A/N

Everyone is writing angst~
And I am feckin' sad~~
I am trying to write some fluff~~~
But the writers won't let me cause they like to see me in pain~~~~

I personally like to sing this in the tune of jingle bells with an added scream at the end.

Vent over, onto the story!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Just how long would these guys be walking for? And to think that it was the middle of the night...

Nevertheless, Nya continued. Although the sun wasn't of danger to her at that moment, something else was starting to bother her.

She was panting more and more frequently by the second, her mouth dry as a desert as she tried to keep it shut.

The sweet thought of water was keeping her sane; but only if you were to ignore the fact that there was no actual water to be found.

Upon exiting the forest at last, she made sure to stay hidden behind the two men. When she looked up, however, her eyes widened.

"Welcome to Ninjago City," the sign read in large, neon letters. The gate to it was wide open, not giving the two men trouble as they passed through.

As for her, however, she was too distracted by the enormous skyscrapers all around her to notice them moving on.

When she turned back, they were walking way ahead of her, Lloyd still in their grasp.

In her hurry to catch up, she tripped.

They spotted her.

Silence.

She heard the taller one whisper something into the other one's ear. But she wasn't planning on sticking around to hear the rest, that was for sure.

She got up and almost stumbled upon her own feet, making a run for it through the surprisingly empty streets.

Her heartbeat only raised upon hearing heavy footsteps approaching her. Her eyes felt heavy as she kept running, though she was able to small a small opening between the blurry blobs her vision had created.

A tall, half-opened door leading to a block of flats; that was her saviour!

Not bothering to look back, she made a quick turn, practically jumping through the door as she slammed it shut with a kick on the other side.

She spun around for just a moment, seeing the man banging on the door.

Instead of waiting around, she made a run for the elevator, pressing whatever button her finger reached first.

As the door closed and the noise disappeared, she sank into the ground, hugging her knees.

There were too many things to process at that moment, but water was her main focus.

She had to find water.

As the doors opened, she stepped out, her arm latched onto the wall as she looked all around for an open door.

She knocked on one, with no response. She knocked on another, but her ears were only met with a baby's cries.

Nope, definitely not that one.

Slightly embarrassed, she ended up in front of the last one, the one at the very end of the hallway.

Hesitant but desperate, she knocked on the door.

Again, no response.

She was about to leave when she noticed a slight creaking sound come from behind.

She looked back, seeing that the door had indeed opened...

... Yet no one was on the other side.

"Who leaves their door open like that?" she thought to herself, stepping inside immediately afterward.

She opened the lights, finding a small, messy living room on the other side.

It was a struggle to squeeze through the room, seeing how small it was and just how large the furniture was in comparison.

One thing that caught her attention immediately, however, stood just a few feet away.

She eyed the mini fridge on the counter almost hungrily as she opened the door in a hurry, relieved to find a bunch of closed water bottles inside.

After struggling to open them, she chugged them all down, careful not to spill any drops on herself in the process.

"Wouldn't want to turn into a fish inside a kitchen," her brother teased her every time they cooked together. His words weren't so mindless, after all.

The open TV was showing the news, yet the volume was turned fully down.

Without even bothering to question it, she tried to move on to another room, hopefully finding a balcony to spot the men from before.

Skipping what she presumed to be the bathroom, she made her way into an even smaller bedroom. A bed could barely fit in there, let alone a dresser, but whoever was living there had somehow managed to make it work.

She heard footsteps.

Somehow, the condo was just small enough for her to hear what was going on in the hallway outside.

"Look, it's 1AM, I don't know what you're talking about," she heard an unfamiliar voice say. "I've been on the down floor for like two hours now, if someone had passed by, I would've seen them."

Realising they were probably headed for the apartment she was in, realisation wasn't late to hit her.

Looking down at her clothes, they didn't leave much to the imagination when it came to her scales and gills.

Panicking, she closed the bedroom's door, rummaging through the dresser to find something, anything.

She threw her other clothes on the floor, pulling out whatever new ones she could find in the dresser.

In the end, she sloppily put on a pair of grey sweatpants and a blue, long-sleeved turtleneck, one which she hoped covered the gills on her neck.

The light opened and she froze.

She locked eyes with the freckled, blue-eyed boy in front of her, the colour scheme of their clothes now matching.

"Uh," he said, his mouth open as he played with his short, auburn locks.

"Hi," she waved with an awkward smile.

"Hi?" He slowly stepped back towards his front door. "Mister? I think I found-"

Panicking, she tackled him to the ground, putting her hand over his mouth.

Her breathing took a moment to slow down, but his didn't seem to be calming down anytime soon.

"I know how this looks, but..." she told him, slowly getting off of him. The blush on both of their cheeks wasn't gone, however. "These aren't very good people."

"Like the Mafia?" he said, though his words came out muffled through her hand.

"Well, I... I don't know. I guess you could call it that," she said, standing up completely and finally letting go of his mouth. "They've kidnapped my friend and I need to get him back."

He stayed silent for a bit, his eyes widened in shock.

"Besides, it's not my fault you left your door opened like that. Be glad I wasn't a robber," she continued talking on her own, much to his embarrassment.

"My neighbour wanted my help making a website on his computer. Kinda took longer than I expected."

"A website?"

"Yeah, you know. Museums and stuff. Dr Saunders is sweet, but man, teaching him technology can be a pain in the neck."

They sat in silence for a few moments as he finally closed the door, squeezing past her to reach his bedroom.

"Can I ask a question?" he said, his eyes scanning over his room.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you wearing my clothes?"

She didn't have a logical answer, so she came up with a stupid excuse instead.

"Camouflage," she blurted out, quickly changing the subject afterward. "Uh, do you happen to have a spare bed? I don't want them to find me."

Choosing to ignore all the empty water bottles in his fridge, he slowly nodded. "I guess you can sleep on my bed," he said, a little too cautious as he fully locked his front door.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, his finger hovering awkwardly over it. "Should I call the cops, or..."

"No!"

Taking her and Lloyd in for experimenting was the last thing she wanted.

She cleared her throat. "I mean... there's no need. It's something I need to deal with myself," she said. "And, uh... thank you for letting me stay."

"No problem..." he said, sitting on his sofa. "I hope you find him soon. The guy with the red hat looked pretty angry."

"Yeah..."

Just before she closed the bedroom door, he turned around to catch her attention. "Um, how long will you be staying?"

She looked down, embarrassed. "Right, sorry... It should only be for tonight."

Somehow, he looked more nervous than she did.

"Jay," he blurted out, staring at her dead in the eye.

At last, she felt her shoulders relax.

She smiled. "Nya."