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.

     What had happened to us?

>(<>)<

Harumi's POV

     "Come on, we're going to go see it," Mistake grouched, pulling me towards a crowded outside theater. She had been hanging around Morro and I since we arrived in this realm, possibly since she thought we were her ticket back to Ninjago. I was never one hundred percent sure why she chose to spend time with us, but that seemed like the most logical reason.

     Various robed families walked into the large bowl-shape space, stopping at various vendors to buy snacks and other paraphernalia.

     "What's the play called again?" I said, as a few regular customers waved at me from across the street. They didn't see me as the Quiet One. I doubted they'd even heard of her before. I was just the store's manager, the one who would check them out and make sure they had everything they needed.

     "The Tragedy of the Fallen Temple." Mistake read off a brochure, picking up the Cloud Kingdom's native language, Chisei, like a person who had grown up hearing it. I couldn't understand it as well, but I practiced whenever I could. "It's a play about some event in another realm that restored the universal balance or something. Come on. I need a break from all the happiness here."

     "What realm is it based on?" I put on my best smile, trying to ignore the sourness in my stomach that came with thinking about Ninjago.

     "I don't know." Mistake said as she led me up rows of polished wood chairs, noticing my searching glances. "Morro's already waiting for us."

     Morro was stuffing his face with a popular show snack called spurtfruit. Spurtfruit could best be described as little hard fruits that were gooey on the inside. They were dipped in various candies, so you would have to crack through the tough sugary crust to get to the almost salty inside. Morro looked like he was stress-eating; I had no idea whether he actually liked spurtfruit or not.

     Mistake frowned when she saw the display, probably because she had been planning to eat some as well.

     Morro didn't so much as grunt to acknowledge us, his mood already signaling he wasn't happy. He was like that a lot. He barely said anything when we would have our breaks together, and he didn't seem to smile at anyone. It was like the calming atmosphere of this realm had no effect on him.

     He made me feel like I was being brainwashed.

     The only shows I remembered seeing were the cartoons that would play every morning before school back before the Devourer ruined everything. Superheroes would race through the sky to fight off all kinds of insane evil and save the day. As a devoted Ninja fan, I had adored watching the colorful heroes beat up the bad guys.

     I tucked my legs in, leaning back in the chair with my own basket of spurtfruit. I had a hard time understanding the brochure, so I just prepared myself for something I had seen when I was a kid. It was a 'tragedy' about a 'fallen temple' acted out in the land of nobody-is-unhappy. It couldn't be that sad.

     When the curtains opened, I saw the stage had been decorated in various plants and bushes. The realm the show was depicting was relatively normal, except no one was supposed to be human. Various 'monsters' roamed the world in an advanced civilization, interacting peacefully among each other.

     The main character was a scraggly young monster, too atrocious to be deemed a hero. I had thought he would be the main villain of the story, but he was the protagonist. Minute after minute showed him journeying to destroy the realm's sacred artifacts, slowly stripping away all the good the realm had left. Other valiant monsters rose up to stop him, but in the end he would always emerge victorious. In the last act of the play, the main character rose up and destroyed the last bit of light in the realm, succumbing it to an ultimate evil.

     The temple that the play was named after represented all that was good. It had been a place where all the good monsters came to gather and celebrate. The last scene of the play was the monster climbing to the top of the temple's remains, silently surveying all of the evil he had done. The stage was now decorated in various tubs of mud and muck, all the backgrounds being switched to a dark, hazy atmosphere. He didn't say a word; he only grinned at his creation and slowly exited the stage. The curtains closed.

     And the crowd went wild.

     I gripped the edge of my seat, too tense to be casually watching anymore. Every story told ended the same. The hero would always overcome the villain. Yet, here was proof that the villain could win. Here was proof that one person could destroy an entire realm. How close had I come to turning Ninjago into a place of ultimate evil?

     Morro got up and pushed his way out of the theater, not even waiting for the actors to finish bowing. He was breathing heavily, as if the scenes in front of him tore open a wound inside him. I tried to go after him, but I got caught in the standing ovation. Mistake lounged in her seat, making relaxed comments on how she thought it was depressing enough for her standard.

