Dreams and Desires
Chapter 34
Bloodline
*I own nothing and any similarities with any other works are purely coincidental.
"You… you survived?" Garmadon was floored, his eyes wide with surprise as he stared at his two rebellious children. Lloyd looked about as gutless and detestable as usual, but Harumi, well, she was a sight for sore eyes.
"Of course I did." A devilish smile on her face, Harumi twirled her wrists around to form a tiny ball of cyan energy. "And I've got this cuck wrapped around my finger again."
"Hey, what-" Dispelling the Dream energy, she spun around and slapped Lloyd across the face. He began to stumble backwards, but she grabbed his chest before he could fall and wrenched him back to his feet. Leaning in to whisper something, the confused anger stayed on his face for a moment longer, then melted away.
"I'm sorry." Lloyd nodded, his voice still a tiny bit bitter but now completely unchallenging. "I serve the Master of Dreams and only wish to aid her in achieving her ambitions."
Garmadon laughed, smiling with pride for the first time in months. He was glad to see her back in control, but, as he approached the pair, that glee began to be overtaken by suspicion. His eyes were drawn to Harumi's gi, which bore a striking resemblance to the outfit Lloyd had worn in their fight at Kryptarium Prison. Not that you could really call it a fight.
"Oh, yeah, Lloyd made this little thing for me." she answered, intuitively guessing what he was concerned about. "I don't like much about this pesky ninja, but I will admit that he knows how to put together a good suit to fight in. But enough with the pleasantries. What do you want, father?"
"I…" Garmadon wasn't sure what to say at first. Never in a million years would he have predicted that the new Master of Dreams would be his most faithful disciple.
"I wish for you to join me again as my General." he said finally, his mind now running wild with renewed plans of world domination. "Together, with your new powers and this fool on our side, Ninjago City would yield once more."
"Hah!" Her voice was filled with mirth now, and her eyes bright with defiant rage. "You think I need you to rule Ninjago City? I could bring down their government with a single word."
"Then why haven't you?" Garmadon asked impatiently, an eyebrow raised as he contemplated her unusual defiance and bravado.
"Because I'm not you." Harumi answered plainly, a slight air of disgust in her voice. "I'm better now, and all I want to do at the moment is relax with my boyfriend. We've had a lovely holiday so far, haven't we, dear?"
"Oh, yes." he answered quickly, his tone coming off a tad bit sarcastic. "Our stay at Darkley's School for Bad Boys has been absolutely delightful."
"If you two are not with me, then by definition you are against me." Garmadon snarled, curling his hands into fists. Harumi sighed, then glanced over at her partner.
"Well, it was worth a shot." she muttered, shaking her head in dismay. "Lloyd!"
He leapt back into a fighting stance at her command, then hurled a bolt of Energy towards him. Sailing wildly off target, Garmadon didn't have to move a centimeter. About to scoff at the feeble attack, he spotted Harumi preparing to shoot a cyan beam at his head. Ducking at the last moment, he just barely missed being taken out in the cheapest way possible. With their scripted attack now wasted, Garmadon went on the offensive, throwing out a pair of destructive bolts to put the pair on their heels.
Harumi was retreating again, and while Lloyd wasn't fazed, he also seemed hesitant and wary to fight. He was dodging well and countering with a fairly consistent stream of strikes, but they were all pretty conservative. At the same time, Harumi had run back across the courtyard, likely moving to grab one of the several weapons that were lying off near the edge of the grass. Her attention seemed drawn to an ornate, decorative sword, and while Garmadon didn't immediately recognize the weapon, he had a sneaking suspicion that allowing her to wield it would be a poor choice.
Tossing a few purplish flames across the courtyard, he was able to set the grass near the blade on fire. While far from an inferno, it was enough to cause Harumi to hesitate and ease up as she ran towards the weapon. Realizing she was now exposed, she spun around and began charging up a cyan beam, but it was already too late. Garmadon unloaded a ferocious series of attacks on her, pushing her back on the defensive and forcing her to toss out desperate, feeble beams just to avoid a killing blow. Any semblance of lingering sentiment he had felt towards her was gone now; instead, his mind was ablaze with feelings of betrayal and outrage, and she could only hold up for so long against such resolve. Within just a few rounds of combat, he could sense both Lloyd and Harumi beginning to lose their nerve. The boisterous mess of sounds, spawned from their loud, chaotic elements crashing together, was clearly beginning to hurt their heads. And then, everything was still.
