"Whoops, I didn't mean to do that, sorry," Ruby said as I continued to stare blankly into space, still having not yet recovered from the sight of... his body disappearing over the ledge.
The iron tinge continued to linger in the air, and the idea that the last thing I had left of him was the puddle of blood behind me sent unwanted shivers down my spine. It felt like we had met only yesterday...
He... he couldn't be gone.
Every breath I took felt like needles were piercing through my lungs, and though I was kneeling on the ground, my legs somehow were struggling to support my body weight. I heard someone scream his name from far, far away, the sound of it echoing in my mind, again... and again.... and again...
Then I noticed Ruby about to wipe his blood onto the sword, and with reflexes almost as quick as lightning and surprising even myself, I stuck my sword under hers and flung it backwards out of her grasp. One of the tendrils caught it though, and handed it back to her.
"Oh come on, Rumi, we can do this the easy way. Morro sacrificed himself for this mission, you know. So did Kai and Cole, not that you cared about them."
By now I had shakily gotten to my feet, sword in hand, and her words felt like a punch in the gut.
"You have no right to say those names," I whispered, my voice somehow not trembling as my knees tried their best not to buckle over.
"Do I? At least I'm not pretending to mourn like you are."
I clenched my teeth and narrowed my eyes at her, knowing that I probably didn't look the least bit menacing. It didn't help that my chest was throbbing, and each time I blinked I could feel the tears burning in the back of my eyes, which made me feel all the worse. I hadn't let myself cry in years, and I wasn't going to now. But my throat had never felt tighter, and I could barely hold my sword in my hand, the sweat gathering on my palms making the grip all the more slippery.
"Aww, you're still sad about Windy, aren't you? Here, I'll help you feel better."
Wondering what she could possibly mean by that, I skeptically met her gaze, only to see her slowly grow taller, her face sharpening and skin taking on a darker tone. Her hair began to shorten and turn black, and by the time I realized what was going on, she looked exactly like him, down to the dark green eyes and faint scar on his cheek. I shrank back in horror, my hand shaking so hard that I felt like I was going to drop the sword any minute.
"Rumi? You okay?" the Shadow Knight asked softly in his voice with no hint of mockery, and if my eyes were closed I would really think it was him speaking to me.
I opened my mouth to yell at her, but my voice failed me.
"Please, I don't wanna have to fight you."
That wasn't him, that wasn't him, that wasn't him...
I willed myself to meet Ruby's eyes, thinking that I'd be able to find some difference, only to feel as if a gust of wind was trying to knock me backwards. The black fog between us began dispersing, revealing a ring of smoke, the center of which was a swirling blue thing, though the clouds surrounding the platform remained in place. I tore my gaze away from it and back to the Shadow Knight, who was stepping closer.
"It'll be alright, I promise. I don't wanna hurt you."
Holding out my sword in front of me, I backed up a little, my heart pounding against my chest. My head felt swollen and seemed to be pulsating, and I had to remind myself every few seconds that it wasn't him standing in front of me, as much as every muscle in my body wanted me to jump forward and sink into his arms.
"Please, Rumi. This way, nobody gets hurt. I don't want to have to fight you."
I don't want to have to fight you, either.
Normally, if someone were to impersonate anyone close to me I would lash out at them in rage for having the guts to even try to deceive me, but somehow I couldn't channel my feelings into anger. I knew for a fact that the Shadow Knight was just trying to weaken me with emotional torment, but I still couldn't bring myself to fight. It was selfish of me; everyone had risked so much to help me with this mission, and we'd gotten so far and I would fail them if I couldn't defeat this monster. And yet, despite repeatedly reminding myself of my purpose, I was unable to strike.
Or maybe I wouldn't have to.
I silently said I was sorry, then dropped onto the platform with a plop and lay down, letting my shirt soak up the puddle of blood.
As soon as Ruby realized what I was doing, she screeched and lunged towards me. I rolled over to dodge the blow, looking anywhere but her face and feeling my backside getting wet while swinging my sword to knock the Crystal Blade out of her hand and rolling back to absorb more of the viscous liquid. My entire backside was sticky and warm, and when I got another glimpse of the Shadow Knight's face I felt something in the back of my eyes, demanding to be let out.
Jumping out of the way and wobbling back onto my feet, I leaned back against a pillar to regain my balance as Ruby frantically scraped what was left of the puddle of blood with the blade of her sword, her quickening breaths making me just as nervous as she was. As I watched her, I began prodding at the clouds surrounding the tower with my sword, hoping to make a hole big enough for me to jump through.
