Harumi's POV

There wasn't much conversation to be had the next day at breakfast, only hushed whispers when they thought I wasn't looking. When my head was bowed and I could only peek through the wisps of hair that fell over my face.

Somehow I'd assumed Lloyd would try to talk to me, but it was almost as if an invisible bubble had formed around me, isolating me from everyone else on my "team" as we wove between the trees. I hung at the back of the group, mostly keeping my line of vision on the ground.

Once, Jay and I made eye contact as he threw a look over his shoulder.

"Ah, I was just making sure you were following along," he rambled, earning him a kick in the shin from Nya that I didn't miss.

"Haha, thanks..." I replied tonelessly with a forced smile.

He quickly turned back around and continued talking to his girlfriend. Lloyd and Zane walked a little ahead of them, paving the way for the rest of us.

I listened to the birds, their clear voices calling out to one another.

Their companions.

A knot formed in my stomach. I tried to think of my parents, Morro, even the short-term stay I had with the Ninja. I... I too had companions... once...

But what would they think of me now?

My parents would see what I had done and disown me, unfairly ashamed of themselves for having raised a monster like myself. They didn't deserve this. And it was probably better off that they'd never see me again. They could simply pretend to everyone in the Departed Realm that I didn't exist. And rightfully so.

The Ninja... no explanation needed.

And Morro was only nice because he saw himself in me. But he knew how to care about people. I didn't. And when he inevitably realized how selfish, crooked, soulless I was, he'd leave, too.

Unconditional love didn't exist. Meaning, for people like me, nobody cared. Nobody ever would, because they'd realize I was nothing but a twisted shell of a person, and there was nothing to care about.

And to think I thought Lloyd had forgiven me for this after the talk we had last night. Of course not. It was all shallow talk because he didn't want to die in case I went crazy. Why did I think anyone could simply forgive someone like me? That wasn't how the world worked.

Besides, I wouldn't forgive me, either.

I was alone. And I always would be.

It seemed as if years had passed before Zane announced he'd found a clearing for us to set up camp for the night. As everyone else got to claiming various tasks and I suddenly didn't know what to do, I asked if there was anything I could help with.

"You can go collect firewood," Nya said.

...

Things eventually got better over the next few days, and they would speak to me again. But I don't think it was really because they suddenly decided they did trust me because of our long history of a month or something, they were just too tired to care. Still, when I got one of those head pains all of a sudden, I appreciated that they stopped in their tracks and asked if I was okay. Even if it was all just for politeness' sake.

I sat a good distance away from the others during dinners. Already I knew I couldn't expect anyone to invite me to sit closer, but deep down I wanted them to.

It was all just wishful thinking, anyway.

At least, if I closed my eyes and listened to their laughs, I could almost picture myself in their midst, feeling the warmth of the fire on my skin. Their endless conversations never failed to keep smiles on their faces, transporting them to a world of memories untouched by the tragedies they'd faced. As tired as they were from our journey, their faces grew alight with life with each joke told, each story recounted. Sometimes I felt like an intruder, before I remembered that I was.

Zane gently tapped my shoulder and handed me a piece of bread. When I accepted it with a quiet thanks, he returned to his spot, as if he'd never interacted with me at all.

I looked down at it for a long time before biting down, still listening.

Nya: "How far do you think we are from Jade City, or at least the village?"

Zane: "I cannot make an accurate enough estimation to give you a satisfactory answer."

Jay: "But we're going in the right direction, right?"

Zane: "Correct."

Lloyd: "We've come a long way, guys."

I wanted to say something, then stopped myself. My voice was the last thing anyone wanted to hear.

Nya: "Yeah, I just hope this is all over soon."

Jay: "Hey, let's play I Spy!"

Lloyd: "How about Truth or Dare? I Spy is boring."

Jay: "Okay, sure. Who wants to start?"

Nya: "Truth or dare, Zane?"

Zane: "Truth."

Lloyd: "Wimp."

Nya: "Tell us about that girl who attended our school for five weeks and we all teased you about. You left us hanging last time, we're not letting you go that easily."

At this point I wasn't sure if I should continue listening, because this was personal information, after all.

Then I decided that I'd done enough bad things in my life and "eavesdropping on private conversations" was a trivial addition to my list of crimes. I didn't care at this point.

Zane: "Why are you so―"

Jay: "No take backs, Zane. You're not getting out of this one."

