Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a perfectly normal Saturday when it happened. You were relaxing at home, rewatching your favourite show, Ninjago, after a hard day. It was once you finished the pilots and were halfway through episode one that you began to feel woozy.

Then you blacked out. The last thing you were aware of was the sensation of your consciousness floating away from your body.

***

You were falling. You’d barely registered the fact that you were doing so before landing on the ground with a grunt. Wait. Not the ground.

You’d just fallen on top of a person.

Quickly, you scrambled off the poor person you’d just flattened and took in your surroundings. You recognized the scene. The monastery of Spinjitzu?

What.

You blinked, hard. No way. This had to be a dream, right? Right? You pinched yourself and winced. Not a dream. Then you looked at the four ninja in brightly coloured gis (terrible for stealth, what were the designers thinking while making this show?) standing in front of you, all with various degrees of shock and dumbfoundedness clear on their faces at the fact that someone just fell out of the sky.

Kai was the first to get over the surprise. He shook his head and raised his golden sword to point it at you. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

You opened your mouth to respond, but you didn’t get any words out before Kai lost control of the sword he was holding, and it set the monastery on fire. He yelps and drops it on the ground next to you, and you scramble back, escaping with just the hem of your pants being singed. Phew.

Thankfully, Master Wu soon comes rushing outside, looking absolutely furious with his students. He snatched Zane’s shurikens from his hands and used them to put out the fire, then spun to face his students. They were in for quite a scolding, evident from the old sensei’s face.

“What were you thinking?!”

“Uh…we were tryna figure out who’s the Green Ninja,” Jay’s the one who answers, finally getting off the ground. His words earn him a slap on the back from Zane, and he quickly backpeddles on his words, stammering out, “ Ow - Did I say green ninja? No, sorry. What I- what I said was lean! ”

Wu frowns. “You were not supposed to see this,” he sighed, exasperated. Then, noticing you, he raised a brow quizzically and asked, “And who might you be?”

You stood up, awkwardly brushing some dirt off your clothes and telling the men before you your name. “I… don’t know how I got here, in all honesty. I just blacked out, and next thing I knew, I was falling out of the sky, and then I… landed on top of him,” you pointed with your thumb at Jay, looking apologetic. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool.” He waves it off.

Master Wu ponders for a moment, before asking, “Do you remember anything from before the blackout?” You furrow your brows, trying to recall.

You remember you weren’t from this world. You remembered it was a show you’d been watching just before blacking out, but when you opened your mouth to respond, there was a chill down your spine. You froze, unable to speak until you said, “No, I… don’t.”

Partially true. You remembered the moments right before blacking out, and you remembered exactly what happened in the future of this world. But any memories you may have had of your life prior were gone. You could feel their absence like a tangible thing inside of you. Like a missing organ.

Sensei Wu hums. “I suppose if you have no prior memories, you will not be aware of where you may have resided. You may stay here in the meanwhile, as a guest.” He then turned to the ninja, his expression hardening. “As for you four, you must train.”

“Wait!” Kai stopped their teacher. “Sensei, we want to know. Which of us will be the green ninja?”

“None of you if you do not unlock your full potential,” was the stern reply from Wu.

“But… my sword. It was so bright,” he said. “Is this what you meant by unlocking our Golden Weapons?”

“You are only at the beginning. And the road is long and winding, but yes, this is what I meant. If this is what it must take for you to train, then so be it. But none of you are near the level of what it takes to be the Green Ninja.”

***

The ninja were training, and you sat on the stairs watching because you honestly had nothing better to do, when Master Wu rushed outside, obviously panicked. “The Serpentine are back! Everyone in Jamanakai Village is in danger!”

“Calm down, Sensei. We were just there, it's just some kid who says he’s–”

Cole was interrupted by you, sitting up straighter, voice sharp. “Your sensei is right, they are back. You four need to go. Now .”

Kai narrowed his eyes at you, voice full of suspicion as he asked, “And why would we trust you?”

“I-” You were just about to tell them, when the paralysis stopping you from saying anything came back. You changed the subject. “Isn’t your sister there right now? It’d be worth it to check.”

“How did you–?”

Jay cut him off. “Doesn’t matter how they know, they’re right. Nya could be in danger!”

That idea finally made the ninja all agree to go, Kai still eyeing you suspiciously while they rushed off to the stables. You didn’t blame him for being suspicious, you would be too if someone you just met knew about your sibling that you hadn’t even mentioned to said stranger.

When the ninja had all left, Wu stood next to you. “May I ask how you happened to know of Nya and her whereabouts?”

“Um…” This time, you didn’t even try to tell the truth; you knew what would happen. “I just… did? I don’t know.”

He doesn’t believe you, obviously, but he doesn’t comment on it, leaving you alone to go inside while you ponder what the hell happened to make you end up in this situation.

Chapter Text

The day begins with the ninja actually training, for once, and quite noisily, Jay deflecting arrows with his nunchucks, Cole using his scythe to practice with the dummies, Zane meditating, and Kai practicing his spinjitzu.

It was a nice day out, a cool breeze flowing, so you were sitting on the stairs outside with a sketchbook you’d gotten, making little doodles here and there, mostly of things from the future. There was Lord Garmadon, four arms each holding onto one of the four golden weapons, Zane just before his “death” in season three, face cracked and circuits visible, Lloyd in season five while possessed as well as a separate sketch of what you thought Morro might look like in a non-lego form, and finally, Nadakhan the djinn pirate.

These were the completed ones, at least. Currently, you were working on a half-complete sketch of the three Oni masks from season eight, drawn to the best of your memory. You are jolted out of your concentration on the drawing when Zane abruptly stops meditating and interrupts everyone else’s training.

The first victim is Jay. Zane jumps in front of him and throws him off balance, and he lands on his ass. Next, he snatches Cole’s weapon and immediately performs spinjitzu, which freezes the entire compound. Kai winds up slipping on the ice. You’re watching all of this with an amused look on your face. Seeing this in person is much funnier than on a screen.

The disgruntled triad of Kai, Cole, and Jay regroup near the stairs, conveniently in range of where you sit. You can hear them complaining about how ‘weird’ Zane is.

