(Movieverse) (Trigger Warning ⚠️ Mentions of Self-Harm)

In Ninjago City there was one teen who everyone disliked.... Hated for as long as he could remember. For a long time, he was friendless, alone, and sad. Until one day, someone noticed something...

"Let go!" Lloyd shouted as he tried to escape a jerk who had just shoved him up against a locker and was holding his arm against the wall. The bully pulled out a sharpie and rolled up Lloyd's sleeve.

"Hold still!"

Lloyd continued to try to pull his arm free as the brute wrote something on his forearm. "Stop it!"

The jerk was suddenly knocked to the floor by a brunet boy with spiky hair. "The Hell Kai?"

"Leave him alone."

"Just yesterday you were helping me with this little shit."

"You heard me James. Leave him alone." Kai looked at Lloyd, "Is that a scar?" He mumbled as his gaze spotted something, there were several, neatly lined up the blond's arm. "You-" Lloyd quickly stood and ran away down the hallway, leaving his bag and not even looking at what had been written on his arm.

"Kai! Hey, what's up?" Another teen called as they walked over to the spiky haired boy. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing.... I... I gotta go..."

—————

Lloyd stopped running when he reached a bathroom down the hall. He hid in a stall and looked at what had been written on his arm. "Son of Lord Garmabu?" He mumbled, "What the heck does that mean?"

"Hey, Garmaki- I... I mean.... Lloyd?" Kai's voice echoed in the empty bathroom. "I-"

"Kai, what're you doing?" Cole questioned from outside. "You're gonna be late for class."

"It's just homeroom, tell them I'm in the restroom." Lloyd heard Kai enter the bathroom. "Lloyd? I'm sorry about James. I saw.... I saw the scars, I'm sorry, I never realized everyone had pushed you that far, was I one of the worse ones? I... I'm gonna stop... I swear I didn't mean for you to-"

"Why do you care?" Lloyd mumbled from the stall.

"What?"

"Why, do you suddenly care?"

"I... I guess I forgot you were human too... You're your own person right?" Kai asked. "No one knows you well enough to say you're a bad person, and..."

"And What?"

"And I've been a jerk. Worse then a jerk, I've been an Ass. I'm sorry." Lloyd stayed quiet. "Was I the reason? Was I the reason you did that to yourself?"

Lloyd looked at his scars. Kai definitely hadn't been the worst of Lloyd's tormentors, most of what Kai had done was a few mean names, a note taped to his back once in a while. There were certainly worse bullies in Ninjago High. "I.... I don't know." Over the years the bullying had all blurred together, and he didn't know if it was Kai's fault. "It's all blurred together."

"Please come out, I'm sorry."

Lloyd tensed up. "How do I know you're not trying to get me to come out so you can hurt me?"

Kai sat down Lloyd's bag, which he had picked up and brought with him. "You... You don't. But I swear, I'm not gonna."

Lloyd hesitated. "Swear on the First Spinjitzu Master?"

"I swear, on the First Spinjitzu Master, that I'm not here to hurt you." Lloyd shakily stepped out of the stall. Kai took a step towards Lloyd, who immediately stepped back, eyes wide. "I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?"

"Okay..."

—————

Kai yawned as he walked to the door of his family's apartment, there had been a knock even though it was eight-thirty-ish at night. "Lloyd?" He questioned when he spotted the blond teen crying. "What's wrong? Why're you here and not at home?"

"My.... My Mom," Lloyd tried to breath. "She disappeared. A-And my Dad's... Weird fish guys a-are trying to... to drag me to h-his volcano lair t-thing."

Kai blinked a few times. "And you came to me?"

"Ev-Everyone else h-hates me, and my uncle i-is out of town, I di-didn't know where else to-"

"Hey, hey it's okay, just come... Come inside." Kai pulled Lloyd into the apartment and had him sit on the couch. "Okay, take a deep breath, or two, and tell me what happened."

Lloyd breathed deeply and wiped a tear off his face. "I was in my room, and I heard a loud noise from the kitchen. So I went to go see what it was..." He breathed again. "Because my mom had been making dinner, but when I got there, there was no mom, and the table was turned over." He started to cry again. "And n-not even five mi-minutes later, pufferfish guys a-started just coming in the wind-windows and grabbing me." (I am aware that Eight-thirty-ish at night is not dinner time. Movieverse Misako (Koko I guess) works three jobs and gets home late.)