Zane: "Fine. I am assuming you will not stop asking until you are satisfied with my answer?"

Lloyd: "Of course not. Now let us get comfortable and then you may begin."

Zane: "I recall being told by the headmaster that a girl from a distant village would be attending our school for several weeks, and he believed that because I was what he titled the 'star pupil,' I could give her a tour of our school and help her adjust to the new environment. Of course, I complied, and when she came the day after, I met her at the front gates with a bouquet of flow―"

Jay: "You got a girl flowers? Oh my―"

Nya: "Hey, hey, don't make Zane regret this. Go on."

Zane: "In my defense, I thought they would make a pleasant welcome gift. There was no romantic intent."

Jay: "At the moment!"

Lloyd burst out laughing.

Zane, sounding slightly annoyed: "Do you intend for me to continue or not?"

Jay: "Ohhh sorry sorry. I'll be quiet."

I wondered if, had I invested more time in getting to know the Ninja back when I stayed on the bounty, that I would have had these kinds of conversations, too. The type of banter from non-transactional relationships I thought only existed in fiction.

There was a time when I thought I didn't need friends. I still liked to think that investing so much time into people whom you could gain nothing from was unnecessary, but... it must be nice. Having... friends.

Zane: "Thank you. I shall continue. She arrived early in the morning as well, and―"

He suddenly stopped and looked at me, his eyes narrowing.

I threw my hands up on instinct to show I was unarmed.

"Is something the―" I began, only for him to put a finger to his lips.

I shut up immediately.

Everyone quieted down at once, Jay covering his mouth, and soon we could hear what sounded like a faint rustle in the trees that didn't seem like it came from birds or wild animals. Whatever, or whoever it was snapped a twig and I heard some sort of gasp. I slowly stood up and took a step towards the origin of the noise as silently as possible, the others following in suit.

I turned around to face the Ninja and mouthed for them to stay where they were. Nya shook her head and pulled out one of Morro's weapons from the bag as quietly as possible.

"Whoever you are, we're armed!" Lloyd shouted as he grabbed a katana. I was about to frown at the fact that he was audibly making our presence known before realizing that whoever it was probably already knew we must be humans solely based on the fire.

But then again, it could alert its Shadow Rider buddies, so the best way was to get rid of them as soon as possible.

I charged into the bushes then threw the person to the ground and pinned their wrists with my hands. They screamed.

"Who are you?" I hissed, wondering if this was one of the Shadow Knight's disguises since they didn't seem to be wearing any type of cloak. "And how many do you have with you?"

Then, turning around, I looked at the others, whose silhouettes were still visible in the firelight and seemed to be alright at the moment.

"I'm sorry!" the person (probably a girl?) squeaked, "I... uh..."

Their voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on where I'd heard it. I inwardly groaned. This was such a bad way to go about this... if this person really was the Shadow Knight and had backup, we were screwed.

"Rumi, you okay?" Nya asked hurriedly, hacking away several branches as she rushed to my side, followed by Jay, Lloyd, and Zane.

My heart jumped into my throat upon hearing her say my nickname, and I almost let go. Then mentally slapped myself, because Nya was probably just used to calling me "Rumi," and it didn't mean anything.

"Nya? Kai?"

The others stopped in their tracks, and it took me a full second to register the fact that whoever it was mentioned the Fire Ninja's name, since it had been so long since I'd heard it uttered from any of the others.

I stared back at the person, whose face was slowly coming into focus as my eyes adjusted to the lighting. Somehow I had seen these features before somewhere... And that voice... Then it hit me.

Nya's trembling whisper came from behind. "Skylor?"

Morro's POV

"Hey, where should I put this?" I asked as I walked into the throne room with a crate of metal we were ordered to get (more like steal) from the nearest blacksmith shop.

"Where do you think?" she replied, and despite the fact that the tone itself was playful, her eyes flashing violet made me feel uncomfortable in my own shoes.

"Sorry, I have short-term memory loss, I'm not completely sure where we're supposed to put it, and neither are they," I said, gesturing to the long line of Shadow Riders behind me, who nodded. That wasn't completely true, but a little white lie that would just slightly annoy her wouldn't hurt. Besides, the atmosphere was so bland that this place was in desperate need of some source of lightheartedness, which I was happy to be.

"You put them in the forge," she said sweetly while batting her eyelashes, "Oh, and Morro, I need to talk to you for a bit after this, okay? The rest of you, it'd be great if you could go get some more metal, thanks."

