Time didn't exist in his mind, as long as she was locked within his sights, he could feel himself stare at the gates of time and space without even knowing. It had gotten to the point though where the lovely guest has found themselves becoming somewhat uncomfortable.

She didn't say anything at first, too nervous to kill off any first impressions. But having a total stranger stare at her for minutes on end, it was not only infuriating, but also mildly terrifying. The girl shuddered a little before distancing herself from the green ninja.

Noticing the distance, Lloyd snapped out of his thoughts—no, more like interested and helpless daze. Did he do something wrong? Was she annoyed by him not saying anything? Lloyd gave an embarrassed whine and turned his head a little to avoid eye contact from the stranger. Looks, he can avoid, but not questions. Therefore the girl asked him:

"Um, you've been staring for quite a while, are you alright?" She questioned, not daring to close the distance back between them after seeing that he is completely harmless. The green ninja sighed, wishing to not respond, were there already opinions being built about him?

Turning back to face the girl, he reached his hand out for her to shake, "My name is Lloyd Garmadon, well...Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon. How about you?" He introduced himself, it was only right, he was being as polite as he could. Not only that, but he felt that it was obligatory.
However, he was taken aback when the girl reluctantly gave him and to his question.

The dark brown haired girl smiled at him briefly, her ponytails shaking a little as she moved her head to face him. Then, with a delicate and soft voice, Lloyd could have believed he was speaking to an angel.
"Mirage, my name is Mirage Leviathan." She surprisedly replied kindly. Now, Lloyd couldn't help but let out another sigh to that, this time, showing sign of how content he was with her name being revealed to him.

Mirage, raising a brow, was certain at some point that Lloyd wasn't really doing too well. Too much silence between them and that look—the one that he keeps giving her. One with so much interest and...admiration, was it? Mirage smiled a little and turned her head back. "What? Did you want to know what my name was the entire time? Were you too shy to ask?" She chuckled a little.

Jumping a little, Lloyd, "No! That's not it! I just...I just realized that I haven't invited you back inside the bounty. It's the boat up there, we can talk! You must be cold out here!" half-panicked. He didn't know what to say exactly and he knew all too well that the pigtail-wearing girl was perfectly fine out here. It wasn't like a rainstorm was coming their way or the clouds were going to cover the sun anytime soon.
An instinct really, he would blurt out any word in order to get out of this terrifying situation.

But it got even more terrifying for him, just a little second. He saw how Mirage turn her back again from him and step away from him, his heart sank a little. He watched her retreating figure as she approached the noodle truck parked in the distance. Mirage brought a hand up to wave at him, not directly turning her head to face him. "You're funny Lloyd but I'll be off for now. Maybe we can talk on your flying boat next time. It is impressive though." She giggled.

Just that little bit of validation, made his heart beat again. Just a second ago, it was sinking in an ocean of mixed feelings, yet it was back up in the surface. Starting to walk off from her, Lloyd smiled to himself, a loving and validated smile. He would see her again, wouldn't he? He was excited, he really was. When will their next meeting be?

Walking away as the truck was being started, Lloyd knew that him returning to the bounty after a long while will be suspicious. He needed to hurry, but he couldn't help but walk slowly, he needed to make sure that Mirage drove away safely.

Arriving back onto the bounty, he caught a glance of the exact noodle truck driving away in the distance. Lloyd pressed himself against the railings, the same dorky lovestruck smile appearing back on his lips. "Till we meet again.." he muttered.
With Lloyd coming back and not greeting the others immediately, it caused suspicion to rise within his comrades.

The ninjas including Skylor made their way onto the deck, raising a brow at their team's leader. They didn't exactly know how to react except mutter comments between one another. It was strange to see their leader...so out of line. What was going through his mind?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A little time passed by since Lloyd came back, approximately two. He didn't move an inch and Ultra Violet stepped into broad daylight in utter confusion. She didn't forget any of the conversations they had the other day and she truly anticipated on ignoring him this time.

'Oh please let there be someone else..' she secretly begged in her mind, not wanting to speak to Lloyd on her own again. Her eyes narrowed as she turned her head to glance to the left, away from Lloyd completely. At that, she found Killow staring off in the distance as he sat on the boat's steps. Ultra smiled a little and made her way over to him.

