"Harumi? Are you alright, you've been quiet," Skylor asked, sitting down next to the girl in the kitchen.

   "It's my fault, isn't it?" Harumi mumbled.

  "What's your fault? What are you talking about?" Skylor was confused.

 "If I had listened to Lloyd and had stopped, none of this would have happened. And now he's hurt himself," Harumi sighed, swishing the water around in her glass. 

   "Listen, it's not your fault. We didn't know what could have happened, we don't know what will happen in the future," Skylor said gently, "Don't blame your self for something that could happen to anyone at anytime."

    "Yeah, but Kai hates me now and Lloyd probably does too," Harumi groaned, "they're never going to speak to me again!"

    "Wait, back up, what makes you think Kai hates you?" Skylor asked, looking confused. 

   "He wouldn't look at me, he refused to even glance in my direction at all after we came back to the tree house. And since I didn't listen to Lloyd in the first place, he going to hate me too for not listening," Harumi explained, dropping her head into her hands. 

    "Kai is just very over protective of Lloyd, you know that. He's just worried. And Lloyd, he won't blame you I'm sure. And if he does, I can beat him up for you!" Skylor grinned.

    "You can't even throw a punch! Lloyd will have you black and blue in seconds!" Harumi laughed.

   "Good that you're laughing," Skylor looked pleased with herself. 

    Harumi was about to say something when Jay and Kai entered the room.

   "Hey Harumi, Lloyd wants you," Jay said, getting himself a glass of wine. 

   "Me? Are you sure he wants me?" Harumi raised an eyebrow.

   "Yes, you! Unless there's another Harumi around, and as far as I know there isn't. Anyway, his room is on the third landing, right hallway and seventh on the right," Kai instructed her, helping himself to coffee. 

    "O-okay," Harumi got up from the stool and made her way upstairs.

   She had never set foot on the third landing yet, since her room was on the second. 

   She hesitated, before listing her hand and knocking tentatively on the door. 

    "Come in," A voice hoarsely called out. 

 Harumi cautiously opened the door to find Zane forcing Lloyd to take the painkillers. 

    "Princess Harumi," Zane nodded, he left after glaring at Lloyd that clearly said 'take-the-blasted-painkiller-or-I-am-going-to-throw-all-your-candy-in-the-sea-mark-my-words'. 

    "Jay said you asked for me," Harumi said, sitting down on a soft chair beside the bed. 

  "Yeah," Lloyd looked at her for a moment before he looked down at his ankle that was propped up on a pillow. 

   "How bad is it?" Harumi asked, following his gaze to his ankle. 

  "Zane doesn't want me to train for the next couple of weeks, so it's bad enough. I twisted my knee as well, so I have to wear this brace for a while," Lloyd shrugged. 

    "I'm sorry," Harumi said quietly, looking down at her clasped hands. 

   "Sorry for what?" Lloyd looked at her, confused.  

      "For not listening. If I had listened, none of this would have happened," Harumi mumbled. 

   Lloyd sighed. "It's fine, it wasn't your fault," He said. 

      "If you need anything, just call for me?" Harumi offered.

   Lloyd hesitated before asking, "You want to help?"

     "Of course!" Harumi immediately said. 

   "Then get me out of this room, without my brothers knowing. I just, want to get out and have some fresh air," Lloyd said. 

    Harumi was startled. How on earth was she supposed to sneak him out without nine other people knowing or catching them red-handed. 

    "Chickening out?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow, challanging her. 

  Harumi took a deep breath. 

    "Where do you want to go?" She asked, straightening up, looking confident. 

  Lloyd smirked, "You know, you're not as stuck up as I though, princess."

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     General Vania looked nervously out the window. 

  She and the other generals stood with their backs against the walls in the conference room while the royal families sat discussing matters. 

    "We need to send out more search team, and tighten the guards. Sooner or later we can flush them out," Libby said, her eyes looking down at her clasped hand that had settled on the oval-shaped table. "And the sooner the better. We can't leave things too late otherwise we could lose them, and I mean all of them. We should never have stopped the search parties all those years ago." She sighed.  

