Hey guys! So this is the English version of my one-shot "La femme qui pleure". I guess, most of the fandom speak English than French, so I decided to tranlate it :D It's not really spooky, more mysterious than scary and it's inspired by a legend. So this one-shot takes place way back, after the Final Battle.

P.S: Let's pretend Cole is Latino in this story xD You'll know why.

Enjoy :D

The crying woman

(Zane's POV)

"Argh, the mosquitoes won't stop biting me!" Lloyd whined as he tried to chase them away from him.

My friends and I were sitting on logs around a nice campfire under the starry black sky. I chuckled softly as the green ninja waved his arms quickly in annoyance. I have told him to put mosquito repellent a few hours ago since they come out mostly at night, but I suppose he didn't took the advice.

"I'm hungry, do we have something to eat?" Cole asked as he rubbed his stomach.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too." Kai added as he sharpened a stick with a pocket knife. He stopped his work and looked at me. "Hey, Zane, is there something we can eat?"

"Mmm… let me see." I grabbed my white back pack from my left and after a few minutes of searching, I took out a bag of marshmallow.

"Sweet! Marshmallow! Oh we can cook them on the fire." Jay exclaimed happily as he snatched the bag from my hands.

"Good idea!" Nya agreed as she tighten the blanket around her shoulders to keep her warm.

After the defeat of the Overlord, we wanted to have a small vacation. After all, we deserve it. So with the accord of Sensei, we left yesterday morning to come to this beautiful and peaceful place. It was a big forest that was far away from Ninjago City. Might as well enjoy this camping before the training sessions start again.

"Can you take out the grill sticks from the box, Kai?" I asked my fiery friend to my right.

Minutes later, the red ninja held six grill stick and gave one for each of us. Then, we all feasted with delicious spongy sweets. Despite the heat from the campfire, the coolness from the night was present even if we were in the middle of summer. The crickets were singing through the calm forest as we enjoyed ourselves. In short, we were having great time.

"Well, want do you guys want to do now?" Jay asked as he licked his fingers. "It's way too early to head to bed."

Indeed, it was only nine point seven o'clock of the night. We stayed silent for a moment so we could find something to do. We did various activities during our staying in this forest such as a hike where Lloyd was 'attacked' by a squirrel for stealing its acorn or exploring a cave not so far from our camp. We also went swimming in a river with its crystalline water. Unfortunately for Kai, stubborn as always, he refused to put sunscreen. The consequence? Well, his shoulders and upper back are completely red. Jay now called him the 'walking tomato'. I'm still trying to understand on how we can compare a man with a vegetable. I guess it's one of his 'jokes', oh well.

"How about scary stories?" Kai suggested with a shrug, making him wince because of his sunburns. He then put another marshmallow on his grill stick and placed it over the flames.

"Oh, oh, I got one really good that will give you goosebumps." Jay rubbed his hands together before he leaned closer to the fire and started with a deep voice. "Long ago, in a far country where monsters and―"

"Ugh not that one, you always tell it." Kai groaned as he face palmed. "And it's not even scary!"

We burst out laughing as we saw the two young man start bickering. I stood up and went over them as I put a hand to separate them with a laugh. "Okay, brothers, you should stop before one of you get hurt."

"I got one and don't worry, it's better than Jay's." Cole proposed with confidence, ignoring the cry of indignation from the blue ninja. The earth ninja gestured us to come closer as his face became serious and started with an over exaggerated accent of his native language. "It is a story well known in Latin America, my dad always told it to me. It is called La Llorona."

"La Llorona? What does it mean?" Lloyd tilted his head in confusion.

"Uh… well, there's not a precise word to translate it but we can say it's the crying woman." Cole explained as he scratched his chin. "Now, let's begin…"

We all looked at the black haired man in anticipation as he took a deep breath before narrowing his grey eyes.

"A long time ago, in a small village, lived a young woman of great beauty with her three children. Despite being really beautiful, she was widowed and really poor, she could barely feed her family. She tried to find a way to earn money but it was beyond hope. Desperate, she made a terrible decision. One day, the young woman brought her children to the river to take a swim. While the children were enjoying the fresh water, the mother approached them with tears in her eyes and pushed them. Carried by the strong current, the three children died drowned."

We stared at our friend with wide eyes. The flames flickered slightly, making the atmosphere more intense.

"Oh my god…" Nya whispered fearfully as she moved closer to Jay.

The story teller nodded his head grimly and resumed his story. "But wait, there's more…"

"Realizing the terrible choice she made, the young mother passed the rest of her life crying over the horrible act she committed. Legend has it that each night, this woman wanders around the village calling for her dead children before she goes brushing her hair near the river as she cries in remorse. Some peoples say they saw La Llorona near the river and in a blink of an eye, she disappears with a distant scream." Cole finished his story with a scary look before smiling brightly. "The end! What do you guys think?"

We stayed mouth gaped for a second, trying to absorb the ending. I felt a shiver running on my back. Despite that I do not believe in ghost or paranormal activities, this legend really did the trick.

"Whoa, it was really good." Lloyd recovered first before he hugged himself as he shook his head. "But I think I'm not going to sleep tonight."

"Yeah, I was so afraid." Kai said sarcastically. Suddenly, a loud scream filled the entire tranquil forest. We jumped out of the logs and looked at each other with wide eyes. Then, Jay burst out laughing as he rolled of the ground.

