He wasn't a prisoner, yet not quite forgiven of his crimes.

He was free to roam, yet the team still eyed him warily.

It was as if they were waiting on baited breath, expecting him to explode.

To shatter the content, though not-quite-peaceful life he'd lead for the better part of three months. To prove that his idle mornings with a cup of tea, his nonchalant, nuggets of wisdom, the tiny hints of warmth were all but a long-winded sham. To prove all of their fears right and all of their hopes wrong.
To take their trust and wring it dry and broken, to gloat his power in front of them, to break their hearts.

Perhaps they were.
Perhaps they were smart to.

Lord Garmadon truly walked a blurred line.

When he returned to life as Lord Garmadon, his mind was nothing but a dark chasm of power hungry misery. Gone was any lick of remorse. Gone was sympathy. Gone were his memories and gone was his empathy.
He was but a husk for an embodiment of pure evil.
After being defeated in battle by the green ninja, and then imprisoned, and then fighting side by side with the team for the betterment of Ninjago from the Onis, Garmadon was just...

Allowed to leave.
Nobody stopped him.

So he walked.
And walked.
He took in the sights of Ninjago that his previous self knew well but were entirely new to him. He climbed the tall mountains of the Wailing Alps. He trudged through the Toxic Bogs, redundant to his thick demon hide. He strolled through the Sea of Sand and bridged his way around the outskirts of cities like Nom and Ignacia and Jamanakai.
He pondered and thought and he spent half a year in contemplative silence, in his very own purgatory as he wandered. He did not get ill, nor sore or hungry.
He was a timeless, animated corpse, lost in his thoughts.

He had the entire world to travel. He had no obligations, nor desires or plans. Nothing held him back, nothing tied him down.

But he still returned to the monastery.

The slack look of shock on the blond ninja's face when he opened the heavy doors and spotted his demon father amused Garmadon for a flicker of a second, though he would never care to admit it. It was followed by a stammer and a stutter of barely coherent words, dumbly spilling from his mouth like water.
Lord Garmadon simply pushed the green ninja aside and strode on in as if he had always lived there.
The shock was less amusing on the old sensei. In fact, he wasn't shocked at all to see the evil overlord kicking it in the ninja's living room while watching the birds flit on the maple tree outside. The sensei simply took a seat beside his brother and watched with him.

The shock of the old woman was even less amusing than the Sensei. In fact, he felt a flicker of agony strike through his chest upon seeing her face once again.
It was weathered, having clearly been places and lived a long, active life, but it was beautiful. There was a certain grace to her that had Garmadon faltering like a school kid. She was strong, even as she dropped her scrolls upon seeing him. He could tell that she was a ferocious warrior in the skin of a caring mother.
If there was anyone to not underestimate, it was the old woman.

'Misako,' a small voice whispered in the back of his head. With it came a burst of warmth in his chest and a flicker of forgotten memories, fading too fast for him to make sense of anything.

He squashed it all and tossed it aside. He didn't care.
He didn't.

There were things that he was relearning. Slowly, albeit, but he was definitely intaking every little bit of information his brain could handle and more.
Like how the blue one would squeak when startled, or how the water mistress would hum to herself while cleaning her weapons and blush an angry red when caught. How the nindroid was wary but comfortable around him, how the one wearing red was not. The master of earth liked working out to video game soundtracks. The girl robot was always working on new designs for mechs.
The green ninja was a quiet soul, which was honestly not what he could have ever expected.
The girl he hung around the most with was frighteningly protective over him.

He quickly learnt that the girl and the green ninja were so very madly in love that it was sickening. He learnt that when they had their fights, it was as if the world had ended.
He also learnt that they were quick to forgive and move on. Spats were far and few in between as it was, but they could be arguing one blink and apologising through tears the next.

Garmadon was mystified by their ability to shove their own pride aside and admit their mistakes.

Not that he actually cared to learn about the team of ninja, or anything. He was only saving every piece of information so he could use it against them at a later date, if he so pleases. It was always good to be prepared.

Misako avoided him at every turn.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks soon turned into a handful of months. The ninja had many missions, and despite the hardships, they'd return home jovial and content, though sore and spent. They'd be loud in their return, chortling and scoffing amongst each other like normal young adults returning from a normal party.
He had noticed one day that there was something that still very much confused him. He had been pondering this for quite some time. A phrase, a single word no less, that eluded his vast knowledge of vocabulary. It was a war cry, of sorts, that the ferocious little human girl in peach would shout before launching into battle.

