Ninjago - Heart of Stone

Chapter Twenty: Dealing with the Devil

Lou didn't look back once.

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Lexi dreamed of darkness, and of a bright, blinding light that burst forth from it and shone the darkness away. She dreamed that she was standing on a tall tower, narrow and rickety, like the mineshaft. Overlord hovered over her head, just out of reach of the dagger she swung frantically at him. "There's only one way," he chanted gleefully, and she cursed, watching in horror as the dagger slipped from her hands and fell into the abyss below.

Garmadon was there, standing behind her, his arms extended. He wanted to embrace her, he wanted her to run into his arms. But as she tried to go to him, the ground beneath her feet gave way, and she was falling, falling, falling into nothing and nowhere...

"Lexi? Lex, you with us?"

She groaned, rolling onto her side and pressing both hands against her aching chest. She felt gross, her cloths stuck to her sweaty skin, her hair plastered against her face and hanging in her eyes. Someone brushed it aside and pushed it away from her face, and she felt her hair being gathered into a ponytail behind her head.

"Hey, open your eyes," Lloyd said. He sounded close, and he sounded scared. Lexi frowned slightly, struggling to remember what he had to be scared of. Weren't they aboard the Bounty? Weren't they done fighting?

"She's not dead, is she?" That was Jay. His voice was shaking, and it sounded almost as if he'd been crying. Someone else said something, but it was too soft for her to make out. Sighing, Lexi cracked open one eye, squinting against the harsh sunlight.

"She's awake," Misako said, her tone sagging with relief. She was the one pulling her hair back, and now she was just playing with it. "How do you feel?"

Lexi fingered her chest, wincing at the tenderness. "I got hit," she said dully. She remembered little fragments of the ordeal— Lloyd screaming, Julian saving her, and someone handing her the dagger before she passed out...

"Where's the dagger?" Lexi asked, suddenly alert, sitting bolt upright and stoically ignoring the sharp pain in her chest. Lloyd placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her, but Lexi batted it away, scanning the earth around her for any signs of the weapon. "Where is it? Where did you—"

"It's right here," Kai said, thrusting it into her hands. Lexi grabbed it greedily and clutched it against her stomach protectively. "I was holding onto it for you until you could use it again." He frowned. "What's so special about it, anyways?"

"It was a gift from my parents." The lie slipped from her lips easily, and she was amazed at how confident she sounded. She certainly didn't feel it. "Thank you, Kai."

"How do you feel?" Misako asked gently. Lexi winced at the tenderness in her voice. "That was a nasty hit, you know." She but her lip, her gaze dropping to the ground. "You could have died."

Lexi's chest tightened. "Well, I didn't," she said stiffly, tossing her head. "I'm fine. My chest hurts, but that's to be expected, right?"

"I— yes, right," Misako said, seeming rather abashed at Lexi's dismissive manner. Lexi ignored this, rising to her feet shakily, refusing the hands offered to her from all sides. "I'm fine," she repeated, although if she was being honest, sitting down and resting seemed like very tempting options.

"Now that Lexi's awake, we should work on our plan to get out of here," Kai said. He looked like the whole situation made him very uncomfortable, and Lexi could sympathize. "Um... anyone got an idea?"

"Wait a second," Lexi said, holding up a hand, "how long was I out for? How much time have we lost?"

Lloyd glanced at her apologetically. "A few hours," he admitted. Lexi paled.