"Skylor Chen!" 

"Ow! Oops."

"We cannot have oopses during a mission."

"I tripped! By accident! Haven't you tripped before?"

"I have," Pixal admitted. "But that is besides the point. We need to stay hidden. And we need to be quiet."

"Too late," a deep voice hissed. Pixal and Skylor spun around, alarmed.

A handsome black-haired man waved mockingly at them, a gang of similar looking people standing snickering behind him.

"Even the robot didn't know we were here," the man said in a taunting voice. "She must have some major bugs in her program. Or maybe we're just too good for this world." 

The men laughed like they had never heard anything funnier in their lives.

"This does seem rather cliché, doesn't it, Sky?" Pixal asked, a smile playing on her lips. 

"It does, Pix," Skylor replied, smirking. "But I wish their sense of humor was a little better. Well, at least I can assume you know what to do, right?"

"That's right," Pixal said. Before anyone knew what was happening, Pixal had tackled the man that had spoken and Skylor had flung herself into the group of people standing behind him.

The black-haired man struggled against Pixal's tight grip, his wrists turning red as she dug her fingers into his skin. 

"Since this is already a movie-worthy encounter " Pixal said calmly. "I'll play along." She swung the man around, knocking out several of his comrades with his feet. Skylor ducked as the grey shoes swung above her head and shoved someone in Pixal's direction. 

"Incoming!" Skylor called as she punched two people in the stomach. They doubled over, crying in pain, and stumbled forward. The nindroid quickly stepped backwards and let the three men Skylor had injured fall at her feet. 

Pixal tossed the leader at a small cluster of masked followers, and the entire group collapsed with a groan.

"That was easy," Skylor chuckled, dusting off her hands. "And it's been a whole month since I last trained."

"If we meet once more, it might be another year until you do it again," a sinister voice said. The man that had spoken suddenly jumped up and snapped his fingers. 

The last thing Skylor saw was a glowing moon rising from the ground. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And you are?" Nya asked in an annoyed voice.

"Lia," Gaia replied. "Lia Birchwood." 

"Interesting name," Misako commented. "Ms. Aurelia Birchwood was a very famous historian, as well as the founder of the Ninjago History Museum. She was also rumored to be the elemental master of land and sea, though no one proved she had those special powers."

"I know about Aurealia," Gaia said cheerfully. "She's my favorite historian."

In truth, Gaia hated Aurelia Birchwood. The woman had done too many things that went against Gaia's beliefs. She had only chosen that name because it would be appealing to the old lady. 

Gaia knew that she had to play her moves more carefully this times. Badar had just saved her bacon. For whatever reason, he had turned back the clock and given her a chance to start over. There would be no more "Rumi", no more messes, no more mistakes. 

"The ninja, I presume?" she asked, her voice echoing through the small room. 

"Yes," Cole said quickly. He had already been captivated by Gaia's stunning appearance, and her angelic voice did little to calm his fluttering heart. 

"Oooh! I'm such a fan!" Gaia gushed, stepping closer to Cole. "You must be the master of earth. The most handsome of the ninja."

"That's me," Cole said proudly, taking another step towards Gaia. "And you must be-"

"We're sorry for intruding," Nya and Lloyd said in unison, pulling the black ninja away from the stranger. "We'll leave now."

"What are you doing?" Cole hissed. He accidentally stepped on Vania's hand and yelped, jumping forward. Cole suddenly realized that he didn't remember carrying Vania into the room. He had set her down on the fourth step of the stairs, barged in, gave his friends a hug and met an overwhelmingly attractive woman. He must've picked her up after he'd smashed into the door...

Cole now noticed that he'd paid less and less attention to the deceased princess as time went on. Her spirit seemed to fade away with every step he took and his memories of her were already blurred. 

It had never occurred to him that he would unintentionally forget her existence.

"Wait. Um, could you excuse us for a moment?" Zane asked suddenly, his voice inflected with concern.

"Of course," Gaia replied graciously, and she turned around to go organize a bookshelf. 

"What's up?" Jay whispered, putting his arm around Zane's shoulders.

"We just met this woman," the master of ice said in a confused voice. "Remember? She introduced herself as 'Vivi', which Misako told us was the name of the previous master of life. Then Lloyd made fun of her and Nya punched her. Then she resurrected Harumi."

"What?" Lloyd asked, forgetting to keep his voice down. "She did what?!"

"Do you not recall those events?" Zane asked, baffled. 

"Zane, buddy," Kai said, shoving Jay aside to get closer to the ice ninja. "You sure that wasn't a vision? Or maybe your arm is missing a few wires."

"I'm fine, Kai. But in all seriousness, we did just meet this 'Lia Birchwood' woman a few minutes ago. Do any of you remember?"

"No," the ninja replied in unison. 

"That means," Nya began, glancing back at "Lia".

