❝ don't save her,

she don't wanna be saved,

don't save her,

she don't wanna be saved ❞

no role modelz, j cole

astra

"Yeah, why don't you stick that sword up your bony ass?" Astra yelled, swinging her boot into the cell door. The metal rang with each step the guard took away from her.

She did not take kindly to being a prisoner.

Not that anyone in their right mind would, but this was what she'd call a special circumstance. A special, freaky, out-of-this-world situation which, if she thought about it too much, sent her into a spiral that followed a Jay-like train of thought. She liked to think she was generally unruffled by the bat-shit crazy things that happened to her on a daily basis, but her new lifestyle had pushed that mindset off the edge. She tended to look straight into one corner of her cell unless the guards came in to shovel food at her. The first few times she'd tried to attack them had proved fruitless. Her powers were on a fritz down here, her fingers constantly wrapped in ribbons of darkness she had no control over. They just snaked around her, waiting for instruction that never came.

The keyword was down here.

Because Astra knew where she was, and sure, it had taken a few days to figure it out (ie. being confined to a stupid jail cell almost immediately), but the discovery was no less terrifying than the initial uncertainty.

She was in the Underworld.

Astra slumped back into her usual corner, leaning her head against the hard rock wall. It took ten steps each way to cover the length and width of her cell. She could do pushups fine, a small somersault, and had used a well-shaped rock outcrop to do pull ups. Her muscles were wiry, half exhausted from the strange food she downed and half exhausted because she had nothing to do down here but train. She had no sword, and hadn't had the chance to rip a bone out of those stupid soldiers, so she swung an invisible sword every day, the repetitive movement doing little to relax her. She hated being down here, less for the fact that she was a prisoner and moreso because she'd let herself get caught.

Staring at her fingers, she watched her powers slither up and over her fingers, the movement so familiar over the course of countless days that she didn't even flinch anymore. She, quite honestly, did not give a flying fuck what they were doing because she'd given up on them the second she'd landed in this hellhole. The one weapon she should always have been able to count on - regardless of how well she could control it - had suddenly turned pacifist. Astra grasped the same handful of rocks that she'd tumbled through her hands endlessly and started flicking the pebbles into the wall next to her.

"Prisoner." grunted a familiar voice.

"Samukai." Astra replied, continuing to fling the rocks without looking at the so-called King of the Underworld.

"Question."

Astra turned to him and pointed her fingers at him all gun-like. "Shoot."

Samukai scowled. He didn't really understand the gesture and she didn't care to explain the modernity of guns, because the bastard had died hundreds and hundreds of years ago and she didn't owe him shit.

His question was halting and broken. "Why are you here?"

"Why am I here?" Astra pretended to muse over the question, running through their routine in her head. She didn't mark the days by any sort of time, but by each cycle of questions. The same set, three times a day. "I don't know."

"Don't know." Samukai snorted, almost mockingly. It was hard to tell with a voice as guttaral and short as his. Astra eyed him carefully. He'd never expressed a sense of humour before. "Where did you come from?"

"Don't know." Astra echoed, her answer in line with her mental script. She didn't want to tell him anything about her coming from Ninjago. The 'Lord' probably had his own Underworld shit to deal with and she didn't fancy Ninjago's chances once that was done, especially since she had no idea whether or not the Underworld had passage back to Ninjago. It was only a tiny bit funny that she'd jumped from one realm to another where people liked to refer to themselves as the Lord. Jackasses.

This was, in hindsight, something she should have thought about before jumping into a portal. But hindsight wans't helping her get anywhere here, so it could go fuck itself. (She was in a worse mood than usual. Which was saying a lot).

"How are you here?"

Then there was the whole matter of 'human in a skeleton realm.'

"Swam here."

"Liar." Samukai hissed. "Big liar."

"Yeah." She conceded, pinching a rock between her fingers. She held it up to his face, hovered it over the gaping hole that counted for an eye. Then she threw it at him. It sailed through the bars of her cell door, only to be flicked away by his sword. For all the stupidity rattling around his bony head, Samukai was a good warrior. The bones in his jaw clattered as he scowled. The rock throwing wasn't a part of their routine, but she was tired of running around in the same circles. She wanted out.

