Chapter by: LillaSmolBean
~~~~~~~~~~~
No one had thought in an area like this, there would be this much light. Even as a forest being sheltered by so many leaves, it doesn't fail to show that even if alone in this place, there was always a presence.

A four-armed creature found that one out way too soon. Blinking and standing up from the ground, he looked over at his surroundings.

Crickets croaked and frogs leaped around,

leaves softly blew in the direction of the sun, the man sighed and uttered a single mutter;

"I'm in a jungle." He discovered all too dull.

He figures that he shouldn't dwell on where exactly he was. He wasn't too familiar with the places in this city despite his lineage.

He begins to walk around, pushing leaves out of his way each step he took.

He never liked forests, too much greenery and too many bugs that get in his way. He hates them, can never flick them off and having a little constant buzzing in his ears is something he doesn't want to think about.

He doesn't get very far though from where he had recovered from his paralyzed form. Abruptly stopping in his tracks, his eyes shoot open at the horrified scream coming from the distance.

His ears twitch and adjusting his helmet for his next instinct, he breaks into a sprint—

The oni lord doesn't know exactly why he wasn't running away from the sound, instead he runs towards it.

As if he was curious to know whether he was in danger or not.

Instead, he was met with a surprise on his part.

He stops again and takes in the sight,

Dirty white locks being dragged from the mossy grounds and hands, all too frail, he digging fingers into the dirt.

The individual cried out and attempted to scurry away from the grasp of, what Garmadon sees is a jungle vine.

But what shocked him the most is that he recognized who was the one in peril. Those watery pupils calling for help as well as those silver locks of hair.

He responds:

"Harumi?"

Confirming that it was in the fact the Jade princess, the oni lord growls and clenches his fists. "Dammit, not again." He mutters as he prepares himself into a sprint.

She really wasn't subtle at all, letting herself get taken like this again.

And what had happened to their training all those ages ago? He remembers how he built her from a weak young lady to a roaring warrior.

He runs after her, extending a hand forward to try and grab hold of her.

But now, the doll had found herself with dirt on her cheeks, being dragged away by a tree.

"Dammit, dammit."

The girl shouts, seeing his hand reach forward, she tries to grab his fingers.

The man narrows his eyes, running a little faster.

He wasn't letting her escape, not like this. No, he won't lose to a....troublesome tree.

Then, clutching his luck even more, he felt the touch of soft skin enveloping itself against the bare palm of his left hand. His eyes shot open.

He had finally gotten hold of the white haired girl and he feels the vine stopping—it had given him a chance to pull.

So he did, he pulled with all of his might, the white haired girl even trying to help him by kicking the trunk of the tree, demanding freedom.

The oni lord had noticed this and using his right hand, summoned beams of his familiar dark magic and had shot it at the vine holding his dear girl captive.

The vine let go of the frail girl—dropping her to the ground and disintegrate into dust at the intensity of the aura.

He sighed, pulling her closer to him and rested his chin on the back of her soft hair.

"What are you doing here?" He inquired quietly, half relieved to have found her—bad having her close to him, safe and sound.

"I could ask you the same," she chuckled pulling away from the embrace only having put her arms around him for a simple ten seconds.
"This is Strangler's path."

Sensing that she had pulled away, he shot her an unsure look and stood up from the ground. There was something off from her behaviour, why did she pull away so suddenly? Did she not want to see him again, was she not happy?

Or....

Ah, Garmadon remembers all too well what had happened several months ago.

How he took in and cared for a poser.

"You're not a clone, are you?" He asks directly, now with crossed arms. Most of the time, artificial intelligence wouldn't know how to confront someone with a question this bold. It messes up with their system somehow, because they were built intending to not question.

As for a clone, to not be caught.

However, wobbling a little as her legs had been through mild ground burn, she gave Garmadon a snarky look, clearly offended by his question.

"What?" She shot.

The man summons a dagger coated in purple gleam and advances by a single step—placing a dagger to her forearm. It surprises the white haired woman by a lot.

She doesn't move, not wanting to raise her elbow and smack him in the stomach. If she had enough energy; she would.

"I caught you now, you're a fake." Garmadon whispers, closing in with the blade.

She shakes her head and looks at him dead in the eye. "Why do you think I'm a fake?" She asks, without emotion.

"The real Harumi would never deny a hug, at least, what I know about the real Harumi is that she doesn't reject her friends and family." He placed his evidence on the table.

There was a minute of silence where Harumi simply rolled her eyes and pushed him away from her. She sighs and began walking in the opposite direction.

"The real Harumi is sometimes too tired to answer to said affection when she's just been captured by a moving tree." She points out.

Garmadon doesn't say a word, only causing Harumi to wave a hand forward to beckon him to follow her deeper into the jungle. "I have a campsite set up nearby, come with me." She invites the oni lord.

Agreeing to follow her for this meantime, Garmadon follows behind her slowly. "How did you manage to set up a campsite?" He inquires, all too curious.

Picking a stick up from the ground and giving it a good inspection, she turns around and points it at the man's chest.

"Exactly why I meant earlier about being too tired."

