I Will (Ninjago fanfiction)

Back to Normal. . . Whatever That Is--Sort of

When I wake up, I pull myself out of bed and rub my eyes. My face is damp from crying. When I've finished straightening myself up, I head out the door and drive to the Dojo. I might as well find something to do to take my mind off what's happened.

I park my car I go inside, my head tilted forward and my face drawn together in anger. I slip on punching gloves and beat some punching bags until I decide that that's not enough. I take the protective gloves off and punch my anger out with my bare hands. Every time I throw a punch, I imagine one of my enemies in front of me. Sometimes it's the person who killed my family, and other times it's the ninja. I barely notice Grande Sensei Darreth coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. I keep punching.

"Um, Ember. . .?" He asks carefully while keeping his distance so I don't punch him.

"What?" I ask through my teeth.

"Uh, could I ask what a good date--"

I punch the bag even harder, then stop, "What did you say?" I hiss through my teeth.

Catching the drift, he corrects himself & finishes, "Uh, when would be a good time for the ceremony?"

"What ceremony?"

"The Crowning of the New Sensei ceremony? Don't you still want to become Grande Sensei Ember?"

Now I remember. "Oh, yeah. Um, whenever's good."

"So. . . Like, next Tuesday at 2:00?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ok," he says. "I'll start making flyers & I'll notify the city. And you may want to attend to those," he nods towards my hands & walks away.

I look down to see that my hands are split open in many places & bleeding, raw skin showing. I wash them clean in the bathroom and bandage them up before heading back into the main room of the dojo. I grab a katana and practice stances, before disemboweling some training dummies. Someone I don't know walks into the dojo & folds their hands. I stop my slashing and look at them, sweat beading down my forehead.

"Hello, are you Ember Robinson?" The man asks, and I nod. "My name is Dr. Neil Jennings. I'm a psychologist as well as a psychiatrist."

"Good for you. I train and work here," I answer.

"Could you come take a walk with me?" He starts to leave.

"No."

"Excuse me?" He turns around, looking genuinely surprised.

"I said no."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice," he says, taking a few steps toward me.

"Well, I'm afraid that you're mistaken. My answer is no and that's final," I say, holding my ground.

Just then, Darreth enters. "Well, hello, Ember. I didn't think you'd still be here. I gather you've met Dr. Jennings?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure if that's a good thing though. For any of us." My threat doesn't seem to faze the doctor.

"Well, I think it could be if you would go with him," Darreth says.

I turn to stare at him. "What?" I ask in astonishment.

"I'm the one who called him on your behalf. I noticed you were acting differently and I didn't want anyone getting hurt."

"I wasn't going to hurt anyone," I say.

"Well. . . Considering your past. . ."

That's it! He's assuming. . .! Just, UHGH! I slam the palm of my hand into his chest, sending him flying across the room. "You just crossed the line!" I say to Darreth, then turning to Dr. Jennings, I take a ninja's stance. "I'm not going with you, and that's that. Don't make me show you the door."

"Oh, I don't think you'll have to," he says, a small smile curling at the edge of his mouth. There's a huge crash, and men dressed in all black with guns enter the dojo through the window. They point their guns at me.

"Put your hands up! You're under arrest on behalf of the Mad Persons Asylum!" They think I'm a crazy person! I jump out the window from which they came, dodging their paralyzing bullets, and land out in the street, where tons of cars from their agency are parked, and some helicopters hover in the air. What's wrong with Ninjago City?!

I dash away from everything and run as fast as I can. As I hear one of the helicopters closing in on me, I turn my body and throw the katana I'd been holding. It pierces the window of the helicopter & they fall back. Now they're really gonna think I'm a nutso. I run all the way home, because my car was back at the dojo. When I reach my neighborhood, I don't slow down. I actually speed up, especially as I pass the Ninja's house. I dash inside mine, & lock the door behind me, then I zip down to my basement and hang out there until I've calmed down.

I don't leave the room in which I've been hiding. There's everything I need down here: a bed, a bathroom, mini kitchen. Well, almost everything; I don't keep food down here. At some point I hear knocks at my front door, but I don't answer it. I know better than that. I only go upstairs for a few minutes to grab some food, and a couple things to do. When I'm satisfied with the things I have down in the basement guest room, I wait things out, but end up camping out for the night down there.

In the morning, I decide to go upstairs and investigate. On the doorstep I find an informational pamphlet regarding the Mad Persons Asylum, and a note tucked into the folds of the pamphlet saying that they'll be back to pick me up at some point. It's then, that I decide to leave my past behind, and run for my life.