It was about three am when Lloyd noticed he wasn't going to get away so easily. He had tried for hours to annoy the others, to convince them to let him go, but to no avail. And there was nothing he could do on his own either.
With the golden weapons near, there was a constant headache present. The oni didn't feel like he could do much, not with them present. It was a shame that Harumi didn't untie him a few hours ago. Or more like, a shame the ninja came back so early.
One minute later and he would've been gone. Away from the weapons, the island and the ninja. And their advantage would've been gone too.
Lloyd wasn't sure what he would've done with Harumi though. She had betrayed him again. It seemed to be fate for them to be on opposite sides. No matter what they did, it was just meant to be. But they weren't.
He decided not to think about it for now. It was over now anyways. There was no way for him to escape. So, the next morning it would all be over. The other oni had no chance getting to the dark island in time.
Of course, he could send them a message, but they wouldn't be there before it was to late. He was the one to blame for this. Why did he have to trust Harumi in the first place? Lloyd knew very well that it was in her nature to betray people. And choose the wrong side.
No matter. He sighed, leaning his head against the tree. By now it was Zane watching him. And he thought to logical to be manipulated. And a robot. The ice ninja could read him like an open book. His scanners could never be fooled. Lloyd didn't even try.
The best thing he could do now, was try to get some rest. Because it was over, done. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. So he closed his eyes, letting sleep take over.
In the morning, everyone packed their stuff. They had to go fast, not waste any time. Even though it would only take about one more hour for them to get to the dark island, they couldn't risk anything.
Once again, they summoned their dragons. This time, Harumi flew with Nya. She didn't really care about who she was riding with, as long as she could get away from everything.
"I messed up again" she sighed.
Nya looked at her over her shoulder. It was the first time she saw actual guilt in the eyes of the former princess. She had thought about the actions of the other many times. Thought about what she would've done in her place.
If she was even able to do such a thing. Seducing a boy only to break his heart with firm attempt to kill him. Sure, she didn't really grow up with parents either, just with Kai, but it still seemed a bit extreme to her. It always has.
"You didn't do anything" she said. Seriously, she didn't.
"I almost have. I should've known that he was trying to trick me" Harumi said.
"Yeah, okay. But that wasn't really your fault. We all get the wrong impression of someone sometimes. You are the best example for that" Nya almost slapped herself. That was stupid. Why did she say that?
All of them knew by now that Harumi really meant it. That she was trying to make it better. Wanted to change. But maybe some part of Nya was still angry enough to rub it in her face at least this one time. She could kick herself later for that.
"I know and that is exactly why I should've known" the former princess insisted.
"It's like Morro said" the water ninja shrugged. "You just didn't want to see it."
"Maybe" Harumi muttered.
Looking over to Kai, she saw her first love once again unconscious on the dragon. The sword held close to him, just in case. Zane had used a pressure point or something to keep him unconscious for a few more hours.
Harumi didn't really understand how that worked. Medicine wasn't really her thing. Neither was biology. Maybe she should read a book about it at some point, couldn't hurt.
"Don't worry. We're almost there. And when Lloyd gets his powers back it'll be fine again. Then we get rid of the oni" Nya gave her an assuring smile.
Harumi nodded silently. Yes, that was going to fix everything. After that, and it came to her at that moment for the first time, she would go back to prison. She only got out because Lloyd needed her help. He had said it himself that she would go back once she wasn't needed anymore.
Because wasn't she still kinda the bad guy? People didn't get out of prison because they changed their attitude. And she had a life-sentence. There was no way of getting out of this. Not for her.
But she deserved it. For everything she had done to Ninjago. And to Lloyd. She deserved his hatred. And yet, she didn't have it. Lloyd loved her just as much as she loved him, maybe even more.
And maybe, just maybe, he would talk with the city to reduce her punishment. Because she helped them. Even if that hasn't been her intention in the beginning. One could hope, right?
"We're here!"
Coles voice brought her out of her thoughts. Harumi looked up to see the beach of the island. She had yet to understand why they called it the 'dark island'. It looked pretty normal to her.
Landing on the beach, Harumi jumped off of the dragon before it disappeared.
"Doesn't look dark to me" she said.
"It is not anymore" Zane said.
"Yeah, hasn't been for a while now" Jay laughed.
"I agree though. This island doesn't look dark at all" Morro shrugged.
"Like I said, it is not anymore. It used to be, back when the overlord was imprisoned here" Zane explained.
"Who is that?" Harumi raised an eyebrow.
She was sure to never have heard of that person. Or villain? Probably villain. And the former princess was sure she would remember such a thing. Because that person sounded very much like the bad guy.
"We don't really talk about him" Kai said grimly. (Encanto vibes)
"Okayyy…." Harumi said awkwardly.
"Doesn't matter. Let's go" Cole said, making his way towards the jungle.
The jungle was deep, and mostly silent. Every now and then Harumi heard bird chirping or bushes rustling where small animals were running around. But she doubted that there was anything dangerous around.
The walk was long, Harumi felt like they had been walking for hours. She didn't understand why they didn't fly further with the dragons. It would've been much faster. No, instead they had to walk through half of the island to get to that temple.
