Morro's POV

"I'm fine," Harumi insisted, though that was clearly not the case. When I'd passed by her cell last night she had seemed oddly solemn and dispirited, and that was saying something as she was never all that cheerful in the first place. In her eyes I saw that familiar look of self-hatred she so often possessed, except this time it was even stronger than before.

She wasn't the only one who looked absolutely miserable. Jay had been in a disheveled heap on the floor, shaking with sobs when I passed, tearing away at my insides and sending chills through my body, just like when I saw Cole's face after revealing myself. Just the thought of Cole made me feel sick. But to save the others, I had to grit my teeth and keep going.

"Oh come on, you're not fine," I said.

"Well, I could say the same about you," she snapped with a scowl, "Why do you even still care at this point?"

"Because we're friends?" I said with a frown, "Am I supposed to completely ignore you at a time like this?"

"Never mind," Harumi muttered, turning away with a face significantly pinker than before.

"Is this about Ninjago?" I asked, "Like how you feel guilty about not telling them?"

Harumi's face turned even redder. She opened her mouth then closed it, still refusing to meet my eyes.

I sighed. "Well, sorry for complicating things. But personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal. You can just not tell them."

"I've already been enough of a trash person," she mumbled, "Whatever, I don't wanna talk about it."

"You seemed fine yesterday," I said.

"Oh, so I have to be a 'sweet girl' 24/7 now, do I?" Harumi said, standing up and glaring at me, "Can't you just leave me alone for two seconds? Besides, don't you find my sister a lot more interesting?"

I rolled my eyes as she marched across the room and sat down against the opposite wall, her arms crossed over her chest. "Stop suggesting that I like her, okay? I don't. And even if I did, which is gross, why do you care?"

Harumi didn't answer and glared fiercely at a spot on the floor in front of her. But before I could say anything else, Nya came in.

The Water Ninja ignored us both and sat down, her face wooden. Nya's eyes were red and puffy as if she'd been crying for hours, which was probably what had happened.

I began picking at my fingernails, not knowing what to do with my hands. Both girls were silent and pretended as if there was nobody else in the room. When Jay came in, he and Nya wrapped their arms around each other so tightly I couldn't tell which arm belonged to who and wondered if they could even breathe normally in that position.

But it sure must've been nice to have someone to cry with. Though... I guess I didn't really have the right to complain, since I should've seen this coming. Ruby had no reason to keep them here otherwise. I had convinced myself that she just wanted to track them down, but she could've done so easily weeks after simply taking the Crystal Blade, since at this point I didn't think the North Tower could be deprived of its magic source anymore.

Maybe she just wanted to put on a show with each death. She probably thought it was funny.

The Ninja were just the oblivious pawns in her game. She held all the cards, and they didn't even know.

I was probably just another piece too. In her game. She didn't have to know mine. It brought me a sense of pride every time I thought of my plan. Though I couldn't celebrate just yet, since...

Though in a way, my plan felt stupid. But at this point...

Besides, Harumi still had the pearl. And at least to my knowledge, Ruby didn't know yet. And she probably wasn't going to. Lloyd's Ninjago interruption probably made everyone think she knew already. He didn't know how grateful I was for that, even if... that happened afterwards.

Nobody talked at lunch.

...

Though they didn't know it, we were parting ways for good. If we were to ever have any future encounters I would be donned in a Shadow Rider cloak.

I'd spent several hours preparing myself for this moment, but even then my heart rate was increasing with every minute. My "execution" would be that very night and I had about six hours to do what needed to be done. I'd practiced my flying over the past few days, and if all went well, I'd be able to get everyone out of here.

There was no way I was going to let anyone else die on my watch.

I watched as Harumi came in, looking more defeated than ever. Maybe it was just me thinking she looked worse and worse every time I saw her, though, since she appeared dead inside for at least the past two weeks. Even her blue eyes had turned more of a gray, and despite having just had a bath last night, which again, was courtesy of myself, she didn't look any more groomed than before, even if there was significantly less grime on her face. I had made sure it was now a regular thing, but that didn't seem to raise anyone's spirits at all. In fact, they seemed worse when I had checked in on them that morning.

