Two Oni, One Stone - Ninjago x Female Reader AU

Chapter 13

Y/N'S POV

I woke up that morning and made breakfast for me and my mum. "What's troubling you, dear?"

"Me? Nothing..."

"Don't lie to your mother. It's obvious that something is off..." she said while placing a hand on my shoulder while I began washing the dishes.

"I don't know... That whole Palace of Secrets thing... I can't believe the royal family died not even a whole day after they gave a public speech. And the only person the ninja managed to save were themselves and Harumi who was recently arrested. If anyone finds out about our heritage... What will happen to us?"

My mother shrugged. "Depends on who you tell. There are many horrible people in this world who may never accept us. However, there are still good people in this world. You shouldn't worry too much." I washed up the dishes before we headed to work. We decided to walk rather than take the bus since it was still quite early.

Once we got there, I began taking orders from customers while my mum was doing something out back. Once the shop closed, I checked on her. She was meditating peacefully with a cup of tea in her hand. "Hello, y/n. How were the customers?"

"There's been quite a few today."

She hummed before taking another sip of her tea. "I sense that the ninja are coming here soon..."

"What?!"

"Don't worry... It's only because I know their master. He disappeared. Did I not tell you? They came here recently."

"Why?"

"They needed the tea of truth and young Garmadon noticed this painting. I only explained him his own heritage. He's part Oni too."

I nodded, "Okay." I looked around before looking at my mother again. "You've been a bit distant... Are you okay?"

"I can't say I am... The ninja are going to seek help of some sort." She took another sip of her tea with her eyes shut before gasping. "This city is in grave danger! A darkness will arise! My dear daughter, you must leave. For your safety."

"Woah, slow down! What do you mean?"

We were interrupted by the radio. NGRadio was playing in the background and it abruptly switched the music to breaking news: "Breaking News on NGRadio! The most recent criminal, the Jade Princess, Princess Harumi, has been broken out of jail by what seems to be Lord Garmadon according to the CCTV footage."

Me and my mother looked at each other with concern. "Do you believe me now?"

"Th-that's what he said. 'Kneel before Lord Garmadon!'" My breathing became shallow. "Citizens are advised to evacuate this city, however the location of Lord Garmadon and Princess Harumi are still unknown."

"You must leave, y/n..."

"What? No! I'm not going anywhere! Not without you..."

"I'm not giving you a choice. You don't want to reveal yourself to the ninja, do you? Lord Garmadon has his own motorcycle gang which is already circling this city! The ninja will arrive for help. That can only mean one thing. They will fail against Lord Garmadon. I must stay. You, however... You must leave."

"I-" The TV, which was placed in the top corner of the main part of the shop above the counter, turned on. There was some live broadcast from Kryptarium Prison. Lloyd was fighting Lord Garmadon. Surely he's got this, right? The cameras switched between each other like a fight scene in a movie. After what seemed like hours of intense watching, Lloyd was thrown through multiple walls of the prison, leaving him completely shattered outside it's gates.

"You must leave. Y/n... Now..." With tears flooded in my eyes, I hugged my mother as tightly as I possibly could. She hugged me back, "We will see each other again. Don't worry about me."

I nodded and pulled away. "I love you."

"I love you too, my dear child," she responded while cupping her hand around my cheek. "You must go..."

That was the last time I've ever seen her.

I couldn't feel the weird aura nearby, so we concluded that we are safe for now. I woke up early and checked on Cole. He was in his room and Nya was beside him. She glanced up at me as I entered the room. "When did you wake up?" I asked.

"Not long ago..." Nya said while wiping a piece of cloth over Cole's forehead. She sighed, "He doesn't look too well... I wonder who did this to him."

"Same."

None of us were in the mood for breakfast, and decided to stay in Cole's room and nurse him. Cole started muttering something under his breath, but none of us could work out what he was saying. "He's burning up!" Nya exclaimed. Jay came back from the kitchen with some special tea of some sort. Nya gently lifted Cole's head while Jay poured the tea into his mouth. He swallowed and laid back down. His eyebrows were furrowed and he didn't stop muttering. He was still burning up and he was practically drowning in a pool of sweat.

He suddenly yelled out as he sat up abruptly. He hyperventilated a little before completely calming down and catching his breath again. "Kai..." he mumbled as tears began forming in his brown eyes.

"Cole, are you okay?" I asked.

He wrapped his arms around his legs as he tucked his knees in. "I..." He sighed and dropped his head down. He took a few deep breaths before brushing his hair back and sitting up properly. "I don't know what happened... It was... unlike anything I've ever seen... It was horrible."

"What was it?" Lloyd asked. "Who attacked you? Did the same person take Kai?" I put my hand on Lloyd's shoulder. He glanced at me and I shook my head gently, signalling for him to slow down with the questions. Lloyd nodded and looked back at Cole, who had dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in thousands of years. His breath was a bit trembly and his skin was pale.

"It was Kai."

"Yeah, we know but who took him?" Lloyd asked again.

"I'm telling you, i-it was Kai! Like... A-A child version of him. But... More... I-I don't know, ominous? We came i-into the kitchen and the kid just stood in the corner... He had purple eyes and looked exactly like Kai as a kid. Exact copy. It was so uncanny and... Terrifying..." It looked as if Cole's eyes were completely drained of all life as he spoke. He even avoided eye contact and stared into space as he spoke. He was scared.

Cole continued explaining. "A-And that's not even the worst part! It was... Kai's dark side but in the body of a child. We just w-watched as this kid pointed his finger at Kai, b-blaming him for everything bad he's done. It was as of Kai's trauma caught up to him. Kai went insane and... tucked his ears and tried shouting for help but no words came out..." A few tears rolled down Cole's cheeks.

"Like a cry for help..." I muttered.

"What did the kid say?" Nya asked.

"H-He shouted things like... Like..." Cole calmed himself down to avoid breaking down into sobs. "'You should've killed yourself when you had the chance' o-or 'You're pathetic' a-and 'You did this to me. You never asked to be a ninja and look at what you gifted me. What you gifted yourself' and even 'I wish that one foster parent just killed you. Then it would've just been over with. We wouldn't have to go through all this shit'..." Cole choked out a few sobs.

Jay came over and put his hand on his best friend's shoulder. Nya's facial expression at the last quote explained everything about that part of their childhood they very much wanted to forget. "Th-Then some weird smoke... Like the cloud from a few years back just emerged from his eyes like tears and... a-and attacked us... And I couldn't stop him. He was too strong. H-He went through some sort of vortex... o-or some portal and... took Kai with him." His tears were flooding down his face and his bottom lip quivered. "And I couldn't do anything to stop him..."