Here's a longer one, since I'm going to be busy for a while and my writing might not get done. Apologies if I can't update weekly like I want to, but I will be swamped with makeup work and other things to do. I do have a small buffer of writing ahead, but I don't have a lot so I may not post too much this month. However, I'll do my best to keep writing and finish this! From my current word count, I'm about one-fifth through the story! (And boy do I have some plans... Still deciding between a ton of tragedy or a little, this will not quite have a happy ending haha.)

On a happier note, I want to thank Pappilie for their fanart! It's awesome, and is now one of my phone cases! (I have a clear phone case and switch out different paper cutouts every while, I have four right now. Two of them are fanart, including yours Pappilie!) They make super cool art, I suggest you check out their Instagram under the same name!

Enjoy the chapter!

Many days had passed, at least a good month and a half. The lighthouse basement was cleaner than ever, and Master Lloyd had learned to control his sleepwalking, taking more of some sort of pill to work it out. Alongside his progress, I had learned to use my powers efficiently. Now it took only about a second to activate any and all of my powers, including possession.

Unfortunately, alongside my mastering of my skills, my feelings towards Master Lloyd had grown too.

They were troublesome, causing me to nearly fail many tasks. Master would accidentally sneak up on me while I was preoccupied with my thoughts during a task, and I would nearly drop everything that I held.

It was not all bad, though. The happiness I would feel as I pondered about Master Lloyd and our compatibility was amazing, and I found it addicting. Little actions that he likely never noticed were fascinating and I adored each one. Life felt like it had a purpose, a goal. There was a reason to work every day, to secure Master's happiness.

Whether he noticed my affections or not was a mystery to me. I did my best to act as nothing more than a good friend, not wanting to bother him in any way. My job was to think in Master Lloyd's best interests and put my own second.

A flash of green popped up in my peripherals but disappeared before I could see what it was. Master didn't seem to notice the flash. I squinted and returned to my work, but I was more alert and prepared for something to happen.

"I know there's been something off about you lately. You seem very… Cold yet attempting to be caring. Do you know why?" Master asked me, and I nearly dropped a dish in surprise. Calming down, I set some wet dishes aside and removed my gloves. I turned and faced Master, sheepishly nodding in response to his question.

"Do you want to tell me? It's a bit concerning…" Master asked, and I shuffled awkwardly. I didn't really know best how to charade it within our little sign language. Instead, I signed for a pen and paper, not wanting to shock him with anything. Kindly, he gave a crayon and a small board instead. Why he had always given me crayons was a bit of a mystery, but I never minded. Pressing crayon to board, I wrote out my message:

I am infatuated with you. How to handle said infatuation and how it affects you is why I have acted oddly.

I gave the small board back, and Master blinked. He read the message a few times, and gave me a look of confusion, disgust, and a hint of hate. I flinched away in embarrassment and fear. This wasn't the face of the Master I had grown to know over the past month! Realizing that he had scared me, his expression changed back into the kinder frown that I had come to know.

"This is… Something. Skivvy, I know you don't know anything about what happened. But you can't fall in love with me. It'll never happen. Something happened long ago, and we'll just never be the same with it. You are my… Friend. Not my love interest." Master hissed, a side I had never seen from him bursting out of its shell.

Something about that frightened me.

Repressing my emotions, I nodded. With Master Lloyd's rejection, it felt much easier than before to forget about my thoughts.

"Good. I'd… Rather keep our friendship rather than ruin it with relationships." Master gave a smile, but it seemed wrong. Now wasn't the time to question it though, there were things to do.

"Would you like to play chess again?" He offered, and I nodded again. I had failed every time against Master, but I tried my best. It seemed to make him happy anyways.

"Alright, here. I'll be the black pieces, you can go first." I pondered my first move, before shuffling a white pawn forward two spaces. Master retaliated, and I squinted in concentration.

Whispers of a strategy cooed to my mind, but I could not keep them in my head. It was always like this, something just beyond my reach that I couldn't get.

Moving another piece, I stared back up at Master. He looked tired, as if he were about to collapse at any second! Perhaps he had too much of the pills, it made him tired at night when he took larger doses.

He noticed my staring, and I signaled his exhaustion. Sighing, he smiled again.

"Yeah, I think I need some sleep." He stood up with my help, and I guided him over to the bed.

After making sure he was comfortable, I shuffled back down into the basement. There wasn't much to do nowadays, and the most entertaining thing I could do was inspect the strange goods of the boxes.

