Hey readers, I'm back! I've been in Bali for a week and a bit, so I couldn't update. Then I went on a writing break.
I made my first poll! I don't know if everyone wants to see return of the Mechanic 2 yet, so I'll let the poll decide. You can find it on my profile, so please vote! Only one person has voted at the moment...
Alright, keeping with the dark theme and going with something requested by a guest called ImNotCreative. When I say it's the Day of the Departed, I mean the events happen before the ghosts of the villains come back. Let's go!
Zane was a strange guy. He always did things with little to no regrets. Wearing pink aprons, laughing at sad movies...
Killing himself to defeat the Overlord...
It had been a year since that incident in Ninjago City. They had gotten a small glimmer of hope after they had gotten a message from Chen, telling them that their friend was alive. Of course, it turned out to be a lie, much to the ninja's disappointment.
After the ninja had defeated Chen and his Tournament of Elements, Skylor had taken Zane's place on the team. A fight broke out between the team because of this, fueled by Cole's protests ("Come on, Zane's irreplaceable!") and Kai's not so secret crush on Skylor. In the end Cole gave up and let Skylor on the team, though this mainly had to do with Lloyd pressing him to.
Then the ghosts attacked and Nya became the ninja of water, boosting Nya's self confidence and the ninja's popularity. Then there was that final incident with Nadakhann that Jay and Nya remembered and didn't want to bring up.
Now there were six ninja on the team to protect Ninjago. Cole had gotten used to his ghostly form and Jay and Nya were together. Everything was normal.
Well...almost normal.
PIXAL. Everyone had forgotten about PIXAL. They had forgotten how she may have been one of the closest people to Zane, and that she was also heartbroken when Zane died. She was all alone, with Cyrus being far too busy with the ninja's new vehicles or their missions.
...
It was the Day of the Departed. A day to honour those who have left us, and be thankful for those we still have. Jay, of course, was going to spend the day with his parents. Nya, on the other hand, was going to spend the day with Kai, but she had been turned down at the last second.
"What do you mean, you're going to spend the day with Skylor?!" Nya cried.
"Come on sis, this is my big chance!" Kai whispered, "Oh, and while you're at it could you do something for me?"
Nya was about to scream with frustration when Kai stopped her by thrusting a small bunch of flowers under her nose, looking the other way.
"I was going to give these to Skylor, but I got a bigger bunch. Could you...take these to Zane's statue?" Kai asked.
Stunned, Nya took the flowers and nodded. It wasn't like her brother to do something like this, even out of circumstance. Kai grinned, gave her a thumbs up and ran into a different room.
...
PIXAL ran along the path until she saw something in the distance. Zane's statue. She slowly came to a stop a few metres in front of the statue.
"Hello Zane. I believe it's been a while since we have seen each other." PIXAL said, "Please forgive my absence at your funeral, I just needed to be alone."
She walked up to the foot of the statue and sat down.
"Mr Borg has been really busy, working on your team's vehicles and mechs. He seems really interested in it, considering that he doesn't have anything else to do. As a matter of fact, he actually created a mech for you. You would have liked it." PIXAL said.
She bit her lip and looked up, Zane's silhouette casting a shadow over her.
"Are we...still compatible?" she whispered.
"PIXAL? Is that you?" a voice asked.
PIXAL looked up and saw Nya standing a few metres in front of her, holding a small bunch of flowers.
"Hello Nya. I'm sorry we had to reunite like this." PIXAL said, wiping her eyes.
Nya placed the flowers at the foot of the statue and sat down next to PIXAL. They sat next to each other for a very long time, both too shy to say anything. Eventually PIXAL broke the silence with the first thing that came to mind.
"Nice flowers." PIXAL murmured.
"You like them? My brother picked them out." Nya said.
"It doesn't seem like your brother to do something like this."
"Would you believe the flowers were for Skylor instead?"
Nya chuckled while PIXAL managed a half-assed smile.
"I guess somethings just don't turn out the way you expect." PIXAL said.
"You're not just talking about the flowers, are you?" Nya asked.
PIXAL bit her lip again and looked away. She recoiled in shock when Nya suddenly hugged her.
"I miss him too, PIXAL. We all miss him. But we have to move on." Nya said.
Upon hearing this, PIXAL finally let out the emotions she had been bottling up over the past few months. She sobbed uncontrollably into Nya's shoulder for what felt like forever, Nya watching everything unfold.
Finally, PIXAL stopped crying. She wiped her eyes again and looked at Nya.
"Thing will get better PIXAL. Just hang on." Nya said.
With that, Nya stood up and walked away, momentarily turning back to look at Zane's statue one last time before disappearing into the darkness.
PIXAL stood up and looked up at the statue.
"Goodbye, Zane. Happy Day of the Departed." PIXAL whispered.
She smiled again and ran after Nya, disappearing into the darkness after her.
I just imagined this is how it would have gone down if Zane died for real. Anyway, thanks for reading, vote and I'll see you all in the next one-shot!