She roared, and the sound of this otherworldly screech temporarily froze me in place. Then my eyes met hers, or more accurately, his dark green eyes, which had a sort of deranged look that I'd never seen in him before, not even when he almost killed me.
The Shadow Knight's eyes were in slits as several black, cloudy tendrils shot out from behind her then snaked around my arms faster than I could react, and suddenly it felt as if needles having just been soaked in liquid nitrogen were sinking into my skin. I almost screamed before biting down on my tongue, trying to reassure myself through the pain that everything was okay and she was just creating this sensation, not that it helped much with mitigating the agony.
"Someone get me the body!" she ordered, her voice thundering through the air, so loud that it upset my eardrums.
I winced, and the tentacles only tightened their grip on me, rapidly sending a fresh wave of pain through my entire body. The sword slipped from my hand, tumbling through the clouds and disappearing from view. I found myself completely helpless against her wrath, and since I was unable to look away, every second I spent staring at that face seemed to only further shatter the already broken pieces I was composed of.
Or maybe she already had completely crushed every last fragment, and the notion that I needed to defeat her for him was the only thing holding me together at the moment.
The sounds of Shadow Riders grew louder, and my heart jumped into my throat as I braced myself for what was coming, not yet ready to see the sight of his mangled corpse. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my emotions under control if they brought it up, and just the idea of seeing such a sight formed a lump in my throat. There were already so many things I was struggling to do; I didn't need to add breathing to that list.
How could she?
I found myself wondering that again, as obvious as the answer was. He had always been there... almost like an eternal presence, only a call away. Even though we had a brief period of separation, he came back. Slowly looking up again, I almost expected him to burst through the cloud barrier, grinning from ear to ear the way he did... only last night.
If someone bet me a million dollars then that he would be gone within twenty-four hours, I would've laughed and called them a fool.
"Bring me THE BODY!" Ruby shrieked, reminding me again of where I was.
He wouldn't want me to just stand here like a helpless blob of flesh.
He'd want me to fight.
I needed to get out. Silently, I summoned the sword and hacked away at the tendrils as quietly as I could as the Shadow Knight turned away and began thinning the clouds, probably so that the Shadow Riders could bring him in.
When I was free, I carefully jabbed at the clouds, so as to not make a sound, and when the hole was big enough, I slipped out and stuck the sword in the crevices between the stones of the tower and crawled down, hanging onto the hilt, so that I could still hear the conversation. Some Shadow Riders seemed to have seen me there, but didn't bother saying anything.
"Uh, Boss?" one said in an obviously fearful tone from above, "There were... complications."
"What complications?" Ruby demanded, still using his voice.
"See, we didn't think you would need it, so uh, when that blond kid and the one wearing blue ran off with it, we kinda let them..."
"You WHAT?! Where are they now?"
"Uh, not far, I think? The auburn one was injured pretty badly but the blond one was in okay condition..."
"They got cloaks though, so they flew off, so probably far," another one admitted sheepishly.
"YOU LET THEM TAKE YOUR CLOAKS?"
"No, they managed to fight their way to them, 'cause the redhead said she heard that was what let us fly..."
I could feel the wet, viscous blood slowly trickling down my body as I tightened my grip on the sword and dug my feet into the cracks in the stone. Some of the Shadow Riders I could see were shuffling around uncomfortably, and Ruby must be looking pretty terrifying at the moment.
So Lloyd and Jay had run off with his body...
What about the others?
Suddenly, I heard a roar of frustration, and knowing exactly what the Shadow Knight had just realized, I yanked the sword out of the wall and jumped, my head bursting into pain and feeling like it was going to explode.
Just as I was about to pummel into the ground, something crashed into me, and as I plummeted I could feel sharp nails digging into the flesh of my abdomen, adding to the preexisting agony. Chomping down on my bottom lip to keep from screaming out, I gave a kick at whoever was latching onto me, presumably the Shadow Knight, causing them to finally let go but at the same time leaving behind a stinging soreness in my sides.
I scrambled to my feet before I caught a glimpse of the smears of blood over my bare skin, but at this point I wasn't sure whose blood it was. Without even giving me a second to recompose myself, the figure leaped to their feet and lunged at me again, their hood flying off to reveal a head of thick black hair with a green streak in it. I threw my hands up in front of my face, summoning the sword, only to have my legs get pulled out from under and used to fling me at least several meters away.