     "I need to get to Morro." I told her as several families around us bustled to grab all their belongings.

     "He's just being moody." Mistake crabbed back, refusing to get out of her chair until she finished the last of my spurtfruit. "It's a teenage thing."

     "But—"

     "Do you really want to go after his angst just so he can frown and mumble and insist that nothing is wrong? Of course, he didn't like the play. You didn't like it either. It hits harder for those of us who can relate to it. That's why it's a tragedy." Mistake shoved more spurtfruit in her mouth, her violet eyes glinting.

     I shoved through the couple sitting beside us, not caring in the slightest that it made them drop their trash. I heard Mistake snort as I stormed out of the theater.

     "Teenagers."

>(<>)<

Morro's POV

     I barely heard her knocking.

     "Morro, let me in."

     Wisps of unwashed hair fell in my face, victims of late nights trying to weasel my way out of conversations with co-workers after we closed the shop. I blew them out of my eyes, not moving from the small couch propped up in the corner of the room. I could hear her insistent voice, but I didn't want to let it in. She shouldn't see me like this. I didn't want her to see me like this.

     "I know you're in there, so don't even pretend otherwise."

     I failed her once. I would probably fail her again. She shouldn't have to care about me. She should join the ranks of these peaceful writers and never have to see the chaos I cause ever again. She deserved to be happy. She shouldn't have to see me like this.

     "Don't make me stab the door until it opens, because I guarantee you, I will go to the market right now and buy the biggest knife I can fi—"

     She stumbled forward as I opened the door, shooting me glare once she regained herself.

     "I happen to be rather fond of my door. It keeps people out." I said in the tone I usually reserved for the most irritating customers.

     "We need to talk." Harumi pointed at the couch. "Now."

     I forced myself not to be amused by her sassiness, gently closing the door and taking my spot on the cushion. Harumi pulled over chair to sit on in front of me. Her gaze was less fiery and more searching, as her fingers squeezed the edges of the chair.

     "Something is wrong." Harumi said. "And it isn't all about Mika, is it?"

     "It doesn't matter." The lie slipped out in a bland tone. The scribbled words hastily altering my future didn't matter. The fact that I lost everyone I tried to protect didn't matter. The past that bonded Harumi and I together didn't matter.

     "Quit lying to me." Harumi's voice lowered. She didn't exactly cut the most intimidating figure, seeing as her clothes were various sets of robes and her hair hung loose around her shoulders. I would probably have taken her more serious if she was brandishing a knife or something, but all I could see in front of me was the brainwashed 'everything is great here' Harumi that only cared about me because I happened to help her see the importance of allies. She exhaled after a second, seeing that I wasn't going to budge. "Look, I can tell something is wrong. Last time something was wrong with me, you told me to talk it out like an adult. I'm trying to be mature enough for this situation, but obviously you don't care enough to tell me what's wrong."

     "Emotional discussions don't lead anywhere nice." I murmured, tucking my knees into my chest. "You have enough to deal with." At her confused glance, I started to stand up. "Or have you forgotten about your all-so-important job, which fills up ninety percent of all your attempted conversations with me? Let's not forget the various customers you run into on the street, and how sweet and caring they are towards you. Oh yeah, and we definitely can't forget how perfect it is here, you know, with all the weather and simplicity. There's no need to recall the past when there's no past to recall!"

     I stepped forward, my anger rising. I was cracking, but I couldn't help it. Something about this place made it hard to suppress the emotions.

     "You know what? I think I've finally figured you out. That pretty little façade you put on, it's all a lie. It's always been a lie. That's what you are, Harumi. A game of masks. You just pretend to be perfect because these goody-goody people are gullible enough to fall for it."

     "Not everything is a mask, Morro." She responded harshly, slowly getting to her feet. "Not everything is a lie."

