Summary: Part One

No matter what happens, no matter where you go, I will find you.

And I will destroy you.

What if your entire life is a lie? What if where you came from was just a story meant to drag you away from your destined path?

Ninjago has conquered the final enemy. When the promise of peace returns, a war breaks out on the coast. Overnight, hundreds of boats fill the surrounding seas. The people have disappeared, leaving behind everything but their most welcome presence. An enemy of unknown has infiltrated the borders, and stepped foot upon the shore.

Armed with nothing but one another and a scroll telling a tale of wrath and destruction, the ninja set off on a new course to protect their homeland from forces that come by night and vanish by dawn.

But when one of them turns, with is no trace of poison or hypnosis, they realize that the more they search, the more lies they uncover, and the deeper the dread sinks in to their ever-shrinking group. For this to end, they must make a choice, and they know, even if they don't make this choice, their lives are about to change…forever.

Rated T for gore, character death, and strategy.

Summary: Part Two

The day the devil came to my door, the day I traded my soul for fame. Most would expect temptation to take on the form of gold. Piles of gold, mountains stretching high above the shining seas. We were wrong, all of us. It is the end. It was always going to come to this. That day, everything did end, and we helped them do it.

There is no excuse. Even if we said we were deceived, what good does it do? Everything is gone. Everyone we ever loved, disappeared from the face of this face. And slowly, we will too, and there will be nothing left but them. The Oni? What a joke. The Oni was nothing—just another one of his tactics to get blood on our hands. How could we not have seen it coming? How could we not have known we'd created the very same monster to begin with?

Further Information:

This story has nothing to do with season nine. Just imagine season eight where Wu has already grown back into an old man, and the ninja already having battled the Oni. Lloyd still doesn't have his powers. Something like that.

Contains minor spiritual themes, as well as character death. This story will focus on family, loyalty, and friendship, and each of the ninja in turn. Is in third person omniscient. Primary P.O.V.'s, Lloyd and Zane. No cursing, nothing dirty. Just clean old Ninjago with major doses of ninja logic. :)

The story builds like LEGO blocks, so the hurt/comfort comes in at a later time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, or any of the Hageman Brother's epic works.

Chapter 1

A Promise of Peace

The promise of peace hung about Ninjago. But that morning, everything changed. At first, the ninja thought Wu had set up a new alarm system in the upper deck. Something digital, set to full blast: a recording of an air raid. When two full minutes passed, everyone had gathered to the port side. That's when they saw it. Enormous wooden ships. Military ships, hundreds of them, filling the ocean like ants pouring out of a drowning an ant pile. Only, the ants remained silent, broken by the wind in the brown-red flags, too shredded to identify by any proper means.

"What are they?" Kai asked. His voice hit a strange note, and fell still, as if the air about them had sliced off their will to form words. Even Jay said nothing. He glanced back and forth nervously, a chuckle lodged in his gritty throat.

After a long period in which they gaped at the enormous fleets and the threateningly peaceful waves, Wu ventured to speak. "Do you have anything, Zane?"

Everyone else looked at the old man in surprise. They would have expected him to announce something ominous, such as "it is time", or "it is as I have feared; they have arrived."

Zane reconstructed the flags with his scanner, projected them into the air on a blue grid. "This is what I have, but it's…" He broke off, and stared at it in shocked silence. There was nothing.

"It's what?" Lloyd asked, his eyebrows narrowed. He found the nindroid's demeanor unnerving. So did the others. Normally they came out with differing opinions. This time, no one countered him.

"Every Ninjago emblem, along with the foreign enemies we have thus encountered, is stored in my database. Even if not, I can pick up on new ones."

"Right, and?"

"If it were new, I would have picked up on it and stored it under a temporary label. That is, until we identified the bearers." Zane broke off again, his fist to his chin, glinting silver in the morning sun.

Jay finally erupted in a blabbering fit. "Well? Spit it out, Zane. Don't keep us in suspense. What did you find?"

"Well…" Zane paused again. "I believe this is… My father—he left me all the information known in Ninjago, and then I stored the rest based on the experiences prior to and post the time of my memory erase. I thought I'd restored everything after returning to the forest. It seems I may have overlooked something. Or, rather, my father did. He had attempted to permanently delete an encrypted file.

"I noticed this a while back, during the time of the Overlord and the stone warriors. Ever since then, I've spent my spare time decoding it. The continuous interruptions disrupted the flow of the process, so I have yet to crack it. This file contains the flag emblem from these ships.

"According to my own assessment of my father and his actions, he knew the process would expend too much time and energy, and eventually left it alone. He may have overlooked a few pieces of information when he stored it. It is unlike him, but it is the most probable explanation as of yet. The flag is among them."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Cole said.