Samukai yanked on a chain hidden outside of her cell. Calmly, Astra stretched her legs and reached up to the ceiling for her pull-up rock. The floor below her opened up, a cavernous mouth bubbling with lava. The heat scorched the bottom of her legs and what was left of her pants, and as much as she shouldn't have, she glanced at the lava below. She wasn't sure if she was numbed to the supposed effect it should have on a prisoner because he'd pulled this trick every day since her capture, albeit a bit early today, or because she was going insane. Either or. Samukai had the decency to put her cell back together again after a minute or so of hanging. She dropped back to the ground and prepared herself for more questions, or those pesky bug-creatures that crawled over her body nipping at her skin, or an announcement to stop feeding her for the day.

Then the door swung open.

Astra's hands immediately went to nonexistent weapons. Her hands curled in on themselves, fisting impulsively. How to take out a skeleton? She'd never fought her own warriors. Usually the power she leant them leeched too much and she had to recall it. You could kick their heads off, sever their legs, tear out their ribcages, and their bones would soar back together. Regardless, whatever had caused this had given her a chance to escape. Samukai's boreless eyes were nowhere to be seen. Poking her head around the door, Astra caught her first look of the Underworld since she'd arrived.

Three weeks (?) ago, Astra Garmadon hopped through a portal to the Underworld and ended up surrounded by rocks, lava, and an army of undead warriors in the middle of a theatrical performance. Rather unfortunately, she was outnumbered, outmanned, and outplanned, which wasn't unusual for her. What was unusual was her setting and the lack of living things down there, the latter of which also seemed shock her new skeleton friends. Astra had stared each of the soldiers down, including the ones who had been reenacting some godsforsaken play, but they possessed an eerie and perhaps undead stubbornness that rivalled hers. She wasn't stupid enough to fight the entire squadron after getting the shit kicked out of her by her crazy uncle, so she cooperated, though not quietly nor easily (that would never be the case) and followed them back to their fortress. Along the way, she learnt many new things; that she had been captured by the Skulkin Army, they were as knuckle headed as their ivory exteriors, and the Underworld was truly a hellish place for someone who was alive.

It was exceedingly monotonous, not that she'd ever thought lava, giant caverns leading to nothing, and the whole undead warrior thing could be monotonous. Alas, after finishing the journey back to their fortress, she realised the Skulkin had never branched out from their sect of land. They were the closest thing to a community in the Underworld. They'd passed, and the soldiers had mutilated, smaller squabbling groups of skeletons on their way, living in makeshift camps. Nothing like the sprawling civilisation of Ninjago. If she wasn't, you know, in the Underworld, she would have found that particular detail especially jarring. But everything down here she'd just come to expect.

She had an image of the outside of the Skulkin Fortress, and the short pathway to the dungeons, and that was it. An ugly bulk of a building whose only purpose was to serve as a place to defend and kill from. The question had egged her on since she'd realised - if they could dismantle the smaller groups with ease, who did they need defending from?

Her first visit from Samukai had gone a little like this:

"Prisoner."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Question."

"Shoot."

"Why you here?"

"Oh, I died. Drowned in a bathtub. Horrible, really."

"Lie. You alive. Where you come from?"

"Don't know."

"How you here?"

"Again. Bathtub. Drowning. Death."

"Liar. Big liar."

"Yeah. What're you going to do about it?"

"You alone here." That had been a bit too perceptive for the knuckle-headed interrogator. "No friend. Answer question."

"I'm here to kill you." Astra had said, and that was the bit that got her arms locked up in a special way that almost disconnected her limbs, followed by her first cheery encounter with the lava pit.

The Underworld really hadn't changed that much, which was no surprise to its first living visitor in centuries. Astra ran straight for the staircase Samukai always came slouching down, passing a few other prisoners who made gawping noises. A crowd of Skulkin soldiers charged past Astra, apparently unbothered by the fact that their high-security prisoner was strolling out and about. They had their armour plates stuck onto their bones, which made an eerie clattering sound as they ran for what she guessed was the entrance. A loud, clanging noises drew her attention to a tower she hadn't seen before. Atop it, two skeleton soldiers took turns furiously banging their heads against the inside of a bell.

