Harumi's POV

     At their nods, I didn't know how to respond. I simultaneously wanted to run to my parents like I had when I was a child, but I was also frozen in shock. Lloyd had told me I could use the Ancestea to see my parents. I should have expected it. But now, I couldn't seem to figure out how to proceed. My parents' expressions held an emotion I couldn't exactly decipher. I never remembered them with this look. It made me cautious.

     "I understand your longing, but we are only spirits. It takes a lot of energy just to hold this image up. Trying to become physical enough to touch you would shatter the form we have visualized." My mother's eyes were sympathetic. The sound of her voice made my knees wobbly. It was a voice I hadn't heard in so long that I had forgotten what it sounded like. My mind danced back to loving memories of picnic, family board games, and endless hours of having fun together. All I'd ever wanted was to return to that life of love and laughter.

     "We still love every bit as much as we did the day we died." My father added on. "I only wish we could hold onto you one last time." In the swirl of nostalgia came the caution again. I had never vocalized my longing to touch them once more.

     "How did you know what I was thinking?" I stepped forward. Strangely enough, they did not get closer.

     "We are spirits." My father repeated my mother's words. "We know many things."

     "We know your past, your present, and your future." My mother judged my reaction.

     "You know..." A twinge of shame sparked inside of me. They knew the lengths I had gone to. They knew how many people I had harmed to try and regain the joy they had blessed me with. They knew everything.

     Words escaped me as I avoided their eyes. I was sorry that I had made more children like me. I was never going to be that person again. Still, admitting to it was harder than I realized, and the people I had always looked up to were only judging each second of my silence.

     "Those were bad times." I cleared my throat, trying to find some way to get rid of the lump that had formed there.

     "You are trying to fix those mistakes. We do not love you less because of what happened in the past." My mother gently smiled.

     I hesitated. If they knew my past, present, and future, then perhaps they knew about the prophecy. It seemed rude to switch from a joyful (and depressing) reunion to a give-me-details situation, but they did say they had limited time. And I wasn't sure how to feel about all of this. My parents weren't acting like I remembered.

     They were much gentler in their demeanors. Cautious, even.

     "Do you know the identity of the Oni and Light?"

    My parents exchanged glances. My father took my mother's hand and carefully stated, "You will meet your light in time."

     "My light?"

     "Did you notice the book that brought you here?" My mother asked. Her voice was filled with hesitation, as if she were walking on thin ice.

     "The history of the Oni royal bloodline? What does that have anything to do with my light? Why are you trying to change the subject?" I started toward them again, but they never came closer. My aggravation was growing as my mind picked up on their verbal cues. I knew those tones all too well. They were hiding something.

     "Everyone hides behind a mask; it just depends on how much the mask covers." My father repeated the words from earlier. "There is much to tell you, my dearest daughter, and little time to say it all."

     "So, show me the truth." I countered.

     What could they possibly have to hide that was worth acting this guilty? They had always lived completely normal lives, raising me to live in the same simplicity. I thought parents were supposed to be honest with their children.

     The parents I remembered had always been honest with me.

     What had changed my parents since I saw them last? Maybe nothing had, and it was me who had changed. I had grieved so badly when they died, maybe I had forgotten their faults over time. Maybe my childhood fantasies of the happy times became my only reality. Maybe my parents weren't who I thought they were at all.

     "Very well." Both of them closed their eyes and began to change.

     Black hair sprouted out of my mother's head while my father's ginger hair receded back into his head. They started to grow bigger, taller. Their forms shifted as darkness took over where every inch of their pale skin had once been. White lines etched themselves into their new forms, forming intricate patterns and symbols across their darkened skin. Their merchant clothes shifted into strange brightly colored garments decorated with exotic jewels. Before I knew it, the change had stopped. Standing before me weren't my parents. These were...

     "Oni." I could barely comprehend the word. I stepped back; I didn't want to know any more.

     "I know you're confused." My father—no, the Oni with my father's voice said.

