listening to skyfall by adele on repeat is recommended for this chapter

jay

"WHY COULDN'T I BE THE MASTER OF FIRE?" Were the first words that tumbled out of his mouth when he finally caught a breath to pause. He regretted teasing Kai for having the power to roast marshmallows as he'd called it and moaned as he chugged his rapidly depleting supply of water.

Of all things that could have happened, someone had started a forest fire in the Woodlands where he and Nya were hiding. It had snuck up on them quickly and they were just plain lucky they weren't burned yet. He hacked out a rough cough and winced at the soreness in his throat. Nya did the same, touching her eyes gently and letting out a pained hiss.

"Are you okay?" He managed to rasp out. Nya nodded and looked behind them fearfully.

"We have to run," She croaked weakly. Jay hated the painful red rimming her eyes and the awful crack in her throat, but he knew she was right. They had to keep running or the very slim chance of them making it out of the Woodlands alive would lessen. The river was their only hope, and even that was the pinprick at the end of the tunnel.

Jay stumbled to his feet and offered her a hand. Nya took it and got up herself, slinging her bag over her shoulder before starting their jog. The crackle of the flames and the smoke and heat nipping at Jay's heels almost made him want to succumb. His lungs were full of heavy smoke - so much of it he kept trying to cough out as if it would do something.

He had to keep running. Keep moving, make it to the river and lie in that stream forever and ever and let the cool water heal him. Jay coughed as he struggled forwards in the red haze, determined to get the end. His feet were moving at a sluggish pace that the football coach would have yelled at him for, but Jay wasn't on the football team. He also wasn't on the track team, so it was pretty hard for him to gauge really when it was a good idea to stop, how to breath through the exhaustion and pain.

There was like this dark monster curled up in his chest, slowly unfurling its wings as the smoke kept filling his lungs. His vision was swimming and blurry as he kept tripping forwards, barely making Nya out through hazy eyes.

God it hurts so bad.

Maybe I can just..stop? Yeah, that's a good idea.

Jay was now fully convinced that stopping and sitting down would be the best course of action and did exactly that. He slumped onto a lump of rock and sucked in shaky breathes punctuated by smoky coughs. I'm like a dragon, he realised deliriously, giggling at the thought of himself turning into a massive blue dragon.

"JAY!" Someone was shouting very loudly, cutting straight through the pounding in his head. "Jay, we're nearly at the river, you can't stop now!"

The voice was full of determination and hope, mixed with a swell of concern. But he was so tired. Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a second to ignore the burning around him, it would go away. Even with his eyes closed he could see a swirl of orange and red around him, teasing and touching him with eerie flames shaped like hands.

He was going to die, wasn't he?

These fire demons would come to get him.

Suddenly he sat upright and backed up against a tree trunk half shriveled with flames.

"NYA!" He bellowed, blinking back the tears as the soreness ripped his throat. "YOU NEED — YOU NEED TO GO. YOU CAN MAKE IT TO THE RIVER. THE DEMONS — THE DEMONS ARE...COMING FOR ME—"

Was the fire getting bigger and hotter or was it just him?

Yeah, he was definitely going to die here.

It was a surprisingly calm thought that shook his mental hand and patted him on the back. Jay closed his eyes, let a dreamy expression take over his face and felt the first few tears slip from his eyes.

"NO!"

The only reason he opened his eyes was because he could hear a wall of water rising and crashing towards him.

Saving him.

Nya let out a scream of anguish - and Jay saw the water part into two walls, the girl he'd do anything for sink to her knees and weep at the pain of losing her father, her brother and everyone she loved to a mentor who they'd trusted and the water crashed down, dousing Jay and half of the fire. He stood there, shaking at the sudden rush of cold and gasped, slipping through the half-drowned forest to Nya.

She was curled up in a ball, shivering slightly. Her hair was plastered to her skin, a stark contrast of the raven locks to her pale, cold-touched skin as she sobbed. Jay dropped to his knees and rubbed calming circles into her back lying on his back next to her and curling up into a ball like hers.

"It's okay Nya, don't worry, you— you saved us. Your powers came back."

"The fire—" She choked on her own sobs as she blinked weepy ocean eyes at him, "The fire said they'd kill you. They'd kill Kai, and mum and dad, they'd kill Skylor and Pixal, Lloyd and Zane and Cole and—"

"Shhhh," He coaxed her into an upright position and held her as her body wrecked itself with tears. "I'm here bluebird, I'm here, with you."

She offered him a feeble attempt at a smile that spoke volumes.

"Bluebird, eh? Nice nickname, Walker."

Jay looked up into the dark eyes of the girl from his English class — Astra Harlow and laughed hoarsely as he spoke, very aware of the dimming in his eyes and the thrum in his head.

"She saved us. My bluebird saved us."

And then everything went peacefully black.

skylor

Kai was officially the dumbest idiot she'd ever met.

First he'd decided to re-enter a battle with nothing to even defend himself with, and then he tackled someone off a fifty story rooftop without a second thought. He and the fight plummeted past the balcony Skylor was standing on and she swore loudly, hurrying down the ladder as fast as her shaky feet could go.

He wasn't dead because he wasn't allowed to die, like Nya had said.

Right?

A huge gust of wind tickled Skylor's neck and she risked a quick look back and heaved a sigh of relief. The person he'd tackled had more brain cells than Kai and had deployed a secondary parachute, slowing their fall considerably. She only made it to the ground fifteen minutes later - pumped by adrenaline, two hundred metres in the air with a puppy and two bags weighing her down.

"DIE!" She heard Kai scream very loudly as she jumped the last few rungs, scrambling towards the scuffle between Kai and the fighter.

The second parachute had been cut free, spilling like black ink on the pavement as Kai and the fighter rolled around on the ground throwing messy punches. Skylor shirked a step back as Kai howled with fury and anger, bringing back his arm to slam his fist towards his opponent. They rolled out his way and jumped to their feet easily, drawing out their two knives with a sadistic slash of smile, cut off by the half of the mask that had slipped down.

"Come get it, Fireboy. I don't why you're so pissed at me but let's give it a go, shall we?" They taunted him, twirling the elegant knives skillfully.

