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"I'll get you out... together. I promise."

- Harumi (The Quiet One)

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The room was silent. It was an awkward, cold silence. The security guard didn't seem to mind. He probably was used to it. Lloyd wasn't. Since he had joined the ninja his life had been full of sound. The air always echoed with offended yells, contagious laughter, small arguments in the background, and of course the occasional yelp of pain when things got physical. No matter the moment, no matter the time there was always some sort of sound.

But now it was quiet.

Lloyd let out a drawn out sigh and leaned forward, putting his weight on his knees. His eyes automatically dragged to the motionless form in front of him. Lloyd almost snorted out loud. How fitting. The Quiet One was lying like corpse before him and he was suffocating in silence.

It's the soundless space that causes your thoughts to haunt you. Tasks and jobs Lloyd still needed to complete niggled at the back of his mind, the constant feeling that something was going to happen putting him on edge, and of course the guilt, the dark thoughts, the fears, the worries, and regrets.

How could I have changed the past? Lloyd wondered to himself. How could I have rewritten things differently? He had come up with a thousand scenarios where he would rush in, save Harumi, and then pretend that all their issues disappeared. Of course none of them would have worked. Lloyd had been on a totally different building, no where near where Harumi had been.

Also she hated his guts enough to try and kill him.

But he still dreamed.

A long breath broke Lloyd from his thoughts. He looked over to Harumi once more. The girl let out another sigh, the slow inhale and exhale was uncomfortable, almost unnatural.

"Her body is slowly shutting down." Dr. Williams' voice reminded him in his head. Lloyd felt his breathing turn ragged as the words repeated themselves in his mind. I finally get her back from the dead, Lloyd thought wildly. And she's dying all over again.

Lloyd grabbed her hand. He heard Officer Lin startled at his sudden movement. Harumi's palm was cold in his, like he was shaking hands with a vampire. His fingers gently moved further up her arm, lacing around the bottom of her hand until he pressed gently on the inside of her wrist.

Ba-bum. Ba- bum.

It was faint.

But it was there.

The knots tightening in his chest released just a little bit as he continued to feel the weak pulse.

"Thank the First Spinjitzu Master." Lloyd breathed out, he let his head pitch forward, pressing his cheek to her palm as he let the beat continue to rap against his skin. The Green Ninja sat like that for a few moments. He felt his eye lids close as he let the rest of the world fade away, sucking him into a sweet, longing darkness where it was just him and the sound of her heart beating against on his cheek.

***

Lloyd was dragged out of his light nap when the hand he was holding slipped from his grasp. At first he didn't think anything of it, his eyes feeling heavy and a little crusty from having so many rough sleeps. His head rested peacefully on the sheets, completely oblivious until a thin, raspy groan jolted him awake.

"Don' leave." The voice mumbled incoherently.

Lloyd sat up so fast it felt like his brain knocked against the front of his skull. He clutched his head, wincing against the sudden light-headed feeling he got from the sharp movement. Officer Lin was standing tensely to the side, his hand on his gun holster, eyes locked in on the bed. Lloyd followed his gaze, his jaw dropping when he saw Harumi shift on the bed, her eyes fluttering blearily as she tried to sit up.

"Harumi?" Lloyd asked almost fearfully, his voice barely a whisper.

"Come back." She looked somewhere beyond him, lost and confused. The words were tiny, plaintive. So different from the biting, vengeful tongue Harumi had possessed before. She lurched forward and Lloyd caught her clumsily by the arms, gently pushing her back against the pillows.

"Harumi, it's okay. You're okay." Lloyd's reassurances came out rushed as he panicked, squeezing her a little harder than he meant to as he tried to get her to see him. Officer Lin was suddenly beside him, rooting around the bed until he found the button to call for the nurse. Lloyd looked at him gratefully before turning back to the girl before him.

Harumi finally noticed him, her eyes locking with his. Lloyd felt his whole body freeze up, joints locking as her haunting stare bore into him. It was all flooding back. The crush, the infatuation, the love. How much he trusted her. How much he had believed in her and her words. How much he had looked up to her. (God, he had looked up to her.) Lloyd had thought he had finally found someone who understood him, who would support him and he would support in turn.

He had of course.

Supported her.

It just took a literal knife to the back to realize that her support was as meaningless as her feelings for him.

After the love came the pain.

It ripped through him like claws, digging deep into his heart until he bled. The fear that had gripped him that day. When she had stood before him, threatening to drown him and his mother, bringing the parts of his father that had struck nightmares in his dreams. Lloyd watched her be taken away. He listened to her try to pull him in again, sickly sweet words like honey, trying to mask the bitter flavour on his tongue. A part of him had still wanted to believe Harumi. It had yearned to pretend all of it never happened. But Lloyd knew she was just a wolf in sheep's clothing. So he watched her be driven away. The sirens of the police vehicles fading into the pitch of the night.

"I know you," Harumi slurred, her eyes furrowing as she stared at him. "You're-" Before she could finish her sentence her voice cut off, sound slipping away as she let out a strangled cough.

Lloyd immediately jumped up. To get a nurse, a glass of water- anything! But the coughing stopped just as soon as it started. With a heavy thunk she fell back onto the bed, eyes closed and mouth hanging open like a dog on a hot summer day. Lloyd stared, his heart in his throat as he looked upon the weak form in front of him.

