Chapter 8: "Happy"

Suzanne cried- no- sobbed. Her breaths were a mess, and Jay put a hand on her back warily. He may not trust her, but Suzanne could never not trust Skylor. How would she not be able to when her best friend was here, after all these years?

Her sister was alive.

"I'm here," Skylor reassured her. "Hey, Suzy. Don't worry." She sniffled too, and they sat on the floor, rocking together. Suzanne started laughing between her sharp intakes of breath.

"Oh, thank the heavens," she muttered, loosening her grip. "Wow, Sky, you've grown up!"

"So have you!" Skylor replied.

"Hate to break up the reunion, I really do, but... Skylor sort've managed to get to this dimension and then broke into our home base!" Jay pointed out. "Can we just start at the beginning, please?" Skylor stood up, and Zane tucked her knife away. Suzanne had let go at this point, scrabbling up to her feet quickly.

"Like, how we know each other... or?" Suzanne asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

"That would be nice," Zane shrugged. Skylor exhaled and stepped back, leaning on a counter. The spotlight was on her, she guessed.

"My father is Master Chen, as you may know," she began. "He was the starter of the Anacondrai Brotherhood, and we were born into the "royal line" of sorts, and were treated like royalty. In the beginning, Skylor told me that our mom was a very wonderful lady, and made our palace seem like heaven. Guards and maids alike were all happy when she told stories of adventures, and they put smiles on their faces. However, two weeks or so after I was born... she caught sick, and quickly... perished, for lack of a softer word at the moment. We were all very shaken, but my father tried to teach me her ways. He was also very happy, and I guess that's why I'm the way I am."

"Yeah, "happy"," Jay muttered, and Zane shouldered him.

"Anyway, at this point, Skylor and I were inseparable. We were the best of friends, and always had each other's backs. When we were in trouble, we'd make sure to get out of it in the easiest way possible, usually with charm, Daddy was a softy. If I didn't have Skylor, then I would have lost a mother figure as well as my real mother, so we stuck together.

We were still born as Elemental Masters because of our bloodlines, and my father trained us well. Skylor's training was spent more socially, and she tested her abilities on the guards, able to tester her newfound strength through them. My training was spent in the shadows, where I learned to suppress them into a large spray of attacks, and constantly left me vulnerable to the poisons of the Serpentine Tribes until I was a walking antidote. I have had run-ins with the Serpentine since they've been released, and I still haven't had the chance to thank him. After this training, he injected me with Anacondrai blood, in hopes that I would show some sort of transformation. However, about a month after he began these experiments on me, the people of Ninjago burned our palace of wonders to the ground...

You know that they all drove them underground a long time ago, right? When they learned that there was a somewhat occult practice about the Serpentine, they decided that we were no better off than the snakes underground. It was the middle of the night, and we were sleeping, when suddenly we heard yelling, and we blearily sat up, only to have a blazing torch crash through our window a second later. Daddy ran in and scooped us up, running outside to safety. Before we made it out the door, someone threw another torch, and a beam fell. It hit the ground at our father's feet, and he dropped forward, losing me behind the flaming beam. They called out, but I couldn't answer, there was too much smoke in my lungs, and... I guess they assumed me dead. Then, I heard another beam fall just before the door, and I heard them scream. I thought they burned to death, and I barely escaped out of another exit."

"But all the exits were blocked," Skylor said in disbelief. "How did you get away?"

"A woman saw me, and I guess she took pity on me, and hid me away until it was all over. I watched as many members of the brotherhood were taken prisoner, either that or killed if they acted up. I watched as the palace crumbled. I watched as... the rest of my family... burned..." she finished, and her shoulders shook. Jay kneeled down in front of her, and Suzanne could still see the worry in his face through the blur of water. She threw her arms around his neck.

"I just... it was so horrible," she gulped and wheezed, choking on tears. Jay breathed slowly, giving her a squeeze. She couldn't hear him trying to calm her down. She tried. The images kept playing over and over again.

"Suzanne..." she saw Skylor say, and suddenly, knowing she was alive, she started being able to hear again. It faded back slowly, and she loosened her hold on Jay, and he sighed, helping her stand up straight.

"We did escape, Suzanne," her sister said, and she nodded at this. "We fought our way out, and Dad faked our deaths as he threw us over the wall. He had his vials of Anacondrai blood on him to show fake gore, as he always did just in case a Serpentine member tried to come in. No other tribe had ever tried to interfere with the Anacondrai, so what better way then to mask your human scent? Either that, or he would use it on your experiments."

Suzanne nodded again, and she looked into Skylor's eyes for a sign that their father was still alive. She could see that Skylor knew what she was thinking by that look. This was something they did as children as well, they always knew.

Skylor threw herself over the counter, and Zane had no time to stop her.

"Skylor, wait!" Suzanne screamed, but the door was shut before she even started moving.

When she'd made it to the top of the switchbacks, Skylor was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it," Zane muttered behind her. "If she's here, then she may not have the best intentions. Only Sensei knows how to make the special brew, after all. She looked like she's been here for a while, too." Suzanne hardly heard him. Her mind was whirring, heart pounding, vision blurring. Her sister was alive, and the first thing she'd seen her do was try to kill Zane. Maybe...

Maybe she'd changed. The Skylor she knew would throw herself in front of Suzanne to save her, she would stay by her side no matter what, she'd give her hugs, and comfort her when she needed comfort.

Who else could do that but her? That was what Skylor did! Her sister would never run away from her!