Departed

Chapter 12: Broken Pieces

Morro's POV

     I could never really figure out how to tell Harumi what was on my destiny scroll.

     I excused myself with having trouble telling her about Mika, or how busy I was nowadays trying to live a normal life. It didn't stop me from feeling bad about it.

     Mika was a touchy topic. I still couldn't look Erasmus in the eye after everything that had happened. I had woken up on the ship fully conscious and scrambled to figure out if everyone was safe. Erasmus had told me Harumi and Mistake were, but he never said a word about Mika.

     He avoided me after that.

     I still didn't want to see him again after hearing her screams. Images of her torture would flash through my mind whenever I saw his placid features, and it would take all my willpower not to start yelling again. He was a destiny writer. He could have saved her. I should have been able to save her. Maybe my grief wasn't over the loss of someone, but over my own failure crushing me down in an eternal defeat.

     I didn't want to leave the cottage until I was ready to face the world. Harumi had taken my apology with more grace than she usually gave and had followed Erasmus like nothing bad had happened. It was unusual behavior for her, but then again, this whole realm was unusual. I sat inside the tiny rooms of the cottage, constantly trying to banish any emotions. It was a familiar ritual I'd put myself through, and it was a hard habit to break.

     Suppress the emotions.

     Push the grief aside and work on protecting those left.

     But who was left?

     I had lost everyone. I had lost Wu when I chose to take on my rightful punishment. I had lost my allies Wail, Ghurka, Yokai, Ming, Attila, and so many more to the claws of the demons as we struggled to escape. Even my closest allies like Bansha, Wrayth, Ghoultar, and Soul Archer had not escaped the fate of a second death. Even Mika, poor innocent Mika who I had barely gotten to know, couldn't escape the Departed Realm and its looming grasp.

     The only one left was Harumi, and that was only because of some thief altered my future. If they hadn't, would I have lost her too?

     I had foolishly thought I could escape my cycle of destruction, that my arrogance and powers could be used to help instead of hurt. I had only let everyone down. There really was no end to my evil.

     I sat in the bedroom for hours, slowly raveling all my emotions into a small enough pile where I didn't have to deal with them. I had to keep a steady mind. If Harumi would eventually return to Ninjago, then the Ninja would surely do far worse to her than Malevolence ever planned. I had to at least try and shield her from that. It was all I had left to do.

     When Mistake told me about her job, it finally dawned on me just how long we'd be staying here. I only had a month's worth of grocery money, so I dragged Harumi out of her house to go looking for work. She was less than enthusiastic about the ordeal, which somehow made me smile. At least Harumi was back to her usual, crabby self.

     Normal died a month later.

     Both of us had gotten employed that day. Both of our workplaces were on the same street, so we often spent our breaks together. I had gotten hired at a restaurant where the owners spoke fluent Ninjargon and never seemed to mind whenever I made mistakes. The constant stream of friendly customers continuously reminded me of the good souls in the Departed Realm. As each day passed, Harumi started to lose her bitter edge and talked less and less about anything outside of this realm. Before I realized it, she had started smiling at people. She was different. This realm was different. I sat in my room one night, staring at the ceiling and trying not to freak out.