#ren karasu

[crunchy-chip-bit]

[crunchy-chip-bit]

(a drabble under the cut)

"Do you think I'll be able to walk?"

Ren has been bed-ridden for quite some time now. Besides the pain and horror they experience, boredom is the worst one. Maybe helplessness, too. The days blur into one big blank space in their mind, the same as it happened after their parents died. It isn't pleasant at all, literally rotting here.

"Why not?" Heavy Metal grouches, doing another swipe to sharpen his sword. "Everybody here finds a way to survive. And if they don't, they die."

Sounds very bright... Ren supresses their desire to scoff-- they respect the man too much.

"I doubt Iron Baron will let me live well."

They're young, sometimes naïve-- but perceptive, too. If Ren gathered something, it's that the leader of the commune hates their guts. No way he'll spend resources on a 'useless scrounging rat'. (What happened to children being the greatest treasure of Dragon Hunters? Well. Maybe Ren has already grew out of being a kid. They felt it since they ended up alone.)

Heavy Metal pauses in his movements, taking a moment to think. "We all owe our lives to Iron Baron, that's why we obey him," he says, hand tight around his weapon, "but..."

Ren perks up on their bed, listening to every of his words. "But?"

"But don't make his load heavier. Let's not involve him."

They drop back onto the cot. Oh, this petty man will find a way to involve himself in Ren's business. They do not voice this.

"...We'll find a way to help you as your commune, and then you'll pay us back." Nice and simple.

'We'. Heavy Metal rarely poses their help as a personal debt Ren has been falling into since forever. He never mentions it, and he rarely accepts Ren's payment if they actually offer it. Something Ren's parents did, if they were ever around.

Paying just means doing 'something useful'-- and Ren already does that, no matter what Iron Baron says.

"...Thank you," they whisper.

Their greatest hero shrugs it off.

[crunchy-chip-bit]

Ren is my favorite child so of course i found a place for them in Ninjago

they're a dragon 'hunter' (can't digest dragon meat, can't bring themself to hurt dragons either). pretty sure Iron Baron killed their parents & that's part of the reason why he's hostile towards Ren (besides being 'useless' for refusing to hunt dragons)

Heavy Metal is their childhood idol and their protector (since Faith knew their parents well)

Ren studies dragons and befriends them (to their own surprise) and books it out of the First Realm when Iron Baron tries to kill them

what happened after is a whole another story <3