Chapter by: LillaSmolBean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Under a brimming sun, it's been twenty minutes since they last took a break. They wouldn't have taken any breaks at all, if Master Wu hadn't ended up coming along. Lloyd and Garmadon ended up going ahead, they only made it past the forest when the others joined them. Now, it was the ninja, Alt. Ninja, pups and Garmadon arriving at the gates of a tranquil and sweet little village.
"I feel like we've been here before," said Nya as she gestured all of them to come inside. Well, she had anyways. A while ago, she arrived here to fulfill a mission of hers. Now that she enters it, she sees that it hasn't changed in one bit.
Rice fields were still there and even bicycle chalet was the most popular thing going on.
Rivers to gather water for households and to water the plants. A tidy little village if one would admit. As for little Cloud, she manages to detect a track of sweet bread and half-cooked rice rolled in the petals of fresh flowers. A secret recipe that people in this village would never share to the city folk of Ninjago. The culture here in this village was important and sacred, it shall not be taken advantage of.
The group ended up reaching a certain house in the distance. It was against two other houses of the same size. No one was sure why they had wandered off this far but here they were, the green ninja hesitantly reaching his hand over to knock on the door. He frowned, unsure whether the residents here were people that could help him find who they were looking for.
The front door opens, the ninjas along with their allies all stepped back as who had answered the door was someone they weren't expecting at all. A black-haired man with a perplexed but aggressive expression on his face.
"Acronix!What are you doing here?!" Lloyd gasped, readying his hand to his sword sheath, if Acronix was here, they'd all be in big trouble.
Holding onto the door, "I could ask the same for you, ninja. What are you doing here?" He held back on starting a fight with them. He didn't want to start one, not here in this peaceful village.
The green ninja and time master fought in silence instead, they growled and glared each other in the eye, not remembering the past battle they hadn't finished.
Kai sighs and decides to step in before things get worse.
"Look, we don't mean any harm. We were just looking for directions to find someone named Harumi." He explained themselves, all of them. It could be pretty overwhelming to have a whole bandwagon of enemies showing up at their enemy's doors for some help. Kai knows the feeling.
However, as if brushing them away and refuses to hear them out, Acronix makes his way to close the door.
"Harumi? Don't know her." He replied quietly. The door was close to closing, the ninjas could see the uncertainty in his masked eyes. His plan was almost too perfect, if it wasn't foiled with the voice of a little girl throughout the hallways.
"Who's at the door, uncle?" A silky-haired resident wondered, coming to the front of the door, curious to see who were the visitors on this fine afternoon. Her eyes glowed a shade of green that Lloyd and Kai found all too familiar, her pale lips pursued to take in a breath of air.
They knew her, the girl clothed in robes and light makeup.
"Harumi!" The gang all questioned at once', "He's your uncle?"
Harumi nods, unfortunately—if this had been in Lloyd's perspective. He sighs, half-relieved that Acronix doesn't seem to be the complete bad guy he thought he was.
Acronix on the other hand, confused as to see how his dear niece was acquainted with his enemies, questioned her as well. "How do you know these ninja?" He asks.
Harumi chuckled and shyly makes her way over to Lloyd in which she grabs his arm and pecks him on the cheek. She gives a small wink as well as a blush in her uncle's direction. "Well you see uncle Acronix, me and Lloyd are together." She reveals.
She didn't give enough time for the green ninja to recover, Lloyd stood there with a love struck expression as he desperately caught his words like him attempting to remember things from his dreams. He didn't even acknowledge the mere quiet conversation Harumi and her uncle were having in the background as he returned to reality.
He remembers hearing from Acronix and Harumi respectively:
"I don't know if she'll like them here."
"We'll just tell her later, she'll understand."
He didn't know who at the time those two were talking about. Eh, it was a problem he could solve later. For now, he needed to fix his own issues.
He stuttered at each question the black haired man asked him with.
Acronix turned back to him, having noticed he wasn't dazed into shock anymore.
"How did you meet her?" Acronix asked him once, not being too patient with the last answers he gave in which he tried to form words.
He bit his tongue, "F-Funny story actually.." he curled his fingers around his hair.
Harumi found this adorable. The whole team did, but still felt sorry for the position Lloyd was in.
