"Lloyd? Is that you?" 

 All the boys tensed upped, but not as much as Lloyd.

  They all turned to see a girl and a boy walking towards them. The girl's brown hair was done in a fashionable hairstyle and she was wearing what looked like a designer dress. She was arm in arm with the boy who had jet black hair and was wearing a suit.

   "Lloyd! It is you. It's been years!" The girl exclaimed, as the two of them reached the group. She tried to give Lloyd a hug but he backed away, tense and serious.

   "Of all the nerve -" Cole spat, gritting his teeth. 

 Seliel put a hand on his arm to get him to calm down.

   "What? Can't we say hello to an old friend?" The girl asked innocently.

  "Friend? You went behind Lloyd's back! How is that being a friend?! You cheated on him! I can safely say you are not our friends." Kai snarled, laying a protective hand on Lloyd's shoulder.

  The girl rolled her eyes. "Are you guys seriously still mad about that?" 

  "Yes, we're mad about it!" Jay snapped, "How could you do that?! You know, I'm glad you and Lloyd are no longer together. He deserves someone way better than you!" 

  "Whatever," The girl sneered, "So, who are your friends?" 

 "This is Rumi, Nyla, Skye, Sal and Pix." Zane introduced them as civilly as he could, though he did it through gritted teeth.

  "Oh! Nice to meet you! I'm Eloise and this is my boyfriend Aaron." The girl introduced herself and the boy.

 Pixal raised an eyebrow at Zane. He nodded back, knowing what she was thinking.

  "Hey Lloyd, how's it going? Haven't seen you in a while." Aaron said.

"Nearly six years to be exact." Lloyd said shortly.

  "Oh that's right! If my memory serves me right, the last time I saw you was when you caught me and Eloise kissing in her garden. You punched me and dumped Eloise." Aaron smirked unkindly.

   "You both deserved that and you know it!" Kai spat, making a dash at him but Cole pulled him back.

  "You were Lloyd's friend and Eloise was his girlfriend! You're both sick to go behind his back. That is so low!" Jay growled.

   "Wait what?!" Harumi cut in.

 "Long story short, Lloyd made friends with Aaron and Eloise when we were stopping by at Stiix once. He and Eloise became a thing. Then when he came to surprise her once, he caught them kissing in her garden. Lloyd felt betrayed and he got into a fight with Aaron and dumped Eloise. We haven't seen them since that day." Zane explained as calmly as he could, but his tone had an icy edge to it.

   "That is outrageous! How could you?!" Harumi glared at the two in front of her and she launched herself at them but Nya and Pixal held her back.

   "Lloyd just wasn't my type. And anyway, who would really date him? When I cheated on him, I did it for obvious reasons. But now... Lloyd, you've been training a lot." Eloise said flirtingly. 

  Lloyd was already tense, but seemed to have become even more tense. 

 "To answer your question, I would date him!" Harumi snapped, without thinking, "Jay's right, Lloyd deserves way better than you."

   "And I suppose you think you are better than me?" Eloise scoffed, "As if."

  "Yeah I'm better than you! For one, if I had a boyfriend, I wouldn't cheat on him. And if I wanted to break up with him, I would just tell him, not cheat on him and kiss his friend, breaking his trust. Third, you probably just dated Lloyd to get Aaron jealous and get his attention. Your probably never did love Lloyd. And you're just flirting with him right now because he's good looking, but guess what, it's not going to work. And by the way, that dress was the fashion two years ago." Harumi sassed, clicking her fingers in Eloise's face.

  The look on Eloise was pure rage, but something like fear flashed across her eyes.

 "Hey don't you talk to my girlfriend like that!" Aaron made a move as if he was going to grab Harumi by the arm but Lloyd pulled her behind him protectively.

  "Aaron enough!" Lloyd snarled angrily.

 "Oh, so now you're joining the fight. And I was starting to think you were a coward." Aaron sneered.

  "Why you little -" Kai yelled, breaking away from Cole's grasp and launching at Aaron.

