Dreams and Desires
Chapter 18
Drained
*I own nothing and any similarities with any other works are purely coincidental.
"Where is Lloyd?" Jay repeated sharply, his voice growing with worry and annoyance. The group of people around him stood silent, shell-shocked and stupefied. Neither Nya nor Zane knew the answer, and so they slowly turned their eyes to the medical professional nervously shuffling their feet. Incidentally, they had both been wondering the exact same thing, and the doctor suddenly found herself being stared down by a trio of rather irritable ninja.
"Come to think of it, where is Lloyd being treated?" Zane asked politely. "His name was not on the patient list available outside, and the person working the check-in desk refused to give us a comprehensive explanation."
The doctor instinctively tensed at the complicated question; the answer was not one that they, or anyone else in the realm wanted to hear. "Lloyd is not being treated at our hospital, and none of the other branches we are in contact with have claimed him." she said slowly. Nya gasped loudly, her brain running wild with a number of startling accusations and assumptions. "He's not… dead, is he?" she asked, her voice hollow and empty. This had quite possibly been the most terrible day of her life, and finding out that Lloyd had perished would just be the final straw.
"I'm not saying that, but he is currently missing and unaccounted for." the doctor replied sadly. "You should ask the paramedics who found him, they could certainly explain it better than I could. And you should leave either way, since you aren't actually allowed to be here." she added sternly. Nya nervously laughed, halfheartedly smiling before quickly turning away and dashing from the room. Zane looked over at the door in confusion, not understanding why Nya had left so suddenly. He glanced back at Jay, who looked just as bewildered. Why is she always so emotional over Lloyd? Jay wondered jealously. He immediately cursed at the thought, unsure of why this rather perverted level of doubt and suspicion was always slithering its way into his mind. Jay knew that it wasn't something to get so worked up over, but it was nonetheless a relatively frequent worry. Zane shrugged slightly, before quickly running after Nya.
The doctor let out a large sigh of relief, very glad that she could finally get started with Jay's many procedural tests. She turned to the ninja, but found his face aghast and overwhelmed by sorrow. "What happened to Lloyd?" Jay asked quietly, his tone still stinging but now far more hesitant. He was stuck, and nothing but an actual answer would suffice. She begrudgingly turned to the desk and clicked a button on the intercom signal.
"Hi, could you round up one of the paramedics please?" she asked kindly, trying to speaking in her most formal and courteous voice. "Yes, one of the ones who brought in Mr. Walker. Thanks."
She clicked off the line and turned back to her patient, smiling slightly. "I would go get someone myself but I do have to run some rather important tests." Jay grimaced, but chose not to complain as the woman began checking his neck and chest; she was starting off the lengthy procedures by evaluating his previously lacerated lungs.
"Do you feel any pain?" she asked, slowly feeling around his respiratory system to judge his reaction. His internal injuries had been significant enough to warrant surgery, as massive amounts of air and blood had leaked into his chest cavity. Although siphoning the excess fluids through a chest tube was a relatively routine procedure, it was still very unusual to see so little residual damage.
"Not really." Jay answered tiredly, his voice frail and weakened. "It's all just sort of numb." He felt a sharp twinge in his jaw whenever speaking, but aside from that there was very little actively hurting him. The doctor stared at him, her face awestruck but extremely puzzled.
"This is absolutely amazing." she said excitedly, incredibly surprised by his progress. "Your lungs are healing at a rate far faster than any patient I've ever seen. I mean, they've actually managed to scab overnight." Jay smiled weakly; he was excited but unable to provide any sort of explanation for the heightened healing factor. "Have you ever treated an Elemental Master before?" he asked softly, genuinely curious to find out if this was simply an undiscovered benefit of his enhanced abilities.
Before the doctor could respond however there was a knock at the door. She got up quickly, moving to let in the paramedic who had helped bring Jay to the hospital. "This is perfect timing, my bosses are making me give an interview to some stupid news reporter right now anyway." she said, shifting towards the now open door.
"Wait, uh, doc?" Jay called worriedly, confused by her sudden departure. I thought she said there were a bunch of tests to run, right?
"I'll be back in just a few minutes." she clarified quickly, correctly guessing what his query would be about. "Oh. Okay then." Jay said sheepishly. He looked around awkwardly before thinking of another question to ask. "Do you have a name? I don't know, calling you doc just sounds weird."
"Oh yes, sorry!" she said quickly. She scolded herself for the error; she had gotten distracted by the uninvited visitors and completely forgotten to introduce herself. "You can call me Janice."
