Chapter by: LillaSmolBean
~~~~~~~~~
"Just raise your head a bit, young one."
"There there,"
A ceramic texture was pressed against her lips, too soon was there hot liquid poured into her mouth. In her current state, she didn't recognize where she was. The walls were blurry and not even a whimper had escaped her lips.
Blurred out faces as well as she tried to stand up from the bed she was laying on, only to be pushed down gently by a hat-wearing woman, she was the one who served her the warm liquid. What was the flavour? It was slightly bitter though sweet, she couldn't make out the flavour right away but she knew it had to be leaves of a certain plant.
She didn't remember much, only that there was this blurred figure who asked her a question....she was too exhausted to recall what it was, but all she knew was that they were a stranger in her eyes.
"Huh...?" She tried to mutter.
She blinked once more, trying to make out her surroundings. But it was all incredibly
difficult. She cocked her head to the left, noticing the back of a small white ball of fur, angrily growing at a pixelated man.
She tried to rub her eyes, no, pardon that. Not a pixelated man—an oni lord.
"Oh dear." The same woman who gave her tea, lowered her head hand down to the white haired's girl forehead. "Let me see if I have something else." She told the two other individuals in the room before heading out to the back of the shop, where all of her teas and brews were stored preciously.
Her eyes blinked,
then shut
blinked
then shut.
"My head..." Harumi whimpered, her hand slowly making its way to touch the side of her irritated head before she collapsed back down on the bed, not managing to support her current headache. Her vision went black.
~~~~~~~~~
Only a few hours had the white haired girl woken up from her slumber. One thing that was different was her vision improved majoritarily, she could see the colours other than a fuzzy green. She sat up from the bed, wondering if anyone was around.
So far in her view, she finds counters filled with empty teacups and towels. Where was she? Perhaps she needed more clues.
Harumi attempted to step off the bed and wander off to her own accord. But only did she stop in a cold held shiver, crimson eyes were darting directly at her. She yelped, lowering her head back in her pillow for mere moments before she sighed. Lord Garmadon was here. She had to lift herself up, to face him properly. But she just didn't in the first few moments. "Why are you here..." she growled, frustrated.
Garmadon stiffened at her rude welcome after waking up several hours later, the entire time, he, Cloud and Mistaké were watching over her, assuring her safety.
"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be receiving this treatment. If I were you, I'd be more thankful-" he stepped closer to her, only to have Harumi lunge out of bed.
She glared at him, eyes hostile as ever.
"No, did I ask you to help me?! Why are you here?!" She scolded. It had been way too quick, from her calm demeanour to rise into an aggressive one. Garmadon didn't choose to reply, instead kept silent.
The tension between them had not cleared up completely from the last time they saw each other. It was terrible, really. For both parties especially.
Another screech couldn't be heard from Harumi as a figure appeared from the back of the small shop, Harumi instantly recognized who it was. It was Mistaké, she was carrying a tray with three teacups on it, a unique smell filled the room. "Oh Mistaké!" Her eyes lit up in alarm. Right...the resistance was still angry at her for her betrayal, she did need to find a way to make things up to them...
Mistaké handed her one of the cups, nothing special, ordinary tea to soothe the soul. "Thank you.." Harumi kindly smiles, albeit surprised that Mistaké returned it so quickly. Wasn't she mad at her? Oh well, now clearly wasn't the time for questions.
She glanced over at Garmadon, who was he too was handed a cup from Mistaké.
The oni lord brought the cup to his lips and sipped a small portion of the drink.
"I've always liked the scent of matcha leaves," he mentioned quietly.
Mistaké nodded, taking the last cup for herself. She sat aside the tray and sat down nearby. Harumi looked down at her own cup, a green brew stirred inside of the cup. "I never really tried matcha tea, honestly." She muttered, taking a sip. The peace and silence was disturbed by a fluffy ball of fur ran over to Harumi, it was Cloud. The puppy seemed happy that her owner was finally awake.
"Hey Cloud, I'm happy to see you." Harumi giggled as the puppy began to lick her cheek. To be fair, the Princess was happy to see her as well. Mistaké smiled at the two, reunited once more. "Little Cloud was very patient, she waited for you very much." She mentioned, earning a hard glare from Garmadon. Harumi's eyes flashed and her hand caressed Cloud's cheek even more. "Did you? That's so sweet of you!" Harumi cooed.
