Wisps: Recollection (Ninjago X Reader)

22. This Is What You Deserve?

Time waited for no one, a basic lesson that kids learned early on. Pathetic stumps of candle wax pooled at the end of the wick. You sat up fast, whipping your head to the back of the room. Kai is dead. You've run out of time. Wood smashed against the stone wall.

"Time is up. We will be taking the body as an... opportunity has shown up."

"I need more time–" Who were you fooling? Clouse? Yourself? The corpse in the corner?

"Hah, I gave you your chance. You wasted it." Books and their pages written with empty letters spelled out what is there and you knew it. "Guards, wait outside." Clouse's spellbook floated by him, its pages flipping rapidly. For once, he's doing the dirty work, which doesn't quite add up. Clouse is a very meticulous man. A man who uses others and buckled them into submission with his deplorable methods.

Jumping straight to horrible conclusions is what your mind does: "What happened to Pixal." It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

"It took you this long to realize?" He chuckled and raised his spellbook, firing balls of dark energy plunging at you. You dove behind a bookshelf, pages and wooden splinters erupting into a dusty cloud. A barrage of dark energy ripped through the shelves and sliced them in half along with you if you didn't duck. You rolled out, smoke rising from the ground with each mark that missed you. You lifted your arm in front of you, your barrier giving you time to close the distance. It's too easy, and your palm went for him. Clouse summoned your mother's book between the both of you. Skin pressed on leather and you are blasted back by the impact. The latch unfastened.

"How did you–?"

"Your mother is basic, she won't have you throw away your memories. Brutish force is what she's known for." Clouse took three spheres out of his pockets and flung them to the floor. Steam. Every inch of the room filled with it and wisps withered into the water. Jets of water shoot from the doorway, hosing you down. Lackeys guffawed as you tripped on the slippery stone. What a fucking joke you are. Biting steel skimmed your neck. The tricks up your sleeves spent and your wrists forced into cuffs.

"Up." The one with the spear grunted, disobeying sure to leave you skewered. Pointed steel pricked your back, edging you to walk faster. The one with the chain tugged harder, nearly making you fall flat on your face. Cave systems interwove into winding tunnels that caused your head to spin with trying to map the way out. Pinpointing landmarks proved to be difficult when everything is stone and dirt.

"That insufferable attitude of yours will get you nowhere. We are hundreds of feet down, and your cries will be drowned out by the rocks and soil." He stopped before a turn, and his neck twisted to flash his shit-eating grin. "I do hope you will like your new location as it is more... secluded." Rounding the corner showed a lone cell with its iron bars. They shoved you in, dirt scrubbing into your skin as you slid across the cell's ground. You scrambled to your feet and the bars bolted under the padlock. It was new, seemingly tailored for you and you only.

"Get back here you shitty snake!" You rammed into the bars. They don't budge.

"Snake? I suppose that is a fair thing to call me." Clouse leaned against the wall, twirling the keys on his finger. "I remember it like yesterday when I told your mother the exact thing. She is the reason I am on this forsaken island." A glare sharpened the angry features on his face, stomping out any insults you were about to say. He dropped the keys like trash, and they clinked together. "How karma takes its time. Your mother wasn't the first or last to betray me. Here is her child. That traitorous blood runs rampant like some dark matter inside of you." Clouse kicked the keys into a corner. "I leave you this. Take it as a memento. A final gift. Not that you will ever reach it."

"I'm getting out of here." Unsureness trembled your voice.

"How? Your "friends"? Pixal? Skylor? Oh, how pleased Chen will be once you're out of the picture." His smile spread wider, sadistic, and reveling in how you faltered. "Be erased and forgotten from history as you rot."

Cackles echoed in the tunnel with the clang of the bars and insults shouted at him.

...

Keys lay on the floor forgotten and tossed far off, glinting and taunting you with escape. Red, bleeding bands circled your wrist under the cuffs hampering your ability.

You might as well be dead.

Screaming accomplished nothing but to yell back at you in the tunnel.

You're not sure what's happening out there. Nothing new. You were always left in the dark.

You dug your ditch, now it's time to die in it. The spirits you once tried to "send off" for Clouse come to taunt you. A dead audience you'll join.

How many days has it been?

One?

Two?

Three?

It mattered very little.

Death didn't care, taking its sweet time. 

Maybe you'll turn into a ghost.

You licked your cracked lips. If only. You banged the back of your head on the stone and cried your lungs out.

How did all this happen?

That's a dumb question. One you hated the answer to. You wished you could go back to a simpler past. One you don't deserve. The tears dripped heavier and your mouth cracked open to swallow the salty water. You screwed your eyelids shut.

'It's my fault.'

No one was going to save you...

Is this really what you deserved?