"Kai, if you don't want to die, just stop fighting her." Skylor yelled, setting Ryu and their belongings down.

"She tried to kill my father." He snarled and leapt forwards. They danced back with every wild hit he threw, taunting and goading him. Skylor groaned and rolled her eyes, picking up a chunk of metal piping.

Kneeling, she looked into Ryu's dark eyes and whispered, "Stay here buddy, okay? I gotta go save Kai from becoming a human shish kebab."

"Hey, Fireboy cool down, okay? I get you're all sad about your dad bleeding to death but I have him back at—"

"STOP TRYING TO HURT MY FAMILY," Kai bellowed, his voice raw.

Skylor honestly wouldn't have caught it if it wasn't so bright. Kai's fists had lit on fire and were swirling gauntlets of flames that he hurled towards the girl.

"STOP FUCKING STALKING US, SO GET FUCKING LOST."

The gauntlets on his arms had turned into a full suit of fire protecting Kai as he advanced on the girl, who was now frozen still and staring in fear at the boy of fire before her. She did hold up to the the majority of the petty attacks Kai gave her, but it was when the fire surged and Kai saw her flinch in fear that the most un-Kai like, dark smirk crossed his face and the fire grew bigger and swelled in a ginormous dome enclosing the two of them.

Skylor could feel the heat from where she was standing and knew if she even tried to go near the fire, she'd be burnt to a crisp. This wasn't a normal fire, it was elemental power and Kai was nowhere near in control of it.

"I hope you fucking die for what you've done to my family."

The gigantic dome of fire sucked inwards into a tornado and encased the poor girl as she screamed in pain, Kai standing there and the fire ate at her. The girl whimpered and the fire flickered for a second before Kai's remorseless scowl came back and the fire returned.

Skylor should have warned him.

She barely saw the blur of black that hurtled towards Kai, shrieking in anger as it tackled him to the ground. The flames snapped out of existence as his concentration broke, but Skylor's attention was fixed on the new fight. Kai was already losing - tired from his burst of power that had broken through what nullification Garmadon had put on them and fighting on pure anger at the burned girl.

The new attacker reeled back, their hand raised in a dangerous arc as they drew back their arm and sent the blade spinning for Kai's stomach. He staggered back blankly as it pierced into him, blood spurting in a spray that made Skylor want to gag. Her feet dragged her forwards and she barely caught Kai as he collapsed to the ground, already hacking out mouthful of blood.

"I don't know what the fuck you want with my family Kai Smith, but you better stay away."

"You—" Kai hissed, trying to jab a finger at her. His face screwed up in pain as heaved heavy breathes. "Astra...Harlow. Fuck you."

She laughed and then stared hollowly at the two of them. "Have fun, Smith."

Skylor saw her through blurry tears, saw Astra pick up the limp, blackened body of what must be her sister and stagger away. If her sister was even alive. The ferocity and the anger behind the flames of Kai's element scared Skylor to the point where she'd been frozen to the spot watching the fight go down.

"Skylor? I'm kinda...fuck, bleeding out—" He spat out another moutful of blood. "Might want to call for some help?"

"Kai, you absolute moron of a nincompoop of an arsehole. Why would you fucking do that?" Skylor demanded, crouched over his body and staring at the mess of red.

"Hero complex," he chuckled, his hands slippery with his own blood. He was trying to stop his own bleeding out, the idiot. "Guess I carried it from football to fighting, huh?"

"Don't you dare bleed out on me Smith." She hissed between choked sobs. She bundled her hands in torn trips of her shirt, knowing she'd just throw up all over him and make it worse if she touched his bare skin like that. Even then, her hands quickly were strained red just by touching blood, red, so red and it was his blood that kept coming and coming and coming like it would never stop. "Just—just on hold, someone will be c-coming."

"Chen," he gasped, his hands joining her in a mess of blood and torn fabric. "No one is coming. You know that. Just...stay. Yeah, stay."

The sudden bubble of their dramatic encounter fizzled away and Skylor was hearing the chaos in the streets, screaming and shouting, guns firing and hungry chanting.

"Kai." More screaming tore through the streets, echoing in her ears, and the damn blood was still coming. "I'm going to kill her."

"No you won't." He chuckled, and coughed out a mouthful of ruby red liquid. "It was my fault I went after her sister. Shoulda...shoulda known."

"That doesn't—that doesn't mean anything. If she didn't try to kill your father, who did—"

"Hello Ninjago," crooned a sweet voice. It was coming from the billboards and the speaker around the city. And the face on that board was a face Skylor knew all too well.

Harumi.

Her hair had been straightened, a blinding white compared to the perky smile on her face. Then a slash of red paint across her eyes that made her look so...evil. The untamed spite in her eyes stood out bleakly against the red face paint.

She looked insane.

"As the Great Emperor Wu's second in command, I'd just like to check in with you on how the Hunt is coming along. I can assure you I've done my fair share of hunting, faithful citizens. Not long ago, I fatally injured Ray Smith, parent to not one, but two of the delicious elemental masters we're hunting! Isn't that so sweet? I just watched his son try and kill a person who had the same hair as me. That's rather rude on both halves, isn't it? Well, I suppose I'm taking up essential time, hunters. Good luck, and don't lose your prey!"

Harumi — innocent, preppy cheerleader, holder of parties and the best fake smile was working with Wu? Her parents had died — adoptive or not, and she'd pretended to care? Milked their tears, pretending to be hurt and lost as she was claimed by the Emperor and Empress, who were dead too.

"He got Harumi too." Skylor whispered to herself, glancing at Kai bleeding. "Harumi was the one who tried to kill your father and she let someone else take the blame for it. What a fucking bitc—"

"I should start dying more often if it means you're going to start cussing like a pirate." He couldn't laugh, but he was still trying to be funny, for her.

She had to do something for him.

Her fingers slipped over the screen as she punched the numbers in for a contact she'd used for a group project.

It rang for thirty seconds before she picked up.

