Harumi's POV

I woke up the next morning to the sound of rain pitter-pattering over our heads. Thank goodness these tents were waterproof. Nya was curled up beside me, the tear streaks still visible on her face. Not wanting any more reminders of what damage I had done, I got up and crawled out of the tent, careful to not avoid making any sounds or large movements that might wake her up.

I realized it was a bad idea as soon as I stepped outside, since my clothes were drenched within minutes. Not knowing what to do, I wandered for a bit, away from the tents.

"Rumi? You're up?" I spun around to see Lloyd. His eyes were still red from crying.

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence, and after several seconds of uncomfort, I decided to break it.

"So uh, why are you up?" I asked.

"I dunno, sleeping is boring, I guess," he said with a strained smile. Despite him putting on this lively facade, I could still tell that he still felt dead inside. Lloyd's grin faltered and he sighed. "I couldn't really sleep, if I'm being perfectly honest."

"He was like a brother to you, wasn't he? I wish I got to know him," I really did, though maybe my reasons were more selfish: I wanted to feel actual, human emotions. I wanted to care.

"Yeah, the guys are all like my brothers," he sighed. "I'm sorry we never really gave you time to mourn your parents. That was really ignorant of us."

"It's alright, I never really got to register with it. Like, there's a possibility that they're still alive, who knows," I said. That was the worst lie I'd ever told to cover up for my not caring. Lloyd seemed to pick up on it, but he didn't say anything. He probably thought I was an empty, emotionless shell.

But Kai's passing wasn't the only thing that happened yesterday. When Morro and I were in the forest, hadn't we commented on the path? Meaning that people actually traveled in the forest? I remembered his exact words: The trees sensed your presence, so they came to life. It has something to with the Shadow Knight. I'm fairly certain it does. If he was right, then either the trees had been cursed a long time ago or recently. If it was the former, then the Shadow Knight would have cursed the whole island, since he wouldn't know that we'd be going through the forest.

So as much as I hated to say so, I was pretty certain it was the latter. After all, I only just appeared in this strange realm a week or two ago, and the Shadow Knight couldn't possibly have known about the Chosen One coming around to stop him. So we were being followed.

"Rumi? Is something the matter? You look... lost," Lloyd said from beside me. I snapped myself back into reality as he slowly came into view again. It was funny, how when you stare into blank space and think about things, you can't see anything other than what was going on in your own mind, even if your eyes were open. That was why you would have a glazed look on your face, I thought.

"Rumi?" Lloyd asked again. I blinked, and realized I had just stared into space again while thinking about staring into space. How ironic.

"Sorry," I mumbled, "I was thinking about... stuff."

As I said those words, another thought popped into my head. The Shadow Knight must be keeping an eye on us. So we had to do something to throw him off our trail. Obviously the village hadn't worked. Neither did the forest. That would make tracking us much easier. I wondered if large plains would make tracking us harder, as we'd be able to see them. But they could use little devices that flew in the air, though from what I had seen of this world so far, their technology wasn't that advanced, but it was possible, right? I couldn't believe we'd never thought about anyone somehow tailing us. How could we have been so foolish? Sure, we'd left before anyone else had woken up (probably during curfew), but that was pretty much it. Nobody had ever thought about taking security measures. Ever.

Another sudden thought struck me. If they knew what was going on, where we were headed, wouldn't that mean they would go and seize the Crystal Blade themselves? Unless... unless they couldn't do it. They couldn't take the Blade. Maybe Zane or someone had mentioned something like that before. I just didn't pay much attention, so I had forgotten. But anyway, they didn't seem to be doing that good of a job at trying to stop us.

"Rumi," Lloyd said more firmly this time, waving his hand in front of my face. I blinked in surprise and took a few steps back.

His hand fell to his side. "Sorry about that. But you really seem distracted today."

I tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear. "I know. I'm just... worried. About a lot of things."

Lloyd nodded understandingly. "I know. After what happened yesterday, I—I don't think anyone will ever be the same again..." His voice trembled a bit.

I figured he would start crying again if I didn't do something about it, so I took his hand and started pulling him towards the direction of the others.

"Come on, we should go back," I said. He nodded and together, the two of us returned to the camp.

When we got back, the others were huddled together, crowded in a tight circle, around which I supposed was a fire. Once I got closer, however, I realized there was no fire. In its place were only a few damp branches, and a couple of wet leaves and twigs. Obviously they had tried to build a fire but failed. If Kai were here...

I hastily brushed aside this thought. Maybe Nya could do something, at least prevent the rain from hitting this spot.

"Nya, could you do something about the rain?" I asked quietly. No answer. Shoot, I probably shouldn't have requested that.

Cole looked at me incredulously as if I'd said the most insulting thing in the world. I didn't blame him, since I kinda did, and had a sudden urge to punch myself in the face.