Her dispirited look broke something inside me. Once upon a time she was the proud princess of Ninjago who played everyone like a chess game. And now she was a pawn in someone else's, all agency gone.

She needed me. That degree of self-loathing she had was unlike anything I'd ever seen, and something told me it would only get worse once I was gone.

"Harumi," I began, and her head shot up. She looked around wildly before her eyes finally settled on me. "Are you okay?"

A blush spread across her face as she quickly looked away again. "No," Harumi said, "I mean, yes, I'm fine."

"I know we've talked about this countless times, but again, the only way for you to truly accept things as the way they are is if you forgive yourself for everything that's happened in the past. Aren't you trying your hardest to make up for your mistakes? That means you've changed. And a positive outlook would work wonders in our situation, you know."

How ironic.

"Am I even trying at this point?" she muttered, "I'm literally the worst person for the job. Ninjago is screwed. You should've been the Chosen One. The destiny writers or whatever should just fire me already."

"Hey, we'll get out of this. Also I don't think the Cloud Kingdom has much power anymore. I mean, after the mayhem that I caused, they'd probably rather leave Ninjago alone." Some part of me couldn't help but feel a little proud at that accomplishment. I granted everyone free will. They should really be thanking me.

Harumi stared at the map and poked at some of the dirt we used to cover it up. "How can you be so certain? After everything that's happened? How do we even know our plan is going to work?" Her tone sounded just as dead as she looked. It was a little depressing, if I was being totally honest.

"It will." It wouldn't, but little white lies never hurt anyone.

Sometimes I wondered who I even was anymore. I was lying to everyone, and maybe even to myself.

She folded her arms across her knees and rested her head on them. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

The cell opened and Nya came in, looking as if she hadn't slept in days. Despite the bath, her black hair was dull and frazzled. Like always.

I silently curled my hands into fists, knowing I couldn't fail. If we lost one more person, I really didn't think they'd be able to take it anymore.

Kai and Cole were gone. Though I wasn't so sure about the former, I knew I could've saved the Earth Ninja. I should've known. Ruby han't planned to spare them from the start. How silly of me to think she might.

God, I hated her.

But in a way, I was grateful for the fact that Ruby wasn't mind controlling me.

"Lloyd," I said when he came in, looking dead inside.

"Yeah?" he asked, sitting down beside me.

"I... I think you should talk to Harumi," I said quietly so that she couldn't hear.

Lloyd narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Uh... that was random."

"I know that you two are kinda awkward with each other, but she really needs it. I mean, I don't really know how to say this, but just... I dunno."

"What are you even trying to say?"

"She just really needs someone she can talk to."

"Why... are you talking to me about her in the first place?" Lloyd asked, shuffling awkwardly in his seat.

"You mean a lot to her, maybe just not in a romantic way." I tried not to cringe at how weird that sounded. If I revealed any more this might seem suspicious.

He looked even more uncomfortable. "You avoided my question," he muttered after a pause.

I felt a corner of my mouth twitch upward slightly. "I guess I did," I said, "But with everything that's going on, I think it's pretty obvious why. I can't talk to her forever, she needs someone else." The words didn't exactly come out right but hopefully Lloyd got the message.

"What is it between you and her anyway?"

"Nothing, I promise," I said with a frown, wondering if Lloyd thought I liked her or something, an off-putting thought, "She just... reminds me of myself."

"How?"

Good question. It hadn't dawned upon me that others wouldn't think we had many similarities.

"I mean, I guess she just has the weight of the world on her shoulders, you know? Like yeah, I never got that experience, but think about how stressful this would be. Maybe she needs a shift in perspective, since my 'talks'" I made air quotes with my fingers "don't really seem to work."

Luckily for me, Lloyd didn't press on. "I guess." He glanced over at the white haired girl sitting against the opposite wall, her face buried in her arms.

"She didn't mean to do this to you," I said, not knowing what else to say.

