Orange is the New Black (Chapter 6 - Wanderlust Woods)
[Chapter 5] // [Chapter 6 - you are here!] // [Chapter 7] – (FFN) (AO3)
Summary:
A rift opens in the sky above Ninjago City just as Cole continues his track record of falling from tall places. The place he wakes up in isn't the same as the one in which he fell... and who's the kid with a man bun who looks just like him?
Chapter summary:
Cole and the Secret Ninja Force go searching for a way to send Cole home. Hence deals with teenage angst.
With the threat of Garmadon’s takeover temporarily handled, the Secret Ninja Force headed back to their secret ninja base, their secret ninja locker elevators, and their very un-ninja high school. Cole saw them off, with more than a few questions prodding at him (and a few itches he was struggling to scratch - for example, why did this world's Zane insist he was human, and why did no one seem to recognize Lloyd was being bullied?). Yet for the moment he put them aside, and instead followed Master Wu back to the Destiny’s Bounty.
After all, Cole wasn’t a teenager anymore. The Secret Ninja Force exaggerated how much that fact affected him, but it did make it harder for him to bounce back after hard combat. A few aches and pains were settling into his frame, and more with each year. They wouldn’t stop him from getting home, but man, he already missed his chiropractor…
This world's Bounty better have hot showers.
-----
The next day, they all set out for the Wanderlust Woods: Master Wu in the driver's seat of a large van, Cole riding shotgun, and the Force all crowded in the backseat. The route was simple enough: leave the city in the northward direction, follow the park trails through a short nature space, climb a hill, drive back down that same hill, get on a highway that really had no business being on an island this small, drive for forty-five minutes, get out, and follow Master Wu’s old, musty, crusty, heavily creased map.
Simple enough for an expert ninja.
A better question: simple enough for six teenagers? Maybe not…
Cole was shaken from his thoughts as Wu parked the van. They had reached the end of the highway—an abrupt stop on a cliff, looking over a picturesque bay with gloomy gray clouds above. It looked about ready to rain, but the clouds were at bay for the moment. He hoped the weather would hold for what Wu promised to be a fairly short hike.
The whole team got out of the van and circled up around Wu, who leaned on his flute with a sage expression.
“We have arrived at the trailhead. Ninja, this is as far as I will go with you.”
Everyone stared at him expectantly.
“This is no joke. I am going home now. Call me when you are finished.”
“What?” Lloyd looked baffled. “But—how are we supposed to find what we’re looking for?”
“Follow the map.”
“But we don’t know where we’re going, or the way there! How are we supposed to know when we’re done?”
“That is what maps are for. There is an image of the crystal on it.”
“A crystal? So it is the Realm Crystal?” Cole interjected.
Wu stroked his beard sagely, but said nothing.
“You could have told us that! Or that you’re not coming along!”
Wu snickered at him. “You are not my student, Cole. Did even you not think ahead? Someone must protect Ninjago City from my doo-doo head brother, even though he is a bad driver. I will win even if he makes a new tuna-themed mech! The last one was stupid and crashed easily. Not ninja.”
Something about Wu’s irreverent insults made Cole want to cringe, but he ignored it for now. “You’re sure we’ll find it without your help?”
“The tool you need is closer at hand than you imagine.”
“Yeah, that’s not helpful.”
“I am not a ninja master to be helpful, but to teach. Whether my teaching is helpful is for you to decide. Hmph!” Wu grabbed the door of the car, tugging open the driver’s side and tossing his staff inside. “Get your butts in gear!”
Cole tried to protest, but before he could get the words out, Wu had slammed the door. He revved the engine, effectively silencing Cole—and the rest of the Force, who had been putting up a fuss that he (and Wu) had completely ignored.
The van kicked up a cloud of dust, and then Wu was gone, off and driving down the path. Leaving all of Cole’s questions unanswered, and a few new ones on the tip of his tongue.
The Secret Ninja force turned to Cole.
“What do we do?” Nya asked. “We’re stranded.”
“We’re not stranded,” Kai argued. “Wu knows where we are.”
“So? We have no way to get home!”
“Uh, hello? He said to tell him when we got done.”
Jay piped up, “Guys? Maybe we should, uh, not argue about this when we need to get hiking…? There’s a storm coming…”
Nya shot him a flat look. “Yeah, we can feel the humidity.”
“Uh… that’s not what I meant. Something in the air feels different.”
“The barometric pressure is changing rapidly,” Zane supplied.
“Yep. That. Thanks, Zane.”
“No problem, my fellow teen!”
Cole groaned, putting up his hands. “Okay, guys, stop. We don’t need to argue about this. None of us know what we’re looking for, all we know is that it’s a crystal—and hopefully it’s the crystal I’m thinking it is. Where’s the map?”
Lloyd held it up. “I got it.”
“Great! Hand it over.”
He did, and Cole took a moment to get his bearings and read the map. It wasn’t that far of a walk. Hardly the farthest he’d gone for a mission, but what was the Secret Ninja Force’s limit? Clearly Wu thought they could handle this much, so he’d trust Wu’s judgment for now. While bullying was apparently not worth his attention, he definitely knew how strong his students were.
Cole pointed down the trail. “Alright, team. We’re headed this way.”
For the first time since they’d parked, Hence cut in with an argument. “Hey, who put you in charge? Lloyd’s our leader.”
Interesting. Cole filed away the biting tone for later consideration, instead looking at Lloyd. “You wanna lead us on this wild goose chase?”
Lloyd grimaced. “Uh… no?”
“Cool. Hence, for now I’m the leader, and I have the map. If any of you want to pull seniority on me, I’m at least ten years older than all of you, so tough luck.”
Hence snorted. “Fine, glad we have that sorted. You can be the one to get us lost.”
“I will, thank you. Stay on the trail, guys. If we get lost, that’ll be a real headache.”
A chorus of teenage voices assented, and they were off, clomping down a rarely-trodden trail covered in leaves and broken branches.
Despite the rocky start, the group settled into their hike with little argument. It was a wide enough trail for two to walk side-by-side, reasonably maintained despite its desolate location. Cole remained at the front of the group, with various Ninja walking alongside him. Inevitably, someone would be ambushed from behind and fall back, leaving their spot for the next curious teenager with an avalanche of questions for him. The constant entertainment of their questions left him little time to miss his own team, though he did miss them terribly.
“So you know all of us back home? What are we like? I’m cool, right? I bet the girls love me. I bet I’ve gone on tons of dates.”
“Do you still defend Ninjago City?”
“Please tell me my brother gets less annoying. I’m getting sick of him.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Does Garmadon ever give it a rest? He does? I’m sick of having to jump in my mech every time somebody breathes wrong. People are pretty… well… nasty about it.”
Cole answered them all as well as he could, keeping back the more traumatic details. (Come to think of it, he had a lot of those. Some of their adventures were heavily censored.) Curiously, none of the questions ever came from Hence. He stayed at the back of the group, a surly expression on his face. He was careful to hide it, but Cole knew himself well enough to recognize a subtle grimace—the one he’d worn for more than a whole year, ghostly and hating every inch of himself.
Something’s eating at him—well, me. What is it?
It wasn’t the other Ninja, because Hence always summoned up a smile for them. It wasn’t Cole himself, even though Hence was a little less enthusiastic when Cole addressed him. It wasn’t the nickname, was it? What about Wu leaving? Or something more personal? Upon reflection, Cole couldn’t think of anything personal that Hence had shared with him.
It had to be classic teenage angst. One thing Cole knew was that he did not miss being sixteen. Hence, unfortunately, was far from out of the weeds.
The trail took them up a long, shallow hill. Gorgeous trees with broad, leafy branches slowly gave way to open clearings, with clear views of the ocean and forested cliffs below. The largest clearing showed a three-way fork in the path. As they reached it, Cole checked the map.
“Okay team! We are… literally… at a crossroads.”
Kai came up and leaned on his shoulder, reading from the map as he did. “Neat. Which way?”
“Um…” Cole pointed at the spot where they were. To the best of his knowledge. It had been a long time since he’d read a paper map. Pixal’s programming always read out directions for them… this was a skill he needed to sharpen more often. “I think we’re here?”
Kai nodded. “Cool, cool, cool. And where are we going?”
“Here.”
“Neat.” Kai grinned at him. “I don’t know how to read a map.”
“Huh?”
For a beat, Kai just stared at him. Then he laughed. “I’m joshing you, bro! You should see your face! All you old-timers get so worked up about us not knowing ‘basic’ things, but I didn’t think it would be true in a different universe! Wild.”
Cole groaned, but took the easy out and handed him the map. “Alright, good joke, ya got me. You tell me, which way are we going?”
Kai studied the map for a minute, then shrugged. “I don’t think it matters. It looks like they all link up eventually. We could split up!”
“Split up?” Jay chimed in, poking his head into the conversation. “Should we look for clues?”
“Bro, what is this, a cartoon?”
Jay shrugged. “You never know. We still don’t know what we’re looking for… like when my mom goes beach combing. She never knows what shells she wants until she, y’know, finds them.”
Kai grinned. “Maybe we’re looking for a crystal seashell?”
“Do you really think so?”
“No, but it would be funny.”
That got a smile out of Jay. “Yeah, it would. I’m okay with splitting up.”
Cole smiled, watching the two, and then looked back at the rest of the group. Nya was watching Jay and Kai with a faint smile, Zane was waiting a little too patiently, Lloyd seemed ambivalent, and Hence looked… mildly frustrated. “It’s probably not a good idea to split up, but if you guys want, we can try.”
“Really?” Lloyd frowned. “You’re not going to tell us that it’s a bad idea?”
“You guys have radios. How lost can you get on an out-and-back hiking trail?”
Lloyd looked unconvinced, but Zane grinned. “It will be easy. I will go with Lloyd on the left path. I am incapable of getting lost!”
“I’ll take Kai and Jay,” Nya piped up, slinging an arm around her brother’s shoulders. “Middle path for us!”
Cole nodded. “Sounds good, Hence, you’re with me on the right.” Then I can figure out what’s going on with you.
Hence crossed his arms, but shrugged his apparent agreement. “Let’s go.”
“Yep. Everyone, stay on the same radio frequency, call in if something bad happens, and stay on the trail. We should meet back up pretty soon.” Cole spared a glance at the clouds above, slowly darkening. “And if it starts raining, stay put. We can wait out the storm.”
-----
I wish I hadn’t said that.
Hindsight was always 20/20. With a split-up team, the storm had rolled in right over top of the hiking trail, turning dust to mud. Little shelter was available, but Cole and Hence found a convenient hollow in the rock to sit underneath, facing the ocean below.
Predictably, Hence was quiet. He stayed near a ledge, letting his legs hang down and swing. He didn’t even look at Cole, preferring to watch the waves and sulk.
Another thing Cole hated about being sixteen: the constant need to sulk. What was with teenagers? Couldn’t they just express their emotions and let them pass?
Time to be the adult here.
Cole sighed, then sat down on the ledge next to Hence. “Okay, dude. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but it looks like you could benefit from talking about it.”
Hence still refused to look at him, but he frowned. The landscape before them was under a steady rain, soaking into the forest floor as wind tossed the treetops back and forth. The shadows were lengthening, and where the storm didn’t hide the sky, sunset cast everything in shades of orange and burnt umber. Above them, rain pelting the rock whispered soothingly. The sound of the rain was just like Ninjago, even calming Cole down.
Quietly, Hence spoke. “You won’t get it.”
“Try me. I’ve gotten a lot of weird things before.”
“Not this. You’re not from here, you don’t know anything about the Ninja Force or Garmadon… or… my dad.”
Cole smiled ruefully, watching Hence’s emotions flicker back and forth. “Come on, just spill. I know you want to talk about it, Cole.”
Hence looked at him, his eyes filled with hurt Cole recognized. It was the same hurt he’d seen in his own eyes, back when he was a teenager and spent far too long staring in floor-to-ceiling dance mirrors. Something had been brewing for a long time in that teenage mind…
“Something bad is going to happen soon. I know it. Garmadon is planning something.”
“He’s always planning something. Is this one special?”
“I think he knows something we don’t. Something about… you saw how strangely he reacted to your powers. He recognized them, and he said something about how he’d been trying to stop us from getting ‘them.’ What’s ‘them?’”
Cole shook his head, searching his memories of the fight, as well as Wu’s caginess about the elements. “My guess is your elemental powers. They can be dangerous, and if you guys haven’t unlocked yours, maybe he’s trying to stop you from reaching your true potential.”
“Why? We’re no one special. We just have cool mechs, and he still smashes them.”
“They’re not a part of you. That’s enough to make you vulnerable.” For now. Cole leaned back, quietly shaping the dirt behind him into a pile that was at a comfortable angle to lean against. “He wants you to be weak, y’know.”
“Again, why?” Hence ruffled his hair, then pulled at it with clenched fists. The loose strands fell in front of his face limply, in need of a wash. “Conquering Ninjago City doesn’t even make sense. He’s always had the firepower to level the place!”
Cole shrugged. “He doesn’t want to level it.”
“But– no, he threatened to do it. He will do it!”
“He won’t.”
“Why?!”
Cole sighed, turning his head to look at Hence full-on. His young twin seemed distraught. “Look, kid. He won’t do it, probably because he knows Luh-Loyd and his ex-wife are in the city. You might think Garmadon is heartless, but he’s not, and he would never endanger their lives. His moral code is pretty clear on that.”