    "Libby, we understand, and I think we're all regretting that choice. That and the choice of lying to our people. Maybe if they knew the truth all this time we would have found them sooner instead of..." Wu trailed off, "anyway, the past is past, right now we must focus on searching for the girls and the boys."  

    "I agree with Wu, we must not dwell on the past. General Akita, please give a report," Garmadon requested.  

   "Yes sir," General Akita stepped forward from her place by the wall, posture straight, one hand on the ceremonial sword hanging from her belt,  the other hand behind her back.  

    "Akita, you look tired, have you slept at all?" Misako had a concerned look on her face.  

    Akita hesitated. Then she shook her head. "I'll be fine, your majesty. Thank you for asking, but I've pulled all-nighters before, so this is nothing out of the ordinary," Akita replied.  

   "I insist that after you give the report that you go and get some sleep. And don't you begin to try protesting, otherwise I will command you to." Garmadon held up a finger to stop her protest in their tracks. 

     Akita nodded. "As you wish sir." She said, giving a nod of acknowledgement at the king's request. 

    "Right, let's have the report shall we?" Mistake said. 

  "Five teams were sent out to Hiroshi's Labyrinth two weeks ago to double check. Came back this morning, no sign of them. General Vania's teams were sent to the Northern Kingdom to make sure we haven't overlooked anything," Akita reported.  

   "We have sent out another batch of teams to spread out and search, and General Cryptor and General RSeven have sent out a three ships from the Royal Navy to search the seas," General Vania added. 

    "We've tried everything, your majesties, even tracking their phones, but it only led us to their rooms where they had left them in their wardrobes," General Cryptor said. 

    "The palace security cameras were hacked in to. All footage of that day has been erased. And the city cameras as well," Mindroid added. 

    "There must be some trace of them! They can't have just disappeared just like that," Queen Lena exclaimed. 

    "I'm sorry, your majesty, we're trying the very best that we can," General Akita said, "but whoever took them, they're very skilled. They obviously knew what they were doing."

    "We're not giving up," King Cliff said firmly, "rest well, all of you, then continue the search. I believe I am right in saying that we are all sleep deprived."

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     "I can't believe you actually managed to pull it off, I'm impressed," Lloyd nodded his head slowly as Harumi helped him sit on a big boulder on a cliff just above the tree line. 

   "I told you I could do it!" Harumi beamed, grinning at him. 

 Lloyd met her gaze for a split second before he turned his attention to the view in front of him. 

    "This is my favourite spot on the whole island," Lloyd murmured after a few minutes. 

  "I might join you with that statement. The scenery is beautiful," Harumi took a seat next to him. 

     The sun was nearly setting on the horizon, the clouds and the burning with the colours of orange, yellow and hints of pink. A soft gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the trees down below, and it whipped the hair of the two blondes into their faces.   

   "Do you sometimes wonder about what you're biological patents are like?" Harumi suddenly asked.   

    Lloyd was silent.  

 "Yeah," He replied eventually, his voice quiet, "yeah I do."  

   Harumi looked at him. "What do you think they're like?" She pushed a strand of her hair out of her face.  

   "Kind, I hope, smart, funny... I don't know," Lloyd sighed, "I grew up, with a mixture of absolute fun, and absolute hardcore training. I've been surrounded by my father's crew, and then later my own crew. I grew up with the boys, my father being playful and happy one moment, then raging made the next. I don't know much about what a family should be like. I only hope it's like the kind of bond I have with my brothers."

    Harumi was surprised at how open he was at the moment. She had never seen him like this, vulnerable and with his guard down. 

   "But, I'm not in the mood right now to talk about it," Lloyd said, "talk about something different."

   "Like what?" Harumi inquired. 

 "Anything, as long as it keeps my mind off the pain in my ankle," Lloyd said flatly. 

     "Oh!" Harumi looked alarmed, "are you sure you're okay? We should go back. I shouldn't have brought you out here!" 

    "I'm fine, Harumi!" Lloyd snapped. He recoiled immediately after he realised what he had done. "Sorry," He mumbled. 

    "It's okay," Harumi smiled gently at him, "I probably got on your nerves fussing over you like that."

    "A bit," Lloyd nodded. 

  "Hey!" Harumi playfully nudged him.