Acronix rolls his eyes and steps away. "Whatever, you can come inside."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ninja had arrived during the afternoon, they had not eaten lunch therefore Acronix and his wife Josephine decided to prepare a little something for them. In the meantime, Acronix kept an eye on all of them as they wandered around the house, all somewhat surprised with the things the time lord owned.
For such cases, Jay liked the TV Acronix bought. A flat-screen that doesn't seem any major complex connecting steps in order to get some power. Even so, the power was quite weak in this little village. The children barely stayed inside to watch TV in the first place, they played outside with their bikes and flew kites. That's pretty much how Harumi grew up before moving to Ninjago.
Kai and Zane had found the paintings on the wall. They tried asking Acronix where they were from but when he didn't know. He simply replied that when he was going back through time, he collected them for his own amusement.
Alas Lloyd found the family pictures. He had seen one of Krux and Acronix but didn't stay analyzing that one for too long. He knew how the former looked like and didn't want to begin remotely wonder where he was, if he was gone, that's good for him, Lloyd didn't want to deal with another time lord here.
Right beside the picture frame that had the two brothers, Lloyd's hand switches over to hold another frame. He looks at the picture closely, there was a little girl with braided dirty blonde hair, she had the loveliest of smiles. Her white dress matched the Lilly of the valley's she was holding in that prim little basket of hers. A memory certainly frozen through time.
Lloyd recognizes the girl, it was Harumi.
Come to think of it, she looked a little similar to her aunt, the lady that was joyfully cooking with her niece in the kitchen right now.
Lunch was prepared shortly and everyone gathered by the main table a few inches away from the kitchen counters. There were turkey sandwiches laid out including some salad with carrots and corn, freshly picked from their backyard. There weren't many market places here and almost everyone had gardens to do some planting of their own.
"So Harumi," Aunt Josephine started a conversation as she added salad to her plate. Everyone was already beginning to eat the food on their plates, no one getting more than the usual serving. "How's my sister and her husband doing? I see you haven't arrived with them." She inquired.
Harumi felt her stomach churn at the mention of her parents, of course Aunt Josephine was looking for her biological parents. The ones that went down with her old apartment...ah, she didn't want to think about that. Harumi gives a nervous glance to the oni lord, in which avoided eye contact with her completely. She felt herself all alone again in this moment.
So, she put on a mask and greeted her aunt with a beautiful smile. "They're photographers actually. They're currently travelling all over, taking pictures for the newspaper and for me, haha." Sh decided to lie, which surprised everyone at the table minus Josephine and Acronix. "I told them to take good pictures of the little animals." She trailed, too absorbed into her lies already.
Lloyd lowered his fork and listened to her white lie, he tried his best not to frown as Harumi was meant to be telling her Aunt a happy tale, a happy tale only suited for real wonderlands. But what the truth was the crashing opposite. He instead lowered his eyes to the plate and tried to block out his words, not wanting to hear it.
"Photographers? I'd love to see their pictures." Josephine laughed, impressed with the fake career her dead sister and brother in law had.
The guests at the table were uncomfortable as they took a bite out of their salads. The only ones oblivious are Aunt Josephine and Uncle Acronix, of course.
A few conversations came here and there, to bring the light atmosphere back onto the dinner table and it worked for the most part.
That is until one conversation struck a brilliant time among the other lunch guests. Harumi was about to take a bite out of her sandwich until she heard her aunt laughing from across the table.
"I sure would have loved to move to Ninjago, the stories sound wonderful." She puts her glass of water down. "But ever since the Great Devourer attacked and the ninjas not being able to do anything, I think I just want to live here with your uncle." She explains, a bright smile are on her lips, no shame whatsoever.
It was if she didn't realize the ninja were actually at the dinner table, but oh trust me, she was well aware.
But that wasn't the most appalling part for Harumi. The girl sat unsettled in her chair as a creature she never wanted to talk about had been brought up. "Great devourer.." she whispered through chapped lips. She stared at her aunt in horror and refused to pick her fork back up. Josephine frowned at the look her niece gave.
"Oh sweetie, you get me too, right? Those good for nothing ninja should have done something." She says, not bothering to fix the burns she had made in these guests' chests to the moment.
Harumi though: 'I was so much like her when I was younger..' She definitely saw the similarities now. As Josephine being against the ninja, she knew how much her younger sled would agree with her aunt all the way.
