The Dark Heirs: Ninjago

Makes Perfect

Two weeks later, Lloyd Montgomery-Garmadon frowned as he watched his father fret over him and his sister, making sure they had their school bags and lunches, asking if they had everything every few minutes.

He was not frowning because he was nervous, or even because his father clearly was, it was because everything felt so normal now.

Especially since dad looked so weird -so normal- with brown hair that was littered with grey, unnaturally pale skin and two fewer arms.

Instead of his usual armor, he only wore his normal black kimono that had purple detailing and the family protection spell embroidered in red down his chest.

The only thing that had remained the same was his eyes, which were still crimson.

"Do we have to go to school, daddy?" Harumi asked, a rare whine in her voice

The Master of Destruction nodded, "Yes, it is important to train your mind as well as your body."

"But you can teach us what's important." Lloyd pointed out, "School sucks."

"I know, blossom, but there are things I cannot teach as well as a teacher can. And I was very through with picking a school for you both, I promise it will not be as horrid as Darkley's."

The twins continued to pout the entire walk to the small school, the two-room building the only school in the small village with one room for little kids and one for teenagers.

Going inside a half hour before school was set to start, Garmadon was immediately greeted by the teacher for the younger children, who introduced himself as Mr. Goode.

He was given two new student forms and filled them out, asking questions about the schooling and when classes ended.

"The older students get out around two pm, but the younger students stay anywhere from an hour to noon depending on their parent's desires and schedules. If it is more convenient we also have a work-from-home arrangement for some of our students where they only come in twice a week on Monday and Friday and simply do workbooks I provide the rest of the school week." Mr. Goode explained

"So they would come in today and Friday only?" Garmadon asked, making sure he heard correctly, the arrangement sounding too good to be true

The teacher nodded, "Yes, today when I teach the lesson and assign the workbook pages and then on Friday so I can grade what they did and they can take the quiz."

"That would be best for us." The Dark Lord said, handing over the completed forms

If Mr. Goode was concerned when he saw the last name Garmadon on both forms he did not show it, merely tucking the forms away in his filing cabinet behind the letter 'G' before getting two workbooks labeled 'Grade 5/Ages 10-11' from a shelf.

He gave the twins said workbooks, telling them they could pick any seat that did not have a nametag and that class would begin soon.

Once the two ten-year-olds were out of earshot, Mr. Goode's demeanor shifted from pleasant to icy, "Are going to cause any problems for my school, Mr. Garmadon? Your reputation precedes you."

The Master of Destruction shook his head, "No, I would never put my children's education in jeopardy. They have been out of school for too long already, I'm worried they are falling behind."

Mr. Goode's demeanor went right back to being pleasant, "Good, and I'm not going to call the ninja on you if you were worried about that. Do you know where they were at studies wise in their previous school"

"No, though I suspect the school they went to focused more on teaching bad behavior than anything truly educational." Garmadon admitted

The teacher nodded, "I shall look into it, you can come to retrieve them whenever you wish, though I would recommend letting them stay until noon."

Garmadon nodded, "Very well, I shall return then."

He then walked over to the twins, who has settled on the desks in the back farthest from the teacher, "I will return after school, I love you."

They repeated the sentiment, watching him leave.

***

Garmadon did not go home after dropping his children off, instead walking towards the edge of Jamanakai village where the entrance of the Underworld.

Now that he had breached the banishment spell that had kept him there, he could traverse between the two realms freely and he was still king.

Going to his fortress and sitting on his throne, purple flames ignited around him, altering all that their king had returned.

Shifting back into his oni form, he waited for those traitors to come to face him.

Eventually, a few skulkin crept into the room, clearly nervous.

Garmadon's eyes narrowed at the sight of them, ordering them to gather the army.

Once the small army had arrived, they all looked to their lord nervously, knowing what was coming.

"I suppose you all know why you are here? So there is no reason to beat around the bush." The Dark Lord asked, rising from his throne, "I gave you all an incredibly simple order: to guard my children, your prince and princess, and to escort them here if the Devourer showed up. But when I returned I found you all deserted. Therefore, you must all be punished and as such you will be cleaning spykor webs -all of them. Kruncha, Nuckal, and Wyplash, as the generals you three will face the greatest punishment: second death."

The three generals tried to protest, but the Master of Destruction used his powers to render the bones that made up their bodies crumble, leaving them a pile of dust and armor.

"Get out of my sight." The king hissed

The remaining skeletons were running over each other in their rush to leave the fortress.

***

Harumi sat under a tree frowning, watching her brother play with a few of the boys in their class during recess.

She knew it was very petty of her, but a part of her wished that the boys would have rejected Lloyd as the girls had her, so that way she did not have to share her brother with anyone else.

But they hadn't, so she would content herself by sitting and watching him play, waiting for any sign of teasing so she could protect him as she had at Darkley's.

The older twin was so engrossed in her spectating that she didn't notice the man that sat beside her until he spoke.

"Did you not want to play?" Mr. Goode asked

Harumi shook her head, "No, I only like playing with Lloyd. Besides, I can't look away from him."

Mr. Goode tilted his head, "Why is that?"

"Because if I do I won't know if people are being mean to him." She said with a 'duh' in her voice

"I see, and why would people be mean to him?" The teacher asked

"Because he is too trusting, too sweet," Harumi explained, "I have to protect him from his nature and make sure others don't take advantage of it."

"Did your father tell you that?" Mr. Goode inquired

She shook her head again, "He didn't need to, I figured it out by myself. At the last school, Lloyd was bullied because of his kindness, they said he wasn't worthy of being dad's son."

Mr. Goode placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before standing back up, "Well, I do not tolerate bullying in my class, so you do not need to worry about being your brother's protector, you can just be you."

A few minutes later recess ended and they went back inside for the last twenty minutes of class...