As more affectionate words and barks were exchanged between the two, the old woman collected their now empty teacups and headed out to the back of the store once more. "The tea was delicious, thank you." Surprisingly, both Harumi and Garmadon said at the same time. It only caused tension between the two as Harumi growled from the bed. Again, the lord didn't say anything.
"I'm glad to hear it, I don't serve much tea now a days with the city in repair, I'm glad you both still like it." Mistaké smiled, quickly putting away the used up cups and tray before she returned back in the room with an ominous-looking mask. The first one to squeak out a reaction was obviously the princess, she pointed at the mask in curiosity. "What's that?"
Harumi was slightly taken aback when the old woman handed her the mask, was this for her? She didn't ask for one and it looked quite unique already. "Is this for me?" She changed up her question a bit. Garmadon watched silently as she brought the mask to her face, though she didn't put it on.
Too many memories had she faced whenever the purple mask of hatred was on, sure the immense power of invincibility was addictive but sometimes, Harumi couldn't handle the stoic feeling of her body temporarily turning to stone. Her eyes widened and her heart beat accelerated for a second. Just thinking about a mask on her face was just—
As if reading her mind, the old woman stepped to her side to pat her shoulders.
"It's protection agaisnt dark clouds, use it to your advantage, young one." She explained. Harumi sighed and nodded, not smiling at all. "I...thank you, Mistaké." She thanked silently. She was too much in shock at the moment, was the flurry of memories intensional? Or masks now an instant bad memory trigger for her? She didn't know.
Garmadon moved away from the wall he was previously leaning off of and sighed himself. "In a few minutes, let's move out. I'm sure you want to return back to the Bounty." The dark lord suggested. Harumi and Mistaké turned in his direction, the white haired girl a bit surprised with that consideration of his. However, she didn't deny nor accept. The latter thought was quite obvious, she wouldn't deny returning to her 'home'. As for the second thought, she was still aware that her entire family hated her for favouring Garmadon's care.
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The trip from the shop to the flying boat didn't take too long, they got on board easily and the first thing that the white haired girl do was go return to her beloved room of hers. Of course, Cloud quietly followed along, intending to follow her master as much as she can in her state of tension.
"So, was my tea really that good?" The female oni kept her glance at the retreating Harumi. Her lips were firm and almost shut, words dripped with tinted venom but at the time uncertainty. Garmadon couldn't make out the tone of her voice despite being an oni himself. "Yes, it was." He replied, not even looking at her either. But as silence passed by, Garmadon turned his head to find the old woman glaring at him with cold eyes. Was this about his evil reign again?
~~~~~
Settling herself and saving her the stupid smiles from seeing her room again. The white haired girl grabbed a notebook kept in a cabinet. It was funny, the girl kept many of notebooks around. Either for diary entries, drawings or crafting ideas.
This was the one she pulled out. A brown notebook with swords and bows as the book's cover, they were small little stickers that she greatly enjoys.
She sat on her bed and with Cloud's company, she began to flip the pages, returning to the last page in which she wrote on. The last time she drew the weapon she wanted to craft, it was small little tritons. If she had to be honest, it was a weapon crafted for Ultra Violet. However, she never got around to making them for her, due to the events that happened lately. Sure Ultra was already happy with the current weapon she carries, though it wasn't like Harumi was handing her something different from her mains.
If she handed the grey-skinned girl a bow and some arrows, she shouldn't expect much progression. Then again, Nya was the one who taught her how to craft weapons. Hutchins and the emperor and empress thought that it's quite unlady-like on her part. But for the most part, Harumi was quite interested in the weapons. Ah there she goes again diving in her thoughts and memories. Say, Ultra and Nya hated her, right? Harumi stared down at the blank page.
She just remembered that she forgot to grab a pencil, no worries. The girl was about to stand up from her bed before she was interrupted with a muffled bark. Hearing the sound, slight concern flashed on her face. What happened to Cloud? Why were her barks muffled? She turned to look down on the ground, where the dog was and she noticed a pencil in the Pomeranian's mouth. Her eyes lit up in slight delight. Did Cloud know that she was missing a pencil?
