Written by: dxganronpa
Lloyd lifted the unconscious girl in his arms, his expression a mix of concern and relief. He almost couldn't believe he had gotten her back...
He tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear, looking at her bruised face with a small frown. "God, M..."
"Lloyd, we must hurry!" Zane called from the door. "The shadows may be near."
"Right!" Lloyd nodded, holding Mia close to his chest and running out after the nindroid. Running through the dark halls, they almost lost their way—but fortunately for Zane's tracker of the exit, they were able to meet up with the remaining ninja.
"You got her!" Scarlett looked to the green ninja with a smile.
"Yeah, we did." Lloyd returned the gesture, chuckling. "You were right. Thanks for the pep talk earlier."
She giggled, putting her hands behind her back. "I guess we all need that once in a while, don't we?" Her eyes narrowed over to Kai, who wasn't even focused on their conversation.
"As nice as this entire reunion is, we should really get back to the Bounty before they decide to come back and show up for the two of you," Cole told them all. "Let's get out of here!"
The others nodded, running out of the cave. Before she did, however, Scarlett stopped after hearing something a few feet behind her.
"Huh?"
"Scarlett..."
The voice sounded so familiar to her, but she almost couldn't put her finger on it. All she knew was that she had to go toward the noise, and she was going to had a hand grabbed her.
"Scarlett, what the hell are you doing?" Jay asked her with a panicked look on his face.
"The voice..." she tried explaining, but he didn't hesitate to stop her again.
"Voice? There is no voice, Scarlett. Come on, it's just them playing you!" Seeing that she took a step toward the cave once more, he swung her over his shoulder and ran off.
Scarlett didn't bother prying herself off of him, but she only allowed him to take her back to the Bounty that wasn't too far from the cave. She couldn't rid the voice that rang in her ears that Jay somehow couldn't hear.
"Scarlett..."
It once again spoke her name, but they were already on the Bounty and she couldn't see the cave anymore. "Jay... did you hear that?"
"Hear what? That voice again?" Jay questioned. He had no clue what she was talking about or if she was going crazy, but he figured bringing her back to the Bounty was much better than finding out what the hell she rambled about.
"Y- Yes, that!"
"No, I still have no clue what you mean."
Scarlett sighed, defeated. Maybe it was just my imagination...
Once arriving back into the Bridge, Jay finally put her down. "She was going back into the cave."
"You snitch." She gasped, putting her hands on her hips.
"Scarlett, what the hell? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Cole questioned her.
"No." Scarlett huffed, soon crossing her arms. "I just heard something, and I forgot it was the shadow place for a few seconds."
"Be grateful that I came after you," Jay mumbled.
"Thank you so much, Jay."
"Okay, can we bring it back? Scarlett, don't be stupid like that again. We can't have you fall into their hands. It was probably just a trick," Lloyd told her.
"Y- Yeah, got it..." Scarlett nodded, although she fiddled with her fingers in front of her. How could he not have heard it?
The other ninja then began engaging in a conversation about the shadows before Lloyd spoke up again. "I'm gonna go check on Mia to—"
"I'll go check," Scarlett interjected. "Come on, she doesn't need her boyfriend to be on her 24/7. She can have friends every once in a while, you know?"
Lloyd opened his mouth to say something, but realizing she was right, only nodded. "Yeah, okay. But don't do anything stupid, alright?"
"You offend me, Lloyd Garmadon." She waved as she walked out of the Bridge, leaving the boys and Nya to discuss other matters.
She forgot to ask where Mia was put, but she eventually found her in their shared room and knocked on the door.
"Lloyd?"
"Try again." Scarlett laughed to herself. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, sure... the door's open."
With that confirmation, she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. "Your boyfriend thought I was gonna do something stupid. Can you believe him?"
Mia let out a dry chuckle, a whimper following. Scarlett took notice of this and frowned, sitting on the edge of the bed and moving a strand of hair out of the redhead's face. "How are you feeling, love?"
"Um..." Mia kind of stuttered, not used to anyone calling her that. "Nothing hurts, really. I can manage."
Scarlett smiled softly. "I know it's weird, seeing our Mia hurt. But that doesn't mean you have to stay strong."
