Chapter by: LillaSmolBean
~~~~~~~~~~
Four individuals all glanced over to one another, silence filling the space between their circle of four. No one dared to utter a word for a moment in time. That's until,

"So, you've read the room, right?" Lloyd started, intriguing both onis in front of him. No one understood what he was implying. However, the first one to react was the four-armed freak.

"Eh?" interjected a rather confused Garmadon. He didn't understand what the green ninja was getting at, nor did the former Oni princess beside him.

"Harumi's definitely not alright. Don't you think she's stalking Zephyr at this point, geez, she's obsessed with that guy!" Cloud barged in between Garmadon and Lloyd, examining her own points.

Lloyd, Garmadon and Mirage all turned to the Pomeranian puppy. Ah yes, that's right, Cloud had came along too. She was concerned for Harumi and wanted to see if she could help in any way possible.

"She can't be stalking that guy for no reason though, maybe he did something that personally annoyed her?" Mirage suggested, unsure with her own responses.

Garmadon immediately turned down her guess. "Can't be. Harumi's a rather patient person." He  reasoned. He knew Harumi for quite some time, even took care of her. He knew what she was like whenever she wasn't holding her facade so close to her.

Lloyd thought for a second. Surely, there's a meaning behind Rumi's behaviour all week so far, right? They just needed to keep thinking and connect the dots — even the littlest of clues can help them in deciphering this puzzle. 

"Harumi spoke ill about him the other day. You don't notice anything wrong with him, do you, or am I the only one who really believes Zephyr has done nothing wrong?" The green ninja sighed, rather disappointed he won't be getting any answers to help the white-haired girl.

The group all paused, going deep silent when they realized that they all thought the exact same: No, there was nothing wrong with Zephyr, but rather, something wrong with Harumi. However, no one wanted to voice out that conclusion out loud, they all thought it though.

"So what do you suggest we all do?" Cloud desperately wanted to help her owner, even coming all this way out of the dorms to speak to these three in private. It was way beyond a puppy like her. The hallways were confusing and she often got distracted with the scent of fresh jungle leaves and coconut water.

She had luckily all found them in this tiny room and joined in, showing determination in wanting to help the white haired girl. Now, she was waiting for any suggestions on how to keep a better eye on Harumi.

After the pause, Lloyd was the one to speak. His lips moved, pronouncing words that made Mirage, Garmadon and Cloud look at him a little bizarrely.

"Don't worry about a thing, I'll keep an eye on Zephyr, we'll see if Harumi is lying or not."

The green ninja had offered the strategy he wanted to work with, he was alright with working alone in all honesty. Besides, that simple task wasn't too hard. He had to go undercover many times in the past and they most of the time turned out successful for him.

He wasn't sure if the others would agree with that. Well, Mirage sure didn't. Cloud had given a disapproving shake of head to join in.

"Are you sure? It seems like a lot of responsibility." The former oni princess me mentioned. Cloud nodded at that.

"Mm, frankly I agree." Garmadon stepped in, not caring about contribution in this conversation. He just went along to what he believed was right or wrong, whether it needed speaking up or not.

Lloyd narrowed his eyebrows, his peaceful and reassured smile disappearing for a second.

"I care about Harumi and it's hurting me on the inside to see her like this. But nothing will hurt more than her lying to me."

The four-armed oni smiled at his son, happy that he cared that much about this girl. Mirage and Cloud as well, at least they had proof that Lloyd's love for Harumi was genuine.

"Aww, you're making this so mushy." Mirage commented jokingly as she let out a small chuckle from the side. Lloyd tensed and growled, crossing his arms in embarrassment.

"I-I do mean it though! You know what, let's get out of here and meet w-with the others." He stammered, his cheeks flushing in deep red. It didn't help his case, certainly not.

Garmadon and Mirage glanced at each other, cheeky grins lifting their spirits as they watched in amusement as Lloyd headed out of the room.

"Okay fine, whateverrrrrr you say."

Garmadon, Cloud and Mirage followed him out.
~~~~~~~~~~

In the hallways, a certain white-haired girl hesitantly walked through it. She made sure to look around every once and a while for any signs of the other elemental masters joining her or even her friends. But, sadly, she strolled these hallways alone. She gulped, nearing the doors leading to the next arena.

As Harumi was nearing the grand imperial doors, her luck ran out. She turned around to find the spellcaster of a host quickly pass her by. The friendly smile on his lips scared her more than disgusted her. Zephyr, that host, she didn't like him one single bit. She wished she wasn't the only one who shared this hatred against him.

But she already told her friends and they didn't believe her, that's their loss, right?

"Why hello there, Harumi. Are you ready for the next event?" Zephyr grinned, staying a couple steps behind her. His breath was felt on her shoulder and Harumi honestly got chills down to the bone.

"Go away, Zephyr. I'm not gonna let you and your little friends win." She growled, shoving him aside and continuing to walk.

But the spellcaster wasn't finished just like that. He shook his head and placed a hand in front of Harumi, limiting her walk. Harumi, obviously didn't like him trying to stop her like this. She glared at him and stood in place.

"What do you want?" The two enemies went straight to the point of this strange encounter.

Zephyr, who chuckled at her attempts at being brave, "Come on, let's stop playing cat and mice now. You know what I'm here to say," still remained rather lenient around her.

He still kept her close in this hallway, he didn't want her ignoring him. It it was if he was having too much teasing —no, her toying with her in this moment.

Harumi shook her head and attempted to get past him nonetheless. "I don't know nor want to know anything." She insisted.

Like always, he ended up crossing the line. This was exactly the moment.

"Ever wondered why you're always alone, Harumi?" Zephyr questioned, his voice at a reasonable volume, not creepy-whispering vibes or an overly happy tone either.

Harumi tensed up, obviously
"What do you mean?" Even if she knew it was a trap, she couldn't help but snap back at him with anger. She wasn't alone, what was this guy talking about?

The spellcaster began walking off in front of her. Harumi didn't try and follow him back.

Zephyr shrugged, his hands opening the doors to the arena.

"Everyone thinks you've gotten insane at this point! No one believes what you're claiming, Harumi. It's not real."

Harumi hesitated.

Not real?

....

It wasn't real?

Harumi fell for it, his entrancing words. She stared off in the distance, her mind clearly wandering from place to place. All she focused on was his voice.

It wasn't like she was being mind-controlled by him, but rather, was told tok shocked to try and snap out of this comfort space.

Her breathing grew heavy.

Was she really becoming crazy?

Was it true what he said about her just imagining things?

'No, no! I saw him! He did bad things, very bad things.. he..!'

Harumi spiralled into panic. Tears formed without realizing it and she looked around her, the walls were intimidating even if nothing was there. The tiles below her were close to shattering. She felt cramped in a spacious hallway, she had hard time breathing.

....

Zephyr. Zephyr that bastard.

He won't get away with this.

'I don't need anyone that thinks I'm insane on my side, I can work perfectly well alone.' She spoke to herself out of spite.
That's what she really thought.

Anger blinding her, she turned around, in search for the one who had the upper hands.

Zephyr. Where was here?

Harumi began to search, he wasn't there with her anymore.

"Where did he go?!" She yelled out in frustration, her fists curling.

A pair of footsteps were heard from the other side of the hallway.

Harumi peered up, her eyes displaying nothing but sheer impatience and irritation. She wanted to show that Zephyr a lesson, she really did.

She broke in a sprint, charging at the source of the footsteps.

It was Zephyr, she was sure of it. He was coming back.

The figures that turned up were Lloyd, Cloud, Mirage and Garmadon.

She was already charging towards them -/ but she realized who they really were.

"Woah, Harumi?" Cloud barked, raising a brow as she watched as her owner was running straight for them.

Harumi lowered her fists and wrapped her arms around Lloyd, her composure returning her the minute she felt his warmth.

No one said anything.

....

"Harumi, are you okay?" The concerned green ninja broke the silence after a five minute pause, he held her tight, not denying the hug.

"Mhm..I'm fine." She stayed in his arms, not moving a muscle.

Her face remained buried in her gi as Lloyd, Garmadon and Mirage all gave perplexed looks as to why Harumi was acting this way.

The puppy was was quick to point out that simple answer didn't sit well with her. With a bark or two, sh frowned and trotted over to be behind Harumi.

"Seriously, you don't look fine, tell us what happened." Cloud insisted.

A small laugh was heard from Harumi, she shook her head and brushed the puppy away. "It's nothing, I promise. I just tripped, silly of me, right?" She made an excuse.

No one bought the lie, they all raised a brow in suspicion but if Harumi didn't want to talk about it just yet, they couldn't keep pushing her.

All five of them began walking through the hallway, the doors to the arena suddenly opening for them. The figure who appeared to them was holding the one who held the doors, it was Matias Helix, one of the enforcers.

"Assistant or professional door-opener now? Come on, pick one." Mirage jabbed at the guy.

Matias rolled his eyes and allowed them inside the large room, that was the arena.
"Please, come to the arena. Zephyr is starting to explain the rules." He told them.

At the name of their host, Harumi grew uneasy, chills spiralled down her spine and scoffed, trying her best to hide her true feelings of discomfort around that brown-haired man.

They all entered the arena, with little to no hesitation. It wasn't like they had a choice to be here in the first place. They've gotten used to these spellcasters' special events.

Lloyd and Harumi quickly found their way as there wasn't much of a crowd and found their friends. They joined them and the fire ninja smiles at them. "Just in time." He said, turning his head to point at the two figures on stage, Matias remained by the doors in case anyone else was late.

"Rules are simple. I call this event: 'Crimson Hunt' because you all will be going up the Underworld!" Zephyr announced, hyping everyone up...or at least, that's what he thought he was doing. But, it was entirely the opposite effect. No one was as excited as he was, not even the enforcers for these games.

The elemental masters, no one in specific,

"Huh?"

"We really going to the Underworld now?"

"Is that even possible?"

They all expressed confusion at the rules of this current event.

A certain elemental master voiced out his thoughts, his voice made the room including Zephyr go silent for a couple of minutes. 

"Wait a second, don't you need the realm crystal for that?" Lloyd stepped in, genuinely confused. The realm crystal allowed them to travel to different realms with no problem. However, the underworld wasn't directly out of Ninjago, it was just underground.

Ava snickered, "Hell no. What kind of spellcasters do you think we are if we can't even perform a simple portal reformation?" She answered to his questions. She didn't want anyone getting scared and worrying no, she disliked cowards more than anything.

That caused a definite uproar. "Simple?!"
Garmadon and Harumi were the ones who reacted.

Their comment was completely glossed over by Zephyr, who continued on with the rules.

"Now it wouldn't be called Crimson Hunt if it wasn't an actual hunt, now, would it? You will all go to the Underworlds to retrieve me a certain flame. The first one who retrieves it and comes back alive, wins!"

The green-streaked spellcaster smiled greatly as him finishing explaining the rules was the smart of the tournament. He nodded over to Ava, who walked over to the fungus-red portal that stood in the middle of the stage.

All anxious and unprepared for such an event, the elemental masters all watched as thanks to the cyan-haired witch, an alluring red aura was emitted from the portal. It's a teleportation aura that would lead them directly to the Underworld.

Of course, they would never have one serious conversation throughout this entire week.

"Fiyah, oh yeah! Did you hear that everyone? We're really gonna get fire." The fire ninja exclaimed, quite excited for this event considering there was his element involved.

"Shhh, Kai." Nya sighed, feeling the second-hand embarrassment from where she stood.

There was no holding back from there, it was only a matter of time until Zephyr officially dismissed everyone and as his words were becoming audible, Harumi saw from the corner of her eyes how most elemental masters rushed inside of the glowing portal.

Didn't they suspect it to be dangerous?

"Wait hold on, isn't this a bit dangerous?!" Harumi cried out, trying to prevent everyone from rushing in blindly just like that. But it didn't work, all of her friends, some competitors that she didn't knew — all too eagerly stepped in.

Garmadon, who was watching from the sides along with Mirage and Cloud, "Hm, for once I agree. I think this is crossing the line a little." participated in the little be

"Don't get into this, Garmadon." Matias glanced over from the doors, he didn't look particularly annoyed like his friends were in this moment. But he had wanted to prevent as much conflict as possible between the host and the audience.

Harumi sighed as Matias had intervened. It was no use, they couldn't convince Zepnyr's mind after being silenced like that. She didn't want to this, she really didn't want to. Who knew what would happen to them in there?

"Come on, Rumi. I'll protect you. I promise. We'll go together and we won't split up." Lloyd smiled at her, not trying to help her to stop this event as they both knew it was no use. But also rather, he didn't leave her alone while everyone jumped in excitedly.

He was pretty curious to see what would be on the other side and would regret it if he didn't have the chance to venture out on his own. But he knew it would be an even bigger regret of his to leave Harumi alone when she first goes through the portal.

Agreeing finally to his promise, the master of destruction tried to smile for him and very slowly clung onto his arm. Just like that, they both went through the portal of the Underworld with no further problem.
~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing that had happened to them upon entering, was the appearance of furred-legged spiders with glowing blood red eyes and sharp fangs.

They were terrifying creatures, insects that the two have never seen before.

Yet again, the underworld was creepier than they had imagined. It was dark and it reeked of smoke and blood. The walls were made of flesh of FFS knows what not to mention the ceiling hung throned vines. The underworld was also the home of many unknown habitants.

"Lloyd...they don't look too friendly." Harumi pointed out the obvious, not even realizing that she was still clinging onto his arm for dear life. She was terrified especially due to the fact that she didn't know how to weaken these monsters down. These were spiders that didn't appear in Ninjago. They were also rather large in size, definitely bigger than Lloyd and Harumi together.

"Of course not. But stay close, it'll be fine."

There was one thing Lloyd Garmadon was thankful for. It was the fact that Matias didn't confiscate any of their weapons upon waking through that door. Just like that, he pulled out his golden blade from its sheath. He stared at the spiders in all seriousness.

He directly charged towards one of the spiders and slid under its legs when it raised one of them — taking the opportunity to strike back and slice one of its legs off. The spider had faltered and rocked back a little, giving Lloyd the opening to climb it and stab his sword directly through its head.

Shielding herself from the blood rain, Harumi sighed and checked her pockets. That's right, she had her weapons too, Zephyr didn't leave her defenceless in the real world unlike in her dreams. She pulled out a throwing knife and gave a smile, distancing herself from Lloyd a lige but still watching his back.

"Alright, I can defend us too!" She responded, picking up his determination from earlier, Lloyd was relieved with that and the two hurried on to take down another one of the Hell spiders' kind.

It was an easy battle if the two were working together that is. Enraged with having lost two of its kind, the furry spiders hissed and played no more with them. They lunged towards the green ninja; who barely missed them by a hair's breadth. He slid past the three other spiders among the five and took a deep breath.

"We may need to start running, they don't look very happy.." Lloyd warned his lover.

Ah yes, she could see that they weren't happy with the recent murder that happened. She nodded and ran past the three aggressive spiders that were thrice their size. She joined Lloyd and held his sleeve again.

"Okay, sure!" She agreed, not smiling at all, it was a sarcastic form of agreement. "Run where?" She revealed her real concerns and displeasure for their current problem.

Lloyd shrugged and just began running off, with Harumi tagging from behind him.
As they ran, the three other spiders chased after them. It really wasn't a pleasant adventure in search for some special fire, nope, none of that.

"I don't know! But..." the green ninja panted and took a break to look around. His surroundings were bland as the FFS would like, just immense red walls and creepy lava oceans closing in on them like a forbidden island.

Luckily, he had spotted a grey castle, more like a villain's fortress considering where they were, in the distance. He smiled and tapped Harumi by the shoulder. He had found them a place of refuge.

"Let's go there, they won't catch us in there!" He alerted her.

The two of them kept running, panting and looking around for any ways to get to the castle quicker. There was no other way than to cross that bridge. They didn't trust it very much, however.

"There's cracks and lava below, Lloyd!" Harumi kept following him, the daggers of her hand close to slipping out from her hold. She gritted her teeth and picked up the pace.

The green ninja sped up a little more and without a second thought, leaped across the bridge and the gap that she desperately warned him about. Harumi watched in awe as she heard him speak to her:

"That's not problem, now isn't it? We'll just do it like we had in the Tower of Hell!" He told her with a determined smile. Of course, this would be easy right? She could just pretend like they were running for their lives all over again — not like they already weren't with spiders crawling after them.

But, this was a different scenario now, Harumi would die if she made one mistake instead of spawning back to a checkpoint at the bottom of the tower.
She nodded to herself and followed Lloyd like he had done minutes ago, she leaped and leaped, not counting how many times she jumped. She just did, quickly running out of breath.

Little did they know, they were approaching a familiar fortress. They hadn't realized it at first, but, as they opened the gates and stepped inside. Harumi's eyes blinked and she very nervously walked inside, searching the halls and chests like Lloyd was doing.

"What's the matter, Harumi?" Lloyd noticed her slight change in confidence. He searched through the chests and shook his head at her, gesturing her to follow him in another room.

The room was empty, but there was a pedastool...that contained the special fire they were looking for.

'This is Garmadon's old fortress.'

She wanted to mention. But held back.

Approaching the light grey fire, she hesitantly shoots a glance over to the blonde ninja. "The fire...do I grab it?" She questioned, asking for advice on what to do here. Oh man, Kai would've loved to get the flame first.

Lloyd thought for a second. "It's a team effort. Take it and let's go back!" He advised her, staying near the exit of the fortress, he was making sure the spiders wouldn't be able to follow them.

Hearing that, Harumi nodded and grabbed the flame. It was a little difficult to pick up as it was a see-through type of fire, but after picking it up with enough grace and found herself and Lloyd being
brought back to Ninjago city.

It was disorientating. But that was what realm-travelling could do to a person who wasn't used to it.
~~~~~~~

The two of them were back, the flame was no longer in the girl's hands and she exhaled upon seeing the familiar main room where stood her friends and Zephyr, whom Harumi see from the corner of her eye, the furious look he gave.

She wanted to snicker but saw if would make no sense as she quickly changed back to his usual calm and cheerful demeanour.

"We did it, we actually did it.."

The green ninja walked over to the white haired girl and hugged her lightly. He couldn't have made it back without her.
"You did great out there,"

"Rumiiiii" Mirage called, beginning to cheer her and Lloyd on. Cloud and Garmadon smiled at the two, unaware that these two were the last ones standing after this hunt.

"I'm glad you two made it back," Garmadon mentioned quietly, but loud enough for them to hear. Harumi smiled at that.

The green ninja gave him a thumbs-up, "Of course we are, there's no way we wouldn't have made it back." He reassured the four-armed Oni, his father.

Mirage, who sat with the stands with Garmadon and Cloud, looked around and smiled as she knew that Lloyd and Harumi would be safe in terms of staying in the tournament. She was glad, really glad.

The wait time wasn't long at all as the last competitor flung himself out of the portal,
a silver flame in his hands. He looked up from the ground and saw Lloyd and Harumi walking towards him.

"Karloff don't understand...how did friends get fire so quickly...?"

He was genuinely confused as to wonder how those two were able to get back so quickly.

The blonde was the one to answer, he placed a hand on the master of metal's shoulder whilst the white haired girl placed her hand on his other shoulder.
They both knew that Karloff was the one Zephyr wanted out, leaving the two of them alone as the last ones standing.

"We just got lucky, I guess. We had no idea that the fortress we were running for contained one of the flames." He explained, feeling a little guilty for smiling in this moment.

This meant Karloff was going home and the competition will progress without him.

As the event drew to a close, the rest of the competitors including Karloff who was escorted out, made their way back to their rooms to rest up.

The final event was coming to an opening. It would be Lloyd against Harumi, both elemental masters who loved one another.

Walking through the hallway with her friends, Harumi was smiling, proud of her win. She wanted to go back to her room and rest up, get ready for the next event.

Her smile dropped however, upon seeing Zephyr, Ava and Matias cross them. At first, she grew defensive but remembered that Garmadon, Mirage and Lloyd were with her. She gulped, knowing those three didn't believe so easily in her stories.

At least, that's what she believed.

Zephyr got to the point, he didn't take a moment to stop Harumi during their paths-crossing but he did manage to get to her....via a whisper.

Smiling and content, Zephyr crossed Harumi and stopped to be beside her.

"What do you want from me?" She whispered, watching as Garmadon, Mirage and Lloyd walk off with one another, not noticing she came to a stop.

He whispered simple words:

"I'll get to the point. The last event is a crucial one and I'd like that energy the green ninja possesses for further experiments. So I'll make this very clear: you will be losing the next event."

Harumi growled, shaking her head. She wasn't going to let that happen, no way. What if he goes after her friends if she does, what if he hurts her?

No, what will he do to Lloyd, what was he planning?

"You will listen to me. Either you allow Lloyd to win or you become champion l and have your precious green ninja die." Zephyr proposed a little trade.

It didn't look promising at all. Harumi didn't like this.

She expressed her discomfort in front of the spellcaster.

"Ridiculous, you said you needed him. Why kill him?"

Zephyr knew what to say, he always had a plan.

"Easy. I'll strip away his powers before getting rid of him." Zephyr smirked.

Her eyes grew wide at that.

No, no, no no no no, he can't do that!

Turning her back to yell at the spellcaster and his friends,

"No! You cannot do that, I'm not letting you!!" She raged, clenching her fists. Purple mist was summoned through her fingers and her calm stance drastically changed.

The three figures that she had been walking with had stopped and turned around.

Mirage looked confused, as she saw Harumi talking with nobody.

"Harumi, are you okay?"

She didn't know the full story, she didn't know who was there wth her.

"What..?"

Dammit, he used his spells again, didn't he?

'Where did he go?'

She took a second to exhale and look down to her shoes.

Throw the event....and risk having Lloyd get hurt for his own experimentations?

Ridiculous,
~~~~~~~~~~~

She was running, she woke up to herself running.

"What? Where am I?"

The skies were a clear blue, it was a nice day today. The clouds were out and the hallways to Borg Tower were clean.

What, Borg Tower? Why was she here of all places?

Harumi was running, she found herself looking at her surroundings.

There was a small white figure in front of her. It barked and barked, gaining her attention even more.

She didn't recall ever running nor returning back to Ninjago after the event. So that meant...

Finally, a good dream. Finally, what she wanted after all this time.

"Hey, wait up, Cloud!"

She had recognized the small puppy in front of her, even if it took her a few moments to adjust to this dream world.

The puppy and the girl, playfully chasing each other around. They ran through the halls of the tower and made it outside.

She wanted to bring Cloud to the park, she wanted to play with the flowers and be under such a brimming sun.

By the time the glass doors opened and they were outside in Ninjago city, Harumi saw the parks a few miles away.

Not a problem, they would cross the streets.

Still running after each other, Cloud and Harumi crossed the streets.

The clouds darkened, the blue skies were replaced with black and red ones to represent this horrid dystopia.

A truck drove right in front of them.

"WAIT!!!!"

A striking pain was felt by them both that day.

Blood spilled, mixed of hers and her beloved Cloud.

She blinked, not processing what had happened. She turned her head to the side.

Sirens were heard, people gathered, the truck was parked in front of her very eyes.

She reached a hand out.

They were taking Cloud away from her.

Was she okay?

Her vision turned pitch black.
~~~~~~~

She found herself waking up in a white room, it smelled like alcohol and wipes.

And blood.

She had a soft mattress, she recognized this situation. With the beeping machines and the oxygen provider up her nose. Her eyes began to flutter open.

There were people who were watching down on her. She knew them, those were the ninja, her friends.

"Harumi! You're awake, thank FFS!" Nya sobbed, wrapping her arm around the white haired girl.

But only one concern was on her mind.

"Where's Cloud?"

She wondered, showing no visible sign of worry. She just wanted to know where she was.

Ah, she wished she stayed oblivious a little longer.

Lloyd began to frown. He then opened his mouths to tell her words that she wished she didn't hear in this moment:

"Cloud...didn't make it."

"..."

The room had gone silent for a life while.

Then, Kai spoke to the white haired patient. She attentively listened to him, despite her bigger pains coming to bite her in the mind.

Cloud was...really gone.

So quickly too, she recalled such happiness with her pet.

The very best pet...

"The doctors said she was pregnant with puppies. Nix is with Garmadon, saying their goodbyes." The fire ninja calmly explained to her.

So Cloud was gonna become a mother.

She was gonna have puppies and all of those babies, including her, were dead.

All gone, just like that.

"I see..."

Lloyd and Kai nodded at her. They allowed her to feel whatever emotions she had — they didn't let her keep them all in.

However, the green ninja felt the need to address a little something.

"By the way, there's two visitors for you." Lloyd said with a tiny smile. He walked over to the doors since Harumi couldn't stand to open them herself and in came in two figures.

A brown haired boy with a green streak and a blonde haired boy with a light blue bandana.

Harumi tensed. She knew exactly who these people are.

Zephyr and Matias Helix.

"Sorry Harumi; didn't mean for the dream to go that far." Matias stepped forward, not intending to scare the girl in the slightest. He was always the most reasonable-looking among the three spellcasters.

He honestly seemed like he followed them along most of the time, like he was dragged into all of this.

Harumi, even if she made that connection, still backed away from them as much as she could.

Oh yeah, she was scared of them, really scared.

"I take full credit for this dream by the way." Matias turned over to Zephyr, a disappointed expression fixed on his face.

"Oh hush now, Matias! It's not time yet!" The green-streaked spellcaster snickered, staring at the mortified Harumi as her surroundings quickly faded into pitch darkness.

The dream world pushed her away and she woke up in a dimly-lit room.
~~~~~~~~~

"Huh..?"

Something wasn't right. She couldn't figure out what it was but..

She struggled to stand up from her bed...no, she wasn't on her bed but rather...the ground?

She turned her head to the left, catching a man having read a book, close it and stood up to greet her. She knew who it was, he stood out too much to the naked eye.

There was something else she wanted to inquire though. The reason why she couldn't move her wrists and legs freely...

"Garmadon, why am I chained?" She asked, raising a brow. She wasn't genuinely mad, just a little...

Ah, she hated this position so much. It reminded her back in those days when Zackery...

She gulped. No, she didn't want to start thinking of those times again.

Garmadon glanced at her, he didn't look concerned at her confusion nor even felt bad that she was all tied up again.

Really, why was she tied up?

"It was apart of the plan that we all discussed earlier. I'm supposed to be watching you for now." He explained — well, it didn't clear up her confusion though.

Plan, what plan?

No, who was he planning with?

Could it be that Lloyd, Mirage and Cloud all discussed something without her?

So what, will they all just follow her around and wait for her to be in a vulnerable position to knock her out and chain her again?

All because they didn't want her talking about her nightmares anymore?

Growling slightly, Harumi turned away from him and struggled through the chains. She puffed.

"Fine! I'm so uncool because of my nightmares that I get excluded."

She continued to struggle, done that they were all doing this to her — done that she was always out of the gang, done that no one even tried to listen to her.

Deep down; she felt an immense sadness.

Why, was it really that hard for people to try and emphasize with her?

Kicking the ground below her, she whimpered and growled, flashing anger and misery entering her mind. She didn't know how to react about all this, didn't know what to do.

It was Zepnyr's fault, it had to be.

Maybe if he stopped tampering with her dreams, she wouldn't have had these nightmares in the first place.

Maybe, she wouldn't be thinking so much about...

Garmadon, fed up with her struggles, even if it was harsh of him, he made a deal with his son and the former oni princess. He picked his book back up and snatched spare earplugs he had from the end side table.

The world went silent for him, no more fury, no more worries.

Just him and the world that was waiting for him through these pages.

'Trust me, it's for your own safety, Harumi.'

As Harumi found no reason to continue on, her back slouched against the wall and she exhaled, tears running down from her cheeks from the endless frustration.

Her wrists were cut open and blood trickled down to her knees.

She stared at the ceiling, not even the dim lights providing her a source, she began to think that the light from her eyes were fading.

She turned her head to the doorframe, the fact that the door was half opened and she could see halfway through the hallway was bothering her.

Her eyes squinted.

She saw someone there, standing so discreetly.

At first she thought she was dreaming again, what, with the fact that she saw a figure staring right at her.

It was no surprise that it turned out to be Zephyr.

Really, was Lloyd right?

Was she becoming obsessed to the man that even borderline stalking him led to her replacing everyday objects and people to him?

She wanted to shout out to Garmadon, that she saw him through the frame. But even so, she didn't trust her mind in this moment.

She sighed, shutting her eyes and crying softly to herself.

Ah, they wouldn't care if she claimed to have seen him, yeah? They'd just think she was going insane again.

Maybe it was just the blood loss and lack of sleep.
~~~~~~~~~
A/N:  Hey hey! Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, the tournament of elements is almost coming to its final chapters, the big event is coming up!! How do you think it's all gonna play out! Predictions in comments are always welcome! Thank you for reading!! See you all next week! Also yes, the chapter title was inspired by Derivakat's song for the DreamSMP: "Welcome Home"! It's been my jam lately ngl haha!