"I'm home!" Lloyd called as he barreled through the doors of the huge palace he called home.
When no one greeted him, he paused and looked around. No Mom and no Dad. They always greeted him when he came home unless one or both of them had a special meeting, and neither of them had said anything about a special meeting today. Besides, it was his birthday. They would've done almost anything to be there when he got home on his birthday so they could celebrate together. Hmmm. Something weird was going on.
"Hello? I'm home! It's Lloyd, I'm home!" Lloyd called out, trotting through the halls.
"Lad Garmadon!" A voice squeaked.
Lloyd spun around. There!
A young maid stood in the doorway to a room.
"Hey, where're my parents?" Lloyd asked, getting right to the point.
"I'm not supposed to say, Lad Garmadon," the maid replied shyly.
"C'mon, tell me. You've got to tell me," Lloyd coaxed. "I mean, it's my birthday, after all. They definitely want to see me."
"Of course they do, Lad Garmadon, but something came up and they can't right now," the maid stated nervously. She was almost downright trembling, now that Lloyd took a closer look at her.
"Are you okay? You look scared," Lloyd observed. Of course, most people looked scared when they interacted with him, but Lloyd's dad said that was because they were in awe of him and felt unworthy to be in his presence. This seemed different. "More scared then most people are around me, that is."
"I'm not supposed to be talking to you, and I'm really not supposed to tell you where Lord and Lady Garmadon are, Lad Garmadon," the maid whispered, looking down at her feet.
"You can talk to me, and you can tell me where they are," Lloyd said firmly.
"I'll get in trouble," the maid whimpered.
"With who? Me? I'm saying you can say it," Lloyd stated. "What's stopping you? Tell me. Please?"
"I can't, I'm sorry, I can't, I'm not allowed," the maid stated.
"Then can you tell me who told you that you can't tell me where my parents are?" Lloyd asked.
"Your parents told me I can't tell you where your parents are, Lad Garmadon," the maid admitted.
"What?" Lloyd balked. Why in Ninjago would his own parents forbid him from being told where they were?
"And I wasn't supposed to say that either!" The maid wailed. "Oh, I'm gonna get in trouble! I'm gonna get fired! I'm too young to get fired!"
"You'll be fine," Lloyd assured, a little bewildered that this maid was so scared of being fired. Couldn't she just go find another job? Sure, working for Lord and Lady Garmadon was probably the most-wanted job in Ninjago because of how awesome they were, but getting fired wasn't the end of the world. "I won't let you get fired."
"Really?" The maid wondered.
"Really," Lloyd affirmed, then he paused. "If you do one thing for me."
"Anything," the maid promised.
"Tell me where my parents are," Lloyd commanded.
The maid blinked. "Oh. Oh, I walked right into that one. Um, I guess it won't do any harm, since I'll already be in such big trouble. They're in the Throne Room, Lad Garmadon. Thank you, Lad Garmadon."
"No problem," Lloyd dismissed, and he took off down the hall again, running for the Throne Room and skidding to a stop in front of the big doors to it. Pulling open the door, he slipped in, then paused immediately.
The scene in front of him was not wholly unfamiliar: his mom and his dad were sitting on their thrones and many guards were lining the walls, just like when his parents heard requests from their citizens. But instead of a row of citizens standing and waiting respectfully for their turns with the beloved rulers, a bunch of rebels sat or knelt in the middle of the room, many of them shaking or weeping or both while the rest of them stared defiantly at the thrones' occupants. What were they doing there? Lloyd had always been told that captured rebels went right to prison to be taught about how wrong they were and how Lord and Lady Garmadon were actually the best things to ever happen to Ninjago.
Curious about what was happening, Lloyd hid behind a nearby curtain, peeking out just enough to fully observe what was going on.
"-and you thought you could attack my son?" Lord Garmadon was raging.
"You thought wrong," Lady Garmadon said coolly.
"Very wrong," Lord Garmadon agreed.
"Very, very wrong," Lady Garmadon added.
"Very, very, very wrong," Lord Garmadon stated. He looked at Lady Garmadon. "Your turn to add a 'very.'"
"Actually, I think I'm tired of 'very' and I'm ready to get on with the interrogation," Lady Garmadon commented, flashing the sharpest smile Lloyd had ever seen on her.
"Of course, dear, of course," Lord Garmadon agreed. He looked at the rebels, lower set and upper set of arms both crossed in anger. "So, what in the Sixteen Realms made you think you could get the upper hand on my son when I, after all, am the one who actually has upper hands?"
"Good one, dear," Lady Garmadon said approvingly.
"I know, right? I just thought of it," Lord Garmadon bragged before turning back to the rebels. "You tried to attack our son. Explain yourselves. You in the front, with the weird circle-snake symbol on your hat."
"It's called the ouroboros," the elderly woman Lord Garmadon had indicated corrected in a creaky voice.
"Yeah, you with the arrabohorro," Lord Garmadon agreed.
"The ouroboros," the woman said again.
"The hour barickey," Lord Garmadon tried.
"The ouroboros," the woman stated firmly. "Stop pretending you don't know what I said. You know what an ouroboros is. You know it stands for the cycle of destruction and creation, you know it's the symbol of the Green Ninja, and you know-"
Lord Garmadon slammed all four of his fists on the arms of his throne. "Do not! Say! That phrase! In! My presence!"