Gears I had seen so many times were gently put on the ground. I didn't know how to make a machine with them, but it was fun to see which gears could move the other.

Then the scar on my arm started burning furiously, and an urge to find Lloyd and a necklace filled my thoughts. The pain was unfamiliar and to avoid it, I dashed back upstairs, only to find more ghosts like me surrounding Lloyd, one prying the necklace away from him with a terrifying speed.

Giving a silent cry, I dashed for the one holding the necklace. The other four must have seen this coming, as they crashed back into me with just as much force. Struggling against the intruders with all my might, I aimed to hit something to make noise. A ghost to my left, wearing a hood just like the rest of them, pulled out a chained metal collar.

As the open collar got closer, I struggled harder. The others were having a hard time holding me down, and my scar was burning so hot I feared it would set on fire.

Click!

It sealed into place, my neck immediately burning alongside my scar. Silent sobs wracked my body as my struggling became less and less. The agony was bearable for only so long.

I wished it would stop, that someone could take it away! Thinking was nearly impossible, the only thing I could focus on was the pain. I barely noticed the ghosts letting go of me, as I dropped to the ground and collapsed against the floor.

The collar weighed heavy on my neck, adding to the world of pain I resided in. There was nothing I could do against it, and I continued to silently scream.

Vaguely I heard Master, but there was so much pain I could do nothing. He kept saying something, it must've been important because it was from him. However, my efforts to ignore the pain and listen to him were in vain.

Soon, I registered being jostled around and I decided to stop focusing on the world. There was only the agony from my body and the urges to retrieve the necklace that the other ghost had stolen.

Time had passed, and I still barely registered the outside world. However, the baseline pain was now becoming more bearable, though not by much.

The liquid fire in my body was still worse than anything else I had ever felt.

I focused on my surroundings from time to time to hopefully distract myself. Sometimes Master would be there, staring down at my trembling form, and sometimes he wasn't. There were occasions where he seemed to be building something, and I didn't have enough mental strength to guess what.

I knew it was a dark cave of sorts, the rocky ground grating against my ghostly skin like sharp knives. Small lights were placed around the cave, just enough to create a moody atmosphere. The thing we used to get here was

Unfortunately, I couldn't fall asleep. My head often felt heavy and overwhelmed. I was lucky to even be thinking in sentences.

One time I heard Master yell at something. I didn't know what, and I could only hear Master through the pain. Sometimes things clanged against the ground.

Time was very, very weird. What used to be a short bit of time lasted an eternity. Yet, my pain often left me unaware of my eternal surroundings. I never really moved anymore, and no matter what I did, nothing made it better. The urges to get up and find that necklace still burned, but in a strange paradox, the pain outweighed it.

Whatever it was, it was stupid and I desperately wanted it gone. There was nothing good coming from it. If it was some sort of way to get me to grab that necklace, it obviously backfired.

More and more time passed, until eventually the clanging of things on the ground stopped. Master picked me up, and said something about my pain going away. It was comforting, despite being unable to think clearly about what was happening. Touch only made the pain worse.

...

I think he lied.

It didn't get better. It got worse. Now with the burning I felt an ache.

With this kind of suffering, I was quite tired of existing. Every second of my "day" was torture. No matter how good I was at trying to detach myself from the agony, it never went away.

Sleep still escaped me, making every second more exhausting than the last. The thing around me making me feel as if I were being crushed and causing ache to settle into my core.

Every once in a while there was more yelling. Other times I heard Master crumple to the floor in exhaustion. Despite everything, time still dragged on. At least the cave wasn't loud. My sobs were always silent.

One day the yelling got really bad. There was clanging, and there were sounds of smacking. Then I realized there was a second voice. In my state, I had no defenses, and I couldn't fight for Master.

I felt powerless. I was powerless.

As the noise became quieter and quieter, I started to cry silently. Of course, I had been doing that a lot lately. Yet, this time it was a mix of pain and not understanding. I hadn't questioned Master, despite what I believe were lies about making me feel better. He never removed the collar still around my neck. He probably built this cage.

Had he not cared? Wasn't I his friend?

A hand touched mine, and I tried to focus on who it belonged to. When I heard the voice of someone other than Master, I realized it wasn't who I wanted to be with. Screeching silently, I shuffled to the other side of the cage. It was quite painful to move, and as I crumpled on the opposite side, I continued sobbing.

The voice that didn't belong to Master kept trying to say something, maybe it was comfort. It tried to be slow and soft, but it only served to make me more nervous. I had to decide between listening to whoever could've hurt Master, or ignore it in favor of avoiding more lies.

