A vivid memory.
It was the weekend, Ninjago city was brimming and a boy glanced down at the sandbox, disappointed.
He was staring at a ruined sandcastle, no emotion in his eyes but the dissatisfaction was definitely there. He gulped and clenched his fists, allowing the book that he was holding on to fall into the sand.
He didn't say a word, just continuously stared at his ruined masterpiece.
He didn't acknowledge the footsteps of two individuals coming from behind him, they came from the playset in this park.
"Umm, hello there! Do you need help?" A girl with cyan hairlocks knelt over. Curious, she remained behind the boy as her friend had done the same.
The boy turns, the first spark of something akin to frustration showing on his face. He rolls his eyes at the newcomers.
"Who in FSM are you?" He asks bluntly.
The girl chuckled at the response he gave, extending her hand forward for the boy to take. "I'm Ava Zeveda, I live around the block and this here is my friend, Matias Helix."
She introduced not only herself but as well as the blonde-haired boy beside her.
The disappointed boy took the girl's hand in his — and shook it lightly before pulling his own away.
Matias nodded at the interaction and turned his eyes over to the boy, who had yet to introduce himself.
"Hello, nice to meet you. Who are you?" He inquired, being as polite as his mother had taught him when he was much younger than this current age.
Turning his head to look at the fallen book in the sand, he blinked. Then, with a little smile, the boy says:
"I'm Zephyr, Zephyr Gwydion." He introduces himself at long last. It was amazing as how quickly as a falling leaf had he charmed the two with that smile of his. It was,, alluring, almost.
Ava points out something that many have pointed out before in the past: "I like your green eyes, Zephyr. They suit you." She says, exchanging a smile to him as well.
This time, his had completely fades.
The two have not noticed since he broke out in speech right off the bat.
"Thanks. I was supposed to dye a streak of my hair with my uncle today but he couldn't make it. That's why I'm here, playing alone." He explains, kneeling down in the sandbox to grab the fallen book right back up.
The two children shifted their heads over to the ruined sandcastle, Zephyr paid no mind to the confused expressions on their innocent faces.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Ava whispers quietly, quickly refusing to continue staring at the build.
Now, there was something unusual with this boy.
His emotionless expression contorted into a twisted smile, the boy laughed and procrastinates no longer to pick his book back up from the sand.
He pointed an accusing finger over to the two other children.
"Hahaha, don't worry about it! I'm happy that I got some time off, I'll just dye it next time! Now I have more time to work and make him proud!"
Zephyr was laughing. Ava and Matias weren't. In fact, they were confused at how he can gleam to be so cheerful.
They brushed it away, big mistake.
"Oh....okay! What are you working on?" Ava shows a slight bit of hesitation when speaking again. But she finds herself asking him another question, her curiosity dipped deeper into the brew.
His response was not the one she had expected — or even wanted.
"Spells, of course! I was casting spells!"
In disbelief, Matias and Ava, regular civilians who didn't believe in such things, stared at this boy in pure shock.
Zephyr claimed that he was spell casting around these parks.
How utterly underwhelming.
Ava, who felt a bit bad to have to send him through a reality-check, "But Zephyr, spells don't exist in the real world, only in movies." She tried not to make him feel bad in any way.
Was he out of his mind?
"Silence! I'll teach you how to do them, so I'd say you be more considerate next time." Zephyr claimed, growling at their rudeness.
Matias and Ava couldn't help but awkwardly glance at each other.
"Okay, okay!"
Yep, this guy was a lunatic.
~~~~~~~~
Several weeks later,
as school time was back on for the children of Ninjago city, three teenagers found themselves staring at a game board for minutes.
The cyan-haired girl hummed softly then allowed the dice in her palm to fall onto the board. She raised her head from the ground and she turned over to her friends.
"Huh, a sleepover. I've never been to one before, especially a boy's house." She mentioned quietly, not showing a smile nor a frown on her lips. She brought her fingers to her assigned piece: the kitten, and moved it three steps to the front.
It was Matias' turn, he picked up the dice and shook it in his hand — then dropped it onto the board.
It landed on a four.
Standing up from the floor and paying no attention to the game currently happening, "Don't be silly, we're gonna learn spells, aren't we?" Zephyr exclaimed, his excitement crashing through the roof at this point.
Moving his piece, the mouse, along the board, Matias rolled his eyes again.