“This roof isn’t big enough for the four of us,” Kai grumbles, ignoring the three other inhabitants of the monastery. When you point it out, you’re ignored. Of course.

“This roof isn’t big enough for him,” Cole says pointedly, glancing over at Zane. The master of ice was fully engrossed in his own world. Relatable, you get lost in your head all the time. Especially thinking about the future here and all the wonderful opportunities and various ways for you to die.

“It's like he’s in his own world,” Jay said, before raising his voice. “I BET HE CAN’T EVEN HEAR US!”

Kai turns to the newly arrived Sensei Wu to talk about more of his grievances. “Sensei, Zane’s weird.”

Wu raises an eyebrow. “What is weird? Someone who is different? Or someone who is different from you?”

“No, Sensei. He's weird weird.” Cole says.

Each of the three ninja started talking about something that happened to them that involved Zane being weird. He walked in on Cole showering, interrupted Jay, Nya, and you watching a sad romance movie by laughing (which made you jump so hard you fell off the couch), and once, when Kai went to get something from the fridge, he was sitting inside.

Kai sighed. “Well, like the guys, he's just… a little off sometimes.”

“Zane is a brother. Brothers are often different,” Wu said with a small hint of wistfulness. “I should know.” After all, his brother was Garmadon.

The doorbell ringing ended the conversation, distracting the trio from their talk of Zane. They all rushed over to the gates and eagerly started looking through their stuff.

Meanwhile, Zane stood a little ways away, frowning. You remembered he didn't have a family, and walked over to him to give him a side hug.

“I know you don't know if you had a family before, but you do now.” You whispered. He offered you a small smile.

“Thank you.”

***

Dinner time, and the room is filled with chatter, mostly from Jay. You sit across from Nya and right next to Kai.

“Mmh. Oh, I love when it’s Zane’s night to cook.” Jay said. His mouth was practically watering at the thought of Zane’s cooking.

“Hey,” Cole raised an eyebrow and elbowed him. “I didn’t hear any complaints about my duck chowder last night.”

Kai laughed. “That’s because it glued our mouths shut. You really thought Jay was speechless throughout dinner?”

“Yeah. Please don’t make that again.” Jay agreed. You shuddered at the memory of the food. If you had any less control over your stomach, you would’ve hurled. Or maybe not, since your mouth was also glued fully shut.

Soon, the complaints about yesterday’s food were interrupted by today’s food entering the room, along with Zane in a pink apron. The sight made the room (except you) burst out laughing. The reason you didn’t was because you weren’t seven years old anymore. You sometimes forgot that this show was for children.

“What’s so funny?” Zane blinked. He looked positively bamboozled.

“Zane, you’re wearing a…” Nya paused, giggling. “Even I wouldn’t wear that.”

“I would,” You shrugged. “And this isn’t that funny, stop laughing already.”

“Well, how about this?” Cole threw a plate of shrimp at Kai’s face. You did let out a small laugh at these antics, and the others in the room (except Zane) burst into a fresh round of laughter. “How could you not find that funny?” 

These actions prompt Master Wu to pour soup all over Cole, which starts a chain reaction that results in an all-out food war. You duck under the table to avoid getting hit and decide that witnessing this isn’t worth getting hit with a stray noodle, so you rush past Zane and to your assigned room. Might as well call it a night.

Your room was small, considering only you slept there. There was a cabinet that contained some clothes you'd gotten after it was evident you’d be staying here a while. You remembered fondly the shopping trip with Nya and Kai. He was such a diva.

Your bed was a single mattress, and it felt like sleeping on a cloud because it was so comfortable. On the bed was your sketchbook.

You flopped down onto the bed and grabbed the little brown book, rifling through the pages to a few different drawings you’d done of a certain someone. Morro, the ghostly master of wind from season five. He’d been a favourite of yours, you remembered, right up there with the ninja. When the season was first airing, you wanted him to join the ninja. Maybe… you could save him.

Somehow.

Unlikely, but you’d still probably try.

***

A black void pressed in on you from all sides, overwhelmingly heavy and thick, like a blanket. But instead of feeling comforting like a blanket would, it was suffocating.

Terrifying.

Claustrophobia soon began to set in, and the darkness pressing in on you became worse. You couldn't breathe, couldn’t talk, couldn’t move. And then the whispers started, you couldn't make out the words, but oh god, your head hurt and it felt like it might implode from the pressure and-

***

You woke up gasping for breath, the nightmare already fading, but the feeling of being suffocated remained, paired with a racing heart and sweat… well, on every part of your body. You were drenched in sweat, clothes sticking to your body uncomfortably.

It took a few minutes to calm down, but once you did, the first thing you noticed was the unusual silence in the monastery. After changing out of your sweat-soaked clothes, you went to check why it was so silent and figured out that you were completely alone. Thinking about the events you remembered transpiring in the show, you remember the monastery burning down.

And you didn’t get the chance to warn anyone of it.

Well, you were quite screwed now. Ah, well, you’d deal with the fire (by panicking) when it happened. You were still shaken up, so to calm down, you decided some drawing would be nice.

Not even five minutes of you drawing later, you smelled smoke, and panic mode was switched on. You gathered up your few measly valuables (Pencil and Sketchbook; those drawings took you ages, you weren’t gonna leave those behind) and ran. The fire was spreading so quickly, and it was hard to see through the smoke, and it was making you cough and sputter and your head felt light and your eyes stung badly.

In your rush to get out, you tripped over an unidentifiable object on the ground and faceplanted. Ow.

Curse your clumsiness, why do you fall so much? If there was someone out there writing your story, they definitely wanted to give you brain damage.

Groaning, you stood up, still having a grip on your sketchbook, wiping some warm liquid off your cheek, which, on closer inspection, was blood from a cut you probably got when you fell. Your nose was sore too.

You continued stumbling out of the monastery, but all the smoke inhalation must have gone to your head because you soon passed out, coughing and dizzy.

***

When you woke up, you were lying on a singed piece of cloth salvaged from the burned ruins of the monastery, near a small campfire. The ninja had returned by now, all but Zane, and once everything was explained to you, you facepalmed.