Hence scowled. “Warlords don’t have moral codes.”
“Oh yes they do, and they’re strict with them. If you’re allowed to do anything while fighting, you may as well be a mercenary. Warlords want rulership, and that demands order.” Cole laughed. “You’ll see for yourself the first time you topple a bad leader. People run after anyone who will lead them, even if they’ll lead them somewhere dangerous.”
Hence looked away.
There was a beat of silence, softened by the gently falling rain and warm sunset.
“You’ve done a lot more than we have.”
Cole smiled. “Yeah. If you’re lucky, it’ll always be that way.”
“But I’d like the adventure. The challenge of doing new things, making history! People would remember us—remember me.”
“Heh, sure. Hence, there’s a reason it’s a curse to wish for someone to live in ‘interesting times.’ Don’t wish it on yourself. Wishes have power.”
“Spoken from experience?”
“In another lifetime, maybe.” A bolt of lightning split the sky, miles away. The crackling thunder came seconds later, drowning out Cole’s surprised laughter. “If only you knew how poetic that lightning strike was…”
Hence finally laughed, lacing his fingers together so he could lie down and cushion his head. “I don’t think I want to know.”
“Ha. No, you don’t.”
The two Coles sighed, almost in sync.
Hence turned his head to look at Cole. “...Did your dad ever come around to not wanting to dance?”
“Eventually. Why?”
“I don’t know. Just wondering.” Hence sighed again. “If we can stop Garmadon, I’ll talk to him. He deserves the truth.”
“He does,” Cole agreed, then hesitated. “Don’t wait too long, okay? Secrets age like milk.”
“Also spoken from experience?”
The two chuckled. Cole closed his eyes, not bothering to say what Hence already knew. “You have a good life ahead of you, Cole. Don’t worry about it so much; not when you have potential around every corner. Family, love, even greatness… they come in their time, and not a moment sooner. Worry will never improve anything, it’ll only hurt you.”
Faraway thunder crackled, and when Cole glanced over at Hence, he saw closed eyes and a relaxed expression. Yet underneath it he saw dark circles. The boy was exhausted.
Cole smiled, reaching for his pack so he could pull out a blanket. He raised the soil below Hence’s head into a makeshift pillow, then laid the blanket over his form. “Get some rest, bud. We’ll be here a while.”
Hence shifted, but seemed to listen, and Cole kept his thoughts to himself. Instead, he made sure the rock shelf above would protect them from the rain as the tail of the storm passed.
When the storm cleared, they’d tune back into the Secret Ninja Force’s radio frequency and meet up with the group. There was nothing to do in the mean time except wait, so Cole laid there, mind wandering as Hence took a quiet nap.
Maybe it was good for me to come here. These kids are good, but they don’t have it all figured out yet.
Previous works: [you should know I'm a liar] // [your demons will go with you]
[Chapter 14] // [Chapter 15 - you are here!] – (FFN) (AO3)
Co-authored with @dragon-gem!
Thanks for coming along on this wonderful journey! I hope you enjoy this last chapter. Please see the endnote on AO3 for more information if you're curious about where this AU will go from here!
Summary:
Lloyd and Harumi are tied together, whether they like it or not; for the most part, they like it. It’s just as well, because they promised each other as much. No matter what happens, their lives are not their own anymore.
(A series of vignettes, jumping about in the timeline between their reunion and the events of Dragons Rising season 1. Minor alterations to DR canon.)
Chapter summary:
All endings come from beginnings. This tale ends (and begins) with a wedding.
-----
In the end, Lloyd and Harumi aren’t doing anything fancy. With all the Merge upheaval—the fallout of sixteen realms crashing together—it’s hard to plan a very involved wedding. Who would they invite? They’re the only ones at the Monastery, and might be for who knows how long.
So they’re going old-school. They’re getting married at home. Lloyd' dug his old suit out from its isolation at the back of his closet, and Harumi went to the Crossroads to get a dress. It’s all so quiet, almost normal, and he can sort of look past how strange it feels.
Sort of. He’s almost made it past the weirdness of Harumi becoming his yang, and now he’s just nervous.
Is it normal to be this nervous?
I wish I could ask someone.
There’s no one to ask. Not unless he approached a stranger down in the Crossroads, risking being recognized—he does not want to be recognized, that time of his life is over. He can already see it in his mind: a stranger dressed in an old green suit who looks suspiciously like the Green Ninja, asking people on the street: is it normal to worry about getting married when you’re already basically married and nothing can separate you anyway and there’s no one else left in your life?
He has to stop, to tell himself to breathe.
Surely it’s normal. Why else do people talk about wedding jitters and cold feet?
That’s what you think, but you don’t know that.
He can’t back out now. Harumi always says she’s not going to marry him, but she’s the one who’s been getting ready all morning and got a dress and insisted on flowers and everything. If he backs out, he’ll look like a coward.
Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon is not a coward. He is not afraid of love! He’s just… nervous.
Which is normal! Who wouldn't be nervous to marry the love of his life? To marry her for real, not just vows sworn between the two of them and lived every single day?
It's just nerves.
At least, that's what he tells himself as he waits for Harumi to be finished getting ready. She hadn't even let him sleep in their bed last night—supposedly it's 'bad luck,' but he's not sure if he buys that—and she’s has been locked in their room for hours now.
How long can it possibly take to put on a dress and brush her hair? That's all that's required, really. Nothing too fancy.
It’s not a big wedding. It’s not a fancy wedding. What they’re doing can barely be considered a wedding! There’s not even an officiant or witnesses, because, again, they don’t have any.
So what’s the fuss about?
Lloyd wants to tear out his hair, but Harumi will kill him for sure if he’s got bald spots today of all days, so he settles for wringing his hands in his lap. He’s in the middle of stewing over how long she’s taking when he hears the bedroom lock turn.
Finally! Lloyd gets up from the couch and turns around, ready to crack a bad joke about how long it takes a woman to get ready—and then he stops.
Harumi looks radiant, her long white and gold dress just brushing the carpeted floor. Her hair falls in loose curls down her back, the smallest of braids plaited inside of it.
It’s simple, and Lloyd finds it’s suddenly hard to put words to what he thinks about it.
Her eyes flick to his, and at the sight of her smile, it's even harder to breathe. “What do you think?” She asks, her tone halfway between shyness and teasing.
He’s sure his face is red. Lloyd can feel the warmth of the blush radiating off his skin. “You look beautiful.”
Harumi looks down at herself and then back up at him, a mischievous smile on her face. “Just that?”
“Ha… hard to say. I’m not a poet.”
“Hm, it's hard to compliment your wife? I guess we still have some things to work on…”
My wife. He feels his throat tighten with the emotion that stirs in him “Do you want me to try?”
Harumi grins at him, the grin that never fails to set butterflies alight inside of him. “Definitely.”
“Um… okay.” He clears his throat, struggling for something nice to say to her—there are so many nice things he could say, but none of the words are coming to him when he needs them. “You are… you’re beautiful. Really. The most beautiful I’ve ever seen you. You really look like a princess.”
“I always look like a princess,” she points out.
Lloyd grins at her, raising an eyebrow. “Need I remind you of the cake incident?”
Harumi laughs. “That was just for fun! Although, I do remember that we promised to never speak of it again…”
Lloyd laughs, because that's all he can do. Laugh. There's something utterly joyful in seeing Harumi, his bride, laughing. He steps forward and takes her hands, kissing the back of her left, then her right. “I like your hair. You did it really nicely.”
Harumi smiles, drawing a little closer to him, close enough that he can smell the sweet scent of her perfume. “I know you like it when I wear my hair down. It might be worth the nightmare of detangling it later.”
“That's okay. I can help, if you'd like.” He reaches up, brushing a curl away from her face as gently as he can. “You're sure about this?”
She snatches his hand back and squeezes both of his hands tightly. “Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, I am more sure about doing this than I have ever been about anything before.”
Lloyd wants to laugh. How is she so convinced? Harumi, his perpetually anxious fiancée, looks like she’s never doubted anything less in her life. She’s dolled up, practically begging for his attention, and he feels inadequate in his shabby old suit.
She’s convinced, so he will push past the nerves. For her, he’d do just about anything; he loves her so much it hurts.
He reaches up again and cups her face. “We’re doing it.”
She nods. “We are.”
It’s a risk. Possibly the biggest risk he’s ever taken—and that’s saying something, considering the life Lloyd leads. The events of today are going to reshape both of their futures. If their old lives ever come back, or enemies from the past rear their heads again, they’ll have to deal with it together. Family, trouble with the law, danger…
…but it’s worth it, because it’s better to face the rest of his life with Harumi than to go it alone.
I want to kiss her. I could kiss her right now.
…If he does, he’ll never get around to actually saying what he has to say, and it’ll wait and wait and wait forever. He has to say it.
Lloyd swallows his nerves, his fears, and his pride, and he speaks to her softly. “Harumi Jade, I love you. Right here, right now, I swear that I will be your husband. Yours only, as long as we both live, no matter what.”
She smiles again, softly. “Even when we fight?”
“Especially when we fight. I want to be with you.” He leans in and kisses her forehead. “Always.”
Harumi’s breath catches in her throat. “…I love you too, Lloyd.”
A few words are all it takes for Lloyd’s heart to ache unbearably. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” She whispers it, her gaze flitting around his face.
For a moment, they’re quiet, and he can barely breathe.
She speaks again, a little louder, a little stronger. “Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon… I swear to be your wife, to walk beside you. This is the life I want. I know it’s not a mistake, and… I want to stay with you until the day I die.”
Oh, the look in her eyes! He can already feel himself breaking. “What’s mine is yours already. My life and home and everything. Stay with me.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she insists, and turns her face to the side. She kisses his palm there, as if she knows how such a simple gesture is able to splinter him into pieces.
One more promise, and then Lloyd can breathe again. “I’ll never leave you, either. Even if we fight, or we get sick, or everything goes wrong. You belong with me and you’re going with me, I promise.”
“You belong with me, too,” she insists, and kisses his hand again. “Lloyd and Harumi Garmadon, forever.”
He laughs. He can't help it—he's so happy, and Harumi has the stars in her eyes. They sparkle, and even the pink flecks within are gorgeous. They're the most unique eyes Lloyd has even seen, and by far the most beautiful, and now those eyes belong to his new wife!
Lloyd can't take it anymore. He pulls her into his arms and kisses her. “I trust you.”
“Those are words I once thought I’d never hear you say,” Harumi says quietly, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. It feels safe with her. Harumi is his sanctuary, now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Now he delights in her, and kisses her to prove it.
“It’s true now. I trust you. You’re my wife,” he murmurs to her, half against her lips.
She smiles, tangling her fingers in his hair and keeping him close. It makes him just as giddy as the first time they met—back when they were both different people. Now he knows her as well as he knows himself. Now they have no more secrets.
“And you really do trust me?” Harumi asks quietly between kisses.
It’s the usual question, one he’s answered more times than he can count. “Of course I do.”
It’s okay. Lloyd would reassure her hundreds of times over if it would ensure that she knew how much he loves her, how much he wants her to stay. She should know it already, but doubt has a way of clouding judgment.
“Did you know this is the first time I’ve ever seen you wear white?”
Harumi seems convinced enough, remaining where she belongs: in his arms.
-----
The question catches her off-guard, and Harumi has to think about it. She’s perched on a boulder outside the Monastery, overlooking the vast distances below—somewhat changed from the world before the Merge, but just as beautiful to her untrained eye.
“I guess it is. I usually prefer green or black.”
Lloyd is sitting next to her, in his charcoal suit that she already loves, and smiling at her. He leans over to kiss her cheek, and she catches a whiff of whatever cologne he’s wearing—and isn’t it odd that he’s wearing cologne? He’s a ninja, they don’t do anything fancy. It doesn’t feel natural or normal at all for him to do something that would obviously give him away.
“I like it. I think you look beautiful.”
She smiles at him in return, admiring his bright and joyful expression. “This is the first time I’ve seen you in a suit, too. You look handsome.”
He laughs and looks down at it. “I haven’t worn this old thing in years, Rumi. I’m surprised it even still fits.”
“You practically live in your gi, so I’m glad you had something! Not that the gi is a bad look, but…”
He shrugs with good spirits. “Hint taken, you like it more than my gi. Can’t say I mind a little variety, anyway—it’s good to not always be in ninja mode.”
“I have nothing against ninja mode!” Harumi laughs, looking back out towards the world below. “I think you look hot either way.”
Lloyd’s still smiling—because of course he is—and he reaches over to brush her hair behind her ear. “My wife is calling me hot… I’m glad you like the suit.”
“I think I’d like you no matter what you were wearing,” she says, his gentle touch giving her goosebumps all up and down her arms. “But I’m biased.”
“Biased? That’s a terrible crime.”
“I’ve done worse. Better add it to the list.”
“Arson, theft, necromancy, some more theft, reckless driving, kidnapping…”
“Don’t forget theft!”
He winks at her, saying, “How could I?”
Harumi grins at him. “What can I say? I stole your heart, didn’t I? Your heart, your hoodies, your last name…”
“It’s about time you took that last one,” he jokes, caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “I was starting to think I’d have to beg you to take it off my hands.”
Harumi can’t help a stupid, cheesy blush, and Lloyd just grins even more at the sight of it. It makes her want to punch him—or maybe kiss him. She can’t decide between the two. “Resorting to begging, huh? I’m not against it.”
“I’m sure you’d enjoy every moment of it, wouldn’t you?”
