Wisps: Recollection (Ninjago X Reader)

32. Gave up in a Ditch

An ivory cloud flew above and the nerves dulled as you swam to the distant surface. Doubts worked to suffocate and take you under like the sea. Wildly splashing in the water– You're too far, his destiny carved in stone. You couldn't save him. You could only cry out and watch. His old master didn't save him either, right there with his student. The sun's warmth touched Morro and dust whispered in the tides and winds. You couldn't hear his lingering voice.

Waves smacked you underneath, not giving you a break to shatter on your own. A current brought you aboard, and you crashed onto the floor. Footsteps scattered, and people panicked, knowing exactly who you are. Though... you never knew who that was. Not now either... 

Things happened, but it's distant, playing out far and reverbing into nothing. And... You didn't care what happened next. A cell or left abandoned and find yourself in a ditch – you didn't care and there is no one left to. You are an empty husk; the one person who said he truly knew you is gone and dead. You didn't fight the hand that tugged you up. Faint screams echoed but your ears still felt clogged. Your head lobbed forward like it was decapitated as someone picked you up, speaking words that didn't reach you. Their cold, metal body amplified the biting cold of the damp, freezing clothes stuck to your body. Your brain hardly registered that you were gently eased into a chair. The voice droned on in your head but you never lifted it, staring blankly at your lap.

"I know you can hear me." Zane kneeled in front of you, persistent in getting your attention. You tried to even out your breath, finding it hard when you realized you were crying.

"Just put me in a cell." Solitude. That's all you want now. Not an enemy, ridiculing you, seeing the cracks cleaved by water and salt.

"We're not leaving you alone." Your eyes lazily drifted to him, her voice trying to be soothing. It wasn't. "I'm here..." Not at all.

You say nothing. You didn't care, you used to but there's no room for it. There isn't for anything or anyone. And that is by your own doing. You helped in fanning the flames on the burning bridges, thinking you could have the one person that mattered the most after. But while you worried about the inferno, you didn't worry about the flood that would have drowned it. You don't know if you should be laughing or sobbing at that cruel joke. '...we should've gone down together.'

"...do you need?" She wanted to say more, but... 

"Master Wu." Master. How it made you bitter with poison.

"Leave us, Zane." Creaks reverberated in the empty room. "Are you willing to speak?" Your glare is a sad try at fierceness with the tears brimming your eyes. He wasn't phased at all, and maybe you stupidly saw a glimmer of sadness. It further feeds the meager flame keeping you from breaking down.

"Get out." You got up, the chair screeching as you kicked it off and hardened your glare. He wasn't surprised. He didn't leave. You were struggling to hold on to whatever strength you had left. And you kneeled– you fell to your knees, almost begging him to answer you: "Why, why, why didn't you save Morro?"

"I couldn't save him. He didn't want to be saved." He bowed his head, as ashamed as he is. It has to be a lie. There is no way. No way Morro didn't want to be saved when you remember your last moments with him.

"You didn't because you let him die." You wanted those words to hurt him. Scath him with how virulent his lie is. How all his lies are.

"He was my pupil-"

"Was that all he ever was to you!?" He shifted, his hat covering his eyes. You struck a spot that shoved him in the middle of all this. "Is it that easy for you to move–?!"

"I treated Morro like my own son...!" Wu stopped, his mouth opened, and he dryly licked his lips. If there was a moment of clarity in his wrinkled head, it's gone. His fingertips skimmed the groves in the worn bamboo. "Darkness does not rest. And neither can we. Not with you." He glanced at you with an emotion akin to apprehensive. "Morro left me with one, final request. With your memories gone forever, you have a blank slate–"

"Take your shit and get out of here."

"...Borg has come across a proposition from the royal family. We will talk again." He opened the door, showing how the sun rose, half of it in the sea. He shut the door on a new day. You don't want to start counting them, not a single one as your fingers burrowed into your palms. Your fingernails dug deeper into your flesh until red, crescent indents burned. You don't think you can make it. Make it while grasping at a weak, thin string to stay alive.

Those last moments played out on repeat and nothing else. He haunted you. The warmth he gave you faded with how your cold, wet clothes dragged you to your empty world of hurt. Hot tears chilled in their streams. It's an ugly cry ripped out from you. Everything is ripped away from you. He had ripped your heart out and gone somewhere far away with it. That was just like him, wasn't it? Just like him... "Morro..."

Silence. Only waves smashed into the side of the ship. Sobs broke your breathing into sharp gasps that racked your lungs.

Nothing will be alright.

Alright was when you were with him.