"Why are we even walking?" the wind master asked. Could he read her thoughts or was her face that obvious?
"Dragons avoid this island like the plaque. Ultra came to help once, but we all knew he hated that. They knew very well what this place is and would refuse to fly any further than the beach" Jay meant.
And who was Ultra? There was a lot of things Harumi didn't know about the ninja. But it didn't seem this important. And going by context, Ultra had to be a dragon. She just never met him.
"Here we are" Zane said. He had stopped in front of a large mountain.
Harumi looked up. It was tall. Very tall. They were kidding, right? Did they actually expect her to climb the whole god damn mountain? She had stamina, but this was to much. There was no way she could climb this.
And she was sure Kai couldn't either. Not while he was carrying Lloyd around. There was just no way this would work. How did they do it last time?
"And now?" she asked, panting. She was tired. Walking this long does that to you. Harumi didn't even want to think about how Kai felt, having to carry Lloyd all the way.
"I got this" Cole said, walking closer to the wall.
Within seconds, stairs began to emerge from the mountain. Harumi wanted to slap herself. Of course he got this. Master of earth, duh. Why didn't she think about this earlier?
It was still a long walk until they finally reached the top of the mountain. When they finally reached the top, which felt like walking two more hours, Harumi was ready to throw herself onto the ground.
She was more than just tired. But the view she got seemed to be worth it. Not only did she see the temple of light in full glory, but the sun that was setting behind it seemed to give it a glow that almost seemed holy.
The sun was going down. Oh…..
"We should hurry. The sun is already going down" she said, pointing at the horizon. How long have they been walking? The whole day? The former princess doubted it. But maybe it was because it was the 'dark island'.
"Right. This shouldn't take long" Kai said, already heading for the door.
Harumi quickly followed the ninja, not wanting to fall behind. Once inside, Harumi was quite surprised by what she saw. Past events of the ninja fighting were engraved into the wall. Even them walking into the temple.
"That is kinda creepy" she said.
"Yeah, we were surprised the first time too" Jay laughed.
"But who did this? I doubt that any of you left that here" Morro said, pointing at the wall.
"We do not know ourselves. They just appear" Zane said.
"Let's just get this over with. As soon as Lloyd gets his powers back, we gotta take care of the oni" Kai said, placing his friend on the ground, in the middle of the room.
"But won't you lose your powers in the process? You can't do anything against the oni then, right?" the wind master asked.
"Not exactly. We will not transfer all of our powers. The realm crystal and the golden weapons can give Lloyd the strength he needs. We will be weakened, but still able to fight" the ice ninja explained.
"I don't get it" Harumi said, shaking her head.
"We don't really either. Just go with it" Nya shrugged, leaning against the wall. She couldn't really help with this.
"We do have a little problem though" Jay said, walking over to his place.
"That would be?" the former princess asked.
"Usually, Lloyd would have to ring the bell" Cole said, pointing towards the large bell on the ceiling.
Harumi looked up. Of course Lloyd couldn't do that now. And the ninja couldn't leave their spots. Which meant that either she, Morro or Nya had to do it. Everything else would go on its own.
The realm crystal was lying beside Lloyd, along with the weapons. He still wasn't awake but judging by the sun Harumi would guess that this little trick of theirs wouldn't hold much longer. Oni were strong during the night. They didn't have time for this.
"I'll take care of this" she said.
When nobody complained, Harumi sprinted towards one of the pillars, ready to jump. But before she could reach them, she suddenly fell to the ground. She yelped when she hit the cold stone.
Looking over her shoulder, she wasn't even that surprised that it was Lloyd who had grabbed her ancle, pulling her to the ground. She could feel the temple growing colder, her heartbeat quickening.
"I have had enough of all of you" he snarled. Violet eyes glaring at her. Oh great. She was so screwed.
"You didn't leave him tied up" she heard Jay yelp.
"I thought it would be fine" panic. Hearing Kai panic was never a good sign.
Before Harumi could react properly, she was already flipped onto her back. A dagger in sight. What. The. Hell!?
"Where did he get that?" Nya yelled.
"Like we have the time to think about that!" that was Morro. But Harumi couldn't really see them like this. The bell was right above them. If only she could do something.
Oh, there was no way she was getting out of this one. Well, at least she thought so. Not even ten seconds later, the ground beneath her started to change. The solid stone was being covered in earth. She could feel it beneath her fingers. And now? How was that supposed to help?
Harumi looked back at the dagger. Lloyd hadn't moved but maybe the seconds that had passed only felt like hours in her panic. She could hear her heartbeat. And it was far from normal.
The dagger was about to end up in her chest. The earth beneath her fingers. Oh….
Now or never
With one quick breath, she grabbed the wrist holding the dagger, flipping Lloyd around. Now he was beneath her. Ripping the dagger out of his hands, Harumi quickly grabbed his other wrist and pinned both hands to the ground, through the sleeve.
If that had been Coles plan, she didn't know. But only with the earth beneath them was she able to pin him to the ground properly.
Harumi quickly scrambled to her feet, running towards the pillar. This time she did jump up, hitting the bell. Before she was hit herself, the former princess rolled out of the way.
A golden light filled the room.