! WARNING ! - Brief mentions of "human ketchup" (me trying to us reader friendly trigger warning terms)
This upload is a double upload, since it didn't feel right posting chapters 11 and 12 on their own.
Just a heads up that chapter 12 will also be marked for a major trigger warning. Reader discretion is advised.
I hope you're all doing well, and enjoy the story - Bananapugg
Somewhere under upper Ninjago City
"Well, well, well. How are you doing this lovely evening, my old friend?" A woman's voice echoes through a long stone corridor. The walls, dimly lit by the nearby braziers, reveal wet walls scattered with moss making the whole room smell musty.
The woman was tall, standing at least a foot above most passersby, and her muscular build made her appear like a giant next to most people who dared stand close to her. Despite her healthy physique her skin was a sickly gray, and the black sleeveless leather vest she wore showed off her powerful arms, littered with an array of violet and magenta tattoos as well as thick scars.
The woman proceeded to mess around with a long polearm in her hand before swinging it violently against a rusted metal door. The weapon would have splintered into two if it hadn't been made of metal itself. The suddenness of her actions caused the person currently locked behind the metal door to flinch, but they did not turn to look at the woman.
The towering woman glared at the prisoner from between the small barred window in the door, and grunted in frustration from behind her ivory mask. Her glowing amber eyes showed a much different expression compared to the wide toothless grin that was carved into her faceplate.
The loud sound of the metal doors inner mechanisms clunked against the densely bricked walls as a key was rotated in the lock. Once the door creaked open slowly at a deafening volume the mountain of a woman stood in place for a moment, allowing her long shadow to blanket itself over the hunched over captive.
Once she was satisfied with the intimidating aura that her presence managed to fill the cramped and damp makeshift cell with, she meandered over the small figure that was still sat in a ball in the furthest and darkest corner of the room. Gradually the woman leaned down to the huddled person, her noir locks hanging down well past her shoulders even though they were tied back in a high pony.
"Giving me the cold shoulder? Now now, that's no way to treat your host. Especially after everything we've been through together." The woman stands back up straight, brushing off imaginary dust from her shoulder with her free hand. "I expected better of you my friend."
The slouched figure sits up with nothing but malice in her eyes.
"You and I both know that we have never been friends." The prisoner says with a croaky voice, dry from dehydration. Her clothes were tattered and covered with miscellaneous stains.
"Oh, you always knew how to make me laugh Jani!" The taller woman says as she lets out a thunderous laugh. The smaller figure remains unphased, her sweltering hatred boiling just beneath the surface.
"You've lost your mind!" The weaker woman suddenly barks, lunging forward slightly in an uncontrolled act of rage. The taller woman suddenly stops laughing, and looks down at the other with a glare.
"You just called me crazy? No. No one calls me crazy!" The monstrous woman shouts erratically before leaning back down and grabbing the others' jaw tightly, making the shorter woman wince in pain from behind her matted hair.
"The only crazy one here is Herman." The masked woman then pauses, her attitude suddenly becoming uncharacteristically calm compared to how she had just been seconds prior. "Or should I say, who's not here?"
The smaller woman screams in anger, something inside of her snapping at the mention of her late husband. Before she could squirm in an attempt to bite her captor, the large woman threw her against the back wall harshly. Janissa laid on the cold floor for a long moment, her vision now clouded with black spots.
"H-How could you say something like that..? You loved Herman just as much as I did Yuraggi." Janissa struggles to say as she felt her throat becoming raw, hot tears threatening to fall from behind her messy curtain of hair.
"We both know that meant nothing to him!" Yuraggi screamed suddenly, her powerful voice booming through the air. "I got left behind while the two of you got married, and had that… abomination of a child."
Janissa sits up quickly at the mention of her daughter.
"Destiny is-"
"Destiny is a pain in my backside." Yuraggi interrupts. "She is the result of Herman's error in judgment. Now it is up to me to wipe the dirtied slate clean again."
"I swear to the first spinjitzu master Yuraggi, if you touch a single hair on my daughter's head I will-"
"You'll what? Stop me? Jani at it again with your vibrant sense of humor. No, you won't be stopping me. No one will." Yuraggi turns to look at the polearm she'd been carrying this whole time before holding it out in the air in front of her and running her other hand along the length of it.
"You want to know why no one will be able to stop me? It's because of this baby here. I had it specially made from chrono-steel."
Janissa could feel all the blood drain from her face as her stomach dropped. It was thought that all the chrono-steel that had been in Ninjago was lost to time.
"Chrono-steel… no. No! You're lying! After the fight with Krux and-" Janissa was made silent by the blade of the polearm cutting swiftly across her cheek.
The mother could feel her eyes widen as her feelings of anxiety began to grow too strong for her to keep under control. It was as if her heart was pounding in her ears now, and no matter how much air she seemed to take in it felt like she was suffocating. Janissa did her best to stop her shaking hands, and was just barely able to catch what her warden said next.
"I am a woman of my word Janissa, karma here to collect your debt. And after I steal the powers from your daughter I will force you to watch as I cleanse Ninjago of her existence."
The commanding presence of Yuraggi now stood emotionless and the red liquid on her blade slowly slid down to her gloved hand. The air around them drenched with the seriousness behind her words.
"I know where she is right at this very moment. Hiding behind the ninja, thinking that they will be able to protect her. Unbeknownst to them, that my men are on their way there now to collect the little Master of Species." Yuraggi let the polearm fall to her side as she turned away and moved back to the still open doorway.
"You will wish you had luck on your side as you watch me break your daughter right in front of you, old friend…" Yuraggi's voice trails off as the heavy metal door is slammed shut behind her, leaving Janissa alone once again in the surrounding darkness.
Janissa collapsed back into a ball, hunched over the cold stones beneath her as she allowed tears to fall uncontrollably from her eyes. She had been unable to prevent her husband's death, and now she would be made useless once again, unable to prevent the grim fate that awaited her child.