Once upon a time, she wanted to destroy the green ninja and his team. As revenge for not avenging her parents.
Even if she knew who she was talking to—not to mention, hated the idea of seeing her niece and her worst enemy together, she still asked a little question. A question that be both sweet and delusional.
"Anyways, how did you and Lloyd here," she pauses to give the green ninja the stink eye, clearly knowing who he was due to appearances and names, and continued. "—meet?"
Harumi thought for a second, the uncomfortable grimace she had minutes ago fading into a smile when she remembered the happy times she spent with Lloyd. Even her aunt couldn't remplace that.
"For starters, me and Lloyd met on the street. I was helping the poor like you and mama had always taught me and he was there, helping too." Her smile grew more and more as she glanced towards Lloyd for reassurance and validation. Even if he was sitting away from her, she could feel his support and love from here. Josephine on the other hand,
"I highly doubt he was really helping out. Like I said, if he doesn't wanna stop the Great devourer, why start helping now?" She brought up.
Harumi rolled her eyes. Here goes her aunt finding inconsistent points to argue with again. Even if she was wronging them, it still hurt to hear about all of by her own aunt. She just wanted to live with her family happily.
"Stop it." She begs quietly, half-annoyed too.
"Not to mention, I heard there was an attack that happened recently by some biker gang? Come on, they couldn't even stop those in time?" Josephine adds. It causes Harumi to remember a time.
The SOG, yeah, that was her gang.
"Stop..." her tone got a little louder.
"How pathetic."
Every word hit like a bullet.
She didn't like it one bit.
"Stop it." She asked the lady again.
"and foolish." Her lips curved into a smile, seeing how nervous she made the ninja and Lloyd. But she hadn't seen Harumi's expression.
There needed to be a buffer between those two. Harumi was on the verge of apologizing to her family and crying her eyes out. Meanwhile, Josephine just wanted to prove a point.
"Josephine." Acronix's voice came through to cut the conversation like a barrier of wind. His voice always gave the impression of a cutting sword, it was terrifying even for someone like the green ninja. He looked his wife in the eyes and said: "I think that's enough."
Now, Josephine didn't take that particular suggestion to cool down and change topic too lightly. She hated being wrong, especially for something she had disliked the most—no, hated. She wanted to be heard, not silenced. By having the ninja here at their table, this would be her opportunity to teach them first hand how to be better heroes.
"We are very sorry we couldn't stop everything all at once." Lloyd ended up apologizing for the team, even if no one had specifically promoted him to. He just felt like it was an obligation to do so. Josephine looked down on him, this was her very big moment to complain for citizens she had never met.
Even if she wasn't from Ninjago herself, she felt the need to remind him that things would have been so much better if things remained how it used to when ninjas weren't around.
"I actually miss the old days where you frauds weren't playing dress-ups." She argued.
At this point, no one knew what to say. Not even Lloyd, who had apologized a little earlier. It infuriated the woman, seeing as she got no response from these criminals that now sat in her house. Josephine huffed and stormed out, leaving her husband to fix this whole mess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As night turned up, it took a lot of convincing from both Acronix and Harumi for Josephine to let the ninjas stay here. It was just for a day, right? If it was for a week, she was sure that her aunt will probably lose her mind. She was participating in the whole political protest of anti-ninja, Lloyd found the painful truth for himself yesterday at the dinner table.
It was bedtime, the ninjas excluding Lloyd were in the main guest room and Harumi was in her own room with the blonde boy. He had snuck in when Aunt Josephine wasn't looking and pulled out one of the sleeping bags. He remained on the grounds, easier for him to scatter if she ever came in the room. It was 11PM, close to 12. Harumi was asleep.
She found herself in the dreamrealm again or as some would call it, an absolute nightmare. Still, she was all chained up, she waits for the day she can wander around this place completely. But for now, slouched against the wall and feeling the cold cuffs press themselves against her wrists. She sighed and waited.
The door had swung open, a figure levitated from the ground and came in the room. Harumi blinked, being a little too tired to properly examine who had come to visit her. However judging by the small wing movements in the room and the flapping, she made her guess.
"You're 'The Voice' aren't you?" Harumi wonders, her ears peeking up the sound of light tapping against the wall.