  "Kai! Leave them. It's fine. They're not worth it." Lloyd commanded, the steely look on his face was frightening. 

   "Still hot tempered and over protective?" Eloise scowled at him.

  "You bet your designer purse I am!" Kai snapped.

 "Kai..." Lloyd said warningly in a low tone, knowing how quickly Kai could fly off the handle if provoked enough.

  "Yeah, Kai, listen to the little brat." Aaron sniggered, a wicked glint in his eyes. 

  "Of all the cheek you little -" Kai tried launching himself at Aaron again but Zane and Cole held him back.

   "Let me go! He deserves hundreds of punches!" Kai tried to break free from their grasp.

  "Kai, he's not worth it. Leave it!" Lloyd ordered.

  Kai stood glaring at Aaron a moment longer before he shook Cole and Zane off, grabbing Skylor by the hand and started pulling her away.

   "We better not cross paths again," Lloyd gave a warning, "you're lucky that we haven't punched the living daylights out of you today." And with that, he steered Harumi in the opposite direction after Kai, the rest following them, leaving Aaron and Eloise standing in the middle of the streets dumbfounded. 

    All the boys were seething with rage as they silently made their way back to the ship. 

   "Ah! There you are. Your crew is waiting for you. Ship's all fixed and ready to face the seas again!" Ronin greeted them.

  "Thanks Ronin." Lloyd nodded as they boarded the ship once again.

 Ronin tipped his hat and headed back to his shop.

  "Cast off! I want to be far away from here by sundown." Lloyd commanded before he went below deck. A few moments later, the sound of a door slamming shut was heard.

   Harumi made a move to follow him but Kai stopped her.

  "Leave him to cool down a while." He explained, all trace of mischief and laughter gone from his face.

   The girls felt as if it was the beginning all over again.

 "What Kai means is that, Lloyd would like to be left in peace. After what just happened, I don't think he'd want to see anyone for a while." Zane said. 

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    "Still no sign of the girls." Ray reported as they all sat down for dinner.

  "Surely we've looked pretty much everywhere!" Chen frowned slightly.

    "Yes, we have. But like the other times, they've disappeared without a trace. No sign of them... at all." Ray sighed.

   "Any luck on finding the boys again?" Libber asked hesitantly.

  Ray shook his head. "No, like I said, disappeared without a trace." 

   "Surely there can't be many more places to hide?" Misako looked around at the faces around the table.

   "Unless they're being hidden underground. But even then, we probably would have found tunnels or something by now." Garmadon looked  slightly discouraged.

  "Now, now dear brother. You mustn't lose hope. We will find them yet... all of them." Wu said, sipping his tea.

    "I don't see where else we can look. There is no way they could have taken them to the Dark Island." Julien said.

   "That is true. No one in their right minds would even go near the Dark Island." Cliff nodded in agreement. 

   The doors of the dinning hall burst opened.

  "Your majesty, King Garmadon, another search party lead by General Akita has returned with no further luck." Second-General Mindroid, of the Western Kingdom, announced.

   "Thank you for the update, Mindroid. Tell Akita and the soldiers to get some rest and food." Garmadon nodded at the lad. 

   "Your wish will be carried out." Mindroid nodded.

  "Please tell my General to send a search party with her second in command to lead the group." King Cliff requested.

   Mindroid nodded and backed out of the room, closing the doors behind him.

  "Another failed search..." Lou sighed.

 "Don't lose hope. As long as we have hope and faith, we will find them." Mistake said in her mysterious way.

   "Nearly twenty years!" Ray roared, "Nearly twenty years since the first one was taken. And now this..." He sighed, massaging his forehead.

   "We will find them." Mistake said firmly, "You will see..." 

               ⚔⚔⚔⚔⚓⚔⚔⚔⚔ 

  Harumi hesitated.

   She stood outside of Lloyd's cabin, but she was nervous and hesitant. It had been hours since anyone had last seen Lloyd, and he had not shown up for dinner. Morro had taken a plate to his cabin instead.

