y'all... really reacted really strongly last chapter. Like, some of you I expected it but others just really caught me off guard
review replies:
Kairocksrainbow: You... don't review on the entire fic up to this point, and then review "good stuff" on the chapter where I wake up and it's all a dream. Wow.
Spottedfrost: Maybe so
Candaru: Please do not harm me
Ebony: I mean I have plenty detailed dreams so idk
MarbleBird: It's not the end yikes guys come on I wouldn't just end it like that
NinjagoPotterWarriors etc. etc.: Don't worry. Not the end.
peachyheart: NOT THE END DW
RandomDragon: It's been wacky all along.
Plumcide: Nope.
Guest: same
It couldn't have been a dream. But it was.
Lydia had, apparently, just forgotten the events of the past six months. Her family had shown no signs of noticing her missing, casually referring to past events in front of her enough that she could piece together what 'she' had done recently. Apparently, among other things, she had recently applied for a job at a local fast-food place, but she was turned down, and, over the next two weeks, both her parents kept pausing to assure her that it was nothing to be discouraged about, it was just a learning experience.
None of her readers or followers had noticed her missing either. Scrolling down her blog, she found dozens of posts she hadn't written… except she obviously had. They even sounded like her. There was also thousands of words of fanfiction she had apparently written, which she would ordinarily be overjoyed about – fanfiction she didn't have to write! – but even that brought her no enjoyment. Not with everything she'd lost.
The only one who noticed her missing, evidently, was Cam.
Lydia sat slumped in front of her computer, mindlessly scrolling through pages of reviews for things 'she' had written. Even reviews couldn't make her feel better about all of this. Trying to rationalize what she had seen and done with what everyone else thought, Lydia read her last conversation with Cam once more.
: Cam: Lydia, why are you avoiding me? You continue to be active on other websites, why aren't you talking to me?
: You: im so, so sorry. i don't know what happened.
: Cam: It's obvious what happened, you were avoiding me. Why? That's all I want to know.
: You: i wasn't avoiding you. i don't understand why you don't remember.
: You: everyone else remembers.
: Cam: Remembers what?
: You: ive been in another dimension for months. my family, my friends, everyone else acts like i was never gone. i don't understand.
: Cam: I just want the truth. I won't be mad.
: You: i AM telling the truth
: Cam: Lydia, it's becoming increasingly obvious that I care about this relationship far more than you. For that reason, I'm afraid I must cut it off.
: You: cam, you don't get it, im telling you all i know!
: Cam: I'm sorry, Lydia.
: This user can no longer receive messages
She couldn't really say she was upset. If she still had Morro, she would even be glad at this turn of events. She could date him without worrying about Cam's reaction. But he wasn't real, as it turned out.
"Lydia!" Lydia's head jerked up at her name being called, and sat up straight as her mom poked her head through the doorway. "There's a boy at the door. He says you lost something and he's here to return it." Lydia frowned. The only thing she'd lost recently was Cam's respect for her. Then again, she could have lost all sorts of things while she… wasn't here.
"Okay." Locking her computer, she stood, slowly making her way through the house and down the entry hall. The big door was closed, and as she pulled it open she wondered absently if it was someone she knew returning something.
Morro was standing on the front porch.
Lydia stood, staring at him, frozen, for nearly half a minute before he rolled his eyes, yelling through the door,
"It's me, dork. Get out here." Hearing his voice made her snap out of her confused stupor, and tears welled up in her eyes as she shoved the door open and threw herself into his arms.
"You w-weren't real!" She sobbed into his shoulder as he squeezed her tight. "You were j-just a dream you- you-"
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Morro rubbed her back as she cried, his other arm wrapped around her waist. "I'm real. I'm right here." She tried to speak again, but she was crying too hard. "How long has it been? Since you were brought back here?"
"T-two weeks…"
"I'm so sorry." He pressed her forehead into his shoulder. "It took me days to find the Preeminent, I didn't mean to leave you this long."
"K-Karen?" Lydia sniffled, rubbing her sleeve across her face. "I-is she okay? Did the wish work?"
"Ask her yourself." Morro gestured to his right, and Lydia lifted her head from his shoulder, staring in the direction he pointed. Standing on the far side of the porch, petting a cat who was rubbing against her ankles, was a young woman with beautiful, shimmering black hair that cascaded down her back. Noting Lydia's eyes on her, she turned and gave her a shy smile. For a moment, Lydia just stared. Then she ventured,
"Karen?" The woman waved, and Morro explained,
"She can't talk. We don't know if it's because she never learned how, or if she's physically incapable of talking. Either way, the wish worked. She's a normal person now." Lydia pressed her hands against her face.