"My my, I've missed my little nicknames. I feel like we haven't seen each other in a long time." The sleep demon sneered in a taunting tone. She stayed above, towering over the girl and flexing on her authority as the 'voices in her head'.
Harumi struggled on her chains, wanting to jab at the unfriendly demon. "Uh no, we saw each other recently actually." She spoke. It sparked up a good minute of curiosity and interest.
"Have we? Well I suppose I can stop being a coward and show you what I really look like." The Voice proposed, she hadn't shown her true form until now. She hopes that the empress isn't disappointed in what she sees.
The flying succubus-like creature floated down to the ground, her shadowy-form being hidden away by her massive magenta-tinted wings. Her little disguise reducing to nothing more but a mere humanoid girl with bright magenta eyes.
The white haired girl was properly able to see her now, a less terrifying sight for her nightmares now.
Instead of staring at shadow all day long, she saw a girl, with a pretty fair smile. Her hair was a light cyan, a few strands of her hair was braided in the back and black flowers accessories were attached to keep the hairstyle in place. Not to mention, the wings had seemed to disappear. Had everything just been an illusion so far?
"You may call me Ava Zevada, I'm a high sorceress of power so you'd better be careful with whatever you say." She informs Harumi. She rests her her hand on her hip and watches the chained girl with amusement. This form feels way more comfortable.
She had been wasting her energy and magic ever since 'The Shadow' had asked her to perform an illusion spell and take turns with him and another to visit Harumi in her nightmares. She knew that it would be sooner or later that the disguise would fall off out of exhaustion.
Due to how casually she mentioned it, Harumi would have never guessed that the reason that Ava showed her true self was due to a lack of energy.
"So why are you really here, Ava?" She questioned, changing the topic swiftly.
She had seen the demon look around the small room and practically shrug, that annoying grin still on her lips.
"Me? I'm just stalling for time." She casually mentions, a light purr escaping her lips when she heard a knock on the door. She hums. "Oh, that must be him."
"Who?" Harumi calls after her, not wanting her to leave just yet. She had more answers that needed answering.
Ava turns around for a brief moment before letting the shadow behind the door inside the small room with the chained up empress. "Zephyr."
Harumi's eyes widened at the name. Zephyr, she had a feeling she'd heard that name before...somewhere. Or just awfully connected it to something dangerous.
Ava disappeared into the other room, a room that Harumi may or may not explore the future. Instead, she was faced with an unreal sight. The room all around her turned into tower walls, the blue-lit sky was beneath her, she recognized this place. It was Borg tower.
A black smoke curled around her fingers, she stood up, noticing that the chains around her legs and wrists were gone. She was allowed to move and she stared up at the sky, breathing in the fresh air. She felt free for the first time in ages. She hadn't seen the outside world in a long time in her dreams. Maybe Ava spared her this time?
"Harumi." She heard a voice call for her from behind her. She turned around.
She wasn't spared, at all.
It was Nya's voice, she had a smile on her face and she stretched a hand forward for Harumi to grab. It seemed that they were on their way back now. It was time to return back home after a long battle. Harumi smiled back and extended her hand out to grab Nya's.
"You're dead." The water ninja whispered, the light in her smile fading in a couple of seconds.
Harumi's eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a second.
What...? She was dead?
"I'm not dead. I don't know what you're talking about?" Harumi retorted for the life of her.
"You died, everyone saw you. You lost the battle, Harumi. You lost to Zackery." Nya told her, a serious look on her face.
She didn't tolerate this little game of pretend Harumi was playing with. But really, her answers just confused the empress more and more. She was...dead?
The water ninja nodded, it didn't take a second for four other figures appeared behind her. She recognized them as well. It was her precious family. They weren't smiling like they would. Kai, Jay, Zane and Cole stood behind Nya and stared at her, disappointed at her "death."
But she wasn't dead, she was very much alive. What was happening? No, what was Nya talking about?
"I didn't lose, I won!" Harumi protested, beginning to make her way over to them at a slow pace. She didn't run out of desperation, she didn't cry out the truth, she just didn't want to accept what they've just claimed.
She defeated Zackery, she killed him when. She still remembers Mirage's tears dropping on her shoulders that day. She remembers the surreal pain coming to a close.
Then, she noticed something that she would have scolded herself for not noticing earlier. Her eyes examined the five ninjas in front of her. There was somebody obviously missing. A certain blonde ninja clad in green.