Out of fear that Master could be hurt if I didn't listen, I tried to push past the pain.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here. You remember me don't you?" It seemed sad. I shook my head to answer 'no' and I felt a hand touch my head.

"You're in so much pain… I'm so sorry. You don't remember me…" The voice was sadder now. I ignored its statements as best I could, I couldn't doubt Master.

"We haven't figured out how to get rid of the pain yet. We took the necklace, but it hasn't freed you yet." There was a 'we'? My slip of anger allowed the pain to surge against my mental block, and I struggled to push it back down.

"I… I want to try and take the pain away from you. Or at least help dull it. Its something we did once, but accidentally. I- uh, would you like to try again?" It asked, and I frowned. I didn't know what it was planning, but this pain was so agonizing…

Master was in trouble. I couldn't help if I continued to be trapped in here, Giving a hesitant nod, the hand on my head lifted away.

"Okay, I'm going to take your hand, and you have to think about your pain and giving it to me. It'll work, I promise." I doubted that promise, but I had very little to lose.

Putting my hand out, we linked and I let down my mental barriers for the pain. Pushing it onto the voice, happy memories from the other side entered my own mind. I could feel myself crying in relief, the pain was gone! However, the other ghost… I could feel his name was Subaltern… Was screaming at the top of his lungs. It was him! The ghost that killed me! Perhaps it would wake Master up, and we'd be safe again, even if it meant going through more pain!

Then a memory passed my head, a book about wizards and magic, being read aloud to Subaltern. By me. This wasn't right, I can't have been dead and reading to the person who killed me!

Frowning, I waited for more memories, but I could feel Subaltern struggling against the pain I was causing. I wanted answers, thus I took back some of the pain. I kept pulling it back until the screams turned into loud huffs. I had taken back a little over half the pain, but it was nothing compared to what I had been experiencing not too long ago.

Memories flowed back my way, building wonderful pieces of architecture and carving into bone spires. I looked constantly focused, as if trying to scrub away a bad deed from my record. If anything, Subaltern should look that way! He had the gall to come back after killing me! But… The pain relief was nice.

It was strange, why were these memories here? I didn't remember any of this, and it only served to plant doubt in my mind. However, a stronger urge told me to ignore those doubts. For once, my silence was of my own will.

Back and forth we displayed memories, using it as a way to share the pain. Subaltern had many more memories than I, but many were the same. Only in recent times had he met me, apparently. Otherwise, his memories were of despising whoever held the title of the "Green Ninja," and how one day he would become him in spite of destiny.

Interesting, I supposed. Petty, and yet it inspired a campaign of epic proportions in his mind. Then I changed him, his goals. He saw the truth of the "Green Ninja." Perhaps I had met the ninja in my past.

All of a sudden, a memory popped up from Subaltern, showing Master as the Green Ninja.

I let anger flash across our connection, demanding he explain further. This was something I refused to believe! Master was certainly interesting, but he was not to be slandered with lies like this! Subaltern began to whimper, and I huffed silently. He would not get rest until he explained the memory he had just shown. Master was my only friend, and Subaltern was just the one who killed me!

Flashes of explaining the necklace and its power flew through my head. The shocked face of Master as he appeared through a portal. The struggle of fighting him as he took my necklace and I dissipated before Subaltern's eyes.

Slander. Pure and hateful slander.

I knew Master, and he was far more than the hatred filled person that I saw in the memories. More pain slipped through the connection, and Subaltern began groaning. It served him right, there was no reason to lie as such about Master! It was payback for killing me too!

The tone of the memories shifted to others I hadn't seen before. Plans to set me free. Subaltern was begging me to use rational thinking, to try and understand what was going on. I was confused. Rational thinking? That would mean the scientific method, if I could recall correctly. It was something I could swear I learned long ago.

However, I could not conduct an experiment, nor could I use previous research to help me understand. My knowledge was limited, as I only remembered academic facts. It was an interesting idea though, and so I took back some of the pain. Subaltern sighed in relief as some of it faded away. I still hated him.

I considered a plan, since this current position was advantageous for me. Seeing as Subaltern held sympathy for me in his obviously fake memories, I could keep him here until Master woke up again. Besides, the pain removal was quite satisfying, and made my time much better than before.

Yes. That would do well.

Master must have been quite tired, he had slept for a long time. Subaltern was impressed and disturbed by the amount of pain I had endured without going insane. I didn't particularly care about his opinion, but it was thoughtful at the least.

