Cold. It was the first thing Hannah could sense as she began to awaken. The hospital room was freezing, and painfully white. She grasped at the thin blanket that she had noticed in her clenched hands. They had put her under, she supposed, and she fell asleep with it in her hands.
It was a good thing they had.
These trips to the hospital had started about a year ago, and Hannah could still recall the first time she had been hospitalized. She had been on the way to her Chemistry final when out of nowhere she had collapsed. When Hannah finally stood up again, a searing pain ran down her leg and she fell once again. She woke up in the hospital the next day.
The odd thing was, the doctors couldn't find out what had happened to her. When they had examined her leg, they had found severe third-degree burns that had mysteriously appeared. They tried for hours to diagnose her, but Hannah's incident was ultimately called a freak accident.
That is until it happened again a month later.
Hannah sighed, no one could tell her what was wrong, and no one could find a cure for her either, so these hospital visits became a routine.
It felt like an eternity until the nurse and her mother returned to the room. The nurse had walked in emotionless, while her mother returned with the same quizzical look she'd had earlier that morning.
Hannah's mother turned something over in her hands a few times, then sat down beside her daughter while the nurse did some final tests. Once these were finished, she turned on her heel and left the room, writing down furiously.
"Well, what did the nurse say?" Hannah asked, "Do they finally know what's going on with me?"
Her mother remained silent and continued to fiddle with the thing in her hands. Hannah noticed it was an orange container of pills.
"Every person in Ninjago has a soulmate, you know that." Hannah's mother began, "And you know that every person is connected with their soulmate in one way or another. No connection is quite the same, sometimes you'll know what your connection is immediately, and sometimes you'll never know until you meet the person that's right for you."
Hannah nodded. She had been taught about soulmates from an early age, she could still remember the stories her father had told her when she was younger. This was all common knowledge.
"You know how your father and I were connected," her mother pulled back the sleeve on her left shoulder.
Hannah's father's name was etched onto her collarbone, but it had faded over the years. Hannah knew this happened once her soulmate had died, but she still hated seeing the name on her mother. She hated how it was practically invisible, and her father's touch on their souls would soon leave once and for all.
Yet none of this was new to Hannah, and she wondered why her mother was repeating things she'd memorized since before she could read.
"The doctors have discovered what's happening to you, and where they're coming from," Hannah's mother looked down at her bandaged leg, "Or rather, who they are coming from. It would seem that you and your soulmate are connected through pain."
"What?!" Hannah cried.
Of all the ways she had to be connected, it had to be through pain. She had learned about this connection ages ago, it was one of the rarest and most dangerous ways to be connected to your soulmate. You had about one in a million chances of being connected through pain, and about a one in a million chances of coming out unscathed.
Obviously, Hannah hadn't been lucky in either way.
She looked to her mother, but couldn't form any words. She would have never guessed she would be able to find her soulmate so soon, and in this way.
Hannah's mother remained silent, and she knew what her mother was thinking about.
The signs of your soulmate would come in the year you would meet them, whether it was through a mark, thoughts, or even pain. At sixteen, Hannah was incredibly young to be meeting her soulmate for the first time, although it wasn't unheard of.
But what her mother was truly thinking of was losing her daughter, and Hannah knew that. She wasn't ready for all that came with meeting her soulmate, and she wasn't ready to settle down either. She had plans to explore the world and see new things, and her mother had always been in those plans.
And now those dreams felt crushed, but Hannah still held on to them in the back of her mind.
Hannah's mind was tugged back to her soulmate. Since they were connected to pain, he was obviously hurting as much as she was. Hopefully, he was okay, her pain had been dying down so she assumed he was.
Hannah wondered what he looked like, going over various features in her head. She pieced together various boys in her imagination as her eyelids became heavier and heavier.
She soon fell asleep, dreaming about what her suitor would look like, and what her future would look like.
It was quiet on the bounty, and Sensei Wu quite enjoyed it. The day had been peaceful and quiet all day.
He paused… it had been too quiet. Why had the ninja not returned? What was keeping them?
As if it had been on cue, several loud thuds sounded above him, alerting Sensei Wu to the return of the ninja. Several more thuds continued below deck, past the training room. Instantly, Sensei Wu knew that something was wrong. He rushed out of his room and into the medical bay.
Lloyd lay on the bed; his gi had been ripped off his leg, revealing a long, hideous burn.
"How?!" Sensei Wu cried, "What happened out there?"
He observed his nephew's leg, and the ninja stepped back, giving him the space he needed. The group fell silent as Sensei Wu was muttering nonsense, Kai was the first to speak.
"We went to the first building as we were instructed, but we were sidetracked when we were coming back to the bounty. One of the buildings in Ninjago city was on fire. We were able to get everyone out, but a chunk of metal fell onto Lloyd. We were able to get him out and brought him back here as quickly as possible." Kai mumbled the last portion of his story.
Sensei Wu looked over to the ninja, "Jay, alert Sensei Garmadon of Lloyd's condition. Zane, bring PIXAL in; she can scan him to see what must be done next."
"Yes, Sensei." Jay and Zane replied, and the two left the medbay.
The room remained silent after Jay and Zane had left, as if still in shock. Each stole glances at Lloyd, who looked as pale as death. They all waited until the two ninjas and PIXAL returned, followed closely by Sensei Garmadon.
Garmadon ran to his son, observing his condition. The ninja saw something for the first time in their Sensei, fear.
"Fix him," Garmadon begged, "Do it, please. FIX HIM!"
Sensei Wu took his brother by the arm and led him to a chair, where he sat with his head in his hands. PIXAL, taking the opportunity she had, began her scan on Lloyd.
"He has severe burns," She announced at once, "He will need intense medical care, but I will be able to heal him."
"Thank you PIXAL, please begin immediately." Sensei Wu said, leaving his brother's side, "We have a long day tomorrow, it won't be easy… be ready."
Well geez, it's been a while.
Hey guys, I'm back! I know that I haven't updated this story in a very long time, but now that Kat is reworking Young Love, I figured it was time I rework the Perfect Pain.
A little reminder about this story: This is an Alternate Universe of an originally existing fanfic.
The OC's in this story are originally from my amazing friend's fanfiction (which is unfortunately not available at the moment but will be up in the near future) but you don't need to have read that story to understand this one (but you totally should.)
I'll try to actually keep this story going this time, but know that I am incredibly busy with life and a million other stories that I'm working on, so please please please be patient with me.
If you're reading this and you're returning to this story after all this time, thank you so much. It really means a lot to me.
If you're new, welcome! I'm Carson and I have a terrible habit of not updating stories, (I'm working on it though) and I hope you'll stick around.
- Carson