Garmadon had snuck in a glancing blow to her chest. It was a strike that he thought might have been immediately fatal had it landed cleanly, but there was still enough power and rage behind it to cause her to topple to the ground. Lloyd, who had looked nervous and anxious for the whole fight, was now shaking and convulsing in place. His face, turned off to the side and fixed on her lifeless form, was an indistinct mix of fury and fear as he struggled to stay standing. Within moments, he was doubling over, seething and panting like a rabid dog. Garmadon paused for a moment, perplexed by the almost manic fit, then began to realize what was happening. Oh, finally!
When Lloyd finally turned back to face him, his eyes were blood red, and before Garmadon could begin to move, he had already been trapped in a web of destructive tendrils. It was impressive, how he acted with such conviction, complete control and passion that had been completely absent just moments before. There was more to Lloyd than met the eye, and finally seeing this sinister second nature in an otherwise disappointing son brought a smile to his face.
"You!" Garmadon chuckled, halfheartedly pushing back against the elemental bonds. "I told you they were coming, do you remember?"
"Who, the Oni?" Lloyd laughed, grinning with spiteful glee as he ran over. "They're never going to come! Your race is dead!"
"No, no, don't you see?" Garmadon grimaced, a pained smile crossing his face. "The Oni survive through you!"
Lloyd froze. Eyebrows raised, he slowly stared down at his incapacitated subject as a shiver ran down his spine. He wasn't sure what exactly his father was going on about, but something in his tone there had rubbed him the wrong way. Not that he wanted to listen to the desperate pleas of a dead man.
"I am not an Oni." he started softly, his voice dripping with fermenting rage. "I will not be their champion."
"Hypocrite!" Garmadon screamed, his voice sounding more frantic and desperate than usual. "You're burning up your own life force!"
"Since when do you care about me?" Lloyd aggressively cracked his neck, then bared his teeth and tightened the bonds around his father's neck. "You're a rabid beast who only thinks of himself!"
"So are you." Garmadon choked, his voice short and stifled. "We are the same."
"We're not the same!" Lloyd cried, his face warped by irate denial that melted away almost immediately. "I'm not… No, wait. Maybe we are."
Lloyd had yet to meet a pureblooded Oni, and at this point he was beginning to think he never would, but he had the closest thing to it at his mercy. It was his greatest fear in life, to become like him, and the more he considered their present similarities, the more he felt like he wanted to vomit.
"Can't you hear them?" Garmadon spat, stirring Lloyd from his self-loathing. "The Oni are calling from across the veil. Strike me down, you human fool, and receive their majesty!"
He really wanted to do it, snap his father's neck in half and shut him up for good, but, as Lloyd lifted his arms to strike, he just couldn't find the strength to go through with it. Murder in cold blood, even in this emotional state, was no easy feat, and as he struggled internally with the idea of killing yet another member of his family, his gaze began to wander. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harumi stirring back to life and, in that moment, just seeing that she was okay was enough to melt away all of his remaining bloodlust.
"No." Shaking his head, he dispelled the Destructive tendrils and turned away. Garmadon fell to the ground, retching and seething, but Lloyd didn't pay him any mind. Eyes flicking back to green, he scampered away, quickly running over to check on Harumi. She was still down on the grass, but at least now she was awake again. Holding her head in her arms, she was groaning in pain, but shook away his touch.
"Ugh, I'll be fine, just go-" Tossed aside like a ragdoll by a Destructive beam, Lloyd crashed onto the sidewalk and landed just centimeters away from the front steps.
"This is your birthright!" Tracking the voice, even as watered-down as it sounded, he saw Garmadon approaching, sauntering towards him like a hunter toying with his prey. "You cannot deny your Oni heritage."
