Nightmares and Abolition

Chapter 10

The ninja would've screamed in terror, maybe even gasp as they saw the Quiet One return, but the foul smelling odor made them feel more like they were going to gag rather than scream.

Out of all of their old villains to come back from the dead, the last one they ever wanted to return was Harumi. And now that she was in the bright light of the cabin, the ninja could see how she appeared now. Something about how Harumi appeared was unworldly.

Her skin looked pale and was rotting. Her long white hair was now a light grey, or perhaps more of a faded shade of white, and was horribly messed up. Her eyes were dead, glassy grey instead of their original shade. There was a stitching scar that went over her right eye on her face. Her clothes were faded, ripped up, and had tons of mud stains on them.

As Harumi stepped out into the room, the ninja could smell the horrible odor. There was no doubt that based on Harumi's appearance, the smell was coming from her.

This wasn't like the Day of the Departed crisis. Instead of the vengeful spirits of fallen enemies possessing mannequins that looked like them, Harumi was clearly resurrected from beyond the grave. Her unworldly appearance made her appear to be more of a corpse walking on two legs than as a person.

Despite her horrible appearance, Harumi still gave the ninja her sinister smile.

"Did you all miss me?" she asked them.

"B-But how?! Lloyd and I s-saw you die! T-that building!" stuttered Nya.

"Yes, I did die. And ever since you left me there, I was stuck in the Departed Realm, while you took away everything I worked hard for! While I saw that... wind master go back to Ninjago, even after he tried to attack me in the Departed Realm just seconds before I saw him leave!" said Harumi.

The ninja were stunned. Morro never mentioned that he had a fight with Harumi before he got to leave the Departed Realm and respawn in the Dream Universe.

Harumi continued to talk. "But now, thanks to a new friend of mine, I'm back. And I'm getting my army back, including my emperor, who I heard that a dear, dear friend of yours cleansed of his Oni form..." she said.

The ninja remained quiet. So Harumi was aware that Garmadon was once again cleansed of the evil side of him, back to being the good man he truly was. But... was she aware that Garmadon was back into that form, but his good side was still in control?

"So what do you want with Lloyd?" Kai growled. "Last I heard, you broke his heart. You told him that you never loved him, and you tried to kill us and force him to watch as you did so!"

Harumi turned to Lloyd, giving the dazed ninja her evil smile. "Dear, why don't you go change? You shouldn't be wearing that horrid color green..." she said.

"Of course, Rumi!" Lloyd said cheerfully. The green ninja turned around and left the room.

"Lloyd!" shouted Kai. He tried to dash after Lloyd, but Cole and Nya grabbed him and pulled him back.

"You put some sort of enchantment on him! What is this about when you don't even love him?!" shouted Jay.

"Oh trust me, Lloyd could never get over me. Besides, even if I don't love him, this is revenge on you lot. He loves me, and that is that," said Harumi, giving them an evil smile.

"Love... you put a love spell on him, didn't you!?" Nya shouted.

Harumi clapped her hands. "Well done, Nya. You know, if you weren't a part of the ninja, maybe I would've truly liked you..." she said.

"This is revenge on us, not Lloyd. You're forcing him to be under your spell so he'll follow you like a trained dog!" said Nya.

"That's not love! You don't know what it even is!" said Cole.