"Hello? Kinda busy right now — hey, gimme back my sword—" there was a loud twang like a taut string releasing before the breathless voice returned to the speaker. "Is this about me stabbing Smith, cause he really deserved it. Troya's got third degree burns and she—"

"I need your help. Please. Just, someone needs to help me, Wu never taught us first-aid, I mean, he never taught us anything, the bastard, please. He's got a sister, and his parents, and a puppy — and — and he's got me and I can't do this—"

"My god, you sound like one of Bella's romance novels. I'll help. I was going to help anyway, until he decided to try and... I'll meet you at Chen's on Aubry Street."

Astra hung up, the number now used twice.

The first to ask for help on the group project in science, the second to ask for help for the bleeding boy in front of her.

Skylor's mouth hung open as her brain tried to figure out how the hell she was supposed to get Kai to Aubry Street when her eyes landed on a wheelbarrow. She rolled it over to where his vulnerable body lay and stared at the horrible knife in his stomach.

"This is going to hurt—a lot but someone is coming to help, you just need to get in the barrow so I can push you over to my dad's place on Aubry, okay?"

He groaned in response, only acknowledging her wobbly request with the slightest dip of his head. It was awkward heaving him in and he cried out in pain so many times in which she sobbed to herself, accidentally coating the handles in his blood, but she kept pushing him to Aubry where the ridiculous animatronic-like chant was repeating itself over the doorway.

She was about to call Astra again when three blotted figures stained her blurry vision were stalking towards her. Skylor collapsed in relief as the familiar figure of Astra strode into view. Her stomach churned and she hurled into the shop front's potted plant and sucked in a pained breath.

"Shit, I did not think he'd bleed that much—oh god—" The woman on her left sighed and turned Astra around to face the other way.

"She faints when she looks at blood," she explained quickly, crouching down to peer at Kai in the wheelbarrow. "My name is Obi, and over there is Maul,"

Maul waved cheerily, abruptly turning around when the hacking sounds coming from Harlow got louder. Considering Skylor had just thrown up, Astra was abnormally loud chucking the contents of her stomach.

Obi ignored it and continued assessing Kai with sharp eyes. "He's not doing well."

"I think I realised." She spat back, waving her red hands towards him, feeling her stomach swirl again. "Just help him, I know we're not on the same side but please—"

The doctor cut her off with a calming shhh. "You're not doing so well either Skylor, maybe you should—"

"How'd you know my name?" She yawned suddenly. Struggling to keep her eyelids open, she only just saw Obi holding a spray bottle with the cap off. "Why'd you spraaayy me..."

lloyd

"Are they gonna wake up anytime soon?"

There were four bodies in the medical wing, their chests rising and falling steadily. Well, one was. And that was Skylor's since Obliterate had deemed her the least injured of his friends. Jay and Nya were suffering from intense smoke inhalation and something that had been put in the fumes. The doctor didn't know what, but she had taken a lot of notes when Jay and Nya woke for the first time.

Kai had been wheeled in on one of those trolleys you see in ambulances, the blood from his wound seeping through the bandages around his torso. The knife was still in there when he'd arrived, but he'd been whisked away to emergency surgery and came back several hours later unconscious, but his chest rising and falling shakily.

Lloyd still had no idea what was happening. First, after they'd decided to go out and find his friends, they were planning to go to the centre of the city and weed them out, but the fire eating at the Woodlands quickly caught their attention. Astra had taken a car - with permission or not wasn't revealed - and they'd found Jay and Nya slumped over each other, slightly burned but soaked to the bone in water from the river.

It was the most astonishing thing to see as Nya relaxed, the water slowly slid back into the river and stayed there. Jay was barely conscious enough to say that she 'saved us' before blacking out, but it gave Lloyd enough context. Whatever was in that smoke had made them gone insane because both were muttering about how they were going to die and other people were going to die.

He caught his name in there once or twice.

Then they'd gone through the city and by chance had caught Kai overwhelmed by his elemental powers like Nya had been in a living suit of fire. Astra had leapt into the fight and freaking stabbed Kai, so Lloyd wasn't speaking to her now. She didn't explain why, but she'd dropped Troya, Jay, Nya and Lloyd off before zooming away.

"Skylor should wake up first, then Nya and Jay. Not sure about Kai." Titanium took a swig of some drink and scrunched up his face as he swallowed. "What the hell is this?"

"Where'd you get it from?"

"Your bag, you said I could have some." Titanium frowned. "Why is there Vengestone in your tea, Lloyd?"

"Vengestone? No, that's Amnestone..." Lloyd trailed off, looking at the bottle in horror. "Are you sure that's Vengestone?"

"One hundred percent. How long have you been drinking this for?"

"Maybe three months...a little under, why?"

"You said your powers weren't working, right? And they used to?"

"Kind of," Lloyd muttered lowly. "Wu gave us the tea. He said Amnestone was the opposite of Vengestone and it was a new discovery but similar but made us focus and muted everything around us. We drank a lot of it."

"He's been poisoning you, Lloyd. There's no such thing as Amnestone. New discovery my ass. Because you've taken in so much in as small amounts it adds up and there's always Vengestone in your system. He's been muting your powers for three months."

"This is so much bigger than I thought," He whispered hoarsely, sinking onto a free bed. "First it was just him masterminding this, then he's been tricking us and poisoning us? Harumi had to be cherry on top, didn't she?"

"Why do you care about his Second?" Titanium looked at Lloyd then shrugged. "Good luck man."

Why do I care about Rumi - Harumi?

I trusted her.

I told her everything.

"I just can't believe everything we thought was you guys was Wu. It's ridiculous. We thought you had a machine blocking our powers, that you were following Nya and Kai, picking off powerful people like my uncle had said."

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes, trying to rid the image of Harumi's painted face and devious smile. Maybe Wu had tricked her too, like he tricked Morro. There's no way she's evil. She was so sad when her parents died and after the attack on the Emperor and Empress...she disappeared. I can bring her back.

"I guess it was easy for Wu to pin the blame on us. He's always hated the Sons of Garmadon even though they sheltered me and Garmadon taught me how to use my powers. Not in the most conventional by the books way, of course, he's the Lord. But well enough I can use it to invent and fight in battle. Do you want to see my wings?"

"Your...what?"

