You guys. You guyssss. It's hereeeee!!!!!! This chapter took much longer to write because of the amount of action in it, but I got it!!!!! Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews (I went back and read the ones for HAGAS, ABP, and CB and they made me smile) and I hope that the first meeting of the Princess and the Prince will satisfy.
Seleine16: Good question!! OLS and I DM a lot on Discord about this, and we have shared Google documents of all the story chapters, as well as a timeline, a map of the world and lots and lots of cross-referencing. We have literally screamed about this over text, believe me XD. We know where we're going with all this (including another story idea for this AU that may, may become a fic) and what we want to line up for planned oneshots, including (but not limited to), how Echo got into Ninjago, Kai and Lloyd meeting as children, Jay, Nya, and Cole meeting in Kaiyo after Three Wishes, and more. It's gonna be so fun!!
OnlyLonelyStars: WHATTTT, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT??? NO WAYYY. Pix deserves all the love (she is queen) and surprisingly, Lloyd is indeed accepting that he has to do this. I hope you enjoy their meeting, (Especially since this last part was allllllll me).
Lloyd climbed over the wall, landing easily on the other side and drawing his sword. Around him, his companions drew their weapons also. He smiled at Nya, who smiled back, turning her attention to the dragon.The dragon was huge, much bigger than he remembered. When it roared, the buildings that were still left standing shook, their foundations unable to hold them up. The sound echoed in his ears, making his head pound. The exhaustion wasn't helping.They rushed the dragon, trying to get past to reach the princess. They had to get to her, they just had to! One by one, they all fell however, the dragon was too strong for all of them together, much less alone.When Kai got thrown into a building and didn't come back out, that was the last straw for Lloyd. There was no way a freaking dragon would stop him from protecting his best friend. He rushed for it, sword drawn and ready. The dragon wouldn't know what hit it.He wasn't fast enough. Around him, the sky crackled with electricity, rain starting to pour down. It soaked through his armor, making him shiver. The building that Kai had been thrown into lit on fire, the flames hot and bright orange."NO, KAI!!" He screamed, struggling to get to his brother, to get him OUT. Beneath his feet, the ground cracked, punctuated by a lightning strike where Jay was laying. Lloyd couldn't tell if he was unconscious or dead.A cold breeze swept through Ninjago, bringing with it the smell of rain and snow, far up from the mountains. The dragon roared, seeming to laugh in victory. Then, it turned its gaze to him."You never would have succeeded, Lloyd Garmadon. You were always destined to fail, just as all the knights and princes before you did."A large vine crept up from the ground, wrapping around his legs and holding him to the ground. He struggled, trying to break free. He had to get to Kai, he was going to die if he didn't move. All of them were going to die, and it would be his fault.The thorns from the vine pricked against his skin, drawing dark red blood. He raised his head to look at the dragon, hair plastered to his face from the rain."You won't win! I will free the princess, I must!!""You have already failed. Your companions are dead and soon, you will follow. They all died because of you, and you were too afraid to save them."Lloyd glanced over his shoulder, his eyes landing on Zane. Zane, the man he'd known since he was a child, who was practically an older brother to him. He was dead because of his cowardice.He could feel the tears coming, but he didn't let them fall. "NO. They can't be dead. You're lying!!""Could anyone survive being burned alive?" Questioned the dragon, gesturing to the building where Kai was. It was still on fire, the flames reaching to the heavens.Kai… Oh FSM, he killed Kai. His brother, the one who'd encouraged him to face his fears and go on the quest in the first place. He was dead because of him. It was all his fault. Oh FSM, it was completely his fault.He struggled against the tears, guilt crashing over him like one of those thunderclaps. "He- he could still be alive!""Is he though? You have no proof of that."There was a strange surging in his veins, like a jolt of electricity or a lick of flame. He glared at the dragon, the urge to cry now completely gone. "It wasn't me who killed him." With one final pull, he got his arms free of the vine. The crackling in his veins was louder now, and more pronounced and he drew on it, trying to draw the energy to his palm."You can't do that, it isn't possible." The dragon said, trying to hide the note of fear in its voice.Lloyd smiled, eyes harsh and cold as ice. "Maybe not in real life. This, however, is just a dream."With a final cocky grin that Kai would be proud of, he jumped for the dragon, a large ball of bright green energy forming between his hands. As soon as he made contact with the dark purple dragon, his vision filled with green light, blinding him. It burned, but not painfully. It was comfortable, normal, almost as if it was meant to be. The last thing he heard was the dragon's echoing laugh.