The world was a blur and my back burned as I slid across the grass, and the pull my scalp felt made me wonder if I had just lost half of my hair. Hissing, I crawled back to my feet and summoned the sword again, standing up just as Ruby was coming closer with the Crystal Blade in hand, still in his form, with a strange expression on her face.
My heart was almost trying to jump out of my ribcage as my legs struggled to sustain my weight, however skinny I was, and after shooting frantic glances in all four directions, I couldn't see any of the others. The Shadow Riders weren't fighting, either, as they seemed to be just awkwardly standing around, unsure of what to do. Without a warning, the Shadow Knight flicked her wrist and threw her sword at me, so fast that I was unable to dodge the blow and it sliced apart some of the flesh in my left side, sending pain shooting through my body.
"You know," she said, still using his voice, "Windy here was such a party pooper; he kept spoiling my plans. I need to have some fun, so I promise, this isn't personal."
I stumbled backwards before sticking the sword in the ground to steady myself, unsure of what to make of that statement. Though there was no emotion present in her tone, she was no doubt furious that she couldn't go to Ninjago, since Jade City clearly wasn't enough for her.
A smoky tendril appeared out of nowhere and twisted around my waist, then threw me against the tower before I could even register the freezing burn it always brought. I hissed as I slammed against the stone, feeling more blood trickling from my injury. The cut wasn't too big, but with that one crash I could already feel my skin tearing apart.
Wincing, I gingerly brushed my fingertip against the edge of the wound, my head throbbing as another stabbing pain coursed through my body. Every movement felt like a thousand needles piercing into my skin, and I blindly groped the area around my right hand in search of the sword, trying to ignore the anguish.
Yet the ache quickly dulled and was replaced with numbness. My eyelids fluttered, and even though I couldn't see anything clearly, the lack of any blurs running towards me made it obvious that there were no more allies here. There were still plenty of figures in black within my line of vision, but at the moment they weren't doing anything.
What did the prophecy even want from me at this point? So far I hadn't even done most of the work, I'd been carried all the way by teammates who were a hundred thousand times more competent... All I could do was manipulate teenage boys through sweet talk and throw a few knives...
And here I was now, slowly rotting away. Lost, alone, and forgotten... with nobody left to care about and leaving nobody caring.
Pathetic. Maybe for once, a prophecy wasn't going to come true.
Even when forced into this position, I still couldn't be the hero they needed. The only thing I could do was drag everyone on a pointless journey that not only didn't benefit us but was strictly detrimental to our actual goal. Some leader I was. Some Chosen One.
I could almost hear Ruby clicking her tongue and see her hunching over my body in his form, ready to give me a few more stabs just to make it hurt more and yet refusing to put me out of my misery. My legs were frozen, and my body was limp and useless... so useless...
Footsteps were approaching. Even before I could listen for who it was, I already knew.
"You know, Rumi, I did love you," she said, the grass crunching beneath her feet as she knelt down before me, and for a second I almost thought he was the one saying it, "But sometimes, you're just disappointing. I thought you were better than this."
If I could nod in agreement, I would.
I could even imagine his disillusioned face as he watched me simply give up. The already broken fragments of my heart finally shattered at the image of the concerned expression he'd certainly be wearing if he ever learned of my cowardice. He'd had so much faith in me. He believed I could change.
Any if I had any sort of decency left in me, I couldn't let him down like this.
I couldn't let myself down like this.
Using all the strength I could muster, I forced open my eyes and her face slowly came into view. Ruby was studying my wound closely, her scrutinizing gaze making me even more uncomfortable.
"She's dying," the Shadow Knight announced, "Take her to headquarters. And if you find the others, take them too."
What?
Was Ruby not going to kill me?
She really wanted to go to Ninjago, didn't she?
"You got lucky this time," Ruby snarled, "But you can't delay me forever, Rumi. "
Well, then, if that was the case...
With a rush of adrenaline stronger than I'd ever felt before, I squeezed my eyes shut then pounced onto her like a wild animal, jabbing the sword wherever I could. Yet because it was so long, I gripped the blade itself and started stabbing into her flesh, not even looking at where I was aiming for, because if I saw that face again I'd surely break down. The sharp edge of the sword cut into my palm and I felt blood trickling down my wrist but that no longer mattered. If I was dying today, the Shadow Knight was going to die with me.
Something freezing cold stuck itself into my wound and I screeched but continued hacking at her, the spot feeling like it was on fire. Then something else yanked me away before I could finish my job and I screamed, violently waving my arms around when a blast of something wet knocked over whoever was holding me.
I never imagined I'd be so happy to be in Nya's presence again.
