How many days has it been since they've all been trapped here? Two...no, maybe weeks? Incorrect, it's only been six days and still, they have no plan to escape anytime soon. But they've been hopeful, gleaming over to the sun and wishing for an opportunity to be set free.
In fact, Lloyd wasn't even there with them. If someone were to guess, he was possibly somewhere safe and recovering from the sudden truth thrown to his face. He couldn't support is team as much as he wanted to anymore. Where had he gone?
"Or what if someone hears about our capture and comes and saves us?" Zane suggested, facing the rest of the resistance. Most seemed hesitant with the idea, however joining in by temporary leader Cloud, she glanced from member to member. "Could be likely. I mean, I don't know how many friends you guys have but Rumi told me you were always so popular." Cloud being Cloud, made sure to add a bittersweet comment like that one.
She was a confusing one, always so bubbly with her feelings towards certain things and people. Perhaps, even too proud to admit she wants to stand her own opinion.
However, the joyful and hopeful mood was quickly ruined by the appearance of the oni prince. He walked up the stairs and extended his arms out to his prisoners—a pleased smile on his lips. "That won't be necessary. You can let go of your little calls for help, no one's coming to save you." Zackery reinforced his confidence.
As long as he was around to lower their spirits and that their guards actually did a decent job, no one would be entering the tower without an invitation. If they did, they would be thrown directly to the dungeons.
His presence didn't startle anyone except for Cloud. But it wasn't that she was scared of the oni, anyone could make that mistake if they saw how much she was shaking. In fact, she was shaking with absolute anger. She growled at the boy and rushed to the edge of the cage, her teeth even nipping at the bars. "You bastard, how dare you show your face again!" She barked.
Zackery raised a finger, in gesture to shush the small Pomeranian. A rather disrespectful move if it weren't for the fact that he is a prince.
"I don't think you should address me that way, dearest prisoner. Harumi certainly didn't even after knowing her place." He grinned. Now that particular comment angered the white ball of fluff. Even Kai needed to hold her back.
"Harumi wouldn't give up on hope, she stayed strong despite everything...! Where is Harumi, what did you do to her?!"
"Oh. Yeah, I got rid of her."
"Excuse me?!"
Cloud really didn't appreciate how the topic was being tossed around. She didn't like his tone, she didn't like his smug look on his face as he pronounced every word with so much certainty. She hated him. What had he done to her owner?
Zackery sighed and turned away from the ninja, beginning to make his way back to the stairs. It seems his visit was merely to poke fun at the fact that he used the small drama between Lloyd and Garmadon as bait for him to get them all back into cages. That and to dispose of Harumi as well, win-win for him.
"Well, it's none of my concern." He shrugged, ignoring Cloud's protests that Harumi was still alive and kicking. She sure was a determined one, wasn't she? It couldn't be helped. He held onto the railings and began walking down.
He felt a sharp pain slide through his forehead, a but of blood trickled out from the gash suddenly left. His eyes widened as his mind registered the pain.
...hm? How curious.
A shuriken was found next to the step his foot was placed, all drenched in the oni prince's blood. Zackery chuckled and leaned down to grab the star from the ground. He then faced the enemy standing before him.
White locks, neatly in a braid. Ah, he recognized that angry look—those jade eyes.
Zackery's pride might as well be damned.
"Well, it's certainly hard to get rid of you, huh Harumi?" He laughed and tossed the star back at her. She stayed silent and caught her weapon.
~~~~~~~~~~
The oni prince stared at her, taking in the vengeful look in her eyes. As well as how tired she genuinely looked. He didn't know if she's been getting proper sleep or if the cause of all of this was merely because this war was weighing her down. He hummed in delight and focused his gaze at her eyes.
He noticed a little something. He wanted to ask.
"Could you perhaps be showing signs of your transformation soon?" He questioned, immediately catching the Jade princess's off guard. She seemed shocked, so much for her serious look moments ago. A little "huh?" slipped instead of her usual brutal responses.
Zackery chuckled. "You heard me, transformation as in Oni. Could you possibly be an oni, Harumi?" He asked again, this time adding more precision to his question.
She already knew what answer she wanted to give yet here she was stunned—paralyzed as she was forced to only play his words on loop in her mind. 'Could you possibly be an oni, Harumi?' She heard it in different speeds, tones, pitches...it was a scary thought.