     These strangers weren't my parents. They couldn't be. My parents were normal people. These creatures were Oni.

     "But what you're seeing is the truth." My mother finished, shifting back into the figure I knew. I covered a sob before it escaped my mouth. No, no, no this was all a lie. Every part of this was a lie. All of this was some cruel prank Lloyd made up.

     This couldn't be true.

     "We are Oni, and so are you."

     "If I'm an Oni," the words blasted from my mouth as sorrow quickly turned to rage. "then why couldn't I grab the Mask of Hatred? If I'm an Oni, then why haven't I ever been able to change? If I'm an Oni, then why did you never tell me?"

     I was close to breaking down in angry tears, and I could feel the familiar heat in my chest returning. If I was an Oni, then I had been lied to my entire life. I loved my parents. How could they keep this from me? Ire bubbled beneath my skin, turning my insides hot with a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time.

     The last time I had been this angry was the time when I decided to ruin everything.

     Just as I felt my fists clench and the Quiet One inside me stir, the third figure stepped forward from behind my parents.

     It was another Oni, taller than my parents had been, with long twisted horns and intricate jewels imbedded in his forehead. I could tell just by looking at him that he was a leader. He carried himself quite tall and his blue eyes shined with authority.

     Blue eyes.

     I thought Oni had violet eyes. Then, why did the one before me have blue eyes? When I looked back to my parents (who had shifted back into their human form), I realized with a jolt that my father also had bright blue eyes.

     Eyes that perfectly matched mine.

    "You will know the answer to that question of yours soon enough, child." The third Oni said. His voice was deep and rustic, carrying thousands of years of wisdom with it. I backed up as he started towards me.

     His eyes narrowed at my resistance to stay anywhere near him. Right now, I was too angry to care.

     "I am King Atrocity of the Oni. I have been summoned by the Ancestea to show you the truth about your past. Do you want to see it, or do you want to have an insufferable headache for the rest of your life?" His sass mirrored my own. I couldn't tell if he was bluffing about the headache, since Lloyd didn't seem to have one, but his name set off a whole different stream of memories in my head.

     King Atrocity was the current king during my lifetime.

     During his reign was when Malevolence came into the picture.

     A voice I had almost forgotten reentered my head from the time in the Cloud Kingdom that I had treasured.

     He was Mistake's king.

     If Malevolence had something to do with this, maybe seeing what the dead king wanted to show me would bring me closer to knowing how to defeat the Overlord. The good of Ninjago mattered more than my own personal vices, so I sighed and turned back to the king.

     "Fine." I conceded, reaching out to take the offered hand. Immediately, he and my parents disappeared. I was suddenly floating in some sort of 3-D movie space. Around me I could see a kingdom filled with black figures.

     What in Ninjago just happ—

     "The Oni Kingdom during the time of the First Spinjitzu Master was vast and prosperous. I ruled this land, and I already had three sets of well-raised heirs to take my place when I died." King Atrocity's voice echoed through the scene as the vision changed shape around me. Suddenly, the kingdom disappeared and switched to a scene of a dark creature bowing to the king.

     "Malevolence came to me under the guise of knowing how to win the Dragon War, a great war that had plagued us Oni for many centuries. I had tried everything I could during my lifetime, so I was open to more options. Sadly, I was so blinded by the prospect of victory that I did not see Malevolence's greater plan until too late."

     The slaughter that followed his words was too gruesome to describe. How Malevolence was able to kill so many Oni at once was both mesmerizing and terrifying. When the royal guards burst into the room, they found Malevolence weeping over the dead bodies. She told them an assassin had snuck in and killed all the heirs. She suspected it was King Atrocity's youngest son.

     "He wants to take the throne from his brothers." Malevolence wept. "You must find him and his wife and kill them."

     The guards rushed off to do so.

