(Second person POV)
Heading out of your bedroom with Jay (and Koun) following close behind, you make your way into the dining room where everyone had already assembled. "Ah, you two finally came out," Cole remarks, placing down the casserole dish that was covered with a lid on the table, "I got Lloyd to call the two of you out for dinner but I guess you two got caught up in something."
"Is that so?" you murmur, casting a glance at the spot the boy would sit at if he were here in the room. "He didn't call us over."
"Really?" the earth elemental raises an eyebrow, taking his seat to the right of Kai, "Where is he?"
Trying to sit to Zane's right, you stopped when Master Wu gave you a deadpan glance, making you sigh as you moved to the other side of the dinner table. Sitting next to the fire elemental, you put on a neutral expression as the teen in black lifts the lid on your collaborative... masterpiece, a mauve-purple cloud of gas bursting forth as he did so. Much to the displeasure of everyone else, he served up eight bowls, giving you a proud smile as he handed your portion.
Picking up a spoon, you took a sip of the concoction, letting out a surprised hum while the others looked on with disbelief. Even Koun seemed disturbed that you were eating such a thing without so much as a flinch, her aura turning slightly purple with worry. "It could use a little more seasoning," you remark, looking at the brew that was still somehow bubbling without being exposed to heat, "Other than that, it's pretty nice."
"R-really?!" Cole asked, his eyes lighting up with happiness, glad that one of his friends have finally complimented his culinary skills.
At your words, the others took a spoonful of the brew, only to immediately spit it back out, gasping for water.
"W-why would you do that, (y/n)?!" Jay spluttered, downing his cup in an instant before dashing out of the room to the kitchen.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" Kai screeches, his hair lighting on fire as he ran around the room like a headless chicken with no one able to extinguish the flames as Zane was put out of commission by the concoction alone.
"Then why did you also have some?!" Nya retorted, her eyes welling up with the tears that she refused to shed whilst she fanned her face with her hands, seeming to be on the verge of collapsing like the ice elemental.
Even Master Wu seemed disturbed by the food, his eyes screwed shut as he began meditating, trying with all his might not to get sick. It wasn't working if his pear-green complexion was anything to judge by.
"I-is it really that bad...?" Cole asks with a worried look, glancing in your direction as you eat another spoonful, not fazed in the slightest.
"I don't think so," you answer after swallowing down the mouthful, "Then again, I am one with the poison element so my tastebuds naturally shut down when I ingest something toxic, making me unable to taste whether it is good or bad. Plus, I'm immune to most poisons as my teacher's training was literally hell on earth. He could cook was much worse than this if he wanted to."
Licking the remaining drops of broth off your spoon, you caught sight of Cole's dejected expression as he stared down at the violet-coloured dish, seemingly trying to figure out how things went wrong. "...Perhaps next time, we should take out the recipe before cooking," you remark, putting out the fire on Kai's head as nobody else seemed to be able to do it.
Giving you a grateful smile, the earth elemental murmured "Yeah... maybe..."
Okay, cool, you think to yourself as you eat some more, not wishing for the meal to go to waste, Now then, where's Dart-
Hold up, hold up, Koun suddenly interjects, making you stop looking around the room for the dragon, Things aren't cool at all! Cole's clearly still sad about all of this and your words did nothing to cheer him up!
...They didn't? you inquire, casting a glance at the teen mentioned, But I thought it was great advice.
...Right... the silhouette eye-rolls, But advice doesn't help people feel better, empathy does! Get something to distract him with!
Looking around the room for a way to make the ninja in black feel better, you suddenly remembered that he liked cake. Getting out of your seat, you mutter "Be back in a while," before walking out of the door with the feeling of multiple pairs of eyes at your retreating figure.
This place shouldn't be too far from Jamanakai Village... you think to yourself as you adjust your cloak, making sure it won't fall off. I hope that pastry shop is still open...
Diving head-first off the side of the upper deck, you feel the wind whip past your face as you clutch the soot-black cloth as the wind whips past your face, throwing your hair into the dark early morning sky. After falling for a while, you activate your space element, teleporting yourself to the quiet town hidden away in the mountains.
Walking through the quaint marketplace that was almost completely desolated of passersby, you glanced over the place where Lloyd had declared you as part of his army, a feeling of nostalgia washing over you. Feeling a little upset for a reason you couldn't decipher, you pushed those unnecessary emotions to the side, deciding to focus on buying some cake for Cole first.
Entering the shop, you heard the door close behind you with a soft tinkle of bells as you walked over to the counter, waiting to be served. Before long, a female came out from the back of the store before giving you a welcoming smile. From the shape of her face and the various wrinkles and imperfections on her skin, it would appear that she is much older than you. Old enough to be your mother, in fact.