"Why are you so excited about teaching us?" The blonde boy wondered, picking the dice back up with his two hands as he handed it to the brown-haired boy.
It was his turn, so Zephyr rolled the dice.
It landed on a two.
"Because, spells are great, we need more spellcasters in this world! That's why I'm willing to teach you all and unlock your inner potential!" He didn't even bother to move his game piece along the board, he was too focused on sprouting out nonsense.
The game became dull.
Matias wanted a quit. He stood up from the ground, leaving Ava and their pieces on their respective squares. He walked over to the door. "Uhhh yeah, anyways. I think the popcorn is ready, I'll go downstairs." He made an excuse.
The door opened them shut, the faint sound of Matias' footsteps crossing down the stairs being heard from upstairs.
Zephyr grinned, shifting his head over to look at the cyan-haired girl. It was just the two of them now.
"It's just you and me now, Ava." He reminded.
She was oblivious, unfortunately.
Pushing away the dice, she doesn't even look up to phase Zephyr. "Yeah, haha! Let's wait for Matias then we can learn together." She smiles at the thought.
But the boy had other plans.
He approached her subtly.
"No, actually," he changes his mind.
Ava was curious now. She turned her head up to face him and spotted him right in front of her. He was towering over her sitting form. She was caught off guard.
"Zephyr..?" She interrogated, a little nervously.
In one quick movement, Zephyr stands the girl up, his hand supporting her by the waist. Ava, who was confused about all of this, blushed as Zephyr drastically grabbed her somewhere that she wouldn't think he'd hold her by.
He leaned front and she was falling from behind. He was tipping her down and she could see the mischievous grin on his lips as his face came closer.
He was getting too close for her own comfort. First, he grabs her without permission and now.....now...
"Zephyr?!" Face red with fluster, Ava yells out to him, honestly wanting an explanation for what was happening.
Green swirls had surrounded the two of them, they all came from one source....the book laying open by the boy's open.
The bastard had a spell ready for when one of them was alone?! Dammit!
"Shhh..."
No one wanted to talk about what happened after that night.
~~~~~~
A week from the sleepover,
A boy with a blonde locks waved over to his friend. They had just finished school for today, it was time to go home.
"Hey, Ava. There's a knitting program going on at school today. I was thinking we could go together?" Matias had another plan, though. He had wanted to go with his friend to the knitting program happening after school.
But, Ava, bag on her back and ready to leave the school gates, smiled and shook her head. She was eager to go home today.
"Ah no. Sorry sorry, I have spell practice with Zephyr today. Maybe next time?" She cancelled his plans to go with somebody right before his very eyes.
Ah, so she had other plans.
Plans to spend time with that lunatic.
Trying not to sound hurt nor defeated in this case, Matias tried to convince her.
"That's what you said two weeks ago. Besides, don't you think you've been spending a lot of time with Zephyr lately?" He pointed out, of course not wanting to get into her business.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Ava was oblivious to this, though. She didn't find that those three-days-on-five weekdays by Zephyr's house was "too much".
Matias crossed his arms at that. "I'm not an idiot. You go over his house every two days or so, to practice witchcraft, the dark arts." He mentioned.
He wasn't jealous.
Did he sound like it?
Overprotective and skeptical was the best term here.
Snapping him out of his thoughts, "And? It's fun." Ava failed to see his point here.
Did he really need to spell it out for her?
Clenching his fists and cutting to the chase, "What I'm saying is that, it's not you, Ava. You've changed, a lot. After we've met Zephyr, you became more reckless and...I don't know how to describe it..."
Matias explained to her — the real issue that had been going on ever since they met that strange boy.
"Just spit it out, I'm a tough shell to break, you know? I'm—" Ava begged him, not thinking twice on how impactful words can be. It was like...she didn't care? Almost.
Straight and bold with her, "Delusional." He described her almost obsessive behaviour with the young spellcaster and his antics.
Now, that's when she finally reacts.
Showing hostility for the first time in ages, her magenta hues glowed with anger. "What? I'm not!" She raged.
He didn't believe her, he had thought he had enough proof.
"Yes, yes you are. You're all lunatics if you believe that spells exist!" He backed away from Ava,
She tilted her head in confusion, raising her arms to shrug.
"What, but you're friends with him, no?" Now, this was all hypocrisy at this point. Matias stopped in place.
He did like spending time with Zephyr, he just thought...he was a little silly sometimes.
But, he liked Zephyr. He loved being his friend.