"What are you talking about?! I'm just a regular human girl!!" She protested. In reality, she was praying to the FSM that he was just messing with her. Despite proving herself to be quite tough sometimes, she can be naive. Zackery did have an excellent influence on her after learning on that dreadful night how kick power he held over her.
The oni prince sighed. It was no use, if she wasn't going to listen, he might as well move to another topic. Of course, good intel. If she reacted that rashly, surely she wouldn't be aware of her own transformation. Maybe it wasn't her that caused it, someone else wanted her to become an oni. For what, though?
"This has happened too many times, you do have a thing for escaping death, preference maybe?" He joked. If he wasn't a bad guy, perhaps she would have laughed a little at his joke for it seemed to be the case. But now, Harumi wasn't laughing. She was in thought. Why didn't death just take her already?
"Anyways, I won't ask. Tell me, where is the grandson of the first spinjitzu master, is he with you?"
"Even if he treated me terribly because of a misunderstanding, he's still my family and I don't sell out my family." She insisted calmly.
Zackery clicked his tongue. Boring.
The ninth floor was right under the throne room therefore it was swarming with oni guards. Zackery had an advantage here.
He glared over to every guard he could find and summoned them to block the lift a few metres away. No, he wasn't going to let Harumi escape.
Knowing what he was up to, Harumi didn't let herself get phased by all of this. She growled lightly, realizing the increase of numbers of her enemies and tightened her grip on her sword.
"Hm, cute." Zackery commented on her nervous vibes, earning a laugh from two guards nearby.
Harumi narrowed her eyes. No, she shouldn't be too worried about her current situation. She had friends.
"You'll pay for what you've done to my friends and my puppy, by the way! Don't think I'm finished just because I'm not harming you in any way!" She spat, puffing out every ounce of courage she had left inside of her—which wasn't a lot considering the fact she's been cornered.
Zackery, who has rolled his eyes by now, took the white haired girl's words and threw them directly out the window. He really didn't pay attention to them. But, if she was here to threaten him, might as well begin the fight, right?
Stepping away out of discomfort at the sight of Zackery coming closer to Harumi, a scream from the distance was heard.
"No!!!"
The white haired girl and the oni prince had to physically stop at the dorky shout.
~~~~~~~~~~~
What the prince had expected was a soldier, someone actually threatening for once. All armoured in silver riches and a blade about seven feet tall.
But what he saw instead was an unpoised whimsy brown haired man who struggled to even hold a wooden sword.
"Woa....woahhhh!!"
He spun around unwillingly and tripped over his own feet, thus landing on his chin and bruised it.
Zackery and his troops looked confused at the sudden appearance of the brown-haired man.
An introduction was made right after.
"Huyah! Step down, I'm the brownnnnn ninja!" Dareth got up from the ground, picked his sword up and hurried to make a dramatic ending pose. He may have given himself the self-proclaimed title of "sensei" and "brown ninja". However, it wasn't like he knew how to apply actual combat into fearsome battles.
The prince sighed and turned around, raising a hand to address to one of his guards. "Ugh, just another wannabe. Take care of him." He discarded the boy's entrance and gave out an order.
Gulping, Dareth backed away when he saw an oni with sharp canines approach him with his four arms. Terrifying creature with four arms...
Then, with practically no other sound in the staircase with them, a growl was emitted right in front of his face. The brown ninja could feel the change of pattern through the air, like the air all around them was being pushed into onto eyelids.
It sent Dareth screaming.
The brown ninja clenched his sword tightly and ran behind the nearest team member of his. In this case, it was the master Wu. The man rolled his eyes subtly at the brown ninja's cowardice ways and raised his weapon, ready to fight.
"I'll take it from here." Harumi inhaled.
She knew this would be a tough battle. But in order to free her family and her puppy, she knew she needed the help of Pixal, Master Wu, Dareth, Ronin, Nelson and Antonia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The white haired girl ran forward, launching herself onto Zackery. The oni easily dodged her attack, showing a sign of struggle on the very first seconds of her fist colliding with his cheek. But, he managed to back away right after the first hit. He chuckled and bent down.
"Do you really think you can defeat me?" He questioned amusingly. Surely, he couldn't allow her to win the fight with a few kicks and punches. That's just child's play.
