Taking Control. (a Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter 46- Breaking

J A Y

Laughter.

It slithered through the black, a deep, oily chuckle that curled around me like tentacles.

"Jay." The voice drawled, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Oh, you fought so hard," the Overlord mused, his voice slithering through the darkness like a serpent. "You thrashed and screamed. You swore you would never let me win. And yet—"

A pause. A hum of amusement.

"Here we are."

"You should have seen them." The Overlord's voice was almost playful now, dripping with cruel delight. "Kai, dying on the cold snow-laden ground, his fire ever snuffed out. Cole, the stubborn one, still trying to stand even when his body failed him. Oh, and the look in their eyes when they realized it was you."

I felt something shift inside me. A strange pressure in my chest. Like something should hurt—but didn't. Like something should matter—but it didn't.

"...Kai," I echoed, the name foreign yet familiar on my tongue. "...Cole."

There was nothing. No memories. No faces. Just empty syllables.

And the Overlord laughed.

"Oh, this is delicious." His voice crackled like fire over dry wood. "You don't even remember them, do you?"

I fell silent, my mind racing. Trying to remember, trying to-

"They begged for you to wake up." The Overlord leaned in, whispering now, savoring every word. "They called for you. And you?" A chuckle, low and venomous. "You cut them down where they stood."

No,

No Jay, you know this.

You didn't do it. He did.

"Don't worry," the Overlord purred. "I'll let you watch this time."

A tear in the darkness.

A jagged, shifting window of light split open before me, and through it, I could see.

It was all so sudden- after weeks in darkness-

A street. Smoke curling in the air. Shattered festival lights flickering weakly against the night.

The distant screams of people.

And someone—someone standing in the middle of it all.

A girl.

She was breathing hard, her stance firm despite the chaos around her. Her black hair whipped in the wind, and her eyes—fierce, determined, afraid—stared straight ahead. Right at me.

Something about her sent a jolt through me, something familiar, something—

"Do you know her?" the Overlord's voice hummed, mockingly.

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

Because I didn't know.

Who was she?

The thought was slippery, just out of reach, like a word on the tip of my tongue. I should know. I needed to know.

But I didn't.

The Overlord moved my head down. I was holding a blade-

Pointed directly at her heart.

A pulse of horror shot through me like electricity.