No, this was fake. This wasn't reality, it was once again another nightmare. She smiled to herself, her confidence striking back up.
"Where's Lloyd? Huh, I'm not dead! No, I'm very much alive! You're all liars!" She laughed, her smile overshadowing the sadness and guilt she had earlier for even thinking about this lie in the first place.
That was right, she was real, she won the battle, everything that happened until now wasn't just an awful dream, she was with Lloyd and her friends at Aunt Josephine and Uncle Acronix's house. That's right.
She was about to walk away from Nya and the rest of the ninjas, the fakes. But the atmosphere around her drew to a drastic change. The skies weren't peaceful blue anymore, they were red and eerie, they looked menacing. The black mist around her fingers stopped spiralling and instead grew out to become a pillar of smoke. They surrounded the five ninjas and all of them, let out cries of agony.
They were being controlled by whoever was behind all of this. Even if Harumi knew they were fakes, She couldn't help but whimper and step away from them, not wanting to become too close to the mysterious mist. It could be absolutely poisonous, what was happening to the five ninjas?
Second of all, where was Lloyd? Where was he? No, where was everyone else?
She felt a cold touch on her shoulder, she turned around instantly. Her eyes narrowed. A blonde boy looked at her worriedly, he was accompanied by a set of onis that she recognized: Mirage, Mistaké and Garmadon. There was also Nix and Cloud, they whimpered and stayed behind Lloyd. She exhaled, not ready.
"What is it, Lloyd?" She had the courage to ask under a rainstorm of yelps and wails. It wasn't helping that the blue skies were gone and black smoke began to take over. Not to mention, the seven individuals now in front of her didn't look as happy as the other five, who were now getting absorbed by columns of mystery.
He opened his mouth to take in the ghastly air around them. She saw in the corner of her eyes how Lloyd's green pupils flashed into a fit of black. He looked powerless and miserable. But he accepted whatever news he was going to tell her now.
He hesitates, even looks back at Garmadon and Mistaké for comfort. They offer him none, he acted as if they're monochrome statues. Chess pieces and he was the king, having put his pawns to use.
"We're set out to die, I guess you're on your own now." He didn't even sound sad nor regretted to think about this. He just announced it, like a speech of his. Harumi couldn't believe any word of his. The nightmare continued to creep in. What did he mean, she's alone?
"I don't get it." She responded simply, not adding any other piece of detail for clarification. It was if she didn't want to know any more than this. But it was all fake, right? Was this even real? No, was she real?
Scary, so scary to think about this. So scary of them to leave her all alone.
Lloyd turns to the side, she follows his gaze. There was a red-cloaked figure standing beside them.
Wait, wasn't Mirage standing there? Where did she go?
"He plans to kill us." Lloyd replied, turning back to face forth. The figure in red doesn't move, doesn't speak, just listens.
The black mist thickens, Garmadon and Mistaké disappear.
"What do you mean?" She asks heavily. This was becoming too much for her little heart. Everyone was disappearing.
Cloud and Nix too, nowhere to be found.
"Lloyd?"
She turns back to face him, he wasn't there anymore. Instead, the hooded man was there. A faceless being staring deep into her eyes.
She backs away. The figure cloaked in red didn't look too promising. She didn't know who it was, was that who 'The Voice' meant by Zephyr? She didn't realize that she had fallen behind. Again, like in every other dream that she was set free, she fell off the tower. Her hand reached out to the skies.
The room was dark again, the sky disappeared entirely. It was the middle of the night and Harumi felt herself fall on the ground. She was back to the real world, she blinked once. Her hand was raised to the sky. She was confused.
Beside her, she felt the cloth on her shoulder being tugged. She took a deep breath, shut her eyes and focused on steadying her breathing. Another nightmare she breathes. Unless, she wasn't back in the real world yet.
"Harumi, are you alright?"
She made with blonde strands, her shiny green eyes made contact with his emerald pearls. She sighed in relief. It was just Lloyd, he was waking her up from her nightmare.
She lowered her hand and stared at the ceiling, not directly looking at him. "I'm okay, thanks." She responded softly. She felt a tug at her legs. A small form ran along her bedsheets and frowned down at her. "You don't look okay, are you sure?" It was Cloud, who barked for her owner in concern.
