No one knew where the dark lord ended up strolling around to. He told his most trusted guards that he'd just leave for several minutes and stroll out by himself but ever since that past hour, he hasn't returned. In that case, Garmadon found himself in a complete scrapyard. What he was looking at could be a mystery to those who weren't close enough however, "Hmmm..." the dark oni lord stared down at the cracked sight below him. A cold and empty husk, that's what he was looking at. The man walked circles around the dead corpse peacefully placed on the ground, the victim didn't open their eyes since then.

"Such a burden." Garmadon sighed, inspecting Lloyd's body even more. There were bruises- okay maybe a bit too much but who was he to care? "If he was more careful, this wouldn't have happened to him." He whispered in contempt.
Yet an aching barrier prevented him from feeling immense satisfaction towards his kill. What was it? he wonders. Garmadon stayed still with an indifferent nor remorseful expression on his skin before he growled in frustration. "What's going, really?" He questioned to himself, feeling guilt build up inside of him. "Why am I feeling like this, why—why—" a pair of arms cupped his forehead. The man lowered himself to his knees as he kept his blood-red eyes on the body of his dead son.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dad, I completed my training for today. Sensei Wu said it was alright if took my break starting from today." A middle-aged Lloyd sat down near his father on the monastery's gazebo. It was a place that Sensei Garmadon often went to when he was in need to just collect his thoughts, or escape reality per say. The man dressed in grey and dark green, stared up at the skies. A beautiful blue that could rival against Jay's gi, no clouds and an abondant amount of sunlight. One could call it a perfect day here in Ninjago city.

"Is that so? Good job son, you did well." Garmadon heard the voice of his son get closer to him. The man opened his eyes and glanced to find himself staring at his sunshine. Lloyd was smiling at him gently albeit a bit confused to what he was looking at. "Whoops, did I interrupt? What were you looking at, father?" Lloyd attempted to stare upwards like he was, he caught on that Garmadon's posture was slightly different than a normal sitting stance. He was more leaned and he kept his hands on the benches. Lloyd tried to copy that same position however, he needed to know exactly where his father's eyes laid on. Was it the clear blue sky? When his green pupils tried looking that way, "Ah!" A startled gasp escaped his lips and his eyes immediately shut on instinct.

From his side, Garmadon chuckled softly. "That's why son, you don't look directly at the sun. The place where you see will eventually burn and your vision will fade forever." He advised him and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. Lloyd earned chills from that, no one could blame him, his father said it straight to the point and didn't even spare him from the potential consequences that one would earn if they looked at the sun too much. Though, that's when he had to ask. "What were you looking at, really? The sun too?" He inquired. Garmadon nodded without much thought.

"Aha! I'm glad I stopped you then! In that case, you might have burned your eyes out!" Lloyd giggled as if he was still the small rebellious child Garmadon remembered. The man shut his eyes again at Lloyd's outburst of pride. A bit heroic-like, he thinks. But that's what Lloyd is, and he couldn't be more proud. His little angel will become Ninjago's saviour and he will save everyone from despair. "But the sun is a beautiful thing, just like life. Savour it." His father advised him. There was a brief silence between them before Lloyd shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I'll try it then." He said, a bit unsure. His eyes stared back at the sun, without looking directly at it. Perhaps a bit more to the east than directly faced it centre-pill. "Yeah, the sun really is pretty even if it's a burning sphere." Lloyd observed. But Garmadon shushed him, "I'm sure you'll find the right compliments when you're older."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lloyd asked. Garmadon sighed at that, oh no, here comes the real talk. "Oh you know, nothing much. I was just saying that if you perhaps found the perfect match for you-" his father was interrupted by Lloyd's immediate screeching. "Huh?!!!!" His cheeks flushed pink all of a sudden, it was almost amazing how a boy's heart could skip a beat like that. Garmadon laughed and rubbed his back in content. It seemed he enjoyed his son's reaction. "I told you, you'll understand when you get older!" He chuckled once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garmadon tightly shut his eyes. No, he shouldn't remember about those times. Despite being an evil warlord, he still had blurry memories of his past life, before he was summoned back in this menacing state. Once he reopened them, he felt his peace and quiet be interrupted for FSM knows what. It was like an echoing screech, Garmadon took a few minutes to realize what the commotion was. It was an echoing screech coming from the back of him. The old man let out a breathy growl, he turned around to meet the gaze of three SOG guards. "Oh what is it this time?" He questioned, albeit wanting the time to himself to continue for just a bit longer.