"My metal wings," Titanium corrected himself as they walked out of the medbay, leaving his unconscious friends to sleep. "I got the idea a few weeks back and I've been working on them non-stop since I finished my latest duck. They're shaped like kites and there are two of them, they go on each of my arms and cover my fingers to the end of my elbow. They can't actually make me fly, I wish, but the cool part is that the feathers aren't just for design. They're actually daggers."

His new friend had led him into a workshop where metal scraps lay scattered all over benches, random tools and weapons tossed casually to the side. The main table had two stands on show, with each of the kite shaped arm shields propped up on them. They looked insanely cool, made of black metal with the feathers a shade lighter and traces of silver lining the shields. Titanium was really good at what he did, and just by looking around the room Lloyd knew he was dealing with an expert.

"Woah. I wish I knew how to use a real weapon. Wu didn't teach us anything to do with fighting, let alone our elemental powers."

"I can teach you how to use this," Titanium handed Lloyd a thin, curved sword of bluish metal which he nearly dropped.

"What is it?"

"Usually Tellum would fit you out with a weapon, but I'm confident you'll do well with an avarian sabre. I have a feeling you're going to need to know how to fight in the future. This is far from over. The Lord doesn't like his brother being in power and wants to cause as much chaos as possible right now."

"Our agents, scouts and members are fighting against Wu to weaken his numbers a little. Your father has done a lot of work, Junior. The Sons of Garmadon aren't just a street gang. We're practically an army."

Lloyd waved the sabre around experimentally and was pleased to find while it was uncomfortable at the start, it was beginning to feel more natural. "Can you stop calling me Junior? I'm nothing like my father."

"Are you, really? You both have the same determined look, except I don't know what you're going to do."

Lloyd flinched. Whenever someone had related him to his father it had always been bad. Yet this guy admired his father - like the rest of the underground empire Garmadon had built, they followed him by choice. It made his father sound....good.

Lloyd wasn't sure what the balance between good and bad was anymore.

Titanium then proceeded to give Lloyd a 101 on how to use the sabre with three basic defense and attacks. He was nowhere near the ease with which his friend wielded the weapon, but when he sheathed it in a back scabbard, he felt more confident in his ability to defend himself besides dirty fighting.

"They're bombing the city with Blast Sap again," Titanium noted randomly, more attuned to the underground vibrations. He ushered Lloyd out of his workshop, looking to his comm and nodding to himself.

"The Lord has requested we meet in the war room. They're planning our final attack."

pixal

It was dark inside the bag.

At least, Pixal assumed it was a bag. The rough hessian brushed across her cheeks as her feet stumbled along blindly, sloshing through water that she gauged was from the sewers. Their kidnappers had made a fatal - an unknowable mistake, but a fatal one all the same when they brought Pixal and Zane down here with bags over their heads.

She simply switched her vision to a mode where she could see through the bag in shades of black and white. For the most part, it was relatively boring walking and low murmurs of conversation, slipping her hand into Zane's cold one. His hand was always cold, but she didn't mind.

They'd watched from afar as a wall of water that they'd quickly sourced to Nya's powers coming back and snuck off in that direction to hope that their friends were there. At that point, the city had turned feral during the Hunt. Pixal had seen Harumi's announcement, and one following that asking the people to call her the 'Quiet One'.

Pixal really wasn't surprised.

She'd never liked Harumi previously, but she guessed Lloyd would be feeling down. As much as he tried to hide it, his longing looks and secret glances to Harumi were not as subtle as he could have been. Pixal and Zane caught on quickly and watched the relationship bloom in the background, happy to see Lloyd smiling more than he'd been before.

And now...now Pixal felt very sorry for him.

"Where do you want them?"

"Reaper has requested for the prisoners to be taken to the war room."

"The kid? The kid's making calls now? This place is going to the dogs, I swear, Arsyn."

"Bad thing we're already bitches then, huh?" replied the so-called Arsyn with a scoff. Interesting, code names. "Better make it quick. The Lord isn't in a good mood right now and he's hungry for blood."

Pixal was shoved along through numerous corridors when they came to a stop outside a plain black door. The bags were snatched off and Pixal snuck Zane a reassuring smile. As always, he was the picture of calm, his blue eyes meeting her green with silent strength. A pillar of comfort she could always rely on.

"You can go through," muttered their captor, jerking their head towards the door.

Pixal stepped forwards, not wanting to waste another second and opened the door. She was not ready, not at all prepared to see the rest of her friends clustered one side of a gigantic table, maps, tables and charts strewn over it, with the infamous Lord Garmadon at the front.

His dark eyes met her and he nodded, dipping his head to the only free chairs by her friends.

"Take a seat Miss Borg. And you too, Mister Julien. We've got a lot to discuss."

o o o

Pixal had scanned the situation incorrectly.

Not all of her friends were present. Skylor, Jay and Nya, all looking battered and bruised were at the furthest end from Garmadon, Lloyd and Cole as a weird buffer in between. There were also three other people who Pixal remembered from school. Zander, Annabella and Kade. Kai was nowhere to be seen, a strange fact considering the rest of her friends were there. She sank into the chair slowly, feeling her skin prickle under the gaze of SOG members across the table.

"Now that we're all here," Garmadon said pleasantly, "I have a plan."

"Oh, now we have one?" snapped a hooded member. They threw their hood back, revealing sharp features, a glower and hair braided tightly.

Garmadon ignored her and looked to Pixal and her friends. "I heard my brother's been poisoning you with Vengestone tea. Devious and cunning, as he always was."

"He's what?" Zane spluttered. "What about Amnestone?"

"Doesn't exist," said a gruff voice from beside the girl who was still scowling at Garmadon. "Lloyd told me everything. Wu made it up, and the 'feeling' you've been having that he said was you focusing was really just your powers being blocked. I'm Titanium, by the way."

Zane looked to his hands in horror and Pixal patted him on the back gently. She knew how much he'd admired their ex-mentor and it hurt a lot to see someone sneak up from behind and stab them in the back.

"Why are we talking about this?" Nya spat harshly, her voice croaky and rough. Jay handed her a water bottle which she chugged from. "As far as we know, we can't trust you. You're just as bad as your brother."