"You really think that's a wise idea? She's kinda shaken right now, and anyway, Nya's still in the tent," he said accusingly.

That took me by surprise. I didn't see her there. But Cole was right, I was so insensitive.

"Is she?" I asked, "I didn't see her just now."

"Perhaps you missed her," Zane suggested. He didn't sound convinced, however. Jay jumped to his feet, and got up to check inside all three of our tents. He came back out, his face pale, making his freckles stand out.

"Sh-she's gone," he stammered.

I bit my lip, heart beating rapidly. Nya couldn't have gone far. I just saw her earlier before I left the tent, and hoped that I hadn't been the one to wake her up and prompt her to wander off alone, though I probably did. We decided to search. I said there was always a possibility of her being in the forest, so Jay, Lloyd, and I decided to search in there. Morro said he would search from the skies. Ruby, Cole, and Zane would search everywhere else. Not that there were many likely hiding spots on the empty grassland.

Barely fifteen minutes had passed, and my voice was already raspy. I had gone into the trees, while Lloyd and Jay stayed on the ground. They would search from the forest floor, and I would keep them both in sight. That way, if either one of them saw Nya I'd be able to alert the other.

I coughed a few times and steadied myself on the branch. It was amazing (in a bad way) how slowly time could pass in situations like these. We had been searching for what seemed like an hour (though it wasn't), and there was no sign of a girl with black hair.

A soft thump beside me alerted me of Morro's appearance. His black hair was wet and windswept, and there was a slightly wild look in his eyes. Though he made no sign of showing that he knew I was there, Morro still made sure there was some distance between us.

"I haven't seen her," he announced, "So she's definitely in here."

Morro frowned, then leaned forward, as if straining to see something. I squinted through the rain, hoping to see what he saw. Or heard.

A distant roaring sound could be heard in the rustle of the trees. It was so quiet, I was surprised I could hear it. Apparently Morro could too, because he started in that direction. I hung back at first, waiting for Lloyd or Jay to look up at me. At the same time, my eyes followed Morro's retreating back. When Jay finally looked up, I motioned towards Lloyd, hoping he'd understand what I was trying to tell him. Jay seemed to understand, because he headed in Lloyd's direction. I kept Morro in sight. When Jay reached Lloyd, I followed in Morro's footsteps, while Jay and Lloyd ran after me underneath.

The Master of Wind stopped and jumped to the ground, and once I got there I saw a raven haired girl a few feet in front, violently swinging a dagger back and forth, making slashes in the trees.

He glanced up at me with an uneasy look on his face as I began making my way down. The girl didn't seem to notice our presence until Jay and Lloyd had caught up.

"Nya!" the Master of Lightning shouted, "Nya, we were so worried! Are you okay?"

She tensed a little, then continued to hack at the tree, and once I got closer I noticed there were scratches all over her arms and the trees behind her all had similar gashes to the one she was cutting away at now.

I landed on the ground beside Lloyd as Nya moved onto the next tree.

"Nya, please," Jay cried, running over and putting a hand on her shoulder, "We can talk this through!"

She whipped around, bringing her knife with her, and Jay quickly let go to dodge the blade. Her hair was all messed up, wet with branches and leaves stuck out from odd angles. Nya's face was red and twisted, and her eyes had wet tears leaking from them. Her bottom lip trembled. The edges of her shirt were torn and there were scratches all over her arms. She panted heavily with a wild look in her bloodshot eyes. Then Nya collapsed into Jay's arms, still shaking, and dropped the dagger onto the ground. Lloyd hurried over and picked it up. The Lightning Ninja gently stroked her back and began crying as well.

Then Nya pushed him away with such force that Jay fell back and she wobbled slightly. He stared, stunned. Nya had probably never done such a thing to him. Disappointed at his failed attempt to comfort his girlfriend, Jay stood up, tried and failed to brush off the mud from his pants, and walked over to us, chewing his bottom lip. Nya's eyes trailed to the knife in Lloyd's hand.

"Give me my dagger, Lloyd," she said in a voice that was strangely steady for her condition.

"Nya, you're not in the right mindset right now," Morro said, stepping in front of everyone with his arm out before Lloyd could speak.

"Give. Me. My. Dagger." Nya repeated, still looking slightly insane.

"Kai wouldn't―" Lloyd began, only to get cut off.

"DON'T YOU SAY HIS NAME!" she shrieked, and flung herself towards him, shoving Morro aside. And without thinking, I jumped in front of Lloyd, and Nya tackled me to the ground. The mud made a squishing sound beneath me and several droplets landed on my face.

"Nya, please," I said, my hands tightly holding her wrists. I didn't know what else to say, so the only other words I was able to utter were "Calm down! Please!"

"Get off of me!" Nya screamed, more tears leaking down her face, "I hate you!"