“You blamed Zane for the serpentine burning down the monastery?” You deadpanned. “Idiots. Every last one of you.”

The remaining three ninja had the sense to look sheepish.

“I’m taking a nap,” you sighed, flopping back down onto the cloth you’d been lying on when you woke. “I can’t deal with the idiocy around me right now.”

And so you did, and the next time you woke up (which was only a few minutes later), Zane was back and being hugged by literally everyone. You blinked, making sure it wasn’t a hallucination brought on by repeatedly falling earlier (it wasn’t; and you should’ve known since you knew the events that were to happen in the future). 

You quickly scrambled up, a smile breaking out on your face as you rushed over to the rest of the group and joined in on the hug.

“We’re happy to have you back.” Nya smiled as you all let go of Zane.

“Why? Is it my turn to make dinner?” Zane asked, tilting his head to the side. 

“Yes, Zane,” Wu smiled. “We would love for you to make dinner.”

“But I already made it. Come, I want to show you what I found.” Zane said happily. “I think you will all be pleased.”

He leads all of you to the sea of sand. You, of course, already knew what he'd be showing you, and you were very excited to see the bounty in person. It had always been your favourite residence of the ninja. It was such a gorgeous ship, and with all the enhancements it was cool as fuck.

Around an hour of walking later, your group stood before the Destiny's Bounty. It was incredible in person, even in its current state. Especially the intricately carved red dragon figurehead. It was large and intimidating, but beautiful.

“Our new home,” Zane smiled softly, gesturing to the ship.

“Do I smell pie?” Jay wondered aloud.

“Cobbler berry,” Zane confirmed. “Oh, and I made myrtle berry and apple and-”

Before he could finish, you, Nya, Kai, Jay, and Cole all raced to the Bounty, happy to have a new home and to have your friend back.

Chapter Text

The first morning in the bounty was peaceful. Well, peaceful as long as you were asleep. It was deep, dreamless sleep, until the moment Kai barged into your room.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” He yelled at you from the doorway. “We have chores.” 

His yelling startled you so bad you fell out of the bed. You sat up, rubbing the back of your head. At this rate you were going to get a brain injury from how much you fell. You glared at the cause of your current state, who stood in the doorway, trying (and failing) to stifle a laugh.

You flipped him off before clambering back into bed with a huff. “Do the chores then asshole, I'm going back to bed.”

“No you don't,” He said, walking over and literally dragging you out of bed by the ankle (couldn't let you sleep in peace, could he?) leading to you banging the back of your head on the floor again–of course. All you could do was pray this didn't become a daily occurrence.

***

In the end, the ninja didn't even need your help, because they were done in five minutes by using spinjitzu. You got to sit on a corner and do nothing, except, of course, glare at the master of fire for waking you.

When Nya and Master Wu got back from wherever they’d been, they found the guys playing videogames and you in the corner of the room glaring holes into the back of Kai’s head. All that hitting your head on things right after waking up and waking up earlier than you wanted to for no reason, and they didn't even ask if you wanted to play. So rude.

Nya looked around appreciatively, marvelling at how surprisingly clean the place was.

“Wow, this place looks amazing!” She smiled. “You guys did all this?”

Cole nodded sagely. “Ninja don’t just fight, Nya, we clean.”

Wu looked quite impressed. “You have exceeded my expectations. But can you keep it up?”

Before any of the ninja respond, a loud honk is heard from outside, which catches yours and Nya’s attention. She walks over to the window to look outside.

“Looks like we're about to have some visitors, and loud ones at that,” Nya noted.

Jay lets out a deep, long-suffering sigh. “Ugh...It's my parents. Please, if they start yapping, just don't get them going, okay? They don't know when to quit. And if you start talking, then they'll start talking. And suddenly, half the day is gone and before you know it ends-”

Kai rolls his eyes, interrupting him with a: “We get it! They talk a lot. The cherry doesn’t fall far from its blossom.”

The last part is muttered to you. You can’t help but laugh. It’s so very accurate.

You all get up and head outside to meet his parents, arriving just as they pull up. Jay forces a smile onto his face.

“Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?”

His mother looks away from noting down something and spots her son.

“Oh, look! It's my baby boy! It's been so long since we heard from you!” She beamed, voice cheerful and bubbly. How Jay was able to be even slightly rude to her this episode, you’d never understand. Edna was a sweetheart.

Jay sighed. “Ma, I called you two days ago.”

“Oh well... It's not soon enough, son.” His father giggles. “When are you coming out to the junkyard? You say you’re coming an...an...and you don't.”

“Dad…” Jay groaned, embarrassed, “Do we have to talk about the junkyard in front of my friends?”

“He hates it when we tell people he was born in a junkyard.” his mother says in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning towards your group (everyone but Jay). Her eyes fall on you and Nya, who is standing right next to you.

She perks up, letting out an absolutely delighted gasp. “Oh... and who are you two? You are so cute! Just my son's type.”

Of all things, you didn’t expect to be grouped with Nya and referred to as Jay’s ‘type’. It catches you off guard, and you can do nothing but blink in surprise.

“Mom!” Jay protested, hiding his face in his hands. Okay, he was justified in being a bit embarrassed of them, you wouldn’t want your parents to reveal something like that either.

Nya laughs off the comment, sounding just a tad nervous (same girl, same). “It’s a pleasure meeting you. I’m sure if you want, Jay can give you a tour. He worked very hard on it.” She says, gesturing to the bounty to change the subject. Ed and Edna smile, and in unison, cheer: “We’d love a tour!”

***

While Jay is showing his parents around, the rest of you trail them.

“And this is the brig,” Jay says, gesturing to the room. He walks over to the periscope. “This extends into a periscope,” he pointed to the monitor next, “this tells what's going on in Ninjago,” he then walked over to a machine near the control board, “and this…if a Serpentine's not giving us the answer we want, and we're late up night-”

“A neuro apparatus to read their minds?” Edna guesses excitedly, which cuts off what Jay was about to say. He’s visibly–and in this case, justifiably–irritated.

“An audio appliance to read their minds?” was the next guess, this time from Ed, and with the same amount of excitement in his voice as his wife had had.