"Yes but..." he was conflicted with his words now, he was careful.
Ava snickered, "I'll tell him that then, I know you're too much of a coward to tell him yourself." She offered.
Not waiting around for his response, she began to walk away. She had plans to get to, after all.
But, Matias stopped her. He was scared, no terrified. Embarrassed?
He stretched a hand out, "Wait wait! Don't actually tell him I said that!!" He yells out to her.
With a grin that could rival even the Cheshire Cat, Ava giggled.
"You're funny, man." With that, she walked out of school and made her way straight home to prepare for her after school activities with Zephyr.
~~~~~~~
They were adults now, time had passed without a warning.
They became spellcasters, the both of them. Just like Zephyr had.
Looking through the security camera footage before his very eyes, Zephyr scrolled through them, paying no mind to what it displayed.
Matias, his trusty friend, stood behind the throne he sat on. He said no words for the entire hours.
But suddenly, the memory of him and Ava arguing over the knitting program resurfaced to his mind.
No, why now?
Matias gulped, did he ever apologize to Zephyr for speaking ill about him?
Huh, he could do it now. It was just the two of them.
Parting his lips to speak, "Zeph—" Matias chose to speak.
The spellcaster raised a hand to silence his friend. As if reading his thoughts,
"I know, you don't have to tell me." He forgave him.
Did he even know what he was talking about?
Confused with how quickly Zephyr answered him, "What?" He questioned him, unsure if his friend was even thinking about the same thing he had in mind.
There was a pause between the two of them. Then, a small chuckle was heard from the brown-haired boy. He brushed a strand away from his face.
"I know you think I'm insane." He says calmly, as if this was no big news to him, nor was it hurtful. It was if, he was used to hear such disapproving words before in his life.
Now, he wasn't wrong with that one. He mainly wanted to bring up what was said by the knitting program argument a few years ago. However,
"Ava told you?" Matias didn't deny his assumption — rather spot-on.
Zephyr shakes his head. "No, I know." He clarifies, again, keeping that quiet and unbothered tone.
Now, hearing that, shocked the boy greatly. He had to refrain from speaking face to face with the brown-haired spellcaster immediately.
"But how? You weren't even there." He tried to suppress his shock. However, knowing how dangerous and cunning Zephyr was, Matias feels like he didn't have to hide it.
Turning his head to face his friend, who was in complete disbelief, Matias saw from the corner of his pupils how Zephyr's eyes glowed in green.
He was smiling.
That was unsettling, even for him.
There was no conversation exchanged between them in the next minute — as the gate doors begin to open.
In came, Ava Zevada, she was exhausted. Zephyr sent her off on a mission in the dreamworld, it was her turn to look over Harumi today, she abused her time there.
The first one to notice her state was Matias, of course. The most "sane" friend someone could ask for.
"Ava! What happened to you?" He inquired, rushing over to her aid.
She placed a hand to her head and walked over to the throne, she needed to report to Zephyr of what happened — or else, he'd be infuriated.
"Augh, nothing, just Harumi being a pain in the dreamworld." She cut the details short, would practically rather just summarize.
When she was standing in front of her boss, who was still by the throne, and didn't acknowledge the small ruckus between his two friends just now,
"So?"
Zephyr questioned, not turning around to face his companion, who struggled to even keep on her feet. What interested more was what was displayed on the camera footage before his very eyes.
Ava rolled her eyes over to Matias and shook her head, she kept walking towards the throne.
"I revealed myself to her." She explained simply. She didn't see the big deal to it, besides —
She couldn't make her point because Matias, shock-stricken, was in denial about all of this.
Even if he was a spellcaster himself now and loved toying around with what he can do, he was still rather wary of power abuse.
"You idiot! You removed the disguise?!" He yelled at the cyan-haired girl for being rather insensitive and foolish — even more than he was.
She was always stubborn, but seriously...as spellcasters, they needed to be careful.
With arms crossed, Ava looked to the side. "Mmm well, Zephyr said it was okay." She whispered — mainly for herself.
The one who decided to intervene this time, shocked the both of them. It was Zephyr, their boss and friend.
"Don't freak out so much, Matias. I preferred it when it was silent in my cavern." He didn't necessarily take anyone's side here. He was neutral, the cheeky bastard always was unless it was important to him.
Matias didn't accept to just stand around and not care about his friend's reveal to a mortal. "No, this is a big deal! This means she can track us down in real world time!"