Jay piped up. "Yeah. I mean, look at Sensei. He's kept so many secrets, and there's probably still more. We've dealt with the stone warriors, the Ovelord, Garmadon, an ancient rock man, a bunch of ghosts, Wu's secret student, a big ugly sea cucumber lady, a whole army of your lookalikes, and we've all come out fine. There's no reason to get all freaked out, right?"

"Jay's right," Kai said. "Relax. We'll get past this. We always do."

Zane shook his head. Cole wrapped an arm around his neck, jerking him close. "We'll find out why your father did that. I'm sure he had a good reason."

Nya joined him, clapping an arm on their friend's shoulder. "Ninja never quit."

Everyone came in for a titanium group noogie, leaving Sensei and Misako to exchanged worried looks. At length, the old man stepped forward, his new staff hitting the ground with a light, yet ominous clack. "Ninja, I have something to announce."

The others turned to him. "What is it, Sensei?" Kai asked.

"Zane's father told me about the file." Before anyone could express his "shock" at another one of their master's ever-growing stash of secrets, he held up a withered hand. "Let me finish. First, I must reveal something to you. I…am not an Oni, and I am not a dragon. There is no other realm like the one I told you. These ships here—they are the true ships of my homeland, Ninjago's first and final warriors. They were here, long ago. They existed on this island, way before the First Spinjitzu Master ever founded the people and before he battled the Overlord.

"The Overlord…is just one of many foes. He came from another realm, and when he left, that realm failed. The First Spinjitzu Master had created those warriors and sent them in to destroy the remnants of dark power within. That's when the Overlord escaped. That's also the day the warriors succumbed to that power. They've been trapped there, for thousands of years. When the alarm goes off, that means they have been freed.

"The real reason I called you six together was to determine the key. I knew it was only a matter of time before they were freed. By whom, or what, I do not yet know, but today…I found the answer."

He stopped and looked out to the sea, heaving a long, ancient sigh. The wind died down, leaving the entire beach eerily lifeless. The waves continued lazily sloshing back and forth, but for some reason it only made it feel worse.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked.

Wu shook his head. "I fear I cannot say. The answer is too dark for anyone to handle. Not even I can fathom it."

Jay crossed his arms, and huffed. "Typical Sensei. Always pulling the wool over our eyes."

"You're always hiding things. Why?" Cole asked. The others exchanged looks, or nods. Zane slowly approached the aged man before him, and bowed his head respectfully, then straightened to his full height, his sharp eyes softening to a peaceful, gentle glow, like flowing water amidst a cubicle of ice.

"I agree. Sensei, there is no reason to keep hiding things from us. All your life, you've borne the secrets of Ninjago. To the world, you are a master, a hero, a savior clothed in white, and with you follows the hope of dawn. It is a burden too difficult to bear. Even if you must hold up the whole world, we are your family. Even if we can't hold it up for you, we can hold up you. We will fight for you to the very ends of Ninjago and back, and the islands and realms beyond. Tell us: what is it that haunts you? Let us know if we can help."

"Zane's right," Lloyd said. "You can't handle it alone. The only way to save the world is to save it, together. And if we have to go down with the ship, we go down with the ship, together. That's what family is for.

"Before, I was too young to understand my dad's hardships. Then, one day, I realized: I was never there for him, and I decided to stay by his side as long as I could, even if that meant three short months, even one day. Even if I could do nothing and watch him go, I was there. My presence gave him hope, and because of that hope, he repented. He had a son; he had a brother; he had a wife; he had the will to go on. Had I not been there for him, what would it have been like?" Lloyd walked around Zane, and placed a hand on his uncle shoulder. "Tell us, Sensei. We'll always be with you."

"That…didn't sound very encouraging. It sounded more like your last words. Right?" Jay chuckled nervously, and looked around for support. Nya elbowed him sharply.

"The choice is up to you," Kai said. No one expected him to say that, but they all agreed and waited expectantly.

Sensei rubbed his beard up and down like dry tinder. Finally, he sighed and gave them a resigned nod, turning away as the first light of sun broke through the dawn.

"In order to save them, we must join them, and peel away the illusion they've placed upon us. Last night was real. Today is a dream—the real nightmare, if you'd like to call it that. We have to kill…every single man and woman in Ninjago, and everyone around us. Only then can we break the spell."

And that's the moment Ninjago changed, forever.

Author's Note:

Hello. It's been a while.

Here is an overview of how things are going to work. I've had lots of health problems over the past couple of years, leading to my lengthy absence. Right now, I am working on recovering, and during this time I would like to use fanfiction as a way of healing via the placebo effect—something along those lines—, and to kind of get me back on my feet and de-stress. I get massive headaches on occasion, so if I don't update for a day or two, that's probably why; however, I will do my best to be consistent and persevere in completing this story. Updates will, more than likely, be once a week. In any case, it is nice to be back on fanfiction. Hope you enjoy this FF. :)

With much love,

C. J.