She smiled again before quickly departing. Jay sat contemplating the information before quickly turning his attention to the man standing next to his bed. His face quickly shifted to one of rather grim contempt, profusely dreading what terrible news might be delivered. "What happened to Lloyd?" he asked harshly, his tone descending to an almost menacing anger. The man didn't seem to notice however, as he quickly began his personal account of the events with no indication of concern.
"Okay, so when we showed up at the scene there was some hooded stranger, already checking his body for injuries and everything." he started, his face a muddled mix of bemusement and anxiety. Jay frowned slightly at the statement, unsure of what that could entail. "I think they said Lloyd was too injured for us to save him, and then something about magical healing."
"What?" Jay asked loudly, the color instantly draining from his face. No… I, I killed our friend and leader. The medic didn't seem to pick up on the emotional backing of his reaction though, and just continued with the explanation as if nothing was wrong. "Yeah, it was really strange. I coulda sworn that their voice sounded kinda familiar, but I don't know from where. Regardless, we didn't pay him any mind and just went to drag both of you into the ambulance. But then they start grabbing at him, trying to pull Lloyd free for some reason."
"Why? Do you think they could have been telling the truth?" Jay asked hesitantly.
"I don't know." he answered honestly. "They didn't seem to care about you at all, which I thought was weird. It wouldn't have made sense for Lloyd to be significantly more injured than you were, but we never got the chance to look at him. Because the next thing I know, I'm getting thrown backwards into the ambulance. Somehow, Lloyd managed to wake up and hit all of us with some sorta purple energy blast."
"What color were his eyes?" Jay interjected suddenly. The man seemed a bit taken aback by the question, but thought back to the traumatic event. "They were blood-red, the deepest, most horrifying scarlet I've ever seen. But of course as soon as I looked up, he and the caped wacko just disappeared in some dark cloud."
Jay felt his heart plummet in disappointment. It was a lot to take in, but none of it was reassuring. Lloyd was out there somewhere, but still evil and entirely at the mercy of some unknown force. Oh shit! His eyes shot open, and Jay shivered in the bed as he realized just what that meant.
Lloyd is alone with the Master of Dreams.
He felt a surge of energy pulsing from his body, an intense force emanating outside of the cage he was trapped in. Lloyd could feel the power being sapped from him, for it was as if his very soul and life-force was being ripped away. His very essence was slowly siphoning away, leaving him in a continually weakened and powerless state; Lloyd was completely defenseless against Ninjago's oldest enemy. It was the worst experience of his life, a hopelessly bleak and harrowing emptiness that tore his spirit in two. He lay still against the glass barrier, exhausted and exasperated from the excruciating pain. In sharp contrast, his mind was still entirely aware, harking back to a more distant and repressed memory.
The scene changed and shifted, and Lloyd found himself suddenly thrust back into a dense jungle. He had been here before, traversed through these uncharted lands on foot. But it was not the jungle of Primeval's Eye that he so vividly remembered; this was a far more tainted memory. He had long since hidden away this moment, tried his hardest to alleviate the awful pain it had caused him. Next to him stood a long forgotten image, for Lloyd was traveling with his ill-fated father. Sensei Garmadon had never returned from the Departed Realm, and his reputation was forever tarnished by the abomination that Harumi had unleashed in his place. But whether he wished to admit it, this moment represented what was the most valuable piece of advice Lloyd had ever received; only now did he understood its true meaning, and never before had its chilling message rang truer.
"The Golden Power needs to be protected, honored." Lloyd scoffed at the statement, as he had been filled with a foolish naivety; he had been too immature to understand just how cruel their world was. "Evil forces will seek it, try to take it for their own. It seduces. Even your friends may one day covet it."
"My friends would never hurt me!" Lloyd yelled in defiance, stubbornly blind to the truth. This was no longer reflective of his beliefs; he knew better than that now. Inadvertently, it had been the ignorance of the other ninja that sent him away in the first place, and that resentment had only festered in him like a cancer. His friends had not meant to hurt him, but the fact remains that they had. The hatred had corrupted him, and in his uncontrollable rage he had risked the lives of his friends. Lloyd was the most powerful man alive, but it had left him in a state of manic disillusion. And while he had been fortunate enough to escape its terrible grasp, his Oni side was not so easily dissuaded. Lloyd had fallen prey to his darkest desires, and in doing so had shifted the very balance of the Realm.
The Serpentine tribes had been wrong, as had the monks of the Cloud Kingdom. A prophecy, when misread, can have devastating consequences, and in this case, everyone had missed the point. The Curse of the Golden Master did not foretell of a time when the man of equal power to the First Spinjitzu Master would reign as a harsh tyrant. It was never about the will to rule, or an incessant desire to enslave every man, woman, and Serpentine. No, the prophecy instead meant exactly what it sounded like. The Golden Master was forever cursed.