Suddenly you heard her ask "What would you like so early in the morning, Miss?", her voice bringing you back to reality and the task you had assigned yourself.
Looking over the various desserts behind the glass display, your eyes zeroed in on what appeared to be a chocolate-ganache cake decorated with a bright carrot-orange marigold flower that looked to be blooming from the earth-coloured frosting. "I'll take this one," you answer the woman, looking up from the sweet when out of nowhere-
The world drains of its colour, leaving you in a metal-black world with only the empty, delicate, porcelain-white outlines remaining.
What was happening? You didn't know and you couldn't find out. It was as if time had suddenly altered, leaving you behind as it slowly but surely trudged on while you stood where you were, frozen in ice-cold dread. Your vision was blurring in and out of the darkness, switching from nothingness to a bright, fiery, malevolent red, making the lump in your throat swell as you struggled to stay calm and force these unknown feelings deep within.
Abruptly, everything changes like the channels on a glitchy television, complete with the sound of bone-piercing static. The world before you morphs from a homely-looking bakery with the smell of freshly made bread to the back of a dimly lit hut, the smell of singed flesh and all-around destruction loomed in the air, the scent clawing at your sensitive nose.
You weren't able to hear, the mind-distorting screeching of white noise in your ears was far too loud for that. You weren't able to sense auras either, everything just a mushed-up clump of swirling neon water colours that clawed at your brain like a frenzied animal, ripping out parts of you and implanting itself within the longer you tried to look. Your vision and hearing weren't the best either, both seemingly covered with wool and fogging up the information you were receiving.
Amid the chaos and turmoil, you caught sight of the woman from the pastry shop, but she was... different. The blurriness in your vision aside, you were able to make out her long wavy locks in front of you, now no longer soot-black but as white as ivory. Her eyes were not the colour of ebony, but candy-red, both trained on you as her mouth moves but there's no sound, as says something you can't comprehend. Then, everything flashes in and out like the shutters of a camera, taking in only one scene at a time and not showing you the whole movie.
Wine-purple darkness reaches out from behind the shack, clawing at the woman, as you see what you could only describe as single frames of her running away from where you stood, a hand that you presumed was your own extending for her. She tries to flee, like a white rabbit in the great forest, but the wolf-like shadows were faster. With its big, hungry eyes, it weaves through the darkness of what you could only describe as destruction, following her every move.
Then, it happens.
The giant, hound-like monster made of darkness pounces, its teeth cut from jagged amethyst glass, eyes glowing and ravenous as it tears into the woman. At that moment, you were thankful your vision was draped in a mist, unwilling to bear the backlash of witnessing what you presumed to be a gruesome death if the muffled sounds of pain, the hot, stinking stench of copper, and the flaming pools of redness that now coated your skin was anything to judge by.
Feeling sick, you felt like heaving but the body that you couldn't really call your own refused to obey. Instead, it brought its scarlet hands to your mouth, muffling the sound of terror and agony you surely would have felt had you been in that moment. Suddenly, your head whips to your right as the foggy figure of a boy no older than eight grabbed your hand and dragged you away, his expression of sombreness and anger cut deeply into his face. He shouldn't be making that face. Not at this age.
What is going on here? Where were you? Where are you going now? Is this a vision of the future? Where was Lloyd? And Zane? Where were the others? Are they alright? Who is this boy? Who was that woman?
And...
Ｗｈｏ
Ｗｅｒｅ
Ｙｏｕ
．
．
．
？
"Miss?"
You snap your head up at the source of the voice as you feel your heart race underneath your skin as blood pounds at your skull, your skin covered with sticky, clammy cold sweat. Upon seeing the woman and the inside of the pastry store, you let out a wheezy breath of relief, trying to calm your breathing as you swallow the lump in your throat.
"Miss, are you alright?" the lady asks, seeming genuinely worried as her ink-black eyes gaze into your own, making you want to break the gaze.
"...I'm fine," you answer perhaps a little too quickly and it showed in the other, her lips pursed into a tight-lipped frown.
"If anything is making you uncomfortable..." she murmurs, looking at her cakes on the display.
"No, it's nothing like that," you cut in, pulling out your pouch of money as you put on your stolid facade as naturally as one would eat and breathe. "How much?"
"...Fifty-five dollars," the owner of the store answers with a brief moment of contemplation as you take out the amount required. Handing it to her, you take the confectionery off the counter and head for the door. Just before you reached for the handle, you paused and opened your mouth to say something, only for you to decide against it. "...Never mind..." you mutter, opening the exit and about to step out.
Then, in a soft, almost breathy murmur that would have been lost in the wind, you hear the woman mumble "Have we met before somewhere?"
