Harumi's POV

The grassland seemed to have stretched on forever. But after several days of walking, we had finally gotten across. After that, there were mountains. Hundreds and thousands of mountains, but at least they weren't that high. Silly child me used to think that the foot of a mountain was just where the slab of rock was connected to the ground. Turns out it was hills at first, then they would slowly get steeper and become mountains.

We mostly traversed through the valleys, as uphill travelling was tiring, but after many protests from Jay, we sat down to take a break. By that point, we were out of food (somehow even with Zane's intelligence and one less person to take care of we were terrible at rationing). There were no nearby towns or villages, and my stomach had been grumbling for hours.

I felt terrible since I hadn't washed in ages. There was some sort of putrid stank emitting from my body that I'd sadly gotten used to already, my scalp itched, and the clothes I had on were starting to become extremely uncomfortable. Everyone else seemed to be going through the same experience but there was an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't talk about it. At least we could brush our teeth and drink, thanks to Nya.

Ruby and I sat slightly off to the side while the others talked. She rocked back and forth on her knees, looking worried.

"These mountains give me a bad vibe," she whispered nervously, squeezing my hand.

"It'll be fine," I assured her, though I highly doubted it. To be honest, I was probably much more nervous than she was. The mountains looked perfectly normal, yet there was something formidable about them that sent chills down my spine.

"I don't know..." Ruby murmured. She fiddled with her thumbs nervously.

"Well, it'll be fine," I heaved a sigh. The last thing I wanted was to have to leave her behind. She wouldn't be able to survive out here all alone.

"Isn't there another, better, way? To get across, I mean," Ruby said worriedly, "Do we have to get through here?"

"It's the quickest route," I explained, "Don't you want to get rid of the Shadow Knight as soon as possible?"

"Yes! I do!" she cried earnestly, "I'm just..."

I pushed myself off the ground. "Be strong, Ruby. I know you can. I'm going to check on the others, okay?"

She nodded meekly and I headed towards them. Lloyd looked at me and grinned feebly. We hadn't talked to each other much since the encounter with the cursed forest. Though he had been talking to Morro, he immediately diverted his attention to me when I walked over. This made me feel guilty when I realized I'd been ignoring him for quite some time.

"Hey," I said, forcing the corners of my mouth to go up.

"Hey," he replied in a similar fashion. I sat down beside him and took his hand, and for a while, neither of us spoke.

Morro got up and headed to Cole and Zane quietly, probably trying to go unnoticed. I glanced at his retreating back, feeling awkward about butting in on their conversation.

Lloyd's thumb traced circles on my palm, and I could hear his steady breathing by my ear. What would've happened if I had just been a good princess and convinced myself that my adoptive parents cared about me (as much as I wished otherwise, the thought brought forth a sour taste in my mouth)? Lloyd and I could've met sometime in the future, since I had seen Master Garmadon pay us a visit once. We could've been together.

I closed my eyes and imagined what could've been. Yet somehow something still felt off. I did love him, didn't I? Even though back in Ninjago I had fabricated a false love with him, I must've never realized that I had grown to love him as well. I had been scared and afraid as to what might happen if I ever loved again.

Maybe that was why I had never opened my heart to anyone since my parents' deaths. I didn't want to lose anyone else. After this was all over, Jade City Lloyd and I could be together. Yet somewhere deep inside I worried that this was all still a false love, a love I had convinced myself of existing in order to redeem myself in my own eyes. Was I incapable of loving again, and only meant to seek vengeance, deceive, and hate? Ninjago Lloyd now hated me forever. And even in this realm, I had gotten Kai killed. The Oni were named the "Bringers of Destruction". What was I?

If Lloyd was in Ninjago, and he had a counterpart here, then what about mine? Parallel realms (or whatever this was to Ninjago) just didn't make sense this way. If people had counterparts, then that meant everything everyone did mirrored their counterparts. Because in order for them to exist, their ancestors had to have done what they did. And if nothing different happened to their ancestors, then why should the present generation be any different? If I changed something (which I did, by leading Kai to his demise), that would mean I changed everything leading on from that point forward. Which meant I destroyed an entire system of realms. I had better ask Morro about it soon. He seemed to know more about Jade City than I did.

I stood up, and Lloyd looked at me, his eyebrows slightly raised.

"We should move," I told him.

