"Okay...I can do this...I think.."
Clenching her side in absolute pain, she winced as she yet again, she took another step forward. She didn't want to move in such a critical condition, but if she wanted to even remotely get a chance of getting out of here, she needed to at least try.
She toppled over when attempting to take a second step and groaned — practically to herself out of frustration. Everyone was out there, behind her, fighting for their lives. Yet here she was, the weakened Quiet one who couldn't even shut off the machine that was meant to help their enemies.
She knows that the others didn't want to fight, but after a long break from defeating the Oni prince. But this was her fault, she didn't make it back home with them after the tournament and now here was everyone, they were saving her.
She's gonna at least try and save them in return, right?
Finding a determination once more, she crawled closer to one of the walls in front of her. Blood gushed out of her wound, but she couldn't care less about that in the meantime. Her hand reached out to grab onto a hatch's handle to hopefully hoist herself back up, however, she spots too early that there was no lever of some sort.
Damn, how was she supposed to turn it off then?
It was shaking quite a lot in place, maybe it'll turn off on it's own? Nah, couldn't be. Harumi, not having much of an option here, simply waited to see if the loud cluster accompanying everyone's battle cries, would do anything. She knew that if not, she'd have to look around the machine for any signs of shutting it off.
She glanced to her left, a small frown appearing on her lips.
Yes, she must find a way this instant, then maybe, he'd stop looking at his team like that.
She was talking about Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, of course. He was alarmed as he shoved away his enemies. Her heart couldn't help but ache, knowing that he was panicking for her safety.
He knows that she was wounded but there were far too much backup to aid her right now. Oh how he wished that he helped her.
Inspecting the many cobwebs and the flicks for energy, she soon notices behind a spaghetti-wall of wires that there was a button. Huh, maybe this breaker wasn't so useless after all. Smiling, she stretched her hands further to shove the wires away from her view and hopefully reach for the button.
She didn't know what it did nor did it look trustworthy — but if there was a chance for her to get out of here, she must try everything.
Her fingers landed on the button,
Even if it was meant to self-destruct at a press of a button.
"I love you, Lloyd.." the white-haired girl smiles, her fingers applying force to the ominous red-button.
The cluster and the shaking of the machine stops all of a sudden.
~~~~~~~~
The resistance was fighting off the enemies in front of them. No matter what they did, they kept coming and coming.
It started to get boring now, in all honesty. Either, a kick, a punch and a stab to the gut with a sharp sword. How many guards did the spellcasters hire exactly?
No, why were they cowardly enough to stand in the back and blast spells off instead of coming forth?
Lloyd didn't have much time to think about it, as yet again, a green flame was directed towards him. Yelping, he clenched his sword and ducks, the flame hits the wall and it crumbles behind him.
He exhaled, relieved that flame didn't go through his chest.
Now, having dodged, he glared at the very one who casted that flame ball in the first place, of course it was Zephyr.
"Lloyd! Lloyd, my guy. You have potential." Zephyr cackles, refraining from attacking for a short while. He stood in the back, by the throne along with his companions Ava and Matias.
Lloyd, who was rather salty and exhausted from the fighting already,
"Shut up." he didn't want to hear anything this man said.
Ouch, how rude. That was a compliment!
Zephyr slits his eyes jokingly. "—wasted potential, I mean." He corrected himself in order to spite the green ninja. "You could have been the perfect spellcaster. Doesn't dark arts interest you?" He proposed.
Lloyd shakes his head. No well, there was a time where he rebelled against the ninja and idolized his villainous father.
The times when he was an idiotic but lonesome child.
"It never did." He denies, his pupils showing a sign of wariness and distaste for the topic.
Zephyr was quick to cut through his words, he knew. "Now, we both know that's a li—" there was a loud crash that stopped him dead in his words.
The throne room had blown up to smithereens, the cavern walls burst into flames.
Lloyd and Zephyr's eyes widened in that moment. Despite the same reaction, both expressed something entirely different:
"HARUMI!!!"
"SUCK IT NINJA, SHE'S FINISHED!"
Very...different thoughts. One had sounded desperate enough to run after her, panicking in place. While the other, was ready to scream bloody-murder.
The blast had caused Harumi to hit the wall, she did manage to get out of the machine in the end — though rather...injured. She coughed out dust, not finding anywhere strength to get out of here while this room was doomed to collapse.
She was surprised she even survived that, could it be that the fact she's an oni saved her from an incident that no human can survive?
Kicking the doors open and punching the half-broken walls out of his way, Lloyd frantically searched for the white-haired girl. He called out her name, he kept doing so, in hopes of finding her soon.
There was just,, so much rubble in the way. His chest tightens.
He remembers such a scene.
He experienced it himself before.
Almost.
The light in his eyes return at the sound of a small groan from under a pile of rubble,
"Over here.." it was Harumi, barely on the brink of consciousness, it seems.
Relieved that she was found, Lloyd rushed over to her. Using his strength, he pushed the rocks off her frail and probably broken body, and held her in his arms. He sighs, glad to have her here with him again.
He smiles a little.
"Harumi...I was so scared that you.." he told her, the words he pronounced were predictable each time, but still held the sam effect even after he's said it to her so many times.
He loves her so much, and even if she's put in so many death-defying situations, he's still worried as hell for her.
Having trouble to breathe, Harumi shut her eyes from time to time, struggling to stay calm in such a hurt state. "Lloyd.." she mutters out his name, proving to him that all clouded her mind at the moment was the pain she experienced.
Prompting her to sit-up, he still kept her in his arms. He lightly tapped her shoulder, trying to catch her attention even if she's barely awake to hear this one. "Never do that again, do you hear me?" He tells her, albeit strictly. "Never do that again." He repeats.
Feeling her lungs catch on fire by the small chuckle that escaped her lips, "I won't..I won't..." Harumi whispers in return. Then rolling her eyes to the side,
"Maybe." she changes her mind almost immediately.