"You're alive here, Smith." said the same girl as before, her voice dangerously low. "And I think that says enough, unless you want me to change that."

"Stand down, Reaper." Garmadon ordered, looking to Pixal's side with bleak honesty in his expression. "You need us. In a matter of hours, the city has been turned into a giant anti-elemental protest."

"You have done damage to us without even standing by our side." Skylor hissed, her eyes flickering to 'Reaper's'. "We could run."

"And they'd find you," Reaper said in the same cold tone as before. "They'd find you, and kill you. Or they'd put you on display and Wu would use you as a show of power, as puppets."

"It doesn't concern you though, the only elemental master you have is Garmadon." Jay countered, slipping his hand into Nya's. Her cheeks flushed pink but she kept her determined gaze on the argument.

Reaper barked out in laughter but her expression fell quickly. "Master of Death, pleased to you. Not really, but take a look behind you and you'll find Kade, Master of Healing, and Titanium here is the Master of Metal. So don't think it doesn't concern us, because it fucking does. Admit it, you need us."

Pixal glanced to her friends and their broken, battered expressions. They'd lost hope already, but were stubbornly fighting to remain independent. Of course, it was hard to trust anyone else when the person who had been feeding them everything had betrayed them.

"We need you," she said softly. "It doesn't mean we like you, but we need you. What's your plan?"

"We trash the city," Garmadon started carefully, watching them like a hawk. "But instead of swords and guns, we do it with elemental powers and show them that we are something to be afraid of."

"Isn't that counter intuitive to trying to reverse their anti-specialist-elements movement?" Someone said from the rank of SOG members.

"I just want to make trouble for Wu. If he sees we've formed a united front and that our powers are stronger than his and the masters he has on his side, he'll have a stick up his ass."

"Sir!" Gasped one of the members, clearly shocked.

"How are we supposed to get the Vengestone we've swallowed out of us? Only Nya and Kai have got their powers back." Lloyd said, and Pixal caught a hint of bitterness and jealousy in there.

Zane cleared his throat. "We don't know much about wielding our elements either. The Archives have turned out to be very unhelpful apart from divulging into certain personal areas and few tips that are available to us."

Garmadon laughed - an eerily similar laugh to the sharp bark Reaper had given earlier. "Wu gave you fakes? My, he's spent a long time planning this. I have the real copies of the Archives with me, he must have copied them when we were younger. What a sneaky bearded bastard."

"Again, how are we getting our elements?" Lloyd repeated harshly to his father.

"Oh, we're going to pump your stomachs." Another SOG member said offhandedly. "We can't exactly give you a traumatic experience to endure at the moment, but once it's out of your system and with some sparring and riling up it should kick back in."

Everyone grimaced, Jay most of all. "For our elements, heh?" He chuckled nervously, and Pixal sent him a sympathetic look.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" Garmadon stood and looked at them. "Reaper and Titanium will assist you after you have your stomachs pumped. In three hours, my troops will be assembled to work alongside you, and at midnight we shall strike."

There was a dangerous, hungry glint in his eyes. "Welcome to war, little ones."

astra

Seeing Jay Walker get his stomach pumped was incredibly hilarious.

He shivered and trembled when Obi and Joker put the pipe down his throat and then went fairly still as the numbing kicked in on his throat. She was very glad she hadn't consumed any Vengestone since getting your stomach pumped looked to be a very uncomfortable process.

Lounging in one of the chairs, she watched as Jay was moved to another bed and Skylor was prepped to get her stomach pumped. There was only Lloyd, Cole and Zane left after her, and with an hour's rest with their elemental healing, they should be ready for Astra and Titanium to kick start their elements.

It would be fun.

They were currently waiting in the reception. Her legs were lying on Kade's lap as she squished herself into the chair next to him so her spine resembled a cooked piece of spaghetti. In a hoodie and sweatpants, she was very comfortable and hoped that Kade wouldn't move. His hair had gone uncut for a long time and was parted down the middle, framing his boyish face quite nicely.

He scrolled through his phone as she did, tapping to the gentle rhythm of the song playing on her socked feet. Really, if it was anyone else messing up the beat to Ophelia and playing with the cuff of her pants, she might have hit them over the head, but it was Kade.

And that confused her so much.

How could one person make her feel...she couldn't describe it, the feeling of freeness and comfort, trust, and loyalty that lay in those blue eyes that told her everything.

Kade made her feel good about herself.

"What?" His mouth stretched into an easy smile as he cocked his head. "You're staring at me."

"No I'm not," she said quickly. "There's a, uh, um, a bee on the wall behind you."

"Are you sure?" Kade raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Yes, yes I'm very sure. Why?"

"I have a severe allergy to bees, Astra. I have to remind you every three weeks."

"Lactose intolerant and allergic to bees? Man, your life is—"

"So there's no bee?"

"It flew away?"

"Yeah right," he laughed and looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Do you have—"

"—chocolate chip with walnuts? Yeah." She fished around in her pockets and brought out a plastic bag with a slightly crushed gigantic cookie for Kade. "I made them at like three this morning so it's not exactly fresh, sorry."

"Oh, that's where you were."

Right he was just up at three am looking for me. Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool.

"They're ready to go," Obi said, walking into the reception with her hair twisted back and bags under her eyes.

Astra reluctantly removed her legs from Kade's lap and yawned, stumbling in Kade's side as they walked out to the arena. She stripped off her jumper and pants, leaving her in her training clothes. Still slightly dozy, she stretched and nodded to the other elemental masters as they gathered around the mat, all with a vague expression like they wanted to puke.

"Nya, you'll go with Titanium. He'll give you a rundown in some basic exercises in case your elemental powers fail you. Once these guys have their powers working we'll group back." The Smith sibling glared at her, but walked away with Titanium as she turned to the remaining elemental masters. Zane, Lloyd, Cole, Skylor and Jay were attempting a strange sort of stretching exercise. Kade was just stretching normally, his muscles flexing as he moved into a lunge.

"What the hell are you doing?" She laughed as they all frowned at her from the wacky position they were in.

