I can't believe this story is almost over

also y'all remember that animation I mentioned? if y'all wanna see it I could try to link it or something

Review replies:

Candaru: I don't know how much % of earth is actually water bansha is just lying

MarbleBird: YEET

SpottedFrost: maybe so

Ebony: Read Candaru's reply

NinjagoPotterWarriorsFan: Mood

KitKat: Thank you :)

Guest: YASS


Bansha nervously tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear, watching as the portal in front of them grew steadily more stable. The Preeminent hovered about thirty feet away from the swirling void, her rhythmic pulsing being the only sound in the huge park at Ninjago city's center. Thousands of ghosts stood behind her, none of them making a sound. Undoubtedly due to a specific command, as there was no way the raucous bunch could stay this quiet on any other occasion.

Careful to keep her mental shield up, Bansha wondered if Ninjago would return to normal once the Preeminent was gone. She wasn't sure if 'cursed' was an actual state for it to be in, or simply the description of the Preeminent's presence. But, then again, if a Realm was only cursed as long as she was in it, she would have to move constantly between Realms to keep control. Highly inefficient.

Bansha wished she could read the Preeminent's mind. It would be fascinating to see what went on inside her head. Unfortunately, the Preeminent also had a shield up, which prevented her from getting even a glimpse inside her head. It was rather unsettling, since with anyone else it was easy to tell what they thought of her. Then again, the Preeminent probably thought the same about her.

Finally, the portal became stable enough for the Preeminent to cross through, and the huge creature began to slowly float towards it. Bansha knew that if she had a heart, it would be pounding. Was this actually going to work? As she watched in anticipation, the Preeminent continued into the swirling void, her tentacles starting to pass through.

Then the world vanished.

Bansha found herself in a black void, and stumbled back in alarm. The Preeminent was there as well, stopping abruptly at the sight of the blackness. A horrible, consuming emptiness gripped Bansha, and she crumpled to the ground with a choked gasp. Her ears were ringing, and her heart was pounding. The- what? Bansha looked down at her hands to see pale, human flesh. What was happening?!

Ninjago reappeared.

Bansha immediately clamped her hands over her ears as a deafening scream sounded, but it did nothing. It was the Preeminent. Clenching her teeth, Bansha looked up to see the Preeminent's army flooding through the portal. Oh no. They must have assumed she had passed through, and taken their cue to enter.

Stumbling to her feet, Bansha snatched the Realm Crystal from where it lay in front of her, closing the huge portal. Any moment now, the Preeminent was going to realize that the ghosts that should be on Earth were in the Cursed Realm, and she would turn on her. Creating a smaller portal, Bansha fled back into the Underworld.

OhTheThingsWeCouldDo

Morro looked up at the hum of a portal, and was surprised to see Bansha stumble through, falling to her knees as the portal closed behind her.

"Bansha!" He exclaimed as she ripped off her mask, her hair billowing around her head as she threw it to the ground. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"I failed. Something- something happened." Bansha pressed her hands against her face. "I- I was sent- somewhere. No warning. The Preeminent and I… and when- when we came back, the ghosts were going through the portal. She knows." Bansha shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Cole spoke up. "That sounds like something that happened to us."

"It happened to me too." Morro added. "Lydia said the timeline is trying to fix itself- I was sent to the Departed Realm, was that where you went?" The sorceress shook her head.

"I don't know. It was black, nothing but black. And I felt horribly empty, like something had sucked out my soul." Morro shook his head.

"That's nothing like what happened to me. Lydia, do you have any idea what…" He trailed off as he looked at the brunette, who was pale as she stared at Bansha in horror.

"That sounds like…" she whispered, but never finished, shaking her head. "Morro, help me up. I need to go to Ninjago."

"What? No!" Morro pushed her off as she grabbed onto his arm and tried to push herself up. "That's a terrible idea! The Preeminent's going to be furious, I'm not taking you into that!

"But I have to talk to her! I need to fix this!"

"What makes you think that talking to her will do anything?"

"It worked on you, didn't it?" She threw her hands up in the air.

"Yes, but that's because I care about you!"

"So does she!"

"The Preeminent doesn't care about anyone!"

"Then why was she so upset when I yelled at her?" Morro stopped.

"That's impossible. She's never upset."

"Well, she was! She's not evil, she's just lonely and starving. I made friends with her, I can talk to her! Maybe I can stop this!" Morro hesitated.

"She… did tell me she had taken a liking to you." He sighed. "Remember when you were trying to convince me she was evil, not the other way around?" Lydia cracked a smile.

"A bit."

"Well… you've won both arguments, so… ugh, fine. I know for a fact that you can be very convincing."

"Thank you." Bansha looked up at the pair.

"Lydia, don't you dare. She'll kill you."

"Well, if I don't, I'll eventually be hunted down and cursed anyway. Might as well get it over with!"

"Stupid girl." Bansha muttered. "Fine. Get yourself killed." She tossed the Realm Crystal towards them, and Morro caught it.

"This had better work." He sighed, then stood, hauling Lydia upright and forming a portal.

"I can't guarantee anything. But I'll try." Lydia wrapped her arms around one of his, and he lead her into the portal.

Ninjago City was chaos.

The moment Morro stepped out of the portal, his knees buckled and he nearly fell at the sheer force of the Preeminent's rage. He heard nothing, so if she was speaking it wasn't to him, but he could feel her anger thick in the air, like fog. Even Lydia looked like she was affected, her grip tightening on his arm and her teeth clenched.

The Preeminent herself floated about fifty feet off the ground in the center of the park, very still amongst her ghosts running every which way in their confusion. If he didn't feel her anger pressing against him, he might think she was calm. Unfortunately, he knew better.

