Chapter 6: Nightmares and Daydreams
There was nothing but fire.
It burned his vision and destroyed the life around it, crumbling the volcano with himself inside.
It stung so much, like thousands of needles stabbing into his blackened skin. Sparks rained from the lava and he questioned why he was in such a place of death.
"Dad!"
That voice! THAT was why he was here! His son, his pride and joy, calling to his father, so the father must answer that call.
"Dad, help me!"
He's trying, trying so hard, but the cliff blocks them. Every time he tries to get closer his son gets farther and farther away.
"Dad, PLEASE!"
Desperation claws him, chokes him, and he frantically reaches out, but he's a finger's breathed away.
"Why can't you help me?"
He doesn't KNOW, and the guilt is eating him alive.
"Why didn't you save me?"
I'M SORRY!
"DAD!"
Garmadon shoots awake, gasping for breath. His crimson eyes dart across the room in a frenzy, trying to reassure himself he's still here in one piece.
In the back of his mind, a cruel voice reminds him something.
Lloyd isn't, and never will again…
He shakes his head, putting a hand up to his temple to shift his subconscious to reality, instead focusing on the rhythmic rocking of the boat and the steady beat of his corrupted heart.
"DAD!"
Sweat glistens on his brow. Garmadon angrily wipes it away and growled. The Dark Lord shouldn't get nightmares, he should cause them.
Looks like I failed at that too, he thought bitterly. Being evil, and being a father.
A tear travels down his face before he could stop it. For once he doesn't even bother wiping it away. There was no one with him to judge.
Lloyd wouldn't have judged…
Cursing the world and the manipulators of fate, Garmadon fell back into bed.
The screams still echo in his ears even after he falls asleep.
0o0o0
Meanwhile, across the hall, someone else never even fell asleep.
Nya lay awake on her bed, wanting to sleep desperately but at the same time avoiding it at all costs, knowing that Kai would appear in her dreams, his memory tugging the strings of her heart a little too hard.
It didn't exactly help that the slightest bump or rattle caused her to become wide awake, frantically looking around for any sign of danger. She lost her brother, but she wasn't going to lose her friends.
The memories of waking up to strange noises and running to her brother in the middle of the night made it even worse. He was the one that always saved her, or at least tried to, the overprotective idiot. So why couldn't she have done the same for him?
Nya sighed and turned over to face the wall, absentmindedly twirling a bolt in her fingertips. Cleaning and fixing her mech made her relax, but it never seemed to make her forget. The occasional flashes of Kai coming in and asking if she needed help or her throwing a wrench at him if he messed anything up made her stop twisting in a screw and blink back tears.
The idiot also seemed to establish that he was in a boy's club, and she didn't really have a place. (Honestly she gets kidnapped one time and all of a sudden she's a china doll.) Despite the occasional feeling of resentment and annoyance, Nya loved him all the same.
She meant what she said at the dinner table a few days ago, about how they (it hurt to say or even think of their names) wouldn't have wanted her or the others to mope about them, but it didn't make it any easier not to do it herself.
0o0o0
The next morning was just like all the others before it: quiet.
As the four ninja groggily poked at their breakfast, Garmadon and Nya simply sat solemnly at the dinner table, absentmindedly looking out the window while drowning in their own thoughts.
No one said a word. After the silence that plagued the ship such a short time ago, the entire team was accustomed to quiet meals and whispered conversations. They seemed to drag back to the late team members more often then not.
Jay suddenly lifted his head abruptly. "So...good waffles Zane."
Garmadon's expression shifted to an irked scowl as Zane answered. "Thank you Jay."
The silence that followed was even more potent than the last.
Cole finally dropped his fork and looked upwards. "Enough moping. Something isn't right about the serpentine, and I think its time we acknowledged it."
Nya sighed softly and stood up, a wisp of her dark hair falling onto her cheek. "Cole's right, I've noticed it too. There hasn't been any activity, and the monitor can't even detect them anymore." To prove her point, she swooped her arm towards the large digital map behind her, almost whacking Jay in the head. "It's like they're invisible."
A much more uncomfortable silence fell over the table like bed-sheet: softly, but just as noticeable as a hailstorm.
"We need to process why they are not being detected," Zane stated in his usual monotone. "In other words, what can't the monitor detect? Is it possible for you to do a full scan of Ninjago?"
"That's just it," Nya grumbled, crossing her arms. "I have, several times actually, but all of them have reported back to being an 'all clear.' I just don't understand it."
"Seriously, what are they? Groundhogs? It's like they just hide under rocks so we can't see them," Cole grumbled, crossing his arms angrily.