One foot out the door, you freeze where you stood, unsure of what to say. Finally, you answer "No, I don't believe we have."
With that, you walk out of the store, not sparing another glance behind you as you headed to a sweets store that you had seen Lloyd raid previously to get some candy for him a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶. Heading inside the shop, the sickeningly sweet smell of sugar hits you head-on, drowning out the lingering scent of flesh, death, and ruination that seemed to linger around you ever since you had that... hallucination? Flashback? Premonition? What could you call something that feels so real but is then shown to be all in your head? Was it revealing the future destruction of humanity or the past you so desperately try to bury?
...If only Sensei were here... you find yourself sighing, absent-mindedly walking through the aisles as if you were floating, your eyes scanning the shelves but never really seeing the products being displayed. He would most certainly know what this is without fail... I'd bet he'd also know what to do with all of... this. These irrational emotions, these haunting fears, and these feelings of empty attachment...
Stopping in front of a random rack, you stared at the confectionary as you continued to think. Why am I doing this again? This has nothing to do with finding my teacher... so why am I so enamoured with making those guys happy? How would Cole's glumness and Lloyd's betrayal affect me in the slightest other than to lightly inconvenience me?
Unable to find an answer without starting to question your existence, you pull out the very satchel that you had found strapped to your side when you first woke up in this land. Filling the emptied bag with candy for an easy carry, you found yourself recalling the various types of sweets Lloyd had stolen from the store the first time you met. Lollipops... gooey taffy... sugar straws... you listed as you filled your pouch which had a strangely large amount of room for something little bigger than a purse.
Remembering that Jay liked cotton candy, you grabbed a few and placed them in with the other sugary foods as well before heading over to the register and paying.
Well, no matter the case, I'm going to have to leave them in the end... you mutter to yourself, your head surprisingly empty of Koun's sarcastic comments, As of now, I'm just leeching off of them, trying to gain as much of their knowledge as I possibly can. Once that's all done, I would not need to stay with them any longer and can continue to search for my teacher.
Teleporting back to the Destiny's Bounty with cake in hand, a satchel full of sweets, and a noticeably lighter money pouch, you started making your way below deck again, your mind making up for the lack of the other you's remarks by filling it up with your thoughts, making you feel almost absent until you walked into the kitchen where everyone else was still gathered.
In any case and any scenario, I'm going to have to leave so it's most logical and best for everyone involved to not form any emotional attachments as it would only hinder us all...
Author's note:
Thank you for reading! This chapter was 2502 words long and I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you liked the little peak into the reader's character, though whether the vision is of the future, the past, or an alternate reality is completely up to you (until it eventually gets revealed). Anyways, thank you for your support and I'll see you in the next chapter :D
Meme:
Incorrect quote:
Jay: Alright, alright, I'm gonna give (y/n) one of the inventions that I've made myself which can help with her weakness that none of the others knows about. I'm also gonna make it the same colour as her necklace so that it matches aesthetically, and put a blue lightning bolt on it so the others know that I made it for her. As the cherry on top, I'm gonna make the case the exact same look as a ring box, and it's not because I like like her, but if she asks me out I would accept immediately. If not, then I'm not gonna be upset or anything. I don't wanna ruin our current friendship after all, haha...
*Later*
Jay: *Pulls out earbuds in the ring box case* So... I made a little something for you...
You: Wow, these are pretty neat. I'm surprised that you remembered so much about me that the others haven't. We're such good friends, haha.
Jay:
Koun: Bro's not subtle at all lmao
Incorrect quote #2:
Zane: How would you like your eggs, (y/n)?
Koun: F E R T I L I S E D
You: ...A chicken?
Zane: What?
Koun: What?
Incorrect quote #3:
You: Truth or dare?
Nya: Truth.
You: How many hours have you slept this week?
Nya: ...Dare...
You: I dare you to go to sleep and stop tinkering away at night.
Nya: I don't like this game.
Incorrect quote #4:
You: I can't believe Master Wu locked us in here together.
Kai: *Swallowing key* Truly unfortunate.
Incorrect quote #5:
You: *Sneezes*
Cole: Bless-
Lloyd: Are you dying?!
You: What? No, it's the dust.
Lloyd: I'M GOING TOO DESTROY ALL THE DUST!
You: That's not how it works-
Incorrect quote #6:
You: So, how would you rate your pain?
Cole: Zero out of ten, would not recommend.
You: What?
Thank you for reading and I hope these memes/quotes made you laugh. I added a couple extra quotes since it's always the dumbass trio (Kai, Jay, & Cole) being featured and the others need more love. Anyways, have a nice day/night :)