Chapter Text
Yuki Dragonfly was not afraid of silly things, Yet nothing terrorized her more than her own mothers face staring back at her. Her own mothers haunting visage filled Yuki's heart with dread. Her breathing became shallow as she braced herself on the sink, hands shaking, her eyes avoiding contact with the mirror. Beads of cold sweat slowly tracing its path down her delicate neck, blood pounding heavily in her ears.
Why?
More importantly, how?
No amount of training restrained her; she unleashed her pent up turmoil with all the force she could muster, hurling her fist at the mirror, a blood curdling scream piercing the serene morning atmosphere. Glass shattered into dozens of tiny fragments, dancing wildly through the air.
Yuki’s legs gave way, her body dropping to the floor unable to hold up her weight,disregarding the harsh sting of her wounds. Blood dripped rhythmically down her arm, a silent testament to her violence. Trails of crimson painting themselves, a stark contrast to her pale, clammy skin. Her vacant gaze situated itself on the tiled floor, eyes betraying her mind lost in a maze of haunting memories.
The echoes of her scream reverberated.The door swung open with urgency; Jay, agitated by the disturbance of the early morning yelled,
“What the actual hell Yuki?! At this hour?” Cole’s heavy hand struck him in the back of the head, effectively silencing him.
“Quiet! she’s bleeding” Morro bellowed, his voice cutting the heavy tension in the air as he kneeled next to the girl, beckoning Zane to examine the wounds.
Zane, methodical as always, took her trembling arm, examining the lacerations. Yuki’s hands were crusted with the thin layer of blood, the bloody sheets of cut skin enveloping the shards of glass. Gnarled crevasses accommodating the glass in an embrace, reflecting the bright light of the bathroom.
“Yuki? Yuki, hey are you there? Can you hear us?” Nya waved her hand in front of Yuki’s face, her voice laced with concern, brows coming together. “Come on, snap out of it” she continued, only for the vacant gaze to persist - an eerie emptiness lingered in her eyes.
“Okay everyone, move!” Morro yelled, having had enough of the uselessness of the other ninja; he wrapped his arms around her body, mindful of the injuries “Go find master Wu!” he urged, the rest of the team dispersing to find their mentor.
Morro settled Yuki down, a deafening silence enveloping the infirmary. Her blank face conveying no emotion, like a stone statue. Still, shallow, the shell of the artist. Empty. The room echoed with the silence, her usually animated and vibrant face uncharacteristically still, like a canvas devoid of any spark.
The antiseptic smell hung heavy in the air, burning eyes and lungs, a sharp contrast to the stillness. With meticulous determination, Morro quietly cleaned each gash with careful precision, he glanced up at Yuki, looking at her through strands of black hair.
“Yu-chan” he said, voice barely above a whisper, words hanging like a plea. Yuki persisted with her silence, distant as if lost in another realm. “Talk to me, just like in the past. Please” he urged her, soft words breaking the stillness.
Yet her lips remained sealed like impenetrable fortress, Morro sighed, a silent exchange of understanding resonated between them.
“What happened here?” Master Wu creaked the door open, cutting through the overwhelming silence, his gaze darting between his two pupils.
“We do not know Master.” Zane appeared behind Master Wu, casting a concerned glance at Yuki “She has physical wounds, however there is something more” he finished.
“So she has been silent this entire time?” Master Wu questioned, leaning on his staff, deep in thought. The possibilities ran through his mind, carefully analyzing each one.
“Whatever it was, it must have unsettled her enough to break the mirror.” Morro sighed, standing up from his seat, Yuki’s wounds now bandaged. The group huddled together assessing the reasons for Yuki’s state of shock.
The girl rose from her seat, slipping through the open door. The wooden floors of the Monastery groaned below her, cold beneath her bare feet. She watched the early sunlight dance along the walls as she rushed to her room, the gentle padding of her feet being the only thing to break her away from her ghostly thoughts.
Alone.
That's all she needed right now. She needed to be alone. The jarring thoughts spun in her mind, the silence of her room was louder than any sound she has ever heard. The pure, pristine nothingness draped her in a harsh veil of profound quiet.
Meanwhile on the other side of the door the ninja stood. They fought with a storm of helplessness inside them, their hearts heavy with the weight of awareness in their lack of ability to mend their friend. It was part of the job. As a ninja you cannot help everyone, even your own at times, yet that realization did not stop them from feeling emotions swirling inside the depths of their hearts. Their desire to help clashed with reality, like a dammed river.
“We need to help her; this isn’t like her at all” Kai's thoughts sounded loudly in his head, unaware of his friend's similar thoughts, solely focused on Yuki’s hushed distress.
“I can’t just stand by” Lloyd’s internal voice rang, his thoughts mirroring the collective unease of the ninja.
Maybe their skills were not adequate enough, the unspoken words left a bitter taste of restraint in everyone's mouths, leaving them at the shore of her tsunami of emotions, unable to navigate the currents of the situation. The Monastery sounded with the sound of dissonance of their shared worry.