She smiled, she was happy Cloud and Lloyd made sure she was okay after all.
She nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. Thank you, the both of you."
The night continued on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Harumi, lunch's almost ready!" She heard aunt Josephine call from the kitchen.
Harumi, who was in her room and has calmed down from the weird nightmare she had this morning, doodled in her sketchbook that she had from her bag.
She smiled and finally made progress to the doodle from two days ago.
It was a puffy panda drawn in a very cartoony-style, a style she doesn't draw in often. She figures she could go over to the living room where most of the ninjas were in, if not, walking around the village for ressources and to explore in general. She had a hunch that perhaps Lloyd and Garmadon were wandering around her fair little village.
She's been thinking about Lloyd a lot lately, huh? She can't help it that he's always on her mind.
She smiles and continues to doodle the panda's ears. She wanted to make it as adorable and detailed as possible. Anything to keep her busy from thinking about those nightmares.
Those incompetent nightmares with unfinished lore at the end of each one, however they've all been connected lately. She didn't want to think about it.
There was a knock at her door. Harumi allowed them in and she saw in the corner of her eyes of Acronix smiling at her.
"Uncle Acronix!" She put her pen away and excitedly got off her bed to greet the man. Acronix smiled and shared the gesture back. He kept his arms around her as he wondered if she's slept well. Harumi nods however she said she wanted to ask him a couple of questions.
He agreed and they both sat down on her bed. Before starting the conversation, he made sure to keep her in a happy enough state. He made a few jokes and reminisced about her childhood, a very long time ago when Harumi still lived in the village, she would often visit her aunt and uncle's house and spend her day there while her parents were at work.
She chuckled, remembering the monkey-shaped tunnel her uncle would bring her to see at the park. "I loved that monkey-tunnel so much." She'd reply to him and he'd only smile. The best times, the times when she was much happier than she was now. She had less conflict, she was a child that was free from responsibility. Most importantly, her parents were still alive.
They were both laughing and that was Acronix's goal. He calmed the conversation down and genuinely brought her attention back to the conversation she had wished to have a little while ago. "Tell me, Rumi, what's the matter?" He asked her gently, bringing the topic in at a slow pace.
Her smile disappeared. Ah, she knew she had to be serious for the next couple of minutes. She looks away, unsure whether she doesn't regret this idea in the slightest. What if this was a bad move? She doesn't say anything yet, earning a confused Acronix.
But she couldn't keep running, right? She can't keep keeping this secret to herself and she knows very well she needed help and advice. After sucking up the last piece of air around her, she revealed her problems to him. "Well you see, I've been having nightmares lately." She confessed.
"Nightmares, about what?"
Like every concerned uncle, Acronix didn't take this situation too lightly, even if he knew nightmares were a silly thing. He saw how Harumi hesitated with the question. He narrowed his eyebrows.
She pursued her lips and looked away before beginning to speak. "I don't know, it's different every time. Sometimes I'd be talking to demons...no illusions, and the next, I'd be falling off Borg tower." She admitted. Truly, an embarrassing time for her, she shouldn't have to be afraid of nightmares so much, she grew up already and she should face her fears alone. Why did she even have nightmares in the first place?
Acronix wanted to help her. "And you didn't tell your family about them?" But he knew that the more people that were there for her, the better this whole issue would be resolved.
Now, the answer he received was a little appalling to him. "I don't want to worry them..." he heard her whisper back.
He disagreed with this. "Harumi, you need to." He advised her, not wanting to have told her that on the first place. She'd know that she'd have to ask for help when she really needs it, right? Harumi shakes her head and moves away from her uncle.
"I can't have them worry. I'm okay, I promise."
She starts off, her eyes glimmering with regret and uncertainty. She was just so confused, what did these nightmares all mean? Why did they only happen to her? Was there something from the past that she couldn't let go of? "They've already done so much for me, I can't ask for help again."
That was a very unhealthy mindset here. Harumi shouldn't be regretting anything here nor should she feel restricted to communicate with her friends when she really needs it.
"Harumi, you're allowed to ask them and you shouldn't be afraid. I know nightmares are scary but if it's affecting your sleep like this-" he was interrupted when he felt the bed become lighter. Harumi had stood up and made her way out of the room.