The pad of his thumb brushes the corner of her mouth. He’s so gentle it almost makes her angry. He should just kiss her and be done with it, hold her tightly and keep her there! He’s her husband, and she wants him to start acting like it.
She scoots a little closer on the rock they’ve made their seat. “I’d like to see some of that begging now, actually. What did I pass up by agreeing so easily?”
Amusement twinkles in his eyes. “What should I be begging for? I already got what I wanted.”
“Ah—hm, you might be right… but I’m sure I can find something. It’s not that hard. I’ve quite mastered the art.”
He laughs. “Come on, make it worth my while!”
Harumi grins again, leaning over to rest her chin on his shoulder. “I’m building up to it! These things take planning, you know.”
“I do know, and you are nothing if not a planner.”
“I make plenty of plans,” she agrees, “and they all work out just great.”
Lloyd, her new husband, winds one arm around her waist. “This one did.”
“Excuse you, they all work out.”
“Mm-hmm. That’s why I’m not still in a cage.”
Harumi waves a hand in the air. “You're pretty either way. That was a fine example of making someone beg! Excluding the… supposed killing of one’s future in-laws, of course.”
His smile turns sentimental. “We're not in any danger of that now… I guess you won't get any begging out of me that way. Got anything else to hold over my head?”
“Hm… I’m sure I can find something.” She reaches over to rest a hand on his knee, tapping her fingers thoughtfully. “Give me a second to think, I’ll come up with something.”
“You can have a whole lifetime if you want.”
For a moment, the very thought is overwhelming, but Harumi pushes the fear away. Today is not the day to be afraid—she can be afraid tomorrow, if she must. Today she wants to enjoy this commitment they’ve made. She doesn’t want to be afraid of it any longer, and being brave has gotten her farther than usual today.
Lloyd is waiting patiently for her, with a smile on his face. She’s learned to share that smile.
“I think I already have the right to that lifetime. You just vowed to me that it was mine.”
It’s the right thing to say. His smile grows to a beaming grin, from ear to ear. “So I did.”
Harumi leans a little closer, dropping her voice to a whisper. “And I think we’ve already established that I want that lifetime.”
“I assume you have somewhere you're going with this.”
“Shh, love, I’m getting there.”
He looks at her sidelong, blond lashes and sparkling green irises. “I’m listening.”
Harumi reaches up and runs a hand through his hair, enjoying the way he leans against her hand. Once, the thought of being vulnerable—especially with Lloyd—would have made her want to punch something. Now it makes her love him more.
He closes his eyes. He waits patiently. He is listening—none of it is talk. This time, she can believe that it's all true.
“The truth is that I don’t need you to beg, because I’m here to stay.” She leans her forehead against his temple. “We’ve fought so hard to get here, and I don’t want to ruin it—I don't even think I can, at this point. And there’s something freeing about that. With you, I can just… be.”
Lloyd sighs. The sound is contented. She feels his grip on her waist shift, his gentle hand smoothing out the wrinkles of her bodice.
“That's what I want. I love you for who you are, and that's enough.”
His words make her feel all warm inside, and Harumi smiles, kissing him gently on the ear. “Do you remember how we were a few months ago? When we fought in the courtyard and I kissed you that first time?”
Lloyd is all smiles as he turns to look at her a little more directly. “Of course I do. I'm glad you proved me wrong and came back.”
“I did. But even then… I almost didn’t come back. All I knew at the time was that I had these feelings for you— feelings that directly conflicted with all the work I’d put in to distance myself. It hurt, and I thought…”
Harumi stops, a sudden well of emotion rising up inside of her. However, the look on Lloyd’s face is so gentle and understanding… She swallows past the lump in her throat, combing her fingers through his hair again.
He always deserves the truth.
“I still don’t know exactly why I came back,” she finally says. “I don’t think it matters because I’m here now. All my fears have been unfounded so far, and a long time ago, that would have made me angry! Now it doesn’t, and it’s because of you.”
“Because of me,” he repeats, testing each syllable. “Are you sure?”
Harumi smiles. “I think we both know I wouldn't have had any reason to change without you.”
“Oh.” He chuckles, relaxing against her just the slightest bit. “I thought you were saying I made you change. That would be impossible.”
“Isn't that what happened?”
“No, love. That was all you. Maybe you got motivation out of me, but I know better than to think I can change anyone; least of all, you.” He squeezes her gently as he says it, punctuating the thought, making her a little more aware of her pounding pulse. “I love you enough to not try to ‘fix’ you.”
“Hm, that’s probably best for both of us. I’m not sure I can be fixed,” she jokes lightly. “But there is one habit I’ve managed to mend.”
“Only one?”
“Ha ha, you’re very funny.” Harumi flicks him on the ear with a smile. “I will leave this little perch we’ve got, don’t tempt me.”
Lloyd grins at her, leaning in for a kiss, and she complies. He tastes sweet, like a promise made and kept.
“I’d rather you stay,” he murmurs, remaining close.
Harumi closes her eyes, scratching his scalp gently. “I don’t know, if you keep saying dumb stuff like that… I’ll need a pretty good reason to.” It doesn’t really matter that she already has one, and that he’s sitting here, looking like he wants to kiss her again.
But teasing him with it is fun, even if Harumi has no intention of moving. Not with his arm around her like this, his face only inches from hers.
She can't leave him now. It would be cruel, and she's put the cruelty behind her.
Lloyd's breath is a warm brush against her face. “I think you're lying again, love.”
“I don’t lie anymore.”
He laughs quietly. “You just did.”
“Semantics, Lloyd. It’s all about semantics.”
“Oh yeah? Alright then, go on, I want to hear this.”
His hand is ghosting across her back—it’s unfairly distracting—but Harumi smiles, trying to focus past his gentle touch. “I said I would need a good reason to stay… with no mention if I already had one. So…”
“Ah.” She can practically hear Lloyd roll his eyes—the endearing, expressive man he is. “I think you should stay because, as my wife, this is exactly where you belong.”
“On a rock?”
“With me. We only happen to be on a rock.”
Harumi opens her eyes, examining his handsome face, the teasing smile still on his face. “Well, that’s as good a reason as any, I think.”
“I’m glad I could convince you.”
She leans over and kisses him, murmuring against his lips. “You’re very good at that.”
She gets a pleased hum in response, buzzing nicely against her lips as he draws her into yet one more kiss. When the day is out, they may just be sick of the constant affection. Surely Lloyd will tire of it eventually…
…but not now, and Harumi is sick of living with what-ifs. Sick of living with doubt when she could accept her lot in life for once.
[Chapter 5] // [Chapter 6 - you are here!] – (FFN) (AO3)
Collaboration with @mcfanely! Go check out the beautiful illustration in chapter 2!
Summary:
Cole has everything he wants: he's married to Vania, the world is mostly at peace, and he's officially King of Shintaro.
Unfortunately for Cole, when the world isn't at peace, whoever's causing trouble seems to have a personal grudge against him.
Alternatively: Cole has to deal with a baddie who can mind-control anyone he pleases.
Chapter summary:
Cole and Vania collect their thoughts. The Ninja team shares a meal as they consider how to rebuild Shintaro.
-----
The next morning, Cole sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed. Bone-deep exhaustion weighed him down. When was the last time he’d slept and felt rested?
Vania, who had been fluttering around the room and getting ready for the day, came to sit beside him with a smile. Her golden skirts spread out like wings of a butterfly, brushing against him. he’d opted for one of his old gis today in the pursuit of comfort, and in some ways it felt just like the old days today. Just the two of them, in their most natural form.
“Are you alright, Cole?”
“I’m fine, love. Just tired.”
She reached up and brushed his loose hair back behind his ear. When it was down, like now, it hung down to his mid-back. If it weren’t for how she constantly cared for it, Cole thought he’d rather cut it all off and be done with it; Vania liked it, so he kept it long.
“It’s okay if you’re not at your best today. Yesterday was a lot. The past few days, too, and… Well, all of it, I suppose.”
Cole shrugged, trying to smile for her. “It was, but I’ll be fine. I don’t want to miss out on breakfast with the team while they’re here. It’ll be a good rest from all the other… stuff.”
Vania laughed. “You’re eloquent this morning.”
“What am I supposed to say? Court-martials, planning a trial and directing rebuilding of the city wall?” He sighed, even more exhausted by the thought. “Not to mention figuring out how to extradite the pest without wringing his neck.”
“Take it one breath at a time, Cole. We can’t fix it all in a day.”
“Shintaro is vulnerable until we do.”
“So we’re vulnerable. We’ve survived worse.”
He grimaced. “Yeah… it’s probably not as bad as a when I displaced Shintaro’s king and accidentally collapsed its economy.”
Vania laughed. “That was hardly your fault! Especially the economic problems—those were all my father’s doing. Relax. We’ll tackle it all together.”
Cole looked down at his hands. Even after scrubbing them, a little dirt remained under his nails and in the deepest creases of his hands. Every speck of it reminded him of what he’d done—what he’d been forced to do, and how close he’d come to harming people he loved.
I wish I could get rid of him. The thought of Cyril in his dungeons—rotting away there, never to see the sun again—was vile. If only they could banish him, or otherwise make him disappear, Cole would be fine with that—anything to get the object of his rage far, far away, so he wouldn’t be tempted a second time to drop a boulder on Cyril’s head and be done with it all.
I will not rule through violence, no matter how much I may be tempted.
Amid his thoughts, Vania climbed up behind him on the bed. Cole looked back curiously, trying to see her. “What are you doing?”
“Look straight ahead, okay?”
“Oh. Okay.” Cole smiled, complying as he felt a comb begin to scrape across his scalp. Vania drew it through his hair and deftly removed the tangles. Her gentle hands were quick—too quick, because it felt lovely to let her care for him. He felt her applying oil and massaging it into his hair. In moments she’d swept it up into a bun, pinned with a hair fork.
With Cole’s hair corralled, her cool hands came to rest on the back of his neck. He relaxed into her touch.
“It will all be fine.”
Cole closed his eyes. “I know.”
“I know you know.” Vania leaned forward and pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek. “You’re the best king Shintaro’s had in a long, long time.”
“The bar for that is really low.”
“And you rise far above it!”
“I’m not sure I do. Our throne room is a wreck.”
She laughed. “I can’t hold that against you, Cole. I know you’d never spend so much on marble just to ruin it on a whim.”
“No, I wouldn’t! And now we have to repave the whole place!”
Vania laughed at him some more. Cole turned his head to look at her—her beautiful eyes twinkled with good humor. “How are you in such good spirits about this?”
“I’m an optimist, Mr. Grumpy-Pants. I’m married to a man who would do anything to take care of me, and that’s exactly what he did. Even though it was scary, and Shintaro took a beating, we’re still okay. There weren’t any casualties! You did a wonderful job.”
“I didn’t stop him, though. That was the Ninja. Not to mention—gah, Vania, I was about ready to kill him!”
She smiled. “So? You didn’t, so it’s fine.”
“That’s hardly what I’d call ‘fine.’”
“You have exceptionally high standards, sweetheart. Let me be proud of you.”
Cole laughed wryly. “You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”
“Absolutely not! Now stop moping or we’ll be late for breakfast.”
“As you command, your Majesty.”
Vania laughed at him, and then she leaned in and kissed him. Cole returned her affection—a few years in, and she was still wonderful to him. Every kiss was still priceless.
Maybe it really was fine.
The doors to the breakfast room swung wide, right on time, revealing the royal couple. Jay looked up from his plate, piled high with sausage and eggs, to wave at Cole. “Hey, buddy! It’s about time, I was about ready to starve waiting for you!”
Cole rolled his eyes as he came in, with Vania at his side and her hand on his arm. They weren’t wearing their regalia, but they both carried themselves with straight backs and their heads held high. The training Cole had received for his role was ingrained now, even early in the morning, and it manifested in casual maintenance of regal bearing.
“Good morning to you too, Jay.”
Vania laughed at his deadpan tone. “Thanks for staying for breakfast! Ignore this one, he’s still half-asleep.”
Jay laughed with her. “No kidding he is.”
Cole shot him a dirty look but kept his mouth shut as he delivered Vania to her seat and pulled out her chair. She sat down with a pleasant smile, and after she was settled, Cole sat betwen her and Jay.
He broached the subject first. “So, how long are you staying?”
Jay shrugged and glanced at the rest of the team. Kai was already on his second plate—though he paused while Cole loaded up his own. Lloyd and Nya had waited, and Zane obviously didn’t have any need to eat, so he smiled pleasantly as he sat with them and they all began their breakfast.
Lloyd smiled, passing Cole the salt and pepper. “We’ll stick around until you’re sure you don’t need us anymore.”
“Are you sure?” Cole looked to Kai. “Is Skylor okay with you being gone longer?”
“Eh, she’s sick of me right now. I’m sure she’d rather not deal with me kicking around the shop for a bit. Noise has been bothering her lately.”
“She’s pretty far along, isn’t she?”
“Seven months next week, yeah.” Kai grinned. “She’s got the whole staff to help her! Don’t worry so much, Cole, you’ll sound like your dad.”
Cole grinned at that. “As if. Need I remind you I’m tone-deaf?”
“Ha! Good one!”
The two clinked their glasses together. With the return of Cole’s good cheer came a sense of lightness in the room. Everyone seemed to relax as they tucked in, filling their bellies with good Shintaran sausage, eggs, and fresh brown bread with sweet goat’s milk butter.