"I can't appear weak... it'll make me more vulnerable to the shadows." Mia sighed, grabbing her pillow.
"You're strong, M. Stronger than most of us." Scarlett looked away for a few seconds, toward the almost darkened sky. "But even you can't hold in pain forever—no one can. It'll burst out eventually, and it'll be worse."
Mia sat up a bit, her frown still plastered on her face. "Even so... I have to hold it out. For just a little longer, if I can."
Scarlett turned back around, holding a small smile. "You're really stubborn, M. But I can see why you wanna hold out. Try not to get offended when I tell you this, but you trying to convince everyone that you're not in pain is pointless. Not when you can't even convince yourself."
"I'll admit, I'm a little offended," the redhead said. "I can too convince myself."
"That's just how life goes. There's no way you've convinced yourself, because every single one of us can tell just how much you're hurting." Scarlett pat her friend's head and stood up.
"Scar, you're confusing me." Mia kept her frown, watching the other go to the door.
"Don't worry about it." She shook her head, opening the door. "Oh, and M?"
"Yeah?"
"Prepare to either lie or stay silent—we're taking you to a hospital."
* * *
"Remind me why we're at a hospital again?" Jay questioned the dark-haired girl, standing next to her as Lloyd and Nya helped Mia through the big doors. "We could just help her here."
"Jay, baby, she has a broken foot. Broken." Scarlett shook her head at him. "As amazing as Zane is, we don't have the proper materials on this ship to heal her foot. I think it was better to take her here."
"But isn't there one closer to the city? Why did we have to go so far?" Zane asked.
"Because I know some of the nurses here. They'll probably take her in free of charge."
"So then... why are you here and not in there?" Kai gave her a confused look.
"Because..." Scarlett now had an annoyed glare, not because of the questions, but because of her answer coming up. "Those nurses I know are practically in love with the mighty Green Ninja."
* * *
"Yes, our friend isn't doing very well..." Nya explained to the female nurse in front of her. "You see, her foot is..."
"It looks very... oh my, what did she do to injure it that bad?" she asked, examining Mia's foot from a few feet away.
Nya, knowing that Mia would have said something stupid, pretended to sigh and cross her arms in mock disappointment. "Between you and me, she's extremely clumsy. Never again will she try to skateboard."
"I've heard that's dangerous without experience." The doctor nodded, jotting down all her notes on a notepad. "Okay, Miss. What's your friend's name?"
Nya was quick with her response. "Vera Moreau."
"I'll call her name when there's room."
With a nod, Nya began making her way back to her friends. "Okay, you're in, M. Except you're not Mia Brooklyn, okay?"
"Uh, what? Who am I, then?" she asked, cocking her head a bit.
"Vera Moreau. We can't risk the shadows coming into a public place, especially close to Ninjago," Nya told her. "At least now, we can give you a chance to recover."
"Do you think just giving a different name would distract them?" Lloyd questioned.
"They're not gonna send their army into Ninjago yet. Yet. At least now they have a better reason not to search here."
Mia nodded, sitting in a chair and crossing her arms. "Okay. Vera, was it?"
After receiving a nod from her, Mia finally began to relax. Not letting her guard down, but relax just a little. She took in her surroundings, realizing how calm the hospital was.
"Hey, Lloyd?"
The green ninja turned around to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "What's up?"
"I haven't actually been into a hospital before now... not for a long time actually. Why is it so calm?"
"Uh... I mean, we're in the waiting room, so it's usually calmer here," Lloyd explained. "Do you not remember it being calm?"
"No... don't people die here or something?"
"Mia, hospitals are to save people. Don't think like that." Nya smiled a bit, shaking her head. "Sometimes, people don't make it, and that's why they die here sometimes."
"Were you worried you were one of those people?" Lloyd chuckled.
"That's not what really crossed my mind, no..." Mia shook her head. "I was just wondering."
Soon, the three heard, "Vera Moreau?"
"Guess that's our cue." Lloyd took Mia's hand in his and helped her walk with Nya toward where they heard her name being called.
Once arriving, two nurses stood in front of them. One said, "Which one of you is—?"
"Is that the Green Ninja?" The second had wide eyes, staring at the three.
