Ninjago - Heart of Stone

Chapter Fifteen: Forgivness

The fire was still crackling, still casting pale red shadows across the earth and illuminating the faces of the people who sat in a circle around it. Kai was sitting closest, his legs stretched out so that his feet were being warmed in the flames. Near him, Jay and Nya were leaning on each other, though they didn't seem aware of it. Cole sat beside them, looking pointedly away. Across from this was Zane and Julian, then Wu and Misako. Lloyd was sitting next to his mother, and Lexi was sitting apart from everyone. All eyes were turned to her.

"Back in Algaria," she said, "I had a brother. Not really a brother, I suppose... just a cousin. I thought he was my brother. I pretended that he was.

"Francis was much older than me— he was almost five years older than Fiona, and he was always braver than either of us. The Fiona you all know is very different from the one I grew up with. She was shy, and quiet, and reserved. It wasn't her nature. It was just Francis."

Here, Lexi took a breath and glanced at Misako. Her mother had been silent ever since she'd began her story, but now she looked like she had something to say.

"I know Francis," Misako said, taking Lexi's silence as an invitation. "Knew him, at least. I watched him grow from an infant to a young boy, and then I left. I haven't seen him since."

"Was he rough then?" Lexi asked. "Did he still try to domineer everything?"

Misako bit her lip. "He was strong headed, like his mother. But unlike her, he was not noble."

"Not much changed," Lexi said wryly. "As he grew into a man, he only got stronger and rougher and angrier. He always seemed to hate me, and it's not until now that I finally understand why." She didn't have to elaborate. Everyone sitting around the campfire knew about her scar, and about her father.

"Francis was always cruel to me," Lexi went on, "he never loved me. But I still loved him. I wanted him to show me the same affection and care I always gave to him. I wanted a brother.

"He never reciprocated it. He always ignored me, when I was lucky. Sometimes he hit me. Sometimes he spat on me. Once he threw a book at me, but our father caught him." She laughed bitterly. "Francis was always clever, too. He wasn't brawny. He knew how to sneak around and how to lie. I learned well from him.

"Then came the day our parents died." She stared into the fire, and it reflected it her eyes like miniature flames. It suited her expression. "I don't think anything better has ever happened to Francis. He didn't seem to mind terribly that they were gone. He didn't even mourn them, not really. Fiona and I broke down and hid away, and he got engaged to the princess of Jazurra and planned to leave home forever."

"Wouldn't that be lucky?" No one expected Kai to speak, but he did anyways. Lexi looked at him, not seeming at all annoyed at the interruption. It fact, she seemed rather grateful.

"It was, I guess. With Francis gone, Fiona was the queen, and she suddenly became so much wiser, and stronger, and prouder. She had always been that way, but Francis was holding her down. With him gone, we were free."

She didn't sound happy. Lexi's eyes were still glistening, and it wasn't because of the smoke from the fire. Her hands were clasped firmly in her lap, and she was fidgeting.

"But you miss him." Nya sounded like a sister more than ever now. She sounded like Fiona, and Lexi could have cried. She already was. She could have cried harder. "You loved him. And now you miss him."

"I miss the person I always wished he was," Lexi corrected her stiffly. "I miss the idea that he could change. And I hated him for leaving us. I watched him ride away and I ran down the road after him, screaming. I cried right in front of the guards and the servants and I begged him to come back." She looked up at everyone, and she was aware that she was crying. It was silent and slow, but there were tears staining her cheeks. "He didn't. He wouldn't have, not for me."