"Thanks Cloud! What a smart puppy you are!" She complimented her pet whilst grabbing the ordinary pencil from her mouth. Now onto the weapon she wanted to craft over by her workshop. She had one actually on the bounty but no one in the resistance actually found it. Harumi would humour herself by calling it her personal "secret workshop". The only one who knows about it was Cloud but even if the dog could one day speak, she knows that she wouldn't utter a word to anyone.
She began to sketch out the weapon she wanted to craft when things were back on track. A sword perhaps? Maybe she could give it to Lloyd as an apology gift? She'd have to design it really well in that case. It can't be like his usual weapons, no. "Well how about a green stash on the handle?" She mumbled, starting to draw the blade first. She hummed to herself as Cloud quietly watched.
~~~~~~~
Mistaké returned to her usual place on the bounty, her room to be exact. The trip to the bounty was slightly exhausting for her and she figured that she should rest for a bit. That is, what she intended to. She headed for her room until she bumped into a certain blonde.
"Ah sorry Mistaké." It was Lloyd Garmadon. The minute that the both of them went silent, Lloyd blinked. His jaw dropped at the sight of the elderly woman being there. "Mistaké, you're back?" He wondered. It wasn't like he was angry at seeing her return, just mildly in shock. The old woman smiled at him, nodding gently.
"Look young Lloyd, I know you're mad about young Harumi but-"
Lloyd immediately shook his head. "Please do not bring her up, we don't talk about traitors here." He calmly replied. His kind and shocked look was replaced with a more serious expression. However, Mistaké shook her head herself. "Listen to yourself, you know that she wouldn't betray you. Harumi did nothing wrong." She pleaded. Though to her expected surprise, it only set off the boy, angering him in the process of all this.
"What do you mean it's not her fault? She lied to me, to all of us! Saying how the only reason she's fighting is to gain justice for this city yet she...she uses my father like that!" He sulked. Well it was not at all like that, manipulated, guilt-tripped, Garmadon was the one using Harumi to clear his thoughts that Lloyd might be having daddy issues of his own. But yet, Lloyd failed to realize that. He believed his own father, who returned after who knows? Five years, than to believe his lover. The world was unfair and Mistaké realized that too soon.
"It's not at all like that, don't you wanna hear her out? Everyone had a story to tell." Despite the rage boiling through the green ninja's veins, the woman remarked quietly.
But Lloyd didn't wanna hear it, no. He forever wanted to believe his father's story, not giving her a chance.
"I don't want to hear anybody's story, when I know which one is the right one." He walked off.
Oblivious to all this chaos, Harumi remained in her room with her puppy. Happily cuddling the pomeranian's paws to her own cheeks and just giggling as Cloud attempts to lick her. "Cloud, you are such a fluffy little puppy. I'm so glad to have you around." She played around with the dog's small little paws even more.
She glanced over to a native basket she kept around in her tiny little room on the bounty. That's right, she kept all of Cloud's doggy toys in there. The girl proceeded to stand up from the bed and grab one of them. "I'm sure you're in the mood to play a little!" She chimed, turning her back on the dog for a few minutes before stretching her arm deep inside of the basket to grab a miniature green ball.
She remembered when she used to play with her puppy back in her bedroom in Borg tower. She threw that same ball around for half an hour, laughing as Cloud brought it back to her in so many ways. Either it was in her mouth, by pushing it with her snout—even tripping over the actual ball! So many memories even through they were in such a dreadful place.
When she turned around however, she found the dog laid down on the bed. Clouds's face was turned to the side so she couldn't determine if the puppy decided to change their posture.
"Cloud?" Harumi approached the 'sleeping' pup. The white haired puppy had not lifted their head up to reassure the princess' worries. Harumi gulped, has approached the dog.
That is, until she was close enough to the bed. She extended an arm out and flipped the dog to the side to check whether her eyes were opened or not. "Cloud?" She rolled the dog over. Cloud's eyes were completely shut. Her eyes widened as she almost stumbled over. "Still breathing.." she gaped out, Cloud was alright. But just knocked out...how?