I didn't blame her, but now wasn't the time to be blabbing out all the reasons why someone should hate me.

"Nya," I said, really at a loss of words by now, but still loosened my grip on her wrists, and she wrenched them away, "I lost my parents. Both my biological parents and my adoptive ones. Do you think I don't know how you feel?"

"And their deaths are none of my business," she glared at me fiercely, her blue eyes filled with anger and sorrow in comparison to her scratched, bruised, and defeated face. "Whereas you made us come along to this stupid trip. We're just a bunch of stupid teenagers. Nothing else. We don't have the potential to save the world. Are you even 100% certain this Blade is going to defeat the Shadow Knight? Wait, don't answer. You're not. You don't even know if it exists or not. And Kai... Kai..." Her voice cracked and she buried her face in her hands, both of which had a thick coat of dirt on them, again.

I didn't know what to say. She was right. But somewhere, deep down, I knew we could defeat the Shadow Knight. But the feeling could not be put into words. I wished I could explain it to her, but babbling would just make the situation worse.

"Nya," I said, hoping luck would help me, "I know you feel terrible. And I'm sorry. I promise, we'll get you back safely, but not now—"

"Ohhh, sure. All hail the brave Princess Harumi, so amazing that the Shadow Knight cowers at her name," Nya laughed. But it wasn't the joyful type. It was forced. It was sarcastic with a hint of lunacy. I knew that laugh. That would be the type of laugh I'd laugh after I'd lost my parents. I'd gone insane after that.

"Back safely! Of course! Only not now!" she shrieked hysterically, "Like you're gonna keep that promise! Just leave me alone!"

I remained on the ground with Nya standing above me, the mud leaking through my clothes. The rain continued to drench everyone just as it did yesterday, and as much as I wanted to get up and get away from the ground, right now calming Nya down was more important. Lloyd, Jay, and Morro continued to stand several feet away from us, clearly at a loss for what to do.

My heart pounded in my throat. If Nya continued on like this, she would become someone like me. I couldn't let that happen to her. After all, she had parents. Parents who were waiting, ready to welcome her in their doors with a hot meal and lots of love. Parents who were worried sick and wished Nya had never met me in the first place.. And they were right. I had led their only son to his death. They probably wanted to kill me after I got back. On second thought, they probably would. I wouldn't blame them. In fact, if I were either one of them, I'd kill myself too. They would probably march up to the palace (not that there was one) one day, demanding for my execution. I pictured myself agreeing to their request.

If these were normal circumstances, I might have killed myself already. But my job was to defeat the Shadow Knight. And before I succeeded, I wasn't about to do anything else.

"I'm sorry, Nya," I said, trying to sound genuine. This apology was genuine, but I highly doubted she would take it.

She didn't answer.

"Please, Nya," Lloyd pleaded from beside me. I was glad he was trying to help. "We have to defend our city. Our world. I, for one, am going to succeed or die trying. And I'm sure Kai would've said the same."

"Yeah, he'd say it, but that didn't mean he actually had to!" she cried. I was grateful that Lloyd's words were of some help, as she didn't sound hysterical anymore.

"B-but you seemed fine yesterday..." Jay squeaked, and shrunk back at Nya's scowl. I figured that yesterday the full situation just hadn't sunk in yet. With my parents' deaths, it had taken over a week to finally sink in.

"Nya," Morro said, "It's hard for us too. But we can't change our current situation. I know I'm terrible at comforting and stuff, and I wish I could say more. He was our friend too. For you this is terrible, but do you think he would've wanted you to give up? If you were in his place, would you want him to give up?"

"We're here for you, Nya," Lloyd said.

She hiccoughed a few times as I got up, my entire backside completely slathered with mud.

"You're right," she gulped, "I've been an idiot. I should get over it. That's what he'd want..."

Sniffling, Nya stood up though she still ignored Jay's extended hand. We left the forest and soon reunited with the others. Then we continued south.

Though Nya said she'd move on, and she did try, she distanced herself from Jay, and I kept on hearing sobs at night. Of course, I didn't expect her to get over it right away. I admired how strong she was. If it were me, well, I knew what I'd do. It would be much more than crying all day. She would laugh and smile just like she normally did, though it was a bit forced. We went along, joking as well, and though the pain was still there, it was far less pronounced.

Relief washed over me. At least we still had everyone else.

A/N: FINALLY everyone is out of the cursed forest (for good). That place sucks.

Any thoughts/predictions?

Also my schedule for the next year came out on Friday and it seems my teachers are decent (for the most part. From what I've heard, my history teacher fails people taking the CP classes, and I decided to take CP for the sake of NOT failing). Too bad there's like none of my friends in my classes tho :/

Anyway, thanks for all your reads, votes, and comments! You guys are amazinggg