"Sure," I replied fake-cheerfully, and began heading in the direction of the forge, a strange premonition looming over my head all of a sudden.

The eyes I felt on me the whole walk towards the forge made the hairs on the back of my neck stand, and the whispering from the others didn't make it any better. At least they weren't silent anymore; that was a plus.

"So, what'd you call me here for?" I asked after returning, quickly waving any fears away since I was probably being silly.

Ruby motioned for me to follow her into an empty corridor and I obliged. She turned around and pulled my hood down, then brushed my hair away from my face. "I couldn't help but notice how much you've changed the atmosphere around here, it's so lively now! You're such a positive impact on the community!"

"Oh really? Thanks," I said, forcing a grin that hopefully looked casual, "Should I go back and bring more positivity?" That was such a cringey line, but I suddenly felt the need to get the heck out of there.

She traced a finger down my jawline, sending shivers through my body. I wanted to throw her off, but suddenly my body was frozen against the wall. My heart raced as she placed her hands on the wall on either side of me, giving me nowhere to go. I pressed my body against the ice cold stone as she leaned in, her mal intent obvious.

Now her lips were only inches away from mine...

Bile rose up in my throat at the thought of how she'd already stolen my first kiss (and though it didn't matter that much, it still mattered) and was preparing to take my second just to fulfill her own goals.

It was then that I realized I'd never seen her monstrous face more clearly.

I... have screwed up.

Shutting my eyes then sending a gust of wind in every direction and knocking her to the ground, I bolted down the hall to get as far away from her as possible, feeling as if I had just taken a cold shower. I began to get lightheaded, chills running down my spine as the full extent of what I'd done in the past few weeks hit me like a colossal tidal wave. It was suddenly hard to breathe or even stay balanced on my shaking legs as echoes of Cole's unspoken screams flooded my ears, and I found myself crashing to the floor when the stupid cloak made its way under my feet.

Ruby screamed something as I scrambled to my feet, my head throbbing and ears pounding. Visions of Kai and Cole momentarily appeared before me, and though I only caught a glimpse of their faces, the expressions were not welcoming. Gasping for breath, I shot more blasts of air behind me before coming to the conclusion that that would take up strength not worth spending. I gathered the heavy cloth of the cloak in my arms, cursing the drag it caused as I ran, then found several Shadow Riders coming towards me in the opposite direction.

Footsteps thundered from all sides, and I pounded my fists on the ground, hoping for rocks to shoot up from around me to block the incoming Shadow Riders, only for one to burst out right below my stomach and thrust me up 6 feet into the air. There was a crushing sound, and it took me an entire second to realize that that, combined with the intense pain I suddenly felt in my abdomen, meant one of my ribs had cracked. I flinched, gritting my teeth to prevent myself from crying out.

Temporarily blinded, I slowly moved a hand towards the area of injury and carefully massaged it, but when I only made it worse in the process, quickly stopped. I opened my eyes again, and there was a crowd of Shadow Riders staring up at the helpless lump at the top of the rock "tower" that was me.

"You okay, Morro? I'm really worried about you."

Goosebumps rose up all over my arms as I instantly broke into a cold sweat at the sound of her voice, and though every muscle in my body wanted for me to get out of there, I couldn't move. My body began to teeter one way and my legs desperately tried to cling onto the rock, but it was no use and I was barely able to stop myself from smacking head first against the ground by using the friction between my hands and the stone. I barely held in a gasp, feeling as if a torch had lit my hands on fire.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several Shadow Riders twitch slightly.

"You know, I thought the forest would've prevented this from happening. You really are a wild child."

Arms shaking, I slowly pushed myself up so that my stomach was several inches above the floor, breathing heavily the entire time. Then they couldn't hold my weight any longer and I collapsed back down.

Another searing pain shot through my body from my midsection before I blacked out.

Harumi's POV

"Yes! It's me!" the girl exclaimed, "Um, can you... get off me? Thanks."

"Not yet," I said, narrowing my eyes, "How do we know you're not an imposter?"

She opened her mouth then hesitated and frowned. "What do you mean... ? Is Kai here?"

Why did she care so much about... oh no... were they... a thing?

If she was also the Master of Amber here, she was going to murder me the minute she found out.

"N-not right now," Nya replied, trying her best to hide the shakiness of her voice, "But could you just uh, tell us something that the Shadow Knight doesn't know?"

