A quiet dripping noise roused me from my stupor. I'd say I was asleep, but I didn't get those feels from resting. I gently pushed myself up. And gasped in astonishment.
The cavern that I found myself in rose far above my head, arching into glowing crystal stalactites that came down from the ceiling. I was so in awe. I had no idea how I got here... Wherever "Here" was.
I vaguely remember climbing a mountain (Ebott?) that everyone told me not to climb because everyone who did were never seen again... so why did I climb it?
I didn't know myself.
Pulling my head away from the beyond beautiful ceiling, I noticed a cavern entrance up ahead. Above it was a purple plate with a peculiar design on it. I'd seen something like it in my dad's library, but I didn't remember where... on a book, perhaps?
Ignoring it for the time being, I stood up, and heard a crunching noise. I looked down.
Golden flowers bloomed around my feet. Beautiful, but I'd never seen them in Ninjago before. I leaned down and picked one off its roots. I reached into my pocket, and withdrew an airtight plastic bag. I dropped the flower in, pressed all the air out of the bag, and shut it. Maybe my brother would know what they were.
Or not. Who knew? He was a total book nut.
Pressing the flower into my pocket, I trudged out of the pretty cave, and under the passage. It was pretty dark in there, and it took me a minute to find my way through.
The passage actually opened up into a cavern, smaller than the one before. A single golden flower bloomed in the murky light. I swore it was smiling.
"Howdy!" it spoke. I jumped, unsuspecting that a plant could talk. I stared at it for a good thirty seconds.
"Um... Hi?" I said. I didn't really know what else to say...
"I'm Flowey! And I already know you, Chara" he said. I gave him an odd look. "It's so nice to see you again"
"My name isn't-" I tried to say. The flower stopped me.
"Oh come on, you have to be Chara. You look almost exactly like him!" he said. I shook my head. He tilted his. "Or you have memory loss... Well, I can help with that!" he said. I flinched as I saw a green light erupt in front of me. I looked down at my chest. A green heart glowed brightly and brilliantly there. I looked up just in time to see Flowey raise some petals. They looked pretty sharp at the ends.
"What are you doing?" I asked. I regretted the question.
"Jogging your memory, Chara. What are friends for?" he asked. "Now all you gotta do here is catch this little white "friendliness pellets". Ready? Here we go!" he called. The petals took aim at the heart on my chest, and not knowing what else to do, I moved aside trying to avoid them.
A stray petal clipped my hand, and blood trickled from the freshly opened wound. I shuddered, cupping that hand with the other. I could feel the flower was less than pleased... Wait... "Feel the flower was less than pleased"?...since when could I feel emotions?...
"What are you doing? I said RUN. THROUGH. THE. BULLETS!" he yelled. I snapped my head around, and moved away just in time to escape the second round. Again, I felt the flowers annoyance... Or was it anger?
"Oh, I get it now" he hissed, in a very dark tone. I shivered. Yup, it was anger alright. And an urge to kill. "You just wanted to see me suffer" he hissed. I shrieked as I was suddenly tied up by roots, and knotted tight. Petal bullets surrounded me. "DIE." he said, and a very eerie and horrid laugh, even worse than my father's when he was still phyco, echoed throughout the chamber.
I closed my eyes, preparing for the worst.
Instead, I felt the roots loosen considerably, and I opened my eyes as I felt confusion come off the flower in waves. A purple orb suddenly knocked it off balance with a shriek. The roots binding me slipped off, and the green heart on my chest faded.
I slipped into the floor, and gasped for breath. Apparently, the flower was gone. I couldn't sense his emotions... Yeah, that was going to take some getting used to. However, I did sense some genuine concern. Almost motherly.
Yeah... I was pretty sure I'd lost my mind. Until I saw a goat-like creature approach. She was wearing a purple dress, with the top having the same design as the door I came thorough.
"Oh, you poor little thing" she said, as she approached. I expected the heart to appear again... but it didn't. She knelt down close, and gently lifted my injured hand. I felt something within me stir... it was a weird feeling.
"That horrid creature. I've seen him around the ruins... You are very lucky that I was here" She said. She pulled a bandage from her pocket, and gently covered my cut.
"Thank you" I said quietly. She smiled.
"It was nothing, little one. Just be glad he was unable to strike your soul" She said. I gave her a look.
"How would he strike my soul?" I asked.
"I'm guessing you don't know... Very well. Follow me, I shall tell you on the way" she said. I gently put my uninjured hand in hers, and we started walking.
"This here is the UnderGround, a graciously large system where we monsters were banished..." She started.
"I've never heard of this place" I said quietly. She smiled.
"No, I guess not. It's been hundreds of years... But, I can tell you all I know. After the war we had with the humans, the First Spinjitzu Master was forced to either lock us underground, or wipe out the humans. He chose the former option, and sealed us here in the UnderGround. But he did leave us a gigantic cave system, with light and plants and everything. He even created a plant that he swore would only exist in the UnderGround: The Golden Promise. They are glowing yellow flowers, that illuminate dark caves, and sprout where there is high hope" she said. "They never wilt when picked as long as the person who does has a good soul"
"Why are they called "Golden Promise?"" I asked, as we neared a door. I'd never heard such a story about my Grandfather.
"They are named in correlation with a prophecy he made: That someday, someone will come, and lead us all to light again" she said. I looked up.
"And the thing about my soul?" I asked. she looked down at me.
"When you are challenged to a fight, Your soul will become visible, creating a target for monsters to attack. A human soul is very powerful, and can exist after death. It's what some monsters want" she said as she opened the door.
