Season 15 (Seabound) spoiler warning. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED SEABOUND, TURN BACK IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS.
Genre: Fantasy, action, adventure, comfort/hurt
Rating: T for mentions of violence, gore (somewhat), and comfort/hurt, trauma
Main protagonist: Galaxy Star
Main antagonist: Shadow
Chapter 2: Grief is The Worst Torture
"Is she ...? She's been out for days."
"She...be. She is only healing...will be fine."
I could hear the nearby clock ticking. Voices in hushed whispers became white noise in the background, fading in and out.
Where...where am I?
The last thing I remember was...the ninja. They saved my life... from Shadow. Who started the fire... I opened my eyes as the blurry room started to take shape. I was on a blue sofa, and from the look of the room, I was probably in the monastery. I was covered with a dark brown blanket, with a few throw pillows with different patterns on them under my head. I pulled my arm slowly out from under the blanket, and saw that it had been stitched up and bandaged. I didn't feel much pain from the burn anymore either, only a little.
I turned my head towards the coffee table by the sofa. My glasses were on the table. I grabbed them, albeit slowly, and cleaned them off with the edge of my shirt. I put them on.
The blur of the objects further away from me became much clearer, and I could see everything without that typical nearsighted blur.
Without warning, the memory if my family in the ground, in a pool of blood, flashed in my mind. The terrible truth hit me like a brick.
Everything... I-I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it. I didn't get to my brother in time... they're...gone.
The truth made me sick to my stomach. Why did that Shadow guy have to ruin everything?! And why the heck was he chasing me and trying to murder me in the first place?! I was only a simple freshman year student. Why a villain would want to chase me, I'll never know, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. I didn't want to believe that everything was gone. I couldn't. They had to be alive. They just...had to be.
I flinched as I heard footsteps coming in my direction.
"Looks like your finally awake..." Lloyd said as the other ninja entered.
Finally awake?! How long was I...?
"How long was I out?" I asked. For the first time, I realized that my voice was scratchy, and hoarse.
"Three days, 4 hours, and 26 minutes." Zane replied, his brows pressed together.
"Th-three DAYS!?!?" I was shocked. I had never been knocked out before, much less for three days.
How have I been asleep for that long? Is Shadow gone? Has he hurt anyone else?!!
"Yes. You've been out for three days. How are you feeling?" Misako asked, sitting on a small chair my the sofa. Her eyes were soft and kind. She had greenish eyes, a little lighter than Lloyd's.
"I'm...fine I guess. I mean, I could be better, but, you know, I could be worse." I lied. Was I really fine? I wasn't sure what to think at the moment.
Am I really ok? No. I'm scared. Terrified even.
"Did-did you catch the guy who was chasing me?" I asked nervously, my voice filled with fear.
I think I already know the answer to that one.
The ninja exchanged worried glances.
"No, unfortunately, we...haven't." Lloyd said. He looked down at his feet, and wrung his wrists.
Oh great... he's still on the loose. And out for my blood. Yayyyyy.
"But, we are doing everything we can to track him down. After we fought him last, he seemed to vanish. We are protecting Ninjago City any way we can, and we will keep you under our protection as well." Zane replied, and I felt a little weight leave my chest.
"Do you want to tell us everything that happened? It might help you feel a little better." Misako said, with a calming hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head. "I don't know. I... don't wanna talk about it."
"It's ok. You don't need to say anything right now. You can wait until you're comfortable." Zane said.
Should I tell them? I mean-
I paused, and tried to think about it. If I told them, they might be able to catch Shadow faster. And Id be safe sooner.
I took a deep breath. I knew that I was most likely going to have a mental breakdown at this rate.
"I- it's ok. I should probably tell you now anyway." I said, doing everything to hold myself together for five minutes.
I took another breath, and then slowly explained to them, in as much detail as I could, what had happened, whilst doing everything I could not to have a mental breakdown.
Zane was sitting beside me, comforting me as I did everything to hold my emotions together. A large lump was stuck in my throat.
"That...is a lot to take in." Cole said.
Kai and Jay continued to glare at one another, having a silent argument, before Zane turned to stare at them coldly. The two backed off from one other, sending an apologetic look at Zane.
"That trick you did to get out of Shadow's grip was pretty smart. Where did you learn that?" Cole asked, trying not to trigger anything.
"From a book I read. I read a lot, and I used something from that." I said in a quiet tone.
"So, wait a second, the multiverse is real??!" Lloyd asked, eyes wide. "Didn't the Spacefarer comics mention the multiverse once?"
"Yes, I assume the multiverse is real. Many theories surround that idea. And yes, I do remember your comics mentioning it. However, it's important to keep in mind that universes are different than realms." Zane said.
He then turned to me, his arm still around me. Even though he was cold, his side hug was still strangely comforting. "How did you know that this was Ninjago City if you do not come from here?"
I sighed. "Back at home, this universe is only a TV show. I had no idea that multiple universes were real, much less this one. You guys are only cartoon characters back home. I recognized a few ninjargon letters on one of the crates I saw." I answered. "Ninjargon isn't something I can completely read though. I only can read English, usually."
"Oh great, wait till we tell Dareth that we're a TV show..." Cole said, shaking his head.
"What letters do you know?" Lloyd asked curiously.
Zane got up, patting my shoulder gently, and started to walk towards the kitchen to get food and water. "I'll be right back."
"L, G, A, and Y." I answered. I only knew those because they were letters in my own name.
"What's it like where you live?" Jay asked another question, in monotone.
"Well, umm, not as good as here. I...my world has multiple countries going to war all the time. And there have been two world wars. Seriously, you could throw a dead charred fish between two countries and they would find some way to fight over it."
