Dreams and Desires

Chapter 15

Troubleshooting

*I own nothing and any similarities with any other works are purely coincidental.

The bright cyan dragon tore through the evening sky, its wings slicing through the still, cold air. From their high altitude, the people of Ninjago City appeared as simple specks, each blending perfectly to fill the larger picture. It was not unlike a rather detailed painting, and right now only the skyline was in view. The crowded mess of buildings appeared distant and cold, but upon looking closer, they would see a complex mix of people. Every part and person of the city contributed to the overall mood of the place, and the Master of Dreams felt a large concentration of negative energy suddenly form around Borg Tower. It was not a feeling based on any tangible sense or explanation, just an assessment made from pure intuition. They descended from the clouds, flying down into the bustling metropolis.

When they arrived at the skyscraper, the Elemental Master was rather underwhelmed. It seems they had regrettably missed the fight, for they saw that only two of the ninja were left on the roof. That left two members unaccounted for, included Lloyd. Both of the people before them were very much alive, although the red one looked pretty hurt. Why would he have spared them? they wondered. Perhaps Lloyd wasn't quite as corrupted as I thought. Regardless of the reasoning, they would have to treat the situation with the mindset of damage control; minimizing and hiding the impact of Lloyd's turn was their primary goal. It was a task the Master of Dreams accepted very begrudgingly, but considering they got Lloyd and the Realm into this whole mess, the least they could do was try to get Lloyd safely away from the people. The Elemental Master leapt off of their dragon, landing softly on the metallic roof. Cole looked over quickly, surprised but also intrigued by their sudden arrival. He was extremely apprehensive of the masked figure, but he was in no position to ask questions.

"Please, you have to help; my friend is badly hurt!" he cried, pointing towards the lifeless ninja. The Elemental Master said nothing in response but a mischievous grin formed under their mask. They shot a pair of red beams at the ninja, and to their surprise, it worked again. I'm finally getting the hang of my powers! they thought, excited that they had mastered the skill of memory disruption. Quickly dismissing the feelings of pride, they shifted their focus back to the task on hand and shot a pair of cyan beams to put the ninja to sleep. The Master of Dreams relaxed, relieved that yet another confrontation had been avoided. The Element of Dreams was somewhat paradoxical in that sense; the abilities it gave to its master were extremely convoluted and the elemental power itself just seemed to be flippant in its very nature. The powers were literally no help in combat, but it didn't matter. It just gave them a free pass from it every time.

They sauntered over to the fire ninja, curious to inspect Lloyd's handiwork. Crouching down and looking over Kai's lifeless body, they saw a stab wound through the ninja's lower neck. "A crushed windpipe perhaps?" they pondered. After reaching down and feeling his neck, the hypothesis was confirmed. "Oh, Lloyd." they remarked, filled with a newfound respect for him. "I'm impressed." They almost pitied the fire ninja, for Lloyd had chosen a very cruel method of murder. They quickly got up, remembering that they still in fact needed to find the rogue ninja. After summoning their dragon, the Master of Dreams moving to survey the damage on the ground. They still had a bad feeling about this part of the city, and so if Lloyd was anywhere, he was most likely directly below them. Before they could get a good look however, they suddenly saw the whirring blades of a helicopter. "Oh damn, the news people are here." they stated, a sarcastically cynical voice filling the blank air.

Their presence was extremely bad, and it had the potential to jeopardize everything. With their stupid cameras and relatively smart reporters, NGTV would be able to reveal the Element of Dreams to the entire world, and that could run the risk of alerting other allies of the ninja. They needed the news team gone as soon as possible, but they also had to try their best to not come off as super threatening or dangerous. Weighing their options heavily, the Master of Dreams directed their dragon to head on a collision course with the chopper.

"In a rather interesting turn of events, it seems that a glowing blue dragon has now arrived at the scene." intrepid reporter Gayle Gossip boldly declared. She motioned for the cameraman to shift the focus, but she found herself recoiling in fear when she saw the details more clearly. "And they're heading straight for us!" she cried, before quickly composing herself. "Could this be the villain behind the destruction we witnessed today?" she asked, trying her best to stay calm and collected. "Or perhaps they're an ally to the ninja, seeking to help explain the story?"

Gayle was reassured when the dragon dissipated right before it would have hit them, with its rider jumping up and grabbing onto the helicopter. Gayle quickly opened the door, trembling with excitement as she preparing herself for an interview. But all she saw was a flash of cyan and everything went dark. Another beam hit the cameraman before they were both violently shoved back into the helicopter. The Master of Dreams made sure to snatch the camera from his grasp however, chucking it at the ground far below. Satisfied with their work, they summoned their dragon and continued towards the scene of devastation.

