Chapter Text
Garmadon was bored.
The Underworld, for all that it came with loyal minions and a base to grow his power, was incredibly dull. The entire realm was underground, and incredibly small compared to Ninjago; the size of a city, perhaps. Garmadon had explored every nook and cranny several times over by this point, and he was left with hardly anything to do.
Escaping would take time, that much he knew. The Skulkin were loyal to him, if tentatively thanks to Samukai’s incredibly obvious coup plans, but they could only do so much. He had teams searching for leads on the Golden Weapons, but he couldn’t send everyone out at once, or else Wu would catch on and stop them. So, he was bored.
It had been three years since he was banished. Garmadon wondered what had happened during that time; his child would be four now, and hopefully growing well. Garmadon’s thoughts often lingered on his child; after all, it was them that drove him to seek out the Golden Weapons in the first place. So afraid that he would somehow hurt them, Garmadon had fled at the first chance he got, choosing to pursue his goal of conquering Ninjago in a twisted attempt to protect them.
That hadn’t gone to plan, of course. And now Garmadon had been down here for so long that he was forgetting so many important things- things like his child’s name and gender, a name he had been so hesitant to say, as if he had any right to claim this pure living thing as his own.
But Garmadon was terribly bored, and four years old was old enough to start reading, wasn't it? Perhaps he could send a letter; he had a fairly reliable skeleton courrier who sent letters to Wu once in a while, usually just taunts, but they made it through. He had attempted to write to Misako once, only to be told in no uncertain terms never to contact her again. But he knew Misako, and knew that she wouldn’t deny their child some contact with their father, no matter how much she hated them.
Garmadon stood, leaving his throne of stone and bones behind as he stalked over to his desk. He pulled out some paper and a pen and began writing, determined to open a line of communication with his offspring, and possibly his only connection to the outside world.
My dear child,
I am your father, Lord Garmadon. I am sorry that I have been gone for so long, but I want to talk to you now. I wish I were with you, instead of being stuck in the Underworld. I hope you are willing to write back.
Sincerely,
Lord Garmadon.
Lloyd was four years old when he got his first letter from his dad.
Of course, his name wasn't Lloyd then. It was something else, a name given to him by his mother, one that didn’t quite fit him right. Neither did the way the staff at Darkleys addressed him, or the clothes they gave him to wear, but he was four and didn’t think all that much about such things. It bothered him a little bit, but many things bothered him, so he focused much more on learning and listening, and today he was entirely focused on his letter.
Lloyd had just begun learning to read, and he was doing super well, he thought. He totally breezed through the picture books they got for him, and he had started sneaking into the first grade section of the library and trying to read their books too. He loved reading, so far, and he wanted to be able to read the big kid books and devour all of the knowledge held in them.
So, when Lloyd was unceremoniously handed a letter in a sealed envelope, he was able to slowly decipher the text held within. It took a few tries, and he didn’t quite understand all of the words, but he got the gist of it. Once he got through it, Lloyd’s expression broke into a wide grin. His dad had written to him! Now none of the older kids could make fun of him or say his dad didn’t want him around; he clearly did want him, he was just stuck in the Underworld.
Lloyd was just starting to learn to write, too, but he attacked his reply with a determined ferocity. He had a small stash of pencils and drawing paper under his bed, and he used his precious supplies to write a perfect letter to his dad.
dad garmadon,
Hi! I’m Lloyd . I love yr letter! I want write lots! I wish you were here too.
Lloyd Montgomry Garmadon
Dear Lloyd,
I am glad to hear you want to continue writing letters. I hope you are doing well. Are you going to school? How is your mother? I would ask her myself, but she does not want to write to me. Also, please tell me if anything in my letters is confusing. I wish to help teach you anything you need to know.
Sincerely,
Lord Garmadon
Dear dad Garmadon,
I hd to ask the teechers what a mother is. I dont know mine. I live at Darkleys School for bad children. The kids are all older but im faster and sneekyer so they dont catch me.
Lloyd
Garmadon was going to kill Misako.
He had assumed that even with him banished to the underworld, she would still take good care of their child. Evidently that was not the case; and, from his infrequent letters with Wu, he knew that his brother had no idea of the situation. Why on earth would she just abandon Lloyd like that? Lloyd was only four years old- if he didn’t remember her, she must have left him there when he was very, very young. Maybe two or three, Garmadon thought. That was completely unacceptable.
What was he supposed to do now? Garmadon had no power here, as trapped as he was; as much as he wanted to march up there and kill Misako himself, it just wasn't an option. Not to mention that killing her would remove any chance of getting Lloyd out of that school, anyway. He could ask his courrier to bring Lloyd down here… but no, he couldn’t do that to his child. He seemed like a good kid, and Garmadon couldn’t in good conscience try to raise him in the Underworld.