"Haha, you should have seen your faces!" Jay clutched his stomach as he laughed. We all glared at him as we regained control of our bodies.

"Jay, what the heck?!" The samurai exclaimed with a frown. The blue ninja stood up as he wiped an imaginary tear before sitting back to his log with a wide smile.

"You almost gave me a heart attack." The green ninja clutched his chest as he took deep breaths.

"What? You guys needed a little of fun." Jay chuckled. "You were acting as if you saw a ghost or something."

"Ha ha ha, really funny..." Cole rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "So, what do you guys wa―"

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling loud scream filled the air. We jumped off again of the logs and looked around with wide eyes. Immediately, we stared at Jay with a frown and he quickly raised his hands in defense.

"I-it wasn't me, promise!" He shook his head but we didn't believe him.

"Stop lying, we know it was you." Kai accused as he glared at him.

"No, it's true! I swear!" The reddish brown haired man exclaimed as I looked my surroundings cautiously. Something isn't right…

"He's telling the true." I said simply as I activated my night vision. I scanned the place but detected nothing suspicious, much to my surprise. Then why my sixth sense is tingling?

"W-what was it, t-then?" Lloyd asked with a shaky voice.

The others, except of Kai and Cole, quickly huddled around me for unknown reason. A hand gripped my right arm tightly and thinking it was Nya, I was about to reassure her but realize it was Jay. Beside him was Nya and Lloyd was on my left side.

"I have no idea!" Jay whisper shouted as he trembled from head to toe, all colour of his face was drained. "Zane, d-do you have a-an idea?"

"I am afraid not, brother, I didn't detect any sign of danger." I shook my head before I look at the others. "However, I sense we are not alone."

"Ah man... this is great. W-what do we do?" Lloyd asked.

"We go see what it was." Kai said with confidence as he stood up before looking inside his backpack. We stared at him in bewilderment as he took out a flashlight for each of us.

"What?! You want us to go there!" The sister of fire exclaimed as she pointed the forest behind me. "Are you crazy?!"

"Come one, it will be fun." The spiked haired man walked towards the forest before stopping when we didn't make a move. "Ugh, don't tell me you guys are afraid?"

Nobody said a word making the red ninja groan in annoyance. I do not admit I am afraid but I rather stay here where it's safe than looking for the source of the sound. Kai looked at each of us with a frown before stopping at Cole.

"And you? Our fearless leader, you're afraid too?" He smirked at he raised an eyebrow.

The black ninja quickly jumped on his feet and let a humourless laugh escaped his mouth. "Me? Scared? Pfft, never in my life. Give me that."

Kai gave him the flashlight with a smirk as the other man mumbled under his breath. The former then looked at us again.

"Anyone else?" He shook the flashlight in front of us as we looked at each other with hesitation. "Come one, there's no danger. We're ninja, for crying out loud!"

"But, what if it was la… la Llorona?" Jay questioned as he bit his nails. Cole face palmed and sighed.

"Jay, it's a legend. She doesn't ex―"

Another loud whimper which seemed more like a cry was heard once again in the forest, making us tensed up. The ninja of earth became white as a sheet as he looked at Kai with wide eyes.

"D-don't tell me we're g-going to go in there." Cole stuttered in fear.

"Yeah." Kai shrugged nonchalantly as he started walking as if nothing wrong happened. We glance at each other one last time before we followed him with our flashlights.

"We're doomed." Jay whispered in fright as he shivered.

We walked through the forest for many minutes under the full moon as we followed the sinister cries. At each sound, we stopped and pointed our flashlight to the direction of it. Of course, with Jay on our side, it was clear we had to stop at almost each step. Then, we heard a faint rustle of water, it was the river we went yesterday.

"Did you hear that? We're near the river." Kai said quietly as he climbed over a fallen tree.

"River you say?" The blue ninja gulped. "Oh no, bad idea."

Lloyd and Nya huddled closer to Jay to reassure him but it seemed it was more for them. I walked beside them, observing with my night vision in worry my surroundings. Since we left the camp, I've been feeling uneasy. My sixth sense didn't stop tingling, it was detecting a presence that wasn't ours… something…

Once we arrived, we promptly froze at the sight, our eyes wide as dinning plate. There, at the shore of the river, was a young beautiful yet frightening woman with long black hair. Sitting on a rock, she was crying and sobbing quietly, tears rolling down in her pale cheeks. Too pale. Dressed with a dirty and teared white dress, the woman was brushing her hair with tenderness and slowness.

What… what is that? Is she… La Llorona?

Unable to move a muscle, we stared at the woman with wide eyes for many seconds. Sensing our presence, the mysterious woman turned towards us and we held our breath as we tensed up. We kept staring at her and out of nowhere, she let out a bloodcurdling scream making us scream back. Instantly, we shut our eyes and covered our ears as we dropped our flashlights, leaving us in complete darkness. When we opened our eyes, we looked with hesitation towards the river, the moon light as our only light source and a chill ran through our spine. I swear, I felt my power source stop working for a second.

The woman had disappeared, leaving behind her…

A distant scream…

WhooOoooOo spooky! xD How was it?

So, for you know, La Llorona is a real legend known in Latin America (so beware... mouahaha xD) There's many version of it and the one I was told was this one. It's a really creepy story if I may say. Apparently, at my parents' native country, one of my aunts heard the cry of this woman. Don't want to believe her, but it may be true Dx

Anyway, I hope you liked this one-shot and don't forget to review!

Have a great day/night :D

Danino