A/N: Long chapter ahead! You've been warned

Nya's POV

"Do we all know what we're doing?" I check in with everyone as we stand on the field next to where we parked the Destiny's Bounty. The sun is about to dip over the horizon, and once it does, we'll have the natural cover that we need to ambush the unnatural elemental's hideout.

"Yep. We're sneaking in the east entrance to try to free your buddies, Kai and Lloyd are coming in the south and are essentially distractions, and PIX and Zane are entering through the west and are trying to find Skylor to bring her back. Rumi is staying here as the getaway driver in case things go poorly," Jay responds, cracking his neck and rolling his exposed shoulders back.

When Lloyd and Harumi made everyone's outfits, they gave each little "team" a distinct style.

Lloyd and Kai were given the densest outfits with long sleeves and heavier armor because they're going to be the ones directly in combat. Both of them have golden shoulder guards, but their outfits differ in Kai's being primarily red and Lloyd's being primarily green. Zane and PIX also have long sleeves but their outfits have less padding and have different, more technological inspired decals with Zane's being white, light blue, and gray while PIXAL's is gray and purple. Jay and my outfits are tank tops. His outfit is primarily blue while mine is a mixture of light blue and gray, and both of us have the little gadgets Jay made for us on our wrists.

If I wasn't so anxious about what is going to happen tonight, I'd definitely be more than a little distracted with how Jay looks in his outfit. Not only have I discovered that I find it really attractive when he gets ready to go on a mission, but the outfit itself is also very nice on him. Because it has no sleeves, his tattoo is on full display on his right delt, and sometimes it's like my eyes are glued to it.

"And if we don't make it back to the ship when we need to make a quick getaway, we can meet back up at my kingdom," Kai adds as he straps a sword onto Lloyd's back. I nod, and everyone breaks off into their little groups, quietly talking amongst themselves.

My chest is tight, and I have to take several deep breaths. I have never been this nervous about a mission before, but I've never had so much riding on one. My friends of hundreds of years have been captured for what feels like forever. I'm already afraid for them, and if we can't get them out now, I don't want to imagine what might happen to them. Additionally, if today fails, all of Ninjago is screwed because honestly, there's no one else out there who I think can take down this force.

"Everything alright?" I jump a little when I feel a hand on my shoulder, and when I look to my left, Jay is there, giving me a small, closed mouth smile.

I let out a sigh,"Yeah. I'm just a bit stressed."

"Ooooh, let me help," Jay takes a step behind me and puts his other hand on my right shoulder. "This is what I do when I get stressed. Close your eyes," I oblige, feeling the buzz of his fingertips against my bare shoulders. "Now, take a deep breath in and hold it. Imagine that breath traveling through your body."

I listen to his words, picturing the oxygen flowing through my body like a wave, circulating to limbs then to my heart then to my lungs again. "Now exhale. Alright, let's do it again."

We go through the cycle several more times, and once we're done, I open my eyes again, and I notice that the dullness in my chest has lessened some even if thinking about it again counteracts that a bit.

I turn back to look at him, and I see his hands still on my shoulders. I feel the accompanying prickle of electricity as he moves his thumbs across them which also takes the edge off a bit. "Where did you learn that trick?"

"I started doing it like 500 years ago or something. It still works pretty well," he responds softly before moving his hands up to give me a back massage. He starts to work out my traps, sending light electrical impulses to slightly activate the muscle as well. All of my tension melts away, and I can only feel how soothing yet slightly tantalizing it is. "I don't know if this is even on your mind at all right now considering everything, and sorry if I cause you more stress by bringing it up, but I don't want you to worry about the situation with us and Shade until you're ready. Yeah, it'll suck for me to see him, but you have way bigger fish to fry at the moment."

Even the mention of that situation that I've been trying to banish deep into my mind makes my head spin. Jay is amazing, and our interactions now just reaffirm how I felt for him all those years ago. He's both funny and witty, shares very similar interests to me, and already has a good relationship with my brother. He's insanely supportive and will do whatever he can to help me. I've also never been attracted to anyone else like I've been attracted to Jay. He's my physical type to a t, and even his general aura draws me in. Plus, although I don't like to admit it, I love affection, and I'm always receiving it from him. With him, I've never had a doubt about his feelings towards me.