Officer Lin stepped forward hesitantly, hand moving from his gun holster. "Green Ninja?"

Lloyd didn't know how to respond.

The door burst open, Nurse Adam Stevenson rushing into the scene. He looked a little frazzled, having clearly been on his break judging by the milk moustache on his lip and the powdered doughnut in his hand. He paused at Lloyd's stark still body, bent over Harumi who was in a much different position then before.

Adam swallowed awkwardly, slowly putting the doughnut in his mouth and chewing contemplatively. "Did I miss something?"

***

"This is... concerning." Dr. Williams sighed as she stared at the board before her. The other doctors had been working on various reasons for Harumi's condition. The patient's second outburst, as reported by Nurse Stevenson, only confused them further.

The Green Ninja was pacing back and forth, his teeth chewing obsessively at his fingernails, going at them like a rabbit as he walked anxiously from one end of the room to the other. It was obvious that this was shaking him up much more than he wanted it to. Dr. Williams wasn't sure of his connection to the Jade Princess but she knew the ninja had worked closely with her before she revealed her real intentions.

A proud monarch going bad would give anyone trust issues, especially if they had formed a friendship of a sorts.

The doctor tilted her head and carefully watched the teenager work a hole into her carpet. His agitated steps became quicker by the second. She wondered how on world had come to rely on someone so young. Had they really become so hopeless that they had to look to teenagers to guide them? Dr. Williams rubbed the space between her brows. She really needed to be paid more if this is what she was dealing with.

"We know that Harumi had been in a major building collapse." Dr. Williams said aloud. It was best to start at the beginning and work their way to the more confusing stuff. "That could result in many different injuries. Broken bones are the most obvious, internal bleeding, and of course head injuries."

"We checked her X-Rays, there is no sign of any damage to her bones." One of the other doctors announced.

"But she was at the very top of the building." Dr. Williams said incredulously. "Even if she did heal there would be signs of previous breaks."

"There are none." They laid out the scans for her to see. Dr. Williams frowned, looking carefully at each one. Sure enough, her skeleton seemed near perfect.

"How's her brain activity?" She pressed her lips together, placing the scans back down.

The doctor shook their head. "Still slow. Despite her waking up, we can't see any difference."

"This doesn't make any sense." Dr. Williams leaned forward on the desk and scowled with frustration.

Lloyd Garmadon had finally stopped pacing, now standing ramrod straight, the mask of professionalism would've been perfect if it wasn't for his jiggling leg. "Harumi obviously dealt with some... necromantic arts when resurrecting my father. Do you think that could be connected to this?"

Dr. Williams gave him a deadpan stare. "Mr. Garmadon, I am a healthcare professional. I specialize in the science of the human body, not the magical raising of the dead. As much as you may think I would've adjusted to this crazy world we live in now, the most I am able to adapt to now is curing serpentine venom and learning the biology of a humanoid species I never knew existed until you ninja came along."

Lloyd winced. "I'm sorry, uh, Doctor. I'll figure it out, don't worry."

"What I'm worried about is not something that you need to be worried about right now." Dr. Williams put her hands on her hips, using the same tone she wielded on her children at home. "You've been here for way too long. I think you should go home and get some rest. Leave the dark magic crap to me. I'll find someone to help."

Lloyd Garmadon blanched, looking shocked. "But I need to-"

"Sleep? Watch some stupid television show? Maybe eat something? I know you didn't have any lunch." Dr. Williams gave him a pointed look. The Green Ninja pouted, looking a little sulky as he looked away.

"Hm. That's what I thought." She softened her tone a little, reminding herself that even though Lloyd was a kid he also dealt with the responsibilities he had for a reason. "I will take care of everything. You can count on me, Green Njnja. Come back tomorrow and we can talk further."

Lloyd Garmadon heaved a deep breath but reluctantly nodded. "Yes, Doctor." She led him out of the hospital, taking him to the back exit so he wouldn't have to face the people in the waiting room. Before she closed the door she gently tapped his shoulder. He turned to her slowly, looking even more tired than she did on her worst day. (And she had to deal with blood pouring out of bodies like a fountain while incompetent doctors ran around like chicken with their heads cut off)

"Hey, get some rest. Ninjago needs the Green Ninja at his best. And you need to let yourself relax." She gave him a knowing look.

Lloyd gave her a wry smile. "I can't think of the last time I've truly relaxed, Doctor, but I appreciate the concern."

Dr. Williams snorted. "Fair enough. Goodbye, Green Ninja. Meet me first thing tomorrow and we'll talk more about our little patient."

Lloyd nodded stiffly. "Of course."

With an awkward salute he left, hood tugged over his scruffy blonde hair as he jumped and flipped onto the roof of the nearby building, bounding out of view in just a few seconds. Dr. Williams shook her head, closing the door and leaning against it tiredly.

"How the heck am I going to go this?" Dr. Williams groaned. She mumbled to herself as she moved back through the hospital, weaving around the nurses and the tech people and all the various patients.

"It's not like finding a master of the dark arts was in my job description!"

NOTE******
Finally another update! Writers block is a little turd cabbage, honestly. I only finished this chapter at elven o'clock at night when I really shouldn't have because of my early morning the next day. 😂

Anyways, I only read over this chapter once for typos so there probably will be grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. So, I'm sorry about that.

I hope you liked this chapter!

LuckyBugBooks🐞