Waving at him and sitting down beside him, "Yo Killow, Been awhile, hasn't it?" She mentioned. They haven't had a proper conversation in so long, it's been weeks. Both of them had been busy, either Ultra was comforting Harumi in her period of uncertainty while Killow mainly stayed with Mr.E down below into Ninjago city. The two didn't see each other much, but remained pretty good friends.

The orange-coded general smiled back at her and moved a little to give her a bit of space onto the steps. "Oh it has, what have you been up to anyways? The bounty is nothing big compared to the underground subways." He cheered, laughing a little as well. "Why don't you join me and Mr.E? We used to do so everyday." He casually mentioned.

Ah yes, he and the android would frequently spend their days out of the resistance's drama and instead bike around the streets of Ninjago city. Childish behaviour, if you asked Ultra but, she would be lying if she said she didn't miss the fun of riding a motorbike again. His offer tempted her, it really really did.
But she knew that she simply couldn't run away from her team's problems, no, she couldn't leave Harumi.

Apologetically, Ultra shook her head, much to the disbelief of the orange-coded big man. "Nah Killow, can't, ya know?
Gotta keep Rumi on her feet, can't have my girl fall for a jerk like that again." She made an excuse. As Harumi'a best friend, she needed to put aside her own interests for a little while in order to put her back on track. There's a whole reality in her hands and at the moment, she's been nothing but betrayed by the one she loves the most.

Killow nodded in understanding before he was interrupted by a little casual reminder by his talking partner. "Yo so like, we're cool though right?" Ultra started, not jumping to further topics, not until she earned validation from her friend. At that, Killow gave a confused expression, what did she mean by 'cool'? "We've always been cool, haven't we?" He responded.
Ultra nodded but brought a hand up.

"Yeah but I mean Harumi. You best believe her, she's our friend. Plus, we know her Killow, she would never hurt anyone in actuality unless they've done something wrong. That's our Quiet Boss, for ya." She snickered a little, but still remained rather nervous on the topic itself. Killow nodded without a doubt, of course he believed Harumi and not Lloyd. Of course he believed that she wouldn't betray anyone, not even her own friends.

With the both of them agreeing with one another, Killow and Ultra Violet smiled at each other. They were rather glad that they had their stories straight and are allied with 'the right party', so it being their boss over the troublesome green ninja.
Speaking of the two, Killow glanced around the ship for a bit, examining his surroundings and spotted the blonde.

But not only was the blonde there, staring off in the distance with a loving and kind smile. Killow was pretty confused to who exactly the boy could be thinking about.
Family, significant other that could possibly not be Harumi? It seemed to him that he wanted nothing to do with the white haired princess. Though back on the topic, Killow was a bit surprised to not only see Lloyd there, but Harumi as well.

She had dreamy eyes and was staring at the other side of the bounty, so none of them were aware of the other's presence.
Killow and Ultra Violet glanced at each other in complete confusion. Therefore, to hopefully earn some answers out of the two of them, the two ex-generals called over Lloyd, wanting to speak to him.

"Hey Lloyd! C'mere for a sec!" Ultra yelled out at him with an unpleasant sneer, she didn't really want to speak to him but if it would explain why he was giving off that look...Ah, they received no response either way. They watched as Lloyd dizzily moved away from his spot, almost as if he was fluttering his way back into his room.
Return to his room, he didn't.

The green ninja smacked his head on the main mast, earning the attention of Ultra Violet, Killow and Mistaké, who was passing by. The two ex-generals were a little surprised that Harumi didn't hear it despite the loud noise, could it be that she was too caught up in her whatever she was thinking about?

Lloyd simply laughed it off and continued to make his way over to...no, he was going below deck, completely forgetting about his trip to his room. The encounter with the pole shook his mind a little and sent him to a destination that he never wanted to go in the first place. Upon watching him leave, Mistaké raised a brow and turned over to Ultra and Killow.

"My goodness, have you seen young Master Lloyd?" She showed a sigh of concern over the events that happened earlier. The two ex-generals shrugged, not really knowing how to properly react nor say anything to what had just happened.
It didn't take long for the rest of the crew to come on deck, having heard the noise. It was a pretty painful bump but Loyd returned unscattered.

