Morro's POV

I instinctively reached for the dagger at my belt, only to find thick, black, cloudy tendrils twisting around my arms and torso, winding so tightly it was near impossible to move. Gasping, I hissed as a wave of cold washed through my body, and in that moment, I wondered if I was going to die. I opened my mouth to shout, but before I could make a sound, one of the tentacle things shoved its way between my teeth.

At once it felt like a million thin, ice-cold daggers were jamming into my brain through the roof of my mouth, slicing my bones into fragments. The pain was blinding and I twisted in agony before I realized the more I resisted, the worse it got, not that not resisting made things any better. As I fought every muscle in my body to not grimace, I looked up at Ruby's smiling face, wondering how I was able to see anything.

"Do you like it?" she asked, in a voice so sugary sweet I wanted to gag. Somehow I could still breathe, though the tendrils, which seemed to be repeatedly stabbing me with thousands and thousands of needles, were making that simple task increasingly difficult.

"It's okay, I'll just wait." Ruby, or more accurately, the Shadow Knight, leaned against a tree with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched me struggle, her sapphire blue eyes gleaming.

I wanted to ask "wait for what?" but couldn't as the tentacles wrapped around me even tighter. My arms, torso, and head felt as if they were being slowly sliced in half. It was torturous, especially when I thought about how utterly helpless I was. How long would she keep me here, and how could I escape to warn the others?

The Shadow Knight and my surroundings began disappearing and fading into black. Memories flashed before my eyes, memories of Ninjago that might not even be my own. I watched how Lloyd Garmadon, the stupid brat that released hordes of Serpertine to attack everyone, got handed the Green Ninja gi with no prior training whatsoever. He didn't even know what it meant until the others had to explain.

I saw myself as a child, pulling an endless number of all-nighters to perfect my skills in the training course so that I could show him new stunts I'd learned the next day. Once, when I was ten, I broke my arm, and though Wu insisted on making me take care of it, once nightfall came I resumed my training. I watched myself hissing and writhing on the ground after getting struck down but refusing to cry out in case I woke my master.

It was naive of me to assume that my grit and determination and refusal to give up could've meant anything to destiny.

Switch to another shot of Lloyd marching around with a wheelbarrow of candy, laughing his wannabe evil laugh and yelling about how his plan was pure genius.

Then I realized that this must be what they meant when they said kissing the Shadow Knight would lead to corruption... I tried to push the thoughts out of my head, but they weren't going anywhere. I saw Lloyd standing in his tree house with his stupid cape, proudly showing off the sign that said "no ninja allowed." Lloyd whining over his barrel of candy that had been knocked over. Lloyd screaming "retreat" every time the Ninja had the slightest upper hand...

I tried to turn away from the scenes, but my body, which was frozen in place, refused to play its part.

With that came more scenes of myself getting thrown across the training course, standing up again every time even when I was bleeding and refusing to stop until at least an hour had passed after time was up. Wu told me I needed to get rest, but with the title of "the Green Ninja" at stake, I didn't listen.

But nothing I did was ever enough.

Lloyd stomped around making faces as he talked about how stupid the Ninja were, of how they'd ruined his "master plan," whatever that was. The kid laughed "evilly" as he pulled out a can and began muttering to himself about how they were actually filled with rubber snakes that looked "so real you can't tell the difference."

I tried to remind myself of how I'd been arrogant and obsessed and thought of myself as better than everyone else while Lloyd always put his friends at equal footing once he'd found the right path. There was a difference, and that was why he was the Green Ninja and I wasn't.

He'd been a brat at first, but that was because he was misguided. Once he realized his true destiny, he'd done everything he could to fulfill it, even if he was terrible at his job in the beginning. Lloyd did everything in his power to protect Ninjago, even if that meant fighting his own father. Meanwhile I'd fought my own father figure once he told me the truth about my destiny.

Lloyd deserved the title, not me...

My head pounded as I fought to keep these thoughts going around. Deep down, I figured these attempts were fruitless, but it was worth trying. I was probably breathing heavily, not that I could see myself.