However, it was noticeable that he did begin going back up the stairs. He could leave the oni guards to Rumi's assembled team back downstairs. For now, this was just a fight between the two of them and Rumi gladly agrees to it.
Now back on top of the rootop, the oni and the white haired girl looked at each other, both allowing the other to have the second move. But no one dared take a step. They only spoke:
"Of course I can. I said you'll pay, now didn't I?"
"Haha. That's why I like you, Harumi."
Before Harumi could plan another hit on him, they were both interrupted by a growl. It came from the throne a few metres away. On there, sat a old man, presumingly the leader of all Oni. He was rather tall and bore a crown that seemed to be something he didn't wear often.
However, judging by the situation, he doused himself in his arrogance and presented himself in a vain manner. This was Omega Leviathan, father fo Zackery and Mirage Leviathan and king of the oni.
Zackery gave a low chuckle as he spotted his father on the throne. He glanced away from him then back at Harumi.
"O-Oh...father, sorry, did I wake you? I didn't know you'd be watching this fight." He apologized nervously.
Omega shakes his head in dismissal, "Sleeping? Were my eyes shut, boy?" He asks—in which Zackery responds with a soundless shake of a head.
"You better not disappoint me, she's a girl." The king insisted his son's protected victory.
The prince mutters a few incoherent words even at Harumi's distance and nods.
The white haired girl was done messing around and chuckled at her turn. She charged in Zackery's direction, throwing in a few kicks to his left and right sides. Each of them missing as he dodged with ease. He backed away more and she came closer.
Then, "Ninjago!" Her petite form evaporated in a spiral of silver. She became a tornado and Zackery didn't look in the slightest of bits shocked about this. He sighed and moved out of the way until Harumi reverted into her normal form. She missed her attack entirely.
But, it may not have surprised Zackery but it certainly was some flash of news for the king. Standing up from his throne, "Zackery, foolish boy!! Why didn't you tell me she could do that?!" He spat, genuinely angry at his son for once.
Jumping at the sound of his disappointed father's voice, Zackery tried his best to hide his nervousness. That's because he knew he screwed up in the eyes of his father and he wanted to be able to sleep in his room tonight.
"I didn't think it'd be important!" He played it off in a cool and aloof manner.
Yet, he couldn't help but genuinely jab at his father for yelling at him for one mere left-out detail. "Tell me why you sit around all day then! You're king, aren't you? I'm not!"
Omega tensed, his nails scratching his cheek roughly before sitting back down on his throne.
The words: "Foolish boy." were heard on repeat behind them for an entirety of a minute. Harumi felt confident and Zackery hid his tensed feelings behind a facade.
"Just resume the battle already, dammit." The king complained.
To his wish, his command, Harumi once again attacked the oni prince, a little surprised to see he is more calculated and precise at the moments in which he needs to step aside. A few huffs were heard as his fist punched her stomach—sending her flying for a second.
She wiped a bit of blood off her chin and didn't use that stinging pain to give up. She could still go, yeah, she could still keep going.
Punch after punch, kick after kick, they were each others' worthy opponents as no one seemed to be getting exhausted despite the amount of times their limbs collided against each other's.
It came to a point where Harumi released her fury onto him as she spun around him in a Spinjitzu tornado for the fourth time. She managed to cut gashes in two of his arms as well as stab him on the shoulder for a split second.
Zackery groaned and fell back, no, he couldn't have her win, that's why he stepped away. Huffing and allowing blood to drip from his injuries, and doing absolutely about them, mind you, he glared at the white haired girl.
Harumi did the same, equally out of breath after ending her stormy tantrum. Thinking she was going to attack again as she stepped closer, Zackery took no chances and got away. Only receiving a taunting remark from Harumi:
"What are you running for, really scared of a girl, now are you? Well, luckily, I'm not the one that's going to end you, it's him."
Zackery didn't know what she meant until he followed her gaze and smile. What...no, what he saw terrified him for good.
A dragon with several heads was flying above him. No, he recognized that dragon. He read them from his younger sister's book pile when they were younger. The Ultra dragon.
A whistle was heard in the next few seconds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zackery's first instinct was to run to his father's throne and grab him by the arm. Now worry and absolutely shock filled his eyes as he urgently beckoned his father to follow him.