"Uh, flying elephant? Wu taught it to us." Jay said matter of factly.

"When will you learn to ignore everything Wu's taught you? A guy with that long of a beard cannot be trusted. Forget everything he's taught you and just listen to me."

Astra quickly ran through some stretching exercises and then gave them a meditation routine to complete. They could either bring out their elements with harsh emotions like hers, Nya's or Kai's. Or, she could try and instill their bodies into complete calm, and with the Vengestone out of their systems, it should theoretically be easy. She produced a bowl of water for Zane, a handful of pebbles and rocks for Cole, a lamp for Jay and a light bulb for Lloyd.

Jay's and Lloyd's powers confused her, but as Garmadon had explained to her, Jay could only use electrical energy, whereas Lloyd's powers could theoretically change into any type of energy. She'd have Lloyd heat up a kettle if his powers worked well enough, but it would be easy for him and Jay to work alongside each other.

"Feeling calm?" She asked as their eyes opened. They nodded and glanced at the materials in front of them. "I'm sure you can guess what these are for. I'll come by you one by one starting with Zane, but for now just try and guess or have a go at using them."

Astra sat next to Zane, shivering slightly at the coldness he radiated naturally. They went through what Zane thought his element was about, and then she asked him to hold the bowl and think about their brainstorm. It was slow, sure, but it was amazing to see. The bowl of water slowly froze itself and Zane was overjoyed with himself.

She repeated this procedure several times with the rest of the masters, unique to their own element. Cole created a mini earthquake with the few pebbles, Jay managed to light the lamp for a few seconds and Lloyd...Lloyd did nothing except summon a swirling ball of green stuff that did nothing but numb you, almost as if it sucked out your energy.

Not what she was originally going for, but they had to work with it. For the next half an hour, with Nya back, she and Titanium worked on them replicating their powers on bigger scales. It was harder for her since her powers were still iffy, but Kade was another voice of advice as he helped the newbies magnify their elements. They found the most effective measures, unfortunately, were subjecting them to their fears.

At the moment, Nya and Jay were very against the idea of fire, which Astra used against them. She felt a little sorry for Jay, not at all for Nya because Kai had burnt her sister like a chicken nugget. She was in her own room in the hospital, wrapped from head to toe in bandages and slathered with burn salve. In one of the gigantic training rooms, Astra watched their small elemental alliance with a grim expression.

It had taken a lot of prodding and whining and blathering to get the newbies to wear the shock bracelets. The shocks would do something fancy that Maya had cooked up for Astra, but essentially triggered fears or memories that would short circuit their elemental powers into overdrive. All they had to work on right now was focusing on controlling these overwhelmed powers, at least a little.

However much Garmadon wanted to cause chaos and war, they couldn't let the entire city be destroyed.

Although he's a dickhead, it's a shame we don't have fire. Wait a minute—

"Skylor!" Astra yelled, beckoning the girl over. "We're going to visit your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." Skylor said stoutly as they entered the hospital.

"Alright, don't get your pants in a twist. Touch him."

"Touch him?"

"To absorb his powers? God, Wu really lead you on didn't he?"

"I haven't done it before," Skylor whispered, staring at Kai's sleeping form. Astra sensed it went deeper than that and sat down next to the redhead.

"Look, I know you're sorta angry at me for uh, stabbing him, but it would really help if you used his powers. The more elements the better, huh?"

"I...can't touch him. I just can't." She replied, her voice shaky slightly before it strengthened. "But maybe...I can borrow Nya's? In any case when we're uh, destroying the city, their powers would counteract each other, so more water would probably be more effective, right?"

Astra nodded feverishly. More power was better in any case. "Sure, sure, I'll get you a bracelet and Nya can explain to you what she's learnt so far."

Skylor nodded as they walked back out towards the training area and Astra sucked in a breath at the magnificent sight.

It was sad what they had to do to jump start their powers, but the humongous wave of water crackling alive with webs of electricity sent shivers down her spine as Jay and Nya slowly worked together, parting their powers and rejoining them, egged on by the memory shocks. It was less effective for Jay since he was the lightning elemental, but it worked, and that's all they needed.

Zane was working with Pixal to upload something to himself. Astra had been shocked, but not surprised, at the fact that Zane and Pixal were androids. Robots, but given their...peculiar behaviour she'd seen at school, she couldn't say she was surprised. Pixal was helping Zane with something she'd already downloaded to give herself fighting abilities, and as always, the more manpower the better. They were now brainstorming how to use his ice and newfound fighting skills together.

Cole and Lloyd's powers were harder for her to have working together. Cole was working on earth walls, dragging them out of the ground, spiked by the feelings and memories prodded by the shocks. Lloyd...she had no fucking idea what Lloyd was doing, and it didn't look like he did either. He just had orbs of green energy floating around while he meditated, and the Lord himself training his son.

At some point Garmadon had handed out the real Archives and everyone was balancing in between reading and trying out the lessons. Self taught elementals were often the strongest, Garmadon had said. So he just jumped in occasionally and tried not to make the elemental he was teaching shake in their boots from fear, but they seemed to value his advice.

Finally, two hours after getting their stomachs pumped, they were strapping on their gear.

The new elementals had moved into her dorm for the time being, her old roommate had finally made it from apprentice to a fully trained member, so there was even more extra room for the five people staying in the dorm. When they walked back in after showers, they found on each bed a new set of uniforms.

There were all the same fitted black base, stretchy material for flexibility and cool fabric. Astra slipped hers on, noting the threaded dark purple outlining it and creating swirling patterns, a detachable hood and cape, special slits in her boots for more daggers and a purple threaded utility belt holding the scabbard for her katana.

She made quick work of her weapons, checking them before sheathing her sword and knives and slinging her bow and quiver over her back.

"We look very...badass," Pixal commented, admiring her uniform. Her details were swirls of silver-emerald green.

Skylor's were an orange that surprisingly didn't clash with her hair and Nya's was an ocean blue that matched her eyes. Bells sat on her bed sketching out something, a knife lying next to her.

"Good luck. Oh, when you come back I have some ideas to speak with your clothes department, Astra. The capes are highly ineffective, but showy. The gesture is appreciated."

