Ninja Within Shadows ► Ninjago [REWRITING]

* 19 - Race for Scarlett

Written by: dxganronpa

Mia huffed, lifting her head only a bit to look at the green ninja, her eyes puffy and red from the tears. "What? What is it that you want to talk about?"

Lloyd walked over to her, sitting on the bed and putting a hand on her back. "What happened back there? Why was Scarlett so... quiet when she came back? And where is she?"

"What is this, an interrogation? I have no idea where she is!" Mia cried, letting her head fall back into the pillow, sniffling. "She still has her doubts."

"Doubts? What does that mean?" he asked.

"She said that we were talking about how she's the weakest link, how we only went there to destroy the shadows, not rescue her," she explained in a muffled shout. "She said... that I never thought of her as a friend. None of us did."

Lloyd was shocked at that. "Why... why would she say that? We all thought—we think—of her as a dear friend."

"Yeah, well something changed." Mia cried softly into her pillow, grasping his hand. "She... Lloyd, I barely recognized her! She sounded so different..."

"Obviously something happened while she was in there. We just have to figure out what that was," Lloyd assured her. "Hey, listen. This isn't over yet. Scarlett's one of us, whether she likes it or not."

Mia sniffled again, looking up from her pillow. "Y- Yeah?"

"Yeah." Lloyd nodded. "Don't worry, we'll figure out what happened. We never talked about her being the weakest link—the shadows must have something to do with this."

"Yeah, but... how are we going to convince her of that?" Mia asked. She lifted her face from the pillow, quickly letting her head fall into his chest as she embraced him. "Lloyd, I don't... I don't wanna lose her."

"You won't," be promised her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "None of us want to lose her... and I think a specific someone might be able to convince her to stay."

* * *

Scarlett stuffed her hands in the pocket of her hoodie, looking out from the deck. She waited for the Bounty to stop, but it didn't seem like it would. Not for a while, at least.

Even without much training being done with her, she was able to tell who was sneaking up behind her without turning around. "What do you want, Kai?"

"I want to know what the hell's going on," he answered, standing next to her.

Scarlett only scoffed, not batting an eye to him. "You tell me."

"Look, Scar, I don't know what those shadows told you—"

"The truth. They told me the truth. God, I had my suspicions and doubts since the beginning, but I can't believe the enemy told me!" She threw her hands up in exasperation, still not turning around.

"That's not the truth. None of us ever thought that way, and we still don't," Kai said, calmly. "I swear. Why would any of us ever say that to you? Why would I ever say that to you?"

"You'd believe the amount of people that have said that to me. You're all the same. The same liars." She bit her lip, crossing her arms now. "I can't trust anyone."

"Yes, you can." Kai tried reaching out for her, but she yanked her hand away—now she faced him. and she tried to keep the tears in her eyes from spilling.

"Don't you fucking touch me. Don't try and be heroic and make this right," she snapped, taking a few steps back. "I don't care if this thing doesn't stop, I'm done... I'm out of here."