it's only when i hit the bottom

Chapter 2: Starting over

Harumi hasn't slept a wink in the past day. She was still in disbelief after the um... talk with the Overlord, who had not looked at her once since that moment. She didn't know how much she was allowed to do, what her status was now. The girl wandered through familiar places, trying not to roam somewhere where she'd put herself in a terrible position (though she already did), waiting for her to be attacked or demanded to tell everything she knew about getting to the other realms.

Supposedly she knew.

Harumi had a couple of ideas about what the Overlord wanted, but none of it was a guarantee of her safety. What if he himself had already tried what she could think of, and if she had to do it, there would be no point and this time she would be actually killed?

No, no, no. Deep breath in. Breath out.

She knew where the ninjas were, and she had a plan to free them. If they listen to her and try to help her...

No. Not her. To help the rest of the world, but not her.

Harumi returned to the main base where she had been carrying out the Crystal King's plan for the past months. This is where she kept Lloyd, and where she almost killed his friends. Many of the screens from which she watched each of the ninjas or then-future Council members were broken. Cracked screens or rigid noise, a frozen picture or just an unwillingness to turn on, no matter how hard she pressed all kinds of buttons, drove her insane. Only three screens were working, and she lost several hours of her precious time fixing a few more.

There were so many thoughts in her head, and she couldn't cling to any of them. They all slipped out like sand through her fingers, there was no success with the destroyed base, and the girl felt like she was panicking again. How her hands start shaking when she pulls out old thin blue wire, how she's losing patience, and how she has to breathe quickly and deeply, as if she ran a marathon.

Lowering her head to the panel, not caring what buttons she was pressing on, she tried to calm down and bring her breathing back to normal.

She was scared.

Before she realised what had happened, her head suddenly turned towards the entrance and she saw Mr. F. He was standing in the doorway, looking at her, and the girl shivered, imagining that he was looking with judgement and disappointment, and then imagined that the look that did not express any emotions could be a pitying look, and that made her feel even worse.

Harumi knew that in all the time she had been hiding from the Crystal King, Mr. F had not made a single attempt to capture her. He was never on her tail. In this chaos it was one soothing thing.

He looked around and returned his gaze on her again, and she realised that he was asking what she was doing here. The need for this base disappeared after setting a trap for the ninja and Lloyd's escape: the Overlord managed perfectly with the task for which this place was built by her hands. And the flight and attacks and battles with the ninja above weakened this place below, which is why the monitors stopped working. In addition, some of the cameras themselves, which were installed in Ninjago City, were also damaged.

Harumi just pointed in front of her and said:

"I need help."

It was as if a stone had fallen from her chest. When was the last time she said those words? Harumi herself was amazed by them, and only now did she realise how true they were.