     "I bet you wish that the destiny scrolls were a lie!" My voice cracked with the accusation. "You wish you could stay here forever, among your customers and house and perfect life. You don't need the past! You don't need anything, or anyone from it. You don't need me!"

      I realized what had come out of my mouth too late. Shocked, I slid back down onto the couch, tilting my head towards the ceiling to hold back any unwanted signs of emotion. I was supposed to suppress my grief, not make it clearer. Emotions only got people hurt.

     I barely felt Harumi sit down beside me. "I hate doing this," she grumbled.

     "What, pretending—"

     "I'm going to stop you before I get really mad." Harumi said, her voice somewhat firm. "What do you mean when you say I don't need you? You've gotten me this far, haven't you?"

     "I hate this." I whispered, burying my face in my hands. "I hate that I don't have a purpose here. I hate that life is so bland and boring. I hate that every time I try to hold onto what I have left; I always lose it."

     Harumi was silent, trying to figure out how to respond. She got up from the couch and paced around the room a few times, not exactly meeting my eyes.

     "I think..." She said quietly, stopping when she saw an intricate chessboard sitting on my dining table. I had bought it a few weeks ago because it reminded me of my friends in the Departed Realm. Harumi quietly picked up one of pieces, twisting it in her fingers. She seemed to realize what it represented to me. "I think you're right. I do like it here. I am trying to be good because I don't want them to fear me. My whole life I've had to play a role. Here, I can just be myself. Granted, I still don't exactly know who I am without the mask, but I'm trying to find out."

      She set the pawn back down on the board. "What I don't understand is why you feel like you're losing everything."

     "You constantly ignore the past. You pretend it didn't happen." I forced the words out, hating every part of this conversation. "I... I could always hold onto the illusion that I could help you, that I... that I could protect you. I even thought I could help you when we go back to Ninjago. But you don't... you don't need me anymore. You've already been saved by this place, so my role here is done."

     "Erasmus once told me that loss is unlike this realm." Harumi said, ignoring my reaction to his name. "You helped me in ways I cannot forget. The past isn't gone, but it isn't what defines us. It's easier for me to not think about it, so I don't bring it up. You're right though, I am wearing a mask, trying to fit in this strange new world." She blushed, slowly sitting down beside me again. "But Erasmus also said in order for things to make sense, I had to meditate and trust in my... in my..."

     "In your what?"

     "In my friends." Harumi bit her lip, testing the new word out. "You'll never lose me, Morro. I made a promise to stick by you, and I don't care whether that means through perilous adventures or through the trials of working retail. So, quit being such a jerk and smile for once."

     Friends.

     "As for why I don't like talking about the future, well, I think you know the reason." Harumi laughed bitterly, reclining against the cushion.

      I sat awkwardly apart from her, still kind of caught on the whole friend ordeal. Harumi never got physically close to anyone unless she had to, and I was no exception.

     "I'm sorry for taking out my frustration on you." I blurted out, scooting as close to her as I dared.

     "You shouldn't be. I certainly wasn't." Harumi smiled, her eyes distant with memory. "If I hadn't yelled at you back in Malevolence's palace, you would have never been able to help me." 

     When I blinked at her, she suddenly looked different. Gone was the nearly insane villain wishing to wreak havoc in her fake father's name. Suddenly her eyes were brighter, her stance steadier, her heart less conflicted. She was still Harumi, but she had been changed by this realm and the peace in it. It wasn't a brainwashed change though. She had been changed through her devotion to her allies and those she held close to her. As my mind churned over the prospect of having someone to call a friend, I slowly felt myself slide into a very comfortable position. It was as if this was how it was always meant to be.

     Harumi didn't care if I grieved; she had been through it. Harumi didn't care if I sorrowed over the past; she had been through it. Harumi didn't mind doing the very things she hated for me, because she knew I would do the same for her. Maybe that was our purpose; to be there for each other until the day we died once again.

     Suddenly, living in the Cloud Kingdom for several more months didn't seem so unbearable.

     Yes, we were definitely more than temporary allies.

     And for the first time in a long time, I finally smiled at the amazing girl in front of me.