"How'd you know where I live?"

"We r-ride the same bus, and the g-guy at the front desk told me which apartment."

"Did they follow you?" Lloyd shrugged and made an I don't know but I'm praying that they didn't face. Just at that moment, Nya walked into the room.

She stared for a second. "So... I don't mean to be rude, but um..." She pointed at Lloyd. "Why is Lord Garmadon's son crying in our living room?"

"His mom disappeared and now his dad's army is trying to drag him to his dad's volcano."

"Don't you Bully him?"

"I'm not gonna do that anymore." Kai thought for a moment. "I, am going to try to make him some tea, that's what mom used to do when dad got upset so... Can you try to clam him down a little?"

Nya nodded and sat next to Lloyd. "You okay?" She asked as Kai went over to the kitchen. "They didn't hurt you at all?" Lloyd shook his head no, but Nya noticed some red on his hoodie's green sleeve. "Did you cut yourself on something?"

Lloyd hid his arm. "No..."

Nya realized and quickly got up. "I'll be right back." She rushed off. Kai sat a mug of tea down on the coffee table in front of Lloyd as Nya came back into the room with a roll of medical tape and a roll of bandages. "Okay, let me see your arm."

"Why?"

Nya grabbed Lloyd's arm gently and rolled up his sleeve, a new cut near the scars. "That's why." Lloyd stayed quiet. "All the others are scarred over, it's been a while since you did this."

Lloyd nodded. "Five months, but I didn't do this... Got attacked after school."

Kai's eyes widened. "By who?" He asked as he set a mug of tea in front of the blond, if Lloyd had been hurt he was good at hiding it.

"James and his gang." Lloyd mumbled. "One of them had a pocket knife." He looked at his shoes. "I think they were aiming for my throat."

Nya finished and gently hugged Lloyd. Kai grumbled as Lloyd took a sip of tea.

"My uncle says the best victories is when there's no battle." Lloyd spoke quietly, having heard Kai mutter about fighting James

"Is there any way you could call your uncle?" Nya asked

Lloyd shook his head. "One of the pufferfish guys grabbed my phone and broke it." Lloyd pulled his shattered phone out of his pocket.

"Do you know his number? You could use my phone." Kai offered.

"He's all the way up in Jamanakai Village, in the mountains. He's probably busy I don't wanna be a nuisance..." Lloyd began to mumble as he pushed his hair back anxiously.

"Even if he is, he's your family, he's gonna make time for you if you're in danger." There was a knock on the door. "Nya hide him."

Nya nodded and pulled Lloyd off the couch. "To the bathroom." She said quietly as she pulled him away quickly.

Once they were out of sight, Kai answered the door. It was Garmadon himself. "Where is he."

Kai stepped back. "Who?" He asked quietly.

"My son."

"He's not here."

"My soldiers saw him come into this building and all the other rooms haven't seen him."

"You checked every other room before this one?"

"Yes, now where are you hiding my son?"

"Even if he was here, what makes you think he wants to go with you?"

"Because I'm his father"

A screech (Nya) and a thud were heard from inside the apartment. Both were followed by, "Haha! Thought you could scare me!" She poked her head out of the bathroom. "There was a big ass spider."

"Didja get it?" Kai asked, kind of knowing it wasn't a spider that Nya had just cut down to size.

"It's dead now." She nudged something with her foot. "I think..."

Kai turned back to the doorway, Garmadon was down the hall. Kai shut the door. "I think we're okay now." He want to the restroom. "That's one ugly spider..." There was a pufferfish guy laying unconscious on the floor.

"She kicked him in the head." Lloyd mumbled.

"He's not dead, but here's the question, do we call the cops about him?"

Lloyd shook his head no. "My dad'll notice if one of his creeps are in prison."

"Then what do we do?"

"I..." Lloyd pushed his hair out of his face. "I don't know... Was that him? At the door?"

"Yeah." Kai answered "Why?"

"We wait a little while, until we can be sure he left, then put this guy down the hall, so he doesn't suspect you guys.... And... I'll... I'll leave. So I don't put you guys in danger."

"Put us in danger?"