Guess not, for his attention was quickly stolen from him. The three SOG guards seemed nervous and they had remarkable bruises and scratches on their arms and legs. Their hair was disastrous and they looked more than fatigued. "I said, what happened?" Garmadon prompted, although more harshly than the guards intended him to be. Whatever this topic was, it was a hard one, Garmadon guessed that since no one was willing to speak up. "Well you see...um...sir.." the one standing in the middle of the three, sheepishly started. His breath hitched and he felt all sickly all of a sudden. Garmadon stood there, arms-crossed. As if throwing daggers to the guards' faces, "Speak."
The three SOG guards among themselves before they all took a deep breath.
"Well see, my lord, it's Harumi.." the one in the middle continued speaking.
Then without warning, the guard by the left side exclaimed: "She's gone!"

The dark lord's eyes widened. Now these three guards could see how menacing he looked in this mood. Bloodshot red eyes were now willingly glaring at the guards. The three looked intimidated by the dark lord, yet who wouldn't be?
Garmadon began walking forward in the direction of the Borg tower, their hideout. The guards looked at him curiously, was he going to struck a major blow on them? "Um...what are you doing now, my lord?" They all asked, a hint of fear and oblivion rising up inside of their measly heads. Then, Garmadon told them: "Out of my way." He clutched a fist and there sparked a dark purple aura, surrounding his fist entirely. The three guards stepped back, "Um!!!" They gave frightened looks. But Garmadon struck before they can move out of the way. The guards were now collapsed on the ground and defeated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The white haired girl ran along the corridors, dodging every obstacle in store for her. This was a chase after all, flippant SOG guards all behind her screaming: "Get her!" Yet they weren't doing anything to stop her dead in her tracks. For example, no one bothered to throw an object that would potentially make her trip if she wasn't careful. These guards are so stupid, no one she feels self pity whenever she has to watch over them when she was still associated with Garmadon. Though, she'll have to give it to them, if it weren't for their idiocy, she wouldn't be this close to escaping.

Harumi's eyes were as sharp as a snake's this instant. Actively, she searched for escape routes. From her time running in these hallways, she could only find two. The first was to try jumping out of the second floor's window. It could be saved as a last resort, who knows how high the ground is from the second floor? The latter was to keep running and use the main entrance back on floor 1. Then again, this could be called the "stalling method" since she was technically giving time to both herself and the SOG guards behind her to think. But there was difference between the two, one of them would use their time to think carefully while the others would just act before thinking. "Come on Rumi, think. You need to get back to the resistance..." she told herself in a mutter.

Finally, after minutes of running, she finally reached the elevator, it would lead her to the first floor. Now some would think that taking the elevator was a bad idea during a chase like this. But she had other plans actually. Rumi rushed inside of the elevator and almost annihilated the button that allowed her to close the doors. When the doors closed on the arms of the SOG guards, the former jade princess felt herself collapse to the ground for a second. "Ah....Why do I keep taking these risks...?" She laughed breathlessly. After running for a good half an hour without pauses, it could be quite exhausting. But no, she couldn't rest now, she had to complete step 2 of her grand escape.