Luckily, she had said that in a mutter.
He sighs, nodding at her words, not having heard what she said afterwards after all. Then, pressed a light kiss on the top of her head. "I'm glad you're doing alright, though." He says.
Harumi shakes her head, her eyebrows raising as if to question his intelligence in this moment. "Do I look alright to you?" She shoots back, a little hint of saltiness is showing.
Raising one hand to prove that he was in fact guilty, "Okay well, being this way is better than being dead, come on!" he grins a little. She did prove a point, but they both knew the snarl she gave was a jokingly one.
The two lovers laughed, the only laugh that they'll share in the day.
Recovering, Lloyd snickers to himself then looked down to look at Harumi with a soft smile. His expression changed promptly when he noticed that her eyes were shut.
His mind processed to such a dreadful scenario.
"Hey, hey." He shook her shoulder slightly. He didn't feel comfortable with her eyes being shut in his moment.
No, he couldn't think about it.
Not now, he couldn't. Harumi is strong.
"Stay awake, you'll lose your strength and die if you do." He told her, shaking her shoulder a bit harder.
He stops in his thoughts when he feels her hand brush itself against his own.
He turns to look down to her with a small smile.
Harumi smiles as well, her eyes remaining shut. But she knew that he glad that she at least showed a sign of life in the last few seconds.
"Don't worry, I'm just...drained." She reassured him, coughing slightly. She was a bit uncomfortable in this position, but this way better than being on the ground, she admits.
"Are you sure?" Lloyd raised a brow. Even with her hand holding onto his fingers, he doesn't quite trust her words. Resting would be the last thing a badly injured person would do. They'd mostly try and get out of here.
What she was doing now was...
She sharply exhales. Lloyd would truly outsmart her if they were ever on opposing sides again, huh?
Ah, did he figure it out already?
That she was losing sight of her own life?
His hands, who were now shaking, he grasps Harumi and pulls her into a hug. He didn't realize that he was already blinking away tears, his voice broke when he tried to talk. "Harumi, are you.." he didn't want to finish that sentence.
She heard his cries, she chuckled quietly to herself. Ah, this was so cruel, wasn't it?
She could only survive death once, so this was finally it. She mustn't cheat anymore and she was thankful to have been given so much time.
She sighs, nodding her head at Lloyd to answer his question — the question that they both knew. "Lloyd, take care of Cloud for me, okay? I...I don't think...I.." she pauses, her lips trembling.
Huh?
Oh, they were tears too.
Sobbing hard, Lloyd shakes his head and holds onto her tighter. "No no no shut up! Shut up!" He cries into her shoulder, unaware that he should probably be a little softer with the way he held her.
But he couldn't help it, he wanted her here, not in a world where he'll never see her again.
Unknowingly to the two, their family was behind, watching from the tunnels.
They frowned as they could tell from afar what had happened to their beloved family member.
"Lloyd, listen to me.." Harumi tries to catch his attention, she was getting emotional with the way he cried out for her.
He really wanted her to stay that bad?
"No!" Lloyd doesn't listen to her, he cries even more. He doesn't want her to leave, he doesn't want her to leave him particularly.
It may be his selfish desires running wild but he loved this girl.
More than anything.
Ignoring his protests and the tightening feeling around her waist, due to the way he was holding onto her for dear life,
"You must take care of Cloud," she continued with her instructions, her final ones.
It was no secret that Cloud goes to Lloyd and Garmadon if something bad happened to her.
Well, here it is. This was it.
Even with her final instructions being perfectly clear, he wished he didn't hear them. He wanted to erase her words from his mind. "Do it yourself!" He yelled, as a last ditch effort to forget about reality for a few seconds.
Her hand slipped out of his. The boy goes silent, she was already silent.
"Lloyd, I love you....so.."
He was losing her. He really was.
Was today gonna be the day that he finally loses her into another world?
The world was as harsh as ever.
He holds onto her, his head buried into her shoulder.
"so.."
~~~~~~~~
When she reopened her eyes, she had noticed that she was somewhere completely different. She was running. Harumi narrows her brows — well that was common nowadays, wasn't it? Who was chasing her this time?
She shifts her head back, continuing to run despite not understanding much of the situation and looks down to her palms, catching a small glance at her clothing. It wasn't bloody nor her hands were, this was surely another dream.
She internally groans.
She was with Killow, Mr. E and....who she thought would be Ultra Violet, but her expectation was changed with the image of....Lloyd? Her eyes widened as she picks up the pace like her friends all did.
"Lloyd?! Why are you here?" She didn't realize that she had blurted her confusion out into audible words. Right right, she has regained consciousness in her dreams, Lloyd would think she's insane now for not remembering, huh?
The green ninja, who continued to run, raised a brow at her strange question.
"We're getting out of here, don't you remember?" He reminded her, mainly snarking at her for forgetting about something event now of all times. He didn't recall them getting into any crossfire as well, so why?
"Yeah, they're after us, so we might have to hurry." Mr. E says quietly. He points his hands over to the exit of the tower of horrors that they were running from. They were on the ninth floor of Borg Tower. They were getting out of here sooner or later.
Kicking the door to the rooftop open, Killow urges everyone to go through the door. This was it, they'd be getting out of here. They'd return back to the resistance and continue from where they left off to knock that emperor off his throne.
At least, that's what they had thought.
The two generals along with the Quiet One paused in their tracks as they noticed a flying European-shaped scabbard fling itself through the air. The two generals dodged out of the way meanwhile the girl had ducked, terrified for her life that she managed to barely dodge that one. When she stood back up from the ground, however,
She heard a loud thud, all three of them did. That's right, three of them. They were four before but what they saw mortified them. The blonde-locks of the green ninja, who was running out of here along with them, is launched to the skies. His head rolls prudently on the floor and away from its decapitated body.