     "The only direct heirs who had escaped the slaughter were my youngest son, his wife, and their unborn child." Atrocity's voice narrated once more. The scene switched to two Oni running through the rain, the male desperately clutching a teapot. "They knew Malevolence would send everything after them and knew they had to escape to save their child's life."

     Right as the male poured the tea, which must have been Transmitea, a dark figure stopped running from behind them. Malevolence held up a long sword, her words blocked out by the heavy storm raging around the area. She was probably threatening to dispense the portal. Lightning flew down from the sky as the figures stood off, hitting the tea and igniting a portal.

     Both of the royal Oni knew what would happen if they stayed, so they flung themselves through the swirling blue light. Malevolence screeched and thrust out her hands. Immediately, light began to trail out of the portal and convert to dark strands. Energy sucked out of the portal, eventually dimming it completely. Malevolence released the gathered energy, and it fled back into the air. She stalked off towards the castle, knowing she could do no more to capture the lost royals.

     "As you well know, little one, Transmitea needs a tremendous amount of energy to operate. Malevolence sucked the energy out of their portal so it would freeze the royals in the Ethereal Divide. One might think this would kill them, but the little amount of energy left in the portal kept them protected in a sort of stasis. They were still moving to the exit portal, but it would take a tremendous amount of time. As you also know, Malevolence used this time to take over the Oni Kingdom."

     I saw Ninjago City appear before me. It looked pretty modern, with tall buildings and digital signs closing in on the horizons. A weak portal opened up on top of a skyscraper and two Oni fell through. They stood up and surveyed the world around them in severe confusion.

     "The two heirs left to the Oni throne had found themselves, thousands of years later, in the realm you call home. Ninjago. They were in an impossible situation. If they returned to the Oni Kingdom, Malevolence would surely have them killed before they could even state their claim to the throne. If they stayed, they would have to keep the illusion of being a human up all the time. Not to mention my daughter-in-law was close to having her child."

     Within a familiar book-filled fortress, the two Oni, now looking incredibly familiar, chanted some sort of spell. Wisps of color left their bodies and the body inside a baby carrier which I couldn't see yet. As the strands of color dissolved into the air, the two human Oni gasped for breath. Slowly, the mother dropped the book she was holding, made it to her feet, and peered inside the carrier. I could hear her shout for joy when she pulled a human daughter out of it.

     "They couldn't go back to the Oni Kingdom. Malevolence had grown too powerful for them to return and try to retake their kingdom. They had to make their life in Ninjago. Using ancient magic stored in the Oni fortress, they took away both their and their newborn daughter's power to transform, leaving themselves forever in a human form. They would go on to raise the daughter as a completely normal child, telling her nothing of her heritage or royal blood."

     The scene of my parents entering the city faded, leaving me back in the light with the three Oni. I was too stunned to even take in their faces as they watched me process the information. Initially, I wanted to laugh as my mind screamed, "Lies! All lies!" However, I couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that my parents weren't the only one who knew of my Oni blood.

     We need to get the princess to safety.

     The Oni in the desert called me princess. Even Malevolence referred to me as a princess. At first, I thought they knew I was the Jade Princess of Ninjago, but that didn't make sense. How could they know these things if they were trapped in the Seventh Realm?

     All Oni had violet eyes except for those of royal blood. The Oni in the Seventh Realm could have probably smelled the Oni blood in my veins. If they connected the dots, then it would have been obvious to them. Besides, Mistake mentioned that no one knew what happened to King Atrocity's youngest son. There could have easily been rumors of an heir going around.

     There is no heir to take Atrocity's place.

     You're wrong there, Mistake.

     Erasmus had said it before Mistake left to lead the Oni. I assumed he meant that Malevolence was still alive because Mistake had talked of Malevolence's defeat. But the glint in Erasmus' eye suggested there was more to his comment than what I had originally conceived.

     Even my last name was a different arrangement of the Oni monarchy's namesake, Sukkati.

