Serendipity | Ninjago One-Shots II

open the lid | ninjago - character study

I wasn't sure what song to put for this one-shot. There were many songs that fit this story for me. True Colours, This Is Me, Set It All Free, and many more. While I'm not the biggest fan of High School Musical The Musical The Series, I do like this song and I feel it works well for the one-shot.

Title: inspired by Fruits Basket
*****

Nya's never been very good at controlling her temper. It was like waves crashing the shore, seemingly quite harmless but as soon as you touch the water it slams you back into the sand. It didn't help that her brother was also famously bad at controlling his emotions (though Nya would say that she was slightly better than him at it... in certain instances). As Nya got older, it became obvious that her anger was something that would need to be curbed. Society took one look at her female appearance and declared that it meant fury needed to be reined in, stamped down with disapproval and snide comments. No one would listen to a raging woman, perhaps a weeping girl, but if Nya dared to show the unsettled waters underneath she was immediately dismissed. Even when Nya joined the ninja, at first as somewhat of a side-kick, that still didn't change. With the public eye constantly watching them, she couldn't afford to let their reputation be sullied because she couldn't hold her tongue. So she held it. She bit into it until it bled. She tried everything she could to stop the storm, to make the skies clear so that maybe just maybe Wu might pick her to be one of the ninjas too.

But it never happened. Again and again and again and again, Nya was brushed aside. The ninja took on the glory, their faces were pasted on the front page, while Nya was gossiped about in passing- usually wondering which one of the boys she was romantically involved with. It was humiliating, it was disgusting, it was infuriating. She worked hard every damn day and didn't have a thing to show for it. She smiled until her cheeks hurt, she practiced using calm, sweet tones and locked in every negative emotion until it felt like her heart was made of stone. But no matter what she did, no matter the cheerful, kind façade she put up, no one seemed to care.

It was only after a particularly nasty column in the newspaper, painting her as dim-witted, and dull, commenting only on her appearance and the mask Nya put up which was only there to satisfy them. It was only after she'd torn the thing to shreds that she realized that she needed a new solution. A better solution. One that would free her from the chains life strangled her under.

So she built a mech.

She fought some villains.

She saved some people.

And she became Samurai X.

Samurai X became a whole new character, a whole new mask, but this time it was one of strength and power. Nya was able to push all of the anger and frustration, all of her hard work and dedication, into something that could give back, into an incredible warrior people would respect and praise. It all came with a male label but at least she was doing something, at least she could become a person she felt proud of.

Unfortunately, even that couldn't last.

Nya could finally be a ninja, just as she always wanted. But with it, she only got more judgement, more pressure, and the same, familiar need to stuff everything into a box and hide it in the very depths of her being.

Maybe it was because of her slowly cracking facade that her relationship with Jay fell apart. Maybe it was because he could never fully understand and Nya could never fully tell him. Maybe it was the fact that both of them had deep-seated insecurities they weren't ready to show each other. So they kept it all buried down until the gnarled monsters stashed inside them reared their ugly heads and let themselves be heard.