(DISCONTINUED) Fallen | Ninjago Harumi Fanfic

「 03 | The Calm before the Storm pt.1 」

A/N: hi, i really don't know what to say since it's been forever since i updated this thing. this is not a complete chapter since the entire thing was just too long for me. i also might discontinue this soon.

TW: neglect, mentions of death, and slight verbal abuse

(576 words)

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For the longest time, I thought that being adopted—having a new, seemingly perfect family—would fill the gaping hole left in my heart by all those who I have lost.

I'd been dead wrong.

If anything, my life as the Jade Princess was the one chapter in my life I wish I didn't live. I had let the worst aspects of that life define and shape yet another mask for me, a mask that haunts me till this day.

I sometimes find myself subconsciously going back to that particular mask. I know I will never be able to take it off—it's linked to me whether I like it or not, and serves as a painful reminder that nothing will ever be the same.

Nothing can ever fill that small yet fathomless hole in my chest.

. . .

Nobody is every who the say they are. Nor is anyone who they pretend to be. I learned of this quite soon as the Jade Princess.

I had once thought the Empress was a kind, beautiful, and considerate woman, despite her cold-seeming aura. Less than a week after my adoption, I found that her kindness was all for show, her beauty simply layers upon layers of makeup, and her coldness quite real.

Her husband, the Emperor, was no better. He was selfish and stiff. Both their true colours had been ugly shades, but I never expected them to be so... so unsympathetic. To the guards, staff, advisor... to me.

It made things so, so much worse.

Whatever parts of the old me that was still beating, were killed, through their neglect.

.

"What's wrong with her?"

I remember this day well, the events as clear as day in my mind.

"Spoiled, silent, uneducated, ungrateful girl! That dress we got her tailored costed hundreds upon hundreds of dollars! And she decided to wear it outside for an 'afternoon stroll'! We should have left her on the streets!"

I sat, a small girl in a huge ming style chair, at an even larger dining table. My hair was wound up in a tight plaited bun, adorned with a jade studded comb. Cascading down all around me was the silky saffron yellow skirt of the dress I had tailored for me. In my opinion, the bodice was a tad bit too tight, and the colour was an eyesore.

And yet, I must have been invisible, for the Empress and Emperor were in a heated discussion regarding me, except neither of them have acknowledged my presence, or asked for my input. Countless days were like that: I fail to be the perfect princess I am expected to be, because no one ever explained even the most fundamental royal rules.

And it was in that moment, that I realized I would remain invisible in the eyes of my adoptive parents so long as I was the Jade Princess. The Emperor and Empress never cared about me and never would. They only needed and heir, and decided me  after seeing the orphanage commercial I was featured in. They were all for show when they came to adopt me, and I'll give them props for their acting. In fact, their marriage was all just for show, too. They could never agree on the same thing, argued practically every single day, and the way they acted distant from each other was a big reg flag. If they ever even loved each other, it was all in the past.

. . .

yeah that's it for now. thanks for reading. sorry for the long wait.

Life is a journey full of ups and downs. Wherever it takes you, don't ever let someone else define who you are, or compare you to anyone else. You are you. You're smart and strong and loved. You are beautiful inside and out. Take care of yourself and never hesitate to reach out.