"He's... He's gonna keep looking for me, and anyone I go to for help is gonna be in danger." Lloyd continued to mess with his hair nervously as he talked. "I'll leave after we move him outside."

"We're not about to let you go alone while on the run from your father."

Lloyd kept pushing his hair back. "It's a bad idea for me to stay here. A-And I don't want to get anyone hurt."

"We're gonna protect you, Okay?" Nya said as she grabbed Lloyd's shoulders. "You need to stay here."

"I-If I stay here, and he finds out that you... you guys hid me, he'll-"

"Hey. Hey." Kai interrupted "You're gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay, okay?"

Lloyd breathed and pushed back his hair again. "Yeah... Okay..."

"When's your uncle supposed to come back?"

"Not for another three days."

"You're staying here until then or calling him with my phone."

"Why do you want to help me so badly?"

Kai sighed. "Up until today, I've been an ass. I've treated you like shit. I should've been treating you like a person the entire time, and any good person would help someone who needs it. I... I shouldn't have ever been such an asshat to you."

"In other words, he's trying to make up for him being a dickwad." Nya smiled.

—————

"Where's Lloyd?" Kai asked as he walked into the kitchen, where Nya was reading a book.

"I think he want to the bathroom or something."

"Bathroom's empty."

"What?" Suddenly Lloyd fell into the apartment through the window above the kitchen sink.

"I'm okay!" He mumbled as he landed on the floor.

"Why? How?" Kai questioned as he helped Lloyd up.

"Well, I was in the bathroom, but when I got in there one of my dad's bad guys covered my mouth and dragged me out the window, so I was trying to escape because he was trying to take me to the roof, and I would've kicked him in the shin or something if I could've but I couldn't get my footing so instead I elbowed him in the gut, fell off the fire escape and grabbed the window ledge, then I climbed in the window."

"Wait is that guy is still outside?"

Someone fell past the window screaming. "Yeah..."

Kai choked back a laughed. "He just-"

Lloyd stuck his head out the window... "He's fine, just got up and started climbing up the fire escape." The door of the apartment flew open, and in stepped Garmadon. Lloyd went pale and froze up.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon." Garmadon scowled as he stomped over to Lloyd. Kai and Nya stepped between Garmadon and Lloyd.

"Lloyd, get out of here." Kai spoke quickly. Lloyd didn't move. "Lloyd go!"

"Kai, get him out of here." Nya butted in.

"Nya, I'm not leaving you to fight Garmadon."

"Go, get him out of here!"

Kai knew there was no arguing with Nya, so he nodded, grabbed Lloyd's wrist, and pulled the blond out of the apartment, going around the table so Garmadon couldn't grab Lloyd. They got a block away before Lloyd realized what had happened. "Why're you so afraid of your dad that you just froze up? Did he hurt you when you were a kid?"

"He wasn't even there when I was a kid." Lloyd mumbled as he sat on the sidewalk. "The only time I ever saw him was on the news. But two years ago he started trying to drag me to his stupid volcano lair, something about wanting me to join his army. My mom told him no, and so did I, but he just keeps trying to take me."

Lloyd pushed his hair out of his face. His green eyes practically glowed in the light of the nearby gas station. "So, he's just deciding that what you want isn't as important as what he wants." Kai muttered as he sat next to Lloyd.

"When he first tried to drag me there, he told my mom he just wanted me for the weekend, just so he could get to know his son. When I was getting ready to leave after the weekend, he locked me in the room I'd stayed in and didn't let me out."

"How'd you get away?"

"I broke the lock on the door with the leg of a chair, stole a jet ski from his pufferfish Guys and went home."

"You... How'd you break the lock?"

"I broke the chair on accident, and the lock was a screen with a password next to the door, so I broke the leg off the broken chair, and rammed it into the screen. Then the door opened."

Kai looked at the time. "We probably shouldn't sit out in the open, we can go in that gas station." Kai stood and held a hand out to help Lloyd up. "C'mon, I'll get you a slushie or something."

Lloyd took Kai's hand and got up. "Yeah, a slushie sounds good." The two walked into the gas station, the  cashier immediately gave Lloyd a look. An angry look. "Oh shiz..."

"What's wrong?" Kai asked as he started filling a slushie cup with slushie.

"It's Kyle. From school, he was the one with the pocket knife..."