"What are you doing?! Leave me, it's just a dragon!! You're an Oni, Zackery Leviathan!"
"N-No, it's no dragon, it's extremely dangerous. Please father, you need to leave, NOW"
Flames burst out onto the ground, quickly spreading. Of course, since it was controlled by a creature on the enemy side, the oni needed to jump over the fires in order to get out. The Ultra dragon didn't bother setting on fire anywhere near his dear caged master as well as his master's interest.
Zackery and Omega left the rooftop, running for their lives as fireballs shot through the staircase, setting fire to the walls of the ninth floor.
Antonia and Nelson, who were kicking out two oni guards out of the window, almost flinched as one of the fireballs almost hit them.
"Woah! What was that?" Nelson jumped, beginning to thank the FSM that he wasn't charred on the spot.
Antonia just shrugs and looks up at the white haired girl who was smiling over to the skies—the Ultra dragon for that matter, except Antonia couldn't see from where she was.
"I'm guessing Harumi's got this." She smiled as well, confident in the smaller resistance's leader.
Seeing Zackery and Omega fleeing, the oni guards had to choose but to scream and flee with their leaders. It was a losing battle, for now anyways. They'll be back.
Landing down beside her, Harumi giggles and pets the snout of the beautiful dragon. She was so thankful that he came around to help them at a time like this and the fact that he actually listened to her callings despite not being the Ultra dragon's actual owner.
"Thank you for the help...do you mind breaking my friends free?" She asked softly and making sure to treat the dragon with much respect. She may not know its thoughts nor what it would say to her if he could, but the dragon understand her kind intentions.
The dragon chomped the bars, allowing a big hole to be created in both cages. The resistance was finally free. The white haired girl sighs as she knew she did it. She completed her mission and managed to free her family from the oni.
Of course, zoning out by looking at the fallen city below her did her no good when she felt a pair of arms wrap from behind her. Shocked, she stepped away from the edge and turned her head to see who hugged her. It was Kai, the fire ninja.
"Hey I knew I could count on you, you did it!!" He snickered, tightening his grip around her.
Harumi turned around completely to hug the fire ninja in return. She shut her eyes and kept her arms around him. Gosh, she was so happy. They were all free, no more Oni.
"It's all thanks to you guys!" She responded happily.
Cole, Zane and Jay rushed over to Master Wu and all laughed whole-heartedly. They hugged their master, happy to see him again.
Pixel and Antonia cheered all together as they finally stopped the oni guards together.
Dareth tried to impress Mirage with his "brown ninja" mojo but only ended up making a fool out of himself when she walked away to go sightseeing. Nix whimpered and tried his best to cheer the poor brown-clad man up.
As for Lloyd and Nya, they seemed to be having a good time as they laughed during their conversation.
Yeah...she really did manage to save the day.
Harumi let go of Kai as he told her that he should probably leave her some alone time with Lloyd to possibly reconcile after what has happened. Though, she especially blushed when he added a little wink before walking away.
A reconciliation with Lloyd sounds nice, just the two of them talking things out like what partners should do. She missed his company and she wanted to speak to him again.
Lloyd turned from Nya to Harumi. His eyes twinkled as she was looking in the same direction as him. His shocked look turned into a soft smile as he waved at her.
Lovestruck, Harumi smiled back and began approaching the blonde haired boy to hopefully go and have a conversation with him.
The two kept gazing into each others' eyes, as if the jade crystals and black void ones contained stars in them. Each time they saw each other, it felt like a shooting star coming down to Earth.
"Young Harumi!!"
An elderly woman was in between the two, thus cutting the contact. Harumi jumped on the inside as her heart began to melt. She nervously laughed and waved at Mistaké. "A-Ahah...hi Mistaké!! I reassure you, I'm doing alright, I swear." She blurted all at once.
Mistaké nods. But it wasn't exactly convincing enough. "If you'd like, I could make you some tea when we get back. You seem exhausted." She noticed, placing a hand on the fighter girl's shoulder. Once again, Rumi gave an appreciative nod. She'd like that very much.
About to tell Mistaké that she wanted to excuse herself because she wanted to speak to Lloyd, Harumi had the joy to find that someone else was here to ruin their little reunion.
"If you've think you've won, think again! I don't accept defeat!" A voice shouted from the top of the staircase leading down to the previous floor.