Lloyd could feel a ray of light shining through the darkness, and he immediately shot awake. He panted furiously, his brow furrowed with sweat as he contemplated what he had just witnessed. It was yet another nightmare, a twisted and unsettling vision that tore away at his already fragile mental state. He felt a sense of paranoia creep into his mind, a feeling that he was still incredibly threatened and vulnerable. It was not just his mind that felt violated, for Lloyd was also exposed in a far more literal sense. He looked down in surprise, before suddenly remembering the events of the previous day. Blanching at the sudden wave of illustrious memories, Lloyd recoiled backwards into the comfortable pillow he had risen from. He slowly tilted his head to the right but found the bed empty; his companion was nowhere to be seen.
"You're cute when you sleep."
Lloyd jumped at the sound, quickly glancing over to find Harumi calmly lounging upon the reclining chair. Of course it was her. he thought, scolding himself for being foolish enough to think otherwise. His brain had never been the one playing tricks on him; Harumi had orchestrating every moment of his fall. Lloyd had been a puppet, toyed with like a marionette for the entire time she had been a part of his life.
"Rumi… stop messing with my head." he said sleepily, still extremely woozy and dazed. Harumi smirked mischievously, relishing the control and dominance she now possessed. "But that's all I've ever done Lloyd." she said blankly, putting her hands on her hips in a mocking display of annoyance. He chuckled slightly, for there was certainly a layer of truth to the statement.
"Yes, you've certainly done a number on me." Lloyd conceded softly, although the pained expression on his face remained. "Please don't manipulate my dreams, I don't think I can handle having to relive any more hardship." Harumi nodded curtly before holding her head down in shame; she was still coming to terms with the massive amount of pain she had caused him, and it was not going to be easy for either of them to adapt to their new relationship status.
"I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Harumi said quietly, her face awash with regret and guilt. But just as quickly as it had formed, the sad and somber tone vanished, and she looked up with a rather devious grin. Lloyd did not like the direction the conversation was about to head; he had seen that alluring smile far too many times. "Of course I could always choose to give you a wet dream instead." Harumi said knowingly, purring her words in a purposefully provocative manner.
Lloyd's face immediately turned bright red, his cheeks burning with awkward embarrassment. "Uh, well… that would be nice." he muttered, his voice quickly trailing off into silence. Lloyd wasn't sure whether he should feel flattered or scared, but he had a sneaking suspicion that her plans involved making some alterations to the vengestone cell behind him. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as a heavy bit of cloth hit his face, acting as the final shock to fully wake him up for the day.
"Put your suit on Lloyd, we're going out." Harumi called over with glee, standing up from the recliner to stretch. Lloyd grabbed the stray pieces of his uniform that were lying around and fluidly changed into his golden Techno Gi with a shining tornado of Spinjitzu. Harumi looked over with a somewhat envious expression, as she was very anxious to learn the formidable martial art. "And where would my Jade Princess like to go?" he asked in an over-dramatically formal tone, finally starting to embrace the satirical sense of humor she so frequently used. She smiled fondly at the remark, finding an odd bit of solace within her former title.
"I want to visit your Monastery." Harumi answered nonchalantly, as if the answer had little meaning or value. Lloyd didn't see it that way obviously, and his brain was characteristically filled by a pressing sense of nervous despair. "But, why? I mean, it's not safe and-"
He was quickly cut off by Harumi, who was not a huge fan of his over-protectiveness. "We'll be fine Lloyd. Even if your friends do show up I can just wipe their memories remember?" She started to move towards the door but paused as Lloyd posed another query. "Okay, fine, but what do you want to go there for anyway?" he asked, his voice still showing a hint of concern. Harumi turned quickly and faced with him a beaming smile of pure joy; she was barely able to contain her excitement.
"You're going to help make me a ninja gi!"
So I finally decided to change the secondary category from Tragedy to Romance. The Llorumi pairing will be a larger focus from here on out, and I just don't think this has turned out to be quite like the tragic love story I originally envisioned. Don't worry, angst is definitely still my primary focus when writing. My fanfic is going to be dark and macabre, but in different and perhaps less-obvious ways. That tragedy aspect will be moreso funneled through Jay and Nya from now on, which I think will make for a very interesting sort-of role reversal when compared to the earlier parts of the story.
Also I have literally no medical experience or training, so I'm kind of just doing the best that I can with the vast wealth of information available on the internet. Don't be afraid to speak up if I'm getting some stuff wrong, as I would be very excited to learn if any actual doctors are reading my story.