Suddenly, Nya lit up and started furiously typing across the keyboard connected to the monitor. "Cole that's it! That's brilliant!"
Jay deflated slightly and glanced towards his teammate as if he knew something he didn't. Cole meanwhile, looking slightly confused, asked, "What? What did I do?"
Nya grinned wider than she had in weeks. "Snakes burrow. That's why we couldn't detect them. The monitor could only do a sonar sweep above ground originally, but with some reprogramming and rewiring I made it so that it can do both above and below ground as well."
At this, she turned to face the screen and spoke clearly. "Computer, give me a sonar sweep of Ninjago, but this time ten feet below the surface."
The monitor obeyed, having the large digital landmass of Ninjago dip downwards and view the underground of their home, which consisted of large tunnels, and most curiously, a large central hub.
Nya smiled even wider than thought possible as she turned back to the group, pointing to the center. "That's got to be where they're hiding. I don't have any doubt."
Cole abruptly stood up. "I don't want to waste any time. Let's go down there." He turned towards the adults at the head of the table. "But I think we could use all the help we can get."
Garmadon raised an eyebrow at this proclamation, and Wu's expression morphed to one of apprehension. "As much as I would like to accompany you five, I'm afraid my old bones cannot keep up with the rest of you." At this statement Garmadon snorted, earning him a halfhearted glare.
"Actually, I kinda anticipated you might say that Sensei," Nya said nonchalantly. "Jay and I hooked up a seat to my mech. It's got a mechanical arm for you to throw projectiles, so you can stay close to us and help with the fighting as well."
"And there's a cup-holder Nya. Don't forget the cup-holder." Jay pointed out.
"Yes Jay I remember the cup-holder."
At this revelation Wu gave a small smile. "Very well, I will tag along, as you might say."
Jay whooped in delight as the rest began putting dishes away and suiting up for their mission. Garmadon suddenly frowned a bit and spoke up quietly, "Perhaps you five could use some assistance."
Wu winced as if he had received a paper cut. "Brother, I believe it would be best for you to stay here to watch the bounty. This is a stealth mission, and I fear...well..."
Crimson eyes flared in anger. "What? Fear what, exactly?"
"You aren't exactly in the right mind...none of us are. We don't want to act irrationally." Wu spoke calmly.
"I can't act rationally? You of all people shouldn't be interrogating me when you kept my son away from me! Just because my blood is poisoned doesn't mean my heart is!"
Wu stepped backwards in shock. "Brother...please. You know that…"
"No, apparently I don't Wu." Garmadon interrupted. "I'll stay behind, but only because I have no one to fight for," he spat.
With silence falling upon the room, Garmadon turned on one heel, and walked out without looking back.
0o0o0
It was odd, to say the least, to be going back.
The sun was setting, making the sky seemed as if it was dipped in a can of orange paint. Outside the bounty, (since it was docked for the past few days) the world stood motionless and rigid, with no breeze or any sign anyone else was present.
Garmadon trudged angrily to a small clearing in the middle of the woods nearby, stopping in front of the largest oak, that just so happened to have a large laceration that curled around the trunk.
He reached out his top right arm to rest it on the laceration, muttering under his breath: "I praefectum tenebris copias iube meae porta incumberent."
The earth shuddered, and the laceration began to crack as the tree expanded until it was big enough for a grown man to step inside. Beyond the crack, a large, spinning vortex swirled aimlessly. A lone skeleton sat just beyond the portal, sleeping in a chair.
Garmadon sighed. "Krazi!"
The skeleton snorted and stood up groggily, his eye sockets widening as they fell on Garmadon. "Boss! You uh...normally don't take the side entrance."
"I'm in a hurry Krazi," he replied. Pressing two fingers to his temple, Garmadon added, "and for the hundredth time, I'm not your boss anymore."
Krazi shrugged. "Fair enough. Well, c'mon in! This portal doesn't stay open forever!"
Sighing, Garmadon took a deep breath, and plunged into the Underworld.
A.N: Heyyyyyy, long time no see huh?
*hides under my bed in shame*
My absence is kinda complicated, but let's just say my life sucked for a few months...and then school came in the way. DX
Sorry this is kinda a dumb filler after being gone so long. I promise the next chappie will be much more interesting. ;)
As for the whole portal thing, I got the idea after a really weird dream I had. XD Plus, I figured if an alternate dimension can be accessed with tea, then anything is possible, am I right?
Translation for Garmy's incantation: I, a commander of dark forces, command this gate to bend to my will.