Chapter Text
Ruby downed a drink before roughly placing the glass on the makeshift table infront of her. The sweet liquid burned down her throat, a disgusting mix of some energy drink and vodka.
"Damn blush, slow down"
Her friend chuckled, moving a hand trough her limegreen hair.
"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY, YOU DONT EVEN LIVE IN NINJAGO CITY"
Ruby sputtered before placing her hands on her face, slouching down the ripped couch with a defeated whine
"i was HUMILIATED TOX, HUMILIATED I TELL YOU"
Tox simply rolled her eyes. She was one of Rubys only other ninja friends, something about her powers being inherently destructive or something. They often met in her apartment, a building an hour away from Ninjagos center. Even tho calling it a apartment was generous. The building was a abandoned factory, most of her furniture was DIY'd from scraps and her living room always smelled like a garage or a gas station.
"i dont think they care"
she shrugged, taking a sip of her own drink, her sharp black nails tapping against the glass. Rubys eye slightly twitched and she crossed her arms with a pout.
"This is about PRINCIPLE. I should not be incapacitated by a simple CLOUD"
"it was a literal weird magic oni cloud-"
"THAT DOESNT MATTER. that GODDAMN green ninja was able to go trough it no problem-"
"because hes part oni"
"but i CANT?"
Ruby grabbed the side of the couch, her teeth gritted. She let out a sigh before dramatically falling back on the leather. Tox simply rolled her eyes.
"im the master of anatomy-"
"just blood"
"im not gonna live with what happened"
She groaned, looking at the palm of her hand. The scent of mint still remained, even tho a day has gone by since the incident. Her eyes shifted from annoyance to mischief as she looked back at her friend.
"So...tox"
"yea?"
"promise you wont call me crazy?"
Tox cocked a brow, her eyebrow piercing twinkling slightly, but nodded, putting her drink down.
"Sure?"
"I think.." she started, sitting up straight "i was like, chosen, by a weird multiversal entity or something?"
Tox looked even more confused
"ok? You sure that oni stuff didnt mess with your head-"
"I TOLD YOU TO NOT CALL ME CRAZY"
She yelled, but sighed and partially regained her composure
"i was in this weird garden, and there was like, a black cat lady who was collecting herbs, it was really weird"
Tox slightly leaned back, listening closely, even tho her puzzling expression remained
"and she gave me like, a weed, it kinda looked like a weird hybrid of mint and one of those small living room cactuses, and it smelled like what i imagine a toothpaste factory smells like"
Tox just nodded, not really knowing how to answer. She attempted to grab her glass, but suddenly Ruby shoved her hand into her face
"THE THING IS, my HAND ACTUALLY smells like it!"
She hesitantly sniffed Rubys hand before coughing, the smell of sharp menthol entering her nostrils
"Fuck, ruby, you sure you didnt just get your hand stuck in a gum package?"
She continued to cough for a few seconds, Ruby simply crossing her arms with a huff.
"im pretty sure! I dont even LIKE mint gum"
She rolled her eyes
"so, the question is, WHO was that woman, WHAT did she want from me and WHERE can i find this weird weed"
Tox sighed, simply pouring herself some of the alcohol.
"i dont know, im not that familiar with all that magic stuff, maybe you should ask-"
"IM NOT ASKING THE NINJA!"
Tox sighed, simply taking a sip from her beverage, licking her lips
"There was that weird tea lady, but she died during the oni incident apparently so thats a dead end"
Rubys eyes lit up, looking back at her hand
"i dont care-"
"you know if you trespass i gotta tell them-"
"I DONT CARE"
She repeats before scrambling out the chair
"Thanks for the cocktails, i guess, but i gotta go! I need to figure this shit OUT"
Tox opened her mouth, but stayed silent, watching as the girl ran out of the door. She glanced at her phone, considering following trough on her "threat", but sighed. This girl didnt fear the law or stronger elemental masters, tox knew that too well.
.
.
.
Ruby panted, her lungs feeling like theyre on fire. She stood infront of a building, the last few sunrays setting behind it, highlighting the weak broken neon sign of a cup of tea. The windows were borded off, but the door was free. Ruby grinned, looking around the street for anyone. nothing. Great.