"Oh..." I said quietly. I tried to change the subject. "This is a very nice place" I said.
She smiled. "I try. Oh, I forgot to tell you, My name is Toriel" she said.
"Lloyd" I said back. Toriel smiled.
"That is a lovely name. You know, you have a certain look about you that reminds me of a certain human boy I took in a while ago..." She said. A distant look found its way into her eyes. She must have missed him... I could feel the pain in her heart. She did eventually regain her senses. "I have some errands to run... do you have a Cell Phone?" she asked. I checked my pockets.
"Crud. I did have one, but it's not with me" I said. Toriel handed me one instead.
"Take this one. It's my spare, and it has my number if you need me" she said. I smiled. "Feel free to play in this room, I'll be back soon" She said, before turning and going down the stairs. I stood there for a few seconds... and then I turned around, and found a tunnel going further.
"Well, it's something" I said, and started off.
I went to explore the rest of the ruins after a call from Toriel. And that was entertaining for about five seconds.
Because I started running into random monsters.
I actually enjoyed striking up a conversation with my opponent, and convincing them to stop fighting. I found I had a knack for it. And I did feel good cheering that Nabstablook on. He certainly did look chipperish when I saw him the second time.
What wasn't fun about it was the hits to my soul. Because those hurt. A LOT.
It reminded me of the time my brother one time had been slashed across the chest with a sharp knife by a supporter of the Anti-Garmadon group. He survived, obviously, and ripped the guys throat out, which was nasty. While most people forgave my dad, and basically worshipped my brother, others hated our entire family. They made multiple attempts on Guren's life.
I missed him way too much. But I couldn't help it.
I kept walking, limping from my small injuries, and turned into a small room. There wasn't anything in it, but...
A Toy Knife. Some kind of weird feeling welled up in my chest. I leaned over to pick it up and inspect it.
The images of splattering blood and dead people turning to dust invaded my head, and with a shriek, I stumbled back. It took me quite a bit of time to calm myself down.
I looked at my hand, breathing heavily. No blood. No dust.
Not Yet
I flinched, looking around for whoever said that. I got nothing. The only person in the room was me.
'No. Not ever' I thought to myself, pushing the images away. I looked at the knife, and I stood up, turning around, and walking away. Whatever caused that feeling I got faded as I got further away from the weapon. I sighed as the pressure in my chest relented. I put my hand over my heart, hoping it wouldn't ever come back. I didn't want to hurt anyone. Not ever.
I didn't realize where I was until I looked up at the tree. It was naked, with all its leaves on the ground below it. I took a close look at them, and their color reminded me a bit of my brothers hair. A ridiculous shade of bright red.
I giggled, remembering my first conversation with him, when he was still his normal age, didn't know I was his brother, and barely taller than me at thirteen.
I had made a mistake in poking fun at his hair that day. He proceeded to chase me around the Bounty, screaming threats about dying my hair the same color (it ended up pink for a week) and he managed to tackle me to the ground, giving me a wet Willie.
I'd been pretty mad at him, even shoving him off the bounty at one point. And then I figured out he was just being playful. Like a puppy or something.
He was gentle, even before he knew. I pulled out the phone in my pocket, and wondered if I could call him. He was probably attempting murder to find my whereabouts*.
I smiled, but knew it wouldn't work.
"My child?" Toriel's voice suddenly reached my ears. I jumped at the sound, as Toriel came out from behind the tree. She looked like she was worried sick. "You shouldn't have gone off by yourself, little one! You could have been hurt" She said, in the worried mother tone, as she gently took my hand and inspected it. I still had the cut from Flowey the Demon flower, and it refused to stop burning.
I winced as Toriel placed her other hand on top of the cut, and with a little flinch, I found her hand was emitting a small purple aura, healing my injury.
When she removed her hand, I saw the deep cut that was supposed to scar was gone.
I looked up at her, and smiled.
"Thank you" I said, grinning.
"It was nothing my child, now come, I have something special for you" She said, as I took her hand. Toriel looked like she was smiling the whole way to her house.
Which, despite being underground, was quite beautiful. I smiled as we stepped inside.
"I made a pie for you, here, it's still warm" she said quietly. She handed me a wrapped up slice of butterscotch pie, and I put it in an old satchel I'd found in the Ruins. I then looked up at her and smiled.
"Thank you!" I said happily, even though I was tired as all hell. Toriel smiled when she saw this, and ushered me to follow her. I complied, happy to follow such a nice woman.
She led me down the hall, and we stopped in front of a door.
"Surprise! Your very own room" she said quietly, opening the door. I smiled, as I saw the room. It was nice and cozy, and Toriel put her hand on my head, ruffling my hair a bit. "How about you take a little nap? You look exhausted" she said, smiling
"Yeah, I think I will. Thanks, Toriel" I smiled. She smiled back.
"If you need me, I'll be reading by the fire" she said, before going back down the hall. I smiled as I watched her go, before going into the room, kicking off my shoes, and collapsing in the bed.
I snuggled under the covers, and my last thought before I lost consciousness was: 'Maybe I'll just stay here for a while'
*Guren, Lloyd's older brother, is the Green Ninja in this timeline. He is from another show called "Tenkai Knights", but he's not exactly like the character, A lot more mature and violent
Okay, this took me a month to get right, and unless I'm slapped in the face by INSPIRATION or DETERMINATION, I'm not going to spew out another one in the next month.
And if you're wondering why Lloyd's SOUL is green, it's because his virtue is Kindness. Plus, it'll make sense later on with his powers (which show up after the course of events in this story). There will be no SAVE. Just Lloyd being awesome!
~Nightmare of BloodClan