butterflies. [ninjago oneshots)

Marble Game (Nya and Ray)

"Okay, uh.." Nya inhaled. She looked up at her dad once more. "Even?"

"Are you sure?" Ray asked.

Nya swallowed and nodded. "I'm sure. Now please tell me." Her tone was shaky, indicating a tone of nervousness and fear that she herself hasn't felt in a while.

Her father opened his hand to an even amount of marbles. Four to be exact. The sad realisation on their faces meant that they now knew only one of them could come out of this game alive. If only they knew what game it was before, then maybe they would've stayed as far away from each other as possible.

Nya sighs shakily and she takes the marbles from his hand and placed them in her own bag. Now, she has 15 marbles. He had five left.

Whoever won all the marbles, would win. The loser will die.

"Are you sure you only have five left?" Nya asks quietly. This cause the attention of her father and he looked up to listen. "Count again, maybe you have a lot more. Maybe we actually have even marbles." An idea sprung into her head. "Wait, at the end of the game, what if we show them our marbles, that are even, and then they let us-"

"Nya.." Ray's voice was soft as he felt his emotions get the better of him. "I don't have an even amount of marbles." He gestures to his almost empty bag. "You've won every guess when I've lost every one."

Nya sniffles. "You used to be so good at this game.."

No words were said to each other while Ray sorted out his marbles and Nya looked away. Nothing could be said. They knew that they'd had to say goodbye to each other and that one would come home without the other.

"Okay," Ray confirms that he had picked, which made Nya turn around and take a deep breath in. She thought for a few moments, trying her best to get it wrong.

"Got it?"

Nya sighs and nods. "Odd." She states.

Ray opens his hand to five marbles. Odd.

"No," The denial began to kick in again. "No no, no. Please." Ray could hear his daughter's those close up with the sad realisation that he was done for.

"D-Do it again," Nya ordered, her eyes beginning to tear up. "Please,"

"Nya.."

"Do it again!"

Ray let out a shaky exhale as he grabbed Nya's marble bag, and slowly dropped the last five marbles in there before securing it and placing it in his daughters' shaking hands.

"Now," His voice was shaking. "W-What I want you to do is win this for me. I want to see your mother and brother happy again. I..I don't remember the last time I saw Kai smile at me." He starts off. Nya's focus was fixated on him, as all she could do was occasionally whimper and try not to break down. Not yet.

"You also need to take care of this little one." He looks down at her stomach, and after a ghee moments she does too. Her face pales and she shakes her head, but she was silently cut off.

"You didn't do a very good job at hiding it," The man's laugh was dry and full of regret. "But..I'm not mad, that would be stupid anyway, because I'm about to die." His jokes turned Nya over the edge.

"I'm sorry.." She sobbed. "W-What am I gonna tell mom? S-She'll hate me, she-"

"Nya, your mother won't be mad at you. I can promise you right now she'll be happy you came home." Ray explains, a small smile appearing. "But can you tell her one thing please?"

Nya nods and sniffles. "W-What?"

"Tell her I love her. She, uh..she saved me. So I guess this is my way of doing it back to her after all these years."

The guard beside them starting approaching them both, pulling out his gun.

"D-Dad, no, please.." Nya's desperate pleas seemed to be fading away. This was it, after all these years of poverty. This was how it ended for him.

"I love you, Nya. And..tell Jay he needs to get a haircut before that baby of yours comes."

"I-"

...

Player 017, eliminated.