It was Zackery, with the mask of hatred in his hands.
The first to react wasn't the white haired girl, but rather the one with violet pupils. She gasped and immediately charged in the prince's direction to try and snatch the mask.
"Brother!" She called, her hand flinging for grip the purple mask from his hands. Her face was full of concern and surprise. No, why did he have this artifact? Bad things happen when someone wears these masks, something bad happens!! She still cared about her family immensely excluding her father, obviously.
"What are you doing?! You can't have that!!"
But Zackery pushed her hand away, Mirage stumbled back and almost fell to the ground.
She stared up at her older brother, not really expecting he'd ever be rough with her like that.
"Big brother Zackery...?"
"Cut the baby talk, Mirage, grow up. You can't tell me what to do, this is my mask now." He explained to his younger sister. No, it didn't even feel like he was talking to his own sibling, he was so cold and distant.
"Where the heck did you get that?" approached Harumi, wincing internally seeing Mirage's failure. "I locked it up in my room so Cloud wouldn't be able to get it, but how?! How did you do it?" She, too, required a response from something so unexplainable.
Zackery only laughed like the mischievous and vain prince he is. He insisted that secrets shouldn't be revealed.
~~~~~~~~~
Narrowing her eyes, Harumi wasn't going to let a turn of events ruin their victory now. She charged towards the now hatred-filled Oni and brought a hand forward to push him away from the vulnerable brown-haired girl.
"Zackery, get away from her!!" She raged, the fact that all of her friends might end up in cages again if she didn't stop him, it fuelled her up. She wasn't going to let him win.
But knowing the effects of the mask of hatred, ah she remembers how the host's body turns into stone all too well. Therefore, she cried out in shock as her fist was blocked by a stone wall.
She couldn't land a hit on his chest due to that stupid mask. She stumbled back and allowed herself to be open for attack.
So, that's what happened. Zackery snickered at her miss and raised a leg to kick her down the stairs. Harumi, who had rolled down a flight of stairs and landed on the ninth floor ground, whimpered and struggled to get up at first.
"Ow..." she hissed in pain, using one of her hands to push herself up.
However, Zackery wasn't finished yet, he walked down the stairs to meet with Harumi and laughed at her. He raised a fist above her small frame and aimed it there. "Oh Harumi, so weak, what made you think that you'd win against me? Say goodbye.." the mask had distorted his voice completely, because of that, she felt so alone, trapped. Trapped with a real life demon.
Lloyd's eyes widens as he noticed the oni cornering Harumi. As much as he wanted to talk to the rest of the resistance after allying with Dareth and the others for awhile, he knew that he needed to at least warn her. No, he had to.
"Harumi!!!" His mouth moved on its own.
She shut her eyes, knowing that this hit might be it for her. She couldn't possibly move in time...right? Wrong. She instantly felt a jolt run through her as she heard that ear-piercing scream coming from none other than...Lloyd?
He really didn't hate her after all those months ago of believing that she was truly a bad person? He's really there to help her defeat Zackery? Harumi blinks and focused back on the situation at hand. As if time slowed, she placed her two hands together and stepped away.
"If you're gonna fight me, try harder!" She spat, using her feet to kick at the ground and get back up. She slid away from him and used one hand to stop the momentum from stumbling back over. She glared at the oni prince and quietly muttered: "Ninjago..."
Her body formed into a silver tornado once again, she was ready to collide within and break him into pieces. The tornado began to move, at full speed and crashed into the oni prince.
But having the mask of hatred, the oni easily got out of it unscattered. He did allow her to fling him to the wall, he gave her that. But nothing more as to anything serious. Then again, it was mostly his stone-turned body that acted as a shield for that one. He recovered very quickly, as a mask user would, and lowered himself to the ground.
Seeing that she didn't knock him out completely, Harumi's spinjitzu made another round. This time, faster than before. She put more strength as she spun and ran towards him—hoping that this was the end of their battle.
Zackery was ready for it this time. He snickered and clenched a fist, lowering it to be behind his back. When the tornado came around, that's when a mist of purple aura appeared around his palm. It was his channelled oni powers combining with the mask's strength.
Just like that, his fist collided with Harumi's stomach, kicking her out of her own spinjitzu.