She then throws the stick away and continues on her path.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Arriving to a very average campsite behind two large boulders, the two individuals sat by the campfire logs. The oni lord made sure to inspect the area, looking for any substances to consume or anything that seemed useful to their survival, at least.

By the tent, he noticed a leaf-crafted basket where even more leaves and plants were stored in. He assumes it's for medicinal purposes and shrugs it off.

Turning his head back to face her, he notices Harumi pulling the bottom hem of her pants up high enough to reveal her bruised and bleeding knee.

He raises a finger, wanting to indicate that she is wounded only to have the girl dismiss him with a shake of head. "It's just a scratch." She says.

Like that was a big deal, she remembers she's had it way worse in the past.

That fight with the oni prince? Terrible. Absolutely dreadful.

"Luckily, I think these will work out just fine."
He stands up to grab the basket made of leaves and takes out a greener leaf from the basket.

Harumi reclines back, allowing him to dab the leaf onto her knee, it acted as a cotton ball to wipe the blood away. Though, she didn't prepare herself for the pain of having an object brush itself against an open wound.

Garmadon wipes the blood away, ignoring all noises she made prior to squinting his eyes at a weird goo found near the opened wound. It was of a purple substance, easily noticeable.

Ah first he thought that it was just some plants mixed with dirt, however by wiping it away with another leaf, he hums and turns.

"It's poison." He tells her. The white haired girl takes a moment to look down at her own injuries to spot the purple substance for herself.

"What is poisoned?" She asks anyways. Garmadon laughs a little at such a rhetorical question. Perhaps an ironic one as well.

He moves away from the campfire and grabs a bucket of water that he sees Harumi had collected and placed beside the tent. He brings it over close to her and dips leaves in them.

"Your leg, there's poison on it." He begins to rub the leave on the wound, intending to clean the poison out. "Guess that vine was poisonous." He hears Harumi slowly murmur.

He rinces the wound, managing to disinfect it and wrapped it cloth from an extra sweatshirt he found by the tent. "It'll be alright. You'll be fine." He says as he finishes with wrapping the makeshift bandage around her knee.

"Can you walk just fine?"

Harumi nods and stands, pulling the hem of her pants back down to cover her injured knee.
"Thank you, I can stand just fine." She thanks the red-eyed demon.

He gives an approving nod, silently telling her: "you're welcome" and his eyes quickly catch on to the lack of supplies this girl had. Sure she had a fire, a few leaves for medical support and a tent. Though, there were many other things missing.

"You haven't gotten the chance to go hunting for food?" He questions, debating whether he should go out there and do it himself.

She shakes her head, returning to her tent.
"I was out to do so, actually. But then I got attacked by that tree." She responds, sitting down then laying down her back, staring at the ceiling of the tent.

He sighs and waves—instantly causing Harumi to give him a shocked look.

"You're not going out there, are you?" She called a little worriedly.

He grins slightly, beginning to walk away from the campsite, the exact opposite of what she wanted from him. "I'll be back in a few hours, gonna get some food for us."

He alerts her and continues to walk off, pushing a few leaves out of his way. As he does so and begins looking for even a bush of wild berries, he begins forming theories that the girl he spoke to, the 'Harumi' he sees before his very eyes, isn't a clone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
About two hours in, the white haired girl shuffled in her place as she heard a thud coming from the direction of the campfire. She sits back up and tilts her head in confusion, her eyes peering nearby for any weapons and instantly cursing herself for remembering that she didn't bring one with her. 

Wondering if it was a wild boar of some sorts, she doesn't dare leave the tent, she knew she needed to act all defensive here since she clearly didn't have any ressources to attack back. All she knew was that if Garmadon wasn't back yet, she was so screwed.

Then, the bushes rattled, startling the young girl even more. She held her breath, her chest tightening and her eyes scanning all over the place for any escape route.

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

Footsteps approached her lonely little campsite.

A man with two large basses and a bucket full of berries of all varieties. Garmadon returned. Harumi released her breath and laid back down.

"You're back?" She called, as if not seeing the obvious. The man placed the food he got by the logs and nodded. "The fishes were quite easy to catch and I was fortunate to have found large ones in size." He comments.

She rolls to her side, smiling a little at his story.
"Guess we won't go hungry for tonight, yay." She jabs. Still, it didn't feel right. She acted so, aloof? As if she was so bored of him and wished for their conversations to just end already.

He decides to check on her, he feels something down there. A heartbeat of anxiety, perhaps? But then he remembers that isn't possible since he has no heart in the first place. Literally and figuratively.

"Are you alright?" He takes a seat beside her in the tent. He notices how she was turned away from him. He allows silence to fall on them before he hears her sniffle. Then again and again until it turned into light sobs.

"Are you crying?" He whispers, a little concerned in actuality. The clone was really doing it—pulling his heartstrings like this. Or maybe...this really wasn't a fake and it was the real deal?

Harumi hisses, wiping her eyes and straight up denying everything. "I'm not! I'm not...I'm just..." it didn't seem very convincing with the way she hesitated. "It wasn't meant to be like this." She growls.

Picking her up lightly, he sets her down on his knees and pulls her close. Ah, appearances can wait. What if this really was Harumi?