Lloyd didn't answer for maybe fifteen whole seconds. "I don't get her." Then he added sheepishly, "But then I never really tried to get to know her. You must think I'm so shallow."

I put an arm around him as the Shadow Rider in charge of delivering the glop came in. "It's alright, Lloyd. Nobody's perfect."

...

It was hard to imagine that this would be the last they saw of me. I figured I would see them again, even if they didn't know. It was really weird considering they would think I died and... wait no. Based on our established theories, the Shadow Knight wouldn't kill me, and it wouldn't make sense.

Or would it? At this point I couldn't recall correctly what everyone knew and what they thought they knew. Everything was a blur and so confusing. I wasn't even sure what I knew and what I thought I knew.

If I was going to break everyone out during my apparent execution during the evening, when the Shadow Riders had to leave the hallways empty just like last time, I not only needed a reason for why I wouldn't be escaping, but also one for why Ruby wouldn't be escaping. I rubbed my temples, wondering how I was going to talk myself out of this one.

At least I had several hours to think about it.

As soon as I was out of sight from the others, I hurried off towards my chambers, grabbed my cloak, and threw it on over myself. After telling Ruby I was going to run some errands, I rushed out.

The air felt cool on my face, the only exposed area of my body. With a bag carrying some of the apothecary's herbs and a sword slung over my shoulder, I curled my fingers, feeling the tug of the wind on the cloak's tips. Even though wind control wasn't really necessary to fly, since that was the cloak's job, I still liked how it felt. My feet gave a quick push from the ground, and I was off.

...

Funny how so much had happened, and yet the village I once called home remained exactly the same. I blended into the trees and watched as people milled about in the streets just as they always did. Somewhere in the distance, a man was shouting at the butler for raising the price of fresh pork. I couldn't help but smile slightly at the distant feeling of familiarity, since the past month or so felt like a fever dream at this point.

With a jolt, I realized I couldn't even remember how long it had been since we left. A part of me really wanted to see everyone's parents and how they were doing, but the more logical side figured that I shouldn't. They were probably worried sick for their missing children, and my being there would probably only make things worse.

Just thinking about them made me feel nauseous.

And there I was, trying to rob my own father.

Knowing him, however, I doubted he was that worried about me. He was the only one in this realm who knew about my Ninjago origins, which I'd told him a year ago. Father had also been the one to inform me of the prophecy, so I figured he'd realize I was off with Harumi.

I wasn't so sure about the other parents, however. Maybe Father told them, since it wouldn't do anybody any good to keep them in the dark about things. Hopefully he had. It might make things a little easier for Kai and Cole's parents.

Pursing my lips and forcing the thoughts out of my mind, I focused my attention back onto the current situation. There didn't seem to be any definite way to avoid contact with villagers, so the only way I could go about doing things was just casually stroll down the street in broad daylight. That wasn't really a good idea, since Father knew everything.

What if he figured out I was coming right now?

It was a shame that I couldn't even take off my cloak and whip up a disguise. Not that I was ever any good at them, but anything would be better than this.

What I really needed to do though, was stop stalling.

I walked into the light.

Luckily for me, the villagers were clueless. Sure, some people gave me weird looks, but for the most part, everyone minded their own business.

My body tensed as I hurriedly passed the blacksmith shop. Ray and Maya were working inside as usual, though with the absence of their kids, it was significantly quieter than normal. They didn't look pale or anything, so hopefully that was a good sign?

I turned away and focused on getting to Father's tea shop.

As a part of me had subconsciously expected, Father sat cross legged at the door, his head slightly bowed so that his hat covered his face. The staff lay at his feet.

I approached him as silently as possible.

My heart began pounding against my ribcage when he looked up.

"I've been expecting you." 

A/N: Hi, new chapter! Anyone have predictions for what Morro is gonna do? 

It's kinda weird looking back at my old writing and finding some lines cringe. I did some minor editing but I don't have the strength to spend too long polishing it lol. I have an idea for a oneshot, though, so I might get one out soon :)

I hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for reading!