Vania was the first to interrupt them mid-meal. “How did you know to come out here?”
Jay grinned, swallowing some more peppered eggs. “Cole missed sending me a letter.”
“…He missed writing to you?” She looked at Cole in surprise. “That was enough reason to worry and bring all of the Ninja?”
Cole shrugged. “What did you think I do every Sunday night? It’s never paperwork.”
“I thought you were just getting ahead of your work for the week!”
“Nah, Sunday’s our day off. I don’t work on Sunday nights unless I have to.” He smiled at her, then at Jay. “Good to know my break in routine was enough reason to drag everyone out here.”
“Eh, it was just suspicious. Next time we’ll bring an army, too!”
“Please, no. I’ve had enough of foreign armies breaking down our door.”
Lloyd snorted. “What, like it’s happened before this week?”
“Maybe.” Cole looked to Vania. “Has it?”
Vania laughed. “Not that I know of. I wouldn’t mind an army of friends coming to town—preferably with a little lead time, but we’re always glad to have you.”
“Don’t say that, they’ll move in.” Cole looked around the table. “I’m not sure we can afford to feed all these gluttons.”
Jay gasped. “Excuse me? The only glutton here is Kai!”
“Hey!”
“And anyway, you’re royalty, you can afford a few sausages.” Jay sniffed in mock offense. “My best friend is so stingy now.”
Cole rolled his eyes. “It’s a joke, Sparkplug.”
“This is the gratitude we get. Half a breakfast and some insults. Can you believe this guy?”
Lloyd gestured with his fork. “Lay off him, Jay, it’s been a crazy week here. Poor guy was just minding his business! And it can’t be cheap to rebuild.”
Cole looked stressed just thinking about it. “Yeah… uh… I don’t really want to think about that. That’s a lot of planning and Hailmar’s coming in late today. Not to mention how we’ll need to build stronger defenses, since the ones we had really weren’t enough…”
“One thing at a time,” Vania commented. “I’d rather talk about something else. How are all your families? Zane, how’s Pixal?”
“She is well, thank you. She sends her regrets for not being able to come along.”
“And she’s still working on the Hydro Bounty 3.0?”
“Working out the kinks, yes. Nya’s help has been invaluable.”
Nya shrugged, but she needed a moment to swallow her huge bite of toast before replying. “It’s not that much to figure out anymore. We’ll need a new project after that. I don’t suppose Shintaro needs some airships?”
Cole snorted. “I mean, we’d take them, but where would we put them?”
“It can’t be that hard to build a garage for them.”
“In shale? One wrong move and you’ll crack the platform off the edge of the cliff, never to be seen again.”
“I guess you don’t get any airships then.”
Cole chuckled. “Darn. No voyaging for us, Vania.”
“If only.” She shrugged, as graceful as ever. “We’ll have to settle for flying, as usual.”
“I’ll keep brainstorming projects I can make for you,” Nya commented, scraping up the last of her meal into one large bite.
“Please do. I’d love to see them!”
Cole looked to Lloyd, who’d been pretty quiet the whole meal. While the whole table had been chattering, he seemed content with being quiet. He seemed thoughtful.
After a moment, he looked up from his plate and at Cole. At first he seemed surprised, like he hadn’t been expecting Cole to look at him, but he covered it well.
“Hey, are you doing okay?” Cole set down his utensils—he’d pretty much finished his food, so why hold onto them?
Lloyd looked away. “…I was hoping I could chat with you, one-on-one.”
“Sure.” Cole looked around at the almost-finished breakfasting Ninja. “Is now a good time?”
“I’d hate to take you away from your work,” Lloyd hedged.
“I haven’t started yet, so it’s fine.” Cole looked to Vania. “I’ll come find you in a little while.”
She gave him a smile and a kiss on the cheek. “Sounds good to me.”
Cole smiled back at her, then pushed out his chair. Lloyd followed. “We’ll be back, I’m just going to steal him for a couple minutes. Feel free to wander around the palace if you need.”
There was a chorus of assent, which Cole mostly ignored, and then he and Lloyd migrated out to a quieter room off the main hallway. There, Lloyd went to the window; Cole followed him.
The view outside showcased just how much of Shintaro was in need of repair. The break in the wall was plainly visible from their bird’s eye view, several stories in the air, as was the chaos in the streets. Already Shintarans were up and tidying the mess, gathering rubble together to be removed, cleaning up the bits of trash strewn about. Some of the people who worked the hardest were those who clearly didn’t belong. Was it penance? Generosity? Gratitude? Cole didn’t know.
Lloyd sighed. “I… Cole, yesterday was rough.”
“I know.”
“I know that you know, I just wanted to say it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ve never seen you like that before, Cole. Not even when we fought the Crystal King, or Vangelis, or… well… anyone.”
Cole frowned and looked at him. Lloyd refused to make eye contact. He fidgeted like a child, clearly unsure of himself. “Like what?”
“Like… you wanted to do something horrible to him.”
Right. So that’s what’s bothering him.
Cole set a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Lloyd, think of it from my perspective. He took over my kingdom. He made an embarrassment of me, and of Vania, and had no remorse. I’m still not sure how he did it.”
“Based on what Jay said, my working theory is that he wished for the power to make anyone obey him, then he used it on the djinn—as well as everyone in his army and anyone who stood in his way.”
“…That’s even worse, Lloyd. It’s not just about Shintaro then; it’s about everyone he trampled, all to gain a crown that wasn’t even real.”
“But… is it worth killing him?”
Cole frowned. “Lloyd, I wasn’t going to kill him. That’s wrong.”
“It sure seemed like you might.”
“I wouldn’t!”
Lloyd frowned at him, gaze gaching with disapproval. “It shouldn’t be a question for anyone.”
“It wasn’t a question! Look, I was tempted to hurt him, but you have to understand. This is personal! I reined in it. I have more important things to do—not to mention I have the spine to not follow every little whim that comes my way. I subdued him, and now we’re done. He’ll get a fair trial, with a proper sentence, and that’s that.”
“And… you’re okay with that?”
“I’m okay with justice being served.”
It seemed a pale imitation, but Lloyd nodded in a pacifying manner. “Fine. You’re the king, and what you say goes. I just didn’t want to ignore it.”
“I’m not ignoring it. Trust me, it bothered me too that I was… well… so tempted to do something to him. And anyway, I’m not going to get extrajudicial justice. If anyone has access to justice the right way, I do.”
“Okay.”
“Good.”
They looked at each other, an understanding between them.
Lloyd sighed, then smiled at Cole. “Tell you what. We’re all in town to help you out, so let’s get to helping. What do you need?”
Cole smiled back. “What I need is some time with my family and some elemental oomph to get this city cleaned up. Think you can manage it?”
“Sure we can. Lead the way.”
They shared a fist-bump, then headed back into the Palace of Shintaro to begin the gargantuan work of cleaning up Cyril’s mess.
[Chapter 3] // [Chapter 4 - you are here!] // [Chapter 5] – (FFN) (AO3)
Collaboration with @mcfanely! Go check out the beautiful illustration in chapter 2!
Summary:
Cole has everything he wants: he's married to Vania, the world is mostly at peace, and he's officially King of Shintaro.
Unfortunately for Cole, when the world isn't at peace, whoever's causing trouble seems to have a personal grudge against him.
Alternatively: Cole has to deal with a baddie who can mind-control anyone he pleases.
Chapter summary:
Jay spearheads an ambush. Cyril has an ace up his sleeve.
(If you want to know why it's been so long since I updated this story, check out the note on AO3 for this chapter! My apologies, friends.)
-----
“Are you sure we need to go to all this trouble?”
Jay was ready to strangle his brother-in-law with his own ninja mask when Lloyd intervened. “Kai, the worst that happens is it’s too much caution. What if the risk really is as high as they said?”
Kai looked unconvinced. “Or we’re all making a big deal out of what Jay said is an all-powerful genie, seeing as he supposedly got mind controlled.”
“He’s a djinn—”
“The real danger is that guy!” Kai pointed down.
The ninja were all crouched around a gap in the ceiling, which made for a tasteful increase in the throne room’s height but also provided just the space needed for a few ninja to roost. Below them, the pretend emperor was parading back and forth, issuing orders to whoever would listen. Nine out of ten people he commanded seemed like the half-dead masses, but the tenth that didn’t seem dead acted as if he or she was genuinely obedient. Apparently he’d recruited whom he could, then enslaved the rest.
From above, his bald spot shone in the light.
Jay wanted to make fun of his horrible getup, but after seeing almost no trace of Nadakhan, he couldn’t relax. Kai’s ribbing and terrible jokes only made it worse. They had to get rid of this guy’s power before he could cause worse harm. It was too urgent to make light of the moment.
He felt Nya’s hand on his back, and looked at her. She gave him an encouraging nod.
Jay nodded back and took a deep breath. “Okay, look. We all know the plan, so let’s not go changing it now. Zane, what did you say our odds looked like?”
“Based on my count, if we faced his army head-on, each one of us would take on at least fifty soldiers.”
“…Wow. Yep, really encouraging.”
Zane frowned. “I’m sorry my report cannot be more inspiring. If it helps, I expect our success to be at least sixty-five percent assured if we first target the proverbial head of the snake.”
Jay put on a brave face, looking at the others. “Sixty-five percent! That’s basically a hundred. We got this!”
Nobody looked convinced, but Lloyd nodded. “We’re following your lead on this one, Jay.”
Jay closed his hand into a fist. “Okay. Lloyd, Zane, you two run distraction. Kai, your job is to get as much information out of him as you can. Make sure you’re all paying attention—don’t let him get close to you, since we still don’t know how he does it.”
Everyone else put their hands into the awkward group fist bump, whispering. “Ninja-go!”
The Ninja pulled on their hoods, hooked their ropes around the ceiling fixture, and began to rappel down. Jay let the others touch down before he and Nya did. Lloyd was first, noiselessly landing a few yards behind the stranger.
“Hey, ugly! This isn’t your throne room!”
‘Ugly’ whirled, then pointed at him. “You! I expected your arrival!”
Lloyd drew his sword. “Then you should’ve expected that I wouldn’t let you take over a city that isn’t yours. Who are you, anyway?”
“I am Emperor Cyril of Ninjago! Greater Ninjago, soon!”
“You’re the Emperor? Wow! It’s crazy that I’ve never heard of you!”
That made Cyril angry. “Guards! Seize him!”
A few of the dead-eyed men responded with surprising speed, but that was thankfully when Zane dropped in behind Cyril. Both of them broke into Spinjitzu, and soon the immediate response of the guards was nothing more than groaning from the sides of the throne room, where they’d been unceremoniously tossed.
Cyril gaped for a moment, then screamed. “Guards! To me! Fetch Nadakhan!”
Jay felt sick, but he took the opening and started rappelling. With Cyril thoroughly distracted—and Kai about to make his move—it was the perfect chance to search this last, locked space.
Where were Cole and Vania?
He and Nya bolted for the dais and ran around the back. There, Jay saw something he hadn’t expected—Cole and Vania, quietly sitting together on a loveseat, the picture of wedded bliss. They seemed like they were enjoying the moment, as if they were somewhere quiet and private, rather than their throne room that currently rang with the sound of clashing metal and yelling. Cole had one hand in his wife’s hair, which fell tastefully from a tidy updo—he himself looked a little worse for wear, but unharmed. Neither of them were bound in any way.
“Cole!” Nya hissed, coming forward and trying to catch his attention.
Cole looked at her… dead-eyed.
Jay felt a stone settle in his stomach. “Cole? Buddy? Are you okay?”
Cole looked at him too, but said nothing.
Jay and Nya both approached him, and Jay shook him by the shoulders, to zero reaction. “Snap out of it! Cole, it’s Jay and Nya! We’re here to help!”
Nya turned to Vania, trying to rouse her. “Vania? Hey, wake up. You have to get out of here!”
Nothing worked; Cole and Vania kept their staring contest, completely unresponsive. Jay and Nya shared a look of worry, before Jay grabbed her hand. “That settles it. We have to get Nadakhan back in the teapot.”
Nya nodded, and they left Cole and Vania to rejoin the fighting—with one last glance behind them, to see Cole still smiling at his wife.
At least he’s got Vania there… the thought was sickening, but it was some comfort too.
They came around the dais to see Kai, Lloyd and Zane all managing to handle the crowd of soldiers. With the doors acting as a choke point, the flood of guards was just slow enough to be manageable for the short-term. Kai was yelling at Cyril.
“So! How’d you manage to get Shintaro to listen to you? Looks like they’re pretty bored already!”
What he received in return was incomprehensible yelling, a shoe thrown, and an order to a guard. “Wish for me to have a weapon!”
“…I wish for Emperor Cyril to have a weapon.”
Above them, Nadakhan floated, dusting them with sparkling orange. He moved one hand, as if bored, and the dust coalesced into Cyril’s hands. What was left behind was a longsword. It was too long for Cyril to wield well, but he tried anyway, hacking at Kai inexpertly.
Kai batted it aside a moment later. “Nice toy! I have one just like it.” He wiggled his katana at Cyril. “Anyway, aren’t you going to make me a zombie yet?”
“Oh! Yes! Of course!” Cyril complied, stuffing his hand into his pocket and grabbing what looked like a lump of silver. “I shall—”
He fell to the floor with a heavy thud and a yelp amidst a whirl of green sparkles. Lloyd fell out of his Spinjitzu tornado, holding the silver thing aloft: a statuette. It seemed to shine with its own light. It seemed to watch the people around it.