"What phrase? The Green Ninja?" The woman inquired with false innocence.
"That! Yes! Don't say it!" Lord Garmadon roared, fuming with rage.
Lloyd frowned. He didn't think he'd ever seen his father that angry, and he'd seen his dad flip a table when he lost three times in a row on family board game night. And for what was he getting so angry? Over a phrase with no meaning? At least, Lloyd thought that phrase had no meaning. He'd certainly never heard it before.
"Do not say that phrase ever again," Lady Garmadon said, her voice trembling with barely concealed anger.
"Why not? Because you're afraid of the prophecy?" The woman teased.
Now there was a prophecy? Lloyd was getting more and more confused by the moment.
"I am not afraid of the prophecy, because it has no meaning," Lady Garmadon said coolly. "It will never come to pass."
"It's already coming," the woman gloated. "Three of the ninja have already been found, and the Master is on the move to get the others. The prophecy will come to pass. All we have to do in the meantime is do all we can to help the ninja, especially the Green Ninja when they are found, and that is why we attacked your son, because he is spoiled and soft and will not survive the revolution."
Lady Garmadon stood from her throne. "Guards, this one goes first when you fire the rebels out of the volcano."
"WHAT?!" A voice screamed.
All eyes turned to the curtain in the corner where Lloyd was hiding.
That was when Lloyd realized that the voice that had screamed had been his own.
Oops.
Realizing there was no point in hiding anymore, Lloyd came out from behind the curtain and repeated, "Fire the rebels out of the volcano?! What are you talking about?!"
"Son!" Lord Garmadon exclaimed. "What are you doing in here? You weren't supposed to be in here. Oh, whoever told you where we were is getting fired."
"As in, fired out of a volcano?" Lloyd asked. Suddenly, how scared the maid from earlier had been made a lot more sense. "You mean to tell me, all this time, whenever you've fired someone from working here or from going to my school or from whatever else, you've fired them out of a volcano?"
"Well, yes, but they're always fine, just a little burnt and bruised. They just get a lot of time to think on their crimes when they land on the far side of Ninjago and have to make their back," Lord Garmadon reassured.
"Dad! Mom! That's not- you can't do that!" Lloyd exclaimed.
"We only do it to people who deserve it, don't worry, Lloyd," Lady Garmadon soothed. "And they're never harmed. Well, never permanently harmed. Besides, it's the best way of dealing with dangerous people."
"...Dangerous people?" Lloyd repeated.
"Of course! Just like these rebels here. They planned to destroy you, remember? They attacked you at school. They deserve to be punished," Lady Garmadon explained.
"Um, I guess," Lloyd allowed uncertainly.
"We shouldn't be punished for trying to fight for our freedom and our rights," the woman who had spoken earlier piped up.
"Quiet, rebel!" Lord Garmadon snarled. "Guards, we've heard enough from these rotten excuses for people. Take them away."
"Yes, sir!" The guards barked as one, and they began dragging the rebels out of the room one by one, starting with the woman in the front who kept speaking up.
"You can't silence the truth! The prophecy will come true! The Green Ninja will rise!" The woman called, fighting to stay in the room and keep speaking.
"Silence!" Lady Garmadon ordered. "You should show some respect!"
The woman laughed as she was dragged out, yelling as she was forced away, "Respect? Never heard of it!"
"What an old hag, that rebel," Lord Garmadon dismissed, standing from his throne and stretching as the rebels were all dragged away. "Perhaps being fired will do her some good, make her realize the errors of her ways."
"I still don't think firing people out of a volcano is a great way of serving justice," Lloyd stated shakily, but when his parents came to hug him, he hugged them back.
"So, exciting day at school, huh?" Lady Garmadon asked slyly.
Lloyd laughed, quickly falling back into easy conversation with his mom and dad, because even if they did occasionally fire people out of a volcano, they meant well. They'd saved all these people from certain destruction years ago and been crowned the rulers, after all. They had reasons for everything they did. He knew they did. "Yeah, 'exciting' is one word for it. 'Terrifying' would be another good one. Uh, or 'intense.' Maybe 'alarming,' or-"
"That's enough, son," Lord Garmadon laughed. "Boy, you're as clever as your mother, aren't you?"
"And you're as funny as your father," Lady Garmadon told Lloyd.
"No, I'm pretty sure he gets that sense of humor from you," Lord Garmadon disagreed.
"Enough of that, let's go on to the more important stuff," Lloyd butted in.
"Important stuff?" Lady Garmadon asked, falsely innocent. "Hmmm, I wonder what that could be."
"I wonder as well, given that today isn't a special day or anything," Lord Garmadon teased.
"Mom! Dad! I've been waiting and waiting and waiting, please, let's go do whatever you've got planned for my birthday," Lloyd begged.
Lord and Lady Garmadon both laughed.
"Okay, son," Lord Garmadon agreed, still chuckling.
Lady Garmadon nodded. "Let's go."
AN: Next chapter we get to what I think you've all been waiting for: the kidnapping! Dun dun dunnn!