     I slowly looked down at my hands, expecting them to shift me into some sort of monster. My whole life I had believed I was just an unfortunate young girl. I was actually Oni royalty. Oni royalty. Everything I thought I knew about myself was a lie. Did this mean I was supposed to take Mistake's place as queen of the Oni? And I still didn't know why I couldn't take the Oni mask in Primeval's Eye.

     "I can see your confusion rising." King Atrocity commented. "It is not your place to rule, but it will be for one of your blood." Before I could respond, he continued. "If you have Oni blood, then why couldn't you take the Mask of Hatred in Primeval's Eye? That is a somewhat simple answer.

     "There used to be three great generals of the Oni. In your language they were known as Deception, Hatred, and Vengeance. They were masters of the dark arts and the most skilled warriors alive. Before their deaths they transferred their powers to the masks, which only those of their bloodline could remove from the magical barriers. Royal Oni blood did not mix with their bloodlines, so you would not have Hatred's blood within you."

     "I am distantly connected to the Deception line." My mother peeped.

     "Then you would have been able to pull Deception's mask from its barrier, which it was not in." King Atrocity stated. "So, we have no need to address this tangent further. The First Spinjitzu Master's mother was the great-great granddaughter of Hatred. That is why Lloyd could pull the mask while you couldn't."

     "It was a lucky guess on my part." I went back to staring at my hands.

     "Here where the mind is perfected, we know nothing is a coincidence."

     "Why is your mind 'perfected' while mine and Morro's stayed the same during our visit to the Departed Realm?" I asked, grasping for something to distract me from the agonizing truth.

     "Only the minds of those who rise are perfected. Those who fall are left in imperfection to remind them of their errors."

     I noticed King Atrocity was fading. Not fading, I realized, the light around me was dimming and his dark skin was blending in more and more.

     I should have been happy that this awful reality was finally over, but the only thing I could even feel was the spreading numbness throughout my body.

     "We must go, but know we love you Harumi." My father smiled sadly at me.

     They didn't get to say that. Not after everything I had just learned. Not after they lied to me throughout my whole life.

     "Harumi, you know why we kept it secret," My mother said, her voice thickening with sorrow. She could clearly hear all the anger piling up in my mind.

     My heart twisted with her tone, reminding me of the innocent days of my childhood. It gave me enough decency to force the words, "I know... and I think you made the best possible choice for your situation."

     I clenched my fists. "But I was old enough to keep secrets when you died. You didn't have to worry about me spilling the truth, because I loved you too much to let you down. Instead of trusting your own daughter, you let me continue living a lie. I killed so many in your name.

     Tears dribbled down my cheeks. "I hurt so badly when you died. Now, you're telling me everything I thought I knew about myself was false. That's..."

     The light was almost extinguished.

     "Don't let this define you." My father's voice rang through the darkness, even though I couldn't see him anymore. "Embrace who you are."

     "I don't know if I can embrace anything, before it's ripped out from under my feet with another truth." I lashed out, feeling myself slip farther away.

     Their voices became echoes.

     Don't let this define you.

     Embrace who you are.

    Don't be afraid of who you are.

    You are the Oni.

    We love you Harumi, for everything you are.

     When the last of their echoes faded into the darkness, I felt reality slam into me with its full force. Pain ricocheted through my body until the darkness was ripped away from me and suddenly, I was standing in the fortress once again.

>(<>)<

The book slipped from my fingers as I slammed backwards into the bookshelf behind me. Several more leatherbound objects fell from the shelf onto my head, pelting it with enough pain to snap me out of the fog of my mind.

     I was back in the library; I was back in the real world. I blinked rapidly, trying to assess everything that was going on.

     My fingers were still human.

     My face still felt like it used to be.

     I had legs, arms, shoulders, feet—everything was normal.

     I still looked like Harumi.

     But was I Harumi?

    Or was I an Oni, a destructor, a demon princess waiting on a mysterious light to complete a prophecy?

     I studied my trembling figure, then turned my gaze to the book that had changed everything. The Ancestea had worked, but it had brought me into the worst reality possible.

