Just an Illusion (A Ninjago Reader Insert)

Spelled Out

TW: Brief mentions of blood, anxiety

Y/n stifled a yawn as the zeppelin took off. She hadn't slept the previous night- how could she after yesterday's event- and she was starting to notice a theme of insomnia creeping up on her since their arrival on the island.
Breakfast that morning was.... uncomfortable to say the least. Shadow put as much distance between them as possible (although Kai claimed to have seen him flipping Y/n off behind her back). The other competitors kept stealing glances at them from across the chow house, until finally Griffin screamed that he was done being surrounded by "psychopaths" and stormed out.
So, nothing out of the ordinary there.
Lloyd had done his best to communicate with Y/n, going into a big rant about "being a team" and "always there for each other". Y/n however had learnt years ago that false sentiments were of no use to her.
Tensions were higher than ever before now, with many throwing snide remarks at one another. Y/n heard Kai groan lightly. She looked over and saw that Paleman kept kicking him from across the aisle. Jay whispered to her.
"Guess Fire Guy isn't as popular as he dreams."
She scoffed lightly. "No prices for guessing whose fault that is."
Jay turned serious for what probably was the first time in a while. "It isn't your fault. They're just jealous they aren't as powerful as you."
Y/n laughed at that one. "Yeah, "Miss Powerless Master" is a great reflection of that."
"Hey, sarcasm's my thing. And I'm serious. You should've seen yourself with Shadow the other day, you were awesome!"
Y/n was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"C'mon! The whole room was shifting and changing colours, and Shadow was changing too, and the whole "get my family's name out your mouth" thing? You were like uh.... what's his name.... Smith Will?"
"Wait, what did you just say?"
"Smith Will?"
"No, the.... shifting thing, and the colour changing?"
"Oh that! It was so cool! The walls were moving, and they looked like they were glitching, and they kept going from stone to wool and a bunch of other things, and Shadow was getting bigger and smaller too! He looked like he was about to throw up!"Y/n's face turned white. She wanted to say something, but nothing made sense. Yet this latest information released a long-lost memory from the depths of her mind.

************************************************

Y/n giggled as her father shifted the birthday cake from chocolate to strawberry to lemon and back again. Her mother was filming the whole thing on an old tape recorder. Violet sat beside their father, giving suggestions to him.
"Add fireworks Dad!"
And so, he complied, creating a tiny shower of rainbow sparks at the top.
"Daddy, make them bigger!" the young Y/n squealed, jumping around with glee. Her mother laughed hysterically at her.
"I think your dad turned you into a jumping bean Y/n!" she teased playfully.
"Mwahaha, yes, I have, and now I can eat you!" he yelled, seizing his daughter and pretending to gobble her down, before tickling her all over. Her mum and Violet quickly joined in before Y/n was shrieking at them to stop before she burst. Her dad set her down on the ground, waved his hands over the cake and returned it to its original state.
"Blow out the candles!" Violet yelled.
"Go on, make a wish!" added the mother.
But the candles remained lit, and the wishes unmade, for at that moment, the sounds of men yelling hit their ears.
"Take them all!"

************************************************

Y/n snapped herself back to reality. That memory had been lost long ago to the trauma consuming her head. To another person, it seemed like your generic happy family, but to her, these were the last true moments of her life before.
"We were happy," she mumbled.
"What?"
"Oh, sorry, I said that's weird."
As naïve as Jay sometimes could be, even he could tell he'd said something that wasn't sitting well with her at all. He was about to apologise when Neuro grabbed their attention.
"Hey, no one's driving this thing!"And right he was. The cockpit was bare besides a tablet laying on the dashboard. On cue, Chen appeared on screen, struggling to get his sound to work. Once he had, he started ranting as per usual."We seem to have an intruder on the island."
Video footage of none other than Nya appeared on screen. The team shared shocked glances. Chen continued, explaining that the winner would be the one who caught her. Y/n heard Kai whispering to Skylor, explaining she was his sister. Y/n rolled her eyes. She still didn't fully trust Skylor. Earlier, she felt a strange shiver running down her arm when she walked past, something she couldn't ignore.
The next thing she knew, a mad scramble for parachutes began, the floor soon opening beneath them.
"Oh, now you have got to be kidding me."
Jay was screaming hysterically next to her, distracting her from grabbing the parachute in front of her. The wind was billowing against her skin, and she could see the ground getting closer and closer. She had to act fast. Nearby, a group of people were heading after a few parachutes. She already felt guilty about what she had to do.
Focusing all her energy, she watching as several parachutes materialised to her left. The crowd moved to grab them, giving her the chance to snatch the real one and pull the shoot. Soon after doing so, the parachutes she created disappeared, much to the confusion of the other masters. Shadow, who fell victim to her plan, threw her a wicked glare, and made a mad lunge for her.
"Trying to kill me again, were we?" he sneered, clawing at the straps of the parachute. Y/n kicked him off and, not knowing what else to do, surrounded him in a dome of brick walls. Shadow could be heard screaming inside it. By the time this too had disappeared, Y/n had long since vanished into the flock of fighters floating to the ground.