Carefully, she lifted her sore from the elevator's ground and found herself gazing at the outside world. Right, the elevator was surprisingly built outside of the building entirely. No one understood why Garmadon demanded builders to build it this way but now that she thinks about it, it was a dreadful mistake. Who knew that months ago, Garmadon could technically an accomplice to her escape? Harumi stood on the railings and without hesitation, she pounded upwards to knock the trapdoor of the small box's ceiling open. Her fist pounded though the metallic hatch and she saw how the hatch fell back down but now, there was a visible hole, clear for her to leave through. "Alright...way to go me.." she gave herself a round of applause for that one.

But she shouldn't stall here for too long, the SOG might be waiting downstairs for her. She had to be quick. Harumi took a deep breath before she jumped up again and found herself almost clinging on. Her eyes widened, alright maybe she timed her jump a bit too quickly. But who cares, she was still technically up, if the strength in her arms provided her assistance, she may as well get out of this prison alive. She could finally see her family's faces again and hear so much from them. "I can't give up.." she growled to herself, still attempted to pull herself up. Her arms were so sore just from punching that hatch off, she doesn't know if she'll be able to get up in time. "Come on.."

The elevator doors opened. There were five SOG guards waiting downstairs on the first floor. "We've got you now—" one guard claimed pridefully before the doors opened to reveal no one there. A young guard boy behind him stepped in the elevator and observed how the hatch was placed directly in the centre of the lift. His eyes only had one place to look. "Ah well, she escaped." The boy said, looking upwards and his eyes met with the blue skies. The guard, who seemed to be the leader among the five growled in frustration. "Where could she have gone?! We cannot let emperor Garmadon know that she escaped!" He panicked. However, "But Morrofang, you let Buckettooth, Sharkleg and Meatbone tell the emperor an hour ago. They might have found him already." The young boy mentioned their faults. Harumi was escaping and they were doing nothing about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harumi leaped off the lift moments before the guards had access to the elevator's empty state. She found refuge in the bushes to regain her breath. "That was close...stepped out too late and they would have found my legs sticking out." She was laying down on the green plant, her face flushed in red.
Harumi was severely exhausted, sure she escaped but she still needed to find someone she was familiar with. Ultra Violet, Killow, Mr. E, Nya..."I really need Lloyd right now..." she shut her eyes and thought for a second. She still couldn't believe that the green ninja was..actually dead. Sure Garmadon told her rudely to her face that he was no longer with them. But even if the dark lord was telling the truth, she must fight. "The resistance never quits.." she said and stepped out of the bush.

Harumi began walking off from Borg tower, checking behind her at all times before finally, she was exposed to the streets. Coast is clear, that's good. She began to run off towards the half destroyed apartments by the south. But before she can cross the road, she spotted a figure waiting for her on the other side. Rumi was stopped dead in her tracks, she was met with cold red eyes. "Oh FSM.." she cursed unwillingly. Here was the man she least wanted to encounter with throughout her escape. Lord Garmadon was slowly making his way towards the white haired girl, who immediately ran the other direction when she saw him coming even closer to her. "Where do you think you're going?" He inquired, his speed-walking turned into effortless sprints.

"No get away from me! I won't let you come any closer!" She screamed at him, desperately trying to run away from the Oni. Sadly for her, Garmadon had other plans. That was involved along the lines of: "No prisoners are meant to escape." Swiftly, the man ran in front of her and stopped her without hesitation.
Harumi didn't have a choice but to halt herself. If she acted quickly enough, she could get past him. But she couldn't have anticipated all four of his fists coming down to collide with that pretty little head of hers. "Oh but who said you could tell me what to do?" He smiled at her, watching her small body falling limb on the sidewalks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nya watched how the white haired girl was desperately clinging onto the ladder. "That's good enough, just a few more minutes. Try climbing higher up." The water ninja encouraged. Harumi was currently almost at the top, clinging on the ladder of a flying bounty. She let out startled yelps whenever the ship took a drastic turn for mere moments. "I don't know how this will help me in the future!" She cried out, after the ship swiftly took a left. Killow was the one driving the ship as asked by Nya. The water ninja giggled at the white haired girl's question. "You may need it. After all, this is nothing compared to the training Sensei Wu gives us." She tells Rumi without remorse.

