Oh my gosh, like, I'm back! I'm a day later than I usually am on updates, but I'm back! U:
Okay, so fair warning. This chapter contains ALL the spoilers for Packerfan95's Ninjago series. Sorry about that.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Hospital Visit
The sweet, warm liquid slid effortlessly down her throat, feeling like a fiery waterfall. Gripping the small tea cup with both hands, Laurie gave a small sigh. She had not been conscious for very long now, perhaps a couple of hours at most. A small disturbance on the left side of her abdomen caused Laurie to suck in a large breath. Gingerly, she transferred the cup of tea to her right hand and lifted the bottom of her tee shirt with her left hand.
Large stitches criss-crossed their way along her pale skin, successfully closing up the large wound that had been there. She could almost feel the slick metal of Rhea's weapon piercing her flesh once more, but she tried to take her mind off of it. The skin around and underneath of the stitches itched terribly, but Laurie knew that she would be chastised if she even thought about scratching anything. Lowering her shirt, the orange ninja rested her head against the wall behind her. The heat from the cup of tea was comforting in her grip.
Both the cut on her forearm and the one above her collar bone were gone. Laurie assumed that Lloyd had healed her while she had been unconscious. Why the gash on her abdomen had not been taken care of in a similar fashion was anyone's guess. Perhaps it had been severely infected or the wound had run too deep for her brother to properly close up. Closing her eyes tightly, Laurie tried to fall back to sleep, but the unwanted image of Rhea's lifeless body continued to haunt her, seemingly burned into her retinas. Initially, she thought the whole thing had been a nightmare, but after she had regained consciousness everyone had informed her otherwise.
Rhea was dead.
So many questions had flowed freely from her mouth at such an answer. It was not true, right? There was something they could do to bring her back, right? Had there been a proper burial? Inhaling deeply, Laurie opened her ice blue eyes, scanning the room around her. Everyone was gone, off at the dojo training. Well, almost everyone. Directly opposite of the orange ninja laid her brother. Lloyd's gaze was fixated on the ceiling, both arms crossed behind his head. From what she could recall, he was not very injured. Uncle had probably made him stay behind just to get some rest. Not only for his body, but for his psyche as well.
"Hey, Lloyd," the girl started, clearing her throat. She watched as he wearily turned his attention towards her. His expression was nonexistent, which sent an unwanted shiver down Laurie's spine. Never had her brother seemed so, well, depressed. "Um, how are you feeling? "
He brushed some of his ruffled, blonde hair to the side before managing to get himself into a sitting position. "I'm feeling okay," he stated plainly, scooting back along the bedspread until he rested against the wall. Lloyd focused on a discolored section of the wooden floor before continuing. "Nothing really hurts. Uncle gave me some tea to try and help a headache that I had go away. I think it's working because I really haven't noticed any more pain since drinking it. So, are you feeling alright?"
Laurie shifted uncomfortably. It did not seem like Lloyd was actually feeling okay. Maybe physically, but he just looked so sad. The bright spark in his eyes that was always alive seemed dull. "Yeah, I'm not doing so bad," the orange ninja replied, taking another sip from the porcelain cup in her right hand. "Nothing that time won't heal." Her brother only briefly nodded in response to this, crossing his arms over his chest afterwards. "You know, Lloyd, I'm terrible at lying. You know how bad I am at it, but maybe you're not good at lying either." This caught his attention, his emerald eyes immediately locking with her own. "You're not 'feeling okay', you're just not. You can tell me what's wrong if you want to. There's no need to hide things."
The air in the room seemed to grow thick with unwanted tension. "She's dead, Laurie," Lloyd sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest. "You didn't see it, but I did. Kai was carrying you towards the dragon and then her body…it just started to glow. I remember thinking that maybe she wasn't really dead. Maybe she was going to come back, but I was wrong. The light from her body was too intense. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again Rhea was just gone. There was no trace of her anywhere." Laurie watched as her brother rested his chin on his knees. "It was almost like she was a ghost or something, just vanishing like that." He blinked hard, forcing back the unwanted sensation of tears building up behind his eyes. It all reminded him so much of someone else; another person who had sacrificed themselves up on the exact same rooftop.
Placing the cup of tea on the small, wooden nightstand beside her bed, Laurie went to walk over to her brother. As soon as she shifted herself to stand up, the girl collapsed to the floor. Pain shot through her right ankle and a small cry escaped her lips. Lloyd was on the floor within in an instant, gradually helping his sister get back on her feet. Gingerly, Laurie raised her right foot, refusing to put any more weight on it. Through the light hue of her orange pants, she could now make out the white bandages wrapped around her ankle. "Wait, what's wrong with it?" she asked suddenly, surprised by this injury.
