!” He took in a sharp breath.
Calm yourself.
Remember how to control your emotions.
Just like his father taught him too.
“Harumi,” he breathed, voice low. “When will it be enough for you?”
Harumi stared in silence for what felt like forever. Maybe she was surprised Lloyd had recognized her.
But Lloyd could never forget her. Not after everything she’s done. The feeling of watching the stone sentinel crush the bounty with his brothers and his uncle was still a fresh wound. Everything was.
Every single thing that’s transpired since he left Darkly’s School all those years ago.
If Harumi had wanted to see him in misery, this is as miserable as he could get. Locked away in prison by the city he and his family have sacrificed their lives for time and time again.
“Don’t you get it, Lloyd?” Her voice lifted, now sounding more like her even with the filter she had going through the kabuki mask. She pressed a hand to the glass where Lloyd’s fist was. “Nothing will ever feel enough. When you failed to stop the Great Devourer from murdering my parents, the chasm it created inside of me was left bottomless.” Her nails scraped against the glass.
“I’m not doing this so I’ll be satisfied by the end of it. I’m doing it for the momentary, fleeting pleasure I get from watching you process every loss you experience. Every moment you realize you’re powerless to save someone. Because that is what I’ve felt since I was a little girl.”
Lloyd grit his teeth, lips peeling back to reveal sharp canines in a growl. He was seeing red. He was in fight or flight with fight edging to win because he knew he had to get Harumi far, far away from this prison where four of his brothers were. “You’re not getting away this time.” And he means it.
Yes, he had mourned Harumi because despite it all, he had grown to love her. Even after her betrayal, a part of his heart died when he saw the building she was on collapse.
He dug through every fallen beam, every chuck of drywall and every scrap of splintered furniture in that debris, looking for her corpse. The guilt ate at him for months to come until it ebbed into anger and fear.
Anger that flared every time he caught a glimpse of the whip scars on Kai’s back from his time spent in the First Realm. Fear that threatened to drown him whenever Jay rolled his sleeves up to show Lichtenberg scars decorating his forearms. As it turned out, they can be hurt by their own elemental powers if they forcefully use too much of it. His lightning had backfired on him when the Dragon Hunters used him as a literal battery.
Whatever love Lloyd had for Harumi was dead. Thrown in a casket and buried leagues underground.
The only way he can make sure Harumi doesn’t hurt anyone he loves ever again is by locking her away, just like Aspheera.
Harumi pulled her mask down, showing her face for just a second. The top half of it still bore that bright red paint, something she no doubt adopted to imitate the cruel red of Garmadon’s eyes.
Her lips curved into a smile. Something akin to the fake identity she’d upheld back when she was a princess. “The greatest villain is the one that got away, remember?”
And then she slipped the mask back on.
Lloyd yelled in frustration, hitting the glass with both fists now.
Cracks broke out, creating a web across it and making Lloyd see twenty more images of Harumi as she walked away.
By now the guards posted outside were rushing in, one reaching out to grab Lloyd’s wrist. “He’s trying to escape!”
Honestly, they were just a bit careless with handling Lloyd as an inmate. His quarter oni and dragon genes already give him greater strength than that of a human. And that’s something that can’t be suppressed, no matter how much vengestone you surround him with.
Lloyd hissed and pushed the guard away, his senses going into over drive. In his mind his instincts were just screaming threat threat threat get to your family make sure they’re safe-
“I’m not trying to!-” Another guard was on him, using their weight to throw his balance off and shove him to the ground.
Being restrained did no favors for Lloyd’s decreasing mental stability. It sent panic flooding through his body and his ears were ringing. “Get off me!”
Cuffs were locked around his wrists and the guard he’d pushed yanked him off the ground by his arm. “You think you were so slick trying to break the glass, huh?” he sneered, starting to pull him along.
Lloyd struggled. He needed his hands free, he needed to stop her from taking away anyone else he loves-
He couldn’t form any words now, his attitude giving way to fear. Anxiety filled his chest and he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t like this. Where was his family? Kai?? Nya??
The rest of the walk to his cell went by in a blur. He didn’t even notice they got there until he heard Jay make a confused noise and felt a hand push him inside roughly. After uncuffing him of course.
“What did you do to him?!”
“What happened-”
“Lloyd? Lloyd, can you hear me??”
“His heart rate is abnormal. He’s having a panic attack.”
Voices swarmed around him and he felt a pair of hands on his shoulder. Strong hands.
Lloyd swallowed back a lump in his throat and reached a hand out. He still can’t see properly, his senses stubbornly refusing to work. “Cole?” he croaked.
