Reconciled hearts: a season9(Lloyrumi story)

Chapter155: The dead's End

Harumi was dreaming. And she would have loved nothing more than to wake up.
She looked down at her hands, which were covered in some type of stone, with glowing purple cracks running through them. Then she remembered the Mask of Hatred.
Unwillingly, she felt her limbs moving, controlled by someone else. She watched from inside, helpless, the worst feeling overcoming her, as the ninja and the rest of the Resistance were knocked down one by one, like bowling pins. Harumi screamed to be let free, but her past self wouldn't let her.
She felt the hatred burning her skin...
Harumi tore her eyes open and found that she was sweating profusely.
Her first reaction to the figure hovering over her was to scream and kick him squarely in the face. The others woke up to the sounds of her momentary panic, and quickly woke up to see Harumi instinctively in a fighting stance, daggers drawn.
"Well you're definitely not dead," the man said, joking, as he rubbed the side of his jaw.
Harumi was even more weirded out and asked, "Who ARE you?"
"Chew Toy," he said, still wincing at the pain. "You're not from around here, are ya?"
"Umm, no. We live far, far away," Jade told him, pointedly leaving out that they lived in Ninjago. Who knows what they could do?
"Well then, we invite you to stay with us until you can get back!" he invited welcomingly.
"We?" Lilla looked behind him, and saw no one.
"We're Hunters. The last time we had visitors was years ago, so come along! It's not far to the Dead's End."
"Hey, do you mind giving us a sec, thanks," Lilla swiftly turned to consult everyone else, not giving him space to reply.
"What are you thinking?" Acronix asked.
"I'm thinking we should go with him," Cloud put in. "I mean, what other option do we have? We have nowhere else to go in this place, and if we just so happen to get a guide who's willing to lead us to civilization, I think we should take him up on that offer. Although, the Dead's End"
Harumi inhaled unsurely.
~
Kaitlynn withdrew sharply, inching her neck away from the sharp spears pointed at them all. The Resistance stood in a ring, circled by scowling Hunters, pointing chain-guns, spears, and other crude weapons at them. Off to their left, a Hunter with jet-black hair tied up high was interrogating Chew Toy, most likely about his new company.
Meanwhile, a woman with a mohawk riding a small pair of jet wings approached them, flying nearby.
"Strangers...again," she hissed. "Can we trust them, Faith?" She turned to the first Hunter, who was done talking to Chew Toy.
Harumi internally gasped. The ninja had told her about Faith, the friend who betrayed her tribe to help them when they were stranded in another realm, years ago.
That meant..
"We must be in the First Realm!" she whispered to Jade and Acronix, who were next to her in the ring. "The ninja told me about it once!"
A Hunter who overheard harshly interrupted her. "How do YOU know the NINJA?"
"There must be a reasonable explanation, Longlegs," Faith interrupted calmly. To Harumi, she seemed to be the leader. Or at least one of them. "Take them in for now. Jet Jack can talk to them later."
Faith nodded to the said person, and Jet Jack plus a few other hunters guided the Resistance into the Dead's End. All around her, Harumi saw the same white-skinned people, wearing gray clothes, staring at them with blood-red eyes. There were some who were blacksmiths, others who were in conversation, and a few in arguments.
Cloud growled at the metal leash temporarily put on her, as she was dragged along across the bare rocky ground.
"I don't like the look of this place," Jade whispered to Harumi, who nodded assent.
"The ninja did mention that this realm doesn't have skyscrapers and electronics," Harumi chuckled. "Although it would be nice not to get imprisoned and forced to fight like they did."

While Faith was listening to the strangers talk amongst each other, she couldn't help but overhear the brief mentions of the ninja. However, she had to make decisions that would benefit the tribe, or at least keep them safe. If these people were truly dangerous behind any facades they pulled, unlike the ninja, she was going to make sure they couldn't hurt the Hunters. After decades of Iron Baron's dictatorship, Faith was determined to continue making changes in the lives of her fellow Hunters. It required strength, leadership, and logic to handle a tribe, and she was going to give her all.
She wondered how these strangers knew the ninja.