Lloyd seemed unbothered. “I’ll take that!”
“Toss it here!” Zane called, and received it moments later. He scanned it, then tossed it to Kai. “I’ve never seen its kind before, but it seems magical. Destroy it, and the guards might stop!”
“I was hoping you’d say that!”
Kai let his hands catch on fire, and Cyril screamed in rage. “NO!” He got up, surprisingly spry. “I wish for him to stop that!”
“I’m sorry, my liege,” Nadakhan replied boredly. “You have no more wishes.”
“Then—then—someone wish for me!”
A few guards began to speak, but Zane promptly iced them over, cutting it off. He followed it up with a wall of ice over the doors to the throne room, blocking the exit—and the path of all the soldiers outside.
Jay took the opportunity, shouting at the top of his lungs. “Nadakhan! I wish for you to go back in the Teapot of Tyrahn, so no Ninjagan will ever use you again!”
The djinn looked at him, and Jay felt every hair on his body stand up. Under the dull sheen of his eyes, somewhere, he knew there was cunning. That cunning had cost him everything—defeated only by a stroke of luck. Did Nadakhan remember any of what had happened? Did he know who Jay was? If he did, he betrayed nothing. He only stared.
“…Your wish is yours to keep.”
Shivers went up Jay’s spine as a cloud of orange dust fell from somewhere above Nadakhan. It covered him as densely as a dust storm, then fell away. The teapot fell to the floor with a clatter.
Cyril wailed and rushed to grab it. He rubbed the side of the pot to no avail. It had lost its polish and looked like just another shabby piece of old tableware, rather than a prison.
Cyril turned his ire on Jay now. “You’ve taken my servant from me!”
“He wasn’t your servant,” Jay replied, approaching him. “He was your slave. Give it up, Cyril. It’s over.”
“I will never surrender to a young fool like you,” Cyril spat. “Shintaro is still my kingdom. I have plenty of men to defend it, and what do you have? Five people?”
Jay crossed his arms. “Five ninja who have defended Ninjago from everything that threatens it. Don't underestimate us.”
“Ha! Underestimate you? I already have everything I need!”
“Give it up, let them go! Can't you see you've lost?”
“Hardly!” Cyril stuffed the teapot into a fold of his clothes. “It’s time I use my last resort, isn’t it?”
“Your last resort?” Jay looked around, but the throne room was the same as before—and the guards by the door were thawing, about to flood back in.
“Ah, you ninja aren’t very clever. You would make terrible rulers! If only you’d known that before one of you attempted to change careers… isn’t that right?”
“Change careers? What are you talking… about…”
Cyril sneered at him. “See for yourself.”
There was a loud cracking noise.
Nya screamed. “Jay! Look out!”
Jay looked up, and then immediately dove to the side. A huge chunk of marble crashed down, right where he’d been standing, and sent pieces flying everywhere.
He looked around for the source of the projectile, side smarting from an unpleasant stretch in the middle of his dive, strands of hair coming loose and hanging in his eyes. The room was empty! There was nothing, except—
Except—
There were chunks of stone floating in the air in a way that was far too familiar. Jay bolted as the second came slamming down, spraying shards of tile and dirt. Amid the destruction, he saw Cole come around the dais, moving more robotically than even Zane. He walked slowly, but his hands were in the air, and earth came to his call with ease—Shintaro was the center of his power, after all.
“Cole, snap out of it!” Jay yelled, and was rewarded by several more pieces of tile flying at him. They missed, slamming a few yards behind—closer to Kai and Zane than he was comfortable with, and getting closer with every fallen piece. Cole seemed unbothered by the situation.
Lloyd and Nya came in by Jay, forming a line of defense. Lloyd looked at Jay, and they both nodded.
“Lloyd, Nya, help me handle Cole.” He looked behind them, to where Kai was still attempting to melt the statuette—and from the looks of it, not having much success. “Kai, how’s it coming?”
“I’m sorry my fire isn’t hot enough to melt silver instantly, Jay, I’m working on it!”
“Sorry for asking, flames for brains!”
“Enough of the fighting!” Lloyd cut in just as Cole lifted the next boulder—and they were getting larger with each attack. “Focus! Zane, keep it quiet in here!”
“Indeed,” Zane said by way of reply, and refreshed the ice wall over the door.
Jay looked around. So this is it. We’re locked in here with my mind-controlled best friend, with an army of zombies about to break in, all because of a crazy old man. What has my life come to?
There wasn’t enough time to think more than that. Cole had already advanced around the dais, and at last they saw the full picture.
He was a dangerous sight, and Jay wondered if Cole had ever looked more like a king. He still wore his crown, his hair was still tied back as usual, the like—and an entire wall of rubble hung in the air behind him. The royal attire of the King of Shintaro only served to make him appear more powerful.
The stone wall descended with the force of an army, throwing the room into chaos. Jay dove into Spinjitzu and tried to get close, dodging piece after piece of falling stone tile. A few times he tried pushing them away with his lightning.
(He should’ve expected that idea to fail, but it still stung to have gravel pelt him in the chest when it insulated the bolt. It was no fun being grounded out with no lightning to draw on!)
Jay pulled back, letting the rest of the Ninja try to force their way through. First to attempt stopping Cole was Nya, who dropped a ball of moisture that she’d pulled from the room air onto his head. He rewarded her with a spray of dust.
Lloyd was up next, and he tossed stone back at Cole with his Spinjitzu tornado. It didn’t hit him: it hung in the air as returned ammunition, ready for another use.
Time for a new approach. “Hey, Rocky-feller, follow me!” Jay kicked back, whipped around, and spun up a new funnel of flashing electricity to carry him around the dais, back to where Vania was still sitting. She was still emotionless, nonreactive, sitting demurely.
Cole roared around the corner a moment later, but Jay took up a position just next to Vania, a little too close for Cole to aim consistently.
“Well? What’s it gonna be, big guy? I’m doing all this work to be annoying! Are you gonna come after me?”
There! Something small about Cole’s expression shifted.
“I knew you had some feelings about this! Wouldn’t you like to talk them out?”
Cole dropped the rubble. It hit the ground so hard that the tile beneath it all immediately cracked.
“There you go! Let’s chat. Why are you putting up with that idiot? Aren’t you the king around here? I mean, last I checked. I’m still not sure if you really should be a king. Are you actually going to rule this place right? Not that I think you’re stupid—that would be Cyril—but remember that time you made violetberry soup for us? Or the duck chowder? C’mon. Cooking skills are notoriously accurate at defining how well someone can lead an entire country. They have so much in common, like multi-tasking!”
It was all bluster, and Jay was running out of things to say, but Cole finally looked like he wanted to say something. Either that or he was warring with himself—Jay would take what he could get.
“Anyway! Let’s just calm down a little. I made this whole long drive out to see you!” Jay opened his arms and stepped forward. “Don’t you want a hug? I missed my best buddy!”
Cole hesitantly stepped forward.
“There you go! Good earth-ninja-king!”
Then Cole stopped walking.
“Cole?”
Something shifted, and suddenly he was moving through familiar stances.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no! “Cole! No, no, no, stop—!”
Cole spun up his tornado, advanced in seconds, and soon Jay was skidding across the floor.
“Jay!” Nya cried from a few yards to the side, and then he heard her spin up her own tornado. She and Cole clashed, giving him just enough time to get up before Nya went flying straight back and into his arms.
She groaned, her weight heavy against Jay’s chest. “…Man, he's really not holding back at all. This isn't like sparring!”
“That might be to our advantage.” Jay set her upright and sat up. “Look at him.”
Cole was lumbering toward them, and with every stomp, the room shook. The ground was now a mess of broken tile, in some places stripped down to raw earth that Cole was pulling against. Dust was everywhere. An untouched section of floor surrounded Vania, who sat unbothered, a fine cloud of dust settling on her.
“…He's avoiding her.”
“That's the extent of his control. It's just raw power otherwise.” Jay pointed at him. “We just have to keep him busy, remember?”
She nodded. “Sure!”
Jay summoned some more electricity. “Cole, buddy! Do you remember the last time we pitted our elements against each other over something stupid? Back when I thought you were trying to take Nya from me?”
Nya scoffed. “That's what you come back to? Seriously?”
“It's a great taunt!”
“That hatchet has been buried for over a decade.”
“So it's perfect!” As he said it, Jay pointed a finger at Cole and let his lightning arc over. Cole hastily blocked it with dust, but a little got through, and Jay grinned as it zapped his best friend's hair to stand up. “Gotcha! Remember, it's only the amps that kill you!”
Cole turned on him, pulled up a rock, and tossed it. Jay and Nya dived opposite directions as it crashed into where they had been.
“Hey! You missed!” Nya yelled, pulling moisture into her hand. “Let's make mud pies!”
Sure enough, the next clash splashed mud in both their faces, and Nya spat it out. Cole seemed unbothered—that one was probably natural. He'd never cared about accidentally eating dirt.
Jay got closer. “Let's go for a solo match. No weapons, no elements, just a good old fashioned fight. Nya, be the ref!”
They closed in, and sure enough, Cole let go of the soil in favor of fists. Jay resorted to defense almost immediately; what jabs he could make were immediately blocked and tossed aside. Cole followed each up with an attempted sucker punch.
“Cole!” He shouted, trying not to get socked. “Stop it, can't you see what you're doing? It's me! Jay!”
“Hold out just a little longer, Jay!” Lloyd yelled from across the room. “Kai’s almost got it!”
“Easy to say when you're not about to have your nose broken!” Jay dodged, dancing around Cole and making space between them. Cole closed it quickly, but it was clear by now that his actions weren’t his own, and even muscle memory wasn’t in control anymore. Whatever he was doing was because Cyril was making him do it.
So all I have to do is outsmart him.
Jay immediately bolted. “Catch me if you can!”
Cole chased after him, which was when Jay waved at Nya. “Distract him!”
“Got it!”
Immediately a haze of fog rose between them, and Jay took advantage of the slight lag in Cole’s actions. He jumped, flipped through the air, and landed behind Cole.
“Hi there!”
He pushed Cole down and stepped on his back.
“And stay down!”
Cole writhed and fought back, pulling at the earth again and forming handholds, but then he simply… stopped.
Jay looked around. Kai looked triumphant as he held an unrecognizable gray lump high above his head. “I got it!”
Oh, thank the sweet First Master! Jay backed off, allowing Cole to breathe. Please, please, please…
Cole laid there, facedown on the floor, for a few moments before he slowly pushed himself to standing. He turned around with a confused, disoriented look. “I… Jay?”
Jay grinned. “Buddy! Hey!”
Cole reached up and massaged his temples. “Am I… please tell me that was just some awful trick of my imagination.”
“What, our knock-down, drag-out fight? Sorry Cole, that was all real.”
Cole’s eyes widened in alarm. “And… Cyril? Vania!”
“We’ll take care of her,” Nya cut in, coming to put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “That impostor is still here! You need to go take care of him first.”
Cole nodded curtly, a solemn rage taking over his expression. “Right. Him.”
Jay laughed nervously. “He’s around the front.”
“Thanks.”
Cole stalked off, and Jay laughed a little more. “I… think he’s even scarier than he was when he was trying to kill me!”
Nya laughed too, and she sounded less nervous. “Relax. Let’s go take care of Vania, okay?”
the truth about a mirror (Chapter 14 - renegades on borrowed time)
Previous works: [you should know I'm a liar] // [your demons will go with you]
[Chapter 13] // [Chapter 14 - you are here!] // [Chapter 15] – (FFN) (AO3)
Co-authored with @dragon-gem!
Summary:
Lloyd and Harumi are tied together, whether they like it or not; for the most part, they like it. It’s just as well, because they promised each other as much. No matter what happens, their lives are not their own anymore.
(A series of vignettes, jumping about in the timeline between their reunion and the events of Dragons Rising season 1. Minor alterations to DR canon.)
Chapter summary:
Lloyd goes on a rescue mission. Harumi is more than okay with it.
-----
The vents are quiet, the only sound coming from the whirring of a fan and someone quietly talking from a room down below. When he hears a clatter, Lloyd stops, nearly slamming his head into the top of the vent and giving himself away.
By the First Master—!
“Reginald! Do not throw your pens at me!”
“Sorry, Patricia, I was, uh… distracted.”
Lloyd sighs in relief. He’s not discovered—the Realm of Madness is expansive, a place he’s avoided given its connection to his father’s condition as an Oni. It’s unfortunate that the one person he’d follow into any kind of danger is here, deep in the Administration. Not that Harumi had told her; she’d simply activated her SOS signal, and he’d followed her here.
He pulls out his compass and frowns at it, trying to parse how far he still needed to go. How deeply had she wormed her way into this confusing place? Why the SOS?
Is she safe, or am I walking into danger?
Questions and doubts won’t help anything, so he puts the compass away and starts crawling again. He has to be careful to avoid hitting the hilt of his sword against the walls of the cramped ventilation shafts. His knees are aching, his glutes and triceps too. The Administration’s area is multiple miles, with several levels above and belowground. Getting in has taken at least an hour; getting out will be more difficult, but hopefully faster.
He can’t stop now. Not when Harumi needs his help, and he’s close.
When her beacon gets close, he chooses the most promising of the grates nearby and slowly works it loose. The rusted screws squeak, but his stealth training as a ninja included tricks for this. A quick squirt of solvent, and it comes free soundlessly.