I had shared as many memories as I was willing, and often just repeated the ones I had already shared so the link could keep going. Subaltern had many, many years of memories. He hadn't run out, but they were not interesting.

Then I felt a soreness around my neck being removed. Keeping quiet, I did my best to not react, but this was a mind link. My surprise was already across the connection before I could stop it, and Subaltern let go immediately. The pain rushed back to me, but I was a little bit more prepared to deal with it than before, the rest giving me more strength.

I opened my eyes to stare at Subaltern, and saw Master place the collar on his neck. Retribution! I had been avenged and saved by Master! The pain was worth the wonderful act before me!

A pained grin adorned my face as I saw the shock pass through Subaltern's eyes. Master Lloyd looked ready to make Subaltern suffer. He was my hero.

"You should've left while you still had the chance, I'm not letting you get away that easy this time." I cheered for Master, the other ghost should undergo just as much pain as he inflicted on me!

"We're going to free her whether you like it or not!" Subaltern's bratty side showed, and I stared back at Master. He whispered something in Subaltern's ear, and proceeded to throw the other ghost before yanking the chain around his neck back.

Knowing that the next while was probably going to be nothing but fighting, I refocused on ignoring the pain again. It was easier than before, and I did have to thank Subaltern's pity for that.

With my thoughts clearer than before, I began thinking about the time. How long had it been since I had arrived here? I hoped I was not a burden on Master for too long, but I was still a burden now. Perhaps more rest by using Subaltern could help.

Even better, I could force him to be my pain relief! I wouldn't even have to worry about this at all, and then I could help Master! Yes, that was the plan… With Subaltern out of the picture, I could get back to work!

Patiently, I waited for the fighting of Subaltern and Master to die down. Their struggle was quite loud, or at least Subaltern was. Master was silent, and sometimes whispered something to the ghost that killed me. I hoped they were cruel words, my existence nearly ended because of him!

As the yells became quiet thuds, I opened my eyes to face Master and my new tool. Master was currently kicking Subaltern across the cavern, but there was no sickening crack. Just the rattle of chains and silent suffering. Something very, very familiar.

Eventually, Master became bored of the kicking and thrashing, and proceeded to gag the other ghost. Subaltern stared at me in pity and pain, none of which I cared for. Besides, he was going to experience more of the latter soon.

"You seem like you have a plan, don't you Skivvy?" Master curiously noted, and I nodded eagerly. Truly, the pain relief would be amazing. I'd be more productive than ever before!

"Here, have him. I trust you know what you're doing." He tossed Subaltern at me, the dust settling as the other ghost realized my plan. Muffled cries and weak shuffling to try and get away from me were heard and clearly ignored.

Grabbing onto his arm, I forced my will to overpower his own. I transferred the pain I had been suffering full force into my killer, and he began screaming through his gag. Truly, it was wise of Master to think so far ahead, hearing him actually scream would be quite annoying.

I wondered if he felt the same way when he killed me.

Ah, but that's right. His fake memories showed me that he cared. Well, I certainly didn't, and his memories could shove it!

I was in charge of him now. Thus, my first order of business was standing up. Pulling up the deadweight with me, I huffed in annoyance. However, it was the first time I could stand in forever!

"Woah… You're able to stand?" Master pointed out from across the cave. I smiled, though I shook Subaltern's arm to show why.

"How does that work?" He walked over, staring at my vice-like grip. I pulled out my other hand and put it on his arm, smiling. Letting go with that spare hand, I frowned and shook my head.

"Oh, if you let go of him you go back to the pain?" Correct! I smiled again, and Master hummed. I tilted my head, and pointed to his throat.

"Hm? What's wrong?" I pointed at his throat again, before trying to signal a necklace on my own. Now that I was free from the pain, I had a strong urge to find it for him. The pain from before was gone, replaced with the strange thoughts.

Yes, I wanted to retrieve that necklace.

"The necklace?" Master spoke after a few seconds of trying to figure out what was going on. Giving a signal of affirmation, he frowned.

"You want to get it back?" He was always so perceptive to my thoughts, a savior I didn't deserve. Getting back that necklace would show my care.

"Hmm… I'll think on it." But I wanted to do it for him! It was almost mind bending how much I wanted to get it back for him!

"I-I…" Master stuttered, seeming unsure. I backed off a little, making him uncomfortable was the last thing I wanted to do on my list.