Another pair of arms gently dragged me upwards and someone began applying something to my wound as the sounds of swords clashing and fire burning filled the air once more. Though I was still unable to see too clearly as blood accumulated on my eyelashes, I could make out cloaked figures battling other cloaked figures while some began running away and Skylor's signature golden-orange flames swallowing people whole. Combined with Nya's water blasts, Shadow Riders were screaming as the hot steam engulfed them, the ones fleeing the scene seemed to be having trouble with their damaged cloaks.
"You should be fine for now," Lloyd's voice rang out, and only now did I notice him hovering a little below me, wrapping a bandage around my waist, while someone else, presumably Jay or Zane, held me up. Another was currently swiveling around us in case there were any attackers, but there weren't.
"Wha-what do I do?" I whispered, glancing down at the chaos and ashamed of how spineless I was being.
"You'll figure it out," Lloyd reassured me.
"And besides," Jay said with a little gasp at the end, signaling that he was in pain, "Ruby's weakening. Maybe if she uses too much power she needs time to recharge."
My eyes trailed to where he was pointing and sure enough, she had slipped through the crowd and was limping toward the woods beyond the tower, covered in blood and anxiously glancing back every now and then. Nobody else seemed to have noticed her escaping, but she wasn't getting away that easily.
"Skylor! Nya!" Zane shouted, and the two girls looked up. Nodding, they came up, leaving the remaining Shadow Riders still struggling to escape the heat.
We all silently decided to follow her with Zane and Jay dragging me and Lloyd leading the way. By the time we caught up to her, she was leaning against a tree with her shirt off, breathing heavily as she rubbed her wounds.
"You can't escape now, Ruby," Nya snarled, "All of your minions unavailable and look how all-powerful you are now. If you think that just because you're taking on our friend's form we'll spare you, then you're wrong."
Instead of looking fearful or at least apprehensive as I had hoped, Ruby was silent at first, then burst out laughing.
"Here's why you're wrong, Water Lily."
And before we could decipher what that meant, she swiped both of her hands in front of her so that everything was swallowed by darkness.
I guess she wasn't weakened, then.
"Guys?" I asked, summoning my sword and carefully feeling around with my foot before daring to step back. The ointment Lloyd had applied made it feel slightly better, and though there was intense aching as I moved around, I could ignore it for now. My right hand was still bleeding and feeling a little numb, though, but whatever.
There was a faint ache in my head again, but my body was so accustomed to the pain by now that I didn't even flinch.
"You Ninjago people and your special blood," she spat bitterly, her voice seemingly coming from all directions, leaving me unsure of her location, "So superior, isn't it? None of my powers ever work on you. The whole purpose of my existence is to bow to your feet so you can live an eternity of comfort in the Departed Realm."
I didn't know how to respond to that, since I neither wanted to pretend to be sympathetic nor say anything snarky and make her angrier. The only thing I could do was be as vigilant as I could despite the darkness and hold the―still visible despite the darkness―sword up in front of me.
Then suddenly the Shadow Knight was looming over me, still in his form, of course, almost making me stumble back in surprise.
"You know," I said, silently begging my voice to not crack, "Like Nya said, just because you look like him doesn't mean I'll hesitate to kill you."
"How brave," Ruby sneered, "I doubt you actually have the guts to."
I thrust my sword forward, only to have a tentacle knock it out of my grasp as she flicked her wrist, a bored expression on her face. Immediately summoning it once more, I struck again, holding it more firmly this time, only to have it get easily ripped out of my hand again, the friction it created making my palm feel even more sore.
Gritting my teeth, I requested it again and lunged at her, this time gripping it with both hands.
I almost shrieked when it was yanked out again, and now both of my palms felt like they were burning. Trying not to hiss at my scorching left hand (my right was just going numb), I called it back to me.
The Shadow Knight yawned. "I could do this all day, you know. And can I just say I like this body way more than my old one? Sure, I'd prefer being a girl, but don't you think he's hot?"
No longer caring about anything else, I lurched forward, ready to tear her apart if it was the last thing I did. She'd kissed him, controlled him, killed him, then had the audacity to take on his likeness.
Ruby screamed as she fell to the ground with a thud, my nails digging into her face. Eyes closed, I scrunched up my own, unable to bring myself to look at her as I clawed at her temples, and the feeling of ice-cold cloudy tendrils on my back came with no surprise. When they tried to pry me away from her, I continued to claw at her flesh and hair, refusing to let go as if my life depended on it.