No, Morro, you deserve to be the Green Ninja. You trained so hard, but it was handed to this spoiled brat.

I didn't deserve to be the Green Ninja. I didn't deserve to be the Green Ninja...

Yes, you do. You can go back to Ninjago and claim what is yours once and for all.

I couldn't disappoint again. He'd tried to save me even after I'd tried and failed to kill his pupils and curse all of the realm. The least I could do was not attack Ninjago again.

Yet my voice was starting to get drowned out by the other. I couldn't hear anything else, not even my own heart, which I was certain was beating like crazy.

You should've been the Green Ninja. Why don't you go show Wu that you could come back from the dead three times? That's surely something Lloyd Garmadon can't do.

No. I was glad that I hadn't been the Green Ninja. If given even the slightest temptation, I probably would've gone after Ninjago in the mindset of "I am the most powerful ninja ever and deserve to rule."

But I could barely hear myself as the voice overpowered my own and the scenes continued to play.

I saw a little green blob running up a mountain. He tripped about once every two seconds, the whole time talking loudly to himself as if to sound brave or heroic. I internally cringed, and as much as I tried to suppress those thoughts, I couldn't help but think that Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon was the most embarrassingly annoying idiot I'd ever met, or would ever meet.

Mustering all my energy, I tried to remember the scene where I was talking to Harumi on the dragon about forgiveness. I needed to be there for her, to show that people could change. If I switched sides literally hours after the talk, what kind of person would I be?

As if it had heard my thoughts, the disembodied voice returned. You're thinking of Harumi, aren't you? Think about how Lloyd hurt her, made her lose her parents, then shunned her once she confessed. He never even apologized.

Her actions were understandable but not justified. Besides (I racked my brain to find any good Lloyd had ever done for me), because of him, I wasn't rotting in the Cursed Realm for eternity. This place was objectively better than the belly of the Preeminent.

Still, my own voice was fading as the other boomed louder in my head. You can show Wu what true power is. How you deserve to be the Chosen One.

No, I didn't...

You can destroy the Green Ninja once and for all.

That would mean destroying the others too. And even if they had been annoying and talkative, they were innocent... And Wu...

Are you letting your cowardice stand in the way of becoming the most powerful ninja?

No, I... I no longer had the energy to fight back against it, once again drowning in the sea of jealousy, hatred, and fury that I'd been trying to avoid for so long. Despite all my efforts to stay afloat, I found myself sinking, dragged against my will into its depths, unsure of how difficult it would be to return to the surface.

I didn't know how long I sat there watching visual comparisons of myself and Lloyd, but when the scenes finally cleared, I wanted nothing more than to go to Ninjago and tear him to pieces.

Harumi's POV

"If Ninjago and our realm are mirror dimensions," Zane said as he began skinning the fish we'd gotten earlier, "And the Shadow Knight wants to go there, what does it mean for us?"

"What do you mean?" Cole asked with a frown.

"Why would he want to take Ninjago and not our realm?" the Ice Ninja said.

At this point I still didn't know what exactly this place was, but I couldn't help but feel that everyone here was like an NPC of a video game in which Morro and I were the only players. If that were the case, where would Kai go after his death? He couldn't go to the Departed Realm, because that was where Ninjago Kai would go at some point, so would he simply cease to exist? I internally shuddered at the thought. Maybe Jade City had some sort of built-in Departed Realm? Looking back, I hadn't really thought about the logistics of death here, so thinking about the topic now felt like going down a neverending rabbit hole.

"What kind of name is Ninjago anyway?" Jay asked.

"Like a compound of 'ninja' and 'go'?" I shrugged. I figured the First Spinjitzu Master was unsure of what to call his creation so off the top of his head he named it "Ninjago" after his battle cry or something.

"Beats me," Nya said, then turned to Zane, "Well, maybe the Shadow Knight just knows about its existence and thinks it's cool or whatever? I dunno. I mean, with these villains, nothing is good enough."