"I don't know what you did, but Zane took a good look at it," Lloyd replied, feeling Laurie wobble slightly as she tried to balance on one leg. She placed a hand on his right shoulder and gripped tightly, trying not to fall. "He said that it was badly sprained, so it's not broken. Doesn't mean that it's not going to hurt for a while though." Lloyd helped his sister back up on to her bed before searching around the room. "I know he got crutches and put them somewhere…"
A sprained ankle? Laurie lifted up the legs of her pants and compared both appendages. Well, her right ankle was more swollen than her left one, even underneath of the bandages. Lightly, she pressed a single finger down on the red and inflamed skin. A small wave of pain radiated outwards and Laurie shivered. She remembered how it had happened though. It had been really stupid of her to try and kick a man that was made entirely of stone. This was the price she paid for it now. Lloyd rushed over with a set of metal crutches held awkwardly in his arms. "Here," he said, leaning the objects against the side of the bed. "They'll help you walk."
"Thanks," Laurie smiled, using one of the crutches to help her get upright once more. Grabbing onto the handles, the orange ninja transferred the padded tops of the objects underneath of her arms. This felt all too familiar. A memory surfaced of her hobbling down to the park in the middle of the city on a pair of crutches and finding Kai sitting by himself on a bench. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to extract the details from that day. Kai had been so careful and sad; his expression similar to what Lloyd looked like now. The red ninja thought that he had lost someone, just like Lloyd did now. "I have a feeling I'll be able to maneuver myself around on these things pretty quickly. There was one thing I wanted to talk to you about, Lloyd." He stood silently before his sister, waiting for her to finish her train of thought. "You gave me an ultimatum before everything went crazy at the Ninjago City Tower. You told me that you would answer my questions if we made it out of there."
Lloyd's eyes widened, but she could not tell if it was from utter disbelief or excitement. "I did say that, didn't I?" the boy managed to say, staring up at his sister.
A grin spread itself along Laurie's freckled face and she tucked a few strands of loose her behind one of her ears. "Yes, you did. I was wondering if now would be a good time for you to keep your end of the deal." She was hoping that this would help him, get his mind off of everything that occurred the day before. Almost instantaneously, that devious spark returned to his emerald irises and Laurie felt a surge of happiness well up inside of her. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then. So, this Lucas guy you were talking about earlier, why didn't he stay with you guys? Did he just try and teach you how to master his element and then leave?"
"No, that wasn't what happened at all," the green ninja rebutted. "Lucas didn't even leave. He's still here, just at the hospital." This elicited a blank stare from his sister and he gave a small chuckle. "Oh, you didn't expect that then, did you?" His gaze rested upon the clock that sat on his sister's bedside table. It was early in the afternoon so the day was still very young. "You know what, why don't we just go pay him a visit? I'll fill you in on some things while we make our way to the hospital."
She was still having a hard time trying to wrap her brain around all of the information that Lloyd had given her. One thing in particular stood out among the others. This guy was her cousin. Laurie was gripping her crutches tightly, leaning back against the window sill and just staring. She felt like she did not belong here, truly an outsider. Lloyd had pulled up a chair beside the hospital bed and was resting his head in his hands, holding a one sided conversation with the boy. Sorry, with their cousin. The word seemed so foreign and odd. Laurie did not know how long it would take her to be able to actually say it out loud.
Lucas lay motionless in the bed, his chest rising and falling softly in time to a beeping monitor that sat off to his left. Wires wound their way out of the machine and disappeared underneath of the boy's grey tee shirt. Ugh, her cousin's tee shirt. This was just way too weird. Lloyd had told her that he was in a coma and had only been that way shortly before she herself had arrived in the city. It was all her father's fault too. There was no surprise there though. It seemed that he could not just be content with ruining her immediate family's lives. No, he had to branch out to the extended family as well.
Her cousin had been in a very similar situation to her own. Lucas had been trained by her father to become a ninja and was burdened with the task of taking Lloyd away from the others. He had almost helped her father turn Lloyd to the dark side with a small vile of the Great Devourer's venom. Now, Laurie personally had no idea what that even meant, but form the way Lloyd talked about it, it seemed like the venom was some bad stuff. Uncle had showed up at the last minute though, forced Lucas to drink one of those weird teas that he likes to rely on, and helped him remember who he actually was.
Thankfully, his true self was a nice guy.
He saved everyone and left Garmadon to live and train with the ninja. Now Laurie thought that had been a nice enough story, but she was wrong. There was no giving up, especially from her father. Barely a month later, Garmadon to take a different approach to get Lloyd back. He caught the ninja and managed to corrupt them with the same venom he tried to use on Lloyd. With new followers to do his bidding, her father had sent them out to catch both Lloyd and Lucas. In the end, Lucas managed to save everyone by giving himself back over to Garmadon. Lloyd had looked upset when he recounted the tale on the way to the hospital. Of course, it worsened as he began concluding the tale.