He nodded and went to tell the others while I left to get Ruby. As much as she didn't want to enter the mountains, she still reluctantly agreed. I watched Lloyd as he laughed with Cole; Nya as she fought to smile at Jay's jokes; Morro as he studied the map with Zane, looking wary of our surroundings. My sister clutched my arm tightly.

"It'll be fine," I assured her soothingly, "Whatever happens, I'll protect you. You'll be safe. I promise."

She brushed her hair out of her face and kissed my cheek. A tingling sensation went through my body, starting from the point where her lips touched my skin. I felt goosebumps rise up all over my arms, but that was probably just my body preparing but what was coming next.

As the hours passed by, the hills were becoming steeper, and I could already see the mountains in the distance. The late afternoon sun blazed over our heads, throwing shadows on the ground on our left sides. Sweat beads trickled down my forehead, and I reached into my thick hair and felt my neck. It was wet and very uncomfortable. Looking ahead, I saw that Jay, Cole, Zane, and Nya were quite far ahead by now. Lloyd and Morro were talking amiably, and I wondered how much they really had to say to each other.

Ruby and I were at the very back of the line and slowly falling behind. She breathed heavily, occasionally grabbing me to keep herself steady. Ruby wasn't built for long journeys. I waited for her patiently whenever this happened. The hills were becoming mountains as green life started to get scarce. I worried that we wouldn't be able to find food. Pushing the thought away, I mostly focused on keeping up with the rest, because if I didn't, it would be all the worse for everyone.

Three weeks, a person can survive three weeks without food. So we'll be fine. Never in my life (though I was dead) had I imagined that I would end up in this state. Walking for hours without rest, worrying about whether we would ever be able to get food, and wearing stinky clothes that hadn't been washed in over a week. But yeah, I kinda deserved this. Hopefully Ninjago was fine, and Emperor Garmadon hadn't destroyed it yet.

By the time we caught up with the others, it was dusk and the Ninja had started making their way up large boulders, which marked where the hills morphed into mountains. I was walking with Ruby, about to climb onto the rocks, when I heard it. We all did.

There was a rustling sound behind us, yet when we turned, there was nothing behind us. If something was there, we should be able to see it, since there were no bushes to hide whatever made the sound. My first instinct was Shadow Riders. Morro crept up beside me, drawing a sword. I took out my dagger. Ruby jumped behind a rock, shaking, and I could hear her petrified breathing behind me. Morro walked past, as soundlessly as a ghost, blade at the ready. His dark green eyes narrowed into slits as his black hair flew in the wind behind him. Except that there was no wind.

I hurried to where Ruby was, treading carefully so I wouldn't make a sound. She was huddled up in a ball, her face pale and her eyes wide. I gave her hand a quick squeeze and glanced back over my shoulder. Morro's poise had relaxed slightly, but he was still vigilant and alert, sword in one hand and air swirling around the other.

Something was moving in the grass.

Lloyd's POV

Swarms of flying beetles rose from the ground and I found myself frozen to the spot. How did I not notice that many bugs? Did they want revenge because one of us stepped on them?

There were hundreds, no, hundreds of thousands of insects surrounding us, like a thick, dark cloud. Though I couldn't actually see their faces, from the angry buzzing I heard, I was fairly certain their multifaceted eyes were glaring at us. They drew in, closer and closer...

My body acted of its own accord. Out of my hands came large green energy balls, blasting away swarms of insects and shrouding everyone in a bright light. Morro shouted something, but I couldn't hear him. I threw orbs this way and that, the light so bright it was blinding me. I was jumping and throwing and attacking and spinning and I couldn't control myself.

My hands were heating up for some reason. It had never happened before. I had shut my eyes due to the overwhelming brightness of my energy, but when I opened them a teensy bit, I could see red light mixed in with the green, for some reason, and figured I was seeing things. I shut them once more and landed back on the ground, as light as a feather. When I reopened my eyes, the bugs had closed in on me and were beginning to lift me into the air with them, despite not making contact with my body at all.

"Lloyd!" Rumi shouted from below. I looked down at her and shrugged stupidly. Morro tried to fly up, but the beetles prevented him from doing so. He tried to use his Wind powers, but there were too many of them around me for this to work effectively, though it did blow away quite a few. And by quite a few, I meant a lot. Like a few thousand, at least, but the number was still too small compared to the total amount. No wonder people say "There's safety in numbers".