"Um guys, have you seen Lloyd?" Kai casually strolled onto the deck, looking both ways and seemed absolutely confused. Ultra Violet nodded, even rolling her eyes at this point, "Who didn't?" A sarcastic question, really. She just wanted to get to the bottom of this. Kai sighed and brought his hands up in frustration, pushing a strand of his hair behind his ears.

"Would you look at him, he's so clumsy and stupid-looking, we could have guessed he had been hit by a truck!" He complained, seeing to have proven a good point. Lloyd did seem that way and he definitely didn't pay attention to his surroundings anymore. Killow laughed at that and reluctantly nodded along with the idea. "Bahaha, so you're suggesting his face looks dumb?"

The black ninja nodded before stepping up to continue the conversation. "I mean guys, he's been like this ever since he came back, any idea on what had happened?" He suggested for everyone to begin thinking about possible ideas on what could have happened to Lloyd.
That is until Zane suggested a little something with a big smile on his own metallic lips.

"Maybe it had something to do with the noodle truck. He could have got hit by one." Even if Zane was the smartest on the team, everyone knew he was joking on that one. It couldn't possibly be, right?
~~~~~~~~~~~
By nightfall, everyone was pretty much all asleep. Giving the two former lovers something to think about through the night, with Lloyd's mind clouded in a mirage and Harumi was thinking about her friend Collin. The only one who wasn't asleep was of course, the dark lord. Sleep is for the weak, he would go by.

Therefore, to spend his nice night, he strolled over out from his room and towards the white haired princess'. Perhaps they can talk things through even more? About her reckless plan with Collin the other day, he was still disappointed in her for that. Ah, Garmadon stops in his tracks, he realized for a second that he really started to sound like a father towards the white haired girl, hm?

Arriving to her room, Garmadon didn't knock, he knew that Harumi was asleep and she wouldn't necessarily hear him. But as a smile formed on his lips and he opened the door, "Harumi, how are you feeling?" He whispered those words, only wanting to come check up on her for the night. But his smile fell instantly when he noticed the lights on and no sign of Harumi at all.

Panic rose within the oni lord and he immediately ran out of the small lit room.
"Harumi?" He called out from the halls, making sure to be as quiet as he could.
But his footsteps were anything but silent, he rushed all around, on deck, into the kitchen, even the control room. She was nowhere to be found, he soon concluded that she wasn't on the bounty at all. Where could she possibly be and what happened?

Returning back to her room after deciding that he wanted to search for her, he tried to look for any clues that she might have left behind. Humans, that's what they were, clumsy in their work and can never be perfect masterminds. Garmadon searched around, from Cloud's puppy bed towards the girl's own bed. Even checking the sides for any paperwork or torn apart diary notes. All he found were weapons and Garmadon was glad in the slightest.

When you are in a team with powerful beings, such as elemental masters and onis, having weapons by the side of your bed was a great sign, at least you knew that you needed to protect yourself at some point. But Garmadon stood back up from the mattress and looked around some more. He thought that his search would last for ages but it all came to a halt when he accidentally bumped onto her vanity, allowing the drawer to fall to the ground.

"What's this?" The oni lord bent over towards the fallen drawer and noticed that the screws holding it together was loose, he chuckled a little and brought a hand to push his helmet back a little. "She certainly needs to repair this when I find her." He commented on the furniture's uncanny state before bringing his eyes to the contents inside of them. Ah, he wasn't so observant, he would have passed the pieces of paper inside the drawer.

One of his arms grabbed onto the paper and took it out, his eyes widened a little as he realized that the other half of the sheet of paper fell to the ground, revealing that the paper was longer than it seemed. "A folded map?" He questioned, using his other hand to hold the paper horizontally.
He shook his head, ready to correct himself in a few seconds. No, it was no ordinary map, first of all, the paper was blue and the Borg Tower was carefully drawn on it. With the insides and everything, all labelled and every room added.

"No, this is blueprints to..." his eyes shifted from the ground floor of the drawn-out tower to the little message at the top of the map. He froze for a second and didn't have time to read out loud what was on it. With a frustrated groan, he dropped the map and ran out of the room, forgetting to pack any weapons. He told her not to do it, he told her, he TOLD HER. Yet, she insisted on going ahead to fulfill what the blueprints said. These were the blueprints for "Operation: Plan to save a friend".
~~~~~~~~
Rather quickly did he understand what to do, Garmadon wasn't one to be sneaky, he'd rather take on the enemy himself but knowing his situation and the enemy's questionable strength, Garmadon was forced to take the sewers. Hoping down from the Bounty and landing on the rooftop of their makeshift base building, he easily spotted where the nearest manhole was. Therefore, he chose to jump down from there and fall inside of it.