“No,” Jay deadpans, “A cappuccino machine.”

His father didn’t seem to mind the tone in which the words were said, still giving his son a big smile and saying, “Amazing, son! We're so proud of you.”

Walking over to a big red button at the same time as Jay, Cole smiled. “Why don’t you tell them about the button?”

“Heh, heh…it's not ready yet.” Jay gritted out.

You raised an eyebrow, and asked the same question as Edna at the same time. “What’s ‘the button’?” Realizing how you said it in unison, you looked at her and smiled. She smiled back, cheerful as ever.

“He’s working on a special defense system.” Zane explained.

“Something every ninja headquarters needs.” Kai said, grinning.

Ed was obviously intrigued, so he walked over to where Cole and Jay stood around the button.

“Oh, really?” He bent down to get a better look at it. “What does it do? Can I help?”

Jay shook his head, answering quickly.

“No, it's okay. I don’t need your help, dad,” he said, gently tugging his father away from the button. “Hey look at the time! Don't you need to get back before it gets dark? I told you, there's dangerous Serpentine out there.”

You frowned at how eager he was to get them out of here. Sure they were a bit embarrassing, but they were sweet. Cole seemed to share your sentiments, obvious by the look on his face when you glanced at him. Something told you his thoughts were focused on his mother, the mother he’d never get to see again. 

Ed looked disappointed. “Uh, I suppose we could get back…”

And that was when the goodbyes began, though they were short, since Jay was quite adamant on them leaving as soon as possible. Especially so when Cole brought up how it was a pleasure to hear about his first potty time, an opinion you completely agreed with. It was a pleasure, if only to get to see the absolutely mortified expression on Jay’s face when his mother started talking about it.

***

It’s the next day, you’re practicing drawing hands (why were they so hard to get right?), when a knock sounds on the door of your room. Not looking up from your drawing, you say “Come in,” brows furrowed as you try your best to get the anatomy of the fingers right.

Nya enters, and you look up. “Hey Nya. What do you need?”

“Just thought I’d tell you everyone is going to Jay’s parents junkyard. D’you wanna come along?”

You nodded. “Sure. Are we taking the dragons?” At your question, Nya shakes her head.

“They’re molting, they had to go east for some…transformation thing, I don’t know exactly,” She explained. “So we’re walking.”

You grimaced. You didn’t want to walk, but being alone here wasn’t too appealing either. Plus, if you remembered correctly, Lloyd was going to attack with the serpentine. You could finally do something that wasn’t sit around and draw future characters, and it couldn’t hurt for the ninja to have one more hand helping the fight.

Though, you didn’t really know how to fight, which was unfortunate. Maybe it would hurt. Hurt you, likely. Yikes.

You still had nothing better to do, though, so you nodded and said, “Yeah, I’ll come.”

***

While you all walked, Wu played the sacred flute. It was quite calming to listen to while you all walked in a comfortable silence. 

“That flute. You've never told us why it's so special.” Zane asked the old master curiously.

“Long ago there were many flutes, created to combat the powers of the Serpentine and drive them underground. But over time, Ninjago's forgotten its ancestors' wisdom, and now this is the only one.” Wu explained, a hint of wistfulness in his tone, then went back to playing the flute.

The story seemingly came off to Jay as something told to make Jay feel guilty about the way he’d treated his parents–though you just thought it was a neat bit of history–and he groaned.

“I get the lesson! Respect your elders or suffer the consequences. Boy, you guys are layering it on thick.”

You nudged him. “Or maybe… you’re just hearing what you need to.”

***

It was maybe an hour later you all finally reached the junkyard. Once you got there though, Jay went quiet, brows furrowed. He looked concerned.

“What is it?” Nya asked, concerned for him.

“It's…quiet,” Jay said. “My family’s never quiet!” He rushed into the junkyard and you all followed, trusting him enough to believe him when he said something was wrong.

While searching for the cause of the quiet, you hear mumbled grunts from a fridge. Jay kicks open the fridge, finding his parents locked in chains, tape over their mouths and looking…different. Both had slightly green-tinged skin, in some places looking almost scaly.

“What happened?” Jay was panicking while taking the tape off his parents’ mouth. “Who did this?”

“Sweetheart, you came!” His mother smiled at him, still so upbeat despite whatever happened before you all arrived.

“Oh, you gotta get out of here. You shouldn't have come, it's the ssssnakes!” Ed warned, his ‘s’s drawn out.

Wu surveyed them, eyes narrowed and had a realization. 

“The bite of the fangpyre!” 

Everyone looked at him, and he explained, “Once they sink their teeth into something, their venom can turn anything into a serpent. It's only a matter of time before the full transformation is complete.” He looked back at Jay’s parents, a frown on his face.

You hear a hiss behind you, and, alarmed, you whip around to see a wrecking ball…with eyes. Staring right at your little group. The ninja soon notice it too.

“Uh…is that wrecking ball staring at me?” Cole asked nervously.

The ball swings towards you guys.

“Duck!” Jay yells, getting his parents out of the way. You almost got hit, but Cole tackled you to the ground.

“Thanks.” You muttered, cheeks flushing in embarrassment at how close he was to you. He coughed and got off you. 

You soon hear Master Wu exclaim, “Lloyd!” 

You scramble to your feet and look up, spotting said kid on top of a pile of tyres (there had to be about a hundred tyres in there, it was huge) next to a Fangpyre with two heads, holding a staff with a bloodred gem set in the shaft right under the head of the staff, shaped like a snake’s head.

“Hello, uncle. Looks like we're not the only family reunion. I'm glad you brought the ninja. I could use some help taking out the trash. Muahaha!” Lloyd did an attempt at an evil laugh.

What an odd child.

Nya grabbed Jay by the arm. “If we want to turn your parents back, we need the anti venom in the staff,” She told him, pointing at the staff. Jay started to run towards the tyre pile, but the wrecking ball came back for another pass.

“Second dose, to the dirt!” Cole yelled, tackling you again. You were a little less flustered this time. The ball hisses in frustration from having missed you all twice now.

“Easier said than done, sis.” Kai grumbled. “We're a bit outnumbered.”

