For some reason, Garmadon kept pushing into Lloyd's train of thought and crashing it right then and there. It didn't help that his birthday was a few days ago, and that only meant that Garmadon was going to voluntarily rue the day again. Even with the teacher speaking at full volume, Lloyd managed to zone her out entirely; his thoughts scattered about how any dad could possibly have such a low IQ as to rather try ruling all of Ninjago over being there for his son. Garmadon didn't make any sense, and it wasn't Lloyd's job to dissect the man(?)'s thought process.

Apparently, his staring into space was evident, because a cold hand tapped his shoulder.

"Lloyd, you are not paying attention."

It was Zane. Of course he would be the only one to notice. Blinking several times as if to get himself out of his haze, Lloyd scoffed,

"I-I'm paying attention!"

Zane had an obvious quizzical expression on what limited expressions his face could actually produce.

"Really? Then, what did she just say?"

The teacher rocketed a piece of chalk right at Zane's forehead; getting a solid hit and fuzzy static to run over his eyes. Lloyd shot upright in his seat and faced forward as if to not cause... well, at least, any more negative attention to himself. Was that even possible?

"Zane! No talking in my class! Especially to... him."

As soon as the teacher referred to Lloyd in such a monotonic voice, his frame immediately slouched forward as he put his hand under his chin to support his head. All of his classmates except for his ninja pals-unknown to anyone else-glared at him, and Lloyd merely sighed at their pessimistic exchange. He was expecting Zane to apologize, but since the teacher told him not to talk, it was probably best he didn't say anything, or maybe his processors were fried from that 'CLONK' the chalk made against his forehead.

. . . . . .

Garmadon may come to rue the day, but that didn't mean he wasn't already calling his wife continuously. Koko was already on the phone with someone by the time Lloyd got home, and even while she was talking to someone, she managed to hold the phone between her shoulder and cheek and give her son a big hug and smooch on the forehead. Whoever was on the other line laughed, but courteously kept their silence after that. As she apologized for the abrupt break in their conversation, Lloyd headed on into his room.

"Ew! It's the son of Garmadon!"

"He's probably just like his dad... get away from him!"

"Watch out! Lloyd the Loser is here!"

It was like their cheesy insults were on repeat in his head. He had a few choice words to tell his father, but of course, Garmadon would probably toss them out faster than he could spell his own name. It was all this man's fault that his life was like this. If he wasn't associated with being the son of Garmadon, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to live a normal life. Well, his life wouldn't have been normal to begin with, because he would still probably be a ninja, but that's not the point.

With a sigh, Lloyd threw himself onto his bed.

"There's no use crying about it... I cried enough in middle school."

Lloyd wasn't a big crier nowadays. He didn't want to show that he was weak, and neither did he want his dad to be the only reason why he seemed so weak. Life was rough for the son of Garmadon, and nothing was fair if you shared that last name.

. . . . .

Garmadon was standing off in the distance looking over the balcony of what Lloyd thought was his volcano fortress. Keeping in mind what happened only a few days ago, Lloyd and Garmadon were beginning to grow a bond they never shared before: Garmadon being a father and Lloyd being his son. The four-armed man was just standing there; two hands on his hips and the other two supporting his head and he looked off into the distance.

"Um, dad...?"

Lloyd muttered. Lord Garmadon froze, and quickly turned around to face him. His sharp, shark-like teeth bared into a wide grin, and he opened his arms- all four of them.

"Luh-Loyd! Come over here and give your old man a hug!"

The boy remained standing there and folded his arms and pouted quietly.

"I'm not responding to that."

Garmadon let out a hearty laugh and sighed; putting his hands at his hips.

"Well then, forgive me, Lloyd. Apparently you've been brainwashed by society to think that your name is pronounced as if it only had one 'L'."

Lloyd couldn't help but snicker at his dad's comment, and slowly went over to stand beside him. Hugs weren't really his thing; especially if his dad had four arms. A four-armed hug... it made him cringe just thinking about it. Instead, he went over and stared off into the distance.