The trip wasn't pleasant at all, practically crawling at the very start in order to get inside but once he kicked down the rusty chained gates, he was in. He stood up from his crawling position and practically sprinted towards his destination. He memorized Ninjago's layout pretty well, so finding Borg Tower would be no problem for him. Not only that, he is an oni. If he ever got lost, he could just use his incredible sense of smell and locate his destination from there.

He could hear and smell them, the guards.
From above him as he ran down the smelly corridors and avoided the green seas filled with garbage, he knew he was getting closer to Borg Tower, 'closer to Harumi', he thought. It was incredible that he was able to pass so many guards without being stopped in the slightest. Of course, he knew very well that the oni guards from above could sense him approaching but he didn't spot anybody chasing after him from behind him. So that was a good thing for now.

He couldn't be too lucky though, he knew that these missions never worked like that. He braces himself for the worst, what had happened to Harumi though? Did she run out of luck as well? He soon found his escape a few streets away from the entrance of the tower itself. No worries, he won't be going that way. He jumped out from the manhole and prepared to find the nearest window. Garmadon was determined to find her again and bring her back home.

He soon reached the side of the building, ignoring the guards guarding the front and he rolled his eyes, taking a leap up in the skies. He took hold of the moving lift and he tried to look for Harumi through the windows. His vision was very limited from the current angle he was in but...

"P-Please...that's too tight, I can h-hardly breathe.." he heard the soft sobs and whines of a woman, no merely a girl.
Garmadon knew he found her, but which window...come on sight, don't fail now..

"Don't be so stubborn now~" The oni snickered and carefully turned Harumi around to zipper up her blouse a bit more carefully now. The white haired girl responded in a small whimper and she covered her eyes, not wanting to look at the oni dressing her up from behind. "Please...please..I-I had enough.." she begged, a pitiful plea to be left alone. Whatever had happened, anyways.

The oni shook his head and looked down to notice that her skirt was properly put on. He clicked his tongue in disgust and looked away for a second. "Really, you're a pain, Harumi. You were able to give in at the end and enjoy the night yet you can't even dress yourself up." He sighed in mild frustration before lowering himself and fixing her skirt.

The princess bit her lips and forced herself not to react to someone bringing her hands that low—she hated this, hated every second of this. But instead of lashing out at them, she trembled and shut her eyes from view. "I-I'm sorry..." having not more strength to bark out at the oni who was helping her out, she allowed the assistance.

Finishing up with her, the oni sighed once more and made his way to the door, he opened it and took a glance at the girl one more time before instructing her to go to sleep. "You can see your friends very soon. But of course, you are exhausted, so rest." With that order being sent, the oni slammed the door shut, causing Harumi to helplessly collapse onto her bed and brush away any forming tears. No, she cannot cry, she already cried enough tonight. But it hurt.

One night. It was one night of mind-numbing torture. Some would say the opposite with how she was treated in the end but with these chains around her legs and cuffs bringing her down onto the bed, she couldn't say so. This was one experience that she'll won't forget, one of atrocious pain. Harumi couldn't help the sobs to leave her as she crumbled up in a ball, wanting a hole to appear under her and fall inside of it, vanishing from the world.