Harumi coughed up blood, her eyes dilated as she was thrown to the end of the hallway. A deadly attack if she did have to say so herself.
She collapsed on the ground and spat out the remaining blood in her mouth.
"Harumi!!" Cole and the other ninjas shouted over to her from the tenth floor. They glanced at each other worriedly before making the choice to rush down the stairs to defend her.
That's what they would have done if they didn't hear the king, who was sitting on the throne, to stay where they were. He could easily called reinforcements.
Zackery bent down to check up on her. He lifted the mask only by a little for his bloodshot eyes to stare into her now shut ones. She was in pain, she didn't want to talk, not to him of all people.
"G-Gonna rub your victory i-in my face...h-huh?" She laughed bitterly, allowing herself to be turned by Zackery so that they could face each other. He handled her delicately for once.
"As a matter of fact, no. What I am going to point out is that you remain weak as ever." The oni prince chuckled, earning a soundless reaction from the white haired girl. Oh no, anything but what she thinks he'll say.
"Hn.." she struggled to breathe, her lungs felt crushed, her ribs were certainly broken.
Then, the words that Harumi dreaded to hear made a return.
"So helpless and pathetic, just like what happened on that night."
Harumi felt herself begin to hyperventilate. No no no, she didn't want to be reminded of that again, anything but that. Not that terrible night, not here, not ever, not in front of her friends....why? Why did this have to be reminded?
Did he take pride in seeing others suffer?! Was that what it was, how twisted of a man is he?!
She tried to stand, failing rather quickly. But she wasn't giving in. She may be alone, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, right?
The ninjas were back upstairs, they hadn't left her! They didn't hear that, right?
Lloyd called out to her too....
The only one who was really allowed to slip by and get close to the scene was—
"Brother!" A brown pigtailed girl approached the two of them and stopped to stand behind the bent-down Oni. Zackery sighed, recognizing—no, it was already obvious in the first place on who out of these useless fighters, would his father to spare their life.
"Shut up. Don't call me that."
Mirage flinched, stopping in her tracks for a second.
"What you may be doing is wrong but you're still my brother!! You're my big brother Zackery! Listen to me—" she tried to reason.
"NO! How about YOU listen to me, Mirage." Zackery countered, giving the poor girl quite the scare when he drastically raised his voice like that. "You left me in that palace with father alone for YEARS. You and mom left me, why?! Why do you start caring only now?!"
"I didn't want to leave! I didn't want to...but father, he...he was being so strict! He was forcing rules on me and on the kingdom. I didn't like his way of reigning over, so...so I left!" She explained herself, her nervousness becoming more apparent. She stepped closer to the oni, when stretched a hand out and—
He turned to face her, his eyes were narrowed as ever, his canines were exposed and it looked like he was ready to spit venom in her eyes to prevent her from seeing him ever again.
"OH SHUT UP, WILL YOU?! FSM!!" He raged, standing up from the ground and closing the gap between them. He pushed her—again and again, didn't even help her up when she fell after the second push. No, he even trampled on her.
"O-Ow! Ow...wait, brother, you're hurting m-me, s-stop!!!" Mirage cried out, Zackery's leg crushed her stomach, she couldn't breathe and she couldn't move.
"If I'm hurting you, show me what you're capable of!! You're an Oni, aren't you?! A royal one that is designated to be a failure of a princess!" Her brother was rilled up, having had enough of Harumi ruining his plans hahah he'd don't acknowledge what he was actually doing to the sister he sometimes cared about.
She gave a drained look, her breathing circulation beginning to collapse entirely. Her violet eyes remained open, but her pupils turned from white to a faint speck of red. If he insists that she fights, she needs to show her true colours.
"No you don't!"
Harumi and Mirage turned to each other as they heard a familiar voice come from the top of the staircase. Before they knew it, Zackery's jaw was met with the knuckles of the oni lord, it was Garmadon coming to their rescue.
The mask was knocked off of Zackery's face as he gave a wince as his body returned to its usual fleshy ways. He stood back up after stumbling over Harumi and growled at Garmadon.
The oni lord prepared a purple mist to generate, it was spell obviously and he wasn't afraid to use it on the oni prince.
"Are you both alright?"
Harumi glanced away for a second, attending to her own needs and wondering internally if she really was fine. Her body was in pain but now that she thought more about it, it was similar to when she was knocked down during training. Yeah...she could go on!