"Nice view, huh? Yeah, I call this the 'Dead Sea'. I like to think the carcasses of my enemies float in these waters."

Garmadon mused, turning around to look out dreamily across the steady waves. Lloyd gagged.

"Dad, that's... really disgusting."

The evil lord cackled and gave his son such a hard slap on the back, his son almost flipped over the balcony.

"Right now, it might be to you! But soon, one day, you'll add to the body count in these waters... that'll be a lovely day."

He sighed, and Lloyd took this as the opportunity to stand up against his father and his weird fantasies about him becoming his dad's general.

"I'm not going to do that! I don't want to do that, and you know it! Stop saying that!"

Garmadon looked surprised. The two made eye contact, and the evil overlord appeared dumbfounded. Lloyd was obviously irritated, and Garmadon couldn't help but sigh.

"That's unfortunate..."

Lloyd snapped.

"Unfortunate?! You're really going to say that after all we did?! You really are blind..."

He turned away from his father, once again folding his arms. The four-armed man blinked, and went to reach out towards his son, but realized maybe now wasn't the time.

"I can see just fine, Lloyd! I can see that you're turned around, and-"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

He fumed. Garmadon was taken aback, and made more room between the two as if to not get hurt by his own son. There was a silence between the two before Lloyd spoke up.

"You don't get it, do you...?"

Lloyd took in a sharp inhale, and Garmadon inched closer out of instinct. He could tell something was going to happen, but could he tell that he was doing this out of fatherly instinct?

"Lloyd..."

"I can't even talk to you without you saying 'Oh! Wanna be my general number one? We'll rule over Ninjago together!'! You never think about how I feel! ... I don't think you ever will."

His voice was brought to a whisper, and tears were glazing over his eyes. The evil lord felt... heartbroken. It was true that he never really thought about how Lloyd felt, or maybe he was just so overcome with Ninjago domination that he couldn't ever see that perspective. Whatever the case, Garmadon felt sorry.

"Lloyd, I'm... I didn't know you felt like that about me, I-"

Lloyd turned around to face his father once again, only to yell at his face.

"OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T! You can't see anything! How- ... How can I call you my dad if you don't even know me?"

Garmadon would've started crying if it weren't for the small orange of a flame peak out of Lloyd's eyes. The longer he went without saying anything, the closer his son was to crying, and if that flame were to ignite... he didn't know what would happen. Lloyd took this silence as a sign that Garmadon was thinking of something ridiculous to say to him, and Garmadon could hear the small ignite of a flame coming from his son's direction. Opening his mouth as if to say something, it was already too late. At this point, Lloyd had fallen to his knees openly sobbing in front of the man who was his father. As to what he was sobbing about, that was anyone's guess.

Lloyd let out a wail as the ignited flames rolled down his pale cheeks. Unlike with Garmadon's cursed skin, these flames could cause permanent burns and scars to his son's face, and Garmadon, knowing this, went down on his knees and inched closer towards his son.

"Lloyd-!"

"Dad, what's happening?!"

He cried. Garmadon was mumbling something under his breath out of sheer confusion, while Lloyd was there with tears of fire coming out of his tear ducts.

"Why does this hurt so bad!?"

Garmadon almost choked at how bad Lloyd was panicking. Well, anyone would if they were crying fire. Lloyd most likely wasn't paying attention to what it was he was crying; no one would pay attention to that if they... weren't a Garmadon. Lord Garmadon brought two hands towards his son's face in attempts to lift his head up to get a closer look, but Lloyd's body was as stiff as a statue.

"How do I put this..."

He pondered aloud, as Lloyd's frail body began to tremble.

"So, as a Garmadon-"

"It hurts!"

The green ninja cut him off; forcing his father to retreat back from him. It was as if you could hear the evil lord pondering as he knelt there making 'Um...' and 'Uh...' noises.