However, he's a people pleaser, so sometimes I can't tell what his actual opinion is on something. Back when we were about to get married, he would still try to brave his emotions by himself and plaster on a smile in an attempt not to worry me. It's out of a place of good intentions, but I want to know what he's actually feeling instead of him telling me what I want him to feel.

Shade, on the other hand, tells it to me like it is. He doesn't sugar coat anything and will share how he's really feeling. He's tough, so I know that he can handle my honest feedback if I give it to him. Additionally, we have hundreds of years worth of history. Shade was the one that found me when I was at my lowest, and he helped me get back on my feet when I felt empty. I care for him so deeply, and imagining the hurt on his face breaks me.

Although I care about him, we do clash a lot. The two of us blow little disagreements out of proportion (like who ate the last of something) until it turns into an entirely different argument where we shred each other to pieces then apologize later. We're a roller coaster. We've broken up at least 70 times over the course of our 300 year relationship.

Shade has also been insecure about my relationship with Jay in the past. Hell, that was the root of so many of our fights. If Jay is around, that tension is only going to grow. I also am not attracted to Shade in the same way that I am to Jay. On top of all of that, he's never been that affectionate or romantic with me, so sometimes I wonder if he's really that into me.

"I'm always going to be in your corner, Nya, no matter what happens. Whether it's as a friend or more than that, I'll be here," he continues to work wonders on my back before placing a soft kiss on my cheek that makes my heart flutter yet sink at the same time. He doesn't deserve this.

"You know, people often say that lightning and water don't mix well, but I don't think that's true," I say, staring off at the sunset in front of me. "They both are vital for life, but when put together, they amplify each other. When lightning hits water, the water becomes energized which allows it to impact its surroundings differently, and the water increases the lightning's efficiency. They're not adversaries and are instead compliments."

"Hmm, I've never thought about it like that," he pauses for a little bit. "But I like it. I like it a lot, actually."

---

Seliel's POV

"I'm not going to my appointment," I stand in front of the door with my arms crossed. "Because as soon as I'm done there, you're leaving, and you're not leaving without me. We're either leaving together or not at all."

I stare at my soulmate who is looking at me with sympathetic eyes. Once I go to the physician, Cole is going to head out and try to meet up with the other elemental masters of creation in an attempt to stop the unnatural elementals before King Stefan can come back and take me away. However, instead of bringing me along (which would extend our deadline) he is insistent on me staying here.

"I don't know who we're going up against. All I know is that three guys described exactly like Kai, Jay, and Zane were spotted with two girls up in a town near the mountain ranges where they thought I was. If we're going to try to take down the unnatural elementals, it's going to be dangerous. I've waited centuries for you, Princess, and I can't bring you into danger within a few days of you being mine," Cole tries to reason, but I can already spot a ton of holes in it.

"Okay, but will I be in more danger here with some random person watching me or out there with you by my side? Plus, before all of this happened, you were teaching me how to fight, remember? I know some evasion techniques that can get me out of a pickle if I get stuck. On top of that, you'll need me. If you're trying to join forces with the natural elemental masters at any point in time, you're going to need someone who is reputable to get them to trust you. Who is better than the princess they've sworn to protect?" I watch him as he processes what I said. When he opens his mouth again, I already know what he's going to say, "About my father sending his army for me, I'll just say that I ran away under the new guard's supervision because I didn't want to be forced into marriage. You won't even be a target of theirs."

I look into his eyes and slightly bat my eyelashes. That mixed with my reasoning makes his mental blockade crumble before my eyes, and I can't help but feel victorious when he says, "You're right. Plus, you've had so many people strip you of your free will recently. I don't want to contribute to that. If this is what you want to do, I'll support you," he caves in, and I can't help the stupidly large smile that invades my face.

"And this is one of the many reasons why you're the best," I beam at him. "Now, spew out some surprisingly hot history knowledge as we walk over to the physician's office."

Cole's laugh sets my insides alight before he gives me a kiss on the cheek and opens the door for me. After I thank him, we start our walk. He starts explaining the intricate political system of 800 years ago, and I can't help but listen in awe at all of his firsthand knowledge. I let a gentle blanket of contentment fall over me as I listen to his voice and glance over at the beautiful orange and yellow sky as the sun sets.