Lloyd jolted awake, the memory of the dragon laughing seared into his memory. He closed his eyes for a second, starting to shiver as exhaustion settled back over him. He glanced at the sky to see what time it was, and moved to the side to shake Kai awake.
"Kai. Wake up."
Kai barely moved, his breathing hard to hear. He was very deep in sleep.
"Kai. KAI." He shook him harder. "Don't you dare go falling under the curse." He shook him even harder. "KAI WAKE UP!"
Kai started, blinking blearily at him. "Lloyd, what is it?"
"Oh thank the FSM." Lloyd sat up completely, finger combing his hair into something resembling order. "You weren't waking up."
"Heck." He got up too, rubbing Skylor's shoulder to wake her up too. "Can't have that curse getting to us quite yet."
"I hope not. We still need to wake the princess."
"You mean you need to wake the princess. None of us can do it."
"Oh yeah, right." Lloyd sighed, getting to his feet. "This is going to be fun, lots of fun."
An hour and a half later, everyone was awake (if reluctantly) and starting to get ready to move. In the city, they could hear the dragon moving around, getting ready for who-knew-what.
As they all grabbed their weapons, conversation began to quiet down, the gravity of the situation beginning to get to all of them.
"Get to the princess fast, Lloyd, or we'll be in big trouble." Nya smiled at him, grabbing her sword.
He smiled back tiredly. "I'll go as fast as I can, I promise."
Cole took up a position next to him. "Kai and I will accompany you to the palace gates at least. From then, it's up to you."
"You can do this," Kai affirmed. "It's a dead sprint to get in there."
Lloyd took a deep breath, smiling at him. "Yeah, I can do this. It's just a simple matter of running as fast as I can for the palace. Not hard."
"That's the spirit. Are we all ready?" Kai asked the group, only to receive a chorus of responses. "That's a yes, then."
Jay coughed. "Was it a yes?"
Nya smacked him. "Yes, it was."
Cole smiled at the group. "For what it's worth, it was an honor travelling with all of you. To victory." He raised his scythe.
"Let's do this!" Lloyd grabbed his own sword, sheathing it behind his back.
It was a simple matter of climbing down to the other side of the huge wall (which was easily accomplished with Pixal's help) and getting the attention of the dragon. That's when they split up. Lloyd, Kai, and Cole bolted for the palace, weaving through the city streets. Behind them there was a roar as the others attacked it.
The plan worked for maybe twenty seconds. They could hear the dragon launch into the sky, surveying the city from above.
"RUN!" Kai yelled.
"We are running!!"
"Then run faster!!!"
"Shoot, why didn't it work for longer??" Lloyd followed Kai's instructions, diving to the side to avoid a hit from the dragon. He winced, getting back up to his feet.
"Go on without me!" Cole shouted, swinging his scythe at the dragon as it dove for them again. "I will keep it back!"
"Be careful!!" Lloyd called, reluctant to leave anyone behind, but they have to get to the palace.
"I should say the same to you!"
With the help of Cole's distraction, the two managed to make it to the palace. The gates were open just enough for them to slip through.
Even after all these years, the castle was still amazing to behold. There was no wind, so the faded flags hung limp, but the crest of Ninjago was still visible. The stone was definitely old, but it was still standing.
The ballroom was just through the large double doors, and when they manage to push them open, the sight inside was shocking.
