A/N) Hi dudes! so excited about this story I cant wait to finish it and see what you guys think! Anyway this story adds mostly some clarity, or more confusion? I don't know whichever it is it make the story move forward! Plus sorry if it's too short. . . all I had time for this week ;p exams and all, ya'll know how it is.
Let me know how it goes, kay!
A week. That's all it took. Just one week after deciding life and she was everywhere. From talking to sensei's or Nya and the guys to touching, helping, everything. It seemed like she took everything like a burst of light and energy had shot through her giving her more power and life to live.
Nobody understood how it happened. She seemed like a completely different person, and those that knew who she was before(Cole and sensei's) Were ten times more confused and surprised at such a lively positive response. Before she seemed like a dead stone with eyes and a mouth. Now she learned, watched, and copied everything she could as if she was trying to drink in a life that she missed, to make up for all those years of being a soulless, dark encased slave.
It was incredible to say the least. She seemed like a completely different person now.
And they liked it.
Cole especially.
"Now add the baking soda, a little bit-No! That's not a little bit!"
A loud explosion and yelp.
Zane popped his head out from underneath the table eyeing the blob mess all over the counter. He had been trying to teach Ashlyn some basics of chemical and she had gotten a little too excited.
"Um... sorry?"
Zane smiled, helping her out from under the table, "It's all right Ashlyn. But perhaps next time I should be more specific. ONE tablespoon of baking soda."
Ashlyn looked at her feet, "I'm sorry Zane... I didn't mean too."
"It's all right." Zane assured her again, grabbing a mop, "From mistakes and failure we learn. It's all a part of life. Nobody's perfect."
"Knock, knock, can I come-Whoa!" Cole walked in through the wooden door frame and stopped in his tracks taking in the mess, "Where'd the bomb come from?"
Ashlyn shifted on her feet, seemingly half expecting punishment, the other half not really knowing what to expect. She still hadn't gotten over failure must be punished thing.
"Trying to teach Ashlyn how baking soda reacts to vinegar" Zane explained, "The result... this."
Cole let out a short laugh, "Oh, for a minute there I thought you made her mad."
"Guys!" Jay exploded through the door, "Misako, she got another part of the scroll translated. I think you'd better see this."
The three looked at each other.
Zane tapped his chin, "This could be good... or bad."
Cole sighed, "Right."
"It's a most puzzling thing. I have been working on this for a while now and I've had the most trouble with this letter." Misako explained pointing to a strange symbol in line with the scribbled writing.
It seemed to pop out from all the other dimming marks.
Cole's silver eyes widened as if a lightening bolt hit his brain, at the same instant he caught the same expression on Jay's face. They silently agreed, there was no doubt about what they were looking at.
"Until I finally realized, it's not a letter. It's more like a picture, showing us what the rest of the sentence is talking about." Misako continued pushing aside the scrolls and opening another, "See here, I deciphered the picture, and it's the same symbol."
There it was, the same symbol, only bigger, more intense.
"Well? What is the scrolls saying about it?" Kai spoke up in the scrutinizing silence.
"It says, something about whoever bears the mark of the past mystics will rise above and..." Misako adjusted her spectacles, "Become more powerful then the dark king..." She squinted at the dulling words, "I believe it says beware and... something along the warning lines. I'm not entirely sure but, yes I think that's it." She sat back rolling up the last scroll.
The silence broke after that, filled with even more questions then answers now.
"Bu-but... who is it?!" Lloyd started pacing.
"I don't get it... so the dark king isn't the biggest threat?" Kai scratched his unruly head of hair.
"That may be worse then the dark king. I sense more troublesome puzzles to come." Zane fell into deep thought.
Garmadon and Wu looked at the young people, observing them silently, while in their own thoughts.
Jay and Cole just stood there, silently giving each other eye signals.
Ashlyn hadn't moved from the doorway, her eyes were far away in that strange unknown look she often had.
Nya was watching her closely, though she wasn't aware of it herself.
"I purpose we think on this." Garmadon spoke now, silencing all, " Remember ninja, we have only three weeks left before the dark moon rises above Ninjago. We must stop Dyron and get that jewel before he puts his schemes into action."
Jay let out a dry laugh, "Yah, right, no pressure or anything!"
This earned him a smack upside the head from sensei Wu's staff.
"That's just it Sensei G, we don't even know what that nuts plans are yet. And now this..." Kai sighed, a frown creasing his face.