“Nobody messes with my family,” Jay says, standing up again with a determined glint in his eyes. “Ninja, go!” He yelled, running towards a group of snakes with his nunchucks out and ready, ducking under the wrecking ball when it tried to hit him again and attacking the snakes.

Wu starts to play the sacred flute as Kai, Zane and Cole rush off towards other snakes dotted around the junkyard, yelling “Ninja, go!” as they attacked, following the lightning Ninja's example.

A group of snakes near your group–you, Wu, and Nya–covered their ears to block out the sound of the sacred flute, leaving them open to attacks from you and Nya. Your body automatically jumped into action, and you managed to take down half of them with moves you didn't even know you knew, Nya getting the rest.

“I don't know, I think we make a pretty good trio, don't we?” Nya high-fived you, grinning. “Didn't know you could fight like that.”

“I didn't either.” You shrugged.

You wince as you hear really loud rock music, loud enough that it drowned out Wu’s flute. Whipping your head around you see Lloyd, with a snakebitten boombox, playing loud music.

“Young nephew, must I teach you whose side you should be on?” Wu scolded him, having to shout to be heard. The kid just laughed and turned up the volume, you covered your ears.

“Sorry, uncle! Can’t hear you!”

You hear a clang! behind you, turning around to find that Edna hit a snake with a frying pan, rapunzel style, stopping it from biting Wu.

And then you see a giant statue of Jay–obviously infected with snake venom–chasing after the Ninja as the music dies down. A funny sight, if it weren’t for the fact that it was chasing your friends. 

Thankfully, a few minutes later the statue was down, hit by a wrecking ball that Jay swung at it to save Cole.

Lloyd panics. “Retreat!” He and the leader of the Fangpyres jump into a bitten helicopter, unfortunately taking the staff with them.

“He’s getting away with the staff!” Nya exclaims, panicked.

“Right now would be a good time to have those Dragons.” Jay grumbles.

But you guys didn’t have dragons. All you had were large piles of junk and golden weapons– 

Right, the weapons!

“It'ssss okay, sssson.” Ed hisses, patting his shoulder.

“There is still a way.” Wu said.

“How?” Jay asked, face hopeless.

“Part of reaching your own full potential is understanding your weapon's potential. Once it is in tune with a focused heart, its secrets and powers can be unlocked.” He answered cryptically, gesturing to Kai’s sword.

“Oh, this is not the time to be cryptic!” Jay grumbled.

“He means your weapons are vehicles, idiots,” You deadpanned. “Seems obvious to me.”

Kai groaned as he held up his sword. “Don’t tell me I have to ride this thing like a broomstick.” 

The image that statement created in your head made you giggle internally. Oh, you wished it was like that. You would pay to watch Kai rocketing towards a snake helicopter thing on his sword with fire propelling him forward like a human missile.

“Jay, concentrate on unlocking your Golden Weapon. Let your heart guide you,” Wu said sagely. “Imagine you're taking flight.”

And successfully, Jay managed to turn his nunchucks into a glider. “Whoa! Haha, did I just do that?” He looked at his glider excitedly. You had to admit, it was cool. A sleek metallic black and blue glider with lightning crackling around it.

The others followed his example, each getting a cool new ride. Kai got a red and black fiery bike, Zane a cool white snowmobile, and Cole a shiny goldenish all-terrain car. Cole in particular looked really happy with what he got.

“Ha! I hate to hurt Rocky's feelings, but I think he's just been replaced,” He grins, looking around the inside of his new vehicle. Soon, they were all driving off after Lloyd and the Fangpyres (would be a wicked name for a band, honestly).

Nya asked Wu if his flute turned into anything. He looked at it with a small frown, sighed, and said, “I wish.”

Your group (the ones who were left in the dust due to not having an amazing magical weapon) jumped into Jay’s parents’ jalopy. Good thing you did, cause right after Jay grabbed the staff he lost his concentration and fell, and while trying to catch him and arguing about who'd so so, so did the rest. 

This resulted in you being the one to catch Jay in your arms, bridal-style

“Heh, nice catch.” He said. 

Edna cooed, “Aw, I knew I liked thissss one,” making you drop Jay into the seat next to you, just a bit flustered. 

The fangpyres started to come after you all in their vehicles to try getting back the staff.

Kai angrily shook his sword, trying to get it to become his bike again. “Why isn't this thing working?”

“Your weapon is merely an extension of yourself. If your mind is immobile, so is your weapon.” Wu explains.

“Oh, boy. Oh, gosh. Oh, golly, oh, duh. Get in, boys!” Ed yelled. The Ninja quickly got into the jalopy, since the fangpyres were getting closer. 

Ed started driving off in the direction the bounty was, going at speeds probably illegal in every town or city, and still just barely making it back before the snakes caught up.

Everyone rushed into the brig, and Nya took the staff and reassuringly told Jay’s parents: “Come with me. Once we reverse the venom, we can fix you.”

Meanwhile, the ninja (and you) rushed to get the bounty up and running, Jay taking charge and telling everyone what to do. You were grinning despite everything. 

Time to fly.

Jay hits the button. The special button, the secret weapon. Something every ninja headquarters needs. And…nothing happens. Well, that was anticlimactic.

Jay frowned. “Ugh, I don't get what's wrong. I spent forever on this, it's supposed to work!”

His now-healed father approached him from behind. “Uh, son? Maybe I can help?” He asked tentatively, tapping Jay on the shoulder.

Jay gasped when he saw his father being human once more. “Dad! You're okay!”

“You're darn tooting,” Ed smiled at his son, crouching down to take a look at the button. “Oh, let's have a look. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh,” It took him only a few minutes before he announced, “Oh, that should do it. Now try it.”

Then Jay hit the button again and finally, the bounty was airborne.

Chapter Text

The few days you've been living with the ninja have been unexpectedly uneventful–the few exceptions being the monastery fire and the whole thing with the junkyard and snakes.

You honestly should've expected it since you didn't have any powers. The only reason you were staying with them anymore was that you'd fallen from the sky into the monastery and were now a regular part of their lives–only after a week or two, even. How did they make friends so quickly?