How? That was her question, how could creatures like them be so cruel to a poor human? They were far superior creatures than mortals and they should know better.
But life is a surprise, both unpleasant and rewarding, an in-between. Well...she should try and get some sleep despite her body being numb everywhere. The princess was pretty bruised up after what had happened tonight, all over.
~~~~~~~~
Having heard the entire conversation from outside, Garmadon jumped onto the opened window frame. His mind was boiling with immense anger. Being a father and seeing how the oni laid his hands on her like that, he understood the situation without a doubt. "How could he? How could he do that to Harumi?" He had grumbled under his breath as he sneaked in slowly and quietly.

The room was absolutely dreadful. There were dirty clothes on the stone ground and the room smelled of blood. Both belonging of oni and human. He could only assume that the blood was of Harumi's and that oni that came in the room earlier. He sighed and walked towards the bed, noticing that Harumi was already asleep, she managed to fall asleep that easily? Well, it made it easier for him in that case.

Using a nail from his claws, he easily cut off the chains on her legs to give her a little bit of freedom. Though, freedom didn't really matter in that state of hers. He winced upon turning her over gently to see the bruises and blood dripping from her left eye. 'That oni had gone too far.' He thought unpleasantly before lifting her off the bed and slowly walked back over to the opened window.
~~~~~~~~~~
Returning back to the Bounty was no problem for a four-armed creature like him. He was too desperate to return her back home than to use the sewers again in which he knew she'd wake up due to the smell. No worries, it was the middle of the night and if he was careful and used different alleyways to change streets, he could get back home safely.

It was about an hour and a half when Harumi and Garmadon returned back onto the boat, of course, none of the members from the resistance awoke at his arrival, he was certainly glad of that. Less questions and less commotion. The man cleaned her up using a warmly wet cloth and set her aside back on her bed. He sighed in relief and knelt down by her side.

It was one close call, that's for sure. If he stayed any longer, his scent would have been detected and a few oni guards would need to deal with the man. Garmadon allowed himself to sigh once more and as soon as he stood up to prepare to leave for the night, he heard the faintest of whispers.

"I-I'm sorry.." the voice belonged to a half asleep young girl. Asleep was what he thought she was when he first brought her over, but her being awake with a single eye opened made sense for him. Of course, she couldn't sleep when she has been hurt this badly and...that happening to her. He winced, too hard to believe, right? "Harumi, I told you. You shouldn't have saved Collin." His voice went all calm for a second.

He returned back over to the bed and his first collided with her wall. "FSM, why did you go?! Can't you see the pain that they've caused you!? You lost something...something so so important..they took it from you!" The oni lord lashed out on her, not realizing that tears began to stream down from his cheeks. He had seen himself to be a father towards the girl, he failed to protect her, he failed.

Hearing the man scold at her like that was unbearable, even for someone as strong as her. The princess whimpered and turned away from the man, pulling the bedsheets close. "I-I'm sorry...I didn't know what to do, he was stronger than me..I-I couldn't stop him.." she apologized, practically on the verge of tears herself.
If there was one thing she regretted the most in her entire life, it was not having the strength to defend herself when her innocence was on the line.

"Who was that? Did you know who is he?" Garmadon inquired her, hopefully knowing the identity of that oni so he could beat him up for touching his precious daughter like that. But unfortunately, Harumi lowered her head and shook it. "I-I don't know..." she answered quietly and regretfully. Ah, this was all too much for her poor shattered heart. In the end, she didn't save Collin and only hurt herself and others. What kind of a mission was this?

Garmadon turned his back on Harumi and made his way towards the door, one of his arms making their way to wipe away the other forming tears from his eyes. "I...if you only listened to me, please listen to me next time!" He told her, more as off a plea, he wanted to keep her safe, more than anything. Harumi brought her head to hide under the covers and sob quietly, she hated this, she hated everything about tonight. It was beautiful, it was horrifying. Even with the moon out like this, she wanted to rip the light out of it and watch the world burn from its radiance.

"I-I was fooled, papa. I really was...I'm so sorry.." again, as the princess only thought of apologies and nothing more, Garmadon could process how such a whisper belonged to a once confident young lady. The oni narrowed his eyebrows, feeling the guilt rising from yelling at her earlier. He knew what she had been through, an easy guess. Yet, he still yelled at her, too furious at whoever did that to her. Shutting the door behind him as he left, the man returned to his own room for the night.
~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: *yells from afar* Yoooo! Sad chapter, who would have thought?

Hi! Lilla here and thank you for reading this chapter despite the heavy topics being shown here happening with Harumi. The poor girl can't catch a break, I remember this story having Lloyd suffer all the time but now it's Harumi's turn, clearly.

As much as this topic devastates most people, me and Jdizzle don't regret it a single bit, mwahaha....I Poor Rumi- whyyyyyy

Anyways! That's my author note finished, hopefully you all enjoyed and leave your predictions down below for what happens next! Cya next week, everyone!^^