"I think I know."
All eyes turned towards Ashlyn who tensed up immediately.
"Well? Would you care to tell us dear?" Misako spoke gently, as if to ease the words out of her.
Ashlyn took a deep breath, Her amethyst eyes scanning the groups of hopeful faces. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her choppy black bangs, "I, he , said that when the moon rises he was going to take the Eye of Neero to the lost tomb of past evil... that's all I've ever heard him say about it. And I don't even know what the lost tomb of past evil means."
They all mulled over this information.
"Great, yet another thing we know only half about... The name." Lloyd groaned as the other silently agreed.
"One thing we do know completely. And that is, we must figure out all about these things and stop the coming evil." Wu stated simply.
The ninja all groaned.
"Yah," Cole gave a wry smile, "Piece of cake."
It was dark, the moon shone it's usual bright silver glitter. The night was calm and cool. The air was filled with a wood smell. Nightingales called to one another, crickets joined in the night's song. All was peaceful... and yet that seemed to be the most terrifying thing about it.
Ashlyn was sitting on top of the monasteries' flat, red shingled roof. She was huddled at the edge, hugging herself tightly, her eyes turned towards the stars.
Her hair fell in a black mess around her neck and shoulders. The breeze blew lightly around her, ruffeling the uneven strands.
The night, it used to be her element, her time of life. Actually her life was surrounded by the dark and all things dark related. She had been a cleaver, swift shadow just a few weeks ago. Doing an evil masters bidding because she had never known any other way. It seemed as if she was living an entirely different persons life now. As if the previouse one was just a nightmare and she had finally awoken from it.
Light creaking sounds caught her sharp ears. She straightened, hugging herself tighter.
Footsteps.
Heavy, but sure at the same time. Her body relaxed on it's own.
"Hey." Cole stepped up next to her, "Thought I'd find you up here." He sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge.
Over the past weeks, before she accepted this life, Cole had fascinated her from the start. He knew who she was before all of them. He knew what she had done and what she could do, yet he still hadn't said anything to the others. He treated her easier then the others first off, he could have left her to die, she deserved that, but he didn't. He seemed solid, yet laid back. Tough yet gentle. Bold yet simple.
He was a most interesting combination of many things, most of them opposite of each other, but he still seemed to have a rock solid balance that the world couldn't push over no matter what it threw at him. Her-for example.
"What are you thinking about?" He broke through her thoughts, munching on something, a chocolate bar. Also he loved anything to do with any kind of chocolate.
"Things." She answered, her voice in a whisper.
He swallowed, "What kind of things?"
She blew her bangs out of her face, "Stuff."
He licked his fingers, "What kind of stuff?"
She bit her lip to keep from laughing, "You aren't going to drop it are you?"
He shook his head, "Nope. Well?"
She sighed, "I don't really know I guess. Mostly about my life." She huddled closer to herself, the breeze blew her hair away from her neck.
Cole's eyes landed on the bare pale skin the moon glittered on. That mark on the side of her neck. He swallowed hard, well... it couldn't hurt to ask... could it?
"Hey um, Ashlyn... where did you-when have you-" He cleared his throat, "What's that mark on the side of your neck?"
She instantly straightened, slapping a hand on the side of her neck. She closed her lips tightly into a thin line, her eyes wavering, unsure what to say.
Cole figured that was a bad thing.
"Come on Ashlyn, you saw those scrolls, you know you have the same mark. What is it?" He spoke gently, not wanting to make it seem as if he was accusing her.
She snapped her eyes on his, her lips still tightly shut. Slowly she slipped her hand off the mark, it glittered a dark purple and silver. Cole suppressed a shiver, he wasn't sure why it made him feel weird. Maybe it was the paranoia getting to him.
"I-I don't know all right." She turned away from him, "Mas-Dyron always said it was a mark that I came with. It means that I am his slave. He said that this bound me to his service forever... a mark of lowliness."
Cole didn't like the sound of that, "But the scrolls, we saw them they said that mark means-" He stopped, they both looked at each other. Silence prevailed for a moment too long.
"A mark of greater evil." She whispered breathlessly. For a second Cole could have sworn her eyes flashed immeasurable pain.
He didn't like that either.
"I-I keep trying to believe this new life is mine now. But things-" Her voice quivered slightly as she tried to speak, "Things keep coming up to prove that I belong..." She lifted her face now, her eyes hard as she looked at Cole, "That I belong, to the dark."