     My knees knocked together as I hesitantly took a step forward. I simultaneously wanted to use any strength I had left to punch the terrible place to the ground and run as far away from it as possible. This library held too many dark secrets and truths to ever remain intact again.

     I needed something to hold on to. I could feel the bitter tears slipping out of my eyes as I stumbled out of the restricted area, knocking over whatever looked weak enough to fall. Lloyd appeared from behind a row of bookshelves right as I threw a torn book on the ground.

     "Harumi?"

     I fell to my knees, shaking with my own rage-filled sobs.

     I loved my parents. I killed for them. And they lied to me.

     "Rumi! What's going on?" Lloyd's voice was barely audible through the fog of my own mind. What he said was thrown into the confusion of angry, bitter, and sorrowful thoughts that plagued me. I was too overwhelmed to even understand what was happening. I needed something—someone to hold on to. I needed—

     "Morro."

     "What about him?" Lloyd dropped down to my level, obviously concerned as he took in my state. "What's going on?"

     "I need Morro." I cried, my fingers curling into fists. He was the only one I had left; the only one who'd stuck with me through all of these years. There was no one else I could tell this horrible truth to. No one else would understand.

     "Rumi." Lloyd's fingers grazed my shoulders. His tone was soft, almost... comforting. It was the same tone he used before I messed us both up. "You can tell me. Allies need to be honest with each other, right?"

     Allies.

    He wanted to make things better.

     I looked up into Lloyd's eyes, swallowing back the lump in my throat. He looked so chivalrous, making sure I was okay and staying until he knew I was better. He had the same fear I did behind his eyes, the fear that this moment would snap and both of us would end up walking on the brittle line between cold allies and bitter enemies.

     "Was it the Ancestea?" He asked gently.

     I nodded, finding no words in the strangled mess of emotions that were coursing through me.

     Lloyd met my nod with one of his own, holding out his hand to help me to my feet. "Let's get out of this place; the fresh air will make being open a bit easier."

     I had never been happier to leave a building in my life.

     The warm sun was all too bright as Lloyd went out to the field and started twisting his energy into a dragon. I stood at the entrance of the library, watching Lloyd work. It looked relaxing, the way he moved from one position to the next in careful precision. With each move, the form of the dragon became clearer.

     Lloyd's part Oni.

     He had also been told that he was not entirely... human. He dealt with it fine, except for the whole 'how did you know I was part Oni' fight that led to the most hurtful thing I had done to him. Lloyd reached forward when the energy had taken on a distinct form, then blasted his energy high in the sky, which made the woven dragon come to life. He stepped back and smiled as he admired his handiwork.

     It was rare to see him smile. I had learned that through my weeks back in this realm. His smile was beautiful; it lit up his whole face to the point where he didn't look like a drained adult. He looked like a normal person, having the time of his life. Gone was the stress and pain the years had inflicted on him. I loved his smile more than I liked to admit.

     Lloyd gestured for me to come over, but my knees failed me. If I let go of the broken pillar I was holding on to, I was literally going to fall. Letting go meant going on with life. Letting go meant moving on like the vision inside hadn't just warped my entire life. How could I hide this truth? How could I tell someone? Emotions clogged my throat until I felt ready to punch something again.

     My whole life was a lie.

     Lloyd stepped closer when I didn't move. "I think you need to talk about what happened in the vision. It's obviously not sitting well with you right now, which means it's probably important information. Besides..." He trailed off, biting his lip. "I heard that talking things out sometimes helps people feel better."

     I stared at the ground while my mind played various scenarios out. Lloyd wanted us to be honest with each other. He wanted to make things better. He had also gone through the same revelations I had, just in a different form.

     He would understand what I was going through.

     "What if someone told you everything you thought you knew about yourself was false?" I whispered.

     Color drained from Lloyd's cheeks. "What happened in the vision, Harumi?"