"She manipulated time!" Cole finished. "But how?"

"I'm not sure of that," Zane admitted quietly. "Whoever's behind this isn't exactly a powerful force. It obviously doesn't affect nindroids. But something is up. We must be cautious."

"You hear him, Cole? We have to be cautious," Jay said, emphasizing the last word.

"You have no idea what 'cautious' means, do you?" Kai asked, snickering.

"I do!" Jay said defensively. 

"What does it mean, then?" Lloyd asked, suppressing a chuckle.

"Um, well, uh, do you know what 'bequeath' means? Bet you don't know!" 

"To leave a personal estate or one's body to a person or other beneficiary by a will," Cole recited. Everyone stared at him in amazement.

"Well done, Cole!" Misako said proudly, momentarily in the spirt of things.

"Do you read dictionaries in your spare time?" Nya questioned playfully.

"No," Cole replied. "I just searched-"

"Ninja!" Zane reprimanded. "Focus!"

"Right," Lloyd said sheepishly. "Let's try to get outta here quickly. Be careful."

"So that's what it-" Jay began. Kai kicked the master of lightning in the shin and he fell silent.

"We have somewhere to be," Nya explained to Gaia. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Lia."

 "Wait!" Gaia cried, jumping in front of the door. Akita looked at her curiously.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I- I can, um, resurrect, uh, people!" Gaia said lamely. 

"Very nice," Akita replied curtly. "We need to go. Please move."

"Really?" Cole asked Gaia, pushing past the Formling. Kai, Jay, and Lloyd rolled their eyes. The master of earth had already fallen for Gaia, and there was no pulling him out. 

"Of course," Gaia said smugly. "I suppose you'd like me to bring back this pretty girl here?" She pointed to Vania, her eyes narrowing in jealously as she saw how beautiful the queen was. 

"Yes! I mean, yes, please." Cole stepped back and gestured for Gaia to perform her ritual.

"Ahsumai milnage osaht meney..." 

It seemed to go on and on and on. Cole practically fell asleep listening to the soothing chant. At last, it came to a close:

"Asou delaq neheeya ruhmey lahneea Vania."

Zane went on the alert. He had paid close attention to the chant the first time around, so he knew that there was no "lahneea". The ice ninja suddenly realized what Gaia had been trying to do...

She'd wanted to change up the chant the first time around, but messed up and ended up bringing Harumi back. She now wanted to "actually" fail, and potentially get Cole for herself once he accepted that Vania couldn't be resurrected. Clever. 

But Zane wasn't intimated. Lia was clever, but not very cautious.

As the master of ice had predicted, the sorceress didn't awaken Vania.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly, looking down at the floor. "It's too late. She has already ascended."

"She ascended the second she died," Zane snapped, looking Gaia in the eye. "The point of resurrection is to let people descend from the heavens."

"Is she really- de- is she is- she gone?" Cole asked, on the verge of tears.

"Yes," Gaia replied in an almost cold manner. She then turned to Zane and shot him a glare.

"For your information, I am an expert resurrector who knows that your idea of 'descending' is severely flawed."

"Then bring her back!" Zane screamed.

"She is already too far along. I haven't got the strength to pull her from the Realm of the First Spinjitzu Master." 

"There's no such realm!" Lloyd interjected. 

"You are his grandson, are you not? Why don't you ask your father to tell you a little about your family's history? Or perhaps your good mother. She's right there, isn't she?" Gaia stabbed a finger in Misako's direction.

"My son is correct," Misako said pointedly. "There is no specified realm for people who simply die. They live in a place above. Aurelia Birchwood wrote this in one of her books. Surely you know there is no 'Realm of the First Spinjitzu Master.'"  

"Aurelia Birchwood was a b-" Gaia stopped herself before she could say something inappropriate. 

"Excuse me?" Misako said indignantly. 

"You obviously know nothing about history," Nya spat. "Or resurrection, for that matter."

"Please! Bring her back! I need her! I can't- I can't live without her," Cole cried, his salty tears staining Vania's white dress. He was sobbing now, though nobody noticed. Everyone was shouting at Gaia, and reasonable arguments soon became nasty ad hominem attacks. To Cole, it seemed like the heated discussion was simply a contest to see who could come up with the most offending insult. 

As the sound of shouting echoed throughout the room, Cole collapsed next to the queen, the burden in his heart more unbearable than ever. The master of earth had no idea why he had lugged Vania's body across half of Ninjago. Maybe it was because he loved her too much to let go of her. Maybe it was because he felt uncomfortable leaving her on top of a mountain. Or maybe it was because he thought there was a chance she could be revived. 

Cole looked down at his crush once more, his tears blurring his vision. She was gone. She was gone.

Which meant his love was gone too. 

*A/N What'd you guys think of this mostly-dialogue chapter?*