Once we reach the door, Cole looks it up and down. "Same room as always." He then opens the door for me, and I shoot him a wink of gratitude before we both make our way in here and shut the door behind us.

"It looks like we're early," I notice that no one else is here and let out a groan. "Ugh, we could have totally stayed in my room for longer. What a bust. I can take this stupid cast off myself anyways, so I shouldn't have even wasted our time." When I look up at Cole, he's just quietly scanning the room and taking everything in. "Something wrong?"

"It's just weird. It's the same room as when I used to come for check ups here, but it's also decorated differently," he starts to stroll around, leisurely looking at all of the different things. He stops once he reaches a towering bookshelf. "This is the exact same, though. Now that I think about it, Jay did say that there used to be a secret room that connected from here. Maybe..." he goes over to the side of the bookshelf and pulls on it, and when he shifts it to the side, it reveals a hallway illuminated by torches.

"Woa," I say in awe, suddenly way more curious about my surroundings. "Are there more hidden passageways around the castle?"

"Loads. I guess they were lost over time because I'm the only person that I've ever seen use them in my 2 years here," Cole stares down the hallway. "Jay told me that he left some of his stuff in here a long time ago. Maybe it's still down there."

"Then, we should check. I'm curious about these secret passageways now. Plus, I can show you a little secret of my own," I shoot him another wink as I stand up and offer him my free hand. "What do you say? We'll make it quick. My appointment isn't actually for a while anyways."

He takes my hand, enveloping it in his giant one, and the two of us walk into the hallway. It's very narrow, so we have to walk single file with Cole sticking his hand behind him so I can still hold it.

After about a minute of walking, the path opens up again, and we reach a room. However, it's nothing like I'm expecting. "What the hell is this place?"

A large lamp sits at the side of the room, illuminating it. There is a desk covered in pieces of paper that are written all over and hastily spread all over the place. On another desk, there is an array of medical tools, from syringes to test tubes to scalpels. However, what really draws my attention are the ten containers that are sitting on their own counter. Nine of the ten have remnants of some red substance on the inside, but the one container to the very far right is completely clean. Each of the little tanks has some sort of symbol on it, and while I don't know what they are, they clearly mean something.

When I glance over at Cole, I see something in his face that I've never witnessed: fear. His eyes are wide, and it's like all of the color drained out of his skin. He walks over to the desk and picks up some papers, quickly scanning over them, and with each increasing one, he looks more panicked. He glances between the containers and the papers while he reads.

"Princess, we need to get going right now. I'll explain later, but..."

"Well, I didn't expect to meet you again so soon, Cole, and look who you brought with you. I've been waiting a long time for her," I whip my head around, and I spot the new nurse who saw me on my last visit. Her blonde hair is tied up in a bun, and she has on her work outfit, but the air in the room tells me that there's more that I don't know here. When I look back at Cole, it's like he's seen a ghost.

"It was you," Cole tries to take a step forward, but so does the woman, clicking her tongue.

"What was? You and the rest of the guys always liked to spread untrue rumors about me, so I have to verify what you're talking about."

"PIXAL's murder, you were the one that did it," Cole accuses her, and those words immediately set me on edge. My hairs stand on end even though the woman looks fairly harmless. While she has an amazing physique, it doesn't look like she could ever hurt anyone.

"I didn't touch PIXAL on the day that she died. You and your friends did," the woman looks over at me for my reaction, but I don't flinch.

"I know Cole is the master of earth and that he didn't kill PIXAL," I inform her, trying to conceal my fear by standing up straight.

"Ugh, you're so boring," she rolls her eyes before giving me a long look up and down. "I guess you serve to satiate the power boner Cole has by you being a princess, though. They all have one, well they all didn't use to, but now, oh my lord. You're even more visually bland than the other princesses, so he must have really been desperate."

"Don't talk to her like that. You have issues with me, Aria, so don't drag Seliel into this," Cole glares at her.

"Oh please, you know it's true. You're all thirsty for power which is why you couldn't help but manipulate Jay into thinking I wasn't his soulmate. You wanted him to be with someone who could boost your power level, not a mere physician, so you tricked him!" she clenches her fists as she talks, and my eyes flicker between her and Cole.

"Let's just take a few deep breaths to talk things out," Cole suggests, sticking his hands out as a gesture of peace. The woman, Aria, just scoffs.

