Happy Friday everyone. It's time for an update. If any of you were confused on Lucas can control his elemental powers, all will be explained in my later chapters. As of right now, this is a filler chapter. Enjoy. :)

Chapter 9: A Skeleton's Past

I tossed and turned as I couldn't sleep. I went through weapons training, elemental training, sparring, my favorite of target practice with knives and the shurikens. I even found out that my sai's can do the same. I basically went through a vigorous workout of training to be the Ninja of Water all day to exhaust myself. And yet, something was on my mind. But what?

"Be warned, kid. Never disobey Samukai or suffer the consequences." the gatekeeper's voice rang in my head.

That's it! That's what's been bothering me. I don't understand his warning. What did he mean by that? Did he betray Samukai or disobeyed him to be the gatekeeper and not a soldier? I'm surely not gonna get answers in my head if I keep thinking about it. I might as well ask himself. Can't be that hard can it?

I threw the covers off of me and swung my legs out of my bed. I felt a chill run up my spine as I felt the cold stone floor through my socks and didn't turn back. I grabbed the silk robe on my chair and quietly left my room. My footsteps didn't echo in the halls as my ankle socks muffled my footfalls to attract unwanted attention and reached the main doors and walked out into the courtyard. I quietly ran through the courtyard and felt my socks ruined to the stone floor and didn't bother much as I still have more from when I packed to run away. I crossed the wooden bridge and reached the stone doors to the surface. Silence in the air. Where was he?

"You shouldn't be out this late, little one." the gatekeeper's voice spoke out. I turned around to see him walking up with his staff echoing on the floor. "The spiders here guard the fortress and will get a chance to capture you and consume you whole for the first chance of meat."

I gulped as my fear for spiders grew. Why am I afraid if you ask? Let's just say that I was once in the woods and hid in a hollow to scare my parents and felt something on my back. When I turned around, it was filled with spiders. And since then, I had a fear for them. It was scary. All sorts of spiders and their webs were on me and I kept thinking that I was their next meal as I squirmed out of the hollow with the fear tailing behind me. And every time I see a spider, I freeze in fear and ask my parents to kill it. But they would always tell me to not fear get the best of me and they would release it outside. But still, no matter how many time I face my fears, I just turn and run because it reminds me of the hollow. "I will not let them." I huffed, but yet felt them eyeing me as their meal. "I'm being careful."

The skeleton stood by the gates and moved his robes away to reveal the dusty bones. "Tell me, what brings you to my gates in this hour?" he asked me.

"I couldn't sleep." I replied while sitting on a rock. "Because I wanted to ask you something."

His flameless eyes burned through me and turned away. "I don't have time to answer your silly childish questions." he growled and walked away. "Leave or else Samukai punishes you for sneaking out."

"That's the thing though." I quickly said and got to my feet. "I want to know what you meant to never disobey Samukai and why you're unlike the others."

The gatekeeper stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face me. This time I could see his emotions, even though he's a skeleton, I could see a grim look on his skull. "You really want to know about it?" he asked. And in my response, I nodded my head. He walked over to a flat stone across from mine and groaned as he slowly sat himself down and set his staff down. "What is it that you really want to know?" he asked.

"Everything." I replied. "Why to never betray Samukai and why you're the gatekeeper. Is it a punishment or your life?"

The old skeleton sighed. "It's both." he replied and rested his arms on his legs with his skull lifted to see me. Can he see me or not? "You see, I was once a man that lived and breathed to the outside world. But now sentenced for life as this keeper."

"What happened?" I asked while crossing my legs to hug them to listen to his story.

"Two hundred years ago," he began. "I used to live in a village by the sea. The air smelled beautiful. The sky and sun shined brightly. And the fish kept biting our traps." I imagined it all, it was beautiful. The skeleton shifted himself. "I had a wife named Mylee." he continued. "She was beautiful in every way. Her hair black as a raven and soft as silk. The eyes were a beautiful shade of green with those perfect pink lips." I starting to get the picture now of her. "A rich man could have her. But instead, she chose me. We were happy together." His emotions changed and turned his head down. "But one day, everything changed."