Currently, you were watching the ninja train (as you do), sitting on the deck of the bounty by the door to the stairs that went down to the brig as it cruised through the sky. Nya was busy working on something inside, so you sat alone, observing.

Wu was demonstrating some yoga positions, facing away from the ninja, who were whispering among themselves. Then Wu turned around and, noticing this, walked over to Kai (who was too engrossed in whatever Zane was telling them to notice) and pulled at his hair.

"Ow, ow, ow! Hey!" Kai scowled as Wu let go of his hair. Wu looked at him sternly.

"What was so important that you ignored my teachings?"

"Uh, nothing." Kai rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Jay agreed with him, and Cole said they don't talk while Wu was teaching, making you snort. As if they did anything but talk while Wu was teaching. They were always gossiping like teenagers. 

Well, they were teenagers, but the point still stood.

"Everyone was paying attention," Zane stated calmly. Which, you all knew, was false. Zane was the only one paying attention (and you, though you weren't training); the others were chatting.

"Since you all appear to be lacking in focus, then you can all share in the punishment," Wu said sternly, surveying the ninja that stood before him. Cue the protests.

"What?"

"Punishment?"

"It was all Zane!"

"I was merely answering their questions!”

Despite the protests, Wu continued sternly, "No free time and no video games. The rest of the day can be used for training. And tomorrow, for that matter."

"Training? For how long?" Kai asked incredulously.

"Until you can answer this simple riddle," Wu stated. You perked up. Ooh, you remembered this part.

"What is the best way to defeat an enemy?”

To make them your friend. Exactly what they’ll do with Lloyd soon, if you remembered correctly.

Since you knew the answer, you considered telling one of the ninja when Wu was busy and make life easier for them. However, not intervening would be more fun.

The ninja tried to come up with answers, all of them violent, none of them even close to the actual answer.

Wu sighed in disappointment at their attempts, "Pace yourselves. You have a lot of training ahead of you. Make sure you sharpen your mind as well as your Spinjitzu." Having said this, he walked away, leaving the ninja to train and ponder the riddle.

"Ugh. What's the best way to defeat an enemy? It could be anything!" Cole groaned, everyone thinking hard about what the answer could be.

As Wu leaves, you, still sitting in your little corner, grin. 

"It's so obvious, c'mon." 

Well, it wasn't really; you'd just watched the show enough times for the answer to the riddle to be ingrained in your memories.

Kai looked in your direction with a scowl. "Oh yeah? Well, if it's so easy, what's the answer, smartass?"

You coyly smiled back at him. "I enjoy your struggles, why would I tell you?”

Jay then said encouragingly, "Come on guys, we're smart! We can figure this out."

The fire ninja hits a punching bag, taking out his frustrations about the punishment and you teasing them about it. "Yeah, but first let's hear more about this dream."

Zane smiled, "Let me just say, the Green Ninja is awesome.”

***

You listened while Zane explained his dream, in detail. When he finished, the other three ninja let out a 'whoa' in unison. 

The last bit of his dream was the Green Ninja wielding fire, so Kai’s immediate conclusion was: "So I'm the Green Ninja."

Cole scoffed at him. “What are you talking about? He had incredible strength to lift that cargo and save his life. It’s me!” He countered.

“No, no. Did you miss the part of the story where the guy pulled out nunchucks? I have nunchucks!” Jay chimed in, brandishing his golden weapon.

“I think you're all missing the point of this dream. The point is the Falcon flew on his arm and it was my dream, so naturally, it's me.” Zane countered.

“Girls, girls, you’re all beautiful,” You interjected in a dry tone. “So stop arguing. For all you guys know, it’s someone who isn’t even on the team.” 

Which it was. It was Lloyd, who wasn’t on the team yet.

Jay dismissed you with a wave of his hand. “Nah, it’s gotta be one of us. The green ninja had our skills! Personally, I think we can cross Cole off the list. I could've lifted ten times–”

“Whoa, cross me off the list? Anyone can hold nunchucks.”

Then Wu seemingly materialized out of nowhere. “Since you are not training, you must have already found the answer to my riddle. What is the best way to defeat your enemy?” He asked them, raising an eyebrow.

You snickered at the expression on Kai’s face as he tried to come up with an answer for Sensei Wu. “Uh, the best way to defeat your enemy is to…train, Sensei?”

“Feeble and incorrect.” Wu said sternly. “Maybe more training will help you focus. Remember what happened to your vehicles when you lost focus. A razor-sharp weapon is an extension of a razor-sharp mind.”

***

The black void again. Pressing in on all sides, suffocating…until it wasn't. The pressure was almost comforting this time around. Not only was it comforting, it felt alive.

 It seemed aware, speaking in a thousand whispering voices. You couldn't make out much of what they were saying. 

The only discernable word was Vessel.

Repeated over and over like an accusation.

This void around you felt ancient, and powerful, and corruptive, and very, very dangerous.

And all of a sudden you were sinking, sinking, sinking. It started to suffocate you again, this dark energy, and you felt like you were drowning in it. You couldn't speak, couldn't move, and the void pressing in on you made it so you couldn't breathe.

Were you about to die?

***

Just as you thought you would drown in shadow, your eyes shot open at the sound of the bounty’s alarm going off. Just a dream.

You hop off the bed and rush to the brig, glad that something was going on that wasn’t you dreaming about a dark power, just in time to hear Nya explain what was going on, and why the alarm was blaring. 

“Lloyd and a Serpentine have overtaken Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys.”

What an unfortunate name.

“That place is a cesspool for the crooked and the misbehaved.” The lightning ninja commented, obviously reluctant about the idea that they all go help.

“Well, that doesn’t mean they don’t need our help.” Cole pointed out. He looked over at Zane. “Step on it.” Zane does as he says, pressing the fly button.

“Ninja-”

You interrupt their catchphrase to ask, “Can I come?”

“Official ninja business, so no, you can't come.” Was the answer, Kai being the one who said it. “Plus, you don't even have powers.” He added.

The mention of you not possessing powers caused those whispers to start up inside your mind again. Vessel. What the hell did they mean, ‘Vessel’?