Every single person who had been attending the ball at the time that the curse went into affect was still there, laying on the floor and fast asleep. To the right of the doors sat the king and queen, in all their formal splendor, asleep on their thrones. The only evidence that any of them were still alive was in the slight movement as they breathed. Besides that, you couldn't have known if they were dead or just asleep.
Lloyd skidded to a stop, staring around. "Oh my gosh..."
Kai looked around, eyes wide. "Everyone who fell asleep that night is still here…"
Lloyd shivered, rubbing his eyes. "And the curse is stronger, too. Look, the king and queen are here."
"We have to be close." Kai put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "We can't waste any time. Keep moving."
Lloyd smiled at him briefly, trying to keep from showing how much of an affect the curse was having on him and ran for the grand staircase to the left, taking the stairs two at a time. Behind them, they could hear a loud roar, punctuated by the sound of shouts and the shing of swords.
"I hope everyone's all right." Lloyd glanced back, catching a glimpse of the dragon outside.
"If I know them, they are," Kai responded. "They're strong."
"I sure hope they're alright." That was all he had time to think, because based on the stories he had heard, they were almost to the princess' room. A sudden burst of flame and a piercing roar made them both jump. It was punctuated by the sound of glass breaking as something (or someone) was thrown through a window.
Lloyd paused, startling at the sound of glass. "I don't know if I can do this, Kai."
"What are you talking about?" Kai asked, but it was broken off by a yawn.
"I can't– I can't do this."
Kai turned to face him. "Yes you can."
He shook his head, a look of panic growing on his face. "I really can't do this."
Kai sheathed his sword and put one hand on each of Lloyd's shoulders. "No, you can. You made it this far. We traveled through this entire sleeping kingdom just to get you here."
"If I fail, all of you will either die or fall asleep because of the curse. What if I fail?" He looked Kai in the eyes, trying not to panic.
"All you have to do is go in there and wake her up. It's that easy." Kai smiled at him. "I believe in you, Lloyd, but if you don't believe in yourself, you're not going to succeed."
"You really think I can do this?"
"Of course I do. It was never a question."
He bit his lip, nodding. "Yeah. I- I got this."
"You do. Now go wake that sleeping beauty."
Another loud roar drew Kai's attention away, and he glanced back down the hall as the castle shook.
"We have to get the dragon back outside, it's going to hurt someone, or worse, bring the castle down."
"I'll lead it away. Go!" Kai said, before unsheathing his sword. He grinned at Lloyd and then was gone, catching the attention of the dragon and leading it away from the princess' bedroom.
Lloyd's slight protest went unheard. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, tapping his fingers nervously on the grip of his sword. "Just kiss the girl. It shouldn't be THAT hard, right? It should be easy to kiss someone. Oh heck, I know nothing about this. Who am I kidding??" He glanced back down the hall where Kai had disappeared. "If I fail, they all die, and it would be my fault. The dragon in my nightmare told me I was destined to fail, what if I am?" His expression hardened. "To heck with destiny, I'm going to wake her up. There isn't a third option."
Just as he had been told, it was obvious which room was the princess'. The door was a beautiful gold, inlaid with roses, vines, birds and the crest of Ninjago. He reverently touched it, trying to gather his courage to open the door. "Just do it already!! She's asleep and needs to be woken up. She won't mind."
A roar from inside the ballroom convinced him to move, turning the doorknob and slipping inside. The difference in the intensity of the curse from outside the room to inside was tangible. He leaned against the wall, fighting the urge to close his eyes. "NO! I can't fail now, I have to kiss Harumi." It took a lot of effort, but he forced himself to focus, eyes skipping between the hair pins scattered on the floor to a faded white rose beside the bed. That's when he laid eyes on the princess.
She was beautiful, almost angelic. Her white hair was spread out like a fan underneath her head, and her green dress perfectly accentuated her beauty. "She… FSM." He moved next to her, unable to tear his eyes away from her face.