She opened the shoji, the wooden hinges letting out weak creaks. The smells of herbs and oils immediately hit her. The shop was messy, to say the least. Chairs were knocked over and two lanterns were broken on the floor, the cash register was gone and the beaded curtains leading to the backroom were broken, the beads scattered on the wood. But considering multiple buildings got literally turned into rubble by that weird tree garmadon creature, this was the best case scenario.
She stepped on the wood, the floor creaking obnoxiously as she closed the door behind her. She immediately walked to the wall covering cupboards, searching trough the small chests. But to her dismay, all the plant samples that survived the chaos were withered and dry, colorless and ashy. She let out a stressed grunt, slamming the cupboard doors closed and continuing to the next. Her heels luckily gave her extra heights, being able to reach all of the possible options.
The doors weren't labeled, so ruby simply had to trust her slowly fading memorys of the encounter. Most of the plants that weren't withered were surrounded by flies and other bugs, having build a small ecosystem around the plans in seemingly the span of only a few days.
But alas, nothing. She slammed the last small door, the hinges almost breaking. "Fuck me..." she said trough gritted teeth, walking into the backroom. It was also in a pretty bad shape, crates were broken on the floor and a few ceramics were scattered everywhere.
She spotted even more cupboards, ruby sighing as she walked over to them, her hand instinctively moving to one of the knobs.
But suddenly, footsteps.
Ruby let out a squeak, changing course to hide behind a bookshelf, her heart racing.
"-lets hope so"
The end of a cut off conversation echoed trough the building. The feminine voice was smooth, and ruby swore she heard it before somewhere.
"she was prepared for everything, we can assume most of her belongings cant simply be destroyed by normal means."
Oh god. Oh god not him.
Ruby first instinct was to attempt to grab her knife from her kimono, but there was nothing. Goddamnit. She probably left them at Tox's.
She could hear them walking around in the shop, seemingly looking trough the cupboards as well. Ruby looked around, searching for any sharp object she could use.
Their footsteps were quiet, just expected from trained ninja, and ruby couldnt stop a quiet whimper from escaping her lips as she saw the silhouettes of the two on the wood wall
The sounds of soft sobs could be heard just as ruby noticed a sharp ceramic shard across the room.
"hey, its ok"
Nya said, her voice soft.
"she meant alot to all of us"
They were talking, ok, good. She peaked around the bookshelf. Nya was hugging lloyd, who was slightly sobbing into her shoulder.
Ruby used the opportunity, quickly dashing from one side of the backroom to the other. She almost hit another bookshelf as she settled, grabbing the shard. But before she slashed it across her hand, she reconsidered.
"thats the green ninja" she thought to herself "i cant just attack him. Ok i could, but it would be rather inconvenient"
She sighed, leaning against the wall, her heart almost beating out of her chest. The bookshelf she almost knocked over caught her attention as she searched for more objects that could possibly get her out of this predicament. suddenly, she noticed a book from the corner of her eye.
"encyclopedia of herbs in Ninjago and beyond" was written with golden text on the cyan spine. She grabbed it, putting it under her kimono before returning to the situation at hand.
She slowly crept next to the doorframe that lead to the main shop, pressing herself against the wall. lloyd and nya were still talking, standing infront of the messy counter.
"-it said there was something for me here. She didnt specify"
Ruby listened, before looking at the shoji behind them. It was open, letting in the evening spring breeze and exposing the buildings facing the shop. In desperation, she hatched a plan.
She slashed the shard across her hand, blood dripping down on the wooden floor. She slowly gathered some in a blade, biting her lip as her eyes darted from her hand, to one of the buildings to the two ninja, who were still oblivious to her presence.
She concentrated her energy before shooting the blood blade into the building, shattering a window as the liquid weapon disappeared in the building. Nya and lloyd immediately flinched, looking at the now shattered window in the building facing the shop.
"What the hell was that?!"
Nya said confused before running out of the shop, lloyd running behind her.
Ruby took a deep breath, quickly sprinting across the shop, her wound still open and her blood still dripping on the floor as she dropped the shard and ran outside, quickly moving into the alley.
She panted as she sat down next to a garbage container, quickly healing her wound.
Her head tilted up, looking at the sky as she catched her breath.
"god...damnit....."
Ruby hissed. She bit her lip before quickly peaking her head around the dumpster. lloyd was talking with a resident of the building while nya watched the empty street. She let out a last exhale before getting up again, her legs slightly shaken.
She patted her kimono, the book still there where she left it. "alright.." she hummed, looking at the tea shop one last time before disappearing into the alley.