"Aunt Josephine's been calling for us, you didn't hear?" She smiled. Then, she walked out from the doorframe, leaving her uncle to wonder if he was the one too invested in this conversation than she was.
What, Josephine's been calling for them? Was it lunch time already? Acronix rests his case and stands up from the bed as well, following his niece out of the room and walking back to the living room.
Little did he know, a certain oni lord had been listening from the room next door. Garmadon opened the door to the bathroom, standing in the doorframe after making sure that Acronix and Harumi were out of sight. He looked down to the tiles on the ground. He heard the whole conversation, at a low volume.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the dinner table, today's lunch was pulled cheese sandwiches. Aunt Josephine wanted all of them to eat healthy, as many would have noticed. There wasn't any salad today however, there was coleslaw on the table. The ninja served themselves and enjoyed lunch for today.
The conversation was pretty heavy from the start. Jay had never had coleslaw before and had asked Josephine what it was and she just began complaining. It seemed that she wasn't a very patient woman, especially not with the ninja. What ended up happening was that she ended up yelling at the poor blue ninja, scaring him clearly, and telling him that he should have known these basic things.
"You go off and fail to save the world but you don't know what coleslaw is?!" Josephine scolded Jay, rocking the table all together. She was just getting worse and worse in the eyes of the ninja, there was second-hand embarrassment on Harumi's part, she could feel it from across the table.
The white haired girl sighed, putting her sandwich down and standing up from the table. If Josephine wouldn't let her guests—no, her friends stay for the day without being scolded for who they were, she wouldn't be eating. Sure, she was being a hypocrite at the moment, remembering what she had done to Ninjago city in her time of anger. However, she changed, she forgave them.
She accepted that it wasn't their fault that day, upon going through the same amount of stress that day. The building, the Colossi, she saw it all in their perspective. So, why couldn't her aunt do the same? Did she need to become evil just like her just so she can understand that the ninjas' were already under so much stress? Surely, not.
"No, I'm not standing by this anymore. I'm sick of it." She spat, keeping her hands pressed on the wooden table, her eyes not lifting to meet theirs. Her blood boiled the longer she heard all of this nonsense.
It caught everyone's attention.
Josephine frowned, her voice going all soft because she recognized her niece not being apart of the ninjas, even if she clearly was associated with them in every way possible.
"Harumi, sweetie?" She tried. She was silenced by the younger girl.
She glared at her aunt, utterly disappointed. "I can't believe you, can't we just spend the day together like one family?! Why do you need to throw terrible side comments about my friends all the time?!" She raged, her hands slamming on the table.
She needed to calm down. She needed to calm down.
Lloyd flinched, Garmadon turned away from view.
Too far gone, she went too far.
Josephine put her food down.
"Maybe if you just understand that these people here are trying so hard to pay for their mistakes, you'd pay attention to how my sleep has been!! I've had nightmares and oh were they terrible!!"
Acronix and Garmadon were ashamed that they couldn't help her out more.
Josephine was perplexed, Lloyd called her name.
But it didn't matter. She threw her plate off the table, the food falling to the ground and she stormed off. She was the one who got away this time. Not Josephine.
Everyone say there, shocked in spot. That was the very first time that Harumi had ever been so enraged in her life. Not even as the Quiet One, she has raised her voice that much. It could be because they knew she was a good person deep down, was what made it terrifying she was capable to be this way.
"Nightmares, what nightmares?" Lloyd wondered, absent-mindedly.
"I'll explain later." Acronix reassured them, taking a deep breath to calm himself down from the scene that just happened before his very eyes. He was always the more sensitive one between him and his twin brother. He never understood that about himself.
"First we gotta find Rumi." Little Cloud barked, sitting up from the couch and surprised Josephine before-hand. The lady jumped in her seat and instantly interrogated Cloud. "You can talk?!" She gasped. Cloud chose to ignore her. For obvious reason.
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Exiting the house in a hurry, the group of ninja are seen in Aunt Josephine's backyard. It was quite spacious and there were many different objects to find. There were flowerbeds and also a sandbox meant for when Harumi would come over or if Josephine and Acronix would have a child of their own.
Lloyd peers up, he spotted a tree dangling over to their side, he finds a half-broken treehouse. At least, that's what it looked like to him. He would have thought it was a shed judging by how the planks were ready to fall apart however, the dead give-away really was the fact that it was built on a tree branch.
