Wisps: Recollection (Ninjago X Reader)

21. Scapegoats

Flames gleamed, your nerves crawling into themselves when one flame brightened. You draw the book to your lap and edged away from the candle. Incense is lit for another failed attempt. Words in the language of wisps inked the page and twined each other. It's starting to catch up on you; pouring over worn-down books and creased letters until words jumbled together and blurred into a nightmare... and you see him.

The cold room seemed hotter. Sweltering. The stench of Kai's scorched flesh suffocates and the blue blaze eats at your sight. Did his eye blink? Or were you seeing things?

His body is right there, suspended in animation, but the heat kept pricking your skin.

The door opened and shut. More food you won't eat and– Water and food splattered on the ground and clay cracked on the stone. Eyes meet. She is the last person you want to see right now. Even with all the geisha makeup, it's clear who it is. A lump rose in your throat, threatening to overcome you with sadness and dread.

"Nya...?" Hurried footsteps rushed to her brother's side. You can't look behind you. Her sobs muffled and stressed breaths of his name pelt your skull. Covering your ears and looking the other way won't hide it. Escaping it wouldn't erase what is happening. You thickly swallowed the lump in your throat, the weight of it all pressing down on your chest.

"Bring him back..."

"I can't–"

"Give Kai back." She hissed at you, her voice low so she didn't alert guards. Her white makeup blurred and mascara smeared under her eyes.

"I... tried– I can't– Kai's dead." A palm struck your cheek. It didn't hurt or ache. What did were her tears.

"He didn't die." They bubbled and boiled over her eyelids as a harsh gasp seethes through her teeth. "You're a killer." Shame wouldn't let you face her, your eyes cast to the hazy floor. You don't know what your eyes would even tell her. What would you say to her? Sorry? You didn't mean it?

Saying anything was as pathetic as saying nothing.

Keys chimed and the locks rattled. The sting on your check faded but it might as well have stayed. You sit back down and skim through the book. You can't see very well. You wiped your eyes but they still stream. They fall and splatter on the pages of ink and create black spots. Iron sits on your tongue from biting into your inner bottom lip. You were long hopeless.

Hinges creaked yet again, Skylor showing herself. You voice lowered into hostility, a disgust seeping as you asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out of here. You're not going to last long after what you did." Skylor reached for you and you slapped her hand away. Her hand pressed to her chest in a recoil.

"What I did?" Cruel laughter rattled your throat. "I did it, because of you."

Skylor took a shallow breath, "That's not true." She dared to utter that hypocrisy.

"...you're the reason I had to." Fists curled at her side, head bowed.

"I didn't have a choice!"

"Yeah, course. You decided following your "loving" father was a better idea."

"You're not piling this shit on me. You let Neuro find out about everything."

"...what are you even talking about?"

"Page one forty-nine not ninety-four. Neuro saw the spell. He saw into Clouse's head and saw you working together... You didn't notice he was lying to you." Bandages that wrapped your cut palm to your elbow felt tighter, like a snake that wormed on your irritated skin. Its scales are coarse and toxic as its bite.

"And you went along with it." Her eyes trailed to the body behind you, her lips sewn shut, unlike yours. "You're as guilty as I am."

It became unbearably quiet. Wordlessly, she left you in the silent, somber room with the flickering candles. Walls closed in around you. Everything is too much. It will all come crashing down. It's too late to save anything, anyone– you hurled leather books to the floor, scrolls scattering on the stone ground. There's a thud as you kicked the table, ramming it harder into the wall. Heaving pants rasped within your strained vocal cords.

Wax curdled and boiled, the flames burning twice their height. Wax dribbled to your clenched fist. You flinched away, smearing it off. A blistered hand clamped on your arm, intensifying the heat. There is no fire. Yet your skin bubbled and popped, melting with his. Fused into an ugly mass that scolded you to the edge, grasping your wrong-looking arm, flickering your sight from him to it... now intact. Not a scar. Not a burn.

You're going insane.

Kai's voice seared into the soul like a brand. His jaw unhinged, mouth snapping open:

"You deserve it."

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Sorry bout the short chapters. Felt this was the best way to do what I wanted by splitting it up. Next two will be the last ones that are short.