"What happened?" I asked.

Sighing, the skeleton lifted his head back up. "Mylee fell ill and no healer couldn't revive her." he continued sadly. "I was broken because I didn't want to lose her and couldn't live without her. So I asked Samukai to revive her and I would give him anything in return."

"What was that?" I kept asking.

"My first-born son." he replied.

I was stunned. Why would Samukai want with a child when he clearly hates them? Including me when I'm near him. "So what happened then?" I asked again, extracting every detail to know more.

"My aching heart and...greed to have my Mylee back and the son growing in her consumed me and I accepted." he continued. "Samukai gave me an elixir to heal her and told me that when my son was born, I had to kill him to give him to Samukai." I was more stunned. Samukai wanted him to kill him in a sacrifice. "But I couldn't do it. When my son was born, I took him and my wife and we ran from Samukai. Years went by and I watched him grow. I was happy. But when he turned four, Samukai found me and took me from my family. I found myself here and was cursed."

"With what?" I asked him. I've got to stop asking questions now.

"Immortality." he sighed.

I looked at him confused. That should be a good thing, shouldn't it? A life of not dying. That sounds neat. "But that's more like a gift instead of a curse." I stated. "You live forever." The skeleton gave me a hard stare and took his staff and whacked me on the head. "Ow!" I held my head and rubbed it to ease the throbbing pain and watched him place it back down. Why did he do that? Was it something I said?

"You don't get it do you, kid?" he spat at me. And I shook me head. Maybe it was something I said. "With my curse, I watched the ones I love die in front of me. They grew old while I stayed the same. I watched my wife die. My son. Even my grandchildren." The last part was silent filled with sorrow.

I was stunned more. He's been through a lot. Even watching the ones he loved die before him because of his curse. But I realized now. "So that's why you never betray Samukai." I said. "He makes you suffer by doing the opposite. You wanted to be with everyone and he made you live forever. Not them."

"That's correct." he sighed. "Since everyone I knew passed away, Samukai came for me and took my eyes and made me the gatekeeper here. My right hand is the key and this is my punishment."

Again I was stunned. A bit more surprised. This skeleton was once a man and had a history with Samukai. But when he disobeyed Samukai, he got the punishment to live forever and watched everyone he loved die away. And after he suffered, Samukai appointed him the gatekeeper and slowly withered away to be a skeleton. That must be hard for one person. You may live forever, but can't be with the ones you love. "I'm really sorry to hear about that." I apologized. "It must've been hard for you."

The skeleton sighed with a cloud of dust escaping on his breath. "Don't be, kid." he said. "This is my life until the ends of time."

I looked away to let it all sink in. I looked into his empty eye sockets and drawn a new question. "Can you see?" I asked stupidly. Why did I ask that? I'm such an idiot. "Like how are you able to tell where I am and know what's around?"

The skeletons expression perked up. "Years of practice." he answered. "I can see clearly when soundwaves bounce off these stone walls and can get a picture in my head."

Like a bat. "Echolocation." I summed it.

"Precisely. Now tell me, why are you here and not on the surface?" he asked.

I turned my gaze down and felt anger swell up in my chest. Like a roaring fire. Or a raging wave. "I ran away." I mumbled.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"My father wasn't leading me to become the strongest ninja in Ninjago." I grumbled the answer and stretched my legs out. "So I ran away and found myself here. To train under my uncle."

The keeper scratched his bony chin in acknowledgement and hummed in deep thought. "It appears that your greed and lust for power turned you to this and made you this growing storm to be with Garmadon." he said. I nodded as it meant everything about me being the storm and following my uncle. The keeper watched me for awhile and picked his staff back up. "It is time for you to return to your chamber, little one." he said and groaned as he stood back up for his bones were old with age. "Samukai or the spider will catch you for sneaking out and will suffer the consequences." and started to walk away.

I nodded as sleep was finally crawling up on me and watched him leave. "Wait." I said to stop him. "Before you go...what's your name?"

The blind skeleton stopped and turned to me. "No-one has asked me that in years." he said happily. "It's Kuzca."