Blood pounded in my head as the tentacles lifted my lower body upwards. Heart racing, I ripped out handfuls of hair one after another, barely taking time to acknowledge the fresh wave of pain it sent rippling through my right arm each time. My hands were on fire; if the black clouds surrounding me were red, I probably would've assumed I was, too.
I could no longer tell which screams were whose; I just knew that my eardrums were on the verge of shattering. My grasp on reality was slipping away, and suddenly I didn't care how insane I had become, just that I was going to destroy her no matter what it took.
They could throw me in a mental asylum for all I cared.
And as horrifying as I used to find the idea, I began tearing at her eye sockets. The scream that came out of it was otherworldly, and a part of me almost thought the sound alone was going to slice me in half. Flinching, I continued with even more force, my hands covered in blood that either belonged to her or me. Or him, but I would rather not think about that.
Apparently the Shadow Knight was in so much pain that the tentacles loosened, and suddenly, I found myself thrown backwards.
"MORRO WOULD BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN HOW-HOW SAVAGE YOU'RE ACTING," she shrieked in a different but oddly familiar voice, jumping on top of me, her hands immediately going to my throat.
In the split second that I saw her, Ruby's entire face was stained red from her bleeding scalp; her eyes, which had turned a shade of light blue, were looking so deranged that I could barely recognize the face anymore.
It also didn't help that she was pressing so hard against my throat that my vision was becoming poorer.
But... it wasn't his face I was looking at... it was mine.
"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A WILD ANIMAL, ARE YOU? DESTINED TO DESTROY."
With a kick to her abdomen, I caught her off-guard and flung her off of me, and for a second she was out of view before she came charging back, even more tentacles coming from behind her. I summoned and brandished my sword, gasping for air as my heart thundered in my ears. Sweat trickled down the side of my face as blood pumped through my veins, yet my brain was unable to come up with any escape plan that didn't involve possibly stepping on the unconscious bodies of the Ninja.
The Shadow Knight thought that I wouldn't attack myself. But that was her mistake. She represented everything I hated about myself... and she and I had destroyed everything and everyone I loved.
So I told the sword to vanish and once again went straight for her eyes.
The tendrils tightened around my body, but by then I'd grabbed onto Ruby's hair, clinging onto it with all my might then using my right to try and pop the eyeball out of its socket. If I defeated her, it would be like permanently getting rid of that part of me.
I'd make him proud.
Hopefully my parents too.
My nails sunk in with more force and vigor than I'd ever used, and somehow, after closing my eyes so I wouldn't have to witness what I was doing, I managed to pry both her eyes out. The alien scream that issued from the Shadow Knight's mouth was somehow 100 times worse than the last, making me let go so that I could cover my ears.
If I wasn't fighting for my life, I'd probably vomit at the idea that there were two slimy eyeballs rolling around on the floor.
Slowly, I forced myself to peek at her. She was writing on the ground, her hands clutching her face.
"Sadly, you don't know me well enough to really get to that part of me," I said in an oddly calm manner, marching forward and summoning the sword again to deliver the final blow.
Right before my eyes, Ruby transformed into an infant child. And not just any baby, but one with blond hair and wearing a bright green romper.
I immediately recognized the face.
"Nice try," I said, my entire body feeling paralyzed, "But I'm done with your games."
And without a moment's hesitation, I plunged the sword down, straight into her chest.
A/N: Yayyy so Harumi... won?
Please let me know what you guys think! I'm super curious. Did this chapter live up to what you had hoped?
One more chapter and an epilogue remaining! (hint hint: It's called Proper Goodbyes)
Thank you so much for sticking around for this long, I couldn't have come this far without y'all's support!
Also on an unrelated note, recently I've been reading the Korean web novel The Villainess Lives Twice it's so so good, there's also a manhwa version but it's ongoing and I'm impatient. The main character, Artizea, is basically Harumi but better and the story is low-key what I wish TJC could be lolol (since my main complaint about TJC is that Harumi isn't smart enough) and the male lead Cedric is the most wholesome and amazing guy ever I love him so much. Characters are well developed and the antagonists are smart, not dumbed down to highlight how clever Artizea is
There are 304 chapters and a 29 chapter afterstory so you'll be entertained for a while loll
It's translated so here's a heads up if you want to read it: there are inconsistent spellings of certain names, but it shouldn't be too difficult to figure it out; tense is inconsistent which annoys me but oh well; dialogue lacks a lot of tags so you have to figure out who's talking. Even despite these issues I really enjoyed it and plan to reread
Anyway, definitely recommend, so go check it out if you're interested! I'll link it in the comments