The three remaining survivors let out a cry of horror at the sight of the decapitation in front of their very eyes. Harumi felt sick, she didn't want to have to see this, not to mention the one that she held dear to her....murdered right in front of her. She clenched her fists and growls at their pursuers: the sons of Garmadon.
"You sick bastards!" She rages out, her belts swaying in the direction of the wind. She glared at her attacks with a cold glare, she knew she must get going.
Yet, she couldn't move from her spot: she was scared, no...more angry? Even she couldn't tell her emotions in this moment.
"What we are our are your capturers." What seemed to be the organization's replacement of a leader stepped up. He pointed a sword, similar to the one that killed Lloyd in cold blood, at the group.
They obviously had no choice but to raise their hands in the air out of surrender else it would alert more of these band members to corner them with their weapons, which is something they were already doing.
Harumi gulps, she finds herself in shackles before long. Meanwhile, her two other friends were sent somewhere rather more plausible than the dungeons of Borg Tower. Killow and Mr. E were sent off to Kyptarium prison for treason.
Here she was, rotting on the cobblestone walls. She sighs, having nothing to do. She hadn't realized it's been two hours already since she had gotten captured and sent back down here by the Sons of Garmadon. Better yet, he was there with her.
The four-armed man who held dominance over everybody here in Ninjago, her old boss. She rolled her eyes when she saw him coming through the door, the last thing she wanted to do in this moment was talk to him.
She didn't even want to know why he carried a plate of food inside of this jail cell tonight. Did he really expect her to eat something? She'd rather die than swallow a life of embarrassment.
Leaning by the wall, making sure to at least keep some distance, the emperor of Ninjago observed her quietly. She didn't like that, the fact that she was being watched. So, she struggled in her chains and kicked her legs along the walls, hoping he'd get the hint. He did, but didn't do anything about it. He shrugged and placed the food down by the ground.
"Why'd you do it, Harumi?" His glowing red eyes finally show that he's serious. He awaits an answer as Harumi didn't have the appetite to either eat or reply.
She wanted to be left alone, she surprisingly...missed Lloyd.
"What do you want?" She sighs, tired and annoyed that he came to visit her at a time of dread like this. What was he here for anyways, to mock-pity her attempts like this? What was he after?
Garmadon, who still stayed by the wall even after she showed a sign of life after minutes of not speaking, "Why were you helping Lloyd escape? He's the enemy, you do realize that." decided he'd get straight to the long here.
Harumi chuckled bitterly, "Maybe you're the enemy.." she mutters to herself. It was true, she didn't follow anyone but her new family now, he wasn't included, most certainly not. "I said get out of here." She quickly changes up her response before he gets angry with her.
Sighing at her refusal to cooperate with him, Garmadon leaves the wall's side and heads for the door — of course, he picked up the tray of food before doing so and then left the dungeons. It greatly surprised Harumi but she knew that this time, he would listen to her whenever she demanded him out of here.
It made her form ideas during the restless nights.
The same routine happened for the next couple of days. The food has gone to waste and was instead fed to the dogs, Garmadon didn't get much social attention for the week and his visits were often cut short.
'Thank FSM.' The prisoner would exhale thankfully each time she was left alone.
~~~~~~~~~
On Thursday morning, it went way differently though. She woke up, as usual, now that never changed. But the instant she opened her eyes, she was greeted with a bright light shining down on her, it was if whoever planned this, had intended to burn her eyes in place.
'What the hell is this?!'
She cried out — or at least wanted to. She found that she couldn't even babble a word. What....why?! Harumi struggles, she tried to cry out for help, but her responses became muffled.
Ah, she understood now, she was gagged.
As well as being chained, but again, that was no surprise for Harumi. But what she mostly wondered about was why she was chained outside of all places? Her theories all burst in a second when she manages to shift her head over to her left, there was commotion in that direction.
The scene displayed before her very eyes shocked her. It was her friends, Mr. E and Killow, they were out of kyptarium. But at what cost?
There was a sword to their heads, she couldn't bear to watched as the blade came down on their thin-skinned necks.
That was another one of her friends lost and she had no idea where Violet was.
Why was this happening, why?
'Stop it!! Please stop!!'
She wanted to rage out, she wanted to charge towards her enemies and cry. But she couldn't, she couldn't get out of these restraints, all she could do was cry. So, cry she did.
She curled into a ball and brought her cuffs hands together, she wanted to disappear from sight, she didn't want to see all of her friends die like this.
One by one...
Her head was spinning, she couldn't take this any longer. She cried even louder, causing the guards to roll their eyes in annoyance. They found the Quiet one delusional in this moment, they didn't want to stay around any longer. So, they quickly cleaned up the bodies and headed away from the rooftop.
She couldn't have a chance to say a proper goodbye to her friends. Their headless bodies were dragged away from her, even with no face, she knew how lifeless they looked. Her heart shattered in pieces, even if it was a dream, it felt so...real. Her eyes shut, even more tears escaping her.
By the time she woke up, she didn't find her environment changing. Well, it did. Though, she was back in the chambers. She groaned, it wasn't like she was in any pain, she just hated being in this position. Her hands tied to the top of her head, she wanted a break.
Not to mention, her wrists were swollen from the amount of times she struggled her way out of here.
She snarls to the man who was once again in the room with her. She wasn't gagged, he was nice enough to take the gag off at least. "What are you doing here?" She spat out, not exactly loud nor quiet, but definitely aggressive for someone like her.
Garmadon, who spun the fork in the mashed potatoes, sighed. "Not even a thank-you for me taking you in and taking care of you?" He inquired, honestly a little offended that she didn't have proper manners. Harumi, who glared the food once again neatly placed on the ground, thought about it for a second.
"What do you mean?" Her response this time was a little more relaxed. However, she still made sure to not be too friendly.
