Nightmares and Abolition

Chapter 18

WARNING: GORE AND VIOLENCE

Out of all the things Garmadon wanted to do upon seeing the mutating corpse of Harumi, the witch who revived him in a corrupted state, he wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine. She did this to him, to cause pain to Lloyd, because she chose to blame her loss on him instead of seek help like what a normal person should do. She used the Oni masks all those months ago to separate his true self as a spirit from his body, and let the Oni inside of him take control of his body. She manipulated him into hurting everyone in Ninjago, but the worst of it was that she manipulated Garmadon into hurting his own family.

And right now, pretending to embrace her as his child was the last thing he wanted to do.

But this was part of the plan. Morro and Skylor pointed out that Harumi wasn't aware that he was himself inside. So if Garmadon could get Harumi to lower her guard, then he could pull her away from Lloyd. Without her nearby to manipulate Lloyd even more under her spell, then the ninja could get through to Lloyd and free him from the spell.

So Garmadon did his best as he saw Harumi walk into the castle, leading Lloyd by harshly grabbing the green ninja's arm.

As frightening as Harumi's appearance was, with her being a walking corpse due to the resurrection spell, Garmadon was more shocked to see how Lloyd appeared. His son truly did look like Harumi's puppet. She had made him change his attire to look like a member of the biker gang, but the most painful part was Lloyd's eyes. Harumi made him put makeup on his face, similar to hers, but that wasn't what caught Garmadon's eye. It was the light grey color of Lloyd's eyes, signifying that he was being controlled, and that Lloyd had a black eye on his right eye.

Did Harumi hit Lloyd?

Why was Garmadon asking himself that? He knew that the answer was yes, and right now, he had to focus on the plan, for the sake of saving his son from this witch.

"My child, at last, I've been waiting for you..." he said.

"My emperor, but how?! Master Fawful said that you have gone soft! That you are not your true self!" she said.

"Master? You have a new master? How could you?! I am your emperor!" he said, frowning at her.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry my emperor! But y-you see, Fawful brought me back. He brought me back to you! We can be together once again, because of him! I'm indebted to him, but my l-loyalty is always to you!" said Harumi.

As Harumi stuttered, her voice shifted for a second, sounding different, but it didn't last long.

Garmadon frowned. He eyed Harumi, who was finally showing signs of looking nervous due to his judgmental gaze.

"I promise, you are my emperor! L-look! I even have the green ninja under my control so that h-he can't get in your way!" said Harumi.

Harumi pushed Lloyd forward and said, "Tell him, slave! Tell him that you are loyal to me and will do whatever I tell you to do!"

"I love Rumi, and I will do whatever she tells me to do! I will always be loyal to her and only her!" said Lloyd.

It was a good thing that he kept his hands hiding behind his back, because Garmadon clenched his fists as he heard Lloyd speak. As painful as the words were, he was more angry rather than hurt. He was angry at Harumi with what she was doing to Lloyd.

'That is not my son! But I can't show any signs of weakness or she'll see through! Hang in there, Lloyd!' thought Garmadon.

"Good..." he said, as coldly as he could out loud.