Nya noticed your expression and assumed you were disappointed about not being able to go with the Ninja on the mission. She walked over to you and patted your shoulder consolingly. “Hey, it's fine! We can relax and hang out while they go on the mission.”

Her talking snaps you out of your head, and those whispers quiet down. “Wha- uh…yeah. We can…yeah.” You nodded, still thinking about those voices in your head.

***

The bounty was parked right over Darkley’s, above the roof in the air. You watched as the ninja were lowered on the bounty's anchor, lost in thought. Last night was the second time you'd dreamed of drowning in a void since arriving in the world, which wouldn't be as concerning as it was if you weren't still hearing those whispers in your head. They made you feel like you had a migraine.

You were snapped out of those thoughts when you saw Jay chasing Lloyd around the roof, with Lloyd trying his best to escape. But when he sees how high up he is he gets scared enough to stop running. 

The bounty then descends, and you, Nya, and Wu all walk onto the roof, with you trying not to look down at how high up you were.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, you come here right now!” Wu said sternly. 

Jay grabs the kid and throws him over his shoulder with a grunt. “Got him.”

“Whoa! Hey, let me go!” Lloyd squirms and kicks, but eventually gives up trying to get away.

“What should we do with him?” Cole asked with a head tilt. “Wash his mouth out with soap for a year?”

“Ground him indefinitely?” Kai suggested.

“Have him sit in a corner for a century?” was Zane’s idea

While those were wonderful punishments, none of them were what Wu planned.

Instead, he ominously stated, “I know exactly what we must do.” Which you knew meant reading him a storybook before bed. 

Later that day, exactly that happened. Wu had Lloyd set up in his room, and before bed, he read him a story about why Jack the Rabbit never trusts a snake. You and the ninja watched from the doorway, you, with a soft smile on your face at the sweet family moment, and them, with varying degrees of disgruntledness on their faces.

When Wu finishes the story, Lloyd murmurs, “Oh, if my dad had read me that book, I would never have made that mistake. I'm sorry, uncle.”

“Oh, you do not need to apologize. I am sure that if your father was still here, it would be the first book he'd read.” Wu smiled kindly at his nephew, ruffling his hair. “Good night, nephew. Sweet dreams.”

“Good night, uncle.” Lloyd smiles, closing his eyes and drifting off.

Wu smiled and got up, walking out of the room and gently shutting the door. When he did so, Kai said in a disgruntled tone, “I don't get it, sensei.”

Jay continued the thought. “Why isn't the little brat getting punished?” You bonked him on the head, making him let out an ‘oof.’ 

“He lived in a boarding school for villain kids, what else was he going to turn out like?” You scowled.

“Still, we had to train all day and he gets read a bedtime story? It's not fair.” Cole huffed, arms crossed.

“Hmm, you're right, I nearly forgot.” Wu mused. “Why are you not still training? Did you find the answer to the riddle?” He surveyed the ninja with a stern gaze, causing them to take a sudden interest in the floor.

Kai was the first to admit defeat. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “No, Sensei. We still don't know what the best way to defeat your enemy is.” The four ninja start walking away to train, heads hung low.

“Ooh, ooh, can I say?” You look at Wu with a smile, bouncing a little. You'd told him you knew the answer earlier in the day, and he had been pleased that someone knew what he was trying to teach the ninja. He nodded.

“It's to make them your friend.” You stated with a grin. The four let out a collective. “Ohh,” nodding.

And on that note, the day’s activities are done. You still have a migraine so you call it a night.

You hope you don't have to deal with dreams about drowning in living shadow two nights in a row.

Chapter Text

It was just a regular morning upon the Destiny’s Bounty. Kai was playing video games, Cole was cooking, Zane was doing the laundry, and Jay was working on a training bot. And you and Lloyd? 

Well, you two were running around to set up pranks and sow dissent (on Master Wu’s orders! Not out of the maliciousness of your hearts!) within the team. 

How dastardly.

First on your list: Kai.

For his prank, Lloyd beat all his Fist to Face 2 high scores using Cole’s profile. So later, when Kai was about to play, you and Lloyd walked into the gaming room, you trying not to giggle and give away the game as Lloyd said, “Hey, Kai! Saw Cole beat your high score. You should've seen it. It was pretty spectacular.”

You nodded in agreement as Kai looked at Lloyd, perplexed.

“Uh, you must be talking about Sitar Legend. This is Fist to Face 2. No one beats me on my game.”

You shrugged. “Maybe we saw wrong. I remember this being the loading screen.”

Lloyd and you left, the former whistling as you two walked away. Meanwhile in the game room, Kai checked Cole’s profile. And sure enough, all his scores were higher than Kai’s.

Infuriated, he yelled out, “Cole!”

Here, you two split up, Lloyd going to Jay to tell him Zane messed with his training bot (in reality, it was you two) and you to Cole in the kitchen, where he was making Violet Berry Soup.

Cole is happily stirring a pot of his latest concoction, when he tries a spoonful. Then he immediately spits it out, since it's much spicier than it's supposed to be.

You call out to Cole from the outside, “Hey, Cole, I saw Jay spice up your food. I told him not to, but he said your cooking was way too bland. Just thought I'd let you know!” Of course, it wasn't really Jay, it was you. You didn't want to ruin such delicious cooking, but Master Wu had had you and Lloyd doing this, so was it really your fault? Nah.

Last on the list was Zane, but you'd let Lloyd take care of it. You already knew what was going to happen. Ah, Zane the Pink Ninja. A classic.

It was only a few minutes later that you and Lloyd were hiding in the bathroom, giggling while listening to the Ninja argue. The two of you high-fived, grinning all the while.

Of course, the fun came to an end when Master Wu came and revealed the two of you hiding in there with huge, cheshire cat grins plastered on your faces.

The four ninja gasped and spoke, both in unison, “You two did this?” Cole glares at Lloyd, and Kai at you.

Cole stalked towards Lloyd, saying, “Boys, I get first dibs on-” But before he could do anything, Wu grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him.

“No dibs. I put them up to this for today's lesson. I wanted to show the destructive power of rumors and that jumping to conclusions can only lead to trouble.” Wu explained sternly, pulling Cole back. “Did you ever think to find out if the accusations were true?”