CLANG!
He flinched when something hit the metal bars and made them sing. He felt his legs give out under him and his knees hit the ground moments later.
What was that noise? It sounded like metal. Metal… Metal like the suspended metro he’d been standing on? When he watched Garmadon’s sentinel crush the bounty to splinters? When he thought he’d lost them-
“Lloyd, listen to me.”
Lloyd blinked. The blur in his vision cleared a little. Warm hands pulled away from his face after brushing tears away (when had he started crying?).
“It’s okay. You’re safe. We’re safe,” Kai’s voice was low, soothing. Practiced with the amount of times he’s had to calm his little brother down from these sorts of things. “I’m sorry I scared you. But you’re okay.”
Lloyd sniffled, finally seeing Kai’s expression. Worried, somber, and just a little bit scared. The fire ninja was on his knees in front of him, hands having moved to his shoulders to ground Lloyd. He was right there. Very much not crushed to oblivion. Very much alive.
The younger leaned in and rested his forehead against Kai’s shoulder, his arms coming up around him loosely (but his grip into Kai’s sides was iron like). “Where…-”
“They’re right here,” Kai murmured, already knowing the confirmation Lloyd needs. “Cole, Zane, and Jay are right next to us.”
And to further prove his point, Lloyd felt three other hands rest on his body. One on his arm, nimble fingers that twitched slightly against his skin (Jay). A second on his shoulder, rough and calloused from handling rock and earth (Cole). And a third on his back, metal skin freezing his own through his shirt (Zane).
Their touch was followed by a soft chorus of their voices saying they were here. Even Zane, who had his emotions turned off, seemed to sound genuine in this one moment.
When they had to perform that ritual on him back at Mystake’s, Kai had told him that they each had to give up part of their elemental powers to bring him back. They did it by each resting a hand on a part of him.
Lloyd obviously didn’t remember it, but his body did. It helped bring him back.
“And-”
“Nya’s with Master Wu back home,” his older brother rumbled, squeezing him in his arms a bit. “They’re also safe. Everyone’s okay right now…”
Lloyd took in a deep breath, the weight in his chest finally lifting. “Okay… Okay,” he whispered. He didn’t move for another minute.
And neither did they.
When he did pull back, he finished wiping his face with a hand to look up at Kai. “That noise…” he mumbled, still confused on whether he’d imagined it or something had actually caused it.
Kai sheepishly looked to the side, one hand coming up to scratch at the back of his neck. A nervous tick he did whenever he was guilty of something. “I uh… might’ve gotten a little too mad at the guards when I saw the state you were in…”
“He slammed his fist against the bars,” Zane clarified.
Lloyd blinked. Ah, that made sense.
He can’t imagine what went through Kai’s head when he saw prison guards dragging him in while in a panic attack.
“But seriously, now that you’re feeling better, what happened? Who came to visit you?” Jay cut in, anxious. “Was it not Master Wu??”
Lloyd felt his blood run cold at the reminder and he quickly shook his head. He moved to stand up, accepting Kai’s help when he stumbled. His legs had started the process of turning to static and made it hard to find his balance. Just how long had they been on the ground? “No, it wasn’t Master Wu…” he mumbled.
Cole brushed dust off his pant legs as he stood up along with the others. “Then who was it?”
The younger glanced down at his hands, seeing the faint red on his skin from when he’d cracked the booth glass. “... It was Harumi.”
Everyone but Zane gasped.
“Harumi?!” Jay shrieked, jumping back when Cole shushed him.
“She’s alive? I don’t understand-” Kai frowned deeply. “You said she got crushed by a-”
“I thought she did!” Lloyd exclaimed, now facing all four of them. “But it was her, I don’t know how, but she’s alive and she’s working with some Crystal King to bring Ninjago to its knees!” He chewed on his bottom lip, tremors still running through his hands. “She said she was getting together all our greatest enemies to help him…”
“Then that just means we’ll have to finish our sentence early and stop her,” Cole stated firmly, leaving no room for argument.
“Uh, one question though- How?? Not even Zane can find a way out of here!” Jay hissed.
They started debating how to get out and Lloyd was starting to zone out again. He knew he needed to be present. Act like their leader and figure out an escape plan with them. But he just can’t right now. He can’t.
Kai was holding him again and Lloyd let himself indulge in his childish need to receive comfort at every second.
He echoed his earlier words. “It’s okay, Lloyd. We’ll figure it out.”
Then, “She’s not getting away this time.”
Lloyd closed his eyes, desperate to believe they could accomplish it without needing to lose another one of their own.
“... okay.”