I liked it. I don't know why, but I thought it was neat. "I like it." I said. "My name is Lucas."

Kuzca clenched his jaws tight as if he was smiling and I knew I made him happy. "That was my son's name when he was alive." he said and walked away.

I stood there alone as Kuzca left me. I thought of his past was interesting. Why you never betray Samukai and suffer his consequences. I think that we may something in common as we both taken away by Samukai and we shared our stories. I may even found a friend here in the Underworld. A person to talk to when I want to know anything. And someone to talk about my day.

Since he told me it was time to head back, I knew he was right. I started to head back as quiet as I can and quickly hid behind a stalagmite. I peered up to see the spiders crawling on the stone ceiling and waited for them to look away. I found my chance and ran quickly as I could in the courtyard until I felt something hit my ankles and tripped to the floor. A small groan escaped my lips and I looked over my shoulders to see a white-clearish thread wrapped around my ankles and followed it up to the spiders. I screamed as I was being dragged away and carried up.

I struggled to break the sticky thread around my ankles, but couldn't as it was strong and wished I had my sai's with me and felt my back hit something. I looked over my shoulders to see I was lying on a web and quickly turned my head to see my worst fear looming over me. I continued to scream the top of my lungs as the spider's front legs lifted me up and started spinning me and I could feel the threads binding my arms to my sides and my legs tightly and gently placed me back down on the web. I could tell this one was the queen because it was larger than the others and hissed as them to make them back away and slowly crawled to me. I was shaking in fear with hot salty tears running down my cheeks as my worst nightmares were coming true. The queen was snapping her pincher-jaws with clear venom dripping as she drew closer; ready to eat me and I closed my eyes and looked away.

This is how I die.

"Leave him alone!" a voice shouted.

I opened my eyes to see a staff hitting the queen and she hissed in anger. I heard the sound of metal being thrown and saw two shurikens slicing the air and cutting the web apart and found myself rolling off and falling towards the ground. I continued screaming as I was close to the ground and closed my eyes until I felt something grab me. I opened my eyes to expect a spider capturing me, but instead saw Kuzca holding me with his one arm; saving me and setting me back on the ground. Kuzca caught on of the shurikens while the other clanked to the ground along with his staff. "Are you alright?" he asked me.

I quickly nodded as I was now and the spiders began moving away. Kuzca took the shuriken and sliced the web off of my arms and legs and helped me to my feet. "Thank you, Kuzca." I said while still shaking in fear clinging onto me. Like a newborn baby clinging onto its mother. But for me, it was my fear of spiders. And it reminded me of the hollow.

"What's going on out here?" a voice shouted. I looked up and saw my uncle in his black robes and his helmet removed so I could see the black hair standing up. I was starting to shake again as he looked mad at me with his red eyes for sneaking out. That and Samukai was next to him. "Lucas, what are you doing out of your chamber and sneaking out?" he asked me angrily.

"I...uh...uh..." I stuttered to speak. I couldn't think of a lie to make my uncle believe that I wanted to know about Kuzca's warning and lead myself captured by the spiders. I'm in huge trouble now.

"I caught him wondering around because he couldn't sleep he said." Kuzca interjected. "But I warned him about Sherra and told him to head back. But he ignored me and got caught in her trap. I was glad to save him before she could consume. Right, boy?"

I looked at him on our story and quickly nodded my head. My uncle looked at me with a stern look and brought me closer and patted my back with his dry rough hands. Then he turned to Kuzca. "Thank you for saving my apprentice, Kuzca." he said. "Now return to the gates."

Kuzca bowed and I could tell he was annoyed with my uncle and picked his staff up. "Yes Lord Garmadon." he said and started to head back.

My uncle then turned to me. "And you, Lucas, return to your chamber." he commanded to me.

"Yes master." I said and bowed and watched him and Samukai leave and I followed behind them. I looked over my shoulders to glace at Kuzca and saw him staring at me. I hope he saw this, but I mouthed him a thank you for saving me and covering for me. He nodded back as a welcome and disappeared. I smiled now that I may have actually found a friend. Kuzca.

Hoped you enjoyed the update. See you all next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :)