They were down in the canteen for this time of day. It was a ruckus like usual, it looked more like a school's canteen as the tables spoke among themselves. The only ones isolated from the other table groups are the ninja, but it did not mean that they weren't familiar with the other elemental masters.

Swirling her spoon in the bowl of porridge that was today's meal, Harumi sighed. She halted down at the bland-looking mix and thought to herself. She certainly wasn't paying attention to the topic spoken at her group's table right now.

She was thinking about something else, no, hooded people, the ones she saw the night before.

She hasn't come down to the bottom of this, on who they were and if she was subtle enough.
She lifts the spoon to her lower lip, allowing the porridge to drip back down onto the bowl.
Ah, why must it come to this? Why couldn't she just participate in this tournament peacefully alongside her other friends?

"Harumi."

She heard her name, or, was it a trick?

She paid no mind, continuing to zone out.

The canteen soon became a blur for her, she couldn't hear what the other tables were talking about, no, they just blurred.

"Harumi. Seriously."

She didn't see a certain cyan-haired woman walk over, the mischievous witch.

It was only when she saw that woman's lips move to announce something—that she acknowledged the concern sitting right beside her.

"Harumi, snap out of it. Ava Zevada is talking to us." The blonde-haired Lloyd nudged her on the shoulder.

At that, she immediately snapped out of her thoughts, like wanted. She quietly apologized for zoning out for too long and turned her head to face the witch that was now present in the canteen with them.

Ava Zevada, One of Zephyr's little helpers.

The ninjas kept an eye at her smiling form. Something about her being here was unpleasant, way too unpleasant for their own liking.

"The next event you will all be participating in is one of my personal favourites," the witch laughed, walking from side to side. "It is simply called Tower of Hell. As its name states, that's entirely what it is!" She exclaimed.

There was silence.

"That's not helpful." Jay whispered to Cole.

As if hearing his thoughts, Ava eyed him down and grinned. "I'm sure you're all thinking, 'what exactly is the Tower of Hell?' Well, I've got a surprise for you all. Why don't I just show you?" She nodded to them and extended a hand forward.

Everyone was confused as to why she suddenly brought her hand to tower over their heads. Ava looked at them all and:

"You'll really like this, really."

Harumi didn't realize the new change of environment, as she was nervous out of her mind. The name of the event didn't seem too promising.
~~~~~~~~
They were inside this cobblestone tower. One peer at the ceiling and the elemental masters were met with colourful moving platforms and ladders. Harumi gulped as where she was is exactly what it seemed to be. She didn't even try to theorize where they might be, they were inside the Tower of Hell.

"The Tower of Hell is an obstacle course built by your dear host. You will have ten minutes to complete it and get out of here. The last three to make will be eliminated of this tournament." Ava Zevada declared with a small smile.

"Wait hold on, you're saying we really have ten minutes to get to the top?—" Kai voiced out his
concerns. There was no way they'd make it to the top in ten minutes.

Ava chuckled, "That's what I said, wasn't it?" Even with her amused tone, she was somewhat strict in her voice. She didn't feel bad in the slightest that they had to go through this entire course.

"I don't know if I can do this, honestly.." Harumi admitted to her friends quietly. Of course, she did have the skills, that was no question. It was the confidence to go at such a fast speed was what worried her.

Whenever she'd throw herself from roof to roof, she had a break once and a while. But for an obstacle course like this one, she can't stop to calm her nerves; she needed to keep going.

The blonde-haired boy placed his hand on her shoulder momentarily before smiling at her.
"You'll do okay, Rumi. I know you will. Good luck." He whispered back.

No, you know what, she can do this.

Yeah; maybe she just needed more confidence now a days. But having her Lloyd and her friends by her side,

Harumi takes a deep breath and follows the others towards the starting line. Lights tainted in red, yellow and green begin to light up.

1....2....3....

"May the best elemental master win." Ava reminded, crossing her arms.

It was at zero, that this event all began.

The elemental masters all charged the ladders in front of them—grabbing onto the wood roughly and urged their bodies to climb up despite the sudden momentum from the charge right now.

Harumi jumped off the platform that they had all been standing minutes ago and flung onto the ladders. She began to climb, panting already as she grew even more nervous. She heard people falling back down to the start—forcing them to be automatically teleported over to the main start all over again, it must be Ava's magic controlling this entire tower.

Then this also meant she was able to make this tower collapse if she pleased.

With only that thought, she continued to climb faster, not wanting to end up "dying" and restarting the whole course all over again.

In front of her, there was Lloyd and Kai, as expected of them. Nya was grabbing onto the ladder beneath her, she knew she must continue.

Arriving at the top, they stood on another platform, there were flashing beams that they needed to avoid stepping on. Even if she was at a far enough distance, she could still feel the heat being emitted by those exact beams.

If someone were to step on them, they'd be toasted, that's for sure. It made the girl look around, contemplating if there was another way to get past this obstacle; it seemed not.

She halted at the beams, no, she can't just run in blind like that. She needed to make a plan for this.

No, she didn't have time.

Bracing herself for impact, she charged in and yelped as her boots were close to touching the rotating beams glued to the platform. She jumped, tossed herself over to the other side and landed on her back.

She immediately stood up, her eyes widening as she couldn't believe she survived that one.

Harumi physically stopped at the sight of the next course. It was parkour and she saw how the green ninja was already getting started with her.

This was no problem, she knew how to do it with ease. She was just scared she lacked the practice, having not done it for so many months consecutively.

"What are you waiting for?" She hears a robotic voice call in front of her. She lifts her head up and spots the nindroid jumping on the blocks, getting to the other side, he was doing the parkour.

"I don't know if I can do it!" Harumi tells him, reluctantly stepping over to the edge, not getting any momentum from stepping back.

In front of her, continuing to run, Lloyd, Zane and Kai turned their heads to face her.

"What do you mean," Lloyd started, rolling his sleeves up before jumping onto the next block,
"You purged Ninjago once, you were the skilled Quiet One, Rumi." He pointed out.

As much as she didn't want to be reminded of her past, he was right, so awfully right that it made her sick that she was doubting herself now of all times.

'Why am I so scared to fall?'

She didn't know exactly.

'I've fallen many times before and it hurt. But I still stood up nonetheless.'

That was true.

She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, she jumped across and found herself—having landed on the block right up front.

She did it. Now, there was nothing to be afraid of, right?

She kept jumping across, concentrating as best as she can at the parkour. She narrowed her brows, not wiping away the sweat beads forming.

She continued to cross, she held her breath.

"One...two...three.."

Her legs tingled each time they landed on a new block.

"Four...five.."

She made it across with ease. She exhaled, glad that the fear just now washed away for good.

She's definitely got this. She could do it, just a once and life time obstacle course, right? She needed to have fun with this.

So why was it so stressful?

Was it because Ava Zvezda was watching below? No, was it because she knew very well what happened to competitors afterwards?

As Harumi was about to turn back and continue the obstacle course, she found herself staring at a tall wall, in which the participants had to climb a ladder.

But wait, she believes she had heard a thud.

Harumi turns her head back to stare at the floor below, there was nothing down there. If someone fell, they'd hit the ground and spawn back at the start, a painful landing that's for sure.

....

Wait, did Lloyd just go down?
~~~~~~~~~~~~

She didn't know whether she wanted to climb these ladders without Lloyd, she knew for a fact though that Kai was up ahead. Maybe if she was lucky, she could overtake him....that is, if she stopped standing around and continued.

No, she unfortunately shakes her head and decides officially that she'll be waiting for the green-eyed boy. She peered over to the beginning and had in fact seen him jumping from beam to beam, avoiding getting burned.

He sure was a speedy one, who did he climb the ladders so quickly without burning his fingers? She didn't know.

The wait for the green ninja didn't take long at all. Crossing the parkour, he raised a brow upon seeing Harumi standing there by the ladders. He halted, not being a jerk as to pass over her.

"What are you doing?" He inquired, genuinely confused as to why she was just standing there.

Seeing as he stopped for her, and honestly appreciated it, Harumi gestured him to follow her up the ladders.

"I was waiting for you. I saw you fell." She explained to him.

The two of them climbed up the ladder. They met up with a crater, no, well, at least that's what it looked like. But if they looked around more, it seemed to be a volcano.

Lloyd had thanked her quickly.

"Crud, what's this?" Harumi tilted her head, not liking the sight of a volcano here.

"Looks like a dropper." Lloyd said briefly.

She gave him wide eyes, not exactly understanding even if the term was already self-explanatory.

"A what?" She voiced her confusion.

Lloyd was glad to explain. "A dropper, you know; when you just let yourself fall in." He had said before his fingers made their way to latch onto hers. It genuinely surprised Harumi.

"Come on, we'll do it together." He gave her a small smile. The white haired girl curled her fingers around his hand.

"What if we miss?" She was still concerned, was that why she agreed to hold his hand?

Lloyd edged them forward— "Doesn't look to have any specific landing. I'm sure the ground down there is safe for us." He observed.

She inhaled, okay, she trusted him far too much to back away now.

She gave a slight nod at him and understanding, Lloyd pulled on her hand, pushing them both off the edge and jumping into the volcano.

The first thing they realized; was the sudden climate change as they fell deeper into the volcano. It was excruciating, they felt the heat rise and it hasn't even been a minute they were in here.

However, most importantly, their prediction was correct. The ground allowed them to bounce back up in the air and eventually make a soft landing. Problem is though, the more they stayed on the ground, their feet burned.

"It sure is warm in here." Lloyd commented absentmindedly. He let go of Harumi's hand, figuring that he shouldn't hold onto her all competition now. He began to look around for any indication on where to continue.

"Now, how does this thing work..." the green ninja looked around, not noticing the white haired girl running over to a glowing red button to the side.

There were moving platforms going from side to side. Lloyd and Harumi had noticed earlier that they had the possibility to align and form a bridge if only they were in place.

"Maybe that's what this button is for," Harumi brought her fingers to push on the red button, she addressed to no one in particular, she was mainly talking to herself.

The platforms that were moving from earlier pause don their movement and formed the bridge like Harumi had wanted. She gave a smile and excitedly turned back to Lloyd.

"Okay, see look, bridge! Let's go!" After warning him and allowing him to take note that she'd be running off without him, Lloyd had followed behind her. Though, he did take note of one thing.

Tick.....tick.....tick....

Ah yes, that's the sound of a timer going down.

He clenched his fists and continued running, not even realizing that he passed Harumi. He just kept running and Harumi nervously called his name to ask what was wrong.

"There's a timer, run as fast as you can!" He explained to her, speeding up a bit more.

Her eyes widened in realization to what he just said— "what?!" She didn't know whether she was running fast enough.

Her answer was given to her the minute she heard the ground beneath her sizzle. She didn't want to check behind her but judging by the sound, she knew that the platforms used to create the bridge was falling down.

She gulped. This one was going to be close.

There was a vine swinging in front of them, it was meant for them to take when they had avoided falling in from the collapsing bridge.

Being in front, Lloyd leaped in the air grabbed the vine with two of his hands. He huffed and immediately turned his head back to check on Harumi. He saw that she was still running, then,

The block under her foot broke into half, its pieces falling in the lava along with the girl.

At least, that's what would have happened if Lloyd didn't witness the scene.

Having trained for this many times, he slid one his hand off from the vine—involuntarily cutting it open and cling onto his lover's wrist, catching her in time from the fall.

It made it even harder for him to keep hold as the vine was swinging at an incredible speed. But nonetheless, "I've got you, hang on!" Lloyd cried out as he attempted to pull her up.

"I'm okay down here, even if it's really warm! I'm guessing it's just Ava's magic, special effects, you know?" She told him, trying to find a safe spot, hence a place without thorns from the vine, to grab on and help Lloyd.

She wrapped one hand around the very end of the vine and seeing as it was safe to grab on, gave Lloyd a nod and let go of his bleeding hand to hold onto the vine with both of her hands. The two climbed up and made their way into a new colourful platform.

There wasn't any blocks for them to jump across from. Instead, the walls only closed in more. The two understood what they had to do.

"Wall jumps." They both said in unison, smiling to each other as they realized they were in sync.

Lloyd took a step forward, being obviously confident in such an obstacle. "Do you know how to do them?" He asked the white haired girl.

Harumi thought for a second. Had she ever done consecutive wall-jumping before? She knows that she used walls to bounce back from when fighting her enemies. Hmm...this could be a tough one for her but she was willing to try.

"Don't worry, the key to these is to not stop, or else you lose momentum. Even if you feel like you're gonna fall, you won't!" Lloyd said. "Due to momentum, you'll reach the other wall in time. Now come on, we shouldn't waste time."

Both took a step back and ran off the edge of the platform they were just standing from.

Harumi panted, following him exactly how he wanted her to, they jumped from wall to wall.

Even if he had said to not be nervous nor stop, Harumi can't help but think of what would happen to her if she did. Would she fall in the lava and return to the start?

FSM, please no.

After all this way, she can't afford to fail. That's why, she mustn't stop.

"Haha, you can stop shaking now." Lloyd's voice brought her back to reality. Wait...was she overthinking things again?

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at her trembling hands, she clenched them, allowing the shaking to not be visible anymore. She didn't notice they had made it across, was she that focused?

"Oh, oops.." she gave a nervous laugh.

Lloyd led her out of the volcano-like course and they were back inside of the Tower of Hell, with ridiculous obstacles swarming their view of above.
~~~~~~~~~~

What lies in front of them this time was an unusual sight. It was a checkered-path, the blocks of it were sticking out from the ground.
The blocks that did stick out also happened to be the same colour as the deadly beams.

Harumi figured as much as that they just needed to cross this boarding without touching the glowing parts of it.

Lloyd chuckled, easy enough. Maybe even too easy for a ninja like him.

"I'll race you." He suggested to the white-haired empress.

And for once, "You're on!"

Harumi was confident with the course.

Lloyd and Harumi have done something like this before, well then blonde had anyways. Master Wu would tell him to avoid certain pieces of the ground during training hours to work on his stealth.

It was basically a " Don't touch the ground" challenge for the young Lloyd Garmadon at the time and he enjoyed it greatly. To experience it all over again with someone he loves and cares about though, is a surreal feeling.

The two easily crossed the checkered-board, when jokingly nudging each other when their paths crossed, of course no one actually toppled over and fell off the course. That shows how much experience they've had over the years.

After landing on a platform that was safe. The two panted and laughed, they had done it, they crossed the long checkered-board.

"Let's call it a draw." The green ninja said, joking in the slightest.

But, playing along, "Sure sure, sore loser." Harumi replied.

He jokingly rolled his eyes and began walking towards their next obstacle....

...

"Huh?"

It was just a yellow line, that was all.

The two walked closer to it. Would they need to jump over it too? Well, it was a different colour than the platform they were standing from though.

"What do we do with it?" Harumi asked, kneeling down to observe the coloured line.

Lloyd, who was still stood-up, eagerly walked closer to the yellow line. Well, it was worth a shot though, right? If they were to get teleported back to the start, then dammit.

That would be their faults.

They both stepped on the yellow line—and were pleased with the surprise they had not seen coming.

"Woahhh! I did not know that we'd start running really fast all of a sudden!" Harumi gasped, running behind Lloyd. Even with her pace being increased by a lot, she still hasn't caught up to him.

"Me neither! It's really cool!" He laughed, finding himself soon halting at the sight of three multiple island-shaped platforms.

Two were on the left and one was the right. He understood what to do.

Picking up the pace again, noticing his speed hasn't ran out yet, Lloyd jumped from left to right, using the islands as his ground before jumping over to the next.

The obstacle course laid out for them now had become easy, way too easy now for their own liking.

But most importantly, the two were having fun now.

Laughing and cheering each other on, they climbed the ladder leading to their next obstacle—the last one, they saw.

It was a two metre jump. There was a massive chasm separating the finish line and where they currently stood.

However,

"That's them! They're finally here!"

Harumi and Lloyd heard Kai calling to them, they saw how happy he looked as he waved over to them.

All of them, their friends were right across.

That's why,

"Let's jump this together, Harumi."

They can't fail now.

The two locked hands once more, they held each other tightly. Their eyes were fixed on jumping down onto the finish line. At this height, surely the air time will allow them to skip the entire chasm, right?

"Let's do this, then!"

Raising their hands in the air, the two lovers jumped off from the platform they had climbed up to. Laughing faces, happy smiles, they looked just like children during a rainy day as they prepared to jump into the biggest puddle in the garden.

They had made it across, the ones already there had cheered them on. It wasn't a reunited team but it was better than ending up last—plus, they did this course together.

Harumi enjoyed every second of it.

She blushed and tightened her grip on his fingers and as Lloyd had noticed that. She giggled and lifted their hands up in the air, as if declaring themselves as winners.

In reality, they wanted to signal everyone that they had it made it across.

"We did it!" She exclaimed.

"Huh, Zane and Skylor aren't here?" Lloyd looked around, having noticing that his friends weren't here to celebrate with them.

It couldn't be right...?

Kai sadly shook his head. He was the most devastated out of all of them here. But yet, he still forced a smile to greet Harumi and Lloyd to the finish line.

"Sadly, they were sent home already." He explained.

"Well whatever we do next, we'll dedicate it to everyone who got eliminated so far," Harumi stepped forward, approaching the two boys and made a stance. She was good at being heard, making declarations. She turned from side to side, looking from Kai to Lloyd.

"We'll win this competition for them."

Understanding what she wanted to dedicate and frankly agreed with her,

"Sure thing."

"Yeah."

Respectively, Lloyd and Kai supported her.

Among the crowds by the finish line, the female Spellcaster glanced over to the master of enemy and of destruction. She hummed to
herself, curiosity appearing appearing on her unpleased look.

"Teaming now? Oh my. We cannot have that."
~~~~~~~~~~

As the event drew to a close and the eliminated were supposedly sent back to Ninjago city, the rest of the participants found themselves all back in their rooms. Some were out but it was ill-advised, as for Harumi, she stayed in her room, pondering over on the obstacle course her and her friends had went through.