"Yeah, I mean, just look at Morro," Lloyd said, "Who woulda thought that he'd plan to curse sixteen realms?"

"I guess that's why he just started acting confused and began failing his classes after that one day," Cole shrugged and watched as Zane began making dinner, which was, of course, fish again.

"Remember how mad the teacher got?" Jay laughed, "She thought he was playing dumb and remember how we all thought it was a prank? But then he said he actually forgot everything and then Kai went to tutor him?" The smile suddenly vanished from his face, and the Lightning Ninja went back to staring at his lap.

"Well..." Zane said, trying to change the subject, "If our two realms are parallel to each other, then that should mean in order for each person to exist, each generation would have to be exactly the same. I wonder how that would work if the two realms are not exactly the same."

"Well, we ain't as smart as you, Zane," Cole said, "They're probably just gonna make one of the realms copy the other and use some sort of miracle for two people to meet and have a baby."

"That's just weird," I mumbled.

"That also means the copies' feelings would be controlled too," Lloyd said, "To prevent them from falling in love with someone else, so nobody has free will."

Oh, jeez.

"Then which realm is the copy?" the Ice Ninja wondered, still wanting to continue on the subject.

"Zaaaaaaaane," Jay whined, "Can we not talk about all this multi-dimensional stuff? 'Cause I can barely handle our circumstances in this dimension. Like seriously, too much is too much. At first the concept was cool but now it's just not."

"I, personally, find this pretty fascinating, though," Nya said, "That two realms that are copies of each other exist. Maybe it's not that one is a definite copy of the other, but both are like simultaneously going off of each other if that makes sense."

"I wonder if there's some sort of all-powerful being out there controlling everything," Lloyd said and shuddered. I reached over to squeeze his hand and he smiled at me.

When I was a princess I'd read about the Cloud Kingdom, and I'd always hated the idea that they controlled everything. Hopefully after Morro's incidents they'd stopped. If Ninjago was being monitored so closely, I'd hate to imagine how strictly this realm was controlled.

"Honestly, I'd hate that," I said, "Just imagine how every one of our moves is orchestrated―"

"Stop, stop! CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT IT?" Jay shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. "I don't wanna be a part of some puppet show. Even if I was, I'd rather live in complete, blissful ignorance and pretend that I'm not and this conspiracy doesn't exist, okay? It's too much for me to handle! Not to mention that after Morro came, WHAT ABOUT THE MORRO THAT WAS HERE BEFORE HIM?" He took a deep breath and continued, "Besides, I thought I was the one and only Jay. I was supposed to be special."

I got a twisted feeling in my stomach. Would the Morro before him just disappear? What about the Harumi before me? Did my appearance here just erase her from existence? "Yeah let's not," I agreed, "It makes me feel sick."

"You guys can debate however you want, I just want my dinner," Cole said, "Zane, how much longer till we can eat?"

"By the way," Lloyd pointed out, ignoring Cole, "Ruby and Morro are taking forever, she's been gone for at least half an hour by now."

"They can take their sweet time," Nya said, "It's kinda cute."

"True," Cole grinned, "If he hasn't sent her back here by now, clearly things are going well."

They had a point. If Morro didn't want her there, Ruby would have returned ages ago.

As if on cue, we heard a rustling in the bushes, and my sister came through, followed by the Master of Wind, who was... smiling?

"Hey, we're back!" Ruby said, her hair bouncing on her shoulders as she walked over and sat down beside me. At once everyone sitting around the fire had a smug expression.

"So, feeling better, Windbag?" Jay asked, grinning widely. Cole pinched his arm and he let out a yelp.

"Yeah," Morro said, "Thanks for asking. Sorry for not telling you guys about Ninjago before."

"It's fine. At least you did tell us eventually," Nya replied, "It just raises a lot of que―"

"That we are NOT going to discuss, thank you very much," Jay said, raising a hand to quiet her. Nya shook her head and gave an exasperated sigh while rolling her eyes, but I could tell she was still smiling.

"Someone's a scaredy-cat," Cole teased.