Seriously, they would
"Oh...that... doesn't sound great. Your world goes to war like that all the time?!" Lloyd asked.
"Pretty much." I answered, sighing.
People apparently don't have the same friendliness as they do here.
"I know close to nothing about the wars that happened. There's World war 1, world war 2, the Civil war, the french and Indian war, the war against the British, and more. Those are just off the top of my head. I think you guys have only the Serpentine war."
And the...Stone Wars? Was that a thing?
"That's... A lot." Kai remarked.
"One more question." I heard Wu say. I hadn't even noticed that he was in the room. "Why was this 'Shadow' chasing you?"
"I-i have no idea. I'm just a kid. I'm not sure why he wants me dead." I said as I pulled the blanket closer to my body, my voice shaking. A wave of fear passed over me. I was reminded how much terror I felt in that fire, and being chased in the streets, or that knife to my throat.
"There is obviously a reason. And I think we may have to find out that reason as soon as possible. Your life may depend on it. We will protect you as long as we can." Wu replied.
"Thanks. And thank you guys, for saving my life."
"No problem." Kai said, leaning himself on Lloyd's shoulder. "We do it all the time." A proud smirk was locked on his face. The first time I had seen him smile since arriving.
Zane came back into the room, with a plate of food and fresh water in either hand.
"Here." Zane said, handing me the glass of water and putting the plate on the small table. "You must be hungry."
"Thanks." I drank some water, and realized how dry my throat was, and that the water soothed my throat after how much smoke I had inhaled.
"We have a spare guest room you can use. Do you think you can walk?" Misako asked.
"Yeah I think so." I slowly stood up. My legs were sore from the amount of running I did, and I hadn't walked in three days. The guest room had a small window, white walls, tan carpet, a rather comfortable looking bed, and a small desk and shelf on the other wall. The bed also had a nightstand beside it, with a small lamp and digital clock, which looked slightly futuristic.
"Thanks. You guys really didn't have to do this." I was genuinely grateful. The first people I meet, being as hospitable as can be, surprised me slightly.
"Don't worry about it. We weren't using it anyways, and you can't just live in the living room all the time." Jay said, his tone still monotone.
"Alright guys, let's go track down a shadow." Lloyd said as the team left, Jay dragging his feet.
"I'm ready to bust a shadow!" Cole said, punching his fist into his palm.
Misako handed me my plate. "Here, you forgot to bring this in."
"Thank you."
"My, you do seem to have a tendency to say 'thank you' a lot." She chuckled.
"That's how thankful I am I guess." I said, realizing just how much I had said thank you the last ten minutes.
"Well, if you need anything, you can just ask." She said with a wink as she closed the door. I sat down and took a deep breath. I noticed the burn on my leg was still there, but it wasn't nearly as bad, and it looked like it was healing nicely. I glanced at the food.
I am pretty hungry...
I took a bite of the mashed potatoes and gravy, and my face brightened just a little.
Wow, that's really good. I've always heard Zane was a good cook, but I didn't think his food was this good.
The food helped brighten my day at least a little, and I think that, and the Ninja's kindness, is what saved me from becoming depressed.
Within half an hour, I finished the meal. I hadn't realized exactly how hungry I was. I sat on the bed as I looked out the window. The bed was against the wall on the left corner where the window was. The window was on the left wall, indicating that the room was at the very end of the monastery. For hours, I was in deep thought. Occasionally, I would cry a bit from losing everything. Right now, I didn't have the energy to process everything. My mind felt blank and I found it very hard to focus.
Why was it me though?
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't think straight. I couldn't come up with any answer to that question. I saw the minutes tick by slowly, and the only thing I could do was stare at the wall.
I knew I was probably safe in the Ninja's hands though.
That meant I was definitely ok for now, safety wise. The 'for now' part being the most worrying. I decided to get some rest. Maybe I could clear my mind a bit that way. I turned off the lights and slept as peacefully as I could. Unfortunately, nightmares ensued that night. Nightmares of fire and flames, of death and pain. Peace wouldn't be an option tonight.
The next morning, The ninja had left on the Bounty in order to try and track down Shadow. They had also told the other elemental masters to keep an eye out for him.
I felt really drowsy that morning. As if my whole body was made of brick. I found it really hard to get out of bed and eat the breakfast that Zane had provided.
I didn't really come out of my room that whole day. I was still trying my hardest to process the past few days, but all of it felt unreal, but real at the same time.
My brain felt blank. I tried to focus, but I couldn't process what exactly I was feeling. My heart felt torn, and It was incredibly difficult to hold back my tears.
They can't be gone...they can't be...
I thought. Although, I knew that this was real. I knew that they were really dead. But I still couldn't process it. My brain felt as if it were made of molasses.
Hours passed, and Misako soon came in with a soft knock.
"I'm getting Wu some tea. Do you need anything?"
"No thanks." I said with a heavy sigh.
She hesitated, as if wanting to say something else, but decided against it. "A-alright. See you in a bit." She answered, closing the door softly.
I was scared. Scared that I was going to die. Scared that my life had hit rock bottom. I didn't want this...
I never wanted this...
Why is life so cruel?
Why does life rip the people we love away?
What are you so cruel?
Author's Note: Heyo! this is edited chapter 2. I hope this is better than the original. I tried working with the concept of loss and heartbreak a little more with this one. This chapter was rewritten shortly after the death of a famous person, that hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. I feel a lot better about it now, and I guess it gave me the insight into loss that I needed. Anyhow, thanks for reading!
-Galaxy