"Okay well, the wings were a big of an exaggeration and I wanted to look cool but—" Ava attempted to slide in an important detail to her trip by the dreamworld today however,
"Matias, buddy." Zephyr stood up from the throne, raising his staff over to his target, and shot a blast of his green magic.
It sent him flying to a wall — and the victim groaned, struggling to stand from the impact.
He looked up at Zephyr — absolutely mortified with what had just happened.
This was the first time, Zephyr had ever hurt him.
Oh, how it hurt.
But when you're involved with Zephyr Gwydion, your feelings don't matter, right?
He growled and turned away when the green-streaked spellcaster began talking to him again.
"You know, I think you're a perfect candidate to help me out with my plans. But if you're gonna keep being this stubborn, then.." the boy addressed him, sitting back down on his throne.
This time, instead of rebelling,
"No, no, I'll...I'll go. I won't get in your way anymore." Matias gave in and accepted Zephyr's warning. He'd be wary of everything from now on.
He was scared,, to screw up again and potentially die.
"Oh, changed your mind, have we?" Zephyr made a note of that, he was pleased with his friend's submission to him.
Head low, Matias gulped.
"....Yes.."
He was at Zephyr's mercy now. Well, that's what he had thought.
He was safe.
"Good good, see? I told you all that we'd all be good friends!" Clapping his hands, the green-streaked spellcaster was glad that his friends were all getting along with each other again.
The cyan-haired spellcaster laughs at their merry little moment.
It was an echo of a memory.
~~~~~~~
The present day.
'Memories, my memories and mine alone.'
Shutting the book she was reading, the cyan-haired spellcaster pushes the book away from her. She glanced at the clock and laid back on the arm chair. She lifted a hand off the arm-rest and glanced at it, her hand was shaking. She sighed and didn't protest at all, she didn't care what her body was doing to her.
Tilting her head to the side a little, "Hey, what are you doing wasting time around? Zephyr is waiting for us." Matias opened the door to the library. She sighed and shook her head, standing up from the chair.
"Sorry. I thought I was feeling a little dizzy earlier. False alarm." She explained, placing a hand to the side of her head to make her story more believable. That and because she really did take a breather for a couple of minutes while Zephyr handled their prisoners.
"You still can't feel anything, can you?" He gives a concerned stride.
Ava doesn't look at him, "Not at all. As long as Zephyr doesn't do anything drastic, I'm fine." She replies rather casually.
Is this a joke?
Nah, this was how the two of them have lived their lives.
This was what happened to Ava Zevada, ever since that day, the sleepover.
"Do you miss your emotions?" Matias thought he'd ask. Even if he knew the answer already.
Ava thinks for a second. It didn't take long at all. "Sometimes. But, that's all behind now."
She changes the subject.
"Zephyr is really overjoyed for the last couple of days,"
He noticed it. He didn't want to talk about Zephyr now, this was about her.
He thinks that Ava isn't seeing the bigger picture here, that she matters. Not only Zephyr's success.
"You're dodging the point here, Ava." He figured he'd tell her.
"Huh?"
Oblivious as ever.
Ava wasn't as clueless when she wasn't affected under that spell.
"That spell he cast on you that day, a brainwashing spell. You embody it now, don't you?" He asked, knowing the answer but oh so not wanting to believe it.
He remembers the shock he felt when seeing the spell awaken in his friend in the first few days that the boy had cast it on her.
She didn't want to go to the knitting program anymore, despite loving it in her youth.
"That's correct, I am the mere image of indoctrination now."
Matias shakes his head in disapproval. They've talked about this and never did they turn out pleasant.
He didn't forgive Zephyr that day, that day of the sleepover.
Ava wouldn't either, the real Ava. Not this brain-washed sidekick of Zephyr's.
"What I'm saying is—" he paused in the middle of his sentence, having heard a loud crash coming from the throne room. He gestured the spellcaster to follow him.
"You're all being so incredibly noisy. I can hear you from the middle hall." Matias complained, opening the doors to the throne room.
~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: This was a bonus chapter that was decided to be written last minute! I had always thought that the spellcasters lacked backstory and noticed: "Well, they're amazing characters and less developed than Zackery and Mirage, so why not!"
But we didn't know where to incorporate their flashback/backstory segment in any of the recent chapters seeing how things are at the moment, so we decided to make it a bonus chapter!