She had not realized the white-furred Cloud tilting her head in confusion as she didn't receive a response from the question she had asked several minutes ago: "Rumi, you okay? You aren't responding." The pup growled multiple times, trying to catch her attention.

She was ignored as always, Harumi was looking out the window. But there was nobody there, Cloud thinks she just enjoyed the tranquil surroundings that the island give off. Even if it was Zephyr's island overall, it was magnificent, an exact replica of Chen's but more modern.

"Harumi. Come on."

She was humming a familiar tune.

Cloud recalls the lyrics: "Spider's in the house, sleep...sleep."

The puppy takes a chance and shifts forward.

"Well, I talked with Lloyd and—"

That got her attention. She turned her head to face Cloud and the puppy frowned in slight annoyance.

"When is he not on your mind—" she was a little frustrated.

She didn't twitch at all, just stared at the puppy.

"What did you both talk about?" She asked.

"Well, we just talked about how you were feeling lately. He says that he's been observing the things I have." Cloud stated. There were other things they talked about, but she didn't want to mention.

Lloyd had told her that he and her would keep an eye on Harumi. If Cloud were to actually tell that to her owner, the whole operation would be ruined anyways. So, she kept her silence and nudged it off.

She jumped off the bed and trotted her way over to her doggy bed. "I'll be going to sleep anyways. I'm tired from watching the entire event." She made an excuse.

Harumi gave a small smile. "That's alright, Cloud."

And so, the white puppy fell asleep. What Harumi didn't plan however, was to grow bored and end up falling asleep too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having read a book she brought along, the empress found herself nodding off to sleep. She didn't want this to happen, this meant another episode of unexplained nightmares. But, sadly, due to the exhaustion from both participating and restless night, she dozed off to sleep just like Cloud had done.

Another nightmare, it was no surprise anymore. Harumi opened her eyes to an area that she rarely visits. Water flowed from her side and the place reeked the scent of wild rats—of pollution. She was in a sewer. She was quick to cover her nose and let out a disgusted noise as she tried to look around for any indication on how to get out of this place.

Footsteps, running ones, she heard them a few tunnels away. Growing anxious at who it could possibly be, she looked around for the next corner and having found one, she hid behind it and watched the scene go as it went. She spotted several people running through the sewers, she was more than a little confused.

Lloyd, Garmadon, Mirage, Cloud, Nix, Mistaké and Opal were running. She had began to notice a pattern here, it was always those seven people in peril, where were the rest of the resistance? She curiously nods her head at the sight and reluctantly follows along.

"I sense Harumi is nearby." The four-armed Oni lord say to the rest of the group. It was he and the blonde-boy running in front, they were supposedly leading the rest of the group. Having heard that, the rest of the group nod at the oni lord. Harumi, who was following along rather slowly, grew even more confused.

Right, this was just a dream, that means she'd see another version of herself before long.

They reached a gate and there, the white haired girl saw two opponents against each other. The group waited right behind the gate and observed, trying to find ways to get

"It's not worth it, Harumi!" Mirage yelled, placing her hands on the bars of the gate. By the way she gripped them, it could have been mistaken that her claws were ready to rip the bars off.

The white haired girl peered over at what they were looking at, ah, so she understands now. The two opponents were herself and Zephyr, the host of the tournament she was participating in the real world.

Having heard the former oni princess call out to her, the white-haired girl who was fighting against Zephyr, turned back and her eyes widened at the sight of her friends. She pushed her sword back, thus pushing her enemy away along with it and ran to the gates herself.

"What are you doing?!" She cried out, looking at everyone there with an angered expression.

Lloyd was the one to speak to her, he ran up to the bars and held one hand on the bars. "We're saving you of course!" He didn't think he'd need to point that one out.

Their conversation was cut short, Zephyr was approaching, his book and staff in hand. He smirked and waited patiently for the lovers to part from one another. "Now now, this fight isn't over yet, turn your attention back to me." He says.

Harumi hissed and shook her head at Lloyd, holding back onto her sword and rushing away from her friends. "You must go, it's not safe here anymore. Save yourselves!" She begged them all, now having focused her attention back on her enemy like he wanted.

