Opposites Attract // (Ninjago x Reader)

Panta Rhei

A bright light made me squint. Was this...?

Somewhere, I could make out a shadowy figure standing tall behind the light.

''Morro...?'' My voice, barely above a whisper, was horribly dry and raspy; my throat felt like sandpaper.

Maybe now I could have closure.

''Good god, kid, what happened to you?''

I squinted against the light. Somewhere in the back of my mind a memory flashed for a brief moment, of the very first day I slept in this place only to be awakened by...

''Ronin?''

Speaking felt and sounded foreign, the hoarse words I let out were barely recognizable to me. The light swayed to the side and after the spots in front of my eyes subsided, I could make out a comfortingly familiar eyepatch alongside a gruff looking face which held a certain look I'd never seen.

At first, my mind was empty. Then all of it broke down and everything inside me got flooded by a stream of emotions and the entirety of my grief that had been damed up by loneliness overcame me.

Without giving it further thought, I leapt forward and threw myself into Ronin's arms, hugging him as tightly as possible out of fear he would push me away.

''I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...'' I hiccuped inbetween sobs and hid my face in his thick coat so I wouldn't have to witness his reaction. Whilst endlessly repeating the mantra of ''I'm sorry'', I wondered whether someday I would have no more tears left to cry and whether one day I might ever be able to get rid of the feeling of hurt which was lodged deep inside my chest.

I had expected Ronin to push me away and sneer down at me or to simply sit there and contemplate in his head before ultimately deciding I wasn't worth the effort and running away. Running was usually how he solved his problems when he couldn't sugarcoat his way out of them. However, the thing I expected the least was for him to hug me back, gently as if he was afraid he might snap my spine, and rub soothingly up and down my back.

''It's okay, I forgive you...kid.''

I pulled back and looked him in they eyes. A wave of relief washed over me and although I couldn't muster up the energy to smile, I hope my glassy yet glad eyes that must've been red and puffy from all the crying conveyed how I was feeling.

His face began to morph, facial features blending into each other and a voice that called my name turned into a low frequency in the background and was soon overriden by a high pitched noise that deafened me. The room seemed to spin around me, nausea settling deep in my stomach as black dots clouded my vision before it went completely black.

The last thing I rememembered feeling was an cold shiver down my spine before I felt all warmth drain as an icy hand reached through my throat into my lungs and took away my last breath.

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Desert.

Barren Wasteland stretching on and on all the way up to the horizon, some sand being blown across the dry, cracking ground by a scarce breeze of wind then and again. A rock formation could be seen somewhere in the distance, half obscurred by reddish mist that hung heavily in the air.

It felt somewhat familiar, although I couldn't put my finger on it. Something about the way the landscape moved and how the dunes waved up and down across the area, how the rocks scattered on the cracked earth were arranged, something about from where I was standing and how my point of view framed the entire picture rattled something deep inside my mind.