Promises (Ninjago's Kai x Reader)

Episode 7 - Welcome to the Jungle

It's almost been a week since we crash-landed on this hellscape of an island and there still hasn't been any sign of Lloyd and Harumi. Five days spent fucking around with the broken bounty, five days entertaining this needy child, and five days of  fruitlessly searching this god-forsaken jungle for any sign of my brother.

"Backpack?" says Jay, reading off a checklist.

"Check," Lily replies.

"Water bottles?"

"Check."

"Map?"

"Check."

"Lunch?"

"Check," I say, snatching the list out of his hand and stuffing it in my pocket. "Can we go now?"

Today is mine and Lily's day to search for Lloyd while the others hang around camp.

"One more thing," says Jay. He disappears into the control room and returns with two headlamps. "I made them myself-- in case you don't make it back before it gets dark."

It's so hard to not roll my eyes at him right now. "Thank you, Jay." I turn towards my clone and nod. "Lets get going."

We jump over the side of the ship and venture into the jungle. As we passed, I gave Kai a quick kiss goodbye. His task for today was fixing some damage done to the bounty's hull when we crashed. He may not be as handy as Jay or Zane, but he's good when it comes to working with metal.

"Love you," he called after me.

My only source of hope.

"Okay," says Lily, pulling out our map, which is scribbled with red marker in areas we've already cleared. "If we're here, we can probably make it here around lunch time, which would give us time to get out here before heading back."

"I don't care what your stupid map says, Lil. I'm finding my brother today."

She looks up from the map, eyes wide with concern, like pools of blood waiting to drown me with their caution. I love that she and Cole are together, but he's kinda turned her into a bit of a goody two shoes.

"You mean we're not going back today."

"It's a good thing Jay gave us headlamps."

"Tasha, it's not safe--"

"I'm not going back unless it's with Lloyd." Purple vines taint the edge of my vision for just a second and Lily shrinks away. "Now are you with me or not?"

Lily folds up the map and stuffs it back in her backpack. "I'm coming with you," she says, "but only so you don't get yourself killed."

I glance at her for just a moment. She's too determined for her own good: It's the only good quality she got from me.

"We'll head south and loop back around the beach."

"The beach? But nobody has gone that far yet."

"Yea? Well maybe that's why we haven't found them."

She doesn't respond. We walk in silence for many hours, pressing through the forest, searching for any sign of Lloyd. But there's none. Not even a trace of the Samurai X Suit. We break for lunch and Lily tries to make conversation.

"You know," she says, "the others might come after us when we don't come back."

"They know better than to try." I take a long sip from my water bottle. "We're not moving fast enough."

I stuff my half eaten sandwich back into my backpack and stalk into the trees. Lily doesn't follow. I don't see her again until an hour later, she finally catches up to me, having jogged the whole way. She doesn't say anything as she slows to a walk, but I can feel her eyes burning into the back of my head. I know she's questioning my sanity. No doubt, they've all noticed my patience growing thinner and thinner, and that's why they won't come after me.