Lloyd groaned, pushing himself to his feet and beginning to stagger back across the grass. It was times like these, when it seemed like fate itself was conspiring against him, that made him feel like being born with power was much more a curse than a gift.
"Leave us alone!" he cried, knowing full well his father wasn't going to listen to anything he had to say. "Harumi's not going with you, and neither am I."
"Who do you think you are, boy?" Garmadon cackled, throwing out another tendril that just missed Lloyd's wrist. "The Last of the Oni, imbued with such power, but without the strength to use it! They made a mistake, staking their future in a worthless faggot."
Mouth agape, Lloyd was momentarily stunned to silence. He hadn't been called that since he was actually a student at Darkley's, and hearing the slur triggered a wave of painful memories that left him feeling less and less sure of himself. Shoulders sagged and gaze lowered, he wondered wistfully why he had come back to this decrepit school. Nothing good ever happens here.
Feeling more than a little numb and worthless, he lazily dodged a Destructive beam and shot a halfhearted volley of Golden Power at his father. Garmadon stumbled backwards, clearly repulsed and hurt as the strike hit him squarely in the chest. Lloyd had speculated for a while now that Golden Power was the purest antidote to Destruction and that it would be particularly potent against an Oni, even more so than his natural essence was. Proving that hypothesis didn't make him feel any better, though. Now shackled to this dangerous gambit, unable to back down or stop for even a second lest he allow his foe off the hook, Lloyd was still holding out a sliver of hope that he could defeat Garmadon without killing him. It didn't seem likely.
Garmadon continued to fight, struggling and shrieking in pain as the golden beam rammed into him, but he could not break free. Burning and raving, he looked more like a monster than a man now. Closing his eyes and trying in vain to tune out the sound of those haunting screams, Lloyd already felt like he had lost. His arms were quivering now, shaking from the effort of holding such a powerful force at bay, but he ignored the pain. I mustn't run away!
Without warning, Lloyd heard Harumi activating her powers, and his eyes flicked open to find her standing beside him. She struck Garmadon with a cyan beam, and he staggered backwards again, overwhelmed by the combined forces of their powers. There was a look of betrayal on his face now, as if he had been caught completely off guard by the attack.
"Lloyd!" Harumi called, trying to make her voice heard over his shrieks. "Think about what you actually want! Do you see another headstone, or your real father back?"
Of course! Lloyd cursed himself for having been so stupid. There was no reason not to try it. The way he figured, the legend of Lord Garmadon would be coming to a close one way or the other, and he was too tired of fighting to care if he died. But maybe, just maybe, if their powers could truly work together like Harumi had said at the very beginning of all this, there was a chance to be good again.
From the look of horror on Garmadon's face, that was a fate he considered to be worse than death. But, as Lloyd continued to focus his mind on the version of his father he preferred to remember, the benevolent old man who sacrificed himself to save the people of Ninjago, he saw with startling clarity that lofty image beginning to take shape. The howling beast still gnashing his teeth in protest had lost his voice, and as the screams stopped, all remaining signs of wickedness began to fade away.
Harumi's projection was beginning to take hold now, and, despite feeling more mentally drained than he had in his entire life, Lloyd kept the onslaught coming. He was pushing past all of his physical limits and straining himself for every ounce of golden power left, desperately hoping that he could make it stick. His dream was agonizingly real now, and for a moment, he allowed himself to smile. He thought he saw his father, his real father standing across from him, just before his legs gave out and his vision went black.
For the first time since arriving, Harumi was really beginning to notice just how empty Darkley's really was. She was the last one standing now, and nothing save for the chilly mountain air or the beating of her heart was really palpable. No birds, not even any insects were left to give even a sliver of life to the campus, and it just felt wrong for some reason. More than a feeling of disregard or abandonment, it was like the very ground beneath her feet was tainted, marked and scarred by distant atrocities that no one would ever know about.
Eyes darting between grass and stone, Harumi now saw everything around her in startling detail. In the heat of combat, everything had been a blur. Her head was still pounding, achy and sore from the fight, and as she shifted her attention away from Darkley's itself, she found herself struggling to process what had just happened here. At some point she had seen Lloyd fall, and his father soon after, but then how long had she been stuck in this haze? The clouds above seemed darker now, but that wall of grey was little help in figuring out exactly how much time had passed.
