Lloyd marched up to the parlour doors, looking around. There was no more creaking from Other Misako's study; the room itself looking empty. Deafening silence filled his ears, his pounding heart the only indication that he hadn't lost his hearing. He looked at the cane in his hands, and nodded before jamming it into the door handles. Putting one foot on the door to brace himself, he pulled with all his might.
The left door's handle and lock broke off, the screws tinkling to the floor. He put the cane on the floor and pushed the door open.
The parlour for once was pitch black, the only source of light being that from the hall, casting a dim glow on the little door. Grinning, Lloyd tiptoed his way in, not wanting to alert the Other Father to his presence.
When he was a mere foot away from the door, an enormous armoire-shaped bug crab-stepped into his path, blocking it off. Lloyd jumped back, and the parlour door slammed, leaving him in darkness for a brief moment. The room lit up again, but this time in a sickly-purple glow, the parlour having been redecorated with various bug-themed furniture; lamps were now enormous fireflies, the coffee table in the centre had become a roach, and beetles had been transformed into deformed armchairs.
A long, violet couch spun around, revealing Other Garmadon, smiling his usual picture-perfect smile. "They say that even the proudest spirits can be broken…" he began, lifting one hand up to his chest, "…with love."
He gestured to a chair behind Lloyd, which quickly got up and crawled over to him, forcing him to take a seat. Startled, Lloyd gripped the armrests as he was carried to the opposite side of the roach coffee table.
Other Garmadon lifted the lid off another box, revealing an assortment of candies. Looking closer, Lloyd's stomach turned as he realized the "candies" were squirming.
"Of course, chocolate never hurts!" He held the box out to Lloyd. "Would you like one? They're cocoa beetles, from the Hiroshi Jungle." Without waiting for an answer, the Other Father happily picked one up, biting the head off first. Lloyd gulped as the poor beetle's insides oozed like caramel into Other Garmadon's mouth.
Taking a deep breath through his nose, Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "I…want to go home. To be with my real mom and dad. I want you to let me go!"
The Other Father's expression shifted, swallowing the beetle hard as he turned his gaze to Lloyd, his mouth a stiff line. "Is that any way to speak to your father?"
Rage boiled up inside Lloyd's stomach, replacing his queasiness. "You. Aren't. My father," he spat through his teeth.
Other Garmadon's lip twitched, and his button eyes no longer held a playful gleam, now black as coals. "Apologize. At once. Lloyd." His voice was strained, holding back every ounce of anger he could possibly be feeling.
Lloyd didn't back down. Unblinking, and unflinching, he leaned in, spitting out his response. "No."
His hands shaking, Other Garmadon stood up, his arms stiffly at his sides. "I will give you to the count of three, Lloyd. One…" As Lloyd glared at him, he saw that the Other Father was growing taller, his face becoming more angular.
"Two…" His skin darkened, until it was pitch-black, as if all his skin had been burned off. White, bone-like markings showed on his cheekbones and chin, and his eyes brightened into a blood red. Lloyd's eyes widened in fear as he still grew taller, until he towered over him, his arms and hands now skinny as needles. His last word was an ear-piercing shriek.
"THREE!" The transformed Other Father grabbed a fistful of Lloyd's hair, dragging him out of the parlour.
"OW! What are you doing?! Let me go!" Despite his protests, he had no issues dragging Lloyd down the hall, his silver jacket falling off in the process. "Stop it, that hurts!" Lloyd kicked his heels into the floor, but it didn't slow the Other Father down.
Soon, he brought Lloyd to a mirror at the end of the hall. He picked Lloyd up, and threw him in, passing through the mirror as if it were water.
Lloyd hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of him. As he gasped for breath, the Other Father's head thrust through the mirror, glaring down at him.
"You can come back out when you've learned to be a loving son!" he snapped, before disappearing again.
Anger surging through him, Lloyd charged at the wall, only to smack against it hard. He shook his head, hitting the wall with his fist. "Let me out!" he yelled, kicking the wall. Once he was sure there was no point, he let out a ragged sigh, shivering as he looked around.
The room behind the mirror was entirely black, nothing but a metal-framed bed in the corner. No light shone from anywhere, not a window in sight. The rug on the greasy floor was tattered and soaked in places with an unknown fluid. Lloyd pressed himself against the wall, a sob welling up in his throat.
"Wh-where am I…?" he whispered.
"…Hush…"
He froze, gazing around the room.
"And shush…"
"For the Djinn may be listening…"
Lloyd swallowed the sob. "Wh-who's there…?" He followed the soft voices to the bed, where there was a thin blanket draped over a now-glowing lump. Slowly, he lifted the sheet up, jumping back when it revealed three ghosts, all huddled around an enormous, sunken pit of smelly fluid in the mattress. They shied away from his gaze.
"Th-the Djinn? You mean the Other Father?" he murmured. The ghosts looked up, and Lloyd's eyes widened.
They were all children, no older than he was, all with button eyes. One was a cute girl with bobbed dark hair, possibly a couple years younger than himself, but strangely familiar; the second was a boy with a lighter streak in his shoulder-length hair, his clothes in tatters; the last was a taller girl, her hair in a messy bun and lacerations across her face, her mouth open in a soundless scream.
"Who are you?" Lloyd asked, forcing himself to steady his breath.