"Thanks, Bells." Astra glanced at her comm and looked to the others. "It's time."

They walked silently to the underground parking base where Astra sat on her bike, fiddling with some extra controls and loading additional arrows and bolts into the hidden compartment. Jay, Skylor and Nya were being driven by Arsyn while the boys were being driven by Typhoon.

The city was eerily quiet, like Wu had ordered them in wait for the last charge. The sky glittered down on them, streets barely illuminated by weak cold lights. It felt like the perfect setting for the final battle. Astra parked her bike in a lot and remembered the location in her comm for later and climbed up the ladder to perch on the rooftop of a two-storey bakery, scanning her surroundings while Thorn's GA training hammered into her head kicked in.

With DEAWS performed, Astra lifted up the mask to cover half her face, listening for the beat of footsteps to come.

"Arsyn, Ty, have you guys arrived at the rendezvous point yet? Over and out."

"We have arrived, Arsyn over and out."

"We have arrived, Typhoon over and out."

"Maul will let us know when they are coming." Astra watched as a dark figure clambered up the ladder, their metal armour and shields concealed by black cloth.

"Titanium, you ready?"

"As ever, Reaper."

"This Maul, their first ranks are approaching Reaper and Titanium's position. Over and out."

Astra nodded to herself, hiding the adrenaline kicked smile as she nocked her first explosive arrow. Titanium discarded the black cloth, revealing two kite-shaped arm shields with metal feathers and a hammer at his hip.

"Zeroed in, fifty metres away from vantage point. Over and out."

She saw the first ranks of the police section march forwards and froze at the magnitude of the army. Wu's allies severely outweighed theirs. He had the Serpentine gang, his elemental masters, and the Ninjago City resting army. Their scouts told them it wasn't his full force out tonight - that would be plain stupid, but they outnumbered them three to one as it already was.

"In line," Maul said confidently, "Fire."

Astra shot off three arrows quickly and ducked at the return gunfire, pleased to hear the yell from the explosions peppering the ground. Titanium flung up a shield made of metal pieces left on the rooftop conveniently into a wall as Astra sent off six more arrows and heard them punch through their mark.

"Up there, on the rooftop!" Shouted the Police Commissioner gruffly.

"You're a right prick, you know that?" She yelled back, sighting simultaneously.

"Open fire!" He commanded, and she flung herself down to the rooftop as Titanium's shield was battered with bullets trying to get through the thick metal.

"Typhoon, get your elementals and troops out now," Astra barked into her comm. She dropped her bow to summon all evil thoughts (example, her parents) and formed a gigantic purple ball. She threw it down at the crowd of police officers and frowned as they quickly shook off the decaying effect. Some of them dropped to the ground, but it was clear she still didn't have a hang on her powers.

"Watch out men, the earth elemental's on the—AH!" Screamed a commander as Cole's powers rippled through the city. The shocks are working well. Astra dropped down a floor and stood on the balcony, pleased at the sight of their chaos before her.

Cole was bringing up walls of earth and rock wherever Wu's forces tried to leave, but he couldn't hold them for long. Zane then sent in his ice to reinforce the walls, striking up spikes of ice when possible. Zane and Cole were simply their boxers - cramming Wu into a space where Nya, Jay and Skylor would do the real damage. And if Lloyd got a hold on his energy, that would be preferable too.

"Send in Pixal and Zane with Typhoon and Arsyn. Nya, Jay and Skylor, let's flood this bitch."

Astra had never really liked swimming, but at that moment, she knew if she was down there, she'd be doggy paddling for her life. The trio had been dropped off near one of the biggest water and electrical sources in Ninjago, and the wall of water that was slowly forming with the combined efforts of Nya and Skylor looked freaking awesome.

Then Jay stepped in and began incorporating his lightning that mixed with the restless water waiting for their call, swirling a magnificent cascade of blues shimmering under the stars.

"Let it drop in three, two, one, now!"

The wall turned into a huge wave that plummeted down to the police and army ranks, crackling alive with electricity and raw elemental powers. It smashed like a hammerhead into the front ranks as the soldiers desperately tried to keep afloat but were shocked with the lightning rampaging through the water. Screams and wails filled the city and echoed back an eerie song of misery as they swam for their lives.

"Let's fucking go, hell yeah!" She cheered, already climbing down to the main streets. "Release the pack, Big G!"

She tumbled neatly to stand on her feet as the water push died away, leaving shocked people frozen and numb as Astra loaded her crossbow and shot off several bolts straight for the conscious people. Titanium moved in a blur of metal beside her, making sure the semi conscious people would stay unconscious with a mighty sweep of his hammer.

Now that Wu's forces thought their elemental push was over, they were rejuvenated and pulled out their weapons with a growl. But first, the Serpentine gang tried to stride intimidatingly to front as they sharpened their curved swords and marched forwards.

She was aware of the Sons of Garmadon forces following her and Titanium forwards before they halted. Two sides, one dressed in all black and welcomed by the shadows, the other a mess of colours for each tribe they worshipped. Her eyes picked out the commanders in each shamble of a rank and she shot off the first arrow for the leader of the Hypnobrai.

That's for sending a fucking high school kid to kill me you bastard. He fell back with a scream and the Serpentine gang leapt forwards to meet the deadly lines of Garmadon's forces. Her katana slashed through the lines remorselessly as her suit splattered with dark blood, punching in and out of bodies that crumbled with satisfying wails of pain from the Serpentine half.

As a Fangpyre member threw a spinning knife towards her, Astra rolled forwards and hissed as it nicked her ear and prompted hot blood to flow down. She threw the knife back at the Fangpyre and rolled forwards to pummelled them with a series of efficient jabs that knocked them out cold.

"Nya, another water wall please. Not as big, but Skylor, double Jay's lightning in there. Build and drop as soon as you can." Astra whispered hurriedly into her comm as she twisted around a sword, avoided a gunshot and felt her fingers automatically prepare her crossbow and shot another Venomari with a twisted smile.

"But it'll hurt you guys too!" Jay countered and then yelled as she heard a sword swipe over him. His shock bracelet went off and he retaliated against the enemy with bolts of lightning.