 She took a deep breath, lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in..." Came the muffled reply from inside.

   Harumi cautiously opened the door and entered the cabin.

  "Oh, hi. It's you." Lloyd nodded at her.

  He was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling where a few daggers were embedded. Harumi assumed he had been lying there and used the ceiling as target practise as he let off his frustration.

   "I just wanted to check on you and see if you were ok." Harumi said quietly, closing the door behind her.

  "Oh, thanks. I'm good." Lloyd said, unconvincingly as he threw another dagger at the ceiling.

 Harumi sat on the edge of the bed, facing him.

  "You don't seem to be... are you sure you're alright?" Harumi asked, softly.

  Lloyd turned his head to study her face for a second before he shook his head.

"No... no not really." He sighed, turning back to inspect the ceiling.

   "Do you... do you want to talk about it?" Harumi hesitantly offered, "You don't have to if you don't want to, but... if you do, I'm all ears." 

   Lloyd stayed silent.

 "We were in Stiix for repairs and to stock up on supplies," Lloyd eventually spoke up again, "The boys and I were allowed to explore on our own. We went to the park and started playing hide and seek to pass the time. We met Eloise and Aaron there." He paused.

   Harumi didn't press him or hurry him. She said that she would listen, not interrogate him. 

 "We played with them for a while and we became friends. With each time we came to Stiix, Eloise and I became closer and closer. Eventually, she became my girlfriend. Then, after Nadakhan left and I became captain, we were in Stiix once again. I went to Eloise's house and that's where..." Lloyd paused again, "I saw Eloise and Aaron kissing in the garden. I was so mad and upset, I felt betrayed, played. I marched in there, screamed at Eloise, dumped her and then I rounded on Aaron. Fought him. I then returned to the ship and... I wouldn't see anyone, I locked myself in my room and didn't come out for hours."

   Harumi felt angry, angry towards Eloise and Aaron. 

"The next day, I told the guys what happened and Kai was absolutely livid. He left the ship and sought out Aaron and Eloise. Apparently, he screamed at the both of them and gave Aaron what-for. Ever since that day, I've never really been the same. I closed myself off to the outside community and just socialised with my inner circle." Lloyd closed and eyes and breathed deeply.

   "I understand... you didn't want to be betrayed again, have someone break your trust. So you built walls and only allowed your closest friends in." Harumi whispered, understandingly.

   "Yeah..." Lloyd nodded.

 "The boys told us during dinner that you used to be a ray of sunshine. That you were always so happy, and couldn't find a fault in anything." Harumi said.

   "I guess that's true." Lloyd smiled for a brief moment.

  Harumi then remembered something and pulled a packet out of her pocket. 

  "I got something while we were in Stiix," She said, opening the packet, "Kai told me you have a huge love for candy." She smiled as she offered the packet to him.

   Lloyd looked at the packet then at Harumi and back again. His face then broke out in a huge grin and he took a piece. 

   "Thanks." He said as he popped it into his mouth.

  Harumi took one herself  and then placed the packet on the bed.

 "I'm over her. And I don't really miss their friendship, it's just that... it stings. I felt as if during our relationship, while I was gone, they went behind my back. I just felt... played." Lloyd sat up.

  "Well, I enjoyed telling her off." Harumi grinned.

 Lloyd laughed. "It was fun, I admit." He paused, then slyly smirked at her, "So, you think I'm good looking, now do you?" 

 Harumi blushed a deep red. "Shut up!" She laughed. Lloyd joined in.

 "You also said that you would date me..." Lloyd grinned mischievously at her.

 Harumi groaned, but she was laughing. "I'm never going to live this down, am I?" 

   "Nope!" Lloyd grinned.

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    There! Quick update!!! Really, I couldn't keep you guys hanging like that!!!! 🤣🤣🤣 

  Hope to see you all in the next chapter!!!

  Claire xxx ⚓