Taking Control. (a Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter 69- His own again

N Y A

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Jay was still bound to the mirror—those horrible, writhing tendrils of shadow twisted around his limbs, digging into his chest, his throat, his heart. His head hung low, and for a second I thought he'd passed out again, maybe—

And then he screamed.

"Jay!" I surged forward instinctively, but Zane caught my arm.

"Don't—! It's not safe!"

"Somethings wrong!" I snapped, wrenching myself free. "We can't just watch—"

Jay convulsed. Hard.

His whole body arched, his back lifting off the ground, like something inside him was trying to claw its way out. His jaw opened in a silent scream—like it physically hurt too much to even make a sound.

Then the shadows reacted.

The tendrils tightened, anchoring him to the glass as his feet kicked uselessly. Something—something dark—was being ripped from him.

"Master Wu?" My voice cracked as I turned toward him. "What's happening?!"

He looked just as worried as I felt. "It's working. Look at the tendrils— the Overlord... he's being expelled."

Jay writhed, shaking so hard I thought he might snap in half. His fingers clawed at the air—twitching, reaching, maybe trying to pull it out himself—but he couldn't stop it. He wasn't in control.

None of us were.

But the tendrils were turning gold.

You could see it, where they touched his skin— the glow slowly creeping up towards the mirror, slowly replacing the shadow with light.

"Zane, can't we do something?!" I begged, trembling.

Zane's eyes flickered with deep concern. "If we interrupt the process, we risk reversing it. Or making it worse."

Worse?

Jay let out another cry—this one audible and broken, the sound of someone so exhausted, so injured, so past the point of breaking that—

"No, no—hang on—Jay, please hang on—!" I found myself whispering it, over and over, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. Or maybe he could. Maybe some part of him was— was still ok.

And I watched as the last of the shadows was gone from the tendrils.

The mirror pulsed, and I saw a spark of gold shoot out from the corner of my eye, but I was too focused on Jay—

My god, they were fully gold.

The—

The Overlord was gone.

Trapped. Trapped in the mirror.

It hit me like a punch in the stomach.

Jay was finally, finally free.

He collapsed—his body going limp all at once —like every muscle had given out. The tendrils snapped away from him in an instant, curling back into the mirror like they'd never been there at all.

His head hit the concrete hard.

"Jay!" I was on my knees before I even realized I'd moved.

He didn't respond.

I reached for him—hands trembling—gently cradling his face. His skin was cold, slick with sweat. His lips were cracked. Blood stained his teeth, his brow, his shirt.