She still knew what he was capable of but, she wanted to know what he meant by "care", what care? All he's ever done was control her and her friends. How's that a form of care?
Garmadon puts the fork down then turns to her. "I went looking for you that day, I found you on the rooftop unattended." He explains himself briefly. He figured that he shouldn't talk more than intended. But even when he offered such kindness and even transported her in a place with more shade, he receives: "Please just go away, my head hurts." as an answer.
Wow. Some kind of appreciation, wasn't it?
Not pushing himself, he does as she asked, knowing it was futile to scream at her to talk, he grabs the tray and exists the cell.
When the door shut, Harumi sighed. She was all alone again.
At least, that's what she thought.
She squints her eyes, thinking she has seen something lurking by the walls — some sort of shadow waltzing with a creepy smile. She shakes her head, thinking it was probably nothing.
Ah, no. False. She saw it now. Along the walls, she sees a man holding onto the door-handle. His posture was very shadowy-like. However,
"Zephyr, it's you." She instantly recognized who the stranger in the room with her was. The intruder that wouldn't be leaving her alone any time soon. The shadowy-spell caster snickered and nodded at Harumi's calling. "Hello, hello, you finally know who I am." He says, she was correct with that guess of hers.
Harumi narrowed her eyebrows, not liking his little games at all. "Of course I do, I always have." She clarifies to him, was this a form of roleplay now? She didn't have time. Zephyr thinks for a second before he raises a finger out of exclamation. He had something to say.
Starting to explain, "Ah no, that's because you've finally gained what do they call it...consciousness in a dream, let's say." Zephyr claims in a way that Harumi would understand.
It was well-received as the white-haired girl had instantly raised a brow and replied with: "So lucid-dreaming?" she figured.
In exclamation, "Precisely!" Zephyr was overjoyed — perhaps a little too much, that she understood what he was meaning to say. Harumi huffs, not seeing it as a celebratory moment. Instead, she continues to speak with him.
It was funny how she much rather wanted to communicate with Zephyr than Garmadon. Despite the latter being far less dangerous than the former.
"You better not have hurt my family in the real world, or else...I'll kill you, I swear to FSM." Harumi reminded, her furious glare finally showing on her face. Now, Zephyr played stubborn on this one, he opened the dungeons' door and snickered over at her. "Swear all you want~!" was all he said.
Now, that triggered an unknown source of anger for Harumi. She clenched her palms, her eyes fumed with anger. She felt the chains around her wrists breaking
— she was waking up.
"ZEPHYR!!" She raged, promising to kill him in the real world. She swears.
~~~~~~~~
She awakens into the real world once more, just when she thought she had fallen into Death's paradise for good, it seems that compared to her dreams in Borg Tower, she escaped death yet again.
Despite her injuries, her ears pick up the conversation happening between three individuals, in whom she guesses are the three spellcasters. Matias, Ava and Zephyr, all three of them towered over her but with backs turned.
Harumi tries to stand, trying to se what had caught their attention beyond her line of sight. When she does, she notices that there's a cliff a few inches away from them — there was lava beneath them. She gulps, that would only mean one thing..
"So now what, Zephyr? The machine's broken." The cyan-haired girl pouted, her mangenta eyes scanning over the lava lake. Matias, who was on the right side of Zephyr joined in on the conversation.
"Exactly, we've failed." he adds quietly.
However, despite such claims, Zephyr smiles over to his two companions. He shakes his head and points at the lava,
"That's where you're wrong." He corrects them.
Both Matias and Ava knew he was insane, but failing to recognize that by going on, they'd keep fighting a losing battle? They tilt their heads in confusion, Matias even more so. "How so?" They both questioned in union.
Zephyr aims his staff at the prisoners who hung right over the dangerous lake. Of course, he had captured the resistance and insist on slowly burning them alive.
"I'll tell you later. First, since we don't have the machine anymore, we need to dispose of them." That was their first order of business here.
Now this sucked, rock bottom. This feels awfully familiar to a scenario he once experienced but he was dead sure he didn't wanna experience it ever again, but here he was, Zephyr pushing his nerves.
Killing Harumi because of that stupid machine was one thing, tying them over lava, another. Mocking them and dancing over that edge over there was made him boil with anger.
"Aww what's the matter Lloyd, not liking this five star spa vacation?" Zephyr taunts over by the "safety bounds" of their little trip. He much preferred to stay up here than down there where they were. He couldn't risk his precious little lunatic cape getting burned.
Lloyd growled at him, not necessarily trying to break free as he knew it'd make it a hard time for the others. "How dare you, Zephyr. You didn't have to go all that way just to kill Harumi, let alone use her for your twisted experiments!" He cries out, making sure to let the spellcaster know how enraged he was with him.
Zephyr twirled his staff in his hands, laughing at the green ninja's assumptions. He made a mild error there.
"Oh but it's not an experiment, Lloyd. It's passion!" He exclaims, raising his staff in the air, albeit dramatically.
"Same thing!" Jay sulks on the sidelines.
Frustrated with Zephyr's "show-off" ways to handle this situation, Lloyd turns over to Cloud, whom he thinks was very quiet during this whole argument.
He suspects that something caught her eye since she usually hops on arguing with those who hurt Harumi way quicker than he ever could. He was correct with that one. He catches the Pomeranian smiling.....of all times?!
"Cloud, why are you smiling?" He sighs, not wanting to deal with the attempts of a sappy-moment with any of these two. He thinks that Zephyr was already bad enough but if Cloud couldn't read the room already then...
His thoughts were interrupted by the puppy, who turned her head over to him with excited eyes.
"Look, Lloyd." The puppy whispered back, her snout inches away from his face to point in the direction of a pile of rocks. It took only a second for the green ninja to understand what she was pointing.
His eyes quickly widen and he smiles, he could see Harumi, she was really alive!