The girl blinked. "Ooookay, remember when we first met I went with you to the village so Kai could actually not procrastinate by doing the laundry early for once? Is that good enough?"

"Yeah, I remember, that was really fun!" the Water Ninja said with fake enthusiasm, probably uncomfortable with how much her deceased brother's name was being mentioned.

I slowly released the girl and pulled her to her feet, suppressing any negative emotions rising up in me that had stemmed from my interactions with her counterpart. Skylor Chen. Not a face I thought I'd ever be seeing again.

"Wait did you say something about a Shadow Knight?" she asked, brushing off the dirt from her dress as we returned to the fire, "Like the one in those legends?"

"Yeah," Lloyd answered curtly, his face pale.

"Where are the others? And pardon my rudeness, may I ask who you are?" Skylor said, turning to me.

"Harumi," I said, avoiding her gaze, yet despite this, strands of her oddly attention-grabbing bright red hair still made it into my field of vision.

"As in Princess―wait oh my god, you guys look terrible! Where have you been?" I glanced at her, and based on Skylor's appearance it was obvious she was from one of the wealthier families, even if her dress was dirty and ripped at the bottom and there were branches sticking out of her hair.

"We have been trying to defeat him," Zane sighed, well aware of how silly that would sound to an outsider, "Why are you here?"

I silently thanked him for changing the topic, but when Skylor didn't respond and simply stared into the fire with her brows furrowed, I found myself afraid of what would come next. Nobody would want to learn about the death of their boyfriend this way, but then again, how else would she find out? But wow, who would've thought, Kai had a girlfriend?

Was Cole involved with someone too?

I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my head before I could dwell on them further.

"So I'm assuming this Shadow Knight attacked the palace?" she asked after what felt like the longest silence ever, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah," Jay answered.

"I knew that moron was lying," she muttered, then looked up at us, "Have you been gone all this time?" There was a strange look in her eyes, and I knew Skylor was doing all these microcalculations in her head, which meant that any wrong move and she'd figure out...

"No," I said, not sure if I was doing the right thing by stalling.

She raised an eyebrow, and a part of me panicked, since I was unable to weave up any story in the moment. I hated it sometimes when people weren't dumb as hell and would believe whatever I said even if my lie wasn't as convincing.

"I heard rumors that the royal family went on vacation," Skylor said.

"What?" Lloyd turned around to look at her, "Who said that?"

"Uh... let's not talk about that," she said with a wave of her hand, "But yeah, apparently everyone believes that nothing actually happened at the palace and that the attack was a false alarm, and that the missing royal family just decided to suddenly go on vacation. But... you're the princess... right?"

I nodded slowly, my eyes fixated on the fire. "That doesn't make sense, who would issue that kind of statement? The em—my parents are dead."

Saying the words "my parents" felt off, a major reason being I'd never even met them so there were no feelings attached, but that was beside the point.

"That explains why none of the villages we passed through mentioned anything," Nya mused thoughtfully, "Since they should care if the royals suddenly disappeared without a trace."

"Then some high-ranking official must be covering up for the Shadow Knight!" Jay gasped, "So there's a Shadow Rider working in the palace as a spy!"

"At this point who cares," I muttered, though I probably should've cared more about a secret spy infiltrating the palace, "All we need to do is get to the North Tower and destroy the power source. As for what happens next... we'll figure it out."

I threw a careful glance at the others to see if they had any reaction to me talking. They were probably sick of my voice and wanted me to shut up. I should've just kept quiet.

If only Morro was here... I felt my chest clench as I unwillingly pictured his face again, echoes of his voice sending chills through my body. I hadn't seen him in forever, and I could only hope he was getting by alright. Getting by... it wasn't even a high bar to cross. They had to at least keep him alive to an extent... I got a sour taste in my mouth.

"Where are Kai, Cole, and Morro, though?" Skylor asked again, jerking me back to reality.

Why, of all people, did we have to run into her?

A glance at the others' faces told me they were thinking the same thing.

A/N: hellooooo new chapter! 

I originally had the Ninja forgive her easily then realized this wasn't very realistic, so this chapter had to be changed as well to reflect that. I hope I did a decent job at it? I know I kinda glossed over the process of them overcoming the shock but ummm yeah I don't really have the motivation to write another chapter oops. hopefully this is still reasonable. 

Hope y'all enjoyed! 

Thoughts?