"I-I'm fine, it's no big deal." She told Garmadon with a little smile. Her status being reported, she immediately turned over to her pigtailed friend, she seemed in a far more critical state than she was for the time being.
"Mirage, you alright?" She called weakly.
Too shocked at her big brother's earlier words, she only affirmed Harumi's question with a nod.
Zackery chuckled, watching as they all made an exchange of words in the middle of battle. Very unprofessional especially when their opponent was in hearing view. He brushed a bit of dust from his shoulders and faced them.
"Fools. Do you know what I have realized? There is a thing in common between all four of us," he started.
Thinking it was a trap for them to reveal more information than needed to, Garmadon signalled the two girls with a look to not respond to the question. He would.
"What may that be?" The old man answered.
Zackery snickered, "The fact that we're all oni! Due to how pathetic Harumi is being, she'll turn out to be a wonderful newborn."
"You bit her?" Mirage raised a brow. She really wasn't impressed with what Zackery had done, more so, she believes it's time to stop being so nice, even if it's hard.
"Maybe, maybe not." Zackery dodged the question, even if it was already obvious that he had something to do with it.
Harumi was the most shocked of all. "When...when did such an opportunity occur?"
"It's not the 'when' that matters, Rumi. It's the
effects. Good luck with Onihood! Garmadon there seems eager to teach you all about it and oh, there are female customs, you can always ask my baby sister for advice." He teased quietly.
Not wanting to hear another word from him, Garmadon discharged the spell on all three of them, causing them to teleport to the top of the stairs on the 10th floor.
Harumi remained confused. Really, when did he have a chance to do something like that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teleporting to the top, Harumi, Garmadon and Mirage spawned to be a few metres away from where the resistance, Cloud and Nix were.
Sighing, "I didn't know you mastered that spell, Garmadon." Harumi looked at him with slight amazement in her eyes. However, the old man huffed and shook his head.
"Now's not the time to be talking. He's going to catch up." He mentioned, earning a quiet "yes." from the white haired princess.
Thinking that they'd get peace and quiet like they recovered,
"Harumi! Mirage, are you guys alright?" It was Lloyd. He ran over to the two girls, completely ignoring his father's say in all of this and checked for any injuries that the two girls might've had.
Harumi smiled, he was honestly so caring. She felt like she didn't deserve something as nice as the blonde. She nodded and lowered her eyes to a certain weapon that interested her.
"We're alright, Lloyd. Hey, do you mind if I borrow that dagger of yours?" She noticed a metallic dagger hanging loosely from his belt.
Lloyd gave a confused: "Hm?" at her request then looked down himself to spot the weapon.
He grabbed it off its sling and inspected it.
"I forgot I still had this but sure, take it." He handed it over to the white girl, bring careful as to not being too quick and potentially getting her fingers sliced. "Thank you." She thanked him.
"What do you plan to do with it?" Lloyd asked as he watched her slowly get up from the ground. Mirage and Garmadon winced as they spotted the fresh stains of blood on her back and advised her to just retreat and return to the bounty.
Why risk them all getting hurt even more?
"You'll see, watch me!" She gave an enthusiastic grin and began running off back down the stairs. No one called out to her this time.
Usually, someone would stop running at the sight of stairs but Harumi didn't let such a thing stop her. She clenched her fists and held the dagger tightly. Letting out a cry of bravery, she jumped from the very top of stairs all the way to the bottom.
Her back curled to almost meet her stomach as she used her legs to land. The reason why she curled in the first place was to guarantee more air time so that she wouldn't immediately land on the metallic stairs.
She tackled Zackery onto the ground—who was quite surprised to have the white haired girl attack him out of nowhere. "You...!" He hissed, struggling to move her off him.
The resistance gasped and everyone except Garmadon and Mirage ran to the top of the stairs to check if Harumi was alright. That was quite the leap and the distance.
"Did she just.." Cole began to mutter, turning to Kai for guidance.
"I think she just did." Kai spotted Harumi, who was currently overpowering Zackery.
"She takes well after Lloyd! Danger magnet!" Nya pointed out, a big grin appearing on her lips.
"Oohh danger danger, come and get me!" Cole teased in a tone of mockery. Everyone laughed at that little impression of his.