"Whose treehouse is that?" asked Jay, as if the answer wasn't already obvious before his very eyes. Luckily for him, Harumi's aunt and uncle were very tolerant for once. Even Josephine, who was against the ninjas' actions.
"That's Harumi's old treehouse. Where she used to live, there wasn't a backyard and she was pretty disappointed. So I offered to her mother that she can make one here." The aunt replied with a small smile. Oh how she'd remember young Harumi getting so excited to climb up the ladder and play for the day, she'd pretend she was sailing a pirate ship and often brought her ninja figurines.
Acronix frowned and made his way to the base of the tree, he didn't bother climbing up the ladder. He knew that she was there, where else would she have gone? Instead, "Harumi, listen, no one means it. You can come down, it's okay." He called out for her, keeping his voice to a minimum.
Usually, whenever someone would yell and encourage them to do something, it feels as if they're being forced to do it. Harumi, with his mindset, saw things that way. She curled further into a ball and trembled, her tears not going away at the moment. She wanted to be left alone, why else would she be here? Why can't they understand better?
It was only getting worse, no one was taking the hint. She lowered her face to her knees and stayed in the centre of her broken down treehouse. She tried to block out all sound, but it didn't work. She still heard them despite all.
All of her friends at once,
Stop it.
"Harumi, it's okay, we're here for you!"
Stop.
"You can come out now!"
Just please stop.
"Please, I assure you it's safe."
In respective order, Jay, Ultra Violet and Cole encouraged her to come down from her treehouse. She didn't listen. She didn't want to listen, she wanted to be alone.
"I said stop it!" She lifted her head up from her knees and placed her hands down on the floor-board below her. She didn't realize that she was charging up her powers in fear the entire time.
A blast occurred and the ground beneath her broke in half. She fell from the top of the tree, her abilities not saving her this time, no, the opposite really.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The black-haired man sighed, placing a hand to his forehead and lightly tapping it. He approached the ninja and watched as the oni lord, whom he remembers fondly, helps him brush away the stacks of leaves his niece fell onto.
"Harumi, are you alright?" Acronix walked over to the girl and offered a hand, for her to stand up. The white haired girl sighed and nodded, appreciating the gesture from her relative and stood up from the ground.
"Yeah...I'm okay, thank you." She thanked him with a little forced smile. She couldn't say for certain that she was alright just yet. In fact, the back of her head started to hurt a little but she guesses the pain will go away, just temporary from her fall.
Acronix looks to the side, "I didn't know you had powers. Your parents weren't elemental masters nor is Josephine." He mentions. It catches Harumi by the eye as she too, sadly stares at her own trembling hands and goes: "They're not, you're right. I earned these powers on my own." She whispered.
Her uncle gives her a weird look. It wasn't a regular thing that mortals could get elemental powers right out of the blue. As far as he was concerned, Harumi was ordinary, she was a human. Not anymore, it seems. He wanted to ask more about the origins of her powers but figured he could give her a rest on that topic for now. There was something else he needed to address them all.
His hand reaches his pockets and pulls out a piece of paper, "Anyways," he hands the ninja separate envelopes. The envelopes were not to be messed with, each of them had matching patterns, water lilies with a golden stamp on the right hand side.
"These were mailed this morning." Acronix told them, his eyes showing deep concern for what were in these letters.
The ninjas all had uncomfortable glances as they soon took the hint that no one wanted to open these letters in the first place.
Lloyd gulped, his gloved-fingers beginning to open the top flap, a card flipped out. He read the words out: "Tournament of Elements, A letter from me to you, hosted by Zephyr."
How did this Zephyr person knew they'd all come to this village in the first place? No one could predict such a thing. Unless this whole trip to find Harumi was a trap the entire time.
He blinked. "Tournament of elements? This can't be good.."
Were these letters a signal that another path is being constructed?
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A/N: Hello, Lilla here and thanks for reading chapter 125! This was a long one to write but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Anyways, it seems things are finally getting serious as the main storyline of this arc is getting revealed...Mr. Spellcaster Zephyr is inviting the ninja to his Tournament of Elements?! And who is this Zephyr anyways and Ava Zevada, is she helping him too? Find out in next week's chapter!!