Thanks, Jay. Good tips. Wish you were here to gloat about it…
Still, it’s good to avoid a fourth close call. He drops into a silent room that seems like an endless row of filing cabinets and water coolers. It’s so dead in this space that he can almost hear the papers in the drawers, slowly rotting away, meaningless now and then.
A quick nudge puts the grate back in place, and now he’s left almost no trace.
He whispers into the silence. “Harumi?”
Nothing moves. Nothing breathes. Where is she?
He dares to peek around one of the filing cabinets. In the column direction, it’s just more filing cabinets, meticulously labeled and color-coded. If they had any opinions, they’d be mocking him.
Then, a thump. Lloyd whirled on his heel, spotting a storage closet in the far corner.
Thump, thump, it says, the door shaking on its hinges.
He gingerly grabs his compass, and… sure enough, Harumi’s beacon is just over there.
That’s insane. Would they actually put someone in a closet?
He tiptoes over to it, taking special care around corners and places where visibility should be peak. Nobody appears. When he reaches the closet, he tries the doorknob. Predictably, it’s locked.
He sighs. “Harumi? Are you in there?”
“Lloyd!” She replies immediately, as if surprised. “Yes, it’s me!”
Some of the tension bleeds away, replaced by relief. “Shh, I’m gonna get you out. Do you know where the key is?”
“Just break it,” she suggests.
“That's a horrible idea. It’ll be loud.”
“Lloyd, I don't have a key! Plus, these stupid handcuffs make my arms hurt, and—”
“I get it, I get it!” He looks around, checking the top of the doorframe. “Stay quiet, I'm gonna look around for a key.”
“Lloyd, if you make me wait in here, I’ll—I don’t know what I’ll do!”
He smiles, confirming the frame is not the hiding place. “Just be patient, okay? I’m looking.”
Next he tries under the mat—because for some reason, the closets in this place have mats, and that doesn’t make sense, why would you need a mat by a closet? Of course, he finds the key underneath.
The Realm of Madness. Nothing is meant to make sense. He wants to break something, but exercises restraint as he unlocks the door. As it opens, he comes face to face with his yang: trussed up, red in the face, and annoyed.
He grins. “Hi, honey. I’m home.”
“I'm gonna hit you,” she grumbles. “What took you so long?”
“This place is huge and impossible to navigate! Not to mention I was trying to be quiet.” He reaches for her cuffs and begins to fuss with them. The key is almost a perfect fit; he jams it in the lock until it snaps open, grinding against the tumblers. “All this paperwork and security, but they have such cheap locks. Weird priorities around here…”
“Yeah, I'm not dangerous enough to warrant their other ones.” Harumi sounds throughly put out by that, and he has to fight back a laugh that ends up sounding more like a cough. “Honestly, with an insult like that, they could've just let me go.”
“And spoil my chance to save you? I’m glad they didn’t.” He takes the cuffs off her and sets them on a shelf in the closet, next to the garbage bags and a box marked SCP-173.
“I'm gonna hurt you,” she grumbles again, rubbing her wrists. “Here I am, locked in a closet, and you're enjoying your chance to be my knight in shining armor!”
“You don’t have to complain about it. Isn’t it nice to have someone come and save you when you trigger your SOS?”
Harumi pauses, taking a second to look him up and down. “…Maybe one person is allowed to do that.”
He snickers. “You can check me out at home. Come on.”
“Come on! If I'm going to be a damsel in distress, might as well play the part, right?” She grins at him, putting one hand on his arm and dramatically holding her other hand to her forehead. “My hero!”
He stifles a laugh, playing along and pulling her in by the waist. “Princess, we’d better get going. We’re not safe here.”
“Oh, but I know I'm safe wherever you are.” Harumi sighs dramatically, leaning against him. “You saved me from this evil closet! You're so brave!”
“I’d do anything for you.” It’s hard not to get a big ego, even knowing this is all a joke to her. Something about Harumi being in his arms, relying on him, makes Lloyd feel larger than life.
Even if she’s exaggerating.
Even if she doesn't really mean it.
He kisses her right there, barely even caring that they could get caught at any second.
Harumi squeezes his arm. When they pull apart, she whispers against his lips. “My hero.”
This time, it sounds like she might actually mean it. Maybe it's something in her tone, or the fact that she broke their kiss just to say it… he's not totally sure, but it might not matter. He loves her more.
Lloyd kisses her forehead next, and pulls away before he gets too absorbed in the moment. “Okay, damsel of mine. How’d you get here in the first place?”
Harumi shrugs. “Who's to say? It's all a blur.”
“Good try.”
“Look, I was maybe being a little bit dumb, okay? Nothing huge! It didn't warrant getting locked in a closet and an insulting pair of handcuffs!”
“Were you snooping around?”
She pouts and glances down at his chest. “…Maybe I was looking for something. And it maybe was information in their files.”
Lloyd glances back at the room of file cabinets. “In here? What could’ve lured you into the Administration? This place is crazy!”
Harumi shrugs, still not looking at his face. “I didn’t try to get to this room. I was in another fileroom altogether. They probably figured I got too close, which is why I got stuffed into the closet. I'm even more sure it's here because of that.”
“Sure what is here?”
She frowns, shifting uncomfortably. “Is now really the time? Can we go back to me flirting with you? That was fun too.”
He kisses her forehead again. “It was. Tell me, and then we can get back to flirting.”
Harumi huffs. “I was talking with some… people… and I have reason to believe that the Administration is watching everything—as much as they can, anyways. I figured that Elemental Masters would be pretty high on the list of people to be keeping an eye on, so…”
She finally looks at him and smiles weakly. “I thought that if anyone would know where Jay and Cole were, it would be them. And they keep files on everything so I thought I could just… nab it.”
Something in that smile makes his heart skip a beat. “Did you find it?”
She shakes her head. “No. But I think I must have been fairly close, because the way they stormed in there was… weird. They barely even listed off all the rules I'd broken before slapping me in handcuffs and tossing me in here.”
Lloyd blinks.
“What?”
That’s not how they acted when Arin and I were here. Something is different.
“Really,” Harumi sighs. “To be honest, I have to have been close. There's no other explanation. But if they know where they are… why haven't they done anything to reassign them back to the Monastery, or even the Crossroads? It doesn't add up. I mean, they have a whole department dedicated just for that.”
“Arin said the reassignment department just picks a place to dump people.” He frowns. “If they’re watching, then… that means they’re watching me. They might know I’m here.”
Harumi laughs a bit. “Oh yeah. The dangerous Green Savior who messes with dragon cores and other anomalies that should probably be destroyed? They're definitely keeping an eye on you, handsome. Honestly, I can't blame them. I mean… wow.” She pauses. “Although…”
“Although?” He prompts.
“If they're watching you, that means they have to know we're married. So, by my sneaking in here…” She laughs nervously. “I hope I didn't put Cole and Jay in any danger by looking for them like that. That would be… unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?” Lloyd searches her face, then looks behind himself—nothing’s there—in a slightly paranoid panic. “Rumi, you might’ve been bait!”
“I mean, that would explain the insulting handcuffs and unceremonious act of throwing me in a closet… also leaving the GPS tracker on me…”
“And why nobody caught me the three times they should’ve.” Lloyd turns away from her, rifling in his gi for a knife. He offers it to her, standing in the way, reaching for his own sword… but there’s nothing waiting for them outside.
The room of filing cabinets stands just as endless and silent as before, holding its breath, lest a single sheet of paper drift from its rightful place. If there’s someone pursuing them, they have no idea where to look.
Why didn’t they catch me before? The thought nags at Lloyd as he canvasses the space, and he can feel Harumi moving behind him, but for one short second he ignores her. Why did they happen to turn around, right before they saw me, and leave?
The last person had gotten a phone call in his cubicle, hadn’t he? And before that, the close calls all had to do with sudden emergencies…
Such coincidental timing…
“You almost got caught three times?”
“Be glad it wasn’t four.”
“Bit of an amateur at this breaking in thing, are we? Not quite used to the criminal side of things?”
He glances at her. “If they’re tracking me, it doesn’t matter. I think someone’s looking out for us.”
“Why would they do that? This whole place hates us.”
“Last time, it was Zane, but he’s at the Monastery. Whoever it is, they don’t hate us either.” He reaches for her free hand. “Either way, we need to get out of here as fast as possible. Forget the files, we’ll come back for them.”
“But I was so—”
“I know, babe, but we have to go now.”
A door slams and Lloyd stops, putting his hand over Harumi's mouth before she can protest any more.
The light!
Harumi's eyes flick to the switch at the same time his do, and she reaches over to flick it off. Lloyd steps back over the threshold of the closet, praying the darkness is enough to keep them hidden until he can close the door.
It latches with the quietest of clicks.
“You'd think that Leyton would be better at table football by now, wouldn't you?” A distinctly male voice floats over from the front of the room, sounding completely bored out of his mind. “I mean, it's just scraps of paper and a little goal. How do you miss every one?”
“No idea! He's sssso bad, that might be his only talent!” The reply comes from a female Serpentine.
“He has a talent?”
Both people laugh and Lloyd holds his breath, grateful that Harumi is staying as completely quiet and still as he is.
They might need something from this cleaning closet… this conversation might be part of the scheme…
“Don’t forget to pick up form 337-86-IN,” the Serpentine woman comments. “We need it for the Raspberry Accesssss Sheet for next month’sss meeting sssnacks.”
“As if I’d forget the 337-86-IN,” the man retorts, sniffing. “I wrote the form!”
“You did?”
“Well… it’s a figure of speech.”
Lloyd watches the light under the door, the way it shifts as they approach… and then slowly the shadows fade. The sound of footsteps recedes down an aisle of cabinets, and they’re slowly left in the quiet. Just a yin and his yang, somewhere secret, as close as two can be.
He struggles to control his growing smile, slowly allowing his hand to drop from Harumi's mouth.
Apparently, she's thinking the same thing, because Harumi whispers, “You know, some people might find this to be a bit of a compromising situation to be found in.”
“Compromising, huh? What am I compromising? Your spotless maiden reputation?”
"“'m a damsel in distress, Lloyd. It's part of the job description.”
“Doesn’t the hero get the girl?” He leans down to get a little closer. It’s only natural. “Or did the stories lie?”
He's not imagining the way her breath hitches, and he can hear the smile in her voice, even if it's too dark to see it. “A lot of stories are blown way out of proportion. Like the ones they tell about you in schools.”
“Aw, they tell the kids about me? They probably skip some parts, don’t they?”
Harumi chuckles a bit. “Maybe a few bits get skipped.”
“Probably the traumatic stories. I’d rather not relive most of those.”
“What, like all those times you almost died? Some of those were because of me, if you'll remember.”
“I remember.” He reaches for her again, bringing her close to him. In the dark, his eyes are adjusting, and a black-and-white shadow of his wife is coming into view. “I remember you coming back to me, too. That one was pretty special.”
Harumi smiles again, resting her hands on his shoulders. “Yeah… I think that was one of the best decisions I'd made in a long time. But there are other details the stories miss too—moments that I happen to like quite a lot.”
“I bet you're not talking about all the times I've come to save you.” She's close. So close. If someone is watching them, is this small, dark closet being watched too, or can he be frank here?
“No…” Harumi breathes, and he feels the word ghost over his face. “I'm talking about how you always double knot your laces, or how you steal all the blankets because you move around so much when you sleep. How you keep that stash of candy under our bed that still has a note to make sure Jay doesn't steal from it, even though he's been gone for so long. It’s the little things like that.”
Enough. He pulls her into a firm kiss, and takes his time before replying, because she's doing that thing where she steals his breath and thoughts away, and it's only fair that he return the favor.
“…They have no idea just how much I love you,” he whispers as soon as he can speak, and kisses her again.
Harumi sighs, her fingers tangling in his hair. “That's okay. They don't need to know. It can be just for us.”
For us and for whoever's watching me. He doesn't say that out loud. Best not to ruin the moment… though if anyone ever asks, he won't be able to shut up about how much he's in love with her. She won't want to hear that when he could be kissing her.
He kisses her again—a few times, how could he stop?—until they're both breathless, and then squeezes her into a tight embrace. He can feel both their chests heaving as they try to breathe normally again.
“We need to go,” he finally mutters into her hair. “No files, let's just go home.”
Harumi doesn't say anything for a minute, her breath brushing against his neck, sending goosebumps up and down his spine. “…I hate being so close and walking away.”
“We'll come back with a plan and some backup. That'll give you a fighting chance at finding them.”
“I know… you're right. Especially if someone is watching you. I don't want them to catch you.”
“Now who's saving the other?”
“Shut up, Green Savior. It's better for everyone if you don't get tossed in jail and they throw away the key. Besides, I've got selfish reasons for making sure you’re a free man.”
He laughs and strokes her hair, tidying it around her face. “Ever the damsel, aren’t you?”
“Hey, a girl wants what she wants. Sometimes it's revenge, sometimes it's chocolate, sometimes it's someone's son.”
He snorts. “The son of Garmadon, I remember.”
“I could hardly say no! He's not bad on the eyes.”
“Interesting. I think the wanting goes both ways. Can I have you?”
She tries to tap him on the nose, and it's not so dark that he misses how she almost pokes his eye. “Silly Lloyd. You already have me. Next question.”
He snags her hand and kisses the palm. “I have two more. Do you know how incredibly, ravishingly beautiful you are?”