"What the fuck?"

"Attack!" The skeleton that wasn't banging its head yelled, then stuck its head back inside the bell so the other could yell, "Attack!"

Astra ran in the same direction as the pack of soldiers, bursting out of the front gates of the massive bell tower courtyard right into a battle.

"What—" All she saw was a fist flying at her face. Her reflexes kicked in, dropping her to the ground to sweep her attacker off their feet. Someone had finally realised that she had escaped - but on second glance, this wasn't a Skulkin soldier. No, this skeleton's bones were green. The warrior hopped back up to its feet, charging at Astra again. She didn't want to counter its strikes with her own body when it was already weak, so it took a lot of rolling and dodging to lose him in the battle. She sprinted fast enough to avoid the stray blows as Skulkin and green soldiers clashed. Once she'd scrambled up to a better vantage point (a rock), she assessed the situation with a frown. The green skeletons were a lot more organised than the Skulkin army, attacking with prepared strikes and formations. The only reason the Skulkin were holding their own was the savagery with which they fought, making their moves unpredictable. A trio of Skulkin soldiers near her rock kept popping off each other's heads to chuck them at the green soldiers, who batted them back with their swords.

Cocking her head, Astra watched the newcomers carefully. Unlike the Skulkin, who were unafraid to detach all their body parts on a whim, they relied on their weapons and armour. Why would they refuse to use an ability that arguably, if not a bit insane to watch, could help them win fights? It didn't make sense. Did the undead have philosophy, values, and beliefs? Astra would have pondered theoreticals a little longer if she hadn't sensed a greenie sneaking up behind her. Biding her time, she waited to the last second to disarm the warrior and kick him off the precipice, smiling grimly as his body split on the rocky floor.

Flipping the bone sword in her hand, Amara swung down to the battlefield. A faint whistling tune made its way into her head, providing a jaunty background as she swung her sword. Picking isolated targets, she tried all manner of decapitation and amputation. It felt odd with a sword that wasn't hers - a reminder to search the fortress on her way out for the belongings they'd stripped her of - but odder still that despite the force she put into each cut and blow, nothing amazing happened. The Skulkin soldiers popped their heads back on and carried on screaming at her until she diverted their attention to the other enemy. Even if she cut the head off a green warrior, the rest of their body kept throwing itself at her blindly.

"Asshole." Astra spat, using the sword to leverage one of green soldier's arms off. She kicked it away and shouted in pain as a large skeletal hand dug into the side of her body, nearly piercing her skin. A Skulkin soldier, not at all concerned with the army fucking attacking its home, pulled Astra's arm so hard it nearly slipped out of its socket. She choked down the scream and jerked her arm back, rolling to the floor. The two soldiers - who should have been foe but were so easily enticed by something fleshy - advanced. They cocked their heads, darkened eye sockets darting to either side of her. To the dark ribbons pooling on the floor uselessly. Her side throbbed horribly, her weird knew knee was twinging, her heat was pounding, and above all, she was fucking pissed.

Astra threw all her weight behind her tackle. The green soldier went down kicking, though without a second arm its fight was a bit more futile. Her knuckles smarted, turning red with every punch she dealt to its chest.

"Die, stupid!" She yelled, throwing one more punch before her fingers turned to jelly.

The feeling didn't fade, it intensified horribly, spreading down to her other bones like an infection working on adrenaline. Slumping to her knees, she narrowly avoided the swinging blade of another skeleton. Then a sharp, tingling sensation stung her back. It was unlike any injury she'd ever had before, and when she turned, she found a green soldier's bone sword dripping with her blood. He looked more confused than focused on killing her, the blood sloughing off the blade onto the rocky cavern floor.

And then, in a heartbeat, she no longer felt like her insides were liquifying. It was the rare, fleeting feeling of power that shot through her body. The dormat tendrils of her power jumped to life, wrapping themselves around the skeletons, pulling apart the soldiers with greedy abandon. It wasn't the same as the flesh devouring abilities she had in the realm of the living, but it felt equally as good. A step past death. The cut on her back no longer hurt. The exhaustion from fighting ebbed away, rejuvenation filling its place. She cracked her neck, got to her feet, and smiled.

