Ninja Within Shadows ► Ninjago [REWRITING]

* 27 - A New Despair

Written by: dxganronpa

The sight was almost unreal to them.

Kai took a step back, his eyes widened. Jay was just as shocked, ready to say something but his words came out empty. Zane stood there, baffled and taking a deep breath. Cole let out a tsk, but was in shock like everyone else. Nya gasped, putting a hand over her mouth and holding back tears, and Red let out a choked sigh, eyes wide.

Lloyd did the one thing that brought everyone else back to reality and screamed. With tears running down his cheeks, he screamed for the girl he loved as he pulled her body into his chest.

"Mia... Mia, no!" Nya cried, Jay taking her into his arms. But he was just as scared and worried and full of crazy emotions as the rest of the team, tears stinging all of their eyes.

"How could she do this...?" Kai mumbled, furiously wiping at his eye. "Kill one of her own..."

"She's not really gone, right...?" Cole asked, hopeful—even though he knew the dreaded answer.

"Cole, she is right in front of us!" Zane frowned deeply, shaking his head.

"There's gotta be something we can do, something to wake her up..." The earth ninja shut his eyes tightly, letting out a shaky breath. "I just..."

"Cole... she is gone," Red told him, his arm on the wall and his head hung low. He didn't know Mia for very long, he didn't know any of them for long—but she didn't deserve to die, especially in the way she did.

"I'm gonna hunt her down..." Kai shook his head, clenching his fist.

"Kai, what do you—?" Zane began, but the fire ninja angrily cut him off.

"That's not the real Scarlett! She would never kill our friend like this... I'm taking down whatever's controlling her and bringing her back!"

Red lifted his head, looking over to him. "He is right about one thing... that is not my sister. At least, not anymore... but the shadow that was once inside her is now gone."

"I'm tired of hearing everyone say that... I know deep down she would never do this. And she's fighting, I can see it... we can still bring her back—!"

"There is no bringing her back!" Red snapped, his hand on the wall clenching into a fist from reflexes. "Whatever dark being within her has consumed her completely... she may as well be just as gone as Mia."

"Don't say that. Don't!" Kai scowled, stepping over to him. "I know she's still in there! I'm gonna make their damn leader pay, because they're the ones who just killed my friend!"

"Kai, stop it... just stop." Nya sniffled, lifting her head to face her brother. "You're gonna hurt yourself just as bad."

"Does it look like I care? We came here to bring Scarlett back and get rid of those shadows for good—this wasn't supposed to happen!"

"I'm with Kai." Cole stepped forward, closing his eyes for a few seconds and letting the tears dissipate from his eyes. "Mia was a friend to all of us—no way I'm letting her die in vain."

"Are you even hearing yourselves right now?" Jay shouted, shaking his head. "Think of what you're saying... we're nowhere near prepared!"

"There must be a way to defeat them. I refuse to believe there isn't." Zane shook his head, a determined look on his face.

Lloyd was getting fed up with hearing his teammates argue. Just as he was about to scream at them all to shut the hell up, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

With red and puffy eyes, he looked up at a surprised Red. "What... what is it?"

"Strange..." The magic user eyed him, almost squinting. "Lloyd, your eyes. They've become a strange golden color."