Cole shrugged his hand off of his shoulder. “Uh, no offense, Sensei, but let me jump to this conclusion: today's lesson is lame.”

Jay nodded eagerly, chiming in, “Yeah, why can't you just teach us to paralyze your enemy with one finger, or find out if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?”

Wu fixed him with a deadpan look. “Because not all lessons are about fighting.” After a pause, he sheepishly added, “And I misplaced my lesson book.”

Kai notices a book in Lloyd’s pocket–the stolen lesson plans (not your idea, and who were you to stop fate in its tracks?)–taken before everything with the pranks. He snatched it out of his pocket, holding it up and asking, “You mean this lesson book?”

Lloyd frowns. “It was the perfect plan until you had to show up and mess everything up–” He's cut off when Cole closes the bathroom door on you and him.

Through the speaker then comes the voice of Nya. “If you're done fooling around, I could use you guys in the brig. We do still have a snake problem to attend to. Over and out!”

Kai mutters something about thinking this was a ninja headquarters, and Nya responds with: “You do know I can hear you...over and out!”

***

You all make your way into the brig, where Nya explains what she's discovered.

“Last we heard of Pythor, he stole the Map of Dens from Lloyd and is now on his way to open the last two Serpentine tombs.”

Lloyd groans, “Ugh, don't remind me,” looking both embarrassed and remorseful.

“Pythor's our most dangerous threat,” Wu remarks, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “If he finds those tombs before we do, with his intellect and all four tribes unleashed, there's no telling what he'll do.”

Wait, shouldn't Wu know where the tombs are? He was alive during the Serpentine war, he led the band of elemental masters that defeated the Serpentine for fucks sake!

Plot holes galore.

“But those tombs could be anywhere. Without the map, we might as well just throw darts at a map!” Jay exclaims, visibly frustrated. Nya smiles.

“Good idea. Why don't we?” She grabs two darts, one red and one blue, and throws them at a map, marking the locations of the Fangpyre and Hypnobrai tombs respectively. “These are the two locations of the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre tombs.”

“Show off,” Kai mutters under his breath. You elbow him.

“And this is Pythor's tomb.” Nya places another dart, a purple one this time, on the map. "After many hours of ruminating on why the tombs were placed in these three precise locations, I discovered a secret pattern. If you notice, all three are in line with the Ninjago symbol for serpent.”

“So the last two tombs must be here and here,” Jay pointed out the last two locations on the map and turned to Nya with a big grin. “Ah, you are so smart!”

Nya shrugged. “Was there ever any doubt?”

“There is little time. Kai and Jay, you head to the Venomari Tomb.” Wu instructed the red and blue ninja. “Cole and Zane, you take the Constrictai Tomb. And take this.” He handed Zane the sacred flute. “You might need it if you run into Pythor. Good luck, ninja.”

Nya interjected, “What am I gonna do?”

“Yeah, what are we gonna do?” Lloyd agreed.

You nodded. “Me too.”

“I need you two,” Wu gestured at you and Nya, “to stay here and make sure Lloyd doesn't get into any more trouble.”

Nya frowned, but replied, “Yes, sensei,” in an annoyed tone. You just shrugged. It wasn't like you were expecting to be sent on a mission. Besides, Lloyd may be a bit of a brat, but he was a good kid when he wanted to be, you didn't really mind looking after the little scamp.

So while the ninja rushed off to kick snake ass, you took Lloyd and headed to your room to hang out and talk. He'd taken a bit of a liking to you, and you him.

You wanted him to feel like he had you to rely on, since you knew his future, knew the responsibilities the kid would have as the green ninja. You knew what he'd go through.

You didn't want him to go through it alone.

About an hour later, the two of you sat in peaceful silence. Lloyd sat still on your bed in front of you as you sketched a picture of him. You'd shown him a few drawings (the ones that weren't of his future, you didn't want him to know what he'd go through yet, he was just a kid) that he'd liked a lot. Then he looked at you with pleading green eyes while asking you to draw him. You simply couldn't refuse, so here you were.

Unfortunately for your peace, you got a sudden, painful headache, causing you to drop your pencil and clutch at your head. It felt like someone was stabbing through your brain with a hot iron rod that was simultaneously melting inside your head, the molten metal burning you from the inside out.

You heard a ringing in your ears, and as you squeezed your eyes shut, you could see evil-looking red eyes and hear a menacing, grating laugh. You nearly blacked out from the pain, only conscious because Lloyd was shaking you, looking concerned and a little scared.

The pain subsided, and you could finally open your eyes again, seeing the kid holding onto the sleeve of your hoodie, concerned. He called your name softly.

“Are you okay? You- you looked really hurt…” He sounded shaken up. Did it really look so painful that he was this scared for you?

You let out a shaky breath, sitting up straighter. “I- I'll be fine.” You managed to croak out. “Just need to rest for a bit.” Lloyd looked doubtful, but he didn't press.

You leaned back against the headboard, running a hand over your face. What the fuck was that?

***

You recover enough by the time dinner rolls around and the ninja are back that no one looks too concerned–except Lloyd, who sits next to you and keeps glancing at you, brows creased. He's worried after what he witnessed, and so are you. Something is going on here.

Jay was telling the story of what all happened earlier. “So then, just when we were gonna bite it, this huge mechanical robot–”

Zane interrupted him to correct, “Samurai. It was a Samurai.”

Lloyd tilted his head in confusion. “A sama-what?”

Wu explained to his nephew what a samurai was, while Kai said, “He was a hundred feet high, with weapons coming out of every part of him!” Then he leaned over to you and whispered conspiratorially, “Look at Sensei's beard. It's moving like snakes.” 

You facepalmed. The Venomari venom really got to him.

“When is this Venomari spit supposed to wear off? It's starting to get annoying.” Nya complained. You couldn't help but agree with the girl. It was funny…at first. But his ramblings made him sound like he was high. At this point, you might just turn in early. Especially since your head was still pounding from earlier.

So while everyone was discussing the events of today, you quickly finish your food and quietly slip off to go to sleep in the hopes that it would at least relieve you of this headache.