The ghost boy floated over to him, his mouth unmoving as he spoke. "Don't remember our names…but I remember my real daddy…"
Trying to hold his hand for comfort, Lloyd's fingers passed right through, goosebumps rising on his skin. "Why are you all here?"
"The Djinn," they answered in unison.
They whirled slowly into the air in a macabre dance, speaking softly as they did so. "He spied on our lives, through the little doll's eyes…" the cute ghost girl breathed.
"And saw that we weren't happy," said the ghost boy, slouching.
"So he lured us away, with treasures and treats," explained the tall ghost girl.
"And games to play!" added the cute ghost girl.
"But we still wanted more…" the ghost boy sighed, floating down as he held the cute ghost girl's hand. The tall ghost girl faced Lloyd, her button eyes glowing as she flew towards Lloyd.
"So we let him sew the buttons." He gasped as she passed right through him, his vision filled with nothing but a neon blue glow for a brief moment before blinking it away. He spun around to see the ghosts standing against the wall.
They began floating back to the bed together. "He said that he loved us…" the ghost boy sobbed.
"But he locked us in here…" the cute ghost girl whimpered.
They finished in unison. "And ate up our lives…" They fell back against the mattress, the sheet pulling itself over them, hiding them from view.
Lloyd stood at the end of the bed, stunned. He wasn't the first child that the Other Father took in? I'm gonna suffer the same thing they did… he thought in horror, staring back at the wall. He shook his head free of those dark thoughts, trying to steady himself by holding onto the end of the bed. He wandered over to the wall where the mirror should have been.
"Well…he isn't gonna keep me in the dark forever," he finally said. "Not if he wants to win my life. Beating him is my only chance." He turned, and the ghost children appeared behind him again, but he wasn't afraid, not now that he knew they wouldn't hurt him.
The cute ghost girl spoke hopefully to him, hovering close. "Perhaps, if you do win your escape, you could find our eyes?"
Lloyd's heart ached upon hearing that. "He's taken those, too?" He thought their button eyes were simply a result of being dead in the Other World.
She nodded, covering one eye with her hand. "Yes. And hidden them."
"Find our eyes, mister!" the ghost boy pleaded. "If you do, our souls will finally be freed!"
The weight of the request sat heavily on Lloyd's shoulders, but he nodded. "I-I'll try. For all of you, I'll try."
The ghosts pulsed with hope, and Lloyd sat down against the wall, smiling softly at them. For once, he wasn't alone in his journey.
Suddenly, two gloves hands appeared in the corners of Lloyd's eyes, and he could only just barely process they were coming from behind him when he was pulled through the wall, his mouth covered.
Lloyd was back in the house, but his eyes were wide and his heart pounded as he fought against his captor, struggling in their hold. Finding his footing, he slammed his captor against the wall, grabbing their hand and flipping them onto the ground. An oven mitt was covering their face, and Lloyd swiftly took it off, gasping as they quickly covered their face.
"Kai?!" he panted, taking his hands. Other Kai looked up at him, the corners of his mouth stitched up painfully into a permanent ear-to-ear smile, which he was clearly fighting against. Lloyd's eyes welled up with sympathetic tears. "Did he do this to you…?"
Nervously, Other Kai nodded. Wiping away the tears, Lloyd untied the knots holding his mouth up, pulling out the threads. "I hope that feels bet-"
Other Kai stopped him with a finger to his lips, pointing up at the ceiling. Realizing what he meant, Lloyd nodded, biting his lip. Other Kai took his hand, and they quietly hurried down the hall, where Lloyd noticed the door to the parlour was still open.
Rushing into the room, the bug furniture now asleep in the darkness, Lloyd and Other Kai went to the bug armoire hiding the door. With all their might, they pushed it over, but were unable to prevent the loud crash it caused.
Almost immediately, a voice called out from upstairs. "Lloyd?" the Other Father shouted. "Is that you?!"
Lloyd grabbed Other Kai's hand. "Let's go!" He pulled open the little door, only to find that the tunnel leading back to the real world was now filled with cobwebs. To his horror, shoes and shreds of clothing also filled the darkened tunnel, and he didn't want to even imagine who they belonged to.
The tunnel quivered as the Other Father yelled again. "Lloyd!"
Desperately, Lloyd grabbed Other Kai's arm. "Come with me! He'll just hurt you again!"
Frowning sadly, he shook his head, pulling his arm from Lloyd's grasp. He pulled off his glove, only to reveal his hand was made of sawdust. He blew away his fingers, and Lloyd gulped.
Heavy footsteps sounded down the stairs. "Lloyd?! How dare you disobey your father!" Other Garmadon roared, his voice growing closer.
With one last look of regret, Other Kai shoved Lloyd into the tunnel, shutting the door behind him. Fighting back the tears in his eyes, Lloyd hunched down low, and hurried through the tunnel as quickly as he could, swiping away at the cobwebs in his face. The tunnel trembled and quaked around him as the Other Father came down the steps and closer to the parlour, Lloyd's heart thundering in his chest in time with the tunnel.
"LLOYD!"
Soon, he was finally at the other end, and he burst through the door, his hair filled with dust and broken cobwebs. He slammed the little door shut, turning the key as quickly as he could to lock it. Standing up, his voice filled with relief and joy as he shouted for the world to hear.
"I'm hoooooome!"
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