But despite the relief, she couldn't help it. Her blood was pumping and a yelp escaped her lips the first few times. It escalated too quickly for a cry of help to be heard from her room. Harumi screamed and screamed, trying to make her way to her bedroom door before her breath was held. Her hand trembled as she attempted to turn the doorknob. No, she couldn't turn it for some reason, something was restraining her.
"Please leave me alone!!" She begged, her being close up the door was already a benefit. However, whoever was holding her back, already planned their actions ahead. Harumi's head turned as the stranger's hold on her small wrist got tighter. "I-I...Who.." her eyes met with a shadowy figure. Horns, was it? Red eyes?
She shut her eyes, "Oni?"
Another scream was heard.
~~~~~~~~
Mistaké and Lloyd were the ones who heard the scream first, with them being the nearest, they could easily rush in the room. "What was that?" The blonde haired boy questioned when he turned back around to see the woman and instantly running for the source of the scream. Mistaké rushed through the halls and a gut in the green ninja told him to run in return, so he did. "That was young Harumi!" She mentioned. Lloyd glared down at the ground. Why did these legs of his ran without will? Just why?
They were going to see if Harumi was alright, shouldn't he running off in the opposite direction? She was a traitor, a liar, an absolute terrible girlfriend. Yet, watery eyes was an option for him as he covered his face, he continued to run nonetheless. Why did he still insist on caring for her? He shouldn't be.
The two arrived in Harumi's room shortly after the scream was heard. Mistaké growled as she stepped into the room even more. The desk had scratches on it and the native basket in the corner of the room was knocked over. She glanced around, looking for more clues before her and Lloyd found the broken window. Harumi was abducted by someone.
"I don't get it...where's Harumi?" Lloyd asked, almost out of breath. The question he asked betrayed his heart as much as his expression did. Wide green eyes and a concerned look was flashed and seen. The elderly woman bent down slightly, inspecting the ground before she walked over to the window to peer out of it. "She has been kidnapped." She declared. The green ninja joined her by the window.
"No, it can't be. She couldn't have allowed herself to be kidnapped again. Unless my father's up to something." He shrugged.
But deep down, he frowned, allowing his fingers to glide against the shards of glass. He and Mistaké looked out of the window, both being lost in their own train of thoughts. The woman was worried and he was uncertain. Lloyd's heart sank.
'Damn it Rumi, where are you?'
In the dead of the evening, a figure carried the white haired girl. They walked on many roads of the broken city, careful to not retake the same alleyways as previously taken before. The monster had yet to be identified but Harumi already had an idea of what they were.
She struggled in her abductor's hold. "Oni! Get away from me!" She growled, using her feet to kick away at the creature's stomach. She was being carried bridal style therefore, she had so much liberty to get away from the kidnapper. When the methods of kicking away at the monster's stomach didn't work, she decided to use a different method instead. "Take this!"
She kicked her foot up so that her shoe pressed against the kidnapper's shoulder and she used all of her strength to stand up, it was easier since her feet were actually on a platform and not mid-air. She stood on the kidnapper's shoulder for seconds before she bluntly used that same foot to jab them in the head. Harumi immediately rolled to the ground, gaining as much distance as she could from them.
They were on the rooftop, she retraced ever step from the bounty till here, that's the perks of being awake during an abduction. She glared at her kidnapper with hostile eyes before she mentally halted when the figure straight up charged for her. "Oh shoot.." she thought as the figure was coming directly for her in a straight line.
Harumi used her hands to block the attack, the kidnapper being nice enough to only use their fists and legs. Did they not carry any weapons? Well it was to her advantage in that case, she smiled and grabbed the kidnapper's hand when she blocked the attack and threw them to the ground. The latter groaned and tried to stand back up before Harumi stopped that. "Tell me what do you want with me." She glared down at the figure as she held him down.
The supposedly "Oni" hissed and lunged straight at her, using his back was a pushing shield to throw Harumi off of them. The princess yelped and ended up on the ground herself. The stone platform they were standing on had scraped the side of her eye a bit, causing a bleeding scratch. She hissed and backed away from them. "Give it up." They demanded, a raspy ominous voice was heard.
"Definitely an Oni." She snarled in response, backing away even more even though they kept following her. "Just tell me what do you want!" She yelled. No, she couldn't back away any more, she had reached the limit. Her back pressed against the railings and Harumi was forced to look behind her. The surroundings was just a deep deep deep fall. It could result in the death of a human. She clearly had the disadvantage here; she was human and she was up against an Oni.
