burnt - k. smith (the rewrite)

t w o

The lights flashed on. 

"We're live in three, two one! Action!" 

You tried to blink them out, ignoring how blinding everyone was. Ignoring how there wasn't a single face you could make out from the crew. 

It didn't matter, all that mattered was sticking to the script you'd hardly memorized the night before. 

"Welcome back to Ninjago Daily News! I'm your reporter for the day, and today we have an exclusive interview with the heroes of our very own city! We are absolutely thrilled to be having them today, and there's been a lot of buzz on the internet about their visit today, as well! With some questions from the audience, as well as some of our own, we are glad to welcome them onto the show today! On this interview, we're called to cover some personal issues and long-awaited answers to questions that have been floating around for even longer! Please give them a warm round of applause." 

An applause track played in the background. You bit back on your lip. You'd forgotten a line, but you didn't know what it was. It was fine. It would all be fine. That was the most you'd had to memorize. Now all you had to do was ask the designated questions and―

Crap. You'd forgotten to talk to Charlie about Anezka's question. 

The applause track ended when all six of the ninja took their seats on the two couches for them. 

You swallowed and forced a smile. "Thank you all for being here." 

"Thank you so much for having us!" Kai exclaimed, shooting you a friendly wink. "It's an honor," he joked. 

"Oh, please, the honor is all mine," you countered. "So, how have you all been?" 

"Well, saving the world, you know," Cole shrugged. 

"Of course," you smiled. "How do you make it look so easy?" You tried to make yourself sound less like a robot―less like all of this was scripted. Natural was how it was all supposed to come out. You pretended to be Beth for a moment. 

Fake your confidence, because no one knows it's fake but you. 

"I have a few friends," Kai pitched in, flexing his muscles. This earned a laughing track from the crew. 

Lloyd playfully scoffed. "We work as a team. You know, I don't think we could function without each other. We're skilled on our own, but together, we're even stronger." 

You heard a few 'awe's' from the crew, but they were silenced soon enough. 

"That is so sweet to hear." You scooted to the edge of your seat. "I'd like to start off by asking you all, what is it like?" They tilted their heads. "What is it like to be heroes? I don't want to jump at you with this question right away, but what's the pressure like? Is it good or bad? What's the personal experience like? I mean, you're all so drastically different, but as your leader said, you work together as a team. But what's the experience like for all of you individually?" 

The team looked amongst one another. Jay nudged Cole forward. 

"Well," Cole began, "it's complicated, truthfully. I don't know if I can speak for everyone else, but coming from me, it is a huge amount of pressure." 

You nodded thoughtfully, though his words were like mush to you. It was impossible to focus. Talk about pressure. 

Cole continued. "I mean, you have all these people having faith in you. They need us to protect them. And we depend on them, too." 

The rest of the team nodded in agreement. 

"I know I can attest to that," Zane piped in. "It is an honor to serve the people of this city, but it's quite a heavy job. Especially knowing it's not always possible to save everyone."