Heiress (A Ninjago Fanfic)

Untitled Part 21

Ko

. . .

Her heart beat faster as Malik led her inside the ship, the smell of musty wood reaching her. The Bounty. The thing Hiroto always talked so much about. And now, she was standing right here, in all of its ancient and mythical glory. It almost seemed too much for her to properly grasp.

Not only that, but she was about to meet them, the Legends themselves. Her breaths trembled slightly from her nerves. They were the ones who saved Ninjago so many times. And right now, they were right behind that door.

He slid it open and they stepped inside.

A man in a red hoodie was the first person she saw. "Hey!" Kai spoke in Japanese, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room.

"You can speak it?" The words escaped her before she could stop them.

"Sure. Why not? Jay-" He slapped the man in a blue t-shirt on the back, then said something in English.

"He's saying, that it's you." A low, serious voice came from her right and her eyes widened. Zane Julien.

Then, the man in blue was holding his hand out. "Oh, sorry. Hi." She hadn't seen him coming at all and she flushed a bright pink. Her first impression must be terrible right now.

He chuckled a little and smiled at her, a strange tingling feeling in her chest. Something wasn't right about that smile. But she couldn't place it and before she could figure out what it was, Jay began talking to her.

She smiled and nodded, definitely knowing what he was saying.

"It's nice to meet you. He hopes you'll be able to settle in here for a while and to become more acquainted with him," Zane translated.

"I'd love to work with him more. And tell him thank you." As he translated, she took a glimpse around the room nervously. Every single Legend was looking at her. But, despite their warm smiles and the welcoming atmosphere, just being in their presence still intimidated her.

"We'll be stationed here for a bit longer. In the meantime, you can look around this place and familiarize yourself with it."

"Alright, thank you."

Zane nodded in response, and she turned around, heading out into the hall. Malik followed and handed her his phone. "I can show you around this place."

"There's no need. I'll do it later myself."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to visit the orphanage."

His eyes widened and she turned to go. She'd already said her goodbyes to the people in her warehouse. But not the other children that Hiroto took care of. If she'd left without saying anything to them, they'll never know what happened to him. Breaking the news to them would be one of the things she would have to do.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she looked back at Malik. He shoved his phone into her hands. "Take me with you."

"What? Why?"

"I just need to see them." A hint of desperation crossed his eyes, and for a moment, it seemed to change into Hiroto's. The firm grasp on her shoulder suddenly turned into his gentle and warm touch, and she almost forgot how to breathe. Almost. It was the roughness of his hand that brought her back to her senses. Unlike his, Hiroto's were smooth, a sign that he hadn't fought off any Demons before that day.

She shrugged him off. "Stay close to me." There wasn't anything to lose from letting him come with her. So why not? The children had seen him before, and besides, they might take a liking to him as well.

Their normal civilian clothes blended in perfectly with everyone else, and there was no trouble getting to the place they needed to go. All around her, people were cleaning up the streets, picking up debris, running errands. Emergency vehicles were just about everywhere, and news stations, journalists from other countries, all of them were there.

"What was your Gold like?" It'd be better if she distracted herself from these things.

"Wasn't very good, I'm afraid."

"What happened?"

"To put it bluntly, he betrayed my camp, and stole the Chosen One."

She stopped in her tracks. There was no way she read that right. Maybe it was a typo. But for some reason, her gut told her that this had to be real. To make something up like this would be completely outrageous, and besides, she'd just met the Legends themselves. At this point, nothing was impossible. "How the hell did you manage to get your hands on the Chosen One?"

"By accident."

She looked up at him, then looked down. Then up, and back down. "You're hilarious. I like your sense of humor."

His brows furrowed as he read the translation, then rolled his eyes as they continued walking. "No, I wouldn't mess with you like that. I was a Phantom in my camp and I just so happened to save her."

"So the Demons already knew about her then?"

"Probably, yeah."

"What does she look like?"

"A child. Brown eyes and skin. Last I saw her, she was wearing a hijab, a shirt and long pants. Her name is Sitarah Patel. You can't miss her."

"I'll send a notice to my warehouse."

"Thank you."

Looking up, she saw the small sign in front of the orphanage and reached for the doorknob. Then paused. She was about to go in and tell them that Hiroto was dead. That he was gone forever. The one person who saved her and countless others, had died. If she told them that, how could she console them? Her hands grew cold, and her chest tightened. She couldn't breathe.

"Ko?" Her name in Malik's voice distorted it into Hiroto's.

No. She had to do it. There was no stopping here, and they deserved to know. There would be no use in hiding it anyway. looking back, she nodded, feeling herself shake a little. Then she pushed open the door.

A little boy sitting on the hallway floor glanced at her. Then his tiny face lit up with delight. "Ko!" In the next moment, a horde of children were surrounding her, filled with energy and joy. A chorus of greetings filled her ears. A lump formed in her throat as she tried to smile at them. Now that she was there, it seemed a lot harder than before.

As she tried to juggle the amount of kids clambering over each other, one little girl's voice ran out above the rest. "See?! I told you we saw him!"

Looking back at Malik, she found him shifting uncomfortably as the little girl pointed straight at him, prompting a few other kids to start looking at him from a distance. "This is my friend. He's from the United States and his name is Malik Dawson."

The children began flocking to him as they began tossing questions at him. She hastily grabbed her phone. "Sorry. They've never met someone from America before."

He managed to reach for it, then laughed a little. "It's alright." As he handed it back, he gave a tiny wave to a few of them. The air suddenly shifted, and she looked back at the hallway.

The caretaker stood there, with a tender but worried look on her face. It'd be better if she let her know first.

"Hello. May I talk to you for a moment?"

The worry only grew, but a smile almost hid it. "Yes, of course."

Taking her by the arm, she decided that Malik would be able to handle a couple of minutes of babysitting. "I came with bad news. And I think the children have a right to know but I wanna run it by you first."

By then, the smile had completely slipped off her face. "Alright. Go ahead."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she forced out the words. "Hiroto is dead."

The woman's brows furrowed, then drew apart as her eyes widened in a mix of shock, horror, and disbelief. "No." She shook her head. "No. It's not true, is it? There was no way he could have died, he promised that he'd protect-" Her voice trailed off, as another realization seemingly hit her.