Chapter 1-Salvage

His shoulders hurt.

His whole body hurt, actually, but his shoulders stood out, a bone deep ache that made him feel like he was being flayed alive. The abused muscles screaming at him to stop.

But he couldn't stop, couldn't slow down. Every second he wasted might be a second more than she had left. He grunted as he dragged another piece of rubble out of the way.

Lloyd flared his elemental power outwards in a wave, he never fully understood what it was, but he knew it was tied to the life-force of others, and he could use it like a radar to detect living things nearby. Which is what he was doing now.

He closed his eyes and focused as he sensed around him, nothing…. nothing …. There! 

Quickly scrambling over to one of the nearby piles of rubble that he had yet to search, Lloyd started pulling away chunks of concrete and broken furniture in a frantic rush, hoping against hope that the faint flicker of life he sensed within was who he thought it was.

Lloyd kept going at his frenzied pace until he noticed the debris he was moving were spotted with dry blood, he slowed down and carefully searched his way through the rubble, he was close. There was more blood now and it was fresher, tacking on his fingers as he pulled a broken air conditioning unit out of the pile, he shifted more broken pieces out of the way until finally, he spotted a patch of skin, a small cut weeping blood onto the stone beneath it.

He surged forward with renewed vigour, uncaring of the way his nails cracked and bled against the rough stone as he carefully pulled the rubble off the top and around the sides of the person trapped beneath, each removal revealing more of them and filling his heart with hope. Strands of white hair, ripped black fabric, metal spikes and leather belts, all covered in dust and caked with blood but still recognisable, Lloyd reached forward and felt for a pulse at the nape of her neck, it was weak, but there. She was alive.

Harumi was alive .

But only just. 

There was a large puddle of blood beneath her, and Lloyd nearly retched when he saw its source, a large piece of re-bar had impaled itself through the left side of her stomach, and her breaths came in wet rasps, a sign that there were even more injuries that he couldn't see.

Lloyd crawled forwards to gently cradle her head in his hand, the other coming to rest on the grievous wound on her abdomen, pushing down in an attempt to stem the flow of precious lifeblood. He felt despair claw its way through his chest at the sight of her, limp and dying in his arms, but he pushed it down. She wasn't dead yet, there was still a chance, he had to believe that.

Suddenly, without warning, energy roared through Lloyd's body, his element surging wildly, almost like it had a will of its own, forcing its way through Lloyd's hands and into Harumi. Lloyd doubled over in shock as he felt his power drain into her, it wasn't a painful sensation, but it was strange , like having blood drawn directly from his heart. He didn’t stop it as it continued to rush through him like a river, this wasn't the first time Green had acted without his input, and he knew from experience that it was best to let it run its course.

He watched as colour began to return to her ashen cheeks, the dozens of open wounds across her body began to clot, and her heartbeat grew stronger until it was a steady drumbeat of life against his fingers. Lloyd waited for a minute before breathing a small sigh of relief, alright, his element had brought her back from the brink, he had bought them both some time.

But he knew she wasn't out of the woods yet, Lloyd carefully inched his hand underneath her, feeling around the edges of the re-bar as he considered his next move, his element may have saved her but it couldn’t fully heal her injuries, Harumi needed medical attention, ideally from a hospital. 

Lloyd felt his stomach twist at the idea, during his time in hiding, a majority of the normal citizens he spoke to spoke about how they would wring Harumi’s neck themselves if they could, and that not even the Underworld would be enough of a punishment for her. If he brought her to a hospital, there was a real chance that they would refuse her help, or worse, bring her in only for her to ‘suddenly deteriorate’ or ‘not make it through the night’ (which meant that they had killed her when he wasn't looking or left her to die of neglect) and even if they did treat her, what then? She would be made to stand trial and almost certainly be sentenced to execution, or life in solitary confinement. 

He couldn't let that happen to her, not when he knew that he was right , that there was goodness inside her, and in her last moments, she had let it out. He had spoken to the family from in that building, heard it come straight from their mouths that she had kept them from being separated, saved their lives . All at the cost of her own. Harumi had reached out into the light, and Lloyd was finally reaching back, he knew that all she needed was a chance to redeem herself, and he was going to make sure she got one.