But if they wanted to keep her cover hidden, they must stay quiet about this. But boy was the green ninja glad that she was safe, he really thought he lost her there.
From behind the spellcasters, a badly injured Rumi sneaks her way from behind the rocks towards their enemies. She held her dagger tightly and when she prepared to strike — more like bash their skulls open with her sharp weapon, the brown-haired spellcaster with the green streak in his hair turns around, his jaw dropped at the sight of her.
"Oh hi, Harumi..." Zephyr waved awkwardly. He started stepping away from the edge a little bit and more to the side so he wouldn't be advancing towards Rumi. "You're very much alive..." he points out.
Harumi glared at him. "I'm very much alive, yeah.." she responds albeit rhetorically. "You didn't think you'd be able to kill me, did you?" She raises a brow. What kind of fool would he be if he actually thought they'd get rid of her that easily?
Zephyr growls in response. He didn't like the taunting at all, it wasn't fun. It was only fun when he is doing it to others. Right now, he feels humiliated by a puny....weak-minded, little— ah, but he must hold his temper for now.
The spellcaster exhales.
Aiming her dagger right at the spellcasters' weak point, "If you want this to resort peacefully, you'll let my family and friends go right now." Harumi warns them — well mostly Zephyr.
"Don't you think you've toyed with them long enough?" Well, it was clear that the spellcasters were in fact sadistic. There was no stopping that one.
"Ooh, so scary. What are you gonna do about it, though? You're injured, you can't possibly harm a fly." He says, cackling at his own come-back. Harumi, however, didn't look so pleased. She was the only one with a straight face at the party of laughing hyenas.
Rolling her eyes over to the left, she decides to cut him off on that offer. 'I'll show you that someone just as injured can beat you to shreds.' She muttered to herself, clenching her dagger close to her waist then proceeded to lift her leg — and kick him in the chin.
His face was sent flying in the opposite direction as Harumi had proved to him that she still had her fighting spirit. Smiling down at him triumphantly, she proceeds to stab him the arm, or at least tried to.
He unfortunately moved out of the way, learning his lesson from the first attack. Zephyr spits blood to the ground then chuckled at her confidence.
"Ahaha, do you wanna fight?" He raises a brow out at her, the spellcaster twirls his staff and stands himself back up, fully recovering from that attack just now minus a couple of wounds to the face.
Harumi, yet again, was not amused by his obvious questions.
Of course, there'll be a fight.
Zephyr cracks his knuckles and groans tiredly, "A fight between us it is." he concludes before charging over to Harumi and hitting her square on the cheek with the helm of his staff.
The girl gulped, taking the hit before backing away and rubbing her bruised cheek. She was about to slash out at him but was promptly stopped at the sound of crashing boulders, they fell from the ceiling.
Huh, that was unusual.
The floors trembled and the lava rose at a much higher level.
Harumi and Zephyr glanced over at each other, understanding what's going on now. But nevertheless, their first instinct wasn't to fight, but to alert their friends.
"Both of you, get out of here now!" Zephyr turned to his friends, Ava Zevada and Matias Helix. He had noticed that they were still anticipating the fight from the edges and quaked in their boots when the ground started to tremble.
Harumi glanced over to her own family and without making herself any more clear: "You all need to get out of here before you burn!" She warned them all in advance. They weren't going to risk anything else, she couldn't have them all stay down here, trapped to a post.
Worriedly, the fire ninja begins to struggle in his place, "We need to get a way out of here, quick. Lloyd, can you find anything?" Kai looks around, alarmed by Harumi's warnings.
That's the problem, Zephyr had the audacity to tie them with a strong material of ropes, not to mention, Harumi can't come down here and cut them free. They needed to do this alone.
Lloyd, who was the leader of the band of ninjas, nodded at his friend and he began looking around for tools that might help them get free. A knife, a little something, anything sharp would work! He wasn't picky for that one, he just wanted to get free. He shifts his head over to the Pomeranian when he heard her calling for him.
"Press my collar, Lloyd." She instructed him. Now, Lloyd was completely confused with that one. "Huh, why?" He had asked. To him, it just seemed like an ordinary leather collar that Garmadon and Harumi might've picked out by the pet store, without him, mind you.
The puppy barks, a little pressed that he was contemplating such an easy request.
"Just do it!" She yelled at him. They didn't have time here, either he does as she say or they remain stuck down here. Lloyd sighs, judging by Cloud's insisting eyes she seemed to have a plan, right?
He wiggles his arms through the ropes and manages to snag onto Cloud's collar, his fingers tapping down a button.
"Woah! When did your collar learn to do that?" He exclaimed at the sight of a swift army knife folding out of her collar. Cloud laughs and moves herself closer to Lloyd so that he could grab the weapon.
"Let's just say Rumi did a few upgrades, useful, no?" She raises a brow at him, still smiling. Grabbing the knife, Lloyd nods his head. "Haha, most definitely." He replied to her, beginning to use the switch blade to cut through the ropes.
As Lloyd continued to free his team including himself, Zephyr and Harumi continued to fight on the sidelines. The spellcaster was gaining on her, he swung his staff closer to her, Rumi was forced to block his attacks.
Though, she knew she had to be careful here, or else she may as well fall in the lava herself. Holding her breath, she knew she couldn't stay too close to him like this, the girl proceeded to try and get away from him — she fled the scene.
However, leaving a battle would be a lousy move. Zephyr wasn't going to allow such a thing. He moves to be in front of her and he extends a leg, tripping her down to the ground.
'Cheap shot.' She grumbled in her mind, standing up instantly and wiping some dirt away from her lips.
Finally freed from the ropes, the resistance all escape the little platform they were stranded on and face a resilient eye towards their enemies, the two other spellcasters were guarding them. Having seen that they were beginning to crawl out to be on a higher platform, Matias and Ava summon spells.
