Departed

Prologue: Pains of Death

Harumi's POV

     The apartment building shook beneath my feet. It creaked and groaned as the Colossus stumbled across the midway point of Ninjago City. Far beneath me, several stories deep, people screamed as they tried not to get crushed by its massive stone feet. The screams rang in my ears as my own fear clogged up my mind. 

     I had been foolish and unwise. Father had told me up on his tower that he would control the Colossus. Even when hope seemed lost, he insisted he was in control of it. When the Colossus had dealt a heavy blow to the tower by Skylor's hand, I had fled. I had failed in my trust in my father, choosing to follow fear instead of loyalty. I had zipped over to a neighboring building and tried to escape the scene through it.

     That was when I heard the cries. The cries of a young boy about to be left behind. I foolishly pushed my fear aside to investigate. Two parents inside of the crumbling building were trying to shove their son into the last elevator. It was almost full, and the building would surely fall before the elevator could return to help the parents escape. I turned around to see the exit door, with the stairs still intact. There was still time for me to flee the scene alive.

     The boy wailed again as his parents pushed him into the full elevator. I bit my lip hard to keep back the guilt. That boy... he was just like me. About to abandoned by the people he loved the most. Because of a tragedy. Because of my tragedy.

     I wanted to escape. I wanted to leave this scene behind and get my own self to safety. But somewhere within the fog of reason came the foolishness of compassion. I couldn't let another person share my fate. I squared myself and ran to the family.

     "I'll get you out. Together." I had said, pulling the boy out of the elevator just before the doors closed him in. I grabbed the mother's arm, feeling something inside that I couldn't exactly decipher. "I promise."

     I had led them to the stairs so they could escape the Colossus' wrath. Right as I was about the follow, a support beam collapsed, blocking the doorway. I promised the family I'd find another way out. Deep down inside I knew I wasn't going to find one.

     Now I stood as the apartment building prepared to fall. I screamed as the Colossus slammed against the building one last time, destroying any hope I might have had of being able to escape in time. I almost regret my sacrifice now, since it would lead to an inescapable death. Tears leaked from my eyes as I looked around at the broken city, the last sight I would ever see.

     Then, I saw him. He looked at me from so many buildings over. His beautiful, sorrowful, piercing green eyes met mine. He blinked slowly. I saw him mouth my name. My heart, whatever was left of it, broke once more.

     Lloyd.

     The boy I betrayed. The boy that I loved, however twisted my love is. The son of my Father.

     Lloyd.

     I barely heard the cracking of the structure. I barely felt the pieces of roof beneath my feet crumble and fall beneath me. His face was the only thing in my mind as I fell. The air hitting my back was merely an insignificant force. My life flashed before my eyes as I felt the ground come closer. I slammed against the pieces of rubble, so hard I heard my own spine crack. Everything went black as soon as the final sound reached my ears.

     I expected pain, but there was none.

     Pain meant there was life that could bear it.

     But there was nothing. Nothing at all. Everything was black, nonexistent, dead. There was nothing I could do anymore. The day my parents died; my heart had died. Today—my soul died. I was dead. There was nothing left to me anymore. I was only someone to be forgotten. Now, I would face the punishment for the evils I inflicted during life. There was no hope for me.

     I am dead, dead, dead...

     Forever gone. But, never forgotten.