"Not without you! We're not leaving you behind!" Lloyd protested, shaking the bars. He struggled to crush them, he desperately wanted to help her. "Not without you, Harumi, Harumi, don't go!" He begged.

It was no use, the fighting has resumed. They fought and fought.

"Dammit." Lloyd growled, lowering his head to the ground, his hands still clung to the bars and shook. He wanted to help her—save her. So that's why, he wasn't going to give up just yet. Even if she told him to leave already. He turned to his father, Lord Garmadon.

"Break the gates, we need to save her." He commanded.

For once, "I'll try." Garmadon abided and nodded, he approached the gates and attempted to crush the barriers open.

It wasn't working. The gates were still in place.

Seeing that her friends were still there for her, she frowned and kicked Zephyr away. She can't give up, she needs to return to her friends back safely. That's why, she ran away from him after kicking the spell caster and ran for the gates—

"Wait!!!" She reached a hand out for Lloyd.

Zephyr recovered rather quickly. He chuckled and prepared a spell. Water formed in his hands.

Harumi shook the bars, trying to help Garmadon break them.

The water launched towards Harumi—and captured her like a cat pouncing on its prey.

"NOOOO!" Lloyd yelled out through the half-crushed gates. He reached a hand out, mortified at the spellcaster, who now surrounded his lover in an orb of water.

He was drowning her. Harumi couldn't escape.

Watching this scene unfold before her very scenes was too much for the real Harumi.

Panting, she shook her head and ran off in the opposite direction, tears of frustration and fear escaping her eyes.

She went back to the sewers.

She couldn't do this anymore, she didn't want to be reminded that she was deemed to fail in the future. Even if it was just a dream, even if this wasn't reality at all...she knows that the spellcasters want her to fail...

Focusing on just running away, Harumi didn't pay attention to her surroundings. She made sure not to fall in the green-coloured streams of water and made sure not to make any remarks about the smell of the sewers. She hurried and hurried—

"What a surprise, hello there, Harumi."

She had bumped into a woman, with shiny cyan-haired and magenta eyes.

She knew this woman. With bated breath, she backed away from the spellcaster that suddenly appeared to her.

"Ava Zevada. What are you doing here?" She questioned, her eyes showing hostility at the woman.

Ava sneered, "I was thinking of letting you off the hook tonight. But..." she paused to stare at the side of the wall for a brief moment of time.

Harumi was silent, she waited for the spellcaster to say what she wanted.

With glowing eyes, emitting vengeance, "Did you really think I didn't see what you did during my event? You and Lloyd teamed up." She was appalled.

Ah, so this was what this was all about.

Ava Zevada didn't like her teaming with another competitor here. So she pulled a farce.

"It was worth it, so very worth it. I don't regret a thing, I'm glad we got through it together." Harumi protested, not backing down.

The spellcaster hummed quietly. She had noticed Harumi's perseverance, she wasn't liking it. "Hmm,"

"If you intend to disobey me and Zephyr, I shall have to control your dreams a bit more. Were you scared?"

"Shut up. I wasn't! I..." Harumi was at a loss for words. She really was scared after seeing what happened. She didn't want to have to fight Zephyr.

She was scared. This could very well be foreshadowing to the future.

She didn't want this, she didn't want this at all.

And Ava had seen that, she saw that fear rising in the girl's face.

"I thought so. Goodbye now." Her fingers raised to wave at Harumi.

Then, it all went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~

Having woken up from that strange dream, Ava Zevada's farce on the white haired girl, Harumi looked around. She was cold, her hands were trembling and she looked around the room she was in.

The mattress felt different or maybe that's because she still hadn't recovered from the cold cement flooring from the sewers.

She turned over to smile lightly at Cloud, whom she saw was still sleeping peacefully.

She slipped out of bed and sighed, not being able to fall back asleep from that nightmare. Damn that wretched spellcaster, they really weren't making things here fun.

As she shut the door and stepped into the hallways, she had intended to sneak off outside for a walk when suddenly, she had heard commotion from outside—there was a discussion going on. Curious, she followed the sound and it led her into this small cavern...it was Zephyr's hideout, she soon finds out.

No, it was an announcement. Tonight, the three spellcasters were standing on a stage in front of a good handful of men who worked for them.

What Harumi realizes as well was that Zephyr, Ava and Matias all wore different clothing. They all went for a formal wear instead of barren cloaks.

She hid behind the corner of the exit and listened through.

She heard...unpleasant information.

The blonde-haired spellcaster raised a brow, he had turned over his head a little and noticed the cyan-haired woman growling to herself.