So hospitals were out then, which left him with two options: he brings her to the monastery, or he looks for more… Esoteric methods of healing.

Lloyd considered raiding Mystaké’s tea shop to see if anything there could help her, but he had no idea if any of the healing brews she carried would be strong enough, or if he would even be able to find them, Mystaké had always organised her teas in a way that only she could understand, Lloyd's heart panged at the thought of her. He could look for other types of magic, but they were either in the far corners of Ninjago (inaccessible to him right now) or heavily guarded and constantly monitored (also inaccessible to him right now)... Which left the monastery.

The med-bay back at the monastery was better equipped than most ER’s, and every single member of the team had varying degrees of first aid skills, with Zane being able to do major surgery if needed. But the quality of medical care wasn’t Lloyd's main concern. 

What worried him was the fact that they hated Harumi more that anyone else, especially Nya, who was his shoulder to lean on while the others were stranded in the First Realm, she had been there for every weeping spell and emotional outburst, out of all his family she was the one who knew the most about how deeply Harumi had affected him. And he knew like prophecy that she had relayed this information to the others, their grudge against her was personal , if they found out he brought her there, they would never agree to giving her a second chance, and throw her in kryptarium prison the minute they could. 

And he knew that they would try to justify it by saying that Lloyd was letting his emotions cloud his judgement, that he was thinking with his heart instead of his head, patting his shoulder and speaking in a consoling tone that he couldn't help but find condescending. Like even now they still saw him as that same naive child they took under their wing so many years ago. It frustrated him endlessly, he was the Green Ninja, their leader , and yet he was always seen as ‘the youngest’ or ‘the kid’. The baby of the family that they all needed to protect. Never mind that he was 19, or that he had spent an entire year on his own with Pixal while the others searched for Wu. They would always see the kid first, and the Ninja second.

Which meant he would just have to get her there and treat her without anyone knowing despite him only knowing how to do basic triage, fine! Great, actually! He was almost worried for a second that something in his life would be easy for once.

Lloyd grunted as he grabbed at the re-bar beneath Harumi’s torso, snapping it off of the main piece like it was a twig. If he wasn't so stressed and angry right now, he might have noticed that he shouldn’t be able to physically do that. But he didn’t.

Harumi was far lighter in his arms than Lloyd would have liked, he noted the thinness of her arms with a frown as he adjusted his hold until she was in a bridal carry, her head resting against his collarbone and her arms folded in her lap. His element continued to course through her veins as he carefully descended from the rubble, giving off a faint green glow, illuminating the area around them as they reached the abandoned footpath.

Lloyd stumbled as his foot caught on a stray pebble, his body tipping forward as he stuck his leg out to regain balance, he frantically looked down at Harmi’s unconscious form, terrified that he had aggravated her injuries. Instead of dying, or waking up, or even groaning in pain as he had feared, Harumi made a short snuffling sound and weakly tucked her face further against his collarbone. The sight of it made some prideful, possessive thing inside him croon happily, calmed by the knowledge that Harumi was safe in his arms. Right where she was meant to be.

He darted over to the car he had kept running nearby, it was a stealth vehicle Pixal had made for him a while ago, fast, silent and able to be operated without hands, exactly what he needed. He let out a low whistle and the cars rear doors whooshed open. Lloyd manoeuvred himself into the car before carefully laying Harumi across the back-seat, her head in his lap and his hand over her wound. He leaned back into the cushions as the car automatically started driving back to the monastery, his eyes never leaving Harumi's face.

~🩸~

The garage was silent as the car pulled into its designated parking spot. Lloyd still made sure to check that no one was there before grabbing Harumi out of the back-seat. He silently carried her up to the med-bay, partitioned off from the rest of the monastery by a pale blue curtain. Lloyd deposited her onto one of the gurneys like she was made of spun glass and even the smallest nudge would shatter her. He fought against the shake in his limbs as he set her up with an IV full of painkillers and liquid nutrients. He had a feeling she wouldn't be able to handle solid food for a while.