Regardless, a quick glance across the yard at least confirmed that her memory was correct, and a quick glance was all Harumi would give her former idol. Turning her attention instead to his son, she was met with a ghastly sight. Lloyd looked about as hammered and roughed up as she expected, but he also looked even more sickly than usual. His skin was pale and cold to the touch, and he was shaking and shivering against the ground. One peek into his mind was all the evidence that she needed to confirm that he was suffering from yet another nightmare, flashing back to one of countless dreadful memories she had given him.
Harumi was tempted to invade his self-imposed prison, twist the scene a bit and introduce an artificial semblance of happiness back into one of her largest mistakes, but, restrained logically by her promise to not interfere with his dreams, and perhaps more truthfully stopped by her fear of confronting the particular scene in question, she turned away. Rapt by guilt and fear, both tangible and indistinct, she laid down on the grass next to Lloyd and stared up at the sky. Praying that, if he didn't wake up soon, maybe Lord Garmadon would come back to life. Another bitter dance of death would be preferable to this interminable silence.
Spinning his head around, he felt himself blinking as his eyes refused to adjust to the bright lights. He staggered back on the hard concrete floor as his foe swung wildly and missed. Unable to catch his breath, not that the stale prison air was of much consolation, he spotted Garmadon leaping back towards him. Sighing slightly, he ignited his powers again and struck, blocking the demon's arm and beginning yet another series of ultimately pointless parries.
"Listen to me!" he cried, barely able to get a word out as they continued dancing around the concrete."You don't have to do this. Harumi's using you as a pawn!"
Dizziness aside, Lloyd was able to collect his strength just long enough to shove his opponent backwards. Garmadon looked visibly repulsed now, perhaps even more enraged due to the accusation of subordination. He seemed to pause for a moment, as if he was wondering just how to respond.
"You are the pawn!" he spat, extending his arm as he charged back in at a breathless Lloyd. "A pawn to your own foolish hopes."
At that, Garmadon began toying with him, literally spinning him around a few times as his defenses began to crumble. Vision blurring from the cutting shades of violet, Lloyd gasped as Garmadon wrenched at his gi and effortlessly launched him into the air. His eyes were forced shut and his breath stolen away as he slammed through a stone wall, landing in a heap in the next room. His skin was caked in rubble now, and as he started to cough up dust and plaster, he heard the sound of those slow, methodical footsteps.
Unable to get even a moment's rest, he forced his eyes open again and staggered to his feet. Unable to make complete eye contact with the beast, he shot out a hurried ball of Energy that didn't do a lick of damage. Screaming with rage, Garmadon charged in and kicked Lloyd across the room. Bouncing off the wall with surprising resilience, he was able to block his arm and start charging up another beam, but Garmadon was quicker. Blasted back into the courtyard by a Destructive beam, Lloyd landed hard, then rolled to a halt against the central tower. Raising his gaze again, he saw Garmadon sauntering back into the yard, smiling and cackling like he had already won.
Seething with rage, Lloyd lit dual streams of green fire and charged in with equal fervor. His mind was empty now, and he was pushing himself to match and keep up with his dark reflections' every strike. Countering and parrying with more ferocity than before, he saw a look of surprise on Garmadon's face; perhaps, even a sliver of fear in his eyes? Just as soon as he saw it, it was gone, and while Garmadon once again absorbed his Energy strike like it was nothing, Lloyd wasn't able to fully dodge his next Destructive beam.
Knocked backward but still foaming at the mouth, he leapt up to face... an empty room. Just in time, he jumped away as Garmadon came crashing down on the spot where he had just been standing. Lloyd was slightly spooked by his foe's sudden disappearing act, and when Garmadon leapt back into view, he was able to knock around his dazed figure a bit. Each time a punch made contact, Lloyd felt his body begin to fizzle and bristle with excess Energy. It was like his soul was bleeding out, and his mind was beginning to cloud over again.