"If it makes you feel better, we can go on a little boat ride?" He suggests, with a smile. Now, he was enthusiastic on making her feel better because he is coming closer to the conclusion that this was his Harumi and not a clone.

A clone cannot fake emotions, right? They've gotta be genuine.

Harumi wipes her tears, lowering her chin on his shoulder as she finds how absurd that idea is. "How? We don't even have a boat." She remarks.

He gestures her to come out to the tent, to which she decides to be lenient and agrees and he brings her by the riverbank that's closest to to camp. This must be her water source, Garmadon remarks as much.

"Not a problem when you've got magical hands." He giggles and using some nearby leaves and wood logs, he manages to craft in about twenty-five minutes, a simple-looking raft for the both of them.

Astonished, Harumi joins him onto the platform and rests her head by his chest.
"How'd you do that?" She asks.

"Like I said, everything is not a problem with magical hands." He repeats, this time waving his four arms in her face to make it a little more obvious. Harumi sighs and gives a defeated smile. "Thought you meant magical powers or something." She retorts.

Garmadon shakes his head, beginning to move the boat slightly. "My powers are very limited, are you forgetting that I'm just an Oni?" He mentioned, wanting to remind her.

Well, that was fair. Everything had limitations, maybe even the First Spinjitzu Master. She sighs and shuts her eyes, easily earning the attention of the powerful man.

"Come on, I suggested we go on a boat ride and now you're sleeping?" Garmadon scoffs, adding a little more effort to the rowing. "It's not even nighttime yet."

"What time is it, then?" Insisting on napping for a little while, she yawns.

"The afternoon." He responds to their little exchange even if he's already taken the hint that it wouldn't help much. Harumi wanted to nap and she wouldn't let anyone change her mind otherwise.

She pouts. The man continues to row. Ah, this would be quite the boring boat ride, he expected it to be a little more exciting. What, with possibly Harumi thanking him for quickly making this boat for them. It wasn't like she was afraid of water and she could most definitely swim.

No worries, he could hear it after she's rested, she did seem pretty fond of staying inside of the tent though, he's noticed. She seemed all comfy and then he arrived back with their food.
He keeps his gaze ahead of him and continues to row, figuring that he should hum a little something.

'Hey I heard you are a wild one....If I took you home it'd be a home run...'

He remembered hearing that song on the radio once when he strolled around Borg tower, he remembered it ever since and Lloyd had even wondered what he was singing that day.

"Wild ones." He'd say. He didn't realize how that song had completely fit their current situation at the moment.

The next minute, he steps out of his melody and notices the young girl shifting in her nap, whimpering as she did. He frowns and places the rows down for a second. He lifts her chin up and lightly taps her cheek for her to wake up.

"Hey, are you alright?" He questions, wanting to make sure nothing was hurting with her.
Instantly feeling the tap on her left cheek, she yawns and shakes her head. Watery glass eyes and shut prim lips faced him.

"I thought about it." She gulped, earning a semi confused look from Garmadon. "I thought about that again." Then it clicked for the man.

He coos and hushes her, reminding her that what had happened that night wouldn't happen ever again and that she was in safe hands from from now on. She relaxes a little, seemingly trusting his words, the fact that she's been in a happy state ever since his absence really pushed her to believe him.

"I'll try not to think about it again, but don't blame me if it slips. It's hard..." she frowns, standing on the platform slightly to grab hold of the other row, the one he placed close to her.

Garmadon nods, "Understandable. It is in fact hard to forget about something like that." He prompts her to smile and for her to know that he was on her side this time. She does though—end up smiling back at him and begins to row.
"Thank you." She thanks the oni lord.

They continued to row, all sorts of conversation topics coming to mind. They had talked about birds at some point, they discussed their favourite breeds and Harumi had always found Indigo Buntings very adorable. Now as for the oni lord, he wasn't very fond of pets, Cloud even more so, but he's learning.

Then, it shifted from birds to Garmadon teasing the girl on her interest in his son. To which she blushed the entire way through and with stuttering clumsy words, she asked for a topic change again.

"FSM, you flustered so easily." Garmadon smirks, rowing a bit quicker. He had noticed that it had gotten a bit bumpy, the boat tossed back and forth, occasionally hitting the edges.
Harumi crosses her arms and looks away, "Shut up!" She demands him.

There weren't any exchanges between the two as Garmadon spent the last couple of minutes laughing his head off at her clear frustration.
"He—He," he gasped for breath before continuing, "He asked you to be his yang, right-" he was interrupted by the river-scented row being slapped across his cheeks.

"Shut up, I said!!" Harumi yelled, her cheeks flaring deeper than a signal flare.

Calming down from his clear high, Garmadon lays back and puts the row down, allowing the boat to travel without support, they were already going pretty fast anyways.

Maybe...a little too fast.

The two stop for a second, just listening in. There was something unusual by the sounds of these waves, more water dripped down and it became louder currents, no longer they were in soft waters so that meant...

"Waterfall!" Harumi points out, having stood up from the platform, she was quick to see the end of the river.
~~~~~~~~~
Being an oni, he had unnatural and rather impressive senses. His hearing was enhanced and his speed was quicker than a cheetah. "Hold on!" He gasps at the white haired girl and uses one of his arms to grab onto her waist. Then, before the boat would be devoured by the tides, he flings them off, the oni having enough strength to jump out of the both.

