Garmadon Oneshots! Of Many Flavours And Forms

A few rough, uneven breaths

Garmadon had heavy breaths. Deep, huffing sighs that released hot air on the back of everyone's neck from his spectating; Lloyd was his main victim.

Our beloved Green ninja had just been engaging with his friends in a violent game of Kart Racers in their gaming room, playful shouts and raging yells were thrown across the room, coupled with outlandish threats and foul language - the typical when Wu and Misako weren't home to judge them all on their manners..

Yet one remained home that wasn't a usual there; lurking in the shadows of the hallway just outside the frame of the entrance sulked Garmadon: watching them scream themselves hoarse and spew hypocrisy after hypocrisy, learning nothing but how the ninja failed to be like the masks they wore..
      One could consider this a positive: to have a life beyond the mask and the comfort to act in such a way with your found family, but Garmadon didn't understand it at all. In fact, it only made him more uncertain, like some cat being yelled at for fetching a corpse.

Hearing them go on and on until they all eventually tired out, he waited until Lloyd separated from the herd of ninja to approach him; his heaving breaths gave him away immediately.
Upon hearing the sound, followed by feeling Garmadon fog up his neck with his tyrannical ways of living, Lloyd’s mood diminished until he was bitter once more, forgetting all the fun he'd had only moments before.

With a sigh, Lloyd turned around to face the oni, craning his head up slightly to meet his burning eyes. "What is it, father?" The words slipped off his toung with a sort of venomous regret; he didn't really consider this man to be his father anymore...
"I don't quite understand-" the lord huffed. Lloyd stared.
Lloyd dared to ask: "Understand wha-"

"You tell me to spare others from my harsh words yet-" Garmadon interrupted but paused for his faltering breath, "-You yourselves use such spiteful things as... jokes.." he mused, biting the tip of his toung inside his mouth before puffing out a breath, in the heaving effort it took, to assess the ninja.

Despite the question, which was more akin to an accusation, Lloyd only paid attention to his father's unsteady motions of the rising and falling of Garmadon's chest that balanced his half-alive-dead state; too worn out to listen to the oni's words, only analysing the sounds of his un-rhythmic, oddly-paced automatic bodily function - one that sounded forced at times like he had forgotten how to breath for a moment, or had become too aware of it.. overthinking such a simple, human thing...

"Can you breathe normally?" He blurted only to quickly regret his tone- It wasnt supposed to be rude, just a question; A snappy question for sure, but he feared his aggression would only be mirrored by the cold oni.

Fortunately, Garmadon only rasied a heavy brow, his face scrunching up for a moment with tension Lloyd could only hope was confusion-
"Breathe...normally?" Garmadon titled his head and moved his neck awkwardly like some bemused serpent before his head settled back between his shoulders. Lloyd cringed at the motions and the rattling of his father chest as he spoke, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling the man as a whole created each moment...

Lloyd took a moment to inhale and resist a sigh, barely meeting the oni's eye as he spoke. "Yes. You- you don't sound healthy." The green ninja tried to explain without much anxiety in his voice..
    The confusion only deepend on the lord's face, his expression contored his features into a man unrecognisable before Lloyd’s very eyes; his jaw tense as he hurried to understand exactly what the boy had insinuated..

Lloyd sighed and played with hands momentarily before turning his head to the side where he gazed atthe floor, hoping to get away from the terrible moment he had created. "You know what? Don't think about it too much, it doesn't matter.." he would have tried to smile to offer comfort to the oni's possibly racing mind, but he didn't want to. So he didn't. He just turned around, ready to walk away.

The oni continued to stare at his son with an puzzled face.. "How?" 

Lloyd very slowly turned back around to look at Garmadon. "How?" The green ninja echoed, his eyes focused on Garmadon’s grimey fangs. The oni nodded rather slowly, his throat bobbing with the mouth before yet another choked breath escaped him..

"How is one to breath "normally" as you have put it?" He questioned, more like interrogated, as he folded his arms behind his back and hunched down. Once again, Lloyd draw his attention to the way the oni's mouth hung open over his fangs, failing to conceal the bout of rotting smells radiating off the dead man.

"Like, at even and rhythmic paces, I guess.." Lloyd mumbled, chewing the inside if his mouth with his hand scratching at the back of his head. "It's harder to explain than to actually do.. honestly, it should just be automatic." He continued.

The oni looked at Lloyd, his eyes flashed down at the boys chest before back up to his face, observing the green ninja intently. Then Garmadon drew in a long breathe and waiting until Lloyd exhaled before he released it.
     In an awkward attempt at learning, Garmadon tried desperately to keep in time to Lloyd’s own pace of breathing, confused when it occasionally hitched in his throat or when he nearly lead himself into a repertoire of traumatic flashback of when he thrashed about in chains. He had been struwith those for a while.

Lloyd didn't look like he was fairing well either, unnerved and disturbed by his father's presence as it was, he didn't look particularly happy to have to stand stationary and breath normally in front of the man who was barely a man and certainly was no father.. he too struggled in that moment.

After a while, Garmadon felt his breath give out and his throat tighten, no longer giving relief with each inhale; it felt more akin to being strangled while running up hill. His head began to spin as dark blotches filled his vision, obscuring hid sons face entirely while water filled his ears.

Garmadon nearly didn't catch his son calling out his name as he stumbled backwards into the wall, tripping over himself and tail before falling heavily upon the smooth surface behind him.
Beyond breathing "normally", Garmadon was now panting like some deranged pug deprived from hydration, his long, snake-like-tounge lolled out of his mouth while sweat snuck down his face and neck.

Such failure could only be considered as embarrassing; to fail at something so small when he had conquered much more from cataclysm challenges made Garmadon hide in hid own skin, shrinking back until he was sat against the wall with a steady breath. As steady as his could be at least...

"I have-" He paused to breathe before forcing the rest out. "Failed."

Lloyd couldn't help but see that. Without futher words he just grabbed his father and pulled him up off the floor in hopes ti get the horrible moment over and done with.. "good first try... uhm, let's just go to bed and you can try again another day" he forced a smile before when turned around and headed for the door.

"One of which I'm not apart of it.." Lloyd mumbled quietly, but not quietly enough to have missed the oni's ear that flicked at the sound.

Letting out a quiet "hm" Garmadon turned tail and headed into the living room where he found many things lying around in what was once declared as his "bed." Too staggered by the earlier events, Garmadon curled up on the floor, unbothered. He had slept on worse with worser days to reflect on..