Promises (Ninjago's Kai x Reader)

Episode 9 - Sympathy for the Devil

I am consumed by emptiness. Everything worked out the way we wanted, yet I still feel . . . hopeless.

Why do I feel this way?

The Ninjago Police burst through the Temple doors. Within seconds they are tackling and arresting the Son's of Garmadon, who don't put up any sort of fight: they know they've lost and they're wallowing in the feeling of being defeated.

"No!" Harumi screams, tugging away from the officers that are ushering her out in handcuffs. "Don't touch me."

Someone touches the small of my back and I jump out of my skin.

"Woah," says Kai softly. "It's just me."

I force a smile and wrap my arms around his neck. Why do I feel like crying?

"We did it," he says, stroking the ends of my hair. "We stopped them."

Kai pulls away and brushes my hair out of my face. His smile drops and his eyebrows knit together.

"What's wrong?"

A tear slides down my cheek. "I don't know." Kai wipes it away with his thumb. "I guess I was just caught up in the possibility of seeing my dad again."

"But he wouldn't have been your dad. He would've been somebody else. Someone you didn't recognize."

That's where he's wrong. The man they're referring to had been cured from the Devourers poison. That was the guy who fought for good and preached peace. He was the man that sacrificed his life to make the world a better place for Lloyd and I to live in. That was Sensei Garmadon. The one that would've returned is the guy I grew up with: the one's who's sole focus was taking over ninjago and turning it into his own image. That man didn't quite care about me as much as he cared about the powerful overlord I might one day become. He was Lord Garmadon, and even if he was evil, having him back would've been better than nothing.

But I don't say that. Nobody can ever know that that's what I might want.

"I know," I say instead.

~

"I.D., please," says the man at the counter.

I pull my fake out of my pocket and slide it across the counter. He picks it up and stares at it for a moment. Then he looks back at me, and then back at my picture.

"You're Dianne Veers?" he says skeptically.

"Yea?" I say in the fake accent. "What's it to you?"

"Nothin," the guy says, handing my I.D. back. "Name's familiar."

"I'm familiar to a lotta people, baby. Don't think too hard."

He scans the box of vodka-- a variety pack of the 99 Brand. My favorite is the blue razzberry flavor, but I'm not picky as long as it does the job.

"19.99."

I slap a twenty on the counter and grab my box. "Keep the change."

It's a windless night. No clouds, no moon. Just the stars. The type of night where it's dark enough where you can disappear if you stand still for more than ten seconds. The perfect time to commit a crime.

I open the box and grab the first shooter. Lime flavored. It's gone in three seconds. The rest I stuff into secret spots: my boots, my bra, my pockets. I put my hair in a bun and hide a few in there. After exhausting all my hiding spaces, there are still three left in the bucket; three for trip home.

I toss my empty bucket.

~

"There you are," says Kai as I stumble back onto the bounty. "Where've you been?"