(3rd POV)

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As soon as he turned the corner, Lloyd Garmadon wanted to kick himself.

Stupid stupid stupid! He shouted at himself, Why would you do that! You don't even know her!

And yet... despite their brief encounter, he felt like he's known her for years.

Lloyd continued his shuffle down the street, his body aching and his mind spinning.

This, by all means, was not the first time Lloyd had gotten the absolute shit knocked out of him. Well, as Lloyd Garmadon, that is. Because to Ninjago City, Lloyd Garmadon, the son of the most feared Lord Garmadon, is the boy who can't even hold his own in a fight. He was the kid that was blamed for everything that his father had done wrong to the city.

He knew that he had to hold onto that reputation, not the i'm-going-to-take-over-the-world-in-my-father's-footsteps, but the i-can't fight reputation. It's not because he couldn't fight (he's the Green Ninja, it was kinda part of the job) but he knew that if he did, he would be able to stop until he physically couldn't continue.

So, without any other answer, he did nothing. Nothing to stop the bullying that happened to him and nothing to stop the sneers from people, whether they be classmates or strangers. He never lifted a hand to stop them from happening, he just learned to deal with their side comments and their glares, their slaps and their punches.

At least... until he met someone who didn't...

He groaned, digging his heels into the back of his eyelids. He couldn't get that girl out of his head! Couldn't forget the way her ink-black hair fell with a soft beach wave and ended just below her shoulders. The way her red eyes became darker when angry and lighter when he got her to laugh. The way she would cover her mouth to hide her smile, to muffle her laugh.

How she protected him when anyone who knew his name couldn't even look at him without a glare...

He sighed, shaking his head again. What was this girl doing to him?

He turned the next corner, ready to look for an alleyway so he could summon his Elemental Dragon, when he bumped into someone, sending him back towards the ground. He prepared himself for what was to follow, the pain from hitting the ground, the person who bumped into him ready to apologize before seeing who he was, and the beating that was to follow

The only thing that would be different was that the girl from earlier wouldn't be there to help him.

Except that didn't happen.

A hand gripped his wrist, stopping his fall before it could even begin. Lloyd opened his eyes (when had he closed them) and came face to face with his older brother, Kai Smith.

Now, make no mistake here, they weren't related by blood-the only ones who were related were Kai and Nya-but the bond that they, and the whole team, shared could only be described as one of brotherhood.

Or sisterhood in Nya's case.

Kai's amber eyes widened at the sight of Lloyd's face only to quickly be narrowed in rage. "Who the hell did this," he spat, gently grabbing Lloyd's chin so he could look him in the eye. Lloyd, to his credit, didn't squirm under Kai's gaze or evert his own like he usually would.

And that totally wasn't because he was still thinking about the girl.

"Lloyd," Kai's voice had taken up a sharper tone now, "Who did this to you?"

"No one," Lloyd dismissed.

"Lloyd-"

"No one new," Lloyd amended, "It was just Chen and his friends again."

Kai's grip tightened momentarily before finally letting him go. "C'mon," his voice became gruff, but underneath it, Lloyd could hear the concern. "Everyone's at the Monastery waiting for us. Your mom got worried when you didn't answer your phone."

With his head hung low with guilt, he followed Kai without complaint. He was already planning on what he could do for his mother in order to make up for the situation (Usually breakfast in bed got him out of trouble).

If asked later, Lloyd would deny spacing out all the way to the edge of the city, where Kai summoned his Elemental Dragon, all the way back to the monastery.

He would also deny the fact that he was spaced out because he was thinking about the girl.

He only snapped out of his thoughts when Kai's dragon disappeared from underneath him, sending him back towards the ground.

Kai caught his hand again and sent him a funny look, "Jeez, kid. You're gonna hurt yourself if you keep this up."

Lloyd blushed, "Shut up."

With his hands on Lloyd's shoulders, Kai gently pushed him towards the med-bay, where Zane and literally everyone else in their strange family was waiting. "Kai called ahead and told us you were injured," Zane said after seeing Lloyd's confused look, "We figured it would be better if you explained what happened as I patched you up."

He eyed the bandage over his split lip, "But it seems someone already did."

Under normal circumstances, Lloyd would have come clean and told his family everything that had happened to him. How Chen and his friends had beat him up (that was nothing new), how they had drawn blood and made it uncomfortable as hell (again, nothing new), and how they ran as soon as someone came running at them. But he could bring himself to tell them about the girl.

This. This was new.

So instead of explaining everything that had happened to him, he made some half-bull excuse about being tired that no one believed but didn't question him over. He retreated to his room as quietly as ever his mind still spinning from the events of the day.

"Who are you," Lloyd questioned into nothingness, "What are you doing to me?"

There was no answer.

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993 words.