"I-it worked." She whispered. "So- so everything turned out fine?"
"Yes. Ninjago returned to normal, and all the innocents the Preeminent-" He coughed. "Karen cursed, have been changed back. You saved everyone, Lydia." Lydia covered her eyes with her hands as more tears threatened to spill. Even after she ruined everything, she still saved Ninjago.
A warm body bumped into her and arms wrapped around her, and Lydia opened her eyes in surprise to see Karen giving her a tight hug. The brunette hugged her back, grinning even as the tears began to fall.
"You have such pretty hair." She whispered. Karen gave her a squeeze in response. After a few moments, the older girl let go, and Lydia rubbed her eyes on her sleeve, trying to stop crying.
"W-what about the ninja? Do they know what happened to me?"
"Well, we didn't know what happened to you at first. You just… vanished. So after I found the Pr- Karen, we went up to Cloud Kingdom to get answers. And you know what we found?" Lydia raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"We found the reason all this happened." He grinned. "You, Lydia, were the main character in someone's cheesy love story." The brunette blinked.
"What."
"Someone in Cloud Kingdom was bored one day, so she decided to mess with your life. She sent you to Ninjago and watched what happened. Apparently you got away from her, and when you suggested going up to Cloud Kingdom, she panicked and sent you home." Lydia blinked.
"Those guys have way too much power."
"Agreed."
"Was it her that was breaking the timeline?"
"…sort of. Your actions conflicted with the already written history, so the universe was glitching. But, they fixed it when it was revealed what she was doing. None of that should happen anymore." Lydia shook her head.
"It seems I got a taste of my own medicine."
"Apparently so."
"How are you holding up, both of you? Adjusting to being human?" She gave Morro a side-eyed look. "Crashed into any walls?"
"No." He responded quickly, but Karen nodded. "Once." he amended. Karen held up two fingers. "Fine, twice. Geez." Lydia rolled her eyes.
"Don't do that."
"Oh, really?" Morro rolled his eyes back.
"Yes." Neither of them spoke for a few moments. "So… do you and Karen have a plan?" Lydia asked at last. Morro raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what are you going to do with your lives? Do you have a place to stay?" The two ex-cursed exchanged glances.
"Well… I doubt we're really welcome in the Cursed Realm anymore. Karen wasn't." The wind master cast a glance at Karen, who pursed her lips.
"Oh." Lydia winced. "Sorry." Karen shrugged. "If you don't have anywhere else, you wanna stay here?" Morro frowned.
"Somehow I don't think your mom would like that idea."
"Good point. Karen, maybe. But not you."
"She didn't like me at all when I was a ghost, now… I don't know. Still hard to say. Especially since we're kind of dating…" He trailed off. "Wait, you have an actual boyfriend, don't you?"
"Not anymore, actually." Lydia grinned. "Cam broke up with me since I didn't talk to him for 6 months. I told him why, but he assumed I was making a dumb excuse and got mad."
"Oh. That was… nice of him." The brunette frowned at Morro's sincere tone.
"He assumed I was lying and ditched me. How is that nice?"
"Well it means that now I can do this." Morro placed a hand on the back of her neck, then pulled her close and kissed her full on the lips. Lydia startled, then leaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes.
It was a few seconds before Morro pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.
"Nothing's standing in the way of us being together now." He said softly.
"My mom will." Lydia remarked dryly. "And my dad is going to kill you. And then probably me. But, you're right. Nothing really pressing, like you being dead." Morro chuckled.
"Yeah. Nothing like that." He pulled her close and kissed her again, and for a moment she was able to just lose herself in his arms. For a moment, she didn't have to worry about the fate of the universe, or about her parents, or about anything. Everything was perfect.
Then Karen tapped her on the shoulder, and Lydia turned around to see her mom gaping at her from behind the glass door. Lydia sighed.
"This is going to be a long lecture."
The End
For clarification, this is not the end.
I'm probably going to write wayyyyyy more content for this universe, there's no way I could just leave these dorks alone. So much POTENTIAL! However, this content will ONLY be available to those of you who donate to m p-a-t-r-e-o-n! (fanfiction hates that word) *laugh track*
...or, alternatively, for those of you who are poor, you can just write sad faces in a review and ask me to post them and I probably will.
Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this fic. Goodbye.
~FFF