The white haired girl shook her head before one hand of hers was recoiled from the rope ladder. "Nope! Can't do it! Killow stop the ship!" Harumi commanded from up here. However, Nya laughed teasingly before turning to the ship's pilot and said to him: "Killow, no, stop." Since she was the one that handled today's training, she called the shots in authority. Killow, nodded again Nya's request and didn't stop the ship, only went faster, however he made sure not to use up too much fuel. Harumi grumbled unwillingly, "Ugh I hate you..." she sighed disappointed. She had no one choice but to let go of the ladder. That's the choice life gave her at the moment anyways. If she didn't let go herself, she would grow even more tired and let go of the rope. "Okay, move out of the way! I'm coming down!" She shouted from atop.

Harumi let go of the rope and her small body fell from the high skies. She turned over, resulting in a front flip and landed on her legs instead of on her head. One hand was down on the plank when she landed, to support her legs from impact. Taking atleast fifteen seconds to recover from her exhausting battle against the rope ladders, she huffed at Nya. "Please, can we never do that again? It's merely useless!" She complained, flat out tired. But Nya shook her head. "It's your first time, atleast I have an idea you don't have any arm muscles.." she began to walk off, still smiling at Rumi. Hearing that, Harumi just wanted to jab at the water ninja for such words. "Oh I do!" She retorted while running after her, albeit a bit slower since she was still recovering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour from Rumi's attempted escape now and Garmadon was currently in the tower's recovery room. Usually, many guards patrolling the city would get injured by angry citizens so they would go here to snatch a bandaid or two.
The man however, didn't intend coming here in the first place but here he was now, inspecting the massive bruise he caused on the white haired girl. Minor injuries but they weren't something to just walk off at. Carefully, he wrapped a bandage around her right eye, where a clear pourpre coloured bruise lies. There were scratches on her arms, for when he tried dragging her up the stairs. Then there was dust all over her clothes, he might have to clean them.

Why did he decide to do this? Frankly, Garmadon doesn't know. Guilt or he just felt like it? He doesn't know for sure. But what he can say right now is that he's aiding his prisoner's injuries. Perhaps he shouldn't have knocked her out in the first place because that was a major blow he did back there. What if she never wakes up? In a panic, Garmadon lowered his head down to the small human's chest. She was in fact breathing, that relieves him. Ah no, he shouldn't be relieved about this at all, was his heart softening up? What was going on? "She tried to escape only to wind up in this fate. She deserves it, get a grip." He thought to himself as one of his four arms extend to grab a bottle of alcohol. One of the scratches on Rumi's cheeks started bleeding so he needed to disinfect it first.

But to his surprise, he couldn't find the bottle on the counter. Funny, it was always there, unless someone moved it without his knowledge. Dumb guards, the dark lord knew it was one of them. The man clicked his tongue in annoyance and stormed off towards the cabinets right above the counter.
He attempted to open one of them and get a fresh bottle of alcohol from there. Though, the man felt himself halting from grabbing the bottle. "Eh..." he stared down at a small framed picture set down on the counter.

It was a picture of his prisoner and his dead son, smiling happily. Garmadon didn't know what it was but something about this picture. He felt an uneasy feeling boiling in his heart. The more he looked into the blonde's eyes, the more his prideful smile dropped to a frown. "You shouldn't be feeling anything." Garmadon told himself before slashing the picture frame down to the ground. The glass protecting the pictured memory shattered almost instantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was sundown now when the prisoner woke up in chains once more. Ah, so she didn't end up escaping after all. What happened? Harumi sat up from her laying posture and looked around. Still, the same cold basement, things were getting absolutely boring. But that was a good thing since that increased Harumi's desperation and determination to get out of here. "Tell me Lloyd, how are you feeling?" She muttered, her eyes daring to shut any minute now.