There was a rather loud beep; a sudden and shrill sound that snapped Nya out of her grieving. Looking up from her pain and distress, Nya saw that the news had cut out; it had been replaced with a generic technical difficulties message. She didn't get any time to think about why the signal had been lost or what it might mean, for the noise had apparently woken Zane from his slumber. He was peering very quizzically around at his surroundings, feeling a bit like a fish out of water. Zane did not remember being locked in a cell, which was probably because his memory banks had been wiped. Zane saw that apparently every event from the past day had been somehow erased from his mind, which was not a good sign. He was soon completely lost in his thoughts, but eventually noticing the collapsed Nya was enough to shake him from the trance.

"What in the name of Ninjago is happening around here?" Zane quietly asked, although more to himself than to his cellmate. His processors were completely overwhelmed by the flood of new information, and he was having some difficulty making sense of everything. Nya turned around at the sound, and her appearance was extremely confusing to the titanium ninja. Nya was a disheveled mess, her gi drenched in vomit and covered in tears. After taking a few deep breaths, she collected herself just enough to choke out a response. "The television…" Nya started, her words slow and cracking as she pointed towards the now static screen. "It, it showed La- Lloyd and, Jay, and they, they were-" She stopped short, turning away from the impassive and inquisitive nindroid.

Nya couldn't bring herself to say it; it was too painful. She had never seen so mortified in all her life; the pair of crippled bodies had been just about the most disturbing and heart-wrenching thing she had ever seen. And not only was the image inherently rather gruesome, but the two people on the screen were more important to her than anyone else, except maybe her brother and parents.

"Are they dead?" Zane asked, his tone filled with dread and worry. It was a horrifying and grim conclusion for him to make but it was also the most logical. He had never seen any of his friends appear this distressed or pained, so the nindroid correctly guessed it was most likely a manifestation of grief.

"No…" Nya answered, her voice shaky and quiet. Gayle had said that they weren't dead, but they might be now for all she knew; the lost television signal wasn't reassuring her that much. "But they looked like death itself."

"Where are we?" Zane inquired, standing up to better look at his confinement.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like some sort of rich guy's personal prison."

Her eyes widened as she saw the large opening in the back wall. It had been there the entire time, simply obscured by her friend. "Zane look!" she said, quickly leaping up from the stone ground. Nya practically bounded across the cell, running straight through the convenient exit.

She was startled to find herself face to face with the Celestial Clock. The object was jarring, bringing back long forgotten memories of the Final Battle. Of course it wasn't actually the Final Battle, not even the last fight against the Overlord, but I don't know, they kept calling it that for some reason. During the confrontation Nya had been corrupted by Dark Matter and forced to fight her friends; an experience that shared similarities with Morro's possession. Of course it had much worse and far more prolonged for Lloyd; he had also been entirely aware and conscious of the actions Morro was doing, but was then unable to do anything about it.

"It must have been quite the torture," she muttered to herself, "to have one's body treated like a puppet, a marionette with strings. To have to watch helplessly as your burnt effigy tries to kill everyone you love." Shaking the painful memories from her mind, Nya stared over at the vast ocean separating her from her from her friends. It would probably take upwards of an hour to cross back into Ninjago, and by then it would be too late to save them. Nya would have to put her faith in others, which was something she despised doing.

"We should return to the mainland." said Zane, who seemed completely unfazed by his surroundings. She nodded slightly in response, before using her elemental power to wash the chunks of vomit off her ninja gi. Nya was now far more confident and satisfied with her appearance, but she was still scared to death for her friends.

"I don't think I'll be able to summon my dragon." Nya admitted. Intense feelings of guilt, remorse, sadness, anger, and fear were all still weighing on her heavily, and that final one would unfortunately prevent her from accessing the power. She was too afraid, both for her friends and of whatever had caused the tragic event. "Well, I believe I will be able to summon mine, so you could join me for the flight." Zane offered.

Nya looked up at him, a slight frown on her face. How could he act so distant and calm? Two of our friends, including my boyfriend, are dying out there and he isn't even slightly afraid for them? she asked herself, finding Zane's indifference both concerning and saddening. "Of course the nindroid wouldn't be afraid right now." Nya mumbled under her breath.

"What the hell happened here?"

Lloyd's limp body had been horrendously mangled and maimed, to the point that he was barely recognizable. He shared the cruel fate with Jay, but the Master of Dreams wasn't sure whether that fact should be reassuring or worrying. Did the blue ninja do this or had Lloyd simply dragged him along for the ride? None of it made any sense, neither of the ninja should have fallen so far in the first place. Was Lloyd suicidal? they questioned. That, or he had been too afraid to summon his dragon. Either way their torture had evidently left even more unintended consequences, and the Master of Dreams was starting to wonder if Lloyd would ever fully recover from the mental trauma they had inflicted upon him. They knew of only one real way to help the broken man, but it was only as a last resort; a dangerous and risky strategy they would try to avoid at all costs.