All he wanted to do was escape back to the Underworld, but he knew it was too late as Lydia took a breath and yelled,

"KAREN!" A few of the ghosts stopped to look at her, but for a few moments it looked like the Preeminent hadn't heard. Finally, the park quieted, and Morro realized the ghosts were stopping to look at them. Then they started to approach, and Morro clutched the Realm Crystal tighter, taking a step back.

"KAREN, STOP!" Lydia yelled. "I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"Why?" Morro winced at the Preeminent's loud voice in his head. "You yell at me and abandon me, and now you expect me to listen?"

"I know I was a jerk to you, and I'm sorry. I wasn't even really mad at you, I was just seeing if I could fool you. I was going to tell you and apologize when you came back, but Bansha took me away."

"You let her."

"I was just worried about Morro. I'm sorry." Lydia bowed her head a bit, and the Preeminent was silent. Finally, she turned to Morro.

"And you." He flinched, but Lydia didn't appear to have heard her. "Why are you fighting this? If Lydia is cursed, you will be free to be together." He… hadn't thought of that. Still, he straightened up, tightening his arm around her.

"Because some things are more important." He replied aloud. Besides, she would hate him for it if he helped the Preeminent curse her just so they could be together, so it wouldn't work anyway. Lydia gave him a quizzical look, but didn't ask.

"You do not care about me. You only want me out of Ninjago." Lydia stiffened. She was talking to her again.

"That's not true. I do care about you. And I can help you."

"And why should I trust you after you tricked me?" Lydia hesitated. "And even if you are telling the truth, how could you possibly presume to help me? Nothing you can do will prevent me from having to consume souls to survive!"

"I don't know! But I know I can save you!"

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I've saved everyone else!" Lydia threw her hands up in the air to illustrate. I may have ruined everything, but look at all the people I've saved! I saved Morro, I saved Cole, I saved Garmadon, I saved all the ghosts and all the djinns.

"Somehow, I've saved everyone, whether through luck, or fate, or destiny, I don't know. But somehow, I know I can save you too. And if you don't believe me…" Lydia straightened, lifting her chin. "Curse me and kill me. Read my thoughts and memories. I'll prove I care about you as much as I do Ninjago." Morro stared at Lydia in shock as the Preeminent was silent, tightening his arms around her. Was she… was she serious? Would she really let the Preeminent kill her? Then again, if she decided to, there wasn't much Lydia could do to stop it.

His master was silent for a long time, and he loosened his death grip on Lydia's arm as it appeared she wasn't going to go through with it.

"Very well." Then, before he could react, a tentacle ripped her out of his grasp, lifting her up in the air and hurling her against a building.

OhTheThingsWeCouldDo

Lydia opened her eyes to see green hands.

"Well, okay, unexpected." She commented aloud. "Usually when I do a jester bait it's declined. Not this time."

"Lydia!" Pounding footsteps caught her attention, and she looked up to see Morro skidding to a stop next to her. Immediately, he dropped to his knees, throwing his arms around her. A bit dazed from her, um, death, Lydia wrapped her arms around him back. He was warm. Had he always been warm? "Don't do that!" He ordered, pulling away. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! You would have if I had a heart!" Lydia blinked.

"I can't tell if you're saying you're unfeeling, or that you literally don't have a heart."

"Literally don't have a heart." He pulled her close again. "Lydia, why would you do that?" He whispered. "Now you're stuck like me. Forever."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Yes, it is! Being a ghost-"

"Yeah, I know." She interrupted. "But there is one way to turn someone back from a ghost."

"Wh- there is?"

"Yes. Help me up." Carefully, Morro lifted her to her feet. "Hey, my leg's not broken anymore!" But she couldn't feel the ground under her feat, so she clung to Morro, the only thing she could feel. Looking up, Lydia saw the Preeminent slowly floating towards them, stopping about twenty feet away.

"Now you know that I'm telling the truth." Lydia addressed her, straightening up as well as she could. "Do you believe me when I say I can save you?" Karen was silent for a long time. Finally, she spoke.

"Yes."

"Then go back to the Cursed Realm. Within the day, I promise, I can help you." Another long silence.

"Very well." Next to her, Morro's mouth dropped open. "Make the portal."

"Morro, you have to do it. I don't know how." The ghost boy stared at Lydia blankly for a few moments before blinking and looking down.

"I… dropped it." A tentacle dropped the glowing artifact towards him, and he caught it. "Okay." Lifting it, he summoned a glowing portal. "It will take some time to stabilize…" He trailed off, looking up at Karen. "You're really going to do this?"

"Yes."

"But- but why?"

"I can see your girlfriend's thoughts. I believe her when she says she can save me." Morro slowly turned to look at Lydia.

"You must have a **** of a plan."

"Language. And I do."

"What could possibly-"

"You'll see."

It was about ten minutes before the portal was stable enough, and then the Preeminent crossed back over to the Cursed Realm, Morro staring after her incredulously the entire time. Once she was through, Morro closed the portal and turned to look at Lydia.

"Well… somehow, you pulled it off." He shrugged. "Now what's your brilliant plan?"

"First, I need that." She took the crystal from him, silently thanking God that she didn't go through it.

"Okay." Morro raised an eyebrow. "Where are we going?" Lydia turned a bit, one arm still wrapped around his shoulders so she could stand, and created a portal a few feet away.

"Djinnjago."


Bansha:

Lydia:

Bansha:

Lydia:

Bansha:

Lydia: don't say i-

Bansha: I told you so

~FFF