Y/n, he thinks she's called. Intertwined through fate with the team's leader. The one who could turn the hardened saviour into a molten puppy just by walking into the room.
He doesn't bother to remember her name.

At least, that's what he tries to convince himself.

After the third time he witnessed her yelling the word with all the might in her body, he finally approached the leader. Lloyd, his supposed son. Though he didn't care much for who was once his enemy.

Again, that's what he tries to convince himself.

He found the blond ninja sitting in the garden, working on his latest sketch. The three legged dog rested contently beside him.

"Dad," Lloyd said, blinking as the warlord took a spot on the rock stair beside him. He was surprised that his father even decided to visit him, let alone take a seat. "Hey."

Garmadon didn't waste a second. He stared into the green eyes of his son.

"What does 'yeet' mean?"

The pencil dropped. It rolled across the page and clattered to the pebbled ground and it was the only movement that transpired for a long few seconds.
"What?" Lloyd said unfeelingly, staring at his father as if he just asked to cut off his own hand.
"'Yeet,'" Garmadon echoed impatiently. "Your, uh... mate says it before battle. What does it mean?"
"Y/n," Lloyd corrected dryly. "You mean Y/n. I know you know her name."
"You hardly use her name," Garmadon pointed out in a gruff, careless sneer.
"I use pet names," Lloyd once again corrected, exasperation pulling his words thin. He couldn't believe that he had to teach his father about pet names, especially after he picked up on using pet names because of his father. "They're a term of endearment."

"I do not care," Garmadon sniffed. Lloyd had to remind himself that this man was no longer the father he once knew. "I did not come here to be lectured by a child. What does it mean?"
Lloyd let the insult go with a roll of his green eyes. He patted Kashu and picked up his pencil, returning his gaze to the half-finished drawing before him. Only then did he decide to answer.

"It doesn't really mean anything," Lloyd shrugged. He narrowed his eyes as he lightly guided the tip of the lead across the paper, barely whispering against the page. "She usually says that before jumping head first and plan-less into battle, so it's a word that triggers my heart attacks for sure."
Evil Lord Garmadon stared at his supposed son and processed the new information. He was silent for so long that Lloyd looked up to check that he was even listening.
"Ah," Garmadon said, before staring his soft nemesis dead in the eyes. "Yeet."

Lloyd sighed. The implication was not lost on him.

After realising that his son was a bust, Garmadon decided to go to the source herself. She was in the dojo with Misako. The latter quietly excused herself and fled from the room.
"Hey!" Y/n grinned. If Zane was comfortable with Garmadon, then Y/n was downright ecstatic to be around him. It was a concept that had his head reeling in confusion, but he didn't have it in him to ask why.
"Hello," Garmadon said distantly. More than half of his focus was still solely attached to the retreating figure of who used to be his wife. His red eyes landed back on Y/n's beaming face. "What were you two talking about?"
Y/n's smile slips. It's masked quickly, and if Garmadon had taken as much as a blink at the right time, he wouldn't have even seen it happen.

They were talking about him.

"Nothing too worrying," Y/n replied with a shrug. The smile was definitely forced now. It's quickly brushed aside by sincere curiosity. "What's up?"
"What does 'yeet' mean? Lloyd failed to explain."
Y/n blinked, but she recovered faster than her fiancé. Her slack mouth curled into a floored smirk.
"I hope your afternoon is free," she said lightly before grabbing the oni's hand and pulling him from the room. The rigidity of her grip informed him that no matter what he would say or do, he did not have a say in this matter. "Let's get you all caught up."

An hour later, Jay walks into the living room, where the rest of the team is sat and watching Zane absolutely decimate mario kart with precision that could make a space station computer jealous. The lightning ninja stopped in the doorway and stared at the opposite wall. He looked traumatised. His shaking drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"Garmadon just dabbed at me," Jay quietly murmured in a voice that sounded close to sobbing. Cole snorted so loudly that he woke à napping Nya. Y/n smiled so wide that it looked like it hurt.
Kai giggled, and then Misako chuckled. And everyone in the room began to laugh.
Out came flooding every little good vibe the team held. Garmadon arrived at a scene of delightful chaos as people tried to regain their breaths, too amused to think straight. He stared in confusion.

This time, when he caught Misako's smiling gaze, she didn't look away.

This time, when his chest blossomed with a pleasant, velvety, twisting feeling, he didn't shove it away.