"Like I said, I'll think on it." Master reaffirmed, and I deflated a little. That necklace, it seemed so enticing. I was no longer clouded by the pain, I could easily retrieve it. Besides, my powers were strong! The people outside couldn't stop me.

I swear I started to buzz in place. The pain, which I was starting to think might have been some sort of inhibitor, was now gone. There should be nothing to stop me.

But Master Lloyd didn't explicitly say yes or no.

My thoughts began to split, a part of me screaming for the necklace, and the other to obey Master's wishes. It didn't hurt, but it seemed so dizzying…

The vague whisper of Subaltern's will suggested I go and find the necklace. Or rather, it said I shouldn't and I decided the opposite of his opinion was likely more valuable. However, his will was becoming weak. The pain was really getting to him, I supposed.

It was decided then. I would leave for the necklace, and bring it back! A surprise, hopefully a good one.

Knowing that Subaltern would need rest for the journey, I took back a lot of the pain. I instantly felt him relax and sigh with relief, while I sat down and waited for Master to sleep. It wouldn't take long. Making sure that Subaltern was prepared to stay here was likely taxing on him.

Eventually, he fell asleep. However, the cage I was in prevented me from leaving. The size of my head would not let me through the bars, that somehow were solid no matter what I did. Huffing, I ordered Subaltern to get the key and get me out. Otherwise, I would wake up Master and we'd go through the process all over again.

Hoping to avoid pain, he quickly followed my orders. He grabbed the key and scratched his head in some sort of confusion. I brushed it off, thinking that he might have been rubbing a migraine away instead.

He hobbled back, and I noted his lack of flight. Perhaps he was drained of energy. Nonetheless, he was still going to be used anyways. He continued rubbing away at his migraine, until he got close and opened the cage. I grabbed Subaltern roughly, and put my pain back into him. The gag once again muffled his cries as he was forced to rest on my back. I had no desire to carry him bridal style.

Dashing out of the dark cavern and into the night sky, I flew towards where I could see Ninjago was located. I dashed along as fast as I could towards the large continent, realizing it was closer than I originally thought. An advantage I wasn't even aware of! I seized the opportunity, and sped across the sea to land on the beach.

Breathing in the humid air, I was sure it must have been spicy. However, Subaltern was feeling that right now, and not me. Now I needed to find the necklace.

Gut instinct began urging me in the direction of where the necklace might be. Leaping away into the skies, I turned invisible, though the chain of the material around Subaltern's neck remained untouched by my ghostly power. Maybe that material was something to be worried about.

Then, a dark spot of the night revealed itself with the golden glow of light. How warm and cozy, but they might have the necklace. I refused to let them keep it.

Careful to sneak up on the ship, I knew that the collar around Subaltern's neck was going to hinder the mission. Fearing discovery by keeping it on the other ghost, I detached it and quietly wrapped it around a nearby ladder.

Quickly diving through the walls of the ship, I began my hunt for the necklace. Luckily, my search was quick. My necklace sat in a small case on a counter, and I frowned at its simplistic opportunity. Nothing was ever this easy.

However, I knew it was the real one. I could feel it, almost taste it, I was so close! Stepping up to the necklace, I reached down to swipe it when Subaltern groaned softly. I froze, and listened for the sound of others being awoken by his noise.

Nothing happened, so I attempted to grab the necklace again… However, my skepticism was wise. Shame I didn't listen to it.

The battle cries of several people dashed at me with chains, and I was unable to get away. I thrashed, recollections of the same kind of event flashing in front of my eyes. I huffed and hissed, then Subaltern was ripped from my grip.

All of the pain flared back, and the chains ached as they were wrapped tightly around my form. My entire body flared with the fire I had previously redirected into Subaltern. Panic began to join with the pain, letting me focus on the outside world just a little.

Subaltern was crying. He was sobbing in a ball on the floor. The others were sighing and giving small cheers of relief, they had "retrieved" me? I glared at them the best I could before letting myself focus on the pain.

I felt myself being moved, and realized I was put into another cage, much like the one Master had created for me. I seethed with anger, and felt guilt and fear. I had let Master down. I should have known better than to ignore his input. He was always the wiser one.

I only hoped he would forgive me for my terrible mistake.

Yeah... Sorry about the cliffhanger! I couldn't make this any longer without making this ultra long, and if I went shorter, I felt bad that it would only be a small bit of content for being gone a long time. However, we're getting closer to happy times! Next chapter will be happier, I promise. After all, you guys deserve some good things after all this...

Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. Have a great week!