Dodging the spell orbs being launched in their directions, Lloyd gasped as he almost misplaced his hand, causing him to almost fall back down to square one.
"Lloyd, are you okay?" Nya calls out to him, lifting herself up with one hand then used the other to help the green ninja up onto the platform they all stood on. The green ninja mods and appreciates the help.
"You won't be escaping, Zephyr's orders." Ava snarls at them, casting another spell at them from a few centimetres away. The ninjas dodged it with ease — but as they charged towards their small-numbered enemies, the cavern walls continued to crumble down.
Both parties stopped fighting with one another for just a second. "It's beginning to collapse at an even faster rate now." Zane observes, his light blue pixelated eyes scanning the carvern entirely.
Tired, Matias shrugged at the enemies.
"Okay, let's all be reasonable here. If we keep fighting, we're never getting out of here." He brings up a comment. The ones to agree with him were the ninja, the only one who didn't was his own teammate.
"He does have a point." Kai nods over to Lloyd and Jay. But their comments were quickly discarded by the cyan-haired spellcaster. "Shut up, we're not leaving without Zephyr." Ava reminds her blonde-haired teammate.
A visible eye roll from Matias was seen.
Challenging her statement, "Well we're not leaving without Harumi either." Lloyd snarls. If that was how both parties wanted to see things, it seems that they'll never be leaving this place.
The blonde-haired boy that wore the light blue bandana sighed once more, turning away from his enemies and walked away.
"Guess, we'll all die here then." He shows not much care to his statement, the man was just frankly tired of all this spell-casting business. It's been that way for years now.
Lloyd narrows his brows, turning away from Matias as he continued to leave for the exit. Instead, he focused on trying to find Harumi. It was too hard considering there were only two people in this moment that would be battling each other with blades one platform below them.
Zephyr, who was overwhelming Harumi at this point, clashed his blade onto her arm. She barely manages to dodge that one attack but due to the speed she lost when putting her arm up, Zephyr lands a kick on her. He approaches her crumbling form.
He inspected his staff happily, "Gotta hand it to this spell that allows this user to travel to the dreamworld whenever they please, I know your doubts and your fears now, Harumi." He didn't even dare keep her battling eyes in an eye contact with her. He knows that she'll stand no matter what — and stand she did.
Harumi growled and shook her head, her dagger tilting so that the blade could bash his neck, but he blocked with the help of his staff once more. "In your heart, you believe that you'll always just be the girl who brought back the fearsome lord Garmadon that took over the city." He laughs in her face, kicking her down once again.
"You believe that you're way past redemption." His green eyes glowed threateningly in her direction. The girl could only look away, keeping her lips shut in order not to wince at the pain of being slammed back down. "Shut up." She gritted her teeth.
Despite giving in and groaning at her pain, she tried to press her hands down to try and stand. But fails as Zephyr shakes his head at her, the heel of his shoe pressing her forehead down. "Don't try and stand." He tells her quietly.
Then, he pushes his foot away and walks a bit in the opposite direction.
"You're an oni and you're worried that you could become a fully-blooded one, aren't you?" He manages to hit her dead centre on her main concerns at the moment. Harumi would've asked how but she knows much too well that Zephyr knows everything about her, he's invaded her dreams, even terrified her in some.
Nonetheless, she continues to listen to what he has to tell her, taunt or not.
Pacing around, his shoes clicking against the dirt, "You're scared about those powers of yours and your own family, huh? You're scared that they'll grow wary of you like they've done towards Garmadon." He chuckled.
All Harumi could do in this moment was bite her lips. Yup, he's read right through her here.
She couldn't wait around for this, she needed to get out of here now — she knows that people, no, Lloyd, was waiting for her. She couldn't lose here now. Holding onto her trusty dagger, she shakes her head at Zephyr and stands back up. A bit of blood dripping from her nose hits the ground as she charges back at Zephyr — slashing at his sleeve.
She grows surprised as she noticed that her blade managed to cut through his sleeve and into his arm. It causes the boy to falter and step away for a moment, grasping his arm with the hand that held his staff. He growled over to Harumi, as he watched how she continued to approach him merciless.
She paused in her attack, as something had hit her in the head from behind. At first, she grows suspicious that it could have been Zephyr with his invisibility spells but having eyed him down for the last few seconds, she could tell that it couldn't be him. He was injured to the arm and he just couldn't do it in under five seconds.
There was one conclusion left, the warning that she had gave earlier was happening slowly. The place will collapse before long, they needed to get out, now.
Harumi, not wanting to risk it once again, turns her head towards the exit of this cavern and runs off, hoping to meet her friends by there. Unfortunately, she gets stopped by the brown-haired boy, who holds her by the back of her collar. He raises a brow at her, confused as to where she's running off to.
"Where do you think you're going?" He proceeded to punch her in the jaw, adding more fuel to their half-died down battle just now. Becoming disoriented for just a second, she recovered and spat out the blood from her mouth.
She glared at Zephyr, disappointed that he couldn't read the room yet. "Look pal, we don't have time for your super evil speech here, WE'LL BE CRUSHED IF WE DON'T GET OUT OF HERE!" She yells, hoping the message goes through his mind this time.
She didn't want to have to repeat something as obvious as that to him. Again, she continues on with her quest of getting away from here and focused on escaping. So to be running away from here, she didn't notice the curled fist aimed at the back of her head.
Zephyr knocked her back down and Harumi could only frown at how inconsistent those walls were.
"No, we are finishing this now!" He kicks her on the back once again, not liking her attempts of leaving this place without finishing the battle.
Harumi sighs to herself, 'Oh FFS' sake.' He just didn't get that even himself could die in a place like this, huh? Well she certainly did, that's why she wanted to get out of here immediately.
She moves away from Zephyr, wasting no time to try and get out of here. She puffed out dust from her mouth and ran as best as she could towards the exit. The levels of stress continued to increase as she heard Zephyr chasing after her, from platform to platform.
