Darkness from Within #6: A Team Divided (A Ninjago Fanfiction)

Prologue

Cold winds chilled the air as the man trekked along the shadows of the mountain. The snow crunched underneath his feet and the winds whipped at his face, but he kept going. Keeping his eyes on the trail, he hopped over a boulder, losing his direction for a moment before spotting the trail a few feet down. Heart thumping, he hurried toward it and continued along the edge of the mountainside.

He had been hunting in the woods before he came across the trail, the trail that had caught his every attention. It had begun near the bear trap he had set out to get rid of that old bear that constantly kept him on his heels, and for a minute he had thought that he had caught it at last, until he realized whatever had gotten stuck in the trap had vanished, and the only thing that would have been smart enough to break free from the iron jaws was a human.

A human, he thought, frustrated with himself. I caught a human. Guilt swarmed inside of him. When he had arrived at the clearing where the bear trap had been set, he had been horrified at what he had found. Blood. Blood everywhere. Tufts of fur, pieces of clothing. More blood. Whoever had gotten into the fight with the bear hadn't had a good day. But from the trail of blood he was now following, he assumed the person had survived, or at least, long enough to get away from the battlefield.

He didn't know who it could be. He didn't know anybody—he lived alone. Alone, up in a cave on the mountains, secluded from society. He had lived there in isolation for years and he couldn't deny the fact that he was beginning to feel lonely. He spent his days hunting, crafting, surviving. But it had been a long time since he had interacted with another human, and he wondered what would happen if the trail of blood ended and he found someone. Someone wounded, or worse, dead. A few travelers passed near his cave every now and then and, when they did, he made the most of it by giving them food and shelter until they were ready to be on their way. But he had never had a true friend... never had someone to care for, and for the first time he thought a companion would be nice. Someone he could call family: a brother, a son, a wife, even. He immediately pushed that last thought away. He was too old now, anyway.

A sob broke his thoughts.

The man halted in his tracks as the blood trail disappeared into the shadows. He stared ahead and found a small, dark cave carved into the mountainside, and the trail led straight inside. Another sob sounded from the darkness and the man's heartbeat quickened. The person was still alive.

Taking a deep breath, the man slowed his pace as he made his way into the cave. He put one hand on the bow slung over his back, not knowing if the person he found inside would be friendly. It was his fault they were wounded for putting out that bear trap, wasn't it? But they didn't have to know that. Gradually, the man began to push down the uneasiness inside of him. He knew the person was wounded, so it would be highly unlikely for them to attack. But how badly?

As he entered the clearing in the cave, he paused for a moment before stepping into the light, and that was when he saw her. The man's eyes widened in surprise and his heart skipped a beat. He had expected someone different; a man, most likely, and a strong one, or even a certain muscular woman, but instead, he found a girl. A small, skinny girl curled up in the shadows of the cave. She was young—eleven to twelve at the most. Her face was mostly shielded by the mess of hair on her head, but the man could see the tears staining her cheeks clearly.

Letting out a soft breath, he relaxed his muscles, a softness growing in his heart. But what was she doing out there, the young and innocent girl? Alone? Crying? Bleeding?

Bleeding!

It was then the man noticed the blood pooled around the girl. It was coming from her leg, he observed, by the way she was clutching it. Her leg was bandaged, but sloppily, and a few trickles of blood still seeped through. How did she escape the trap? he wondered. And the bear, too? Did she have companions around, or had she managed to make her way out alive alone? The man was impressed. The girl was young and didn't look too strong, but he could tell she had wits, and without knowing anything about her, he already knew he was growing fond of her.

Slowly, the man began to make his way over to her. The girl's head shot up and she gasped as she noticed his appearance for the first time. Her round eyes grew rounder, but she didn't move, and the man wondered if she was scared. "Hey, it's okay," he rasped, trying to sound as gentle as he could. "I won't hurt you."

The girl only stared back, eyes still on the brink of tears, and the man realized that she wasn't too frightened to move, but just didn't have the will to.

He settled down near her, wondering what she was thinking, and gazed down at her wound. "Had a rough day?" he murmured.

The girl looked away, another tear streaming down her cheek. "You could say that," she breathed, voice shaking.

Her voice came deeper than the man expected and he realized she must be older than he had earlier thought and only small for her age. "Are... Are you lost?" he asked.

The girl turned her head back to him, eyes glittering with grief. "I'm not lost," she said. "I can't be lost. Because how can you be lost if you have no home to be lost from?"

The man's eyebrows raised. "You have no home?"

The girl swallowed. "Not anymore," she choked out. Then she gave a groan and ran her hand down her wounded leg.

The man reached out and, after a moment's hesitation, placed his hand on her leg. The girl winced and pulled away, turning her head away again. Frowning, the man reached over and snatched the satchel off his shoulders, pulling it open. "I always carry an extra stash of bandages in case of emergency, if you'd like me to help you with your wound," he suggested.

The girl glanced at him again, her eyes seeming lost and unfocused. Waveringly, her gaze dragged down to her leg before she stretched it out again in permission for the man's help. But even as he inched closer and began wrapping her wound properly, he could see how distant she looked and noticed the cloud in her gaze, but it wasn't the look of physical pain.

It was the look someone would have after losing a loved one.

The realization hit him with a jolt. Not anymore, she had said. The man closed his eyes, a new form of sympathy rushing through him. She was alone now, but she hadn't been before. Before the bear attack. That was how she had survived. Someone else must've been there with her to protect her and died in the process. A parent or a sibling or even a close friend—someone she must've loved dearly.

When he was finished, he looked up at her again. She wasn't crying anymore, but her face was plastered with grief. Turning back to his satchel, he took out a piece of his earlier game and began preparing it to eat. "You know, you could stay with me," he murmured. "It would be nice to have some company."

The girl gazed at him, eyes glistening with sorrow, then looked down as he passed her the meat. Breathing shakily, she turned away and stared into the sun as it started to set. "I... I don't know," she mumbled.

As the light in the cave changed, the man noticed for the first time the scars. The scars across the girl's body, the outlines of countless bruises, and suddenly he realized she had been through more than a fight with a bear trap. She said she had no home... but was that by choice? Had she run from her home... from her home in which she hadn't been treated with the love she should've been treated with? There was no other solution. The man knew those kinds of scars. But she had lost someone in the battle with the bear, so the man figured it must've been a sibling that had been treated the same wretched way as she had been.

"I-I'm sorry." The girl's voice broke his thoughts. "I don't think I can. I don't know what I want to do or where I want to go, but that's what I have to figure out." She looked at the ground. "What my purpose is anymore."

The man was surprised at the amount of disappointment that hit him. She needed kindness, someone to take care of her, and he was more than willing to give it to her, not to mention have someone to cure his loneliness. She's strong, he thought with a flicker of admiration. She'll become something great one day.

But the girl accepted the meal willingly and the man sat with her for a long time, enjoying their light chatting and the comfort of another person beside him, while all the while he tried not to think about what would happen when she was gone, and he would be left alone on the mountain once again.