My feet dangled in the air below me, and I felt light as a feather, yet inside, I was panicking. I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage as the bugs carried me higher and higher. Cole jumped and tried to catch my ankle, only to get stung by a nearby beetle. He shrieked and sucked his wrist, spitting and sucking, then spitting again. Jay, Zane, Nya, and Morro all worked together with their powers, but still couldn't get rid of enough bugs, as Cole kneeled on the ground, clutching his wrist. It was starting to get all red and blotchy, at least I thought it was. I couldn't see much from that height.

My mind was racing. Were they going to eat me? But why me? Was it because I attacked them? I wasn't all that big in size, only a scrawny boy of fourteen. If they were going to eat anyone, I'd bet that they'd choose Cole. He was tall and muscular...

I wanted to slap myself for thinking such things. Some friend I was, wishing for Cole to be eaten instead of myself.

Praying with all my might, I hoped that they captured me for some other reason. It could be a stupid reason, like they wanted an entertainer to sing and dance and just grabbed me because I could make green lights...? Or maybe not. Even in my head it sounded extremely stupid.

The bugs around me buzzed angrily as they carried me further and further away from my friends, all the way to the top of the highest mountain. I hoped that they would bring me to some sort of cave. It was starting to get cold, and caves, however dark and creepy they might seem, were warm when we needed them to be. I looked back down for my friends and nearly screamed. My feet were hanging at least a few hundred feet above the ground. Supported by nothing but the bugs, who could drop me at any moment. Maybe that was what they were doing. They wanted to kill me. Drop me from that height and they could. In a snap.

Even as I was thinking about how my friends might save me, I knew they couldn't. It was starting to get dark, and I began to have trouble seeing any of the bugs around me, let alone the ground. I highly doubted that my friends could possibly see a falling body in the day fast enough, let alone at night. My only hope was that the beetles would bring me somewhere and deal with me then. Hopefully the others would just go ahead and set up camp for now. It wasn't like I was on my deathbed at the time being.

I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes tightly. If they went out in search of me at this time of night, bad things were bound to happen.

Just as I had expected and hoped, the beetles brought me into a cave at the top of the tallest mountain. They set me on the ground (very lightly) and most of them stood, or hovered, around me, while a few others went deeper inside. Fire torches lined the cave walls, setting a red and orange glow on the ground. Strange place for bugs to live in, I said to myself, looking around. The warm light was welcoming, but there was also something eerie about the place, something that told me there was more beneath the surface, more than what meets the eye. I had a feeling that I would find out what it was soon enough. Maybe there was the slimmest of chances they might not kill/eat me after all.

The buzzing had died down earlier, but now it had resumed. I looked up to see a youngish looking girl walk towards me, her light brown hair bouncing on her shoulders. She stared at me with piercing green eyes, her expression grave.

My eyes widened in shock. I'd expected to see some sort of human-sized mutant cockroach, not a girl. Nothing about her was insect-like, except for her knee-length dress, which, by design only, resembled a body of one of the beetles. Slightly. It was mostly the color and the texture.

She must've seen the expression on my face, because she said, in an amused voice, "I am the queen of these mountains, and you seemed to have trespassed into our land without our permission." Her voice was mature and ancient, which didn't suit her appearance at all. Like Rumi, she was slender and a bit shorter than I was, but she gave off an aura of age, despite having a young appearance. Her skin was a light tan, with eyes so green they looked out of place on her face. They were definitely brighter than mine, and looked as if they were glowing.

"Are you going to eat me?" I asked, surprisingly calmly.

She smirked. "No. But I'm glad you finally came, Chosen One."

A/N: Okay, so school starts on Tuesday next week for me, so even though I do have a lot of chapters written already, editing always takes me forever (aghhh why does Draft 1 have to be so badddddd), so I might slow the updates to a chapter a week. I'll post an announcement if/when that happens.

Also, I know this typically goes into my art dump and some of you have probably seen it, but I'm so proud of this (still, don't hesitate to critique if you think it's garbage lol), so I'm going to post my digital drawing of Zane here as well:

Yeah, I do realize it looks like he's wielding blue fire... drawing is hard (and not to mention his hands are kinda wonky). And I can't draw noses. Since I've said enough in my art dump, I'll stop the blabbing before you get bored XD

What did you guys think of this chapter? Any thoughts/predictions? No more forest lol, that's for sure.

Thank you guys so much for reading, voting, and commenting! :D