Working once more for her father, Lucas went around collecting shards for an ancient mirror that release evil into Ninjago on the Summer Solstice. Despite everything that happened to him, he managed save all of Ninjago by closing the void the mirror had created. Of course, her father did not play fair. In a dirty attempt to take her Uncle's life, Lucas sacrificed himself instead. Now, Lloyd was not sure exactly how he came back to life, but it had something to do with needing to fulfill his destiny and protect Lloyd. It all went smoothly from there, until her father's Mega Weapon brought back a deceased pirate crew which everyone fought against on the Bounty. Lloyd had accidently knocked over a mast while trying to attack the adversaries and it fell on Lucas.
She felt bad for her brother. He felt as if it was all his fault, but Laurie could see otherwise. Sometimes things just happened because someone was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lloyd did seem happier though, just being next to his cousin. Laurie also felt a little stupid for not initially recognizing Lucas. She had seen him once before, in a photograph that had been inside of the pocket watch that she had discovered underneath of Lloyd's bed. Everything made sense now and the orange ninja could tell that Lloyd was not keeping anything from her anymore. With a small sigh, she turned to look outside of the window behind her.
The sun was beating down upon the city and the rays were warming the glass. Feeling a little tired again, Laurie laid her cheek against the smooth, glass and just gazed out along the city. Towering skyscrapers and the bustle of traffic were interrupted by a single insect that scared Laurie to death. A small, butterfly flew in front of the girl, successfully blocking everything else from view. The Ninja of Wind held back a strangled gasp of surprise as she noticed her heart rate increasing. Stupid thing did not need to fly so close to the window. The butterfly repeatedly ran into the glass, making no sound as it tried to make its presence known. "Sheesh," Laurie whispered, lifting the bottom of the window frame up slowly. "Why do you want to get inside so badly?"
A gentle breeze entered the hospital room as the butterfly floated inside. It landed on Laurie's shoulder, fluttering its lavender wings quickly before leaving its perch. Finding it all a little odd, the red head watched as the insect lazily made its way over to Lloyd and Lucas. "Hey, stop," Laurie hissed, knowing full well that a butterfly would not be able to understand her. "Leave them alone." She hobbled forward on her crutches, following the psychotic insect.
Lloyd saw it out of the corner of his eye. A small butterfly was gliding around the bed, descending slowly from the ceiling. "What?" he asked slowly, not fully grasping how a butterfly managed to get into the room; almost transfixed by the tiny insect, the green ninja watched as it softly landed on the tip of Lucas' nose. "Hey, get off of him! Shoo!" Lloyd waved his hands by the butterfly and watched as it immediately took flight, heading back in the direction it had come from. "Stupid thing," he sighed, turning back towards his cousin before gasping.
Lucas blinked slowly, seemingly attempting to get a better bearing of his surroundings. Shortly afterwards, his hazel grey eyes met Lloyd's and the teenager gave a smile. "Well hey there, Shrimp," he chuckled, leaning forward to ruffle the boy's blonde hair. Lloyd lunged forward, pulling his cousin into a tight embrace, small lines of tears streaking down his face. Lucas returned the hug, rubbing Lloyd's back in the process.
Laurie looked on in utter shock as the two boys hugged one another. It almost seemed to be a miracle. Lloyd had told her that Lucas had been in a coma for a little over four months now. This was probably the last thing the green ninja had expected to happen today, but Laurie was so happy for him. The lavender butterfly flew back towards Laurie and the teenager held a finger out, allowing the insect to perch. Its minuscule legs tickled skin as it walked and the butterfly folded its wings up as it started to turn back in the direction of Lloyd and Lucas. A small, star-shaped mark adorned the underside of its right wing and Laurie just smiled. "I don't know what you did, but you sure made Lloyd's day," the orange ninja smiled. Heading back towards the window, Laurie held her left hand out and watched as the butterfly took off, flying back out over the city. "Thanks."
"Laurie! Laurie, its Lucas. He woke up!" Lloyd shouted, breaking free from his cousin's grip and sprinting over towards the window. The orange ninja turned herself back around slowly, nearly placing her right foot on the ground in the process. Her brother was tugging on her orange jacket, practically dragging her across the floor. "He's awake, can you believe it?"
She looked over at the unfamiliar family member with who she had only recently been given a history lesson on. He raised a scarred eyebrow slightly and Laurie felt nervous. Her cousin did not know who she was and she felt awkward even being in the same room as him right now. Laurie felt as if she should just leave and let Lloyd spend some alone time with him, but her brother was just so excited, she felt as if she needed to stay. "Um…hi" she said awkwardly, giving a small wave. "I-I'm Laurie, Lloyd's sister."
There was almost a look of recognition in Lucas' eyes and Laurie took a small step backwards. "So it's you then," her cousin stated plainly, a small smile playing at the edge of his lips. "You're the second guardian."
Thank you Packerfan95 for allowing me to use Lucas because it was a lot more fun to write about him than I thought it would be.
I'm aiming to update again next Friday, but it may be a little late. I have, like, two exams this upcoming week so it's going to be really, really hectic. Bye! :D