That's until, he made a wrong move and having placed down his foot, he caused a step to crumble. Harumi gasps out as the spellcaster ended up falling off the platform but was luckily saved by a sharp rock who held him hanging by the back of his clothes.
Despite being the one stopped, Zephyr glared over to Harumi, who gave him a regretful expression before running off.
~~~~~~~~
Being close to the exit now and not going after Zephyr has given her much more time to get out of here. But first, she needs to make sure that those who are dear to her have made it out of here. She proceeds to look around, trying to spot for any survivors down here in this cavern with her.
She calls out her family's name, continuing to look around and thus stepping away from the exit tunnel. Her heart skips a beat as right under her, she spots a green-clothed boy who waved over to her with a small smile.
"Hey look, there's Harumi!" Jay, who grew excited at the sight of his family member, tugged on Kai and Nya's shoulders. The two Smith siblings smiled and waved over to the white haired girl, who ran towards the edge of the platform she was standing on.
"Lloyd! Guys!" She cries out, happily. She was so so glad that she finally found her friends again, now they can all go help. Quickly, she helps the resistance up at her level and they all stare at the exit tunnel right before their eyes.
"Harumi, I'm so glad you're okay! Come on...let's get out of here, all of us." Lloyd holds out his hand over to the white-haired girl. The two grow silent as Harumi, who softly smiled back at him nodded and placed her hand into his, rather tearfully.
She was finally going back home.
"Okay!"
"Not if I can help it!" A brown-haired boy snickered through the edge of the platform, appearing right in between Lloyd and Harumi. He clenched his fists and struck it to the bridge of the white haired girl's nose, sending her flying through layers of rock walls.
The black ninja crossed his arms, debating whether he should take out a weapon or not for this. "Zephyr! How did you get up here so quickly?!" He questioned. Such a question and appearance from their enemy, causes Lloyd to turn his attention to the empress of Ninjago and grab her wrist tightly.
"Forget about him, Rumi, we need to get out here." He tells her. They needed to leave him if they wanted a chance to escape. He was desperate, he just didn't want her to leave again. What if he loses her again, what if she burns in that he'll fire? What if...
Harumi shakes her wrist off his palm. She doesn't look at him and just moves forward instead — towards the smiling devil, named Zephyr Gwydion. "No, Lloyd. I can't leave just yet. I need to take care of Zephyr first or else he'll just follow you all outside and I cannot risk that!" She then turns to him and cries out, she voiced her concerns here.
Lloyd, unfortunately, couldn't respect such an order. He shuts his eyes tightly.
"I'm not leaving without you, not again." His last couple of words get reduced to a whisper. He couldn't bear to let her go again, and for what?
What does Harumi gain for being down here?
She smiles at him, stopping in her tracks for just a second before continuing to move forward. "...I'll be fine, Lloyd. I promise. Hey...if it helps, I'll see you outside, okay? I'll be there." The light in her grey eyes glows even brighter.
Ah, that's right. They needed to trust her here, if she was going to get out of here alive and well, he mustn't doubt her.
That's why....as much as he didn't want to leave her alone battling Zephyr, he instructs the resistance to follow him out the cavern.
She'll be out of here, if he gets out, right? That's what she said, she'll meet them all outside after....so that's why, they must absolutely be there to meet up with her.
Remaining crashed into the wall, Harumi blinks with a short-lived smile. In her mind, she could only think of one thing:
'Good, you're all safe and sound now..' she was glad that her family was out of here.
Wasting no time with ending her off for good, Zephyr walks over to the white-haired empress, picked her up by the neck and dragged her out of the rock-piles, she groaned at the sudden change of ground here. Before she knew it, she was held over the edge of the lava by this man, who was still furiously grinning.
"This is our last goodbye. FSM, you were a handful." He sighs, finally glad to get rid of a nuisance like her. It wasn't just her oblivious nature here, he referred to her cowardice and annoyance in the dreamworld as well. Without another word, he lets go of the fabric around her neck and drops her into the lava.
Harumi didn't scream, didn't cry. She didn't stop him, she felt....something similar to ease. The lava was calming, it was bubbling. It didn't make a sound, it was warm and comforting.
Her eyes flickered, the man who towered over her was nowhere to be seen anymore on that platform —that's when she had realized her vision had gone to white. That's when she saw it, no them.
She saw her birth parents standing there, proud of her in every way.
She saw Vania and her as kids, playing in the playground with much joy.
She remembered her becoming the Quiet One, a challenge to let go of her dependence and sorrow.
She remembers escaping with Lloyd, her love for him growing stronger as she spent more and more time with him.
She saw her adventures with the ninja, her beloved family members.
She remembers the day she got Cloud, her trustworthy companion till this very day and pretty much her best friend.
She remembers seeing Vania again on the day of her coronation, that had gone horribly wrong because of Zephyr.
She saw herself getting replaced by a double twice in her life.
It was her life, flashing before her very eyes.
Was this how she really dies? Was whatever God up there waiting to show her all of this — as a sign that she was leaving for good?
She sees Zephyr's shadow leaving the edge, walking away from the scene. He had things to find and so did she, but it didn't matter now, she was dead.
Rumi shuts her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, I've got Harumi. You can pull us up now."
A voice registered through her ears. She couldn't believe it for a second, what a cruel trick. To have her listen to her lover's voice again while she was dead was...
But she wasn't burning though? The agony of burning in flames was something that she did not experience in this moment. So, did that mean...
Harumi reopens her eyes and noticed someone holding onto her waist. She gasps and sees the ninja, one by one holding each other by limb to create a human chain. The one holding her was Lloyd, of course. She couldn't help but smile in surprise.