Lloyd hesitated for one second and sat down next to her, carefully brushing a strand of pure white hair away from her face. "Princess Harumi? I- I know you're asleep, and probably can't hear me, but… I'm Lloyd. I'm from Vanterra. I really need to break this curse, for all of our sakes." He swallowed, feeling foolish for talking to her and so exhausted he could barely think straight. "Please wake up." He whispered, bending down and gently kissing her.
Nothing happened. She barely even moved.
"What?????" He glanced around, hoping that something had changed. "Are you kidding?? That was supposed to work!!" He looked back down at her, desperation rising up in his throat. "No no no no no no, come ON. Please work." He kissed her again, hoping so hard that his chest started to hurt.
Still nothing happened. Lloyd could feel panic rising up in him. Panic combined with exhaustion made him desperate. Cole's words came back to him as he stared at her. "Love is not some sort of magic. It's a choice. You don't have to love someone the most or even much at all to put their needs first, but that kind of love will break the curse."
"I love you. I choose to love you. Please, wake up." He leaned down one more and kissed her, hoping so much that she would wake.
As soon as their lips touched, a surge of neon green energy spread across the land, shimmering and sparkling with life. Wherever it touched, plants came alive again, people started to stir and the grey that had pervaded the land for one hundred years was replaced by a vibrant green. Ninjago was waking up.
Back in the capitol, Lloyd didn't know any of this. He slowly sat back up, tears starting to prick his eyelids. It hadn't worked, he wasn't her true love. His friends were going to die, and it was all on him. He had tried, and he had failed.
Harumi wasn't sure how long she had been sleeping. Time has no meaning when you're asleep, and that was especially true for her. All she knew for whatever amount of time that she was asleep was her dreams (well, more like nightmares, but who's keeping track?). So far, she had had tens of thousands of dreams, all ending up centering around one person, one young man. She didn't know his name, or even who he was, really, but he was always there in some way.
You could say, in a way, that she saw him coming. It was only when she had a dream of him entering Ninjago that she knew, this was the man who was going to wake her up. If only he could survive till then.
Thankfully, he did make it to the gates of the city, but the dream ended just as a young woman with bright green eyes and silvery blonde hair touched the stone wall, saying something she couldn't hear. For a while, it was just… dark. Then, a flicker of energy, breaking through the darkness to which she was so accustomed. A light in the dark, eating it up and filling her world with bright, shining light. For the first time in-she-didn't-even-know-how-long, she inhaled deeply, her brain waking up and beginning to function at full capacity. She opened her eyes, staring at the top of her bed. Her head was hurting, but she was able to sit up part way. That's when she laid eyes on him in real life for the first time.
He was the most handsome young man she had ever laid eyes on, barring only one. His eyes were bright, neon green and they seemed to spark in the light. His hair was a sandy blond, and he seemed to carry himself like a prince.
"Hello." That was all she could say, that was how struck she was by him.
He jumped, turning to look at her completely. His eyes got wide. "P- Princess Harumi?"
She resisted the urge to correct him, instead summoning a smile. It wasn't hard to do. "That's me. It would seem you broke the curse."
"I- wow, I guess I did." He stood, bowing to her. "I am Prince Lloyd Garmadon of Vanterra. It is an honor to make your acquaintance." "Was that a bit much? It seemed like it was… heck, I don't know how to act around girls, especially ones from a hundred years ago!"
She stretched, straightening her dress as she also stood. "And I am very grateful to you." She curtsied, smiling at him easily. "You made it through and woke me up."
Lloyd smiled back at her. "She is beautiful…" "Of course I did. No one should have to be cursed to sleep."
"How long has it been?" She turned slightly, examining the room and the thick layer of dust.
"One hundred years." His voice was quiet, almost as if afraid as to how she would react.
Harumi froze, looking back over at him. "One… hundred years?"
"Yes."
For a second, she couldn't even think straight. She had been asleep for one hundred years?? What the heck??? She floundered for a second, trying to regain her bearings. "This is crazy, I've been asleep for that long?"