Thank you, romance novels, for the smile she gives at that compliment. Even in the dark, she's like the sun.
Harumi squeezes his arm, letting him keep hold of her other hand. “I sure do, pretty boy. Next?”
“Will you please come home with me?” He kisses her palm again. “Now?”
Harumi smiles again. “Since you asked so nicely, why not? If only to get you out of here too.”
“Where you go, I go.”
“Mm, yeah, that's exactly why we're gonna be leaving.” She pauses. “Hey… thank you for coming for me. Really.”
He chuckles and kisses her forehead one last time. “As if I wouldn't come for you when you call.”
“I know. You always do.” Harumi reaches up and runs her fingers through his hair, combing it down so it'll hopefully be a bit more presentable. “You better be careful with that. I don't fancy continuing to be bait.”
“Unfortunately, you are the best bait for catching me.” He lets her finish—his ninja mask will ruin it, but it feels nice, and he returns the favor by tucking her loose hair behind her ears. Most of it is still tidy, captured in a bun, and he doesn't mess with it.
They pull apart as much as possible in such a small space. The knife he gave her somehow made it next to them onto a shelf; he presses it into her hand. “Keep an eye out when we're heading out of here. I came in through the vent system, but I don't think we'll be able to go back out the same way.”
“Did you have a plan for being able to get out?” Harumi asks, accepting the knife and watching him.
“Yeah, actually, I do.” He grins, then shifts toward the door. “When I tell you, run.”
Harumi laughs, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “We're back to doing this again, huh? Running seems to be a favorite pastime of ours.”
“You know it.”
He squeezes back, and then eases the door open. Silent, still, and completely deserted.
They slip out just as Lloyd hears another voice coming from the aisles of cabinets. “I can't believe the 337-86-IN was misplaced with the 337-86-IP! Can you believe the level of disorganization people allow here?!”
They walk faster, five yards from the door—
“I know! The nerve of ssssssome people!”
—subtlety is key, but the latch sticks—
“When I find whoever did this, I'm sending them directly to Officer Eigenbaum—hey, who are you? This room is off-limits to anyone below security clearance 14C!”
—the door opens. Lloyd and Harumi share a loaded glance.
“Run!”
They take off down the hallways, the bright fluorescents making Lloyd's eyes hurt after the darkness of that closet. He blinks away the pain, leading Harumi down the halls and letting go of her hand to grab his compass.
“Where are we going?” She asks, glancing over her shoulder just as Administration agents begin shooting at them, bright blue pulses of light whizzing past them and hitting the wall.
“This way!” Lloyd grabs her hand again and pulls her to the right, heading towards the other beacon he’s been watching since he arrived.
“I thought you didn't know your way around this place!”
“I don't!” The hallway makes a direct path, past rows of cubicles and long queues that gasp and point. Their prize is behind another unmarked door at the far end of the line. As soon as they reach it, he slams it open, revealing the prize inside.
His favorite green motorbike, waiting patiently as only a machine can.
Harumi stops, a huge grin splitting her face as she looks at it. “I love it! I wanna drive!”
“Hey, hold on—!”
He's too late. Harumi bolts for the bike and jumps on. She grabs her helmet from where it rests on the handlebars and jams it on her head.
Lloyd groans and follows, grabbing his own helmet—safety first, as always. “Rumi, it's my bike.”
“Oh come on, I haven't ridden in so long! And besides, I can do more dangerous things with it than you can.”
“How do you know that?”
She grins at him. “Hello? Biker girl over here?” At the look on his face, she taps her fingers on the handlebars, still smiling. “Okay, what if we made a little deal?”
Lloyd rolls his eyes. “What deal?”
“I'll owe you one if you let me drive.”
“One… what?”
“Anything at all. The world is your oyster.”
“I don't really like shellfish.”
“Then—I don't know! It's a figure of speech!”
He snorts and climbs on behind her, knocking their helmets together in greeting. “Fine, oysters it is. Let's get out of here.”
Harumi laughs triumphantly and kicks the bike into gear. He barely has a chance to grab onto her waist before she's sending them flying down the hallways, barely avoiding crashing into people, engine whining at the high number of revolutions—she’s pushing six thousand, and he’s not sure how much of it the vehicle can take.
Lloyd is suddenly very grateful for his helmet, especially considering the way she's moving this bike around. “The wall—Rumi!”
Harumi cackles, turning a tight corner with a metal-on-metal screech that sets his nerves on edge and gets his adrenaline pumping. “Better hold on tight, Son of Garmadon!”
He holds on as tight as he can, and silently curses every reason he ever thought he should let The Quiet One drive. (Including himself, because this is the woman he married!)
They go careening down a slowly widening hallway, the light getting brighter and brighter. She screams with laughter as they go up a ramp, and moments later, crash through an enormous glass wall. Shards fall around them, and Lloyd presses against her to keep any pieces from falling between them.
They emerge into a bright, hot midday, the sun shining with all its might over a dry and barren land. It's nothing recognizable, except for the Bounty hanging in the sky to the southeast.
Harumi revs the engine and sets off for it at top speed, dodging around rocks and dead brush almost as quickly as he sees them. If anyone is chasing them, they’re long gone, lost in the dust.
“If we crash, I’m blaming you!” He shouts to her, even though most of the words get stolen by the wind.
Harumi only laughs and speeds up, racing for the Bounty, pushing the bike to go faster, faster! The engine whines with the stress, still cool, and Lloyd smells burnt oil. Only a few hundred yards to go, and it’s almost not enough time to stop.
And, as Lloyd realizes, she’s not going to. Not unless she has to.
He calls the Bounty down with a press of his remote, and it sinks down next to a small hill. “Rumi, make the jump!”
Harumi tenses in anticipation, adjusting their course to aim for the hill. Lloyd grips onto her a little tighter as they get closer and closer and closer and then—
Weightlessness. For a brief second, they're suspended in the air. Then they land hard on the deck of the Bounty and Harumi skids to a stop.
“Yes!” She laughs, letting the bike idle, one hand falling from the handlebars to rest on his knee. “Now that is what I'm talking about!”
Lloyd laughs with her, but it's a frazzled, nervous sort of thrill that runs through him. He slumps against her back. “That was insane!”
Harumi reaches up to take off her helmet, and he can feel her whole body shaking from the adrenaline. “I haven't ridden in so long… That was just as fun as I remember!”
“You almost killed us both,” he protests weakly.
“But I didn't! I've still got it!”
Lloyd groans. He reaches up to take off his helmet, letting the wind relieve the sweat and helmet hair, and he looks at her.
In a very small way, he's looking at Harumi for the very first time: a thrilled adrenaline junkie, a girl who never takes “no” for an answer, who could have created any sort of gang and chose a biker gang because it sounded fun.
He smiles, and when she looks at him, she's sparkling. Is that what she sees when she says that to him? That kind of joy?
Lloyd reaches up to touch a few strands of her now messy hair, falling out of the bun she'd put it in. “Every time I think I've seen all of you… you just keep surprising me.”
Harumi doesn't say anything for a minute, but she leans back against him, tilting her head to look at him. “Good. I'd hate for life with me to be boring. You signed up for this, after all.”
He lets his arms rest around her, a gentle guard against falling. “You could never be boring, but you're even more interesting than I thought.”
“Hm… let me guess… you're not going to let me drive again?”
“I might, but… let's talk about it later.”
“Why not now? I want to talk about it.”
“I know.”
“So…”
He can't help smiling and squeezing her a tiny amount. Sure enough, a light of understanding enters her sparkling, excited eyes.
“I see.” Harumi grins fiendishly. “Later, then. Once you've recovered from the shock of my fantastic and very safe driving.”
Lloyd snickers, and before replying, he kisses her shoulder. “That's enough out of you, troublemaker. Don't you know how to take care of yourself?”
She squeezes his arm, looking up at the sky. Her smile is so content, so soft! It makes him squeeze her again. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don't want to. I thought that was your job now.”
“I can try, but that—” he points behind them— “is out of my hands.”
“Very funny. Admit it, you were both annoyed and panicky when you got my SOS.”
“Nope, not annoyed. Worried.”
Harumi smiles again. “You're so sweet. Honestly, I might just end up keeping you.”
He laughs and nuzzles her cheek, kissing it a few times. “You might, but I have no plans to let go of a girl like you.”
She relaxes against him, adjusting a bit to keep the bike steady, seeming to enjoy his gentle kisses. “I know. Besides, as my yin, it's your job to take care of me. Especially when I get myself into… messes like that one.”
“Oh? You are pretty messy, aren't you… I guess I'm your cleanup crew.”
“Nothing quite so impersonal as that. Put simply, I'd say you're mine.”
The sly-yet-innocent look on her face makes him laugh. “Aren't you the possessive type?”
She grins at him. “I think it's better than not trying to keep hold of someone you love at all.”
“Keeping hold…” He muses, looking down at their arrangement, how she slots in perfectly against him. “Now, there's an idea. Perfect timing, too. I just happen to have a hold on my smoking hot yang.”
Harumi laughs. “What's an idea? You gotta tell me now.”
“No, I don't.” He lowers the kickstand, then gets off the bike and leans it back. Just in case they don’t have as much time as he thinks, he reaches for the Bounty’s remote control and presses the button that makes the ship rise to sailing altitude. It kicks into gear, shaking only a little, and soon they’re rising to safety.
Harumi waits patiently until they get to cruising height, still listening for his idea, but Lloyd has no intention of saying anything. As she watches him, he tugs her off so she's standing to face him.
Then he pins her against the bike, and their conversation turns wordless.
the truth about a mirror (Chapter 12 - wait for it all to bloom)
Previous works: [you should know I'm a liar] // [your demons will go with you]
[Chapter 11] // [Chapter 12 - you are here!] // [Chapter 13] – (FFN) (AO3)
Co-authored with @dragon-gem!
Summary:
Lloyd and Harumi are tied together, whether they like it or not; for the most part, they like it. It’s just as well, because they promised each other as much. No matter what happens, their lives are not their own anymore.
(A series of vignettes, jumping about in the timeline between their reunion and the events of Dragons Rising season 1. Minor alterations to DR canon.)
Chapter summary:
The Garmadons enjoy their time together, having overcome many of their newlywed frustrations.
-----
“What if you wake up one day and I’ve stabbed you?”
Lloyd sighs, but he smiles too. This question isn’t a new one.
Harumi, his new wife, is lying next to him on their bed. She’s spread out, taking up as much room as conceivably possible—not to mention the nights she almost pushes him out from underneath the covers, as if she can’t understand the idea of sharing. She’s staring at him now, waiting for an answer.
Strands of her hair flow through his fingers like silk, wild and loose. He finds a tiny tangle and works it loose. “I guess I’d try not to bleed on our blankets.”
She frowns. “You’re okay with me killing you? You wouldn’t leave?”
“Why would I? You wouldn’t stab me anywhere fatal. If you did, we wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.”
She rolls her eyes, and raises her far hand. The late afternoon light flashes off a small blade she holds—why, exactly, does she have a knife in their bed? It’s three inches away from his Achilles. “I call you a masochist for a reason.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t like it too. We always end up here.”
“With me holding you at knifepoint?”
He snickers at her deadpan expression. “Sure.”
She points the knife at him. “Watch it, Garmadon. I haven’t put you in a cage in a while.”
“You wouldn’t do that again. Not after last time.”
“Are you sure? Don’t tell me you didn’t like it, at least a little.”
Lloyd rolls his eyes now, thinking back to last time. An ill-fitting disguise, a cave filled with purple crystals, a series of greater and greater losses that still weigh on him in his dreams. “No, thanks. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience.”
Even though he tried to make it a gentle delivery, Harumi pouts and looks away. “…That’s fair.” She lets the knife fall, and Lloyd tries not to wince as it lands a little too close to her hair.
(She’d better not cut it, even by accident. He likes playing with it, and it’s so soft. Even now he’s toying with three strands, weaving a messy braid that will come undone immediately.)
His wife sighs. “So, if I can’t cage you, and you’re fine with me stabbing you, how am I supposed to bother you now?”
“You could try to get along with me.”
“Nonsense. I’m the most important person in your life, I don’t have to try to get along with you. You have to try to get along with me.”
Lloyd cracks a smile and tugs very gently, teasingly, on her hair. “Maybe.”
She scoffs and bats his hand away. He parries, tangling their fingers together, and they’re in a lock now.
There’s no steel in the way she looks at him. “I think I could get away with anything except killing you. You’d be fine with anything else.”
“Do you have to phrase it like that? There’s plenty of things I’d prefer you not doing.”
“I’m not planning anything! It’s for the sake of discussion, Lloyd.”
“That’s what you’d say if you were planning my imminent demise.”
She laughs, the sound sparkling through the air. “No I wouldn’t! I’d go on a whole monologue about how you’re gullible, I’m angry about you ‘murdering’ my parents, being the one who got away, so on and so forth. You know the drill.”
“And then you’d put me in a cage.”
“Third time’s the charm.”
“Some argue that being married is like a cage…” Lloyd muses. “A lifelong tether…”
“If marriage is a cage, then I’ve trapped you at least four times.”
He shrugs lazily. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s along the lines of falling into the hippopotamus enclosure at the zoo.”
He’s rewarded with snickers. “So the cage count is still at four, but I wouldn’t be the one guilty this time.”
“Nope. I’d still be in the enclosure with you.” He reaches out and takes the knife, flipping it one way and another in his hand. “Double trouble.”