Lloyd began frantically grabbing medical tools, he had no idea what he was doing, the most advanced medical procedure he had ever done was setting Nya’s broken rib one time with the resistance, he had never done something like removing shrapnel from someone's abdomen before. He reached into a cupboard that he knew from memory had gauzes, and pulled out several rolls. He made his way back to the gurney and set his equipment down on the tray attached to the side. Lloyd sucked a breath through his teeth.

He quickly ducked over to the industrial sink in the corner, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows and scrubbing his arms furiously, hoping the methodical process would calm his mind. It didn’t.

The suds swirled down the drain after he pulled the plug, streaks of brown-grey dirt and dust mixing with the white foam, his hands were the cleanest they had been in some time, meanwhile the rest of him was still covered in grime and dust. He felt like the dirty water in the basin right now, clouded and stagnant, wrung-out, polluted. Like he was a pool of water with algae growing inside.

Harumi groaned in pain and Lloyd walked back to the gurney and picked up a scalpel, the vacuum-sealed bag surrounding is crinkling in his hand, He turned his focus inward, finding that island of calm in the tempest of his mind and anchoring himself to it, entering an almost meditative state, willing that dirty feeling to the back of his mind. 

Harumi needed him now, he could be tired later.

~🩸~

Lloyd sighed in relief as he tied off the final bandage, slumping back into the wall. Harumi lay still on the gurney, where almost her entire torso had been wrapped in gauze. She was very, very lucky to be alive right now, if the re-bar had stabbed her even a few millimetres to the right it would have torn through her stomach and let her digestive acids dissolve her from the inside out, several of her ribs had broken, and one had punctured her lung and she almost drowned in her own blood. And both the tibia and fibula (shin bones) of her left leg were shattered after being crushed by a piece of wall, he had been able to mostly guide the pieces back into place, but it would be a long long time until Harumi could walk without a limp, if ever. But discussions about that could wait until the cast came off. Her right wrist had also been sprained, but that hasn't actually been too bad and Lloyd had simply put it in a splint and a sling.

And all of that didn't even cover the dozens of cuts, bruises and minor fractures that littered her body. It was honestly a miracle she hadn't sustained any head trauma.

Lloyd would have liked to think that he was naturally gifted at medical work, but he had to admit that Green had done most of the heavy lifting, being able to deliver more concentrated bursts of healing once Lloyd was able to actually see the injuries he was treating instead of the wide pulses he was using before. So he had been able to at least prevent any severe lasting damage, Harumi would be able to walk and eat and breath again in time, but even he had limits.

He cupped her face in his palm, tracing the edge of a bruise that was blooming just under her eye, even though he had wiped her clean during surgery, she still looked like a wreck. Ghastly pale, stick thin, and her hair was a matted mess, full of dust and dirt, he would probably have to cut it. Later, though.

After she woke up.

Because she would wake up.

Lloyd sighed and turned his gaze to the curtain and the dark hallway that lay beyond. The monastery had been silent for the entire duration of the surgery, but he knew it wouldn't stay that way much longer, the surgery had taken most of the night and he only had a few short hours until dawn when the others would wake up. He needed to hurry.

Lloyd grabbed at the bars on the sides of the gurney and carefully wheeled Harumi out into the hallway, mentally singing the praises of whoever decided to make the hallways wide enough to fit a gurney when the monastery was rebuilt. He navigated down the corridor until they reached his bedroom.

He stepped around the gurney to slide open his bedroom door, his room was tidy, if a bit Spartan. His Dao was hung on the wall, with a worn out desk and chair across from it, and a potted bamboo plant in the corner, the only thing even remotely extravagant about it was his California king sized bed at the back of the room. He used to have a twin bed like all the others, but he had stopped a robbery at a mattress store and they had gifted it to him as thanks. (they were probably expecting him to be modest and turn it down, but Lloyd had been having a rough few nights of sleep that week and decided a fancy new bed was just what the doctor ordered)

Lloyd turned back to the gurney and slowly pulled it into the room and wheeled it over to the side of his bed. He pulled back the thin blankets and top sheet before bending to pick Harumi up, he settled his palms flat under her back and the crook of her knees, rising to his full height in one fluid motion before semi-awkwardly settling her on the bed, it was moment like these that made him wish he had inherited his fathers extra arms. 