     I clutched the pillar tighter, using way to much of my mental energy to force the words out. "My parents... they said..."

     Lloyd looked sick now.

     "...they said I was an Oni." I tried to hold onto the anger I had felt, but it was completely replaced by an endless stream of sorrow. I just wanted to not get caught up in the past and perhaps, after this was all over, live a comfortable life. Yet, it seemed like the past was entangled within and around me, tearing apart every reality I tried to imagine. Everyone I came to trust eventually betrayed me. My cycle of destruction could never fully be extinguished.

     Lloyd just stared at me like I had sprouted another head.

     "Y-you can't be an Oni. It's not possible! You couldn't... uh... you couldn't pull the Mask of Hatred from the flames. You can't change forms... and..." He was so distressed now I considered trying to make a dash for his dragon. Was the news really that bad? If this was how Lloyd was reacting, then how would everyone else take the news?

     "They explained all of that." I murmured, since my legs were frozen, and I couldn't do anything but stare at the ground. "I didn't want to believe it either."

     Somewhere deep inside me, I knew everything my parents and King Atrocity had said was true. I found myself confessing the broad details of the vision, about the truth of my heritage and the reason behind why I wasn't exactly Oni now.

     Lloyd listened to it all, his apparent shock growing worse with each of my words. It was heart-wrenching, the look on his face. It was like I had betrayed him all over again.

    He stammered to himself for a minute or two before finally clearing his throat. "Well, that's definitely an interesting update to the... um... prophecy. Are you sure they said you were the 'Oni' and not 'Oni and Light's son?'"

     "Yes." I whispered.

     "That changes things." He said to himself, eventually calling the dragon closer so we could board it. "We should get back to the Bounty."

     Telling someone the truth had released a small weight on my shoulders, so I hesitantly followed.

>(<>)<

The other Ninja didn't return to the Bounty until a few days later. By then I was almost sure that Lloyd had pulled a couple all-nighters thinking about something. He walked around every day with giant bags under his eyes that suggested he had little to no sleep. Wu and PIXAL were concerned about his condition, yet no matter how much they expressed it, Lloyd wouldn't say anything about what was troubling him. I attempted to ask him once, but he waved off the questions with practiced ease.

     He had practically gone back to ignoring me.

    Wu and PIXAL had been told I was the Oni from the prophecy. That was the only thing they knew. Lloyd did not confide in them any other details of my vision, which I appreciated. The boy seemed to have a good idea of what needed to be shared and what didn't.

     I still didn't know about how I felt about the truth, but at least I wasn't spending all my spare time throwing dagger after dagger into training dummies to let out my anger.

     When the Ninja returned, there was a lot of shouting and hugging. Morro immediately appeared by my side and wanted to know every detail of what had happened while he was away. I dragged him to a somewhat private spot on the back of the ship and demanded he tell me of his adventure first. I dreaded letting him know of the news. If Lloyd reacted that badly, then I didn't even want to know what Morro would say.

     Morro jabbered on about the legends of the villagers about the old temple he visited, the history of the Elemental Masters, and them finding out Jay's mother was the thief who altered our scrolls.

     "Wait, Jay's mother did WHAT!?"

     "I know right!" Morro exclaimed, waving his arms around. "This whole time I thought the thief was some crazy madman who was doing it out of spite. Apparently, the world was going to end, and the thief altered our scrolls to save it. It really sheds a new light on how things played out. I never understood why anyone would want villains to return to the living world, but it looks like we needed a second chance."

     "We were brought here to save the world from ending?" I chuckled, already feeling the pressure on my shoulders fading with Morro's presence. "I knew the Overlord was strong but, sheesh, no pressure or anything."

     Morro smiled at my sarcasm. "Actually, it wasn't the Overlord or Malevolence who were going to do that." He hesitated. "It was Lloyd."

     "Lloyd?"

     Morro realized his slip and mumbled something inaudible.

     "What did you say?" I frowned.