She felt so numb, yet no response came. The white haired girl attempted to brush tears away from her eyes, so he really was dead right? "If there's no body..." she growled, almost hissing in boredom. "Then there's still hope.." she continued, trying to get closer to the door. Of course, this was all to no avail. The white haired girl collapsed on her stomach and winced, her injuries still hurt. Not to mention her right eye's vision was temporarily blocked for now. It should heal in a few hours or days. "Lloyd..." she called weakly. She needed saving, she needed to see him again. Where ever he was.

Before Harumi could doze off for the fifth time this second, the door opened rather calmly from all the times she was approached. It was Garmadon and it seemed like he was carrying a bag. FSM, if it was food, he wouldn't bother giving it to her. It's not like she was famished anyways. In fact, she wasn't in the mood to eat, how many hours has it been? "Hello there." Garmadon called out to her and set the bag down near the doorframe.

Harumi hissed, she raised her guard up. "What do you want? What's in that bag?" She questioned. It was hilarious to Garmadon how she wanted to get to the point. He ignored her question and just stepped closer to her. The white haired girl had given up on getting away from him to guard her territory. She couldn't win against him anyways. "You're awfully quiet today.." he hummed neutrally. But Rumi said: "I'm saving my energy, thank you." She spat. Saving her energy huh? That's pathetic, at this point, it seemed she had none left. Harumi should have acknowledged that days ago. "Energy? So what? You can run off again? I didn't like that by the way." Garmadon replied.

The prisoner chuckled hatefully. "Why? Did I interrupt your afternoon stroll?" She shot back at him. In fact, she wasn't sure if she was too interested in memorizing Garmadon's daily routine, though, she had to keep in mind that it would be useful. When she's out of these chains, she could perhaps poison his beverages at a certain time or even lock him in a room temporarily. "Not a stroll, no. Perhaps an investigation." The dark lord responded. At that, Rumi raised an eyebrow. "What kind of investigation, if I may ask?" She was truly curious now. But not like she cared. Maybe if she knew what he's after, she could use it to sabotage it out of spite.

"I saved you a sample, it's in that bag." Garmadon gleamed over your the large garbage bag sitting calmly by the doorframe. Harumi glanced away. "Show me, I'd love to see it." She demanded from him. However, Garmadon shook his head, "Ah but it's heavy. Get it yourself." He answered lazily. Rumi hissed, was he that ignorant? Could he not have noticed that she was bound in chains? She even did the effort to lift her small frail hands up to show him in the handcuffs. But Garmadon laughed and nodded at the clear hint that Rumi gave him. "I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in a body." He claimed, a huge smile appearing on his lips.

A what...?

Harumi's eyes dilated in shock when she heard that. A real monster, huh? A real one. Sure Garmadon was relentless in getting what he wants. But messing with a victim he killed after he killed them? That just made her sick. "What...do you mean?" Her voice became shaky, tears spilled down. Oh please mental image no, please don't be who she thinks it is in the bag. Garmadon grinned even more when he noticed Harumi's reaction.
"See, that's what weak about you, Harumi. You think you're all right and just whenever you speak to defend hope and happiness. But deep down, you're completely oblivious to everything and that's bad. It makes you vulnerable to the facts of the world." He started and walked towards the bag.

Harumi almost winced when she saw a head come out from the almost opened bag. Mental image deceived her for she saw one of her worst fears. She thought she'd be ready but here she was screeching and sobbing. Garmadon threw down the half opened bag and the head of her dead lover was peeking out. "What in Ninjago do you think you're doing?!" She screamed and brought her hands to cover her face. Garmadon was stil, in the room but who cared if she broke his ears. At this moment, Harumi only wanted to wail.
~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N Hiya guys! LillaSmolBean here and thank you for reading this chapter of Reconciled hearts! If you enjoyed, please leave a vote and comment down below your thoughts! Now that Harumi has discovered the truth, what do you think Garmadon will do to use that to his advantage? You're just a great father, Garm. Really. Wow. Anyways, that's the end of My A/N, Short I know! But I'll see you all later, I'm lacking ideas for an A/N haha. Cya later!