Lloyd frowned a bit, trying to figure out what to say. "Kai would know what to say, I bet. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I'm not Kai… Gotta figure this out on my own." "The- uh- the dragon has been doing all too good of a job keeping people out."
Her face darkened. "A dragon?"
"Yes. It's been preventing anyone from getting to you for all this time. That combined with the curse made it… difficult to even reach Ninjago, much less the palace."
"Of course she did." She muttered, brushing off her long ball dress and tossing her long white hair over her shoulder. "Just couldn't let fate do what it wanted to, I suppose."
"Who is she?" Lloyd asked, watching her search for something to tie her hair back.
Harumi started to braid her hair quickly, blowing stray strands out of her face. "Ultra Violet, the witch who cursed me when I was a child. She promised me that she would keep me asleep for as long as possible. I did not think she would go so far as to transfigure herself into a dragon."
"The- the witch is the dragon???" Lloyd felt the panic rising up in him again. "My companions, my friends are fighting the very same witch that cursed you??"
"Unfortunately, yes." She went to the balcony, throwing the doors open and striding out into the open air. Glancing down, she nodded in satisfaction and turned back to him. "If I may, can I use your sword?"
He hesitated for one second before drawing it out of its sheath and handing it to her hilt first. "Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely not, but there isn't any reason not to at least try it." She climbed onto the railing of the balcony, holding the sword expertly. Below them, his friends fought the dragon, managing to keep it back, but with much effort. She smiled at him, hefting his sword. "Feel free to follow, Prince Lloyd." Then, she jumped.
Normally, he wasn't one to be surprised with what happened. People did odd things, and that's how it was. He was not, however, expecting a princess who had just been woken up from a sleeping curse to jump off a balcony to fight a dragon. In a ballgown. He bolted to the edge, looking down to see her jump from the roof onto the dragon's back, stray strands of hair whipping in the wind. "She is… absolutely amazing." Realizing it was probably best if he went down too (to provide backup), he jumped down as well, running down the steep roof and jumping to the ground. It was jarring, but it didn't hurt too much. That was good.
Harumi, meanwhile, was running on pure adrenaline. As soon as Lloyd had said it was a dragon, she'd known exactly who it was and how to beat her. Jumping off the balcony had been a decision made in the moment, and now that she had jumped onto the back of Ultra Violet, she knew what she had to do.
Holding on tightly so she wouldn't get thrown off, she adjusted her grip on Lloyd's sword, searching for a place to stab it between her scales. When she located such a weakness, she took a deep breath and took her chance, stabbing Ultra Violet right in between a few extremely important scales.
Her foe roared loudly, attempting to buck her off. Harumi was stubborn though, and she held on, determined to kill her and break the curse for good.
Everyone was surprised to see the princess on top of the dragon with Lloyd's sword, but they rallied against it, finally pinning it against the wall of the castle. With one final heave, Harumi stabbed it through the heart, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Her eyes hard, she glared at the dragon, which lay dying on the hard ground.
"I told you that you wouldn't win." She hissed, adrenaline making her bold. "I told you that you couldn't keep me asleep forever. I am Queen Harumi Ytarin, the Shieldmaiden of Ninjago and Cursed Princess. Evil will never win."
If Ultra Violet was at all intimidated by Harumi's words, she barely showed it, glaring right back until the light faded out of her eyes and she went limp.
Harumi drooped, her grip on Lloyd's sword loosening. "Well, that worked." She blinked, feeling dizzy. The world flashed white and she collapsed, feeling someone catch her just before she hit the ground. Then, it all went dark.
THEY HAVE MET!! As always, reviews are welcomed (even encouraged), especially as we near the end of this fic. Believe it or not, I have actually started planning and writing Three Wishes, so once this one has finished, I shall be attempting to publish the prologue to that soon. Please tell me what you thought about their first meeting!! How did I do? Love y'all!!