Lloyd grew flustered as he scratched the back of his head. "What, no! I don't attract danger." Bold words of a hypocrite, he thought about it a few days ago and being the green ninja really meant a promotion to more danger and adventures.
Returning back to the fighting two, Zackery was quite amazed with that little trick of hers.
He laughed and looked up at her. He enjoyed having her on top of him like this. Even if it wasn't really his preferences, he'd much rather overpower her instead.
But that's life, there's doors to different choices.
"Ahaha, clever. Who taught you that one?"
Stunned, Harumi's mood was already soured. She tried not to make a face as she felt her legs honestly cracking as they spoke. She shouldn't let him know that she was currently in pain and was holding it for the sake of their city's safety. "Just shut up..." she whimpered.
Zackery shook his head and raised a finger to shake it in a 'no' gesture. "But I was just about to show you a trick that onis are very fond of. Take it as my lesson, from Zackery Leviathan." He laughed. Catching her by surprise, the oni pushed his legs up, causing her to be flung from the front.
Except, what was in the front of them was...
"This is my territory, my castle, get out." Zackery watched, amazed and proud as ever, as he had just thrown her out of the pair of windows.
The sound of shattering glass was heard.
The white haired girl, terrified as ever, tumbled down from nine stories.
"I'm gonna die, I'm really gonna die.." she whispered to herself, watching as she could do nothing except fall to the ground and lose sight of the beautiful but cruel world.
If only she had her friends to save her—they saw, right? Probably not. Who would watch a coward who was easily tricked like that?
......
Was she a coward though?
Did she really do her very best out there or was it not enough? Was there more she could do?
Could she have prevented this ending?
Laying only for a period of ten minutes, she wasn't there to hear the sound of running footsteps coming from the entrance of Borg Tower.
A large group of people pushed the doors open and ran to her side. All of them were shouting.
Muffled, she couldn't hear a thing.
She couldn't hear the beeping cars as all of them ran into the street like wild animals to recover her petite form.
"She's unconscious!! Harumi, don't worry, we'll get you out of here!!" Mirage shouted, shaking the white haired girl as she noticed even more blood leaking from the back of her head.
A man with four-arms looked down on the white haired girl's body, he too, beginning to notice the blood.
"Bring her to the bounty. Stay calm."
~~~~~~~~~
After an hour that they all retreated and returned to the flying ship, it was Lloyd's choice to come and check on Harumi.
He stood by the side of her bed and watched her as she drifted off into the dreamworld, she was still unconscious but Mistaké and Misako had her all bandaged up.
He couldn't help but feel guilty that the reason why she had an open wound on the back of her head is because of him. If he hadn't stayed angry at her and accused her of betraying him, maybe she wouldn't have grown close to that Collin guy and walk into his trap.
He sighs and caresses her cheek. He'll go for the night, he needed to rest like the others were currently doing. He did get hurt out there and there were wounds he needed to check. But as far as he was concerned, they were just bruises or bleeding scratches that he needed to disinfect.
"Lloyd, wait." He heard the puppy call out to him. Right, he needed to get used to the fact that she could speak now. It was all because of that tea, right? He faced the white Pomeranian, who was sitting neatly on her doggy bed.
"What is it?" He responded, opening the girl's bedroom door slightly.
Cloud gave a small genuine smile, for the first time. She and Lloyd didn't get along well due to what happened between him and Harumi. But it seems that he wasn't so bad after all, he was certainly trying to change.
"Thanks for looking after Harumi." She thanked the blonde haired boy with an affirmative bark.
Lloyd smiled as well, nodding and stepping out of the door. He began to slowly shut it.
"I'll leave the watching to you, Cloud."
The door closed and footsteps retreated from the white haired girl's bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Wow! That was a really long chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed that one!! So much went down, Harumi and Zackery battled all chapter, Lloyd still cares about her and of course, there's these little sibling moments between Zackery and Mirage! They weren't apart of the original prompts given to me but I felt the need to to write them to give a little detail about what kind of siblings they really are towards each other!
Since y'know, you've all been robbed from Mirage and Zackery sibling moments the entire season, hehe. Anyways, those were really fun to write!! Moving on, you best be ready for the next few chapters, things are getting intense, trust me!
That's my author's note, I'll see you all the next time this book publishes! Lilla's out! ^0^