What about Wu? He hated Garmadon, sure, but surely for his nephew…
Something dark and ugly writhed within him at the thought, venom burning in his veins. That traitor, Wu; how could he even think of relying on him, when he was the reason Garmadon was banished in the first place? He could never trust that man with his son, not now and not ever.
Then he could do… nothing. Misako wouldn’t listen to him, and might cut off his contact with Lloyd if he tried to reason with her; Wu was right out, and he couldn’t take care of Lloyd himself either. Could he have the skulkin kidnap Lloyd away from the school and take care of him as proxy? No, he didn’t trust them with anything, much less his son. He found the legal system rather untrustworthy as well; at least at the school, Lloyd was hopefully getting enough to eat and some kind of education. Throwing him into the foster system might end up being worse.
Garmadon growled to himself as he clenched his fists, inadvertently snapping his pen and spilling ink all over his desk. He paid it no mind, simply tossing the broken pen away and grabbing another one, shifting over a few inches to avoid the stain as he started writing another letter. All he could do, at this point, was what he was already doing: writing letters to Lloyd, and supporting him as best as he could from afar.
And maybe he’d have his minions keep an eye on Misako, too. Just in case.
Dear Lloyd,
I did not realize you were not living with your mother. I am very angry at her for not taking care of you. If I were there, I would destroy anyone who got in your way. If you wish, I can give you some of my minions as personal guards so that you need not fear the other children again. If you want anything, tell me so in your next letter, and I will do my best to give it to you.
Write back soon,
Lord Garmadon
Lloyd was sort of confused when he got his dad’s letter.
Did kids normally live with their mothers? He asked the teachers, and they said yes, unless they were away at school. Lloyd was at school, so he figured it was normal. But why was his dad so angry, then?
Oh well. Lloyd didn’t really understand it. He did understand that his dad was offering him minions, and that was awesome, and he totally wanted some. So he wrote back super quickly and told his dad that he wanted all the minions, and candy- he’d never had candy before, but he saw kids eating it in the picture books he read, and he wanted some.
A week later, the usual skeleton courier turned up with a letter, a bag of candy, and two other skeletons who were there to stay.
The teachers argued with them a lot. Lloyd stood on the steps of the school, right in the doorway, and watched them talk; the courier just looked bored, while the other two were kind of nervous, but they talked big anyway.
“I’m telling you, we’re here on Lord Garmadon’s orders, and if you get in his way you’re gonna be in biiiiiig trouble,” one of them said.
“Yeah, you tell ‘em,” the other one interjected. He had a really deep voice, contrasting the other skeleton’s high and creaky one.
“No child at this school may be given preferential treatment,” the secretary sniffed. Lloyd caught a hint of a knife slipping out of her sleeve. “It would create chaos if all of the children with evil parents could have guards.”
“Yeah, but their parents aren’t Lord Garmadon,” the squeaky skeleton replied.
“Regardless, I must ask you to leave,” the secretary replied. Her grip on the knife shifted.
“Nah, I think we’ll stay,” they said.
The secretary lunged forward with the knife.
“No!” Lloyd shouted, his body moving without thinking, stumbling down the steps and barely staying on his feet. He only stopped when the skeleton courier put an arm out in front of him, holding him in place and shielding him from the fight; Lloyd watched, unable to tear his eyes away. He couldn’t let his minions get hurt!
Although… they didn’t look very hurt. The secretary was trying to stab them and all, but knives weren’t very effective against people who were nothing but bones. The knife just glanced off of their rib cages, and when she did manage to knock a bone out of place it just fixed itself right up.
“Uh, can we go now?” the deep-voiced one said, gesturing at Lloyd.
“You haven’t even fought back,” the secretary spat.
The courier threw his mailbag at her, almost casually. It hit her in the stomach and sent her crumpling to the ground, wheezing as she tried to regain her breath.
“Hey, thanks! That totally counts as fighting back, right?” squeaky-voice said.
“Fine,” the secretary half-groaned, half-wheezed. “Have it your way.”
“Thanks, boss!”
“Hey, she’s not our boss,” deep-voice said. They started walking towards Lloyd, who began bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to meet his new minions.
“Muahahaha!” Lloyd shouted, doing his best impression of an evil laugh. “Bow before me, my minions!”
“Ooo, great Boss impression! Totally see the resemblance,” squeaky-voice said.
“Nice to meetcha, kid,” the other one added.
“That’s Kruncha, and I’m Nuckal,” squeaky-voice said, gesturing between them. “And really, this is a great excuse to get above-ground for a while, so I’m all for it.”
Lloyd grinned. “This is gonna be awesome.”