"What's with that look, Ava?" He questioned, a little confused with her behaviour.

Ava snarked at him, turning away from him and avoiding eye contact. "Nothing, Harumi just pisses me off, that's all." She snapped.

Matias crossed his arms. "Harumi?" He showed his confusion.

Why would Ava be suddenly interested in Harumi? Usually, Zephyr was the one who controlled the dreams.

Having heard his two friends having a conversation without him, "What did you do?" Zephyr wasn't pleased with Ava's confession.

Rolling her eyes at the 'authorities' sliding in, she still refuses to look him in the eye. She felt antagonized but these two people. She didn't want to hear their opinions.

"I messed with her dreams tonight, that's all. No big deal." She brushed it off as a little concern. She wished to get on with what they were gathered here for.

Matias, a little shocked, "And why would—" was interrupted when Ava jabbed right back at him.

"Zephyr said I was welcome to control her dreams any time. He said he owed me after I helped him out that one time." She huffed, crossing his arms, shooting a glare at the brown-haired Zephyr.

The brown-haired spellcaster nodded, "Yes, I did say that. But, patience Ava, this will all be over when I have that white haired girl lose." He explained his intentions with a dark grin.

Ava inhaled. "You're sure taking your sweet sweet time. I don't like waiting, remember?" She mentioned. Matias laughed quietly at the bickering individuals.

There was a brief moment of silence between the three friends.

Then, Matias inquired to Zephyr:

"Say, why do we need her again? Sorry, I just have really bad memory." He scratched the back of his head, a little nervous knowing how hot-headed and blunt Zephyr can be.

He had every rights to be worried. Zephyr practically exploded.

He yelled at him, "Clumsy fool! We need her blood for the spell, remember?" and was honestly so disappointed that the blonde-haired spellcaster forgot.

Not to mention, "Matias, how could you forget?! We worked on the spell for ages!" Ava sided with the brown-haired spellcaster with this one.

Matias sighed sharply. "Geez, I said I was sorry, alright? But, really, do you intend to kill her?"

"Of course! Like I said, we need her for her blood. She doesn't matter to us anymore after all of this is over! Getting soft now?" The brown-haired spellcaster mocked his friend, all while still keeping the cold and aggressive tone.

Matias stared at him with a neutral-look. "Well no, but," he sighed again and fixed his frown to have a smile. "Better be getting more than half of the credit though." He joked.

"Suck it up, you're on!" Ava laughed.

His friends really did matter to him—their excitement made his happiness. Zephyr's harsh mood dropped and he smiled along with them.

They were all so excited for this plan for work.

Harumi, not wanting to stay for much longer, quickly fled out of the cavern and found herself running back outside in the dead of the night.

She was terrified, blood, blood?! They were planning to kill her and use her for some spell?! Her heart couldn't stop racing. She needed to get out of this island alive, she needed to protect her friends and Cloud.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lloyd, you need to listen to me!"

"What?"

An exchange of words were heard in the next matter of seconds. The white-haired girl eagerly shook the bed of the green ninja to try and get his attention.

Rubbing his eyes, the blonde turned and looked up at her, hair was all over his face. He groaned and turned the lamp on.

"Why are you in my room? No, why did you run in here and jump on my bed? You could've knocked." He began to slowly stand up from bed to face her. What time was it, 1AM?

Harumi shook her head. She had no time to explain.

"Listen, I need to tell you something important. Zephyr, Ava and Matias, they're—" she was cut short by the tired blonde.

"Is this about the nightmares again?" He yawned, honestly not wanting to push away the blankets from his legs, as they were so warm, but he had to—to respect Harumi.

She gave a half-nod. That wasn't exactly it, but close. Who cares though, she needed to pass the message to him.

"I don't know what they're planning but they need me for my blood and then they'll—"

A brown-haired man appeared in the room with them. He gave a sickeningly sweet smile at the two.

"Hello there, Harumi. You seem a little shaken up today, huh?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Z-Zephyr.. what are you..?" She didn't know what to say, she did not expect him to teleport himself inside here.

Zephyr walked in circles, observing the furniture. "Just came to say hi. Lovely night out, hm? Would you like to go on a stroll?" He didn't seem like he was really interested to speaking with her. He just wanted to mess with her again, have her overthink.

Harumi gritted her teeth. "Never! I'd never go on a walk with you, even for a second!" She yelled.

"Ah, feisty as ever, Harumi. That's what I like about you, but that's also what kills you."

"What...do you mean?"