Kai stopped filling the cup. "Really?" He handed the cup to Lloyd "Finish filling this with any flavor of slushie you want. I'm gonna go talk to Kyle."

"Please don't start any fights." Lloyd mumbled as he started putting the blue raspberry jolly rancher slushie into the cup.

"Hey Kyle." Kai said calmly as he walked over to the cash register.

"Kai, since when do you hang out with Garmakid over there?" Kyle asked.

"Since today, he's not actually a bad person. He's actually frickin terrified of his dad."

"Yeah, sure."

The bell above the door rang and in stepped one of Garmadon's pufferfish guys. "Shoot." Kai mumbled as he noticed. He tossed three bucks onto the counter, "Keep the change, and stop being an ass to Lloyd." He walked over to Lloyd quickly. "We need to go."

"I still need to pay for the slushie." Lloyd mumbled.

"Already did. We need to go now."

"You didn't have to-" Kai grabbed Lloyd's wrist and pulled him behind the shelves just as the pufferfish guy came into sight.

"We need to get out of here."

————-

"Do you have a key for your uncle's place? Maybe you could hide there." Kai suggested as he and Lloyd walked down the street.

"I have a key, but he's not home and I don't want to be-"

"Lloyd, did he give you that key for emergencies?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this an emergency?"

"... Yeah..."

"Then your best bet is your uncle's place."

"The thing about his place though.... Is that, when he's not in town, neither is it."

"What?"

"He lives on a flying boat..."

Kai paused. "A flying boat?"

"It's an old sail boat modified to be able to fly, like a plane, I helped design it a few years back." Lloyd mumbled "I didn't think he'd actually ask Cyrus Borg to help him build it at the time."

"Maybe you should call your uncle... He might come back early if he knew you were in trouble."

"I dunno Kai."

Kai handed Lloyd his phone. "Call him."

Lloyd sighed and took the phone. He dialed the number. "Hey Uncle Wu..." He listened for a minute. "Yeah no, Dad's soldier guys broke my phone... Yeah he's trying to drag me to his volcano.... Mom's missing.... Well if she wasn't missing I wouldn't be calling and I'd be at home sleeping... Got it... Yeah we'll meet you at the docks... I made a friend... Okay, see you soon." He hung up and handed Kai his phone. "He'll meet us at the docks in half an hour."

"I thought you said he was in Jamanikai Village."

Lloyd smiled. "There's no speed limit in the sky."

Kai chuckled and thought. "The docks are that way, we'd better get going." He sent a quick text to Nya, waited, and got a reply. "Nya'll meet us there." Lloyd nodded and the two started walking towards the docks. "Can I have a sip of the slushie?"

Lloyd laughed and nodded. "Well you did pay for it." Once they arrived at the docks, they only had to wait ten minutes for Nya to show up, and then about five more for Wu. "Uncle!" Lloyd smiled as the ship landed.

"Nephew, are these the friends you spoke of?" Wu asked as he stepped off the ship. Lloyd nodded. "I suppose the best thing to do about your father is to get you out of the city for a while, but I suppose he's already found out about your friends."

"Yeah..."

"We could go with you guys." Kai suggested.

"Kai, school." Nya mumbled.

"Nya's right, you guys have school, I mean so do I but... And what about-" Lloyd was interrupted.

"Our parents disappeared a long time ago, they... they won't be a problem. And school we can just call and tell them we're sick."

"Kai-" Nya began.

"Nya, we promised we'd help Lloyd, besides I have a project that I don't have done yet due tomorrow, so if I don't go then I have extra time."

Lloyd smiled and turned to his uncle. "Can they come too?"

"I suppose." Wu nodded as he walked back towards the ship. "What're you three waiting for? Time to go."

Lloyd grinned. "Last one on board's a rotten egg!" He dashed towards the ship, closely followed by Kai and Nya. Kai and Lloyd both tripped at the last second and Nya won.

"I guess there's two rotten eggs." She laughed as she helped the two up.

"Lloyd, would you please go get my tea pot from the kitchen?" Wu asked. Lloyd nodded and went below deck. "I'm glad my nephew finally has some friends."  The two siblings turned to face Wu. "But, people have pretended before. Are you being honest with him?"

Kai nodded. "Yes. We really do want to be his friends. People might start to hate us for it, but we don't care, right Nya?"

