Smoke and Mirrors

Rough Beginnings

Why was being bad so hard?

Lloyd couldn't for the life of him figure it out. It seemed so simple - just be a prick and push or shove others, right? But even pulling that off was a difficult task for Lloyd.

He hated that he felt bad for doing things he was supposed to do. Every time he did something even slightly mean to another classmate, guilt washed over him.

Why? Lloyd was the son of Lord Garmadon, a well-known and feared warlord! A simple feeling shouldn't stop him from being bad. But it did.

And Lloyd absolutely hated it. Being too emotional. Being sensitive. Not being able to be a villain.

Of course, he tried his best to pay attention in classes, he tried shoving those stupid emotions aside, tried to be mean...but he failed. And it was pretty obvious.

Lloyd was constantly getting picked on by others for not being bad enough. Every day, he was getting teased and pushed around. He wanted to revolt, but he knew the odds were not in his favor.

Well...there was one boy who wasn't completely awful to him. His name was Brad. Brad did tease him and pull a few pranks, but it was all to toughen Lloyd up, not to cause harm. Brad admitted that himself, but not in front of others of course. That would be a death sentence.

Brad and Lloyd hung out after classes, out of anyone's sight. They played lots of games, talked about various stuff. Lloyd was surprised to learn that Brad enjoyed gardening. Gardening was considered to be a 'nerd' thing and not generally accepted by others. Lloyd didn't say anything about it, since he knew how it felt to be judged for simplest of things.

Despite Brad's efforts to make Lloyd tougher, the teasing and bullying did not stop. It was stupid of Lloyd to hope that it would. He did get less bothered by it, of course. But Lloyd stayed pretty much the same - not bad enough.

At one point, pranks turned into accusations, sabotages. Lloyd would get accused of doing something too good. Usually that ended up with Lloyd being sent to detention. He was thrown into some sort of remote library that barely anyone used.

At the first few visits, he didn't do much there. He was too preoccupied with being a bit creeped out by his surroundings. What kid wouldn't be uneasy being in an empty, old library that was barely lit and had so many cobwebs?

Once Lloyd got used to the library, he started going through some of the books. Many of the books were thick and filled with confusing things and complicated words. What the hell was gaslighting anyway? At least manipulation was familiar...somewhat.

Intimidated by the thickness of those books, he started with thin booklets. Lloyd was surprised how much information they had, and how unsettling a lot of it was. Unsettling or not, Lloyd pushed through and read more. It took a while to go through the books because of many unfamiliar, cluttered words.

Hey, at least he was getting better at reading. It felt good to know that he could read better than most people in his class. Maybe he was a bit too good, but what was the harm in that?

Time went on, and Lloyd kept eating up the books in the old library. He went there by his own accord, detention wasn't needed.

He didn't notice it at first, but he was getting distant. Especially with Brad. His friend was getting a bit concerned, but Lloyd was quick to calm him. Lloyd was just reading the books for his own good...or bad, if that made sense. Sure, his extensive knowledge of disturbing topics intimidated his classmates a bit, but that just meant he was getting better at being evil, right?

Of course, villainous stuff wasn't the only thing he read about. Lloyd was quick to learn that that kind of knowledge wasn't going to be enough. A good villain had to be resourceful. So, he turned to books about...basic living and useful skills. Who knew sewing was one of those skills?