Darkness from Within #7: A Promise Broken (Ninjago Fanfiction)

Prologue

Leaves crunched underneath her feet as the girl trudged through the dark woods. It was eerie and full of shadows, but she was used to it by now. She had lived there all her life, in the small cottage in the clearing. There with only her parents and nature to keep her company.

At the thought of her parents, the girl's pace quickened. Her scarred hands clutched the wood tightly, every windy blow feeling like ice to her skin. The chills swept painfully through her open cuts, but she kept going. She had experienced things like this enough to learn how to ignore the pain. Emotional pain was what she really struggled with.

She knew her parents loved her... in their own way. Of course they did. Although she, a small, thirteen-year-old girl, was stuck doing every single chore in the house and was repaid with more anger and pain. They had to love her, didn't they? They never showed any kind of affection. The only kind of affection she got was a tug at her hair or a strike at her cheek. But they provided for her—no, she provided for them. Was that why they kept her?

She pushed the thought away, as she did all her other thoughts on the subject. Every day she hid her emotions, covering herself with some sort of mental shield. She couldn't feel anything around her parents, or it would only result in more pain. Emotional and physical. The only time she felt truly herself—free from the walls of her trap—was when she was in the forest with her friends.

She had only two friends. Two brothers—one older than her and the other younger. The boys lived somewhere by themselves in the woods and she would often catch them hunting or lounging as she carried out her chores. The three of them had been best friends for as long as she could remember. The elder brother had found her in the dirt and dust one morning, and their bond was immediate. They were only kids then, both looking for something to cling onto. The girl had only begun to feel the pain of her parents' treatment, and the boy and his brother had been flat-out abandoned by their parents.

Abandoned. No one knew why. The brothers had been left to fend for themselves, and it had made them one of the strongest and hardest duo the girl had ever seen. Although she knew they were over it, she made sure to avoid that topic, but the older brother wouldn't stop talking about it. Not just his story—abandonment in general.

The pain in her chest deepened and she dug her fingers into the crisp bark to push down her feelings as she was so used to doing. She knew the boy was only trying to look out for her, but she didn't like how much he brought up her parents. Warning her that one day, they might abandon her, too. But she refused to believe it. How could they do such a thing? His abandonment only made his heart more guarded, she knew, so every time he brought it up, she would brush the subject away. His heart must still be too pained to realize that her parents did care about her.

Didn't they?

Of course they do, the girl told herself. And although she was pushed around every hour of her life, she still loved her parents. At least, she thought she did. How couldn't she? They were her parents, after all. And parents love their children.

Most parents, the brother would say. But not yours. And other things like don't get attached to them or expect pain or turn from them first.

The girl shook her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't believe what nonsense the boy was expecting her to do. Leave my only family? she thought. And do what? Go where?

Faint sunlight hit her face and she realized she had reached the clearing surrounding her home. Glancing down to make sure she had gotten all the wood her parents expected from her, she straightened up and headed across the grass.

The sun was closer to setting than rising. Her parents had sent her out early that morning, and her feet ached from being out all day. As much as she wanted to rest, she knew they would come up with a zillion other things for her to do before she could get a wink of sleep.