Nya nodded in agreement. "We promise we're not trying to trick or hurt Lloyd."

"Uncle, are you interrogating them?" Lloyd laughed as he came back from below deck with four mugs and a tea pot full of hot tea.

"Tell me, when was the last time someone decided to be your friend?" Wu asked.

Lloyd awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he sat down the tea pot. "Ah yeah I forgot 'bout that.."

"You didn't forget, you just don't want to think about it."

"Well I doubt anyone likes to think about being completely betrayed."

"What happened Lloyd?" Kai asked as Wu poured tea for the group.

"Ya know Chen, the cheerleader who wrote a cheer about me being like my dad?"

"The popular one with brown hair and who is probably a-"

"Kai, do not say it in front of Lloyd's uncle." Nya gasped.

"Chen's a man-slut an we all know it." Kai muttered.

Lloyd choked on his tea, surprised by Kai's sudden comment. "I.." Lloyd laughed. "I'm sure you're not wrong." Wu chuckled as Nya sighed. "Anyway, in eighth grade, he and his group of friends, they pretended to be my friends, until eventually they got me to hang out with them outside of school. I met them at the mall, then they locked me in the trunk of Chen's older brother's car, he was with them, had him drive out of town, and dump me in the desert, and it took me a day to get back."

"Why didn't you call someone to get you?" Nya asked.

"They stole my phone."

Nya pattes Lloyd on the shoulder. "I promise we won't do that, or anything like that."

Lloyd smiled softly. " Thanks Guys."

"WU!" An angry voice yelled from the dock.

"All three of you hide below deck." Wu spoke quickly.

The three teens rushed below deck. "WHERE, IS LLOYD?" The group heard Garmadon shout.

"He's not here." Wu spoke calmly. "It's a school night, why would he come here?"

"BECAUSE-" Garmadon took a breath. "Because I'm trying to get him to come to my volcano."

"Are you trying to Kidnap your own child again?"

"Yes..."

"Didn't his mother get a restraining order to keep you away from him? And her?"

"It was only for a year and it's been two since she got it so...."

"Why are you looking here? Would he not be at home? With his mother?"

"His mother isn't at home..."

"Don't tell me you kidnapped your wife too."

"Well she wouldn't come willingly!"

"Brother. This is why she took Lloyd and went to live in the city."

Lloyd sighed as Garmadon began to yell at Wu again. "C'mon, I'll show you guys the guest rooms..."

"Aren't you worried that he's gonna hurt your uncle?" Nya asked.

"My uncle can defend himself, he is a son of The First Spinjitzu Master after all." Lloyd mumbled as he started down the hall.

"Wait, Wait back up. The First Spinjitzu Master, as in the person who was basically God and created Ninjago?" Kai questioned.

"Yeah? He was my grandad, I've never actually met him, he died thousands of years before I was born, but y'know, my grandpa was god I guess..."

"Were you gonna tell us that your grandpa was god?"

"Would you've believed me?"

"Probably not but still, geez..." Kai thought for a moment. "Wait, so does that mean-"

"Yep, my dad is also God's son. He's the older one."

"Your dad, Lord Garmadon, is the oldest child, of God."

Lloyd shrugged. "Yeah."

"Wouldn't that make you, like... A Demi-God?"

Lloyd shrugged again. "I guess... I don't think I have any powers though."

"Maybe you just haven't found them yet. Maybe you have some super cool powers, like fire powers, or or or cause earthquakes, maybe to freeze things with just a thought, or the ability to shoot Lightning out of your hands!"

Lloyd laughed as the three stopped in front of a door. "Yeah, sure, Anyway, here's one of the guest rooms, the other one is the next door, my room-"

"You have a room on your uncle's flying ship?"

"I'm here a lot... Anyway, my room's just a few doors down, it's got a little sign with comic book characters on it and my name, you can't miss it."

Wu appeared behind Kai. "Lloyd your father is still looking for you, but he left, so I am going to start the ship. No one jump off the side while we are flying."

He then left. "Why did he-" Kai began.

"I was nine, we were above the ocean, and no one would stop the ship so I could go swimming. So, I jumped off the side of the ship, and swam for an hour before anyone realized. They had to turnaround and look for me, I was sitting on a nearby rock when they found me, apparently I was building a tiny house out of seaweed that I had found."