He lands on the grass, his helmet having fallen off. He rubs the back of his head and sighs.
"That was a close one..." he picks his headgear back up and proudly placed it back on his head before then noticing Harumi wasn't beside him.

His mind's alarms went off again.

He began the search, calling out her name and standing up from the ground. "Harumi?" He calls a second time.

Luckily for him, the investigation ended all too soon as the runaway princess didn't get very far away.

"I'm over here!" He hears the white haired girl screech from above him.

At first he was curious as to how he could hear a voice from above but it became self-explanatory when he lifted his head up. He spotted a hand dangling down from a tree branch. He holds back a laugh.

Maybe he underestimated his own strength for a second. Too strong, yeah he was too strong.

"Please just get me down from here." She begged, growing tired from just holding onto a rainforest tree branch like this. Garmadon nods and stands back, then, he opened his arms out. "Honestly, you could just jump, you know?" He says, a little unimpressed to how she didn't think of it sooner.

Harumi stared at him in abject confusion and mild horror. She was more embarrassed than scared at this point. He had a point, it was just a jump. She's landed on concrete surfaces before and the difference this time was that the ground were leaves, thus a pillow to land on. Though..."Into your arms?! No way, I'm not a small child anymore!" She makes a scene.

He rolls his eyes. "Do you want to get down or not?" He questioned, a very good point. If she willing to play stubborn and peppy, she would never get down from there.

Gulping, the white haired girl shuts her eyes and lets go of the branch she was holding on.
The man instantly catches her and makes sure her feet doesn't touch the ground—else she'd be stunned in place and probably be in loads of pain.

She huffs, "I did it..." she looked proud of her accomplishment.

But it wouldn't be so easy.

She screeches as she feels herself go weightless as Garmadon lifted her up even more to toss her into the riverbank. "And now in you go!" He chuckled.

"Ahh!" She props her head out of the water, luckily, he aimed right and didn't throw her off from the waterfall. Instead, she came out of the shallow end and trembled in place. "You're a jerk." She spat.

He laughed wholeheartedly. "That's what you get for being a big baby." He then proceeds to wrap an arm around her freezing form. "I'll get a fire set up and we could eat lunch." He reassures her.

"Yeah we better or else I'll seriously attack you.." she grumbles, letting her guard down for a second to attempt and warm herself up for the rest of the road.

That's how the rest of the evening was spent. He wrapped the torn sweatshirt around her for her to dry up. They sat by the now lit campfire and enjoyed a lively conversation over cooked bass and wild berries for desert. He felt like even if he knew Harumi, he learned many new things about her and really, just had a wonderful time.

What he didn't expect though on his "wonderful bonding session" was to have the princess disappear on him the next morning as he awoke.
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A/N: Hi hi welcome to a brand new arc here in Reconciled hearts! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and a happy new year. What did you all receive?, share in the comments! I'm interested to hear what everyone got!

I've been reading loads of manga and Japanese literature that my writing style changed a lot, haha. No longer are they paragraphs of text, more-like one-liners now. I think it'll be a mix of my old writing and my new one, either way, I'm content. I hope you guys enjoy what story me and Jdizzle are planning to tell!