Astra cut through the battlefield with quickened pace; the only thing holding her back was the hunger gnawing in her stomach. Her powers fluctuated in odd pulses, wavering between spurts where she had full control back and moments where she was left only with her sword. Aiming for the interior of the fortress, she slipped past the warring factions, weaving through the chaotic fights that seemed neverending. Once inside the hallways again, she stalked the rooms with a frenzied fervour that increased with each step. To any unfortunate soldier that walked the same path as her, she was a murderer on a mission. Astra found her target easily enough. Samukai was busy shoving random pieces of metal armour on various parts of his skeletal body, stupidly alone in what looked like the war room of the base.

The sword swung loosely in her grip, her powers flickering as they swarmed across her body in makeshift armour.

"Samukai," Astra barked, smirking when he nearly knocked his own head off in surprise. "Not with your troops?"

He waved a hand far to nonchalantly for her liking. "Always fight. Nothing new."

"How do I leave?"

The supposed Lord fixed a look that became all the more harrowing thanks to his pitted eyes. "You die. No escape."

"But I'm not dead. There has to be a way to leave—"

Her element was more alert than she was, lashing out behind her, pulling her body to the new target. A group of six skeletal soldiers - the green ones - burst into the room, weapons raised. Tugging a short dagger out of the hands of the soldier her element had dismantled, she darted towards the next skeleton, waiting for her powers to surge again. Astra held her blades flat, pommel to pommel, and moved in a quick swirl of offensive moves, choosing the easiest points to slice through the eerie nothingness that held the skeletons' bones together.

The second burst of her powers swarmed her blades so when she hacked through each limb, they fell apart completely, running back behind her to dismantle the second skeleton from a panicked attempt at reforming. Exhilaration ran through her as she threw herself at each soldier, trying new combinations with her powers unlocked. They only seemed to keep the skeletons from reforming, but that was an incredible help in itself, killing them twice. She sniffed, flicking away the blood from a cut on her cheek that the last skeleton had landed. It landed on the pile of bones in the door and sizzled away, boring a hole into the ivory.

"What." Samukai said. He rushed over to the skeletons, pawing through their green bones with a desperate frenzy. "Dead, dead?"

"Yeah." She grinned, raising her swords again. "Dead, dead."

Scrambling back, the Lord of the Underworld grabbed his own swords and hastily spat out the barebones of a negotiation. "You go up!"

"Up, back?" Astra's eyes narrowed, taking a step closer to him. She let her element amp up its swirly effect just for a little extra drama. The decision made her stomach roil - it was exactly the kind of shit her dad would have pulled.

"Yes! You no actually dead, you go up!"

"How?"

"Um. You work for me?"

"Do I look like a personal shopper to you? Try again."

"No, you work for me, you help kill them." Samukai pointed a long finger at the bones in the hallway. "They have answer."

"Why don't you have it?" The solution seemed strange - how long had these fallen warriors been down here, slicing at each other when a way back to life was just sitting there? Why hadn't the green warriors done it themselves?

"How to kill the undead?" Samukai returned. "There no death here. But you. Maybe you change that."

"Yeah, if she doesn't screw it up." Remarked a familiar voice. It was so long gone in her memory that she thought she'd hallucinated it again. Then she remembered he was dead in a sort of oh yeah, ha, moment, and that on occasion, dead people liked to talk to her.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, her instincts reeling immediately. Swords up at the intruder, the next idiotic thing to kill.

"Hey," said the idiot, "Still got those anger issues?"

Astra's stolen swords clattered to the ground as her throat grew dry.

This wasn't a skeleton. Not entirely. The sickly pallour of his flesh was practically see through, his bones pearly white underneath. His smile still the same. His hands clasped behind him, shoulders raised.

"Astra," he said, "Don't freak out."

And from behind Vance Meyers, Riptide, stepped out Morro Aterasu, the fallen son.