Releasing their cyan dragon, the Elemental Master landing softly next to the pair of cripples. It seemed they would be stuck with a very captive audience, and as much as they wished to stay out of the public eye, the Master of Dreams possessed neither the time nor the energy to put every possible witness to sleep. I mean it's not like I'm the one who tried to kill him, so it should be fine. they thought. They were indeed accurate, for that person had in fact been Lloyd himself. Crouching down they began to examine his body. "It's a good thing I'm such an expert when it comes to human anatomy." they mused. Granted I really only studied it so much in order to murder them, but hey, it's also rather handy right now regardless.

Let's see, oh, yeah, he's got a few broken bones here. Including the left arm, right hand, a foot, oh, and all of his ribs. That's just perfect. And it looks like an impacted cranium, lacerated lungs, and shattered collarbone. Quite a lot to unpack here. they thought. His external injuries were quite extensive, and it seemed unlikely that normal medical treatment would suffice. Before they could begin thinking of any possible treatment methods however, a line of ambulances arrived for the pair of ninja.

"And here I was thinking that things couldn't get any worse."

Paramedics leapt from the vehicle, quickly lifting up the two bodies. "I've already analyzed Lloyd's injuries." the Elemental Master announced, drawing extremely suspicious gazes from the medical workers. "You can't save him now, he's going to need magical healing." They jumped up, grabbing and wrenching at Lloyd's healthy foot. Thus began a game of tug of war, as the two parties fought over the battered blond.

Lloyd's eyes shot open, a deep shade of scarlet that scared the group of paramedics right to the core. How he had managed to regain consciousness was a mystery to them, but it was also a question none of them had any time to ponder. A blast of destructive energy sent the entire group flying backwards, inadvertently causing both Lloyd and Jay to once more fall to the ground. Jay was still out cold, but his counterpart screamed in anguish; all of his injuries had finally caught up with his brain. With a tremendous amount of effort, he managed to push away the piercing agony, using his Oni powers to numb himself to the pain. Lloyd's fight or flight instinct immediately kicked in, and his brain desperately wanted to escape; he really didn't want to not risk any more harm falling upon him.

The Master of Dreams looked up, still dazed from the destructive strike. A dark cloud was forming around the ninja, as Lloyd was activating one of the powers offered by his bloodline. But rather than transforming, Lloyd instead wanted to teleport. "Oh, no you don't!" they yelled, running towards the vanishing man. Latching onto his body, the Master of Dreams felt themselves whisked away from Ninjago City. "You… goddamn, bastard." Lloyd choked, barely able to speak due to his punctured lungs.

The two Elemental Masters fell onto some very coarse and rough sand; they had landed on the coast of the Dark Island. Lloyd screamed, wailing in pain as he felt another sets of bones snapping; jeopardizing the integrity of his already battered skeleton. He quickly silenced himself, easing and relaxing his nerves as he tried to focus and hone his energy. Then without warning, his eyes shot open again. The blood red shade was finally gone, replaced by a blinding gold. His most powerful essence coursed throughout his body, giving off a glow reminiscent to how the original four ninja had looked upon unlocking their True Potential. Lloyd felt instantly revitalized, as if all his injuries had magically been cured. Which they had been.

The Master of Dreams stood dumbfounded, in awe of the tremendous power he possessed. They weren't kidding about the nigh-omnipotence. Their thoughts were interrupted as a golden blast hit them, another attack catching them off guard. The impact launched them across the beach where they crashed face-first into the sand. Oh right, he probably hates my guts doesn't he? they thought, cursing their foolish lapse in judgement. They instinctively reached for the weapon fastened to their back, but Lloyd swiped it from their grasp. He kicked out, rolling his captor over onto their back. The Elemental Master reacted instantly, preparing to hit Lloyd with another cyan beam, but the Golden Master was one step ahead. The Sword of Sanctuary was jammed into their throat, but thankfully not through it. Lloyd stared back at them, his eyes now a glowing green. "Give me one reason not to gut you." he said, his voice dripping with a bitter disgust.

A sly and devious smirk began to creep onto their face. "Because," they began, reaching up to pull back the mask from their face, "you love me."

The sword dropped from his hand, clattering down onto the beach. Lloyd could not believe it; no, his eyes had to be deceiving him. The revelation was so overwhelming that he began to experience a cataplectic seizure. The absolute tidal wave of emotion was simply too much for his body to handle, and he collapsed to the ground in response. His knees buckled, and he felt his breathing strained. She smiled softly at him, the first true and genuine expression of joy she had shown in months.

"Rumi…"