"No one will listen to you if you're always so confident on getting them to listen to you." He explained, approaching closer, staff in hand. "They won't listen to you, so give it up." His tone went all quiet, he menaced her with his whispers.

Lloyd, furious about Zephyr threatening her like this, rushed over to the spellcaster and attempted to attack him. Even if he was sleepy five minutes ago, he's seen enough.

"You'll pay for this, Zephyr!" He yelled angrily at the host of the tournament. Zephyr didn't move to dodge.

"Oh, you stay out of it." He raised his staff and aimed it at the green ninja.

He had wanted to attack, but he fell limp to the ground. He wasn't moving.

Harumi watched as Zephyr casted a spell on him. She saw how he made the person she cared about the most, fall to the ground. He remained unconscious.

"LLOYD! NO, WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" She didn't bother running over to the green ninja, she instead kept her eyes on Zephyr.

"Sleep spell, calm down." Zephyr sighed, kind of disappointed not many knew a simple spell like that. Again, Harumi didn't know much about magic.

Gulping, Harumi backed away, closer to the balcony doors. She didn't want to be around him anymore.

To her luck, that's when the doors of the bedroom were kicked down. She smiled at the sight of Garmadon running in.

"What is the meaning of this?" He turned from Harumi to Zephyr.

Ah, he really did save her this time.

"Oh, Garmadon! I didn't see you there, where did you come from?" Zephyr put away his staff and raised his fingers to greet him. His cruel smile turned into a soft and surprised look.

Typical nice guy, Harumi wants to prove him wrong.

"I was listening through the doorframe, actually. I heard everything." He explained. Well, it was no use lying . Harumi gave a relieved and victorious smile. Hey, maybe Garmadon can catch Zephyr for her.

However, Zephyr's smile didn't change one single bit. He really was confident. No, that's not it. There must be another reason.

Garmadon changed the subject. "Why are you in Lloyd's room at this time?" Garmadon asked.

"Harumi had alerted me that Lloyd had passed out in the hallways. So I came instantly here and offered to help. I'm a spellcaster, I checked if he was alright." Friendly as ever, Zephyr had lied.

Harumi tensed up. She was mortified.

"That's not—" she trembled.

Garmadon silenced her. "I see, thank you for your services, Zephyr. We'll take care of Lloyd now." He dismissed the spellcaster and walked closer towards the white haired girl.

Zephyr nodded and gave the two a little wave.
"Yes yes of course, I want my participants to be in perfect shape after all!" He excused himself and made his way for the door. He bid them farewell and shut the door behind him.

Garmadon and Harumi simply stared at the door a couple of seconds, hearing for his footsteps and waiting for him to leave.

Then,

"What was that all about?" Garmadon held the door knob. His eyes then peered down at the ground. He had seen the green-haired boy, passed out on the floor.

"Why is he asleep?"

There was no time to ask such trivial questions she needed to get him to help her.

Harumi rushed over to Garmadon and with begging eyes,

"Zephyr came in here and attacked us, he wasn't discussing with us at all!" She cried out in terror, that encounter just now scared her badly.

Garmadon hummed, "Oh no, I get that. But what exactly is going on, what did he say?" He wanted further detail on the problem.

Harumi didn't wait to calm down, she spilled out the entire truth.

"The nightmares, they're controlling them! They want to use me for their spell, they want to kill me, Garmadon!" She was desperate to not be left alone during her time of need. She doesn't know if she could even continue playing in this tournament without extra protection.

Garmadon didn't seem entirely convinced. Sure, he did hear her talk about her nightmares back at Acronix's place though,

"Hmm, are you sure you just didn't get enough sleep? Sure, you don't get along with the host, however, I don't think they'll go that far as go kill you." He defended the hosts of this island. Of course, he was speaking from his own perspective of the situation here.

Upon hearing that, Harumi's heart had sunken down. She felt her chest grow heavy and tears roll down her cheeks. She didn't even want to cry. But this situation, the fact that no one listened to her; frustrated her, so so much.

She launched herself into the blonde-haired ninja's bed and clenched one of his pillows, sobbing into it.

She was so screwed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Hey, apologies for the delay here. I do admit, it was little bit of my fault that Reconciled Hearts got pushed back for a week and a day. But I had last track that I'd be moving away by the end of March. Not to mention, how incredibly tight the moving plans and school had been for me. The house is way different than my previous one and it's been.. an neutral-paced way to adjust here. Reconciled hearts will be returning to its normal schedule by the time these two chapters come out. Thanks for reading. -Lilla.