It Really Hurts To Let Go Sometimes

*
* It felt like a Serpentine fang twisting in my gut as I watched tears stain her face. "No more hiding, no more lies!" Harumi's voice cracked, each word a shard of glass. "Rumi, we can fix this," I begged, the plea falling flat. Her eyes, twin infernos, seared into mine, reflecting a torment I couldn't comprehend.

"Don't you get it, Lloyd? This is who I am now! Why couldn't you love *all* of me?"

"I do, Harumi! I do!" The words choked in my throat, desperate and raw. But she recoiled, flinching as if burned by my touch. In another life, she wasn't crushed by rubble. Now, she's buried herself so deep, she's a ghost.

Fate, or perhaps misfortune, led me to her - living a new life, masked in secrets. Now I'm torn: expose her, or at protect the ghost of the girl I loved? But beneath the surface, a flicker of hope remains. A chance to piece her back together, to love *all* of her, if she'll let me.

Maybe I'm a fool chasing shadows, but what's Ninjago without a little heartbreak?

(Also, on Ao3)