He made sure to lay Harumi down in a partially upright position to take pressure off her chest so she could breath better and took two of his (far too many but also very comfortable) pillows and used them to prop up her broken leg, then a quick check of her IV’s to make sure none of the cannulas got tangled and the needles had not dislodged from her arm, and she was good to go. He felt a flare of anxiety at the idea of leaving her alone, but he had no choice, the med-bay still needed to be cleaned up before the others woke up, and he knew that he would need to leave her on her own throughout the day during training and missions as well or else the others would get suspicious.

Quickly grabbing the gurney and making his way back down the corridor, Lloyd saw that he would have to hurry, the gurney was covered in blood from the surgery, and he realised with horror, so were his hands. Lloyd deposited the gurney in the corner of the med-bay and got to work. Wiping the blood off the gurney with some disinfectant wipes before depositing them in the garbage and scrubbing his hands again, making sure to bring the medical equipment he used and washing that too, spraying down the sides of the basin for good measure so all the bloody suds went down the drain.

He wiped down the tools with hydrogen peroxide so no-one would see the blood under UV light before depositing the scalpel into a nearby sharps disposal bin and putting everything else back in its proper place, taking extra care to make it look the exact same it had when he had entered, once that was done, he went around the med-bay, wiping any stray blood spatter from earlier before applying hydrogen peroxide to that too and mopping up any excess with paper towels. He continued the pattern for a while, wipe up, spray with hydrogen peroxide, wipe up again. Wipe, spray, wipe. Wipe, spray, wipe.

Once Lloyd was finished the garbage bin was almost overflowing with used paper towels and cardboard tubes, he cracked his knuckles, this was the easy part. Lloyd flicked an ember of Green into the bin, watching as it all fizzled and burnt, taking great comfort in the astringent, almost citrus-y smell of his element, it made other queasy but he had always found it soothing, like lavender or cinnamon was to normal people. The trash continued to burn away, sizzling and catching but never actually producing flames, or smoke. 

By the time it was done there was nothing left in the bin, not even ashes, Lloyd double checked that he hadn’t missed anything before turning and leaving. A wave of fatigue washed over him as he trudged back to his room before stopping in front of the bathroom, the grime still caked onto his person suddenly itched, his cleaned arms felt bare by comparison.

Lloyd ducked into the bathroom and took what had to be the most efficient shower of his life. He scrubbed down his entire body, washed his hair, brushed his teeth and towelled off in what had to be ten minutes or less. The ice-cold spray kept him from staying too long. He kept his towel wrapped around his waist as he scooped his probably ruined Gi off the floor.

Once he was back in his room Lloyd closed the door and locked it, he then deposited the dirty Gi into the hamper he kept near the door, burying it under some other articles of clothing so no-one would see it before he went to his dresser. He picked out some simple flannel sleep pants, cotton boxers and a singlet, he felt an embarrassed flush creep up his neck as he turned to look at Harumi, she was still unconscious, and the chances of her waking up while he was getting dressed were slim. But he still kept his back to her and faced the corner as he quickly got changed.

The polluted feeling in his soul welled up again, leaving him wrung out and weary, his head felt like it weighed a million pounds. His sight was blurring at the edges and his mind was muddled, he needed some sleep.

Lloyd crept closer to the bed, before hesitating when he arrived at its edge. It would be weird for him to sleep next to her, right? She was unconscious, plus, what if she woke up during the night and freaked out when she saw him? But then again, it was his bed, and she wouldn’t wake up for at least a day or two, right?

Lloyd's exhausted mind continued to war with itself until once again, that strange almost primal presence in him stirred, the same one that had delighted at the feeling of her in his arms, Lloyd suddenly felt himself gripped with the need to be closer to her, to share her body heat and keep her warm and safe. 

With his mind made up he crawled under the blankets until he was laying next to her, he didn't reach out to hold her, no matter how badly he wanted to, so for now he would have to be content to simply lay next to her, watching her chest rise and fall with steady breaths. Feeling her warmth next to him. Without the fear and adrenaline from earlier to keep him going, Lloyd was crashing fast, his eyes fighting to remain open.

Shifting just a millimetre closer, Lloyd let the sound of her breathing guide him to sleep.

End notes