"What do I want?" The kidnapper asked, getting even closer. Harumi frantically looked for any clues that would aid in her escape in this one. That is, until she remembered of a strategy. She confidently looked up at her kidnapper.
"Yes, what do you want?" She waited until he got close enough. The oni had stopped walking when they were directly in front of her, their fist ready to punch Harumi unconscious, why would a fist be that tightly clenched then? "Then.." they started.
The fist went lunging for her face however Harumi saw and planned ahead. She grabbed the fist and using all the strength her small little body allowed her to, she tossed the kidnapper over the fences. She watched triumphantly how the kidnapper went falling straight down from the rooftop. Surely an Oni would survive that, right? She didn't waste anymore time, she wiped the sweat beads off her face as she glanced back at the original direction they came from. The bounty was a few miles away.
"I need to head back." She whispered, her hair blowing softly in majestic dying daylight, the sun was close to set.
But it'll be impossible to head back to a parked flying ship that is literally five buildings away. She can't cross all of that distance in one night. Neither did she have a light source either, travelling in the night was pretty difficult. She looked down at her palms before she realized what she needed to do, seek shelter. "I think if I just remained in this broken down apartment, I can wait till the morning." She planned out.
So that was what she did, she left the rooftop and resided in the apartment on the floor below the rooftop. She was mildly surprised at the authentic Japanese-styled set-up. The living room had tradition bamboo and a nice cozy kotatsu that she'd always wanted in her home. She sighed and walked directly to it. Thing is with the kotatsu was that they were large tables, however, the blankets beneath them would definitely warm you up. Kids had the intendance to even crawl under the kotatsu and remain under there in irresistible heat.
Harumi was scared and straight up shocked to even sit elsewhere at the moment, she crawled under the blankets and curled up in a ball. It was a dark shelter, like a kid hiding under their covers but Harumi felt safe in here. The heat was absolutely divine, intoxicating really. She could stay under here for ages but that would be bad, she'd need fresh air immediately instead of musk relaxing air.
"Where did I go wrong..?" She began to mutter. She was referring to the whole incident she was stuck in at the moment.
Stupid Garmadon dragging her along like this. Why did he? Why was he suddenly looking forward to being a father again and handing her baby potions? She was blankly sick of all of it. She lowered her head under her knees, her eyelids becoming heavy as the warm air was starting to impact her. She yawned and figured that she couldn't resist being in here without falling asleep.
"Well that worked to our favour."
"Not really, just look at her."
Back on the bounty, Lloyd and Harumi managed to wake up the alarming puppy up. It didn't take too many tries really. First they nudged her paws, then flapped her ears before Mistaké had the idea to dump water on the poor puppy, Cloud yelped in a heartbeat. Now they found themselves with a barking dog, running all around the room, in search for her owner.
Lloyd facepalmed. "That didn't work at all, I tell you. Look at her going insane."he gritted his teeth, gosh with Harumi missing and Cloud barking nonstop, no one could be as stressed as he was at the moment. Mistaké just glared at him and shook his head in disapproval. "We'll find her, don't worry." She assured him for the tenth time. But Lloyd recalls that he never asked for reassurance nor did he want to find her. It's her problem if she got lost in the first place.
"I'm not worrying about anything." He admitted to her. That were plain lies of his and he could have sworn that Mistaké was the first to find out about it. "Be honest with your feelings next time, if you think that Harumi was the one responsible for hurting you again, believe what you want. But she's innocent. You've got the wrong story, young Lloyd." She tried once more. Though the green ninja only looked down, wondering about what she said.
Believe what he wanted? He wanted to believe his father, that's all. Why couldn't Mistaké accept that and stop trying to convert his side? His thoughts were cancelled though when he noticed the young puppy opening the door with her head and running out of the room with a loud bark. Mistaké and Lloyd looked at eachother before they both focused their glances at the now opened door. As Lloyd was about to follow Cloud, Mistaké gently shoved him out of the way.
She wanted to leave first, it seems. "She's innocent Lloyd, remember that." The old woman made him realize before following the white pomeranian puppy quietly. The green ninja trembled to himself, he clenched a single fist and frowned. "Are you lying to me again father?" He questioned.