"We're well past that point now. You wanted me to be more powerful, no? Now, I have enough power to squash all of you beneath my feet with my elemental army," She lunges out and grabs me, trapping me in her grip and placing a scalpel right up against my neck so that I can't move. "What I want now is for you all to advocate for me to Jay and then leave us to rule the kingdom together because honestly, the monarchy is so pitifully weak at this point. The people would be lucky to have a more powerful entity take over."

The proximity of the blade to my skin makes my heart face, and I frantically try to think of a way out. There has to be something that I can do.

"I don't know where they are. Please don't hurt her," Cole pleads with his eyes wide, and I hear a dark chuckle escape her throat.

"Why should I care about hurting your feelings? You never cared about hurting mine, and besides, she's the last step I need to get ultimate power. When Jay broke up with me, I was shattered, and to feel close to him again, I injected his blood that I had from various medical tests into me, and guess what I found out? I could temporarily use his powers before crashing. When I tried it with the rest of your blood, it also gave me the same results.

I searched for a way to stabilize the reaction, to prevent a crash, and I finally found a way: to mix your blood with your soulmate's blood. These resulted in longer, more sustained powers without the painful ending. I realized that if I could get the blood of you all and your soulmates, I would be able to control all of the elements, and this was even before I realized that mixing the different elements in different ratios resulted in different powers.

I already had some of each of your blood along with Skylor, Harumi, PIXAL's, and my own, but I increased the amount of blood I took in the time before the plan to make sure I would succeed. Even though I got a faulty batch of Jay's blood that was very hyperactive and refused to stabilize, I was able to get a good amount of the rest of your blood. Sadly, I was always one dose short thanks to you not having your soulmate. That's when I created a little parchment for my ancestors to use. With a drop of your blood, they could see whether or not your soulmate was alive. I checked it with the rest of your friends' blood, and it showed the correct results each time, so I saw it as reliable. I told my sister to make her descendants see if your soulmate was born every twenty years, and two years ago, they saw that she was alive. They woke me from my amber encased slumber, and now, I can finally take her blood and obtain complete power," Aria explains her plan, and my heart is in the pit of my stomach. She's the one who has been pulling the strings of the elemental army all of this time, and she was right underneath our noses.

"Why kill PIXAL? It's not like that furthered your plan at all," Cole asks her. I can see the gears churning behind his brown eyes, trying to find some way to free me from her grip.

"Multiple reasons, actually. First of all, I needed a test run on my powers. I had to see to what extent they worked, and that was the perfect way to see. Second of all, I knew that with all of you together, you would never stop poisoning my Jay's mind and you would be much easier to defeat individually, so I had to find something that would split you up for good. Imagine my frustration when I found out that the master of water, an absolutely worthless gnat, brought your friends back together. Nonetheless, there is a rift there that can never be undone, so it succeeded in some capacity. I also wanted to inflict pain on you all like you did on me, and this was honestly one of the easier options.

However, in regards to my choice of princess, I was actually aiming for Skylor that day. Queen Melisa was actually the one who gave me some funding for my research and was injected with Kai's powers, and she said that she wanted to go after Skylor. It was unfortunate that PIXAL happened to walk in when we were getting set up. At that point in time, we had to kill her and repurpose Skylor," she presses the scalpel a little closer to my neck.

"I can see clearly now how big of a mistake we made when we told Jay that you weren't his soulmate," Cole bites his lip, a clear tell that he is lying, but he still feigns sincerity. "Your dedication to him proves it."

"Oh Cole, you can't play me anymore. You're lying straight through your teeth. Look, I'll give it to you straight. I'll keep your princess intact if you provide me with two things. Firstly, I want a liter of both of your blood. Secondly, I will put you in vengestone, and you will come back with me until Jay finds his way back to me. Then, you will sing my praises and get him to marry me, and we can take over Ninjago. Then, I'll let you two go," her voice drips with venom as she looks at Cole, analyzing every one of his movements for any idea of what is going on in his mind.

This woman cannot be allowed to take over the kingdom. She is completely unhinged, murdering someone all because she was rejected, so there is no possible way that she could be good for the kingdom. We need to find a way to defeat her here and turn her in to my father.