"Thanks for caring Walker, but our suits are made of some shit that will block most of your electricity. Now hurry and get it going!"

Barely a minute passed when she heard the familiar shouts of fear as another wall of freezing cold water crashed down on them and the doubled lightning made quick work of shocking even more troops temporarily. Cole and Zane were working together even from afar as the former summoned huge pillars to sprout up out of nowhere and the latter was making the streets of the city an ice porcupine.

It was perfect chaos and she loved it.

Wu's troops were scattered and scared as they fled from the raging, raw power of the elements that they feared.

And then it all went quiet.

The billboards came to life, the image flickering slightly before revealing Wu standing solemnly in front of the camera. Astra watched his every move carefully as Wu summoned a spiral of golden whisps to curl around his forearm gently. Any hope of a fake had disappeared as his element settled itself into the shape of a tea cup and then formed one.

"Brother, I appreciate your sadistic efforts to try and prove yourself, but all you've done is reveal your hand of cards. There's no way my former bumbling baboons of students would be able to coordinate this. I suppose it's only fair if I share my own card. Please step in...Dr Borg."

Fuck. Pixal isn't going to—

"Thank you Emperor Wu. It's a pleasure to see you all standing here, fighting for what you...what you believe is right." She frowned as Borg's stumble, as his happy expression returned and he smiled once again. "As the biggest technological provider, I want to help Ninjago advance its technology to make the people happier."

"And to do that, I'm glad to say that I'll be helping Emperor Wu in his journey for a new, better era. Whatever ties my past may have had is cut. I have been...f-funding his rise to the throne and will continue helping him as I k-know it's the right decision."

"FUCK YOU!" Astra bellowed loudly, but Borg couldn't hear her through the screen.

"Now, I'd like to invite our newest...helper, you may say, on screen." His joyous smile changed to a forced conniving grin. "Please don't struggle, Master Chen. After all, it's for your daughter."

Master Chen of the famous noodle house chain was wrestled on camera by two bully boys, his crazed, red tinged eyes staring at the camera wildly.

"Ari—Aria? Are you, are you there? I can see you, I can see you, I can see everything—"

"What have you done with my father?" screamed Skylor's voice, just as a swirling ball of raw Amber power smashed into the big screen and cracked it. "I HATE YOU WU, I HATE YOU!"

"That's not all folks!" Borg continued cheerily, ignoring the scene behind him with a fake smile. "Miss Maya Smith is also in our custody! Don't worry Nya, we'll keep her safe as long as you comply! Unfortunately, Dr Julien and Mr Brookstone of the Royal Blacksmiths couldn't make it tonight, but never fear, we're still looking for them!"

"If Garmadon wants to bomb it, bomb it now." Astra yelled into her comm, already gesturing for the SOG troops to start retreating. "Before they all get mad and start hurting us too!"

They were a little too late, however, and even the shock waves couldn't match the hurricane flying through the streets, followed by a deep rumbling under ground and a shower of ice shooting down on them.

"Arsyn, Ty, get them the fuck out there right now. Big G, get your troops moving, holy shit run people." Astra snapped, jumping onto her bike and revving it. "Let's go, Duckman!"

She navigated the streets easily, weaving through the running crowds as she watched the elementals be consumed by their powers, overwhelmed. Jay's eyes turned a shocking blue as a swirling web of lightning circled him. Arsyn was desperately trying to calm him down, and before Astra knew it Cole was running past, launching himself into the air with a feral growl as armour made out of rocks clung to his body. Zane was frozen over with ice, his shurikens spinning out mercilessly.

The most frightening thing that she would never admit was the light shining in their eyes instead of their normal eyes, tinted with the colour of their element as they wrecked the city even more than before. Arsyn finally resorted to clapping Vengestone cuffs of Jay which dulled down his power considerably, yet the other two were still running free. Astra had seen Lloyd picked up from Titanium as they headed for HQ, but there was one person she still needed to find.

Where was Kade?

She had to find him before they dropped their Blast Sap bombs, their final move against Wu with the materials they'd collected from his bombings.

"KADE!" She yelled, catching sight of him bent over someone, his hands gloved in a pastel orange as he healed a side wound of a citizen.

"Astra!" He beamed up at her. "Your friends are really crazy with their powers."

"They're not my friends," she replied quickly, tugging him away from the groaning patient. "We need to go before they drop the Blast Sap."

"You're destroying the city more?" His eyes widened.

She shook her head. "Garmadon is bombing the city. I don't speak for him. We have to go now."

"But so many people out here are hurt! If they see that my elemental power won't hurt them maybe they'll slack off yours." Kade countered, resisting her efforts to drag him away.

"T-minus fifteen second to Blast Sap release." said Maul, sounding a little too happy for her liking.

"Kade, we have to go now. These people who you want to help hurt us, and there's no point. They're long gone by the time the Blast Sap will come—"

"Ten seconds, is everyone under cover?"

"Please, I don't want them to be afraid of you. You always act tough but you're not something to be afraid of, Starra."

"They have to be afraid of me, okay?" Astra snapped, hating the crack in her voice that gave it away. "We are not dying because you were too stubborn to—"

"Release! Hell yeah, let's go—"

Her eyes flicked up in terror at the helicopters holding the thin bags full of Blast Sap that were primed and already falling towards them. The survivors and injured on the street cried out weakly in fear and Astra looked around for shelter, but Kade had chosen the worst spot to heal people smack bang in the middle of the road.

The Blast Sap was already falling and the bottom had split.

In a last ditch attempt, Astra threw her hands up and was vaguely aware of Kade doing the same, and a shimmering purple shield threaded with gold shielding them.

Still, it wasn't enough.

You want to be a hero? Die like one.

A/N:

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

❝ This is the end

Hold your breath and count to ten

Feel the earth moving and then

Hear my heart burst again

For this is the end ❞

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Skyfall, Adele

0:00━━━━━━━━━4:46

p.s yes i know i used this for a oneshot already but the song is too fucking good for the drama. epilogue on thursday. also, 10k chapter pog? Also all creds to techno for that last line. it's a crime we didn't get his speeches.