"I-I'm your dad, I know what to do! Um..."

"TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!"

Lloyd looked up at his dad for the first time since he began crying, and Garmadon's eyes went wide. The green iris of his son's eyes conflicted against the orange and red flames streaming down his soft, flushed cheeks. At the sight of his son crying, no less about the evil lord himself being a terrible father, he could hear his own heart break. It wouldn't hurt to tell Lloyd that he's crying fire at the moment, but knowing that's all Garmadon's doing genetically and emotionally, it was nerve-wrecking.

"Lloyd, believe me when I tell you this...,"

"Uh-huh...?"

"Since you're my son,"

"Yeah...?"

"You're related to me,"

"Obviously, go on,"

Even as he was talking to his son, the flames steadily licked the boy's cheeks, and Garmadon had to stop himself from doing anything too out of character. With a deep inhale, he finally told his son what was going on.

"This has probably never happened to you before, since I remember when you were a baby, you were... normal, or so I thought... you deceived even me! Anyway, we...,"

"What do you mean we? Oh no... am I turning into you?!"

As the flames began to freely flow down his cheeks, Garmadon had to hide his confusion. What was so bad about being a four-armed womanizer? Okay, womanizer was an over statement, but at least he had four arms, tons of generals, and an endless supply of plans for world domination! Maybe that's not what Lloyd wanted? No, it was clear that he was completely against becoming the number one general under Lord Garmadon, or anything having to do with antagonizing Ninjago, so that was out of the question. Thinking about how sad and perhaps even frightened his son appeared to be after thinking he may be "turning into" him, Garmadon averted his gaze.

"No, you're not, but... you do realize we're linked genetically, so you have some traits of mine and some traits of your mother."

Lloyd scoffed,

"Of course I know that! Do you think I'm stupid?!"

"I-I don't think you're stupid! I didn't say that! ... Did I?"

Teenagers were confusing. When was the light bulb going to go off for Garmadon? Was he really this hard-headed to the point where he couldn't do a thing to help his heir go through emotional discourse?

"Lloyd, you're crying fire. I can't make this any more suspenseful for you."

Lloyd blinked several times; looking up at his father like a deer in headlights.

"I'm... I'm what?"

"Your tears are fire. Easy as that. Not like I do the same thing or anything, because I don't cry, but-"

"I'm crying FIRE?!"

Oh boy, here comes the panic. Garmadon didn't think this far ahead.

"It's not bad! It just might sting for you, because this is new, you're a growing young man,"

"I'm crying FIRE!"

"Lloyd-"

It was already difficult to get his attention, but now that the green ninja was panicking, there was probably no turning back. Was this panic? Garmadon had interpreted it as panic, but Lloyd wasn't as weak as Garmadon initially thought he was. He was underestimating his own son.

"It hurts! It hurts so much...!"

"Oh..."

Garmadon almost felt bad for the kid. With the both of them still kneeling there, probably looking like fools, the man sighed. This time, he took things into his own four hands and, out of nowhere, embraced his son.

"If there's one thing I can see, I can see that you need me."

Lloyd was taken by surprise by how... sophisticated his dad sounded for the first time. He hadn't said anything about his dad not being able to see past the physical aspect of anything, but maybe since he brought it up, this meant that his dad actually listened to him and thought about it all. Having four arms wrapped around you was certainly a new feeling, but it wasn't bad. It was like... a double hug! Except, it was coming from the same person, and that person turned out to be your dad, who is also trying to destroy your city along with everything you ever cared about.

"Dad, I didn't say anything about that..."

He murmured, as his father brushed his pale yellow bangs out of the way with one hand.

"You did before."

The man replied. His voice was deep and somber, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. Lloyd's cries were reduced to sniffles, and the two knelt there for as long as they both needed. After a while of silence, Garmadon spoke up.

"Feeling better?"

Lloyd smiled, as they both backed away from the exchange.

"Yeah... thanks, dad."