"You and I both know that I can't do that. Besides, you know that I could get Seliel back from you right now," Cole tries to play up his confidence instead of feigning compliance again.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that before I came over here, I took a little bit of something." She unwraps her arm that was keeping me in place from around my waist and shifts her hand to my left thigh. I can't see what she is doing, but I immediately feel a scalding heat on my leg. The pain sears through my flesh, and I let out a blood curdling scream, tears flooding to my eyes. I throw my body back in an attempt to wriggle out of her grip. She stumbles backwards before tripping over her own foot and taking us both down. We hit the floor with a thud, and the scalpel clammers to the ground.

I take this as my opportunity to free myself from her grasp, rushing over to go near Cole's side. He raises his hands, and particles of dust rise into the air, swirling around and condensing into a scythe that Cole grips in his right hand. He looks down at her on the ground, and now that I'm safely beside him, any facade is dropped. "Yield."

She looks up at him with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape, before her lips turn into a twisted grin. Setting her hand alight again, she brings the flame to her own forearm. The room reeks of rotting flesh as she lets out a monstrous scream.

Suddenly, the stone floor bucks her upwards in the air, extinguishing her flame, and a whirl of dust and debris slams into her and sends her flying into the wall. She lets out a large groan at the impact. When I look over at Cole, there's a ferocity in his eyes that I have never seen before, a roughness, and while others might have been scared of it, my heart pounds and cheeks turn red. I can't help but watch him in awe. He's a powerhouse, and he's my powerhouse.

He stalks towards her with his scythe gripped tightly in his hand. He moves the blade of his scythe close to her neck as his eyes bear into her. "I don't know what game you're playing Aria, but even with some of Kai's powers, you're still no match for me."

"Oh Cole, you've played right into my hand. I knew that you'd never take my deal," she smirks icily at him before letting out another shriek of pain.

Cole tilts his head as he tries to read her, and I scan the room for something to protect myself in case she lashes out again. I grab a scalpel from one of the counters and grip it tightly in my hand. My leg is still excruciating, and I have to fight the urge to scream when I move, but I bite my lip and keep moving.

"Princess Seliel, what is..." I snap my head up when I hear a new voice. A group of guards is standing in the hallway, swords drawn as they take in the situation.

At the sound of the voices, the scythe in Cole's hand disintegrates and falls into a pile of debris at his feet. "Please help, agh!" Aria clutches onto her arm, squinting her eyes closed. "I discovered that the Princess's guard was the master of earth and brainwashed her. He was going to try to bring her down here with the master of fire to torture her, but I discovered them and confronted them. I caught them when they were just starting on the princess, as seen by the burn on her leg, and they began to attack me. After burning me, the master of fire left so that his buddy could finish the job," she throws in some winces to make her act more convincing, and my jaw drops.

"No, she's lying!" I respond with my heart in my stomach. "She gave me this burn! Cole is just protecting me from her!"

"She's under his spell just like the princesses long ago. Please get him away for our safety."

The guards direct their swords at Cole, and I rush towards him, taking a firm stance between the two parties, sticking my arms out wide. However, the immense pain in my quad is lessening my strong demeanor . "I am your princess. You will not lay a finger on him."

"Direct orders from the king is to strike him down first and ask questions later," the main guard informs me firmly. "Move princess, or else we will have to make you move."

I look down the hallway, and it is flooded with guards. I know that Cole is good, but escaping from this situation is going to be nearly impossible. We can't make our way through all of those guards, especially with my leg. I'm paralyzed with uncertainty and fear.

The floor trembles only beneath the guards, and they topple like dominoes on top of one another. When I look up at Cole, he is staring at me with wide eyes. "We need to go, Princess,"

He grabs my hand and lands a firm punch to the ground, creating a wide hole that leads down to another dimly lit hallway. I immediately jump in, landing cleanly on my feet before he follows. He grabs the stone that fell and moves it back into place with his powers, using any extra minerals in the area to stick them back together.

"Let's hurry. We need to escape this castle."

A/N: AAAAAH the reveal. I tricked you guys, didn't I! I had to find a way to include both Aria and Melisa into last chapter to try to not make Aria look suspicious and to try to throw you off with Melisa

The next two chapters are the big rescue mission! Hopefully things go well

Also, I got straight A's so yay for me! I'm happy haha

Any questions?

Thank you all so much!