     "It doesn't matt—"

     "We need to be honest with each other." I said, nudging his shoulder. "No more masks. No more lies."

     Morro's face changed, flashing with several emotions I couldn't catch. "You're going to hate me for this," he said after a second, "but Lloyd was supposedly going to be consumed by a broken heart or something. It's not a big deal. The point is that we're here to stop it."

     Lloyd was going to be consumed by a broken heart.

     There's nothing more powerful than a blow to the heart.

     Oni.

     Destructor.

     We can't break our cycle of destruction.

     Lloyd was going to be consumed by a broken heart and end the world. The only reason he had a broken heart was because of me. I was the reason the world was going to end. I truly was an Oni. It was because of me Ninjago was going to be destroyed. No amount of trying would stop my evil. The world was going to fall into darkness, and it was all my fault.

     "Just breathe." Morro's voice came through the fog of my panic, as he put a hand on my shoulder. "We're here to stop it. The future has already been written. You will not be the cause of this world's destruction."

     I shook my head violently. "I am the cause, Morro. It is my fault Lloyd is broken. It's all my fault."

     "You were brought here to fix him."

     "I can't fix him!" My volume was rising with each word. "I can't fix anyone, not even myself! If anything, I'm breaking him further. I tried to apologize, tried to make progress towards getting over the past, but he—every time he looks at me, he gets this strange look on his face—I've tried to make things better, but I'll never break free of my cycle of destruction. It's hopeless!"

     Sadness flashed in Morro's eyes. "I've seen the way he looks at you and I don't think fixing him is hopeless. Storm wouldn't have placed you and me here if she didn't believe in us. You have to see that."

     "You don't know what I do about myself."

     "Don't make me start giving sappy pep talks." Morro warned, a teasing tone sneaking back into his voice. "Because if you push me much further—"

     "I'm an Oni, Morro. A pureblooded Oni. It's in my nature to destroy." I whispered, barely being able to make the words slide past the giant lump in my throat.

     Unlike Lloyd, Morro didn't turn white or try to deny me. He simply let me lean on him and asked about the details of my adventure. Somewhere in pouring out the ugly truth, I could feel myself being held together. Maybe it was Morro's arm around me. Maybe it was his calm through the storm of my emotions. Somewhere in my brokenness, he was there to hold me together. He had been holding me together since the very beginning.

     When he started telling amusing stories to fill in my silence once I was done, I could feel another truth being born within me. The truth that Morro was like the family that I needed. The person I leaned on, confided in, and trusted more than anyone. I was really glad to have ever met him, even if was by the hand of a thief.

     The moment was broken by Cole, who found us and asked us to come to the main deck. His raised eyebrows suggested more than I was comfortable processing, and Morro shook his head to stop the black ninja's silent inquiries. Morro walked beside me as we made our way to the deck, ever constant in making sure I was alright.

     He had always been there for me, even when I didn't believe in myself.

     He didn't look at me and see a bringer of doom.

     He saw Harumi.

     "This development isn't going to change anything." He promised me as we reached the place where the other ninja were gathered. "No matter what the past says about us, we're still the same people we were before. Remember that."

     By the time we reached the front deck where the other ninja were gathered, Morro and Cole were casually discussing something random like old friends. I was glad to see the other ninja getting along well with Morro. They had never been as hostile to him as they had to me, but it was nice they were attempting some sort of friendship-truce with him.

     Their laughs faded into the thick silence which matched the grim faces of the other Ninja. Wu stepped forward, looking stressed. I could suddenly feel Morro's presence stiffen beside me. I took it there was going to be some hard news.

     "As of this morning," Wu stated, his knuckles turning white with the grip on his staff, "there have been reports of Vermillion activity in the outskirt fields of the city. While their activity has not been harmful or invasive, we must be cautious towards what this means."

     The mood became even more sour.

     "I'm sorry this had to happen, but the truth cannot be denied. The Overlord will be ready to attack soon."