"Lloyd! How did you....I thought I told you to run!" She inquired, watching as slowly but surely, the both of them are getting pulled up by the other resistance members. "Technically, we did. But we just couldn't leave family behind, you know?" The green-ninja shrugged with a smile.
The processus was still slow but she couldn't be happier that they came back for her when she needed it the most.
"How did you save me?" She notices quietly, she didn't realize her voice going to a whisper after she's talked.
"Since the structure has been crumbling down, there's a hole in the ceiling, we had enough people too so we created a human chain." He explained to her. He didn't receive much of a response from the girl though.
Her injured state caused her to become frail and she just couldn't process much of what was happening at the moment. She was tired, physically and psychologically.
The dreamworld will forever be peaceful from now on and she didn't have to worry about people impersonating her for the second time in her life.
She was glad.
~~~~~~~~~
After being bombarded with hugs and compliments from the courageous UV, the resistance have made it back to Ninjago city in no time. With the bounty around, they didn't have to worry about slow travels here and there.
Parked on one of the skyscrapers' rooftops, Antonia and Nelson were able to attend what the guys would like to be call: "A little celebration."
The resistance danced around, partook in slices of the vanilla-flavoured cake by the food table and from the side of the ship, Cole was searching for somebody.
"Where's Lloyd? I wanted to thank him for helping with the fruit punch." He asks out to the red ninja and the ponytailed general who enjoyed watching Misako and Garmadon dance on the deck.
Kai snickers, shifting over from the two dancers over to his friend. "Oh you know, over there with Harumi. Those two are such love-birds, I swear." He points to the side of the deck, just by the ship's railings.
Now, Cole wasn't surprised at this point to find the green-ninja with his girlfriend.
Nudging Kai by the shoulder, "Aww, why are you commenting on it so bad? Jealous that it's not like that for you and Skylor?" UV cackled, obviously just teasing — though, she was half-serious with that. His feelings for the master of Amber were more than just evident.
Having blushed at that comment, Kai shifts away from the two of them. "Hey now, shut up." He whispers in embarrassment.
Having the time to be alone for themselves, Lloyd watches over the rail. Ninjago city was beautiful when it was evening, it meant all the pretty lights were up and the city was getting ready to rest for today.
He sighs and turns to Harumi, when he notices that she had gone quiet for a short while.
"Is everything okay, Harumi?" He asks, curious and rather concerned for her current state. They bandaged her up, sure. However, they still haven't gotten around to disinfecting the bruises on her elbows yet. They intended to do it when the party's over.
Turning her head to him for just a second,
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just felt a weird sensation all of a sudden...as if something is still left unfinished..." she raises a brow, not sure if she's explained her mild conflict with herself all too well.
It was weird, actually. She didn't know what it was.
Exactly as she feared, she'd need to explain to him what she meant. "What do you mean?" Lloyd's question rung through her ears and caused her to chuckle and shake her head at him.
"Haha, just bad vibes, you know? Let's ignore it, probably just post-battle shock, am I right?" She tries to stay on the positive side of things here for today.
~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, back on the cavern on the deserted island, a brown-haired spellcaster shakes the rubble off his hair in anger. He stared down at the lava below him, seeing that Harumi didn't in fact burn to crisp.
From behind him, he jumped at the voices of his comrades that have decided to just show their faces now of all times.
"Yo, Zephyr." Matias called with a small wave. That ticked off the green-coded spellcaster rather badly. He turned around and immediately snapped at his companions. "Don't you 'Yo' me. Where were you both?!" He growled, seeing to have forgot what his order for them was.
Matias and Ava glanced at each other for a second. Yup, still the same old lunatic Zephyr alive and well. "Uhhh, outside, like you both told us to?" He figured he'd help the boy remember again of what his orders were. Yet, here they thought him wanting them both to escape alive and well was genuinely, guess not.
Perhaps? They still didn't know whether Zephyr's enjoyment around them was genuine or not. It's been years that he's been invested in his lunacy.
Rolling his eyes, the spellcaster points at the exit tunnel. "Ah whatever, getting angry at you both is useless now. We failed either way." He complains as Matias and Ava followed him right out of the cavern.
"So, you didn't get her?" The blonde continued the conversation.
Before any of them could reply, a purple portal was summoned from behind them and Zephyr heads footsteps. It caused him to tap on Ava's shoulder and all three of them turned around. What they saw was an incredible sight.
The former villains of Ninjago, resurrected and coming out of the portal, one by one.
"YESSSSSS!! IT WORKED!! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!" The green-streaked spellcaster was overjoyed that even with his most important asset gone, his plan still worked.
He wasted no time to meet his minions one by one.
Walking amongst villains, he smirked to himself, proud that this all worked out in his favour. He saw so many of them, even recognized a couple judging from the spell books he's read.
He stopped dead in his path when he sees a black-haired man standing beside by the portal, invested in the very same spell book that he used to own as a child.
Zephyr's wicked smile drops and instead, he shows vulnerability in this moment.
Ava and Matias both glance from each other to Zephyr, having noticed the look he had on his face — for once, he looked....sad, regretful? They have never seen something like that before.
Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all?
Maybe he actually does have feelings deep down.
Slowly, Zephyr extends a hand forward towards the man and raises it to wave. The sorrowful smile he had on earlier compel you faded when instead, he smiled at the man with a genuine look in his eyes.
"Uncle Clouse, are you finally proud of me?"
~~~~~~~~~
A/N: I tried to keep the chapter as serious as possible but I threw in a few gags here and there for my own(and yours too) amusement lmao.
Anyways, things are looking good for the resistance....kindaaaa— the villains are back in Ninjago and that may as well be Zephyr's master plan all along! Not to mention, Zephyr's love for spellcasting has been somewhat revealed in the end of this chapter.
There's so much planned to wrap this arc al up but unfortunately, that's for you to find out in the next couple of chapters, spoiler free zone here! I hope you all enjoyed and Cya in the next chapter!