       "I don't mean to pry, but during your, um, relationship with Eloise, was there anything that indicated that she wasn't really into you or something?" Harumi tentatively approached the subject. 

    Lloyd immediately froze, before scowling slightly. "She would be distant sometimes, but I thought that was because she had a lot on her mind. You see, both her older brothers went into the army a year or two before I broke up with her," he said, "One of them got killed, the other went missing in action. Her dad was ill, pretty much on his death bed."

     "Are you sure Aaron wasn't just comforting her then?" Harumi suggested timidly, "Maybe what you saw in the garden what just a misunderstanding?"

     "Are you doubting my word?!" Lloyd rose to his feet, raising his voice. 

 "N-no I didn't say that!" Harumi stood up too, "I was just saying, maybe you misunderstood them."

    "Misunderstood? Misunderstood?! Are you out of your mind, Harumi!" Lloyd yelled, "I watched them for five minutes, and what they were doing certainly wasn't Aaron comforting her!"

     "Okay, but think about it properly," Harumi tried to back pedal and defend herself, "you would be gone for weeks, months at a time, and when she might have needed you the most, you weren't there."

     Lloyd scoffed. "Are you hearing yourself right now?" He seethed, "She cheated on me, and you heard what Eloise said, and you're saying this?! I can't believe you."

    Harumi was speechless as Lloyd left storming off and completely forgetting   about hi injured ankle. 

     "What have I done? I didn't mean to do that," Harumi whispered. 

      "Harumi!" Skylor jumped from her seat at the kitchen table as her friend walked in. "What happened? Lloyd came back in a fit of rage, Zane says his ankle is worse, and well, you might not want to appear for a very long time."

     Harumi looked confused till she heard yelling from upstairs. 

    "We're dumping them at the first port we reach! I am not putting up with that girl any longer!" Came Lloyd's voice.

     "I agree," Kai's voice said. 

   "But what about the agreement?" Zane voiced. 

       "Blast the agreement! The agreement's off, we're packing up and leaving tomorrow, get the crew to load up first thing in the morning," Lloyd ordered, "we sail to the nearest port and drop them there."

     "Okay, what's going on in here?" Jay's voice added to the commotion. 

  "That princess Harumi is a menace!" Kai yelled, "Do you know what she just did? She just confronted Lloyd about the Eloise situation!" 

     "Wait what? Did she actually?" Jay's voice suddenly went cold. 

  "We're leaving tomorrow," Zane informed him. 

       "Lock Harumi up in her cabin till we reach port, I don't want to see her at all!" Lloyd commanded. 

     "What about food and water?" Zane asked. 

  "Get Ultra Violet to get one of her friends to bring her food, I don't care, just get her out of my sight," Lloyd snapped. 

       There was a large bang. 

   "Harumi, I think you should go to your room," Seliel advised her, "I'll bring you up some supper later."

     Harumi slowly nodded her head. 

  "Why did you bring that subject up?" Nya asked, "You know how touchy Lloyd and the others are about this, why did you bring it up?"

    "I didn't mean for it to end like this, I was just curious about something and I just," Harumi sighed, "I wasn't thinking straight, and I said the wrong thing and it set him off. I'm sorry."

     "I don't think it's us you should be apologising to," Pixal said quietly, "Now go, it's best none of the commanders see you, not tonight at least."

    Harumi nodded and made her way up the stairs, tears forming in her eyes.

      Lloyd glared at the gun in his hand, he had been practicing some rounds on a target to blow off some steam earlier on, before he slammed it down hard on a nearby table. 

     "Captain Lloyd," Flintlock came forward.

  "Prepare the ship first thing in the morning, we have something to deliver to where they belong," Lloyd said in a low voice, before scowling down at the gun.

   "As you wish, sir," Flintlock nodded.

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         I am so sorry for the long wait, I really am!!! School has been hectic, and I just got back from camp!!! This chapter was half done, so I decided to do as many of you have requested and update this book! 

     Hopefully, once I get into the swing of things, like recovering from writers block, I'll be able to update in the near future!! 

    Hope you enjoy this terrible chapter and I'll see you all in the next one!!!

 Claire ⚓