"That's not important right now. Which one of you is Vera?"
Mia shyly raised her hand, and soon, she found herself in a wheelchair. "Huh?"
"It's only temporary, until we get you to the room," the nurse told her, grabbing the handles and looking over to the second nurse. "Let's go, we have work to do."
Meanwhile, the younger nurse was smiling at Lloyd. "Can I please have your autograph, Mr. Green Ninja?"
"Uh, sure..." Lloyd laughed a bit. She immediately pulled out a paper with a pen and handed it to him, which he reluctantly took and signed his name on.
Mia watched and held the tiniest scowl, a feeling of jealousy rising within her. She turned back around, crossing her arms, mumbling to herself, "Fine then..."
The young nurse returned, smiling. "Sorry, sorry! I'm back."
"You are going to get fired one day..." The first, more serious nurse sighed and took Mia away in the wheelchair. She looked over to Lloyd and Nya, giving them a small smile. "You may see her once we finish operations."
"Operations?" Mia's eyes widened a bit, and she sunk in her seat. That doesn't sound too good.
"Sounds great." Nya nodded and returned the smile, as if it meant nothing—even though it didn't, but Mia felt scared out of her wits considering she's never had an operation before. "We'll be in the waiting room."
"Oh, and before you go?" Lloyd put his hands behind his back, chuckling softly. "We're friends of Scarlett. Do you happen to know her?"
"Scarlett... Dragonfire?" After receiving nods from the two, the older nurse smiled. "Ah, she must have asked for this favor, then."
"Scarlett?" the younger nurse repeated. "The one that came when her—?"
"Yes, her." The nurse stopped her before she could finish, not sure if her friends knew anything. "It's been quite a while since we've seen her, hasn't it?"
"We were best friends," the young nurse told the two, smiling and holding her paper to her chest—not because it was thee autograph, but due to the memories she began recalling. "We'd do everything together! Hey, when you see her again, can you let her know we said hi?"
Mia felt another pang of jealousy within her, but she quickly calmed it. Why am I feeling like this? It must be a really bad day for me...
"We most definitely will." Nya nodded, giggling a bit. She looked to Lloyd, who nodded as well, but kind of stared, thinking.
"And we will take good care of Miss Vera, on the house." The older nurse winked, whispering soon after. "But don't tell our boss."
"It'll be our secret," Nya joked, laughing with the two nurses as they made their leave with Mia in the wheelchair.
I'm gonna be okay, she told herself. Yeah, they'll make my foot all better. If they're such good friends of Scarlett... She looked up at the young nurse, soon looking down after. They'll make sure I'm okay.
Sitting back down in the waiting room, Nya turned to Lloyd. "You looked lost in thought back there. What, did you have a crush on the nurse?"
"Very funny." Lloyd sarcastically laughed at Nya's joke. "I was thinking about what they both said about Scarlett."
"And why she came here?" Nya nodded. "Yeah, me too. The older nurse didn't want her to finish."
"It's not like Scarlett's told us everything about herself, so why am I surprised?" He shrugged, sighing. "But I have to admit, my curiosity's been sparked."
"I know how you feel..." Nya agreed. "I wish she'd open up just a little more... she's getting a little closer with my brother, so maybe that's a start."
"Maybe." Lloyd nodded, crossing his arms. "But I'm still curious. We're a team, you know?"
"We can try asking, but if she doesn't want to say anything just yet, then that's okay. We'll just have to wait it out."
"Yeah... you're right."
* * *
Scarlett looked out at the hospital from the deck of the Bounty, sighing to herself. Her thoughts ran wild, and she closed her eyes.
"Hey." A voice woke her from her thoughts. "You doing alright?"
"Huh?" Scarlett turned her head to see Kai walking toward her and she nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"What's on your mind?" he asked. "You've been staring at the hospital since they left."
"Kai, it's nothing." She shook her head at him. "Don't worry about it, okay?"
Kai felt his curiosity poke at him a bit, but he respected her wishes. "Okay then... but if anything's wrong, you know you can always come to me, right?"
"Right." Scarlett nodded with a small smile. "Thanks."
He then walked back away to the boys, leaving her to rest her arms on the rail, half here face buried in them.
"Mutti..."