Wisps: Recollection (Ninjago X Reader)

56. *Day of the Departed*

Time withered in your lost head. Wasted where you stayed exhausted in the dirt. A moment where you're forgotten. Where you counted your breath and started over. One. Two. Three. Four. There are wisps, floating in the sky. Ring after ring, it clicked together your dead thoughts.

You reached for your phone and answered, "Skylor?"

"Hey, Nya told me what happened and–"

"Sorry. I got lost in the forest... I've found my way back."

"Oh, good– Zane went looking for you, I'll give him a call."

"Hm, I'll meet you guys at the truck, I'm tired."

"Good call, I am too, and so were those two. Echo's charging in the back. Huh? Yeah, put that over there. Yeah, right there in the..." You realized she had hung up with a "Bye".

The sound of a gong faded through the quiet trees. The closing ceremony has begun. The temple would take in the palanquin housing the dragon's heart, completing the ritual, cleansing the night of evil spirits... Wouldn't it make sense for the Overseer to leave now?

Your harsh smile forced itself and slipped into a grimace. You couldn't tell if it was phantom pain or not. You hope it will ebb away into nothing. Not worsen as it once did. What spurred it on was a mix of exhaustion and despair that tangled all thinking together. The silence of the forest made your mind louder, ricocheting every single thing. Whispers rasped, dissonant with how they tried to outdo the other. Focusing on the weeping, ghosting nerves, you pinched at your limb. Flashes of guttering needles scraped, increasing. With your kneading, it calmed while it was still fresh. A break. The pain was gone. Faint and weak. "That's one thing gone. Haha."

Hollering grew as you drew your attention to where you were straggling. Stretches of light from the festival peeked through receding branches. Soon, you found the parking lot and the truck. You rolled the somewhat torn sleeve to hide how your ability carelessly punctured it. You check your stitches, nothing too major reopened. Only a soreness trickled with each step that racked your body along. Hard hits that you could have blocked... How will you explain this? Hell, you don't even want to. Tired as you are, charades are a chore. 'But I'll keep it up. Everything was going– well, as close to alright.' Sighing, you breathed out a cloud of frosted air, the wind snagging it away, slapping you across with an abrasive gust. You held your hood as the air billowed it out, and calmed, letting you hear the footsteps encroaching. A spike in fear picked up your heart rate.

"What happened to you?" Zane intruded into your jumbled thoughts.

"Could say the same to you. You got leaves and twigs in ya hair." His eyes are ever analytical, reflecting your deflection.

"Nya neglected saying how beaten you are..."

"Just a bruise here and there. I also got lost on the way back, the branches and roots are the world smacking back at me," you laughed, feeling the flare of bruises.

"If... if you say so." Why did it sound so defeated?

"You seem tired."

"I am." You're curious with his sudden guard down. "We talked... and I mentioned Father's old hidden workshop. We could spend the whole day there tomorrow, come back in the morning."

"That sounds nice. But will he be safe while you go and meet with those people?"

"Yes, nothing will reach him while he is in there. The treehorns learned their lesson."

"Treehorns? So the Birchwood forest? That's far, Zane." With how fragile he was, strung together out of spare parts and rusted bolts, you worried for the android.