“So… we’d fight the hippo together? Or I’d sic it on you as a distraction?”
“Neither of those.”
“…Does that make me—”
“It might.”
Harumi pins him with a stern glare. “Lloyd!”
“Look, they’re the most dangerous animals in the world! I would’ve said a spider, but spiders don’t have enclosures!”
“Yes they do?! And you could’ve used a snake den!” Harumi laughs, poking him in the leg. “I can’t believe you just called me a hippopotamus. What a nice thing to call your wife, a flabby five-thousand-pound mud creature.”
“Excuse you, I respect the hippopotamus! It’s a mighty warrior!” Lloyd pokes her in return, tickling under her armpit—she squirms away, completely undignified. “I’ll have you know they’re more deadly than lions!”
“What a compliment. I haven’t killed that many people, your count is probably higher than mine!”
“We don’t have to talk about that. Most of them were stone, or nindroids, or snakes—”
His words are cut off as Harumi clambers onto hands and knees, reaching for the knife in his hand. “Serpentine lives matter!”
“The Vermillion aren’t Serpentine!” He pulls the knife out of her reach, scooting back on the bed. “I’ve never killed a Serpentine.”
“Oh, please. You wanna bet? They’d say otherwise.”
“Who are you asking, Pythor? He’s unreliable.”
The braid is falling out of her loose hair now, and she’s grinning like the cat who caught the canary. “I don’t know, he did a fairly good job on my Council.”
“When I met him—long before you did—he was already a cannibal.” Lloyd tosses the knife off the bed, where it falls to the floor with a dull clunk. “Try reaching that now.”
“Everyone has their quirks.” She begins to clamber over him, trying to get to where he dropped the knife, and he’s not imagining the huge grin on her face. “Just—he ate his own people! And he’s got the last name Chumsworth, which is very misleading.”
Lloyd grabs her by the ankle, keeping her back from the edge. “Chummy, right?”
“You sure thought so!”
“I was twelve.”
“Gullible, like I said!”
“When did you say that? I want receipts.”
He knows the receipts aren’t coming, because at that moment he reaches up and tickles the sole of her foot. Harumi squeals, kicking out, twisting around to tug her ankle free, to no avail. “That’s cheating! Let me go!”
“Nope! All’s fair in love and war!”
“I just want my knife!”
“I just want my wife.”
She laughs, turning to look him in the eye. “I’m literally right here. Don’t make me kick you in that pretty face.”
He tries to control his grin. “You wouldn’t.”
“Handsome, naive Lloyd. You wanna bet?”
He grins, grabbing at her other ankle, and begins to tickle her. “How’s that? I can take you!”
Harumi shrieks, and he takes the chance to go after her sides, gaining a peal of laughter. “Lloyd! We both know—haha—you can’t!” She tries to wiggle away, to no avail. “Don’t lie, it doesn’t suit you!”
“Only one of us is ticklish,” Lloyd crows, going after her armpits for another shriek. “My secret weapon!”
“I will kick you!” She tries, but fails miserably, and settles for trying to smack his hands away.
“Sure, try it,” he taunts. The look on her face is only a little murderous, and he realizes a little too late that he’s playing with fire.
Harumi twists around, gets her leg up, and punts him square in the stomach. Lloyd grunts, not so much out of pain but instead out of surprise. He recoils, falling back—
She hooks her leg around him, tossing him off of her and onto the mattress to her side.
He groans. “Hey, that was rude.”
To add insult to (mild) injury, Harumi laughs at him. “All’s fair in love and war. I’m getting my knife!” She swings herself off the bed, drops into a crouch, and comes up with the knife in hand. She waves it in the air teasingly. “Here you thought you could stop my plans. Silly ninja.”
He gets to his knees and folds his hands. “Please, I’m begging you. You don’t have to do this! You can change!”
“Change? But I caught a dragon!” She grins at him with plenty of teeth showing. “If only I had a cage to put him in…”
“You caught a quarter of a dragon, really. A quarter oni, too, but majority completely boring. I’m not worth keeping in your zoo.”
The gleeful glint in her eye is incredibly rewarding. “I like hybrids. Besides, ‘boring’ is the last word I’d used to describe you.”
He tries to keep back a smile. “Why stick me in a cage to rot if I’m so interesting? Aren’t you going to investigate?”
She looks him up and down, smirking. “The cage is only a temporary solution. I keep all the cuties for myself.”
“Sounds vaguely threatening, especially with you waving that knife around.”
“Does it? I thought you liked a bad girl.”
“Don’t use my words against me!”
She laughs. Harumi laughs so much now. Lloyd could get drunk on the sound of it, the way her laughter makes him forget everything but her, the way the world of things he cares about can be held in his arms.
She points the toy knife at him. “I’m giving you receipts, pretty boy. You’re the one who said it.”
Lloyd gapes at her. “Put me out of my misery. You’re taking my words out of context!”
“Why shouldn’t I? You tortured me, I torture you,” she says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“One minute of tickling,” he deadpans. “The world’s worst form of torture, to be sure.”
“I’m so glad you agree. Now you can suffer with me.”
“No thanks.” He gets to one knee, gaining an inch of height and losing stability as the mattress shifts below him. “I’d rather not.”
She eyes him. “…Deal with it.”
Now. “I will, thanks!”
He lunges for her and manages to grab one wrist, tugging her toward him. Harumi yelps, and a corner of his awareness notes that she intentionally points the knife blade away from him—how considerate! He uses it against her, pulling her back onto their bed, into his arms, where he holds on tight.
She laughs, wiggling to try and get away. Lloyd just tightens his grip, crushing her against him so she can't leave.
"Is this you dealing with it?" Harumi laughs again, still trying to break free.
“I’ve immobilized the threat,” he narrates, holding tight but letting his hands begin to wander. “Time to figure out how dangerous the wild hippopotamus really is.”
Harumi scoffs. “I can’t believe you’re calling me a huge, fat animal! You should’ve picked a pretty one, like a swan, or a dove!”
“Doves don’t match your personality. Maybe a swan is right! They’re mean.”
She levels a death glare at him. “They’re gorgeous and elegant.”
“Elegant, I can see,” he says, watching her. She’s watching him, too, and he decides to let the tension go. “And you are gorgeous.”
She elbows him, but the grin is pasted on her face now, and it’s not disappearing anytime soon. “You almost got yourself into huge trouble, Mr. Garmadon.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Garmadon. I was distracted.”
“By what?”
“By my wife.” He leans in and kisses her, tasting that smile of hers. “Y’know, the woman who’s threatening me with a knife at the moment.”
“Ha! You definitely have issues. We might need a stronger cage for you.”
“No cage is strong enough. You’re stuck with me for life.”
“Is this your way of opting for staying willingly?”
He winks. “What do you think?”
Harumi settles against him, resting her head on his shoulder. It’s as warm as sunlight, holding her, and more valuable than any relic or treasure.
Her voice is muffled as she says, “We can come to an arrangement. Maybe.”
“I’d like that, Rumi.”
“You like me.”
“Even with your terrible sense of humor.”
“So little faith, from the most important person in my life!” She gives him a puppy-dog look, big eyes and a little pout. “If my jokes are bad, yours are worse. They’re like my dad’s.”
Lloyd snickers. “Your dad’s? I’m not old enough to be your father, sorry.”
“You’ve got the jokes for it, so maybe you could anyway. I don’t think you could make a good joke to save my life.”
“To save your life? What about mine?”
She pauses, thinks about it, and shrugs. “Plot armor?”
He laughs. “Rumi, that’s not real. If plot armor was real, half of my family—including me—would not have died in some fashion over the years.”
“You always come back, don’t you? That can be plot armor!”
“I’m not so sure.” He lays his head on her shoulder with a smile that just won’t leave. “We can agree to disagree.”
Harumi rests her head against his with a sigh. “If plot armor were real, you would have it. You're basically the main character, chosen one.”
“Eh… I don’t need to be the main character. Do you want the title?”
She kisses him on the cheek. “I've got too many titles already. You can keep it.”
He catches her eye, and there’s affection there. It’s deep, hidden in some part of her he can’t quite name, something he only sees in moments like this one. It’s true love, the kind he’s always wanted. In short, it’s the most rewarding thing he can think about.
Lloyd reaches up and guides her into a sweet, indulgent kiss.
He's vaguely aware of one of her hands falling to the side; the hand holding the knife, which he’s pretty sure she’s still trying not to point in his direction. The affection buried in her simple gesture makes his heart feel fuller than ever. With her free hand, Harumi cups his cheek gently, seeming to enjoy the kiss just as much as he’s enjoying it.
She pulls away after a delightfully long moment. “Do you still want to know what else I think you'd like?” Harumi's voice is quiet, although the teasing tone is back in it. It makes him kiss her again, savoring the taste of her.
When they draw apart, he whispers, loath to let her go. “What else?”
“I think you'd like it more if I didn't accidentally stab you.” Harumi glances to the side, a goofy smile on her face. “Do you think I can hit the doorframe from here?”
That shakes him from his happy stupor. “What? The door?”
“That's an easy target. I was thinking the side.” She moves away a little bit, switching the knife to her right hand and resting her left on his leg. “Do you care if I throw it?”
Lloyd blinks, and blinks again, and looks down at her hands. “I—why are you throwing knives in our bedroom, exactly?”
“So I don't stab you!”
“Don’t you think that would be more dangerous?”
“To… throw it?”
“Yes?”
Harumi giggles. “I've been throwing knives for years, and we're the only two here. You're not gonna get up and get in the way, are you?”
“Obviously not.” Lloyd rolls his eyes. “You know what? Go for it. I can’t judge you.”
“Will you kiss me again if I hit the doorpost?”
“What is this? Are you jousting for my hand? Earning the right to have me in single combat against a doorframe?”
She brightens. “Absolutely! Is that a yes?”
“…Sure. Go for it, babe.”
Harumi turns, adjusting her grip on the knife's hilt before throwing it. It hits the doorframe with a solid thunk, the blade buried tip-first into the wood.
Harumi laughs victoriously. “Ha! Three points! And you're not longer at risk of being stabbed!”
Lloyd snorts. “My doorframe, on the other hand, has sustained a fatal wound. Even now, this place is still being punished for having people live in it.”
“Hey, at least I asked first.” She turns back to him with a grin. “I could have just done it.”
“You could’ve. I’m not sure I would have liked it as much.”
“Oh, so you did like it?”
Lloyd smothers a grin, trying very hard not to betray it. From the look in her eye, he’s failing. “No comment.”
“No, come on, I killed a piece of wood for you! You can't just weasel your way out of this one. I have to know the truth!”
“I have the right to remain silent about appreciating your skill with knives.”
“Oh, is this like how I like to not say anything about how hot you look when you're working out.” Harumi nods wisely. “I see. I can respect that.”
The urge to smile comes again, and he struggles to remain straight-faced. “You wanted a kiss, didn't you? Aren't you going to claim your prize?”
“As tempting as it is, you can't distract me from this realization that you liked that little demonstration of my skills. I always love being right!”
He breaks, laughing at her boasts. “You are something else, Rumi! Yes, I liked it, I like you. I like damage to the doorframes a bit less than that.”
She dismisses the comment with a wave of her hand. “Eh, it was just this once. I'm sure there's been worse property damage than that before.”
“That's true. We've had a few counts of arson, now and again.”
Harumi grins. “Arson. My favorite crime of all.”
“The one you got away with.”
“I am the one who got away.” She pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Although I did help to rebuild this place after I had it burned down.”
“I was thinking your palace, but sure.” Lloyd taps her forehead teasingly. “Do you remember every one of your crimes?”
“What is that, two counts of arson now?” Harumi snags his hand, kissing his palm. He immediately resolves to never admit the happy shiver it sends up his spine. “Most of them, yeah. I've forgotten some of the early ones, though.”
Lloyd doesn’t bother stealing his hand back. He just caresses her face, drawing her back to him with his other arm. She comes willingly, and soon Harumi’s face is only inches from his.
“I think your later ones matter more. One of them especially, and it’s not arson or murder.”
She smiles. “I feel like I know what you're going to say… but tell me anyways.”
“It’s cheesy. You got away.”
Harumi giggles. “I thought you were gonna say I stole your heart.”
He snickers, nuzzling his nose against hers. “I almost did.”
“You are such a sap, you know that?”
“Sometimes I think so too. I know you actually like it.”
She smiles, tilting her head up to kiss him on the nose. “Yeah, it's sweet. Makes me feel all warm and tingly inside.”
“Like I love you?”
“Also a little bit like I love you. I might like feeling like this more than I used to like fighting with you all the time. Maybe.”
“Really? You don’t actually want to fight me?” He nuzzles her again, kisses her cheek. “And here you were worried you’d hurt me, but you’re doing nothing like that. One might accuse you of having changed, Harumi.”
“Who, me? Now don't get me wrong, there is still something satisfying about fighting with you. But… I think I may like this feeling better.”
“If you like this feeling better, then let’s not bother fighting right now. I promised you a kiss.”
Harumi smiles at him, squeezing his hand before tangling their fingers together. “You did! And you don't break your promises, right?”
“You know it. Just like you’re stuck with me, and me with you.”
She smiles a little wider. The words aren’t new; he’s said them every day, in one way or another, since the first time he made her cry. Her smile is one of forgiveness, and she doesn’t say anything. She never has to.
He kisses her, letting it speak for itself, because their marriage has come a long way since those dark days.