Before he could even react, Garmadon had tossed him aside again, and he landed in a heap a few meters past one of the empty cells. Refusing to give up, he leapt back to his feet, but had no time to catch his breath. Mixing up his tactics again, Garmadon took advantage of the terrain and started throwing rocks at Lloyd as he tried to desperately run back into range.
Slowed down and eventually knocked back again by one of those discarded bits of rubble, he fell to the ground and was a little slow to get up. Just as suddenly, Garmadon was gone again, Spinning around in a panicked fright, he couldn't locate the maserati until he was standing right in front of him. Pulling him up by his gi, Lloyd felt his eyes watering and vision begin to blur again. Helplessly hanging in the air, his arms limply fell to his side without an ounce of strength left.
"You wouldn't hurt me." Lloyd whimpered, his voice meek and despondent. "I'm your son."
Eyes narrowing, Garmadon tightened his grip, almost tearing at his gi, before snapping up his other arm to snake around Lloyd's throat. "I have no son."
Within seconds, he wound Lloyd up like a discus and tossed him aside with even more strength than before. Screaming in terror, he crashed through the wall, tumbling and falling through layers upon layers of stone until his momentum carried outside the prison entirely. Body spasming and eyes flickering again, he fell down into the Sea of Sand and slammed through several dunes before finally crashing into one. Feeling utterly wasted and powerless, and not just because his Elemental Essence had been completely sapped away, he felt a distant breeze whip at his skin. Eyes wide with horror, Lloyd couldn't do anything as the photo in his pocket was ripped away, blown away across the sand along with all his pleasant memories.
"Father…" Collapsing back into the sand, he shut his eyes and tried in vain to stop the stream of salty tears.
Lloyd woke with a start, his senses entirely out of wack. He had learned many years ago that regaining consciousness after passing out felt a million times worse than waking up from a normal dream, and the sharp contrast between the Sea of Sand and the Darkley's courtyard did not help matters. Adding to the groggy disorientation, he quickly realized that someone was violently shaking him and screaming his name.
"Ah, what is it?" Putting a hand to his head, he tried in vain to stop the throbbing as Harumi's smiling face came into view.
"Lloyd, look!" Loosening her grip on his chest, she turned to the side and pointed across the yard. Lloyd followed her gaze, gazing blankly at the spot where Lord Garmadon had fallen. Just like that, it all came back to him, and he reflexively leapt to his feet. His body was prepared to resume the fight that his mind had not fully remembered yet, but just as quickly as he had raised his guard, his arms dropped back to his sides.
"Dad?" This couldn't be happening; no, his eyes had to be deceiving him. He waited for the punchline, and yet, there was no snarky remark from a trickster god, no morose purple fire being hurled at his dumbfounded face. The man staring back at him was just a man now. Human once again and dressed in his old sensei gi, Garmadon looked just about as confused as Lloyd. But any attempt at reason was quickly washed away by the chaotic mess of emotions wreaking havoc in both their minds.
"Lloyd!" Smiling widely, Garmadon started running towards him, but Lloyd was already there, throwing his arms around his father and wrapping him in a tight embrace. He buried his face, already wet and weak from the horrid nightmare, in his shoulder. There were no words, no possible turn of phrase that could completely describe how he felt right now. Memories linger, of course, but the brain never holds on the little things. The feeling of his arms and the sound of his breathing, it all felt too real to have been conjured from thin air; not that he wasn't terrified of that possibility all the same.
Lloyd slowly lifted his head again, eyes watering and lip trembling as he turned back towards Harumi. "Please, please, please… tell me this is real."
She laughed, waved her arms around in a flourish as if she was trying to dispel him, then shook her head. "He's not a projection."
Lloyd nodded, and sighed, smiling back up at his father. The darkness was still there somewhere, he was sure of it, but, right now, he couldn't see an ounce of Oni blood in either of them.
At long last, we have arrived at what I consider to be the second climax of this stupid tale. Honestly not sure if I'm going to build up to another turning point or just let the story finally start to wind down a bit, but rest assured, there is still plenty more angst and drama to come.