Cloud didn't get very far, she ran through the halls, barking nonstop as Mistaké tried to follow her. "Wait up young Cloud! You might know something over!!" Mistaké begged for the dog to be a little bit slower.
But just crossing the kitchen made her go faster. She climbed the kitchen table and knocked down a few teacups laying there, the dog winced slightly as a cold liquid dripped down on her lively coat.
Now a part of her white fur has a light brown stain to it. No, she couldn't stop now to lick it. She needed to find Harumi.
When Mistaké entered the kitchen, she spotted the fallen teacups and spilled liquid. She stopped running and was practically defeated and out of breath. She stopped at the teacups on the ground and fell on her knees. "Oh dear, did this spill on you?" She asked silently, allowing her fingers to trail down at the light brown liquid on the ground.
The reason why Cloud had jumped on the table was for a very specific reason, Harumi had left the mask that Mistaké gave her a few hours ago there when she needed to grab a glass of water. "Protection against dark clouds" it was told to be, Cloud grabbed it and headed for the deck. She knew that'll be close to night and the risk of it raining and providing those stormy clouds wasn't a neglectable possibility.
On deck, she found the unpleasant Garmadon, who was curiously staring at the puppy run through the deck, looking for a way to get down. Garmadon sighed and pointed at the ladders to her left.
"You can use those but you're just a dog who will fail to learn a ladder's real purpose." He explained. Cloud growled at the man and tightened her grip around the mask. No, who cares about him. She needed to get to Harumi.
But if it was a ladder that called for it, guess she better make an effort to learn how to use none. Maybe if she was just careful with her steps? She clouding exactly use her mouth if she messes up.
This mission entirely relied on the times she and Harumi did the impossible back in Borg tower. She may just be a dog but Cloud feels a wave of determination go through her as she takes the first step down the ladder.
"Yeah you really are stubborn, eh?" Garmadon whispers as he carefully watches the dog go down the ladder, chucking to himself whenever Cloud thought she missed a step and stopped in her tracks. He lifted his head up and glanced at the setting sun. "So you decide to rescue Rumi now out of all times? How idiotic of you." He muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In the morning, Harumi made it back to the bounty with the help of Cloud. The puppy managed to track her scent down and thus spend a good ten minutes in jumping up the apartment's flight of stairs. It was lucky though since onis has a particular scent. Cloud was able to track of her easily if it weren't for her own unique scent to brush against an oni's.
Harumi was more than relieved when she heard some scratching by the apartment's front door. At first, she admits, it terrified her but the scared trembling lips turned into an almost ecstatic smile. She hugged the puppy and they spent the rest of the night under the kotatsu before they moved in the morning.
She did notice the stain on the puppy's cost and promised that she'd give Cloud a good bath when they returned.
Now, they were back in her room, Cloud was being playfully hugged by Harumi before being dropped into a small tub with water inside of it. "I truly thank you for always being by my side Cloud." She picked up the sponge filled with dog shampoo. The puppy gave an affirmative bark before she splashed herself with the water beneath her small little legs.
The girl didn't know whether the pomeranian enjoyed bath time or not but she'd guess so. "Alright, time to get this mysterious stain off." She encouraged herself before starting to scrub her pet's coat clean. Only after five minutes of scrubbing did she noticed a slight glimmer of light coming from the tub—no, it was her arm. But she failed to acknowledge it.
her entire hand. The entire bathtime, she wondered where the light was coming from, guessing it was probably from her window's opened curtains.
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A/N: Heyo! Lilla here and that you for reading chapter 81! You may have noticed the chapter switch between me and Jdizzle, since she was the one who suggested that we do the oni arc(Now known as "Choice of the demon"), I promised her that she could start the first chapter of this arc. So there you go! I didn't mention it last time.
Now as for this chapter, why do you guys think that Harumi's arm was glowing at the end like that? What was the stain on Cloud's fur? But really, will Lloyd forgive Harumi for what she's done? Leave your thoughts below! We'd love to read them! Alright that's the end of my author's note, it's literally 3AM on April 17th(The publication date, yes) Stay safe everyone!!- cya guys!