"N-no! I'm not, it's just that I'd rather ignore the implications," Jay huffed, crossing his arms around his chest and sticking his nose in the air.

"If I'm being perfectly honest, it's really interesting to think about but also terrible," Lloyd muttered, "Like what if we really are copies?"

"Exactly! Lloyd gets it," Jay said.

"I find it intriguing," Zane said.

"I don't like to think about it either," Morro admitted, "It makes me feel terrible."

"Thank you," Jay sighed.

"Wait," Cole said, "Just one last question, how many counterparts have you met? Like people that you've seen both in Ninjago and here?" Jay glared at him.

"Well, not many," the Master of Wind replied, "Just the Ninja, really. Plus a few others. There are some people I know who have counterparts in Ninjago, though, but I haven't actually met them."

"That's cool," Lloyd said.

"No, Lloyd, not cool," Jay shook his head.

"Please take your fish, everyone," Zane said, passing sticks of raw fish to everyone. Then to Lloyd and Ruby, he said, "Just put it over the fire and wait for it to cook." The two nodded and did as he said.

"Hey, wanna hear a joke?" Jay asked as we began roasting our fish. I figured he probably didn't want the conversation to go to Ninjago again. Without waiting for a response, he began, "Did you hear about the fire in the shoe shop? Many soles were lost." Jay said the last sentence seriously, shaking his head as if he was lamenting their loss.

Everyone was silent, but I could tell most of the Ninja were trying hard not to laugh at how nobody was laughing.

"Oh come on!" Jay said, annoyed, "That was a good one."

"Sorry, Jay," Cole said with a grin, "We're too busy pondering the wonders of Ninjago."

The Lightning Ninja sucked in a deep breath and glared at everyone around the circle with his lips pursed.

"Wait," I said, "What are we gonna do next?" When the Ninja were talking about Ninjago I felt weird for talking, but if I didn't they'd realize something was up. I hated that I was still lying so much, and if everyone here really was just a copy of their Ninjago counterparts, what did it mean for them? And so I wanted to end this discussion as much as Jay did.

"Good point," Nya said, "Now that we have the Crystal Blade, what do we do?"

"How do we even use it to drain power and stuff?" Lloyd asked.

"It's too risky to try," Ruby said.

"Yeah," Morro agreed, "For now I guess you'll just have to use it like a normal sword."

"So what is our plan?" Zane asked, "I am assuming our intention earlier involved rescuing Lloyd and Ruby and taking the Crystal Blade?"

"Yeah," I said, "But now that we don't have to do that―"

"Let's go kick some Shadow Knight butt!" Jay exclaimed, punching a fist in the air.

"Hold on there, Sparky," Cole said, rolling his eyes, "We're not going straight into a hornet's nest. We gotta have a plan."

"Let's get to the north tower and destroy the magic source," Morro suggested, then yawned.

"Oh shoot, another long walk?" Jay groaned.

"What did you think we were gonna do, snap our fingers and arrive?" Nya giggled.

"Either way, I don't wanna do any more walking today," Lloyd said, "I'm tired."

"I have not had a good night's rest in a very long time," Zane agreed.

"Too long," Cole muttered, his eyes fixated on his fish. He seemed to love food more than I thought.

"Yeah, we should sleep after dinner," Morro said, "I'll keep watch."

"I can do it with you," Ruby offered, and he smiled at her. I frowned, knowing I should feel happy for her, but a part of me just wasn't.

"Okay then, that's settled," Nya said cheerfully, "Never would I have thought I'd want to go to sleep early."

"Okay, but onto the more important questions," Cole said, raising up a finger, "Zane, is the fish cooked?" 

A/N: oops it's been forever

I guess lately life has been busy and I had no motivation to write for a long time. 2/3 of my AP tests are over, but this week I have to finish 3 weeks of schoolwork since I'm going to this camp (so I might be inactive then, too)

Uh, thoughts/predictions? 

Thanks for reading/voting/commenting as always, and I hope you guys are doing well! 

(askdlfja ;slkdjf I wish summer break would just start already rip)